> Hot girls are waiting for you on —– http://tinyurl.com/mr3bv6hj

Posted by: Aletta | Feb 26 2024 16:34 utc | 3

Of course the CIA was behind the Maidan, or hijacked it. Of course, the CIA has had run Ukraine like a glove puppet since 2014 and before. Of course, the CIA plays dirty.
What does Russia propose to do about it?

Posted by: Feral Finster | Feb 26 2024 16:48 utc | 5

First Abrams tank destroyed.
https://t.me/intelslava/55492?single

Posted by: Surferket | Feb 26 2024 16:53 utc | 7

“The West faces a clear strategic and moral choice: support Ukraine through to victory or accept a major European war in the next five years.”
https://asiatimes.com/2024/02/moral-and-strategic-clarity-needed-to-save-ukraine/
This seems to me one of the main assumptions that our leaders have convinced themselves with, if not the single main assumption.

Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Feb 26 2024 17:01 utc | 9

It would be nice if people wouldn’t keep posting videos on Telegram. They are mostly unviewable and generally just push the viewer to download the Telegram App. The recent blur fest of the alleged destruction of an Abrams tank is a prime example. When I see a link with the t.me prefix I usually don’t waste time clicking on it.

Posted by: A. Pols | Feb 26 2024 17:03 utc | 11

I don’t see how Ukraine can hold any trench lines when Russia now has plentiful precision-guided bombs. Russia can now break through light defenses and maneuver around any built-up fortifications to cut off their supply lines. Barring direct NATO intervention, it looks like the war will end this year.

Posted by: HH | Feb 26 2024 17:04 utc | 13

Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Feb 26 2024 17:01 utc | 9

I like the response to that article, reposted below. Saved me writing a comment of my own certainly. Cracks they are a-multiplying in the mighty narrative. How will the stenographers cope?
‘This is palpable nonsense. The mainstream media narrative has constantly failed (remember the Glorious Spring Offensive?). Ukraine is a black hole for billions of dollars and euros to be expropriated by a kleptocracy. Russia, in the form of Gorbachev, was promised that Nato would not move one inch eastwards after the collapse of communism. Since the Maidan coup of 2014 Ukraine was repeatedly warned by Russia not to bomb its own citizens which it continued to do. Putin offered peace with a guarantee of no Nato membership. And, even after the SMO, Boris Johnson flew in to prevent a deal that could have ended the fighting after less than two months. This relentless hawkishness is reason the West is in this mess. Stop lying.’

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Feb 26 2024 17:08 utc | 15

Posted by: A. Pols | Feb 26 2024 17:03 utc | 11
The unfortunate truth is that censorship is so thorough and painstakingly carried out that there are few places to see what is actually going on.
I dislike many things about telegram but there are days that I wake up and want to know what is going on. And you can find out what is going on there, despite its problems.
Of course, the less news out of zog controlled outlets the worse zog is doing.

Posted by: ryanggg | Feb 26 2024 17:10 utc | 17

‼️🇷🇺🇺🇦🏴‍☠️ Near Odessa, the partisans derailed another train with Western weapons!
Partisan resistance is gaining momentum in Ukraine, which is doing everything possible to help the speedy arrival of Russia and the complete destruction of the Ukrainian fascists.
The population is intimidated, the Nazis are running around with weapons all over Ukraine and threatening people. However, the underground activity is alive and gaining strength.
The Partisans of Ukraine:
“We are the Ukrainian people, we decide when and where to bring justice to Zelensky, his clique and the oligarchs who are robbing our country,” the published appeal says.

https://t.me/ZandVchannel/101906

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 26 2024 17:20 utc | 19

It is from Simplicius’ X, but I have been warning for a long time that it is about to happen. You sign an individual security contract with many NATO countries and they deliver the troops individually.

