When Military Porn Goes Horribly Wrong.

Not surprisingly in the movie by Fyodor Bondarchuk who fully confirmed the truism that "nature rests on children". Granted, of course, that when your father is Sergei Bondarchuk, a titan of 20th century cinematography with such credits to him as War and Peace masterpiece, They Fought For Motherland or Fate of a Man, among many others, it is difficult to top it. But Fyodor tried (sadly), first by making music videos and then producing vomit-inducing Stalingrad and now he shot the second part of Attraction, Attraction 2 and I would have ignored it too if not for, accidentally, stumbling on this scene. 

It is a classic Russian sci-fi movie fodder with a lot of CGI and blowing Moscow-City up for no reason, that is until I hit the mark at 3:00. Poor Ka-52, evidently fully fueled and armed, finally gets its shit beaten out of it by an alien, whatever that thing is, and falls on the... drum roll... glass semi-dome of one of the Moscow's skyscrapers. It falls there but manages to... still slide back and come to rest at the concrete roof. 

Even the brief excurse to Kamov-52 Alligator technical data sheet reveals this: The maximum take-off weight of the Ka-52 is 10,800kg.

OK, let's imagine that while this Ka-52 was duking it out with this alien it spent some amount of fuel and some ammo. Let's say it is 800 kilograms. But still, we have a fvcking 10 metric tons of a combat helicopter which when even placed on several isolated points of this glass statically will still break it. Now add here a dynamic of this battle, and suddenly you have loads which are way more than just static weight of this helo. Yet, it still manages to slide down, granted still breaking the glass. I know, I know, it is an alien action movie and it is Fyodor Bondarchuk, but 10 tons slamming into glass roof (however reinforced) and still not falling through? I cringed. What do you think? Is it the case of military and alien porn going horribly wrong?

This Is Really Peculiar.

To be crippled THIS way? WTF. 

A massive electrical power failure has halted the HMAS Adelaide during its humanitarian mission to Tonga. The ship was left “stranded” for a period of time due to the total power failure and is still experiencing external communications issues despite power now being restored. Most of the ship’s crew are reportedly sleeping “above deck” due to the power issues. The HMAS Adelaide is the Australian Navy’s largest warship and crews onboard have been undertaking days of emergency work in Tonga after a volcanic eruption and tsunami last month.

This is peaceful time and a fairly straightforward mission. And these are significant ships (I don't like them aesthetically at all, though).

At 28000 tons this is not a patrol boat, but even there a complete loss of a power in peaceful conditions would be a matter of a serious investigation with heads and ranks rolling if the readiness and mission were compromised. The largest ship of a whole Royal Australian Navy losing main and reserve power while sailing in peaceful conditions--this is really big. Effectively RAN has its flagship crippled just... because? I am sure we will hear a lot about this in coming days but if this is a maintenance or training issues, boy, expect many losing their billets. I think so. But then again, this is not such a "big of a deal" when compared to a thought-crime by Germany's Admiral  Schönbach who dared to state obvious about Russia--that's a real crime. Flag-ship of the fleet being crippled by a complete loss of power? Nah, no biggie compared to Schönbach's blasphemy (/sarcasm on).

I Mentioned This Speech Today.

In my video. It is by Vyacheslav Nikonov, the grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov. I hope browsers and YouTube will allow translation. 

It is an important speech, but when the grandson of Molotov, by far not a communist, finishes his speech with Stalin's immortal for Russians: "Our cause is just, the victory will be ours," one has to start thinking really hard about the level of contempt and hatred Russians feel today for the combined West. 

While making my video I accidentally misspoke about Vyacheslav Molotov as Mr. "Nyet" ("No"), while the real Mr. Nyet was, of course, Andrey Gromyko. 

But in general, this is what I had to say today, because when you read commentaries by Russians under Nikonov's video (posted today) and see 21,000 upvotes--it is a reason to think deep about the history and its real lessons, especially against the background of the bizarre behavior of the US "elites" and a powerful article by Russia's Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov published in no less than The Washington Times (wow!). Here is what he had to say:

We are currently witnessing a cynical policy of distorting the historical truth. The memorials to victors of fascism are demolished in Ukraine, the Baltic States and Poland. There is a self-evident desire to erase the memory of the deed of the Soviet soldier-liberator, whom they try to put on equal footing with Hitler’s executioners. It got to the point where some Eastern European countries regularly host marches to honor the punitive S.S. divisions, whose hands were stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including the elderly, women and children. These disturbing trends affect the United States as well. Belittling the decisive USSR contribution to smashing Nazism and excluding our country from the victors in World War II have become a common practice.

Read the whole thing. It is an important piece. In related news, Larry Johnson teaches Whoopi Goldberg about racism. I doubt she will learn anything because she doesn't understand the nature of racism. She will not get why The Saker called Russians (correctly) as viewed by many in D.C. "white niggers". James Clapper is on record, that we (Russians) are subhumans.

Desperation Sets In.

I am not the first one who noticed this, anyone with IQ higher than room temperature could have noticed that. Difficult to miss really: 

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Thursday called on China to use its influence with Russia to urge a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, but policy experts doubted Beijing would back Washington in the standoff. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Beijing said it wanted all sides to remain calm and "refrain from doing things that agitate tensions and hype up the crisis."Blinken stressed that tensions should be reduced and warned of the security and economic risks from any Russian aggression, the State Department said.U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said U.S. messages to Beijing had been very clear. "We are calling on Beijing to use its influence with Moscow to urge diplomacy, because if there is a conflict in the Ukraine it is not going to be good for China either," Nuland said at a regular State Department news conference. "There will be a significant impact on the global economy. There will be a significant impact in the energy sphere."

Basically, this whole panopticon is akin to asking China to influence China's crucial military ally whom huge chunks of China's security depend on to act counter to Russia and China's national interests just because petulant and ignorant children in Foggy Bottom want so. This, folks, is the "level" of the US "diplomacy", which for the last 20+ years provided us with a panoply of amateurs who in normal country wouldn't be allowed to run a 7-11 convenience store or even mow the lawns in any self-respecting middle class Home Owners Association. Yet, here we are--the bunch of State Department chicken-hawks, war-mongers and neocons desperately try to repeat their failed "strategy" of 2014 hoping yet again that Russia will bait and will "go in" and will tie her resources in 404 which Russia doesn't want or need and thus will allow neocons' "plan" to deal with China without Russia to succeed. Good God, they ARE that stupid. 

