Of interest, Russian troops recovered Black Hornet micro-drones from Ukrainian commandos in the Belgorod region. This is high-end gear and shows just how lavishly-equipped these troops have been.

Totally normal patch in #4 that wouldn't get you kicked out of the US Army.

What's particularly damning to me is the failure of Ukrainian long-range fires assets to affect the battle, which - given the level of control EUCOM apparently exercises over targeting - is a direct failure of NATO. They have a lot of their real assets allocated to this mission.

Hope this doesn't end up having Ukrainians become second lass citizens in their own country, Russia when they fail to resist or overcome the Russians. Are they not properly trained or they lack capable manpower? Thinking out loud.

Wow, this is exceedingly rare.

The immense Noam Chomsky was given a whole 8 minutes on Piers Morgan to explain how the US is provoking China into war, and he does a brilliant job at it.

An absolute must-watch if you want to understand what's happening.

He explains how the US is 1) "abandoning the One-China policy" that has "held the peace in the region for 50 years", 2) increasingly "encircling China with a ring of sentinel states armed with advanced precision weapons aimed at China" and 3) waging "a war to prevent China from developing", all the while gaslighting the world into believing it's China that's changing the status quo.

https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1666987619111297024?t=4As9NSwcn1YNMZJ5n8L_XA&s=19

Dreal1247:
Hope this doesn't end up having Ukrainians become second lass citizens in their own country, Russia when they fail to resist or overcome the Russians. Are they not properly trained or they lack capable manpower? Thinking out loud.

Ukraine is probably trained. They have been since 2014 and they continue to be, even with western support. The US, UK and other western countries have 'mercenaries' (who where just previously NATO soldiers) operating these equipments. They have a command and control and receive directing technical support with ISR from US and NATO command. Russia is just better than them and these war is fought in Russia backyard.

‼️ The recent rumblings from #EmpireAtAllCosts evangelists have persuaded many observers of this ongoing war that direct western intervention is now all but inevitable.

As I have made perfectly clear on a number of occasions, I do not entirely dismiss this possibility — but I remain strongly persuaded it is NOT going to happen.

My primary reason for believing it will never happen is because I likewise remain convinced that the majority of western military leaders fully appreciate that it would be a catastrophic blunder; that they simply could not win a conventional war against Russia.

I have also, on occasion, proffered my opinion regarding another extremely significant development I firmly believe would occur were the empire and its European vassals to opt to directly intervene in the conflict, and I will reiterate this point:

The evolution of this war has not only rendered it existential for both Russia and NATO, but I am of the view that it has likewise rendered it existential for both China and Iran.

And therefore I am very strongly persuaded that direct western intervention in this war would likewise significantly escalate Chinese and Iranian contributions to Russia's defense. Almost certainly not in the form of "boots on the ground", so to speak, but rather in the form of relatively massive military aid — particularly from the Chinese.

This would very likely provoke the US to take intolerable actions against both China and Iran, and would therefore launch all the major powers of the planet into open warfare.

So let's all hope and pray the #EmpireAtAllCosts cult does not succeed in bringing to pass its insane designs.

Current mood of reddit: blame inferior Slavic genes.

Here's the bottom line, fuckos. Experience counts. With a 6-week training course you're better off retraining an existing tanker than a terobob drafted in January. These guys are behaving as any raw meat thrown into the fire.

Not Wagner, not Chechens, not the local volunteers. You are looking for the fully equipped Russian army, you have met them in just the last 5days in Zaporozhye.

"Ukraine isn't prepared for what's ahead. We urge them to reconsider."

🇺🇦 stans: Wait till Leopards and Bradleys come.

Me:

Scholz is due to speak with Putin shortly, the first time since December 2022.