Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans don’t trust women.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We won’t go back.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

So many bastards, so little time.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

American History and Black History can not be separated.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

In my day, never was longer.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

We’re not going back!

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 247: The Anti-Ukrainian Agitprop Connection To the Attempted Assassination of Speaker Pelosi

War for Ukraine Day 247: The Anti-Ukrainian Agitprop Connection To the Attempted Assassination of Speaker Pelosi

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BettyC covered the attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband. Which I’m grateful for – the coverage, not the attack – as I would normally do that. However, as I wrote a while back, right now I only have the time and energy to do one post a day, which are the Ukraine updates. But I do want to take a few moments and touch on it. Once the reporting started coming out about who perpetrated the attack it didn’t take long to determine that he would have imbibed all the agitprop necessary to take and publicly profess an anti-Ukrainian wrapped in anti-American position.

I’ll get to that in just a second, but I want to clarify why I referred to the attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband as an assassination. Given everything we’ve seen over the past seven years, I have no doubts as a nat-sec professional who has worked on these types of issues for over twenty-five years that had DePape gotten his hands on Speaker Pelosi that she would be dead now. DePape was radicalized from a crunchy granola, Green supporting, part time naturalist/nudist, maker of hemp jewelry living in Berkeley into a full on QAnon, anti-vax, Holocaust denying anti-Semitic, neo-reactionary, MAGA enthusiast. And that radicalization came from exposure to some of the most extreme figures on the shitbird left. Individuals who have gone so far to the extreme in the pursuit of ideological purity, personal profit, or both that they’ve looped around and overlapped with the neo-fascist right. And one of the hallmarks of those shitbird leftists is the belief that Ukraine is America’s pawn, America is evilly manipulating Ukraine, as well as our EU and NATO allies, and that Russia is the blameless and without agency victim of America’s manipulations. Which is how you get someone who was posting this garbage:

To answer Rozen’s question, the Red Pill concept is now part of the ever matastizing QAnon, but it was originally repurposed from the Matrix movies by Curtis Yarvin, aka Mencius Moldbug, the ideological source for contemporary American neo-reactionary thought. Yarvin is Peter Thiel’s favorite ideologue. And he, like all these other extreme right reactionaries completely missed the point of the Red Pill concept from the Matrix. It was the Wachowskis’ allegorical statement about access their being trans. So we now have all these hard core conservatives claiming to epitomize real American masculinity and femininity running around talking about being Red Pilled because they are too stupid to understand the subtext and nuance of a movie.

But the Red Pill stuff, while amusing in regard to pointing out its real meaning, is a diversion. DePape swallowed the anti-Ukrainian garbage being pushed by the extreme shitbird left and the extreme neo-reactionary right. That agitprop doesn’t originate with them. It originates with the Russians, you heard it clearly and again in Putin’s diatribe yesterday. It is designed, packaged, and promoted to work its way through the Chomskys, Kissingers, Dores, Robertsons, Gabbards, Carlsons, Greenwalds, Mates, and their fellow travelers to people like DePape. DePape’s attempt to find, attack, and kill Speaker Pelosi isn’t some sort of lone wolf isolated attack. It is part of the revolutionary war being waged on America by a radicalized minority of Americans. A revolutionary war fed and nurtured by Russia’s political warfare against America.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

I’ve just finished speaking with the students and educational staff of Yale University, one of the leading universities in the US and the world. Its graduates have a significant influence on decision-making – political, business, at the level of public and international organizations.

It is with appeals like this to representatives of Yale University that we expand the circle of those who understand what is happening in Ukraine and help us protect freedom.

I will continue this work next week. We will continue to expand our capabilities, in particular through informal diplomacy – through the public in partner countries, through the student community, through professional and business communities.

I held talks today with Giorgia Meloni, head of the Italian government. I congratulated Mrs. Prime Minister on her appointment, and discussed opportunities for strengthening our cooperation in various areas, including security, economy, diplomacy, and in particular, the integration of our country into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

I held several meetings with the military regarding the current situation on the frontline, our active actions.