Here is J.D. Vance:

Billions spent on the Kennedy school, grand strategies seminars, and the Georgetown school of foreign service has bought us an elite that’s about to blunder us into a Ukraine war. Our country is broken, especially in how it trains its leaders.

I have news for J.D. Vance--there is a whole issue with the US education starting from K-12. They do not teach there, as it is done in normal countries, the relation between cause and effect. That is why the US lost its all post-WW II wars, lost its economic race to China, arms race to Russia and effectively produced "elites" which constantly humiliate their own country by their ignorance, incompetence and bizarre behavior. Read an acerbic piece by Fred Reed about the art of governance. They don't teach real governance in the US. Fred has a point, in fact, many of them. 

A Faintly Curmudgeonly Analysis of the Sino-Dimbulbian Clash

Well, Paul Craig Roberts notes in his latest: 

It is over. Putin has won. Victoria Nuland, the neoconservative war monger appointed Undersecretary of State by the White House fool, announced Washington’s surrender when she called on China to use its influence with Russia to save Ukraine from invasion. She thus acknowledges what everyone had already concluded: the US and NATO lack the capability. Washington’s surrender followed the request of the Ukrainian president that Washington stop the “Russian invasion” propaganda as there were no signs of an invasion being prepared and Washington’s rhetoric was too provocative. Germany refused flyover permission to the UK for arms deliveries to Ukraine. Two NATO members announced that they would not send troops if NATO got involved in Ukraine. Washington saw the writing on the wall.

The reality is catching up with Washington. West will have to pay for a mess which it created in 404 in 2014. Russia is NOT taking this freak of a country on her balance and it was the West which precipitated Russia's ultimatum and the issue today is way bigger than just the Ukraine. It is about Russia breaking off with the West on Russia's terms. Those in the West who would have second thoughts--they are welcome to Moscow if they have something to say of substance. If not, too fvcking bad, it's West's problem and they should go back. As Saker noted, Russians are "snow niggers" for the West and Russians, overwhelming majority of them, are just fine with that. This is the fact the combined West should internalize. Russians don't give a damn.  Except when they do, but for that Russia has Defense Ministry and damn good Armed Forces. 

Speaking of which, some details have been revealed about modernization of good ol' Udaloys (pr. 1155) and, as you might expect, all of them will get 3M22 Zircons in addition to other weapon systems and full update of electronic suites (in Russian). 

There is an interesting "slip of the tongue" in this video that Admiral Nakhimov will actually get a navalized version of S-400, albeit media state that Nakhimov will retain Fort-M (S-300FM), but then again, it is not long now for Nakhimov to get to trials.

Military Porn For a Weekend.

 No comments: 

Mighty Ducks.

The US Response To Russia From the Point of View...

... of coming Friday and one of the greatest songs in pop-music. Paroles, paroles...by Dalida and Alain Delon.  Just words, words, words, words... empty words.

"[To] me, tender words wrapped in sweetness. Land on my mouth, but never on my heart. Words and words and words..." (c) How appropriate.

P.S. There is an excellent piece in The Atlantic about an enormous, in fact, crashing in its power resurgence of interest in the "old music", 70s-80s and some 90s. 

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.

I will write about it in depth but in simple words--modern pop culture as a whole is SHIT, so is music: no melody, no musicianship, ugly beats running counter to classic Western musical tradition, ugly people who have zero talent. Simple as that. 

Beat Swords Into Ploughshares.

Here is Russian Mi-28 taking an active part in farming;) 

Who said it cannot be done. As you can see yourself, Mi-24-35 line is perfect for agriculture. 

Can you imagine productivity? 

I Warned About This 5 Years Ago.

Namely, that LDNR forces can start to "suddenly" get some weapon systems which scare the shit not only from VSU, but from NATO. Recall this from 2017, in a piece symptomatically titled: So, Will Donbass Forces Get Iskanders?

I applaud John McLaughlin's "analysis" since Russia sure as hell can "portray" a transfer of some really cool tech to LDNR forces as "an enhancement of Donbass defense capabilities." In the end, LDNR forces also can "hold on" to Iskanders, or some serious other toys, for a contingency Kiev "actually uses armor to extend its invasion" into Donbass.  But mocking bird exchange apart. All these last moves in Washington (including Russia sanctions) are signs of a real desperation and it all testifies to a growing burden of internal problems and rot inside the Beltway. Considering a level of utter ignorance of US "political elites" about real war and what it can bring, all this can only be driven by sheer insanity.

Yes, yes and don't tell me that I didn't warn about it. I did, many times. So, this time to "upgrade" LDNR forces has come. After receiving US "response" to Russia's "non-ulimatum", State Duma, namely ruling party United Russia, initiated the request to the President of Russia and Government of Russia to start the process of rearmament of LDNR forces. Here is the leader of faction Vladimir Vasiliev addressing (in Russian) the President and public. 

This request is a mere formalization and PR recording of the process which, most likely, has been ongoing for some time and this UR statement (request) is not possible without the nod from Kremlin. So, here we are, VSU and those mighty 400 Canadian "advisers" and still larger number of American ones in 404, should start thinking really hard if they want to be on the receiving end of some funny high-precision stand-off weapons in case they succeed in their main objective of pushing VSU to commit suicide by means of attacking LDNR, let alone Russia proper. 

This is just a small warm-up to what will transpire up to breaking off all diplomatic relations with the United States and shutting down every single NGO (a euphemism for operations of influence and sabotage centers). Some begin to worry:

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), which represents Chevron, General Electric, and other big US corporations that do business with Moscow, are asking the administration to consider exempting certain products from financial penalties and allowing them to meet their obligations. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute, a major Washington lobby group, said that any embargos “should be as targeted as possible in order to limit potential harm to the competitiveness of US companies.”

