Carl von Clausewitz in his book On War (published in 1832) introduced the concept of “The Culminating Point.”
The culminating point in military strategy is the point at which a military force is no longer able to perform its operations.
If you set aside emotion and consider the current situation unfolding in Ukraine, the evidence shows that Kiev’s army and government is flailing and moving backwards. Without support from the United States and NATO, Ukraine does not have the manpower, munitions, tanks, artillery, air craft, financial resources and industrial capability to stop Russia. Even with more Western support trickling in, Ukraine will still lack the military power to staunch the Russian advance.
Doug MacGregor does his typically masterful analysis summarizing Ukraine’s dire situation:
I am mystified by the Western analysts who are downplaying the Russian offense in the Donbass along the defensive line that stretches from Bakhmut in the south to Seversk in the north as some sort of sideshow with no strategic importance. I disagree. I do not think that Russia is waiting for a “Spring offensive.” A Russian offensive is underway on multiple fronts and Ukraine is paying a heavy toll. Here are some of the summary reports describing the action in the last couple of days:
In the Soledar sector, assault detachments of the Wagner PMC are attacking the positions of the 10th Airborne Forces of Ukraine on the outskirts of Razdolovka , and are also moving westward from the village of Sakko and Vanzetti to Vasyukovka .
Clashes continue in the vicinity of Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka . The enemy suffers significant losses: the Ukrainian command withdrew in the direction of Slavyansk separate units of the 46th detachment of the DShV and 147th about 116th TRO from Krasnaya Gora .
In Bakhmut , the “Wagnerites” entered the Stupka area in the north of the city. Fierce battles are going on in urban areas. Statements about a breakthrough in the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not true – Ukrainian formations continue to resist.
At the same time, the partial withdrawal of units from the northern suburbs of Bakhmut and the departure of 63 mechanized brigades from the city yesterday indicate preparations for a possible surrender of the garrison. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are concentrating their efforts on holding the route to Chasy Yar in order to preserve the logistics hub.
The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is transferring manpower and armored vehicles from Konstantinovka to the vicinity of Chasov Yar . At the same time, additional defensive lines are being prepared in Konstantinovka itself.
Russian artillery is conducting a massive shelling of the areas where enemy reinforcements are concentrated on the Konstantinovka -Chasov Yar – Bakhmut highway.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/31998
The United States, Germany and other NATO partners have made a fatal mistake in trying to ratchet up their support for Ukraine by sending a paltry number of tanks and new weapons, such as ground launched small diameter bombs (GLSDBs). Instead of frightening Russia or increasing pressure on Moscow to reconsider its military operations in Ukraine, the recently announced expansion of Western military aid, especially from the U.S., is hardening Russian resolve. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Maria Zakharova’s impassioned remarks on this very point. She is defiant and explains in detail that Russia perceives this threat as a new attempt by the progeny of the Nazis to do what Hitler could not:
One final and unrelated, but important point. I have linked a document (Global Counterspace Capabilities) that is revealing and sobering in terms of the military capabilities the major countries have developed and deployed for space war. This will keep you awake at night.
GLOBAL COUNTERSPACE CAPABILITIES
Here is a snippet from the Executive Summary:
From a security perspective, an increasing number of countries are looking to use space to enhance their military capabilities and national security. The growing use of, and reliance on, space for national security has also led more countries to look at developing their own counterspace capabilities that can be used to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy space systems.
The existence of counterspace capabilities is not new, but the circumstances surrounding them are. Today there are increased incentives for development, and potential use, of offensive counterspace capabilities. There are also greater potential consequences from their widespread use that could have global repercussions well beyond the military, as huge parts of the global economy and society are increasingly reliant on space applications.
This article discusses the so called Kessler Syndrome, which it says
The problem NATO has is that without its space assets it is completely unable to fight. It can’t go back to the WWII level; it’s become far too evolved for a particular military ecological niche for that. Russia hasn’t.
Agreed BP. The US infantry is a paper tiger without air support, artillery, etc. The grunts were encircled in Korea and only the threat of nukes saved them.
And who remembers the video of screaming shit scared US marines in Iraq that found themselves under fire and surrounded? Shit scared and panicked with no immediate support.
Against the Russians that scenario would be 1,000 times more intense.
Hoorah, no more.
Not sure how you reconcile “without air support” with the following statement……”only the threat of nukes saved them”
Just how did MacArthur expect to deliver those “nukes” as you so lovingly call them ? Did the non-existent air support mean they would drive them in Jeeps ?
MacArthur was fired/deposed for the stupidity of his suggestion………since Soviet pilots were flying MIGs it was impolite to propose using “nuclear weapons” on the borders of USSR.
You sound American the casual way you write of “nukes”…………..I realise you are the sole nation to have used such weapons against civilians but you are not the only ones capable of using them against American civilians
I am not “American” as I am not from Chile, Mexico, or the USA; in fact I am not from anywhere on the American continent.
Maybe I worded it in an opaque manner; by air support I mean fighters, etc. A high altitude bomber is a different matter.
And using the term ‘nukes’ is not to trivialise them; it’s auniversally accepted abbreviation of nuclear weapons.
GRR is back, eh? With his “everybody from the Western Hemisphere is an American” b.s. I have explained to this kraut (or Austrian, or something) that while it is true all of us on this side of the Atlantic are “americans”, the title of American was won first on the battlefield by us, period. When asked who he is, a Chilean or Argentine says, Chilean or Argentine, not American. We threw you Europeans out of our hemisphere, followed by the other “americans”.
U.S. Marines “shit scared”, as a German would say? Didn’t see the video. I am sure they were rather concerned if they were surrounded. I would be. Come on over for a Marine Corps Birthday Ball and repeat that some time, will you?
You are just a typical America hater. Blowing hot air while illegal aliens rape your women. Impressive.
Charles is right. I’ve live in Honduras, Guatemala and Argentina. Traveled extensively in Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama. Never heard any of those folks refer to themselves as “Americans”.
But they do refer to what we in the US call “Americans” as gringos.
Did you perhaps mean to say Canada not Chile? I ask because Chile is about 5,000 miles or 8,000 km away from (say) New York. And Chile is in the southern hemisphere. It’s almost like assuming the Germans and the South Africans are neighbors with the same mindset because they are on the same longitude. Strange.
I should have said “close air support”.
I wish there was an edit facility here.
“Come on over for a Marine Corps Birthday Ball and repeat that some time”
LOL. Been having the same thought since “grr” migrated here from Moon of Alabama. Yes, he/she it (I’ll go with “it”) simply hates America as many Euro-lefties do. It is an ignorant jackass of the first order and should be ignored.
Btw, Charles, It has stated that anyone who has served in the American armed forces is a “war criminal” and deserving of a terrible death and then subsequent burning in hell – it has stated that idiocy several times. I’d like to see it repeat that at a USMC birthday ball as well. I supposed our host, Larry, is a war criminal too as he works with US SOF command to help those troops be better war criminals.
Of course “grr” knows that it is safe to offend others in digital anonymity. We all know that it would never have the courage to express its vile thoughts in public directly to the targets of it’s unhinged animosity.
Mr. Johnson, Charles is not right. You are not right.
I have lived my whole life in Europe. Visited many countries here.
When at home, or when meeting other people from other European countries, never heard of Italians calling themself “Europeans”. (Of course, they call themself “Italians”).
Never heard of Frenchs calling themself “Europeans”. (They call themself “Frenchs”).
It is understood that we are all European, so no need to repeat it again and again. But of course we consider ourselves “Europeans” as a whole.
I don’t mind repeating this anecdote for you and Mr. Burgess.
During my first stay Berlin, I took a German course in the Goethe Institute.
(I always thought that Europeans, we should not only speak the language of the “Empire”, so I started with German).
When introducing ourselves, we had to say name and country.
“My name is Rose, and I from America” (said a girl).
“Where in America? I’m from Argentina”, jumped immediately a girl from … America, but not from US.
That is, you can be sure that Americans not from USA, they know what they are.
It is only that you are nowadays the most powerful country in the world, and nobody can shut up your mouth. You go on repeating that … what Mr. Burgess proudly says.
But that you are the most powerful country in the world does not mean that you are the only “Americans”.
You are the only country in America with a name so “meaningless” (no offense intended): “United States”, that you have to add the name of the continent so it has a real meaning.
If you had a name based on anything , you would call yourself that, and leave the name of the continent for everybody, and not only for your only abuse.
Best regards.
PS: The Spanish name for USA: Estados Unidos de América.
The Spanish name for USA citizes: “estadounidense”. No need to say “American” in Spanish. But each language is different, and English does not have a name for you. (Citizen of United States of America .. is really .. not practical).
The Marines are so dumb that they walk around saying “simplify” to each other.
“You are the only country in America with a name so “meaningless” (no offense intended): “United States”, that you have to add the name of the continent so it has a real meaning.”
Fulano, it’s because the USA was once considered to be an international organization like the United Nations or European Union. The individual states were the independent countries.
There’s difference in flying at 31 000 ft and dropping nukes and flying at 1000ft or less to strafe/harass/destroy the enemy in close (air) support with unguided rockets or 0.5in machine guns.
Just saying, and I agree with Grr’s sentiments.
The “grunts” as you put it, were the First Marine Infantry Division who suddenly and without warning found themselves surrounded by some 100,000 well armed and courageous Chinese soldiers in a remote part of North Korea. They also had exactly one narrow mountain road that they needed to use for almost 50 miles to get to safety. Anyone looking at this situation would have surmised that the First Marine had ZERO chance of surviving this ordeal.
And yet, with a small assist of every naval aircraft the Navy had and the monstrous cannons from “Big Mo” the Marines not only survived, but inflicted enormous losses on their tormentors. Wikipedia reports the Chinese “LOST between 35K to 50K soldiers.” … for those who are fluent in Wikipedese that means 49,995 Chinese were KILLED. After all, if you get shot by a long gun in sub zero weather with little access to first aid, you die
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the “grunts” achieved this miracle in temps reaching 20 below So, being the naive, simple minded American that I am, Ive allowed myself to be misled that this was one of the greatest feats of arms in all of history
Now then, this thing about being saved by the threat of nukes … that might apply more accurately to the fiasco occuring on the east side of peninsula with the 8th Army. But that is a completely different situation. We completely neglected the US Army post WWII
One of the actions that defined what it means to be a US Marine. IMHO, no other fighting force on the planet, before, then or after, could have performed so well under those conditions.
