Since noone posted it yet I will contribute something other than snark and pithy humor. Today’s ‘clobber’ list:
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (29 June 2023)
▫️ The AFU have continued their attempts to conduct offensive operations in Donetsk, Krasny Liman, and South Donetsk directions during the previous 24 hours.
▫️ Four enemy attacks have been successfully repelled by Yug Group of Forces units near Belogorovka (LPR) and Tonenkoye (DPR) during the day.
▫️ In the past 24 hours, the enemy has lost up to 530 servicemen killed and wounded, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-20 howitzers.
▫️ An ammunition depot of the AFU 54th Mechanised Brigade has been hit close to Vyemka (DPR).
▫️ In Krasny Liman direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces’ units inflicted losses on the units of AFU 21st, 42nd, and 67th Mechanised Brigades close to Nevskoye, Kremennaya, Chervonaya Dibrova (LPR).
▫️ One sabotage and reconnaissance group of the AFU has been disabled close to Kuzmino (LPR).
▫️ Up to 65 servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, two pick-up trucks, two D-30 howitzers, and two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units have been eliminated in this direction during the day.
▫️ In South Donetsk direction close to Vremevka salient, Vostok Group of Forces have repelled an enemy attack in the area of Staromayorskoye (DPR).
▫️  In Zaporozhye direction, artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces hit manpower and hardware of the AFU 106th Territorial Defence Brigade near Lugovskoye (Zaporozhye region).
▫️ Total losses of the AFU in these directions during the day amounted up to 135 servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, three D-20 howitzers, Msta-B and D-30 howitzers, as well as one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery unit.
▫️ In Kupyansk direction, Zapad Group of Forces have engaged the enemy units close to Sinkovka and Krasnoye Pervoye (Kharkov region).
▫️ In Kherson direction, more than 25 servicemen, three motor vehicles, one Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one D-30 howitzer, and one Grad MLRS have been eliminated during the day.
▫️ In Kherson direction, up to 40 servicemen, six motor vehicles, and one Msta-B howitzers have been neutralised by fire.
▫️ An ammunition depot of the AFU 123th Territorial Defence Brigade has been obliterated close to Kizomys.
▫️Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Group of Forces have engaged 85 AFU artillery units at their fire positions, manpower, and military hardware in 102 areas during the day.
▫️An ammunition depot of the AFU 10th Mountain Assault Brigade has been hit close to Vyemka (DPR).
▫️Two American-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar stations have been destroyed near Vasiltsovka (Kharkov region) and Peschanoye (DPR).
▫️ Air defence forces shot down two HIMARS MLRS missiles and one HARM anti-radiation missile during the day.
▫️ Moreover, 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Ivanovka (Kharkov region), Volodino, Yevgenovka (DPR), Golikovo (LNR), and Novaya Zburyevka (Kherson region).

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 14:10 utc | 4

OK nothing to see here.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 29 2023 14:23 utc | 6

War to the last ukrainian
https://t.me/voin_dv/3422
https://rutube.ru/video/81d1f7bcb1fd5e7a476c38fd16a6131a/
https://rutube.ru/video/9e793aa2b55391b8d1d1edfbfdc97d96/

Posted by: Crazy chump | Jun 29 2023 14:27 utc | 8

Are NATO air forces just going to sit back and do nothing while their ground pounder comrades get slaughtered ?
This must be a discussion going on in Brussels and the Pentagon right now.

Posted by: Exile | Jun 29 2023 14:32 utc | 10

Any reports of any high command shuffles, such as Surovikin being fired, Shoigu resigning etc.. are bullshit, and will be bullshit for at least three months. Even if there was an immediate re-organization, it would be done quietly, and announced much later.
Otherwise, it would highlight intelligence Russia has that they do not want broadcast. Immediate, hasty actions are imprudent at this juncture. This is how the game is played by everyone, and in the case of Russia, would be admission the Prighozin stunt hurt.
And this is all a big “if” there is any restructuring at high levels at all. I would place my bets on no restructuring will occur.

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 14:41 utc | 12

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 14:41 utc | 12
Not to mention that as far as we can see both Shoigu and Surovikin did a stellar job with procurement and sparing as much Russian troops as possible, respectively. I don’t know anything about Gerasimov’s plans (only about his dacha), and I don’t see a need for restructuring.
Pringles did a hail-Mary in order to keep his privileges as warlord, and failed. He may have been colluding with the SBU, we’ll never know for sure. Whatever he said about Shoigu and Gerasimov, I would take that with a quintal of salt.

