Upcoming...

... like in 50 minutes.  

Title: Global West-Russia: Full Fiasco?
 

Ah No, Not Again(c)

First US on the Moon, then this... 

And now this:

India’s Chandrayaan-3 did not land at or near the south polar region of the Moon, Chinese scientist Ouyang Ziyuan has argued. With China planning to reach the same region next year, the scientific rivalry between Beijing and New Delhi has heated up. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the Moon on August 23 at a latitude of 69 degrees, which Indian scientists say is within the region of the lunar south pole. “This is wrong,” Ouyang told the Chinese-language Science Times newspaper last week, according to Bloomberg. “The landing site of Chandrayaan-3 is not at the lunar south pole, not in the lunar south pole region, nor is it near the lunar south pole region.” Ouyang argued that while a latitude of 69 degrees on Earth would be well within the Antarctic circle, the Moon’s smaller axial tilt means that its southern polar region spans between 88.5 and 90 degrees. Under Ouyang’s definition, Chandrayaan-3 landed 619 kilometers (385 miles) away from this region.

Here we go again... now India and China, LOL))) 

In Defense...

 ... of what was and is always great about true American culture. I am having this discussion for years now. Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, blues, jazz. Here is one of the most important classical pianists of the age, Denis Matsuev plays Gershwin as he was supposed to be played by Gods of music. This is Russia and Tatar Republic Symphonic Orchestra doing it:

This is about blues/jazz culture. Speaking of which. Enjoy Stravinsky and Russian Avant-garde. So much in common. 

But then again, the path to John Zorn or Allan Holdsworth is not an easy one, much processing power is needed. And don't get me started on modern metal music.

My Good Friend Says It...

... like it is. 

I cannot describe the scale of what is happening--no US corporate journo has a brain to understand all that. Many do panic, though.

Now We Are Hearing This More.

Larry already marked the start of the discussion which needs to be held. Fact is, already in 2017 he made statements which I quoted in my first book. Now, since the last year I cautiously, but increasingly loudly, started to state what now rises to the surface. The US Army, its operational-strategic level, is simply not competent in real war. We may beat around the bush whatever we want, but not taking anything from heroism and dedication of Western Allied personnel, they have been fighting the pale shadow of Wehrmacht in WW II. I do not want to even discuss here all those "operations" in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

So, now Colonel and Judge finally bring up what I am writing about for a long time--US Armed Forces command corps is subpar, to put it mildly. 

US Military Academy at West Point academically is not even at the same level as any combined arms officer school of Russia, not to speak of Combined Arms Frunze Academy. Forget about Academy of the General Staff. Not to mention the fact that what is taught in the US military academies about XX Century ground warfare is primarily a confabulation. But that doesn't stop here. Russia also has her share of general officer creeps such as media prostitute and now becoming a meme General Gurulev. But that's the point--it is all about statistics--Gurulev's instances are much rarer in Russia than Ben Hodges and Petraeuses in the US. Going back to Mattis--the guy wouldn't be allowed to command a fucking regiment in the Russian Army, he wouldn't know how. 

If that hasn't been humiliating enough, look at the Royal Military "Academy" Sandhurst. Look at their courses and programs. 44 weeks, really? You cannot prepare a pole dancer and a competent porn actress in this time, let alone competent officer for ground forces and combined arms operations. No wonder then, that what British cadre military talk about sounds like a cross between Benny Hill Show and Monty Python trying to explain what Operational Research and Strategic Planning are. I reiterate--Russians are shocked by the sheer incompetence of NATO militaries, their top brass and political leadership. Maybe it is the Bus to Abilene as Doug says, but it is much more than that--"the finest fighting force in history" didn't win a single war since 1945. But I stand by my main criterion of any Army's competence--the force which venerates Patton is not ready to fight a real war, it never will be. It is as simple as that and, then, there is this STEM background one needs to fight real war on higher tactical and operational levels. 

They may start to address the malaise with a proper study of the history of WW II, but even this is too much to ask. I spoke about this for so long--Russian General Staff is older than the United States as a nation. Russians fought and defeated enemies which the US military never faced in its history. Yes, Russia's military history dwarfs that of the United States and even David Eisenhower writes about Western Allies shock and "the reaction which would interest a psychiatrist" on Operation Bagration. He elaborated:

And we can sit here and list all these occasions non-stop, but the point is--the cancer is incurable and SMO, like this proverbial litmus test, has exposed the depth of a problem. It is metaphysical and it stems from the fact, as many pointed out many times, that the American greatest contribution to the world was when America was behind the plow, not trying to fight wars she has no experience of fighting. But for parasitic political and pseudo-intellectual class it was important to realize the United States as continental warfare nation. It is NOT, and it is impossible... and this is what is in the foundation  of the rampant Russophobia of Washington. I repeat.

It is as simple as that. But then again--it goes back to culture which is in the foundation of dignity, an unknown quality for US top brass.

And?

Russia made no secret about existence of this weapon, which is a good reminder to ass-holes who think that they can start WW III and then hide either in New Zealand or in Patagonia. This weapon is designed for the purpose of hunting down war criminals in mind too.  

Satellite imagery and aviation data suggest that Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile — or may have recently tested one — with a theoretical range of thousands of miles. Movements of aircraft and vehicles at and near a base in Russia’s remote Arctic region are consistent with preparations that were made for tests of the missile, known as the Burevestnik or SSC-X-9 Skyfall, in 2017 and 2018, according to a New York Times analysis.

After that a typical sore loser's BS starts, like this:

Russia previously conducted 13 known tests between 2017 and 2019, all of which were unsuccessful, according to a report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit group focused on arms control. And mishaps can be deadly. A missile launched in 2019 crashed and eventually exploded during a recovery attempt, killing seven people, according to U.S. officials. “It is exotic — it is dangerous in its testing and development phase,” said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. Whether the Burevestnik has been tested again since 2019 isn’t clear, but even with a successful launch, the missile would still be years away from “operational deployment,” Kimball added.

