It’s crazy to think how few are considering that we are discussing peace while Ukraine is using American weapons, facilitated by US intelligence, to attack civilians in Russia. Not sure how anyone would expect the Russians to take the west in good faith.
And trumps move late this week to threaten even stronger sanctions against Russia should they not act per Washington’s dictates is even sillier.
Not to mention the shrill, screaming harpies in the EU claiming the Russians are coming. Good lord, the west is simply embarrassing at this point.
Trump doesn't understand that the old carrot and stick just ain't gonna work. I saw one report of HIMARS use last week - in Kursk I think - but nothing this week. As far as I am aware the attacks on civilians in Russia are made by drones. The withdrawal of intelligence issue is not at all clear to me and there have been conflicting reports. It will be interesting to see what happens this week. Cheers.
Zelensky looks more like Chris Kamara in the cartoon.
Another great piece.
Further to your comment about the Ukrainians surviving this far i decided to do a little bit historical comparator. I didn't realize that despite all of the defeats from 1943 onwards the Wehrmacht was actually a larger force at the start of 1945 than it had been ever before even in June 1941. If they had time and space they could have conceivably carried on for a further few years. Due to the war of attrition that is being fought out in Ukraine- we are not seeing any great battles of movement which is resulting in large numbers of Ukrainians being surrounded and having to surrender ( with the exception now of Kursk) - unlike the German forces, where sizeable elements were either surrounded and decimated or were cut adrift like the forces in Norway, Finland and Courland- I think its wholly logical that the Ukrainians have survived this far. They have a potential manpower base of 3-6 million, plus exiles and foreign nationals.
I don't know if you have been watching the eulogization of the Russian soldier who killed the Ukrainian in hand to hand combat. He was interviewed last week or so on his home return. The poor guy is clearly suffering from PTSD. I think people should also reflect on the reality of the post war suffering they are imposing on this generation of Ukrainians and Russians.
As regards Trumps view on Palestine/Israel: Its a Welsh miners fault. Without boring you with detail, the late arch Zionist supporter Sheldon Adelson's ( spouse of equally Zionist supporting Israeli Miriam) mother was Welsh. His mother is wrongly identified as English in some sources. His maternal grandfather apparently was a Welsh miner.
Its a pity you didn't mention the BBC pulling the film on Gaza. Middle East Eye has an article where clear evidence of misidentification of the child's father is explored. That doesn't surprise if you look at the source of the allegation. What does surprise me is that the BBC pulled the film based on the evidence of a source that has form for this type of hyperbole, which is known to them, and even more surprising is that the former controller of the BBC gets involved to support the removal of the film and the head of Ofcom then adds his weight to the discussion. Both are or were in positions of public office where the perception of actual or potential bias should have been or be considered. I can't for eg recall either having got involved in, and querying the objectivity of the BBC 's coverage of Scottish matters, including Independence etc.
Cheers Michael - interesting stuff. Making judgements about this conflict is difficult because the nature of the war is so different with drones and intelligence being so impactful. I missed the BBC pulling a film on Gaza - I'll have to look it up. You are right about Chris Kamara.
About the minerals: Wasn't there a mineral deal wit the EU before starting of the war? Now the british have a deal, the US likes to have and even Maron asekd for a minearal deal. And the minerals are mostly on Russian territory.
This reminds me of a car salesman, selling a car which doesn't belong to him to four customers...
Thanks Johannes. I hadn't heard about a EU deal but could have missed it. But I have heard that Macron or some other globalist was talking about making a deal with the Ukrainians on minerals. I reported on it last week, I think. So, if there was already a deal in place, why would Macron - or whoever - be talking about a deal? Do you know what I mean.
Given that around half of losses are sanitary, ie wounded that can be returned to battle after treatment, I'd say that new recruits plus returned wounded (from at least 6 months ago) equal or exceed current losses. I would judge UAF losses are lower than possible at present due to the bad weather, and come some clear dry weather they will escalate. Having said all this the UAF will collapse via morale not losses per se. Recent recruits must be the bottom of the barrel and be severely disincentivised to die for USA mineral rights etc, and all must be now aware that the USA is leaving them. Not a good situation to maintain morale. Actually, not really discussed much in the blogs, but the UAF have fought with some grit, and it is not all blocking units. nevertheless this is at latest the beginning of the end of the war, and the odds are now against the UAF and its front line personnel surviving. They have limited options but maybe dying in a ditch for Z and his cronies is not high up the collective list?
