The Washington Post did a piece yesterday on the largely civilian supplies being donated from Lithuania and Poland, trucked down to an official/unofficial crossing point on the Ukrainian border and handed off to the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Force (TDF).
“I heard they needed bigger vehicles and four-wheel drives,” said Dainius Navikas, 43, a Vilnius management consultant who immediately thought of his black 2015 Grand Cherokee. “I had no choice. The Ukrainians are fighting for us.” Navikas and his wife drove the Jeep, along with an extra set of winter tires, to a designated garage on the outskirts of the Lithuanian capital. They found a lot packed with dozens of vehicles ready to be processed and shipped to Ukraine.
Then the donated vehicles get a check. Working overnights and weekends, mechanics check the engines; they send the vehicles to transmission or brake shops if needed. Armor plating is welded to some of the pickups, following specifications provided by the soldiers. They also paint the vehicles to cover all reflective surfaces and the entire vehicle with dull green or olive. One of the staff involved noted all Europe is selling out of the other supplies including body armor and requested medical supplies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/18/ukraine-military-aid-shipments/
Lt. Bystriyk, with the Zaporizhzhia Territorial Defense Brigade, had just endured his own all-night drive to reach the rendezvous. His was one of about 20 Ukrainian units, both regular military and volunteer militia, that had dispatched representatives to meet the convoy.
Bystriyk had driven about 11 hours from the area around the besieged city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine in hopes of getting vehicles and an upgrade on the body armor that most of his men now wear: homemade vests cobbled together by local residents with steel and canvas. “They try to bend it like a body shape, but it doesn’t work,” he said.
It would take about 3,000 sets of body armor to fully outfit his men, Bystriyk said. He had been told he might get as many as 400 when the second convoy arrived. In the meantime, he eagerly eyed the vehicles that were carried by the first one. “Stingers and Javelins are critical, of course,” he said of the antiaircraft and antitank missiles. “But for us, these vehicles are essential. They are our firepower, our mobility.”
Ukrainian soldiers drove them to a spot where border officials would fill out paperwork and then the vehicles would be distributed. One soldier made a beeline for a brand new CForce quad ATV, to be used in cavalry-like raids by Ukrainian special forces, and rode off with a grin.
Bystriyk looked for a truck that his men could mount with a rocket launcher or machine gun, creating one of the “specials” common among fighters in Libya, Syria and other recent hot spots. There weren’t as many pickups as in a delivery a week earlier, but he was glad to see Pathfinders, Freelanders, Pajeros. Videos posted by Ukrainian fighters on social media show teams in SUVs like these outmaneuvering Russian armored vehicles, popping out from forests or side streets to hit them with rocket-propelled grenades and dashing away. “Every day the Russians try to enter Zaporizhzhia and every day we have stopped them,” Bystriyk said. “We need these cars. And we are thankful the Lithuanians are bringing them.”
In the end, Bystriyk was satisfied with a beefy Nissan Patrol to drive back to the war. But he learned that the convoy with the vests and helmets would be delayed because of a customs hang-up. He would be back at this unlikely supply site, he knew. Probably many times. “We need a lot,” he said. “And the need is still growing.”
Comment: This is a perfect example of the strategy of national resistance becoming international among the frontline states. It’s a melding of the civilian population with the voluntary fighting formations, like the Ukrainian TDF, working with the national governments and their regular armed forces… national resistance in action.
In another thread, different clue asked “What if all the one-time ” middle” European countries were to think of forming a Council of Greater East Europe? From the Baltic to the Black Sea?” It’s already being discussed among the frontline countries from Finland to the Baltics, Poland and Ukraine. This would be outside of NATO. As long as this alliance is based on mutual aid and a strict policy of national resistance, I could see it as a real plus for the region. They could fly a “Fu*k around and find out” banner on the Russian borders. But how will NATO handle those dual alliance countries?
TTG
There are a lot of unstable elements collecting in Europe as a whole. Given the US is going to have an election this fall, the likely outcome of which will be immediate impeachment proceedings against the current president, with the antics of his son front and center, it just seems there are more serious cracks going through the Western alliance, than in Russia itself. At what point does Russia cut off the gas?
I will comment on this story later, but first I fail to understand why The Washington Post, New York Times, Telegraph, Guardian, BBC, CNN and others are now regarded as credible sources for anything when one considers their uncritical role in spreading utter BS about wars and politics for at least the last Fifteen years.
Similarly I fail to understand why The Institute for The Study Of War, other Washington based think tanks and their staff are now regarded as dispassionate, wise and intelligent commentators and analysts on Ukraine when one considers the manure they have vomited about wars we have fostered in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan,
Then of course there is the role these same creatures have played in the development of a calculated program of reputational destruction – the purveying of hatred, ridicule and contempt directed at Russia, Russians and their leadership that encompasses everything from accusing their sports men and women, right down to a fifteen year old figure skater, of cheating to allegations of targeted assassination, corruption to heinous war crimes. I am waiting for the latest story about how Mariupol is being subjected to poison gas filled barrel bombs or some such device.
Over the years SST, led by its owner has fought a continuous battle in the interest of both truth and the development of sane American foreign policy development that has garnered , I believe, a reputation for critical analysis and unbiased comment.
I have to ask the question; why would anyone associated with SST now believe a word these people say? Over the years, led by Col. Lang, we have spent so much time and effort trying to get to the truth, why do we now uncritically accept this stuff with nodding heads???
This is not to say that Russia is a paragon of virtue or that we are not engaged in information operations, we obviously are. However the target we are selling this manufactured BS to is our own citizens! The reason for that is obvious and just plain wrong and, frankly, Orwellian and it is going to come back to bite us.
