Ukraine SitRep: The Slow Grind - New Bombs - Calling For Talks
Stephen Bryan continues with his valuable summaries of the situation in Ukraine:
A number of counterattacks by the Ukrainians, in some cases using reserve forces, have taken place along the line of contact. While reports are not yet complete, it appears that all the Ukrainian attempts to roll back Russian gains have failed, with the possible exception of Robotyne.Meanwhile the Russians have either taken or will soon take a number of villages including Ivaniska, Bilohorivka, Berdichev, Pobjeda and Novomikhailovka.
Since February 28, the Russians have destroyed three Abrams tanks. The most recent was knocked out on March 4 by an anti-tank missile, probably a Russian Kornet. The first two Abramses were hit by low-cost Russian drones carrying RPG-7 warheads.
The Russian forces continue with their slow grind all over the front. Ukrainian losses have been increasing. Over the last two weeks the reported daily number of killed and wounded more often exceeded 1,000 than not.
The slow grind, and no big arrow movements, is a carefully calculated way of operation. As one observer remarked:
The longer this [slow grind] goes on the greater the chances of the Euros doing something stupid. Or your neocons. We’re already directly responsible for the shelling of a nuclear power station and it was only Shoigu phoning around the Foreign Ministers that put paid to the Ukrainians fooling around with dirty bombs.So it’s a balance. The Russians move too fast and there’s a danger they’ll set the psychos in Washington and Berlin/Brussels/Westminster off. Too slow and it gives the psychos more scope for such tricks. All one can do is hope the Russians get the balance right.
Today's report by the Russian Ministry of Defense mentioned an unusual aerial target:
Over the past 24 hours, air defence units shot down nine U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles and one French-made AASM Hammer guided aerial bomb.
This is the first time that an AASM Hammer bomb were mentioned in these reports. These are rocket assisted glide bombs in the 250 kilogram class with a reach of more than 70 kilometer beyond the drop off point. France had promised to deliver 50 of these per month. There have been no reports I know of that Ukrainian Soviet era air force jets have been adapted to release these bombs. But the other potential carriers are well known:
The current main AASM operator is Rafale, there were also trial launches performed by the F-16, Mirage 2000, and the Mirage F1 which was additionally equipped with Hasas (Hammer Stand Alone System). Also, India used to buy these bombs in 2020 to integrate with Tejas.
The shot down by Russian air defenses of an AASM Hammer may well mean that the long announced F-16 jets are now up in the Ukrainian air. If that is the case it will not be long before the Russian air forces will report the first F-16 as casualty.
Those few French bombs will not help. Russia can lob hundreds of its own bombs per day from the many platforms it uses. Ukraine is restricted by the small number of delivery vehicles it has as well as their exposure to counterattacks.
Down on the ground, the only place that counts, the Ukrainian lines are weakening by the day. As Bryen remarks:
Ukraine counterattacked the Russians rather than falling back to new defense lines for the simple reason that there were no pre-prepared fortifications for their army even though they were supposed to have been built. This has created a significant controversy and there are hints that the money for the materials needed for the fortifications was siphoned off (stolen). Corruption in Ukraine is rampant and despite some efforts to curtail it, it is growing.As Ukraine’s situation deteriorates, get-rich-quick and exit schemes are growing.
A recent CNN report also emphasizes the issue. New defense lines get budgets and are announced. But months later the soldiers notice that that those lines are just marks on a map and that no stone has been moved to create them.
It should by now be obvious to anyone that Ukraine has lost the war and that Russia is winning the contest. The recent panic actions by various European leaders are pointing to that conclusion.
Saner heads are acknowledging the facts and are calling for talks:
How to Pave the Way for Diplomacy to End the War in Ukraine - Charap, Shapiro / Foreign Affairs, Mar 5 2024
The challenge of discerning an adversary’s intentions is nearly impossible in the absence of dialogue. Therefore, it is necessary to open channels of communication so as to be in a position to take advantage of the opportunity to pursue peace when that opportunity comes.
...
Yet mutual mistrust between belligerents is a feature of every war, and thus of every negotiation that ended those wars. If trust were a prerequisite for communicating, belligerents would never start talking. The parties can and should begin talking despite their mutual mistrust.
...
Getting to the table will not be easy, but the alternative is an endless, grinding war that no side claims to want and both sides lose by continuing to fight.
I can not imagine that the current U.S. administration will go for talks with Moscow. It is already in the middle of an election campaign and any leaks about talks with Moscow would destroy its anti-Russia strategy. As the U.S. is now leaving it to Europe to pay the bill for the misadventure in Ukraine it would surely be helpful if some European negotiators could jump in.
Unfortunately I fail to see any European leader who might be willing or able to do so.
Posted by b on March 6, 2024 at 16:10 UTC | Permalink
next page »May I recommend to the bar that Von der Leyen be awarded the Congressional Medal of Dishonour, in recognition of her services for Washington against Europe.
Posted by: Judge Barbier | Mar 6 2024 16:21 utc | 3
I don't see any major European Leader stepping up to face reality.
As for the US, no chance in an election year.
Grind on is the name of the game for 2024.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 6 2024 16:25 utc | 5
Plenty of risk on the Europeans doubling down on stupid and escalating in the coming months. They know Ukraine will collapse in the near future and are desperate. No matter what Russia does, fast slow whatever, if the Europeans and Brits are going to do something stupid they will do it anyway.
In Ritter's recent video he talked about his conversation with a Chechen combat general. The war is governed by ISR, precision weapons and strike drone. Any concentration of men or material on either side is hit.
Same with any advances by either side. So only very small unit advances and if they are hit, not so many men are lost. Plenty of video of lead units in small Russian advances getting hit so its back to softening up or trying from a different angle until they get the lead into the next town.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 16:35 utc | 6
On the F-16's I read that airstrips in western Ukraine were being prepared for the western aircraft. To maintain the figleaf of proxy war, the planes could be based in Poland, land in Ukraine fuel up and arm up and take of from a Ukraine strip for the strike.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 16:44 utc | 8
This is so senseless.
Most Europeans do not have a problem with Russia. It is just the English and some Eastern Euros.
Southern Europe would actually be friendly to Russia, not much history of conflict there.
THe Chinese may end up being the mediators.
Posted by: biochar | Mar 6 2024 16:45 utc | 9
If Macron's latest talk is any indication, Europe only will continue to double down, if for no other reason than to spare Biden an embarrassment in an tough election year.
If there is any upside to a Trump presidency, it is that America's european puppets, vassals, satraps, flunkies and slaves are less likely to blindly follow orders coming from a gauche loudmouth like Trump. Europeans are used to living under senile monarchs but an orange loudmouth dipshit was something new.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 16:47 utc | 10
What about the navy ships? Those aren't cheap.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 6 2024 16:24 utc | 4
Money doesn't come into it when you issue your own currency. Skills and real resources and productive capacity of your economy are the constraints.
The cost is all the material and human resource it takes to build a navy ship. Where do you get them? What are they currently being used for ? What else could they have been used for ?