Robert Fico says NATO states “are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis” — whatever that means.
“For me, today’s meeting is a confirmation that the West’s strategy has completely failed when it comes to Ukraine. Nevertheless, I want to come to this meeting constructively prepared. Although the theses that we discussed make my body shudder.
A number of NATO and EU member states are considering sending troops on a bilateral basis to the territory of Ukraine. We are assessing the security of such proposals and cannot prevent an individual EU or NATO member country from concluding such a bilateral agreement with Ukraine.
Equally, we say that this will not fulfill the purpose that is expected of it, that certain pressure will be exerted on the President of the Russian Federation and the Russian administration and that some concessions will be made. On the contrary, we believe that such a decision will lead to a huge escalation of tension.
Deputy Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Lubos Blaha:
“The West is pushing us into World War III. We’ve all been on the edge of it since last night. What is going on in Paris anyway?
Robert Fico confirmed today that some Western countries want to send their soldiers to Ukraine – and no one can predict the consequences. There is a real threat of nuclear conflict. So far, the West has waged a proxy war against Russia, but a new phase is beginning.
The West will enter into an open and direct military conflict with Russia – this is just a millimeter away from an all-out war.
Slovakia wants nothing to do with this.”

No sane country in East Europe would go for it except Poland.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 17:44 utc | 21

The NY Times “revelations” make one thing extremely clear: Western media are propaganda tools; there’s ZERO journalistic integrity. Now, most of us here have known that for decades… but the rest of Western voters have to revisit the assumptions upon which they base their trust.

Posted by: Liberator | Feb 26 2024 18:00 utc | 23

Funny or rather strange actually.
After having spouted many accusations over Navalny having been murdered by Putin
Media ( BBC, German Q-Medien )
now disclose that talks were ongoing about a prisoner exchange : Navalny vs Wadim Krassikow ( the Tiergarten Assasin ).
The planned exchange would nullify the murder allegations, wouldn’t it?
you regularly can’t exchange a cold body for a warm one.

Posted by: MAKK | Feb 26 2024 18:09 utc | 25

Nato is going to directly intervene with what? A bratwurst and a beer? They can barely rub two howitzer shells together.

Posted by: morongobill | Feb 26 2024 18:33 utc | 27

@Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 17:44 utc | 21
European elite insanity, they just cannot give up on their Ukraine boondoggle nor their anti-Russia propaganda. What would their populations say if it all turned out to be for nothing? In this way they are acting like Netanyahu, constantly escalating to put off the day of reckoning.
The result will be lots of dead Brits, French, Poles etc. (this time actually in their proper uniforms) whose intervention was not authorized by NATO and therefore there will be no NATO response. They will also die on Ukrainian soil, obviating a NATO response. Given that the Western military tactics do not match the new Revolution of Warfare happening in Ukraine, and their troops have no experience of it, the losses will be horrendous. Just like the US troops in Europe at the end of WW1 still trying to play by pre-WW1 rules and tactics. How will the British respond to ever increasing numbers of body bags coming back from a war they don’t support?
It may all end up as posturing given the increasing pace of the Ukrainian defensive and societal collapse, made worse by the 1,500 plus irretrievable losses each day at the front. There are increasing pointers toward a real large-scale Spring offensive to break the spine of the Ukrainian military. This perhaps would be a good thing, as the resulting large-scale destruction of the Ukrainian army may help to shock the leaders of the European militaries into resisting the elite insanity.
The Russians are still holding back the majority of their forces, which means that they have the reserves to deal with any European intervention. The amount of time required to bring the European forces together and also bring in their equipment and get the different forces properly aligned would take many months, giving lots and lots of time for the Russians to create a true slaughter-house in Western Ukraine. The European troops would not know what had hit them as drones, missiles, shells, rockets and FABS rain down upon them from bases in Belarus. If they are stupid enough to directly attack Belarus then they will feel the full weight of the Russian long range artillery upon their supply bases in Poland and Romania (there is no way that Slovakia and Hungary will get involved). The same goes for any attack upon Kaliningrad.
In addition, where are the European militaries going to get their equipment and munitions from when they have given so much to Ukraine, and are so dependent upon US supplies as they gutted their own defence industry? Also how many soldiers will they have available when the UK Army has only 75,000 active personnel, the French 120,000 and the Poles 300,000. They will only enter Ukraine if some deal has been done with Putin to divide up Ukraine.

