As many had been suspecting for days, Putin initiated a major shakeup in his cabinet. The most notable was the removal of longtime defense minister Shoigu, to be replaced with a man many have not heard of: Andrey Belousov, an economist by trade and training.
That's a pity - The pronoun challenge sounds like a fun yankee game - isn't this the one where the contestants get to take them all home to challenge at leisure?
Now that the Northern front is Open, it is only a matter of time till Project Ukraine buckles due to overload. While it is unclear what *specifically* will act as the Coup de Grace, we are closer to said critical moment/ inflection point moreso than we were when the North was still relatively static.
All the commentators and analysts have been saying this for months, but it still hasn't happened. I wish Russia would drop the hammer full-force and end this already.
It has not happened but we are clearly making good progress towards it right now. A whole new front has been opened, it's advancing well and the Ukrainians are in panic.
Dropping the hammer full force would kill the very people Russia has intervened to save, Russia's kin. Russia won't do that.
US-style, city obliterating, mass murder offensives like the destruction of Raqqa or the Israeli destruction of Gaza City indeed are highly effective at wiping out resistance, but they also kill very many noncombatant civilians. The majority of "Ukrainians" in fact are ethnic Russians, with ethnic Russians making up over 95% of the population in the East of what used to be Ukraine. Russia will not kill those people.
It's even an open question whether Russia would use such tactics in Poland, Germany, France, or the UK, where using US-style tactics would not kill Russians.
Ukraine is also a giant money pit for western mil. hardware. Hard for western leaders to get elected when they squander their nation's wealth. More chance of bringing about change in west and energising anti-war leaders. He seems happy to be the rock that the MIC throws it's wares at, highlighting MICs influence on western foreign policies. The longer it goes on the more people's eyes get opened.
If the US-Ukronazis have moved troops because of the northern gig, things will be easier on the central front which I think is the one where the war will be decided. Tactics, operations and strategy based on casualty-conservation seem to me to be as prudent as they are humane.
Compare Allied (and US-Ukronazis) casualties when capturing US-Ukronazi cities, Septic and Iraqi casualties at Fallujah and zionazi Einsatzgruppen and Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
I think far too many of us think that everything plays out in the time span of a movie. The US has been in a slow motion financial collapse since 2008 or before. I started preparing then and here we are 16 years later. History seemingly unfolds, when you're living through it, much slower than reading a book about a previous era... Chip
Exactly. All of these military geniuses above playing 19D chess don't seem to grasp this. Pfc Private Parts and Chip the Mental Midget being the two prime examples.
There is no full force for Kharkhiv because like Odessa a large part is Russian speaking hence a meat grinder setup to finish 30,000? uke soldiers and spread the line thin. Repeat In war There Are no time limits for duration only time limits for operations within the actual battle
I'm glad to hear that embracing new tech is a priority for the new Minister of Defence, but I hope Russia will learn from the US and not use fragile, demanding high tech where it's not required (but where it will make big bucks), and that they will retain their emphasis on practicality and robustness.
I wonder if UGVs will lead to Terminators or HK-tanks in the near future...
So far Putin has balanced out various factors well and getting the balance right with state arms production and private business is that work in progress. Looking at various Russian systems practicality and robustness are to the fore. There's been the talk of Ukraine's collapse but it looks like the Russians are preparing for sustained conflict with the west.
The average Russian cabinet member has at least 30 IQ points on their American counterparts. Strange how lack of DEI hasn’t negatively affected Russia…
It doesn't really even matter all that much on its own if Kharkov falls at this point. They can launch cruise missiles at Russia whether they hold Kharkov or not.
What is to stop them?
What happened the last couple days -- them launching NATO glide bombs into Belgorod -- means that the cruise missiles are on their way too. The red lines don't mean anything, because this one wasn't enforced with strikes outside Ukraine either. In fact, it hasn't been enforced even with strikes inside Ukraine...
Always remember -- the Red Army needed more than a year and lost a couple million people to get from where Russia is now to where the Polish border currently is. And they didn't have to deal with FPV drones...
1. What's your source/evidence of the NATO glide bomb attack on Belgorod? You're putting a lot of weight on your forecast of pre-2022 RU territory being attacked with NATO cruise missiles but this time I'm certain that RU FM message to British was a straight red line that they will not risk crossing. RU will attack British assets outside UKR and it was stated very clearly.
UPD. I see you cited in other comment Rybar as your source of the Hammer glide bombs used in Belgorod attack. There is no evidence whatsoever. Rybar are well-know BS writers often pushing CIPSO propaganda. Half a year ago they posted that F-16 was delivered to UKR in truck containers, partly disassembled, and will be deployed in weeks. Where are they? Nobody knows.
Mr. Zvinchuk, the founder of Rybar, is an ex-military translator with little experience of actual military operations. Nobody in RU takes him seriously, even among the commentators (Rybar has no comments in their TG channel but you can read what people think about Rybar in his reposts in channels such as Colonelcassad).
So I would not consider his new fantasies to hold any value unless there is hard evidence—photos, videos, etc. All geolocated.
2. Red Army? WWII? But they suffered millions losses while killing millions of professional soldiers, isn't it? Wrong scale of the operations. UKR military doesn't have even a million of troops (and it has fewer troops that RU at the moment), it's already decimated and on the brink of collapse as they don't even have reserves to put all the holes anymore while RU increasing the intensity and number of active directions while also being capable of rotating units. UKR cannot recoup their losses in personnel (reportedly mobilizing only about 1/4th of the number they need for this, not mentioning the quality and training of the new troops) and their losses of vehicles. To everyone it's clear they are past their peak combat capability while RU only got stronger with more troops, more vehicles and weapons, better training, and accumulated experience of the rotated troops. The collapse of AFU is only a matter of time.
You're wasting your time explaining to GM. He is an ignorant US military fanboy that believes every scrap of spurious propaganda from discredited sources.
It is not necessary to bomb America, they dig their own grave by themselves; open the border to millions of aliens, abort their children by the millions, kill hundreds of thousands with drugs, make millions slow, stupid and shorten their lives by poisoning them with food, turn millions into zombies addicted to games and the reflection of their image on a digital screen, pit brothers against brothers, sons against fathers, men against women through empty ideologies creating a hell of hatred and isolation, etc. etc. ... no bombs are needed in that American nightmare ..
Bombed? So you think carrying drones over the border or disassemble drones and assembling them in Russia is somehow bombing Russian cities? And do you honestly think, if the US would attack Mexico, Mexico wouldn't shoot artillery shells via the US border on US cities? You are aware how vast the borders are and how vast the front line is right? Right?
You are aware that for the tens of thousands of long and middle ranged missiles Russia shot at Ukraine, they shot maybe a couple of hundred in the vague direction of Russia right? You are aware of the fact, that Russia shot more long and middle ranged missiles at Ukraine in the last 2 years than the whole of NATO in 20 years and looooots of wars right? Right?
First, the US attacking Mexico would be aggression, just as it was back in the 1840s. Right now the US occupies half of Mexico, still to this day. The Russian-Ukrainian situation is the exact opposite -- Ukraine occupies historically Russian land. At least three quarters of Ukraine is like that.
Second, and most important, this isn't Ukraine bombing Russia, it is NATO doing it from behind Ukraine's back.
As long as European and American cities are not burning daily while Russian cities are, NATO is decisively winning this war. Simple as that.
You can substitute cities burning with the elites having their mansions destroyed by missile strikes, their private jets shot down, and their limousines taking FPV hits. In fact, that is how it should have been handled -- the elites are the ones responsible for this and the ones who can stop it, thus you have to go directly after them in order to make it stop.
Right after the first videos of helpless Russian soldiers with their guts spilling out on the dirt from a hate drop being finished off by further hate drops, the same treatment should have been applied to Wall Street, Lockheed Martin, Blackrock, etc. CEOs, plus the various other shadowy string pullers. It s trivial to arrange something like that for the GRU.
But that isn't done either, to this day.
Because in order to do it, the likes of Putin have to care first about regular Russians and only then about the aspirations of their own elites, and that hasn't been the case since some time in the early Brezhnev years.
Again, nobody can control a border that long unless you have full mobilization and posts every 1-2 km with strong air defense systems on it on that border and even then it's impossible to avoid all attacks. That's just reality, it doesn't matter what you think or don't think. And again, the ratio of long/middle range missile attacks between Russia and Ukraine is like at least 200 to 1, maybe even now 1000 to 1, again, it doesn't matter what you or I think or don't think. That's just reality.
Yeah, brutal how they win with 'Russian cities are burning daily'... How many Russian citizens died because of artillery shells in the Russian Federation or drone strikes because of it? A couple of hundred? How many Western soldiers died in Ukraine fighting the Russians? I bet at least 10 to 1 ratio in that regard also. So again? Who is winning?
Did you take a look at the inflation numbers? Not the bs numbers of Western governments, just look at the prices of eggs, milk, rents, houses, energy, food stuff in general. Bruuuuutal numbers of the West. And then take a look at the inflation numbers in Russia or China. Reality is, no winning in that regard for the West. You are living in Lalaland, go on believe the retarded shite the West spews out on a daily basis, Ghost of Kiev, Snake Island Heroes, Drone Boy, Goat of Kiev, believe it and entertain me a little more.
If Biden were smart, which he isn’t, he would have let go of this when the aid package was tied up in Congress. He could have blamed the impending collapse of the Ukranian forces (or at least the collapse of the illusion that the direction of the war can be changed) on the Republicans for not approving the aid in time.
But he sent it, and now everyone expects that Ukraine will turn the tide.
But they won’t, and so Joe will go into the election with the failure of the war effort no longer in doubt.
He’s tied his political and financial future to this war and he’s going to go down with it.
Yeah, I thought they'd use the non-passage of the "aid" as a face-saving excuse for losing the war. But apparently they're more anxious to delay the losing until after the elections. Plus, Moloch's gotta get paid, apparently.
