Park Pobeda – Victory Park – exhibition and museum, Moscow
‘Trophies of the Russian Army’ and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War
‘Trophies of the Russian Army’
On May 1st 2024 a temporary exhibition was open at Park Pobeda (Victory Park) in Moscow. This was entitled ‘Trophies of the Russian Army’ and consisted of vehicles of various types and other war equipment captured by the Russian Army in the Ukraine. The main body of the exhibition was a variety of armoured vehicles – tanks, armoured personnel vehicles (APVs), and other forms of transportation, from various countries in the NATO alliance against Russia and its Special Military Operation in the Ukraine.
As has been documented on this blog on the page The war in the Ukraine – what you are not told, many of these weapons were introduced onto the battle field as ‘game changers’ – weapons that would be so powerful (as they were produced in the ‘west’ and hence superior to anything that could be produced in Russia) that they would just steam roller over any Russian defences and thereby assist in the Ukrainians recovering territory lost to the Russian Army since February 2022.
However, things did not go to plan.
German Leopard Tank
Although there has been a blame game going on between the Ukraine and the NATO commanders (and politicians) what has been obvious is that the west believed too much in their own propaganda and came a cropper due to their own hubris. Whereas the military-industrial complex in the various NATO countries were hoping that the overwhelming victory their equipment would deliver against the Russians would be the finest advert possible to sell their wares in other parts of the world, it merely showed that western military equipment is too complicated; which means it takes too long to make in vast numbers and hence not ideal in a conflict of attrition (which the war in the Ukraine has become); and far too expensive.
However, instead of participating in victory parades the US Abrams and German Leopard tanks were filmed burning on the steppes of the Ukraine. The UK Challenger 2 tanks, once one or two had been destroyed, just ran away and acted as artillery far from the front – where such main battle tanks are designed to operate. An Abrams and a Leopard were on display in the exhibition.
American Abrams Tank
In a covered enclosure there were also on display communication and GPS equipment, drones, mortars, small arms and other kinds of small military equipment.
I understood the original plan was for this to be a short term exhibition, finishing the weekend after Victory Day which was celebrated on May 9th. However, the exhibition attracted streams of Moscovites and there was a constant flow of people (many thousands in a day) so it was decided to extend the display.
For how long I have no idea and don’t know if there are plans to place some of this material in a permanent exhibition somewhere in Moscow or another major city. The plan might be, as far as I’m concerned, to take this exhibition around to other major Russian cities.
Hopefully, the slide show below will provide a flavour of what was on display for those who are unable to attend in person.
The Museum of the Great Patriotic War
This is a huge building which is approached by a wide avenue which commemorates the major battle fields in the war against the invading German Nazis and their accomplices in crime. It was opened in 1995 and I don’t understand why such a museum hadn’t been constructed decades before. Being constructed in a time of open capitalist control of the society the decoration inside or outside of the building owes nothing to Socialist Realist ideas.
In fact, it’s not really appropriate to call it a museum as it is more of a shrine and memorial to those who were killed in the Great Patriotic War and a place of ‘pilgrimage’ for military associated groups to come and pay respects.
Museum of the Great Patriotic War – 02
There’s very little in terms of artefacts (as, for example, you will find in the Battle of Stalingrad Museum in Volgograd) and the vast space is not used, as far as I’m concerned, in an appropriate way to tell the story of some of the most significant battles of the Second World War. I think this is probably the result of the schizophrenic approach the present ‘rulers’ have towards the war against the Nazis. They recognise that it as a Socialist Red Army that defeated the attacking Germans but they don’t want to give (or didn’t in the 1990s) too much prominence to that fact. With the conflict with NATO – through its proxy of the Ukraine – thinking has changed and that was the reason you saw so much reference to Soviet symbolism in the posters and imagery in the build up to May 9th, Victory Day, 2024.
Museum of the Great Patriotic War – 01
Also, very strangely for a ‘museum’ there was a room with references to the Special Military Operation in the Ukraine. This was in the form of portraits and photographs of soldiers on active duty. There was also a sculpture of a platoon moving forward on a battle front. I can see why this room was created, the war in the Ukraine is one of propaganda as well as what happens in the field, but placing such a room in a museum which commemorates battles on a much bigger scale where the forces concerned were not only hugely greater in number but also much more fiercely fought seems, to me, to detract from the importance and sacrifice of the war between 1941 and 1945.
Museum of the Great Patriotic War – 03
In the slide show there are a few pictures which will, hopefully, give an impression of what the ‘museum’ is all about.
On my visit I didn’t make it to the Museum of the Main Weapons Relics of the Army, which might have been a shame. Entrance for that also costs 300 rouble.
Location;
10 Brothers Fonchenko Street
How to get there;
The Park Pobeda Metro station is right at the entrance to the park. It’s west of the city centre on Line No 3, the dark blue line.
The war in the Ukraine – what you weren’t told – 2022
One of the lessons from the last three weeks is that what ‘we’, liberal capitalist ‘democracies’ say is ‘the truth’, what ‘they’ (that is, anyone those same liberal capitalist ‘democracies’ disagree with) say is not the truth, is in fact ‘fake news’.
And one of those liberal capitalist ‘democratic’ truths is that the issue around Ukraine is all about the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’.
Obviously the ‘good guys’ are the capitalist and imperialist nations that have been acting in a rapacious manner against (and strangling the well being of) their own populations for centuries. For those who have had the misfortune to come into contact with these thieves, murderers and rapists in the (mainly) southern hemisphere the consequences have been even worse.
This is especially so if those people stand up and demand that they should be able to determine their own futures. Such insolence will not be tolerated and the list of countries who have attempted this, in whatever small way, since the end of the Second World War that have had to be taught a lesson is almost innumerable. Often puppets have been used to carry out the wishes of their masters but when the biggest bully of the lot (USA imperialism) has got itself involved it has shown itself to be totally incapable of achieving its aims – what ever amount of resources it throws at the problem. In fact, the US hasn’t won any war it has taken part in for more than a century.
But any such defeats don’t stop the imperialists from continuing to follow their destructive path. They will break every rule in the book and any and all treaties if it suits their purpose. For example, the United Nations is ‘correct’ if it lets them invade Korea but is ‘irrelevant’ if it seeks to prevent them from invading Iraq.
But just because the ‘good guys’ follow such a policy it doesn’t mean that this is open to all. If any pretender seeks to learn the lessons from the biggest bullies then they are branded as the ‘bad guys’. The fact they are good pupils means nothing, especially if it goes against the wishes and interests of the perpetual ‘good guys’.
Following the same illegal actions carried out from Korea to Vietnam to Iraq to Libya is met with a level of hypocrisy that beggars belief. Added to that they lie though their back teeth about any agreements that might have been made in the past.
The actions of the Russians of going into the Ukraine is a crime but no more nor less a one than has been committed in all parts of the world on numerous occasions in the last couple of hundred years by those who are now attempting to hold the moral high ground. Whatever is happening in the Ukraine now it is important to remember that the principle danger to the peoples of the world is still United States imperialism.
But even the now ‘bad guys’ weren’t always that bad. Capitalism didn’t see it as a crime against the people when the so-called Russian ‘oligarchs’ looted the wealth created in the years of socialism of the Soviet Union. The fact that many (if not all) of those gains were achieved through a level of criminality wasn’t really important. If in countries like Britain (at the time of Thatcher and with the disgraceful and ultimately self-defeating ‘agreement’ of a substantial proportion of the population) and throughout the world (through the demands of the World Bank and the International Monetery Fund) privatisation was the core of the new liberal economic system then what was different with the looting of public wealth in the erstwhile Soviet Union?
