What we do know about COVID-19 is that it presents the greatest risk to the elderly and those with seriously compromised health.
Posted by: Paranaense | Feb 12 2024 20:36 utc | 194
_____
There are exceptions, of course, but as a general rule this is true. Unfortunately this is something we know mostly in retrospect.

Posted by: malenkov | Feb 12 2024 21:25 utc | 203

by Milites | Feb 12 2024 20:39 utc | 195
Yes, you are correct. Red Army was a master in utilizing “maskirovka” to a confused Nazis on the Eastern front.
What is important is that Russian land war-faring doctrine has changed from the Soviet style, to an imitation of the NATO style and back to the Soviet style with some improvements that are dictated by the new battlefield configs.
Hiding and moving the troops around was and still is Alpha and Omega of such doctrine.
CIA assumption: “At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country.”
For many months, the USA and its agencies had no idea how many troops there are.
Initial force was 50k with 50k incoming some weeks later over the period of a year.
The highest peak was around 145k in June 1980 and the lowest around 60k in May 1983. Than the USA created Bin-Laden and freedom fighters.
But that is another story, as with RF is really hard to know where do they show up en masse and is that what is known and even seen, the true representation.
This is the core skill that RF military runs well.
Despite former and current NATO capabilities in ISR.
It does not really help there.
It was claimed, way back then, that 250k Russians are coming, from Belorussia and Russia.
The whole attack on Kiev and surroundings, was run by 40k mixed troops.
Are Zapad maneuvers and exercises announced this year too?
I do not have the word on that, but if it is so, there goes a land-bridge to Kaliningrad and Odessa Oblast.
Out of the blue – just a prediction. More of a reaction, really.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 12 2024 21:30 utc | 205

Credit goes to Pepe Escobar for digging this up and posting it to his Telegraph. As printed in the 1911 Britannica:
“Ukraine (‘frontier’), the name formerly given to a district of European Russia now comprising the governments of Kharkov, Kiev, Podolia, and Poltava. The portion east of the Dnieper became Russian in 1686 and the portion west of that river in 1793.”
An excellent example of why old encyclopedias ought to be kept–so the past can’t get canceled.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 12 2024 21:54 utc | 207

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 12 2024 21:17 utc | 201
Option 2 has a lot of unknown variables like the level of fortification of Russians in Krasnogorovka. They must have really good intel or they are gambling whole brigades on the possibility that the russians aren’t prepared.
Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 12 2024 21:29 utc | 204

I’m thinking that the Ukies intel about Russian preparedness there is about as competent as the intel the Ukies had before the great counteroffensive last summer. Intel being an oxymoron.

Posted by: Mike R | Feb 12 2024 22:34 utc | 209

Keep old encyclopedias and books, as they might lead to the assumption that history shapes the current reality to the imaginative while to the unimaginative, a reality is now and that is it – that is a one deprived of a self-reflection.
That is a fundamental difference between the West and the East, that exists still. A Cold War atavism, if you will.
Syrsky has a moral task to cleanse Nazis out of Ukrainian army, so that unavoidable surrender has less bad arguments against him, where he indeed acted, as a tool of denazification. It is a secret Slavic deal on the endgame, that the West still has to discover that it is ongoing for sometime.
It is played on a certain telepathic level.
In 70s Soviets had issues in a communication with their subs when those were under the thick ice. So they came to an idea. Some military animal biologist was connecting animals on a polygraph to test emotional responses. Together with the Soviet Navy he developed the system to communicate by utilizing rabbits, as they procreate in big numbers.
They would connect a mother rabbit in the base to a polygraph and send 20-30 offspring (2 generations) rabbits on a sub. They invented the cipher and a code, time based, that was transmitted from the sub by – killing rabbits in a time based succession. Mother rabbit would react immediately on a graph. Communication issues solved.
The best of all, Soviets never really researched mechanics of it, they just knew it works and used it. True story.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 12 2024 22:47 utc | 211

Meant at the time of the so-called “space race”, which led to the moon landings.
The earth-orbit military angle was obviously a different matter.

