Aah, No!

 Not 12 years. And not "half". 

It will take NATO about 12 years to approach at least half the level of the Russian Armed Forces in terms of equipment and combat capabilities. This was stated by the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Valery Zaluzhny. "It will take NATO about 12 years to equal at least half the level of the Russian Armed Forces," Zaluzhny said at a general meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors in Kyiv, where Euro-Atlantic integration was discussed.

Critical capabilities such as C2, stand-off weapons, air-defense, strategic nuclear forces, combat armor et al will not be closed either in 12 or 20 years. In terms of combat experience and combined arms operations, well ... cannot see it at all. Of course, I can always be accused of bias or Russian rah-rah, but I was warning combined West against committing suicide by cop for nearly two decades. They didn't listen. 

And here is a very good analogy in ... football. It is only 8 minutes long but it is totally applicable. 

You cannot change the DNA in some well-established culture, any attempt will fail with catastrophic results, e.g. Germany National Team. This is the thing which US academe and military still cannot understand. You cannot make US a great land power. It is impossible, even if you run all of the US officer corps through Russian military academies and the Academy of General Staff. So much more than just some set of military skills comes into this. As Russians joke, which is true to a large degree--Russia as a country is one huge military academy attached to one huge military-industrial plan. That's the root system supplemented with an enormous historic experience of the land warfare. 

Do they even know what a nightmare was Eastern Front in WW I? 

Yep, no idea. This motif is present in Randy and mine discussion on Friday. 

Enjoy, if you will. 

Banality Of Evil.

They will not be able to whitewash the "American Way of War". 

It Is Just the Warmup.

They cannot even hide this anymore. Too late as ABC reports: 'The damage is enormous': Ukraine grapples with record-breaking Russian strikes:  

Russia set new wartime records for the rate and scale of its missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in July, according to data published by the Ukrainian air force and analyzed by ABC News, as the Ukrainian government accelerated its efforts to patch well-publicized gaps in its aerial defensive umbrella. Across July, Russia launched a total of 381 missiles of all types into Ukraine, the air force in Kyiv said, at a rate of just over 12 per day -- setting new wartime records for the overall number and rate of missiles launched into the country. The data also indicated that missiles have become a more prominent element of Russia's nightly -- and sometimes also daytime -- combined strikes, which are largely comprised of drones. In July, though, the proportion of Russian missiles in the overall munition count increased to a record high of just over 7%, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.

ABC and its "military analysts" can "analyze" shit because they still buy the BS fed to them by 404. But even this picture shows that their narratives created by amateurs in Pentagon and CIA begin to fall apart. Even if to accept these numbers of missiles (which are well below the actual numbers)--this is the indication of Russia's enormous (order of magnitude) lead over NATO in production of stand-off high precisions weapons. Most of all, huge portion of those are supersonic and hypersonic weapons--technologies beyond NATO's grasp. 

But other question emerges, until now all these "experts" have been saying that NATO AD provided to 404 was extremely effective (intercepting 146% of Russian missiles), yet--here we are, "the damage is enormous". Well, it has very little with West's AD systems which are at best mediocre, at worst--useless. It is in the fact that Russia is set to wrap up not only 404--this is the decomposing corpse of the nation, but with the West because Russia sees no redeeming qualities in it. Just pure, distilled evil.  

About the "Big Picture".

Scott nails it. I have been at this thesis for almost two decades. 

The US has no experts in Russia--not in CIA, not in Academe, not in Pentagon, not is State Department. It is the result of an overall decline always second rate US intellectual class and confirmation bias. In case of, say, late Brzezinski--also a result of personal vendetta by a mediocrity reaching a serious government post. 

The US empire was sliding towards the abyss for a while, and indicators of this collapse warrant to be revisited in light of a new information becoming available with each passing day. Meanwhile, the US military will find, yet again, the excuse that it is strictly 404 thing, while, of course, this is the "American Way of War"--killing civilians. 

Children, again. Pure terrorism--this is what they do, kill civilians, children. This is Gelendzhik. My today's video is titled Banality of Evil. Washington and Brussels will never whitewash themselves. Russians view the West as evil. Rightly so. A few exceptions of people of morality, honor and integrity merely confirm this fact. 

He Has a Point ...