Have you heard about the 300 Spartans? Or the “Ten Thousand” Greeks?
PS: They performed so well, under those conditions and others, that in the end they had to retreat, right?
And the Rambo fanboy, newdill/old dill emerges from under his rock once again.
Hoorah! USA,USA!
US Marines are the best fighting force among all of the Northen American naval infantry units.
The insane level of arrogance of people like you is why so many people and countries of the world hate America. If you want people to treat you with respect try showing some humility. You have absolutely ZERO evidence to support your stupid claim.
Yes, it’s become popular to say the US military is and has always been incapable of fighting.
Clearly not true. The Chosin Reservoir fight was not a story of military collapse, but rather a story of the Marines retrieving themselves from disaster by hard fighting and marching to fight another day. As General Chesty Puller said – “we are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction”.
Weather higher command should have taken heed of the signs that China was about to enter the war says nothing about the Militaries ability to fight.
It’s unknown if todays soldier is different than those who served in Korea or Viet Nam. It’s best to recall the history of the Army of the Potomac how it’s leadership and employment failed over and over again, but the Army held together again and again until good leadership took possession of it, cultivated it’s fighting qualities and put it to good use.
I suspect problems in todays Army can all be marked down to poor leadership and poor employment. It’s not the troops fault that the Army has been stripped of much of its artillery or that gender equity is taught more than fighting spirit or however you want to characterize.
All my life I grew up as a “raising the flag on Iwo Jima” kind of patriot. The War in Viet Nam was a disaster of leadership. The failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were failures of political and military leadership that extended their damage by promoting what I believe will turn out to be bad or mistaken doctrine.
Today I have to admit that DOD is entirely corrupt. It does not exist to serve the interests of the Republic but to direct the flow of money into the pockets of corrupt interests.
The whole insane, gender equity, LGBT, critical race theory with it’s anti-christ, proto-collectivist focus is evil. Not just wrong, but symptomatic of evil. It’s horrifying for those in uniform today to confront the fact that they are now instruments serving actual evil.
Have I changed that much ? Am I just wiser now ? Or perhaps Im the one who has become foolish. But I repent of my idolatry, my worship of the State and American power. I hope my country will return to the acknowledgement of God and Jesus his Son, who is God; repudiate Empire and instead seek quiet strength that seeks to do good while minding it’s own business.
That tactical retreat across the Frozen Chosin is a strong part of the legend of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children (after Mao Tse Tung suckered Macarthur into advancing all the way to the Yellow River before ambushing them with the Chicomm armies). My dad survived that as well as other historic battles in that stupid “police conflict” such as the Hook. He got out of Korea with 3 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a back full of shrapnel but at least he got out.
They didn’t send him back into Korea after his last hospital ship stay, so he finished his final tour of duty as an MP in Okinawa before he got to come home. Although nobody knew what it would ultimately be named, he got to Okinawa with a full load of PTSD so busting heads was right up his alley. I would’ve hated to have crossed his path during that time.
All we got is nukes.
THE US CREATES CONFLICT FOR THE WORLD; Mearshiemer
https://youtu.be/CmqojuijtFg
Give a listen to Mearsheimer’s recent talk in Norway. You can tell from his body language and agitated tone that he himself is at that ‘culminating point’. Sounds like a ‘last chance’ warning to the powers that be.
Mearsheimer gets a good bit wrong or oversimplified in some of his peripheral arguments & assumptions but his core delivery is solid.
Personally, I think he’s now about a hair’s breadth away from heading to the desert and sitting the next few years out in an underground bunker, not that It would take much for me to join him.
Dude, relax and enjoy life, what will be will be. Nothing much you can do about it all really.
The US has pretty much lost its mind as it goes down the road to decadence that all failing empires follow.
If you’re not jabbed, well good. If you are, give up on the boosters, as the jabs are way more likely to kill or injure you before any nuclear war.
All infantry, regardless of country, is largely useless and helpless on a peer to peer battlefield without artillery. That was true in Napoleon’s time and true today. Since WW2 you can add air support as well.
The Russians are as dependent on space based assets as the US is. No one is going to be shooting down Satellites. If it comes to that, it doesn’t matter b/c a nuclear exchange is right around the corner.
Eric,
Are you really certain Russia is fatally dependent on satellites as is the US? My guess is that being continental they have the equivalent of a WAAS network. But then again, what do I know of Russia General Staff planning for a war with the west?
ISL,
I thought WAAS is also dependent on satellites. One of the ‘A’s in WAAS stands for “augment” – augmenting satellite GPS and other signals.
Far from my area of expertise, though. Happy to be educated.
Sounds to me like peeing in the ocean. There simply cannot be enough stuff up there to do what the Doomsday Sayers say will happen. Think of the vastness of the oceans and radiate up from there. The equivalent footprint of an ocean will be much more up in space.
Let’s say everything everybody has up there was on the ground floating around in the ocean. Let’s say they were all blown to pieces. It wouldn’t even make a dent.
Despite the vastness of the oceans, ship-ship and ship-debris collisions do occur. This is because ships do not float around in the ocean, they generally sail in sea lanes.
I think this is similar to satellites in orbit, which, although rare, have recorded collisions, near misses and avoidance measures.
Overpopulation of LEO has a number of experts concerned , even before Kessler syndrome is added to the equation.
The problem is that in space, objects move at speeds of 1 kilometer per second or more, and since there is very low or non existent air drag, even tiny bit of space trash can cause a big damage, and then the other objects would bounce one of the other and so on you would get cascading effect where small pieces of trash would bounce all over the place and if they hit some satellite with such a speed it would be pretty easy to disable it if not brake it apart to cause more flying debris, etc…
Exactly. It’s rather like claiming that is one person throws a piece of wreckage into the ocean, every sea-going ship in the ocean will suddenly crash into each other.
Not at all. It’s like claiming that all the ships in one ocean are sailing in line, bow to stern, and torpedoing the first will cause the second to hit the wreck and sink, causing the third….and they can’t change course at all or in time to make a difference.
You should tell that to the crew of International Space Station. Recently a Soyuz was damaged by impact, and it’s not safe to get down in it. Maybe “peeing in the ocean” is more like “peeing in the pool”.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-to-launch-unpiloted-soyuz-to-space-station-to-replace-damaged-ferry-ship/
The stuff in your ocean is drifting around at meters per minute.
Space debries are going at kms per second.
There is a significant time dimension.
The volume of the Earth is roughly 260 million cubic miles.
The volume of just LEO (low earth orbit) – basically surface to 1200 mile “height” – is 315 million cubic miles.
One, or even 1000 satellites exploding, would be like BBs in a boxcar.
Yes, there is a speed dimension but LEO also means particle volumes are rapidly degraded by significant percentages falling into the atmosphere constantly.
So while Kessler is certainly possible – if it occurred, it would be in the decades/centuries time frame – not like a gigantic pinball machine.
Furthermore, the above only applies to LEO. Geosynchronous satellites are far, far higher with correspondingly higher volumes of orbital space. Even within the geosynchronous zone – there isn’t much gravity so particles are far more likely to fly out of the zone than continue orbiting as might happen in LEO.
Kessler syndrome is entirely bullshit in short to medium term time frames, and is highly speculative in longer ones.
“Kessler Syndrome” merely refers back to a paper pointing out that satellite debris contributes to the hazards to orbiting bodies from object strikes. It was never really about an idea that suddenly satellites would become impossible. Just increased risks and costs.
Umm – no each bit of trash sweeps out space – you are confusing area with volume. Further, satellites are either sun synchronous, or north south.
This is rocket science.
It would put paid to any space exploration for a couple of hundred years or more.
Sans GPS, a lot of folks and the military are going to be stuffed. Time to learn how to navigate with a sextant again and buy a street directory (in the olden days there used to be books with maps in them that people kept in their cars).
I can still shoot the stars if push comes to shove.
My better half asked why I keep a printed road atlas in each of our cars: Because GPS might not be working is one reason, but also pretty much ever car nav system is programmed to give the same detour around traffic jams, leading you into other traffic jams.
Never have depended on GPS As an old map maker I just don’t trust it. Especially about half the time potential visitors to the ranch get miss directed to a road with a locked gate.
Thanks for the link
The article is from Aleks at Black Mountain Analysis. His take I compare to Big Serge’s. Both are very good. Aleks is rather better. You have to understand Kessler Syndrome in the context of Aleks’s argument here, which is “equalization”. Russian strategy is what you might call simply “Big Picture” strategy — it makes a big distinction between local, short-term tactics and global, long term strategy. The Kessler Syndrome is a kind of chain-reaction thing which would only be set in motion if enough satellites were destroyed, Trouble is no one knows the tipping point. However, Russia has demonstrated the ability to destroy satellites in orbit. Clearly, this is an “equalization” option — but one that would be catastrophic for global communications, hitting principally the US and Europe. Aleks also notes that Russia could cut undersea internet cables. Of course, it is not impossible to clean space junk. And there are already efforts to develop technology to do so. But the Kessler Syndrome would make that very difficult. I recommend Aleks’s stuff. My won article on him here:
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/big-serges-big-surge
Thanks for sharing this. Good write up at your Substack.
At least there is some good news . Man made satellites are light and fragile, not like asteroids and other dense chunks of natural rock and ice. Orbiting objects are subject to deceleration . The smaller the mass of the orbiting object the greater the force of deceleration .Counterintuitively, the greater the mass of the orbiting object the longer it will remain in orbit. Fields of small low mass debris will decelerate, fall out of orbit and burn up fairly quickly
“At War, and in Court, one side loses. The other side loses more.” Moreover, the whole, vastly interconnected world loses. While Russia is definitely “winning”, even they and the whole world are losing what was, what could have been. The whole international system is crumbling. The EU is toast. American is Bankrupt. And the whole world is going to war economies. Nothing for pensions and the poor, unlimited graft for the Military Industrial Congressional Complex’s worthless weapons
Consent Judgments exist in litigation……….most Court Cases for big sums settle without trial…….
In War one side may lose – US did in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, but it came to an agreed “draw” in Korea
Define the interests right, and there are clear winners and losers even in imperial failed wars. Some $8 trillion on the US nominal “side” has been shoveled into the hands of the corporations and financial interests that provide the materiel and underwriting of the recent imperial ventures. Russian military industrialists are doing well off this conflict. What’s not doing well is ordinary people all over the planet, the real losers in the game. (Seems like Russians are globalists, too, just building a different set of frames for their actions — the more things change, the more they stay the same, or worse, for us mopes.)
