So we are a week in and I think it is time to take short pause and see what happened over the last 7 days.
- The Russian attack began, as predicted, mostly by strikes with standoff weapons. 24 hours later, the Ukie air force and navy ceased to exist. In this initial phase, few Ukrainian units were directly engaged.
- The bulk of the Nazi forces is in Donbass and it took the LDNR forces several days to break through the Nazi defenses, but eventually they did it in two directions. At the same time, while the heavy combats between the Nazi forces in the Donbass and the LDNR forces were taking place, the Russians launched a two pronged offensive from the north and south to envelop the Nazi force concentrations. Interestingly, in spite of the fact that the two Russian forces have not reached each other and in spite of the existing no man’s land between them, the Ukronazis are not making any serious efforts to break through since they must realize that the entire area between the two Russian forces is a big “free fire zone” for Russian artillery, CAS aircraft and attack helicopters. For all practical purposes the entire Nazi concentration of course in the Donbass is now locked into an operational cauldron.
- The same is true for the Nazi forces in Mariupol. For them, it’s curtain down, show over.
- There is a large Nazi force left in only one location: Odessa. It appears that the Russians want to encircle it and then take a final decision on how to deal with this city.
- Kiev is a total mess, the Russians did not even try to enter the city yet, but the crazy rumors combined with terrified Ukronazis will make this one a particularly difficult situation to resolve. I personally hope that the Russians stay as they are, block the city on all sides, open a humanitarian corridor and wait until the time is right.
- On the informational war, the West gave Russia a thorough thrashing: RT and Sputnik are banned everywhere, absolutely insane rumors are circulating (see example below), I know for fact that some US colleges have banned their computers from accessing any .ru or .su websites – yes entire domain names are being shut down – Russian diplomats get assaulted (in one of the 3Bs statelets if I remember correctly).
- The Western PSYOP onslaught is so powerful that even some people in Russia are fearful and sincerely worry “what will happen to us next?!”.
- Western IT companies are disconnecting, throttling, while “private” Western crackers are unleashing DDoS attack on pretty much all the main Russian websites, not only informational ones, but also those who are used to run the civilian infrastructure of Russia. I am not impressed by how much (or little) Russian PR people did to prepare for this which was easy to see coming. Here, again, the West so far is winning, by a huge margin.
- The Western society is displaying its hatred of all things Russian in every way it can: hundreds and maybe thousands of students are summarily expelled from Western colleges (which used to be bastions of freedom). In a Swiss city the child of a friend of mine was beat up in school for being an “evil Russian”. Artists are expelled, others pressured to condemn their own country and president, Western presstitutes and politicians unceasingly vomit at Russia, Russians and everything Russian!
Which tells me how truly impotent and frustrated they are :-)
That being said, here is the good news: Today, one of our favorite trolls managed to bypass moderation and post this (see comment).
What is important here is to realize that whether this guy does it for money in a NATO troll farm or with utter sincerity, he is about to get a really big, probably huge, mental shock.
Right now, the entire Western narrative hangs on this kind of nonsense: Russia is about to be totally defeated, the Ukie army and people have won on all fronts, and Ze, backed by NATO, the EU, the US and the entire planet is about to deliver his conditions for a Russian capitulation.
The maps?
All fakes.
The local reports?
All fakes too.
So far, that has worked pretty well. But here are the stone cold facts about the Ukie military:
- Air Force: gone
- Navy: gone
- Long range, standoff capabilities: gone
- Air defenses: gone
- Regular ground forces: no less than 65% (some say up to 80%) of the Ukie military is surrounded and condemned
- Assorted Nazi units: I don’t have the figures, but A LOT of them are now either in the Donbass cauldron or in Mariupol. They will mostly not be taken prisoner, except for the leaders who will be tried and sentenced for their innumerable crimes.
So, in terms of the Russian goals, here is how I would score this:
- Ukrainian disarmament: mostly already done, the Ukraine has nothing to threaten Russia with
- Ukrainian denazification: only at the early start, but conditions are excellent and I am confident that most of the hardcore Nazis will soon be dead
One more thing I forgot to mention about the “no man’s land” west of the Donbass operational cauldron. It is shown in the map below where the black and yellow lines touch (and add about 5-10km on each side)
The Donbass operational cauldron
It’s not only that only small groups, maybe civilian cars at high speed can get out, it also means that the entire Nazi force in the Donbass is not getting resupplied. Not by air, not by sea and not by road.
Right now, amazingly, the Ukronazis are STILL shelling the LDNR, today 5 civilians were murdered by Ukie selling near Donetsk. So they are not even trying to break out, I suppose they know the score and with their supplies running out (many destroyed by heavy bombs) their lifespan is now counted in days.
Please keep in mind that while this force is surrounded, it did have SEVEN YEARS to dig in deep and place tons of concrete over their bunkers. But like the Ligne Maginot, while the LDNR were pinning down the Ukies, the Russians enveloped them from behind.
So one of two things will now happen.
- Either the Russians will convince the Ukie commanders to surrender and evacuate safely or
- Russia will start using her really heavy guns (MLRS, TOS-1, heavy artillery like the 240mm self-propelled gun-mortar 2S4 Tyulpan or the 203mm self-propelled howitzer 2S7M Malka) and even fuel-air explosives like this one: (I know, it’s from CNN, but in this case, it is helpful)
In other words, the real magnitude of the Ukrainian defeat will become impossible to conceal in just a few days. Then the narrative will shift from the “invincible Ukie Volkssturm” to “Russian atrocities”.
That narrative will also probably stick since the Western free press makes the original Nazi press look outright diverse and objective. But idiots such as the troll above will be very, very butthurt. I expect their “oy veh!!!!” to reach high heavens and heroic Ukies will be replaced by no less heroic celebrities sobbing over Ukie babies.
On a strategic level, the Empire of Lies did successfully force Russia to openly intervene. That is a fact and that is a defeat which the Russians will have to ponder over for many years. I will repeat, here are two, alas very real, Western victories:
- Forcing Russia to openly intervene
- Very effectively controlling the narrative
But don’t get too upset too soon. For one thing, the authorities in Russia have FINALLY declared both Dozhd and Meduza as foreign agents and it seems these two Zioliberal sewers are finally being shut down. Seeing how Medvedev is trying to repaint himself as a patriot, I think that the Atlantic Integrationists are now realizing that they were stupid to listen to the Western propaganda. I have not followed the Russian 6th column at all, so I don’t know if they are still hoping that “Putin” (for them it is all about him, personally) will “lose” or whether they will choose to wrap themselves into the “too little, too late, I could have done better” flag. Frankly, I don’t really care.
Next, they will start seeing Russian 5th columnists and assorted “liberal” their signatures away from their “open letters” or, better, emigrating to the EU or Israel. I sincerely wish them a happy flight and I hope that upon leaving Putin’s Mordor and arriving in the Free West they will all burn their Russian passports (on camera if they want).
So, what’s my “final intermediate conclusion” after week 1?
The West gave Russia a bloody nose by forcing her intervention, thereby crushing any chance for the EU to get decolonized in the next decade or more.
The West gave Russia an even bloodier nose by very effectively controlling the narrative.
But what’s next?
Russia will/has disarm(ed) and will soon denazify the Ukraine, that is a given.
But what after that? Please remember that this is NOT about the Ukraine, this is about the entire future security architecture of Europe.
I will just say this: while, no, Russia won’t invade the EU or even Poland, the Russian war to push back NATO has only begun, it will last MANY MONTHS so be prepared for this. MONTHS.
Please ready yourself for a long and difficult struggle.
Andrei
‘I will just say this: while, no, Russia won’t invade the EU or even Poland, the Russian war to push back NATO has only begun, it will last MANY MONTHS so be prepared for this. MONTHS.’
Neighbor bragging about being a canadian peace keeper in the sixties which somehow qualifies him to know everything about the Ukraine. I asked him if what he knew about Sevastopol. Never heard of it.
How can we inform so many, this guy is probably smart compared to most. Our leaders should be in jail not power.
“Our leaders should be in jail not power.”
You’re right. But the problem is, they will never see jail.
Worse, these “rulers” are not ruling on their own. They are being wagged by those who wield REAL power behind the scenes. I’m talking about the Money Elite.
http://biblicisminstitute.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/the-truth-about-the-conflict-with-russia/
Thank you.
I have been writing about this angle for over a decade and in consequence am under constant attack, from wikipedia deletion or rewrites, to loss of correspondents, plagiarism or lack of attribution from once friendly editors. It is a sad commentary on the Western news media, alternative and mainstream, that they are more interested in their careers, awards, financial support [very often from the very people whose lies they are supposed to be deconstructing] and government/intelligence approval, than in supporting those who do put themselves out on a limb. Europe has imprisoned peaceful journalists and activists for months for merely questioning the Ashkenazy Jewish leaders of the Western establishment, or even for mentioning them at all. And this same Europe and America believe themselves the indispensable civilization. I greatly admire the Christian culture of the West. But the operative word is Christian. Without Christ and what he engendered in the West, there is only Odin, Thor, Zeus, Pan, the Druids, Baal, Isis, filtered through the grey glasses of corrupt materialism.
With all due respect I think you need to add Christ to the list of gods filtered through the grey glasses of corrupt materialism. It doesn’t matter if you worship a guy on a cross, if you don’t follow his teachings, you follow a false god. And if you follow the esoteric truths of what Odin, Thor, Zeus, Pan, the druids, were about etc, you follow the teachings of christ. Materialists will never understand that no religion has a monopoly on truth, truth is hidden in all of them and usually blind to the majority of its adherents, precisely because they are too literal and materialistic.
your words are profound. Spirituality must be practiced with the whole extension of the heart, otherwise it will be just religiosity and fanaticism. Connection with God and love of neighbor must be practiced. And in that sense Asia is better than the West Woke.
My Simple answer: no
Hello S. Pinoccio I’v never seen such revalation as your comment
retribution for the parasites is coming.
retribution is due, and it will come.
these crimes will not go unpunished.
we must take our sovereignty, and turn out all those that would have anything to do with perpetuating the secret re-colonization of our country, and, address the genocide.
don’t lose hope
You mean “God´s elected” money printers, les faux monnayeurs?
Had bits and pieces of the knowledge but your link is a deep dive. Kinda busy today but will bring my scuba gear tonight. Thanks Harry!
re: “How can we inform so many…”
Was listening the other night to a portion of Carl Zha’s 16-hour long ‘twitter space’ podcast re: “China Russia Ukraine”. His is a young-ish (± 30) demographic of listeners, pulled largely from Asia, though he runs his site (Silk & Steel Podcast) in English.
During this particular live-stream, one of the topics the call-in contributors repeatedly raised was: How to deal with our Western friends, fellow students, co-workers, etc. who are so easily captured by propaganda lock-step thinking, it’s impossible to even have a human conversation with them in times like these; they simply cannot or will not entertain other points of view.
A couple of the Chinese callers spoke about the so-called “Great Firewall” of China, mentioning how trivial it is to poke holes in it to surf the interwebs same as everybody else.
Someone said: you know, I used to hate that ‘firewall,’ thought it was stupid; but, now I’m glad for it! It keeps our information space clean, while those of us who really want to go and play outside can easily do so.
There was agreement that, while “the West” likes to point fingers at China, it has its own “Great Firewall” which is WAY more effective, ’cause theirs is internal .. it’s a mental firewall. They don’t even know it’s there! And, because they don’t know it’s there, they’re not motivated to poke holes in it. They have no idea there’s a reality that exists outside of that bubble.