Back to the article; I rate it as a “feel good” piece about those plucky Europeans taking it to the dirty Russkies. I expect to see similar junk headlined ” How I found good coffee in Kiev” by a volunteer American sniper or suchlike, maybe even a Hemingway clone will appear to give us deep and meaningful insights into the zeitgeist of Ukraine and so on. Romantic rubbish.
The danger in all this is not too hard to see in my opinion; that is that our efforts to keep the American and European publics engaged and in favor of a Ukraine war will trigger a deeply negative and violent response towards Europe and America by Russian and perhaps Chinese populations. If that happens, then all bets are off, we can forget about a negotiated solution and instead watch Russia turn Ukraine into scorched earth followed by the building of Israeli style walls along Russias Western border. That is if we don’t incinerate the planet first.
To put that another way, if the average Russian starts believing that all Europe is 100% against him, as the WaPo suggests, then he is likely to return the favor and act accordingly, not depose Putin.
walrus
There is only so much information available.
Walrus
I find The Saker and Moon of Alabama as
Credible sources in that their information is
Similar from different sources but admit
Nothing is 100% accurate.
best source I’ve found is Alexander Mercouris at the durand
Mercouris is a disbarred and disgraced former lawyer
He has zero military experience,and was part of the fixtures and fittings of the kremlin propaganda RT international
Well, there are no uncontaminated sources of information. But all sources can give one leads that can then be checked out.
Mercouris states explicitly that he is not a military analyst. He does give many leads on the position with China and on the international position generally. Those leads can then be checked out. Whn they are checked out they confirm the picture Mercouris draws. That the West – or its leaders rather – is shooting itself in the foot on sanctions.
But I don’t need Mercouris, or anyone else, to tell me what I have been aware of since 2014.
That this is the most disgraceful episode in Western foreign policy I have seen in my lifetime. Also, I believe, the most dangerous.
Looks like the saker is about to have a nervous breakdown
He’s wanted this war between Ukraine and Russia for the last 8 years and its obviously not going Russia way so he’s basically spat his dummy out and threatened not to blog any more!!!!
Our weapons are 21st century, but our cultural instincts are still primordial.
to culture, good and bad are some cosmic conflict between righteousness and evil, while in nature it’s the basic biological binary of beneficial and detrimental. The 1/0 of sentience. That because the function of culture is to coalesce the community as one larger organism, especially in times of stress. During which the social immune response is on high alert, to attack anything remotely disrupting the narrative.
The problem though, is that safety in numbers doesn’t work as well, then the weapons are nuclear, biological and chemical.
walrus
Tribalism is a difficult thing to ignore. Following established patterns of thinking and acting is much easier than trying to apply some emotional intelligence and try to understand and see things from another one’s perspective.
Meanwhile, as both side’s fans keep cheering their “teams” on, the situation is escalating.
I’m all ears. What should Ukraine do? Negotiate, of course. So should Russia. There’s no reason for Ukraine to except subordination to Russian. What should Zelinskyy agree to which would guarantee Ukrainian sovereignty for the next 50 years? Where to from here.
Bill,
The Russians are negotiating with the Ukrainians. If we are to take some members of the Ukrainian Right at their word the problem is that Zelensky is under threat of death if he makes any concessions. Also the US is able to stop this proxy war at the drop of a hat by reversing policies that we all know created the conditions in which this proxy war was inevitable. But the messaging from DC is that they’re using this war to provoke regime change in Russia and will continue to do so until Putin is overthrown. Whether that’s six months or between 10 and 20 years is irrelevant to them and in the meantime Ukrainians and Russians must die.
Thanks Steve. So am I to understand that it is the Ukrainian “right” and the US who are behind the continuation of the war? The U.S. as usual; who’da thunk it.
Bill,
Absolutely. If I can see the parallels between the Carter/Brzezinski provocation of 1979 and the war that’s been forced on Ukraine by the 2014 coup and its aftermath, I’m pretty sure the Russians won’t miss it. This from a tweet I saw yesterday: “Only sociopaths aren’t interested in finding off-ramps in Ukraine. They’d rather have Russia bleed even if it kills more Ukrainians. They value Russian death over Ukrainian life.”
Another interesting comparison is the ridiculous inflation of Russian casualty figures. I recall seeing 1980’s news reports (obviously drafted by our intelligence services) that the Soviets had lost 120,000 troops to the Afghans. Once the fog cleared in the ’90’s the number was 16,000. But the Afghan deaths in that proxy war remain around the 1 to 1.5 million mark. The Ukrainians should take note of that.
As to the extreme Right cohort, Zelensky’s speech to the Israelis received some pushback with his almost Holocaust denial. Why would he take such a risk in playing down the obvious in a country so transfixed by that historical fact.
Steve
“the ridiculous inflation of Russian casualty figures.” What is your number?
Col,
I don’t have one, at least nothing that hasn’t been filtered through the Ukrainian government, the US government, and the Telegraph:)
fulfill the Minsk Accords as Putin has been saying for years
Walrus,
It is indeed shocking to see so many Republicans cheerleading for John Kerry’s son’s, and Hunter Biden’s, Ukrainian paychecks.
Of course the Borg is all for it.
Recently, I saw Oliver Stone’s second documentary about the events in Ukraine, called Revealing Ukraine.
There is a lengthy segment about 2016 US elections, the Bidens (sr & jr), Manafort, Trump, Steele dossier etc.
If only half of the stuff is true, it is fascinating stuff.
