The continuation of the battle between the Ukrainian military and the beaver appeared on the network
Unfortunately, after the enemy was pushed back from the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he struck with renewed vigor, completely taking control of the trench pic.twitter.com/2OZ0xz6DJc
— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) March 29, 2023
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:
Greater unity is needed to defeat tyranny; the democratic world is capable of achieving it – Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address
29 March 2023 – 22:22
Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!
A brief report of the day.
I took part in the global Summit for Democracy at the invitation of President Biden, this is one of the most representative platforms for the protection of our system – the system of free peoples.
This is the second such Summit. In general, we do not have so many representative opportunities in the world to talk specifically about democracy, about the protection of freedom in all its aspects. And it is good that now we have such an opportunity to join forces in order to find more energy, more prospects for democracy.
The position of Ukraine, as always, is very specific, as practical as possible. And in almost all the leaders’ speeches at the Summit, there were apt words of support for our country and our people. I am thankful for this to every leader, every nation who feels as we do that the values of freedom deserve the strongest protection.
Now, thanks to Ukrainian courage, thanks to the leadership of the United States, President Biden, thanks to the Congress of the United States and everyone who works for the consolidation of the world, we have the greatest unity of democratic countries in a long time. And this unity, as we can see, is enough to fight for freedom.
But to win against tyranny, greater unity is needed. I am sure that the democratic world is capable of achieving it. It is capable of winning.
Democracy needs victory! As soon as possible. And all of us together: Ukrainians, all Europeans, our American allies, our friends on all continents – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in Australia – will do everything to bring victory closer. The victory of Ukraine. The victory of freedom. The victory of the rules-based international order.
I spoke today with Giorgia Meloni, head of the Italian government. I thanked her for her principles, for her determination, for the real European strength that is felt in her words and actions in defense of freedom.
We discussed both bilateral relations and the general situation in our defense against Russian aggression. I informed her about the situation on the battlefield, about our needs. Already in the coming months, we can be more active on the frontline. And we will do everything to ensure that the support of our steps by the world is as effective as possible.
Bakhmut. Today, we have something to thank our warriors for, warriors who are fighting in the Bakhmut direction. Fighting firmly and efficiently.
I thank each and every one who is doing everything to increase the losses of the enemy there! And special thanks to the warriors of our Kost Hordiienko 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, 77th separate airmobile brigade and the glorious Kholodny Yar 93rd separate mechanized brigade. Well done, guys!
We are already preparing for the events planned for the second half of this week. I held relevant meetings today. Ukraine has not wasted a single week during the full-scale war – we are constantly strengthening our state, our Defense and Security Forces, our confidence in advancing towards victory.
Today, a step has also been taken to strengthen the spiritual independence of our state, to protect our society from the old and cynical Moscow manipulation of religion.
Ukraine is the territory of the greatest religious freedom in our part of Europe. It has been so since 1991. It will always be so.
I thank everyone who cares about Ukraine and our citizens!
Thank you to everyone who supports the Ukrainian struggle for independence!
Glory to our warriors!
Glory to Ukraine!
And here is President Zelenskyy’s address to the Global Democracy Summit convened and hosted by the US Department of State and chaired by President Biden. English language video below with Ukrainian subtitles followed by the English transcript:
Democracy needs victory already now – speech by the President of Ukraine at the plenary session of the second Summit for Democracy chaired by the U.S. President
29 March 2023 – 21:44
Thank you very much! Mr. President Biden, thank you for this summit – for another step in consolidating the world in defense of freedom.
Dear colleagues!
Now is a decisive time, and it is our joint responsibility – what exactly will determine this time. Will we pass on to our children and grandchildren the values of freedom that we have ourselves, or – will they have to fight for democracy from scratch?
Modern generations of many democratic countries do not know from their life experience that freedom cannot be taken for granted. Most people can only learn about this from history textbooks – from the stories of wars of independence that took place generations ago and battles of freedom won by others.
But the experience of the enemies of freedom is always fresh. They don’t refer to textbooks. They know how to break democracy and destroy life. It is enough for them to have the slightest feeling that they can go unpunished, and then evil acts.
This is where the threat to our values comes from, this is why democracy is in danger.
Ukraine knows what it is to fight for democracy right now. And let our experience of preserving freedom during total war help protect the free world: each of your peoples!