Posted by: Roger | Feb 26 2024 18:46 utc | 29

I would guess CIA bases in Ukraine are about to be overrun by Russian troops, so by publishing first at least they got to spin the story to their advantage.
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 26 2024 17:07 utc | 14
More specifically, this is part of the narrative shift now underway, and the major spin here is to set up a transition from the old, bad CIA, to the new, good CIA. If absolutely necessary, they’ll change the name.

Posted by: Honzo | Feb 26 2024 19:04 utc | 31

5
stoop lower as usual so that the nose tip reaches the bottom

Posted by: Falco | Feb 26 2024 19:05 utc | 33

Posted by: MAKK | Feb 26 2024 18:09 utc | 25
Very interesting bit of info. It could possibly provide some insight on Budanov’s rush to reject assassination theories about Navalny and validate in a matter-of-fact statement the official Russian report of a natural death by blood clot.

Posted by: Constantine | Feb 26 2024 19:08 utc | 35

I think a critical point now is how real the Ukr. retreats actually are. In Avdiivka, the retreat as a response to an order was fake. They panicked and then the order was given to cover up the defeat.
There are retreats now happening together with the nonsense of going to better defensive lines – despite moving away from defenses that are superior ( as with Avdiivka itself. So, we could be seeing a concealed collapse. In addition, they may be low on punisher brigades after the slaughter of Azov Nazis. Having a Ukr. commander order a suicidal advance over a radio from 20km away may not work (if it ever did).

Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 26 2024 19:10 utc | 37

First Abrams tank destroyed.
https://t.me/intelslava/55492?single
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 26 2024 16:53 utc | 7
The Abrams is a Game Changer.
Just kidding. They are just as shit as the jewish Merkels (destroy arab countries, then destroy Europe and make it look like the arabs did it) and the French coward tanks. Or the Finnish Sisus. Sisu meaning sinewy, unyielding toughness and perseverance against all obstacles and trials, while kneeling and licking the asses of every swede, nazi, jew, american, and government official in existence. Gone on for 500 years. Lots of experience.
The properties of the tank count for shit if the contents of the tank are shit. Child-raping americans or child-raping jews, same thing, except that even one fingernail clipping of the former has more honour than a hundred of the latter.

Posted by: Michael A | Feb 26 2024 19:13 utc | 39

33
Chessmaster is an kipper expert towards his wester master partners. He is more like a kippermaster

Posted by: SlowSoft | Feb 26 2024 19:38 utc | 41

by: unimperator | Feb 26 2024 18:38 utc | 28
by: Roger | Feb 26 2024 18:46 utc | 29
Maybe we should not underestimate NATO and its capacity. From what I know is that since December 2021 an amazing amount of weaponry was shipped to Europe. Ukraine got just a small percentage of it. Few of this and that.
A situation is that NATO is now buying the time to rebuild its industry. How committed they are and can they do it is a valid question.
If NATO commits the troops and they get decimated is not an issue. Issue is how legal that would be, so that Russia can justify itself to make them legal targets also in their home-base, not just Ukraine.
Article 5 means nothing, but for RF to act decisively, it has to be ratified and implemented.
If NATO manages to clump 200k troops it might be just enough to hold onto some points such as Odessa, probably being more important than Kharkov.
On the other hand and directly from Putin-Tsu:
If you know you will be attacked, strike first.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 19:42 utc | 43

