It could be argued that this week has been notable for important things that have not happened rather than anything that did happen. It is also important for one thing that is about to happen.
The Zaporizhe nuclear power plant has not been attacked by a dirty bomb; the Ukrainian 'offensive' has not made any progress and the Russians have not started their own offensive. And on July 11th-12th NATO will be meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Much of what is being attempted by the Ukrainians now is being done in order to persuade NATO to increase funding and involvement at this summit. It is not worth talking of gains by either side because these have not amounted to very much. The casualty rate among Ukrainians has declined to the 600-800 KIA range per day (400 less than it was at the beginning of June) and materiel losses have been enormous. Morale in the Ukrainian army is said to be low but one last Ukrainian push is being prepared to impress NATO.
Ukraine's Latest Mobilization
Ukraine is now targeting the West of Ukraine for new recruits to the meat grinder. Previously they have focused on recruiting from the centre and east of Ukraine (i.e. mainly Russian/Ukrainians). The Ukrainian authorities have said that they will be recruiting mainly through 'press gang' methods because very few respond to letters.
Shoddy Armour From UK and France
Ukrainian prisoners are complaining that the body armour and helmets they have received direct from the factory while training in the UK are not fit for purpose. Straps break and the armour is not thick enough. The French AMX 10 wheeled 'tanks' (they're not really tanks) are death traps because the armour is not thick enough. I heard of a whole crew being killed by shrapnel when hit by mortar fire which went straight through the armour.
F16s
The West but especially the US is cooling on the idea of sending F16s to Ukraine having come to realise that the sight of destroyed F16s would not be good for business. Ben Wallace was rejected as new leader of NATO by Biden because he pushed tooo hard for F16s - so they say.
Dirty Bomb Attack on the Zaporizhe NPP
I have seen a few reports that the Ukrainians will attack the Zaporizhe Nuclear Power Plant with a dirty bomb on the evening of the 5th July. There is lots of fear porn associated with this so I won't cover it in detail. Nothing happened on the 5th July so now some people are speculating that it will be hit on the eve of the NATO summit (11th July) when the Ukrainians will say 'Russia did it'. Some very level headed commentators, including Slavyangrad and Simplicius, have played down the risk of a nuclear incident at the plant. Yet some Russian officials are shouting out their warnings on a daily basis. Some say that even if a dirty bomb does strike the plant the contamination will be containable. As always, I am optimistic.
The Air War
The Ukrainians have launched another drone attack on Moscow in which an administrative building was damaged by the only drone of five to get through while the Russians conduct daily attacks on Ukraine with missiles and drones. The Ukrainian drones were targeting an airport where Russia receives flights from other nations. Maria Zakharova called this an act of international terrorism committed by a terrorist state supported by the West. On the 5th July the Russians attacked a hotel in Lviv which housed up to 800 foreign mercenaries, Challenger tanks and maybe some NATO people. I have no idea how many casualties were involved. The attack has been presented by US diplomats as an attack on innocent civilians in a hotel - but they would say that, wouldn't they. The Russians have been going after mercenaries in particular for a while and sending a message to would be mercenaries all around the world.
The Ground War
The Ukrainian Summer Offensive
It looks as though there is definitely a lull in Ukraine's Offensive which started off with Brigade and Battalion strength attacks but are now down to only 150-200 troops in any single assault. I have noticed that Russia MOD KIA figures for the Ukrainians are down to around 600-800 per day whereas they were reporting KIA figures of 1100 at the beginning of June. Sergei Shoigu of the Russian MOD said that the Ukrainians have lost 2,500 vehicles of different types, including tanks, armoured vehicles and trucks since June 4th when their offensive started. This is equivalent to the vehicle complement of 5-6 brigades. According to Russian sources the Ukrainians have also lost 20,000 KIA since the offensive began and they have gained a pitifully small amount of ground to which they are precariously clinging.
