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Happy Santa! (Dec. 6th)
In German btw Santa is “Nikolaus” – I am waiting for them to rename him. Either into something French or a newly invented Ukrainian word. That could be found via a NATO-funded literary contest.Another one of those interviews where Russians would understandably argue: What has changed in Germany in 80 years? Nothing.
This time welcome: Arndt Freytag von LoringhovenAnother German aristocrat. Another former diplomat in Moscow. Another intelligence officer. Another liar and warmonger.
Do they have a special place where they breed them? I don´t know.
But it´s for sure he didn´t get the lesson the Red Army taught his daddy who served in Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_Freytag_von_Loringhoven)Interview by BERLINER ZEITUNG
Loringhoven wrote a new book with the fantastic title:
“Putin’s attack on Germany. Disinformation, propaganda, cyberattacks”Von Loringhoven: “NATO with its entire arsenal is far superior to Russia”
Former top diplomat Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven on the question of whether Donald Trump is acting in Russia’s interest or whether he will surprise everyone.
https://archive.is/a1wiRintroduction to the interview which is the known propaganda. But it might be interesting in its entirety to understand how these people think. Despite the German war guilt and all that other nonsense which the British never had to put up with lucky bastards. For them it should be much easier to kill Russians.
(excuse my sarcasm)The hall in the building of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) is filled to the last seat. There is considerable interest in security circles in Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven’s new book. The former top diplomat knows Poland and Russia like hardly anyone else in the foreign service. His roles have included Vice President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security. We wanted to hear his assessment of the world situation between war and peace and spoke to Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven.
Just came across this Guardian article posted a couple of hours ago:
« Europe may have to double its aid for Ukraine under Trump, diplomats fear
Kyiv told to increase domestic arms production as its officials say they have enough support to fight through 2025 »
Here are a few passages from it:
« European military aid to Ukraine may eventually need to be doubled if Donald Trump cuts off US funding, European diplomats fear, but Ukraine is confident with already announced US aid this year that it has the military and budgetary support to keep fighting through 2025.
The former EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has also recommended a step-change in Ukraine’s domestic arms manufacturing during 2025, believing it the cheapest and most efficient way for Ukraine to keep fighting…
European officials are meanwhile confident that Ukraine will receive a $50bn (£39bn) loan repaid from the interest earned on frozen Russian assets of $280bn that was announced in October by G7 countries…
Ukraine is already planning to produce at least 30,000 long-range drones and 3,000 cruise missiles and drone missiles next year….
The EU and Ukraine are privately trying to convince the next Trump administration that the Ukrainian leadership should at least be given another year of support to see if it can push back Russia, or test whether sanctions start to inflict more serious damage on the Russian economy. Ukrainian officials met the US vice-president elect, JD Vance, in Washington this week….
In the last six months, the biggest request from Ukraine’s ministry of defence was for additional drones, he [Serhiy Marchenko, Ukraine’s finance minister] said. The number fired at Ukraine was about 300 drones a month in June, but that figure has now risen to 3,000. “Winter will be hard but business is prepared with enough generators,” he added.
Marchenko also expressed frustration with the continued flow of Russia’s crude oil exports that earn Russia up to $20bn a month. He said he personally would like Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers to be targeted militarily. »
And also this one, posted last night:
« MI5 forced to ‘pare back’ counter-terrorism work due to rogue states, says chief
Ken McCallum says service must make ‘uncomfortable choices’ as it faces more aggression from Russia, China and Iran »
Here are a few passages from it:
« MI5 has had to “pare back” its counter-terrorism focus because of the growing threat from Russia and other hostile states, the security agency’s boss has said.
Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said the agency has to look at its “finite” resources and make “uncomfortable choices”.
“We now face much, much more aggression from nation states,” he said in an interview recording obtained by the Times. “In effect, we had the 20- to 30-year holiday from that kind of big player, sophisticated states in serious conflict with each other. It’s back, I’m afraid….”
The MI5 boss recently warned that Russia is intent on causing “mayhem” on UK streets and that Iranian-backed plots that pose “lethal threats” to British people are ramping up at an “unprecedented pace and scale”.
In a speech in October, the security agency’s director general said Britain should “expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home” from Russia, with its military intelligence agency, the GRU, on “sustained missions”, adding: “We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more.”
