A Misnomer From RT.

Which, sadly, becomes not a bug but a feature of RT. Macron is in Moscow and is talking to Putin. RT reports:

Crucial personal talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have begun in Moscow on Monday evening, with the latter suggesting they work out a solution that “helps to avoid war” in Europe.

It is a misnomer: personal talks between Putin and Macron are not "crucial". They cannot be crucial due to secondary, if not tertiary role EU in general, and France in particular, play in the whole hysteria campaign unleashed by Washington. US-Russian top level talks could be crucial, but not the talks between a subject and the object of geopolitics. Maximum level of importance Macron can reach is that of a messenger.  Putin is keenly aware of that. Even Ukraine has more say now in the matter than France. Yes, this is how strange things get:

Ukrainians should ignore warnings that doomsday is almost upon them because of an impending Russian incursion, the country's top diplomat has cautioned, after US officials sounded the alarm over claims Kiev could fall within days if Moscow orders an offensive. In a statement on Sunday, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Kuleba sought to allay fears of that a war is looming, adding that his country is prepared for any scenario. “Don’t believe apocalyptic predictions,” he urged. “Different capitals have different scenarios, but Ukraine is ready for any development of events.”

Ukraine's officials get these kind of statements out due to a well-justified fear that a large scale false-flag provocation by Ukraine's Anglo-American "friends" is not only possible but even likely, because Washington needs it badly and is ready to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian. Some people in Kiev do understand what it means when false-flag happens and they are pushed towards attacking LDNR. Correct, they die. But everybody wants to live. But here is a 404 conundrum, Ukraine is not a sovereign country and she will do as told. That means 404 delenda est for the US to regain full control over its EU vassals (France included) and no amount of visits and "crucial" talks (next in Moscow is Germany's Chancellor Scholz) are merely very late convulsions by Europe. Not to mention the fact that Germany's very own Foreign Minister already committed EU to "sustaining damage from sanctions against Russia" (in Russian). Like the United States, Europe is not governable in normal sense and it WILL commit suicide. 

I know, it is not very flattering to EU but this is the reality. Moreover, I am on record, only some segments of European society really get what is going on, most of population does fear Russia and is firmly Atlantisist. In other words, no matter what Macron or Scholz will say--they are not players and will have attitude adjustment administered to them by a master. That's the fate of the lapdogs. The whole strategic reorientation of Russia is a first testament to the fact of Russia giving up on Europe. In the end, you want to at least communicate with professionals and common sense people when talking modern geopolitics and economy. This is not the case with Europeans anymore. That is why Kremlin is on record:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expects no decisive breakthrough from Monday's talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, but expects that Macron will propose ways to ease tensions in Europe, the Kremlin said.

Putin simply does the protocol and I can only imagine how bored out of his mind Vladimir Putin is when forced, out of international relations decorum and politeness, to meet people who are nobody and are nothing more than globalist puppets.   

Ah, OK. The Mystery Has Been Solved.

To illustrate, if tomorrow Reuters, BBC or CNN and their "sources" (unnamed, of course) tell me that my name is Andrei Martyanov, I was born in Azerbaijan and have grey-blonde hair and they will tell me what school and naval academy I graduated, I would still send the request to confirm by birth certificate, then connect to my class-mates who I will need to confirm that I graduated with them and then I will send a sample of my hair for spectrometry, because 99% of what Western media, such as the ones mentioned above, among many others, produce is an utter BS and propaganda. Forget about them being utterly incompetent, you just cannot view them as news organizations and journalists--they are neither. So are their "experts", especially when dealing with military and intelligence issues. Most of their experts are fantasy made-up figures and those who allegedly are real ones are also full of shit. 

Now I know where idiotic figures about Russia "invading" Ukraine comes from. Here it is:

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Russia has in place about 70% of the combat power it believes it would need for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is sending more battalion tactical groups to the border with its neighbor, two U.S. officials said on Saturday. In the last two weeks, the number of battalion tactical groups in the border region has risen to 83 from 60 as of Friday and 14 more are in transit, the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information. As to the timing of an invasion, the ground is expected to reach peak freeze around Feb. 15, the officials said, allowing for off-road mechanized transit by Russian military units. Such conditions would continue until the end of March. That timeline and the growing number and capability of Russian forces close to Ukraine could suggest the window for diplomacy is shutting. The U.S. officials did not provide evidence to back up their estimates of Russia's forces.

