by Shellback for Russia Insider
Do you suppose people at the Pentagon read RI? I don’t mean read it in the sense that they have to know the Sewage Emitted by the Vast Army of Putin Trolls so they can Counter it with the Clear Water of NATO Bromides. I mean read it in the sense that they think they might learn something from the VAofPT ?
We at RI have published a number of articles about the relative chances in a fight between NATO and Russia. The Saker has contributed In a War With Russia NATO Doesn’t Stand a Chance and Russia Is Still Ready for War – Even Nuclear. I have written Is American Warfighting Doctrine Hardwired for Failure? and NATO Would Probably Lose a War Against Russia. Other pieces have been Could America Win a Nuclear War Against Russia?, Ready for Nuclear War over Ukraine? and Pat Buchanan’s Arming Ukraine Would Pull US into a War It Can’t Win. The common conclusion to these pieces is that USA/NATO would lose a conventional war with Russia and everybody would lose a nuclear war. There is no USA/NATO victory here.
Something about the war that we are pondering should be made clear at the outset. We are talking only about a conventional war fought at Russia’s borders. No one expects a Russian expeditionary force to successfully fight the USA from a base in Mexico. No one is betting on Russia winning a naval battle in the south Pacific. No one thinks Russia could gain and hold air superiority over southern Africa. No one is suggesting that Russia could conquer France. Indeed I do not think Russia could conquer Ukraine – “Getting to the Dnepr, Kiev or Lviv would have been easy, but once there, the Russians would have found themselves surrounded by people who didn’t want them to be there. And that, as the Americans found out in Iraq, is quite a different thing.” No. We are talking about the chances of NATO forces, on the edge of Russia, attacking it. Or reacting to a limited Russian attack to, say, finally put a stop to the continual shelling of civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk. That they would lose. Tough talk about stopping a Russian attack on NATO countries is alarmist nonsense: Russia is not interested in grabbing the Baltics or Poland let alone Finland or Sweden. Those who think that it is, must first explain why the Russia that they claim is hell-bent on recreating the USSR didn’t grab Georgia in 2008. Is not as if the USA/NATO was in a position to stop it then, was it?
It appears that some in the US military are starting to realize what has been started.
The piece is worth reading, despite the claptrap (“Putin’s erratic leadership “) and tough talk (note it’s the civilian who boasts: “We’d clean their clocks”), because it shows that reality is slowly seeping through the carapace of delusion.
The USA/NATO have been more or less continually at war with somebody since the fall of the USSR. But that somebody has been small, incompetent, poorly equipped, with very limited military reach. The principal concern of their armies for the last ten years have been roadside bombs; of their air forces, finding things to bomb; of their navies, firing cruise missiles. Nobody has been shooting back at the ships or aircraft. But where the enemy has been shooting back, in the ground wars, one has rudely to ask who won? In Somalia? Afghanistan? Iraq? Not the mighty NATO armies.
The USA spent months and months moving weapons, soldiers, spare parts, fuel, ammunition and materiel to the Middle East before the two Iraq wars. “The span of that bridge was literally a ship every 72 miles from the US to Kuwait”; “From January 2003 through the end of April 2003, MSC delivered more than 21 million square [sic – cubic surely] feet of war-fighting equipment and supplies, 260 million gallons of fuel and 95,000 tons of ammunition to the Persian Gulf “. Does anyone seriously think that Russia would wait quietly while hundreds of ships placidly crossed the oceans, arrived in ports, dumped their cargoes, assembled the bits and moved to the front? Saddam Hussein had nothing with which to hinder this ponderous buildup, but Russia does. Plenty of capable submarines to sink the convoys, hundreds of formidable Iskander rockets to shatter the ports and airfields and a large and competent air force to hinder free movement. To say nothing of a gigantic airborne force to get there first.
When did the USA/NATO last have to fight for the air superiority they have always taken for granted? They will this time.
USA/NATO assume clear and reliable communications; they take for granted the ability to navigate by GPS; to send digital control messages to drones and so on. Not this time. Russia has formidable electronic warfare capability. Some American generals are starting to notice: “unprotected” “eye-watering”. Note the amusing assumptions that Kiev 1) is fighting the Russian Army 2) which is using its best stuff. They will be stunned when the reality hits them.
When they did fight heavy formations, USA/NATO were up against Soviet 1960s and 1970s equipment, poorly maintained, poorly trained, poorly led. With no EW, no air cover, no air defense no significant artillery support, no secure communications. Not this time.
When did USA/NATO forces have to worry about really heavy artillery fire? The Russian army had made a god of artillery for 200 years. And, should more reminding be needed, a big artillery exercise just began in Southern Russia.
When did USA/NATO forces have to fight against a well-motivated and well-led force? Well, many times: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. But when, and this is the new bit, against a well-motivated and well-led force with competent and up-to-date weapons too?
Russia has much experience of starting as the underdog and prevailing. The USA/NATO have always assumed they would start big.
The US military has had something like 10,000 deaths in combat since 911. It will be many, many more this time.