Yeah, sure. In related news, NTI is a collection of good ol' boys and girls (how about Alexei Arbatov, LOL) whose only purpose is pushing globalist agenda and has nothing to do with nuclear security. Their normal MO is lying and making shit up. A classic American "think-tank" packed with people who wouldn't know shit about anything, e.g. Alexei Arbatov. In related news, I did have the exchange with one of the real scientific authority (Ph.D. in Physics, some prominent positions in government adjacent orgs), I was astounded, in fact shocked when this, indeed, real deal scientist, didn't know that Russian Kupol early warning system was not the only one where Russia was catching up, but that Early Warning Radar of Russia such as Voronezh made the US mainstay AN/FPS-132 look like a children toy railroad kit compared to a real size diesel locomotive. 

Yes, they, most of them anyway, are stuck, in 1990s and practically none of them has any clue about Russia's weapons programs and they continue to lie, while NATO's "best" equipment burns in the fields of 404 in industrial quantities. Marat yesterday noted, that when the reports of any armor with crosses on them received in the Russian Army, most guys don't care about money reward, they just burn with the desire to blow this armor up. I guess it is genetic memory. In the same time, back to Petrel/Burevestnik, allow me to remind you similar BS on part of US "(lack of)intel community" and other "academics" re: validity of hypersonic weapons a few years back. Well, can you imagine how they look like today, their faces? But then again, you all already saw what those "experts" are, such as H.I. Sutton who passes for the Russian "submarine expert". Well, that is what they do for living--BS. It is therapeutic for them. 

In Continuation...

 ... on culture. Timely, Jackson Hinkle travels in Russia currently and he got himself to Peterhof. 

I want to reiterate--high art, high culture--from beautiful architecture, to literature, to music--while ARE NOT in and of themselves panacea against brutality, criminality or corruption--they are absolutely essential in bringing young generations into the world of proper aesthetics, beauty and taste. This, obviously, doesn't preclude people from becoming criminals or psychopaths, but it REDUCES the number of such incidents, when the culture is built around such aesthetics. 

Simplest comparison, Peterhof and some Russian shithole like this:

A decaying village in Saratov Region. Every country has its own shitholes and drab places. But for average Russian the notion of magnificent Russian cities with incredible aesthetics and culture is a part of a psyche, a national one. Even lowest of lives in some Russian shithole knows that Moscow is the capital of Russia, that it is magnificent, it has an amazing art scene, and that St. Petersburg means Hermitage and stunning architecture. He, this bum, also knows that all those things are not just the world-class, but arguably the best in the world. This bum may die next day from liver failure because of alcohol, but he will die still knowing those basic facts about Russian culture. 

How many American kids are taught those basic facts about Russia, which is bad, the evil and wants to take over the world? Very little. The maximum these kids may hope for is to visit some local gallery--not necessarily a bad one--or have a field trip to Washington D.C. with Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art, or Guggenheim in NYC. That's it. Yes, it is still important to do that, but they still will not know how inferior high art and high aesthetics America's offering is, especially when one talks about Hermitage, Russian Museum or Pushkin Museum in Moscow, not to mention Tretyakov's Gallery. 

Even today, America can offer a lot of things which are enchanting, truly beautiful or generally attractive, but what forms true elites and provides necessary cultural environment for their intellectual and aesthetic nurturing which is fully rooted in classics, is not here, America simply doesn't have it. The average student from any public school, university or military academy in Moscow or St.Petersburg has access to cultural treasures which are not available to any American student of even the most prestigious and exclusive educational institutions whose horizons are mostly limited to some nice looking architecturally universities and some cultural artifact here and there. 

New York skyline nowadays impresses no one in the economically developed  world--it has skylines which rival and are often better than that of NYC. 

Moscow's skyline is simply breathtaking as well as the breadth of her arteries which NYC can only dream about. Moscow is a city of skyscrapers, and all of them are immersed into the city with almost 900-years history and it is considered almost young by Russian standards. St. Petersburg/Leningrad is almost a child, a child of Enlightenment and Russia's turn to the West. Shanghai's skyline can give NYC a run for its money:

And bar some Broadway and true cultural treasures such as great jazz venues and Metropolitan Opera, NYC--the premier American city--looks culturally poor when it comes to the foundation of any modern civilization--classics. 

Any student of any educational institution in Moscow or St.Petersburg can literally, any day, if he (or she) so desires, come and experience Andrei Rublev's icons, such as Trinity in Tretyakov Gallery:

Or see Leonardo's masterpieces in Hermitage in St. Petersburg, to see Madonna and Child. 

Among the rest of a treasure trove of human culture. And here is this main issue: every single top politician in Russia, especially Leningrader Vladimir Putin, all of them, without exception, they grew up and formed as people subjected to this immense treasure first hand. And this treasure both forms and changes one. No American "elite" political figure has any comparable access to this cultural treasure, even the graduates of the most super-pooper elite institutions. They can see it, they can "study" it, but until one enters Hermitage or Kremlin and experiences all that first hand all previous cultural and even spiritual experiences are not completed. 

American "elite" travels, but when I write and talk about persistent complex of inferiority--yes, what is paraded by them as superiority is, in fact, sublimation of a deep seated inferiority--it becomes patently clear: Condolezza Rice, Anthony Blinken or Jake Sullivan can, if they wish, go and visit Peterhof, Hermitage, Kremlin, Historical Museum, Tretyakov's Gallery or see Giselle or Swan Lake in Bolshoi or Mariinsky. But the weight of experiencing the finest in human culture weighs on them because all that IS NOT American and it is not owned by the United States and by American "elite". Moreover, there is nothing comparable in the US, zilch, zero, in its sheer overwhelming volume and power of classics. For some New Yorker or Chicagoan, visiting major Russian cities could be a cultural shock and cognitive dissonance. Both NYC and Chicago look like shitholes compared to major Russian cities. 

And here is the trick--Russian true elite understood what makes American "elite" class click. Ah yes, this proverbial OODA Loop, this "getting into one's head", playing mental games. You do this when you understand the underlying cause of one's actions and part of it, a very major part of it, is in the cultural level of elites. While Russia's true elite (no, not "oligarchs"--most of those are low lives) was nurtured culturally with equivalent of eating the finest steak, American (and Western) elite, those proverbial morons per Dmitry Medvedev, was primarily eating from a dumpster. In the end, erasing what made America great, from banning globally beloved Mark Twain, to rewriting history, is just the part of utter lack of culture by America's political class. They are simply uncultured and when seeing the grandeur of human artistic and aesthetic achievement prior to America--Bolshoi Theater is the same age as the US, Russian General Staff is older than the US--one begins to behave exactly as was noted by Alexis de Tocqueville. He saw all that in the American "elite" two centuries ago. 

