Same Thrust.

My good friend Byron King penned an excellent piece about Anchorage and it is along the same lines as opinions by me, Larry Johnson, Daniel Davis, Ray McGovern and others. 

Apparently, the Trump administration has wanted something like this summit for many months and summarily announced it with typical White House fanfare. Frankly, though, as an outsider looking in, this Trump-Putin summit appears to be a hastily contrived event. I won’t call it a stunt, but it’s difficult to see where it’s all headed, certainly on the Ukraine issue. For example, regarding Ukraine, what has Team Trump accomplished in the way of back-office staff work? Have American diplomats, military experts and other subject matter experts met with Russian counterparts to hash out details of a workable agreement? If any of this has occurred, it’s been kept under wraps. But okay, we’ll see. Meanwhile, it’s worth pointing out that Russia’s government has never deviated from its long-term demands and geopolitical goals vis a vis Ukraine: Russia keeps Crimea and holds the annexed eastern portions of Ukraine; Ukraine remains forever out of NATO; Ukraine must demilitarize to a relatively low level, not capable of threatening Russia; and Ukraine must “de-N@zify” in terms of its political philosophy.

Dmitry Orlov shares the sentiment: 

On Friday, August 15, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are scheduled to meet in Anchorage, Alaska. This is all the news so far: the presidents of Russia and the US are to talk to each other in person; details of the conversation unknown ahead of time and confidential in any case. If you are interested in this sort of thing, on Friday you'd probably want to start paying attention to the official communiques by the Russian and the US sides that are likely to be made following the event. You might perhaps watch the joint press conference, if there is one. And then, if you were to practice proper informational hygiene, you would be advised to tune out for at least a week, to give competent analysts a chance to perform their analyses. Instead of such informational hygiene, what many people are being subjected to is full-on hysteria. Western mass media and bloggers are delivering a panicked barrage of fake news and commentary (for there is little actual news to report). It is mostly focused on who said what, ignoring the fact that the who is not relevant and the what is of no consequence. In particular, any sentence containing the name "Zelensky" is guaranteed to be pure nonsense.

Yes, about this informational hygiene, of which many of us speak and write ad nauseam--unplug yourself from Western establishment media, they provide NO useful information or anything resembling the truth. Here is an example--while human trash and whores (literally) in establishment media float out all kinds of "settlement" on territorial issues in 404, here is Russia's Foreign Ministry today, verbatim. 

МОСКВА, 13 авг — РИА Новости. Территориальное устройство России закреплено в Конституции и не подлежит обсуждению на предстоящей встрече Путина и Трампа, заявил заместитель директора департамента информации и печати МИД Алексей Фадеев. "Здесь даже не нужно изобретать чего-то. Территориальное устройство Российской Федерации закреплено в Конституции нашей страны. Этим все сказано. Поэтому что касается целей российской делегации в переговорах на Аляске, то они диктуются исключительно национальными интересами", — сказал он на брифинге.

Translation: MOSCOW, August 13 — RIA Novosti. Russia's territorial structure is enshrined in the Constitution and is not subject to discussion at the upcoming meeting between Putin and Trump, said Alexei Fadeyev, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Foreign Ministry. "There is no need to invent anything here. The territorial structure of the Russian Federation is enshrined in the Constitution of our country. That says it all. Therefore, as for the goals of the Russian delegation in the negotiations in Alaska, they are dictated exclusively by national interests," he said at a briefing.

SMO will continue no matter what is discussed in Anchorage. Meanwhile, DJT is going to discuss the fate of Leningrad.

Hey, Donny, YOU were the one who appointed a cuck and a treasonous coward Bolton as your National Security Adviser. You, and nobody else. He is YOUR cadre, as was and is a collection of neocons in both of your administrations.

Speaking of which, Financial Times, this British tabloid masquerading for a serious publications laments, LOL.

There was a shortage of experts on Russia in the US administration on the eve of the talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Usually, the National Security Council is in charge of the preparation of meetings, but it has been significantly reduced: in May, dozens of foreign policy experts were fired, writes the Financial Times (FT). According to the publication, in July, more than 1300 employees were fired as part of the government's campaign to reduce federal staff at the State Department. Among them were analysts dealing with Russia and Ukraine. Also, in the second presidential term of Mr. Trump, "a significant part of his employees" lost the US diplomatic corps.