Re: Zhaharova:
After giving a listen, two thoughts sprang to mind…….
1) Japan on Pearl Harbor: “we’ve woken a sleeping giant”
2) Pauly, half way through Clubber Lang fight: “He’s not getting killed, he’s getting mad!”
God help us all.
mr. johnson- this is totally unrelated; but people should know about this. just watched it. Your article is right on point and there is nothing more i can add except more links which would back up what yu said.
https://odysee.com/@RoystonPotter:b/shedding-tears:9
this is the product in question just recalled
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/vision-eye-care/eye-drops-recalled-due-to-potential-bacterial-contamination-a1081889113/#:~:text=Two%20eye%2Ddrop%20products%2C%20sold,due%20to%20potential%20bacterial%20contamination
Two eye-drop products, sold under the names EzriCare Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops, have been recalled by their manufacturer, Global Pharma Healthcare, due to potential bacterial contamination.
Consumers should immediately stop using these eye drops if they have them.
Interesting; and the clot shot rollout continues with death and injuries on a vast scale….
I just watched a few clips of Russian soldiers ambush a Ukrainian supply truck. All four Ukrainians including the driver were killed. The Ukrainians never knew what hit them. All the supplies, guns, and ammunition were confiscated.
It was brutal.
Thank the US-based Neocons when these soldiers are buried.
Link to video?
I saw the same video on Telegram. It was a supply truck. 5 dead ukranians. They had no idea what hit them.
I believe it was Intel Slava Z that had it.
heading was: Russian forces ambushing Ukranian UAZ loaded with ammunition.
Happens multiple times a day. Smart phones have revealed the ugly side of war like never before.
https://t.me/intelslava/44039
Probably this one
https://t.me/fuckedupworld2023/4784
This is the same clip only from the Tribune Timur news source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A08SBfQJ7rU
This guy at bitchute monitors telegram 24/7
Here’s the same:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fHHqthQdSeRY/
Larry. I love your blog.
One request: Can you make it so links open in another tab?
Most browsers allow that. Try right clicking on the link and see if a popup asks ‘open link in new tab’ or some such.
https://rusvesna.su/news/1675363483
My grandma treated bread just like Maria’s grandmother. She was forbidding me to ever throw away bread, it was like tempting the providence. There is an old saying sounding verbatim like “let’s never bread taste sweet.” My grandma, who lived through the post-WWII famine in the USSR, told me that bread tastes sweet during a famine.
That was a very powerful speech by Maria Zakharova! I remember a German Canadian lady in her 60’s and her father came to the campground that I work at, we started a conversion which led me to asking if he had been in the war. The lady translated that her father was a German WW ll veteran who was sent to the Russian front at the age of 17, right at the end of the war where he was captured and detained in a POW camp. I stated that the Soviets must have been brutal and it was amazing that he survived at all, that is when he told me a truth that challenged my assumptions of those evil communist Ruskies. The same truth that Maria spoke about, this German gentleman told me that it was the poorest Russians that brought them food and that is the reason he survived and eventually moved to Canada. I still feel very emotional about that conversation, it left a big impression on me.
Much as I admire Maria Zakharova I am not going down that path………..it is not true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swF7lVPBoIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlVZgEUkaP0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Far_as_My_Feet_Will_Carry_Mehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Rost
I know it is trending to paint the USSR as “good sports” and kind towards defeated German forces but it is simply untrue.
To say peasants threw bread is akin to British civilians giving Italian POWs in England cigarettes – they certainly would not have done so for Germans.
The Ostfront was bestial. One fun trick was to tie a captured German soldier to a chair and remove his boots putting his feet in a bucket of water and leaving him outside……
Stalin wanted the PoWs as slave labour in Magadan and Norilsk and for reconstruction of towns they had devastated and mine clearance. He intended to deport the entire population of SBZ in Germany to Siberia.
Maria Zakharova may not know in detail – and Memorial is not favoured by the authorities, but to portray German PoWs are being treated with kindness stretches credulity. It is not after all like the Pacific where US population were full of genuine affection for Japanese soldiers – especially on Saipan – where they were warmly welcomed
And yet it is true whether you believe it or not. My mother’s family is from Stalingrad. The city was completely destroyed, and after the war many German POWs were kept there to rebuilt it. My mother was a schoolgirl at the time, and she remembers perfectly that the German soldiers were starving, as was the Russia civilian population, including her own family. Nevertheless, Russia women brought food to the German camps and pushed a piece of bread, or a couple of potatoes, or whatever they could find, through the fence. The guards chased the women away, but they kept coming back. The German officers, on the other hand, received packages with food from the Red Cross and were doing quite well. Naturally, nobody thought of sending food to our starving children.
I spent a few years in Rome long ago. There, I came across an older Italian that marched into Russia with the Germans, was captured and spent years as a POW. He had nothing bad to say about his treatment. I got the impression he got along pretty well with them. Probably politics but I’m guessing.
I spoke with an elderly Hungarian who was captured by the Russians as a young soldier and taken to Siberia to work in a copper mine ! He said that the prisoners of war received better meals than the average Russians ! As for the misconception that the Bolsheviks were mostly not Russian people of the Pravoslav faith, but the Zelenskijs kind , the Russian people suffered unfathomably from the oppression of the Bolsheviks ! But if their country is under attack from abroad, they unite and are not afraid of anyone or anything! The West does not yet know what kind of sleeping monster it has awakened ! We Hungarians have a saying “A bear is not a toy, a bear will kill you!”
When I was in college, I dated a Hungarian gal whose parents emigrated to the US during the Hungarian uprising in ’56. Had some pleasant dinners with them. Even though they’d fled sovier repression in ’56 they were not all that antagonistic toward the Russians. The Slovaks too, were less antagonistic than the Czechs, who themselves weren’t all that antagonistic, certainly not on a Polish or Baltic state level. Similar with the Slovenes and even Croats recently (that surprised me). That’s strictly on a public, not governing level which is a horse of another color.
It’s been American habit to seek out the most Russia-antagonistic among the eastern-European states and embrace them, while sidelining the less enthusiastic ones. That suggests to me that they’ve (or at least certain subgroups) been up to no good from the very beginning of the USSR’s collapse.
I am 61 years old. Listening to Maria Zakharova speak moved me close to tears. I feel deeply ashamed of what we in the “West” have become a party to. The Russian have opened our eyes to our own deceit and ugliness.
Disturbing as I find this, I feel immense gratitude for people such as Larry who retain the courage and integrity to bring this to a wider audience.
Let us join St. Catherine and “Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues; the world is rotten because of silence.”
Thank you Larry.
Edmund Burke’s epigram, from memory, is similar – “For evil to succeed requires only that good men do nothing”.
Problem is, that the west has used that very same pretext for doing what it does. The sad part of it all is that one has to choose by analysis, by thought, by study and by gut which one is right.
I made my choice back in 2014 and so far, have only been reinforced in that decision. It’s a tough row to hoe.
Well said.
The devil can quote scripture for his own purposes.
Well said. You and me both. I am so f*cking pissed I want to go to Russia and help with aid to the Donbass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUzCug-nOg
For me, 2014 was the tipping point. Although I know a bit more of Russian/Ukrainian history, not to mention the Balkans, than most in the West, honestly you had to be willfully blind not to see what had happened at Maidan and then happened in the Donbass, a modern day Guernica.
I’d put some hope then in the Minsk accords and UNSC Res 2202 but when I heard Poroshenko, then Merkel, then Hollande own up to their deceptions, proudly even…..that just solidified all that I’d suspected all along.
If you take all of the western machinations over Kosovo under Albright and culminating in ’99, turn them 180 degrees and see the exact same western m.o. (in reverse), there’s no way to avoid being thoroughly ‘pissed’.
Amen I pray for Russia’s total and complete success
And the absolute judgement on the utterly corrupt USA for its senseless aggression in the world this past hundred years
Before you condemn the USA exclusively for the world’s ills, you really should take a peek behind the curtain:
https://risingtidefoundation.net/2022/08/07/the-special-relationship-how-the-british-reconquered-the-united-states-and-established-an-anglo-american-empire/
One quote from Cynthia’s article:
“The U.S. had gone from an explicit mission to end imperialism worldwide under Roosevelt, to actively supporting and upholding British colonies and vassal states under Truman.
Caesar had been handed his crown and the American people had no idea.”
I have come to believe that the USA actually lost the War of Independence at 3:30PM on April 12th, 1945……
Brilliant. Well said, Elial. My thoughts also but so well expressed.
You are speaking as if you had looked directly into my heart.
But it is not only the silence, it is also the not listening and the not believing the truth.
I am German and asked my grandparents about everything concerning WWII, what they experienced and had to live thrue. And they told me that they were not listened to with their warnings. My great grand mother said in ’33 that the Third Reich would start a war and no one believed her.
I did not understand, than came covid and I saw thrue the lies and half thruths and demagogic speaches of our politicians. I spoke out and no one believed me. I was, well, I was very depressed.
Then the war between Ukraine and Russia started. Again I spoke out, about the shelling of Donetzk prior to 24th of february, Butcha, Mariopol, Azow-nazis and so on. But still, Russia was blamed.
People rather believe the propaganda, believe the words of demagogs, no researching and then thinking for themselves!
Partly this is, I think, because in German social media this themes and discussions about them are censored. And I know this because I have worked for FB, I worked to make hate speech and pornography and what evel evil one can think of go away. So I know exacly how the machine works. But as cencoring free speach came up I quit the job. I will not be part of evil deeds!
Nonetheless, I feel deeply ashamed
I hear You, Stephan.
There are so many who refuse to see what is so obvious and apparent. What can one do? I have come to realise that those who seek the truth shall find it one way or another. For the rest, they will create their own suffering and misery and make those around them also suffer.
At this point, I am more interested in finding out the unvarnished truth for myself, no matter how uncomfortable or unpleasant. I state my opinion in conversations, but no longer push obvious facts if people don’t want to listen. Stupid people are also dangerous people as Bonhoeffer discovered:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc&feature=share
The Truth doesn’t care if we believe it or not. We close our eyes to reality at our own peril. History, and whatever love and purpose there is in the sweep of time, is much larger than we. One should not despair.
Thank you, Elial.
It feels to me like Cassandra of Troy must have felt, with the gift of foreseeing the future but no one listening and believing.
I find strength in Jesus and his words (quote out of my memory): “What you did to one of my brothers, you did to me.”