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 12 2024 23:34 utc | 213

by malenkov | Feb 12 2024 21:44 utc | 89
I can’t imagine who in his right mind would accuse the site owner of laziness.
One part of b. was an IT manager, so a Dilbert cynical dude.
I am pretty sure that he could automate lots of stuff like setting up current threads, refresh, linking posts etc.
Intelligent people ought or even deserve to be lazy sometime.
MoA is the only archive on the web, next to the Cryptome, that if pushed through a huge and advanced AI, the AI would go two ways. The one being to commit a suicide, after printing the final answer, the other, that cheers up and prints the universal formula for unifying everything. We are scary, both ways.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 13 2024 0:07 utc | 215

Yes the choice is obvious to other countries, but to the US it’s not. US beliefs are odious enough, coupled with delusional beliefs they are downright dangerous. I’d settle for realpolitik.
Posted by: Mike R | Feb 12 2024 16:09 utc | 154
Times are changing – MAGA isn’t unique to Trump, it’s organic. There’s always been an undercurrent of “isolationism” in American politics – George Washington’s Farewell address, the Know Nothings, the Whigs, Taft, Birchers, etc. but now as the US weakens abroad and at home it is becoming more prominent. The US will disengage, it’s only a matter of if they go quietly or not.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 0:16 utc | 217

If you believe the Moon landings hoax, with tech from the 1960s, but not replicated in 50 years despite the tremendous military value of a lunar base, just because the Soviets kept quiet… you are probably an American patriot.
Posted by: Biochar | Feb 12 2024 17:13 utc | 164
Please tell me the “military value” of a lunar base.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 0:20 utc | 219

@181 re: long train near Marinka Volnovakha etc … weird. would make an interesting EW contraption, though why on earth you need a one-time-trick of that magnitude in that area is beyond me.

Posted by: pxx | Feb 13 2024 0:37 utc | 221

So pilgrims and settlers still reign? Really?
Posted by: whirlX | Feb 13 2024 0:20 utc | 218
It goes to the core of what America is – a rump former Anglo-Saxon colony that was blessed by its geography. That is, two huge ocean moats surrounding a large, sparsely populated, and fertile land mass. America is an accidental great power, but filled with the same pilgrims and settlers from two hundred plus years ago. Spend any time there, and you’ll see what I mean.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 0:47 utc | 223

Some videos for today.
Russian Tornado-G MLRS strikes position of enemy troop rotation on the Zaporozhye front:
https://rutube.ru/video/1682026b7c845c5c6ed78e2be7849f64/
Russian thermobaric TOS-1A system annihilates enemy fortified position:
https://rutube.ru/video/a6dba6bbad97c6a239b33046b9bc10e7/
Russian T-80 tank in action near Kupyansk:
https://rutube.ru/video/00ca58bf263a56dc2ef36c024ef23646/
Russian airborne troops conduct Kornet ATGM strike on enemy dugout northwest of the DPR’s Artemovsk:
https://rutube.ru/video/c0d822f17ee5e37a3f48cc26a6e8f3ac/
Russian Su-25s conduct airstrikes near Donetsk:
https://rutube.ru/video/e1493e4c1c06ebf31f42f2a6111e7deb/

Posted by: Nate | Feb 13 2024 1:11 utc | 225

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 0:47 utc | 223
Simplistic analysis whose omissions are more revealing than the précis, and begs the question, what happened to Africa then?
Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 0:16 utc | 217
MAGA is much more than just an iteration of American isolationism, it is the spearpoint of a real grass routes rebellion against the increasingly corrupted post-war social contract, between those who govern and those who are governed. America will retreat, in the sense that it will withdraw to regroup, but it will be back again once more frustrating its naysayers and doom-mongers, who always seem to gather to eagerly proclaim its imminent demise just about the time it is scheduled for a revival. Hence the scorn and hyperbolic rhetoric leftists heap on any US resurrectional movement as it robs many of them of the moment they have defined their life by.

Posted by: Milites | Feb 13 2024 1:32 utc | 227

Simplistic analysis whose omissions are more revealing than the précis, and begs the question, what happened to Africa then?
Posted by: Milites | Feb 13 2024 1:32 utc | 227
Do you want me to give you a dissertation on a blog? I don’t have the time, nor do I think b would appreciate the “spam.” Even still, there is plenty of literature on this topic, I suggest enlightening yourself.
As for Africa: Have you been there? It’s not as developed as Eurasia, nor even Latin America in some respects. It has great potential with its natural resources, and hard-working population, but corruption is endemic on that continent.
grass routes rebellion
Grassroots not routes, and MAGA is just a reiteration of the Tea Party, which is a reiteration of Paul’s and Buchanan’s presidential runs, which were a reiteration of Taftian paleoconservatism, which itself harkened back to the 19th century and beyond. It’s always been there.
The problem with MAGA is it’s now tied to Trump, which does help bring it to the mainstream, but he doesn’t care about the ideological or intellectual foundations of it. He only cares about propelling himself to power. However, a true isolationist at the helm would indeed change American foreign policy.
America…will be back again
All empires fall, and America is no exception. I suggest learning Mandarin…

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 2:50 utc | 229

Paranaense@177….if you know anyone who takes blood at a lab ask them about the 150% spike in blood related disorders, children with heart issues…..the list is long and harrowing…so many new sicknesses post jab…..but it’s good for you…..yeah right. Best to just stay away from like the politicians did…..Doug Ford in Canada big Vax pusher, like huge….his daughter outed the fucking hypocrite…he’s not vaxxed, but its good for you …yeah right.

