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February 24, 2024
Ukraine Open Thread 2024-059
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From the last Ukraine thread:
Ukrainians are claiming they used an S200 missile to down the A50. This theoretically has the range, depending on type and modifications, and with NATO targeting assist might not need to use Ukrainian based RADAR. Not sure why it couldn’t be tracked and downed during flight, perhaps too little warning. RADAR homing, so flares probably ineffective. Need to jam the targeting signal. 217kg fragmentation warhead so pretty lethal coming in at mach 6.
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2024 16:01 utc | 420
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2024 16:21 utc | 1
Bankaoi is already saying directly that without an American loan of $60 billion, Ukraine will have to conduct military operations entirely with manpower (accordingly, increasing losses among the country’s population).
Thus, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, said that if there is no help from the United States or it is less than promised, then more Ukrainians need to be mobilized.
“If there is less help, we will need to mobilize more people. If there is more help, then the armament ratio increases and then you need fewer people, because you can cover some sections of the front with conventional weapons, and you don’t need as many people,” he noted He.
Arakhamia also “delighted” the Ukrainians with the fact that taxes will be changed to finance the training and equipment of the mobilized. And we remind you that to finance the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukraine will need an additional UAH 400 billion. And raising those funds will require sweeping tax changes. We can talk about increasing the rates of the main taxes: VAT and income tax. That is, to cover the need of more than 400 billion UAH, the authorities need to increase the VAT and military tax rates by approximately 6-7%.
By the way, the lack of Western funding also leads to the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to conduct combat operations fully and will be forced to go on the defensive with a constant loss of territory.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/21795
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2024 16:26 utc | 2
What is the difficulty of the Russian Armed Forces’ offensive on Chasov Yar?
🔺The entry of units of the Russian Armed Forces into n. Although Ivanovskoye (Krasnoye) village provides the opportunity to launch an offensive on Chasov Yar in the future, it will be difficult to do this in the near future. And there are several objective reasons for this.
Which ones?
◉ Chasov Yar is another enemy fortress city with all the accompanying objects that complicate the assault. Near and inside the city there are:
— industrial zone (Chasovoyarsky refractory plant, whose workshops are dispersed throughout the city);
— a railway station with a large number of buildings (locomotive depot, etc.);
— areas with multi-storey buildings;
— areas with impassable wetlands;
– an extensive network of strongholds interconnected by communication passages (both within the city limits and on the outskirts);
– natural water barriers, including the Seversky Donets – Donbass canal, which almost completely covers Chasov Yar from the east.
◉ The assault on such a fortified area will require not only a large amount of forces and resources, but also the creation of at least two bridgeheads for simultaneous offensive actions – in the Bogdanovka area in the northeast and in the Ivanovsky area in the southeast.
◉ In both cases, the attacking units will need to reach the line of the Seversky Donets – Donbass canal, occupying the heights and clearing numerous enemy strongholds.
◉ If we talk directly about Ivanovsky, in addition to the populated area itself, where the enemy is also well prepared for defense, it will be necessary to take the heights around, the territory of the so-called Popovsky forest and the strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kleshcheevka, which will also require a lot of time and effort.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2024 16:29 utc | 3
🇵🇱⚡️🇺🇦 Border
The Ukrainian government, although incomplete, headed by Shmygal, arrived yesterday at the border with Poland, as Zelensky announced.
A lot of work has been done:
⁃ arrived;
⁃ took a photo together;
⁃ we walked along the border for a long time in search of colleagues from Poland, but found no one;
⁃ sent a report to the OP and left for Kyiv.
In general, the maximum in terms of emotional diplomacy.
However, within the framework of ordinary diplomacy, we consider what happened as a diplomatic failure: the Poles stupidly ignored Ze’s proposal even under pressure from the European Union and did not come, showing that they would not fall for diplomatic provocations!!
The Office of the President continues to demonstrate a steady trend of failures in the international arena, and it all started with the NATO summit, when it became clear that the West was dumping Ukraine.
Zelensky’s attempt to use public/emotional diplomacy does not produce results, but only causes irritation among partners. At the Munich Conference we were publicly applauded, but behind the scenes there was complete disregard for our requests for military assistance.
Now Bankovaya has achieved its goal and received public humiliation from our main ally, whose power has changed, but Warsaw’s approach to us has become even worse. We need to understand a simple truth, everything has changed and they look at us differently, but the Office of the President continues to use the old methods.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/21799
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2024 16:36 utc | 4
Ukrainian soldiers are cheap for the collective west. So I expect an extensive use of Ukro infantry in conbination with long range attacs. The West will escalate as it can escalate knowing that there would be no retaliation from the Russian side.
Posted by: vargas | Feb 24 2024 17:02 utc | 5
Ukraine Weekly Update, 23rd Feb 2024: May be useful to some: https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-weekly-update-67d
Posted by: Dr. Rob Campbell | Feb 24 2024 17:15 utc | 6
Hot girls are waiting for you on —– http://tinyurl.com/mr3bv6hj
Posted by: Arlessa | Feb 24 2024 17:34 utc | 7
Stepove and Latokychne are finally confirmed liberated.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 17:52 utc | 8
From Konstantin Sivkov’s (VP of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences for Information Policy) very good summary of the Ukrainian Summer offensive, “Collapse of Operation Citadel 2.0” in TASS:
Global consequence of Operation Citadel 2.0 collapse
Ukraine and generally even the collective West suffered grave military and political consequences of the failure of Operation Citadel 2.0. The failure of the Ukrainian army’s offensive meant not only a strategic defeat of Kiev’s forces but also the collapse of the united West’s hybrid blitzkrieg when huge economic losses related to unprecedented sanctions and enormous deliveries of various armaments yielded no results. A trend for the West to lose its status as the ruler of the world’s destinies intensified. In turn, this triggered the process of reducing the Western civilization’s spheres of influence, considering that the BRICS association expanded to 11 countries and another 27 states applied for the organization’s membership.
These negative trends for the West led to mounting destructive processes inside the countries constituting that civilization and their peoples began to realize that the course pursued by the globalist elites was pernicious for their existence.
Nationally focused forces began to strengthen their positions and influence in the political spectrum of European countries and the United States. Such forces have already gained power in Hungary and Slovakia. A fierce struggle is underway in the United States between the Republicans and globalists from the Democratic Party.
However, despite such a heavy defeat suffered by the Ukrainian military, the enemy is still strong enough. This is because it is the US-led united West rather than Ukraine with its armed forces that is Russia’s main enemy and Ukraine is just one of the fronts of the West’s hybrid war against Russia. The failure of the first hybrid blitzkrieg does not mean a cessation of the war against Russia. On the contrary, this implies expanding the aggression and beefing up the entire set of actions constituting hybrid warfare, including the opening of new fronts of the armed confrontation.
That is why, similar to how the Soviet Army had a long way to Berlin after winning the Battle of Kursk, today Russia still has to embrace a long struggle after Kiev’s botched Operation Citadel 2.0 until the Final Victory that it will certainly win. But it has already achieved the first and truly Big Victory.
Ukraine could have used all that extra equipment and trained soldiers to mount a very effective defence that would have been very hard for the Russians to break. Instead, they threw colossal amounts of men and material away in a doomed offensive, and the defeat of that offensive has greatly changed the mood in Ukraine and the West – resulting in a great drop off in military and financial aid, and a great resistance of the Ukrainian people to see any more of their military-aged population needlessly die at the front as the military cemeteries started to multiple in size and number.
