With MILLIONS - unchecked flowing into the US - only a matter of time - we have MADE a LOT of enemies looking for payback
And negatively impact the Dems' election chances....Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
Financial Times reports that the U.S. has told Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries
The Americans are allegedly worried that the drone strikes risk driving up global oil prices and could provoke Russian retaliation.
Narrative building.
Wonder how many foreigners got liquidated?A strike by two Iskander missiles at the launcher and command post of the Norwegian NASAMS air defense system near Zaporozhye. Detonation and ignition of rockets.
At this rate all of those comments by Marcon may result in L'Armee d'Air BARCAPs over Ukraine with AWACs support, flying out of lord knows where, along with more SAM systems.Wonder how many foreigners got liquidated?
Z and V
By JON HUER | Published: 03-22-2024 2:15 PM |
''The tyrant could now be looking to strike nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia - which is four times bigger than Chernobyl.''Hummm.....For images please see article source. HC
ETA: Interesting the number of repurposed SAMs the Russians expended.
Posted for fair use.......
Putin made chilling nuclear threat when he emptied arsenal for huge blitz
VLADIMIR Putin began emptying his arsenal for Russia’s biggest-ever blitz on Ukraine overnight because he “smells weakness”, experts have warned. The tyrant could now be looking t…www.thesun.co.uk
EXCLUSIVE
ALL GUNS BLAZING
Putin made chilling NUCLEAR threat when he emptied arsenal for biggest ever blitz…he can ‘smell weakness’, experts warn
Putin has 'nothing left to lose' after winning Russia's sham election
VLADIMIR Putin began emptying his arsenal for Russia's biggest-ever blitz on Ukraine overnight because he "smells weakness", experts have warned.
- Iona Cleave
- Jessica Baker
- Published: 16:22, 22 Mar 2024
- Updated: 16:26, 22 Mar 2024
The tyrant could now be looking to strike nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia - which is four times bigger than Chernobyl.
Putin, 71, unleashed hell on civilians using a deadly arsenal of 88 missiles and 66 drones - many of which were designed to batter warships and infrastructure.
Among the weaponry were seven £4.5million "Kinzhal" rockets, capable of travelling at 12 times the speed of sound, and five Kh-22 "Storm" long-range missiles intended for use against aircraft carriers.
The cruel leader emptied his stockpile on civilian infrastructure overnight, sending the Dnipro power plant and dam up in flames.
Ukraine's energy minister Herman Halushchenko said the blitz was "the largest attack on Ukraine's energy sector in recent times".
Domestic and industrial electricity supplies were obliterated and civilians were faced with an internet blackout.
Retired British Army General Sir Richard Barrons told The Sun that the bombardment reflected Russia's resupply of missiles and drones.
He said: "[The attacks] are designed to weaken Ukraine's resolve to keep on fighting and, above all, to suggest to the West that supporting Ukraine is futile and 'we' should encourage Ukraine to settle, ie accept defeat.
"Putin, with a new six-year term is confident about his cause and he thinks (Donald) Trump will win and EU is splitting.
"So he smells weakness and opportunity that these attacks are intended to exploit. Bluntly, the more catastrophic the - self-inflicted - outcome in Ukraine the greater the risk of escalation to a major confrontation, even conflict, with Nato."
He warned that Russia will mount a renewed offensive in the summer and attempt to charge on to the Dnipro river and Kyiv.
The attack, arguably the despot's most audacious yet, came as the Kremlin claimed the West's intervention on Ukraine's side was to blame for the calamitous ongoing war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday: "We are in a state of war.
"Yes, it started out as a special military operation, but as soon as this group was formed, when the collective West became a participant in this on the side of Ukraine, it became a war for us."
Chemical weapons expert Colonel Hamish Stephen de Bretton-Gordon said Peskov's comments were "hugely worrying" and indicated "the gloves are off" - that "there are no holes barred".
He told The Sun: "The massive attack is an indication that Russians are taking advantage of confusion in the West at the moment, Ukraine's lack of munitions and air defence missiles - which is why lots got through this time."
The Kremlin's apparent change of rhetoric "most likely signals that Russia is getting to mobilise," according to security expert Aliona Hlivco.
Ms Hlivco, the managing director of Henry Jackson Society, said Putin is escalating the war and looking to destroy Ukraine while the West is reluctant to provide any more weapons and artillery ammunition.
