Arch Bungle | Sep 1 2023 10:44 utc | 150
I’m with you on that Arch. One of the things that gives me some optimism is that nothing seems to work in the US and I hope that their nukes will be just like everything else.

Posted by: ZimZum | Sep 1 2023 12:17 utc | 303

Posted by: Rune Denmark | Sep 1 2023 5:41 utc | 130 “The rump Ukraine is allowed to merge with Poland (& a bit with Hungary) on the condition that Poland (& Hungary) will exit NATO”
This doesn’t seem likely as Poland is in the process of a huge rearmament campaign and wants the US to store nuclear weapons in Poland.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-05/poland-is-in-talks-with-us-about-nuclear-weapons-president-says

Posted by: Ed4 | Sep 1 2023 12:21 utc | 305

SCCC | Sep 1 2023 11:07 utc | 154
That’s the thing, the mental field needs to be ready for the seed, but so many of them are barren wastelands.
I keep going. Trying to explain the world as I know it and it’s a bit like water eroding a stone, but there are a lot of people who don’t believe the stories being told and are quiet about it.
The MSM is like a straight-jacket and the mild dissidents have no idea as to how many of them there are, so they just shut up.
I reckon there is a huge number of mild dissidents waiting, totally not believing the MSM bullshit and as the lies become too big to be credible the fall will be huge and quick.

Posted by: ZimZum | Sep 1 2023 12:36 utc | 307

… a little something to increase the cold chills …

The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty
This was announced by the general director of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov.
“Sarmat” is the most powerful missile with the world’s longest target engagement range. It is capable of hitting targets at long ranges using various flight trajectories.
The weight of one projectile of the complex exceeds 200 tonnes. The range of fire is 18,000 kilometres.

https://t.me/CyberspecNews/40884

Posted by: SattaMassaGana | Sep 1 2023 12:36 utc | 309

For less than 3 percent of our nation’s military budget, we’ve enabled Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military strength by half.
Posted by: SCCC | Sep 1 2023 4:44 utc | 127
I seem to remember one of shrub bushes controller’s making similar claims about Iraq.
Didn’t quiet go to plan that time as I recall.
Reality and recent historical precedents isn’t a concept these morons take on board when making decisions.

Posted by: jpc | Sep 1 2023 12:49 utc | 311

Posted by: Jason | Sep 1 2023 2:34 utc | 118

……
German leader publicly said Putin promised him that the comedian in Kyiv will not be dealt with.
Why?
Putin’s children are living in Germany and Berlin uses this fact to blackmail Putin. This is costing Russia dearly…

simple a primitive LIE
both daughters are under sanctions of USA and EU since April 2022

Posted by: ghiwen | Sep 1 2023 12:49 utc | 313

Does it tell which direction it’s pointing by any chance?
Posted by: Themanwhofelltoearth | Sep 1 2023 12:50 utc | 169

Nope … afraid not … I think we are supposed to guess, however if that is truly the case I don’t think its too hard work it out …

Posted by: SattaMassaGana | Sep 1 2023 12:55 utc | 315

SCCC | Sep 1 2023 4:44 posted THIS:

“From RT, just now:
>>> The US is using Ukraine as the tip of the spear against Russia … For less than 3 percent of our nation’s military budget, we’ve enabled Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military strength by half …”

Can you share with MoA barflies the link to the quoted RT text (“RT just now: … ” etc.)?
Thanks in advance.

Posted by: LongCovid | Sep 1 2023 13:14 utc | 317

@ arthur brogard, §86:
You´re absolutely right, Arthur. But consider the similar behaviour of England and the West towards the protagonists in Syria:
CV Assad of Syria:
Elected 2014-2019 with 60% vote, secular leader tolerant of all minorities, including Jews and Christians. Egalitarian, with women in parliament and the professions. President’s party holds 134 seats in Parliament, opposition holds 116 seats.
CV Salman of Arabia:
hereditary absolute monarch. No parliament. Religious law (‘sharia’). No women allowed unaccompanied, free on the streets. Promotes Wahhabism, intolerant of all religions, even differing versions of Islam. Promotes these views violently. Public corporal punishment or death penalty for dissent.
Which side do you think the UK people support?
Which side do you think the UK government support?
Why?

