A leaner, meaner Russian army?

It's Ukraine's Independence Day. How much longer it remains independent is a good question. How much longer it is even known as "Ukraine" is another question.

In the end what the West now calls “Ukraine” may be just Galicia and called “Kyiv”, the Ukrainian name for Kiev, neutral and under the watchful eye of Mother Russia.

Much of the Western media is celebrating the Kursk offensive.

The Hill calls it it masterful and compares it to Israeli strategy during the Yom Kippur War, ignoring, of course, the total lack of similarities.

In fact, the Ukrainian strategy is more like that of the Egyptian’s sudden surprise attack that had a measure of tactical success at first which was not viable longer thjan a short time strategically and eventually failed.

Political writers in the US are not much for history, I guess.

The initial attack on Kursk was spearheaded by about 1000 troops, followed by a couple of brigades up to 6500 men. The element of surprise afforded the first assault groups local and temporary tactical success.

So far, however, the Ukrainians have lost almost 6000 men— not to mention a very large number of tanks (about 80) infantry fighting vehicles, AD systems and the like.

Russian losses are about 1/10 that .

To make up for their losses, Ukrainians are doubling down using up their last remaining reserves, weakening their forces in the Donbas where the Russians are making impressive gains.

Ukrainians keep on pumping in troops— including mercenaries .They keep on dying.

Zelensky is demilitarizing Ukraine all by himself.

The Russians, having evacuated civilian settlements in the area, are not fighting for territory — other than to keep Ukrainians away from the Kursk nuclear power plant and nearby military facilities.

Their game, as it has been from the start of the war , is attrition-- reducing the UAF to nothing, inflicting horrendous casualties,

The Media has been celebrating the POWs brokered by the UAE as some kind of victory. A 100 Russians for 100 Ukrainians.

The Russians were happy to go home; the Ukrainians not so much-- they mostly surrendered to get out of the fighting-- now they'll be sent back to fight and this time probably die.

In addition, the Russians treated them well, giving them food and medical treatment.

Repatriation of POWs is not really a plus for the Zelensky regime, much less a victory.

Unless of course the POWs are diehard Nazis – in which case the important word is “diehard”, which they will surely do this time around.

As long as the Russians can keep the Ukrainians coming for the next month or so, the more progress they make demilitarizing Ukrainians.

In the South, Russian victories will eventually allow them strategic positions on the Dnieper River and they will be able to cut supply routes to Zaporozhya and Mykolaiv and the Black Sea coast including Odessa.

Odessa is really the prize —the gateway to the Black Sea —but it's a big city and taking it requires isolating it from supplies from the north. With big cities, the key is always logistics.

This means controlling the Dnieper and the North as well as the South of Kiev-- which is vulnerable if the Russians strike simultaneously from several directions . They put Kiev under siege once before with minimal forces and they can do it again.

But it will be a lot easier to just walk into Kiev when the Ukrainians no longer have soldiers who can fight and when the Nazis have fled to the west to avoid war crimes trials and the Ukrainians who remain want and upgrade in the standard of living. Kiev was always a much a Russian city as a Ukrainian one.

Apart from this, the Kursk incursion among provides many other benefits for for the Russian military.

On the one hand, it provides the new defense minister with leverage to shake up the Russian general staff. Gerasimov and others are on their way out— but their future afterwards depends on how well they handle what's going on right now

The Russian MoD has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the “coordination and communication” of Russian forces along that very long border--which to some degree is natural , considering the large areas Russian forces have to police, despite modest numbers.

By the end of this operation however, Russian forces in the north are going to be better organized —leaner and meaner

In fact. The entire Russian military, while larger, will be leaner and meaner. More than a match for NATO\.

On Kamala Harris

You will recall my article Horrible Harris— where I ridiculed Harris's claims to competency as a prosecutor and Attorney General. Of course the mainstream media is saying that criticisms of her career are unjustified and she really is what she says she is.

Eric Zuesse who writes for the Duran and Southfront (among others) has actually annotated her speech with links that substantiate all my criticisms of her in my article— as well as a few more. Read it and weep for the future of the US of A where we can see the Peter Principle in action.

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties. Laurence J. Peter

Here’s the link.

Special Report. “End Times”

This Special Report has changed a lot.

For me, this 2024 election signals the failure of the US, if not of Western “civilization”.

The US was never much of a “democracy”— not that any country in the G7 alliance has been. Democracy only works when governments represent the public and the public interest —and when people feel empowered to question, criticize and speak freely and demand truth, not lies.

That’s not what is happening in the US or the UK or Canada. “Universal suffrage”．More like “universal suffering”.

Ichi— thinking on these things.

I want to finish this report this week before the month ends.

Please help by buying me (us) coffee. Click here or on the photo above.

Julian, Ichi, and Chappy