I’m chuckling at the bolshies still seething at Orwell. He’s been dead longer than Stalin, people.

Posted by: seer | Aug 21 2025 10:46 utc | 203

Should of never given ukraine away though. Apeasment never works, the west just takes it as weakness.
Everytime.
Get the job done Vladimir Putin.

Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 21 2025 11:00 utc | 205

Thanks for all the answers, will get back to them soon.
But another thing that I noticed (still not discussed)
The name of the malware, “nuance”
“I’m having anal sex, you’re having anal sex… But there are nuances”
Because the SMO, like anal sex in the joke, there is one getting fucked, guess whom.
A bit in your face (well maybe not face)…

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 21 2025 11:23 utc | 207

>>> “…he new what the west was upto and did’nt mess about.” <<< Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 21 2025 10:56 utc | 204 . . Yeah, he sure showed them! Shame about all the dead people though.

Posted by: seer | Aug 21 2025 11:32 utc | 209

UK economy someone posted about?
Britain’s national debt soared by an eye-watering £186billion during Labour’s first year in power, an analysis has shown.
From the end of July 2024 to the end of last month, the UK’s national debt rocketed from £2.53trillion to £2.71trillion, the study of official figures found.
It means the Labour Government put Britain into the red by an extra £186.2billion in just 12 months.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance analysis of newly-published figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found this represented a £6,510 increase in debt per household.
It was also a £5,880 increase in debt per taxpayer over 12 months, and a £2,726 increase in debt per person.
If the extra debt taken on over 12 months represented spending by a Government department, it would be the third largest in terms of total spending.
This would be after the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Health and Social Care.
A ‘debt clock’ launched by the campaign group currently shows the national debt increasing by £4,956 per second and £428million per day.
—
Read Alex Krainer on substack
The coming collapse of Britain Aug 2024
The fall of Britain Jan 2025
EU and UK sailing into a storm couple days ago
real danger of guiltbonds collapse starting in UK then domino effect to EU.plus the substack UK economy is a Greek Tragedy in 2025 by s I think

Posted by: Jo | Aug 21 2025 11:40 utc | 211

Posted by: Micron | Aug 21 2025 11:10 utc | 206
You are a bit of a tosser, even as a troll…
Compared to their counterparts in the current conflict, the Russian economy is doing better than expected – definitely not a factor to pursue a deal, especially one that doesn’t address Russia’s concerns.
Their debt ratio is very low, having even paid all the Soviet era debts to the West in 2006 and paid the debts of all former Soviet republics in 2020. As to reserves, just earlier this year their reserves were at record levels. More than 55% of trade payments are made in rubles and it is the world’s best-performing currency so far this year, according to Bank of America, with gains of over 40%.
Much of this is thanks to Elvira Nabiullina.
Euromoney magazine named her their 2015 Central Bank Governor of the Year. In 2017, the British magazine The Banker chose Nabiullina as “Central Banker of the Year, Europe”.
https://fortune.com/europe/2024/06/07/how-russia-central-bank-chief-kept-wartime-economy-alive-elvira-nabiullina-she-has-the-exclusive-right-to-tell-putin-what-he-doesnt-like/
Just my €0.002…

Posted by: Richard Head | Aug 21 2025 11:51 utc | 213

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 21 2025 1:17 utc | 156
Just about to respond with my previous frontages, roughly 125km div, 65km brig, 30+km reg, 15km batt, 7-8km co, 4km plt, when this popped up
https://mwi.westpoint.edu/the-army-and-the-new-paradigm-of-ground-combat-lessons-from-ukraines-failed-2023-counteroffensive/
A US brigade is now expected to conduct stabilisation operations over a 100km front, now given the size difference between NATO and Russian brigades that’s close to the 65km I calculated.
Note the constant demand to disperse and frontage expansion, technology equates to inflation of AO/AR’s and type of missions conducted. As I said three years ago, this was going to be a Lego war, with units coming together only briefly to achieve mass, before the bricks rapidly disperse, or an empty battlefield where schwerepunkts disappear as quickly as they appeared.
As for the origin of the hack, it could possibly be Russian, or Team Trump playing big boys rules with the DS, taking down their operations using any means necessary. They’re tearing through key DS personnel by targeting professional and personal corrupt practices, suppression of Ukrainian casualty figures is no different to faking your mortgage loan, or the DC crime figures, or jobs created to artificially maintain high interest rates, or numbers and status of migrants. The source for all these corrupt practices are the same, so the instruments of removal might differ but the motive doesn’t.
Posted by: Milites | Aug 21 2025 8:52 utc | 185
Thank you
So … 50.000 pro soldiers might hold 1000 Kms, but need 200.000 if bad and 400.000 if lousy
As for who hacked/leaked the nuance name would suggest Russia or at least someone who knows the joke

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 21 2025 11:58 utc | 215

“To the last Ukrainian — and beyond!”
– Buzzsaw Lindsay
https://swentr.site/russia/623361-robots-replacing-ukraine-soldiers

