Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:09 pm

The second day
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/12/2022

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For the second consecutive day, the Russian aerospace forces attacked critical Ukrainian infrastructure in an act that has been condemned again by Ukraine and its partners, who consider it unacceptable that Russia does, more than 200 days after the start of its military intervention, what NATO and its most important countries tend to be the starting point. Russia continued to attack power plants and hydroelectric plants yesterday, which has forced Ukraine to stop the export of electricity and ask the population to reduce consumption. Cities like Lviv have been left without electricity.

Contrary to the first day of this active phase of attacks against Ukrainian civil infrastructure, Russian missiles also attacked railway infrastructure, two of which stand out: the Pavlograd communications hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and Shepetovsky, in the Khmelnitsky region, in the west of the country, key to the logistics of Western arms deliveries and their arrival at the front.

In recent hours, Ukraine has focused its speech on condemning the use of Iranian drones, an argument that it has used recently, especially in its attempt to obtain the supply of weapons, specifically for its air defense, by Israel. However, it is not Iranian drones but Russian missiles that are causing much of the material damage. But as military experts have pointed out, the Geran-2s play an important role: their use, less expensive than the use of Kalibr missiles, allows more intense attacks, with which the large number of simultaneous targets manages to saturate the Ukrainian air defenses. And it is that, despite the material superiority that Russia enjoyed in the first moments of its military intervention, Moscow has never been able to completely dominate the skies.

Ukraine did not need NATO intervention to limit Russian aviation's possibilities of action to the maximum and its air defenses have responded with solvency during all these months. However, as has also been seen across the front lines, no air defense is infallible and the combined use of a large number of missiles and drones is capable of overwhelming and overcoming enemy defenses. That has been the tactic on major targets like the Antonovsky Bridge in Kherson and appears to be used by Russian forces in this recent attack as well.

The attacks by Russian missiles - and Iranian drones - on Ukrainian energy infrastructures have caused a wide wave of indignation in Ukraine and among its partners, who have forgotten that electrical substations and water supply and filtering infrastructures have been one of the recurring targets of Ukrainian troops in Donbass over the past eight years. Hence, on the other side of the front, despite the solidarity that may exist with the civilian population, this attack that seeks to undermine communications to limit Ukraine's offensive possibilities has been seen as justified.

Original Article: DonRF

We are not gods, we are far from being gods, we are simple humans. It is humans who serve in the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation and who today, contrary to what yesterday's politicians claimed, have proven that "we can repeat" is more than just a slogan. Of course, they did it again on a slightly lower scale, less epic than the day before, but don't let the map fool you: it went well. Both Caspian Sea flotilla Kalibrs and X-101s have been used alongside [Iranian-made] Geran-2 drones to open up air defenses and R-37M air-to-air missiles as a diversion.

The result is that the air defense has been overwhelmed again: all objectives have been hit more clearly than on the first day. First, the Gerans collapsed the Ladizhenskaya power station and later the Kalibr illuminated the city of Lviv again, destroying two plants. Once again, something hit the Bushitinskaya plant, but the governor of the region, like a good partisan, kept silent and only mumbled to say that everything will be repaired and that the air defenses had intercepted all the missiles. . And the list goes on, for example, in Sepetovka, the homeland of Nikolai Ostrovsky, a powder keg exploded. And a military unit. The list is long. The Soviet heritage happens to be on the loss list and the German Iris-Ts do not help, it is she who was outclassed by the Kalibr missiles. They went through it.

In response, the enemy hits the long-suffering Donbass and the border with the Russian Federation, broken with anger and aware that tomorrow there will be more missiles. And there will still be. At the moment, the population of kyiv begins to understand what is happening and leaves the city. They do the right thing, this is not stamps on the Crimean bridge, but the missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. I would also advise people in cities near critical infrastructure to do something similar and do it quickly. You never know what can happen in the future.

I am far from happy, because we are at war with ourselves, there are Russians killing other Russians. And it's not a victory, it's just something like the artillery before the offensive. Once again, civilians will suffer and the chances that the attacks will stop prematurely tend to be zero. But seeing these steps in the right direction, which will strengthen Russia, I cannot help but rejoice. I don't care what the humanists say. Work, fellow officers. Keep working. For Donbass and for the border territories, for the victims of the Maidan, for the terrorist attacks and those tortured, for those civilians who have lived for months in cellars. And for those who, thanks to these missiles, will survive on the ground when the ground battle comes.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/12/el-se ... more-25686

Google Translator

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News of Ukrainian terrorism
October 12, 11:00

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News of Ukrainian terrorism

FSB organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge

Theses from the FSB statement about the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge:

▪️the organizer was the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and agents

▪️, the bomb was camouflaged in rolls with construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22.77 tons and was sent from the port of Odessa to Bulgarian Ruse in early August under contract No. 02 / 08/2022 between Translogistic UA LLC (Kyiv) and Baltex Capital SA (Ruse)

▪️Ukrainian citizens Mikhail Vladimirovich Tsyurkalo (born in 1975), Denis Olegovich Kovach (1979) and Roman Ivanovich Solomko (1971), Georgian citizens Sandro Inosaridze and a broker named Levan and Armenian citizen Artur Terchanyan (1985)

▪️from September 29 to October 3 in Yerevan at the Transalliance terminal, the cargo was cleared through customs according to the rules of the EAEU, documents were replaced, after which it was already sent by "GU AR GROUP" LLC (Armenia, Alaverdi city), and the recipient was "Leader" LLC "(Moscow)

▪️on a DAF truck registered in Georgia, on October 4, the cargo crossed the Russian-Georgian border through Upper Lars and on October 6 it was delivered and unloaded at the wholesale base of Armavir in the Krasnodar Territory

▪️on October 7 with the assistance of Solomko, a citizen of Ukraine Vladimir Vasilievich Zlob (1987 ) and 5 more established citizens of Russia, the documents for the cargo were again changed, the sender was indicated LLC "TEK-34" (Ulyanovsk), and the recipient was a non-existent company in the Crimea

▪️on the same day, the pallets were loaded into the truck of Russian citizen Makhir Yusubov (1971), who left for Simferopol, and on October 8 at 06.03, while following the Crimean bridge,

▪️control over the movement of cargo along the entire route was undermined and contacts with participants in the criminal scheme were carried out by an employee The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, who introduced himself as Ivan Ivanovich, used for coordination both a virtual anonymous number bought on the Internet and registered to a citizen of Ukraine Sergey Vladimirovich Andreychenko (1988)

▪️5 citizens of Russia, 3 citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who participated in the preparation of the crime, were detained from Kremenchug

▪️the investigation is ongoing, all organizers and accomplices, including foreigners, will be held accountable in accordance with Russian law Plus the detention of a Ukrainian terrorist who was preparing a terrorist attack at the terminal in Bryansk. Video https://t.me/boris_rozhin/66919 PS. The SBU and the GUR MOU should be recognized as terrorist organizations.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/66912 - zinc
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/66921 - photos of the sacramental

* * *

A Ukrainian terrorist with MANPADS was detained by the

FSB; preparation by special services of Ukraine of sabotage and terrorist acts using high-precision weapons in the Moscow region was stopped.

In the course of the complex of operational-search measures, a citizen of Ukraine, born in 1972, was detained, who, on the instructions of the SBU, in a cache equipped in a car, delivered to Russia from Kyiv in transit through the territory of Estonia portable anti-aircraft missile systems "Igla" to prepare terrorist acts, and also picked up their place confidential storage.

The defendant has repented of his deed and is cooperating with the investigation. Two Igla MANPADS and means of communication confirming his criminal actions and contacts with SBU officers were confiscated from him.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/66917 (video)

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7911420.html

Well, that contradicts the report pinning MI5. I expect both are correct.

Tips for phones in the NWO zone
October 12, 12:24

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Tips for phones in the NWO zone

This post will be useful for those who are, departing or planning to depart to the NWO zone. A small life hack from a veteran of the PTSD Team, who has been at the forefront from the very beginning of the operation, and in general, has a huge database experience behind him.

At the place of residence of the NWO, you must have two telephones. One is yours personally, the second is for the task. From the first you call home and CATEGORICALLY do not take to the exit. Laughter to those who will fuck up the phone not only with data about their unit, but also personal data, which, when unlocked, will immediately go to the Internet.

The second phone must be autonomous, DO NOT put SIM cards into it. As soon as you insert a SIM card, the tower accepts your IMEI, and then it's a matter of technology. It is strictly forbidden to use SIM cards from other areas.

Be sure to download offline maps like “Alpine Quest” or “Offline maps” to your phone. Do not download from the markets, look for a cracked version on the Internet. In these applications, you can download the map area and use it without the Internet. Without this ANYWHERE. (You can also set it there so that the point shows the coordinates in X, Y and not in degrees, it is very convenient when adjusting, and there is a compass right away). Upgrade Yandex layers (Yandex layer and Yandex roads).

NEVER PUT your units on maps. In extreme cases, make a spread of 500 meters at least and call third-party words (shop, library, etc.)
Throw Orion out, this bullshit quickly discharges, the coordinates are not accurate, the connection to GLONASS will take longer than the CBO lasts. If you have nothing but Orion, TURN OFF GPS IN IT!

Take care of yourself.

(c) "Personnel"

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/66935 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7911512.html

Google Translator

21st century warfare, good grief. Couldn't they just leave the goddamn phones at home? This 'connectedness' fetish is a neurosis.

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A Perfect Storm in US Foreign Policy
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 11, 2022
M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

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The old adage is that a good foreign policy is the reflection of the national policy. A perfect storm is brewing on the foreign policy front in America triggered by the OPEC decision on Thursday to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, which will on the one hand drive up the gas price for the domestic consumer and on the other hand expose the Biden Administration’s lop-sided foreign policy priorities.

At its most obvious level, the OPEC decision confirms the belief that Washington has lost its leverage with the cartel of oil-producing countries. This is being attributed to the deterioration of the US’ relations with Saudi Arabia during the Biden presidency. But, fundamentally, a contradiction has arisen between the US interests and the interests of the oil producing countries.

Contradictions are nothing new to the geopolitics of oil. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed two major “oil crises.” One was man-made while the other was an interplay of historical forces — the Yom-Kippur War of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

In the downstream of the Yom-Kippur War, the Arab nations weaponised oil and proclaimed an oil embargo on western nations which were perceived to have supported Israel in the war. The result was that the price of oil rose nearly 300% in less than 6 months, crippling the world’s economy.

President Nixon asked petrol stations not to sell gasoline from Saturday night through until Monday morning. The crisis affected industry more than the average consumer.

In 1979, the Iranian Revolution hit oil production rates and the world’s oil supply shrunk by 4%. Panic set in, demand for crude oil shot up and price more than doubled.

The Biden Administration tempted Fate by underestimating the importance of oil in modern economic and political terms and ignoring that oil will remain the dominant energy source across the world for the foreseeable future, powering everything from cars and domestic heating to huge industry titans and manufacturing plants.

A smooth transition to green energy over time is largely dependent on the continued availability of plentiful, cheap fossil fuel. But the Biden Administration ignored that those who have oil reserves wield a huge amount of power over our oil-centred energy systems, and those who buy oil are on the contrary, cripplingly dependent on the market and the diplomatic relations which drive it.

The Western powers are far too naive to think that an energy superpower like Russia can be simply “erased” from the ecosystem. In an “energy war” with Russia, they are doomed to end up as losers.

Historically, Western nations understood the imperative to maintain good diplomatic relations with oil-producing countries. But Biden threw caution into the wind by insulting Saudi Arabia calling it a “Pariah” state. Any improvement in the US-Saudi relations is not to be expected under Biden’s watch. The Saudis distrust American intentions.

The congruence of interests on the part of the OPEC to keep the prices high is essentially because they need the extra income for their expenditure budget and to maintain a healthy investment level in the oil industry. The International Monetary Fund in April projected Saudi Arabia’s breakeven oil price — the oil price at which it would balance its budget — at $79.20 a barrel.

The Saudi government does not disclose its assumed breakeven oil price. But a Reuters report suggested that a preferred price level would be around $90 to $100 a barrel for Brent crude — at which level, it won’t have a huge impact on the global economy. Of course, over $100 will be a windfall.

Meanwhile, a “systemic” crisis is brewing. It is only natural that the OPEC views with scepticism the recent moves by the US and the EU to push back Russia’s oil exports. The West rationalises these moves as aimed at drastically reducing Russia’s income from oil exports (which translates as its resilience to fight the war in Ukraine.) The latest G7 move to put a cap on the prices at which Russia can sell its oil is taking matters to an extreme.

The OPEC regards it as a paradigm shift, as it implicitly challenges the cartel’s assumed prerogative to ensure that global oil supply matches demand, where one of the key measures of supply-demand balance is price. Arguably, the West is de facto setting up a rival cartel of oil-consuming countries to regulate the oil market.

No doubt, the West’s move is precedent-setting — namely, to prescribe for geopolitical reasons the price at which an oil-producing country is entitled to export its oil. If it is Russia today, it can as well be Saudi Arabia or Iraq tomorrow. The G7 decision, if it gets implemented, will erode OPEC’s key role regulating the global oil market.

Therefore, the OPEC is proactively pushing back. Its decision to cut down oil production by 2 million barrels per day and keep the oil price above $90 per barrel makes a mockery of the G7 decision. The OPEC estimates that Washington’s options to counter OPEC+ are limited. Unlike in the past energy history, the US does not have a single ally today inside the OPEC+ group.

Due to rising domestic demands for oil and gas, it is entirely conceivable that the US exports of both items may be curtailed. If that happens, Europe will be the worst sufferer. In an interview with FT last week, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned that as winter approaches, if energy prices are not brought down, “we are risking a massive deindustrialisation of the European continent and the long-term consequences of that might actually be very deep.”

He added these chilling words: “Our populations are getting invoices which are completely insane. At some point, it will snap. I understand that people are angry . . . people don’t have the means to pay it.” De Croo was warning about the likelihood of social unrest and political turmoil in European countries.

Without doubt, this is a tectonic shift in geopolitics which may probably turn out to be more important than the conflict in Ukraine in the making of the multipolar world order.

This perfect storm in Biden’s foreign policy can also impact the midterms in November and deliver a Republican majority in the Senate, which could set the tempo for the 2024 US presidential election.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that by turning away from Russian energy, Europe has become a captive market for the US oil companies which are now making “crazy money,” but the high cost of it is draining away the competitiveness of the European economy.

“Production is collapsing. Deindustrialization is coming. All this will have very, very deplorable consequences for the European continent over probably, at least, the next 10-20 years,” Peskov said.

Russia could be the biggest “gainer” of OPEC+cuts. The expert opinion is that oil prices will move higher from current levels through year-end and next year. That is to say, Russia will not cut any output while the price of oil is set to rise in the coming months! As oil price rises, Russia will not have to cut even a barrel of its production so long as it has a big enough market after December to sell the crude now going to Europe. Again, Russia, for its part, reiterates that it will not supply oil to countries that would join the G7 price cap. It is matching the Biden Administration’s non-market instruments.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... gn-policy/

Stoltenberg: Russia’s Victory Will Be NATO’s Defeat
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 11, 2022

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg AP Photo/Olivier MatthysJens Stoltenberg meets the media during a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, October 11, 2022 © AP / Olivier Matthys

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Tuesday that a military victory for Russia in Ukraine would spell defeat for the entire Western alliance. Despite providing “unprecedented support” to Kiev, Stoltenberg still claims that the US-led bloc is not a party to the conflict.

Addressing reporters on the eve of a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg declared that continued arms shipments to Ukraine are vital to ensure “that Ukraine wins the battle, the war against the invading Russian forces.”

However, this assistance has come at a price for the alliance’s own militaries. Germany’s weapons and ammo stocks have been critically depleted since late August. The same month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US’ stockpiles of 155mm artillery ammunition were “uncomfortably low.” Asked whether weakening its own forces to strengthen Ukraine’s is a wise policy, Stoltenberg described the conflict in Ukraine as existential to the alliance.

“If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wins, that is not only a big defeat for the Ukrainians, but it will be the defeat, and dangerous, for all of us,” he said.

NATO is heavily invested in Ukraine, with the alliance’s members providing training, intelligence capability, and tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Ukrainian military. Despite this “unprecedented support,” Stoltenberg has repeatedly claimed that “NATO is not a party to the conflict.”

Moscow sees things differently. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of waging war against Russia “by proxy,” while Putin has described Russia as fighting “the entire Western military machine” in Ukraine.

NATO leaders claim that their weapons systems have enabled Kiev’s troops to make a series of advances in the south and east of the country in recent weeks. However, with Moscow’s military operation under new command, these advances have come to a halt, and after two days of devastating Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets, Kiev is once again pleading with the West for heavier and longer-range weapons.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... os-defeat/

Recrudescence of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Zelensky’s Capitulation or Total Collapse of Europe
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 11, 2022
Yoselina Guevara López

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This Tuesday, October 11, the Russian Federation carried out a new massive attack against energy and military targets in Ukraine. According to information issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Armed Forces used in the operation long-range precision weapons, both air and sea, against military installations and pre-selected targets of the Ukrainian energy system.

There is no doubt that we are in the presence of an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in which Moscow has tried to be as restrained as possible, if this definition fits within a confrontation. We can affirm what has been said above given that the Russian response has been reasoned to an offensive from Ukraine which includes forceful facts: sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, the murder of Daria Dugina, the attack on the Crimean bridge, not to mention the attempts of incursion from the Ukrainian ranks towards the Russian border.

The Kremlin’s red line

The Crimean bridge had been singled out by President Vladimir Putin as an impassable “red line”, hence the attack on Saturday, October 8, is provoking a harsh response from Moscow. The missile barrage is not sparing any Ukrainian region: from the capital, Kiev, the cradle of Russia, to the port city of Odessa, the “Russian” pearl of the Black Sea, from the Russophone Kharkiv to the more nationalistic and central European Leopoli.

The extent of the Russian retaliation is underlined by the fact that at least three cruise missiles flew over the sky of neutral Moldova, which provoked the indignation of the Chișinau government, which immediately summoned the Russian Federation’s ambassador to Bessarabia Oleg Vasnecov. The fact that the high-explosive shells flew over the Cobasna ammunition depot, the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with more than 20 thousand tons of war material, is a cause for concern for the Moldovan authorities, who fear irreparable accidents.

Breakdown of negotiation channels

The explosion of a Russian missile near an SBU (Ukrainian intelligence) center in Kiev reveals Moscow’s growing propensity to physically liquidate Ukraine’s politico-military leaders. For the time being, government departments and presidential palaces have not been touched by Russian offensives, but this could change at any moment. Not attacking civilian and administrative buildings where negotiators were supposed to be was one way of trying to keep a dialogue channel active. But there was a fracture from the moment Zelensky signed Presidential Decree 679/2022 to expressly prohibit any negotiations with Russia for a cease-fire, thus scuttling any truce or even a hint of peace from Ukraine.

General Winter and collapse of Europe

The Russian missile offensive is hitting Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure at the gates of the winter season. Turning off the lights all over the Ukrainian territory is a way of announcing the arrival of “General Winter”; this operation is mainly affecting the civilian population. With the pressure at the energy level, Russia seems to be trying to bring Zelensky to capitulation, who flatly refuses to be the loser, even though he is dragging entire countries to the hecatomb, because it is not only Ukraine but Europe.

In addition to this stubbornness to continue feeding the Russia-Ukraine conflict from the West, European governments are making it clear that they care little about the lives that perish in Ukraine and even the economic collapse to which they are leading all EU countries without energy supplies from Russia. The only objective in sight is the continuity and submission of Europe to the designs of the United States in its drive against Russia with the help of its allies and NATO.

The predictions are clear, the inhabitants of the European countries will continue to rebel forcefully against the governments in power that sustain the Ukrainian adventure. It is precisely the populations of the Western nations who are the economic victims of the constant fighting in Ukraine, who send, from their pockets and tax payments, billions of euros and dollars in cash and weapons. The budgets of these states, being indirect participants in the conflicts, which already had huge deficits, are sinking into the abyss. The double-digit inflation is painfully affecting millions of families who will have no heating during the winter, and even at the most critical levels, not even enough to eat. Hundreds of large and small companies are closing, in countries with a manufacturing tradition such as Italy and Germany, therefore, unemployment will increase, which is a breeding ground for a generalized social outburst. A cold winter is approaching, but certainly one of protests in the old continent, we will see if its historical revolutionary tradition makes its presence felt.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... of-europe/

Since the beginning of this operation Russia has been reacting, which any chess player will tell you is the mark of doom. NATO has been pushing Russia's buttons, though the results have not always been as desired. That may change, I would not put it past Russia to launch a winter offensive even as they posture 'preparations'. That gambit worked pretty well for the Ukes of recent.

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PROSPECTS FOR A TURNING POINT IN THE NATO VS. RUSSIA
Oct 11, 2022 , 12:19 p.m.

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Russia destroyed this shopping center because, according to the Kremlin, it housed missile weapons of the Ukrainian army (Photo: Thomas Peter / Reuters)

Through the use of its strategic aviation and the launch of long-distance cruise missiles, Russia attacked important Ukrainian infrastructures, essentially military, electricity and telecommunications, on October 10, 2022. According to military analysts during these days, Russia also disabled through war electronic services of the satellite company Starlink (owned by billionaire Elon Musk), breaking the communications and operational intelligence of the Ukrainian forces.

Attacks were recorded in 14 Ukrainian cities including kyiv, its capital. Seven strategic targets were destroyed and at least 70% of the Ukrainian territory lost power.

The first of the most relevant pronouncements in the international arena regarding the event came from Vladimir Putin himself. The Russian president announced "a massive attack with high-precision and long-range weapons" from the air, sea and land "following the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and in accordance with the plan of the Russian General Staff."

Putin asserted that, in the event that the Ukrainian government continues with "attempts to carry out terrorist attacks" on Russian soil, Moscow's responses will be "harsh and corresponding to the level of threats" created against the country. This implies that Russia has responded to the attack in Moscow where Daria Dugina was killed, the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the recent attack on the bridge in Crimea, operations that have terrorist and covert patterns, which would have been carried out by Ukrainian authorities and in some cases with the collaboration of NATO countries, according to the Kremlin.

"No one should have any doubts about it," said the president, denouncing the "sabotage" on the Crimean bridge. It was a "terrorist attack aimed at destroying critical Russian civilian infrastructure."

Next, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell , pointed out : "These types of actions have no place in the 21st century. I condemn them in the strongest possible way. We are on Ukraine's side. Additional military support from the EU is on the way." .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian strikes "do not intimidate Ukraine." For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Russian attacks signify a "profound change in the nature of the war," referring to the civilian losses on Ukrainian soil.

MEANING OF THE RUSSIAN COUNTERATTACK
The recorded actions take on particular relevance because they occurred on a scale not seen since the Special Military Operation (OME) began, and because one of the precision missiles hit just meters from President Zelenski's official office, which has not occupied for months, according to reports.

The bombings in response to Ukraine's terrorist attacks against Russian civilians and infrastructure, now in a larger, more forceful presentation and in "anti-terrorist" actions, imply a change of course in the conflict, not only because of its story, but because of the type number of targets, mode of attack and level of fire used.

It is worth remembering that, for months, Russia refrained from attacking military buildings and government buildings in kyiv, making it clear that they have always been able to directly attack the political and military leadership of the country.

In operational terms, Russia managed to dismantle the belief that Ukraine's anti-missile shields have protected the capital. In reality Russia had determined not to attack as they have done now.

The focused but extended radius of effect blunt force used by Russia dramatically degraded Ukraine's energy capabilities, creating new logistical, operational, and communication problems for the entire country and thus for its armed forces.

Obviously the Russians further weaken the country's internal-operational front, but the shock wave goes beyond Ukraine. The Slavic country has been distributing electricity to the European Union (EU) via Romania since July , and now these possibilities have ceased just at the beginning of the coldest months.

After a prolonged period of calibration and attrition containment, which Ukraine used to reorganize, arm itself with Western support, and even recapture Russian-occupied ground, the Kremlin is ramping up its firepower to double down on creating conditions that could force a negotiation, not only with a militarily weakened Ukraine, but with a Europe degraded in terms of energy.

Russia intends to change the course of the war without ruling out that NATO's support for kyiv translates into continued wear and tear.

FUTURE PROSPECTS
The OME's initial plan was to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine, forcing it into neutrality and away from the Atlanticist axis. This process, in its beginnings, was not intended to be executed solely by the use of blunt force. Putin opted for breaking the lines of command and consolidating the goals of the OME through an orderly process and for an extended period of time. That is why Russia negotiated at the time, withdrew from the outskirts of kyiv and for months did not attack key targets in the capital.

The kidnapping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by pro-Nazis, the use of Ukraine as a NATO weapon against Russia, the annexation of new territories to the Federation and the painful prolongation of the war induced by the United States, imply a change of situation without going back and, therefore, a change of methods is imposed for the fulfillment of the objectives of the OME through a superior use of force.

Russia has shown that it did not want to annihilate the Ukrainian political and military high command and perhaps they do not intend to do so yet, understanding that they need a counterpart to be able to negotiate in the future. Additionally, Russia sends a message by elevation to the United States and Europe: not to back down, to be able to demolish the pinnacle of power in kyiv and not to give in to nuclear intimidation.

Their use of force acquires another kind of non-nuclear deterrent through the "counter-terrorist" response category. Putin has promised proportionality in the response, which also implies that this escalation will not continue at the current rate for a long time.

Finally, Moscow would be hoping to contain Ukraine while forcing Europe to negotiate. All this at the time of the winter energy crisis, the even more exorbitant increase in energy prices, the recession, and while the political crises in several European countries are becoming more acute.

Unless military events of immense proportion erupt, there are no solid indications to refer to any scenario with an outcome in the short term.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/pe ... n-vs-rusia

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Wed Oct 12, 2022 10:32 pm

Russia foils attack on Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

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The Russian government has denounced to the international community the execution of attacks by kyiv against the plant. | Photo: Sputnik
Published 12 October 2022

The interim head of the region, Evgueniy Bálitskiy, affirmed that the Russian forces eliminated 30 Ukrainian troops.

Authorities in the Zaporizhia region reported Wednesday that Russian security forces foiled an act of sabotage against the nuclear plant located near the city of Energodar.

The interim head of the region, Evgueniy Bálitskiy, announced that the plan of the Ukrainian terrorists to cross the Dnepr River to access what is considered the largest nuclear power plant in Europe was frustrated.

In this sense, Bálitskiy stated that "most of the boats were sunk during the night, there were about 30 (Ukrainian) troops killed" while noting that the rest of the saboteurs withdrew.


Similarly, the governor declared that it is impossible to create a security zone around the nuclear power plant until the line of the war front exceeds a distance of 100 kilometers

Accordingly, he stressed that “if one day we create this area and start up the plant, after 4 days they can launch attacks again. The nuclear power plant is not a toy, it cannot be connecting and disconnecting”.

On the other hand, the Zaporizhia security services informed the national media that at least one person was seriously injured as a result of an explosion in the Rizhski market located in the city of Melitopol.

At the same time, the source stated that an improvised explosive device was placed in the lower part of the roof of a point of sale located near the market.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rusia-fu ... -0009.html

Google Translator

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Russia Arrests Eight People for Attack on the Crimean Bridge

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Crimea’s Kerch Strait Bridge, Oct. 8, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @PoliticTriangle

Published 12 October 2022 (1 hours 19 minutes ago)

The attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge was organized by the Director of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

On Wednesday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of eight people involved in the bomb attack on the Crimean bridge on October 8.

Among the detainees are five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia. So far, the Russian authorities have identified the participation of 12 people in the terrorist attack.

The FSB and the Investigative Committee found that the attack on the Crimean bridge was organized by the Director of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

The explosive device placed in the truck that exploded on the bridge left Odessa in early August for the Bulgarian city of Ruse. Subsequently, the explosive material was transferred to Armenia, from where it entered Russia and was unloaded at a wholesale center in Armavir City.


In this city, the cargo documentation was altered in order to transport the explosives to Simferopol, the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. From there, the truck headed towards its final objective, the Kerch Strait Bridge.

Two sections of highway collapsed as a result of the bridge explosion. After this terrorist attack, Russian forces carried out retaliatory actions against Ukrainian energy, military, and communication facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country will respond proportionally if the Ukrainian government continues to carry out attacks on Russian territory.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0002.html

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Russia attacks US' longtime role in crisis
By REN QI in Moscow | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-10-12 09:12

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds a press conference during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters on Sept 24, 2022 in New York City. [Photo/Agencies]

Washington's hand cited by Lavrov, who says Moscow open to peace talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the United States has long been involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

The US has for a long time been participating de facto in the conflict that is "being controlled by the Anglo-Saxons", Lavrov told Russian state television.

Lavrov said that officials including White House national security spokesman John Kirby had said the US was open to talks but that Russia had refused.

"This is a lie," Lavrov said. "We have not received any serious offers to make contact."

Russia will not turn down a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden at a forthcoming G20 meeting and would consider the proposal if it receives one, Lavrov said.

Russia was willing to listen to any suggestions regarding peace talks, but that he could not say in advance what this process will lead to, he added.

Russia will respond to the West's growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict although direct conflict with NATO is not in Moscow's interests, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday after Washington pledged more military aid for Kyiv.

"We warn and hope that they realize the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals," Sergey Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency on Tuesday.

Ukraine on Monday said it needed to strengthen its air defense following Russia's retaliation for an attack on a strategic bridge in Crimea.

Biden promised to provide advanced air defense systems, and the Pentagon said on Sept 27 it would start delivering the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System over the next two months or so.

Biden and the Group of Seven leaders held a virtual meeting on Tuesday to discuss their commitment to support Ukraine.

Putin said he ordered "massive" long-range strikes after accusing Ukraine of an attack on the bridge in Crimea on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Biden on Monday and wrote on Telegram that air defense was the "number 1 priority in our defense cooperation".

Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said more Western help for Ukraine raised the risk of a wider conflict.

Risks increased

"Such assistance, as well as providing Kyiv with intelligence, instructors and combat guidelines, leads to further escalation and increased the risks of a clash between Russia and NATO," Antonov told media.

Ukrainian news portal Strana reported on Tuesday the emergency messages read that explosions were highly likely during the day. Residents were being alerted to stay in shelters and not to ignore air alert notifications.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Washington's encouragement of Ukraine's "bellicose mood" complicates diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict, and it warned of countermeasures against the US and Europe over their involvement.

"We repeat once again specially for the American side: the tasks that we set in Ukraine will be solved," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on the ministry's website.

"Russia is open for diplomacy and the conditions are well known. The longer Washington encourages Kyiv's bellicose mood and encourages rather than hinders the terrorist undertakings of Ukrainian saboteurs, the more difficult will be the search for diplomatic solutions."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing on Tuesday that China maintains communication with all parties, and the country is ready to play a constructive part in de-escalation efforts.

It is important for all parties to engage in dialogue for the de-escalation of the situation, she said.

Turkiye on Tuesday called for a viable cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible, saying that both sides were moving away from diplomacy as the conflict dragged on.

"A cease-fire must be established as soon as possible. The sooner the better," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview.

"Unfortunately (both sides) have quickly moved away from diplomacy" since talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul in March, Cavusoglu said.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20221 ... 7be7c.html

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NATO TO HOLD NUCLEAR DETERRENT EXERCISES
11 Oct 2022 , 5:20 p.m.

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the press conference on Tuesday, October 11 (Photo: EFE)

The climate of war heats up even more in Europe after Russia responded to the terrorist attack perpetrated against the Crimean Bridge. And it is that NATO's reaction, beyond trying to calm things down, what it does is add a more dangerous nuance to the conflict.

This Tuesday, October 11, the secretary of the organization, Jens Stoltenberg, assuming the attack against the Ukrainian critical infrastructure as a defeat, said that it is very important for them that Ukraine win the war against Russia, because, if it loses, it will be a defeat for the block.

In this regard, he announced that NATO will carry out nuclear deterrence exercises next week, known as 'Steadfast Noon'.

Likewise, he also announced that the defense and deterrence systems will be reinforced and the Alliance's infrastructure will be protected against Russian threats.

For its part, Russia called for not artificially inflating the nuclear threat. "The United States and its satellites must not escalate the issue of a possible nuclear attack by Russia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Nuclear war is once again on the table of war events in Europe and this rhetoric is increasingly used. Stoltenberg's argument is that if Putin "wins," the world will be more dangerous. However, the one who is pushing the world towards these catastrophic scenarios is NATO, led by Washington.

https://misionverdad.com/la-otan-realiz ... on-nuclear

SERBIA AND HUNGARY AGREE TO BUILD OIL PIPELINE TO CIRCUMVENT EU "SANCTIONS"
Oct 11, 2022 , 1:07 p.m.

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This pipeline will go through Hungary to Russia and the pipeline will be called "Friendship" (Photo: Kirill Kukhmar / TASS)

Serbia and Hungary will circumvent European Union (EU) "sanctions" against Russia by building their own pipeline. The decision follows the blackmail of the EU, which threatened Serbia with cutting off Russian oil supplies through Croatia.

This pipeline will go through Hungary to Russia and the pipeline will be called "Friendship". It was agreed by Budapest and Belgrade so that Serbia can receive Russian crude after the supply through the pipeline that currently passes through Croatia is cut off, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said on Monday, October 10.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintains good relations with Moscow, and Serbia is an autonomous country of the Atlanticist catechism that maintains traditional friendly ties with Russia.

"Prime Minister Orbán has agreed to build a pipeline to Hungary. This new pipeline would allow Serbia to be supplied with the cheapest crude from the Urals (Russia), connecting with the Druzhba pipeline," spokesman Zoltán Kovács wrote . German.

According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the 128-kilometre pipeline would reach the Hungarian refinery in Algyö, near the border with Serbia, and will take about two years to build. He also detailed that it will cost about 100 million euros.

The oil that Serbia currently imports from Russia arrives by sea to Croatia, and from there through a pipeline. This country is highly dependent on Russia for its oil supply. Hungary imports 65% of its oil and 85% of its gas from Russia.

https://misionverdad.com/serbia-y-hungr ... s-de-la-ue

Google Translator

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APPRAISAL OF THE RECENT PERFORMANCE OF RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE IN THE UKRAINE

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By John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with

“Least said, soonest mended.”

Uriah Heep, one of Charles Dickens’ evilest characters, said it to silence his mother who was about to expose him.

Dickens made sure his readers didn’t miss the point. “Though I had long known that his servility was false, and all his pretences knavish and hollow, I had had no adequate conception of the extent of his hypocrisy, until I now saw him with his mask off. The suddenness with which he dropped it, when he perceived that it was useless to him; the malice, insolence, and hatred, he revealed; the leer with which he exulted, even at this moment, in the evil he had done – all this time being desperate too, and at his wits’ end for the means of getting the better of us – though perfectly consistent with the experience I had of him, at first took even me by surprise, who had known him so long, and disliked him so heartily.”

David Copperfield was doing this thinking in print in 1850; the maxim Heep used on his mother was already a hoary one. But in the 170 years which have expired since then, the meaning has softened. The expression is now uttered by elderly English people to refer to difficult situations, not always false or malicious ones.

During the Soviet period, it was the Russian custom to adapt this maxim to reading Pravda and other official newspapers, so that the real meaning should be read between the lines, and not printed visibly or said aloud. Whether and what this custom mended used to become clear in time. Sometimes, a very long time.

This Russian custom of public writing and reading continues. It should be applied to the analysis of the recent performance of the Russian foreign intelligence agency, the SVR, just published in Vzglyad by Yevgeny Krutikov, a military intelligence officer of the GRU before he became a journalist.

The article follows in unofficial translation into English, without interpolation, explanation, or comment — according to the same old English maxim.

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Source: https://vz.ru/


Russian intelligence begins work in Ukraine with a clean slate
Russian foreign intelligence has really not really dealt with Ukrainian issues for decades.
October 11, 2022,
Text: Evgeny Krutikov

The leadership of the Russian foreign intelligence service has declared that Ukraine has passed through the path of transformation into a fascist state in just one generation. Paradoxically, all this time the Russian special services have not been able to monitor what was happening in a neighbouring and so important a state for us. How did this happen and what to do about it today?

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation, Sergei Naryshkin (lead image, left), said that a group of ‘totalitarian-liberal regimes of the West’ turned Ukraine into their tool and established a dictatorship of fascism there. According to him, the transformation of the country took place in a single generation. He called it a tragedy that the prosperous Ukraine that was is no longer there. The head of the SVR emphasized that Russia is obliged to fight this.

Naryshkin delivered his speech during the opening ceremony of the exhibition ‘Evidence of the crimes of the Ukrainian Nazis and their accomplices.’ The exposition is based on eyewitness statements, as well as materials which were brought from the special operation zone.

A week earlier on September 30, Sergei Naryshkin said that the SVR ‘began to extract information that will help the Russian military during a special operation (SVO) in Ukraine.” According to him, the intelligence is aimed at obtaining operational and tactical information necessary for victory ‘on the battlefield.’ In addition, Naryshkin noted, the urgent task of the SVR remains to obtain information which contributes to the adoption of the most important foreign policy decisions by the country’s leadership. As an example he cited Kim Philby, who during the Great Patriotic War obtained information about the upcoming German offensive on the Kursk Bulge.

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Left: German Army disposition map before the Battle of Kursk began in July 1943: for enlarged view and analysis of the early intelligence advantage of the Red Army, click to read. Right: Kim Philby in his coffin, with his widow Rufina Pukhova, at Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow, May 1988. Illustrations added for this publication.

The words of the chief of Russian intelligence that the SVR ‘began’ to extract information on Ukraine require clarification. The fact is that Russian foreign intelligence has not really dealt with Ukrainian issues for decades.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russian intelligence was formed in the specific conditions which were determined by the political position of the government of Boris Yeltsin and its seasonal fluctuations. One of those conditions was a peculiar and not always objectively motivated relationship with the countries of the post-Soviet space.

In particular, an agreement was quickly reached at the informal level on the mutual rejection of operations of the new national intelligence agencies against each other. That is, the CIS countries refused to spy against each other (alternatively, to engage in intelligence activities against each other’s national interests and on foreign territory), because all friends had grown out of the same cradle. And friends don’t spy on each other. Then the informal agreements were supported by the relevant documents.

The Ukraine has been one of the founders of the CIS since 1991, although it bargained constantly, literally for every item. In particular, Kiev signed the declaration on the formation of the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States], and the Rada adopted the relevant law. But in 1993, the Rada did not approve the CIS Charter, bidding instead for their own takeover of the former USSR and its financial assets. In general, the whole history of the Ukrainian state is the history of haggling with the entire surrounding world. As a result, Ukraine turned out to be a founding member of the CIS, but not an actual member of the Commonwealth.

In 2014 the process of Ukraine’s final withdrawal from the organization, to which it did not actually belong, began; and this was completed in 2018 in fact, but not in law. Nevertheless, a significant part of the internal processes in Ukraine is still determined by the agreements which were concluded within the framework of the CIS. For example, about pension payment, mutual recognition of diplomas, legal aid, and the like; that is, things which are really important for the people with a Ukrainian passport.