The Ukrainians have fought remarkably well, considering the odds against them - a larger, better equipped army. However Britain and the EU appear determined to keep this war going. It appears that either they have swallowed their own propaganda whole, or their Elites are gearing up for some war profiteering. I suspect the latter, with all this talk of increasing defence (offence) spending.
The Ukrainian army facing the Russians has always been bigger- even now. The Russians have air control and dominate in artillery but their opponent has always had a numerical superiority. Its another western myth a bit like the Germans claiming a 7:1 ratio of Russian troops to Germans in WW2. If you attribute the defeat to numbers it negates the proficiency of the Russian success.
It seems that Zelensky was advised by Antony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, and Alexander Vindman not to sign the mineral deal one hour before his meeting with Trump. This is an obvious violation of the Logan Act.
This, IMO, is a clear case of the elites, mostly globalist in nature, acting only in the interest of maintaining their power base to the detriment of working people everywhere. The so called leaders at the country level betray their citizens constantly, while controlling the narrative through captured media.....but the cracks are beginning to show. Leaders like Orban and Fico are standing up for their respective populations. The U.S. has immense problems at home and a lot of what was hidden during previous administrations has been coming to light. People in NC and Hawaii are realizing that nobody is in their corner from the corrupt and captured agencies of government......remains to be seen whether Trump's rule will manage to turn the ship around as there are tons of resistance. But to address Joy R.'s concerns, an economy cannot thrive by making weapons and selling each other insurance......economies have to produce consumer goods like food, housing and so forth to thrive. I am hoping, though I will not live to see it, that the oligarchs in the U..S. MIC, Agricultural, Medical, Pharma, Insurance and Financial oligarchies will fail without the support of captured regulatory agencies. We will see. I also see the propaganda programs of the globalists failing as casting ad hominem labels seems to have lost its effectiveness with the masses. If the Ukrainian conflict gets resolved, perhaps the conflicts in the M.E. can follow suit. I'd like to think that Meloni could break away from the turds in the EU.....anybody have an opinion on that probability?
Wailing headlines now sound the alarm that the remaining Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region face encirclement, and that decision time is here - retreat and save what's left but lose the 'bargaining chip' that never was one in the first place, or try to hold on and face the consequences of a cauldron, with large numbers of Ukrainian prisoners who might become quite talkative given the right persuasion.
Compelling map of wars for the last 2500 years to illustrate Lavrov’s point about European war mongering. Hard not to conclude that Western European’s have a genetic defect (even those wars in other parts of the world have for the last 500 years been started by the euro nutters):
Meloni, "That Ursula woman annoys the hell out of me!" #MeToo
History is repeating. The Anti-Fascists are out in the streets in Spain. They can see the EU leadership for what it is: a bunch of Nazi supporters, with two NeoNazis, Von Der Leyden, and Shultz at its head.
And again the US is standing off.
And again Russia is defeating the Nazis.
Meanwhile, just when you thought Britain could not go any lower - Starmer! Starmer is doing the Labour Lite Limbo - 'how low can you go?' - trying to go lower than Blair. Blair supported the illegal invasion of Iraq. Starmer is going lower by trying to propagate WW3. He thinks the end result will be that he will end up as wealthy as Blair. Fat Chance.
Trump 2.0 has gathered a very different team this time. They could just manage to drain the swamp. Vance is a very interesting addition. He is a plain-speaking, intelligent, truth-teller. The MSM painted him as a religious nut, but a very different picture is now emerging.
The EU is very resistant to his truth-telling, having swallowed, and regurgitated The Narrative for so long.
So, let me get this straight, if big Z does not agree to peace, he doesn’t get any more weapons, if he agrees to peace, he gets more weapons!? War is peace.
