Of what Russian military and politicians state now constantly--severe shortages of personnel for VSU and increased use of women in combat roles. Here is one of those women meeting her end.
Moreover, the kidnappings by TZK of unfortunate sods in 404 for VSU become more sophisticated, but victims also are becoming smarter.
Praise the Lord! He got the guy healed--it's a miracle. This is also the future of Europe where they will be rounding European cattle to throw them against Russian firepower, until Russians get tired from this freak show and wipe out most of Europe capitals together with their political class. Berlin, London and Paris should worry, and they do, while trying to put a brave face on. Processes beyond their reach and control are taking place. Sergei Shoigu's today's statement re: Baltic statelets and Finland explains a lot--these are the first targets for demonstration.
Belousov is an "executioner" who will mop up whatever is left in Defense Ministry in terms of its apparatus corruption and streamlining many of the decisions in terms of everyday operations. This also has to do, methinks, with Timur Ivanov's and his network of economic criminals (and possibly foreign intel assets) who used SMO for their own interests. Nothing will change in terms of General Staff, that is people who run SMO.
Meanwhile, this is how "military targets" look like for NATO--civilian apartment blocks--in Belgorod.
This is the only thing they know how to do in war--attack civilians. One of the issues which makes them so butthurt--Russian Forces are extremely cautious in terms of civilians in 404, hence an incredibly low count of civilian casualties in 404. Certainly, nothing even close to genocide by fake Israeli Army which is good only at "offensives" against women and children. I am sure they will teach Israeli "combat experience" at West Point as a way to "fight" the war.
In international relations the equality of the rank is observed rigorously unless both sides agree on "upgrade". E.g. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met last time he was in Moscow not only with his same rank--Sergei Lavrov--but he was also invited to Kremlin and met Vladimir Putin. But this is normal. By far the more interesting "upgrade" is this:
Obviously, hailing "military cooperation" is a mandatory diplomatic dance and press-release fodder, but when defense minister of China meets President of Russia and not just his counter-part Sergei Shoigu, it is very clear that very large issues are being decided upon and we may even guess what those issues are.
Recall those two meetings in March, a four and a half hour conversation between Putin and Xi, and the next day meeting behind closed doors of Russian and Chinese groups heavily dominated by military and military-industrial complex people. Li Shangfu's visit is precisely about those two meetings, or, rather, practical continuation of those. Otherwise he wouldn't be meeting Russia's President. Moreover, Li Shangfu is in Moscow on invitation by Sergei Shoigu. China's MoD went on record prior to this visit:
Let me translate into layman's lingo. Morons in the US establishment media will immediately start speculating about China's weapons to Russia--why, none of those cretins will be able to explain--but this visit is exactly about opposite. As Pentagon "leaks" (quotation marks are deliberate) tell us, Washington faces a historic in its scale blow-back due to own economic, military and foreign relations incompetence, US "grand strategists" continue to follow the "plan" and being beaten into bloody pulp in 404, now will try to assault China. Yes, that's the plan, and yes--they are that stupid. China needs Russia's military assistance and I repeat my "hypothesis"--the question will be about transfer of some hyper-sonic weapons, most likely Kinzhal, and its integration into Chinese military structure.
This, plus natural further development of what has been demonstrated in 2018 at Vostok maneuvers when unified tactical level units of Russian and Chinese forces have been revealed--both on the ground and in the air. Per naval part, my guess will be that both Russian Navy and PLAN do train slightly more than just joint maneuvers and "man overboard" procedures, granted that joint maneuvering and comms are the starting point for any serious naval training. Putin, meeting Li Shangfu in Kremlin was a sign of blessing and a starting gun of whatever Russia and China agreed upon in March this year.
On a more peaceful note, to Orthodox faithful--Christ is risen. Христос Воскресе.
How about 5 (Five) new naval infantry divisions (!!! holy-molly), three motor-rifle divisions, two air-assault division, a number of brigades will be transformed into divisions, among other measures. This is NOT about VSU, which is primarily a spent force right now and Russia slowly, in economical way, annihilates the remnants of Ukraine's mobilization "potential". No, this is about NATO and where it will be moved back. Recall December 2021 Ultimatum? This is about NATO and finishing off US "hegemony", which is being finished as I type it.
