Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine (AKA Russia Invades Ukraine) (2 Viewers)

[Snowmelt]

When the above journalist makes such a statement, out of a misted, fuzzed-over cloud of confusion and low consciousness, he/she digs a pit of karma to hit him/her like a rash.

We are in an interactive world. What comes out of our mouth goes on to interact and wash back over on us, with greater impact than we intended when we said the waylaid words. Whenever this Fakhrudin Sharafmal receives this karma in direct proportion to the intent of the statement, he/she will probably not consciously be able to remember the foundational error in thinking and statement, because it most probably will have occurred in at least the previous life, if not the previous plus one. (And I think past lives are actually parallel).

The words spoken are reactionary, due to deep feelings over the loss of a friend in the war. Karma will be implemented because it is the law of the Universe.

 

[Laron]

Putin reveals how Ukraine bloodshed could've been avoided
"The revelation came three weeks after Putin ordered the Russian military to enter Ukraine to demilitarize and “denazify” the government in Kiev. He accused Ukrainian leadership of “genocide” against the Russian-speaking residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics – which Russia had recognized as independent just days earlier – as well as seeking NATO membership and nuclear and biological weapons, all of which he said represented an existential threat to Russia’s security. "
...
Moscow had asked Kiev to withdraw troops from Donbass republics to avoid bloodshed, but Ukraine refused, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed for the first time on Wednesday.

“I want to say this for the first time: at the very beginning of the operation in Donbass, to avoid bloodshed, we asked the Kiev authorities through various channels to not engage in hostilities but simply withdraw their troops from Donbass. They didn’t want to,” Putin said in a video call with the governors of Russian regions.

“Well, that’s their decision. They will inevitably come to realize what is happening in reality, on the ground,” the Russian president added."
https://www.rt.com/russia/552091-putin-donbass-bloodshed-ukraine/



Even RT is sharing that Colonel's info:

 

[Kevin C]

LOL..
You
- surround a country with weapons, missiles, ships, and troops
- invade two regions of the country and forcibly occupy it
- invade Crimea years ago and forcibly occupied it.
AND expect anyone to believe that bullshit about "avoiding bloodshed"?
Seriously?

So... we are all supposed to listen to the bully beat us to a pulp in school, then say "ok, I'm not fighting back, u walk off, I walk off"?

Colonel McGregor is playing a role here. Since the US has been under war footing since 2018 (technically since Jan 2020), lots of the military are playing roles.

Putin already lost this war. He's still winning battles on the ground by sheer brute force and numbers, but that's nothing compared to his true objectives.

What are his true objectives?
1 - set up a boundary of neutrality (aka DMZ a la Korea) from Estonia through Ukraine and further.
2 - weaken NATO due to wavering commitments (the further you are from war, the less likely you are to commit to the battle)
3 - destroy NATO US alliance due to (2) and other factors (Nordstream 2, ruble dependence, etc.)
4 - show history he is "PUTIN THE GREAT", and on the way to re-establishing USSR 2.
5 - come out unscathed economically because the West is divided, and Nordstream 2 is a huge moneymaker and forces EU to be completely
dependent on USSR 2 (hence kicking USA out and making Putin the Kingmaker of EU.

***6 - this one is a bonus, as it is an opinion: due to Ice Age, Putin is seeing dramatically declining agricultural yields, hence he wants to take over
Ukraine for its fertile regions, just like China with Taiwan.

Let's go through the list.

1 - sure, MAYBE he got Ukraine to temporarily declare neutrality (we still don't know what the final deal will be, assuming there will be one),
but he's lost estonia, latvia, lithuania, sweden, finland.
Estonia and Latvia are both asking for permanent NATO bases. the US sent troops, tanks, equipment to the Estonia NATO base. EU is still arming Ukraine as we speak. US is still arming as well, and well.. "mercenaries" / "expendables" are still streaming in to join the war by the 1000s.
Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic have already declared their commitment to Ukraine's defense with their train visit to Kviv.
Sweden and Finland have left neutrality and publicly declared their intent to join NATO.

so... Putin has an escalation on his hands.