So if I can reach even only one of my fellow human beings, I have accomplished the goal set to me by my savior.
While frustration is not so easy to cope with, I will surely not despair.
And when I am realy down I watch the video of ‘Pooja an Shanti’, hope you can enjoy it as well as I do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhieTbWgURY
As a guess, I would say that the war would wrap up, culminate, end by the fall of 2023.
The US and NATO’s folly will be exposed much sooner. However, the disaster in Ukraine probably will morph into some kind of disaster that will threaten human extinction. There are bio labs, economic crises, immigration crises, nuclear weapons and madmen like Zelensky, Bill Gates, and Klaus out there.
Vladimir Putin probably is the sanest leader on earth.
Note that most Ukrainian brigades have lost most their manpower and have become battalions. It seems the salt mines in the Bakhmut area were used to stockpile vast munitions for the expected war with Russia. This is why Ukraine sent so many forces to defend this area. The Russians captured what was left.
My favorite war porn channel with a dozen updates daily:
https://www.bitchute.com/channel/nnwlaOOuDM1W/
Most Americans are confused by what’s happening. Luckily, the great Professor John Mearsheimer recently gave a great presentation best titled “The Russia-Ukraine War for Dummies.” Share this with naive friends. At the end he warns that a Ukrainian victory might cause a nuclear war. I fear a Russian victory may cause one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmqojuijtFg
I assume you mean Soledar rather than Bakhmut, which is still being contested.
Bakhmut is apparently the Tartar name for Artyomovsk (Russian) and a variation on the name Mohammed
Quite so, but Soledar is where the salt mines are, and it was captured weeks ago.
If there any salt mines in Bakhmut, I haven’t heard of them.
As I have read the salt mines have tunnels of more than one hundred miles. So there are many entrances and exits, not only for personell, equipment and maintanance but also for ventilation and other reasons. Some of these ‘openings’ may be in Bakhmut.
Hi Carlton Meyer
Your first link gave me access to the incredible video “WOW : 2010 Victory Day Parade is a must see…” …and I dare say it is.
Heartfelt thanks for this.
I saw the same video on Telegram. It was a supply truck. 5 dead ukranians. They had no idea what hit them.
I believe it was Intel Slava Z that had it.
heading was: Russian forces ambushing Ukranian UAZ loaded with ammunition.
link found in telegram post
https://t.me/intelslava/44039
Thanks. This is the YouTube link from Tribune Timur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A08SBfQJ7rU
I’ve seen announcements, that the Russian government offered monetary prizes for captured/destroyed foreign tanks, with a much higher award for a captured one. I’ve also seen the offers of a premium waterfront land lot on Baikal Lake for a captured tank. And the Russian businessmen and municipalities are also offering their own prizes, so it sounds like the Leopards safari, never mind Abrahams.
It seems to me that the culminating point occurred back in mid-April, when the AFU had lost its navy, air force, and command & control of its land forces along with much of its equipment and officer corps. From that point onwards, it was incapable of coordinating any action above (say) brigade level, and in most zones not even that.
What happened then is almost as if a new, different war started as the AFU mobilized and the West poured in eqpt so it could at least man the defensive lines and occasionally execute active defence. The Japanese holdouts defending islands long after Japan had surrendered come to mind. It has degenerated into a slaughterhouse for the AFU, yet it almost inexplicably continues without let up.
The AFU/NATO strategy is either scorched earth, or they have a plan that’s telling them that the largely NATO trained and (soon to be) equipped army-in-waiting that’s sitting well behind the front lines will be capable of pushing the Russians back.
Russia likewise has an even larger, already fully equipped army-in-waiting behind the front lines and in Belarus. Why it’s still “in-waiting”, or if/when it will move is completely unknown to us.
If there’s such a thing as a 2nd culminating point, it will arise as those two armies clash. If the Russians go on the offensive (say) tomorrow morning and roll it all up before the NATO guns arrive, the 2nd culminating point will be over before it starts. Blink and you’ll miss it.
However, it may be that Russia actually welcomes a full strength NATO/AFU army so that its destruction sends the kind of message only an undeniable military catastrophe can send. In such case, the 2nd culminating point will be closer to what Clausewitz had in mind for both the war and, I suspect for the dispute between Russia and the collective West as well.
Make that “Blinken and you`ll miss it”, and you`re pretty much on point.
My impression is that Russian armed forces are prepared for potential large-scale offensives but most are not yet engaged. New defensive lines are being fortified while training and coordination continue in several regions. Armaments and munitions stocks are being built up while upgraded systems are brought online. Domestic vigilance and defense are heightened to prevent sabotage and terror attacks. Especially since Putin met with the mothers of fallen Russian soldiers, there seems to have been a concerted effort by commanders to preserve the lives of the troops going forward, so nothing is being done hastily.
Putin and his administration have issued warnings to the collective West that there will be hell to pay for further escalation. Russia’s diplomatic efforts are redoubled to strengthen relationships with sympathetic countries because this is also an economic and PR war being waged by the US and EU and the financial bosses directing them. Beyond Russia’s military objectives, the “inflection point” is when all these moving parts are synchronized to cause maximum impact, intended to achieve not only victory while avoiding nuclear war, but also to pave the way for long term peace and cooperation that WWII and the end of the Cold War failed to bring. One can only hope they will succeed.
I have recommended Larry’s article to a small circle of Germans and Russians for reading. In my following text I want to inspire there with this and some other international authors, people to think.
“It is veterans of Western intelligence services and the military of the USA and NATO, as well as economists and journalists with international reputations who have been non-conformists since time immemorial, who publish the most sobering analyses for the West. They must be thanked, because not infrequently they are subjected to extreme reprisals. The latter is reason enough to recognize that the West is evil. Larry Johnson is one of them. He worked for decades as an analyst at the CIA and is a sincere patriot of his country who has been gripped by horror, recognizing how the “elites” of his country and of the West continue to go on and on, becoming more and more mentally pathological.
One thing is certain, we live in a time in which the existence of mankind is at stake. But even if we survive, in the West we are threatened by the sinister dystopia of the “Great Reset” of the multi-billionaires, who want to plunge us into darkness, while the rest of humanity can look forward to a more optimistic future and, unlike the West, in mental health.
I am not translating the article. If you are interested, please do it yourself. But it’s worth a comment or two.
For those of us for whom spectacular picture compositions, videos and cheap slogans in “social networks” are not enough, much more feel the urge for information and understanding, I recommend the effort to research in international alternative sources. Sometimes you stumble upon gems with real experts and you see analysis of developments from different angles.”
My apologies to Larry if I misunderstood anything about his resume.
For me, this site is a real find, very exciting. I don’t miss any of Larry’s articles. I have my favorite commentators – HMS Terror, Oddo, just saying and others.
I must admit that I copy Larry’s articles and some of the comments under them for a Russian site that has few visitors so far. At the same time, I feel awkward that I can’t buy Larry coffee -I don’t have a dollar bill. I hope Larry will forgive me for this.
My opinion about it is the same. Especially since December 2013, I have awakened extremely hard. Since then I am very worried and research permanently. The carelessness of the people around me scares me. Although I understand why people are like that. I don’t know if people like Larry Johnson know how extremely important their efforts are. But I’m glad they exist. Larry is one of many. But still too few have the courage and integrity to take action. Especially people who have the knowledge and skills from within the apparatuses of power. I regret that the “Saker” had to capitulate now. I understand his motives well. Here in Germany, too, the state repressive measures are getting worse and worse.
If you buy Larry coffee, that would get him arrested as Russian agent. 🙂
P.S. Sometimes I post under different pseudonyms, and a few times someone posted with alias similar to mine. I guess anonymity has it’s advantages and drawbacks. Sites that allow posting without registration tend to turn into chaos in an instant. What makes comment section here of high quality is moderation done by Larry (or someone else), although I think he should be deleting more obvious troll posts because they can drown good ones.
Me too Heikomr, Finding Larry and a number of other voices on alternative media have given me the mental support I need to comprehend this war. Similar voices that I myself felt from the outset but found no one next to me, in my circle, social, family etc who chimed with my own thoughts. All, pretty well, were vehemently against any discussion that went against the narrative. I believe the truth was too shocking for most to accept. As Ibsen wrote in his play The Wild Duck, ‘when you rob the average man of his illusions, you also rob him of his happiness at the same time.’
Great interview but good God. If the NATO guy is representative of the decision-makers, God help the West.
Did he really say that Russia has problems with wartime industrial capacity? Yes…yes, he did. WTF? The dishonesty and incompetence is scary.
Many say Russia won’t launch an offensive. I disagree. I think they’re going to make Ukraine even more of an example than it already is. They’re going to show the world what happens if they play games with Moscow in 2023.
No western power will mess with Russia after Ukraine. If they do, they know what happens. And America won’t be able to help them.
It really pisses me off that the guy has likely made $millions over the years as he has risen through the rotten NATO system, clapping like a seal without any accountability, while all the time being a moron.
Maybe NATO should go full Caligula and appoint horses as their commanders. They’re intelligent animals with an innate sense of strength and weakness. They’d do a far better job than the current lot.
Brilliant. Well said, Elial. My thoughts also but so well expressed.
I was really impressed by Zakharova’s speech, intelligent and passionate yet controlled. I really wish we had some actual diplomats in my country. I’m far from being a royalist (not my thing at all), but it would seem that the last true diplomat we had was the Queen and now she is gone.
The diplomats in the UK/US remind me of myself as a 10 year old (in the 1980s) when I was arguing with friends, who were Man Utd fans, that my team (Man City) was the superior team. At that time Man Utd were the best in the league and Europe and mine was probably one of the worst. Facts be damned though, I refused to accept the reality…but at least I was a child and I grew up. These people are supposed adults and will probably get worse as time goes on. At least all my childish delusions only brought me a little embarassment, their arrogant delusions are ruining the economy and will likely get my nation destroyed if they keep on pushing it. For people who obsess over shallow things such as ‘optics’ they seem to be willfully blind to the Russians viewing this proxy war as an immediate threat to their existance (and are acting in accordance with this credible belief).
In order to understand how indebted the Germans are to the Russians, one does not need to go that far into WWII, it is enough to go back 33 years. At that time, the British were against the unification of Germany. The British secretly sent delegations to Moscow to Gorbachev to prevent reunification, while Margaret Thatcher publicly said that she “loves Germany so much that she prefers there to be two Germanys”. After the unification of Germany, millions of ethnic Russian Germans were allowed to immigrate to Germany and improve the demographic picture of Germany.