And Eurasian dynamics is such that even with consuming EU's, grossly inadequate, resources, the US is no competition to an emerging military and economic giant of BRICS and associated members. But grasping at the last straw is what makes Washington MO and Russia is fully ready.
As I am on record--Patriot's, including PAC3 version, record is dismal, as is of all other types of NATO weapon systems availed to Kiev regime, and the only way NATO can avoid of a single battery of Patriot PAC3 to be annihilated immediately is to deploy it in the midst of civilian infrastructure--a MO of VSU--such as apartment blocks, kindergartens and other buildings of such a nature. As is reported:
The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from
Russia’s Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced
surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and
that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate
target for Moscow’s military. But the White House is pushing back
against the notion that delivery of the Patriot amounts to an escalation
of U.S. involvement on behalf of Ukraine. A senior administration
official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that
Biden has been clear that his administration would “lean forward” in
supporting Ukraine but it is “not seeking to engage in direct war with
Russia.”
As I am also on record--the only war the US can fight against Russia is a nuclear one, but we all know what it means, so the semantics game and usual media spin form Washington are already unfolding. Russia, however, has no illusions about West's intentions. So, in a larger scheme of things all this is not significant in relation to the overall situation at the front in former Ukraine or to the economic collapse in progress in the EU and, to a certain degree, in the US.
Here Brian Berletic gives a good explanation on how Western media obfuscate, a euphemism for outright lying, a dire situation for VSU in Bakhmut.
I am telling you--one can literally develop a cottage industry of debunking shit of Western media and make a living just on that alone. But, we need to constantly keep our eyes on a bigger prize. Could the biggest of them be a destruction of NATO as such, not just rolling it back to the borders of 1997? Possible. Some European clowns begin to get the idea.
But the term "negotiations" as perceived by Russia now has a much more menacing for the combined West connotation--a dictation of the terms of surrender. Even this event tells the story.
You know, as they say, the writing is on the wall. Can they read in Washington? We'll see. As I always stress--in historic terms 10 years is nothing, a second really. I can only imagine what we will be talking about in a couple of years time. If humanity survives the death of the West.
As I was pretty much from the git go on record--the time frame of SMO was only a secondary consideration relative to political objectives of SMO, which are a destruction of the present Ukrainian terrorist state with as much saving of human life as possible. Generally that is why it is called SMO (Special Military Operation), because should it have been a real war we would see Kiev's center pretty much flattened, political "elite" of 404 exterminated and we would see much higher civilian casualties. This is not the case at all. As Shoigu today stated, again, the slowing of the offensive operations is a deliberate measure aimed at minimization of civilian casualties (in Russian). Many armchair generals wouldn't like the numbers of allowed civilian casualties in case of a real war, especially when taking such cities as Mariupol or Nikolaev, which is coming next.
Sadly, not all political observers understood this and other operational realities of SMO, with some of them going even as far as suggesting that Russia has to wrap SMO up as fast as possible in order not to leave combined West any opportunity to "escalate" and provide enough armaments to VSU to counter SMO. As life has shown, as it is almost always the case--Russian General Staff knew better. I also warned, since 2014 actually, that combined West doesn't have material and technological means of fighting Russia in Eastern Europe without losing catastrophically. Western weapons turned out to be nothing more than commercial items not designed to fight the modern war, plus--no Western economy, including the United States has the capability to produce them in needed quantities anyway. Not even close.
So, in a bizarre twist of a geopolitical roller-coaster, it is almost expedient for Russia to drag it as long as possible, because the longer SMO continues now, the deeper and more desperate combined West becomes because of the realities of its largely fictional economy. Not to mention the fact that no Western weapon system can do anything to change outcome of SMO which is obvious to anyone with a half-brain. In another Wunderwaffe news, the US now sends Ukraine some NASAMS air defense complexes (in Russian), and as you have guessed already, these complexes traditionally, as everything before them, be that Holy Javelins, Stingers, M777, HIMARS etc., are also described as "game-changers", wundetwaffe and equalizers of chances. It is expected from the Western "experts", who, obviously, are stuck in the propaganda reels of the First Gulf War, that not only those complexes are DOA, but they are nothing more than AIM-120 AMRAAM missile stuck into the ground based container, tied into the "distributed" radar network and... well, that's about it.
