“Ukraine’s 155mm Bohdana howitzer, a tube-artillery launcher with a 25-mile range, is the first Ukrainian-made NATO-caliber howitzer and could help guarantee the country’s security,” according to an article in the WaPo.
A European official, speaking on the condition of anonyity, said more countries were eyeing the model of pouring money into Ukraine’s defense industry instead of dispatching weapons, offering a faster route as Europe’s own supplies run dry after years of funneling weapons to Kiev.
The strategy also allows NATO countries to use Ukraine as a testing ground for developing weapons, such as drones, in which they don’t have as much experience, the official said. “It’s a win-win,” the European official added. “It’s cheaper for us. They need to produce. And the Ukrainians are teaching us a lot.”
Production of the Bohdana — Ukrainian for “God-given”— has surged in the course of the war against Russia, soaring from just six per month in 2023 to more than 20 in 2025 as part of a partnership with Ukraine’s European allies. While it hasn’t been enough for Ukraine to win the war, the increase in artillery production has helped the country become more self-sufficient.
The WaPo reporter provided a bit of enthusiastic war-porn flowery descriptions of the howitzer in action: “Hundreds of miles from the front lines, deep in the forested wilderness of Ukraine, the massive green howitzer swung around its long barrel and fired, the boom echoing through snowy mountains and sleepy villages as a distant ridgeline erupted in a thunderhead of black smoke.”
Fear-mongering was on the menu, too: “Now self-propelled howitzers are being produced in Ukraine in quantities that are unparalleled in Europe,” Arsen Zhumadilov said, chief of weapons procurement for Kiev. “This is important,” he said, “because there is a direct and close link between our ability to fight and Europe’s security. If Ukraine falls, Europe will not be able to stand against the Russians.”
A final blast from the Bohdana howitzer shook the ice off the roof of a nearby building. A cloud of dust and earth again billowed off the mountain.
“If you want to live in peace, you have to be ready for war,” Zhumadilov said.
Gosh, where have we heard *that* before-?

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 19 2025 20:40 utc | 104

It is a sure bet that HATO/UKR tomorrow will throw everything they have at every place in Russia they can reach.
Serene Easter to you all.
Buona Pasqua a tutti.

Posted by: Mauro | Apr 19 2025 21:10 utc | 106

Carlos Marques | Apr 19 2025 16:49 utc | 39
and others
Most commentators are making the point that nothing changes with Trump in office, the agenda is still what the oligarchs (such as Larry Fink etc.) want to happen. The same would have happened under, say, Kamala Harris.
I don’t agree. Trump is unique. He isn’t camouflaging under a web of lies like all the rest of them (just think of Obama’s hidden war against Assad). He can be taken at face value for what he says – if it later changes, his mood has changed. He is very dependent on applause by others, and if this cannot be achieved he has a problem. He is like a big child, depending on attention, driven by his impulses and mood swings, and with little patience and frustration tolerance when things don’t go his way.
He was shot at, he published the JFK files, investigates the origin of Covid, dismantles USAID – not like somebody who is part of the system. He said things (like about Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada) that no other president would say in his sober mind, for fear of their explosive potential.
Only, he underestimated the difficulty of his Ukraine project. His insistance on a monthlong ceasefire – something Putin had already ruled out and amply explained – shows a lack of diplomatic professionalism. But then, who in the US establishment is a diplomat at all? And who, of all of us, would be able to solve the problem at hand? Putin wants

the 5 regions (Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporojie), de-nazification (reverse the Maidan/CIA coup), demilitarisation.

Even this list of Putin solo is not achievable – Russia may one day take over the regions, but the new borders will not be reckognized internationally, there will always be the Europeans in the way with their notorious lack of a reverse gear, or lack of pragmatism, being afraid to save face.
Putin must have thought that demilitarization and denazification are reasonable demands, since exactly this was applied against Germany in Nuremberg 1945. But then it was the many against one, Germany, and this time it will be the one (Russia) against the many.
If Trump walks away, and reduces the flow of weapons and funds to zero, it will end the war faster than any other policy. Europe can hang on for a while, but not forever.

Posted by: grunzt | Apr 19 2025 21:18 utc | 108

Posted by: aristodemos | Apr 19 2025 18:01 utc | 73
Thanks you for your reply aristodemos. Found the book ‘Future Memory’ on-line at https://zoboko.com/book/z94gwdy4/future-memory. Will review.
My primitive understanding of Heisenberg is through the series ‘Breaking Bad’ that I watched on-line.
Also, foretelling future, is it Nostradamus, or nostra-dumb-ass? Grin.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 19 2025 21:21 utc | 110

I see Germany as a colony of the US since WWII that does what America dictates.
Germany is saying it is going to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine with German operation.
The US speaks out of both sides of its mouth constantly…..sick negotiating ploy….

