The Moscow based online news-sheet VZGLYAD may not be well known outside its local area (actually I don't know if that is entirely true - I don't have its readership statistics - but I assume that to be the case), but it does produce some wonderful pieces of on-the-spot reporting. This is old-style journalism, and... Continue Reading →
I Knew There Had To Be A Name For It
...but I had no idea what that name might be. Now I know, thanks to William Schryver's imetatronink blog. The name is 'Maskirovka' and it describes what the Russian and allied forces did in Ukraine over recent weeks, culminating with the ease in which they were able to withdraw all those forces from around Kharkov,... Continue Reading →
Russia, In Spite of or Because of Recent Events, Still in the Driver Seat in Ukraine
The unabashed glee of the west over what has proven - now the smoke has cleared - to have been nothing more than a storm in a teacup during the second week of September, is (in the minds of those in the west who still have some sort of grip on reality) turning to thoughts... Continue Reading →
OK, Ukraine, You Asked For It, Now you’ll Get It!
Everything is changing. You might say there is a great convergence going on (only that phrase has been misused before). But really, it seems, and the impression is not a minor one, that everything is coming together to meet a fulfillment of sorts, of something which possesses an air of importance, some as yet not... Continue Reading →
Hold The Line!
Need something to cheer you up? Something to steady your nerves? Well, here's some good reading for you. I have previously shared some posts from the imetatronink blog of William Schryver and here is one I missed (can't be everywhere, and it is not my job anyway) earlier, from September 1 with a title (and... Continue Reading →
Bending, not Breaking
I feel I have to write a few words today about the situation in Ukraine. This is a watershed moment by several measures. First it is a critical and most likely a decisive moment in the battle for Ukraine. And, make no mistake, that is exactly what it is. At least one other has said... Continue Reading →
Annihilation On The Dniepr
September 1, 2022 was an undoubtedly busy day. And the banks of the Dniepr river near the Zaporizhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, were not the least visited spots along its course yesterday. That was the day marking the start of the visit to the power station by IAEA experts sent to... Continue Reading →
That’s Not a Counter Offensive, That’s an Exercise in Stupidity
Well, it was meant to be a Ukraine counter offensive against Russian forces occupying what will soon be Russian territory. It's now a heap of smouldering wrecks and hundreds of dead bodies. Such foolishness defines Ukraine's leadership (and its NATO mentors). The title of the related story below (as so many machine translations of Russian... Continue Reading →
On the Need to Increase the Size of the Russian Military
As I mentioned recently, the Russian military is to be modestly expanded by the beginning of next year. This, as some have projected, is not a general mobilisation to replace huge losses in manpower occasioned by the now six month old conflict in Ukraine (it does not go further back than that no matter the... Continue Reading →
Not Something Else 