They should, because a very interesting release happened today by the way of FSB. Namely, that last year explosion of the passenger bus in Voronezh was a result not of a gas (propane) explosion, in which two people died and many sustained severe wounds, but was a result of action of a diversionary (terrorist) group from Ukraine (in Russian). All people involved in this terrorist act have been identified and... drum roll... who are people who train these groups? Right, CIA and MI6. Do you get my drift? I am 100% positive names, of those who train them are also well-known to Russians and Russians do not take lightly when foreign powers conduct terrorist acts on their territory. Somebody will have to answer, and I am not talking about Ukrainian perpetrators (those are now walking dead), I am talking about those who trained them and issued orders. So, the main question now is: how economically will the United States commit suicide, because Russia is ready. But then again, most of D.C. "brains" do not even know the actual scale of Russian economy--they have no instruments to grasp it. As for what will "flow into" LDNR--easy: AD, most likely S1 Pantsirs to shut down any UAV activity, possibly Buk-M2s to put NATO's spy-planes on note. Some, maybe already are there, and I am sure LDNR combat teams underwent all necessary training for those. The next, of course, is a flow of latest area fire impact weapons ranging from TOS to Tornado and other MLRS. Other variety of anti-armor and anti-personnel means. Russia will take care of targeting and EW.

Here is some intro to Tornado and it is a nasty-nasty system, which is also good for turning enemy forces preposition areas into a parking lot. 

But in the end, who said that LDNR will not get Iskanders or will not suddenly discover that, hey, dudes, as it turned out we had our small but very hi-tech air force all along. I know, it is so difficult to keep the track of all those Mi-35s and SU-25SMs, they always tend to fall through cracks. 

Chincken-hawks or What Triggers Me.

It is one of my most favorite videos but this hilarious representation of the Korean Conflict applies fully to many US legislators whose only skill is barking. 

I abhor ANY war-monger, anywhere, who never having a real service and background to make even tactical, forget about operational and strategic decisions in their lives bark their non-sense into the air due to their recognition of the fact that they themselves will never have to go and fight, let alone die for the principles they love to show off as their moral compass, while in reality being nothing more than political prostitutes and chihuahuas in human terms. Enter couple of such guys: 

1. Senator Richard Blumenthal. His bio states this:

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School, a private school in the Bronx. He graduated from Harvard College, where he was editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson. He studied for a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, in England before attending Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. At Yale, he was a classmate of Bill and Hillary Clinton. From 1970 to 1976, Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, attaining the rank of sergeant. After law school, Blumenthal passed the bar and served as administrative assistant and law clerk for several Washington, D.C. figures. From 1977 to 1981, he was United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. In the early 1980s he worked in private law practice, including as volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. ... Blumenthal received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, first educational deferments, then deferments based on his occupation. In April 1970 Blumenthal enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve which, The New York Times reported, "virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam". He served in units in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut from 1970 to 1976, attaining the rank of sergeant. During his 2010 Senate campaign, news report videos that showed Blumenthal claiming he had served in Vietnam created a controversy. Blumenthal denied having intentionally misled voters, but acknowledged having occasionally "misspoken" about his service record. He later apologized to voters for remarks about his military service which he said had not been "clear or precise"

Yes, Stolen Valor and draft dodging are very wide-spread among US political class, enough to remember Hillary's "courage under fire" and then Brian Williams' being fired upon in Iraq. All of it, obviously, turning out to be a complete BS. So, it is not a bug but a feature. 

2. Representative Joe Courtney. Yet another lawyer pretending to "serve American people", who saw military service on TV in such shows as M.A.S.H. and movies by Oliver Stone, who, BTW, is a bona fide Vietnam Veteran. 

So these two "heroes", who wouldn't know the difference between targeting and firing solution, came up with a brilliant idea: 

American sailors should be prepared to take on Russia and show their strength as the country goes “head to head” with Moscow amid fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine, two US legislators have demanded. ...Blumenthal said that he agreed with President Joe Biden that the US should not send soldiers to fight in Ukraine, but insisted that increasing NATO capabilities in the region would be an important part of showing strength “around the world in other areas where we go head-to-head with the Russians.” In particular, he pointed to the role submarines can play in confronting Moscow. “Undersea warfare – because we’re talking about the Mediterranean, about the Black Sea as potential areas of tension and conflict – is very much in play even though it isn’t directly involved in the confrontation in the Eastern Ukraine area or Crimea or in the northern borders of Ukraine, which represent perhaps the greatest immediate threat in Belarus, where Putin is amassing forces right now.”

I have some news for Blumenthal and his side-kick. The fact that Blumenthal sits on the Armed Services Committee and is privy to some chit-chat by people who know and has access to classified briefings doesn't make him a specialist on naval warfare or any warfare to start with. They don't teach that in Law Schools and it is much harder to command a modern submarine than passing a bar exam. In fact, several order of magnitude harder. But the main news, of course, is the fact that US Navy's submarine forces ARE present in Med and have been there for a long time. So, how "going head-to-head with Russians" in submarine warfare looks like, Blumenthal will not understand even if I, out of goodness of my soul, will agree to give him a course of lectures on hydrology, non-acoustic sensors, tactics and operations, review with his a variety of highly classified tactical and operational manuals related to submarine operations, and maybe even explain to him basics of signal processing and why one doesn't want to use a cookie cutter. Even after that, he still will not understand that, including the fact that this "head-to-head" thing is happening in Med right this very moment as I type this. 

So, I am triggered always, when some uneducated hack (or collection of hacks) who do not know shit from shinola and have ZERO military professional background at least of the tactical officer level begin to wax "Top Gunnish" and based on their Hollywood military porn "expertise" begin to offer their advice on matter they have no clue about. And clue they don't have. Everything they do when offering their nauseating war-mongering fodder is done for a PR purposes only, and serve ONLY one thing they desire above all--to be re-elected to maintain their position of power and possible financial benefits which US Congress affords its members. Considering a very high susceptibility of the American population to military porn and aggressive rhetoric, due to America's utter illiteracy about real war and warfare, this works for people like Blumenthal. It doesn't work, however, in real life and real war, but neither of these two would know anything about it. Nor do they understand how they look like barking chihuahuas when proposing something which is already in place and is ongoing. But then again, look at the video above.

Andrei Raevsky Did a Very Good Write-Up On Fundamentals.

Of actual framework for ground operations, should they come, in LDNR zone by VSU.  A very worthy article, which gives clear definition of relation of forces in a classic offense-defense dichotomy. 