The latest version of the NASAMS based on the AMRAAM ER (Extended Range) missile allegedly has a 50 kilometer range, while previous version has 30 kilometer range and in general, this is a system designed primarily for fighting backward air forces and low "weight" missile salvos. You can read the booklet here. What version is being delivered to Ukraine I don't know, but I don't think that the US will be too happy to see AMRAAM ER ending up in one of the research institutes in Russia and that will happen with 100% certainty, as was the case with all other "super-pooper" weapons the US sent to Ukraine, including this vaunted (rather, unimpressive against serious AD) HIMARS which is now being studied by Russia. And then, of course, there is this issue of ECM and no Western system with radar homing ever encountered a serious jamming. Not to mention the fact, that modern tactical and operational manuals on Air Defense are being rewritten by Russia and the US has no access to that data arrays, only superficially observing SMO from the afar. But that is a separate topic altogether.
Hey, he got that right. Obviously, it will not be him who will be making "sacrifices", but French voted for that, and, frankly, I am getting a little bit tired from listening to these constant excuses that, no, we didn't vote for him (her), or the elections "were stolen", etc. Can we stop this charade? You vote the way you fight the war--you win, by a landslide. If people didn't vote for Biden (OK, let's assume that some voter fraud did take place), Macron or BoJo, how come they run their respective countries? Even considering some voting irregularities and incessant propaganda of the respective partizan media. No, by mere law of large numbers, Biden had a support of a huge portion of the US electorate. Macron was re-elected by French. So, can we stop this whining? It is, in the end, not just corruption of the whole election process, but of the population which continues to vote for own demise. Sorry, friends, but that's how to cookie crumbles. Russians elected Yeltsin, twice, even considering the obvious manipulation of election results in 1996. Russians paid the price. In the end, it is all about national unity in seeing problems.
This is not the issue of elections, it is the issue of serious mental illness of the combined West as a whole, and the signs of it are everywhere. I loved PJW's great eye for detail. You say, do not use the broad brush? I say, nothing wrong with using it now.
And here is the issue--that sets the US a little bit apart from, in this particular case, UK. US still retains its guns and a culture of a manliness.
That is why I am always on record: while the United States itself faces a huge upheaval and even disintegration, a strong undercurrent of a classic, meaning normal, human values exists here. This may play its crucial role down the road. And yes, we have our guns to defend our homes in case the law and order breaks down. Europe, meanwhile, is encapsulated in this single photo of a father using own daughter to protect himself--this is the level of instincts, my friends, and the instincts are appalling, as is a society which promotes such "values". Defending a child is more than just matter of love, it is biological, deep inside our DNA. No wonder those types of people are the ones who vote for human trash, cowards, narcissists and psychopaths.
Or, look at the Beltway. And yes, they still live in the alternative universe:
Just read the whole thing, in order to, yet again, discover, that India didn't say a word on that and that the whole India's "position" is a fully made-up shit by creeps from Bloomberg. Why, down in the text, we read:
Kikukawa didn’t comment on how Indian officials view the price cap. An
Indian finance ministry spokesperson didn’t respond to calls seeking
comments.
Get it? Western "journalism" at its "best". And yes, Russia is about to run out of ammo and VSU is about to mount a massive counter-offensive on Kherson and soon will end up at the gates of Moscow. Here is your primer for Wednesday.
British delusions of grandeur continue. Tomorrow, granted everything goes as planned, I could be at some interesting gathering on YT and I am sure we will touch upon this and other issues. Especially hilarious ones which are highlighted in yellow. Which brings us to Sergei Shoigu who reported on the use of Kinzhal hypersonic missile:
He also detailed the list of trophies from the US including vaunted HIMARS which are in Russia now (in Russian). Meanwhile Air Defense in Crimea continues to intercept all kinds of objects, and one small drone with some IED was intercepted again over the building of the Black Sea Fleet HQs--yet another attempt at terrorism by local Ukie sympathizers and, possibly, SBU assets and it will continue for a while, until all cells are identified and eradicated.
