Meanwhile RT delivers a proper headline: Western Memory of WWII is basically fan fiction. Well, it is. No matter my professional respect for Colonel Macgregor, but he is an Exhibit A of having very little understanding of Eastern Front and the Soviet Union. In fact, he continues to deliver a primitive "anti-Soviet" propaganda, much of which is nothing but utter BS which is completely detached from the realities of the Red Army's and USSR's war and much of which is rooted (literally) in Goebbelsonean propaganda found in copious amounts in Solzhenitsyn and neocon writings.
Like Glenn Greenwald, Crenshaw doesn't understand operations and operational planning, no, not this tactical BS of SEAL Team 6 which would evaporate on real battlefield, he also doesn't know basic math which is expected from ROTC "commissioned" tactical level officer who has no clue about modern weaponry and how it is used, and because of that, he spews BS about matters he knows less than Glenn.
Crenshaw, who has degree in International Relations and no applicable knowledge of military history, let alone anything about Russian Militarty would be laughed out as military amateur from any battalion level staff in SMO when he will try to apply his "knowledge" of SEAL operations to the modern battlefield of which he, as most Western militaries, has no clue about on any tactical, operational and strategic levels. Yet, here he is--"you never fought anything." Did Crenshaw fight real war? Did he ever win anything with his forces? Well, we know the answer. The guy is moron who spews Ukie propaganda financed by the ... USAID and Nazi regime in Kiev. Unbelievable.
There will be no friendly relations between Germany and Russia again. Plus, the sausage states those things not because of some moment of clarity but because of sheer terror. As Dmitry Medvedev today revealed some shocking technological truths in his statement:
Translation:What can you say: a nuclear conflict is really not needed by anyone.It is a very bad story with a very difficult outcome.That is why the decision to use nuclear weapons (non-strategic or even more so strategic) has not been made yet.Although, frankly speaking, there are formal prerequisites for this, understandable to the entire world community and consistent with our doctrine of nuclear deterrence.The same Kursk, for example.But Russia is showing patience.After all, it is obvious that a nuclear response is an extremely difficult decision with irreversible consequences.However, the pompous Anglo-Saxon runts do not want to admit one thing: any patience comes to an end.And in the end, those moderate Western analysts who warned will be right: “Yes, the Russians will most likely not respond in this way ... although there is still a possibility.In addition, the response may also be using new delivery vehicles with non-nuclear equipment.”
OK, just adds to the already extremely strong case of NATO losing arms race everywhere and confirms long time circulating rumors about new generation of explosives and delivery systems which will additionally turn warfare into some sort of sci-fi, however gruesome, affair. Thus, Larry's headline is correct:
Translation:In reality, the media are always secondary to the real world.Propaganda can influence reality only to the extent that it corresponds to it.At the peak of the unipolar world, the United States was almost omnipotent, and accordingly, its informational and ideological influence was colossal.But that unipolar world has already effectively ceased to exist, and with it, the capabilities of Western media are shrinking.
Real life is hard, as are real complex skills required for operating modern society successfully--modern West doesn't have those anymore. BS, propaganda, on the other hand, it has a lot. And it is paying the price for it.
... Godzilla to be unleashed on unsuspecting world. I addressed this BS about nukes in my latest video. But here we have a CIA Director who needs basic education in military operations and Russia's military doctrine.
Burns, a career diplomat--a euphemism for a spook--has about zero qualifications for sound military operational analysis to "think" about anything related to real war, let alone about using "tactical" nukes. He is in a profession of lying and propaganda. The idea of Russia using nukes originated from those very same "undisclosed sources", which for two and a half years have been, due to a lack of real military operational ability and military-industrial capability, engaged in pure unadulterated propaganda because this is the only thing they can do. Once one considers the fact that the US Army and CIA's "bright star" David Petraeus continues to parade himself regularly as a military and intel amateur, what do you expect from a product of the Anglo-American degree mill (such as Oxford) in "International Relations".
The whole clockwork of Russian military machine and the way it is integrated with the Russian state and society is beyond the grasp of overwhelming majority of the contemporary US "elite"--they simply do not understand it, as is confirmed by an immense body of the empirical evidence in the period from 2007 through today. The fact that Burns, while being the US Ambassador to Moscow, sent some note that Moscow will not tolerate turning 404 into a hostile territory is not a proof of any "diplomatic insights" but the summary of Russian media who openly discussed the issue for many years. Add here the absence of the strategic intel and strategic forecasting as such in the current US political discourse and you get the picture.
Now to one of our friends posting yesterday a proverb from Bible: Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice. It was posted on the occasion of me pointing out the fact that the US Armed Forces and a bunch of US "military experts" simply do not know REAL military history, which many of the American officers and servicemen even in this blog confirm, and this in no way deducts from their otherwise professionalism or human qualities--US Armed Forces still have many competent and courageous people. But as an organism, Pentagon is not a pretty picture. So, pointing out that US experience in combined arms operations simply doesn't measure up to that of Russia is now "gloating"? Or is it "gloating" pointing out the collapse of a whole criminal enterprise with 404 on part of the US due to hubris and historical ignorance? Should the Red Army and Soviet people have followed the biblical proverb when they have liberated concentration camps, or when they fought off the Nazi war machine and then crushed it--the credit for which IS being stolen by Western propaganda. Or should Russian people not "gloat" seeing the criminal globalist force responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Russian civilians and a million of its brainwashed minions from 404 in the largest war in Europe since WW II? I am sure Vietnamese people shouldn't "gloat" either.
