“Ukraine – Russia”

An invasion through Belarus would accelerate negotiations

Looking ahead, there are only two possible major military moves for Russia. Following the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists last autumn, Putin’s army is now larger than when it invaded last February. Then, the aim was not to start a war but to end it, with a quick victory forecast by Russian and US Intelligence, both equally intoxicated by the false promise of “post-kinetic” warfare; this would combine electronic propaganda with cyber-attacks on everything from military headquarters to civilian infrastructures. Generals who had never fought against patriotic Europeans but only against Middle Eastern sectarians, if they had fought at all, who considered tanks old-fashioned and had limitless respect for “information warfare”, heavily influenced the totally wrong estimates that misled both Biden and Putin.

#Ukraine: Two Russian tanks and what may have been two UR-77 mine clearing vehicles (very difficult to tell since both were nuked) were destroyed by the Ukrainian army north of Volodymyrivka near Vuhledar, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/S6ILqTCX3W

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 10, 2023

Russia’s federal media watchdog tasks its spooks with protecting Vladimir Putin from memes that portray him as a ‘bald dwarf’, ‘a crab’, or ‘a Hitler wannabe’.

That is according to reports on a leak out of Roskomnadzor, the main agency behind online censorship in Moscow that is responsible for blocking material about the on-going invasion of Ukraine and any disparaging posts about the Russian president.

Analysis of the leaks found that the agency compiles reports on all ‘negative publications’, and sends them ‘upstairs’ to the Kremlin and Russia’s security services to brief them on all of the despot’s critics via an internal messaging system.

Not as bad as the Democrats colluding with social media to censor everything from Covid to Hunter’s laptop.

Russia has prepared almost 2,000 tanks and 300,000 soldiers for a renewed offensive to seize Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in the coming weeks, a Ukrainian intelligence officer has warned.

The attack is expected to be bolstered by thousands more armoured vehicles, artillery systems, as well as hundreds of fighter jets and helicopters.

For weeks, Ukrainian officials have warned of a pending Russian offensive in a bid by the Kremlin to regain the initiative after months of stalemate on the battlefield.

#Ukraine: A Russian BMP-3 IFV was disabled by an anti-tank mine in the vicinity of Pavlivka, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/ycpadwYyaE

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 8, 2023

A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has reacted with anger after Elon Musk’s SpaceX said it had taken steps to prevent its Starlink satellite communications service from controlling drones, which are critical to Kyiv’s forces in fighting off the Russian invasion.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer, said at a conference in the US that the surprise decision had been taken because it had never been the company’s intention to allow Starlink to be used “for offensive purposes”.

A worthy Russian candidate for a prize in turret throwing competition.https://t.co/6gATCrlWJm pic.twitter.com/k5Qz4Bw28J

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) February 8, 2023

Specialized U.S. Navy diving teams carried out the bombing attack against the underwater Nord Stream pipelines which supply Russian gas to western Europe during a top secret mission overseen by President Joe Biden, a bombshell report claims

Divers planted C4 explosives on three Nord Stream pipelines in June 2022 which were detonated three months later using a sonar buoy which broadcast a signal that triggered the bombs, according to the report.

The attack was carried out in response to Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine and designed to force Germany and other European nations to end their reliance on Russian gas, it is claimed. The move would also disrupt Moscow’s income from gas sales – which have contributed billions of dollars to its war effort.

The sensational report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, published to his Substack, cites a source ‘with direct knowledge of the operational planning’ behind the alleged plot.

More… US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh

The bombing of the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was a covert operation ordered by the White House and carried out by the CIA, a report by a veteran investigative journalist claims.

Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, has claimed that US deep-sea divers, using a Nato military exercise as a cover, planted mines along the pipelines that were later detonated remotely.

In September, a series of powerful explosions destroyed the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that run through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany and provide cheap gas to mainland Europe. The attack was soon revealed to have been a deliberate act but no culprit has yet been identified.

Evidently this statement by Biden indicating destruction of the pipeline was an option moved the sabotage plan from requiring it be reported to Congress as a covert act to one that could be done without scrutiny.

Pres. Biden: “If Russia invades…then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

Reporter: “But how will you do that, exactly, since…the project is in Germany’s control?”

Biden: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.” https://t.co/uruQ4F4zM9 pic.twitter.com/4ksDaaU0YC

— ABC News (@ABC) February 7, 2022

Many have suspected the US was behind the pipeline sabotage and speculated it was done to keep Germany and others in line.