Orwellian, I know. I have no idea where the Americans - or Trumpians - are going with this. The obvious thing to do in order to stop the war would have been to pull out completely. But Trump has not done this. Instead, he is just nibbling at the problem. I am not sure how to judge his reticence or caution. But I suspect that there are dynamics in play relating to the interaction between Trump and the European Globalists that are having an influence on Trump's actions. Perhaps.
The US defence industry has factories in most states, employing large numbers of people. Their perpetual wars feed the industry, and it is very difficult politically, to wind this back.
What else can be said. The bloodthirsty European diplomats are now showing their true core.
The UAF is struggling everywhere it seems and now a NATO member, the US, is pulling its intelligence network. Which the rest of the NATO war hawks thought they could keep on using forever.
It just shows how important the US ISR was to the Ukrainian proxy.
The Russians must find bit annoying that they cant do much about those drone planes packed with explosives crashing into their refineries.
Very difficult to stop but surely radar is picking up most things leaving Ukraine.
Thanks Anthony. At the moment it's not clear how long the restrictions on intelligence will be in place. Zelensky's letter to Trump didn't contain an apology but it came close. So maybe Trump will give him a second chance to cooperate. I have no idea really - these are complicated and unpredictable times and no one represents them more than Donald J Trump.
You have to wonder if the Deep State is acting in open defiance of Trump, if the CIA is still supplying into to target sites inside Russia. I have read that MI6 has better intelligence than the CIA, so could it be that the Brits are, in fact, taking over that function?
It was highlighted in the latest post from Simplicius that large numbers of various agencies share this data, and that if Ukraine's access is formally discontinued by the Americans it would be relatively easy for them to be back-channelled by someone else. Their own intel on fixed sites is probably quite adequate and might be at least as good as the USA's, it's just that Russian air defense makes them hard targets, while what they lack is the classified stuff that allows them to strike at moving targets. They need this for HIMARS strikes, but they must be just about out of rockets and launchers for those systems anyway. The present rollup of Ukrainian forces in Kursk was quickly blamed on Trump's 'betrayal', but other news sites suggested the Russians had dialed down their efforts in the Kursk region over the last week or two because they were assembling the resources for a major push, pre-dating Zelibobik's dressing-down and the subsequent intel cutoff.
I saw a story on a Telegram Channel claiming inside information that the Russians will be launching major offensives towards Nikolaev, Odessa and Kharkov. I didn't publish it because I had no confirmation from anywhere - but - you never know! I love Zelibobik by the way. Bless his cotton socks.
Coalition of the willing….
What is wrong with these people?
They are morons, as Alex Krainer calls them. Nothing but well worn second hand phrases.. Bush jnr. ought to sue for copyright.
Epic update, Rob.
It’s crazy to think how few are considering that we are discussing peace while Ukraine is using American weapons, facilitated by US intelligence, to attack civilians in Russia. Not sure how anyone would expect the Russians to take the west in good faith.
And trumps move late this week to threaten even stronger sanctions against Russia should they not act per Washington’s dictates is even sillier.
Not to mention the shrill, screaming harpies in the EU claiming the Russians are coming. Good lord, the west is simply embarrassing at this point.
Trump doesn't understand that the old carrot and stick just ain't gonna work. I saw one report of HIMARS use last week - in Kursk I think - but nothing this week. As far as I am aware the attacks on civilians in Russia are made by drones. The withdrawal of intelligence issue is not at all clear to me and there have been conflicting reports. It will be interesting to see what happens this week. Cheers.
Zelensky looks more like Chris Kamara in the cartoon.
Another great piece.
Further to your comment about the Ukrainians surviving this far i decided to do a little bit historical comparator. I didn't realize that despite all of the defeats from 1943 onwards the Wehrmacht was actually a larger force at the start of 1945 than it had been ever before even in June 1941. If they had time and space they could have conceivably carried on for a further few years. Due to the war of attrition that is being fought out in Ukraine- we are not seeing any great battles of movement which is resulting in large numbers of Ukrainians being surrounded and having to surrender ( with the exception now of Kursk) - unlike the German forces, where sizeable elements were either surrounded and decimated or were cut adrift like the forces in Norway, Finland and Courland- I think its wholly logical that the Ukrainians have survived this far. They have a potential manpower base of 3-6 million, plus exiles and foreign nationals.
