Over on The Boomer’s blog, an article immediately jumped out at me titled, “Why have I stopped posting maps of the situation in the Ukraine and a few other questions”.
Saker never ceases to impress. There was actually a funny comment on that Saker post where some guy was like "why can't you just admit you misread the situation?" and then of course Mr. Saker launched into a 10,000 word tirade about "trolls."
I missed saker when he 1st took a break. Then the saker team got it together & it seemed worth the read. Then saker came back & seems to be frothing at the mouth with hatred. So I deleted the link some days ago.
I'm 3rd generation American & have been a misfit toy in the US since day 1. So were my friends growing up. So is most everybody to some degree. There is no home or community or culture that I can see. What passes as community in the boondocks seems to be a collection of petty arguments piled up in some cases over a few generations.
I read several analysts, former military & not. My take: you don't go into any big venture without some idea of plan "b." I think the initial "race to kiev" was simply the start to both plan a & b. Plan A: nice if Z folded, but not expected or counted on, so Plan B: keep Ukr busy protecting Kiev while setting up in the east & south.
And American substacker goon living in Kiev that I sometimes check in on laughed constantly about Russia's "laziness" in occasionally dropping a missile or occasionally pressing forward only to retreat. I think they were doing exactly as the analysts I follow (and my riding teacher) said: do as much as necessary, as little as possible.
Everything after that start is LIFE, ie what happens when you're making other plans.
Nothing big & complex (and many things simple & small) goes exactly as expected or planned or hoped for.
To the degree that when all the chips do fall into place, it's either God's plan or you're being set up for a huge fall.
It is very complicated indeed, trying to balance so many balls in the air, catching them all and causing too much damage. I have never heard of a war or military operation that allows the target nation to retain it's communications system, rail system, bridges and some airports and seaports to remain operational. Russia does not seem to want to inflict devastating damages on their fellow Slavs. Difficult to fight with one hand tied behind your back.
You have hit on many of the same problems that plague the West in general. Unless those nations rid themselves of their incompetent ruling elites, they will be goners, but will take down many others with them.
>Are there soldiers returning from the campaign in Ukraine that are dumped by the military/medical authorities and turn homeless ?
This is the only one I can really answer with any authority. Russia, just like America, has a labyrinthine codex of laws and red tape that often ends up denying vets the care that they need, yes. It's not Putin being a dick, it's just typical bureaucratic rot.
Soldiers can also be billed for equipment that is lost or returned in poor condition and that can leave them in financial trouble.
That being said, there are veterans organizations that help out soldiers with their medical bills, help them get military and regular lawyers and so on. These organizations are often helped by the state as well, but not as much as they ought to be.
So it's a mixed bag for sure.
But if, say, a soldier were to call into "Direct Line" with President Putin, I guarantee that Putin would send Kremlin officials to the hospital or clinic or whatever that denied the soldier care and bring back a head of a sacked official to display on TV for good measure.
The very fact that a soldier is billed for damaged or lost military equipment is beyond my understanding. Given the price of military items, it amounts to confiscating wages. It also represents a fundamental departure from the principle of a national army, whereby a soldier is provided the gear, weapons, and training to fight. A mercenary would procure his own equipment and bill the state for it, then be fully responsible for it; I am certain Wagner or Blackwater proceed this way. It seems the bureaucracy is able to treat the common soldiers like mercenaries but without paying them.
The existence of "Direct Line", where common people beg Putin for help against the bureaucracy is evidence of a major failure in the running of the state. Because it is not simply complicated processes that bring despair, it is actual ill will from the civil service. Calling Putin is no sustainable solution. I really hope that there is a team that analyses the problems submitted and puts forward some bureaucratic changes to alleviate the burden on the population.
Such bureaucratic obviously exists in the shining West. I remember a paper in some leftist sob journal, in which a team of sociologists and public law experts analysed a poor neighbourhood in some hapless medium city in France. It turned out that between a quarter and a half of the people entitle to receive some type of social assistance did not receive it, depending on the type of assistance. All because of bureaucratic complexity. In contrast this with some other paper published in some reactionary journal that explained how some Pakistani gang embezzled tens of millions in social assistance funds in 2-3 years. They obviously got their paperwork right. And you guess, the bureaucracy denied any responsibility and bitterly fought any attempt at change. Truly despicable.
You need assabiyah to hold back entropy and rot. People need to not want to steal because they feel that they are stealing from themselves. If they feel a disconnect from their neighbors, their state, their country, then they're more inclined to act in their own selfish self-interests.
so true, I've bee reading the Saker for a few weeks, because it was super interesting to have another point of view different from euro-propaganda, but in the end, these guys are hater the west, with the same SJW view that the root of all evil relies in the West, and that when China will be the main empire, the garden of Eden will reopen its doors... they have wiped out 500 years of pure western genius in terms of technology and civilization and will realise it when the heartless bugmen become the social norm, with super-IA controls your everyday move, and everyone look at kids being run over or drowning without a single move of empathy
For inexplicable reasons, American Voters are mostly concerned about mismanagement, corruption, lawlessness, and social collapse. The Media on the other hand, are mostly trying to counter these democratic impulses, by erecting elaborate motifs explaining to the people why they should be ashamed for upholding their own values. In the background, mainstream social media is struggling mightily to suppress the slightest socially renegade attitudes, by diligently branding dissent as disinformation, and by engaging in character assassination, no matter how implausible.