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 19 2025 15:25 utc | 2
Not to mention, Merz has connections with Blackrock, driving the point home that he isn’t acting on Germany’s interests any more than Boris Yeltsin did on Russia’s.
(Bad comparison? Gimme a shout)
I’ve seen too many people lately act/make it look as if Germany were an independent nation at any point after 1945. With the US having captured the Western part, one can’t put it past it to have its elites installed by the CIA and (at least with the ones born after 1945) being taught according to the Anglo-American narrative (wasn’t that Operation Gladio?). And it doesn’t help that the US financed/inspired the Nazis early on and remained unscathed during the war.
Every time people accuse the German people of Russophobia as if it were a genetic condition, I’d want to ask what they know of East Germany (GDR) and how being under Soviet control (?) shaped attitudes toward Russia (and Palestine) in the region, which would afterward be subsumed into the same US sphere of influence as West Germany.
Even on the RT comment sections you’ll find people accusing Germany of starting both world wars. And I thought that the presence of literature like Docherty and Macgregor’s Hidden Histories would put that to rest.

Posted by: joey_n | Apr 19 2025 21:32 utc | 112

@ joey_n | Apr 19 2025 21:18 utc | 110
Glad you pointed that out!

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 19 2025 21:50 utc | 114

A gedanken experiment: Suppose the flow of time actually was different in the US as opposed to Russia or China? Suppose things just moved much faster?
This would mean that China/Russia would look as if they were moving glacially while the US moves as a hyperkinetic blur. Now, this is fiction but I see this as Why Trump And The US Will Lose. Did Xi call back? Did Putin agree to a ceasefire? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me !!!!
There’s no patience here. Trump looks like a man running out of time (he is !). He can barely get through a single day without vacillating in comments or intentions or impulses. It’s bizarre….. and it’s NO WAY TO NEGOTIATE. I don’t care or give any credence to ideas that he has any idea as to what he’s doing in any sensible time frame.

Posted by: Eighthman | Apr 19 2025 22:16 utc | 116

… Trump was part of that in his first term. … Trump is part of that regime. … USA/Trump doesn’t want peace nor ceasefire, it wants a pause to rearm Ukraine. … just shows how easy it is to manipulate people. … This will not change with any elections, since elections in USA … are a farce. … This is the sad reality. And Russia and China, etc, know it very well. … Next in Trump’s agenda: war against Iran, or proxy war in Taiwan against China. … Exactly the same that would happen with any other DeepState/NeoCon/AIPAC approved “president” … That’s why the war in Ukraine can only end when Russia reaches all its goals. It cannot negotiate nor compromise. … USA NEEDS a break/ceasefire in this proxy. That’s why the current genocidal emperor (it is Trump, it could be Kamalaz it’s all the SAME) is “getting out” of Ukraine…
Posted by: Carlos Marques | Apr 19 2025 16:49 utc | 39
Whole post 100% fact!

Posted by: xor | Apr 19 2025 22:27 utc | 118

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/161931

Easter Truce. 23-00.
Quite a few sources on both sides report that despite the ongoing shelling, the intensity of combat has significantly decreased in many areas of the front. In some areas, it has become almost completely quiet. It is too early to talk about a complete ceasefire. For example, Kherson Oblast Governor Saldo has already reported that shelling of the Kherson Oblast continues.
If April 20 passes moderately quietly (with sporadic shelling and without bloody provocations like shelling of churches and shopping centers – if they disrupt, then something in this style may be launched in the coming days), then next week we can expect an intensification of negotiations on the topic of a week-long truce.
If not, then we will continue from Monday.
Trump’s reaction can be expected tonight.

