What A Load ...

 ... of bovine excrement. 

Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia. Two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations said that such a proposal was made by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting last week in Miami.

Read my lips. It never happened. Simple as that. Moscow didn't propose anything like this. Cope harder, losers. 

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Kirill Dmitriev, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, head of the RDIF, called the publication of Politico that he allegedly handed over to the United States Russia's proposal to stop the transfer of intelligence to Iran in exchange for the cancellation of assistance to Ukraine. "Fake," Dmitriev wrote in X, citing a Politico publication. He also thanked Rep. Anna Pauline Luna (R-Fla.) for warning in advance of a "massive media fake news campaign" aimed at undermining "progress."

"Free Press" is a collection of prostitutes--literally. 

Fourier Transform ...

... IS NOT going to help, LOL. My friend, Lt. Colonel Oleg Shaladnin decided to quantify ... Trumps behavior throughout his second term and created a ... ahem this. So, the range for Trump's oscillations on the graph are:

1. -5--I will die, but I will destroy Russia!

2. +5--Donny is Kremlin's agent.

3. Anything in between, the data set is in Russian, ranges from: + 4--I know Putin for a long time and don't believe he will break his promise (after the peace deal), the deal is a deal(c), to -2--Will see what's going to happen tomorrow (c) and everything in between. So, here it is.

And here is how it looks like))

There is no known mathematical apparatus in existence which can really find any pattern, let alone harmonic oscillation, here and we are left with this ... thing. 

Meanwhile, Politico--a collection of cretins who played a key role in killing 2 million VSU terrorists, still can not understand that those workers, as valid and justified their economic demands are are but a symptom, or rather manifestation of collapse. 

America Doesn’t Have Enough Weapons for a Major Conflict. These Workers Know Why. This summer, employees at several big defense companies went on strike. Their grievances highlight a much larger problem brewing beneath the surface. 

The author, of course, uses all kinds of buzz words and phrases here which is expected from a dude with this kind of a background and lack of any real education. You cannot explain to people like him that "a much larger problem" stems from sheer stupidity of him using discredited and beaten to death cliché like this: 

Something is going wrong on the assembly lines of America’s arsenal of democracy, and it’s happening at a moment of crisis. The White House, Pentagon and America’s overseas allies are all demanding that defense companies ramp up production to meet the needs of a dangerous geopolitical moment.

Only a complete ignoramus could have made such a reference in 2025, not to mention the fact that the problem is in military-cultural DNA of the United States which doesn't understand what REAL war is because the United States never experienced it. But to have a grasp of this issue one needs way more than some shitty "school of journalism" but actual professional background on which to build his (or her) own cultural level requiring understanding operational-strategic level of war, technological requirements for the warfare of the 21st century and how REAL economy works, which nobody in this Politico rag has as doesn't this dude who wrote this otherwise symptomatic piece on why the US can neither win any actual war, nor produce real combat-worthy weapon system. But yes, sure--Arsenal of "Democracy", like killing millions of innocent civilians around the world. That type of "democracy", right? And don't try to explain to him or any other shithead and war criminal from Western legacy media what "ramping up" really means and how it is done. 

Sure, Sure;))

Hm, what do ya know. No shit. 

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — America’s defense industry is struggling to achieve the kind of speed and responsiveness to stay ahead in a high-tech arms race with competitors such as China, an unreleased draft of a new Pentagon report on the defense industry warns. The first ever National Defense Industrial Strategy, which is set to be released in the coming weeks by Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante, is meant to be a comprehensive look at what the Pentagon needs in order to tap into the expertise of small tech firms, while funding and supporting traditional companies to move faster to develop new tech.

Useless, same shit has been drafted 5 years ago. Remember this?

Guess what? Things got even worse since then. But, it doesn't prevent them from declaring:

The document, dated Nov. 27, adds that “just as significantly, the traditional defense contractors in the [defense industrial base] would be challenged to respond to modern conflict at the velocity, scale, and flexibility necessary to meet the dynamic requirements of a major modern conflict.” It notes that America builds the best weapons in the world, but it can’t produce them quickly enough. “This mismatch presents a growing strategic risk as the United States confronts the imperatives of supporting active combat operations … while deterring the larger and more technically advanced pacing threat looming in the Indo-Pacific,” the study says. Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum, LaPlante said the strategy will be executed as a “partnership” with industry. For businesses to expand production capacity, they need DOD to be clear about its future purchasing needs for them to invest in new factories and R&D.

I know, I know, this is not a joke, it is a psyop designed to kill as many people in Russia's General Staff and SMO Command Corps from Homeric laughter, or disable them with hernias after they read this. I wonder when Abrams tanks (you know, those "best tanks in the world") will face off with Russians and their armor and VKS. About DoD "plans", with Mr. Austin and his stake in Raytheon, do not expect serious plans, they don't know how it works either in Raytheon or in Pentagon.

You May Say He's A Dreamer...

... but he is not the only one. If you needed any proof of American corporate media being staffed with cretins with Ivy League degrees in "journalism", here it is:

Dreamer No. 1 — Ukraine: Winston Churchill. Martin Luther King Jr. Nelson Mandela. Every once in a while, a leader comes along and single-handedly changes the course of history, not through the might of their army or the strength of their economy, but through the power of their words. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is such a leader.

So, there you go. In the same time, I don't understand what Daniel Larison is so wound about. Tom Cotton knows nothing about WW II (he also doesn't know what real war is) as do not most of US "military history" Ph.Ds, and NO American serviceman knows what continental warfare is, least of  them Tom Cotton. Larison writes:

Tom Cotton loves war crimes and wants more of them:

In the Spring of 1945, we did much, much worse in Dresden and Tokyo than anything Israel has done in Gaza—and it was justified.