A paradoxical situation has developed in the intelligence community. If we approach it from the point of view of the letter of the law, then it was impossible to work against Ukraine on the territory of the Ukraine, because it is, as it were, in the CIS. In general, though, relations with Kiev were not so tense. They were just nonexistent. For twenty years few people in the intelligence community noticed Ukraine at all or took it seriously.

It’s amazing, but the 40-million piece of the former USSR was on the periphery of the attention of Russian intelligence. During this period of time, control was lost, or at least due attention was not paid to those internal trends which the head of the SVR now speaks of as ‘the transformation of the country in one generation’ into a fascist society.

I must say that at the grassroots level, the mutual refusal to work against each other was supported sentimentally. In the Soviet Union, all the intelligence officers of the post-Soviet countries studied together and many not only knew each other well, but they were also friends.

There were special training courses for national cadres of the KGB of the USSR (in Minsk and Kiev), where young cadres from all over the big country studied in the interests of a single organization. For the most part, they returned to where they came from to study. Not everyone got into what is now called the Intelligence Academy in the forest near Moscow, but the Minsk advanced courses (from a year to two, depending on the initial level of knowledge of the cadet) were a melting pot.

These people didn’t really want to work against each other; they did not understand why they should, and they thought this on an emotional level. The exceptions were Armenians and Azerbaijanis, but that’s an eternal, almost biblical story.

Sergei Naryshkin recalled Kim Philby, which is quite significant. The fact is that the whole context described above led to the fact that information on Ukraine could only be obtained from sources in third countries. Relatively speaking, employees or sources of Russian intelligence could get some information about Ukraine – but accidentally, someplace in London or Warsaw. And it doesn’t matter which place. The agency went to the source. That’s all. Even if and when this happened, such information had to be processed and evaluated by the political and administrative structures. Recall that the intelligence service itself does not take any action on its own information. The organization brings these materials to those who then make decisions.

And for a long time no decisions were made. At the moment when it suddenly became necessary to cope with the political and social trends which had already gained strength in Ukraine, they decided to cope with them in ways which were considered politically effective at that time. That is, by intrigue. It is difficult to weigh in the balance here factors which are not comparable: how thorough was the intelligence information? Or was it simply ignored by those individuals who had been accustomed over the long decade of the 1990s used to rely on other data sources and other methods of work?

This is an old dispute, what is more important — the information itself or its assessment and interpretation. Now Sergei Naryshkin says that the SVR has started purposeful work on Ukrainian topics. At a minimum, this means the removal of legal restrictions on obtaining such information. This is already a lot, but we should not wait for a miracle. After all, we are talking about strategic information, and not about battalion intelligence for which completely different people are responsible.

In addition, there are other intelligence systems which also need to prove their competence. This is also an eternal competition and sometimes this has a positive effect on the results. But often the outcome depends on the level of the competence to start with of those who participate in this competition.

If we talk about methodology, now the set of intelligence tools is significantly limited. This is not just about the radical reduction in the number of embassy residencies over almost all of the world. Due to the circumstances described above, there has not been even this basic organizational line in the work in Ukraine, nor in general in the countries of the former USSR.

Even in Transcaucasia, where the chaos has not stopped for decades, there was no clear administrative management. There was also no purposeful training on the realities of the Baltic states. And this has been a systemic problem, the roots of which go back to the shaky foundations of the 1990s.

Thus, now this work will have to start, if not from scratch, then on fundamentally different organizational and ideological foundations. There is no longer any ‘fighting brotherhood’ of those who studied together. In Kiev we are dealing with a new generation which is no longer emotionally or historically connected to Russia or the USSR; it has been brought up on western principles of work. Now, moreover, we can forget about the lost decades because the situation in Ukraine itself is no longer connected to the circumstances of that time. Now this is a completely new field, which must be processed [обрабатывать] as if we are seeing it for the first time. This is a kind of new challenge that needs to be approached in a new way.


http://johnhelmer.net/appraisal-of-the- ... more-69004

Goes a long way in explaining some of the bad assumptions made by the Russians in the planning and early execution of the operation.


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Vladimir Putin’s Remarks at the Russian Energy Week International Forum Plenary Session
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 12, 2022

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Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week International Forum. The topic of the panel discussion is Global Energy in a Multipolar World.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to welcome all the participants and guests of Russian Energy Week, a respected and recognised platform for dialogue on key global energy topics.

Such direct and transparent communication is essential now, when the global economy in general, the fuel and energy sector are in the middle of, let me be direct, an acute crisis due to unstable price dynamics of energy resources, an imbalance in supply and demand, and the overtly subversive actions of individual market participants, who are guided solely by their own geopolitical ambitions, resort to outright discrimination in the market, and if that does not work, they simply destroy the infrastructure of their competitors.

In this case, I am of course talking about the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. There is no doubt that this is an act of international terrorism, the purpose of which is to undermine the energy security of the entire continent. The logic is cynical: to destroy and block cheap energy sources, hence depriving millions of people, industrial consumers of gas, heat, electricity and other resources and forcing them to buy all this at much higher prices. Forcing.

The attack on the Nord Streams has set an extremely dangerous precedent, which shows that any critical piece of transport, energy or communications infrastructure is under threat, regardless of its location, management or whether it lies on the seabed or on land.

It was proven by, well, it may not be the right place to talk about this, as Russian Energy Week is not directly related. However, I must say that it was proven by the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge committed by Ukrainian intelligence. I have already said that the Kiev regime has long resorted to terrorist methods, organising political assassinations, ethnic purges and crackdowns on civilians. They upload results on the internet, and then realise it was a mistake and immediately delete them. But the content stays online. They do not stop at nuclear terrorism either, specifically the shelling of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, terrorist attacks near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia and, of course, sabotage attempts against TurkStream.

I would like to repeat that there is solid documented evidence. These crimes were plotted and ordered by the end beneficiaries seeking instability and conflicts.

And who stands behind the sabotage against the Nord Streams? Clearly, those who want to completely sever ties between Russia and the European Union, to fully undermine and crush Europe’s political agency, weaken its industrial potential and seize the market. And, of course, those who – I want to stress it – have the technical capacity to organise such explosions and in fact have committed similar sabotage in the past and were caught red-handed but evaded punishment.

The beneficiaries are well known. I believe no specific details are necessary since the remaining gas systems will acquire greater geopolitical significance. They stretch across Poland (Yamal‒Europe), and Ukraine, the two pipelines that Russia once built with its own money. And, of course, the United States, which will now be able to supply energy resources at high rates.

As they say, in decent companies, this is “highly likely.” Everything is clear. It is obvious who stands behind this and who stands to gain.

Now it is possible to impose large volumes of LNG from the United States on European countries, LNG which is obviously less competitive than Russian pipeline gas. After all, the price of American LNG is much higher, and this was common knowledge before. Now the difference is even greater and there are additional risks. The risks lie in high instability – any supplies may float away to other countries. Incidentally, we watched this happen quite recently, when American tankers carrying LNG to Europe turned around halfway and changed their destinations because LNG sellers were offered a higher price elsewhere. They ignored the interests of their European customers.

I would like to recall who helped Europe at that time and sent additional gas supplies to the European market. It was Russia. However, the leaders of these countries prefer not to recall this. Moreover, they deem it possible to reproach us for being “unreliable.” Do we deny supplies to them? We are ready to ship and we are providing them with all the quantities, as agreed under our contracts. We are supplying them with all the contractual amounts. But if someone does not want to take our product, what do we have to do with this? That is your decision.

I have noted many times that the Nord Stream lacks any political background. It is a strictly commercial project, in which Russian and European companies take part on equal terms. Hence, Russia and our partners in EU countries should resolve the future of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.

It is certainly possible to repair the damaged gas pipelines that run under the Baltic Sea. But this will make sense only if their further use is economically feasible and the safety of their routes can be ensured – this is the fundamental prerequisite.

If we come to an agreement with the Europeans to supply gas through the surviving branch – and one branch of Nord Stream 2, apparently, has survived… Unfortunately, we are not allowed to help inspect this branch, but the pipeline is holding pressure. It might be damaged, but we do not know this, because as I have said, we are not allowed to inspect it, but there is pressure, which means, apparently, that it is in working order. Its capacity is 27.5 billion cubic metres per year, which is about 8 percent of Europe’s gas imports.

Russia is ready to begin deliveries. The ball is in the EU’s court. If they want to, they can just turn on the tap and that is that. I repeat that we are not restricting anyone or anything, and are ready to supply additional volumes in the autumn and winter period.

We have spoken more than once, including at the Russian Energy Week platform, about the causes and nature of the crisis that is unfolding in the European market, including their excessive enthusiasm over renewable energy sources to the detriment of hydrocarbons. Of course, alternative types of energy should be explored – solar, wind, tidal and hydrogen energy. We need to explore them all, but we need to take into account the current volume of consumption, the growth rates of the global economy, the demand for energy resources and the level of technological development. But jumping the gun, for political reasons, especially populist domestic policies – come on, who does that? But this is what they did – and here is the result. The same holds true for the curtailment of nuclear energy, as well as the rejection of long-term contracts in the gas sector and the shift to exchange quotations.

Incidentally, according to expert estimates, this year alone, the spot gas pricing mechanics have caused Europe more than 300 billion euros in losses – about 2 percent of the Eurozone’s GDP. This could have been avoided if they stuck to long-term oil-linked contracts. You are all professionals and must understand what I am saying: the price difference between the spot market and long-term contracts is three- or four-fold. And who did it? Was it Russia? They did it themselves. In fact, they imposed this trading system on us. They have essentially forced Gazprom to shift, in part, to a link to the spot market, and now they are groaning. Well, it is their own fault.

It is clear how this problem of high rates will be solved. We have seen the same strategy being used with other commodity groups. They simply print more money. In the past year alone, the money supply in the EU has increased by around one trillion euros. The problem is what Europe is going to do with this money. Europe will, just like with other goods, including food, grab them and gas from the global market. As a result, other countries, especially developing countries, will have to overpay for these energy resources.

The resources that come to the European market are sold literally triple the price, as I have said, and this feeds inflation. It has already reached 10 percent in the euro zone. It is hitting ordinary Europeans as their electricity and gas bills have more than tripled over the past year. The European population is stocking up on wood for winter, like in the Middle Ages.

What does Russia have to do with it? They are constantly trying to blame others for their own mistakes, in this case Russia. I want to stress again that it is their own fault. It is not even a result of certain actions during the special military operation in Ukraine and Donbass. Absolutely not. It is the result of years and years of bad energy policy. Years and years.

Rising costs are crippling local companies. Some industries are experiencing production decline in the double digits. Deprived of affordable energy resources from Russia, European businesses have to shut down and look for better conditions in other jurisdictions. This process is underway.

I cannot help but quote some statistical data. According to EU statistics, exports to Russia amounted to 89.3 billion euros in 2021 and imports from Russia to 162.5 billion euros. The deficit in Russia’s favour is 73.2 billion euros. That is data for 2021. In the early months of 2022, this deficit increased to 103.2 billion euros.

What caused it? We sell our goods and we are ready to buy European products, but they refuse to sell them. They imposed embargos on several categories of goods one after another, hence the deficit. What does this have to do with us? They will blame us again. We sell what they want to buy – and at market rates. We are ready to buy from them but they will not sell. The deficit keeps growing, to repeat, through no fault of our own. Just do not walk away from cooperating with Russia. That is it.

I would like to note – as European officials at the highest level also mentioned – that European wellbeing in the past decades has been mainly based on cooperation with Russia.

The consequences of the partial rejection of Russian goods are already hitting the European economy and residents. But instead of working on restoring their own competitive advantage in the form of affordable and reliable Russian energy sources, the Eurozone countries are only making the situation worse, including by capping the price of oil and oil products from our country. But it is not only European countries; they are doing this together with North America, as planned, beginning December of this year.

I will quote the American economist, Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman: “If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers cannot sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you will have a tomato shortage. It is the same with oil or gas,” end of quote. Let me remind you that Milton Friedman passed away in 2006. He had nothing to do with the Russian government and cannot be designated as a Russian agent of influence.

It would seem that these are truisms. But the leaders of some countries, their bureaucratic elites dismiss these obvious considerations, and, on someone else’s command, are deliberately pursuing a policy of deindustrialising their countries, reducing people’s quality of life, which will certainly entail irreversible consequences.

It should be clearly understood that if the price of oil from Russia or other countries is limited, if some artificial price caps are imposed, this will inevitably worsen the investment climate in the entire global energy sector, then exacerbate the global shortage of energy resources and further increase their cost, and this, I repeat, will primarily hit the poorest countries. These inevitable consequences are plain to see. And experts, including world-class ones – I just gave you a quote – talk about it all the time.

No amount of intervention or the unsealing of oil reserves will remedy the situation. They simply do not have as much spare resources as they need – that is the whole point. They need to understand this eventually.

The fact is that aggressive promotion of the green agenda, which, of course, needs support, as I said, but it should be done right, so, the aggressive promotion of this agenda, including in the euro area, has led to underinvestment in the global oil and gas sector. Already. Meanwhile, the EU and the United States have imposed sanctions on leading oil producers, which make up about 20 percent of the global output.

As a result, in 2020–2021, investment in oil and gas production dropped to the lowest levels in the past 15 years. You see, it happened in 2020 and 2021, long before our special operation in Donbass. Investment was less than half of what it was in 2014 in the wake of what the so-called Western politicians did, and businesses underinvested by $2.5 trillion. I will come to that later: what does the OPEC+ decision have to do with it? The OPEC+ decision is designed solely to balance the global market. They have found their scapegoat in OPEC+. What does it have to do with anything? Clearly, to reiterate, they are simply covering up their mistakes. I will come to that later.

There is one more important point. Suppose the oil price cap is imposed. Who can guarantee that a similar cap will not be imposed in other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, the production of semiconductors, fertilisers, or the metal industry, and not only with regard to Russia, but to any other country? No one can give such guarantees, meaning that with their reckless decisions, some Western politicians are breaking the global market economy and are, in fact, posing a threat to the well-being of billions of people.

The so-called neo-liberal ideologists of the West are known to have destroyed traditional values before, we all see. Now, they seem to have set their sights on free enterprise and private initiative.

As I mentioned earlier, Russia invariably fulfills its obligations in stark contrast to Western countries, which cynically refused to honour signed finance and technology, as well as equipment supply and maintenance contracts.

I am here to say one thing: Russia will not act contrary to common sense or underwrite someone else’s prosperity. We are not going to supply energy to the countries that introduce price caps. I want to tell those who prefer con jobs and shameless blackmail to business partnerships and market mechanisms – we have been living in this political paradigm for decades now – you should know that we will not do anything that disadvantages us.

We strongly believe that stability, balanced energy markets and a secure future for all nations can only be ensured through joint efforts in an open and honest dialogue based on the principles of joint responsibility and consideration for each other’s national interests.

This is the kind of dialogue we have established with our partners under the OPEC+ agreement, as I have just mentioned. As you know, we recently reached the most recent agreements, which primarily reflect supply and demand trends for oil, as well as long-term investment programmes for the oil industry, which, as I have already said, is objectively underfunded.

In October, the quota for oil production in our countries will remain at the August 2022 level, and then it will be cut by 2 million barrels per day. We hope that these decisions will suit both oil producers and consumers. At the same time, the coordination between the OPEC+ partners will certainly continue to ensure the stability and predictability of the market. Experts know that predictability is the key issue.

Colleagues,

Russia is one of the key participants in the global energy market and among the world leaders in oil and gas production and exports, as well as electricity generation and coal mining.

Despite the sanctions and sabotage of infrastructure, we do not intend to cede our positions. We will continue to ensure stable energy security and expand ties with countries that are interested in this.

Oil production in Russia has already recovered and is even slightly higher than last year. We plan that by 2025, our total oil exports, as well as production, will remain approximately at today’s level.

There is something I would like to note. In recent decades, Russian oil production has been largely dependent on foreign equipment and services, but by 2025, we plan to increase the share of domestic equipment in the industry to 80 percent. That is, despite the Western companies leaving the Russian market (they are only making it worse for themselves), we will be able to ensure oil production at the required level.

To be continued….

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... y-session/

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

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forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z
Military expert Boris Rozhin on the main points during the special military operation ofthe Russian Federation in Ukraine at 21.00 Moscow time on 10/12/2022 especially forthe channel Voenkor Kotenok Z @voenkorKotenok :
slightly push the APU from Kremennaya . It is too early to talkabout the capture of Torsky . The enemy has strengthened his Krasnoliman grouping, and here we can expect renewed attempts at offensive operations. 2. On Svatovsky




direction, the enemy still has the initiative and continues to try to advance towards Svatovo , feeling for vulnerabilities in the front of the RF Armed Forces. So far, the attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have not brought them tangible results, the front is holding on here, although again it is too early to say that the situation here has stabilized. Some sources claim that the problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in addition to the strikes and resistance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, are associated with interruptions in the operation of satellite communication systems, the nature of which is not completely clear.

3. In the Artemovsk direction, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fully own the initiative and are attacking the southern and southeastern outskirts of Artemovsk .
Our troops are advancing near Experienced , Vesela Dolina and Ivangrad. There are also fighting on the eastern outskirts of the city. There are regular arrivals in Artemovsk itself.

4. In the Donetsk direction, the RF Armed Forces are attacking in Pervomaisky and in the direction of Netaylovo . The pace of progress is low.
In Marinka and Ugledar - no changes.

5. On the Kherson , Krivoy Rog and Nikopol directions, the enemy launched a series of attacks with limited forces, but had no serious success.
Our troops continue to hold the line, but the situation here remains difficult.

***

Colonelcassad

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The situation in the Starobelsky direction
as of 15.00 October 12, 2022

🔻In the Kupyansky sector , the Armed Forces of Ukraine are developing an offensive against Russian positions near the village of Olshana , where the 14th mechanized brigade was able to gain a foothold on the outskirts of the settlement.

At the same time, the 1st battalion of the formation struck at the Pershotravneve - Orlyank line with the task of penetrating the Russian defensive lines and reaching Olshana from the flank.

The formations of the 2nd battalion of the 14th ombr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the nationalist battalion "Kraken" managed to temporarily push the Russian troops out of the vicinity of Kislovka and enter from the western outskirts of the settlement. However, under the blows of tank units and artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , the enemy was driven out of Kislovkawith big losses.

The RF Armed Forces regained control over the front line of defense. During the fighting, more than 50 members of Ukrainian formations were eliminated, four tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and three Kirpi armored personnel carriers were destroyed.

▪️On the left flank in the Tavolzhansky sector, the Armed Forces of Ukraine took up positional defense, personnel are being rotated. The Ukrainian command withdrew subordinate units from the Dvurechny area due to the massive fire impact of the RF Armed Forces.

To cover from air strikes and counter Russian UAVs, an anti-aircraft missile battalion of the 14th ombr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is deployed in Dvurechnaya .

🔻On the Limansko-Svatovsky section in the direction of Terna , 60 people from 118 troop troop units were deployed. In Yampolovka , the evacuation of non-combat-ready personnel was carried out. Several detachments of English-speaking mercenaries were brought to the Dibrovsky direction.

The enemy tried to regain lost positions and force the Zherebets River in the areas of Raygorodok , Karmazinovka , Rozovka , Novolyubovka and Makeevka . Russian servicemen repelled the attack, destroying three infantry fighting vehicles, two armored combat vehicles and several dozen people of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

At the moment, the RF Armed Forces have managed to regain control over the left bank of the Zherebets River . The settlement Torskoye is located in the gray zone.

***

Colonelcassad

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The battle for Kherson: the situation in the Andreevsky and Berislavsky sections
as of 14.00 October 12, 2022

🔻On the Andreevsky sector, units of the 35th separate brigade of the Marine Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the Kostromka - Ischenko line . The RF Armed Forces repelled the attack, destroying ten pieces of equipment, including two tanks and three armored combat vehicles.

At the same time, in the 35th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine yesterday , several dozen people from the 137th battalion of the formation refused to advance on Bruskinskoe . And on October 5, 66 servicemen of the 88th battalion left Belogorka without permission . The main reason for not following orders is sending people to be slaughtered.

▪️To supply the Ukrainian grouping, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will use crossings over the Ingulets . Another pontoon was built north of Davydov Brod , which reduced the load on other sections.

▪️Ammunition was delivered in the vicinity of Belaya Krinitsa , and an AN / TPQ-50 counter-battery radar was deployed in the Andreevka area.

▪️Due to the losses suffered by the formations of the 46th brigade, the personnel of the 74th separate reconnaissance battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred to Davydov Brod .

🔻On the Berislav sector of the offensive, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing to resume the offensive. Ukrainian artillery and aviation are firing at the front line of defense of the RF Armed Forces.

▪️A regular meeting of the commanders of the 17th tank brigade was held in Ukrainka . And the leadership of the 60th brigade moved the command post to Novonikolaevka .

▪️To the north of Borozensky , an ATGM crew of the 46th separate airmobile brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is located. Armored vehicles moved from Ukrainka towards Chervonoye . A supply depot has been set up in Belyaevka .

▪️Two battalions of mobilized citizens are being trained at the training grounds in Krivoy Rog and Apostolovo . Their dispatch to the war zone is scheduled for the end of the week.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Thu Oct 13, 2022 12:13 pm

a strange war
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/13/2022

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Original Article: Antifashist

Military expert and former member of the General Staff, retired Colonel Konstantin Sivkov believes that the attacks by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation against Ukrainian infrastructure are a warning. "Moscow is making it clear to kyiv that if the Ukrainian authorities up the ante, the next step will be attacks on decision centers," he opines. In fact, this argument is nothing more than the repetition of something that has already been said before at the highest level. It turns out that our command and political authorities conduct their military operations in Ukraine according to the “eye for an eye” principle, understanding that their activity increases only in response to acts of the Ukrainian security services, such as the attack on the Crimean bridge.

The importance of the bridge is of status, but also as an operational line: it is one of the ways to guarantee the supply of the front. It is one, but not the only one. Right now, the supply to the troops of the special military operation at the front continues, although not through the Crimean route, but by land route and the Sea of ​​Azov, through Mariupol and Berdyansk.

What is the result of two days of missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and control structures of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other security forces? In almost the entire country there have been blackouts, partial loss of mobile communications and difficulties in accessing the internet. Is not that much. All this can be rebuilt in a month and a half. If you listen to what was said at the highest level, this action is temporary. Moreover, nothing similar has been done after the bombing of regions bordering Ukraine: Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, or recently Russian territories such as the LPR, the DPR, Zaporozhie and Kherson.

Today, while Ukraine was under massive missile fire, the Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire on the border regions of the Russian Federation, as they have done on other occasions. It's a strange war, right? The command reacts harshly only to specific acts, while remaining defensive the rest of the time. Apart from the generally passive impact on Ukraine's energy and transport systems and control structure, Russian troops do not have the initiative on the front lines. Actually, they have given it to the enemy a long time ago.

That raises the question of whether it is possible to win wars by conducting military operations in this way. It is not. You can criticize me for the style, but these conclusions come from having become familiar with military matters, having studied at one of the highest military institutions in the Soviet Union, and having served actively in command positions. To this should be added that it is at least stupid to offer the enemy a seat at the negotiating table without any success at the front. From a position of weakness, it is impossible to convince the enemy to surrender. The enemy can only be forced to ask for mercy after unbearable conditions have been created for his existence. First he must be defeated at the front, not just once, but bring his army to a state of collapse. This is the only way to bring the enemy to beg for negotiations. Not the other way around.

To break the enemy, it is necessary to carry out military operations with all your forces, offensively and progressively, increasing the level, without giving the enemy a minute of rest or the opportunity to recover or regroup their defeated troops. And the idea of ​​a gesture of goodwill towards the enemy should not even arise. In that case, the opponent sees a weakness and the initiative is lost instead of achieving a decisive victory during these pauses. The breaks and pauses caused by the urgent need to pull in reserves and the rear indicate poor military planning. The lack of supply of material and technical means indicates a poor job of both the military administration and the services in the rear. And they may indicate that the armed forces are not prepared for military operations.

In these circumstances, it would be better not to initiate military operations, but once the confrontation has begun, it is necessary to fight resolutely, without stopping to think about the assessment of the international community or the verbiage of Western politicians or the liberal of our compatriots.

Let's say that everything that has happened since February 24 of this year had occurred on the basis of decisions made from an incorrect assessment of the situation, the state of the enemy troops and their own. When entering the battle, it is better not to think about retreat, the only way out of the situation is to fix things, grit your teeth whatever the difficulties. As they say, there is no evil that does not come for good. Russia has an opportunity to reorganize its army, become battle-hardened and get rid of the surplus in the Armed Forces and in the power structures at the local and state levels.

The current situation will also help deal with the disaster of the country's military-industrial complex and strengthen the accountability system. There is also an opportunity to assess the weaknesses and errors of military construction and determine the concepts of future conflicts, something that will allow to correctly assess the direction of the development of advanced weapons and military strategy.

For example, in the 1990s and in the first decade of this century we didn't want to hear anything from the Armed Forces about unmanned aerial vehicles, which were considered a waste of time. Now we see that everything is moving in a direction where drones will soon be the basis of combat operations on land, sea and in the air. By the way, temporary interruptions in attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure may be due to the fact that for each massive attack it is necessary to accumulate large quantities of long-range and high-precision projectiles and that the military industry does not have the capacity to produce them in sufficient quantities on a regular basis. continued.

Now we know that you can come out of the war in Ukraine as winners or losers. The defeat would imply the collapse of Russia. So it is necessary to act on the basis of this certainty. That is, we have no right to lose.

What more can be said. One thing is striking: the absence of Terminator armored battle tanks on the frontlines (although it has been announced that they are on their way to the front lines). There is no information on the use of modern electronic warfare systems, counter-battery warfare, laser weapons and other examples ostentatiously presented at military exhibitions and forums. It is also reported that the Ukrainian troops have begun to use more of their tank forces. Where are our anti-tank weapons capable of destroying the armor with the most advanced protection? The lack of drones, modern secure communication systems, and thermal imaging are also problematic for our troops, as is the lack of surveillance, reconnaissance, control, and forward-facing and fire correction systems. In summary,

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/13/25693/

Google Translator

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NATO IS CONSIDERING A NUCLEAR ATTACK AGAINST RUSSIA AND BELARUS
Oct 12, 2022 , 4:17 p.m.

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The Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) revealed that the United States and NATO are considering using tactical nuclear weapons against Russia and Belarus.

"According to the information that we extract from Western political and military circles, they believe that they should not lose in any case. Hence the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons or using those terrorist groups that are created to directly attack our country and our allies" , said the president of the organization, Ivan Tertel, during a television broadcast of Belarus-1.

Recently, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that NATO leaders, as well as several European countries, were considering options for possible aggression against Belarus, including a nuclear attack.

According to Lukashenko, Belarus and Russia are beginning to build a joint regional grouping of troops due to the escalation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State (of Russia and Belarus).

The truth is that the rhetoric of nuclear war is becoming more and more frequent. Last Thursday, October 7, President Joe Biden said that the world is closer to Armageddon than it has been since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. And this Tuesday, October 11, after the Russian counteroffensive in Ukraine NATO said it will conduct nuclear deterrent exercises next week.

https://misionverdad.com/otan-estaria-c ... ielorrusia

Google Translator

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Putin offers additional gas supply to Europe
Xinhua | Updated: 2022-10-13 08:09

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Pipes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which are not used, are seen in the harbour of Mukran, Germany, on September 30, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - Russia is ready to deliver additional volumes of natural gas to the European Union in the autumn-winter period, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

One of the two branches of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has survived the recent leak incident and Russia is willing to send gas through it to Europe, Putin said at the plenary session of the "Russian Energy Week" international forum in Moscow.

"Its capacity is 27.5 billion cubic meters per year, which is about 8 percent of all gas imports of Europe. Russia is ready to start such deliveries. The ball is on the side of the European Union," he said.

Russia could also transfer the lost volumes through the Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea region and create key supply routes to Europe via Türkiye, "if, of course, our partners are interested in this," he added.

At the forum, Putin expressed concerns about unstable energy prices and an imbalance in supply and demand, and he criticized certain countries "who are guided solely by their own geopolitical ambitions, resort to outright discrimination in the market."

He called the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines "an act of international terrorism." Putin said that those behind the sabotage sought to break ties completely between Russia and the European Union, weaken Europe's industrial potential and seize the market.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20221 ... 7c25b.html

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Is Nord Stream 2 the Real Reason Behind the Ukraine Conflict?
OCTOBER 12, 2022

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A US flag and an European transparent map overlapped over the image of the recent Nord Stream 2 sabotage site in the Baltic Sea. Photo: Al Mayadeen.

By Fra Hughes – Oct 8, 2022

If America is not directly implicated in the terrorist sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, it gave the locations and the go-ahead for this wanton provocation to take place.

And so in a puff of smoke, or in this case underwater smoke, the magician reveals his trick.

The war in Ukraine was never about sovereignty nor even about further encroachment on the Russian Federation by NATO and America, although they obviously played a part in the overall plan to destabilize the Russian Federation with a view to balkanizing Russia for the benefit of American and European corporations and financiers.

Like all wars, it is about economics.

Lincoln famously said he “feared the bankers behind him, more than the Confederates in front of him.”

It is about money, and it is all about who controls the natural resources.

Nord Stream 2 was meant to supply gas directly to Europe.

It has been under political, and sometimes physical, attack from the very start.

America from the very beginning has been trying to sabotage this economic lifeline between Russia and the EU.

America from the very beginning has been trying to sabotage this economic lifeline between Russia and the EU.

If America is not directly implicated in the terrorist sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, it gave the locations and the go-ahead for this wanton provocation to take place, potentially placing Europe at war with Russia.

The reason is simple, clear, and obvious.

America wants to sell Liquid Natural Gas to Europe at inflated market prices.

I read each mega tanker delivery would possibly benefit from an extra 1 million dollars in windfall profits.

Prices have risen dramatically because Europe can no longer source cheap Russian gas.

That gas was literally powering German and other European nations’ economies.

Some countries cannot function without Russian assistance and a schism is forming within the 27 nations of the EU.

The American administration, Joe Biden, and Victoria Nuland stand accused of directly funding and giving political cover to the Maidan Square coup in 2014.

They helped depose a democratically elected leader and installed in his place a pro-Washington fascist regime.

The people of Donbass who refused to live under an unelected enforced coup became subject to military occupation by their own government.

Fault lines from the second World War were redrawn as neo-Nazi fascists from Kiev and Western Ukraine began to target Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the Donbas and eastern and southern parts of the country.

The people in Donbass, in defending themselves, eventually liberated parts of the region and declared the two separate republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.

Following 8 years of being subjugated to almost daily shelling and threats of a Kiev-led Nazi invasion of the independent republics, Russia finally recognized the two breakaway Russian-speaking regions and went to assist in their defense.

The result is something approaching the outcome of the Second World War.

After the Second World War, America which had not been bombed, invaded, or suffered any destruction had full employment as a result of its war economy. It sat there and watched how Europe, Japan, Africa, and Asia tried to slowly rebuild their destroyed infrastructure, their factories, homes, and manufacturing bases.

For two decades, America prospered as the largest economy in the world.

Now, we have Europe again entering a phase of a prolonged recession.

It’s not a global recession, it will be a euro-centric recession.

Europe is following blindly the orders of its superior. When it comes to Russian sanctions as proposed by the American administration, Europe will slowly suffocate the indigenous manufacturing base, leading to massive potential layoffs and failed economies.

The people of Europe are paying the price literally for the NATO-led War on Russia, with Ukraine being used as a proxy.

And America wants to replace Russia as Europe’s main energy supplier.

It really is all about the money.

The war in Ukraine, where over 100,000 may have died already, is but a side show.

By destroying the Nord Stream pipelines, European countries will be forced to buy gas and perhaps oil from America.

This will strengthen the dollar, weaken the euro and British pound as we can already see, and cripple European productivity.

Who will take up the slack in European production?

Why America of course.

Money and businesses are already leaving Europe for the safe haven the dollar appears to represent and the abundance of so far, and relatively cheap energy costs are attracting companies and manufacturers who need a secure source of energy for their production lines.

As Europe freezes this winter, they will be lighting cigars with twenty dollar bills in Washington.

(Al Mayadeen – English)

https://orinocotribune.com/is-nord-stre ... -conflict/

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Attack on Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea and Russia Credit: Dissident Voice / Getty Images

Biden’s broken promise to avoid war with Russia may kill us all
Originally published: Dissident Voice on October 11, 2022 by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies (more by Dissident Voice) | (Posted Oct 13, 2022)

On March 11, 2022, President Biden reassured the American public and the world that the United States and its NATO allies were not at war with Russia. “We will not fight a war with Russia in Ukraine,” said Biden.

Direct conflict between NATO and Russia is World War III, something we must strive to prevent.

It is widely acknowledged that U.S. and NATO officers are now fully involved in Ukraine’s operational war planning, aided by a broad range of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis to exploit Russia’s military vulnerabilities, while Ukrainian forces are armed with U.S. and NATO weapons and trained up to the standards of other NATO countries.

On October 5, Nikolay Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, recognized that Russia is now fighting NATO in Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Putin has reminded the world that Russia has nuclear weapons and is prepared to use them “when the very existence of the state is put under threat,” as Russia’s official nuclear weapons doctrine declared in June 2020.

It seems likely that, under that doctrine, Russia’s leaders would interpret losing a war to the United States and NATO on their own borders as meeting the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

President Biden acknowledged on October 6 that Putin is “not joking” and that it would be difficult for Russia to use a “tactical” nuclear weapon “and not end up with Armageddon.” Biden assessed the danger of a full-scale nuclear war as higher than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

Yet despite voicing the possibility of an existential threat to our survival, Biden was not issuing a public warning to the American people and the world, nor announcing any change in U.S. policy. Bizarrely, the president was instead discussing the prospect of nuclear war with his political party’s financial backers during an election fundraiser at the home of media mogul James Murdoch, with surprised corporate media reporters listening in.

In an NPR report about the danger of nuclear war over Ukraine, Matthew Bunn, a nuclear weapons expert at Harvard University, estimated the chance of Russia using a nuclear weapon at 10 to 20 percent.

How have we gone from ruling out direct U.S. and NATO involvement in the war to U.S. involvement in all aspects of the war except for the bleeding and dying, with an estimated 10 to 20 percent chance of nuclear war? Bunn made that estimate shortly before the sabotage of the Kerch Strait Bridge to Crimea. What odds will he project a few months from now if both sides keep matching each other’s escalations with further escalation?

The irresolvable dilemma facing Western leaders is that this is a no-win situation. How can they militarily defeat Russia, when it possesses 6,000 nuclear warheads and its military doctrine explicitly states that it will use them before it will accept an existential military defeat?

And yet that is what the intensifying Western role in Ukraine now explicitly aims to achieve. This leaves U.S. and NATO policy, and thus our very existence, hanging by a thin thread: the hope that Putin is bluffing, despite explicit warnings that he is not. CIA Director William Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and the director of the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, have all warned that we should not take this danger lightly.

The danger of relentless escalation toward Armageddon is what both sides faced throughout the Cold War, which is why, after the wake-up call of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, dangerous brinkmanship gave way to a framework of nuclear arms control agreements and safeguard mechanisms to prevent proxy wars and military alliances spiraling into a world-ending nuclear war. Even with those safeguards in place, there were still many close calls–but without them, we would probably not be here to write about it.

Today, the situation is made more dangerous by the dismantling of those nuclear arms treaties and safeguards. It is also exacerbated, whether either side intends it or not, by the twelve-to-one imbalance between U.S. and Russian military spending, which leaves Russia with more limited conventional military options and a greater reliance on nuclear ones.

But there have always been alternatives to the relentless escalation of this war by both sides that has brought us to this pass. In April, Western officials took a fateful step when they persuaded President Zelenskyy to abandon Turkish- and Israeli-brokered negotiations with Russia that had produced a promising 15-point framework for a ceasefire, a Russian withdrawal and a neutral future for Ukraine.

That agreement would have required Western countries to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, but they refused to be party to it and instead promised Ukraine military support for a long war to try to decisively defeat Russia and recover all the territory Ukraine had lost since 2014.

U.S. Defense Secretary Austin declared that the West’s goal in the war was now to “weaken” Russia to the point that it would no longer have the military power to invade Ukraine again. But if the United States and its allies ever came close to achieving that goal, Russia would surely see such a total military defeat as putting “the very existence of the state under threat,” triggering the use of nuclear weapons under its publicly stated nuclear doctrine.

On May 23rd, the very day that Congress passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, including $24 billion in new military spending, the contradictions and dangers of the new U.S.-NATO war policy in Ukraine finally spurred a critical response from The New York Times Editorial Board. A Times editorial, titled “The Ukraine War is Getting Complicated, and America Is Not Ready,” asked serious, probing questions about the new U.S. policy:

Is the United States, for example, trying to help bring an end to this conflict, through a settlement that would allow for a sovereign Ukraine and some kind of relationship between the United States and Russia? Or is the United States now trying to weaken Russia permanently? Has the administration’s goal shifted to destabilizing Putin or having him removed? Does the United States intend to hold Putin accountable as a war criminal? Or is the goal to try to avoid a wider war…? Without clarity on these questions, the White House…jeopardizes long-term peace and security on the European continent.

The NYT editors went on to voice what many have thought but few have dared to say in such a politicized media environment, that the goal of recovering all the territory Ukraine has lost since 2014 is not realistic, and that a war to do so will “inflict untold destruction on Ukraine.” They called on Biden to talk honestly with Zelenskyy about “how much more destruction Ukraine can sustain” and the “limit to how far the United States and NATO will confront Russia.”

A week later, Biden replied to the Times in an Op-Ed titled “What America Will and Will Not Do in Ukraine.” He quoted Zelenskyy saying that the war “will only definitively end through diplomacy,” and wrote that the United States was sending weapons and ammunition so that Ukraine “can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.”

Biden wrote, “We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia.… the United States will not try to bring about [Putin’s] ouster in Moscow.” But he went on to pledge virtually unlimited U.S. support for Ukraine, and he did not answer the more difficult questions the Times asked about the U.S. endgame in Ukraine, the limits to U.S. involvement in the war or how much more devastation Ukraine could sustain.

As the war escalates and the danger of nuclear war increases, these questions remain unanswered. Calls for a speedy end to the war echoed around the UN General Assembly in New York in September, where 66 countries, representing most of the world’s population, urgently called on all sides to restart peace talks.

The greatest danger we face is that their calls will be ignored, and that the U.S. military-industrial complex’s overpaid minions will keep finding ways to incrementally turn up the pressure on Russia, calling its bluff and ignoring its “red lines” as they have since 1991, until they cross the most critical “red line” of all.

If the world’s calls for peace are heard before it is too late and we survive this crisis, the United States and Russia must renew their commitments to arms control and nuclear disarmament, and negotiate how they and other nuclear armed states will destroy their weapons of mass destruction and accede to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, so that we can finally lift this unthinkable and unacceptable danger hanging over our heads.

https://mronline.org/2022/10/13/bidens- ... ll-us-all/

Biden is as big a liar as Trump, just different.

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Massive shelling of Ukraine and morality
No. 10/74.X.2022

The massive shelling of Kyiv on October 10 after the appointment of General Sergei Surovikin as commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine was accompanied by statements in social networks that neither in Moscow nor in Donetsk would it occur to anyone to rejoice at the bombing of Kyiv and take pictures against the backdrop of explosions.