 ... because pretty much most of Euro so called "elite" qualify for being charged with infringing on sovereignty of Euro nations, constant and consistent violation of human rights and the last, but not least--practically all of them are war criminals and some are criminals against humanity. So, when Turtiainen says this: 

MOSCOW, Aug 2 - RIA Novosti. Today, the Finnish elite wants a war with Russia in order to evade responsibility for its failures in the country's policy, Ano Turtiainen, a former member of the Finnish parliament, founder of the Power Belongs to the People party, told RIA Novosti. "Everything related to EU, joining the NATO- all this was done illegally, bypassing the Constitution... Now the Finnish elite is afraid that they will have to answer for all this, and therefore they even want a war (with Russia - ed.) in order to evade responsibility with it," said Turtiainen, who moved to Russia.

He describes pretty much the whole West with its military-industrial-government-media complex. As I state non-stop--most in NATO top brass don't understand that they carried out criminal orders, which originated in D.C. They erased Ukraine, turned it into 404, killed 3 million of her soldiers, killed Russian civilians and paraded themselves as incompetent cowards capable only of PR and atrocity. Hi Tech atrocity, they think. Now, suddenly, they find themselves in a position when military fairy tales do not work and the only instrument they have left is ...

The deadly bombing at a central Moscow restaurant bears all the hallmarks of terrorism because it was apparently intended to inflict mass casualties and spread fear among civilians, former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof has told RT. Three people were killed and 21 wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated outside the Balzi Rossi restaurant near Kudrinskaya Square on Saturday evening, according to Russian officials. An unidentified woman allegedly attempted to carry the device into the establishment but was stopped at the entrance by a security guard. “If it weren’t for that guard, who was unfortunately killed, there probably could have been a mass slaughter in that restaurant and in the surrounding area,” Maloof said. The former US Defense Department analyst argued that the location and timing of the bombing suggested that the perpetrators sought to cause maximum harm. The explosion occurred on a warm Saturday evening in a busy area of central Moscow near the Moscow Zoo, shortly before a nighttime cycling event was due to take place.

The number of slayed Russian civilians from Bucha to Kursk to schools, colleges, civilian busses et al is now in thousands. Well, they will begin now to learn that hiding behind backs of their best proxy guarantees absolutely nothing. But then again, their "strategists" still cannot wrap their feeble brains around the metaphysical nature of the conflict decomposing West unleashed. They are beginning to learn now. 

Meanwhile--404 cannot hide anyone and anything anywhere. Fuel? Nope. 

Average journo and member from  editorial boards of ANY mainstream Western media, including their so called "military experts" can and should be charged, even if in absentia, as war criminals indistinguishable from the likes of Rosenberg and Goebbels. 

All of them without exception are people without morals and humanity in them, period. 

This Doesn't Bring Me ...

... any joy--because each time something like this gets posted I have to go to DJT's Truth Social account to check if I am fucking dreaming!!! No, I am not--and that's what makes it so horrible. 

Everything is being reduced to the level of a cheap Las Vegas cosplay away from the strip. 

Yes, and $4.95 steak and lobster. I know, I know--in other, alternative universe. Evidently humiliating oneself and the country is now a thing. 

Terrorism Is the Weapon ...

... of the weak. Militarily combined West is a paper-tiger, but they use 404 to the last mean it is available for them--terrorism. Terrorist act in Moscow. Guests in the restaurant in Moscow are killed and maimed. Only the work of the guard prevented the courier from entering the main hall with "present" which was remotely detonated. 

Here is the partial list:

— Nikita P., 30 — clinical death;

— Maria P., 25 — open traumatic brain injury;

— Elena B., 57 — wounds to the lower leg and buttocks;

— Yulia V., 30 — multiple wounds to the chest and abdomen;

— Galina V., 42 — penetrating abdominal wound;

— Alexander A., ​​24 — laceration to the thigh;

— Evdokia S., 20 — closed traumatic brain injury, thermal burn;

— Lyudmila V., 49 — blast injury to the foot;

— Elena O. D., 51 — closed traumatic brain injury, concussion;

— Daniil P., 27.

They are high-fiving themselves in CIA and MI6. They killed Russians. They know--the end is here. They will continue with terrorism.