2 - complete opposite. NATO is buying US weapons hand over fist, thanks Putin! Germany has put in an order for 35 F35s. Others will follow.
3 - complete opposite. EU canceled Nordstream 2, closed and sanctioned all Russian financials, stopped ruble trading. Most of the West and Pacific
Rim have closed all Russian transactions. Exceptions are India, Pakistan, Israel, China, and Brazil (there are others but
I'm only naming the major countries that have officially stated this).
4 - complete rubbish: Putin already lost a sizeable number of generals, his troops and their movements are completely uncoordinated.
His SU35s have been shot down and shown to use cheap consumer GPS units for navigation. He is in a quagmire
that's burning billions of USD a day. This is why his troops are now randomly hitting civilian facilities, because
their battle plan has collapsed.
Sure, they are still advancing, but that's like saying I'm progressing through the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, or Iraq.
Seriously, who cares - its the middle of nowhere and there's nothing there. Russia has to spend even more $$ supplying
troops.
And he's lost so much equipment and troops that he's already calling up reinforcements from other parts of Russia.

His two day plan and "Ukraine liberation" campaign failed. He's earned the wrath of most of the the world's population,
no matter which side of the propaganda you are on.

5 - forget it, back to Bolshevik era: Russia is being hollowed out completely. All major conglomerates are leaving. Russia isn't even getting spare
aircraft parts. Have fun using empty factories to send production... where? India, China, where incomes are still
third world? Without the ICs and computers, Russia is being sent back 100 years. BTW - that 100-year
assessment came from several places in several countries, including Russia's own economic and financial
ministries, which were promptly taken down.

6 - well, he might be able to extract something out of this, but it is a minor win compared to the above.

 

[Snowmelt]

Anybody else read Anastasia of the Ringing Cedars lately? I'm onto the 2nd book (of a 7 book series). Although a Russian export, I think she qualifies for transcending borders.

 

[Laron]

Pentagon contractors worked in Ukrainian biolabs under $80 million program
"Leaked documents give new information about the Pentagon program in biolaboratories in Ukraine. According to internal documents, Pentagon contractors were given full access to all Ukrainian biolaboratories while independent experts were denied even a visit. The new revelations challenge the US government statement that the Pentagon just funded biolaboratories in Ukraine but had nothing to do with them.

Last week US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland confirmed that “Ukraine has biological research facilities” and the US is worried that “those research materials” may fall into the Russian hands. What “research materials” were studied in these biolaboratories and why are US officials so worried that they may fall into Russian hands?"
http://dilyana.bg/pentagon-contractors-worked-in-ukrainian-biolabs-under-80-million-program

 

[Laron]

While this take on things has an emphasis on Russia being villainous, it goes both ways. The west can easily create deep fakes. But do they need to when Zelenskyy is a puppet planted by the CIA?

 

[Laron]

From the leader of the my local freedom group. Full transcript here if anyone wants it: http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843

 

[Kevin C]

Well, looks like Putin has even bigger plans in store, and not good at all.

How he plans to 'confront NATO' is the question.

 

[Laron]

 

[Snowmelt]

Well, looks like Putin has even bigger plans in store, and not good at all.

How he plans to 'confront NATO' is the question.

It's all about brinkmanship. The hedgehog bristles.

 

[Laron]

"The film director in the plot examines the history of Crimea after the First World War, the processes that took place on the peninsula, the points of the first Soviet constitution from the 1918 of the year - all that definitely shows: Crimea had not…"



The transcript of Putin's original explanation (below) of what he's up to in the Ukraine from Feb. 22, 2022 is here: https://www.news29.ru/novosti/politika/Prezident_Rossii_Vladimir_Putin_obratilsja_k_grazhdanam_Rossii/95695 (use a translator into english)

 

[Snowmelt]

"The film director in the plot examines the history of Crimea after the First World War, the processes that took place on the peninsula, the points of the first Soviet constitution from the 1918 of the year - all that definitely shows: Crimea had not…"



The transcript of Putin's original explanation (below) of what he's up to in the Ukraine from Feb. 22, 2022 is here: https://www.news29.ru/novosti/politika/Prezident_Rossii_Vladimir_Putin_obratilsja_k_grazhdanam_Rossii/95695 (use a translator into english)

View attachment 13347

Money is energy, and energy is akin to life-blood. Those cases of notes are not just ill-gotten gains.

 

[Laron]

Proof of mass formation psychosis: https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/investigations/2022/03/19/how-vaccination-status-might-predict-views-on-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine.html

 

[Laron]

Ukraine Admits To Placing Artillery In Residential Areas Following Russian Missile Strike
"The Ukrainian government has repeatedly condemned Russia for its bombardment of residential areas that the besieged country claims have no strategic military equipment. Today, following a Russian missile strike on the Retroville shopping center in Kyiv, the government has inadvertently backtracked on this position.