So, if it's any consolation, don't feel that malignant media coverage is targeted only at Slavland. To roughly paraphrase how Orr once counseled Yossarian in the WWII satire Catch-22: "Don't take the flak shots personally; they're trying to kill everybody." Western media coverage is also targeting its own people; something like Ukrainian artillery. They're trying to make West emulate 1990's Russia, and the irony is, only 1990's Russia ahas escaped.
Catch-22 is a unique outpouring, and very much was a boomer's book (apologies if you've already read it.). It's become a part of our civilization's expression, as much as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Lermontov, and, ok, I'll add Taras Shevchenko and lament the destryed Bamiyan statues. But Catch-22 is about America directly, then about Italy, now Russia and Ukraine, and more that we haven't yet experienced.
As a US citizen surrounded by victims of mass media mendacity, I have been thankful for sources like the Saker blog. But like you, I have tired of his claims of a flawless rollout of the Russian project in Ukraine, and his tendency to denounce all critics as trolls.
Regarding,
"the Kremlin, unfortunately, went along with the vax hoax and we’re seeing people dropping dead from Sputnik in Russia as well.",
as a change from Ukraine reporting I suggest you investigate why Russian went along with the hoax, post your story, and also find more than anecdotal evidence of fatalities from the Sputnik injection. Give us a report on this from Slavland.
Edward Slavsquat is good on the "what " of Russian Covid policy, but explains little of the "why". The world-wide covid scam is of a piece with global capital's goal of reducing the sovereignty of nations to their rule and penetration. How could the Putin administration, the acclaimed cleanser of western oligarchs from the Russian federation, not be aware that its covid policies are letting the feral globo-cap oligarchy back in by the covid back door?
>How could the Putin administration, the acclaimed cleanser of western oligarchs from the Russian federation, not be aware that its covid policies are letting the feral globo-cap oligarchy back in by the covid back door?
Well, because the WEF and Gates just went around bribing political officials to go along with the agenda all over the world. They probably paid off some key FSB people as well.
Lukashenko spilled the beans on this and said it was a well-funded operation to get the elites of various countries onboard.
"Basically, the man is incoherent, is what I’m saying. I feel uncomfortable with him representing the Russian race to the Western dissident world."
Regarding Russian interests: What are the benefits from the Russian POV of supporting Dissident Rightists in the West, Dissident Rightists who would stop the decline and indeed reverse it if they were actually in power?
Putin has already made numerous appeals to "Third Worldist" sentiments, obviously just diplomatic chess but nonetheless a representation of the Russian race to the Western dissident world - Putin is correct, there is no reason to assume a homogenous gentile run West wouldn't be opposed to Russian interests, better to let it die slowly by itself without any Russian input.
The Russia-West Rightist brotherhood only seems real in the imagination of Romantics, perhaps influenced by Russian propaganda which also sells to the Third World backwaters that Russia alone will defeat the evil West who have been keeping them down for all these years (sigh).
The position of the Nordic Resistance Movement is the most sane, neither side is good or bad for Western genetic interests from the POV of those living in race replacionist societies. The "Russia based vs Azov based" just strikes me as a battle between two RW Eastern European propaganda spheres vying to turn the eternally online Western online Dissident Right into their mouthpieces.
Something similar happened last year with Muslims trying to get people to shill for "based Islam" after the Taliban took power.
EDIT: A good example of this is the attitudes of the butthurt belt towards Russia. Ethnically homogenous and Judenfrei yet the most hostile and anti-Russia. Why not just send refugees there way via Belarus? Who cares if there are some "based" anti-semites and nationalists in Poland?
Your point of view is interesting, however I do not think it is in Russia interest to antagonize the West.
The economies of Germany and Russia are almost complementary: Russia provides the raw materials, Germany produces the goods at low prices.
The geography of Russia is all wrong if the aim is vast mass production of light industry (consumer) items: internal distances are the longest across the globe, the rivers all flow in the wrong directions, basin of potential consumers is too rarefied, and overall not that large.
These factors conflate in Russia not being able to successfully apply economies of scales in order to lower the costs of its goods. Without that, it won't be possible to successfully compete on the global market against the USA, or the current German export-oriented economic empire.
Russia could take the road of autarchy, but that would lead to economic sacrifices. The people want to enjoy prosperity first and foremost. The global market can provide all kind of goods at low prices, because supply chains and production lines are optimized to the fullest.
Thus leaving the global market would be unpopular. Much better to integrate economically with Western Europe, and enjoy the prosperity brought forth by cooperating.
1. "I also think it was quite clear that the West would get involved if the war wasn’t wrapped up quickly." Spot on, and against the prevalent opinion that the Russians hasd time on their side.