I think everyone in the bar is well aware of the fact that the western media are propaganda tools for the PTB. Thus, it amazes me when people are so credulous when the media threaten and bluster. These are not signs of any actual intention to have NATO go toe-to-toe with Russia, or of a desire for nuclear war. They are just efforts to control the domestic politics of the west.
The PTB is all about self-preservation and the Benjamins. They’re willing to forgo some of the latter in aid of the former. If they survive, they can always make more money. These guys are first and foremost businessmen. Nuclear extinction isn’t good for the bottom line.
The yammerers that are the public face of government and media include a substantial number of True Believers in the Old Narrative. They cannot change their tune, so they will be replaced by proponents of the New Narrative, but it has to be done ‘organically’ or no one will buy it. An instant reversal just exposes how controlled the politicians and media are. So there are thought-leaders, some of them long-term sleeper agents, to prepare the ground and sheepdog dissidents into ‘the right kind’ of ‘rebellion,’ the kind that stops at the old minions, and doesn’t touch the real power. Some of these dissidents are authentic, sincere dissidents, but you’ll know who isn’t, with great clarity, when they get the Tucker Carlson treatment. People who point their fingers at the real source of the problem will not get rich doing so.
Notice Mearsheimer and Crooke stepping up from the Youtube farm leagues to MSM acknowledgment, and who kept them in the public eye, on a limited basis, in the minor leagues. A roster of ‘ex’diplomats, intelligence agents, military men, and well groomed social media stars like Judge Nap- whose background is as a servant of the Established Order, also. Christine Amanpour is lending her support, and if ever there was a ‘journalist’ who cleaves to the narrative of the PTB, it is she.
Since, at the very latest, the ham-handed creation of, and destruction of, the Molly MacGuires by the Pinkertons, one of the most basic tools of the PTB has been the infiltration, co-optation, and instigation of anti-PTB groups, and other ‘alternatives’ to the Current Narrative. The west collected as many Nazis and Banderites as it could after WWII, and it’s now pretty obvious why.
The narrative of ruling class incompetence, corruption, ignorance of objective reality, short-term thinking and policy by panicky reaction to unanticipated events does not bear scrutiny. It is a narrative of the PTB itself, of it minions, useful idiots, and shallow thinkers.
I am not ascribing magic powers to them, to head off the false-dichotomy trolls, they are not all-knowing or all-powerful. The public layer of corrupt, ignorant, ideology-bound incompetents is real, but it isn’t the real power. You won’t get ahead of the curve if you treat them as though they were- and that’s the whole idea of having them. People who subscribe to these narratives are exactly what they accuse the PTB of being, with the possible exception of being corrupt. Trolls aside, here it is mostly shallow thinking.
In short- the real PTB does think long term, and rationally within the confines of their core self-interest, which is inherently destabilizing. They prepare as well as they can for all the scenarios they can imagine, and they’re pretty good at this because they have a lot of practice and know their own history. Not every dissident is a sleeper agent, but many are, and those that aren’t are often crushed or turned during periods of narrative change, so they don’t interfere with the desired New Narrative. Or, they are shallow thinkers who don’t need to be crushed or turned.
There is no single set of clues as to who is what, but education, work and family background and connections, immunity to censorship, wealthy backers, and a background of active promotion of the Old Narrative are all good indicators of Assets of the PTB. The more of these you see in any individual, the more likely they are to be self-aware sheepdogs, knowingly following the instructions of their paymasters.

Posted by: Honzo | Feb 26 2024 19:49 utc | 45

Mark Sleboda rips the western sanction package, the Ukraine aid bill and US military industrial complex and Yulia Navalnaya (or Yolanda Navalna as Joe Biden called her) a new one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3NMP0l2xCM

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 26 2024 20:05 utc | 47

@ Honzo, §36:
Transdnistria will be Russian.
There´s no way the Russians won´t take the coast up to the Dniester in order to secure Odessa and Odessa in order to secure Crimea.
The Russians may bargain away Bessarabia/Moldova to the Rumanians – provided Rumania leaves NATO and demilitarizes (i.e. no foreign troops).