Posted by: Lemming | Jun 29 2023 14:51 utc | 14

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on June 29, 2023

AFP: According to reports, the Taiwan authorities recently turned down applications by officials of nine provinces on China’s mainland to participate in a tourism fair in Taipei. Do you have a response to this?
Mao Ning: This is not a question about China’s foreign affairs.

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 29 2023 14:53 utc | 16

Are NATO air forces just going to sit back and do nothing while their ground pounder comrades get slaughtered ?
This must be a discussion going on in Brussels and the Pentagon right now.
Posted by: Exile | Jun 29 2023 14:32 utc | 10
I would imagine they’re discussing how much better the Ukrainian offensive has been progressing since Prigozhin’s mutiny.
Lukashenko’s remarks on the mutiny were interesting.
“[Prigozhin] was in total euphoria. In the first round, our conversation was just curses for 30 minutes,” Lukashenko recalled, saying that Prigozhin was in a “half-mad state” and appeared to be under heavy influence of Wagner’s commanders.
As Prigozhin insisted to the Belarusian president that he would head toward Moscow, Lukashenko said he warned Wagner’s owner that he would be “crushed like a bug.” Putin, Lukashenko said, wouldn’t accept Prigozhin’s demands to replace the minister of defense, but would be willing to guarantee Wagner’s safety.
Lukashenko said he told Prigozhin that a defensive line was being created on the approaches to Moscow, and if a Wagner column reached that far, bloodshed couldn’t be stopped. By 5 p.m., Lukashenko said, Prigozhin accepted conditions negotiated by Minsk but needed to hear reassurances from the head of Russia’s FSB, Bortnikov, who wouldn’t take his calls. Wagner’s fear was that, if it stopped the movement, it would become easy prey for the Russian air force. Lukashenko said he had to get Bortnikov on the line once again, persuading him to answer Prigozhin’s call.
“There are no heroes in this matter,” Lukashenko added. “Don’t make a hero out of me, out of Putin, or out of Prigozhin, because we have let the situation spin out of control.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wagner-is-preparing-to-hand-over-heavy-weapons-russian-military-says-723e7a53?st=oqti98djt4qsrtp&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
Budanov:
Budanov answered why Prigozhin did not reach Moscow:
“I hate to admit it, but Yevgeny Prigozhin is a patriot of Russia. Lukashenka and other people were able to convince him that he would tear Russia apart with his actions.”
https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1674407287417348096

Posted by: zinjanthropus | Jun 29 2023 14:55 utc | 18

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 29 2023 14:39 utc | 11
22 Sep 2022 Now Hiring: US Seeks Economist to Scrutinize Sanction Spillovers

The department is advertising for a “chief sanctions economist” whose job will be to advise Treasury on everything from monetary policy to exchange rates to “energy, multilateral and bilateral assistance, official debt and related issues,” according to a job description obtained by Bloomberg News ahead of its posting….

fail

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 29 2023 14:58 utc | 20

TASS:
Sweden’s NATO membership prospects dim after Quran-burning incident
The scandalous act took place on Wednesday, on the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha (today).

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 29 2023 15:06 utc | 22

More evidence supporting reports that NATO has secretly transferred new Electronic Warfare systems to their proxy Putsch regime in Kiev.
1/2 Russian drones run into Ukrainian EW: Russian Telegram reports that “search, detection and strikes by Lancet-3 and FPV drones around Antonovsky Bridge is complicated: the operators lose the signal in that area. This may be due to EW units activity.” https://t.me/uav_tech/17276
2/2 “Earlier, Two Majors Telegram channel reported that according to information from the field, Ukrainian forces have mobile EW installations on our shore, our FPV drone operators could not complete their strikes: communication was lost.”
https://twitter.com/MarkSleboda1/status/1674431030395277315
https://twitter.com/sambendett/status/1674418111364358145