2. There's a lot of speculation about what Russia's REAL plans were/are. Andre Martyanov said that the Russians probably have 5 or 10 plans in place, depending on how things turn out. In the Kiev debacle, for example, they must have had some idea of what they would do if the city couldn't be taken for some reason. That's probably true with almost everything else. I imagine there are constant discussions about plans, contingencies, and what action should be taken in any anticipated eventuality. It's hard to believe Russia, and NATO, wouldn't be doing that.
I have no way of knowing one way or another whether the Kremlin/Military had the SMO well planned with all kinds of contingencies taken into account & so forth. But, the main factor that I see on the ground is the deployment of forces, what Russia has actually put in the field, not accounting for the DPR & LPR militias. And that for me is the key. I skimmed Saker's piece, I can't remember whether he stressed this point or not, whether he mentioned it, or not. He probably did. It is a point Martyanov stresses a lot, & to me, that seems reasonable. My feeling has been that the Kremlin is purposely going slow, for a whole range of reasons, others have commented on saving lives, casualty rates & such, & that may be correct, but for me the main overriding reason - above all other reasons there may be - is that this is to do with escalation with NATO/west. In conversation with detractors, I have said this: what would have happened had Russia won over the entire Ukraine in say a month? Or two? Or if Zelensky fell in the first couple of weeks? I am absolutely convinced that a direct confrontation with the US would have been on the cards. But this way, the escalation gets delayed, Russia gets to limit the extent of military operations with a minimal amount of destruction. And, another good point made by someone I don't really respect, I won't name him, but I had to agree with the logic, Russia is battle testing its soldiers. If Russia is to go up against NATO directly at some point, they have to have battle hardened troops. It is almost like being outnumbered on the ground is intentional on the Kremlin's part in order to train the soldiery in live combat & get used to not having the overall advantage, at least numerically. I don't say this to blow sunshine up Putin's rear - I have plenty of criticisms of his management, despite my overall positive opinion, but this is what I think is going on. I don't think the Kremlin made mistakes, or misjudged, or failed to plan well, they have had plenty of time to prepare for this, & when compared to the Syria operation, I would say they know what they are doing. Therefore I conclude there are reasons why the Ukraine SMO is being conducted the way it is.
«what is the point of an attrition campaign waged against what the Kremlin itself says are “brother Slavs”?»
There is no war of attrition against the troops, there is a war of attrition against the logistics. The "special military operation" is a siege operation, combined with some taking territory to protect it from retaliation. Which retaliation actually happened in 2014 when the ukrainian fascists cut off water, food, fuel, electricity from the Donbas and started massacring them.
The RF "special military operation" seems to me about a spring and summer campaign to reduce as much as possible ukrainian GDP and logistics, and then "winter is coming". I doubt that the ukrainian fascists will be able to resupply their military this winter, as they don't have the money or the transport capacity, as the frontline is a long way away from the polish and romanian borders.
The ukrainian fascists will probably be unable to supply their civilian population either, who anyhow do not have enough money to buy heating, electricity, food even if they were available. I guess 10-20 million central ukrainians will emigrate to the EU this winter, long lines of refugees walking in the snow.
«Is depopulating the Ukraine the Kremlin's goal then? Is that necessary and does that even serve Russia's interests?»
Thinking further about that, it might be a goal of NATO:
* The RF has plenty of natural resources, it does not need to acquire those of Ukraine (the EU has many fewer natural resources instead).
* But the RF has a falling population and manpower problem, and acquiring several million citizens from the Ukraine would be an advantage.
* Unlimited immigration into the EU may have been meant as a way to deny to the RF the increase in population and manpower as much as possible, not just to get many very cheap immigrants (mostly young women for now).
* Because of manpower problems the RF already has to beg the central asian stans for more emigrants, and this may be exploited in the future by the USA to create racial/ethnic tensions (more "prometheism") inside the RF.
“On May 8, the Foksal Press Center will host an international conference „Free Nations of Russia Forum”. We invited not only important Russian politicians, who emigrated and believe that there will come a day, when Putin’s regime will fall and Russia will break with its imperial tradition, but also politicians and experts from the U.S., Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. The forum will also be attended by representatives of nations enslaved by Russian imperialism.”
«depopulating the Ukraine the Kremlin's goal then?»
I think ethnic cleansing was surely the fascist ukrainian government's goal for the Donbas, and it was largely achieved (40-50% of the population emigrated), but this still did not break the Donbas (because of logistics support from the emigrants and from supporters in the RF, and official humanitarian supplies from the RF government).
In any case the ukrainian government had already achieved a high degree of ukrainian depopulation, as populations kept collapsing between 1991 and 2021 due in large part to emigration and in part to low reproduction rates.
“in a survey last year, 55 percent of residents named mass emigration as the greatest threat to their country”
I doubt that mass emigration is an RF aim for Ukraine, but it seems to be one of the aims of the EU governments, because allowing unlimited immigration from the Ukraine seems meant to achieve that.
I reckon that the main reason why many ukrainians wanted EU membership was "free movement", that is to emigrate from a failed state to live and work in the EU.