There are said to be serious and continuing morale problems in the US Army. Not surprising, if you think about it: horrible fighting followed by defeat. That’s not good for anybody’s morale. As I have suggested before, I suspect they are a lot closer to the Vietnam-syndrome of the 1980s than the gung ho people in the Pentagon think. Other concerns, perhaps exaggerated, are moral injury: “I cannot become what I despise” or Neo-nazis. As to its NATO allies: there are plenty of stories of unpreparedness and underequipping. Here, from one of the US media cheerleaders for war with Russia: “Germany’s army is so under-equipped that it used broomsticks instead of machine guns.” A Pew survey shows that NATO countries aren’t all that willing to fight; one can harrumph “NATO’s Rot From Within”, but it’s more likely a disbelief about what they’re being told about Ukraine and Russia: few in Germany believe it. On the other hand: Russians fighting for Russia in Russia? If a thousand years of history is any guide, they will have no morale problems.
The US has a huge military structure backed by enormous expenditure. But a lot of that structure is irrelevant to a war with Russia: the USN wouldn’t dare put one of its fabulously expensive carrier battle groups into the restricted waters of the Black Sea. An enormous amount of that money is wasted: read how a family of air-transportable vehicles was transformed into expensive overweight under-armed boondoggles, or that they’re still building tanks that the Army doesn’t want, or the most expensive military project ever. There’s undeniably waste and corruption in the Russian Armed Forces and procurement system too, but their purpose is much more modest: defense of the homeland, not the unattainable gold-plated target of full spectrum dominance.
And what happens in the meantime in the seven countries that Obama has proudly “ordered military action in” and in any others that might need a spot of remedial bombing?
So what are we to make of these concerns now surfacing that the USA/NATO are in no condition to fight Russia?
The most frightening possibility is that it doesn’t mean anything very much and we will continue down the road of arrogant stupidity, the New American Century, American exceptionalism and other fantasies. This is the road to Götterdämmerung for all of us.
Ron Paul’s interpretation, which many share, is that it’s only rhetoric to support another raid on the taxpayers’ wallets. The big bucks come from the big complicated systems and for that you need to preach the big complicated threat. That’s mostly a threat to the American taxpayer.
But perhaps one can hope that it is a realization by soldiers – not desk warriors, real soldiers – that the USA is being pushed by a cabal in and around State and the White House (a cabal that boomed other quick little victories that dragged on and on to eventual defeat) into a war that it is in no condition to fight, let alone win.
Again I quote Field Marshal Montgomery, who had more experience of big war than anyone in the Pentagon today: “Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: ‘Do not march on Moscow’. Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule.”
Russia’s not marching on you; don’t march on it.
Russia has every right to push for a R2P zone in eastern Ukraine. Innocent citizens die like flies and the west doesn’t even ff-ing blink.
Besides a show of force [and an infuse in credibility] it would be great opportunity to test out all the new gear and see if it lives up to its whipped up promises.
A double-edged knife, that removes cancerous tumors and heals cells, all in one and for a truly free Donbass.
this line :
“The USA spent months and months moving weapons, soldiers, spare parts, fuel, ammunition and materiel to the Middle East before the two Iraq wars. “The span of that bridge was literally a ship every 72 miles from the US to Kuwait”; “From January 2003 through the end of April 2003, MSC delivered more than 21 million square [sic – cubic surely] feet of war-fighting equipment and supplies, 260 million gallons of fuel and 95,000 tons of ammunition to the Persian Gulf “. Does anyone seriously think that Russia would wait quietly while hundreds of ships placidly crossed the oceans, arrived in ports, dumped their cargoes, assembled the bits and moved to the front? Saddam Hussein had nothing with which to hinder this ponderous buildup, but Russia does. Plenty of capable submarines to sink the convoys, hundreds of formidable Iskander rockets to shatter the ports and airfields and a large and competent air force to hinder free movement. To say nothing of a gigantic airborne force to get there first.”
Well, hasn’t NATO been doing that in the border countries of Russia ? I guess maybe not to the same extent as in ME…but the build-up is definitely been going on all year.
My concern as well (I posted once about it).Another point on that is, we are talking about Europe,not a desert in the ME.Much of the equipment and supplies that might normally be shipped in is already there.It wouldn’t need to be imported it.Its the troops that they would need to bring in.And as for that ,how many are NATO’s plans for? I’m not sure we know that.Hitler’s invasion (that failed) involved 4 million.I suspect they assume to use fewer.But what numbers are we looking for.The Gulf War was several hundred thousand.And any invasion of Russian would surely need 6-7-8-9 times that.I don’t see where they hope to find those numbers from quickly.Which brings me to what I’ve always said.NATO is running a big bluff game.They are trying psych warfare on Russia.They have no intention to go one-on-one with Russia.And they know that if Russia (or the NAF) liberates Ukraine they will have to accept it.They’ll whine to high heaven of course,but that’s all they’ll do.
The Russians would use tactical nukes to eliminate marshalling areas.