It is about 90 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhu3lfgHhCI
walrus,
If you want an alternate source of analysis, you have Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, certainly no fan of Ukraine or the West. He’s a disgruntled fascist who thinks he could do Russian fascism better than Putin. His latest lament is quoted below.
THE 24TH DAY OF THE WAR
“Drip! Drip! Drip!” – Like water from a leaky hanging basin, drop by drop the days are gone. Along with priceless time, lives and resources go nowhere. On the front there are local battles, except in Donbass, where the command wastes the last forces of the bleeding Donetsk and Luhansk infantry, repeatedly storming the Ukraine Army strongholds in Avdiivka and Marinka. And now the systematic (after several days of street fighting) retreat of the enemy from Rubizhne to Severodonetsk becomes the only “major victory” in two days. Even the ultra-optimistic propagandist Podolyaka, who knows how to “suck victories out of his finger” on any occasion, stopped mentioning the “quick encirclement” of the Donetsk Ukraine Army groupings. Russian troops are firmly “stuck” EVERYWHERE. There is no mobilization. Yesterday the president did not even hint at the possibility of it. And without mobilization, victory over the so-called “Ukraine” is impossible “from the word go”. The AF of Ukraine, in spite of constant losses, will soon receive tens of thousands of mobilized troops, and within a couple of months their number will reach 2-3 hundred thousand. They will be given weapons by “dear Western partners” – in any quantity, including the most modern ones. They are already sending them. The moment is not far off when the Ukrainian command, which has recovered from the first shock, will throw its troops into counterattacks in the most vulnerable (for our troops) directions. And against this background, the vile smell of “new Minsk betrayal” is increasingly felt in the air. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Kremlin is no longer planning to fight to victory.Except that there will be no “Minsk-3”. A few more weeks of “standing” – and instead of a “mutually acceptable compromise” (to which the slimy Medinsky hints) – the “respected Ukrainian partners” will once again demand unconditional surrender from the Kremlin. That is: “withdraw troops, surrender Donbass, return Crimea, and then “pay and repent.” TOTAL SILENCE. And then the war will have to go on. In much more difficult conditions and with a much stronger opponent.But in the meantime – “drip! drip! drip!” – the days are gone, the opportunities associated with the most invaluable resource (after human lives) – time – are gone.
Could be, but strelkov is a chicken little type poster and have been wrong in the past too. Andrei Martyanov dismisses him out of hand as well. There’s no ultimate arbiter of truth.
Martyanov hardly writes anything constructive about the war
He’s someone else who’s in for a big sickener like his mate the saker once this war is over
Its apparent to anyone that the state of Russian equipment is terrible and old,but these Russian ‘ experts ‘ can’t see it
They basically live in some strange alternative universe
I don’t like that guy a bit, but he has a point. Even in 2014 some people (if memory serves me I think it was Glazyev) who commented how Russia has a window of only has about 8 months if it means to intervene in the coup militarily and expect low casualty rate.
There are rumours of Belorussians entering the fray.
zmajcek,
I don’t like him, either. I only knew of him from his antics in the Donbas back in 2014-2015. I think he was willing to have every Donbas rebel die for the greater glory of Mother Russia. I also thought Russia missed her chance back them for regime change. The Ukrainian government and military was flat on their asses at the time and the people were still evenly divided. At the time, I thought the Russians could roll in quick, capture/kill/disperse the core of the ultra rightists and leave a Yanukovytch government in Kyiv as they rolled back out. That time’s long gone. IMO, Putin has really screwed the pooch this time.
Indeed, he missed a great opportunity back then.
Yanukovych could even have made it (semi) legal, by inviting the troops while he was still the president.
Putin can be very consistent, patient and logical and then he “glitches” and almost has a tendency to let the chips fall where they may.
This is why I am very concerned the more this conflict continues to escalate. Does Putin know how to walk back from a disaster ?
Can the West resist the perceived opportunity to get rid of Putin and Lukashenko and help de-escalate ?
TTG ..there are leftist and there are rightist. What is an “ultra rightist” and are you sure the “ultra part” really belongs to the right. Labels can be deceiving.
Bill Roche,
Maybe ultra nationalists is a more exact term. Nationalists who define themselves in terms of who they’re against, the “Jews will not replace us” crowd, the crowd that fears the great replacement, the neo-nazis of the Azov battalions, many who try to relabel themselves as alt-right. I think you get the idea, but you’re right. Labels can be deceiving.
Bill,
The “Ultra” is a reference to violent soccer fans who flock to any conflict. In Croatia and Bosnia we saw them in the shape of “Arkan’s Tigers”, formerly of the Red Star Belgrade supporters club.
TTG – I think it likely that the Kremlin has never been “planning to fight to victory”.
The root of the stated Russian aim is the de-natoisation of the Ukraine. The Ukrainian army is now an extension of NATO forces. Trained to interoperable NATO standards by NATO instructors and increasingly becoming equipped with NATO weapons. Also a large army and one with the stated intention of recovering lost territory and continuing the ATO. Such a large and hostile force on their borders, poised at any time for attack, cannot but be regarded by the Russians as a threat and a threat that would grow more powerful with time.
Far from seeking to conquer the Ukraine, far from seeking “victory” followed by occupation or absorption, the Russians demands are all based on removal of that threat.
Before February 21st Minsk 2 would have done for that, if implemented along with the wider security guarantees the Russians wanted. Minsk 2 didn’t happen so we now see extensive military action.
That action to continue until the Russians get the de-natoisation they insist on. They want a settlement that gives them that, not any total “victory”. This is not a war in the old WW2 sense, or in the sense of the Iraq war, when nothing less than complete surrender will do. This is military action with the intention of reaching that settlement. When that settlement is reached the military action will cease. The military action may be regarded as subordinate to the negotiations and is running in parallel with them.