Posted by: John Marks | Sep 1 2023 13:19 utc | 319

Retired General Ben Hodges exposed
Want to see a General ripped apart?
This 28 minute interview is one of the best I’ve seen. Afshin Rattansi (Going Underground) does his homework and destroys Hodges along with his accurate and detailed account of U.S. imperial crimes which bring us to the impending collapse of Ukraine and the Rules Based Order. I put this under the Ukraine thread because Rattansi ties his questions to the Ukraine debacle while bringing up lots of history.
https://rumble.com/v3cfylo-ex-us-army-europe-commanding-general-ben-hodges-challenged-on-russia-nato-p.html

Posted by: migueljose | Sep 1 2023 13:22 utc | 321

As reported by CyberSpec News Telegram channel…
https://t.me/CyberspecNews/40877
The West demands that Kiev increase the size of the AFU and break through the front, regardless of losses.
These are the leaflets that were distributed today near one of the educational institutions in Kharkov.
“Education will not save the country! Join the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”
Kiev is already ready to call upon those who are receiving a second higher education, deputies, workers of defense enterprises and those with limited fitness for military service.
The head of the organization “GUR of Ukraine” Budanov said that the conflict should be transferred to the territory of Russia and that “the wider the operations, the better”
None of the versions of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crash, including the explosion on board, has been confirmed after examination for explosives in the cabin and on the fuselage.
Now they began to assemble the aircraft in a special hangar for a more accurate clarification of the circumstances.
🇺🇸The situation in Niger plunged Victoria Nuland into despair
The US undersecretary of state, who has extensive experience in organizing campaigns to destabilize countries and has a reputation as a “crude tool for defending Washington’s hegemonic interests”, gathered in South Africa at the end of June. A few hours before the start of her tour, the pro-Western government in Niger was overthrown.
A Grayzone source in South Africa said that in 20 years of working with the Americans, he had never seen them in such despair.
For Nuland, the realization that she was negotiating from a position of weakness was likely like an abrupt awakening, the American edition adds.
The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty
This was announced by the general director of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov.
“Sarmat” is the most powerful missile with the world’s longest target engagement range. It is capable of hitting targets at long ranges using various flight trajectories.
The weight of one projectile of the complex exceeds 200 tonnes. The range of fire is 18,000 kilometres.
Polish volunteer spoke about the terrible situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Slavomir Vysotsky, who delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine, gave a frank interview to Wirtualna Polska.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine did not achieve success in their offensive, which they hoped for back in the spring and summer. For months they tried to reach only the first line of defense of the Russians.
▪️According to the Pole, Ukrainian militants “look with horror” at the mass death of personnel and understand that “the Russian army has already learned everything and thoroughly prepared.”
“The human losses on the Ukrainian side are huge, Western equipment is burning like matches, it is much worse than they usually imagine,” Vysotsky said.
Losses cannot be hidden, it is enough to come to the cemetery, and “the soldiers see it too,” he added.
Budanov admitted that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers died at the front.
Answering the question of the journalist of the 1 + 1 TV channel about the losses in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Budanov noted that it would be a lie to say that things were easy:
“There are a lot of losses,” he continued, saying that this is a “reality that people need to get used to”.
Now, they are openly talking about Ukrainian losses…. Apparently, they can no longer be hidden…
Also, Nulan etal., are discovering there are limits to their power….
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 1 2023 13:26 utc | 323

Military Summary Telegram Channel Reports…
https://t.me/militarysummary/3448
In total, in August 2023, 124 Lancet hits were published:
Distribution of strikes by target type:
33 hits – Self-propelled artillery;
23 hits – Towed artillery;
19 strikes – Armored fighting vehicles;
18 hits – Tanks;
7 strikes – Radar stations;
6 hits – Anti-aircraft missile systems;
18 hits – Other targets.
All Lancet strikes for August 2023: https://lostarmour.info/stats/top-20-lancet-stikes-aug-2023
All Lancet strikes during SMO: “>https://lostarmour.info/tags/lancet
A very effective weapon!
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 1 2023 13:34 utc | 325

174 – While this is true, this kind of Volkssturm mobilise-everybody desperation versus Russia apparently conducting the SMO in second gear makes me wonder whether sheer Russian complacency might allow Kiev some opportunities for success.