Okay, there is a lot of “bean counting” going on comparing the VSU (Ukie) forces and LDNR forces.  As with all bean counting, this is nonsensical from a military point of view.  I cannot write up a detail lecture here, but I want to point out a few key military concepts. Counting the forces along the line of contact (aka ” Forward Line of Own Troops” (FLOT) or “Forward Edge of Battle Area” (FEBA)) makes no sense since military forces do not attack “full front”.  You might have heard the rule of thumb (no more than just that!!) that you need a force ratio of about 3:1 in favor of an attacking force to overcome the enemy defenses.  As all rules of thumb, this is not quite true, but it useful because it brings in the notion of concentration of forces along the main axis/axes of attack.

Here is Andrei's opening broadside which makes it necessary to read the whole article. Andrei also writes about Russia's Black Sea Fleet. This Fleet today started its exercises with 20 ships, subs and vessels--just in case--to remind NATO that the Black Sea is Russia's internal lake de facto or, if one wishes, Russia's own barrel with fish swimming in it, which creates what is known as target rich environment.  RT (using a dramatic music) has shown today some of the ships of the Fleet setting sail to the open sea. 

My estimates of the first salvo by ships and subs only of the Fleet (I don't count Fleet's attached units ground-based systems) is anywhere between 70 to 80 both anti-shipping and land-attack cruise missiles, albeit the issue of anti-shipping (Sea Denial) role can easily be assigned to primarily land-based Bastions which control all of the Black Sea. So, there you go. As you know the US today has given written response to Russia, which Lavrov said he wouldn't make public on the request of the US side but he says public will know the essence of those responses.

Drowned In the Informational Noise.

It is like a famous saying--one cannot be slightly pregnant. So, if after very many days of Russia being literally hours away from "invading Ukraine", namely for 64 days (63 on the moment Bernhard of Moon of Alabama counted), one has to begin to suspect that maybe Russia after all wasn't  getting all ready to "invade" at all. Now, after yet another FUBAR by Anglo-American "intelligence" and "diplomats" amplified by Goebbelsonean propaganda known as MSM, there is an acute necessity to hide obvious facts behind the wall of verbose BS. Indeed, how can you explain this:

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that “obviously we’re mindful of things that the Russians could do that would potentially give us indications of some sort of imminent incursion.” However, he went on, “we’re not there yet, but we are watching for those indicators very, very closely.”  

In related news, intelligence people are still involved in the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and they should find them any minute now.  I can only imagine how the cabal of the US "diplomats" and "spies", many of who were subjected to Anglo-American version of history and have been taught geopolitics by such people as late Zbig and his many followers, are finding out now that, in fact, not only Russia doesn't need Ukraine but she radically, same as overwhelming majority of Russians, doesn't want it. So many careers, so many reputations, fake as most  of them are in UK and US geopolitical "academe", have been now completely discredited by this fact. So many people sucked on the fat teat of the think-tankdom and abused grants and tenures by pretending that they knew Soviet Union or know modern Russia, that seeing the fundamentals of their world view, however ignorant, to be so ruthlessly smashed by the reality should be pretty disheartening. 

One doesn't have many chances to state his or her academic case in geopolitics due to much longer time-wise processes shaping geopolitical reality when compared to a duration of a single human life, so the probability of a strategic mistake is very high. So, one has to beware of a very high threshold for accuracy when trying to say something about the state of the global affairs. One doesn't need to go far to recall how Fukuyama failed at "looking into the future" and how Brzezinski laid down the foundation for one of the major factors which played into the running the United States into the ground. So, it is not just about the United States hating to look, not to mention actual being, weak, it is also a matter of many people who dealt with pseudo-academic BS in and around London and D.C. trying to save whatever "reputation" and following they obtained, preaching the gospel whose meaning they never understood. I speak about it today here a little bit. 

Is Ischenko prophetic in terms of false flag being done against Ukie government itself? One cannot exclude such a possibility. But we'll see. Meanwhile Russian and Chinese Navies train in the Arabian Sea yesterday:

 

Just in case. Will see what Putin and Xi will decide in Beijing. I think time when China may need to "come out" of her shell is here. Will she? Will learn soon enough.

Good Quote With Some Caveats.

US Responsible Statecraft Institute held a symposium titled: What would US intervention in Ukraine really look like? Obviously the US can not "intervene" since it has neither required force nor resources. But I disagree with Macgregor's assessment in one very important respect:

The talks between Secretary of State Blinken and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drag on without result. Meanwhile, the Russian military buildup continues without interruption. All of the NATO militaries including United States Forces are turning out to be ‘too late to change the outcome’. It seems that all NATO can do is sit and watch Russia intervene at will in eastern and southern Ukraine. Having failed for at least 20 years to acknowledge Moscow’s legitimate security interests in Ukraine, Washington and its allies will inevitably confront new facts on the ground. The real question for Washington is whether it wishes to live in a state of perpetual conflict or crisis with Moscow? If Washington declines to recognize that Moscow’s interests in the region outweigh its own, Washington may watch as its allies in Europe gradually fade away. Germany, arguably, the cornerstone in NATO’s edifice, is already signaling its readiness to pursue a new policy path toward Moscow that diverges sharply from Washington’s. How many others will follow the German path before NATO ceases to have any real meaning?

He doesn't understand how European "elites" abhor Russians. EU is a genuine article and, unlike the US whose people, for the most part, bar some mental cases of US fake-Christian fundamentalists and coastal cities' fake "intellectuals" and neocons, are normal folks (not to mention the fact that Russian and US rednecks are soulmates) who do not really hate Russians, huge segments of European population are genuine Russophobes. They hate Russia and they genuinely fear her and Russian people. In other words, European's "divergence" is a tactical, not a fundamental, one and EU will continue to hate Russians no matter what, even if for the own gain. That is why Russia reoriented herself to the East.

Me Talking About 50,000.

In reality it is 8,500 without orders. So, PR continues and the whole thing becomes really stale by now. 

Meanwhile, Baltic Fleet gets its corvettes going.
 

Just in case. Do they carry those 500+ kilometer range X-35s? Who knows, wink, wink.

Pepe Escobar's Excellent Summary.