When you see Ukrainian cities burned by Russian aggression and when you see brave Ukrainian soldiers that stop the movement of the aggression through our land, notice – what you are actually seeing.
This is deciding the fate of not only Ukraine, this is deciding the fate of everyone who is used to living freely.
Russian propagandists and accomplices lie that, allegedly, the West is fighting against Russia on the territory of Ukraine. It’s worth understanding – what is really going on.
It is Ukraine that tyrannical Russia is able to reach with its bloody hands – with missiles and artillery, bombs and tanks. But the Kremlin’s ambitions do not end just where its hands reach.
Russia has been at war with all of you for a long time – with the democracies of the world.
It fights via disinformation, election interference, espionage, corruption exporting, cybercrime, by trying to trigger an energy crisis and price explosions in markets that will hit your people with insane electricity or gas bills. Look – the Kremlin is trying to turn even food provision into a weapon – blocks the sea to create a shortage in the global food market.
Why is this happening? This is war, ladies and gentlemen. This is war precisely against freedom and democracy.
Every foe of freedom acts in the same way. I emphasize: they act.
The enemies of freedom have not lost a single year in recent decades! They channeled all their time and unlimited money, which they gained in trade with the free world, – to weaken and to corrupt and to undermine democracy.
But have all the efforts of the free world been aimed at limiting the aggressive potential of tyrants and autocrats and at bringing them to legal responsibility for their crimes? Unfortunately – no.
We have to fix it.
Democracy must be able to act – and act in advance. Democracy must learn to be uncompromising in the face of evil. The spirit of democracy is to find a compromise, but this only works for internal freedom in a given country. We should get rid of the illusion that compromising with evil can give something to freedom. The enemies of democracy must lose, and only this can be the basis of true security for democracy.
Embrace this Ukrainian determination!
Ukrainian democracy maintains absolute internal unity even in the face of a total war against our people. To win – is our national goal. What does it mean to win? Our answer is clear: to preserve freedom, to preserve dignity, to preserve our land.
But what is the strategy of the free world in relation to totalitarian Russia, which is looking for how to create more totalitarian allies in the world? Is there such a clear strategy? I will tell you what it should be. Clear answer: evil must lose the war. If it loses now, it will know that it will always lose everywhere.
First. We should not think how to save Putin’s face in order to allegedly reduce the cost of fighting him. We should think how to preserve respect for democracy in those countries where freedom has yet to win.
Second. When a fire breaks out, firefighters cannot wait months for fire trucks to be provided, or accept that fire hydrants should be mandatory only for short distances. It works the same way in war. The more restrictions on the defenders, the more casualties and destruction, because the flames of aggression know no bounds. That is why the defense of democracy must have all the weapons that will reliably guarantee the defeat of the aggressor.
Third. Russians must contribute to protecting the world from the Kremlin, whose impunity they have tolerated. It is necessary to look for, freeze and direct for recovery not only individual assets of the aggressor state and individual related parties, but all assets of Russia and Russian wealthy who have traded silence for increasing their wealth. They must have a motive to act in defense of freedom, and to bring an end to this aggression and the Kremlin’s terrorist rule.
Dear colleagues!
War makes things crystal clear. These days I visited our regions near the frontline. There you can see what aspects of leadership are needed now.
When our fighters repel the assaults near Bakhmut, they cannot wait for weeks before firing an artillery shot in response to the enemy’s actions. The fire must be immediate and neutralize the threat. All our decisions should be just as quick.
But for some reason, sanctions against Russia are much slower than Russia’s aggression. Global pressure on the Russian elite is weaker than its motive to accept the Kremlin. Support for Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches is less far-reaching than the weapons of the terrorists acting against us. And your own willingness to defend your democracies is less resolute than the intentions of those who want a world war against democracy.
Democracy needs a victory. Now! This year! Not some other time. Not over time. Now!
And we are able to ensure this. Ukraine and everyone who helps. And I am sure we will!
But act, act please, colleagues!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Thank you for your support, Mr. President! And to all colleagues!
Glory to all who fight for freedom!
Слава Україні!