Lithuania's foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis despaired on Friday: "We choked the weapons supply, we failed to provide enough air defence, and now we ask Ukrianians to sit on their hands while cruise missiles land on their families.
"Such mistakes are setting the course of the entire century. And there is no justification for any of this."
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www.thesun.co.uk
Following last weekend's sham election, where Putin "won" a fifth term in the Kremlin with 87 per cent of the vote, the despot has no reason not to go "all in".
"There are no shackles on Putin now," De Bretton-Gordon told The Sun after the election.
Ms Hlivco said on Friday: "Putin has got nothing left to lose. He's a pariah, a war criminal on the world stage.
"And Russia has reached its critical point of of no return. It's leading everyone who they can get on board against the rest of the world, not fearing any potential consequences.
"Russia doesn't really care for its citizens. They're leading the world into the abyss."
Now that Russia "thinks it's at war", Putin may consider nuclear power station Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine - the largest nuke power plant in Europe - a "legitimate target", said Col De Bretton-Gordon.
The overnight attack took out power to the plant.
Col De Bretton-Gordon warned Zaporizhzhia - four times bigger than Chernobyl - could be used as an improvised nuclear device.
He said: "It is an exceedingly dangerous state without power."
OSINTdefender
@sentdefender
Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu conducted a Tour today of a Military Defense Plant within the Nizhny Novgorod Region of Western Russia which is in the process of Developing the New FAB-3000M-54 Super-Heavy Aerial Bomb, which is expected to soon enter Active Service aboard Tu-22M3 Heavy Bombers with the Russian Air Force for use during the War in Ukraine.
View: https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1771002264393531558?s=20
Well, That Sure Raises The Temperature – Western Rifle Shooters Association
westernrifleshooters.us
Well, That Sure Raises The Temperature
Grrr... This is sucking. NOBODY should be doing anything on any side of all of this. Frickin' find the negotiating table, you idiots!Either they've really deployed troop formations or they've deployed ELINT/SIGINT/IMIGINT decoy units to broadcast and represent what a force would put out if actually deployed. Time will tell.....
My friend, they are here.Perilous times are coming
This is so absurd it is hard to see how it got printed - talk about talking out your "backside"In the "WTF" category of Op-Eds.......
Posted for fair use......
As I See It: How to end the war in Ukraine
Putin rattles his nuclear saber again: The Associated Press (Recorder, March 14) reports, “Putin says Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons.” He has been making such threats for the past two years, especially against the possibility of the U.S. or...www.recorder.com
As I See It: How to end the war in Ukraine
By JON HUER Published: 03-22-2024 2:15 PM
Putin rattles his nuclear saber again: The Associated Press (Recorder, March 14) reports, “Putin says Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons.” He has been making such threats for the past two years, especially against the possibility of the U.S. or NATO sending ground troops. The CIA says “it’s 50-50” that he will do it (which prompted Biden’s famous “Armageddon” speech), and that’s frightening enough.
The latest conclusion from the Ukrainian front is that both sides are exhausted, neither side able to make a decisive move. This stalemate is bad news for Ukraine, as Russia still has a deeper pool of everything — manpower, resources and authority to last longer, perhaps forever with its national patience. The Western alliance, especially the United States, is showing cracks and is thin on patience. Only last week, the Pope advised Ukraine to surrender, with “the courage of the white flag.” Other nations will advise likewise. Unlike the Russians, patience is not the West’s, or America’s, strong suit. While neither side seems capable of a decisive outcome, a lot of damages can be inflicted by both sides in a war of attrition.
Such a grim and seemingly hopeless war is also an opportunity in search of radical solutions and I have just imagined one myself: I believe my solution will end the war in Ukraine’s favor — without more nuclear threats from Mr. Putin or further drains from the West’s treasuries.
My solution requires two well-defined but simple policy actions by our government:
First Action: Under cover of secrecy, install three high-powered American nuclear warheads in Ukraine, and then announce that Ukraine has the nuclear capability to destroy Moscow, which is merely 500 miles away and in minutes’ flight time from Ukraine. This action neutralizes Putin’s nuclear threats.
With only three warheads, the Kiev government can invalidate Putin’s dangerous nuclear temptations with his own mutually assured destruction (MAD).
