While the western propaganda about the Russian objective in Ukraine remains at a fever pitch, most intellectually honest observers have always held that liberation of eastern Ukraine was the goal of Russia and western Ukraine was never part of the objective.
With a decade-long civil war in eastern Ukraine preceding the current Russian operations, and with western forces supporting one side while Russia supported the other, it was always presumed -prior to the Russian military operations- that Vladimir Putin’s central goal was removing the NATO influence from eastern Ukraine.
That objective has seemingly remained visible throughout the conflict with Russian activity in western Ukraine limited in scope to targeting inbound NATO weapons and material support.
We might remember the 20-mile-long armored convoy that sat in place for weeks north of Kyiv while the media narrative was ‘any day now’. Those troops never moved on Kyiv, and in hindsight looked more like a strategic positioning of resources to keep western Ukraine in check while the more important goal of clearing eastern Ukraine was the ongoing operation.
It seems a little silly to point out the obvious, but everything Putin said about what he was doing in Ukraine is factually what has taken place. The western media narrative spinning his ‘true intents’ to be much more significant than his open statements, has never played out when reviewing the actual military operations. In short, Putin was then (as he said), and continues now, to be carving out eastern Ukraine and the Donbas region.
As the Russian operations in eastern Ukraine enter the clean-up and finalization stage, this report about the shift in Russian operations near Kyiv and western Ukraine makes a great deal of sense. The Reuters spin is that Putin was losing western Ukraine, ergo he is reducing activity. However, it never appeared that western Ukraine was part of the objective.
ISTANBUL/KYIV OUTSKIRTS/MARIUPOL, Ukraine, March 29 (Reuters) – Russia promised on Tuesday to scale down military operations around Ukraine’s capital and north, while Kyiv proposed adopting neutral status, in confidence-building steps that were the first signs of progress towards negotiating peace.
Their talks took place in an Istanbul palace more than a month into the largest attack on a European nation since World War Two. Russia’s invasion has been halted on most fronts by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces who have recaptured territory even as civilians are trapped in besieged cities.
He made no mention of other areas that have seen heavy fighting, including around Mariupol in the southeast, Sumy and Kharkiv in the east and Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south.
Some analysts noted that Russia’s promise to reduce fighting mostly covered areas where it has been losing ground.
[…] Ukrainian negotiators said that under their proposals, Kyiv would agree not to join alliances or host bases of foreign troops, but would have security guaranteed in terms similar to “Article 5”, the collective defence clause of the transatlantic NATO military alliance.
They named Israel and NATO members Canada, Poland and Turkey as countries that may give such guarantees. Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy could also be involved.
The proposals, which would require a referendum in Ukraine, mentioned a 15-year consultation period on the status of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. The fate of the southeastern Donbas region, which Russia demands Ukraine cede to separatists, would be discussed by the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
Kyiv’s proposals also included one that Moscow would not oppose Ukraine joining the European Union, Russia’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. Russia has previously opposed Ukrainian membership of the EU and especially of NATO. (read more)
Wait! What will the Biden regime do without WW3?!!!! The horror!!!!!
They will claim victory over Russia. Pump in massive aide and continue working towards the destruction of the United States. FJB.
well said Paddy FJB. don’t forget the idiots 10% cut
given their lethal blows to the petrodollar, that should not be too long in coming.
got silver miners?
I ordered some gold today.
I never had enough money to attract gold diggers. I think one girl was a tin digger.
Oh my. You should beware the dirt diggers. Best you stay away from women altogether.
😂
AND, continue to work towards their goal of regime change in Russia, which has been their goal since the end of the cold war.
Yes. The rebuilding of Ukraine, just like Afghanistan. Billions and billions to rebuild. More NGO’S are waiting to launder those billions and distribute to the same people who started this mess.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Another haven for ISIS or Al Queda or the Taliban…
Pretty sure that would violate the neutrality Putin demands.
There will be a probation period with means of enforcement.
Poorly chosen behaviors will be punished.
Check our southern border. WE are a haven for ISIS, Al Queda, and the Taliban. The hundred of thousands of military age males that will have breeched our borders and been secretly spread throughout the nation by this administration will be a problem for decades to come. Obama did the same thing on a much smaller scale and concentrated on smaller areas. The obvious result of that is Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.
The people in our country who hate it in its current form are being pumped up so they can “Build Back Better”.
Foreign Aid – the biggest Laundry Scheme set up by the Political Elites fund their coffers in off-shore accounts.
Only until MId-Terms
Pump in massive aide $$$ that will be laundered with a big portion of it going to political families from both parties in the US.