Biden bothers me less than several consecutive decades of an apparent increasingly inept and indolent culture at the US State Department. The paucity of quality thinkers and technology competent individuals with relevant intellect is perhaps the #1 threat to our national security. It's bad enough the Bidenoids are riven with self-obsessed sycophants and Dunning-Kruger Ivy spawn. The warp and weft of our increasingly fetid DOS and international policy trust seems populated with arrogant twits who don't have the collective wisdom to run the manure farm they manage to create wherever they take control. It started with the declared end of combat operations in Iraq and has gotten worse ever since. Perhaps we should instead begin to cull the myopic Rockefeller Priglets and hire a new culture who are lettered in the hard sciences and technology, rather than perpetuating a parlor culture of Victorian Conceit. Biden is merely a symptom of the deeper disease that plagues our federal culture.
The Soviet state failed and was flushed. Its adversary has not gone through a similar cleanse. The Co-Dependents of the Cold War still control much of the west's political and policy insitutions. A worsening malignancy has continued to thrive in the most pernicious and pervasive way, and may yet unleash a cascade of stupidities that renders large segments of the planet uninhabitable.
"Murderously stupid" seems to be the order of the day among the leadership cohort of modern western institutions, their think tanks, trusts, NGOs and institutional acolytes. It's as if a massive incompetent parasite has formed from an intellectual vacuum and made the western world its captive host.
Remember the first rule of parasitology: A competent parasite never kills is host.
These parasites are apparently stuck on stupid and may yet kill us all.
It's just what happens at the tail end of an empire. Nothing unusual. What begins as a dynamic meritocracy ends up as a decrepid oligarchy surrounded by sycophants.
That would be a lucky end, but it is doubtful that the spoiled and disunited US will be able to do the survival landing. The country has been devoured by private banking cartel, the corrupt and a-patriotic MIC, and the loyalists to a foreign state in the Knesset on Potomac. The ongoing energetic killing of the First Amendment, to please zionist overlords, speaks volumes about the state of the 'republic.'
1) The Bidenoid horde in modern government is neither the nation or its people. One of the shocking phenomena American government are the surprisingly large numbers of SES and upper-tier officials holding executive and senior staff offices as formal operatives, trustees and fiduciaries who have a conflicted nationality and a conflicted citizen status. Dual-citizens haunt and broadly infest the federal government and its agencies. They preside in a material condition of fatal conflict of interest. On a more personal level, we are speaking of people who seek and hold unique authority in the government who have already decided they get to have it both ways. Some if for good, others not so much. They should be made to choose. It is what it is.
2) Governments go to war. War is between governments, not nations. A nation is merely a weapon used and sacrificed by its government to conquer competing governments. War is typically some form of a socio-biological immune response to a metastasizing malignancy in one of or more of the governments involved. It perhaps from this biologically-rooted perspective of institutional malignancy (however primitive the institution) that nature of humankind to fall into states of war is most clearly seen.
3) There is a certain fate implicit in the collapse of the Soviet state. The harmonically arising structures of the western government that evolved in response to the Soviet state existed in a duality where the adversaries existed in a co-dependentcy of conflict that perpetuated and prolonged existence in that phase of government's adaptation to its environment. When the Soviet state collapsed, the cardinal purpose of the counterpoint structures and bureaucratic culture also collapsed, but collapsed into malignancy at a much slower rate that took about 50 years to descend into perversity and depraved pursuit of bureaucratic perpetuity. The malignant zombie abandoned by its mortal enemy lost much of its purpose for being (and funding) and adapted perversely through the west. With the Soviet state gone, each co-dependent structure struck upon the path to demonize its citizenry and separate the government and its monopoly over power and death from the people of the nation it was created to govern.
In today's west, pick any nation. Nearly all of them are ruled now by government officials and cultures who see the people governed as the enemy and interests of the people and the national interests as something to be singularly defined by the depraved elite and their cohorts in the ruling government.
It's gravely perverse and riven with malignant potential that will eventually explode if the replacing generations of staffing and leadership do not evolve an effective healing response and mitigate the ever-present problem of institutional malignancy with a dominating healthy hormesis and mutualism.
You’re obviously correct that it would’ve been a great time to bail and blame, but perhaps that shows just how deeply the feed trough aspect of Ukraine runs. It’s a conundrum. They need to get out of Ukraine because of the election, but they have to stay in Ukraine for the incredible amount of money that directly and indirectly flows from that conflict into their election coffers.
Biden has been deeply intwined with Ukrainian corruption since he was put in charge of it in 2014. The otherwise nonsensical Ukraine impeachment of Trump only makes sense if you see how compromised Biden is and how vulnerable he would have been to any serious investigation of the money changing hands.
The US will eventually walk away, I suppose after several more indecisive years, and probably direct involvement of NATO manpower under some nominally "non NATO" format which in their mind would limit escalation. As soon as the US decides it's time to move on, the significant countries in the "rest of the West" will instantly do too.
Russia is going to be #1 arms dealer in the world after this is over. Totally humiliated and overpriced US weapons will take a back seat. Best have an economist running the arms trade.
It has lost several big contracts since this started, and if it has to expend so much on the war, there won't be much left for export, which means the Chinese and Iranians will take over even where politically Russia would have been welcome otherwise.
Lost or couldnt fullfill because it's actively engaged in war. Either way I think just about every weapons has proven itself superior to Western makes and models and foreigners know it. (they don't read ukie propaganda but have satellites electronic and human intelligence to separate wheat from chaff)
Most of those contracts were cancelled by diplomatic pressure from the US and Europe and due to Russia needing to cancel some of them due to suddenly being at war. Western soft power has declined to the point where it's unlikely that they'll be able to pressure non-vassalized countries like that ever again, and once the war is won, there's no need to divert all production towards one.
Yes, as well as countries realising the importance of home grown arms industries (apart of course from the EU saying not doing)
Like India
Opening up new markets will more than compensate for the loss of old - not that one would wish to see RF as replacing the US as general salesman of such to the world
Domestic arms industries are good, but only if it makes sense for a country to have one. For the case of most European countries, their economies are actually too small for arms production, and particularly heavy weapons production to be viable, and for R&D to be completely out of reach. For these small countries, it genuinely does make more sense to either import arms or license produce another country's arms. The same goes for countries that in theory have a powerful enough economy for arms production and R&D but in practice aren't developed enough, with India being the perfect example for this, as most, if not all of their domestic arms are being hampered by domestic industrial limitations and mired in extreme corruption. India is a country that made a T-90S variant that can't reliably drive in deserts and other hot climates because they gave the contract for making the engine to a company that's never made engines before due to corruption, hence why Arjun exists at all, and Arjun is lucky that Challenger 2/3 exists to prevent it from being the worst tank of the 21st century.
You are right – it is necessary to be precise (much more than I was) about such important strategic and economic decisions
Although to listen to the Lithuania gvmt boasting about arms production deals makes one want to throw reason to the devil
Importing weapons does create a restrictive dependence, obviously catastrophic if the weapons are US-
(You mention US soft power persuasion but (as far as I know) all arms now contain elements which can be deactivated à distance – if not sanctions that can not work on the RF or China can still stymy smaller countries)
-but developing them requires intense effort and concentration, and considerable resources
However as DARPA first showed, and the RF have proved, arms industries are centres of technical development which spin off civilian industries
And– like food autonomy, can be said to be entirely necessary for independence
Even though, as with food autonomy, the major part of the ruling class of every country is persuaded otherwise by US interference and bribery
The incoherence of the Nigerian gvmt/army’s attempts to combat Boko Haram can be seen in the failure to develop any strategic or tactical understanding of how what why – this mainly due to the corrupt submission to US influence, arms, and ways of thought
Smaller countries can form alliances amongst themselves, as per the Sahel, to solve local security issues, guerilla style without huge cost, drones, motorbikes and horseback, as per Boko
-and/or alliance with reliable external security partners….reliable is not submission but understanding
– Yemen/Iran being a combination of both approaches, and victory over the mighty Prosperity Guardian
The EU could (ok might) have developed an unified arms industry, along with a common defence strategy, but chose not to-this has deprived the EU of independence and autonomy, and played a large part in their incoherent and disorganised policies towards Russia, those leading very directly to the war in Ukraine, and the general political/economic/social collapse which is now underway
And proof that arms reliance on another country is to guarantee defeat
It will be Shoigu job in fact has he is very good and have excellent contacts with all friendly or neutral countries, which means 85 % of the World. Ukie 'showroom' has been a disaster for US and western overpriced weapons, patriots are a real joke in that kind of high intensity war.
The farmland will be fine. A fire every now and then is good for it - ask a native American. The villages? They will rebuild as needed. Don't need much. Sounds harsh, but this clears out the dead wood. It's the mines that are the problem, and they will be for a long time.
From personal knowledge of these devices and how heat moves in a grass or forest fire, I do not believe that "burning all the mines off" is a real thing. Sorry. I do wish de mining were this simple.
Yes, I see shortcomings also: goat hoof not wide enough contact point for Bouncing Betties. sure there's alternates - cow chained to iron bar etc .. people who live in such places get creative by necessity.
Yea, it does sound far fetched, detonating them would be better done either by old fashioned sapping or one of those WWII chain flail tanks, which would likely be inefficient but make up for it by being cool as hell to watch from a distance.
De mining by (human) hand takes FOREVER and is very dangerous. THIS is a use for a swarm of UGV with AI I could feel good about. See "The Spiders" graphic novel (Patrick Farley)...
>Spokesman for Ukraine’s battlegroup Khortitsa, Nazar Voloshin, states Russia launched 22+ guided bombs on Volchansk today:
Yeah, and Ukraine launched a lot of French AASM Hammers at Belgorod. One of those destroyed an apartment building and killed at least 14 people. With no info on what the others that weren't quite shot down hit in the vicinity of Belgorod, where the military facilities are.
