... it is a sign of times, which accelerate dramatically. As James Kunstler beautifully wrote today:
It is a clusterfuck which was unleashed, as I warned for years, the moment the US decided that it is exceptional in what it never was and here we are today.
... showing class again. Keep your focus on how he explains "tactical"--it is spot on. Now, per Orthodox Easter, Inauguration and May 9 Parade--yes, FSB is having its hands full. But what are you gonna do, it is what it is. The West would love nothing more than kill more Russians and damage things of significance on those three significant dates. This is the impotent rage. My new video today touches upon it. Should go up fairly soon.
... enter the race for creating Lunar Base and nuclear propulsion space tugs.
Of course, it would have been just swell to go through the solid supersonic missilery development phase, but, hey, who cares, right? Judging by the non-stop American "successes" (this is sarcasm, just in case) in developing hypersonic anything and all those declarations of, say, LRHW to be in initial operational capability (IOC) in 2021, 2022, 2023 and now 2024.
This is the United States, mind you, whose economic and scientific potential dwarfs that of the UK. But hey, PR is PR, this is how Western "democracies" do things. You know, BS. After all, there is always CGI and an army of fanboys who post videos on YouTube about soon, really really soon, coming of the NATO's yet another wunderwaffe conceived in the deep recesses of doctrines on how to fleece an unsuspecting public by selling it all kinds of propaganda and military porn.
1981, campus practice on celestial navigation. The roof of one of the large buildings have been sometimes used to get a "horizon". Here we are on the break between the "couple" (Two academic hour subject study).
... and for creeps from Kommersant and specifically for Yusin shyster. That is what they all feel. A little bit of (low-brow) fun for Saturday.
... again. Do not idealize Russia, she has problems but those problems, like Middle Asia migration, are being solved. These people are Christians, their kids will become American Russians in no time, they will pick up language with a lighting speed. This is happening more and more...
To fight Iraqi Army with "monkey models" T-72s which Iraqis couldn't even dig in properly?
In the end, it is the question of reputation--one can push this "Gulf War--The Greatest Thing Ever" only so far, but eventually even the fanboys get the whiff of desperation. Caveats like "we didn't send the latest models because Russians may get the secrets" also work only to a certain extent, after that it becomes a lame excuse, which it is, and the tank warfare undergoes a dramatic overhaul in SMO, with tanks increasingly carrying anti-drone screens and now EW complexes, as Russian Tsar Tank has demonstrated:
... regarding this thing:
Ah yes, the water is wet, the fire is hot, and Biden Administration lives vicariously through Kiev regime. Russia gives the number of new delivery of ATACMS to be around 100 and most of those will be used in a desperate attempt to damage the Crimean Bridge. This is as far as Pentagon's military competencies extend, but what you are going to do? Simple: more of 404 will be taken by Russia for creation of a buffer (or cordon sanitaire), as Peskov quoted Putin today (in Russian). So, that means a complete removal of 404 cannon fodder from the left bank of Dnepr and, possibly, some territories on the right one. Which ones? It is for the General Staff to decide. Maybe 404 can ask Pentagon to provide those oil rigs with missiles and float them on Dnepr to deter Russian Army? Great operational thinking it will be. I am sure this plan will stun Kremlin and General Staff.
To demonstrate, however, how "principled" combined West is:
... that they buried one of the most stupidest military ideas ever... they come back with even stupider one.
For years I was trying to find proper professional naval English analog to Russian бухтиноватость and lo and behold, my love of the channel Battleship New Jersey delivered--it is Oil Canning!
This is a feature, not a bug. Albeit naval architects do have distinction between low and high oil canningness. Here is USS Zumwalt showing a rather elevated level of oil canning.
... about this former Deputy Ivanov. Boy, this is awesome.
1. SOB was (they "divorced" just recently, for obvious purpose) married to a very expensive "socialite" (a euphemism for glamour slut) with ties to Israel. So, the guy was very weak in pussy department. But his "socialite" required a lot of money to stay glamorous.