Posted by: John Marks | Feb 26 2024 20:20 utc | 49

A situation is that NATO is now buying the time to rebuild its industry. How committed they are and can they do it is a valid question.
Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 19:42 utc | 43
Nato and the coming EU army will be needed for the plandemic 2.0 lockdowns, forced vaccinations, forced displacement from countryside to the “smart” cities, and in general keeping people down as they are killed.
Nato is only secondarily a force for oppressing the rest of the world. Its primary purpose is crushing and enslaving the west. Because they still think that after killing the whites, it will be easy to destroy the “lesser” races.

Posted by: Michael A | Feb 26 2024 20:28 utc | 51

If the Europeans send troops then who would command them? The UAF? They would never agree to this. The idea is unworkable. Without unified command and proper coordination they would simply be meat. No experience on this battlefield, no air support… Way to late for such silliness.

Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 26 2024 20:35 utc | 53

Yup, agreed about the sane parts of Eastern EU (sans the Polish-Lithianian common “wealth” and few of their neighbors). Nobody in Bulgaria, for example, is crazy to fight this war in person (even for the amount of money offered), it’s mostly the comprador class making dirty bucks selling armaments. The mood is one of quiet opposition and game of surviving the demands of the crazy west.
Posted by: Boo | Feb 26 2024 18:04 utc | 24

Is the Bulgarian army going to launch a coup against the current government, or will some of the officer corps rebel and start a civil war?
Because if neither of those things happen, the current colonial administration will send troops to the Eastern Front on the orders of their DC and Brussels masters. Something that was never done in WWII (which is why that was the only Axis country that exited the war with territorial gains).

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Feb 26 2024 20:49 utc | 55

I would guess CIA bases in Ukraine are about to be overrun by Russian troops, so by publishing first at least they got to spin the story to their advantage.
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 26 2024 17:07 utc | 14

Presumably that already happened two years ago.

Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Feb 26 2024 20:49 utc | 57

Posted by: Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Feb 26 2024 21:02 utc | 58
There are huge cracks in Nato. The more Biden, Ursula VDL, Charles Michel etc. scream about unity the more cracks there are. As the old saying goes, you always talk obsessively about the things which you lack (due to insecurity).
The fact that countries need to make bilateral agreements with Ukraine is indicative of those cracks. Most Nato countries from Slovakia to the south are pretending to be there just so the US doesn’t beat them up, bully them or kick out of the SWIFT system.
Sure, they have colonial administrations who do bare minimum.
The only ones serious about Nato are mostly Baltlet states (which don’t contribute squat), Poland, Finland, Denmark, Norway. Once the show starts here, the rest will, according to the Nato article 5 give them the morale support in the form of ‘good luck’.
France and Germany have large internal conflicts.
Forget about Turkey.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 26 2024 21:10 utc | 59

by Feral Finster | Feb 26 2024 20:10 utc | 48
Well, Russia roams around that area every now and then, so East Europeans (all those who were under the Warsaw pact) know their history and how it was unpleasant being against Russia. In comparison to their Western counterparts – excluding Germany – who have no clue.
That is why you need a sanity in politics, of which today is nowhere to be seen, heard or read. Scholtz might be stupid in many things and issues, but he knows very well why he is not giving Taurus to Ukraine. However, even Leopards were already a step in the wrong direction. In the beginning of SMO, they offered helmets, protective vests and the first aid packages.
As for the Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany – most of the people are totally disconnected from the press and their respective governments and are very pro-Russian, but not necessary pro-Putin. That is the only success of CIA ops in East European media since 1999.
Just look at the Polish farmers and their folk around, and how it differs from the official Polish politics.
If NATO pushes Europe towards the land war with Russia, Eastern Europe will be engulfed in many unrest and revolutions, one after one. Basically everyone sane waits for Russia to win and calm down.