The money those oligarchs spent was welcomed in the capitalist countries and the City of London (at one time the most important financial centre in the world but now starting to fade somewhat) has probably been kept afloat by the amount of money laundering that has been going on for the best part of twenty years. If these oligarchs start to get ‘penalised’ (in whatever small and ineffectual manner by present day plans to challenge the roots of their wealth) and take umbrage and decide to launder their ill-gotten gains elsewhere then the City of London is in for a bumpy ride.
The US (ably assisted by the UK ‘poodle’) seeks to maintain/regain world hegemony thorough this present crisis and are prepared to defend the Ukraine ‘to the last Ukrainian’. Also, in a manner and with a completeness that surprises us, they have been able to maintain hegemony of the information that has been getting out to the populations of the northern hemisphere. (Those who live in the poorer countries of the south have more important and immediate issue to consider than the fate of a country caught in the middle of a European spat.)
The aim here is to provide a source of news and views from other outlets which are not so slavish to the acceptance of the views propounded by the servants of the world’s most vicious and hypocritical imperialist masters.
US, UK, France promised USSR not to expand NATO east of Germany, newly discovered document proves.
Notes from a 1991 meeting prove that the US, UK, France, and Germany assured the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand east. It’s part of a growing body of evidence that the West broke its promise to Russia. Even though the US, the UK and other countries deny the existence of the ‘promise’. But then who would be foolish enough to belive a promise from this bunch of liars?
The video clip contains a presentation by John Mearsheimer, an American political scientist of the ‘realist school of thought’. His presentation follows the initial introduction and last for about 25 minutes.
The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World affairs seeks to ‘draw[ing] its inspiration from the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, which urged leaders of the world to ‘think in a new way’: to renounce nuclear weapons, to ‘remember their humanity’ and to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.’
A reminder of the similar actions by the now ‘indignant and caring’ imperialist nations who have been killing millions of people throughout the world in tens of conflicts since 1945.
While the world watches Vladimir Putin’s harrowing invasion of Ukraine, a new, short, film shows how other despots are also getting away with wanton aggression – with British support. Link to the video that investigates the US owned company Raytheon and its role in the manufacture of the weapons that are killing people daily in the Yemen which are made, among other places, in Edinburgh.
Another reminder that the people of Palestine have been suffering for 74 years what the Ukrainians have been suffering for less than 74 days.
March 4 2022
In Ukraine reporting, Western press reveals grim bias toward ‘people like us’.
Journalists reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could not help but make comparisons to recent conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. But a painful double standard quickly emerged inside of those comparisons.
A short contribution of an Irish Member of the European Parliament reminding that institution of its hypocrisy when it comes to the plight of the Afghan people/refugees.
Whitehall is sending mixed messages on whether it’s legal, but Britain has no blanket ban preventing mercenaries fighting in foreign wars – only when they might be fighting against (and not on the same side as) fascists.
Britain hosts central Nato functions including its little-known Maritime Command in north west London and hundreds of foreign NATO military personnel are deployed across three sites in the country.
March 8 2022
Fox Business guest tells truth about Ukraine President – he’s a NATO puppet.
A long war is good for the military industrial complex, adding even more billions of pounds/dollatrs to their profits. At 4 minutes 44 seconds into the clip Hilary Clinton is seen to be ‘back on the war wagon’.
” Fake: Vladimir Zelensky on Instagram called Russia’s strike on the Mariupol maternity hospital an atrocity and said that children, their mothers and doctors are under the rubble.
True: The maternity hospital has not worked since the beginning of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. The doctors were dispersed by the militants of the nationalist battalion “Azov”.
On the eighth of March in an interview with Lenta.ru, the son of one of the maternity hospital employees said that “in the last days of February, people in uniform came to the maternity hospital where his mother works. The military dispersed the maternity hospital staff, and set up firing points in the building.”
Biological weapons and storage in Ukraine – the country a vassal state of the US and NATO allowed the )secret) research into chemical and biological weapons to be carried out on their territory. Also discuses the dangers of a ‘no-fly’ zone.
How the West reacts to Vladimir Putin’s aggression will make the difference between peace and further wars – and we need to learn the lessons of other military interventions.
Empires often follow the course of a Greek tragedy, bringing about precisely the fate that they sought to avoid. That certainly is the case with the American Empire as it dismantles itself in not-so-slow motion. The basic assumption of economic and diplomatic forecasting is that every country will act in its own self-interest. Such reasoning is of no help in today’s world. Observers across the political spectrum are using phrases like ‘shooting themselves in their own foot’ to describe U.S. diplomatic confrontation with Russia and allies alike.
In just three weeks the war is becoming ‘privatised’ with mercenaries doing all the dirty work. But remember this was started by the US in Iraq when it started to shovel more and ore money into the pockets of the likes of Blackwater (which keeps on changing its name to try and hide from bad publicity) and other private so-called ‘security’ companies.
glacis – is the killing ground on the approaches to a fortress, where fighting takes place before it is too late and it occurs on the ramparts of the fortress itself.
March 12 2022
A criminal war ushers in the worst of times in Ukraine, Russia, and Europe.
War is being over-simplified as a clash between good and evil. Neutrality for Ukraine would have and should have prevented this conflict – at a time when there is a call in the Republic of ireland for the country to renounce its neutral status.
March 14 2022
Putin’s nuclear threat and Britain’s nuclear posture – not so different?
Nuclear arms have always been seen as useable weapons for fighting ‘limited’ nuclear wars by NATO as a whole, and by the UK and France, and Russia’s nuclear plans are likely to be similar.
Senior Western officials long warned of Russia’s sensitivities towards Ukraine and made verbal promises not to expand NATO. But the UK ignored those warnings while indulging Putin’s ‘gangster capitalism’.
Ukrainians deserve our compassion. So do victims of war everywhere else.
March 17 2022
Under Putin, MI6-linked BP extracted Russian oil worth £271 billion.
UK oil behemoth BP built an empire in Russia during Vladimir Putin’s rule, with the help of the British establishment, especially prime minister Tony Blair. The year after the Salisbury poisonings, Putin told BP: ‘We regard you as a reliable strategic partner.’
The war in Ukraine has delivered a shock to global energy markets. Now the planet is facing a deeper crisis: a shortage of food. An example of ‘unintended consequences’ of the knee jerk reaction of the capitalist ‘west’ by the imposition of sanction on Russia (and Belarus). As is always the case the poorest in the world will suffer first – and the most.
Is the Russian advance ‘stalled’ (as western propaganda would have us believe) or are they misrepresenting (and therefore mis-analysing) Putin’s aims? The video is long (2 hours plus) but could be useful.
March 21 2022
‘Russia and China, together at lLast’”: Historian Al McCoy predicts Ukraine war to birth new world order.
March 22 2022
U.S. lied about funding ‘dangerous pathogen’ research in secret Ukrainian biolabs, newly leaked documents reveal.
A woman whose father was murdered in Birmingham by a Ukrainian terrorist says it’s ‘concerning’ a neo-Nazi militia has received UK weapons for the war against Russia.
Our hypocrisy on war crimes makes a rules-based world, one that abides by international law, impossible.
March 23 2022
Ukraine: how boycotting everything Russian – and blaming Russian society rather than Putin – is xenophobic.
March 23 2022
CNN vs. Ukrainians in Mariupol – what’s the TRUTH? An issue about ‘body shields’. (The first 3.44 of the video concerns the Ukraine, the second half refers to the US made disaster in Afghanistan.)
The law of unintended consequences is in play – and in a very big way. The west’s attempt to seriously damage the Russian economy through sanctions is very risky and dangerous. Those most enthusiastic to sanction are beginning to understand the same sanctions will hurt their own economies and citizens.
Nazi commanders failed to escape from Mariupol, as Russian and DPR advance accelerated – a number of videos from the Russian side in Mariupol. [These videos have been removed.]