The Biden Administration is in overdrive to pressure Israel not to take the steps necessary to deal with the existential terror threat from Hamas.

It is true that mass bombing of German and Japanese cities in WWII was much worse than what has been happening in Gaza in terms of both intensity and total casualties, but they were undeniably atrocities and after the war the nations of the world committed to outlawing these tactics. The bombings of Dresden and Tokyo were particularly gruesome and appalling, and it speaks volumes about Cotton and others like him that he approves of them.

I don't see what's the problem? The whole pantheon of recent America's "heroes" are one or another variety of war criminals such as late John McCain, or newly croaked good ol' Henry Kissinger.

No Shit!

Thanks to Scott Ritter who posted the screenshot of Politico in his UTube channel. Here is the Captain Obvious piece No breakthrough yet in Ukraine’s counteroffensive from this rag:

If Ukraine’s supporters were hoping for a breakthrough after Kyiv’s forces made a new push in the southeast of the country last week, they were sorely disappointed. The latest attack, which saw Ukraine throw in thousands of Western-trained reinforcements to drive south from the town of Orikhiv, has not yet yielded significant results, U.S. Defense Department officials told NatSec Daily this week, with one noting that the gains are being measured in the hundreds of meters. Ukraine now has 150,000 troops committed to the operation across three axes of attack, including multiple Western-trained brigades, said one of the DOD officials, who like others interviewed for this newsletter was granted anonymity to discuss operational details. But Kyiv is still keeping a number of forces in reserve, as soldiers continue probing heavily mined Russian defenses for weak spots. “They are making mostly small, incremental gains” on all three axes, the official said. “They are still facing stiff Russian resistance — second and third layers of defenses.” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. PATRICK RYDER referred questions about the counteroffensive to the Ukrainian military, but noted that “it has and will continue to be a tough fight for them.”

Well, somebody needs to give US MSM and many Pentagon officials a basic course in military history and a brief review of operations as reflected in Russia's field manuals and operational documents, the ones which are available to public. It might help, including the understanding of why all those Air-Land Battle(s) by Pentagon are fiction and exercise in operational and strategic wet-dreaming.  

I also have news for Politico and their "journos", when they report this:

Ukrainian forces are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the U.S. Army’s M1 Abrams main battle tank, which is expected as soon as early September and will help punch through Russia’s defensive lines. But as the operation grinds on, DOD officials expect the counteroffensive will last at least through the fall and possibly into the winter.

Shh, don't tell anybody, but Russians are also eagerly awaiting the appearance of the US Army's M1 Abrams MBTs and have been quite disappointed when learned that those Abrams will arrive without advanced electronics and active defense. I know, I know--they need another excuse the moment those M1s will begin to burn after meeting T-90M, PTRK Kornet or Krasnopol smart munition, or those nasty Mi-28s and Ka-52s, and that is when this excuse will be used: you see, we sent them inferior models. This is how the excuse will sound, word for word. But give British the credit where the credit is due--they first developed and procured (in Ukraine) completely Stealth MBT Challenger. It is so stealthy in visual diapason that no one have seen it on the battlefield so far. They are there, but not visible. That's what I am talking about--technology of the future. 

But when Politico publishes that:

Ukraine’s plan if Russia assassinates Zelenskyy. A Russian assassination would deprive Ukraine’s war effort of one of its most valuable assets.

Ze, run, run like hell, because THEY, not Russians, will kill you and throw your body away as a used condom, if your body will be found at all. Run, run... to Russia--the only place where there is no death penalty, so far, and where you have all chances to stay alive and even have three square hot meals (wait, does evening tea count as a meal?) and Russian prisons are great places for beating drug addictions--doesn't matter if you are a murderer, a serial rapist or, like in your case--war criminal. Run Ze, run! You are a used condom and Globalists need a martyr. No, not Greta Thunberg, but you fit all criteria perfectly. Do you want to die for 404 "Democracy"?

Yeah, Yeah, Sure.

What those boys and girls in Pentagon and London (and other chihuahua capitals of NATO) do not understand that Russians can calculate better than them combined in the field which matters in real life: operational and strategic planning. Especially a strategic one. It all reminds now a famous Russian cyclical nursery rhyme about the priest and his dog. 

The priest had a dog,
And he loved her.
The dog ate a piece of meat,
He killed her.
He buried her in the ground,
And he wrote an inscription...
(Then begin again.)

And so is NATO and 404.  Politico, which is a herald of every possible perversion policy from DNC and the White House reports:

A small group of Western allies are engaged in “advanced” and “frantic, last-minute” negotiations to finalize a security assurance declaration for Ukraine ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania, according to four officials familiar with the talks. For weeks, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have been discussing the issue with Kyiv, and have also reached out to other allies in NATO, the EU and the G7. The idea is to create an “umbrella” for all countries willing to provide Ukraine with ongoing military aid, even if the details vary from country to country. The effort is part of broader negotiations at NATO and among several groups of nations over how Western allies should display long-term support for Ukraine. 

And the fundamental question in this geopolitical The priest had a dog is: supply with what? Militarily the writing on the wall is already there. As Larry noted a few days ago:

Ukraine’s attempt at a Hail Mary (the football play not the Catholic prayer) victory by seizing swaths of territory from the Russians is a failure. The Russians have intercepted every move and Ukraine’s negligible advances are counted in single digit kilometers along with piles of Ukrainian corpses and burned out huld of Western supplied tanks and armored personnel carriers.  