“In Moscow, no one takes a photo against the background of a photo of a burning Kyiv. Because in Russia there is society and freedom and morality. And in Kyiv they take funny photos against the background of explosions on the Crimean bridge, because in Kyiv there is a totalitarian regime, fascism of the 21st century, and instead of society, US polytechnologists have grown an artificial monster, a moral monster. And this inhuman monster has been enjoying killing for 8 years. And this monster of pseudo-society needs to be put on a strong chain. And the Russian state must do this with all rigor,” wrote State Duma deputy and political scientist Sergei Markov.

Put on a strong chain? Or maybe it's better to kill this monster? For the sake of what is the SVO conducted at all? He even writes on behalf of the Russians that "we mourn, seeing the smoke of fires over Kyiv." But I don't mourn. Why not rejoice? After all, they are bombing. And not just like that. And for a long time new "gifts" did not arrive. And local fear completely lost. I need to refresh my memory. And it is desirable to do this more often.

This morning, the echo of the rocket strikes reverberated throughout the city, so that it could be heard, probably, anywhere. I liked the concert program. It was nice. But not enough. There is no greater pleasure than watching them, for all those who until recently behaved completely differently, singing along to the now well-known Bandera song about "Chervona Kalyn".

Here is the war correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Yevgeny Poddubny:

"Boomerang. But I am personally very glad that in Moscow it would never occur to anyone to put up a poster with Kyiv on fire for funny photos.”

“The very center of Kyiv right now. I will not hide the fact that many of us were waiting for these strikes, even after the most severe months-long shelling of the cities of Donbass, and especially after the explosion of the Crimean bridge. But I can’t imagine that our people in Moscow or even in long-suffering Donetsk would now put up a poster with these shots on the street and happily take pictures against its background! After all, we are different!” - and this is written by the political observer of the Russia Today media group Vladimir Kornilov.

However, it doesn’t really matter whether you need to take pictures against the background of the burning Crimean bridge or Kyiv. It's about something else.

About that notorious morality that they are trying to show in Moscow. That, unlike the Kyiv regime and the West covering it, which has not seen the genocide of Donbass for years, Moscow cannot afford the killing of innocent Ukrainians. And now I want to ask questions that are asked not only by myself, but also by many others.

And where was this morality eight years ago? Why, since the signing of the first Minsk agreements, has Moscow been trying to push Donetsk and Lugansk back into the arms of the fascist Kyiv regime? Maria Zakharova says that Russia was the only country interested in maintaining a united Ukraine. And what is the meaning of this, so no one explained. What kind of morality is this, to grind water in a mortar for eight years, trying to negotiate with the Nazis, in order to then declare "denazification"? What was not possible before? That is, for eight years they tried to negotiate with the fascists, both small ones in the form of Kyiv, and large ones in the form of NATO. And all this time, these same fascists dug in, trained, pumped up weapons and, of course, killed the population of Donbass. Where was morality?

Now it’s worth going to social networks, so you can inevitably see how the mass of the people pretend to be fighters for some kind of “Holy Russia” or “Russian World”. And this is not a congress of lovers of alternative history, fantasy or popadants. Like, we are not like that, we are not animals in human form. However, on the other hand, their opponents, neo-pagan fascists, are fighting on the way to Valhalla...

The only thing is that in what is happening there is a considerable fault of the bourgeois Russian Federation, which rushed to put out the fire when the fire was on the very threshold of the house. And what is the fundamental difference between the Russian Federation and the fascist West and the Kyiv regime in the matter of values? Belief in traditional values ​​and a licensed version of Orthodoxy from the ROC MP, in contrast to the heretics from the Poroshenko OCU? The fact that, as Dmitry Medvedev said, Russia defends Christian values, while the West buries them?

Putin:

“I often discuss with my European colleagues, who tell me: “So what, there are elements of neo-Nazism there, but what don’t we have or what? And you have it in Russia.” There are no freaks, no idiots, no idiots and even criminals. So what now?

According to the president, there are neo-Nazis all over the world, but only in Ukraine they are not being fought:

“On the contrary: they are exalted, raised on a pedestal, thousands of torchlight processions are allowed in the center of large cities. This is what strikes and causes rejection in a normal person, cannot but cause,” Putin said at a meeting with laureates and finalists of the all-Russian competition “Teacher of the Year”.

That's actually all. Curtain. Directed by Robert B. Weide…

Putin himself admitted that capitalism in Russia is the same as in the West, and fundamentally it is no different except for the superstructure and the work of the ideological apparatus. That is, Putin admitted that Russian capitalism breeds fascism no less than in the West. The only difference is that the Russian authorities are fighting it, while in Western-covered Ukraine they are not. Valery Alekseevich Podguzov once wrote about the same when he noted that compared to Soviet times, fascism in the news has become as commonplace as a story about precipitation in a block about the weather.

From this, one more logical conclusion can be drawn that “denazification” does not and will not destroy Ukrainian fascism. It can be destroyed only by a political system that makes it impossible for it to appear, provided that the prerequisites for the development of private property relations are eliminated. This is communism. And point. As you can see, the Chinese Communist Party is doing a great job and we are not seeing anything of the obscurantism that is happening in the Russian Federation, the USA and the EU. That's who you need to look up to in the current conditions. Not to mention North Korea.

You need to understand that no one in Kyiv is waiting for Russian troops with open arms. The majority of the local population has chosen its position long ago. It has long been on the path of supporting terrorism and fascism. It is completely indoctrinated by fascism and does not see people in the population of Donbass. Just look at those happy and joyful faces on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in the Deutsche Welle report about the explosion on the Crimean bridge.

They chose their fate on the Euromaidan. For example, for them, Russians are not at all innocent, but "Putin's accomplices" who are supposed to die during terrorist attacks on the streets of cities. After May 2, there can be no doubt about the nature of those Ukrainians who accepted the Maidan power and ardently support it. All of them in the kitchenettes and on the streets retell each other about the victories and poison stupid jokes about the “Russians”, and when the rockets arrive they are afraid, they are seized by panic and they try to hide in the most protected places of their apartments. This is their essence. Since they have put themselves above the “colorados” and “cotton wool” and believe that they can exterminate people in the Donbass with impunity, then why should we feel sympathy for them?

Of course, there are people who have retained their human appearance, but they cannot even vote, because they know perfectly well how it will end. Who will stand up for them and who will protect them after their release? But the example of terrorist attacks and murders in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions has already shown that the enemy will constantly look for gaps in defense and security in order to deliver vile blows. The civilian population, which is now dying in the regions where hostilities have not yet taken place and whose deaths the Kyiv regime accuses the Russian Ministry of Defense, is nothing more than hostages.

Now imagine how normal Ukrainians and these hostages feel from the news that the Nazis, it turns out, can be taken and exchanged. While not really explaining anything. The main idea is that "we were able to free our guys and that's good" ... but it turned out that they exchanged not just ordinary fascists, but uniform war criminals, thereby making a gesheft to the Kyiv regime. Nikita Bystrov wrote an excellent post on this topic:

“For the Russian oligarchs who own the Russian state, the Azov people are not war criminals at all, otherwise they could not be exchanged. In fact, this exchange is both a betrayal of soldiers at the front, who sincerely believe in the struggle of the Russian Federation against fascism, and a betrayal of the citizens of the DPR, against whom the Nazi bastard committed crimes. Another option is if, perhaps, there were no crimes of the “Azovites”, and they are just prisoners of war. Then the bourgeoisie is once again caught in a lie. So let them choose what is more to their liking - to be traitors or liars.

An interesting detail came to light later.

“OPEC+ decided to cut oil production by a record 2 million barrels. This is a slap in the face of the US and the EU from, first of all, Saudi Arabia and Arab countries such as the UAE. And the support of their Russia. And now it is clear that the exchange of the Azov fascists was for this, for billions of petrodollars. Let Zelensky now choke on his Azov fascists. Let him jump into a barrel of oil with them,” Markov writes.

In fact, we didn't learn anything new. Unless they became even more convinced that denazification is a beautiful slogan, behind which there is no real ideology, and the fight against fascism in Ukraine is part of the state business. For the capitalist there is no contradiction here. But not for us. And not for the soldiers who fight this fascism and sacrifice their lives. There can be only one thing - either capitalism or the fight against fascism. You can't combine one with the other. Because capitalism breeds fascism. That is why the Russian Federation fights with fascism with one hand, and trades with the same fascists with the other.

Hence, by the way, the explanation why the SVO did not start in 2014, but only in 2022. And why it is going on with varying degrees of success. As N. Bystrov wrote, commenting on Vladimir Putin's speech on mobilization: “ There is already war here - a bargaining tool. That’s why they fight like that… ”.

That, in fact, is the whole morality that hides behind beautiful pathos statements about “us” and “them” and Orthodox gods, with whom it is always convenient to cover up any dirty tricks. Because that's their main purpose.

K. Kievsky
13/10/2022

https://prorivists.org/74_attack/

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Red added, because communists do not forget.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Fri Oct 14, 2022 11:28 am

Fight for the skies
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/14/2022

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Since the beginning of the war in 2014, when Ukraine found itself with a disorganized army and in which the corruption of the years of capitalist restoration had taken its toll, kyiv has been clear about the moral obligation of its Western partners to supply the necessary weaponry. to win the war. Always presenting the conflict as a confrontation against Russia, although it was not really until February 24, 2022, Ukraine has pressured and pleaded with NATO countries, especially the United States, in search of renewing its weapons and thus getting closer to entry into the Alliance, one of the main goals of post-Maidan administrations long before Russian troops crossed the border.

In the first years of the war, when Ukraine was facing a makeshift militia supported by thousands of Russian volunteers and unofficial aid pouring in from the border (in recent months, Evgeny Prigozhin has admitted the presence of mercenaries from his company, Wagner in Donbass ), the main target of kyiv was Javelin anti-tank missiles. The conflict, especially after the signing of the Minsk agreements in February 2015, was limited to tireless trench warfare in which artillery prevailed. The short distance that separated the two sides in the conflict made it unnecessary to ask for long-range artillery. The Ukrainian artillery was more than enough to keep the conflict alive and thus justify more funding,

With the Javelin anti-tank missiles finally delivered in the time of Donald Trump -Obama had considered the delivery of "offensive" weapons a red line whose crossing was unnecessary-, Ukraine sought new weapons to request from its partners. It was time to request the delivery of Turkish Bayraktar drones, which, like the Javelins, would change the course of the conflict, which had been stalled for several years in a peace process in which Ukraine never had the intention of negotiating or fulfilling the signed terms. Its successes in the time of the Ukraine-Donbass war were limited to the capture of a single town of no strategic importance and barely defended by the DPR army. The act, however, allowed Ukraine to boast of using a Bayraktar to destroy a DPR tank in a trench. As a climax, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, argued that Ukraine's use of Bayraktar did not breach the Minsk agreements. These agreements not only prohibited the use of drones on both sides - the OSCE was the only party authorized to use unmanned vehicles - but a ceasefire was in force, so that any attack was, in principle, prohibited.

The Russian intervention caused an absolute change in the course of the war, which not only spread from Donbass to a large part of the country, but also completely changed the dynamics and the means used on a day-to-day basis. Gone is the trench warfare without territorial advances and without the use of aviation, nullified by the DPR and RPL militias based on MANPADs in 2014 and the conflict, although it never became an open war, widened the range of attacks and completely changed the needs of the fighting troops.

With the failure of the Ukrainian attempt to get NATO to "close the skies over Ukraine" with a no-fly zone, which would have meant shooting down Russian aircraft not only inside Ukraine but also inside Russia, Ukraine focused on demanding tanks. combat and, above all, long-range artillery. Although used in combination with other Ukrainian or Russian-produced heavy artillery, the highly prized American HIMARS and other long-range artillery supplied by European countries have caused serious losses to Russia and the People's Republics. In a tactic used in combination with other cheaper projectiles, HIMARS have been key in disabling the important Antonovsky Bridge, which links the left bank of the Dnieper with the city of Kherson. Although the Soviet bridge remains standing, months of constant attacks have made its repair unfeasible. Leaky, it seems to have been abandoned, a substantial loss for the Russian troops when it comes to supplying their troops in Kherson, especially now that the battle for the city is approaching, and to evacuate the population, as requested yesterday by Vladimir Saldo, Governor in functions of the part of the region under Russian control.

The long-range artillery of the NATO countries has also been key to blowing up numerous magazines and arsenals of the Russian troops and the armies of the DPR and the LPR, which have hindered the already poor Russian logistics in this war. . But they have also been used in indiscriminate bombardments of the city of Donetsk or numerous towns in the rear. The town of Perevalsk, in the rear of the LPR, had the honor of being the first in which Ukraine used its new HIMARS, which also made an appearance in Alchevsk, once the base of Alexey Mozgovoy's Prizrak brigade, where Ukraine destroyed the bus depot.

The Russian attacks in recent days have increased a demand that kyiv had raised weeks ago. Although one of Ukraine's main successes in this war has been precisely to prevent Russia from taking control of the skies, something it has achieved thanks to its defenses, the delivery of anti-aircraft weapons by NATO countries and Israel It has been one of the most repeated demands in recent months. The strength of the anti-aircraft defenses of the two opponents, which have similar systems, has made aviation a secondary element in a war in which the absolute leading role has been artillery. However, the appearance on the front of Iranian-made drones has served as an argument to recover that desire and do it with more impetus. The argument of the Iranian danger has been the main trump card to try to achieve an "Iron dome" from Israel to a Tel Aviv that tries to maintain the balance between the defense of Ukraine and the maintenance of cordial relations with Moscow. The safety of its aircraft in its attacks against Syria could be at stake.

Over the last week, the presence of Iranian kamikaze drones in the Ukrainian discourse has become even more present. For the first time since the beginning of the war, Russia has attacked, for at least four consecutive days, critical Ukrainian infrastructure, especially electricity production and supply facilities, but also communication hubs and railway connections. And it has done so by replicating, in a way, the Ukrainian strategy against the Antonovsky Bridge. The massive use of kamikaze drones not only allows the destruction of secondary targets - the attacks in the port of Odessa showed the capacity of these weapons, but also that they cannot replace Kalibr missiles - but also to saturate anti-aircraft defenses with a multitude of targets. simultaneous.

In recent days, the Western press has gone from a speech condemning indiscriminate Russian attacks against Ukrainian cities to having to explain the reasons for the small -although always reprehensible- number of civilians who have died in these dozens of attacks. While the press alleges the low quality of Russian missiles, Ukraine responds by claiming to have shot down almost all of the projectiles. However, kyiv also admits that around 30% of the electrical infrastructure had been affected in just two days of Russian attacks. And despite the apparent near-infallibility of its air defenses, Ukraine demands weapons from its partners,

Faced with the risk that Russia, reinforced with weapons that it lacked until just a few weeks ago, manages to gain control of the skies, NATO countries are trying to respond quickly. So far, Russian missiles have inflicted damage that Ukraine did not seem to expect, and Iranian drones have caused several concerns. Yesterday, admitted by both parties and with images that prove the shooting down, an Iranian kamikaze drone managed to inflict damage on a Ukrainian aviation MiG-29, whose pilot had to eject and after which the aircraft crashed to remain destroyed. On the other hand, Ukraine and its partners also fear that Russia is using the drones as a decoy to make the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses respond and try to destroy them. The fight for the skies of Ukraine is on.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/14/lucha ... more-25701

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The Thin Red Line: NATO Can’t Afford to Lose Kabul and Kiev
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 13, 2022
Pepe Escobar

Russia will not allow the Empire to control Ukraine, whatever it takes. That’s intrinsically linked to the future of the Greater Eurasia Partnership.

Let’s start with Pipelineistan. Nearly seven years ago, I showed how Syria was the ultimate Pipelineistan war.

Damascus had rejected the – American – plan for a Qatar-Turkey gas pipeline, to the benefit of Iran-Iraq-Syria (for which a memorandum of understanding was signed).

What followed was a vicious, concerted “Assad must go” campaign: proxy war as the road to regime change. The toxic dial went exponentially up with the instrumentalization of ISIS – yet another chapter of the war of terror (italics mine). Russia blocked ISIS, thus preventing regime change in Damascus. The Empire of Chaos-favored pipeline bit the dust.

Now the Empire finally exacted payback, blowing up existing pipelines – Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Steam 2 (NS2) – carrying or about to carry Russian gas to a key imperial economic competitor: the EU.

We all know by now that Line B of NS2 has not been bombed, or even punctured, and it’s ready to go. Repairing the other three – punctured – lines would not be a problem: a matter of two months, according to naval engineers. Steel on the Nord Streams is thicker than on modern ships. Gazprom has offered to repair them – as long as Europeans behave like grown-ups and accept strict security conditions.

We all know that’s not going to happen. None of the above is discussed across NATOsan media. That means that Plan A by the usual suspects remains in place: creating a contrived natural gas shortage, leading to the de-industrialization of Europe, all part of the Great Reset, rebranded “The Great Narrative”.

Meanwhile, the EU Muppet Show is discussing the ninth sanction package against Russia. Sweden refuses to share with Russia the results of the dodgy intra-NATO “investigation” of itself on who blew up the Nord Streams.

At Russian Energy Week, President Putin summarized the stark facts.

Europe blames Russia for the reliability of its energy supplies even though it was receiving the entire volume it bought under fixed contracts.

The “orchestrators of the Nord Stream terrorist attacks are those who profit from them”.

Repairing Nord Stream strings “would only make sense in the event of continued operation and security”.

Buying gas on the spot market will cause a €300 billion loss for Europe.

The rise in energy prices is not due to the Special Military Operation (SMO), but to the West’s own policies.

Yet the Dead Can Dance show must go on. As the EU forbids itself to buy Russian energy, the Brussels Eurocracy skyrockets their debt to the financial casino. The imperial masters laugh all the way to the bank with this form of collectivism – as they continue to profit from using financial markets to pillage and plunder whole nations.

Which bring us to the clincher: the Straussian/neo-con psychos controlling Washington’s foreign policy eventually might – and the operative word is “might” – stop weaponizing Kiev and start negotiations with Moscow only after their main industrial competitors in Europe go bankrupt.

But even that would not be enough – because one of NATO’s key “invisible” mandates is to capitalize, whatever means necessary, on food resources across the Pontic-Caspian steppe: we’re talking about 1 million km2 of food production from Bulgaria all the way to Russia.

Judo in Kharkov

The SMO has swiftly transitioned into a “soft” CTO (Counter-Terrorist Operation) even without an official announcement. The no-nonsense approach of the new overall commander with full carte blanche from the Kremlin, General Surovikin, a.k.a. “Armageddon”, speaks for itself.

There are absolutely no indicators whatsoever pointing to a Russian defeat anywhere along the over 1,000 km-long frontline. The spun-to-death withdrawal from Kharkov may have been a masterstroke: the first stage of a judo move that, cloaked in legality, fully developed after the terrorist bombing of Krymskiy Most – the Crimea Bridge.

Let’s look at the retreat from Kharkov as a trap – as in Moscow graphically demonstrating “weakness”. That led the Kiev forces – actually their NATO handlers – to gloat about Russia “fleeing”, abandon all caution, and go for broke, even embarking on a terror spiral, from the assassination of Darya Dugina to the attempted destruction of Krymskiy Most.

In terms of Global South public opinion, it’s already established that General Armageddon’s Daily Morning Missile Show is a legal (italics mine) response to a terrorist state. Putin may have sacrificed, for a while, a piece on the chessboard – Kharkov: after all, the SMO mandate is not to hold terrain, but to demilitarize Ukraine.

Moscow even won post-Kharkov: all the Ukrainian military equipment accumulated in the area was thrown into offensives, just for the Russian Army to merrily engage in non-stop target practice.

And then there’s the real clincher: Kharkov set in motion a series of moves that allowed Putin to eventually go for checkmate, via the missile-heavy “soft” CTO, reducing the collective West to a bunch of headless chickens.

In parallel, the usual suspects continue to relentlessly spin their new nuclear “narrative”. Foreign Minister Lavrov has been forced to repeat ad nauseam that according to Russian nuclear doctrine, a strike may only happen in response to an attack “which endangers the entire existence of the Russian Federation.”

The aim of the D.C. psycho killers – in their wild wet dreams – is to provoke Moscow into using tactical nuclear weapons in the battlefield. That was another vector in rushing the timing of the Crimea Bridge terror attack: after all British intel plans had been swirling for months. That all came to nought.

The hysterical Straussian/neocon propaganda machine is frantically, pre-emptively, blaming Putin: he’s “cornered”, he’s “losing”, he’s “getting desperate” so he’ll launch a nuclear strike.

It’s no wonder the Doomsday Clock set up by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 is now placed at only 100 seconds from midnight. Right on “Doom’s doorstep”.

This is where a bunch of American psychos is leading us.

Life at Doom’s doorstep

As the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder is petrified by the startling Double Fail of a massive economic/military attack, Moscow is systematically preparing for the next military offensive. As it stands, it’s clear that the Anglo-American axis will not negotiate. It has not even tried for the past 8 years, and it’s not about to change course, even incited by an angelic chorus ranging from Elon Musk to Pope Francis.

Instead of going Full Timur, accumulating a pyramid of Ukrainian skulls, Putin has summoned eons of Taoist patience to avoid military solutions. Terror on the Crimea Bridge may have been a game-changer. But the velvet gloves are not totally off: General Armageddon’s daily aerial routine may still be seen as a – relatively polite – warning. Even in his latest landmark speech, which contained a savage indictment of the West, Putin made clear he’s always open for negotiations.

Yet by now, Putin and the Security Council know why the Americans simply can’t negotiate. Ukraine may be just a pawn in their game, but it’s still one of Eurasia’s key geopolitical nodes: whoever controls it, enjoys extra strategic depth.

The Russians are very much aware that the usual suspects are obsessed with blowing up the complex process of Eurasia integration – starting with China’s BRI. No wonder important instances of power in Beijing are “uneasy” with the war. Because that’s very bad for business between China and Europe via several trans-Eurasian corridors.

Putin and the Russian Security Council also know that NATO abandoned Afghanistan – an absolutely miserable failure – to place all their chips on Ukraine. So losing both Kabul and Kiev will be the ultimate mortal blow: that means abandoning the 21st Eurasian Century to the Russia-China-Iran strategic partnership.

Sabotage – from the Nord Streams to Krymskiy Most – gives away the desperation game. NATO’s arsenals are virtually empty. What’s left is a war of terror: the Syrianization, actually ISIS-zation of the battlefield. Managed by braindead NATO, acted on the terrain by a cannon fodder horde sprinkled with mercenaries from at least 34 nations.

So Moscow may be forced to go all the way – as the Totally Unplugged Dmitry Medvedev revealed: now this is about eliminating a terrorist regime, totally dismantle its politico-security apparatus and then facilitate the emergence of a different entity. And if NATO still blocks it, direct clash will be inevitable.

NATO’s thin red line is they can’t afford to lose both Kabul and Kiev. Yet it took two acts of terror – on Pipelineistan and on Crimea – to imprint a much starker, burning red line: Russia will not allow the Empire to control Ukraine, whatever it takes. That’s intrinsically linked to the future of the Greater Eurasia Partnership. Welcome to life at Doom’s doorstep.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... -and-kiev/

Russian Missile & Drone Strikes Continue Across Ukraine

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 13, 2022



Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for October 13, 2022

– UN General Assembly vote demonstrates continued support for Russia by India and China as well as many other nations across the developing and newly industrialized world;

– Russia continues missile and drone strikes across Ukraine; – Ukraine’s plea for air defense systems is impractical and reflect desperation in Kiev;

– West is attempting to mix and match air defense systems to create an ad hoc integrated network; – Many air defense components will take a year or longer to arrive in Ukraine;

– Many air defense components will be damaged or destroyed before the imagined integrated network is complete;

– A turning point is coming where the West will have to decide between escalating or abandoning its proxy war in Ukraine;

References:

US Department of Defense – Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley Hold a Press Conference Following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting Oct. 12, 2022 Brussels, Belgium: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri

Reuters – First German IRIS-T air defence system in Ukraine, three more to come – minister: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/

Politico – France, UK pledge new air defense tools for Ukraine: https://www.politico.eu/article/franc

Reuters – France could deliver up to 12 more Caesar howitzers to Ukraine, Le Monde reports: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/

FT – Military briefing: Ukraine frets about a new Belarus front: https://www.ft.com/content/4b85b384-a

Washington Post – Ukraine wants more air defense. Here’s how it works.: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... s-ukraine/

The US’ New National Security Strategy for Russia
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 13, 2022
Andrew Korybko

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Overall, the spirit of this grand strategy when it comes to Russia boils down to “poaching” its partners across the Global South through insincere cooperation outreaches and subversion in parallel with conventionally containing it through the EU/NATO.

The US’ new National Security Strategy (NSS) frames the way in which this unipolar hegemon will seek to reassert its declining influence over the global systemic transition across the coming years. It’s extremely relevant to Russia since this document describes that newly restored world power as “an immediate threat”, hence the urgency in containing it through interconnected means. Despite denying that it wants a New Cold War, the text leaves no doubt that America views everything through that paradigm.

It divides the world into so-called “autocracies” and “democracies”, though the NSS also pragmatically states that the US will cooperate even with countries that “do not embrace democratic institutions but nevertheless depend upon and support a rules-based international system.” This can be interpreted as an attempt to appeal to those dozens of countries across the Global South and especially in Africa that have retained strategic relations with Russia in spite of immense US pressure.

Regarding that swath of the world in which the vast majority of humanity resides, the NSS very strongly suggests that the US will actively compete with Russia in an attempt to “shape [its] external environment in a way that influences [its] behavior.” Although not directly stated, this can be understood as a response to President Putin’s global revolutionary manifesto, which calls upon the world to rise up in opposition to unipolarity so as to pioneer a more democratic, equal, and just system.

That envisaged outcome can’t be accomplished without the Global South coming together to this end, ergo the importance of the US dividing and ruling that collection of countries through a combination of pragmatic cooperation outreaches as well as the weaponized export of democracy (Color Revolutions). About the second-mentioned strategy, this is strongly implied in the part about how “We will work to strengthen democracy around the world”.

Every developing country is a potential target since the NSS also states that “The United States is a global power with global interests…If one region descends into chaos or is dominated by a hostile power, it will detrimentally impact our interests in the others.” This indicates that American meddling will continue unabated for the indefinite future since it’s of the highest importance for US strategists to prevent the Global South from uniting under Russia’s leadership.

As could have been expected, its perception managers are actively gaslighting their targeted audience into thinking that their declining unipolar hegemon is the one that supposedly supports their strategic autonomy amidst the systemic transition and not Russia. This lie is explicitly spewed in the part where it’s falsely claimed that the US “aims to preserve the autonomy and rights of less powerful states”, unlike Russia and China. The opposite is true, in fact, as confirmed by President Putin in July.

Another falsehood spread through the NSS is that the Ukrainian Conflict “has profoundly diminished Russia’s status vis-a-vis China and other Asian powers such as India and Japan.” While India has indisputably risen as a globally influential Great Power due to the kingmaker status that it’s obtained as a result of its masterful balancing act between the US-led West’s Golden Billion and the BRICS– & SCO-led Global South, China’s superpower trajectory has been derailed and Japan is just a US proxy.

The inaccurate assessment shared in the text isn’t accidental nor due to a lack of proper analysis, but is deliberate and connected to the former Pentagon spy chief’s information warfare plan that he and a neoconservative lobbyist boasted about in Politico last month. According to them, the US should manipulate Russians’ nationalist/patriotic sentiment by misportraying their country as an increasingly irrelevant geopolitical force under President Putin. The related passage is simply a means to that end.

Everything that was hitherto described regarding the US’ New Cold War rivalry with Russia will unfold across the Global South and might thus not receive the attention that it deserves from the Western audience, which will be focused much more on their front of this respective competition. About that, the NSS’ applicable passages are predictable in the sense of strengthening US influence over the EU with a view towards enhancing its comprehensive containment capabilities, thus needing no elaboration.

Overall, the spirit of this grand strategy when it comes to Russia boils down to “poaching” its partners across the Global South through insincere cooperation outreaches and subversion in parallel with conventionally containing it through the EU/NATO. The second-mentioned was already in progress for years while the first is an emerging trend that only became apparent since February. From this observation, it’s predicted that the Global South will the center of rivalry in the New Cold War.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... or-russia/

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The cost of losing Russia to Europe
October 13, 23:17

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The cost of losing Russia to Europe

The cost of losing Russia to the EU is incalculable, and in the most pessimistic scenarios, Europe faces deindustrialization, the loss of trillions of investment capital and a sharp drop in living standards. However, according to Asia Times, by the time Europe realizes its position and wonders why its political elite destroyed the ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, it will be alone.

Rarely has Europe been as united in its long history as it has been during the current conflict in Ukraine. Almost all European countries stand by the mountain for Kyiv - as well as their main media. No less remarkable is the fact that the European policy on the Ukrainian issue completely coincides with the American one. According to Asia Times, just a decade ago, hardly anyone predicted a bloody conflict in Europe between a country that is not ashamed of soldiers with Nazi symbols impaled on its body and a former communist power, allegedly because of energy, and not only European Union, but also the political left and even the Greens.

As the author of the material continues, after its end, the Cold War began to bring "peace dividends". With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western energy giants rushed to Russia. Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, along with Japanese trading houses, invested billions in the Russian energy sector, which needed capital and technical know-how to modernize and ramp up production.

Here came the Harvard Boys, a group of economists from the Harvard Institute for International Development. Under Boris Yeltsin, the Russian economy went into a tailspin, and Harvard economists, with the blessing of then President Bill Clinton, set out to reform Russia. Their recipe was fully consistent with the neo-liberal economic policy that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher started, and supported by Clinton and Tony Blair. It was "shock therapy": privatization, liberalization and free market capitalism - and such "reforms" plunged millions of Russians into poverty.

Newly minted billionaires soon showed up in Europe and began buying up English football clubs, Dutch superyachts and estates on the French Riviera. They had no idea that Europe would soon confiscate their wealth, acquired under market capitalism, which was brought to Russia by the guys from Harvard.

As a result, neoliberalism in the world has become a reaction to the increased role of the state in the economy and society. American and European neo-liberals have merged into what is known as the Atlantic Consensus. They differed in their views on the free market, but shared the belief that Western values ​​should set the global agenda. Neo-liberal policies have led to more inequality, wage stagnation and other ills, and exacerbated the feeling of insecurity.

However, if the ideology of the European and American Atlanticists coincided perfectly, then the same cannot be said about their vital economic interests. The US is rich in natural resources, less dependent on international trade, and has the “exorbitant privilege” of issuing a global reserve currency. Germany, due to lack of resources, had to turn to Russia. Its cheap energy allowed Berlin to increase its annual GDP by about $1 trillion. From the 1990s to the 2020s, the EU and Russia built a huge network of pipelines that brought gas and oil to Northern, Central and Southern Europe.

Therefore, writes the author of the article, the cost of losing Russia is incalculable. In the most pessimistic scenarios, Europe faces deindustrialization, the loss of trillions of investment capital and a sharp drop in living standards. If we add to this the fragile financial situation of many EU countries and rampant inflation, the gloomy scenarios seem quite justified.

“By the time Europe realizes its position and wonders why its political elite destroyed the ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, it will be alone. Russia will turn to the East. The United States, apparently, will withdraw into itself and will solve its own problems. Europe will have no choice but to do the same - perhaps this can be called the only positive outcome of the Ukrainian tragedy, ”concludes the author of the article.

https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2022-10-13 ... Asia-Times - zinc

The main thing was not written. The war in Ukraine deprived the EU of the opportunity to become a subject and an actor in the transformation of the world order.
As they say, they were not subjective, there is nothing to start.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7915181.html

War in Ukraine. Summary 10/13/2022
October 13, 20:29

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War in Ukraine. Summary 10/13/2022

1. Svatovo-Kremennaya.
Fighting continues in the area of ​​the settlement. Terny and Torskoe. The enemy strengthens his grouping in this direction. To the northwest of Svatovo, the enemy continues to attack. Has little progress.

2. Artemovsk.
Our troops (PMC Wagner) have taken Ivangrad and are fighting for Experienced (the village has not yet been taken).
Fighting is underway on the eastern outskirts of Artemovsk.
There is no progress towards Kurdyumovka.
In the Soledar area - no changes.

3. Donetsk direction.
The cleansing of Pervomaisky continues. About a third of the destroyed village is reported to have been liberated.
There are fights in the direction of Nevelskoye.
In the area of ​​Avdiivka and Marinka - no changes.

4. Kherson direction.
The enemy continued to try to probe the front in the area of ​​Davydov Broda and Dudchan.
The enemy did not abandon the goal of the attack on Berislav - now there is an accumulation of forces in the Nikopol and Krivoy Rog directions for attacks in the coming weeks.

In general, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to own the initiative in the Svatovsky, Krivoy Rog and Nikopol directions. The RF Armed Forces have the initiative in the Artemovsk and Donetsk directions. On the Seversky and Krasnolimansky directions there is a struggle for the initiative.

Also today, missile strikes and UAV arrivals continued, but not as intensively as on October 10-12, when about 30% of Ukraine's energy system was damaged.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67095 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7914681.html

UAV-kamikaze "Geran-2" shot down a MiG-29 fighter in an air battle
October 13, 17:09

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The wreckage of the Ukrainian MiG-29, which was destroyed during an air battle near Vinnitsa with the Geran-2 UAV. This is the first fighter in history to be destroyed by a kamikaze UAV during an air battle. The victory of the Geranium was largely accidental - the Ukrainian pilot, attacking the kamikaze drone, came too close to it, and after the explosion of the Geranium, the fragments of the drone caused irreparable damage to the fighter. However, even the random nature of such a victory does not negate the uniqueness of this event. It must be admitted that the destruction of Ukrainian fighters in air battles is not included in the main profile of the work of Iranian "hellish mopeds." And yet, even here they were able to surprise.

Video with the wreckage of the MiG-29 here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67075

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7913823.html

Unreasonable expenses
October 14, 11:13

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Elon Musk suggested that the Pentagon independently maintain the use of Starlink in Ukraine and declared its unwillingness to invest in maintaining the operation of the system in the Ukrainian war at its own expense for an indefinite period of time.
Musk also responded to the proposals of Ukrainian rednecks to "shut up, go to hell ... and silently supply Starlink to Ukraine," stating that he would take advantage of the offer to go to hell ...

Of course, Starlink will not be completely turned off for Ukraine and funding will simply be switched to the Pentagon. Here you can rather see how Musk consistently distances himself from the Democratic Party before the midterm elections and plays on the side of the Trumpists.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7915328.html

Google Translator

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Colonelcassad
Special operation, 13 October. The main thing from RIA Novosti :

▪️As a result of negotiations with the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Kyiv regime, 20 Russian soldiers were returned, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
▪️Russian air defense systems intercepted 16 shells of American HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and Ukrainian Alder in the LPR and the Kherson region, and also shot down 10 American HARM anti-radar missiles.
▪️The armed forces of the Russian Federation destroyed more than 100 Ukrainian militants in the Kharkov region and the LPR, repelling all attacks by Ukrainian troops.
▪️On Wednesday, an air alert was announced in Kyiv and the region, the local administration reported. The Ukrainian media reported about the alarm signal in Odessa, Nikolaev, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions. Also, the alarm sounded in the Kharkiv region, Ternopil regions, Zaporozhye.
▪️Russia does not refuse and has not refused a single serious proposal for contacts or negotiations, but no one offers sane initiatives, Lavrov said.
▪️The participants in the meeting of the contact group on Ukraine agreed to supply Kyiv with more air defense systems, as well as continue to support Ukraine, the NATO Secretary General said.
▪️Kuleba, in a conversation with pranksters, admitted that the Ukrainian state was behind the explosions in Crimea and Belgorod.

***

forwarded from
military chronicle
Assault on Bakhmut PMC Wagner. New details

On October 13, it became known that the fighters of the PMC Wagner knocked out the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the settlement. the village of Ivangrad near Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) and occupied the defensive lines equipped by Ukrainian forces there. At the same time, there are battles for n. n. Experienced.

The village of Opytnoye is held by a battalion of the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now the Ukrainian military are occupying positions in the area of ​​the art school on Kievskaya street. At the same time, the unit lost up to a third of its personnel.

Also, the 125th Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, entrenched in the area of ​​​​the Mariupol cemetery in Bakhmut, bears heavy losses from the fire of the Wagner PMC. Judging by the radio intercepts, there are foreign mercenaries in the formation.

A quick breakthrough of PMC fighters made it possible to wedge into the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the Bakhmut dam and Sosyura Street. In anticipation of the collapse of the front, the Ukrainian military is pulling up reserves. In the area of ​​​​the Bakhmut nursery and n. the settlement of Yagodnoye (15 km to the positions of PMC Wagner), additional forces of the 26th artillery brigade were deployed.

The 25th, 79th and 81st airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, defending Bakhmut, are also seriously depleted and are experiencing a shortage of medical supplies: they are running out of anti-shock and hemostatic drugs.

***

(a video accompanied this.)
forwarded from
Mariana Batkovna
10:58
Aleksey Mozgovoy - the hero of the Russian Spring:
"Our task is to build a nation's power, on the charters of justice and conscience ...
Take care, first of all, of personnel, of saving the life of a fighter. There are not so many truly patriots who can stand in line up and take up arms to defend... Do not squander the most valuable thing you have - personnel. Take care of them more than yourself ... "
People's commander. He was a leader, a leader to follow. They walked because they believed that he would not deceive, betray, or set him up, but would help...
Alexey Mozgovoy, commander of the "Ghost" brigade.
We watch and listen to stories - real, live, mine.
Your Maryana Naumova and the project "WE ARE ALIVE" You

(viewtopic.php?f=3&t=230)

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sat Oct 15, 2022 12:33 pm

The most dangerous thing in war
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/15/2022

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The losses suffered by the Russian army in recent weeks, which have resulted in significant territorial losses and the risk of greater withdrawals, especially in the Kherson area, whose logistics are complicated by the crossing of the Dnieper, have brought to light certain shortcomings in the special military operationand also in the army apparatus itself. Eight years ahead and seasoned in the trenches, the Ukrainian army also had an added advantage. And it is that while, with the help of its foreign partners, Ukraine mobilized and sent its soldiers to the front, with whom it carried out strong ideological work, and reinforced its units with the advice of NATO and according to the most modern trends, Russia remained stagnant in a development model that does not correspond to the current moment. It is no coincidence that it has needed Iranian help to fill an objective gap: the shortage of combat drones.

A few weeks ago, when the performance of the Russian troops suffered in the Kharkov region, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the actions of the soldiers of the People's Republics, who in Donetsk and Lugansk have borne much of the weight of the fighting first line. These armies, created in an improvised way in 2014, but with experience in the trenches, are now helping to reorganize the special military operation , the Russian intervention that, if it intends to withstand the Ukrainian offensives, will have to make more changes than the help that the arrival of the mobilized reservists will entail. Unlike the Russian command, the persistent Ukrainian threat has prevented those troops, who have spent years in the trenches, from falling into complacent attitudes.