10% for the big guy!
5% for little Mitchy McConnell and little Chucky Schumer!
I sure hope it is not Ebola this time.
I doubt they will use a disease any of the deep state/globalists or their friends/family will die from.
Personally, I agree with the depopulation agenda. I just disagree on who should be the first people to be depopulated. Specifically, the first to go should be the people who came up with the depopulation agenda.
China has been dealing with some strange hemorrhagic virus, it seems to be on the table somehow.
As for vulnerability, it will be engineered to exploit the vulnerabilities programmed by the jab.
The Derp State actors never got the real deal jab, and may possibly already be getting genuine vaccines against the actual depopulationist viral deployment.
Well, bring back the evil gnome for scamdemic 2.0 of course …
Bird Flu now in the Midwest. Killing millions of chickens and turkeys creating shortages and high prices. Fauci again?
They are using the same B.S. PCR test that they used to “detect” the Scamdemic, and the Scamdemic offshoots.
Next will be beef and port so Bill Gates can sell us his fake meat. Last Week Gates even said the fake meat is not so bad after you get used to it.
Wait ’til People Eating Tasty Animals discovers that each vat of fake meat requires the sacrifice of a real calf.
Fake meat is made with soy which is rocket fuel for prostate cancer!
Indeed, but that’s the plant based version.
Lab-grown meat is a different kind of monstrosity.
Find another excuse for the great reset.
Meanwhile, the Russia-first president Putin is managing to insulate his country from the effects of the great reset by forcing customers to pay him in rubles. As the value of the euro tanks and as the value of whatever replaces it under the great reset, the people of Europe will suffer tremendously.
Move on to famine.
Europe saw the future…
Give us this day, our weekly bread.
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” (Yogi Berra, 1973)
Don’t assume the DS would not try to start WW3 despite Russia’s obvious intentions otherwise.
And the CCP’s lust to re-take Taiwan is still a threat in the Pacific….
They don’t need an actual WWIII, they just need to create the possibility for there being a WWIII.
WHAT WILL ALL THE TALKING heads talk about now that Putin’s plan has been exposed ALONG with the newsies taking it in the shorts??? WOWZA!!!
This is going to fun watching what Russia does with the Donbass region…
A winter of death…mu ha ha ha.
The problem is that none of the ass clowns in charge has ever studied history, let alone military history.
Senece: But, they did study “Dreams of My Father” and underline all the important parts.
What did you expect? His flatuent fraudulency failed 3rd grade history, and 3rd grade for that matter, twice.
Putin promised his Parliament he’d get eastern Ukraine and control of sea access. Take over of the whole country was never the goal. He’s not an idiot like FJB. He knows he can’t win an insurgency nor does he want to fight one. He wants NATO off his doorstep he wants a less cozy relationship with the state department. He millions of Russians to his population and gets control of oil gas and agriculture. He gets to gut the Azov regiment too. The use of Odesa as a bargaining chip is interesting but I think he wants it. He’s simply moving his miltary assets to lock the vice on the Ukrainian army in the east. Hitting Kiev was just to take out command and control and as we saw he can hit training areas in the west of the country. Brutal but so far very effective.
Putin gets everything he wants.
Media declares a humiliating defeat for Putin.
And a victory for their Dear Leader Amtrak Joe!
“ Amtrak Joe!”
Well played.
Well they did declare a election win for the resident in cheap .
The “big guy” is not cheap. His cut is 10%….
For a gangster, that is cheap.
There is truth, spin and the narrative. Narrative is just a longer version of spin, while spin is a sound bite. As for truth, that comes after the spin and the narrative.
I think it goes further than that. Step 1 was Crimea, gifted by Obama. With a senile President Putin saw 2) an opening to add Donbas and the other “breakaway” regions to Russia. Showing flexibility, Putin has been using Kyiv as a shiny object. His real objective is Odessa, effectively cutting off Ukraine from the sea. If opportunity presents, he will send troops up the spine of Transdinistria to surround Ukraine on 3 sides. Perhaps he will take Moldova while he’s at it but I suspect he can wait for that.
Odessa…..I’ll bet the Russians want that port bad!!
Russia hasn’t actually moved on Odessa from the ground. A couple raids from the sea, but no invasion.
I have seen claims that Ukrainian forces stopped them. All such claims have to be viewed with skepticism.
On the other hand, maybe Russia doesn’t have enough forces to do everything it wants.
If one looks back through history, that area was neither under Kiev’s nor Moscow’s control until the time of the French and Indian war. Kiev, and the area east of the Dnieper River were under Moscow’s control long before that. It is not clear at all that Russia is even trying to take back that much.