Today, the boy has corroborated while speaking to ABC News. And the US providing cluster munitions to 404 is just another sign of desperation and admitted fact that NATO simply ran out of other, less "controversial", types. I am sure General Staff knew it and anticipated it--West's "economic data" is largely a fiction, as is industrial capacity and this is the only thing which matters in serious geopolitical game. Generally speaking, it makes no difference whatsoever for the outcome but it also illuminates well Russia's strategic goals, one of which is demilitarization of NATO. Demilitarization of NATO means running it out of crucial military materiel and that is why I am getting really tired listening to US supplying "cutting edge" weapons. Truth is, the US has no cutting edge weapons unless one counts a rumbling 70 ton pile of metal such as M1 Abrams of F-35 a cutting edge. Patriot PAC3 IS a "cutting edge" weapon--we all know how that thing performed. 

Now, RT has shown Shoigu visiting Russia's MoD firing ranges in the South. Make your own conclusions on why and factor in Russia's military production which makes one in NATO downright puny. Will Russia continue with Strategic Defense MO while continuing offensive operations at selected axis or two? Possible, but maybe not. But that is what escalation dominance gives you, while observing inner-NATO hustle and further decomposition of globalism. Bought yesterday a couple of Combat Air and Air Forces magazines (need them for the book), boy, the number of articles on Ukie Air Forces dropped to zero in the last few months. What happened, people. Alexander Mladenov, I am calling you. There was so much written on all those Ukie AF "operations" and "successes". Where did it all go? This is what happens when one "serves" for a whole year as a "reserve officer" in the Bulgarian Air Defense, whatever that means. 

Yet, good ol' boys from Top Gun: Maverick  school of advanced air combat studies continue to live in the La-La Land in which there are no true integrated air defenses, no S-500s and S-400s with Buk-M3s, no capable Air Forces and opponent's genuine netcentricity. What can I say--they are incapable of learning. Considering the fact that very many of them, inevitably, went through the US public schools' system in the last 20 years--there should be no surprise whatsoever. And so, here we are at the square one:

The priest had a dog,
And he loved her.
The dog ate a piece of meat,
He killed her.
He buried her in the ground,
And he wrote an inscription...
(Then begin again.)

Rinse, spit, repeat.

A-Ha-Ha, LOL)))

 And what did happen that precipitated this comedy?  

The CIA warned Ukraine not to destroy Nord Stream months before an attack on the gas pipelines, after receiving a tip from Dutch military intelligence, according to media reports. The Netherlands’ military intelligence agency, MIVD, received information about an “imminent attack” on Nord Stream from an unnamed source in Ukraine in June, three months before a series of underwater explosions hit the pipes last September, a joint investigation by Dutch and German news outlets published Tuesday shows. According to the plan received by MIVD, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, was in charge of the operation against Nord Stream, which involved a small team of divers traveling on a sailing boat and was supposed to take place mid-June 2022.

Who buys this load of BS? Zaluzhny? Really? The guy who by all means now is either dead or completely incapacitated and who can serve as a scapegoat because of it. In the same time it is a peculiar development because--and I stress it--blowing up NS2 is a war crime and somebody did authorize and carried out this terrorist act. Guess from three times who. 

In related news, Vladimir Putin met in Kremlin the so called "voenkors" and totally humiliated them. His exchange with Sladkov was epic and, in fact, Sladkov was effectively accused of spreading Ukie propaganda. I am not going to explain all subtleties of Russian language here, but for anyone who is interested the transcript is available and the summary is here (in Russian). But now, one has to ask the question (wink, wink, wink, wink))) why Macron wants to do this:

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for an invitation to the upcoming BRICS summit in Pretoria, French newspaper L’Opinion reported on Monday. Macron’s recent attempts to win over his African counterparts have fallen flat. He raised the possibility of attending the summit during a phone call with Ramaphosa earlier this month, L’Opinion stated, citing sources in the Elysee palace. According to one “well-informed” source, Ramaphosa was non-committal. “Presence at this summit was mentioned during the conversation between the two leaders, but Pretoria gave no indication of whether or not to extend this meeting to other international leaders,” the source said.

If Macron were to attend the summit, he would be the first leader of a G7 nation to do so. BRICS leaders and Macron apparently share a desire to overhaul the global financial and geopolitical order, with Macron hosting a conference in Paris next week aimed at overhauling the financial system to better benefit the developing world. Ramaphosa is due to attend the conference, and a cordial meeting between him and Macron could set the stage for the French president to make history in Pretoria.

Nice try, of course, but France is the US lapdog and economically insignificant with some exception for aerospace and a few other things and is dwarfed economically by Russia, India, let alone China. France's attempts to maintain presence in Africa are also bound to fail, because France is incapable to provide economic and military assistance Russia and China can. Not even close. Hey, French made their choice and France now will be confined to the Western Europe while it descends into economic depression and chaos. Russia and China can "overhaul the global financial and geopolitical order", France cannot no matter how it tries. Just not enough... scale. Plus Macron still supports criminal regime in Kiev and for all intents and purposes is a party to terrorist activities by Nazis from 404. Russia doesn't talk to Nazis, she annihilates them. Let France guess from three times who is the military pivot in BRICS? I have a hint: it ain't India or China, let alone Brazil and SAR.

