So Much Winning ... And More ...
Rob Lee @RALee85 - 5:39 UTC · Aug 24, 2023The Deep State channel updated its map to show Ukraine has liberated Robotyne. They credit the 47th, 65th, 116th, 117th, 118th, 71st, 46th, 82nd brigades; Skala battalion; 78th Regiment; 73rd Center; and NGU 3rd and 14th Brigades that fought in the area.
https://t.me/DeepStateEN/2318
According to the above Senior Fellow @FPRI Rob Lee the Ukrainian army has used 10+ brigades, some 20 to 35,000 men, to take (not confirmed) Robotyne. A town which, according to the 2001 census, had 480 inhabitants.
So much winning ...
How many of such victories can the Ukraine sustain?
Correct assessment, wrong conclusion:
U.S., Ukraine Clash Over Counteroffensive Strategy (archived) - WSJ, Aug 24 2023
Kyiv’s forces can still break through Russia defenses, but time is running out, Washington officials say
“You don’t understand the nature of this conflict,” Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Ukrainian commander, responded in one interaction with the Americans, a U.S. official recounted. “This is not counterinsurgency. This is Kursk,” the commander added, referring to the major World War II battle between Germany and the Soviet Union.
The Battle of Kursk was much larger, in men and material, than the Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
bigger
But there are similarities and Zaluzhny seems not to have recognized those in time to act appropriately.
Like the Ukrainian 'spring counter-offensive' the battle for Kursk was delayed to wait for the arrival of new weapons.
On 10 March, Manstein presented a plan whereby the German forces would pinch off the Kursk salient with a rapid offensive commencing as soon as the spring rasputitsa had subsided.
...
On 17–18 June, following a discussion in which the OKW Operations Staff suggested abandoning the offensive, Hitler further postponed the operation until 3 July. Finally, on 1 July, Hitler announced 5 July as the launch date of the offensive.
The Russians had used the delay to build their defenses.
The Central and Voronezh Fronts each constructed three main defensive belts in their sectors, with each subdivided into several zones of fortifications.
...
The Voronezh and Central Fronts dug 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) and 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of trenches respectively, laid out in criss-cross pattern for ease of movement. The Soviets built more than 686 bridges and about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of roads in the salient. Red Army combat engineers laid 503,663 anti-tank mines and 439,348 anti-personnel mines, with the highest concentration in the first main defensive belt. The minefields at Kursk achieved densities of 1,700 anti-personnel and 1,500 anti-tank mines per kilometre, about four times the density used in the defence of Moscow.
Here are the current defense lines:
bigger
The Germans did quite well during their attack as the southern group nearly broke through the 3rd Soviet defense line. However, the northern group was by then on the verge of being surrounded and strategic developments required to stem the losses.
After having halted the German advances the Russians finally launched their own offensive.
Hitler cancelled the offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy. Germany's extensive losses of men and tanks ensured that the victorious Soviet Red Army enjoyed the strategic initiative for the remainder of the war. The Battle of Kursk was the first time in the Second World War that a German strategic offensive was halted before it could break through enemy defences and penetrate to its strategic depths. Though the Red Army had succeeded in winter offensives previously, their counter-offensives after the German attack at Kursk were their first successful summer offensives of the war.
Recognizing a Kursk like trap the Ukrainian forces should have opted for a defensive posture. But, pushed by the U.S., they made the same mistake the Germans made in their attack on Kursk.
We may now finally see the other side ready to make its move:
Putin says Russia has not 'started anything in earnest' with regard to its war with Ukraine - AP, July 8 2022
Speaking at a meeting with leaders of the Kremlin-controlled parliament, Putin accused Western allies of fueling the hostilities, charging that “the West wants to fight us until the last Ukrainian.”“It’s a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it looks like it’s heading in that direction,” he added.
“Everybody should know that largely speaking, we haven’t even yet started anything in earnest,” Putin said in a menacing note.
After talk with Putin, Zaporozhye head says ‘interesting’ developments expected this fall - TASS, Aug 24 2023
The acting head of the Zaporozhye Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that he expected ‘lots of interesting' developments to take place in the special operation zone this fall."After a conversation with the president, I can say that <…> I received a proof of his remark that we haven’t begun anything yet. And there will be lots of interesting [developments] this fall," he told the Rossiya-24 television channel.
In current western culture, the 'good' will always win. But life is not about 'good' versus 'bad':
Notes on Stormtrooper Syndrome - Ecosophia:
Popular entertainment in Western industrial nations today is as thickly larded with moral posturing as anything Victorian parents inflicted on their children. In most popular genres, the Good People always win, and the Bad People always lose. Oh, there’s often a Good Person who dies heroically so the other Good People can emote on camera, and there’s often a Bad Person who turns out to have a heart of gold, but the basic principle remains: Good People win because they’re good, Bad People lose because they’re baaaaad.
...
There’s no shortage of examples of Stormtrooper Syndrome these days, but I’m going to focus on the most important of the lot, the one that bids fair to transform the world’s political and economic landscape in the years immediately ahead. Yes, we need to talk about Ukraine.That emphatically does not mean we need to talk about who gets to claim the roles of Good People and Bad People in the Russo-Ukrainian war. May I whisper an unwelcome truth in your ear, dear reader? The outcome of this war does not depend on which side is morally better than the other. In the real world, in terms of military victory and defeat, who’s right and who’s wrong don’t matter two weak farts in a Cat-5 hurricane once the cannon start to roar.
He had made so many enemies that it is hard to know who did him in:
The Last Days of Wagner’s Prigozhin (archived) - WSJ, Aug 24 2023
On the run, the paramilitary chief crisscrossed his global business empire, desperate to show he was still in control; ‘I need more gold’
“We will all go to hell,” Prigozhin said in an undated video, released Wednesday by the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which frequently publishes official Wagner statements. “But in hell, we will be the best.”
The quite neutral Wagner war movie Best in Hell (English subs), which I previously recommended, is available on Youtube and elsewhere.
Posted by b on August 25, 2023 at 5:39 UTC | Permalink
next page »Keep the dirty nazi meat coming… burnt loser American pig smells good in a morning.
Sad piss of the child sniffing rapist
Posted by: Timbo | Aug 25 2023 6:02 utc | 2
Another meatgrinder makes itself of good use for the Russians.
Posted by: Sorry I forgot name | Aug 25 2023 6:32 utc | 4
Uh, do they actually hold the ground? We've seen repeated instances of settlements being falsely claimed to left in no-man's land...