The longer it goes on the more the Ukrainians lose. They’ve already lost the chance of retaining the Donbas. That was on offer until February 21st but is no longer – I don’t believe we can expect the LDNR, now in the thick of the battle and taking losses, to accept any federal structure after that.
They could now lose further territories to neighbouring countries or to the Russians themselves – the entire Black Sea coast hangs in the balance. If the types of atrocities we have seen in Mariupol are committed further along that coast it’s unlikely the population subjected to such atrocities will be willing to remain part of the Ukraine either.
Unless NATO itself commits troops to the battle – and they’d have to be American troops because none other are capable of taking the job on – this war is lost and has been since the 21st. The de-natoisation of the Ukraine is now a done deal. I believe NATO, and Biden and Blinken, might be beginning to recognise that.
EO,
Denazification was not mentioned in Moscow’s original written demands. That is no more than wartime propaganda. Back in January, the demands included”
1. a guarantee Ukraine can never join NATO
2. NATO arms out of Eastern Europe
3. a ban on NATO missiles within striking distance of Russia
4. autonomy for eastern Ukraine, as in full implementation of Minsk 2 as Moscow interprets it
Putin blew up this 4th demand when he recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR thus scuttling Minsk 2. I have no doubt that if Putin’s invasion went according to plan, he would have pushed, either by force or by threat of force, until he got his way on his entire list of demands. The embarrassingly poor performance of the Russian armed forces did succeed in blowing up Putin’s once strong hand.
Putin may continue to devastate Ukraine and kill Ukrainians. He may be able to occupy some piece of territory for some time, but Western economic and social sanctions will make life miserable for Russians. Sure Russia will survive and should be able to survive quite well, but life will be grey and drab, much like it was under the worst days of Communism. Lada had to shut down production without access to Western parts. They once produced decent cars without any Western assistance, but the worsening kleptocratic rot made a mockery of that once proud brand. The armed forces suffer from that same kleptocratic rot.The extent of that rot won’t be hidden from the Russian people for long.
As my favorite Russian, Alex Ovechkin, would put it, “Life will be suck.” Ukrainian resistance will continue. The Belorussians may even join them. The Baltics resisted and waited for 50 years. So can the Ukrainians.
TTG – that fourth Russian demand you mention left the LDNR within the Ukraine. Had Scholz and Macron managed to get Minsk 2 implemented the LDNR would still be within the Ukraine. They didn’t and it won’t be.
On the military side, the UK FT is now starting to acknowledge that the real action is in the South and it won’t be long until Mariupol is secured and the bulk of the Ukrainian army encircled.
But to my astonishment this morning I saw this put out, apparently by our MOD: “Kyiv remains Russia’s primary military objective”.
https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1505786552332529665/photo/1
Either our MOD is playing around or they have the picture seriously wrong. To storm Kyiv would surely need an army many times larger than the Russians have put in if it came to fighting street by street?
What they are doing is destroying arms and supply dumps and gradually encircling the bulk of the Ukrainian army near the Donbas. What they’ll do after that – anyone’s guess. Keep the pressure on one way or another until the Ukrainians agree to de-natoisation, that’s for sure.
On denazification, as you say that was not mentioned in the original demands. That was when the Russians were still looking for a compromise from the West. Now it’s clear there’s no compromise from the West they are going the whole hog.
As you’ve noted, the LDNR forces have elements in them that have committed atrocities in the past. They are now apparently some 40,000 strong and well trained and equipped. Also, as they see it, they are fighting for their homeland. They have no love for Azov, who are even now committing atrocities on a major scale and have been for the past eight years. It’s no accident that those two forces have been put up against each other. With the Chechens in the mix as well I’d guess few neonazis are going to emerge from that hell down by Mariupol. I don’t approve. Neither do you. But it’s what will happen.
The Ukrainians should make such terms now as they can. The Russians will not allow what is in truth a NATO army, and that hostile, to threaten the Russians or pro-Russians in the Donbas. If they were to allow it we’d see ethnic cleansing on a major scale of the sort the Jihadis carried out so often in Syria. We do have a habit, TTG, of using some pretty dubious actors when we go in for regime change and we were foolish to imagine the Russians would be prepared to see similar mayhem right on their border.
As for what’s happening within Russia itself, I don’t know enough about the country to be able to say whether the picture you draw is accurate or not. That’s for the Russians to sort out in any case. Presumably they reckon they’ll have a better chance of sorting out whatever needs to be sorted out without NATO right up against their borders and using every trick in the book to “over-extend and unbalance” them.
The West has lost this one, as we lost in Syria, and that whether we like it or not. It’s now time to do what we can to ensure that our proxies come out of the affair with whatever they can save from the wreckage.
But TTG. The broader Russian security demands have still not been addressed. They are further away from being met than ever, with the Germans remilitarising and the public mood in Europe now securely anti-Russian. I can’t see those bases in Poland or Romania being shifted, nor any cessation of NATO exercises close up to the Russian border. We are waiting with some foreboding to see how the Russians go on to deal with that.
TTG what 50 years is Ovechkin, a Russian, talking about? Ukrainians demanded autonomy (autonomy) under Nicklaus but it was violently denied. Ukrainians declared independence after the October Revolution but the communists (Bolsheviks) denied it. Ukraine tried it again (for about two days) right after WW II – denied. And w/the fall of the USSR Ukrainians and every Slavic nation (except the “White Russians”) and Balts announced their independence from their supposed “mother”. So what additional 50 years does Ovechkin have in mind and why. Beyond might makes RIGHT what business do the Russians have in telling any other nation … wait your turn. By the way I have some favorite Russians too. My St Petersburg in laws, my Aunts Helen and Olga were fine people but they always insisted on their way; a national trait?
