I have cited articles by my new friend, Stephen Bryen, in previous posts. Steve and I do not always agree. But I know him to be a man of integrity. You don’t always have to agree with someone in order to like and respect them. Unlike the disgraceful Bill Burns, Steve does not put a finger to the wind to figure out what he should say. He looks at the current situation based on his life experience and gives you an unvarnished account. I encourage you to read his latest on Substack — What to Expect from the Vilnius NATO Summit.
I was planning a similar piece but, in light of what he has posted, I decided not to plow the same ground twice. Steve carves some very straight, powerful furrows.
Part of the Western foundation for Ukraine’s offensive was the introduction of modern technology on the battlefield, represented especially by the appearance of the Leopard tank. Unfortunately for NATO, the Leopard tanks have not saved the day for Ukraine. So far, between 16 and 20 Leopards have been knocked out on the battlefield along with lots of other NATO-supplied armor including infantry fighting vehicles such as the US Bradley and mine clearing systems like the Finnish Leopard 2R HMBV and the German Wisent 1.
Leopard, along with the US Abrams main battle tank, form the armor backbone of NATO’s land defense. While the US and its allies have superior airpower, they have sparse and inadequate air defenses compared to what Russia can bring forward. That means that a land defense needs to stand up to Russian artillery, attack helicopters armed with missiles, lethal drones and air launched mines.
The failure of the Leopard in Ukraine represents a huge challenge for NATO and signals that the current NATO “tripwire” strategy may not work. Under the tripwire paradigm, the idea is that an initial Russian attack (most likely in the Baltic states because Russian forces are very close to Estonia and Latvia) can be held for some days while the US ships heavy forces into Europe. But if the tripwire is illusory, then NATO is exposed to rapid Russian advances in Europe should an attack be launched. The bottom line is that NATO’s strategy needs revision or, alternatively, that the Europeans and Russians work out a mutually acceptable security arrangement. It is exactly such an arrangement that Russia proposed to NATO in December, 2021 and which was rejected without discussion.
Now the ammunition cupboard is bare, even in the United States. The Russians are learning how to counter advanced western systems, a negative development for NATO’s security. It could not be a worse time to risk Europe’s security on the basis of being able to stop a Russian attack. It may be easy for British politicians to scream they want NATO to fight in Ukraine, but it isn’t London that is likely the first target of Russia’s missiles. Cracks in the alliance are emerging more quickly than anticipated, and Europe’s weak governments are in trouble.
Unfortunately, the policymakers in Washington, DC with responsibility for intelligence and military matters do not appear receptive to Steve’s stark, accurate assessment. A friend still involved in the day-to-day operations sent me the following video. He said this is making the rounds among the Company Grade Officers (i.e., 2d Lt, 1 Lt, and Captains) and enlisted personnel. A majority of the American military actually believes this stuff, especially the Zoomers. Reddit, the main social media app of today’s youth, is chock full of this garbage.
Although the video is a lame attempt at humor, the narrative/meme is not a joke. Many younger officers genuinely believe that we have Russia over a barrel and can take out Putin at will. It is one thing for the average guy or gal on the street to believe such nonsense, but it is terrifying to learn that many U.S. military officers, both junior and senior (including Flag Officers, i.e. Generals), are so deluded.
Underestimating an opponent has led to the surprising defeat of many boxers and martial artists. The same danger applies to the U.S. military leaders, who naively believe the United States can continue crossing redlines by sending F-16s and cluster bombs to Ukraine without fear of Russian retaliation.
The U.S. military and intelligence community are behaving as political partisans rather than professionals committed to providing objective analysis. I draw on my own experience in reaching this conclusion. When I entered the CIA in 1985 I was a Republican and strong supporter of Ronald Reagan. But I did not let my partisan views guide my analysis. In fact I was criticized frequently by some senior CIA officials in the Directorate of Operations for “not supporting the President” simply because I wrote pieces for the Presidential Daily Brief that contradicted the “happy talk” they were sending to the White House. I have seen no evidence that the current crop of analysts are daring to speak “truth to power” by challenging the false narratives about Ukraine and Russia that are fed to a gullible American public on a daily basis.
What happens next week in Vilnius will provide a road map for the future of the war in Ukraine — either NATO agrees to step up its support for Ukraine, thereby ensuring the deaths of more Ukrainian soldiers, or NATO will split and the support for Zelensky and his Generals will dissipate, which will raise serious doubts about Ukraine’s ability to continue fighting Russia.
In what parallel universe can anyone imagine that NATO will split? It’s as though you believe NATO is an organisation of equals instead of America and its powerless slave-satellites, except for Ottomanistan and to some extent Hungary, and these two are always under threat of being regime changed.
The video was wild. The ZPP threat has come and gone. The Russians of course nipped any possibility in the bud by announcing the various possible false flags that the Ukrainians could try. But really a nuclear disaster would have been no way to convince NATO countries to supply more goodies to ever hungry Ukraine. Imagine a radioactive cloud floating over Europe — at a time of social unrest and increasing public skepticism. Not that a real attack on the ZPP was ever really possible. As I write here:
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/the-zpp-nuclear-catastrophe-that
Piquet at Aleks’ Black Mountain also has a excellent article on ZPP and was kind enough to share some information for my article, which I have updated accordingly.
Happened after Chernobyl and no one rioted. Now they all have mRNA from Pfizer or ModeRNA and are programmably immune from reality
That’s probably another thing the spike proteins were designed to do — induce endless short-term moments of hysteria.
Perfect.
Such comments are just foolhardy. I’m an uber-realist on Ukraine and long time poster and am boosted with Pfizer. Feel just fine and couldn’t travel otherwise. The issue here is UKRAINE.
Your all-encompassing fantasies only detract from the real business at hand. I’d really ask you to fight your relevant battles here and your other battles elsewhere. You do the prevailing topic no service.
‘Oh, the government is out to zombify us all! Then soylent green is next!…and we’ll all eat bugs and be happy.’ Sheesh, give it a rest.
Sure, media zombification-real beyond belief. But this all encompassing theory of yours is pure bull. Stick to the topics at hand, instead of throwing in a slide ball at every opportunity. It’s boring.
You may be fine…so far. You tragic vaxtards are not a healthy bunch long term, or short to medium term either.
New evidence shows that 30 of clot shots were placebo. Maybe you had that. Maybe you didn’t and the micro blood clots are increasing every day. Fact is you have a time bomb in your body and you have a flippant attitude to it. Ignorance causes that.
And you’ll find it difficult travelling with a stroke LOL tick tock….
When you get over 1% complications, text me….until then, keep your deep understanding of all things biological to yourself, grr.
Which batch did you get ? They have cross—referenced batches against contraindicators
Maybe try an IV drip. 24/7 mRNA. A vaxtards dream.
Color me naive but wouldn’t a sat pic or two of these alleged explosives on the ZNPP roof have been a de rigueur part of that humongous intelligence gathering capability mr. yankeedoodle is bragging about?
Does anyone actually think on their own any more in western military circles?
IAEA’s inspectors are there and see no roof explosives. No sat pics needed.
Zelensky lies, we lie and probably believe our lies. Don’t know which is worse……and re: that tragicomic video? I could only stomach half a minute of it. Where are we headed in America? Serious question.
Some one correct me if i’m wrong,is not the little round building the reactor building?The large building is mechanical and control.
The Unbearable Burden of Madness say: “WHERE ARE WE HEADED IN AMERICA?”
Wikipedia say: Democracy … is a form of government in which THE PEOPLE HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DELIBERATE AND DECIDE LEGISLATION (“direct democracy”) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” — Abraham Lincoln https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/overthrow_the_government_all_the_ways_in_which_our_rights_have_been_usurped_short
You, as people of USA, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
In an interview, Zelensky responded by saying the plant was way too big for the limited number of inspectors on site to be able to claim anything, if they can be trusted to report truthfully at all. As with most things, it comes down to who you want to believe, your ol’ pal Zelensky or your own lying eyes.
Gee whiz, got to say that the only thing I believe coming out of Zelensky’s mouth is that it’s not-to-be-believed bullshit.
He’s like the energizer bunny of bullshit.
Reactors are in the big cubes with domed cylinders sticking out of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhzhia_Nuclear_Power_Plant
It’s the end for NATO one way or the other. If nobody stands beside the US, it’s the end of NATO, and countries are losing interest in supporting the effort because they have bigger problems at home, and many have issues with each other. If NATO gets more involved they soon run out of hardware and get beat.
Smart fighters know when to walk away before taking a beating, but there seems to be a shortage of smart people on the NATO side. Apart from killing a lot of Ukrainians, they’re pissing cash down the drain at an alarming rate too, and watching all their military hardware get wasted. The contractors in the MIC may love it, but at some point the taxpaying public will say “enough.” We are getting there just about everywhere now. One big Russian push to show Ukraine has no chance and public opinion everywhere will be on the “leave” side. And that will effectively end NATO.
When the big dog has no bite, it’s over. One by one European countries will withdraw, whether formally or by gradually reducing their contributions despite US whining. Concurrently the EU will likely implode as well as the economic mess will lead to protectionism.
The US isn’t interested in who wins or loses in Ukraine, only that the battle is strung out until the 2024 Presidential election campaign. Ukraine will be presented as the hero Biden beating back the ‘communist’ horde.
Biden’s regime IS the ‘communist’ horde, supporting a fascist Ukraine and an American MIC.
Meanwhile, Zelensky waits for Godot to arrive and explain why he exists. When Godot never arrives, he then discovers his existence has been manufactured under Godot’s program of planned obsolescence.
How’d I do, Mr. Beckett? Threw a bit of Kafka in there under creative license.
The only way NATO ends is by nuclear war. There are just too many people that need to be killed to end this madness using conventional warfare. There just aren’t the natural resources available anymore. Millions died in World War II and the Russians still have a Nazi problem — in 2023. The nukes will fall first. The clean-up will be completed using conventional means, this is if any of us are still alive after the nukes fall.