Posted by: Waldorf | Sep 1 2023 13:38 utc | 327

I think that it is very hard for well meaning good people to accept that we are not the good guys and haven’t been for centuries. It destroys the very basis of their world view and most people are very reluctant to accept such a change. No one wants to believe the truth about the West that is slowly being revealed through the fog of the MSM lie machine.
It can only be worse for people who aren’t interested in the world at all. I think the possibility of a rude shock is starting to stir in the minds of a lot of people and when it hits it will be devastating.
Posted by: ZimZum | Sep 1 2023 10:24 utc | 147

Most Americans have conditioned themselves to not look too deeply into US foreign policy. They know that turning over those rocks will reveal some ugly realities, so they avoid it. Iraq should have made it clear that we are indeed the baddies, but that was over a decade ago and long memory-holed, along with the multitude of war crimes we committed there. The overriding concern of most people in the US is holding on to what they have, and not looking too deeply at a profigately wasteful lifestyle that consumes a disproportionate share of the world’s resources, and how we sustain that arrangement. Getting into those weeds might even lead one to conclude that the entire economic system that our politicians laud is a soul-sucking pile of shit that depends on the exploitation of much of the world.
And yet, most people know at some level that we are indeed the baddies, they just haven’t come to grips with that realization. Doing so would require those who claim to have a moral compass to actually take a stand. Russia provides a convenient out. People can proclaim their high moral principles by registering their outrage over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which helps them divert away from confronting their own country’s multitude of crimes against other country’s peoples. Which is why, when you point out that the US, given its past crimes, has no standing to say anything to Russia, you are quickly accused of ‘whataboutism,’ a totally ridiculous argument. I don’t know what the psychological terms are that describe this behavior, but what we are seeing are human beings at their worse.

Posted by: Mike R | Sep 1 2023 13:42 utc | 329

Posted by: Jason Fucking Lied | Sep 1 2023 3:06 utc | 120
It doesn’t really matter ; as Shoigu and Lavrov have children living overseas in the West, London being one place I remember. I can’t remember any of them ever returning to Russia. If such is still the case then those children are one point of attack on tgese two leader, and thus on the Russian war-effort.
It makes you also remember all those Ukro oligarchs who flew out their whole families days before the SMO started.
Posted by: Martina | Sep 1 2023 4:23 utc | 123
Tihkhonova and Vorontsova do not sound like Dutch surnames to me. Does Putin have three daughters rather than two?
Posted by: Jason | Sep 1 2023 2:34 utc | 118
It was the Israeli leader , not the German , that was told by Putin ,that the latter wouldn’t kill Elensky.

Posted by: Wondrous | Sep 1 2023 13:52 utc | 331

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Sep 1 2023 10:44 utc | 150
The America Republic often confounds its enemies who, having rubbed their hands in anticipation of its fall, watch it escape from the approaching danger. The current regime are finding out that minority status does not always equate to a guaranteed constituency and that illegal migration is often bitterly resented by those legal minorities. Worse, the atheistic, hedonism of modern US ‘values’ is increasingly running headlong into, and getting ensnared in, the cultural web of these migrants. America has had a war of independence and a civil war in its short history, I doubt that will change, given the country is only approaching its adolescence.
So wishing it sinks might be premature, in fact it may re-emerge closer to the wishes of its founders, which would present an entirely new set of problems for its rivals, both ideologically and commercially. As they say, beware for what you wish, you just might get it.

Posted by: Milites | Sep 1 2023 13:52 utc | 333

Margorie Taylor Greene lays out her position on Ukraine
The Republican split is growing wider as MTG detailed her position against US support for the Ukraine war:
“The Republican politician went on to point out that the intelligence community was blatantly “lying” to Americans, claiming that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, wants to “take over Europe.”
She finished with a rant on BRICS:
“This is one of the most devastating things that can happen to all of us, because what will happen is they will grow more powerful – and they already are – and the US dollar will be weakened… And you know what happens to all of us? We’re going to go broke because when our US dollar falls, that means your savings account means nothing. That means your retirement money means nothing. And that means our power to buy and sell means nothing. And this is what they are doing. This is what Washington is doing to us while they are arrogantly engaged in this war.”
Bottom line, Republican rednecks are divorcing their rich bosses. The election season is in full swing and promises to exacerbate issues which are tearing at the fabric of Americans. Lots of anger. Lots of finger pointing. Lots of confusion. Collapse continues
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/marjorie-taylor-greene-biden-dragged-us-into-proxy-war-with-russia-that-moscow-is-winning-1113041167.html