Why, Oh Why;))

Politico, through the writing of its amateur shysters "educated" in US degree mills in "international studies" or other "communications" type skills and some of who actually finally got their pubes growing (read their C.V.s--it is LOL) wonders: 

The Biden administration has yet to use its Lend-Lease authorities to send weapons to Ukraine, senior administration officials and lawmakers told NatSec Daily. The U.S. under President JOE BIDEN has committed nearly $35 billion in security assistance for Kyiv since Russia’s invasion, all of it coming from drawdowns of U.S. military stocks or future weapons production. But Congress also gave Biden Lend-Lease authority last year, allowing the U.S. to cut through bureaucratic red tape and gift weapons to Ukraine with the expectation of reimbursement down the line. To date, the administration has chosen not to use that option, mainly because the congressionally approved pot of money that hasn’t been zeroed out yet. “We are prioritizing security assistance that they would not have to pay us back for,” a senior administration official said on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive internal discussions. However, the official added that the administration is “certainly open to using it in the future.” The focus right now is on “other existing authorities that Congress has authorized.” Another reason for keeping Lend-Lease in the back pocket could be because there’s currently bipartisan support for sending weapons to Ukraine. Should Republican resistance grow, or popular sentiment turn against the war, then it’d make sense to use Lend-Lease to work around legislative efforts to block future weapons deliveries, said a Democratic congressional aide who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the party’s thinking.

OK, let me translate it into normal human language: no matter what  the congressional hustle, a euphemism for pretending to "legislate", is, the United States of 2023 and the United States of 1941 are two different countries and the United States of 2023, allowed for adjustments, is an economic dwarf compared to its own self circa 1942-43. But that fact, meaning inability to fight REAL large scale combined arms war, aside the whole idea seeing American weapons, around which the mythology of American military was built in the last 30 years, is a terrifying idea for many in Washington. And those weapons will burn in industrial quantities because they are simply not designed for real large war. 

I repeat ad nauseam for many years, that American politics, built primarily around PR and show off for the consumption of increasingly docile "electorate", cannot permit PR disasters of a scale which will completely and finally disclose America's military-economic impotence. The question here is NOT just about US' inability to produce or ramp up production of the key war materiel. No, the issue is scarier--it is operational-strategic and the whole boondoggle with 404 suicide "planning" in NATO exposed utter military military incompetence across the board. As I spoke yesterday in my video--most US fighting "doctrines" such as SEAD, combined arms, a proverbial Airland Battle, which "transitioned" into Multi-Domain Operations are nothing more than white-board theories based on beating Iraq or appropriating the "experience" of Israeli Army--hardly a good yardstick for real war. Yet, here it is. 

In the end, apart from incompatibility of the US arsenal for the needs of such operations as SMO, one can now openly and confidently state that the U.S. Army wouldn't fare much better than VSU and even with the best it has got for the battlefield a wholesale annihilation of high-value assets such as shooting down AWACS and combat planes, destroying battalion worth of personnel and its hardware daily, not to speak of the suppression of ISR, one can only speculate on the way the US Army would react to such realities. And, of course, the stream of KIAs and wounded back to the US would have a dramatic effect politically. It is one thing to lose 56,000 KIAs in Vietnam over 10 years, totally another is losing 150,000-170,000 KIAs in 12 months. When all those facts are considered, the answer to the title of the Politico BS Why Biden hasn’t loaned weapons to Ukraine is easily found. But Politico as well as most US establishment media wouldn't even dare to go there. Plus, most of people who work there as "contributors" are ignorant morons anyway and do as told by their party or intel services curators. 

I am not being too harsh, in the exhibit A of how to commit suicide on the national level, Spiegel reports:

Atomausstieg ist laut Habeck unumkehrbar. Am Samstag ist Schluss: Die drei letzten deutschen Atomkraftwerke werden abgeschaltet. Und zwar endgültig, sagt der Wirtschaftsminister. In der Ampel – und in der Bevölkerung – sehen das nicht alle so. 

Translation: According to Habeck, the nuclear phase-out is irreversible It's over on Saturday: the last three German nuclear power plants will be shut down. And finally, says the Economics Minister. Not everyone sees it that way in the traffic light – and in the population.

I will repeat again, as I did for many years now, the nation which consistently makes "green" party and its affiliates a serious political force has some severe psychological, if not psychiatric, issues. The economic demolition of the Western Civilization continues. In related news, however:

Hungary has reached an agreement with Russian energy company Gazprom on possible gas supplies in excess of what is provided for in long-term contracts, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said during a visit to Moscow on Tuesday. The announcement followed talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak and the CEO of Russian nuclear energy major Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev. “We managed to agree with Gazprom the possibility of buying supply volumes in excess of the amount indicated in the long-term contracts, if a need arises in the course of preparation for winter ...mainly through the Turkish Stream [pipeline],” Szijjarto stated. “Today we extended the agreements regarding this possibility,” he added. The sides also discussed a possible acceleration of the ongoing expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant by Rosatom. The two countries’ nuclear cooperation has sparked a backlash from some EU member states.

You see, culturally Western Civilization increasingly shifts to the East of the Continent. "Western" (old) Europe is gone.

What's The Deal With Ben Hodges?

Politico waxes strategic: 

Europe’s roads and railways aren’t fit for a fight with Russia. EU struggles to reverse years of neglect on spending to improve road and rail to shift troops and tanks. Having a better army doesn't much matter if you can't get it moving.

I don't know who said to Hanny Cokelaere and Joshua Posaner who penned this piece, that NATO has "better Army", but neither author has even remotest qualifications to pass the judgement on any military issue and the problem here is that while European NATO armies are a joke, the US Army is the last army in the world which has a record worthy of self-proclaimed (well, by many, Obama included) of a "finest fighting force in history"(c). The fact that the US Army can use sensor fusion, satellite imagery and stand-off munitions to blow Afghan weddings to smithereens, children and women included into "package", or can demolish Faluja, doesn't make one "better" at anything. Especially when compared to Russians and their record of military victories which make NATO military "accomplishments" look rather very insignificant. 

 

But never mind this constant self-aggrandizing which does betray a huge complex of inferiority and immediately after intro posted above from this Politco military psychobabble, authors introduce us to Mr. Ben Hodges.    