Posted by: I forgot | Aug 21 2025 12:05 utc | 217

@ Tim | Aug 21 2025 11:59 utc | 216
To me the greatest flaw in the Asimov review is his belittling 1984 for being a bad work of sci-fi when in fact it’s not sci-fi at all in any meaningful sense. Asimov criticizes the book for being an inept exercise in gadget porn when in fact the more a work can be called sci-fi, the more it is an inept exercise in gadget porn; the gadgets invented by sci-fi authors invariably date with embarrassing speed, and if a sci-fi work is to be anything but risible a generation after its writing, then it uses gadgets as props or pretexts in an investigation of, wouldn’t you know, the human condition, which is what all but the most solipsistic literature does anyway. The gadget recedes into the background, and the best sci-fi, paradoxically, is hardly sci-fi at all.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 21 2025 12:36 utc | 219

Anton Gorbatow @ 146
How do you identify a Ukrainian Jew? Those I know longest who claim to be Ukrainian Jews were previously Russian Jews, Lithuanian Jews, Polish Jews. Whatever the political situation suggests and whatever suits their fancy at the moment they open their mouths.

Posted by: oldhippie | Aug 21 2025 12:47 utc | 221

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 21 2025 12:36 utc | 219
Asimov was a poor writer with, admittedly, some good ideas.
He is way behind the top of the line 20th Century sci fi authors; he couldn’t carry Philip K. Dicks’ or Frank Herbert’s intellectual jockstrap.
Asimov criticizing ‘1984’ is laughable.

Posted by: canuk | Aug 21 2025 12:56 utc | 223

Looks like India is about to cave to Trump’s demands :
https://x.com/spectatorindex/status/1958152042997842034

JUST IN: Chinese refineries are ‘snapping up’ Russian oil from ports that ‘typically supply India’, as Indian demand drops following US tariffs, according to CNN report.

Freaking absolutely useless member of “BRICS”. Iran is more reliable.

Posted by: bored | Aug 21 2025 13:15 utc | 225

Posted by: bored | Aug 21 2025 13:15 utc | 225
India always plays both sides; it is a,’Geo Political Whore’ (‘GPW’,TM)’ ; Erdogan fits into the same category.

Posted by: canuk | Aug 21 2025 13:33 utc | 227

Posted by: canuk | Aug 21 2025 13:33 utc | 227
It is not useful to read the western merdias. Quite the contrary even.

Posted by: Naive | Aug 21 2025 13:44 utc | 229

>>> “Shame about the deaths indeed.”
Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 21 2025 12:39 utc | 220
.
.
Yet you think the millions of deaths are fine, and celebrate the murderer? Why rant about another murderer then?

Posted by: seer | Aug 21 2025 13:55 utc | 231

Seer @ 231
No i dont think the palistinian deaths are fine, they are the sole responsabilty of the US and UK.
And no i dont think the Soviat deaths were fine, the sole responsabilty of the western fascism.
Re-read my @ 220
I made that abunduntly clear.

Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 21 2025 14:12 utc | 233

Russia’s economy is just fine….thank you very much.
Consider this:
– World’s leading exporter of agricultural fertilizer
– One of the world’s leading exporters of petroleum
– One of the world’s leading exporters of natural gas
– One of the world’s leading exporters of wheat and other grains
– One of the world’s leading exporters of coal
– One of the world’s leading exporters of ammo and military equipment
– Has enormous gold reserves
Unlike the US it actually has gold reserves……..
After RF disposes of the Nazis in Ukraine and Ukraine becomes an economic ally once again, RF will blossom.
Bet the house on it.