Just like after Kursk in WW2, the enemy’s offensive capabilities have been severely diminished and Russia (as with the Soviet Union) will continue from strength to strength as Ukraine diminishes. As in 1943 though, this is still the start of a longer march to victory that will take years (the fall of Ukraine may take months, but the larger war will take many years). The West is helping by utterly destroying its global credibility and soft power over Gaza, with even the Houthis showing how much of a paper tiger the US navy is when opposed by modern missile and drone technology. Taiwan should take note.
⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ Front #Summary for 24 Feb 2024 by 19:21⚡️
🔹#Kherson Direction:
⚫️The intensity of fighting on the ground decreased. Some AFU presence on our coast remains. Our army continues to sweep. AFU Drones and artillery cause a lot of difficulties.
🔹#Zaporozhye Direction:
⚫️In the #Orekhov Section, our forces are already attacking from the #Rabotino centre, which we confidently control, towards the House of Culture site, where the AFU is still holding the defence. Ours are pressing, the AFU is moving fresh reserves from #Orekhov.
🔹#SouthDonetsk Direction:
⚫️In the #Maryinka Sector, heavy fighting continues in #Novomikhaylovka, our units are fighting for Timiryazev Street. In #Krasnogorovka, our army is exerting the strongest fire impact on the AFU.
🔹#Avdeyevka Direction:
⚫️On the Southern Front, our units are cleansing #Severnpye.
⚫️In the #Lastochkino Sector, our military entered the #Lastochkino village itself. Powerful air and artillery strikes forced the AFU to retreat. The village is being cleared.
🔹#Bakhmut Direction:
⚫️South of the City, to the east of #Kleshcheyevka, our forces crossed the railway line at one of the sites, and are developing an offensive.
⚫️In the “Chasov Yar” Sector, our troops are trying to gain a foothold on the eastern outskirts of #Ivanovskye (#Krasnoye). The enemy is counterattacking, heavy fighting is ongoing.
🔹In #Svatovo Direction:
⚫️In the #Seversk Sector, without changes.
⚫️In the #Liman Sector, without changes.
⚫️In the #Kupyansk Sector, without changes.
📌Our army is focused on fire defeating AFU positions and reserves.
💥 The AFU have hit an apartment building in #Donetsk, causing dead and wounded. Ukrainian drones have been intercepted over three regions of #Russia. In the #Lipetsk region, the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant was attacked, the fire was eliminated.
🎯 Our Aerospace Forces launched a new combined strike against military and industrial facilities in #Ukraine last night. According to preliminary information, in the #Odessa region, another drone assembly workshop was hit; In Dnepropetrovsk, workshops of the Dneprohim, Yuzhmash and Dneprtyazhmash Plants; In the #Kirovograd region, equipment on the territory of the #Kanatovo Airfield. The AFU reserves along the frontline were also hit.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2024 18:11 utc | 10
From the very end of the last Ukraine thread (posted a few hours ago):
To me – it looks like a collection, or gathering, of those whom they’d like to shakedown. No UK, no US, no France, no Germany, no Hungary, no Poland, no Slovakia. No. It’s Ursula Von der Leyen, the PM of Belgium, the PM of Italy, and… the PM of Canada! (Who is travelling with Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, and Defence Minister, Bill Blair.)
Report with Zelensky video
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/2024-02-24/deux-ans-de-guerre-en-ukraine/justin-trudeau-a-kyiv-pour-demontrer-la-solidarite-canadienne.php
A friendly reminder on disinformation from Canada’s Five Eyes branch, the Communications Security Establishment:
https://x.com/cse_cst/status/1761088682138767385
Satire news site, The Beaverton, writes “Ukrainian military discovers Canadian “drones” just old Sea Kings with GoPros taped on”
https://x.com/TheBeaverton/status/1760724112211890605
Mike Mihajlovic posts on Macron’s absence from this Ukrainian fête
https://x.com/MihajlovicMike/status/1761367242246177164
The Daily Mail says a few interesting things in it’s posted Top Stories:
“The STRIFE boat! Welsh rescue station out of action after volunteers accused RNLI staff member of anti-English ‘racism’ “
“Saying ‘the most qualified person should get the job’ is a microaggression, Britain’s top universities insist”
Well, and there’s this —
“Boris Johnson arrives in Ukraine and says Kyiv ‘will win’ war with Russia on second anniversary of Putin’s invasion”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13120707/Boris-Johnson-arrives-Kyiv-says-Ukraine-win-war-Russia-second-anniversary-Putins-invasion.html
Putin responds to Biden’s crazy S.O.B. comment
https://www.rt.com/russia/592972-putin-biden-insult/
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 24 2024 14:46 utc | 245
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 24 2024 18:34 utc | 11
“The genocide in Gaza – or more precisely the major NATO powers’ active and practical support for the genocide in Gaza – has forced me to re-evaluate my views on Ukraine in a manner more sympathetic to the Russian narrative.
In particular, I was complacent in my dismissive attitude to the argument that the Western powers would back ethnic cleansing and massacre in the Donbass, by forces including some motivated by Nazi ideology. The same powers who are funding and arming Ukraine are funding and arming a genocide by racial supremacist Israeli forces in Gaza. It is beyond argument that my belief in some kind of inherent decency in the Western political Establishment was naive.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/02/putin-history-and-the-mystery-of-national-identity/
You don’t always have to agree with him, but Craig Murray is not pushing partisan talking points or agendas, is prepared to revisit his views based on further information, and has an informed grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of international humanitarian and human rights laws – which have become front and centre in current events.
Posted by: jayc | Feb 24 2024 18:49 utc | 12
Supposedly definite of friendly fire …
https://t.me/milinfolive/116989
Closing the topic with the A-50U of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was shot down over the Krasnodar Territory yesterday.
This video clearly shows the launch of an anti-aircraft missile carried out from Russian territory towards an A-50U flying against the sky, shooting off heat traps.
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 24 2024 19:18 utc | 13
“It is beyond argument that my belief in some kind of inherent decency in the Western political Establishment was naive.”
If there was any inherent decency in the West, then Dubya Bush and Tony Bliar would have been hanged, back to back, with Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: kupkee | Feb 24 2024 19:23 utc | 14
Supposedly definite of friendly fire …
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 24 2024 19:18 utc | 13
—
A further hypothesis on the shoot down
The tragedy of the A-50U plane over Kuban: the Ukrainian Armed Forces used the “Israeli maneuver”…
So, yesterday, at about 20.00, a Russian AWACS A-50U aircraft was shot down over Kuban. Literally immediately, the Ukrainian side (through its sources) stated that this was the “handiwork” of their air defense system, which allegedly managed to reach our plane with an S-200 air defense missile.
Official Russian authorities are still silent. I, on the other hand, having found out the situation through my own channels, concluded that the plane was shot down by “friendly fire”.
According to the information that I was able to collect as of now, the situation is as follows.
The Ukrainian command developed a provocation operation using a ground-to-ground missile converted from the S-200 air defense system to a guided missile. Having calculated the flight path of the A-50U (and it usually goes along the same figure of eight for several hours), they fired a decoy rocket in the direction of the plane. Next, we tried to bring her as close to the board as possible, depicting an attack with an anti-aircraft missile.
That is why the A-50U produced heat traps, which are visible in the video .
Our Pvoshniki, trying to intercept the target and save the A-50U, caught their own side with one missile (whether both exploded side by side, the investigation, I think, will show), which crashed during the fall.
In fact, the enemy repeated the pattern of provocation that the Israeli Air Force once used against our Il-20 control aircraft in September 2018, which they maneuvered at with a missile from the Syrian S-200 air defense system.
Thus, both versions (both Ukrainian and the one that was expressed yesterday by near-war bloggers as a whole are correct). And something must be done urgently to prevent another repetition of the tragedy.
