The US DID Provide ...

 ... data for the attack on Russian bombers:

Le Monde: Ukraine's attack on Russian airfields would not have been possible without US intelligence: 

Ukraine would not have been able to carry out a large-scale attack on Russian airfields using drones without information from US intelligence. This was stated by a former high-ranking officer of the French army, Guillaume Ansel. 

Russians know this, which merely confirms what everyone with IQ above room temperature know--US will lie, cheat and stab you in the back. And here Mr. Medinsky today explaining (in Russian) why ukrops lamented that it is easy for Russians--they have only ONE boss. 404 has THREE and that makes any agreements with 404 worthless. 

Russians know the game, it is Trump and his cabal who are delusional. What did you expect from a TV personality. 

Tiresome.

Really. All this is for saving face. 

The Pentagon and US Intelligence Committee (IC) have both advised Washington against allowing Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory, Fox News reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed official. According to analysis cited by Fox, giving the green light for Kiev to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles would have no strategic impact, while risking further escalation between Washington and Moscow. The Kremlin has already said it would consider such strikes to be a joint US-Ukrainian attack on Russia. President Vladimir Putin stated that Kiev would be unable to carry out such attacks on its own because it would rely on targeting data provided by NATO.

The issue is not just in the range of ATACMS which is 300 km, it is in the fact that more US Army personnel who operate all those ATACMS, HIMARS and other systems, including Patriot PAC3, will be killed (together with their systems) and Pentagon will have to come up with more cover up stories of helicopter crushes, bizarre gardening accidents and alien abductions of these personnel. After all, one has to explain to public where and how those US servicemen die or disappear altogether. Per escalation--as Vladimir Putin stated today--it is useless to threaten Russia, it "only emboldens us". Especially when this happens--not that it wasn't predicted long time ago. 

The UK military is unprepared to fight in a major conflict and would not be able to deter the enemy if a war breaks out now, British Defense Secretary John Healey has acknowledged. The British army, navy and air force have been “hollowed out” and “underfunded” during the 14 years of the Conservative Party’s rule, Healey said in his appearance on Politico's Power Play podcast on Thursday. When the UK Labour Party came to power in July, “we expected things to be in a poor state – but the state of the finances, the state of the forces, was far worse than we thought,” he added. "The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. What we have not been ready to do is to fight. Unless we are ready to fight, we are not in shape to deter,” the defense secretary stressed.

1.  The British Army is a hollow force for at least 20 years now. It is a hollow force not because of some finances, but because British economy is that of the third world (with some exceptions) and it is incapable to create and maintain a serious ground force, period. It is systemic, not some issue of financing. 

2. Deterrence in UK is a euphemism for squandering minuscule resources for some hare-brained schemes concocted by inbred cretins in London with amateurs from the Sandhurst pretending that they have means and abilities to fight a serious war. 

3. UK's "deterrence" is in Washington, not in London and 10 Downing Street better learn to live with the idea that UK is irrelevant in the world of massive economies, state-of-the-art massive armed forces and capabilities which UK can only dream about. The sun has set for Britain... simple as that. 

This all is becoming tiresome...

Larry Asks All The Right Questions.

And he (being an Old School--this is a whole other story for Cold Warriors like me...and, well, Larry)  asks right questions, while reviewing Putin's speech. 

Joe Biden is incapable of giving a speech like this even with the help of a teleprompter. One thing that captured my interest immediately was the measured tone of the speech (it was broadcast live on RT this morning). Vladimir Putin neither ranted nor raved. He was direct, concise and clear. I found his comments regarding the CIA particularly interesting:

Ah, yes, about the last phrase. How the times have changed. Read the whole thing at Larry's blog. And in this case it is the FIRST phrase which catches the attention:

I pity those U.S. intelligence officers who still have some measure of integrity and have a comprehensive understanding of Russia. Any who try to offer alternative explanations for why Putin and the Russian people are engaged in Ukraine will face strong headwinds and possible accusations of being a “Russian sympathizer.” If you believe in the maxim, “knowledge is power”, then the United States is now entering a phase of being powerless. Ignorance and ideological fanaticism in the intelligence community is a recipe for disaster.

I do pity them too, because their fate is unenviable because you have to face your conscientiousness--it is hard, believe me. Integrity is hard, very hard. Larry can tell you a story of that, because he faced it. That is why he is an Old School. We, in the USSR, respected Old School. Many of them were good, really good, from war to intel.