Here is an update from Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Malyar. The machine translation is from the Ukrainian MOD’s Telegram channel:
Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situations in Avdiivka and Bakhmut:
AVDIIVKA AXIS /2200 UTC 29 MAR/ RU forces were rebuffed at Novokalynove, Krasbohorivka, Stepove, Sieverne and Pervomaiske. UKR forces conducted counter-battery fire against RU artillery and carried out a precision strike against RU logistics on Donetsk city. pic.twitter.com/qJx75hLzDd
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 29, 2023
BAKHMUT AXIS /1415 UTC 29 MAR/ UKR air defenses downed a Russian Su-24 strike fighter near Bakhmut. Wagner /RU continued attacks along the M-03 HWY axis, and were again defeated at Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Bohdanivka. Russian VDV / units were rebuffed at Ivanivske. pic.twitter.com/0SNvFCAIu4
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 29, 2023
Bakhmut:
Update from Bakhmut from Ukrainian "Bakhmut Demon" on the morning of 29 March:
"Reporting.
Serious battles continue for Ivanivske and on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Firefights and artillery shelling. While I’d love to tell you something that would blow you https://t.co/BMFnQK0iS4… pic.twitter.com/rMxpXu1Z4G
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
Here’s the entirety of Dmitri’s translation from the tweet above:
Update from Bakhmut from Ukrainian “Bakhmut Demon” on the morning of 29 March: “Reporting. Serious battles continue for Ivanivske and on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Firefights and artillery shelling. While I’d love to tell you something that would blow you away, the battle for Bakhmut is now a positional meat grinder. Medics are our heroes. Assault actions of the Russians have no success. The tactical and strategic situation has not changed at all, only more destruction. No one will leave Bakhmut.” Follow him for regular updates on TG: t.me/bahshid2023
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Milley tells lawmakers that roughly 6,000 Wagner group mercenaries are currently fighting in Bakhmut, with 20k-30k more recruits. Says they are seeing "enormous" casualties as Ukrainians inflict "a lot of death and destruction on these guys."
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) March 29, 2023
Kharkiv:
Kharkiv, a city 30 km from the russian border. russians expected to capture it in a day. When they failed, they took revenge on the city with relentless terror. The story of those who resisted in the 8th episode of the "Kids of Bomb Shelters" series by @ulybinyulian
1/4 pic.twitter.com/3GU4bnnbZu— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Shells, missiles, bombs… russians sought to turn the lives of the city’s residents into hell. They were shelling residential areas and infrastructure daily to make cold and darkness into russian allies. 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian
2/4 pic.twitter.com/a41tjbPqYW— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Due to broken elevators, hungry elderly people were trapped in their cold and dark apartments for weeks. Children spent months living in basements and subways due to shelling. Besieged Kharkiv in the 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian
3/4 pic.twitter.com/nBbd1iXztV— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
They survived. The Synenko family – Oleksandr, Olga, and their five children from Kharkiv – in the 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian. They may have run out of food and candles, but they never ran out of love.
4/4 pic.twitter.com/Bemr4cvN1X— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Toretsk:
A marksman from the 24th Mechanized Brigade positioned near Toretsk shows off his Dragunov rifle. He told me that it is a very valuable tool, as Russian positions are located a little over a kilometer away. The situation in the area was calm today, save for some distant shelling. pic.twitter.com/ZbKIYceoUJ
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
Besides a Soviet-built mortar and PK machine guns, the infantrymen of the 24th rely on some Western-supplied anti-tank weapons, as well as older rocket-propelled grenade launchers. pic.twitter.com/i7PvzdiNSy
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
The beginning of my interview of Roman, the officer in charge of the unit, was interrupted by the sound of machine gun fire. “It’s our guys who are shooting”, he told me. pic.twitter.com/hLl1XAMwRO
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
Belarus:
The Russian military are trying to stage provocations on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. This is evidenced by a new SBU interception. A soldier of the Russian Federation, who is "touring" along the Ukrainian border in Belarus, tells about this to his acquaintance in the Donetsk… pic.twitter.com/gfRkargspT
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
And here’s all of Dmitri’s tweet above:
The Russian military are trying to stage provocations on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. This is evidenced by a new SBU interception. A soldier of the Russian Federation, who is “touring” along the Ukrainian border in Belarus, tells about this to his acquaintance in the Donetsk region.
The latter is waiting for his comrade’s unit to be transferred closer to help.
Such actions show that the Russian Federation does not stop trying to involve Belarus directly in the war against Ukraine and is doing it by any means.