I don't know if you have been watching the eulogization of the Russian soldier who killed the Ukrainian in hand to hand combat. He was interviewed last week or so on his home return. The poor guy is clearly suffering from PTSD. I think people should also reflect on the reality of the post war suffering they are imposing on this generation of Ukrainians and Russians.
As regards Trumps view on Palestine/Israel: Its a Welsh miners fault. Without boring you with detail, the late arch Zionist supporter Sheldon Adelson's ( spouse of equally Zionist supporting Israeli Miriam) mother was Welsh. His mother is wrongly identified as English in some sources. His maternal grandfather apparently was a Welsh miner.
Its a pity you didn't mention the BBC pulling the film on Gaza. Middle East Eye has an article where clear evidence of misidentification of the child's father is explored. That doesn't surprise if you look at the source of the allegation. What does surprise me is that the BBC pulled the film based on the evidence of a source that has form for this type of hyperbole, which is known to them, and even more surprising is that the former controller of the BBC gets involved to support the removal of the film and the head of Ofcom then adds his weight to the discussion. Both are or were in positions of public office where the perception of actual or potential bias should have been or be considered. I can't for eg recall either having got involved in, and querying the objectivity of the BBC 's coverage of Scottish matters, including Independence etc.
Cheers Michael - interesting stuff. Making judgements about this conflict is difficult because the nature of the war is so different with drones and intelligence being so impactful. I missed the BBC pulling a film on Gaza - I'll have to look it up. You are right about Chris Kamara.
Thanks for the update. A lot of work you do!
About the minerals: Wasn't there a mineral deal wit the EU before starting of the war? Now the british have a deal, the US likes to have and even Maron asekd for a minearal deal. And the minerals are mostly on Russian territory.
This reminds me of a car salesman, selling a car which doesn't belong to him to four customers...
Thanks Johannes. I hadn't heard about a EU deal but could have missed it. But I have heard that Macron or some other globalist was talking about making a deal with the Ukrainians on minerals. I reported on it last week, I think. So, if there was already a deal in place, why would Macron - or whoever - be talking about a deal? Do you know what I mean.
Given that around half of losses are sanitary, ie wounded that can be returned to battle after treatment, I'd say that new recruits plus returned wounded (from at least 6 months ago) equal or exceed current losses. I would judge UAF losses are lower than possible at present due to the bad weather, and come some clear dry weather they will escalate. Having said all this the UAF will collapse via morale not losses per se. Recent recruits must be the bottom of the barrel and be severely disincentivised to die for USA mineral rights etc, and all must be now aware that the USA is leaving them. Not a good situation to maintain morale. Actually, not really discussed much in the blogs, but the UAF have fought with some grit, and it is not all blocking units. nevertheless this is at latest the beginning of the end of the war, and the odds are now against the UAF and its front line personnel surviving. They have limited options but maybe dying in a ditch for Z and his cronies is not high up the collective list?
Thanks Marc - I agree - probably bad weather but losses crept back up this week. But it is remarkable that the Ukrainians haven't collapsed yet.
I just red somewhere that the the numbers of desertions are somehow equal to the number of deaths among the AFU.
Which makes their continued resistance even more remarkable.
The Ukrainians have fought remarkably well, considering the odds against them - a larger, better equipped army. However Britain and the EU appear determined to keep this war going. It appears that either they have swallowed their own propaganda whole, or their Elites are gearing up for some war profiteering. I suspect the latter, with all this talk of increasing defence (offence) spending.
The Ukrainian army facing the Russians has always been bigger- even now. The Russians have air control and dominate in artillery but their opponent has always had a numerical superiority. Its another western myth a bit like the Germans claiming a 7:1 ratio of Russian troops to Germans in WW2. If you attribute the defeat to numbers it negates the proficiency of the Russian success.
Not a lot of people know that.
