summer patriot, winter soldier

update: on one of the ships at sevastopol that the ukraine didn't hit ..... no word yet on the extent of the damage that did not happen .....

update, 10.29.2022.  the russians claim that one of the ships the ukrainians did not hit was a grain ship, so they are pulling out of the u.n. brokered grain deal w/ ukraine.   well, it so happens that this grain ship was doing double duty. (a brave patriotic russian ship it is/was).   i say this, because i have read credible evidence, from ukrainian sources, that the ship that didn't get hit and didn't get damaged (no word yet on whether it caught fire spontaneously, nor any word on whether or not it hasn't sunk), is a russian naval vessel that succeeded the moskva as commanding the russian flotilla in the black sea.

no word yet on how many russian sailors were hurt or killed.  end update. 

john jay @ 10.29.2022

query:  does anyone have any theories on just who runs the russian navy?   do they get paid?   and, if so, why?

russia thwarts another ukrainian missile attack against its black sea fleet, swatting weapons out of the air by the use of ship's hulls .....

ukraine attacked russian ships at anchor in sevastopol.   the russians claim to have thwarted the attack, destroying the ukrainian missiles.   the did so, apparently, by using a rather novel technique to defend against the attack.

they simply chose to swat the ukrainian attack out of the air by the use of their ship's hulls.***  (a technique pioneered by the moskva, no doubt.)

the ukrainians claim damage to several ships.   the russians deny any ships were damaged.  in the meantime, those pesky ukrainians are circulating a film which shows pillars of thick black smoke arising from the harbor.   the russians will probably just suggest that several ships suffered some spontaneous ship-board fires, having no relation to any damage inflicted by the ukraine.

somehow, it just seems more likely that the ukraine continues to make life on the black sea a misery for russia.  they just don't seem to have this "sailing across the bounding main" stuff down very well, those russians.   they sail just about as well as they tell the truth.

john jay @ 10.29.2022

p.s.   let's hope the ukraine follows up with another attack, say, this evening.  go ukraine!!

*** to avoid any suggestion that i "can never give the assholes" any credit where credit is due, i will admit that it is very tough to figure out where to park one's ships just precisely where they will be struck by incoming weapons.   the russians do seem to possess a prescient talent for knowing just where to park boats, planes, tanks and troops where they can be targeted by ukraine.   there are a staggering number of boats, planes, tanks and troops which prove that this is just not happenstance, where the russians are concerned ...  it's a talent seldom seen in warfare.   go ukraine!!

to: ukraine ... russian soldiers will not leave kherson oblast, you are just going to have to kill them ...

you have given them ample opportunity to leave, they won't, they won't surrender, so you are just going to have to kill them, apparently right down to the last poor bastard.

i suggest that you get down to it.  please take nova kakhovka, starve them a little, and just start killing them where you come across them.   do not go street to street in kherson city, just starve them out when the kakhovka/beryslav is secured.

it is gonna be a grisly task, but, hunt them down, and kill them.   you have no other choice.  (this is why putin has ordered "his one use soldiers" into the kherson area ...  he means for them to be slaughtered.  you'll have to ask putin why.   there is no military reason to send them there are this juncture, so it must be that they are intended to die:  only putin knows.)

john jay @ 10.29.2022

appearance versus reality .....

consider this.--

the difference in your appreciation of the balk eagle versus the vulture lies simply in a hand full of white feathers.   take the white feathers off of the head & neck of the eagle, and, basically, you have yourself just another vulture, repulsive chicken neck & all.

now, in your mind's eye, imagine nancy pelosi and/or hilary clinton standing before you stark assed naked.  they preen and parade all gussied up in their power, but, naked they are nothing more than a couple of old useless wrinkled and fat women.   likewise, and, god forbid, can you imagine the image of addison mitchell mcconnell naked, withered arms, slack fat gut, wrinkled butt and useless scrotal sack, resplendent in his useless old man's body.

these are the people who run the country.  without their white feathers, they are not much.   are they?

john jay @ 10.28.2022

p.s.   the same goes for v. putin.  he has had his feathers stripped, and stands revealed. not much of anything.  just another maniacal & delusional jackass.  braying and blathering, into the wind.  and, people die because of this asshole.

yet the world is run by these people.   something is fundamentally wrong with this picture.  we should never trust our lives to idiots in suits, fancy dresses and scarves and ties hiding their neck wattles.  they are false and graven images.  think about it.

dear ukraine ... your salvation lies down the west bank of the dnipro, at nova kakhovka ... get there, please ...

pretty simple, really.

if necessary, take the troops from in front of kherson, and move them down the river.   the russians in kherson are not gonna leave their trenches in pursuit.   how can they?  with what?

john jay @ 10.27.2022

and, if i were the ukraine ..... (after i have won the war) ..... (temporarily) .....

when the dust settles from the war in the ukraine, and the russian bear is driven back into his lair, ..... , i would look for help from the united states of america, and from china.

the united states is an obvious choice, and hardly needs any elucidation.  so, enough of that.

the next place i would look, and it is not so obvious, but i would look to china for help in rebuilding, and rearming.  this is not so obvious, but, it makes pretty good sense (from ukraine's vantage) when you think about it.--

1.)china is where the money is.  even if it is worthless (because of the profligate monetary policies of the u.s., europe & china, e.g., spending what you don't have), that is where a lot of the world's money will reside.  having that much money, china will want to gain influence with it.

