Good Riddance,

 ... ass-hole. You all know who I am talking about--a war criminal croacked. His daughter, however, still poisons American air. Per these clowns from ISW:

No, no, no--everything is fine in Krasnoarmeisk, VSU and its NATO handlers are about to relieve those 10,000 trapped there. Ah, wait ... they tried, you all know how it all ended. You cannot teach Kagan's clan (who owns this BS lack of think-tank) what real war is. Unteachable--no background in military affairs whatsoever. But here is a butthurt British NATO dude. I am sure he knows how to command a platoon. 

NATO officer corps is a fucking joke--specialists in PR only. Per this cretin, Irina Alksnis wrote an excellent piece on the matter (Google Translate will help). Britain Has Reasons For Hatred of Russia. Nations of losers such as UK, France, Germany and Italy have to resign themselves to the position of where they belong since mid-20th century--barking chihuahuas with no real militaries, real education, real culture and any viable future. 

On A Lighter Note.

 LOL)) Thanks to iEarlGrey...

Interesting that Russian media isn't afraid to publish Western rubbish. Nuland controlled Institute for the Study of War must be well known by Russians as complete twaddle, some I'm assuming it's BS is reported for pure entertainment.  

He is absolutely correct--this shit is reported for people to know and make their own conclusions:

The issue here is that this Kagan's org--I mean ISW--is a great vehicle for a complete discreditation of the US military, since US generals like Keane, Petreaus and others who abuse sinecures in this so called "institute", have no fvcking clue on the subject of strategic operations, especially as they correspond to overall national defense strategy, it is beyond their experiences, plus, of course, they have zero situational awareness since operate primarily on the Kiev's propaganda. But in the end, can anyone show me anything in biographies of those military "experts" which shows them winning anything in any serious war? Ah, wait, they are good only at fighting goat herders, and even these "forces" they cannot defeat. Somebody show to Petraeus and Keane what WW II on the Eastern Front was, not that it is going to help them.

Introspective on Clausewitz by Bernhard and Other Business.

Bernhard of MoA did a good write-up on Clausewitz and Kool Aid where he absolutely justifiably points out... well, the Kool Aid many of those military "experts" in the West are drinking. 

The numbers and other claims that the British defense ministry puts out get repeated in the U.S. by the neo-conservative Institute for the Study of War. Nearly every U.S. media quotes one of those two sources. They are serving the Kool-Aid Pat Lang, TTG and other around them have been drinking since the beginning of Russian operation.

Read the whole thing, and keep in mind that from the get go numbers and ratios US and UK military "experts" from establishment media to all kinds of fraudulent neocon think-tanks such as ISW "used" (meaning, made up) have been a complete BS. Made up numbers of force correlations and losses which created a completely false narrative and picture of SMO. Now the time of reckoning has come and I will lie if I say that I don't enjoy this massive egg on faces of Petraeus, Keane and others, who are going now through a profoundly painful phase of a butt-hurt when facing reality, especially from the fact of parading themselves as not military professionals but media buffoons. Speaking of which. 

Another "product" of America's "military thought" is having an excruciating date with reality and unable to contain himself begins to fantasize about real war. I get it, he was the USAF big honcho and even SACUER, but something tells me that in Philip Breedlove we have not just acute case of Russophobia but a serious lack of grasp of how modern wars are conducted. 

The bridge linking Crimea to the rest of Russia is a “legitimate target” for Ukraine, the former supreme NATO commander for Europe, General Philip Breedlove, believes. Kiev now has the ability to try and attack the bridge across the Kerch Strait with Western-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Breedlove told The Times in an interview published on Thursday. “Kerch bridge is a legitimate target,” Breedlove stated. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Russians are concerned about Kerch bridge. It’s incredibly important to them.” Now that the West has given Ukraine Harpoon missiles, I think the Russians have every reason to be worried about Ukraine launching an attack on the bridge.  