So, there y’go. None so blind and those who will not see.
Related — GlobalTimes today has a story on their front page detailing a study of a decade worth of NSA and other American hacking.
Exclusive: China a main target of US NSA cyberattacks, with key infrastructure under threat
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1253697.shtml
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”
— Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
the WWI history is a lie upon a lie, Goring was talking about people being easily manipulated in regard to the “allies”. They were the prime liers during the WWII and during the aftermath.
This sitrep does not touch on the economic war, which to my mind is the main front of this war.
In this regard, Russia and China (lets not be naive) have escalation dominance. The West may be good at producing narratives, but Russia and China produce real stuff: commodities and manufacturing goods. In both cases Russia and China can twiddle the dial up or down. This is literally the oxygen the West relies on. This is where the war is won, and I mean the total war not just the skirmish in Ukraine.
I am not an economist
Try Michael Hudson for that
OK, but cdvision is correct, and his point is very important. Maybe I’m thinking of MoA, but I thought that you had made this point in the past, too. The ‘Western’ sanctions are already being seen as problematic by upper-echelon finance turds, who are not where they are for lack of information and expertise.
In addition the idea of ruble devaluation is only applicable on international trade and currency markets. An internal market is immune if the government monitors and responds to relations between producers, traders, and consumers. Wartime price controls and strategic investment have been standard practices for at least the last two world wars. No Gucci, no problem imo.
Martin Armstrong is also a good choice. Try this one and his blog in general: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/russia/the-real-backdrop-nobody-will-discuss/
Tom Luongo has done an interesting take on what is going on in the economic sphere:
https://tomluongo.me/2022/03/02/opening-salvos-tossed-putin-next-moves-ukraine/
He talks about Davos vs The Fed and how Russia has opened the gold market to its civilians to off-set against the currency volatility. Some very interesting points raised about how Russia is handling the economic and financial war.
The following excerpt from Tom Luongo’s above-cited article is very relevant to people on this blog
“If Putin and Russia have achieved, or are about to achieve, all of their military goals in Ukraine, what do they do to secure those gains?
They have to neutralize the financial war waged against them and create an environment where Europe spends money it doesn’t have, with failing political capital domestically, and bankrupts them completely.
And the first move along those lines was just announced by the Russian Finance Ministry today (VPN and Deepl translator needed).
What does this mean? It means simply that Russia has now, in effect, begun the remonetization of gold for domestic purposes. By removing the VAT on gold purchases Russian citizens can now offset their currency risk with gold and stabilize the domestic monetary situation.
The first step in offsetting financial warfare from the West is allowing the domestic population to be immune to collapses in their currency from foreign actors pulling capital out of the country. Companies doing international business now have an alternative to hold time deposits which are far less volatile than the ruble without penalty. Gold becomes the coin of Russia’s international business.
It’s the beginning of the process of draining physical gold from the global market and control over its price by the ponzi schemes that are the COMEX and the LBMA.
This is a first step in rebuilding confidence in the Russian banking system rather than what we’re seeing in the West which is the ritualistic assault on privacy, wealth generation and the value of our labor, which is degrading rapidly thanks to inflation, which will rage from here as all energy and commodity markets are scared to death of Davos’ financial war on Russia.”
This sitrep does not touch on the economic war, which to my mind is the main front of this war.
With due respect cdvision — and I’ve always liked your considered comments here — the ‘economic war’ while of utmost importance in Russia’s ability to prosecute war or sustain itself, is secondary. Sure, it will impact the standard of living, cause inconvenience, perhaps even affect the availability of goods needed for normal daily life but it is nothing compared to ‘kinetic’ war. Countries will go into debt or even bankrupt themselves in order to prosecute war to achieve their political aims. This doesn’t apply to Russia at the moment of course and the prospect that it will is extremely slim, if not zero. The West are sitting pretty with their sanctions presently but Russia has not announced her counter sanctions yet.
‘Economic war’, unlike the shooting kind, doesn’t result in people or structures getting blown to pieces in an instant; the loss of loved ones or loved possessions; the world turned upside down. It doesn’t result in immediate and severe deprivations that can literally make otherwise reasonable people behave like animals fighting — discarding all semblance of honour, decency or indeed humanity — over ‘scarce resources’ such as food, milk powder or potable water because ‘demand’ exceeds ‘supply.’
…the total war not just the skirmish in Ukraine….
Do you think the people of Donbass or the hostages in Mariupol, Kharkov, Kherson, think it’s just a ‘skirmish’?
Cheers
To be clear, the West is waging economic war to bring about regime change in Russia (Its been stated as such, despite attempts to backtrack) and to balkanise Russia and to carpet-bag its resources. Its the West’s/Neocon’s wet dreams.
I’m not diminishing at all the suffering of the people’s of Ukraine, in particular the Donbass. Otherwise I wouldn’t be commenting. But in the context of other recent Wars (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen – to name but a few), US/Western wars BTW, it’s the only case I can recall where the attacker (in this case Russia) has set out deliberately NOT to destroy civilian infrastructure, and with an objective much less than total war. So that’s why I call it a skirmish.
PS glad you enjoyed my comments.
And to be clear, my contention is that economic war is not the main front in this war. The main front is the politico-military struggle between Russia and the West. That struggle has now manifested in the use of arms by Russia in defence of LDNR and the special operation in the Ukraine. Are not ‘demilitarisation’ and ‘de-Nazification’ political terms?
Russia is presently ‘fighting’ for its existence and its hopes for the future — as a polity, a culture, as a civilisation; a far greater proposition than just defending the economic well-being of its people.
Yes, no doubt the West has been and is using economic means to bring Russia (and many parts of the world, for that matter) to heel; I agree with your view that economic pressure is being brought to bear on Russia and there is a fight — a quite ferocious one — unfolding in that sphere. But, ‘Why do countries fight wars is a question that has yet to be answered satisfactorily. By war I mean use of military force or violence. Assigning primacy to economic factors in any war — and thus economic war as being the main front in this one — is incorrect because as I said, important though wealth may be, there are other, perhaps higher, considerations that should be taken into account. Russia had demonstrated that it is more than willing to accept economic damage, — and it is still unclear who will prevail, or rather, who will sustain lesser damage in the economic war, the West or it — in pursuit of higher ideals.
“‘Economic war’… doesn’t result in immediate and severe deprivations that can literally make otherwise reasonable people behave like animals fighting — discarding all semblance of honour, decency or indeed humanity — over ‘scarce resources’ such as food, milk powder or potable water because ‘demand’ exceeds ‘supply.’”
Except that is exactly what it does do. With US Empire dynamics drastically hollowed out, its delivery of carrots and sticks to the masses changes entirely. How do system dependent westerners cope with increasingly empty supermarket shelves, increasing prices, inability to pay exorbitant rents and charges, and then the surrender of core assets like housing when foreclosed upon and these asset groups are vacuumed up on a landscape scale by private equity corporations with no care nor obligation toward the tenants?
If Western suckling pseudo-adults cannot quickly work out the completely alien function of working together at neighbourhood levels they will very soon be tearing each other apart. Their master’s will employ media programs to divide them and create hate targets within their mass. Even if the plebs, stripped of their bourgeois pretensions, can begin to work together, their dissent or disobedience will face the hard pressure of militarised police forces.
This is the greatest threat that nearly all Westerners face from the current conflict. Their cheerleading keeps them completely blind to the reality and the imminence of the consequences coming their way.
The keyword in the passage you quoted is ‘immediate.’ But yes, Greg, what you say will most probably happen in the West; and it is entirely of the West’s own making, you will agree. An own goal.
Russia has already experienced a purely economic ‘war’, a war that lasted almost a decade, during the Yeltsin years. In that period, Russia’s GDP collapsed from $520 billion to $200 billion, a decline more dramatic than what the US experienced during the Great Depression. In the same period Russia suffered a reversal of demographic growth — a death rate higher than the birth rate.
Here’s the late Prof Stephen Cohen in War with Russia? ISBN 978-1-5107-4581-0:
‘Viewed in human terms, when Putin came to power in 2000, some 75 percent of Russians were living in poverty. Most had lost even modest legacies of the Soviet era—their life savings; medical and other social benefits; real wages; pensions; occupations; and for men life expectancy, which had fallen well below the age of 60. In only a few years, the “kleptocrat” Putin had mobilized enough wealth to undo and reverse those human catastrophes and put billions of dollars in rainy-day funds that buffered the nation in different hard times ahead. We judge this historic achievement as we might, but it is why many Russians still call Putin “Vladimir the Savior.” ‘
Vladimir Putin emerged out of that economic mess as president. He is the same man who is now facing down the West two decades later. It is unlikely that he did not take into consideration the economic fall-out, on both Russia and the West, when he made his decision — historic, to my mind — to approve the special operation, or where the main front of the war would be — yes, the politico-military front.
A country can prosecute a kinetic war as long as supplies and morale lasts, however cd is correct, the West is not opposing that aspect vigorously, they are prosecuting an economic war. Seems to me this was their desired outcome, to bleed Russia. The end result of the US Vietnam war was having to go off the gold standard, someone many saw as the financial beginning of the end.
As Napoleon said an army marches on its stomach. Russia apart from the economic sanctions will also be dealing with the considerable cost of prosecuting a war, and then the cost of occupation, they may not have long term goals of occupation but it will be necessary in the short term. All that conquered area still needs food and medical supplies. And there is little point in taking territory if you cannot control it later either directly or indirectly.
If Russia gives up its initial gains too quickly what’s to stop the remains of the country being invited into NATO and weapons setup on the borders, if so what will be achieved? Economics is an intricate aspect of any war. Obviously we don’t know the answers here, perhaps it is fully factored in, time will tell, but what is the desired outcome here? Killing Nazis? Change of Government? Neither can be assured without considerable expense.
As for feeding the conquered or liberated territories which ever way you put it, don’t forget Russia is a food superpower,she is almost self sufficient in agriculture and with her vast lands she can afford to produce enough food to feed her people both home and abroad.
Lastly Russia can produce almost anything she needs so why there might be some early pain and inconvenience from these Western sanctions,but in the long run she will overcome them and become even stronger like she did in 2014 after sanctions were place for reuniting with Crimea.
Here is an good economic overview from Sergey Glazyev by Cynthia Chung.
https://cynthiachung.substack.com/p/sanctions-and-sovereignty?s=r
The economic war will end in destruction for the West.
They have nothing but contempt for what I call “the people who make refrigerators”. Why make refrigerators when you can make enormous profits from financial products structured atop that production?
All the trillions of “wealth” created in the West is built on production that is increasingly in zone B. And now Zone A is beginning to separate themselves from this real economy. Anybody with any sense knows what must happens when you pull the table out from under a house of card.
The beauty of it is that in their arrogance, they are doing it to themselves
Tom Luongo has elaborated this issue beautifully
https://tomluongo.me/2022/03/02/opening-salvos-tossed-putin-next-moves-ukraine/
Thank you for this succinct narrative. What is your opinion on Ukies still being able to shell Donbass and kill civilian? Are their artillery positions so fortified, or so well masked? Or are they highly mobile, exploiting local geography? I am not saying it altogether amounts to much in military terms, but unfortunately civilians die. Do you think that Russia could have done more here, could have used more heavy artillery or drones, loitering munitions, etc? I recall that Serbs evaded NATO bombing quite succesfully in 1999. Yet I believed that development of military technology has gone in favor of attacker since then (as witnessed in Nagorno Karabakh).
Range.
That is the problem.
