“Russia’s naval headquarters for its Black Sea fleet in Ukraine’s occupied Crimea was hit by a drone Saturday, a Russian official said.
The Moscow installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, took to Telegram to confirm the hit and said a drone crashed into the roof of the building.
There were no reported casualities.
Razvozhayev first said the drone “flew into the roof” of the building and noted that Russian forces had not been able to down the strike.”
Comment: Drip. Drip. pl
Drone strike hits Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Ukraine’s occupied Crimea | Fox News
I’m slightly puzzled, because by the same reasoning, it would mean that Iraqis were totally justified to lob rockets on the Green Zone and to plant IEDs to hit US patrols.
Yes. There can be no doubt that we were the invaders in Iraq based on false pretenses like Iraqi WMD. In a just world both Dubya & Dick would be held accountable.
Our Iraq invasion on false pretenses not only caused a million deaths and maimed including a thousand of our own soldiers but was a colossal strategic failure enabling the Iranian-theocracy aligned Iraqi Shia to gain power and the expenditure of trillions borrowed from future generations with a negative return.
IMO, we should have allowed the secular Saddam to crush the head-choppers including the al-Saud. We returned Iraq to medieval times overturning the social progress that Saddam made through the barrel of a gun. Why? So that the Beltway Bandits could make more loot and the zionists would be more happy?
I have puzzeled since 2003 why we went into Iraq. Thinking through the possibilities I am left w/one. We did this for Israel. Sorry but that’s the only answer I have. Bush, the Unready, thought we could make the M.E. safe for Israel. That was the year a learned the meaning of Neocon. All of Bush’s bike rides with American amputees and pictures of landscapes does not erase his stupidity and hubris. “The Decider” decided a bad thing. And yes, I voted 4 times for Bush and son. I’m not sure which one of the three of us was stupider.
Was at this exact spot as cruise passenger in Sept 2013. Ukrainians had long rented the Sevastopol harbor and headquarters to the Russian Navy, and even allowed the Russian flag to fly high over that part of the city. Ukrainians at the time were asking: where the heck was all that Russian rent money going?
The Russian MOD is reporting today that “The Zelensky regime has authorized terrorist attacks with the use of toxic substances against Russian personnel and civilians”. They are claiming that on July 31st some Russian troops stationed in Vasilyevka in Zaporozhye oblast were hospitalized due to poisoning with botulinum toxin type “B”. No report that this is as a result of chemical weapons, so was this perhaps a result of someone with access to a canteen? In any case the fact that the Russian MOD is claiming use of a biological agent against its forces is serious.
https://www.rt.com/russia/561214-ukraine-chemical-poisoning-moscow/
Barbara Ann,
I wouldn’t doubt if this was a case of a patriotic babushka slipping some bad mushrooms to some hungry Russian soldiers rather than some biological weapons attack. Wouldn’t be the first such babushka attack.
TTG
Babushka or just bad beef it seems significant to me that this is a direct accusation by the Russian MOD of an attack with a biological agent blamed on Kyiv. Not a sign that things are about to de-escalate I think. In fact it reminds me of the ridiculously fake Russian propaganda that immediately preceded the invasion. Perhaps a prelude to a new northern front on the capital?
Barbara Ann,
The Russians, even at the highest government level, have been threatening Ukraine and the West with all manner of things for the last six months. This is more of the same. Ukraine expects massive missile attacks, including from Belarus, next week to coincide with their Independence Day.
Missile Attacks from Belarus would be an act of war. No need for an announcement. Lushenko will just “send the birds.” It would add a third party to the fight and opens the door to more direct aid to Ukraine from (my guess) Poland. The Baltics won’t budge, they are too exposed. Slovaks and Czechs don’t (again just my guess) have the where with all to make a difference. But Belarus getting in the fight will result in the much sought after transfer of jets from Poland to Ukraine. From what I’ve read I would be wary, were I Lukashenko, to send ground troops into Ukraine. That c/b the start of something “big” and not in a happy way for him.
