Everything You Need To Know ...

 ... about UK Armed Forces. Here is former UK's (secretary) minister of defense Ben Wallace:

This is what attending 44 weeks long "education" at Sandhurst does to you--you get brainwashed and then pretend that you are somehow a military professional. He is the epitome of a decomposition of British ruling class and military. There is nothing worse than chihuahua pretending itself a pit bull. I omit here moral issue completely--London has no morals. 

The only "training" UK (NATO in general) can provide is to how get killed. It is not surprising in the country with this view of military "history": 

But then again, in the country where Antony Beavor is considered a "military historian", it is not surprising that the country is fucked. 

Of Course They Do.

Mr. Sullivan wants to "negotiate". 

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is ready to talk to Russia without conditions about a future nuclear arms control framework even while taking countermeasures in response to the Kremlin’s decision to suspend the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in February he was suspending Russia’s cooperation with the New START Treaty’s provisions for nuclear warhead and missile inspections, a move that came as tensions worsened after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia did say it would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons. Sullivan said at the Arms Control Association’s annual meeting said that the United States is committed to adhering to the treaty if Russia also does, and that Washington wants to open a dialogue on a new framework for managing nuclear risks once the treaty expires in February 2026.

This posture has zero relation to ethics or love of peace--it is a measure to somehow slow down the development of Russia's new strike technologies and to get access through inspections to at least some Russia's advancements. Reducing risks of nuclear exchange, of course, is good under any circumstances but let's not forget about technological gap which is growing between Russia and US in this field and I expect the growth only to accelerate. 

Recall, both me and Larry spoke about this on many occasions: it is not just about warheads and delivery systems, it is also about mitigating the strike. Here the US is not even in the same league, and serial deployment of S-500 which has practically full blown Anti-ICBM capability and of something we didn't see yet, including A-235 Nudol getting ready to become mobile, not to mention laser weapons development, are the means to greatly mitigate US deterrent. The US has no answer to this and that drives this desire to negotiate without any preconditions. Plus, China's deterrent figures prominently in those desires. Speaking of which. 

As Ria put it bluntly (in Russian): China Started to Systematically Mock the United States. China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu flatly refused any meetings with SecDef Lloyd Austin.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday said he welcomes any opportunity for engagement with China’s military leadership in the future, despite Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu declining to meet with him during the upcoming IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. Speaking in a joint press conference in Tokyo with Japan Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, Austin said it’s important for countries with large, significant military capabilities to be able to talk to each other to manage crises and prevent events from spiraling out of control. Austin also said China continued to make provocative intercepts of U.S. and U.S. allies’ aircraft in international waters and air space, which prompted more communication attempts between the Pentagon and the Chinese Defense Ministry.

And these are just some issues pertaining a complete overhaul of global balance of power and this wouldn't have been compete without Ben Wallace parading himself and UK as clowns, with this dude embarrassing himself and UK's "elite producing machine", Sandhurst including, because they, evidently, do not study real war there anymore. Speaking to WaPo (behind the paywall) this proud product of British military "school" (or kindergarten) didn't exclude the possibility of 404 taking Crimea back when "Russia will run out of required equipment". Boy, they do grow them dumb in London. Well, what do you expect from the military establishment whose only war-making capabilities are reduced to false flag SAS operations, killing civilians and conducting terrorist acts. As rumor has it (I have no independent confirmation) a number of British officers have been killed in Kiev during Russia's latest missile strikes. Medvedev's recent statement gives a hint of sorts that Russia is now in business of reducing the numbers of NATO "advisers" in 404. London in general, and Wallace in particular still do not understand the significance of this picture, and continue to make mistake by misidentifying themselves in it.

In the end, using Premier League analogy--in the game of geopolitics, Russia is Manchester City, UK is a weekend amateur team of employees of local post-office competing against teams from local brewery and meat packing factory. Or, using a purely British, Kiplingian analogy--Tabaqui. I warned about this 7 years ago. As classic Soviet cartoon Mowgli portrayed it: 

Or as the common wisdom has it--one has to play in a proper league. Otherwise it ends with this;

I couldn't resist, LOL. I am sure Rio Ferdinand never experienced such a prostate exam, performed by Carlos Tevez, before or ever since.

Told Ya.

Not that this is any news, but still...

