Here in the US we hear almost nothing about Ukraine, and haven't for months now. This is because politicians in both parties tacitly understand, but dare not say publicly, that in a single year Ukraine has gone from holy war to lost cause, and exists solely for the purpose of feeding the MIC.
On a more strategic level, the US is idiotically bleeding itself of materiel in Ukraine at the very time it is waging another proxy war in the Middle East. Whether Putin is deliberately allowing this war of attrition to linger, thereby draining US ability to make mischief elsewhere, is the unanswered question.
I also think the lack of more news on Ukraine is the Zionists need to obscure the longer term plan of making billions off of reconstruction through Zionist led Blackrock. Many people (the informed) are speaking more openly to the uninformed as to what they see going on. Hence the panic we are beginning to see among the elite who are trying to hold their members together to maintain trust in each other so that they can pull off the destruction of this world to usher in the world they prefer without us in it.
BTW FPV Drones are great. They can do a lot of damage. But the traditional massive artillery/Air Bombing campaign/barrage is still the primary means of stopping/weakening an attack or breaking the enemies defenses. One of the mysteries of this war is that we have not really seen that in this war. If you have an example of an "Operation Cobra" situation of Fire Support being used, by either side, I would like to hear about it. Because I keep asking , why not? Especially in the age of MOABs
I claim no expertise. My partial explanation is that this is very much a Clausewitzian war--pursued with political calculations to the forefront. I believe Russia is doing all in its power to minimize its own casualties and material losses, but also to avoid inheriting a huge by destroyed country that would be an economic anchor around its neck. Attrition works better for those purposes, or that appears to be the Russians calculation.
Re your previous comment, hostility of the West to Russia goes back centuries--of course. However, it has changed its shape over time, depending to one degree or another on who the players involved are. Doug Macgregor--echoing what Michael Hudson has long said--recently stated that this war is largely driven by the desire for revenge of Western ruling classes with ancestral roots in the Russian lands. (Hudson, with his close connections to Trotsky's circle would know.) That's their way of pointing a finger at the heavily Ashkenazi Jewish Neocons, and IMO is largely true of the US. The other major player in pushing this war is the UK, and there the motives are similar in part but also different. Taking the Globalist West as a whole, hostility to traditional Christianity resurgent in a powerful country is anathema to the Western elites. A smaller player, but key because of its geography and history, is Poland. Its motives involve an incredibly short sighted revanchism.
Concur on all parts. In my mind and maybe yours, this is a cultural war on an international scale. A war for the soul of the west. Orthodox Christianity is the last bastion of true Christian morals, and the progressives know this. The Neocon progressives want any road block in their way destroyed. That way the threat of Christianity is dead and nothing can stop the "new woke order".
The other thing : this is pay back for the neocons. They feel that they had the Russians just where they wanted it in the 1990's. A decadent , dying nation, consumed with internal fights and western capitalist sucking it dry like a vampire. But they were stopped, and these people are a vindictive lot. Just like all ideologues are.
The neocons have never forgiven the Russians, and especially Putin for throwing off the yoke of Capitalist decadence. They want the whole world to look like the Weimar republic.
There is a spiritual context of whats going on and it is not good.
BTW. Pat Buchanan was a prophet of things to come.
"Orthodox Christianity is the last bastion of true Christian morals, and the progressives know this."
Great point, Robert. As an Orthodox Christian myself I know that Orthodoxy in the USA is sort of a well kept secret given the relative size to it's younger Roman Catholic counterpart. So far the sort of oppression Catholics experience is not felt so much by Orthodox Christians in the USA and the Catholic church is spiraling downward as the current pope proves to be attempting to fully destroy the church. We see more and more converts to Orthodoxy from protestants sick of the intolerance of their neo-puritan drift leftward and Catholics who no longer find the Roman church palatable. The shutting down of the Ukrainian Orthodox church by the Zionist Zelensky was a huge tell and supports your argument. As for the revenge factor you are spot on. They claim Russia treated them badly, but they never answer the question, "why was that?" A lot of that so-called poor treatment has a lot of disinformation and propaganda in the mix.