Pelym, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia appears to have had an unfortunate smoking accident.
Explosion and fire at the gas pipeline in the north of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, town of Pelym. Commentary by the witness. pic.twitter.com/G7u2YHin1g
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), which is sort of Britain’s version of the Institute for Defense Analysis, has released a new report on preliminary lessons learned from Russian unconventional operations in Ukraine over the past year.
Good section. We need to be careful drawing modern warfare lessons from Feb-March 2022 because Russia committed a number of mistakes based on poor assumptions that other countries likely won't. Many of the initial casual explanations for why Russia's invasion failed were wrong. https://t.co/APs0RnmjHk pic.twitter.com/v345EAhcoM
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 29, 2023
This is why I thought arguments that tanks were obsolete based on the first month of the war were wrong. Your conclusions are only as good as your data, and the data from Feb-March are not necessarily that applicable to other potential wars.https://t.co/NkoCIX8seW pic.twitter.com/rL3YVstiHA
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 29, 2023
Here’s the link to the full pdf.
This part on p. 34 is very important: (emphasis mine!)
However, there are also clearly considerable deficiencies in Russia’s approach to unconventional warfare. At a fundamental level the Russian special services lack self-awareness, or at least the honesty to report accurately about their own efforts. In the case of Ukraine, a plan was attempted that was critically dependent on unconventional methods when the preconditions for success had not yet been achieved. This reveals wider cultural problems in the Russian services. That they are directed to bring about an outcome without independently assessing the viability of the plan creates a reporting culture where officers are encouraged to have a significant optimism bias. Furthermore, there appears to be a systemic problem of over reporting one’s successes and concealing weaknesses to superiors. This is evidenced by the overly optimistic assessment of the proportion of Russia’s agent network that would be proactive in supporting Russia in the context of a full-scale invasion. The fact that this lack of self-awareness in the Russian services contributes to blunders can certainly be exploited by counterespionage officers, but is far from comforting as it leads to a situation in which the Russians are difficult to deter because they have an unrealistic estimation of the likelihood of their success.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
There are no new Patron tweets or vids tonight, so here’s some adjacent material from Ukrainian Army Cats and Dogs:
One of the heroes of the defense of #Azovstal.
Great warriors love cats too! pic.twitter.com/JQpoN8dhle
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Ukrainian SOF dog. pic.twitter.com/vRUXkbiH4P
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
☺️#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/Q77vyeMmEX
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Live in together in trenches.#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/zxPwv78pYh
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
😍#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/xTJkCGOd9w
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Open thread!
SpaceUnit
But the beaver came back the very next day,
The beaver came back, we thought he was a goner,
But the beaver came back, it just couldn’t stay away,
Away away away away,
Spanky
“War Beaver” will not be the name of my new band.
Gin & Tonic
Thanks for highlighting that RUSI report. On the list for tonight’s reading.
Spanky
“How is our foolproof plan unfolding, Comrade?”
“Ummmmmmmm……..”
Repeat ad infinitum.
Chetan Murthy
That RUSi report is pretty chilling reading. Two things jumped out:
Chetan Murthy
There’s a report on conventional warfighting from RUSI, too: https://static.rusi.org/359-SR-Ukraine-Preliminary-Lessons-Feb-July-2022-web-final.pdf
Preliminary Lessons in Conventional Warfighting from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: February–July 2022
TheOtherHank
So there are people who think that Ukraine should give in to the Russians and accept the new status quo. I believe (having read a certain amount about the American Civil War) that we should call them Copperheads.
Jeffro
I’m just so, so sad that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s and Tucker Carlson’s favorite hero (OTHER than the Mango Menace) is having such difficulty in Ukraine. (sob)
also, the Ukrainian army has a bright future as perhaps the most versatile fighting force in the world…mortars from Russia? tanks from Poland? HIMARS from the US? We’ll take them all and figure out how to use them to lay waste to our Russian invaders!
Their 2025 Biden inaugural airshows are going to be LIT! You name it, they’ll just put 4 of them in a diamond formation and fly over D.C. , trailing blue and yellow flares all the while. =)
Jay
Pimp my ride, Ukrainian style.
cain
@Spanky: Might be better as a Rage against the machine song.
cain
@Jeffro:
So, looks like Trump wants to start a war with Mexico over Mexican cartels – who are only a problem because we can’t fix our gun problem. Remove the guns and then Federales can actually do some damage.
