Over the last week Ukrainian officials have been insisting that the long-promised counter offensive is delayed until the West can pony up more tanks, ammunition, artillery and other weapons. But, there has been a noticeable uptick in Ukrainian attacks on Russian positions. These assaults apparently were carried out as a symbolic gesture to appease Western demands that Ukraine do something to the Russians.
You can tell that the Ukrainian attacks have been a bust by the very subdued reporting of the activity in the Western press. John Helmer of Dances With Bears provides a grim summary of the effort:
On May 12, in the first day of their scheme, 1,725 Ukrainian men were killed on the Donbass front. This is the worst day’s military casualty rate since the US coup in Kiev launched the war in February 2014.
According to the Financial Times, this killing didn’t happen. Instead, the headline reads: “Ukrainian counter-offensive takes shape with the first gains around Bakhmut.” The Washington Post announced likewise: “How Ukrainian forces denied Russia victory in Bakhmut by Victory Day”. The New York Times repeated: “Ukraine’s Advances Near Bakhmut Expose Rifts in Russian Forces”. According to this propaganda, these successes were bloodless on the Ukrainian side.
A NATO forces veteran observes: “An entire regiment has been destroyed. This is cynical trading in flesh.
In fact, what happened on the battlefield was dozens of Ukrainian troop movements in different directions along a front of more than ninety kilometres.
According to the NATO veteran, “this is more propaganda offensive than real offensive. They scraped together enough gear, ammunition and manpower to make a barely audible tactical bang. It’s a punch with nothing behind it. Those guys are already dead. This isn’t even wishful thinking. It’s cynical trading in flesh.”
Helmer’s report coincides with recent postings on Ukrainian Telegram channels of row after row of fresh graves in three Ukrainian cities — Khmelnytskyi, Cherkassy and Transcarpathia. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these video clips are worth a library of books.
At some point, Ukraine is going to run out of men to bury. Russia, if you have been paying attention, has been lashing military and logistic targets throughout Ukraine with an unrelenting barrage of missiles and bombs for the past ten days and shows no sign of easing off.
In tandem with Russia’s shellacking of the Ukrainian military, the ham handed CIA allegedly put out a recruiting video worthy of Monty Python. Only one problem. The CIA apparently is dead-ass serious about trying to convince some sad Russians to abandon the clean subways of Moscow for the shit-covered streets of San Francisco. I can’t wait for a translation with English subtitles (it is possible that this is just a great piece of Russian disinformation; we’ll see):
Here is the translation courtesy of XRVISION:
This is the …life I dreamed of.…. The path that I have chosen for
myself.….. Why is the life of some people more valuable than the lives of others? ….. And who decides? ….. To be a hero is to endure. ….. But to endure this …., after all, does not mean to endure in vain. …. The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping. …. Make sure he never finds out he’s in jail. …. Lies easily sway us. But we know what our reality is, the reality in which we live, and the reality that we talk about in a whisper. …. I don’t believe in revolution. …. True life takes place where imperceptible changes are made in the souls of people. …. Invisible to my country, but not to me. …. I will live the true life. ….This is my Russia, this will always be my Russia; I will stand, my family will stand, and We will live with dignity, thanks to my actions.
What foreigner with an ounce of brain power would want to put his or her life in the hands of morons who made this appeal to sign up with the CIA? I can tell you the answer — ZERO. So can Mark Baum (a character from the movie, The Big Short):
Got to give the Russian intelligence crew some props. They volleyed right back with a troll to beat all trolls. It is hysterical:
If you needed proof that the modern CIA is a clown show more prepared to do a drag queen strip show than provide solid analysis on Russian or Chinese intentions, just watch that “recruitment” video above. Unbelievable!
Oh gosh… I’m embarrassed on behalf of the CIA and Americans… How desperate the current CIA must be to have done this? And this is the best they can do? Facepalm.
You think that’s bad? That ain’t the half of it. If you have the stomach, watch the US vs Chinese military. Fair Warning; you may not recover from viewing in total without a lifelong affliction.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/uhMsDgFmovO8/
A video compared the USSA military with the Russian military some years ago.
It was disgustingly Brilliant.
“They” buried it without a trace. Could any wizards out there resurrect the said video?
How about this one? https://www.bitchute.com/video/6qmX5zZlJVk/
Shatter stereotypes – or the enemy? Or brainwash own population and let the others do the dying?
I must admit that I once was another man. But what the US Government and oligarchy is up to is leading all of us into the abyss. So now the Love parade is over. Time to position yourself.
It is to weep. Any patriotic American must be ashamed of our military.
Facts On The Global Scale PART II
The killing is horrendous. An estimated 300,000 dead and horrifically injured Ukrainian men and often young men. Row after row after row of dead Ukrainian soldiers. The lunatics and psychopaths of CIA are so desperate they are now foolishly attempting to recruit average Russians to rat out what’s going on inside Russia. It is so cynical that Ukraine’s media “Ukrainian counteroffensive” is nothing more than copy edit advertising for US and UK weapons manufacturers. Once the weapons and munitions hit Ukraine there is NO accountability. Honestly, what kind of out of control incompetent morons are running the CIA? Russia is in full industrial military production and that is not an exaggeration.
Those corporations of arms manufacturers and banks “too big to fail” owned by BLACKROCK, STATE STREET and VANGUARD which are in the orbit of the two families care not about some obscure UN charters or “rules based international order.” All the wars that happened in the last 20 years were based on the false pretext of R2P aka “responsibility to protect.” Remember Bush’s Jr. weapons of mass destruction in Sadam’s backyard? ‘Sorry, those weapons weren’t there.’ And the whole audience clapped with tears
When this hype failed as same as the global cooling agenda in the seventies, hence we have now global warming, the two families smoked some crack and imagined new thing – “rules based order”.
You all know the names of these two evil families. Philanthropists, art patrons, universities’ funders, grants’ funders, and the best friends of our pupils – Open Society Foundation comes to mind, heh? Free textbooks for all and worms and bugs instead of steaks under the watchful eye of World Economic Forum – GO GREEN!
Did you know that Bill Gates is the biggest owner of farmland in the US of A? He believes in you, the people, that you would prefer worms as main dish and garnish with bugs. His family are amongst those which associate themselves with the American and British oligarchy. To mention their names is taboo unless one crave for to be baptized “conspiracy theorist.”
Did you know that our dear Gates in 2010 gave a speech at TED Talks. Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today and other fleas quickly came to help and “debunked” Bill’s thoughts – he didn’t say we should depopulate Earth 10 to 15 percent. Unless… he did.
Did you notice we haven’t had the term “debunked” in public discourse till the Great Pandemic divided us all?
Did you know that CIA penned the term “conspiracy theory” after the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Why? Well, the lousy Warren Commission were too lousy – that’s why! People didn’t believe snow is black
Compilation of Gates’ perks for “majority”:
https://youtu.be/oFom_GvPKeI
Gates’ full speech at TED, 2010:
https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero
In the last five years or so we’ve had a bunch of new platforms emerge: Rumble, Truth Social, Telegram, Substack to name a few. Ask Yourselves, why? And Elon’s move to appoint that innocent angel from NBC who’s deep deep in WEF’s ideological pockets to guide Twitter’s CEO chair… Time will show if Orwell keeps rolling in his grave
“Rules based international order” means more local conflicts, more global wars and “greener” tomorrows with electricity and gas bills through the roof
US of A might default soon. Let’s wait till June 1st AND – in case Ukraine loses—> let’s wait till 9/11, 2024:
the Central Bank Digital Currency is in the works
The whole CIA should be walled off and renamed Langley Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Somebody somewhere has AV on Billy. A creep like him has lots of weird inclinations.
Can Larry post this. It needs a bigger audience. It perfectly demonstrates the Absolute terminal decline of the United States military. Absolutely frightening.
As an American, I think it’s great. Whatever it takes to undermine citizens’ trust of, faith in, and respect for their government. The federal government should be cut by at least 90%.
Trump was initiating a project to downsize and reduce the number of Federal Agencies if I recall correctly. Obviously a threat to the government gravy train. Can’t recall what it was called.
Reminds me of a quote a few years ago from Grover Norquist, of the National Taxpayers Union: “My goal is to cut government in half in 25 years, to get it down to
the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
90% sounds even better.
Worked well for Somalia and Libya, should work well for the USA.
The drowning in the bathtub sounds good
It did work well in Somalia actually. Somalia with no government was way more peaceful. Inflation was low, products available for purchase at reasonable prices.
Tom Woods thoroughly documented this.
Were our great, heroic Founding Fathers and the fighting Patriots of the Revolutionary War to come back from their graves, they would say that same thing, though the percentage figure would probably be more like 97 or more. (Larry, thank you so much for your accurate and insightful analysis, reporting and writing.)
Where are the Nazis symbols.
What Larry posted, is very interesting, what the CIA composed as a plea to potential future Russian intelligence agents, is a description of the US population, and the psychological effects of it on us all, as we live under this wall to wall surveillance we all in this country are being dubjected to to keep the vast majority complacent.
It is simply wild to see, they are revealing everything right there in that quoted translation. And why would the CIA do this?
Is this V-clip a recall of its agents whi operate in Russia?
I think they use many platforms and other venues across the media and interwebs, to send mass communications disguised as things exactly like this V-clip, it explains why it is so idiotic seeming, its a perfect play, and a control, notice how we all see it as an inept attempt to recruit spies, when what it is is a message for everyone to contact operations so they can get out if Russia befire its too late.