And the combined West sensing what is coming for it is desperate, and oh, suddenly becomes so sensitive to the truth. I can only quote the conclusion to my latest book:
The United States to which I and my family immigrated in the 1990s is no more. It is now an insecure nation, whose economic and political systems have ceased to function. America’s only tool of enriching itself, the U.S. Dollar, had its foundation—the myth of American military supremacy—obliterated, exposing one weakness after another, ranging from malicious corrupt elites to an inability to develop a realistic strategy and procurement policy for its bloated military, which is not designed to fight a modern war against a serious enemy. That such an “enemy” might not want to attack the U.S. is beyond Washington’s think-tanks comprehension.
Furthermore, why should a bankrupt nation, which has failed to adapt to the new technological paradigms in warfare and which faces physical disintegration, plan for war with China, which the United States considers its main “challenger”? The only explanation is this is either wishful thinking, a desperate attempt to grasp at the last straw of greatness past without any attempt to reconsider and maybe reverse suicidal policies which brought the United States to her knees, or simply yet another effort to direct resources towards its militarized economy.
Any real war in Asia, as usual to be false flagged by the U.S., will result in the ultimate crushing of U.S. forces and a complete destruction of the United States, which only then will recognize that it has actually fought its final war. The problem which the new de facto multipolar world faces is to make sure that America’s final war doesn’t become a final war for the world which U.S. elites never knew and did not want to know.
I have other proverb, predating Bible--Vae Victis.
... I repeat--until Russian MoD says so--nothing happened. Otherwise, we get yet another "shot-down A-50" and IL-22 fake reports spread by Kiev regime. Now, they say, it is Tsezar Kunikov BDK. They said they "sunk it". All the same suspects--shysters from YouTube begin to spread things and alleged "video". In professional circles everything seems to be calm. But why, you may ask? Very simple--Selidovo. That is fully confirmed! The 3rd Brigade of fanatical Nazis which was getting ready to try to relieve Avdeevka was culled dramatically by Russian Iskanders and that means that rotation of VSU around Avdeevka is halted.
Translation:Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Igor Mosiychuk reported that the military training ground of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in Selidovo in the Donetsk direction actually came under rocket fire.Information about the injured and dead is being clarified, Mosiychuk wrote on his social networks, RT reports.Earlier it was reported that the military training ground of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Selidovo in the Donetsk direction came under rocket fire.At the time of the attack, there could have been up to 1.5 thousand Ukrainian military personnel at the training ground who had arrived for the exercise.
Different sources confirm that the location of the "arrival" has been completely blocked off and huge number of ambulances have been seen in and out. Syrsky ordered to classify any information about Selidovo strikes (in Russian). Evidently, the losses in Selidovo have been catastrophic for the 3rd Brigade and, in classic 404 manner, some sort of "victory" to offset Selidovo strikes was needed. Most of the time those "victories" are imaginary and inconsequential when real. So, let's wait for official confirmation or otherwise. Meanwhile, there have been attacks on Russian commercial convoy on the 9th, as Forbes reports:
Translation:The Ministry of Defense reported an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian civilian transport ships using unmanned boats, which was carried out the evening before, February 9, in the Black Sea.The attack was repelled by patrol ships and naval aircraft; civilian ships and naval ships were not damaged, the department said.The Ministry of Defense reported an attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to carry out an attack on Russian civilian transport ships using unmanned boats, which occurred the evening before, February 9, in the southwestern region of the Black Sea.The department wrote about this in its Telegram channel.The attack was repelled by patrol ships and aircraft of the Russian Navy.One unmanned boat was destroyed by artillery fire, the rest were “suppressed by electronic warfare,” the Ministry of Defense writes.No civilian or naval vessels were damaged in the attack, it said.
So, 99.9% of the time 404 lies through the teeth and its Western propaganda extension--western media--gladly spread Ukie BS.
I seldom comment on issues of basic combat training, such as fire drills (in Russian--Ognevaya Podgotovka, same as in English) and handling of standard issue arms. I am not fanatic of all kinds of handguns and rifles, but I have more than enough experience in handling anything from any AK series to some hand guns--I do have my Ruger. And I stumbled on this video today:
Two things immediately:
1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that these guys ARE training. That is the point of training, isn't it--to identify mistakes, correct them and then train the correct way. Obviously, video captured marines making all kinds of mistakes, but then again--these are BASIC skills which are easily addressed through training within one-two one hour exercise training this element, including live fire at the range. Maybe the video was shot precisely for this purpose--to show mistakes and correct them? I am 100% positive that USMC combat teams know how to handle AR-15s. It is an EASILY addressed problem. Of course, Kalashnikovs of all calibers have a very different from AR-15 kinematics, e.g. you can easily cock any AK by... foot, especially if you are laying down. But I see no problem in getting guys, who may not even be "first line", learning how to reload.