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 25 2023 6:46 utc | 5
uh..... the tiny village of Rabotino is being flattened by Russian artillery as I write this. Good luck with all that winning! :)
Posted by: Sam (in Tiraspol) | Aug 25 2023 7:03 utc | 7
My understanding is that Robotyne is not important in itself but another minor place on the road network to the first line of defence and Melitipol. The fact that (as History Legends pointed out) the defence lines were constructed south of Robotyne means that the village was always in the defensive crumple zone and never intended to be held. The fact that the UAF has been held up here for so long and taken such losses to capture it is the surprising thing. Now they can get started on the first defence line proper, having smashed up their elite forces already.
The DeepStateEN map is interesting if it is accurate. If I have time I will count the Russian units as it would give a guide to the size of forces deployed, and what might still be in reserve.
Posted by: marcjf | Aug 25 2023 7:20 utc | 8
@4 Najad
Well it's not beyond possiblity that the Empire collapses from within, thus leading to a pull back from its catastrophic foreign misadventures.
The distortion of the legal system to get Trump at any price is going to cause immense problems in the US and the flight from the dollar is accelerating. Too late for Ukraine but the end of the ability of the US to do this is in sight.
Posted by: Judge Barbier | Aug 25 2023 7:50 utc | 9
I was crying in my beer till I read this. Thank you bartender.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 25 2023 7:57 utc | 10
One day those cheques won't clear, and those boys behind you that will shoot you if you flee will leave and then you can stop this war with your Russian brothers and commiserate about how international finance was so successful in it's attempts at fratricide.
Posted by: Jacq | Aug 25 2023 7:59 utc | 11
Anyway, another interesting development is that a Russian Mi-8 pilot recently sold his helicopter to the Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
Posted by: Soothsayer | Aug 25 2023 6:49 utc | 9
Bullshit. Pictures of that chopper show it was all shot up,. Meaning the pilot got lost as was originally reported.
Ukrainian intelligence also tried to claim the chopper was carrying high tech jet equipment, but of course, no pictures or proof of that.
Posted by: UWDude | Aug 25 2023 8:00 utc | 12
Giving that the first main Russian defence line is south of Robotyne then it must have been expected by the Russians that Robotyne will be captured by the Ukrainians at some point. I think the Russian command is pleased with the time it has taken the Ukrainians and their losses. Destroying Ukraine's high quality units will reduce their offensive potential in the future as they will not be able to replace the manpower losses with men of the same motivation and training. Plus the West may no longer be willing to sent more equipment.
Posted by: Poul | Aug 25 2023 8:07 utc | 13
In a rational world, the Ukrainians behave irrationally, they losses are huge and disproportional. But As Dima, the expert for this war says, "Ukarinians don't count their dead". It is just the truth. No matter how many Ukrainians die, they are going to attack. Number of casualties is unimportant. Ukrainian society is ready for war, most of their population is ready to die for the western interests.
Russians care about their lives, Ukrianians do not.
Posted by: simplex | Aug 25 2023 8:09 utc | 14
Why would the West care for Ukr. lives when the Ukrainians don't care. Dying in war against Russia is a higher purpose for the most Ukrainians. So, no matter the casualties, Ukr. is in fact in acceptable position as their population accepts these casualties as something normal ore even desirable..
Posted by: simplex | Aug 25 2023 8:26 utc | 15
Zaporozhye direction at 10:00 (Moscow time)
In the Rabotino settlement - a Bradley has now reached the southern outskirts of the settlement. Our artillery worked on it systematically, targeting specific points. The second Bradley was destroyed en route by an ATGM crew.
Rabotino has not been captured! One-third of the area is under our control. Thus, we only hold the southern outskirts - the enemy is not present there.
#source (https://t.me/rusich_army/10539)
@Slavyangrad
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 25 2023 8:37 utc | 16
I am quite sure that, pre-knowing the AFU desire to go Zaporizhia >>>Melitopol, Russia set up their real defence lines and their pretend defence lines to entangle the AFU right where they wanted them for the last 2 months. Now, give them Robotnye, so RF can move them into a new trap. Rinse and repeat. It's all just cat and mouse, wasteful AFU efforts going nowhere but to Banderatown.
Posted by: SCCC | Aug 25 2023 8:37 utc | 17
Serendipitous post: I was reading Big Serge's article on Kursk just this morning, which means I am now much better able to understand b's addition re Ukrainian delays and their consequences.
For anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure: https://bigserge.substack.com/p/red-army-rising-kursk-and-beyond
And thank you to b for all your work. Always a pleasure to read your posts.
Posted by: Occasional poster | Aug 25 2023 9:14 utc | 19
"Rabotino has fallen, Putin has failed by not nuking the entire planet!!!!!" -
This message has been endorsed by Shadowlamed.
Just thought I'll save everybody's time and pre-empt the fucker.
Cheers
Posted by: Suresh | Aug 25 2023 9:22 utc | 20
Ukrainian intelligence also tried to claim the chopper was carrying high tech jet equipment, but of course, no pictures or proof of that.
Posted by: UWDude | Aug 25 2023 8:00 utc | 20
It was loaded with hopium
The Ukrainians and western media demands it.
Posted by: jpc | Aug 25 2023 9:23 utc | 21
im not so sure about all Rabotino falling.
"Ukrainian assault groups managed to reach first Russian defensive line in Rabotino (see map for lines), Zaporozhye (ex-Ukraine) but were destroyed - Acting Zaporozhye Chief Balitsky.
Kiev launched major push last night in this region, moving 80+ vehicles per reports, to breach Russian defenses. Video above shows Bradley infantry fighting vehicle getting boinked in Rabotino by anti-tank missile.
It has been costly for Ukraine just to reach first defense line with 40,000+ dead, another 40-50,000 wounded in past 2 months."
Subscribe @IntelRepublic
they go on to show various fields full of destroyed equiptment. The jist is maybe they are in the greyzone town but the first line defences have not been breached a few km away . As others noted artillery is destroying anything hey can spot, so dubious at best theres a victory
Posted by: hankster | Aug 25 2023 9:41 utc | 22
In this war both sides are guilty of selling the lion skin before the beast has been slain. So many confident predictions of success or doom.
Posted by: Gerard Mc Cullagh | Aug 25 2023 9:50 utc | 23
The Nazis are not the good guys; torture, murder, and terrorism is their modus operandi.
Those who support the Nazis are NOT the good guys.
Russia is trying to beat the Nazis without sinking to their level of human depravity.
The West has signed a pact with the devil and will pay the price.
