Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[tonschk]

RUSSIA’S victory is unavoidable. Russian Troops Pushing Forward In Ukraine and crushing the NATO mercenaries
https://wrp.org.uk/features/russian-...rd-in-ukraine/

[August]

Originally Posted by tonschk

Russian Troops Pushing Forward In Ukraine and crushing the NATO mercenaries https://wrp.org.uk/features/russian-...rd-in-ukraine/

Sure thing Comrade.

[tonschk]

Douglas Macgregor: Russia Is Forcing Ukraine To Stare Annihilation In The Face!!

[Reece]

Originally Posted by Exocet25fr
Now the Zelensky clown wants Submarines !???

https://switzerlandtimes.ch/world/no...nd-submarines/

Originally Posted by ET2SN
Tough talk on the WWW is easy.
Try wearing a uniform that was issued to you and I'll find you more believable.

What about his clown uniform?

[Skybird]

A grandiose failure. One wonders whether the whole affair is not just a way of pretending to the outraged people of the West that they are acting decisively, something that is actually lacking.
The same can be said about military aid. Enough not to capitulate immediately, not enough to win or prevent long-term defeat. Baerbock's "morally guided foreign policy? For the very bottom of the barrel. Wordy. Muzzies.
The FOCUS writes:
-------------------------------

The West wants to bring Putin to his knees economically - and fails grandly

Following the invasion of Ukraine, the West has slapped sanctions on its longtime trading partner Russia. But these apparently hit the Russian economy far less hard than expected. According to the IMF, Russia will actually grow faster than Germany for the foreseeable future.

The strongest force in capitalism, as Adam Smith described it, does not emanate from the intentions of market participants, but from the fact that supply and demand mysteriously find each other. The "invisible hand" was his metaphor for the elemental force at work here.

We do not know whether Vladimir Putin studied the works of the British moral philosopher. But we can say with certainty that the invisible hand provides him with valuable services. Western supply and Russian demand find each other even in times of sanctions regimes. Russia is consuming, not collapsing, just as, conversely, Russian raw materials are finding their way to customers along tortuous paths.

Here are the five disturbing facts that should not even exist according to Western trade barriers:

1. Russian financial system has not collapsed.

The Russian financial system, which was cut off from the SWIFT international payments system shortly after the war began, did not collapse. In fact, the dollar weakened against the ruble during the war - the Russian currency is currently trading about 9.6 percent above its pre-war level.

The reason for this stability is that Russia's current account is rising and in surplus despite the imposed cut-off - exports exceed imports, something the U.S. cannot claim. This is also due to energy prices, which the West has sent sky-high through its boycott decisions.

2. Russian economy will grow again

The Russian economy, like the West, experienced a dip last year and will grow again in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast. The IMF predicts growth of 0.3 percent. In 2024, Russian growth is expected to significantly outpace German growth, the IMF says. The attempt to bring the country to its knees economically has thus failed. Janis Kluge, Russia expert and economist at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, can't help but chillingly sum up:
"The Russian economy has survived 2022."

Sergei Alexashenko, former deputy finance minister of the Russian Federation, said at an event this month that 2023 will be "a difficult year" for the Russian economy, but, "Not a disaster, not a collapse."

3. Chinese manufacturers push into Russian market.

Apple and Samsung may have pulled out of the Russian market at the start of the war, but Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Realme and Honor are now filling the gap. Turkey and especially China are also moving up the ranks in other goods such as washing machines and industrial goods: Overall, Chinese exports to Russia hit a record high in December, helping to offset a sharp decline in trade with Europe.

Apple and Samsung products are now also finding their way back to Russia via the new trade routes. A study on the sanctions impact by U.S. think tank Silverado Policy Accelerator says, "Smartphones from companies like Apple and Samsung continue to be shipped to Russia by third parties. These products are shipped from their production sites in Asia - sometimes through Europe, Hong Kong or other countries - to Armenia and Kazakhstan. From there, they are exported to Russia."

The New York Times wonders, "A strange thing happened with smartphones in Armenia last summer."

4. European companies still active in Russia

By no means do all companies share the political will to decouple from Russia. The primacy of politics is accepted rhetorically and disregarded in day-to-day business. A study by Simon Evenett and Niccolò Pisani at the University of St. Gallen claims that not even nine percent of EU and G7 corporations have dissolved their subsidiaries in Russia.

The authors analyzed 1,404 corporations that operated a total of 2,405 subsidiaries in Russia before the war. According to the study, only 120 companies have completely written off and sold at least one local subsidiary. 20 percent of the companies that are still active in Russia according to these criteria come from Germany.

The authors' smug conclusion: "Maybe Western politicians and business leaders don't agree on the merits of decoupling."