Posted by: migueljose | Sep 1 2023 13:54 utc | 335

this kind of Volkssturm mobilise-everybody desperation versus Russia apparently conducting the SMO in second gear makes me wonder whether sheer Russian complacency might allow Kiev some opportunities for success.
Posted by: Waldorf | Sep 1 2023 13:38 utc | 176
Let’s dissect this TROLL’s riposte….
1. Finally, he acknowledges the obvious…. Ukraine is scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel.. mobilizing it’s university students, Military cadets, Metro staff, and likely other critical logistics and support staff..BECAUSE THERE ARE NO OTHER OPTIONS!!
2. He notes that Russia has yet to employ > 200,000 men held in reserve, but fails to realize they are a strategic reserve to counter NATO, should it attack.
3. Despite heroic Russian efforts to kill all Ukie penetrations in their tracks, with the result that after 3 months, 60,000 Ukie dead, hundreds if not thousands of Ukie armoured vehicles destroyed, he has the temerity to advance the canard that the Russians are complacent..
4. Finally, this TROLL thinks he can pollute this thread with his vituperation, unchallenged…
INDy

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 1 2023 13:57 utc | 337

reply to 174, et al
I’m happy to read people here now thinking about the danger to Russia if Ukraine does a “Tet Offensive” sort of strategy. When they say, ‘to the last Ukrainian, people just pass it off as empty hyperbole – and it isn’t. The potential task of killing millions of Ukrainians is onerous. Even a mere 500K is daunting. Could Russia survive a decade of war?
Instead of glib assertions about possible Ukraine collapse after a failed offensive, I see a horrific continuity. They pressure Greece for another hundred tanks, get 20k soldiers trained in Britain, get a few token F-16’s and scream, ‘we have air cover now !’. They mobilize the disabled, sick, elderly and university people as part of the 500K. Then they promise a 2024 spring offensive that will drive Russia out of Crimea. And it never stops….
I see a flawless meat grinder hierarchy in place. Zelensky uses the Azov Nazis to kidnap every male off the streets until they are all dead. Obviously, the West doesn’t care. They can’t stop as an institution in place unless armed rebellion happens – extremely unlikely, who would do it? Aside from Valkyrie, did anyone stroll up to a ranting Hitler and shoot him while Germany was doomed? Nope. This horror goes the same way.
Russia could precipitate possible collapse by a huge encirclement but I’m not sure even that would end resistance. Can Russia fight down to the last Ukrainian?

Posted by: Eighthman | Sep 1 2023 14:11 utc | 339

John Marks | Sep 1 2023 13:19 utc | 172
Saudi Arabia was looking to become a big centre for artificial intelligence, but the US have announced no more top-grade AI chips are heading their way, they’re restricted to what China are allowed.
Since they decided to join Brics and make peace with Iran, the US attitude has changed, and I imagine the Brits will follow suit as usual. Russia stands up to sanctions remarkably well, but a Potemkin economy like the UKs, based on selling houses and coffee to one another, would collapse in five minutes.
According to Guardian finance editor Larry Elliott, overpriced UK houses becoming 5% more affordable is “gloomy news”.
“Every cloud has a silver lining, so they saying goes, and there was some cheerier news for Jeremy Hunt to offset today’s gloomy news on manufacturing and house prices.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2023/sep/01/uk-house-prices-fall-rail-strikes-ticket-office-closures-bank-of-england-us-non-farm-payrolls-jobs-ftse-100-business-live?page=with:block-64f1deca8f08b9a6738ac35b#block-64f1deca8f08b9a6738ac35b
The manufacturing news was indeed gloomy, but the housing news was for once good.

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Sep 1 2023 14:13 utc | 341

YetAnotherAnon @ 183

…but a Potemkin economy like the UKs, based on selling houses and coffee to one another, would collapse in five minutes.

Someone’s read Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice 😀
“Restaurant, hey. That’s what I’ve got. Whole goddam country lives selling hot dogs to each other.”