There are few people in the west that simply want ww3 , Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal being top exponents . I don’t think they are unaware of the existence of prevailing winds .
the power of a few videos of key people having sex with little kids cannot be overstated
U.K. might back-pedal now Ben Wallace whole strategy for the NATO job has unravelled. He was the arsonist who wanted to play fireman and has now been exposed which is why his sidekick Tobias Ellwood came up with lunacy of a war economy so U.K. could fight Russia. Vienna International School educated some real morons but Ellwood was born in New York like Boris Johnson
Anyway I see U.K. withdrawingly gradually from this and leaving Poland and Germany to sort themselves out
NATO will fracture it has nothing else it can do – Turkey will not play and U.K. is headed into economic crisis and destruction of Tory Party as housing crash comes…. Ukraine is over
Check out the way hoaxers Vovan and Lexus posed as Zelensky and pranked Wallace into blabbing all kinds of state secrets about war plans about a year ago while he was ridding in his big , fancy, AV equipped limo, all turned out in the finest attire. He looked like he was starring in his own movie. Another moron better suited to a fancy beach resort.
Aside from the danger of such conversations, Wallace came off like an amateur in a position of power for about 15 minutes, and answered all questions from the pranksters.
The interview has been whittled down to a few minutes but it can still be found after some searching.
NATO was always a money laundering racket from the start so it was never really prepared for the real thing. From time to time they attacked target populations unable to fight back like the Serbs, Libyans, etc,. so they got slap happy stupid with those victories and took heir supremacy for granted. Then they pushed the envelope big time and what we are stuck with now is all of those well connected amateurs in power and in uniforms just desperately trying to save face and welfare checks regardless of bloodshed even as they get clawed and mauled by the angry bear they stupidly provoked. A real psychotic gong show.
I watched a clip of him in Moscow where he was terribly ingratiating and uttered inanities about T-34 and how it was covered invisible Sandhurst course
He sounded like a schoolboy with nothing original to say other than I read in „Boy‘s Own“ or „The Beano“ about your exploits
Never underestimate the overestimated power of a Brit’s fleeting arrogance.
I agree. I have spent quite a bit of my time reading analyses by Andrei Martyanov, who was a Russian military engineer, and he quite frankly predicted the NATO as being a paper tiger and a money laundering scheme. Now we can see on the battlefield the NATO wonder weapons are being destroyed on an industrial scale. Ukraine’s military was done by last September and it’s been NATO armaments solely since then. NATO countries’ debt, funding their own defeat on the battlefield are now funding their own severe economic recessions as well. Back to the operational and strategic capabilities of Russia – they are the best in the world and continue to get stronger. NATO produces pathetic public relations videos and has no chance of winning any type of conflict. The cold war is over and the West has lost, it’s very clear. We better stop our suicide mission before it’s too late
In deference to Martynov’s writing skills, his speaking skills consist solely of: “They know nothing!”
Ben Wallace makes Monty Python look like Field Marshal Montgomery.
UK can’t withdraw from Ukraine, they’re broke and without a win over Russia they will collapse completely. UK is in very serious more-than-trouble, they stand with back to the wall. Even the Suez Canal was manoevred out by Belt-and-Road loosing most of the income from there. The insurance monopoly of transporting vessels by Lloyd’s is lost due to sanctions. UK is the wounded beast that has no other options than attack, but also is reduced to a mere pipsqueak caused by their futile war of hatred against most rival Germany for the past about 150 ys which when was over did cost them an empire. So we might be able to see Rothschild & associates go broke for the first time in how long, 250 ys? 350 ys? Nice to see this, and: bye-bye.
Agreed.
The video is a propaganda piece along the lines of The Losers Write The History, for their own armed forces and populations, examined thus . . . https://les7eb.substack.com/p/washingtons-war-ix-one-great-game
____________
Their only choice now – double down. Because . . .
An exit, read escape, from The Ukraine with that Peace-With-Honour dress costume . . .
This will not be easy.
The Ukraine is not Afghanistan.
“In what parallel universe can anyone imagine that NATO will split?”
The only way NATO ends is by being de-NATO-ized. Figure it out.
Our “slave satellite” the UK didn’t seem to be acting like a slave when their “white helmets” operation performed the false flag gas attack(s) in Syria; nor when the City of London banks manipulated LIBOR – repeatedly, to the detriment of multiple US businesses and private citizens; nor ECB and EU nations central banks in manipulating the offshore dollar market. Not to mention GCHQ’s interference in the 2016 election and ongoing interference in domestic US politics.
Prigozhin walks free but that Brit that ran the White Helmets took a nose dive off a balcony.
Makes you wonder, about a lot of stuff.
Ah yes, Mr. LeMesurier (one who measures “In French” ???) another Brit military Lad who graduated from Russian Flying School, post last flight in Turkey, although it could have been his first. Peddled his wares in the Kosovo imbroglio, he did as well. There was a saying in Vietnam amongst the dreadful, filthy “Grunts.” “Payback is a motherfucker!”. A milder form of repayment was described as “Payback is a Medevac!” Alas, no medevac for the measuring man.
I believe it was most probably the MI6 Flying School you were referring to. Very dangerous to be in a position to yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater of operations.
Gibberish nonsense. Most of the Libor manipulation was to lower interest rates, benefitting floating rate borrowers. You clearly know nothing of which you speak.
They manipulated LIBOR on instructions from Bank of England to protect banks so you can rest assured Fed was in on it
Shirley, you jest…..
They can certainly split apart in spirit and willingness to support if not actually declaring they are leaving NATO. Article 5, for instance, simply requires member states to respond with support, it doesn’t require a minimum number of planes, men, AFV’s, etc. France, for instance, can simply use their current unrest as an excuse to continue supporting this Ukraine nonsense. Other countries can do likewise. What can the US do? All of their economies are wrecked already and the US can’t operate their military bases in Europe without local support. The US could try to color revolutionize and regime change all of Europe, I suppose, but that’s about the last trick they have left.
“In what parallel universe can anyone imagine that NATO will split?”
How about setting up a JUNIOR NATO ? Which allows member countries to virtually experience NATO membership through Meta?
How will NATO countries react when the Ukrops begin firing these new US supplied cluster rounds into the center of Donetsk?…. because you know they will.
We already know that. They will get Butterfly/Petal treatment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PFM-1_mine
I read “what to expect from the Vilnius NATO summit” as
“what to expect from the villainous NATO summit”.
You read it right first time.
Re: that cringeworthy “humor” video: “no country has ever faced the combined force of NATO”. NATO is about 94% America, and America just lost to the Taliban. The only war the US has won in the last 75 years is the Great Patriotic War Against Grenada.
With losses.
Did they not hand out more medals than active military participants. Hard work manning a desk.
You have NO IDEA how pathetic the medal situation was in Iraq… in 2007 I watched AN ENTIRE COMPANY of REMFs (Rear Echelon Mother****ers) get awarded Bronze Stars with “V” (Valor) device for riding out a not-to-intense rocket attack on Victory Base Complex in Baghdad…
I went through FAR worse in 2004-05 (Contractor w/8 years in-country) and my Boys in 1-8 CAV (Infantry) who were the ‘door kickers’ in that time frame? They did NOT get a single. solitary. award.
The Colonels hawt secretary and the General’s hawt aid? (both females) got Broze with V… f*cking disgusting is what it was….
The Army awarded more Bronze Star Medals to losers not in-country than to their personnel in-country.
NATO invoked Article 5 after 9-11. And then lost.
But, hey, at least the skedaddle out of Kabul was dignifi… oh, yeah, sorry.
And even Grenada was touch and go there for a while. The United States hasn’t fought a peer since 1941.
So, let’s speculate that NATO officially joins the fray, puts 100 planes in the air attacking Russian positions and the AFU launches ground attacks in concert.
How long before Russia’s tactical nukes start flying?
NATO probably can’t put 100 planes in the air on day one. Whatever aluminum coffins NATO can put up will get shot out of the Ukrainian sky in quick order. There’s lots of discussion here and elsewhere about the many layers of Russian air defense. YOu should inform yourself. S-300, S350, S400, S500, Pantsir and so on. Russia has all of them in abundance. If those NATO planes are driven by volunteers, my guess is there won’t be nearly enough volunteers. Pilots are not intentionally stupid, unlike the armchair generals.
Personally, a huge dogfight in the sky, with missile trails and all that, is the one thing I might not cringe at. Volunteer pilots, right ? So not a lot of tears over dead pilots. The dogfights would be “out in the open” so even the American MSM can’t lie about what just happened. Lots of plane wrecks on the ground to photograph. That would sober people up really fast. It would be much nicer, less agonizing, than the several hundred thousand ordinary soldiers – ordinary people really – many of them dragooned off the streets in Ukraine, who have already died, often in great agony, for the “404” nation.
YOu should inform yourself. S-300, S350, S400, S500, Pantsir and so on.
I’m well informed, thank you for your interest.
I purposely said, ‘let’s speculate’. Should I have said ‘let’s fantasize, to make you happier?
No speculative nukes needed. Wikipedia says that NATO used 1,031+ aircraft to bomb Yugoslavia, against 14 modern combat aircraft (MiG-29), and no S-300 or anything comparable. Having 100 planes in the air against Russia is not as important as having 10,000+ ready to go. I doubt they do.
Pride goeth before the fall. And, oh, what a fall it will be.
The fall will consist of them trying to act tough as the welfare checks get cut, looting what they can, and running home like scalded dogs.
Isn’t it, “Pride goes before destruction…”?
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
What ZATO wants ZATO gets, on earth at it is in heaven!
it does not suit most nations around the world to go around bragging about the size and scope of there military, either size of airforce or ground components. only weak people and those seeking to intimidate others blow there mouth off about such issues.
