Confirmation from Maria Zakharova that Putin has lost centralized control of the russian information space. As we have already seen from his rabid mouthpeices.
ADDENDUM: Also found these photos of her phenomenal New York Wedding in 2005
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Aramco, the largely State owned Saudi oil company, reported a profit of $161 billion in 2022…
Humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and to Syrian and Turkish earthquake victims wouldn’t make a dent in it.
And Saudi Arabia is not making much of an input to UN efforts to prolong a ceasefire in Yemen, where hundreds of thousands have died.
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[War | Spring of '23 (Eng subs) - Max Katz
@ArthurD Katz makes some good points here in the first five minutes ‘War as Politics’
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Um Uncle Vlad is always watching….
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Creepy AF. In that portrait he looks like this
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You guys have been busy
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Wednesday is going to be interesting. Polish PM has stated that they can deliver MIG-29s to Ukraine in 4-6 weeks. Poland has approx 30 left and Slovakia 10.
I’m also expecting significant ammunition announcements, be it donations or production orders. Tank and IFV combined arms training is due for completion in the next couple of weeks, so the training grounds will soon be free for another batch of trainees. That could result in a new batch of armoured vehicles. There’s less signalling regarding vehicles, but ammo and aircraft are definitely following the path of previous large donations.
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Yes, I am very interested in his views, which are certainly more well informed than mine or many others.
But the same applies for Strelkov/Girkin who in many ways has the same diagnosis about the paralysis of Putin’s regime as Katz. Both agree that the regime is not fascist enough to survive.
I agree with both that it cannot go on.
But it does not necessarily follow, as Katz hopes and Girkin fears, that Ukraine simply wins and the Russian fascist regime just falls apart.
Others get a vote on that too.
I don’t see evidence from Katz of democratic forces able to take power. He seems to be relying on the paralysed elites who have been unable to challenge Putin’s circle to somehow do so and for the situation to somehow open up from there.
I think he is certainly right that Putin’s regime is not serious enough, and not fascist enough to survive. There are lots of signs, especially including the recent statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson that they have lost control of the information space and have no plans to recover from that. This is evident from the State TV snippets we see here and the tweets from MFA accounts that hold themselves up for ridicule by threatening Georgia with the fate of Ukraine and warning Canadians against supporting regime change in Russia:
Sorry to see the ruling liberal clique having subdued Canada with decadent anti-family, pro-drug & support for Ukrainian Neo-Nazis agenda. #WakeUp to reality, Canadians! https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1635362834703056896/photo/1
Contrast with how Sputnik, working for rather than against the Putin regime, handles the same story
The reports of direct challenge to MFA spokesperson confirms that there are other forces determined to do something about the situation. It could turn out that they are far more capable of killing their opponents and taking power than paralysed turncoats within Putin’s regime. English translation here.
They may also be far more willing to make whatever deals with China are necessary to obtain weapons for the army and competent enough to actually carry out essential retreats.
I have no evidence on which to form an opinion that they could come to power. But I don’t see much evidence that anyone from Putin’s regime could hold onto power or that democrats could defeat the fascists in a power struggle at this stage.
Anyway, while the Russian political situation remains murky, the war goes on. If it does not end in a quick Ukrainian victory, there will have to be a fascist regime in Russia that is able to actually mobilize and impose martial law, backed by supplies from China.
I strongly agree with Tatarigami that it is better to prepare for a long and difficult war and be pleasantly surprised if it ends more quickly:
Even though Ukraine has received substantial support from the West, it’s still only enough to sustain few large offensives. Even if Ukraine successfully clears the entire southern region, it won’t necessarily resolve the ongoing issues with Donbas or Crimea. The fall of one area doesn’t guarantee the fall of the other.
It’s important to recognize that the Russian forces are actively preparing for the upcoming counter-offensive, and we shouldn’t underestimate their capabilities.
Rather than making optimistic statements about how the war will end soon, it’s more realistic to be prepared for a potentially prolonged conflict. We should also communicate this to our allies, so they can adjust their expectations and support accordingly.
While I remain hopeful and committed to achieving victory, I believe it’s important to temper our expectations and avoid the assumption that the war will end quickly as a result of this counter-offensive.
Everyone in Ukraine is grateful for the support we receive from the West, including from both governments and society, but I believe that we need much more to finish this war. This goes beyond just the provision of ammunition and military equipment, as important as those are.
In addition to expanding training programs, we must prioritize efforts to improve our command and control structure. This includes sending our reserve officers to the best military schools to enhance their skills. We need to focus not just on improving the command abilities of NCOs and junior officers, but also those at the brigade level and above.
I plan to release a breakdown of the analysis made by Lieutenant Colonel Glen Grant in his article on the necessary changes for our army to remain modern and successful.
Finally, I would rather hear that the war has ended sooner than expected, even if it means admitting that my previous predictions were incorrect, than to hear that my advice could have made a difference if only it had been heeded earlier.
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Well ■■■■… that basically guarantees the GOP presidential campaign policy will be to withdraw support to Ukraine.
Spain has wrapped up the training of a few dozen Ukraine troops on the Leopard tanks at the facilities outside Zaragoza. Delivery of 6 mothballed tanks to Ukraine is forecast in the northern Spring.
The Spanish Opposition is reportedly opposed to the delivery of weaponry to Ukraine, proposing that Spanish efforts should be directed towards peace.
Civil war memories were recently revived with the discovery of the remains of the first Nazi aircraft shot down in the War.
Spain has not been mentioned as a potential supplier of ammunition. Rheinmetall last year purchased a large Spanish ammunition company, with the stated purpose of ramping up supplies because of the Ukraine War. Maybe it was diversifying supplies from Switzerland. The Swiss Parliament recently confirmed that it would continue to maintain export controls on supplies to Ukraine from buyers of its ammunition.
5,600 84mm Carl Gustav grenades is interesting. Could be laser guided to 2.5km, including drone laser designation of targets not within Line Of Sight:
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Full text of DeSantis, Trump, Pence and other potential GOP candidates answers to Tucker Carlson’s questionnaire are in his tweets. Pence pro-Ukraine.
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Carlson is under the pump from a number of Republicans after his sanitised production of the Capitol riots.
So is Speaker McCarthy.
McCarthy gave Fox exclusive rights to the White House security tapes, cherry picked to present it as just another day in demos at the Capitol.
McCarthy explained that’s what politicians do, give exclusives to the media.
This, following the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox, getting headlines.
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the only limits are your imagination and resources available - and as Barry said, you CONOPS.
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At this stage of the conflict are you still expecting common sense from Putin and his ppl?
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one each if well placed. Looks like they had a stockpile of ammo there too.
in other news/analysis
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Wow. So the Russians will be doing everything to hang on until 2024.
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