Yep, the war-mongering fear-mongering hate-mongering psychopathic fascist scum and their media never tire of spewing forth their propaganda lies and turning reality on its head.
And as it says at the end of the article – quoting a Cabinet Office spokesperson – McCallum is just repeating what he said in October:
“The comments made by Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, reflect those he has previously made publicly. In his October threat update, he talked about the challenges of prioritisation.” »
Yes, it’s always good to repeat stuff!
And it’s lovely to read that some German folk went to the US to visit Donald on election day:
As Donald Trump gathered his supporters, family and friends at Mar-a-Lago on US election day last month to wait for the results to trickle in, a small group of far-right Germans went largely unnoticed.
Among them was the purported semi-professional, one-time porn actor, self-confessed former cocaine user, convicted thief and hard-right candidate for the German parliament Phillipp-Anders Rau… Rau stood beaming next to Trump, who was wearing a Maga hat. They were joined by Leonard Jäger, who as “Ketzer der Neuzeit” (Heretic of the New Age) posts anti-LGBTQ and conspiracy theory videos on YouTube…
Birds of a feather…
Pathetic to see France/Macron trying to condition Trump to become more of a warhawk on Ukraine as he assembled and touted the Trump/Zelensky meeting in France the other day:
Photo from the meeting: https://x.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1865455792683434384Meeting with Trump and Macron was ‘productive’ – Zelensky
https://swentr.site/news/608899-trump-macron-zelensky-meeting/
If Trump is serious about his “anti-war”/isolationist attitude he needs to stop being fooled/brainwashed by the warmonger-crowd like Macron represent. The more Trump hang out with these bozos, the further he will drift from his, allaged, isolationist belief.
This is the continuation of my critical comment on the GREENPEACE study intended for the major discussion forum:
For instance Western made tanks are in essence regarded as superior technoloy and so forth.
We by now have countless reports that AFU doesn’t like those tanks. They have failed in combat when under real duress. They have been taken out with simple means. In fact this very war has caused the US Army to stop planned new tank R&D.
In short NATO tanks have proven worthless in this war environment.Even an informal member of the Reagan administration like Stephen Bryan late 2023 I think pointed out some serious weaknesses in tank armour.
On the other hand even a publication like US “National Interest” dedicated an entire piece on the T-72 being the “world´s best tank” and “Ukrainians knowing it.”
Or the F-35 which is a disaster of historic proportions, 50%+ having serious operational deficiencies which force them to stay on the ground. According to some statements their stealth is as well at jeopardy as e.g. Chinese and Russians might have cracked it.
But this would be a very inconvenient PR in the light of F-35s to become the backbone of NATO air forces after costing incredible $2 trillion in R&D.The lead by RU in hypersonic weapons and the paradigmatic change that is unfolding in front of our eyes in strategic and tactical missile capabilities is not even hinted at.
see on this e.g.
Col. Jacques Baud: Russia’s Hypersonic (Oreshnik) Missile Hits Ukraine – Israel Losing in Lebanon
interview on “Dialogue Works”
25.11.24
112 min.
The first half:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPb60TTWtUNor is there any mention of the total inferiority of artillery shell production in the West, well summarized here (if you can live with the author´s polemical tone). There are no factories, no shells, no TNT for shells etc.
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/in-europe-if-youre-sitting-in-the
European Navies, even the countries in question admit it, are in laughable shape.
NATO troop strengths in the study are from fantasy land.The list goes on and on.
Interestingly Westen sources contradicting of any of these points are totally missing. As such the GREENPEACE piece could indeed be regarded not as serious scholarship but PR. Simply because it is so incredibly one-sided and often incorrect.
Just to give more examples:
Even though the F-35 is of such importance for a future force the reports that made public the F-35s huge failure do not feature anywhere:
The independent POGO – Project on Govenment Oversight:
2021
https://www.pogo.org/analysis/f-35-program-stagnated-in-2021-but-dod-testing-office-hiding-full-extent-of-problem
2022:
https://www.pogo.org/analysis/f-35-program-stagnated-in-2021-but-dod-testing-office-hiding-full-extent-of-problemEven US Congress has called for a stop of the F-35 project.
Another one is the inadequacy of US infantry for the kind of warfare which we witness in Ukraine.