Somebody, please, give Mr. Breedlove a hint, politely, not in a forceful manner, to take a look at the map and at the capabilities of Harpoon anti-shipping missiles. Being a former pilot himself, it is only natural for him to think about combat aviation to face such enemy as... Taliban or other weddings and civilian gatherings which USAF was bombing to smithereens for the last 20 years not facing any air defense systems, let alone serious enemy air forces. So, when he suggests to "attack" Crimean Bridge by Harpoons, he has to ask himself a question on HOW such an operation would look like. Will the attack be carried out by Ukie Air Force, or, rather, what's left of it? Will they want to meet Mr. Su-35 or Mr. MiG-31BM (in Russian) or such gentlemen as S-400, S-300V4 and S1 Pantsir which are present in industrial quantities inside Crimea and around Crimean Bridge? Evidently this idea never visited Breedlove. Including this teeny-weeny detail, the problem really, on how to integrate AGM-84 Harpoon with old Soviet Su-27s and MiG-29s

Or, maybe, Breedlove thinks about somehow sticking those Harpoons on some Ukie fishing boat and secretly moving it into the launch position in the middle of the Black Sea and hope and pray that the targeting provided by S-3 Sentry from international airspace will succeed in guiding those few (what 2-3?) Harpoons towards Crimean Bridge? Good luck fooling Russia's Black Sea Fleet and, again, Air Defense. But maybe, one tries to conclude, Mr. Breedlove thinks about launching Harpoons from some truck from Ukie controlled territory? Possible? Sure. There is one teeny-weeny issue here, though. The maximum range of Harpoon is around 220 kilometers--so good luck finding the territory from which such a salvo can reach Crimean Bridge. FYI--the distance between Ukie-controlled Nikolaev (for how long?) and the bridge is 390 kilometers--good luck reaching it. And I don't even start here any discussion on the issue of what "linear targets" are and what it will take, what salvo--remember, наряд сил, the number of Harpoons--of 200 kilogram warheads, to even take the section of the bridge out for a short period of time? 

Mr. Breedlove, certainly, graduated Air Command and Staff College, I am 100% positive that they taught there such issues as probabilities, "leakers", required force and operational planning, based on good grasp of own and enemy's capabilities, especially in terms of opposing air force and air defense. I am sure they teach that there. But somehow, as many other US top brass, Philip Breedlove decided to drink (or maybe excrete?) a Kool Aid and continue to embarrass not only himself but the whole America's top brass which has an astounding record of military failure, incompetence and BSing in the last 20 years, which is beginning to culminate in a much worse outcome than Afghanistan 1.0.   

As some sources (German Welt) report, the US and Europe are in secret negotiations trying to find a diplomatic resolution and to stop SMO (in Russian). Good luck with that--too little, too late. As in that famous Russian anecdote about two bear hunters. One of them finds the bear and shouts to his buddy:"Hey, I caught the bear!" His buddy responds:"Then, bring him here." The response is:"I can't, he doesn't let me." In related news:

WASHINGTON – A retired three-star general has been suspended from a $92-an-hour contract consulting the Army and is under investigation after posting a tweet that appeared to mock first lady Jill Biden on a hot-button social issue, according to the Army. Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, the Army's former top spokesman and recipient of the Silver Star for gallantry in Iraq, had been a "senior mentor," advising senior military officers, staff and students participating in war games and other military activities. Lt. Gen. Theodore Martin, commander of the Combined Arms Center, suspended Volesky pending the outcome of the inquiry, Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman, told USA TODAY. On June 24, the first lady posted a tweet condemning the Supreme Court's decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, which read in part: "For nearly 50 years, women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies. Today, that right was stolen." Volesky replied with his own tweet: "Glad to see you finally know what a woman is". His response represents a breach of decorum for a retired military officer and a foray into partisan politics by an official on the payroll of the Pentagon, which is supposed to steer clear of such matters, experts say. His tweet has been deleted.

Really? Breach of decorum? His comment was spot on and funny, because it was true. But what about Philip Breedlove, who suggests to bomb the object of civilian infrastructure (not to mention his ignorance of alternative through Kherson) and parades himself as a buffoon? I though that qualifies. But then again, we live in a strange world in which the combined West is run by petulant teenagers, who long ago lost any connection to strategic, operational and tactical reality and there is no way they can restore this contact.

Many People Had It...

... me included with this BS-tank Institute for the "Study" of War.  Recently Bernhard of MoA had it, now Larry had it too. In his latest he deconstructs a total BS this "Institute" produces under the guise of military analysis. 

The so-called Institute for the Study of War aka ISW (i.e. https://www.understandingwar.org/) has no sense of irony, especially with the name of its website–Understanding War. The analysts at this outfit show they understand little. Russia announced it has secured all of Mariupol with the exception of the Azovstal Steel Plant. Here is the map of the facility:

Here is how the ISW dealt with the claim:

The Kremlin declared victory in the battle of Mariupol. Russian forces will attempt to starve out remaining Ukrainian defenders in the Azovstal Steel Plant rather than clear it through likely costly assaults.