Like the Crimea, the Donbass region wasn’t part of Ukraine until the Soviets lumped them together. Russia clearly intends to protect both of those. They are also not likely to give up the land in between. It is necessary to prevent Ukrainian abuses and that would make the Sea of Azov completely Russian.
Beyond that, it would make strategic sense to keep some of the northern acquisitions. To push the Ukrainian border further away from Moscow. More of a buffer should NATO use Ukraine as a launching point for an invasion. But Russia hasn’t fully conquered those northern cities like Kharkiv or Sumy. Those areas may just be negotiating chips to ‘unwillingly’ give up while keeping their main targets.
Even if they had taken Odessa, it could be a very valuable negotiating chip. Allowing Ukraine to maintain access to the Black Sea and thus the Mediterranean and Atlantic for trade vs keeping it totally land locked and dependent on Russia or NATO for trade. That level of importance could also have been feared to be seen by NATO as a step too far.
In the meantime, I am very interested in Russia’s goal of destroying the NAZI forces. Has that been accomplished, or will the atrocities continue? Even after a cease fire.
Also, are the people of the concerned areas willing to be part of Russia or become a Russian protected country separate from Ukraine. Success of any peace agreements will depend on the will of the people, and it looks like NATO is quite eager to stoke rebellion.
Odessa and Kiev were decoys. Ukraine’s “value” to the west is Kiev and Odessa. So there was many assets moved to protect them and to not reinforce the eastern flank. My friends in Odessa that stayed have returned to a somewhat normal life there.
Now I don’t believe Russia will take Odessa like I believed earlier. Russia needs an economically functional western Ukraine to dispel ongoing Gorilla/urban warfare in these large cities.
Taiwan next?
A ) Shut down the bio-labs
B ) Grab real estate
C ) Create a new method of paying for oil / gas in Rubles.
D), Decapitate NATO/EU!
D) shut down any European appetite to expand NATO into Ukraine
E) present the world with a raw display of what the globalist NWO/WEF really is
That map with the whole world other than the traditional “western” bloc refusing to go along with the WEF de-platforming of an entire country is also a map of the conscious recognition of what the NWO/WEF will do to every country that doesn’t submit to a color revolution.
You know it’s serious when China and India are in agreement.
And reap the benefit$$ going back to congress critters, thanks to US taxpayers.
Destroy the evidence tying Biden, Pelosi, Kerry & Romney sons to Burisma.
While the World turned a blind eye on the atrocities of Zelensky and his Military in the Donbas region. The killing of civilians–women and children.
Russia…alone..stood up to defend the people there….!
Of course-showing the World the Bio-labs was an added bonus.
Oh, those are just healthcare facilities.
Notice how the rueters article talks about “civilians trapped in the cities, but doesn’t mantion Russia establishing corridors for them to leave, and Azoz battalians shooting them if they try.
I think using civilians as “human shields” is ALSO a “War crime” is it not?
I have friends that still do not believe there were biolab,as I have always said, there is no cure for stupid.
Unbelievable! A polittician who says what he is going to do and then does it.
Doesn’t he know that could get him impeached?
/s
Thumbs up. Good one
Lucky for Russia Putin is no politician.
Apparently, military types say Kyiv may have been a “feint” operation to freeze Ukraine’s superior troop numbers (600k vs 200k) and secure a land bride to Mariupol.
Now he may encircle 60,000 Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine??
Scott Ritter@RealScottRitter
·4h
1/ Big Arrow War—a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.
15/ This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.
Ouch… recall the lame stream media parroting that Putin had run out of gas, equipment was old …
Operation Fortitude WWII Convinced the Hun that we were coming in at Calais, instead Normandy was the real landing.
https://mobile.twitter.com/RealScottRitter/status/1508813631311466496
The Kiev thrust was probably to split and fix Ukrainian forces as the Russians operated under a numerical disadvantage.
If forces near Kiev now move east or south to reinforce they will have to cross ground in the open without air cover while under Russian Air superiority.
Waiting in the wings:
deadly satire
Advanced sense of humor.
Thanks SD for the Truth! Great job!
All seems to be proceeding to plan. A refreshed geographical line of stalemate between eastern Ukraine ( soon to be a Russian proxy territory) and what will remain of Ukraine.
A definition of effective Ukrainian neutrality is the single issue of importance. Switzerland like neutrality will permit an actual demilitarization and have the most desirable outcome for the actual Ukrainian residents.