It seems that Zelensky was advised by Antony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, and Alexander Vindman not to sign the mineral deal one hour before his meeting with Trump. This is an obvious violation of the Logan Act.
https://x.com/amuse/status/1895744457108303889
Hi Dr. Campbell, et al,
This, IMO, is a clear case of the elites, mostly globalist in nature, acting only in the interest of maintaining their power base to the detriment of working people everywhere. The so called leaders at the country level betray their citizens constantly, while controlling the narrative through captured media.....but the cracks are beginning to show. Leaders like Orban and Fico are standing up for their respective populations. The U.S. has immense problems at home and a lot of what was hidden during previous administrations has been coming to light. People in NC and Hawaii are realizing that nobody is in their corner from the corrupt and captured agencies of government......remains to be seen whether Trump's rule will manage to turn the ship around as there are tons of resistance. But to address Joy R.'s concerns, an economy cannot thrive by making weapons and selling each other insurance......economies have to produce consumer goods like food, housing and so forth to thrive. I am hoping, though I will not live to see it, that the oligarchs in the U..S. MIC, Agricultural, Medical, Pharma, Insurance and Financial oligarchies will fail without the support of captured regulatory agencies. We will see. I also see the propaganda programs of the globalists failing as casting ad hominem labels seems to have lost its effectiveness with the masses. If the Ukrainian conflict gets resolved, perhaps the conflicts in the M.E. can follow suit. I'd like to think that Meloni could break away from the turds in the EU.....anybody have an opinion on that probability?
Hopeful summary - thanks. As for Meloni - I have no idea where she'll end up. It would be good to hear what others think.
Wailing headlines now sound the alarm that the remaining Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region face encirclement, and that decision time is here - retreat and save what's left but lose the 'bargaining chip' that never was one in the first place, or try to hold on and face the consequences of a cauldron, with large numbers of Ukrainian prisoners who might become quite talkative given the right persuasion.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-war-latest-ukrainian-troops-200757679.html
https://eadaily.com/en/news/2025/03/07/a-blow-for-kiev-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-are-almost-surrounded-in-the-kursk-region-reuters
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-07/russia-close-to-cutting-off-ukrainian-troops-fighting-in-kursk
Zeliboba's Kursk front is crumbling, and the situation is increasingly desperate.
Cheers for that. The morning report from the War Chronicle claims that 6500 soldiers are cut off around Sudhza and won't be able to retreat easily: https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/08_03_2025_kurskij_kotel_6500_soldat_vsu_otrezany_pod_sudzhej_bystryj_otkhod_nevozmozhen_karta_boevykh_dejstvij_vojna_na_ukraine_19_video/60-1-0-16208
Compelling map of wars for the last 2500 years to illustrate Lavrov’s point about European war mongering. Hard not to conclude that Western European’s have a genetic defect (even those wars in other parts of the world have for the last 500 years been started by the euro nutters):
https://battles.nodegoat.net/viewer.p/23/385/scenario/1/geo/fullscreen
Sums it up really - thanks.
Meloni, "That Ursula woman annoys the hell out of me!" #MeToo
History is repeating. The Anti-Fascists are out in the streets in Spain. They can see the EU leadership for what it is: a bunch of Nazi supporters, with two NeoNazis, Von Der Leyden, and Shultz at its head.
And again the US is standing off.
And again Russia is defeating the Nazis.
Meanwhile, just when you thought Britain could not go any lower - Starmer! Starmer is doing the Labour Lite Limbo - 'how low can you go?' - trying to go lower than Blair. Blair supported the illegal invasion of Iraq. Starmer is going lower by trying to propagate WW3. He thinks the end result will be that he will end up as wealthy as Blair. Fat Chance.
Trump 2.0 has gathered a very different team this time. They could just manage to drain the swamp. Vance is a very interesting addition. He is a plain-speaking, intelligent, truth-teller. The MSM painted him as a religious nut, but a very different picture is now emerging.
The EU is very resistant to his truth-telling, having swallowed, and regurgitated The Narrative for so long.
We live in interesting times!
