I Can Even Tell You What...

 ... has been discussed "not for the record". 

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Russia’s defense minister — the first such conversation in 15 months. Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced the call in a briefing Tuesday, saying Austin initiated the discussion. “The secretary emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine,” Ryder said. Russia has blamed the U.S. for an attack on Crimea — a Ukrainian peninsula Moscow seized in 2014 — in which Ukraine used ATACMS missiles supplied by America. Still considered Ukrainian territory under international law, Crimea is an exception to a U.S. policy that bans Ukraine from shooting long-range weapons into Russia. This week the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy for a scolding over the attack, which killed at least four and left more than 150 injured.

And no, it is also not about "military contractors" or "boots on the ground"--there is more to it. And that is about what is going on on the battlefield in former 404.

Typical.

I am not surprised, haven't been for a long while. I am talking about this:

"Директор Службы внешней разведки Российской Федерации Сергей Нарышкин заявил, что Запад требует от режима Зеленского, не считаясь с потерями, продемонстрировать мировому сообществу невозможность победы России в украинском конфликте", — говорится в релизе. По данным разведки, США и Великобритания рекомендуют руководству Украины снизить до 17 лет и повысить до 70 лет призывной возраст, а также проводить дополнительную мобилизацию женщин. В СВР отметили, что министр обороны страны Рустем Умеров предложил Верховной раде изучить возможность понижения минимального возраста для призыва в армию.

Translation: “The Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergei Naryshkin, said that the West demands that the Zelensky regime, regardless of losses, demonstrate to the world community the impossibility of Russia’s victory in the Ukrainian conflict,” the release says. According to intelligence data, the United States and Great Britain recommend that the Ukrainian leadership reduce the draft age to 17 and raise it to 70, as well as carry out additional mobilization of women. The SVR noted that the country's Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov proposed to the Verkhovna Rada to study the possibility of lowering the minimum age for conscription into the army.

This is everything one needs to know about Pentagon and their colleagues from London. Basically, desperately hiding behind backs of women and 17 year old kids. Well, aging men too. So much for "reputation", right? Lord Austin is in 404 pledging (for public mostly) unending support for Nazis in Kiev, but it seems utter delusion is what drives Washington nowadays. 

Larry gives a good treatment to a couple of US geopolitical "heavyweights" (a euphemism for credentialed clowns). 

If you are looking for more evidence of the panic that has seized the Washington foreign policy elite then the latest offering by Richard Haas and Charles Kupchan is a slam dunk. Haas has been a foreign policy guru since the 1980s. Kupchan is just an academic with nice pedigree but no clout. ... Their piece in Foreign Affairs — Redefining Success in Ukraine: A New Strategy Must Balance Means and Ends -is just one more reminder that years of experience does not make you smart or right. Haas and Kupchan’s lack of critical thinking skills displayed in this article is downright shocking.

Larry talks about this piece in FA.  

Redefining Success in Ukraine. A New Strategy Must Balance Means and Ends

I have other suggestions, how about new title: Redefining US "elites" cultural and educational level to equivalent of high school. Plus, US can not do "strategy", it couldn't since WW II, because completely confabulated own military history. Simple as that.

Of Course They Do.

Mr. Sullivan wants to "negotiate". 

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is ready to talk to Russia without conditions about a future nuclear arms control framework even while taking countermeasures in response to the Kremlin’s decision to suspend the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in February he was suspending Russia’s cooperation with the New START Treaty’s provisions for nuclear warhead and missile inspections, a move that came as tensions worsened after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia did say it would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons. Sullivan said at the Arms Control Association’s annual meeting said that the United States is committed to adhering to the treaty if Russia also does, and that Washington wants to open a dialogue on a new framework for managing nuclear risks once the treaty expires in February 2026.

This posture has zero relation to ethics or love of peace--it is a measure to somehow slow down the development of Russia's new strike technologies and to get access through inspections to at least some Russia's advancements. Reducing risks of nuclear exchange, of course, is good under any circumstances but let's not forget about technological gap which is growing between Russia and US in this field and I expect the growth only to accelerate. 