The Ukies had all their forces ready for an attack (on the 25th according to one Russian expert).
And they were forward deployed.
So to silence them, they need to be pushed beyond their max range.
That was also a broken Ukie promise by the way.
Now the Russian need to either destroy then in heavy fortifications
or push them back
I have contacts in Donetsk: yes, they still hear the shelling, some people have been murdered, but all in all, the situation in Donetsk is very quickly improving as for the locals, they know that the end is FINALLY in sight – its now a matter of days only.
The israeloamerican ukronazis also fire from civilian positions making retaliatory return fire a non starter. The israeloamerican nazis are taking advantage of the knowledge Russia doesn’t want to murder wantonly like the usa and the rest of israel’s colonials do.
Two huge points to add:
1) Putin’s popularity has increased due to the war:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/disarming-ukraine-day-7.html#more
and 2) China will not join sanctions against Russia
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-wont-join-west-sanctioning-russia-top-banking-regulator-warns
i.e. no Russian “regime change” and no effective isolation of Russia.
The narrative control will have a hard time explaining 50-60,000 Ukrainian troops surrendering in the next few days, or maybe not. It’s easy when you have no shame…
Assuming that there is a mass surrender, Western media will either minimize the actual numbers or provide a glorious justification. Somehow, a military loss will be transformed into a propaganda victory.
There will be about 5 seconds of cognitive dissonance which will immediately be papered over with a series of new lies. The deeply indoctrinated western masses will swallow it whole.
Maybe Russia will condition its withdrawal with NATO retreat to 1997 lines.
Maybe Zelensky will condition his agreement to any cessation of hostilities upon the completion of the destruction of the AZOV Nazis currently trapped in the cauldrons. They are as much a threat to him as to anyone else.
Rule # 1 Don’t back Russians into a corner.
Rule # 2 See rule # 1
Rule # 3 Read rule # 1 again.
Thanks for the laugh.
I would have thought that rule # 1 is dont poke the bear. Rule # 2 is dont bluff china
Living here in Belfast, Ireland, I can confirm the rabid nature of Western propaganda Irish and British anyways. Following your analysis gives me hope it could be over soon, once the cauldron is closed and the Ukrainians realise it is death or surrender. Nobody wants war. The sad thing is this was all caused by NATO / EU.
The outcome of all of this has to be a dissolution of NATO and EU.
Thank you Saker
For God and Russia.
The battlespace. Ultimately, this is what matters. The trigger has been pulled, there is no turning back, it’s a brand new day and a brand new world. It HAD to happen.
So, forward, strong and independent (w/ allies.) The West will continue to churn and rot while the Russian Federation and allies will endure what must be endured, so much of it already minimized because of good planning.Let yapping dogs bark as the caravan passes. Soon enough they will be silent.
What is done is done because it had to be done.
Beautiful words, as the world turns…
The only way to guarantee that there be no war with Russia in the long-term – beween the US/NATO and Russia – is to awaken the masses to the true nature of their “leaders” and how they have basically all sold them out to Satan, and openly plot to kill them in various false flag operations on their own citizens.
This will indeed be a long and difficult process, and we’re fighting an uphill battle thanks to the mainstream media and their massive avalanche of propaganda that is constantly thrown at us.
US/European leadership need to be “humbled” by their own people, otherwise they will have to be humbled by Russian nukes and that will be very, very bad for all of us. The elites may even consider this a good thing – they will survive in their bunkers and arise from the ashes to enslave whomever is left.
With a full nuke war there are no survivors. No emerging from some bunker somewhere. If you do emerge you emerge to a world destroyed. No one to talk your order much less enslave. No prepping for that.
The elites don’t care if they are the kings of a world of rubble, so long as they rule over it completely. They will survive in their massive underground complexes. They likely already have a plan for this scenario and what to do in the aftermath. Long-term humanity will rebuild itself, and then they will take full control over said future and rebuilding process. That’s what they think, anyway.
Either way they are absolutely insane, total psychopaths and a huge danger to all of mankind. Either way they won’t suffer the consequences of ww3 like we will. This makes them a huge threat to all of us, regardless of nationality.
Dear someguy,
The totally satanic masters will survive, I agree. They will come out of their underground fortresses to fulfil their master’s mandate : to enslave bodies and _especially_ to annihilate souls. Nothing can destroy them except…the Real Master.
He is coming.
I can’t wait to see them attempt to emerge from those underground bunkers, assuming they haven’t been sealed shut. That’s my favorite reason for surviving.
Yes Elites watching the wars on big screens.
Russia has been “cancelled” in the west. What you see now is much larger scale version of what happens when a dissenter in America is “doxxed”. I’ve met some people who have been doxxed, they survived.
Only person I ever heard of not surviving a doxxing are those who killed themselves as a result. Everyone else found a way to make ends meet.
I respectfully disagree Cthulhu. There are countless instances of people being tortured and killed after being doxxed.
Including in the USA for starters…
What’s next: The military part should stay defencive in nature as I belive was the intention from the start, the war needs to be best fought on the economic level, where Russia has very good cards together with China.
Hans, a military is neither defensive nor offensive.
These are civilian concepts which don’t make sense militarily, at least not the way you imagine them.
Tactically, operationally and strategically the Russian forces are on the offensive.
But in terms of Grand Strategy, the US forced Russia to intervene.
So in terms of Grand Strategy, the Russians are on the DEFENSIVE!
Kind regards
‘the US forced Russia to intervene.’
A golden opportunity, that any politically savvy military leader worth his salt would never let pass by.
Mr. Putin seems to have a lucky star somewhere favouring him.
You do understand that such very problematic situations a hostile power sets up near one’s borders are not (and cannot be) solved remotely.
“Uhh, there’s something I’ve meaning to tell you…. you’re predictable.”
He’s smart enough to not be indoctrinated/blinded into NOT seeing a long trail of data points, and seeing where it goes, projected into the future.
The skills was getting the preparations in place, difficult to start with, and very difficult to get it done without overly alerting the hysterical alarmist 5th column.
A lot of skill was required, a lot!
Excellent point saker!
Dear Saker,
with ‘defensive in nature’ I don’t mean the military action, but the geopolitical intention/function of the military. I do understand, that military actions/units can not be categorized like this (e.g. weapon systems).
The West has gone nuclear on the economic level, which includes media manipulation and lawless property confiscation, but Putin’s Russia is still standing streigth, that shows the strength of its position, witch I hope and belief, will be played out by Russia and China in concert in the future.
Probably the strongest move, would be, to allow sales of real values (energy/raw materials) only against rubles, gold or silver, not foreign fiat money, by implementing a respective law.
Another effective move would be the otherwise already proposed exit from treaties on intellectual properties, which will allow building up some industries, that will be needed to replace sanctioned imports.
Russian sanction using high reciprocal export tarifs, would be, as far as I understand, even within WTO rules.
Most of the western institutions are corrupted beyond repair and are playing against Russia, so it would be prudent to either bring them to reform themself or start to develop competing structures. A sizable part of the world would welcome it, after having been shown, how badly they could themself be affected, when the US doesn’t even shy away from aggressing a big nuclear power.
All this and a lot more are possible tools of economic warfare still not applied. The western elites, which I have learned to despise, have nearly nothing left in their toolbox on the economic level. That’s why staying defensive in nature concerning military matters, is what I belief to be the right thing and that is, where military in general an especially the Russian military is most effective and best motivated.
Dorogoy Andrey! Thank you, as always, for your amazing work. Your site, along with Andrey Martyanov’s and Berhnard’s blogs, are the only reliable sources I’ve found for information about what is happening in Ukraine (and the rest of the world as well). It is an antidote to the rest of the garbage out there from the mob of pseudo-journalists, armchair generals, and other assorted PR shysters who are now running rampant in the usual arenas of doubleplusgood-thinking mainstream discourse.
I am discouraged by all of the vile anti-Russia vitrol being thrown around and by how readily it is absorbed by so many people who are apparently incapable of independent, critical thinking. It pains me to see how the basest instincts of human nature are stoked to unleash hatred and intolerance, with the result that otherwise decent people go after one other’s throats instead of recognizing that they are all brothers and sisters who should learn to get along with each other.
At times like this, I always like to watch this video — it makes me feel better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlrFEL0ZTMM
As the song says, ” Было всяко, всяко пройдёт”. No matter how bad the situation, we will always get through it.
P.S. I re-upped my donation to your site, as I’m sure many others here have done as well. We support and appreciate your efforts more than you can know.
I LOVE that song, and that is my favorite version to boot!!!
Thank you!!!!!
@ Saker
“…I personally hope that the Russians stay as they are, block the city on all sides, open a humanitarian corridor and wait until the time is right…”
Also, I personally hope these humanitarian corridors are well manned with checkpoints that will not allow Ukronazis to flee in disguise, as the takfiris attempted in Syria/Iraq, dressed in burqas as Muslim women. Who knows how they will disguise themselves; issue is, Russian soldiers need to have a database with names and pictures of Ukronazis and check everyone leaving Kiev/Mariupol/Kharkov, et al.
“…Please ready yourself for a long and difficult struggle.”
We take note of it.
Lone Wolf
PS: Thanks again for your latest report, as always. As for the bloody nose by the West to Russia, this is just the beginning, the West will soon move to the latest fad, war is not an item that sells well for too long, the West needs to keep their subjects numbed with consumption. All Russia needs to do is to fight one day longer than the Empire of Lies.
“No pasaran”
Lone Wolf
Andrei; Reading your summation, what stands out for me is given how deeply passionate your patriotism is you do not let it cloud or overshadow your objectivity and larger vision. Think how rare and valuable this is. This makes your work so precious to so many of us and earns our respect time and time again. We are all constantly discovering the quality and value of all that you do.
I am sure you don’t need me to tell you this but it is good and right that you be acknowledged for it.
The comments section gives ample evidence that this ongoing drama is stirring up very deep feelings in so many people. We have yet to see the full fruits of that fact alone, but it does portend major evolutionary change as I am sure you realize.
So from one committed Christian to another, I give you honor.
@Lone Wolf
In Syria spotting takfiris was a combined effort between USA, Russia, Turkey. This is a purely Russian exercise, so it is bound to be executed well. When Russia intervened on Syria’s request- the same issues were raised about the ability of Russia to sustain a combat situation, getting bogged down Vietnam style, economics…you name it. In the end Russia did a sterling job – the legitimate government remains to this day. Most importantly a huge number of mercenaries that were able to fight in Syria and were at the disposal of the Empire to create chaos ie. ISIS/Boko Haram/colour revolutions, have been neutralized. Which in itself is a good thing – less mercenaries available to execute their evil warfare in Ukraine.
As much as this war saddens me for the loss of lives on both sides, it is a definitive moment that has been in the making for years.
It is the dawn of the New World Order, but not quite the way the Empire has imagined it :).
There have been many warnings by President Putin as to the actions of the West steering in one direction, with one consequence – and we have now arrived.
I truly hope caution prevails on the side of the bankrupted Empire – they had NWO dreams of sitting on all natural resources by now, but alas Zone B just somehow managed to pull the rug from under their feet ever so slowly.
Desperation is dangerous
I am incredibly grateful for this blog – love and truth is what keeps us together…and a healthy sprinkling of intelligence.
Nic
The intervention was always coming better to choose the time, it’s size and scope are still unknown and the West is off balance, freaking out and showing the non-western world that it’s completely crazy. I’d say that is a win. As for the narrative, Russian silence allows China to speak for them. China gains stature as a stable international voice.