Hey, FT retards, read my lips, again. The combined West DOES NOT have Russia's "experts", hasn't had them for a long time--what passes in the West for "Russia experts" is a bunch or brainwashed cretins from the allegedly "top" universities, who are later recruited in all kinds of orgs such as MI6, CIA or numerous "think-tanks" strictly on the merit of speaking Russian and repeating the same propaganda tropes from the Cold War 1.0. They are no "experts". It is a result of a precipitous intellectual decline of the West and a complete corruption and degeneration of its edukeishn in the so called humanities field. 

Moreover, as I also repeat ad nauseam, in the US the craft of diplomacy is non-existent. The (lack of) expertise of State Department is that of providing consular service and availing its embassies around the world to CIA and Mossad for all kinds of subversive (and criminal) activities. Those 1,300 "experts" who have been fired is not a big loss, because among those not a single person is an "expert in Russia".  The US simply doesn't know the world outside, period. Never really did. Per operation on Dobropolye axis I will write later--some really interesting insights from there from those ... who know what they are doing.   

My Dear Friend...

 ... wrote a superb summary.

This scene comes near the beginning of the movie Gladiator (here but please read this article first). Hordes of German tribesmen pour out of the forest to fight against phalanxes of Roman legionaries, backed up by immense, flame-tossing battle engines.  Observing the setup, senior commander Quintus is perplexed. He can’t believe that the barbaric opponents foolishly wish to fight against mighty Rome. And he voices his opinion to the boss.

Byron references a masterpiece of Gladiator--one of my most beloved films of all time. It applies. Read the whole piece...

 

Byron's Piece...

 ... went "viral" in Russia and both Ria and establishment RG (Rossiyaskaya Gazeta) reported on it:

Соединенные Штаты стоят на пороге серьезного геополитического фиаско на Украине, считает бывший офицер ВМС США Байрон Кинг.

Translation: The United States are standing at the threshold of a serious geopolitical fiasco in Ukraine, thinks the former US Navy's officer Byron King.   

It also goes extremely well with one of the best openings on geopolitics in a while, James Kunstler did it again:

How long do we have to wait before Volodymyr Zelensky opens a disco in Boca Raton?

This is sheer brilliance. But that also brings us to some lamentations by Gerard Baker in The Times:

Pentagon leaks expose the scale of Biden’s foreign failings. Classified intelligence revelations display Washington’s strategic disarray and harm relations with major US allies

What Baker doesn't understand is that Biden is just the cherry on the top. I don't remember ANY US administration starting with Clinton which wouldn't fuck it up one way or another due to hubris, ignorance and incompetence. The problem is systemic and not just with Biden Admin alone. Leaks are important globally ONLY in terms of sheer idiocy of the American "strategic planning" and a complete detachment from the economic, military and social realities of the world. In terms of Russia--it is my position for years now that most Western "Russia Studies" programs should simply be closed and most of those "scholars" who teach there be stripped off their "degrees" as academic frauds. But then again, one should start looking at what do they "teach" at those History Departments, because with "historians" like late Richard Pipes or alive and well Anne Applebaum and her ilk one will not learn anything about Russia of the XX-XXI century. And that is that simple.

Stratagem From My Dear Friend Byron King.

And Byron sure knows his warfare, because he is what makes a real senior officer (Captain) in the US Navy which we, Soviets/Russians, respected. Commenting on the leaks, Byron introduces himself in the piece at Daily Reckoning:

At this point I must say something: I’m a retired U.S. Navy officer, obliged by law and regulation to state that everything here is personal opinion. I do not speak on behalf of the Navy, Department of Defense or U.S. government. Plus, I’ll add that at this stage of life I’m a humble geologist who moonlights as a newsletter writer. I have no access — zero, zippo, nada, nothing — to classified government material. Thus, everything that follows is based on my review of what’s out in the public domain.

And he proceeds to succinctly review this whole FUBAR with those leaks and provides an excellent bottom line:

Allow me to distill two years of study at the Naval War College into two short sentences:

1) Armies fight battles, but energy, industry and logistics win wars.

2) Modern war is industrial war, certainly when the conflict involves large nations.