МОСКВА, 11 мая — РИА Новости. Американский зенитный ракетный комплекс Patriot не мог сбить российскую ракету "Кинжал" из-за своих технических характеристик, заявил высокопоставленный источник в Минобороны. "Дело в том, что скорость полета ракеты "Кинжал" превышает предельные боевые режимы поставленных Западом киевскому режиму зенитных ракетных комплексов, включая и Patriot", — объяснил собеседник агентства. Кроме того, как напомнил источник, на конечном участке полета "Кинжал" совершает противоракетный маневр и практически вертикальный заход на цель, что исключает возможность его перехвата зенитными ракетными комплексами. Он назвал заявления о сбитой гиперзвуковой ракете вбросом и подчеркнул, что это — "попытка выдать желаемое за действительное".  Ранее руководитель пресс-службы Пентагона Патрик Райдер на брифинге заявил, что Украина якобы сбила российскую ракету "Кинжал" с помощью переданного ей комплекса ПРО Patriot.

Translation: MOSCOW, May 11 - RIA Novosti. The American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system could not have shot down the Russian Kinzhal missile due to its technical characteristics, a senior source in the Ministry of Defense said. "The fact is that the flight speed of the Kinzhal missile exceeds the maximum combat modes of anti-aircraft missile systems supplied by the West to the Kyiv regime, including the Patriot," the agency's interlocutor explained. In addition, as the source recalled, in the final phase of the flight, the Kinzhal performs an anti-missile maneuver and an almost vertical approach to the target, which excludes the possibility of it being intercepted by anti-aircraft missile systems. He called the statements about the downed hypersonic missile a hoax and stressed that it was "an attempt to wishful thinking." Earlier, the head of the press service of the Pentagon, Patrick Ryder, said at a briefing that Ukraine allegedly shot down a Russian Kinzhal missile with the help of the Patriot missile defense system transferred to it.

 

You see, Physics is not taught to Western media personalities and the graduates of political "science" departments, and SMO exposed a complete inability of "influencer" class both in the West and in Russia to get anything right technologically, not to speak of operationally and strategically. Different war, people, different capabilities, different level of expertise is required, unlike it was in XIX century where one could relatively easily explain to dames at aristocratic soirees the nature of the linear tactics and the meaning of smooth bore guns. Which brings us to this:

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed that his government is supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. CNN previously reported that several Storm Shadow weapons have already been delivered. Wallace informed parliament about the arms transfer on Thursday, claiming it was a “calibrated and proportionate response” by London to the situation in Ukraine. He described the missile as a “long-range conventional-only precision strike capability,” but declined to provide details about the latest addition to Kiev’s arsenal of Western-provided hardware. “The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory,” the secretary predicted. He downplayed the significance of providing the new capability to Kiev, stating that the missiles were “not even in the same league” as those available to Russia.

Ben Wallace, being a big honcho of toy armed forces of a backwater country, obviously, slept at all lectures on operations in Sandhurst thinking that attack on Sevastopol and Black Sea Fleet will "allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces"(c). But then again, the desperation with which UK tries to grasp for the last remaining straw of its long gone greatness is amusing. As T.S. Elliot once quipped: 

“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” 

America is important, for many wrong reasons, but she still is, for now anyways. London--is not, no matter how it tries. And tries it does not even understanding that 10 Downing Street will not like the response. Many people still cannot understand that the side which has escalation dominance automatically has more options and UK (and NATO) is not this side. Well, I guess Sevastopol has to get ready--not the first time it will face perfidious Albion, Sevastopol faced down much more serious enemies. In related news, the CEP of Kinzhal or 3M14 is measured in centimeters and the whole territory of UK is well within the range. But then again, they don't teach Physics to British ruling class.

Ben Wallace...

 ... you gotta love this. If I would have been a Sandhurst leadership, I would have died from embarrassment, but then again--British military is the same thing nowadays as British "scientists", or, for that matter, British space station. 

Russia has not been able to “punch through” Ukraine’s defences, despite almost all of its army deployed in the war. It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated. “That has come at a huge cost to the Russian army. We now estimate 97 per cent of the Russian army, the whole Russian army, is in Ukraine,” Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Meanwhile, Russia claimed on Wednesday that they made a breakthrough in the eastern front of Luhansk.