IMO, any “neutrality” a ceasefire / treaty provides will include diplomatic lanes for the likes of Lindsey Graham, Obama, Biden and Clintons are able to provide services and products to the “neutral” Ukraine.
In Fantasyland:
Potatus will quickly claim his trip was what made the difference.
In reality:
It was a ham fisted gaffe tour de farce.
This was Putin’s plan all along.
Putin masterfully handled the ‘art of negotiation’ where you appear to give them the impression of a ‘win’. In this case letting the senile imbecile think and say he won by handing him the opportunity (which he will seize) to pretend the ‘fake victory’ trip solved it all.
I’m pretty sure Putin has read Trump’s books.
Sun Tzu without a doubt.
You can count on it that Putin HAS read DJT’s books, and that no one in DC who opposes DJT HAS read his books, with the POSSIBLE exception of Mitch McConnell.
If Mitch has read them, it was like Patton reading Rommel, to study the mind and thinking of his enemy.
As you wrote Sundance, obvious from the beginning, and clearly obvious to the string pullers in the WH, so why the sanctions that harmed the west, and Europe?
Um, to harm the West and Europe?
Why? Because “never let a crisis go to waste” when you desire to destroy the USA.
Wait, what? I guess ol Vlad gave up on world domination everyone has been screaming about and just stuck to his original plan…
Exactly.
It’s really Uncle Joe ‘shart-tank’ Xiden who’s “looking for the off-ramp” from the Ukraine mess, especially anything that helps him to look presidential and stuff.
The End of the Azov Brigade?
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-end-of-azov.html
Ukraine is anything but neutral with an official Nazi ideology, especially a militarized one.
Somehow it seems that curbing the influence of the Derp State writ global is just as essential.
Like, perhaps, no more hosting end of the world biolabs or US warpigs.
NATO should be disbanded immediately. Show a sign of peace. Not going to happen. Putin will get his turf plus the sanctions backfired on Tough JoeBama. The WEF globalist agenda is already to push on the next crisis.
Oh my God the MSM will be in a lather, you can hear them now: “Joe “Stinky” B-B-B-Biden scared off the Russian Bear, when he fiercely crapped himself in Poland”.
Wouldn’t surprise me if State/ CIA are rushing an operative to Ukraine to open a soda can of cyanide in some unsuspecting village. Nuland probably ID’ed a target.
yep JOE BAMA WILL CLAIM VICTORY ..OR HERE COMES A FALSE FLAG EVENT.
sorry caps
Yeah. I was wondering why you were shouting.
This is also a good time to look back at the prognosticators and see who was rational all along and who were irrational doomers.
Back to COVID jabs
Read the whole thread.
Thanks, it makes sense. Who is Scott Ritter.
Scott Ritter was an Iraq weapons inspector.
From the article below Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer. He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, served in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991 to 1998 served as a chief weapons inspector with the UN in Iraq. Mr Ritter currently writes on issues pertaining to international security, military affairs, Russia, and the Middle East, as well as arms control and nonproliferation
More from him here (good explanation of how the CIA creates facts on the ground that are later used to justify NATO intervention/destruction of nations):
NATO Bombing of Serbia- Tragedy in Three Acts
https://www.sott.net/article/465885-NATO-bombing-of-Serbia-Tragedy-in-three-acts
Kurtz, the man who, together with his fellow CIA operatives acting under the authority given them by the president of the United States, Bill Clinton, worked to create conditions on the ground inside Kosovo that could then be used to manufacture the very narrative of a humanitarian crisis sufficient in scope and scale to allow NATO to craft its novel legal justification for attacking Serbia.
The problem for NATO is that its legal justification was built on a foundation of lies. The fiction that NATO is an organization not entirely dominated by the United States evaporates the moment one understands the role played by the CIA in preparing the script used by NATO to justify its actions.The fact that this script promulgated outright fabrications of alleged crimes perpetrated by Serbia to justify NATO military intervention only underscores the criminal nature of the entire NATO enterprise.
There is no escaping the fact that when the first bomb dropped by the Spanish Air Force on Serbia that evening 23 years ago to this date impacted on the ground, Spain and every other member of NATO had committed the “ultimate crime.”
That this crime remains unpunished is a travesty of international justice. That this crime remains unrecognized by those who perpetrated it is a testament to the hypocrisy of nations. That this crime set in motion the events that have led to the current state of affairs between the US and NATO on the one hand, and Russia on the other, is a global tragedy.