2. Another matter, of course, is marching. In Russia it is called Stroevaya Podgotovka which means literally Formation Drills. While this type of activity is always mocked in Russian Armed Forces, it has a significant impact on the unit's cohesion. Yes, in this respect US Armed Forces do not train it the way Russians do, including famous parade step "minting", like this:
And this one comes from centuries long tradition of linear tactics formations, where uniformity of the step (marching) was playing a huge role in both cohesion and combat stability of the unit (formation). Recall this:
United States has a very limited experience in linear tactics of 17th-19th century fighting gigantic and not battles like Europeans did, in the times when linear formation marching had a very serious tactical sense in terms of density of fire and in terms of morale. Russian fought like this for many centuries, so, naturally, this tradition of marching remains very strong, and rightly so, and from the first day of boot in any unit young soldiers, sailors and military academies cadets will be drilled in this marching until "they stop shitting home-made pies". After that it comes naturally--hence magnificent marching at the Red Square (and elsewhere) May 9th Parades. Including properly trained US Army formation. Not step "minting" but surely synchronous and nice looking:
US has a very different experience with such marching, but then again: if the video shows ineptitude in marching, let me tell you--good drill sergeant, a few days and the unit will march like a single entity. US Armed Forces problem, of course, including marines, is not in some video showing novice skills. The problem is deeper and it is on a tactical level, but most importantly--operationally and strategically. That is not the level of average grunts, that is military-political level whose rot dripped down and made US Armed Forces problems way more profound than some basic military skills easily addressed by good junior officer and his NCOs, believe me--I know, been there, done that, including handling of live firearms, grenades et al. After all, all graduates of Soviet/Russian naval academies have their official second specialty as Naval Infantry (Marines) tactical unit commanders. Unless your ass was eaten by bedbugs in barracks in Separate Naval Infantry Brigade in Kazachya (near Sevastopol) you could never be called a naval officer. That is why shitload of naval officers fought (including my classmates) in both Chechnya Wars, Georgia and elsewhere, commanding ground troops.
So, like it or not, what is shown in this video is mostly propaganda, albeit as any propaganda it concentrates, in this case, on negative and embellishes it. If anything, Chinese Armed Forces have special unit of these girls who primarily are trained for marching--you can easily find the video of them going through grueling marching training. They ARE NOT combat unit and their ONLY task is to project unity and power of China. So, comparing them to randomly walking marines is not appropriate. Again, READ my lips--those problems are relatively easily addressed, by the end of the normal boot they will disappear. Ability to shoot well, use of the whole issue of infantry weapons and fighting as a unit is another matter, of course. I would be concerned with this, which is utter disgrace under any circumstances and the US military did it by itself:
But then again, US Armed Forces are merely partial manifestation of a systemic crisis which afflicted the whole country, which entered a full zombie mode and nobody knows if it is coming out of it, not yet anyway. This, not the fact that guys are learning to reload AR-15, is by far more important issue, including strategic and operational ineptness of Pentagon's top brass which for the first time has been shown how the real war looks like and how you handle it.
A new study by Chinese military scientists named TikTok as one of several hi-tech companies involved in propaganda campaigns against Russia. TikTok
stands out as the only Chinese-owned business on the list, which
contains nearly 40 private entities from the internet, space, finance
and AI sectors.According to the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) investigation, TikTok has joined Facebook, Twitter, Google and
other Western tech giants in offering a platform for cognitive war on
Russia that has “greatly undermined Russian military morale” and eroded
its international image.“Combat
in the cognitive domain is a new, advanced form of warfare. It is also
the highest level of human [war] games,” the authors said.
The paper was published prior to Li Shangfu's visit to Moscow and as article notes:
The Alliance for Securing Democracy, a US-based national security
advocacy group, noted in a report last month that Russian
state-controlled broadcaster RT had more TikTok followers than The New
York Times. It also found that Russian news agency RIA Novosti’s top
TikTok post this year gained more than 5.6 million views while its top
Twitter post had fewer than 20,000 views.
As much as I have issues with RT, there is no comparison between contemporary Russian reporting and a trash which NYT and its cabal of ignorant agenda-pushers "journalists", trained only to brainwash already confused American public, produce daily. Soviet time Pravda had more useful and, remarkably, truthful reporting than NYT which is dangerous even to be used as a last resort toilet paper due to a risk of getting a brain cancer or psychosis by the way of anal application after #2. So, no real news here. But it looks like some type of attitude adjustment "request" was issued to Chinese owners of TikTok. I, however, have only one issue with this piece of news--neither TikTok nor Facebook or any other social network are "tech-giants". Not even close. Real tech is not anymore in Silicone Valley. In fact, it left it long time ago. But don't start me on them and Musk's latest... if you know what I mean.
Oh my, so sanctions and stealing financial reserves are not "unjustified and unacceptable", and so is arming Nazi regime in Kiev, but getting slapped into face for doing so is now bad? We all know what could be said here, but as I stated before Poland and Bulgaria will be made an example to show others that Europe did it to herself and if need be, Russia may stop practically all economic activity with Europe. But not everybody in brainwashed Europe wants to commit a suicide. Here is one, out of many, such an example.