According to Pravda, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security, has said that the Ukrainian Offensive has finished. From now on the Ukrainian army will not be seeking to advance but to wear down Russian forces. Since this is an artillery war and the Russians have a 10-1 advantage in this area, it doesn't take a military genius to work out that the Ukrainians will be worn down before the Russians. Allegedly Zaluzhny, or an imposter, has told the Washington Post that offensive action is impossible without F-16s and air defence systems. Western countries, he said, would never have started an offensive without air superiority. NATO military personnel know this yet the offensive was allowed to go ahead. These people are criminals. A NATO spokesman has said that F-16s will not be provided until this offensive has been completed. But the Russian MOD is more cautious and does not accept that the offensive capability of Ukraine's army has not been exhausted. It is true that the Ukrainians have not yet used up all of their reserves - so the Russians are right to be cautious.
Marcel Ciolacu, Romanian PM, has said that the failure of the Ukrainian offensive shows that it cannot win the war against Russia - glad to see one politician using his reason.
Most of the fighting taking place along the front lines constitutes artillery exchanges in which the Ukrainians are losing many artillery systems. Neither side is advancing very much. The Russians are stuck to the east of Kupyansk in Kharkov region because the Ukrainians have constructed large and complex trench systems. Dima, of the Military Summary Channel, believes that this obstacle would cost too many casualties to attack frontally so the Russians may open up a new front from Sumy region to the west of Kharkov City in a south easterly direction: ukraine_political_map.gif (2200×1555) (worldometers.info). Wagner forces in Belarus could be deployed for this purpose and a 'buffer zone' could be created as part of this in order to prevent Ukrainian artillery attacks on Russian territory. Putin recently talked about the need to create a 'buffer zone'.
After over a month, nothing tangible has been gained by the Ukrainians. If you remember, lots of Western commentators were saying that the first 24 hours would be crucial (as Rommel said about D-Day) and there was an expectation or a hope that the Russians would run. We all knew this was nonsense but most commentators in the West became victims of their own propaganda. For such people the failure of the offensive will be a reality check.
The Russian Offensive
Now that the Ukrainian offensive has more or less petered out there is some speculation that a Russian offensive is imminent. A Russian ex-colonel (Gennady Alyokhin) has suggested that the offensive will start from Sumy and proceed west of Kharkov. He is not alone in this view but will the Russians wait until after the NATO summit which starts in Vilnius (Lithuania) on 11th July? Or will they simply continue this battle of attrition in a defensive posture while making incremental gains in the north (i.e. Kupyansk/Lyman area).
The Economic War
Ursula and the EU Pirates
EU figures such as Ursula van derleyen have been meeting to discuss how to steal Russian assets to give to Ukraine. Some EU states, including Germany, are worried how such theft will impact on the European financial system and the Euro. Some countries may decide to take their money out of the EU and out of the Euro fearing that they could also be the subject of such piracy. But the EU has been frustrated in its attempts to find a legal way of stealing Russia's assets so it has decided to tax them - but this could also be illegal and may undermine confidence in the European financial system.
Where did our money go? Orban
Victor Orban, president of Hungary, has asked for an audit of the 70 billions Euros the EU has sent to Ukraine. Hungary will send no money to Ukraine until this audit has been done - but of course no audit will ever be made because it would reveal that certain individuals have benefited more than the Ukraine war effort.
Politics
Popular Putin
The fundamental objective the West is trying to achieve with regard to the Ukraine war has been, still is and always will be - Russian Regime Change. But that would be a prelude to the break up of Russia into smaller defenceless units. Western leaders hoped to achieve this through sanctions, by supporting the Ukrainian army and seeking to bring global opprobrium onto the Great Bear's head. They failed totally with sanctions, the military side of things has been 'disappointing' to say the very least and Russia's relationship with countries outside of the West has been totally unaffected by the conflict in Ukraine. Putin's approval rating has just gone above 90% for the first time. I will repeat that: Putin has the approval of 90% of his people 15 months into a war which they vehemently oppose but deem necessary. That is amazing! Western Leaders would give both their arms, their hearts (if they had any) and their brains (if they had any) for such an approval rating wouldn't they? Sadly, I don't think they regard disapproval as anything more than an occupational hazard. They are not interested in what their sheep think; they just want to control them. I think that is the virus that has infected most of the globalists. But more and more observers looking on from the sidelines are beginning to see how incompetent and lacking in important values these psychopaths are.