Immediately: "US officials" cannot provide any "evidence to back up their estimates", because those "officials" are either a figment of imagination for a lowlifes employed by Minitrue in order to push a narrative, or some low level dumb-asses who sell BS to Minitrue leeches. I would expect these "sources" to be from CIA or State Department and most likely to have no idea of the subject they are talking about. On the other hand, if those are not fake "sources" but are actual sources from Pentagon--we've got a problem, because, in this case, we are dealing with utter military incompetence. And I mean major issue in not understanding how modern military of Russia fights. Not surprising, though. The best and the brightest were being purged from already seriously flawed US Armed Forces for years now, I am not even talking about UK, whose Armed Forces are, frankly, ... well I will refrain from commenting on that. But the best proof of these "two officials" being morons (if they physically exist at all) can be found here:

A full-scale invasion would cause major casualties, one of the officials said. Ukraine could suffer 5,000 to 25,000 troop casualties, while Russia's troop casualties could be between 3,000 and 10,000, and civilian casualties could range from 25,000 to 50,000, according to U.S. estimates, the official said.

Yes, these "officials" obviously have zero military background and pulled those numbers out of their asses--nothing is too good for imbeciles from Western MSM. The fact that this whole piece of manure, pardon me, "news" is a complete BS is easily proven (due to utter incompetence of those with who this "news" originated) by the fact of, in case Russia deciding to go IN big time, conducting initially totally non-contact warfare, bar some SSO, which would see VSU ceasing to exist as an organized force in the first 24 hours, with all of its C4ISR and Air Defense assets simply wiped out, and VSU being reduced to a collection of random, demoralized and disoriented crowds. In this case Russia will do what Russia does--will coral them into some sort of camps, feed them, provide proper medical services and then will allow LDNR forces to mop up and deal with counter-intel issues, including seeking out, identifying and imprisoning personnel of Nazi battalions. The rest will be released to civilian life, probably with signed agreement to never serve in military capacity. In case Russia needs to defend LDNR only, she can do it remotely and with a little bit of infusion of the North Wind. But I am in record ad nauseam for years--there is zero understanding of modern warfare in the Western world, not least on the top brass level. 

Combined West doesn't know how to fight a real war, real meaning the peer. Especially in the 21st century. The last people who knew how to do that were Germans and even they got defeated. After that it was one-after-another expeditionary operations conducted with impunity against second-rate opponents and that took its toll, because, as I am on record ad nauseam, for decades now--no US servicemen knows what it is to defend their country. As per Western media--they have no integrity, no honor and would stoop as low as supporting terrorism and war crimes. Here is Tucker bringing it on.

In related news, I am sure Russians are missing good ol' times of communicating with American intel and military people who looked like real men and tough sons of bitches. These ideas immediately visit many Russian minds when looking at Ned Price. Hey, who can forget this--you could respect these guys:

They were in the wrong but you could respect them. Vietnamese did.  Just a passing thought. Times change. Always.

Andrei Raevsky Does The "Unpacking"...

Of Russian-Chinese joint statement.  Here is a good sample:

Some actors representing but the minority on the international scale continue to advocate unilateral approaches to addressing international issues and resort to force; they interfere in the internal affairs of other states, infringing their legitimate rights and interests, and incite contradictions, differences, and confrontation, thus hampering the development and progress of mankind, against the opposition from the international community.

Translation into plain English: the USA and a few of its vassal states want to maintain a world hegemony and ignore international law.  This is a threat to the peace and security of our entire planet.  We oppose this.

Read the whole thing, it is worth it. Bernhard at MoA also reviews this statement and, indeed, there is a lot to unpack. Also Larry Johnson gives his perspective on US-Russia military conflict, should this come to it:

Here is the hard truth. America has not fought a real Army and Air Force in the last fifty years. The Vietnam War was the last time we fought a genuine Army and we failed to win that contest. In saying this I am not disparaging the grit and sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, marines and aviators who fought and died in Vietnam. They were betrayed by military and political leaders who lied about the war and used those lies to rally a majority of Americans to support a hopeless military mission.  