Many other European companies already opened Ruble accounts and the "plan" (developed in kindergarten) is simple and transparent here--to buy additional volumes of gas and oil through Ruble account holders and then distribute those volumes inside EU, including to all those "proud" nations as Poland, Bulgaria and it seems Finland too. Sure. As I "warned", Hungary may become a very rich country soon. Even Austria may get on that lucrative scheme (in Russian), which, in the end, raises the question why Austrian Chancellor went to Moscow recently at all? He tried to threaten Putin and was shown to the door immediately. Putin is on record: the refusal to pay in Rubles is a breach of contract, period.
I know how difficult it is for combined West to accept this reality, but resources-based Ruble is here now and not just de facto but de jure and is becoming a very hot commodity. As this, today's, exchange rate testifies to:
that there is a lot of butt-hurt and sore losing is going on in Western capitals and Yahoo News doesn't even bother anymore and simply places this kind of BS on its front page:
I think Sandhurst has to be simply rebranded into the Circus Academy (there is a good one in Tucson, as an example) and just be done with all this military mambo-jumbo because the graduates of the Circus Academy (acrobatics department) can do as swell of a job discussing modern warfare as Britain's Defense Ministry. But then again, Pink Floyd should review and rewrite their line from The Dark Side of The Moon's immortal track Time: "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English Way". English way is not quiet, it is bombastic, into your face, loud stream of utter hysterical bullshit which comes as a surprise for fans (like me) of the old English culture of the stiff upper lip, delightful humor, acute sense of self-deprecating and great intellect all of which long ago left the shores of the Foggy Albion and gave us this:
Boy, how far has Great Britain fallen.But then again, this is the choice British people made and that's the way the cookie crumbles. But if I would have been David Gilmour and Roger Waters I would have rewritten this line from Time. But that is just me, little insignificant me. Indeed, what do I know.
Let me be very clear, Ben Wallace, same as any top brass in UK Armed Forces didn't see real armies and real wars in ages. UK as a whole is now a clownish country grasping at the last remaining myths of long passed greatness, and the same goes to British Army.
Let me put it this way: even the United States who, unlike the UK, has a massive ISR complex ranging from signint in the space to ground, UK has zilch, nada, nothing, even the US cannot make any real assessments of Russia's losses, because nobody can with the exception of Russia's General Staff. Some clownish US former generals who spew primarily Ukie propaganda BS from TV screens in the US do not really represent Pentagon. They represent merely their sinecures in Military-Media-Industrial Complex.
So, any claims by British has-beens on this, as well as other similar matters related to warfare, are just that--a pile of steaming bullshit. As I already stated, even when adjusted for obvious propaganda and brainwashing of the Western public, one inevitably begins having question about overall professionalism and competence of Western militaries. The question is not just that even respectable West Point has been reduced academically to a joke, but in the fact that the signals of a professional decay of a much more combat experienced US Army have been around for at least two decades.
Now, the UK which is a woke shell of once great empire and its Army, which can fit (all of it) into the Wembley Arena, underwent a debilitating loss of competence since 1990s and British Army fully reflects the pathetic lap dog status of the UK. Royal General Staff unofficially may sound impressive and pompous, but reality is that the Army whose regular force numbers around 82,000 with zero modern ISR capability and being completely dependent on its master, the United States, strategically and operationally, DOES have General Staff structures which are totally adequate to a rather pathetic state UK Armed Forces as a whole are in. So, the whole idea that UK military and its brain, General Staff, can independently have ANY kind of real data on Russia's losses is down right risible. These pip squeak of the armed forces of a country which has clowns running it assure that the only way UK can ease the pain of being a pompous parody of its glorious self of the past, is to continue to shoot fairy tales about James Bond in which glorious MI-6 fights for the (supports terrorism) everything good against everything bad.
Now, today Russian MoD warned London (in Russian) that if London thinks that if British weapons transferred to Ukraine "are not necessarily a problem" if they hit Russia proper, Russia will respond, for starters, with wiping out all those "glorious" British "advisers" and spooks on the ground and if need be... well, here is the issue, Russia can do it, UK cannot. Maybe UK does require a little bit of beating to be shaken back into its own reality of being a second-rate country in a complete decline and having the army which faces this:
So, Wallace and his Scots Guards buddies better sit back and learn how real wars are fought in modern times and what are modern combined arms operations against the enemy who uses civilians as human shield. In other news, Russian Military Academy of the General Staff has international programs and, I am sure, that will serve Wallace and his military well, if they are squeamish to enroll there, to merely go over the list of the alumni of that academy. May be they will get a hint. But don't hold your breath.
P.S. To give the scale of British Army to Russian Army one has to know that Russian Army (its Ground Forces alone) are around 300,000 troops (that is 3.7 times larger) and field organic Air Defense and firepower British Army can only dream about. I don't want to go over other forces which are tightly integrated with Russia's ground forces. But that is a separate issue altogether.