For most countries bragging to there neighbors about a build up or increase in capabilities tends to make every one around them unnecessarily nervous. thus they dont do it.
The us has to perpetrate invincibility for both political and geopolitical reasons,
1) to intimidate all and sundry to bend to there will or else.
2) improve recruitment to its armed services. (just wait till they start rounding up incels to go fight the next major war for ungrateful minorities) people like to join the perceived winners.
3) Keep the pressure up for increased defense spending.
US still spends more than most of the world combined for its military, pointed questions across the board should be asked what exactly have you paid for and was it worth it, and what are you actually getting…
is a purge of boomers and poor performers likely? no because they all have each others backs… The state is likely to double down and entrench itself further into the tax payers teat.
It will use the upcoming defeat as an excuse to double spending in new and ever more probably exotic weapons some what safe in the knowledge no one would ever actually want to invade the US because and invading party would have to solve so many cultural, social and economical issues that your better off just playing there game and shipping your illegals to the US to make it all even more unmanageable.
Interesting POV on US military recruiting incels. If those boys survive the trip across the pond, rape of just 1 Russian woman will unleash nuclear Armageddon. Putin may be a lot of things, but being KGB, he ain’t as dumb as Stalin was in ‘41. To quote Andrei Martyanov, “Americans have no experience of real war…”
We need to stay home and mind our own business, of which there is much.
Very good points. We have to admit we’ve allowed our society to become morally bankrupt and literally bankrupt by the robber barons of the Military Industrial Complex such as Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden and others. These liars were the tools of the MIC spending many trillions of future US citizens money on idiotic unwinnable wars. Plus it gave the US citizens (the dumb ones and that’s a majority) the impression the US is unbeatable yet looking at Russia, China, India, Iran, North Korea it’s quite clear the “enemy” has been busy not only surpassing the US from a military stockpile perspective but also from a military technology perspective as well. While the US and NATO countries were stealing and squandering the public money they were being outnaneuvered and out gunned by the ROW. Time to drop the MIC dominated economy and act like a decent society if it’s possible. Sadly I don’t think it is as we watch the West lose its 500 year economic and military dominance forever.
What was Putin’s choice?
Every so often, I go over this in my head (as just now) and conclude there never was a ‘good’ choice. The best choice would have been Minsk II and it came and went, thanks to western intransigence.
To my mind it was beyond dispute that Ukraine, with US help, was poised to unleash Ukraine’s oft mentioned solution of Operation Storm 2.0 upon the Donbass. The proof is in OSCE’s pudding.
If one remembers, Operation Storm 1.0 was launched by Croat forces under US command against Serb forces in the disputed Krajina region. That action resulted in 100-150,000 civilian Serb refugees fleeing the Krajina and many of those who refused to leave, or couldn’t leave were killed.
I once communicated via e-mail with Peter Galbraith long after he had left his position as US Ambassador to Croatia at that time, asking him why was it necessary for such a mass exodus and killings (ethnic cleansing to be exact) to be perpetrated under US command. Are we not against such things? I’ll never forget his response: “We told the Croats to behave themselves”, his best effort at absolution I suppose.
Well, Peter. I suspect that not only I but the Russians were themselves asking that very same question and extrapolating it without difficulty to the situation on the Donbass contact line in 2022. Why would an Op Storm 2.0 differ any from the original, or more likely even be significantly worse? The US certainly would nor could not have forced such as the Ukrainian front line ‘ultranationalist’ troops to ‘behave themselves’. As Arestovych has said on occasion, it was a requirement not to.
Again, I ask. What choices was Russia facing at that moment? I still can’t answer.
You have to recognize that American exceptionalism dictates that the population believes in a supreme invincibility.
I was directly reminded of that peculiar aspect of the American psyche during the ’99 war on Serbia, as I walked from the car to the supermarket and overheard a group of average New England Joes talking in awe, amazement and perpetual pride about how the US military is so good, it can hit a golf ball in space with its rockets.
Some moments are so indicative of a nation’s communal psyche, if not ignorance, that they stick in your mind forever.
Didn’t NATO combine against North Korea which pretty much fought them to a tie?
I have a coworker who retired from the air force a few years ago and he’s certain our repair logistics for our fighters is far superior to Russia’s.
Never mind the extremely over complex of our air fleet, the much longer and more vulnerable physical logistics train, and the fragile supply chain to make new parts and ammunition for those planes.
Trust me, their heads are invulnerable to any truths outside the narrative. Look how many voluntarily took the mRNA shots! And are embracing the drag queen madness.
No.
NATO was not in Korea. One of largest contingents was British and rearmament led to Prescription Charges in NHS which cost Labour election and huge requirements for steel which British industry could not supply and boosted Luxembourg steel industry ARBED and German steel
Turkey was in Korea too but most of NATO was not. North Korea was destroyed by U.S. Bombing and suggestions of biochemical warfare but did not surrender and fought on with Chinese help and Soviet pilots to drive US out of N Korea
I was living in Rome in the early seventies as a student and rented out a room temporarily to a S. Korean named Kim. I asked him, what brings you to Rome? Turns out he went to work in a lowly job in the Vatican (he was Christian) in atonement for the atrocities that he’d committed during the Korean war. That’s all he’d say.
Besides that story, the best thing about Kim was that a few weeks after he’d moved in, Kayco had brought him a tub of kimchi. First time I ever tried it. He thought I couldn’t handle it and was surprised when I asked for seconds. Still can’t figure out how Kayco (Japanese) ended up there with Korean kimchi. All I remember is she was very cute.
Anyway, what struck me at the time – he might have been more a true Christian than many the western variety, maybe for Buddhist influence, or not.
Lots of mass graves turning up in South Korea
The US method of designing fighter jets is to design big fluffy pillows to put around then every time they return from a mission, lest they break.
The Russian method is to design their fighter jets so that they don’t break.
Apparently only one side has learnt the lessons of WW2, which is that the easiest and quickest way to destroy an air force is to catch it on the ground when you blow up their airfields.
The Russians will have great success when they do that to the NATO powers and catch all those F-35 jets being molly-coddled.
The NATO forces will wonder why all those Russian military air fields don’t have any planes on them.
Mikoyan said Americans design planes like Swiss watches whereas his MiGs were like Mickey Mouse watches designed to run and not break
USSR also had maintenance culture unlike USA which meant design had to encompass operational lack of support
Also, US/NATO readiness levels are abyssmal and probably exaggerated. IMHO because there is no profit in maintenance, so it makes more sense to let a _____ (fill in the blank) break and replace than maintain at readiness. For example, the logistics of the M1 are insane – and a very strong tell.
He probably said Timex watches, as Mickey Mouse watches are known to be…well, mickey mouse.
Russia is waging a defensive war and calls it a Special Operation, which feeds summits, political proposals, and propaganda and thousands of analyzes and opinions, and what in the end, again Minsk and scams. There is too much hypocrisy here from the EU, NATO, USA and the UK, too much cowardice and lies, until now they have destroyed peoples and states that were weak, and now cowardly through Ukraine they are trying to weaken Russia, to make it weak and suitable for destruction. Russia needs to end with a full attack and crush all this accumulated cowardice of the EU-NATO-USA and the UK, in order to finally reject the West for all time, and establish a better part of the world in the East, for the salvation of humanity. And ended the Millennial cancer of evil to humanity with the Crusades, Colonialism and Globalism of the subjugation of the whole world. The West must be broken, or everything will continue to be bad for humanity again.
I agree with you concretely and while the Western nations will neve admit any of their defeats, all you have to do is look at the inflation in the West to see our currencies are devalued and the massive debts we have accumulated to realize we are the losers. The citizens of the West have been duped and robbed and lied to for generations and our vile disgusting governments who allowed the MIC to manipulate us to this point are the liars and villains who need to be taken to task.
There was a time when a misbehaving and trouble making child would receive a good hiding from their father to bring them back in line and to learn to be respectful. Of course in today’s woke society that’s no longer acceptable and we all see the results of that.
But what we badly need now is the same behavioural correction dished out to the US and its allies courtesy of the Russian military. A damn good thrashing, the mother of all hidings, administered to the arrogant West would be the best thing that could happen to them and to the world. The West really needs to feel the wrath to bring them to their senses before it’s too late.
Imagine if we Australians sent our 2 hour military* to join the affray in 404. In 2 hours we could lose more than we did over 10 years in Vietnam (my war), i.e. 523 KIA and around 2,500 wounded.
* Australian military is near 60,000 with say 15,000 front line and that is an ambitious number. With such numbers and use of US munitions we must be striking fear into our largest trading partner China and Russia. How ironic we refer to China as our largest trading partner but then call them an enemy, really!
The West’s total failure of diplomacy resulting in war demonstrates ultimate hubris, indecency and criminality. Just stop attacking others, fighting to pursue world domination! Instead let’s clean our own houses and deal with the real needs of our people, while promoting policies of cooperation and fair competition abroad. We must evolve beyond this tendency to violent conflict if we are to survive as a species, but I doubt we will do so.
So far as I know, both the US & Cdn. armies have lost their long service NCOs to the Vaccine Mandates. Thus both armies are now useless for ground combat. So who’s going to fight? The Poles already did a staff exercise that showed Russia surrounding Warsaw in 5 days of fighting! The Finns, Swedes & Norway have tiny armies & no way to project ordnance onto Russia. All the rest of europe has small armies, empty armories & the people do not want to fight. So the ‘5 Ayes’ against Russia. This would be funny, if it wasn’t for tactical nukes!
Does Canada have an Army ?
I bet US does not have more than 200,000 combat troops
“I bet [the] US does not have more than 200,000 combat troops.”
And if you listen to people like General Betrayus and Victoria Nuland, all of those Americans are stationed abroad, busy surrounding our enemies, in places where a few Russian tactical nukes will solve that problem in five minutes.