Posted by: boneless | Apr 19 2025 22:37 utc | 120

When Joe’s War ends, Europe’s war begins.
Macron was crowing on social media about “a diplomatic mobilization” as a result of the Paris talks on Thursday, which brought together Sec Rubio, Gen Kellogg & Special Envoy Witkoff w/ Macron and Ukrainian representatives.
Now CNN is reporting that Witkoff claimed that Moscow and Kiev “might be on the verge of something would be very, very important for the world at large.”
According to him—and remember, this is CNN reporting—any potential peace deal would include the recognition of Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Kherson and Zaporoshye Regions as part of Russia.
This latter goes a lot further than other news sites have published. Bloomberg stated that the U.S. was willing to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, but did not scoop the 4 oblasts up into this category.
For his part, Dmitri Peskov said that “Moscow values the constructive and substantive contact with the U.S.
CNN states that Witkoff will meet “with senior Russian officials to get Moscow on board with the U.S.’s vision for peace.” Apparently this *vision* is what was hammered out in Paris on Thursday. In that CNN does not specify a meeting w/ VVP, I’m wondering if Witkoff will have a sit-down this time w/ Lavrov.
If consonance is not found in this additional meeting, it is likely the U.S. will melt away, leaving Europe to conduct Project Ukraine—thus, Joe’s War ending and Europe’s solo effort just beginning. Scuttlebutt has it that the Danes are ready to send “unarmed” troops to western Ukraine to train w/ the AFU there.
Zakharova has already noted that European troops will be considered viable combatants in the eyes of the Russian Forces.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 19 2025 23:30 utc | 122

Posted by: Mark Thomason | Apr 19 2025 15:48 utc | 10
You mean “neolibs”?

Posted by: Emi | Apr 19 2025 23:54 utc | 124

Fire and pain @b sorry your breed has still that fashisht shit in it, yeah I live here I know

Posted by: Macpott | Apr 20 2025 0:05 utc | 126

In a year from now, during which the Europeans will waste more tens of billions, the Russian army will have crossed the Dnieper and may threaten to (again) march on Kiev.
That would probably be enough for them to finally accept reality.
Posted by b on April 19, 2025 at 15:17 UTC | Permalink
Ukraine is a country that has no clear borders (c) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Posted by: Suresh | Apr 20 2025 0:18 utc | 128

Posted by: Justpassinby | Apr 19 2025 17:55 utc | 67
If EU is in for Russian resources [alternate perish] wonder if they have successfully planted that idea in the minds of their population so much so that they too are fully in it for themselves and their future generations.

Posted by: Michael J | Apr 20 2025 0:49 utc | 130

Posted by: Moscow Exile | Apr 19 2025 18:55 utc | 89
“namely the inclusion of the Latin term filoque (and from the Son), meaning in context that the “Holy Spirit” proceeds from the “Son” as well as from the “Father”,”
I was taught some 45 years ago that the Eastern church held that “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son” emphasizing the hierarchy within the Trinity, while the Roman church held that “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son” emphasizing the equality and unity within the Trinity. To be fair, it was the final event that sparked the break, but there had been years of friction building up over dissension about jurisdiction and power sharing. I don’t see either the Eastern position or the Western position being out of sync with the Scriptures.

Posted by: Paranaense | Apr 20 2025 1:03 utc | 132

Every time people accuse the German people of Russophobia as if it were a genetic condition, I’d want to ask what they know of East Germany (GDR) and how being under Soviet control (?) shaped attitudes toward Russia (and Palestine) in the region, which would afterward be subsumed into the same US sphere of influence as West Germany.
[…]
Posted by: joey_n | Apr 19 2025 21:32 utc | 113

Take note that the East German regions are also where you will find strongest support for AFD … the same AFD accused by unsubstantiated rumours of taking money from the Russians.
One possible explanation is that the East Germans started to love their Russian occupiers.
Another different explanation might be that East Germans learnt how to recognize Communism when they see it … and let’s just say that Socialism is Europe ain’t coming from Putin.

