Small Things Which Speak Volumes.

You remember these girls, right?  

Then, of course, Natalia Kachura singing it (without Margarita Lisovina, who was pregnant and ready to give birth, AFAIK) with Victoria Daineko who "substituted" for Margarita. 

In a front of 80,000+ spectators in Luzhniki. On Victory Day Natalia received this:

... from the President of Russian Federation. This is the insight into what Kremlin thinks (as does overwhelming majority of Russian citizens) about SMO. More important than any "intelligence assessments". 

In related news, attention Ukie IPSO trolls and all other "assets" who read and try to trash this blog, here is Larry Johnson about all those super-duper boys encountering a REAL war. Yeah, I know, I reiterate--this is not Iraq or Afghanistan,  not even Vietnam. 

The “super sniper” who goes by the nom-de-guerre Wali rather boastfully went to Ukraine in March to fight on the Ukrainian side “because they want to be European and not Russian”. The “world’s deadliest sniper”, a former Canadian soldier with experience in Afghanistan, he was capable of killing up to 40 men a day. Well, he’s back home now and glad to be. Things didn’t go as he expected – not a fun holiday plinking lots of Russians and running up his score. Quite the opposite in fact. “Hell” says his mate “Shadow”. And no sniping either, just incoming huge explosions. “Shadow” won’t be returning to the front either – “I’ll just stay here in Lviv and be as useful as I can be.” “Wali” tells the same stories and the final experience described by “Shadow” seems to have been enough for him too.

Their stories mimic testimonies from many other foreign fighters who rushed into Ukraine following Zelinsky’s invitation. Chaos and disorganization are common complaints; many say that they have to equip and feed themselves; others that the Ukrainian high command treats them as expendable. The foreign groups themselves often suffer from internal confusions. The Russian strike on the Yavoriv training base on 14 March killed quite a few of them and many lost their taste for fighting and left afterwards. The British Sun newspaper goes over the top on one surrendered British “hero” but also reports no food, no ammunition and endless artillery bombardment. For many the message now is don’t go, it’s a trap.

You see, meeting Mr. Kalibr or laser-guided Mr. Krasnopol, or  T-72B3 rolling over you (believe me, I know, I had T-62 rolling over me and that one was "friendly") and being shell-shocked 24/7 is not the same as blowing Pushtu weddings from the drone sitting somewhere in Rammstein or Kuwait, or facing small arms fire from people in sandals. No, real war is when you experience uncertainty if you are being tracked by Kalashnikov Concern drones already or you are still in the general area of Liana's coverage and they decide in Moscow what to do with your location--turn it into the parking lot right now or wait a little bit longer and then send in the cavalry like Ka-52s and Mi-35s. You know, those "small things" at war with the enemy who not only shoots back but has a much bigger gun and really wants you dead. I bet that this is not how they thought about war in D.C.