This is happening a week after the Kremlin made so much noise about the use of NATO weapons on Russian soil.
The consequences? The Kremlin is talking about Tochka-U missiles and not mentioning a word about AASM Hammers, because if they did, they would have to respond, and they don't want to.
Putin's bluff was once again called, this time almost immediately. The price is being paid by the innocent people of Belgorod.
This war (or whatever they want to call it) should've been wrapped up a long time ago and would've been if Russia had used the overwhelming force necessary to do so.
I have my doomy spells too because I wish Russia woulda just come with 600,000 level the joint before West sent everything and it would be over. But part of this was keeping global south on side...if they acted like Israel it's possible everyone nclduing China would have sanctioned.
If they target West that will start WW3. it's hairy tightrope Russia is walking seems like "death by a 1000 cuts" is working.
You need to peruse those articles in western press, which document the careful nurturing of Banderites (and other Nazi collaborators) by the US state department. While whining about holobiz and demanding a lot of money for the fraudulent schema of 'reparations,' ziocons were cozying up to the likes of Lev Dobriansky, an open follower of Stepan Bandera, and his daughter Paula Dobryansky, a Banderite and signatory of PNAC. There are several monuments to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in the US (as well as in Canada and Europe). The ADL thugs and Simon Wiesenthal Center of Nazi Lovers have been content with the monuments and neo-Nazi parades and meetings.
Nobody really cares about Ukraine even supposed de facto Ukrainians like Nuland Kagan, Blinken and co who have ukie roots. Even Russia does not care about Ukraine so much, it is just about her security it could have been another place like Georgia or Armenia(maybe coming soon?)
No, it will not end up that way. Slow and steady attrition, plus the attacks on electricity and other infrastructure will cause the implosion of ZioNAZI regime and military.
Spot on. I don't understand why the ZE clique in Kiev has not been decapitated a long time ago,even with thousands of 'colateral damages', is Bibi caring about that or the US? Of course not. Note that it is even easier for RF to decapitate the junta in Kiev than for Bibi to fight an underground hiden paramilitary small 10.000 hamas group which has little military means(no missiles, no fighters, almost no drones except with the help of courageous Houthis...)
It's to Russia's advantage to keep Zelensky in power as long as possible considering that it's becoming more apparent by the day that he's nothing but a desperate and unfunny clown.
My understanding is that's just a rumor with no proof. In fact at the attack site was recovered the debris of a Grad/Vampire MLRS rocket from what I've seen.
Not that I expect them to change much in the approach if the French missile was used, but it's worth noting for accuracy's sake.
Rybar claimed AASM Hammer for the building specifically. but that doesn't even matter all that much,
That many were launched is backed up by multiple sources, citing specifically how many sorties were done from which airfields.
And just before the building was hit, a plane was flying around the border from the Sumy direction. So it fits.
This, of course, raises huge questions about where the long-range air defense and the VKS's long-range AAMs are sleeping while those planes are coming right to the border. This wasn't supposed to even be possible...
>Grad/Vampire MLRS
That can't collapse a building, it will break some windows and singe the facade. Only if it hits the gas lines, and there is no information about that. It was something big.
We've heard that many times previously, nothing happened to anyone.
The Czech should have been bombed months ago if the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin meant anything, as it was their MLRS that killed dozens in Belgorod in a series of terrorist strikes. They weren't.
So of course the Hammers came too, and a lot more is to come soon.
Relax, your big moment in the inferno is coming as well , you are beating your conniving chest over partial results . You don't have long term sustainability . Just enjoy yourself while you can , get yourself your " joint " .
Rybar are well-know BS writers often pushing CIPSO propaganda. Half a year ago they posted that F-16 was delivered to UKR in truck containers, partly disassembled, and will be deployed in weeks. Where are they? Nobody knows.
Mr. Zvinchuk, the founder of Rybar. Is an ex-military translator with little experience of actual military operations. Nobody in RU takes him seriously, even among the commentators (Rybar has no comments in their TG channel but you can read what people think about Rybar in his reposts in channels such as Colonelcassad).
So I would not consider his new fantasies to hold any value unless there is hard evidence—photos, videos, etc. All geolocated.
If AASM Hammers were used, they would've had to have been launched from aircraft, and from pretty close range as they only have a range of 70km which would be tantamount to playing chicken with S-400 missiles. Granted, they do have an onboard rocket motor, but it burns out pretty quickly, so they'd need to be launched from high up enough to be visible to S-400 radars to get close to their 70km max range. Also, the primary method of guidance for these things is GPS, which would make them easier to defeat than anything actually confirmed to have been used in this terrorist attack as they wouldn't even need to be shot down to be brought miles off curse to harmlessly land in some field.
You're aware that AASM Hammers need to be launched from aircraft which makes them far easier to intercept than ballistic missiles and MLRS as the aircraft can be shot down pretty easily as it has to come within medium SAM range to launch them, right?
But a Totchka-U tail was found not far from the high-rise that got hit, while no AASM Hammer fragments have been found. Also, I haven't actually seen any source confirm that aircraft were up. I've only seen questionable people claim that without any evidence on the internet.
Clearly, few people bothered to read what was changed in Russia's Constitution via the referendum as it moved power to the Legislative from the Executive. Russia's governmental form is Federalism, which is how the USA is supposed to operate, and changes were anticipated based on that alone.
That said, there was much discussion by Putin over the last 8 months regarding increasing government efficiency with great focus on the defense sector and the need to more fully integrate it with the overall economy. Shoigu did a lot to get production greatly improved and his improvements will now be improved upon and NATO will fall further behind.
On the new offensive; it's high time! It's exposing just how bad corruption is within Ukraine along with its military's weakness. Gotta keep the Ukies on their heels reeling backwards. Now to get the Southern front moving.
I provided this commentary at MoA on the 13th:
Martyanov in his video today praised the analysis that Marat Khairullen wrote on https://t.me/s/voenkorkhayrullin/2390 his Telegram today regarding the promotions:
<blockquote>About Belousov and sore points
Professional reaction to the arrival of the new Minister of Defense
Yesterday, the main news sensation was the appointment of the new Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov. I have known this person for a long time, but indirectly - we did not intersect personally, but I followed his activities and wrote about things that Belousov supervised as an assistant to the President.
I can honestly say that with the appointment of Belousov, the flame of my sincere and professional hope flickered [He then beefs about the local censorship in Belgorod related to the apartment hit then continues] So, my dear, when I found out that such a person as Andrei Belousov had come to the Ministry of Defense, there was hope that in a very important area of the information war we would also begin to have positive changes. In a word, let's wait. And, as soon as they begin, let's return to this conversation, then I will explain the cause-and-effect relationships.
In the meantime, continuing the topic of the appointment of Andrei Belousov as Minister of Defense, let's pay special attention to the opinion of the military themselves.
Mikhail Popov (the author of unclassified maps) thoroughly analyzed the personnel reshuffle in the department, starting with the arrival of Serdyukov.
Everything is very clear and verified. Serdyukov's task was to break the rotten Soviet army system, infested with military clans, thoroughly corrupt and snobbishly closed. He stupidly worked as a lumberjack who cut a clearing.
Kuzhegetych [Shoigu] is a manager who knows how to work with "complex teams" and create something new on the ashes (the creation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is an example of this). He planted a new forest on the site of the forest burned and chopped down by Serdyukov.
A new Army has been created on strong positive traditions, and the flywheel of this complex mechanism has been launched.
The army entered the period of the World War that flared up again, which would last for more than one year. And during this period, the military-industrial complex and the defense economy came to the fore as an independent leading element.
The country's defense structure is clearly formed in two directions: Power and Economic.
The Ministry of Defense is not the Army now... The army is the General Staff. The Ministry of Defense is the Army + military economy and industry.
The purely military component in the Ministry of Defense is now dealt with by the General Staff. The minister is a military economy, entry into the military-industrial complex, close interaction with it in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and reconfiguring the entire economy of the country for defense.
Life shows that we have clashed with the West very seriously and for a long time. And the "quiet", non-public Belousov is a person who (working as deputy prime minister) together with the Central Bank created the iceberg against which the Titanic of
Western sanctions crashed.
This is a man who is privy to the invisible mechanism of economic ties and levers, who pulled the country out at the most decisive moment and gave it an impetus for development.
He has been at the origins of the new Russian economy since the very beginning of the presidency of His Serene Highness and is privy to all the subtleties and secrets of this mechanism, which is visible to us only by a small top protruding to the surface. The main part of this block is hidden and controlled by quiet clever women, one of whom is now the Minister of Defense...
And this person, with his influence, knowledge, opportunities and connections, becomes at the helm of the Ministry of Defense.
He will pump so much fresh air into the war economy that the Army will run this difficult marathon to victory. And this economy will not be fixated only on the needs of the army.
Belousov's scale is to ensure and direct the energy of the growth of the military-industrial complex to the economy of the entire country, so that the defense industry does not stew in itself, but also has a load on "consumer goods", as they said at the congresses of the CPSU, so that it drags the development of all structural components of the country's economy and industry.
And Kuzhegetych will continue to steer the country's security at a higher level. Now he gets the opportunity to coordinate all law enforcement agencies and organize the activities of all state structures in matters of the country's security.
Everything is thought out, everything is clear and timely.</blockquote>
Given the West are so poor at Russia watching, its assessment of these moves is probably wrong. The arrest of another General on corruption charges is likely to further confuse. Belousov's been handed a new toy to improve; and that's why the meeting between Putin, Manturov and Chemezov I linked above was so important; and thus, Lavrov's confidence. http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/74013
and Putin said the following:
"Just recently, at a meeting with the Government--Denis V. Manturov heard what I was saying--said that we should not have any disruptions in our current work until the new Government is formed.
