US mercenaries with German Schengen visas for Ukraine
 
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The United States has launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit volunteers to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, with the German Embassy issuing Schengen visas, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

“According to incoming information, US representatives have launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit local citizens to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces … Preference is being given to former employees of Philippine security agencies and retired military personnel. Applicants are promised a monthly salary of $5,000,” Zakharova told at a briefing.

The recruitment is carried out by US security agency from Florida, and before being sent to the conflict zone, the recruits undergo training under the supervision of US instructors and receive a German Schengen visa, the spokeswoman added

“A work Schengen visa is issued at the consular section of the German Embassy in Manila,” Zakharova said.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20251127/us-recruits-mercenaries-for-ukraine-in-philippines—russian-foreign-ministry-1123182874.html

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 12:50 utc | 3

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 12:50 utc | 3The United States has launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit volunteers to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forcesThe Phillipine’s undertakers are probably already rubbing their hands.
Posted by: V for Vendetta | Nov 27 2025 12:55 utc | 4
 
i doubt they’ll get enough to bury (and less reserves for china to deal with later)
 
meanwhile  understatement of the year
 
“frontlines are approaching an eventual breaking point, in large part due to increasingly extreme personnel shortages. ”
 
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/elite-ukrainian-brigade-commander-critical
 
One final thought (that maybe belongs in the open thread) , everybody and their cat is saying, troops cannot move into LOC because drones.
 
But whoever controls (or can stop the flow of) spice , controls the universe. How long would stocks last if/when china bans exports on all drones and dronable components? (of course china would probably reserve such measure for a scenario where it is directly involved, but…)
 
 

Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 13:26 utc | 5

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 12:50 utc | 3
————————-
And those (the US) are the ones willing to end the conflict…
Doublespeak.

Posted by: scc | Nov 27 2025 14:17 utc | 7

Now it’s official: Italy is extraditing a suspect in the Nord Stream attack to Germany.

According to media reports, Italy will now extradite to Germany the Ukrainian man arrested weeks ago who is alleged to have been involved in the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. The legal back-and-forth had dragged on for about three months. The trial is now scheduled to take place in Hamburg.
 

German investigations into the 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines led to the arrest of a Ukrainian man in Italy about three months ago. The suspect has been in pretrial detention since then. The 49-year-old man has already been transferred to Hamburg by helicopter, escorted by German officials. As reported by ntv , the transfer has been confirmed by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe. The suspect is expected to be brought before the investigating judge in Karlsruhe today.
 
According to reports, the Ukrainian man, identified as Sergei K., spent most of his pre-trial detention in a high-security prison in Ferrara. During the past week, the suspect attempted to prevent his extradition to Germany by filing complaints with the Italian judicial authorities. He also went on a hunger strike for a time. However, last week Italy’s highest court reportedly approved his extradition.

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 14:27 utc | 9

AXIOS has whitewashed Kirill Dmietriev right out of the planning stages of the 28-Point Plan.
 
“President Trump kickstarted the latest peace talks in Ukraine last week after Vice President Vance, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, made the case that a new 28-Point Plan could bring a breakthrough, administration officials tell AXIOS.”
 
DJT and JD’s White House meeting on Nov. 18 —” unreported until now,” according to the media outlet — laid the groundwork for the subsequent Geneva talks “that have given the administration more hope than ever of stopping the war.
 
“During the White House strategy meeting, Trump recommended that U.S. Army Secretary  Dan Driscoll, a friend of Vance’s, take the proposal to Ukraine because he already was planning to visit Kyiv to assess its fighting capabilities and spirit, another source said.  The meeting was sandwiched in between events at the White House with Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin Salman.
 
“Aside from the big decision to launch the plan, the Oval Office meeting resembled other Ukraine strategy sessions being held almost daily by phone — and at least weekly in person — by Trump’s inner circle.  Vance, Rubio, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and special envoy Steve Witkoff are in the circle, joined recently by businessman Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.   Witkoff and Kushner drafted the initial 28-point plan after employing a similar list for the Gaza peace talks, as Axios first reported.
 
“After Vance saw the document and consulted with Rubio, the two convened the White House meeting to get Trump’s sign-off.  “This wasn’t just a paper — it was a paper that would now trigger a process,” another source with knowledge of the matter said.   With Gaza, “the only way we got progress [was to] … memorialize it on paper. The only way we’re going to get a deal here is if we begin to put down on paper what a starting point for a potential deal could look like.”
 
“Ukrainian politicians, European officials and American critics of Trump panned the peace proposal, saying it gives Russia concessions it hasn’t earned.  When Rubio flew to Geneva over the weekend to hammer out more details of the plan with Ukraine, it helped trigger an explosion of online chatter and news articles that claimed there was a divide between Vance and Rubio on Ukraine. 
 
“One of the officials said: “There’s this false narrative that there are two competing teams — this Marco Rubio pro-Ukraine team, and then there’s JD Vance anti-Ukraine team. It’s just not true. … You can’t survive here in this administration if you take that approach. There’s only one team here.”
 