Bernhard asks after his excellent review: What are these guys smoking? I think I have a part of the answer: they smoke a BS of the exceptionalism. In general, if people like Keane or Petraeus do not understand what they dealing with when drinking Ukrainian military Kool Aid, one inevitably concludes that it is not accidental that these, and others like them, guys are genuine articles who are heavy on PR and very light on basics of real wars. Just read the whole thing on MoA (follow the link).
You want to stop Russian advance? Easy--start killing your own civilians.
The piece is behind the paywall, but because it is NYT you can safely assume that it will be same old set of propaganda tropes about SMO. But since NYT's (or WaPo's) journos are barely fit to operate in normal society with basic morals and understanding right from wrong, this admission is not trivial. It is important and it is just one in the massive array of 404's and its Western curators' war crimes.
And again, as with the other tangibles, this "contrasting" policy will continue, especially keeping in mind approaching mid-terms. But this whole thing is what I am constantly trying to make a point about. The United States while still being economically large is nowhere near in terms of its weight of economy as Wall Street and stock traders try to portray.
While absurdity of title is undeniable (Arsenal of Democracy killed millions of innocent civilians in the last 30 years), the truth is, realities of the real war involving serious forces, difficult terrains, vast geographical expanses are not your regular bombing defenseless enemies into the stone age. Nope. That is why Russia has a full blown War College (Academy) of Material-Technical Provision named after Khrulyov, aka in English Military Logistics Academy.
Yes, Russians care about having more than enough weapons and materiel and delivering it to fighting troops and have the whole damn science developed based on that. Moreover, this logistical thing is designed to be operated under the most adverse combat conditions, not under the favorable ones. In other words, Russians plan for war and as "rumors" have it, most of Russian plant producing ammo and stand off high precision weapons are working in three shifts, non-stop that is. But the issue of real military economy is a vast one and has to be discussed separately. Once discussed it can easily explain why the United States even if it wanted to cannot supply VSU with what general Petraeus calls "game changing weapons".
Take M1 Abrams tanks or Patriot PAC3 AD systems. In the modern battlefield those are not survivable. You can imagine what kind of reputational losses that will be. Especially since Houthis destroyed a number of Saudi Abrams tanks and the "performance" of Patriots against Houthi drones was rather lacking, to put it politely. Ukraine, of course, is not Yemen or Iraq, the war there is a whole other story. At least you can always say that good ol' M-113s, most of which will be destroyed or taken as trophies by Russian forces, if those venerable APCs ever make it to the front line, are old and not like super-pooper "game changers" Petraeus talks about.
Per RKR Moskva, evidently some photos are now available, and some stories begin to emerge:
One of such stories (I cannot confirm its veracity) is that Moskva actually fought a serious Air Defence battle against waves of attacks and that eventually the AD was breached. I don't know. Possible? Certainly possible, and the presence of the US air assets in the area, including P-8 Poseidon and Global Hawk, certainly gives a hint, but, as I say, until Russia's MoD issues the report on this event it all remains primarily speculations and rumors. They will continue to circulate, of course. If NATO (namely US and UK) were, indeed, involved in some way in sinking of Moskva, expect a real response from Russia. Where and how, we can only speculate, but there will be a response. Meanwhile VSU continues its attacks on own civilians and blame it on Russia. Classic. In conclusion, looks like there is a lot of movement today in Donbass by Russian forces. While British soldier of (mis)fortune Aslin sings like a bird about atrocities VSU committed against civilians.
Here is another batch of VSU POWs and they are so brainwashed that when they recognize that upon surrendering or being taken POWs they will not be killed, tortured and starved, they do experience a cultural shock and a severe cognitive dissonance. In related news, many Ukrainians, especially of nationalistic variety sincerely believe that many Russians do not know what a modern toilet is. This is not a joke, they think that Russia is even worse than their shithole of a country. This is your primer for Monday.
Here is (in Russian) Evgeny Poddubnyi from the front lines:
He doesn't say anything what is not generally known from Kharkov region, but at 6:50 he begins to confirm what was suspected all along, that primarily US "advisers" who are engaged fully in combat control of VSU insist on VSU to hide behind civilians. Whenever combat contact happens between Russian forces and VSU (and Nazis) in the open or in the urban civilian areas which do not have civilians in them, combat performance of VSU drops dramatically and they run. When hiding behind civilian backs they do offer resistance. What a tactics, this one should make it into NATO combat manuals, with a special focus on using kindergarten kids as a good cover for armor. Sadly, this may not seem as far fetched as I thought before. But then again, what would one expect from "advisers" who can not win a single war even against third-rate opponents.
But there is a story developing and it is a significant one. It is from Russia's MoD.
Translation:During April 16, 2022, there was a sharp increase in the intensity of radio communications by militants of nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries blocked in Mariupol at the Azovstal metallurgical plant. At the same time, the content of radio intercepts (only 367 such intercepts were received in the past 24 hours) indicates that the resisting militants are in a hopeless situation, with virtually no food and water. They persistently demand permission from the official authorities of Kyiv to lay down their arms and surrender. At the same time, representatives of the Ukrainian authorities categorically forbid doing this and threaten with subsequent executions under the terms of "wartime".