US military commanders who are not in top positions but know the truth have pointed this out with dramatic clarity:
Just one year age:“A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force”, fall 2023
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol53/iss3/10/“(…)
The Russia-Ukraine War is exposing significant vulnerabilities
in the Army’s strategic personnel depth and ability to withstand and replace
casualties.11 Army theater medical planners may anticipate a sustained
rate of roughly 3,600 casualties per day, ranging from those killed in action
to those wounded in action or suffering disease or other non-battle injuries.12
With a 25 percent predicted replacement rate, the personnel system will
require 800 new personnel each day. For context, the United States sustained
about 50,000 casualties in two decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In large-scale combat operations, the United States could experience that same
number of casualties in two weeks.
(…)”They also lack recruits:
“(…)
In addition to the disciplined disobedience required to execute effective
mission command, the US Army is facing a dire combination of a recruiting
shortfall and a shrinking Individual Ready Reserve. This recruiting shortfall,
nearly 50 percent in the combat arms career management fields, is a longitudinal
problem. Every infantry and armor soldier we do not recruit today is a strategic
mobilization asset we will not have in 2031.14 The Individual Ready Reserve,
which stood at 700,000 in 1973 and 450,000 in 1994, now stands at 76,000.15
These numbers cannot fill the existing gaps in the active force, let alone
any casualty replacement or expansion during a large-scale combat operation.
The implication is that the 1970s concept of an all-volunteer force has outlived
its shelf life and does not align with the current operating environment.
The technological revolution described below suggests this force has reached
obsolescence. Large-scale combat operations troop requirements may well
require a reconceptualization of the 1970s and 1980s volunteer force and
a move toward partial conscription.
(…)”Similarly alarmed are the same people over inadequate training of the officer corps in the light of how wars were fought by NATO/US 30 years ago and how they are conducted today. The US was fighting insurgents way inferior. A completely different enemy than what is in this war in Ukraine now.
Again none of this is acknowledged in the study by GREENPEACE.
Why? Because antiwar or not (which is why I support the study´s use to a certain extent) – it is based and fed by the US-European supremacist tradition that anything RU does, be it even benevolent and to be supported by us is eventually also inferior and to be pitied.
A look into the study´s footnotes raises the specter of very biased research. Littered with NATO think tanks. Papers which often mitigate RU capablities or look at them with Western POV, in part incompetently so:
ISW, CSIS, IISS, COFR, Atlantic Council, RUSI, NATO herself, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy.What do these people really know about military affairs? Almost nothing.
And the devil here is in the detail.
I seriously doubt anyone quoting this Greenpeace study now in public really knows those sources. Or would care to read them and check them. Which would mean thousands and thousands of pages.
They are almost exclusively new, 2021-2024 authored. Which means – they are from an era of pure Russiaphobia.
I see not a single genuine Russian study. It is always the “Western gaze.”
I believe via google tanslate Tatyana´s pdf could be translated into English (last time I checked Greenpeace still had it not tanslated.)
If I know this why can´t people say it too who are actually being paid huge sums to know these things. I am just an ordinary reader with zero military background. How is this level of incompetence/delusion of Western scholarship and public possible?
the old witch’sZe’s curse claims another victim. Now it’s Scholz.
https://cs15.pikabu.ru/post_img/2024/12/16/11/1734377225195729076.jpg
Bundestag passes no-confidence vote to Scholz governmentDon´t be surprised if Scholz is chancellor still after this coming snap election.
In any way nothing will change.
But: The curse joke indeed still works!The curse maybe acting out, at the moment, in Canada. Chrystia Freeland has resigned as Finance Minister.
She had disagreements with Justin.
Quote BBC“Justin Trudeau’s future looks uncertain following the sudden resignation of his most senior cabinet member,
a once close ally”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn54elwep72o
The Elite in Canada were completely taken up by the Ukrainian cause.
That view, might now be waning.A translated interview with the RU ambassador in Germany, Sergey Y. Nechaev:
“Russia’s representative in Germany calls German tanks in Kursk “tragic””
https://archive.is/zRzN2The interview is not at all extraordinary.
2 interesting things though:
1) Wikipedia has no English entry on him! And neither does any other European language…
2) While the interview is rather uneventful since the interviewer wanted a few answers instead of fighting him it caused over 500 online comments, divided between hatred and sympathy. In the light of how docile I found this interview the harsh reaction tells you a lot about insanity among those in Germany who are spreading their Russophobia online in forms of private wars.