Original Article: Antifashist

“The clouds are building up like a layer that has settled at the top of the army logistics chain. So many facts are being revealed about the transformation of the military into a private business entity that many people will not end well. Even among base generals, the demand for the renewal of all supply structures is appearing, that is, it is being made known to what the bases attribute all the problems that the special operation has shown . The opportunity to start the process of improving such a powerful machine as the army is well worth starting a special operation,” said the founder and commander of the Vostok battalion, Alexander Khodakovsky.

According to Khodakovsky, the authorities should closely and strictly observe that "soldiers' committees are something harmless to the army." “There is one thing I don't know: How do you keep your balance? If the authorities are given more rights, they will inevitably usurp the positions. If soldiers are given more rights, there will be no victory. Where is there an impartial and objective body that is going to judge and, if necessary, convict both of them?” asks the commander.

Alexander Khodakovsky believes that the mobilized Russians should be sent to active units under field officers with combat experience rather than creating new formations “from scratch”.

“This is the most correct option: to resupply the units that have suffered losses, units in which there are tanks, artillery, intelligence and communications instead of creating new formations that have nothing. Vostok, for his part, defends the idea of ​​sending veterans who are currently being treated for their wounds to meeting points in the federal districts of the Russian Federation to deal directly with mobilized reservists, talk to them about life in the front and how to survive in combat conditions. The idea was born during a very significant conversation with the plenipotentiary envoy of one of the districts and I think it will bear fruit”, insisted the commander.

According to Khodakovsky, a group of veterans from Vostok, who work at the assembly points in the central districts of Russia and who are dealing with the mobilized reservists, have come to the conclusion that, in general, they are normal people, although there are also provocateurs. “This is the conclusion: there is normality, but there are also dissatisfied provocateurs. We know the environment, some can be top level looters. In 2014, there were some of them even among the volunteers, so our pretrial detention center was never empty.”

According to Khodakovsky, the most dangerous thing in war is silence, whose treacherous and productive betrayal is what takes the most lives and incapacitates many soldiers. So the most important weapon of a soldier against death is, according to the commander, the shovel. “It is the shovel that has to arrive before anyone else in any normal battle, you have to check that the handle is properly attached to the metal part and that everything works correctly. 70% of kills are not from a direct hit or a bullet, but from a shrapnel fragment flying parallel to the ground. If you are not above ground level, the shard does not affect you. So never be fooled by the silence or miss the opportunity to dig a protection.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/15/lo-ma ... more-25706

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It’s No Secret That the West Is Trying To Overthrow the Russian Government – John Bolton Was Just Saying It Out Loud
OCTOBER 13, 2022

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The Moscow Kremlin. Photo: Getty Images/Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg.

Forget the veteran warmonger, Britain’s Henry Jackson Society has come up with a far more elaborate scheme

On October 4, notorious US neoconservative John Bolton wrote a highly revealing op-ed for the military blog 19fortyfive.com. Its bold title concisely encapsulated the rabid warmonger’s message – Putin Must Go: Now Is the Time For Regime Change in Russia.

Bolton outlined just what Washington’s response to the Ukraine conflict – and, indeed, its policies towards Russia since the Cold War’s ended – has always been about. Namely, the US Empire ensuring a pliable, servile leader – who doesn’t stand in its way – is safely installed in the Kremlin, and that Europe, as a whole, remains subjugated to its economic, political, and military will.

That this state of affairs has been a top Anglo-American objective for some time is very clear. While Bolton’s comments elicited enormous amounts of mainstream attention, a report published in June this year, which spelled out in even greater detail how the conflict could facilitate fulfilment of that long-standing goal, passed by unacknowledged.

British shenanigans

Produced by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a hardline pressure group with very close ties to the government and the ruling Conservative party, the report asked: Opposition in Russia to the Invasion of Ukraine: How Much of a Threat is it to Putin’s Regime?

Neither the titular question nor the subject of opposition elements was approached from a purely academic perspective. In fact, the document gives every appearance of providing a prospective blueprint for the Russian government’s overthrow, via covert sponsorship of anti-government activists throughout the country. Of particular note is a set of seven “policy recommendations” which close it out.

It demands that the G7 group of countries “declare as its goal Ukraine’s military defeat of Russia and the return of occupied territories and provide extensive military equipment and training until this goal is achieved.” The bloc is also urged to “publicly announce that it seeks to remove Putin from power,” while “spreading intelligence of the threat of a coup against the Kremlin leadership, though without endangering any such coup plotters.”

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FILE PHOTO: The leaders lined up for an informal group photo at the ‘Merkel – Obama’ bench after dinner at the G7 meeting at Schloss Elmau. © Michael Kappeler / picture alliance via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Washington is urged to “declare Russia…a state sponsor of terrorism and publicly declare Putin to be a war criminal who constitutes a serious threat to European and global security and to the restoration of democracy in Russia,” with “foundations promoting Western democracy” – no doubt a reference to CIA fronts such as the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID – directed to “significantly increase their support of the different components of Russia’s opposition.”

Those same outfits, HJS suggested, “should also increase their support of Russian independent media outlets,” at home and in Ukraine, the Baltics and Poland. Western governments were, moreover, invited to “encourage the defection of Russian state officials” and military officers, “who would be provided with asylum in the country of their choice in exchange for insider information” that could be used in future international criminal prosecutions of Putin and of other ministers.

“A campaign must be established to increase [the] information being shared with the Russian public through Russian independent media outlets, through Western radio stations, and through operations conducted by Anonymous on the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy and finances and the high number of casualties of Russian soldiers,” the report ominously concludes.

She comes in colors everywhere

If those proposals sound familiar, it’s because they have all been implemented – or at least sounded out – by all G7 governments, whether individually or collectively, in the months since the HJS report was released.

This may explain why the publication received no Western news attention, unlike most other anti-Kremlin think-tank declarations issued this year. After all, why would G7 governments –or the media apparatuses they control or influence – draw attention to policies or public pronouncements in advance of their issuance, or openly advertise, before battle, detailed plans for effective war.

That the HJS’s research was primarily concerned with exploring means of regime change is amply underlined by numerous sections referencing Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution,” and the 2014 Euromaidan coup.

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FILE PHOTO: An anti-government protester on the watch at the barricade on Instituska Street near Maidan Square on February 21, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. © Etienne De Malglaive / Getty Images

The experience of these ousters led the pressure group to consider it of utmost importance to build infrastructure on the ground in Russia – “it was precisely such broad coalitions that were successful in opposing the authorities” and in overthrowing troublesome governments in Kiev in 2004 and 2014, it approvingly notes.

However, the HJS forecast that constructing such a “coalition” in Russia would be more difficult than in Ukraine, due to significant approval of the Kremlin’s actions among the general population. As such, the organization proposed weaponizing “disgruntled state officials; public disquiet at the invasion…and military casualties; the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian people [and] divisions within Russia’s siloviki (security forces)” for the purpose.

In other words, the lobbyists are advocating for a ‘color revolution’ in Moscow, in the vein of Ukraine’s, but also those of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and other parts of the former Soviet sphere during the 2000s. While the tactics employed in each country varied slightly, the endgame was the same in each case: replacing non-aligned governments with autocratic, unpopular regimes concerned with furthering Western interests and mortgaging national sovereignty to those same actors.

In Ukraine in 2004, National Endowment for Democracy’s programs radicalized local youth and funded protest movements, bussed paid demonstrators into Kiev, created opposition media outlets to agitate for upheaval, provided offshore training to activists, and paid local pollsters to publish surveys indicating significant anti-government sentiment.

This effort wasn’t entirely successful in eradicating pro-Russian feeling from the country, hence the need for the US to covertly and overtly sponsor violent nationalist elements in Kiev in the months and years preceding Euromaidan. Ukrainians, and the rest of the world, live with the legacy of that dangerous meddling today. The fallout of a similar effort in Russia would be likely even more disastrous, with even more catastrophic global implications assured.

https://orinocotribune.com/its-no-secre ... -out-loud/

Russia Won’t Recognize Nord Stream Probe if Experts Excluded

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Aerial photo released by the Danish Ministry of Defense on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the Nord Stream gas pipeline leak site. | Photo: Danish Defense Ministry

Published 13 October 2022 (14 hours 18 minutes ago)

"Russia, of course, will not recognize any 'pseudo-results' of such an investigation unless Russian experts are involved," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Without the participation of Russian experts, Moscow won't recognize any results of investigations into leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry said it had summoned envoys from Germany, Denmark and Sweden in recent days to express "bewilderment" over Russia's exclusion from a joint probe into the sabotage.

If Russian experts are not allowed to take part in the investigation, "Moscow will proceed from the fact that the mentioned countries have something to hide or are covering up for the perpetrators of these terrorist acts," the ministry said.

"Russia, of course, will not recognize any 'pseudo-results' of such an investigation unless Russian experts are involved," it added.

On Sept. 26, a series of explosions and subsequent gas leaks occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines, causing what might be the largest single release of methane in history.

Both pipelines were built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0015.html

Russia Arrests Eight People for Attack on the Crimean Bridge

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Crimea’s Kerch Strait Bridge, Oct. 8, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @PoliticTriangle

Published 12 October 2022

The attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge was organized by the Director of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.


On Wednesday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of eight people involved in the bomb attack on the Crimean bridge on October 8.

Among the detainees are five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia. So far, the Russian authorities have identified the participation of 12 people in the terrorist attack.

The FSB and the Investigative Committee found that the attack on the Crimean bridge was organized by the Director of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

The explosive device placed in the truck that exploded on the bridge left Odessa in early August for the Bulgarian city of Ruse. Subsequently, the explosive material was transferred to Armenia, from where it entered Russia and was unloaded at a wholesale center in Armavir City.


In this city, the cargo documentation was altered in order to transport the explosives to Simferopol, the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. From there, the truck headed towards its final objective, the Kerch Strait Bridge.

Two sections of highway collapsed as a result of the bridge explosion. After this terrorist attack, Russian forces carried out retaliatory actions against Ukrainian energy, military, and communication facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country will respond proportionally if the Ukrainian government continues to carry out attacks on Russian territory.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0002.html

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HOW MUCH HAS UKRAINE RECEIVED IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AID SINCE FEBRUARY?
Oct 13, 2022 , 10:23 am .

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During a meeting with G7 leaders, the Ukrainian president asked the bloc countries for more resources (Photo: Reuters)

NATO's interest in supporting the war in Ukraine is proportional to the financial and logistical aid delivered in the seven months that the conflict has been going on.

The following data reveals that from February 24 to October 3, 2022, Ukraine received 6.7 billion euros of financial support and loan guarantees from international institutions, where only 1 billion is from the IMF and the rest from the Bank World. In addition, 38.1 billion euros of financial support from Ukraine's donor countries were agreed.

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(Photo: Archive)

Other data:

*A total of 19 countries have allocated financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 38.6 billion euros.
*The largest financial assistance package is from the United States, which has provided $15.2 billion. The United Kingdom follows with 12.3 billion.
*In the structure of Ukraine's financial support: 17.3 billion are loans, 18.2 billion are grants (free aid and subsidies) and 3.2 billion are loan guarantees.
*The United States provided almost all of the free aid ($14.4bn), while Europe mostly provides long-term loans at low rates.
*Of the total amount of financial assistance, about 17 billion euros actually came to Ukraine, plus 6.7 billion from international institutions.
*Ukraine's income before the operation was 75 billion dollars. This year they are around 40 billion. If aid is added, external support exceeds 100% of the internal income of the consolidated budget of Ukraine.
*In addition, humanitarian aid must be added with an estimated volume of 14.4 billion euros, of which the United States contributes 9.5 billion dollars.
*The most authorized humanitarian financial assistance for the approval period (just over seven months) is 60 billion (on average 8.6 billion per month), which is 2.6 times more than budget revenue.

Despite the aid given, Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelenski continues to ask his partners for financial help. In addition to logistics and weapons delivered, financial aid also seems to fall into a black hole, as this war continues to consume resources without concrete results being seen.

https://misionverdad.com/cuanto-ha-reci ... de-febrero

EUROPE ON THE VERGE OF DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND RUIN
Oct 13, 2022 , 12:31 p.m.

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Europe moves down the ladder of industrial avant-garde (Photo: Le Monde)

After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, provoked by the United States and NATO, most countries in the western part of Europe chose to follow in the footsteps of the US government and imposed unprecedented coercive measures against Russia. This has brought them as a consequence, first of all, the worsening of Russian-European relations, already quite deteriorated, and has also brought them increasingly serious economic and energy crises.

Despite the negative picture, the governments of the European Union (EU) seem not to change their minds and are preparing the next round of "sanctions" against Moscow. Whether they are unaware or complicit, their actions are irreversibly leading Europe into a bleak future.

As far as the energy crisis is concerned, electricity bills for European factories have risen sharply and many manufacturing industries that rely heavily on Russian energy have come to a standstill. On the economic side, high inflation on the continent has become a breeding ground for strikes by workers protesting wage increases.

Under the influence of these various factors, the cost of production in Europe has risen to very high levels, which is contributing to the intensification of the deindustrialization process that was already set in motion by neoliberal policies.

COMPANIES FLEEING GERMANY
In order to preserve their economic interests, many powerful companies that originally built their industries in Europe have begun to "flee", preferring to settle in countries with relatively lower production costs. The phenomenon is very marked in Germany. For example, according to a recent report by the German newspaper Handelsblatt reviewed by the Chinese news agency Xinhua , the United States has attracted more than 60 German companies to invest in the state of Oklahoma and increase their profits, such as Lufthansa, Siemens, Aldi and Fresenius. These four alone recently expanded their investments by nearly $300 million.

The Xinhua article explains that the same is true for the pharmaceutical industry and the automobile industry. Bayer has allocated $100 million to build a biotech center in Boston, and chemical company Evonik Industries plans to spend $200 million on a production center in Indiana; Volkswagen will invest $7.1 billion in the United States through 2027 and BMW has said it will make a new round of investments in electric cars in South Carolina.

China is another destination that German companies are eyeing. The German chemical company BASF made an investment of 10 billion euros for the construction of a world-class integrated base in Zhanjiang. The first plants were inaugurated at the beginning of last month .

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Aerial photo of the BASF base under construction in Zhanjiang, south China (Photo: Xinhua)

In July, the governor of the German state of Saxony told the Die Zeit newspaper that isolating Russia and ending economic cooperation with it was dangerous for Germany. Michael Kretschmer added that he was concerned about the impact of "sanctions" on Germany's economy and energy security, called for "pragmatism" in relations with Moscow and demanded that the EU push forward peace talks and suspend the conflict. in Ukraine.

"Our entire economic system is in danger of collapsing. If we are not careful, Germany could de-industrialize," he warned.

More than a third of the natural gas that reaches Germany is consumed by the industrial sector, and before the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Moscow supplied more than half of Berlin's natural gas. The last weeks of decrease in the volume of Russian supply, as a result of technical or political situations caused by the United States and the EU, have made the German government face the reality that they cannot give up Russian gas in the medium term, despite the fact that one of the strong points on his political agenda in recent years was the "ambitious" energy transition plan .

INDUSTRIALISTS SOUND THE ALARMS IN ITALY

In Italy, companies in the north and center of the country sounded the alarm about the likelihood of a complete deindustrialization of the economy due to exorbitant gas and electricity prices, which threatens national security. The presidents of the General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria) of the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto estimate that the extra cost of production will be 36 billion euros in the best of scenarios, but that it could even reach an additional 41 billion euros.

On August 30, in a meeting with the heads of the economic development departments of the four regions where the bulk of the country's industrial production is concentrated, the presidents of the confederations Annalisa Sassi, Francesco Buzzella, Marco Gay and Enrico Carraro said that the situation with energy prices is "extraordinary and urgent" and that the only possibility of avoiding a total shutdown of production is the emergency intervention of the European Commission.

In their report, the presidents of the regional confederations declared that the cost of gas and electricity increased tenfold: from 4.5 billion euros in 2019-2022 to a projected 36-41 billion in 2023. An increase of this type, unprecedented in the European country, will lead to a dramatic drop and could even mean the total cessation of industrial activity in Italy. The main blow will fall on small and medium-sized companies, but the crisis will also affect large exporters of industrial products abroad.

A month later, the industry group said its projection for 2023 is that Italy's economic growth will be zero. "We are facing a complex, somewhat gloomy, onerous economic scenario," said Confindustria's general director, Francesca Mariotti, when presenting the autumn economic forecasts of the entity's think tank.

A RECORD NUMBER OF COMPANIES GO BANKRUPT IN FRANCE

Nearly 9,000 French companies have filed for bankruptcy this year, an absolute record in the last 25 years, according to the Franceinfo broadcaster, citing data from Altares.

In the third quarter, 8,950 bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in France, 69% more than last year. According to the Altares company, mini-markets, restaurants and hairdressers were the most affected. Compared to the same period in 2021, the number of restaurant closures increased 150% and that of beauty salons and barbershops 94%.

The company links this situation with the acceleration of inflation and the increase in the prices of services, the reduction of state support measures for companies, as well as with the partial change in consumer habits after the covid pandemic. -19.

In December last year, before the boycott against the Russian energy market intensified, the Union of Energy Consuming Industries (UNIDEN, for its acronym in French) warned that "electro-intensive industries located in France will have to supplement a large part of its supply on the market in the coming days, in the worst possible price conditions", with additional costs of up to 2 billion euros.

UNIDEN is an association representing energy-intensive industries operating in France, covering the food, automotive, chemical, cement and lime, construction, energy, metals, paper, transport and glass sectors. The member companies of the association consume 70% of the electricity and natural gas consumption of French industry.

Meanwhile, the French fuel industry is on the brink of collapse . 30% of the gas stations do not have gasoline due to the massive strikes. Total and ExxonMobil workers are outraged that with the current level of inflation it is impossible to live on their salaries without subsidies and benefits. The French authorities are losing patience and are threatening the strikers with force to disperse and with pay cut fines.

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Total Energies and ExxonMobil workers protest in front of a refinery in France (Photo: EFE)

"If we see that the unions are categorically reluctant to enter into a discussion, we will have no choice but to use the necessary forces and means to empty the warehouses and start the refinery. My limit is calculated in hours, maximum days, not weeks. It's too long, " French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

HOW LONG WILL EUROPE LAST WITHOUT THE ECONOMIC MAINSTAY OF INDUSTRY?

The cases of Germany, Italy and France are just some expressions (of the most important, due to the industrial capacities of the three) of what has become a generalized situation that the European Union is facing: the process of deindustrialization .

The decline in industrial potential will entail not only immediate consequences, such as increased unemployment and discontent among ordinary citizens, which is already present, but also other risks, such as having to rely on other countries for vital materials and components. For example, zinc and aluminum production capacity has been cut in half and metal smelters are in a phase of decline, according to the European Non-Ferrous Metals Association .

If this continues, the materials that were previously produced on the continent with these raw materials, such as machinery and aircraft parts, wheels, etc., will have to be replaced with materials from Asia or the United States.

By launching the sanctioning war, the EU countries triggered the definitive loss of their sovereignty. Until the illegal sanctions were imposed, the European industrial structure helped the countries of that continent to maintain a certain independence in their decisions. Now the rules will be dictated by who provides the materials and parts without which the technological mechanisms with which European society is sustained would not work.

The United States has been taking steps to become that essential supplier, which inevitably reduces the EU to a role of lackey subservience to Anglo-American interests, even when it does not suit it.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/eu ... y-la-ruina

Google Translatoer

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Monument to Vladimir Zhoga unveiled in Volnovakha
October 14, 16:14

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In Volnovakha, a monument was unveiled to the hero of Russia and the DPR Vladimir Zhoga, who died during the liberation of Volnovakha from the Nazis.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7916198.html

On the problems of information warfare
October 14, 15:24

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On the problems of information warfare

Regarding the next iteration of talk about the restrictions on the work of military correspondents. It seems that the main problems are:

1. The absence of a "solid and clear" unified control center for information warfare. In the current situation, there are several control centers that often compete with each other.

2. Weak interagency cooperation to ensure the conduct of information warfare. This issue is more of a political nature, since we have a "system of checks and balances."

3. In fact, there is no problem for the authorities to shut up someone on the lists, this is a technical issue. How it is possible to crush information structures that are undesirable to the authorities, one could look at the example of the information structures of Navalny and various Western NGOs, which had a huge audience and huge support. Military correspondents and military bloggers do not have such resources, except for some eventual hardware support from various departments. Moreover, the numbers of subscribers do not matter (see the example of Khovansky - "I have a million subscribers!" - "Here is a fork, clean the toilet"). Another question is whether this will be effective from the point of view of information warfare in the conditions of slow and inefficient operation of some information systems in a number of well-known cases.

4. Therefore, it seems necessary to improve the interdepartmental interaction of the structures responsible for the information war (somewhere at the level of the Security Council or the long overdue State Defense Committee). The war of information structures within themselves and among themselves in the conditions of an ongoing war with an external enemy cannot lead to anything good.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67157 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7915863.html

Strelkov went to the front
October 15, 13:21

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Information was confirmed that Strelkov went to the front as part of one of the volunteer formations.
The entry ban has been in effect since August 2014, when he left the post of defense minister of the DPR and was recalled to Russia.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7917550.html

Monarchist or not, he is a hero. There would be no Donbass without his leadership at that critical time.

Google Translator

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Colonelcassad
Musk continues the session of amazing discoveries.
According to him, Russia is making efforts to disable the Starlink satellite constellation, which may be critical for Ukraine, most of whose communication systems have already been destroyed by the Russian Armed Forces. A transparent allusion to recent rumors about serious disruptions in the Starlink system after some Russian actions.
According to Musk, the current protection of the system does not guarantee that Russia will not be able to destroy it.

***

Colonelcassad
Special operation, 14 October. The main thing from RIA Novosti :

▪️Putin said that the Ministry of Defense did not strike all facilities in Ukraine at once, now it is getting there, there is currently no need for massive strikes

▪️Putin said that everything that is happening today is not pleasant, but Russia is acting correctly and in a timely manner. According to the President, a direct clash between NATO troops and the Russian army would be a very dangerous step that could lead to a global catastrophe.

▪️Putin explained that the line of contact with Ukraine is 1.1 thousand kilometers, it is impossible to protect it only by contract soldiers, so it was necessary to announce a partial mobilization. According to the President, the Ministry of Defense initially proposed to mobilize less than 300,000 people

▪️Putin said that the mobilization will be completed within two weeks, and now its quality should be improved

▪️The Ministry of Defense reported that Russian aviation hit military command and energy facilities in the Kyiv and Kharkov regions

▪️The sixth tranche of military assistance to Kyiv from the EU will amount to 500 million euros, the union will thus bring the total military assistance to 3.1 billion euros, a source in Brussels said.

▪️Elon Musk said that his company SpaceX could no longer pay for the maintenance of the satellite communications system in Ukraine and asked the Pentagon to take over these costs. Representatives of the US Department of Defense said that they are negotiating with him, as well as with other companies about this.

▪️In Belgorod, as a result of Ukrainian shelling, a substation caught fire, the fire de-energized part of the city, it was already extinguished and electricity was supplied to residents, the governor said

***

Colonelcassad

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The situation in the Soledarsky direction
as of 22.00 October 14, 2022

▪️In the Bakhmut area, assault detachments of the Wagner PMC continue to advance south of Bakhmut . Fierce battles are going on in Experienced . Separate units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from Otradovka to Kurdyumovka .

▪️Formations of the 93rd mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, defending this sector, suffer significant losses in manpower. One of the formation's companies arbitrarily left its positions and departed for the Druzhkovka area .

▪️Among the local residents of Bakhmut, unconfirmed information is being circulated about the liberation of a furniture factory in the east of the village by PMC Wagner fighters.

▪️Due to the destruction of the ultra-shortwave repeater and interruptions in the Starlink satellite communication system, communication between the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was disrupted. In Toretsk , one of the artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit its own position.

▪️Despite the critical situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, no decision was made to withdraw the military contingent from Bakhmut. However, in the vicinity of Chasy Yar , a group was sent to conduct reconnaissance and search for a suitable area for the Soledar OTC command post in case of withdrawal.

▪️In the Soledar sector, units of the RF Armed Forces continue fighting in the Disputed sector . The command of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade expects an active Russian offensive along the entire front line.

▪️To contain the advance, Ukrainian artillery and army aviation are firing barrage at the areas of advance of Russian troops.

***

forwarded from
military chronicle
Ukrainian planes that attacked Belgorod were shot down in front of the airfield: details

On October 13, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile attack on Belgorod. An hour before the shelling, reconnaissance of the Russian borders was carried out by the MiG-29A and Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force with American AGM-88C / D missiles. The targets of the fighters were to be the Pantsir, Buk and S-300 air defense systems located in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

For the attack, the pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine used low-altitude flight with a short-term "jump" to a height of 3.5-5 thousand meters to launch missiles. They used this technique before advancing on Kherson. So Ukrainian aviation tried to check the location of Russian air defense both in Novaya Kakhovka and on the line of combat.

An attempt to “open” the Russian air defense in Belgorod turned out to be the loss of both aircraft for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The cars were shot down near the village of Shishaki, in the airspace over the Poltava region. According to the Military Chronicle, at the moment when both pilots requested a landing at the air base in Mirgorod, two rockets exploded in the rear hemispheres of the vehicles.

According to the Military Chronicle, Su-27 and Su-24MR of the Ukrainian Air Force were shot down from a distance of 217 km. Target illumination at such a range for air defense systems could be carried out by the A-50 reconnaissance and target designation aircraft. For firing at fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from such a distance, the 9M82MV missile of the S-300V4 complex could be used. Its maximum launch range is 350 km, and the flight speed is 7.5 Mach (9187 km/h).

***

forwarded from
brussels snitch
The last few days there have been a lot of disputes about the Bakhmut direction. To clarify, I once again contacted my contacts on the ground.

As of October 14, 2022, Wagner PMC units are holding the front from Lisichansk in the north to Nikolaevka in the south.

Fierce battles are underway:

▪️in the area of ​​disputed;
▪️on the approaches to Bakhmut from the southeast side;
▪️in the Experimental area;
▪️at strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Nikolaevka area.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are constantly deploying reinforcements to almost all sectors of the front, equipping new positions, laying mines on positions left during the fighting, using all types of weapons, and army aviation is working closely.

Therefore, I repeat once again: there is no question of any voluntary retreat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The fighters of PMC "Wagner" continue to methodically break into the enemy's defenses and move forward.

***

Colonelcassad
The situation with Elon Musk and Starlink for Ukraine continues to evolve. Musk's stance tweeted is not a banter or a pose.

1. The Pentagon has officially confirmed that it has begun consultations with the Musk company on changing the support formats for the Starlink satellite constellation used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Ukraine.
2. At the same time, the Pentagon has already (!) announced that, in addition to Starlink, other ways are being considered to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with satellite communications.
3. After the morning scandal, Zelensky’s gang urgently began to back down and was marked by statements that Musk had already done a lot for Ukraine and it was necessary to negotiate with him (the story of Musk appearing and urgently missing on the Peacemaker is just about this change of shoes).

Among the reasons for what is happening in the United States note:

1. Musk is clearly betting on the Republicans and is willing to put up with some inconvenience (the investigation against him has already begun) that will not be significant after the Republicans gain control of Congress. Moreover, in the long run, Musk will win, including in resolving issues of defense budgets in 2023 and 2024, where he will certainly be one of the Pentagon contractors.

2. Within the framework of conspiracy theories, the version of Russia’s threats to destroy Starlink satellites with anti-satellite weapons that Russia possesses is called (except for the story with a strange glow last week and rumors about problems with Starlink in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this version is not confirmed by anything)

3. Well, of course, these actions of Musk are associated with the actions of those groups of the American and European establishment that openly advocate freezing the war in Ukraine and actually use Musk’s demarches to popularize this position in the mass consciousness, which causes the current violent attacks on Mask by supporters war until the last end of Europe and Ukraine.

***

forwarded from
Readovka
Where the remains of the Ukrainian fighter aircraft are hiding. Exclusive map Readovka

Ukrainian military aviation, it seems, is living its last days - the sides of aerobatic teams in colorful demonstration coloring are already going into battle. For two days of active "geraning" (use of the "Geran" UAV) , the loss of three combat aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was confirmed at once: Su -27 and MiG-29 fighters, as well as a Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft, which, apparently, tried to open the launch sites of those very "Geranium". According to various estimates, today Ukraine is capable of launching no more than 20 fighters into the air, and the daily loss of even one aircraft may soon lead to the complete destruction of Ukrainian air defense aviation.

At the moment, the basis of Ukrainian air defense aviation is the Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, and, apparently, after the appearance in the airspace of the independent Russian-Iranian Geraniums, almost the main burden of the fight against the so-called " shahid mopeds. The analytical department of the Readovka holding has prepared a map of current bases with the calculation of the approximate range of the Su-27 and MiG-29 in order to assess the degree of airspace coverage.

It is worth noting that the airfields in Mirgorod and Vasilkov were permanent bases for Ukrainian fighter brigades even before the start of the JMD. Nikolaev and Odessahave also long been used as temporary bases, but the bases in Kropyvnytskyi and Dolgintsevo were reactivated after the start of the special operation. Today, both of these airfields are advanced, and from them the military aviation of Ukraine can reach the DPR and LPR.

As we can see, so far the ranges of the Armed Forces fighters cover almost the entire Ukraine, but it should be understood that in order to effectively combat the Geraniums, the fighters need to be in the same place and at the same time with the drone, and for this it still needs to be detected in advance, which is very difficult to do. Therefore, the real interception radius should be reduced by at least 3-4 times.

***

Colonelcassad

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The situation in the Starobelsky direction
as of 15.00 October 14, 2022

🔻In the Kupyansky section of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the forces of the 14th mechanized brigade and the 32nd combined troop battalion continue the assault on the Kislovka - Pershotravneve line . On the night of October 14, the reconnaissance group 32 OSB carried out reconnaissance in battle near Kislovka .

▪️Fire support for Ukrainian formations is provided by crews of 155-mm M777 howitzers from the vicinity of Petropavlovka and east of Novoosinovka , and target designation is provided by UAVs from the area south of Liman 1st .

▪️At the moment, all enemy attacks have been repulsed. Due to losses, part of the personnel of the 32nd OSB of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was assigned to Lozovaya 1st for rotation. Also, the forces of the 92nd Ombre departed from Sinkovka to be replaced by the 128th troop brigade.

The command of the united group of troops "Kharkov" is considering the option of transferring 32 OSB to the Nikolaev-Berislav direction.

🔻On the Limansko-Svatovsky sector, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are concentrating forces at the turn of Torskoye - Terny . During the sortie of the units of the RF Armed Forces in the direction of the Torsk formation, the 110th battalion of the 111th troop detachment suffered losses and retreated to reserve positions for regrouping.

▪️Clashes with soldiers of the 208th Cossack Regiment of the RF Armed Forces continue in the vicinity of the Terny settlement. To maintain combat readiness, ammunition was brought to the front line.

▪️The 118th battalion of the 111th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is advancing on the Novosadovoye sector , trying to gain a foothold in the area. A Ukrainian DRG unit operates in Nevsky .

▪️Reserves arrive in Lyman . The 1st battalion of the 66th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was withdrawn for rotation due to the large number of sanitary losses. A tank platoon was transferred to reinforce the 110th battalion of the 111th arr.

***

Colonelcassad

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The battle for Kherson: the situation in the Posad-Pokrovsky and Aleksandrovsky sections
as of 11.00 on October 14 of the year

▪️The Ukrainian command is preparing for an offensive on Ternovye Pody and Pravdino . In the Galitsinovo - Limany area, the BTG forces of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are concentrated.

▪️At night, a large convoy of armored vehicles and trucks with ammunition passed through the Ship District of Nikolaev , which went in the direction of the front line.

▪️At night, the reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted reconnaissance of the positions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation using drones in the Ternovy Pod sector . Russian servicemen shot down five UAVs of the Leleka-100 and Fury types.

▪️Helicopters of the army aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out several volleys of unguided missiles in the direction of Russian positions.

▪️With a high probability, the Ukrainian command will launch an offensive simultaneously in two areas - in the region of Ternovy Pod and Pravdino . In case the assault fails in the vicinity of Bashtanka , two more reserve BTGs are in reserve.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sat Oct 15, 2022 10:35 pm

THE UKRAINIAN M.O. FOR THE CRIMEAN BRIDGE ATTACK – THIS IS HOW THE OPERATION WORKED TO THE POINT OF DETONATION

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By John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with

Two detailed reports appeared in Moscow yesterday describing precisely how the attack on the Crimean Bridge on October 8 was organised and carried out.

The source is the Federal Security Service (FSB), with supporting evidence from the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia, including at least five eye-witnesses and participants, plus telephone interceptions.

The politics of this evidence, and the timing of its publication now, are plain. The humanitarian grain export agreement, promoted by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has been manipulated by the Ukrainians and their NATO allies – excluding Turkey – to conceal weapons shipments for military operations against Russia.

Guterres did the same thing in his conduct of the negotiations to evacuate civilians held hostage the bunkers of the Azovstal complex in Mariupol during the siege of April and May. Guterres lied in his direct talks with Russians officials then. He continued lying to them during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) negotiations on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in September. His public lying led to the unprecedented condemnation of the Secretary-General by the Russian Foreign Ministry on September 30; Guterres was dismissed as “an instrument of propaganda and pressure on member states”.

In the newly reported interpretation of the FSB’s evidence, the shipping links have been exposed between Odessa and the Danube River ports of Romania and Bulgaria, opening for public discussion in Moscow the future of Odessa in the operational planning of the Russian General Staff. This is to be decided by the Stavka before President Vladimir Putin leaves for the G20 summit conference in Bali on November 15-16, at which President Joseph Biden and Vladimir Zelensky will also be present.

Also obvious is what is missing from these operational reports from the FSB sources. So far there has been no publication of the evidence already gathered by the FSB and military intelligence on the M.O. for coordinating the movement of the truck with its explosive charge on the bridge and its movement in parallel with the fuel train, so that the detonation would coincide and strike the train, magnifying the impact on both road and rail structures.

Reports by Vzglyad analysts, Rafael Fakhrutdinov and Yevgeny Krutikov, follow; they have been translated into English without interpolation, explanation, or comment. Maps and other captioned illustrations have been added to their running text.

HOW THE BOMB WAS TRANSPORTED BY SEA FROM ODESSA

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Source:https://vz.ru/


The terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge forces Russia to take Odessa
The ‘Grain Deal’ helped Kiev organize a terrorist attack against the Crimean bridge
October 13, 2022
By Rafael Fakhrutdinov

The terrorist attack against the Crimean Bridge revealed a serious flaw for Russia’s security in the ‘grain deal’. That provided that vessels carrying grain would be inspected only in the Turkish Straits. The ship carrying explosives which left Odessa was able to safely enter the Danube River. This violation of the ‘grain deal’ will not solve the problem – after leaving Zmeiny [Snake] Island, Russia lost control over this sector of the Black Sea. What are the options?

The Federal Security Service has revealed the organizer and perpetrators of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge – the responsibility has been assigned to the head of military intelligence of Ukraine Kirill Budanov. The FSB has also found out the route of the explosive device which went off on the bridge on October 8.

The first stage of this movement is of particular interest. In early August, the dangerous cargo with a total weight of more than 22 tonnes, camouflaged under rolls of construction film, was transported from the seaport of Odessa along the Black Sea coast and up the Danube to the Bulgarian river port of Ruse, located inland. ‘We see a gross violation of the grain deal. The fact that a military cargo has left Odessa, directed against the Russian Federation, is an obvious violation of the agreement,’ said Deputy Head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, Andrei Klimov.

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Recall that the inspection of ships is undertaken in order to exclude the transportation of military cargo. But the subtlety is that the inspection is carried out only at the entrance and exit from the Black Sea. The JCC groups that conduct the inspection are working in harbours in the area of the Turkish Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. But the vessel with the explosives ‘turned off’ much earlier.

As the newspaper VZGLYAD has already noted, the ship, which left Odessa for Ruse, moved on a coastal course along the seashore, and then entered the Danube, where it proceeded through Romanian territory to the Bulgarian port. The Ukraine supports active navigation on the Danube, although this is hampered by the Ukrainian mines installed at the beginning of the Special Military Operation near Odessa and [since February 24] they have been drifting to the Danube delta and out into the Black Sea. The cargo shipment was regulated by the fact that on July 22 in Istanbul, Russia, Turkey and the UN signed a memorandum of cooperation in the supply of Russian and Ukrainian agricultural products to the markets. Ukraine has signed its part of the agreement with Turkey and the UN. The ‘Grain deal’ was concluded for a period of 120 days until November, with the possibility of extension.

Under the terms of this agreement, a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) with the participation of Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine operates in Istanbul to monitor the departure of ships from Ukraine. The main thing to pay attention to is that the JCC is charged with the inspection of ships, in order to exclude the transportation of military cargo.

TURKISH NAVY IDENTIFICATION OF UKRAINIAN MINES IN THE BLACK SEA SINCE FEBRUARY

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Source: https://turkishnavy.net// -- September 10, 2022

The main thing is that the vessel sailing from Odessa to Ruse was not subject to verification by Turkish observers as part of the ‘grain deal’. ‘We can’t check such vessels that go along the coast. Especially if the ship was sailing under the Bulgarian flag. Two neighbouring NATO countries, Romania and Bulgaria, are exploiting this,’ said military expert Vasily Dandykin.

According to the Istanbul Agreements, ‘all activities in Ukrainian territorial waters are conducted under the authority and responsibility of Ukraine” (point C of the “Initiatives for the safe transportation of grain and food from Ukrainian ports”). The Ukrainian side focuses on this point, which excludes external control. Due to the lack of control, the cargo was delivered to Bulgaria, and from there to Georgia by sea as a transit to Armenia. The cargo was sealed and was not subject to Bulgarian or Georgian customs inspection.

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Website of the UN for the implementation of the grain agreement.

Russia did not have the opportunity to control the movement of the vessel along the Black Sea coast from Odessa to the Danube estuary. This is largely due to the terms of the grain agreement. In June, as a gesture of goodwill, Russia withdrew its garrison from Zmeiny Island, which occupies a strategically important position about 35 km east of the mouth of the Danube. From Odessa to Zmeiny is about 120 km, and near the island there is the regular shipping route between the Bulgarian port of Varna and other ports of the western Black Sea region. ‘It has been demonstrated to the world community that the Russian Federation does not hinder the efforts of the UN to organize a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine,’ RIA Novosti reported the statement by the Russian Defense Ministry regarding the withdrawal of our military from the island. After the evacuation of the garrison from Zmeiny, Ukraine resumed navigation on the Danube.

“The military intelligence agency of Ukraine has clearly calculated – why not take advantage of the situation when the Odessa port is unblocked, and deals continue to be concluded with Bulgaria in the field of construction and so on. What is not a convenient moment? The fact that the ports have been unblocked is being quietly used to carry out such operations,’ Semyon Bagdasarov, director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia, said air during the television program, Soloviev Live.

Theoretically, Ukrainian military intelligence could well use a cargo ship with grain going towards Istanbul, said Ivan Lizan, head of the analytical bureau of the SONAR-2050 project. ‘The explosives could also have been offloaded [at a concealed location] during the operation by disabling the vessel transponder. After that, turn the transponder on – and the ship would proceed to Istanbul, where representatives of the UN, Russia and Turkey would have boarded it and checked the cargo ship for any prohibited items, including explosives and weapons,’ Lizan said.