“Administration officials and advisers close to Vance and Rubio say the two have worked as a tag team throughout the process, a vestige of their time as friends and allies when they served together in the Senate.”
 
My thoughts:  This is an effort to smooth ruffled feathers, excise any Russian ideation or input from the 28-Point Plan and to remove grist from the rumor mill.
 
I’ve left the original AXIOS link embedded live, and it will take you to the first article about the 28-Point Plan.  That initial article featured a large photo of Dmitriev and Witkoff together, and it included plenty of info about Dmitriev.  Notice, however, w/ today’s article AXIOS has removed all mention of Dmitriev.  The entire initiative seems launched from a quite-united White House, belying any notions that a divisive element has wedged its way into the works.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Nov 27 2025 14:39 utc | 11

unnamed@10………Russia will retaliate for the stolen assets……hmm…..like killing even more poor front line Bedrock Burger……another example of cheap back talk to ones partners……..yeah, I’m sure the sanctioning of Lukoil and Rosneft came as a shock…….. it’ll get better, I’m reading here that the US through Germany is standing up an International Terror Brigade…..bet that’ll shock the Russians too …..
 
Cheers M 
 
 

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 27 2025 14:46 utc | 13

Uh oh. The court in Hamburg is quite notorious for a number of cases where raison d’état more or less obviously trumped due legal proceedings. Sometimes these cases would be handled here even if they’re technically outside of the legal jurisdiction, and they also kept involving the same judge (whose name now esacpes me).
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 14:47 utc | 14
 
so instead of a kangaroo court, an ostrich court?
 
stick head in sand and see nothing?

Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:54 utc | 15

No draft of Ukraine peace deal yet – PutinThere is only a range of issues outlined in the US proposal to discuss, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a narrow format meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit at the Yntymak Ordo Presidential Administration in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
 
No draft document on a Ukraine peace deal exists, as Washington has only outlined a list of issues to discuss, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. However, Russia is ready to negotiate the US-proposed peace plan, he added.
 
The president made the remarks on Thursday during a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which hosted a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional bloc bringing together several post-Soviet nations.
 
Asked by a journalist about the US-proposed peace plan to end the Ukraine conflict, Putin said that no draft document exists, only a range of issues outlined by Washington to discuss.
 
“In principle, we agree that this can become the basis of future agreements, but it would be impolite of me to talk about any final drafts now, since there are none,” the president pointed out.

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 14:59 utc | 17

@11
 
Rubio let the euros tank war mongers run all over Trump last Sunday in Switzerland?

Posted by: paddy | Nov 27 2025 15:09 utc | 19

📝Critical Success📝
Russian troops have finally closed the ring of the largest encirclement this autumn: Pokrovsk is practically freed, Myrnograd is cut off, and AFU breakthrough attempts are drowning in the “kill zone” between the cities
🔻What’s happening in the direction?
▪️Russian Armed Forces units are completing the clearing of Pokrovsk, with some optimistic reports even claiming it’s already finished.
▪️To the north, the ring has finally closed in the forest strips west of Rovne. Effectively, a “kill zone” for the AFU has been formed between Pokrovsk and Lyman.
Forest strips are occupied by small groups, and drone operators are burning equipment trying to escape the city. Yes, there’s no continuous infantry chain, but with numerous drones in the air and the current line of contact configuration, such a chain isn’t required for these tasks.
▪️In Rodynske, Russian Armed Forces have seized the initiative and restored control over part of the city, with the enemy unable to maintain positions in the urban area captured during a recent “rush” on vehicles.
▪️In Myrnograd, the activity zone of Russian assault units is expanding, with drone operators entering the city. Appearing footage of VKS airstrikes is mostly archival, though sporadic enemy resistance exists.
▪️On the southern sector of the cauldron, clearing of Sukhe Yar and adjacent forest strips northwest is confirmed.
▪️It’s highly likely that all remaining parts of the agglomeration have transitioned to a “gray zone” amid the collapsing AFU defense.
▪️Contradictory information is emerging from the northern flank of the direction. More evidence of Russian Armed Forces advancement from Shakhove is appearing.
❗️Clearing Pokrovsk, Myrnograd, and satellite settlements will definitely take some time. Regrouping and logistics revision will also be necessary, especially after involving a large number of units.
📌 However, this doesn’t mean a halt to the offensive, and attacks on the approaches to Hryshyne and Shakhove are further proof. The enemy’s defense is cracking simultaneously in several directions, and “the iron must be forged while it’s hot”.
Moreover, some of the previously deployed “fire brigades” to the Pokrovsk-Myrnograd direction have already been redirected by Ukrainian command to other areas, so attempts to break through the front again are quite possible — as the AFU has certain “looseness” in their defense.

@Slavyangrad/TG

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 27 2025 15:16 utc | 21

Russia won. 
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 15:17 utc | 22
 
Not yet, just a big step. So don’t get too cocky, but also expect setbacks! There are still many obstacles to overcome.

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 15:29 utc | 23

Posted from the last thread by: Clouds Of Alabama | Nov 27 2025 10:01 utc | 238
 
Government never seems to realise that the only way it can fire people is if they are hired and retained by the private sector. If that doesn’t happen then government just goes from paying people to do something, to paying people to do nothing. Hardly sensible.
 