Posted by: tobias cole | Aug 21 2025 14:16 utc | 235

Complex missile attack on the facilities of the military industrial complex of Ukraine
On the night of August 21, 2025, Russian troops conducted one of the most extensive and technically verified operations of their entire time. The Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic missiles, as well as Kalibr and X-101 cruise missiles, were involved.
Malin, Zhytomyr region (03:45)
Four precise strikes were carried out on the territory of the Spetsoboronmash enterprise with Kh-47M2 Dagger hypersonic missiles, each of which worked in separate production areas. The Spetsoboronmash enterprise is one of the pillars of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex: components and assemblies for the BTR-70/80, BMP-1 and BMP-2 were manufactured and repaired here, armored hulls were modernized, armored plates and components for the repair bases of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were manufactured. The strikes hit machining and welding shops, which housed koda HCW3 horizontal boring machines, Doosan turning centers and Lincoln Electric welding complexes, as well as warehouses with stocks of rolled products and armor plates. As a result, a significant part of the equipment was destroyed, some were disabled, and multiple fires broke out on the territory. At the moment, the company’s ability to carry out serial repair of armored vehicles is limited.
Mukachevo, Transcarpathian region (04:50)
For the first time in its history, the strikes reached the depths of Transcarpathia, which was considered the rear “security zone” of Ukraine.
At least two strikes using Kalibr cruise missiles were carried out on the territory of the Flex LTD plant. This company is a division of the international corporation Flextronics (Flex Ltd., USA), one of the largest manufacturers of electronic equipment in the world. A production line for the production of printed circuit boards, control systems, microprocessor units and assembly components for military equipment and UAVs was located in Mukachevo. Western electronics supplies were localized here: Texas Instruments processors, STMicroelectronics microcontrollers, Vicor power supplies and telemetry nodes for Bayraktar TB2, Warmate, Punisher and Vampire drones, as well as 90% of all Ukrainian-made drones.
The destruction of this facility is critical, since it was through Flex LTD that the channel for adapting Western technologies to Ukrainian weapons models went. The explosions destroyed clean rooms, Siemens and Juki surface mounting (SMT) lines, Keysight and Rohde & Schwarz test stations. Thus, the strike on Mukachevo can be called a strategic turning point: Ukraine has lost the most important center for the integration of Western electronics for its UAVs and precision systems.
Sumy (05:15)
The territory of the Military Law Enforcement Service was accurately hit by a 3M22 Zircon hypersonic missile. The defeat occurred at the administrative building of the Military Law Enforcement Service on Lebedinskaya Street, 21. Enemy losses — at least 18 were eliminated and 27 were injured in various degrees of severity, most of them officers. The use of the Zircon specifically emphasizes the priority of the strike: the enemy is deprived of a control system, which will inevitably affect the organization of rotations and the disciplinary management of troops.
Zaporozhye (05:30)
The production facilities of Motor Sich JSC were hit by a series of X-101 cruise missiles (according to various sources, from three to four hits). The main impact fell on workshop No. 113, where work was underway on the assembly of aircraft engines TV3-117 and D-136 for Mi-8/17, Mi-24 and Mi-26 helicopters, as well as AI-450T and AI-25TLSH engines for drones and light aircraft. Assembly lines were destroyed, test benches were disabled, and a large-scale fire broke out.
The special significance of the strike lies in the fact that Motor Sich was a key service center for the Ukrainian helicopter fleet: the company not only produced engines, but also provided repair facilities.
Source: Telegram “don_partizan”