All free nations are vainglorious, but national pride is not displayed by all in the same manner. The Americans in their intercourse with strangers appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise. The most slender eulogium is acceptable to them; the most exalted seldom contents them; they unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you resist their entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly exhibited before their eyes. Their vanity is not only greedy, but restless and jealous; it will grant nothing, whilst it demands everything, but is ready to beg and to quarrel at the same time. If I say to an American that the country he lives in is a fine one, "Ay," he replies, "there is not its fellow in the world." If I applaud the freedom which its inhabitants enjoy, he answers, "Freedom is a fine thing, but few nations are worthy to enjoy it." If I remark the purity of morals which distinguishes the United States, "I can imagine," says he, "that a stranger, who has been struck by the corruption of all other nations, is astonished at the difference." At length I leave him to the contemplation of himself; but he returns to the charge, and does not desist till he has got me to repeat all I had just been saying. It is impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more garrulous patriotism; it wearies even those who are disposed to respect it.    

What he describes here is the lack of culture in a broader sense which served and continues to serve as a remedy for sensing or understanding of a very tenuous connection of the American "elite" to a much more complex and culturally dense reality of the outside world which formed and developed unique cultures long before the United States was even in plans. 

This in no way diminishes America's contribution to humanity's culture. In general, contribution was positive be that a vibrant American literature, blues, jazz or great realist painters, architects and others. But it is no surprise that even here for a girl from Birmingham, Alabama of 1950s:

The existence of the cities of a highest culture where every citizen of not just those cities but country had and used access to the greatest cultural treasures of the world, and, in fact, was educated on them seemed inconceivable--neither Birmingham, nor even NYC could compete with that, nor could anything in the United States. Nowadays, what happens in good ol' US goes completely counter to everything what human civilization achieved culturally. In the end, how could this renegade Leonardo portray Madonna with a child. That should have been a man. But Condi doesn't understand all that, same as most modern American "elites" they have no tool kit to perceive a multi-dimensional aesthetics and profundity of a classic culture, without which there would have been not only Western Civilization, but civilization as such. And that explains what Russia is fighting for today--true culture and beauty.

On Culture...

 ... in a larger sense. By far not everything is bad in American culture as we used to know it. In the end, for century New York's skyline was the envy of the world. Not anymore. NYC today is a shithole and high culture barely survives, and so does a remainder of clear understanding of one national self. You can take the girl out of the village, you cannot take the village out of the girl. The best America can offer today compares in terms of high culture as a Wanker county fair muppet show to Bolshoy Ballet. Even Washington's National Gallery of Art has its roots in Russia. American elites, however, ooze provincialism (not to speak of low intelligence) non-stop. So, Condi Rice decided to raise her opinion on Russia while having zero grasp of what she is looking at. County fair, all along. Nothing is wrong with county fairs, though, per se. Unless, of course, it is State Department and Pentagon.

Nima And Larry...

 ... no BS, excellent talk. 

 

Meanwhile RT Continues...

 ... to provide the tribune to some obviously shady amateurs--running along the front-line and calling oneself a military correspondent--does not make one a military planner and military professional. Vladislav Ugolny is represented as a Russian journalist born in Donetsk. You will find precious little about this guy, except that he is not military and he was... the head of Russian department of BBC called "Svet", he himself confirms it (in Russian). In other words, yet another creep similar to Rybar, Cassad, Edda et al. Look what he writes and rudderless RT (Simonyan is too busy parading herself a fool that she is at Russian TV) publishes this crap:

Over the year and a half of the military operation, Ukraine has become more capable of acting in the Black Sea region and has gradually moved from exclusively defensive to offensive tactics. This has been possible because of foreign assistance and the transfer of weapons capable of striking the rear positions of the Russian military. As a result, both sides attack each other’s military infrastructure without being able to completely destroy the enemy’s forces. However, while Ukraine is concentrated only in this region, Russia’s scope of action is broader – it continues to destroy military facilities along the entire length of the front line and can exert pressure on Ukraine’s strategic rear. Meanwhile, the victory of either side can only be ensured by means of a land operation – eventually, either the Russian flag will return to Odessa or the Ukrainian flag will fly over Sevastopol. Otherwise, the region will only face further escalation and constant threats, including terrorist attacks. 

To illustrate what kind of creature this BSer is, here is him:

As you can see yourself, he is fresh from puberty and is in dire need to prove himself a strategist of global scale. Hence:

Meanwhile, the victory of either side can only be ensured by means of a land operation – eventually, either the Russian flag will return to Odessa or the Ukrainian flag will fly over Sevastopol. Otherwise, the region will only face further escalation and constant threats, including terrorist attacks (c).  

Yes, and then they will take Moscow. It is impossible to explain to RT and Simonyan, who is utterly unqualified to run anything, except into the ground, and who has zero serious background in anything, that most (not all, exceptions like Scott Ritter are far and between) of RT's "military experts" are full of shit ignoramuses, even when they have former military ranks. So, something is wrong at RT, not with Ugolny who merely desperately tries to talk about things he has no clue about. My suggestion to RT is to "hire" military "experts" from high schools. And no, I have no intentions to offer myself as such, I simply see no reason of continuing to appear at RT.

Open Thread.

 Go at it.

Remember Your Name.

I know it is Friday and it should be fun. But it is difficult to do it each Friday. Here is the movie which will not be shown in the West. Even in Poland which participated in shooting this movie in 1974 and it was titled in Polish Zapamiętaj Imię Swoje, Remember Your Name in Russian. It is very loosely based on the real story of Russian child being, among many hundreds of thousands, shipped to Auschwitz. Yes, it wasn't just Jewish death camp. Here is one of the Slavic girls who would have been lost in posterity if not for Nazis documenting every single prisoner in their camps. 

She was a Polish girl, Czeslawa Kwoka. One of the 139,000 Poles removed from their villages in 1939 and later in 1942 deported  to Auschwitz. 