If you observe Christianity as a tree branch the Roman church broke away from the original One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church in 1054 when the great schism occurred. The two major issues include the Roman claim to a universal papal supremacy and her addition of the filoque clause of the Nicene Creed. From the Roman Church the branching off occurred in and around 1517 (Luther's 95 thesis and the beginning of the reformation in Christendom), the Church of England formed another branch in 1529 and on the Roman continuum you have the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and dogma of Papal infallibility (1870). In 1988 Russia quietly observed 1000 years of Orthodoxy.
I'm gonna advise you not to go into that here. I understand exactly what you're saying now--your original claim was unclear, since the Roman church and its liturgy is indisputably older than the Constantinopolitan church and liturgy. Greek claims of Roman deviations have some truth, otoh ecclesial claims on both sides are problematic. In addition, the influence of Platonic thinking on Greek theology and philosophy has been as malign in the East as in the West--without the counterbalance of anyone like a Thomas Aquinas in the West. Nor would I want to go too far with claims that Christian morals are somehow safeguarded in the East more than in the West--divorce is one example, but anyone familiar with Eastern churches knows that Christian morality is often winked at in the East. Again, leave this alone. If I want to raise this issues I'll do it myself.
Last year there were rumors that Poland was thinking of sending in "Volunteer" brigades or even divisions. Just like the Chinese did in the Korean war. But that never materialized. It has also been speculated by anecdotal evidence and various reports that British SAS and Americans (either Active duty or PMCs) have been directly involved in the war effort in a limited capacity. The West has a lot invested in this war, if you think they were going to let the Ukrainians sink, no. But how about now?
The problem now becomes what to do when your proxy loses. The Neocon West has painted itself into a corner. Why? Dealing with the decision process of the DC blob is hard. Because in part, these people are irrational ideologues. They have their own particular thought process. They want two things: power and the forward progress of their ideology. In this instance, they risk one or the other. So which path will they choose? Unknown.
Want an idea what you are dealing with? Watch the 1965 movie, Doctor Zhivago: the scenes with the communist General Strelnikov and the other with the Partisan Commissar. You will get the idea. These NEOCON people are filled with a cankerous zeal and are very vindictive.
Also, watch what the Brits Do and Say, They are the Beta test for the USA. They throw ideas and actions out to see how they float. You have to realize that if the Brits go into the Ukraine, they would not do that without the agreement of the US.
AND, There would probably also be some kind of secret agreement to pull the Brits butts out of the fire if they got hammered.
The drone situation is something Russia will not overcome easily, they've been relying on off the shelf imports without a domestic supply chain for mass produced cameras and electric engines.
While Ukraine is effectively getting the worlds supply of drones. Even here in Australia we are sending thousands of drones to Ukraine.
Right, but thousands of drones--compared to the tens of thousands of artillery shells daily, not to mention ground and air launched missiles? You can see why Macgregor and others just shake their heads. This is a delaying action--no more. And since it's existential for Russia they won't be bluffed.
Makes sense. As the West loses the Big Picture war, it will increasingly turn to terroristic modes of warfare. Little good it will do them, and as you say, Mark, it will merely store up bitter memories for the Russians.
Ukraine's use of FPV drones has evolved and increased since the fall. For example, in the Kherson region FPV drones are now the primary weapon of choice. Further, places like Avdiivka allow drone operators to hide in city buildings. I think I read somewhere the range is a bit more than 2-3KM. Further, Ukraine now has night vision FPV's as well. This all picked up before the Holidays due to lack of artillery. Russia can't solve for all the FPV attacks right now. They are also hunting drone operators regularly. Given as suggested these operators are Merk's or NATO ops I'm not surprised. I follow this Youtube channel which updates the situations over there pretty regularly.
Here in the US we hear almost nothing about Ukraine, and haven't for months now. This is because politicians in both parties tacitly understand, but dare not say publicly, that in a single year Ukraine has gone from holy war to lost cause, and exists solely for the purpose of feeding the MIC.