Really , I can’t believe these people crawl out from under their rocks – iCYMI – Ritter was a CNN darling contra Bush during Iraq War …. BUT like Avientti ( Stormy lawyer ) a crumb – ARRESTED at least twice for trying to have sex with underage girls- 14 year olds – got caught in internet sting and a registered sex offender – otherwise a stand up guy – check all sources
Thank-you, Nyc.
You brought it back from the deep memory locker.
“Intellectually honest” is unfortunately completely absent – but it wouldn’t be a Cabal if it were present. But even those supposedly on our side – most do not tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I am very grateful for Sundance.
Since I believe they will come up with something to keep the deplorable,peasantry aka we the people in check .Talks of cyber attacks,dr.fauchi showing up on news shows over weekend talking the possibility of more restrictive lock downs.This global new world order cabal is trying to continue the fear upon us because they know that there is a great awakening amongst the real people who hold things together.Let your family,friends and neighbors know what ..s going on.Turn them on to this site as I do and prepare yourselves mentally,physically and most important spiritually.Take the time every day to pray for protection over our nation and our people.Father,we thank you for your mighty hand upon this nation and our people.We plead the precious Blood of Jesus Christ over this nation which you created.We call confusion to the enemies camp and that they will turn on each other.We call forth the warring angelic hosts of heaven to tear down every stronghold across our nation and by your Holy Spirit let His fire cleanse our land ,we thank you Lord ,in Jesus name,Amen.
What a great prayer!
I hope Russia loses this war it created out of thin air big time and this scumbag Putin is called to hell by Satan. He does not deserve to be on earth this subhuman psychopath.
Go away, you must have arrived here by mistake?
In case you haven’t been kept up to date, Putin has stated clearly his objections to NATO’s illegal expansion toward Russia’s border and the extreme security risk that presented to Russia. It has also been revealed that the United States was funding numerous dangerous biological laboratories in Ukraine on Russia’s border that contained deadly pathogens that could have wiped out the Russian population and that these laboratories violated international rules regarding deadly biological research. Russia therefore was faced with existential threats that could not be tolerated. Those who want to understand Putin’s position concerning NATO expansion eastward can research his speeches on this subject and also review the recent revelations about the Ukraine biological laboratories. Then it will be clear Putin did not create a war “out of thin air” but was defending Russia against aggression by criminal actors who purport to represent the interests of the United States.
In any event, it is heinous to desire anyone to be “called to hell,” in this case a head of state such as Putin who has pleaded over a long period of time with the U.S. about his grievances without sufficient concerted effort by the U.S. to negotiate with him nor to abide by the U.S.’s former agreement not to expand NATO and put dangerous biological laboratories close to Russia’s border but instead to force that head of state into a proverbial corner, such has been done to Putin. None of this is to say that Putin is faultless whatsoever in his responses but it is to point out that it is necessary to evaluate objectively both sides of the situation and to consider the propaganda on both sides that interferes with clear understanding. For example, the media has not reported much about the recent revelations of unbelievable and horrific torture of Russian soldiers by the Ukraine military because they have sided with Ukraine and this shows that the truth as to both sides of the conflict is not necessarily made available. Notwithstanding the situation between Russia and the U.S., however, the Ukrainian people deserve empathy for being caught in the middle of what could have been avoided through committed diplomacy.
Very well said.
“subhuman”? That sounds like Nazi language to me.
I’m not an Economics type person, but I don’t see Putin or the Russia suffering from the EU sanctions.
The EURO is now worth 2/3 less in Rubles than it was 3 x weeks ago!
i.e. The Euro has dropped in worth more than 35% when buying Russian Gas & Oil!
09/03/2022
1.0 Australian Dollar equals 101.50 Russian Ruble
1.0 United States Dollar equals 138.75 Russian Ruble
1.0 Euro equals 153.63 Russian Ruble
20/03/2022
1.0 Australian Dollar equals 97.89 Russian Ruble
1.0 United States Dollar equals 132.11 Russian Ruble
1.0 Euro equals 145.87 Russian Ruble
7:39 AM 30/03/2022
1.0 Australian Dollar equals 65.72 Russian Ruble Now 64.75% Down 35.25%
1.0 United States Dollar equals 87.25 Russian Ruble Now 62.88% Down 37.12
1.0 Euro equals 97.44 Russian Ruble Now 63.43% Down 36.57
Kirby added that additional aircraft, including 10 F-18 jets, and more than 200 personnel would be headed to eastern Europe, including Lithuania.
https://archive.ph/eg6mx#selection-553.0-553.145
So many people are completely brainwashed by the media. Putin is evil. Putin is crazy. Putin wants to reconstruct the Soviet Union. Putin is losing the war. All Russian things and people are bad. Ukraine is winning and pushing the Russians back. Ukraine is a democracy.