Instead, he and apparently even the GOP want to do this shit again and this time right across the border. These people are insane.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-mexico-military-cartels-war-on-drugs-1234705804/
Alison Rose
LOL yeah I’ll say. That’s basically the russian motto, it seems.They’re like underpants gnomes with lethal weapons and different accents.
Curious if anyone knows what this is referencing? I didn’t see a separate post about it on Zelenskyy’s FB.
I know they’d taken previous actions against the russian orthodox church so I assume this is something connected to that?
Thank you as always, Adam.
eclare
How could you Bigfoot AL? Very bad move.
Mallard Filmore
ABC network news is reporting that RUS has stopped sharing ALL information trading, a treaty requirement, of nuclear warhead activities.
NBC news:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-nuclear-information-us-new-start-treaty-war-ukraine-putin-rcna77150
“Russia stops sharing information on nuclear forces with the U.S.”
politico says it goes the other way:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/28/u-s-suspends-sharing-nuke-information-with-russia-00089188
Alison Rose
@eclare: are you being serious?
eclare
@Alison Rose: yes.
cain
@Alison Rose: one thing that I worry about is all those russians leaving the country and then going into other countries and then doing what they are doing in Israel agitating for more authoritarian type of government. They just don’t know how to be in a democracy.
Urza
Beaver taking more territory than the Russians.
Jay
@Alison Rose:
Another Orthodox Church is being kicked to the curb for supporting Ruzzia. This one is supposedly “Ukrainian” Orthodox, but has been accused of working for Ruzzia.
The State owns the property.
japa21
@Alison Rose: eclare doesn’t realize the mechanics of this place or that, as functioning adults, we can follow and participate in two different conversations at one time.
Alison Rose
@eclare: Well, Adam can speak for himself, but bigfooting happens on this blog all the time, and I assume Adam spends quite a lot of time putting these posts together and isn’t going to realize if someone has just posted when he’s done. The Ukraine updates are just as important as Ginni Thomas being the duplicitous sack of shit we always knew she was.
Alison Rose
@Jay: Ah, interesting.Thanks.
Jay
@Urza:
and people diss the Canadian Armed Forces, but we have won the Man vs. Beaver War, had a period of detante and are now encouraging re-colonization by the beavers, but this time, they are on our side, or we are on their side, I forget which,……
eclare
@japa21: Wow. I have been here for at least ten years
Fuck off. I am out.
Another Scott
@Alison Rose: I’m pretty sure it’s related to this – VOANews.com:
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
Bill Arnold
@Urza:
Beavers are Defenders of the North!
The unit’s spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, said that help in making the terrain unpassable had also come from an unlikely ally: the local beaver population.
“When they build their dams normally people destroy them, but they didn’t this year because of the war, so now there is water everywhere,” he said. (2023/01/13, Reuters)
Alison Rose
@eclare: and yet you’re indignant over a bigfoot
Jay
Russian Volenteer Forces are a pro-Ukraine Volenteer Group who did not take up Ukrainian Army Contracts, and are engaging in actions inside Moskovia.
Jay
@Another Scott:
Chetan Murthy
@Jay: “UOC-MP” means “Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate”, right? Which means that they still view themselves as subordinate to the ROC ?
I remember reading some months ago about a bunch of subversion the UOC in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra had been caught doing. But I don’t remember the details.
japa21
@Jay:
Another loud and imbecilic rant about how Ukraine under Zelenskyy (he’s a Jew, BTW) is persecuting Christians will be flowing from Fucker Carlson again.
Mike in NC
Saw a clip of actor Jeremy Renner interviewed after his mishap. The guy was born to play Zelenskyy in the movie of his life.
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
some do, some don’t. There is a shichsm inside the UOC-MP, since 2018. Some are pro-Ukrainian, some are hotbeds of Ruzzian activities and spying. Some of the UOC-MP priests, at the outbreak of war, looted church icons and valuables, and fled to Ruzzian controlled areas and Ruzzia itself, where they sold them, melted down the precious metals and pried out the precious stones.