The first thing that comes to mind is that the flight path of the A-50U should be unpredictable for the enemy. Perhaps something else can be thought of (but I don’t have enough information for other ideas).
So far on this topic all.
https://t.me/s/yurasumy/13470
Posted by: too scents | Feb 24 2024 19:26 utc | 15
Posted by: too scents | Feb 24 2024 19:26 utc | 15
I understood nothing from that translation.
So Ukraine fired a missile at the plane and the Russian defense fired a missile to intercept it. The interceptor hit the plane and eventually attacking missile.
So the message is still the same one: Ukraine has weapons that can target planes in Russian rear. Interceptor or not, the A50 would have been shot down anyway.
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 24 2024 19:35 utc | 16
BBC news … big-money (who and where from?) government approved demo in London — with lots of placards such as “Free the Defenders of Azovstahl”.
Who were/are very blatant Nazis.
Odd how that does not matter at all — not even to the leading Jewish organisations (rabidly zionist) in the UK, which spend most of their time whining about imaginary “anti-semitism” and demanding punitive action by the UK State against anyone who so much as mildly disagrees with them, or fails to be enthusiastic enough about their agenda.
But the public are, of course, not supposed to notice that.
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 24 2024 19:57 utc | 17
Re the pessimist @ 1
Again No Escort Aircraft, Why?
If the A-50s are relatively defensiveless against either missiles or other aircraft, and are an extremely high valued and limited weapon, why is there no fighter escort? Even if Russian combat aircraft have no anti-missle defensive, it could act as a decoy to misdirect the missle away from the A-50.
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 20:01 utc | 18
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 20:01 utc | 18
They fly in rear area, furthest away from potential enemy fighter or air defense opposition so escorts are not really needed. It was a friendly fire incident, possibly friend-or-foe signal tampered through a Nato drone between Novorrossyisk and Kerch.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 20:15 utc | 19
Posted by: too scents | Feb 24 2024 19:26 utc | 15
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 24 2024 19:35 utc | 16
The following link contains the clip of the A-50 being shot down (2nd video from the top).
https://www.southfront.press/breaking-another-a-50-shot-down-in-russian-rear-region/
At 53 seconds there is an explosion in the top right hand corner of the screen. Is this an air defence missile detonating?
At 1 min 03 seconds the missile that downs the plane detonates. For a few seconds after this you can see a trail of smoke(?) lit up by the burning plane. Assuming this trail is an indication of the direction the missile was travelling, then, to my eyes, it appears to have come from the side not from below.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Feb 24 2024 20:22 utc | 20
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer: “Everyone we saw, from Zelensky on down made this very point clear: If Ukraine gets the aid, they will win the war and beat Russia, but if they don’t get the aid, they will surely lose the war.”
IMHO, the moment Ukraine throws in the towel is the moment the US has to decide whether to send in US troops, or to walk away. The US sending money and arms only postpones this decision, nothing more.
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 24 2024 20:39 utc | 21
Posted by: too scents | Feb 24 2024 19:26 utc | 15
So the theory is AFU shot converted S-200 ground/ground missile in the direction of the A-50 flightpath. A-50 sees the rocket coming, thinking it is an actual air to air missile and drops heat decoys.
This will only work if the air defense system is BEHIND (i.e. to the south-east) of the A-50, which is flying north-west / south-east 8-shaped ovals.
If the air defense system is to the north or north-west of the aircraft, it should have no theoretical possibility of mistaking an aircraft for the S-200 rocket.
I don’t find that theory too plausible.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 20:39 utc | 22
unimperator @19
Yes, but this isn’t the first friendly fire downing of an A-50. The first as I recall reading was also a possible friendly fire incident. An escort fighter would provide for a redundancy in the safe guards used to protect the A-50, especially friend-foe detection.
The fighter would also provide defense against such incidents as well as direct attack. There is an operational strategy called mini-max, where the objective is to minimize the your maximum loss, which is the A-50 for surveillance operations.
Also, can the use of a stealth fighter from Ukraine be excluded?
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 20:43 utc | 23
Paul Craig Roberts says the obvious.
“Biden and Putin are taking the path to nuclear war. Biden by providing long range missiles to Ukraine, and Putin by refusing to use sufficient force to bring the conflict to an end before it spins out of control.”
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 20:47 utc | 24
Also, can the use of a stealth fighter from Ukraine be excluded?
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 20:43 utc | 23
A stealth fighter is certainly not excluded. US might have some recent newly developed longer range air-to-air missile, and it’s possible F-35 stealth coating actually randomly works to an extent it is far enough and at a small angle from any ground radars.
So it’s possible F-35 / F-22 could fly into the east part of Black Sea and fire a missile at the aircraft detected with the drone flying off Sochi or Novorrossyisk.
If that’s the case, you’d probably want to seriously start considering getting away from the path of the steamroller.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 20:50 utc | 25
Would add if it was a US missile, the Russians will certainly have recovered parts of it and they know exactly what happened. There has been no official statement.
But anyhow it’s hard to see how the S-200 rocket story could be true.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 20:56 utc | 26
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 20:50 utc | 25
Again, like in the other thread, NATO aircraft shooting down a Russian plane on Russian rear is a declaration of war.
Its probably not what happened.
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 24 2024 20:58 utc | 27
“Hot girls are waiting…”
Thats all the proof you need that Global Warming is real;-}
Posted by: jef | Feb 24 2024 21:00 utc | 28
Surferket@24
PCR is a doomer with nothing novel to say.
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2024 21:06 utc | 29
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 24 2024 18:34 utc | 11
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.
Ok, I have an in on Trudeau-my associate’s daughter reports directly to the WEF stooge; apparently, because there is a significant back lash from the Muslim (should I say, ‘Ummah’, I don’t know the proper form ) community (1)the Trudeau cabinet made a deal with the Empire that they would drop off the ICJ case in support of Israel in return they agreed to get bagged (ie. send money, no scratch that-buy military equipment from the US -then they send it to Ukraine) in Kiev so we will probably see big money coming from Trudeau’s government here , shortly.
And, it may be just a rumour-we’ll see.
1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/muslim-mps-gaza-unrwa-1.7121789
Estimates of friendly fire by AD units, during the Cold-War, suggested a realistic figure was between 20%-30%. The contributing factors were: operating in an EW saturated environment, combat stress and the increasing use of semi-autonomous engagement systems with operators often having to physically intervene to prevent launches. During the Georgian intervention three Russian planes, from a total shot down of six, were victims of friendly fire, so there should be no real surprise that incidents like this happen. Having said this, two identical high-value platforms being victims suggests the Ukrainians might have found a way of spoofing Russian IFF or other interrogatory systems, designed to prevent such incidents. As for why not vary the flight paths the race track is designed for maximum coverage of an assigned sector of airspace. Getting an AWACS to fly constantly changing patterns risks leaving holes in the radar coverage and fatigues the flight crew.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 24 2024 21:10 utc | 31
Let’s suppose the missile that hit the A-50 was an American missile fired from a stealth aircraft. Furthermore, let us suppose the Russians have the remains of the missile, the full radar record of the missile from launch to intercept, and recordings of the flight path of the stealth (probably F-22) aircraft from well before launch until it returned to wherever it came from (Incirlik? Campia Turzil?). Let’s suppose the Russians have all the evidence to prove whodunnit.
What do you expect the Russians to do?
Remember, the Russians likely have solid evidence of who did the Nord Stream attacks too.