Altering the regime of the ‘grain deal’ – for example, so that Turkey (as the guarantor of the Istanbul Agreements) would have the opportunity to inspect ships not in the Bosphorus, but immediately after they leave the Ukrainian ports – would be problematic, says corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences, Alexander Bartosh. ‘Can we, within the framework of the grain deal, oblige Turkey to inspect all vessels leaving the territorial waters of Ukraine, and check all ships? I think this would be very difficult – Ankara itself will not agree to this,’ Bartosz told VZGLYAD. ‘Besides, before that, Turkey would have to hold consultations with its NATO allies, and all this would take a very long time.’

“Nevertheless, this should clearly become a topic for negotiations between Russia and Turkey in the very near future. This is because a terrorist attack was committed on Russian territory, in which the Black Sea countries were involved,’ the interlocutor noted.

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Presidents Putin and Erdogan, with their delegations, meeting in Astana on October 13.

According to Bagdasarov, it is necessary to go further and raise the issue of terminating the ‘grain deal’, the validity period for which, we add, will already expire in November. The expert recalled that Russia has repeatedly criticized the quality of the implementation of these agreements, Vladimir Putin pointed out that the poorest countries, which should be the recipients of supplies, receive from 3% to 5% of all the exported products. ‘A number of countries are interested in this grain deal including Turkey as an intermediary. It is clear that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in receiving this grain, slightly improves his domestic support rating on the eve of the elections scheduled for next year. Why do we need this grain deal?’ the expert asked himself.

‘The decision to withdraw from the grain deal after the circumstances have been revealed will be made by the leadership of our country. At the same time, it is obvious that the West, represented by the United States, the EU and the UN, has not fulfilled its obligations under the deal,’ said Senator Konstantin Dolgov, former Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, and deputy Russian Permanent Representative to the UN.

But if we assume that Russia will withdraw from the deal, then it will be quite difficult to regain control of Zmeiny [Snake] Island and the north-west of the Black Sea as a whole, Bartosh believes. ‘As for the control of the water area in the Zmeiny area, the Russian military may stop some vessel for inspection, but this will be an international scandal, since we do not have an international mandate for such actions. It will also be difficult to take this zone by military means, because it is being shot through by Ukrainian anti–ship warfare means – mobile, disguised,’ the expert points out. ‘They have not been suppressed, and if we could, we probably would have attacked them earlier. In general, the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation will not risk the lives of sailors to try to take control of the waters near this island.’

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Source: https://www.bbc.com/

‘Cancellation of the Ukrainian grain deal would mean the naval blockade of Odessa and the preparation for its potential assault,’ political scientist and former premier of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Marat Bashirov, noted a few days ago in the Telegram channel. The establishment of control over Odessa as one of the potential targets of the Russian operation is also mentioned by Western experts.

At the end of September, the US publication, National Interest, commented in predicting a possible Russian response to the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkov region: ‘Moscow may launch a counteroffensive, focusing on the capture of the Black Sea port of Odessa. This city is the last exit of Ukraine to the Black Sea, and its capture would actually turn the Ukraine into a fully landlocked country. It will also give Russia a stranglehold over Ukraine’s main and vital economic outlet, because most of Kiev’s exports and imports pass through Odessa. The loss of this city would be a colossal economic and psychological blow for Ukraine.’ According to the National Interest, ‘given that Russia has transferred a significant number of troops and weapons from the east of Ukraine to the south, even before Kiev’s offensive in the east,’ there is a high probability that Odessa is now the main target of the Russian Armed Forces.



HOW THE BOMB WAS TRANSPORTED BY ROAD AND TRUCK TO THE BRIDGE

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Source: https://vz.ru/


Ukrainian terror came to Russia through Estonia and Armenia
The moment of detention of one of the suspects in the preparation of terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia
October 12, 2022.
By Evgeny Krutikov

With unusual speed the FSB of Russia has revealed the picture of who delivered the explosives that eventually worked on the Crimean Bridge, and how. A lot of people participated in the covert operation, and it was managed by the military intelligence agency of Ukraine. Why did all this become possible and how did the explosives easily slip over several borders at once, including the Russian one?

The FSB has announced the detention of five citizens of Russia plus three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia as part of the investigation into the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge. The organizer of this crime is called the Ukrainian military intelligence. The FSB stated that “the organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and agents.”

Also on Wednesday, it was reported about the detention in the Bryansk region of a Ukrainian agent who was going to detonate an explosive device at one of the logistics terminals. Another saboteur was detained in the Moscow region with two portable Igla anti-aircraft complexes. Both of them entered the territory of Russia through Estonia; the weapons and explosives were unearthed in caches in the border regions.

According to the investigation, the explosive device which went off in a truck on the Crimean Bridge was camouflaged in rolls under construction plastic film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22,770 kg. In early August this was sent from the seaport of Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse under contract No. 02/08/2022 between LLC Translogistic UA (Kiev) and Baltex Capital S.A.

The Bulgarian city of Ruse is located not on the Black Sea, but on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River in the interior of the country. Consequently, the ship, which left Odessa for Ruse, moved on a coastal course along the seashore, and then entered the Danube. Thus, it was not subject to verification by Turkish observers as part of the ‘grain deal’.

And then the cargo was delivered from Bulgaria to [Poti] Georgia by sea in transit for Armenia. That is, it was sealed and was not subject to Bulgarian or Georgian customs inspection. This is a “gray” scheme, according to which contraband is usually smuggled.

“Citizens of Ukraine Mikhail Vladimirovich Tsyurkalo, born in 1975, Denis Olegovich Kovach, born in 1979, Roman Ivanovich Solomko, born in 1971; citizens of Georgia Inosaridze Sandro, a broker named Levan, and a citizen of Armenia Arthur Terchanyan, born in 1985, were involved in organizing the shipment of cargo from Bulgaria to the port of Poti (Georgia), and then to Armenia. From September 29 to October 3, 2022, in Yerevan, at the Transalliance terminal, the cargo was cleared according to the rules of the EEC [Eurasian Economic Commission] and documents were substituted, after which its new consignor became GU AR JI GROUP LLC (Republic of Armenia, Alaverdi city), and the recorded consignee became Leader LLC (Moscow city), according to the FSB report.

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Source: https://t.me/boris_rozhin/

However, the cargo did not reach Moscow. On October 4, the cargo crossed the Russian-Georgian border at the Upper Lars checkpoint on a DAF truck registered in Georgia and was unloaded at the Armavir wholesale base of the Krasnodar Territory on October 6.


It should also be noted here that the cargo had already been customs cleared according to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) rules in Yerevan, and therefore it was not subject to additional customs inspection at the Russian border. By the way, the Georgian side has already managed to disown what had been happening, declaring that ‘no cargo with explosives crossed the Georgian customs border.’ Formally, this is true, since the cargo had already been cleared in Yerevan according to the rules of the EEC, and had nothing to do with the Georgian customs border. To be clear: the customs border is different from the physical one. For transit goods going from one EEC country [Armenia] to another [Russia] through the territory of a country that is not a member of this union [Georgia], it is as if they do not cross the customs space of this transit jurisdiction.

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A reproduction photo of the truck cargo and copies of the EEC customs declarations released by the FSB.

In Armavir, the cargo was received by a local company Agro Service, engaged in the cultivation of soybeans. This is a family business, which has been owned by the Azatian family for more than 20 years – the head of the family Samvel and his children — the elder George and the younger Artem. All of them are natives of the city of Makeyevka, Donetsk People’s Republic, who moved to Krasnodar Krai a long time ago.

Samvel the father and oldest son George are mainly engaged in the affairs of their soy business. The youngest, Artem, studied to be a lawyer, but he did not find a place for himself in Armavir and some time ago went to live in the Crimea. To Simferopol to work. It was Artem Azatian who called his father from Crimea on the eve of the terrorist attack and asked him to help some friend of his. The friend had asked him to hold a cargo in his warehouse for literally a day, for which another truck would then come from Krasnodar to collect it. The elder brother George was not sleep-walking but he was very surprised when a truck with foreign (Georgian) license plates drove up to his warehouse.

“The driver handed me a stack of invoices to sign, but I gave them back to him. Why should I read and sign other people’s documents? Father and brother agreed, I helped,” he explained. This is a normal story for the North Caucasus.

George Azatian and a company worker, tractor driver Yuri Postnikov, organized the unloading of pallets from the Georgian truck using a forklift. During the investigation, the FSB took Postnikov’s work gloves in which he had worked on the unloading and reloading. Apparently, the investigation hopes to find traces of explosives on them. But this is unlikely. In the evening of the same day, an Inter company truck from Krasnodar stopped by the warehouse, where the pallets were loaded.

Where did the Inter truck come from, which eventually exploded on the Crimean Bridge?

There is an electronic freight exchange in Russia, ATI.SU, created by one IT company. The exchange’s head office is located in St. Petersburg. It has been operating for more than 20 years, it is a respected structure that is used in 60 countries. It works like this. You need to transport cargo from point A to point B. You don’t have your own trucks or other means of delivery. Then you place an ad-request on this exchange with an indication of the route and the desired dates of loading / unloading. You are contacted by independent carriers, of which there are a dime a dozen in the country: people buy a vehicle (often a truck) or some other cargo vehicle and earn money on it.

You choose the carrier you like and enter into an electronic contract with him. There is a feedback system and reviews about customers and carriers. Very often, this exchange is also used by large regional transport aggregator companies which receive a certain order in a region where at that time they don’t have their own vehicles. A convenient thing.

This system is similar to the one called bareboat charter in seaborne shipping. This is when the customer hires just the vessel without a crew for cargo transportation. Then the captain is hired, and he hires the crew. At the same time, it is only known that it is necessary to transport cargo from point A to point B, but what kind of cargo it is – even the captain does not necessarily know this. And often he doesn’t want to know.

In the case of an electronic transportation exchange, the driver also does not know what he is carrying. That is, in theory, he should know. Because he has the invoices and all other documents, but in reality the driver sees only bags or boxes. Freight forwarders usually do not look into the cargo. Another feature of such a system — carriers often do not deal with the actual manufacturer of the cargo, but with intermediaries or stockists detached from the sale and purchase deal. In our case, such intermediaries unwittingly turned out to be Samvel and Georgy Azatian who had been asked in a fraternal way to hold someone else’s cargo in their wholesale warehouse for a day.

At the height of the bombing of aircraft by various Palestinian groups in the 1970s and 1980s, airports expressly announced: do not take other people’s belongings or parcels with you on board. By the end of the 1980s and in the 1990s, such memos were already distributed in the USSR, and then in Russia. But how can you refuse a loved one?

And on the eve of the terrorist attack, an offer appeared on this electronic freight exchange from a certain transport company from Ulyanovsk ‘TEK-34’ to transport cargo from Armavir to Simferopol. A non-existent company was indicated as the recipient of the cargo in Crimea. The fact that it does not exist, this turned out much later.

The TEK-34 company was registered in the Volgograd region by a citizen of the Russian Federation Alexei Orlov, but it last showed signs of life in 2018. Then it was bought out in 2020 by Oleg Antipov, a resident of Ulyanovsk, on whose behalf the announcement was placed on the electronic exchange. Antipov has not been detained and is actively cooperating with the investigation. He claims that he was framed and ‘his conscience is clear.’

And it was like this. ‘On October 7 of this year, with the assistance of Roman Solomko, a citizen of Ukraine, Vladimir Vasilyevich Zloba, born in 1987, and five other resident citizens of Russia, the documents for the cargo were changed again, the sender indicated LLC TEK-34 (Ulyanovsk), and the recipient was a non–existent company in the Republic of Crimea,’ the FSB reports.

That is, professional hackers hacked the website of the TEK-34 company and placed an ad on the electronic transportation exchange on behalf of Oleg Antipov.

A private trucker named Mahir Yusubov, born in 1971, a resident of Krasnodar, responded to the ad. The vehicle, of the same Inter company, was recently re–registered to his own nephew, 25–year-old Samir Yusubov, who is currently abroad.

The fact is that trucker Mahir Yusubov got into an accident somewhere near Kazan some time ago and he has remained in debt to someone. To keep himself out of harm’s way, Yusubov says he re-registered the truck to his nephew so that his creditors wouldn’t take it away. If they would come, they would find he has nothing. That is why at first the initial suspect was the young Samir Yusubov, although the driver of the truck, 51-year-old Mahir, clearly visible on the video at the checkpoint at the Crimean Bridge, did not even look like the young and athletic Samir in body build. A few days later, Samir Saimur ogli Yusubov officially stated that he had nothing to do with the incident.

The owners of the Armavir warehouse, the Azatian family, and trucker Mahir Yusubov did not contact each other in any way. The Azatians only knew the number of the truck which would come to pick up the cargo. Also out of the scheme is the Georgian trucker who delivered the cargo across the Russian border to Armavir. Armenian soybean producers, a poor Azerbaijani trucker, and a Georgian driver are the entire Caucasian international that was remotely manipulated by Ukrainian military intelligence.

For all of the eight hours that Mahir Yusubov drove his truck from Armavir towards the Crimea, he was constantly contacted by a Ukrainian intelligence officer who called himself Ivan Ivanovich. For communication, an anonymous electronic number purchased on the Internet was used, as well as a real phone number registered to a citizen of Ukraine, a resident of Kremenchuk, Sergei Vladimirovich Andreichenko, born in 1988.

Most of the people involved in the scheme were used by Ukrainian intelligence and kept in the dark. Nevertheless, the investigators emphasize that their investigation of the terrorist attack continues. All of its organizers and accomplices, they say, ‘including foreign citizens, will be brought to justice in accordance with Russian law.’

There is reason to believe that now the greatest interest for the investigation is the ‘acquaintance’ of Artem Azatian, who ‘asked in a brotherly way’ to hold the cargo in his family’s warehouse in Armavir. Why the Ukrainians needed him, it is now clear. A truck with Georgian license plates at the checkpoint of the Crimean Bridge would not just be inspected – it would be taken apart down to the nuts and bolts. That would have been so even early on a Saturday morning. And so here was a local trucker, his own truck, Krasnodar plates. To be sure, the unfortunate Mahir Yusubov had repeatedly traveled across the bridge to the Crimea before.

The “acquaintance” of Azatian Jr. could well have been formed on the basis of a common origin – remember that the Azatian family came from Makeyevka, Donetsk — or a childhood or teenage acquaintance. This method has been used by Ukrainian intelligence for many years. A person is approached by his childhood friends, classmates. Even quite sane people can be deceived by such nostalgia.

The Ukrainian scheme used numerous loopholes, not only in the organizational system of cargo transportation, but also in the legislation and even in the international agreements. The cargo was sent to Bulgaria by the Danube River, not by sea. Georgia is a smuggler’s paradise, where all kinds of brokers have been working for years with entrances and exits around the ports of Poti and Batumi. Russian customs and border guards cannot control how goods and cargo are cleared in Yerevan. After the Armenian customs clearance, the goods become free to move throughout the Eurasian Economic Commission area.

Yes, such operations are costly, since the cargo set sail and then traveled for a month. They are risky, because anything could go wrong at any moment. The more people who participate in the scheme, especially when they are in the dark, the greater the chance of failure. The forklift driver Postnikov could have made a mistake when he was working on the loading in the warehouse – if he had dropped the very pallet where the fuse was, half of Armavir would have blown up.

Another point is that preliminary intelligence work had been carried out. Someone had to find out that Artem Azatian had a father and an older brother, and they have a warehouse in Armavir. The rest is not so difficult, although it requires clever planning. If we assume that the truck from Yerevan to the Crimean Bridge was remotely controlled by one employee of the Ukrainian special services (the notorious ‘Ivan Ivanovich’), then everything is quite simple.

It’s this simplicity which is frightening – for example, both of the Ukrainian terrorists who were detained on Wednesday after they crossed the Russian border from Estonia; and the one with the MANPADS who drove the rockets in his car. The Estonian border raises questions. It is worth recalling that [Natalia] Vovk, the Ukrainian citizen who is suspected of the murder of Daria Dugina, also fled from the Russian Federation to Estonia.

The detention of a Ukrainian terrorist with anti–aircraft missiles in the Moscow region is a separate story. He wanted to hit something or someone. If we are talking about passenger planes, then this is obviously the preparation of an act of international terrorism. Given these many alarming signals, it can be assumed that there may be more such groups or lone terrorists. They are controlled from a single center (GUR MO of Ukraine); they are dangerous because they are hard-bitten, relentless.

The main method for dealing with them is agent intelligence, as well as unwinding communication chains. Closing the Estonian border or normalizing customs relations are more political than counterintelligence actions.


http://johnhelmer.net/the-ukrainian-m-o ... more-69008

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We’re Being Pushed Toward Nuclear War On A Fiction: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

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We’re being driven toward nuclear war on the completely fictional claim that Putin is a Hitler-like megalomaniac who’s just invading countries completely unprovoked, solely because he is evil and hates freedom, and won’t stop invading and conquering until he’s stopped by force.

The news media aren’t telling people about the western aggressions which led to this war. They’re not telling people the US is keeping this war going with the stated goal of weakening Russia and is rejecting peace talks and refusing to push for peace. All people are being told is that Putin is another Hitler who won’t listen to reason and only understands violence. The world’s two nuclear superpowers are being pushed closer and closer to direct military confrontation based on a complete fiction which omits mountains of facts.

To participate in this madness is indefensible. It is indefensibly immoral to foist a fictional version of events upon a trusting populace in order to manufacture consent for more and more aggressive acts of brinkmanship with a nuclear superpower. These people are depraved.



“No no you don’t understand, if we weren’t being told constantly by the media that this proxy war needs our full support and censoring the voices who dispute this and using giant troll armies to swarm and silence anyone who questions this, we might fall victim to propaganda.”



“You’re not anti-war, you’re just anti-AMERICAN wars,” said the person who is loudly cheerleading America’s proxy war in Ukraine.

Warmongers don’t like being called warmongers when they support a US proxy war that was deliberately provoked by the US and is being sustained by the funding and facilitation of the US with the explicit goal of weakening a longtime geopolitical rival of the US. They get very upset when you point out the fact that they are doing this, and when people’s opposition to their warmongering is described as “anti-war”:


They very much prefer to pretend that this time the US is on the good and righteous side of a war, because in that imaginary world they’re the cool anti-fascists standing up to an evil tyrant and those who oppose their warmongering are the real warmongers.

“This time the US is on the GOOD side of a war! Also, goo goo ga ga I am a little baby with a little baby brain.”



The closer we get to nuclear war the less patience I have for sectarian spats between people who are supposed to be opposing war and militarism. Grow the fuck up and get over yourselves. This is more important than you and your ego.



Don’t let anyone tell you your criticisms of US warmongering make no difference; if they didn’t, the empire wouldn’t work so hard to dissuade you from making them. They work so hard to manufacture public consent for their agendas because they absolutely require that consent.

An entire globe-spanning empire rests on our closed eyelids. Depends on keeping us in a propaganda-induced coma. Circulating ideas and information which discredit and dispute that propaganda poses a direct threat to that empire. That’s what all the censorship of dissent is about.

Is your one tweet, video or public demonstration going to bring the empire crashing down? Of course not. But it will spread awareness by that much. And all positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of awareness. You’re nudging us all toward awakening to whatever extent you help expand awareness of truth and reality.

We can’t be the Hollywood hero who single-handedly decapitates the machine, but we can all collectively throw sand in its gears, making it harder and harder for it to function. That’s what disrupting the imperial propaganda machine accomplishes, because that machine depends on propaganda. The weakest part of an empire that’s held together by lies and manipulation is its lies and manipulations; that’s why it’s such an aggressively protected aspect of its power. And it happens to be the one part that anyone with a voice can attack, and attack effectively.

The nightmare scenario for our rulers is the same as the nightmare scenario for every ruler throughout history: that the masses will get sick of their rule and use the power of their numbers to get rid of them. That’s exactly what the propaganda matrix is designed to prevent.

One aspect of this struggle that is a bit like a Hollywood movie is that it kind of is a struggle between light and darkness, because the empire depends on keeping its activities obfuscated and unseen while we’re all working to make its machinery visible and transparent. That’s why Assange is in prison. It’s also why internet censorship keeps ramping up, why propaganda is getting more and more blatant, and why online discussion is swarmed by astroturf trolling ops. Those in power are working against the people to keep things dark and unseen.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/10/14 ... ve-matrix/

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ow Much Longer Can the U.S. Wage Economic War on Europe, and the World, Without Major Blowback?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 15, 2022
Jeremy Kuzmarov

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Sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has awakened many people to the gangster methods that have been deployed for years by the U.S. government doing the bidding of multinational corporations.

On September 26, the world was put on edge when “blasts equivalent to the power of several kilograms of explosives,” according to a UN report, severely damaged Russia’s undersea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, an engineering marvel which had been scheduled to begin transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany before the Ukraine war broke out in February.

Suspicion of U.S. involvement was fueled by the fact that a U.S. Navy’s warship, the USS Kearsarge, had announced the completion of work in the Bornholm area in the Baltic Sea off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden where the explosion took place, just a few hours after the pipeline had been attacked.[1]

According to blogger Moon of Alabama, parts of the Kearsarge operation off Bornholm were dedicated to testing special underwater mine destruction technologies. Exercises had also been performed there by the Navy’s 6th Fleet Task Force 68 with unmanned underwater vehicles.[2]

On February 7, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden had promised to put an end to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, stating that, if Russia invaded Ukraine, then “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” When a reporter asked how Biden would do that since the project was under Germany’s control, Biden responded: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”

What Biden did not say was that by blocking Russian natural gas deliveries, it would force Germany and other European nations to turn to U.S. liquefied natural gas suppliers instead of Russia, giving the U.S. a major victory in the “great game” of geopolitical competition and the new Cold War.[3]

Larger Economic War

The sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline appears to have been part of a longstanding economic war carried out by the U.S. against not only Russia but also European nations.

On February 27, 2004, the Washington Post reported that Ronald Reagan had agreed to a CIA plan [in January 1982] to sabotage the Soviet economy by covertly feeding it, among other things, contaminated software that later caused a gigantic explosion of the Siberian gas pipeline in the summer of 1982.

This revelations was taken from the memoirs of former Air Force Secretary Thomas C. Reed, who reported that the explosion was just one example of the “cold blooded economic warfare” that the CIA waged against the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War.

The biggest loser in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotage is not only Russia but also Germany, whose ability to access cheap energy has underlain its ability to finance the Eurozone over the last decade. The biggest winner is the Anglo-American axis whose global hegemony can only be sustained with Russia, Germany and the European Union weakened.

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Frédéric Pierucci and the American Trap

Frédéric Pierucci, a one-time executive of Alstom, a prominent French power company, gained special insights into U.S. economic warfare during a five and a half year ordeal in which he was imprisoned on bribery charges as part of a scheme by which 70% of Alstom was bought by General Electric (GE).[4]

According to Pierucci, over the last two decades, the U.S. has succeeded in destabilizing the largest European multinationals by jailing their executives under the veneer of fighting corruption while netting billions of dollars in fines and coercing their companies to plead guilty.

Experts call these practices “lawfare,” which consists of using the legal system against an enemy in order to delegitimize it, causing it maximum damage and forcing it to comply through coercion.

Between 2008 and 2019, 30 corporations paid out fines above $100 million to the U.S. Treasury, with the majority being European.

The threat of huge fines and long legal battles has also been used to cajole the takeover of European firms by U.S. corporations like GE while preventing them from developing closer partnerships with China-based companies.

Personal Ordeal

Pierucci’s personal ordeal began in April 2013 when he was arrested by the FBI after arriving in New York on a flight from Singapore where he was based. He was accused of bribery in the awarding of a contract to Alstom ten years earlier for a nuclear power plant in Tarahan on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Holding an engineering degree from École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique in Poitiers, France, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia University, Pierucci was head of Alstom’s boiler division in charge of 4,000 employees at the time of his arrest.

In 2003, when the Sumatra power plant deal went down, Pierucci was operating from the U.S. as a global sales and marketing director for one of Alstom’s power divisions.

Bailed out by Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, Alstom was then undergoing severe financial difficulties and needed the Sumatra deal to avert potential bankruptcy.

In Indonesia at the time, bribery was necessary to secure almost any government contract as a legacy of the Suharto dictatorship. (General Suharto was Indonesia’s dictator from 1965 to 1998 who came to power in a CIA-backed coup and presided over one of the most corrupt regimes of the late 20th century).

Alstom hired two consultants to negotiate the Sumatra contract—something that Pierucci was aware of but did not initiate.

Pierucci stated that he always followed company protocol and never benefitted directly in any way from any kickbacks.

His arrest under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was purely for blackmail purposes—a signal to higher level executives that they must cooperate with U.S. dictates—or else would be jailed themselves.

Pierucci was an especially important bargaining chip because he was about to head a new joint venture between Alstom and Shanghai Electric, which posed a major threat to GE and, by implication, the U.S.

“Formidable instrument of underground economic warfare”

The FCPA, which prohibited American companies from bribing foreign public officials, had been passed by the Carter administration in 1977 in response to public outcry over a bribery scandal involving the defense giant Lockheed (now Lockheed-Martin).

Afterwards, American corporate leaders began complaining that the new legislation severely handicapped them in export markets as other major economic powers had not adopted similar measures. Consequently, American authorities were less than zealous in implementing the FCPA, sanctioning only 21 companies, mainly second-tier ones, between 1977 and 2001.

In 1998, Congress amended the FCPA to try to punish U.S. global rivals, giving the law extraterritorial reach. Now executives from foreign firms could be prosecuted so long as they concluded any contracts in U.S. dollars, or even if emails were exchanged in the U.S.

Pierucci wrote that, by one stroke of the pen, the U.S. Congress “transformed a law that could have weakened their own industry into a formidable instrument of underground economic warfare and intervention.”[5]

While in 2004, the total fines paid by companies under the FCPA were only $10 million, in 2016 they skyrocketed to $2.7 billion.

The 2003 USA PATRIOT Act gave American spy agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI) the power to snoop on foreign companies and their employees on a massive scale under the guise of fighting terrorism.

The Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board had earlier prioritized the collection of business intelligence,[6] and U.S. digital giants (Google, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, AOL and Apple) willingly share information with U.S. intelligence agencies and are now compelled by law to share any requested data.

European companies were ultimately left vulnerable to prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) without having the legal means to retaliate and prosecute U.S. businesses in return.

The FCPA had evolved, Pierucci writes, into a “formidable weapon of economic domination” and a “gold mine for the U.S. Treasury.”

DOJ prosecutors never found anything reprehensible about the practices of U.S. oil tycoons or U.S. defense giants, but targeted foreign, largely European-based, companies under the FCPA to help advance U.S. corporate power and hegemonic interests globally.[7]

Pierucci Is Hung Out to Dry

Once Pierucci was arrested, Alstom’s executives basically hung him out to dry to save their own skins. Never once visiting him in prison, they provided him a lawyer that seemed to act in collusion with the prosecution, and fired him for missing work.

For months, Pierucci was forced to endure life in the privately managed Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Rhode Island, which was grossly overcrowded, kept inmates locked in their cells for long periods, and deprived inmates of sunlight, proper sleeping arrangements and medical care.

Not Your Average Takeover

The payoff for Pierucci’s arrest came on April 24, 2014, when a deal was struck by which Alstom agreed to sell 70% of its business, its entire energy division, to GE for $13 billion.

A CNN guest gushed that this was “an operation of unprecedented magnitude,” and “not your average takeover.”[8]

Before Pierucci’s arrest, Alstom CEO Patrick Kron had planned to sell 20% of Alstom Transport to the Russians and create a joint venture with the Chinese in the energy sector.

By selling to GE instead, Kron found a way to “escape the clutches of the prosecutors [who were after him],” according to Pierucci, and secure favorable treatment by the U.S. DOJ.

For that Kron was awarded with an exceptional 4 million euro bonus, though he had severely compromised France’s energy independence, national security and sovereignty.

Alstom manufactured, maintained and refurbished the turbo-alternators of France’s 58 nuclear reactors, and turbines for water reactors, and played a vital role in 75% of the country’s national electricity. It also supplied the turbo-gear for France’s aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, and turbines for the French Navy’s nuclear submarines.

As part of the takeover agreement, GE agreed to assume all of Alstom’s legal liabilities (totaling upwards of $700 million following a guilty plea), according to Pierucci, which Siemens and other competitors could not match.[9] GE also promised to create a thousand French jobs, though actually cut one thousand jobs, according to Pierucci.[10]

Hollande and Macron Acquiesce

Daniel Fasquelle, the vice chairman of the French National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Commission characterized the Alstom case as “an unbelievable hoax”; a “convenient way for Alstom to extricate itself from the legal trap set for it by the U.S. judiciary”; and “part of a pattern by which U.S. conglomerates take over companies weakened by legal proceedings.”[11]

Arnaud Montebourg, France’s Minister for the Economy and Industrial Renewal, was also outraged by the GE deal and tried to engineer Alstom’s sale to Siemens which would have kept it in European hands.

Future French President Emmanuel Macron, then the deputy chief of staff for French President François Hollande (2012-2017), convinced Hollande, however, to go forward with the GE deal.

Macron’s motivation may have been financial: According to a report by members of the French parliament, some people who heavily funded Mr. Macron’s political campaign benefited from Alstom and GE spending an extraordinary 600 million euros on consultants, financial advisers, lawyers and communications experts at the time of the takeover.[12]

Selling the French Down the River—Out of Fear

After the sale was announced, Christian Garnier, a representative of France’s General Confederation of Labor, remarked that Hollande and Macron had “sold [the French people] down the river; [the GE deal] is a pure sell-out of our energy sector to GE. There is no industrial strategy behind this, it’s merely a financial political operation, and note that I have chosen my words carefully.”[13]

Montebourg suggested meanwhile that Hollande and Macron had acquiesced “because the Americans scare the hell out of them. They consider them too powerful.”[14]

A Rigged System

Pierucci found out that Alstom was the fifth company to be swallowed up by GE after being accused of corruption by the DOJ.

He also found that, in the power generation sector, virtually all of GE’s rivals—including the Swiss/Swedish-based ABB and German Siemens—had been indicted and forced to pay significant fines, while not a single leading American power engineer contractor that uses GE equipment has ever been targeted under the FCPA.

In 1992, GE was fined $69 million by the DOJ for “conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit offenses against the United States in connection with a bribery scheme related to a defense contract signed with Israel, indicating that the company played dirty like almost everyone else.

The company’s backing by U.S. diplomacy was evident when, in 2010, it sold the Iraqi government—installed as a result of the criminal 2003 U.S. invasion—$3 billion worth of gas turbines even though, at the time, Iraq did not have the capacity to either construct power plants or otherwise make use of the turbines.

Omnipotence of American Corporate Power

According to Pierucci, GE’s takeover of Alstom and the acquiescence of the French ruling class reflected the omnipotence of American corporate interests on French soil.

Today he says that most of the major law firms, audit firms, and investment banks in the Paris financial center are American, and the Alstom/GE deal was an extraordinary boost for them, adding several hundred million euros onto their bills for services performed.

To ensure effective lobbying, these institutions recruit ex-government officials like David Azéma—formerly of the French state shareholding agency and chief negotiator in charge of managing state shareholdings in the Alstom case—who then joined Bank of America which coincidentally had advised Alstom throughout the negotiation.

Meanwhile, one of Emmanuel Macron’s chief economic advisers, Hugh Bailey, joined GE in November 2017 as “Government Affairs director,” i.e., chief lobbyist, before becoming General Manager of GE in France in May 2019.

A War to the Death—That America Is Winning, But for How Long?

At the end of his tenure as president of France from 1981 to 1995, socialist François Mitterand said that “France does not know it, but we are at war with America. Yes, a permanent war, a vital war, an economic war, a war without death, on the surface. And yet a war to the death.”

The Alstom/GE deal and Nord Stream 2 pipeline attack reveal that the U.S. is winning the war—using the dirtiest of methods. The questions remain, however, as to how long will Europe allow itself to be held ransom, and a victim, and at what point will they band together to fight back more effectively—with Russia and China on their side?

Notes at link.

https://libya360.files.wordpress.com/20 ... 1000&h=563

Ukraine Targets Elon Musk, US Aid Dwindles, Ukraine’s Offensive Increasingly Depleted
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 15, 2022



Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for October 15, 2022

–Elon Musk placed temporarily on notorious Ukrainian kill list;

– US aid to Ukraine continues to dwindle;

– NATO air defense project spans years and unlikely to help Ukraine in short-term;

– Ukraine’s offensives are increasingly depleted quickening arrival at inflection point when irreversible Russian advances begin;

References:

CNN – ‘Bad timing’: Elon Musk’s company can no longer fund its vital service to Ukraine: https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tech/2

Elon Musk (Twitter) – “Is this list real? What’s the URL?” https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1

Newsweek – Fact Check: Did Ukraine Put Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters on ‘Kill List’?: https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-d

Myrotvorets Center – Homepage (WARNING!!! GRAPHIC CONTENT): https://myrotvorets.center/

Myrotvorets Center – Roger Waters: https://myrotvorets.center/criminal/?…

US Department of Defense (DoD) – $725 Million in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine (October 14, 2022): https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases

BBC – Ukraine war: Russia to evacuate civilians from Kherson: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... -depleted/

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FRom Cassad'sTelegram account:

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Colonelcassad
❗️About the situation at the Andreevsky and Berislavsky sections
by the end of October 15, 2022

🔻Early in the morning, after a short artillery preparation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the help of two battalion-tactical groups of the 60th infantry and armored vehicles of the 17th tank brigades, with the support of mobile groups of the 140th regiment of the MTR of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made an unsuccessful attempt to attack from the direction of Novaya Kamenka to the Dudchany - Mylovoe - Novogrigorovka line .

▪️From the side of Davydov Brod , the Ukrainian command did not take offensive actions.

▪️The largest losses in manpower were suffered by units of the 140th regiment of the MTR of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which conducted reconnaissance in combat of the positions of the RF Armed Forces and were the first to enter the battle.

▪️The motorized infantry and tanks of the enemy, following in the second echelon, came under concentrated fire from the Giacint-B guns and the Smerch MLRS.

▪️At the same time, the air defense positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of ​​Zeleny Guy , Novogrednevo and Murakhovka were attacked by Geran-2 and Lancet drones.

▪️After the suppression of the air defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a series of air strikes were inflicted on enemy units that suffered losses from artillery fire.

▪️The surviving fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fled across the fields in different directions from the places of fire destruction of columns of Ukrainian equipment. Mobile infantry groups of the RF Armed Forces are clearing the forest belts near the damaged and abandoned equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

▪️The Su-25 and Su-34 attack aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces continued to work on clusters of equipment and the starting positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The attack cost the Armed Forces of Ukraine at least 120 people killed. At least 20 YPR-765PRI and BMP-2 armored vehicles were destroyed, as well as at least 5 T-64BV tanks.

***

forwarded from
Readovka
Ukrainian air defense - the past and present

air defense of Ukraine at the time of the start of the special operation was largely represented by outdated Soviet systems. Their number was small: 250 S-300P installations of various modifications and 72 Buk-M1 installations.

Despite not new equipment, with competent air defense actions of Ukraine, it could pose a big problem for the Russian Aerospace Forces, inflicting heavy losses on our aviation. In turn, Russia could completely open the sky for itself, having achieved the total elimination of Ukrainian air defense. In reality, neither side has achieved its goals.

What losses did Ukraine suffer during the 8 months of the conflict? It is reliably known that at least 200 S-300P and 30-40 Buk-M1 units were disabled.This is a lot, but not enough.

S-300P, as the country's air defense, performs the task of protecting large cities from air attacks. Calibers, X-101, X-55 and Gerani are the main targets for the air defense system. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine create object air defense around such cities as: Kyiv, Dnipro, Lvov, Kharkov, Nikolaev and Odessa. The complexes are located in areas on the intended flight routes of cruise missiles. The fight against them is complicated by the complete radio silence of the installations, as well as the periodic change in their location.

Buk-M1, as the air defense of the ground forces, is a cover for the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Their main task is to create an “air defense umbrella” over the advancing columns so that they cannot be defeated by Russian aircraft.Together with the widest range of other army air defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Buki can really secure the ground forces with protection. But in moments of calm at the front, they most likely help the S-300P in the defense of cities. Riding alone in complete radio silence, they are a hard-to-reach target for the Russian Aerospace Forces and can hit air targets at any moment.

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Colonelcassad
Special operation, 15 October. The main thing from RIA Novosti :

▪️In a day, Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft, 10 drones, 18 MLRS shells and two anti-radar missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said;

▪️Ukrainian commanders during the retreat in the direction of Kherson left lists of military personnel who were trained in Germany this summer - RIA Novosti documents;

▪️An attempt by Ukrainian troops to advance in the Kherson region in the Berislav direction failed, the attack was repulsed by the RF Armed Forces, the authorities of the region reported;

▪️An energy infrastructure facility in the Kyiv region was damaged during a missile attack on Saturday morning, Ukrenergo reported;

▪️About 140 military personnel of Ukraine were destroyed in the Kupyansk and Krasnolimansk directions in a day, the RF Ministry of Defense reported;

▪️Tensions are growing between the US and the EU due to pressure from Washington to increase economic assistance to Ukraine, writes the Washington Post.

▪️Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Stefanishyna acknowledged the involvement of NATO in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sun Oct 16, 2022 12:03 pm

Before the next offensives
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/16/2022

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Completed, with the fall of Krasny Liman, the successful Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkov region, which led to the collapse of an important part of the front and the forced withdrawal of Russian troops from a series of strategic points that should have been important for actions offensive, the front has experienced a certain operational pause these weeks. Ukraine has had no difficulty in consolidating its territorial gains and, unopposed, has been able to safely hold the captured localities and use them to advance and threaten Russian and Republican positions in the LPR.

The Russian collapse in Kharkov forced the Russian authorities to politically justify the mobilization of reservists announced by Vladimir Putin and which for weeks had seemed an objective necessity if the Russian Federation intended to continue fighting on Ukrainian territory. The referendums on joining Russia and the recognition of these regions as part of Russia, a necessary step to justify the mobilization of resources and personnel, coincided with the most serious moment in military terms since July 2014. A few hours after the loss of Krasny Liman, whose fate was already written, a patriotic concert celebrated the expansion of the territory and welcomed citizens whom Russia now has an obligation to defend.

After several weeks of relative calm, several Russian journalists warned yesterday of the start of Ukrainian offensive operations in the Kherson region and took for granted the start of a new offensive in search of isolating and capturing the only Ukrainian capital under Russian control. For now, that first attack appears to have been just a reconnaissance, but the attacks will continue. The city of Kherson is also located on the right bank of the Dnieper River, thus adding another difficulty to the defense and supply of the city. Ukraine will try to advance on two fronts, from Nikolaev in the west and towards Berislav in the east. Vladimir Saldo's public request to the Russian Government for help in the evacuation of the civilian population who wants to withdraw to safer places, far from the daily bombardments of the Ukrainian artillery,

Although possibly the easiest option - Russia has suffered heavy losses in places where it has hit a river obstacle, so there is no guarantee of success in defending Kherson - the drive towards Kherson is also the more predictable. It is to be hoped that the Russian command has been able to reinforce its defenses and is waiting for this attack, repeatedly announced by the Ukrainian civil and military authorities as one of its main objectives.