How will the European public react knowing that rampant inflation and  fuel shortages were caused by an “American Plot?”

My God if this is true then tax payers are picking up the tab for a proxy war that benefits Big Oil and the armaments’ industry. Didn’t Eisenhower warn us about this? 

 The weakest and most doubt provoking  part of the story is that “Biden oversaw the operation.” Your views on the reliability of the report’s author Hersh may also vary.

A few thoughts…

1. 1. The Deep State put this past the senile old fool, Biden had little to do with it.
   2. How will the American public react?
   3. The Euro states, especially Germany now have reason to cease aid to Ukraine and their citizens may compel them to do so.
   4. NATO may find itself in quicksand.

Notorious Russian army captain and mercenary Igor Mangushev has died in hospital, days after he was shot in the head at close range in occupied Ukraine, his friends have said.

Mangushev’s wife Tatyana described his killing as an execution.

He commanded an anti-drone unit in occupied Luhansk, but had also been one of the founders of a mercenary group fighting Ukrainian forces in 2014.

He took to a stage last summer holding a man’s skull.

With Russia back on the offensive after significant Ukrainian combat successes around Kharkiv and Kherson in the second half of 2022, the past few weeks have been the bloodiest so far of an already bloody war, with both sides taking extraordinarily heavy casualties. Expect it to get worse.

Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov says Russia has mobilised “much more” than 300,000 troops, perhaps up to half a million, and these are pouring into Ukraine in preparation for what is expected to be a major offensive in the coming days and weeks. Although Kyiv has also been building up its forces and supplying them with modern equipment donated by the West, Putin has a much greater advantage in troop numbers than he did when he invaded a year ago. Despite repeated optimistic reports of Russia running low on artillery shells – a battle winner in this conflict – Putin’s war stocks are vast, and his factories have been working around the clock to churn out even more.

Russian troops are dying in their thousands here

“The objective for today is to come back alive.” Yevgeny is a young commando from the “Mad Pack”, a special forces unit that has been fighting in Bakhmut since November. His words are familiar — lacquered with that mix of emotions common to almost all soldiers fighting on the frontlines of war: laughter and unease. We clamber into a Land Cruiser and head toward the city. “The situation is always changing,” he continues. “But one thing remains the same: the line of contact is always active.”

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian 2S1 Gvozdika 122mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a Russian Lancet loitering munition in the vicinity of Kreminna, #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/207m2A89on

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 7, 2023

Ukraine has released extraordinary video footage that appears to show Russian fighters dragging their badly wounded commander away from the battlefield, and then beating him violently with what appear to be shovels.

A Ukrainian drone captured the incident near the eastern city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has been raging for months. Four soldiers from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group carry their colleague through a landscape of ruined houses, holding his arms and legs.

A prominent Russian MP has claimed there is a growing danger that “ultra-patriots” might attempt to overthrow President Putin because of discontent over the army’s failures in Ukraine.

Oleg Matveychev, a member of the pro-government United Russia party who has also worked as a spin doctor, said that ardent supporters of the war in Ukraine posed the greatest threat to Putin’s rule.

“The situation is not so critical yet, but 2023 will be very dangerous,” Matveychev said in an online video interview.

#Ukraine: Two Russian T-72B tanks and a BMP-2 IFV were damaged/destroyed by Ukrainian fire after an attempted attack in the vicinity of #Donetsk City. pic.twitter.com/cgDPNvyVXD

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 5, 2023

Tuesday marked a favourite date in the calendars of think tankers and political scientists everywhere: the release of Transparency International’s annual “Corruption Perceptions” index. The index throws up interesting results every year, but the ranking for 2022 takes on particular significance amid heated debate over Ukraine’s EU aspirations.  

All wars spawn profiteers, and the Ukraine conflict is no exception. Oil companies, arms manufacturers and fertiliser and food producers have all seen their profits rise sharply. Black marketeers and sanctions busters have cleaned up. Whole countries, such as Iran and Turkey, have exploited the war to bolster their standing.

The vast rise in global energy prices has produced record profits for producers sourcing energy from outside Russia. Shell has just posted its highest ever yearly gain, making a profit of almost $40 billion last year. Even after the windfall tax imposed in Britain, those supplying gas and oil are raking in far more money than anything earned before.