Exactly, and this is one of the best distillations of grand strategy, the art, evidently, lost by Washington since Ike stopping the slaughter in Korea in 1953. Read Byron's full piece--it is excellent. 

They Begin To Feel The Pinch. Or, Didn't I Tell You So?

Not that they haven't been warned by real professionals. Ah, wait, they haven't been. What they have for "military experts" cannot be taken seriously by anyone with military background. 

Russia is tightening the noose on Ukrainian troops in the country's east. A fierce ground and artillery assault has seen Moscow's forces advance, and they now appear close to encircling the last two hold-out cities in Luhansk province — which together with neighboring Donetsk forms the Donbas region that has become the key focus of the Kremlin’s war. With Ukrainian officials voicing concern their troops are now outmanned and outgunned, this Russian push could prove a decisive moment in the conflict.

But, but, NBC, haven't you gotten the memo that Russia is losing badly and is about to run out of ammo? Just ask Generals Petraeus or Keane, they'll tell ya.  They know what they are talking about, they won exactly... zero in their careers. Or ask CNN or MSNBC, they will tell you that Putin faces the coup (having almost 80% of public support), has cancer, Shoigu just had a heart attack and Gerasimov is barely alive from his wounds. Hey, you must uphold the reputation of the American MSM as a sewer and primitive propaganda tabloids. 

Of course this also contradicts the narrative of the last 3 months:

Russian troops have taken over the town of Liman in the northern Donetsk region, the government in Kiev admitted on Thursday evening. Ukrainian forces have reportedly withdrawn west-southwest towards Slavyansk. “We have lost the town of Liman,” Alexey Arestovich, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a livestream on Thursday. Though Arestovich cited “unconfirmed reports,” Russian military correspondent Alexander Kots posted a video of Russian troops in the city shortly thereafter, captioned “Liman is ours.” Ukrainian troops “fled” west and southwest, Kots added, while covering their retreat with artillery fire.

Now the new narrative is needed, since by different estimates another 15,000+ VSU are trapped at Severodonetsk-Lisichansk cauldron. So, that means that VSU is about to "win" yet another "victory". Just to remind you how cauldrons are created. And believe me, Russians are really good at creating them. Here is harking back to the closing of Wehrmacht in many of them. Operation Bagration: count yourself how many major cauldrons have been created, the smaller ones are not even counted:

So, Russian Army knows how to close and boil those cauldrons. in fact, has an unparalleled experience of doing this, including by learning from own disasters in cauldrons set up by Wehrmacht during its halcyon Blitzkrieg days of 1941-42. 

The dynamics of VSU collapse is telling and even Kissinger's suggestions to 404 to trade territory for existence are too little, too late. Russia is in no hurry, she can clearly see the economic implosion of the West, and this doesn't add optimism in regards to prices at the pump:

U.S. Refiners Set To Add Just 350,000 Bpd Capacity By End-2023

That, plus this:

Tells everything you need to know for today. As my friend Byron King stated, when speaking to the assembly of investors in Vancouver a week or so ago. Describing the focus of his talk he notes:

the focus was on economics and where sanctions will take the world economy. Along those lines, we all may be far from the front lines and at no risk of getting bombed or shelled. But those sanctions are exploding across the world. They’re blowing back, in fact, and doing grave damage right down the street from wherever you live. It’s as near as the grocery store, gas station or even the electric power meter on the side of your house.

These are immediate effects of failed sanction Byron describes:

Now consider other aspects of global trade that have been adversely affected by sanctions:

• A food crisis looms – fertilizer, wheat, and other grains are less available from Russia. Hey, have you been grocery shopping lately?


• Global air traffic and cargo are disrupted – Russia has denied overflight to “unfriendly” countries, meaning that many flights must fly circuitous routes, adding time and expense.


• Ongoing cargo ship jams – here’s a legacy of Covid disruptions, but now add issues with “Russian” cargo that meets resistance from shippers, insurers, bankers and even dock workers in some locales.


• Energy/food price increases have embedded inflation into the dollar system – inflation undermines the credibility and utility of the dollar as the unit for trade and means to preserve wealth over time.