I am struck by the phrase, “Russian forces will attempt to starve out remaining Ukrainian defenders.” Precious. The Ukrainian force that tried to prevent the takeover of the city of Mariupol numbered at least 8,000 men at the outset. About 1500 of that number have surrendered to the Russian force. There are reportedly only 2500 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the steel plant. For those of you who are math challenged, that means at least 4000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in action.

Read the whole thing, it is worth it. 

In other, very peculiar (wink, wink) news, something which some in Russia view as an open mocking of EU by London and D.C. Why so? Get a load of this:

ЛОНДОН, 21 апреля. /ТАСС/. Минфин Великобритании предоставил генеральную лицензию сроком до 31 мая, позволяющую проводить операции с подпавшим под санкции Газпромбанком. Об этом говорится в распространенном в четверг сообщении Управления по осуществлению финансовых санкций Соединенного Королевства."Лицензия вступает в силу с 21 апреля 2022 года и истекает 31 мая 2022 года", - сказано в нем. Ведомство уточнило, что разрешение было выдано с учетом интересов компаний из государств - членов Евросоюза, которые проводят платежи за российский газ через Газпромбанк.

Translation:  LONDON, 21 April. /TASS/. The UK Treasury has granted a general license valid until May 31, allowing it to conduct transactions with Gazprombank, which fell under the sanctions. This is stated in a statement released on Thursday by the Financial Sanctions Administration of the United Kingdom. "The license comes into force on April 21, 2022 and expires on May 31, 2022," it says. The agency clarified that the permit was issued taking into account the interests of companies from EU member states that make payments for Russian gas through Gazprombank.

Ah, so nonchalant, so matter-of-factly, so... so mundane. Just like that: paying to Gazprombank either in Rubles or in foreign currencies but to Garzprombank currency accounts IN Russia, where the payments then converted to Rubles and  the gas is released. You see how easy it is? So, BoJo, while being an incompetent freak-show and a disgrace for London is not entirely incorrect when stating this:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is like a crocodile chewing on Ukraine’s leg, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters on Thursday, while traveling to India. He said that he didn’t see how Kiev could possibly negotiate with Russia, and added that the West would keep sending artillery and other weapons to Ukraine. “It’s very hard to see how the Ukrainians can negotiate with Putin, given his manifest lack of good faith and his strategy, which is evident, to try to engulf and capture as much of Ukraine as he can and then perhaps to have some sort of negotiation from a position of strength – or even launch another assault on Kiev,” Johnson said.

He IS correct to a degree, with only one difference, Russia and Putin are collective crocodile, but they chew on a much larger prey than Ukraine, and it is combined West which has its leg and something else in this crocodile's jaws and BoJo's frustration shows. 

Not that modern UK "elites" are educated or cultured, they mostly produce pedophiles (Netflix, I am coming to watch Jimmy Saville and his enablers story),  and bimbos such as Liz Truss. Or, for that matter, specimens like BoJo, but his frustration is understandable, especially against the background of, well, submitting to Russia's demands to pay the way Russia wants for her products. Tantrums of its dimwit "elites" is what modern West known for today. Really, no class whatsoever. But then again, what do you expect from children?

Bernhard Had It With ISW.

He correctly discusses a complete delusion of a famed neocon BS-tank Institute for the Study of War. As he notes: 

The neo-conservative 'Institute for the Study of War' (ISW) releases daily 'Russian offensive campaign assessments'. A lot of people in Washington DC seem to read them. They are of course pure propaganda only slightly aligned with the actual tactical situation in the Ukraine. I confess that I read them once a while purely for my amusement. Their main source seems to be the Ukrainian defense ministry which is of course lying left and right about the state of the war.

Bernhard asks after his excellent review: What are these guys smoking? I think I have a part of the answer: they smoke a BS of the exceptionalism. In general, if people like Keane or Petraeus do not understand what they dealing with when drinking Ukrainian military Kool Aid, one inevitably concludes that it is not accidental that these, and others like them, guys are genuine articles who are heavy on PR and very light on basics of real wars. Just read the whole thing on MoA (follow the link).

Andrei Raevsky Makes The Point...