If the EU governments had allowed unlimited immigration *before* the war, Ukraine would have lost millions of people fed up with the looting, corruption and repression of the fascist government, now during a more active military situation the EU governments must have understood that the incentive to leave Ukraine is much bigger, and during winter it will be compelling.
That unlimited immigration might lead to the depopulation of Ukraine and why the EU governments would want that has been speculated before by various authors. I think it is simply that the EU corporations wanted a flood of several millions of very cheap workers, and ukrainians are more acceptable to EU public opinion than the 1 million syrians that Germany took.
The RF government goal for a siege seems to be just to achieve surrender with the minimum damage to people and infrastructure, with the lowest number of troops. A siege is about whether the sieging army or the sieged town run out of supplies first, and the RF military is backed by a richer government and shorter and better supply lines.
«That unlimited immigration might lead to the depopulation of Ukraine [...] more acceptable to EU public opinion than the 1 million syrians that Germany took.»
BTW that the EU governments expected a flood of immigration is obvious, nobody can be surprised given the Syria precedent: the proxy civil war by the USA (using al-Qeda, DAESH, etc. as proxies) against Syria caused a large part of that population to emigrate and try to reach the EU, it was clear that the same would happen in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Indeed there have been a lot of articles in the EU press about the "racism" of the favoured treatment of ukrainian emigrant refugees, given full and unlimited freedom of entry to the EU, and the rejection of large numbers of darker-colored emigrant refugees from war areas in the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan.
“We will do everything possible and impossible that is up to us so that homes can be kept warm. But I ask everyone to prepare warm clothes to be worn at home and warm blankets, because we cannot rule out that the temperature in homes will be several degrees below normal. The norm is 21 degrees, but it may have to be 19° or 18°.”
“Moreover, Ukraine’s GDP will contract by nearly 50 percent this year, and a quarter of Ukrainian businesses have closed down, with Russia seizing the country’s coal, agricultural lands, and seaports, comprising some 60 percent of Ukraine’s economy. Much is being written about the energy crisis in the Europe and America as summer turns to fall and temperatures begin to drop. Less attention has been given to the consequences of energy deficits in Ukraine itself. The war-torn country will certainly be cutoff from Russian gas, oil, and coal, and its own coal in Donbass is under Russian control. Its energy sector is on the brink of default as residential and business customers lack the funds to pay their bills.”
Andrei Martyanov: "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." Metaphorically speaking, Slavsquat cannot see the sky for the grass beneath his feet.
Occidentalism is one more stupid ideology for ZOG to exploit. In my opinion , only general non traditional depraved western morale is problematic. We should find and discuss good points in western society. We should also discuss why Russia didn't manage to provide world with same(perpetual threats with war?, sanctions? brain drain?). Serbs would ask: Ko nas bre zavadi? It means something like: Whom can we blame for our fight?
Another excellent article. I have been reading your stuff for a while now, and noticed that you are sometimes referring to a book (that you are writing)?
Amazon does not yield anything for your name. Nor seems the internet to show anything but your articles.
Recently Russia finally took the aptly named suburb of Pesky immediately NW of Donetsk, to the South of Avdivka. There is talk they could now proceed to envelop Avdivka, and thus force the AFU out of their positions in the town, whence they have been shelling Donetsk for 8 years. Finally securing Donetsk from direct shelling would seem a worthwhile result.
Also I think Russians are fighting directly inside Soledar right now.
Probably the Wagner group was involved in Pesky, as it was in Popasnaya previously. They are building a reputation as elite assault infantry. I don't know about the Chechens, may be more sizzle than beef about them.
Regarding Saker's new map phobia: it's for the best.
As Marko pointed out, our favorite Boomer was copy-pasting worthless Readovka maps--with the "Readovka" logo conveniently cropped out of the image:
https://anti-empire.com/readovka-confirms-their-red-war-map-was-garbage-all-along-but-you-knew-that-already/
Saker never ceases to impress. There was actually a funny comment on that Saker post where some guy was like "why can't you just admit you misread the situation?" and then of course Mr. Saker launched into a 10,000 word tirade about "trolls."
It is what it is.
Like a quantum superpostition Saker is only wrong when observed by others.
I missed saker when he 1st took a break. Then the saker team got it together & it seemed worth the read. Then saker came back & seems to be frothing at the mouth with hatred. So I deleted the link some days ago.
I'm 3rd generation American & have been a misfit toy in the US since day 1. So were my friends growing up. So is most everybody to some degree. There is no home or community or culture that I can see. What passes as community in the boondocks seems to be a collection of petty arguments piled up in some cases over a few generations.
I read several analysts, former military & not. My take: you don't go into any big venture without some idea of plan "b." I think the initial "race to kiev" was simply the start to both plan a & b. Plan A: nice if Z folded, but not expected or counted on, so Plan B: keep Ukr busy protecting Kiev while setting up in the east & south.
And American substacker goon living in Kiev that I sometimes check in on laughed constantly about Russia's "laziness" in occasionally dropping a missile or occasionally pressing forward only to retreat. I think they were doing exactly as the analysts I follow (and my riding teacher) said: do as much as necessary, as little as possible.
