Briefly Noted In The News
Primaries, Russia, China, Massachussets
Trump continues to be on a roll—his endorsees are winning against heavy odds, sometimes with the help of Dem money. I know this happened recently in the IL governor primary. The Dems think MAGA candidates will be easier to win against. Monica Showalter has a roundup on last night:
For President Trump, this morning's got to be sweet.
His endorsed candidates, one after another, won over other GOP candidates in Tuesday's primaries. Those coveted endorsements went for congressional seats in Arizona, Michigan, and sort-of Missouri, where it appeared that President Trump endorsed both candidates with the first name "Eric." The counting is still on in places like Washington, so it may not have been a full sweep, but it came very, very close.
Many of the candidates Trump endorsed were political upstarts, not incumbents, which have a harder time winning, so the primary victories were all the more impressive.
…
Intriguingly, Axios noted that many of the candidates who won were seen as the more beatable by Democrats, who "meddled" (Axios's word) in the GOP primaries. But with a GOP sweep predicted for November, it could be the mother of all backfires.
What it does show is that Trump still has mojo — and political muscle. …
As an example, Trump’s candidate in MI who beat the impeacher incumbent Meijier was outspent by a wide margin, but nevertheless received a large proportion of his money from Dems. Or so it was reported, as in IL.
Follow up on yesterday—asymetric response?
In the roundtable discussion including Alex Mercouris and Yves Smith, I think it was Yves who pointed out—as just one example of the types of “choke points” that China holds over our hollowed out economy—that virtually all of our Vitamin C, basic for food preservation, comes from China. We haven’t heard the last of this.
Moon of Alabama has a SitRep on Ukraine which quotes Ukrainian sources. By reliable sources, this is the day to day story of the Special Military Operation now—two brief excerpts:
Ukraine SitRep - On The Ground Report - Ukrainian Frontline Collapses
This Ukrainian account is from Pisky:
As I wrote earlier, 6,500 [Russian] shells per damn village in less than a day.
…
Two mortars 82 and 120 are working on our side.
Sometimes they wake up and "sneeze" two artillery barrels in the direction of Donetsk.
We hardly respond. There is no counter-battery fire, from the word go, the enemy puts artillery shells in our trenches without any problems, dismantles very strong, concrete positions in tens of minutes, pushing our defense line without pause or minimal rest.
Note the reference to “very strong concrete positions”. This is why the Russian advance is so methodical. You don’t take out those kinds of positions with tank “blitzkriegs”. No doubt that’s what NATO hoped Russia would attempt.
The day before yesterday, the line broke, and a river of 200 or 300 [killed/wounded] was poured. I will not publish any statistics, it is forbidden in our country, but you have no idea the number and percentage of losses.
From Moon’s roundup:
The Russian side also wages a continuous campaign against Ukrainian reserves, brigade headquarters and military installations or temporary storage sides far behind the immediate front line. These less visible attacks kill huge numbers of Ukrainian troops. From yesterday's 'clobber report' (also here):
As a result of Russian Aerospace Forces strike on combat positions of 54th Mechanized Brigade of AFU near Mar'inka in Donetsk People's Republic, more than 50 nationalists of 2nd Battalion of this unit have been destroyed.
High-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces struck on a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion near Nikolaev city. The attacks have resulted in the elimination of up to 250 nationalists and 20 units of military equipment.
High-precision strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces have eliminated up to 500 nationalists of 92nd Mechanised Brigade of AFU and large amount of military equipment in Merefa and Chuguyiv in Kharkov Region.
Shelling of combat positions of 16th Battalion of 58th AFU Motorized Infantry Brigade near Artemovsk have resulted in the elimination of over 130 nationalists. The remaining battalion servicemen, numbering up to 70, hurriedly left their positions and departed for Konotop, Sumy Region, where they were disarmed and declared deserters.
21st Battalion of 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade, which had suffered significant losses near Peski, came under artillery fire of AFU during its retreat to Vodyanoye and was almost completely eliminated.
Notice the last paragraph. The unit in Pisky (Peski), where Serhiy Gnezdilov reported from, was retreating towards Vodiane (Vodyanoye), north of Pisky (see the second map above). On their way the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) opened fire on them, killing nearly everyone who had survived the Russian attacks against Pisky.
That last entry appears to describe a “friendly fire” situation—AFU firing on its own troops. Deliberate—because they were retreating—or accidental? I saw video footage of the scene yesterday. Incredible carnage.
Regarding dangerous US involvement, it’s long been assumed that the HIMARS batteries are US/NATO controlled. That means that they’re using US controlled resources for targeting—without that they would be ineffective. So now …
Which explains why the Russians are basically ignoring panicky attempts by the US to draw them into “negotiations.” A good example of the latter is Zhou’s passive - aggressive op/ed in the NYT earlier—or perhaps the Zhou regime recognizes weak support for the war on Russia on its own home front:
Passive: America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression (…) We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow“
Aggressive: “We will also continue reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank with forces and capabilities from the United States and other allies. And just recently, I welcomed Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, a move that will strengthen overall U.S. and trans-Atlantic security by adding two democratic and highly capable military partners“
Meanwhile Putin is winning awards for his Putin Price Drop:
MOSCOW — After months of singlehandedly raising America's gas prices without any help whatsoever from the Biden administration, Russian President Vladimir Putin has mercifully given Americans a short break by lowering the price at the pump. For his benevolence and valor, he has awarded himself the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"Weakling Joe Biden said all the gas prices are my fault. So when they come down, this is my fault too. You're welcome Americans!" said Putin on state television. "Enjoy 50-cent savings! Putin Price Drop!"
Biden's team was quick to clarify that gas prices are only Putin's fault when they go up. "Biden deserves all the credit for this price drop," said gay black Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "That Medal of Freedom isn't even real!" Jean-Pierre then caught one glimpse of a shirtless Putin wearing the medal while riding a bear and instantly turned straight.
At publishing time, OPEC confirmed that they were just waiting for Biden to burn through all of America's strategic oil reserves after which they will quadruple oil prices.
And finally, from Deep Blue Massachussetts:
Gun sales in deep blue Massachusetts hit record levels beginning in 2020, sparked by fear: Report
The WBUR analysis published Wednesday found gun dealers in the state sold nearly 276,000 firearms from 2020 through 2021, with the majority of sales being handguns, at 64%, while 23% of the sales were for rifles. …
Massachusetts is tied with New Jersey for having the lowest gun ownership in the country, at 14.7% of households with at least one gun, according to Rand Corporation average estimates released in 2020.
…
Massachusetts gun sales overall in 2021 were up 57% from 2019 and doubled that year compared to 10 years ago, WBUR found.
A cultural marker?
Pelosi Arrives In Seoul, But South Korea's President Won't Meet With Her
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nancy-pelosi-arrives-seoul-south-koreas-president-wont-meet-her
Nancy Pelosi has arrived in South Korea, continuing her Asia tour - now leaving in her wake a tense Taiwan situation that's seeing Chinese PLA forces encircle the island with live fire drills - but South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol will not meet with her.
While he had a pre-scheduled "holiday" which was announced in advance, there's been widespread speculation in the region that this was intentional (given weeks ago it was being reported she may go to Taiwan), so that Seoul can avoid bringing down China's wrath. Even Foreign Minister Park Jin happens to be out of the country - so there will be no Pelosi meeting with the nation's top diplomat either.
Apparently during her stay in Taipei Pelosi referred to B. Franklin as having been president. Hmmm. I listened, as usual she was slurring, but it did sound like that.