However, Ukraine's offensive possibilities are not limited to the city of Kherson. A more ambitious plan might use the attack on Kherson as a way to draw the few Russian reserves there to launch the main attack from the direction of Zaporozhye, on the left bank of the Dnieper River, either towards Melitopol or towards Berdyansk. In any case, the objective, possibly too ambitious and dangerous for Ukraine, would be not only to isolate Kherson, but to split the southern territory under Russian control in two.

Journalists Alexander Kots and Evgeny Poddubny, two of the best-informed war correspondents on the front, yesterday did not rule out the possibility of an attack in two directions and, citing sources from the Russian command, warned yesterday that 40,000 Ukrainian troops (a figure clearly inflated, but which in any case flagrantly contradicts the repeated idea that Ukraine is depleting its reserves) ready to attack on the LPR front.

Ukraine threatens, above all, the route between Kremennaya and Svatovo, two strategic locations whose loss would pose a serious problem for Russian defenses. The loss of Svatovo would be one more problem in the already poor logistics of the Russian troops in this war. Kremennaya, for its part, is the last point of defense of the urban agglomeration that includes Rubezhnoe, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, the most important RPL cities in the Lugansk territory captured by Russian troops since February 24. Compared to the first week of July, when the liberation of the entire territory of the RPL was completed and the leader of the Republic announced that the soldiers would contribute to the liberation of the RPD,

Throughout the day, Russian sources claimed to have repelled Ukraine's first attack in the Kherson region. Without journalists on the ground on this front and with a great dearth of information, we will have to wait to see how events unfold. However, the certainty that kyiv and its partners are capable of inflicting a new blow on the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the south removes any possibility of a negotiated solution in the medium term. And with the military solution as the only viable one at the moment, Ukraine must attack before the arrival of winter, when logistics will become even more complicated and part of the reserves mobilized by the Russian Federation will have arrived at the front.

In this context of danger in at least four areas of the front -Kherson, southern Zaporozhye, Ugledar towards Volnovakha and Kremennaya-, the Donetsk People's Republic announces progress in the battle for Artyomovsk (Bajmut for Ukraine, which has wanted to eliminate all reference to Comrade Artyom, Fyodor Sergeev). After more than two months since the beginning of the approach to the city, the Russian units, mainly made up of mercenaries from the private company Wagner, have advanced from the south to start urban battles before the withdrawal of part of the Ukrainian troops.

After the fall of Lisichansk, when the Russian advance, although slow, seemed certain, the Ukrainian troops blew up the bridges inside the city. Despite this, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have managed to keep Russian troops away from the city for all these weeks. The loss of Artyomovsk, a city of more than 70,000 inhabitants before the war, would be the first blow to Ukraine since its successes in September, but at this point, it would no longer have the implications that it would have if it had been achieved last August, when Russian troops held their positions at Izium. Artyomovsk, an important communications hub, must have been key in the subsequent battle for Slavyansk-Kramatorsk, now unfeasible after the loss of Izium and Krasny Liman.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/16/25711/#more-25711

Google Translator

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"Russian strategy"
October 16, 14:04

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"Comrade ensign, when will we be given drones and bulletproof vests?"
- "Drones and body armor have not yet been delivered, but there is Viagra."


By the way, a similar fake, word for word, spread in 2011 regarding the army of Muammar Gaddafi.

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https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7918866.html

German logic
October 16, 12:48

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Chinese humor on the theme of the German logic of participation in the war with Russia.

At the top it says: "Germany, why exactly are you getting hurt all the time?"
Then the same hieroglyphs over each round - "Are you afraid?", while the next country beats the German in the back with cold weapons. At the end, to the question of the wounded Germany "Are you afraid?" Russia answers: "I - no"

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7918600.html

Russia's economy withstands the blow and adapts to sanctions
October 16, 11:37
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An Arab view of the US sanctions war against the Russian Federation.

Russia's economy withstands the blow and adapts to sanctions

Reducing unemployment and inflation, as well as lower-than-expected deflation, the Russian economy is showing excellent resilience to Western sanctions. All thanks to energy resources, but in the long term, Moscow still has to solve some problems.

Inflation is declining and all jobs are being taken, its authorities say, contradicting the predictions of many financial experts that the Russian economy is about to collapse. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) echoed Russia's view, noting that the recession will be smaller than expected due to oil exports and relatively stable domestic demand.
The IMF predicts that Russia's GDP will fall by just 3.4% for the entire year, far from the catastrophic forecast made in March after the start of the military operation in Ukraine.

In addition, the IMF points to the resilience of crude oil exports and domestic demand as support for fiscal and monetary policy strengthens and confidence in the Russian financial system is restored. In September, Vladimir Putin stressed: "The peak of the most difficult situation in the Russian economy has been passed."
This was reflected in a drop in the unemployment rate to its lowest point of 3.8% and inflation to 13.7% within one year, he said. As you know, unemployment and inflation reached record highs in the spring after the first package of international sanctions.

“We can say that the impact of the first sanctions has passed, especially in the financial sector,” says Elena Rybakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance. “Russia has managed to prepare and adapt to the sanctions.”

Diplomatic and economic divergence from the West has accelerated Moscow's rapprochement with Beijing, its energy-intensive neighbour, with which the country shares more than 4,000 kilometers of border.
"In the face of a practically unattainable European market, companies are forced to look for alternatives in other regions, especially in Asia and Turkey," says Natalya Zubarevich, professor at Moscow State University.
Moscow and Beijing expressed their desire to pay for gas contracts in rubles and yuan,

In addition, Moscow praised the announcement by the OPEC+ alliance last week of its intention to drastically cut oil production, which angered Washington. The Russian side can benefit greatly from the increase in the price of black gold.
The difficulties that the Europeans and the G7 have encountered in setting prices for Russian oil can help the Russian economy overcome all obstacles. Structurally, however, it will be subject to energy windfalls, and higher value-added sectors are expected to decline further.

Increasing isolation is likely to burden those who depend on foreign countries for technology, especially since promises to create alternative Russian products have not yet materialized.
In particular, Russia is facing a shortage of parts needed to assemble cars. In mid-September, for example, the Japanese company Toyota closed an assembly plant in St. Petersburg due to a shortage of key materials.
Another problem is the European embargo on Russian oil, which will come into force on 5 December. It will precede a ban on petroleum products scheduled for February 2023, when the Russian economy is particularly dependent on energy.
It should be noted that according to the Russian Ministry of Finance, in the period from January to August 2022, more than 40% of federal revenues came from the sale of gas and oil.

(с) "Asharq Al-Awsat"

https://inosmi.ru/20221016/sanktsii-256780092.html - zinc
https://aawsat.com/home/article/3926966 ... ع-العقوبات - original in Arabic

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7918553.html

In terms of the balance of power and prospects in Ukraine
October 16, 10:32 am

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Military historian Ilya Topchiy regarding the balance of power in Ukraine according to open sources.

In terms of the balance of power and prospects in Ukraine

The recent reconnaissance - otherwise, as probing and reconnaissance in battle - offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson region again activated the attention of the general public to the topic. It also showed a possible strong shortage of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in personnel, capable of reaching 40-50%.

So, 400 people went on the offensive with 50 pieces of equipment: a tank battalion of the 17th tank brigade, an infantry battalion of the 60th mechanized brigade (motorized infantry), forward detachments from the 140th regiment of the MTR of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The tank battalion was more or less completed: 25-30 tanks. The motorized infantry or mechanized battalion clearly had a severe shortage of personnel (at least half, moreover, from the peacetime staff).

In this connection, the real balance of forces and prospects are interesting. At the same time, when assessing the forces, it will be primarily the troops located at the front or in the direction, and not the total number of Ukrainian troops that can reach at least 600,000 people, including the NGU and various paramilitary formations like the State Border Guard Service.

So, according to some reports, at the front in Ukraine today:

- up to 60 thousand - the Kherson direction (here the ratio is most favorable for them, up to 2: 1);
- 30 thousand - Zaporozhye direction (some promise another 10 thousand);
- 10-15 thousand - in the coal direction;
- 10-15 thousand - near Donetsk;
- 30-40 thousand - in the section from Gorlovka to the Seversky Donets. Including 15-20 thousand - near Artemovsk (Bakhmut), where the balance of forces is the most favorable for us (why we are gradually advancing);
- 35-40 thousand - a section of the front from the Seversky Donets to the border (Svatovo-Kremennaya).
TOTAL: 175-210 thousand people on the front of 1100 kilometers. No rears.

The number of Russian troops is more difficult to estimate.

- at the end of September, about 55-60 thousand people remained in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (only through the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) (quite "dipped" since the end of February). Another 16 thousand managed to send from the newly mobilized. Total for today, probably, taking into account some decrease in the number for various reasons, about 70 thousand.
- BARS and various volunteer formations - apparently, at least 30 thousand;
- LDNR - about 50-60 thousand people;
- Russian Guard -? (at the end of February there were at least 60-70 thousand);
- "The Wagner Group" -?
AROUND: Apparently, also about 200 thousand people. Comparable to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (and there was also a rear).

The most favorable ratio for the Russian troops, it is worth repeating, is near Artemovsk (Bakhmut). The least profitable - near Kherson.

Plus - the parties did not create sufficient troop densities, which are necessary not only for defense - for the offensive. For a front of 1,100 kilometers, for example, only in the first line there should be 370,000 on the defensive. No reserves.

Other directions (and first of all - Belarusian):

Armed Forces of Ukraine:
- at least 7 thousand - Chernihiv, up to 10 thousand - Sumy (the whole region), a certain amount - Poltava. At least 25 thousand people cover the north-east of Ukraine;
- up to 30 thousand - Belarusian direction (from Kyiv to the Polish border). Including 5 thousand near Kyiv and 10 thousand - near Rivne. Part - in the second line. Volyn is poorly covered.

Russia and Belarus:
- according to some sources, at least 50 thousand, built in two operational echelons. Perhaps this is only the Volyn group.

That in the direction from the north creates a well-known temptation to hit Lviv along the road through Vladimir-Volynsky along the border. True, having a flank threat in the form of the Kovel and Lutsk railway junctions.

(c) Ilya Topchy

https://schneider-krieg.livejournal.com/56312.html- zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7918261.html

Google Translator

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Chechen Jihadists Have Joined the Ranks of the Ukrainian Army
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 15, 2022
Laurent Brayard

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The Sheikh Mansour battalion is a unit formed in Ukraine with the contribution of Islamist fundamentalist Chechens, many of whom fought during the two Chechen wars before being finally crushed by Russia. These men dispersed throughout Western Europe, and for many also in Georgia and Turkey, before finally joining Ukraine. It was at the end of 2014 that this battalion was formed, first within the neo-Nazi organization Pravy Sektor, then affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior of Ukraine and sent to the Azov battalion in the Marioupol region. This battalion remained active until 2019, part of its combatants also making a passage in the sinister Tornado battalion, then for some continuing their misdeeds in the SBU, the Ukrainian political police. The battalion was then reformed after the start of the Russian special operation and received and received the contribution of gangs from the borders of Syria and the Islamic Caliphate of DAECH. shamelessly, media in France as BFMTV, 20 Minutes, Le Figaro, Nice Morning lied to the French audience about the true nature of this battalion, it would not have taken an hour of research to find out the truth on the Internet. Here she is shocking and raw.

The battalion’s parentage and its historical origins. The battalion was named after Sheikh Mansour (1760-1794), a Chechen warlord who led resistance against the troops of the Great Catherine at the end of the 18th century. This historical figure was a religious fanatic, who became an imam and whose formation is not well known by historians. He declared a holy war against Russia and gathered troops and volunteers to resist the Russian advance. His guerrilla war could not prevent the entry of Russian troops into this Caucasus territory. He surprised the Russian army at the battle of Sounja ( June 6, 1785 ), where he beat a low Russian contingent flatly, as its troops grew ( more than 10 to 12,000 men ). This victory ended with the Russian incursions for a few decades,while Russia was grappling with the Ottoman Empire ( until 1792 ), then occupied in various campaigns against the armies of the French Revolution and those of Napoleon 1er ( 1799-1801, 1805-1807, 1812-1815 ). However, he made the mistake of engaging with volunteers alongside the Ottomans to support them in the long war between the two empires. He was captured during the capture of the Anapa fortress on the Black Sea ( June 1791 ), and taken into captivity to Saint Petersburg. In the hands of Catherine II of Russia, ruthless sovereign and a well-informed political strategist, he died slowly in the fortress of Schlüsselbourg, from which he could never escape, and breathed his last, April 13, 1794. For the Chechens, he represented a certain idea of resistance, and this Sufi and Sunni Muslim was instrumental in the Islamization of the Caucasus in the years when he reigned supreme in Chechnya.

Western support, the CIA and Turkey. The battalion was created in Denmark by the organization Caucasus Libre, which was itself founded by Chechens from the Islamist Republic of Chechnya, which had been created following the attempt of a Chechen fringe of both fundamentalist Islamists and « CIA-funded Democrats », to establish this political entity in the Caucasus and to impose on Russia, arms in hand its independence. The great figure of the resistance of this time was Djokhar Doudaïev, who motivated the resistance during the two wars of Chechnya ( 1994-1996, 1999-2009 ), then saw the crushing of this American-colored revolution, and partly funded by them, by Turkey and by Saudi Arabia. Once defeated, the survivors had scattered around the world, but created a solid foundation in the European Union,where they were welcomed mainly in Denmark, and Norway. Ukraine which had already given its agreement for training of a first battalion of Chechens, endorsed this second training, via the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior. The battalion, which was planned to accommodate more than 500 men, was struggling to recruit volunteers. It was especially necessary to count on the recruitment of mercenaries at money prices, and Islamists and fanatics linked to the Islamic Caliphate, or coming from other Muslim communities, such as for example the Crimean Tatars, or other Muslim peoples settled in Russia. According to sources, he climbed to a maximum of 300 combatants The battalion was first attached to the neo-Nazi political party Pravy Sektor, contacts having been established with the latter through a Ukrainian member of the organization, veteran of the First Chechen War and former bodyguard of Doudaïev, Sachko says White ( shot down in Rivne by SBU forces, wanted as a terrorist by Russia ). The first elements of the battalion were however operational and were engaged in Donbass, notably in the Marioupol region, alongside the neo-Nazi battalion Azov. The unit participated in the fighting on Shirokino ( winter 2014-2015 ) positions, then vegetated in the sector for several months. It came under the control of the Ministry of the Interior ( just like Azov ), and was closely linked to the terrible retaliatory battalion Tornado ( by tenuous contacts between the chiefs ), until the dissolution of the latter ( 2015 ). Cheikh Mansour stretched as this long war of position ensued, and was behind the discovery by the Republican insurgents ISIS flags present on Ukrainian lines, or the appearance of videos of strange fighters in the Ukrainian trenches. The unit then remained in the form of a frame, more or less dormant. His men dispersed returning to Europe or Turkey, or for some integrating the ranks of the Ukrainian army, or other reprisal battalions, or even engaging in the DUK, the private army of the Pravy Sektor( 2016-2022 ). A large group passed into the ranks of the sinister Tornado battalion, to the point that before its dissolution ( pronounced in the summer of 2015 ), the Ukrainian spokesperson for the battalion, Danil Liashiouk converted to Islam and pledged allegiance to DAESH and the Islamic Caliphate. Senior executives remained active in Ukraine, with Commander Avtaev serving as the SBU political police officer, or as military adviser to the Ukrainian General Staff ( 2015-2017 ). The rest were often linked to trafficking and criminal organizations, often leading to epic scandals that filled the lines of Ukrainian newspapers. Officially the unit was dissolved and dormant, while its bases were the cities of Marioupol and Dniepropetrovsk.

These « Chechen heroes » from the West who are actually sinister terrorists. The unit was restarted at the start of the Russian special operation ( February 24, 2022 ), and the former mercenaries and volunteers reformed a unit that is still fighting under Ukrainian flags. She participated in particular in the defense of the city of Kiev ( February-March ), and in the fighting in the Donbass. She was routed by the Chechens of Kadyrov, in a battle that remained in the annals, where the positions of the battalion Sheikh Mansour were stormed. Battalion Chief Avtaev fled extremely narrowly, and the battalion was partially decimated. It was in reformation in the Zaporojie region ( April-May ). Shortly thereafter, Maskhadov, one of the emblematic figures of the battalion made a public statement declaring Jihad against Chechen President Kadyrov,and promising a general insurrection in the Caucasus which never came ( at the end of July 2022 ). There are indications that the Americans intended to recruit ISIS veterans to their prisons, following the example of what was done with the Afghan brigade which fought in Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 1992-1995 ). In a propaganda article written by AFP, the government news agency of France, an attempt was made to reverse the roles to designate them as « of pure and noble fighters », then taken up by all the newspapers. The French media were inundated with copies of this article, because the confusion of the minds of public opinion was very great, after the appearance of the « other » Chechens, namely those of President Kadyrov, coming from one of the federal republics of Russia. It should be noted in a funny way, that the photo of illustration of the article is that of Chechens fighting in the camp … Russian, subtitled so as not to take risks: « Chechen volunteer fighters seen around Marioupol », failing to say that it was the famous Chechen division engaged by Russia. According to the quoted words of a Chechen Islamist quoted in this article: « I decided to join the battalion to wash away the honor of the Chechens that Moscow is trying to pass for terrorists ». This is to forget precisely the many deadly attacks committed by these Chechen defectors in Russia and in other parts of the world, namely :

1 ) Hostage taking and massacres of part of them, by a group of 200 Chechen terrorists, in Boudennovsk, in a hospital where 166 people were murdered ( June 1995 ),

2 ) Bombing in the Moscow metro, committed by the Chechens, which left 4 dead and 12 injured ( 11 June 1996 ),

3 ) Bombing in a Moscow trolleybus, committed by the Chechens, which left 5 injured ( July 11, 1996 ),

4 ) Bombing in a Moscow trolley bus, committed by the Chechens, which left around thirty wounded ( July 12, 1996 ),

5 ) Bombing on a square in the city of Moscow, committed by the Chechens, killing one person and injuring a quarantine ( August 31, 1999 ),

6 ) Car bomb attack, committed by the Chechens, in Bouïnaksk, in Dagestan, killing 64 people and injuring 133 ( September 4, 1999 ),

7 ) High-power bomb attack on a Moscow building that was destroyed by the explosion, committed by the Chechens, killing 94 people and injuring 249 others ( September 9, 1999 ),

8 ) Bombing against another building, destroying another building, committed by the Chechens and killing 118 people and injuring 200 others ( September 13, 1999 ),

9 ) Bombing in an underground passage in Moscow, committed by the Chechens, killing 13 people, and several dozen injured ( August 8, 2000 ),

10 ) Bombing at a station in Moscow, committed by the Chechens, leaving 9 injured ( February 5, 2001 ),

11 ) Attack and hostage taking in the Doubrovka theater, in central Moscow, by a group of 41 Chechen terrorists who were all liquidated, but who had time on the 912 spectators to kill 128 and hurt another 646 innocent people ( October 23, 2002 ),

12 ) Double suicide attack in a rock concert in Moscow, committed by female suicide bombers killing 15 people ( July 5, 2003 ),

13 ) Bombing in central Moscow, committed by the Chechens, killing one person ( July 10, 2003 ),

14 ) Suicide bombing in the city of Moscow, committed by the Chechens, killing 6 people and injuring 14 ( December 9, 2003 ),

15 ) Bombing in the Moscow metro, committed by the Chechens, killing 41 people ( February 6, 2004 ),

16 ) Bomb attack which killed President Kadyrov’s father in Grozny on May 9, 2004, during the Victory Day against Nazi Germany,

17 ) A wave of Chechen terrorist attacks in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia in Russia, which left 95 civilian deaths among Russians ( 21 and 22 June 2004 ),

18 ) Bombing in Moscow at a bus stop, committed by Chechens, which fortunately only injured 4 ( August 24, 2004 ),

19 ) Double suicide attack in two planes exploding in flight, committed by Chechen women, killing 90 people ( August 24, 2004 ),

20 ) Suicide attack committed by a Chechen woman, who blew herself up at a metro station in Moscow, Rijskaya station and who left 10 dead and 50 injured ( August 31, 2004 ),

21 ) Hostage taking from Beslan ( 1er September 2004 ), where the Chechens murdered no less than 334 civilians, including 186 children, by taking this school hostage and still injuring 783 civilians and children.

22 ) Bombing in a market in the suburbs of Moscow, committed by the Chechens, killing 10 people and leaving many injured ( August 21, 2006 ),

23 ) Bomb which derailed a train, in an express connecting Moscow to Saint Petersburg, committed by the Chechens, killing 28 people ( November 27, 2009 )

24 ) Bomb suicide bombing in the Moscow metro, by Chechen suicide bombers, which left 39 dead and 102 injured ( March 29, 2010 ),

25 ) Bomb suicide bombing in Kizliar, Dagestan, committed by Chechens, which left 12 dead and 8 injured,

26 ) Bombing at Domodedovo airport, committed by Chechens, which left 35 dead and 180 injured ( January 24, 2011 ),

27 ) Double car bomb attack in Dagestan, committed by the Chechens, which left 14 dead and 120 injured ( 4 May 2012 ),

28 ) Double car bomb attack in Dagestan, committed by the Chechens, which left 8 dead ( May 20, 2013 ),

29 Attack foiled at the bomb in Moscow, two Chechens are shot down by the police ( 20 May 2013 ),

30 ) Suicide attack, in a bus in Volgograd, filled with students, committed by a Chechen, who killed 6 and injured many ( October 21, 2013 ),

31 ) Bomb suicide bombing, at Volgograd station, committed by a Chechen suicide bomber, which left 17 people dead and many injured ( December 29, 2013 ),

32 ) Bomb attack on a trolleybus in Volgograd, committed by the Chechens, which killed 14 people,

33 ) Suicide bombing in the St. Petersburg metro, committed by Chechens, which left 11 dead and 45 injured ( April 3, 2017 ).

This sinister list of mostly bloody attacks is the work of the famous Chechens of the battalions Djokar Doudaïev and Cheikh Mansour, and these Chechens who have served and serve radical Islam. They were funded by the CIA, like other famous terrorists in their time, and have sown death all over Russia, and I remind him not as a soldier, but as cowards and murderers. The Western and French media now have a short memory, especially in France, which was also hit hard by the same terrorism. There are limits to propaganda, here is an attack, that of praising dangerous terrorists, radicals and Islamist extremists, by turning a blind eye to their true nature, the one that reads in this morbid enumeration of crimes. These are just 33 examples among many, the ones I could find in an hour of research, so to speak the main and best known. In the meantime, in Denmark, Norway or even in France,these « Chechen heroes » these people have a storefront and use all these countries as rear bases, without anything having been done to prevent this. Many then fired in Syria and Iraq with the dramatic consequences that we know. In Burgundy, some will remember that they had been talked about, and not really in the sense of democracy and freedom of expression.

Some of the heroes adulated by the French and Western press. The following list speaks volumes and an unquestionable and definitive response to all Western and French journalists who have lowered themselves to describe these « Chechen heroes » as fighters of freedom. Not one of them would deserve anything other than a court and a very heavy prison sentence. The routes are practically all the same and for a few months these men, probably with the help of the United States, from the CIA and Turkey are gradually passing to Ukraine where they swell the ranks of Ukrainian fighters. Some were linked from the start to Chechen terrorism, many went to pledge allegiance to the Islamic Caliphate of DAECH in Syria, and still others participated in the terrible terrorist attacks, extremely deadly which I made a small list above.For those who have not yet understood the profile of these people, here are some biographies that will shed light on the true nature of these men, noting with some shame that one of them was naturalized French, but that many others became Norwegian, Danish, Belgian or Finnish. Sad reality from the European Union or drifting European countries will wake up sooner or later, and will note with fright that they have agreed to welcome with open arms and even to feed with the teaspoon of sad sires.Sad reality from the European Union or drifting European countries will wake up sooner or later, and will note with fright that they have agreed to welcome with open arms and even to feed with the teaspoon of sad sires.Sad reality from the European Union or drifting European countries will wake up sooner or later, and will note with fright that they have agreed to welcome with open arms and even to feed with the teaspoon of sad sires.

Akhmad Alviev (? – ), originally from Chechnya, Islamist terrorist and fundamentalist, he fought during the Second Chechen War ( 1999-2009 ), and organized various murderous attacks in Russia. He moved to Ukraine at the start of the Russian special operation ( February-March 2022 ), and enlisted in the Cheikh Mansour battalion. It formed a new Chechen battalion, the separate OBON Special Battalion, which was integrated into the Foreign Territorial Defense Legion of Ukraine ( July ).

Umkhan Avtaev ( 1969- ), alias Mouslim Tcheberloevsky, originally from Chechnya, he did his military service in the Soviet army in the late 1980s. He joined the ranks of the Islamists who founded the Ichkeria, the Islamist Republic of Chechnya, whose president was Djokhar Doudaïev. He served during the First Chechen War ( 1994-1996 ) and became a gang leader and soon one of the president’s bodyguards. During the Second Chechen War ( 1999-2009 ), he joined the terrorist group Emirate of the Caucasus and after the crushing by Russia of his group, preferred to flee and took refuge in Georgia ( around 2004 ). He became friends with President Saakashvili, and thanks to his help then settled in Denmark within the European Union, which became the main rear base of the Chechen terrorists.He joined armed groups which attempted to bring down the Syrian regime ( 2012-2013 ), serving in the ranks of DAECH who attempted to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the region. He then preferred to serve in Ukraine, sent on the spot by the political organization Caucasus Libre having its seat in Denmark ( 2014 ). He was one of the founding members of the Cheikh Mansour battalion ( October 25 ), which was made up of Chechen Islamist veterans who have been barred in all conflicts. He was appointed head of the battalion and was sent to the Donbass, serving alongside the Azov battalion and neo-Nazi units of the Pravy Sektor in the Marioupol region, on the positions of Shirokino and Volnovakha ( 2014-2015 ). He also served as a military adviser,worked with the SBU political police to organize the crackdowns and teach the techniques of torture and intimidation of ethnic Russian civilian populations. He was present at the inauguration of a Djokhar Doudaïev street in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitski ( autumn 2015 ). He then encountered problems in Ukraine, being a creature of former President Saakashvili appointed by President Porochenko, governor of the Odessa region. He participated in various mafia trafficking, in particular arms, human trafficking, assassinations under contracts, but after the expulsion of Ukraine from Saakashvili ( September 2017 ), he participated in his clandestine return and in force in Ukraine. He himself was declared persona non grata, but succeeded in avoiding the expulsion of the country by corruption or the help of Ukrainian politicians in his sleeve.He was finally accused of being a member of a criminal organization ( May 14, 2021 ), for engaging in arms trafficking, particularly with Donbass insurgents, and for secretly collaborating with the Russian secret services. He was to be expelled from Ukraine and delivered to Russia, but the intervention of Iaroch, founder of the neo-Nazi Pravy Sektor party, and other political figures of Ukrainian banderism, avoided this extradition and he was rehabilitated for obvious political reasons. He took the head of the Cheikh Mansour battalion, reformed for the occasion after the Russian special operation ( February 2022 ), and participated in the defense of Kiev. He called on all Chechens and more broadly inhabitants of the Caucasus to join Ukraine to join the ranks of his battalion, then versed in the Foreign Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine ( March ).His battalion was swept away during a Donbass confrontation against Chechens loyal to Russia, and he fled extremely narrowly ( April ). He reappeared with the remains of his decimated unit in Zaporojie, while Kadyrov announced that he was paying a million dollars for all information on the location and residence of Avtaev.

Roustam Azhiev ( 1981- ), originally from Chechnya-Ingushetia, a terrorist and Islamist fundamentalist, he participated in the Second Chechen War ( 2000-2009 ), and in the organization of terrorist attacks in Russia. He was part of the terrorist group of Roustam Basayev ( liquidated by Russia in 2007 ), then passed into the Emirate of the Caucasus group. He was injured in a fight against the Russian army ( 2009 ), losing three fingers and injured an eye. He fled and passed ( 2009-2013 ) to Turkey, before joining the Islamic Caliphate in Syria ( 2013 ). He founded the group Ajnad Al-Kavkaz there, gathering around him Chechen fighters. He was appointed commander by DAECH, under the name by Abdoul-Hakim Shishani, and fought until 2017, notably in the Lattaquié and Idleb region. He went on several occasions to Turkey to raise funds and recruit combatants, then to defeat fell definitively from Syria to Turkey. He then participated in attacks and assassinations of pro-Russian Chechen nationals or Russian agents in Turkey ( 2017-2021 ). It was linked to the attack in Istanbul by a pro-Russian Chechen ( August 20, 2021 ), and accused of having also threatened to kill his wife and child. Turkish police announced that they had arrested a commando made up of 4 Russians, a Ukrainian and an Uzbek man to liquidate him ( October ). He had long been wanted by Russia as a terrorist, and passed through Ukraine after the launch of the Russian special operation ( March 2022 ).He was approached to join the ranks of the Cheikh Mansour battalion. Officially Ukraine has announced its passage in Ukraine with a group of Chechen Islamist veterans ( October 10, 2022 ), to enter a new Chechen battalion : the Special Battalion Separated OBON from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Ichkeria formed by Ahmed Zakayev ( and integrated into the Foreign Territorial Defense Legion of Ukraine, a battalion formed in late July 2022 ).battalion formed at the end of July 2022 ).battalion formed at the end of July 2022 ).

Fathi Baraev (? – ), originally from Chechnya, Islamist terrorist and fundamentalist, son of a gang leader, who fought during the First and Second Chechen War ( 1994-1996, 1999-2001 ), and who was liquidated by the Russian special forces. He moved to Ukraine after the start of the Russian special operation ( February-March 2022 ), and joined the Cheikh Mansour battalion ( early summer ). He left the battalion to join the new unit formed by the Chechen terrorists, the OBON battalion of the Foreign Territorial Defense Legion of Ukraine ( at the end of July ).

Islam Belokiev ( 1989- ), born in Georgia, to a Chechen father and an Ingush mother, he lived in Ingushetia, Russia, during his childhood and then emigrated to Europe. Propagandaist, Islamist fundamentalist and famous youtubeur, with a chain Thoughts of Islam. He participated in Chechen meetings the organization of the Ichkéria, notably in Poland, France, Belgium and Norway. He was supported by the British foundation Justice for Journalists, and has established important contacts in Western Europe. The foundation was created by British but also American funds from USAID and is linked to the CIA. Despite having intervened in continents other than Europe, it mainly defends Russian opponents or from different allied countries of the Russian Federation, such as Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan etc, or countries where strong supporters of ethnic Russian communities, such as Moldova, are found, Georgia or Ukraine, taking care not to intervene on the side of the latter. The foundation is also populated by prominent figures of the Russian opposition, or personalities particularly hostile to Russia. The blogger had been in contact with the Cheikh Mansour battalion and its leaders for years. He was sentenced in Russia three times for different videos, first for the apology for terrorism, then for the rehabilitation of Nazism, finally recently for the dissemination of false news about the Russian special operation( March 2022 ). A few years earlier he had condemned the participation of Muslims in the party of May 9, 1945 and Victory against Nazi Germany by inciting his co-religionists not to take part in it. Video who had launched legal proceedings and a conviction against him. More recently ( January 2022 ), he had justified terrorism, and risked in this last case a fine of 3 to 5 million rubles and between 5 and 10 years in prison. It is also wanted by Interpol, but its international and Western networks have rendered this request obsolete by the Russian Federation ( March 2022 ). His channel, which has more than 29 million views, is bent on pro-Ukrainian propaganda, trying to prevent mobilization, and gives voice to Islamist battles of the battalion Cheikh Mansour as in this video of September 17 last talking about the death of Russian fighters. He went to Ukraine ( March 2022 ), where he arched his forehead and filmed the Chechen terrorists, having integrated the Cheikh Mansour battalion into his press service as a spokesperson. Recently, he has been broadcasting a petition from the defector and journalist Sergei Garmash for the recognition of the Islamic Republic of Ichkeria by President Zelensky ( summer-fall 2022 ).

(More, but you get the idea...)

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... nian-army/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Mon Oct 17, 2022 11:45 am

The reconstruction of Mariupol
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/17/2022

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Original Article: Antifashist

On the eve of the cold, the situation in Mariupol remains difficult. During his visit to the city at the end of August, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Jusmulin stated that the city is 80% ready for winter. A month later, when he revisited Mariupol, he corrected the figure and declared 70% readiness. Logic says that readiness should increase and not decrease, but in reality those things are not important. Even that figure of 70% preparedness for the cold is exaggerated, like the average temperature of a hospital.

Russian and local builders are, of course, working hard, but they just don't have the time. The destruction is excessive. In some houses, the roofs have been completely repaired and new windows and doors have been installed. It can be seen mainly in the center of the city and in those areas where the destruction was not so pronounced. It is believed that the worst affected part of the city was Vostochniy, where there are actually a large number of burned and destroyed buildings, but neighborhoods like Cheryomushki have been practically wiped off the face of the earth. Of the dozens of apartment buildings there, only three in the Azovie neighborhood have been preserved in relatively decent condition. But even in them there is destruction: the ceilings of some floors were damaged by bombs,

However, considering the situation of other buildings, the houses are habitable and await repairs. That's where the builders are late. It is possible to understand them, there is too much work, but that does not make life easier for the population. During the day, the temperature is still acceptable (14-15ºC), but at night it drops to 8-9ºC, in November the frosts will arrive and winter will have arrived. Plastic covered windows help against wind and dust, but do not protect against frost.

Many residents of the destroyed homes continue to live in basements without electricity, running water or heat. The volunteers encountered such a situation at Oktaybr, 13. Twelve elderly people lived in the basement of the destroyed Primorski district hospital. It seems that they were simply forgotten and do not have the strength to remind the city authorities that they are there. In winter, such people will freeze. And they are not an isolated case. Thousands of Mariupol residents live in basements and on floors of burned houses. These houses have been classified as pending demolition and it is planned to transfer these people to dormitories and seek permanent residence for them, but there are not enough dormitories for everyone.

The construction and repair of damaged houses is intensive. The construction of two new buildings is being completed in which it is expected that a thousand families will be housed from December. In a few days, 50 families will receive their homes in a new building on Lenin Avenue. The water supply has already been restored in all neighborhoods. Power is being restored to many homes. All social infrastructures - hospitals, schools, nurseries, administration, pumping stations - are connected to the electrical system. Work continues to restore gas supply, which has been restored to 8,000 single-family homes and 42 high-rise buildings. Building boilers are being repaired. Where it is impossible to repair them, mobile modular boilers are installed, which have already arrived from Russia.

We understand that the construction companies are doing everything in their power, but we would like it if at least new windows could be put in place as soon as possible. Without them, the population will not survive the winter. The situation on the front lines is difficult and many resources and funds are going there. It is right. The main thing is to destroy the Ukrainian fascists and drive them away from the cities of Donbass and from the border of the Belgorod region. Donetsk, Gorlovka, Makeevka, Belgorod and other cities are now suffering more than Mariupol. But on October 14, Ukraine fired two missiles at Mariupol, targeting the port. The air defenses worked and the missiles were shot down, but the situation is worrying.

In the summer, many families who had fled to nearby towns, Russia or abroad during the battle returned. The population continues to intend to live here if there are flats or single-family homes. But many are “sitting on the suitcase” again. You can't survive in flats without windows. Many simply do not have the money to install windows on their own. We hope that before the frosts arrive, the protection against the cold will be repaired in the houses and the heating will reappear in our houses.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/17/la-re ... more-25718

Google Translator

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About the course of the NWO. 10/16/2022
October 16, 23:19

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Answers to questions about the course of the SVO for the channel "Voenkor Kotenok".

About the course of the NWO. 10/16/2022

- Kyiv and NATO are increasingly discussing the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian side. Is the West ready to detonate its own charge on the territory of Ukraine in order to accuse Moscow?

- Such a possibility exists, especially since the practice of provocations with the use of chemical weapons in Syria is already known. In the case of Ukraine, such a scenario has existed since the first days of the operation. This applies to both provocations and the possible use of a dirty bomb, which could have been created even before the start of the war or imported from outside. With the subsequent accusation of the Russian Federation of the use of WMD.

- Continues to receive information that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are accumulating in the Zaporozhye direction. Kyiv has not abandoned the idea to take Energodar and Zaporizhzhya NPP at any cost?

Of course, there are prerequisites for the active actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction. This applies both to river landings in the area of ​​Energodar and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and to possible offensive actions in the direction of Vasilyevka, Tokmak and Pologi. Signals about such enemy activity continue to come through military channels. However, it cannot be ruled out that this is a certain psychological game of pulling Russian reserves in various directions. Nevertheless, Zaporozhye remains one of the potential directions of the main attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the ongoing autumn campaign.

- Is there any military sense in the strikes against Belgorod, which are delivered from Ukrainian territory?

- There is no significant military meaning in these strikes, since the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not plan an attack on Belogorod. The strikes are for informational and logistical purposes. They cannot significantly undermine the military potential of the RF Armed Forces in the Belgorod direction. Nevertheless, it is necessary to strive for a situation where the ability of the Armed Forces to shell Belgorod will be reduced to zero, which requires the occupation of a significant part of the Kharkiv region in the medium term.

- In a number of areas, the weather is already deteriorating with an increase in mud, which seriously complicates the use of heavy military equipment. How long will the operational pause last after the onset of the autumn-winter period?

- Some decrease (but not a cessation of hostilities) will most likely last until the second half of November-December. In winter, one can expect the intensification of offensive operations from both sides.
So far, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are using the last weeks before the worsening weather to achieve operational and tactical results in the Kherson and Svatov directions, and are also preparing a strike in Zaporozhye.

- What caused the tightening of rhetoric on the part of official Minsk? Is it worth waiting for the entry of Belarusian troops into the NVO zone?

- The rhetoric of Minsk is associated with an increase in the number of provocations by NATO and Ukraine, as well as attempts of terrorist attacks on the territory of Belarus. In fact, a terrorist war is going on against Belarus, supported by NATO countries and Ukraine. Therefore, Lukashenka's rhetoric is more than justified, as are security measures. At the moment, Belarusian troops are not engaged in assembling a strike force for the invasion of Ukraine and are engaged in defensive measures on the border.

- How significant is the liberation of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and how will this affect the situation at the front?

- The liberation of Artemovsk will break the strategic defensive line (axis) Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Artemovsk-Dzerzhinsk and deprive the Armed Forces of Ukraine of an important road junction. The story of the “Popasnaya flower” may repeat itself, when the loss of a large logistics center caused a crisis of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in many areas at once. That is why the Armed Forces of Ukraine have clung to Artemovsk so much and are constantly throwing reserves here in order to keep the city, which is of the utmost operational importance.

- It is known that the assault detachments of the "Wagner Group" play a primary role in the liberation of Artemovsk. How significant is the PMC factor within the entire Ukrainian front?

- Wagner PMCs show themselves as highly effective assault units, using their rich experience in participating in local conflicts and trained personnel. This makes it possible to more effectively break into the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and maintain the pace of the offensive, pushing the enemy directly to Artemivsk. PMCs do not replace the armed forces, but effectively complement them. In the future, efforts should be made to increase coordination of actions and to review the role of PMCs in operational and strategic planning.