‘freaking out and showing the non-western world that it’s completely crazy’, yeah, I completely agree! The media coverage is absolutely insane, its like a 24/7 Propaganda War, I don’t know how often you can say redundant, stupid things like ‘Putin is crazy’ or ‘Putin is evil’. But the sad thing is, after this whole Covid nonsense (I know the sickness exists, but its blown absolutely out of proportion if you look at the death statistics), its another sign of absolute decline, the West is now behaving like a chicken without its head.
Its just Hypermoralism, Hypocrisy, Obedience, Naivity, Stupidity, Decadence and Degeneracy. I am curious how long this will last, it can’t in any way, shape or form survive long, the people are absolutely bonkers. There will be a large percentage of people who will now be in constant care of a Psychiatrist, after 2 years of this Covid insanity and now the mentally challenged are shouting for a nuclear war with the ‘evil’ Putler. If you told me all of that 2 years ago, I would have thought you are insane, now its reality.
At least Russian citizens finally realize how the U.S. and eu view them. Hopefully, they will not waste any more time and energy trying to get into our good graces because that is impossible. We want to ruin your country. We don’t care how many of you we harm and we do not care about truth.
There is talk about a 10 or 20 year economic separation of the west from whomever decides to not “join” the alliance.
Perhaps everyone is weighing the pros and cons of being on either side.
I agree that the West forced Russia to openly intervene and very effectively controlled the narrative but the button pushing US elites will never be defeated in a narrative war in the West no matter what Russia does. People in the West are completely captured and controlled. I see it all around me in everyone in the US: they are captured by fear and hate narratives coming at them from all directions. They cannot think otherwise: any thought that contradicts the narratives of the tyranny controllers frightens them.
So what did the US win? They get to eat Europe to stay alive a little longer – but it won’t last long. The disintegration of the West will continue.
I was born at the start of Cold War v1 and know that I won’t see the end of the not so cold Cold War v2. But I know that this is not the world just after WW2 and that the coalescing multifarious East that has risen and is accelerating its development has already left the US and its Anglosphere and EU vassals in the dust.
My children will see its end. I have made sure to give them the historical education to understand what they are living through.
From AP:
Ukrainian officials have reported a powerful explosion in Kyiv, between the Southern Railway station and the Ibis hotel, an area near Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office told The Associated Press on Wednesday night that it was a missile strike.
Officials said it wasn’t immediately clear how damaging the strike was, whether there were any casualties or where exactly the missile hit.
The Southern Railway station is one of two stations that make up the main passenger rail complex that thousands have used to flee the war over the past week. The two stations are connected by an overhead corridor that crosses over about a dozen tracks.
The stations are about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the square that was the site of huge protests in 2014 and 2004. — AP
Information War, Bah! Turning on the lights and putting good food on the table are by far the main concerns here in the UK.
Hundreds of thousands of more children have been forced into poverty here, Families dependent on tinned handouts from charities and soup kitchens. Give it a couple of months and those depression era queues will form.
£trillions in debt, unable to raise interest rates even 1%, there’s negative growth, gross unemployment/underemployment. Future forecast is : BLEAK.
Those Russians who are concerned about how Russia will fair going forward should wake up and watch the summer riots all over Europe.
The U.S. is an economic and societal basket case as well. To say that we are sitting on a powder keg is an understatement. Tectonic forces have been building up for decades, and now we are starting to see the violent, rapid shifts that occur when the system begins to crack under the strain. Most of the people who have been living sheltered, complacent lives in the G7+vassals countries have no idea of the extent to which our world is going to be shaken.
I honestly do not see any reason why so much of an emphasis is being placed on the fact that the West controls the narrative. It sounds nice on paper; however, controlling a fictional narrative and presenting what you wish to be true as actually being true will not change the reality that is unfolding with the Russian intervention against the intransigent Ukrainian government.
The question that I would like to know is: how will the rest of the world outside of the Western media-controlled bubble, those who are under the cruel heel of the Western domineering boot – how will they interpret Russia’s action? Will this encourage countries that have been, hitherto, demeaned and exploited by the West to see that there is hope of resistance against this leviathan that is the “Empire of Lies”?
I sincerely hope that, now that Mr. Putin has finally called out the West for what it really is, people outside of the West will raise their heads from the burden of Western lies and deceit and begin rejecting them wherever they see them and hear them. As Solzhenitsyn stated, the brute force which we face in our lives quickly loses strength and can only be propped up by lies. We give credence to those lies if we personally participate in them. And we can break the chains of deceit and lies by not engaging in them anymore! Let us hope that this shall be the beginning of a resurrection of a belief in truth and a rejection of the lies which have been stifling us for so long.
I agree. The narrative is only important in the West. For infants, its, like, really important. In reality, it counts for nothing. What counts is real economies and hence power – who has resources, who produces stuff, and who still has culture and education.
Exactly..
Correct David. In Goebbels, the German Nazis had the most ruthlessly effective narrative controller the world has ever seen. But even so, the Red Army’s tanks did eventually show up in the streets of Berlin. When all is said and done, reality does have a way of asserting itself.
I think Europe, like Ukraine, is just one theatre of the war. This is a war pitting China-Russia against the US Empire and victory for the former requires the controlled demolition of the dollar supremacy financial system. The US knew that if it waited beyond 2025 (as the 2015 Rand report says), China will be too far ahead for the US to prevent its rise to global economic supremacy. I’m sure the plan was to elect Clinton in 2016 and go after Russia then, to remove it from China’s corner. Trump’s election upset the plan, as did covid, so they are doing it much later than planned. China and Russia have now had time to get ready for this economic battle which will either see the death of dollar supremacy or its triumph. But Saker is dead on about Ukraine being just the first stage. Once the Russian position is consolidated and Ukraine as pacified as it will ever be, my guess is that Russia will start ratcheting up pressure on NATO’s soft underbelly, focusing particularly on the missile emplacements in Romania. The Balkan states and Hungary (which may be offered a chunk of Ukraine) may withdraw from NATO de facto or even de jure. If that happens, Turkey will probably fall away too. Really, all that has to happen for this to stop is for NATO members to back Russia’s demand that NATO return its forces to their 1997 dispositions.
Yes, the propaganda in NYC is off the charts. Never seen anything like it. It is almost funny how completely Walking Dead people are.
So far I’ve seen one kid on a skateboard with a sign saying something about Putin and that’s about it. I don’t watch TV, though.
Can’t wait to see 300,000 freedom loving ,democratic, ukie nazis arriving in Canada to help re elect Liberal government. Christia Freeland deputy prime minister was photographed at a rally on Saturday holding Black/red Bandera flag. These new refugees will show us Canadians how to peacefully deal with bad violent trucker protesters. Canucks are naive,and complacent about the criminals living among us and , more to come. Our National anthem “oh Canada” will become Slava Canada. God help us!
Well said. Hohols will rule Canada…On second thought – they already are.
In my city live descendants of Bandera and Stetsko . I’m glad my dad taught me real history and who these people are.They teach their children that grandpa was a freedom fighter, and the children grow up proud and you get fresh generations of these Banyaks!
“In other words, the real magnitude of the Ukrainian defeat will become impossible to conceal in just a few days. Then the narrative will shift from the “invincible Ukie Volkssturn” to “Russian atrocities””
There’s already evidence on Western MSM and among think tank “experts” that the narrative is shifting. Military pundits such as Michael Kofman, Rob Lee, and Mark Urban issued considerably fewer tweets today than in previous days. Silence from these guys can be interrupted as meaning they have something to hide.
I’ve questioned them several times on Twitter about Russian reports of a big Ukie cauldron developing near Donbass. They didn’t answer. Yesterday I questioned them about Russian reports of a cauldron developing in Mariupol (now proven true). They didn’t answer. Today, when one of them issued his estimation of total Russian casualties, I asked him to publish a figure concerning total Ukrainian casualties. He didn’t answer. I think everyone here is smart enough to understand what this says about these “experts.” They are owned by the US/NATO/UKR propaganda machine, and are not free to tell the full truth about the war.
As for English language MSM, the headlines are now screaming hysterically about “Ukraine reeling under Russian attack” in addition to many reports about “Russian attacks on civilians.” Today, I didn’t find any headlines heralding “Ukrainian victory” or “Russian defeats.” So, the Western media propaganda machine is shifting its brainwash tactics. I interpret this as meaning they must know something bad is happening to the Ukrainian military.
Even the reptilian Julian Ropcke issued fewer tweets today than in earlier days. I didn’t see any triumphant tweets from Ropcke celebrating alleged “Ukie victories” or “destroyed Russian columns.” He produced one tweet purporting to show a downed Russian fighter jet, accompanied by some gleeful, inhuman snarky comment.
Russia and Ukraine are headed to the negotiation table tomorrow. I hope Putin doesn’t agree to a ceasefire without first wiping out a large Ukie cauldron or two. Evidence of some large scale, decisive Russian victory on the ground will greatly enhance Putin’s bargaining power, I believe.
Andrei thanks for indicating you saw Russian intervention as something forced. My impression some months back that the Russian leadership were psychologically prepared to resist being manipulated into doing so e g. the leadership was throwing light on US attempts to organize false flags and Russia was aware of these attempts so don’t bother as we won’t take the bait. I had been praying Putin and the leadership would find the psychological strength to resist Washington’s attempt to play on Russia’s anxieties and not engage. Unfortunately Russia seems to have been outmanouvered in this space and had to react on account of unforseen developments.
Where it did effective damage was after Feb 16th the Russian media effort was caught flat footed when it mocked Biden’s warnings of an impending invasion yet just a few days later the peacekeeping mission began that promptly became an invasion just as the regieme in Washington had predicted. Instead of Biden and Blinken having egg on their face it was Putin and his group and PR effort who suffered this outcome which could have been partially mitigated by the PR people saying nothing. This was a definite win for the Deep State and Swamp.
Not to feel too bad being out flanked in the propaganda space though. The Military Industrial Complex is pretty much following its “Extending Russia” strategy to wage propaganda and economic war against Russia after a campaign of provacation since it was published in 2019, and prior. They have been better prepared and now the hope is the Russian leadership has learned from this as to how it goes from here on in.
It still doesn’t make sense to me why the invasion had to take place at such a massive scale instead of focusing on the Donbas. Already having secured that area would have meant that Ukraine would not be a viable NATO partner. Instead what this has provoked is a new kind of cold war with the west (albeit entirely by the west’s choosing). Nevertheless hard economic times await for many Russians. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, may well be the end of the US Dollar as global reserve currency due to the sanctions taking on a boomerang effect and destroying what little trust the world still had in the western financial system.
Because the Ukraine will be a NATO member in all but name. Consider how the US walks away from agreements it signed onto – so why will it adhere to the letter of the NATO charter? Russia knows the US plan to put offensive weapons in Ukraine. Russia had to act now.
I Agree.
For me too, the Russian Invasion is a “non sens”.
The only reason i can see, if I take a step back, is that Poutin prepared that a long time ago, and that he is coordonate with Xi jinping, and Ukraine invasion is just a diversion to make USA feel they won the battle.
Logically, Poutin play with one or two step ahead… so Ukraine is just the first step. Just something to put attention on it and not elsewhere. The real goal is to redefine the world order between USA/UE and China/Russia.
Saker said it will take months. I think he’s wrong, it will take years.
What we see is just the begining of a much more vast plan where Russia and China will act together.
I think Russia and China want to take USA/UE somewhere with Ukraine (where? I don’t know), and when it will be done we will see China going into action.