Out of humanitarian considerations, Russian MoD guarantees, for those who will lay down their arms, life. If not, TU-22M3s will arrive again and Russia has a shitload of free-falling munitions which will simply block those remaining (by different estimates up to 4000 troops) in Azov Steel and will make sure that they never see the light of day. In related news, more and more UK (there are some from US, confirmed) and other lovers of safari on Russians learn the hard way about realities of a real war.
The start of the War Crimes Tribunal promises to be a wowser, when other, much bigger foreign fish, will be paraded in a front of the world. I guess those "advisers" who built ukie defenses around civilians and behind their backs should think really hard if they will have the chance to escape.
But then again, as was demonstrated, Russia can turn pain dial to 11 if need be, that is why promises by the US of supplying such "weapons" as M-113 APCs (good Lord, that thing is older than me) or towed artillery to VSU is, in fact, act of desperation for purely political (primarily domestic) purposes, which the scale of grotesqueness of the US propaganda proves without a doubt. When taken in the proper (real) context of massive, tectonic really, geopolitical and global economic shifts, these facts add quite well to the overall picture of the events, at the core of which is a decline of the US Dollar as reserve currency and ongoing process of the combined West's self-isolation based on increasing totalitarianism and betrayal of all values which were in the foundation of its post-WW II success. That combined West is no more. Here is an example:
Of course, it is patently not-true and Germany IS the party both to a catastrophe it helped to precipitate in Ukraine in 2014 and bringing Nazis to power, and now, as a party to the economic sanctions on Russia. Germany will be treated as such. As a party. Mentioning of International Law by Germany is hilarious.
It is a classic spin ("anonymous officials" are usually US journos themselves or some low level hacks), but it should be noted from the same text:
According to the New York Times citing US officials, the note was
sent through normal channels, and was not signed by any senior Russian
officials. The formal correspondence indicates Russia is concerned
about the United States' ongoing material support for Ukraine, an
anonymous US official told CNN.
So, in this case this whole tempest in the teacup is Russia merely obeying the forms and is nothing more than some propaganda straw to grasp at by the US, because even propaganda setback with RKR Moskva, cannot hide the obvious fact that Mariupol, with the exception of Azov Steel's blocked bunkers, is fully liberated and Mariupol's, considered the best of VSU by VSU itself, grouping ceased to exist. I am positive that US "advisers" in 404 know what it means, including their plans to hide behind backs of women and children. But then again, I am on record, it is only in Hollywood that wars are won gloriously and freedom reigns supreme.
I am being hammered by messages from all kinds of armchair strategists who think that they are qualified enough to make conclusions on operation based of such sources as WSJ or CNN. Here is Larry doing a professional job for them:
Read the whole thing at Larrys' blog and pay attention to graphics. As you understand, this is just one of the episodes of a war. The other one is "sudden" (not really) appearance of Russian forces near Krivoy Rog--a precise maneuver which morons from WSJ, following ukie propaganda and "advice" from their "experts", interpreted yesterday as a "victory" by VSU, when in reality it was a classic bypass of already blocked Nikolaev.
Now, for those who still whine about "slow" progress. Here is a demonstration--roughly 12 by 10 miles snippet of the terrain in Donbass:
These are just some towns and villages concentrated in this NOT the most densely populated area. Practically ALL of Eastern Ukraine is nothing more than just one huge agglomeration of small to middle size towns and villages forming essentially one huge urban area, much of it reinforced by concrete bunkers and underground lines of communications. 404 spent last 8 years as one LDNR tanker said it yesterday--"pouring it (concrete) in"(c). It takes time to clear all of a very large ukie force entrenched there.
Per Mariupol and elsewhere: Russia gives the remnants of Azov a corridor out of Mariupol which they can enter without arms. This is also the attempt to save remaining around 100,000 civilians, many of who are used as human shield. Azov has been essentially beaten into the ground at the Azov Steel plant and if they disagree, they will be finished off and that will mark the end of Mariupol operation. That also frees a lot of units for operations elsewhere. Now, Zhitomir base for mercenaries and NATO instructors has been hit by stand-off weapons, 100+ are confirmed dead, the number most likely will grow. And, of course, Nazi "battalion Donbass" has been largely wiped out and its remnants together with remnants of 54 OMBR of VSU will be finished off shortly. This is some sort of a sitrep for today.
... went astray from the get go, (in diplomatic language it means--go fvck yourself, we have better things to do), while Zhao Lijian, a deputy director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Informational Department, twitted this thing yesterday:
Do they even get a clue in State Department? Meanwhile, Financial Times' BS about China providing military aid to Russia continues to circulate by Western MSM as a fact and that only underscores a complete mental breakdown (apart from crude propaganda) of Western MSM and shows a degree of desperation.
I repeat again, for those who missed the link above (from Washington Times):
We are witnessing a US foreign policy debacle of unimaginable scale. But considering what passes in the US for Russia "strategy", I have to point out yet again the fact that the US establishment has NO understanding or knowledge of Russia. Not surprising, considering WHO runs this field in the US. Meanwhile Vladimir Putin spoke to 90,000 inspired spectators inside (and 100,000 + outside the stadium) Luzhniki Arena today:
In celebration of the 8th Anniversary of Crimea returning home. Yeah, in related news, his approval rating is through the roof in Russia.
