Could I repeat a comment made here recently:-
Simplicius puts up this interview. The video seems to come to an end but runs on if you let it.
https://twitter.com/simpatico771/status/1744097411184644433?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
The key section, when it comes to considering the start of the SMO and the reason for it. A rough transcript of a poor translation:-
“The fact is, at the time of February 24th, in the direction of Donetsk and Crimea, a group of up to 70.000 was gathering, clearly with the aim of not conducting exercises, I mean here from the Ukrainian side.
“Well, and in order to relieve the pressure on the guys who were in that direction, that is to divide the grouping, there was this detour to Kiev, on order to divide their group into two parts for that, They had to, on an emergency basis, send roughly 35,000 people back, and while they were returning back we essentially went all the way to Kiev.”
In short, a preemptive attack on the Kiev forces in order to prevent them getting into the Donbass. And a diversionary attack on Kiev to split those Kiev forces.
If the Russian speakers here could do a better translation that would be useful. Because here we see laid out the justification for the SMO.

Posted by: English Outsider | Jan 9 2024 15:32 utc | 4

It is very clear to me that this was the intention from the start.
The Kiev-direction expedition had two phases:
1) the “shock and awe” phase: rapid progress to Kiev, intimidation of senior officials, possible meltdown of chains of command. It had worked very well in Crimea in 2014. It makes sense they would try it again. Also, something isn’t a “failure” if what you hoped does not happen. The Russians accepted the long odds. Again, this is rational behaviour. This phase went on for around a week, perhaps a bit more.
2) The “shaping operation” phase, with the 50km long convoy and the 30,000 soldiers nearing Kiev. This was meant to force the Ukrainians to divert vast number of soldiers from the real prize (Donbass). This worked extremely well, as I remember some 200,000 soldiers (at least) in Kiev waiting for the Russian assault (and hoping they would make mince meat of them).
Note that the Russians took in the first seven weeks or so (until they retired from near Kiev) most of the territory they hold now. There can be no doubt the operation was brilliant, and Gerasimov is a very, very smart cookie.

Posted by: Augusto Pi | Jan 9 2024 15:54 utc | 6

The more things change…
https://ragheadthefiendlyterrorist.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/the-last-days-of-ukranazistan-cxxxii/
Spent three evenings on this so I tnsist on forcing it on your notice :-/

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jan 9 2024 16:06 utc | 8

A recent large fascist march in Italy. Fascism in Europe it being re-ermerged by no doubt the usual suspects to continue the anglo war against Russia. Australia has just passed a law banning nazism, exactly what it voted against at the UN. This is what Russia has foreseen and what it is gearing up top fight. For this, Ukraine has been little more than a training run and testing ground for military R&D. Ukraine general says they need to conscript 20,000 new recruits per month, Ukraine ex prosecutor says they are losing 30,000 in casualties each month. Both far exceeding Russia MoD’s modest estimates but confirming estimates of the likes of Macgregor and other ex service Americans.
Now, the list of those confirming the Russia Ukraine peace agreement of early 2022 has grown considerably. The Turkish foreign minister, ex Israel PM Bennett, the Ukraine ex presidential advisor, the Ukraine negotiator, and a Ukraine ambassador.
Half a million to a million ukroids dead and maimed fighting for the anglo empire – the empire of lies. They died fighting for their right to kill Russians. How easily people are brainwashed. The west is no different. A dumbed down population that will most likely go the way of the Ukrainians.
A quote that so many dismiss.
“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 16:10 utc | 10

If nobody noticed for 10 days that Lloyd Austin was missing, did he really work at the Pentagon? Where can I apply for a job like that? Talk about the ultimate sinecure!
Or maybe it’s the Dilbert Principle: “The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage—management.”
— Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle

Posted by: JohnH | Jan 9 2024 16:20 utc | 12

A quote that so many dismiss.
“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.”
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 16:10 utc | 10
Peter, you didn’t credit the quote-I believe that is Hermann Goering at the Nuremburg trials?