And this is the fact which must be made very clear to anyone who still exercise a delusion that the United States can fight and win a major war with Russia in Europe. Considering the "level" of modern US "elites" there are many of them who think so. 

Sadly, only in Russian. Here is one of a very few military experts in Russia I respect, Alexey Leonkov explains in a very simple language why the United States will not fight Russia directly. 

Leonkov's conclusion that we need to expect a major false flag from the UK-US tandem in Ukraine trying to blame it on Russia is correct. What will be this false-flag? As he correctly states, it must be something so horrible, so immense as to beat down spineless EU into utter submission. Rostislav Ischenko doesn't exclude even a detonation of a small nuclear device in Kiev, while we may also expect something on the order of rounding up and execution of a whole village or two with all women and children in Ukraine, granted Associated Press, Reuters and DW "journalists" will be conveniently there, and then blaming it on Russians. As practice has shown even the latest raid against some, yet another, ISIS "leader" by the US special forces didn't go as planned and involved killing of children. But this recent video shows how badly the whole thing went with the US losing one of its helos. 

I also talk a little bit about Russian-Chinese joint statement and discuss Scott Ritter's piece on RT:

 

Obviously, we need to remember that  this joint statement is based on a solid foundation of some major-major contracts ranging from a new gigantic gas contract to $80 billion oil contract among many other contracts. So, it is not just political and "vision" statement, however important.  That's the recap.

Scott Ritter On War...

... with Russia in a piece symptomatically titled: A war with Russia would be unlike anything the US and NATO have ever experienced. In it he not just analyzes but shares his experiences with Cold War correlation of forces. 

Just what would this defense entail? As someone who once trained to fight the Soviet Army, I can attest that a war with Russia would be unlike anything the US military has experienced – ever. The US military is neither organized, trained, nor equipped to fight its Russian counterparts. Nor does it possess doctrine capable of supporting large-scale combined arms conflict. If the US was to be drawn into a conventional ground war with Russia, it would find itself facing defeat on a scale unprecedented in American military history. In short, it would be a rout. Don’t take my word for it. In 2016, then-Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, when speaking about the results of a study – the Russia New Generation Warfare – he had initiated in 2015 to examine lessons learned from the fighting in eastern Ukraine, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that the Russians have superior artillery firepower, better combat vehicles, and have learned sophisticated use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for tactical effect. “Should US forces find themselves in a land war with Russia,” McMaster said, “they would be in for a rude, cold awakening.” In short, they would get their asses kicked.

It is a great piece, especially in a sense that it gives more power to my voice on these matters, because unscrupulous antagonists can always accuse me of being partial in these matters. You know, Russian, former Soviet military officer etc. In my latest video I go over this issue a little bit. But one can hardly accuse Scott Ritter, Douglas Macgregor or Lester Grau, or even Wilkerson of being partial to Russia and her military. Ritter concludes:

This is what a war with Russia would look like. It would not be limited to Ukraine, but extend to battlefields in the Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and elsewhere. It would involve Russian strikes against NATO airfields, depots, and ports throughout the depth of Europe.

The key word is "depth". NATO cannot defend against salvos of well aimed stand off weapons, many of which will be hypersonic. Nor can it fight under the circumstances of a radical disruption of C4ISR. But I am on record about this for years. Good that another American military professional warns about those realities too.

Byron King On Canadian Maple Leaf Revolution.

A superb piece from Byron King on events in Canada. What a superb observation: 

People were out and about in the cold and wind, up and down the highways. They stood on bridges. Waved flags. Held signs. Cheered the drivers. There’s no denying what happened. Along the way, Canadians opened their homes to weary drivers. Food, shelter, a place to clean up. No less than Canadian First Nation tribes opened their doors as well, with shamans blessing the trucks and drivers (see here). There were accounts of First Nation war paint on some of the mighty tractors, harkening back to horse-mounted warriors of old! And what of the limousine liberals who run Canada? The salon socialists? The apoplectic progressives, basking in the comforts of power? Ha! It was revolutionary. Except not a revolution of their making, let alone favoring their ambitious desires, limited understanding and minimal self-awareness. This is truly a class war on display. The underlings versus the bosses. And yet it’s rather polite when you consider the stakes. It’s reminiscent of Gdansk, Poland in 1981. Or the Berlin Wall in 1989. But in this case, it’s just good ol’ Canadian truck drivers in the vanguard. 