Earlier today, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that they had arrested a TikTokker who had filmed himself identifying the location of Ukrainian artillery near the Retroville mall in Kyiv. Russian intelligence agents were assumed to have noticed the video and a missile strike was conducted on the area as a result.

“The video shows a TikTokker who recently posted materials about the location of the Ukrainian military on the Internet,” the SBU stated. “Subsequently, the shopping center, near which our defenders were, was subjected to a powerful missile strike by the Russian occupiers.”

The Kremlin issued a statement confirming that the bombardment struck the intended target which the Russians claimed was housing rockets used by Ukrainians in nearby multi-launch system."
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/ukraine-admits-placing-artillery-residential-areas-following-russian-missile-strike/

 

[Laron]

 

[Laron]

 

[Kevin C]

Looks like Putin has implicitly admitted defeat and lost control of his objectives.
Even downgraded to only Donbas. Not even considering Luhansk region anymore.

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[Laron]

Looks like Putin has implicitly admitted defeat and lost control of his objectives.

Article reads more like cabal propaganda to me — I don't see that as defeat, and you have to consider the purpose of why he's there, he's not there to take over the country. It's funny how I keep seeing MSM reporting on the situation in this way.

 

[Kevin C]

BTW - I posted that article because it was the only article in English I can find that summarizes the current situation.
I have cross-referenced articles/analyses in Taiwan, Japan, etc. that are able to find Russian-posted TIKTOK videos that show the real-time
situations, and are then able to deduce the on-the-grounds situation. That is how I'm able to find a narrative.

Laron, I respect you too much to turn this thread into a Russia-NATO propaganda argument, so I'll leave everyone here with a few issues to ponder:

1 - If Putin's mission was so noble, why is he displacing/killing/maiming/raping Ukrainian citizens and destroying cities a la
Syria/Georgia/Chechnya/Afghanistan? At some point, you can't call - human suffering, refugees, and dead people - propaganda.

2 - If you believe that his mission is to (a) destroy bioweapons labs, (b) root out "neo-Nazis", or (c) destroy nuclear bombs,
back to 1. Why destroy everything? Why not send your agents to systematically destroy each target without hurting citizens?

3 - Then why are Ukrainian citizens fighting back? If his mission was noble, he should have taken down Kyiv in two days (which was his original
mission due to erroneous FSB intelligence, they did not expect NATO-level weaponry and strategy within the Ukrainian military).

4 - Also, Kremlin lied about soldier deaths for at least three days before finally admitting to them. Putin is spending oodles of money ($200M USD in
two months) per day for his personal security to prevent overthrow and poisoning.

5 - Why would Putin risk regressing his country 100 years for the sake of his noble mission?
BTW, this connects directly to Taiwan - TSMC. TSMC has cut off any IC shipments to Russia. This means Russia has no access to any IC from
28 nm and lower. That means all car, weapons, airplanes, mobile phones, etc. - factories in Russia have to close.
Also, his missiles use TSMC-made custom ICs. And yet the missiles have 60% failure rates.
Once the IC supply is used up, Russia has no more advanced missiles left in its inventory.
Same for all their advanced vehicles such as SU57, or their S-400/S-500 systems.
All they will have is WWII level dumb weaponry (yes, still very dangerous, but less precise, that is the problem).
Russia vehicles, tanks are breaking down due to lack of maintenance and use of Chinese-made tires. Also, they use dual-band Chinese-made
radios which are worse than our cheap quad-band wireless house phones. Those are easily hacked by NATO and Ukraine ITs.
Their SU35 use Taiwan-made eTrex GPS systems, basically consumer-type GPS like Garmin used on bicycles and cars.

5 - Also, those of you who know world history - If you truly believe the US bioweapons labs in Ukraine are so scandalous, you are not paying
attention.
All of Europe, China, Russia, Bill Gates - have conducted horrendous biological and chemical weapons tests in Africa for many decades. There are
many similar tests in areas of Southeast Asia as well. It is well documented the French and the German conducted chemical and biological
weapons tests in Africa during the period WW1 - Korean War. It wasn't until the 70s-80s that they finally stopped mass-scale studies.
Literally every country sponsors some biological or chemical agent research (dual use) in some university in US/Europe. All I have to do is walk
through a chemistry or biology dept building and look at the research projects. It is really easy to do. I have done it in my areas at
UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Claremont Colleges, UC Riverside, UC San Diego - even Stanford and Berkeley. They are all flat on display.
Public research on E-coli, plague, coronavirus, Ebola, hantavirus, anthrax, etc.
In the chemical engineering dept - how to aerosolize liquids using different novel methods.