I mean, that is how it strikes me in no uncertain terms. Read it again in this light, see if it hits you as such.
Here is the translation courtesy of XRVISION:
This is the …life I dreamed of.…. The path that I have chosen for
myself.….. Why is the life of some people more valuable than the lives of others? ….. And who decides? ….. To be a hero is to endure. ….. But to endure this …., after all, does not mean to endure in vain. …. The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping. …. Make sure he never finds out he’s in jail. …. Lies easily sway us. But we know what our reality is, the reality in which we live, and the reality that we talk about in a whisper. …. I don’t believe in revolution. …. True life takes place where imperceptible changes are made in the souls of people. …. Invisible to my country, but not to me. …. I will live the true life. ….This is my Russia, this will always be my Russia; I will stand, my family will stand, and We will live with dignity, thanks to my actions.
*
Another thing must be said cause its critical it be exposed and everyone knows about it, cause its exposure destroys what it is. From the cadre of coast to coast gangstalkers and their glowie command and control, from gangstalkers setting up on every corner of every neighborhood, a dedicated surveillance house, from brainwashing our children in school to running 911, from gangstalker vehicle coverage to rigged elections, from setting up people and ruining their lives in order to shut them up, to covering for the Biden organized crime family, you can imagine it requires a vast army almost of actors to execute run and manage this Stazi birth to death surveillance state we live under. That once you see it you can not unsee it and even thiugh my unlying eyes and my mind grok it, it is almost incomprehensible to my mind, i have to pinch myself to see if i am not flashing or dreaming or something.
I mean really, why, why this idiotic recruitment video short? It seems like squids created it. But created it is and posted across the controlled media it has been, it is a damn call back for operatives. Come home it is over. Come back to America. The video is an all hands on deck callout.
Occams Razor.
Ye Olde Greate Springe Counteroffensive is going to happen at some point, no matter how suicidal, no matter how doomed. Nazis, historically, do not learn from their mistakes and double down on failure. The longer they postpone their counteroffensive, the stronger Russian fortifications get, and the stronger Russian fortifications get, the more the nazis have to postpone their counteroffensive to build up forces to overcome those fortifications. At this point the choice becomes simple: either persist with a suicidal attack or cancel the whole thing.
This is not new. In 1943, the German offensive (Fall Zitadelle) on the Kursk Bulge was something even Hitler had no enthusiasm for*; it was his generals who insisted on it, using their new Tiger 1 tanks and Elefant tank destroyers. But by the time enough Tigers and Elefants had been manufactured the Soviet defences had strengthened so much more that even more German forces had to be built up, postponing the offensive more, and so on. In the end, as Alan Clark wrote in Barbarossa,
[*Clark quotes an exchange between Hitler and one of his staff:
It seems to me from reading people like Simplicius76 as well as reports from Telegram channels that the Russians actually want this nazi offensive to happen, to destroy vast amounts of Ukranazistani equipment and manpower, which would allow freedom for a Russian offensive to develop. So the logical Ukranazistani move should be to not attack at all, and even cease their incredibly costly small scale attacks. What they should do is dig in and sit tight and try to minimise their losses, dragging on the war for as long as possible, until Russia either has to try to smash through these dug in defences, accept the status quo, or give up and withdraw. But that’s the logical thing, and Ukranazistan can’t act logically because it’s the property of its Western masters. And they’re getting increasingly impatient for return on investment. For a mindset that doesn’t and can’t look beyond the quarterly balance sheet, that’s the only thing that they can do.
“Russians actually want this nazi offensive to happen, to destroy vast amounts of Ukranazistani equipment and manpower, which would allow freedom for a Russian offensive to develop. ”
Agreed. As I have noted in other comments, this is exactly what the Soviet trained Iraqis repeatedly did to the US trained Iranians in the Iran-Iraq War in the 80’s.
When the UAF launches its offensive expect:
1. Token resistance from the forward line of defense, followed by withdrawal in good order to the second line.
2. Stiffer resistance from the second line, followed by withdrawal in good order to the third line.
3. As the UAF advances into the salient, they enter a pre-planned and targeted kill zone,
4. 2 or 3 weeks of slaughter, 10’s of thousands of Ukrainian dead.
5. After the Ukrainian offensive is shattered, there may be an opportunity for a Russian breakthrough that could unhinge Ukraine’s entire defensive line in the Donbas.
Awful Avalanche posted an article about the Russian preparations for the counteroffensive where he says the main Russian defence line is 60 km behind the front.
https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2023/05/15/ukraine-war-day-446-what-will-the-ukrainian-counter-offensive-look-like/
He says the Russians expect the Ukranazi offensive to breakn through to a distance of 5-10 kilometres and then get stuck and annihilated by Russian artillery and aviation.
Itexpat,
You might find this interesting: If you can get past Balck’s anti-Russian / pro-Western sentiments, it explains Prigozhin luring them in with all the talk about the weak flanks, the initial Ukrainian penetrations , the high casualties Ukraine experienced and the deaths of the two colonels as the confusing melee ensues and command and control becomes difficult. It gives a good “primary source” account of fighting in Russia with small numbers of men compared to the vastness of the territory:
Generals Balck and Von Mellenthin on Tactics: Implications for NATO military Doctrine
CHIR RIVER, 1943: The Corps comprised two divisions at this time: 336th Infantry Division and the newly-arriving 11th Panzer Division from O.K.H. reserve. Both were in reasonably good shape, and commanded by men who understood the task in front of them, and who worked well together. 11th Panzer’s commander. General Balck was one of the finest panzer commanders of the war; resourceful, bold, an intuitive master of panzer tactics. He was fortunate at this juncture to find in General Lucht an infantry commander who understood well the principles of mobile defense. The infantry would guard the ‘front-door’, and if occasionally forced to admit an intruder, would endeavor to shut the door behind him. Inside the house 11th Panzer would play the ‘avenger’ role, seeking out the intruder and destroying or ejecting him.
https://indianstrategicknowledgeonline.com/web/GENRAL%20BLACK%20AND%20VON%20MELLINTHIN%20TACICS%20IMPLICATIONS%20FOR%20NATO%20MILITARY%20DOCTRINE.pdf
If you can get through all of the maps and military jargon, it explains almost everything regarding defense in depth. IMHO
Interesting document but not directly applicable because it relates to a mobile active defense concept, while Ukraine must attack through extensive fortifications prepared in depth up to a reported 60km.
More relevant although probably somewhat outdated would be:
FM 100-2.1. The Soviet Army: Operations and Tactics, 16 July 1984
https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-2.pdf
In particular Chapter 6 DEFENSE, WITHDRAWAL,AND RELIEF:THE ROLE AND NATURE OF THE DEFENSE
“Security Echelon
The security echelon or zone is that portion of the
battlefield forward of the main defensive area. It is
occupied by a force whose mission is to delay and
deceive the enemy as to the location and deployment
of the main defensive forces. The security force
engages the enemy at the longest possible range and
attempts to cause him to deploy prematurely.
The security force’s size and composition depend on
those factors mentioned earlier. The zone may extend
to a depth of 30 kilometers at army level and 15
kilometers at division level. It is at least far enough
forward to prevent aimed direct fire from being placed
on the main defensive area.
The security force deploys on the best terrain to
effect maximum damage to the attacking enemy.
Obstacles and barriers are used extensively. When
faced with encirclement or decisive engagement, the
forces of the security zone attempt to withdraw under
cover of artillery fire and to return to the main defen-
sive area
Main Defensive Area
The main defensive area may appear as bands, belts,
or layers, but it is simply a defense in depth. The basic
element of the main defensive area is the company or
platoon strongpoint. This is established on terrain that
is key to the defense and must be retained at all costs.
The subunit occupying the strongpoint prepares an all-
round defense with alternate and supplementary firing
positions for all weapons. Fires are planned to be
mutually supporting as well as provide for fire sacks.
Vehicles are dug in, and a network of communication
trenches is constructed linking weapon positions with
supply, command and control, and fighting positions.
Everything that can be is dug in and given overhead
protection. Wire provides the primary means of com-
munication. Minefields, obstacles, and barriers are
emplaced and covered by fire. In addition, the Soviets
rely heavily on the use of maneuver by fire and fire
sacks to damage or destroy the enemy force
Fire Sacks
Maneuver by fire is the concentration of fires from
many guns from dispersed firing positions. Fire is
concentrated on an advancing enemy in a sudden and
devastating strike or series of strikes. Fire sacks are
formed based on key terrain, enemy avenues of
approach, defensive strongpoints, obstacles and
barriers, and preplanned fires. (The RUSSian term for
this defensive deployment translates to “fire sacks” and
is so used herein.) Fire sacks are similar to the US con-
cept of a kill zone. Obstacles and barriers are planned
along the edge of the fire sack to contain the enemy
force, and reserves are placed where they can counter-
attack into the “sack” after the fires are lifted to destroy
any remaining enemy.
Fires are planned to cover all approaches to the posi-
tion. Finally the entire position is camouflaged. This
may include the use of dummy positions to draw fire
and to deceive the enemy as to the true location of the
defenses.