- In Kyiv, they report on the elimination of the consequences of strikes on the energy infrastructure. Should we trust such statements?

- Part of the consequences of strikes may well be eliminated in the medium or long term. And such work is constantly going on.
Even in conditions of obvious damage to infrastructure, there will be a longer-term and systemic effect if such strikes are carried out fairly regularly, which will lead to the fact that some of the objects will be completely destroyed, and some will be brought to a state where repairs will take too long, which will lead to inevitable rolling blackouts on a systemic basis, even without impacts on the infrastructure of operating nuclear power plants.

— What caused the partial evacuation of the population of the Kherson region? How likely is an attempt to break through the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the city with the imposition of urban battles?

- The evacuation was caused by systemic shelling of cities in the Kherson region of the Russian Federation. Plus, in the event of a breakthrough of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is a high probability of intensifying the fighting for the city, which can lead to heavy casualties among civilians. Therefore, from the point of view of security, it is better to evacuate part of the population in advance for the same reasons that the residents of the DPR were evacuated before the start of the war.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67423 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7919903.html

It was necessary to go on a contract or join an orchestra
October 16, 15:50


One of the Vott.ru regulars, who was recently called up for mobilization, talks about various problems that manifest themselves in the course of preparing those mobilized for the front.

It was necessary to go on a contract or join an orchestra

The general impression from the first week: I had to go on a contract or join the orchestra when offered.

The last time I took part in what can be called hostilities was the 08:08 war. Our group provided cover for specialists during mine clearance and the initial stage of the deployment of the 4th Air Army.
After all the events described, thanks to the Abkhaz brothers, I managed to get a good deal of equipment in the local markets of Sukhum. In general, I arrived at the mobilization point in all its glory.
To say that the people are motley means to say nothing. Theoretically, all can be ÷ 3 types: the first, the most massive, people who served a term, for the most part one year, and, again, for the most part, they held a machine gun in their hands only on the oath. The second group: specialists, drivers, communications, artillery. In short, White Bone. The third group is us, people with direct combat experience. Well, here, too, not everything is so simple; recently, a mark on participation in hostilities has been put for crossing the border. Therefore, some of those who fought never shot their own kind.

An attempt to mix veterans with "porcupines", in my opinion, is detrimental by definition. As a senior sergeant, I was given a mini platoon of 16 snouts. To be honest, the assault on my part began on the second day. I may have to trust these people with my back, and not everyone understood that we have retraining. They forgot about the standards for physical education right away. Senior comrades say that in a week the mobilized cannot switch from civilian life to military life. Our group, at the beginning of its journey, before the second Chechen one, went through coordination for four months. What happens now, I don't even know. I apologize for the confusion. Just a lot of thoughts in my head lately.

It is believed that all those who have served their term are prepared, at least at the initial level. But now I have to explain everything from scratch. Starting even with the rules of conduct in the location. How to switch people to military rails from civilian life, officers have little idea. They gathered us and said that they hoped for our comprehensive assistance in this matter. Some of the ideas were hacked to death. Inhumane
Most of the people believe that they came to a pioneer camp. He asked his senior comrades for permission to engage in self-training in the evening. Thank God, they allowed it, otherwise the roof would have gone completely. I am slowly trying to master the use of new means of communication together with signalmen.

The equipment is entirely mine. Part of the remains of previous business trips. Part was promptly purchased. From the main: Berets - Norwegian LM. Kamok: ordered to order in connection with my dimensions. Elbow pads, knee pads and gloves - NATO, thanks to the Abkhazians. Backpack with suction. Several sets of thermal underwear for all occasions. Without fail - Kevlar insoles in Bertsy

Part of the people came from money. Some with big money. And having money, all the more big money, it turned out to be very simple to organize the carrying of everyone to the location. Gentlemen officers ... As they say, to whom the war ...

I already wrote above that with fizukha a complete ass. Most of the time you will not shoot, but walk, run, crawl and walk in single file. Most people have problems even with leisurely long-distance running. We have not even tried moving with partial and full layout yet. I still have no idea how to train a porcupine in mixed movement.

For the most part, the people did not understand where they were. The command has no experience of conducting mobilization as such. The non-commissioned officers, who are on contract and have to train, sometimes have problems with communication psychologically. You are a 23 - 25 year old sergeant, and you have to command 40 year old uncles who, in part of their xyz, lay down on you. Plus, the clash of mentalities between the city and the countryside.

Some of the people have something like this in their heads: we came to defend our homeland, and you come to us with your wake-up call, jogging, discipline and training. Better let them take us to the shooting range and give us a lot of ammunition.

Regarding jackets: there are different graduates of military departments. As the communication showed, some of the called-up artillerymen are graduates of the Physics and Mathematics Department. There are airfield attendants. Someone passed the training camp of the military department on torpedo bombers in the Murmansk region. Solyanka team.

There are several men who passed the military department at GRAU 2A18, aka d30. Everyone is promised retraining. Although, in order to drag shells, you don’t have to be an artilleryman. According to the artillery command, we have much more than people who know how to use artillery.

(c) "Sambist"

https://vott.ru/entry/619862?page=2 - zinc

Ultimately, it is difficult to expect the absence of problems in the conditions of activation of the system, which has not been included since the time of Comrade Stalin. These problems are to be solved already on the go.
Well, an extra reminder that such basic and backbone systems should not be launched, so that later you will not be surprised why it works with a creak at the right time.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7919265.html

Saving gas in Europe
October 16, 16:40

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Saving gas in Europe

Europe has not been able to compensate for the supply of pipeline gas from Russia and the deficit is growing. According to the IEA, in the second quarter, the balance of short deliveries compared to the figures for last year amounted to 2-3 billion cubic meters, and already in the third quarter, the balance did not converge by 7 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the EU managed to increase gas reserves in UGS facilities.

This was achieved by saving gas. True, given that Europe has been saving gas from the first day of its use in the economy, this means that the current sharp reduction in consumption is the disconnected energy-intensive sectors of the economy. For example, the conservation of aluminum production, the closure of steel mills, and the production of nitrogen fertilizers are affecting.

Winter is ahead, demand from households and energy will rise sharply. Gas will rise in price, and it will become even easier to save - not all energy-intensive enterprises are closed yet.

https://t.me/topinfographic/1784 - Zinc

Europe will certainly not freeze. Europe's choice is not freezing, but recession, into which it has already successfully entered. Moreover, even more dangerous for the EU are not even the upcoming socio-economic consequences of this winter (which will certainly lead to a change of several governments and various protests during the winter), but the long-term consequences of a general decrease in the competitiveness of entire sectors of European industry and a reduction in production.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7919521.html

Save gas for guns
October 17, 8:02 am

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In Europe, too, there are old actual posters.
For example, this poster from the time of Nazi Germany "Save gas for weapons",

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7920709.html

Flowering "Geranium" in Kyiv. 17.10.2022
October 17, 9:52 am

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During the night and this morning, "Geranium" has blossomed en masse on the territory of Ukraine. Including in the center of Kyiv. More objects were hit, including the building of Ukrenergo in Kyiv.
Most of the drones quite easily overcame the Ukrainian air defense and, under chaotic fire from the ground in all directions, calmly reached the targets.

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Flowering video in Kiev:

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67445
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67448
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67449
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67450
https ://t.me/boris_rozhin/67451

By the way, for those who closely followed the war in Yemen, there is nothing new in these shots. If there is nothing to do, look for footage of Houthi UAV strikes on Asir or Jizan. There, too, a kamikaze UAV flight was accompanied by panic shooting into the air and attempts to shoot down such drones with everything possible, including F-16 fighters. Apparently, not only we underestimated the role of drones, which was rapidly developing in the wars of the 10s in the Middle East. But the trends with kamikaze UAVs were obvious even then. Even before the benefit performance of "Kharopov" in Karabakh.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7920904.html

Google Translator

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Berlin Yet to React to Vandalism Of Russian Embassies

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"Not a single vandal has been detained," she emphasized. Oct. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter: @pedrojosecama

Published 15 October 2022

According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, "in both cases German police officers, responsible for the security of these Russian diplomatic missions, did not oppose or attempt to curb those who caused material damage to our foreign representations."

Moscow is outraged by the lack of reaction of the German authorities to the recent acts of vandalism against the Russian Embassy in Berlin and its consulate in Frankfurt am Main, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"We are outraged by the lack of an adequate reaction of the German authorities to the acts of vandalism committed on October 10, 2022 by the organized groups of miscreants, sympathetic to the Kiev regime, against the Russian Embassy in Berlin and the Consulate General of Russia in Frankfurt am Main," Zakharova said in a commentary made public on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.


According to the diplomat, "in both cases German police officers, responsible for the security of these Russian diplomatic missions, did not oppose or attempt to curb those who caused material damage to our foreign representations."

"Not a single vandal has been detained," she emphasized.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin, he added, expressed to the German Foreign Ministry a "strong protest against these hostile acts" carried out with the "de facto connivance" of the police.

"We insist on a real and not formal compliance by the German authorities with international legal obligations, assumed within the framework of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to ensure the security of foreign diplomatic representations in their country," she added.

In addition, according to the spokeswoman, Moscow expects German security forces to strengthen the security of the buildings and territories of the Russian Embassy in Berlin and its consulates general in the federal states.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ber ... -0003.html

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China warns of security to its citizens in Ukraine

By ZHAO JIA | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-10-16 07:42

China called on its citizens still in Ukraine to strengthen security precautions and evacuate the country given the severe security situation within Ukraine on Saturday.

The appeal was made by the Foreign Ministry and China's embassy in Ukraine in a news release.

China's embassy in Ukraine will assist in organizing the evacuation and transfer of personnel in need. Those in Ukraine should contact the embassy as soon as possible and register their personal information. People who voluntarily evacuate and transfer by themselves are asked to report to the diplomatic mission.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20221 ... 7cacb.html

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

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forwarded from
Military review
📍 The situation on the Crimean bridge and the crossing of the Kerch Strait by this hour

✅Cars on the Crimean bridge move in one lane . The speed of movement is 70-90 km / h, overtaking and advancing are prohibited. Mandatory screening. There are no congestions. Waiting time from Crimea and Taman for cars ~ 15 - 90 minutes (depending on traffic intensity)

✅The expected launch of freight traffic did not happen yesterday, although the road services completed work to strengthen the span of the bridge.

Today, the issue of launching freight traffic is in the plane of law enforcement agencies. It is the special services that will decide when, in what quantity, what types of cargo, the carrying capacity of vehicles and other criteria will move along the Crimean bridge. As of today, there is no information about the expected launch. But she could show up any minute !

✅From 17:30, heavy-duty ferries "Lavrenty" and "Maria" stand at the piers of Kerch and the port of Kavkaz, respectively. The Krymavtotrans hotline cannot explain the situation. No one picks up the phone on the ferry service . In the waters of the Kerch Strait, a strong northeast wind. A storm warning has been issued .

✅Passenger trains and "Lastochki" run along the railway lines of the Crimean bridge, which run between Anapa and Kerch. Suburban timetable can be found here

***

forwarded from
military chronicle
Attempt to attack the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kupyansk direction. Details

On October 15, the Ukrainian military tried to find a gap in the defense of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk direction.

Units of the 92nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were discovered by the Orlan-30 drone in the area of ​​the R-79 highway not far from the Dvurechny settlement, 25 km north of Kupyansk. The enemy used Western-made civilian pickup trucks and wheeled armored vehicles (MaxxPro, Cougar, Mastiff and Bushmaster) for reconnaissance and attempts at a local breakthrough.

Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation struck at a group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from a range of 20 km. At the same time, high-precision Krasnopol projectiles of 152 mm caliber were used. The cars that came under fire blocked the road and provoked the creation of a fire bag. At least 50 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed, most of whom were moving on civilian vehicles without armor.

The tactical maneuver of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kupyansk direction is increasingly riveted to roads where non-military off-road vehicles are used.

On the one hand, in this way, Ukrainians in mobile groups are trying to find gaps in the defense line of the Russian Armed Forces and wedge in there, on the other hand, they are forced to resort to such tactics due to heavy losses in heavy tracked vehicles.

***

Colonelcassad

Image

In the Nikolaevsky sector of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the last few days have been regrouping troops. A convoy of wheeled vehicles arrived

from Ochakov to Nikolaev . On the way, several trucks with ammunition and MLRS joined it. In the city itself, it included dozens of armored vehicles deployed from the northern regions of the Nikolaev region.

After that, the group split up and departed in two directions: one - to Bashtanka , the other - to Pribugskoye and Galitsinovo , in the areas of which shock forces are being formed.

What are the future plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

The Ukrainian leadership needs to organize an offensive before the arrival of cold weather. Yesterday's attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Berislav sector was a reconnaissance in force to check the state of the Russian defensive lines. An excess of manpower so far allows the enemy not to reckon with losses from such unsuccessful assaults.

The concentration of forces in the Alexandrovsky sector and in Bashtanka, from where they can be transferred to the Andreevsky sector, testifies to the preparation of a strike precisely in these two sectors.

And the Berislav sector is needed to divert attention from the main directions of the assault: from the side of Luparevo and Pribugsky , as well as Sukhoi Headquartersand Davydov Brod with subsequent access to New Kakhovka and Kherson .

Another possible option is a completely different direction - Zaporozhye . For more than a month, Ukrainian marines have been practicing landing at Energodar .

The Zaporizhzhya NPP is the most important target for the Armed Forces of Ukraine before the winter comes, and the scenario of capturing the facility has been worked out for a long time. And the grouping transferred to Bashtanka can be relatively quickly sent to Zaporozhye .

In the event of another offensive in the Kherson region, the option of simultaneously launching an assault from the side of the border cannot be ruled outOrekhov - Gulyaipole with landing at Energodar.

And the attack from the village of Dudchany can also be used to cover the landing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper from Zolotaya Balka and Novoaleksandrovka . In addition, they have informants in that area .

***

Colonelcassad
An interesting trend.

1. Diplomatic missions of a number of countries leave Kyiv.
2. More than 15 countries called on their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible. China did this too.
3. It is reported about the mass departure from Kyiv and a number of other regions of Ukraine of foreigners who are not tied to the conduct of hostilities.

All this points to an imminent military escalation in Ukraine, which, among other things, may affect Kyiv.

***

forwarded from
Military correspondent re🅉reservist
The state of the Ukrainian army is reported by The Washington Post The

Ukrainian military has been at the front for eight months without rotation and rest, shelling of Russian artillery and news of new mobilization reserves of Russia are causing a drop in discipline among the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amid a lack of people and resources.

The material says that many units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were overwhelmed by a wave of demoralization, as there were "too many losses."

Ukrainian soldiers believe that over time the situation at the front will only worsen, because soon the new Russian military reserves will receive the necessary combat experience, and winter cold will begin in Ukraine itself. Also, many are demoralized by the destruction of a thermal power plant in western Ukraine.

***

forwarded from
Operation Z: Military commissars of the Russian Spring
‼️🇬🇧🇺🇦 Svatovsko-Kremenskaya defensive operation: the enemy went on the offensive and was defeated by the forces "🅾️tvazhnykh" and ZVO
Situation for 1.5 days:
▪️Our troops are strengthening the front along the left bank of the Zherebets River, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are constantly probing our defenses.
▪️The enemy continues to accumulate forces and carry out offensive operations in small groups.
▪️A day ago, the Armed Forces of Ukraine went on a counteroffensive in the Torsky area with two armored groups, the enemy was driven back by dense artillery fire and the Brave MLRS.
▪️At this time, from the side of Dibrovo, mobile groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to break through to the flank. We drove into the mines, were finished off by the special forces of the "O" group with the help of ATGMs and AGS.
▪️Later, the Armed Forces of Ukraine again tried to conduct reconnaissance in battle near the settlement. Torskoe and Novosadovoe, Sergeevka and Makeevka. They were traditionally met by artillery and tankers, as a result of a fire defeat, the enemy was thrown back. Up to 60 militants, 2 infantry fighting vehicles and 7 pickups were destroyed.
▪️Also, near Kreminnaya, the Armed Forces of Ukraine unsuccessfully tried to force the Stallion River near Nevsky and Tern.
▪️The enemy is trying to advance near Kupyansk on Olshany, Kislovka and in the direction of Svatovo near Raigorodka, fighting is going on in these areas.
▪️After long multi-day battles, the enemy failed to succeed at Tavolzhanka and went on the defensive.
▪️Part of the forces from Tavolzhanka is transferred to Petropavlovka, where the Ukrainian command forms a strike force.
✅ t.me/RVvoenkor

***

forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z
Nuclear terror and the weather factor: about a dirty bomb, plans for the ZNPP and the transition of the Northern Military District in the autumn-winter period - military expert Boris Rozhin especially for the Voenkor channel Kotenok Z @voenkorKotenok :

If Bandera is given a dirty bomb

, Kiev and NATO are increasingly discussing the topic of using Russian side of tactical nuclear weapons. Is the West ready to detonate its own charge on the territory of Ukraine in order to accuse Moscow?

- Such a possibility exists, especially since the practice of provocations with the use of chemical weapons in Syria is already known. In the case of Ukraine, such a scenario has existed since the first days of the operation. This applies to both provocations and the possible use of a dirty bomb, which could have been created even before the start of the war or imported from outside. With the subsequent accusation of the Russian Federation of the use of WMD.

In Kiev, they are raving about landing on a nuclear power plant

- Information continues to come in that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are accumulating in the Zaporozhye direction. Kyiv has not abandoned the idea to take Energodar and Zaporizhzhya NPP at any cost?

Of course, there are prerequisites for the active actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction. This applies both to river landings in the area of ​​Energodar and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and to possible offensive actions in the direction of Vasilyevka, Tokmak and Pologi. Signals about such enemy activity continue to come through military channels.

However, it cannot be ruled out that this is a certain psychological game of pulling Russian reserves in various directions.

Nevertheless, Zaporozhye remains one of the potential directions of the main attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the ongoing autumn campaign.

Why is the enemy terrorizing Belgorod

- Is there any military sense in the strikes against Belgorod, which are delivered from Ukrainian territory?

- There is no significant military meaning in these strikes, since the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not plan an attack on Belogorod. The strikes are for informational and logistical purposes. They cannot significantly undermine the military potential of the RF Armed Forces in the Belgorod direction.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to strive for a situation where the ability of the Armed Forces to shell Belgorod will be reduced to zero, which requires the occupation of a significant part of the Kharkiv region in the medium term.

How long will the pause at the front last

- In a number of areas, the weather is already deteriorating with an increase in mudslides, which seriously complicates the use of heavy military equipment. How long will the operational pause last after the onset of the autumn-winter period?

- Some decrease (but not a cessation of hostilities) will most likely last until the second half of November-December. In winter, one can expect the intensification of offensive operations from both sides.

So far, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are using the last weeks before the worsening weather to achieve operational and tactical results in the Kherson and Svatov directions, and are also preparing a strike in Zaporozhye.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

***********

Military Operation in Ukraine (October 16, 2022)
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 16, 2022



The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued launching attacks with high-precision long-range air-based armament at the military control and energy system facilities of Ukraine.

◽️ The goals of the attacks have been reached. All the assigned targets have been neutralised.

💥 Pre-emptive fire attack launched by Russian artillery has resulted in the frustration of an attempt made by 92nd Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to launch an offensive towards Berestovoye (Kharkov region) at Kupyansk direction.

◽️ Up to 50 Ukrainian personnel, 5 armoured combat vehicles and 3 pickups with large-calibre machine guns have been eliminated.

◽️ 3 U.S.-manufactured M777 howitzers have been destroyed near Zagryzovo (Kharkov region).

◽️ Moreover, 1 ferry installed by the AFU over Oskol river for redeployment of reserve forces, delivering ordnance and supplies has been destroyed near Dvurechnaya (Kharkov region).

💥 Attacks launched by missile troops and artillery have resulted in the prevention of enemy’s attempts to cross Zherebets river near Stelmakhovka, Makeyevka (Lugansk People’s Republic) and Yampolovka (Donetsk People’s Republic) at Krasny Liman direction.

💥 Concentrated attacks launched by Russian artillery have resulted in the neutralisation of an AFU assault detachment that was redeploying towards Kirovsk (Donetsk People’s Republic) near Torskoye forestry.

◽️ Over 20 Ukrainian personnel and 4 armoured motor vehicles have been eliminated.

💥 Russian troops deployed near Vremevka (Donetsk People’s Republic) at Zaporozhye direction continued eliminating the enemy forces at their frontline and seized the heights near Neskuchnoye (Donetsk People’s Republic).

◽️ Over 40 Ukrainian personnel, 1 tank and 3 infantry combat vehicles have been eliminated.

◽️ Up to 3 enemy battalions, including 1 armoured, made several attempts to break the defence of Russian troops near Koshara and Pyatikhatki (Kherson region) at Nikolayev-Krivoy Rog direction.

💥 Russian units have maintained their positions and caused considerable casualties among enemy forces during fierce battles.

◽️ Over 250 Ukrainian personnel, 11 tanks, 14 armoured combat vehicles and 2 field artillery guns have been eliminated.

💥 Russian troops have repelled the attacks launched by up to 1 mechanised infantry company per each towards Sadok (Kherson region), Zelyony Gai, Tamarino and Ternoviye Pody (Nikolayev region) at Andreyevka and Nikolayev directions.

◽️ Intense action of Russian troops supported by artillery has resulted in repelling all the attacks.

◽️ Up to 45 Ukrainian personnel, 4 armoured combat vehicles and 8 pickups with large-calibre machine guns have been eliminated.

◽️ Moreover, Russian unmanned aerial vehicles have destroyed 4 Zoopark artillery reconnaissance radars Zoopark and 1 U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-36 electronic warfare system.

◽️ Over 350 Ukrainian personnel, 11 tanks, 18 armoured combat vehicles, 8 special motor vehicles and 2 field artillery guns have been eliminated at Nikolayev-Krivoy Rog direction.

💥 Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery have neutralised 3 command posts near Koroviy Yar, Nikiforovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), Novoosinovo (Kharkov region), 42 artillery units at their firing positions, 141 manpower and military equipment concentration areas.

◽️ 5 munitions depots have been destroyed near Davydov Brod (Kherson region), Shandrigolovo (Donetsk People’s Republic), as well as at the territory of a shipyard in Zaporozhye.

💥 Air defence facilities have shot down 11 unmanned aerial vehicles over Nikolskoye, Blagoveshchenka, Andreyevka (Donetsk People’s Republic), Kuzemovka (Lugansk People’s Republic), Podgornoye (Zaporozhye region), Sukhanovo, Staritsa, Charivnoye, Maksima Gorkogo, Kuybyshevo (Kherson region).

◽️ Moreover, 8 projectiles launched by HIMARS and Olkha MLRS have been intercepted near Kakhovka and Antonovka (Kherson region).

📊 In total, 323 airplanes and 161 helicopters, 2,247 unmanned aerial vehicles, 380 air defence missile systems, 5,830 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 870 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 3,480 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 6,595 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... r-16-2022/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Mon Oct 17, 2022 10:56 pm

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[Source: eurasiareview.com]

How much longer can the U.S. continue to wage economic war on Europe, and much of the World, without a major blowback effect?
By Jeremy Kuzmarov (Posted Oct 16, 2022)

Originally published: CovertAction Magazine on October 14, 2022 (more by CovertAction Magazine) |

On September 26, the world was put on edge when “blasts equivalent to the power of several kilograms of explosives,” according to a UN report, severely damaged Russia’s undersea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, an engineering marvel which had been scheduled to begin transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany before the Ukraine war broke out in February.

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Massive leaks resulting from sabotage of Nord Stream 2 pipeline off coasts of Denmark and Sweden. [Source: npr.org]

Suspicion of U.S. involvement was fueled by the fact that a U.S. Navy’s warship, the USS Kearsarge, had announced the completion of work in the Bornholm area in the Baltic Sea off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden where the explosion took place, just a few hours after the pipeline had been attacked.[1]

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USS Kearsarge. [Source: northernfury.us]

According to blogger Moon of Alabama, parts of the Kearsargeoperation off Bornholm were dedicated to testing special underwater mine destruction technologies. Exercises had also been performedthere by the Navy’s 6th Fleet Task Force 68 with unmanned underwater vehicles.[2]

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Lt. (Junior Grade) Chris Bianchi, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 8, prepares mock explosives for a pierside training event during exercise BALTOPS 22 on June 10. [Source: seapowermagazine.org]

On February 7, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden had promised to put an end to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, stating that, if Russia invaded Ukraine, then “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” When a reporter asked how Biden would do that since the project was under Germany’s control, Biden responded: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”

What Biden did not say was that by blocking Russian natural gas deliveries, it would force Germany and other European nations to turn to U.S. liquefied natural gas suppliers instead of Russia, giving the U.S. a major victory in the “great game” of geopolitical competition and the new Cold War.[3]

Larger Economic War
The sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline appears to have been part of a longstanding economic war carried out by the U.S. against not only Russia but also European nations.

On February 27, 2004, the Washington Post reported that Ronald Reagan had agreed to a CIA plan [in January 1982] to sabotage the Soviet economy by covertly feeding it, among other things, contaminated software that later caused a gigantic explosion of the Siberian gas pipeline in the summer of 1982.

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Explosion of Siberian gas pipeline in 1982 which the CIA was behind. [Source: blogs.ncl.ac.uk]

This revelations was taken from the memoirs of former Air Force Secretary Thomas C. Reed, who reported that the explosion was just one example of the “cold blooded economic warfare” that the CIA waged against the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War.

The biggest loser in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotage is not only Russia but also Germany, whose ability to access cheap energy has underlain its ability to finance the Eurozone over the last decade. The biggest winner is the Anglo-American axis whose global hegemony can only be sustained with Russia, Germany and the European Union weakened.

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[Source: uk.style.yahoo.com]

Frédéric Pierucci and the American Trap

Frédéric Pierucci, a one-time executive of Alstom, a prominent French power company, gained special insights into U.S. economic warfare during a five and a half year ordeal in which he was imprisoned on bribery charges as part of a scheme by which 70% of Alstom was bought by General Electric (GE).[4]

According to Pierucci, over the last two decades, the U.S. has succeeded in destabilizing the largest European multinationals by jailing their executives under the veneer of fighting corruption while netting billions of dollars in fines and coercing their companies to plead guilty.

Experts call these practices “lawfare,” which consists of using the legal system against an enemy in order to delegitimize it, causing it maximum damage and forcing it to comply through coercion.

Between 2008 and 2019, 30 corporations paid out fines above $100 million to the U.S. Treasury, with the majority being European.

The threat of huge fines and long legal battles has also been used to cajole the takeover of European firms by U.S. corporations like GE while preventing them from developing closer partnerships with China-based companies.

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An arm of U.S. imperialism. [Source: greentechmedia.com]

Personal Ordeal

Pierucci’s personal ordeal began in April 2013 when he was arrested by the FBI after arriving in New York on a flight from Singapore where he was based. He was accused of bribery in the awarding of a contract to Alstom ten years earlier for a nuclear power plant in Tarahan on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Holding an engineering degree from École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérotechnique in Poitiers, France, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia University, Pierucci was head of Alstom’s boiler division in charge of 4,000 employees at the time of his arrest.

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Frédéric Pierucci [Source: bbc.com]

In 2003, when the Sumatra power plant deal went down, Pierucci was operating from the U.S. as a global sales and marketing director for one of Alstom’s power divisions.

Bailed out by Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, Alstom was then undergoing severe financial difficulties and needed the Sumatra deal to avert potential bankruptcy.

In Indonesia at the time, bribery was necessary to secure almost any government contract as a legacy of the Suharto dictatorship. (General Suharto was Indonesia’s dictator from 1965 to 1998 who came to power in a CIA-backed coup and presided over one of the most corrupt regimes of the late 20th century).

Alstom hired two consultants to negotiate the Sumatra contract—something that Pierucci was aware of but did not initiate.

Pierucci stated that he always followed company protocol and never benefitted directly in any way from any kickbacks.

His arrest under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was purely for blackmail purposes—a signal to higher level executives that they must cooperate with U.S. dictates—or else would be jailed themselves.

Pierucci was an especially important bargaining chip because he was about to head a new joint venture between Alstom and Shanghai Electric, which posed a major threat to GE and, by implication, the U.S.

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[Source: wikiwand.com]

“Formidable instrument of underground economic warfare”

The FCPA, which prohibited American companies from bribing foreign public officials, had been passed by the Carter administration in 1977 in response to public outcry over a bribery scandal involving the defense giant Lockheed (now Lockheed-Martin).

Afterwards, American corporate leaders began complaining that the new legislation severely handicapped them in export markets as other major economic powers had not adopted similar measures. Consequently, American authorities were less than zealous in implementing the FCPA, sanctioning only 21 companies, mainly second-tier ones, between 1977 and 2001.

In 1998, Congress amended the FCPA to try to punish U.S. global rivals, giving the law extraterritorial reach. Now executives from foreign firms could be prosecuted so long as they concluded any contracts in U.S. dollars, or even if emails were exchanged in the U.S.

Pierucci wrote that, by one stroke of the pen, the U.S. Congress “transformed a law that could have weakened their own industry into a formidable instrument of underground economic warfare and intervention.”[5]

While in 2004, the total fines paid by companies under the FCPA were only $10 million, in 2016 they skyrocketed to $2.7 billion.

The 2003 USA PATRIOT Act gave American spy agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI) the power to snoop on foreign companies and their employees on a massive scale under the guise of fighting terrorism.

The Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board had earlier prioritized the collection of business intelligence,[6] and U.S. digital giants (Google, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, AOL and Apple) willingly share information with U.S. intelligence agencies and are now compelled by law to share any requested data.

European companies were ultimately left vulnerable to prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) without having the legal means to retaliate and prosecute U.S. businesses in return.

The FCPA had evolved, Pierucci writes, into a “formidable weapon of economic domination” and a “gold mine for the U.S. Treasury.”

DOJ prosecutors never found anything reprehensible about the practices of U.S. oil tycoons or U.S. defense giants, but targeted foreign, largely European-based, companies under the FCPA to help advance U.S. corporate power and hegemonic interests globally.[7]

Pierucci Is Hung Out to Dry

Once Pierucci was arrested, Alstom’s executives basically hung him out to dry to save their own skins. Never once visiting him in prison, they provided him a lawyer that seemed to act in collusion with the prosecution, and fired him for missing work.

For months, Pierucci was forced to endure life in the privately managed Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Rhode Island, which was grossly overcrowded, kept inmates locked in their cells for long periods, and deprived inmates of sunlight, proper sleeping arrangements and medical care.

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[Source: wyattdetention.com]
Not Your Average Takeover

The payoff for Pierucci’s arrest came on April 24, 2014, when a deal was struck by which Alstom agreed to sell 70% of its business, its entire energy division, to GE for $13 billion.

A CNN guest gushed that this was “an operation of unprecedented magnitude,” and “not your average takeover.”[8]

Before Pierucci’s arrest, Alstom CEO Patrick Kron had planned to sell 20% of Alstom Transport to the Russians and create a joint venture with the Chinese in the energy sector.

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Patrick Kron grew rich off the GE deal while selling out the French national interest. [Source: wikipedia.org]

By selling to GE instead, Kron found a way to “escape the clutches of the prosecutors [who were after him],” according to Pierucci, and secure favorable treatment by the U.S. DOJ.

For that Kron was awarded with an exceptional 4 million euro bonus, though he had severely compromised France’s energy independence, national security and sovereignty.

Alstom manufactured, maintained and refurbished the turbo-alternators of France’s 58 nuclear reactors, and turbines for water reactors, and played a vital role in 75% of the country’s national electricity. It also supplied the turbo-gear for France’s aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, and turbines for the French Navy’s nuclear submarines.

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Because of Kron’s deal and DOJ blackmail, the Charles de Gaulle was now being outfitted by a U.S.-based conglomerate. [Source: wikipedia.org]

As part of the takeover agreement, GE agreed to assume all of Alstom’s legal liabilities (totaling upwards of $700 million following a guilty plea), according to Pierucci, which Siemens and other competitors could not match.[9] GE also promised to create a thousand French jobs, though actually cut one thousand jobs, according to Pierucci.[10]

Hollande and Macron Acquiesce

Daniel Fasquelle, the vice chairman of the French National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Commission characterized the Alstom case as “an unbelievable hoax”; a “convenient way for Alstom to extricate itself from the legal trap set for it by the U.S. judiciary”; and “part of a pattern by which U.S. conglomerates take over companies weakened by legal proceedings.”[11]

Arnaud Montebourg, France’s Minister for the Economy and Industrial Renewal, was also outraged by the GE deal and tried to engineer Alstom’s sale to Siemens which would have kept it in European hands.

Future French President Emmanuel Macron, then the deputy chief of staff for French President François Hollande (2012-2017), convinced Hollande, however, to go forward with the GE deal.

Macron’s motivation may have been financial: According to a report by members of the French parliament, some people who heavily funded Mr. Macron’s political campaign benefited from Alstom and GE spending an extraordinary 600 million euros on consultants, financial advisers, lawyers and communications experts at the time of the takeover.[12]

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French traitors? François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron. [Source: brief.bismarckanalysis.com]

Selling the French Down the River—Out of Fear

After the sale was announced, Christian Garnier, a representative of France’s General Confederation of Labor, remarked that Hollande and Macron had “sold [the French people] down the river; [the GE deal] is a pure sell-out of our energy sector to GE. There is no industrial strategy behind this, it’s merely a financial political operation, and note that I have chosen my words carefully.”[13]

Montebourg suggested meanwhile that Hollande and Macron had acquiesced “because the Americans scare the hell out of them. They consider them too powerful.”[14]

A Rigged System
Pierucci found out that Alstom was the fifth company to be swallowed up by GE after being accused of corruption by the DOJ.

He also found that, in the power generation sector, virtually all of GE’s rivals—including the Swiss/Swedish-based ABB and German Siemens—had been indicted and forced to pay significant fines, while not a single leading American power engineer contractor that uses GE equipment has ever been targeted under the FCPA.

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GE CEO Jeff Immelt, left, with Barack Obama. In 2011, Immelt was appointed by Barack Obama in 2011 as Chair of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. [Source: money.cnn.com]

In 1992, GE was fined $69 million by the DOJ for “conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit offenses against the United States in connection with a bribery scheme related to a defense contract signed with Israel, indicating that the company played dirty like almost everyone else.

The company’s backing by U.S. diplomacy was evident when, in 2010, it sold the Iraqi government—installed as a result of the criminal 2003 U.S. invasion—$3 billion worth of gas turbines even though, at the time, Iraq did not have the capacity to either construct power plants or otherwise make use of the turbines.

Omnipotence of American Corporate Power
According to Pierucci, GE’s takeover of Alstom and the acquiescence of the French ruling class reflected the omnipotence of American corporate interests on French soil.

Today he says that most of the major law firms, audit firms, and investment banks in the Paris financial center are American, and the Alstom/GE deal was an extraordinary boost for them, adding several hundred million euros onto their bills for services performed.

To ensure effective lobbying, these institutions recruit ex-government officials like David Azéma—formerly of the French state shareholding agency and chief negotiator in charge of managing state shareholdings in the Alstom case—who then joined Bank of America which coincidentally had advised Alstom throughout the negotiation.

Meanwhile, one of Emmanuel Macron’s chief economic advisers, Hugh Bailey, joined GE in November 2017 as “Government Affairs director,” i.e., chief lobbyist, before becoming General Manager of GE in France in May 2019.

A War to the Death—That America Is Winning, But for How Long?

At the end of his tenure as president of France from 1981 to 1995, socialist François Mitterand said that “France does not know it, but we are at war with America. Yes, a permanent war, a vital war, an economic war, a war without death, on the surface. And yet a war to the death.”

The Alstom/GE deal and Nord Stream 2 pipeline attack reveal that the U.S. is winning the war—using the dirtiest of methods. The questions remain, however, as to how long will Europe allow itself to be held ransom, and a victim, and at what point will they band together to fight back more effectively—with Russia and China on their side?

1.After the attack, Poland’s former minister of foreign affairs, Radek Sikorski, the husband of neo-conservative Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, tweeted “Thank you, USA!” with a photo of an underwater gas explosion in the area of ​​the leak (later he deleted the tweet). ↑
2.The U.S. Navy was not the only foreign force that was near the area of the pipeline damage, which was carrying between $600 and $800 million worth of natural gas. Moon of Alabama reported that just 100 kilometers south is the Polish naval base Kolobrzeg (the former German Kolberg) which harbors mine-laying ships and the 8th Kołobrzeg Naval Combat Engineer Battalion. Naval combat engineers are experts in blowing up anything that is under water, be it mines or pipelines. In 2021, while Nord Stream 2 was still being built, the Polish navy had interfered and endangered the pipe-laying vessels in the very same place. Russian news sources meanwhile reported that the day before the pipeline sabotage, an open report was registered in the U.S. Congress that British scuba divers conducted exercises in the area of ​​the Bornholm depression for three days. Reports also appeared about an award given to two sailors from the Royal Navy of Great Britain for “carrying out important events in international waters.” Swiss 3.Colonel Ralph Bossard (ret.) pointed out in a study that if the Russians carried out the sabotage of their own pipeline they would have done so in the Gulf of Finland, not in waters around Denmark and Sweden heavily monitored by NATO. ↑
4.Nord Stream’s capacity was 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Bloomberg claims that, to survive this winter, Europe will have to import 40% more liquefied natural gas than in previous years. And the Americans will have to supply it. Business Insiderreported in August that U.S. energy traders, capitalizing on the high prices and loss of Russian supplies, were already then making a killing exporting U.S. natural gas to Europe, with some single shipments bringing in $200 million. The U.S. was at the time sending 60 percent of its liquified natural gas exports to Europe, which was up from less than 20 percent a year earlier. ↑
5.Frédéric Pierucci, with Matthieu Aron, translated from the French by Deniz Gulan, The American Trap: My Battle to Expose America’s Secret Economic War Against the Rest of the World (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2019). ↑
6.Pierucci, The American Trap, 115. ↑
7.CIA Director James Woolsey (1993-1995) admitted in an interview with Le Figaro on March 28, 2000, that the United States secretly collected intelligence against European companies, which he said was necessary to a) monitor companies that broke or potentially broke U.S. and UN sanctions: b) track technologies for civil and military applications; and c) hunt down corruption in international trade. ↑
8.When Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton, arranged for the payment of $188 million in bribes to Nigerian leaders to secure a contract through a London lawyer, the fines imposed on the company were extremely modest and prison sentences for corrupt executives light. ↑
9.Pierucci, The American Trap, 115. ↑
The negotiations took place before Alstom executives pleaded guilty, raising questions as to whether GE benefited from insider information; it had been involved for months behind the scenes in Alstom’s negotiations with the DOJ. ↑
10.Pierucci, The American Trap, 303. ↑
11.Pierucci, The American Trap, 210, 236. ↑
12.Pierucci, The American Trap, 287. ↑
13.Pierucci, The American Trap, 241. ↑
14.Pierucci, The American Trap, 240. ↑

https://mronline.org/2022/10/16/how-muc ... ck-effect/

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Russia To Continue Operation in Ukraine Despite NATO Intervention

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Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Oct. 16, 2022. | Photo: AP

Published 16 October 2022

The Kremlin spokesman in an interview with a Russian TV station said "NATO has already de facto got involved in the Ukrainian conflict".