https://news-pravda.com/ukraine/2025/08/21/1618853.html
~~~
Separately:

Consequences of strikes on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure: Pavlograd gas compressor station…
Which was burning so brightly today that it could be seen for hundreds of kilometers in the area.
Satellite images of the Pavlograd gas compressor station have appeared after a night strike by our missiles on its territory. They are not represented here, but the points of “thermal anomalies (fires)” are schematically indicated, applied to the station’s image (taken earlier in the day).
Five hits are clearly visible. And judging by the torch seen by residents of the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, the main pipes were damaged.
It is impossible to say how serious they are yet. But a long-term repair of the station is definitely guaranteed.
Why is this station, as well as the Shebelinka compressor station attacked today and located nearby, so important for supplying Ukraine with gas?
The fact is that the Ukrainian GTS has its own peculiarities. It was built not to supply Ukraine with gas from Europe (as it is happening today), but on the contrary.
And from here, Kiev’s maneuvering capabilities along the routes are rather weak. Rather, they have “bottlenecks”. And it is precisely such a bottleneck that the Shebelinka compressor station is.
The fact is that Kiev needs a lot of European gas this year (it won’t be possible to keep Russian gas for itself, as it was done earlier) and it’s unrealistic to pump it physically (and not on paper, passing off Russian gas as European gas) via the western route. It is necessary to connect the “Balkan branch”. And based on the gas pipeline scheme, the “Balkan” (read Azerbaijani) gas goes through Pavlograd and further to Shebelinka and the whole of eastern Ukraine.
At the same time, the largest gas fields in Ukraine in the Kharkiv region, which account for more than 60% of Ukrainian production, are tied to this point. There are also three gas storage facilities that make it possible to smooth out consumption peaks and thus enable the GTS to operate stably.
Therefore, the removal of this particular node is critically important for Ukraine’s energy sustainability. The damage on Shebelinka is still unclear, but there have also been arrivals and fires. As I understand it, the Pavlograd police station was attacked so that the effect would be certain. And he definitely is.
In general, Aliyev has no luck with gas supplies to Ukraine. And difficult times await the territory of Ukraine occupied by the Zelensky regime if the winter turns out to be cold.
Source: Telegram “yurasumy”

https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/08/21/1618517.html
Ukrainian sources report over 600 drones and missiles were launched overnight by Russian forces, they are uncharacteristically coy about the numbers claimed to have been shot down.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 21 2025 14:27 utc | 237

https://t.me/RVvoenkor/98209
“It is impossible to win a war without attacking the aggressor country,” Trump on Ukraine and Russia
“It’s like a great sports team that defends well, but has no right to play offensively. There is no chance of winning! This is the case with Ukraine and Russia,” he wrote on the social network Truth Social.
▪️He also criticized Joe Biden, saying that he “would not allow Ukraine to fight back, but only defend itself.”

Posted by: guest | Aug 21 2025 14:37 utc | 239

I urge everybody to watch this:
Former french OSCE analyst tells his observations from the ground starting from 2014.
https://youtu.be/Iy7tgwlhXWw?feature=shared

Posted by: Vesas | Aug 21 2025 14:58 utc | 241

Seer @ 242
You just used the word “Heck”
Thats all we need to know about you.
Dont bother me again john wayne.
Its a red line with me.

Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 21 2025 16:01 utc | 243

Posted by: Suresh | Aug 21 2025 5:47 utc | 175
Yes, the future of remnant Ukkraine is one of the two uncertainties. It’s been uncertain since the start of the SMO.
Discussed it recently here and elsewhere:-
“Yes, that’s the big question. The future for remnant Ukraine. Whatever that turns out to consist of.
“Puppet state, friendly state, neutral state or no state at all – that last meaning incorporation in the RF. Those are the various options. One sees also the option mentioned of the neighbouring countries absorbing “their” bits but that would be most undesirable and would in any case not affect central remnant Ukraine.
“Unless the Russians are great fools they won’t attempt incorporation of remnant Ukraine in the RF. It’s not just a question of the ultra stay-behinds. Most of the Eastern Ukrainians really don’t like Russia and don’t want to be part of it. So you’d end up with a nightmare of brutal secret police work, informers, internal strife (even in the East there are many pro-Russians) and low level but casualty heavy partisan warfare, that low level partisan warfare encouraged and assisted by Gehlen type operations run out of Europe. The Russians simply don’t want to get bogged down in all that.
“Plus a crucial but often disregarded factor that “b” identifies. It’d look bad to the Brics countries or to countries currently sympathetic to Russia. For the Africans in particular. Many Africans see Russia as part of their anti-colonialist struggle. They don’t like big powerful Western countries throwing their weight around in Africa and would be thoroughly disillusioned if they saw Russia doing just that in Eastern Ukraine to the extent of absorbing it.
“Best the Russians can hope for in remnant Ukraine would be the removal of the memorials celebrating the WWII collaborators, an end to the cod history that’s currently taught in the schools there, and an end to our use of remnant Ukraine as a handy launch pad for “look no hands” missiles and drones. Plus a clear-out of the bases and Intel units we set up for running sabotage and assassination missions into Russia.
“If they can get that that’s all they can reasonably expect to get. If they have any sense that’s all they’ll be aiming for.”
………………………
Occupation of the entire country was what was expected by us in the West in 2022. That would have plunged Russia into a wearing guerrilla war. (“It’ll be Russia’s Afghanistan!” was confidently expected in the West in 2022.) Not so much in 2025: most of the ultras will be dead or will have left for Europe. But permanent occupation of remnant Ukraine, even less incorporation, would still be the last thing the Russians want to do.