Today the enemy reports about the alleged completion of their mobilization… About the alleged needlessness of new waves of sending Russian citizens to the front.

We feel completely different on the frontline. Although Russia is trying to increase the pressure on our positions by using mobilized people, they are so poorly prepared and equipped, so ruthlessly used by the command that it allows us to suggest that Russia may soon need a new wave of sending people to war. We are preparing for this – we are preparing for the fact that the current Russian leadership will look for any new opportunities to continue the war. In particular thanks to its accomplices in Iran.

That is why we are working with our partners every day to strengthen our air defense, our other defense capabilities. Every day we strengthen the protection of our critical infrastructure, primarily energy.

As of this time, many cities and regions of our country use stabilization blackout schedules – about 4 million Ukrainians face restrictions now. Kyiv and the region, Zhytomyr region, Poltava region, Rivne region, Kharkiv region, Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Cherkasy region, Kirovohrad region. Emergency blackouts are also possible in other regions. We are doing everything so that the state has the opportunity to reduce such blackouts.

The occupiers added another challenge – in the occupied territory. Virtually, they are dismantling the entire healthcare system there. The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances – just everything… They put pressure on the doctors who still remained in the occupied areas for them to move to the territory of Russia.

First of all, this concerns the Kherson region. Russia is turning the Kherson region into a zone without civilization, without elementary things available in most countries of the world. Before the arrival of Russia, this region, like all other regions of Ukraine, was completely normal and safe, all social services for people were guaranteed there… Life was guaranteed there.

And now Russia is trying to make the Kherson region literally an exclusion zone. The world must react to this. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all our representatives inform international organizations and partners about this new escalating step of the occupiers.

And I want to appeal now to all our people in these occupied cities and districts: please do everything to help each other – despite any actions of the occupiers. The Ukrainian flag will return. We will return normal life. But you need to endure this time. The time when even formally the occupiers confirm that they cannot stay on the territory of Ukraine, and therefore they already try to steal medical equipment and enslave medical personnel.

I thank the United States of America – another package of military aid to Ukraine was announced today. Its volume is 275 million dollars. Much needed items for our defenders that allow us to liberate our territory step by step. It’s not just what helps us advance on the battlefield, it’s what enables us to guarantee people their fundamental right to life.

Today I want to thank Canada – our long-standing and sincere partners. For an unprecedented act regarding the issue of Canada’s sovereign bonds, all funds from the placement of which will be directed to help Ukraine. The amount is half a billion dollars. And these bonds will be available for investment not only in Canada, but also around the world. This is an extremely powerful example for all our partners.

Canada is the first country to offer such a support tool. Thank you, Justin, Mr. Prime Minister! Thank you, Chrystia Freeland, a true friend of Ukraine!

Glory to all who help Ukraine fight for freedom! 

Glory to all our heroes!

Glory to Ukraine!

The Kyiv Independent‘s defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko gave an address to the annual meeting of the Raam Op Rusland think tank in Amsterdam on 25 October. Here’s parts of it from the published transcript:

I am here not to lecture anyone or say, “you must do this and that, you owe us!” or something like that.

I am here to talk about hope and good faith.

I’m glad I have a chance to talk to the Dutch people because we have a lot in common, even though we’re on the opposite sides of the continent.

Once upon a time, I was a student in the city of Mariupol. I used to work at a cargo terminal. Once upon a time, I got back from work to my dorm room and opened my laptop to see what was in the news.

When I saw it, I said to myself a phrase in Russian: “Довоевались, уроды.” Which can be roughly interpreted as, “Look at what you’ve done with your war, you freaks.”

I was referring to the people who had downed the MH17 that day.

The downing of MH17 was a watershed moment for many people in Ukraine in 2014, as well as for me. It opened a new chapter in the war. It showed us that the barbarity of this may have no limits.

It’s not a localized regional conflict anymore.

It’s been more than eight years since that moment.

I’m not a student anymore.

Today I am a journalist representing my country in the world. Yet, we’re still fighting the same war. Over the last eight years, and especially in the last eight months, unbelievable things have happened.