"The complex that Denis Valentinovich is in charge of – the entire industry, both the defence industry and the civilian industry – everything is concentrated here.
"A significant amount of work is being done in this area within the framework of Rostec, and I would like to talk to you now about how this work is being organized now and how we plan to build it in the near future.
"I know that a lot has been done, established, everything is functioning, but there are also questions, that require special attention. We will dwell on them today."
They're just practicing on the dregs at this point. Taking everything they've learned and applying it to a relatively fresh theatre to see how well they've got it.
Wonderful rundown on the changes in Russia. Thank you. Don't know the new guy from Adam. He may have fresh ideas. They may even be good ones. Seems to be a beancounter egghead. They're essential to have around for sure. But making the big machine work is tough. I hope he has a team of smart, trustworthy, competent, lieutenants who have been around the block a few times for key positions beneath him who can properly maneuver and motivate. As a type, always found the beancounter eggheads great to have at your hip, but not particularly suited for real decision making power. McNamara is probably the quintessential example. Wish him the best of luck.
The fact Ukraine pulled their super duper NATO "elite" troops from the south and donetsk directions to Kharkov makes me laugh. Are they stupid or something? It will make those fronts collapse much faster. Oh well, maybe they aren't stupid but are snorting that white powder even more.
Sometimes conspiracy theories have something to them but not on this occasion.
The first point - if Shoigu was a threat of any kind, I can't see why Putin would give him access to the Security Council, let alone as Secretary General. There would be other ways to keep an eye on him without elevating him in this manner.
I think it's just typical Putin management. He's always been a superb manager - Shoigu was appointed in 2012 to take Defence to the next level, which he's achieved in stunning fashion - now it is time for Belousov to make the gigantic machine built by Shoigu into an even more effective organisation. If you look at his background, Belousov is exactly the right man for such a project.
My main interest is what Putin's plans for Patrushev are. If he's out, it's a huge deal and to me can only be explained by retirement / illness / exhaustion (he is 72). If he's not out, I suspect a major announcement soon - the Kremlin has said there will be one in coming days.
The other question I have is if this is a transitional role for Shoigu as part of a plan for something more significant. The man has immense talent and energy - he is only 68, and speaks 9 languages including English. He may be exhausted now, but it won't last forever, and it's difficult for me to see him being satisfied with the role he has for too long. I wonder if he may be being groomed as Lavrov's successor.
Agree 100% at how clueless western observers are. Talk about drama queens. Their 24/7 attempts to smear Putin and gin up some sort of fake Kremlin crisis from nothing have always been pretty pathetic, but these days it's just sad.
To me it's further proof (if any were needed) at how serious the intellectual collapse in western elites has become. They don't appear to have even a basic understanding of what's going on in Moscow.
This extends to the western intel agencies, who for example totally missed Russia's hypersonics weapons program while creating fictional Trump/Putin hoaxes and spying illegally in their own citizens. They appear to be highly incompetent, lazy, distracted, thoroughly politicised and led by absolute morons. As a result, the West right now seems to be 'flying blind' with virtually nothing on the Russians.
By contrast, it wouldn't surprise me at all if The Kremlin has excellent intel on every western power including all the top politicians and bureaucrats, with thorough infiltration into every agency, people at the very top feeding them secrets, and access to the most secret plans the West possesses. I think they know it all.
The sobering truth and real story is how these Russians officials simply tower over their western equivalents, in every way. It is simply astonishing how much talent Putin has to draw on, which again is testament to his remarkable leadership and management skills. Good luck to the Russians, they've worked damned hard to get to this level of excellence and deserve the benefits that come from it.
Note that all the soap opera-style histrionics hail from the collective West. There's so much hand-wringing among the Kremlin Watchers & Putin Whisperers that they might all suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome before this is over.
They have so little comprehension of how Moscow functions, or what's going on there, that they flailingly make stuff up. It's as if Russia does not really even exist--not the land mass, not the country, not the actual latitudinal & longitudinal coordinates on a map, not the yearnings of its population, not the statements of its leaders: Russia is a fantasy projection, a psychological spectre of dark alarm
Americans are almost always shocked to learn that most kids in Russia from first grade through high school go to school six days a week. Saturday is a school day. None of this "two days off" stuff, as a real education requires a serious investment in time.
In terms of STEM studies, a recent poll indicated that over 25% of Russian university graduates are aiming for a technical career in IT, usually with some math or engineering add-on. Other STEM careers are also very popular, like medicine and biological studies. US style generic liberal arts studies that do not have pragmatic, practical career paths are much less popular.
The guy who taught me to use a Mac way back in the early 90s was Russian. He was light years ahead of anyone else professionally and technically. That's what a sound education achieves.
I'd also add that besides their generally stronger intellects and stronger educations, a key advantage the Russian leadership has is the continuity of their experience over the course of decades. They can conceive and execute very difficult plans that take many years, like the reform and restructuring of Russia's military. Guys like Belousov are not only very smart, they've also gained experience within a consistent administrative plan over many years. It's not like the US where every four years total chaos ensues as political hacks and their plans get reshuffled.
That's also a result of the greater maturity and intelligence of the electorate in Russia. In a US election a candidate can win on the basis of absurd superficiality, such as by being the first female or gay holder of a given post. In Russia the electorate sees that as complete insanity: they want to elect the most competent and effective candidate, and they don't give a hoot about irrelevant superficialities.
“Agree 100% at how clueless western observers are. Talk about drama queens. Their 24/7 attempts to smear Putin and gin up some sort of fake Kremlin crisis from nothing have always been pretty pathetic, but these days it's just sad.”
What happens when you spew BS 24/7 to try to fool the rubes. You can’t help to start believing your own BS after a while. Certainly the middle management cadres have to in order to implement the program. For the forever war on terror the bosses needed all the eager young recruits to run their black torture sites. Gotta have some true believers in the ranks. But you live by lies at some point you’re no longer able to even perceive truth. This is where are western leaders are at. And they are so busy clinging to power they can’t possibly think about other paths. So they just lie some more.
You're a funny guy!
So Funny to call the new MoD ‘foxy’, you got the knack for name calling, well done, I should say bravo !
That's a pity - The pronoun challenge sounds like a fun yankee game - isn't this the one where the contestants get to take them all home to challenge at leisure?
Now that the Northern front is Open, it is only a matter of time till Project Ukraine buckles due to overload. While it is unclear what *specifically* will act as the Coup de Grace, we are closer to said critical moment/ inflection point moreso than we were when the North was still relatively static.
All the commentators and analysts have been saying this for months, but it still hasn't happened. I wish Russia would drop the hammer full-force and end this already.
It has not happened but we are clearly making good progress towards it right now. A whole new front has been opened, it's advancing well and the Ukrainians are in panic.
What, it's re run season on 'muricunt TV, why be in such a hurry?
All things come to those who wait.
Dropping the hammer full force would kill the very people Russia has intervened to save, Russia's kin. Russia won't do that.
US-style, city obliterating, mass murder offensives like the destruction of Raqqa or the Israeli destruction of Gaza City indeed are highly effective at wiping out resistance, but they also kill very many noncombatant civilians. The majority of "Ukrainians" in fact are ethnic Russians, with ethnic Russians making up over 95% of the population in the East of what used to be Ukraine. Russia will not kill those people.
It's even an open question whether Russia would use such tactics in Poland, Germany, France, or the UK, where using US-style tactics would not kill Russians.
Ukraine is also a giant money pit for western mil. hardware. Hard for western leaders to get elected when they squander their nation's wealth. More chance of bringing about change in west and energising anti-war leaders. He seems happy to be the rock that the MIC throws it's wares at, highlighting MICs influence on western foreign policies. The longer it goes on the more people's eyes get opened.
Those people were already herded up in the last two years.
If the US-Ukronazis have moved troops because of the northern gig, things will be easier on the central front which I think is the one where the war will be decided. Tactics, operations and strategy based on casualty-conservation seem to me to be as prudent as they are humane.
There's no such thing as "humane" warfare.
Casualty-conservation is humane, ask the Palestinians.
"Casualty conservation?" Give me a break, dude.
Compare Allied (and US-Ukronazis) casualties when capturing US-Ukronazi cities, Septic and Iraqi casualties at Fallujah and zionazi Einsatzgruppen and Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
So you are for mass and carpet bombings? Give me a break dude...
I think far too many of us think that everything plays out in the time span of a movie. The US has been in a slow motion financial collapse since 2008 or before. I started preparing then and here we are 16 years later. History seemingly unfolds, when you're living through it, much slower than reading a book about a previous era... Chip
This "war" began in earnest over 2 years ago. Pretty long movie.
I think actually since 2014... Chip
Russia didn't actually send in the troops until 2022. so a little over 2 years.
Not exactly. Russian backed "rebels" in the Donbas were at work with the Ukanazi's every since the 2014 coup... Chip
Very well observed.
Well, they still manage to postpone that "collapse"
It needs to happen Very quickly - otherwise NATO nations may try a desperate Hail Mary that leads to a major war.
Exactly. All of these military geniuses above playing 19D chess don't seem to grasp this. Pfc Private Parts and Chip the Mental Midget being the two prime examples.
There is no full force for Kharkhiv because like Odessa a large part is Russian speaking hence a meat grinder setup to finish 30,000? uke soldiers and spread the line thin. Repeat In war There Are no time limits for duration only time limits for operations within the actual battle
Well done. Thank you
I'm glad to hear that embracing new tech is a priority for the new Minister of Defence, but I hope Russia will learn from the US and not use fragile, demanding high tech where it's not required (but where it will make big bucks), and that they will retain their emphasis on practicality and robustness.
I wonder if UGVs will lead to Terminators or HK-tanks in the near future...