5. Russia exports oil and gas

Business is also humming on the Russian export side. The world remains interested in the Russian raw materials that lie so richly dormant in the permafrost there. As soon as the West stopped buying oil and gas, new customers jumped in. This is also confirmed by research conducted by Bloomberg . According to the news portal, around 2.5 million barrels of oil per day flow to Turkey, China, India and many African states.

Despite the sanctions, Europe cannot do without Russian gas either. Countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain still receive Russian LNG, according to the lobby association "Zukunft Gas". Via this detour, Germany also continues to be supplied with Russian LNG - albeit at a reduced dose.

Conclusion: The invisible hand of the market cannot be tied down, as we see from the example of Russia and know from the criminal activities of human traffickers, drug barons and arms dealers anyway. "Sanctions are a low cost policy," writes Agathe Demarais in her just published book Backfire.

The fact is that governments print their trade bans on official paper and are unable or unwilling to monitor enforcement in detail. Sanctions regimes are designed to impress - the voter, not Putin.

--------------------------------------

They form the 10th - the 10th...!! - sanction package in Brussel currently. this alone tells volumes of how terribly flawed the European approach to this conflict so far has been. Just one package should have been enough to dleiver the blow, if one were meaning it really serious. A real one. Questionable if that coul,d ever have been done with a country like Russia, which is practically autark in all it needs to maintian basic operaiton and supply for the people to surive.

That's not going to work. The fact that Russia has weakened itself demographically in the long run is no consolation. If Ukraine cannot reclaim the lost territories, Russia will receive rich mineral resources, the industrial center in the east (which the mutilated Ukraine would sorely miss), and lush agricultural land, and it has permanently trimmed Ukraine as an economic rival. Not bad at all, when one gives only brown stuff for one's own population anyway.

Meanwhile, the murmurings about negotiated solutions are becoming unmistakably louder and louder, and the rest of the world is slowly beginning to take a stand against the official position of the West. The reluctance of China and India and South Africa to go along with the Western reading was clear from the start, now Bubble-Olaf has picked up a clap or two in Brazil as well, China accused the U.S. of being to blame for the war a few days ago. And I have already said at the beginning of the war that the greatest danger is that the West gets tired of the war and only formally resists.

And Russia, for all its difficulties, has been buying gold like crazy for the last year. How can they do that when we are hitting them so hard?

Terribly flawed strategy by the West, from beginning on.


Things are not moving well for Ukraine.

[Jimbuna]

Russian threat growing, front line troops fear

Ukrainian troops on the front lines in the Donbas have told the BBC that Russian forces are "learning every day and changing their strategy" as they continue to gain ground around the heavily contested town of Bakhmut. But the soldiers also insisted that morale remains high, despite growing exhaustion after almost a year of war.

The two Ukrainian soldiers swept into the room, still visibly flushed with adrenalin, having just driven straight from the furiously active front lines along the rolling, snow-covered hills further south. Peering over a giant map at their brigade's temporary headquarters, they jabbed at the spots where Russian forces were inching forwards towards a key road.

"They were about 400 metres [437 yards] from us, across the field just here. We're holding on, but it's getting harder," said Sgt Denys Kalchuk from the all-volunteer Dnipro-1 Battalion, going on to describe how Russian infantry, fighter jets and artillery units appeared to be operating with growing co-ordination and effectiveness around Bakhmut.

"The planes are the worst. You can't hear them until it's too late. It's the same with the tanks. Artillery is easier - at least you might have a second or two [to dive for cover] after you hear them coming," said Sgt Kalchuk.

Assessing the overall state of the conflict across the Donbas is extremely difficult. Access is challenging and dangerous, and dozens of different Ukrainian battalions and brigades are working on separate tasks, amid some secrecy, spread out along hundreds of miles of often fast-changing front lines.

But after several weeks travelling across the region, and more than a dozen on-the-record interviews and frank off-the-record discussions with a broad range of Ukrainian soldiers, I have seen various themes emerging.

For weeks, Russia's notorious mercenary group Wagner has led much of the fighting around Bakhmut, sustaining catastrophic numbers of casualties by launching near-suicidal mass infantry attacks on smaller towns like Soledar. But in recent days, according to some Ukrainian soldiers, Russia's regular army has resumed a more prominent role, with noticeable effect.

"It is very hard for us now. We understand that Russia is learning every day and changing their strategy. And I think we need to learn faster," said Dmytro Podvorchanskyi, who heads a reconnaissance unit in Dnipro-1.

He and others spoke of the way well-equipped regular Russian forces were now hiding and dispersing their ammunition stores far better and targeting Ukrainian logistics routes more effectively. As a result, they are continuing to gain ground around Bakhmut and threatening another potentially significant town, Vuhledar, further south.