Jay
@japa21:
yup, just like any day of the week,…….. tankies are freaking out on twitter.
trollhattan
Somehow, MIT’s mascot being the beaver makes more sense. Allez, beavers!
trollhattan
@Jay: Tankie tears aren’t delicious but they are copious. Betting on Vlad or Trump seems equally misguided.
Jay
Gin & Tonic
@Another Scott:
That’s close to being correct. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has been under the control of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate. The predominant denomination now is the Kyiv Patriarchate, correctly known as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The UOC-MP has been known by everyone to be a russian intelligence asset. There was at one time a Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, loyal to Ukraine, but that has been absorbed into the OCU.
I recognize this is a complicated topic, and I don’t have time right now to do it justice. But this particular move with respect to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has been a long time coming.
Anonymous At Work
@Jay: Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. The schism will resolve, hopefully, once the “pro-Russian” clergy separates into “useful idiots” versus “active agents” and the useful idiots learn self-awareness.
Far too many of both around the world. What will happen to them when Putin kicks the bucket? How much of Russia’s support network is tied to the FSB/KGB that could lose a lot of power when their old boss is no longer in charge?
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: I posted about that in an update at the time they published it.
Believe it or not I do know what I’m doing.
Adam L Silverman
@Spanky: This also applies to Xi.
Adam L Silverman
@cain: Their frontman is a tankie.
Adam L Silverman
@eclare: I do one of these a night. I don’t get paid. I don’t ask for anyone’s thanks. I spend several hours a day immersed in this insanity so that you all get a nightly war update. If you don’t like the timing of it, that’s too bad.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: There’s a whole section in the RUSI report about how Putin uses the Russian Orthodox Church clergy as agents and spies.
Gin & Tonic
This is a direct quote from the RUSI report noted by Adam:
“the Russian Orthodox Church…Beyond its efforts to support Russian information operations, its priests were widely recruited and run by the Russian special services and their monasteries and churches used as safe houses for equipment and personnel.
ETA: GMTA
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: I covered them a month or so back. They’re also led by an actual Russian neo-NAZI.
Chetan Murthy
@Adam L Silverman: Oof, sorry Adam, I didn’t remember that you’d done so. My bad. And for sure, I know that I’m a student here, glad for the education.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: The RUSI report has an entire section on the Moscow Patriarchate clerics and how they’re used as special assets, agents, operatives, and spies.
Jay
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: No worries. The second part of my reply was good natured teasing.
Time to get the grime off and rack out!
Gin & Tonic
@Anonymous At Work: The schism was resolved when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew granted the OCU a tomos of autocephaly in January of 2019.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Haven’t had time to read through it yet.
Andrya
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve posted this before, but I think it’s relevant here; in 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the closest that Eastern Orthodoxy has to a pope, granted the Ukrainian Orthodox “autocephaly”- meaning self government, independence from Moscow (which, in my opinion, shows what Patriarch Bartholomew thinks of putin). link The current disputes are basically the efforts of the Moscow Patriarchate (a wholly owned subsidiary of putin) to resist/overturn Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision
ETA: Sorry, G&T, you beat me to it.
Mike in NC
Ever since 1917 the Russian Orthodox Church has managed to suck up to the powers that be.
Betty
@Adam L Silverman: I can’t say enough how much I appreciate your posts. We are so well informed here thanks to your efforts. I look forward to them despite not having the expertise to offer useful comments.
Carlo Graziani
@Gin & Tonic: The RUSI report discusses the Russian Orthodox church as one of the Russian assets in Ukraine — p 11-12
ETA: I see that you got there already.
Andrya
@Mike in NC: I cannot agree. I grew up in San Francisco in the late 1950s/1960s, and the Russian/Russian Orthodox presence was huge (going back to the 19th century fur trade). My first lessons, as a preteen, in resisting tyranny were from a Russian Orthodox grocer who had fought both the czar and the communists. My parents’ home when I was a teenager was close to a Russian Orthodox Cathedral that contains the burial of “St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco” (I am not making this up) who arranged an escape route for Russians escaping the communist regime.
putin has definitely succeeded in corrupting the Russian Orthodox Church in russia, but that does not mean there is not hope for the Russian Orthodox Church to reform.
Jay
@Andrya:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_collaboration_with_communist_secret_services
The rot goes generations deep,……..
