The Russia-Ukraine War has begun

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

I give you a hidden nugget, which was buried deeply on the net and is gone by now, until you are using The Internet Archive.

It is an interview about the Russian war done by Pjotr Skorobogaty, who talked to Ruslan Pukhov, who is the director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Russia. Which is basically a Russian military think tank.

The interview was done in Russian, and on an Russian web site - but removed shortly after. So now you can only get it using this link:

Украина: гладиаторские бои

Пётр Скоробогатый побеседовал с Русланом Пуховым о трудностях российских вооруженных сил на украинском фронте.

web.archive.org

Well, and the analysis which Pukvov gave is quite open, and doesn't shed a good light on the Russian army. Which is probably the reason why the inverview was pulled of the web, because he gives a no nonsense and especially not a propaganda plagued view.

For example he states that...
* Russia mainly uses quite old weapon systems
* Russian tanks have no active protection complex right now, which is a shame since this was first invented in the Soviet Union, and a tank without KAZ will not survive the battlefield
* Ukrainian gunners are more experienced than Russian ones
* "To put it bluntly - we don't have air superiority."

About howitzers:
- The fact is that the Soviet weapons, which are now used by both Russia and Ukraine, be it howitzers or multiple rocket launchers, with a few exceptions, they hit no further than 20-25 km. Moreover, we have a lot of 122-mm howitzers, which generally fire only 13 km. Modern Western artillery is long-range - first of all, we are talking about 155-mm howitzers with a barrel length of 39 calibers, and especially 52 calibers - the latter have a range of up to 40-41 km. The problem of lagging behind the USSR and Russia in the range of artillery fire has been obvious since the eighties, alas. True, now Western equipment is at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine so far in homeopathic doses, but supplies are growing. Accordingly, during an artillery duel, Ukrainian systems will be able to destroy our batteries, and return fire simply will not reach the target. Finally, this issue is becoming particularly acute in connection with the commenced deliveries of HIMARS and MLRS missile systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which fire high-precision GPS-guided GMLRS missiles with a range of up to 85 km.

About end of summer:
But the Ukrainians learn very quickly, they turned out to be quite talented warriors. Training takes several weeks, so in fact the supply of weapons is on the rise, including in terms of quality (the same HIMARS). By the end of summer, I think the situation on the fronts can become dramatic. In addition, we do not have mobilization; in fact, we are fighting with a peacetime army. And they already have the fourth wave of mobilization, so there is no shortage of people. Yes, the regular army has been largely eliminated in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but there is the first reserve, which was driven through the ATO. There are second and third tiers. That is, at some point, a positional deadlock may occur, as in the Korean War since 1951, and our army will simply stand up and will not be able to move further. Let's not hit them with nuclear weapons.

Also: some who thinks that Pukhov has no clue what he's talking about in some areas.

I Will Answer This Question... Again.

One of our friends, understandably, asked the question about this: We publish an excellent interview with Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Ce...

smoothiex12.blogspot.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Russian soldier confesses to ‘execution squad’ killing

A young Russian soldier has confessed to being part of an execution squad whose murder of three Ukrainians was exposed by The Times in an investigation thi

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

 

[Innula Zenovka]

‘I don’t see justice in this war’: Russian soldier exposes rot at core of Ukraine invasion

Exclusive: Pavel Filatyev has fled his homeland after publishing a 141-page account detailing his experiences on the frontline

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

ETA More from Filyatev's experiences

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Russian villagers evacuate after ammunition base fire near Ukraine border, official says

The inhabitants of two villages in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border were evacuated on Thursday after a nearby ammunition storage depot caught fire but no one was hurt, an official said.

www.reuters.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

We know the traitors who help Russia. We have a ‘special gift’ for them all, says partisan leader

One by one, the men slipped out of their houses into the night in plain clothes, breaking the Russian curfew. Dodging patrols and moving quickly but quietly, th

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

We know the traitors who help Russia. We have a ‘special gift’ for them all, says partisan leader

One by one, the men slipped out of their houses into the night in plain clothes, breaking the Russian curfew. Dodging patrols and moving quickly but quietly, th

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

We need a emoji that combines tears and admiration for such bravery. Failing that, I guess words will have to do.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

A new episode from "Fake News" from their brand new studio. They've moved from Georgia to Riga, and are even airing again in Russian.

The new topic: "Anti LGBTQ+ propaganda in Russian TV." Watch it directly on Youtube for English subtitles if Germans do appear only.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Zelensky had an interview with the Washington Post, which you can read here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/zelensky-interview-transcript/

Through this interview his image is severely damaged in his country. Why? Because he admitted in the interview that he was warned about the invasion, but didn't inform his people upfront in purpose in order to keep them in the country, and the economy running.

To quote Zelensky:
You can’t simply say to me, “Listen, you should start to prepare people now and tell them they need to put away money, they need to store up food.” If we had communicated that — and that is what some people wanted, who I will not name — then I would have been losing $7 billion a month since last October, and at the moment when the Russians did attack, they would have taken us in three days. I’m not saying whose idea it was, but generally, our inner sense was right: If we sow chaos among people before the invasion, the Russians will devour us. Because during chaos, people flee the country.