The Russians will say and do nothing because to respond means WWIII.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
How can one actually come up with this nonsense about friendly fire? The radar signature is clear for such large aircraft and the Ukrainians simply don’t have them. Even if you accidentally launch the rocket, you can blow it up at any time until it hits. I think because of the great distance the Americans are shooting here with Standard Missiles, for example RIM 174. If you can launch them from a ship, you can also launch them from a truck.
Posted by: Oliver Krug | Feb 24 2024 21:28 utc | 33
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
True, even if US shot it down, the Russians would not respond (for now). Simply because the current AFU lines are crumbling and Russia is making decent progress.
On the Dima report.
Ukraine has retreated from Rabotyne, they lost Lastochkyne, Stepove, Orlivka expected to fall soon under heavy FAB fire. AFU retreated from Kleschevka leaving a rear guard that surrendered pretty much immediately from positions NW of Ivavonske (very exhausted looking soldiers not even running but walking).
This is the end game. Contrary to western MSM beliefs, the war in Ukraine is not a ‘linear’ war measured through the size of territory changing hand as a function of time. We must understand that AFU has front loaded its army to defending Donbass. This means a defeat in Donbass will lead to much weaker defense further west. The ‘reserve in the rear’ is built out of people kidnapped off the street.
Somehow I doubt Ukraine project will last until the US election, which could mean that US starts attacking directly out of desperation.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 21:31 utc | 34
Is really a point to try to talk about the cause of our mess, as humans. We are emotional to the core of stomach, heart, and some billions of neuron cells excited to make them all funking, or fucking cancer.
You, meanwhile, do not love, are in the painting: the curse is on you. If you want to be real, you must notice the things that are inside of you, your thoughts and feelings.
Take your time to confront your own mess: all the problems will return if we do not make a conscious life. To be alive is to be aware, not just to pretend.
Posted by: Heart | Feb 24 2024 21:34 utc | 35
Further to my post at | Feb 24 2024 20:22 utc | 20
At 1 min 45 seconds you can hear a double bang. The time lag of 42 seconds indicates that the person recording the incident was approximately 8.5 miles away.
The alleged track published by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine suggests that (when the missile hit the plane?) it was at a height of 800m/2625ft and travelling at a speed of 320 km/h which is 199 mph.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Feb 24 2024 21:39 utc | 36
Ukie Trolls would take a Nuclear war and the death of all their people to rule over the ashes.
They are getting their wish soon. I hope they are ready to burn forever both body and soul.
The West represents Satan’s Army vs the Army of God.
Posted by: Peace | Feb 24 2024 21:43 utc | 37
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer: “Everyone we saw, from Zelensky on down made this very point clear: If Ukraine gets the aid, they will win the war and beat Russia, but if they don’t get the aid, they will surely lose the war.”
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 24 2024 20:39 utc | 21
And if Ukraine doesn’t win even with the help of the USA, then the American taxpayer can ensure that Chuck Schumer is hung by his balls at the Statue of Liberty’s torch. But if they hold, he will become US president for life.
Posted by: Oliver Krug | Feb 24 2024 21:45 utc | 38
Posted by: Roger | Feb 24 2024 18:02 utc | 9
Somewhat disappointing that Mr. Sivkov incredibly believes that the globalist faction is centered on the Democratic party and not on the entire political class of the US and the Amglosphere in general. Seems he is ignorant of concepts like “the uniparty” that even many dissidents within the Republicans openly proclaim. It all smacks like some outlets in the US, the types that proclaim that Russia is an ally for the confrontation with China.
THis is the legacy of the 90s, when many Russians became liberals, a term correctly denoting the neoliberal right-winger regardless of cultural predilections. This was the cause for the prolonged attachment of so many Russians to all things western and the barely hidden hostility to China and indeed so many countries that are now Russia’s partners to any extent.
It is no coincidence that the new western directive for anti-Russian propagandists is to emphasize Russia’s isolation from its natural fellow whites/westerners and its association with all those unfashionable brownies, orientals etc.
Posted by: Constantine | Feb 24 2024 21:49 utc | 39
Posted by: canuck | Feb 24 2024 21:06 utc | 30
Your source is good. Justin just dropped $3 billion
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-kyiv-ukraine-russia-1.7124330
Posted by: genuinely curious | Feb 24 2024 21:50 utc | 40
Robotyne – what a waste of so many lives.
Indicative of upcoming rout …. of an exhausted and defeated army.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2024 21:54 utc | 41
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
To me, the Russians refuse to get distracted from their goal, no matter what provocation. First, Ukraine.
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 24 2024 21:56 utc | 42
Meanwhile that you can’t be over me, my ego, I try to be I.
I have no problem with your doxa: I give a fuck with your values. Indeed, your values are fine. Let the people think whatever.
You are ants. Idiots humans so engaged for their minusculito AI, that you prefer to be right by an Ai that to think about your spirit, your consciousness.
If we prefer to make an appearance, do not touch the live, because we all living in this mess.
Posted by: Heart | Feb 24 2024 21:59 utc | 43
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 21:31 utc | 34
Not only front loaded but defending from a scab of fortifications that took over a decade to construct, peel off the scab and there’s very little stopping any incision. The Dnieper line is the next comparable obstacle but, just as the Germans in ‘43, the Ukrainians have nor fortified it, believing the front would never collapse, only retreat slowly. Worse, the ‘scab’, like any chain of fixed fortifications, is only as strong as its weakest flank and recent Russian gains have now threatened the integrity of what remains. The traditional solution would be to launch a series of armoured counter-attacks, but Ukraine’s strategic reserve is massively depleted as a result of frittering it away, reinforcing already collapsing fronts.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 24 2024 22:07 utc | 44
How can we explain the mad behavior of EU elites?
What would the psychologists or anthropologists say?
Do they really believe in war with Russia that would last 10+ years?
Well educated, rich, self aware people just repeating MSM lies?
I live in Serbia, there are so many rich Russians here that do not like Russia.
Posted by: vargas | Feb 24 2024 22:08 utc | 45
@Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2024 21:54 utc | 41
Yes, one strong-point after another falling (Avdiivka, Lastochkyne, Severne, Pobeda, Robotyne) with others already in the process of being stormed (Krasnogorivka, Novokomhailivka, Ivanivske etc.). The Ukrainians do certainly seem to be in some form of an exhaustion and collapsing morale downward spiral. Without those well fortified strong points it will be much harder to defend territory.
Dima’s latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3q7bzEREck
Somehow I doubt Ukraine project will last until the US election, which could mean that US starts attacking directly out of desperation.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 21:31 utc | 34
Quite possible that neither Ukraine nor Biden will last until November. Russian progress appears to be accelerating against a weaker and exhausted adversary …
… NATO ‘soldiers on gardening leave’ in the ‘black earth’ of Ukraine are already operating some of the tackle against the Russians … the US is basically already ‘directly’ involved
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2024 22:08 utc | 47
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
…The Russians will say and do nothing because to respond means WWIII…
Supposing a Western attack on the plane, it wouldn’t necessarily take WW3 level consequence to deter Russia from going public. An escalation which Russia couldn’t follow would be sufficient deterrence.
…Remember, the Russians likely have solid evidence of who did the Nord Stream attacks too.
I don’t think this type of revelation would compel Russia to respond militarily, so no risk of dangerous escalation. It would, however, seriously compromise US – EU relations. With proper timing and clever followups, it could be devastating. I see no reason to sit on something like this.
Posted by: robin | Feb 24 2024 22:12 utc | 48
Posted by: Roger | Feb 24 2024 22:08 utc | 46
Colonel Trukhan said AFU has other fortified strongpoints, but none of them are even near the level of Avdeevka.