Bill Roche,
Russia has been launching attacks on Ukraine from Belarus since day one of the invasion. Lukashenko has so far resisted attacking himself for fear of his armed forces and/or his people revolting.
how important was insurgency in Iraq or Afghanistan in getting the US troops to leave the country ?
borko,
We left Iraq after the government we helped install asked/demanded we leave only to request our return when threatened with extermination by ISIS. In Afghanistan, IMO, the insurgency forced us to quit.
ttg
why do you think the insurgency forced the US to quit in Afghanistan?
There were some 65 KIAs, total, from 2016-2021 and that includes 13 soldiers that were killed in a suicide bombing attack during evacuations at the Kabul airport.
So, not that many.
borko,
They didn’t force us out militarily, they exhausted the US. But they definitely defeated the Afghan government and armed forces.
Well it’s simple.
In the case of the Ukraine it is very effective and it’s motivated by a unified and nation-wide patriotic struggle to drive out the filthy terrorists out of the Ukrainian territories. In the case of Iraq and Syria where the culture and fabric of the society is tribal and segmented across religious lines (e.g. Shi’ite and Sunni) insurgency (or jihad) does not take a similar form and substance to the current Ukraine situation, and instead it depends on certain ‘endemic’ factors. It is usually motivated by religious ideologies and edicts by Imams or high-ranking clerics (e.g. Grand Ayatollahs) to motivate the population to wage war against the enemy, see for example the 2014 edict by grand ayatollah al-Sistani who issued a fatwa or religious edict to stop ISIS in Iraq. In the former we have clear and classical notion of defending the ‘national boundaries’ and driving out the invaders, in the case of the latter since it is driven by religious ideology it takes a different form and is controlled by the religious authorities and the concept of ‘nation-state’ is not really paid attention to.
In the case of Ukraine I assure you that if Russia keeps bleeding (drip. drip.. drip…) and minus the threat of nuclear detonation by Russian terrorists, the Ukies are all united in taking back every inch of their territory, whereas in the case of Iraq and Syria you do not see the same national and unified determination to drive out the foreigners, i.e. the Turks, Russians, Iranians, Lebanese Hezbollah, a host of multinational forces, pockets of ISIS, HTS, some anarchist KRG pockets and so forth from what used to be called the nation-state of Syria. The cultural and socially segmented fabric of the society in Iraq and Syria make it extremely unlikely for such effort to be successfully carried out. The same is applied to Iraq where Iranians, Turks, U.S. NATO, ISIS, some Kurdish outfits have all been present inside the territory. Why isn’t any religious Imam or Grand Ayatollah calling for the expulsion of all foreign forces from the country? But in the case of the Ukraine it is all the population think about, i.e. driving out the Russians from the homeland.
Will this and the recent humiliations of Russia (e.g. the Crimea sabotage, the resistance in Kherson) lead to a disproportional reaction by a highly-frustrated Putin to engage in nuclear blackmain of Europe? I just read a WSJ piece that there are rising voices from the terrorist ultra-nationalist (the Novorossiya types) criticizng Putin and Shoigu for not doing ‘enough’ and perhaps even preparing for a nation-wide mandatory draft.
PJ
Well if the aim is to get the Russian ultra-nationalists riled up this should do it. Putin’s room for maneuver just got a lot smaller.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11130731/Daughter-Ukraine-war-mastermind-blown-pieces-Moscow-car-bomb.html
Babara Ann,
True. It will be harder for the Russian authorities to claim this and all the fires/explosions across Russia are just unfortunate accidents. They have an internal resistance that they will have to implement visible measures to deal with. War is coming to the Russian people.
TTG
Yes, but that isn’t what I meant. However fringe Dugin’s views and those of his daughter, her martyrdom – and that is exactly how her death will be seen in some quarters – will serve as a powerful rallying force for the ultra-nationalist faction. I don’t know how powerful that faction is in the Kremlin but I’d bet this just made them a whole lot more so. Nothing good will come of this.