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 21:41 utc | 61

Interesting read from Michael von der Schullenburg ex-UN Assistant Secretary-General:
https://www.meer.com/en/72408-the-war-in-ukraine-and-our-obligation-to-seek-peace

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 22:08 utc | 63

A situation is that NATO is now buying the time to rebuild its industry.
Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 19:42 utc | 43

As talking about Germany: They can’t.
To rebuild the industry you need ground, buildings, skilled people, machinery, resources, proper laws and finally money. Germany has nothing of that. Instead we have millions of uneducated refugees (around half of them are illiterate), a so called “Traffic light Government” (a left winged, greenish administration, most of the members have no higher education, none of them is able to think/talk with reason). Germany has one of the highest tax-rates of the world, the most expensive energy costs of the worlds. The German army has not enough airplanes so that German pilots lose their license because they cannot fly enough hours per year. We have people who were able to plan a war-ship but forgot that a war-ship with guns requires something to aim, they build a war-ship without a targeting device.
No, Germany has completely lost its ability to build an industry.
And not only that, the European countries even try to destroy their agriculture.
I am deeply worried that European politician will nevertheless send troops to Ukraine and the Russians will respond harshly, but I’m not worried that German soldiers can turn the tide.

Posted by: Tuk | Feb 26 2024 22:23 utc | 65

whirlX @44
You may very well be right about that. This is only speculation on my part, but Budanov will lead the junta that will take out Zelensky and negotiate with Russia. He has access to Z. and has the dirt on him and his regime, the controlled release of which information would lend credibility to the new government.

Posted by: AJ | Feb 26 2024 22:33 utc | 67

EU boots in 404 is not that far of a stretch, especially if they stay to the western areas. As Dima says under the security agreements they could be used to free up all type of bodies from western Ukraine. Border guards, prison guards, police officers.
Can’t imagine the Danger Pay for the EU guys…just thinking of Dr Kinzhal doing midnight rounds would give me the Willie’s. I don’t think he calls ahead.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Feb 26 2024 22:45 utc | 69

Roger@30
Romania and the old Moldavia SSR should be one country, toss in the lost Bessarabian territory and have Pridnestroive link up with Russia and the Dacians oughta go for it like a hog after corn on a cool fall day and tell NATO to go eat a bowl of dicks.
The Magyar get Transcarpathia, the Polski get most of Galicia, maybe a bone tossed to Slovakia, too.
The Borderlands should wind up much reduced like post-WWI Austria.

Posted by: Adriatic Hillbilly | Feb 26 2024 22:52 utc | 71

If the franc tireur activities in Odessa Oblast are true, it adds a new dimension to the conflict.

Posted by: AJ | Feb 26 2024 22:54 utc | 73

Posted by: Bob | Feb 26 2024 22:55 utc | 74
They already did they just called them mercenaries to hide it. The majority of which are either dead or wounded or managed to run home and do interviews to say how terrible it was not being attacked by goat herders with sticks, but by real soldiers with modern day weapons and defence.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Feb 26 2024 23:01 utc | 75

“The West faces a clear strategic and moral choice: support Ukraine through to victory or accept a major European war in the next five years.”
https://asiatimes.com/2024/02/moral-and-strategic-clarity-needed-to-save-ukraine/
This seems to me one of the main assumptions that our leaders have convinced themselves with, if not the single main assumption.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Feb 26 2024 17:01 utc | 9
Fuhrer 34 and Germany startet mobilization in 1935- that’s 5’ish years before…