 ... emphatically and I agree with it: 

The collective West has now fully adopted a strategy first invented by the Israelis: if you cannot win a real war, win an imaginary one.  And just as the IDF bombing some border post between Syria and Iraq makes no military sense or even any difference whatsoever, it is great for the morale of the Israelis who, just like the folks in the West, feel a strong sense of racial superiority over their Arab neighbors so they *need* “victories” to boost their own egos and conceal the fact that Israel’s neighbors have lost any fear they might have had in the past.  What has to remain the biggest secret of them all is that, in reality, it is Israel which fears its neighbors (and it should!).  Hence all the Israeli hysterics about BDS, or the term “Apartheid”, and all the crap about anti-Semitism: they are all designed to hide the truth, and first and foremost from the Israelis themselves who all suffer from what Gilad Atzmon very accurately calls “the pre-traumatic stress disorder”.

But while I agree that combined West went into the total war against Russia (and Russians, I may add), there is this sense of desperation which marks all of this war and Alex Christoforou, while lamenting, understandably, Greece's position, elaborates extensively on Nuland (and neocons in general):

He, correctly, concludes that they want second "Afghanistan" for Russia but immediately gives out, by merely providing basic facts, the main reason why this is not going to happen, for two reasons.

1. Nuland is scavenging all she can get in terms of old Soviet equipment from anyone who has some. Like Czechs who sent, reportedly already annihilated (don't quote me on that) together with the strike on Lozovaya rail-road station near Kharkov (this one is confirmed), 40 tanks and BMP-1s. If she tries to get her hands on Tor M1s and armor from Greece and Cyprus, that tells you a lot. It is desperation. 

Of course, Pentagon confirmed that they are sending first 100 Switchblade loitering munitions to Ukraine, and that the US trained operators for this weapon in the US. But, judging by the "successes" of Javelins and the US and UK "planning", such as using civilians as human shield, the result will be primarily PR-oriented, and will change absolutely nothing in the final outcome. In related news, there are many locations around the world where US military bases will have to think twice about safety, such as in Syria, because people who do not want to see US troops there may suddenly increase their deadliness--you know, like this.     

2. Neocons are not good at war which involves the use of tanks and aircraft, but they suck even more when we are talking about modern 21st century warfare, especially the scale of what is happening in 404 now. Kagan clan, including Viky Nuland, as you know, rely on the "expertise" of such abusers of donations and grants as the Institute for the Study of War, where a bunch of political "scientists" and losers of all campaigns they fought, such as generals Keane and Petraeus, parade themselves as incompetent ignoramuses pretending to know Russia and her military. And ISW is just one of many orgs which do not "study" war but create narratives, while I personally begin to seriously doubt the competence of modern day Pentagon. They can do PR, that's for sure, I doubt they know how to fight the real war, especially as complex as that in 404. And especially they have no clue what it means to fight for your country--NO US servicemen ever died defending the United States proper. This is also a foundation of the all consuming both envy and complex of inferiority of many US generals, because Russia dwarfs the US in terms of military history and beating all best military powers of the last millennium. This is also in the foundation of many in Western elites' all consuming hatred of Russia and Russians. 

So, I quote Andrei Raevsky, "if you cannot win a real war, win the imaginary one." That is what the US is doing since Vietnam. Doing proxy wars, staging false flags, supplying Nazis and terrorists with weapons--that, they are good at. Winning? Not really. Now, being primitive one-dimensional military "thinkers" they cannot even come up with believable lie and increasingly come across as desperate, which Nuland's voyage merely confirms. They love to think about themselves as very sophisticated and advanced, in reality they are primitive, uncultured and are crafty only at political machinations--this is the extent of their competencies. This is their "level":

US intelligence officials leaked information about the Ukraine conflict that wasn’t “rock solid” and outright made up some claims, all to win an “info war” against the Kremlin, according to an NBC News report on Wednesday. The officials admitted to, and boasted about, releasing this misinformation. When the American media cited US “intelligence” to warn that Russia was preparing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine, and when President Joe Biden repeated these warnings, they were participating in a disinformation campaign, the NBC report reveals. According to the intelligence officials who came up with the warning, the intention was to discourage Russia from actually using these weapons, even though they themselves rated the intelligence used “low confidence.”

Do I need to say more? They long ago lost the distinction between illusion and reality and continue to fight imaginary war, because they don't know how to fight a real one.