The map on Deepstate confirms what I read on Topwar https://en.topcor.ru/57398-rossijskie-podrazdelenija-prorvali-front-v-kurskoj-oblasti-gluboko-vklinivshis-v-oboronu-vsu.html
Looks like some Ukrainian units have broken in the Kursk area.
This report from the War Chronicle this morning claims that 6,500 Ukrainians are cut off from their logistics around Sudzha: https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/08_03_2025_kurskij_kotel_6500_soldat_vsu_otrezany_pod_sudzhej_bystryj_otkhod_nevozmozhen_karta_boevykh_dejstvij_vojna_na_ukraine_19_video/60-1-0-16208
Yes Rob. The timing of that advance in Guyevo is very important (what with peace overtures)
Will the RF be able to hold the land? Possibly so.
It looks like a lot of UAF reserves are being fed into the Pokrovsk operations as you highlighted in summary.
So I wonder what the banderists and NATO military advisors might be able to transfer to recover that frontier area.
Whilst the operational encirclement makes an easy retreat impossible.
Not that many retreat orders are ever given in the PR war.
Recent reports suggest that after some initial successes the Ukrainians have become bogged down around Pokrovsk - not sure about Toretsk.
So, let me get this straight, if big Z does not agree to peace, he doesn’t get any more weapons, if he agrees to peace, he gets more weapons!? War is peace.
Orwellian, I know. I have no idea where the Americans - or Trumpians - are going with this. The obvious thing to do in order to stop the war would have been to pull out completely. But Trump has not done this. Instead, he is just nibbling at the problem. I am not sure how to judge his reticence or caution. But I suspect that there are dynamics in play relating to the interaction between Trump and the European Globalists that are having an influence on Trump's actions. Perhaps.
The US defence industry has factories in most states, employing large numbers of people. Their perpetual wars feed the industry, and it is very difficult politically, to wind this back.
Great update as usual Rob.
What else can be said. The bloodthirsty European diplomats are now showing their true core.
The UAF is struggling everywhere it seems and now a NATO member, the US, is pulling its intelligence network. Which the rest of the NATO war hawks thought they could keep on using forever.
It just shows how important the US ISR was to the Ukrainian proxy.
The Russians must find bit annoying that they cant do much about those drone planes packed with explosives crashing into their refineries.
Very difficult to stop but surely radar is picking up most things leaving Ukraine.
Thanks Anthony. At the moment it's not clear how long the restrictions on intelligence will be in place. Zelensky's letter to Trump didn't contain an apology but it came close. So maybe Trump will give him a second chance to cooperate. I have no idea really - these are complicated and unpredictable times and no one represents them more than Donald J Trump.
Yes Rob. Strange times indeed. Trump is pushing for a peace/minerals deal and cutting aid.
Whilst on the other hand if Ukraine agrees to the deal the 'aid' (military aid?) will be released.
You have to wonder if the Deep State is acting in open defiance of Trump, if the CIA is still supplying into to target sites inside Russia. I have read that MI6 has better intelligence than the CIA, so could it be that the Brits are, in fact, taking over that function?
I wouldn't be surprised, there's a lot of infighting going on in the US. Globalists everywhere are defying Trump.
It was highlighted in the latest post from Simplicius that large numbers of various agencies share this data, and that if Ukraine's access is formally discontinued by the Americans it would be relatively easy for them to be back-channelled by someone else. Their own intel on fixed sites is probably quite adequate and might be at least as good as the USA's, it's just that Russian air defense makes them hard targets, while what they lack is the classified stuff that allows them to strike at moving targets. They need this for HIMARS strikes, but they must be just about out of rockets and launchers for those systems anyway. The present rollup of Ukrainian forces in Kursk was quickly blamed on Trump's 'betrayal', but other news sites suggested the Russians had dialed down their efforts in the Kursk region over the last week or two because they were assembling the resources for a major push, pre-dating Zelibobik's dressing-down and the subsequent intel cutoff.
I saw a story on a Telegram Channel claiming inside information that the Russians will be launching major offensives towards Nikolaev, Odessa and Kharkov. I didn't publish it because I had no confirmation from anywhere - but - you never know! I love Zelibobik by the way. Bless his cotton socks.