They still have to ensure, however, that remnant Ukraine can’t continue to be used by the West as an attack dog. The big advantage of Ukraine used that way is that it isn’t in NATO. Send missiles or drones into Russia from, say, Poland, and that’s direct war. Send them in from remnant Ukraine and we can say “look no hands” and not fear a Russia/NATO war. Same goes, to a lesser extent, with the assassination and sabotage missions we run into Russia from remnant Ukraine. “Oh it’s just Budanov’s lot” we can say and thus avoid the risk of direct conflict. For all the fuss about Ukraine joining NATO, if it’s to continue to be used as an attack dog it’s better for us that it’s not in NATO so we in the West can continue with the mixture as before.
So asking for neutralisation – demilitarisation and denazification – isn’t just some bit of diplomatic finessing. It’s a direct and urgent Russian national security imperative. The Russians want this problem off the books. And if that can only be done by occupation then occupation is what they will have to do.
One still hopes it need not come to that. Far preferable would be neutrality decided on by the Ukrainians themselves. Remembering that most of the country voted for peace in 2019, and that by a large majority, if the ultra incubus we saddled the Ukrainians with in 2014 could be shifted, why not again? I do believe there are indications that agreement along those lines is what the Russians are working for still, thus avoiding the need for occupation.

Posted by: English Outsider | Aug 21 2025 16:35 utc | 245

Posted by: seer | Aug 21 2025 14:59 utc | 242
Fuck off nazi troll!

Posted by: Naive | Aug 21 2025 16:51 utc | 247

Vesas@241
Interesting interview. I’m disappointed there was no discussion of MH17.

Posted by: the pessimist | Aug 21 2025 17:31 utc | 249

RE: Orwell
I’ve read almost all of his novels, and volumes of his collected letters and essays. The man was a brilliant writer; I read *The Road to Wigan Pier* in the 70s, and I still can’t eat tripe to this day. I went to a private boys school, and while it was not as sadistic as the school portrayed in “Such, such were the joys”, I, as a scholarship boy of modest means, understood exactly what he meant by exclusion.
The man was not “anti-communist” or “anti-nazi”. He was “anti-fascist” – the people who insist on the power to tell you what to believe. Fascists can be on the right or left, and we’ve seen them in both costumes over the years. Because the original and most colourful/comical were the Spanish, Italians and Germans, people assumed Orwell was on the side of the communists when he went to fight in Spain. But anyone who’s read *Homage to Catalonia* knows Orwell saw the Communists as little more than fascist-wannabes in muted clothing. Similarly, anyone who reads *Animal Farm* and does not see it as a warning against the lure and danger of creeping fascism is willfully blind, IMHO.
Did Orwell work for the BBC? Of course. His country was at war, and it seems many here have forgotten, from 1939-41, it was pretty much only Britain and its colonies that were opposing the Axis, as France and the rest of Europe had fallen and both Russia and the US were sitting on their hands at the time. Yes, he went to work for the ONLY broadcaster in England, writing stories to increase morale and keep people’s spirits up.
It is of course even more ludicrous to point out the jealous review by Azimov as legitimate criticism. Azimov’s wooden prose and complete lack of real human relations in his stories can’t hold a candle to Orwell’s vividness and candour. And his complaint about a lack of ‘gadgets’ is even sillier, given that the only thing about the telescreen that Orwell got wrong was the size; we carry it around in our pocket instead of nailing it to the wall, but it still eavesdrops, monitors, and indoctrinates us. What did Azimov ever predict? The “positronic” brain?
Orwell was a great writer, certainly one of the most important of the 20th century. He didn’t write from the sidelines; he fought in the war, lived with the miners, tramped with the hobos. His work was formed from a vast and wide experience, quite unusual in a time when most people lived and died never moving more than 100 miles from their birthplace. My personal experience is the people who don’t like his writings are those who find his ideas inconvenient to their fascist leanings.

Posted by: FrankDrakman | Aug 21 2025 18:52 utc | 251

FrankDrakman | Aug 21 2025 18:52 utc | 251
Agreed about Orwell, although I find it hard to forgive his indifference to the persecution of Spanish Catholics. Almost the first thing he writes about arriving in Barcelona is how many churches were burning or gutted, yet he never seems curious about how or why.
Back on the front
“the assault units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation managed to break through the defense of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces on the eastern coverage of Krasnoarmeysk and advanced up to 20 km, taking new positions north of Dobropol, and enter a number of settlements during the offensive. As a result of the attack, the advanced detachments reached the settlement of Petrovskoye (Petrovka) and entered the highway connecting Dobropole and Kramatorsk”
Let’s hope this is confirmed, as Ukraine have been trying to stabilise things in that area.

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Aug 21 2025 19:35 utc | 253

Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Aug 21 2025 11:30 utc | 208
You’re welcome, I’m always mindful of Eisenhower’s maxim, ‘war is a drama, not a game of chess’.
Posted by: Newbie | Aug 21 2025 11:58 utc | 215
Yes and no. Yes, numbers can compensate for quality, but numbers do not in themselves have an integral quality of their own. This is a mistake that people often make. Numbers simply allow units of inferior ability specific opportunities, in specific circumstances, against superior opponents, that they wouldn’t normally obtain.
The key point is the specificity, numbers do not simply allow units to achieve any semblance of parity with better opponents. The same misunderstanding, regarding numbers, is often made when the 3:1 ratio is stated as the preferred odds ratio to attack, without realising it only refers to guidelines for defenders (battalion needed to defend and defeat (50/50) a regimental attack) or that it only looks at the initial stage, with the defender expected to challenge the ratio with reinforcements and fire support.
