Vladimir Putin has led Russia for more than 20 years. He has taken a prostrate Russia, raised it to its feet again, and restored its self respect. Putin’s Russia paid off its debts—imagine the US attempting that feat!—as well as paying off the debts of the former Soviet republics, including Ukraine. Through all that time he repeatedly reached out a hand of friendship to the countries that had looted and pillaged Russia. He provided valuable base-use to the US as it began its war on the Taliban. That hand was slapped away and Putin’s voice was ignored. If you watched the Oliver Stone interview with Putin, you saw the video clip of Putin addressing world leaders in Munich (in about 2008) and you saw John McCain near the front—openly laughing at Putin as Putin warned against the cultural imperialism of the Woke West, attempting to impose its amorality on other countries.
In 2018 Russia showcased its new armaments—including nuclear capable hypersonic missiles that can not be stopped by our defenses and can be deployed on submarines. Then president Trump had begun his presidency vowing to establish a constructive, cooperative relationship with Russia, but Trump was boxed in by the DC Establishment and Deep State—recall Ukrainian Aleksandr Vindman and the interagency consensus overruling Trump?—and ended up allowing the Deep State to follow an ever more provocative and aggressive policy toward Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy for their war on Russia. That was when Putin announced that he’d finally had enough—You wouldn’t listen before; now you will listen, he said, after the missiles were announced.
As you know, the vast quantities of weapons that NATO has been supplying to Ukraine have arrived in Ukraine through Poland—the port of Odessa being closed to such traffic. From Poland the weapons enter Ukraine in precisely the territory of Galicia that I described yesterday—the center of Ukrainian ultra nationalism and of neo-Nazi ideology. Ukraine is a very large country:
That being the case, the weapons shipped through Poland into Ukraine can’t reach their ultimate destinations without stops—especially since Russian air supremacy is actively seeking to prevent the arrival of those weapons at the front lines.
The other night a massive explosion shook Ivano-Frankivsk in Galicia—the Russians had taken out a weapons depot. That alone would have been a message to Poland and the rest of NATO, but the manner in which the destruction was accomplished—Russian has announced that a hypersonic Kinzhal missile was used—was an even bigger message. Make no mistake—the primary intended recipient of this message was probably also the primary instigator of war in Ukraine: the United States.
🚨🚨🚨 BREAKING: Russia has fired hypersonic Kinzhal ("dagger") missiles in Ukraine.
Officially, the weapons were used to destroy a munitions depot in Ivano-Frankivsk.
In reality, this is a MAJOR deterrent signal to NATO. 🧵
There is no plausible reason that the Kinzhal would need to be deployed against Ukraine, given that its air defenses have already been suppressed.
It is Russia's single most advanced conventional weapon – 13 times as fast as a Tomahawk [America’s premier cruise missile], with 3x the payload.
Russia's use of the Kinzhal in Ukraine is similar to Trump's use of the MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) in Afghanistan in 2017.
In both instances, the point of the weapons deployment was not the immediate combat effect.
The goal is to menace other adversaries by demoing a system.
Putin's decision to use the Kinzhal is more escalatory than Trump's use of the MOAB, because the Kinzhal is nuclear capable.
Due to its extreme range, it is a "carrier killer" – capable of wiping out an entire U.S. Carrier Strike Group.
It is impossible to overstate what an advanced system the Kinzhal represents.
The West acted like China's test of a hypersonic glider was a "Sputnik moment."
But the Kinzhal achieves hypersonic speed + maneuverability throughout its flight, not merely in the terminal phase.
By firing Kinzhals in Ukraine, Putin is sending a major "do not F with us" message to the West.
He is reminding the world that, whatever logistics challenges his military faces, it retains an edge in absolute bleeding-edge nuclear and conventional weaponry.
Today, Putin has also taken one step closer to the nuclear threshold.
He just demoed Russia's premier tactical-nuke delivery system in Ukraine.
The message to NATO could not be clearer: If you intervene in the conflict, I will use this system against you.
Addendum - Don't take my word that the missile was fired.
The claim that use of a hypersonic missile was required due to this being a heavily armored bunker does NOT withstand scrutiny.
Russia has dedicated anti-bunker weapons, like the KAB-500L.
Using the Kinzhal was *clearly* about sending a signal to NATO.
• • •
Poland and Romania should probably be earnestly reconsidering their service as proxies for America’s war on Russia. In particular, they may want to reconsider the stationing of US missile launchers on their territory and the transshipping of weapons and munitions through their territory to Ukraine. The use of the Kinzhal was a clear signal that Russia will see this war through to its end.
"... the countries that looted and pillaged Russia."
Good joke. It was Russia, under Stalin, who looted and pillaged other countries while keeping the gulags stuffed full for such projects as the White Sea Canal. There never was much to loot and pillage from Russia anyway but minerals. Meanwhile Russia looted and pillaged Ukraine in the early 1930's of all her grain, starving up to ten million people.
Are you a Russian mouthpiece? No problem if you're honest, but dishonesty won't cut it. Russian predations are too well and widely known. The criminal Communist system favored criminals over ordinary honest citizens, so that bully boys and psychotics such as Beria, Yezhov, Djerdjinski et al dominated the decent people. And that's a shame because Russians are naturally warm, friendly, and open people by nature.
"... the countries that looted and pillaged Russia."
Good joke. It was Russia, under Stalin, who looted and pillaged other countries while keeping the gulags stuffed full for such projects as the White Sea Canal. There never was much to loot and pillage from Russia anyway but minerals. Meanwhile Russia looted and pillaged Ukraine in the early 1930's of all her grain, starving up to ten million people.
Are you a Russian mouthpiece? No problem if you're honest, but dishonesty won't cut it. Russian predations are too well and widely known. The criminal Communist system favored criminals over ordinary honest citizens, so that bully boys and psychotics such as Beria, Yezhov, Djerdjinski et al dominated the decent people. And that's a shame because Russians are naturally warm, friendly, and open people by nature.
It might be that it works as described, and they are committing war crimes.
Both conditions can be true.
That's not giving a pass to Putin.
Thanks for this article.