Barbara Ann –
Dugin has been criticizing Putin lately for being “weak”.
IMHO this was an inside job by the FSB. But it does not matter who did it, it only matters who will be blamed for it.
Leith,
So his daughter was blown up by the FSB because of dad’s mean tweets? That’s an interesting take on the event.
Interesting take??? mebe. But not unusual at all.
Bill Roche,
Sure, Putin did it. No one else would ever pull a political assasination in Russia but the FSB.
“botulinum toxin” they’d better check their canned food training, if the can is expanded like a balloon, don’t eat it… Although I love the idea of the patriotic babushka :- )
Speaking of drone strikes, why are Kamala and Obama both in Hawaii at the exact same time while Biden is building a visability barrier around his beach front compound.
Should we be reading something into this coincidence of current events? Or start taking bets whether there will be (1) a resignation to spend more time with family or (2) whether this will be a 25th Amendment transfer of power.
Yes, it has come to this.
Car blast kills daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin
https://www.ilmessaggero.it/mondo/darya_dugina_uccisa_attentato_figlia_alexander_dugin_putin_cosa_e_successo-6881044.html
Hopefully this is not what it looks like.
borko,
I think it’s exactly what it looks like, an attempt on A. Dugin’s life. Given all the things catching fire and blowing up across Russia for months, this attempt was inevitable.
ttg
and it is acceptable to just plant the bomb without caring if a family member gets killed ?
borko,
Darya Platonova (Dugina), adult daughter of Dugin, was sanctioned by the US and GB as the chief editor for the website United World International, owned by Prigozhin. As such she publicly described Ukrainians as “subhumans” and called for the Russian occupation of Ukraine and extermination of Ukrainian identity. She was supposed to be traveling soon with her father. This wasn’t the death of an innocent child, although my guess is that Dugin himself was the primary target.
TTG
she wasn’t a political or a military official.
I know of at least a dozen bloggers (mostly US based) that repeat Russian points about Ukraine not being a real country, Ukronazi theories etc.
Brian Williams of MSNBC was “guided by the beauty of weapons” while the US was launching cruise missiles at Syria (a country that has not attacked the US).
Is every blogger and news anchor that says stupid sh*t now a legitimate military target ?
This is borderline terrorism, and is counter productive IMO. People will see a pretty young woman blown to bits and burned in her car and will be more easily manipulated in supporting the Russian aggression.
borko,
Borderline? This can certainly be characterized as terrorism even if Dugin was in the SUV. This may start Russians thinking about the costs of the war and that’s probably the whole point of the bombing.
TTG
killing civilians usually has the opposite effect.
It will rally support for the war.
Borko
“counter productive IMO”
Counter productive for who? Are you assuming that this was done by the Ukrainians? Possible, but the usual skepticisms apply. (Which may have been your point.) Cui bono? Ukraine? How? TTG cites vague considerations about making Russians think about the costs of war. Maybe. But it seems likely to me that others within Russia may have more focused motives. Kamil Galeev suggests something of the sort.
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1561342883126558723
FredW –
Interesting that it happened on 20 August, the same day that Stalin had Leon Trotsky assassinated. Seems to be a message there.
You and KamilKazani are on point IMO.
borko; yes. The Ukrainians d/n start this war. Is it acceptable to send rockets into Ukrainian cities w/o caring if family (someone’s) members get killed? Putin can stop the madness this afternoon.
Biden did green light Putin a “minor incursion”.
BR
What is next ?
Maybe a Beslan school massacre type of attack ?
You know, they are killing our children so we will kill theirs.
Rumors are that someone attempted an assasination of Alexander Dugin in Moscow by planting a bomb in his car.
https://nitter.net/RWApodcast/status/1561101559974559744#m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin