One of the great American influences. Bike Show in... no, not Sturgis but in Crimea near Sevastopol and it is not that young running in its second decade.
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Russian "Sturgis"...
Bernhard Commented On Larry's Superb Piece.
Yesterday, Larry demolished what passes in the US for main stream "journalism" by exposing utter BS they publish about Ukraine and SMO, specifically NYT and WaPo.
Read the whole thing at Larry's excellent blog. But Bernhard of MoA didn't just read Larry's piece, he, in typical methodical Bernhard's manner, expanded and provided some additional insights. As Bernhard states:
Exactly, and Bernhard lists those "sources" and then concludes:
What is terrifying about such pieces is that 'officials' in Washington and Europe are actually reading such stuff and come to believe in it. They are consuming the myths they themselves produce and then act on them. They thereby ignore history, basic facts and the very real life of the people who become casualties of their wars.
Exactly! Somebody, a few years ago, complained that Louis C.K., the comic, was doing his Russian "routine", laughing at Russia he visited in 1990s. In 2015-16 he still thought that it was the same Russia, he never even bothered to visit Russia in 2016 and he still thought about this grim crime-ridden miserable place he saw in 1990s. This is the problem for the US, including also the problem that overwhelming majority of the US decision-makers are civilians with humanities degrees who never served a day in the uniform and who have huge difficulties with grasping even basic physics and mathematics principles behind modern warfare and as a result they tend to rely on absolutely the same ignoramuses from US media, who are in the business of spreading BS.
Sadly, even professionals, who should know better sometime don't know better. I was bombarded in the comments sections to my videos with questions like: but Prof. Postol says that Russian Early Warning System sucks compared to the American one.(c) After that even Douglas MacGregor repeats that, despite obviously missing the caveat by the same Prof. Postol that he was basing his opinion on late 1990s-early 2000s data. It has been more than 20 years since then. Remember? I had to write a separate post about this horrendous misperception.
And this is just one example out of very many. Now to today's news, which reminds me the news from 1944 and Patton's (yes, yes, this "genius for war") Lorraine Campaign.
Well, get a load of this per today's briefing by Russia's MOD. As Konashenkov states today:
Translation: “Due to heavy losses, the Zelensky regime is taking measures to replenish the shortfall in the personnel of Ukrainian formations in the combat zone in Donbass. Thus, a decision was made to send mobilized citizens to the front line ahead of schedule, who began training at the training center of the 72nd mechanized brigade in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Kyiv region. Together with them, the wounded who were in hospitals are also sent, without waiting for them to complete the full course of rehabilitation after injuries."
You get the picture. Once one starts drafting 65 year olds, it is everything one needs to know about the state of the affairs on the front. For references see again the Patton's Lorraine Campaign. I will also be talking about what modern ISR complex is, including this Western and fanboys' fetish of UAVs and how modern (I stress again--modern) ISR complex is way more (much-much more) than mere UAVs.
Yes, yes, can you imagine--those backward Rooskies can launch not just satellites, but launch them when they want and however they want, not to mention the fact that those satellites nowadays are built around Russian-made microelectronics. Here, Russians are getting ready to start launching Sfera-program satellites (Skif series) for a high speed internet for Russia. And, naturally, all Western components were fast replaced by Russian-made ones (in Russian). Louis C.K. I am calling on you, granted that nowadays West made traveling to Russia extremely difficult, just get visa and go visit Russia today and see the difference between 1990s and 2022--you know, will be good for your stand up routine and your OODA loop.
Friday, August 5, 2022
Putting Out The Fire With A Gasoline. Friday...
And doing it ever since. It boggles mind to think about how much real talent emerged from UK in 1960s through 1980s. Especially against the modern day depravity and lack of real talent.
Note To Myself...
Don't plan any trips to Spain. Not that I wanted to.
Mind you, Europe did it to herself, so I have to stop using this caveat that I sympathize with Europeans. You made your own bed, now sleep in it.
If You Ever Needed Any Proof...
A whorehouse filled with former spooks, Amnesty International, suddenly, after four months noticed:
Oh, please. You can read the whole report here. The hypocrisy of this is so obvious that one really has to question main reasons behind this "discovery" by enablers of West's war crimes. The main reasons, however, are very easy to spot. The stream of documents confirming almost compete demolition of regular VSU continues to gain strength, and it is also coming from... Ukraine itself.
In related news, I want to directly talk to God and I demand it immediately, while reading famous fairy tale of Fisherman and Gold Fish. Speaking of which, I mean China.