Everything after that start is LIFE, ie what happens when you're making other plans.
Nothing big & complex (and many things simple & small) goes exactly as expected or planned or hoped for.
To the degree that when all the chips do fall into place, it's either God's plan or you're being set up for a huge fall.
It is very complicated indeed, trying to balance so many balls in the air, catching them all and causing too much damage. I have never heard of a war or military operation that allows the target nation to retain it's communications system, rail system, bridges and some airports and seaports to remain operational. Russia does not seem to want to inflict devastating damages on their fellow Slavs. Difficult to fight with one hand tied behind your back.
You have hit on many of the same problems that plague the West in general. Unless those nations rid themselves of their incompetent ruling elites, they will be goners, but will take down many others with them.
Hello Rolo,
I have never been able to read anything by the Saker and take it seriously. Now it seems the mummy went into the coffin.
Thank you for your honesty and real openness.
I have a question on Misha Firer, an active Quora member who provides (mis)information on Moscow and Russia. Example of his posts.
https://qr.ae/pvwycK
https://qr.ae/pvwycf
https://qr.ae/pvwycZ
Naive questions.
Is the story of Christina Ray any common, or did he just manage to take an extreme case and present it as common ?
Are there soldiers returning from the campaign in Ukraine that are dumped by the military/medical authorities and turn homeless ?
Does the Russian army really recruit in prisons ?
>Are there soldiers returning from the campaign in Ukraine that are dumped by the military/medical authorities and turn homeless ?
This is the only one I can really answer with any authority. Russia, just like America, has a labyrinthine codex of laws and red tape that often ends up denying vets the care that they need, yes. It's not Putin being a dick, it's just typical bureaucratic rot.
Soldiers can also be billed for equipment that is lost or returned in poor condition and that can leave them in financial trouble.
That being said, there are veterans organizations that help out soldiers with their medical bills, help them get military and regular lawyers and so on. These organizations are often helped by the state as well, but not as much as they ought to be.
So it's a mixed bag for sure.
But if, say, a soldier were to call into "Direct Line" with President Putin, I guarantee that Putin would send Kremlin officials to the hospital or clinic or whatever that denied the soldier care and bring back a head of a sacked official to display on TV for good measure.
Thank you for the answer.
The very fact that a soldier is billed for damaged or lost military equipment is beyond my understanding. Given the price of military items, it amounts to confiscating wages. It also represents a fundamental departure from the principle of a national army, whereby a soldier is provided the gear, weapons, and training to fight. A mercenary would procure his own equipment and bill the state for it, then be fully responsible for it; I am certain Wagner or Blackwater proceed this way. It seems the bureaucracy is able to treat the common soldiers like mercenaries but without paying them.
The existence of "Direct Line", where common people beg Putin for help against the bureaucracy is evidence of a major failure in the running of the state. Because it is not simply complicated processes that bring despair, it is actual ill will from the civil service. Calling Putin is no sustainable solution. I really hope that there is a team that analyses the problems submitted and puts forward some bureaucratic changes to alleviate the burden on the population.
Such bureaucratic obviously exists in the shining West. I remember a paper in some leftist sob journal, in which a team of sociologists and public law experts analysed a poor neighbourhood in some hapless medium city in France. It turned out that between a quarter and a half of the people entitle to receive some type of social assistance did not receive it, depending on the type of assistance. All because of bureaucratic complexity. In contrast this with some other paper published in some reactionary journal that explained how some Pakistani gang embezzled tens of millions in social assistance funds in 2-3 years. They obviously got their paperwork right. And you guess, the bureaucracy denied any responsibility and bitterly fought any attempt at change. Truly despicable.
You need assabiyah to hold back entropy and rot. People need to not want to steal because they feel that they are stealing from themselves. If they feel a disconnect from their neighbors, their state, their country, then they're more inclined to act in their own selfish self-interests.
so true, I've bee reading the Saker for a few weeks, because it was super interesting to have another point of view different from euro-propaganda, but in the end, these guys are hater the west, with the same SJW view that the root of all evil relies in the West, and that when China will be the main empire, the garden of Eden will reopen its doors... they have wiped out 500 years of pure western genius in terms of technology and civilization and will realise it when the heartless bugmen become the social norm, with super-IA controls your everyday move, and everyone look at kids being run over or drowning without a single move of empathy
>>Race riots? MAGA terrorism? A polar bear dying somewhere? Gorilla Flu? China? Iran?<<
Top 5 results of a Rasmussen pole comparing concerns of 2 groups
VOTER CONCERNS_____________________MEDIA CONCERNS
1. Rising gas prices_______________________1. Climate Change
2. Inflation______________________________2, Ukraine War
3. The Economy_________________________3. Capitol riot investigation
4. Violent Crime_________________________ 4. Covid-19
5. Election Integrity_______________________ 5. LGBTQ Issues
(From https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/-coffee-and-covid-wednesday-july-c7c?utm_source=email)
For inexplicable reasons, American Voters are mostly concerned about mismanagement, corruption, lawlessness, and social collapse. The Media on the other hand, are mostly trying to counter these democratic impulses, by erecting elaborate motifs explaining to the people why they should be ashamed for upholding their own values. In the background, mainstream social media is struggling mightily to suppress the slightest socially renegade attitudes, by diligently branding dissent as disinformation, and by engaging in character assassination, no matter how implausible.