Posted by: Tel | Apr 20 2025 1:17 utc | 134

The Holy Roman Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ which was instigated by Christ when he walked on earth. Fact. No other church can claim an unbroken link to the Early Church as that of Rome, through the the continuance of the papacy. It is this person of the pope that the Orthodox Church totally reject. But it was Christ who told Simon, Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church. If you break from Peter, you break with the one and only Church that Christ instigated. In the gospels it is Peter who is the most written about apostle, and why would that be? Because he was a loud mouth, impetuous, older than some of the others? No because he was chosen by the Son of God to lead His Church. Did this lead to envy, competition from the others? Yes, even James and John asked if they could have a specal place in heaven.
Christ knew that Peter would betray Him and still he was to be his pope. In one of the most beautiful passages of St. John’s Gospel Jesus seeks out Peter and asks, Do you love me? and Peter says, You know I do Lord; then feed my Church says Jesus. Christ sought out this broken man and made him pope, just after his ressurection, there and then. The primacy of Peter is throughout the New Testament. Who is it who speaks to the Jews on that first Pentacost? Who is it who we follow through The Acts of the apostles? Peter until Paul takes over. In the First Council of Jerusalem when it looked as though the Early Church was about to suffer its first schism, until Peter rose to speak. Then the matter was settled, the Church heard Peter and knew he was God’s representative on earth, and accepted his decision. The Church subjected itself to the authority invested in him, and was one of the first examples of the infallibility of the Pope.
Filioque is another stumbling block, plus the Orthodox do not accept the existence of Purgatory similar to Protestants. The other example where they differ from Catholicism is in the full panoply of titles the Church has bestowed
upon The Blessed Virgin. It is rightly seen as a tragedy that the schism happened, and I don’t claim to know the full history of it, but the Catholic Church has always recognised the validity of Orthodox Holy Orders and the Orthodox liturgy, which is far more than the truly wayward Protestants. We have great love for Orthodoxy and wish to see it back in communion as One Church. Moscow Exile writes about the orthodox rite and its links to the Early Church, but if you have ever attended a Traditional Latin Mass you would see the same in Roman Catholicism.
At Fatima (1917) the Blessed Virgin said that she would return to ask the pope to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. This, in fact, she did when she appeared to Sister Lucia, one of the only surviving visionaries of Fatima, when she was a nun in northern Spain (1929). This is not just a visitation about Russia but with dire warnings for the Church. Needless to say the Popes who have tried to carry out the Virgin’s wishes have failed in one way or another by mainly failing to mention Russia by name. So, it hasn’t yet truly happened. It will happen, because Mary said that he (the pope) will do it but it will be late. I believe that when it happens the events will be extraordinary, Russia will recognise that a) It was an act carried out by the pope, b) at the commands and wishes of the Blessed Virgin, c) that the Roman Catholic Church is the true church of Christ and be converted. What will also happen at this time will be so biblical in nature that the protestants will convert, and so will the Chinese. I believe that there will be such terror in the world that the pope will have to act.
I believe that we are heading much closer now to said consecration, not by Francis, who has been probably the greatest destroyer of the Church that there has been, but by his successor. I know that I will garner vitriol and ad hominums, I don’t care. Catholics truly want to see this schism come to an end and pray for it earnestly. Do the Orthodox?

Posted by: Paul Dale | Apr 20 2025 1:34 utc | 136

Sakenah Bagoom @2121 April 20
Time and space. Time is NOT lineal…that’s an induced misperception. Many well researched answers have emanated from the post-Newtonian physicists. Materialism is a total dead end…in some respects even more toxic than the JudieChristie MagickMindrfuck…esentially the Abrahamic belief systems, which though induced memes, are taken to be faith.

Posted by: aristodemos | Apr 20 2025 1:38 utc | 138

If this was a sports match, there would be two teams. On the one side you have Russia. On the other side there are the 32 countries from NATO, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Ukraine is the ball.
Russia has won, but NATO insists on discussing whether it was a goal.

Posted by: Passerby | Apr 20 2025 3:43 utc | 140

Two contradictory articles in the German press.
11 April: A German magazine states the Ukrainians find German arms lacking.

German weapons systems apparently only partially fit for war
“Hardly any German “large-scale equipment” is fully suitable for war.” (Spiegel)

19 April: A German newspaper publishes an interview with an arms manufacturer, who states German arms outperform both Russia and China.

Is the West ahead of Russia and China? “Our weapons are better”
Heckler&Koch CEO: Compulsory military service is a guarantee of security (welt)