Of Iran's President Raisi visit o Russia. This quote is of a great importance:

A new Eurasia-led order encompassing the vast majority of the world’s population is a work in fast progress. China using Eurasia as the larger stage to upgrade its global role, in parallel to the fast-evolving Sino-Russian-Iranian interaction, carries larger than life implications for the Western gatekeepers of the imperial ‘rules-based order.’ The de-Westernization of globalization, from a Chinese point of view, does involve a completely new terminology (‘community of shared destiny’). And there are hardly more glaring examples of ‘shared destiny’ than its deeper interconnection with both Russia and Iran. One of the crucial geopolitical questions of our time is how an emergent, supposedly Chinese hegemony will articulate itself. If actions speak louder than words, then Sino-hegemony looks loose, malleable and inclusive, starkly different to the US variety. For one, it concerns the absolute majority of the Global South, which will be involved and vocal. Iran is one of the leaders of the Global South. Russia, deeply implicated in de-Westernizing global governance, holds a unique position – diplomatically, militarily, as an energy provider – as the special conduit between East and West: the irreplaceable Eurasian bridge, and the guarantor of Global South stability. All of that is at play now. It is no wonder that the leaders of the three main Eurasian powers are meeting and holding discussions in person, within just a matter of days. As the Atlanticist axis drowns in hubris, arrogance, and incompetence, welcome to the lineaments of the Eurasian, post-Western world.

Read the whole thing at Saker's blog. It is written by a man with a keen understanding of the region.  It also adds to the picture which Western "elites" must grasp in order to survive in one form or another: Russia made a decision to break off the combined West long time ago, we are just seeing this decision being carried out. Combined West is not West it used to be anymore and is morally, culturally and intellectually malignant. I was on record for years calling for a new Iron Curtain in order to prevent the spread of a social disease from the decomposing West. At this stage I don't see how Western Europe could be saved, considering who runs it and majority of its population still believing that the gravy train of EU "socialism" and welfare may accelerate yet again. It will not, it is in a process of grinding to a complete halt with no chances moving ever again--mechanisms are broken down and there is no fuel to run it. It is basic modern economy logic. I mean real economy, of course, not a BS of stock exchanges and currency speculators.

Meat Loaf, R.I.P.

I cannot believe this(((

Marvin Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, has died at the age of 74, a representative for the musician confirmed to Fox News. A rep said on his Facebook page: "Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight with his wife Deborah by his side. Daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends have been with him throughout the last 24 hours." The singer’s career spanned six decades and he was in dozens of movies, including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Fight Club" and "Wayne's World." 

A genuine, genuine talent and one of the best rock-voices in history.  

R.I.P., legend.

It Is Friday. Chrysta Bell, Help Us.

Let's relax and enjoy a true art of incomparable Chrysta Bell from her latest album. That is what you get when you are THE muse of David Lynch and are an enormous talent in your own right. That feels like a finest cognac, or, in my case, the most delicate and finest of whiskeys.  

Exquisite, simply exquisite musically and visually.

That's Gotta Hurt.

But it is inevitable that points that really matter will be brought up. It is also not surprising that Tucker is the one who brings them. While I somewhat disagree with overly alarmist points about the US being sucked into the war with Russia, it goes without saying that at least some people in Pentagon and CIA have an idea about what it means, and, frankly, Tucker speaks about. But what he says between 4:50 and 4:58 is the point hidden deeply, away from the attention of the American public. 

The whole mythology of the "finest fighting force in history" is built around a single event of beating the shit out of the backward third world Saddam's Army after half-a-year of assembling and predeploying Coalition Troops in the area while bombing the shit out of Iraq with impunity, because of the ancient Iraqi air-defense and de facto non-functional air force. That's it. It's like a credit history and they don't want to remind about it to Americans by means of obfuscating facts. The military where pompous mediocrity Patton is considered a "great tactician", never mind he never fought a first rate Wehrmacht at the top of its power, not to mention sappy sentimental, completely contrived, BS of totally mythical, non-existent that is, "Patton-Rommel rivalry", is a good indicator that something is wrong with facts on the ground. I am not even sure Rommel, himself grossly inflated in his abilities by Monty and Churchill to inflate their role in WW II, knew who Patton was. And that's just one example out of many. Tucker said it, loud and clear. So, Tucker, yes, there are many of those who lost those five wars who still think that they can win a modern 21st century war with the 20th century force structure and TOE. 

Weekend Is Coming.

So I decided to try to say something coherent in the first day when I don't have to eat pain-killers in the industrial amounts.  So, here is my slightly disfigured (after root canal and several rounds of lidocaine due to resistance to numbing in this particular case on Wednesday, lucky me) face. 

In related news, Andrei Raevsky (The Saker) sent me this: 

@Saker the numbers are from SimilarWeb, a 3rd party traffic estimation agency. I run a SEO agency myself as one of my businesses, and generally their numbers are fairly reliable (though sometimes they can differ from real ones as provided by G Analytics or similar on-site counters by a factor of 0.5..2). comparing Similarweb numbers between different sites is almost always objective, though. you can check them all out for yourself if you install the free Chrome/Firefox Similarweb extension. BTW, Andrei Martyanov blog’s numbers are: 662k monthly visits, 43% bounce, 02:35 avg visit. which is only slightly less than thesaker.is.

The reason this came into focus is the fact that The Saker's famous blog is doing very well beating in rankings many prominent sites and blogs. You can see Andrei's rank here. I am not specialist in all those rankings but I certainly can see the numbers of daily visits to this blog and they grow, no doubt about it. Hey, good that my opinion seems to matter. I am just trying to do my job and, incidentally, am in a transition to a full time writing and making videos. In this case those numbers have an impact through Patreon, however indirectly. So, these are the news. I will post later a wonderful piece of music by incomparable Chrysta Bell--Agent Tammy Preston in Twin Peaks: The Return and real life muse of David Lynch--an incredible art those people make. It requires a separate post.

Good God!