Mariupol was turned into heaps of ruins. My hometown of Volnovakha was just razed to the ground. The city I’m just about to move to, Bucha, has become an international symbol of mass graves and executions.

And MH17 criminals still haven’t been brought to justice.

As a journalist, I have seen unbelievable things I will never forget.

I’ve seen Kyiv, the heart of the whole nation, standing just two steps away from its downfall before advancing Russian armies.

Soldiers of Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigades were sacrificing themselves to stop the Russian advance into Kyiv near the town of Moschun, despite insane bloodshed.

In late February, in the first five days, we were so close to the downfall!

That would be the end of so many things so precious and dear to us, to my generation: the values of the EuroMaidan Revolution, all the democratic reforms, and the resurrection of modern Ukrainian culture.

The end of our world as we knew it.

And I’ve seen something unbelievable. Ukraine managed to defeat the Russian blitzkrieg, exhaust its power, and reverse the war’s course.

Now we’re not talking about whether Kyiv will fall within 72 hours. We’re talking about whether we can retake Kherson in the next six weeks and what we should do next in this war.

Why are we where we are today, against all expectations?

The guys from my media outlet, the Kyiv Independent, suggested that I write a book about this war. I was thinking — what is this war’s most essential thing, the most important conclusion?

There have been a lot of important things for the military and politics. But I realized that the most essential thing is the moral aspect.

This war has taught me one thing — always act according to the best consciousness in the darkest moment. No matter how hard and scary that would be. It will be hard, but at the end of the day, it will always be the only right solution.

The seemingly easiest way is always wrong. Deals with the devil made out of weakness and desire to sweep the trouble under the rug never end well.

Of course, I’m not discovering anything new. It’s a very basic principle. But in the reality of a catastrophic war, where the normal life for millions of people is collapsing — it’s easier said than done.

But this is the moral choice the Ukrainian nation had to make in this war.

The nation made its choice – and individual people did, too.

Much, much more at the link!

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situation in Kherson:

Also, a rail connection seems to have gone boom:

This is just sad…

TaMara sent me this about a week ago and I keep meaning to post it. Even if it is an indicator that she’s likely to try to adopt one of them.

KEENESBURG, Colo., Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Nine lions rescued from the war-torn country of Ukraine arrived safely in Colorado at The Wild Animal Sanctuary Thursday, September 29th, 2022, as part of the largest warzone rescue of lions ever carried out.

The pride of lions had been living at the Bio Park Zoo in Odesa, a southern port in Ukraine impacted by the Russian-Ukraine war and invading Russian military forces. The big cats were urgently relocated when the war first broke by a convoy that journeyed over 600 miles across Ukraine and Moldova, arriving in Targu Mures, Romania, on May 24th, 2022. The Targu Mures Zoo provided a temporary home for the animals for several months so that an emergency travel permit could be approved for the eleven lions to board an international rescue flight. From the rescued group of big cats, seven adult lions and two cubs have a new forever home at The Wild Animal Refuge, an extension property of The Wild Animal Sanctuary, with the remaining two lions traveling to the Simbonga Game Reserve and Sanctuary in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

The rescue mission involved a consortium of global Animal Welfare Agencies working together, including Greater Good, The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), Tigers in America – as well as Warriors of Wildlife, and the Simbonga Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. “International rescue operations are almost always more complex in nature, but then you are factoring in a variety of foreign governments and timelines for permitting, some of those with active warzones. We are thankful we could get all the lions out in time and save them. That’s what matters. They will live out the rest of their lives in pristine, large, natural habitats,” said Pat Craig, Executive Director of The Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Or half a dozen…

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Я не хотів псувати ті капці, чесно…🤥 #песпатрон #патрондснс

♬ original sound – xyxzdyp

The caption machine translates as:

I didn’t want to spoil those slippers, honestly…🤥 #PatrontheDog #PatronDSNS

I think we’re going to have to go to @Darth for a ruling on this one…

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

64Comments

  5. 5.

    Timill

    @Kent: Underneath some interesting bits of switches and crossings. Plain track takes a couple of hours to replace.