I don’t even try to argue with them because they are violently opposed to any other point of view. All they can see is the media portrayal.
That’s how COVID was…these people watch far too much tv. I have been saying for 50 years that tv is the worst invention ever. Why are people in this country so stupid? Too much tv, that’s why, or now their iphones and computers and tablets…on and on…hypnotized by the signals flashing on a screen.
I agree you can’t talk to them because most are really dumb. I cannot even imagine what the current children will be like in 20 years since wearing masks for 2 years lowered IQ’s by 20 points. How dumb; many will be mentally disabled with IQ’s around 70 or 80. Barely functional..and that will probably be considered within the normal range. Right now normal IQ is between 90 and 120.
More Rusaian trolls in here than Rusaian soldiers axrually fighting
God I need to learn to type
Most useful class I ever took was typing when I was a Junior in high school.
… trolls in where?
Quick Oil to Gold Ratio MathSorry for the headache but Russia seeking to price its energy exports in gold has the potential to be highly disruptive for global currency markets. Let’s go through the math
So, if you are an overseas buyer of oil, a tremendous arb opportunity has opened itself up here. If Russia prices its oil at 1bbl=1g gold, a foreign buyer could buy physical gold today at $1915 and send it to Russia for a bbl of oil at $61.57/bbl cost. They could think re-sell this barrel of oil immediately at $103, locking in a $40/bbl arb profit (before shipping, fees, taxes, etc).
https://3circleinvestments.substack.com/p/quick-oil-to-gold-ratio-math?utm_source=twitter&s=r
The MSM doesn’t really cover the world of finance or money properly, thus people are missing the significance of Russia pegging the $RUB to #gold.
Russia Just Broke the Back of the West
https://tomluongo.me/2022/03/28/got-gold-rubles-russia-just-broke-the-back-of-the-west/
Is that what Trump meant by his Putin comment?
was coming here to share this.
Pretty sure Putin has put the Ruble on the gold standard. And expect China to do so next. And wouldn’t be surprised to find the other BRICS nations (Brazil, India and South Africa) to follow suit, thus forcing western nations to follow. Not sure how much gold is still in the US treasury, might have been something FJB and his handlers had thought about before the G7’s announcement they tried to walk back the other day. Interesting times.
Pretty amazing and certainly counterintuitive to what we are being told
Also saw this opinion article from Marketwatch this morning: “Russia just made a case for owning gold – and nobody noticed”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/russia-just-made-a-case-for-owning-goldand-nobody-noticed-11648415950
I don’t agree with this factually, or strategicially.
What the West really fears…a gold standard
Putin transcript from a meeting 2 weeks ago with senior government officials…
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1508813631311466496.html
1/ Big Arrow War—a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.
2/ Maneuver warfare is a good place to start. Understand Russia started its “special military operation” with a severe manpower deficit—200,000 attackers to some 600,000 defenders (or more). Classic attritional conflict was never an option. Russian victory required maneuver.
3/ Maneuver war is more psychological than physical and focuses more on the operational than on the tactical level. Maneuver is relational movement—how you deploy and move your forces in relation to your opponent. Russian maneuver in the first phase of its operation support this.
4/ The Russians needed to shape the battlefield to their advantage. In order to do this, they needed to control how Ukraine employed it’s numerically superior forces, while distributing their own smaller combat power to best accomplish this objective.
5/ Strategically, to facilitate the ability to maneuver between the southern, central, and northern fronts, Russia needed to secure a land bridge between Crimea and Russia. The seizure of the coastal city of Mariupol was critical to this effort. Russia has accomplished this task.
6/ While this complex operation unfolded, Russia needed to keep Ukraine from maneuvering its numerically superior forces in a manner that disrupted the Mariupol operation. This entailed the use of several strategic supporting operations—feints, fixing operations, and deep attack.
7/ The concept of a feint is simple—a military force either is seen as preparing to attack a given location, or actually conducts an attack, for the purpose of deceiving an opponent into committing resources in response to the perceived or actual actions.
8/ The use of the feint played a major role in Desert Storm, where Marine Amphibious forces threatened the Kuwaiti coast, forcing Iraq to defend against an attack that never came, and where the 1st Cavalry Division actually attacked Wadi Al Batin to pin down the Republican Guard.
9/ The Russians made extensive use of the feint in Ukraine, with Amphibious forces off Odessa freezing Ukrainian forces there, and a major feint attack toward Kiev compelling Ukraine to reinforce their forces there. Ukraine was never able to reinforce their forces in the east.