Provokative bullshit
Bob, the USA’s Achilles Heel is its troops. They just love orgies of care-free murder, like the ‘turkey-shoot’ on the Kuwait-Basra Highway in 1991, or the arrogant, psychotic, boastfulness of the helicopter killers in Baghdad after they’d massacred some journalists and a good Samaritan from the safety of the sky. But getting killed themselves? No thanks! Killing-good!!! It’s The American Way of Life, and not up for negotiation. But dying for Freedom, Liberty, Free Markets and the Eternal Glory of Bandera and Ukraine? Not likely. And even their ‘Special Forces’ death-squads will find Russians harder to slaughter than Iraqi children in their pyjamas or sleeping households of Afghans. And their archetypal weapon, the drone carrying death from on high, without conscience, compunction or compassion, won’t do them any good either. Of course it’s psy-ops, but the target is the brainwashed masses of the West, not the Russians. You need an external enemy to divert attention as your morally corrupt societies crumble from their internal rottenness.
Mulga, you nailed it. Bottom line is the urgency of imperialist defeat from outside. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy showed us what it will take to bring human decency to the stinking, rotten corpse of the entire West; the scope thus being approximately a billion people.
Two different questions, really: (1) is US/NATO capable of offensive operations or (2) is US/NATO preparing regardless of logistic realities.
Operation Barbarossa was a surprise in part because STAVKA’s Intel correctly discerned that the Wermacht was not prepared for an offensive against the USSR, regardless of troop buildup.
Mutton prices in Europe preceding June 22, 1941 were stable (no mass sheep slaughter for four million will coats) and German oil and munitions production were incapable of large scale combat for more than two months (munitions ran dry by August, well before winter.)
Oil and gun lubricants froze well above average winter temps in Russia. All this was reported to Stalin, which explains why the head intel officers in charge weren’t shot on the evening of the 22nd. Germany et al were not ready for an invasion, yet invade they did.
So don’t rule out self delusion and seemingly unpreparedness on the part of the West!
Yes. And Nato has been creeping with all sorts of provocation at Russian border ONLY because Russia has not put the foot down
what a fabulous quotation to end the article with…”Again I quote Field Marshal Montgomery, who had more experience of big war than anyone in the Pentagon today: “Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: ‘Do not march on Moscow’. Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule.”
Russia’s not marching on you; don’t march on it.”
The Pentagram knows perfectly well that they dont stand a chance against Russia. Russia is just too big and powerful to be bullied. Hollywood and western corporate MSM will desperately try to convince us otherwise but you don´t win wars with propaganda, films about parades and big UFO´s hovering over cities and “Moon landing” lies.
What afraid´s them even more is Russia & China together with BRICS and the rest of the free world. That´s some serious competition and they can only hope and dream about prolonging their satanic “empire”. Their fate is inevitable and their Karma unspeakable..
Pentagram…Alistair Crowley…Michael Aquino…..and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Lucky for Russia that Stalin’s Five Year Plan to eradicate religion failed. Stalin was so deeply shaken by Barbarossa, that he secretly went back to church and even confessed his sins on three separate occasions during the course of the war. Wow, those confession sessions must have been very long and painful.
Under Stalin, the prudent hid away their Holy Mother of Kazan icons. Kazan is the Protectress of Russia. When those icons were removed and hidden away, the sacred protection was removed and the Nazi armies smashed into Russia. Now, you can bet that there isn’t a household in Russia that does not have it’s Holy Mother of Kazan icon proudly hanging on the wall.
Mere superstition, some of you say? Hey, look at the satanists in the Pentagram. Who’s superstitious?
Its Supernatural, the great pianist and fearless non-conformist, Maria Yudina was Stalin’s favourite pianist. She apparently told Stalin on more than one occasion that she prayed for his soul, and donated prize money for that purpose to a church. Stalin was once a seminarian, after all.
“Ron Paul’s interpretation, which many share, is that it’s only rhetoric to support another raid on the taxpayers’ wallets. The big bucks come from the big complicated systems and for that you need to preach the big complicated threat”
Might be, but Ron Paul is dead wrong if he thinks the average Pindo doesn’t appreciate the crucial role played by militarism in propping up a 100% decadent, parasitic, wasteful lifestyle to the detriment of the entire planet. Of course, in order to satisfy the arch-greedy Pindos the latter should be exempt from taxation as well. After all, really pathetic Pindostani bootlickers such as the Psheks, the Ukros, and the Balts would, most likely, be truly elated to relieve the Exceptionals of their tax burden, demanding no other compensation than benign “protection”.
“Again I quote Field Marshal Montgomery, who had more experience of big war than anyone in the Pentagon today:
>> Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: ‘Do not march on Moscow’. Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule >>.
Russia’s not marching on you; don’t march on it.”
Not only Napoleon and Hitler; Sweden’s most deranged crackpot King Charles XII preceded the two gentlemen, happily rampaging in the early 18th century. Predictably, he didn’t fare any better to put it mildly. All these madmen, past and present, show that there is a flaw with the concluding piece of advice above: Russia’s not marching on you; don’t march on it. Sure, it’s a very elegant statement, but it somehow misses the point. Western imperialism has an inborn impetus to rape, plunder, and pillage that takes precedence over any other considerations. And on this basis, it could actually be said that Russia, China, and indeed BRICS in its entirety, are advancing on the West. A parasite being increasingly denied its means of existence is absolutely correct perceiving this as the enemy marching straight ahead.