She was merely a prisoner # 26947 captured here on photo three months before she died in concentration camp. She is beaten here, and here she is terrified. She will be beaten again after photo-session. Like many Slavs she was considered untermensch. Needless to say that many Ukrainians, like Yaroslav Hunka who was met with standing ovation in Canada's Parliament, left their mark not on the battlefield, where their SS formations have been utterly demolished by the Red Army, but primarily as guards in concentration camps, mass executioners of Soviet population, watch the movie Come and See, including mass murder of Jews and Red Army POWs, such as Babi Yar horror.You can get to Babi Yar memorial in Kiev, by following avenues of Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera--both cadre Nazi officers and genocidal murderers. Just in case you doubt it--Babi Yar here is marked as Babin Yar. Remarkably, the US Embassy is just about a kilometer away from this. Very symbolic.

In general, combined West is oblivious, for a number of reasons, not least through well developed Holocaust Industry by Hollywood, to the fate of Russian and other Slavic children. I don't believe that what passes for Western "intellectuals" today can process all of that nightmare--they have no intellectual and moral foundation for that. And here comes this movie which is almost as powerful as Come and See. Sadly it is only in Russian. For those who want to watch, here is the link. But this all shows the side of SMO, which Westerners in general, with some notable exceptions, many of who read this blog, are incapable to understand--SMO now acquired almost a religious character, and some information provided here may help to understand why. I cannot convey now the scope of the reaction in Russia to Canada's infamy. Russians have now a complete proof of evil which combined West represents today. 

I disagree with otherwise brilliantly eloquent George Galloway, Western public will not react in any way to what have happened last weekend in Ottawa. It is pure statistics, the sample size--Allies  lost fewer KIAs combined in WW II than Leningrad lost civilians and military during the Siege. It is just the matter of quantitative impact which is in the foundation of historic memory. Modern Western establishment doesn't have any, together with morality. No Canadian, American or British suffered slavery, torture, inhumane treatment and death in numbers which ensure proper societal reaction to an absolute evil which Nazism represents. Some voices of consciousness from the West are very few. But then again, in the US military history of WW II has been written by defeated German generals and SS with Abwehr officers. Make your own conclusions this Friday evening.

Nima And Me Talking.

Yesterday. 

 

Oh, Please!

The US Army studied armored warfare based on Patton's "advances" against virtually non-existent Wehrmacht's armor in Lorraine, and from the fairy tales by Manstein and Guderian, who had to confabulate in order to explain how, in the end, they got beaten by Katukov and Rotmistrov tank armies. The turkey shoot in the Gulf added very little, in fact--detracted, from the combined arms, and all attempts by honorable David Glantz and Jonathan House to change the perspective on the Red Army and WW II made a huge splash, but still failed. This was inevitable, when one operated on correlates of war, this ever valuable war statistics, lifted directly from Nazi sources. GIGO--Garbage In, Garbage Out. 

Now, as RT notices, they want to train based on... drum roll--"lessons from Ukraine". 

The US is preparing its troops for future wars by examining the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and fielding its own experiments based on experience gained from that battlefield, Defense One reported on Thursday. The National Training Center (NTC) in California and the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) are training US service members to use drones, electronic surveillance, and satellites and combine them with artillery strikes, according to commanders who spoke with the outlet. At the same time, troops are learning to conceal themselves from enemy drones and surveillance. “The thing we struggle the most with is this business of a transparent battlefield,” Brigadier General Curtis Taylor, the head of the NTC, told the outlet. He explained that his center has been teaching soldiers to hide from UAVs in buildings and minimize the use of communication equipment. Meanwhile, the JRTC has reportedly been pushing units to simplify their command posts to be put up and taken down quickly. 

Ah, poor-poor lads, tactics is important and all--surely one needs to conceal oneself but tactical, let alone operational, manuals--the level at which outcomes of wars are decided--are written very differently than a collection of anecdotal evidence from grunts on the ground, however important those are. In order for one to understand, as the original from Defense One piece describes:

Drones, electronic surveillance, and satellites allow adversaries to easily identify U.S. formations, Taylor said—and combining that data with artillery or missiles means the enemy can strike anywhere, anytime. At JRTC, forces playing the “opposing force,” called OPFOR, have learned to fly drones that use apps to scan for Bluetooth or WiFi signals, Gardner said. 

While EMCON is just a teeny-weeny part of a much larger picture of massive scale combined arms and multi-domain operations one needs what the US never got from her wars starting from Korea, because one cannot interrogate the enemy which is not a loser but quite the opposite--has beaten the US. That means an extremely limited access to viable combat statistics, especially in terms of crucial correlates between combat effectiveness of formations and weapons' arsenal they use. Now, add here a complete caricature 404 provides in terms of combat data to NATO and you will get the idea. No number of the US Army officers on the ground in 404 will change the paradigm, even with 24/7 work of US ISR complex. One still NEEDS those huge arrays of combat information for systematization and generalization in order to develop operational and strategic models for victory on the battlefield. And bar some SIGINT and localized data at the locations of already utterly demolished VSU, US Army and Intel is not getting access to the most important data sets. 

And then, of course, there is the issue of hardware, or, speaking in more learned language--procurement policies. It is as simple as 2 x 4 piece of lumber:

1. If you don't have AD which even remotely is as capable as that of Russia--you are left only to despair (or salivate) at the element of war which you cannot change, because the impact of your air forces and long range fires is diminished dramatically. Suddenly, it becomes the issue of strategy and even politics. 

2. If you don't have hypersonic weapons, let alone integrate them into your TOE, what is that you gonna do? Train for what? Right, just conceal yourself and your HQ which still is NOT going to help since HQs and Comm. Posts by definition are C4 units and will be detected and annihilated. So, how are you going "to train" for that. Surely, the Parameters prescription is dubious at best: 

The Army must focus on developing command-and-control systems and mobile command posts that enable continuous movement, allow distributed collaboration, and synchronize across all warfighting functions to minimize electronic signature.  

You can minimize, you cannot eliminate it.

3. You CANNOT train the US Army for 3,600 casualties a day. Most importantly, you CANNOT train American public to accept such a price, especially being paid fighting who knows where for who knows what objectives, unless one turns the US into Orwellian prison-state, which is in progress as I type this. But even then...