Posted by: Passerby | Apr 20 2025 4:20 utc | 142

The Eastern Church ->Orthodox Church, consider[s] the Western Church heretical, that the Western church is wrong…-Moscow Exile 89
Whom [sic] am I to argue with a theological expert but, there’s a lot of folks who don’t agree with your religious fanaticism.
Posted by: S Brennan | Apr 19 2025 20:09 utc | 101
___________________________________________________
A lot of folk don’t agree with my religious fanaticism? Why do you believe I am a religious fanatic? I am most certainly not a religious fanatic and I am not a “theological expert”.
What I posted earlier was not related to any religious convictions of mine. And I am not Russian Orthodox. As I wrote above, I have attended very many Orthodox church services — purely as a heathen observer.
I simply stated above what many Orthodox believers hold true. They are not my beliefs. However, I do not criticise ROC dogma. They have their beliefs and that’s all I am saying. I simply described some of their beliefs and why they disagree with some of the dogma of the Western Church.
I have lived in Russia for over 30 years. My wife is Russian. She and all three of our children were christened in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Many years ago, a Russian Orthodox priest called me a heretic. His condemnation came about because at the time, my wife had a bee in her bonnet as regards getting wed in an Orthodox church. This desire of hers came to a head when we had our youngest child christened in the Russian Orthodox faith in 2009, 12 years after my wife and I had got wed in a Russian registry office.
So she asked the Orthodox priest who had christened our youngest if we could get married in his church.
He told me that I could not because I was a Protestant, a heretic. So I said to him, “No I am not a heretic. And I am not a Protestant either: I was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic”.
He then said that that was impossible, that I was English, therefore a Protestant.
I convinced him, however that I was a baptised Roman Catholic, and that I therefore, as an item of faith, was obliged to believe in “transubstantiation”, namely that a wafer of bread at an RC mass becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And that is what the ROC faithful believe as well, that an ROC priest, through divine help, is able to transubstantiate bread into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The ROC priest then said to me: “You are still a heretic! It doesn’t matter whether you are Catholic or Protestant. They are both heresies, two sides of the same heretical coin.”
My wife then pressurized him into allowing us to get married in his church.
In the end, he agreed to allow this, because he didn’t want us to continue living together “in sin”, as he maintained that we we weren’t married in the “eyes of god”.
He arranged for my baptism into the ROC, which baptism is one of full immersion.

Posted by: Moscow Exile | Apr 20 2025 4:51 utc | 144

Sounds ominous, but you’re not factoring in the grift. US military spending in dollar terms needs to be re-factored using some fractional reduction for graft, shrinkage, and tribute.
The true measure of military effectiveness is not spending, but lethality. How much did Fat Man or Little Boy cost back in 1945? A lot, but probably not as much as the Japanese combined armed forces did.
The F-35 is the poster boy for graft. A fudge factor of .5 probably needs to be applied to all US military spending to account for the Beltway bandits’ kids’ college funds, swimming pools, and tips for “happy endings” at massage parlors on Route 1 in Virginia. Scale it up for systems like the F-35 that have parts produced in 50 states so that Congress can get in on the bezzle.
(Russian military procurement has corruption too, just not on the same scale.)

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Apr 20 2025 5:21 utc | 146

@all (off topic)
b – here
I have cleaned up the mess (60+comments) the troll left behind last night. Comment numbers will have changed.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Posted by: b | Apr 20 2025 5:59 utc | 148

@ b | Apr 20 2025 5:59 utc | 149
Thx b … just in time to celebrate Easter … may your days be inspiring … A Summer of Peace, Not War

Posted by: Oui | Apr 20 2025 6:24 utc | 150

Richard Kemp believes that Sec Rubio’s comments about ‘walking away’ have “rattled” VVP and that as a result he has “blinked first” in calling for a 30-hour Easter ceasefire.
Say what-?
The occasion of a high holy day like Easter had nothing to do w/ it. The fact of the Russian Forces having matters spectacularly in-hand had nothing to do w/ it. The 30-hour ceasefire was inspired only by DJT.
Kemp, writing for the Daily Telegraph, portrays a Russian president incapable of acting autonomously apart from U.S. dictates, directives or decrees: “Putin is fearful of Trump. He knows well that Trump’s cajoling of Ukraine and costing up to Russia are in fact merely negotiating tactics.”
Kemp then publishes a litany of propagandistic tropes: Russia’s “failing” economy; VVP’s “loss of clout” in the MidEast on account of Syria; VVP’s fear of additional sanctions. All of which, Kemp believes, leaves VVP susceptible to misstepping and earning DJT’s “ire.” Insecure of losing DJT’s doting attention, VVP is of course driven to do things in order to make damn certain that DJT’s focus snaps right back to VVP.
I mean, in Kemp’s estimation VVP is little more than a codependently crazed stalker-like ex-girlfriend. Unable to view complex geopolitics as anything other than hegemon-wielded *sticks* and hegemon-proffered *carrots*, Kemp firmly believes any actions VVP takes are wholly the result of DJT’s prior statements or decisions, some of them delivered on Truth Social, even though the phenomenon of U.S.-Russia engagement is scarcely 3 months old.
VVP has been directing the SMO and managing highly complex global relationships all throughout a lengthy period when Collective Biden had zero meaningful contact w/ Russia, so it has never been the case that VVP lacks agency. But all at once, suddenly, the U.S. reaches out to Russia in the person of DJT and, according to Kemp, this has been destabilizing enough for VVP, self-esteem-wise, that he is compelled to maintain the attention, the gaze, through a complex & alluring dance of engagement.
For Kemp, it’s Ludacris all over again: when *you* move, *I* move.
VVP is little more than an automaton set into motion as a result of DJT flipping the switch.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 20 2025 6:30 utc | 152