Z in Bulgaria
Z is on a tour of NATO countries begging bowl in hand. However, he was not welcomed in Bulgaria and his begging bowl remained empty when he left. Bulgaria is out of weapons, ammunition and money, he was told. Z was not pleased.
Austria
The Austrian chancellor has told a press conference that Russia is an important part of Europe, culturally and economically and that the Ukraine war should be ended by negotiations.
France Not Going to BRICS
Apparently, Russia has rejected Macron's request to attend the BRICS summit this summer. Macron then had the cheek to condemn Russia for exploiting Africa (which is not true) when France has been doing that for centuries. I saw a video about this and the support for Russia and the condemnation of Macron was overwhelming among commentators.
Ukraine Women Protest
No they are not protesting about the numbers of their men that are being killed; they are not protesting to stop the war. NO - they are protesting that there are insufficient cemeteries in Ukraine to bury their dead husbands!! Unbelievable.
Z Suspends Elections
Z has suspended all elections scheduled for next year, including Presidential elections. Therefore, democracy is now completely suppressed in Ukraine. The media has already been suppressed along with political parties. I thought this may happen as I mentioned the week before last. So, those who were hoping that Ukrainian regime change will happen following the 2024 elections will be disappointed. Ukraine is now a dictatorship totally under the control of sleepy Joe Biden and his associates.
Poor Old Greta
Yes - she's getting old and is attempting to reinvent herself in an image more appropriate to her 20 years. Her new mission in life, having abandoned her doomsday preachings and the delivery of 'how dare you' reprimands, is devoted to punishing Russia for - wait for it - Ecocide'. She met with Z himself, that great eco-warrior, who dedicated his acting skills to an impression of innocent victim of Russia's dastardly ecocidal deed of blowing up the Khakovka hydro electric power station and dam. He was a little quiet about ecocidal deeds of his own, such as the Nord Streams (so some say), the ammonia pipeline and the continuous shelling of a nuclear power station. Yes - and of course he was at work in Khakovka. It's handy to have an actor as puppet sometimes. But this was also a 'meeting of narratives' - where the Nazis meet the Greens, the neo-cons meet the EU elites and the Wokist gurus meet the Deep State neo-liberal globalists. They are all part of one gang and now, in order to save the Evil Empire, they are all occupied in clutching the last grasp of straw that is available to be clutched - AKA the Ukraine war. Old Hollywood like, the conflict is depicted in monochrome black and white images of good and evil. These are archetypes of Jungian stature in which Russia plays the bad guy and Ukraine the good guy. Back in the 1950s such moral simplicity ruled the earth. Since then, the movies have provided a more complex and nuanced form of morality in which no one is all bad or all good. And so the 'anti-hero' was born. But now we have returned to black and white again. Kiev has become a sort of 'Jerusalem' to these elites for worship and pilgrimage and Greta is only the latest of a long line of these 'pilgrims' representing the religious allegiance of the Eco movement - come to pay homage really. It's so corny I feel nauseous. But I'm also struck by the overwhelmingly phantasmagoric world that has been created in order to perpetuate the belief that the West is right and Russia wrong. Just as the things Greta believes in as a 'climate alarmist' are chimeras, then so are the things she believes to be true of Ukraine and Russia. It's all very sad really that such people can live much of their lives in a world that has no basis in reality - a pseudo reality. Perhaps we've all been there at some point in our lives.
Ramstein Peace March 24th June
A few thousands protested against the US, NATO and the Ukraine war at the US air based in Ramstein Germany.
Countries Leaving the EU?
The recently elected 'right bloc coalition' in Sweden has raised the question of leaving the EU and now the populist AfD party in Germany is promoting the idea of dismantling the EU altogether (because it is corrupt and not fit for purpose). Ursula Van derleyen will not be at all pleased.
Prigozhin
There are lots of rumours and speculation about Progozhin that I will report on when I have some facts. Lukashenko has said that Progozhin is in Russia, not Belarus but of course lots of Wagner troops are in Belarus. The Russians have raided some of his properties but there is no report of an impending arrest just yet.