Read the whole thing, Byron, eloquent as ever, proves himself yet again as an astute social and history observer. His conclusion is spot on:

And what we just saw in Canada is a widespread, working-class tide that’s rising against the misgovernance of the country under the current regime of elite, incompetent big shots. It’s not just a Canadian thing, either. Similar populist seismic activity is being detected in Europe, Australia and of course in the U.S. It’s just a question of time until the fault lines snap and we have the proverbial Big One.

Precisely!

In related news. I don't see any use for Western mass-media in Russia at all, they lie and they can do that sitting in their respective countries. Russians also think so. DW had it coming anyway. They are proud heirs to Goebbels and their place is in Germany, not in Russia, they can produce excrement from Berlin. 

The Russian office of the German state broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), is to be closed as part of the “first round” of a response to Berlin’s “unfriendly actions” against RT DE, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The German outlet will also be barred from broadcasting in Russia via a satellite or through other means, the statement added. All staff members at DW’s Russian office are to be stripped of their press credentials, according to the foreign ministry. Moscow has also launched a procedure which will recognize DW as a “foreign media outlet acting as a foreign agent” under Russian law.

Yep, that's how you do it. I think such sewers as CNN or NBC should also get ready. They can lie without enjoying comforts and grandeur of Moscow which (as much as I don't care about UN's opinions), after all:

The Russian capital beat out major European and North American rivals to claim the top spot. The UN has published its global cities ranking for 2022, and has awarded Moscow the top spot among large cities for quality of life and infrastructure, commending the metropolis for its transportation and its citizens’ well-being.

Yes, we all know that Russia exists only within Moscow, the rest of Russia is Mordor sinking in poverty, crime and desperation. That's what Western media tell their "customers". Just don't let them get to Kazan

Or Sochi, or Vladivostok, or St. Petersburg, or Yekaterinburg, or... well, just don't go to those places, they are not real Russia according to Western media.

Bernhard of MoA Did A Good Write Up.

On "strategy" of brainiacs in D.C. 

The U.S. strategy to 'fix' Russia in Europe by imposing 'crushing sanctions' on it to then attack China is failing. That is because it was completely misconceived.

Strategy is a buzz word among politicos and journos because it is "loaded" and it gives an impression of something really mysterious and cool. I will be talking about it in my next video. Strategy as a "plan" of achieving political aims in anything, however, in the field of practical geopolitics of the second half of the 20th and the 21st centuries is a bit more than a "plan". As in military campaigns, one cannot become a "strategist" without having tactical and operational background and that is why all advanced military education in the world is structured around taking an officer from the tactical, to operational to strategic level of thinking, thus providing a pivot around which all strategic decisions, with inputs form tactical and operational levels, will revolve. This is not how modern political "science" and what passes for "strategic decision making" in the West works. 

Modern geopolitics as primarily the realm of raw power of the states projected against the geographic background is unknown to Western governing class. It cannot be known due to a radical lack of comprehension of instruments which dictate geopolitical reality--physical economy and military. These ARE very complex fields and at some point of time West's "intellectual elite", which is grown and brought up primarily within the confines of "humanities" departments of the US Ivy League and UK's old educational institutions, simply ran out of expertise which already was lacking even by the end of 19th century. In the 21st century--explaining to Vicky Nuland or Jake Sullivan what is combat networks' topology (granted basic course in the Graph Theory is taught) and how it is no less important than raw firepower--this is a fool's errand and an exercise in futility. 

But this is just one small segment out of very many of modern day reality which is more important to practical geopolitics and global power balance than what comes down to personal opinions of incompetent people with zero backgrounds in real strategy development and governance. And it is this and many other factors, not some abstract political concepts, which drive modern real strategies. US "elites" don't do strategies, they do strategy and doctrine-mongering which exist in a virtual world of illiterate personal passions, vendettas and ambitions and results of such "strategies" are telling--the country, the US is being run into the ground by people who literally do not know how the world works. Read Bernhard's excellent piece. It explains how those "strategies" fail. The US needs better "strategists", not political hacks operating on a white board "strategies" which fail time after time because they are detached from reality. But then again, that brings us to a larger question of US "political elites" being adequate to the task. The answer is obvious--they are not.  