What did the Russians get for their generosity? The German chancellor who publicly admits that she deceived the Russian president regarding the Minsk agreement. The German foreign minister who declares war on Russia. Deliveries of German tanks to Ukrainian neo-Nazis. I think that the hot-headed and warlike Russophobic Poles have much more honor than the Germans.
The German government is no more representative of the will of the German people than any other fake democracy. The ugly reality is that even before ballot fraud became rampant, there has been systemic electoral fraud designed into the system to subvert the will of the people.
It’s the old problem identified by Benjamin Franklin (iirc) that was the reason America was founded as a republic not a democracy (paraphrasing) “the people know what is good for them, they just will vote themselves too much of it.” The essential truth of republics is that they are designed to be competitions between factions of the ruling class (who are better informed and usually more responsible) and the people are trusted to be wise enough to vote out any governing ruling-class faction that messes up badly enough. Our tragedy and the failure of the West at this juncture is that ALL of the factions of European ruling classes have gone bad. When the left goes off the rails there is no one to replace them but conservative-flavored corporates who are arguably even worse in the long term. (if collapse is inevitable, best just to get it done in the spirit of ‘the sooner we hit bottom the higher the bottom will be’)
Also consider that corporate mass media (from which most people form their views of the larger world outside of their sensible experience) is owned by the very same set of people who own the political parties (which are also corporations) and the assessment of moral culpability becomes more complex. I realize that most people will find it offensive, but it is nevertheless true so I will say it anyway: most people are human cattle during the good times and have to be prodded by painful reality to awaken their sapience. Regaining control over out of control governments in ways that do not make things worse is not something that happens quickly. So, I think one should be careful about blanket statements about the failings of people who effectively have no control over the misbehavior of the governments which administer the regions in which they live.
A relevant example of culpability is the blame ethnic Russians got and get for the crimes of the early Soviet Union, which were overwhelmingly organized by non-Russians and committed against ethnic Russians. It’s not an accident that the mass-murdering stopped when ethnic Russians got back control over their own country and could begin again the long project to restore the promise of their 1rst Russian Revolution, stolen from them by the internationalist Bolsheviks during the 2nd RR.
Well said.
Germany is a “Party State” with parties having a special role in the Verfassung as “Vanguard of the Volk” – sort of Leninist with multi-party (2-3 approved) who then devour the state – placing their acolytes in Media, Church, Agencies – and making a party card a path to riches.
SPD is the richest party – owning newspapers, cruise liners – FDP has a castle in Spain. They soak up around €1 billion each year from taxpayer.
Even judges are political
Head of German Constitutional Court was an MP in Merkel’s party – that is the sort of corruption Lloyd George managed with a Lord Chief Justice who was also British Ambassador to USA
It looks the 20% solution is a fait accompli, doesn’t it?
The Russian army ( the one we don’t see, which is now what, 570,000 strong according to Macgregor?) is going to sit outside the battlezone and roast weenies under the watchful gaze of American satellites (and spy balloons?), and threaten this theater of war with its menacing presence. When the Donbas triple layered defensive network finally cracks, due almost entirely to the fine work of the Wagner Group, the Americans will say, ok, you have called our bluff, there is no reason for you to escalate this any further. The last thing either of us need, is a real war that involves rabbit hunts of broken armies as they retreat pell mell across the steppe, or lengthy and unproductive sieges of major metropolitan areas.
So, how ’bout we give you Donetsk and Luhansk in full, and those portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that sit to the west of the Dnieper, we will also, cede to you.
You for your part, can boast of a great victory and near liberation of your sovereign territories, and we for our part, can claim we did our best but our proxies failed us, while maintaining our ability to move first strike weapon systems not only up to the Dnieper River, but into the 7 Ukraini oblasts to the west of the Dnieper as well, the ones you didn’t bother to “liberate,” that stick like a dagger into your soft underbelly.
As for the Jewel of the Black Sea, Odessa, that will remain firmly under the control of Cargil and Archer Daniels and those type folk.
It’ll be a win, win, win for everyone.
And the Russian Federation will agree to these terms of course, might ever think them generous, because the one thing we have learned from this war so far, the Russians are the friendliest and most accomidating people in human history.
You must be joking. Isn’t it?
No he is not joking, he is just a bit dim I think.
Yep. It’s pretty obvious, for this site. Somewhere else it could be serious.
You know the biggest problem with Europeans, they never know when to stop lecturing and just shut the hell up. The hubris is way beyond capabilities.
Really………”Europeans” do not exist as such – it is “racist” to imply there is a homogenous tribe called “Europeans”
The United States tends to be the problem with its insistence on making the whole planet follow its dictates – not even Adolf Hitler had such Messianic lunatic designs but then again he lacked the Messianic Message inherent in Bolshevism and Zionism
Are you European, Paul Greenwood?
There is even an “European Union”, and some people (politicians, journalists ..) are so pretentious(?) that they identify “European” with the countries that belong to that association. (Just like some people from the US are so pretentious that they ignore that the rest of the countries of America can call themselves Americans too).
“it is “racist” to imply there is a homogeneous tribe called “Europeans””
Who says that?
You?
And who are you?
Compared with many other areas of the world, I would say that yes, we are quite “homogeneous”. “Homogeneous” does not mean “identical”, right?
Nonsense! The Greatest Country in the World has all the capabilities beyond everyone else, including hubris, lecturing, and not knowing when to shut the hell up.
https://www.psykiatriantutkimussaatio.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Psychiatria_Fennica-2019_Isohanni.pdf
Very interesting paper which should create a basis for analysis of current political-media elites in Western societies…..
Sadly it appears few people understood what the brilliant Maria was really saying.What iheard her saying is ,The germans and the EU will not ever get a third bite at the apple called Russia.Russia heretofore has been civil to the west,NO MORE will we turn the other cheek.From this day forward the West will be a pariah to be shunned and avoided.
Yes, that is what I heard.
@Larry Johnson
Are there any plans on putting a muzzle on the psycho that goes under alias Eric Newhill?
https://sonar21.com/is-the-war-in-ukraine-nearing-the-culminating-point/#comment-113369
I have seen you commenting about him earlier, so I believe you know who’s in question. Only one monkey pissing in the well can ruin it for all the animals, and this one has a big bladder.
While living in Germany, I heard 2 or 3 times to German people “if the Russians had done to us, what we intended to do to them .. there would be not a living German now”.
So sad they have forgotten it already.
Quite so, but Soledar is where the salt mines are, and it was captured weeks ago.
If there any salt mines in Bakhmut, I haven’t heard of them.
You meant “liberated”
Sure, “liberated” works well enough, but I still have no idea how my reply to Carleton Meyer re: Soledar got double posted here.
There is a well-known underground weapon cache in Paraskoviivka, a strategic village between Soledar and Bakhmut. From this cache weapons were distributed to Bakhmut, Soledar and the whole Lisichansk front. I’d be surprised if there’s anything useful left there now though. Anyway, there is heavy fighting going on there, and the Ukrainians are pouring in reserves to defend it.
Sheesh Larry!
That speech really got to me here in the UK. I’m not used to my eyes welling up like that watching a you tube video on a Sunday morning.
But I’m glad I watched it. Thanks.
Meanwhile the Bandera Broadcasting Corporation here still has no coverage of the terror attacks against Ukrainian civilians in Donetsk.
Presumably they are the “wrong” kind of Ukrainians?
Based on the thoughts voiced, we can conclude about Putin’s territorial goals:
Russia will expand at the expense of the Little Russian provinces, which were part of the Russian Empire under the concluded agreement with Bogdan Khmelnitsky. These are the Kiev, Cherkasy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions, as well as the Novorossiysk lands — these are the current south-eastern regions of the former Ukraine. The DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions are already part of the Russian Federation. There remain: Odessa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd.
Galicia or Galicia (Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil regions) will not enter the new Russia.
But this does not mean that Putin will allow Poles to go there. This will be the material for bargaining. You are the lifting of sanctions, we are the independence of Galicia.
Read more at https://www.pravda.ru/world/1783495-putin_ukraine/
Excellent article. When this is over I’m quite certain that we can go back and see that the Russian leadership hinted about everything that would happen, but we didn’t understand it.
Someone here said that the brits (MI6) spent 80% of their time studying open Russian sources (Pravda, Tass, etc) and tried to understand what was actually said. That’s also what we should do. For example, a few days ago Putin said that Ruddis “doesn’t drive tanks up the Western countries border”. I doubt he would have said that if he actually planned on doing it.
Oh boy, the dumb monkeys can’t seem to get along on this planet earth so let put bombs in space to rain down on our heads!
Zakharova’s answer was stunning and should go viral. Illuminates so much.
Thank you Larry for posting the video.
BTW – we aren‘t even near the culminating point yet, wait until 2025 when the ‘glorious’ NATO 2 million man counteroffensive jumps off.
Where do you want to accommodate 2 million people? On the Black Sea coast or in Siberia?
On the seashore, the population density is very high, even graves are expensive, not to mention housing in dormitories. There are large free spaces in Siberia, there is enough space for everyone. We will welcome you with cordiality.
It’s just my analysis that the War Party is going to spend 2 years and untold trillions building a massive 2 million man Army for a glorreiche (sic) counteroffensive. That’s the way the War Party wages war.
We are very much in a Global War already. The Ukrainian Civil War is really just a sideshow.
Pray de-dollarization accelerates enough to stop the War Party is all I can say.
https://youtu.be/soRIjIJAUfA?t=5810
“Until I finish him off, the war isn’t over……..He’s waiting. He is. He’ll wait twenty, fifty years..maybe a hundred. And then he will crawl out. He must be destroyed. You know that has to be done.” Naydenov, T-34 Tanker, White Tiger (2012).
To those who’ve seen the movie….Perfect catch – in a nutshell.
Just as there are some who sympathize with the Azov clones, there are some that sympathize with the Wagner clones. Both are nat soc BTW. Putin is attracting praise for non homo social program all the while he knows that 60 years ago his own kgb seeded the chaotic social insanity now engulfing the west. The Uke mess has no heros only villains the sooner it ends the better.
The exposed military weaknesses hopefully will be critically reviewed and the responsible collectivist worshipping parties be eliminated from influencing powerful offices for generations to come.
The West: “We are not Nazis!” (while sending German tanks to the front).
NATO won’t survive this.