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Feb 13 2024 3:23 utc | 231

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 2:50 utc | 229
So, no real answer to an obvious flaw in your simplistic analysis, just a hint at a pseudo- intellectual superiority (dissertation, no thanks mate, I wrote one of those, very tedious to reference). I take it the ‘learn Mandarin’ should be filed under the, learn Japanese, a statement popular in the 80’s-90’s and referenced by many eager to see American power eclipsed; however, like your advice, it too failed to appreciate the inherent weaknesses of the preferred usurper.
Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 12 2024 20:54 utc | 197
Not meta, it’s the whole essence of strategic warfare, crafting a coin with two heads. The Ukrainians have NO good options.
1. Retreat, leading to a collapse of that part of the front, with Russian air dominance threatening to turn the withdrawal into a rout, amidst the arriving mud.
2. Fight and delay for a counter attack which
A) Runs the risk of prematurely depleting and fixing a dwindling strategic reserve that might be needed hundreds of km’s away and may not be in time to stop the capture of Avdivka anyway.
B) Forces the Ukrainians to concentrate forces, with all the attendant dangers that exposes them to, and then attack into a heavily defended Northern flank (read about late-war Soviet exploitation/bridgehead doctrine) and risk being at the mercy of any counter-stroke.
Either way the time for retreat was months ago, it’s too late now, the only choice is the blood and treasure price they will have to pay to lose the city. Too much and the opportunities gifted to Russia will risk overwhelming any ability of the West to keep their proxy in the fight.

Posted by: Milites | Feb 13 2024 3:40 utc | 233

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Feb 12 2024 23:49 utc | 214
Late stage capitalism at work. There is no financial value to a moon landing and hundreds of billions in expenses. The days of huge national projects are over.
With current technology, another moon landing would be relatively simple, but very expensive and no real gain. Unmanned lunar modules and satellites can provide any data a manned landing could acquire.
There is simply no reason for a manned mission to the moon. Zero benefits and huge costs. Proving moon-conspiracy thinkers wrong is not a real motive. Nobody really cares what they think.

Posted by: Eclavdra | Feb 13 2024 6:36 utc | 235

#235
With current technology, another moon landing would be relatively simple, but very expensive and no real gain. Unmanned lunar modules and satellites can provide any data a manned landing could acquire.
.
.
Are you sure you know what launches where each year?
At least the general public never finds out what is being shot into space from where and with what target.
Why is Japan / China sending probes, some of them landing probes, to the BACK SIDE of the moon?

Posted by: ossie | Feb 13 2024 6:42 utc | 237

📋🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ Two Majors #Report for the Morning of 13 February 2024; pub. 06:57📍
🎯 In the first half of the night, the Russian Armed Forces struck the “Gerani” UAVs at enemy targets in the #Zaporozhye, #Dnepropetrovsk, #Kherson regions.
🔹In the #Kherson direction, there is a hunt for enemy UAV operators, strikes are being carried out on the enemy’s shore, including in the #Berislav area. There are no changes in the frontline, the enemy holds part of the #Krynki settlement.
🔹On the #Zaporozhye front, enemy resources reported the alleged occupation of a field with a forest plantation south of #Kamenskoye, which is regularly hit by our artillery, including rocket. #Rabotino and #Verbovoye have counter fights.
🔹South of #Maryinka, our troops reached the settlement of #Pobeda. There are battles in the area of #Novomikhaylovka.
🔹In #Avdeyevka, our troops are developing success, several hundred meters more have been passed with battles to the south of the Blue Lakes (sand quarry). Fighting is already underway in the area of the Avdeyevka Motor Depot, which causes a decadent mood among enemy military analysts.
🔹To the west of #Artyomovsk, the RF Armed Forces are fighting in the same areas near #Bogdanovka, #Ivanovskoye (#Krasnoye) and #Kleshcheyevka.
🔹Near #Kupyansk, there is a battle at #Sinkovka and further south at #Tabayevka.
💥 In the #Belgorod region, yesterday the village of #Kozinka in the Grayvoron urban district and Novaya Tavolzhanka in the Shebekinsky urban district came under fire from the AFU. There were no casualties, although the AFU was again hitting the civilian population. In the #DPR, two civilians were injured as a result of enemy strikes.
🎬 Kherson Direction, from Юнкер: Our UAV operators have identified a tempting target for gunners. Drones are still joining the troops, albeit with some difficulty. And the result of their use is obvious, the object is destroyed and burns well.👇