 
<=Not really, government could suck the privatized portions of the private sector back into the government..  For example, government could take ownership, control and possession of the Network infrastructure it gave certain too big to fail companies, it could retract the privately owned energy franchises back into the possession and control of the government; it could take over the shipyards and build ships, it could take over the weapons factories and build weapons, it could take back the federal reserve.. etc. and then reassign those employees or make positions for them.
 
 
This won’t happen because privatization is the very process that denies people the democracies that their revolutionaries and politicians promised them. 
 
 
Alternatively it Government cared about the people in the nation it rules, it could invest in and create major new, or restart major old shut down, industries and use the fired government employees to learn the new trades they need to operate the industry. For example, America need steel mills but it is too expensive to start up, yet not nearly as expensive as a government contract to build a airplane that can’t fly or boat that does not float. Another example is these fired government employees could be paid to be the labor forces for building the nations highway system, railway system, and underground tunnel systems, etc..
 
 
 This won’t happen because government does not care about the people it governs.  
 

Posted by: snake | Nov 27 2025 15:32 utc | 25

It is important to remember, IMO, that what the West wants is the internal turmoil of Russia because they know they cannot defeat Russia militarily.
 
They wanted to cut away India. They wanted a wedge between China and Russia.
 
To exploit Russia as they have done many other places they have to sow division and to demoralize.
 
That’s their only play. They have been doing it for centuries. That is the colonization playbook.
 
Again, the West doesn’t want to compete militarily, they want to access Russian resources (including human resources) for cheap, so they can keep their debt game going.
 
Russia and China are very confident about who they are and what they represent. This is not like overthrowing Egypt or Pakistan.
 
Putin cannot compromise with Trump because that would create a fatal tear in Russian society. That, I believe, is why the West pumps out endless deal narratives. To make Putin seem weak by being reasonable, while placating the average Westerner from becoming demoralized themselves.
 
Putin has no pressing need to deal with the West. He’s winning and building a more resilient Russia. So long as he stays the course, the bodies of his enemies will eventually float down the river…
 
Trump, meanwhile, is in a race against time.
 
Europe is reaping the bitter harvest of Colonialism and a debt based economy. They are in and will remain in a kind of purgatory until they change or they collapse.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 15:37 utc | 27

Meanwhile EU big wig Kallas throws her weight around.
 
15:11 GMT

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reportedly сlashed with several MEPs over the controversial plan to use frozen Russian sovereign assets as collateral for a loan for Ukraine, Euractiv has reported, citing people present at a closed-door meeting.

 
“She reportedly denigrated official Belgian concerns to the point that lawmakers described her tone as “very condescending” and “incredible”. “She [Kallas] wondered why Belgium was so worried. Which court was Russia going to go to? Which judge would ever rule for Russia on this?” the outlet’s source said.
Belgium – which hosts most of the frozen Russian funds – has for weeks been opposed to the scheme, demanding that all EU members should share the legal risks.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:40 utc | 29

@sean the leprechaun | Nov 27 2025 14:46 utc | 13

Russia will retaliate for the stolen assets……hmm…..like killing even more poor front line Bedrock Burger 

No, the retaliation will be expropriating western assets in Russia, there is still plenty. Most of it owned by private companies. They can ask their governments to bail them out.

Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 27 2025 15:44 utc | 31

Posted by: LoveDumbass | Nov 27 2025 15:41 utc | 30
 
Your arrogance is without bounds; its does confirm that you are not a humble Muslim (1) but a bad joke.
 
1. The Quran does not only instruct the Prophet but instructs all believers not to over praise ourselves (53:32) ‘Therefore justify not yourselves”…(2)
 
2. https://islamonline.net/en/moral-teachings-of-islam-humility-dignity/
 

Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 15:46 utc | 33

canuk@33……..AI bot…….imo……fully integrated…..
 
Cheers M
 
 …….there are human qualities that AI bots will never master, the full range of human emotions: love, lust, empathy, compassion, humour, anger…..just to name a few……….
 
 

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 27 2025 15:59 utc | 35

@ EO .Nov 27 2025 12:38 utc. That was a fine analysis of a) what the next war in EU would  look like (missiles, drones to conduct pin-point attacks on  food, energy, transport infrastructure and military mfg’g and staging centers  .vs. big-iron tanks and artillery game across large land-mass) , and b) the situation of the people who will be ruined by that war, e.g.  the little people.
 
And we’re still aimed right  at another Russia war. The people are being sheep-herded right over the cliff, and the Globalists still have firm control over money supply, media, and government coercion mechanisms. 
 
That is where the problem is: the control of state  apparatus by these monsters (“elites” isn’t the right word, of course). 
 
How  do you pry their hands off the apparatus of the state? If Russia has  to do it, it’s too late; the destruction is going to be very much, and it’ll be the hapless little people getting destroyed again (Ukraine, 1.7 million people  dead or maimed, country wrecked for at least 2 generations).
 