People therefore assume a 6:1 attack will automatically succeed, but historically the 3:1 ratio is not supported, in fact the greater the numbers the higher the casualties suffered, and on many occasions, inferior numbers, or below the 3:1 threshold, have defeated inferior troops, due to a whole host of issues, often regarding effective application of combat power, not simply based on a rifle count.
It’s this last calculation that leads us back to your original question, because numbers alone cannot replace capability or competence. This is why the first line of defence is often backstopped by quality units who are needed to counter any breakthroughs, because the more numerous, but inferior defenders, are incapable of achieving that combat mission. The problems mount if these reserves are themselves losing their qualitative edge, as seems likely in the case of Ukraine, hence recent battlefield developments.

Posted by: Milites | Aug 21 2025 21:16 utc | 255

Posted by: FrankDrakman | Aug 21 2025 18:52 utc | 251
Among the first fascists, there were the british who – without provocation – invaded other continents to loot their ressources, massacre the inhabitants and genocide them when they tried to resist. As an example they exterminated the Tasmanians. Too many examples.

Posted by: Naive | Aug 21 2025 21:34 utc | 257

Patrick Lancaster: Frontline Trench Special Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLyh_ZMUjcY
“Russian forces advance in Kharkiv…’They have artillery that can strike 70km forward [so] the exclusion zone, the safety zone, should be at least 100km from our territory, in order for our cities not to suffer and our civilians not to die…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Aug 21 2025 22:30 utc | 259

Ukrainian Arrested in Italy Over Nord Stream Sabotage – German Prosecutors
https://www.rt.com/news/623363-ukrainian-arrested-nord-stream-sabotage/
“The suspect is said to have been on board the sailboat [not] used to blow up part of the pipeline bringing Russian gas to Western Europe in 2022…”

Posted by: JohnGilberts | Aug 22 2025 0:04 utc | 261

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Aug 21 2025 22:14 utc | 258
“What you call fascism I call history, a record of the crimes and follies of mankind.”
Well put. Naive is another person who uses the term fascism to mean “someone I dislike.”

Posted by: Paranaense | Aug 22 2025 3:27 utc | 263

Ukraine and World Affairs: Weekly Update, 22nd August 2025: May be Useful to Some: https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-and-world-affairs-weekly-639

Posted by: The Busker | Aug 22 2025 12:05 utc | 265

>>> “You lost.” <<< Posted by: Naive | Aug 21 2025 21:27 utc | 256 . . So did all the people your bolshie hero murdered, you moral degenerate.

Posted by: seer | Aug 22 2025 13:53 utc | 267

Ukrainian children” – Senator Graham
The American senator, listed as a terrorist and extremist by the Russian Financial Monitoring Service, threatened Russia with being designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
Ukraine agrees to freeze the conflict along the current front line, — Podolyak
– Ukraine agrees to freeze the conflict along the current line of contact and to the de facto loss of certain territories, said Mikhail Podolyak, advisor to the head of Zelensky’s office
– He added that in the future Kiev will try to regain the lost territories through diplomatic and economic means….yeah very likely.And he still wants sanctions. Like NYT not really understanding the situation
During the negotiations, Rubio will need to find a balance between Donald Trump’s demand not to deploy American troops in Ukraine and the necessity to assure Kiev of support.
Impossible to reconcile methinks.
– According to the publication, the guarantees may include a US promise of air support, intelligence assistance, as well as naval forces to prevent the Black Sea from falling under Russian control.
Z buddy Rutter with him today in Kiev bolstering him up.
Questions whether the Sapan factory was just a warehouse?
INTEL CHIEF GABBARD: THE DEEP STATE IS ORCHESTRATING EVERY WAR WE WERE A PART OF
“The deep state, unfortunately, has existed within our government and within the intelligence community for much longer than many realize.
It precedes President Obama, it precedes Hillary Clinton.
I’ll go back to the 1st example in my own life that was an eye-opening experience: the manufacturing of intelligence claiming there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to justify the Bush administration going to war.”
The US has stopped sharing intelligence related to Ukraine negotiations with Western partners in the “Five Eyes” alliance, — CBS News.
Another Ukr politician said tens and tens of thousands of people’s outside the country hate Russia and could come to fight.
Zelensky at a meeting in Washington said “no” to all of Trump’s proposals for resolving the situation in Ukraine, which the US considers necessary, Lavrov said in an interview with NBC
“He even said ‘no,’ as I already said, to the repeal of legislation banning the Russian language,” Lavrov emphasised.
Jeffrey Sachs says USA wants to turn Russia into a confederation.
Poland refuses to send troops to Ukraine but will assist all it can logistically, …but meanwhile there has been a huge attack on Lutsk airfield recently
The special significance of this airfield in recent months lies not so much in the operational work of Ukrainian tactical aviation, but in its use as a hub for receiving and unloading Western military equipment arriving from Poland. Taking advantage of its proximity to the border, military deliveries are made bypassing traditional routes – with complete transponder shutdowns, outside standard civil navigation corridors, landing at night and through temporary windows allocated by air traffic control. In this sense, the Lutsk airfield plays a critical role in the transshipment of Western weapons, including batches of ammunition for HIMARS, NASAMS, IRIS-T systems, as well as electronic components and parts for repairing F-16s and UAVs.
As well as the “Flex ” attacked
Additional data has been received and verified that on the night of August 21, 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a massive strike on the military airfield near the city of Dubno (Rovne region). The facility is used as one of the main hubs for the deployment of Western tactical aviation, including American and Dutch F-16s, and also serves elements of maintenance infrastructure and flight crew training.
