Victory Day

It has been 72 years but for Russians those events remain as close as ever. A generation who missed its grandfathers (and grandmothers) due to Great Patriotic War is still around. Yours truly is from this generation. Those granddads (somebody's fathers) and grand-moms (somebody's moms) died in millions on the fronts of the bloodiest war in human history, they were also herded and shipped to Nazi Germany--many to concentration camps, others as slaves to the superior race, which wanted to keep about 14 million of Slavic untermensch alive, as slaves, raise to the ground Moscow and Leningrad and annihilate of move beyond Urals other 100 millions. Russians, and other nations of Soviet Union, rejected this fate. 

Barbarossa was not just Nazi Germany's quest for the thousand year Reich, it was, yet again, West's crusade on historic Russia, that time known as Soviet Union. As with 1814, with Russian Army marching into Paris, in 1945 the Red Army took Berlin and the new world, we all still live in, was born. But those who control the past control the future and West's propaganda machine was working overtime for this: 

        

Speaks volumes, while tomorrow millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Bashkirs, you name them, will march in Immortal Regiment columns wearing portraits and memorabilia of those who fought at the gates of Moscow, at Stalingrad, at Kursk, fought for Leningrad, those who took Berlin and who demolished Wehrmacht and SS. 

Those who care and who know, I wish you a happy Victory Day, including Soviet Union's valiant Allies who fought bravely. They are remembered always. I hope to see them at Red Square in the stands during parade and in Immortal Regiment march. 

Gladiator........

I was bred on immortal Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons and immortal novel by Giovagnoli. By 2000 it seemed that metrosexuals and gays completely occupied cultural spaces. But then, Russel Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, late Oliver Reed and, oh ever great, Ridley Scott, again, came to the rescue, producing a masterpiece the likes I didn't believe I would ever see again. But there it was--a magic, both cinematographically and musically, by incomparable Hanz Zimmer and Lisa Gerard. 

The Post Of US Economic Nationalism.

I wanted to write about it long ago and now it is as good time as any. It was one of those cases that I was insulted almost personally. This all goes back to this:

Trump tells Germany to buy American automobiles, Germany to Trump: 'Build better cars'

I remember hearing this earlier this year and my blood almost boiled. Make no mistake, I am a Subaru guy but in my life I had many cars, among them 1994 VW Passat and Porsche 928S. The only redeeming quality in this pair was a huge fun in driving a 928S and that was it. Passat turned out to be a complete lemon which wouldn't start, wouldn't drive without creating a bizarre noise and, after huge sums of money thrown at it trying to fix the ever increasing number of problems, was returned back to dealership which....agreed that the car was a complete unmitigated disaster. That is how we got to Subarus, since were offered a superb deal on the brand new 1996 Legacy. Make no mistake, I drove pretty much most of top of the line German cars, from Audis to BMWs.

There are many things to be admired about Germany and Germans, many. But for some reason, German automotive products as of lately do not create anymore this feel of something truly extraordinary, unless one speaks of an extraordinary overpricing and scandalous over-engineering. I owned  Ford Taurus, actually two of them (one station wagon), and I still recall those cars with warmth--they took me and my family all over the country and never failed us in the most adverse weather conditions. Today, Germany suggesting US to build "better cars" seems truly arrogant. The issue here is not with Germany not buying American-made cars, lefty brainwashed Germany simply has no space nor use for something like this, which, BTW beats any German vehicle in this class to start with: 

   

This thing can kick any Mercedes' or BMW's ass without even straining itself, but it also will annihilate those pretentious overpriced unreliable (have you repaired your Audi lately?) show pieces in several other important respects: you can buy 3 (Three!) such amazing utility, yet extremely comfortable, vehicles for the price of this:

         

Sure, for Europeans, where the gallon of gas goes for $5.66 and environment-conscious greens push for eventual abolishing of personal transportation the whole notion of driving a good truck or SUV stuffed with guns (just to shoot for fun) or fishing gear somewhere 400 miles away sounds like anathema. But consider this, what is the use of latest BMW or Audi sedan (for $100 000+) in transporting a piece of furniture or going to pick up friends from some God-forsaken locality in the middle of Rockies? Very little. Two different cultures. Once one gets to the vast North American spaces, once gets spellbound by their ruggedness, beauty and mystery and the thought about BMWs or Audis simply evaporates. The legends and the spirits of the Wild West come alive and having this:

   

Or that: 