So, if it's any consolation, don't feel that malignant media coverage is targeted only at Slavland. To roughly paraphrase how Orr once counseled Yossarian in the WWII satire Catch-22: "Don't take the flak shots personally; they're trying to kill everybody." Western media coverage is also targeting its own people; something like Ukrainian artillery. They're trying to make West emulate 1990's Russia, and the irony is, only 1990's Russia ahas escaped.
More quotes at https://www.thoughtco.com/catch-22-quotes-739155.
Catch-22 is a unique outpouring, and very much was a boomer's book (apologies if you've already read it.). It's become a part of our civilization's expression, as much as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Lermontov, and, ok, I'll add Taras Shevchenko and lament the destryed Bamiyan statues. But Catch-22 is about America directly, then about Italy, now Russia and Ukraine, and more that we haven't yet experienced.
I guess I have to read Catch-22 after such a glowing review.
As a US citizen surrounded by victims of mass media mendacity, I have been thankful for sources like the Saker blog. But like you, I have tired of his claims of a flawless rollout of the Russian project in Ukraine, and his tendency to denounce all critics as trolls.
Regarding,
"the Kremlin, unfortunately, went along with the vax hoax and we’re seeing people dropping dead from Sputnik in Russia as well.",
as a change from Ukraine reporting I suggest you investigate why Russian went along with the hoax, post your story, and also find more than anecdotal evidence of fatalities from the Sputnik injection. Give us a report on this from Slavland.
Edward Slavsquat already does this quite well. Check out his blog.
Edward Slavsquat is good on the "what " of Russian Covid policy, but explains little of the "why". The world-wide covid scam is of a piece with global capital's goal of reducing the sovereignty of nations to their rule and penetration. How could the Putin administration, the acclaimed cleanser of western oligarchs from the Russian federation, not be aware that its covid policies are letting the feral globo-cap oligarchy back in by the covid back door?
>How could the Putin administration, the acclaimed cleanser of western oligarchs from the Russian federation, not be aware that its covid policies are letting the feral globo-cap oligarchy back in by the covid back door?
Well, because the WEF and Gates just went around bribing political officials to go along with the agenda all over the world. They probably paid off some key FSB people as well.
Lukashenko spilled the beans on this and said it was a well-funded operation to get the elites of various countries onboard.
"Basically, the man is incoherent, is what I’m saying. I feel uncomfortable with him representing the Russian race to the Western dissident world."
Regarding Russian interests: What are the benefits from the Russian POV of supporting Dissident Rightists in the West, Dissident Rightists who would stop the decline and indeed reverse it if they were actually in power?
Putin has already made numerous appeals to "Third Worldist" sentiments, obviously just diplomatic chess but nonetheless a representation of the Russian race to the Western dissident world - Putin is correct, there is no reason to assume a homogenous gentile run West wouldn't be opposed to Russian interests, better to let it die slowly by itself without any Russian input.
The Russia-West Rightist brotherhood only seems real in the imagination of Romantics, perhaps influenced by Russian propaganda which also sells to the Third World backwaters that Russia alone will defeat the evil West who have been keeping them down for all these years (sigh).
The position of the Nordic Resistance Movement is the most sane, neither side is good or bad for Western genetic interests from the POV of those living in race replacionist societies. The "Russia based vs Azov based" just strikes me as a battle between two RW Eastern European propaganda spheres vying to turn the eternally online Western online Dissident Right into their mouthpieces.
Something similar happened last year with Muslims trying to get people to shill for "based Islam" after the Taliban took power.
EDIT: A good example of this is the attitudes of the butthurt belt towards Russia. Ethnically homogenous and Judenfrei yet the most hostile and anti-Russia. Why not just send refugees there way via Belarus? Who cares if there are some "based" anti-semites and nationalists in Poland?
> better to let it die slowly by itself without any Russian input.
The problem is that this will take time. And during the die-off, these countries will continue and redouble their siege of Russia.
Far better to get sympathetic and SANE people into power imho.
Your point of view is interesting, however I do not think it is in Russia interest to antagonize the West.
The economies of Germany and Russia are almost complementary: Russia provides the raw materials, Germany produces the goods at low prices.
The geography of Russia is all wrong if the aim is vast mass production of light industry (consumer) items: internal distances are the longest across the globe, the rivers all flow in the wrong directions, basin of potential consumers is too rarefied, and overall not that large.
These factors conflate in Russia not being able to successfully apply economies of scales in order to lower the costs of its goods. Without that, it won't be possible to successfully compete on the global market against the USA, or the current German export-oriented economic empire.
Russia could take the road of autarchy, but that would lead to economic sacrifices. The people want to enjoy prosperity first and foremost. The global market can provide all kind of goods at low prices, because supply chains and production lines are optimized to the fullest.