Russia is being damaged as I type this because of millions upon millions of Russians having a severe sudden hernia symptoms due to a Homeric laughter after Mr. Blinken in his remarks "addressed" Russians with the BS of unimaginable proportions, starting at 1:08:00

I mean, there are good medications and treatments available for treating schizophrenia and delusion, but at this stage even that may not be enough to treat a severe case of the US "diplomacy" parading itself as a bunch of ignorant clowns not understanding that Russians are not that stupid. But as great American Mark Twain once stated:

“Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” 

I understand that this sounds very unfair as a blanket statement but US "diplomacy" in general is not a diplomacy--it is a bunch of lawyers who are trained to spew same BS time after time and avoid any substantive answers to anything. Part of it is because they don't know any better. And, yes, Blinken and his ilk they do think that Russians are morons, because they never knew real ones, with the exception of Russian diplomats, and have experience only with fringe Russophobic groups (such as Navalny's org) of freaks who are morons and who supply the US with expertise based entirely on BS. Recall this "intelligence professional" Rebekah Koffler who wouldn't know shit from shinola but still sold, successfully, her comical "knowledge of Russia's strategic culture" to US "intelligence".  No shit, that is why the US finds itself where it is today. Who needs Russian psyops when one has "experts" such as Solzhenitsyn, Koffman, Bezmenov or whoever "advises" Mr. Blinken in State Department on Russia. My question, however, is simple--if they know that they preach BS what is then the level of psychopathy in these people that that can live with this. If, on the other hand, they are true believers I think Russia did absolutely the right thing by putting them against the wall and refusing to hold "secret negotiations" and demanded public answers. Read Mark Twain's quote, you do not argue with idiots. 

In related news and approaching Friday. I love this meme from 1970s, because it applies to me fully too))

The top: when you tell about the USSR. The bottom: how you actually looked in the USSR. Those bell bottoms, Good God! LOL.

America Needs War.

Desperately. In this particular instance the war is more needed on Democrat's side of the isle  due to a variety of reasons, which are:

1. US being caught in the Catch 22 of Russia's "ultimatum" and having no other ideas about how to extricate itself from Ukraine's conundrum;

2. The coming trashing of Democrats at the upcoming mid-terms, aggravated by POTUS' "excellent" rating;

3. With Democrats' agenda imploding as I type this and massive systemic crisis engulfing combined West.

The US, being geopolitically one trick pony, is hell-bent on pushing Russia towards invasion of the country Russians neither want nor need and would prefer NATO (and US with EU) cleaning up and paying for the mess they created in 404. The US desire is so strong that good ol' Joe went on record today. 

President Biden addressed the brewing conflict between Russia and Ukraine during a press briefing Wednesday, saying of Russian President Vladimir Putin, "my guess is he will move in."    

Of course,  it remains a matter of speculation on what conflict POTUS had in mind (maybe he meant China and Taiwan, or whatever), but the truth is--Washington  is desperate. So much so that it continues to issue empty threats promising Russia a "catastrophe" and even forbidding Russia any operations with the US Dollar (in Russian). I slowly reach for a pop-corn bucket.  Not to be outdone, of course, are all kinds of professional abusers of legislative positions such as Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy promising: 

Sen. Chris Murphy appeared Tuesday on Anderson Cooper 360, where the Connecticut Democrat addressed the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Russia now reportedly having hundreds of thousands of troops posted at the Ukrainian border. Though Russia invaded Crimea, a pro-Russia area of Ukraine, in 2014 with little pushback, Murphy said things would go much differently if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to invade. “There is going to be continued U.S. assistance, assistance to an army that’s ready to fight and a population that is not just going to let Russia march into the center of Ukraine,” Murphy said. “Putin seems to be getting absolutely horrible advice. People telling him he is going to be greeted as some kind of liberator in a country that has turned against Russia over the last 10 years and is going to fight for its survival.”

Well, for starters you can look up this Senator's biography filled with studies of combined arms operations, deployments into operational zones, degrees in weapon system integrations... Ah, wait, I am screwing with you. Senator's pathos about "army that's ready to fight" and, especially, which is funny, about population are the occasions on which I always like to enroll the help from Sergei Victorovich Lavrov:

because at this stage one has to ask a question: how else these people want to embarrass their own country by the virtue of them being elected to the positions they are utterly unqualified for? They literally have no grasp of the reality, especially economic one (forget military--it is impossible to explain to average US politician what it is) outside of their constituency. But hey, what do I know. People continue to ask me to comment on this or that statement or talking by one or the other American "expert" on Russia. Read my lips: bar some few exceptions, US academe, including those who specialize in Russia are not experts. They are narrative-mongers, majority of who have no serious skills, background nor experience in anything they try to "analyze" about Russia--this problem is systemic and is due to a complete corruption of the America's education, especially history and military history and over-saturation of the American body-politic by people without any serious education or lawyers. It is literally the situation of auto-mechanic with vocational school performing an open heart surgery and thinking that he knows what he is doing. You can easily predict the result, for a patient.    

Paul Craig Roberts' Broadside.

And this is a broadside I entirely agree with. In his latest PCR writes: 

As an old cold warrior as a member of the anti-Soviet Committee on the Present Danger and as a member of a secret presidential committee that helped Reagan end the Cold War, I can tell you that I am astonished that Washington has not heard what the Russians have, in all frankness, told them. If the Committee on the Present Danger had heard the Russians say this in the 1980s, we would have told President Reagan to acknowledge their concern and reduce the tension. Today the situation is so different that to an experienced cold warrior such as myself it is extremely scary. But the idiots in Washington, who face a far more powerful Russia armed with weapons that Washington can only dream about, have no fear. Washington, the collection of the most stupid and arrogant people in the world, is exposing human life to untold risk on the sole basis of Washington’s belief in its own omnipotence.

As many people, me included, are on record--the danger is not America's strength but its weakness which many in D.C. refuse to acknowledge due to hubris and sheer incompetence. As if echoing PCR's sentiment, yesterday Vladimir Solovyov spoke to State Duma's Chair of Committee on Defense, colonel-general Andrey Kartopolov, his biography speaks for itself.  Sadly, this important conversation is only in Russian. It is about possible war between Russia and NATO. 

Kartapolov is of extremely low opinion on European NATO members' military capabilities and is of somewhat better one on the US Armed Forces, but you can easily recognize that he tries to hide his real attitude behind the wall of a politeness. He also speaks in conclusion about the meaning of 3M22 Zircon and what it brings to the table. If anyone can translate or CC this conversation that would be greatly appreciated. This is not some "political" general speaking--the guy commanded Russia's ground forces in Syria at the height of combat operations there. I thought it was important to let you know about this conversation too.