Russia will protest, of course. But, according to the 1994 treaty they signed along with the United States, now known as “The Budapest Memorandum,” actually the Russians are obligated, morally and legally, to restore Ukraine’s nuclear capability. Since Russia is obviously unwilling to do this, the U.S., its co-signer, will have to do it, as all co-signers must do for the delinquent debtors.
How did the Budapest Memorandum come about?
While the Soviet Union was still the world’s second largest nuclear power, it just so happened that the Soviets had stationed 1,700 nuclear warheads in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union was no more as a nation, Ukraine suddenly ended up with those Soviet-made nuclear warheads on its soil, 1,700 of them, effectively making it the third most-powerful nuclear-armed nation in the world.
With this many windfall warheads, however, the pressure on Ukraine was intense from the international community to give them up. Ukraine finally agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for the absolute guarantee of its national security by three nations — the United States, Great Britain and Russia (successor to the Soviet Union),
After two years of bloody war that they did not start, are the Ukrainians sorry that they gave up their real guarantor of peace? Of course they are. Putin’s Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if those nuclear weapons were still on Ukrainian soil. Obviously, as far as the Russians were concerned, the security guarantee in the Memorandum was not worth the paper it was written on. The Russians invaded Ukraine anyway.
Returning three warheads for the 1,700 warheads they took from Ukraine under a now-broken promise, and under false pretenses, is fair enough. In America’s own business practices, guarantees are sacrosanct. Both Russia and the U.S. guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty and at least one signer should be willing to restore the promise.
Second Action: In order to win the ground war in Ukraine, follow the announcement of Ukraine’s newly restored nuclear capability with another bombshell announcement: that the U.S., augmented by NATO, will send ground troops to Ukraine to fight the Russians. This will end the ground war in Ukraine, very likely, without firing a shot.
Once his nuclear wings are clipped with Kiev’s own MAD-capability, Putin’s nuclear bluff is over. In the ground war, he is exhausted —materially, strategically and spiritually — and Russians are no match for the American GIs who are famously well-fed, well-armed and well-rested. All the U.S. has to do is announce its plan to send a small advance unit to the Ukrainian front, with more to follow, and Putin will shake in his boots at the very news that the Yanks are coming!
Just as in Reagan’s Cold War strategy, the U.S. can outmuscle the Russians with its sheer material superiority. This new phase of the war in Ukraine will be won even before it starts. The Russian people will not, and cannot, support Putin gearing up for a fresh round of war against the well-fed, well-armed and well-rested Americans with high-tech war machines.
In his exhausted state — and with no nuclear options to consider — Putin has no other choice. As long as Kiev holds its MAD-dagger aimed at Moscow so close, Russia will never invade Ukraine or another nation west of Ukraine, again.
For the U.S., this daring coup of the century will help Democrats score a few electoral wins and, not insignificantly, for Joe Biden come November. It’s a win-win-win solution — morally, practically and strategically.
Jon Huer, columnist for the Recorder and retired professor, lives in Greenfield.
This PR CRAP keeps getting tossed out - Russia did not blowup the NS Pipe line - they are not attacking the ZNPP - UNDER THEIR CONTROL''The tyrant could now be looking to strike nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia - which is four times bigger than Chernobyl.''
Hmm,,,,,,,it's been operating under Russian control since March, 2022.
Terrorist Attack in Moscow — Who Did it?
Good overview of what is known now - several options:
On the “Usual Suspects” list we have Ukraine and we have ISIS. A good case can be made for both. I am posting three videos — some of it is repetitive — that discusses the attack and the very odd behavior of the Biden Administration. Let’s go through the chronology of events.
Terrorist Attack in Moscow — Who Did it?
sonar21.com
Hummm...........
Posted for fair use.....
Russia warns Japan of 'serious consequences' if Patriot missiles made there end up in Ukraine - RIA
Russia's newly appointed ambassador to Japan has warned Tokyo of serious consequences and retaliatory steps if Patriot missile systems manufactured under U.S. licence in Japan end up in Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported on Friday. RIA cited the new envoy, Nikolai Nozdrev, as saying that...news.yahoo.com
Russia warns Japan of 'serious consequences' if Patriot missiles made there end up in Ukraine - RIA
Reuters
Fri, March 22, 2024 at 8:28 AM PDT·1 min read
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's newly appointed ambassador to Japan has warned Tokyo of serious consequences and retaliatory steps if Patriot missile systems manufactured under U.S. licence in Japan end up in Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported on Friday.