This is really a nothingburger simply because it is too public, and every country engages in it. Nobody dares to dig too much into it.

6 - In any case, his goal to scare NATO and create a DMZ is finished. His actions forced NATO to stack equipment and troops near every Euro border of Russia, and Sweden and Finland to leave neutrality and publicly declare their NATO membership request.

In any case, we will know the outcome within the next two months.

 

[Laron]

Interesting comment in response to that article of Kanekoa's:

David Gosselin Writes Age of Muses ·Mar 3·edited Mar 3 I think that if we're being clear-headed, like Colonel Douglas Macgregor and others, the war we're seeing now started in 2014 when the Anglo-American establishment, US State Department, and others ran the Maiden putsch, using the help of actual neo-Nazis groups, just like the Anglo-Americans did with Operation Gladio and their ''rat lines.'' We're now in like Act V, but people are treating this like it's Act I... I've said this before, but f we're being REALLY honest, I think we can recognize that Russia and China are and have been the only real obstacles to what some call the "New World Order" or a "Great Reset." If it wasn't for these obstacles, despite their problems, we'd probably already be in a dystopian technocratic nightmare. That also doesn't mean Russia and China don't have their own Deep State and WEF-type operators, but the penetration is nowhere near anything we have in the West, they kicked people like George Soros out a long time ago; we're still dealing with that. That being said, Russia taking action on Ukraine may actually be a good thing, a pivotal moment that signals the end of the uni-polar Anglo-American domination of the world. The Ukrainian government was overthrown by an Anglo-American coup using actual neo-Nazis groups i.e. remnants of the real Nazis going back to WWII, which the Anglo-American intel agencies protected, just like they did with their rat lines, just like they did using Nazis to run coup and dictatorships in South America. They weren't in a position to intervene on this in the past. It's arguably a welcomed development, signalling that an Anglo-American dominated uni-polar world is over. Despite all the media fervor, that's a welcome development. A multi-polar world is the way to go. The reality is that the Anglo-American establishment that has captured the US government and its intel agencies hasn't even tried to cooperate and have a dialogue with either Russia or China, because it's been operating from the stand-point of eliminating every and any existing sovereign nation and assimilating them into the kind of WEF Borg Cube slime mold now branded as a ''Great Reset.'' One of the first things Trump did was go for dialogue with both the Russian and Chinese leadership, and to try to make serious deals based on common-sense cooperation. And that was his biggest sin in the eyes of the establishment, because it meant overthrowing the entire balance of power system that has been used to polarize the world and control various nations, keeping them at each other's necks. This is the oldest geopolitical trick in the book, and it's largely run by the financial interests of the City of London, and Wall Street. Despite that, the western financial oligarchy is still sitting on the largest financial bubble in human history, the derivatives bubble. Were the American population and Westerners to catch on, the solution would be to cancel all the funny money, end the bailouts, put the system through a Glass-Steagall bankrupcty re-organization where investment banking and merchant banks are separated out from the commercial banks (people's savings, deposits, loans, ''boring banking''), and then credit mechanisms could be redirected towards revitalizing the real physical economy. That can still be done, but the level of dialogue and discourse needs to make a qualitative leap. I did write a more in-depth piece where I go into more detail on the financial re-organization front, given it still is possible to have a cancellation of the giant financial derivatives bubble and a clean-up of the banking system with a Glass-Steaglall banking re-organization. The piece is titled ''Wall Street and the City of London Are Playing Largest Jenga Game in History (And It’s Going to Crash).'' https://canadianpatriot.org/2022/02/10/wall-street-and-the-city-of-london-are-playing-largest-jenga-game-in-history-and-its-going-to-crash/

Hunter Biden DID help secure millions in funding for US contractor in Ukraine specializing in deadly pathogen research, laptop emails reveal, raising more questions about the disgraced son of then vice president