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Sep 1 2023 14:21 utc | 343

Re: Posted by: migueljose | Sep 1 2023 13:54 utc | 180
“Bottom line, Republican rednecks are divorcing their rich bosses”…
No, “donor’s are never ‘abandoned’. She’s simply in the “China…China…China” camp, openly or not. Realizing BRICS is really nothing without the SCO revolving backdoor.
“Lots of anger. Lots of finger pointing. Lots of confusion. Collapse continues.”
As intended…US Balkanization in progress

Posted by: Trubind1 | Sep 1 2023 14:22 utc | 345

Posted by: Rune Denmark | Sep 1 2023 5:41 utc | 130
Sounds like a fair plan , but I don’t blame Russia for wanting what
Posted by: SCCC | Sep 1 2023 7:23 utc | 135 mentions. Given Putin was willing to give away Crimea-for promises(Minsk 3)- and how wars have the habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, who knows what the real outcome will be?
Posted by: John Marks | Sep 1 2023 13:19 utc | 172
You are absolutely right that most British would support Salman of Saudi Arabia over Assad of Syria. Why …Because most people are stupid, weak ,brainwashed, apathetic and tired.
It pains me to say it ,but it is true whilst I try to not act in society as if it was always true. We cant stop trying to educate the people somehow .
In a similar vein, Bernays- key propagandist scholar and Freud’s nephew- when asked about democracy and propaganda or lying by governments , said ‘ democracy was too precious to leave up to the average voter’. Churchill also said democracy was the worst form of government barring all the others.
Is it any wonder that some people want an enlightened despot rather than a democracy? I would say most people worldwide agree with Putin and Xi rather than Biden,Sunak,Macron or Scholtz. I bet the RoW know who to support out of Assad and Salman , and most of them didn’t need a democracy or a free market to help them make up their minds.

Posted by: Wondrous | Sep 1 2023 14:24 utc | 347

“Aside from Valkyrie, did anyone stroll up to a ranting Hitler and shoot him while Germany was doomed? Nope.”
Yes, more than a dozen times:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assassination_attempts_on_Adolf_Hitler

Posted by: Valkyrie | Sep 1 2023 14:30 utc | 349

181 – Vituperation? Moi? Actually I am pretty reasonable. You are the one running around screaming. It may be that you do not actually know what the word “vituperation” means…
I think there has been complacency in the SMO. Not Kherson so much, but east of Kharkov last year, when Russian lines were thin and Kiev attacked and kept going. The Russian decision at long last to call more people up suggests that they realised they did not have enough troops in place and could not rely on firepower alone but hey, they must be trolls too…

Posted by: Waldorf | Sep 1 2023 14:32 utc | 351

Posted by: ZimZum | Sep 1 2023 12:17 utc | 162
Take care that you are not replacing objective analysis for a more subjectively based approach to generating conclusions. You would be in danger of replicating your opponents mistakes if you did, an anathema for a believer in the dialectical approach, surely.

Posted by: Milites | Sep 1 2023 14:37 utc | 353

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Sep 1 2023 14:21 utc | 184
—-
The version I heard was:

they eked out a precarious livelihood by taking in each other’s washing.

It goes back to at least 1876. There is a whole webpage devoted to the phrase’s etymology.

Posted by: john brewster | Sep 1 2023 14:45 utc | 355

The WSJ is peddling some far-fetched nazi hopium about a major breakthrough that no-one else seems to be aware of. I wonder if they mean that pimple near Robotyne.

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Sep 1 2023 14:50 utc | 357

reply to 187
“Attempts” ! Did he get shot? Killed? Valkyrie at least left him with splinters. There were officers after the war who claimed they were ready to walk up to him and kill him on the spot. Didn’t happen.