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:13 utc | 24

A version of an argument already submitted elsewhere.
Been reading Kofman and other analysts. As many as I can get hold of or have time to read, actually. The military analysis of this conflict, or at least that available to the general public, seems often to vary according to which side the analyst hopes will win.
And if it doesn’t so vary, the other side always suspects that it does.
I constantly meet this problem in another field. Many – I hold this opinion also – don’t much like the EU as a way of organising Europe politically. They also believe that the Eurozone is unstable, and that irrespective of whether we like it or not. But any examination of that Eurozone problem put out can be dismissed with “Oh, they would say that, wouldn’t they. They have an axe to grind because they don’t like the EU”
So here. Any examination of the military balance in this conflict, amateur or expert, is disabled by that suspicion of partisanship. And any conclusion one might come to as a result of examining what the experts say is a conclusion itself disabled by that suspicion of partisanship.
There’s also the Psyops side. This is a conflict between the West and Russia. You don’t win a conflict by sitting around saying “On balance, doesn’t look as if we’ve got much of a chance.” The conflict’s lost from the start with that attitude. So it becomes almost a patriotic duty for us in the West to say “Of course we’re going to win” and defeatism must be rejected.
Also the moral side. You certainly don’t win a war, ever, by saying “We’ve thought about it and we find our side is seriously in the wrong.” So even an examination of the causes of the conflict become a no go area.
Even so, and taking all those factors that impede factual analysis into account, the military force either side has at its disposal in this theatre is such that what we look back on this conflict it will astound us that we ever thought a military victory for the West in this conflict was on the cards. Our chief weapon in this conflict was never the military weapon. It was the economic.
That economic weapon has turned in our hands. We have failed to wreck the Russian economy and the attempt to do so has damaged us more than them. Our only hope of defeating Russia now lies in the hope that Russia itself will fall apart or become unstable.
Evading the “Oh they would say that, wouldn’t they” dismissal, I don’t think that outcome is at all likely. Russia also has its defeatists and naysayers but as a nation it is solidly behind the war effort. Therefore Russia will win and the we shall lose.
Since we have consistently upped the stakes in this war we’re going to lose big.
I wouldn’t expect the Lindsey Grahams and the Baerbocks and the Sunaks, nor yet the Biden team nor the Scholz team, to find that conclusion acceptable. Nor yet most of the general public in England or Germany. All are solidly behind the Western war effort, that solidity only tempered, particularly in Germany, by the fear it’ll be an expensive war effort. But I would expect, at this late stage in the game, some thought to be given to the position if we lose. Even if plan A is still the main plan, it’s irresponsible not to give at least some thought to a plan B.
What will plan B have to take account of? What circumstances will obtain after defeat?
The compromises that might have been arrived at in early 2022 are no longer possible. Nor is the compromise we’re hoping for now. That is, that the Russians will absorb a certain amount of the Ukraine, roughly corresponding to the old Party of Regions area where that absorption will be acceptable to the majority of those living there, but that there will be a remnant Ukraine left that we can continue to arm and support.
If the Russians don’t avoid that by neutralising remnant Ukraine they will have lost. As said, I don’t think Russians intend to lose so remnant Ukraine will be neutralised.
That leaves Europe. The US is too big to mess with so I doubt it will be much affected. Or it need not be much affected. In the last resort a country the size of a continent that can fuel and therefore feed itself, and has adequate means of defence, need fear only internal political instability or maladministration. Europe has none of those advantages. It is vulnerable. It is the weak spot of the West, militarily and economically.
Here one can only express contempt. This continent is weak, vulnerable, and for a great many full of hate. Only able to attack the object of that hate by leveraging the financial and military power of the US.
Because those who believe it’s the Washington hawks dragging Europe behind them in this conflict are wrong. Without the European hawks seeking to use that US power this conflict would never have got under way. It was the deliberate wrecking of Minsk 2 by the Europeans that caused this war.
And the Europeans, in seeking to damage Russia with sanctions – and simultaneously complaining it was the Russians causing them damage – were more than contemptible. They were laughable and the greater part of the world is now laughing at them.
And what is the Plan A now for this bedraggled and contemptible continent? To further ring Russia with missile bases and “Rapid response” units mostly, one assumes, provided or coordinated by a benevolent Uncle Sam, and thus to pose a greater threat to its neighbour than before.
They do urgently need to be considering a Plan B – some “New European Security Architecture” as the ever labile Macron used to call it – in case the neighbour has other ideas. They need to remember, before they roll out these grandiose plans, that gas pipes, and oil pipes, have taps at both ends.