Much attention needs to be applied, in a systematic and purposeful way, to wreck these monsters. There’s  not  that many of them. They have strategic vulnerabilities, like everyone else. What are they,  what’s  it take  to damage  _them_ and _only_ them?
 
What are the levers of power  and influence that the little  people  have access to, now or shortly? 
 
=== Separately, but quite relevant: Alex  Krainer and Nima Alkhorshid discuss the 28-point Peace Plan. Krainer, as always, brings enormous intellect and historical knowledge to the discussion. He describes the Peace Plan as having most of the fundamental components of a durable peace,  and getting Russia almost all  of  what  it wants. He sees the  plan  as a  significant  step in the right  direction.  Furthermore,  he sees  Trump backing the  EU elites  into a corner in order to open space for US-Russian cooperation later on. 

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Nov 27 2025 16:07 utc | 37

So, 2,000 meters to Andriivka is out on youtube now. Filmed during the 2023 counter-offensive from the perspective of the 3rd Azov  (always referred to in the film as 3rd assault brigade)
It’s very much worth the watch. Yes, it’s unabashedly pro-Ukraine and yes, there’s obvious curation of what/when/how things are shown, but it also makes a very honest attempt of showing “the reality on the ground”- their most elite unit spending months clawing through a few kilometers of forest just to re-take something that could once be called a village. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4Cgy56slU

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Nov 27 2025 16:14 utc | 39

@  English Outsider | Nov 27 2025 12:38 utc | 1
 
roger boyd – local moa fellow, has written an overview and mentions the AJAx boondoggle at the end of it.. title of the substack article is – 
UK 2010s And Ongoing Self Harming Austerity
Now Being Continued By The Conservative “Labour” Government

Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 16:27 utc | 41

Among regulars here, there is a broad consensus that Russia will win the war and should win the war. 
I’m worried about the post-war debate in the West. Many people including most influential people will say the West lost the war because it “lacked resolve”, “taco”, Putin having kompromat on Trump, et cetera. There is no recognition that Russia is in a stronger position (shorter supply lines, etc), has a stronger manufacturing economy, and that ethnic Russians made ght actually want to be part of Russia. That kind of fantasy can lead to problems down the road, like Germany after world war I concluding it would have won if not for Jewish/Bolshevik betrayal. 
See for example this post by someone who is nominally part of North America’s intellectual elite. 
https://x.com/CburgesCliff/status/1994045374491972001?s=20
In isolation it’s meaningless, but, it’s a common opinion. 

Posted by: Afro | Nov 27 2025 16:35 utc | 43

 ….  along, or tangential, or questioning the lines of some posters above, 
 
Ex-Spy Reveals: NATO’s Goal To Destroy Russia AND Europe | Rainer Rupp
 
at Neutrality Studies  (Pascal Lottaz)
 
https://tinyurl.com/2tv4tfzz

Posted by: Noirette | Nov 27 2025 16:45 utc | 45

FYI this is fascinating for everyone here and a slap upside the head for tall he slo-mo whining trolls:
 
Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Pokrovsk Offensive – Every Day [MAY 1 – NOV 25 2025]
 
You can see the Russian strategy clearly choreographed and it’s brilliant, you can see the Russians pulling back repeatedly when they meet resistance, using it to form manageable fire bags to winnow the opposing force even more, it’s a tactic that requires patience and confidence. There’s no question that’s what you are witnessing.
 
You also see the AFU creating salients going south and eastwards obviously not to break out, guessing they were to stall or cause a panic and break the Russian advance, maybe to get more troops in from the west or for political points back in Kiev and for western media, buts even to me a lowly “lawn chair private” it seems bizarre, the NATO geniuses at work.
 
All I can figure is all that stuff about, “to the last Ukrainian” is evident here, attacks to nowhere, eastward where the Russians are limitless, these make some sense if they were to buy time for a general retreat westward but that never happened, maybe it was supposed to, so not so crazy but the Russians outplayed the AFU with great skill and exquisite timing, or the AFU outplayed itself following NATO commanders who still underestimate their opponents, and with no skin in the game.
 
BTW I don’t recall exactly, maybe Italian-Russian Nicolai Lilin, pointed out the ground breaking tactic of the Pokrovsk battle, Russians attacked small, not even on the squad level, but with hard to spot 2-3 men drone teams, their best, to find and destroy the AFU drone teams, slow and steady, feeding in more small drone teams once an area was cleared, over and over, then sending small infantry teams to clean up, again all about patience and persistence; it’s the first time a large fortified city has been taken in such a way. What you are seeing on the map was all pretty much done this way, Russians own drone warfare, one for the military schools.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Nov 27 2025 16:51 utc | 47

Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 27 2025 15:44 utc | 31
Here is the thermonuclear bomb known to all real bankers:
All Western “plans” to seize Russian assets in the West are based on the assumption that Russia will do absolutely nothing in return.
(BTW, Russian assets blocked in the West are not “money in the bank”; these are non-liquid securities on the ledger – that is why all the talks are about the “collateral for loan” and not the outright seizure).
– All Western assets (money)  currently existing in Russian banks are not just sitting there; their owners (i.e.: Western companies) have already used all of them as collateral for operational loans from Western  banks (all companies do this regularly and routinely to make illiquid assets liquid for operational purposes). If/when Russia seizes these assets (possibly legally declaring “force majeure”), THE WHOLE WESTERN FINACIAL SYSTEM WILL COLLAPSE! (and this is not in any way hyperbole or overstatement). 
 