But there is no indication, as yet, that Russian forces are poised to make a strategically significant breakthrough. One senior commander said Western supplies had now brought a balance to what had been a deeply uneven artillery war, and that Western tanks could soon tip the overall balance in Ukraine's favour.

While it is no surprise that many Ukrainian troops are suffering from exhaustion after months of conflict, morale, in general, appears to be holding.

"There have been cases of [Ukrainian] units who don't seem willing to fight, and disagreements [over tactics]," one Ukrainian soldier acknowledged, speaking off the record.

Others talked about the trauma of seeing their friends die, of units that had sustained overwhelming numbers of casualties and of the psychological impact of fighting amidst the corpses of so many uncollected Russian soldiers. One soldier, citing fears of a new Russian mobilisation and the huge size of the enemy's population, spoke of his fear that "Russia will grind us down". But most troops we met waved away such doubts, blaming them on exhaustion and - in general - praising their commanders for giving them time to rest.

One increasingly common excuse offered for Ukraine's struggles around Bakhmut is the theory that relatively weak and inexperienced units are now being left to hold the line here, while the army's strongest forces are being moved elsewhere ahead of a widely anticipated Ukrainian counterattack, or counterattacks.

The location of any such potential offensives remains the subject of much speculation among Ukrainian troops. Some anticipate a push further north, into Luhansk province, while others wonder about an attack south towards Melitopol, in order to isolate and threaten Russian forces in and around the Crimean peninsula.

One experienced officer said he believed Russia was looking to straighten its frontline, take a few more chunks of the Donbas, and then declare "mission accomplished" and push for peace negotiations. He said he was sure Ukraine would never agree to that but warned that the military would need Western fighter jets to break through all of Russia's new defences, particularly in the south of the country.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64455123

[Jimbuna]

[tonschk]

Yes God is with Mother Russia and with the Russian People, the Russian Army is Crushing currently the Lame Bastards and Terrorist criminals NATO Psychopath mercenaries wich is what really actually the Psychopath Terrorist NATO criminals are

Originally Posted by Skybird

Meanwhile, the murmurings about negotiated solutions are becoming unmistakably louder and louder, and the rest of the world is slowly beginning to take a stand against the official position of the West. The reluctance of China and India and South Africa to go along with the Western reading was clear from the start, now Bubble-Olaf has picked up a clap or two in Brazil as well, China accused the U.S. of being to blame for the war a few days ago. And I have already said at the beginning of the war that the greatest danger is that the West gets tired of the war and only formally resists.

And Russia, for all its difficulties, has been buying gold like crazy for the last year. How can they do that when we are hitting them so hard?

Terribly flawed strategy by the West, from beginning on.


Things are not moving well for Ukraine.

[Jimbuna]

Putin accused of violating nuclear treaty as relations with US deteriorate over 'toxicity'

Vladimir Putin has been accused of violating a key nuclear arms treaty with the US, which was designed to limit the nuclear capacity of each country. The Russian President has reportedly refused to allow inspection of its facilities, leading to relations deteriorating even further between the West and East.

The New Start Treaty was signed by the US and Russia in 2011 and in 2021 it was extended for five more years.

The aim of the treaty was to cap the amount of strategic nuclear warheads that each country can deploy, as well as the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Together, Moscow and Washington are still in control of 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.

Last August the Kremlin stopped co-operating with inspections, blaming travel restrictions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A US state department spokesperson said: "Russia's refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control."

They added there was a "clear path" for Russia to resume allowing inspections and that Washington remained committed to the agreement.

They said: "The New Start treaty remains in the national security interests of the United States."

Talks between the two governments were due to take place in November in Egypt with a view to resuming co-operation, however Putin postponed them.

He accused the US of "toxicity and animosity", with no new date being set.

There are fears that once the treaty lapses in 2026 no new agreement will be reached, with deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov telling the RIA state new agency: "This is quite a possible scenario".

A top Ukrainian security official told Sky News that Kyiv was preparing for "maximum escalation" from Russia in the next few weeks.

There have been concerns that Moscow is planning to launch a huge new offensive, as the one year anniversary of the invasion approaches.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, told Sky News: "We do understand everything is on the table... I can say that we are not excluding any scenario in the next two to three weeks."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...8e1a2efdf8c319

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by tonschk

Yes God is with Mother Russia and with the Russian People, the Russian Army is Crushing currently the Lame Bastards and Terrorist criminals NATO Psychopath mercenaries wich is what really actually the Psychopath Terrorist NATO criminals are

Sadly but no-It's the Devil who are with us. Our loving God would not let us fight each others. On the other hand the Devil feast on the hate to each other

If people hear a voice saying kill, harm or do other evil thing against their next of kind-then they suffer from psychological sickness or been brainwashed by some leader-Nor is it God or the Devil.