Carlo Graziani
I’ve read the report now. In my view, it’s strength is that it brings together in a comprehensive way the nature and purpose of Russian Intelligence subversion and information ops, and their role in war planning. I haven’t seen this level of detail on Russian networks and on Ukrainian counterintelligence before.
The main weakness of the report is in its attention-catching claim that “…the Russian invasion plan does not make sense without understanding Moscow’s intended defeat mechanism of the Ukrainian state.” This is overreach, and not really supported by the evidence presented. It seems to me to be the common area specialist claim that One Big Factor Not Noted By Other Analysts provides the interpretive key to understand the event under debate.
An example of this analytic overreach is found on p. 12:
In light of the belief that Moscow’s subversion operations to sap Ukrainian will to resist would lead to a 3-day war, this is a non-sequitur. It points to the larger complex of incompetencies that afflict not only subversion, but also military intelligence use, as well as Russian military planning, training in large-scale operations, logistics, air operations, inter-service coordination, and so on. The evidence of the report cannot support the view that the failure of the subversion plan alone explains the military catastrophes that befell the Russian army in February-March 2022.
That said, it’s a good read.
Andrya
@Jay: In any situation of tyranny, some people are going to collaborate and some people are going to resist. I’m objecting to focusing on SOME people in a religious community (or a community of atheists, for that matter) who collaborated, ignoring the ones who did not collaborate, and saying “everyone in this community is bad!”
In the Nazi occupation of France, atheist Simone de Beauvoir worked for a Vichy-operated radio station, and atheist Jean-Paul Sartre did nothing to oppose the Germans. Another atheist, Albert Camus, put his life on the line as a member of the French resistance. Would it be fair for me (a Christian) to point to de Beauvoir and Sartre and say that French atheists accepted or collaborated with the Nazis? Ignoring Camus?
Chetan Murthy
@Andrya: There’s a relevant difference between atheists, and … organized religions: the former don’t have hierarchies, so an atheist who collaborates doesn’t pervert the work of an atheist who does not. But in organized religions, the bad actors can and do pervert entire hierarchies, so that the good people in those organizations inadvertently help further the evil.
Shorter: the Catholic Church as an *institution* is at fault for the rapes of children, and must be punished as an *institution*. It’s not enough to simply punish individual priests, nor even the bishops who helped them evade detection and punishment, b/c the entire hierarchy enabled those crimes.
I don’t know whether this is the case with the UOC-MP; but it certainly is the contention of the Ukrainian government, and it seems reasonable to give them the benefit of the doubt on that.
Carlo Graziani
@Chetan Murthy: The distinction that @Andrya: is pointing to is not between atheists and established Church, but rather between Church Establishment and believers.
Please, let’s not let this discussion push over the cliff where believers are held responsible for the hierarchy’s choices. That discussion leads to a Bad Thread.
Andrya
@Chetan Murthy: I would agree that hierarchy leads to acceptance, and often participation, in crimes- but I disagree that this only affects religious communities.
When atheists organize a hierarchy terrible things also happen. (Examples: USSR. China today.) Also, hierarchies having nothing to do with religion pro or con (the Nestle company pushing formula that resulted in Third World infant deaths- mining companies that resisted acknowledgment of black lung)- also browbeat their people into accepting awful things. (The Boy Scouts of America also had a sex abuse scandal.)
The real problem seems to be that to get anything done, hierarchies are more efficient than an unstructured group, but once you have a hierarchy the leaders can push horrible things. The only solution, as far as I can see is to police one’s leaders relentlessly- and people are very unwilling to do that.
Chetan Murthy
interesting: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/the-same-russian-agents-who-meddled-in-us-politics-set-the-stage-for-ukraine-invasion/sharetoken/W5peQkI7ANuC
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
actually, the Ukrainian Government position is basically that churches who support Ukraine are fine, churches who can be proven to subvert Ukraine by collaboration with the Moskovites, are not. And in their process so far, it’s not “what this one priest did”, it’s what the leadership of the Church did, and not across faith, but Church by Church, because when 2019 hit, there was a schism in the Church. Some converted to Ukrainian Orthodox, some retained ties to the Moskovite Patriarchy for tradition, but embraced Ukraine, some went full Orc.
Lyrebird
@Andrya:
I have no idea about big solutions, but your Existentialist examples are right on. Also in WWII, there were Christian clergy members who helped genocide, and there were ones like the man who became Pope John Paul who saved lives.