Bill Roche,
That Ovechkin quote is from his proclamation in 2017 that the Capitals will not be suck this year. They won the Stanley Cup that season. The 50 years reference is mine. Moscow occupied the Baltics in 1939 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Lithuania did not regain her independence until 1990. Latvia and Estonia followed in 1991. Fifty years of resistance including over a decade of active guerilla warfare.
Thank you Walrus. As a mere mid-western housewife I don’t have the military insight and experience that our gracious host and some of the authors and commenters here have. But like you, I can’t bring myself to place much trust in so many news sources who are known and proven liars. One would think the Fog of War wouldn’t be as dense these days with so many alternative news sources, but tragically, lying and censorship have both become so commonplace as to make that fog the proverbial Pea Soup. These are dangerous times.
Has the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (not to be confused with the International Committee of the Red Cross) cut off the Russian Red Cross yet? In solidarity with democracy or against agression or whatever? In completely unrelated news I see Trudeau’s example of “unacceptable views” has been followed by Zelensky whereby he sumarily banned almost a dozen opposition political parties. Or is he following Putin’s example?
Fred: It is war. Civil Liberties always take a big hit. Go have a read of the Espionage Act that was passed in the United States once it had declared war on Germany in WW 1. A lot of it never went away.
505thPIR,
Let me know where I can find that copy of Canada’s declaration of war. At the same time can you tell me when Biden will be imprisoning Trump for the January 6th insurrection, along with seizing the financial assets of his criminal supporters? It’s not like we need evidence, or due process of law or anything like that, it’s war after all. We’ll get all those god given liberties back after we win.
Fred, I was speaking to your remarks regarding Zelensky. Canada has it’s War Measures Act which has been previously invoked. A nation at war restricts civil liberties, historical pattern across all nations. Can you not separate your domestic grievances (some legit from what I can tell over the history of your posts) from the topic at hand?
Biden won’t imprison anyone. He has not suspended habeas corpus, nor will he. (I’d personally fight that). That’s justice dept. stuff if it comes to that. Would hope you know your own system. You called January 6th an insurrection. Freudian slip? Well, we shall see. Canada will sort its legalities out. The Canucks have their own mechanisms to do so. Different laws and process than U.S. It is plenty “free” north of the 49th. (I know first hand) Might not be your preferred version, but you are just going to have to choke on that. BTW, when I vote in next U.S. election, will take some pleasure to know that at some level I am a counterweight to you and the partisan views you just cannot seem to see past. Yeah, you are no more American than I am and OUR (US) liberties are in no more peril than they have ever been. The Left AND Right are surely more hyperbolic in today’s media/social media environment and every loon out there either way seems to have a platform. Maybe the Jesuits were on to something with “Reason before emotion”. I’ve been a part of this committee of correspondence almost since its inception. Unless Pat say’s different, you wear no more rank on your shoulder than anyone else here. I’m sure you will respond in kind. Gonna disengage from the back and forth with yourself for awhile. Don’t take my silence as anything other than what it is.
In Trudeau’s canada, the ‘mechanisms’ you speak of have failed, utterly. That is the problem. The ‘Emergencies Act’ threshold was not even wildly remotely close to having been met, as a response to a civil liberties protest. The overwhelming media machine narrative has convinced a lazy, ignorant, and gullible public otherwise. More so than the media reaction in the US to the Jan. 6 protests in the US being characterized as a violent insurrection to overthrow the government.
The West, I fear, is entering a dark age of decline, and the elites are going to do what they can to protect their position. So, we have police states now dropping the mask (but forcing it on us haha) across the board. As a student of constitutional and labour law history, I can tell you, no existing regime ‘mechanisms’ have ever given any of the masses rights or protections. Those mechanisms are used as an impediment in fact. The public has to take those rights, on the street.
We don’t have to worry about China. We’ve become China.
505th,
You did not clarify you were only speaking of Zelinsky, I was not; I was refering to Trudeau’s conduct regarding the protest in Canada predating the war between Ukraine and Russia. I am aware he invoked that War Measures Act, that’s the example some on the left wish to follow.
“You called January 6th an insurrection.”
I did no such thing, nor imply such. It is the common interpretation of the Biden administration and a large portion media left.
“…OUR (US) liberties are in no more peril than they have ever been.”
That has not been the case for some time.
AngusinCanada: Charter of Rights and Freedoms, not “regime”. Trudeau over reached. It will get sorted out. In the meantime, taking him to court and airing him out is how it is done. That, and electing people who think different than he and his government. THOSE FRUSTRATING MECHANISMS that are not a quick, satisfying fix to your chafing hind-parts. But they are how it is done.
Driving around town with Canadian flags hanging off your truck and living in digital echo-chambers…Well, that dog and its ever morphing list of grievances, it not only NOT going to hunt, it is becoming a comedy for most folks that has run its course.
He might have taken a page from Lincoln’s example.
There is a rumor the US has reached out to Turkey to send their S-400s to Ukraine.
Well, THAT will de-escalate things…
fakebot,
I would definitely consider that a rumor, an idle rumor. It would be a bad move for Turkey and, IMO, would be far more provocative than the Polish MiG-29s. I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Russia installed some kind of failsafe in the Turkish S-400s just in case.