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) de facto got involved in the conflict in Ukraine, but this does not affect the objectives of Russia's special operation, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured on Sunday.

"NATO has already de facto entered the Ukrainian conflict. But this in no way affects our goals, that is, the operation continues and will be completed," the Kremlin spokesman said in an interview with a Russian television station.

NATO assistance to Ukraine significantly complicates the situation, but the potential of the Russian Federation allows us to continue the special military operation even under these conditions, Peskov assured.


The spokesman explained that it is now "substantially more difficult" for Moscow because of the fact that NATO is supporting Kiev.

"This will probably require our internal economic and other mobilization. One thing is the regime in Kiev and another thing is the potential of NATO. This is an additional burden. But our potential allows us to continue the operation in these conditions," he emphasized.

One of the key objectives of the operation is what Russian President Vladimir Putin defined as demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0003.html

************

From Cassad's Telegram account:

***

Colonelcassad

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The situation in the Nikolaevsko-Berislavsky direction
as of 18.00 October 17, 2022

🔻In the Posad-Pokrovsky section, artillery crews of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade are firing indiscriminately at the Ternovy Pod area .

The 3rd battalion of the 28th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred to the Ukrainka region. Previously, the personnel of the unit performed tasks on the Andreevsky sector of the front.

▪️After arriving, the Ukrainian formations equipped a forward command post and replaced the forces of the 59th brigade at the turn of the Stepovaya Dolina - Posad-Pokrovskoye . At the forefront, ATGM and MANPADS crews were installed.

🔻In the Snigirevsky sector in the vicinity of Kiselevka , six units of military equipment were deployed to reinforce the 105th battalion of the 63rd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

🔻On the Andreevsky site, the Ukrainian command is restoring the combat capability of the units. Over the past day, 36 units of equipment were transferred to the left bank through the established crossings over the Ingulets , and 30 units were transferred to Bereznegovatoe for restoration .

▪️A reactive battery of the 57th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is firing at Russian strongholds at the Kostromka - Bruskinskoye - Ischenko line .

🔻At the Berislav sector, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are evacuating the wounded and the bodies of those killed during the offensive of the 60th Infantry Brigade. The confirmed losses amounted to 70 irretrievable and sanitary people, excluding the missing.

▪️In the area of ​​​​Novaya Kamenka, the calculation of the "wandering" mortar fires at the positions of the RF Armed Forces in Pyatikhatki . And in Petropavlovka there is a battery of self-propelled guns of the brigade artillery group of the 60th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

▪️A platoon of a battalion of the 60th brigade was transferred from Potemkino to Novaya Kamenka to replenish the 98th battalion, and combined assault groups of the 128th Guards Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were formed in the Gavrilovka area.

***

Colonelcassad

The situation in the Zaporozhye direction as of 12.00 on October 17, 2022

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▪️250 mobilized citizens were transferred to Kamyshevakh to complete the 9th separate special purpose regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine. 100 of them will be distributed to the assault groups on the front lines in the coming days.

Several dozen people are planned to be sent to Malaya Tokmachka to replenish the strength of the 2nd battalion of the 9th op NGU. Russian artillery attacked the battalion's stronghold and killed more than ten servicemen.

▪️Due to the increase in the intensity of attacks by the RF Armed Forces, an AN / TPQ-36 counter-battery radar was deployed in the vicinity of Odarovka . And to counter the Russian Geran-2 UAVs, the Strela-10 air defense system was deployed in Dimitrovo .

▪️Two crews of M777 howitzers and several 120-mm mortars were transferred to the 44 separate artillery brigade in the Gulyai-Polye sector to the 102 brigade of the TPO of the Armed Forces of Ukraine .

▪️In Vasilyevsky and Kamensko-Dneprovsky districts of the Zaporozhye region, informants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to operate, transmitting data on the movement and deployment of Russian troops.

▪️On the right bank of the Dnieper, the additional equipment of the fortified area has begun: the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine predicts an offensive by the RF Armed Forces on Zaporozhye, followed by forcing the Dnieper. The fortified area should prevent the RF Armed Forces from occupying the right-bank Zaporozhye and reaching Nikopol .

***

Colonelcassad
A rally in Lvov, where relatives demand that Zelensky's gang find the "missing" from the 24th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
I won't tell you a big secret if I say that most of the people they are trying to find are already dead for a long time. Just as part of hiding the huge losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the population, relatives are not informed about this.

https://t.me/RVvoenkor/29443

***

forwarded from
🇬🇪Georgian passerby
1:53
🇬🇪🇺🇦The Georgian legionnaire recorded an emotional video message in which he expressed outrage at the facts of the persecution of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine

. In particular, he condemned the actions of Ukrainians who, calling themselves human rights activists and civil activists, refused to provide humanitarian assistance to Russian-speaking women. Despite the fact that this humanitarian aid was not from Ukraine itself, but from a foreign state.

The Georgian fighter was also not afraid to emphasize that he considers the course declared by Kyiv towards Ukrainization of the population to be fundamentally wrong, since a large number of representatives of various peoples who speak Russian live in the country. Among them there are also Georgians who are fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ultimately, the Georgian called on the most zealous defenders of the Ukrainian language to stand next to him and defend the country with weapons in their hands, and not to bully defenseless women.

***

forwarded from
Rostislav Shorokhov
For 30 years of independence, the population of Ukraine has halved

. For the starting point of calculation, we take 1992 and a record 52 million citizens. Then there is a decline of about 400,000 per year until the 2014 coup d'état. After the Maidan, the outflow of the population intensifies and, according to the 2020 census, 37 million citizens remain in Ukraine (excluding residents of Crimea and Donbass).

2022 happens. From the "country 404" 7.6 million refugees flee to Europe and another 2 million leave for Russia. After the referendums, 8 million residents of Novorossiya receive Russian citizenship , of which we subtract 2.2 million from the DPR and 1.4 million from the LPR, which were no longer counted in the 2020 Ukrainian census.

In total, the bottom line is that the current population of Ukraine is about 28 million people, which is 55% of the 1992 values. Personally, I have no reason to believe that the situation will change in the near future. "Independence" is literally the worst thing that has happened to Little Russians in history.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

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The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III | Opinion
DAVID SACKS , VENTURE CAPITALIST AND CO-HOST OF THE ALL-IN PODCAST
ON 10/4/22 AT 5:45 PM EDT


Elon Musk got in hot water again on Twitter—for proposing peace. On Monday, Musk proposed a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, for which he was denounced as a pro-Putin puppet by the Twitter mob that has formed to police the discourse on all things related to Ukraine.


The president of Ukraine himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Musk of supporting Russia—even though Musk's company SpaceX donated Starlink to Ukraine's war effort at an out-of-pocket cost of $80 million. (Full disclosure: Musk is a friend and I am an investor in SpaceX.) Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrj Melnyk was less subtle, telling Elon to "f***k off," while David Frum tweeted without evidence that "Russian sources" had used Elon to float a "trial balloon" of a peace proposal because they're afraid of losing Crimea. Scores of blue-checks on Twitter followed their lead, ordering Musk to stay in his lane.


What matters in this story is not that Musk was told off, but rather, that a Twitter hive mind is using the same intolerant cancellation tactics that they use to shut down debate on domestic political issues in order to shape U.S. policy toward Ukraine. They are doing so by demonizing dissent, defaming opponents, and closing off as ideologically unacceptable any path to peace or even deescalation.

The online mob has decided that any support for a negotiated settlement—even proposals that Zelensky himself appeared to support at the beginning of the war—is tantamount to taking Russia's side, denouncing voices of compromise and restraint as Putin apologists. This removes them from acceptable discourse and shrinks the Overton window to those advocating the total defeat of Russia and an end to Putin's regime—even if it risks WWIII.

We've seen this before: "Woke mobs" on Twitter routinely demonize and defame their political opponents, impugn the motives of anyone who questions their goals or tactics, and squelch dissent even in their own ranks by declaring the debate on certain topics over.

What makes the "I stand with Ukraine" version of the Twitter mob unique is that it brings together two forces that used to be sworn enemies of one another—the woke Left and the neoconservative Right. It turns out they share many of the same loathsome ideological and personality traits, and have a similar "slash and burn" approach to political engagement. It's a new political marriage.

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A BM-21 'Grad' multiple rocket launcher fires at Russian positions in Kharkiv region on October 4, 2022.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Just over a decade ago, former President Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary to become president due in no small part to his opposition to the Iraq War. At the time, the Left despised neocon hawks for pushing the Bush-Cheney administration's disastrous Forever Wars in the Middle East. Moreover, the Left supported Obama in his policy toward Ukraine when he refused to escalate with Russia over Crimea, pointing out that America has no vital security interests in Ukraine, though Russia does. As a result, Russia would always be able to maintain "escalatory dominance," Obama said. "This is an example of where we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for."

But since neoconservatives largely walked out of the Republican Party over Trump and disavowed all of their conservative domestic policy views to become commentators on MSNBC, the Left has discovered a new love for interventionist foreign policy, as long as it serves "democracy" and opposes "autocracy"—an increasingly malleable term that both the wokes and the neocons now use to define not just Putin but also democratically elected leaders like Viktor Orban in Hungary, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, and Donald Trump in the United States.

Despite voting for Obama because he promised to break with neoconservative foreign policy, the Left has now joined with neocons to oppose Obama's restrained foreign policy in Ukraine.

This shift is disorienting, but on a purely tactical level, it makes a certain amount of sense. Neocons invented the cancellation game before there was even a Twitter board on which to play it. Neocons arrogantly dismiss the other side's point of view as argued in bad faith and not worth considering, and label anyone who dares question the cause as a heretic or traitor.

David Frum set the neocon standard for this tactic when he branded the small number of pundits on the Right who opposed the Iraq War as "Unpatriotic Conservatives" at the outset of that strategic disaster. Fast forward to today and anyone who suggests that NATO expansion could have been a contributing factor to the current Ukraine crisis, or that the sanctions imposed on Russia are not working and have backfired on a soon-to-be-shivering Europe, or even that the U.S. must prioritize avoiding a world war with a nuclear-armed Russia, is denounced as a Putin stooge.

Warping the debate in this way allows delusional and contradictory thinking to go unchallenged. Thus, we get the argument that Putin is a madman who will kill indiscriminately to achieve his aims—but he is also somehow definitely bluffing about using nuclear weapons. And he's only using that bluff because he's losing the war—but if he's not stopped in Ukraine, he will go on to conquer the rest of Europe. Putin's regime must fall because he has killed or jailed all the liberal reformers and yoked himself to a hardline Far Right, but somehow he will be replaced by a liberal reformer when his regime collapses.

It's nonsensical, and a real debate would expose some of the delusions in this thinking. But we aren't allowed to have one.


As long as this woke-neocon alliance is allowed to set the terms of the debate, we will continue to see a one-way ratchet toward greater and more dangerous escalation of this conflict.

There will be no peaceful resolution to this conflict that America doesn't at least have a hand in negotiating, and we should be leading the effort. Instead, we've been deferring to the Ukrainians and their maximalist demands, upping the sanctions on Russia as Putin ups his rhetoric against the West. Someone blew up the Nord Stream pipeline just in case another key nation such as Germany had any thoughts about coming to the bargaining table. And now we are playing a game of nuclear "chicken" with a Russian leader who, if his unhinged "War against the West" speech last Friday is any indication, has thrown away his steering wheel.

A regional war turned into the First World War because all parties made maximalist demands and assumed others were bluffing. It can happen again, especially if the media, social media, and foreign policy elite join forces and use woke cancellation tactics to preclude discussion of any alternatives. Right now, we are locked on an escalatory path, and the destination ahead is Woke War III.

https://www.newsweek.com/neocons-woke-l ... on-1748947

The observations are correct, the analysis is garbage. The so-called 'woke left' is utterly in thrall to the Democratic Party. The chain that binds them is Donald Trump.(At least that's their current excuse...)And when has the Democratic Party seen a war it didn't like?

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Massive Demonstrations Taking Place in the Main European Capitals
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 17, 2022

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This weekend anti-government rallies toured the capitals of several countries of the European Union simultaneously. The most massive demonstrations gathered in Berlin, opposite the Bundestag building, as well as in the center of Prague.

German protesters came out with banners “ Russian oil and gas ” and “ Scholz Government = Biden Administration ”.

In the Czech capital, where protests have been going on for several weekends, protesters are asking the government to resign. Petr Fiala Prime Minister said that only those “ used by Moscow ” attend the calls.

A demonstration was also held in Vienna, where many Russian flags could be seen. Protesters called on Chancellor Nehammer to abandon the confrontation with Russia and resume friendly relations.

The trigger for mobilizations in the countries of the European Union is the continuous growth of inflation. In Germany, for the first time since the early 1950s, it is double-digit. Exorbitant electricity and gas prices have reduced wages substantially. Inflation in the Czech Republic stood at 17 percent per year in August, almost three times more than last year.

Demonstration in Paris against rising cost of living

More than 140,000 protesters demanding salary increases, increased taxation on the extraordinary profits of companies and other measures to alleviate the impact of the crisis marched in Paris on Sunday.

Organizers demanded a freeze on energy, essential goods and rent prices and opposed pension reform.

Serious clashes with the police, burning of garbage containers and several bank showcases were destroyed.

Striking workers from refineries, maintenance workers at nuclear power plants, cleaning workers, the national railway or banking companies participated in the demonstration. The fight for the wage increase is fair, the workers shouted.

The call took place while strikes at refineries and fuel tanks have triggered a chronic gasoline shortage, putting the Macron government on the defensive. Millions of workers and other motorists who depend on their vehicles were affected, with gigantic queues at gas stations.

The Macron government is also on the defensive in Parliament, where it lost the majority in the June legislative elections. This makes it much more difficult for your alliance to implement its program, and parliamentary discussion of the government’s budget plan for next year is proving particularly difficult.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... -capitals/

Russian Gains in Bakhmut, Ukraine Overextended, & US Lectures India
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 17, 2022



Update for Russian Ops vs. Ukraine for October 17, 2022

– Russian forces are closing in on Bakhmut city

– with even the Western media noting the inevitability of Russia’s victory there; – Ukrainian offensives are grinding to a halt

– whatever additional gains they make will be temporary and inevitably reversed as Russia prepares what appears to be a major offensive of its own;

– Western media is depending heavily on propaganda to paper over severe weapon and ammunition shortages in Ukraine and the implications it has on Kiev’s fighting capacity;

– The US is lashing out with an increasingly desperate tone as nations around the globe refuse to subordinate themselves and their nation’s interests to US foreign policy objectives

– India being among them;

References:

France 24 – Under approaching Russian fire in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine (October 16, 2022): https://www.france24.com/en/live-news

ABC (Australia) – Heavy fighting in Soledar, Bakhmut in Donbas, Russia sends thousands of troops to Belarus: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-1

Business Insider – Russia is making excuses for why it can’t stop US-made HIMARS from shredding its military in Ukraine: https://www.businessinsider.com/russi

New York Times – A new package of U.S. military aid will speed more mobile rocket launchers to Ukraine.: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/wo

France 24 – US ammunition supplies dwindle as Ukraine war drains stockpiles: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news

Politico – India’s stance on the Ukraine war makes little sense: https://www.politico.eu/article/india

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/10/ ... res-india/

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A war Russia set to win
The Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans
Updated At: Oct 17, 2022 06:39 AM (IST)

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Breached: With the attack on the Crimean Bridge, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has crossed a red line that Moscow had warned him against. Reuters

MK Bhadrakumar
Former Ambassador


Two massive terrorist strikes misfired spectacularly and a terrible beauty is born in the Ukraine war. These two carefully planned attacks in quick succession — on Nord Stream gas pipelines and Crimean Bridge — were intended as a knockout blow to Russia. According to President Vladimir Putin, people ‘who want to finally sever ties between Russia and the EU, weaken Europe’ are behind the Nord Stream blasts. He named the US, Ukraine and Poland as ‘beneficiaries’.

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order.

Last Wednesday, Russia’s domestic intelligence service FSB identified Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as the mastermind behind the Crimean attack. The New York Times and Washington Post also pointed fingers at Kiev, quoting ‘sources’. While Nord Stream-1 has been crippled, one of the strings of Nord Stream-2 remains intact. Putin said last week that the pipeline could be restored and Russia could deliver about 27 billion cubic metres of gas. ‘The ball is on the side of the European Union, if they want — let’s turn on the tap,’ he said.

But mum’s the word from Brussels. It is a profoundly embarrassing moment for the EU. The triumphalism has vanished as Europe is threatened by years of recession caused by the blowback from sanctions against Russia, where the US insisted on the cut off of energy ties with Moscow. The EU has now become a captive market for Big Oil and is left to buy LNG from the US at the asking price, which is six to seven times higher than the domestic price in the US. (Contracted price for long-term Russian supply for Germany used to be about $280 per 1,000 cubic metres as against the current market price hovering around $2,000.)

Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US’ sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering.


The Crimean Bridge attack of October 8 is much more serious. Zelenskyy has crossed a red line that Moscow had repeatedly warned him against. Putin has disclosed that there have also been three terrorist attacks against the Kursk NPP. Russians will settle for nothing less than the ouster of the Zelenskyy regime.

Russia’s retaliation against Ukraine’s ‘critical infrastructure’, something Moscow refrained from so far, has serious implications. Since October 9, Russia has begun systematically targeting Ukraine’s power system and railways. Noted Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia that if this tempo was kept up for a week or so, it ‘will disrupt the entire logistics of the Ukrainian military — system for transporting personnel, military equipment, ammunition, related cargo, as well as the functioning of military and repair plants.’

The Americans are cocooned in a surreal world of their self-serving narrative that Russia ‘lost’ the war. In the real world, though, Ivan Tertel, KGB chief in Belarus, who has an insider view of Moscow, said last Tuesday that with Russia boosting its troop strength in the war zone — 3 lakh troops who have been mobilised plus 70,000 volunteers — and the deployment of advanced weaponry, ‘the military operation will enter a key phase. According to our estimates, a turning point will come in the period from November of this year to February of next year.’


Policy-makers and strategists in Delhi should make a careful note of the timeline. The bottom line is, Russia is looking for an all-out victory and will not settle for anything less than a friendly government in Kiev. Western politicians, including Biden, understand that there is nothing stopping the Russians now. The US’ weapon kitty is running dry as Kiev keeps asking for more.

When asked whether he’d meet Biden at the G20 in Bali, Putin derisively remarked on Friday, ‘He (Biden) should be asked whether he is ready to hold such negotiations with me or not. To be honest, I don’t see any need, by and large. There is no platform for any negotiations for the time being.’

However, Washington has not yet thrown in the towel and the Biden administration remains obsessed with exhausting the Russian military — even at the cost of Ukraine’s destruction. And, for the Russians too, there is still much to be worked out on the battlefield: the oppressed Russian populations in Odessa (which suffered unspeakable atrocities from the neo-Nazis), Mykolaiv, Zaporizhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov are expecting ‘liberation’. It’s a highly emotive issue for Russia. Again, the overarching agenda of ‘demilitarisation’ and ‘denazification’ of Ukraine must be taken to its logical conclusion.


When all that is over, Putin knows Biden will not even want to meet him. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said last week, ‘Anyone who seriously believes that the war can be ended through Russian-Ukrainian negotiations lives in another world. Reality looks different. In reality, such issues can only be discussed between Washington and Moscow. Today, Ukraine is able to fight only because it receives military assistance from the United States…

‘At the same time, I do not see President Biden as the person who would really be suitable for such serious negotiations. President Biden has gone too far. Suffice it to recall his statements to Russian President Putin.’

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order. Sadly, Indian elites are yet to purge their ‘unipolar predicament’. Europe, including Britain, is devastated and there is palpable discontent over the US’s ‘transatlantic leadership’. Indo-Pacific strategy is hopelessly adrift. New power centres are emerging in India’s extended neighbourhood, as the OPEC’s rebuff to Washington shows. A profound adjustment is needed in the Indian strategic calculus.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comme ... win-441926
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Tue Oct 18, 2022 12:33 pm

“We are also learning”
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 10/18/2022

Image

Original Article: Alexander Kots / Komsomolskaya Pravda

“Over potholes, over potholes, over small bridges, we went down the hill into a hole. Boom”, sings a soldier prepared from top to bottom. At the sound of “boom”, all those sitting in the armored Kamaz truck hit the roof. Well, everyone had their helmets on beforehand. The route to the front is not short and is not for cars. To get there, it is necessary to make a detour and travel through secondary roads to approach the old Russian border, now an administrative border with the Belgorod region. Today we have as traveling companions two friends from the Khabarovsk Rapid Response Brigade. Like them, we tremble in potholes and our teeth chatter.

"By the way, the driver has a nom de guerre Jojol [offensive term with which the Russians refer to the Ukrainians - Ed ]", laughs one of them. “We have a guy from Kramatorsk in the unit,” says another. “He went to Russia in 2014 and as soon as the special operation started , he went to the front line to liberate the city from him. It's his third rotation, he just got back on leave." “Are there permits?” he asked respectfully. Permits are a rare thing around here. "Regular"

Behind the vehicle are huge fields of blackened sunflowers that no one has been able to harvest this year. And a black cloud floats over them. There is no fear of clouds here. On the contrary, the lower they are, the more chances that they will not be detected by enemy drones. And the satellites go blind in this weather. Competent commanders use it to move reinforcements closer to the front lines. I've seen it done almost perfectly. Two full trucks carry reinforcements from the rear to Kremennaya. The infantry go there and the trucks come back empty. For the whole day.

Diplomatically less experienced commanders continue to send long columns of vehicles dangerously close to the front line. Naturally, they often become easy prey for the Ukrainian artillery. This is how a conscript-led motorized brigade found itself under fire near Svatovo. “They came to us with wounded at the border between the Kharkov and Lugansk regions. We have a kid, a medical instructor, who pricked them, bandaged them and helped as much as he could, "says, already at the front near Kupiansk, a tough Rosgvardia soldier with the nom de guerre Pan , deputy commander of the unit .

"We moved under enemy artillery fire, they hit us hard," recalls Barbar , the group's commander. “We took out a group of mobilized people. There were practically thirty people, they wanted to stay with us, continue serving. I had to teach them step by step some things. But his battalion commander came and took them away. We evacuated the wounded ourselves, there were seven.”

According to my information, conclusions have already been drawn from this story about the conscripts, who were sent to the front without the necessary preparation. It's all happening fast now and hopefully other units have learned their lesson.

“You have to distribute them among the units that are already up and running, that already know how things are,” says Pan , a forty-year-old father of four. “To begin with, they will do auxiliary work, for example, security. For a soldier, it is already a lot of work, it will be a way to fight and serve. And so you will learn everything from the most experienced: trenches are dug this way, you fall asleep in such a way, you need to take these things with you…”

“Have you been on duty long?” I ask Pan .

“In our unit, since 2001. I have seen many things, I have been in many places. I trust myself, I trust my comrades. That's why I'm here. How many times have there been situations where nothing could be done, but I have looked at friends and comrades and have felt pride that there is no confusion, that everything is clear. As happened yesterday, there was a bombardment, it fell right in front, before our heads. And the entire operation, everything is in place, everything is intact.”

Russian Guard units in the area of ​​operations perform functions that are not alien to them. They also go to the indicated addresses and stop Ukrainian agents or search for weapons stockpiles, but they also serve on the front lines. Like the Khabarovsk unit we visited. After all, we come from the same region.

“Where did you live?” the boys ask.

“In Krasnorechenskaya”, I reply. "Near the House of Culture."

"We're neighbors. Can I say hello to my family? My wife knows me for being like a bear, so hairy. I have three daughters and a very handsome fifteen-year-old son. Greetings to all".

This area of ​​the front is one of the hottest in Donbass right now. The defense line extends from Lisichansk, through Kremennaya to Svatovo. According to our intelligence, the Ukrainian General Staff had demanded to take Svatovo before October 17, but something went wrong. In a new twist, the enemy has failed to find a weak point in our defense. Because this time he is preparing to repel the attack according to the laws of fortification science. Full-length trenches, anti-tank shelters and concrete sheds, plus second line checkpoints and finally saturation of defenses with real infantry, not paper tigers .

kyiv's calculation is clear. With a blow to Svatovo you can cut off the northern part of the Luhansk People's Republic from the border with the Belgorod region. And he has offensive prospects over Kremennaya and even Starobelsk. That threatens the loss of Rubezhnoe, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk. He has amassed a large pool of up to 40,000 troops to hit this line.

"Of course, there are Ukrainians among us," Barbar says . “There were foreigners screaming for us to surrender, but the Russians don't surrender. It is true that they are more advanced when it comes to aerial reconnaissance, quadcopters and drones. But they are afraid to enter the battle melee, preferring at a distance. And our artillery, thank God, is also rearming. And they are very afraid of our aviation.”

Barbar already has fifteen years of experience, the minimum to collect a pension. They called him from the barracks, but he continues on his own. He wants to continue working with his group, he says. “All of mine are adults, they have families, some of them have a lot of families. They all come from work, peasants, wanting to work.”

"Do you understand why you are here?"

"Of course. The people on the other side are brainwashed. Ukrainians who have a Soviet education still understand something, but the young people who have jumped up screaming who can't boat is a moskali think that Nazism is cool. We have to end this, because this cannot be treated. If you don't want to lose your whole arm, you have to cut off your finger. But sometimes we are too loyal. The enemy, of course, does not feel the same loyalty towards us. If we don't finish them off here, they will come to us, to Khabarovsk, Moscow, Kaliningrad or Rostov. There will be no life for us. We have to defend our homeland, that's why we're here."

“There are three objectives. The first, in the “Tiger” camouflaged in the forest”, says the radio giving the coordinates. It is the work of the Russian Guard at the front. Frontline scouts search for targets, transmit them to the checkpoint, which sends the coordinates to the Ministry of Defense. In this sector of the front, the interaction between the two departments has to work like an automatism. Minutes later, the Ka-51s, Mi-24s and Mi-8s fly overhead towards the enemy. In principle, this is how reconnaissance and attack should work on all sections of the front. But the lines have not started operating until six months after the start of the special operation. Better late than never, of course, because the direct interaction between intelligence and weapons destruction has already proven its effectiveness.

“In Yampolovka, an enemy tactical group with up to a hundred people, up to five self-propelled vehicles, five infantry vehicles has been detected. Give the confirmation and the coordinates and we will hit”, is heard in one of the command posts of the special forces brigades of the Ministry of Defense, where they work in the usual combat work, which is not very cinematographic.

There I meet an old friend whom I know from Syria. The last time we saw each other was a couple of months ago. “Didn't you go home?” I ask him. “How am I going to go home and look people in the face without a serious outcome? My dear wife says to me: Are you going to liberate Donbass now or what? When we have a result here we can go home”.

Special forces groups operate in the Kremennaya and Svatovo area revealing enemy activity. The situation at the front has stabilized thanks to the work of the artillery in cooperation with the drones. When it is possible to work directly, avoiding the hierarchy of the multiple stages of information, the result is not long in coming.

"The bird is in the air, we are working with the adjustments," the radio responds.

"Uragan, four rockets come out."

"A clear impact," reports the drone operator. “Two more can be launched.” And two other projectiles go up into the sky.

“Right now, the enemy is not attacking with very large forces,” my friend tells me. “His tactic of his is small, manageable groups. First comes the front line, which for some reason everyone calls sabotage and reconnaissance groups. As a rule, it is four vans and an armored Ukrainian Kozak or an American Humvee. Your task is to break through the defenses and advance without getting into a positional battle. The second wave is equipment: tanks and infantry vehicles. They are followed by radar and counter-battery systems, then Grads and artillery. That's how it was in the Kharkiv offensive, so they try to break through the defenses here in the same way. But we are also learning.”

A Malka howitzer with the inscription “bang” comes out of the forest onto the field, raises the barrel and fires two volleys. Afterwards, he quickly retreats and moves to another spot. "We have acted against enemy personnel," explains the commander. “Two shells and quick retreat, because the response can come immediately. The enemy is not asleep either."

After October 17, it became clear that the Ukrainian troops had not complied with the dates set by the General Staff. According to our intelligence, Ukraine primarily has territorial defenses in this section. That means that the regular troops are in other zones, so you have to wait for offensive attempts in other zones. Meanwhile, the Russian units are being reinforced with the recruits. And that means that, sooner or later, a window of opportunity will open for our progress.

https://slavyangrad.es/2022/10/18/nosot ... more-25724

Google Translator

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Everyone understands everything
October 18, 11:05 am

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Everyone understands everything

It is clear that Sweden withdrew from the joint investigation with Germany into the circumstances of the explosion on the strings of the SP-2 gas pipelines because it received an order from Washington to eliminate all evidence that could indicate the involvement of the United States and Britain. A feature of the modern policy of sabotage is the openness of their customers literally from the very beginning after the incident. Nobody hides: gas pipelines were blown up by the United States, and in front of the eyes of the whole world, they are taking out evidence of a crime with the hands of a puppet.

At the same time, the victim - Germany - understands everything and does not dare to say a single word against. How Germany dares not say a word against the storage of German gold in the USA, against the US military bases in Germany, against the total wiretapping of the telephones of German politicians by the US intelligence services, against the fact that Washington directly controls the German media, universities, the formation of political parties, their programs, personnel reserve and economy.

Germany, Sweden, Denmark, all of Europe understand that pushing the US out of Europe means a nuclear war in Europe. And the United States will start it. During the Second World War, they already showed that they easily make such decisions and do not stop before their implementation. So the pro-American sympathies of the European elites are driven not by cultural and civilizational kinship, not by fear of Russia, but by animal fear of the United States. Europeans can easily come to an agreement with Russia in Europe, but not with the United States.

And so Sweden understands what it must do on gas pipelines. And Germany understands what it must do. Sweden, before the eyes of Germany, will take out American evidence of sabotage on the German gas pipeline. And Germany will turn away and show that she not only sees nothing, but also does not want to look in that direction.

Germany's attempts to conduct its own investigation after Sweden are aimed at a domestic audience. It must be shown that Germany somehow reacted to what was done to it. If you don't do anything, it's completely indecent somehow. How to conduct a medical examination for rape, when the victim was taken to the shower three times and washed away all traces from the body.

The fact that Sweden is doing this job before Germany shows that the United States does not trust Germany. This is understandable: the Germans never obeyed the United States when they built gas and oil pipelines from Russia. The US understands that its dominance is based only on fear of them, blind and animal horror of unlimited violence. The atomic bombing of Japan, the carpet bombings of Dresden and Hamburg showed this clearly. The US is not a country that can be pointed to the door and they will leave.

So when Sweden says that because of confidentiality, it will conduct the investigation alone, it calls into question the object of confidentiality. In fact, Sweden plays the role of an investigator who says that the accused of rape cannot be named out loud, since this is a very famous and important person.

And the raped Germany by all appearances shows that she has no claims against anyone, and she is not going to report to the police. Otherwise, violence will easily turn into murder, and the investigator will again classify the results of the investigation. After all, the murderer does not even think of hiding, and the investigator does not even think of pretending to be objective. This is the reality in the world of American allies, and nothing can be done about it. Became an ally of the United States - get ready to explain any bruises by falling down the stairs. Those who disagree do not live long, like Gaddafi and Hussein.

https://t.me/rus_demiurge/34769 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7922724.html

Attacks on infrastructure. 10/18/2022
October 18, 10:16 am

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This morning, the RF Armed Forces continued to strike at the objects of the energy structure of Ukraine.
It can already be said that the campaign that began on October 10 is not a one-time episodic outburst, but a systemic process aimed at destroying the energy system of Ukraine.
Today objects in Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Kharkov, Zaporozhye were hit. Most of the affected facilities belong to DTEK oligarch Akhmetov.
Among the largest facilities that received arrivals are TPP-6 in Kyiv and Pridneprovskaya TPP in Dnepropetrovsk. Both TPPs are among the 15 TPPs available in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. Ukraine itself has not built a single one in 31 years. And it looks like it won't build.
In a number of regions of Ukraine there are interruptions in electricity and water supply. In Kharkiv, there were interruptions in the operation of the subway. The air defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as usual, turned out to be unable to cover critical infrastructure facilities.
It can be noted that under General Surovikin, the SVO is carried out very decisively. Changes of recent days are objectively pleasing. The main thing is not to stop and methodically bring the matter to the end.

Video and photo:

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67595
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67587
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67601
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67599
https: //t.me/boris_rozhin/67592
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67590
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67588

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7922568.html

The propaganda here is unbelievably shallow. "Russians are bombing all the cities of Ukraine!!" says the NPR stenographer and then says how many people(they don't differentiate military and civilians anymore) were killed, relatively small numbers, perhaps up to 20. That ain't much 'bang for the buck' if what the Russians were doing was purposefully attacking cities after the US model, which razes whole cities at a time. In truth it seems the NATO side would rather not publicly admit to the degree of precision the Russians have achieved in this regard. Which various observers, including some from the US military, have confessed in statements hurriedly consigned to the Memory Hole. Because that ain't good propaganda.

Disaster in Yeysk
October 17, 19:32

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After the disaster in Yeysk.

1. A Su-34 plane crashed into a residential area from a local military airfield.
2. The pilots managed to eject and were not injured.
3. Shortly after takeoff, the car's engine caught fire. According to one version - a technical malfunction. On the other - the bird got into the engine.
4. After the fall next to the high-rise building, the ammunition of the on-board gun detonated, and a strong fire broke out, which spread to the high-rise building.
5. At 19-30 the area of ​​the fire was more than 2000 square meters and affected more than 15 apartments. More than 350 residents of the house were evacuated.
6. While they are talking about one dead, unofficially up to 10 (there are no exact numbers yet). Part of the apartments in the house burned out.
7. On behalf of Putin, the ministers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Healthcare flew to Yeisk. The authorities of the region promise to provide all necessary assistance to the victims.
8. A criminal case has been initiated on the fact of the plane crash.

Video of the fall from surveillance cameras https://t.me/boris_rozhin/67545

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7922291.html

Google Translator

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EU COUNTRIES INCREASE IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA
17 Oct 2022 , 12:01 pm .

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The countries of the European Union continue to import products from Russia (Photo: File)

When the special military operation in Ukraine began, the countries of the European Union agreed to cut trade relations with Russia "to isolate it." Eight months later this was not fulfilled, on the contrary, trade has expanded.

According to analysis of national statistical data, Sputnik collects , a total of 13 countries of the European Union (EU) increased imports of goods from Russia in June, according to the analysis of national statistical data.

"Slovenia almost doubled its imports of Russian products compared to May. Spain (69%) and Sweden (48%) also increased their share of domestic imports. Fourth place went to Belgium, which increased its imports by a quarter. Le Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia followed," details the Russian media.

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(Photo: Sputnik)

Also, the data reveals that Germany was the largest importer in monetary terms in June, with 3.5 billion euros in Russian goods, followed by Italy (2.6 billion euros) and the Netherlands (1.7 billion euros). Belgium remains in fourth place (1.3 billion euros) and France in fifth place (1.2 billion euros).

The war against Russia has also been rhetorical, since since February the media affiliated with the Atlanticist agenda projected a blockade and total isolation of the Eurasian country; however, trade data reflects otherwise.

https://misionverdad.com/paises-de-la-u ... s-de-rusia

Google Translator

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Intense fighting rages in Donbas region's hot spots
China Daily | Updated: 2022-10-18 09:46

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Residents of Kherson fill up bottles with fresh drinking water on Sunday after a water pipeline was damaged. VALENTYN OGIRENKO/REUTERS

KYIV/MOSCOW — Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaged in heavy fighting in the Donbas region, while Kyiv came under attack from drones early on Monday, officials said.

Fighting was intense this weekend in Donetsk and Lugansk, which make up the industrial Donbas, and Kherson Province in the south.

Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday its forces had repelled efforts by Ukrainian troops to advance in the Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. Russia also said it was continuing airstrikes on military and energy targets in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sunday that the key hot spots in Donbas are Soledar and Bakhmut cities.

"Very heavy fighting is going on there," he said.

Reuters was not able to independently verify reports on the fighting.

Away from the front line, the Ukrainian capital was attacked on Monday by so-called kamikaze drones, wrote Andriy Yermak, head of the president's staff, on Telegram.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also said on Telegram that several blasts had rocked the central Shevchenkivskyi district, with a Reuters witness reporting three explosions.

The same district was hit by explosions a week ago.

In Russia, authorities said on Sunday that a criminal investigation had been opened after gunmen shot dead 11 people and wounded 15 at a military training ground in the Belgorod region.

Russia's RIA news agency, citing the defense ministry, said two gunmen opened fire with small arms during a training exercise on Saturday, targeting personnel who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine. RIA said the gunmen, who it referred to as "terrorists", were shot dead.

Meanwhile, the European Union stepped up its military support for Ukraine on Monday by launching a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and providing 500 million euros ($487.8 million) more for weapons.

Foreign ministers from the bloc's 27 member states signed off on the decisions at a meeting in Luxembourg.

Several EU nations, including Germany and France, are already training Ukrainians to use modern artillery systems, missile launchers and air defenses they are delivering to Kyiv.

In another development, the United Nations children's agency said on Monday that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the resulting economic fallout have thrown 4 million children into poverty across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a 19 percent increase since 2021.

UNICEF drew its conclusions from a study of data from 22 countries.

Children are bearing the "heaviest burden" of the economic crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine, UNICEF said.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20221 ... 7d1e0.html

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Millions of UK Households To Face Fuel Poverty-Lobby Group

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Inflation rates in the UK have reached a 40-year high of 10.1%, exacerbating the cost of living crisis. Oct. 17, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@MdOpu76924712

Published 17 October 2022

According to the lobby group Warm This Winter, nearly seven million UK households could suffer fuel poverty unless the government provides more help.



A 14 billion euros emergency support package will be needed to avoid the "serious health consequences of living in cold, damp homes, which cripple the NHS (National Health Service) and lead to excess winter deaths," Warm This Winter warned.

Measures aimed at tackling the country's cost-of-living crisis, such as the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) and the 400 euro fuel rebate, would not be enough, according to the lobby group.

In September, the EPG was announced, capping tariffs and guaranteeing that ordinary households will pay no more than 2,500 euros per year for gas and electricity for the next two years.

In this regard, the group has been very concerned as the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said on Monday that the EPG would be reviewed and changed in April 2023.


Warm This Winter warned of the danger that UK households will not be sufficiently protected against rising bills as they are also to be urged to reduce energy consumption.

The group is as well calling for urgent additional support, both fiscal and non-financial, targeted at the most vulnerable.

The UK remains mired in the cost of living crisis as inflation and fuel prices soar. Inflation rates in the country have reached a 40-year high of 10.1 percent.


The Bank of England predicted in August that inflation could reach 13 percent early next year. Meanwhile, a study by the University of York in August suggested that at least 45 million Britons could be in fuel poverty by January 2023.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Mil ... -0020.html

Much hay has been made about the poor planning and preparation of the Russian operation but the sanctions scam hasn't worked out too well for the Europeans, in fact a greater disaster. As the European people and capital suffer the US capitalists laugh all the way to the banko.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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