“The further east you go, the infrastructure does not support the heavy weight of U.S., German, British and Dutch tanks, it’s the bridges,” said retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe and now affiliated to think tank CEPA. “We’ve got to show we can move as fast or faster than the Russian Federation in the Suwałki Gap [between Poland and Lithuania] or in Romania.”

The immediate question which one has to ask is why Ben Hodges thinks that "we've got to show" those damn Roosskies. I don't know what Ben Hodges thinks, and he left a rather impressive record of spewing BS, while on the job as the US Army Commander Europe, but he has to really update himself on what Russians do and how they study militarily. Suffice it to say that Russia's General Staff was formed fully in 1763 by order of Catherine the Great (no, not in 1812 as English-language WiKi tells us) and the history of this General Staff goes back to 1711 to Peter the Great's order of the Staff Positions of General Staff (in Russian). So, it is not like Russians need to run around constantly repeating mantras about how great they are, but the United States didn't exist as a nation, when Russians already had their General Staff, and the good one at that. Yes, this little "skirmish" in 1812 in which Russian Army defeated the greatest Army assembled at that time and led by a genuine military genius Napoleon. Obviously, nothing to look at, against the background of the "American war against Napoleon", but these were Russians who actually entered Paris in 1814. 

So, there is no necessity for Russians "be shown" anything, because studying the enemy (and the United States Armed Forces are "potential enemy" of Russia) is on the level which the United States can only dream about and that has a lot to do with both military history and general education of the military cadres. So, Russians know and have been preparing to fight combined NATO forces since WW II and in doing so they developed doctrine and weapons which suit this purpose perfectly. Russians, who also have all this C4ISR mambo-jumbo, from intel satellites and anti-sat weapons to computers and signint, they know how the US Army fights and what are the limitations (sometimes severe) of any combined NATO force if it decides to fight Russian Armed Forces conventionally in the Eastern Europe. 

 

Ben Hodges has to know this--the first thing NATO (US that is) will lose will be its ISR, starting from removal of crucial US space-based assets from their orbits, and then jamming of NATO communications. That in itself removes the crucial advantage NATO always had over its third-rate backward enemies. Obviously, the issue, which I write about non-stop, is the issue of air defense is what NATO simply doesn't have against Russia's stand-off weapons and this is the thing which many (not all) US generals cannot wrap their brains around--any Command and Control structure of NATO--staffs, command posts, communications facilities, what have you--are absolutely defenseless and the level of this vulnerability continues to grow as I type this. So, it is not that Russians will throw their T-90s and T-14s at Suwalki Gap to face off with NATO's tanks. No, Russians will demolish Command and Control system of NATO, including it "decision making centers" and airfields. NATO navies also will be sunk.

After that, NATO will start escalating towards nuclear threshold because it will be denied most of its tentative advantages which Russians are very well aware of, because they usually don't waste time on PR BS and self-aggrandizing but study wars and operations by the "potential enemy" and do it extremely seriously. Unless, of course, one considers Russians, coldly narrating their well-known military achievements in the last 800 or so years, as self-aggrandizing, but those who do should see a good psychologist specializing in complex of inferiority.  So, even if to imagine that Ben Hodges would be able "to show" those damn Rooskies that NATO can move as fast or faster it makes no difference whatsoever because the US Armed Forces never faced the enemy like this and never fought the war like that. 

On a more metaphysical level, of which Patriarch of All Russia spoke recently in his sermon, Ben Hodges should understand a simple fact that Russia-West breakup is for real and Russians will never forget nor forgive US support for this:

The US supports admirers of SS Division Galizien (Calicina) and, in general, de facto Nazi regime in Kiev which is mired in war crimes and crimes against humanity. What can I say, good that most of Russian WW II veterans who viewed Americans as good allies are not with us anymore. I can only imagine what they would feel, knowing that former Allies turned out this way. But then again, if Ben Hodges or Petraeus are the "best" what the US can produce, then there should be no surprise. I will reiterate--NO US servicemen ever fought in defense of his country, all modern wars the US Armed Forces fought are expeditionary wars, the wars of conquest far away from own shores. No US servicemen ever knew what it means to lose own family and property to real war. This is the cultural difference which cannot be bridged--any Russian family has more real military pedigree than Ben Hodges ever would, because in Russia any family has somebody who fought and died in WW II.

 

We all are into the new territory, where the REAL face of the West and the US has been exposed. Sadly, most of the public in the West will not know what is happening. They are kept oblivious by Western media and by the realities of every day survival in the midst of a massive economic calamity which unfolds before all of us. Here is Andrei Raevsky providing a glimpse into who the US is supporting.

This article provides an overview into a deeply disturbing trend in Ukraine, one that started in 2014, that has accelerated and intensified since 24 February 2022. Extrajudicial killings, harassment, arbitrary detentions by men in camouflaged uniforms, beatings and disappearances continue to take place on a regular basis in Ukraine.  Most of the detentions and disappearances are often carried out by the Ukrainian Security service, (SBU), under a sweeping repression.

Few honest common sense voices barely register in the background of deafening lies and propaganda and that drives further Russians' disgust with the combined West. I cannot blame them, in fact--it is a normal reaction of any normal human. These are reactions which lead to consequences which neither Ben Hodges nor White House, nor CIA, can calculate--they simply have no instruments for that. That is why they do not have a grasp of what is happening here, in Russian villages and towns with Russian Army moving to the front lines. 

But then again, they do not know what real war is. Ben Hodges certainly doesn't.

They Are At It, Again.