Translation:"An offensive operation was successfully carried out to liberate the territory of the LPR. Within two weeks, groups in the Gorsky cauldron in the areas of Lisichansk and Severodonetsk were surrounded and liquidated. <...> The operation was completed yesterday by the liberation of one of the largest cities of the LPR, Lisichansk. control of 670 square kilometers of territory. The total losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to 5,469 people, including irretrievable 2,218," he said.
According to Shoigu, the Armed Forces of Ukraine also lost 196 tanks and armored vehicles, 12 aircraft, one helicopter, 65 drones, six long-range anti-aircraft missile systems, 97 multiple launch rocket systems, 166 field and mortar artillery guns, 216 vehicles. "In Lisichansk, the enemy threw 39 tanks and other armored vehicles, 11 guns and mortars".
The reason I say "preliminary" because it will take some time before additional KIAs of VSU will be removed from rabble, forest areas etc. This removal, usually, lasts couple of weeks and numbers will only grow in terms of KIAs.
In related news, Combat Approved finally (finally!) went back decades ago and told the story of Victors-III, project 671RTMK SSGNs, capable to carry a strategic cruise missile Granat (they still do)
This is the history which very few among laymen know, only professionals and people who are into the issue knew what appearance of the first pr. 671 RTM (K--is for same RTMs but carrying cruise missiles) meant--in 1979 when the first one was launched--it meant that Soviet SSNs were now going toe to toe with the Los Angeles-class subs of the US Navy. I wrote and spoke a lot on the issue of Soviet technology of 1980s--it was beginning not only to catch up in terms of overall performance, always good, but in specific terms of signal processing, quieting and other crucial parameters. That is why Normal Polmar gave this forecast in 1989.
From this book:
I would say that he was very accurate in his prediction. Which still doesn't negate the fact of the US Navy having today a world-class, top-tier submarine force. Even when one considers a very negative dynamics for the US Armed Forces as a whole. But for now, US sub fleet is a hugely potent force with state-of-the-art technologies and still very high level of training of its personnel. What will be its future? Who knows. A transition from old and nearing moral obsolescence Ohio-class SSBNs to modern Columbia-class SSBNs should demonstrate some trends. For now it is very slow. But we'll see.
People love symbols. It is only natural and when a complete disassembly of Nazi Azov org happened in Mariupol a few days ago, very many people started to give to the fact of Azov's big honcho--in reality he is one of a few ones--and Western media "darling" Prokopenko and whatever his deputy call sign is, Kalina or what have you, too much significance. Some said that he surrendered, then it was refuted, then "confirmed" again, and so it was this back-and-forth for a couple of days but in reality, tactical, operational and strategic reality of today's Mariupol, it made very little difference, because it was mostly a symbolic thing. Those 2,000+ of Nazis who already surrendered by that time were in themselves a huge value for Russia and LDNR in terms of intel.
Well, now the surrender of this Azov's commander is fully confirmed and he was taken away by Russians in the armored vehicle since there were very many people of Mariupol who wanted to lynch him for his and his subordinates' crimes (in Russian). Yet, there is no denial of the powerful symbolism of all this, since in roughly two months a much numerically inferior Russian force not only took a major urban center and its vicinity but in doing so completely annihilated what was considered the best fighting force of VSU and Ukie Nazis and now many of those Russian forces, after some regrouping will be aiding at the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk axis where another roughly 15,000 of VSU and Nazis force is being annihilated as I type this. Symbolic? Absolutely! Now Kiev desperately needs to construct another "peremoga" (victory) in media to keep the attention of its sponsors from D.C. and Brussels firmly on 404 and own population completely brainwashed.
Well, there is surely a lot of Western "attention" on 404--primarily for its grain which is being "removed" from 404 by anything available. If the rest of Ukraine will go hungry neither Brussels nor D.C. really care, those Slavs are subhumans, after all, at the more they die, the better. Meanwhile Western "economists" continue to wonder--what is going on?
In accordance to their "science" Russian economy should be "in tatters" but, evidently, it is exactly the other way around and then this "bummer".