Nussiminen, you have it exactly. Psychopaths are innately and irredeemably aggressive, because insatiably greedy and hostile towards others. The archetypal Western psychotic will always seek enemies to attack and, preferably, destroy. Violence is their strong point, because it gives them a feeling of power over life and death, which they crave to assuage their own dread of death. Similarly their ‘religion’ is also always aggressive, domineering and their ‘Christianity’ ignores the teachings of the Nazarene, the ‘Golden Rule’, the injunctions to love thy neighbours, turn the other cheek and not throw the first stone, in preference for the Judaic xenophobia of the Old Testament God with his bloodlust for genocides, massacres and hideous punishments for tiny infractions of truly weird dogma. Unfortunately, in an age of ecological collapse and thermo-nuclear Overkill, the West will NEVER follow a policy of peaceful co-existence. Such a course affronts their fanatic belief in their own divinity as ‘Gods Upon the Earth’.
Very true, Mulga.
Indeed, peaceful co-existence would also mean the West relying henceforth on voluntary contributions from the rest of the planet to sustain its so-called “post-industrial society” and grossly overrated middle classes. Granted, there are a few peoples around that would gladly sacrifice themselves for ‘European values’, but it wouldn’t quite make up for the loss of all the imperialist loot.
Well it seems the Ukrainian “nationalists” are having a bad time in their “quest” for EU acceptance. As part of their EU “partnership” they now have to accept part of the EU’s ME and African migrants flocking to Europe.I don’t know who is going to be more unhappy over that.The Galician bunch,having non-whites moving into Lvov.Or the migrants having to suffer from trying to live in a fascist Ukraine:
http://antifashist.com/item/ukraina-ce-evropa-es-otpravlyayut-v-kiev-100-afrikanskih-migrantov-po-kvote-evrosoyuza.html#ixzz3j4kg1nVq
For once, I feel genuinely that I have to take a bow for the powers that be in the EU. The Ukro-trash, more than anybody else, needs a considerable influx of people that are not simply congenital offal. Also, the more Third World immigrants that settle in Banderastan, the less likely the Psheks will stir up any silly trouble there.
Anglos are sending to Russia “skunks in jeans” instead soldiers.
If Russia were to be conquered it will be by own traitors.
Russia needs to get rid of them and hang them on the Red Square.
There is no need for Soviet’s era army.
It is becoming clear that the US has no intention of fighting big wars, though they may get themselves into that position.
Drone warfare, “hybrid” warfare – simply backing other countries to do their fighting as US body bags put a damper on warmongering.
Exactly!
” Does anyone seriously think that Russia would wait quietly while hundreds of ships placidly crossed the oceans, arrived in ports, dumped their cargoes, assembled the bits and moved to the front? Saddam Hussein had nothing with which to hinder this ponderous buildup, but Russia does. Plenty of capable submarines to sink the convoys, hundreds of formidable Iskander rockets to shatter the ports and airfields and a large and competent air force to hinder free movement. To say nothing of a gigantic airborne force to get there first.”
-But as the article says, how could Russia stopped them, if they began to transfer all that to France, what could Russia do? Invade all the way to France? Fight the USA navy outside of France? This article seems to suggest that Russia would go on the offensive as soon as they detected a build up, but at the same time is says Russia could barely be able to occupy half Ukraine. So how would Russia stop a build up that could be taking place anywhere in NATO, most likely in a safe-distance.
The Russian military has already addressed NATO staging in mass for a war with Russia. They clearly stated that they would freely use tactical nuclear missiles to destroy those bases.
It’s really that simple. Russia cannot wait like the militia can. A NATO war has no beginning without a nuclear ending. Tactical nukes would be a brief reminder that the entire West would be next if NATO continued. Russia’s military doctrine is clear, and was demonstrated all last year in military exercises. Everyone in the world of military planning understands that the Russians are not bluffing.
And since NATO cannot get an airpower upper hand, there is no way to fight a war against Russia. That is why the near abroad is the theater for war versus Russia.
MAD is the defense.
Conventional kinetic warfare just won’t work for the reasons laid out in the article above.
The Hegemon is left with economic sanctions, and creating as much chaos in the near abroad as it can generate.
SCO will handle most of those fires.
Diplomacy and Eurasian development will handle the rest.
An Empire is dying. The American Imperium is in decline. It will be a rough descent. But that is classical history playing out.
Hence Kaliningrad’s extreme strategic importance!
(extreme left of map, center, next to Poland)
http://www.russiamap.org/images/full/political-jp.jpg
Also explains the swedes & their lurking rooskie sub fetish.
U can bet that the Iskanders are deployed there, as a final warning, because they are so close to the heads of the snake, only 10 minutes flight time at most —Brussels, the $hitty (London), & maybe Frankfurt (EU).
Thank you for this summary Shellback.