The Dubno airfield was previously reconstructed to NATO standards and integrated into the operational logistics system of Western partners. It features an extended runway, concrete shelters for equipment, fuel tanks, mobile hangars, maintenance points, medium-range air defense system positions (including NASAMS), and command posts for tactical units.
According to sources, between 6 and 12 F-16 fighters are stationed at the airfield on a permanent or rotational basis, including American, Dutch, and Danish aircraft. Training and combat sorties towards the Kharkiv and Sumy directions were previously
previously conducted from the Dubno airfield.
The Dubno airfield is one of the two most actively used facilities (alongside Kolomyia) for receiving, basing, and preparing Western tactical aviation, including F-16 fighters. Its infrastructure has been modernized to NATO standards, with a deployed network of:
• flight operations command posts;
• fuel and power supply units;
• field hangars and repair modules;
• air defense positions.
Given the scale of the strike and the means used, loss of equipment or ammunition by the enemy is almost inevitable. Even partial destruction of the runway or warehouse infrastructure blocks the use of the airfield for the coming days, disrupting plans for F-16 rotation and refueling, as well as interaction with other hubs — Kolomyia, Starokonstantinov, Mirgorod.
Yours, Partizan!
Extracts via slavyangrad.
90% of young people who have gone abroad may not return to Ukraine, said the head of the Migration Policy Office, Vasily Voskoboinyk.

Posted by: Jo | Aug 22 2025 17:50 utc | 269

Apart from the 1.7m hack apparently the NATO SAP logisticsmanagement system has been hacked so as at 17 Aug Russia knows location of and to whom amo and equipment is sent. Should help with targeting.

Posted by: Jo | Aug 22 2025 18:37 utc | 271

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 22 2025 10:53 utc | 264
They’re not useless meat, they just have to be deployed in such numbers, otherwise they are useless. It’s a horrible equation that’s inescapable. You need high densities to effect any sort of useful military deployment but that density leads to excess casualties. Thousands of HJ died defending a bridge in Berlin, millions of Soviets died during the opening years of Barbarossa, Iranians died in their thousands, militias, in any war suffer horribly etc, etc.
This phenomenon only gets worse as technology increasingly forces the battlefield to become ‘empty’, which is a direct inversion to when mass was required to have any hope of any significant impact. This trend was one of the main reasons that Russia developed the system of contract soldiers and moved away from a conscript (or virtually) conscript armour. It’s also why professional militaries around the world are seeking doctrinal solutions to the problems that the Ukraine conflict has starkly illustrated.
The interesting country to watch is China, who traditionally saw mass as a benefit in its conflicts, though the disastrous ‘79 invasion, and later conflicts have pushed them towards non-military force multipliers, A2/AD and the use of protraction, as ways of readdressing solutions to the strategic issues they face. NK also regarded numbers as key, but they’ll probably follow the Chinese example without the benefit of the former’s tech base.

Posted by: Milites | Aug 22 2025 20:59 utc | 273

This would upset his ‘Western colleagues’. Putin is not a leader for war. He is a loser who is friendly with the West, and thousands of Russian patriots are paying for his cowardice. It seems that he is addicted to copium.
Posted by: zvezda | Aug 22 2025 19:58 utc | 272
MR ZWHATEVER, STOP TALKING COMPLETE BOLLOX!

Posted by: HERMIUS | Aug 22 2025 21:19 utc | 275

You need high densities to effect any sort of useful military deployment but that density leads to excess casualties.
This trend was one of the main reasons that Russia developed the system of contract soldiers and moved away from a conscript (or virtually) conscript armour. It’s also why professional militaries around the world are seeking doctrinal solutions to the problems that the Ukraine conflict has starkly illustrated.
Posted by: Milites | Aug 22 2025 20:59 utc | 273
We are saying the same, need to plug, tighter, the gap but costs 3, 4, 6 or 8 times the casualties.
There I have to correct, most countries went to the small professional army. RF has shown how to implement a professional framework with a recruitment level close to a conscript levée size (and sustainable budget…and medium term non critical, but significant, reallocation of young men)
P.S.: The last part is important as it shows RF is not bluffing, if you already had a million and doubled army size, you expect to have to use them if(/when?) others are stupid.
Huge difference

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 22 2025 21:36 utc | 277

Joy, confidence, temperance in our humble existences, but with the aim to become self-aware humans.
Because, we are humans. Not gods. Our Individual existence at the same time that all the individual experiences and existing humans exist, and is the key to recognize ourselves.
By our individual existence, I-ness, we, as humans, can see we in the others and they in all of us.
The humans are self-aware entities who try to be aware of the selves, our intelligence who shines inside, insight and between all of us.
We are the actors, the producers and the director of this mess.
We are not different. We are the only possible light that illuminates our beings
If we lost our human humble and our aims to be better, we are toasting the next generation.
Let them be, please.

Posted by: Esophagus | Aug 22 2025 22:34 utc | 279

Ukrainian losses for the week August 16th to 22nd, as reported by the Russian defence ministry:
– Kursk & Kharkov fronts: 1,120 troops, 3 tanks, 23 LAV/HMV, 74 motor vehicles, 26 artillery pieces, 3 EW & CB systems.
– Zapad Group (Luhansk area): 1,650 troops, 5 tanks, 28 LAV/HMV, 118 motor vehicles, 11 artillery pieces, 39 EW and CB systems.
– Yug Group (Donetsk north): 1,610 troops, 1 APC, 6 LAV/HMV, 19 motor vehicles, 18 artillery pieces, 7 EV & CB systems.
– Tsetr Group (Donetsk south): 2,840 troops, 2 tanks, 3 APC, 27 LAV/ HMV, 64 motor vehicles, 19 artillery pieces.
– Vostok Group (southern front): 1,600 troops, 5 tanks, 25 LAV/HMV, 79 motor vehicles, 15 artillery piece, 6 EW and CB systems.