Sitrep For 01/18/22.

My talking head. 

Germany behaves clearly strangely. To put it mildly.
 

They Missed Lessons...

Which is not surprising. For decades what passed in the West for military science was the ability to create bogus pseudo-military narratives saturated with relevant and not quotes from classic military thinkers--Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Delbruck, Mahan et al--in attempts to apply expired lessons of the past to modernity, or explain "tactics" in terms of what many professionals came to regard as a military porn. Some people from Cuban "think-tank" lacking understanding of real operational and strategic (I omit tactics here) dimension of the conflict between Russia in the West start their Cuba's "regime change" with a broadside of illiterate BS:

Carl von Clausewitz, the XIX Century Prussian military strategist, wrote that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is predicated on raw power and blackmail - and if needed murders and kidnappings both inside and outside Russia. His massive military buildup on Ukraine’s border and his threat to deploy troops “and infrastructure” in Cuba and Venezuela are aimed to force the Biden Administration and America’s allies to submit to his will. Comparisons with the 1962 October Missile Crisis that brought humanity to the brink of nuclear war are deceiving. Putin is no Nikita Khrushchev and Joe Biden is no John Kennedy.

I have no idea why these two Cuban ex-pats bring Cuban missile crisis here at all, not to mention the fact that they give a wrong representation of this crisis to start with. It was about US Jupiter ballistic missiles in Turkey which precipitated Cuban Missile Crisis which the authors of this piece forget. It is not surprising, considering a hysterical and strategically illiterate manifesto these people provided. Apart from the obvious lack of any touch with the reality in regards to Ukraine (I have no idea how some Ph.D. in Cuban History can have any ideas about the reality there), those people make two major, in fact gaping, mistakes. They state that: 

Washington’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan sent a message of weakness to America’s enemies that animated both Russia and China into a more aggressive posture in Ukraine, and Taiwan respectively.

I understand these two dudes (as well as their org) have an agenda to push but, come on, not by spewing an obvious BS which doesn't even pass the smell test in terms of proper timing. Do I need to remind these two "experts" (a euphemism for grant-abusers in all kinds of US ethnic agenda "think-tanks") events of 2008 or 2014, how about events of 2015. What about events of March 1, 2018, what about other events which provide an easily recognizable pattern of Russians knowing exactly what the US is militarily and economically. But I am sure, while pulling Clausewitz' abused quote about war (do these two "experts" even know the Deng Xiaoping's version of this dictum?), they call for shutting down of Nord Stream 2. Sure, let the US do this, I will need a bucket of pop-corn. Of course, our two strategic "thinkers" arrive, inevitably, to this conclusion:  

A weak America makes for a more dangerous and uncertain world because it encourages international aggression. Americans will support these and similar efforts that should not be a partisan issue.

I think these two agenda-pushers should ask another 100% USDA approved neocon and "strategic thinker" from their neck of the woods, Senator Marco Rubio. While this Senator, still reeling from the death of his and other GOP legislators' main benefactor Sheldon Adelson, tries to present (so cute) a threatening posture towards Russia, even this neocon can contradict these two "academics" and I quote: 

My entire life, I've been an unabashed believer in American exceptionalism and consistent evangelist of the American Dream. But when I ran for president, I learned that many Americans did not share my optimism. 

American Affairs, Common Good Capitalism: An Interview With Marco Rubio. Spring 2020, page 3.  

Oh boy, there is nothing more inspiring than America's ethnic lobbies ranging from AIPAC to Eastern European, to Latino to what have you, who push their own agendas most of which are not only in any way beneficial to the interests of the majority of Americans but more often than not run counter to them and are in the foundation of the present America's geopolitical and economic conundrum, especially when these agendas are pushed by people who are either ill-equipped or altogether are utterly unqualified for offering their advice on any geopolitical and military matter, especially in modern warfare paradigm. This piece by two Cuban "academics" is an exhibit A of utterly illiterate people in modern geopolitics offering their sophomoric thoughts. Especially when not understanding military-technological capabilities of Russia to counter-threat the US even without the use of Cuba.

In related news, on 20 January the session of State Duma will start with the address by the Iranian President Ebrakhim Raisi (in Russian), who will be in Moscow on personal invitation of Vladimir Putin. After that, Raisi will meet leaders of Islamic Ummah of Russia which is predominantly... Sunni. Time for a pop-corn. I should continue with my videos probably tomorrow.

When I Get Tired....

...from reading and hearing yet another pompous bullshit from some random British establishment or media representative, I always go for a jugular and... watch Duchess Kate Middleton and marvel at her real beauty and femininity. Boy, House of Windsor certainly scored 10 on this one, and I always laugh when some creep from paparazzi tries to compare Kate to late Princess Diana--there is no comparison, Kate outshines everyone who ever was in the limelight near Buckingham Palace for the last 50 years (maybe 100) by the order of magnitude.  

She is a truly beautiful woman who is a delight to look at (while the wife is not around) and she is the one who helps me to avoid questioning mental and cognitive abilities of the UK's political establishment, because in terms of morons per capita UK certainly gives the US a run for its money and sometimes even lovely Duchess cannot help. 

Enter yet another product of Sandhurst. 

Ben Wallace has accused Vladimir Putin of Tsarist ambitions as he said there will be “severe economic sanctions” if Ukraine is invaded. The Defence Secretary made his comments after high-stakes talks this week between Nato and Russia failed to find a solution to the Kremlin’s increasingly threatening behaviour towards its neighbour. Citing a 5,000-word essay that the Russian president wrote last summer entitled “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, Mr Wallace said that he had been unable to “separate” himself from Mr Putin’s belief that “Ukraine really is Russian”. “I’m concerned that what this is really about is President Putin’s legacy; that is about a false vision, a Russia that even the Tsars failed to create and consolidate – that is the Russia of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia,” he said. In a stark warning, Mr Wallace said that this “motto of the tsars for the Russian Empire” had “far deeper consequences for the security of Eastern Europe, because it doesn’t stop at Ukraine”. He likened Mr Putin’s further ambitions to “ethnonationalism”, cautioning that “in our history of Europe, ethnonationalism has led to some of the worst conflicts in the last millennium”.