I am sorry to disappoint you but you forget the F-35… With this plane, when it works, the Russian will never know what hit them. And also the USA is currently looking for ways to counter the Russians. A miracle will happen, I am sure. As you know they are in Ukraine not only to teach them but also to learn how Russian are fighting. After that, with the twist of the wrist, the Russians will fly… If I was a Russian I would be very, very scared.
You presented a common conclusion regarding the NATO war machine. There is also a common conclusion emerging in which the world economy could be heading into a massive economic meltdown (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-15/approaching-global-deflationary-crisis). Every one will suffer, including Russia and her partners, but they have a much better chance of survival than the moribund USA. The so-called sanctions, after all, are a blessing in disguise.
When you look at the overall situation, the position of Russia and her partners, as well as the strategic approach adopted by the group, there is no doubt that the USA is on for a tough ride. Jade Helm is not happening for nothing.
I would never ever underestimate the Russian fighter planes, because F-35 in this day is just a joke with the old technology
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=latest+russian+fighterjet+on+air+show
“when it works”
Don’t hold your breath…
The hangar-queen F-35 Lemonjet flies extremely well -but only a Powerpoint presentation.
Assuming, just assuming, all the bugs get worked out, and it has the necessary F-22’s to protect it, plus the extremely vulnerable and unstealthy airborne tankers on hand to top it up -then this lumbering lemon might make a limited first strike attack with its 4 internal missile/bomb hardpoints and 180 rounds of 25mm cannon.
This assumes nobody’s radar detects it from the rear or sides where it is not very stealthy and it doesn’t get low enough for a single bullet to shatter that fragile stealth covering.
In any other role, all bets are off and they’d also best look out for any large birds with that vulnerable single engine.
Sorry guys, but the second paragraph is a joke. It is called sarcasm.
On a serious note, I watched a video where a F-35 pilot expressed his opinions in words very similar to my “joke”. In his case, he was serious. That is the tragedy.
Hear a pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFZ0bbLIcQg
And for a more recent assessment: http://www.rt.com/usa/311313-marines-f-35-combat-ready/
That was understood but one must never miss a chance to add to the F-35 vitriol -especialy when you consider what the hideous cost is to every taxpayer in all the countries that are/were foolish to get sucked into this FU-35 feet-of-clay boondoggle.
I wonder how much grease money went under the table?
To understand the present US ideological cabal running everything, read a short book: “National Security and Double Government” by Michael J. Glennon.
http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446
In one place, all your knowledge and insights will be further informed as you learn how they totally control the Hegemon’s agenda and all missions and projects. With no accountability or oversight.
The cabal has no checks and balances. Any crackpot notion is as good as scholarly opinion. This is how all the wars, conflicts and chaos have come about.
Read it. Then you’ll know who the enemy of mankind is.
Response to Shellback for Russia Insider.
Your missive reads as good Rah Rah morale boosting cheerleading.
The old American Communist Party USA of Gus Hall would blast such hopeful sounding ‘analysis’ (I use “analysis” to be polite), on how the capitalist world was in decline and some sort of socialism would soon triumph.
The CPUSA then urged a vote for the imperialist, and one of the murderers of John F. Kennedy, and old time Mobster, Lyndon B. Johnson, for President. You understand, LBJ was the candidate of the imperialist democrat gang, and therefore, to be voted for. These years, the CPUSA often (on 4 occasions) ran Gus Hall as its official candidate for the US Presidency, a candidacy that allowed them the political cover from their followers, while they poured their main resources into supporting the Democrat gang candidate (it never mattered who).
Within the US, the potentially radical milieu was misdirected into useless resistance, and then carefully channeled back into the cynical political game, of Dems versus Repubs. After 1990, the bottom went out of the alternate culture and alternate political movement (wonder what happened then???). In 2015, there remains not an iota of political resistance to the political gangs, and the operation of the Zionist American political government and its political culture.
To the point:
The Zionist Americans have:
1. seized control of America through a coup d’etat (November 22, 1963),
2. slaughtered 2 million Vietnamese – while destroying much of their infrastructure.
3. murdered 1 million Indonesians – 1965.
4. executed or imprisoned all legitimate leaders of America’s African Americans.
5. Organized a war against Iran (1/2 a million Iranians dead)
6. Destroyed Iraq (several times over)
7. Severely damaged Afghanistan
8. Slaughtered more than 100,000 Guatemalans.
9. Inflicted major suffering and casualties against the Syrian peoples.
10. Obeying their master’s wishes, financed the Zionist land seizures and destruction of Palestine
11. Overthrown the elected government of Ukraine, and begun a WAR IN EUROPE.
12. I’m getting sleepy, so I’ll let you finish the list (another hour should do it).
In conclusion:
The Zionist American Oligarchs are not “Afraid” they can’t fight Russia. They have had their setbacks, but they have inflicted an impressive amount of damage – for the $buck.
Our fight will be long and hard; it must also be fought within the belly of the beast.
Russia began in Kiev. I believe the people of the Ukraine would gratefully welcome the Russian Army – should it come. After liberation, votes (plebiscites) can be held, as in Crimea and Donetz and Luhansk. Let the people decide.
For the Democratic Republics!