Okay. Well, maybe a few dozen tactical nukes.
After that, I’m guessing, China is going to be asking the United States: “Well, do you feel lucky, punk?
In any event I expect this thing will get out of control. “It will get out of control, and we will be lucky to live through it.”
This whole deal is getting pretty stupid. IMO. The United States is broke, busted, and run by the geriatric wing of an insane asylum called Washinton, DC. The United States’ infrastructure is breaking down, its economy collapsing, its culture sodomized, the Middle Class all but gone, anybody who has taken the jab has been spike proteined.
Things are a mess. Worse than they have ever been. But hey, the lawns are all mowed, and the landscaping is perfect. Never seen a better-looking corpse.
Well lots of fatties in Wiesbaden but I doubt they are combat troops as opposed to SIGINT at Clay Kaserne
Mannheim is tank storage
Anything else if in Bavaria or Rheinland-Pfalz
I really don‘t think anyone has combat troops in Germany – U.K. has 2500 and a store at Sennelager and US had 40,000 tops with very few combat – they hoped to fly them in – which is why they put airborne in Poland and Romania
Fine and dandy here. Don’t get your hopes up. & don’t mix your battles. Makes you look crazed.
the blame-e says:
“THE MIDDLE CLASS ALL BUT GONE”
Wikipedia say: Democracy … is a form of government in which THE PEOPLE HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DELIBERATE AND DECIDE LEGISLATION (“direct democracy”) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” — Abraham Lincoln https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/overthrow_the_government_all_the_ways_in_which_our_rights_have_been_usurped_short
You, as people of USA, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Canada has a sorta-army: mebbe a brigade. They are under the influence of the US army, so right wing & believe in miracles. The hard core & the Ukes are over there. Really, its getting to the point that the army is for crowd control & natural disasters. I just thought of it now; 20 years or more ago, the airborne regiment was sent to whatever ( animal-perverted-sex) wreck of a country in the horn of africa. The airborne regiment were elite, they expected to take 50% casualties to secure a position. They were put into a police situation. They tortured & killed a teenage thief. The federal government disbanded the entire regiment! It was over in the 1990s. Canada is like the euros, we play at military prowess, but all we are doing is squirming under the US nuclear umbrella. Nobody talks about what that actually means!
The letters from German troops on the way to Soviet Union in June 1941 read very arrogant and hubristic but 6 months later the tone changed and letters from Stalingrad were impounded and never made it to the Home Front
It is typical just as the hubris when US invaded Iraq and let itself be ensnared in a Shia Uprising and then acceded to Saudi Arabia by bolstering Sunni Forces and creating ISIS by fusing Saddam‘s officers with Sunni Fanatics in Camp Bucca
US is headed for destruction. It went from rationality in 1970 to Ideological Fanaticism in 1990s and Insanity in 21st Century when it ended abruptly
Vilnius is bad news for Voldemort Kokainsky
Voldemort? Isn’t that French for “I wish I were dead”?
I do especially like the threat to “fill the skies” with F-22 jets.
Hmmm. The USA doesn’t even have enough F-22 to “fill the skies” even when there isn’t an enemy air force to say “Actually, no, I don’t think so”.
I mean, honestly, even in peacetime I’d be very surprised if the USA could put fifty F-22 jets into the air. Anywhere.
As threats go it’s more than laughable.
Zelensky is like Bor-Komorovski, in
The Warsaw, Armija Krajowa’s rebellion, 1944, what Rokossovsky called him, “a clown in the circus, jumped in, and then been rolled into a carpet, and carried out, during the public’s big laugh.” But 200.000 civilians perished, and the
city, razed to the ground, The communist had to rebuild, exact from zero.
The Russians are the world’s workingclass, in who we trust,
(and China the workshop) and
Europe’s gendarme, 1709 Carolus
Rex (Karl XII} in Ukraine, Poltava in Ukraine! in Paris,1814/15, Napoleon Bonaparte, 1945, Berlin, Third Reich, dragging out the wolves by its ears, 2023,Kiev….
I have been “studying” Putin for a great many years. Some certain traits are consistent with him. He always uses diplomatic and cultured language. But I learned you have to listen to him carefully. He always says what he thinks and he does what he said. He always abides by the law. Both Russian and international law. He gets a lot of criticism for that, even within Russia.
A few years ago he said that Russia will never again allow Russia to be caught unprepared by an attack. He said that he will never allow Russia to be devastated again like it was in World War 2. This means that Russia has been preparing for all scenarios for a long time. It means that Russia will use means that will quickly render the West, especially the U.S., incapable of war. I’m not suggesting that would be nuclear means.
Russia has been preparing for Day X for a very long time. Diplomatically, economically, militarily and socially. The hubris of the Western masterminds of their own superiority and their arrogance make their plans for Russia very transparent. In view of the desolate conditions in the USA and in the West, these circumstances certainly facilitate the work of the Russian foreign intelligence service.
It can be seen that Russia and partner countries are trying everything to win the war in the spheres of economy, raw materials, energy, currencies. This would save humanity billions of deaths and perhaps the extinction of mankind. The USA and its vassals will lose this war.
The last SOC summit had one core theme. Defense against sanctions, color revolutions, terrorism, economic terror, treason in their own ranks. The weak point of the SOC and BRICS are the Indian oligarchs who are very closely tied to the US and Modi’s illusory dream of an Indian leading power. The latter is the essential point why the India-China problem has still not been solved.
But back to USNATO. For months I have been asking two essential questions over and over again. Unfortunately, nobody is interested in them.
1. how rational do the decision makers in the USA think?
2. how desperate is the US oligarchy and is it therefore prepared to do what?
These are very important questions for me.
What politicians and prostitutes tell in the mainstream media does not interest me. They are merely well-paid errand boys.
Let’s put it this way. Back in 2016, the MSM here in the FU$A was reporting that Russia was not only upgrading Soviet era fallout shelters, but building new ones. There was also a lot of strange construction going on throughout the country, too. All were scratching their collective boneheads on why? Over the past the several years, Russia has installed a new missile defense system for good measure. Yes, Russia has been preparing for the inevitable, if the West is that stupid. The current SMO, just a little side show of what could happen in the not to distant future.
Russia started repairing school and kindergarten fallout shelters in late 2014 for “educational purposes”. I was invited to tour the shelter at my youngest daughter’s school. As I was still in the Reserves and would be interviewed by my INTELO on return, I declined. For me, this was the answer to Sting’s “Do the Russians love their children too”.
“…how rational…”
I guess the video answers that. I watched it, figured it was a satire until it ended without the “gotcha” and only then did I realize it was serious. They really believe this stuff.
Maybe it’s the shot, maybe it’s some sort of deep psyop; I wonder if there is some external trigger. Or maybe humans are just this defective? Especially when put into crowds in an authoritarian setting: that would be the Asch Conformity experiment.
During the Witch Burnings, there were whole towns that killed every single woman. So nuclear war? No big deal.
The witch hunts of the McCarthy period… more than a little similarity to Wokeism.
The Russians don’t need to spend untold $billions to find out where Joe Biden is.
Totally unnecessary.
All they need to do is put a plan brown bag filled with dollars somewhere in Washington DC and just…. wait. The old coot will shuffle into view before those Russkie spooks can make themselves comfortable.
And if they want to tag both the father and son then they only need to put a bag of cocaine next to it. Oh, yeah, and a straw.
The whole thing shouldn’t take more than an hour, if that.
The Russians planted Hunter Biden’s coke in the White House just to set Sleepy Joe Biden up. [sarcasm]
Hunter‘s hooker slept over
As an under age Ukrainian refugee, she qualifies for temporary housing in US Government owned facility.
All they need to do is put a plan brown bag filled with dollars somewhere in….
Or they could put a plain brown bag filled with poop on his doorstep and he’d be sure to stomp on it, thinking it was on fire…..then slip off the landing.
Nah, he’s the President. He wouldn’t be allowed to open the door, that’s what the Secret Service is for.
But a bag of money? The old coot will smell that out a mile away, and find some way of slipping his SS detail so he can go grab it.
“Now the ammunition cupboard is bare, even in the United States.”
We don’t know this to be a fact. In fact, the opposite is most likely the case.
For the United States to deplete itself of the critical resources needed to fight a real war would be like some episode out “Battlestar Galactica” Trojan Horse Hollywood nonsense. The United States government may be broke, busted, delusional, and suicidal, but it’s not stupid. Not that stupid. Besides, it still has its nukes.
They have found cocaine in the White House. The French government is calling their own citizens “vermin.” And God knows what’s going on with the Dutch farmers. Sounds like the governments in the West are in full and complete control — of everything.
This running out of ammunition meme has been propaganda fodder for all sides since the proxy war in the Ukraine began. How many billions of dollars of war material and ammunition were abandoned to the Taliban in the United States’s retreat from Afghanistan? And still, all we hear is how all sides are down to their last missiles, drones, bombs, artillery — you name it.
“Appear weak when you are strong.”
Even Prigozhin used the running out of ammo feint in the latest punking of the West.
Meanwhile the same old war profiteering is going on. If reports are to be believed, “Putin’s Chef” Prigozhin was tasked with supplying the Russian forces with food. What the troops (including the Wagner Group), got was crap. The pictures were positively revolting. What Prigozhin got was more obscene profits. If all the parties involved were serious about this proxy war the same old crap, the worst of it, like war profiteering, would not be taking place.
Meanwhile, the United States is still shipping troops and material all over the world, most recently into the Baltic (states?) countries just in time for this July NATO summit. What could possibly go wrong. Nothing. Just like always.
The takeaway here is that all sides are still keeping their best stuff for themselves, probably for when somebody finally decides to start something.
The Leopards and Bradley’s sent to the Ukraine were not state of the art. They were stripped down, “where’s the beef?” versions, so that critical technology would not fall into Russian hands. The West knew they would lose these units.