Posted by: canuck | Jan 9 2024 16:44 utc | 14

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 16:10 utc | 10
“But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.”
So Putin drags the Russian people into his war that still has to be called an SMO even though the Russian people don’t want it, just like every other people in the world.

Posted by: Inkan54 | Jan 9 2024 16:49 utc | 16

Guess I’ve been under a rock. First I’ve heard of this:
https://tass.com/world/1730205
“Secret meeting on Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’ yields no results — Bloomberg”
The report noted that, while ***Saudi Arabia, India and Turkey took part in the meeting,**** China, Brazil and the UAE did not send any representatives
NEW YORK, January 9. /TASS/. The meeting of representatives of Ukraine, Western states and the Global South on the so-called peace formula of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky yielded no results. It took place in total secrecy in Riyadh on December 16, Bloomberg reported citing its sources.
According to the report,*** no significant progress has been achieved during the meeting. ****According to the Bloomberg sources, the meeting aimed to “rally support for Kiev’s conditions for holding peace talks with Russia.” The report noted that, while Saudi Arabia, India and Turkey took part in the meeting, China, Brazil and the UAE did not send any representatives.”

Posted by: Trubind1 | Jan 9 2024 16:54 utc | 18

Ed | Jan 9 2024 16:50 utc | 17
We can look at the early US and compare it to current ideals or we can look at the early US and compare it to European/anglo cultures of the day. There is a reason so many Europeans and others emigrated to the early US.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 17:00 utc | 20

Maybe Lloyd Austin is with Melanie. She’s missing, too.
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-explains-melanias-absence-from-christmas-photo-and-campaign-2024-1

Posted by: JohnH | Jan 9 2024 17:10 utc | 22

So, Putin drags the Russian people into his war that still has to be called an SMO even though the Russian people don’t want it, just like every other people in the world.
Posted by: Inkan54 | Jan 9 2024 16:49 utc | 16
—————————————————————-
The proxy war in Ukraine is not “Putin’s” war, it is Joe Biden and NATO’s war. It didn’t start in Feb. 22, but in Feb. 2014 with the US Maidan Coup in Kiev.
Peter AU1 comment describes an offensive war, but every offensive war is aimed at a nation state, or some group of people, which must defend themselves. The purpose of the Maidan coup was to make Ukraine the front line for a US/NATO war against Russia. By the way, most Russians do support the war against the US/NATO and the Nazis that the Obama / Biden administration illegally put in charge in Ukraine: And President Putin is still immensely popular in Russia: Which makes you a liar or a fool.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 9 2024 17:12 utc | 24

Posted by Zet #2
In French:
https://reseauinternational.net/serguei-karaganov-attendez-vous-au-divorce-de-la-russie-et-de-loccident/

Posted by: FromFrance | Jan 9 2024 17:30 utc | 26

RE: Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 17:11 utc | 23
Yup. verified! I think I was examining the UAE absence from bru-hah meeting, as well as the current UAE slam to Israel to hit Zelensky up for $$ when Nuttyahoo wanted UAE to foot bill for Palestinian UI payments.
Thinking UAE seems particularly pissed at Ukraine, as well as fed up with Nuttyyahoo. I’m guessing any meeting with either of these 2 involves their hats put, and you bringing a checkbook. I can understand the disinterest.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Jan 9 2024 17:44 utc | 28

Posted by: Inkan54 | Jan 9 2024 17:19 utc | 25
————————————————————-
History seems to mean nothing to you: Facts are malleable, truth is elusive, and day is night, and you must be an AI computer simulation.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 9 2024 17:52 utc | 30

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Jan 9 2024 17:49 utc | 29
————————————————————————-
History seems to mean nothing to you: Facts are malleable, truth is elusive, and day is night, and you must be an AI computer simulation.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 9 2024 17:59 utc | 32