Posted by: CitizenSmith | Aug 25 2023 10:21 utc | 24
Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 25 2023 10:07 utc | 37
Blusters Last Stand?
Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Aug 25 2023 10:26 utc | 25
The AFU is running out of armored vehicles, the Russian army has more fortified lines of trenches than it knows what to do with, and the math of attritional warfare suggests that Zelenskyy has unending phone calls in his future, ones with begging for more armored personnel carriers, Bradleys, and tanks.
Imo it's likely he'll get them, but with strings attached that will be more restrictive than ever. The AFU, barring unexpected victories, will be ordered to fight its doomed struggle from that point forward on a schedule that suited the political needs of the MIC. The AFU would have to say viable, with the MSM having a scrap of plausibility as it talked up their chances, until candidates that are tied at the hip with the MIC could become the candidates of both wings of the American Uniparty.
But before those new armored vehicles arrive, after leaving American stockpiles looking embarrassingly, dangerously even, low, the Russian concession of scraps of territory in its crumple zone will have paid off by costing the AFU the critical mass of armor that it needs to maintain its presence along all the line of contact with Russian forces. Once the AFU can no longer credibly threaten a deep penetration of Russian lines in more than one, or at most two, spots, Russia will be free to bring up some reserves and start filling out its trenches, and make probing attacks all along it. The AFU could then either try to respond with its diminished armor, and suffer more losses, or be forced to concede more and more patches of land.
God help Zelenskyy if he hands Russia a resounding victory from a failed Ukrainian do or die offensive, one that even papers like the New York Times have to concede, and which precipitates political realignments in Washington.
Posted by: Babel-17 | Aug 25 2023 10:31 utc | 26
Posted by: CitizenSmith | Aug 25 2023 10:21 utc | 38
The Nazis are not the good guys; torture, murder, and terrorism is their modus operandi.
The West has signed a pact with the devil and will pay the price.
The content of the western media is beginning to change.
In past years nobody on a mainstream public platform would produce content even slightly benign towards the German Nazis of WW2 era.
In recent times, specifically the past 6 - months of 2023 I'm beginning to see content which tries to show the Nazis in a better light.
Articles, videos lauding their achievements in a low-key way. Content that would never have been attempted prior to 2023.
I suspect a mass media whitewashing program is in progress to counter the realization by the public that Ukraine really is a Nazi regime'.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 25 2023 11:27 utc | 27
The West has signed a pact with the devil and will pay the price.
The West is the devil.
Posted by: astabada | Aug 25 2023 11:41 utc | 28
The appearance so far and overall is that the Russian military seems to know what it's doing.
Posted by: jared | Aug 25 2023 11:42 utc | 29
It seems to me that it is essentially always possible for a competent/motivated army to concentrate enough forces in one area to over-run the opposition in that area, but does that win wars.
I hear that the Ukrainian military is to some extent being motivated by militias behind them - something like 28 shot recently (from behind), the Russian MOD will have to put an asterisk next to that count.
I have the impression that it is now more of a Shag the Dog operation by Ukraine - they are fighting not to win but to maintain the impression of not losing.
For what purpose, I cant say. Partly to keep the funds flowing (to the MIC, most importantly) and also to help Biden with re-"election".
Posted by: jared | Aug 25 2023 11:59 utc | 30
Recommended (13 min)
Why Ukraine Will LOSE The War| Update & Strategic Analysis
from Weeb Union
Explanation starts at 03:30
The war is far from over. Maybe we see the proposed Strategy later on.
Posted by: schkid | Aug 25 2023 12:05 utc | 31
Re: The West is the devil.
Posted by: astabada | Aug 25 2023 11:41 utc | 43
Well said. Although I would add that our “Nazi pact” is just an open extension of our created head-chopping, rapist, murdering “ISIS pact” alongside our “allies” who openly shoot journalists in the head. Our “pacts” are far & “diverse”. We do pride ourselves on our “diversity” you know.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 25 2023 12:12 utc | 32
"He had made so many enemies that it is hard to know who put him in." - b
The reason that people think that Prighozhin was not in the good graces of Putin is because of the helicopters being shot down. Other than that, the whole "mutiny" appears to have been high drama to hide the real reasons for moving the mercenaries.
I find it very highly unlikely that whoever ordered those helicopters into the air in that area was authorized to do so. A legitimate action would have involved a much stronger force. The mercenaries who fired the shots were just applying standard operating procedures during a march.
It is possible that, if it was a Russian who caused the Prighozhin plane crash, that they also didn't have authorization. It could have been a rouge agent or a misguided patriot who saw an opportunity. I'm confident that we will get a "true story" that will become the only acceptable story, that has little resemblance to the truth. (Who was responsible for killing Abraham Lincoln?)
Posted by: barstool | Aug 25 2023 12:12 utc | 33
When I watch a movie for entertainment, I much prefer to see one where the good guys win - it is uplifting.
Some years back, popular entertainment increasingly portrays circumstances where it is hard to tell who is the good guy and if anybody wins (that was always "a thing" of course).
It is however importance to differentiate between fantasy and reality.
Things like "international law", "treaties", "democracy"...
Perception is everything.
Posted by: jared | Aug 25 2023 12:18 utc | 34
Lol I remember watching Black Hawk Down. Great cinematography, acting and sound. But portrayed Americans as superhuman soldiers and Somalis as cockroaches.
By the middle of the movie I was rooting for the cockroaches.
I dont watch garbage films like this since then. Again, great cinematography. But still gives me indigestion.
On the other hand, watched Heat. Val Kilmer, De Niro anihilating entire LA police department. Great shit.
There are plenty movies where bad guys win (at least for most of the movie) I lean to those movies more.
Posted by: Comandante | Aug 25 2023 12:26 utc | 35
Notes on Stormtrooper Syndrome - Ecosophia:
B, thank you for posting this link, it is a brilliant essay on exactly what is happening, not just in the world but most definitely in the SMO theater.You are the master integrator.
Posted by: madmarc | Aug 25 2023 12:32 utc | 36
But they were repulsed and controlling only the northern part of R.
Posted by: SlowSoft | Aug 25 2023 12:36 utc | 37
#49
It was his first pilot!
Guess he is now already in USA
Traitors everywhere!
Only death penalty will other ukronazi infected traitors inside Russia to perform terrorist sttacks
Current treatment is a joke and only motivates them for further attacks
❗️🇷🇺✈️ Prigozhin's personal pilot has been named as a suspect to his murder.
⚡️Prigozhin's personal pilot and owner of the crashed jet Artem Stepanov (pictured) is wanted by Russian police.