That probably means the effectiveness of FAB bombs in small villages / open terrain / small towns which only have organic cellar/basements, will go up drastically and reduce the lifespan of any coherent defensive line. The forests might still be a somewhat different story, but – if the plains in the south are rolled over, that will make defending forests somewhat moot as the entire Donbass line, including forests could become under threat of losing supply lines.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 22:14 utc | 49
Even if Russian combat aircraft have no anti-missle defensive, it could act as a decoy to misdirect the missle away from the A-50.
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 20:01 utc | 18
Are you going to tell the pilot he’s a tethered goat of just let it be a surprise?
Posted by: HB_Norica | Feb 24 2024 22:17 utc | 50
Why the human being is so tasty? Better than the animals?
Because the human being is unique, every human is unique. Every human has ego, some kind of, self aware and unique existence, soul, self awareness, spirit, that is: self awareness from the beginning .
We do not remember because we have the choice to be, or not to be. Maybe We have decided to engaged to be problematic and pass this mess as trying to be free.
Posted by: Heart | Feb 24 2024 22:21 utc | 51
kupkee | Feb 24 2024 19:23 utc | 14
Bear in mind that when Iraq was attacked Craig was Ambassador to Uzbekistan and almost certainly developing as well as repeating the Foreign Office cover story.
Even in today’s apology there are still indications of the difficulties he has in recognizing that the British Foreign Office has always played a central role in the Imperial project of which Joe Biden is the current nominal head.
He made a mistake as a young man in taking the King’s Shilling and going to work for the Empire. He deludes himself with the idea that ‘something went wrong’ with the British government under Blair- it had always been that way. Working for the FO was always what it turned out to have been.
They were a weird lot those pseudo Trotskyist Young Liberals like Peter Hain, and Craig was one of them.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 24 2024 22:27 utc | 52
I just read this at Consortium News.
A very good article equally as erudite and thoughtful as those of Crooke.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/24/craig-murray-mea-culpa-on-ukraine/
Posted by: Digital Dinosaur | Feb 24 2024 22:28 utc | 53
There is no differences between you and me: we are the same emotional egos who try to be fair.
There is no differences, just be aware.
They are the same, our problem is treat them as they are: spirits.
What spirit means? You are the awareness that are you: the unique existence.
Long before the Asuras, the humans. Why the human is tasty? Because the humans are Egos
Posted by: Heart | Feb 24 2024 22:40 utc | 54
HB_Norica @ 50
The last thing a fighter pilot of any nation is, is a tethered goat.
The decoy is assigned to distract the radar and other sensory targeting to itself from in this case the A-50, then neutralize it.
For example, destroyer escorts se re a similar function in fleet operations, protecting the major ships, especially the aircraft carrier.
Its a form of active defense that fighter pilots are trained for in dog fighting tactics and fighter aircraft are designed.
If there was another aircraft involved, good probability it could have been neutralized “in situ’, with no explanation needed.
If you know any fighter pilots tell them dog fighting is for goats. I would be interested in their response.
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 24 2024 22:42 utc | 55
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2024 21:06 utc | 29
He’s stating the obvious and that Putin’s slo-mo is giving US lots of time to plan and execute direct deep attacks into Russia.
Even Putin declared that it’s NATO forces operating all advanced western weapon systems that are attacking Russia.
Here’s another one from his articles.
“Putin’s Unwillingness to Use Force to Bring the Ukraine Conflict to an End has Greatly Widened the War which is approaching a dangerous stage. NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that the American F-16 aircraft that NATO countries are about to provide Ukraine can be used to attack deep inside Russia. These aircraft, along with the long-range missiles that Biden is about to provide to Ukraine, comprise a US/NATO attack on Russia.”
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 22:42 utc | 56
According to Dreizin, Russia has 4 more A50 left to shoot down with IFF. I’m sure Russia can easily replace them in a month. Even the Chinese don’t make one a year.
“The Russian aviation friend-foe identification system/process is coming apart at the seams, as another A-50 (Russian “AWACS”) plane, valued at several hundred billion rubles, is downed over Russian pre-2014 territory (leaving not more than 4 still in service), the 4th Russian crewed, fixed-wing aircraft to…”
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 22:49 utc | 57
There is no doubt.
We, the humans, are basically emotional. We are living in the Emotional Liv. Take a concept: we are not even mentals. Remember your dreams. We are emotional dudes who try to engages our best emotion.
What we must to do? I would say, the live, because everyone is free. The thing is to be aware
Posted by: Heart | Feb 24 2024 23:00 utc | 58
Speech by communist Nikolai IVANOV on February 15 at a meeting of the State Duma
Today, in the midst of the campaign for the election of the President of the Russian Federation, there is more demand in society than ever to understand where each of the candidates will lead the country, what image of the future Russia they offer to the population.
While there is debate in Russia about whether a state ideology is needed or not, our enemies have already developed their own ideology in relation to Russia and drawn their own image of the future. Let me give you a few examples.
The recently deceased Henry Kissinger said: I would prefer chaos and civil war in Russia rather than trends towards reunification into a single, strong, centralized state.
And here is a quote from John Major, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain: Russia’s task after losing the Cold War is to provide resources to prosperous countries, that is, prosperous countries are the global West, but for this we need to have 50-60 million people in Russia.
And his predecessor Margaret Thatcher generally stated: it is economically justifiable for 15 million people servicing mines and wells to live on Russian territory.
And where do they propose to put the rest – 131 million people? A Pole, Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to the US President, took care of this. He said this: the Slavs, namely Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, are the most rebellious peoples in the world, they can be destroyed, but not conquered, which is why this seed must be liquidated. And he also said: Hitler was a stupid boy, he acted openly, we will have no trace.
The Anglo-Saxons not only outlined a plan for the destruction of Russia, but also actively began to implement it. This is what US President Bill Clinton said on February 7, 1997: we spent many billions of dollars on bringing Yeltsin to power, but they more than paid off the US profit from bringing Yeltsin to power amounted to more than 5700%.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 24 2024 23:04 utc | 59
Ukraine Has Lost – Is Putin Wrong? – Netanyahu’s Policy – Paul Craig Roberts
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 24 2024 23:07 utc | 60
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 20:47 utc | 24
Between decision and action there are legal and pragmatic hurdles.
Maidan resulted in the US having control over sensitive enterprises. In the case of Ukraine these were called Yushmash, Antonov, Motor Sich, Khartron. Manufacturers of rockets, airplanes, helicopter and ship engines, electronics. The US equivalent would have been if Russia had taken control of Lockheed, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Cisco.
So before acting in Ukraine, Russia first needed to develop and manufacture Russian analogons for everything Russia used to buy from Ukraine. And when you are doing a complete reeesign from the ground up, why not improve while you’re at it? I guess one of the results was replacing SS-18 Satan (Yushmash, Dnipropetrovsk) by Sarmat. (Another result seems to have been Ukrainian missile designers selling missile designs to North Korea, but I digress).
So it took a few years before Russia could act.
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 24 2024 23:08 utc | 61
Surferket@58
If you want to read his rants who am I to stop you. For myself I haven’t bothered for years.
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 24 2024 23:09 utc | 62
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 24 2024 21:56 utc | 42
The maintenance of purpose, drilled into the head of every medieval commander, when reading the classical accounts of warfare. Again, an iron law of combat and strategy, break it at your peril or only due to an unforeseen and imminent danger.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2024 22:14 utc | 49
Not just aviation, this is where the unique combination of firepower speed and protection, possessed by armoured forces, comes into their own. Drones are useful in picking off armour struggling to clear minefields or channeled into BUA’s, but far less effective when dealing with fast moving spearheads that constantly threaten to overrun your current positions, artillery and AD also becomes less effective, having to constantly relocate to avoid the risk of direct fire engagements. Fixed, defences offer the defender a plethora of advantages, that go some way to mitigate training deficiencies, Ukraine has largely lost those force multipliers and the territorial units, used as fillers, risk having their failings brutally exposed.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 24 2024 23:11 utc | 63
Further to my posts at | Feb 24 2024 20:22 utc | 20 and | Feb 24 2024 21:39 utc | 36
The above are my observations regarding the video published on SouthFront and the alleged track.