• "The Russian government held a press conference Thursday claiming that Hunter Biden helped finance a US military 'bioweapons' research program in Ukraine
• However the allegations were branded a brazen propaganda ploy to justify president Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and sow discord in the US
• But emails and correspondence obtained by DailyMail.com from Hunter's abandoned laptop show the claims may well be true
• The emails show Hunter helped secure millions of dollars of funding for Metabiota, a Department of Defense contractor specializing in research on pandemic-causing diseases
• He also introduced Metabiota to an allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas firm, Burisma, for a 'science project' involving high biosecurity level labs in Ukraine
• The president's son and his colleagues invested $500,000 in Metabiota through their firm Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners
• They raised several million dollars of funding for the company from investment giants including Goldman Sachs"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10652127/Hunter-Biden-helped-secure-millions-funding-military-biotech-research-program-Ukraine.html

 

[Laron]

 

[Laron]

Good review on the talk situation going on now by the Saker below. If I remember right, Bernie/Unspun used to feature the Saker now and again.

Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) – Day 33
https://thesaker.is/russian-special-military-operation-smo-day-33/

This might be helpful to some:

Sitrep: How Russia slew the US Dollar
https://thesaker.is/sitrep-how-russia-slew-the-us-dollar/

And here is a rundown of the Russian forces as of the 29th and what they are up to in Ukraine.

Sitrep: Operation Z​

"Several big developments are giving us an idea of a shifting picture on the ground today. First let’s start with the fronts where the largest changes took place, and then give a broader strategic analysis.​

​

-Many reports today confirm our previous determination that Russia is in fact conducting a major regrouping of its forces following what Shoigu today has called the successful conclusion of the main objectives of the first phase of operations:​

​

“Shoigu: In general, the main objectives of the first phase of the operation have been achieved. The combat capabilities of the VSU have been significantly reduced, which allows us to focus our main attention and main efforts on achieving the main goal – the liberation of Donbass.”​

​

This is in conjunction with the announcement from RF that some VDV units will be withdrawn from the Kiev region as a sign of good faith for the negotiations.​

​

Of course the Western press/analysts have predictably spun this news as, ‘Attritioned Russian forces are pulling out and downscaling their operation in order to concentrate on more realistic objectives in the east’.​

​

There is a very informative thread by Scott Ritter today who explains the simple concept of a military ‘feint’ (misdirection, deception, diversionary tactics etc) we’ve often mentioned before in the discussion of Russia’s opening maneuvers which seemed to many of us who actually follow military matters, to be a ‘pinning strategy’ that keeps Ukrainian forces from redistributing and relieving their primary forces in Donbass and elsewhere."​

​

More here: https://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z/​

​

 

[Kevin C]

LOL. BS... Clif.

Russia LOST BIG.

They lost any chance of dominating the Arctic Ice. All icebreaker ship and Arctic ship suppliers (Korea, Germany, etc.) have cancelled all orders.

NATO is building the anti-DMZ, arming everything across Russia's borders. Sweden and Finland are joining NATO.
Ukraine is basically small potatoes compared to this.

Ruble is diminished.

Their economy is set back 100 years. No ICs, no materials, no computers, No modern manufacturing.
Say hello to WWII-level cars, trucks, tanks, missiles, etc.
And... No McDs, Coach, Dominos, MasterCard, Visa, Starbucks, etc.

For those of you who think "good riddance to the West", give it some thought first before deciding.
You will realize how tough it is when every single major brand in your area disappears.
Don't forget that includes soaps, shampoos, furniture (ex. IKEA), cars, computers, phones, etc.
Not to mention your local supermarkets having a very tough time supplying their food products.

They are just covering their asses by saying plan A, they are "withdrawing" and focusing on Donbas.
Leaving a ton of equipment and their brand new electronic warfare vehicle behind for the West to take apart and analyze.
They already gave up on "denazifying" and "demilitarization". This is the "progress" mentioned in today's peace talks.

Russia is practically back to square one, except with huge default cascade looming, a collapsing economy with close to 40% unemployment,
customers who are scaling back their energy purchases gradually (the current buyers are getting them at huge discounts i.e., little profit for Russia).

There is the real possibility of the people in Donbas and Lugansk completely rebelling against joining Russia after seeing Russia's aggression and ruthlessness. There is growing hate across Crimea as well, both Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking people.
Good luck trying to hold onto these three regions.