Posted by: English Outsider | Jun 29 2023 15:21 utc | 26

Sweden’s NATO membership prospects dim after Quran-burning incident
The scandalous act took place on Wednesday, on the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha (today).
Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 29 2023 15:06 utc | 22
Certainly a cheap and easy way to keep Sweden out of NATO. Could cause some blowback though.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 29 2023 15:22 utc | 28

sln2002 @20, what a find that is, thanks for posting! I say, for all that responsibility and top security clearance, $150,000 is not nearly enough. Think tanks must pay more than that. Maybe they just use interns, I don’t know.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 29 2023 15:31 utc | 30

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 29 2023 15:22 utc | 28
Yet, maybe Russia is blowing the Quran burning out of all proportion (this goes both ways you know). That is how the so-called global south is won over.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 29 2023 15:36 utc | 32

RE; Col. MacGregor on PBD podcast live. The accusation of Trump putting USA at risk by not respecting document security. Its real simple. They wanted Trump to start another illegal and dangerous war. He said no. What puts the USA at risk is these illegal endless wars. Moral and ethical questions aside the debt from war is going to destroy the USA. It may be too late. Why on earth would the son and grandson of the Nazi financier granddaddy Bush be suitable for 8 year presidential terms? Not a MAGA flag waver. I applaud trumps saying no to another military safari. Far from damning Trump via putting USA at risk with document security the revelations reveal Trump refused to put the USA at risk by starting another illegal war. This is deep state saying there is a crime, the crime being not respecting the secrecy of deep state war plans. As far as the deep state is concerned the people of the USA have no say in endless war thus war plans are secret. Trumps real crime is not agreeing to endless war and complete submission to the deep state. Just like the “countermeasure” injections have nothing to do with health. When JFK advocated getting along with the world it didnt go so well for him. His head snapping back and pieces of his brain and skull on the trunk from a bullet that quite obviously came from the front. A rather large lie in a sea of lies. That is what we are in a toxic sea of lies. JFK 911 injections. How do people swallow these woppers? No matter who is elected/selected the pilfer of the value of the USA via war debt and outsourcing is coming home to roost. Of course its Putins fault! I wont be surprised in the least if elections do not occur in the USA in 24 just like Z suspended them in Ukraine.
We can add Ukraine to the casualty list of the warmonger victims. A beautiful country whose people should be reaping the fruits of abundance from the wonder and beauty of its land. Just like the USA people. Warmonger victims reduced to begging from the warmonger masters the ultimate crime saying 2+2=4.

Posted by: klownswirl | Jun 29 2023 15:37 utc | 34

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 14:10 utc | 4
The Russian Defence Ministry has since added the bit below to that clobber list for today. b also added it as an update to his previous post from yesterday.

According to updated information, as the result of the precision strike on 27 June 2023 in Kramatorsk (Donetsk People’s Republic) at the temporary deployment area of the AFU 56th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, two generals participating in a staff meeting, up to 50 AFU officers, as well as 20 foreign mercenaries military advisors were eliminated.

Posted by: Brendan | Jun 29 2023 15:41 utc | 36

Sweden’s NATO membership prospects dim after Quran-burning incident
The scandalous act took place on Wednesday, on the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha (today).
Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 29 2023 15:06 utc | 22
Certainly a cheap and easy way to keep Sweden out of NATO. Could cause some blowback though.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 29 2023 15:22 utc | 28

The thing about this Quran burning event in Sweden. If someone burned a Quran anywhere during the last decade, it would immediately result in a massive media circus, a nation wide police investigation, a massive political circus, a massive show trial and lynching of the person who did it.
There have been at least a few Quran burnings in Sweden over the past 12 months. The funny thing is, there’s been nearly a peep, if anything at all on media, politics, basically nothing.
This is not by chance, it’s a deliberate provocation allowed by the Swedish government to sabotage the Nato plan. The truth is, there are high-up economic and other interests in Sweden who don’t want in Nato because it causes them all sorts of harm. But maybe US will force them in, we’ll see.

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:44 utc | 38

I keep saying this: what F16 pilot in his right mind would fly into the Russian air defences?
These sort of fast jet pilots are very carefully selected, and anyone who has accomplished this can resign on the spot and get a nice safe job with an airline. Instead of committing suicide on the first mission like that Ukrainian who trained in the US for two years and was killed on his first mission.

Posted by: JulianJ | Jun 29 2023 15:50 utc | 40

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 29 2023 14:58 utc | 20
So the advice of their court astrologers did not work so they are going to hire more court astrologers to try and figure out why? Orthodox economics is total bullshit so get use to some word salad explanation that they will all nod and consider sage wisdom. They could have asked Hudson but they don’t want to hear what he would tell them so they will find themselves another Greenspan to tell them everything is ok.

Posted by: badjoke | Jun 29 2023 15:52 utc | 42

All manner of US bodies (including the Social Security Administration which sent $4.48 million dollars in just one year to Kiev) are sending cash and aid to Ukraine at US citizens expense.
If I were a US citizen, especially one that wasn’t well off I’d be raging with this giveaway to Ukraine.
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/06/27/gravy-train-independent-audit-ukraine/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 29 2023 15:54 utc | 44

@unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:13 utc | 24
My understanding is Ukraine has positioned S-300s far enough forward to prevent the use of glide bombs on the bridge area. Then EW is used to provide the S-300s (and artillery) protection from Lancets.
What I don’t understand is how challenging it is to locate EW units. Naively I would think since they’re emitters they’d be easy to find … but apparently not.