Johnny Harris Is Moron.

He is also a Mormon. You would expect it from the guy who earns his living pretending to know "how to travel" and who has two "major" degrees in nothing such as BS in "international relations" and MA in "conflict resolution" from this and that. In other words, Johnny is a brainwashed parrot with enough pseudo-academic credentials and ability to string together several big words to avoid immediately applying for barista position in any of the numerous espresso kiosks and enough to spew BS on subjects he have no clue about. Here is Johnny(c)

Johnny, who wouldn't know the difference between LGBT and BTG, let alone having any clue "what Putin really wants", because people who taught him also do not and cannot possibly know, still tries to do geopolitical "analysis" because, you know, as Yogurt used to say: merchandising, merchandising. 

In this video by this polymath I posted above, Johnny gets it wrong not just badly, he obviously has no clue on how national security works (really, and I mean like really--Johnny wasn't taught that) but what it takes to balance things out between the combined West and Russia. Well, at least Johnny gives Putin the credit where the credit is due, because, as Johnny admits, Putin is "smart and well-read". Forget about Putin's background of an extremely well educated lawyer and foreign intelligence professional from arguably the best spy school in the world. What Johnny doesn't know, it is the fact that there are around 146 million Russians and most of them have a better feel for history and issues of national security than most people in the top positions in Washington D.C. including at the very top of CIA, Pentagon and State Department. So, it is not that Putin "runs" Russia, Putin merely serves overwhelming Russians' public opinion. And it is aware about war and the West orders of magnitude better than Harris. Even famous Russophobe and falsifier of Russian history, late Richard Pipes has to admit that, granted Russia's historic sacrifice in blood and treasure:

“Such figures are beyond the comprehension of most Americans. But clearly ... Such a country (Russia) tends also to assess the rewards of defense in much more realistic terms."

But then again, North American institutions allegedly providing an illusion of "education" in governance, do not really teach actual governance because... oh, boy--long story. But, as I already mentioned it before, Johnny shouldn't rely on my obviously partial opinion, let's us call on J.D.Vance:

Billions spent on the Kennedy school, grand strategies seminars, and the Georgetown school of foreign service has bought us an elite that’s about to blunder us into a Ukraine war. Our country is broken, especially in how it trains its leaders.

And J.D.Vance is a notable figure in the US politics, not that it really matters but still, he nails the issue and he got his Juris Doctor from Yale, I don't know if our Johnny gets the hint. Sadly, the profession of the modern Western "journalist" (Johnny is a "journalist", by his own admission--of course, all vacancies in State Department are occupied by ignoramuses from much more prestigious schools and with connections) is a euphemism for an ignorant BSer. Most of them anyway, and Harris is not an exception because the amount of propaganda and BS he spews in his video about what Putin "really wants" is staggering. And, as you might expect, no real (like in real real) desires of Putin are exposed. Difficult to do so when your only skill is in speaking and in "conflict resolution". Can Johnny "resolve" a conflict between two BCT (you know, Brigade Combat Teams) in Estonia and n-number of BTGs supported by two regiments of SU-34s. Just asking, because, obviously, Johnny doesn't know how states react to threats. They didn't teach him. 

But apart from sheer stupidity, this Harris guy is an embodiment of a "quality" of modern Western academe and governing class because most of the US "humanities" field was reduced to indoctrination and an old issue of removing causalities and substituting them with utterly contrived narratives, which started long before Harris was born and which finally succeeded by producing what can only be described as a catastrophe in both foreign and domestic policies in the US due to utter incompetence of what passes here for "elites". Harris, same as this half "brain"...

Who also speaks about subject he has no clue about, belong to the realm of entertainment, where they should discuss Stock Market, new iPhones, lingerie of new Hollywood starlets, maybe some sports cars or even IKEA furniture, but not the issues which in 21st century require an extremely serious technical, military, diplomatic and economic (industrial) expertise, not some BS "degrees" in who knows what, some fake academic subjects which are only good for... spewing the ignorant BS. Johnny, you are still young, while it is not too late--get a good valid education or maybe try arts, you never know--you may have a talent for writing and dramaturgy, and, boy, do we really need good ones at this stage. Otherwise, you don't want to be an Exhibit A of a state of being a moron.