     

     

 Instead of this (also overpriced and unsafe) shit:

          

become the only things which fit properly to the mind boggling, grandiose scale of this:

But, I am waxing poetic here. It has been a long time, since German automakers could lecture anyone on the quality of automobiles. This time is gone forever--Japanese-made cars are on the order of magnitude more reliable, cheaper in service and, actually, less expensive. Nor US automakers anymore that bad. Number of American-designed and made cars can easily hold their own against German counter-parts, not to speak about affordable and extremely well-designed American sports cars. What Germany has left mostly today are brand recognition--a fodder for urbanites who need their ego massaged constantly. But there is another problem, many American-made (and excellent economically and reliability-wise) cars will not sell in Europe not because they need to be "better built" but because they will not fit a completely emasculated, brainwashed by liberal ideology mind of a European man. Indeed, why would this man need this:

  

It is too masculine and too un-PC. Many American-made cars today are made extremely well, in fact, world-class quality--the problem is different, it is cultural and has nothing to do with Germans not willing to buy American because of quality. And it is not Germany's problem only--Western Europe is just a brand now. Granted, once popular--now overrated and overpriced. .  

   

Admiral Makarov On Trials.

A very interesting video from TV Zvezda on Admiral Makarov's sea trials, before being assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. Operations of AD Complex (ZRK) Shtil' are especially interesting. Per earlier post today, this system may be installed on Project 22160 patrol ships.  

    

Is Project 22160 Russian Navy's LCS?

I will not lie, I accepted the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ships program from the get go--the concept seemed sound and technological approaches seemed reasonable. Knowing late Admiral Cebrowski's views on real naval combat, hence Street Fighter Program, from which LCS evolved, and purely out of aesthetic reasons, I thought that LCS were great ships. That is until the whole program turned into the unmitigated disaster. The warning signs for "littorals" were already in place from the inception and the major of them was the fact that for a ship, however handsome, which reached 3500 tons of displacement LCS carried only 57-mm gun and some 3 (yes, three) mile-range anti-whatever missile. Of course, the real kick of LCS was its modular design which was supposed to provide different mission modules but for a ship with a price tag around $ 400 million the whole notion of going into the enemy's littoral and not being armed properly seemed rather suicidal. 

   

Yes, LCS-1 are handsome and fast boats.

It also seemed very outdated and very... American. Only in 2014, after several public scandals, US Navy decided to review a possibility of installing anti-shipping cruise missiles on these ships. Is it the case of "better late than never" or is it the case of trying to revive a lifeless body, I don't know. There was, however, one thing about LCS which greatly attracted Russian Navy--it was modularity of what Russians define as general purpose patrol ships. This is how Patrol Ship of Project 22160 evolved in what it is today. With the fourth hull of 22160 being laid down in 2016, the actual mission "packages", or armament, of these ships remain somewhat of a mystery. 

For starters, while not as intense as LCS discussions in the US, 22160s are not without controversy in Russia. The main point of contention being their mission (or lack thereof, depending on POV), the secondary point being Russian Navy going, as in Soviet times, for multi-type menagerie of combat ship, especially at the (perceived) expense of large combatants. I will express my personal point of view--I think both points are not valid at all. 

1. If to believe what goes around in open media, these 1,500 ton displacing ships will be able to carry either containers or have UKSK VLS. There is also the talk that these ships could be fitted with Shtil Air-Defense system. Of course, recent naval trials of Tor-M1 system and upcoming navalized Pantsir do create a range of options for 22160s. If that is the case, then 22160s, apart from general patrol duties, including anti-piracy operations, will pack a serious SuWA punch and that is how Russians like their ships--with long-range anti-shipping and land attack cruise missiles. Here is a Distributed Lethality 101. 

2. The issue of finding a mission is not an issue at all. From Somali anti-piracy operations, to providing escorts, to aiding Russia's Coast Guard in guarding littoral, and, finally, providing for additional weight of anti-shipping missile salvo--there are many roles which 6 (planned) of those ships can play. They are littoral combat ships which can defend themselves both in domestic and adversarial littorals.

First 22160 at Zelenodolsk Shipyard

22160 Model

So, will these ships become Russia's "LCS" or will they turn out to be useful general purpose combatants capable of bringing a gun to a knife fight? I don't know yet, but, yet again, I like the concept and Russians certainly have a history of creating real "street fighters" in their navy.    

