Larry On Neocons...

 ... and Washington. 

Kupchan, in my view, is a precise barometer of the philosophical and political ideology directing U.S. policy towards Russia and Ukraine. These people — e.g., Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland and Kupchan — really believe that Russia is an impoverished, ravaged nation barely hanging on and nothing yet has shaken them of that belief. They are convinced that if Ukraine can pull off a military miracle that Russia will collapse. This mindset is not only crazy, it is dangerous. It grossly underestimates Russia’s capability and determination to achieve its stated goals of demilitarizing and de-nazifying Ukraine and rests heavily on the false assumption that Russia does not have the economic power to sustain its military effort.

Yes, they ARE that ignorant, lacking serious professional skills required if not for genuine statesmanship at least for basic analysis. It is also, highly likely, the symptom of mass-psychosis characteristic of medieval religious hysterics by illiterate masses incapable of understanding natural phenomena.  

My Talking Head.

Some thoughts on current events. 

Enjoy if you will.
 

Friday.

Go at it. My favorite early Russian punk)))

Enjoy.
 

Sanctions From Hell.

That will show those damn Roosskies. US finally found the soft spot of Russia and these new sanctions are going to hurt like hell, wink, wink. 

МОСКВА, 19 мая. /ТАСС/. США ввели запрет на ввоз в Россию ряда телефонов, диктофонов, микрофонов и бытовой техники. Соответствующий список опубликован Минторгом США. В перечень входят электрические проточные или накопительные водонагреватели, электрические утюги, микроволновые печи, кипятильники, электрические кофеварки и тостеры. Также запрещено поставлять в РФ линейные телефонные аппараты, беспроводные телефоны, диктофоны. Вместе с тем в список включены сушилки для белья, машины и аппараты для фильтрации и очистки воды, снегоочистители и снегоуборочные машины, газонокосилки, сельскохозяйственная техника, стиральные машины и швейные машины. Помимо этого, к ввозу запрещены литий-ионные аккумуляторы, аккумуляторные батареи Nesio, пылесосы, измельчители пищевых продуктов, электрические лампы.

Translation: MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. The United States imposed a ban on the import into Russia of a number of telephones, voice recorders, microphones and household appliances. The corresponding list is published by the US Department of Commerce. The list includes electric instantaneous or storage water heaters, electric irons, microwave ovens, water heaters, electric coffee makers and toasters. It is also prohibited to supply linear telephones, cordless telephones, voice recorders to the Russian Federation. However, the list includes clothes dryers, machines and apparatus for filtering and purifying water, snow plows and snow blowers, lawn mowers, agricultural machinery, washing machines and sewing machines. In addition, lithium-ion batteries, Nesio batteries, vacuum cleaners, food grinders, and electric lamps are prohibited from being imported.

I never disclosed it, but now I can come clean--my worst nightmare was the anticipation of a moment when the US will announce sanctions on toasters and water heaters. Russia, being a backward shithole of a country with the economy smaller than that of Lesotho, is now cooked. I called my friends and relatives in Russia--they are desperate. One of them, when heard that there will be no American lawnmowers anymore, wanted to commit suicide and only, as luck would have it, the intervention of his wife saved him. 

There are screams of desperation heard from all corners of Russia being denied the access to advanced technology such as toasters and water heaters. It finally happened, and now Russia will crumble--you can bet your life on that. Same way as you can bet all your life saving on Patriot PAC3 being "slightly damaged" and by today, as rumor has it, being completely "repaired". In Pentagonese the repair means having new Patriot elements being delivered instead the ones which have been completely destroyed. Hey, technically it is a repair, of sorts. 

On a more serious note, considering the fact that only small share of those items listed above is made in the US proper, with most of them being either China, Taiwan or Malaysia made, one has to ask the question: are they that stupid in there? Evidently they are. This is what happens when one is completely detached from the realities of real industrial productive economy and emerging Eurasian (colossal) market, whose details, including possibly the new reserve currency (or basket of currencies) will be discussed at St. Petersburg international economic forum (SPIEF) in June this year. Once one considers that there are more than 80 countries lining up for joining BRICS and SCO is emerging as a serious security organization, and the US and Europe are not in this club, one can feel the desperation. The syndrome of abandoned abusive wife who suddenly recognized that she is not needed anymore. 