What we need here is “more better” propaganda on all sides — mainstream and alternative media.
You cite, “Now the ammunition cupboard is bare, even in the United States.” and “We don’t know this to be a fact. In fact, the opposite is most likely the case.” You argue that the US would not be that stupid but I don’t see any other evidence cited. Probably a few hours research would confirm whether this is true. As for “the US would not be that stupid”, see, F35. I expect the F35 to be a collossal, absolute complete failure if used as a weapon of war. No time in war to sit on the tarmac for a “software update”, to only fly under certain weather conditions, in fact electronic counter measures may simply brick the thing in mid air.
Sorry, replying to myself! When I say, “a few hours of research would confirm”, let me withdraw that statement. I think it would give an indication that might be likely, not enough to really prove a theory. Experts who have dug into this will most likely have a good idea of the real state of affairs. There are a lot of stories about low stocks, difficulty in manufacturing old parts, and around us we see repeated high tech failures (In the Navy, especially). Sure, maybe they are hiding the good stuff, at least to some degree. As Chomsky said once “… we live entangled in webs of endless deceit.” Lots of cobwebs all over. Attercop, Tomnoddy!
your evidence that the US is not that stupid as of late?
I present woke trans admirals for your consideration.
I present losing your experienced officers by forcing them to resign or be vaxxed.
I present Joe Biden who cant complete a sentence, loves fondling young girls hair (!!!)
I present the transfer of US industry to China (to lower wages) including the ability to make medicines or f-in face masks (and that after years of “doing something.”
I present turning US cities into literal cess pools on the streets.
And then there is the F35, trillion dollar joke.
The Admiral costume goes with the job in Public Health for some arcane American reason
French gov calling its citizens “vermin”.
That goes back to my earlier comment about the witch trials… “the enemies of their livelihood, and vermin and witchcraft.”
And if people are really that far lost, then why do you think the US still has ammunition? The lunacy is across the board. What, the UK has maybe 40 tanks and 15 frigates, a good chunk of which do not work. The US is likely not much different. But NATO, Russia should be afraid of NATO? Really? Sure, it would be a needless bloodbath, but I don’t think Russia is terribly afraid, AND they know it will come to that anyway.
They need to rewrite the lyrics to the “Britannia rule the waves” song.
Another example of nato delusion is that the Russians will allow 20 to 30 ships sail from the US to Europe loaded down with troops and supplies should nato decide to put boots on the ground.
Nothing is going to happen at this summit because nato has no plan. Europe has no more money left and the US is a total wreck.
Diplomacy is what is needed now, even then, Russia has Lavrov while the eu has Borrel and the us Blinken, very much an unbalanced intellectual basis for positive outcomes.
I’m sort of thinking that, perhaps, the sheer juvenile rah-rah sentiment in the American forces and general populace when it comes to wars, and to the illusion about being nigh-omnipotent and able to destroy any opponent at will if only they so wish, stems from the simple fact that America never had to deal with TRUE consequences in a serious war, one with immediate high stakes for the US. They have always been shielded from it, so they have absolutely no danger sense and feel invincible.
Think about it – every European power (let alone the smaller countries) have dealt with more than one, think along the lines of France or Germany dealing with the losses of their wars. Russia’s history is full of conflicts where consequences for it doing badly in a war were existential, like the enslavement of civilian populations or plain and simple extermination, going back at least as far as the Mongol horde crashing into the disunited Russian principalities in the early medieval.
What of America, then? Well, the only real land invasion it had to deal with was in 1812 and was pretty abortive, and the closest thing since then was the war for Texas where the only true stakes were for Texans themselves. The civil war was real and serious, but it was more of a contest between two competing power centers of America, and has anyway been massaged and mythologized into total oblivion. And since then, it’s only ever been “something that happens out there, to other people”, war is something only enlisted men and officers do to some foreigners someplace else.
There is a simple absence of collective historical memory of war as a dangerous, terrible and devastating thing for America itself – the worst stakes it has to face are losing a gamble for political influence and power projection in some other corner of the globe, maybe leading to less economic success at home. Either it wins or it loses nothing but some battlefield troops and face, which they immediately compensate for with Hollywood-type propaganda.
As such, they have no brakes installed when it comes to things like that, simply because historic experience has not taught them the need for that. For Americans it’s not “the last argument of kings”, it’s “what’s the worst that could happen?”. The danger of the moment, of course, being that this “what” is a very likely Armageddon, and if somehow nukes don’t go flying, it’s still a world-shattering WW3 leaving the entirety of the human race impacted negatively.
Completely agree. Nice comment.
Putin says “this time is different.” Mainly because the United States has gotten itself into a war with Europe. Putin says there will be no using two oceans for a safe retreat from the United States’ endless warmongering this time.
I hope Putin is right. I am an American. I am tired and fed up with the endless threats of war and the endless warmongering. No country can live like this. Eventually, they go insane.
As an American, my definition of patriotism is simple. “My country right, kept right. My country wrong, made right.”
This fully dysfunction uniparty geriatric mess we currently have in the United States must come to an end.
I understood it as Russian submarines can launch into Washington DC from the oceans but Moscow is far from any US missiles, unless of course if set up in Kharkiv.
Indeed. Biden would be wise to move the capital to Denver. But then, he’d subject himself to more oxygen depletion and he needs all the atmosphere can spare.
German media: “Fight against the Russians is getting harder!”
https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/bild-an-der-ukraine-front-kampf-gegen-die-russen-immer-schwerer-84591498.bild.html
Yes it is still 1943 in Germany with coal burning in power stations and labour shortages but lots of Ukrainian women flocking to Germany …..
Media still reporting victory on the Ostfront
Critics arrested or fined if Ukrainian voicing support for Russia (Cologne) or subject to fraudulent insolvency if a Russian restaurant owner (Saxony) or simply job loss and bank account closure (Alina Lipp inter alia)
but lots of Ukrainian women flocking to Germany …..
Sure, but this time around they’re put in cathouses and not work camps. Nothing to produce any more, might as well enjoy the ride.
For the past year + of this I keep coming here:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“― Sun Tzu, The Art of War”
There’s no love song finer but
How strange
The change
From major to minor
Everytime we say goodbye.
– Cole Porter, Everytime we say goodbye.
whilst understanding that both Mr. Tsun Tsu (translation from characters to letters are also not possible only attempts at transliteration through constructs held by some to be constants despite “updates”) and Mr. Cole Porter are subject to lateral change where trajectories and velocities/tempos are variables.
So will a Russo/Chinese military presence in Cuba wake up the US to their follies in Europe / the Pacific rim?
Presumably the US will not be happy with what’s coming to Havana, so will they be prepared to back down on militarising Russian/Chinese border areas?
The Russians and Chinese may want to put down some gear/bases in Venezuela soon too, and I don’t see what the US could do about it.
US will react by increasing military budget.
NATO is like refined white flour to me. Both need to be eliminated by any means necessary. It doesn’t matter who or what you add or remove. Both are no longer healthy for the people of the world. Our money and energy are better served elsewhere.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wheat+belly&crid=3V13WL2442HVH&sprefix=wheat+belly%2Caps%2C111&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_11
I’m ready to agree with you but ONLY if that god awful air bread that infects just about every loaf from cheap to high end goes the way of the flour.
Do the squeeze test yourself on a $5 loaf sometime. European bakers have been shot for less.
In Vilnius, there will be empty promises and just that. The most important thing that will be announced at this summit it Stoltenberg prolongation. Digging deeper down this rabbit hole just reveal the internal state of the alliance : not great to say the least. If they are even unable to agree on internal issues how would they find a solution to external problems ? The funniest part will be the excuses they will find to disengage quietly from the 404 thing ; Macron will have some riots, Scholtz some AfD problems , Melloni will pretend focus on the BRI , Sunak have nothing left but James Bond but he’s unavailable right now … they will might manage the Finland thing and cool down Erdoghan about the Swedes burning Qran and here we are : end of the agenda of the day , see you next time.
The usual sad clown show … Joe might should take a puff or two on Hunter’s pipe , or there will be no comic relief :p
Regarding the video: shocking and frankly embarrassing.
As Larry comments, such nonsense championed by the nonmilitary is one thing, but if military believe this bull then we should be very concerned.
“Stupid is as stupid does”. Now, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. And frankly some popcorn while watching the fall might be entertaining… except that the US (along with the UK and France) are nuclear powers. And some maniac brandishing radioactive guns is very concerning.
More rational minds are sorely needed in the West.
Dream on. We’re beyond hope.
That video is hilarious. Stupid soyjack that thinks this is a video game or movie. My bet is it’s impossible for peace with this level of stupid and disinformation foisted 24/7 on the public. My fear is reality will only come in the form of massive body bags being returned to the United States.
“Underestimating an opponent has led to the surprising defeat of many boxers and martial artists.”
My God Larry, this is the understatement of the year. Nato is underestimating going into the ring with Mike Tyson.
Yesterday or the day before, Erin Burnett of CNN quietly listened to a diatribe from Zelensky. Zelensky maintained that the Russian army in Ukraine had been effectively destroyed, and was incapable of offensive operations. He further claimed that Putin and the war were wildly unpopular in Russia, and that Putin could not leave his bunker for fear of assassination.
Burnett hardly asked any questions, none probing, only creampuffs.
Larry,
” NATO is exposed to rapid Russian advances in Europe should an attack be launched.”
What’s he been drinking? Attack with what, to conquer 400,000,000 men available not tied up in combat already? To what purpose? Irridentism?
“Russian forces are very close to Estonia and Latvia) can be held for some days while the US ships heavy forces into Europe.”
What “heavy forces” does the US have to send – to the Baltic of all places – using what sea and airlift? The 1980s have been over for some time. A more coherent analysis and strategic look at the USA’s actual national interests are long overdue. As is that of each European nation. The latter is their responsibility, not ours. The former isn’t being done by the old fuds “leading” the US right now.