Politico few days ago published a piece on Russia. This piece, written by a host of US foreign policy "luminaries" who pass in the US for Russia "experts", because they once visited Moscow and ate pelmeni in the neighborhood Russian restaurant, just think that they have a capacity to offer anything on the subject of destroyed Russian-American relations. They start with classic US globalist tropes:

U.S.-Russia relations are at a dangerous dead end that threatens the U.S. national interest. The risk of a military confrontation that could go nuclear is again real. We are drifting toward a fraught nuclear arms race, with our foreign-policy arsenal reduced mainly to reactions, sanctions, public shaming and congressional resolutions. The global Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting serious worldwide economic decline, rather than fostering cooperation, have only reinforced the current downward trajectory. Meanwhile, the great challenges to peace and our well-being that demand U.S.-Russia cooperation, including the existential threats of nuclear war and climate change, go unattended. Because the stakes are so high, both in the dangers they entail and the costs they contain, we believe that a careful, dispassionate analysis and change of our current course are imperative.

The first question which arises here is what do authors of this piece mean when they propose "cooperation" on such issues as "climate change" and Covid-19? I can understand the "nuclear arms race" item which worries authors, but by now everyone knows how the US approaches any negotiations on this matter with Russia, who somehow is supposed to give up her advanced military arsenal which the US would never do, should the United States had the same advantage Russia currently has over the US in terms of new generation warfare. START, anyone? But climate change? How does this group of authors imagine this "cooperation"? How can it possibly look like? I can tell you how--by throwing a noose around Russia's industrial neck. I am sure these Russia "experts" know that the only reason Russia takes part in the international voodoo dances around the grossly overstated anthropogenic (read attentively again--anthropogenic, that is caused by human) climate change is because for now, at least, EU is Russia's major market. EU is run by ignorant imbeciles who are impressed with Greta Thunberg credentials and follow all kinds of suicidal environmental fundamentalist cults. That is why Russia signs all kinds of "agreements" with them and continues to do her own thing. Putin is on record that climate change is not man-made. 

The only valuable thought in this paragraph is surprisingly correct assessment of the US "foreign policy arsenal" and, what is not mentioned here, people who use it--most of them, as I am on record for years about that, in normal country would have difficulties applying for a job as pizza delivery drivers. In fact, the proof is in the pudding, after all, as authors themselves admit, somebody developed and continues to use this so called "arsenal". It is an arsenal of losers with a hugely inflated and sensitive ego and with rather mediocre talents and capabilities and authors openly admit that. Russians are not impressed, neither is the most of the rest of the world. But authors wouldn't be American foreign policy "establishment" authors if they wouldn't have relapsed into good ol' behavioral pattern of self-righteousness:

We go into this open-eyed. Russia complicates, even thwarts, our actions, especially along its extended periphery in Europe and Asia. It has seized territory in Ukraine and Georgia. It challenges our role as a global leader and the world order we helped build. It interferes in our domestic politics to exacerbate divisions and tarnish our democratic reputation. At best, our relations will remain a mix of competition and cooperation. The policy challenge will be to strike the most beneficial and safest balance between the two. To this end, we offer six broad prescriptions for U.S. policy.

Authors, obviously, do not understand that the world order they "helped build" is rather a shitty one with non-ending wars, sanctions, support of terrorism and other benefits of what became known as Pax Americana, which is in the state of implosion as I write this. Yes, Russia helped to dismantle this "world order", she will do even more towards this end, but the authors of this piece better take a look at themselves in the mirror to see people who are solely responsible for a reaction to this "world order", which for some reason evolved, and rather quickly at that, into global chaos. As they said, you had your chance, you blew it. The faster you understand this, the better it will be for the rest of the world. And, of course, the United States cannot do the "policy change" because it doesn't know how. The next paragraph immediately exposes why US cannot do "policy change" and why Russia doesn't want to deal with obviously delusional people:

We must first find a way to deal effectively with Russian interference in U.S. elections and, most important, block any effort to corrupt the voting process. Hardening our electoral infrastructure, sanctioning Russians who weaponize stolen information and countering Russia’s capacity to hack our systems are all necessary measures. So is exposing Russian disinformation. We must, however, also engage Russia through negotiations out of the public glare, focused on each side’s capabilities to do great damage to the other side’s critical infrastructure.

Ahem, this paragraph alone speak volumes about Russia's, correct I may say, posture towards the United States and this posture was succinctly expressed by Putin himself who not for once stated to the effect that Russia is ready to deal with the United States when the United States is ready. Current US elites, including the authors of this "opinion" piece are not ready and they will never be, because they exhibit all traits of the American foreign policy class, which is overwhelmingly ignorant, incompetent and badly educated. Russia has NOBODY to talk to in the US, plus, and that is a well-known, in Russia, fact--any "agreement" with the US is not worth the paper it is written on. US is not a credible and agreement-capable state. 

After that, the authors go into all kinds of generalities about how wonderful it would have been to have some sort of predictable relations with Russia, such a in the good ol' Cold War 1.0 times. Bloviation on other issues, such as Ukraine, follow and they are really tiresome, same ol, same ol', well, read yourself:

On salient issues where U.S. and Russian interests are in genuine conflict, such as Ukraine and Syria, the U.S. should remain firm on principles shared with our allies and critical to a fair outcome.

US "principles" in Syria are support for Jihadists, including Al Qaeda elements against Syria's legitimate government and Russia. US is on record on that!

James Jeffrey, the US special envoy for Syria and defeating the Islamic State, has made quite a frank confession of how he sees his job and that of US troops there: to create a new Vietnam or Afghanistan for Moscow. "Our military presence, while small, is important for overall calculations. So we urge the Congress, the American people, the president to keep these forces on, but again this isn’t Afghanistan, this isn’t Vietnam, this isn’t a quagmire," Jeffrey said on Tuesday, during a video event hosted by the Hudson Institute.