Shadowbanned’s critique of the SMO and Russian strategy is useful to keep from becoming the mirror image of Western fools, blathering on about the Ghost of Kiev and how great the Zelensky is.
A bit of humility is good for the soul.
IMO Russian leadership is too risk-averse. A lot more reaper drones should be shot down over the Black Sea. Look at how Erdogan gets away with butt-screwing Stoltenberg, the UK, and other NATO clowns. And he’s within NATO, for goodness sake.
Taking out bridges

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 9 2024 18:06 utc | 34

Ghost of Zanon | Jan 9 2024 18:06 utc | 34
Shadowbanned swamps the threads with doom to the point many comment sections are not worth reading. Tall poppy syndrome is a bit too common here.
All societies have the normal run of internal issues, but what we see of the Russian leadership is that they recognize these issues and set a strategy taking that into account.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 18:18 utc | 36

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 16:10 utc | 10
Great quote, well remembered, no attribution needed.
There are occasional attempts at the bar to sell one or other variant of “people get the government they deserve” yet what people ever deserved sinister, abusive government.
Your quote is the simple truth of it.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jan 9 2024 18:37 utc | 38

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 18:18 utc | 36
Yeah, I think Russia has done a good job adopting to the war they got, not the one they maybe thought they could pull off in 2022.
One thing that I don’t hear skeptics considering is that Russia, by having to bite the bullet and face off against NATO, is gaining experience, confidence, and hardening its military to be a much more formidable machine than it was in Dec. 2021.
Had the West and the disgusting clown BoJo settled for the deal that was apparently on the table in March 2022, and scuttled, Russia would not have had the chance to build its’ forces up and gain invaluable experience dealing with NATO weapons. Of course there is also a cost, but nobody can say with a straight face that Russia is a paper tiger, unless you’ve drunk so much neocon koolaid that you’re pissing purple.

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 9 2024 18:46 utc | 40

Ed | Jan 9 2024 18:48 utc | 40
Goering. Well worth reading his quotes and how they are applicable to the current day west. Most I believe recorded by a journalist who interviewed him at Nuremberg.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 18:54 utc | 42

Winning the information wars apparently!
https://www.globalresearch.ca/kiev-regime-claims-proof-it-can-shoot-down-russian-hypersonic-missiles-again/5845598

Posted by: jpc | Jan 9 2024 18:59 utc | 44

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ Front #Summary for 9 Jan 2024 by 19:37⚡️
🔹In #Kherson Direction, positional battles continue in #Krynki. AFU are trying to hold the defence and do not abandon the foothold. Our forces, in turn, sink more boats and continue to push back the enemy on the islands.
🔹In #Zaporozhye Direction, our aircraft are striking enemy concentrations. There is mutual counterbattery fighting throughout the entire #Rabotino – #Verbovoye sector. At #Verbovoye, ours hit another attacking small assault group.
🔹In #SouthDonetsk Direction. The AFU are not trying to resume any active actions. Ours continue their careful advance at #Staromikhaylovka and north of #Priyutnoye. In #Maryinka sector, our army is fighting fierce battles at the southeastern outskirts of #Novomikhaylovka. After the deployment of reserves, the AFU counterattacked and pushed ours from the southern outskirts beyond the settlement borders. We are more successful at #Georgiyevka and advanced close to the village, now trying to gain a foothold within its boundaries.
🔹In #Donetsk Direction, the active Russian offensive continues in the #Stepovoye area and towards #Ocheretino. There are some successes, our positions have improved. In #Pervomayskoye, there is also progress on the southern flank, a part of Voroshilov Street has come under the our control. The main forces of the AFU #Avdeyevka group continue to take refuge behind the walls of the Coke Plant. The issue of the supply road from #Orlovka through #Lastochkino has not been finally resolved.
🔹In #Bakhmut Direction, our forces managed to advance on the northwestern approaches to #Kleshcheyevka. Fierce fighting continues from #Khromovo and at #Bogdanovka, where the AFU are slowly retreating.
🔹In #Svatovo Direction, oncoming battles continue in the #Serebryanskoye forest. On the #Torrskoye ledge, our army consolidated in new positions. At #Sinkovka, according to as yet unconfirmed data, the AFU were able to counterattack and retake some recently abandoned strongholds.
💥The RF Armed Forces again attacked the infrastructure of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and military facilities in the #Kharkov, #Khmelnitsky, #Dnepropetrovsk regions, #Kherson and #Zaporozhye. Surprisingly, the AFU reports again note that they failed to shoot down the majority of air targets.