Strongpoints are linked with other strongpoints
until a defensive area or belt is formed. This occurs at
every level, thus multiple belts are formed. Included in
and between these belts are headquarters, logistic
facilities, reserves, and combat support forces. Each of
these elements is responsible for its own security.”
Also:
The Russian Way of War
Force Structure, Tactics, and Modernization of the Russian Ground Forces
Dr. Lester W. Grau Charles K. Bartles
Foreign Military Studies Office
2016
https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/p/fmso-bookshelf
Page 100
“Commentary on Brigade in Defense
The motorized rifle brigade may defend with two or three motorized rifle battalions forward, depending on the situation. Its tank battalion may have platoons forward, but is usually located in the second echelon or reserve in the defense. When possible, the brigade creates a security zone. When it is not in direct contact with the enemy, this may be as deep as 40 kilometers with five or six fallback positions. As a minimum, the brigade will man a forward position 6-8 kilometers in front of the main defense. The reason for the security zone or forward position is to deceive the enemy as to the location of the main defenses, slow and disrupt the enemy approach and make the enemy disclose his force disposition and strength. If the security zone or forward position actions can cause the enemy to deploy early (especially his artillery), it is well worth the effort.”
Thanks for that!!! No doubt the East-West (Stepnohirs’k – Vuhledar) prepared line looks like – I was wondering about its configuration given the obstacles, fortifications, mine fields and large separation between the belts. Very informative, thanks for sharing !!!
Bzdury, Rosjanie są zbyt słabi na takie sztuczki
Ukraine does not command any forces! Ukraine is a proxy state where the US has dumped millions in weapons since 2014! They do what Washington tells them to do and that’s the end of it! We should take Lindsey Graham bitch’s statement more seriously that they are to fight to the last man! And what makes me even more disgusted is that even in Europe many they are more focused on the fall of Russia than on the wretched people of Ukraine! The psychopaths behind the old man in the White House are totally out of control. As much as the Nazi General Staff!
Might as well just cut to the chase and post videos of Ukrainians being blown out of cannons towards Russian troops.
This could be Lindsay Grahamcracker’s plan once they’ve run out of living AFU:
In 1422, during the siege of Karlstein Castle in Bohemia, Hussite attackers used catapults to throw dead bodies and 2000 carriage-loads of dung over the walls.
Go to bitchute.com, put ”Lindsey Graham and John McCain” in the search field.
You will find a video of those two U.S. Senators encouraging the Azov Battalion to make war on Russia. The video is from December 2016.
Quiz:
1) Why were they in Ukraine encouraging Ukrainian nazi-elements to make war? And why in December 2016?
2) Can you identify a third U.S. Senator in the video?
3) Can you identify a Ukrainian official in the video?
I remember seeing that. One of them said that 2016 will be the year of their victory. It’s top level black comedy. Most of them must be dead by now.
Some time before that, McCain went to Syria to encourage terrorists there too. Some jornalist asked him about possibility of Putin joining that war. He said that it won’t happen. I’m almost sory that he’s dead, and that he can’t visit some more countries and tell them that Putin won’t come there too.
I would but I’ve already had more than my fill of McCain and Murphy hobnobbing with Hitler saluting neonazis like Tyahnybok and Parubiy way back in 2014. One eyeball’s worth of that unholy alliance is enough to last a lifetime and tell all you ever needed to know about that UA-US bond forged in Satan’s workshop.
You can also see the two of them giving Libyan al Qaeda franchise leader Abdelhakim Belhadj an award in 2011.
Go to bitchute, enter ‘Lindsey Graham and John McCain’ into the search field.
Why were they in Ukraine in December 2016?
I answer some of these questions here. It ties into Larry’s articles on Prigozhin and maskirovka. Frankly, the Russians don’t want a quick end to the SMO, because the real war (WWIII) is a hybrid war — both economic and cultural– with the West. Rome was never conquered, it fell on its own sword.
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/prigozhin-and-war-theater
“… and Elefant tank destroyers …”
As a tank enthusiast, I have to add that they were called Ferdinand at that point in time (named after Ferdinand Porsche). They were renamed to Elefant later, after recieving some upgrades (machine gun, and some other stuff).
“It seems to me from reading people like Simplicius76 as well as reports from Telegram channels that the Russians actually want this nazi offensive to happen, …”
Absolutely! Many months ago (while retreating from Kherson), Surovikin even said that they are focusing on minimizing casualties and attrition warfare. He has been preparing for this offensive ever since. Russians have been shoveling all this time.
If the AFU don’t go on an offensive, they are holed up in Russian speaking cities embedded into the largely pro-Russian citizenry. A nightmare for Russian troops since the hardware is invariably put between large residential buildings.
Imagine if the Israeli’s attacked Gaza, but the majority of the folks living there were Jews, and the Hamas guys were firing from the basements, using Jewish citizens as a human shield?
Douglas MacGregor was correct when he said that this war will dismember NATO and the Euro-Atlantic alliance. Why? Because the US has the following choice now: 1) keep escalating and lose in an even more embarrassing way (more embarrassing than your Patriots getting busted up after playing them up for months) or 2) walk away and leave Europe’s leaders high and dry after they imposed 11 rounds of sanctions.
Choice 2) means that Europe’s leaders will have to blame USA for leading them all together with 404 down the garden path. This will mean the end of any alliances and NATO and will also bring questions such as Nordstream into much more light. Choice 1) – well, lose to those drunken incompetent Russians and what chance do you have against the Chinese?
He who has choices has the doldrums, as the old German proverb goes….
NATO dissolution can’t happen soon enough. Should’ve happened 30 years ago. What wasn’t done voluntarily is now being forcibly done thanks to the cumulative effects of greed, hubris, complacency, and corruption.
escalation is the only option that the collective west has, so escalation it will be: this is only going to end once NATO itself has bled itself out in ukraine. the ukraine conflict is going to end badly for all involved.
Larry, you referred to Transcarpathia as Transnistria early on. Had me scratching my head for few seconds.
“three Ukrainian cities — Khmelnytskyi, Cherkassy and Transnistria.”
That’s what it said on the source video. Thanks for the correction.
Ternopol, probably.
Notice the conventional, non-orthodox crosses in the Transcarpathian cemetery. That suggests to me that accusations that the AFU is purposely drawing from the ethnic Hungarian and Romanian populations are true.
Transcarpathia is Ukrainian ethnic Hungarians. President Orban is angry about the forced mobilization there.
Transnistria is ethnic Russians that break from Moldova.
Those “trans” people look all the same to Larry. 😉
Probably. I don’t have much trouble spotting them from a distance either.
That was a hilarious troll from the Russians, I needed a good guffaw, thank you. Hillary Slips Into a Meme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xZYw8GPvxo
Proof positive the KGB does comedy better than the CIA!
….and the strange thing about it is so many have orthodox crosses yet fought for a regime persecuting orthodox priests.
Not so strange, considering how well Western and Zionist-Bandera propaganda have done in Ukraine.
Zelensky presented the Pope with an icon depicting the Mother of God and emptiness instead of the baby Christ. Empty space under the Antichrist (satanic sign).
https://t.me/politwera/107615
Ukraine was preparing for a war with Russia, – said the head of the National Security and Defense Council Danilov.
https://t.me/andreyVajra/14822
This clown spoke very frankly and with pathos about how Zelensky’s regime was preparing Ukraine for war with Russia. How methodically they installed a totalitarian terrorist regime in the country, how methodically they taught children to kill in schools, how they cultivated hatred for Russians…
▪️While Zelensky was publicly frying kebabs, in Ukraine they were fiercely eradicating “the fifth column, Russian propaganda and the influence of Russian oligarchs.” By the beginning of 2022, Kiev realized that everything was ready.
▪️“As for preparation, I realized by January that we were ready (for war), when children in schools started a flash mob “Our Father Bandera, mother Ukraine, we will fight for our native land,” I realized that society is ready,” — Danilov said.
Who are they kidding? Their ‘native land’ is a rump Ukraine dead center of the Ukraine of 2013 and half its size. The rest are carpetbagger migrations into land gifts from the Tsar, Lenin, Stalin and Krushchev.
They had no choice. Most would have been conscripted against their will and put onto front lines. Any attempt to escape is blocked by extreme right-wing thugs that will execute deserters. In the end they have no choice but to fight for their lives.
A good perspective. Almost all who support the woke and do not speak out against who if in 1930’s Germany support the Nazis and not speak out against them. Brutal honesty about human nature. Also, those 1930’s Germans were much more religious than current day USA, especially in Blue states.
It’s planned extermination of Orthodox people, as usual.
I wish you’d have a word with your friend Seymour. He seems to be lapping up MSM Russia is doing terribly. I’m a paid subscriber in case you cant see it and from his piece today..
“This group is led by Poland, whose leadership no longer fears the Russian army because its performance in Ukraine has left the glow of its success at Stalingrad during the Second World War in tatters.”
One of the most respected journalists of all time saying this hurts his rep.
Stalingrad was all in for Russia. Like someone said recently, I think it was MacGregor (or Larry?), Russia’s been fighting in Ukraine with one hand tied behind its back.
Sy Hersh has lots of insider contacts and his big picture views are far ahead of most but still not as in depth as one would have hoped. For me, for the most part it’s excusable. Guy’s got a lot of guts for what he does. Besides, he’s a classic liberal at heart (as in some ways am I), so he’s taking on the not so classical home crowd, so to speak.