“Underestimating an opponent has led to the surprising defeat of many boxers and martial artists.”
Or. as George Foreman said after he lost to AIi’s rope-a-dope strategy:
“I thought he was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: ‘That all you got, George?’ I realized (then) that this ain’t what I thought it was.”
Foreman went down in the next Round. NATO’s 7th Round realization hasn’t yet permeated all of its brain trusts. Vilnius may well mark the point where reality starts getting some traction.
I can’t think of a better moment for the Russians to strike hard at all the command centres NATO still has in UA than moments before the summit’s opening speeches. Reality crashing in might just scupper the summit’s agenda and send the whole lot into a tail spin.
“I can’t think of a better moment for the Russians to strike hard at all the command centres NATO still has in UA than moments before the summit’s opening speeches. Reality crashing in might just scupper the summit’s agenda and send the whole lot into a tail spin.”
Or reappear at the Gates of Kiev.
Thomas
“Or reappear at the Gates of Kiev.”
LOL! Yup, that would be an “Oh Shit!” moment for the ages.
HMS Terror,
Hope it happens to merely watch the massive mental meltdown here in our societies which should also break the hold on folks minds. Once people see and confirm who lies to them, they will never respect or listen again to these fools. An ending that would bring the needed change without massive bloodshed.
Thomas
Who’s to say ‘our societies’ would even hear about it?
NATO can prolong this, but in the end natural resources, enlisted army size, logistics, industrial capacity, a citizenry on-board with the fight, etc. will win. And all those are covered in Russia, not so in NATO. Remember Russia is still honoring their gas and oil supply contracts to Ukraine, those expire in 2024 and won’t be renewed. Thats just one of the many ace in the holes Russia has not even played yet. There are many others to be played prior to nuclear escalation, like taking out international fiber optic cables in international waters complicating article 5, hitting satellites, hitting Kiev, or just waiting for Europe to deindustrialize, and eastern Ukraine to have a few elections and legitimate leaders and happy citizens that the UN will have to seat. All momentum really is going Russia’s way even if they just sit and play defense while the west simply “runs out of stuff” and runs out of citizen support.
Excellent post, Larry. Thank you. And on point analysis from your friend.
I can attest to the attitude of CGOs and FGOs about the Russian military. I help observe Army division exercises and the amount comments I hear about the poor state of the Russian Army is concerning. At one point for an AAR before we started I showed them a 10 min montages of Russian kill cam, to remind them to not become complacent.
Let me be brief. Too many escalating financial profits for war not to keep escalating.
Larry, while I agree with the overall conclusion of Steve’s piece, after all that has transpired, it is unclear to me that US air power is superior on the “battle field” as opposed to on paper. I predict, this re-examination will only occur after flying F16s out of Poland in Ukraine.
I also see no evidence US NATO “partners” will have a vote. The self-immolative European policy decisions of recent decades (immigration waves, de-industrialization, de-militarization, etc.) suggests comprimat (or equivalent).
WRT US noise that it wants Ukraine to get NATO security guarantees (to terrify Russia), but cannot convince its NATO partners, I call BS. Beyond that the US is NATO, if Biden wants to give US security guarantees (no comment on wisdom) Biden’s handlers can. IMHO the US (i.e., Nuland cabal) feel it best to first fight Russia to the last Pole and Romanian and German. IMHO, only storming of the Bastille will awaken Europe (too late).
To sum up one of Sun Tzu major points as I understand it, “Know yourself and know your enemy.” He stated “to know yourself and know your enemy your chance of winning is 100%. To know yourself but not know the enemy your your chances are equal. To not know yourself or not know your enemy your chances of defeat are 100%.” Clearly the US does not know their enemy or themselves. They actually believe their own propaganda. A little anciet wisdom this morning.
“The U.S. military and intelligence community are behaving as political partisans rather than professionals committed to providing objective analysis.”
The same thing is going on in corporate America, with the Bud Light fiasco being the most famous example.
They all graduate from the same schools and their heads are filled with the same garbage. “If you identify as a parakeet, it must be respected!” Objective reality doesn’t intrude. It’s racist, dontchya know.
I mean, how could someone be hired as marketing V.P. for the #1 beer brand who thinks that their loyal customer base, filled with Joe Six-Pack types, would tolerate having transgenderism(!) shoved down their throats? “Well they’ll just have to get over it.” Uh huh. They did.
Rather than acknowledge reality and correct the error, executive management doubled down on stupid by trying to find any reason other than “we f**ked up”.
But unlike the result being billions of $ of lost market value and beer they can’t even give away, with the military and intelligence community we’ll get a nuclear war, because they’ll have nothing left to throw at the problem.
They can’t possibly be wrong, you filthy parakeet-phobe.
Best part is that Bud Light was a dying brand before its marketing makeover which was „New Coke“ on acid kn terms of market rejection
So she made a dying brand defunct
Bud like Miller is total garbage
I don’t know what happened to the vaunted American education system, but it is beyond me that any adult, much less a professional soldier, would have this kindergarten-level ignorance of contemporary military and geopolitical realities!
How are these soldiers expected to fight successfully against an enemy of which they are so staggeringly ignorant?
How are these soldiers expected to fight successfully against an enemy of which they are so staggeringly ignorant?
Because it’s the only way they would agree to fight.
Witness the bullshit the Ukie conscripts are fed just to get them into the trenches.
“How are these soldiers expected to fight successfully against an enemy of which they are so staggeringly ignorant?”
They are not “expected to fight sucessfully” – you have likely been listening to “heart felt” dialogues of snake oil salesmen – since these soldiers like most soldiers are human shields AND hoped to be food sources (sometimes known as hoped to have at least some utility as blackmail chips) AND “martyrs” to be thanked regularly for their service which some define as human shieldry and food source.
» While the US and its allies have superior airpower «
This is an untested assumption. We do not actually know this on the basis of empirical evidence. In fact, the F-35 may well be capable of only 10% of the sorties that its Russian counterparts can muster. You never know anything (!) until you start testing it.
The article also suffers from the same ahistorical assumptions that the West does, always projecting its own mind set on the others, failing to grasp the difference between deter & threaten. Nato was established years before the Warsaw Pact, which arose in response. Who was racing across Europe in the last days of WW2 to cut off the Soviets, or were the Soviets involved in reckless adventures to occupy vast swathes of Germany and the West before the American could get there? Why would Russia invade Europe? Has it been expanding lately? Its logistics rely on railway, with the wrong gauge for the West. It actually does not have well shaped offensive capability. Who kept to the Teheran agreement and stopped at the 37th parallel in Korea? I bet they rued that decision, they had 3 weeks to take the south before the Americans showed up. Did the Americans do business with the provisional government (partisans). No. They ignored the Koreans and did business with the occupying Japanese authority. They moved the nationalist government to Formosa and used their Navy to protect it, like they protected Britain and France during the second opium war (to force China to accept opium en lieu of silver, as currency — you know, human rights).
The whole notion of a China or Russia hell-bent to expand their sphere of influence like the US has extended it globally is all pure projection, thinking others are engaged in the same game as you yourself are.
Please google just how many Soviet operated SAM missiles in Vietnam brought down how many B-52s
USAF lost 31 B-52s in Vietnam 10 being shot down
Not sure why US thinks air superiority is available when China or Russia are opposing
1945 was a different world where U.K. was bankrupt and Communist Party was very powerful in France
Stalin was not particularly attractive and Germany was devastated. Only by getting 46th Congress to reverse its Isolationism could Europe hold off Communism which is why U.K. persuaded Canada to keep troops in Europe so as to persuade Truman to do same which is why Churchill gave a speech at Fulton, Missouri
“China or Russia hell-bent to expand their sphere of influence like the US ”
yes and no
They are very active in expanding their sphere of influence via trade and cultural ties to prevent the West from using other countries as battering Rams against Russia and China. Of course, the paranoid west views that as threatening, while the non-west view it as win-win.
“What to Expect from the Vilnius NATO Summit.”
I can not help but feel that the NATO summit is the real Black Flag.
I don’t know if the problem was Observer R, which to be honest I don’t even know what it is but the text is full of wrong conclusions in my opinion! Starting with the reasons why Russia did not avoid the coup d’état in Kiev as it did in Kazakhstan and we can even speculate in Belarus! In the first place with the last two countries Russia participates in an alliance of defense of the EEUC that allows it to intervene in all the member states. Like NATO. Secondly, Yanukovych is not Lukashenko – who knows Belarus’ enemies well – and not long ago said in a BBC interview: “We are going to slaughter all the scum you are funding”.
Yanukovich, on the other hand, always trusted Western partners both times he was overthrown, in the orange revolution in 2004 and in the coup in 2014! Yanukovych was never a Russian puppet as US propaganda claims. If it is true Yanukovich could have no doubts in opting for financial aid from Russia over IMF aid when Ukraine went under in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. That even the FT admits that Russia’s aid plan was much more advantageous for Ukraine. Despite Yanukovitch having ended up fleeing to Russia in order not to die. But there is no record that he asked Russia for direct intervention in the coup! The only legal basis for Russia to intervene.