https://t.me/sitreports/20801

Posted by: Down South | Jan 9 2024 19:02 utc | 46

by shаdοwbanned | Jan 9 2024 17:49 utc | 29
Russian society is ripe for total mobilization.
Yes. Only if there is a direct war with NATO. Than RF runs out of paper to sign contracts.
For stomping Ukraine into the dust and at the moment, it is just enough.
Everyone with IQ higher than the room temperature knows what a direct conflict with NATO means.
No, not nukes, that never happens, but I wouldn’t like to live or be near by any major NATO base or a facility.

Posted by: whirlX | Jan 9 2024 19:08 utc | 48

Karaganov: “We have entered a struggle to save the world.”
Wow. Good luck with that (in history such attempts never ended well).

Posted by: schkid | Jan 9 2024 19:20 utc | 50

Bill Purkavast: Thank you for making that cartoon. It is sad, but true.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jan 9 2024 19:23 utc | 52

Anyone thinking that communist states operate in the interests of majority is hopelessly retarded, sorry. Mass murder of their own most productive people is what every single communist regime did. Powerty and social decay is always the result.
Posted by: averros | Jan 9 2024 19:11 utc | 48

There was no poverty in the USSR though, and most of the satellites lived even better because of favorable climatic conditions. Yugoslavia was outright prosperous, being on the Adriatic coast and not being totally isolated by the West.
Poverty appeared AFTER 1989.
And the Eastern Bloc was definitely run in the interests of the majority. That is the sole reason the system was dismantled and why to this day most don’t understand what happened — it was run in the interests of the 95%, but the 5% who stood to gain from destroying it were in a position to destroy it, so that’s what they did. Later they were in a position to write the history too…
P.S. The non-euphemist word for “most productive people” is “parasites”. What world have you been living in the last 40 years? The experience from that period should have made it abundantly clear.
P.P.S. I myself for a very long time used to think the communists went overboard with the mass killings of the enemies of the people. I still think they went too far, but now, after watching what has been happening in the last 10-15 years, I completely understand where they were coming from, and I also understand that it would have been very hard to do what had to be done with less collateral damage. COVID was the last straw — that was when the class warfare waged by the elites on everyone else moved from the economic sphere towards outright physical extermination (in case fools still don’t understand it, lowering life expectancy by a decade or more means saving trillions on pensions and healthcare, which can then be looted freely by the right people; while containing the pandemic would have cost the elites trillions; this is why it was not contained). It was exactly that kind of callous disregard for the lives of the lower classes that drove the early communists to physically exterminating the class enemies. The working class had been on the receiving end of it for centuries — serfdom, enclosures, being herded into the hellscapes of the early Industrial era factories with zero safety precautions, being forced to live in total squalor and endure all kinds of epidemic disease, all of it completely avoidable with a fair resource distribution and all of it drastically shortening regular people’s lives. Would you not be out for blood if you had experienced it and were conscious of the reasons for it? In fact, you should be out for blood now, because it is coming back, but the brainwashing machine is working much better these days so you are not even aware that it is coming back.

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Jan 9 2024 19:38 utc | 54

Vladimir Vladimirovich is short-sighted, for he could have saved thousands and thousands of lives by exchanging Ukraine/NATO for the ‘Levant entity’.
He could have said to the Anglo-Askenazi Empire: -If you touch my nose here, I touch yours there.