” Russia’s been fighting in Ukraine with one hand tied behind its back” – even with one hand tied, Russia is winning. Imagine what would happen if Vladimir Vladimirovitch unties the hands of the military.
I propose you are just seeing whats on the surface. And a course of action is to invert such statements as quoted. You then get “We are scared sh#tless of the Russian army”.
When Russia breaks out into maneuver warfare in ways that stun the world and ends up staring Poland in the face with the most bad ass military ever seen, well let’s just say that might be awkward.
Risk assessments have been done. Better to loose the attitude earlier than later. What Poland now knows way deep down inside is NATO is done.
Sy Hersh appears to be talking about the perception from the Polish leadership, not his own views.
He will be well aware that most of the fighting has taken place in Russian speaking regions where the UKronazis are embedded in the civilian population. Therefore unable to play to their strengths without mass civilian casualties.
Russia is also involved in a seismic economic war, which they appear to be winning in style.
There is nothing more dangerous than an expert talking out of his/or her field. Not because they don’t know, can’t know, or need to “stay in their lane”, but because they can make errors like Hersh… people assume, because he is authoritative on Mai Lai & Nordstream II, he also speaks with the same authority about everything else. This happens to the best of them… Jeffery Sachs initially appointing Peter Daszak to his committee investigating the origins of COVID 19 comes most recently to mind. It took Sachs months to realize his mistake. If you are a public figure, you really need to UP YOUR GAME when talking about things you don’t know for a fact or you have the potential to really mislead people. “With great power/influence comes great responsibility.” IMHO
Seymour Hersh is a journalism legend and most likely worthy of all the awards he has received but there is no one who is 100% impartial or independent on all matters. Sy Hersh was born before WW2 and lived through the entire cold war on America’s side. With military sources that no living journalist has! Sy Hersh even has Lithuanian and Polish blood, countries of emigrants who hate Russia! This is to say that we all drag our backgrounds and Sy Hersh will never be able to analyze Russia or any Russian leadership with 100% impartiality.
As for example McGregor, more connoisseur of the history of Eastern Europe. A soldier but also a more cultured academic who perfectly understood the transformation of Russia after the end of the USSR. And all the hate around Russia in Eastern Europe! In Western Europe there are also many people who understand that the US provoked this war with the coup in Ukraine and with the enlargement of NATO, but they think that Putin overreacted by entering Ukraine?! I don’t know if they think that Russia should continue to allow Kiev to bomb the Donbass and that NATO should continue to install missiles on the Russian border!
But this is all to say that Sy Hersh will never give Russia the benefit of the doubt either. And it’s even tied to Putin’s phrase that the collapse of the USSR was a major disaster, as US propaganda uses that phrase. To imply that Putin’s Russia has ambitions to restore the Russian Empire! A pure lie! That pollutes any analysis of Russia today! As is obvious, Russia entered Ukraine mainly to press for compliance with the Minsk agreements and in military terms it has conducted the operation to demilitarize Ukraine, exactly in line with Russian military doctrine and in Russian times. Which most US military personnel, many of them Sy Hersh sources, will never admit! And Sy Hersh continues to listen to those sources. But I stress again that overall as a journalist, he is very probably the best journalist alive. But when he looks at Russia or Putin he cannot erase his own anti-Russian past, almost 90 years old! IMO, of course.
The old plumbing pipe passed off as a Mach 10 Khinzal was the internet winner of the day. (honk!)
Some nations prepared for WAR with actual training/hardware and not rainbow flags, pronouns and stale obsolete nation wrecking ideologies from a 19th century German bum.
Meanwhile RF threatened to turn the lights and internet out on the rump vassal UK.
In Russia they play chess and in the land of the rainbow potato they play checkers.
Let’s enjoy what we can while we can.
“The CIA apparently is dead-ass serious about trying to convince some sad Russians to abandon the clean subways of Moscow for the shit-covered streets of San Francisco.”
ROTFL.. I’m dying here. USA certainly doesnt have quite the soft power we had in the 1980s that’s for damn sure. Go woke go broke.
America’s economic death knell started when unlike previous generations who stayed, the foreign university grads with useful degrees started leaving the US after graduation for greener pastures back home.
It worked for the lab guy that was spiking Olympic urine samples. Got a nice lab in California as payoff. Wonder if he’s still alive.
Please post a link if possible. Thanks.
Grigory Rodchenkov, another Bill Browder character.
Says he played switcheroo with doping samples, probably for cash under the table, then left the country before getting arrested and said “It’s the Russians! They made me do it and here’s how I did it.” Was quite a media star for a while. MSM ate it up for years.
Now he runs around in hats and disguises, says he’s on a hit list. (Not Ukraine’s myrotvorets hit list of course).
That was all after the 2014 Maidan coup, when the Russiagate BS was just warming up.
There were tons of rebuttals in the alt media refuting his allegations, revealing inconsistencies, time lines, forgeries, pergured testimony etc. etc. Went on for years.
Search on his name now and you won’t find a trace of the rebuttals in the search results, just the verdict. Sound familiar?
Any wonder this decade of western russia-baiting ended in a war?
Never bait a bear, you might not live long enough to regret it.
You forgot the used syringes thrown all over the place. The whole city is a giant toilete and it smells like piss unless it rains because nobody seems to clean the streets of USA’s most expensive city – at least I have not seen anyone clean it in 5 years I spent there.
My fondest memory of San Transcisco is seeing a black man taking a shit right in front of the front door of Twitter HQ one day at around noon. Unfortunately I did not have a camera on me
When you gotta go, you gotta go…… and it looks like it’s high time for San Fran to go. Bye Bye.
Good News Tomo.
https://www.sott.net/article/480335-San-Francisco-announces-plan-to-release-monkeys-onto-the-streets-to-fling-away-all-the-poo
Cemeteries????:
What strikes me as odd about the videos of the cemeteries is the resources that have been put into burying the dead. The lavish flower, flags, very tidy people walking about.
This NOT a scene from WWII or WWI on the eastern front – there it was mass graves – for the ones that could be collected.
Where are the resources ($$$) coming from to collect, transport, bury and scatter fresh flowers.
On so many levels, this is a very strange “war”.
Where are the resources ($$$) coming from to collect, transport, bury and scatter fresh flowers.
Washington almsgiving. They truly are a humanitarian blessing to the world.
They spend a lot more resources on the disinformation campaign to hide the number of KIAs and then the cemeteries look like the biggest promotion ever made on earth in some car dealership full of flags?! Schizophrenic regimes with ideologies invented in a hurry by sociopaths, like the Nazis and social nationalism and the Third Reich that would last a thousand years, have these inconsistencies! In fact, Ukraine has also announced that the greatest architectural work of the Kiev proxy regime is a copy of the Arlington Cemetery in Kiev! LMAO! Very modest!
Hitler and his Nazi buffoons, after overthrowing the Weimar Republic and setting fire to the Reichstag, immediately began to think in the great capital of the new world, Germania, with a chancellery bigger than Versailles! Which most likely with the swampy terrain of Berlin today was a mega underground city of rats. Because there are megalomanias and megalomaniacs and Bandera was very violent but he was a sorcerer’s apprentice in terms of delusions compared to Adolf! Who ended up incinerated in the back of the Bunker full of fear of the Red Army! The “great” architect Speer preferred to flee! And since he wasn’t sentenced to death as a “good German” at Nuremberg, he was already a television star when he died. Because there’s nothing Germans love more than a nazi who didn’t know anything. Just follow orders! The perfect alibi for all Germany! Hitler? Who was? Jews? Never heard of it!
James,
Indeed, so much land is taken up by the cemeteries. I think it would be better to cremate and the land can be put to good use. Too many people believe this fairy tale about people rising from the graves on judgement day. Funny fact- The Church used to believe in the reincarnation but decided to do away with it at the Council of Nicea in 350 AD. The Church historian even describes the caliber of the gathering, ” a bunch of illiterate know nothings, who understand nothing.” Apparently, the belief in reincarnation made people difficult to control and respect the king’s authority.
Here’s the Church trying to save souls in India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RrLlUUlLyk
In certain ways I find the muslims to be much more friendly.
The head of the Hadith Department in Al-Azhar University, Dr. Izzat Atiyya, who issued a controversial fatwa dealing with breastfeeding of adults. The fatwa stated that a woman who is required to work in private with a man not of her immediate family – a situation that is forbidden by Islamic law – can resolve the problem by breastfeeding the man, which, according to shari’a, turns him into a member of her immediate family.
Dr Izzat Atiya of Egypt’s al-Azhar University said it offered a way around segregation of the sexes at work.
For what it’s worth, Tom and Jerry have fatwas against them too.
The Russians could take Bakhmut a very long time ago, but they deliberately don’t because they know that the real Ukrainian Fascists/ Nazis will come to Bakhmut. That’s why they let them come so that they can eliminate as many of them as possible in Bakhmut.
The Russians do not want to harm the normal Ukrainians (relatives). The Nazis, however, are scattered all over Ukraine. If the Russians attacked them everywhere, there would be too much collateral damage. So, the Russians let them gather in Bakhmut and eliminate them gradually. If they were defeated quickly, the new Nazis would not come after them.
Every war is very complex. This is one of 100 filters to best achieve own goals.
That is a part of mockery and gathering of Ukrainian & NATO Nazis + material. Wagner group = big army + some Chechens (whole Chechnya = 1.2 million people).