Posted by: Mike314159 | Jun 29 2023 15:59 utc | 46

I keep saying this: what F16 pilot in his right mind would fly into the Russian air defences?
Posted by: JulianJ | Jun 29 2023 15:50 utc | 40
Ukr has received a large number or planes and helicopters from nato and other countries. It continues to receive planes, there are still some left it seems.
They don’t fly much and get shot down. If there are kamikaze for migs, there will be kamikaze for f16s, the old f18s Australia wants to donate, other euro planes or whatever will be sent.

Posted by: rk | Jun 29 2023 16:02 utc | 48

Well, who might be those 20 foreign mercenaries / military advisors that were eliminated. If 2 Ukrainian generals and 50 officers were there, those ’20 foreign mercenaries / military advisors’ must be quite high ranking.

Posted by: ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:03 utc | 50

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:13 utc | 24
The cycle of warfare continues, no doubt Russian technicians are analysing the new system and devising their own ECCM systems. Talking of which, unless the West can jam GLONAS, the glide-bombs and CLGM are still effective. I’ve noticed some posters fall into the correlation causation fallacy, especially when they want to exercise a pet theory.
It’s not a truly mobile system, otherwise it would have been deployed to protect the armoured columns moving toward the front, three weeks ago. It’s a system that probably has the capacity to move, but must be stationary to set up and operate, which means the Ukrainians at the Antonovsky bridgehead will face the same dilemma the Egyptians did in ‘73. Move outside of the bubble and you have to endure aerial interdiction and strikes, stay in range and you destroy the whole purpose of a bridgehead, which needs rapid expansion and exploitation to remain operationally significant. The Russians just have to sit and wait for the Ukrainians to make their move, matching any force build up with the correct correlation of friendly forces, and wait to exploit their enemies vulnerable supply situation, micro-Anzio anyone?
Posted by: zinjanthropus | Jun 29 2023 14:55 utc | 1
If the rather feeble gains, at great cost, constitute ‘doing much better’ just how bad must the original assaults have been? Rhetorical question really, we were constantly being told the first 24-48 hours would be crucial in predicting the success of the
offensive and here we are at approx D+22 with no Ukrainian units close to the first of three main defensive belts. If the Priggy circus allowed these modest tactical gains, what happens now, given any disruption or impact has already come and gone? The only way his coup/tantrum/breakdown would have had any operational impact would be if it was still considered an operating factor, and Putin’s rapid response has stopped that.

Posted by: Milites | Jun 29 2023 16:04 utc | 52

“Are NATO air forces just going to sit back and do nothing while their ground pounder comrades get slaughtered ?”
JPC (45)
I read somewhere (if memory serves) that Article 5 (if one Nato member is attack blah blah blah) that the US cannot just go to war in defence of another member, that the US Congress must first give its military the authority to do so.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 29 2023 16:06 utc | 54

19. Oh they were in on it. They got played like a fiddle. Some say to the tune of 6,000,000,000$ US dollars..
24. It is foolish and desperate of NATO to deploy EW in this area, I’ll go on record as saying. Now Russia will be working on countermeasures as you have exposed your methodology. That would be ok if this was supporting an overwhelming strike or other significant breakthrough but they’re supporting a couple hundred dudes cowering under a bridge. It’s insanity.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 16:09 utc | 56

@ English Outsider | Jun 29 2023 15:21 utc | 26
Bah, the rapacious bloodthirsty and insane rulers of the American Colonial Empire can always dump responsibility for failure against the RF on Biden Johnson and Zelenskyy while the rulers in question move on to trying to square the Pacific circle by attacking China while maintaining the critical supply-chains therefrom . . . .

Posted by: John Kennard | Jun 29 2023 16:13 utc | 58

By the way, the Russian spy in Kramatorsk Zelensky is shouting so much about, must be a very good one, I mean the one they never caught

Posted by: ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:14 utc | 60

This may have been discussed before, but according to John Helmer via Russia’s Vzglyad Shoigu was actually in Rostov when Prigozhin made his stunt. He seems to have been on location and seems to have had the situation pretty much under control, in spite of appearances to the contrary here and there.
Prigozhin’s office has been searched and further on, I’m sure all his businesses will be turned upside down. In line with what Rob | 23 wrote, quite an amount of cocaine was found. Also cash, a variety of passports, and gold bars. They may have dropped any charges against Prigozhin for mutiny, insurrection etc., but I don’t think any future charges for fraud, embezzlement, tax issues and so on will simply be dropped likewise. Prigozhin may have become too much of an ordinary oligarch to be tolerated any further.
Also, one other thing. Don’t be surprised if Shoigu DOES leave office in the near future. After all, the man is of retirement age.