Sadly, these are us, simple folks who do our considering, people in D.C. do not. And as it begins to emerge more and more--they can't and many are not rational players at all.  Meanwhile, suffering from cancer, gout, acid indigestion and other illnesses, but looking very healthy and energetic, Vladimir Putin, in his conversation today with Italy's Prime-Minister Mario Draghi, stated (in Russian) that, sure, Russia is ready to help with food and fertilizer crisis, once the politically-motivated sanctions will be removed (wink, wink). It is worth noting that it was Draghi who asked to speak to Putin, not the other way around. Per gas? Sure, Russia always fulfills her contractual obligations. But I am sure if it comes to it, EU an American "partners" will help Italy, right? Nah, I am screwing with you.

Byron King Keeps An Eye On The Real Prize.

I know Byron would hate me saying this, but this Harvard-trained geologist and a former cadre US naval officer with massive experience, when he speaks resources and money--you can take it to the bank. Yes, he is that good. Here is Byron's latest on the geopolitics of the resources and gold-based Ruble.  

If you follow war news from Ukraine, no doubt you’ve seen gruesome images of wrecked tanks, burnt trucks, demolished personnel carriers and more.  Whether it’s Russian or Ukrainian equipment, almost everything you see is based on old Soviet-era designs such as T-72/64 tanks, or boxy BMP armored vehicles, etc. And when a rocket or shell hits those things the internal fuel and ammunition cooks off, and the machines burn like a torch. Bad design, obviously. But there’s another Russian weapon that was also recently deployed, and it appears to be working very well. You won’t find this system on the battlefield, though. In fact this Russian device is an economic weapon, and it may prove to be one of the most impactful implements of war in the modern age.  That is, the government of Russia recently pegged that country’s currency – the ruble – to gold. And right now, Russia’s central bank will buy gold at 5,000 rubles per gram through June 28. (After that, we’ll see.)

It is an excellent piece, which you can read by following the link in the quote and it explains the larger framework of what Russia is doing in Ukraine and why this operation has a massive global impact. I stress it all the time, including in my videos, keep your eyes on the main prize and this prize is a demolition of the remnants of Pax Americana and establishment of a truly new world order where nations will be free to trade how they want and could be treated fairly instead of being bombed into stone age--that is the main prize. This is why such a level of neocon and American "exceptionalists" rage, impotent rage. I highly recommend this article.

Byron King On Canadian Maple Leaf Revolution.

A superb piece from Byron King on events in Canada. What a superb observation: 

People were out and about in the cold and wind, up and down the highways. They stood on bridges. Waved flags. Held signs. Cheered the drivers. There’s no denying what happened. Along the way, Canadians opened their homes to weary drivers. Food, shelter, a place to clean up. No less than Canadian First Nation tribes opened their doors as well, with shamans blessing the trucks and drivers (see here). There were accounts of First Nation war paint on some of the mighty tractors, harkening back to horse-mounted warriors of old! And what of the limousine liberals who run Canada? The salon socialists? The apoplectic progressives, basking in the comforts of power? Ha! It was revolutionary. Except not a revolution of their making, let alone favoring their ambitious desires, limited understanding and minimal self-awareness. This is truly a class war on display. The underlings versus the bosses. And yet it’s rather polite when you consider the stakes. It’s reminiscent of Gdansk, Poland in 1981. Or the Berlin Wall in 1989. But in this case, it’s just good ol’ Canadian truck drivers in the vanguard. 

Read the whole thing, Byron, eloquent as ever, proves himself yet again as an astute social and history observer. His conclusion is spot on:

And what we just saw in Canada is a widespread, working-class tide that’s rising against the misgovernance of the country under the current regime of elite, incompetent big shots. It’s not just a Canadian thing, either. Similar populist seismic activity is being detected in Europe, Australia and of course in the U.S. It’s just a question of time until the fault lines snap and we have the proverbial Big One.

Precisely!

In related news. I don't see any use for Western mass-media in Russia at all, they lie and they can do that sitting in their respective countries. Russians also think so. DW had it coming anyway. They are proud heirs to Goebbels and their place is in Germany, not in Russia, they can produce excrement from Berlin. 

The Russian office of the German state broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), is to be closed as part of the “first round” of a response to Berlin’s “unfriendly actions” against RT DE, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The German outlet will also be barred from broadcasting in Russia via a satellite or through other means, the statement added. All staff members at DW’s Russian office are to be stripped of their press credentials, according to the foreign ministry. Moscow has also launched a procedure which will recognize DW as a “foreign media outlet acting as a foreign agent” under Russian law.