The cost of Covid is in real terms. What productivity improvements that would have been made have been lost forever? What training has not happened to improve the skills of the workforce? The damage to young people from six months of interrupted schoolwork will scar this nation for two generations, Those, amongst others, are the real costs.
Discussing numbers no longer cut the mustard especially as a cost. The cost is always in skills and real resources.
Well, unless you are a Euro using nation state who do have to find the funds. Then costs in money terms matter.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 16:47 utc | 11
...if the Europeans and Brits are going to do something stupid they will do it anyway...
@Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 16:35 utc | 6
Well, it seems that they alreayd did it...
A convoy carrying Zelensky and Greece PM has gone under attack by, allegedly, Russian drones...
I can not imagine why the Russians would need doing such thing right now, when they are winning, when they have not done it during the past two years...
Everything points at Macron or the Britons, who are the ones needing a war as if there was no tomorrow to have an alibi to rob the European taxpayers´savings....
Every terrorist attack, even the most dirty ones against civilians, journalists and philosophers, in this war has been perpetrated by the Ukrainian combo and its allies....
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 6 2024 16:24 utc | 4
Anything Russia want a to do, they can afford.
Here:
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61537
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 16:55 utc | 13
What I keep trying to point out is that the timing of the fall of Ukraine is not in the hands of empire and it is not conveniently going to wait until after the US (s)election
The same timing issue pertains to Occupied Palestine
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 6 2024 17:00 utc | 14
@ Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
the ongoing theory was zelensky would eventually be taken out when the time was right, and of course it would be blamed on russia.. has the west finally gotten to this point?
Posted by: james | Mar 6 2024 17:01 utc | 15
Russia is faced with the problem it faced on day one. If Ukraine does not negotiate (with Putin’s stated objective being de-Nazification) why would anyone associated with the current regime even try.
If they get to the Dniper by the end of summer it will be a surprise. The history of warfare in the steppes has been written a hundred times. Logistics always stop the advance which allows the defenders to regroup. If not on the Dniper then at the Southern Bug. Every mile west the Russian Army goes will be through devastated countryside with greater and greater logistical support needed.
China defeated Japan because space was on China’s side. Russia is the invader with over 700 km to advance to take Kiev. Without a “big arrow” move the Russian military will not take it till 2025 and the war will go on and on, which is probably the strategic objective of all parties.
Keep thinking this is a “European” war. In the heart of Eur-Asia simply demonstrates a lack of understanding.
Posted by: Zargo | Mar 6 2024 17:02 utc | 16
"Well, it seems that they alreayd did it...
A convoy carrying Zelensky and Greece PM has gone under attack by, allegedly, Russian drones...
I can not imagine why the Russians would need doing such thing right now, when they are winning, when they have not done it during the past two years...
Everything points at Macron or the Britons, who are the ones needing a war as if there was no tomorrow to have an alibi to rob the European taxpayers´savings....
Every terrorist attack, even the most dirty ones against civilians, journalists and philosophers, in this war has been perpetrated by the Ukrainian combo and its allies....
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12"
Of course, but Russia will be blamed for it. No evidence needed. Because Russia.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 17:04 utc | 17
Looks like Zelensky is being lined up to advance the cause….
Posted by: MarkT | Mar 6 2024 17:05 utc | 18
Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
I had read that Ze and the Greek PM toured Odessa but not the strike. If that occurred then yep, the Brits most likely. Russia has never targeted coke man so very unlikely to be them. The other thing is Ukraine simply putting on a show for the Greek pm's entertainment with a few sirens and a bit of anti aircraft fire which they have done before in honor of visiting 'dignitaries'.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:05 utc | 19
Good stuff b.
"...Russia is winning the contest..." Oh dear. There will be some songs, but no voting.
"... it would surely be helpful if some European negotiators could jump in..." Negotiations are off the table. Demilitarisation is the declared goal. And Russian politicians are now openly talking 404. So, see you at the Polish border, later this year. If and only if you don't make some ugly nonsense. karlov1 has details at his substack.
Seriously - I only know about one (ONE) Russian escalation step.
Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Mar 6 2024 17:06 utc | 20
"European Upper Castes are" less likely to blindly follow orders coming from a gauche loudmouth like Trump. Europeans are used to living under senile monarchs but an orange loudmouth dipshit was something new.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 16:47 utc | 10
Trump, warts and all, open mouth and all, has a pragmatic peace inclination. Notwithstanding his daughter's foolish choice in husbands, the husband who had Trump's ear on the Middle East.
While there is no clear middle ground for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine war/SMO, Russia has the economies of military scale, learning experience, husbandry of human capital, and danger to her own territory and survival to push this fight to a successful end, which will be to Russia's satisfaction.
Europe is not yet mortally wounded by British and American perfidy but is running out of bandages for her many wounds. NATO is made up from the same Committee System that destroyed General Motors.
Ukraine? Soon to become the Eastern European Dodo bird.
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 17:07 utc | 21
Tom_Q_Collins @4: "What about the navy ships? Those aren't cheap."
This is weird, but check it out:
Patriot battery: $1.1 billion (source)
Aegis destroyer: $2 billion (source)
There have been a couple Patriot batteries wiped out in the Ukraine already.
Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 6 2024 17:10 utc | 22
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:05 utc | 19
I found this on the Telegraph.
Russian missile lands near cars carrying Zelensky to Greek PM
Posted by: lex talionis | Mar 6 2024 17:11 utc | 23
Given that all nuclear exchanges during the Cold War were averted by Soviet concessions, it will not be long before the US or the EU insist on a nuclear strike against Moscow in the hope that Putin will back down.
Posted by: CIROC | Mar 6 2024 17:12 utc | 24
Ghost of [email protected] was a medal ceremony in Odessa, with Zman doing the dishonours. Russians waited till Zman left, then they tapped all the Medal recipients with an Iskander, mostly officer core responsible for the recent spate of sea borne drone attacks on Russian ships.....
I doubt the Russians would attack the convoy apparently there were Greek debutantes in tow.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Mar 6 2024 17:13 utc | 25
lex talionis | Mar 6 2024 17:11 utc | 23
Thanks. The bolded part in the two paragraphs in the article give the game away. No air raid alert when Cokeman is touring? Even Kinzals, the alert goes out when the launch aircraft get airborne.
“We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us. We did not have time to get to a shelter,” Mr Mitsotakis told reporters.
The attack was said to have happened at around 11.43am local time. According to local media, the strike was either an Iskander or Onyx missile."
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:28 utc | 26
intel slava post on this..
"Iskander strike on Odessa...
A very interesting strike (in detail). Moreover, the Ukrainian information dumps somehow became tense due to the fact that the strike itself was carried out by Iskander. Which speaks to its special importance and efficiency, which was needed here.
Also adding fuel to the fire was the fact that literally a few tens of minutes before, Zelensky was rewarding Ukrainian SSO officers there in the port.
Moreover, it was known for certain that Zelensky had already managed to leave by that time... but the SSO officers had not...
Why it doesn’t make sense for us to kill Zelensky, I think there’s no need to tell you in detail once again. I’ll just say that of all the “semi-poker-leaders of Ukraine” for us today... he is the most convenient (he is the fastest to bring the Ukraine not Russia project to the grave, which is going to the bottom right now).
That’s why there is no interest in helping our “Western partners” get rid of this suitcase without a handle. This is their problem, their “suitcase without a handle”, let them fiddle with it.
But to knock out the SSO elite, who operate their BECs in our Black Sea Fleet, is, of course, a priority task.
The results of the strike are still unknown. But they are expected on both front lines. We are with hope, the enemy with fear..."
Posted by: james | Mar 6 2024 17:38 utc | 27
From a section below the telegraph article linked by lex talionis
Britain prepared to loan Ukraine frozen Russian assets, says Cameron
Britain is prepared to loan Ukraine all frozen Russian central bank assets in the UK, Lord Cameron has said.The British foreign secretary said the assets would be used as surety on the basis that Russia will be forced to pay reparations at the end of the war, the Guardian reported.
Lord Cameron’s comments go further than Europen Union proposals for Ukraine to be given windfall profits from Russian central bank assets held by the West – which are estimated at $4 billion.
“There is an opportunity to use something like a syndicated loan or a bond that effectively uses the frozen Russian assets as a surety to give that money to the Ukrianians knowing that we will recoup it when reparations are paid by Russia,” Lord Cameron told peers.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:42 utc | 28
Zelensky was being watched closely while visiting Kherson as per the (drone?) picture.
The Iskander strike supposedly hit an award ceremony after Ze had left.
https://twitter.com/squatsons/status/1765430073178374602
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 6 2024 17:46 utc | 29
Part of the problem with the Russian ship losses is that it has been so long since there was a major naval war, WWII being the last one. The lessons learned in that war about how to design ships to survive substantial battle damage have left the consciousness of the modern shipbuilding industry. They are now being relearned but very slowly. The attention to extensive compartmentalization that prevents catastrophic flooding from one or a few breaches of the hull has disappeared. Shipbuilders prioritize hull materials that save weight to allow more weapons and sensors in a hull.
Since Russia did not fight a naval war in WWII, it never learned any of the lessons that the US and UK did in WWII and the US and UK forgot what they learned.
The example of the the significant damage to the USS Cole at Aden shows how a quite primitive explosive device can easily penetrate the hull of a modern warship.
The other problem may be that Russia may not properly understand and demand a very robust and extensively trained damage control organization on its warships. A well trained and equipped damage control organization on board a major warship can give it a fighting chance to save itself from significant battle damage.
This is more relevant for larger surface combatants such as the Moskva and the latest ship attacked. The smaller the ship, e.g., small amphibious tank ships, may not be savable regardless due to smaller crew size to mount a successful damage control response and the inability to design sufficient compartmentalization to harden the ship's resistance to battle damage.
Posted by: Student of History | Mar 6 2024 17:46 utc | 30
Pretty ballsy move by Russia, not only waiting till Zman left, 'you can run but you can't hide', but Greek PM was also in proximity.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Mar 6 2024 17:46 utc | 31
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:05 utc | 19
I doubt it was the Brits Peter. Today is the day of all days when the biggest set of disco lights you have ever seen is set up to entertain the brainwashed.
It is UK budget day. Like visiting a whore house with 10 grand for those who demand tax cuts.
Every commentator likes to present their alternative vision, and this one will be no different. A nest of vipers 24/7 preaching from their ancient religious texts to herd the sheep into the sheep pen to be dipped again.
Unlike the majority entranced by the disco lights and the 10 commandments, barflies should now finally understand that tax has nothing to do with raising finance, and everything to do with releasing physical capacity for the Government to purchase.
Most of the sheep that have been dipped after being blinded by the disco lights. Believe that The Budget is where the Government lays out its spending plans. It isn’t. That is the Supply and Estimates and the Vote on Account process. Those papers were published in February and will lead eventually to a Supply and Appropriation Act.
That you haven’t heard of them, let alone any media coverage of them, tells you everything that is wrong with the budgeting process in the UK. It is those spending plans that determine the impact Government has on the economy. Every single increased price in those plans should be quizzed by parliament as to why it is necessary. Yet the whole thing will almost certainly go through “on the nod”.
Instead, we have the annual Budget day media fest where the taxation plans are taken apart, usually obsessing about beer and fuel duty rather than the actual taxes that matter. And inevitably full of stuffed shirts talking about financing - " How are we going to pay for it " bullshit.
If there is one thing the last year has taught us it is that the Government is never short of money. There is no need for financing because spending finances itself. Spending automatically stops when the Government runs out of things to buy.
It will be the same old, same old, same old, merry go round.
Here:
https://new-wayland.com/blog/budget-day-2021/
The Brits have been busy making sure the bullshit framing and narratives hold together. To ensure the sheep remain hidden from the truth.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 17:47 utc | 32
james | Mar 6 2024 17:38 utc | 27
That's interesting. If it was an iskander then did come in without warning. As far as I'm aware it is Nato/US ISR that gives warning of air/missile attacks and direction.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 17:48 utc | 33
Posted by: Surferket | Mar 6 2024 16:40 utc | 7
Same tank was, I think, filmed being hit by a Kornet ATGM first and both strikes were side impacts, where even the HA variants, deployed in Iraq, were vulnerable to 2nd gen HEAT rounds. Fire up any off the shelf combat simulator or wargame and you can easily replicate the results. The M1 is a good mix of the armour triad, but that means little if you allow yourself to be flanked.
Posted by: Milites | Mar 6 2024 17:54 utc | 34
peter - sounds like that is what happened either way...
Posted by: james | Mar 6 2024 17:55 utc | 35
Yawn. Echo Chamber is an MMT cultist who cannot comprehend that just printing money will inevitably lead first to price inflation and then to hyperinflation and currency collapse. Creating huge wealth disparity in process (and thus neo-feudal society) due to Cantillon effects.
Posted by: averros | Mar 6 2024 17:59 utc | 36
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
Intel Slava Z
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Iskander strike on Odessa...
A very interesting strike (in detail). Moreover, the Ukrainian information dumps somehow became tense due to the fact that the strike itself was carried out by Iskander. Which speaks to its special importance and efficiency, which was needed here.
Also adding fuel to the fire was the fact that literally a few tens of minutes before, Zelensky was rewarding Ukrainian SSO officers there in the port.
Moreover, it was known for certain that Zelensky had already managed to leave by that time... but the SSO officers had not...
..But to knock out the SSO elite, who operate their BECs in our Black Sea Fleet, is, of course, a priority task.
The results of the strike are still unknown. But they are expected on both front lines. We are with hope, the enemy with fear...
Posted by: Mary | Mar 6 2024 18:01 utc | 37
… The war is governed by ISR, precision weapons and strike drone. Any concentration of men or material on either side is hit. …
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 16:35 utc | 6
Thanks for that. Ahkmat forces are in the teeth of it, if they say that’s how it is then such it is: maximally dispersed forces, weapons and tactics that can fight that battle.
Posted by: anon2020 | Mar 6 2024 18:04 utc | 38
Haven’t seen this confirmed on other channels so salt to taste …
🇺🇦 There was extreme activity from NATO helicopters on the border with the Odessa region. There is an evacuation of NATO advisors who arrived in Odessa today???
Posted by: anon2020 | Mar 6 2024 18:06 utc | 39
Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 17:47 utc | 32
I'm not into this thing about countries being able to endlessly create money and just throw it down the drain on wars and stuff.
If it is used for infrastructure and so forth, the economy follows and grows. The same can be seen wherever this is done, an earlier America and current China are the standouts. In the thirties in the US, to create employment the government undertook a huge infrastructure project. That set the foundation, was the base of the US prosperity that was to follow.
We see the same in China massive infrastructure projects with usual western media blah blah ghost cities ect ect, but so long as it is well planned the economy always follows.
Same as taking out a loan to build a house. Once the house is built, there is and asset to show for that loan. If a loan is simply pissed down the drain at the local pub, then there is no asset to show for it.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 18:06 utc | 40
Very clear shot of glide bomb final dive. Steep dive angle and high speed, almost a missile trajectory. Unless there was a need for structure penetration this is a lot “spare” kinetic energy that would require the delivery aircraft to fly some combination of higher, closer or faster (all risk factors).
🇺🇦 The arrival of FAB-250 from UMPC in Georgievka
Posted by: anon2020 | Mar 6 2024 18:12 utc | 41
"Given that all nuclear exchanges during the Cold War were averted by Soviet concessions, it will not be long before the US or the EU insist on a nuclear strike against Moscow in the hope that Putin will back down.
Posted by: CIROC | Mar 6 2024 17:12 utc | 24
You need to keep up with revisionist history; in 1962 the USSR removed their missiles from Cuba (1962) only when the US removed its nuclear weapons from Turkey (1)-so you are incorrect.
1. "Though Khrushchev initially refused to acknowledge the presence of the missiles in Cuba and declared the US naval blockade to be an act of war, he ordered the suspension of all weapons deliveries currently in transit. Over the course of approximately two weeks, Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated a peaceful outcome to the missile crisis. The Soviets compared their provision of nuclear weapons to Cuba with the stationing of Jupiter missiles in Turkey, which were in range of Soviet territory. Kennedy agreed to remove the missiles from Turkey, and also pledged that the US government would not undertake another invasion of Cuba." (2)
At 11:40 Moscow time today, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered a high-precision missile strike on a hangar in the industrial port district of the city of Odessa, which was used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to prepare uncrewed boats for combat. The goal of the strike has been accomplished. The facility has been hit, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Just few moments before the meeting. This is a reminder to the collective waste that the SMO continues until all goals are achieved.
Posted by: AI | Mar 6 2024 18:17 utc | 43
The example of the the significant damage to the USS Cole at Aden shows how a quite primitive explosive device can easily penetrate the hull of a modern warship.
Posted by: Student of History | Mar 6 2024 17:46 utc | 30
A Burke is basically in the displacement ballpark of a York which in turn was sunk by an italian explosive motorboat: you cannot pack a decent torpedo defense system with crumple zones etc. on such a small hull and they did not, that was the province of capital ships like battlecruisers and above. Armor, except maybe some to shield vitals from shrapnels, is highly impractical against modern threats. It is what it is.
Posted by: Satepestage | Mar 6 2024 18:20 utc | 44
Re: "Given that all nuclear exchanges during the Cold War were averted by Soviet concessions..."
Posted by: CIROC | Mar 6 2024 17:12 utc | 24
I do not recall any such cases during the Cold War when the Soviets/Russians felt that they were facing an existential threat (as they do now), so I would not necessarily count on this going forward.
Posted by: poli sci | Mar 6 2024 18:21 utc | 45
The cost of Covid is in real terms. What productivity improvements that would have been made have been lost forever? What training has not happened to improve the skills of the workforce? The damage to young people from six months of interrupted schoolwork will scar this nation for two generations, Those, amongst others, are the real costs.Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 16:47 utc | 11
Yeah, six months of "lockdown" ruined everything, but minus 3 IQ points (population average, in reality it is closer to zero for some and a lot more for others) per infection is absolutely no big deal.
And the millions missing from the workforce (who are now being replaced by importing illegal migrants) definitely did so because they got too frustrated with lockdowns and not because of long COVID (and also straight up dying)
The level of retardation one sees here...
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:26 utc | 46
It's not whether the current regime in Washington would want a talk with Russia or not, it is the fact that Russia has lost trust in the regime of the West. Ultimatum is what Russia would offer and the West would not be too happy to accept it. The world is being remade and I'm not sure the power that be in Russia is eager to slow down that process.
Posted by: Steve | Mar 6 2024 18:27 utc | 47
Re ships. Battle ships had very heavy armor compartments and all the rest but the became easy prey to aircraft carriers and so it goes. Protection now is mostly a matter of active defense not armour. Its a constant battle between defence and weapons designed to penetrate that defence. Russia will at some point come up with a technology or tactic against the current Brit semi submersibles but swarm attacks on a single target are the hardest to defeat. Russia is now putting much of its military R&D into directed energy weapons as a few years back they had some break throughs in that direction.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 18:29 utc | 48
You need to keep up with revisionist history; in 1962 the USSR removed their missiles from Cuba (1962) only when the US removed its nuclear weapons from Turkey (1)-so you are incorrect.Posted by: canuck | Mar 6 2024 18:17 utc | 42
Both things happened, but only one of them was publicly announced, so Khrushchev actually lost that round. It may have been a tie in military technical terms, but it was a defeat in terms of public perception.
And that mattered. It is why today nukes are once again in Turkey, but not in Cuba, and Russia is directly attacked by NATO daily.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:29 utc | 49
The war is going well from the US perspective. Europe is broken, and has no chance of moving toward recovery while the SMO continues. The strategy of the US is keep the grind going, never negotiate, and when Ukraine collapses, use the fact to maintain a cold war to keep Europe isolated from Russia, China and Iran.
Now that the EU economies have been brought to heel, it does not matter how long the kinetic phase of the SMO goes on, or what, if anything, of Ukraine is left at the end. What matters is HOW it ends- from the US point of view, it can't end by agreement between the west and Russia, it has to simply be a conquest by the evil Russians. The posturing of the Brits and French is part of the plan- not to really escalate against Russia, but to maintain the idea that Russia is a menace to Europe.
Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:31 utc | 50
Trump, warts and all, open mouth and all, has a pragmatic peace inclination...
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 17:07 utc | 21
I care nothing for Trump's inclinations. I care about results, and Trump failed to deliver.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 18:32 utc | 51
Very soon thecwest is going to threaren Moscow. It is pure and inevitable logic of this war where one sude (the West) pays small costs of war.
The west will escalate pure because it can do that.
Posted by: vargas | Mar 6 2024 18:33 utc | 52
If I wanted to protect mobile missile-launching platforms in close proximity to my own shore from surface drones, I think I'd deploy flotillas of tiny, fast drones of my own, perhaps armed with RPG launchers or similar. They'd be cheap, faster than the incoming drones, harder to see because they don't need to be big enough to carry a huge, ship-sinking payload, just big enough to set off such charges in an attacking drone. A picket line of such craft would be cheap and effective, operating under the guidance of ariel surveillance drones and the radars and other sensors of the capital ships they protect.
Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:40 utc | 53
These party visits by politicians and singers and other clowns should have been, very naturally, stopped long time ago by strikes on targets in cities. No civilians, that is Bibi's exclusive, just military and industrial or government buildings, one by one. Doesn't look like any "balance" game to me. Russia is inside their own borders, US is on another continent. This reminds me of "Russia and NATO face the danger of a direct armed conflict in Eastern Europe, Antonov said". So if nato attacks them, they promise to fight only Eastern European zombies, like they fight Zeli now only inside Russia, never outside
Posted by: rk | Mar 6 2024 18:41 utc | 54
A convoy carrying Zelensky and Greece PM has gone under attack by, allegedly, Russian drones...I can not imagine why the Russians would need doing such thing right now, when they are winning, when they have not done it during the past two years...
Everything points at Macron or the Britons, who are the ones needing a war as if there was no tomorrow to have an alibi to rob the European taxpayers´savings....
Every terrorist attack, even the most dirty ones against civilians, journalists and philosophers, in this war has been perpetrated by the Ukrainian combo and its allies....
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
Yeah, initially I thought maybe they decided to finally make him pay. But it made no sense to do it there and then.
Then Russian Telegram started posting information about a Tochka-U/Grom-2 launch from inside Odessa itself right at that time.
So perhaps it is a false flag provocation.
And then Zelensky talked about it while standing next to the Greek PM.
But if it was such a false flag, you would have expected it to be all over the media immediately, with video of the explosion, rescue workers carrying mangled corpses out of ruins, etc. Yet it wasn't, and it still isn't. Very weird and not making much sense...
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:43 utc | 55
If it is used for infrastructure and so forth, the economy follows and grows. The same can be seen wherever this is done, an earlier America and current China are the standouts. In the thirties in the US, to create employment the government undertook a huge infrastructure project. That set the foundation, was the base of the US prosperity that was to follow.We see the same in China massive infrastructure projects with usual western media blah blah ghost cities ect ect, but so long as it is well planned the economy always follows.
Same as taking out a loan to build a house. Once the house is built, there is and asset to show for that loan. If a loan is simply pissed down the drain at the local pub, then there is no asset to show for it.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 18:06 utc | 40
Assets are also liabilities.
Let's say I gift you a huge medieval castle on the condition that you have to maintain it and also cannot sell it for the next 50 years. But your income stays the same as it is now.
Sure, maybe you can think of some ways to generate revenue out of it, and if you are lucky, you might indeed be able to pull that off, but in most cases I have just hung a huge financial millstone around your neck, because you are still poor but now have to pay for maintenance of this huge property.
It's the same thing with infrastructure -- sure, it is nice to build it, but that locks you into perpetual maintenance expenses, as well as the costs of eventual demolition (and perhaps replacement one day).
Not a problem in the short term, but in the long term there is no guarantee you will enjoy the same level of energy and resource influx as today.
It's what happened to the former USSR. Lots of stuff was built, but in the 1990s the resource flows were redirected towards the West and maintenance ended. The result was the ugly decrepit hellscapes with crumbling concrete, mud and potholes that everyone associates with the USSR. The truth is it didn't look like that in Soviet times -- it was brand new back then, it started to look like that once maintenance ended.
The US is undergoing the same process now -- infrastructure was built in the glory days of the mid-20th century, but in absolutely idiotic ways. Today it is not possible to satisfy all demands on available resources -- to keep the local oligarchs getting richer and richer, to keep suburbia going, and to maintain infrastructure -- and politically it is easiest to neglect infrastructure because it neither votes nor lobbies. So it is crumbling everywhere.
China is in that trap too -- once the resource crunch really hits, they will have to downsize. But at least they have thousands of years of tradition of collapse cycle to fall back on to.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:44 utc | 56
These party visits by politicians and singers and other clowns should have been, very naturally, stopped long time ago by strikes on targets in cities. No civilians, that is Bibi's exclusive, just military and industrial or government buildings, one by one. Doesn't look like any "balance" game to me. Russia is inside their own borders, US is on another continent. This reminds me of "Russia and NATO face the danger of a direct armed conflict in Eastern Europe, Antonov said". So if nato attacks them, they promise to fight only Eastern European zombies, like they fight Zeli now only inside Russia, never outsidePosted by: rk | Mar 6 2024 18:41 utc | 53
The Kiev train station and the VIP train should have been blown up in mid-April 2022 the latest, shortly after Boris Johnson sabotaged the peace talks.
And, of course, locomotives in general should have been taken out one by one by the end of 2022. They are easy targets, there is a limited stock of them, Ukraine doesn't make any more of them (the locomotive factory was in Lugansk and has been shut down since 2014), and the railway gauge is different, making it difficult to import them from the West (not that the West itself has much productive capacity to replace them, and even if they tried, then you take them out again).
This would have paralyzed Ukraine and won the war a long time ago,
But it would have also hurt oligarch business interests, and what are half a million dead in comparison to that unspeakable horror?
P.S. All Western embassies should have been bombed too. It's not as if the West has not set the precedent on this. Give them a warning to evacuate, then the Iskanders fly. Or better yet, the time to do that with a warning was in 2022, now it should be done without.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:49 utc | 57
Unfortunately I fail to see any European leader who might be willing or able to do so.
Posted by b on March 6, 2024 at 16:10 UTC | Permalink
If I was Victor Orban, I would offer my good services as intermediary between European Union and Russia. With a smile.
Posted by: Passerby | Mar 6 2024 18:49 utc | 58
shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:44 utc | 55
As usual, you are full of shit. An ordinary house home is always an investment as well. Prices nearly always increase.
A loan to build a business. So long as it is well planned, that business once up and running will repay the loan plus bring a profit to the owner.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 18:51 utc | 59
China defeated Japan because space was on China’s side.
Posted by: Zargo | Mar 6 2024 17:02 utc | 16
Odd Military supposition. Space means Russia could never lose.
China needed Russia to defeat Japan. The catalyst that ended the Pacific War.
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 18:51 utc | 60
I care nothing for Trump's inclinations. I care about results, and Trump failed to deliver.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 18:32 utc | 50
You clearly don't understand how the Deep State works. Trump lacked institutional control of the executive, beginning with his own cabinet. Whether or not this was because he was naive or just another imperialist doesn't matter, he couldn't possibly deliver, except to the extent that he didn't touch off the war in Ukraine when it might have succeeded in bringing down Putin (although I don't think that was a realistic possibility even then). That's because the plan didn't allow for Congress to declare war, and the scale of operations would require presidential authority, which it does seem Trump wasn't 'inclined' to give. There are a number of one-off strikes in the ME during his term that he claimed credit for afterward, but it's not clear how many he authorized in advance and how many were the Pentagon simply ignoring his orders. The kayfabe missile attacks on empty Syrian hangars sound like just what a president with experience with WWE professional wrestling might do. Assassinating Soleimani doesn't, but to deny authorization would paint Trump as completely powerless.
Perhaps Trump agreed to all the maneuvers in the ME, and the refusal to withdraw from Afghanistan, and his public pronouncements were just kayfabe to paint himself as the 'peace candidate' for the next go-round, but I think he really had very little control over the military.
Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:52 utc | 61
If I wanted to protect mobile missile-launching platforms in close proximity to my own shore from surface drones, I think I'd deploy flotillas of tiny, fast drones of my own, perhaps armed with RPG launchers or similar. They'd be cheap, faster than the incoming drones, harder to see because they don't need to be big enough to carry a huge, ship-sinking payload, just big enough to set off such charges in an attacking drone. A picket line of such craft would be cheap and effective, operating under the guidance of ariel surveillance drones and the radars and other sensors of the capital ships they protect.Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:40 utc | 52
The problem is the lack of AWACS assets.
If RU had a few dozen RQ-4B equivalents, the things used to guide these strikes in real time, it could have them hover over the Black Sea 24/7, track the USVs, and direct attack helicopters to them.
For some unfathomable reason, they don't have them. Iran does, even North Korea does, and, of course, China has a huge inventory, but RU doesn't. And has not obtained them from friendly countries.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:53 utc | 62
I care nothing for Trump's inclinations. I care about results, and Trump failed to deliver.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 18:32 utc | 50
You must have been asleep under a tree for 4 years. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, assured no legislation got passed that would support Trump. The DC Deep Cesspool, including every Criminal Agency of the U.S. Government kneecapped Trump every day.
Other than that, he got nothing done.
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 18:56 utc | 63
A loan to build a business. So long as it is well planned, that business once up and running will repay the loan plus bring a profit to the owner.Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 18:51 utc | 58
"So long as it is well planned" is doing a lot of work here.
What happens when resource inputs into the economy are reduced by half? Which businesses will do well?
That's not a hypothetical, that is a 100% certainty in the not too distant future.
It's why we have a war now -- some people are trying to ensure that the reduction is not equally distributed, i.e. close to 0% for them and close to 100% for others.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:56 utc | 64
Peter AU1 @ 47 Re: Ships
There is a tale in old Germanic legend about a Guy named Siegfried who slayed a dragon, and then bathed in the dragon's blood which rendered his skin invulnerble except for a single spot where a leaf fell that kept the blood from treating that little part of his his skin. And so it goes every piece of armor on every ship has a weak spot that if struck will sink, or at least disable the ship. It is just a matter of knowing that spot.
As the legend goes on, Siegfried's girlfriend watched him bath, and knew the spot. She ended up betraying Siegfried by revealing the spot to Siegfried's arch enemy who then in turn upon having battle with Siegried struck Siegried on the spot with his sword thereby taking him down. I'm sure there are a few people out there who know where the weak spots are in the armors of individual ship's. Navy ships are more vulnerable than most people would like to admit. It is only a matter of knowing the weak spot in the armor.
Posted by: Gee Eye Joe | Mar 6 2024 18:57 utc | 65
"The problem is the lack of AWACS assets....
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:53 utc | 61"
What happened recently, here?
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 18:59 utc | 66
But if it was such a false flag, you would have expected it to be all over the media immediately, with video of the explosion, rescue workers carrying mangled corpses out of ruins, etc. Yet it wasn't, and it still isn't. Very weird and not making much sense...
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 18:43 utc | 54
Not so weird, and making quite sense taking into account that some of the media, even in the US, and at the think tanks level, were already picking up ropes these past days with regard the Ukraine issue, while other government actors, like Macron were, on the contrary, stirring things up as much as he could...so that the episode does not close before they have finished their economci reset, that is, robbing the Eu taxpayers´savings....
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 19:00 utc | 67
The balancing argument is a worthy notion.
But using natzio aircraft to launch weapons at RF targets and the inevitable real strategic response that Macaroon has been begging for! As has been the Royal Navy’s obvious use of drones to attack the Russian ships.
“Go on! We dare your to respond! It will mean war!, mawahhah hahah..”
So it will be as VVP said early on ‘Let Them Try’.
The next step by the RF? A clear one visible to the world that after being attacked by stand-off plane takeoffs and launches - RF declare a no fly zone.
Including targeting launch vehicles over nato territory.
That’s what we would have done day one against a natzio target. You know like against Iraq.
So yes a full on war beckons beyond the SMO. That will include the illegal apartheid entity’s F35 launches against Syria.
As they say ‘stick a fork in it’ - we are well and truly cooked!’
It looks grim.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 6 2024 19:02 utc | 68
I have a feeling Zelensky will be making an 'exit' at some point in the form of a framed false attack. Zelensky's position is looking pretty shaky and one has to wonder how he is still beneficial to US state department or UK.
Of course he is an obedient puppy but it isn't good when people start passive resistance.
Nevertheless, anyone replacing him will inherit the breached Titanic, and more likely than not the only option is to make some deal with Russia. Russia will not allow any participation of the US or EU in any deal.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 6 2024 19:08 utc | 69
Unless there is someone better waiting in the wings it makes no sense to assassinate Zelelsky. The Russian objectives of the war are repatriation of Novorossiya, demilitarization of Ukraine, denazification of Ukraine and a new security arrangement for Europe.
It's not like Zelensky's really in charge ... the guy with his hand up Zelensky's ass making his mouth move has that job. lets say the Russians are successful and Zaluzhny takes over ... he's a bonafide nazi worshipping Ukrainian nationalist and a military leader ... he is never going to negotiate the nazi's out of Ukraine or agree to kick out NATO.
Zaluzhny would be more likely to try to freeze the conflict then try again in another 5-10 years with an army of fresh young zealots armed with the latest western weapons ... Zelensky wants to go on the offensive again next year ... for the love of god Russia don't touch Zelensky ... let him see this war to it's conclusion.
Posted by: HB_Norica | Mar 6 2024 19:09 utc | 70
Student of History @30
"The other problem may be that Russia may not properly understand and demand a very robust and extensively trained damage control organization on its warships"
-----------------------
Perhaps, however, the main complaint of crew was they did t have armaments to effectively deal with a multi-vessel attack.
There is a naval variant of the land-based Pantsir-S1, Pantsir-E/ME has been developed and fitting advanced patrol ships like the Sergey Kotov would make this class if shops very formidable both against naval drones and aircraft/missiles and both along the coast and the interior river/canal system.
Damage control is important but damage prevention is better.
Just sayin'
Posted by: Jerr | Mar 6 2024 19:12 utc | 71
B&James. It's Stephen BRYEN... and yeah...Bryen writes for Asia Times... some of these reporters are excellent analysts, but they lose their minds over a certain country in the Middle East. I told Bryen this... fortunately he didn't ban me.
Posted by: Posa | Mar 6 2024 19:12 utc | 72
Posted by: Zargo | Mar 6 2024 17:02 utc | 16
You forget that the Russians have done this before. They know what's involved in taking the steppes.
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Mar 6 2024 19:15 utc | 73
Posted by: HB_Norica | Mar 6 2024 19:09 utc | 69
It's really irrelevant at this point who comes next. The country is split for good, and it's not like censorship or mobilization could get much worse.
The longer it continues, the higher chance for partisanship and armed opposition. The higher the chance most of the area constituting 'Novorrossiya' simply tearing off from Kiev regime with a bit of assistance. That will also conclude hunting foreign mercs and nazis.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 6 2024 19:15 utc | 74
"A convoy carrying Zelensky and Greece PM has gone under attack by, allegedly, Russian drones..."
@Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Mar 6 2024 16:54 utc | 12
Can't you just hear them in the bowels of the CIA headquarters wondering?
"Is this the moment to pull the trigger on Putin?"
While at MI6 headquarters it is:
"Is this the moment to pull the trigger on Zelensky?"
Wonder what they are thinking at the DNC headquarters.
Posted by: librul | Mar 6 2024 19:17 utc | 75
A question that comes to is: Who is pocketing the money that is supposed to be used for building those new defense lines ?
Posted by: WMG | Mar 6 2024 19:21 utc | 76
@36 averros
I do continue to ask this poster what the point of posting about economics is at this stage of empire.
The empire is not behaving in a rational way that is available to trained economists.
Rather, the thinking is brute force meeting a confidence game (printing press sans limits).
It is no longer about capitalism/communism.
It is about being under the yoke of the one-worlders. It is more or less a synthesis of both systems or worldviews.
In this case, whatever we encounter or see right now in any sphere of empire, is not real, or, can not be taught.
This is a time of intuition and the mere noticing that something is not right. It is not a time of ivory towers.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 6 2024 19:27 utc | 77
HB_Norica and other seem to think that keeping Zelensky in charge until the final end is preferable to - u hem - executive action. I do not agree. While the "Penis that played a piano" should go to trial, he is at the top of commandf and control. To end the war right now, cut the rail links, bomb the airports, declare for good measure a no fly zone and try to arrest the bastard. If someone is carless with a hair trigger, then so be it. By the way, the Americans around him almost certainly have orders to kill him if his arrest looks likely. Zelensky was the visible part of this "narrative" therefore it will collapse with him.
Posted by: Stierlitz | Mar 6 2024 19:28 utc | 78
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 18:51 utc | 59
Your Eurocentric history takes you down false trails. IF the west had invaded Russia, space would indeed be on Russia’s side. But since it is Russia that must continually extend its logistics, the 1000’s of km of Ukraine that must be occupied works against Russia.
Posted by: Zargo | Mar 6 2024 19:30 utc | 79
Good article and a summary of the pointlessness that is the EU globally.
Posted by: jpc | Mar 6 2024 19:30 utc | 80
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 6 2024 16:55 utc | 13
Thanks for that and your other reply. So let's forget money costs. If the NATO-assisted attacks on navy ships keep happening, it stands to reason that eventually it will become obvious that either a) the Ukros can't be doing it alone, b) Russia catches a NATO country red-handed in an attack, and/or c) one such attack kills a bunch of sailors.
This would seem to me a "Gulf of Tonkin" type incident (but real in this case, not a false flag) - I am obviously engaging in informed speculation but how would/should Russia react?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 6 2024 19:33 utc | 81
Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 16:47 utc | 10
*** If there is any upside to a Trump presidency, it is that America's european puppets, vassals, satraps, flunkies and slaves are less likely to blindly follow orders coming from a gauche loudmouth like Trump. Europeans are used to living under senile monarchs but an orange loudmouth dipshit was something new.***
But is that really worse than a foreign, utterly corrupt and noticeably demented mass-murderer who is kinky about little girls?
Or are the characteristics of both US possibilities so like the Political Establishment of European countries (including the UK) that to them they seem quite normal?
Posted by: Cynic | Mar 6 2024 19:35 utc | 82
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 18:56 utc | 62
And what, in terms of good things for average Americans was Trump trying to do when he wasn't assassinating Soleimani, indicting Assange, blaming China for the coronavirus, rushing out mRNA "vaccines", sending Javelins to the Ukros, enacting sanctions on Venezuela that are the direct cause for the current "migrant crisis", etc.?
I can think of one good thing and that was letting a lot of drug war prisoners out of jail. Because some famous rappers asked him to or something like that.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 6 2024 19:37 utc | 83
What would result from negotiation?
USA could have negotiated in Dec2021, it ignored the Russian position.
USA had the euros sign 2 or3 Minsk papers and ignored them.
Ukie boys and girls are doing the dying, and the pentagon is selling very profitable for war profiteers, who buy politicians.
Maybe Kiev run out of bodies.
Posted by: paddy | Mar 6 2024 19:38 utc | 84
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 6 2024 19:15 utc | 73
And there will be no quotas or requirements for tags.
Posted by: Canuck Pipes | Mar 6 2024 19:39 utc | 85
https://t.me/treugolniklpr/23022
⚡️ On March 6, Russian airspace control systems over the Black Sea detected three air targets approaching the State border of the Russian Federation.To prevent violation of the State Border of the Russian Federation, a Su-30 fighter from the air defense forces on duty was scrambled into the air.
The Russian fighter crew identified the air targets as an RC-135 electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft and two RAF Typhoon multi-role fighters.
As the Russian fighter approached, foreign military aircraft made a turn from the State border of the Russian Federation.
The Russian plane returned safely to its home airfield. There was no violation of the State Border of the Russian Federation.
The flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters, without crossing air routes or dangerously approaching aircraft of a foreign state.
Posted by: shаdοwbanned | Mar 6 2024 19:40 utc | 86
> French-made AASM Hammer guided aerial bomb
There was a speculation those might use the same attachement joints as French-made SCALP missile.
If so, then whatever was used to laumch those SCALPs and Silent Shadows (be it adapted Soviet jetfighter, or some ground-launcher with booster stage added, or any other vehicle) would perhaps be capable of launching Hammers too, with perhaps some software upgrades.
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 6 2024 19:40 utc | 87
Stierlitz | Mar 6 2024 19:28 utc | 77
The SMO is not about conquering Ukraine as such. From everything Putin has said, I believe the intention is to turn it. That will occur when Ukrainians themselves hang Zelenski from a lamp post or bridge. We are close to that point now - a lot of Ukrainians starting to wake up to the fact they have been used by the west and hatred for Zelenski is mounting. At some point, the Ukrainians will also begin to understand the scale of their casualties. From some interviews some months back it was obvious the average Ukrainian had no idea of the scale of losses at the front nor the casualty ratio.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 19:41 utc | 88
Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:52 utc | 60
I tend to enjoy your comments on other topics, but re: Trump, with all due respect that is just ridiculous excuse making. Yes, the Deep State and 3LAs were working in concert with the DNC to sabotage much of his presidency, but can anyone please name a policy good for working class Americans that Trump would have signed but was otherwise prevented?
Again, he indicted Assange and it came out in court that he personally took a keen intertest in it. Trump learned his hatred of Iran in the 70s and 80s and I am positive that he was 100% on board with the Soleimani assassination. He also did everything he could to crush and sabotage the Venezuelan economy thus leading to a massive, completely historically unprecedented wave of migrants and refugees from that country in the years immediately following the sanctions. The border wall solicitations went out on SAM.gov under the USACE Fort Worth contracting office during Obama's 2nd term as the "border infrastructure" budget had already been approved in 2015/2016. All Trump did was take advantage of the "liberal tears" to brag about the walls that were going to be built anyway. Trust me, I know the exact timeline as I was previously with a firm that built a lot of them.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 6 2024 19:44 utc | 89
European sovereignty never looked so absent. Once we might have seen talks between leaders and foreign ministers as a matter of general diplomacy. The idea of 'checking in' before reaching out would have been the sign of abject dependency. Now 'talks' can only be initiated or approved by DC, which means that the US finds itself pivoting from soft empire to hard empire, while European populations wake up to the fact that their leaders are factota. For those of you with a bit of depth in Roman history, Polybius and Livy on the beginnings of Rome interventions in the east from 220-190 are instructive. It's great having 'big ally' in the west who can help out reaching short- to medium-term policy goals, but it's not long before protection becomes protection racket. By that time your game of playing off 'big ally' against the former big hegemon (Macedon in this case) has rebounded on you. One day you're a free city, the next a Roman resort town for the sons of the senatorial elite.
Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 6 2024 19:45 utc | 90
Cooler and wiser heads have endorsed the slow grind, escalation management approach for some time in the bar.
Kudos to all of those who kept their powder dry and emotions in check.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 6 2024 19:54 utc | 91
You clearly don't understand how the Deep State works. Trump lacked institutional control of the executive, beginning with his own cabinet. Whether or not this was because he was naive or just another imperialist doesn't matter, he couldn't possibly deliver, except to the extent that he didn't touch off the war in Ukraine when it might have succeeded in bringing down Putin (although I don't think that was a realistic possibility even then). That's because the plan didn't allow for Congress to declare war, and the scale of operations would require presidential authority, which it does seem Trump wasn't 'inclined' to give. There are a number of one-off strikes in the ME during his term that he claimed credit for afterward, but it's not clear how many he authorized in advance and how many were the Pentagon simply ignoring his orders. The kayfabe missile attacks on empty Syrian hangars sound like just what a president with experience with WWE professional wrestling might do. Assassinating Soleimani doesn't, but to deny authorization would paint Trump as completely powerless.
Perhaps Trump agreed to all the maneuvers in the ME, and the refusal to withdraw from Afghanistan, and his public pronouncements were just kayfabe to paint himself as the 'peace candidate' for the next go-round, but I think he really had very little control over the military.
Posted by: Honzo | Mar 6 2024 18:52 utc | 60
You have simply shown that Trump was weak, stupid and easily manipulated. Otherwise, if the president truly had no authority, there was no reason for the freakout when he was elected.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 19:56 utc | 92
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 18:32 utc | 50
You must have been asleep under a tree for 4 years. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, assured no legislation got passed that would support Trump. The DC Deep Cesspool, including every Criminal Agency of the U.S. Government kneecapped Trump every day.
Other than that, he got nothing done.
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 6 2024 18:56 utc | 62
Always the excuses, just like litany of excuses of the Obama Cult. Where does the buck stop in your world?
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 19:58 utc | 93
B&James. It's Stephen BRYEN... and yeah...Bryen writes for Asia Times... some of these reporters are excellent analysts, but they lose their minds over a certain country in the Middle East. I told Bryen this... fortunately he didn't ban me.
Posted by: Posa | Mar 6 2024 19:12 utc | 71
Keep in mind that Bryen's de facto employer is none other than David Goldman, who is nothing if not an confessed Israel-Firster.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:00 utc | 94
But is that really worse than a foreign, utterly corrupt and noticeably demented mass-murderer who is kinky about little girls?
Or are the characteristics of both US possibilities so like the Political Establishment of European countries (including the UK) that to them they seem quite normal?
Posted by: Cynic | Mar 6 2024 19:35 utc | 81
Like senile monarchs, europeans are quite used to that, as long as everything is done comme il faut.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:01 utc | 95
Maybe Macron isn't all that stupid or crazy. He is opposed to theft of Russian assets. This follows his tough guy routine about sending troops into Ukraine. He and others may realize the trap that the US has set for them to sacrifice the Euro and EU banks by stealing Russian money.
Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 6 2024 20:03 utc | 96
Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:01 utc | 94
In his first term, Trump wanted detent with Russia so US could attack China and Iran, whereasw the deep state at that time wated to take Russia down first then attack China. Taking Russia down failed miserably with Russia instead growing stronger. Deep state has now switched attention to China so their and Trump's intentions are aligned. Trump will be the fall guy for the coming China debacle.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 20:07 utc | 97
The SMO is not about conquering Ukraine as such. From everything Putin has said, I believe the intention is to turn it. That will occur when Ukrainians themselves hang Zelenski from a lamp post or bridge. We are close to that point now - a lot of Ukrainians starting to wake up to the fact they have been used by the west and hatred for Zelenski is mounting. At some point, the Ukrainians will also begin to understand the scale of their casualties. From some interviews some months back it was obvious the average Ukrainian had no idea of the scale of losses at the front nor the casualty ratio.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 19:41 utc | 87
If that is truly the case, then the Russian leadership is incredibly naive. Every western leader is roundly hated by his people, yet all of them sleep soundly in their beds, since they know not to piss enough important people off.
What do you think Ukraine's secret police are doing all this time? They are looking first and foremost for any signs of dissent, and snuffing those dissenters out without any limitations of law or process.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:07 utc | 98
Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:01 utc | 94
In his first term, Trump wanted detent with Russia so US could attack China and Iran, whereasw the deep state at that time wated to take Russia down first then attack China. Taking Russia down failed miserably with Russia instead growing stronger. Deep state has now switched attention to China so their and Trump's intentions are aligned. Trump will be the fall guy for the coming China debacle.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 6 2024 20:07 utc | 96
AFAICT, the Deep State has done no such thing. And Biden was far more aggressive with China than was Trump.
Posted by: Feral Finster | Mar 6 2024 20:09 utc | 99
@ librul | Mar 6 2024 19:17 utc | 74
Wonder what they are thinking at the DNC headquarters.
"Is this the moment to pull the trigger on Biden ?"
Posted by: La Bastille | Mar 6 2024 20:12 utc | 100
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thanks b... i always enjoyed reading stephen bryan, but he banned me over my mentioning the word genocide with regard to israel back in october... maybe now he's had a change of heart?
the west has no bartering position, the longer this goes on.. none whatsoever..
Posted by: james | Mar 6 2024 16:18 utc | 1