See 2: 23 ff. High number of western soldiers in Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wur4YRSrwIk
Western (NATO) state propaganda/ media is turning too many Westerners into zombies.
But we write only because of the few who can understand something.
Best I can fathom, the neocons should be ecstatic over these cemeteries. The more Ukrainians that die, the greater and longer the rift between Ukraine and Russia, which has been a precious goal for neocons for decades. Divide and conquer.
They truly are bastards.
Half a million Ukrainians? I think it’s well worth it.
About a year ago I saw a video of a Ukranazi officer saying Ukranazistan should conscript people from every Russian speaking family and send them to the front to be killed so the Russian speakers (whom he characterised as pro Russian) would turn against Russia in vengeance. This seems to be the tactic now adopted by Elensky .
And what exactly would’ve prevented those russian speakers to surrender or turn on their officers? Ukronazis excel at harrasing and killing defenceless civillians, but stand no chance to armed, determined and motivated russian.
So even the ukries are not that dumb to arm russian speakers.
Their families are kept as hostages. If you shoot your officers, they will do nasty things to your kids. Also, those that try to surrender are shot in the back.
“So even the ukries are not that dumb to arm russian speakers.”
You need to watch more videos of Ukro soldiers, and pay attention to the language. Ukrainian is spoken in the western parts, where Banderites came from. In central parts they speak Surzhyk. Zelensky is Russian speaker too, and he is armed (according to an inteview he gave).
You’d think they might get so fed up that they’d frag their officers and defect but their officers are never on the front lines. They just drop them off with one solitary order ‘stand your ground’ and then skedaddle back to safety in a hurry, with half their artillery focused on their own trenches in case anyone decides to leave.
Anyway, they’ve been thoroughly brainwashed over at least a decade. Ever read one of their school textbooks? These aren’t brainiacs they drop into the trenches, after all. They’re kind of like 80% of our democrats and 60% of our republicans.
A rift between Ukraine and Russia?
No rift if one of the two ceases to exist as a viable state.
Ukraine will continue to exist in one form or another, I’m pretty convinced.
Could very well be that the EU eventually washes its hands of the whole mess that’s left after say 5-10 years of their wonderful ‘Ukraine experience’ undermining their own ‘garden’, financially, ideologically and demographically and tries to sucker Russia into taking it all. This Kiev junta is a pretty distasteful bunch by any human-decency standard after all. Direct throwback to the 1930-40’s
Stranger things have happened.
Divide and conquer, aka. Balkanization.
You can get a machine translation of the video by clicking on the gear symbol in lower right and then selecting ‘auto-translation’ and scrolling to the language you want and clicking on it. Doesn;t work for every vid, but does work for most of those that have CC enabled. Better than nothing. BTW, it’s ever worse in Catalan!
BTW – “You are not powerless. Contact us in a secure manner.” Серьёзно? Чертов дурак!
I think that the ‘recruit’ vid is a troll that some Sced C physcopath, possibly with initials VN or AB approved as ‘cutting edge – sure to be successful agit-prop that would never be suspected(!)’ that was made by a simillar sort that spent a few tens of millions to have a f-22 shoot down (only took two missles to hit it, btw) to destroy a junior highscool weather balloon that cost $8 a couple of months ago. Nothing to see here….move along…. It for sure, doesn’t expose the inane, stupidlity of the masters of the univert! Not one bit!
The’answer’ vid is better done and funny. Everyone knows that real svr agents never wear blue tracksuits!
‘Не будь таким дураком!’
Хорошо сказано!
It was 1965. A new television show brought out the cases of a mysterious intelligence agency called Control. They fought against Kaos.
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created the show and noticed a lot of strangers on the set checking out the gadgets. The 3 letter agencies were looking for ideas.
The name of the show tells it all. “Get Smart”
The shoe phone was the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eik96tIjAg
If those Brit agents in Moscow had used one of those instead of a hollow rock drop, they’d have never been caught.
All this killing will produce long term damage in both parties.
All this killing so a few very rich can become richer.
Every death must at least scar a father or a mother, a sister or a brother and son or a daughter.
They spent over 100 billion in a year killing people in Ukraine and it takes less to wipe global poverty for year.
Will Western civilization ever recover its global reputation,
So much misery for satan’s sake.
How right you are, as for the reputation, it has gone where it deserves. Sadly there are many westerners who roundly condemn their own governments over what they are doing to Ukraine, needless to say this has no impact on policy.
Thanks, I always make a sharp distinction between a people and their government.
Will Western civilization ever recover its global reputation
No, seeing how the global majority are reacting, that horse has left the barn.
The relevant question is how much of its hegemonic power will it be able to retain, forget about recover. The institutions it’s crafted over the years for that purpose are slowly being sidelined, one by one. What I think we’re seeing is the second dismantling of the Anglo-Saxon empire, the one it handed to the US after WWII, wrapped in new clothes, thinking no one would notice.
What concerns me even more is future isolation of the West.
If I abuse most of the people I know and sanction them from coming to my party, will people hold their own party? Will I expect to be invited? and if not, will I crash it? Then what?
Great article, Lary. Thank you.
The offensive on Bakhmut’s flanks smelled like shit from the start. Just BS to divert attention from Bakhmut’s fall rocked by the troll Prigozhin’s waves! Nobody will move the troops in Ukraine before June and Ukraine only has troops to be completely decimated! Only a level of corruption never seen before could sell its own people like that! Simply Disgusting! And about what the US is doing in Ukraine and Europe there are no words! I just hope that Europe wakes up in time! But doubtful. The majority of public opinion is completely blinded by the Russophobic disinformation campaign. At the same time, Sy Hersh says that it is Poland and the Baltics who can’t take it anymore and already want peace at any cost. We’ll see.
Iphones and smartphones were invented solely for that purpose: to dumb down the general population into absolute submission to Fascist government propaganda.
Smartphones in an engineering or medical environment are a wonderful toolboxes in one’s pocket.
Phones as everything else, is always corrupted and weaponized to serve lazy government officials.
Is China afraid of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Venezuela or any country in Africa? No and why? They make friends and not enemies. Why does the US have enemies and in turn a CIA and an NSA to name a few? I know because people around the globe envy our way of life. Yeah that’s it!
smartphones as currently used are a societal catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, in that the individual is completely and utterly distracted, permanently, from the most important thing in life: the here and now…and don`t get me started on the proven correlation between a sharp rise in teen suicide rates and social pressure exerted by “social” media.
…and no, I don`t own one myself, either.
Blaming cars instead of unconscious drivers is a flawed argument. Personal responsibility needs to be examined.
Where is Brighton Beach? I want to be a Russian Hacker.
New York City
Just remember – blue track suits not svr!
Blue and yellow track suits with gold chains – SBU.
Here’s footage from previous recruitment gathering, for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiFBgtgUtfw
Since the WARmongers in WARshington District of Corruption are so good at providing Ukraine with what they think Ukraine needs, I guess they are providing the flowers, caskets, crosses, digging tools and even paying the salaries of the gravediggers. Are they buying the stock of the companies providing these supplies too? I doubt if they have the imagination to squint their eyes while watching one of these videos and see the stars and stripes flags rather than Ukrainian because that is where this is headed.
Tragic madness that is only going to get much worse.
Insanity is like chronic alcoholism; the diabolically insane just keep tripling down, spending every waking moment finding excuses and ways to maintain their chronic denial and to justify their delusional madness which only ever makes sense to them.
After all these long years of genocidal crusades protecting the fiefdoms of murderous Nazi globalist elites under the banner of ‘defending freedom and democracy’, the curtain is being pulled back exposing the psychotic criminals in charge of the Anglo-American-EU asylum.
Conservative sensible people i.e. those right-minded people with good moral sense, who know what the simple basic biological difference is between men and women, have had enough. They are reading Sonar21 and other alternative honest media and learning how Russia is fast becoming what America used to hold out it was – it is Russia now which is fighting for freedom and sovereignty and defending good moral virtue without which society can never hope to offer any decent life.
The same conservative Americans and others in the Anglo-American-EU shit-hole nations are making the sensible choice – they are getting out while they can and are relocating to Moscow / Russia and other BRICS nations.
My American friend who migrated to Moscow, just a few months before 2022 SMO was launched, emailed me last week telling me that her Russian friend who runs a real estate business in Moscow informed her that he was assisting Americans to migrate to Russia and get settled and that plans are now underway to develop purpose-built community on outskirts of Moscow for Americans and Canadians who want out of the shit-holes.
Here are articles about the community development in Moscow
Refer: https://duckduckgo.com/?hps=1&q=conservative+americans+relocating+to+communities+in+Moscow+purpose+built+for+them&atb=v278-1&ia=web
Watch this space – as the criminally-insane Nazi elites keep doubling down driving the Anglo-American-EU nations into destruction and ruin, massive numbers of sensible people old and young are going to relocate to Russia, China and other rising BRICS nations where the future is looking ever brighter – and many of them are going to be highly-skilled and highly-educated people which the Anglo-American-EU nations are already in very short supply of.
Get out while you can before they ban emigration and capital from fleeing the shit-hole nations. Be assured they are going to do that in order to stop the capital flight and haemorrhaging of top talent to the BRICS
Retirees can’t get your Social Security payments and most pension payments, especially now, sent to Russia as well as other countries.