Posted by: Moscow Exile | Apr 19 2025 18:55 utc | 89

A change in the wording of the Nicene Creed as foisted onto the Roman Pope by the so-called Holy Roman (German) Emperor’s cardinals, namely the inclusion of the Latin term filoque (and from the Son)

If I remember correctly filoque are much older than 1054 and where first used by Reccared I, the Visigoth king of Hispania in the sixt century A.D. and for very different reasons.
I read about it a long time ago and I am not any more sure of my memory so I suggest you do your own research on the subject.

Posted by: 2+2=5 | Apr 20 2025 6:40 utc | 154

Catholics truly want to see this schism come to an end and pray for it earnestly. Do the Orthodox?
Posted by: Paul Dale | Apr 20 2025 1:34 utc | 137

It is my understanding that the answer to that question is Yes.
But there is a small problem for both sides: under which conditions.
Filoque were just an excuse for the schism. Before the schism all churches had veto power (all had to agree for any decision to be accepted as valid).
Rome Church had requested primacy (Pope’s rights for decision making and others have to implement those decisions).
And for the last thousand years nothing has changed.
P.S. This is not my field of expertise and I was expecting some experts who are regular to comment but …

Posted by: 2+2=5 | Apr 20 2025 7:05 utc | 156

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Apr 20 2025 7:00 utc | 156
RE: blue & yellow propaganda from Luke Harding
<< In the throes of Russiagate, long before the SMO was ever a thought, Aaron Mate decimated Luke Harding in a devastating take-down of Harding's lying ways. This was an on-camera interview. Do a search for Aaron Mate/Luke Harding/Russiagate and it'll pop up. No surprise that Harding, who earned his Daily Bread w/ Russiagate, is now keeping his table well stocked w/ butter & jam as a result of Project Ukraine. Dude's gotta eat.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 20 2025 7:11 utc | 158

Mercouris saying British and French troops in Odessa by summer is inevitable
Posted by: Night Tripper | Apr 20 2025 7:26 utc | 160
__________________________
How does Mercouris know this?
The Russian media for a long time now has labelled Mercouris as an “English expert”.
He is not.
Mercouris at the beginning of his lengthy monologues on the SMO always states that he is not a military expert and has no military experience. Having said that, he then proceeds to give a lengthy analysis of the situation in the SMO.

Posted by: Moscow Exile | Apr 20 2025 7:51 utc | 160

Posted by: Moscow Exile | Apr 19 2025 18:55 utc | 89
Thanks a lot. Being a heathen myself, I found your post very interesting!

Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 20 2025 8:07 utc | 162

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 19 2025 23:30 utc | 123
Accepting Russias incorporation of 4+1 regions is not enough, of course – disarmament, deNazification and neutrality are also needed.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 19 2025 17:57 utc | 71
I very seldom agree with you, but this is spot on.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 19 2025 17:24 utc | 55
“So, my question is: is reality real.” This can easily be ascertained. Just step out of a 4th or 5th floor window. If you can ask this question again 4 seconds later, reality is not real.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 19 2025 17:24 utc | 55

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Apr 20 2025 9:15 utc | 164

The news are exactly what 99% of the planet expected. The RF government must be really proud of themselves today
– Following the announcement of the ceasefire, Ukrainian forces carried out 444 shelling attacks on Russian positions and launched 900 drone strikes, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“As a result, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian objects,” the ministry said ( ria.ru/20250420/minoborony-2012371282.html )
– Ukrainian armed forces delivered a strike on Donetsk in the morning ( tass.com/defense/1946403 , en.topwar.ru/263319-kiev-sorval-pashalnoe-peremirie-nanesja-udar-po-donecku.html)
– Over 1,300 Easter truce violations by Ukraine ( rt.com/russia/616024-truce-easter-violated-kiev/ )

Posted by: rk | Apr 20 2025 10:57 utc | 166

Posted by: Exile | Apr 20 2025 6:35 utc | 153
Thank you for your reply, but you didn’t heed what I said, God created the One and Only Roman Catholic Church, the return must be and will be the other way around. That is not out of supremicist beliefs but in the immutable words of God. Now, the Church of Rome has been under satanic attack ever since the Cross and most seriously in the last one hundred and fifty plus years, with the advent of Modernism, Pope Francis is probably The Destroyer and the false prophet, according to the prophecy of Saint Francis. But this is all allowed in the permissive will of God for the greater glory of the Church, after all God the Son submitted himself to the most horrific death of all, and the Church grew from there.
I believe that God so wants the Orthodox in His Church to bring Her back to Tradition. Holy Mother Russia and all of Orthodoxy have so much to give Rome.