– Dnepr Group: 555 troops, 5 LAV/HMV, 74 motor vehicles, 15 artillery pieces, 46 EW and CB systems.
In total: 9,375 troops – a small drop from the previous week (40,625 per month, with undercounting probably around 45,000).
15 tanks (5 in Kursk/Kharkov) a notable increase, 0 IFV, 4 APC, 114 HMV/Light Armoured Vehicle (23 in Kursk/Khakrov) an increase, 418 motor vehicles. An uptick in tank losses tank losses. A notable increase in tank losses.
Small fall to 104 artillery pieces (26 in Kursk/Kharkov); 451/mth, about 45% of the peak loss rate.
Plus 101 EW and Counter Battery systems, the Russians are having a lot of success wiping out the Ukrainian EW and CB capabilities; especially in the Dnepr group area that encompasses Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas.
Armoured vehicle losses, including tanks, remain at a relatively low level. A casualty rate of only 9,375 as the Russians are making successful breakthroughs and Ukraine is counter-attacking does seem to confirm the reports of a lack of Ukrainian troops.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Aug 23 2025 2:01 utc | 281

Posted by: Newbie | Aug 22 2025 21:36 utc | 277
Agree, I just was commenting on the use of the word ‘useless’, they’re not, just not tactically effective, unless occupying fixed defences with a higher quality reserve. I would say, that in any offensive they’d probably create more problems than they resolved, both at the tactical and operational level.
Whereas it’s true that Russia moved away from the conscription model, in line with other countries, the motivations of those countries were not all uniform. Interestingly, the war in Ukraine has finally confronted the Western political establishment with the consequences of decades of ‘rob Peter to pay Paul funding’, de-industrialisation and disinterest, whilst exploiting the professional edge of their armed forces, that they’re talking about the reintroduction of conscription again.
Posted by: WMG | Aug 23 2025 9:33 utc | 282
If he wanted to, he’d probably be able to know more about the system, in its totality, than those who operate it.

Posted by: Milites | Aug 23 2025 10:19 utc | 283

@ Posted by: FrankDrakman | Aug 21 2025 18:52 utc | 251
Thank you for this eloquent post!

Posted by: Clever Dog | Aug 23 2025 13:34 utc | 285

German media reporting – that China is willing to send troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force, Nato won’t like that one little bit, and I doubt the Neo-Nazi’s in Ukraine would like it.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Aug 23 2025 14:02 utc | 287

As NK dictator Kim Jung Un, wept with the soldiers and families that he gave medals to – for their part in fighting in the Kursk region of Russia, many NK troops fell in that encounter, NK has released a video of the fighting.
https://nitter.poast.org/MonitorX99800/status/1959155543198900312#m

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Aug 23 2025 14:08 utc | 289

Suspect in Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion Arrested
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/08/23/vsrw-a23.html
“For the German government, the arrest comes at a very inopportune time. If the suspect reveals who was behind the attack, it could lead to serious tensions with Kiev and Washington. This comes at a time when Berlin and Kiev are pulling out all the stops to prevent President Trump from striking a deal with Moscow and to persuade him to continue supporting the war.
The fact that the German justice minister feels compelled to assure Ukraine of Germany’s continued solidarity in connection with the arrest of a suspected terrorist speaks volumes. It has long been known in Berlin that Washington and Kiev were behind the attack…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Aug 23 2025 15:57 utc | 291

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Aug 23 2025 15:41 utc | 290
Keep fighting, no surrender, no retreat, the wonder weapons will soon arrive and bring us victory. Hmm, I seem to remember that line being used before, sometime around ‘43.
As for the missile itself, (if it really exists),it’s too big, takes too long to prepare and the ‘designers’ realistic estimates, of a 20% success rate, seems more like a best-case scenario, given the capability of current Russian AD systems. That’s not taking into account the Russian response, if they start attacking key infrastructure targets, not just long range bombing but an impetus to accelerate the ground campaign and force an end to the war.
Then again, if someone from a not-disinterested country happened to pass on the coordinates of the launch sites and construction facilities, or the exact performance parameters, via third part cut-out, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Posted by: Milites | Aug 23 2025 20:10 utc | 293

Russia has also already lost. They will never fully control Ukraine now, it will become EU-facing after the war and at some point join the EU.
In return they have a ruined economy and hundreds of thousands of dead.
And of course some land in Donbas, which is in no way adequate compensation for the damage they have inflicted on themselves, not to mind Ukraine.

Posted by: pingu nootnoot | Aug 24 2025 0:19 utc | 295

Let me point out how dumb all this is.
This ‘oh but they need permission’ comes days after the very public showing of the Flamingo – a 3000km range cruise missile with a 1000kg warhead – and the FP-1 – another long range strike drone with rocket assisted takeoff. Both these systems have ranges that mean they can be stored out of country and simply wheeled across the border before firing and have production rates many larger countries would be envious of. Take a moment to think how you counter that. Yeah.
But holy shit guys shock and horror Ukraine needs to ask for permission to use one of the 3000 new ERAM missiles Europe paid for to give them. An air launched 200+kg precision missile with ~500km range.
Whilst the regards fully embrace the Trump is pro-russia mindvirus, I’d argue that Ukraine has seen a bigger capability jump through all these shenanigans under Trump than it ever did under Biden. They’ve been given the tools to facilitate the pentagon’s wet dream here and that’s who Russia has to fight.
How long can this cook for I wonder.

Posted by: Jimieus | Aug 24 2025 10:16 utc | 297

Posted by: Jimieus | Aug 24 2025 10:16 utc | 297
Why are you so concerned about the possible airing of an episode of ‘Pimp my V1’?

Posted by: Milites | Aug 24 2025 20:39 utc | 299