10/ Fixing operations were also critical. Ukraine had assembled some 60,000-100,000 troops in the east, opposite Donbas. Russia carried out a broad fixing attack designed to keep these forces fully engaged and unable to maneuver in respect to other Russian operations.
11/ During Desert Storm, two Marine Divisions were ordered to carry out similar fixing attacks against Iraqi forces deployed along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, tying down significant numbers of men and material that could not be used to counter the main US attack out west.
12/ The Russian fixing attack pinned the main Ukrainian concentration of forces in the east, and drove them away from Mariupol, which was invested and reduced. Supporting operations out of Crimea against Kherson expanded the Russian land bridge. This phase is now complete.
13/ Russia also engaged in a campaign of strategic deep attack designed to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian logistics, command & control, and air power and long-range fire support. Ukraine is running out of fuel and ammo, cannot coordinate maneuver, and has no meaningful Air Force.
14/ Russia is redeploying some of its premier units from where they had been engaged in feint operations in northern Kiev to where they can support the next phase of the operation, namely the liberation of the Donbas and the destruction of the main Ukrainian force in the east.
15/ This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.
16/ This is Big Arrow War at its finest, something Americans used to know but forgot in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq. It also explains how 200,000 Russians have been able to defeat 600,000 Ukrainians. Thus ends the primer on maneuver warfare, Russian style.
It does seem the war might end up in divided Ukraine. As usual. The eastern part will eventually become de facto Russian (as it has been for well over 1,000 years) and the Western part will be known as the Fascist Joint of Banderaine (FJB).
I actually hope Putin annexes Odessa. It has a sizable Russian and Jewish population, and after the infamous Odessa massacre (2014) it will look more like liberation than occupation. Landlocked Ukraine would be the real victory for Russia and the utter humiliation for NATO, the Biden regime and the warmonger wing of the Uniparty.
Afterwards the EU and US will spend a lot of taxpayer money to “build Ukraine back better” which means the western companies will continue to rape and pillage the country even harder than before. 15% (sorry, inflation!) to the Big Guy.
Zelensky will lose his next elections to a foaming at the mouth super nazi and become a CNN contributor.
So who will Biden blame for inflation and energy prices when the Russians cease offensive operations in Ukraine? Will he go back to blaming Trump or will they put Covid back in the center stage of this disgusting circus and start talking about that again 24/7? This would all be hilarious if so many people weren’t suffering because of that disgusting old corrupt POS who is currently stinking up the people’s house.
I don’t believe Reuters
That point of view ignores the feint that Russia is enabling. They want you to think they lost Kiev. Plus, negotiations more likely to favor Russians with that in place.
Classic military tactics. Position a force away from the intended area of action to force the opponent to commit assets to that front and reduce the opponents ability to concentrate or reinforce forces in the objective operational area.
This also complicates the defenders logistics re supply and resupply.
Ukraine could not have ignored the force on the road to Kyiv’s north as, if it were chess, one can’t ignore check.
Though Putin may not care, the Russians have paid dearly in assets and manpower for the
Donbas objective, with the prospect of insurgency to deal with in the future.
I would not expect Bon Homie between the antagonists any time in the next several decades. Russia will have to make a long term commitment to hold this territory, which reduces its strategic assets for other uses. There will be an extended bleeding of their precious youth in order to hold on to the territory Russia possesses now.
The ‘proposals’ are from Ukraine, and frankly, its pretty unlikely that Putin will accept them. And it’s somewhat amusing that Reuters says that Russia’s ‘invasion has been halted on most fronts’, when this is obviously untrue. So, I call the Reuters article just more western media propaganda, and should be ignored.
The proposals are incrementally accepting exactly what Putin wanted from the get go, on record.
They can only hope he doesn’t demand more, he is in a position to get it.
Suggestion for Ukraine; Surrender Faster.
This may sound weird, but is anyone else getting the uneasy feeling that this is all going to end up with an arrangement that a Trump team could have negotiated in the first place without all the bloodshed and destruction? I mean, Trump peacefully neutralized the threat from North Korea, worked with Russia to defeat ISIS, negotiated the USMCA, and hammered out the historic Abraham Accords. I miss the adults.
I’ve that impression but no sense of uneasiness about it.
I only wish Putin wasn’t the only adult on the stage.
All that bravado coming out of Ukraine and NATO will turn to begging when the American petroleum-dollar collapses and takes the entire banking and Wall Street “strength” with it? How long will your pantry feed you? Got a garden? How about a chicken?