Thus leaving the global market would be unpopular. Much better to integrate economically with Western Europe, and enjoy the prosperity brought forth by cooperating.
1. "I also think it was quite clear that the West would get involved if the war wasn’t wrapped up quickly." Spot on, and against the prevalent opinion that the Russians hasd time on their side.
2. There's a lot of speculation about what Russia's REAL plans were/are. Andre Martyanov said that the Russians probably have 5 or 10 plans in place, depending on how things turn out. In the Kiev debacle, for example, they must have had some idea of what they would do if the city couldn't be taken for some reason. That's probably true with almost everything else. I imagine there are constant discussions about plans, contingencies, and what action should be taken in any anticipated eventuality. It's hard to believe Russia, and NATO, wouldn't be doing that.
And Andrei Martyanov? https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com
Next to him,Andrei Raevsky (TheSaker.is) looks tame.
I have no way of knowing one way or another whether the Kremlin/Military had the SMO well planned with all kinds of contingencies taken into account & so forth. But, the main factor that I see on the ground is the deployment of forces, what Russia has actually put in the field, not accounting for the DPR & LPR militias. And that for me is the key. I skimmed Saker's piece, I can't remember whether he stressed this point or not, whether he mentioned it, or not. He probably did. It is a point Martyanov stresses a lot, & to me, that seems reasonable. My feeling has been that the Kremlin is purposely going slow, for a whole range of reasons, others have commented on saving lives, casualty rates & such, & that may be correct, but for me the main overriding reason - above all other reasons there may be - is that this is to do with escalation with NATO/west. In conversation with detractors, I have said this: what would have happened had Russia won over the entire Ukraine in say a month? Or two? Or if Zelensky fell in the first couple of weeks? I am absolutely convinced that a direct confrontation with the US would have been on the cards. But this way, the escalation gets delayed, Russia gets to limit the extent of military operations with a minimal amount of destruction. And, another good point made by someone I don't really respect, I won't name him, but I had to agree with the logic, Russia is battle testing its soldiers. If Russia is to go up against NATO directly at some point, they have to have battle hardened troops. It is almost like being outnumbered on the ground is intentional on the Kremlin's part in order to train the soldiery in live combat & get used to not having the overall advantage, at least numerically. I don't say this to blow sunshine up Putin's rear - I have plenty of criticisms of his management, despite my overall positive opinion, but this is what I think is going on. I don't think the Kremlin made mistakes, or misjudged, or failed to plan well, they have had plenty of time to prepare for this, & when compared to the Syria operation, I would say they know what they are doing. Therefore I conclude there are reasons why the Ukraine SMO is being conducted the way it is.
«what is the point of an attrition campaign waged against what the Kremlin itself says are “brother Slavs”?»
There is no war of attrition against the troops, there is a war of attrition against the logistics. The "special military operation" is a siege operation, combined with some taking territory to protect it from retaliation. Which retaliation actually happened in 2014 when the ukrainian fascists cut off water, food, fuel, electricity from the Donbas and started massacring them.
The RF "special military operation" seems to me about a spring and summer campaign to reduce as much as possible ukrainian GDP and logistics, and then "winter is coming". I doubt that the ukrainian fascists will be able to resupply their military this winter, as they don't have the money or the transport capacity, as the frontline is a long way away from the polish and romanian borders.
The ukrainian fascists will probably be unable to supply their civilian population either, who anyhow do not have enough money to buy heating, electricity, food even if they were available. I guess 10-20 million central ukrainians will emigrate to the EU this winter, long lines of refugees walking in the snow.
Is depopulating the Ukraine the Kremlin's goal then? Is that necessary and does that even serve Russia's interests?
«Is depopulating the Ukraine the Kremlin's goal then? Is that necessary and does that even serve Russia's interests?»
Thinking further about that, it might be a goal of NATO:
* The RF has plenty of natural resources, it does not need to acquire those of Ukraine (the EU has many fewer natural resources instead).
* But the RF has a falling population and manpower problem, and acquiring several million citizens from the Ukraine would be an advantage.
* Unlimited immigration into the EU may have been meant as a way to deny to the RF the increase in population and manpower as much as possible, not just to get many very cheap immigrants (mostly young women for now).
* Because of manpower problems the RF already has to beg the central asian stans for more emigrants, and this may be exploited in the future by the USA to create racial/ethnic tensions (more "prometheism") inside the RF.
«this may be exploited in the future by the USA to create racial/ethnic tensions (more "prometheism") inside the RF.»
https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/events/decolonizing-russia
https://sdp.pl/conference-free-nations-of-russia-forum/
“On May 8, the Foksal Press Center will host an international conference „Free Nations of Russia Forum”. We invited not only important Russian politicians, who emigrated and believe that there will come a day, when Putin’s regime will fall and Russia will break with its imperial tradition, but also politicians and experts from the U.S., Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. The forum will also be attended by representatives of nations enslaved by Russian imperialism.”
«depopulating the Ukraine the Kremlin's goal then?»