https://t.me/two_majors/19103

Posted by: Down South | Feb 13 2024 6:45 utc | 239

RT
Boris Johnson’s smokescreens: Hitler comparisons to distract from his role in the Ukraine war
.
It is rumored that Boris Johnson prevented an already negotiated peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine through personal intervention in April 2022. The British former prime minister remains silent on the matter. Even after the Carlson Putin interview, he continued to create smokescreens with ad hominem attacks and absurd comparisons to Hitler.
.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has attacked Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview in his column for the Daily Mail’s paid service, claiming it was taken straight from “Hitler’s playbook”. The politician explicitly did not respond to the accusation made by Vladimir Putin and, before him, by several close Zelensky confidants, that Johnson had talked the Ukrainian side out of the already negotiated and initialed Russian-Ukrainian peace treaty in April 2022.
Instead, Johnson tried to distract from the incriminating statements by making personal attacks on Carlson and Putin. Regarding Carlson, the column says that the American is a “stooge of the tyrant, the dictator’s voice recorder and a traitor to journalism.”
Putin’s message to America comes straight from the “Hitler script,” it continued:
“Stay out of this conflict […] ‒ and soon we can all live in peace.”
The only difference, Johnson said, was that Hitler spread his message in June 1940, shortly after the invasion of France, through the newspapers of William R. Hearst and a German-American journalist named von Wiegand.
The only thing Johnson said about the accusation against him that he prevented the signing of the already initialed peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022 also seems like a smokescreen:
“Nothing and no one could have stopped these lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country – and nothing will.”
The missed peace: “We won’t sign anything, you will just keep fighting”
analysis
The missed peace: “We won’t sign anything, you will just keep fighting”
Dawid Arachamija, parliamentary group leader of Zelenskiy’s ruling “Servant of the People” party in the Ukrainian parliament, said in an interview for Ukrainian television in early December about negotiations that took place between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus and later in Istanbul at the end of February and beginning of March 2022. reported. Arachamija, who led the Ukrainian delegation at these negotiations, said in the interview that the Russian negotiating delegation had a “specific goal”: to get Ukraine to accept military neutrality and abandon its aspirations for NATO membership. Regarding territorial demands, Arachamija stated that at this point Russian negotiators were ready to “go back to where they were before the invasion,” to the borders before February 24, 2022.
Arachamija explained why the peace agreement was not signed despite the preliminary effort by withdrawing Russian troops from the suburbs of Kiev and large parts of Ukraine by saying that the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came to Kiev and intervened with the words:
“We won’t sign anything, you’ll just keep fighting.”
The “lion-hearted Ukrainians” were – in the words of a close Zelenskiy confidant – ready to make peace with Russia in March and April 2022. Boris Johnson still owes an honest answer about his role in preventing this peace agreement on terms that are very favorable for Ukraine.

Posted by: Osssi | Feb 13 2024 6:48 utc | 241

Our source in the General Staff spoke about dissatisfaction with Syrsky’s decision to throw all reserves into the defense of Avdiivka, which Zaluzhny proposed leaving in order to save the lives of soldiers. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are confident that we are waiting for the Avdeevka meat grinder, in which our best units will lose their combat effectiveness, as was the case at Bakhmutram last year.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/21628

Our source in the OP said that Syrsky personally leads the defense of Avdeevka and is preparing a new counterattack to release the garrison in the city, which may be completely surrounded this week. Over the weekend, the Ukrainian Armed Forces made two attempts to push back the enemy in the north of Avdiivka, but suffered serious losses and were forced to withdraw.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/21629

The enemy is closing the circle in Avdeevka, and all attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to push back the Russian army have failed.
There are fierce battles around the Zenit fortified area at the air defense base, while the enemy had success in the holiday village to the west of the private sector of Avdeevka and from Opytny. Both advances are aimed at closing the ring around the Zenit missile launcher.
“The Zenit stronghold (in the Tsarskaya Okhota area) is almost surrounded, while the enemy is already advancing from 4 directions, there is not a single road along which supply can now be safely provided.”

https://t.me/rezident_ua/21633

Colleagues of the Avdeevka case are situationally necessary for Bankova for their political games, which have little to do with military strategy. That is why Syrsky, in order to curry favor with the leadership, is ready to organize an Avdeevka meat grinder, which will exactly repeat the story with Bakhmut, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine will lose its best forces and then the deficit will increase.
But if last time it was a shortage of equipment, now there is a shortage of quality fighters. Let’s not even talk about the shortage of ammunition, which is already in short supply.
That is why ex-commander-in-chief Zaluzhny did not drain reserves in Avdiivka for the sake of a situational goal that the office officials needed in their political games.