Right. Truth is, the alternative world governing system is being created as I type this, with Russia discussing the exit from most Western "orgs" ranging from WTO to WHO. So much so the process is advanced, that some in Russia even begin to assess (in Russian) the validity of BRICS growing into the alternative G-20. But how about renaming G-7 (you know Great-7) to M-7 (Mediocre-7)? It will be very symbolic but also reflecting perfectly the status of what is commonly known today as the combined West. And that brings us to the issue of power projection which the person (Gevorg Mirzoyan), who authored the piece on BRICS, fails to understand--larger Eurasia, the Heartland if to follow classic (and redundant) geopolitics is a unique landmass, which requires absolutely different approaches to "power projection" than what became known from the American way of projecting power. But that is a separate huge issue which requires a professional treatment.
In purely Sitrepish news. Read the excellent note from Larry Johnson on Desna:
You know, Putin suffers from this and that--the favorite shtick of losers from the Western MSM.
The guy, obviously, looks totally in control and is a classic Putin of the last 10-15 years, confident and even ad-libbing. Why shouldn't he be confident, Russia is making a killing with her exports and, as I said many times before, it is combined West which finances Russia's SMO. Even if Russia will HAVE to take most of 404 on her balance, current market allows Russia to draw on additional resources which West's stupidity provided for Russia. Per Finland's NATO bid, sure, Turks are ready to have their own opinion on the matter;).
Ah yes, "Lord" Austin finally got Shoigu on the phone today, LOL.
The call was initiated by Pentagon, and as you may have guessed already, Austin demanded the "immediate ceasefire" because, as we all know, Ukraine is winning so massively that Pentagon worries that Russia's loss may lead to the fall of Moscow and, as you all know, the welfare of Russian people is a matter of grave concern and care of the White House and Pentagon. They just hate to see Russian people unhappy. Nah, I am screwing with you, LOL. Pentagon sees how its own SOBs from Nazis and VSU get their asses handed to them and they are desperate to stop the annihilation of the VSU Donbas grouping. Simple as that. Russia, of course, will not stop and soon even a debacle of Afghanistan will be overshadowed. What can I say, the answer was like this:
Sure, sure, Mr. Austin, we will cease fire like... any minute now, not.
... from the most honest and freest American-Ukrainian MSM (yes, the US MSM are disinformation machine and run on Ukie BS "intel") Putin "has a cancer", Shoigu is, probably, dead and Valery Gerasimov was targeted in 404 and was wounded by victorious 404 forces. Larry Johnson has already elaborated on Putin's "cancer":
Judging by the US MSM "experts" in combined arms warfare or intel, who exhibit a high school level of "understanding" of the warfare and intel with propaganda, most of them, it seems, have a fantastical thinking. They, as good ol' Caucasus proverb says, think that if they repeat the BS many times it will come true. You know, if you say Baklava 100 times you will eventually start tasting sweetness in your mouth. That both underscores utter incompetence and desperation. But that's Putin's "cancer" thing.
Now dead Shoigu and wounded Gerasimov seem today to be very much alive and unscathed, and, in fact, in good working mood while holding a selector (conference) meeting in MoD. Obviously, the video is not available on YouTube yet, but you can watch it by following the hyperlink below and here is what important in this TASS report:
Translation: MOSCOW, 4 May. /TASS/. NATO transports with weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) that arrived in Ukraine will be destroyed, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday at a conference call.
"The United States and its NATO allies continue to pump weapons into Ukraine," Shoigu said. He noted that any alliance transport that arrived on the territory of the country with weapons or materiel for the needs of the armed forces of Ukraine is considered a legitimate target for destruction.
According to Shoigu, during the special operation, the Russian military ensure the safety of the population of Donbass, show courage and courage and honorably fulfill their military duty. "The Russian Armed Forces will continue to fulfill all the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief," the minister said.
This is really bad news to NATO, because even if to consider salvos by supersonic (Mach-2.8+) P-800 Onyx missiles, which exhibited since Syria and incredible, not just anti-shipping capability and range of well in excess of 800 kilometers (get a hint from 3M22 Zircon) or M=9, 2000 kilometer range Kinzhal any "airlift" to 404 by NATO looks like this for Onyx alone.