I think the times to come will be more and more… interesting. Hope you have a lot of food in your cupboards. :p
“the Empire of Lies did successfully force Russia to openly intervene. That is a fact and that is a defeat with the Russians will have to ponder over for many years. ”
But wouldn’t this mean that Putin’s “empire of lies” speech, announcing his military action in Ukraine, was the speech of a defeated man? He didn’t look defeated. I see it in the opposite way. The Russians cannot say it but they know this: Had it not been for Western mistakes, Crimea would still belong to Ukraine. They can only criticize the West, but at some level they must recognize that Crimea was gifted to them so to speak. In other words, had their opponents been able to, as Putin put it, “evaluate” “future scenarios” well, Crimea would still belong to Ukraine. Many more mistakes have been made, even Nuland and Blinken are still there.
Now, Russia may gain Ukraine too (“gollop” others would say) if it so chooses. Whatever the aftermath in Ukraine, Putin is achieving a total solution for what caused his action in Ukraine the most according to himself, if I remember correctly (otherwise by someone very high describing Putin too): The suffering in Donbass. If Western mistakes go on and on, we may, like Mr. Peskov warned, see the “map” of Europe “reconfigured.” Whatever others would choose to call that reconfiguration, Putin will not see it as a “defeat” for Russia in any way (nor would the West!). It’s the mistakes the West made and is still making that need to be pondered “over for many years”, if that’s how long it takes.
On another optimistic note, Ukrainians seem to be switching sides quite readily as soon as their place is firmly under Russian control and the Nazis are gone. We have seen it in Chernobyl, and we are seeing it again in Kherson. Russian reports say consistently that Ukrainians are collaborating willingly and effectively in all the places that have been liberated so far.
It’s also positive that China may be getting involved as a mediator. The conflict may eventually get resolved with Western and Northern Ukraine as a neutral buffer while Eastern and Southern Ukraine get absorbed into the Russian sphere, perhaps underneath a common, heavily federalized umbrella with Zelensky as its head until the next election comes around. Having gained credence on both sides, China with its deep pockets will be able to pour investments into Ukraine. That willl help getting rid of Nazism big time, corruptable as the place is. Then it will bring China right up to Europe’s doorstep, so to speak. That would be a major geopolitical win for China.
Zelensky? No, today he was saying that he needs to speak with Putin. He should surrender and leave..,That might disappoint admirers (cheap ones), but I can’t imagine the Russians not holding him responsible even for their own dead in normal battle.
tranquilocomp
““the Empire of Lies did successfully force Russia to openly intervene”.
I don’t think this is entirely the case. Yes, Kiev was preparing an invasion of the Donbass, with the West hoping that Russia would intervene to prevent this, as it did. However, there is another aspect to this scenario.
Let’s pretend that the two Donbass republics did not exist. What would NATO have done ? It would have accepted Ukraine into NATO and placed missile systems close to the Russian border, after which NATO would have demanded “surrender or perish”. Russia would have had no choice but to intervene militarily in order to prevent this.
And the EU ? NATO’s expansion towards the East and Russian intervention in Ukraine has assured that the EU will unquestionably collapse as a Union. Today I read a bizarre article which stated that Western companies are avoiding the purchase of Russian gas and crude oil, while at the same time stating that Russian gas is still flowing into the EU at an increased level. The point is that EU countries cannot function without Russian energy. The US cannot fulfill all of Europe’s energy needs, which means that energy would need to be diverted from Asia into Europe, a virtually impossible option. This means that political friction would and will arise between Europe and the US, with one analyst stating that it’s only a matter of time before a rift occurs between European and American elites. The war in Ukraine will be a game changer, and I am not sure Washington and Wall Street are aware of it.
“One more thing I forgot to mention about the “no man’s land” west of the Donbass operational cauldron. It is shown in the map below where the black and yellow lines touch (and add about 5-10km on each side)”
Andrei:
Kindly advise me as to what you mean by “5-10km on each side.” Are you saying that the total length of the black line is 10 to 15km?
Or do you mean that the Russian pincers on each end of the black line extend for 10-15km? Assuming that’s what you mean, then the black line’s total length would be 20 to 30km, correct?
I am confused as to which is the correct measurement of that black line.
Thanks in advance for your feedback (assuming you even have time to see this post).
There is nothing Russia can do if the West bans it’s news outlets and turns on the lying Orwellian propaganda to the max. It’s to be expected and it shouldn’t bother them. That’s just the reality when the msm is in the hands of a few with an agenda. Actually they are so enraged because they have been upstaged by Russia in a military operation far surpassing what they could achieve. Don’t you remember how they were reporting on the invasion of Iraq with their embedded journalists glorifying their war crimes and their war criminals? Or also in the wars in Yugoslavia. Or any other action, only presenting their own lying justifications and demonising their enemies. Just par for the course.
Look at the Italians banning the teaching of Dostoyevsky at Milan University and kicking out Russians from La Scala, Croatians banning Tchaikovsky. And the Italians were the first to rush to Milan and Italy with aid during the Covid-19 pandemic while their own EU would not help them. This is the kind of people they are and there is nothing you can do about it except hope that they will one day get their just rewards. Imagine how nasty they are, and nobody ever banned the teaching of Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Kant or any great German poet, writer or philosopher at the height of Hitler in WWII. And I should imagine that Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky weren’t banned by the Germans either during WWII.
I don’t know this to be a fact, but it would not surprise me if German composers’ music was not performed during WW-II.
The reason they didnt go all out after everything german was that the british had infiltrated the german cultural elite in the process of imposing nazism on them
The brits began that operation, at the latest, after Friedrich List brought some american economic ideas to Germany in the 1830s.
Even Israels musicians play Hitlers favourite Wagner.
Almost all anglosaxons are covering up for most of the victorian era and later in this context.
For the truth is not kind to Britain.
Dostoevsky is the greatest writer of all time. Bigger even than Shakespeare. I have always said here: all Russian art and artistic ballet is superior to all art from England and the USA. It is higher and Divine, it has more nobility. Italy will be losing. Fellini’s Italy no longer exists! Fellini prophesied this! France is also slowly losing its nobility. It is not possible to please both masters: usury and nobility. The West is choosing carnality, the profane, death. Artificiality is hell!
On Nord Stream 2
I am starting to think that Nord Stream 2 was a German sting operation. Germans never intended it to be finished. Its main and possibly only purpose was to delay the inevitable Russian invasion of Nazi Ukraine.
Russia wanted to be seen as a reliable supplier of gas. They could not start any operation before the pipeline finished. US actions delayed the work by about 4 years. Denmark delayed the ecological impact assessment by two years. When it was finally approved, the Swiss company worked on the pipeline for less than a month. When US sanctions hit, it was only two weeks from being finished. It took Russia a year to get her own ships in place and another half a year to finish the work.
I can’t see any problem diverting NS2 to Kaliningrad.
Bravo! How about comment on a russian leadership ingenuity :))?
Yeah Ukraine is winning! That’s why they are releasing hardcore prisoners to join their ranks…
Or creating volksstrum units by giving out weapons to anyone, without checking if someone is convicted criminal. And teaching folks how to create molotov cocktails and commit suicide at the same time in front of Russian troops.
Where is the strategic reserve of Ukie forces?
Pssst. It was DECIMATED!
Apparently there are training videos out showing Ukrainians how to make spears out of kitchen knives. That detail sounds like the defense of Okinawa.
I have a another vision of this question..
First Russia has won a war against NATO in one of its neighbouring countries.
In a mid term this will be acknowledged in the West.
So the war between the anglo Saxon empire shifted to a total war in the domain of Economy
And this war can be summarized by an affrontement between a real world which produces commodities, exports raw material .. and a world built on a fictitious economy. The later being moreover engaged in a doomed energy policy, a canceled culture movement… Yes the empire has got some financial weapons which might work in the short term..
But in the middle term there is no way that the fiction beats the reality..
And Putin is too smart to be toppled by a coalition which is like a Mexican army with regards the leadership of the Russian policies
On behalf of the people of Mexico, I take offense.
You can also check out this map, with better info about Kiev:
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/dragon_first_1/72271520/149099/149099_original.png
Andrei
I’ve been watching some Polish YT channels, and saw videos of ukies trying to use those anti-air weapons to try to shoot down a Sukhoi , and the weapon failed. Ukie was visibly upset.
A conversation in Berlin in the summer of 1945
— How did you know we were losing?
— Our victories were coming closer and closer.
Welcome to TWO WORLDS
1) PanAsia
2) PanAmerica
Before Feb 2022 – US dollar was king. After GOLD rises (with silver and BTC).
Saker, if Russia won’t invade the EU then how are they going to wage war to push Nato back?
Easy. After defanging Ukr, ditto the other newcomers to NATO piecemeal. No need to invade; just a few stand-off strikes against the offending sites even with prior warning – you know what I mean. They will get the message.
Remember that in 2014 Russia limited itself to rescue Crimea and help the Novorosyians, when it had the option to go the whole hog to Kiev and and beyond, but it didn’t. Mr Putin was prudent (overcautious, I said then).
Why has he done it now? ask yourself. My answer is that Mr Putin & Co. now have the military upperhand and are confident of achieving their objectives without endangering Russia’s security. They must have taken into account all possible reactions and retaliations by the Hegemon, including open war, and decided that the timing was now, not yesterday or tomorrow. And the current incursion into Ukr is only a preliminary step in the overall plan of getting rid of NATO, at least in its current posture, as a potential threat to Russia.
Romania, Poland at al are getting the message that NATO is not there to protect them but only as springboards to threaten Russia and expendable. It could lead, ultimately, to the extinction of NATO without the horrors of the last war – and I don’t mean WWII.
I agree with you. The Saker said, after the first 24 hours, that the preparation he saw had been done long ago. I agree with that also. I think that, when they made their two proposals, they made the decision that their three main demands would become reality either by negotiation, force, or a combination of the two, and that uncomprehending Western reactions are only making it easier to follow their goals, but not deciding them. Well, before the military attack, Putin said that everything was planned out and that the execution of the plan only depended on Western reactions (in my opinion, that means how much negotiation or how much force there would be); he said so when he was standing next to the German Chancellor.
Thanks theSaker for your work.
I’m writing from Poland.
It’s mass formation psychosis here. I’ve never seen something like that. People really think here that Russia is loosing a war. Some even speculate that maybe Ukraine will attack Moscow. You cannot say anything against main narrative because you become Ruska kurva. Some people even threatened me, and some don’t wanna say hi anymore. This is totally fu.. Up.
I will recommend also some site where you can get some reliable info
Removed. Please don’t just promote other sites. Breaks site rules. Any further to trash. Mod.
Someone was asking about economic so I can recommend :
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2022/03/01/economic-warfare-is-not-a-game-for-children/
https://ourfiniteworld.com/
Terrific piece. Not surprisingly, western corporate media, owned by 6 gigantic corporations has been able to control the ‘narrative’ so far. However, as Andrei Martyanov (http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com) pointed out, natural gas prices have surged 60% in Europe, and is only the beginning. This is not only inflationary, it makes EU companies less competitive and takes purchasing power directly out of the paychecks of working people. No amount of corporate media BS in any way alters this reality. As the economic vise continues to tighten on the EU & US, expect increasing social instability. Time will tell.
Was thinking that rather than simply cut off energy supplies to Europe or insisting on payment only in physical gold, Russia could simply begin to ratchet down the volumes shipped, for technical and precautionary reasons, & sell the remaining supplies on the spot market at the higher prices (insisting on gold for payment, perhaps), or to a third-party middleman.
The world has definitely split in two.