https://t.me/legitimniy/17243

Posted by: Down South | Feb 13 2024 6:51 utc | 243

In January 2024, the entire military leadership of the AFU was replaced.
▫️Minister of Veterans Affairs Yulia Laputina
Despite the fact that Laputina’s position is not directly related to the command of the AFU, her dismissal should not be ignored.
Laputina is a major general of the SBU, a participant in the raid on Kramatorsk in 2014. She has held the position of Minister of Veterans Affairs since 2020. She has been working with veterans of the current conflict since 2022 and did not cope with the task: the growing dissatisfaction of military personnel, as well as family members of the killed and wounded, cannot be ignored. It is not yet known whether anyone will be appointed to her position.
▫️ Brigadier General Igor Skibyuk. Being in the Airborne Forces since 1998, he received the rank of brigadier general in 2023, and the same year he was appointed to the position of chief of staff and deputy commander of the Airborne Forces of Ukraine. Skibyuk, to a certain extent, had a hand in the “successes” of the Airborne Forces of the AFU during the summer-autumn offensive campaign. In January 2024, he was appointed commander of the Airborne Forces of the AFU. A big step forward, given more than modest experience in senior command positions.
▫️ Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol. Appointed to the post of commander of the joint forces of the AFU – the body of strategic command of troops. In the organizational structure, this body is located between the Commander-in-Chief of the AFU and the groupings of the joint forces. Sodol is a career military man, a participant in hostilities in the Donbass in 2014-2015, held positions in the Airborne Forces (2018), and from 2018 to 2024 – commander of the Marine Corps of the AFU.
▫️ Lieutenant General Alexander Pavlyuk. Career officer, graduate of the Kharkov Guards Higher Tank Command School, participant in the war in Donbass 2014-2015. Despite his extensive experience and solid track record, Pavlyuk has nothing to brag about. In 2014, it was he who commanded the 24th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which came under a rocket and artillery attack near Zelenopolye and was surrounded, and in 2022 he also led the defense of Mariupol, which was also surrounded and taken by the Russian Armed Forces. Since February 2023, Pavlyuk held the position of First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine – at that time Alexey Reznikov.
▫️ Major General Igor Plakhuta. Until 2023, Plakhuta, who replaced the previous commander of the Territorial Defence, General Bargilevich, had no military experience and did not hold military positions. In the last ten years, Plahuta has held various positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Considering that the role of the territorial defense forces has now significantly shifted towards combat operations, it is unlikely that the general’s previous experience will be in demand.
◼️ Major General Anatoly Bargilevich: a career military man and veteran of the war in Donbass 2014-2015. In the period from 2014 to 2022, he alternated between staff work and command of the Territorial Defense Forces. Bargilevich is an experienced staff officer, but his appointment is more likely related to his service as chief of staff of the Khortitsa operational-strategic group under the command of Syrsky from 2022 to October 2023 with the group which lost the battles for Lisichansk, Severodonetsk, Soledar and Artyomovsk.
What conclusion can be drawn?
It is possible that a change in the entire top leadership of the AFU during a crisis period is required for two reasons:
firstly, blame all the failures on the former commander-in-chief Zaluzhny and extinguish the negativity against the backdrop of heavy losses and a reduction in the supply of Western weapons.
Secondly, to launch a new mobilization (and possibly an attempt at a counteroffensive) in the spring-summer-autumn of 2024.
The thesis “it won’t be the same as before” may become a justification for intensifying repression against the population who refused to support Kiev’s decisions.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/88540

Posted by: Down South | Feb 13 2024 6:54 utc | 245

Tucker Carlson’s First Discussion Since Putin Interview | World Government Summit 2024 Full Panel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMXikZM_O80

Posted by: Fuki | Feb 13 2024 7:00 utc | 247

Thanks to really cool Soviet SciFi story telling and a narrative, that inspired lots of people in 70s and 80s to plan craziest stuff, so no wonder that NASA and Musk steal from 30 year old ideas and plans.
So it is not fair to diss them. Rogozhin was good and the new guy seems ok, so far. Naturally he has less load.
No cheap gas, no cheap satellite launches. A consequences for the West, so far and counting.
Posted by: whirlX | Feb 13 2024 1:30 utc | 226

Good observation about Soviet Sci-Fi.
But I was not at all dissing Roscosmos, although Rogozin was and still is a clown, I was dissing the Kremlin, because it is ultimately the Kremlin’s job to fix societal dysfunction, and it has only done that on a very superficial level, refusing to fix the really deep problems, and as long as that is not done, there will never be enough money and men for Roscosmos to do big things again on its own the way the Soviets did.
Remember Putin’s “we are bourgeoisie now too” remark? What more is there to say? Soviet Sci-Fi of the 1960s most definitely didn’t imagine the 20002, 2010s and 2020s looking they way things actually unfolded in socioeconomic terms.

