A Meme.

Fresh from Russia;) 

Who wins? 60-ton radioactive coffin or two Russian guys saving for condos.

The Difference.

This video of the work of BMPT Terminator and Russian tank against VSU armor assets within dense forest is everything you need to know about irrelevance of the US Army experiences in Iraq, let alone Afghanistan to modern continental warfare. 

It also shows, effectively, different doctrinal and procurement universes Russia and the US exist in when it comes to war. Terrain alone speaks volumes about this war and how Russians approach it. No PR "shock and awe" from Pentagon's fantasies, just steady, tedious combat work. That what REAL war is. 

In related news, Germany, naturally was left out to dry and now Vicki "Fuck the EU" Nuland goes on record (in Russian) and states that Abrams tanks will not arrive to 404 in Spring, when they expect 404 to launch "counter-offensive". The whole thing is so ridiculous, including this Spring "counter-offensive", that I can only scratch my head. So, yes, Germany must die, which she will, while the US will try (they think they can) to reap the "benefits" of such situation. But then again, let's not forget Morgenthau Plan for Germany after 1945 for Germans "to tend the beet fields". Germans as a nation are finally ripe for this and this should, pretty much, bury all those myths about  German industrial and engineering prowess, which since long ago is primarily a myth. 

My wonderful publisher Clarity Press even provided a book on:

But Germans shouldn't despair, the US is doing this trick on itself pretty well too, not to mention this teeny-weeny problem of US Dollar dying out. This is combined West's (terminal) illness and no amount of tanks and other weapons will change the outcome which is pretty evident now. Now they lament:

A new documentary, “Nuclear Now,” by Oliver Stone, explores the detrimental effect that environmentalists worldwide had on nuclear power development over the past decades. Stone suggests that actions taken by the environmental movement to derail nuclear power were wrong and contributed to the acceleration of the climate crisis. Stone stated, “We had the solution [nuclear power] … and the environmental movement, to be honest, just derailed it. I think the environmental movement did a lot of good, a lot of good ... [I’m] not knocking it, but in this one major matter, it was wrong. It was wrong.”  He added, “And what they did was so destructive, because by now we would have 10,000 nuclear reactors built around the world and we would have set an example like France set for us, but no one … followed France, or Sweden for that matter.” Oliver Stone is just the latest public figure to slam environmentalists for halting the development of nuclear power, which he believes could have provided clean, safe energy to replace the fossil fuels that continue to pollute the world. 

Oliver Stone is a wonderful director, but he really needs to check his data on the reasons for climate change NOT among US academe. He knows Vladimir Putin personally and he can give him a call and Putin will put Stone in touch with real climatologists, especially specialist in Arctic and who operate Arktika satellite constellation which, let put it this way, surprised many in the West with the data which kinda contradicts their perceptions. Other than that, Stone's premise is valid and, yes, environmentalists sabotaged humanity in many respect. Recall my statement repeated for years--the nation which keeps Grune party as a serious and influential political force has psychological, if not psychiatric, issues. Germany is an Exhibit A of that. They are paying the price, and the price just went up many fold.

Armata, Costs And Reality. Again....

When Main Battle Tank T-14 Armata debuted at Moscow's Victory Day Parade in 2015, let's be honest, it created a global media furor. No doubt, together with praises, a truck load of doubts was also dumped on Armata and the main of them all was the issue of costs. Few people argued with the fact that it is the most advanced tank in the world today, but what price? Initial speculations were that the cost will be so high that Russia as a whole may go bankrupt and dissolve after producing 5, 6....8 Armatas tops. Of course, how could it be any other way when "Russian scholars" (mostly from uber-liberal think-tanks, a euphemism for NATO shills) said so.  

Well, realities on the ground, however, are such that 20 Armatas are already serving with Russian Army's regular tank units and undergo what is called "troop trials", a term somewhat related to IOC: Initial Operational Capability. This is after a year since debut at the Red Square. To add insult to injury, or rub the salt into the wounds, of all kinds of Western Russia's ever ignorant "military experts", the CEO of famed Ural Vagon Zavod (Ural Train Cars Factory--yes, Russians love their military technologies pass as train cars or baby food) Oleg Sienko in his recent interview to National Defense magazine confirmed what many suspected all along, that Armata is exactly three times less expensive to produce than Abrams. That means only one thing: if to believe Abrams' (or Leopard's) cost to be $8.62 million, then Armata is $2,87 million. So, does it mean that Russian Army will receive planned 2300 Armatas by 2025 (initially it was stated to be 2020)? It sure as hell looks like it.      

               

Will there be delays, rescheduling, adjustments etc.? Absolutely! It already happened due to economic and geopolitical circumstances.  No state-of-the-art technology ever was procured without that and it is quite normal. But there is no doubt that Russia, yet again, was able to complete a full cycle--from R&D to procurement--of the cutting edge military technology which in the West would have cost....cough...F-35. This technological gap with the West will continue to grow, especially so if Putin will finally make a decision which a whole nation waits from him now. If not, somebody else, not Putin, will be making those decisions but that is a separate matter and a discussion. Meanwhile, Sukhoi T-50 (aka PAK FA) is getting ready to hit serial production in 2017, with new T-50 specific engines to be installed starting from 2018. 

It is not only inevitable but warranted to observe a somewhat peculiar reaction of Western MSM on a stream of real news from Russia. Behind this reaction (Russophrenia) is their never realized but, oh so palpable, "secret" desire to see Russia implode economically and Russians starve and crawl to the West on their knees. Yet, Russia somehow makes more money exporting grain than she does exporting weapons and now is world's leading exporter of wheat, still builds nuclear and diesel ice-breakers, produces micro-processors, launches satellites, builds nuclear power stations and, generally, is not willing to get scared. I guess this costs factor and ability to produce one of, if not the world's best weapons in quantities that deter any aggression is a huge part of the answer. In Russia it is always Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum and rightly so--this is reality of Russia's history.