‘I have here (indicating lapels on his jacket) the flags of Mexico, the United States and Ukraine. The Russian ambassador was here yesterday making a lot of noise about how Mexico and Russia are so close. This, sorry, can never happen. It can never happen.’ US Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar.
March 29 2022
NATO-Russia proxy war, revealing signs of a fading America.
French journalists reached Mariupol to interview local civilians – war crimes by Azov confirmed. [Link removed as it did not fir into the US/UK/EU/NATO narrative.]
Chechens and Russian Army Battle Azov Brigade and Ukrainian Army on Mariupol frontline. Note the level of destruction of the infrastructure.
April 19 2022
Russian troops ‘Storming Azovstal’ as Ukraine says Russia has begun Phase 2 Donbass offensive. And will the Ukrainians run out of weapons from their donors due to their irresponsible use of what they get from the ‘west’.
The UK is dragging the US into WWIII in Ukraine. [Note the reference to the Observer Editorial at about 8 minutes and the trade union supported pro-war demonstration in London the weekend of 16/17th April. Also, at the end, how US arms manufacturers are planning for a ‘protracted war’.]
April 22 2022
The US sending more arms and money to Ukraine, unaudited and without thinking where they will end up. [It’s embarrassing to provide so many links to Fox News but their anti-Democratic party bias means they are providing anti- American ‘propaganda’.]
The ‘West’ at war with Russia; in the Ukrainian war with Russia the Ukrainians are the least important; Europe takes the hit for US sanctions from Soviet Union times to present day Russian Federation.
The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: Revelations from Trials and Investigation. [Link to an abstract – and the full document – of a paper written in November 2021.]
Colonel Douglas Macgregor; Serious concern about US involvement in Ukraine Russia conflict. It’s embarrassing to be providing links to someone who is a died in the wool conservative Reganite/Trumpite however his arguments against the war in Ukraine are still valid – ignoring that some of his reasons for opposing the war is that it is being carried out by a Democratic administration. It’s also necessary to ignore some of the contradictions of some his statements towards the end – as his eulogy about Trump being a ‘nice guy’. Even though this was originally aired on 5th April 2022 the arguments he uses are still valid five weeks later. [Only made aware of this video in recent days.]
May 6 2022
Vietnam veteran Colonel Richard Black talks about Syria, danger of mission creep in Ukraine and the global corporate media. This is another contribution by a committed conservative American. In the first part he deals with Syria and then from about minute 30 starts to address the situation in Ukraine. Again, like the other retired US soldier above, there are contradictions in their statements when they try to put all the evils on the Democrats (after all it was GW – a Republican who started the ‘war on terror’ and the consequent invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) he does make some interesting points – especially about supposed Russian ‘war crimes’. This was first posted on 26th April 2022 but is another video which we only became aware of in recent days.
Ukraine suffers more Donbass losses, reduces gas supply to EU, omissions from the British media, Italian Prime Minister Draghi tells Biden a diplomatic solution needed.
May 12 2022
Michael Hudson on decline of dollar, sanctions war, imperialism and financial parasitism.
Ukraine pleads for release of Azovstal fighters; what happened at the Siversky Donets river crossing; Scholz and Austin ask for ceasefire – which Putin refuses.
President Zelensky bans opposition parties in Ukraine. [This news came out around March 21 2022, but we have only just become aware of it. Don’t you admire the manner in which the ‘Western’ media report such important policy moves – when the war (and the rationale for the support from the imperialist countries) is predicated on the defence of ‘democracy’.]
‘I find it strange that today that the public seems vastly more engaged in a war its country is not officially fighting than in the ones we did fight over the past two decades.’
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov agreed with Guterres’ concerns on Monday, saying ‘that is true,’while insisting Russia was ‘not the source of the problem which is causing the threat of world hunger. The sources of this problem are those who imposed sanctions, and the sanctions themselves.’
He said Ukrainian forces have planted naval mines in the Black Sea, making shipping in the area ‘virtually impossible’.
According to Peskov, Kiev could also use rail routes to export its grain. Poland sends trains with weapons to Ukraine, and ‘no one prevents them from exporting grain back on the same trains’, he said.
Hungary decides to tax big multi-national companies and plays chess with the EU; Arestovich, a Zelensky ‘advisor’ tells those who suggests an end to the war to f*** themselves; Poand is running out of tanks; the Ukrainian flag displayed upside-down in Washington.
George Galloway, especially from the six minute point when he talks about the Ukraine and the Right to Protect (RTP) – the invention of Clinton and Blair in relation to Yugoslavia – and the failure of economic sanctions against Russia.
Military collapse in north Donbass; Turkey & Russia move closer together as EU crumbles.
09 June 2022
New York Times – Biden has no idea what Yelensky is doing, Jeanette Yellen suggest bizarre ‘price cap on oil’, Lavrov says de-mine Odessa to allow grain exports.
10 June 2022
Reuters ignores swastika tattoo of Ukrainian ‘local’. [rt.com link. If in Britain use TOR browser.]
Russia’s rouble is now stronger than before the war – western sanctions are partly to blame. [A view from a pro-West perspective that ends with the ‘hope’ the sanctions might have some impact upon the Russian people, e.g., they will ‘suffer’ by the poor not being able to buy a McDonald’s or the rich not being able to spend their ill-gotten gains on Gucci handbags.]
Noam Chomsky: Ukraine is a diplomacy No-Go Zone. [The introduction which mentions what Chomsky doesn’t say or stress is also worth the read. Is Chomsky getting more cautious in his old age? Also listen to the short video link and the ‘bullying’ United States.]
The stupidity of the USA ruling class knows no bounds. Comments about a recent Public Service Announcement produced by the New York City local government – How to survive a nuclear attack.
17 July 2022
A long (2hours and 15 minute) ‘roundtable’ debate which introduces many interesting ideas in relation to the debacle the so-called ‘west’ has got itself into surrounding the Special Military Operation in Ukraine. What will Russia do after winning the war; how the world order will change; the collapse of Europe as an entity; the threat of a nuclear war; the consequences of ‘globalisation’ and the consequent de-industrialisation of the previously most dominant capitalist societies; amongst other topics discussed. Well worth the time needed to listen to all of it.
Mick Wallace in the European Parliament (5th July 2022) There are voices in the EU against the warmongers but they are only allowed to speak when the building is empty. That’s bourgeois democracy for you.
19 July 2022
Sanctions cause global DeDollarization and don’t work. (19th July 2022) An interesting approach to the issue but still made by Americans – who are so American-centric and don’t see the issue as crucial to the existence of capitalism.
And this is on Fox News with Tucker Carson, considered one of the biggest righti-wng aresholes in the world. The world is truly going to Hell in a handcart.
Ukraine hopes to retake territory as new weapons give the power to push back Russians. This article is included just to demonstrate how the ‘west’ is deluding itself about the war. This from a so-called ‘academic’.
28 July 2022
The gang that can’t shoot straight: western leaders bungle Russia gas supply, barmy oil price cap and appear unable even to line up meetings.
NATO wanted war – Senator Black (Yet again another Reaganite talks sense about NATO and the Ukraine.)
6 August 2022
Russia advances into Bakhmut, lynchpin of Ukraine defence, Putin and Erdogan forge economic alliance – especially pertinent to British readers is the part of the broadcast which discusses the possible complicity of the British Government/Army in providing inadequate training to Ukrainian conscripts. If what is reported is actually the case then they are complicit in the murder of these conscripts in cynically using them in their propaganda war against Russia.
7 August 2022
What will be the aftermath of the Ukraine war if Russia is defeated, Sir Richard Barrons (former Commander of Joint Forces Command). You would have thought that someone in his position would make statements based on facts and not on wishful thinking. But then he’s british so you shouldn’t really expect any different.