“The Ukrainian National Security Advisor has sent a letter to the White House and the CIA to request money in support of an insurgency in Russian held areas:
The document, dated March 6, asked the U.S. “to allocate additional funds for the organization of the resistance movement and voluntary formations of territorial communities throughout Ukraine.” …The CIA has been training ‘resistance’ militia in the Ukraine since 2015. To request new money for more of it is only natural.” https://www.moonofalabama.org
This resistance militia: https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ukraine-neo-nazis.jpg
Nice quote from the article: “10,000 euros can be more deadly than a million if you know how to spend it”.
If only we had a few crackerjacks like Jonas Ohman within our defense procurement colossus.
TTG, I have advocated, for the past 5 or so years, exactly such an “Eastern Alliance”. BTW, your flag idea is appropriate. It has a “don’t tread on me” ring to it. Until prodded by Trump and now Putin (WHAT IRONY) western Europe was content to let America pay for their security. IMO western Europe d/n care one bit about Europe east of Berlin so I don’t care what affect such an eastern alliance would have on NATO. An Eastern Alliance apart and removed from NATO could function w/o the cheapskate west. Let’s be honest. The only reason a Sweden to Bulgaria alliance is necessary is b/c of Russia. Does the world really expect a security crises arising from those damned Finns or Lats? Perhaps the Bulgars might want another war w/Greece? What of a Moldavian incursion into Romania? All the comments about “tribalism”, culture wars, Russian security (as if they are the only country to consider), drives me nuts. The basics are Russia invaded Ukraine in order to eliminate Ukraine as a sovereign state. A vital “Eastern Alliance” w/n have allowed that. I think?
Belorussia is absolutely ripe for a rebellion/insurgency against its illegitimate regime. Russia in its desperation for more soldiers is pressuring them to become part of the Invasion. Not a stretch to see this take place and a whole lot of Belorussian soldiers figuring out which way the wind blows. (probably why Lukashenko has balked so far) The population there certainly is not pro-Russian. A few organized partisans could surely make short work of the road and rail network thus making Russian offensive operations on the Kiev axis a much more complete non-starter. Another asymmetric, unconventional frontier.
505thPIR –
You know that the population in Belarus is “certainly not pro-Russian” how exactly?
I Don’t Quite Understand why A Jeff Bezos Washington Post Publication
With a Video by A1 TV..The Most Watched News Channel in Islamabad,Pakistan..had to be Used here as a News Source..
IMO All it Does is show the Means and Methods being Used to Support and
Supply The Ukranian Freedom Fighters.AND ..to Provide Russia additional
Intelligence Information..It Seems that was Its Intended Purpose..
JT
I may be wrong, but the end result, unless WWIII happens, will be partition of Ukraine. The Russians will want to make a state in the east and south and the west will remain a separate state, not sure about Kiev. The Russians will probably want to rebuild everything that was destroyed during the special operation (except in the west), and they will invest vast amounts of money, as they did in Grozny after the Second Chechen war.
Someone could argue that the reason for this is neocolonialism, wish for the ressurection of the Russian empire/Soviet Union, that Putin lied when he proclaimed the goals of the special op and etc. And it may seem so or even be the case. On the other hand, it’s my impression that this is the least worst choice from their perspective and that these were not the starting first options of the plan. Maybe it was a faulty plan from the start, but cornered people tend to make faulty plans.
Of course this is just my interpretation of the Russian perspective, not taking account the reaction of other powers (China, US, etc.). In 1878 at the Berlin Congress, the western powers changed the 1875 Russian brokered Treaty of San Stefano to Russian detriment. Although, this time, it seems like a different situation, because at that time it was an offensive war with the goal of taking Constantinopole from the Ottomans.
PS I second the comment of walrus.
Jovan P;;
You ” The Russians will Probably Want To Rebuild Everthing” Meaning In Ukraine…St The Start of This War..V. Putin..The Destroyer Of Life and
Property..Said He And Russia ere Not Going to Rebuild One Damn
Thing In Ukraine…That The UN ..And UK and United States..Will Have To Do That..
I Have Come To Agree With Every Thing Pat Lang Says About Putin..and Communists..
They Only Come To “kill..Steal and Destroy.”..IMO..
THEY Must Be Destroyed..NOW..In Ukraine..With All Assistance Possible..
JT
I think (?) you’ve come quite a long way.
Bill….
Its taken Me Awhile To Go from Being a Grange Hall Democrat like My Mother Was..And All of Her Farmer Family..back To Hanver County Virginia..1680..
To Finally Understand What The “Progressive” Part of
being a Democrat Really Means Thanks to Barack Obamas Arrival in Chicago..And His Grooming
and Pampering..To Become “The Chosen One.”
I Actually Was a Still a Democrat At That Time..
And Was a Delegate For Hillary Clinton At The State Caucus..And Saw Barack Obamas Crew In Action There..
I Did Vote For Ronald Reagan Because I Was Not
“Ultra” Anything..
I Just Finally Woke up..To What The
“Progressives” were All About..When I Saw
What Obama Meant When He Said He Came to
“Fundamentally” Change America..
The United States Has Become a Socialist Welfare Nation..And The “Democrats…Only
Uses Our Constitution To Further Thier
Objectives..
Joe Biden and His Green Party..Are The “PUDDING”
JT
Know you are welcomed.
And yet, Grozny looks much better and posher now than when it was in the hands of the Islamists at the end of the 90s. So, I don’t see where this destroyer of stuff comes from.
“But how will NATO handle those dual alliance countries?”