Upon my video on situation with Taiwan, as was expected, I was bombarded by accusations of "demeaning" China, of "underestimating" her and other sins of this nature. I want to respond to all "critics"--I don't DO pleasantries, I am into business of sober assessment of geopolitical (a euphemism for military-industrial capability) balance. All of those "accusers" miss completely my every praise of China's achievements, but immediately go bananas when I point out things which do define this very geopolitical balance.
1. Many continue to forget that China still remains a very "good boy" for the US when it comes to sanctions against Russia. Yes, China buys Russia's energy, but so does USA, who exempted it, together with other strategic resources, from sanctions. Should I ignore this fact for the sake of Russian-Chinese friendship? Ask yourself a question why Russia grows her indigenous microelectronics industry with lighting speed? Well, because China is in no hurry to provide Russia with it. I can sit here and write this list for 24 hours.
2. Many still do not understand that militarily and technologically China lags behind both US and Russia. It is a hard cold fact which many prefer to ignore. Yet, the list of crucial military and dual-use technologies where China lags, not to speak of operational and strategic experience, is vast. It takes a lot of effort to explain to people what it takes to build and operate effectively such huge military organizations as advanced submarine force, carrier task groups or air force, among many others. Sorry to break it for you, China lags here, and this is not just my opinion, it is opinion of Russian military professionals who were directly involved militarily with Chinese. China still has a long way to go here.
And that is why it explains this today, as was predicted:
Thursday, August 4, 2022
That's The American "Spirit".
He is a "volunteer" Benjamin Velcro. He calls himself a "professional soldier."
Where, Let Me Ask, Where...
... do they take their numbers from? It is no wonder that US and UK run VSU "operations" are not only defeated, but expose a complete professional inadequacy of US and UK military operational planning. It is bad and unprofessional which calls in question military professionalism of those who "plan" them. Evidently, issues of awareness and knowing "thy enemy" are not taught in Anglo-American military educational facilities anymore. No wonder. Daniel Davies writes a fantastical piece in which he concludes:
I am not going to talk here about absolutely bizarre "interpretation" of Red Army's Kursk Strategic Defensive Operation July 5-23, 1943, how it was known in USSR and was in response to Wehrmacht's Operation Zitadelle (Citadel) and which saw human, armor and air carnage of unimaginable proportions, which resulted in final strategic shift of the WW II in Europe after which the Blitzkrieg met its match. But the issue, apart from Davies' obvious sheer fantasy about Kherson, is the fact of this, I quote it again:
In the Battle of Kursk, for example, the USSR was willing to throw over two million men into the meat grinder against the German Wehrmaht in a massive tank battle. The Soviet Union sacrificed 800,000 troops lost, but inflicted upwards of 200,000 casualties on the Germans in the process.
Davies references the US History Channel, evidently not understanding, that most of the Anglo-American WW II historiography of the Eastern Front is based on... right, German sources, much of which are self-serving in trying to "explain" how, after what amounts in German "sources" of Eastern Front, Red Army was losing 1,000 soldiers for 10 of Wehrmacht's, of 100 combat aircraft for 1 lost Luftwaffe fighter, or 100 T-34s for 2 or 3 Tigers, those incompetent Russkies, somehow crushed unified forces of Europe, from Finland to Germany, to Italy, to Hungary, Romania and other armies and somehow, obviously because of "bloody Stalin" ended up in Berlin and hoisted the Red Flag over Reichstag in May of 1945.
Well, we will start with this, and this is old, from 1996 by Glantz, who later, together with House elevated even more the Wehrmacht's "historical" perceptions' influences on the American view of the Eastern Front:
But let's address the issue of Red Army's "sacrificed 800,000 troops". We will open the most authoritative source of Red Army's losses and this is, of course, Krivosheev's publications meticulously derived from all available Russian Defense Ministry WW II archives. Let's take a look at the "spread" so to speak of Kursk Strategic Defensive Operation, which could be counted as "Counter-Citadel." Here is the table from Krivosheev's 2001 Rossiya i SSSR v voynah XX veka: poteri vooruzhyonnyh sil. Statisticheskoe issledovanie (in Russian). Moscow: OLMA-Press. ISBN 5-224-01515-4.
Excellent Piece By Larry.
Larry asks important question:
Read this excellent piece at Larry's blog. It is this ever important issue of situational (I know where my enemy is) and tactical (I know what my enemy is going to do) awareness which is applicable not just to war but to human activity as a whole. That is why also intelligence craft exists from good ol' human spies to space-based ISR assets.