But I agree that Russia didn’t avoid the coup because it didn’t want to! Because Ukraine and all the authorities in Ukraine before 2014 were very different – much closer to Russia – than the authorities after the coup. And the biggest proof according to NATO docs. 80% of Ukraine before 2014 never wanted to join NATO. Point 32:
https://www.nato-pa.int/document/2011-172-cdsdg-11-e-rev1-ukraine-malan-report
NATO is the real invader of Ukraine in 2014, violating the Budapest agreements. And we can speculate why Russia didn’t stop the coup. Russia is a very legalistic nation and doesn’t usually invade countries like the US! It was Yanukovitch who could have avoided the coup very easily because contrary to what the text suggests, Yanukovitch never lost control of the police or the army! And as Head of State I had to know what Victoria Nuland was preparing at the US embassy! Even we hear the audio! And the coup was not carried out by the Ukrainian authorities but by a very violent nationalist minority against the AU authorities. Who even hired snipers to kill police on Euromaidan. Which shows how Yanukovitch never lost control of the police authorities in Ukraine until he left the country! And in the propagated Army of 800 000 men, when the Donbass uprising began, many refused to fight against the Donbass population! Like Alexander Khodakosky from the Donetsk Vostok battalion. Which just proves that it wasn’t the UA Army on Euromaidan that was facing an external Russian intervention in the coup! And the same in the police and secret services of Ukraine. And it was once again the nationalist thugs who took over the Army. With many soldiers defecting to the pro-Russian side!
So the AFU in 2014 was never an impediment for Russia to sabotage the coup! It was Russia did not want to intervene coup! In the same way that Russia did not resolve the situation in Donbass soon in 2015 – as many Russian military wanted – when pro-Russian militias surrounded Ukrainian forces and many NATO troops in the battle of Debaltseve. When Merkl was rushed to sign a ceasefire with Putin to save the men of NATO – the famous Minsk accords that resulted from the Normandy talks. Because Russia as a state never intended to carry out any illegal military intervention in Ukraine or to separate Donbass from Ukraine until February 24, 2022! Which he could easily achieve by resorting to special forces. For sure. And we can continue to speculate why Russia didn’t avoid the coup. Like it didn’t avoid the color revolution 10 years earlier. In my opinion, in order not to alienate the support of the international community, which today supports Russia in a very large percentage. Because geopolitics is always a long-term game.
What Russia did in 2014 was hold Crimea. And unlike US propaganda, Russia didn’t need to transfer troops either. Russia has never left Crimea and has always had troops stationed in the autonomous region of Crimea. Where it was very easy to organize a Referendum with International Observers totally legal!
So if Russia didn’t oppose the coup in 2014 and never tried to separate Donbass from Ukraine before February 2022, what justified Russia’s intervention in February? The installation of US missiles in Poland a month earlier, in December 2021! A red line for Russia that Putin has always conveyed to Biden! It even promised not to install offensive missiles. And online, Ray McGovern is the only one I hear to address this point well! Like the US did not tolerate Cuba in 62! The civil war in Donbass is what gives legal cover to Russia’s intervention, after triggering art.51 of the UN Charter! As Kosovo! Say what US propaganda says! So Russia in Ukraine is not only looking to solve the problems of ethnic Russians but looking for a new European security architecture to ensure Russia’s security, as per Russia’s proposals in December 2021, following the deployment of the missiles in PL.
And after realizing the real reason and timing of Russia’s intervention, why did the US also decide to provoke this war in 2022? No doubt to destabilize Russia and overthrow Putin. Because regardless of the US dreaming of slicing up Russia for over 100 years, after the orange revolution in 2004 in the UA and the rose in Georgia, the US had positioned the NATO enlargement line on the old Intermarium line, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with Ukraine as a buffer zone. IMO, the opening of Nord Stream II, without a doubt! Where the US senses the loss of control of Europe to the power of influence of Russia and China! As George Friedman says at every Summit.
George Friedman, “Europe: Destined for Conflict?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLu_yyz3tc&t=563s
The only power the US has ever seen capable of dethroning US hegemony is the alliance of Russian resources and German technology. Like the British Empire in 1914! At least before the emerging power of China. That the US is also trying to defeat in Eurasia through its ally and great regional pivot – Russia! And besides the AFU never being able to reach the Russian border after the coup, the real existential threat to Russia is the NATO missiles! And not the AFU. Its NATO that Russia also wants to expel from Ukraine! And the US, after disconnecting Germany from Russian gas, continues to try to destabilize Russia in the Ukrainian theater of operations. With sanctions and a military defeat. Goal very far from being able to achieve until today! Where they are closer to destroying Ukraine, the EU they took over after the 2008 crash and NATO. And the US Dollar as the global reserve currency. In short, the hegemony of the plutocracy! Bleeding on the battlefields of Ukraine. A proxy and collateral damage for the US oligarchs . Who don’t give a shit to the UA and the Ukrainians.
Although many people continue to believe in the propaganda, the war just doesn’t stop because the US is still not prepared to accept defeat. Because Washington has known for a long time that in addition to the destruction of the Nord Streams, it will not be able to achieve any other objective in the war it provoked. Sanctions have not worked and are also failing to cause the Russian casualties that could destabilize Moscow. It remains to be seen whether by prolonging the war they are not suffocating the European economy in such a way that they tear the EU and NATO apart! Because the riots are not going to be confined to France. Greed is many times a karma and a bitch!
There are any number of poisons that could account for the craziness shown by the USA. Then there is the pervasive virtual reality so many are gobbling up.
What will allow them to pull a bunny out of the hat? Nukes, more biological and chemical?
Is the need to dominate so pivotal that suicide is our best option as a country.
I grew up near Youngstown, Ohio. The Mahoning valley churned out steel in great volumes. There was a highway bridge where you could look and see nothing but blast furnaces horizon to horizon. When the wind was right, most days you could barely see the road for smoke. Cut up, sold for scrap. All that’s left is concrete slabs.
From where I sit we have already been sold out. There are a lot of lies on our media, but the absolute biggest, are about how patriotic the two parties are. I do like Bob but something tells me it’s a day late and dollar short.
Mike Tyson: ‘Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face’!
Here’s how NATO will likely end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBu3JBLWsXE
The talking nations animation seems to show that the junior officers of the USA have completely erased Afghanistan from their minds. The full force of NATO, the combined military might of North America and Europe, fought for 20 years against 10,000s of amateur, lightly armed Afghans……and lost.
History shows that there are 2 places on the planet that always beat invaders, no matter how large and unbeatable they are. One is Afghanistan, the other is Russia.
We lost against Afghanistan, are losing against Russia, and the other opponent we seem determined to lose against is Mother Nature.
Hubris is hugely risky.
Those junior officers think that they have won in Afghanistan, and that it was a political decision to run away. Same goes for Vietnam, and all the other “recent” wars. Believing that nonsense, is what made them wish to become junior officers in the first place. No one wants to join an army that can’t win a war.
I thought due diligence was CIA credo?
Look at , by same author :
Yevgeny Prigozhin for president? If an ailing Putin decides to retire, Wagner Group boss may hope to ride victory in Bakhmut to the Kremlin’s top job in 2024
at asia times , a nato outlet.
Simplicus
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-7623-zelensky-builds-one-last
Scott Ritter
https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/07/scott-ritter-nato-is-in-disarray/
Macgregor/Napolitano
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Cuu1SCGrVlr6/
Monkey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzbO8NGAdUo
Military Summary Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMo8-b9wRRc
Pravda
https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/157033-lviv_strike/
The Hill
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4084695-us-set-to-send-cluster-bombs-to-ukraine-in-latest-military-package-report/
Thanks for the compilation.
The theory of the free press is not that the truth will be presented completely or perfectly in any one instance, but that the truth will emerge from free discussion
e. e. cummings
Oh no! Not unsupervised Canadians! Anything but that!
Don’t underestimate Canadians. Their Ukronazis can terrorize populations among the best of them.
The US manufacturers weapons and munitions to sell. Russia manufacturers weapons and munitions to wage war. There is a massive difference.
The US is nothing but one big crime scene and as one country after another while they still can are joining or requesting to join BRICS.
Boycott NATO. Shut it down. It is run by gangsters.
US and UK, are extreme irresponsible nations, going from depleted uranium
shells to cluster bombs, its like a sandbox they living in. They are not Euro-pean powers, since Brexit, but ordinary people must take this escalation very serious, and no one in Europe can sleep well after this Pentagon show, what the US doesn´t understand. We must cut the relations with those two wardogs , I think most people understand. No more B52s and B-1B´s over our heads, even the week before the election 2022, talking about influencing operations, and fearmongering, to scare people, we have no use for such rude behaviour from Pentagon.
Sweden maybe can be a springboard for a Nato-attack, from the Gotland Island, Swedens own Taiwan, they are very nervous in Sweden’s collaborating staffs for what they had permitted to happen, with or without Nato member-ship. Sweden has no insurance, at all, the most terrible bunglers you can find,
in the defense and political leadership, they are insufficient, playing with peoples lives. The Russians can take out Sweden and Scandinavia,Finland, for all time, as the most close and dangerous neighbors, with a low popu-lation density, 10-15 millons.
I’m always amused at how some commentators don’t want to accept that the US doesn’t have superiority over Russia in any domain. One has to wonder what Mr. Bryen means by US and NATO allies have superior air power?!? The US and NATO cannot put any aircraft or drone or missile in the air without Russia being able to detect it and take it out with its multi-layered air defences. Or maybe he deludes himself into thinking that the F-35 is really a top fifth generation stealth fighter jet that cannot be seen by radar. Even NATO allies can attest to the falsity of that statement. Or maybe he believes that the F-22 is able to overcome the far superior electronic warfare capabilities of Russia and that the F-22 helmets that pilots wear with all the VR capabilities in a F-22 are going to work impeccably irrespective of all the electronic warfare. It is just laughable.
Well who could have foreseen that ceding the Empires foreign policy to a Bronze Age Death Cult would end badly?
Something is being addressed here that goes to the heart of the problems of all humanity. Will Russia and China be satisfied with a division of the world and an eternal strife, or will they want to end it forever. Of course, I do not know the truth.
“I want to issue a personal note here. Even though the events are catastrophic, they never should have happened in the first place, I am now excited to see what happens, but definitely not in a positive way. I hate this war, which is a Russian civil war. I/we Serbs went through this already.