    If you have only one charge, demolish a signals & telecommunications cabinet.

    [Admittedly, it’s now nearly 50 years ago that I was working for British Rail Civil Engineering dept]

  6. 6.

    Kent

    @Timill: Yes of course.  But I suspect if you are doing this in Russia you also need to pick a spot where you won’t be caught. So urban switching yards are probably out and remote rural locations are in.

    But from my WW2 movie watching I think the thing to do is blow it when a train is approaching so you take the train out too.

  7. 7.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Red Pill concept from the Matrix. It was the Wachowskis’ allegorical statement about access their being trans

    More than that, at the time “The Matrix” was written, the prescription estrogen given to trans women literally came in a red pill. Which gives me grim amusement with the wingnuts boast about being “red pilled.” Bro… you have no idea.

  9. 9.

    Anoniminous

    That Chomsky and Kissinger could be on “the same” side on anything blows my old New Left mind

  11. 11.

    Alison Rose

    Thank you for including Illia’s speech. It was incredibly moving.

    I agree that if Nancy had been home, she wouldn’t be with us now. As I said in the earlier post, I do not know how she has the bravery she does. I keep recalling the eerie way the Jan 6 bastards were chanting her name, and now this. I know she’s a tough broad, but good Lord.

    Adam, I’m curious for your take on this–I was discussing the war with a Jewish friend, and we were talking about the Iranian drones. She said she thinks part of the reason Iran is so readily aiding russia is because Zelenskyy is Jewish. I wasn’t so sure–I don’t know how the people in charge in Iran these days feel about Jews, though I assume it isn’t overly positive, and I’m pretty sure they would be bastards in this war no matter what Zelenskyy’s religion was. Plus I noted that he’s hardly the most observant Jew out there. (Of course, to an antisemite, that doesn’t matter. They don’t care if we keep kosher or hold seders or anything, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew and they hate all of us.) I figure Iran has numerous reasons (all of them evil) for being on russia’s side, but she felt certain that’s at least one of them. I should note she is older than I am, in her mid-60s, and originally from a red state, and so her point of view might be different, as she grew up in a time and place with more open antisemitism than I experienced.

    In any case–thank you as always for your work on these posts, Adam. They are invaluable.

  15. 15.

    Mallard Filmore

    Anarcho-Communist Combat Organization (#БОАК) claimed to have blown a rail section linking RU to Ukraine & Belarus. The act was audacious, but charge placement was amaturish.

    That leaves such an obvious mark. A way that does not need explosives is to pull up the bolts that fasten a section of rail to the sleepers (ties). With a little bit of coverup, nothing will look out of place until a train rumbles over it, bounces the rails around and puts the engine into the dirt.

    I’m just a dog on the internet, maybe that retired old railroad guy will show me how this will not work.

  17. 17.

    NutmegAgain

    I hope those anarcho-communists know that, “strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government ...” Knocking out train lines, on the other hand, may get them closer to the goal.

    Seriously, though–thank you again Adam for the information and your dedication to sharing your expertise here.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    Zelenskyy should know better than to try to engage with the new Italian fascists. They’re Team Putin.

  21. 21.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Kissinger is for sale. Has been for a very long time.

    He doesn’t take a position unless it benefits him financially via his lobbying business.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    @Kent:

    Under a bridge over a river would be better.

    Failing that under the ties, as that takes more work and material to fix.

    They may not have had time or enough explosives. This is better than doing nothing.

  23. 23.

    columbusqueen

    Yeah, I’ve got an ex who’s an old lefty posting all sorts of anti-Ukrainian bullshit on FB. Thank God we broke up, I didn’t realize what a complete sleaze he’s turned into. Trying not to throw up now.

  24. 24.

    Ohio Mom

    Well I already had as low of an opinion of Kissinger as possible so no change in that. I agree that it is discombobulating to see him sharing a view with Chomsky. The world continues to be a strange and weird place,

  25. 25.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    @Kent:

    So where SHOULD the charge be placed if you are blowing up a rail line?

    That was a lot of explosive but can be fixed in a couple of hours by replacing the railroad cross ties (Europe calls them “sleepers”) and a section of rail. A signaled section of railroad has low voltage in the actual rail so if there is a break in the track, the approach signal displays red (stop) and the control panel at the centralized control office displays a problem.

    A cheaper and more spectacular disruption is to short circuit a section of track by connecting a wire that bridges a facing point switch. Then open the switch slightly. The signal thinks everything is fine. The office control panel sees nothing and an approaching train at any speed will derail on the half opened switch and if going fast enough, the pile of locomotives and following cars can be quite impressive and take several days to bull doze aside and lay new road bed, switch and track.
    My point is that the perpetrators should have done some homework and saved the explosives for other uses.​ And as @Ruckus:  said, if yer gonna blow something up, bridges and tunnels are where you should start

  26. 26.

    Kelly

    @Ruckus: Back in April a bridge 7 miles into Russia, near Belgorod, was blown. The knowledgeable folks around here figured it was Ukrainian special forces. I don’t recall anything like that since. Perhaps sentries on Russian railroad bridges now make that tricky.

  27. 27.

    Bill Arnold

    More on the Combat Mosquitoes – the Russians found a few of the secret programmable-shaped-thermobaric-explosive drones. Fortunately, they thought that the drones were merely a variation on the high speed carrier-drones for Combat Mosquitoes. (/snark, to be clear)
    “Combat mosquitoes” follow “dirty bomb”: Russian representative to UN tells more frenzy lies (FRIDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2022)

    Details: the Russian diplomat claimed that in March, Russian troops who were stationed in Kherson Oblast discovered “three drones equipped with 30-litre containers that can be used to spray biologically active substances”.
    He said that the United States had patented a drone capable of spreading mosquitoes infected with dangerous viruses.

    Seriously, the USPTO patent database has many many many patents (and more applications) for weird and often unworkable weapons/defenses. You just need to find the right keywords.

  28. 28.

    Carlo Graziani

    Interesting, if necessarily circumspect, interview at The Drive with Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence directorate. Among other things, he predicts that the seizure of Kherson will occur by the end of November.

  29. 29.

    Carlo Graziani

    Related to a discussion from a couple of evenings ago, here is an item from the NYT that reinforces the thinking on the significance of the Russian drive on Bakhmut:

    President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this week that fighting around the town was some of the heaviest in the war.
    “The craziness of the Russian command is now most visible there: Day after day for months, they drive people there to death, concentrate the maximum power of artillery strikes there,” he said.
    Military analysts have said the town — which had a prewar population of 70,000 — holds only minimal strategic value and that the Russian efforts there are better explained by the competition among disparate elements of the Russian military.
    The Bakhmut offensive is being led by fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, and its founder, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, has been seeking a higher profile as the military effort has floundered.

    It’s a Wagner show for Prigozhin’s benefit, which is actually damaging the Russian military position in the Donbas so that he can boost his Telegram followership. A real war acted out as farce to create a media reality. Literally the plot of Wag The Dog in reverse.

  31. 31.

    TaMara

    I have my hands full, the Wild Life Sanctuary can have this batch. One of the coolest things it to be out in farmland as far as the eyes can see and hear the lions roaring. Gives you a chill.

  32. 32.

    Anoniminous

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    I didn’t know about the estrogen Red Pill.  I can hardly wait for the next bigot to cross my path and tell me they’ve been Red Pilled.

    Going to have Soooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.

  34. 34.

    glc

    @Carlo Graziani: It does seem very interesting, both for what he is willing to say and what he is not willing to say. A bit more forthcoming and concrete at points than I would have expected.

  35. 35.

    Tony G

    @Andrya: One of my “favorite” pro-Putin “leftists”, “Medea” Benjamin, had this to say about Henry Kissinger on August 16th — after almost six months of Russian war crimes: “At 99, Kissinger makes more sense on Ukraine than octogenarian US lawmakers, who push weapons not diplomacy. He says we are at the edge of war with Russia “without any concept of how this is going to end or what it’s supposed to lead to.””   That’s right, “Medea”, support war-criminal Kissinger because he supports war-criminal Putin.