World on edge: Russia vs Ukraine, Nuclear plant shelled ’10 times’. (Only the beginning relates to the Ukraine – but the other topics are also interesting.
Ukraine destroys Russian supply bridges, one-fifth of ground forces – according to the Ukrainians, but not verified by any independent witness. A similar report, at least concerning the bridges, was reported on the BBC website on the same day. However, within hours the article became unavailable (at least I can’t find it) so the BBC can claim deniability, but the ‘damage’ – i.e., ‘fake news’ – had been done. And the level of Russian ‘casualties’ is nothing less than a pipe dream.
Zelensky warns Russian soldiers at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Admits it’s Ukraine shelling the plant – but tomorrow will blame the shelling on the Russians.
Russia chases off UK spy plane. An interceptor was sent to escort a British RC-135 that violated airspace near Murmansk in western Russia.
15 August 2022
Lunatic UK sends spy plane to Murmansk, Russia; Ukraine to be landlocked; Zylensky ‘might not be God’; Rumanian Central Bank hire’s a ‘fortune teller’; EU continues to live in La La Land; action of the US ‘Deep State’.
Putin says Russia and North Korea will expand bilateral relations. [Although some doubts have been expressed if this is as significant as it first seems.]
Ignoring Ukraine setbacks, Putin boasts of Russian weapons prowess. What is ignored here is that western ‘modern’ weapons are so fragile, due to their over-use of vulnerable technology, that they need much more maintenance than what Russia produces.
16 August 2022
Putin’s address to participants and guests of the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security
The last two paragraphs are particularly interesting;
Kiev denies carrying out the strikes and claims that Russian troops are shelling the plant to discredit Ukraine. It also accused Russia of stationing its military forces at the Zaporozhye plant. [This when ‘Kiev’ has used the excuse for shelling the site because Russian troops are supposedly stationed there.]
The UN would neither confirm nor deny allegations by either side and called for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear facility. The US said that Russia had to cede control of the plant and the city of Energodar, where it’s located, to Ukraine, to prevent the risk of a nuclear disaster. [Which other war can you remember when the ‘wining’ side is supposed to just give up what it had taken just because an international organisation says so.]
18 August 2022
Russia pressures Ukraine on all fronts; West increasingly pessimistic on Kiev’s prospects; European economies go from bad to worse; Russian economy seems to be weathering the storm.
Ukraine round-up: Russia blames Ukraine for Dugina killing and mass events banned in Kyiv.
A few examples of BBC-speak, from the text, where the journalists try to undermine the ‘opposition’ but at the same time don’t really provide any concrete proof for their own, pro-NATO stance.
‘Without providing any evidence’, but as much, if not more, than in the Skripal case in Salisbury.
‘a very minor figure in Russia’ – so that justifies the car bomb?
‘In the face of significant losses during this war, Russian authorities have launched a recruitment drive to try and attract more soldiers to its army.
As part of the drive, they are offering volunteers huge sums of money, plots of land and even premium places for their children in Russian schools.
Recruiters have even been visiting Russian prisons to sign up inmates, promising them freedom and money.’
There is no evidence of ‘significant losses’ and all other assertions are nothing more than that.
Here the BBC report text contradicts the reality of the maps and the Kherson -counter-offensive’ consists of sending the occasional missile against a couple of bridges – which are still in operation after weeks of such attacks.
This link to a BBC news article is included here because it asks more questions than it answers. The Russians occupied the site months ago and therefore there will be a few hundred troops there, basically on guard patrol. There is no evidence that there is any heavy artillery on site which the Russians are ‘hiding’ to be able to attack under cover of the facility – they don’t need to hide as they have overwhelming superiority in artillery. Unless there is a Catch-22 scenario (where Milio Minderbinder took a contract for the USAF to bomb its own airfield) then it is not the Russians who are attacking the nuclear site.
The Ukrainians have admitted attacking the site because, they say, they are aiming at the non-existent artillery – proof of the existence of which is not forthcoming even from their US allies with all their satellite capability. So it is the Ukrainians who are causing the fires.
And how does Zelensky know what is happening inside the plant? It’s under total Russian control and he is 350 miles away, safe in Kiev.
But the worse is that the BBC continues to publish such unfounded and baseless ‘information’ as part of the British Government’s dis-information, propaganda campaign.
Did the FBI tell Facebook to censor Hunter Biden laptop story? The present US President’s son working for ‘the most corrupt country in Europe’. And he was so stupid he took his laptop, containing all kinds of sensitive information about his dealings in the Ukraine, to a repair shop – and then return to collect it.
Another ‘mainstream’ British media article to demonstrate the dissemination of ‘fake’ news in the UK. Tilsdall’s pathological hatred of Putin blinds him to the reality of the moment, e.g., where is there evidence that Putin ‘is desperate’; where is the evidence of 80,000 Russian fatalities – except in the declarations of the almost certainly clinically insane Zelensky?
Ukraine war: Kyiv launches counter-offensive to retake Kherson, say authorities. This has definitely come out of nowhere – if it is really an accurate report. Have they misunderstood the difference between a ‘counter-attack’ and a ‘counter-offensive’?
‘Kherson Offensive’ announced by western media. Regardless of its outcome, the fact that Ukraine is attempting to launch a counter-offensive in Kherson rather than the main front line in Donbass reveals deep, irreversible weaknesses that are and will continue to cost Ukraine the conflict.
The next three links take you to articles by so-called ‘academics’ who are backing up the western agenda in the Ukraine. They are included here as they demonstrate that even those who should know that they should base their assertions on identifiable facts they, instead, use the unproven and unverifiable statements from Kiev as gospel. Considering that present day students at university have to pay a fortune to go there they are not being served well by the teaching staff they are supposed to teach them. They will learn as much about international affairs from these ‘teachers’ as economic students learnt about avoiding economic crashes from lecturers post-2008.
They also continue to make assertions which are patently false – but which have become the ‘truth’ because they have been repeated so often. This includes the long repeated idea that it was the Russians who were ‘blockading’ Ukrainian ports. Ships couldn’t leave Ukrainian ports because the Ukrainians had placed mine fields in the approaches. Where, in history, has an attacking force placed mines before a port city they might, one day, want to attack?
Further, in the first article, it is true that the Russian navy hasn’t really played a significant role in the conflict so far. At the same time they haven’t needed to as land forces have been gradually taking control of more and more Ukrainian territory – at the tie of writing about 20% of the totla. But, if Snake Island is the lynchpin in Ukraine’s naval strategy it wouldn’t take too long for the Russian air force to pulverise it to such an extent it might not as well exist. The author of that article is a ‘Professor of Politics, Philosophy and Religion’. It shows when he comes to ‘discuss’ military matters.
This ‘academic’ also asserts that Russia is suffering on the international stage and food shortages are ‘eroding its soft power in the global south’. In place of less countries voting (in the likes of the UN) against Russia more of the countries in the ‘global south’ are turning their backs on the ‘west’.
This ‘professor’ also asserts that Russia’s Special Military Operation ‘stalls on land due to a badly planned campaign and the exhaustion of its military resources’. The Ukrainians, with the full backing and support of NATO, had 8 years to establish defences in the Donbass region, and the soldiers were ‘trained to NATO standard’. To reduce its own casualties Russia uses its overwhelming artillery and firepower to ‘soften’ up areas before advancing – that takes time. There is no evidence whatsoever of anywhere on the main front-line where the Ukranians have pushed the Russian advancing forces back.
There was a big fanfare at the start of the so-called ‘Kherson counter-offensive’ that 100 missiles had rained down on Kherson City. The Russians are firing 60,000 artillery rounds and missiles A DAY, everyday, in the Donbass region and there’s no sign of any shortage.
30 August 2022
The push to recover Kherson in the south is on – will it succeed?
A few short comments. It was the ‘west’ that first ‘weaponised’ fossil fuel since the end of February 2022; in what war in the past has one side provided a vital resource to an ‘enemy’; the war in the Ukraine is a proxy war of the ‘west’ against Russia and why, therefore, do the countries of Europe act as victims when they have been sending weapons to ‘kill Russians’; would the countries of Europe be as magnanimous as the Russians have been if the openly racist and xenophobic declarations made by ‘western’ leaders had ben directed at them; and, perhaps more importantly, it is the ‘west’ which has been resisting ‘sitting around the negotiating table’ and, instead, has been fuelling the war with its continued arms shipments.
Russia claims massive Ukraine losses in Kherson; Europe in energy crisis turns to China for gas – which would have come from China; the Times of London declares ‘war is not a lost cause’.
01 September 2022 (first published 24 August 2022)
International tourism hit as Russian travellers disappear – another example where the sanctions against Russia have resulted in the ‘west’ shooting itself in the foot.
Kherson offensive falls flat; was it a Russian trap? Did the Russians receive information of the attack before it took place?
01 September 2022
2019 RAND paper warned US of failure during Ukraine conflict – As far back as 2019, US Army-commissioned studies examined different means to provoke and antagonize Russia who they acknowledged sought to avoid conflict. However, they also warned that if Russia was pushed too far, it could trigger an escalation that would spiral out of Washington’s control. Today we are watching this conflict unfold. Just how accurate was the study’s predictions?
02 September 2022 (article first published 05 May 2022)
Possibility of talks between Zelenskyy and Putin came to a halt after Johnson’s visit – this was in April but it’s probably been the case on subsequent visits (the Buffoon seems to be in the Ukraine more than in Britain.)
Why is it that the BBC ‘journalists’ don’t see a contradiction in saying, in the same article, that the Russians are using the power plant as a ‘base’ whilst at the same time following a tactic of ‘non-stop shelling by occupying Russian forces’? Where (as has been asked here previously, as well as by other independent commentators) is there an example, in any war, at any time, where the force occupying a location also sends missiles against that location?
Also, where in any war in the past, has an occupying force captured a power plant and continued to provide energy to its enemy? The Russians have been doing this for the best part of six months but that has not been recognised by the so-called ‘impartial’ media of the ‘democratic west’.
Volodymyr Zelensky claims Ukraine takes three settlements in south and east in counter-offensive.
Note the disclaimer at the top of the article. Also note NO specifics about exactly which ‘settlements’. The claim goes against all verifiable information. Zelensky is increasingly becoming a fantasist. And the Ukrainians NEVER give details of the ‘settlements’ taken.
05 September 2022
Australian artist removes Ukraine and Russia mural after backlash. [It now seems that everything has to go past the Ukrainian ‘censor’ first.]
Russia resumes Donbass advance; Ukraine Kherson offensive stops; Europe self made gas crisis deepens. The historical explanation of the development of energy policy in the EU over the last ten years or so is worth a listen.
06 September 2022
Dancing with the Politicians – US foreign policy has become a full-time comedy routine. [Make sure you take a look at the included video.]
Wounded Ukrainian soldiers reveal steep toll of Kherson offensive – Washington Post. A Ukrainian soldier quoted has the nickname ‘Pinochet’. I wonder why he got that moniker? No Nazis in the Ukraine? Of course not.
Russia moves reinforcements to Kharkov Region to counter Ukraine Balakliye Offensive. Subsequent events overtook some of the comments here.
09 September 2022
Kharkov advance, Palmyra and constraints of a ‘special military operation’ – interesting comments about Putin’s reluctance to go to total war and morale implications of carelessly losing territory to those left at the mercy of the vindictive Ukrainians.
Russia reportedly withdraws from Izyum, deploys troops to Ukraine in response to Kharkov offensive – the danger of Russia losing the propaganda initiative.
Kharkiv offensive has shown the west that Ukraine can win. [Again, this article is being included to demonstrate the fantasy world in which western so-called ‘experts’ live. One event is blown out of all proportion and doesn’t take into account the bigger picture. So many ‘facts’ in this article are more assertions and not backed up by any other verifiable information. The lies told n the past are taken as gospel and are being repeated time and time again.]
13 September 2022
Why the EU is struggling to bring its energy crisis under control.
14 September 2022
Russia ‘encircling’ Bakhmut; Putin sticks with Special Military Operation (SMO); Putin rebuffs Scholz and Macron.
This map holds an important clue about Kremlin fears of NATO expansion. [theconversation.com has been, to date, yet another parrot of ‘western’ propaganda. This is the first time since February 24 that they’ve addressed a real issue.]
Putin-Xi talks: Russian leader reveals China’s ‘concern’ over Ukraine. [How the BBC concocts ‘news’ from nothing – apart from the British state’s wishful-thinking. It will be interesting to see how they report the end of the conference and joint communiques – if at all.]
15 September 2022
Bakhmut and goals of the ‘special military operation’; the collective west’s self destruction; NATO as a ‘business’; the US success at driving Europe away from Russia and China – and bringing any independent aspirations under control. [A long – two and a half hour – debate which covers a lot of ground but well worth the effort.]
Using the payments system to enforce an Russian oil price cap likely to cause supply shock.
16 September 2022
Russia encircles Bakhmut; Ukraine offensives at a standstill; in Samarkand Putin Meets Xi and Iran joins the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
16 September 2022
Putin’s failure will pave the way for China’s rise to pre-eminence in Eurasia. [Another article presented to demonstrate how not only is the media slave to US/UK/EU/NATO interests, so are the so-called ‘academics’. This piece just demonstrates how lazy academics are, taking one word out of context and making a mountain of his own interpretation. And to think that students place themselves thousands of pounds in debt for such ‘erudition’.]
16 September 2022
Vladimir Putin Press Conference at Shanghai Cooperation Organization – subtitles could be better but the actual content is worth a listen.
16 September 2022
Sweden elections, Elensky curse? EU, ‘Hungary not democracy.’ Ursula, ‘Russia in TATTERS.’
21 September 2022 (first broadcast on 30 August 2022)
Alexander Vindman breaks down Ukraine’s counter-offensive operation. A CNN piece. Interesting to watch now after the failure of the ‘counter-offensive’. Vindman talks about the consequences of Russian ‘failings’, i.e., not being able to contain the attack, but doesn’t speculate what would happen if Ukraine’s efforts came to nought. He also makes an interesting throw away comment at the beginning when he mentions heavy Ukrainian losses.
Putin calls up more troops and threatens nuclear option in a speech which ups the ante but shows Russia’s weakness. [Included here to yet again show the shallowness of the western ‘academics’ analysis of the conflict – and the background. Compare with the analysis in the link above and below.]
Russia proceeds with referendums and a partial mobilisation; Ukraine conflict enters Moscow’s end game – includes interesting analysis on the use of tanks and armoured vehicles by the two forces.
Russia counter-blow, New York Times admits Ukraine massive losses in stalled offensive; UK teeters on The Brink.
26 September 2022
How 3D printing is helping the Ukrainian fightback – volunteers among the 3D printing community are helping to supply thousands of vital tourniquets to the Ukrainian conflict. [An indication of the high casualty figures amongst Ukrainians?]
27 September 2022
Britain’s proxy war on Russia. Uses the normal pro-NATO terminology in places but contains some interesting information not commonly known.
The following links are probably the start of the next battle of propaganda in the Russian ‘Special Military Operation’.
27 September 2022
Russian gas pipelines could have been sabotaged – Tagesspiegel. ‘According to Tagesspiegel, the German government and agencies investigating the incident “can’t imagine a scenario that isn’t a targeted attack,” according to an anonymous source familiar with their assessments. “Everything speaks against a coincidence.”