Ben Wallace wouldn't be allowed to command a battalion in any serious army, but then again, modern British military and "intel" is a caricature and the only thing they have left at their disposal is dissemination of an utter operational and strategic BS. But then again, it looks like British and US top brass lacks basic education in operations and national defense strategies, and we can forgive them for exposing themselves as ignorant NCOs trying to compete with people from Russian military who are teaching those who want to learn how you fight a massive war in economy of force mode. Somebody should tell Wallace that PR and spewing BS is not a substitute for real knowledge and experience in modern large scale combined arms warfare in which British General Staff has zero experience, not to speak of Ben Wallace losing 97% of his professional honor by parading himself as a sore loser, who he is being in charge of the toy armed forces, and cannot take it. But that is a human virtue, or lack thereof, and no amount of lectures on Russia's defense policies and Russian way of war can change what UK lost long time ago across the board--class.      

North-South.

As most of you know, I am only marginally interested in the everyday "tactical" minutiae of SMO, because now it is mostly ruthless extermination of what's very little left of VSU and sorting out these co called Territorial Defense Troops of Ukraine which are nothing more than modern iteration of the Volkssturm and have no chance against LDNR forces, let alone regular Russian Army. But while this situation is ongoing, some other very important things happen elsewhere. No, I am not talking about Turkey removing veto for Finland and Sweden joining NATO--in a larger scheme of things it changes very little for Russia. But this, below, does:

Following agreements reached during the January official visit to Moscow by Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to further develop and deepen bilateral relations between Iran and Russia, the countries have decided to jointly revive the North-South Transport Corridor. This decision has become particularly relevant against the background of the unlawful sanctions policy pursued by the United States and its Western allies against Russia and Iran, and Tehran’s and Moscow’s desire to establish trade routes that are not linked to the West. In order to implement this decision, Iranian authorities are seeking to revive the recently stalled International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project, which traverses Russian and Iranian territory and the two countries’ waters to connect with Asian export markets. As the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on June 11, in order to implement the International North-South Transport Corridor, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has initiated the transit of cargo from Russia to India or to South Asia through the project, using just one consignment note for the entire transit route.

This is this corridor. 

Geopolitical ramifications are huge for the region, especially when both Iran and Azerbaijan, which will have new railway built connecting Russia and Iran, capable to handle large rail traffic of cargoes ranging from wheat to oil, to metals etc. As article notices:

The International North-South Transport Corridor emphasizes the Russian port of Astrakhan and the Iranian Chabahar as bases for further transport to Eurasia. The development of the latter, as well as the construction of a large petrochemical complex and an export terminal near the port of Jask, are projects being implemented by the Iranian government as part of the Mokran coastal development strategy. Nevsky Shipyard, which produces multipurpose dry-cargo ships of RSD49 (deadweight of 7150 tons, container capacity of 289 TEU) and 005RSD03 (container capacity of 225 TEU) projects, is also engaged in the work of the North-South transit corridor in building ships for the Caspian Sea.

This brings us to the part of Russia's shipbuilding industry which concentrates on construction of those River-Sea vessels, like these:

Nevsky Shipyard has the order for 10 of these, other shipyards also build those or similar to them transports. Caspian Sea may get even busier in terms of marine traffic in coming years. This is a very important piece of news. Together, of course, with EU now trying to "resolve" Kaliningrad "blockade" and promising to iron out details in a few days.

VILNIUS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Trade through Lithuania to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad could return to normal within days, two sources familiar with the matter said, as European officials edge towards a compromise deal with the Baltic state to defuse a row with Moscow. Kaliningrad, which is bordered by European Union states and relies on railways and roads through Lithuania for most goods, has been cut off from some freight transport from mainland Russia since June 17 under sanctions imposed by Brussels. European officials are in talks about exempting the territory from sanctions, which have hit industrial goods such as steel so far, paving the way for a deal in early July if EU member Lithuania drops its reservations, said the people, who declined to be named because the discussions are private.

Of course, they are private. In the West everything now is private and secret because public is completely excluded from any "democratic" process and should know only one thing--how unified and powerful combined West is, because, obviously, the reality is exactly opposite. But who cares about reality in West's political "elite"? I doubt many can even grasp it. But they surely are very "cultured". 

Ben Wallace has said Vladimir Putin is a “lunatic” with “small man syndrome”, as he accused him of trying to change history through “violence and invasion”.

I believe Ben Wallace is a typical representative of British "elite"--barely educated and low-cultured, and I am on record on the "quality" of Sandhurst "products". They are good for barking, not very good for real fighting against real enemies. I guess Wallace senses this, being a defense secretary of a toy army of a toy country. Pink Floyd were wrong when singing about "hanging on a quiet desperation is the English way". Ben Wallace's desperation is that of a bellicose and verbose jester at the plastic throne.

