If They Believe That Even ...

 ... at the perceived (stress on perceived) strength GB could do anything about Russians--I am talking about the time of the Cold War 1.0--I have a bridge for sale. Yet, British tabloids continue to lament, having no clue about scale of things. 

Putin has weak, bankrupt Britain in his sights. 

It is difficult to explain to cretins from The Telegraph that Britain was, is and will remain "in sights" of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces as long as London continues with terrorism, false flags and its visceral hatred of Russia. Other than that--Russians do not give a flying fuck about this, indeed bankrupt shithole of a country, while all those cultural treasures of Britain, from Shakespeare to Gainsborough, from Benny Hill to Beatles are beloved in Russia and are kept close to the heart. But in the end, a funny feature of Oreshnik or 3M14M is that it can take out the British blob without touching a livelihood of Londoners and others on the island and allow UK to survive. I know, it hurts for them in all those "exclusive" degree mills and clubs in UK to resign themselves to the realization that UK is simply not significant in a larger scheme of things. 

Meanwhile, Valery Gerasimov gave some updates on SMO today:

Russian forces taken control of over 3,500 square kilometers and 149 settlements in the Ukraine operation since March, Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov reported in an update on Saturday. He noted that Russia has advanced along nearly the entire front over this time. Gerasimov, speaking at a Defense Ministry briefing in Moscow, also gave percentage figures for Russian territory liberated and outlined plans for further operations. According to Gerasimov, Russian troops “have liberated 99.7% of the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic (less than 60 sq. km remain) and 79% of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic.” He added that 74% of Zaporozhye Region and 76% of Kherson Region are now under the control of Russian forces. All four former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia in referendums in September 2022.   

While Alastair Crooke correctly states what we all repeat ad nauseam--noises from Washington and EU are just noises. 

Everything is decided on the battlefield. Look at lovely detonations on this Pavlograd toys' factory. 

Evidently NATO's and 404's kids' toys have this propensity for detonation, same as coffee machines and vacuum cleaners at Hamburg's plant for household devices. What a shame, not. 

Lavrov And Gerasimov "Inform" Merkel.

It is rather a peculiar development. No, not the fact of Lavrov meeting Frau Kanzlerin in Berlin as was agreed prior with Vladimir Putin. Nothing special about that. What is special and peculiar is that Frau Merkel also met with:

The meeting, agreed last week by Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also attended by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and the head of Russia’s military general staff Valery Gerasimov, said the spokeswoman in a statement.No further details were given.

Valery Gerasimov is not the kind of guy who attends diplomatic meetings, him being present in Berlin together with Russia's foreign minister signals something very important in the making. Discussing Syria? Sure, seems natural but as Russia's news agencies report and I quote: "The issue of Ukraine was also discussed". I think, that this is it. 

Syria, no matter how important it is for the world today, would not have necessitated the Chief of General Staff to be in Berlin and meet the head of German State. After all, Berlin plays secondary role in Syria and, in fact, failed to participate in any meaningful military way there in supporting all kinds of terrorist groups, aka "rebels", "Free Syrians", unikorns etc. Ukraine, however, is a totally different issue. It was Frau Merkel and her cabal of sycophants both internal and external, who made Germany one of the main driving forces behind Ukrainian catastrophe which followed a violent coup inspired and financed by the combined West. So, Germany is one of the major culprits in creating a black hole in the midst of Europe and, accidentally, one of the main drivers behind hysterical Russophobia in Europe. We all know very well how "free" and "independent" German media are.         

So, is anything drastic expected to happen in Ukraine which is in a tail spin economically and mentally? Consider this:

1. Triumphant World Cup in Russia is over. 

2. Russia is surprisingly nonchalant about all those economic sanctions (hey, Deutschland, rings a bell?) by EU and here are two among a vast stream of facts which tell that Russia is getting ready to react "dramatically" to something (Ukrainian violence against Donbass).