So far Putin has balanced out various factors well and getting the balance right with state arms production and private business is that work in progress. Looking at various Russian systems practicality and robustness are to the fore. There's been the talk of Ukraine's collapse but it looks like the Russians are preparing for sustained conflict with the west.
They already have such a contingent plan with 500K Army in the rear for such an eventuality to counter any NATO forces.
NATO forces = shabbos thugs
Spring 2021: Kabul will not fall
Spring 2024: Kharkov will not fall
The average Russian cabinet member has at least 30 IQ points on their American counterparts. Strange how lack of DEI hasn’t negatively affected Russia…
Evidently, the "D" stands for "dysgenic" in America.
It doesn't really even matter all that much on its own if Kharkov falls at this point. They can launch cruise missiles at Russia whether they hold Kharkov or not.
What is to stop them?
What happened the last couple days -- them launching NATO glide bombs into Belgorod -- means that the cruise missiles are on their way too. The red lines don't mean anything, because this one wasn't enforced with strikes outside Ukraine either. In fact, it hasn't been enforced even with strikes inside Ukraine...
Always remember -- the Red Army needed more than a year and lost a couple million people to get from where Russia is now to where the Polish border currently is. And they didn't have to deal with FPV drones...
1. What's your source/evidence of the NATO glide bomb attack on Belgorod? You're putting a lot of weight on your forecast of pre-2022 RU territory being attacked with NATO cruise missiles but this time I'm certain that RU FM message to British was a straight red line that they will not risk crossing. RU will attack British assets outside UKR and it was stated very clearly.
UPD. I see you cited in other comment Rybar as your source of the Hammer glide bombs used in Belgorod attack. There is no evidence whatsoever. Rybar are well-know BS writers often pushing CIPSO propaganda. Half a year ago they posted that F-16 was delivered to UKR in truck containers, partly disassembled, and will be deployed in weeks. Where are they? Nobody knows.
Mr. Zvinchuk, the founder of Rybar, is an ex-military translator with little experience of actual military operations. Nobody in RU takes him seriously, even among the commentators (Rybar has no comments in their TG channel but you can read what people think about Rybar in his reposts in channels such as Colonelcassad).
So I would not consider his new fantasies to hold any value unless there is hard evidence—photos, videos, etc. All geolocated.
2. Red Army? WWII? But they suffered millions losses while killing millions of professional soldiers, isn't it? Wrong scale of the operations. UKR military doesn't have even a million of troops (and it has fewer troops that RU at the moment), it's already decimated and on the brink of collapse as they don't even have reserves to put all the holes anymore while RU increasing the intensity and number of active directions while also being capable of rotating units. UKR cannot recoup their losses in personnel (reportedly mobilizing only about 1/4th of the number they need for this, not mentioning the quality and training of the new troops) and their losses of vehicles. To everyone it's clear they are past their peak combat capability while RU only got stronger with more troops, more vehicles and weapons, better training, and accumulated experience of the rotated troops. The collapse of AFU is only a matter of time.
You're wasting your time explaining to GM. He is an ignorant US military fanboy that believes every scrap of spurious propaganda from discredited sources.
But useful for the rest of us
Ignorant is right. Glide bombs from the Ukes? Those only come off aircraft. What air forces are the Ukies flying? From what I last heard, it is ZERO.
oh dear your on the wrong site old boy.
please try to keep up with developments, our posters are way too informed for your type. Pip pip
>The average Russian cabinet member has at least 30 IQ points on their American counterparts
Yeah, but it is the Russian cities that are bombed daily, not the American ones.
That's due to geography, not IQ. What's worse, though, is that almost all Western leaders are ill-intentioned. There's no fixing that.
Their intentions are good… for themselves. They got bunkers for when it all goes kaboom. They think they’ll be fine.
The playground bully doesn't care about your clever word games as long as he can smash your face in whenever he feels like it.
He can? just like 'he' the US smashed Ansar Allah, or..the Taliban... or the Iranians, or ...or..oh yes I remember the Island of Grenada , pop 33
"As long as" means "if".
No ifs nor buts here - the US is defeated - except in the fantasies of trolls like FF
I'll do a deal with you -You split the other trolls with Grr - leave me this one
Mmmm Baltimore, Philidelphia, Memphis. They just look like they have been bombed.
Bombed out by their own command - exactly
you're probably safer in a Russian city, than those American bomb sites
Detroit was fire bombed and is almost 1/4 re developed!
That's good to hear! - see RF re construction of Mariupol
It is not necessary to bomb America, they dig their own grave by themselves; open the border to millions of aliens, abort their children by the millions, kill hundreds of thousands with drugs, make millions slow, stupid and shorten their lives by poisoning them with food, turn millions into zombies addicted to games and the reflection of their image on a digital screen, pit brothers against brothers, sons against fathers, men against women through empty ideologies creating a hell of hatred and isolation, etc. etc. ... no bombs are needed in that American nightmare ..
There are also Palestinian children and women who are bombed by the zionist US/fascist jewish state. Geography is a destiny, but only for a while.
Also, have you lived in Baltimore?
A group of mountain gorillas has 30 IQ points on the intelligentsia of the U.S. State Department and CIA "analysts." I think better of Russia.
Bombed? So you think carrying drones over the border or disassemble drones and assembling them in Russia is somehow bombing Russian cities? And do you honestly think, if the US would attack Mexico, Mexico wouldn't shoot artillery shells via the US border on US cities? You are aware how vast the borders are and how vast the front line is right? Right?
You are aware that for the tens of thousands of long and middle ranged missiles Russia shot at Ukraine, they shot maybe a couple of hundred in the vague direction of Russia right? You are aware of the fact, that Russia shot more long and middle ranged missiles at Ukraine in the last 2 years than the whole of NATO in 20 years and looooots of wars right? Right?
Your Mexico analogy fails.
First, the US attacking Mexico would be aggression, just as it was back in the 1840s. Right now the US occupies half of Mexico, still to this day. The Russian-Ukrainian situation is the exact opposite -- Ukraine occupies historically Russian land. At least three quarters of Ukraine is like that.
Second, and most important, this isn't Ukraine bombing Russia, it is NATO doing it from behind Ukraine's back.
As long as European and American cities are not burning daily while Russian cities are, NATO is decisively winning this war. Simple as that.
You can substitute cities burning with the elites having their mansions destroyed by missile strikes, their private jets shot down, and their limousines taking FPV hits. In fact, that is how it should have been handled -- the elites are the ones responsible for this and the ones who can stop it, thus you have to go directly after them in order to make it stop.
Right after the first videos of helpless Russian soldiers with their guts spilling out on the dirt from a hate drop being finished off by further hate drops, the same treatment should have been applied to Wall Street, Lockheed Martin, Blackrock, etc. CEOs, plus the various other shadowy string pullers. It s trivial to arrange something like that for the GRU.
But that isn't done either, to this day.
Because in order to do it, the likes of Putin have to care first about regular Russians and only then about the aspirations of their own elites, and that hasn't been the case since some time in the early Brezhnev years.
Again, nobody can control a border that long unless you have full mobilization and posts every 1-2 km with strong air defense systems on it on that border and even then it's impossible to avoid all attacks. That's just reality, it doesn't matter what you think or don't think. And again, the ratio of long/middle range missile attacks between Russia and Ukraine is like at least 200 to 1, maybe even now 1000 to 1, again, it doesn't matter what you or I think or don't think. That's just reality.
Yeah, brutal how they win with 'Russian cities are burning daily'... How many Russian citizens died because of artillery shells in the Russian Federation or drone strikes because of it? A couple of hundred? How many Western soldiers died in Ukraine fighting the Russians? I bet at least 10 to 1 ratio in that regard also. So again? Who is winning?
Did you take a look at the inflation numbers? Not the bs numbers of Western governments, just look at the prices of eggs, milk, rents, houses, energy, food stuff in general. Bruuuuutal numbers of the West. And then take a look at the inflation numbers in Russia or China. Reality is, no winning in that regard for the West. You are living in Lalaland, go on believe the retarded shite the West spews out on a daily basis, Ghost of Kiev, Snake Island Heroes, Drone Boy, Goat of Kiev, believe it and entertain me a little more.
If Biden were smart, which he isn’t, he would have let go of this when the aid package was tied up in Congress. He could have blamed the impending collapse of the Ukranian forces (or at least the collapse of the illusion that the direction of the war can be changed) on the Republicans for not approving the aid in time.
But he sent it, and now everyone expects that Ukraine will turn the tide.
But they won’t, and so Joe will go into the election with the failure of the war effort no longer in doubt.
He’s tied his political and financial future to this war and he’s going to go down with it.
Yeah, I thought they'd use the non-passage of the "aid" as a face-saving excuse for losing the war. But apparently they're more anxious to delay the losing until after the elections. Plus, Moloch's gotta get paid, apparently.
Biden bothers me less than several consecutive decades of an apparent increasingly inept and indolent culture at the US State Department. The paucity of quality thinkers and technology competent individuals with relevant intellect is perhaps the #1 threat to our national security. It's bad enough the Bidenoids are riven with self-obsessed sycophants and Dunning-Kruger Ivy spawn. The warp and weft of our increasingly fetid DOS and international policy trust seems populated with arrogant twits who don't have the collective wisdom to run the manure farm they manage to create wherever they take control. It started with the declared end of combat operations in Iraq and has gotten worse ever since. Perhaps we should instead begin to cull the myopic Rockefeller Priglets and hire a new culture who are lettered in the hard sciences and technology, rather than perpetuating a parlor culture of Victorian Conceit. Biden is merely a symptom of the deeper disease that plagues our federal culture.
The Soviet state failed and was flushed. Its adversary has not gone through a similar cleanse. The Co-Dependents of the Cold War still control much of the west's political and policy insitutions. A worsening malignancy has continued to thrive in the most pernicious and pervasive way, and may yet unleash a cascade of stupidities that renders large segments of the planet uninhabitable.