When I Get Tired....

...from reading and hearing yet another pompous bullshit from some random British establishment or media representative, I always go for a jugular and... watch Duchess Kate Middleton and marvel at her real beauty and femininity. Boy, House of Windsor certainly scored 10 on this one, and I always laugh when some creep from paparazzi tries to compare Kate to late Princess Diana--there is no comparison, Kate outshines everyone who ever was in the limelight near Buckingham Palace for the last 50 years (maybe 100) by the order of magnitude.  

She is a truly beautiful woman who is a delight to look at (while the wife is not around) and she is the one who helps me to avoid questioning mental and cognitive abilities of the UK's political establishment, because in terms of morons per capita UK certainly gives the US a run for its money and sometimes even lovely Duchess cannot help. 

Enter yet another product of Sandhurst. 

Ben Wallace has accused Vladimir Putin of Tsarist ambitions as he said there will be “severe economic sanctions” if Ukraine is invaded. The Defence Secretary made his comments after high-stakes talks this week between Nato and Russia failed to find a solution to the Kremlin’s increasingly threatening behaviour towards its neighbour. Citing a 5,000-word essay that the Russian president wrote last summer entitled “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, Mr Wallace said that he had been unable to “separate” himself from Mr Putin’s belief that “Ukraine really is Russian”. “I’m concerned that what this is really about is President Putin’s legacy; that is about a false vision, a Russia that even the Tsars failed to create and consolidate – that is the Russia of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia,” he said. In a stark warning, Mr Wallace said that this “motto of the tsars for the Russian Empire” had “far deeper consequences for the security of Eastern Europe, because it doesn’t stop at Ukraine”. He likened Mr Putin’s further ambitions to “ethnonationalism”, cautioning that “in our history of Europe, ethnonationalism has led to some of the worst conflicts in the last millennium”.

Wallace, definitely, has issues with reading comprehension because both Putin's article and every other statement re: 404 after that was about the fact that Russia doesn't want any war with Ukraine and that Russia is fully content with Ukraine existing within the Germany-Austria framework, when Ukraine becomes a neutral independent country. Wallace also is a bit shaky on a "Tsarist thing" because he definitely doesn't know Russia's history, which is not surprising considering such Sandhurst's "products" as Antony Beavor who passes for "military historian" in Anglo-world and who is a proud heir to a British Russophobic propaganda purveyors. Just one example out of many. 

So, it will be really important to Wallace to resign himself to the fact that modern Russia has no intentions to create Russia per "tsarist vision" nor that Britain is an empire, but a second tier country which is economically, militarily, scientifically and culturally is dwarfed by Russia and no amount of pseudo-historic BS from 10 Downing Street and its structures ranging from MI-6 to Foreign Office can change this fact. In related news, Mr. Wallace should take a look at the calendar and take in a simple fact--it is 2022, not 19th century. It matters, really. But, as I said, a strategic constant is called constant for a reason and it is very simple--if it comes to it, Russia will be able to "regime change" in Kiev with all what comes with it and the combined West can do nothing about it, least of all UK. 

Per "sanctions", good God, Russia doesn't care and continues her withdrawal from the primarily US-controlled institutions at an accelerated rate. I am sure Vladimir Putin is still in deep depression that he will not be able to shop in Harrods or in some boutiques in Paris and Milan selling overpriced and overrated crap, wink-wink. of course, Russians love English Premier League and are still enamored by the classic English Literature, not to mention counting Beatles and Pink Floyd, among many others, as a pinnacle of British creative genius, but that's about it. UK is simply not that important anymore. 

In related comedy news:

The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials. The CIA-trained forces could soon play a critical role on Ukraine’s eastern border, where Russian troops have massed in what many fear is preparation for an invasion. The U.S. and Russia started security talks earlier this week in Geneva but have failed thus far to reach any concrete agreement.

Yes, we all saw how good CIA's "training" is in Afghanistan. Including CIA's tactical and situational (lack) of awareness, not to mention the fact that IF (i underscore it--IF) Russia DOES decide to settle Ukrainian issue, CIA should know, Russia has very good, in fact, outstanding ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Recon) complex and VSU and its numerous "trained" units will cease to exist really fast. Somebody explain to these CIA "instructors" what modern war is with such country as Russia. I think they missed a few important lessons on what it means to fight a real enemy. I hear Russia's SSO shaking in their boots from fear, not.