It goes without saying that the United States lacks understanding of her "enemies" completely. And it is dangerous, as Larry concludes:
We face a comparable dilemma in the breakdown of communication between Washington and Beijing. False assumptions reinforced by wrong conclusions almost inevitably lead to a deadly miscalculation. Normally, the national intelligence agencies of a nation are supposed to provide a dose of truth and reality. That is the real danger facing America now. The CIA and the FBI are politically compromised and are institutionally averse to telling the President and his team they are wrong. While I no longer have access to current U.S. intelligence, I still hear things through the grapevine of former colleagues and the news is unsettling. There was a time when there were “Dutch Uncles” in the CIA. A “Dutch Uncle” is one who admonishes sternly and bluntly for the benefit of the recipient. Instead of a Dutch Uncle, the intelligence community is behaving more like Wormtongue, a rogue villain in Lord of the Rings. A dangerous situation when our leaders need to understand correctly what the other “guys” think.
Should have the United States known what they were dealing with in terms of Russia in 2014, there would have been a higher probability of this Ukrainian clusterfuck being avoided. But they seem to never learn, and now, they face a complete military and political disaster and a crashing defeat of their "plans", which have been nothing more than practical "sublimation" of the delusions, ignorance and incompetence of people who conceived them. As Mark Chapman, in one of the most hilarious hyperbole I read in years, noted when talking about a particular BSer, who do populate plans-making circles in the West:
The foregoing considered, it will not surprise you, then, that I would be as likely to eat soup made from boiling turnips and Boris Johnson’s bicycle seat as I would be to pay attention to further gobbling from Lucasville.
That's the only way of dealing with people, who, as Larry puts it, do not get that: It Is Critical to Understand What the Other “guy” Thinks.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
He Can Not Take It Any Longer.
Good. So, there is still some integrity to be found...
Geopolitical Aikido.
Here is description of Aikido principles:
A-ha, using opponent's attack momentum. Well, Vladimir Putin, a judoka of repute is a good friend with Steven Seagal who is 7th dan master of Aikido. Otherwise how can one explain this:
To say that I laughed is to say nothing. Apart from geopolitical Aikido, this whole thing is also an Exhibit A of 80th level trolling. Redirecting of the opponent's attack momentum(c). Of course, EU has a choice--it is SP2, LOL. But EU will have to utterly humiliate itself to accept this option. Well, what can I say--it is their problem, not Russia's.
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Gallup Poll And What Really Matters.
What really matters (see in full here):
On a Lighter Note.
1. Guys, keep in mind--we can discuss the hell out of this situation with Taiwan, and please, do, as long as it stays civil, but my suggestion, as I concluded my previous post--keep watching, we'll know where it all will go very soon.
2.The Babylon Bee (wink, wink) reports, and give them the credit where the credit is due--the logic is impeccable, LOL.
You see?
At publishing time, OPEC confirmed that they were just waiting for Biden to burn through all of America's strategic oil reserves after which they will quadruple oil prices.
Absolutely.
OK, Let's Cut The Crap...
... from the start--China got humiliated. There is no other way about it. Let me turn on here the famous Russian Вы не понимаете, Это Другое (You don't understand, This is Different) mode, usually used by Russia's pro-western liberda when trying to whitewash West's crimes and idiocy. Here it is:
Ну и зачем было столько нагонять жутей, пугать людей, шум поднимать, когда можно было так спокойно дать прилететь бедной старушке в Тайвань?
😂😂😂😂
Можно же было тихо и молча всё завершить, так нет, бедную бабусю несколько часов пугали истребителями, ПВО, эсминцами и громкими заявлениями.
Translation: Why did they engage in fear-mongering, scaring people, creating the noise, when one could have allowed poor grandma to calmly fly to Taiwan. Everything could have been arranged calmly, silently, but no, poor grandma was being frightened with fighters, Air Defense, destroyers and loud statements.
I understand clearly the disappointment of many anti-globalists and China's sympathizers when observing this. I agree with Ramzan, though, as in a good fight--if you show your weapon, you better use it when time comes, otherwise keep it to yourself. But why this "This is Different" meme? Let me explain. As famous re-imagining of Nixon's Vietnam War "Peace with Honor" phrase goes: those who settle for peace with honor, get neither peace nor honor. The US can tell a lot about this issue, since we saw it on full display in Afghanistan last year. It took Russia several beatings of the US lap-dogs into bloody pulp starting in 2008 with Georgia, then in Syria and now in Ukraine, until Washington returned to its natural state of being a bellicose bully but scared shitless of engaging directly with Russia.