Are there historic precedents? Whether NATO or otherwise? The only one I can think of offhand (but that is only vaguely similar) is the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of 1941. They maintained that neutrality until August 1945. It must have enraged Hitler. But we seemed to go along with it. British/Dutch relations during the American Revolution?
There has long been a Ukrainian reachout for alliances. Small perhaps, not exactly NATO-lite, and no Article 5:
The Lublin Triangle between Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania signed two years ago.
The military-political-economic agreements with Turkey under the Quadriga Format (WTH is that, couldn’t find anything defining “Quadriga Format”?).
The “Association Trio” with Georgia and Moldova. But that seems to be more oriented to striving for EU membership.
Ukraine’s FM should reach out to Finland.
Leith,
If I recall correctly the British siezed St. Eustatius in the Caribbean to stop the Dutch from providing a neutral harbor to serve as a waypoint for supplies going to the Americans. They declared war first though.
Interesting book on that, sorry can’t remember the author, “Our First Ally” something like that. The American colonies re’c help from the Dutch (they liked making money, I really think that was their ideology), French, and less well known, Spanish, who helped the colonies w/gold and gunpowder. “Breaking up is so hard to do” someone once wrote (Neil Sedaka?) and today Ukraine needs help, just like America did. The balancing act is how to do it w/o starting WW III eh.
Fred –
They were allies up until then. I think they did take the Dutch Colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
505th,PIR
Belarus and Kazakhstan as well maybe.
Whitewall….they all “Remember”.
Belarus & Kazakhstan are members of the CSTO, Russia and the FSU’s version of NATO. Any sort of military action – covert or otherwise – against any CSTO state would be seen as an act of war.
Yep Barbara Ann, their own people…their own people. Lots of Belarussians fighting for Ukraine. Those guys come home, sometimes back-and-forth. Ideas tend to have spore like behaviors. They also behave like a virus, constantly striving to pick-up a bit of useful DNA that helps with building a homestead in the potential host. GWOT was/is rife with that.
Also, who says Ukrainian SOF can’t help things along? Belarus IS ALLOWING ITS TERRITORY TO BE USED FOR STAGING THE INVASION.
BA to be brief, Belarus and Kazakhstan are wholly owned provinces of Russia. I think we can always “get around” any legalities. B&K (BTW, remember them?) will do what Putin tells them to do.
Whitewall –
There have been reports of Belarus RR workers sabotaging rail links to slow resupply to Russian units in Ukraine. Below is from Deutsche Welle news:
‘Belarusian rail connections to Ukraine reportedly cut. Belarusian railway workers have reportedly cut off all rail connections between their country and Ukraine. Ukrainian railway chief Olexander Kamyshin thanked Belarusian railway workers for this claimed act of sabotage on Saturday. “As of today, I can say there is no rail traffic between Belarus and Ukraine,” Kamyshin was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s Unian news agency. Kamyshin said that he would not give further details. Franak Viacorka, advisor to exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, tweeted about the incident and said that it had been confirmed by Belarusian railway workers, while declining to provide details.’
There is also lots of mentions on twitter of Belarus volunteers fighting for Ukraine.
I have to agree with Walrus. There is no news, only propaganda. The main stream media is so distrusted that people look for information on Facebook and Twitter! While those two platforms are also censoring and cancelling those who depart from the “approved narrative”. Where to seek real info? I prefer primary sources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT_W0Cs-wjs
Yes it’s staged, but reasons for the actions taken are explained clearly.
Compare this man to our current POTUS.
It sounds like the humanitarian aid in those trucks at Cucuta the “civilian activists” were trying to make cross the border of Venezuela…
In the end, once stopped by Venezuelan border officials, it was discovered that amongts the “humanitarian aid” there were weapons and sabotage material…
TTG,
That’s a touching story, but what does it say about the state of logistics within Ukraine? On a related note the country is a major wheat exporter, the majority of which goes via ship through the Black Sea. They aren’t going to be able to do that if they lose the port cities, Odessa being the major one still in Ukrainian control.
Dunno if this is real or fake. But attributed to vigilante justice in Ukraine an entire thread with several videos.
https://twitter.com/youblacksoul/status/1505312206711361545?s=21
Walrus,
I too have noticed the change in editorial tone. It seems to me that, if news sources are scarce as Col. Lang observes (and I agree), then skepticism seems more warranted than not. I’m not sure what has prompted the change.
I understand that governments of countries at war may not be able to share info its citizens that would be injurious to winning the war. I get that. It can be necessary.
Unfortunately, our media has increasingly over the recent past has squandered the trust and good faith long accorded it, and often on far less consequential matters.
I am a big fan of this blog. However, I miss Larry Johnson’s contrarian posts. It made this blog a good place to test our understanding of the current Ukraine situation. I don’t want to go to sketchy websites to find these. I trust this website to promote the national interest while posting differing pro-USA views and to disparage wacky-dacky and clearly anti-USA views so common on sketchy sites.
Still, this is Col. Lang’s blog. He can do whatever he wants, and should. He’s provided a lot of good info and common sense…also, a lot of money and effort for a patriot who is getting older and, I think, wiser in many ways.
This is a go-to blog for me and, for now, will continue to be. But, I agree that the editorial tone has changed, which has concerned me.
tpcelt
It was Johnson’s decision not to post here any longer, not mine. He found my support of Ukrainian resistance to be unacceptable, and accused me of “cowardice” in not following his lead. He attributed my “cowardice” to the cerebral hemorrhage I suffered last Summer. I shall continue to support Ukraine.
I regard your blog quite simply as a lifeline. I’d be lost without it. To come here from the constricted intellectual hovel that serves as the setting for debate in Old Europe is a privilege the value of which you might be able to assess – for you’ve been around in Old Europe, and that where it matters, more than have I – but I’d imagine few other Americans could.