Posted by: Paul Dale | Apr 20 2025 11:15 utc | 168

The ceasefire is a masterstroke by Putin, a consumate Christian, offering the other cheek. It shows up the contrast of the militaristic Red Sea Pedestrian and his cohorts in Kiev, while the mixed Roman Catholic and Orthodox share the date of the sacred triduum and Resurrection. The evil from the West rises up to the High Altar in heaven demanding retribution.

Posted by: Paul Dale | Apr 20 2025 11:35 utc | 170

🇷🇺🇺🇦After the ceasefire was declared, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired at Russian positions 444 times and carried out 900 UAV strikes, the Defense Ministry reported.
There are casualties and injuries among civilians, as well as damage to civilian objects.
At the same time, the Russian army strictly observed Putin’s order to cease fire.

Posted by: Jo | Apr 20 2025 11:41 utc | 172

US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning one more meeting between special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Russian officials to get Moscow on board with its vision for peace in the Ukraine conflict, CNN has claimed, citing an anonymous source.
Witkoff has already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin three times this year as the US president tries to broker a ceasefire between Kiev and Moscow.
rt

Posted by: Jo | Apr 20 2025 12:04 utc | 174

Passerby@175….it was a Russian ceasefire, what does that have to do with 404, they are not a party to any ceasefire…..its not a Ukrainian ceasefire unless you get an official notice from Zman….. silly Russians…..ceasefire, yeah right.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 20 2025 12:46 utc | 176

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Apr 20 2025 13:17 utc | 177
there are plenty of partisans in Odessa who would be happy to provide info on locations of foreign forces/mercenaries. It would be a huge mistake to send any troops in Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen… the old sunk cost fallacy.

Posted by: ctiger | Apr 20 2025 13:35 utc | 178

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 19 2025 17:24 utc | 55
“So, my question is: is reality real.” This can easily be ascertained. Just step out of a 4th or 5th floor window. If you can ask this question again 4 seconds later, reality is not real.
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Apr 20 2025 9:15 utc | 164
Jams, How can we tell this was an actual 4 or 5 story building, and not an optical illusion?
This is getting into a ‘if a tree falls in the forest’ territory that I don’t wish to debate.
Here is a good read re this issue.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-purpose/202008/how-do-we-know-what-is-real

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 20 2025 16:29 utc | 180

– I think Russia is preparing to attack the Ukraine and cross the Dnepre river to march to Odessa and then onto Kiev. Not so much to conquer Kiev but to convince Zelensky that he should disarm and start neutralizing the ultra right wing ukrainian nationalists. Those radical right groups (like the Azov battalion) are the largest danger for a stable government in the Ukraine. These groups are the reason why Putin / Russia talks about “de-nazification”.

Posted by: WMG | Apr 20 2025 19:07 utc | 182

The largest NATO base in Europe is still under construction. The new base at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base 57 in Romania will permanently host up to 10,000 soldiers, and according to Romania’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Sorin Grindeanu, the American military base at Mihail Kogălniceanu, in Constanța County, represents another strategic asset for transforming the Port of Constanța into a logistics hub, which will become the main logistics hub for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The base is so strategic that most of the information regarding its construction and the contractors is classified….
Posted by: Jo | Apr 20 2025 11:53 utc | 173
Isn’t that the country where the antiNato Presidential candidate was winning, hence abruptly disqualified by the Courts. Much to the animosity of the local populace. And next door in Moldova, Sandu won the last election by essentially excluding the diaspora that was in Russia.
How long will these Lands remain under NATO Suzerainty??? Something I ponder when places like Romania or other former Soviet clients are brought up. Based on personal experience (a decade in post iron curtain E.Europe), Americans are more disliked than Germans.

Posted by: Original Newbie | Apr 20 2025 20:03 utc | 184

This is a proxy war by USA’s genocidal empire against Russia. It was prepared for decades, and Trump was part of that in his first term.
Trump is part of that regime. As we see in Syria and Palestine and Venezuela and other places, that aggressive imperialism with genocidal characteristics has a 100% smooth continuation from administration to administration.
USA/Trump doesn’t want peace nor ceasefire, it wants a pause to rearm Ukraine (now that is obvious that its nazi proxies are near defeat), and use that pause to strike Iran and/or China.
The fact that the current emperor presents his DEMANDS and a “will for a ceasefire” in USA’s own proxy war, is probably the high of mankind’s hypocrisy.
The fact that some people still talk in the emperor’s terms, without realizing that Trump has zero interest in peace with Russia, just shows how easy it is to manipulated people.
If Trump really wanted peace, he wouldn’t even be allowed near the White (Supremacism) House.
Trump wants war. That’s why the DeepState allowed him to run, win, and stay alive.
This will not change with any elections, since elections in USA’s fascist oligarchical non-representative regime are a farce.
This will only change when there is either a popular revolution in USA, kr a civil war long and bloody enough to break the empire from within.
This is the sad reality. And Russia and China, etc, know it very well.
Next in Trump’s agenda: war against Iran, or proxy war in Taiwan against China. More threats, more sanctions, more coups, more propaganda/interference, and more genocidal zionism.
Exactly the same that would happen with any other DeepState/NeoCon/AIPAC approved “president”, be it Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden, female Clinton, Vance, Kamala, or any other monster of the Washington swamp.
The documents are publisher for anyone to read them: the empire’s current task is a division of labor, where USA shifts attention to aggression against Iran and China, while the European/NATO vassals continue the aggression against Russia.
Obviously, when the vassals say they “oppose” the emperor, that’s only because the emperor ordered them to say so in public.
That’s why when the emperor says “the ball is on Russia’s side”, all the vassals in Europe that “oppose” the emperor, also repeat the exact same words. Because that was a moment when those “anti”-Trump Europeans were ordered to repeat Trump’s words against Russia.
OPEN YOUR EYES!
That’s why the war in Ukraine can only end when Russia reaches all its goals. It cannot negotiate nor compromise.
All 5 regions (Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporojie), de-nazification (reverse the Maidan/CIA coup), demilitarisation, neutrality aka end of NATO’s imperialism towards Russian borders.
Obviously, USA cannot be seen agreeing to this. But USA NEEDS a break/ceasefire in this proxy. That’s why the current genocidal emperor (it is Trump, it could be Kamalaz it’s all the SAME) is “getting out” of Ukraine…
Posted by: Carlos Marques | Apr 19 2025 16:49 utc | 38
Well said and exactly correct. Brian Berletic of The New Atlas has been saying the same thing and so have I. I’m really lazy so I put much more briefly and crudely.
For 80 years the US has been on a project to destroy Russia and take all its stuff. It’s not going to stop. EOS

Posted by: acementhead | Apr 20 2025 21:58 utc | 186

Naive | Apr 20 2025 17:52 utc | 181
*** 2) He was sentenced to death by the Romans on several accounts.***
No, he was not. The Romans had an agreement with the local religious bigwigs that they would administer the result of the bigwigs’ courts or findings. An unstable balance of power.
The Roman garrison there could cope well enough with anti-bandit measures and dissuasion of minor disorders, but was not numerous enough to deal with the level of violence these fanatical religious-politicians acting together could — and were keen to — incite.
If the situation blew up, Legion reinforcements would take too long to arrive and the garrison would already be dead.
The Romans tried to reason with the fanatics … who wouldn’t hear of acquittal, then refused a compromise suggestion of flogging instead of execution, and finally incited the public against a possible amnesty.
So by that stage the Romans had no viable choice than to carry out an extra crucifixion, while making it very clear that although it complied with the existing administrative agreement, they did not regard it as justified and would really rather not do it.
Had the Romans not done so, both prisoner and Romans would probably have been torn to bits by the mob of nutters anyway.

Posted by: Cynic | Apr 21 2025 2:14 utc | 188

Naive | Apr 20 2025 17:52 utc | 181
*** 2) He was sentenced to death by the Romans on several accounts.***
“No, he was not.”
Posted by: Cynic | Apr 21 2025 2:14 utc | 188
It seems pretty clear that Naive hasn’t bothered to read the 4 contemporaneous accounts of the trial and Crucifixion in the New Testament, or even the abbreviated Wikipedia account “According to the canonical gospels, Jesus was arrested and tried by the Sanhedrin, and then sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally crucified by the Romans.The Gospel of John portrays his death as a sacrifice for sin.” Maybe he doesn’t have access to a Bible?

Posted by: Paranaense | Apr 21 2025 4:06 utc | 190