Zelensky did note there will need to be referendums in all three regions, and a national referendum to accept any peace treaty AND any border changes. Good luck to Russia winning any of those now. The war showed Ukrainians Russia's true face, not to mention the severe speech restrictions placed on the Russian public.

p.s. Don't believe me? Go see China. They are doing 180 pivot, laughing at Russia's military miscues on their social media platforms, and slowly cutting off financial support and material support in an underhanded manner.
This tells you Xi has realized a united West and Pacific Rim is more fearsome than any war.

 

[Laron]

Psychic reading looking at the question, is Putin more loyal to WEF or Russia.

 

[Laron]

(and note the CIA=cabal)

 

[Kevin C]

Interesting two weeks.

Russia has gone berserk:
-stacking equipment across Finland with possible plan to begin attacking NATO
-Kalingrad (yes, that little piece of land covered by Lithuania is STILL part of Russia, strange world) has nuclear silos activated and aimed at Europe.
-flew four fighter jets into the seas near Japan to contest 4 islands in a possible replay of the Russo-Japanese Wars (which Russia lost 0-2).
-sent a 10-ship battle group through the Hokkaido-Tohoku strait in a show of intimidation
-lost their Black Sea gem Moskova (decimating the objectives of their Black Sea naval fleet),
and has resorted to a temper tantrum by bombing every city in Ukraine
-currently repositioning for an all-out attack on Donbas region (Luhansk, Donetsk)
-Putin publicly announced victory parade on May 9. this means he is under extreme pressure to show results within the next two weeks.
hence, it is possible he may resort to a tactical mini-nuke just to show he "won" something.

Almost as if Putin (who is now shuttling between a nuclear bunker in Siberia and Moscow Kremlin) has decided to go all-out across the globe.
And is pissed at Xi for sitting pretty (hence the fighter group and the naval battle group show with Japan), to entice and pull China into the war,
not letting China off the hook.

This leads to .... China:
-sending ships through the many islands between Japan-Taiwan, basically taunting the US-Japan military alliance
-locking down almost 300-700M people in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing regions. Even sent militant SWAT teams and military troops
to Shanghai (which is strange - this means this is either political or a sign of military buildup).
-all of China has turned into food rationing using stamps (a la WW2, Mao's Red Death in China, Stalin's purges, etc). Many citizens locked up in their
high rises are forced to turn to barter system - two potatoes for your coat, etc. (note: gold, currency, and BTC are completely useless in this situation, and also shows why AMENDMENT 2 of the US Constitution is critical - gun rights for the citizenry).
-shutting down high-tech industries across China (including stopping 80% of global iPhone production).
**** Shanghai/Kunshan issued a mea culpa today and decided to reopen their high-tech industries, somewhat alleviating the situation. Still
not completely open though as the biggest high-tech production hubs are in Chengdu and Shenzhen ****
-sending more planes daily through the South Seas and Taiwan sea zones
-increasing militant "enforcement" of sea zones, resulting in increasing civilian clashes with Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand.
-Xi has "escaped" to Sanya Island, with a group of his elite secret police to protect him from overthrow or poisoning
-in parallel to Putin's May 9 declaration, Xi has declared that he will forcibly unify Taiwan by October.

So, Russia and China are now in virtually the same situation, except China has not gone into full war mode yet.
Don't forget - both countries are cruelly stamping down on dissent, international and free press, free speech - and gone full-propaganda mode.
They are disappearing anyone SUSPECTED of either disapproval, dissent, opposition opinion, etc.
Rationing food on a national scale

Interesting point: China's best military equipment comes from Russia. Its most advanced (J20) stuff actually uses Russia's jet engines and other parts.
It's aircraft carriers are mostly 50-year old Ukraine-Russia junk carriers that were sent to the scrapyards (note the irony!)
So in a parallel to the Ukraine war, many countries are seeing the HUGE 30-50 year gap in military technology sophistication (West equipment uses drones, AI/ML with satellite/radar/sensor systems to track real-time movement and guide missiles and Javelin systems to hit their targets with 100% accuracy without any training), and starting to put in orders for US, Australia, and UK military equipment.

India is in a bind, and has put on a straight face supporting Russia (due to food and oil/gas dependence) while panicking
(bcs their SU25, 27, 35 are practically useless except against China/Russia, lol)
and slowly considering putting in orders for US F-16s and other equipment.

Interesting times...