IMAGINE
Yes, it is a well written wonderful sounding article by shellback/RI.
It felt like an energy drink. I love it. And I could not write such good texts, especially not in English.
On the other hand I sadly need to agree with the concerns addressed by Peter J.Antonsen and Uncle Bob.
Don’t need to repeat everything, but it is true that NATO is there directly at RF’s borders with all the infrastructure and weapons to start something (Baltic states, Black Sea, all around Russias borders). Everything except for the soldiers is already in place :(
At the end it may be 50/50 in terms of the euphoric analysis by shellback versus the concerns.
The question is indeed which fighters the West would want to use. But weren’t there mobilizations in Poland and the Baltics? They will always find enough idiots with a low IQ whose’ lives are dominated by HATING RUSSIA. If they would be smart and qualified enough to win against Russia? I doubt that.
But we in Europe really do not want this war, I mean: Nobody except for some insane fanatics maybe, less than 1%.
The problem: It can be started by a simple false flag, staged by the tribe.
And then it doesn’t really matter anymore if NATO is afraid of the RF armed forces.
It appears some of those top 0.1% double-citizens believe they can survive such a war. that’s what it makes so dangerous. Rational arguments do not count.
Don’t worry the bill is already prepared for these tyrants including all of the evidences what they have done, starting with the Federal reserve bank enslavement, WW2 and so on.
None of the trees can grow up to the sky, the ring is getting smaller and smaller……….
I thin it’s more like 4 million Viet Namese, over a million Cambodians, and a million Iranians. And destroyed the wealthiest nation in Africa.
Not to forget Laos. And even tigers and rhinos.
13. Turned the US and now their strap, Europe, into a third world corpse to solidify their control.
14. Using mind control via propaganda and chemicals added to food, water, ‘andantidepressants’ and televised sports and debt consumerism to zombify the population.
I don’t think the US is planing to fight Russia military. US want to damage the russian economy and destabilize the present russian government by recklessly impose on neigbouring countries like Georgia and Ukraine.
MORE wars.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-18/pentagon-boosts-drone-flights-50-bernanke-warns-cutting-defense-spending-could-hurt-
So despite the Air Force having a hard time finding pilots for its drones, the Pentagon still plans to ramp up drone flights by 50% over the next four years.
We learn from the Wall Street Journal that:
The Pentagon plans to sharply expand the number of U.S. drone flights over the next four years, giving military commanders access to more intelligence and greater firepower to keep up with a sprouting number of global hot spots, a senior defense official said.
To buy time till this gets deployed fleet-wide ca 2018.
Unmanned Carrier-Launched Jet X-47B Launch – (Fighter Drone) (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuSqExO23ws
There is a very sophisticated technology in practice how to take down the drone in a very simple way
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+US+drone+taken+down+by+the+Iranians
this is a good article on how Iran is now viewing the Exceptional nation:
http://atimes.com/2015/08/us-policies-in-the-middle-east-iran-resists-the-politics-of-resistance/
a snippet:
However, in the ultimate analysis, the ‘red line’ for the Iranian leadership will be that the US might be stepping up its longstanding policy to create disunity within the regime.
Of course, it has been a fashionable thesis among American experts that the fractious Iranian regime would unravel once the country’s integration with the West gains traction. An article in the Saudi daily al-Hayat this week (featured also by Al-Arabiya) actually predicted that Syria is a flashpoint over which dissent might appear within the Iranian regime. The article juxtaposed President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps:
“In Tehran, the tug of war has started between the hawks and the doves. But at least for now, President Rowhani and his Foreign Minister Zarif seem to still have a green light from Supreme Leader Khamenei to send out messages of reassurance and moderation. It seems they have the authority to speak on behalf of the state in the Islamic Republic, which is seeking understandings with its neighbors. What is not clear yet, however, is whether the Revolutionary Guards have the authority in parallel to speak on behalf of the revolution in Iran. The outcome of the tug of war will most certainly impact Syria.
It is not only on Syria, but also over Yemen (where it exercised restraint by not jumping into a war of ‘resistance’ against the Saudi interventionist forces) that Tehran senses the US ‘pushing back’ at it.
What is so frightening is that the US misleadership seems to be relentlessly pushing towards war with Russia. One has the impression that there is some dark belief system involved.
Yes, you are totally right, it is the fanatical and driven by the ideology “That we are chosen one” and we can do what we want. Unfortunately for these fanatic guys, it is very well exposed around the world and not a secret any more.
Every single country around the world collected evidence about these tactics.
America wants higher military spending for its military corporations, and is fighting a proxy war against Russia using – and abusing – Ukraine and the EU.
It’s part of the wolfowitz doctrine and PNAC, the Project for the New American Century, which is the whole of this one, of containment of Russia (likewise with China) and also weakening Europe, so that it remains the world’s only superpower…except it won’t work.
Late news here for anyone following this gigantic event.
The mark IS China & always has been; explains all the do-nothing foot dragging by the Russians.
Mark SEPT 3 down—very big sacred number/date for China!
