I often get justly criticized for using designations like “the West” or “Anglos” because they are misnomers. Frankly, I have to plead guilty to this offense because yes, I do use them, and yes, they are misnomers. Even saying “the Ukrainians” or “the Russians” is an oversimplification. My only defense is to say that I have to assume that the readers of this blog are intelligent and educated enough to
The exact results of the referendum in the Donbass are still unknown, but the following three facts are undeniable:1) Participation was extremely high.2) The yes vote won by a landslide.3) The neo-Nazi junta tried hard, but failed to disrupt the vote.We also know that the validity of this referendum will be rejected by a crushing majority of UN members. Ditto for the regime in power who has already denounced it
Dear friends,Since some of you were worried, I just wanted to let you know that all is well except for my usual problem of being one person doing too many things. The situation in the Ukraine is too fluid to say much right now anyway. I expect to write up an evaluation of the results of the referendum by tomorrow morning.For the rest of today I will try to catch
We all saw the pictures coming out of Mariupol today. I won’t re-post them here. Simple people trying to stop a gang of heavily armed thugs who fancy themselves as some kind of “special forces” but whose “specialty” seems to be in shooting unarmed – or very poorly armed – civilians.It would be wrong to compare these Ukie thugs to the SS, as some have done. For all their wrongs,
In this Victory Day I want to congratulate you all for doing your part of the struggle against Empire today. Even those of you who might think that they are doing nothing are doing something very important just by trying to find the truth and by bypassing the Empire’s propaganda machine.National-Socialism was an abomination. Not only was it a racist, genocidal, imperialistic and hateful – it was infinitely arrogant and,
If anything the past 24 hours have proved, once again, that the US and NATO are opposed to any form of negotiations, confidence-building measures or any other type of negotiations with the Donbass and with Russia. Even though Putin tried really hard to sound accommodating and available for a negotiated solution, the US/NATO policy is clearly to provoke and confront Russia and its allies in every imaginable way. The same
Earlier today, in what appears to be a risky game of “double or quits”, the leaders of the Donbass, have decided to go ahead with the referendum scheduled for May 11th. For the second time in 24 hours I am rather surprised as I had expected them to use the opportunity given by Putin’s request to postpone the referendum. Apparently they feel that they have invested too much in terms
I have to admit that today’s move by Putin caught me completely off-guard. My first impression was that by asking the folks in the Donbass to postpone the referendum, Putin was basically tossing aside a valuable bargaining chip. Even more disturbing was his apparent backing for the upcoming May 25th presidential election.Let me also say, however, that the notion of Putin “caving in” never even crossed my mind if only
I just got back home for 30 min and I found out that Putin is requested that the referendum scheduled for the 11th be postponed. There seem to be some hints that Merkel and Putin have hammered out some common position including a round-table with all the parties present. Finally, the Russians are claiming that they have withdrawn the forces along the Ukrainian border.Frankly, I am totally confused by that
Today, I want to ask you a simply question.Let us assume that Russia does not intervene and that, with time and effort, the nationalists regain control of most of the eastern and southern Ukraine. Let is further assume that the referendum wanted by the Russian-speakers is either not held or ignored, while the Presidential election goes ahead and that Poroshenko or Tymoshenko get’s “kind of elected” in a farcical election
Again, a big THANK YOU to sparling5 and friends for making this available to us!The Saker——-
Please find below the translation to the video I have posted before and which I am re-posting here below. A huge THANK YOU to “sparling5” for making this translation in such a short time. If I get a subtitled video I will also post it here. This information is important enough to deserve several re-posts.The Saker Translated transcript: There are lots of photos and videos of what was going on
Dear friends,Just a short note about the issue of (the very good) Взгляд.ру (URL: http://www.vz.ru) getting flagged as “malware attack site” or something similar, it could be due to a) something wrong with the site b) something wrong with an advertisement on the site c) political censorship. The point is this: this is a great opportunity for you all to drop Windows and/or Mac and switch to Linux (properly called
From the reports coming out of the eastern Ukraine it appears that a real, coordinated, attack has been launched on Slaviansk. The attackers use the following tactic: a group of men in plainclothes (Right Sector? Foreign mercenaries? SBU?) attack a checkpoint pinning down the defenders. The checkpoint is then surrounded on both sides by armored personnel carriers and heavily armed infantry. Mi-24 helicopters approach from the air and a heavy
Dear friends, I want to share with you a very well-made video made in Moscow which a commentator has shared with me. This video, entitled Recent Ukrainian History, the Southeast, begins with a quote attributed to Bismark: Even a victorious war is a calamity which has to be prevented by the wisdom of the people. The rest is self-explanatory and, I think, rather powerful.Good night!The Saker
The Ukrainian offensive against the population of the eastern Ukraine is large, but does not seem to yield any tangible results so far. Here is a map of the affected cities: The worst situation appears to be in Kramatorsk were attacking force has fully surrounded the city and a number of elements have penetrated inside using secondary roads. It is hard to get a clear image of what is going
Dear friends, Two small points: a) I am sick with a nasty stomach flu and I am spending most of my time in bed. I hope to get better by tomorrow. Until then, this affects my ability to reply to emails, moderate comments or write. I apologize for that.b) I have done a poor job enforcing the rule that comments must be respectful. This has to change. So from now
Some of you have understood my reference to Chechnia in the latest SITREP has an indication of the kind of tactics the Russian military would use if/when the Kremlin decides to intervene in the Ukraine.That is not at all what I meant and I apologize for misleading you.What I meant was to say that in extreme circumstances Putin was willing to use extreme measures. But let me reassure you all