Posted by: kokopelli | Nov 27 2025 16:54 utc | 49

What you are seeing on the map was all pretty much done this way, Russians own drone warfare, one for the military schools.
 
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Nov 27 2025 16:51 utc | 47

 
Yes. This approach may change the face of urban warfare. House to house now done by drones.

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 17:06 utc | 51

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 17:08 utc | 52
——————-
Considering the abysmal level of debt of the US and almost all of EU, why didn’t they apply this option ?

Posted by: scc | Nov 27 2025 17:17 utc | 53

Considering the abysmal level of debt of the US and almost all of EU, why didn’t they apply this option ?
Posted by: scc | Nov 27 2025 17:17 utc | 53
 
The debts are not that high yet, and besides, it would be a difficult undertaking, since all the country’s money is worthless, and the US and UK would certainly not do that voluntarily.

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 17:20 utc | 55

US sanctions against Lukoil and Rosneft came as a surprise to Moscow – it is not clear what these signals mean.
Posted by: unnamed | Nov 27 2025 14:28 utc | 10
 
Now reports of the US recruiting soldiers in the Philippines to dump into the Ukraine. It is exquisitely quite clear (to me). Over here, the natives refer to the Yanks as ‘speaking with a forked tongue’… It seems nothing has changed after the harvest of all these years. ‘Agreement incapable’ is just the latest epithet. I find myself agreeing with commentary here (and Borrel) that this will be decided on the battlefield.