What follows are my deductions/speculations.
I assume that it is standard practice for the air defence forces to be informed of all sorties/missions etc. of the air force in order to reduce the possibility of a friendly fire incident occurring.
Therefore, either someone in the Russian armed forces cocked-up or it wasn’t a friendly fire incident.
If it wasn’t a friendly fire incident then the plane must have been shot down by an adversary of Russia i.e. the Ukrainian armed forces. The weapon system, technology and expertise to carry out the attack must have been provided by the USA/NATO.
How will Russia respond to this ‘escalation’?
Posted by: Siddhartha | Feb 24 2024 23:14 utc | 64
I’m trying, she gonna live That is: she is true. Over the try she is true. At least, you are true,
Keep up, my lady, I think you are a goddess, your heart is a godess
Posted by: heart | Feb 24 2024 23:15 utc | 65
OT, but has anyone seen any reports of Yemen sinking a British warship? Gilbert Doctorov seemed to refer to one on an episode of Redacted today.
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 24 2024 23:15 utc | 66
The Russians will say and do nothing because to respond means WWIII.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
They will say nothing, and they will make no response that is more publicly provable than responsibility for the downing of this plane. But it’s wrong to think they will do nothing. At the moment they are busy winning the ground war in UKraine, which one could say is response enough, but if specific reprisals are needed, expect them to occur in the ME, via proxies.
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 24 2024 23:24 utc | 67
@Posted by: Digital Dinosaur | Feb 24 2024 22:28 utc | 53
For a man who professes to love history, Craig Murray’s statement in the article that “I thought the “West” was more civilised than that. I now have to face the fact that I was wrong about the character of the NATO powers.”, shows an utter disregard of actual history.
One only has to look to the post-WW2 colonial anti-independence campaigns of the Dutch, French and British to see what “Western civilization” looks like. Or perhaps Vietnam with its widespread massacres and Agent Orange poisoning, the US support of the Indonesian ethnic-Chinese genocide, the Indonesian Timorese genocide, and the Guatemala genocide, the illegal bombing of Serbia, the destruction of the middle income Libya, or the illegal invasion of Iraq …
Crooke is not erudite and thoughtful, he is obviously a thoroughly brain-washed ex-servant of empire that has had an utterly brutal reality collide with his comfortable Western European civilizational supremacy ideology.
In the next 3 months, the thing gonna be so destroyed that the thing gonna be really bad.
Maybe I am the one who thing that If the American Pax gonna thing that Cristo gonna save your spirit.
Posted by: heart | Feb 24 2024 23:33 utc | 69
From previous thread:
Posted by: canuck | Feb 24 2024 13:44 utc | 382
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 24 2024 14:23 utc | 400
Posted by: canuck | Feb 24 2024 14:33 utc | 405
Posted by: Jake Blanchard | Feb 24 2024 23:35 utc | 70
What is the different between you and me: I’m, Spirit. I’m mine. Of course. I do get a fuck be better than you. I’ve trying to be with you. But you are an idiot:
The homo sapiens is idiot
Posted by: heart | Feb 24 2024 23:47 utc | 71
@ Roger | Feb 24 2024 23:26 utc | 68
Roger, you seemed to me always a good commenter, but this attack on Alastair Crooke, as not erudite and not thoughtful, is beyond my level of understanding. WOuld you please, explain with some examples, why you came to this pov.
Posted by: fanto | Feb 24 2024 23:53 utc | 72
The only aware is the human The only conscious are we. the measure of all things
The true, really. Or the measure
This is the 22 if february,
Posted by: Beart | Feb 25 2024 0:06 utc | 73
Blanchard, It seems you are very intelligent. I hope you will live to get this humAna..
All of my Bro are my Family, That means: I m not a whoker
Posted by: Heart | Feb 25 2024 0:24 utc | 74
In response to
”
The Russians will say and do nothing because to respond means WWIII.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 24 2024 21:19 utc | 32
They will say nothing, and they will make no response that is more publicly provable than responsibility for the downing of this plane. But it’s wrong to think they will do nothing. At the moment they are busy winning the ground war in UKraine, which one could say is response enough, but if specific reprisals are needed, expect them to occur in the ME, via proxies.
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 24 2024 23:24 utc | 67
”
Russia is executing its SMO in Ukraine and meeting all of its objectives it seems at this point. But we all know that we are not in a potential stalemate game this time. The God Of Mammon aggression against Russia and all nations must stop and the events in Occupied Palestine along with what is happening in Ukraine are the ugly our species must face to motivate structural social change like getting rid of global private finance…..what are the pawns, bishops, rooks, castles and queen in our civilization war? What is/was the value of that plane?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2024 0:25 utc | 75
Been busy composing the following, “Big Picture Conflict: Pepe Escobar & Global Times Observations”, which is a fairly long read composed of Escobar’s two latest essays and an analytical piece from yesterday’s Global Times where the overall emphasis is on Ukraine, Palestine and the Big Picture.
I am a hoker. I am doing by 500 euros per month, circa 35-40 hours per wekee
пзнм
Ент грпк гоавттв.ççRgi
These muricans does not understand that always was a respect between us
Posted by: Pu | Feb 25 2024 0:48 utc | 77
LightYearsFromHome | Feb 24 2024 23:04 utc | 59–
Thanks for posting that excellent reminder. I find is very odd no other comment’s been added. Russia’s leaders–Team Putin–know very well what was recalled and have said the conflict is existential for Russia as they know the Nazi West’s aims. There, now it’s out in the open for debate–the West is a Nazi organism and has the same aims as Plan Ost.
As for which candidate has outlined his future vision for Russia, Putin is living and building Russia’s future on a daily basis. He has no illusions but withholds them from public as Russia is already motivated enough and doesn’t need to be alarmed through fear like the West, although that doesn’t work as well in the West anymore.
fanto | Feb 24 2024 23:53 utc | 72–
He starts with Murray and ends with Crooke. Hard to tell who he’s aiming for, but shooting either is a mistake.
Posted by: Heart
Wow, your posts must look like total word salad to most, therefore the lack of responses. However, despite the nonlinear prose, the flavour of your off topic content seems authentic and not the work of a malfunctioning ChatGPT clone. While “LightYearsFromHome” may be just a humorous forum screen name, for some of us, it is literally true. Please sober up from whatever substance you are using. How about creating your own bar, perhaps the Mos Eisley Cantina? The few barflies who maybe could understand you will go there. Love from Subaru.
Posted by: Drifter | Feb 25 2024 1:00 utc | 80
@ Posted by: jayc | Feb 24 2024 18:49 utc | 12
“You don’t always have to agree with him, but Craig Murray is not pushing partisan talking points or agendas, is prepared to revisit his views based on further information, and has an informed grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of international humanitarian and human rights laws – which have become front and centre in current events.”
Yes. I agree Jayc. I had my opinion on that article some days ago. Sometimes I have had comments censored. I don’t complain. Sometimes deserved. Other times I may not agree but at least I know they have been read before censoring! Sometimes even explained why. Mostly though for being o/t.