On a more strategic level, the US is idiotically bleeding itself of materiel in Ukraine at the very time it is waging another proxy war in the Middle East. Whether Putin is deliberately allowing this war of attrition to linger, thereby draining US ability to make mischief elsewhere, is the unanswered question.
I also think the lack of more news on Ukraine is the Zionists need to obscure the longer term plan of making billions off of reconstruction through Zionist led Blackrock. Many people (the informed) are speaking more openly to the uninformed as to what they see going on. Hence the panic we are beginning to see among the elite who are trying to hold their members together to maintain trust in each other so that they can pull off the destruction of this world to usher in the world they prefer without us in it.
I strongly suspect your second paragraph is true.
BTW FPV Drones are great. They can do a lot of damage. But the traditional massive artillery/Air Bombing campaign/barrage is still the primary means of stopping/weakening an attack or breaking the enemies defenses. One of the mysteries of this war is that we have not really seen that in this war. If you have an example of an "Operation Cobra" situation of Fire Support being used, by either side, I would like to hear about it. Because I keep asking , why not? Especially in the age of MOABs
Robert Fausti
I claim no expertise. My partial explanation is that this is very much a Clausewitzian war--pursued with political calculations to the forefront. I believe Russia is doing all in its power to minimize its own casualties and material losses, but also to avoid inheriting a huge by destroyed country that would be an economic anchor around its neck. Attrition works better for those purposes, or that appears to be the Russians calculation.
Re your previous comment, hostility of the West to Russia goes back centuries--of course. However, it has changed its shape over time, depending to one degree or another on who the players involved are. Doug Macgregor--echoing what Michael Hudson has long said--recently stated that this war is largely driven by the desire for revenge of Western ruling classes with ancestral roots in the Russian lands. (Hudson, with his close connections to Trotsky's circle would know.) That's their way of pointing a finger at the heavily Ashkenazi Jewish Neocons, and IMO is largely true of the US. The other major player in pushing this war is the UK, and there the motives are similar in part but also different. Taking the Globalist West as a whole, hostility to traditional Christianity resurgent in a powerful country is anathema to the Western elites. A smaller player, but key because of its geography and history, is Poland. Its motives involve an incredibly short sighted revanchism.
Mark
Concur on all parts. In my mind and maybe yours, this is a cultural war on an international scale. A war for the soul of the west. Orthodox Christianity is the last bastion of true Christian morals, and the progressives know this. The Neocon progressives want any road block in their way destroyed. That way the threat of Christianity is dead and nothing can stop the "new woke order".
The other thing : this is pay back for the neocons. They feel that they had the Russians just where they wanted it in the 1990's. A decadent , dying nation, consumed with internal fights and western capitalist sucking it dry like a vampire. But they were stopped, and these people are a vindictive lot. Just like all ideologues are.
The neocons have never forgiven the Russians, and especially Putin for throwing off the yoke of Capitalist decadence. They want the whole world to look like the Weimar republic.
There is a spiritual context of whats going on and it is not good.
BTW. Pat Buchanan was a prophet of things to come.
I wish you well in the wars to come.
"Orthodox Christianity is the last bastion of true Christian morals, and the progressives know this."
Great point, Robert. As an Orthodox Christian myself I know that Orthodoxy in the USA is sort of a well kept secret given the relative size to it's younger Roman Catholic counterpart. So far the sort of oppression Catholics experience is not felt so much by Orthodox Christians in the USA and the Catholic church is spiraling downward as the current pope proves to be attempting to fully destroy the church. We see more and more converts to Orthodoxy from protestants sick of the intolerance of their neo-puritan drift leftward and Catholics who no longer find the Roman church palatable. The shutting down of the Ukrainian Orthodox church by the Zionist Zelensky was a huge tell and supports your argument. As for the revenge factor you are spot on. They claim Russia treated them badly, but they never answer the question, "why was that?" A lot of that so-called poor treatment has a lot of disinformation and propaganda in the mix.
"younger Roman Catholic counterpart." Huh????