Do not also forget that Iskander uses TWO types of missiles. Considering the fact that Russia has an excellent space-based intel and recon assets, targeting will not be a problem. If the US (and its NATO poodles) think that they can supply Nazi regime in Kiev with, quite useless, actually, weapons, Russia, certainly, has the right to cut those "lines of communications", including air transports. For MiG-31 K with Kinzhal taking off from Rostov-on-Don it would take approximately 10-12 minutes to take off and reach the launch point in about 1000 kilometers of any air field in Western Ukraine and that gives any NATO transport about 10-12 min. + around 300 seconds (or about 5 minutes) to reach the target. Right, about 17 minutes max. Make your own conclusion on the probability of transport aircraft with weapons survivability. After all, it takes a significant time to unload one, well in excess of 17 minutes. In the end, any airfield could easily be wiped off the map and that is what Shoigu talked about today.
You know, about playing hard. Ask Congressman Adam Kizinger if he wants to pilot one of those C-17s to Ukraine. He wanted to fight Russia, let him experience a real war. It is not the same as flying transports into Iraq or Afghanistan.
Read the whole thing. Larry arrives to the conclusion which is very solid:
Well, looks like Russia was feeding the western allies a big load of bullshit.
And you already learned by now, I guess, that "intel" US and other media were spewing about Shoigu having "artificial heart attack" or some 20-odd Russian generals "arrested" turned out to be..of course, a complete BS. Obviously, Shoigu just yesterday held a Ministry of Defense Council (Kollegia) being in perfect health and a good mood and spoke about both State Defense Order (GOZ) and about dramatic (orders of magnitude) increase of the speed of targeting exchange for Russia's stand off high precision weapons such as Kailbrs and Kinzhals (in Russian).
Meanwhile, the great German strategist, reincarnation of Erich Von Manstein and Schlieffen in one body, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered his military wisdom:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said the Russian armed forces shouldn’t be allowed to win in Ukraine, APA reports citing TASS. He made the statement at a news conference following talks that
Western leaders held by video link. The leaders included presidents Joe
Biden of the US, Emmanuel Macron of France, Andrzej Duda of Poland,
Klaus Iohannis of Romania, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Italian
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida,
European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
As you can see, this statement was made in the company of people (Western leadership, really) who never served a day in any armed forces and wouldn't know shit from shinola, or LGBT from BTG of BCT. Scholz dealt Russians a severe damage because of the deadly bouts of the hysterical laughter they had upon hearing about intentions of Germany not to allow such a victory. Right. In related news, Germany and EU should reject all Russian hydrocarbon contracts and concentrate completely on powering their industries by electricity from the wall sockets, because this is where real electricity (which is clean energy) resides--it is so easy, just plug in and voila'. Just ask Greta Thunberg or any Hollywood celebrity, they nailed this plan to the minute details.
Recall Bismarck: "A Russian makes a plan when even going to a toilet." So, there you are--you plan (of course based on this proverbial OODA, which the West cannot and doesn't use for a number of reasons), based on situational awareness, execute, check the process of the execution, make adjustments if needed, correct the mistakes, get the desired result. Obviously, for carrying out such plans one needs very many good professionals on all levels, but especially at the top, decision-making, circuit. EU government in general, and Germany's in particular are opposite of that, and that is why they still believe in Ukraine's "victory".
As they say, hope dies last. Somebody show those leaders these well-known facts:
Pitch-forks times in the combined West, especially Europe, are coming--I omit here issues of food altogether--but the process of economic and cultural suicide at this stage is very robust and probably is not reversible in Europe by merely peaceful means. But that is the separate topic in and of itself.
Not in terms of taxes, as George H.W. Bush said, making this phrase famous, or a meme, if one wishes, but in terms of Russia NOT GOING back to Europe. So, read my lips: majority of Russians have a profound sense of contempt for modern Europe and Russia's future is in Eurasia, not in Europe. The reason I post this because of a funny exchange between Chris Chuba and the guest under the handle Milly, who discuss Milly's statement:
Milly, whoever he(she) is, obviously failed to read this blog and keep abreast with the events of the last 8 years or so. Not only I constantly stress the fact that modern Europe and Russia "are totally different worlds", but I am on record for years calling for erection of the new Iron Curtain by Russia and detaching Russia from Europe in the most dramatic way, bar some basic economic ties which are mutually expedient, for now. There could be no normal relation between Russia and Europe as a whole and Eastern Europe in particular. I agree with Milly, Europe is an enemy of Russia and latest moves by Russia testify to this fact--from Russia declaring in her new Constitution a primacy of Russia's laws over any supranational, primarily conceived in EU, laws, such as European Human Rights Court, to shutting down, finally, a bunch of NGOs which, despite declarations, have nothing to do with "democracy" and "human rights".