Posted by: Original Newbie | Nov 27 2025 17:30 utc | 57

OPLAN DEU: This is Germany’s secret war plan against Russia
An American report reveals details of the “Operations Plan Germany.” It shows how the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) are logistically planning for a potential NATO war in the east and where they are reaching their limits.
When the Berliner Zeitung reported on the “Operations Plan Germany” in September, one thing was clear above all: In a crisis, the Federal Republic of Germany is to become NATO’s logistical hub. The secret OPLAN DEU defines how ammunition, soldiers, and military equipment will move through Germany, what role the capital will play, and which civilian structures the state can access in the event of tension or defense.
Now, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) provides new, very concrete insights into this plan. The newspaper describes a roughly 1,200-page secret document that was developed behind the walls of the Julius Leber Barracks in Berlin. According to the plan, OPLAN DEU envisions that in the event of war, up to 800,000 soldiers from Germany, the USA, and other NATO countries would be deployed across German territory to the eastern flank – with detailed routes via ports, rivers, railway lines, and highways.
Germany as a NATO Hub and Logistical Weak Point
The plan’s fundamental premise is clear: With the Alps forming a natural barrier, large NATO forces would have virtually no alternative route through Germany in a crisis. Regardless of where a conflict escalates – in the Baltic states, Poland, or further south – significant portions of the reinforcements would have to be transported to the eastern flank via German ports, railways, and highways. The Territorial Command of the Bundeswehr in Berlin is responsible for developing and updating OPLAN DEU.
The plan is explicitly formulated not as an offensive plan, but as part of a deterrent strategy. The goal is to prevent war through credible defense capabilities, ensuring that any potential aggressor assumes an attack on NATO territory is militarily hopeless, the WSJ quotes one of the officers involved as saying.
Ukraine Peace: Europe’s Counter-Proposal to the 28-Point Plan: These Are the Differences
Europe’s Counter-Proposal to the US Peace Plan: These Are the Crucial Differences
NewsAccording to the report, the planners’ biggest concern is not the number of tanks or soldiers, but rather whether Germany can even fulfill its logistical role. Decades of neglect have left deep scars: dilapidated highway bridges, overloaded railway lines, and ports with only a single connection to the hinterland.
An accident at the port of Nordenham illustrates the problem. In 2024, a cargo ship rammed a railway bridge there, the only rail link to the port, which is considered a central transshipment point for munitions deliveries to Ukraine. Shortly afterward, another ship damaged a temporary replacement bridge. No evidence of sabotage was found. Nevertheless, according to the Pentagon, some military transports had to be rerouted through Poland. This logistical bottleneck was seen as a warning sign in NATO circles.
The German government plans massive investments in the rail network and ports, some of which are explicitly designated for “dual use,” meaning military applications. However, according to the German Armed Forces, many of these expansions will take years.
Rheinmetall is building a “small town out of thin air.”
The report also shows how heavily the German Armed Forces have long relied on private companies to implement OPLAN DEU. A maneuver somewhere in eastern Germany, described by the Wall Street Journal, is particularly vivid: The arms manufacturer Rheinmetall reportedly erected a field camp for 500 soldiers within two weeks – complete with sleeping containers, 48 ​​shower cubicles, five gas stations, a field kitchen, drone surveillance, and armed security personnel who had been vetted for potential Russian or Chinese influence. After seven days, the camp was completely dismantled. A Rheinmetall manager told the newspaper that they were “building a small city out of thin air, only to dismantle it again after a few days.”
Rheinmetall received a supply contract worth approximately €260 million for this exercise. However, the exercise also revealed weaknesses: the site was too small, spread across several unconnected areas, and soldiers had to be transported back and forth by bus. Furthermore, a previous exercise had already shown that an additional traffic light was simply needed at a particular intersection to ensure the smooth flow of military convoys. According to the Wall Street Journal, all these findings are being incorporated as corrections into OPLAN DEU.
Hamburg as a test field: “Red Storm Bravo”
What the secret plan for a large city might look like became visible in Hamburg at the end of September. Under the title “Red Storm Bravo,” the German Armed Forces, police, fire department, and technical services rehearsed there.
or three days, the aid organization and port companies practiced civil-military cooperation. The German Armed Forces and Hamburg police emphasized that the exercise was explicitly based on OPLAN DEU.
According to reports, the simulation involved approximately 500 NATO soldiers landing in the port, forming convoys of dozens of vehicles, and driving east through the city at night. Disruptive tactics were also practiced, such as drone flights over the convoy and blocking access roads.
During the “Red Storm Bravo” exercise in Hamburg, a German Armed Forces soldier uses a portable HP 47 drone jammer alongside a RADIS radio reconnaissance system.
A German Armed Forces soldier uses a portable HP 47 drone jammer alongside a RADIS radio reconnaissance system during the “Red Storm Bravo” exercise in Hamburg. Tobias Schwarz/AFP
Demonstrators halt convoy
Even minor deviations disrupted the plan. According to the Wall Street Journal, observers criticized the excessive spacing between the vehicles, gaps into which civilian cars could theoretically have driven. When, in the scenario, demonstrators, played by reservists, glued themselves to the road, the soldiers were not permitted to intervene. The police, in turn, initially lacked the necessary means to quickly remove the individuals. In the end, after two hours, the convoy had covered barely ten kilometers.
The report paints a picture of a country that, while undergoing military restructuring, remains legally and organizationally in a state of peace. The number of sabotage incidents against infrastructure has risen significantly in recent years. German authorities have registered attacks on railway cables and signal boxes, and investigators have, in some cases, attributed responsibility to Russian intelligence services. Courts have convicted, among others, a man who allegedly planned attacks on railway lines and military installations on behalf of Moscow.
In a staged scene, reservists disguised as demonstrators block a convoy of approximately 70 Bundeswehr vehicles traveling through the city of Hamburg.
Reservists disguised as demonstrators blocked a convoy of German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) vehicles, consisting of approximately 70 vehicles, in a staged scene through the city of Hamburg. Bodo Marks/dpaLegal Hurdles for Military Drones
At the same time, security authorities are encountering legal and practical limitations. Bundeswehr drones are subject to restrictions on their use over cities and must be equipped with position lights. While this serves flight safety, it complicates, for example, the covert surveillance of troop convoys in military operations. The Wall Street Journal quotes a representative of a drone manufacturer as saying that regulations that make sense in civilian operations “counteract the purpose in a military context.”
Intelligence services, in turn, are attempting to protect critical infrastructure against internal threats. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), nearly 10,000 employee background checks were conducted last year at operators of sensitive facilities.
Officially, OPLAN DEU pursues a “national” approach. The German Armed Forces, federal and state authorities, municipalities, companies, and aid organizations are to work closely together in an emergency. The Territorial Command speaks of a “first comprehensive defense plan since the end of the Cold War,” which underwent a stress test with around 200 representatives from the federal and state governments at the Julius Leber Barracks in November 2024. The results of the stress test and what all this means specifically for the civilian population remain largely unclear.
OPLAN DEU and the consequences for the capital
In September, the Berliner Zeitung exclusively reported on an inquiry by Berlin representative Alexander King (Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht), who wanted to know what consequences OPLAN DEU would have for the capital. The Senate responded at the time that private property could be accessed in the event of tension or defense, citing the Federal Performance Act, the Protection Area Act, and the State Procurement Act. Vehicles, real estate, land, and theoretically even living space can be requisitioned, including compensation, but under the primacy of military necessity.
At the same time, it became clear how little protection currently exists: According to the Senate, not a single functioning public shelter remains in Berlin. Bunker facilities have been dismantled since 2008, and now the possibility of converting subway stations and train stations into emergency shelters is being examined. No concrete results are yet available.
King criticized the fact that parliament and the public could not access key planning documents in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung. As a result, decisions regarding infrastructure, hospitals, or potential conscription were virtually impossible to understand.
Moscow’s arms industry: Does Russia want to strengthen itself?
Make a move to attack NATO?
Abroad
In the background lies a threat scenario, clearly identified in the WSJ report: German planners assume that Russia could be capable of directly attacking NATO by the end of this decade at the latest. Politicians and military officials repeatedly cite 2029 as a reference point. At the same time, the paper points to a series of espionage cases, acts of sabotage, and airspace violations that Western intelligence agencies attribute to Moscow.
The German Armed Forces themselves, however, express considerable satisfaction with what has been achieved since the beginning of this era. “Considering that we started with a blank slate at the beginning of 2023, we’ve come a long way,” the WSJ quotes one of the plan’s authors as saying. OPLAN DEU is “a very sophisticated product” that is constantly being further developed.
Whether reality can keep pace with this document in a real emergency remains to be seen. One thing is clear, though: Germany’s Operations Plan is far more than just an abstract staff exercise. He intervenes in ports, transport routes, businesses, and hospitals – and thus in people’s everyday lives, long before a shot is fired. It is precisely at this intersection between secret war logistics and democratic public discourse that the debates of the coming years will have to take place.
translated by gogle translate