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jun 29 2023 16:21 utc | 62

I am just wondering which country Belarus will be invading first?? ( Ukraine or Poland )

Posted by: cousin lucky | Jun 29 2023 16:27 utc | 64

I keep saying this: what F16 pilot in his right mind would fly into the Russian air defences?
These sort of fast jet pilots are very carefully selected, and anyone who has accomplished this can resign on the spot and get a nice safe job with an airline. Instead of committing suicide on the first mission like that Ukrainian who trained in the US for two years and was killed on his first mission.
Posted by: JulianJ | Jun 29 2023 15:50 utc | 40
//
As I have mentioned before, any F-16s that cross the border into Ukraine will assure that the forecast will call for light to moderate falling aluminum.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Jun 29 2023 16:28 utc | 66

Gilbert Doctorow’s latest:
Regular Russian Army fast becoming world’s most powerful military in ground combat

Posted by: tawharanui | Jun 29 2023 16:31 utc | 68

I am just wondering which country Belarus will be invading first?? ( Ukraine or Poland )
Posted by: cousin lucky | Jun 29 2023 16:27 utc | 64
————
Most probably Lithuania. Belarus needs sea entry. 🙂

Posted by: ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:32 utc | 70

@ ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:32 utc | 70
Yes, probably connecting through Kaliningrad. Also Suwalki Gap is near to go by, and Vilnius might be a summer destination for Vagner. Under the excuse that Pryggy is going to complain to his “bosses”. That might indeed be the task for his remedy. Go get them, boy.

Posted by: whirlX | Jun 29 2023 16:42 utc | 72

Posted by: Passerb6 | Jun 29 2023 16:43 utc | 73
————-
Alright, how many countries in the NATO would go to war with Russia, if push comes to shove? The 3 Baltics with a collective population of less than 6 million, or Finland, or Maybe Luxembourg? Or, Belgium, Netherlands, or Iceland?

Posted by: ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:50 utc | 74

Posted by: Milites | Jun 29 2023 16:04 utc | 52
Yes, pretty sure they will solve it. Apparently Nato has found what channels and frequencies they need to jam to prevent the video feed and control transmission.
—-
I was reading, forgot where of course otherwise provide link, that Russians have upgraded their drones to use “AI” for target acquisition. The idea is have the drone find a target without a video feed back to its controller. As a result the drone cannot be jammed. At least that was the claim.

Posted by: Erelis | Jun 29 2023 16:55 utc | 76

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 16:10 utc | 57
Agree, and given the Russians are masters at radio electric warfare, I doubt any platform they field will not have the capability to rapidly counter EW threats.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 16:09 utc | 56
Agree, though this whole offensive has seemed incredibly disjointed and slapdash, as though it’s planners were either, unable to respond to the obvious Russian counters (targeting of logistics hubs, siphoning attacks, mass use of drones, remote mining etc) or unable to adapt the plan once it began to be transformed by the initial contact. If the later, then this EW deployment has occurred because the timetable dictated it, not the operational system, which is so contrary to established NATO planning templates that I’d instinctively doubt it was the answer. That leaves the former reason, and here I think we are on firmer ground, the deployment then would be a desperate attempt to salvage something from the ashes, and allow a wholly false narrative of success to be created.
Posted by: ostro | Jun 29 2023 16:03 utc | 50
NATO senior staff travel to conflict areas with their own personnel security detachment, I’m wondering if some of the soldiers killed or injured were part of these details. I also noted the sudden appearance of women with babies, many seemingly untraumatised by their injuries (I remember how my three month old son screamed when they took blood), perhaps shock could explain it; however, their blood also seemed to have clotted remarkably quickly, (darker colour in the clips) which, given the coagulation system of babies takes time to develop, considerably increasing the time to clot, I found odd.