In related news:

HIROSHIMA, Japan — America and its allies plan to provide F-16s to Ukraine — although the fighter jets may not necessarily come directly from the United States — as part of a long-term effort to strengthen the country's security, a senior Biden administration official said Friday. The timing for when Ukraine will receive the fighter jets — and which countries will provide them — remains unclear, but the official said the planes would not be used for Ukraine's upcoming counteroffensive against Russia. In the coming months, the U.S. and its allies “will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” the official said. The news comes as President Joe Biden on Friday informed leaders of leading industrialized nations that the U.S. will support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.

Sure, let them. Yet another US weapon system will be exposed as obsolete and ineffective and will be demonstrated against the background of Russian Air Force and Air Defense doing its job properly. I know what the US "elites" are coming through right now, those who have enough remaining courage to face facts:

Yes, it was like a dream in which a man fancies that a ruffian is coming to attack him, and raises his arm to strike that ruffian a terrible blow which he knows should annihilate him, but then feels that his arm drops powerless and limp like a rag, and the horror of unavoidable destruction seizes him in his helplessness. 

In 1814, Alexander I and Russian Army triumphantly entered Paris. Nowadays, Russians do not want to enter any of European or American capitals, they do a swell job of destroying themselves, and even the allure of finally having their hands on the advanced products of Western civilization such as washing machines and water heaters can not change Russians' desire not to deal withe West anymore. In the end, Russian Air Force cannot even "fly formations". What do you expect from those backward Rooskies.

Open Thread.

Go at it. I am resting today.

This Is Extremely Significant.

And I mean extremely in the extreme. As Al Arabiya reports. 

And if this hasn't been enough, Russia's major VneshTorg Bank (VTB) opened its first branch in Iran. 

Russia’s second-largest bank, VTB, has opened a branch in Iran, the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced on Twitter on Tuesday. VTB is the first ever Russian bank to offer services in the Islamic Republic, according to TPO head Alireza Peyman-Pak. The majority state-owned bank will promote “trade transparency” and play a role in transferring part of its foreign exchange earnings to the banking network, Peyman-Pak added in his tweet. Last December, VTB launched a service allowing both individuals and businesses to transfer money to and from Iran. It was one of the first Russian banks to be excluded from the SWIFT global payments system over Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.

Well, so many things in so little time. And don't get me started on weapons trade. And also (sadly in Russian only), the visit of Viktor Bondarev, the Head of Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, to Konsomolsk-on-Amur. 

You do not even need to know Russian to see some things which paint partial picture. Truth is, till recently Komsomolsk-on-Amur was a pretty trashy place, now it is undergoing a revival since KNAAPO is in overdrive producing things ranging from SSJ-New to SU-35s and 57s, to now being revived once mighty shipbuilding plant, which begins transition from small missile ships of Karakurt-class and pr. 20385 Corvettes to, eventually, Gorshkov-class frigates for the Pacific Fleet. This, inevitably, will bring the revival of the city. 

The city definitely requires a serious facelift from its tumultuous Soviet and 1990s past, especially considering its immense industrial capacity. And the facelift was ongoing. Now it most likely will go into overdrive. 

Confirmation By Russian MoD.

Per MoD TG:

По достоверно подтвержденным данным, 16 мая в результате удара гиперзвуковым ракетным комплексом «Кинжал» в городе Киев были поражены и полностью уничтожены многофункциональная радиолокационная станция, а также 5 пусковых установок зенитного ракетного комплекса Patriot производства США.

Translation: According to reliably confirmed data, on May 16, as a result of a strike by the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system in the city of Kiev, a multifunctional radar station was hit and completely destroyed, as well as 5 launchers of the US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system.

Looks like the lives of NATO personnel in Command Post have been spared, for now. As per this:

and these: 

In plain language (after "damage assessment", wink, wink) it means it is a complete goner. So, now we know, and even inbreds from UK tabloids are getting the message. Next thing you know, they will acknowledge that the Red Army took Berlin in 1945.