Unless the authors of this "piece" spent last twenty years or so under some stone in the middle of nowhere, they should have enough awareness for grasping a simple fact that Russians know all that and they do not really negotiate with people like that. As per Ukraine, I and others wrote so much on this issue that, I think, there is very little to add here at this time. US (and EU's) bloody coup in Ukraine is a major reason for the United States finding itself in the position and state it is in. 

While laboring through this exhibit A of the American delusional strategic thinking, or rather lack thereof, and incompetent arrogance, we finally arrive to a key point in this piece:

The success of U.S.-China policy will in no small measure depend on whether the state of U.S.-Russia relations permits three-way cooperation on critical issues. Our current policies reinforce Russia’s readiness to align with the least constructive aspects of China’s U.S. policy. Moving the needle in the opposite direction will not be easy, but should be our objective.

Ah, that is warmer. I have some news for these "giants" of American foreign policy and "academe". Let me explain:

1. The United States has already lost economic "war" to China. Even considering the fraud which US economic numbers are, China's economy dwarfs that of the US, not least because of the fact that the actual size of US economy is much much smaller than the US likes to pretend. 

2. Russia has zero reasons to view the United States as a viable negotiating partner. US share in Russia's trade is minuscule and Russia shed most of her US Treasuries. In other words, the US has very little or no value economically for Russia. The only way the United States is making herself noticeable for Russia is through bullying and blackmailing nations which have serious economic relations with Russia.  

3. China is a huge market for Russia's hydrocarbons, high value added petrochemical products, weapons, food, and potentially huge aerospace market. Russia is keenly interested in having a stable, prosperous and friendly China next to her. This contradicts dramatically with the US objectives and that explains a natural, organic emerging alliance between Russia and China. Plus, for the authors of the piece, it is 2020, boys and girls, not 1970s. 

 

4. US has nothing to offer Russia. Zilch, nada, zero. As I write for years, the US doesn't have enough geopolitical currency "to buy" Russia. Russia could have been a friend and ally for the United States and vice-versa, but as Pat Buchanan noted more than 4 years ago:

The Russian people, having extended a hand in friendship and seen it slapped away, cheered the ouster of the accommodating Boris Yeltsin and the arrival of an autocratic strong man who would make Russia respected again. We ourselves prepared the path for Vladimir Putin.

Reading this piece in Politco one can totally see why Russia has no desire to deal with the United States and its delusional elites who don't grasp their own predicament and exercise in geopolitical Oblomovschina and day-dreaming. They are not ready to deal with reality and Russia knows it. That is why she aids China in building Chinese version of Missile Attack Early Warning System and provides domestic versions of her advanced weapons, among many other things. As O.Henry's immortal piece The Roads We Take ends with:

The expression on Dodson's face changed in an instant to one of cold ferocity mingled with inexorable cupidity. The soul of the man showed itself for a moment like an evil face in the window of a reputable house."He will settle at one eighty-five," said Dodson. "Bolivar cannot carry double."

There is a reason this phrase became a proverb in USSR and Russia. Nothing personal ladies and gentlemen who wrote this Politco piece, just business. Bolivar cannot carry double because there are consequences for the actions and somebody kept the ledger.          

There Was Never There There.

I know, some liberals are in agony but. Well, let's Politico talk:

President Donald Trump's critics have spent the past 17 months anticipating what some expect will be among the most thrilling events of their lives: special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on Russian 2016 election interference. They may be in for a disappointment. That’s the word POLITICO got from defense lawyers working on the Russia probe and more than 15 former government officials with investigation experience spanning Watergate to the 2016 election case. The public, they say, shouldn’t expect a comprehensive and presidency-wrecking account of Kremlin meddling and alleged obstruction of justice by Trump — not to mention an explanation of the myriad subplots that have bedeviled lawmakers, journalists and amateur Mueller sleuths. Perhaps most unsatisfying: Mueller’s findings may never even see the light of day.

I can only imagine what a hit the whole "industry" of Russian "experts" in US will take. How about illustrious "career" of people like Malcolm Nance who expressed a truck load of amateur "intelligence" trash, including just making shit up, as he went on-- issues which are (always were) beyond the grasp of some chief petty officer encryption technician in US Navy. He sure capitalized on people's ignorance by pushing sophomoric Bellingcattish imbecility of unimaginable scale. But isn't it an American tradition, same as baseball and apple pie, to have people with zero background to write on the subjects they have no clue about. Nance is just one example of such utter failure. There are many others. Any of them speaks Russian? 

In general, I find things like that (from Wiki on Nance) insulting to intelligence in both meanings:

In 2011,^[4] he received a bachelor of arts degree^[5] from New York's Excelsior College.^[6] Nance began working in the civilian intelligence arena through research into the history of the Soviet Union and its spying agency the KGB.^[7] He subsequently analyzed Middle East terrorism and sovereign nations with ties to the Russian Federation.^[7]

So, as you understand, the guy who gets undergraduate degree from some on-line college AFTER he exits service begins "analyzing" things. At least John Le Carre has two degrees from Bern University and Oxford plus significant service experience in Humint in MI-6, which then, unlike today, had a very good professional reputation among friends and enemies alike. But even renowned spy novelist leaves a lot to be desired in his fiction whenever writing about Soviets. Yet, here we are. It is a zeitgeist--cash register trained "analysts" analyze "intelligence" and "weapons" without  serving a day in uniform, cryptology technicians wax Humint creative, myriad of "bloggers" with "degrees" and backgrounds in... typing express their opinions on things real experts study and train half of their lives for. Why should we be surprised when the whole meaning of real expertise has been long ago hollowed out and left out to dry on a thin fragile line of attention span about to hit negative values. 