At this stage the VSU lost half-a-million KIAs and at least twice this number of wounded. And this is the lower-end estimates. These numbers are much higher than US Army's all KIAs in WW II and Vietnam combined. 

But in the end, you cannot turn expeditionary colonial army into continental juggernaut--you simply cannot. Sheer economics and weapons enter the set of considerations here, which cannot be properly discussed within one short post. So, they can train whatever they want, but no training, however important on human-professional level, can substitute tools of 21st century war. But then again, I repeat ad nauseam--the West lost the arms race. To demonstrate, here is one such butt-hurt imbecile: 

The dismal performance of Russia’s conventional forces in the early days of the war in Ukraine risks convincing some in NATO that the future Russian threat to the Alliance can be deterred primarily via NATO’s conventional superiority, and that enhancing deterrence of Russian nuclear use in a future conflict is therefore no longer a high priority. This is a dangerous fallacy. 

The guy is full of shit, with "degree" in... international relations and is completely lost in his pseudo-expertise, but he is REPRESENTATIVE  of the "intellectual" level of current US military-political top which is NOT trainable or is capable of learning, and this is a grim reality of the defeat of the combined West. You cannot win when the only thing you know is how to operate in GIGO mode.

Finally!

The presidential candidate I can vote for. Terry is incomparable in this role, from one of the greatest movies of the century. 

Come to think of it, the President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho knew what his country needed to be saved. He recognized the guy who could save the country--a no small feat. This is more than current POTUS, or rather puppeteers who have their guiding hand up his ass, plus a bunch of morons who voted for him, can do. And so he is back with awesome program. He knows how to fix shit now(c) and this is the powerful message in the times when the country either fixes her shit now or it will be gone. In the end, I miss COSTCO's famous greeting at the entrance: "Welcome to COSTCO, I love you." Vote Camacho!

A Reminder About Economy.

Real economy, and why Lavrov stated about decision on battlefield. 

 

A Few Importnat Points From My Friends.

First, Larry makes an astute observation. It is a classic intel analyst observation. 

Western analysts continue to be blinded by their deep-seated belief that Russia is a crumbling gas station and attributes the shortage to:

a combination of factors including maintenance at oil refineries, bottlenecks on railways and the weakness of the rouble, which incentivizes fuel exports.

Maybe. But let me suggest an alternative explanation. Russia is husbanding its stockpile of diesel fuel as a contingency for an offensive that will take control of Kiev and Odessa. Farfetched? Maybe. Recent remarks by Speaker of Russia’s Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, and echoed byForeign Minister Lavrov and Defense Chief Shoigu, carries an ominous message for the West — Russia is not interested in a negotiated settlement with Ukraine

Is Larry correct? He may well be, and even if this hypothesis will not actualize, it is one of those cases that the hypothesis was valid and professional. Will know soon enough.

 

That brings us to my other friend, Marat Khairullin, here is what Marat states:

На этой неделе стало окончательно ясно, что ВСУ уже даже не на пороге поражения, а прочно, обоими ногами перешло эту грань. И, выражаясь образно, дверь за этим порогом с треском захлопнулась, отступать уже некуда. Как сказал намедни Лавров — на поле боя, значит на поле боя. Адекватные люди, следящие за нашей официальной дипломатией, прекрасно знают, что глава нашей дипломатии отвечает за каждое свое слово. В данном случае, если он выразился так категорично, это значит, что наша сторона уверена, что лягушка уже сварилась, топор упал, кровавый рассвет украинский армии наступил, кирдык уже приземлился укропам на голову и т.д. — одним словом тенденция взяла свое.  

Translation: This week it became completely clear that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are no longer even on the verge of defeat, but have firmly crossed this line with both feet. And, figuratively speaking, the door behind this threshold slammed shut with a bang, there was nowhere to retreat. As Lavrov said the other day, on the battlefield means on the battlefield. Adequate people who follow our official diplomacy know very well that the head of our diplomacy is responsible for every word he says. In this case, if he expressed himself so categorically, this means that our side is sure that the frog has already been boiled, the ax has fallen, the bloody dawn of the Ukrainian army has arrived, the kirdyk has already landed on the dill’s head, etc. - in a word, the trend has taken its toll.  

 

If anyone wonders what "kirdyk" is--here is explanation. Obviously the synonym to kirdyk is good ol' Russian pizdets, but Marat cannot use it, of course;) But Marat makes this necessary accent on Lavrov's statement which was:

Russia’s Lavrov rubbishes Ukraine peace plan and warns conflict will be resolved on battlefield

For those who do not understand, let me translate--Lavrov didn't talk about 404 and the remnants of its army. No, Lavrov was talking about combined forces of NATO. Read Marat's piece in full, he also gives a very good insight into Lavrov's statement. It always was about NATO and now ALL Russian political top speaks about it openly--either the remnants of 404, which is a euphemism for NATO, follow Russian conditions or 404 ceases to exist, together with NATO whose military defeat, should it decide to commit a suicide, is not in doubt. It takes Lavrov and his nonchalant attitude to deliver the message.

Open Thread.

Go at it.

Nobody Gives A...

 ... shit who they are in Canada's Parliament. The fact that one gal had a (half)courage to call it, aw, please. 

Canadian Parliament knew what they have been doing. Most of them are political whores, they will sell anything for reelection. Yes, most of Trudeau's party support SS and Nazis, as long as they kill Russians. So do many US Democrats and many Republicans. Canadians voted for Trudeau's party, Americans voted for Biden. Biden, or rather Obama's clan, support Nazis as long as they kill Russians. Of course, sanctimonious recriminations are all good, but West's political elites, for the most part, are genocidal maniacs, they just let their guard down for a second.

Caitlin Nails It...

In rock'n'roll style. 

Antibiotics and other disinfectants now should be a standard issue for those who are interviewed by people from Politico, WaPo, NYT, WSJ, CNN, PBS, especially by Christian Amanpour, and other heralds of "democracy". Who knows what other diseases they carry.

P.S. Ringo wrote, actually, some awesome music. Yes, I mean Octopus's Garden and Devil Woman (not Cliff Richard's one) among others.