RIA cited the new envoy, Nikolai Nozdrev, as saying that Moscow would be watching closely to see where Japanese arms exports ended up after Tokyo softened its export rules at the end of last year.
In particular, he said, Russia would be watching to see if and when any Patriot missile complexes and missiles made in Japan under U.S. licence are exported to the United States and then to Ukraine.
"Accordingly, we will be watching carefully to make sure that the Patriots delivered do not end up in Ukraine, because if that happens, there will be the most severe consequences for bilateral (Russia-Japan) relations, including our retaliatory steps," RIA cited him as saying.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
View comments (2.1k)
The tragedy in Moscow will change the entire war in Ukraine,Terrorist Attack in Moscow — Who Did it?
Good overview of what is known now - several options:
On the “Usual Suspects” list we have Ukraine and we have ISIS. A good case can be made for both. I am posting three videos — some of it is repetitive — that discusses the attack and the very odd behavior of the Biden Administration. Let’s go through the chronology of events.
Terrorist Attack in Moscow — Who Did it?
sonar21.com
Yep, elections sure do have consequences, don't they.Considering the number of Obama Admin retreads, the amount of power they actually wield from day to day and Obama’s relationships with the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS legitimately looks more likely. Then you've got the CIA and FBI in full public "disagreement" with the Whitehouse and the Sec of DHS regarding the threat created by the situation on the border and the rift in the DS visible if you look right at it.
Definitely "interesting times" ahead...
Large swathes of Ukraine have gone dark, connectivity data shows:Many parts of Ukraine are experiencing blackouts after a massive wave of Russian strikes on March 22 targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, killing at least four people, hitting the country's largest dam, and temporarily severing a power line at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant.
And with Friday's terror attack by unknown gunmen on a Moscow concert venue and mall, this rapid escalation is sure to continue.- Generating facilities and power transmission and distribution systems were damaged in various regions of Ukraine, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.
- Power company Ukrenergo reported that dozens of energy system facilities have been damaged, with the most severe situation occurring in the Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Odessa and Kharkov regions.
- Ukraine’s DTEK energy holding company has reported major damage to equipment at the country's thermal power plants, without specifying which TPPs it was referring to.
- Damage to critical and industrial infrastructure was reported in the majority of Ukraine's regions, both in the east and center of the country, as well as in its western regions.
- The country is experiencing widespread Internet disruptions, particularly in Vinnytsia, Dnieper, Kharkov and Khmelnitsky.
- Electricity is out in almost the entire city of Kharkov, as well as in many districts of Dnieper, Krivoy Rog, Kropivnitsky, Khmelnitsky and neighboring cities. Starokonstantinov, Khmelnitsky Region, near where a military airfield is located, is also blacked out.
- Kharkov is also experiencing problems with water supply and communications, including telephone communications. Railway operations have switched over to diesel locomotives; electric-powered modes of transport have shut down.
- Naftogaz of Ukraine reported damage to the company's facilities. According to Naftogaz CEO Alexey Chernyshev, the matter concerns "localized damage to the gas pipeline and disconnection of facilities from the power supply."
Eventful 24 Hours: Moscow Terror Attack Follows Massive UA Grid Strikes
Let’s begin with the tragic event that has eclipsed everything else: a large terrorist attack on a packed Friday night shopping center at the outskirts of Moscow. But while there are many dead, and the event is clearly momentous, there is actually not much ofsimplicius76.substack.com
snip
Simplicius The Thinker
Mar 23, 2024
Let’s begin with the tragic event that has eclipsed everything else: a large terrorist attack on a packed Friday night shopping center at the outskirts of Moscow. But while there are many dead, and the event is clearly momentous, there is actually not much of substance to be said on it yet, without rehashing the same baseless gun-jumping discussions from Twitter and elsewhere.
There’s simply too little solid verifiable information, so we’ll only gloss it over for now, and tie it into events on the ground in Ukraine at the end.
The more directly salient events occurred last night, when Russia launched one of the larger and more impactful strikes of the war, hitting numerous Ukrainian hydro-electric power plants, including the big one in Dnipro—one of the largest in Europe—Zaporozhye, and a plant in Kharkov, as well as dozens of other military production sites in Kiev and west Ukraine.
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