Even further, Henry Kissinger had the following to say about U.S. China relations, as quoted from his website HenryAKissinger.com, in an article entitled The Future of U.S. – Chinese Relations; Conflict Is a Choice, Not a Necessity:
Just as Chinese influence in surrounding countries may spur fears of dominance, so efforts to pursue traditional American national interests can be perceived as a form of military encirclement. Both sides must understand the nuances by which apparently traditional a
http://www.naturalnews.com/050816_Tianjin_explosion_space-based_weapons_military_retaliation.html
Jim has been on this since day1.:
http://82.221.129.208/ac1index.html
Are you referring to the prediction that the real Mayan calendar date for the end of the World was 9-3-2015.If so,sorry,I didn’t buy the 2012 date and don’t this one either (didn’t believe Y2K prediction either).
Anyone who thinks to betray their people working for the West should think twice about that.I’m not sure if people remember the story of the Afghan translator that worked for the British military in Afghanistan.He was refused asylum in Britain even though he was threatened with death by the Taliban in Afghanistan.The British used him then threw him in the trash.He was caught escaping Afghanistan looking to get asylum in Germany,and was killed along with several other ex-translators that foolishly worked for the West.The foolishness of trusting the West amazes me.They almost always betray those that help them when they aren’t needed anymore.The pictures of the fall of Saigon should be proof enough.The US ran out leaving hundreds of the traitors that served them.They even beat people off the helicopters that tried to save themselves by hanging on to them.They just left them to the righteous fury of the North Vietnamese.Most I heard were imprisoned and executed afterwards:
http://www.rt.com/uk/312722-interpreter-afghan-killed-taliban/
Same story has happened after the WW2 when the Czechoslovak pilots were fighting against the fascist under the English air combat.
When the WW2 ended they have decided to come back to former Czechoslovakia. All of them were put in jail,/under the pretention they were traitors / they were persecuted and family destroyed even two generations.
Today everyone knows that it was the punishment, because they were fighting Empire. Same story was with the Russian’s who were returning back to Russia they were put into a Gulags and they were forced to work for free as a slaves under horrendous conditions.
Many of the former soldiers from the former East Europe were taken also to Russia for the forced labor camps as a punishment because they beat the fascist.
Telegraph filling their usual role by pimping for the next war.
By Roland Oliphant, Moscow
12:01AM BST 12 Aug 2015
Russia and Nato are actively preparing for war with one another amid the greatest build up of military tension in Europe since the end of the Cold War, a new report says.
Rival exercises by the Russian armed forces and Nato have led to several near-miss incidents that could result in confrontation between the two sides, and leaders need to consider a new arms control treaty to avert the possibility of heightened tensions spilling into war.
The report by the European Leadership Network, a think tank, comes amid the most intense fighting for six months in eastern Ukraine and as Michael Fallon, the defence minister, pledged to expand a British army training mission to Ukraine.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11797351/Russia-and-Nato-actively-preparing-for-war.html
a very interesting article on how the US establishment figures think about the role of the US dollar.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2015/08/lawrence-wilkerson-travails-of-empire.html
excerpt:
But what makes his perspective important is that it represents a mainstream view of many professional politicians and ‘the Establishment’ in America. Not the hard right of the Republican party, but much of what constitutes the recurring political establishment of the US.
As I have discussed here before, I do not particularly care so much if a trading indicator has a fundamental basis in reality, as long as enough people believe in and act on it. Then it is worth watching as self-fulfilling prophecy. And the same can be said of political and economic memes.
At minute 48:00 Wilkerson gives a response to a question about the growing US debt and of the role of the petrodollar in the Empire, and the efforts by others to ‘undermine it’ by replacing it. This is his ‘greatest fear.’
He speaks about ‘a principal advisor to the CIA Futures project’ and the National Intelligence Council (NIC), whose views and veracity of claims are being examined closely by sophisticated assets. He believes that both Beijing and Moscow are complicit in an attempt to weaken the dollar.
So they should be afraid of fighting Russia. If they weren’t afraid we’d be odds on to have World War 3 in the very near future.
In fact – we might get it anyway.
You are quite mistaken about the desired outcome of many of the wars USA has participated in. True many of these operations did not pan out the way the military planers wanted, but that is irrelevant. These operations met the goals of organisations like Project for a New AMERICAN Century, AMERICAN Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institute and others. Despite the word AMERICAN in the name there is nothing about these organisations that is in the AMERICAN interests.
Iraq is a failed state WIN
Ukraine is a failed state WIN
Syria is on life support WIN
Libya is a failed state WIN
Yugoslavia broken and rebroken, WIN
Afganistan is a failed state WIN
Terrorists in Chechnya WIN
Forget for a moment what US military planners say is the goal of an operation, everyone of these situations achieves one of two goals, weakens a potential ally of Russia, or weakens a potential enemy of a particular middle east country. In that context they are winning big time. Its just everyone else that is losing.