Apart from some economic ties, the main task for Russia in new geopolitical paradigm is to be an arc for those Europeans who are still sane and cannot live anymore in the multicultural totalitarian cloaca Europe increasingly becomes. Here is the second reading of my lips: never again Russian soldier's foot will step on European soil--keep the Iron Curtain and let Europeans face whatever they cooked for themselves--it was their choice. I am sure Arabs and Africans have own ideas on the fate of Europe. So, if tomorrow Europe will start wearing burkas--Russia has no business in all that. If new European idea of marching to the East rises again, Russia simply has to wipe out the seats of European governments who advocate such a plan and this is easy to do. As long as EU countries pay for Russia's hydrocarbons and other products, they can do whatever they want and all become transgenders if they wish. Europe cannot be saved and Russia and Russians have a very clear understanding of this fact. If there is a hint which cannot get any clearer that Russia wrapped it up with Europe, this is Shoigu's plan for new Russia's Siberian industrial clusters:
This is Shoigu's not only the actual plan--obviously approved at the very political top of Russia--but Shoigu's path to Russia's presidency. Shoigu is the guy who gets things done. This major undertaking in Siberia:
You see, Europeans still don't get it that they are not that important to Russia anymore and they still love to delude themselves with their self-importance, while in reality, bar few Russian Nouveauriche and tourists, there is very little value in Europe for Russia. Just to give you some idea, why should Russians go to France's Nice or Spain, when the string of resort cities on Russia's Black Sea coast--even considering ever expensive Sochi--goes through transformations like that. Here is old Russian resort city of Gelendzhik (I, actually, have few friends who live there), and this is just one of many such cities.
You see, no crime, no African and Arab immigrants and boat people harassing everyone, clean, affordable. Massive highways are being built as I type it. My only regret is that we didn't buy a condo in Gelendzhik when they were more affordable. So, for Europeans it is a high time to wake up and get a bit of self-awareness and take a look around and recognize the reason why Russia is gone, gone, gone and thank God for that.
Translation:I am not going to hide the fact that today in Syria, both on tactical and operational levels, we have very close contacts with our American colleagues. If this is a secret for someone, well--I divulge this secret. We have, using the civilian lingo, on the level of our managers several contacts a day regarding operations in the air while fighting against terrorism.
This statement by Shoigu is not accidental and is "loaded" with meaning and underscores what I talk about all the time--the last vestiges of the American competence on a governmental level are primarily with the US military. Even if for the reasons of the American military professionals being capable of a solid risk assessment, people in State Department are not capable of. In this case US-Russian military channels of communications remain THE ONLY reliable means of communications considering an appalling lack of professionalism in the US foreign policy establishment, and, frankly its inadequate mental state.
Putin and Shoigu visited today Main Orthodox Cathedral of Russia's Armed Forces and met with Patriarch. Yes, the Cathedral is breathtaking
But looking at him and Shoigu one has to wonder if they even understand that it is primarily upon them today to try to stop the world from spinning uncontrollably into the global conflict. I think they do and that's what makes it even harder to carry this burden. And keeping the faith. Some say that this is history which makes a real leader, a man, sometimes it is the other way around--a man makes history.