The outlet explained that a deliberate attack on the bottom of the sea has to involve special forces, navy divers or a submarine. Berlin is reportedly examining two possible scenarios. In the first, Ukraine or “Ukraine-affiliated forces” could be behind the attack. The second option is that Russia did it as a “false flag,”to make Ukraine look bad and drive EU energy prices even higher.
27 September 2022
Sweden issues warning over Russian gas pipeline – ‘Meanwhile, a report by the Tagesspiegel newspaper claimed the German authorities suspected the pipelines were subject to a “targeted attack” that could have been carried out by Ukraine, or by Russia, in an attempt to pin the blame on Kiev.’
Nord Stream pipeline leaks raise suspicions of sabotage – (German English language TV) note how the first interviewee avoids the question of who might be responsible and how the second, a ‘Green’ member of the European Parliament mentions Russia with absolutely no foundation – apart from banging the NATO drum.
27 September 2022
Russia will upgrade Special Military Operation to Counter Terrorist Operation on entry of Regions; Putin talks to Erdogan and Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
Russia announces referendum results, claims victory in all four regions – interesting reminder of what happened in 2014 from the Russian journalist at the end.
29 September 2022
Russia warns US on nuclear threats; China’s Global Times hints at US responsibility for Nord Stream 1 and 2 sabotage.
Colonel Doug MacGregor – Ukraine Russia war latest, Russia is not and cannot lose the war. Discusses Ukrainian loses and trashes the analysis of a professor of strategic studies at St Andrews University.
Scott Ritter on the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and Putin’s most recent speech – the short video clips at the beginning are worth watching again as they give an indication of the ‘American way’ of conducting foreign affairs.
Nord Stream attacks; New Russia; mobilization; western media admits very high Ukrainian casualty rates of both men and equipment; western arms supplies diminishing.
Military summary and analysis – if the figures of Ukrainian casualties (as reported by the Russians) is correct then the losses on the Ukrainian side are horrendous – along all points of the so-called Ukrainian counter-offensive line.
Russian hawks celebrate deadly response to Crimea setback – the BBC in the UK continues to make statements that aren’t based in the reality on the ground.
10 October 2022
Military summary and analysis – with information about the targets of the Russian response to the destruction of the Crimea Bridge.
Ukraine war: a desperate Russia defaults to attacking civilians. [A strange one this. An ‘academic’ – funded by the the Ukrainian government – fails to mention that it was the civilian infrastructure that has been under attack for the last couple of days, that civilian casualties have been low (and who is a ‘civilian’ any way in wartime propaganda terms), doesn’t see the attack on the Crimea Bridge as being an attack on the civilian infrastructure and then provides links to obscure websites which state that the Ukrainians have ‘captured’ hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles in their latest ‘offensives’. Why this hasn’t been broadcast in the rabidly pro-Ukrainian media in the UK (on/in the likes of the BBC or the Guardian) must, I suppose, remain a mystery. (Another question comes to mind – where will Ukraine get the crews to man these ‘war prizes’? You can’t just take an infantry, conscript soldier and expect him to be able to use a tank in any way effectively in a war situation.) Also, if Ukrainian has so many tanks and armour why does Zelensky continue to make plaintive pleas for more from the west? He also makes a major issue of the town of Nova Kharkova, beside the Dnipro River in the northern Kherson region, so it will be interesting to see how matters develop ‘when and not if’, as he says, this ever gets into Ukrainian hands.]
Military summary and analysis – with more updates on the targets of the Russians throughout Ukraine on the second day of missile and drone attacks. Also the use by the Russians of propaganda broadcasts via radio – Ukrainian radio being totally silenced following the most recent missile attacks.
Russian Energy Week International Forum plenary session – Putin’s speech (in full – something which is rarely (if ever) given in the ‘western’ media).
13 October 2022
The Roundtable No. 27; Gonzalo Lira, Mark Sleboda and Yves Smith. A wide ranging debate that looks at the war in the Ukraine from the start, where we are now and how the conflict is having an ever growing negative effect upon the economies of the world.
Russia to take Bakhmut; Ukraine energy reeling after missile strikes; Putin ridicules oil price cap.
13 October 2022
Latest UN vote shows world wants conflict to end – but can’t agree on how to prevent Putin going nuclear. This article has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It’s also full of contradictions and inaccuracies. To address all those errors would take too much time so the article is presented here for those who have an analytical approach to the war in the Ukraine to see how much they might have been trying to understand the conflict – other than listening to the BBC or its international equivalents.
Ukraine targets Elon Musk; US aid dwindles; Ukraine’s offensive increasingly depleted – includes, at the beginning, an extensive presentation on Ukraine’s ‘kill list’ of those who don’t slavishly support whatever Ukraine says or does.
16 October 2022
MSM confirms Ukraine crisis in Bakhmut; Ukraine Kherson defeat; Putin makes hint of the end of Ukraine.
Russia STOPS ATTACK on Turkstream pipeline – and how that relates to the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.
18 October 2022
Ukraine reels from missile/drone strikes and Zelensky 30% admits energy gone; Qatar, Europe running out of gas – an interesting reference (about minute 35) to Comrade Stalin’s approach to the Nazi invasion of the Svoet Union in 1942 .
EU Commission is pushing EU countries to accept joint gas purchases, just as it did with covid-19 vaccines.
18 October 2022
Sanctions on Russia are increasing, not decreasing, its revenue. [Are (American) so-called academics just slow or are they only admitting now – what very many have known for months – that the sanctions against Russia will have a ‘blow back’ effect as it is now impossible to ignore reality?]
19 October 2022
Russia defences in Kherson, evacuating civilians, advancing in Kharkov and Bakhmut; UK Defence Secretary to Washington.
19 October 2022
Russian General Surovikin speaks; Kherson battle looms; drone/missiles strikes continue.
The US isn’t at war with Russia, technically – but its support for Ukraine offers a classic case of a proxy war. [Another example where academia is so poor in the ‘west’ that only now, after 8 months of the conflict, does one of their group accept what many of us have known was the case only a matter of days after the fighting started.]
Zelensky accuses Russia of plot to blow up dam. [The paucity of the BBC journalists is demonstrated here by the fact that there is no mention whatsoever of the Ukrainian attempts, over months, to destroy the dam and/or bridges at Kakhovka – when no one in the ‘west’ was concerned of the possible consequences down stream.]
Russia accused of sabotaging Ukraine water pipe to Mykolaiv (Nikolaev). [This pipeline was damaged in April of this year. Why is it only now that the BBC reports the matter? Might it have something to do with the possibility that the Russian forces could soon be in Nikolaev? And this fact will be used to accuse the Russians, yet again, of ‘war crimes’?]
IEA: The current energy crisis is unprecedented. [It seems the word ‘unprecedented’ wasn’t restricted to the pandemic. What other issues, in the future, will be classified as ‘unprecedented’?]
25 October 2022
‘General Winter’ is about to arrive – this time it’s not good news for the Russian army. [This ‘academic’ gets funding from the Ukrainian (and almost certainly also the US) government – although transparency about the Transatlantic Dialogue Center is somewhat opaque. So his comments should be taken in that context.]
25 October 2022
US recruits Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Iran regime change operation. [Although specifically about Iran there are points that are relevent to the situation in the Ukraine.]
Military summary and analysis. [The Ukrainians seem to be changing their so-called ‘offensives’ from place to place when different attempts get defeated by Russian forces. In Donetsk possible the worst nightmare for the Ukrainians.]
26 October 2022
No evidence for Jacob Rees-Mogg’s fracking claims, government admits. The former energy secretary had claimed anti-fracking groups were funded by the Russian president. [Included here as an example of the result of Russophobia whuich means that any baseless claim against Russia gets a hearing.]