I think those who drive this war want to ultimately assume control of depopulated Ukrainian soils, originally all of Ukraine but now as much as possible of a rapidly shrinking portion of it. It is a well recorded tactic of gangs as illustrated by eg the Mafiosi who either kill all as they move in or demote the original owners to a serf or gang member status. The Western capitalist is such.
Capital is only of value in as much as it frees people, meaning provides them with dignity, just as power is only of significance in as much as it benefits all, and this means all, who are affected by it.
They didn’t choose black for their rock from nothing.
Blackwater, Blackrock, Blackbeard – get the subconcious drift?
Ha – BLM scammers may sue me over this but frankly, who cares?
This recruitment ad is cliché as fuck. I’m not sure about the targeted audience for this piece of film. I’m quite sure it’s inspired by a recruitment ad for the Russian army we saw a few month ago to enroll people working in security/police forces that was mocked on western social networks. This one is overproduced , even the color balance looks false.
The goal of propaganda is to get enrollment to your narrative, you don’t get engagement by promising nice flowers on some graves.
Russians do it better anyway : https://www.bitchute.com/video/BqfyLAfATk6l/
If the Ukrainians could grow men like they grow flowers then they might stand a chance.
Those flowers are all donated by the Belgians. Since 2022, their huge Russian market is dead and they have to get rid of them somewhere, just like NATO’s old mothballed weapons.
They say that Pizza quattro stagioni (four seasons pizza) will change its name to Pizza Ukrainian Counteroffensive. If it weren’t for those impenetrable graves, it would be funny.
I thought it was supposed to be pizza bianca changing its name to pizza AFU bled white.
K. Talaat, you say Western Civilization. This is getting to be a pretty loose term. I can understand people moving to Russia, China not so much and speaking from experience there. A popular term used some years ago about America, Love it or leave it. I’m older and this country has been good to me, I intend to stay and fight for her come what may. I believe that the ones that have driven us into this ditch will meet their just demise. How far down this hole will we go before our military steps in or the people rise up with one thing in mind, justice for all and this won’t just be justice for the American Patriots. We have brought hell down on the heads of many innocents thanks to the traitors that are the puppets in DC and a price will be paid. We have more than money debts that need to be made square.
Are there any “Western” governments opposing the cranky, crazy allegiances of Washington or London?
When religion becomes diluted the devil steps in. This fight the two Capitals are conducting is for the acceptance and normalization of debauchery.
Would you be comfortable serving under the likes of Milley or Austin?
K. Talaat describes the unfolding “Western” debacle precisely.
Ronald,
“I’m older and this country has been good to me, I intend to stay and fight for her come what may.”
That’s whats missing in most people these days, a spine. As long as there are people like you, there’s hope. English isn’t my mother tongue so I have some problem in expressing myself fully. You basically wrote the way I think. Thank you and excellent comment.
Ronald… like you, I love this country that’s why I point out its traitors and rascals. I even love it more for what it can stand for in its purist form.
It is my belief that if America goes down, the rest of the world has no chance against tyranny.
It is also my belief that what America was endowed with, as far as the security of two oceans and its natural resources, is as everything is, a choice. Will we lift all or carry the few.
I always make a sharp distinction between a people and their convernment.
It’s amazing how this gas station masquerading as a country, is kicking the shit out of countrys masquerading as democracies.
I want to live in a political system that produces leaders like Putin not one that produces leaders like Biden. Our precious Democracy! The ability to choose between Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dumb…
Alex,
You get leaders like Putin by Providence. Like that Tibetian saying goes, when the student is ready the teacher will appear. America isn’t all bad. Lot of good people, the government not so much. Anyways, much better than your neighbors up north, smug and full of themselves.
@Alex
I think you must buy the whole pack: the tsars, Lenin, Stalin (etc. etc.), Yeltsin .. and whatever comes after “Gospodin” Putin, not only what it suits you the best n-o-w.
The ones who make the decisions….. hmmm…. We should know more after the Bilderberger meeting this week in Lisbon.
Larry,
Are you sure this isn’t the recruitment video for the new city outside of Moscow for American conservatives? It would seem to be a highly effective add for that, if only it would be in English.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-may-build-village-american-conservatives-1799809
Those are rookie numbers! What kind of army kills more soldiers that civilians?
How are the other ghouls down there in ghoulomania, Maddy? Is there a nice camaraderie or do you fight with each other over flesh-pecking orders?
Western “Experts” again…
These clowns need a new playbook, what a frikking joke the west has become
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/russia-could-step-chemical-attacks-043058347.html
Yahoo news is run by a neocon fool. If you want to stay mentally sound, avoid reading autobiographies of serial killers and MSM.
That was kinda my point. Yahoo reporting Russia getting ready to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Same lying bullshit they said about Syria.
No one with half a brain takes these claims at face value.
Unfortunately there are are plenty of Americans who don’t seem to have even half
I think that somehow along with cable TV, DVDs, and Streaming Services, Americans started to believe that their sugary movies were the actual reality. They consumed too much video fiction, and it warped their sense of reality.
And not only America, but all their mindless vassals are sick with this same disease.
Look at the corny spectacle of a poor country fighting an existential war against a vast more powerful enemy and yet they spare the resources to make their cemeteries look like a military cemetery from a Hollywood movie.
Look at Zelensky with his ridiculous green attire, he is not a fucking rebel leader hiding in a cave with an AK-47 in his hands. He lives in a palace in a city with electrical power, and running water, and most civilian services and amenities are mostly operational. And even if not so, even the Mujaheddin when they were the darlings of America against the Soviets (watch Rambo III if you don’t believe me) used well-cut suits when they toured western cities. It is all so fucking staged, it is all so fucking scenographed exactly the way Hollywood depicts how a war should go, but not at the level of a Magnum Opus like “Apocalypse Now”, but in the childish, jingoist, and cringy way of a B-movie like “Independence Day”.
They have been knees-deep in the propaganda for so long, that even the leadership in the west now believes the bullshit. Also, the poles and the baltic midgets are in a kind of collective delusion of a life of prosperity if they just become more like America, if they just show they are more obedient lapdogs. And let’s not forget Britain, which is a fiscal paradise for all kinds of speculative dealings and money laundering masquerading as a country. They also live on this fantastic world of myths and legends, completely detached from reality.
IMO the decline and inevitable fall began with LifeStyles of the Rich and Famous
To me it was when they decided to do a sequel to Fantasy Island.
And the Z is worth $500 million and has luxury homes in several countries.
Your tax dollars at work
Dear Lord Larry. That Russian troll ad was hilarious. And illuminating. While it is poking fun at us? There is some self-depreciating humor there also. And that is one thing the Western World has lost. It’s sense of humor. Because a joke “might” offend someone. The US is turning into a humorless and soulless Pit of Mordor.
On a personal note, I am putting my money where my mouth is. I have been a shooter and arms collector for years. And while I will retain my house in the US when I ex-pat, I have to thin this herd down. Even with gun safes and security systems, they are a theft risk. And full insurance is expensive. And also, one rigged election from a huge financial asset turning into a felony loss. I will of course, always retain a still too large battery. At least until I start to age out.
Listed the first item on Gunbroker. Was shocked at where prices have gone. I have a first Gen PS90, and I listed it at $3500. I’m going to sell 2 a month until I reach my target goal.
And made a second move. I am a voracious reader. And a lover of select volumes. When I like a book, I re-read it constantly. There are some I am sure I have read 30 times. Roger Zelzany. “Lord of Light”. So, I bought a damn electronic reader. And am going to start adding my favorite books to its little electronic memory every month. When I do start travelling, I will have my closest friends with me.
And thirdly, started DuoLingo on Spanish again. While I dream of Russia and Thailand, and I will visit there? Their languages are incomprehensible to me. I will settle in South America. I grew up in the Army in Manana land. And I know I will end up there. They are a people I love. And a lifestyle that is pleasant. There will be worse places to slowly decay than a beach with a chica and a cerveza. While I read the news of the dissolution and destruction of my once home.
This woke BS destroys everything it that it touches destroys everyone who embraces it and it is currently destroying this nation.
The military has been gutted, the energy sector gutted, families and society gutted, every institution in America that has received this insane woke ideology has been gutted.
Thanks Larry. Off to Brighton Beach I go!
One helpful hint. If you enter a shop with a sign only in Ukrainian, don’t try speaking Russian.
I remember many years back, in the late 70’s, early 80’s I think – I was in the East Village which had become the new Greenwich Village because of rising rents in the old village and the East Village newcomers already displacing the old Ukrainians living there (it was a post WWII Ukrainian ghetto), I wandered over to Tompkins Park which was still pretty seedy at the time, full of bums, addicts and piss-ridden tenements. Looking around, I found this greasy spoon cafe at the park’s edge and decided to have a cup of coffee, so I wandered in. I take a spot at the counter, only guy in the place, and this young guy, my age – comes up. I see a few things around in cyrillic, so I decided hmmm, I’ll speak some Russian with him. That’ll be cool (did I know about bandera, UPO etc back then? heck no). After a sentence or two, I got the most killing stare coming back at me I’ve ever experienced. Then dead silence until I paid the bill and left. I’ll never forget that chill.