  36. 36.

    YY_Sima Qian

    When you get to the farthest reaches of extremist left or right, they stand more united in their extremism than apart in ideology. That is why it is easier for extremists to migrate from one end of the spectrum to the other, than for moderates to become radicalized (though the latter is depressingly common, too, especially on the right).

  38. 38.

    Andrya

    @Tony G:  Kissinger is not only depraved, he’s also stupid.  If (G-d forbid) Ukraine did cede territory to end the war that would NOT end the war.  There is no conceivable mechanism that would prevent putin from pocketing his gains and coming back for more a couple years later.  putin’s word isn’t worth 5 cents.

  40. 40.

    Carlo Graziani

    Here’s a good read on siloviki Telegram Kabuki, and relations between warlords and MOD, from ISW:

    The growing influence of the siloviki faction – led by Wagner Group financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin – is further fracturing the Russian pro-war community. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for the second time criticized the commander of the Central Military District (CMD), Colonel General Alexander Lapin, for his management of the Svatove-Kreminna line on October 27.[13] Kadyrov contrasted his harsh criticisms of Lapin with high praise for Prigozhin and Wagner units, even calling Prigozhin a ”born warrior.” Kadyrov has resumed his criticisms of the progress of the Russian invasion and Russian higher military command since October 25, likely in response to a Ukrainian strike on Chechen units in northeastern Kherson Oblast.[14] Kadyrov has since announced that the Ukrainian strike killed 23 Chechen fighters and wounded 58 troops.[15]

    Kadyrov accused Lapin of failing to communicate with Chechen leaders, claiming that he had unsuccessfully attempted to reach Lapin to discuss Ukrainian breakthroughs around Lyman. Kadyrov added that no one could locate Lapin or his subordinates when one of Lapin’s units redeployed from Rubizhne to reinforce the frontlines.[16] Kadyrov claimed that Chechen units had to hold Russian defensive positions without Lapin’s support, stated that soldiers are increasingly deserting from Lapin’s units, and insinuated that Lapin will soon lose Svatove.[17] Kadyrov previously attacked Lapin on October 1 for moving his headquarters far from the frontlines and for his military failures, and Prigozhin publicly agreed with Kadyrov’s statement at that time.[18] Kadyrov’s praise of Prigozhin further demonstrates that siloviki are increasingly promoting their parallel military structures at the expense of the reputation of the Russian Armed Forces.

    Kadyrov’s accusations have once again created a rift among pro-war Russian milbloggers and exposed concerns over the growing influence of the siloviki faction within the pro-war community. Some milbloggers expressed their support for Lapin, noting that his failures – such as large losses of military equipment in Chernihiv Oblast or the devastating failure at the Siverskyi Donets river crossing in Bilohorivka – were not as severe as other failures of some Russian military commanders even though these same milbloggers had indirectly criticized Lapin for these incidents.[19] Most pro-Lapin milbloggers blamed the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) for abstaining from publicly defending Lapin against the likes of Kadyrov and Prigozhin. A milblogger even noted that it is unacceptable for any Russian governor or regional head to criticize the Russian Armed Forces as such critiques can lead ”to the direct road to the erosion of the very essence of the Russian state.”[20] Kadyrov’s only formal position is head of the Chechen Republic. The milblogger noted that Russian commanders cannot defend their actions on Telegram – unlike Prigozhin and Kadyrov – and stated that such critiques only ignite internal conflicts. Wagner-affiliated Telegram channels, by contrast, amplified reports of dire conditions on the Svatove-Kreminna frontline, discussing the high number of deserters, low morale, poor living conditions, and command cowardice.

  42. 42.

    LadySuzy

    In what cities are Russians dismantling the health care system ?

    In Kherson I can understand … they know they’ll probably lose it and the objective has been to make living in the town untenable so the citizens don’t have a choice but to leave the city and go further into occupied territory.

    As for other cities…  President Zelinsky didn’t name those cities…  Is he talking about those cities on the front lines, that Russians think they’re going to lose ?  Svatove, Kremmina for example.