Posted by: Paul from Norway | Feb 26 2024 23:08 utc | 77

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Feb 26 2024 22:54 utc | 72
Nato troops intention is to enable Ukraine to send all policemen and non-combatants in secondary tasks to the front. That effectively means western Ukraine is controlled by the nazis and Nato equivalent of the ‘Reichskomissar Generplan Ost’.
We can only pray they all surrender because they are needed to build eastern and middle part of Ukraine after the war.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 26 2024 23:11 utc | 79

by Jake Blanchard | Feb 26 2024 22:46 utc | 70
It is not that silly.
After the Maidan CIA/Nuland used a Scientologist Yats to bring Nazis in power, than discarded him for a Jewish Zelensky to run the war on the outside. It was exactly what ‘the patient’ needed at the time. The Nazi hate towards Russia that engulfed the propaganda in media was also carefully orchestrated.
But once Ukrainians see the emerging truth in being used, bled and depleted, they will seek revenge. And Russians are their best option.
It has always been like that, over there.
So there is a chance that the terrain has been prepared, getting rid of Zelensky is an option, Syrsky might grow redemptive too. Question is would Russia accept Ukrainians back?

Posted by: whirlX | Feb 26 2024 23:13 utc | 81

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Feb 26 2024 23:01 utc | 75
What I mean is to have it all come out in the open. NATO is talking too much. The more they talk, the weaker their position. It’s all propaganda for their own stupid sheeple.
Putin could also just say it directly to any of the talking fools… Bring it on! Or shut your mouth!

Posted by: Bob | Feb 26 2024 23:21 utc | 83

Jezzuz Christ. Far from it. Where on earth did you get that idea? Have you not heard about today’s announcements of EU troops going into West Ukraine under the umbrella of these iffy “security agreements”?
Posted by: Jake Blanchard | Feb 26 2024 22:30 utc | 66
Considering troop deployments, but they’ve been doing that for months now, with no action. And you bang on about these security agreements as if they are meaningful, and I’ve demonstrated that they are not. I still don’t envision a scenario with EU or NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia is rapidly changing the situation on the ground. Chasiv Yar will soon be encircled and likely abandoned, and with it the gateway to Kramatorsk /Slovyansk opens. When those cities fall the Donbas is secured, and the Ukraine line pushes all the way back to Kharkiv.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 26 2024 23:31 utc | 85

This for Shadow..SlimPickens..banned
If you don’t remember, Slim Pickens was Major Kong, riding the bomb
I somehow doubt requisite courage
This quote from “Dr D” makes a whole lot of sense

Posted by: wdt | Feb 26 2024 23:34 utc | 87

Chessmaster is an kipper expert towards his wester master partners. He is more like a kippermaster
Posted by: SlowSoft | Feb 26 2024 19:38 utc | 41
Well, you may be right, compared to the sharp witted Biden,Putin is a moron. Slowcoach you are such a turd.

Posted by: Grishka | Feb 26 2024 23:36 utc | 89

The idea of individual NATO members who’ve signed these security guarantees entering the conflict is unlikely. Germany has a total military of 203k, the UK like 150k, France 160k. These are total enlistment numbers, covering all branches, ranks and duties. The only way the NATO force structure works is if all the forces are combined. Those “security guarantees” aren’t much more than placation for Zelensky anyhow. They don’t require anything except “support” from France and Germany.
Meanwhile the Russians keep grinding. The south Donetsk portion of the front looks ready to break. Since the VSU and Bankova couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t have real defense lines built behind Avdeevka there’s almost nothing those troops can do. They can’t dig in appropriately under artillery, FPV drones and UMK bombs. Each rollback is of fewer men in worse shape.

Posted by: Lex | Feb 26 2024 23:42 utc | 91

HERMIUS | Feb 26 2024 23:12 utc | 80
“Do they think we’re stupid”.
No.
They know we’re stupid.
Re NYT piece. It’s called a “limited hangout”.
As others have posted. Once “plausible deniability” loses is pliable plausible ability, the next play in the gameplan is a limited hangout.
The CIA releases something that has already become known….
And by releasing a bit of info, they move back into tugging on the leash to lead us away into a new misdirection.
Some of us knew there were USNATO bases in eastern Ukraine from 2014.
Others discovered the USNATO bases in 2022.
Now that Russia controls Avdeyevka, the full extent of the USNATO installations will be revealed.
Watch how they go: “oh, USNATO bases in Ukraine is so yesterday’s news” and move on.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 26 2024 23:44 utc | 93