Posted by: Milites | Jun 29 2023 17:01 utc | 78

Sorry HOGGY.
one, you just blast in here and start bitching about people discussing nuclear war, which afaik, has not been discussed much in MOA in over a week.
Secondly, nuclear war is both a reality and a pssibility.
Thirdly, MAD is a myth. It is no longer a truth, and I guess that makes many angry because MAD is what helped people sleep at night. A nice comfort knowing that world leaders knew that nuclear war was suicide. Not the case anymore, and Russia has a clear edge in thermonuclear war. Not to mention the use of tactical nukes would risk full strategic exchange, but bluster and follow through are two different beasts.
Fourthly, Ill talk about what I god damned well please, if it relates to Russia and the USA, which have 5500 nukes combined.
Fifthly, nuclear war is survivable. It’s a huge planet, (and Russia is huge, another advantage for Russia), and not everyone will be incinerated or die puking and losing their hair. Technology would surely take a great hit, but that doesn’t mean the end of Humanity. Chernobyl proved that life is far more resilient than was believed.
Finally, how does you coming in here and trying to start a flame war about nukes while demanding we not talk about nukes anything but hypocritical attention seeking? TEENAGE BOYS!!!

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 17:02 utc | 80

If the rather feeble gains, at great cost, constitute ‘doing much better’ just how bad must the original assaults have been? Rhetorical question really, we were constantly being told the first 24-48 hours would be crucial in predicting the success of the
offensive and here we are at approx D+22 with no Ukrainian units close to the first of three main defensive belts. If the Priggy circus allowed these modest tactical gains, what happens now, given any disruption or impact has already come and gone? The only way his coup/tantrum/breakdown would have had any operational impact would be if it was still considered an operating factor, and Putin’s rapid response has stopped that.
Posted by: Milites | Jun 29 2023 16:04 utc | 52
I’m no military genius myself, but I’m pretty sure that what matters for an offensive is how it ends up, not how it starts. Time will tell, as Geroman says.
18. Budanov is a Nazi. Actually, was a Nazi, given he met a Kinzhal a few weeks ago in GUR headquarters. The other Nazis using Babyface Hitlers social media accounts say the tactical espionage clown PIGGY-1 was a patriot eh? Because a corpse doesn’t speak.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 16:04 utc | 53
A month ago I was reading here that Budanov was dead, Zaluzhnyi was dead, and Zelensky would never dare to return to Ukraine. I see that some have not lost the faith.

Posted by: zinjanthropus | Jun 29 2023 17:07 utc | 82

@Erelis
The drones communicate with eachother and have a net neural network, so they dont double up on task, but still achieve primary objectives if the primary objective assigned drones fail, and find alternatives to directives if there is a complication.
However, it is hard to know how they react to jamming.. ..what should they assume happened to a jammed drone? Destroyed? Temporarily disabled? Communications down but will now “fly by wire” and still hit its target?
Furthermore, knowing the lancets use AIs, the jamming could include a form of AI misdirection. This is a bit off topic, but once the internet became wide spread, so too did virused. Likewise, as AI becomes widespread, so too will AIs built to destroy or take over other AIs. It is only a matter of time.

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 17:13 utc | 84

In response to Koran burning, Stoltenberg says Sweden will join NATO.
Never believe something until it has been officially denied
Posted by: Passerby | Jun 29 2023 16:35 utc | 71
################
I don’t believe most folks in the West, who are at best nominally Christian, can understand the dynamics in Turkey. If they don’t block Sweden, it will be seen as turning the other cheek to burning the Quran. Christians turn the other cheek. Muslims do not.
Erdogan cannot be seen to let such disrespect pass. Politically, and spiritually, he cannot let such slide.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 29 2023 17:24 utc | 86

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:13 utc | 24
Interesting info, thanks,
From what I’ve seen of Lancet videos, they have point tracking onboard so the human pilot is kind of “clicking” on the screen to select a target point and the drone is auto-piloting onto that point. If a point is selected when comms is lost the drone can still home in on the last visual reference point so there is a decent chance of the attack being successful. I haven’t seen any of the improvised kamikaze drones with this feature in their video feed.
Drones can harden their comms by using each other as radio relays so the distance of individual radio links is greatly reduced. Adding more drones makes the network / mesh more robust.
EW is vulnerable to anti-radiation missiles / drones.
Or RF might want to allow the beachhead to expand and draw in more of UA’s men & materiel so it can all be blasted later on.
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 15:44 utc | 38
You’re on a roll. Yes, suspiciously provocative, even by degenerate western standards.
Posted by: Mike314159 | Jun 29 2023 15:59 utc | 46
Maybe switching off emitters or switching one off and another on to confuse anti-radiation weapons. Could be using a point AD like that L3Harris Vampire system firing APKWS, that was passive tracking and laser designation. I seem to recall this system being in a previous delivery or mooted delivery.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jun 29 2023 17:32 utc | 88