2.)china has a more or less inherent reason why they would give money to the ukraine, and that is because it is in their interest to restrain, constrain and inhibit any regrowth in russian power.  the chinese, as well as wanting to curb russian exploitation of their eastern possessions, also do not want to see them grow in influence in europe again.

3.)it is simple.   the chinese will wish to retain their position as the world's most powerful "marxist state," and will want to see the marxist movement world wide as a reflection in the chinese mirror.   the chinese really have very little interest in seeing the russians grow in power again, and helping ukraine fits right into that.

in sum, their in gold to be found for the ukraine playing the chinese and the u.s. off against one another.

and, their is mutual profit for the u.s. and the chinese in helping the ukraine.    think about it.

john jay @ 10.26.2022

p.s.   and, i say "temporarily," because if the russians are stupid, and they are, they are constantly stupid.   when this war is "done," (for the time being), the russians will again cast a covetous eye on the ukraine.   and, they will try again, if the ukraine is not a member of n.a.t.o. or the eu.  if they have a chance, they will try it again.   and, the next time, they might even figure out how to do it right.

so, it will benefit ukraine to have powerful friends.   and, in this world, my friends, this means china and the united states.  the two biggest, baddest, most hard-assed cops on the block.   for right now, it is not important to know which/who is the toughest  ...  you wouldn't want to get into a thorough going contest with either.

imho ..... the russians have been rendered a cipher .....

as a direct result of putin's blunder(s) in the ukraine war the russians have squandered whatever ability to project power they possessed.   they will be several generations to regain their power, to rebuild their military, if ever they are able.  for whatever it is worth they will retain little influence in europe.  they may find a way to rebuild quickly in an economic sense if they can figure a way to stimulate their economy via the sale of their natural resources, but without the military, they will not be able to "lever" this into being able to control events in europe.

germany and france will profit somewhat by this turn of events, but, only because they have expended absolutely nothing nor made any contribution to the effort expended by the ukraine in "grinding russia down to size."   just what one can expect from europeans, and you can expect that they will show exactly no gratitude to those who did make the effort to whittle down the russians.

in my view, there are two countries who benefit most from the recent turn of events in eastern europe, that being the united states of america (to the extent that the leftist talent to bankrupt the country is blunted), and china.  of the two, i think china profits the most, in that: 1.)they become the sole leader of international communism, in determining doctrine and in choosing where in the world to stir up trouble & revolution, and 2.)they become the only legitimate rival to the united states in military and economic power, and they understand how to project that power.  (witness who now has a major naval presence in the world, rivaled only by the u.s.)

in my view, the chinese will be quick to exploit this position, and they will move quickly to "annex" russian assets in the far east, and they will know how to exploit the wealth gained thereby in ways never even dreamed of by the russians.  the russians have been dolts in so many ways  ...   czarists, communists, whatever, they are simply dolts.  good composers, good chess players, great dancers and lovers of symphony, but, simply put, dolts in a geo political sense.   they have achieved very little from what they at one time possessed and controlled.

china will exploit all that they take over.

as to the united states, we benefit in a strategic sense, because we have about a 40 year window when we do not have to contend with russia being a rival in europe.   we are free to defend out interests in the pacific, and to prepare for the great contests to come with china in that region, economically, politically and militarily.

i am more or less ambivalent as to how india plays into all of this, as it is not yet clear to me what course india, pakistan and afghanistan will steer.   with whom will they ally themselves, china or the u.s.?   who the hell knows?

but, one thing is clear.   russia has parlayed herself into a very interesting position, that being a country with nuclear weapons and absolutely having no use for them.   oh, they can destroy things, but they can build nothing, nor can they put together any relationship to do so.   let me ask one question to prove that point.--  who can trust the bastards as far as they can throw them?  and, the answer is clear.--   no one can trust the russians  .....  their words are either empty, or simply not-so-clever-self-serving-lies.   any idiot(s) who trust(s) the russians, does so at his or her peril.

it is as simple as that.  would you let the bastards camp in your back yard?

john jay @ 10.26.2022

 

i expect that before this iteration of russia's war of conquest is over ......