Who cannot possibly have any competent opinion on geopolitics in general and military affairs in particular. He is a stale (and expired) product of London School of Economics (a madras for producing white-board ignoramuses) but he has the audacity to contradict the US Army senior cadre officer with combat experience and all necessary tools to make correct conclusions, not to mention the fact of Douglas Macgregor being a man of an international repute precisely in modern geopolitics and warfare.
I may not agree on some things with Macgregor, but I don't doubt for a second his professionalism--a feature fast disappearing from top political and military echelons in the US, being substituted with... right.. talking ignorant heads such as Varney who, due to his "rich" academic background in nothing and ability to string several words is precisely an Exhibit A of one of the major reasons of the decline of the West, which is being run by utterly incompetent and malicious "journo" class, who decided that they know the world. They don't. So, Varney's objections are risible--learn the subject, moron, before arguing with real professional.
It is like a famous saying--one cannot be slightly pregnant. So, if after very many days of Russia being literally hours away from "invading Ukraine", namely for 64 days (63 on the moment Bernhard of Moon of Alabama counted), one has to begin to suspect that maybe Russia after all wasn't getting all ready to "invade" at all. Now, after yet another FUBAR by Anglo-American "intelligence" and "diplomats" amplified by Goebbelsonean propaganda known as MSM, there is an acute necessity to hide obvious facts behind the wall of verbose BS. Indeed, how can you explain this:
In related news, intelligence people are still involved in the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and they should find them any minute now. I can only imagine how the cabal of the US "diplomats" and "spies", many of who were subjected to Anglo-American version of history and have been taught geopolitics by such people as late Zbig and his many followers, are finding out now that, in fact, not only Russia doesn't need Ukraine but she radically, same as overwhelming majority of Russians, doesn't want it. So many careers, so many reputations, fake as most of them are in UK and US geopolitical "academe", have been now completely discredited by this fact. So many people sucked on the fat teat of the think-tankdom and abused grants and tenures by pretending that they knew Soviet Union or know modern Russia, that seeing the fundamentals of their world view, however ignorant, to be so ruthlessly smashed by the reality should be pretty disheartening.
One doesn't have many chances to state his or her academic case in geopolitics due to much longer time-wise processes shaping geopolitical reality when compared to a duration of a single human life, so the probability of a strategic mistake is very high. So, one has to beware of a very high threshold for accuracy when trying to say something about the state of the global affairs. One doesn't need to go far to recall how Fukuyama failed at "looking into the future" and how Brzezinski laid down the foundation for one of the major factors which played into the running the United States into the ground. So, it is not just about the United States hating to look, not to mention actual being, weak, it is also a matter of many people who dealt with pseudo-academic BS in and around London and D.C. trying to save whatever "reputation" and following they obtained, preaching the gospel whose meaning they never understood. I speak about it today here a little bit.
Is Ischenko prophetic in terms of false flag being done against Ukie government itself? One cannot exclude such a possibility. But we'll see. Meanwhile Russian and Chinese Navies train in the Arabian Sea yesterday:
Just in case. Will see what Putin and Xi will decide in Beijing. I think time when China may need to "come out" of her shell is here. Will she? Will learn soon enough.
His educational (lack of) "credentials" are impeccable and fit perfectly for a work in such a sewer as CNN since he knows how to push keyboards and has a substantial experience, and I quote, such as: Wrote, produced and edited text and
video stories for CNN.com’s reader empowerment-focused Impact Your World
initiative. Pitched original story ideas for sponsored series. Produced
and edited obituary packages for air on CNN networks... Helped launch and co-wrote “The Good Stuff,” CNN’s newsletter focused on reader empowerment and “feel good” stories. So, the guy is like really powerful and has all the required background, like Greta Thunberg, for discussing a BS modelling which is known in the West as "climate science" fraud. But this guy, who, I assume, holds also Ph.D in golf and table games, has no problem writing this:
Well, it is CNN, alright. But here is a strange twist. Just follow my train of thought, OK? Drew Kann is an epitome of the modern day Western "expert" pushing an ultimate BS of the anthropogenic origin of the climate change, which, of course, changes (no one argues against that) all the time, and since this guy wouldn't know the difference between exponential and differential equations, he wouldn't know the difference between mathematical model predicting next bowel movement by the average patient in the hospital and climate change. Here is the another guy:
He is Chung Rae Kwang, he is a former graduate of Georgetown University with degree in... in... drum roll... in... drum is still rolling... in, of course, Foreign Relations, and he is Korea's 2007 Nobel Prize winner for pushing Green Agenda and anthropogenic climate change theory because he is utterly "qualified" to pass the judgement on the methods of concocting stochastic models based on shitty data, also known as GIGO (Garbage In--Garbage Out). This dude spoke recently in Moscow (see his lecture here) on this climate thing and on the subject he is very, in fact disastrously, competent, as any dumbed down holder of degrees in various home economics and political "science" fields and he really went on an intellectual tour-de-force when proposed in this lecture that humanity needs "new science" which, in his view, should be driven by social sciences, because it is how he feels, you know, quoting him:"For me, they are the most important sciences."