"Murderously stupid" seems to be the order of the day among the leadership cohort of modern western institutions, their think tanks, trusts, NGOs and institutional acolytes. It's as if a massive incompetent parasite has formed from an intellectual vacuum and made the western world its captive host.
Remember the first rule of parasitology: A competent parasite never kills is host.
These parasites are apparently stuck on stupid and may yet kill us all.
It's just what happens at the tail end of an empire. Nothing unusual. What begins as a dynamic meritocracy ends up as a decrepid oligarchy surrounded by sycophants.
“Biden is merely a symptom of the deeper disease” - why we’re most likely headed for the fate of the Soviet state
That would be a lucky end, but it is doubtful that the spoiled and disunited US will be able to do the survival landing. The country has been devoured by private banking cartel, the corrupt and a-patriotic MIC, and the loyalists to a foreign state in the Knesset on Potomac. The ongoing energetic killing of the First Amendment, to please zionist overlords, speaks volumes about the state of the 'republic.'
Three things, if we might think more freely.
1) The Bidenoid horde in modern government is neither the nation or its people. One of the shocking phenomena American government are the surprisingly large numbers of SES and upper-tier officials holding executive and senior staff offices as formal operatives, trustees and fiduciaries who have a conflicted nationality and a conflicted citizen status. Dual-citizens haunt and broadly infest the federal government and its agencies. They preside in a material condition of fatal conflict of interest. On a more personal level, we are speaking of people who seek and hold unique authority in the government who have already decided they get to have it both ways. Some if for good, others not so much. They should be made to choose. It is what it is.
2) Governments go to war. War is between governments, not nations. A nation is merely a weapon used and sacrificed by its government to conquer competing governments. War is typically some form of a socio-biological immune response to a metastasizing malignancy in one of or more of the governments involved. It perhaps from this biologically-rooted perspective of institutional malignancy (however primitive the institution) that nature of humankind to fall into states of war is most clearly seen.
3) There is a certain fate implicit in the collapse of the Soviet state. The harmonically arising structures of the western government that evolved in response to the Soviet state existed in a duality where the adversaries existed in a co-dependentcy of conflict that perpetuated and prolonged existence in that phase of government's adaptation to its environment. When the Soviet state collapsed, the cardinal purpose of the counterpoint structures and bureaucratic culture also collapsed, but collapsed into malignancy at a much slower rate that took about 50 years to descend into perversity and depraved pursuit of bureaucratic perpetuity. The malignant zombie abandoned by its mortal enemy lost much of its purpose for being (and funding) and adapted perversely through the west. With the Soviet state gone, each co-dependent structure struck upon the path to demonize its citizenry and separate the government and its monopoly over power and death from the people of the nation it was created to govern.
In today's west, pick any nation. Nearly all of them are ruled now by government officials and cultures who see the people governed as the enemy and interests of the people and the national interests as something to be singularly defined by the depraved elite and their cohorts in the ruling government.
It's gravely perverse and riven with malignant potential that will eventually explode if the replacing generations of staffing and leadership do not evolve an effective healing response and mitigate the ever-present problem of institutional malignancy with a dominating healthy hormesis and mutualism.
America! Killing the host since (before) 1775.
One lives in hope
“Biden” = unelected bureaucrats.
triumph of zionists at all levels of US government and judicial system.
And academia, health/pharma, media and entertainment.
You’re obviously correct that it would’ve been a great time to bail and blame, but perhaps that shows just how deeply the feed trough aspect of Ukraine runs. It’s a conundrum. They need to get out of Ukraine because of the election, but they have to stay in Ukraine for the incredible amount of money that directly and indirectly flows from that conflict into their election coffers.
They need a lot of money for potus elections which are not only about potus but many Congress and half the Senate are also at play.
Biden has been deeply intwined with Ukrainian corruption since he was put in charge of it in 2014. The otherwise nonsensical Ukraine impeachment of Trump only makes sense if you see how compromised Biden is and how vulnerable he would have been to any serious investigation of the money changing hands.
"He’s tied his political and financial future to this war and he’s going to go down with it."
That much is obvious. With every aid package, the sunk cost of Project Ukraine goes up, and with it, the West's determination not to lose.
This abuse of The Sunk Cost Fallacy is entirely intentional.
The US will eventually walk away, I suppose after several more indecisive years, and probably direct involvement of NATO manpower under some nominally "non NATO" format which in their mind would limit escalation. As soon as the US decides it's time to move on, the significant countries in the "rest of the West" will instantly do too.
They linked Israhell package to ukie one though GOP could not refuse, they fall in the trap not even a single dollar for the borders.
"The average Russian cabinet member has at least 30 IQ points on their American counterparts"
Russian ministers are heavy in STEM backgrounds, Americans/British in political "science".
That tells you all you need to know about quality.
The only quality desired is allegiance to the current arrangement.
Russia is going to be #1 arms dealer in the world after this is over. Totally humiliated and overpriced US weapons will take a back seat. Best have an economist running the arms trade.
Is it really?
It has lost several big contracts since this started, and if it has to expend so much on the war, there won't be much left for export, which means the Chinese and Iranians will take over even where politically Russia would have been welcome otherwise.
Lost or couldnt fullfill because it's actively engaged in war. Either way I think just about every weapons has proven itself superior to Western makes and models and foreigners know it. (they don't read ukie propaganda but have satellites electronic and human intelligence to separate wheat from chaff)
Most of those contracts were cancelled by diplomatic pressure from the US and Europe and due to Russia needing to cancel some of them due to suddenly being at war. Western soft power has declined to the point where it's unlikely that they'll be able to pressure non-vassalized countries like that ever again, and once the war is won, there's no need to divert all production towards one.
Yes, as well as countries realising the importance of home grown arms industries (apart of course from the EU saying not doing)
Like India
Opening up new markets will more than compensate for the loss of old - not that one would wish to see RF as replacing the US as general salesman of such to the world
Domestic arms industries are good, but only if it makes sense for a country to have one. For the case of most European countries, their economies are actually too small for arms production, and particularly heavy weapons production to be viable, and for R&D to be completely out of reach. For these small countries, it genuinely does make more sense to either import arms or license produce another country's arms. The same goes for countries that in theory have a powerful enough economy for arms production and R&D but in practice aren't developed enough, with India being the perfect example for this, as most, if not all of their domestic arms are being hampered by domestic industrial limitations and mired in extreme corruption. India is a country that made a T-90S variant that can't reliably drive in deserts and other hot climates because they gave the contract for making the engine to a company that's never made engines before due to corruption, hence why Arjun exists at all, and Arjun is lucky that Challenger 2/3 exists to prevent it from being the worst tank of the 21st century.
You are right – it is necessary to be precise (much more than I was) about such important strategic and economic decisions
Although to listen to the Lithuania gvmt boasting about arms production deals makes one want to throw reason to the devil
Importing weapons does create a restrictive dependence, obviously catastrophic if the weapons are US-
(You mention US soft power persuasion but (as far as I know) all arms now contain elements which can be deactivated à distance – if not sanctions that can not work on the RF or China can still stymy smaller countries)
-but developing them requires intense effort and concentration, and considerable resources
However as DARPA first showed, and the RF have proved, arms industries are centres of technical development which spin off civilian industries
And– like food autonomy, can be said to be entirely necessary for independence
Even though, as with food autonomy, the major part of the ruling class of every country is persuaded otherwise by US interference and bribery
The incoherence of the Nigerian gvmt/army’s attempts to combat Boko Haram can be seen in the failure to develop any strategic or tactical understanding of how what why – this mainly due to the corrupt submission to US influence, arms, and ways of thought
Smaller countries can form alliances amongst themselves, as per the Sahel, to solve local security issues, guerilla style without huge cost, drones, motorbikes and horseback, as per Boko
-and/or alliance with reliable external security partners….reliable is not submission but understanding
– Yemen/Iran being a combination of both approaches, and victory over the mighty Prosperity Guardian
The EU could (ok might) have developed an unified arms industry, along with a common defence strategy, but chose not to-this has deprived the EU of independence and autonomy, and played a large part in their incoherent and disorganised policies towards Russia, those leading very directly to the war in Ukraine, and the general political/economic/social collapse which is now underway
And proof that arms reliance on another country is to guarantee defeat
Hence why the Ukraine train continues and Biden didnt bow out when he could. MIC knows this and is grabbing all they can when they can.
It will be Shoigu job in fact has he is very good and have excellent contacts with all friendly or neutral countries, which means 85 % of the World. Ukie 'showroom' has been a disaster for US and western overpriced weapons, patriots are a real joke in that kind of high intensity war.
“it’s now said that Russia is demining entire fields by setting them on fire and burning all the mines off”
A literal scorched-earth policy. They will have to rebuild the villages and repopulate them from scratch.
The farmland will be fine. A fire every now and then is good for it - ask a native American. The villages? They will rebuild as needed. Don't need much. Sounds harsh, but this clears out the dead wood. It's the mines that are the problem, and they will be for a long time.
The mines aren't in the villages
Buildings will be rebuilt, but people cannot be resurrected.
Of course, fields are actually villages
@Scott
From personal knowledge of these devices and how heat moves in a grass or forest fire, I do not believe that "burning all the mines off" is a real thing. Sorry. I do wish de mining were this simple.
Israel/Lebanon border - they graze goats on land for 5 years or so until goats stop exploding...
@Dave's channel
Goats are too light weight, won't set off an anti tank mine- But a tractor sure can.
Yes, I see shortcomings also: goat hoof not wide enough contact point for Bouncing Betties. sure there's alternates - cow chained to iron bar etc .. people who live in such places get creative by necessity.
Yea, it does sound far fetched, detonating them would be better done either by old fashioned sapping or one of those WWII chain flail tanks, which would likely be inefficient but make up for it by being cool as hell to watch from a distance.