His personal experiences recently have apparently forced him to pragmatically reassess his opinions. Most notably through the close understanding and relationship with Julian Assange and the injustice meted out to that great man.
Also the betrayal of the Scottish Independence cause by the Crown agents that infiltrated the SNP and its high offices with the total control of the Scottish main stream media. The persecution of Salmond under the fake claims against him which were found to be false by a jury trial. Non of the perjuror accusers so far charged for their proven lies.
Ultimately Craig Murray’s own jailing, without a fair trial or jury for reporting on that failed abuse of law against Salmond. JAILING!
There are many other instances of him being harassed by the Crown state that still rules over Scotland with its quisling devolved ministers and owned media. He has written objectively on many events as b does here.
For months as I understand , with continued harassment by the State, he has been forced to be in exile from his family as the kangaroo courts of the U.K. and its complicit media aim to bury JA.
I’m not surprised that he has finally come around to choosing the side of the multipolarism over the imaginary supposed free and fair unipolar imperialism.
I just hope he has opportunity to revisit other Narratives of the dying empire that are supposedly beyond reproach.
Regardles he is one my heroes as is b, the incomparable analyst and landlord of this here MoA where we can meet and understand the lies that we have been forced to grow up in.
So I do and will Stand with Craig Murray in his efforts to be a genuine honest truth teller like the recently departed John Pilger and other such heroes who speak truth to power. He deserves our whole hearted respect and support as a pragmatic fighter for freedom of the oppressed. Even though I too don’t agree with him on everything.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 25 2024 1:01 utc | 81
Are they idiots? No doubt. A person without emotion, :real. The first comprehension is that make bad over our brothers in Palestine, meanwheale 100000 are dead, I am old I do no have the balls to go Palestine.
I hate my self because I do not have the power to help the people. My karma.
Posted by: Heart | Feb 25 2024 1:01 utc | 82
Posted by: Jake Blanchard | Feb 24 2024 23:35 utc | 70
The pipelines were an asset for Russia and energy security for Germany.
Cui bono would now relieve at least these two states if Germany also acted according to the benefit principle.
As it is, only Russia is relieved.
To whom should Russia present evidence?
To the perpetrators, what would that change?
An independent court, where does that exist?
Russia knows that in such a case it has to ensure justice itself.
Have Sweden and Denmark actually published evidence of guilt or innocence?
It is obvious who the perpetrators are.
Investigative journalists need the interest of the judiciary for criminal offences to be prosecuted.
At the moment, however, there is more of a threat of hemlock when offences are reported that take on an unpleasant dimension for the state.
This is where the legislature exerts influence on the judiciary and the separation of powers is abolished. The core of democracy has been neutralised, leaving only the concept behind which it is governed.
If you want to see proof, ask “your” government!
Posted by: 600w | Feb 25 2024 1:05 utc | 83
Son of a Bitch:
Maybe I can be a whore but What I write is my mess I won´t use nothing but my side. It would be totally bad If I use something that I am not.
Posted by: Heart | Feb 25 2024 1:17 utc | 84
@Posted by: fanto | Feb 24 2024 23:53 utc | 72
I have been uncomfortable with Crooke for a while because of his underlying assumptions of Western civilizational supremacy. He was brought up in a colonial family in Rhodesia and was educated at one of the world’s most expensive boarding schools (Aiglon in Switzerland) and then at St. Andrews – a perfect education for a member of the establishment. His brother was in the SAS. Then of course he worked for MI6 for 30 years, a service heavily involved in the dirty work of perfidious Albion.
He tends to push both a Western supremacist underlying message and also reduces the Middle East to a religion rather than accepting that many of the governments in the post-war period were socialist and non-religious, while the move to religion was very much created by western actions and support for extremist groups by the MI6 he worked for (e.g. the Moslem Brotherhood, the Mujahideen). Iran was social-democratic in the 1950s before the MI6/CIA coup, Afghanistan socialist from 1970s to early 1990s until overthrown by MI6 and CIA backed forces, Egypt was socialist in the 1970s, as was Iraq, Libya. Syria was and is ruled by a non-religious autocracy.
So although he does have some good insights I find him highly disingenuous and misleading, and he cannot wrap his brain around the issue that the West is neo-colonial and Russia/China/Iran is fighting an anti-colonial world war. Iran is also quite socialist and there is a lot of separation of powers between church (which is moderate Moslem) and state. Its issue with Israel is not religious, it is that the state of Israel is an ethnic cleansing genocidal one, and has been for many decades.
He reminds me of Tulsi Gabbard somewhat, who appeared once to be somewhat progressive but in reality just wants the US Empire to be more efficient in its imperial management.
From previous thread.
Re: Posted by: James M. | Feb 24 2024 23:03 utc | 432
I never said the invasion was unprovoked, I said Russia instigated certain actions which surprised the West. This is true. In the minds of Western Color Revolution planners, their goal is only to topple the regime. They expect the populace to fall in line and follow the new trajectory. But this almost always fails – in Ukraine (Orange Revolution, 2004, and Maidan 2014) Georgia (Rose Revolution), and Kyrgyzstan (twice). Instead there is pushback, some of it organic some of it assisted by Russia, by the populace.
I don’t know why this surprises the US but it does, and they don’t have any contingency plans to deal with it. My guess is because they still have limited influence in these countries. In Ukraine post-Maidan the Russians were more proactive, openly taking Crimea, and helping foment rebellion in the Donbas. And now, they have taken the fight completely to Ukraine. Where is the precedent that the West expected this? The answer is they didn’t.
Russia was tired of playing defense so they went on the offense, taking the initiative away from “NATO”, the US, the West, whomever, and thus the timeline is now controlled by Russia. Make sense? I know this stuff is hard, but try to keep up.
Please. The West knew Russia would react – did you miss all the talk of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine in January/February 2022?
It was EVERYWHERE!
How would The West justify all the sanctions and blowing up Nord Stream if Russia didn’t invade?
Do you really think Ukraine could fight Russia basically to a standstill for 2+ years if they weren’t prepared for a Russian invasion?
They expected and wanted a Russian invasion and deliberately provoked it – it was the expected response that their plans have been based around.
If you are now claiming the Russian invasion WAS PROVOKED – then you have a serious case of cognitive dissonance going on here.
You seem to think The West deliberately provoked Russia and were then surprised Russia were provoked!
Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:21 utc | 439
Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:23 utc | 86
Response from previous thread.
Re: Posted by: Oliver Krug | Feb 24 2024 14:20 utc | 399
The USA have lost a peninsula and a lot of land in the east of Ukraine so far, there will probably be a lot more to come, and it looks like no army in the world can take that back from the Russians. Is that peanuts ?
What?
The US has NEVER in history controlled Crimea.
Russia has controlled Crimea for 90%+ years since 1783 DIRECTLY and indirectly for the other 23 years (1991-2014).
The US has NEVER in history controlled Donbas.
The US controls more of Donbas now (via Ukraine) than it ever did before 2014.
Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:15 utc | 438
Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:24 utc | 87
@ Posted by: Cynic | Feb 24 2024 19:57 utc | 17
I hadn’t heard about that! Have just tried to find it on bbc site but it’s not obvious. Do you have link?
I did find this though on the possible exclusion of The illegal Apartheid Entity’s participation in the “Eurovision” song contest – err they aren’t in Europe- which is hilarious:
‘ “If a song is deemed unacceptable for any reason, broadcasters are then given the opportunity to submit a new song or new lyrics.”
However, Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, said it would reject any request to alter the lyrics.
“It should be noted that as far as the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is concerned there is no intention to replace the song.”