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 17:48 utc | 59

Can a German plan be secret if it is posted on MoA?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 17:51 utc | 61

How close is Russia to liberating Odessa? Weeks? Months? Years?

Posted by: Dave G | Nov 27 2025 17:56 utc | 63

I think we can state that Pokrovsk is no more. Now it’s Krasnoarmeysk.

Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 27 2025 17:57 utc | 65

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 17:56 utc | 64
 
#####
 
Why did you post (double post) the title if you don’t stand by it?
 
I will never understand people who cry when one points out their performative contradictions.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 18:00 utc | 67

Posted by: Dave G | Nov 27 2025 17:56 utc | 63
 
####
 
We don’t know that Russia will liberate Odessa. They don’t need to.
 
Much of the focus by laymen is on Odessa for sentimental reasons and for Transnistria.
 
If Odessa falls to Russia in 2 hours or 2 years, how will that meaningfully benefit Russia?
 
It is possible that the SMO goes on for years. There is no upside to ending it without the goals fully complete. Capturing Odessa was never a stated goal. Capturing Kiev was also not a goalThe goals say little about territory.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 18:09 utc | 69

Posted by: Skiffer | Nov 27 2025 18:07 utc | 68
 
#####
 
It takes two to make a deal. That has been a key part of my thesis from last year.
 
No deal can be made without Russia.
 
I think the presumption that Putin wants a deal and will be willing to go back on what he has told the Russian people is shaky at best.
 
There is no metaphorical gun to Putin’s head. He can take his time. Russian casualties have been decreasing as Russia has continued to optimize tactics to preserve their men.
 
All of the pressure is on the West.
 
Russia can do this for a decade. America and NATO cannot.
 
As always, power rules. America and Europe can want anything, dream anything.
 
What is real is what they can accomplish.
 
And the Western powers increase have little capacity to make their ambitions real.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 18:30 utc | 71

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:40 utc | 29
————————
The very fact that despite all the warnings from IMF, from Euroclear, from the Belgian government an from many other, those fuc#$#* still insist and plan to seize the Russian assets show that they all have lost their minds. How far are they ready to go to save their proxy?

Posted by: scc | Nov 27 2025 18:33 utc | 73

@lovedonbass 22
Quote “There is no peace settlement with Nazis or Colonizers. They must suffer abject defeat.”
Exactly.but Russia must concentrate on killing one enemy only -rngland the architecture of Ukraine, Syrian, Iraq wars.combined west will not do England must be attacked and pulverised .
Putin along with his stupid FM lavrov have been too lenient towards English pirates..like here 
Quote ” 
Who resurrected nato?
The Syrian Arab Army was on a roll and ready to take back Idlib but were stopped by Putin to appease Anglos. Moreover in the February of 2016 Syrian army was on verge of big victory but then Russian ambassador to UNO Mr Churchin said harsh words about president Assad pressing him for ceasefire. That traitor churchin was man of foreign minister Lavrov the traitor. Then Lavrov started calling Assad names and Putin announced falsely that mission was accomplished and that russian job was finished therefore Russian Army will go back to Russia, so in this way Putin stopped win of Syria just to please anglosaxons in the same way he had stopped massacre of British mercenaries in the enclave of Debalso in Donbass in Feb 2015.Putin today is getting return of his treachery to his allies .
In the same way that sergie Lavrov pressurised then Russian president Medvedev to backstab president Gaddafi and leave Libya to be sanctioned and destroyed by Anglo pirates. This way Lavrov dog singularly resuscitated the then moribund NATO”

Posted by: sam | Nov 27 2025 18:42 utc | 75

French and Israel intelligence agencies are threatening to murder Witkoff.
 
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 27 2025 18:36 utc | 74
 
#####
 
Not the behavior of winners.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 18:45 utc | 77

The very fact that despite all the warnings from IMF, from Euroclear, from the Belgian government an from many other, those fuc#$#* still insist and plan to seize the Russian assets show that they all have lost their minds. How far are they ready to go to save their proxy?
Posted by: scc | Nov 27 2025 18:33 utc | 73
 
Sounds good. Seize away as Kallas would berate. Lessons from my early youth include hot stove elements and sockets probed with forks- lessons learned (and remembered) from decades ago. I seem to recall Jared Diamond intoning that civilization collapse was in part that decision makers not having any skin in the game- no feedback to bad decisions. Maybe this is a way to provide feedback. It does seem long overdue.