Recall, both me and Larry spoke about this on many occasions: it is not just about warheads and delivery systems, it is also about mitigating the strike. Here the US is not even in the same league, and serial deployment of S-500 which has practically full blown Anti-ICBM capability and of something we didn't see yet, including A-235 Nudol getting ready to become mobile, not to mention laser weapons development, are the means to greatly mitigate US deterrent. The US has no answer to this and that drives this desire to negotiate without any preconditions. Plus, China's deterrent figures prominently in those desires. Speaking of which. 

As Ria put it bluntly (in Russian): China Started to Systematically Mock the United States. China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu flatly refused any meetings with SecDef Lloyd Austin.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday said he welcomes any opportunity for engagement with China’s military leadership in the future, despite Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu declining to meet with him during the upcoming IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. Speaking in a joint press conference in Tokyo with Japan Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, Austin said it’s important for countries with large, significant military capabilities to be able to talk to each other to manage crises and prevent events from spiraling out of control. Austin also said China continued to make provocative intercepts of U.S. and U.S. allies’ aircraft in international waters and air space, which prompted more communication attempts between the Pentagon and the Chinese Defense Ministry.

And these are just some issues pertaining a complete overhaul of global balance of power and this wouldn't have been compete without Ben Wallace parading himself and UK as clowns, with this dude embarrassing himself and UK's "elite producing machine", Sandhurst including, because they, evidently, do not study real war there anymore. Speaking to WaPo (behind the paywall) this proud product of British military "school" (or kindergarten) didn't exclude the possibility of 404 taking Crimea back when "Russia will run out of required equipment". Boy, they do grow them dumb in London. Well, what do you expect from the military establishment whose only war-making capabilities are reduced to false flag SAS operations, killing civilians and conducting terrorist acts. As rumor has it (I have no independent confirmation) a number of British officers have been killed in Kiev during Russia's latest missile strikes. Medvedev's recent statement gives a hint of sorts that Russia is now in business of reducing the numbers of NATO "advisers" in 404. London in general, and Wallace in particular still do not understand the significance of this picture, and continue to make mistake by misidentifying themselves in it.

In the end, using Premier League analogy--in the game of geopolitics, Russia is Manchester City, UK is a weekend amateur team of employees of local post-office competing against teams from local brewery and meat packing factory. Or, using a purely British, Kiplingian analogy--Tabaqui. I warned about this 7 years ago. As classic Soviet cartoon Mowgli portrayed it: 

Or as the common wisdom has it--one has to play in a proper league. Otherwise it ends with this;

I couldn't resist, LOL. I am sure Rio Ferdinand never experienced such a prostate exam, performed by Carlos Tevez, before or ever since.

Here Is Russia's Investigative Committee's Video...

 ... of yet another darling of the West, who, when he learned about the married couple from Mariupol being taken prisoners by VSU, got drunk, went into the cellar where the couple was held and started, threatening with his handgun, to rape the wife in a front of her husband. When husband "expressed objections" this courageous ukie killed him.

This is not an exception, this is typical of large segments of VSU and, of course, Nazis. I think US Department of Education should seriously consider introducing the study of these "defenders of democracy" into curricula of history and civics as great examples of personal sacrifice for liberty and against totalitarianism. I am positive many Western universities humanities programs already use these shining examples, like this guy, of human courage and selflessness in their political science and journalism programs because how else would we have gotten such people as Rachel Maddow or late Madeleine Albright and terrorist admirers Lindsey Graham and  his late buddy John McCain. 

Nah, I am screwing with you. The flow of psychopaths into the Western "elites" was reaching its peak right around 1980s and today the combined West lives in a completely distorted reality, especially so in moral terms. Just ask 500,000 Iraqi children how it feels. Now per these Putin's remarks:

In Putin’s opinion, the West has since changed its goal. “… As they realise that this is impossible, they try to achieve a different objective instead – to split Russian society, to destroy Russia from within. But here, too, there is a hitch; this hasn’t worked either,” Putin said. In his opinion, Russian society “has shown maturity, solidarity,” and supports its armed forces and the efforts “to ensure Russia’s ultimate security and help the people living of Donbass.” After a ‘fiasco’ in the media field, Putin claimed, the West has turned “to terror, to arranging the murder of our journalists.” He was referring to Monday’s announcement by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) that it had detained a group of “neo-Nazis” instructed by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) to kill popular Russian TV host and journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Kiev has denied any role in organizing the assassination attempt. “In this regard, it should be noted of course that we know the names of all the Western handlers, of all members of Western services, primarily the CIA, who are working with Ukrainian security agencies. Apparently, they are giving them such advice,” the Russian leader said.