And that’s what happened when the invasion started — we were as strong as we could be. Some of our people left, but most of them stayed here, they fought for their homes. And as cynical as it may sound, those are the people who stopped everything. If that were to happen, in October — God forbid, during the heating season — there would be nothing left. Our government wouldn’t exist, that’s 100 percent sure. Well, forget about us. There would be a political war inside the country, because we would not have held on to $5 billion to $7 billion per month. We did not have serious financial programs. There was a shortage of energy resources in the market created by the Russians. We did not have enough energy resources. We would not have been able to get out of this situation and there would be chaos in the country.

But it is one thing when chaos is controlled and it is during a military time — you run the state in a different way. You can open the border, close the border, attack, retreat, defend. You can take control of your infrastructure. And it’s another situation when you do not have a military situation or emergency regime in place, and you have a state that is ruled by a huge number of different officials and institutions. And minus $7 billion a month, even without weapons, is already a big war for our country.

And a report about reactions in Ukraine, again by Washington Post, basically many Ukrainians are angry about him right now and roast him:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/18/zelensky-ukraine-wapo-interview-warn-of-war/

Many Ukrainians took exception to the implication that Zelensky had prioritized the health of the economy over their well-being, and they suggested that many lives might have been saved if the government had adequately prepared the population for war.

 

[detrius]

She - following her father's extremist ideology - was a Russian nazi propagandist who publicly advocated for Russia committing war crimes against Ukraine.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The main issue about the killing of Daria Dugina is that many people are convinced that she was not the target of this group, but her father. She just happened to be in place when they wanted to kill Alexander Dugin.

It will make Putin become even more paranoid, because the danger of death is real for him as well, since Dugin is his main ideologist. And who knows what else now is going to follow.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thread

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Since when does Russia needs pretext for strikes by now? Aside that: his whole reasoning is not convincing. He's just speculating, but that's about it this time.

 

[detrius]

The main issue about the killing of Daria Dugina is that many people are convinced that she was not the target of this group, but her father. She just happened to be in place when they wanted to kill Alexander Dugin.

It will make Putin become even more paranoid, because the danger of death is real for him as well, since Dugin is his main ideologist. And who knows what else now is going to follow.

Well, considering the fact that the bomb had been placed in her car, I guess it's safe to say that she was a target.

And let's not rule out the possibility that this assassination was ordered by Putin himself. One of the reasons why Putin hasn't engaged in serious peace negotiations by now is because he trapped himself by allying himself with hardline extremists like Dugin, who is obsessed with the reclamation and "Russification" of Ukraine (AKA genociding Ukrainians). So if the war ends with anything but a Russian victory, Putin would lose the support of people like him. But by now, a total victory like that has become virtually impossible to achieve.

But what if Putin were able to redirect Dugin's focus on internal enemies? If Putin could convince Russia's far right that the war isn't winnable not because of his miscalculations, but because of traitors, saboteurs and terrorists? Then he might be able to get away with a "tactical retreat", to focus on "cleansing Russia from those internal enemies". Fascists love this kind of "stab-in-the-back"-myth. It worked for Hindenburg and Ludendorff, so why not for Putin?

That's just speculation, of course - but according to the news reports, Dugin was supposed to sit in the car with his daughter and switched cars shortly before the bomb went off. I wonder why.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

I don't doubt that she and her father were targets; I just don't find Galeev's argumentation convincing that this was a false flag operation done by the FSB, because basically Galiv is just saying this: it is a nice conincedence for Putin, so it must be that way. Period.

And that's for me not an argumentation, but speculation.

 

[detrius]

I don't doubt that she and her father were targets; I just don't find Galeev's argumentation convincing that this was a false flag operation done by the FSB, because basically Galiv is just saying this: it is a nice conincedence for Putin, so it must be that way. Period.

And that's for me not an argumentation, but speculation.

Of course it's speculation.

It's ALL speculation.

The "investigation" is conducted by Russia's FSB, and they're currently saying the bombing was carried out by a Ukrainian woman and her 12-year-old daughter. With an untrustworthy player like that, how could there be anything BUT speculation?

AFAIK, it's even possible that this woman bought a one-way ticket to Dubai, told her Nazi papa about it, hoping that he would understand - and instead of letting her leave the country, he decided to save himself the embarassment, placed the bomb in her car and blew up his own daughter.

 

[Marita]

Of course it's speculation.

It's ALL speculation.

...... Snipped some text out ....

OR

Putin thought he heard some grumbling from his ranks of Minions and sent a message via Daria knowing the underlings would get the message clearly.

 

[detrius]

OR

Putin thought he heard some grumbling from his ranks of Minions and sent a message via Daria knowing the underlings would get the message clearly.

The thing is, Putin is responsible for so many political assassinations, he should always be considered the prime suspect.

 

[detrius]

Another possibility is that Putin will use this as an excuse to call for a general mobilization of the Russian population, something Alexander Dugin has been calling for as well.