Scott's Excellent Talk...

 ... at Judge's. 

Plus, for those who continue to doubt numbers. Here is today's RT headline:

The number of Ukrainian servicemen killed since the counteroffensive began has now surpassed 83,000, Russian Defense Ministry data shows 

I reiterate, we still do NOT know the number of KIAs in the rear of 404. This number is huge due to relentless Russia's salvos of stand-off weapons at locations, assembly areas of VSU and 404's military-industrial infrastructure. We are easily looking at least at half-a-million KIAs for VSU... so far. More is coming. Shoigu's estimate of SMO continuing through 2025 is a good estimate, once one considers that 404 is NOT even the main target, NATO is. Or, broadly speaking, as follows from Patrushev's program article--Pax Americana, a euphemism for "rules-based order". It is unsustainable, especially when sheer incompetence of Western "elites" and military-industrial weakness have been exposed dramatically.

And?

404 lies 99% of the time, Western press whores do the same. So what's the news?  

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television on Tuesday attending a defence leaders' meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him. In video and photographs released by the defence ministry, Sokolov was shown as one of several fleet commanders on video apparently joining an in-person meeting of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other army chiefs, although not speaking. It was not clear when the video was filmed. Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that Sokolov had been killed along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014. In response to the Russian video, the Ukraine special forces said on Telegram: "Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information."

And since when, all of a sudden, they decided to debunk 404 propaganda? White House, State Department and Pentagon, obviously, still use it? What happened, wink, wink...

Marat On Losses...

... for both sides. In Russian. But Marat gives excellent spread, including operationally. He also confirms what I speak about for months now--Russia gives primarily KIA numbers for VSU. So read it--it is extremely important. 

Eva's Sacred Rage.

She published op-ed at RT. 

Whether Trudeau (and his Stepan Bandera-sympathizing deputy PM Chrystia Freeland) knew about Yaroslav Hunka or not, the question remains: why was he never brought to justice? He, or any of the other 2,000 SS Nazis Canada reportedly took in in the years following WW2. Having been accepted as anti-communist refugees with little to no scrutiny, these suspected war criminals and collaborators have been allowed to live out the rest of their days in peace, and most of them have done so openly under their own names, as the Simon Wiesenthal Center has repeatedly reported.

There is much to be said about Canada's history with Ukrainian Nazis. Not only did it take them in after WW2, but the government-backed Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which, until recently, listed Nazi-collaborator veterans organizations as members, as well as government-funded Ukrainian ‘youth centers’ that celebrate Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich. There are even monuments honoring Nazi collaborators and Ukrainian Insurgent Army criminals still standing in Canadian cities. Canada has also supported modern-day Nazis in Ukraine itself, by training members of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion on Canadian soil, although Canadian corporate media has in recent years attempted to downplay this.

I fully agree with Eva--this was NOT a coincidence. It is also not a coincidence that US Congress is "blind" to the fact that they support Nazi regime in Kiev.

Judge And Larry.

Have a great discussion. 

Especially in regards to Polish-404 issue. But now comes this question: did Russia plan for it? Plan for what, you may ask. Well, for accelerated implosion of the West. I now can convincingly say--yes. It is generally a normal practice for competent governments to do a contingency planning, same goes for any competent General Staff and today we see the outcome. 

Gaius Baltar wrote an excellent piece on what is wrong with the Western political class. 

A breakdown of diplomacy doesn’t quite describe how bad things have become. The behavior of US and European leaders has become increasingly unhinged and any semblance of rationality has been abandoned. It is impossible to listen to western leaders without coming to the conclusion that something is very wrong. Firstly, they seem to have created an upside-down fantasy world where Freudian projection rules and opponents are demonized. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are both Satan himself, Russia is still losing, and the West is still almighty – as well as the pinnacle of justice, freedom, democracy and culture. Secondly, they can’t seem to be able to open their mouths in public without insulting the non-western world. Joe Biden, Annalena Baerbock, Ursula von der Leyen, Josep Borrell and Emmanuel Macron have barely been seen in public for months without insulting someone. Borrel’s comment about Europe being the garden and the rest of the world a jungle is the pinnacle of this – because we all know what jungles are associated with.

The pressure is getting to the western political elites and they can’t keep a lid on their emotions and real opinions. They can no longer hide their hatred for anyone who resists them, or their contempt for them. Their doublethink, double standards, and extreme sense of entitlement, which justifies any action from them while condemning it from their opponents, is out in the open for all to see. All this, as well as their complete absence of competence and their total abandonment of reality, is very symptomatic for a certain type of people. That is not a coincidence as we shall see.

Correct: they are unhinged and incompetent. As I already stated--a shocking discovery of sheer incompetence of the US media military "expertise" from the US top brass is shocking because those people, even if they have been paid, have to maintain at least some believability to the nonsense they spew. But here is the problem--real military professional would have been able at least to frame the BS into some consumable form in order to have some ways to retreat and explain things away once the BS was exposed. Not the case with US generals--they went all in and, evidently, many of them sincerely believe the BS they spew. That is shocking and, in some bizarre sense, inevitable against the background of the US Army losing one war after another, raises the question among Russian military professionals if those people are competent at all, even considering an acute case of professional envy and jealousy they experience. 

This is the new paradigm for Russia. Russians knew all along that most about NATO military was pure PR, but now--the only hope remains that some people in Pentagon are competent enough to see a disaster they helped to unleash and they can see where it all leads to. They are, as I am on record for years, the last vestiges of some remaining competence and connection to the reality in the West. After Canada's Parliament and some high ranking Canadian officer enthusiastically cheering on the veteran of 14th Waffen SS Division during this weekend, one has to assume that many of them are simply in the process of unbecoming the officers. 

Now, we get to the next act of the "drama" and a whole new wave of desperation, denial and hatred in D.C. because of that:

Ukraine has received the first batch of US-made M1 Abrams tanks promised by Washington this winter, President Vladimir Zelensky said on Monday, confirming a New York Times report from earlier in the day. Writing on Telegram, Zelensky said the Abrams main battle tanks “are already in Ukraine and preparing to reinforce our brigades” while thanking Kiev’s allies for their support. The delivery was first reported by the New York Times, which cited two US defense officials as saying that the tanks arrived in Ukraine “months ahead of initial estimates.” The shipment, according to the article, could help Kiev in its ‘counteroffensive’ against Russia, which has been going on for more than three months but has failed to gain any ground. Neither the Times’ sources nor Zelensky would say how many Abrams tanks Ukraine has received thus far. In late August, Politico reported that the US planned to deliver ten of the 31 tanks promised by President Joe Biden in late January by mid-September.