@Scott
De mining by (human) hand takes FOREVER and is very dangerous. THIS is a use for a swarm of UGV with AI I could feel good about. See "The Spiders" graphic novel (Patrick Farley)...
>Spokesman for Ukraine’s battlegroup Khortitsa, Nazar Voloshin, states Russia launched 22+ guided bombs on Volchansk today:
Yeah, and Ukraine launched a lot of French AASM Hammers at Belgorod. One of those destroyed an apartment building and killed at least 14 people. With no info on what the others that weren't quite shot down hit in the vicinity of Belgorod, where the military facilities are.
This is happening a week after the Kremlin made so much noise about the use of NATO weapons on Russian soil.
The consequences? The Kremlin is talking about Tochka-U missiles and not mentioning a word about AASM Hammers, because if they did, they would have to respond, and they don't want to.
Putin's bluff was once again called, this time almost immediately. The price is being paid by the innocent people of Belgorod.
This war (or whatever they want to call it) should've been wrapped up a long time ago and would've been if Russia had used the overwhelming force necessary to do so.
The use of that overwhelming force would have meant an irreversible rupture with the West.
But Russian elites are still dreaming about rejoining the club one day.
The price for their selfish delusions is paid by the soldiers on the ground, and now increasingly by civilians too.
You're still doomin'n'gloomin'. You have learned nothing.
I have my doomy spells too because I wish Russia woulda just come with 600,000 level the joint before West sent everything and it would be over. But part of this was keeping global south on side...if they acted like Israel it's possible everyone nclduing China would have sanctioned.
If they target West that will start WW3. it's hairy tightrope Russia is walking seems like "death by a 1000 cuts" is working.
You need to peruse those articles in western press, which document the careful nurturing of Banderites (and other Nazi collaborators) by the US state department. While whining about holobiz and demanding a lot of money for the fraudulent schema of 'reparations,' ziocons were cozying up to the likes of Lev Dobriansky, an open follower of Stepan Bandera, and his daughter Paula Dobryansky, a Banderite and signatory of PNAC. There are several monuments to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in the US (as well as in Canada and Europe). The ADL thugs and Simon Wiesenthal Center of Nazi Lovers have been content with the monuments and neo-Nazi parades and meetings.
The idea that the Global South cares about the fate of Ukrainians is a laugh.
To the extent that they side with Russia, it is because they want the American bully out of their lives. No other principle need be invoked.
Nobody really cares about Ukraine even supposed de facto Ukrainians like Nuland Kagan, Blinken and co who have ukie roots. Even Russia does not care about Ukraine so much, it is just about her security it could have been another place like Georgia or Armenia(maybe coming soon?)
You are right.
For two years, Russian elites have been dreaming about some agreement with the west, on the cost of lives of Russian soldiers.
They could have finished it by carpet bombing Ukraine and killing millions, like the US would do. But they're not that evil.
That's how it's going to end up, anyhow - that's the only way the Ukuleles will capitulate.
No, it will not end up that way. Slow and steady attrition, plus the attacks on electricity and other infrastructure will cause the implosion of ZioNAZI regime and military.
No, it WILL end up that way because that's the only way the Ukuleles will capitulate.
Nope.
Does Russia want to be nice or do they want to win?
Because Russia's enemies would not hesitate a second.
Spot on. I don't understand why the ZE clique in Kiev has not been decapitated a long time ago,even with thousands of 'colateral damages', is Bibi caring about that or the US? Of course not. Note that it is even easier for RF to decapitate the junta in Kiev than for Bibi to fight an underground hiden paramilitary small 10.000 hamas group which has little military means(no missiles, no fighters, almost no drones except with the help of courageous Houthis...)
It's to Russia's advantage to keep Zelensky in power as long as possible considering that it's becoming more apparent by the day that he's nothing but a desperate and unfunny clown.
What's the point of fighting evil if you yourself become evil in the process?
You might as well toss the people of Donbass and Crimea to the butchers and save the regime in Kiev the trouble.
Another person who ignorantly doesn’t know what Putin said the goals of the SMO are.
Why don’t you look up his speech and find out so you don’t look so ignorant?
Blow it out your ass, dummy.
Re activating "CHUCKY" is as certain a sign of desperation as there could ever be.
Oh, Private Buttbuddy is back!
Buy a mirror dude.
I hope you aren’t getting paid for your inane comments. If so your employer is getting ripped off.,
I should be paid to deal with imbeciles like you.
Yawn.....
My understanding is that's just a rumor with no proof. In fact at the attack site was recovered the debris of a Grad/Vampire MLRS rocket from what I've seen.
Not that I expect them to change much in the approach if the French missile was used, but it's worth noting for accuracy's sake.
Rybar claimed AASM Hammer for the building specifically. but that doesn't even matter all that much,
That many were launched is backed up by multiple sources, citing specifically how many sorties were done from which airfields.
And just before the building was hit, a plane was flying around the border from the Sumy direction. So it fits.
This, of course, raises huge questions about where the long-range air defense and the VKS's long-range AAMs are sleeping while those planes are coming right to the border. This wasn't supposed to even be possible...
>Grad/Vampire MLRS
That can't collapse a building, it will break some windows and singe the facade. Only if it hits the gas lines, and there is no information about that. It was something big.
Safran Electronics & Defense, manufacturer of the AASM Hammer, has its HQ in Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Peripatetic shambolic Napoleonette might have to fret that Comrade Khinzhal will give Boulogne-Billancourt a glow-up
We've heard that many times previously, nothing happened to anyone.
The Czech should have been bombed months ago if the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin meant anything, as it was their MLRS that killed dozens in Belgorod in a series of terrorist strikes. They weren't.
So of course the Hammers came too, and a lot more is to come soon.
Relax, your big moment in the inferno is coming as well , you are beating your conniving chest over partial results . You don't have long term sustainability . Just enjoy yourself while you can , get yourself your " joint " .
Totchka-Us were used, and a Totchka-U tail was found not far from the high-rise that got hit.
Totchka-U tail in question: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNZMwrYWIAAyEox?format=jpg&name=large
Rybar are well-know BS writers often pushing CIPSO propaganda. Half a year ago they posted that F-16 was delivered to UKR in truck containers, partly disassembled, and will be deployed in weeks. Where are they? Nobody knows.
Mr. Zvinchuk, the founder of Rybar. Is an ex-military translator with little experience of actual military operations. Nobody in RU takes him seriously, even among the commentators (Rybar has no comments in their TG channel but you can read what people think about Rybar in his reposts in channels such as Colonelcassad).
So I would not consider his new fantasies to hold any value unless there is hard evidence—photos, videos, etc. All geolocated.
If AASM Hammers were used, they would've had to have been launched from aircraft, and from pretty close range as they only have a range of 70km which would be tantamount to playing chicken with S-400 missiles. Granted, they do have an onboard rocket motor, but it burns out pretty quickly, so they'd need to be launched from high up enough to be visible to S-400 radars to get close to their 70km max range. Also, the primary method of guidance for these things is GPS, which would make them easier to defeat than anything actually confirmed to have been used in this terrorist attack as they wouldn't even need to be shot down to be brought miles off curse to harmlessly land in some field.
You're aware that AASM Hammers need to be launched from aircraft which makes them far easier to intercept than ballistic missiles and MLRS as the aircraft can be shot down pretty easily as it has to come within medium SAM range to launch them, right?
Like GM said [ above ] a plane was flying along the Borderlands from the Sumy region. The Hammers were air-launched but not intercepted
But a Totchka-U tail was found not far from the high-rise that got hit, while no AASM Hammer fragments have been found. Also, I haven't actually seen any source confirm that aircraft were up. I've only seen questionable people claim that without any evidence on the internet.
Totchka-U tail in question: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNZMwrYWIAAyEox?format=jpg&name=large
When GM say it , it is like a Bible right ? Never mind they find parts of Tochka missile .
So they wasted an AASM Hammer on... an apartment building?
LLM-derived breakdowns and summaries for that post by Simplicius The Thinker:
https://open.substack.com/pub/complexiathesinker/p/llm-over-putins-cabinet-shakeup-stumps
It's a very cool tactical symbol.
Clearly, few people bothered to read what was changed in Russia's Constitution via the referendum as it moved power to the Legislative from the Executive. Russia's governmental form is Federalism, which is how the USA is supposed to operate, and changes were anticipated based on that alone.
That said, there was much discussion by Putin over the last 8 months regarding increasing government efficiency with great focus on the defense sector and the need to more fully integrate it with the overall economy. Shoigu did a lot to get production greatly improved and his improvements will now be improved upon and NATO will fall further behind.
On the new offensive; it's high time! It's exposing just how bad corruption is within Ukraine along with its military's weakness. Gotta keep the Ukies on their heels reeling backwards. Now to get the Southern front moving.
I provided this commentary at MoA on the 13th:
Martyanov in his video today praised the analysis that Marat Khairullen wrote on https://t.me/s/voenkorkhayrullin/2390 his Telegram today regarding the promotions:
<blockquote>About Belousov and sore points
Professional reaction to the arrival of the new Minister of Defense
Yesterday, the main news sensation was the appointment of the new Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov. I have known this person for a long time, but indirectly - we did not intersect personally, but I followed his activities and wrote about things that Belousov supervised as an assistant to the President.
I can honestly say that with the appointment of Belousov, the flame of my sincere and professional hope flickered [He then beefs about the local censorship in Belgorod related to the apartment hit then continues] So, my dear, when I found out that such a person as Andrei Belousov had come to the Ministry of Defense, there was hope that in a very important area of the information war we would also begin to have positive changes. In a word, let's wait. And, as soon as they begin, let's return to this conversation, then I will explain the cause-and-effect relationships.