But everything I have been analyzing is now in place or will be in place by August. In theory the war could be ended then. Yes, Russia could decide to wait another year. But the potential to bring the war to an end will be in place. Don’t get me wrong. The start of an offensive in August would not mean that the war would end in August. That is obviously BS. But it would mean that the process of ending Ukraine would start and could be concluded within a reasonable time.
To be honest, I hope that this will happen now. I want to see this war ended. I truly do not enjoy it and I hope it will quickly end. Moreover, the events distract me from writing about economics and geopolitics which I like the most.
IF Russia decides for geopolitical reasons to continue the war for another year then I will not appreciate that. To put it mildly. Everything is in place to end it and that should be used. Nevertheless, I will ALSO state that I DO UNDERTSAND IT if Russia would continue it. Since it would be for a higher good. For example, freeing the world from the Western empire and colonialization. Here you have the rational Aleks, who understands it and the human Aleks (Which I AM) who wants this shit to be over ASAP because I know the suffering, and it needs to end.
That of course is short-sighted because if the Western hegemony survives in any way, that would mean further decades of suffering and dying for millions of people in imperial wars and “divide and conquer” staged “civil wars” in countries all around the globe.
Hence, if Russia decides to continue the war I will most likely stop writing about it and pivot to what I initially wanted to do. Writing about “Economics and Empires”. That is why I started Black Mountain Analysis. And not to write about or to analyze war.”
Source:
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/war-analysis-i
For Anorak’s like me. Vilnius is where it all started. Yanukovich was supposed to sign an association (trade) agreement with the EU there. He didn’t do it because he signed an agreement with Russia that was better than EU neoliberalisation. Russia prior to that asked forn a seat at the table because they had a trade agreement and their argument was that the two trade agreements would result in uncontrolled EU export into Russia. That’s when the hybrid war went into full gear and all of this horror became inevitable… In 2013.
Its what always happens with the last frontier of a Union or a Federation. Which is usually resolved with commercial agreements. There are many countries that are not members of the EU with agreements identical to member states. This was not the case with Russia, which did what it had to do and defended itself. This entailed costs for Ukraine that made any agreement with the EU impossible. In addition to the Russian aid plan that Gideon talks about, 1 million times more advantageous for Ukraine. The IMF never helped any country! The IMF locks countries into debt! And we have to think that at the time Ukraine was totally bankrupt. Yanukovitch had no choice but to turn to Russia. In terms of energy alone, it saved a year what the EU didn’t give in a decade. But I don’t know if the Ukrainian people understood it or not, but it doesn’t matter either. The US has organized color revolutions and coups for 50 years and opened 3 televisions in Kiev in one week to wash the minds of Ukrainians. And at the end of the day you never know how many supported Euromaidan. They film a crowded square with a few hundred people that look like millions! What is certain is that the polls in the Kiev Independent always said that the majority of Ukrainians never supported Euromaidan. But the world does not know this! The world only listens to US propaganda! Or rather, heard in the past. The world has already changed!
10.000++ recorded losses of fixed wing and rotor craft during vietnam war ..
10.000++
let that number sink in , vietnam whose AD is not sophisticated as chinese or russia managed to down that many US aircraft..
and there still many american who still think US won air war over vietnam
delusional
Vietnam had Soviet SAM6 AD, it was quiet a good system.
A great movie about taking out SAM6s in Vietnam would be “Flight of the Intruder.” A factual sketch of the first air strike into downtown Hanoi. Check it out.
US forces who won desertt storm against third rate weak iraqi army was the last remnant of cold war force (now gone).
today US are not able to field such force and they are fielding ‘light’ force augmented with heavy armor as seen in their 2nd iraqi invasion against disorganized iraqi resistance.
those ppl still arrogantly believed in superiority of US military against Russian military have been fed endless propaganda from tom clancy level techno thriller nonsense. they are the same people who ridicule russian effort during chechen war.
Being the US’ puppet, Sadam fought an 8 year proxy war with Iran, using Western chemical weapons on the Iranians. His arms and equipment was obsolete and depleated, also Iraq had a cash flow problem. Income the faggy Kuwaities with their slanted drilling across their border into Iraq’s oil wells with US equipment. Sadam complained to the US Ambassador at the time and never thought the US would betray him after he fought an 8 year proxy war. So, he marched on the Kuwaities princes with their gold plated bathroom faucets.
What wascleft of Sadam’s army was no match for a US muscle flex after the demise of the Soviets. There was nothing to compare the US tech to.
As for Ukraine, the Russians are perfecting a new form of very sofistocated Warefare. Where every soldier, drone, fw or rotary aircraft is a data point with a two way com. Feedback loops are the foundation for AI in the battle field.
Cheng-Wei Chin is on Twitter. And came up with a chart that is a lot more important than anything you think you know. Get ready for geeky here. You can wave your Nazi flags you can jump up and down about whatever you still fucking believe in. But the world runs on money. And this ties in with Ukraine, the China war and everything else.
There is a metric called the 10 year and 3 month index. It is what interest rates are for short term and long term money. You get paid more for long term. Because long term. Who the fuck knows what will happen in 10 years? When that inverts? For the last 40 years the stock market always collapses. In a time frame of 3 months to 31 months. And you are 8 months in. The 31 months was the Great Financial crisis in 2006. Most are a lot shorter.
The train wreck is coming. And the war will change.
Telling “truth to power” used to be the job of the Court Jester, or sometimes referred to as court clown.
Surely we have some clowns in the state department.
As yet the F-35s are unproven in serious combat, and particularly against other more potent powers like Russia and China. They are frequently grounded given they are sensitive hybrids that need lots of servicing. They are slow in speed and fuel guzzlers with lower range than previous US made fighters. There are still problems even with the new computer programs designed to replace the former software that drives them. They are not fully stealth. Currently they are dependent on rare earth alloys for key parts that can only be sourced from China – even the Pentagon had to allow a security clearance for this. Now with China’s lockdown on supplying rare earths to the US, they may even be further affected. They are also potential candidates for being hacked by enemy forces which will be part of any new hybrid war. A lot of faith in these fighters is pure hubris and denial, even the US airforce has said they are not happy with them.
They lack range
first come the cluster bombs and the F16, after that boots on the ground: Russia is waiting for the NATO invasion.
If I was Russia, I would have my sources nudge the west into launching the coup.
Crimea was on lease and Russia cannot afford a situation of a normal, sovereign Ukraine not extending that lease.
Same goes to the nordstream pipes. Cannot afford to let the Germans have cheap gas anymore.
Dmitry Orlov made a post with an idea of just evacuating all Russians from Donbas. Maybe Russia didn’t really care about other parts of Ukraine since it has enough land.
The question nobody asks: Kaliningrad. IMO either gain a land corridor or give it up. Maybe the banderas of ukraine can have it.
Dmitry Orlow destroyed his substantial reputation with his suggestion that Russia should just retreat from the Donbass and take all the people with them. Russians savaged Orlow for many months, but Orlow persisted in promoting that stupidity, before I happened to learn about Orlow’s proposal and firestorm of criticism against him. The most obvious rebuttal to that retreat proposal is that the West would simply move the goal posts hundreds of kilometers to the East, as the West has been doing since 1991. The hard reality of Western intransigence is even more obvious since the SMO began, that it was back when Dmitry Orlow first proposed it. The second rebuttal is that it would have been a betrayal of the people of the Donbass, and it would have left the Nazis in possession of even more valuable land, mines and factories.
I read two of Orlow’s books, and thought they were pretty good. Now I wish I hadn’t, because he may have slipped some Kool-Aid into my understanding. I would have to go back and re-read those books to find any toxins – and frankly I don’t have the time.
Perhaps the most important (and least likely) questions that NATO Summit attendees should ask themselves are: 1)“What would happen if we all made a decision and commitment to begin to phase out and end NATO? 2) What would be the likely result?” Realistic scenarios within the realm of possibility: A permanent peace ; lower national military costs; much needed free trade between Russia and the rest of Europe; more robust national economies; an end to the otherwise inevitable slaughter of the Ukrainian people and their country.
The world has changed. Russia is no longer a communist country. So what is the purpose of NATO?
Garbage video post. Not even “humorous “ unless you’re under 8 years old.
Garbage “re-post” of “Steve’s”.
Lazy analysis, if even that.
Enjoy your 5 minutes of fame of late, as your posts are dated material, wash, rinse and repeats of others or old news, adding no value .
It’s a shame, you started off decent, with insight.
So sorry to see you go. You’ll be missed. Don’t let the door smack your butt on the way out.
So you have to wonder if the people of Donetsk stated the war that seem to be breaking out in the EU. The EU doesn’t seem to like their hand pick US government leaders .
Starting to look like South American in the EU. So those US troops station in the EU are not there to protect EU citizens from foreign anything, just make sure the EU does what the US said to do.
Yeah , that is what is happening, a bunch of of Donetsk unhappy, over and over again.
Never should have done the Ukraine overthrown as that cause the EU to see WTF is really going on here. The People of the EU know who the enemy is. This is why Russia went slow on its Ukrainian invasion. It gives time for reality to sink in for people of the EU.
Who is your handler, and why is he a full out lie?
Nowhere in Stephen Bryen article above did he ask, why would Russia attack the Baltic states?
Your new friend Bryers thinks elliot abrams is a nice guy. Abrams has the blood of countless victims on his hands and us utterly evil. Buyers is neocon trash.
My expectation is that the hardline warmongers will prevail over the realists. The arm twisting in Vilnius will be epic. Lots of people will return home wearing slings.
NATO won’t split. There’s too much grift at stake.
What WILL happen is NATO will realize (or just “leak”) they’re out of weapons to send to Ukraine, and they’ll lay the blame on Zalensky, pushing him out by “discovering” the rampant corruption that has been going on in Ukraine for decades.
They’ll let a new Ukrainian govt make peace “for the sake of the children”.
Then the NATO leaders will retire to their clubs, check the balances in their Swiss accounts, and declare victory.
Nothing will change.