Yep, that's how you do it. I think such sewers as CNN or NBC should also get ready. They can lie without enjoying comforts and grandeur of Moscow which (as much as I don't care about UN's opinions), after all:

The Russian capital beat out major European and North American rivals to claim the top spot. The UN has published its global cities ranking for 2022, and has awarded Moscow the top spot among large cities for quality of life and infrastructure, commending the metropolis for its transportation and its citizens’ well-being.

Yes, we all know that Russia exists only within Moscow, the rest of Russia is Mordor sinking in poverty, crime and desperation. That's what Western media tell their "customers". Just don't let them get to Kazan

Or Sochi, or Vladivostok, or St. Petersburg, or Yekaterinburg, or... well, just don't go to those places, they are not real Russia according to Western media.

Byron King Wrote A Superb Energy Piece.

I think the use of the name Stalingrad is entirely justified. 

In the fall and winter of 1942 – 43, Germany’s 6th Army fought its way into the city of Stalingrad where it became surrounded and trapped. Then it was systematically destroyed by a combination of hellacious-cold winter weather and the unyielding steel of the Soviet Red Army – but mostly by the unyielding steel of the Soviet Red Army. Now, 79 years later and as the winter of 2022 dawns, Germany is entering the late stage of another massive strategic calamity, although not involving the carnage of war on a distant front. Instead, Germany is on final countdown to ruin its energy supply at home. 

Byron, ever eloquent, draws a real picture of Germany's predicament and Byron is no hack.  Here is his background:

I am a... Geologist. Retired Navy officer. Student of history. And I hold earned academic degrees from Harvard, the US Naval War College and the University of Pittsburgh.  

So, there is both military and natural sciences foundation allowing to draw correct parallels. Just read the whole thing.

Byron King On Wargames.

Last few days were excellent in terms of many people of repute, and who I, personally, keep in high regard professionally and writing-wise. First Commander Salamander went full broadside on the latest developments, now Byron King, eloquent as ever, wrote a superb piece on war-gaming and the issue of governance. It is my pleasure to let him talk. In his piece:

“It Failed Miserably” – What If the US Lost a War and Nobody Noticed? 

He makes some crucial observations which expand on what Sal wrote few days ago. And mind you, these people are not some YouTube fanboys who make videos heavy on military porn and light on knowledge. These are senior (serving and former) American naval officers who know what operational and strategic level of warfare looks like and how it manifests itself in military organization. Byron also opens with a broadside:

I have a friend who teaches at the university level — at a U.S. service academy, no less. The other day he was running a class and posed a short (but profound) question to a group of students. Namely, what was the most recent strategic disaster suffered by the U.S. military? “Blank expressions,” noted my friend. After a period of time, one student offered an answer… “Afghanistan?” (And yes, the student’s answer was in the form of a question.) Dutifully, my professor-friend led the students in a discussion of what happened in a war that began before they were born and whose outcomes will affect them for the rest of their lives. There’s a Whiskey tale to tell just based on this anecdote alone. But wait, there’s more! Because America’s loss in Afghanistan has already been overshadowed.

After that he meticulously lists factors which influence what he identifies as the main problem:

In this sense — that sense of reaching out to bomb people far from U.S. shores — America’s long wars are not just a military issue, easily dismissed by civilians as some sort of niche problem for the Pentagon. No, because closer to home, the long wars reveal seismic flaws in the very nature and character of U.S. governance. The long wars reveal a deep weakness in the American form of government itself. Indeed, we’re a long way from the sage advice of President John Quincy Adams, that “Americans should not go abroad to slay dragons they do not understand in the name of spreading democracy.” And look at it this way. It’s not as if the U.S. ever had a series of national referenda on 30 years of continuous warfare. In fact, the past three decades of war overseas were based on the geopolitical ideas of a relatively small, self-perpetuating cabal of elite elected players and policy wonks, in Washington and various brain-tanks. Many familiar names, to be sure.

The problem is political, it is on the level of governance. Recall Branislaw Malinowski's 1941 observation: "Another interesting point in the study of aggression is that, like charity, it begins at home." In general, read Byron's excellent piece, it is worth your time and that is why I bring it to your attention.