... to 404 and already have been thinking about boasting how they led the offensive which would defeat those backward Russkies. Well, the problem, of course, was that they still thought that US Army Manuals apply for 404 as well as they did in Gulf War. Boy, did they miscalculate. Some interesting points from Marat on Chasov Yar, which only confirm the point I make that no US general can command anything larger than regiment in SMO. They simply have neither knowledge nor experience.
Translation: By the fall of last year, Khortitsa, which at the end of the 2022 was considered the largest military formation among the 4 main formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (240-260 thousand people), lost 150 thousand in just one year. As a result, all the main units, I emphasize, the best that remain at Khortytsya now, concentrated for the defense of Chasov Yar - one at a time, and the majority have already been completely reorganized twice. That is, they were completely destroyed once or twice. But let's take a closer look at them, as this in itself is very interesting. In first place is the supporting and most combat-ready 93rd brigade “Kholodny Yar”. Almost a division in numbers. In two years it was destroyed twice. It is interesting that the “Kholodnye” were considered the most combat-ready, because they fought mainly with the best captured Russian equipment. These are primarily T-72, T-80 and even a few T-90 tanks. And also the best thing the Ukrops had - the T-64 Bulat. The “Kholodnye” were the favorites of the Americans, and, for example, during the autumn-summer campaign of 22, some units were directly led by American officers. True, when the Artyomovskaya meat grinder began, they quickly fled. In second place is the 46th airmobile (airborne) brigade, trained by the British in England, which, by the way, is the most unshabby - it was only reformed once. Next is the 92nd Air Assault Brigade (twice destroyed). These are generally suicide troops. Like the 110th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Avdeevka. They distinguished themselves by carrying out a massacre of our prisoners together with the Kraken battalion in the village of Novoselovskoye near Svatovo in the fall of the 22nd. Then 16 fighters of the Lugansk militia (now the same 4th brigade) died as martyrs. They put bags over their heads and suffocated them. Oh, what will happen when the Luhansk people reach 92nd.
Oh, we know what's gonna happen and it better be done without any phones around. Sadism towards POWs was "trained" by NATO instructors and this is the only thing they are good at. Recall how US media have been ejaculating in mid 2010s from describing H.R. McMaster who became, for a short while, the National Security Adviser to Trump. What many forgot that at some point there was a description of how McMaster's regiment treated Iraqi Army POWs--inhumanely. Remarkably, the piece was in one of the major US outlets--either New Yorker or NYT, one of those. Now I cannot find it. I tried, maybe you can. But this is the type of the "training", which is based on killing a third rate force which cannot shoot back and is demolished by the way of total air superiority. But McMaster's "story" and PR around his exploits in Iraq are totally inapplicable to the realities of modern war with "peer" or "better than peer", and that is what those American unit commanders learned really fast. Hence, they fled--very little glory in being evaporated by Tornado's salvo or being blown to smithereens by 152-mm shell or 3M14 Kalibr.
Remember a pathetic piece by WSJ in 2017 titled...
The New Cold War Pits a U.S. General Against His Longtime Russian Nemesis. It’s Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster vs. Putin ally Valery Gerasimov
Apart from obvious gross mismatch in rank, command, responsibilities and accomplishments--Gerasimov's level is a level of the Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff--one is forced to ask the question: and what are those "military thinking" accomplishments of McMaster per him being a Director, Concept Development and Experimentation? Almost ten years passed from the moment of McMaster's involvement with US doctrine. And what are the results?
... Shoigu ordered doubling of production of S1 Pantsirs in their latest modifications.
Translation: Supplies of Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun systems to the troops will almost double this year, its head Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the Ministry of Defense. The Pantsir-SM modification is considered the most modern short-range air defense system. These complexes received a new radar with an active phased array, as a result, the target detection range increased from 32–36 km to 75 km. The maximum engagement distance is 40 km. Small-caliber ammunition is being developed for Pantsirs, Izvestia previously reported. They use a control system and warhead similar in their capabilities to conventional Pantsir missiles. The new ammunition will be very effective against drones, and can also be used against ATGMs, MLRS shells, anti-radar missiles and other air attack weapons. The minimum area (zone) for hitting air targets with such missiles will be reduced to 500 m. The full ammunition load of an anti-drone installation can be up to 48 missiles.