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Feb 13 2024 7:06 utc | 249

China has the biggest deposits of rare earths in the world. The future is not going to be tied to fossil fuels, no the future is in rare earths. Think more broadly, not narrow.
Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 6:56 utc | 246
I know that but China hasn’t solved the issue with fossil fuels that is why it still imports a huge amount of them to power its industry. It is good to think about the Future but the Present is what matters most. In a potential war with say the US, China will face critical shortages of fossil fuels. Solar power is nice but not useful in the battlefield with current tech.

Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 13 2024 7:16 utc | 251

@ Fuki | Feb 13 2024 7:00 utc | 247 with the link to the Tucker Carlson interview….1st after Putin
Thanks for that. I am growing in respect for Tucker Carlson. He says lots of good things in that interview and I hope he continues to speak out like he is.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 13 2024 7:35 utc | 253

I know that but China hasn’t solved the issue with fossil fuels that is why it still imports a huge amount of them to power its industry. It is good to think about the Future but the Present is what matters most. In a potential war with say the US, China will face critical shortages of fossil fuels. Solar power is nice but not useful in the battlefield with current tech.
Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 13 2024 7:16 utc | 251
China’s “lack” of fossil fuels will be the least of the US military’s problems if they face the PLA. Besides China has (nearly) direct access to Russia’s Far East, which has ample fossil fuels. More than enough to supply China for the interim.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 8:00 utc | 255

Russia to double military presence along Nato border, Estonia warns
Intelligence says Moscow will beef up its troops and weapons near Finland and Baltic states ahead of next war
(FT)

Posted by: Jonathan W | Feb 13 2024 9:32 utc | 257

Perhaps related: Finland just elected a very pro-Nato globalist/federalist president on Sunday.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Feb 13 2024 9:35 utc | 259

There was an interesting point in Dima report today. Apparently some sort of new personal anti-drone EW warfare systems have been developed, which can jam drones. Within a squad, 2 or 3 persons may carry such systems to protect the entire group from drones.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 13 2024 9:51 utc | 261

The Great and The Good ….
https://t.me/ZandVchannel/100007

❗️🇷🇺👉🇺🇸🏴‍☠️🇺🇦 Western Pharma Companies Conducted Experiments on Patients in Ukrainian Psychiatric Hospitals, Documents Unveil — Editor-in-chief of RT
In the basement of Hospital No. 7 in Mariupol, new documents have been discovered confirming that Western pharmaceutical companies conducted experiments on patients in the psychiatric department.
For several years, they were tested with experimental rheumatological medications.
❗️Among the companies mentioned in the documents are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Celltrion, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (now Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine), Catalent Pharma Solutions, Biopharmaceutical, and others.
In spring 2022, our Ministry of Defense revealed that scientists from the USA conducted trials of potentially dangerous biological agents on patients at the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No. 3 in Kharkov. Details of Pentagon abuses in psychiatric hospital No. 1 in the village of Strelechye against a group of male patients aged 40-60 with a high degree of physical exhaustion were also exposed.
❗️The legacy of Mengele lives on and thrives.

Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 13 2024 9:58 utc | 263

“Considering who China has a border with?
For example, Russia has far more raw materials, including coal, than China!
Posted by: ossi | Feb 13 2024 7:35 utc | 252”
Having access to a market is not the same as producing the product yourself.
“China’s “lack” of fossil fuels will be the least of the US military’s problems if they face the PLA. Besides China has (nearly) direct access to Russia’s Far East, which has ample fossil fuels. More than enough to supply China for the interim.
Posted by: James M. | Feb 13 2024 8:00 utc | 255″
Again having access to a market does not equal to having direct access to the resource itself. What happens if relationships between China and Russia sour in the future?

Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 13 2024 10:48 utc | 265

https://t.me/ZandVchannel/100009

Posted by: Apollyon | Feb 13 2024 10:57 utc | 267

regarding the next 13th sanctions package, i noticed that theres thinkgs like:

“It is also appropriate to include on that list [along with more Russian firms] certain other entities in third countries that indirectly support Russia’s military and industrial complex … by trading in such components,” the document reads.

that part in bold. shouldnt it say “military industrial complex”? is the “and” a misquote? if not, then china, india, and every other country should notice how the eu is actievly sabotaging another countrys industry base that does not contribute to military, and that something like this will come for them if they dont put their foot down now.