I think ethnic cleansing was surely the fascist ukrainian government's goal for the Donbas, and it was largely achieved (40-50% of the population emigrated), but this still did not break the Donbas (because of logistics support from the emigrants and from supporters in the RF, and official humanitarian supplies from the RF government).
In any case the ukrainian government had already achieved a high degree of ukrainian depopulation, as populations kept collapsing between 1991 and 2021 due in large part to emigration and in part to low reproduction rates.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/ukraine-eastern-europe-depopulation-immigration-crisis/608464/
“in a survey last year, 55 percent of residents named mass emigration as the greatest threat to their country”
I doubt that mass emigration is an RF aim for Ukraine, but it seems to be one of the aims of the EU governments, because allowing unlimited immigration from the Ukraine seems meant to achieve that.
I reckon that the main reason why many ukrainians wanted EU membership was "free movement", that is to emigrate from a failed state to live and work in the EU.
If the EU governments had allowed unlimited immigration *before* the war, Ukraine would have lost millions of people fed up with the looting, corruption and repression of the fascist government, now during a more active military situation the EU governments must have understood that the incentive to leave Ukraine is much bigger, and during winter it will be compelling.
That unlimited immigration might lead to the depopulation of Ukraine and why the EU governments would want that has been speculated before by various authors. I think it is simply that the EU corporations wanted a flood of several millions of very cheap workers, and ukrainians are more acceptable to EU public opinion than the 1 million syrians that Germany took.
The RF government goal for a siege seems to be just to achieve surrender with the minimum damage to people and infrastructure, with the lowest number of troops. A siege is about whether the sieging army or the sieged town run out of supplies first, and the RF military is backed by a richer government and shorter and better supply lines.
«That unlimited immigration might lead to the depopulation of Ukraine [...] more acceptable to EU public opinion than the 1 million syrians that Germany took.»
BTW that the EU governments expected a flood of immigration is obvious, nobody can be surprised given the Syria precedent: the proxy civil war by the USA (using al-Qeda, DAESH, etc. as proxies) against Syria caused a large part of that population to emigrate and try to reach the EU, it was clear that the same would happen in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Indeed there have been a lot of articles in the EU press about the "racism" of the favoured treatment of ukrainian emigrant refugees, given full and unlimited freedom of entry to the EU, and the rejection of large numbers of darker-colored emigrant refugees from war areas in the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan.
«reduce as much as possible ukrainian GDP and logistics»
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/08/15/7363299/
“We will do everything possible and impossible that is up to us so that homes can be kept warm. But I ask everyone to prepare warm clothes to be worn at home and warm blankets, because we cannot rule out that the temperature in homes will be several degrees below normal. The norm is 21 degrees, but it may have to be 19° or 18°.”
https://gordonhahn.com/2022/07/29/regime-instability-in-kiev/
“Moreover, Ukraine’s GDP will contract by nearly 50 percent this year, and a quarter of Ukrainian businesses have closed down, with Russia seizing the country’s coal, agricultural lands, and seaports, comprising some 60 percent of Ukraine’s economy. Much is being written about the energy crisis in the Europe and America as summer turns to fall and temperatures begin to drop. Less attention has been given to the consequences of energy deficits in Ukraine itself. The war-torn country will certainly be cutoff from Russian gas, oil, and coal, and its own coal in Donbass is under Russian control. Its energy sector is on the brink of default as residential and business customers lack the funds to pay their bills.”
Andrei Martyanov: "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." Metaphorically speaking, Slavsquat cannot see the sky for the grass beneath his feet.
Occidentalism is one more stupid ideology for ZOG to exploit. In my opinion , only general non traditional depraved western morale is problematic. We should find and discuss good points in western society. We should also discuss why Russia didn't manage to provide world with same(perpetual threats with war?, sanctions? brain drain?). Serbs would ask: Ko nas bre zavadi? It means something like: Whom can we blame for our fight?
Russia should just focus on becoming stronger. Period. End of.
Another excellent article. I have been reading your stuff for a while now, and noticed that you are sometimes referring to a book (that you are writing)?
Amazon does not yield anything for your name. Nor seems the internet to show anything but your articles.
Is there a book? or is it still being written?
It's been written for a while but I'm waiting on a friend to help me get it on Amazon seeing as I dont have an American number anymore.
Should be another half a year of waiting at this pace.
I put my book on lulu.com first, only later on a more common platform.
At least you could get some feedback that way?
Thanks for the advice, I'll look into it.
I don't want to use a credit card or account that's tied to my name though.
Recently Russia finally took the aptly named suburb of Pesky immediately NW of Donetsk, to the South of Avdivka. There is talk they could now proceed to envelop Avdivka, and thus force the AFU out of their positions in the town, whence they have been shelling Donetsk for 8 years. Finally securing Donetsk from direct shelling would seem a worthwhile result.
Also I think Russians are fighting directly inside Soledar right now.
Probably the Wagner group was involved in Pesky, as it was in Popasnaya previously. They are building a reputation as elite assault infantry. I don't know about the Chechens, may be more sizzle than beef about them.