Posted by: Eighthman | Sep 1 2023 14:51 utc | 359

Posted by: fullybanned | Sep 1 2023 12:15 utc | 161
The Blitz, the Nazi bombing campaign on London started September 1940 and lasted for 8 months. 40,000 civilians were killed with up to 139,000 injured. Two million houses damaged or destroyed (60 percent of these in London). What would the concerned contributors here have said if they existed at that time? They’d have accused Churchill of “doing nothing” and no doubt called him and the war-time coalition government “traitors”. According to the dominant propaganda narrative, rather than reduce British morale it was accepted that ‘The Blitz’ increased Londoners resolve to defeat the Nazis. In reality there were a lack of underground shelters in working class areas which is where most of the civilian deaths occurred.
Of course the Soviet Union went through far worse in The Great Patriotic War so Russians, especially those with an understanding of Soviet history should be impervious as a society to these pin prick drone attacks, which seem to be largely undertaken to generate stirring headlines from the BBC that ‘Ukraine is still fighting’ despite millions of refugees fleeing the country, 400,000 Ukrainian forces KIA and countless others wounded and despite billions of western weapons, they’re unable to impact Russian defensive lines.
Like the BBC some contributors here have memory holed the latter catastrophic effects on the former Ukraine and chose only to highlight the negatives of the Russian campaign.

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Sep 1 2023 14:52 utc | 361

Does anyone find it odd that:
SARMAT comes on deck the exact same day as the beginning of CSTO Brotherhood 2023 exercise?
https://eng.belta.by/society/view/csto-exercise-combat-brotherhood-2023-begins-in-brest-fortress-161443-2023/

Posted by: Trubind1 | Sep 1 2023 15:10 utc | 363

Any decent acquaintance with history will inform you that expecting to go to war while incurring no harm to your civil society is an ignorant idea. In the modern era this is more true than ever.

Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 1 2023 15:11 utc | 365

Putins favourite western partner
German economist Markus Koipp said that the only way to communicate with Russians in Crimea is with the help of weapons.
“We should not negotiate with the Russians, but make it clear to them that one day they will not be able to hold military bases in the Crimea. And when, thanks to the guns, this reaches the Russians, then it is necessary to start negotiations with them about how quickly they should get out of the Crimea.
It seems to me that this is why the Crimean bridge still exists. That is, Ukraine is not currently conducting operations to completely destroy it in order to leave the Russians with a kind of corridor for the withdrawal of troops”

Posted by: SlowSoft | Sep 1 2023 15:18 utc | 367

Does anyone find it odd that:
Posted by: Trubind1 | Sep 1 2023 15:10 utc | 194
No. It was going to be activated around this time, no surprise.
The joint exercises Poland – SK on Kaliningrad border to evaluate the SK toys tanks is the hilarious news of the day.

Posted by: rk | Sep 1 2023 15:19 utc | 369

Wondrous | Sep 1 2023 14:24 utc | 186, who seems to suggest that SCCC | Sep 1 2023 7:23 utc | 135 claimed that Putin was willing to give away Crimea-for promises(Minsk 3).
In an effort to overcome being labelled an imbecile once more I went to the post (135) but could not find any such suggestion by SCCC (previously ‘S’ I think). The current identity (SCCC) did not claim that Putin was willing to give away Crimea-for promises(Minsk 3) in that post.
I’m actually surprised the identity (SCCC) hasn’t put the record straight ‘Wonderous’.
Am I the only one that remembers ‘Outraged’ and his tag-team theories?
PS The Russian MOD has provided a report for 25th Aug to 1st Sept rather than just a daily report of SMO at https://eng.mil.ru/en/index.htm on the ‘News’ link.

Posted by: Lantern Dude | Sep 1 2023 15:29 utc | 371

Posted by: Waldorf | Sep 1 2023 14:32 utc | 188
They knew they would not have enough troops, due to the expiration of the deadline for re-signing contracts, they just hoped nobody would notice. Alternatively, the SMO has been partly an exercise in preparing the Russian people for the future conflicts between East; in which case, the Kharkov retreat was designed to create the conditions for public acceptance of a mobilisation but avoiding the political fallout such a move normally generates. It really depends on what your ideological perspective is to which option you think has the greatest credibility.

Posted by: Milites | Sep 1 2023 15:30 utc | 373

https://rumble.com/v3cfylo-ex-us-army-europe-commanding-general-ben-hodges-challenged-on-russia-nato-p.html
Posted by: migueljose | Sep 1 2023 13:22 utc | 173
Thanks for posting that arse kicking. Kudos to Afshin Rattansi.
Hodges was in charge of US troops in Europe?!?!
He doesn’t seem capable enough to run an errand from a grocery store.