The Emerging MPWO
Video Examples:
Namibian President Humiliates German Diplomat Lecturing Him about China - YouTube - 8 mins (3 months ago)
''We don't need any lesson from BBC or anyone else" - President KAGAME - YouTube 16 mins - Rwanda (one year ago). President Kagame said: 'Don't lecture us about values: we have our own values'. He also blamed the West (what he called the North) for the genocide in Rwanda many years ago because it was the West that divided Rwanda up between ethnic groups.
BRICS Currency
The BRICS group has announced that it plans to introduce its own currency that will be backed by gold - unlike the dollar. De-dollarisation may happen faster than most Westerners think.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
Iran has just joined the SCO which will infuriate the US and other globalists. They will also be infuriated by the support Russia received from other SCO members who sympathized with the trauma Russia experienced during the Wagner rebellion. The SCO is widely seen as the cornerstone of the emerging MPWO and the 23rd summit took a 'virtual' form this year directed by New Delhi. Belarus will also join soon.
EU-CELAC Summit
This is a summit between the EU and Latin American countries. I could have included it in politics but the exchanges between the two sides demonstrated the fact that the MPWO is coming fast. The EU wanted to include a joint statement from the summit condemning Russia but the Latins deleted any reference to Ukraine and added their own request that both blocs advocate for serious and constructive efforts to end the conflict diplomatically by peaceful means. The Spanish representative invited the great Z but the Latins were having none of it - so Z will not be going to Brussels.
Another French Revolution?
Rioting has been happening in France over the past week or so as a response to government policies around carbon emissions. The government promised to place a ceiling on energy costs but they failed to do so. The government will not allow landlords to rent out properties that don't conform to energy reduction targets. Hundreds of thousands of properties will be affected. France Has Collapsed | Major Changes Explained - YouTube 11 mins
But following the police killing of a 17 year old Algerian boy on the 29th June - there was a tremendous upsurge in the violence. By July 2nd the rioters had looted 250 banks, 200 shops, 10 shopping centres and 250 tobacco shops. There have been more than 2,500 cases of arson including attacks on properties, vehicles and 41 police stations. 3,200 people were arrested over a three day period when police and rioters suffered casualties.
Some say the rioting is in part a consequence of France's immigration policies and a huge influx of Muslim refugees which has caused tensions in many communities. This short vid deals with this aspect of the violence. France Has Fallen? - YouTube 4 mins. 45,000 police have been deployed but they have not been able to bring the situation under control.
In some areas the rioters are mainly young disaffected Muslims but French nationalists have taken to the streets and are marching rather than rioting in cities such as Lyon. I have heard reports that some of the rioters are being paid and that some are neo-Nazis. I have also heard that some rioters are using weapons that should have gone to Ukraine's army. What a mess.
In a press interview, Macron blamed video games for the riots: rioters were simply acting out video game plots, he said. And his solution? - more internet censorship of course! He also talked about shutting down social media altogether. This sort of response will be greeted in the same way that Marie Antoinette's 'let them eat cake' response was back in 1789. Both show a callous failure to understand the people and their grievances. I have just heard that the French military is telling Macron that unless he restores order withing 48 hours (from 1st July I think) they will intervene. Wow! BUT - it hasn't happened at the time of writing.
Rioting has also broken out in many areas of Belgium while rioting in Switzerland has resulted in the Swiss army being deployed in force with tanks and armoured vehicles.
Censorship
Following the censorship of RT, the West has also prevented internet access to Sputnik and following the arrest of YouTube/journalist Gonzalo Lira - based in Ukraine, another YouTuber, Mike Jones of iEarly Grey (based in St Petersburg) has also had his channel banned. They are being picked off one by one. If anyone is interested in accessing banned Russian channels please let me know. I can access RT and Sputnik through Brave by using their 'New private window with Tor'. Oddly, Russian TASS and Military Pravda are still accessible but probably not for much longer.
That's all for this week.
I must involve myself in other matters next week so my next update will happen on July 21st - UNLESS - something big happens.
Take care.
Rob