In the meantime, continuing the topic of the appointment of Andrei Belousov as Minister of Defense, let's pay special attention to the opinion of the military themselves.
Mikhail Popov (the author of unclassified maps) thoroughly analyzed the personnel reshuffle in the department, starting with the arrival of Serdyukov.
Everything is very clear and verified. Serdyukov's task was to break the rotten Soviet army system, infested with military clans, thoroughly corrupt and snobbishly closed. He stupidly worked as a lumberjack who cut a clearing.
Kuzhegetych [Shoigu] is a manager who knows how to work with "complex teams" and create something new on the ashes (the creation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is an example of this). He planted a new forest on the site of the forest burned and chopped down by Serdyukov.
A new Army has been created on strong positive traditions, and the flywheel of this complex mechanism has been launched.
The army entered the period of the World War that flared up again, which would last for more than one year. And during this period, the military-industrial complex and the defense economy came to the fore as an independent leading element.
The country's defense structure is clearly formed in two directions: Power and Economic.
The Ministry of Defense is not the Army now... The army is the General Staff. The Ministry of Defense is the Army + military economy and industry.
The purely military component in the Ministry of Defense is now dealt with by the General Staff. The minister is a military economy, entry into the military-industrial complex, close interaction with it in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and reconfiguring the entire economy of the country for defense.
Life shows that we have clashed with the West very seriously and for a long time. And the "quiet", non-public Belousov is a person who (working as deputy prime minister) together with the Central Bank created the iceberg against which the Titanic of
Western sanctions crashed.
This is a man who is privy to the invisible mechanism of economic ties and levers, who pulled the country out at the most decisive moment and gave it an impetus for development.
He has been at the origins of the new Russian economy since the very beginning of the presidency of His Serene Highness and is privy to all the subtleties and secrets of this mechanism, which is visible to us only by a small top protruding to the surface. The main part of this block is hidden and controlled by quiet clever women, one of whom is now the Minister of Defense...
And this person, with his influence, knowledge, opportunities and connections, becomes at the helm of the Ministry of Defense.
He will pump so much fresh air into the war economy that the Army will run this difficult marathon to victory. And this economy will not be fixated only on the needs of the army.
Belousov's scale is to ensure and direct the energy of the growth of the military-industrial complex to the economy of the entire country, so that the defense industry does not stew in itself, but also has a load on "consumer goods", as they said at the congresses of the CPSU, so that it drags the development of all structural components of the country's economy and industry.
And Kuzhegetych will continue to steer the country's security at a higher level. Now he gets the opportunity to coordinate all law enforcement agencies and organize the activities of all state structures in matters of the country's security.
Everything is thought out, everything is clear and timely.</blockquote>
Given the West are so poor at Russia watching, its assessment of these moves is probably wrong. The arrest of another General on corruption charges is likely to further confuse. Belousov's been handed a new toy to improve; and that's why the meeting between Putin, Manturov and Chemezov I linked above was so important; and thus, Lavrov's confidence. http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/74013
and Putin said the following:
"Just recently, at a meeting with the Government--Denis V. Manturov heard what I was saying--said that we should not have any disruptions in our current work until the new Government is formed.
"The complex that Denis Valentinovich is in charge of – the entire industry, both the defence industry and the civilian industry – everything is concentrated here.
"A significant amount of work is being done in this area within the framework of Rostec, and I would like to talk to you now about how this work is being organized now and how we plan to build it in the near future.
"I know that a lot has been done, established, everything is functioning, but there are also questions, that require special attention. We will dwell on them today."
Team Putin is now even more formidable.
They're just practicing on the dregs at this point. Taking everything they've learned and applying it to a relatively fresh theatre to see how well they've got it.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Wonderful rundown on the changes in Russia. Thank you. Don't know the new guy from Adam. He may have fresh ideas. They may even be good ones. Seems to be a beancounter egghead. They're essential to have around for sure. But making the big machine work is tough. I hope he has a team of smart, trustworthy, competent, lieutenants who have been around the block a few times for key positions beneath him who can properly maneuver and motivate. As a type, always found the beancounter eggheads great to have at your hip, but not particularly suited for real decision making power. McNamara is probably the quintessential example. Wish him the best of luck.
As a retired beancounter egghead, I endorse your message.
The fact Ukraine pulled their super duper NATO "elite" troops from the south and donetsk directions to Kharkov makes me laugh. Are they stupid or something? It will make those fronts collapse much faster. Oh well, maybe they aren't stupid but are snorting that white powder even more.
This is zugzwang. Any next step by Ukraine will only lead to an even worse situation.
Thanks Simplicious, for the frequent updates!
Thank you, Simplicius.
Sometimes conspiracy theories have something to them but not on this occasion.
The first point - if Shoigu was a threat of any kind, I can't see why Putin would give him access to the Security Council, let alone as Secretary General. There would be other ways to keep an eye on him without elevating him in this manner.
I think it's just typical Putin management. He's always been a superb manager - Shoigu was appointed in 2012 to take Defence to the next level, which he's achieved in stunning fashion - now it is time for Belousov to make the gigantic machine built by Shoigu into an even more effective organisation. If you look at his background, Belousov is exactly the right man for such a project.
My main interest is what Putin's plans for Patrushev are. If he's out, it's a huge deal and to me can only be explained by retirement / illness / exhaustion (he is 72). If he's not out, I suspect a major announcement soon - the Kremlin has said there will be one in coming days.
The other question I have is if this is a transitional role for Shoigu as part of a plan for something more significant. The man has immense talent and energy - he is only 68, and speaks 9 languages including English. He may be exhausted now, but it won't last forever, and it's difficult for me to see him being satisfied with the role he has for too long. I wonder if he may be being groomed as Lavrov's successor.
Agree 100% at how clueless western observers are. Talk about drama queens. Their 24/7 attempts to smear Putin and gin up some sort of fake Kremlin crisis from nothing have always been pretty pathetic, but these days it's just sad.
To me it's further proof (if any were needed) at how serious the intellectual collapse in western elites has become. They don't appear to have even a basic understanding of what's going on in Moscow.
This extends to the western intel agencies, who for example totally missed Russia's hypersonics weapons program while creating fictional Trump/Putin hoaxes and spying illegally in their own citizens. They appear to be highly incompetent, lazy, distracted, thoroughly politicised and led by absolute morons. As a result, the West right now seems to be 'flying blind' with virtually nothing on the Russians.
By contrast, it wouldn't surprise me at all if The Kremlin has excellent intel on every western power including all the top politicians and bureaucrats, with thorough infiltration into every agency, people at the very top feeding them secrets, and access to the most secret plans the West possesses. I think they know it all.
The sobering truth and real story is how these Russians officials simply tower over their western equivalents, in every way. It is simply astonishing how much talent Putin has to draw on, which again is testament to his remarkable leadership and management skills. Good luck to the Russians, they've worked damned hard to get to this level of excellence and deserve the benefits that come from it.
Note that all the soap opera-style histrionics hail from the collective West. There's so much hand-wringing among the Kremlin Watchers & Putin Whisperers that they might all suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome before this is over.
They have so little comprehension of how Moscow functions, or what's going on there, that they flailingly make stuff up. It's as if Russia does not really even exist--not the land mass, not the country, not the actual latitudinal & longitudinal coordinates on a map, not the yearnings of its population, not the statements of its leaders: Russia is a fantasy projection, a psychological spectre of dark alarm
Very well put
"......the Russians, they've worked damned hard to get to this level of excellence...."
Russian education has always been superior to the dumbed down systems in the "west". STEM subjects are and continues to be superior.
And then there is their patriotism, strong and sincere with none of the virtue signalling fake attempts that citizens of the west indulge in.
Americans are almost always shocked to learn that most kids in Russia from first grade through high school go to school six days a week. Saturday is a school day. None of this "two days off" stuff, as a real education requires a serious investment in time.
In terms of STEM studies, a recent poll indicated that over 25% of Russian university graduates are aiming for a technical career in IT, usually with some math or engineering add-on. Other STEM careers are also very popular, like medicine and biological studies. US style generic liberal arts studies that do not have pragmatic, practical career paths are much less popular.
Wow, six days. Didn't know that.
The guy who taught me to use a Mac way back in the early 90s was Russian. He was light years ahead of anyone else professionally and technically. That's what a sound education achieves.
First rate post. 100% spot on. Thank you, Scipio.
I'd also add that besides their generally stronger intellects and stronger educations, a key advantage the Russian leadership has is the continuity of their experience over the course of decades. They can conceive and execute very difficult plans that take many years, like the reform and restructuring of Russia's military. Guys like Belousov are not only very smart, they've also gained experience within a consistent administrative plan over many years. It's not like the US where every four years total chaos ensues as political hacks and their plans get reshuffled.
That's also a result of the greater maturity and intelligence of the electorate in Russia. In a US election a candidate can win on the basis of absurd superficiality, such as by being the first female or gay holder of a given post. In Russia the electorate sees that as complete insanity: they want to elect the most competent and effective candidate, and they don't give a hoot about irrelevant superficialities.
That's what happens when the west espouses DEI ESG & wokeness whilst dismissing meritocracy.
“Agree 100% at how clueless western observers are. Talk about drama queens. Their 24/7 attempts to smear Putin and gin up some sort of fake Kremlin crisis from nothing have always been pretty pathetic, but these days it's just sad.”
What happens when you spew BS 24/7 to try to fool the rubes. You can’t help to start believing your own BS after a while. Certainly the middle management cadres have to in order to implement the program. For the forever war on terror the bosses needed all the eager young recruits to run their black torture sites. Gotta have some true believers in the ranks. But you live by lies at some point you’re no longer able to even perceive truth. This is where are western leaders are at. And they are so busy clinging to power they can’t possibly think about other paths. So they just lie some more.
The West comprises of feminised spoilt children and geriatrics. Not one of them sees reality.