Markus

[Skybird]

Heaven and hell are states of mind. Evolution is the transformation from the one to the other.

But sometimes it gets stuck. Then big guns and rifles are mistaken for the truth.




A warrior named Nobushige once sought out Zen Master Hakuin and asked him, "Do heaven and hell really exist?"

"Who are you?" wanted to know Hakuin.

"I am a samurai!" barked Nobushige.

"You and a warrior?" exclaimed Hakuin then.

"Which ruler do you think would make you his bodyguard? You look like a runaway beggar!"

At these words Nobushige became so angry that he instantly reached for his sword.

But calmly, Master Hakuin continued:

"So, you have a sword too? It's probably so blunt that you couldn't even cut off my head with it."

As Nobushige then unsheathed his sword, Hakuin said calmly and slowly:

"And here the gates of hell open."

Immediately the samurai grasped and sensed Hakuin's incredible spiritual power, put his sword back into its scabbard, and bowed deeply.

And Hakuin spoke:

"And here the gates of heaven open."

[Skybird]

The US mulls a new military aid package that contains missiles with a range of 150km. Thats more than 80km - and yet not that decisive a range yet. It will hurt and delay the Russian logistics - but not stop them. This mapI drew illustrates the meaning of such a msisile if set up halfway between Novoolenivka and Zorya, that is pretty much the center of that Ukrianian-held area in the Donmbass: you draw vertical line northwards from Mariupol and a horiozontal line eastwards from Dnipro, and where both lines meet, there is the marked point. This is for illustrating the range only, whether it makes sense to place a high value asset like a HIMARS in there (and their small numbers and lethal precision make them HVAs, imo), I do not evaluate here. Its only an illustration. The circle has a radius of 150km.



If you move that circle to Cherson, it still would cover only a small part of Crimea. And only a tiny fraction if setting the missile up more safely in the area of Mykolayev north-west of Cherson.

Lets imagine they would get missiles for HIMARS with the range of 300km, and agreed with the US to set them up only in certain regions. The American say that so far any mandatory limitations the Americans demanded for target selection for the so far delivered systems so far were honoured and obeyed by the Ukrainians, so it should be possible to have such an agreement. So lets assume they would have missiles with a range of 300km and set them up in the area near Saporishja. That would look like this. Shift the circle a bit south- or eastward as you pleases and see where it then can reach.






It makes no sense to fight a war if you refuse to seriously disrupt the enemy'S logistic network and reserve stockpiles. But we insist on the Ukraine to use our - few - weapons with one hand bound on their backs. Then we take a photo of them and send it to the Kremlin with a letter that says: "Dear Vladimir, you see, we make sure that what we give them cannot seriously disrupt your plans and intentions, so no reason to be too angry. Friends again? "

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Japan will allocate 170 million US dollars for reconstruction of Ukraine, - Ministry of Infrastructure


The Japanese government allocates 170 million dollars for Ukraine. The funds will be directed to the implementation of emergency recovery projects, in particular, the reconstruction of critical infrastructure.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

"The undoubted priority at this stage of reconstruction is the restoration of critical infrastructure necessary to ensure the basic needs of citizens. This is a necessary step for returning Ukrainians to their homes and supporting economic development in the regions," said Minister of Infrastructure Oleksi Kubrakov.

The assistance will involve the provision by Japanese partners of goods and services necessary for recovery. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3397014

With supply of aircraft, we can go too far and become party of war, - Vice Chancellor of Germany Habek

The Minister of Economy and Vice-Chancellor of Germany, Robert Habeck, opposed the provision of combat aircraft to Ukraine not only today, but also in the future.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Euro Integration.

"I don't think much about the current debate about submarines or planes. This is not what we are talking about now," he said, adding that it is now important to deliver the promised Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible.

"I'm saying that I don't think it's right to supply fighter jets now. And not only now, but in general," he added.

According to him, from the beginning of the war there was a balancing act with a view to "providing maximum support to Ukraine without involving Germany, Europe or the whole world in this war." It is not entirely clear where the balance line lies.

In the case of the delivery of fighter jets, Khabek noted, they should be serviced by the supplier countries. Therefore, Habek fears that "we can go too far and become a party to the war." Source: https://censor.net/en/n3397043

Netanyahu on possibility of transferring "Iron Dome" to Ukraine: I am certainly considering it

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu does not rule out the possibility of transferring the Iron Dome anti-missile complex to Ukraine.

He noted this in an interview with CNN, Censor.NET informs with reference to RBC-Ukraine.

A journalist of an American publication asked Netanyahu in an interview whether Israel can help Ukraine, in particular, hand over the "Iron Dome". The Prime Minister did not deny such a possibility but noted that he was studying this issue.

"Well, I'm certainly considering it," he said. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3397065

[Jimbuna]