This all, despite the fact that the United States IS involved directly, as an example, in command-controlling and providing ISR to their Kiev SOBs. As the representative of Ukies' military intelligence (GUR) Vadim Skibitsky boasted to Telegraph (in Russian), including admitting the fact that the US is directly involved even in choosing targets for HIMARS. Primarily against civilians. But the US knows that it will be annihilated when it tries to "probe" a direct war with Russia even in fully conventional framework. It will be the US which will be forced towards nuclear threshold the moment it will begin to sustain losses it never encountered in its history. But this is not the case with China!
The obvious "this is different" issue behind Pelosi's PR escapades is the fact about which I write for years ad nauseam, such as here, among many other posts: the United States doesn't know how and cannot fight a serious enemy on the ground, but there is absolutely no doubt about the United States being a naval power, which DOES think and, in fact, HAS the means to impose some solution on China as long as the naval forces are involved directly. It is the only field in which the United States has an upper hand over China. I already presented on a number of occasions the comparison between he US Navy's and PLAN's submarine forces. Taiwan is an island, and unlike Georgia, let alone Syria and most of Ukraine, which Russia never declared as its territories, Taiwan for China is a huge, existential issue. Taiwan officially is considered by international community as part of mainland China, which has its semi-official status "temporarily". But because it is the island, and because the United States Navy can bring a massive firepower near it, the US has the escalation dominance here. And China knows it and she blinked.
Moreover, main China's mistake was this, however justified, bellicose rhetoric preceding walking mummy's visit to Taiwan and now the precedent had been created and IT IS already being spun by media. Of course, there is a school of thought which promotes the view that China prevented a nuclear war. I don't know, what I know for sure is this:
China begins military drills near Taiwan – reports
Should have been ongoing well before Pelosi's plane took off from the US and the scale of those drills, including at least the deployment of the Chinese Air Force, should have been massive, presenting a real threat in the area for any unauthorized flight. But now we may have on our hands, actually, a bigger problem--with China being forced to respond in such a way that she is not perceived as a "paper tiger" and that may (I underscore it--may, it is not preordained) lead to an attempt on Taiwan and that may involve the US Navy, especially its submarine force, which theoretically CAN score some significant military points, which are desperately needed for demoralized and economically strained United States in general and Biden Administration in particular. This is the price of the moment of weakness and indecisiveness and there is no way to spin it in any positive direction. But that only reinforces my long-standing position that in Russia-China relations, it is Russia who leads, exhibiting both great resolve, mastery of a major military conflicts and the ability to withstand any kind of pressure. And that is what we know at this moment with full clarity. Let's keep watching...
Monday, August 1, 2022
Air Strip One...
Well, UK is there...
The Oldest Trick In The Book.
POLITICO laments, via RT:
The reason Pelosi adventurism with the "visit" to Taiwan is so in focus--we don't know yet if she will get there--is simple. Anything, up to the escalation to the brink of the conflict with China, but to cover up these two things:
1. The economic catastrophe unfolding in the US;
2. The desperate attempt to turn attention away from the lost cause in 404.
The oldest trick in the book, especially with contemporary US "elites" who are good only at two things: reelecting themselves and PR. As Bernhard of MoA quotes Cynthia Chung:
At that time Sullivan taught... at Yale Law School (good Lord!) and you can read the whole interview here. Being a consummate neocon, it is only natural to expect from his ilk the PR-driven solutions to inevitable clusterfucks neocons create in everything they touch due to their sheer incompetence and malice.
The other clear signal that Washington begins to feel the burn is the fact that Biden (and those puppeteers who have their hand up his ass) in a typical thuggish manner declared:
I have news for Biden, Blinken, Sullivan and the rest: Russia is "not ready" for two reasons:
1. Russia is not going to squander a dramatic and increasing advantage over the US in strategic (and non-strategic) weapon systems, because there are no Gorbachevs in Kremlin anymore;
2. Russia is not going to talk to this Administration other than engaging in the substance of the Act of Capitulation by the combined West, because the United States is non-agreement capable and are, essentially, ungovernable.
There are many more factors, but these two are the most important. In fact, Russia will continue to strangle EU, thus denying the US its only collection of the lapdogs and the market where the US can theoretically compete with China. Theoretically, that is. Poor French now cannot even take it, that Russia 1 Channel openly mocks Europe when discussing methods of "saving" energy such as, but not limited to, urinating while taking a shower.