That’s when I first experienced the true level of hatred these WWII banderite nazi collaborators held in their bosoms for generations on end. I thought at the time it was because of Soviet repression and shrugged it off but now I really understand its nature – what the neocons did in exploiting these warped people for their own ends was a direct path to an inevitable war. May they be damned to hell for their actions – pure vultures, nothing less. And given half the chance, these Ukrainians would launch a nuke at Moscow and trigger WWIII in a heartbeat. The Russians have known that all along. We never did or did, and simply shrugged it off. Ergo: We are an incredibly stupid and foolhardy nation. (end of rant)
That’s funny, and, from personal experience, not how it works. The Ukies I run into in the US, basically speak Russian. My assessment is crude as my Russian isn’t very good at all, but my tourist-grade Russki works with no gaps. Ukrainian is said to have a sing-song quality which I don’t heard here.
“… CIA allegedly put out a recruiting video …”
They allegedly put it on The Central Intelligence Agency’s official YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Wo6NbWRmE
https://www.youtube.com/@CentralIntelligenceAgency/videos
“it is possible that this is just a great piece of Russian disinformation;”
And Russian hacking, considering it’s on Youtube. 🙂
Yesterday I wrote that Jack Devine came up with this idea, but now I thinks it’s more likely this human (I wrote “guy” at first instead of “human”, but caught the mistake on time):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7_PGYgmcPo
I noticed that all these CIA videos on youtube do not allow comments. it is probably to avoid getting mean comments likely to hurt the vibrant and diverse CIA staff’s tender feelings.
Yep. They are allowed on Twitter, where they have tighter control and a mob of bots/idiots with flags in usernames.
https://twitter.com/CIA/status/1658248394442252288?cxt=HHwWgIC9waCIpIMuAAAA
https://twitter.com/CIA/status/1380192634950586368?cxt=HHwWgMC4_fH4tqcmAAAA
If you wanna vote for war
you’d better be the first in line
if you wanna bomb the folks
and steal their stuff
well… that’s a sign
yer not a welcome saviour
yer a psycho greedy swine
and its time your time was done
CIA wanna own ya
gonna bomb ya then rezone ya
brace yerself they gonna bone ya
cuz they are the good guise
they assasinate the president
and anyone they please
they are rotten to the core
they are a terminal disease
they bomb cheat and steal
then blame the Russians and Chinese
and its time their time was done
At the moment, the Russian humour is the best in the world.
German and American humour on the official TV reminds me of what was written in the Nazi journals in 1933: Darüber lacht der Volksgenosse. State produced humour for politically correct laughter.
A comparison of humour in Nazi journalism and humour in public TV would be interesting.
German humour is no laughing matter.
The FBI is the door mat at the Federal Hotel. DC office problems are obvious to all…
Then there is the door man.
https://www.nsa.gov/careers/
https://www.cia.gov/careers/jobs/
etc.
Darpa and pvt contracting is less restrictive
https://www.constellis.com/
…. the money flows down the federal irrigation canal….and there are lots of ways to ditch some of it off … to your garden patch…
Clown World
“NATO’s strength is its diversity” – Secretary General on International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.”
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_214646.htm
“A top adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Mikhail Podoliak, has declared that his country “hates” Russian citizens and will persecute them “always and everywhere.” The remark came after Moscow complained to the UN about a confession by Kiev’s military intelligence chief that his service carries out targeted assassinations against Russian citizens”.
Absolutely zero reaction from msm
If one was to replace “Russians” in this article from rt (or any other media outlet offering, and referred to Israelis/Jews/Americans” that have already been “ liquidated” and that more could be/would be killed anywhere/anytime this would be a very big deal. But it’s not. It’s pretty fkd up. No – it’s really fkd up but all is fair in love and war. I hope the human race in general dsnt have to pay for this farce. I’m just glad that things are starting to change -Russia/China have not projected their strength a lot in the past – but it’s nice to see them get into the “game”. Balance in world affairs is nigh, I just hope we get to see it. Speaking for a friend – he’s a bit of a pessimist
Your analysis/insights are refreshing mr Johnson thx for sharing
Poor babies. They hate Russians. What do the former Ukrainians in the Donbass think? Do they hate Ukrainians?
There you go – a level playing field.
This CIA clip looks like those Evangelicals making gala concerts with their sermons of “fulfilled life”, “life in light” and all those buzzwords.
“Прорыв от господа” If anyone here is ex-Soviet 🙂
Now, the translation is a little bit off.
1. 1st 2 sentences were rhetorica questions too. “Is it a life I dreamt of? Is it a path I was chosing for myself?”
2. Also, double-endure sounds wrong. I am not well versed in shades, nuances of English words, but in Russian words were different.
Maybe “But withstanding does not not mean useless patience does it?”
A hero stands like a fortress, like a immobile yet strong – and optional, by choice – resistance. Maybe “overcoming”, “surviving” and “outliving” even.
A tree is patient because being patient is all it can do. Same is why doctors call their clients patients. Absolute passivity trying to conserve energy.
I don’t know how to convey this distinction in English but it was there.
Maybe you know already, but I think it’s worth mentioning again: Simplicius has just published a top-notch analysis of the Russian hypersonic Kinzhal and the attack on the Patriot system in Kiev. Highly recommended:
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-mim-104-patriot-destruction/comments?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1351274&post_id=122002994&utm_medium=email&isFreemail=true&comments=true
Half way through it with the Saudi Patriot vids. I had no idea.
Why don’t they just rename the thing ‘The Boomerang’?
Has a Russian AD interceptor ever boomeranged on itself? I think not.
Any update on Gonzalo Lira?
Rumors that our streets are covered in human excrement have been greatly exaggerated. The problem is mostly a manifestation of the opioid addiction crisis which claims far more lives in San Francisco than COVID ever did.
Ain’t you heard, Sophia, opioid addiction is cause by covid, so they actually died of covid. Same with the guy hit by a bus in Miami, died of covid, as well as the guy ran over by a train. Yep, died of covid. And the guy who ran his motorcycle off a mountain highway and down the mountain, covid too. My neighbor, after 5 clot shots, the poor woman died of covid. Such a terrible disease. Try to keep up.
Early on in the COVID crisis, it was apparent that iatrogenic deaths were being swept under the rug with a blanket blame on COVID instead of medical malpractice.
That’s a very common misconception. The opioid addiction crisis is NOT the problem, it is one of many symptoms of the actual problem which is that for most low income people in the US mental health care is simply nonexistent.
Alexander Kots, the EU sanctioned journalist of Komsomolskaya Pravda explains why no Ukrainian counter-offensive is being launched.
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27504/4764703/
Ukraine’s counteroffensive thwarted: The daring plan of the Russian command disarmed Zelensky and his troops
Military correspondent Oleksandr Kots said that the risky plan of the Russian command disrupted the counteroffensive of Ukraine
THE BOMB IS ATTACHED TO WINGS
Heat has come to the NWO zone . The earth dried up, hard as stone. Tanks no longer get stuck. But Ukraine is in no hurry to attack. Even though she promised. Why is the “counterattack” being delayed ? Because his terms were thwarted by the command of the Russian army.
That is, in Ukraine everything was ready for the offensive. The only thing that failed was to quietly build up strength and transfer this entire armada of troops and equipment to the front line. Now Ukrainian officials say that they are still missing something, that they need to wait a little more, build up more strength, get more weapons from the West. But in fact, this is a good job of our intelligence and a meaningful approach to the destruction of the most dangerous weapons for us, sent to Kyiv. First of all – air defense systems.
Plus, we have a new technique – a new approach to the destruction of Ukrainian military targets. This is a modernization of the old FAB-500 bombs, of which there are many, they attached a guidance system and wings to them, made them gliders. And their planes can no longer drop them over the target, risking falling under the enemy’s missile and anti-aircraft fire, but strike them deep into the enemy’s territory without entering the zone of his air defense.
BET PLAYED
The second plus is strikes on ammunition depots and military equipment. Before, readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda and listeners of radio KP tormented me with the question: why don’t we hit enemy tanks before they approach the front, why don’t we destroy bridges and railways? I’m not used to simply praising our Ministry of Defense, but right now we are seeing its intelligent approach to the destruction of Western iron wealth before it approaches the battle zone. It seems to me that there was an idea – despite the risk – to wait until the enemy began to accumulate and group troops and equipment before the offensive.
It is clear that columns of tanks, shells from Poland or Romania are not transported along Ukrainian highways in broad daylight. This is piece transportation in the night. And it is difficult to chase one or two tractors. Therefore, they waited until Ukraine gathered the groupings of its troops into a heap, into armored “fists” for the offensive.
And now, almost every day, news began to pour in about our attacks on military depots where weapons and ammunition were stored. The risk was justified – this bet played. We see it. The timing of the Ukrainian “counterattack” has been disrupted.
“TINT” WILL NOT WORK
The third is the destruction of the American Patriot air defense system in Kyiv. What are the consequences? Kyiv will now have to replace the destroyed battery with removing something from the front in order to cover the capital.
And until Ukraine saturates its air defense front, it will not attack. Because this would mean – to give all the advancing forces to be torn to pieces by Russian aviation, which will simply peck the enemy from a safe distance. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have, of course, man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems of the Stinger type, but this is all the near zone. It will not be able to cover the offensive.
What happened to the Patriot? The American television channel CNN began to reassure everyone that our Kiinzhal had not caused any damage to the Patriot battery in Kyiv at all. Allegedly, there is no need to take anything out there even for repairs … You can “touch up” everything on the spot.