So, combined with ECM this is what development of counter-measures looks like. Both Tor M2s and Pantsirs performed admirably already in Syria, now it is a new scale.
In related news, oopsie--there is no hiding anymore, especially when you are a high level military bureaucrat. Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, General Timur Ivanov has been detained under the suspicion of taking a bribe (in Russian). The guy was (now "was") in charge of construction for military personnel. In other words--the most senior quartermaster of Russian Defense Ministry. Not anymore. He took, allegedly, more than one R 1 million (how much more? MORE) bribe and will now have up to 15 years in "resort" to think about his life, if his guilt will be proven, which I think it will be. Rear services of such immense force as Russian Armed Forces means access to immense financial resources and contracts dispensation, which, I speculate, what the bribe was all about--to get juicy construction contract. I am sure more arrests are coming. What the fuck this guy was thinking while having the salary about the size half of this bribe a month. I guess greed got to him big time. Most likely it is one of possibly many such episodes which will be "attached" later. The conclusion? Serve honestly...
... talking shop.
I stated on a number of occasions that I will not allow to de-humanize peoples, as in nations. I do not like Israel, but not all Jews are genocidal Zionists, many are, but very many are not. Average Americans may not be the brightest people, but neither are Russians or Chinese, for that matter. We need to run a very fine line between often and rightly criticizing national traits which are not commendable and condemning people as a whole. The reason I brought this up is because people criticize, and they have a full right to do so, America's urban and suburban environments. Some of them are indeed ugly. Some cities simply decayed into oblivion--this is modern American economy and culture, but it is not a totality of it.
And here is where I make a distinction. People do not like strip-malls? They have a full right to not like them, but I do not necessarily condemn them, strip-malls that is. In fact, I think many of them serve a very good community purpose and who said that one does not need a good grocery store and nail salon? It is one thing to justifiably condemn consumerism, totally another to see not just aesthetical positives but utility which is also a cultural trait. And here is where I come to the defense of one story America. In fact, it is where real America still survives. It is also America I love dearly. Yes, some towns and hamlets are ugly, but many are cozy, inviting, friendliest and pleasing, that is until they elect Democratic mayors;) For people who travel in and to the West of the Rockies it is normal to constantly pass through some of the most beautiful towns. There is nothing wrong with such places as Wallace, ID.
Sure, sure.
I have news for Financial Times--even $120 billion are not going to change anything, unless NATO somehow finds personnel and hardware to somehow deploy about a million personnel to fight Russia. Of course, even in this case this number of personnel will have very low morale and training and will have no viable air defense, but, hey, can we imagine things for the heck of it?
Now about tower in Kharkov. I remember one US Army general trying to convince the audience of either CNN or MSNBC that, and I quote, "Russian long range weapons are nowhere near as accurate as American ones". Well, today Russians blew up the top of Kharkov TV tower by a long-range weapon and that tells you how accurate those weapons are. Let me put it mildly--they are as accurate as any long-range weapon can possibly be, and that tells you that they have damn good inertial navigation and excellent homing capabilities.
... to those who still think that ATACMS decide anything. I totally get where Scott comes from in his apprehension about Crimean Bridge safety but let's step back and think for a minute purely tactically, considering the fact that.
1. ATACMS have been in use in SMO for a while now. Here is one example of many, this is from October 25, 2023.
Translation: “Over the past 24 hours, two US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles were intercepted,” the publication says. In addition, during the day, an S-200 anti-aircraft missile, two HARM anti-radar missiles and two US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems were intercepted. Previously, the military department did not report the interception of ATACMS missiles that the Ukrainian Armed Forces received from the Pentagon.
So, as you can see, those, including its longest range (300 km) version, are being successfully intercepted by Russian AD and militarily make no difference whatsoever on the theater of operations, EVEN if they are able to achieve one or two "leakers".
2. "Leaker" is, of course, the missile or projectile which gets through. Considering well articulated overall effectiveness of Russian Air Defense of around 95%, as stated by no other than Mr. Putin himself (In Russian), which is very close to reality because all data points towards this astonishing effectiveness, we can easily assume that in order to get even two "leakers" (most likely through combined heterogeneous salvo--Scalps/Stormshadows, ATACMS, maybe even USVs et al), in air they will need:
2/5 = n/100
n=40 missiles.