Posted by: Justpassinby | Feb 13 2024 11:00 utc | 269

”And let me be clear about the current situation. Any relativization of NATO’s guarantee of mutual assistance is irresponsible and dangerous and is solely in the interests of Russia. Nobody can be allowed to gamble with Europe’s security,” -adolf scholz

i just love it when our unelected idiots spout poop like this. ~40% or so of the european continent is russia alone (i may have to look up the correct numbers), but they always exclude russia when the talk about “europe”.
its the wordplays like this and the underlying lie thats often repeated that make the sheeple so numb to facts. like the word “lobbying”. we dont have corruption, only that lobbying is exactly that.

Posted by: Justpassinby | Feb 13 2024 11:13 utc | 271

#271
Absolutely right !
Most people here have no idea how big Russia is!
Putin flew from Moscow to New York faster than from Moscow to its eastern border.
But as I said…many letters find Russia with difficulty on the map have NEVER been to Russia (Ukraine) but they know everything.
If you put maps of Russia and the USA next to each other (same scale) and be shocked…

Posted by: ossi | Feb 13 2024 11:34 utc | 273

Posted by: Modern Stoic | Feb 13 2024 10:48 utc | 265
Same goes for us or maybe it it’s worst.
US, while having the biggest oil resources in the world is a net oil importer, meaning that having access to the resource doesn’t mean Tha you can use it.

Posted by: Mario | Feb 13 2024 11:42 utc | 275

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 12 2024 20:03 utc | 184

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 12 2024 19:55 utc | 181
Not sure about that. But one might assume those train cars could form a structure for underground shelters. I.e. dig a trench and sink them in.
Whatever defensive lines they are building are most likely not for Ukraine per se, they are, in case, Nato decides to attempt sending a force into Ukraine. At this point the they are so high on their own propaganda that they might actually try to send troops into eastern Ukraine.

Why bother to answer — and then in such a stupid way ?
a simple check of the 2 pictures shows that there is summer –> vegetation !!!
BUT a new meme / fake is born and spread !

Posted by: ghiwen | Feb 13 2024 11:45 utc | 277

Several Iskander’s and Smerch in Selidovo, potentially thousand(s) casualties.

Update:
Russian TG channel Ruspanorama reports:
The situation in Selidovo after a massive attack on the Ukrainian Armed Forces:
The city is completely blocked for entry and exit;
Many ambulances and corpse trucks.
According to available data, the AFU military leadership is completely at a loss.
The number of losses is in the hundreds.
According to preliminary data, it was the 3rd assault brigade “Azov”, which was supposed to go to release the Avdiivka garrison, that was targeted.
RF used several Iskander OTRK missiles with a cassette part and added the Smerch MLRS, also with a cassette part. The SBU is raiding the city in search of our spotters.
https://t.me/geromanat/19748

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 13 2024 11:48 utc | 279

24.03.2022 (Thu)
11:15 Ukraine has launched the first proceedings for the Russian road fleet nationalization. They’ll seize over a million dollars worth of rail cars
Last week, Ukrainian Railways officially announced that it would begin nationalizing the rolling stock of Russian companies located on the territory of Ukraine. It is estimated that there may currently be over 15,000 wagons on Ukrainian railways. The Bureau for Economic Security of Ukraine (BESU) announced that on their initiative, a procedure for the nationalization of 29 tankers belonging to the Gazpromtrans fleet had already been initiated.

ref ==> https://www.railtarget.eu/technologies-and-infrastructure/war-in-ukraine-railway-monitoring-1888.html

Someone is confused about a temporary staging yard for the collection and repatriation of stolen state assets.

Posted by: too scents | Feb 13 2024 11:55 utc | 281

huge fields that no one in the West, including the USA, has ever seen
Posted by: Ossi | Feb 13 2024 11:49 utc | 280
—
You are apparently unaware of modern mechanized agriculture that seeks to replace farming with factories.
https://youtu.be/uFKsy3Nhx9o

Posted by: too scents | Feb 13 2024 12:01 utc | 283

And now the pressure is set… Zaluhzny justified in his rage… ..he can do it better he thinks…

Posted by: UWDude | Feb 13 2024 12:19 utc | 285

In other words, spectacular attacks, making it appear syrskyi to be completely incompetent. An illusion of control that never was.
A war across ukraine… Devastating,.. a war held on contact lines, static… The rest of the country, untouched.
But, it takes time, waiting for the political jenga tower to build up just right. Then pull the piece, political collapse, and a whole country, besides a 1000 km scar.
The zaluhzny firing was the greatest victory. That, is 5th gen war. That, is 5d chess.
Get ready to start guzzling the haterade, nafos and Tsispos.
And, even though that interview was nothing like any other, with the strange 30 minute history lesson to start, and all, it too was seismic. Not because anything Putin said, not because anything Carlson did. It’s just about the alignment of gravity.