Or maybe there is simply nothing to take out?
I watched an epic video of a Patriot trying to fight off a Dagger. I counted 32 launches of American missiles. And that’s just what’s on the video. Moreover, he was filmed by ordinary city surveillance cameras. Now the high has risen in Kyiv, they close access to these cameras. Judging by the video, there was only one explosion at the place where the Patriot stood. That is, at least one “Dagger” flew.
Ukraine claimed to have shot down 6 Kinzhals. This is nonsense. The “dagger” is hypersonic , almost impossible to shoot down. Therefore, even our Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had to comment that we do not launch as many “Daggers” as they “shoot down” …
“Dagger” MIG
There were two versions – either the Patriot fired all its missiles at our “Dagger” just in a panic. They understood that if the “Dagger” hit, all the missiles in the Patriot battery would detonate. Therefore, they were shot in a hurry.
The second version is that at first inexpensive Geran drones hit targets in Kyiv. And when ours counted online right on these city cameras (and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is exactly what happened!): Yeah, 32 missiles were fired, that’s all, the Patriot is empty, discharged. They gave the command: you can launch the “Dagger”. And in the waiting area, the MiG-31 is spinning – the carrier of our “Daggers”. And they tell him: it’s time, beat.
It is interesting that the Russian Ministry of Defense, in order to put an end to the lies of Ukraine and the United States, was forced to officially declare: 5 launchers and 1 radar station of the Patriot system were hit.
BEAT ON THE CASE, NOT BRICK
We will see how further all this work on knocking out fat targets in Ukraine will be carried out. So far, it causes cautious optimism – the whole bunch: reconnaissance, and aviation, and loitering ammunition, and the “Dagger”, and ground troops.
This is cool. This is the formation by us of a real reconnaissance and strike contour, which operates in the depths of the territory of Ukraine.
I have just arrived from the NVO zone in Moscow and I still cannot get used to the fact that some people from this world still demand to “hit the decision-making centers” in Kyiv. By bricks!? My deep conviction is that this is a waste of resources that can be used to do something more serious. Like now – when we hit weapons that could be at the front.
Why didn’t we have such effective strikes before? What is today’s activation? Yes, apparently, just with the advent of mass targets. There were never such a number of destroyed troops, equipment and warehouses before. Because right now Kyiv has pulled everything it could to the front. And this iron was just waiting for X hour, the command to advance.
So, we moved the term of this team with our blows! Including in Kyiv.
This does not mean that the “counterattack” will not begin. Zelensky simply has no other choice. But now he has to delay the deadline. And we, using this, will be able to continue to systematically destroy his army.
These machine translations always give me a chuckle. Better you copy the text into Yandex and paste. It’ll be cleaner I think.
Another article of KP on the Patriot air defense system’s destruction
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27504/4764638/
The Ukrainian conflict exposed the United States to ridicule: Zelensky has to imprison Ukrainians for filming these videos
Military observer Viktor Baranets told how the “Daggers” turn the “Patriots” into scrap metal
The Zelensky gang is tired of convincingly misinforming the population. Now the most primitive nonsense has come into play.
After the crushing destruction of the American anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) “Patriot” near Kiev, they stated: with this very “Patriot” and their own S-300 6 hypersonic “Daggers” were shot down, nothing hit the US equipment itself, so it scratched a little, we’ll fix it on place…
An interesting detail : ten Ukrainians at once, who managed to film and post a rocket fire in the sky in Kiev, were charged with “disclosure”.
One can feel the American style – the US people react extremely painfully to everything that undermines the overly inflated advertising of their “Patriot”. This was the case in Saudi Arabia a few years ago, where Yemeni Houthi rebels nearly blew apart a large Saudi Aramco oil storage facility with rockets and drones. But he was guarded by as many as 88 of the most sophisticated “Patriots”! And such air defense turned out to be full of holes.
After that shameful puncture, the Americans also tried to “shut up” the Saudi media. But the “awl” still got out of the bag, and several countries that were going to buy these systems abruptly changed their minds. And now the Pentagon has ordered Kyiv to stop everything and everyone who undermines the authority of American weapons.
Well, how to confirm your air victory over “all downed” Russian “Daggers”? Kyiv disinformers posted pictures of allegedly discovered fragments of supposedly our missiles. Even supporters of Zelensky poured over these photographs: in one “debris” they recognized a piece of … a water pipe, in another – torn parts of a hitherto unknown mechanism (someone even recognized fragments of a pre-revolutionary tractor in them).
But seriously, even if some fragments of the “Dagger” are found where the “Patriot” used to be, it will only mean that it has completed its task – it has destroyed the American complex.
Even our Minister of Defense could not stand the news of six downed “Daggers”: ” Russia did not launch so many” Daggers ” as they allegedly shoot down with their statements every time … The number of these Ukrainian intercepts is three times more than we launch missiles … Yes, and with the type of missiles they are wrong all the time. That’s why they don’t get in.”
And the last. According to reliable data, on May 16, as a result of a strike by the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system in the city of Kiev, a multifunctional radar station, as well as 5 launchers of the US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, were hit and completely destroyed. And if launchers, consider them consumables, then without a radar, this entire complex turns into scrap metal on wheels. What he became after being hit by the “Dagger”.
Wait ’til F-16s are flying and then not. Turkey will be buying MIGs or Sukhois tomorrow. 😉
Very interesting piece. Long worth the time
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-mim-104-patriot-destruction
That article is golden.
Great analysis, as always. And funny. I saw here in the UK that the BBC had zero stories on Ukraine running when the Patriots were hit. Also, it is comical to see that in the other UK media, no comments are allowed on stories on the war. It’s the same with any story that is essentially pushing some propaganda.
Kinda cool to be able to spot propaganda so easily: no comments allowed means obvious bullshit. They really are shameless, and pathetic. It’s unfortunate that these freaks are still dangerous too.
If the Russians truly go on a “deep battle” manoeuvre when the defences are down and it is viable, won’t a lot of people’s heads pop? Are the Russians being sensible in incrementally turning up the pain dial, as the Saker used to say, simply to avoid a massive freak-out on NATO’s part, where they make stupid escalations out of panic?
They already seem to be moronic, and a little push might make them make extremely irrational decisions. I admire how calm and measured Russia’s attitude has been.
The longer the killing fields carry on the more harm to the US prestige, reputation and ultimately their hegemony, it beggars belief the top echelon of the American leadership hasn’t figured it yet, if Ukraine collapses, as it seems it must, it will be by far bigger fiasco than the Afghanistan debacle, it will be seen a victory of Russia against the might of NATO, the defeat will render the alliance close to useless, if the combined force of the 28 countries cannot bring Russia to her knees how could NATO ever hope winning against Russia cum China possibly with one or more of the other BRICS countries.
What saddens is that there appears no Western statesman capable of saying ‘enough’s enough, let’s stop this senseless slaughter, let’s talk’ because it’s only talking that will end this war.
It did work well in Somalia actually. Somalia with no government was way more peaceful. Inflation was low, products available for purchase at reasonable prices.
Tom Woods thoroughly documented this.
Does the CIA have diversity equity and inclusion quotas for their new recruits?
What’s really changed since the Cold War is that today’s Russians have a sense of humour and have learned to take the piss out of the West.
Do you know what a meatgrinder is. It just sits there waiting. Turning. And when the meat is coming, it goes turning and turning and turning . . .
Russian meatgrinder and Ukranian meat.
Sad, but awfully true.
There’s only one suicidal people the Rashists…nobody cares less about human life than they do…and that’s why they must be stopped…their Moscow Nazi shithole must be destroyed, it MUST CEASE to exist!!!!
You have mistaken this site for Twitter.
Ultimately, the recruitment video buck stops with William Burns, unless he is a mere puppet of the unholy three- Sullivan, Blinken and Nuland. In 2008 he had brains. Why is he endorsing something that reveals the Agency as the bunch of fools it has been for too long?
If nothing else is clear, it is that even in the midst of what for them is an existential conflict Russia still has a great satirical sense of humor. This is something lost in America and one has to wonder whether that is the result of all our problems or a major cause of them. If you can’t laugh at life, at yourself, at the world… you are lost. America is lost. Finding humor again would be a good first step to finding our way.
I think the offensive would have taken place by now but the Russians have done such a good job of taking out weapons and ammo depots, they can’t actually do anything significant.
No, it’s not (only) the CIA.
Both the Ukrainian Fascists/ Nazis and the CIA and the USA government are evil tools of the true Evil that controls them all from the shadows/ background and pulls the strings to realize their satanic interests. These are the ultra-rich Jewish-Anglo-American want-to-be “controllers” and “rulers” of this world.
Their old strategic goal is to smash Russia (and other potential rivals like China) and get hold of (plunder) the desired huge Siberian mineral resources, which will lead to the downfall/ destruction of the USA/ NATO – this very year.
In their satanic effort to dominate the whole world, they have lost all control over themselves, which the whole “normal” world has recognized long ago. Thus, they have dug their own grave.
Why are they doing all that?
They, approx. 1 to 2 billion, want to have the limited earth resources only for themselves and their children longer available. All others are to be “eliminated” by various means.
Covid-19 vaccines are only the beginning, which is to make you and your children infertile.
You don’t need the Russian vaccines, either, because Covid-19 is just a (non-deadly) flu.