These are older versions, wouldn't matter if they have been the latest ones--the outcome is going to be the same, burning Abrams tanks will be gladly paraded by Russians for everyone to see and that marks, with the exception of those F-16s, the limit the US reached in terms of what she can supply to 404. The conclusion is not only merited but irresistible--the combined West failed at war. And here is the punchline--Russians did plan for that, they just couldn't anticipate that the West would self-annihilate that fast. After today's Volodin's statement things get even clearer.   

Ukraine to either surrender on Moscow’s terms or cease to exist — top Russian lawmaker. 

You see? After that--it is NATO's turn. Very simple.

Oh, Canada!

My latest. 

 

Back To Rostov-on-Don.

And I don't mean the city. I mean submarine of the project 636 which sustained damage a few days ago during attack of 404 on Sevastopol. Remember my retort to American submarine "experts" 6 days ago, when they suggested that the sub will be written off? I will remind you, when even observing obviously doctored photo:

Moreover, even a first year enlisted moron would see the lack of deformation of submarine's hull which is the first indication of a limited explosive impact, which was primarily limited to... drum roll--light hull of a submarine, because ALL Russian SSKs of pr. 877 and 636, same as second and third generation of Russian nuclear subs have a TWO hull design--light (outside-лёгкий) and hard (жёсткий) hull, where all systems are. But, of course, neither Sutton nor Amick, who have zero knowledge and experience, unlike me, with Soviet/Russian SSKs can recognize the damage to the LIGHT hull which took the brunt of explosion, which, BTW, almost fully intact sail testifies to.  

Well, guess what? Right, I was correct and those sub "experts" had no clue what they have been talking about. And why am I not surprised?

МОСКВА, 25 сентября. /ТАСС/. Полученные 13 сентября подводной лодкой "Ростов-на-Дону" Черноморского флота (ЧФ) повреждения не критичны и не приведут к значительному увеличению времени ее нахождения на плановом ремонте. Об этом ТАСС сообщил источник в оборонно-промышленном комплексе. "У субмарины незначительные повреждения, которые не повлияли на ее прочный корпус. Их устранение может лишь незначительно увеличить время нахождения подлодки на плановом ремонте", - сказал он. 13 сентября Украина нанесла удар крылатыми ракетами по Севастопольскому морскому заводу, где находились на ремонте два корабля. Как сообщило в тот же день Минобороны РФ, два корабля ВМФ, поврежденные в результате удара, "будут полностью восстановлены и продолжат боевую службу в составе своих флотов". Как уточнил собеседник агентства, плановый ремонт подлодки "Ростов-на-Дону" на Севморзаводе должен был продлиться несколько месяцев.

Translation: MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. The damage received on September 13 by the Rostov-on-Don submarine of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) is not critical and will not lead to a significant increase in the time it spends under scheduled repairs. A source in the military-industrial complex reported this to TASS. “The submarine has minor damage that did not affect its robust (hard--my note) hull. Eliminating them can only slightly increase the time the submarine is undergoing scheduled repairs,” he said. On September 13, Ukraine launched a cruise missile attack on the Sevastopol Marine Plant, where two ships were being repaired. As the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the same day, two naval ships damaged as a result of the strike “will be fully restored and will continue to serve in combat as part of their fleets.” As the agency's interlocutor clarified, the planned repair of the Rostov-on-Don submarine at Sevmorzavod was supposed to last several months.

As you can see, and I stressed it many times, it is difficult to compare education of cadre naval officers in USSR/Russia and the US. First, US Naval Academy course of study is much-much shorter (only 4 academic years against 6--5 calendar--years in USSR/Russia), and guess what? Right from the get go the major course exhausted, sleepy and hungry Russian Plebes of the first year began to study is... drum roll... a major course called ТУЖК (Теория Устроиства и Живучести Корабля, Theory of Design and Survivability of the Ship) and in my time the basic design was good ol' submarine of project 613 (NATO Whiskey)  with eventual progression to other projects including nuclear-powered subs and, of course, surface ships. So, here we are today, at 25 September 2023. I am taking my bow and my curtain call, you brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes, and I thank you all(c). I am going to sleep, have fun;))

Thank You, George.

Great term: infamy!

The only reason US Congress Nazi sympathizers (which there are many) are not there yet is because the new War Crimes Tribunal is yet, it will, to define Azov and Kiev regime as Nazi. They, also are licking the spittle of Nazis.

Oh, Please!

Yes, ass-hole, you "didn't know". In related news, I am Pope. 

ВАШИНГТОН, 25 сен – РИА Новости. Спикер канадской палаты общин Энтони Рота извинился за приглашение в парламент и чествование во время визита Владимира Зеленского престарелого украинского бойца дивизии СС "Галичина". Некий Ярослав Хунка, представленный спикером как ветеран борьбы против русских в годы Второй мировой войны, удостоился в пятницу овации во время торжественного заседания парламента по случаю визита Владимира Зеленского. Американское агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс опубликовало фото с подписью "Зеленский и (премьер Канады Джастин - ред.) Трюдо приветствуют присутствующего в парламенте Ярослава Хунка, который служил в Первой украинской дивизии в ходе Второй мировой войны". Хунка, как выяснилось, состоял в 14-й добровольческой дивизии "Галичина" войск СС, которая не только воевала против Красной армии, но и отметилась зверствами в отношении евреев, поляков, белорусов и словаков. "Позже мне стала известна дополнительная информация, которая заставила меня пожалеть о принятом решении… Я хотел бы в первую очередь принести глубочайшие извинения еврейским общинам Канады и всего мира. Я принимаю всю ответственность за свой поступок", - заявил Рота. Он настаивает, что лично принимал решение пригласить Хунку в парламент, и никто, в том числе члены украинской делегации, не знали, кого они будут чествовать.