China and Russia are strategic partners. Loss
Russia is impossible to defeat. Loss
Eurasia is becoming a reality. Loss
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Loss
Petrodollar system mortally wounded Loss
BRICS and SCO dwarf EU and NATO Loss
India, Pakistan and Iran in SCO Loss
BIS an irrelevancy in global settlements Loss
Chaos is a goal achievement, but the fires have burnt down most of the Hegemon’s assets and advantages and broken the hegemonic lock of the last 70 years.
one thing most western people forgot / made light , is the capture of RQ-170 stealh drone by iranian military using russian EW / Jammer.. That operation was planned thouroughly by iranian and russian miliary , and both benefits from it..
Look at the reaction of US Goverment after the RQ-170 capture.. They immediately tone down the ‘attack iran’ rhetoric , because they were suprised with iranian capability ( augmented with russian Electronic Warfare ) to not only DETECT but also scramble the drone’s GPS signal and then take over / hijack the drone’s control , causing it to soft land in iranian territory.
This incident showed that
– Iran have the will and capability and guile to counter US Stealth platforms like B2/F22/F35. RQ170 was even smaller compared to B2 in term of Radar Cross Section and if the iranian can detect it , then what will happen to B2 attacking iran ?
– Russian EW/Jammer equipment can break thru US electronic guidance and control , something that more than just ‘eye watering’ , even for a supposedly invisible stealth drone.
– Attacking Iran will cost more than just downed airplanes but it will DESTROY THE US MILITARY SUPERIORITY MYTH and show to other nations that US military’s strength can be beaten. Iran will take horrible losses in a war with US , but they will certainly inflict more than enough death to any attacking US forces.
American Public reaction when RQ170 was captured :
– Immediately calling it a hoax , saying the primitive cave dwelling iranian didnt have capability to detect let alone hack the stealth drone..
– When it is proven that iranian have the drone, American public immediately said that the drone malfunctioned and landed softly in iran , not because of some clever iranian hackers.. Imagine a malfunctioned drone that can land with no damage , avoiding the mountainous terrain and boulders and landed in one piece …
– The american public also deride the iranian saying that even with the drone in iran’s hand, they cant do anything with the encrypted data … in few days the iranian gov showed the world that they already decrypted the data in the drone… the american public are so deep in their superiority complex they think other nations dont have clever/educated people working for their respective goverment..
They think all educated clever people from other country, want to come to America or already have. When clever people who lived in America say they want to leave it.
These people go absolutely insane
… Forgot to add one fun fact about the RQ170 drone hack by iran..
The iranian goverment send a toy RQ170 drone colored in PINK to president Obama , in part to mock his secret gay life … funny how everyone in this world know Obama is Gay , but only americans dont know that fact..
This is really off topic, and my apologies, but I cannot think of any other way to get this question out.
There is a very interesting looking, in depth, – over 2hrs long – documentary about Putin (including many interviews with him) made and released in Russia in April this year, called “President”. By all accounts it covers topics he has never publicly addressed before, and it’s wide ranging and frank. It’s on youtube. Sadly, there’s no translation, and I dont know a word of Russian.
I’m not terribly computer familiar either, so I am wondering if anyone knows and can tell me of a way I can get it translated. I was told there is a program somewhere you can upload vids and then translate. I’d be happy to supply it to The Saker site, if I can do it somehow.
Thanks for any help.
You can see it at http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/president-putins-15-years-power-en-subtitles-video/ri7089 or the live leak site, with English subtitles.
Original article at http://www.sott.net/article/296566-PRESIDENT-Putins-15-years-in-power-EN-Subtitles-VIDEO
Thankyou very much for that blue. It’s much appreciated. Fascinating and terrific documentary. It’s interesting to get confirmation that so much of what I had deduced about Putin’s character – especially a deep seated capacity for deep emotional feeling – has been confirmed. I loved the saying from Russia, “run from the person for whom power is a dream; run to the one for whom power is a burden”. It is line with “power should only go to those who don’t want it” in English. A common observation it seems. A lovely man, a humanitarian with a brilliant mind and driven by integrity. If only such were common, instead of being the rarest of the rare. No wonder the devils of the West hate him so. The dark always hates the light.
When Ukrainian army starts offensive, Russia has to finally militarily intervene to stop this lunacy and to get Yats and all other rats justice.
Enough is enough!
LOLOLOL the people here have no concept of force disposition or logistical support issues.
NATO in conventional war would absolutely dominate Russia.
You’re talking about Russia, whose tank force consists of primarily (68%) T-72’s which have been proven on several occasions completely ineffective against western modern armor. That leaves the T-80’s and 90’s. America alone outnumbers her here, 6200 M1’s vs 4400 T-80/90’s. I suspect with somewhat similar results to what happened to the T-72’s. Armata? Long ways away. Also M1A3 is on the way. And still you do not have NATO’s best tank, the Leopard 2A7+.
You’re talking about Russia whose aircraft variants have all been shot down at one time or another by western analogues. Excluding only the SU-35S. Of which they have 48. Vs 1000’s of NATO aircraft.
You’re talking about a Russia whose only comparable stat is submarines of which only the US is needed to outnumber them at 56 vs. 72 active hulls.
Don’t get me started on the surface fleet situation.
NATO will own it which is why Russia would need to go nuclear to protect itself.
NATO for the win. Period end paragraph.