I think of it and call it “Old Europe” because I believe we living in it are locked into a past we cannot escape. Here, the past is a factor and not a prison.
I hope you’ve now recovered from the after-effects of the vaccine. It pulled me and many of my friends down for a while, but none of us had to spend long hours at the computer moderating and creating. Especially at present. You mentioned Larry Johnson, who no longer contributes. A man of conviction but a hothead and should have minded his manners more. I don’t know if I myself am guilty in looking at what’s happening there through the lens of the events of 2014. Maybe I am, but as you and many of your contributors are conscious of, there’s more to the Ukrainian war than a simple tale of black and white.
Coward? In fact most of us don’t know whether we’re cowards or not. We’ve never been tested. But after Song Be? Larry should not have said that. Ever.
EO
I will persist in this as long as I can. I am obviously a target for Russian IO and its agents. Johnson will not be allowed back on the blog because of his personal insults. I would welcome Armstrong back, but he is apparently committed to Johnson’s position. OTOH he has not insulted me … Habakkuk has gone silent. He was the person who first recommended Armstrong to me.
What a strange comment
You don’t think Putin and Russia are not living in the past then????
Just maybe ” old Europe” as you call it,still has a bit more common sense than Russia,which under Putin is commiting national suicide
AW – I know just enough about Europe to know it’s on a loser. Seriously so. Believe me.
Don’t know much about Russia. Never lived there, don’t speak the language, so don’t choose to tell ’em how they should run their country.
One thing I do know is that the Russians have said goodbye to the West. And have shut the door on Old Europe. Not too bad an idea. That Old Europe is no longer what it was.
EO
Well said. Turcopolier.com is unique. If I knew of any other blogs run by great warrior poets I would perhaps frequent them too.
A little bit of humor in these trying times:
Chuckle of the day
The Russians are losing so many generals they’re gonna have to call up Mike Flynn from the bullpen.
It’s the Benjamins, baby.
Top Ukrainian officials and their wives caught fleeing with suitcases full of cash – dollars and euros: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/tax-dollars-work-ukrainian-officials-keep-getting-caught-fleeing-country-suitcases-full-cash-euros/
Putting the Special K in kleptocracy.
“…I fail to understand why The Washington Post, New York Times, Telegraph, Guardian, BBC, CNN and others are now regarded as credible sources for anything when one considers their uncritical role in spreading utter BS about wars and politics for at least the last Fifteen years.” – Walrus
Walrus is spot on IMO. The information operations against the American people has been going on well beyond 15 years. It’s been going on at least since the JFK era IMO, likely earlier. The Church committee documented the role of our national security apparatus in propagandizing the American people. It has now metastasized wherein the national security apparatus, the political leadership, the corporate media including Big Tech, Big Business, think tanks & influencers and the laptop class are all in collusion to engineer narratives that clearly don’t benefit the bottom 80% of Americans and future generations who pay the price both in terms of blood and treasure.
Do people recall the jingoistic fervor that was engineered during the lead up to the Iraq invasion? Anyone that questioned the premise of the invasion or the costs in an Iraq splintering and the potential for a quagmire were labeled anti-American, unpatriotic and apologists for Saddam and Osama. Was anyone from the media personalities like Judy Miller, David Frum, Billy Kristol, Max Boot to all the Fox News, NBC cheerleaders ever held to account? What about Dubya, Cheney, Biden, Hillary, et al? What about all those in the CIA, NSA, FBI, et al? Notice no one was held to account and they continue to remain prominent and play central roles in engineering the narrative du jour.
If ever there should be a wake-up call after all that has transpired to erode the liberties of the American people under the guise of the War on Terror and the War on Drugs it is the covidian war.
Here we had anyone who questioned the snake oil policies enacted under the label of The Science canceled, personally slandered and attacked. Justin Trudeau even went to the extent to target and freeze protesters bank accounts and no one among the ruling elites called him out. Of course why would they when it was a test run of how authoritarian they could get without pushback. Covidian policies of lockdown which even Walrus here was a cheerleader of were enacted with no scientific basis as no randomized double blind studies have been presented that show the preponderance of benefit relative to the harms. The harms were largely concentrated on the poor, the infirm, the working class and school going kids who bear the burden of all the debt being incurred by present generations. Use of cloth masks as covidian theater and even the forcible requirement to undertake medical procedures with no scientific basis that it prevents infection and transmission the previous standard for a vaccine to maintain employment, travel and access to public services. These policies were all authoritarian and mimicked what the CCP in China was enforcing. Notice once again none of those who promoted and enforced these totalitarian policies have been held to account. In fact they remain at the apex of political, governmental and economic power.
I have no dog in the fight between Ukraine and Russia. I do have one in the fight against growing authoritarianism here at home which the American people have been losing for decades. The covidian emergency has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that the premise of our founding that every American is endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights no longer exists. The majority of our fellow citizens always succumb to the emergency du jour and voluntarily cede even the last vestiges of liberty.
My question to this Committee is: How will history judge current generations who allowed the unique in history American experiment in self-government to die by enabling an elite to amass unprecedented wealth and power?
God bless you, sir. Words that needed to be spoken.
https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-20-22/h_7c08d64201fdd9d3a141e63e606a62e4
This is an insightful statement from Zelensky. If the Biden administration’s position was Ukraine would never join NATO, what’s the strategy behind maintaining the public perception that the door was open? Ukraine is wrecked as John Mearsheimer forecast.
https://youtu.be/QNeujKoYLqY