⚡️He had access to the plane and right before the explosion he departed for Kamchatka, where he "disappeared."
Posted by: SlowSoft | Aug 25 2023 12:50 utc | 39
When we watch a movie, we now who are the good guys and who are the bad guys from the first few minutes.
But in real life, the two sides in the conflict both believe that they are the good guys and the other side whom they are fighting are the bad guys.
And neither side knows if their view is right or not. So it is trial by combat. This is a very different experience than that of watching a movie knowing from the first few minutes who the good and bad guys are.
Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 25 2023 12:54 utc | 41
Ever since the entertainment and marketing industries have merged, resulting today in the lunacy of modern-day social networks, we have lost the sense of reality. Where you cant have good without the bad and vice versa. But now instant good and bad have replaced those morals.
Many have also forgotten the lessons of wars past - also because the winner erases half of history - and we keep making the same mistakes that led up to the previous wars. As the current one is but the interlude to a new WW. Just like the Spanish revolution was for WW2.
Posted by: alek_a | Aug 25 2023 13:24 utc | 42
I'm pretty sure Zaluzhny not only knew this was becoming way too similar to Kursk, but that he also saw that it was bordering suicidal to attack, yet was pretty much forced to plan and launch the offensive. Unlike people like, say, Kuleba, and like other top military in Ukraine and Russia, he is a real professional, serious and quite competent.
I'm just wondering when he'll have enough of this mess, and what he'll do when he'll come to his breaking point.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 25 2023 13:28 utc | 43
Are there ever really any truly "good guys" in war or politics?
Posted by: farm ecologist | Aug 25 2023 13:30 utc | 44
This is all such stupid stuff. We or our proxy in Ukraine are actually running this war for the sake of the narrative. That is, for the sake of having something positive to announce in the nightly news. Meanwhile in the background the Russians have the superior force. As a result, Ukraine can make a gain here or there, but overall they are always going to be losing more, be it losing more land or losing more of their available forces.
To quote b from the extended reading: Recognizing a Kursk like trap the Ukrainian forces should have opted for a defensive posture. But, pushed by the U.S., they made the same mistake the Germans made in their attack on Kursk.
When the available forces can't get it done, pretending they can is a fool's errand.
Posted by: Jmaas | Aug 25 2023 13:30 utc | 45
Stormtrooper Syndrome - The mental picture that many Americans have formed of the conflict in Ukraine seems to come out of Marvel comics and the movies that it spawned. The US and NATO are some sort of Justice League of Superheroes, while Russia gets to play the evil villain that will destroy the world unless it is stopped. The war is a simplistic morality play - the US is presented as an innocent bystander that, seeing a gross injustice being committed by evil Russia's invasion of a plucky, nascent democracy that just yearns to be free and determine its own destiny, rushes to the aid of its little friend. Because that is what good people in good countries do.
Anyone that is even slightly informed about US interventions around the world knows that the US is never an innocent bystander and it doesn't give one flying fig about the welfare or freedoms of another nation's peoples. The US always has a hidden agenda behind any of its foreign actions. Always. And yet, much of the US public is in high dudgeon over Russia's intervention in Ukraine, and they want you to know how grievously outraged they are, especially the Democrats, who proclaim themselves the standard bearers of the good. Nevermind their country's own sorry legacy of invasions, regime change operations, and sanctions that kill. The important thing for these people is that they FEEL virtuous, and a simplistic morality tale does that. Too much information makes for a more complex story, one where the US is far from virtuous, more like evil, and such information is labeled Russian propaganda. We live in an idiocracy, cultivated and fed propaganda by a political class that depends on people not knowing, or caring.
Posted by: Mike R | Aug 25 2023 13:34 utc | 46
Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 25 2023 12:54 utc | 41
########
I really enjoy and appreciate your comments, friend.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 25 2023 13:38 utc | 47
Both Kursk and Stalingrad have similarities with today's situation in Ukraine. Each involved exhausting offenses wearing out attacking German forces and Russians maintaining large numbers of fresh troops out of the fight until the proper time for counteroffensive. Results were devastating for the Germans in both situations.
Posted by: Kilo Tango | Aug 25 2023 13:55 utc | 48
Posted by: Kilo Tango | Aug 25 2023 13:55 utc | 49
A Russian counter-attack coming out of Tokmak just as AFU think they have made a penetration would seal the deal re. Kursk.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 25 2023 13:59 utc | 49
Are there ever really any truly "good guys" in war or politics?
Posted by: farm ecologist | Aug 25 2023 13:30 utc | 45
The dichotomy of good and evil is a false one.
It has led to the fracture of the human mind and spirit.
And paradoxically to the inability to distinguish one from the other.
While they think in terms of "good" and "evil", heroes and villains, they will forever be lost in illusion.
And lost in illusion they will be at mercy of the enemy: the master of lies.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 25 2023 14:03 utc | 50
Russophobes from Bild threw a tantrum that this week the German economy experienced a "rainy day and sank heavily." As they state:1. Germany is in a recession.
2. The German economy continues to shrink.
3. The competitiveness of mechanical engineering has fallen to its lowest level in the last 30 years.
4. There is a catastrophic shortage of trained workers in industry.
5. Hamburg capacity dropped by 12%
6. The amount of German goods sent outside the EU fell by almost 3%.At the same time, anything is indicated as reasons - Scholz's policy, the stubborn "traffic light coalition", wrong laws, bureaucracy, etc. and so on. Just not the war in Ukraine, US policy and sanctions against the Russian Federation, which in fact are the main reasons for the destruction of the German economy, which in July gave Russia the 5th line in the world ranking in terms of GDP. As expected, the Russophobes from Bild do not see their own guilt in what is happening, although they actively called for sanctions and war. And now they pretend that they have nothing to do with it. Pathetic hypocrites.
PS. At the same time, the Russian economy, which is under sanctions, continues to grow, albeit modestly. The wonderful policy of the German leadership. So squandering Merkel's legacy is something you have to be able to do.
Translated from Colonel Cassad
(https://t.me/colonel_cassad/115170)
@Transformer / TG
Germany is sinking. At this point it doesn't matter if it's related to sanctions or not - they are done. And with it, Poland, the parasite in the EU is done.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 25 2023 14:12 utc | 51
"At this point it doesn't matter if it's related to sanctions or not"
meant to say,
"At this point it doesn't matter if they admit it's related to sanctions or not"
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 25 2023 14:14 utc | 52
Mike R . "We live in an ideocracy, cultivated and fed propaganda by a political class that depends on people not knowing, or caring."
Excellent!
But as for 'depends on people not knowing or caring' the political class has to have them occupied by bread and circuses or, in Arduous Huxley's, 'Brave new World" provide sex, drugs and 'no family'.
Mi-8 helicopter is a 1960s workhorse widely available for purchase on open market. Complete and operational from around $5 million. Which is to say they are still useful and somewhat valuable. High tech? Hardly.
Posted by: oldhippie | Aug 25 2023 14:17 utc | 55
Posted by: Jmaas | Aug 25 2023 13:30 utc | 46
One of Napoleon's maxims: "Never reinforce failure"
Ukes may have missed that one.
Of course Nappy said it in French and I am too dumb to have ever learned the language properly even though I did take 6 years of it in Canada.
German state media reports that German security services blame the notorious “Andromeda link” (some Ukrainian guys on a boat, but Z shall have known nothing whatsoever) for blowing up the Nord Streams:
(report in German):
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/nord-stream-taeter-andromeda-ukraine-krieg-russland-100.html
It seems that the time has come to start throwing Kiev under the bus. What may have triggered it? Counter offensive not going well? Siege of Sevastopol already over? Too much new battalions formed in Russia for surprises? Has the armoury run out? Or is there too much trouble with Ukrainian refugees in German streets?
Posted by: Seneschal | Aug 25 2023 14:28 utc | 57
German state media reports that German security services blame the notorious “Andromeda link” (some Ukrainian guys on a boat, but Z shall have known nothing whatsoever) for blowing up the Nord Streams: Posted by: Seneschal | Aug 25 2023 14:28 utc | 58
Or maybe it's just that the German liberal media is covering for Biden and Zelensky, being the cucks they are. "Zelensky didn't know about it".
The bottom line is this. Russia took some losses of the investment they made, but EU companies took the other half of losses. EU is royally screwed with unbearably high gas prices to the point that bankruptcies or shutdowns are higher than ever, the debt crisis is making a comeback, and they got kicked out of African colonies.
The liberals are ignoring all of this, but it will also mean that the ability to support Ukraine war without causing problems in other parts of the society is becoming increasingly difficult. It's going to be over in the next year, or two, at least as far as active phase and active resistance, not to speak about offensives go.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 25 2023 14:41 utc | 58
Russia holds the high ground east, west and south of Robotyne with its defensive lines 2-4, so probably Ukraine isn't going anywhere.. .I like Kos's remark on it: "After Ukraine takes the high ground it's all downwhill from there." . . .heh
Posted by: Don Bacon | Aug 25 2023 14:45 utc | 59
news headline:
Heineken sells its Russian operations for €1, taking a €300M loss.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Aug 25 2023 14:49 utc | 60
@Don Bacon | Aug 25 2023 14:49 utc | 61
But the big guy gets 10% from the $1 or from the $300m ?
Posted by: rk | Aug 25 2023 14:52 utc | 61
Lots of people on this site mixing up rouge and rogue...sorry for being pedantic.
Posted by: Anthony | Aug 25 2023 14:59 utc | 62
@LoveDonbass: :)
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 25 2023 14:03 utc | 51
Are there ever really any truly "good guys" in war or politics? ................
Good and evil are abstract labels not as meaningful as they seem.
============================================
In traditional societies structured around honour conventions (marriage vows, oaths of office etc.) the core issue revolves around how and/or whether one keeps one's oath (as husband, wife, Judge, King, Officer, worker under contract etc.) along with the heartfelt spirit and intention from which that Oath was inspired [lit: in-spirited].
In this context any dispute involves two or more 'honourable' men who have reached an impasse who then make their case directly to the King at Court. How such disputes are handled is of paramount importance to any ‘civilized’ Society and of course closely relates to how corruption is managed, for by definition corruption, in any honour-based Society, means one has broken one's oath.
Through this lens, what is happening with Trump is muddled. Did he or did he not break his oath of office? That should be the main, if not the only, question. If he did not, then everything now unfolding is wrong (or 'evil'); if he did, then he should have been impeached by his honourable Senate peers who voted not to do so, making the current criminal processes both inappropriate and dishonorable.
Instead, we witness a Society no longer held together by an honour code lost in arguing bitter nothings whilst making private individuals pay for actions taken in their official capacities, both Trump himself and many of his lawyers and assistants.
thanks b.. thanks unimperator and some other posters..
Posted by: james | Aug 25 2023 15:13 utc | 64
Anthony 14.59 @63 ; rouge and rogue.
I often get the feeling that the predictive text function deliberately sabotages blog posts.
It is easy to miss when your writing has gone rouge.
Predictive text can be turned off.
Posted by: CitizenSmith | Aug 25 2023 15:16 utc | 65
Whoever said ‘this isn’t COIN this is Kursk’ is an idiot, should quit the military and start flipping burgers for a living.
NATO spent 8 years training most of these Ukrainian troops for COIN, raids, ambushes, small scale assaults, infiltration etc as they were designed to take on the separatist militia’s and the trainers had experience of that small-scale warfare. Tacking on a few weeks, possibly months of accelerated assault training and corps manoeuvres is pointless, the troops under pressure will revert to their old training routines.
No it is NOT Kursk! The Germans had far more advantages attacking Russian defence lines than the Ukrainians do now.
a) German tanks had a range advantage of between 500-1000 metres over Russian armour, with some vehicles virtually impervious to all but the largest calibres
b) Massed Russian artillery was programmed and inflexible, only smaller calibre guns and heavy mortars were used for responsive on call fire.
c) German troops were better trained than the Russians.
d) German troops enjoyed air dominance over their axes of attacks, which they used highly effectively.
e) Russian mobile obstacle detachments were far more constrained in their activities
f) Due to d, the Germans could concentrate forces and repeatedly exploit their tactical superiority to surprise Russian defenders.
g) Mine technology was far simpler to counter and the devices far less destructive.
h) The Germans had far more armour than the Ukrainians, which was superior to most Russian armour.
So, Ukraine has none of the advantages the German’s possessed, whilst the Russians have far more than their historical counterparts, but the Ukrainians are expected to do better!
Posted by: Milites | Aug 25 2023 15:21 utc | 66
I can see Russian troops over running Ukrainian positions very soon. Hope they can handle massive numbers of Ukrainian prisoners.
Posted by: Leroy | Aug 25 2023 15:25 utc | 67
I hope Russians will never forget Germany in regards to how they approached the special operation. Russia should not encourage German economy and focus on different Allie’s in EU. Hypocrite Germany should learn this lesson. They’ve been forgiven by Russia with ww2. And they should be a neutral country considering their past history. Germans are the most hypocrite two faces people.
Posted by: Innuendo | Aug 25 2023 15:31 utc | 68
He had made so many enemies ...The official confirmation of his death is taking a long time. It could mean the bodies are not easily identified. The fuselage looked fairly intact in the videos of the plane falling, it was missing a wing though.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 25 2023 15:33 utc | 69
CitizenSmith | Aug 25 2023 15:16 utc | 66
It is easy to miss when your writing has gone rouge.Many people have gone rouge these days, it is a trend.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 25 2023 15:38 utc | 70
During BRICS, Putin held meetings with all the leaders of the war zone districts. I'd thought about posting some of them, but there didn't seem to be much interest. Those four meetings can be found on this roster of recent events, in Russian of course. The Security Council also met today, but no meaningful info was released. I do suggest reading the meeting with Kherson's acting governor Volodymyr Saldo as they discuss the rehabilitation from the dam's destruction and future alternatives to move the regions grain. There's no anticipation of the future being interrupted by Kiev's offensive.
As for the combat around Robotyne, the village is destroyed, and I doubt the Ukies have the forces to hold what they've gained as all reserve formations have been committed. There's another factor in play behind the scenes related to the timing of a Russian offensive and that's the upcoming elections that was one of the topics discussed by Putin with the four regional leaders as their safety is an important issue.
Maria Zakharova's short article on DU was published by Komsomolskaya Pravda and provides some curious history about it--it was developed during WW2 by the Nazis. I plan to provide the full translation at my substack soon. Here's an excerpt:
In 2015-2017, the Italian parliament (as the country whose contingent most actively used depleted uranium ammunition during the NATO aggression in the Balkans) issued a 252-page report on the effects of depleted uranium and radioactive thorium on the military personnel of the Italian armed forces. According to studies commissioned by the parliamentary commission, in places where depleted uranium ammunition was used, a multiple increase in cancer is recorded. Accurate data were published on the Italian military who used depleted uranium ammunition. Of the 7500 exposed to toxic substances and radiation, 372 people died (5% mortality: every 20th person). Moreover, they died from painful oncological complications: kidney dysfunction, lung cancer, bone cancer, esophageal cancer, degenerative skin development, Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia.Now, unfortunately, the threat that Russia has repeatedly warned the Ukrainian population about is confirmed on Ukrainian territory. Due to the supply of radioactive and highly toxic British and American depleted uranium munitions, Ukraine is turning into an uninhabitable land. Radiation contamination of the soil is already occurring.
It is objectively recorded.
Re: Posted by: Mike R | Aug 25 2023 13:34 utc | 47
I’m glad you stated “many Americans”… because certainly not majority. The majority of Americans are very unhappy with “domestic policies” of late, on all sides of the fence, and that bleeds unto “foreign policies”. Regardless of these targeted polls & reflections in media of a “supportive” foreign policy that doesn’t exist outside of an echo chamber of mostly Hollywood/media narratives.
It’s not compatible to have a thoroughly fed up populous with domestic policies & think this same populous has faith & trust in this same governance for foreign policies.
Sure, dangle any object of hate at the American populace and they’ll enjoy the shiny object while “fashionable”, but most simply don’t care after awhile.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 25 2023 15:49 utc | 72
Posted by: Innuendo | Aug 25 2023 15:31 utc | 69
Germans are like you, believe it or not.
The german state is not run by its citizen. You could ask of course "Why is it like that?".
Then you will find out, that US-, french and british soldiers are still in germany. When they leave, independence could start. A sign of souvereignity is the absence of foreign troops inside the country.
But of course i hope, the RF will not forget.
In the end, germans "accepts" the doing of their elected representation. They are responsible for allowing them to send weapons, support coups etc.
Posted by: 600w | Aug 25 2023 15:52 utc | 73
In July the Russian High Command estimated that around 1 Sept the AFU would largely be spent force as far as soldiers, ammo and weapons. So Expect Russia to go on a large scale offensive in mid-Sept. This gives AFR almost a month to further wage attrition against the Ukies on all fronts and further build up large stockpiles of weapons and ammo.
I'm guessing when the Russians attack they will go big, starting with Shock and Awe lodged against NATO/AFU command centers in Kiev and Kramatorsk. Maybe take down the power grid and degrade Starlink while they're at it. In this massive Fog of War, rush 150K troops from the NE with 600 tanks and thousands of drones to surround the forces on the eastern frontlines from the rear, then dig in for the winter to finish off the Ukies in February when the ground hardens again.
Posted by: posa | Aug 25 2023 15:56 utc | 74
@ Milites | Aug 25 2023 15:21 utc | 67
thanks for that..
@ 600w | Aug 25 2023 15:52 utc | 74
i agree with you.. germany is foreign occupied and no better way is to see it from the point of view of american troops and bases on germany... i hope you are able to gain your independence too.. we aren't much different here in canada with our complete subservience to the usa - nato and ''friends''...
Posted by: james | Aug 25 2023 15:59 utc | 75
@72 Cont'd--
As threatened, here's the Zakharova article, "Maria Zakharova on Depleted Uranium: Dead Land: Western Depleted Uranium Shells Turn Ukraine into Uninhabitable Territory".
So who is actually directing this continued hopeless assault on dug in RF defensive lines (actually so far the UFA have only been in the battle in the crumple zones, not even reaching the first Russian d lines), and that has cost the Nazi Galacians over 2500 MBT's, IVF's, APC's and MRAP's of all types and descriptions, and close to 100 K KIA's and who knows how many wounded 200K ? Who? Why? Its just mind boggling to witness this inept political war unfold................an all out attempt to extend NATO into the belly of Russia is failing before our very eyes.......its surreal. Sending lightly armored troop carriers into arty and ATGM kill zones is beyond bizarre........its really an armored Banzi charge.
Apparently the deep state deep thinkers in DC are now desperate? The Nuland War seems to be reaching a conclusion, and blowback will not be pretty. Great potential here for a France May 1940 collapse now. Stay tuned.
A note here.....Pat Buchanan, American commentator, Presidential candidate and writer stated over twenty years ago that he believed that the planned NATO expansion eastward into the Baltic and beyond was a serious error, and pointed to the extreme arrogance of NWO globlists including the Bush crew (Nuland was a part of that administration too). He clearly wrote that Russia would never tolerate NATO on its southern front whether in the Ukraine or Georgia.....he was prophetic....
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Aug 25 2023 16:13 utc | 77
"Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an antitank ditch interests me only insofar as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished." - Heinrich Himmler
Similarly, the decisionmakers in Washington and their puppets in Kiev do not care how many Ukrainian lives it takes to capture a square meter of ground, as long as they do it. Once they run out of Ukrainian met, they'll order in Poles, Czechs, etc. to man the lines.
This will only continue, because this is all free of cost to the decisionmakers, and in fact, short of launching a nuclear strike, Russia has no way to so much as mildly inconvenience the decisionmakers.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Aug 25 2023 16:16 utc | 78
Re: Posted by: Tobias Cole | Aug 25 2023 16:13 utc | 78
“its really an armored Banzi charge.”
The numerous comic images that sentence conjured was awesome! I needed those laughs… thx Tobias 🍺
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 25 2023 16:20 utc | 79
Anthony, Norwegian, Given the pedilections of the US, rouge might be closer to the truth.
Posted by: Immaculate deception | Aug 25 2023 16:27 utc | 80
Innuendo | Aug 25 2023 15:31 utc | 69
I hope Russians will never forget Germany...
Well, Russians in Germany(German Russians are the 3rd largest migrant group in the country) haven't forgotten Russia. Dmitry Orlov says they are returning to the homeland in droves.
Another bellwether of the times.
Posted by: john | Aug 25 2023 16:29 utc | 82
Aha, reread the extract, ‘US’ official’ so probably not military but a Nuland clan clone, whose knowledge of Kursk comes from The History Channel and RTS games.
Posted by: Milites | Aug 25 2023 16:30 utc | 83
Clueless Joe | Aug 25 2023 13:28 utc | 44
I'm pretty sure Zaluzhny not only knew this was becoming way too similar to Kursk, but that he also saw that it was bordering suicidal to attack...
Fuck Kursk, this is more like Rorke's Drift
...Unlike people like, say, Kuleba, and like other top military in Ukraine and Russia, he is a real professional, serious and quite competent.
You, (forgive me I must channel shadowidiot) are very obviously, nucking futs, or, the greatest coprolite ever !
The sheer scale of Zalboyarslaves' incompetence is, unfortunately, measured in the lives of the poor people he can throw into the meat grinder.
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Aug 25 2023 16:33 utc | 84
yahoo reporting ukraine breakthrough the first Russian defense line …wow
Posted by: Innuendo | Aug 25 2023 16:34 utc | 85
When I watch a movie for entertainment, I much prefer to see one where the good guys win - it is uplifting.
Some years back, popular entertainment increasingly portrays circumstances where it is hard to tell who is the good guy and if anybody wins (that was always "a thing" of course).
It is however importance to differentiate between fantasy and reality.
Things like "international law", "treaties", "democracy"...
Perception is everything.
Posted by: jared | Aug 25 2023 12:18 utc | 35
All this manichean good and evil crap is getting kind of stupid. Reality the side that is most sane and hence connected to material reality will win if the economic power is equal.
At root, it's the economic power behind a given combatant that wins the war. Plus, the people conquered are going to rally more readily to the side that is perceived as less evil and more humane, so like it or not, morality does also play a role in warfare. Putin is aware of this.
The confederacy was based on an antiquated and less productive economic system. They were also fighting to maintain their right to enslave human beings. They lost.
The Nazis were so enamored of their own irrational ideas so much they made a number of fatal blunders two years into the war based on the same irrational ideas. They took on what was a more advanced socioeconomic system and we're destroyed. Their brutality did not endear them to the many countries they invaded either. They lost.
The west is the devil is also sort of primitive thinking. Western governments are making war everywhere so they are the problem. But to put a finer point on it the west is dominated by an inferior form of capitalism. Billionaire oligarchs make all decisions, not a government. What passes for a government in the west is just a committee to manage the affairs of the oligarchs at the expense of the vast majority of the population. It's irrational.
Consequently, the west is are no longer economically competitive and must resort to crime and piracy just to sustain themselves. In their desperate effort to stave off the collapse, the RC of the west sees no alternative to WW3 and is now actively trying to bring it about. This doomed idea is bolstered by a new way of thinking that is nearly as irrational as that of the Nazis.
Nonetheless, the west is packed with wage/debt slaves that hate the government and the constant irrational wars. These slaves wish to unseat the same RC, but as yet have not found the means to carry out this Olympian task, largely because of the mythology they have been force fed from cradle to grave. In this sense the wage/debt slaves are not unlike Putin and Xi, both have a great task before then and are slowly, carefully finding the means to carry it out.
The most sane with the superior economic system are the "good guys" and ultimately they will win unless the madmen atop a dying economic system nuke us all first.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 25 2023 16:35 utc | 86
Similarly, the decisionmakers in Washington and their puppets in Kiev do not care how many Ukrainian lives it takes to capture a square meter of ground, as long as they do it. Once they run out of Ukrainian met, they'll order in Poles, Czechs, etc. to man the lines.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Aug 25 2023 16:16 utc | 79
The lesson here for me is that people will value a resource based on how much they had to pay to get it. As the cost of a Ukrainian trooper is small they are of little value. The cost of a dead civilian is even less, so civilian causalities are a minor problem. It is a human stupidity because it wastes resources, but it is the way we are. That is also why socialist redistribution schemes don't turn out well. Give somebody an asset for free and they will treat it as free and waste it.
The same with Ukraine being given all this old military hardware. Because it is in inventory it shows up as a cost, but little in the way of additional spending is needed to give it to Ukraine, and so along with Ukrainian troopers, they waste that military asset also. The political west is draining itself of the resources that would be needed if an all out war with Russia develops.
Posted by: Jmaas | Aug 25 2023 16:37 utc | 87
yahoo reporting ukraine breakthrough the first Russian defense line …wow
Western media is well known for its truthiness. Renowned, even.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Aug 25 2023 16:41 utc | 88
Posted by: Babel-17 | Aug 25 2023 10:31 utc | 26
“Imo it's likely he'll get them, but with strings attached that will be more restrictive than ever.”
You mean like that fact that the promised Swedish stridsfordon 90 IFV are to be built in Ukraine? How and by who still to be announced. Stay tuned!
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Aug 25 2023 16:43 utc | 89
That is also why socialist redistribution schemes don't turn out well. Give somebody an asset for free and they will treat it as free and waste it.
