EU "Democracy" In Action.

Russia, give this poor man an asylum. 

Germany grants Turkish request to allow for possible prosecution of comedian who joked about Erdogan  

Answers the question of what Europe has become, doesn't it? This is just the beginning or, rather, the end. 

 

My Apologies To The Whores (Update on G7).

Very often, when writing about Western political and media class, I use the term "whores". It just occurred to me how wrong I am. I mustn't have insulted real, hard working, whores with this comparison and for that I am profoundly sorry. A whore is, usually a woman (there are also men-whores), who sells herself for money and proud of it. No high moral ground, no pretense, no mentoring--one gets what one paid for. In some countries prostitutes even have their own trade unions. Some are cheap, others are very expensive, but they are what they are. Not so with Western political class--it loves to feel righteous. Well, this class, obviously, prostitutes itself on any available occasion but it does it with lofty rhetoric, under the cover of, very often, very expensive, despite being useless, media and political "scientific" degrees and, what is absolutely fascinating, despite many among this class being lowlifes, it really thinks of itself as highly moral and deserving. No doubt, unlike your average street prostitute, they have much better access to financial resources, much better hotels, cars and a much finer whiskey. This class' pimps are also very "high class", many of them even have private yachts and Lear jets. 

And it is this "high moral ground" audacity of this class' representatives which always strikes me silly. Consider this. Famously teary and sentimental Federica Mogherini stated recently that there will be no business as usual until Russia "starts to respect the international law". Well, as Maria Zaharova  of Russian Foreign Ministry stated today--there will no "business as usual" in principle, without any "until".  Russia had enough. I may, or may not, disagree with number of Russia's positions internationally but all this recent EU posturing regarding "political process" in Syria or the issue of the terrorism in Europe (that is why Steinmeier floated this silly idea of Russia returning to G7), is nothing more than....possibly, maybe, theoretically a beginning of the the process of dawning of the reality on EU's "elite" that they are powerless against Islamic terrorism. EU is facing a really tough times, now they want Russia to do "favors" for Europe and yet they want to remain on their "high moral ground" mentoring Russia on European "values" which are one of the most important factors in creating a geopolitical mayhem of biblical proportions stretching from Maghreb to Paris and Brussels. No, really, at least when hiring a prostitute one knows a range of "services" he gets. This is not the case with EU scumbags. 

1. EU as a real power is pathetic--it doesn't have what it takes to tackle Islamic terrorism in its own house, let alone at the source. The reasons for that are:

  a) EU's military power is a joke and there are NO prospects  for it  to be restored any time soon, if ever;

 b) Intelligence capabilities of EU are absolutely inadequate for tackling what is happening and what is coming;

2) EU population is brainwashed and utterly emasculated. The only thing this population cares about is preservation of its social benefits and of "human rights" in EU interpretation which are utterly anti-European post-modernist poison which destroys Europe as I write this.

3. There are only two nations which can tackle the issue, but one of them, apart from being exhausted militarily, is known to support "moderate" terrorists historically and there is very low probability of any positive outcome of this power's interference--it has a stellar record of creating an absolute bloody chaos precisely in the places where the interference is required.

That leaves only Russia which has what it takes, but here is this nagging question--WHY? Russia is doing (very successfully) her part in Syria and, in the end, should concentrate on securing her southern underbelly. As I already stated, even "lifting" of economic sanctions, which even uber-liberals like Dvorkovich admit are not that big of a deal, and, in fact, had some positive impact, should change nothing in Russia's emerging consensus on EU. Let EU face the dire consequences of its adventurism, sometimes US-initiated, sometimes, like in Libya,  of own making. Let EU deal with its terrorist threat on its own, let them also face their Muslim population. Why should Russia interfere? Why should Russia want to return to meaningless G8 Format? What are the "benefits" of tight cooperation with EU backstabbers--they betrayed not for once, they will betray again. Indeed, the times of "business as usual" are over. It is not Russia but EU which is in dire need of Russia's cooperation and Russia's services are damn expensive, since they are first class. No "lifting of sanctions" or hollow promises will do as a payment, especially when those services are asked for by someone who makes whores look like respected professionals.

Why Would Russia Need G7?

As Russians say: umerla tak umerla, or, in English, if it died let it stay dead. Obviously Germany's Foreign Minister Herr Frank-Walter Steinmeier still thinks that Germany has some real influence in global power politics since makes such statements:

"I would not like the G7 format to be a long-term one; we need to create conditions for return to the G8 format."  