If you observe Christianity as a tree branch the Roman church broke away from the original One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church in 1054 when the great schism occurred. The two major issues include the Roman claim to a universal papal supremacy and her addition of the filoque clause of the Nicene Creed. From the Roman Church the branching off occurred in and around 1517 (Luther's 95 thesis and the beginning of the reformation in Christendom), the Church of England formed another branch in 1529 and on the Roman continuum you have the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and dogma of Papal infallibility (1870). In 1988 Russia quietly observed 1000 years of Orthodoxy.
I'm gonna advise you not to go into that here. I understand exactly what you're saying now--your original claim was unclear, since the Roman church and its liturgy is indisputably older than the Constantinopolitan church and liturgy. Greek claims of Roman deviations have some truth, otoh ecclesial claims on both sides are problematic. In addition, the influence of Platonic thinking on Greek theology and philosophy has been as malign in the East as in the West--without the counterbalance of anyone like a Thomas Aquinas in the West. Nor would I want to go too far with claims that Christian morals are somehow safeguarded in the East more than in the West--divorce is one example, but anyone familiar with Eastern churches knows that Christian morality is often winked at in the East. Again, leave this alone. If I want to raise this issues I'll do it myself.
Thanks!
Last year there were rumors that Poland was thinking of sending in "Volunteer" brigades or even divisions. Just like the Chinese did in the Korean war. But that never materialized. It has also been speculated by anecdotal evidence and various reports that British SAS and Americans (either Active duty or PMCs) have been directly involved in the war effort in a limited capacity. The West has a lot invested in this war, if you think they were going to let the Ukrainians sink, no. But how about now?
The problem now becomes what to do when your proxy loses. The Neocon West has painted itself into a corner. Why? Dealing with the decision process of the DC blob is hard. Because in part, these people are irrational ideologues. They have their own particular thought process. They want two things: power and the forward progress of their ideology. In this instance, they risk one or the other. So which path will they choose? Unknown.
Want an idea what you are dealing with? Watch the 1965 movie, Doctor Zhivago: the scenes with the communist General Strelnikov and the other with the Partisan Commissar. You will get the idea. These NEOCON people are filled with a cankerous zeal and are very vindictive.
Also, watch what the Brits Do and Say, They are the Beta test for the USA. They throw ideas and actions out to see how they float. You have to realize that if the Brits go into the Ukraine, they would not do that without the agreement of the US.
AND, There would probably also be some kind of secret agreement to pull the Brits butts out of the fire if they got hammered.
Robert Fausti
The drone situation is something Russia will not overcome easily, they've been relying on off the shelf imports without a domestic supply chain for mass produced cameras and electric engines.
While Ukraine is effectively getting the worlds supply of drones. Even here in Australia we are sending thousands of drones to Ukraine.
Right, but thousands of drones--compared to the tens of thousands of artillery shells daily, not to mention ground and air launched missiles? You can see why Macgregor and others just shake their heads. This is a delaying action--no more. And since it's existential for Russia they won't be bluffed.
I hear shotguns work well on these fpv drones
Makes sense. As the West loses the Big Picture war, it will increasingly turn to terroristic modes of warfare. Little good it will do them, and as you say, Mark, it will merely store up bitter memories for the Russians.
Ukraine's use of FPV drones has evolved and increased since the fall. For example, in the Kherson region FPV drones are now the primary weapon of choice. Further, places like Avdiivka allow drone operators to hide in city buildings. I think I read somewhere the range is a bit more than 2-3KM. Further, Ukraine now has night vision FPV's as well. This all picked up before the Holidays due to lack of artillery. Russia can't solve for all the FPV attacks right now. They are also hunting drone operators regularly. Given as suggested these operators are Merk's or NATO ops I'm not surprised. I follow this Youtube channel which updates the situations over there pretty regularly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjhybHEP8Xg
This guy is based out of Belarus from what I gather.
I just can't equate self-defense, however justified, with God taking sides.
Wouldn't it be rather that He'd feel grief for any and every harm suffered or life lost?
Spot on Steve and the consequences will not be pleasant and probably not short lived.
Agreed- but I can’t imagine Biden speaking cogently about, well, anything