    By using the plural, cities, President Zelinsky must have been only meant a couple of other cities. Right ??

    I just can’t imagine that Putin is doing this everywhere in the occupied territories. It wouldn’t make any sense!!! Unless… he has now decided that he doesn’t want to conquer the land, but simply depopulate it, and make it very, very difficult for Ukraine to rebuild all those communities.

  43. 43.

    Chetan Murthy

    @LadySuzy: IIRC, Russia has made a point of bombing (with missiles, rockets, etc) healthcare facilities all over Ukraine.  E.g. remember that hospital in Mariupol they hit early-on.

  44. 44.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Omnes Omnibus: A bridge, if you can pull it off. UA SOF destroyed a railroad bridge south of Kupyansk sometime last May, and that was the last time Lyman rail yard did logistical duty in the war.

  45. 45.

    Bloix

    @Alison Rose: Iran and Russia are allies in Syria.  Both of them provided and continue to provide support (including weapons and military personnel) to the Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War, and have been working closely together there for years. The long and continuing strategic alliance in Syria is a better explanation for Iran’s support of Russia in Ukraine than any personal animus toward Ukraine due to Zelensky’s ethnic heritage.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    Thread from Galeev, from March:

    Some advice to Ukrainians:

    1. Ukrainian hackers post Russian casualty numbers on Russian official websites and social media accounts. That's not bad. A better idea – post instructions for sabotage. For example, if you burn trackside relay cabinets, it will lead to huge delays🧵 pic.twitter.com/kNA43LZvxb

    — Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) March 28, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @LadySuzy:

    vlad is fumbling. He thought he was going to send in military and take over in no more than a month. He’s conscripting and sending in guys that know nothing and don’t want to be there with rusty weapons and likely not enough ammo to do squat. Sure he’s not doing a poorly as possible, this is war after all and dead enemy is the point. But. He’s lost because even if he wins, he’s blown up everything. He gets nothing in return for his gross stupidity, incompetence and obnoxious ego. Except he likely will suffer the fate of most incompetent, egotistical, stupid dictators after they prove that is what they are. He’s not destroying his country with munitions but he is destroying it by letting the world know that his military is now mostly useless and his power will likely end soon and that he is absolutely not the man he thinks he is. Most dictators sooner or later get the urge to prove who they are and vlad is doing that, on the world stage. He’s also proving that his country is one big scam, with him and a few of his fellow scammers on the take way out of proportion to what there is to take. Most people don’t like to die for a situation like that.

  49. 49.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Mike in NC: Zelenskyy’s shown himself smart enough to understand who might be in Putin’s pocket, and to be diplomatic about it. On the one hand, Ukraine doesn’t need more enemies, and on the other hand, he’s probably smart enough to know which allies you talk to while keeping a hand on your wallet and your back to the wall.

    (He’s also been gracious about Republican congresspeople visiting Ukraine, even though I doubt he’s forgotten what TFG and the GOP tried to do to him before the war, and I bet he’s got plans for what to do if the GOP seizes power and ends US support for his cause.)

  50. 50.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    DePape swallowed the anti-Ukrainian garbage being pushed by the extreme shitbird left and the extreme neo-reactionary right. It originates with the Russians,

    Probably better the say the Russians articulated the message our lunatic fringe wants hear and defined targets for their fear and loathing.

  51. 51.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @YY_Sima Qian: Yes, that’s been my experience. The radical liberals I new back in the ’80s tended to end up on the radical right rather that the moderate left as they aged.

  52. 52.

    Frankensteinbeck

    A revolutionary war fed and nurtured by Russia’s political warfare against America.

    But that sure existed before them and got its biggest bump by far from something that had nothing to do with Russia.  A black man was elected president, then re-elected despite White America (not the same as white Americans) uniting and doing their damnedest to stop him.  White America lost.  Its.  Shit.  Went absolutely bugfuck insane.  And hasn’t stopped as they lose cultural war after cultural war, even while they’re using political power everywhere they can to try to reverse that loss.  Russia certainly pimped anti-Ukraine stuff in that crazy space, but the space was eager for it.  And hate for Nancy Pelosi?  Lord have mercy, is that sure home-grown.