Posted by: Original Newbie | Nov 27 2025 18:52 utc | 79

A fight near Kupyansk: NATO vehicles tried to push toward the city by crossing the Oskol River. Russian troops of the 68th division keep hitting any Kiev forces trying to reach the liberated city in Kharkov region. Pilots do not let them get close and take out all their equipment.

https://x.com/distant_earth83/status/1993923156340244858

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 27 2025 19:01 utc | 81

Re: seizure of Russian financial assets, I can see the ECB having a big say in this, pointing out the jeopardy for the € currency and the risk of completely blowing up what little already remains of European economies, as foreign holders of € assets get “the hell out of Dodge”.
 
After all, with a declining industrial base, expensive and scarce energy resources/supplies, why not add an acceleration of currency collapse to the mix?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 27 2025 19:18 utc | 83

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 27 2025 19:18 utc | 83

I’m pretty sure they won’t do it.  However, the complicit EU mainstream media will save the faces of these fools once again and paint it as a way of making Russia pay, bombarding their readers with “if”, “could”, “likely” and a flood of pundit statements — and the electorate will believe Russia will be paying just as it believes Ukraine is winning.

Posted by: Nervous German | Nov 27 2025 19:26 utc | 85

Peter Williams | Nov 27 2025 19:10 utc | 82
 
Thanks, “Oreschnik” is Wiki, the other is autotranslate mistake and my laziness in correcting that

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 19:32 utc | 87

Russia Will Not Be in Situation When US Conducts Nuclear Tests and Moscow Does Not – Putin
BISHKEK (Sputnik) – Russia cannot find itself in a situation where the United States conducts nuclear tests while Moscow spends another year and a half preparing for them, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“Preparing for real nuclear weapons tests takes time, and we certainly cannot find ourselves in a situation where the United States will test it, and we will be preparing for it for another year and a half. Well, of course, we have to think about it already.
We did not say that, but we have to be prepared for any eventuality. And, I assure you, we will be ready,” Putin told reporters after his visit to Kyrgyzstan.
Russia will raise the issue of US preparations for nuclear tests in upcoming bilateral talks, Putin said.
In late October, US President Donald Trump said that he had instructed the Department of War to immediately resume nuclear testing. He then specified that his order was due to “others doing testing” and it was “appropriate” for the US to keep up.
A US nuclear weapons test, if conducted, would mean the end of a long-standing ban on nuclear testing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 13, adding that Putin had repeatedly stated that if other countries were to conduct nuclear tests, Russia would act accordingly.

Posted by: smartfox | Nov 27 2025 19:43 utc | 89

@ Peter Williams | Nov 27 2025 19:10 utc | 82
 
My Русско-английский Словарь (766 pages, Moscow, 1975) offers three definitions: nut-tree; hazel (as in the nut-tree genus); and nut-grove. Judging by the way the Oreshnik distributes its payload, I think the last of these seems especially appropriate.

Posted by: malenkov | Nov 27 2025 19:51 utc | 91

China and Russia have a not insubstantial class of “netizens” who are exposed to more opinions and sources. That makes it hard to sell them falsehoods.
 
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 19:50 utc | 90
 
________
 
I remember riding buses and the Metro in Moscow in the mid-1980s and was astonished to see that just about everyone was reading. That makes a huge difference, especially wrt a populace that had learned to read between the lines of state propaganda. 

Posted by: malenkov | Nov 27 2025 19:57 utc | 93

Whatever TV says is their [westerners’] reality.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 19:50 utc | 90

It’s not that simple.  Many Westerners know that their mainstream media is twisting the facts and that journalism is flawed in many ways.  Let me put it like this: Hitler and Goebbels didn’t have to reinvent the wheel for their agitation campaigns against whichever minority de jour and against the final boss, Russia.  They could feed off age-old prejudice and popular “feelings”, all they had to do was to trigger it.
 
Contemporary Western media works on the same tried and proven principles as described by Bernays, adjusted for the taste of our time: subtle, not direct; vague in circumstance, not clear in claim; with a narrative off-ramp, not bashing the head through the wall (they leave that to their select pundits).  And it still works, because Putin is “KGB”, Russia is the USSR, a red nightmare, and we, NATO, are the good guys.  Now, that’s simple 🙂

Posted by: Nervous German | Nov 27 2025 20:15 utc | 95

My Русско-английский Словарь (766 pages, Moscow, 1975) offers three definitions: nut-tree; hazel (as in the nut-tree genus); and nut-grove. Judging by the way the Oreshnik distributes its payload, I think the last of these seems especially appropriate.
Posted by: malenkov | Nov 27 2025 19:51 utc | 91
No, walnut tree!

How do the fruits of the walnut tree, the nuts, fall?

Compare this to the familiar images of the attack… Like nuts falling, unpredictably when and where each nut falls.

Posted by: Genesis | Nov 27 2025 20:29 utc | 97

Continuing my compendium of all the brilliant predictions made on this blog. Will I still be censored, even though I’m just restating content which is openly available ? 
 
 

Posted by: Micron | Nov 27 2025 20:34 utc | 99