They will need 40 missile salvo to get two leakers to the Crimean Bridge. Let's turn our civil engineering and operational minds on.
3. Crimean Bridge is not just the bridge--it is THE longest bridge in Europe (19 kilometers), it is also the classic Linear Target which is IMPOSSIBLE to completely destroy other than maybe one or two flights of it. The juiciest of those being its main flight with the length of 235 meters.
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4. Here comes this issue: can 404, having real time ISR from the US, actually collect 40 missile salvo? Here is a rough range of ATACMS and where it can be theoretically pre-deployed for a theoretical salvo:
So, are "leakers" possible? Absolutely. Will they change anything? Nope. The outcome is clear and now Khohol recognized that they will actually get something around $8 billion in... loans, not those $61 billion which go to Pentagon for replenishing stocks, filling pockets of lobbyists from MIC and continuing to finance propaganda about "the finest fighting force in history". They only know how to fight PR wars. Keep this in mind, including the fact that the Bridge is well defended.
... sadly only in Russian. Egorov and his Military Acceptance go inside Lada-class sub. These are state-of-the-art subs with same state-of-the-art sensor suite and CICS. So, here it is.
... stealing of Russia's assets by US Congress, and revisit the complexity of the operations in Arctic by the US Navy's submarines against Russian SSKs, especially latest generation.
... I was making for more than decade and wrote FOUR books on that:
... you are a thief. Old habits die hard.
It was expected eventually, so, I am not surprised. Now, let's see what is coming next. One thing for sure, however, Moscow knew it will happen, so, the dedollarization will accelerate greatly now. Europe will give up those funds and that will be it for Europe. US will follow after that.
... but still, it is worth reminding...
Andre did what he does best--the magic with Nandy Sisters. This whole thing is enjoyable in the extreme. It is also beautiful. It is Friday, so--for some relax which everyone needs.
... about credentialism and how "experts" cannot do arithmetic, forget about algebra and calculus of military capabilities.
... that Obama's uncle liberated Auschwitz, while Western Allies captured Berlin.
Translation: MOSCOW, April 18 – RIA Novosti. The Russian Embassy in Berlin received a notice that it is undesirable for Russian officials to participate in commemorative events on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camp prisoners, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
There is no need to discuss Zakharova's response, because I write in this blog for 10 years now about unrelenting rewriting and falsifying of history of WW II by the West. E.g. as was noted on many occasions before, professionally respected by me Colonel Macgregor continues to spread what amounts to Nazi propaganda about the Red Army and USSR in WW II having absolutely no background in real history of WW II other than cherry picking dubious (Norman Davis, anyone) sources and anecdotal "evidence" from whatever the environment of Baltic or Ukrainian people he grew up with. I am on record--Russia must repatriate remains of Red Army soldiers buried anywhere in Europe, especially Germany, and remove the monument in Treptower Park and bring it back to Russia. The generation of Western Allies who fought heroically in WW II is pretty much gone now and there is no need in trying to convince the West about who and how defeated Nazism.
Small minority of Europeans who know the truth makes no difference whatsoever in public opinion and they will continue to know anyway because this is what normal people do. The rest, who cares--it is over for the West anyway and the trajectory to oblivion is well defined. The break between Russia and the West is final and, as was pointed out by me on many occasions, a traditional Russophobia of Europeans, always near the surface, was released by Washington and as this proverbial genie it is now out of the bottle. This is THE point--these are not just "elites", this is the majority of population. Modern Western "values" are incompatible with Russian values which are effectively Christian conservative values and NO, so called American "Christian conservatives" are not really conservatives in their outlook.
This is just one sign out of many which testify to an ongoing decoupling of Russia from West's political and economic institutions. Cultural will follow, because true European culture has been already largely transplanted onto Russian soil. Classic and best of modern European culture lives and thrives in Russia. The rest is trash and shouldn't be allowed in. The Iron Curtain is in order and it is Russia now who begins to erect it.