Once this is (mostly) over it will not matter that the ‘West’ has PR dominance as they will just be talking to themselves. The other world will go about their internal trade, building better societies, health education etc and will be able to ignore all the ranting and hysterical raving in the ‘West’.
Sad, but that’s humans for you.
Empire of Lies now will to try push fake genocide accustation against Russia in ICC.
The Investigative Committee of Russia has already prepared a real genocide accusation against the Ukraine leadership and military commanders:
re. ‘War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Ukrainian Military-Political Leadership in the Donbass’
https://ia801504.us.archive.org/20/items/presentation-ukrainian-war-crimes/Presentation%20Ukrainian%20War%20Crimes.pdf
Warning! Graphic Content
Dear Andrei:
A few thoughts, some of which may be a trifle inconvenient at this juncture.
1. The propaganda blitzkrieg all over the world (very few exceptions) has come as a big shock, even to somebody like me who has believed that the West rules the world through its control of news, media, social media, and entertainment. Time people all over the world realized that all their perceptions and beliefs have been implanted in their heads by a super-powerful mind-control mechanism operated by the West.
2. The way that so many countries have lined up behind the West and NATO is truly sad. Where were all these countries when Iraq was being bombed back to the stone age, Libya shredded, poor Afghanistan brutally punished, Yugoslavia shamelessly destroyed and bombed, and so many other atrocities being committed all over the world by US/NATO?
3. What on earth is wrong with the pro-Russia (or at least sane and neutral) people in the Ukie military? Could they not have turned against their extreme Ukie colleagues or at least refused to fight and/or surrender? This lukewarm or indifferent attitude of the Eastern Ukrainians within the Ukie military does not auger well for the future.
4. The sheer amount of hatred of Russia and Russians all over the western world is another shocker, even to somebody like me who has always firmly believed that the Western hatred of Russians is deep-rooted, visceral, and something that won’t go away by Russia being nice and subservient to them. It is time that liberal Russians understood that even if Russia was to go down on knees and promise to lick western shoes all they would get in return are contempt and kicks.
5. There is a great geopolitical struggle going on: for Russia it is simply about survival as a nation; however, for the West it is about a raw and brute power struggle resting on racial hatred of the Russian untermenchen. It is time the governments and people of the world recognized the realities of this Western-manufactured crisis.
Tonight ukro nazis are doing it the ‘Jihadists way’, à la ‘Syria’, of course a US signature:
Nationalists bar civilians from leaving Kiev, Kharkov, Mariupol – Russian Defense Ministry
According to Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of the Russian National Defense Management Center, Ukrainian nationalists are hiding behind the civilian population as human shields, provoking to use arms against innocent people.
MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Nationalists in Ukraine are obstructing the exit of civilians from encircled cities, using them as human shields, Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of the Russian National Defense Management Center, said at a briefing of the interdepartmental taskforce on humanitarian response on Wednesday.
“According to available information, nationalists are also barring civilians, including foreigners, from leaving, first of all, blockaded populated localities. We have this reliable information, primarily, concerning Kiev, Kharkov, Mariupol along with a number of other inhabited localities,” he said.
According to the general, Ukrainian nationalists are hiding behind the civilian population as human shields, provoking to use arms against innocent people.
“We have never done so and will not do,” he stressed.
Mizintsev urged Ukraine and international organization to provide humanitarian corridors at the soonest possible time, so that anyone can pass through them to safe places.
“In view of the above, we now urge all international organizations, all without exception, as well as on the Ukrainian leadership, to immediately ensure the appearance of humanitarian corridors for exits to safe places by all those citizens who will say so, all without exception,” Mizintsev said
service note: I will copy paste the totality (when relevant of course)of articles from RU media as they are under doss attacks, never know if the link will be operating of not?
I would like to tell something about the propaganda in my country Slovenia. They are not talking about Ukrainian victory, they admit that there will be a defeat, but not so soon and with many casualities. Ukrainians are very brave and will fight hard, inflict many casualities and finaly lost. But the main focus is on suffering. While listening short radio news you hear the sound of siren first and then: another night in shelter, terrible bombing, refugees and so on. The same on tv: reporters are in Lvov and report from bomb shelter or if not tells how many times he went to the shelter. Next focus is on Russia. They predict economic collapse and powerty there. And third focus is on collecting help. In every major town we have a collection center for clothes, food and such things. And about the refugees. We now have 62 refugees in Slovenia out of 830 000 which are out of Ukraine. Another day with no special trains or buses in the direction of Italy, France and Spain through our country. Where are those huge numbers? We also have two manifestations in support of Ukraine. One was yesterday from opposition and second today from government. And the government tells that the first one was actually pro Russian. They were formally pro Ukrainian but in their hart pro Russian. The real patriots were only on today’s manifestation. Strange.
And plans for the future? Kiew will become like Grozny. Everything will be ruined and civilians killed in tens of thousands.
I think that the believers in mainstream propaganda are those who support government. Those who don’t believe are Serbs (economic migrants in our country), those who are against vaccination and those who don’t like USA and capitalist system.
So this is a small report of mainstream propaganda from my country Slovenia.
Same plot in Italy. It is a scheme ordered from above.
You should always accept Putin’s first proposal, because his next proposals are going to be a catastrophy for you.
The israeloamerican nazis openly declared war on Russia back in 2007. This assault has been gradually ramped up and now is off the rails, very much like the 1950s, the de.cade the west became nazis. Russia has won in the ukraine, but this is only the beginning of this israeli war.
You’re spot-on about Russia losing the propaganda war. I predicted that at the start of this operation. Frankly speaking, I don’t think the Russian government understands the importance of propaganda in warfare. Both RT and Sputnik are almost useless when it comes to defending Russian position. It’s strange that the empire of lies even bother so much about the two platforms. I guess it is because the empire cannot tolerate any dissent no matter how small and weak. For a comparison read Global Times. That is a platform that stands uncompromisingly pro-China. Because that is its function as part of the Chinese mouthpiece to the world.
But on the issue of forcing Russia to openly intervene and in so doing decoupling Russia from EU, well time will tell if that can be counted as a success for the West in the long run. It’s important to realize that the center of gravity has shifted. The collective West is not the future, it’s Eurasian. I think in the end Russia would be happy to abandon the hopeless West and focus on a more promising Eurasian future.
RT and Sputnik are useless and incompetent at best; many of their articles, headlines, and peculiar choice of words is outright anti-Russia. Whenever reporting something stated by the Russian Government, RT always reports it as “as claimed by Russia”, the implication being that the Russian Government could be lying. But when reporting things said by the West it is always reported as God’s own truth. Then again the choice of words suggests that they delight when the West does any harm to Russia. For example, a few days back their headline of a story “Russia kicked out of …”. Fifth columnists and traitors to Russia these people certainly are; competent journalists they most certainly are not. RT, especially, hasn’t made up its mind whether it wants to practice tabloid style gutter journalism or a thinking man’s journalism.
Global Times, by contrast, is very professional, high quality, and competently run. Yes, it has a pro-China slant, but in a very intelligent and polished way. The articles are well-written, full of facts and context, and there is never any ham-handed propaganda.
Now what about BBC, NYT, or the Washington Post? Do you ever find in them anti American stories or balanced reporting of world events? Do they even raise their voice when America is in the middle of practicing war crimes, bombing countries, or committing serious foreign policy errors?
RT is in the mindset of the Boris Yeltsin years: “America good, West good, Russia maybe not good, possibly even bad. We are honest journalists, we are just speaking the truth”. These clowns should be fired and RT simply shut down.
Your accustations about RT and Sputnik are false.
Re:Russian media blocked by ZOG
They are available where I am (Asia)
Apparently the battle for hearts and minds is in the dying West.
Saker, round about 24 02 22, I read that ukraine had been completely disconnected from Russian & Belarus energy systems. Earlier in Feb, Belarus said it would stop supplying ukraine with fuel & lubricants if it started a war with the Donbass & would give a joint response with Russia.
Sooo, what with Russia destroying ukrainian fuel depots etc, has anybody got any idea how long the enemy military can last?
Also, it was reported on Colonel Cassad’s telegram channel that nato was just about to attack the Donbass, but Putin stepped in. Maybe the reason why the west criticises the Russian military response is because Russia wasn’t quite ready, but had to react?
I don’t know about the west but here in the east the support (except among the usual urban liberals who in any case reflexively worship the earth Uncle Sam walks in) is very pro Russia. In my opinion Russia didn’t bother with information warfare because it know it would have no chance anyway, but also because in that field Russia lags a century behind the USSR (let alone the West). Also remember that Bidet’s poll numbers are not looking up after this and that the mayfly attention span of the average Westernaganda consumer will soon move on to other things.
On Intel Slava they showed a pro Russian demo in….Montenegro.
No mention of the israeloamerican anonymous front being used as an attack tool by Russia’s enemies in the article or comments (that I read). Have a look at this article from a Russian site called Sputnik: “Hackers Become the Hacked: Anonymous’ Site Taken Down Following Declaration of ‘Cyberwar’ on Russia”. … The mossad/cia front called anonymous has been very busy attacking Russia lately. Why no mention of their “unofficial” role as israeloamerica’s hacking corps?
Any comments Andrei on Russia expanding theater out of Ukraine into neighborhood States, countries?
Best of health for you and your loved ones.
The media narrative is not all loss. It can be reversed even in mid-term. I think Russians knew they would lose it quickly (who can compete against Goebbels’ heirs controlling a brainwashed people?), and as with sanctions, are understating their initial response and waiting their time. Giving them more rope to hang themselves thereby.
As Saker said regarding the unusual openness of Russian media to 5th columns and foreign enemies – it is a form of antibiotic. It is the same now – it exposes the delusions of the AI and 5th columns. They will never be accepted in the West. Nor trusted back home now. So western media hate is a useful rat poison in the home front. Game Over for ES and silovaki.
And at same tmie, they are winning the more important battles – the military, sanctions (again boosting sovereignty, self-sufficiency, decoupling from cancerous West, guaranteeing dedollarization, etc..) and even partially the diplomatic.. Mexico and Turkey are refusing to sanction now.. And revealing Singapore to still be an Anglo colony
Let the 5th columnists go to Israel
The leaders of the plutocracies of the West, corrupt cruel and perverted, raised in hubris, believing themselves as much “above” all other law, divine natural biological historical and moral, as they are above statutory law due to their wealth and power, and what you are seeing now, as against Venezuela several years ago, is a tantrum by this corrupt cruel and perverted elite.
Law, taxes and lockdowns are for “the little people.”
There is an article mentioned by a poster at MoA about an RIA article that claims that the nazi were doing biowar via drones…and has documents.I put this stuff at the cafe.
The idea is that the timing of the police action may not have been solely the chatter about nukes, but about the biolabs.
Saker posits question What after that?”
It seems like by degrees the agenda NATO back to 97 lines, Nukes out of Europe, and no more nazis…there has been no geographic limitation about the denazification or where the RF Army may be used. Of course things usually take some time… As to the whereabouts of the nazis on the globe, well…we’ll see.There will be trials…and Russia will show the world what the nazis did. People in DNR seem sure that the guilty pow’s are going to be formed into labor punishment battalions and put to fixing things they’ve smashed.
We’ll see.
In WW2 Germany had the most powerful propaganda/information warfare machine in history, still…the Russians marched right into Berlin!
In the last two years we have seen a worldwide propaganda/disinformation campaign about a pandemic. Its false narrative is crumbling and people are taking the fight to their governments.