This situation calls for someone to be made an example. Take the smallest country that openly sends troops (in order to minimize the civilian death toll), erase it out of existence with a few missiles (it won’t even require pulling out the ICBMs), then let’s see if the rest will rethink their future participation in such adventures.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Feb 26 2024 23:42 utc | 90
Brave Sir Shadowbanned, that’s not how nuclear deterrence works. You’ve been told this many times, but still don’t get it.
Let’s say Russia does that, hypothetically. They target Poland, they’re a troublemaker. Let’s say five nuclear-tipped missiles in major population centers that kill over a million people. What is the response?
The West will respond in kind, because they will assume they are next. Article V is triggered. Rhetoric will harden, the populace will demand blood, retribution. Putin is a danger, Russia must be stopped, and poof Moscow is gone, St. Petersburg is gone. There’s no climb-down from that type of escalation.
It is precisely what the West wants to avoid. The exact reason they will not commit troops to Ukraine or invite Ukraine to join NATO. They will back down once they realize Russia doesn’t target them next after Ukraine. Events on the ground will bear this out. Wait and watch, Brave Sir Shadowbanned.

Posted by: James M. | Feb 26 2024 23:57 utc | 95

To: sean the leprechaun | Feb 26 2024 22:45 utc | 69
“EU boots in 404 is not that far of a stretch, especially if they stay to the western areas. As Dima says under the security agreements they could be used to free up all type of bodies from western Ukraine. Border guards, prison guards, police officers.”
Yes, for Ukraine, they can send more of their own cannon fodder to the east, and when they
finally are decimated, the West can cling on to Lvow and what not. So the Russians have to
work extra 100-200k bodies before.
“Can’t imagine the Danger Pay for the EU guys…just thinking of Dr Kinzhal doing midnight rounds would give me the Willie’s. …”
Yeah, what idiots, whoever let’s themselves send there. Anytime the West crosses another Red
Line (TM), the Ruskies can flatten one more barrack and say, upsies, that were your guys? We
had no idea, very sorry.
I would rather have us send our idiots to Ukraine so Russia can bomb them there then our idiots
here send the Taurus rockets via Ukraine into Russian backlands, and then the Russians have to
send their rockets directly to Bavaria. That is the much more risky scenario which makes me
much more nervous. Germans just think Russia wouldn’t dare. But you can’t help stupid.
But strangely Scholz seems to have been clued in by the Russians and in the know. But that is
still not comfort enough, as abviously he sold out his country before, so who knows how much
he will resist with this adventure.

Posted by: C | Feb 27 2024 0:08 utc | 97

Budanov will lead the junta that will take out Zelensky and negotiate with Russia … which would lend credibility to the new government.
Posted by: AJ | Feb 26 2024 22:33 utc | 67
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Furthermore, it is my belief that the Kremlin wants to beat Ukraine (and friends) fair and square on the battlefield, forcing no less than an unconditional surrender by the present Kiev cronies (with or without a US imprimatur). The last thing they want is some messy junta in Kiev with any existing turncoat snakes like Budanov or Arestovich. Imo, RF will settle for no less than: Zelensky to dissolve himself and the current Rada and the current constitution; fresh elections; a neutral Ukraine who will never test Russia or be a westerm puppet ever again. It is the will of the Ukrainian people that Putin wants, needs, trusts, and will honour, not a new pack of cronies in Kiev.
A military junta would be completely fruitless for Russia. It would only leave a loony military dictator in charge AND WORST OF ALL, leave the narrative that Russia did not win by its own means.
Ha, Russia just does not NEED Budanov’s “help” to end the SMO or reconstruct Ukraine. Putin has his own inviolable vision that he will work to craft no matter how long it takes.

Posted by: Jake Blanchard | Feb 27 2024 0:37 utc | 99