In my opinion the original goals of Putin was to annex the eastern provinces (or make them puppet states), destroy the Ukraine military, create a land bridge to Crimea, remove the current government and install a puppet government. The ineffective Russian military has reduced the goal to just the eastern provinces. They currently have the land bridge but I don’t see how they hold it. The West will continue to arm Ukraine faster than Russia can rebuild its army.
Seemed to me the Russia carve out is the Donbass region, not all of eastern Ukraine.
Around around the mulberry bush the Russians chased nazi weasles
Around around the mulberry bush pop goes the weasle.
Rumor has it Obiden is going to mail out cards to every American to be punched for each shot of the zombie juice. Free flowers at your funeral after your 10th clot shot. ( if you make it to 10) if you don’t make Brandon says oh well.
FJB
Time to break out the vodka and the Russian Cossack Dance!
https://www.sott.net/article/466049-The-Big-Arrow-War-Understanding-Russian-strategy-and-news-that-they-will-divert-military-away-from-Kiev
FTA:
Big Arrow War — a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.
Maneuver warfare is a good place to start. Understand Russia started its “special military operation” with a severe manpower deficit — 200,000 attackers to some 600,000 defenders (or more). Classic attritional conflict was never an option. Russian victory required maneuver.
Maneuver war is more psychological than physical and focuses more on the operational than on the tactical level. Maneuver is relational movement — how you deploy and move your forces in relation to your opponent. Russian maneuver in the first phase of its operation support this.
The Russians needed to shape the battlefield to their advantage. In order to do this, they needed to control how Ukraine employed its numerically superior forces, while distributing their own smaller combat power to best accomplish this objective.
Strategically, to facilitate the ability to maneuver between the southern, central, and northern fronts, Russia needed to secure a land bridge between Crimea and Russia. The seizure of the coastal city of Mariupol was critical to this effort. Russia has accomplished this task.
While this complex operation unfolded, Russia needed to keep Ukraine from maneuvering its numerically superior forces in a manner that disrupted the Mariupol operation. This entailed the use of several strategic supporting operations — feints, fixing operations, and deep attack.
The concept of a feint is simple — a military force either is seen as preparing to attack a given location, or actually conducts an attack, for the purpose of deceiving an opponent into committing resources in response to the perceived or actual actions.
The use of the feint played a major role in Desert Storm, where Marine Amphibious forces threatened the Kuwaiti coast, forcing Iraq to defend against an attack that never came, and where the 1st Cavalry Division actually attacked Wadi Al Batin to pin down the Republican Guard.
The Russians made extensive use of the feint in Ukraine, with Amphibious forces off Odessa freezing Ukrainian forces there, and a major feint attack toward Kiev compelling Ukraine to reinforce their forces there. Ukraine was never able to reinforce their forces in the east.
Fixing operations were also critical. Ukraine had assembled some 60,000-100,000 troops in the east, opposite Donbas. Russia carried out a broad fixing attack designed to keep these forces fully engaged and unable to maneuver in respect to other Russian operations.
During Desert Storm, two Marine Divisions were ordered to carry out similar fixing attacks against Iraqi forces deployed along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, tying down significant numbers of men and material that could not be used to counter the main US attack out west.
The Russian fixing attack pinned the main Ukrainian concentration of forces in the east, and drove them away from Mariupol, which was invested and reduced. Supporting operations out of Crimea against Kherson expanded the Russian land bridge. This phase is now complete.
Russia also engaged in a campaign of strategic deep attack designed to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian logistics, command & control, and air power and long-range fire support. Ukraine is running out of fuel and ammo, cannot coordinate maneuver, and has no meaningful Air Force.
Russia is redeploying some of its premier units from where they had been engaged in feint operations in northern Kiev to where they can support the next phase of the operation, namely the liberation of the Donbas and the destruction of the main Ukrainian force in the east.
This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.
Great summary of tactical-operational concepts and military science. It is also classical maneuver warfare OPERATION and Tactics aligned with a LIMITED STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE, within the recognized correlation in forces (Russia vs Ukraine) you accurately sight.
The Russians still do have some pretty good OPERATIONAL level commanders, which the West may actually lacked if the “spinning” head media generals are an example of current Western Military leadership. They have also done well given the high number of raw troops they had to employ, to fill in around their better units and capabilities.
Too many Western Military folks and media types think the Russian Military is the peasant force of 1936-1941.
So far, the Russians have managed to keep alignment between OPERATIONAL Execution with their Limited Strategic Goals.