The attempts at assassination is what I was talking about yesterday--sleeper cells or "insertions" in Russia from 404. Sabotage and terrorist acts will continue inside Russia, albeit FSB obviously is working and does its job. This is an act of desperation and those are now not just diversionary acts, those begin flow into a pure terrorism, which is CIA's and MI-6's and their poodles specialty. The whole (love) affair with ISIS or murdering General Soleimani while on diplomatic mission--are just small fragments of a much larger picture of a metaphysical problem with continental warfare for Anglo-American world in the 20th century. It got lucky once in WW II, after that its performance was rather dubious and today it is a pure terrorism. Terrorism is a weapon of weak. It is an axiom, not even a theorem.

Plus, in case with Russian journalists it is a continuation of a total delusion and alternative reality combined West resides in when it comes to Russia. They still believe that they can "regime change" in Russia if only they could kill n-amount of Russian media figures and their families and clear the road to "forces of democracy", fifth column that is. Read more Solzhenitsyn and Russian anti-Soviet dissidents, that will ensure that you know shit about Russia and will continue to fail in every subversion endeavor in Russia. 

Bernhard of MoA gives a good write up on the significance of Russia basically cutting 404 in two in terms of rail lines of communications, which, as he puts it:

All the diapers, weapons and munitions the U.S. and other countries supply to Ukraine will now mostly be stuck in west Ukraine where they will rot until some clever Ukrainian oligarch manages to sell them off to some third country. The fall out from the railway attacks will also hit civilian supplies in Ukraine. It will hinder civilian passenger traffic especially for people who have fled towards the west and now have less transport available to return home. Since the war started Russia has intentionally avoided to hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Electricity and communication networks as well as water supplies have all stayed intact. (In recent U.S. wars those were the first things it destroyed.) The attacks on the Ukrainian railway became only necessary after the U.S. and others provided more and more war materials to the Ukraine. Russia will not allow its troops to come under fire from those newly delivered weapons.

As I am also on record, not only the supply channel was largely choked but whatever may trickle into the combat zone of surrounded VSU grouping in Donbass will be annihilated by whatever means necessary. That is why primarily Western military porn addicts with life experiences and education in wargaming and Hollywood ejaculate each time when some Western military toy (the masturbation object du jour is M-777 howitzer) gets shipped to 404 and expectations of this toy ensuring ukie victory run high, this is until dubious effectiveness of the NATO weapons gets exposed, and the masturbation cycles starts anew with expected results. As I said, having no serious military background and basic tools of critical thinking is not good for facing the reality. 

But all this is just a background of a larger drama:

April 20 (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft has asked for roubles and full prepayments in tenders for crude, sources have told Reuters, as the country's top oil exporter aligns itself with President Vladimir Putin's push for roubles-only trade in natural gas. While Rosneft left scope for payment in other currencies, it also reserved to right to refuse deals where prepayment is not offered in full.

You see, here is a conundrum for dimwits in D.C. Russia is not Libya, which was demolished the moment Qaddafi hinted at gold for oil payment system. Even Lord Austin is somewhat underwhelming in his new objective:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the US aim is to make Russia so weak it can’t invade another country again. 

Well, that is really underwhelming. Honestly and I do not want to elaborate now on the sheer delusion of this statement, but truth is--the only thing combined West can do is to continue with terrorist and diversionary acts on Russian territory because any kind of military confrontation with Russia means a serious rearranging of the stones in Western capitals and losses no NATO nation, especially the United States, has any historic experience with. Well, with the exception of Germany. Some people in D.C. do understand it. So, the resource-Ruble is here and Gold Ruble is next. As The Doors sang: "This is the end". Everything else develops from this point. 

Like this.