Well, obviously our Nobel winner doesn't understand the difference between real science and humanities and economic BS which is taught in the West as viable "educational" courses, but I pray for this man's good health and long years of life, because, God forbids, he will need a heart surgery or any other surgery, because he will need a Doctor of Medicine (a precise science, BTW, STEM really), not a doctor in Political Sciences, and he will need X-Ray, CT Scan, anesthesia and precision machine making technology, created by people with degrees in engineering, physics, chemistry, applied mathematics, software design and computer technologies and other NON-social sciences "educated" people who, actually, together with labor force which extracts and processes raw materials at mines, manufacturing floors and assembly plants, are the main engines behind this simple fact that his chest cavity will be cut by a precision produced scalpel (or laser) not some barely honed stone, and he will not feel a thing instead of screaming in agony as had happened often even 100 years ago. Same goes for this CNN dude who wouldn't know shit from shinola and will continue to parrot any kind of illiterate BS having circulation in the Western Goebbelsonean main-stream propaganda machine.
Now to the point. West hates Russia and Russians for many reasons, but one of the major ones is because of Russia's real power. As with anything else, Russia's power rises then ebbs, but for the last 70 years Russians demonstrated several fields in human activity in which they are not just good, but damn good, in fact the best in history. Among few of those fields two stand out: space exploration and Arctic. If in space exploration even today there is a great deal of both competition and cooperation between the United States and Russia, the rest of the world remains still far behind (no, I don't mean this fraud and figure-head for NASA Elon Musk) these two; in Arctic, altogether, Russians simply have no rivals, period, not even close. And here we go back to CNN. Even this Ministry of Truth couldn't ignore this:
It is in this piece that CNN gives the link to the article about warming by introduced above Mr. Kann. But many may not understand a gigantic significance of this launch until one gets to talk to a Senior Designer of corporation Russian Space Systems which developed, launched and successfully operates Arktika-M, his name is Yuri Gektin (in Russian). This poor soul who designs cutting edge, in fact the most advanced, monitoring space systems in the world, obviously somehow missed on his "social sciences" thingy, concentrating instead on Physics and Engineering, and surely is barely qualified to speak on the issue of climate change because he lacks skills in "writing obituaries" and doesn't know how to "empower" people, he surely is not Nobel Prize winner for concocting a BS pseudo-scientific crap as this Korean dude, he surely is no Greta Thunberg. He just designs and builds, and operates satellites and their incredible scientific tools to monitor the actual climate change. This is where the problem for woke West is.
Unlike climate "intellectuals", some of who I already described above, Russians know how mathematical models are created and they know that the data which goes into the Western "anthropogenic" climate change models is mostly BS. Plus, there is simply not enough of it and here is the wowser (in Russian) which IS NOT going to be delivered in the "free" West.
In the issue #351 of Roskosmos popular broadcast of Space Environment, Yuri Gektin, starting at 8:30 mark, speaks in broadsides about stupidity of present "anthropogenic" models in a view of overwhelming data supporting Sun-driven climate change and a minuscule role humanity plays in this process. But also about Arktika-M (operational) and future satellites of this family providing a treasure trove of data which, as you might expect, is a clear and present danger to the whole "anthropogenic" climate change fraudulent pseudo-scientific Ponzi scheme in the West. This is all happening against the background of European imbeciles driving themselves into the energy insolvency and economic and cultural decline. Today, Russia is the only nation in the world (no, China is not it) with the economic, military and scientific wherewithal to stop this anti-scientific, degenerate and inhuman insanity being perpetuated by West's ignorant and illiterate elites.
I know, it may sound too harsh, but let the actual science give answers and give competent forecasts, with totally corrupt Western STEM and a "science" of opinions by illiterate hacks with humanities degrees. It is about time somebody started to think about consequences, such as EU is facing now, and this is just the beginning. Gektin, especially through such a powerful platform as Roskosmos, is unequivocal about the necessity to provide new data which already is streaming and is being made available through the international network of hydro-meteorological information. You can sell obvious bullshit of anthropogenic climate change to Western public school students who are busy discovering new genders, rejecting their white privilege and reciting main postulates of Critical Race Theory, you cannot sell this shit in Russia to people who actually know the real science and how models are created. Russia has all the tools necessary to prove a complete corruption and cowardice of West's "science" which long ago lost any integrity and honor. Here is what modern Western "science" is busy with. That is why they hate Russia so much.
P.S. There is a lot of interesting Rogozin is presenting on Zevs in Dubai. Guess what? Right, environmental "scientists" are already screaming bloody murder because Zevs is nuclear-driven and they are concerned with space pollution. Do those cretins even know that the Sun, one of trillions of stars in our galaxy alone, is nothing more than one gigantic nuclear reactor. You cannot reason with a person who received degree in sociology from any Western university, they are know-it-all types because they are not educated. They are running the West today.
Update: I will be pissed off severely if anyone will even think that this is in any way a schadenfreude on my part--it is not. In fact I wish with all my heart for guys a safe and healthy return. But it is what it is--space is a no fvcking joke and a PR stunt. It is dangerous and it starts--read my lips--with Life Support Systems which work. You don't have those, don't go there.