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Sep 1 2023 15:32 utc | 375

Sorry Lev’, you’re wrong. Specifically, I’m assuming you’re comment was aimed towards shadowbanned and Константин. Their concern has always been with the nature of the Putin regime, not with Russia or those who are patriotic to Russia. Their argument, if I can be allowed to speak for them, is that Putin’s government maintains a rentier kleptocracy that developed after the CCCP fell. That kleptocracy has ties to the west and despite the claims they serve patriotic interests, in practice their interests are foreign. If I’m wrong and your comment wasn’t directed towards them, then I apologize.

Posted by: zeke2u | Sep 1 2023 15:33 utc | 377

Posted by: Lantern Dude | Sep 1 2023 15:29 utc | 198
Who are you , Lantern Dude? The MOA policeman? I never said SCCC said any such thing. I added that myself. Try to keep up.

Posted by: Wondrous | Sep 1 2023 15:34 utc | 379

It seems to me that this is why the Crimean bridge still exists. That is, Ukraine is not currently conducting operations to completely destroy it in order to leave the Russians with a kind of corridor for the withdrawal of troops”
Posted by: SlowSoft | Sep 1 2023 15:18 utc | 196

The Crimean bridge will become less critical and redundant after Russia takes control of Zaporozhye, marking the end of the counter-offensive. It will surely occur.

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 1 2023 15:59 utc | 381

Posted by: SlowSoft | Sep 1 2023 15:18 utc | 196
I just think he is an ideologue , or just a cunning academic who knows which side his bread is buttered. He will look the fool when Russia wins the war as it appears it will in due time.

Posted by: Wondrous | Sep 1 2023 16:13 utc | 383

zeke2u | Sep 1 2023 15:33 utc | 201
“Putin’s government maintains a rentier kleptocracy that developed after the CCCP fell”
Putin would never have got into power without the support of the oligarchs, indeed they put him there because they thought he was their man.
Masha Gessen, no Putin fangirl, quoting Boris Berozofsky.
https://theintercept.com/2015/06/11/russian-oligarch-wanted-turn-joke-reality/
When Putin became president, I was for a long time in a state of profound naiveté. Well, I went to him … I told him: “Listen, Volodya, what happened: we destroyed the entire political space. Devoured, not destroyed, but devoured it. We absolutely dominated … Look, I’ll suggest that we can not have effective political system, if there’s a tough competition. So I suggest we create an artificial two-party system. So, let’s say, the left and right. A Socially Oriented party and neo-conservatives liberal party. Choose any. And I’ll make another party. At the same time, my own heart is closer to neoconservatives, and I think so, you [Putin] are socially oriented. ”
Pretty much the sort of Potemkin democracy we have in the West.
The story of how he wrested power from the oligarchs will make a great opera one day, if Russia survives. But it would be foolish to pretend the oligarchs are now powerless. Russia is not China, where their Elon Musk/Steve Jobs equivalent, the Alababa guy Jack Ma, crossed the State and paid a hefty price.

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Sep 1 2023 16:22 utc | 385

Posted by: Mike R | Sep 1 2023 13:42 utc | 177
“Which is why, when you point out that the US, given its past crimes, has no standing to say anything to Russia, you are quickly accused of ‘whataboutism,’ a totally ridiculous argument. I don’t know what the psychological terms are that describe this behavior, but what we are seeing are human beings at their worse.”
Mental health specialists call that “projection” and it is a pretty good description of US foreign policy generally. In fact a pretty good rule of thumb is that when the US regime accuses their “villainous rivals” of this or that crime, you can be pretty well damned sure that Uncle Sam is doing just that himself.
The US regime “worries” about the use of biological weapons by the Russian Federation in Ukraine while having a truckload of Ukrainian labs devoted to developing and using such weapons; and on and on and on. Nuclear weapons, bombing the nuclear power plant, heck, bombing the pipeline was even, for a time, idiotically attributed to the Russians themselves. No claim is too ridiculous. It’s the United States of Ridiculous. So we now have:
The Empire of Illusions (Chris Hedges)
The Empire of Lies (Vladimir Putin)
The United States of Forget (Gore Vidal)
The American Dream (that you have to be asleep to believe in) (George Carlin)
The Great Satan (Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini)
The Great Hypnotizer (paraphrased from Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech)
and now we have
The United States of Ridiculous.
Take your pick. lol.