This propaganda/information warfare presently taking place against Russia will also be defeated by actual actions and events on the ground.
Western society now runs on sugar( metaphorically speaking) instead of any nutritious substance (truth, courage, respect, industry, reality, etc.)
This too shall come to pass. Truth exists on the fringes because it is based on facts, and facts may “cease” to exist for a while, but truth will win out in the end.
the propaganda ‘victories’ are being exaggerated. They are only amplified at the top echelon of society, the tip of the iceberg so to speak. But the vast body beneath does not follow the company line on the narrative. You can glean this from a lot of evidence like many MSM reports on Russia have massive downvote ratios, or “livecam stream” videos from Kiev, where thousands are watching, you can see thousands of people posting pro Russia flags etc in the comments. There are many other venues of REAL society like this where you can get a feel for the pulse of what actual people are thinking, not just the top level social media amplified b.s.
Dear Nelson..I agree, you’re right..I’d say the west runs on vice.and truth rises….But I think you’re a bit deceived….the “Germany had most powerful propaganda..” claim is promoted by the people who did have the most powerful propaganda operation, and it was not and is not the Germans. We may consider the propaganda onslaught we’ve been thrilled to enjoy these exciting years…there’s a continuity between the English operations from the flood, WW1 and2, and these experts and their skills yet abide and dwell in AZE. Just like sensible rich people always say they’re broke, propaganda outfits always say the other guy’s are better…basic con job. A really good propaganda outfit can’t been seen, and it points at the other guy. Histories of the operations are very hard to find in proportion to how good the institution is.
Blessings! P
“On the informational war, the West gave Russia a thorough thrashing”
This was always going to be so. As Russian support for President Putin has gone up 10 points, and almost no country outside of Europe or 5 Eyes has participated in sanctions. your statement is really about a Western informational war.
What did anyone expect? There is a saying that when one’s reality is no longer supported by the facts, you have two options, change your reality narrative or yell louder.
When the West saw how impotent they were when the Russian special operation began the West began to howl. Nothing was going to change that. News commenters were crying out, “I thought we were a super power!”. The huge outcry is simply that the West is having a very hard time coming to grips with the fact they are no longer in absolute control of the world. The West so wants to continue to believe in their superiority.
So be it. I don’t think that will change so who cares. What is important are facts on the ground.
I suspect that as soon as things calm down and Russia doesn’t need to fear provoking a massive military reaction, Russia will announce huge, devastating, economic sanctions on the EU and the United States, and then invite the EU to negotiate about mutually lifting sanctions.
Spot on. They definitely will!
The bear is a patient one and has prepared a course of action in due time.
Although Saker has stated Ukr air force / air defense has largely been destroyed, unfortunately it’s not really the end of the story for now. Anti-air continues to stream in the country DAILY.
Some updates as of an hour ago:
#BREAKING: US has delivered hundreds of Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine over the last few days, including over 200 on Monday- CNN reports via @jimsciutto
Ben Pauker
@benpauker
·
2h
SCOOP: Air USA, a defense contractor that jet training and services to the military and foreign govs, would send its four MiG-29s to Ukraine at the U.S. government’s request, owner DON KIRLIN told @LeeHudson_
The USG just needs to ask.
https://politi.co/3MieUOr via @politico
“500 Stinger missiles and 1,000 Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launchers have already arrived in Ukraine from Germany, Bild writes.”
⚡️#Ukraine has received a second batch of Javelin anti-tank missile systems from #Estonia, according to the Estonian Ministry of Defense
There are round the clock flights from Germany, Belgium, and many other countries to Poland
As soon as I saw CNN as your source I immediately moved on to the next comment. Really, CNN? Politico was the next reference. Then came the ministry of defense of Estonia. Come on man, you can believe what you want if you choose sites that peddle nothing but fake news 24/7. But try to get a grip on reality.
This idea that only now are stingers et al entering the country I don’t buy. The US has long been preparing for this and no doubt has stashed weaponry all through the country to be used against Russians and the new Ukrainian government. It’s going to get ugly. I just hope Russia’s Shiia friends will be unleashed to return the favor to US occupiers in Syria and Iraq. In fact, I hope Russia and China finance and train resisters everywhere the US has bases and economic interests.
There are videos all over of the Ukrainians using stingers on Russian jets. They scored a few hits so far but in reality haven’t done that much damage. It won’t be as big of a problem for Russia as one might think. The Nazi’s are in disarray, communication is ruined all over. Anti-tank weapons won’t help when their positions are being pulverized by artillery or from the air either. Any weapons being sent into Ukraine right now are just intended to generate more profits for Raytheon & co. They will be destroyed or captured real quick.
They still have to get into Ukraine. The jets are risible. Russia has apparently increased it air power over the last couple days. Any jet inside Ukraine will be trashed.
As for trucking in weapons across the border of Poland (and probably other borders as well), Russia needs to expend some drones looking for that and interdict them.
However, there is zero chance that any of this will alter the outcome of the conflict with Russia defeating Ukraine. This is mostly a PR effort to show NATO is “helping” Ukraine, when it reality it can do nothing whatever.
The risk is that it tries and something happens that forces a Russian response against a NATO member.
And the real takeaway from that is that someone with influence in the US and NATO does indeed want a war between NATO and Russia – despite the fact the THIRTY NATO war games proves NATO can not win against Russia.
SCOOP @ NightVision
Don’t believe a word that comes out of any Anglo-Zionists-Mouth.
Do you think they can spare weapons, when they can’t meet their own readiness requirements.
Remember the DoD always inflates its numbers. The true statistics are probably a lot worse.
Air Force
https://www.airforcemag.com/fighter-mission-capable-rates-fell-in-2021/
Navy
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/03/03/surface-ship-readiness-continues-to-struggle-navy-inspections-show/
Army
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/26/us-army-readiness-survey/
Marine Corps
https://news.usni.org/2021/03/25/investigation-7-month-long-chain-of-failure-led-to-9-killed-in-aav-sinking
The Deep State does not care about combat readiness or effectiveness.
All it cares about is getting a cut of the next contract.
Serbia voting to condemn Russia’s military operation is so sad. We could at least abstain, but no.
You can find the source on Serbian Sputnik. At least we haven’t introduced sanctions (so far). Oh the joys of having a quisling for a president.
Our dear president Vučić almost collapsed from heart attack today (already yesterday now) while giving his excuses to the people. Well, what did you expect, retarded idiot? You let western capital inside your country then you whine how they have you by the balls now? You don’t have to have a Phd in economics to see how utterly stupid letting foreign capital from hostile countries flood your market is.
If anything good has come of this, it’s that the moron won’t win the elections in april. It’s for certain now. He even might have dug his own grave with this treachery. We will see.
Many captures today of Ukr forces. They are starting to lay down arms in greater frequency. Several videos from different fronts have emerged today, this was the largest one:
https://twitter.com/spriter99880/status/1499126452331102209
Assuming that the Ukies troops are a mix of rabid nazis and regular Ukrainian army, destroying the cauldron would be counter to Russia’s purpose. The goal is to turn Ukrainians against the nationalists, and obliteraing them will not accomplish that.
Wolfowitz (Presidential Medal of Freedom winner) disbanded the Iraqi army after the US overran the country. With no local structure in place it was left to the occupiers to police the state and we all see how that turned out. The entire country was looted and turned into a haven for every imaginable mercenary, soldier of fortune, opportunist, and radical fundamentalist. This is exactly what Russia want to avoid – they want a friendly, neutral border state and trade partner.
Though it’s now easily confirmed that Russia was never going to win the information war against West, in the West, I’ve appreciated that they haven’t embarrassed themselves by trying too hard. The infrequent and meticulously accurate Ministry of Defense updates are a good example.
But for those many barflies stung by the infowar shellacking, the more important audience here is Zone B–& the example of restraint, the light touch, to the point of taking heavier troop losses, warning locals of strikes, I have to think that for many, the ‘We are not Americans’ message has some power.
First off, it must be understood what does it mean to “win the info war”, how do you win? By which side has more people believing a given narrative? Well the EU has 450 million people. A poll in China showed almost 60% support Russian actions while only 10% directly don’t support it (around 30 are indifferent and say it’s none of their business).
In China, the Russian embassy gift shop sold out overnight of every single item as thousands of Chinese flocked to “support Russia” and buy up every single item on the website.
A Canadian Embassy in China put up the Ukrainian flag with support message and it was spray painted overnight with graffiti that said “FUCK NATO”.
Cars are being spotted in China with giant white lettered Z on them in support of Russian troops….
Where is the narrative and information war winning, is it in the place of importance? That is the question.
Forgot to state: 60% of chinese, that is what, 500-700 million people alone? So my point being, the West is winning the info war in the west and no where else. Of course that is the place where the centralized global financial system exists and so the info-war has the most direct effect there, but the financial system is gradually moving east. China’s banks as I understand it now dominate western banks in size and capitalization.
Exactly.
And they are only winning the info-war in the West NOW, through manufactured lies and lots of fake images. The problem is that you can only keep that up for so long. What start out as small lies have to grow bigger and bigger over time for them to keep them believable.
As time progresses, more and more people will notice the discrepancies. Don’t forget that MSM has in the West itself the reputation of professional liars. It’s worst in the US and the UK, but trust in the media isn’t particularly high in the rest of the west either.
Twitter isn’t the real world. Many people have learned again, especially over the last two years, to be critical over what they are being told.
Over time, the size of the victory in the west of the info-war will grow smaller and smaller. They may perhaps, in some western countries at least, end up losing it. There’s a lot still to happen, much of it not military, and to be exposed that will further shape the narrative, everywhere. It’s not over yet.
I agree with this. I am more openly in condemnation of Ukraine at my workplace than I was against the US invasion of Iraq. I am now not getting any pushback from Ukraine supporters as in 2002-2003 when people openly mocked me.
It is the governments and MSM that are pushing the anti-Russia line. They have to do it to extremes because their rules are no longer going to apply to the world that sees that it is beneficial to ignore the West.
Russia has addressed the threat imposed by the West in Ukraine.
This is the limit of responsibility for Russia to address the numerous problems on the planet.
Now it is the time for freedom loving people in the United States and Europe to circumsize the monsters at home so they can never be allowed to duplicate such gross evil in Serbia, Iraq, Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, Libya, Palestine and around the planet again
Your well considered analysis may perhaps be wrong, Andrei.
You are correct that the US wanted an intervention. Thus, the Donbas invasion was thoroughly prepped and ready to commence to draw Russia into the fray.
However, the US never envisioned that Russia would launch the full-scale attack that it did. Support for this comes from the fact that the Ukrainian AF and Navy were destroyed (had the US thought this would happen, protective measures could;d have been taken). Moreover, the US did not anticipate an intervention that would create a cauldron behind the Donbas invasion. Again, there were no preparations by the Ukie army for that eventuality.
The US believed that Russia would adhere to it’s standard historical tactics of massive artillery preparation, instead of adapting Blitzkrieg tactics, and moving quickly and lightly and avoiding the need to reduce every enemy strongpoint. It d.id not see this coming
Finally, observe the NATO panic. How absurd to pledge aircraft that it couldn’t deliver! Again, there was no anticipation of the breadth of the Russian intervention.
The Russians have — as would be expected — several contingency plans, depending on circumstances. Do not think for a moment that there has been any dismay on a strategic level.
Time, will, of course, tell.
Thanks for your considered view, it has focused a couple of niggling thoughts that I hadn’t yet rationalised.
This aggressor habitually prioritizes important pixels but is arrogantly impatient when it comes to the very big picture.