It shouldn’t survive as an entity, then there will finally be an enjoyable silence without the eurowhiners and Klaus Schaub and all the other dictator wannabes. US can finally pull out of the eurowhore and have Putin lose his marbles dealing with her.
Its simple: criminal psychopaths will not stop terrorizing others until they are forced to stop. Russia is in process of forcing them to stop in Europe. The psychopaths and now turning to bring chaos to China and trying to re-ignite the Middle East again in flames. What we can’t control we destroy is their moto. They must be forced to stop at every turn.
Maps require scale for reference.
A town recently captured by Russia is called Sacco and Vanzetti. I wonder how that name came about.
Compare Maria Zakharova to our Press Secretary. Maria dwarfs ours in culture and intellect. The same is true when comparing current Western “Leaders” to Russia’s Leaders.
I sincerely hope the culminating point is here.
Do you mean Karin Jean-Pierre?
She’s pretty cute. The Russians gave her the nickname Cheburashka – the favorite hero of a Soviet cartoon.
https://kartinkived.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cheburashka-i-mandariny.jpeg
She’s cute and well spoken but vapid, as those in her line of White House work must be of necessity.
Well said and sooooooooo true.
No “culmination” point. This war has, finally, only just begun and its true nature is about to be revealed. The foreplay period is ending. Wagner is still doing the bulk of heavy lifting for Russia with the regular army laying back, consolidating the hold on captured territory in eastern Ukraine and waiting in reserve. Soon US/NATO troops and heavy weapons systems will be introduced on the battlefield and manned by US/NATO troops. Anyone who thinks that NATO can’t do great harm to Russian troops is a deluded fool. Yes, Russia would prevail over them in the long run, all other thing being equal. But all things are not necessarily equal.
We do not know how casualty adverse Russia is. So far they have been very adverse. We do not know how casualty adverse the US/NATO is. With regards to the US, this is not Vietnam where the public has full information and a will to turn against the government. Poland seems eager to fight. The west believes its massive all encompassing propaganda campaign will keep the populations in line, just as it did with covid.
Logistics? War material productions issues? Doesn’t make sense? It doesn’t have to make sense. The west is impassioned and rationality has taken a back seat.
The Russians have been holding back on some key capabilities. However, the US has some key capabilities that haven’t been revealed on the battlefield either. No one knows how these capabilities will counter each other on a modern battlefield. We will soon enough find out.
Eric, I hope that doesn’t happen, if it does, the tactical nukes will be a’flying. I wouldn’t want to be vacationing in Italy or Germany, possibly the UK.
You talk like a true American who thinks he has bought himself a subscription to the eternal spectator in the theater of military operations. Millions of Russians and Europeans are dying on stage, and you’re chewing popcorn and bullying.
You must think that the United States will be able to arrive in time to share the spoils of the winner, as it was in the Second World War.
Gog drew fair attention to “that the British (MI6) spent 80% of their time studying open Russian sources (Pravda, TASS, etc.) and tried to understand what was actually said.”
So, I remind you, at the very beginning of the war it was said: “We will hit the decision-making centers.”
I’m translating:
Russia will never use nuclear weapons on the European continent, that is, in its own home.
Russia is not at all interested in the mass bloodshed of its unreasonable neighbors on the Continent.
In case of escalation to an unacceptable level, Russia will hit the main Troll. She will beat so that from now on Chileans, Brazilians, Argentines…The Indians were called Americans.
Russians will survive in the Siberian taiga. You try to survive in two oceans.
Eric Newhill is a proud father of a war criminal.
Afghan = “grr”, who’s major malfunction, as self-revealed a few years back in moon of Alabama comments, is that his mother was an alcoholic and a prostitute in Germany. One of her countless “customers” was a US Marine from an embassy security detail, a typical very well hung and aggressive Marine. The result was a broken condom – and “grrr”. Thus began the sad story of poor little “grr”- the fetal alcohol syndrome afflicted, bastard son of a US Marine and a whore – and his excursion into venting his rage and frustration at the US and, especially, US service members.
Eric, you swear dirty and not wittily as “raguli” (villagers of western Ukraine, carriers of Bandera ideology). A distinctive feature of the mentality of the Ragul-Bandera is extreme cruelty towards the inhabitants of a neighboring village, if, for example, a pig that escaped from its owners is found in a neighbor’s stable. They will kill all the neighbors along with the pig. The second feature of raguli is to act stealthily, under the cover of night.
@Larry Johnson
Why is stuff like this allowed here? Even you have personally warned this guy earlier.
Dude. Like so many rabidly anti-America people, you are arguing with a straw man that was probably erected at the Karl Marx & Che Guevara Memorial America Haters United Central HQ and sold to you via their various propaganda distribution outlets.
Obviously, I’m perfectly aware that if things escalate to nuclear, as an American I won’t be a mere spectator. Obviously, I think nuclear war would be horrible beyond description, regardless of who is “hit” and further think it is an unwinnable scenario and one that should be avoided at all costs. I have stated many times that I am opposed to US/NATO policy in Ukraine b/c I think it could very conceivably lead to nuclear war. I was opposed to NATO expansion, long before the Ukraine situation, for the same reason. I listen to what Putin and other high level Russian govt officials say. They have been warning as to where this all leads for many years.
As for your predictions as to what Russia would or wouldn’t do in the event of nuclear escalation, forget about it. If it comes to that, all bets are off. If they decide they must strike, they will do whatever makes strategic sense to them at that time, not what you think they would do/not do because you want to paint a favorable picture of them. IMO European, UK and US targets are in the pre-programmed set.
You are one rifle away from shooting up a school, and when you finally do it the media will blame this site for radicalising you.
Huh? How do you get that from anything I’ve ever written? IMO, you are one hallucination from a long term commitment to a psychiatric unit.
If Russia thinks they are being attacked by USA/NATO they will certainly use tactical nukes against the stockpiles of weapons kept in Italy/Germany/UK.
“You talk like a true American who thinks he has bought himself a subscription to the eternal spectator in the theater of military operations. Millions of Russians and Europeans are dying on stage, and you’re chewing popcorn and bullying.
You must think that the United States will be able to arrive in time to share the spoils of the winner, as it was in the Second World War.”
I don’t think like that at all. If needed, Russia will attack NATO air bases and weapons stockpiles to prevent their use, if it’s still possible. Who gets there first wins, Russia’s enemie’s strengths are in the European theater and are the immediate threat to Russia. The USA is not going to be the ultimate savior, it’s just not in it us anymore. Good luck.
Well said Eric. The Russians are winning the grind. But both sides are laying back. At some point Ukraine collapses in the Donbas. What does the US do then? Probably nothing but keep arming the west. I think when Russia goes for Odessa both hands get revealed. Small towns with incomprehensible names mean nothing to geographically illiterate Muricans. Odessa the major seaport and control of the Black Sea? Another matter. I still think the West doesn’t have the manpower. I think they would try some lunatic shock and awe air power and cruise missile attack. And if the Russian air defense holds up? That escalatory looniness is what scares me.
Curt,
100%. That’s how I see it too. Like I said previously, I really hope I’m wrong.
I’ve long thought that Odessa could be a pivotal bargaining item. Russia lays-off Odessa and the US concedes, under political cover, that Russia can keep the referenda territories and Crimea. But I think Russia knows that US would only be buying time to build for an attack. The US has always been extremely butt sore about Russia gaining Crimea. I don’t see a change in that sentiment unless there is a radical change of leadership in Washington.
Of course the US was butt-sore over Crimea. They’d already ordered the curtains for the regional NATO HQ at Sevastopol pre-Maidan.
Most don’t seem to remember that Washington’s first attempt at snagging Crimea was by installing Yushchenko in 2004, who after being elected (at a 2nd election) had openly stated his intent to terminate the Sevastopol lease in 2017. Those were the first western shots fired over Crimea. Frankly, Russia had succeeded in getting a 40 yr lease from Yanukovych but fell asleep at the wheel prior to Maidan. It’s either that or, contrary to western ‘beliefs’, Yanukovych was NOT in the Kremlin’s pocket, but playing a balancing game, not ready to give Russia direct input in how to suppress gathering banderite winds. Had they, I doubt the banderites (and the neocons) would have been able to hijack Maidan to their purposes as easily as they did.
Larry, the amount of hardware that Ukraine is throwing at Bakmut suggests yes – this Cauldron is a critical culminating point – it is illogical otherwise.
Black Mountain Analysis suggests that is the most dangerous point for NATO to put forces in Odessa (or not) and dare Russia to kill them and call the bluff (or not bluff) for WW3.
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/
Possible oblique responses of Russia could be hypersonic destruction of US forward bases or sinking the US navy at sea. Presumably the US would start withdrawing forces and/or moving naval assets to bases prior.
Thank you for that Black Mountain link!
“IS THE WAR IN UKRAINE NEARING THE CULMINATING POINT?”
Lord, I hope so. America’s DC elites and deep-state need to be punched in the face, hard. And I’m an American say this….
So am I and hell, I’ve been saying that Washington’s been cruisin’ for a bruisin’ ever since Maidan. (only to like-minded friends of course).
But now, the cat’s out of the bag and hell, I’ll yell it to the world.
Let me throw some thoughts out on this 30 yr. trek into the post-Soviet era. Simplistic, perhaps but I think this is at the core of why we find where we are today.
When the USSR somewhat spontaneously unraveled back in ’91, it was akin to a large quilt of multiple, sometimes disparate pieces unraveling.
The speed and force of that unraveling left many ragged edges and dangling threads, S. Ossetia, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Nagorno Karabakh and ultimately, Ukraine, Crimea and the Donbass.
Russia’s efforts were focused on tidying up the threads in a calm, deliberate manner. This does not mean that Russia was intent on stitching this quilt back together, as those in the West would have you believe. If that was their intent, they could have easily done so beginning in Belarus, where they could have conducted their own coup against Lukashenko years ago with great ease and reabsorbed Belarus in toto without difficulty. People in the West never seem to realize this.
America’s efforts (for some, not all) were to exploit those dangling threads, pull on the, yank them harder in efforts that it thought were to its benefit.
I may be reading the tea leaves wrong but one thing I’m sure of, any tea parties the West has held at the Russian Tea Room have been offerings of pure hemlock.
Rus enjoys benefit of control of Belarus and others through military supply without having social responsibility to feed mouths and change diapers. Similar to US/Nato.