Posted by: N Hanrahan | Sep 1 2023 16:23 utc | 387

The Ukie/NATO attack on the Pskov Airbase keeps on giving…
Using it’s twitter account, Armchair Warlord’s analysis…
Update and a little analysis on the attack on Pskov Airfield.
Looks like that map was spot on…
Russian officials now also think AFU used the lakes to attack the airbase…
Even if launched from the sea – using the Baltics air space is an act of war IF the country did NOT know it. And if they knew – Russia has the right to retailiate.
First of all this was not a gimmicky operation with cheap drones. Loitering munitions of some kind were used – I personally suspect Switchblade 600s – fired in a large swarm with sophisticated EW support.
So because nobody is going to come riding to Kallas’ rescue at this point, Putin now has diplomatic leverage over NATO to refrain from calling what is now a bluff on Article 5. He’s a dealmaker and he’s using it. It’s significant the Russians haven’t cast blame yet.
At this point I see one of two things happening:
1. Russia casts blame, does an overt retaliatory attack in the Baltics, and NATO stands down for it.
2. NATO quietly makes some serious strategic concession elsewhere and the Russians pretend these drones teleported from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian advance on Tokmak (their first significant objective on the road to Melitopol) is now going so badly that they’re now attacking down a valley that runs at a ninety-degree angle to their intended axis of advance in an attempt to show some – any – progress.
You can’t make this stuff up!
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 1 2023 16:25 utc | 389

“The WSJ is peddling some far-fetched nazi hopium about a major breakthrough that no-one else seems to be aware of. I wonder if they mean that pimple near Robotyne.”
Posted by: Figleaf23 | Sep 1 2023 14:50 utc | 191
I’ll believe the breakthrough stories when we see Challenger tanks racing into Melitopol.

Posted by: dh | Sep 1 2023 16:31 utc | 391

Black Mountain Analysis has a new article, just as a heads up.
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/geopolitics-update-i

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 1 2023 16:44 utc | 393

They knew they would not have enough troops, due to the expiration of the deadline for re-signing contracts, they just hoped nobody would notice. Alternatively, the SMO has been partly an exercise in preparing the Russian people for the future conflicts between East; in which case, the Kharkov retreat was designed to create the conditions for public acceptance of a mobilisation but avoiding the political fallout such a move normally generates. It really depends on what your ideological perspective is to which option you think has the greatest credibility.
Posted by: Milites | Sep 1 2023 15:30 utc | 199
I find it interesting that so much space on this thread is being occupied by a debate WRT Russian intents, actions, and capabilities at the Beginning of the SMO. Nearly 18 months ago…
FYI…..
This is a war…..
In wars, initial assumptions/plans are destroyed upon contact with the enemy…
Was the case here…
Russia’s initial de=capitation strike against Ukie leadership in Kiev didn’t work out….
BUT….
Russian advances in Zaporizhe/Kherson succeeded…. They got control of the lock&dam and re-opened the water supply to Crimea…. They got control of ZNPP… They got a bridgehead for an assault on Odessa..
Then….
The Ukies regrouped….. Putting the Russians in a bind… Enlistments expired…. making things worse
AND….
The Russians mobilized 300,000 reservists…
AND…..
The Russians mobilized their war plants….
AND…
The Russians bought Iranian Drones and began mass production of their own
AND…
The Russians put their brains together and developed loitering munitions like Lancet..
AND….
We are where we are today….
That is….
Ukies pound their heads against Russian defences… losing tens of thousands monthly…
While…
The Russians build, innovate, make friends, develop new trade routes…
AND….
NATO burns up it’s munition stocks…
So…..
Now what???
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 1 2023 16:46 utc | 395

I do agree with Alex Christoforous take on the Pskov attack. It is unlikely that Ukraine managed to send multiple drones 800km, crossing Belarus without anyone noticing. They would need a fair amount of fuel also. I know Simplicius has a different take.
It looks like a direct attack from NATO, but as always we need the evidence. Clearly, the US is desperate for a war with Russia. The idea that an assassination in the US could be arranged to create a casus belli is not that far fetched.

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 1 2023 16:50 utc | 397

Posted by: Waldorf | Sep 1 2023 10:58 utc | 152
What happening with Aslin? Did he get an agent and land expert guest slot on evening news?

Posted by: sln2002 | Sep 1 2023 16:54 utc | 399