Translation: WASHINGTON, September 25 – RIA Novosti. Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Anthony Rota apologized for inviting an elderly Ukrainian soldier from the SS Galicia division to parliament and honoring him during Vladimir Zelensky’s visit. A certain Yaroslav Hunka, introduced by the speaker as a veteran of the fight against the Russians during World War II, received a standing ovation on Friday during a ceremonial meeting of parliament on the occasion of the visit of Vladimir Zelensky. The American Associated Press published a photo with the caption "Zelensky and (Canadian Prime Minister Justin - ed.) Trudeau greet Yaroslav Hunk, who was present in parliament, who served in the First Ukrainian Division during the Second World War." Hunka, as it turned out, was a member of the 14th Volunteer Division "Galicia" of the SS troops, which not only fought against the Red Army, but was also noted for atrocities against Jews, Poles, Belarusians and Slovaks. "I later became aware of additional information that made me regret the decision... I would first like to offer my deepest apologies to the Jewish communities of Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my actions," Rota said. He insists that he personally made the decision to invite Hunka to parliament, and no one, including members of the Ukrainian delegation, knew who they would honor.

Too late. And demands of opposition for Trudeau to apologize to the world and Canadian veterans of WW II are meaningless. World saw it and Canada, through its main legislative body, simply confirmed what everyone knew all along--it is a hotbed of banderism and Russophobia. Let me remind you something from much earlier from Canada. Remember?

As was the case with the Soviet Union in the past, modern Russia should remain in the mass Western mind a grim, dark, hopeless place or, as American-Canadian Russia “scholar”, Ph.D. in American History, John Robson stated in an editorial in the Ottawa Citizen in 2000: Normal for Russia is filthy, corrupt, menacing and hollow. Nothing good has happened there, nor will it. Russia is a lump of dung wrapped in a cabbage leaf hidden in an outhouse. Russia is doomed by history and culture. It stinks, literally and figuratively, and always has. People there have no manners. . . . The bottom line is: Russia has sucked, sucks and will suck.

Ask the Ottawa Citizen where did this piece go? But this, is how they view Russia and Russians in Canadian "elites", much of which are tacit supporters of Nazism and its branch of banderism.

The "Unexpected" (Not Really) Problem.

Russian troops report all along the line of contact. Obviously such a video is not available on YT. The problem is with the smell of rotting corpses of VSU cannon fodder--most of them lay in the field and are not evacuated. As you may expect the putrid smell is unbearable. Which brings us to the issue of KIAs--the number is growing. So much so, that even creeps from WaPo quote:

Kiev has lost a substantial number of Western-supplied armored vehicles in attempts to breach well-fortified Russian defenses in the southern section of the front, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing a military officer on the ground. In an interview with the newspaper, an unnamed Ukrainian air-assault-unit commander claimed that Kiev had gained some ground in Zaporozhye Region near the settlements of Robotino and Verbovoye, scenes of fierce fighting in recent weeks, although he admitted that the advance was “modest.”He added that the progress came at a high cost in military vehicles, including German Marder and US Stryker infantry fighting vehicles. “A lot of equipment was lost there,” he said, without providing exact numbers. The commander also pointed out that Ukrainian troops have encountered serious defenses along their way. “You just have to understand that there is a saturation of anti-tank mines and a saturation of enemy forces, it’s just colossal”, he said.

Which brings us to 404 BS about Klescheevka, which, in accordance to Western propaganda, is under "control" of VSU. First, there is literally nothing left of it, and secondly, as Akhmat guys laugh: yes, khokhol CAN enter Klescheevka, the problem for them is that by far not all of them can exit it afterwards. They played the video of how VSU cannon fodder "conducts operations" around there--basically they get personnel there, after that it gets slaughtered by Akhmat, then they wait for another batch and the process repeats itself over and over again. So, everything you need to know about NATO "tactics". 

Now, even sewer of Business Insider cannot bypass this "news". 

Russia's Soviet-era airplane bombs present a lethal challenge to Ukraine because they are difficult to intercept even using the most advanced air defense systems,  military experts say. Oleksiy Melnyk, from the Kyiv-based think tank Razumkov Center, said that combatting air-dropped bombs was "particularly vexing" for Ukraine. Hi-tech air defense missiles are designed to strike more lightweight targets and are ill-equipped to counter the bombs' old, heavy iron construction. The bombs' dense build and Russia's ample stocks are a significant problem for Ukraine, he said. The powerful bombs can weigh from 1,100 to 2,200 pounds. Melnyk told Insider that the "dumb" freefalling bombs are dropped from an aircraft during horizontal flights or with the plane's nose up or down. He said the plane's alignment and "altitude will further define the ballistic trajectory." 

Well, correct, he just forgot to make a distinction that these are Western "hi-tech" systems which cannot do that--all major Russian air defense complexes, however, have heavy bombs as their standard targets. E.g. for Buk AD system, JDAM munitions in all of their "modifications" is a standard target, not to mention the fact that that AD system is much more than just kinetic means. But what can you say? Real war is not studied in Western military academies, evidently. But then again, you cannot teach military science to cretins who work as "experts" in US media. 

As Larry penned the excellent piece on Ben Hodges:

Ben Hodges was not a good general and he is doing an even worse job as a pundit in his dotage. Ignore his “Pillsbury” doughboy demeanor. He can’t help that he is starting to look like his Aunt Mildred as he ages (just one of the consequences of losing testosterone and eating too much pudding). At least Jack Keane looks and sounds like a guy who once was a general. But Hodges cannot be excused for being a blind, partisan cheerleader when it comes to discussing the war in Ukraine. His weak-minded, shallow analysis reflects poorly on his prior education and his failure to comprehend concepts such as strategy, tactics and order of battle. To quote Bugs Bunny, “what a maroon.”

Exactly, and what I highlighted is even more important--Russian operational level officers are dumbfounded by sheer idiocy and manifest military incompetence of Western generals the likes of Petraeus, Ben Hodges, Keane et al, not to mention clowns from British Army who "consult" already retarded British media. The question is: what did they study in their service life? Evidently not much. So, when I say that such people like Petraeus or Ben Hodges wouldn't be allowed to command even the regiment in Russian Armed Forces I do not exaggerate much.