Well, Herr Foreign Minister of the occupied country, let me break you some news--it is not up to you to decide on G7 format. In fact, your nation, populated with emasculated, impotent, brainwashed "electorate" has a weight in serious global power politics which approaches zero and is run by a collection of imbeciles and cowards. Your own nation is clear and present danger to itself and  goes down the toilet fast as I write this. The fact that it is being run from Washington D.C. is somehow lost on you. But that is not the issue--at issue here is WHY would Russia want to be the part of G7? 

Obviously, some Moscow uber-liberals would love to be invited to those G7 (G8) meetings and we all know that current Russia's President Mr. Putin is a Germanophile but here is the conundrum...for Russia.

1. A disastrous role of Germany in fomenting the Ukrainian catastrophe is well known. 

2. The internal German politics, and not just a current one, is nothing more than a panopticon of people who, under normal circumstances, should be in psychiatric ward for evaluation. In general, Germany's energy and cultural policies are suicidal. 

3. Germany is a nominal center of the disintegrating EU and will inevitably be put under the American thumb through Trans-Atlantic Trade And Investment Partnership. 

4. In general, Germany is not really a sovereign nation. 

This list could be much longer but what is known will suffice to ask a question--what can possibly Russia discuss with Germany on any real serious issue of European security and economy? Pretty much nothing. German political class is infested with Atlanticists who, for all intents and purposes, could be easily characterized as German version of R2P and neocon crowd. So, as the saying goes: what's in it for Russia? Not much. Obviously the issue of Russo-German relations is much more complex than this compressed resume but, even if to consider some serious common economic interests, especially in energy field, a popular Russian perception of United States being afraid, and thus acting to prevent, that somehow Germany and Russia will find the common ground and will create a new economic super-pooper European entity is nothing more than a wishful thinking, if not the day dreaming altogether. As of today, what's left of Germany is incompatible on a fundamental level with what Russia represents today globally. Germany is Russia's opponent on a fundamental "genetic" level, it is also a potential deadly enemy. The same applies to any G7 or EU member. 

The Kremlin and the White House have a direct phone line and Moscow doesn't need any broker services from Germany when dealing with the power which decides what German Chancellor will say and how on any global issue. Superpowers, which Germany is not, communicate, if need be, directly. After all, Russian and US military communicate directly in Syria on a daily bases. It is also a great disservice to Russian position to view Angela Merkel as a politician who under duress (presumably from the US) speaks not what she thinks. This is a huge mistake, Merkel, as well as most of German "elites", think exactly what they say regardless of pressure applied by the US. The sooner Russian attitudes to Germany will be led away from the primrose path of pretense and false hopes the better it will play out in a long run for Russia. Yes, there is a lot of economic potential in Russo-German relations but that is as far as this all should go: pure pragmatism and viewing Germany for what it is--hostile to Russia nation, which played a key role in starting two European tragedies, one in Balkans, by being a driving force behind disintegration of Yugoslavia, another--by being directly culpable, together with US, for the mayhem in Ukraine. Who needs enemies when one has such "friend" as Germany. 

In the end, Europe as a cultural entity is finished and it will take a bit more time for brainwashed Europeans to understand that. Economically EU is unsustainable and NATO is nothing more than an official facade for racket against third world countries, and it can not solve dire security problems of own making which Europe faces. So, why would Russia want to get back to G7, when she can talk and cooperate, where circumstances call for it, with G7 members on a bilateral bases? Back to Germany. Yes, Germany does have some segments of the society which are either neutral or sympathetic to Russian causes but those are not majority and have no real influence on the decision-making. But even if to imagine for a second that somehow US involvement with Germany and Europe will stop, there still will be no open arms for Russia from the EU, welcoming her as an equal partner--EU will sooner open its borders to more Muslims. It seems that more and more people in Russia begin to understand that and this is a healthy process.  Europe in general, and Germany in particular, is in the state of final decline and the only real business Russia has with Europe, which is roughly 57% of G7, is to protect her borders and observe how this whole EU house of cards collapses. One has to think that ever conspicuous leader of LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky was right when predicted recently that in the end it would be up to US and Russia to settle the fate of what once was European Civilization. This seems today more and more the only scenario. In this case G7, G8 or G-whatever will be as relevant as Frank-Walter Steinmeier's statements.   