The terrain maps were integrated into the software and the device didn’t need GPS guidance to maneuver…

Posted by: zeke2u | Jun 29 2023 17:35 utc | 90

82. Baby Hitler, before his end, was fond of giving interviews where his lip curls as he declares his intention of killing all Russians everywhere legitimate. His recent -singular I will note – appearance was so obviously and hilariously fake even a Maerican will be unconvinced. The uncanny valley writ large. But he has lots of use yet as a cartoon cutout, a corpse spewing inanity on social media to mislead his remaining living countrymen.
I leave the delusions to you, who is so insistent on this cretin being alive. I’m saying he is almost certainly dead or otherwise a vegetable, but it’s not like he matters, he is just a terrorist, not some strategic genius.
The fact Ukraine cannot admit Baby Hitlers death, probably because he has been taking all tough and strutting for the camera like a peacock, says quite a bit about the current state of the Ukrainian mindset and how much domestic propaganda they are engaged in.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 29 2023 17:35 utc | 92

David Glantz on Bakhmut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IhG3Lm8F68
Alas he uses ISW as a source. But short at 4 mins.

Posted by: marcjf | Jun 29 2023 18:05 utc | 94

@87
There is more to it. There arent a lot of young men anyways. Half of which gives a crap about the country the, live in, another percentage is too mentally too unstable (woke), too fat or comfortable.
Furthermore I cant imagine neither traditional working class boys nor immigrants marching into a war for a society that detests heroic virtues. They get nothing out of it. Furthermore spanish or italian people will not be afraid of russians marching in their streets. Russia and Ukraine are too far away.
The elites of course dont care and think that these people are just taking orders.
But i am reorienting at the moment and thus sit in a classroom with immigrants and working class people. I do hear sentences like “if they continue like that, a civil war is coming”. (Spoken in old europe not the USA). Given a leading figure I am quite sure the guns a country like germany hands out to those people would not point towards Russia.
Ask yourselve: why would the usual suspects go to die for woke, green, decadent innercity elites, who very obviously detest them and would never ever appeal to concepts like proud, heroism, manlyness, nation…

Posted by: Orgel | Jun 29 2023 18:11 utc | 96

Larch445 at smoothiex12 said:
Three days of mud slinging at Surovikin and some toward Gerasimov and Shoigu.
Since we know Gerasimov has been stationed for weeks in the Southern District, where Surovikin works also (because the NATO counter-offensive is focused to attempt to break through the defenses there), the psy-op in social media and MSM is trying to upset the Russian unity of command.
Putin has influenced the GS plans enough. Any changes except normal rotation of commanders of units would be disastrous for a third setback. The initial move into Ukraine and the stand down for Istanbul talks were Kremlin impacts which got blamed on the military. Politics has set the SMO on a long war. This isn’t Syria. It’s the war against the West. It’s the war for the future of the Federation. It is the war to preserve the Russian People.
Shoigu and Gerasimov and Surovikin are superb military men and should continue until this SMO wins total victory, has to be changed into a counter-terror operation or, sadly, has to ratchet up to a formal war against the West. The competence of these men is without peer. Yes, anyone is replaceable but they won in Syria, are winning in Ukraine, and nothing appears to me needing to be altered or changed.
Obviously, very few people understand the SMO strategy or tactics. But it is very successful for its military and its political goals. Ukies are ground up and Ukraine is being demilitarized. Russia’s economy and society is under very little stress. Yes, men are dying and injured. But the war is huge and the costs in human terms are very low based on the intensity and scale of the combat.
Would we change Putin? Why would we change Shoigu? Why change Gerasimov? Why change Surovikin?
There simply are no better substitutes. There is a Plan. It is working. When the grinding stops, Ukraine will be gone and the cities will fall into Russian control. This is where the Plan is heading.
By the way, news reports indicate large numbers of T-14 Armatas are about to join the Order of Battle.
Tankers anyone?
Historically, big things happen when the Tank Corps get rolling. The grinding machine designed by Gerasimov and employed by Surovikin will soon devour many more hapless Ukies and NATO volunteers.
Everything is going according to Plan.

Posted by: Fives | Jun 29 2023 18:14 utc | 98

Mischievous Imp@93….humans in many forms have been on the planet for over 20 million years, a little radiation scares you? That’s not how it works…..survival of the fittest means just that, alas 20 million years later, look where we are, still chasing the tail.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 29 2023 18:33 utc | 100