So, Politico is admitting that there will be no impeachment because there was no Russian involvement in US elections. Sad, for many. And as they say in the article:

All of this may sound like a buzzkill after two years of intense news coverage depicting a potential conspiracy between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign, plus the scores of tweets from the White House condemning the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt.”  

Why may? It is a buzzkill and it was witch-hunt from the get go, which was paraded around for the whole world to see and finally arrive to inevitable conclusion that there is no point in dealing with the US in rational manner, especially with the "experts" like Nance or any other talking head in US TV. 

Did I Read This Right?

The hysteria is going to 11 in UK (and US). 

The Times, this rag which prides itself on being very, oh so, British, and pretends that it has expertise, on March 22 went as far as to suggest this:

So far Mrs May has reacted cautiously to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal. She has been reluctant to escalate tensions until she has broad support from her partners. Nato has made clear that it stands four-square behind Britain, recognising that the first offensive use of a nerve agent on an alliance member is not a straightforward crime. Now it is time for the EU, in its summit communiqué, to face reality. With its backing it will be more effective to freeze Russian state assets, to subject Russian property purchases to close scrutiny and to deny visas to human rights abusers. It would be useful for EU states to throw Russian spies out of embassies and it is worth considering the seizure of Aeroflot planes that have in the past carried assailants to Britain.

Yes, my friends, you read it right. The Times in its editorial calling for Closing Ranks, suggests to engage in de facto state terrorism against Russia's civilian aircraft. Obviously, to a fine lads in The Times the whole notion that their great compatriot, Sir Isaak Newton, formulated Third Law as:

When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.

Is absolutely unknown. Obviously, disregarding issues of international law and legal process, the idea that Russia can, in case of Times' hysterical scenario coming to life, also seize some UK property escapes the bright minds of British journos, who by now have to feel a real pinch with Skripal affair literally falling apart, especially after Scotland Yard making some startling revelations. So, in accordance to Scotland Yard The Skripals were poisoned at home, then went to restaurant and then managed to walk to a now proverbial bench where they allegedly succumbed to this evil Russian poison, which is alleged to be stronger than UK's own VX neuro-paralytic agent. Yes, small detail, as I already described it here--VX can kill you in a minute. Something doesn't add up, don't you think? Especially so, after UK's pathetic, eight grade book report level attempt on presenting Skripal's case in comic. 

But no worries, for Closing Ranks there is always good ol' USA with its very own collection of all kinds "National Security Experts", such as this headless "specialist" Samantha Vinograd "advising" on what to do with Russia in ever hysterical POLITICO.

The main pearl of this "adviser" for the Obama national security cabal which went out of its way in allowing Al Qaeda and ISIS to wreck a havoc in Syria and destroying Russian-American relations, is this:

Still, military force is always on the table. Of course, a nuclear Russia changes the stakes in every perspective, but with regime change trending around the Cabinet, brute force could inch its way up on the agenda. Russia might be undermining international security, but there is some good news. Every Situation Room meeting ends with a statement of conclusions, or SOC in wonk-speak. An SOC from this discussion on retaliation would invariably note that the United States, along with its partners, took an unprecedented step to hold Russia accountable for its actions after a careful process and stakeholder outreach strategy (a lot of intelligence, diplomatic, policy and news media coordination would have transpired among all of the countries involved). So, in this respect, the Russia policy process does seem to be functioning under the Trump administration. Now, it just remains to be seen whether this step will actually deter Russia from its global bullying campaign and, if not, what will.

I understand that they teach all kind of "exceptionalist" crap in US "national security studies" programs, such as this, what they don't teach there, and overwhelming empirical evidence supports me in this (I even wrote a book on that), is sound methodology in military-political analysis and they certainly don't teach real history there. I had experience of communicating with several American Ph.Ds in history from different schools (including Ivy League)--I was stunned with them lacking even basic understanding of the nature and application of military power. This is not to mention them not knowing a whole collection of crucial historical facts. 

Apart from Vinograd being a total amateur in military issues, she, evidently, doesn't understand and is not aware of the actual military force balance in US-Russia stand-off and I am talking ONLY about conventional forces. It doesn't favor US on ANY potential theater of operations, unless the US wants to commit suicide in getting into the conventional fight with Russia, with US being initially highly biased towards nuclear option since it will encounter human, materiel and reputational losses on such a scale that it will be forced to seriously consider the use of nuclear weapons. But never mind, I am sure this New Jersey girl knows all about it, including how the US will (not may be, but will) throw Ukraine under the Russian bus in a desperate attempt to attain any kind of a result against the background of immensely accelerating decline. This war is coming. Well, this war plus wars against Iran and North Korea are certainly on the table--the Empire is desperate. 

But, but in the midst of this unprecedented hysteria one still cannot escape this bizarre feeling of a complete unreality of all that and it has nothing to do with some seemingly dangerous developments, no. This bizarre feeling is in the depth, grossly underestimated, of the weakness and powerlessness of the combined West lead by the US. It is, actually, surreal. But then again, none of them read War and Peace to have a glimpse into the nature of their own downfall--it is not taught in National Security Studies:

"But all the general and soldiers of [Napoleon’s] army…experienced a similar feeling of terror before an enemy who, after losing half his men, stood as threateningly at the end as at the beginning of the battle. The moral force of the attacking French army was exhausted. Not that sort of victory which is defined by the capture of pieces of material fastened to sticks, called standards, and of the ground on which the troops had stood and were standing, but a moral victory that convinces the enemy of the moral superiority of his opponent and of his own impotence was gained by the Russians at Borodino…The direct consequence of the battle of Borodino was Napoleon’s senseless flight from Moscow… and the downfall of Napoleonic France, on which at Borodino for the first time the hand of an opponent of stronger spirit had been laid"(c)

Tolstoy, War And Peace.