And if Mike Pompeo, allegedly a top US "diplomat", is in your administration--that pretty much sums up who you are. Make no mistake, currently, the United States has zero diplomats of scale and skill required to handle a clusterfuck which US foreign policy is, but Mike Pompeo is something special--a devout Ruprutist, an Israeli-firster and, in general, is an Exhibit A of a collection of different delusions and disorders preventing such ilk from having any relation with the reality. He is also a BSer of a note when trying to state that:
Evidently this is not quite "true". I, of course, am not talking about the "the buck stops with me" guy in the White House who simultaneously declared war on Iran (and now on Iraq); in the end he is ultimately responsible for being unfit to run this country (but who is?) and making disastrous decisions. If to believe WaPo (I know, I know) it was US Secretary of the State who for months was pushing for assassination of Soleimani (the article at WaPo is behind the paywall), including feverish, several times a day, sessions with DJT precisely on this issue. Well, he, certainly, succeeded. Now he, together with Trump, are both personally responsible for what follows because Iran will respond. Some moves are already in progress, with Chief of the Iranian General Staff already having consultations with Shoigu (in Russian). Obviously, officially those consultations are defined as aimed "to not allow further escalation", which in military lingo means a review of options. Meanwhile, Pompeo makes rounds trying to convince everyone that assassination of a very senior government official of the sovereign nation was "necessary". As I say, yet again, he lied, some Americans already died.
Evidently Pentagon knew what kind of shit Trump was getting United States into and what that meant for US bases in the Middle East. Larry C Johnson was straight to the point:
Too bad (for Pentagon) that Trump went for the most insane option. But, I guess, against the background of a precipitous intellectual decline of US political elites and dual loyalties (primarily to Israel and Saudi money) being a normal fact of US body politic expecting sound geopolitical decisions based on expertise is not a possibility anymore. And so, here we are. I may gather enough will and strength to review some military options but, frankly, it is a fool's errand since pretty much everyone is going to be writing about it. One such piece, well intended, but wrongly justified has already been written by former Marine helicopter pilot in which this was stated:
You know by now my attitude to all those historical parallels, especially when drawn inaccurately. The author, obviously, forgot that Iran, unlike Iraq in 2003, does have modern EW systems, including ones capable of jamming GPS signal and Iran's army herself has enough of those very same laser-guided munitions which, considering Iran's nightmarish terrain, will make any armor warfare a living hell for any invader. Same goes for infantry. So, I wouldn't dismiss assessments by Royal Navy's Admiral when he states that the United States will need a number of troops around million or so if the United States wants to "occupy" Iran. And here is a conundrum for the US--once the real escalation starts, the US will NEED to win the war for which it doesn't have resources. Both Trump and Pompeo bear direct responsibility for putting the United States into this strategic trap which, as Phil Giraldi termed it is:
Russian daily Vzglyad positions itself as a business daily. It does, indeed, attract many comments from all kinds of public ranging from uber-liberal loonies to normal people to armies of mostly Ukrainian trolls. I use Vzglyad merely as news aggregator and, once in a while, source of either decent or, opposite, down right stupid opinion pieces. In all, I don't take it too seriously. Yet, Vzglyad does provide good feel for public opinion in Russia (granted very roughly approximate) and here is one from two days ago regarding possible Russia's return to G-7, or G-8, if one wishes.
25, 576 people were polled on-line and 92.3% of those responded negatively to the question if Russia should return to Great Eight. Here are slightly updated results--nothing changed. To interpret these results is really easy for anyone who knows Russia not from pages of NYT or WaPo, or Moscow Times, or Kommersant, but knows Russia's and Russian people. Russia doesn't want to deal with the so called West and doesn't see herself as a part of it, she sees her future in Eurasia. Modern West lost any value for overwhelming majority of Russians and this is not the heat of the moment poll--it is a well defined long term trend which has massive geopolitical ramifications. Why? How about this little piece of news: Russia and China signed new package of documents on military cooperation, which allowed Sergei Shoigu to call it (in Russian) a new stage of Russian-Chinese cooperation. This somehow coincided with Igor Korotchenko, who is one of Russia's main insiders on defense, stating three days ago at Solovyov's show, that Russia should extend her anti-missile umbrella over China (in Russian).
So, something is up and who knows what we will observe in coming months. Chinese meanwhile are moving people and hardware to Russia for Center 2019 military exercise. These are very big maneuvers and they also are designed to address some issues with inevitable exit of the United States from Afghanistan and a shitstorm which will happen there once US leaves. Somebody needs to clean up the mess, once the Taliban scourge starts pouring over the borders. I wish Zbig was still alive to see the fruits of his policies.