I expect it will play out the same with sanctions & the economic war….unforeseen consequences & blow black will be the bitch from hell, for them as well.
I already see it manifesting in western declining economic activity & uncontrollable inflation.
Martin Armstrong named the two probabilities ‘Crash’ or ‘Crash & burn’.
We’ve passed the ‘Crash’ and are on the road to ‘Burn’,
All will be clear very soon.
As for NATO, well, time’s up mate.
#IStandWithPutin
Does anyone here seriously think that Russian could have won the propaganda/controlling the narrative war? Not a chance.
Does anyone think Russia could have allowed the U.S./Nato/Nazi’s to continue in Ukraine?
I think the Russian leadership said, don’t even bother trying. We can only control what’s in our own home, and even that is suspect.
The whole Western design on Russia has been for the last 1000 years to destroy her.
I understand I’m preaching to the choir here. And I very much appreciate the opportunity to do so, because it sure as hell doesn’t exist where I live.
I agree that it will last months because as I see it, Russia has lost so much prestige in the world (if prestige is the word?) so, they may as well take out the NATO missile bases in Poland and any other EU statelet while they’re at it.
All they need to do is phone up each base and give them a 15 min warning to evacuate the base and then boom.
I have no idea whether this is in their plans but the way I see it, why not? What do they have to lose?
well, it would be beneficial for Poland to do so, anyway UE is blatantly at war with us and is hell bent to make our life miserable till they brake us to accept globohomo way of life, if there were benefits to stay in they are quickly waning, so honestly if not rusofobic derangement syndrome present and obvious dangers of making other sarayevo in warsaw we should rather change the sides
Should the Russians succeed in their mission in Ukraine and continue on their way in the face of the ‘nuclear bomb’ economic sanctions that Washington and Brussels have directed at Moscow, the whole NATO alliance will appear to be a sham, and the security umbrella of Washington will be blown inside out by gale force winds.
I call attention to the fact that until now the Russians have not responded to the latest waves of sanctions apart from their closing their air space to all nations that have shut out Russian airlines, meaning the entire EU. However, the freezing of Bank of Russia assets in the West remains without a response, as does the partial exclusion from SWIFT. This is not for lack of options on the Russian side to inflict extreme pain on the West. The confiscation of all Western corporate assets in Russia would largely balance the frozen Russian assets in the West. The shut-off of gas and oil supplies, of uranium for French and other European power plants, and of still other essential raw materials that are largely or even exclusively sourced in Russia would be very damaging to the European economies. None of this has been done because the Russians expect to finish up their business in Ukraine rather soon, and then to negotiate a gradual return to normality with the West.
Fortunately such colossal confrontations as we are now witnessing come along once in several generations. Let us hope that this one will end sooner rather than later, and will see us all through safe and sound to a new world order that is better balanced and just than the one that we have known till now.
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/?fbclid=IwAR0Bz1WjqBUPSjEaVvE2Iib9WtpEdntV6Yzno9tN5rWAyYy_C7RwMeviGrc
Today I am unable to watch RT on YouTube and it was taken down on Roku’s RT channel yesterday.
I am able to stream RT on the web, but only the RT coming from Moscow. I cannot find any stream of RT America and not sure if they are now officially off the air. But I presume so….
A dark day for freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the land of the “first amendment.”
rt english live on rumble
https://rumble.com/vwbbjn-putin-announces-special-operation-in-donbass-special-coverage.html
Russia was not intervening but then the master stroke of CIA came flying through the mouth of Zelenski in the sentence we will get Nukes and then Russian tanks rolled in. US got its war they wanted so much…
a defeat for Russia indeed but Russia will prevail otherwise they will not do justice to their history.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/zoltan-pozsar-warns-russian-sanctions-threaten-dollars-reserve-status
The US and EU have made an enormous mistake that will change the financial structure of the world. They weaponized money and banks. They will push the world towards gold, crypto and digital currencies that sanctioning authorities can’t touch.
And the biggest error within this is teaching China what it needs to do before seizing Taiwan. The world doesn’t realize this yet.
don’t know if the article above mentions it, but Federal Reserve head Powell has now suddenly stated “the world can have more than one reserve currency”. First admission in history? Seems the elites are terrified and know they’ve fu##ed up and Dollar is about to be history.
Why should anyone (at least people not connected to the American security establishment) care if China seizes Taiwan?
Nobody cares about Taiwan. Taiwanese are tools just like Uyghurs, Hongers, Ukrainians
Freezing of Russian central bank assets in Western currencies is effectively like a default on these currencies. This lesson will not be lost on anyone: If you hold any Western currency, then what you have is not money that you can spend in whichever legal way you want, but a token that can be rescinded at any point of time for whatever reasons.
I am Brazilian and I would like you to know that in the West there are many people who understand the Russian position.
It particularly makes me sick of how hypocritical it sounds when I hear people speaking clearly about the brainwashing that MSM carries out on our people.
It’s sad.
I also believe that these sanctions have the effect of a boomerang that, thrown into the air, will sever the pitcher’s hand when he returns. And the worst thing for the USA and especially the EU is that this will happen sooner than their accountants who are half-assed economists imagine.
I am saddened by our country’s position but I would like you to know that in fact there are few forces in the peripheral western countries that can resist the corrupting power that the USA exerts over businessmen in general and politicians. We have been economically sabotaged forever.
The latest events surprised me because I didn’t think the war of narratives would reach such a surreal level. In fact, there wasn’t even a war. There is a narrative that dominates from the first day of operations in Ukraine.
You have no idea of the seductive power that MSM exerts on the masses. On the 23rd of February in a bakery I commented lightly on the news that were being broadcast about the impasse or obstacle that followed the refusal of Russian security proposals and all anyone was able to “argue” was that they thought Putin was pissed off. fear of NATO. I gave him a sarcastic little smile and asked where he got his information. On the face of it, to look like someone well informed, he denied that he was informed by REDE GLOBO, the largest TV station in the country. Certainly people think that changing channels or opting for channels on YT will be better informed and have no idea of the single narrative or the converging narratives.
if in so-called developed countries people allow themselves to be manipulated by MSM in the way you describe, imagine here in the tropics.
It is very difficult to pierce this bubble and here I have found information worthy of credibility. Thanks for the nice work.
I’m rooting for Russian success.
Anyone with a modicum of empathy can see that your patriotism is genuine, which we miss in the banana republics.
Most of this ukro/CIA/Mi6 propaganda is like Deutsche Wochenschau in 1945.
Arius, my thoughts and situation resemble and pretty much mirror yours. So feel an
immediate identification. My success in handing over a mind opener to the kids been
just partial.
“Forcing Russia to openly intervene”
Russia of course saw the trap and willingly entered. I for sure don’t know the mind of the RF government, but I am sure they saw that any prolongation of the inevitable confrontation was simply not feasible, it was either act now or just accept Ukraine becoming a NATO member by stealth – nothing official, but equipped and trained with the toys supplied by the US and really becoming a fortress. And in the meantime, the slaughter in Donbas continues.
There was nothing to choose, Russian diplomacy could not convince the West that it better negotiate. The West’s choice was a confrontation or Russia bending over. They did force Russia only insofar as there was nobody that would listen and understand. And if someone does not want to listen, they need – after carefully weighing strategy, tactics, expected results, and consequences – a kick into the balls.
What however peeves me to no end is the stance by Russia despite the sanctions to maintain the West is still a trading partner in good faith. Otherwise, why would they continue to keep up to supply the EU with energy? Why keep supplying strategic minerals?
If the Germans really would be smart, before endangering the trade with Russia, they would have secured their energy supply from viable other sources. But in his case they haven’t done so or with insufficient much more costly supplies. Now is the time to hit them where it hurts for their actions – or rather inaction – for ensuring a nonviolent way to separation would be negotiated.
This to me is the real defeat by the West, and Russia still seems to think it has a future with Europe. It doesn’t, so for God’s sake shut the bloody energy supply to the EU off, or someone might really begin to think that ulterior, not so statesmen like motives, perhaps the earnings of those personally interested in a state-owned (some 60%), but publicly-traded company like Rosneft, might guide he decisions in his case.
BTW – exactly this argument was brought forward by a relative who thinks despite the military action, Russia and the USA are still colluding in the globalist neoliberal scheme. After all, the precedent was set in Germany where after the war had begun, still supplies were shipped from US companies like truck tires, chemicals, etc.
There are absolutely no “Western victories”. The West has only been “very effective in controlling the narrative” in the West. 40 countries chose not to condemn Russia at the UN GA. These countries hold the overwhelming percentage of the world’s population.
The value of controlling the narrative/ information warfare is greatly exaggerated. The USA/ West are going to do what they want to do regardless of world opinion.
Most people are self centered and brain dead and aren’t even paying attention to Ukraine.
It is guess work too say “The West forced Russia to intervene”. No one knows if Russia was forced to intervene.
Russia openly intervening will not hurt her economically. Sanctions are total bullshit. Russia is going to separate herself from the Western economy and become self sufficient and independent. Also, it will have greater economic ties with China, India etc.
Diplomacy is saying “yes” till you’re 100% sure you can say “no”.
Peter, two things come to mind. One is that it MIGHT just actually be that Russia expected and worked to being “goaded” to this position, as they knew no other option would change things. Now at least they can truly say, all other avenues where exhausted. And Two, I’m thinking that possibly gas is not being cut off and other sanctions not happening as kind of a reverse war on US and EU. The first battle isensuring Ukraine is neutral, and then put in the very painful sanctions on the west, maybe targeted by country, and then offer a way out of the sanctions with conditions that are favorable to Russia?
I don’t know. One can hope.
The war allows Gazprom to abuse its dominant market position. They can now sell half the gas at triple the price. Europe will feel the pain and Russia gets the profits. Besides, Russia needs the cash for its own imports and to shore up the Ruble.
Russia cannot use its gigantic reserves, as they were confiscated by the European Central Bank.
Money is a social contract. The reserve currency status of the Euro meant that Europe could buy Russian energy on credit, without ever actually needing to pay for it. When the ECB confiscated Russia’s 500€+ billion in reserves, it only means that Europe now needs to pay in full and in cash. Only Rubles and gold are accepted as payment.
Your comment is dripping with bias.
Supply and demand is the capitalist system.
Is the USA abusing its dominant market position in charging Europe 3x more than before for l.n.g.?
Gazprom is not forced to sell to anyone, no one is forced to buy from Gazprom. Both parties have complete freedom of choice.
What you are interpreting as a sign of weakness is in fact a sign of strength.
The sanctions the west has now imposed will boomerang on them. They will hurt Russia, that’s true, but the west will suffer to a much greater extent. It will be the people in those western countries that will feel it in their pockets. They will be angry, and they will not blame Russia for their domestic economic problems. They will blame their own politicians.
Any European politician that wants to survive an election will have to address this. And there is only one solution. Negotiate with Russia to normalize matters. And that’s where the mastery lies. ‘Normalizing’ does not mean a return to exactly how it was before.
Russia will be able to impose at least some conditions on this. They will have an arsenal of economic measures they haven’t yet used, but could whenever they want, while the west’s quiver is basically empty. This means Russia maintains escalation dominance in the economic sphere, which is probably more beneficial in the long run than retaliating now, no matter how good that would feel.
I’m sure there’s already a narrative ready to go to explain the Ukrainian defeat. The Russians are/were so desperate that they used chemical and biological weapons on the poor heroic forces of the Ukraine. That will be the explanation. They’re already saying the use of thermobaric weapons is a war crime.