Fact A: Russia is to completely localize (in Russian) manufacturing of high power gas turbines by 2019, moreover huge tax breaks will be given to companies using Russian-made equipment.  Recall who played huge role in this business in Russia prior to Ukrainian events? Right, Siemens.  Recall who is also a major player in this field in Russia? Right, General Electric. Hm. This is not manufacturing of lingerie, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are talking here about. 

Fact B: Russia raised, entirely legitimately, the pain threshold for Ukraine in and around Azov Sea. Now Ukraine will pay dearly for taking hostage the crew of Russian fishing vessel Nord. All, in violation of the mutually-agreed status of Azov Sea. This is not to mention, of course, some threats to blow up Kerch bridge which periodically heard from Ukraine. 

3. Ah, yes. Helsinki. Recall Putin's offer to hold referendum in Donbass, recall his very own warning to Ukraine not to do stupid things since it will be...well, the end of current Ukrainian statehood.   

Now, once one considers that Ukraine is an anti-Russia asset for globalist cabal in Washington and is, in fact, under the external control of Obama's operatives, against the facts that this whole Russiagate thing goes nowhere and fast, it is not only possible, but highly probable that people such as former VP Biden or HRC's State Department operatives (never discount McCain here), DNC and others will not be, in their desperation, against some conflagration in Ukraine. In fact, it becomes a very probable scenario--anything to sabotage Russian-American relations in general and Presidency of Donald Trump in particular.  It is a general scenario but this is precisely a scenario which would necessitate highly professional explanations from Chief of General Staff to some German state bureaucrat, however highest of them all, what she and her vassals in Europe must expect if their very own German Sons of Bitches in Ukraine will unleash a provocation which will provide enough Casus Belli for Russia's Southern Military District to start the final countdown for criminal Kiev regime and its pure Nazi accomplices. But these are just my thoughts. Boy, would I love to hear at least 5 minutes of Trump-Putin conversation tete-a-tete in Helsinki. In the same time, I can only imagine what kind of revulsion both Lavrov and Gerasimov felt towards this German leader who managed, after almost 70 years of Germany being denazified to help spawn a truly Nazi regime in Kiev.     

UPDATE: Lavrov and Gerasimov are already in Paris (in Russian) and met with Macron. In case of Paris visit, discussing Syria is natural, yet Ukraine was discussed there too. Hm. Syria, I can understand, Ukraine--well, one is left guessing now. 

Teresa May As A Symptom.

People started asking me about this whole, obviously false flag, situation with former GRU spook's and his daughter's poisoning. Ziad asked me next:

Judging by Theresa May's public accusation of Russian responsibility for an act of terrorism using chemical agent and injuring bystanders (all boxes are ticked) I am not hopeful that Putin's speech of March 1st has had the desired effect. If anything, it seems to have convinced them that they have to fight Russia now rather than 10 years from now. Initially I was hopeful that the white house was trying to deescalate matters, but then Tillerson jumped in with both feet beside the Brits.

 I will start from afar. Here is Valery Gerasimov's statement today and I quote:

The Russian Defense Ministry is ready to take retaliatory measures against US’ possible strike over Damascus if there is any danger to the Russian military, head of the Russian General Staff added. "At the same time, Russian military advisors, members of the Russian Reconciliation Center for the Conflicting Sides and military policemen are staying in the Syrian Defense Ministry’s facilities in Damascus. In case there is a threat to the lives of our military, the Russian Armed Force will take retaliatory measures both over the missiles and carriers that will use them,"

Do you feel the difference? As I stated somewhere earlier this week, it seems that someone flipped the switch and it is not the United States, let alone some secondary derivative US lap dog power as UK.  In this case yesterday's piece of famous Russian-Armenian political analyst, and renown Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) professor, Andranik Migranyan at Ria.Ru is very symptomatic. Its title speaks for itself: Why Trump's Revolution Is Bound To Fail (in Russian). In it Migranyan states well known to anybody with a half-brain obvious fact--it is over for Trump as independent US President and as an agent of such a needed change for the US. Trump got drowned by both the US political system and corruption and incompetence of American "elites". As I wrote last August when Trump was effectively stripped of his rights to formulate more-or-less sane policy towards Russia by US Congress:

Now that Donald Trump lost his most important battle so far (no, it is not about Russia's sanctions, it is about Executive Branch conduct of US foreign policy) and was stripped of powers he was elected to exercise, we need to talk about... Putin.