Wallace, definitely, has issues with reading comprehension because both Putin's article and every other statement re: 404 after that was about the fact that Russia doesn't want any war with Ukraine and that Russia is fully content with Ukraine existing within the Germany-Austria framework, when Ukraine becomes a neutral independent country. Wallace also is a bit shaky on a "Tsarist thing" because he definitely doesn't know Russia's history, which is not surprising considering such Sandhurst's "products" as Antony Beavor who passes for "military historian" in Anglo-world and who is a proud heir to a British Russophobic propaganda purveyors. Just one example out of many. 

So, it will be really important to Wallace to resign himself to the fact that modern Russia has no intentions to create Russia per "tsarist vision" nor that Britain is an empire, but a second tier country which is economically, militarily, scientifically and culturally is dwarfed by Russia and no amount of pseudo-historic BS from 10 Downing Street and its structures ranging from MI-6 to Foreign Office can change this fact. In related news, Mr. Wallace should take a look at the calendar and take in a simple fact--it is 2022, not 19th century. It matters, really. But, as I said, a strategic constant is called constant for a reason and it is very simple--if it comes to it, Russia will be able to "regime change" in Kiev with all what comes with it and the combined West can do nothing about it, least of all UK. 

Per "sanctions", good God, Russia doesn't care and continues her withdrawal from the primarily US-controlled institutions at an accelerated rate. I am sure Vladimir Putin is still in deep depression that he will not be able to shop in Harrods or in some boutiques in Paris and Milan selling overpriced and overrated crap, wink-wink. of course, Russians love English Premier League and are still enamored by the classic English Literature, not to mention counting Beatles and Pink Floyd, among many others, as a pinnacle of British creative genius, but that's about it. UK is simply not that important anymore. 

In related comedy news:

The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials. The CIA-trained forces could soon play a critical role on Ukraine’s eastern border, where Russian troops have massed in what many fear is preparation for an invasion. The U.S. and Russia started security talks earlier this week in Geneva but have failed thus far to reach any concrete agreement.

Yes, we all saw how good CIA's "training" is in Afghanistan. Including CIA's tactical and situational (lack) of awareness, not to mention the fact that IF (i underscore it--IF) Russia DOES decide to settle Ukrainian issue, CIA should know, Russia has very good, in fact, outstanding ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Recon) complex and VSU and its numerous "trained" units will cease to exist really fast. Somebody explain to these CIA "instructors" what modern war is with such country as Russia. I think they missed a few important lessons on what it means to fight a real enemy. I hear Russia's SSO shaking in their boots from fear, not.

Victoria's Not So Secrets.

Vika shares here her experiences of life in Russia. But the funniest thing I found about her (positive) experiences is the fact that she feels "equal", meaning no racism. The reason I smiled about it and considering that she is married to a Russian guy Fedor, is the fact that Vika like a fine wine gets better and better, more beautiful with every passing year and majority of Russian guys know a true femininity and beauty when they see it. Vika qualifies 150% and nobody cares about her skin color--she is simply deadly cute in her own right. 

It is Friday, so I decided to lighten things up a bit. Since its Friday:
 

This is the sound which is missing badly in music today.

My Attempt...

To give some operational perspective. 

It is technical with some of it already described in this blog and yes, it doesn't generate as much response as other videos because it is technical and it has some math.

My Head Talking About Zircon And Other Things.

Me, trying to stay current. 

Including trying to convince people that "disintegration" is a very bad idea. But then again, a large portion of US media are war criminals who push a suicide on the nation (or what's left of it, anyway) and we are talking about utterly uncultured and uneducated people.

3M22 Zircon Is Officially Accepted For Service.

 For surface ships as standard weapon system. TASS reports:

МОСКВА, 13 января. /ТАСС/. Госкомиссия по итогам государственных испытаний рекомендовала принять гиперзвуковую крылатую ракету "Циркон" на вооружение надводных кораблей Военно-морского флота (ВМФ) России. Об этом ТАСС сообщил источник, близкий к военному ведомству."Госкомиссия по итогам государственных испытаний гиперзвуковой ракеты "Циркон" с надводного носителя рекомендовала принять ее на вооружение надводных кораблей ВМФ России", - сказал он.По данным собеседника агентства, испытания "Циркона" с подводного носителя после двух выполненных осенью 2021 года успешных пусков должны продолжиться в 2024 году.

Translation:  MOSCOW, January 13. / TASS /. Based on the results of state tests, the State Commission recommended that the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile be deployed on surface ships of the Russian Navy. This was reported to TASS by a source close to the military department. "Based on the results of state tests of the Zircon hypersonic missile from a surface carrier, the State Commission recommended that it be adopted by surface ships of the Russian Navy," he said. According to the interlocutor of the agency, tests of Zircon from an underwater carrier after two successful launches performed in the fall of 2021 should continue in 2024.

At this stage the carriers of Zirkon are FFGs pr. 22350 (Admiral Gorshkov-class), pr. 20385 Corvettes and modernized pr. 1155 FFGs, Udaloy-class (see Marshal Shaposhnikov). All in all we can see already at least 5 Zircon carriers afloat in Russia's surface fleet with the number growing to 11 by mid 2020s, which, by that time submarine carriers of Zircon also adding to the number of carriers. Welcome to the new era of the naval warfare. I assume that some of the Karakurts (pr. 22800) and pr. 21631 Buyan class will also be able to carry Zircon or its "smaller" 500 kilometer range version Zircon Llite. And, of course, once completed, Admiral Nakhimov nuclear battlecruiser will carry a shitload of Zircons. We can only guess how many, since among 174 VLS on Nakhimov, 80 will be loaded with anti-surface missiles. Now, we expect new Vladimir Putin's address to Federal Assembly fairly soon (it was expected, quoting Peskov, "early in 2022"), so will see what other things Putin will be talking about. That gives a new meaning to Russia demanding the US to either accept or decline officially the terms of Russia's security arrangement. Introduction of Zircon into service also means, most likely, that land-based version is either ready or is nearing a completion. Not that Russia doesn't have other means to make NATO feel very nervous. New M=12+ and 1500 kilometer range 3M22M for surface combatants is most likely not far away either.