Today yes, but in its 30 yr history, things were not all that cozy between Lukashenko and the Kremlin. He was always jockeying for advantage, much like Erdogan does and both are quite good at it.
It appears the US government and their advocates in the media are confused. There are many reports of imminent Russian offensive, Ukraine military needs help, situation is grave for Ukraine versus reports
of enormous Russian casualties, poor training of conscripts, Russia is desperate after months of no successes.
It is almost a separate story to see how US government writes the narrative on what happens. The Biden files are probably part of this-don’t see how he and many in white house, military, state department, intelligence survive in their current jobs
unless their is believable story to this mess.
Doubling down and sending US forces into Ukraine will lead to multitudes of US dead
probably quickly as Russia would reluctantly relish a conflict so close to their supply lines.
Reluctantly because many Russians will die but NATO can line up with Napoleon and the Wehrmacht in Russian history.
thanks larry, as always.
one quibble with the great MacGregor: we don’t react to countries asking us for help. we go in with color revolutions, using all kinds of learned psyops to turn neighbor against neighbor, citizen against citizen, when a country turns away from the dollar or the “rules based order.” shared Caitlin’s map, and i don’t share much on FB anymore. hoping at least a couple of people catch it.
Were the U.S. uses “color revolution” are countries where the population did not ask for help. Those are countries where the U.S. felt like it needed a vested interest in for various reasons such as money, political sway and as we see…NATO expansion.
Off hand, I cannot think of any country where the population asked the U.S. for help. At least help that did not involve a complete change of government and the military. Maybe there is one but I just cannot think of a country.
It shouldn’t survive as an entity, then there will finally be an enjoyable silence without the eurowhiners and Klaus Schaub and all the other dictator wannabes. US can finally pull out of the eurowhore and have Putin lose his marbles dealing with her.
Again, this whole tank business is PR work, but to be more specific–given Col. MacGregor’s comments–PR aimed at keeping Ukrainian morale up. I doubt it’s working. Not that tanks won’t be delivered, but as noted ad nauseum the method of delivery guarantees failure. So 1. the globalist West is desperate, and 2. it’s fighting for a few more weeks of time. Point 2 is worth contemplating, and I suspect it has not much to do with Russia. “Pandemic”-related, possibly.
On the luftballon comedy: some commentators on YT point out that this could have been resolved more than a week ago. First, if it genuinely was a stray weather balloon–one launched western China to drift over China, the Sea of Japan, Japan, the North Pacific, Alaska, British Colombia–PRC had ample time to alert other countries and retrieve it before it was spotted over Montana. Second, the Biden Administration knew the balloon entered airspace over Alaska a week ago but kept quiet about it, almost as if it hoped nobody would notice. But when video popped up on the 5 o’clock News it was forced to deal with it.
Remember that the globalists and the CCP have two decades of deep business ties despite the current atmosphere of mutual recriminations. And the Biden family has profited quite well from those ties.
We all know the Biden family is one of the most corrupt in American politics. No need to tie every event into ties with China. That’d be analogous to the EU directly tying every negative in their economies to Russia. That’s politics, not fact.
Thank you Larry,
Thanks to Elial ! 5 February 2023
(I am 78)
“I am 61 years old. Listening to Maria Zakharova speak moved me close to tears. I feel deeply “ashamed of what we in the “West” have become a party to. The Russian have opened our eyes to “our own deceit and ugliness.”
“Disturbing as I find this, I feel immense gratitude for people such as Larry who retain the courage “and integrity to bring this to a wider audience.”
“Let us join St. Catherine and “Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues; the world is rotten “because of silence.”
“Thank you Larry.”
What a true piece of excrement that Boris Johnson turned out to be. According to the former Israeli PM who brokered negotiations, the UA and RU actually were very close to a peace deal in March.
My gut tells me that this BoJo creep had ecstatic visions of the British fleet docked next to the US fleet at Sevastopol, both lording control over the Black Sea.
I wish these Brit bastards would just finally dry up and blow away.
There is hate and repulsion of USA all around the world, is not because their way of life, but because the many coups and elections interferences they have organized and support in center and south America, in the Africa continent nations, and in the Pacific asian countries. In Puerto Rico, we were invaded in 1998, the US citizenship was imposed in us so our men could go to the World wars. Many abuses were committed by them from 1898 on, including persecuting the independence movement. I think most of the world in tier of the North American buller. And that includes Canada.
All kidding aside, if there are viewers of this site who have UNDYING respect for JARHEADS, perhaps they should tell COL ANDY MILBURN(USMC RET.) to come back to the light:)
Maria Zakharova’s words brought tears to my eyes. I’m afraid they’ll fall on deaf ears in the U.S.
The Russians remember WWII. Americans can’t even remember yesterday.
Our higher education system has sunk into anti-intellectual nonsense with “woke” post-modern thought, which, as Fr. Dan Steele notes, “is inherently anti-realist, possessing a distaste for fixed, universal scientific or philosophical definitions of nature, holding the impossibility of knowing meaningfully any independent existing reality.”
Comedian Bill Maher had a devastating take on the similarities between today’s “Woke Revolution” and Mao’s “Cultural Revolution”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yysKhJ1U-vM
We are lead by the people Kurt Vonnegut called “upper crust C-students who know no history or geography”.
The only way this can end is for it all to come tumbling down. Whether this will be as a result of it simply collapsing under the weight of its own bullshit or from a suicidal military confrontation with Russia remains to be seen. But crumble into dust and be swept into the ash heap of history it must.
I am sad for my country. It didn’t have to turn out this way.
See the the over sensitive brats everywhere. Heard an author on a religious show griping about “toxic positivity.” She does not want to keep your chin up, adversity makes us stronger-just whine with her.
As an aside life sucks at times, death of a parent/child, personal illness, trying work environment. Some hate hearing it is what is-move on and live.
We are lead by the people Kurt Vonnegut called “upper crust C-students who know no history or geography”.
We used to be. Dubya the prime example.
Now we’re lead and more so by the day, by lower-crust C-students
NATO is another deep state vestige and like all deep state vestiges the deep state will cling to it and support it to the bitter end–even when it’s irrational to do so.
The Biden administration (or clown show) and the US Military (NATO included) desperately need a victory. Clearly, that victory is not in the Ukraine but that’s not going to stop billions of US/EU dollars and military equipment from flowing into the Ukraine–at least in the near term.
Ramifications of a perceived or actual Russian success in the Ukraine SHOULD reverberate throughout NATO member countries at which time one of two things may happen: (1) The NATO Alliance will begin to show clear signs of fracture; or (2) NATO spearheaded by the US will become more militant and find a “new” battleground for a that much needed victory. I’ll bet on option #2.
Meanwhile, Russia and China are busy building global economic alliances that are strategically more threatening to US hegemony than Russian “success” in the Ukraine. I just want to scream sometimes in response to the idiocy that has become the US Political elite class…hey we’re building four new MILITARY bases in the Philippines–that’s really going to help Americans I’m sure (sarcasm): https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-open-4-new-sites-philippines-accelerating-pivot-asia
In contrast, “the more positive and saner world is focused on the things like the fifteen African nations currently involved in Russian-financed nuclear power deals, not to mention business and security contracts.” https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-02-04/side-russian-news-no-american-hears
I am dumbfounded by the US’ actions…3 shot of tequila today!
In WWII the great red army offensives of 43 – 45 were generally many offensives launched successively across major fronts. The Soviets became excellent at moving and hiding their reserve forces, so the Germans generally knew what the immediate soviet force distribution was but not reserves or reserve attack forces.
As the wave of smaller offensives ripples across the front, the Germans had to decide where to reinforce. When they moved reinforcements to one place the offensive(s) in other locations got easier. Soviet offensives reserves would be sent to wherever things were going best to exploit it.*
If today looks similar but at a smaller scale there might be a reason for it. The differences are that Russia will not spend manpower as the Red Army did and deception like that is much harder (maybe impossible) in the modern world, at least at WWII scale. This is the offensive, or at least the first phase of it. Unlike then there probably won’t be deep operations because then those made it so the enemy lost communication and conceptual understanding of forces; that’s no longer the case.
*over simplified because it’s a comment on a blog post
The Americans also like to refer to anywhere in Latin America or the surrounding seas as “their back yard”.
Please note that a person’s back yard is that person’s property.
Nice, eh?
“63 mechanized brigades” must mean the 63rd Mexhanized Brigade, right? I know Z poured around 20 into the area, but…
This discussion takes me back to some supposedly super serious PhD running his scientific attrition model on Russian forces in the early stages of the war and concluding Russia was almost done. It never occcurred to him the Russians could massively escalate. Which they did later in the Fall of 2022. In response to that mobilization, most of the Twitterati war cheerleaders said Russia better send body bags and posted rusty rifle TikToks. We’re not led by serious people, except perhaps in terms of being seriously dangerous (to us).
I am interested in what other people here, think about the content of this article.
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/prospects-for-world-war-3-dedicated
Interesting points, but Big Serge he’s not.
Slightly off topic, has anyone else seen the Mossad clobber list for both sides? While skewed for pro-Western consumption, it does offer some insights.
Also, how many Chinese balloons required to ground entire F22 fleet?
F22 2021 mission capable rate was calculated by GAO at 50.3%.
I have a feeling the Chinese are having a hell of a laugh.
It is the point of inflection the Neocon crazies want. The nuclear “scenario” , hegemony or catastrophe. For them it is better to die (we die) than comply, “sharing” a multipolar world is not an option. I am sure they think they know what they are doing, they are confident they can win and have a place to ride out the perceived limited nuclear strike storm. The only way out of this insanity is assassination of the neocons.
If you missed it, this may be of interest, Mr. Johnson:
Ukrainian and Russian casualties according to MOSSAD
The field data as of January 14, 2023, based on Israeli intelligence:
RUSSIA:
Russian losses in the field with 418 000 soldiers (plus 3,500 reservists) and the increasing number of Wagner mercenaries:
23 Planes, 56 helicopter s, 200 (S)UAVs, 889 tanks and armoured vehicles, 427 howitzers (Artillery systems), 12 Air defence system s, 18,480 dead , 44,500 injured , 323 captive.
UKRAINE:
The casualties of Ukraine in the field with 734 000 soldiers (plus 100 000 reservists) and NATO officers, soldiers and mercenaries:
302 Aircraft, 212 Helicopters, 2.750 (S)UAVs, 6,320 tanks and armoured vehicles, 7.360 howitzers (Artillery systems), 497 Air defence systems, 157,000 dead , 234,000 injured , 17,230 captive.