Moscow now has a clear idea that there is nobody to talk to in Washington, let alone in London which is nothing more than a proxy and a lightning rod for hysteria which completely engulfed "exceptional" elites. Russia's presidential elections and upcoming World Cup are the last, in inflamed neocon imagination, "pressure" points of influence on Russia. Well, that and Ukraine. Yes, they still think that, albeit increasingly it looks like acts of utter desperation. Anything goes for them in this case. False flag by poisoning yet another former Russian turncoat? Sure. Chemical  weapons false flag in Syria? Absolutely. Do they want a hot war with Russia? Some certainly do. Do they understand what they wish for? No, American elites in general have no grasp of the nature of military power and of its application. But DO they feel that they are going down? Absolutely. All of them. Some, indeed, merely feel that, others already begin to understand. Hence the hysteria. 

In their view something has to be done, even if risking a war, to prevent or even slow down a complete disintegration of the Pax Americana and the so called liberal world order which is happening in a front of our eyes. Be it demonstrated Russia's military-technological superiority, or a complete failure of US "analytical" organizations to predict anything right about Russia--all these are the signs of a terminal illness. Russia doesn't see anymore any sense in appeasement and accommodations with the US. It seems that Gerasimov's warning is quite blunt. Moscow clearly understands that these now are CIA and its branch, Department of State, which run US foreign policy, well, as a result game changes. The United States decided to open Cold War 1.0 playbook but considering the fact that a lot in that book is simply a fantasy, a figment of imagination by "exceptional" historians, it is already clear where this Cold War 2.0 may lead. It is not the future the United States wants to contemplate but it is one, it seems, it cannot avoid anymore. Teresa May and her political show, in this case, are merely symptoms, not the cause of the ailment.   

More:
http://tass.com/world/993678

Double Plus LOL!!

US journos never disappoint. No, really, certain Nathan Hodge and Julian Barnes of Wall Street Journal rag fame just made my morning. Make no mistake, there always was a degree of melodrama in US when dealing with war, the same as lack of any grasp of issues of scales and proportions. Enough to remember grossly exaggerated, if not completely false, dichotomies, such as contrived "rivalry", which never materialized, of Patton and Rommel--both being merely episodes, and by far not the most important ones, of WW II. Certainly not even close to the scale of  Valilevsky, Rokossovsky, Manstein or Guderian. Not even in the same universe. Yet, there it was--a Hollywood version of something that even never existed. Today, above mentioned WSJ journos, while repeating this idiotic Patton-Rommel cliche, came up with another cringe-worthy melodramatic, totally contrived BS which they called: 

The New Cold War Pits a U.S. General Against His Longtime Russian Nemesis

You can read fuller version of this crap here. 

Really? No, I really mean, really? How trivial and shallow one has to be when coming up, for starters, with such sappy baloney as "nemesis". Nemesis, if to follow popular Greek Mythology derived definition, is something a person can not overcome. The immediate question is, then, this--in what sense Russia's Chief Of General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov is a "long-time nemesis" for US National Security Adviser General McMaster? How, in what inflamed fantasy, can Valery Gerasimov, who, throughout his career, commanded both 58th Army and then what would amount to several Army Groups, before becoming Chief Of General Staff, be a nemesis to a man, with all due respect to McMaster, whose "accomplishments" involve such things as, even if viewed briefly from Wiki:

In August 2008, McMaster assumed duties as Director, Concept Development and Experimentation (later renamed Concept Development and Learning), in the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) at Fort Monroe, Virginia, part of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. In this position McMaster was involved in preparing doctrine to guide the Army over the next ten to twenty years.   