     

    @Carlo Graziani:

    The growing influence of the siloviki faction – led by Wagner Group financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin – is further fracturing the Russian pro-war community.

    Which is interesting, because he’s destroying his own faction over promising.  Ukraine is doing the same thing to Wagner they did to the rest of the army:  Pick away at the logistics and letting Wagner shove their own face in the meat grinder.  When Wagner is sufficiently worn down, and only then, Ukraine will finish them off.  It’s a strategy Ukraine has proven great at, and Russia is eager to fall for.  Wagner is just taking longer.  The chewing is still happening, despite their sacrificial conscripts.

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    @Carlo Graziani:

     

    @Frankensteinbeck: On Wednesday the Washington Post had a long article about Yevgeniy Prigozhin, his rise to power and his current role in this war. It ended with a quote from an unnamed Russian official expressing what could be called an “institutionalist” viewpoint:

         The increasingly prominent role figures such as Prigozhin and Kadryov have in the war effort is irritating some Russian officials, who see them as rogue actors playing by their own rules.

    “To have leaders like Prigozhin and Kadyrov- they [the establishment] can’t live with this anymore,” one Russian official said in an interview. “This is not Russia. It’s a criminal brotherhood based on the principles of the Middle Ages.”

    How the establishment’s resentment might be expressed was beyond the scope of the article. This is only one subplot in the greater story of this war, but it could be consequential.

  55. 55.

    davecb

    Folks who don’t know a lot about explosives or trains are likely to do something simple, straightforward, quick and likely to succeed.  A big pile or two of the “low explosive” one uses for blowing up stumps, set up somewhere it’s easy to leave from, is a good first exercise (;-))

  56. 56.

    Jinchi

    @Mike in NC: Zelenskyy should know better than to try to engage with the new Italian fascists.

    Zelenskyy had to deal with Trump. He knows how to deal with difficult people. He cajoles them to do the right thing and only scolds them for specific actions, like holding up aid, opposing sanctions or advocating concessions to Russia. Congratulating Meloni on her victory is basic statesmanship.

    He knows some of his allies are Putin-curious, and he doesn’t want to give them a pretense for abandoning Ukraine. He’s not going to be the one to break the relationship.

  58. 58.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Geminid:

    It’s a criminal brotherhood based on the principles of the Middle Ages.”

    He’s referring to the “Thieves-in-Law’ isn’t he?  The Russsian “Mafia” that’s been running the place since the 90s.  Prigozhin got his start as a gangster.   Putin got his start servicing gangsters.  Early-on in the war, I remember seeing pics of Putin and his buddies at funerals  of some of these high-ranking gangsters’ funerals.  With all due respect to this official, they *are* the Russian state.

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    @Chetan Murthy: I guess the Russian state could be aptly defined that way. I don’t know enough about the different centers of power to have an informed opinion, though.

  60. 60.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Geminid: Yes, this. I have to imagine that under the surface some kind of political crisis is growing, but Russian processes are too opaque to make any prediction as to when the stressed tectonic fault may finally slip.

    The thing that continues to srike me as remarkable, however, is that the warlords appear to have the same blind spot as some of our own media pols, to wit: that social media (in our case Twitter, in theirs Telegram) is the real world, and that whoever prevails there will somehow “win” power.

    Which is even more absurd in Russia than it is in the US. Competing for the largest mass following on Telegram is pointless if they alienate MOD.  Are they imagining that those followers will somehow become an activated political force that will march behind them? In Russia? 1M followers plus a cup of coffee will earn you a Lefortovo prison cell and a view of your smirking jailor drinking your cup of coffee, and your followers will know better than to step out of line.

    It’s so madly stupid, in two men who cannot possibly be so stupid, that I keep trying to figure out what other game they might be playing. I got nothing.

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    Re Nancy Pelosi; if she’d been home her security detail would have been there. I don’t think there would have been a successful break in.

  64. 64.

    Traveller

    Jackie: I had not thought of that…you may be right….hummm, I will think on this. Thanks

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