Posted by: Simon | Jan 9 2024 20:02 utc | 56

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Jan 9 2024 17:49 utc | 29
————————————————————————-
History seems to mean nothing to you: Facts are malleable, truth is elusive, and day is night, and you must be an AI computer simulation.
Posted by: Ed | Jan 9 2024 17:59 utc | 32
Ed instead of ad hominens can you kindly please give concrete examples rather than vague, banal criticism that, frankly, makes no sense?

Posted by: canuck | Jan 9 2024 20:12 utc | 58

Posted by: Milites | Jan 9 2024 20:15 utc | 59
Government backing seems the only way to explain it but, worst case, and given the statements coming out of Pistorius, it might be the start of a confrontation where hits on that type of foreign-backed enterprise result in more cruise missiles being handed over to “Ukraine”.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jan 9 2024 20:34 utc | 60

@47
thats how chessmasters BRICS works! ))))
Brics currency might work better……crazy…..what a clown show

Posted by: tesla | Jan 9 2024 20:36 utc | 62

““I don’t want to go into detail about the number of shells [intended for transfer to Ukraine] and so on, but the combined GDP of the countries of our coalition is 25 times greater than Russia’s, so it should not be impossible for us to significantly increase industrial production,” Cameron said.”
I was tempted to respond to Mr. Cameron, but no. Mr. Martyanow does much better job in describing power of the today’s west.
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Zidar | Jan 9 2024 20:47 utc | 64

Posted by: SlowSoft | Jan 9 2024 20:41 utc | 63
That’s what the current narrative is, ‘we will increase war production’.
In reality, when Nato tried to get more artillery shells, the price jumped 4x (or maybe even 8x) to the point where the talking heads on TV were whining about massive cost inflation.
David Cameron is comparing straight out GDP figures? Most of the GDP in the west is hugely skewed by a massive financialization effect. Even the US doesn’t actually produce a whole lot of required items or subcomponents for producing complex or intelligent weapons. The financialization effect is based on share buybacks, trillions of dollars worth of derivatives, CEO paychecks, the massive corruption between the Pentagon and MIC, etc.
Also, most of the ‘productive’ sectors in the west are actually based on mark-up pricing. I.e. they buy stuff from the non-west and sell it to consumers with mark-up profits. This is another increase in GDP, which actually contributes nothing to the real economy.
The largest real economy sectors, especially in Europe are getting crushed. Look chemicals and any sector dependent on gas for heating and electricity.
When you remove financialization effects, the comparable width between Russia and the west should shrink to less than half.
Even North Korea alone outproduces the US or entire Nato in shell production. A single plant in Russia (of many) outproduces entire Nato. Russia outproduces Nato in pretty much everything else as well. Don’t know about cheap FPV drones though, which seem to be the most important weapon today.

Posted by: unimperator | Jan 9 2024 21:36 utc | 66

I’m just waiting shadowbanned to post , his the only one whos say the truth
Posted by: benx | Jan 9 2024 16:05 utc | 7
So your understanding of truth isn’t any better than your ability to speak english????

Posted by: Screwdriver | Jan 9 2024 21:40 utc | 68

canuck | Jan 9 2024 20:12 utc | 58
Shallow little girl mindset that swamps the threads with its opinions is not something to be reasoned with. Plenty of diverse opinion without that type.
Any with two eyes and a mind can see the majority of the world has gravitated to the Russia China arc. Russia from where it came from in 2000 has played its cards well.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 21:50 utc | 70

With DOD unable to account for 61% of its assets, its hardly a surprise that they lost a major human asset…the SecDef!
But now we can all rest assured that they located him…or at least the AI version of him!

Posted by: JohnH | Jan 9 2024 21:52 utc | 72

JohnH | Jan 9 2024 21:52 utc | 72
that one brought my first laugh of the day. I guess even a Pentagon audit would have been unable to locate their offence minister.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 9 2024 21:57 utc | 74

In 2014 the support for an intervention in Donbass was 50%. It was judged insufficient. And of course there were other reasons.
In 2022 the support was more than 70%. Let’s go!