234 Dead – NATO military trainers (US and UK) , 2,458 Dead – NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania …), 5,360 Dead – Mercenaries.
Source: İddia: MOSSAD’a göre Ukrayna ve Rusya kayıpları, 25-01-2023, 11:53
Turkish Hürseda Haber publishes with reference to the MOSSAD the losses of the Nazis and Russia
157,000 denazified AFU and Nazi fighters.
234 NATO instructors (USA and Britain)
2,458 NATO fighters (Germany, Poland and the Baltic States)
5360 mercenaries, plus
234,000 wounded
17,230 prisoners
302 aircraft
212 helicopters
2750 UAVs
6,320 tanks and armored vehicles
7 360 howitzers (artillery systems)
497 air defense systems
Russia: 18,480 dead Heroes, plus
23 aircraft
56 helicopters
200 UAVs
889 tanks and armored vehicles
427 howitzers (artillery installations)
12 air defense systems
44,500 wounded
323 prisoners
https://cont.ws/@skuratoff/2478585?ysclid=ldsi2vtiuv261364775
You can’t trust anyone
“Israeli intelligence” MOSSAD is a synonym for “British scientist”.
Feels about right
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: The USA offered Russia 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine – for peace
The world
February 05, 2023 –
Svetlana Vasović /
Insider – author article
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: The USA offered Russia 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine – for peaceAn American proposal? Ukrainian demilitarized zone. Source: Screenshot, Telegram
The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) published an article (in German) in which it claims that the head of the American spy agency, William Burns , offered Russia 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine in exchange for peace.
According to the newspaper, the American proposal offered the Russians “about 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine” – about the size of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas.
As Newsweek summarizes , NZZ reported on Thursday, citing senior German diplomats, that William Burns presented a peace plan to Kiev and Moscow in mid-January to end the war that began when Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin on February 24 2022 ordered a special military operation in Ukraine.
According to the newspaper, the American proposal offered the Russians an exchange: “About 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine” – for peace .
So about as much as the Ukrainian eastern Donbas , where the majority Russian-speaking population lives, which the regime in Kiev has been shelling since 2014 .
Kremlin spokesman Dimitriy Peskov, the White House and the CIA immediately denied the claim.
A CIA official told Newsweek that the claims in the NZZ report that Burns secretly traveled to Moscow in January and that the director of the US spy agency presented Joe Biden ‘s peace proposal to the Russians on behalf of the White House are “absolutely false.”
It is true, however, that last month Burns traveled secretly to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, as reported by the Washington Post.
The Neue Züricher Zeitung says both Kiev and Moscow rejected the Bid administration’s plan.
Novorusija
Novorussia. Source: Screenshot, Telegram
The fact that everyone denies that any of the above happened very likely means that the NZZ’s claims are probably true.
This news is also consistent with the proposals of the influential American “think tank” RAND, which, now that the war they advocated has turned out badly, is suddenly rooting for peace, and is already placing the territorial integrity of Ukraine among the lower priority goals of ending the war.
This news is also consistent with the proposals of the influential American “think tank” RAND, which, now that the war they advocated has turned out poorly, is suddenly rooting for peace.
As for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the American think tank already places this among the lower priority goals, after the end of the war.
We also know that talks between Washington and Kyiv are ongoing.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Egypt on January 30.
Blinken met with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo .
A day later, Shourky flew to Moscow and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Egyptian media reported that Shoukry carried Blinkn’s letter to the Kremlin.
Cemetery in Ukraine
Cemetery in Ukraine. Source: Screenshot, Telegram
Egypt’s state -run Al-Ahram news agency reported that Shoukry delivered a message from the White House to Lavrov.
The message appears to refer to a call to halt Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
“Russia should stop these actions in order for the negotiations to succeed,” read a message from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Al-Ahram reported.
A State Department spokesman told Al-Monitor that Blinken told Moscow that for the sake of peace, Russia should end the war in Ukraine and withdraw its forces from the country.
In summary: Russia has accepted Shoukry’s role as a mediator in the negotiations, but wants a better offer from Washington.
The message Blinken delivered to Shoukry was no different, according to the spokesman.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the proposal “incomplete.”
In the same breath, Lavrov praised Egypt’s “balanced” approach to the war in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Minister further said that Moscow will continue to cooperate with Egypt on the Ukrainian issue, Al-Ahram reported, citing sources in Cairo.
“We will stay in touch. And I believe that this will be in the interest of friendship between the two countries,” Lavrov said.
“In short: Russia has accepted Shoukry’s role as a mediator in the negotiations, but wants a better offer from Washington.
We’ll see what comes of it,” says the ever-astute Moon of Alabama.
DPR+LPR+Zaporozhye region+Kherson region+Crimea = 22.5% of the area of Ukraine before 2014
A very “generous” offer.
But what about Nikolaev, Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog, Kiev…?
Peskov called the rumors about the proposal a “duck”.
Turkish media have published Israeli Mossad Intel data about the UAF number of KIA and the loss of material
Source: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27461/4717086/
Thousands of dead NATO mercenaries and soldiers: Israeli intelligence data on the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine leaked
Israeli intelligence Mossad announced the loss of the Armed Forces of 157,000 people killed
At the end of November, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , said that the military losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were over 100 thousand people. This message horrified the Ukrainians and caused a scandal in Kyiv. Brussels had to urgently edit the video with the message of Madame der Leyen, removing data on Ukrainian losses from it.
But, apparently, the situation for Kyiv is even worse. On February 3, former adviser to the head of the Pentagon and retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor announced new figures in a video interview, saying literally the following: “General Zaluzhny (commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. – Ed.) met with Secretary of Defense (USA. – Ed.) Lloyd Austin and with General Milli, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to sources, he secretly told them that Ukraine lost 257 thousand people … “This is the number of irretrievable losses of Ukraine (killed, missing and taken prisoner).
And the Turkish edition of Hurseda Haber, referring to Israeli intelligence data, published the following loss figures – both people and equipment.
The total strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is 734,000 soldiers (plus 100,000 reservists), including NATO troops (who are fighting behind the scenes on the territory of Ukraine) and foreign mercenaries.
The losses are:
157,000 dead.
Wounded 234,000.
17 230 prisoners.
Deceased NATO military instructors (US and UK) 234.
Dead NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, etc.) 2,458.
Dead mercenaries 5 360.
Even more interesting here is that the figures of the destroyed military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are given by the Turkish publication (recall – with reference to Israeli intelligence), are comparable to Russian official data. And in some positions they even exceed them! However, compare yourself:
https://s09.stc.yc.kpcdn.net/share/i/4/2521080/wr-750.webp
Leaked Israeli intelligence data on the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Photo: Dmitry ORLOV
Data from the Turkish press (Israeli intelligence) and data from the Russian Ministry of Defense
Aircraft shot down: 302 and 382
Drones shot down: 2,750 and 3,023
Destroyed anti-aircraft missile systems: 497 and 403
Tanks and armored vehicles destroyed: 6,320 and 7,750
Got to take issue with MacGregor’s interpretation of how Poland views the situation historically. The important thing isn’t that they view Russia as the Soviet Union; it’s that they view themselves as the rightful heirs of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, just as Pilzudski did. Keep in mind that the first act of the modern Polish state under Pilzudski was to wage expansionist wars to the east, first against the Ukrainian Republic (still independent from the Soviet Union), then against the Soviet Union. Then, as now, Polish ambitions were fostered by the belief that sponsorship by a dominant world power (then Britain, now the US) would provide the leverage they need to become the dominant power between the Baltic and Black seas. In that light, it should have been obvious that incorporating Poland into NATO would eventually lead to big trouble. It’s long overdue for Poland to recognize that relations with neighboring states are more important for their well-being than whatever benefits they may acquire from being satraps for imperial powers hostile to their neighbors. Let’s hope, however faintly, that Poland comes to that realization before they cause the current crisis to boil over into a much more dangerous confrontation between Russia and NATO.
Valid points.
Poland seeks to play off Germany and Russia and leverage whichever offshore power is strongest – British Empire pre 1940. ……….- USA post-1990
Poles seek to play themselves, just like they always do. All of their allies will throw them down the drain on first occasion, just like they always do.
History repeats? What we’re seeing today with Ukraine is analogous in many ways to what happened with the original nazis. Neither sprouted up overnight, it was the result of years of planning and supporting various particular factions and stoking Russophobia more broadly.
The last time this happened, it began with the “1st Red Scare” in the west, as a reaction to the 1917 Russian Revolution. Although it has become identified with a fear of the spread of communism, perhaps buried deeper in the psyche of this hysteria was its connection to Russia. That is, if communism had taken hold in a place like Spain, for example, it would not have strummed the same deep chords of fear inside our western souls.
How did the west react to the 1st red scare? After trying to punish Germany with onerous reparations demands following WW1, they reversed course and began to delay repayment, give loans to Germany, and eventually gave up. They didn’t do this out of love for Germany. They did it because they knew that Germany was the first line of defense against any potential future Red Russia invasion of Europe. They also needed a strong right-wing German political movement to counter the threat of communism inside Germany itself. Thus began a series of events that saw the west financing the rise of what became Nazi Germany as a bulwark* against Red Russia. We all know what happened next.
Ukraine was an inevitable target, a diverse ethnic country on the border of Russia, playing on their diversity and painful history in order to use it as a way of inflicting damage on Russia more broadly. And once again, nazis serve as perfect tools to achieve that objective.
*An aside: Note that this fits a broader pattern of US behavior, exploiting right-wing extremist militants of all kinds as geopolitical tools. Militant native tribes (e.g., Apaches), right-wing death squads (e.g., Contras), military juntas (e.g., Brazil junta), Islamic extremists/terrorists (e.g., ISIS), and of course nazis (e.g., Azov Battalion). And what happens abroad always has a mirror reflection at home: US government agents also use right-wing groups inside the US as domestic political influence tools (e.g., Wolverine Watchmen). The problems with over-use of these tactics are that they have a tendency of growing out of control and backfiring, and they are destructive rather than constructive. An empire cannot rule forever by setting fires every time it faces a threat to its domination, it must build something positive every once in a while.
Larry, For some reason, Eric’s response to my comment to him does not have a reply link….
Eric,
Setting up a local triangulation “GPS” surface network is trivial – its what was done before satellites, and we do it all the time during seabottom surveys (no satellite signals penetrate to the seabed) using acoustic pingers in that case.