“This means that if it is not approved by the European Broadcasting Union, Israel will not be able to participate in the competition, which will take place in Sweden next May.” ‘
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68379762
Basically ‘I refuse to come to a club that won’t let me in’ ! 🤡
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 25 2024 1:27 utc | 88
Re: Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2024 16:29 utc | 3
What is the difficulty of the Russian Armed Forces’ offensive on Chasov Yar?
🔺The entry of units of the Russian Armed Forces into n. Although Ivanovskoye (Krasnoye) village provides the opportunity to launch an offensive on Chasov Yar in the future, it will be difficult to do this in the near future. And there are several objective reasons for this.
Which ones?
◉ Chasov Yar is another enemy fortress city with all the accompanying objects that complicate the assault. Near and inside the city there are:
— industrial zone (Chasovoyarsky refractory plant, whose workshops are dispersed throughout the city);
— a railway station with a large number of buildings (locomotive depot, etc.);
— areas with multi-storey buildings;
— areas with impassable wetlands;
– an extensive network of strongholds interconnected by communication passages (both within the city limits and on the outskirts);
– natural water barriers, including the Seversky Donets – Donbass canal, which almost completely covers Chasov Yar from the east.
◉ The assault on such a fortified area will require not only a large amount of forces and resources, but also the creation of at least two bridgeheads for simultaneous offensive actions – in the Bogdanovka area in the northeast and in the Ivanovsky area in the southeast.
◉ In both cases, the attacking units will need to reach the line of the Seversky Donets – Donbass canal, occupying the heights and clearing numerous enemy strongholds.
◉ If we talk directly about Ivanovsky, in addition to the populated area itself, where the enemy is also well prepared for defense, it will be necessary to take the heights around, the territory of the so-called Popovsky forest and the strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kleshcheevka, which will also require a lot of time and effort.
https://t.me/two_majors/19681
The excuses for a long slog over a few km are already rolling out….
Sounds like another 6-9 months fighting over another town in Donbas coming up – ie, no “Big Arrows” anytime soon.
Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:28 utc | 89
@Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2024 0:55 utc | 79
Got the two mixed up whilst multi-tasking, I stated my position on Crooke in #85.
I have been following Craig Murray’s work for years and as with Crooke he has many good insights, and some courage in standing up to the crooked Scottish and English courts for what he believes in. But he does have
some very serious blind spots when it comes to good ‘ole Blighty and the West. Hopefully, the collision between Gaza reality and his belief in a “good” West will help him move closer to an understanding of reality. As I stated above, his statement in the essay shows an utter wanton disregard of actual history in favour of a rosy glow of the white mans burden and inherent superiority.
They both strike me as well meaning ex servants/members of the establishment, true “liberal progressives” perhaps, but much of their thought processes are still captured by the ideology that their family, schooling and professional lives will have embedded. Now if they start quoting Gramsci…
@Posted by: Julian | Feb 25 2024 1:28 utc | 89
Nope, just being honest. Things have changed though with the ability to focus massed artillery, drones, and massive FAB strikes. Chasiv Yar itself is not that big, with the main part on the hill maybe 1/4 the size of Artymovsk, and the Ukrainian army in a much worse position than the beginning of last year. The town could be turned into an unbearable hellhole of fire by the Russians, killing many of the defenders and injuring/shell shocking the rest.
I would be very surprised if it took many months to take, perhaps more like weeks.
To whom should Russia present evidence?
To the perpetrators, what would that change?
An independent court, where does that exist?
Posted by: 600w | Feb 25 2024 1:05 utc | 83
—-
Ah, no. To the world media for authentic corroboration of Hersh’s claims to irrefutably expose the Outlaw Empire for its (well-suspected but so often unsubstantiated) international terrorism, as well as to sincere global citizens to set the historical records straight. Don’t you see how the US’s denials and false narratives shape planetary conflicts and mass ignorance. Isn’t journalism supposed to be opposed to that?
And yes, of course it is OBVIOUS to folks like us who did it. But do you realise not so to probably 80% of the normie Carlson viewers. It is they who need to see evidence.
And btw, the best “independent court” is the court of public awareness which, occasionally, through elections, tries to keep the bastards honest. It is indeed ironic that Nixon got his cummuppence because he transgressed the American sense of political illegality, but noone will hold Biden accountable for his blatant international illegalities. Hegemonic exceptionalism at work.
Posted by: Jake Blanchard | Feb 25 2024 1:41 utc | 92
@ karlof1 | Feb 25 2024 0:32 utc | 76 with the big picture Pepe postings…thanks
I agree and stated in the comment above yours that talk of global stalemate is delusional. This civilization war may stretch on for a while and the effects longer but the God Of Mammon cult aka global private finance’s time as a unipolar power in the world is ending.
Can the private finance cult continue to convince the zombies of our world for a while longer? Yes, but for how long when the societal example of the China/Russia axis with public finance will be beating them over the head and forcing war reparations on them?
The other point I want to make again is about timing. Empire is not in exclusive control of timing anymore and I posit that major happenings in Ukraine and Occupied Palestine will occur to totally fuck with the US (s)election process within the next few months.
Empire will not be able to stalemate anything in anticipation of the US (s)elections.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2024 1:42 utc | 93
Russia’s ambassador to Canada wrote an anniversary note to one of the actors in the 2014 Coup, “Article by Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov “About Little Russia and a Little About the Future””. Rather different from what we read from Putin and crew, but not deviating from the policy line. I rather doubt it was published in Canada on the 22nd.
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 22:49 utc | 57
##############
Dreizin in my experience, is a stooge and a Russophobe.
Not a source I would rely heavily upon.
YMMV.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 25 2024 2:38 utc | 95
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 24 2024 22:49 utc | 57
Listen Lee & Lee psycho, those plains are due to be phased out, they are being replaced by Beriev A-100 , they vintage Soviet era junks. Growing up in Singapore and hiding books in school library so other students could not use them seems to have left its mark on you.
Posted by: Grishka | Feb 25 2024 2:39 utc | 96
DunGroanin | Feb 25 2024 1:27 utc | 88
*** I hadn’t heard about that! Have just tried to find it on bbc site but it’s not obvious. Do you have link?***
Sorry, no … wife just happened to catch it on the BBC’s tea-time news.
(and was disgusted at the hypocrisy, so mentioned it)
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 25 2024 2:45 utc | 97
Roger | Feb 25 2024 1:35 utc | 90–
Thanks for your reply and explanation. Baggage is hard to offload at times. Not ever being a part of it all can make one a better observer and analyst, but both outcomes are dependent on prior knowledge, which is one of psychohistorian’s plaints @93.
psychohistorian | Feb 25 2024 1:42 utc | 93–
Thanks for your reply. I’d really like to know why those Chinese analysts said what they did when they have excellent access to the conflict’s reality. Notably, it wasn’t an op/ed which makes the view expressed more official.
bevin | Feb 24 2024 22:27 utc | 52
*** They were a weird lot those pseudo Trotskyist Young Liberals like Peter Hain, and Craig was one of them.***
Said somewhere on his website that at university he was in the SDP — that was a breakaway from Labour in the 1970s (featuring closet totalitarians such as Shirley Williams) which subsequently amalgamated with the Liberals to become the present-day Liberal Democrats.
So probably not a Trotskyist. Which doesn’t mean some of the SDP were not extreme (very “liberal” and anti-socialist, they actually claimed that *everyone* else was!) — for instance, the now notorious Liz Truss started out as a Lib-Dem.
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 25 2024 2:59 utc | 99
Should have added re the SDP — Roy “jelly” Jenkins, who became President of the European Commission, was also one of them.
Before leaving Labour he had been Home Secretary and Chancellor.
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 25 2024 3:11 utc | 100