Posted by: Naive | Jan 9 2024 22:05 utc | 76

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Jan 9 2024 21:50 utc | 71
Disinformation agents are easy to spot, aren’t they?

Posted by: Naive | Jan 9 2024 22:09 utc | 78

WAS LLOYD AUSTIN KILLED BY A MISSILE STRIKE ON KIEV ON JANUARY 2ND?

Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 9 2024 22:22 utc | 80

Austin treated for early prostate cancer, serious intestinal complications: Pentagon ABC News.
Doesn’t sound good. Looks like Joe will have to find a new brain dead corpowhore to regurgitate empire talking points. Shouldn’t be too difficult. But seriously, shouldn’t the headlines be more like “Austin in hospital with serious complications for nearly a week and nobody even noticed. Why?” Austin is a nonentity, there to step on the political stage every now and then and repeat the same nauseating tropes. A robot could do his job, probably better.

Posted by: Mike R | Jan 9 2024 22:37 utc | 82

Posted by: unimperator | Jan 9 2024 21:36 utc | 66
>Russia outproduces Nato in pretty much everything else as well.
Echo chamber here constantly repeats this falsehood. Consider steel (link at top of page or scroll down to get country results): https://worldsteel.org/steel-topics/statistics/world-steel-in-figures-2022/#major-steel-producing-countries-2021-and-2020
USA plus EU has about 3 times production of Russia. Now, granted, much of USA and EU steel is recycled (old cars melted down, etc) whereas China and Russia produce more pig iron from raw iron ore, because China simply produces a lot of everything and Russia is a raw materials producer. But it really doesn’t matter where you source the steel, it’s finished steel that comes out of the foundry and recycling much cheaper. Furthermore, much of Chinese capacity is uneconomical, meaning finished steel sells for less than what it cost to produce. China went apeshit building out steel capacity in the 2000’s and has been cutting capacity since. Russia already said they probably won’t fully rebuild Azovstal because there is already steel overcapacity in Russia. On the other side, USA and EU have been shutting down steel mills for decades, so what remains is either specialized for high quality or very economical to run. Plus USA and EU haven’t dismantled all the old and uneconomic steel mills, so they can be brought back into operation if necessary. Bottom line is that USA and EU steel production easily outweighs that of Russia and if you add the Pacific Rim (South Korea and Japan especially, plus the massive iron ore deposits of Australia), they dwarf Russia by at least 5:1. Throw in China, and it’s another story. Based on the web page, China + Russia has twice the capacity of USA bloc. However, because USA bloc tends to have less junk capacity, it’s closer to even match, meaning steel capacity alone won’t decide a conflict between these blocs. You can do similar analysis for other basic industry. Russia alone is small compared to USA bloc but China+Russia is equal sized or bigger
True weakness of the USA bloc is dependence on open sea lanes. China+Russia can withstand a complete shutdown of world shipping, whereas USA bloc falls apart. Without open sea lanes, USA plus its neighboring vassals becomes an impregnable fortress but is unable to project power outside North America.
Modern technology makes it vastly easier to cut sea lanes than keep them open, so USA cannot escalate a war with China+Russia. Instead, USA will have to fight on their terms, and they will arrange terms so that USA loses. North Korea missile and artillery attack on USA bases in South Korea (using Chinese and Russian technology and manufacturing support) would be ideal way for China+Russia to humiliate USA. Better than blockading Taiwan.

Posted by: anonposter | Jan 9 2024 22:44 utc | 84

HERMIUS | Jan 9 2024 22:22 utc | 80
*** WAS LLOYD AUSTIN KILLED BY A MISSILE STRIKE ON KIEV ON JANUARY 2ND?***
Probably not — but maybe he could have got an arse full of shrapnel for which the denialist US regime had to concoct a cover story?