 

[Kevin C]

Interesting tidbits for the week:
-Russia has two "accidents" and one "natural fire" domestically. Definitely not coincidences.
A) The government's critical central missile research center "caught fire" and burned down, literally within days after the Sarmat ICBM test launch.
B) The next day, Russia's biggest chemical plant (Think Unocal in Torrance, CA or the big chemical/gas plants in Texas) also caught fire and exploded.
C) Siberia is burning in huge forest fires with weather in the 50-60s and localized rain. "Not weird at all (sarc)"

C means Putin needs to decide what to do with some "bomber" and "support" air planes. Either fight the forest fires in Siberia (which would cripple the Russia supply lines), or continue supporting the Ukraine war.

 

[Linda]

maybe time for more effective peace talks

also wondering how macron's win may affect the balance

 

[Snowmelt]

I still think something amazingly good is coming out of Russia for us - and I still think it is Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars. Her information (from the 1990s onwards) is so timely for us. This war just feels like a raw crust of skin after a fall, the new skin is already forming under and will be pristine.

 

[Kevin C]

The rest is noise, but here's all you need to know:

-Putin's May 5 Victory Parade is a complete failure. He's at a loss for words, made no mention of Ukraine specifics other than saying its "historical lands" (LOL). No planes flying with "cloudy skies with winds" excuse on a clearly sunny day. He did not even mention nuclear blackmail, because it completely backfired. Sweden and Finland have basically declared NATO membership, and Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania have either requested or expanded NATO military presence. Also, most of the countries above are requesting nuclear missiles.

Also, Germany has finally admitted their error and sent military equipment and Panzer howitzers to Ukraine.
In addition, Germany and France have come together to begin a new joint energy policy, to assist Germany in rapidly eliminating Russia's gas/oil supply, and also cooperating with EU's plan to assist the East European nations Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Belarus, Romania from their 60-80% Russian energy reliance.
So.. despite some initial cracks in EU's energy embargo, the EU is slowly coming to a joint strategy to do so.
This means Russia's energy stranglehold will eventually end, eliminating 40-60% of Russia's annual revenue. China, India cannot replace that, and even they are basically feasting on Russia's energy fire sale (at $20-30, almost 70% off current market prices) to fill up their coffers before eventually reducing. Japan is planning to complete cut off Russia's gas by summer.

Sooo.... Putin's grand scheme is failing fast.

*******we now come to the meat of the war - dirty gritty war grind********

-With GPS-guided howitzer equipment in from US, Germany, Sweden, and UK (M777, etc.), Ukraine is starting to push back steadily, essentially destroying Russia's Donbas objective. Russia's military is being push back at least 10-20 miles a day, meaning they will lose all their advances within the next few weeks. Ukraine has already reclaimed their second biggest city, Kharkiv, and are already hitting Russia-area military targets to force them back. Also, Ukraine is slowly circling areas in Donbas and south areas, slowly reclaiming Kherson and eventually may reclaim Maripol and Azov steel plant within 1-2 weeks.
-Russia's air cover is destroyed, as Javelin and other anti-air weapons are destroying Russia's expensive but outdated fighters and helicopters. With "dumb" weapons, this is why Russia has been resorting to "scare tactics" of bombing cities across Ukraine, inevitably creating numerous collateral damage situations (including disrespecting the toothless UN sec gen Guterres in Kiev a day after he had visited Moscow to speak to Putin).
They are basically bombing civilian structures such as resorts, hospitals, markets, hotels, residence buildings.

So, unless Putin decides to go all-out and mobilizes 1M military personnel, Russia will lose all their "gains" quickly.

keep in mind this is a financial war: Ukraine is basically using equipment/ballistics costing 5k-250k to destroy Russia equipment costing 200k-20M (T90M at 10M+, SU25,27,33,35 at $6-20M). Not to mention the $500M+ Moskova and Makarov (crippled but still floating) with the $40M Neptune missiles with drone GPS targeting assistance.
Russia is basically losing its military capability that will, with normal access to world markets, take at least 10-15 years to rebuild. The current IC/electronics/equipment embargo basically destroyed Russia's ability to resupply their military.
ex. their tank's engines are built by Germany's Bosch. well... guess what... LOL. no more new tanks OR tank repairs.
same goes for their strike fighters.

China's mea culpa has already begun in a public manner. They are complaining about Russia's incompetence on their online platforms. This is stunning given their cozy support with Russia in Feb.

Don't forget the economic destruction (no credit card system or online payment available) and the brain drain (IT, engineering civilians are leaving for US, EU).
I won't even mention the numerous internal sabotages that are happening in Russia.