Posted by: UWDude | Feb 13 2024 12:31 utc | 287

281
Russia had lost a lot of railway wagons many hundreds I think c2014 had seized wagons in Donbass area used to export coal… or Russian good trains that had gone there to load up with coal .Today in daily mail UK is an article re a rail line on the border 20 miles long 2100 carriages that Russia is to use as a mobile defensive barrier against Ukraine ..these apparently seized from areas Russian army is currently in occupation….hmmm interesting.Maybe to be wired up with explosives or filled with concrete ???????????

Posted by: Jo | Feb 13 2024 12:51 utc | 289

France (1.9 %)
Montenegro (1.87 %)
North Macedonia (1.87 %)
Bulgaria (1.84 %)
Croatia (1.79 %)
Albania (1.76 %)
Netherlands (1.7 %)
Norway (1.67 %)
Denmark (1.65 %)
Germany (1.57 %)
Czech Republic (1.5 %)
Portugal (1.48 %)
Italy (1.46 %)
Canada (1.38 %)
Slovenia (1.35 %)
Turkey (1.31 %)
Spain (1.26 %)
Belgium (1.26 %)
Nato countries not paying their2 %

Posted by: Jo | Feb 13 2024 13:12 utc | 291

I am not sure that countries sending stuff to Ukraine have been fully reimbursed from the EU Fund for Peace thingy … ????

Posted by: Jo | Feb 13 2024 13:15 utc | 293

Of Selidovo.
1. Of course, there are no 1500 dead there. This is about the same as it was at the training ground at the time of impact. So far, there is no objective data on exactly how many of them were killed and how many were wounded. So far, we can say that the enemy has suffered serious one-time losses in manpower – one of the largest over the past year.
2. The fact that they were counting on the destruction of manpower is evidenced by a cascade of strikes, including the use of cluster munitions. This may be one of the most effective cluster munition incidents of the entire war.
3. The enemy, of course, will look for those residents in the territories occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine who brought in, since such strikes, as a rule, are associated with both the work of technical reconnaissance and additional guidance on the ground, so it is not surprising that the SBU is looking for who helped to direct.
4. The enemy will traditionally keep the losses secret and underestimated, and they will try to spread the total number over time. Specialists tracking obituaries are already at a low start. I would not rule out that some of the corpses will be kept for some time in refrigerators or even declared “missing in action near Avdiivka”. And then you don’t have to pay money, and you don’t have to admit big numbers.
t.me/boris_rozhin/112783

Posted by: Selidovo | Feb 13 2024 13:47 utc | 295

Hi!
I see that the establishment uniparty in the U.S. Senate has disposed of any pretense in “helping out the situation at the U.S. southern border” and is pushing a pure geopolitical military aid package forward to vote. We’ll see if the U.S. House of Representatives caves or not.
I should be doing better keeping track at the money that’s been directed towards the Kiev government, but if this 60 billion passes the U.S. Congress, has anyone been keeping track of what the total will be to the Ukies since early 2022, $250,000,000,000 in USD? That’s just a number I’m putting up, I don’t know how close it is.
I know most people here don’t like Trump, and I’m under no illusion that he can change the establishment core that pulls the money strings in the U.S.A. fostering their hostility against Russia, but I find it interesting that Trump’s 1st impeachment was all wrapped up in Ukie land, including withholding, at least for a while, military aid to the regime. The summer and fall of 2019 was 2 1/2 years before the events of Feb. 2022. Most people here don’t get it but its obvious to me and some that most of the anti-Trump thing has always been because he (sort of) threw monkey wrenches into the establishment’s geopolitical game of hostility against Russia.

Posted by: DakotaRog | Feb 13 2024 13:55 utc | 297

follow up\more re #279 11:48 utc: and #293 13:21

At 11:30 [Local], an Iskander missile strike with cluster munitions was carried out on the military training ground of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Salidovo. The strikes continued for 20 minutes.
At the time of the strike, there were up to 1500 forcibly mobilized Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel on the training ground.
Later, after the start of gathering and evacuation of the wounded/survivors, the missile strike with cluster munitions was repeated.
There are also reports of prolonged detonation of unexploded ordnance.
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/101409

#Inside
Our source in the General Staff said that Syrsky gave the order to suppress any information on losses at the Selidovo training ground, the city was the main transshipment base for the Armed Forces of Ukraine reserves, which were collected for the release of Avdiivka.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/21640

A seperate accumulation attack overnight in addition to Selidovo and Konstantinovka

According to preliminary information, up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers have died as a result of a powerful missile strike on their deployment site in the city of Chasov Yar.
The city is a key location for the Ukrainian Armed Forces grouping in Avdeevka
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/101406

Posted by: knighthawk | Feb 13 2024 13:57 utc | 299