Posted by: Cynic | Jan 9 2024 23:04 utc | 86

>>Anyone thinking that communist states operate in the interests of majority is hopelessly retarded, sorry. Mass murder of their own most productive people is what every single communist regime did. Powerty and social decay is always the result…” averros@49
This is silly. You cannot get away withs statements so obviously false in this sort of forum. What you say is simply unsubstantiated by historical fact. The nub of the lie is your assertion that the victims of communist justice systems were the “most productive people.” In fact where there were large scale executions- as in the USSR in 1937- most of the victims tended to be Party members and only marginally related to production. And a large number of those shot or sent to camps, including several General Officers, re-appeared in 1941, having served their sentences or been pardoned.
The mindless repetition of propaganda, particularly anti-communist propaganda helps to preserve the very real and damaging sanctions regimes which the US insists that all its trading partners observe, which like the years of aggression against the Soviet Union lead-and are designed to lead- to ‘communist’ states such as Cuba or Nicaragua being driven to repressive measures in self defence.
The major cause of ‘mass murder” in Communist countries has been imperialist policies designed to produce corpses on which the Empire and its guests dine for decades afyerwards.

Posted by: bevin | Jan 9 2024 23:07 utc | 88

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 9 2024 18:06 utc | 34
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jan 9 2024 22:06 utc | 77
About how clever the western elite is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntzacqlm-Ac
The sanctions are effective, the economic and financial sanctions are even of formidable effectiveness and I am not going to leave any ambiguity about the European determination on this subject, we are going to wage a total economic and financial war on Russia, we are therefore going to cause the collapse of the Russian economy.

Indeed.

Posted by: Naive | Jan 9 2024 23:22 utc | 90

Posted by: Milites | Jan 9 2024 22:30 utc | 81
Of course!

Posted by: Naive | Jan 9 2024 23:27 utc | 92

Posted by: Cynic | Jan 9 2024 23:04 utc | 86
Who cares?
They are all replaceable. Except maybe the judeonazis: Blinken, Nuland, Kagan…

Posted by: Naive | Jan 9 2024 23:32 utc | 94

Posted by: anonposter | Jan 9 2024 22:44 utc | 84
Not the sharpest posting mate.
The WSA is a US based mob and with the best will in the world will be biased
The recycled argument is a poor attempt to put lipstick on a pig. Thing is that you need to replace the recycled steel with something ie new cars and washing machines. The steel for these comes from -yep China. Using recycled steel is a good thing in an emergency and positive environmentally but in a real full on war/economic war, it does not cut the mustard, although it just might give you time to restart the old refineries.
The USA is a huge net importer of steel – that is the real issue – more than 13 million tonnes. Replacing that is an issue, especially if trying to make weapons for a war.
Now to start old refineries is not that simple. Firstly the experienced workforce will have retired or got better jobs. As we know from the Boeing fiasco, quality control has taken a nose dive in recent years and it will be very hard to recruit competent workforce. It can happen but you are looking at a 3-5 year window, not the 6-12 months of WWII

Posted by: watcher | Jan 9 2024 23:38 utc | 96

Posted by: Honzo | Jan 9 2024 22:44 utc | 83
What about Lola for Austin’s new name? Refer to song from the 70’s

Posted by: Nord Streak | Jan 9 2024 23:46 utc | 98

To the discussion of block comparison industrial/gdp etc.
I’d only remind that for GDP to produce arms it needs industry.
Industry needs energy and techne, both in shorter and shorter supply in the west.
For arms to be used you need armies.
Armies need men and ethos… I’m starting to think the industrial angle isn’t looking half as bad 😉
Now for the rest you need patience, we may be 30 years over the apex of the current hegemon, but the former one , at the same stage , was still 30 years from being properly challenged and 60 years away from losing its empire.
Yes, some bitch slapping in mid-2030s but it’s 2050-2080 that decides everything.
Just saying…

Posted by: Newbie | Jan 9 2024 23:54 utc | 100