27 October 2022
Russian tactics on eastern front ‘crazy’, says Zelensky. [The Russian advance is and has been always supported by artillery yet the Ukrainian ‘offensives’ have taken place across open. Steppe, ground and with no artillery support and now the ‘demented’ from Kiev considers Russian tactics ‘crazy’. And it’s if he has any concern for Russian lives.]
Interview of Scott Ritter by George Galloway – covering British special forces involvement in terrorist attacks on Russia and what will be the effect when ‘General Winter’ gets involved in the conflict.
‘IT’S DONE’: Did Liz Truss text Antony Blinken after Nord Stream attack?
31 October 2022
Another round of pointless and dangerous escalation as Putin blocks grain exports. [Another ‘academic’ paid for by the US government trotting out it’s propaganda and ignoring the details. See video (at around 40 minutes onward) in the link ‘Ukraine energy crisis … ‘ below (2nd November 2022).]
Lessons from the Blitz suggest Russia’s targeting of cities could backfire. [Yet another ‘academic’ – supported by quasi-government funding – who addresses an issue which ignores reality in order to distort the message given to uncritical readers in the ‘west’. Interesting also is this writers emphasis on the view of the British Communist Party during the first years of the Second World War.]
02 November 2022
Ukraine energy crisis risks EU migrant crisis, EU in denial; Putin and Erdogan reinstate grain deal.
Thieves’ paradise in Kiev — IMF admits it doesn’t know how much Ukraine has received of $35 billion in promised foreign cash or where the money was spent.
03 November 2022
What new missiles is Iran providing to Russia and what difference will they make? [Check out the number of times this ‘academic’ uses the word ‘allege’.]
03 November 2022
Russia advances on Mariinka; no Kherson retreat; Ukraine calls up 100 thousand troops, confirming heavy losses.
Military summary and analysis – following the announcement of the Russian withdrawal from Kherson. Asks the question whether the Russians can evacuate the area without the agreement of the Ukrainians.
10 November 2022
Russia slips out of Kherson under cover of Midterms – a different point of view (and less pessimistic – on the Russian side) – from that of the Military Channel above.
10 November 2022
Military summary and analysis – with the proposition that Russia will be happy, more or less, with what they already control and will be happy to sue for ‘peace’. But this channel was very much out of sync when it came ot the start of the destruiction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure some weeks ago.
10 November 2022
Russia withdraws from Kherson; Surovikin steadies nerves and promises an offensive. [Mercouris can waffle quite a bit but if you stick with him he does make some pertinent points.]
10 November 2022
Russia pulling out of key city of Kherson – what it means for the conflict. [Yet another empty and meaningless comment from a western ‘academic’. Obviously not being supported financially by various western governments.]
The battle for Kherson could determine the outcome of this war. [It will be interesting to see, when this conflict ends, how these ‘academic experts’ will be seen in society – or even in their own universities.]
CNN banned from Ukraine after showing Nazi salute.
15 November 2022
Military summary and analysis – in this podcast Dima suggests the Dnipro River bridges will be the forthcoming targets of Russian attempts to destroy the Ukrainian infrastructure.
16 November 2022
When Marshal Kutuzov joins General Winter and General Surovikin, what happens next on the front.
Why don’t the Poles admit the war isn’t winning the next Polish election and isn’t in Poland’s national interest – unless Zelensky loses Galicia to Poland, again.
After recapture of Kherson the conflict is poised at the gates of Crimea. [Yet another so-called ‘academic’ – who receives funding from the Ukraine – trotting out the same baseless propaganda about how the country, whose infrastructure is being rapidly destroyed which can’t but effect any attempt to make a full-scale offensive anywhere in the country, much less ‘retake the Crimea’, is on a winning streak. British, and the western academia in general, prostituting themselves for the filthy lucre.]
Russia missile strike devastates Ukraine energy and gas infrastructure; EU in denial about energy crisis refugee flood from Ukraine. [Some interesting historical comparisons in the last 5 minutes or so.]
Russia atrocities bring NATO members closer. [A ‘senior’ BBC journalist beats the US/UK/EU/NATO propaganda drum – and ignores the reality of disagreements within the EU and, for example, the fact that Türkiye (a NATO member) does it’s own thing. Not surprisingly this drivel was removed from the bbc.co.uk front page in less than 12 hours.]
Chornobaivka airbase, symbol of Russian defeat. Another non-story – just to give the impression that Ukrainian is ‘winning’ the war. And BBC reporters know more about Russian aims than the Russians – see paragraph 3. Why do I read this crap? And all Ukrainian women are called Svitlana. (See link below on the ‘surrender hotline’.)
The surrender hotline for Russian soldiers – the BBC should be changing it’s name to the UPS (the Ukrainian Propaganda Service) as they continue to pump out such ludicrous inventions of the Ukrainian Nazis. Note ‘Svitlana, not her real name’ and ‘For outnumbered Ukraine, it’s also hoped it will soften the belly of their larger invader.’ No real name as this set up doesn’t exist and the Ukrainians outnumbered the Russians by at least two to one for most of this special military operation and still they’ve lost 20% of pre-24th February Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine faces Bakhmut defeat; EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks of 100,000 Ukrainians ‘killed in action’ in the war.
Ursula von der Leyen’s video, where she talks about 100,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, has disappeared from her Twitter account. The video has been re-uploaded but is 11 seconds shorter. They only left a statement on the assessment of economic damage. But the internet remembers everything. This is the original video. The European Commission has not commented anything yet. Maybe they will say that they got the numbers wrong? [From the video description. Also note the Walter Mitty world she seems to inhabit.]
Ukraine needs tanks and the west should supply them. They could finish off Putin and Russia. [The Guardian article referenced in the Mercouris podcast above.]
Ursula von der Leyen’s speech – which was then self censored (about Ukrainian casualties) and the Ukraine ‘Monaco Battalion’ (the Ukrainian rich kids running away from the battlefront).
Price cap on Russian oil will hit Putin immediately – US. [We shall see. All the other sanctions against Russia have backfired. If this latest doesn’t work then the US coalition will be left with a lot of egg on its collective face.]
Fighting set to slow for winter months, says US intelligence. [This seems to be more wishful thinking on the part of the west. Why would Russia not use the advantage they have at the moment and attack over ice hard ground in the coming months rather than the swamps of the spring?]
03 December 2022
New US B-21 Raider illustrates waste in Western defence spending giving Russia-China the edge. [Is ‘stealth’ capability really useful or necessary. ‘Stand-off’ tactics are now being used even by existing ‘stealth’ aircraft. An example of the obsession in the west for expensive and ‘sophisticated’ weapons which aren’t needed, don’t really fir in to contemporary warfare and only (ultimately) benefit the military-industrial complex.]
Italian media admits Ukrainian losses; Russia grinds Bakhmut; US Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines accepts no Moscow regime change but has no idea what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.
05 December 2022
A Ukrainian restaurant in Toronto celebrated by the media is decorated with flags and photos of fascists, and sells them as well.
Ukraine fires missiles DEEP INTO RUSSIA – and in who’s interest is the perpetuation of the war.
06 December 2022
Finally happened! Russia SHATTERS the Dollar Myth, the Era of the Only Settlement Currency is End. [A useful, and short, history of how the dollar became the ‘world’s currency’ – and how that is now at risk. Some express doubts that this will happen quickly but the world is a different place from what it was when the British pound was ousted from its place of dominance.]
07 December 2022
Russia’s general patience and the pause that refreshes – the growing crisis in both the treatment of Ukrainian casualties and the desperate situation of the Ukrainian civilian population.
Putin – ‘this might be a lengthy process’. Merkel – ‘Minsk agreement an attempt to give Ukraine time’. How the ‘west’ lies when it makes (or facilitates) international agreements.
08 December 2022
Why the Kinburn spit is of vital military significance and opens up the recapture of Crimea. Everything stated here should be measured against where this ‘academic’ gets his finding.