                   

Serpukhov

Russian Naval Cats Are... Cattier Than Westminster Cats.

On a lighter note. The Telegraph replied to Russia's Defense Ministry's "expose" on a cat who went to the combat patrol to the shores of Syria on one of the ships of Admiral Kuznetsov Carrier Battle Group. 

     

As The Telegraph noted:

This cat has a more perilous job than the moggies the British have in Westminster, who chiefly meet foreign ambassadors and catch mice.
Cats have had a place on board Russian ships for many years, and now appear to serve the purpose of making their military operations look more cute and cuddly.

Cuddly operations certainly sound nice. In my experience, I went to combat patrols with several cats, one mutt which was an official dog (and sometimes bitches he brought to have fun with) of our Brigade and went, once in a while, to patrols on the ships of his own choice--I guess smells from galleys were a tie breaker. I also served with a hedgehog--little poor thing couldn't handle storms that well. Moreover, I also served with a falcon (called promptly Vasya) who had his wing broken and lived on the bridge tied to the railings. He didn't mind, we fed him extremely well. Animals on ships are afforded always a special place but also are treated as combat comrades and have their own berth(s) and meals. Now, this ginger feline must be issued this:
         

Or this:

This one, though, it seems is on its way to admiral epaulets.
 

 

Polish POV, Really?

As I said not for once, I like Polish culture and, for me being a product of Soviet culture, we all grew up with heavy Polish cultural presence in USSR. Sadly, the times of Pub 13 Chairs or of Sopot music festivals of 1960s and 70s are long gone and we are left with Polish politicians who are either total nutjobs who went full James Forrestal, such as Poland's Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, or we get smooth operators such as Poland's Peasant Party's big honcho Władysław Kosiniak, who came up with a "brilliant" idea: he proposed to increase political sanctions on Russia while removing economic ones (in Polish). Make no mistake, Kosiniak's rationale behind this harebrained scheme has nothing to do with Russia--it has everything to do with Poles who, in Kosiniak's words "suffer" from economic sanctions on Russia. Duh!

I can only scratch my head in disbelief. Poland was one of the initiators of the coup in Ukraine, she also was a major driver behind West's sanctions on Russia. Anti-Russian hysteria in Poland, especially among elites, rivals that in US and now Polish politicians who have to deal with the loss of Russia's large market want to remove sanctions? We have to clarify here what sanctions. As you may remember, Russia responded to EU sanctions with her own counter-sanctions. Now it begins to hurt Polish farmers but the immediate question is this: guys, these are yours, not Russia's, politicians who joyfully slapped sanctions on Russia, so talk to Warsaw or Brussels, not Moscow. Russia didn't start it, you did. Now, when it hurts (and it will hurt even more with Nord Stream-2 moving ahead) Poland wants sanctions, economic ones, removed and yet slap additional political sanctions on Russia. Talk about being hypocritical to the point of a complete loss of any rationality. 

The history of this sanctions question is very simple: Poland, who wants to feel herself a real big honcho in EU, thought that she, with obvious support of US Polish diaspora and US-European financing, will be well positioned for dictating her, Polish, conditions to both, Russia and EU. What Poland, of course, forgot was the fact that she is an economic dwarf when compared to Russia. Russia easily compensated for the loss of Polish agricultural products and today, in 2017, really doesn't feel that she needs Poland in any economic capacity. Poland barely registers in Russia's foreign trade and that is the way it should stay until all sanctions are completely and unconditionally removed, which, as we all know, is not going to happen. Well, too bad. So, Poland has to deal with "suffering" completely on her own and remember that one reaps what one sows. That is, there are consequences for everything one does.

Once Nord Stream 2 is completed, Poland will be bypassed by it and will become simply completely unimportant to Russia's economy, especially against the background of ongoing import-substitution in Russia, which, however slowly begins to bear its fruits--literally and figuratively speaking. Poland made her choices and Russia respects them in a sense that, as old Russian proverb goes--nasilno mil ne budesh (one can not coerce someone to love one). Polish pride and follie de grandeur will continue, as they always did historically, but this time they will continue within Poland's worst case scenario of becoming irrelevant. The only commodity Poland will still have to sell will be her visceral Russophobia and her territory for NATO bases but this is a separate issue altogether.

UPDATE: meanwhile Poland is having some issues with EU in general, and Mr. Macron in particular. I guess Poland needs a "cultural enrichment" by EU through welcoming "refugees". No?