 

It Happened 55 Years Ago........

Simple Russian guy, a junior Air Force officer launched humanity on the new path.............

 Taming Of Fire

 

Perils Of Mosquito (re-opened).

So, the news are that two hulls of Project 1241 Molnya missile boats which remained in the state of limbo for a while will be completed by the shipyard Vympel to specifications of Project 12418 missile corvettes. 

Molnya (Lightning) To Become A Thunderbolt (In Russian) 

For those who do not remember, those ungainly ships went into existence as Tarantul-class missile boats in 1970s and even US Navy had one  (former DDR Navy's Hiddensee) serving at Naval Air Warfare Center in Maryland in 1990s. Latest iterations of venerable Tarantuls, however, are a different game. Project 12418 corvettes are armed with....drum roll..16 Uran-E (Switchblade) missiles. 

Here is the model: 

 Here is a movie:

 Here are Vietnamese Navy's (export) versions:

There will be obvious upgrades, including latest electronic suite for corvettes for the Russian Navy. 

What does it all mean? Considering the fact that in Sea Denial and A2/AD business a salvo means a lot, it means that theoretical salvo of Russian Navy in the theater, where these corvettes will be serving, grows by additional 32 anti-shipping missiles. That is a lot, to put it mildly without resorting (which I will eventually) to the specifics of Salvo Equations and coefficients which constitute them. Obviously, such corvettes have very limited Air Defense (for now) and no ASW suites to talk about, but they fit perfectly into the littoral A2/AD settings where other heterogeneous forces will be taking care of air defense and ASW. Now consider the fact that Russian Navy is actively building Project 22160 Patrol Ships (these ones carry UKSK and have a very respectable air defense) and this clearly indicates that Russia is building her Navy "from the shore" thus indicating a very defensive posture. Will Russia eventually build full blown Blue Water Fleet? Here is the puzzle: will it be Power Projection or Sea Denial Navy? I guess the latter is the most likely scenario.   

Anatoly Karlin's Blog Entry

Here is Anatoly Karlin's excellent summary of Panama "revelations". Worth reading.

 Putin: The Whipping Boy of Panama

Marshal Shaposhnikov To Be Modernized.

Remember one of my favorite quotes I use a lot? "We need numbers", that is what legendary Arleigh Burke told Elmo Zumwalt. Numbers matter, a great deal, and so, in order to address the issue of numbers, Russian Navy decided to do a pretty obvious thing--modernize the existing fleet of Udaloy-class Large ASW Ships (BPK project 1155). The first one to be modernized is 32 years old Marshal Shaposhnikov of the Pacific Fleet. Udaloys are magnificent ships but past their prime. One of the drawbacks of these ships, which were designed to be an ASW provider for Sovremenny-class Destroyers (Project 956) which were designed to be a SuWa asset with their Moskit (SS-N-21 Sunburn) anti-shipping missiles, was the fact that Udaloys had very limited anti-surface capability. It seems that this issue will finally be addressed with the installation of new Kh-35U Uran (SS-N-25 Switchblade) anti-shipping missiles. 

Modernization (In Russian) 

Shaposhnikov In Home Base Of Vladivostok

Yes, for some enthusiasts of the UKSK and massive Kalibr or Onyx capabilities, installation of the sub-sonic sea-skimmer may seem as a glass half-empty.  The truth, however, is very simple, installation of the inertial, passive-active and GLONASS-guided 260-km range missile complex will not require any substantial work on the hull. Against the background of Shaposhnikov's massive upgrade of its electronic signal-processing suite, the price tag of 901 million rubles (roughly translates into....drum roll...13.25 million USD) is really a sweet deal. In the end, Uran is a very modern missile, highly protected against opponent's ECM. It is deadly and in this sense the use of the semi-popular term Harpoonski (based purely on similar appearances of missiles) is wrong.  

It is a very good decision which will allow, on cheap, mind you, to upgrade remaining Udaloys while the issue of power plant for Gorshkov-class frigates is being resolved. Udaloys will finally get a full blown anti-surface capability, while retaining what they were always known for--robust ASW. These are ocean-going ships with superb sea-keeping ability and their elegant silhouettes graced not for once all oceans of the world. 

  

Here is the youngest of Udaloys, Destroyer Admiral Chabanenko (of Udaloy II class--look at the launchers of Moskit missiles) visiting Norfolk Naval Base in 2011.