08 December 2022
Ukraine daily losing equivalent of a battalion in Bakhmut; ex US officials admit Ukraine cannot win; Putin on the Russian build up.
John J. Mearsheimer: Great Power Politics in the 21st Century and the implications for Hungary. [A lonmg presentation. The first 42 minutes provides a good analysis of the present international situation. He tends to go off stream after that.]
Drones are transforming the conflict, bringing Russia on to the frontline. [As with all the articles which have been linked to here with anything from The Conversation you have to ‘follow the money’. These ‘academics’ get funding from NATO – so hardly ‘academically impartial’.]
14 December 2022
As Ukraine faces defeat in Bakhmut Washington escalates with Patriot air defence missile delivery to Ukraine.
Full speech: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses Joint Session of Congress – Video and Transcript.
21 December 2022
Russia advance on Kupiansk; Ukraine Power Shortages; Zelensky goes to US; Medvedev meets Xi Jiping.
22 December 2022
The US Congress theatrical performance – ‘Belensky’s’ speech to Congress, kisses Pelosi and US support a ‘good investment’. Putin ‘Russia is fighting NATO’.
This DC [Washington] party invite shows all the money to be made off the Ukraine war – a Ukrainian Embassy reception, sponsored by America’s biggest weapons makers.
Ukrainian flag not a hit in Slovakian parliament. [A bizarre video! What makes it worthwhile posting here is that the Ukrainian supporters don’t know which way up is the Ukrainian flag.]
23 December 2022
Zelensky’s diaspora delegation led by economic hit-woman who led plunder of Ukraine.
24 December 2022
Russia confirms forces deep in Bakhmut; Russia captures Andreevka; Ukraine losing the attrition war; Putin and Russia ‘Military Industrial Complex’.
25 December 2022
Russian-Chinese ties vs. US aggression – the New Atlas with Carl Zha and Mark Sleboda. [A very interest and in-depth look at current and future Sino-Russian relationships.]
25 December 2022
NATO’s ghosts of the past return in Kosovo-Serbia. [Although not ‘directly’ connected to the conflict in the Ukraine – the net is forever getting wider.]
Russia now says Ukraine losing 2 battalions per Day in Donbass; 2nd Ukrainian drone attack on Engels airbase; admission in Financial Times article of the weakness of Ukrainian forces.
The Ukraine crisis is a classic ‘security dilemma’. [The ‘introduction’ includes an extensive quotation from Putin’s speech at the Military Collegium earlier in December 2022.]
Russia launches huge missile strike and hunts Ukrainian air defence system; preparation for north Donbass offensive; Putin and Xi to speak.
29 December 2022
The Grayzone’s end of year stream – some interesting comments on what has happened in 2022, including the war in the Ukraine, the situation in Venezuela and the redundancy of the ‘western’ media as well as the ‘traditional’ Left.
Kiyevskaya (Киевская), named for the nearby Kiyevsky railway station, is a station on the Arbatsko–Pokrovskaya line of the Moscow Metro. Opened in 1953, it is lavishly decorated in the quasi-baroque style that predominated in the early 1950s. The square pylons are faced with white Ural marble and elaborately patterned ceramic tile and the plastered ceiling is decorated with a series of frescoes by various artists depicting life in Ukraine. A large mosaic at the end of the platform commemorates the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Russia and Ukraine. Light comes from a row of hexagonal chandeliers. The architects were L. V. Lile, V. A. Litvinov, M. F. Markovsky, and V. M. Dobrokovsky.
Kievskaya – Line 3 – 02
Kiyevskaya has no vestibule of its own. Instead, escalators at the end of the hall lead to Kiyevskaya and thence to that station’s entrance, which is built into the Kiyevsky railway station.
Kievskaya – Line 3 – 01
For half a century Kiyevskaya was the terminus of the Arbatsko–Pokrovskaya line; the 2003 extension to Park Pobedy ended that situation.
L Lilye, V. Litvinov, M. Markovsky, V. Dobrokovsky
Transit to Stations Kievskaya of the Circle Line and Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line
Kievskaya is a cheerful, lively, and some vulgar station. It is decorated with a lot of gilt. Massive cubic pylons with oblique angles and slightly upper opening capitals are decorated by broad ceramic friezes, claret-coloured with gold. There are 12 pair frescoes in intricate frames on each pylon on the side of the distribution hall, which tell about the happy life in the Soviet Ukraine. If going from the eastern end of the station (passageway to the Circle Line), the first fresco on the left side is ‘Trio of Bandorist Girls’, the opposite – ‘Girls Embroidering a Portrait of T. Shevchenko’. Then – ‘Students’ / ‘Ceramist Girls’, ‘Fishermen on the Azov’ (pay attention to Azov sturgeon, which is just extinct from the Earth) / ‘Foreman on a Building Site’, ‘Cotton-growers’ (cotton plant has failed to get acclimatised in the Ukraine) / ‘Steel Makers’, ‘Apple-gathering’ / ‘Harvestings’ [sic] ‘Vegetable-gathering ‘ (the sizes of cabbage and pumpkins strike) / ‘Welcoming Miners with Flowers’, ‘Kindergarten ‘/ ‘Bricklayers’, Ukrainian Dance’/ ‘Welcoming an Officer’, ‘Grain-selectionist ‘ / ‘Vegetable-selectionist’, ‘Veterinary and Cattle-breeders ‘ / ‘Wine-makers’, Chemistry Scientists’ / ‘Veteran and Students of a Vocational School’, ‘Decorating Champions / ‘Engineering Workers’.
The gallery is crowned by a fresco, which occupies the whole west blank end of the station – ‘People Festivity in Kiev’. It shows joyful women in outstanding folk dresses and exultant children. There are also a monument of B. Khmelnitsky, newly erected buildings, and golden domes of the monastery. Cheerful crowd follows dancing girls who look at one place, but there is nothing. It is interesting that the sky at almost all the frescoes, including the central one, is golden, not blue.
The pylons on the side of the platforms have the same gypsum frames but with images of field flowers of the Ukraine, such as poppy, cornflower, lungwort, rue, thistle, comfrey, primrose, forget-me-not, instead of figurative paintings. The station is illuminated by intricate golden chandeliers under all three vaults. This many-coloured splendour is emphasized by unpretentious white marble of the pylons and walls and monotonous grey granite of the floor.
The passageway to the Circle Line begins at the eastern end of the station. If going to the Filevskaya Line by rules, one should use a bridge left of Fresco ‘People Festivity in Kiev’. The stairway leads to a rather long corridor which ends at an intermediate escalator hall. Then, three escalators go down to Kievskaya station of the Circle Line and four escalators go up to a semi-circular hip-roof escalator hall. Turning right beyond the escalator, one appears at Kievskaya station of the Filevskaya Line. If you are in a hurry, you may breech the rules and use the other bridge located closer to the eastern end of the station. It leads to a corridor (which is sometimes closed)
which ends at the same intermediate escalator hall but on the other side. The semi-circular hip-roof escalator hall is decorated like Kievskaya station of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. It is decorated with a white marble colonnade of eight columns of the Ionic order. There is a wide mosaic frieze – ‘Donations to the Coat of Arms of the Soviet Ukraine’ – on the wall lower the vault. Coat of Arms of the Soviet Ukraine is located over the arc of exit, opposite the escalator tunnel. From the left and right sides of it, Ukrainian smiths, reapers, engineering workers, children, pioneers, miners, gardeners, cattle-breeders, and engineers present things they made to the coat of arms. The figures of donors are designed in an Egyptian style. The composition itself shows whose portrait was at the place of the coat of arms earlier. The walls of the corridor which surrounds the hall are faced with very decorated onyx with intricately alternate white, grey, brown, and purple stripes.