Apart from obvious gross mismatch in rank, command, responsibilities and accomplishments--Gerasimov's level is a level of the Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff--one is forced to ask the question: and what are those "military thinking" accomplishments of McMaster per him being a Director, Concept Development and Experimentation? Almost ten years passed from the moment of McMaster's involvement with US doctrine. And what are the results? Results are in the open, for everyone to see and they are not pretty. But then, another question comes: does Gerasimov even know that he is McMaster's "nemesis"? Did troops commanded or guided through operational plans developed by Gerasimov and McMaster ever meet on a battlefield? Never heard of that. But then again, Gerasimov as Chief Of General Staff has at his disposal, a world-class and with pedigree to back it up, GOU (Главное Оперативное Управление--Main Operational Directorate) which for the last 15 years has shown a rather impressive track record. One is literally forced, then, to inevitably "compare the records" purely on merit and without preposterous references to "nemesis". 

I will abstain from elaborating on the records' comparison, albeit I did it not for once, such as here, but let Patrick Armstrong speak on that:

I can’t get two questions out of my mind:

When was the last time the USA won a war?

When was the last time US trained troops fought effectively?

Spectacularly successful at raining death and destruction in the first few weeks, something goes wrong later. Obviously there is something wrong in the way the USA fights wars.

I can explain why USA loses its wars and what is a unbridgeable, irreconcilable difference not only between Gerasimov and McMaster but between Russian and American military thinking: US Armed Forces never fought in real defense of their homeland in the last two hundred plus years. Never. Russia does it for millennium. All US warfare is expeditionary in nature with US proper remaining completely oblivious to the realities of the wars it unleashes elsewhere. That it is the reason American soldier inevitably loses an interest and stake in fighting American wars since, in the end, his (her) family at home, his property, everything he (she) loves and treasures remains untouched by brutality of the warfare and other things which come in this terrifying package. Russia and her soldiers and generals (as well as the nation as a whole) think in a completely different plane, because know, on a genetic level, what war can bring to their homeland.

So, when these two WSJ hacks write this:

Their dynamic sheds light on the evolving military competition between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers at a time of rising diplomatic tension. Moscow has narrowed a yawning gap in the quality of its conventional forces, but the U.S. remains far more powerful in that category. It is this imbalance that has shaped the strategic thinking of the two generals. It’s American force and resolve against Russian cunning and diversion.   

They expose not only their utter ignorance on a whole spectrum of military issues (those two certainly never heard of Russia's Military Doctrine--explicitly defensive), they parade their incompetence by mentioning some non-existent dynamic between a man, who leads institution (Russia's General Staff) which goes back to the times of Peter The Great and has in its record victories over Charles XII, Napoleon, Wehrmacht, recently, over terrorist armies in Syria, and a guy whose "accomplishments", apart from being popular within US Army, are rather... not impressive. So, what dynamic? I can tell you what--none. As per studying somebody's combat experience--that is what military professional do, everywhere since earliest times and in this Sun Tzu's department of "Know Thyself And Know Thy Enemy" US "strategists" fail miserably time after time since the times of Korean War. McMaster will not be an exception, he will fail too. The only task now is to make sure that while failing, this will not bring the world to the edge of confrontation which will have catastrophic consequences. Gerasimov and McMaster, apart from not having any "dynamic" as WSJ hacks claim, are in different universes military strategic thinking and experience wise and both are not only not comparable, they are irreconcilable and will remain so. As per imbalance, currently no single or combination of Armed Forces, that includes US Army, can defeat Russia conventionally in her immediate geographic vicinity. I hope McMaster is smart enough not to try  testing this because it will not be Gerasimov who may then become his "nemesis" in reality but Russia as a whole herself, and her military track record speaks volumes. As per WSJ journos--nice try, double plus LOL, morons.