Posted by: Jmaas | Aug 25 2023 16:37 utc | 88
If all of society is created by labor, it is not redistribution if those same laborers unite to take back the full product of their labor, is it? It's simply retrieving stolen goods. The world has been stolen from those who have labored to create it.
Socialism isn't a redistribution scheme. Read about it. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 25 2023 16:47 utc | 90
@ 79.
Oh they're inconvenienced by the complete paralyzing, dysfunction of governance. It isn't great even for them in the long-term.
Shit just doesn't *work* anymore.
Given the absolute state of Germany and the fact to them open Nazism in Ukraine is no big deal. Maybe it's time for Hitler's descendants to come back from Argentina along with the other "fourth reich" exiles, and seek power from the shit-beigeists currently squatting in Berlin.
--------
@ 84
That's a grevious insult to RTS games, at this point. The History Channel OTOH...
----------
@ 80
Yeah, and what the NAFO chuckleheads shit-posting about more magic Western tanks being sent, don't get.
Is that the AFU is going to run out of properly trained tanks-crews. Just like the Wehrmacht & SS whose branding & logos they love so well...
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 25 2023 16:50 utc | 91
Stormtrooper syndrome? (btw, they are not the good guys) How about internet commentariat disorder? Everything everywhere is always something other than it seems.
Have you seen the pictures of the lost tail plane. Please explain to me: what in those pictures points to an explosion? Or how about explaining how a pilot makes a plane lose a tail plane?
I know I’m boring, but evidence points to an accident. Live with it!
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Aug 25 2023 16:51 utc | 92
Great thread on Twitter by Armchair Warlord
https://twitter.com/ArmchairW/status/1694936052480549130
Key points
* UKR looks like Germany in early 1945
* UKR has had conscription from Feb 2022 offset RU firepower with manpower numbers
* UKR KIA about 300K
* Is UKR running out of qualified manpower? - most quality manpower has already been in uniform, many of them have died
* Mass mobilisation like Volksturm , not enough time for training
40% of German WWII causalities were in last year (44-45)
* Numbers alone do not create combat power
* Combat power needs equipment, training as well as fit motivated people
Training of UKR personnel seems to be breaking down
* NATO running out of equipment
So after losing his third army, Zelensky is looking at raising a fourth one to fight the Russians from children and the elderly, which cannot be trained or equipped to fight modern war.
This "Ukrainian Volkssturm" will not lengthen the war, but they will make it bloodier still.
Posted by: Aslangeo | Aug 25 2023 16:56 utc | 93
Why would the West care for Ukr. lives when the Ukrainians don't care. Dying in war against Russia is a higher purpose for the most Ukrainians. So, no matter the casualties, Ukr. is in fact in acceptable position as their population accepts these casualties as something normal ore even desirable..
Posted by: simplex | Aug 25 2023 8:26 utc | 15
-------------------------------------------------------
You could be right simplex, but I don't think so. Neither of us know what the average Ukraine thinks, or how they feel about the SMO, because there in NO free press (all news is censored in Ukraine and the only media allowed to exist must be approved by Zelensky).
The same is true for opposition parties, anyone who disagrees with Zelensky about the war (or anything else) will be jailed, murdered, or forced to go into exile.
So, simplex, both of our views are moot.
Posted by: Ed | Aug 25 2023 17:01 utc | 94
The writing was on the wall early May of 2022:
https://www.bushcenter.org/newsroom/president-george-w-bush-meets-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy
Could former President "Mad Dog" Bush have done a better job of placing a curse on Project Ukraine back in early May 2022?
"I was honored to spend a few minutes talking with President Zelensky – the Winston Churchill of our time – this morning. I thanked the President for his leadership, his example, and his commitment to liberty, and I saluted the courage of the Ukrainian people." ...
Posted by: Oswald | Aug 25 2023 17:02 utc | 95
the decisionmakers in Washington and their puppets in Kiev do not care how many Ukrainian lives it takes to capture a square meter of ground, as long as they do it. Once they run out of Ukrainian met, they'll order in Poles, Czechs, etc. to man the lines.
This will only continue, because this is all free of cost to the decisionmakers, and in fact, short of launching a nuclear strike, Russia has no way to so much as mildly inconvenience the decisionmakers.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Aug 25 2023 16:16 utc | 79
You are correct about the first part, the modern war is a zombie war, drone people. You make idiotic nations during a period of time, buy their leaders and media, then send them to die for you.
But on the second part you are wrong. The proxy thing still works only because there's no war outside Russia, there's no danger for the local puppets. Why would they stop if it works so well for them? ECOWAS is exactly the same. Or look at Argentina, they received $1.3bn from US. What do you think a poor country like that has to do for $1.3bn from Vicky?
Posted by: rk | Aug 25 2023 17:09 utc | 96
@79 feral finster
"
his will only continue, because this is all free of cost to the decisionmakers, and in fact, short of launching a nuclear strike, Russia has no way to so much as mildly inconvenience the decisionmakers.
"
You are correct about the soldiers and equipment lost.there is also the economic war though, to start the EU subsidized a trillion dollars last year to protect their citizens from energy cost increases, and all the Ukrainian subsidies are fueling inflation in America (as much of it comes back to the US).
These are serious dangers to the west due to social instability. They very much count them I assure you. And there's a host of secondary opportunity cost problems as well in regards to prioritizing military spending over the civilian sector.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Aug 25 2023 17:11 utc | 97
That you think Good and Evil, Truth and Lie have no influence on outcome speaks to your lack of understanding about all conflict. It is what determines the outcome, that on which all other contributing factors depend. The most moral force wins, it is a natural law, even if you are far forom Perfect if you are relatively better than your foe you will prevail. The problem the Dead, (which is the condition of most people on the earth although they are not aware enough to know it), have is that they can't see. What is True (good) and Lie (evil) is beyond their (your) perception.
Posted by: c temple | Aug 25 2023 17:17 utc | 98
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Aug 25 2023 16:51 utc | 93
I know I’m boring, but evidence points to an accident. Live with it!
Evidence?
You think we have "Evidence" ?
We have nothing.
We have a facade'.
A simulacrum of a simulacrum..
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 25 2023 17:19 utc | 99
Posted by: Anthony | Aug 25 2023 14:59 utc | 63
"Lots of people on this site mixing up rouge and rogue...sorry for being pedantic."
There are also many that mix up 'loose' and 'lose.'
Posted by: Peter 4805 | Aug 25 2023 17:20 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
The capture of Robotyne is worthless. All it buys the AFU is the privilege of being made perpetual artillery targets.
A new "cauldron".
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 25 2023 5:58 utc | 1