.....  that the ukraine shall have killed upwards of 160 to 200,000 russian soldiers.   and, wounded and seriously injured another 150,000 or so.   perhaps a quarter million killed, another quarter million wounded and seriously injured.

perhaps more, and much more quickly, if they can acquire about 3 or 400 more himars units, and perhaps a fleet of 50 to 75 or so f-35 fighter planes.   (latest upgrades, of course.)   and, perhaps 1500 or so main battle tanks, the upgraded version superseding the m-1 abrams.   and, of course, the knight errant of the battlefield, 2 or 3,000 warthogs.  w/ all of the cannon shells, and missiles, as are available.

and, lots & lots of bullets, small arms, and artillery ammo.   lots & lots.    that's a lot of russians to kill.***

john jay @ 10.26.2022

*** and, far more cheaply and expeditiously than we could afford to do it.   as it will be, it will be more efficient for the ukrainians to kill all of them, and far less costly, than if we had to do it ourselves.   the russians are persistent, if a bit stupid, in these matters.

poor pouting poot poot ..... the little runt poses his existential position exactly "bass ackwards" .....

like all politicians who have been around far too long, the little runt fancies himself something of an intellectual, deserving of a prestigious professorial seat at the local community college.  and, most assuredly, deserving of pondering great philosophical problems.  poot poot is fond of posing russia's current problems as an "existential dilemma," and a dilemma of such vexing proportion that russia is providentially provided with just the fellow to work it all out for the benefit of the russian people, and the russian body politic.  in short, he fancies himself as the brains of the body politic.

it seems to me that he has all of this, the way he sees himself, exactly ass backwards.   he strikes me as more the rump, or perhaps the chief asshole, in the body politic.

putin's "existance," if you will, is not russia's quint essential issue, rather it is the fate and existence of 144,000,000 odd russians (more or less) that is at stake, and this existence is just a little shaky at the moment, with this thoroughly pedestrian president at the helm, in charge of prognostications. 

if i were one of those 144,000,000 persons, i would be far more worried about my personal existence, rather than russia's existential problems, as shepherded by the runt.   it would seem to me that he has rather subordinated my personal existential dilemma's to what he conceives as his esteemed role and position in the world, devolving upon him the power to personally proffer the solution to my status in the world.

the runt has abrogated unto himself the power of life and death over his "subjects," and the lives of untold millions.

this is the problem with the powerful, especially political leaders.   they see themselves as deserving of their "power," such as they conceive it, and as having arrived at their exalted station because of virtue, and ability, and intelligence rather than as having survived a backstreet knife fight.

if i were a russian, i would want to take steerage over my personal existential problems, and i would want to throw the runt into the drainage ditch before he totally screws the whole thing up for me, and for my other 144,000,000 fellows.  i would view the matter of such pressing importance, that i would gladly see poot poot shot in the back of the head, a fate he has bestowed on many far less deserving than himself.

and, if i were in charge of his execution, i would put a 9mm bullet on the bridge of his nose, right between his eyes, and another, for good measure right into one of his ear canals, and, another, right on the little bony bump at the base of his skull.   and, i would kick him right in the face with my hobnailed peasant's boot, right on his funny little nose.   a couple times.

that is what i think of putin's intellectual pretenses, and his resolution of his "existential problems" to this point in his worthless life.

he thinks his problems are russia's.  in fact, he is russia's problem.***   as noted, he has the whole matter exactly bass ackwards.   the conceited little runt.

john jay @ 10.26.2022

***  and, one that the rooskies better solve "toot sweet," before he takes all of them down the toity with him.   right down the big swirling flush of existence.

for "the poot".    pouty poot.   poopy poot.  toot toot poot poot.  preternaturally pootin.  pukey putin.  shithead poot  ...  (i know, it doesn't rhyme, but, the truth of it overrides the lack of rhyme.)  pokey poot.  punt the runt.  petunia poot (a bit weak, but, i like it, so it is "in.")   "strictly for the booty" pooty.   pretentious poot.  the runt of philosophs poot.

the washington post reports on the ukraine when most others do not/cannot/will not ??? ..... who knows ??? ..... but, wapo understands that it is the battlefield where the war is won or lost .....

for whatever reason the washington post continues its reportage from ukraine battlefields while others do not.   previously at this blog, i noted wapo reports on fighting in and around beryslav, indicating progress in the ukrainian drive down the dnipro along the west bank towards nova kakhovka.

and, in that same report, wapo noted ukrainian progress along all fronts in the ukraine.

in an article entitled "ukrainian forces advance against russian fighters in kherson and bakhmut," mary ilyushina and emily rauhala, dated oct. 25, 2022, wapo reported ukrainian progress in kherson, ukrainians pushing back mercenary troops in bakhmut, and the capture of roadway connecting kreminna and svatove, in the luhansk oblast.   these latter two towns are important because they control road links vital to the russians, if they are to retain any hopes of making progress again in the kharkiv area.  this reporting amplifies their previous reporting, and amplifies the steady progress of ukraine on the battlefield.

they noted that the ukraine continues to take ground that the russians have asserted to have "annexed," a very dubious proposition given the fact that the ukrainians rapidly push them back towards russia.

interestingly enough, they note that russian bloggers and mil-bloggers have noted the same ukrainian progress in taking ground at a steady pace from the russian military.

it is quite refreshing to see these matters reported upon promptly, when "critical threats project" and the "bbc situation maps of ukraine" are apparently somewhat reluctant to touch on these subjects.   it would seem that wapo has retained an independent source of information, and one that is not dependent upon being "fed" news from "official sources."

the reports concerning the capture of roadways between kreminna and svatove are especially informative, and very critical in tryiing to formulate one's own understanding of the strategic posture of the war, because, as always, this war is being decided by the inability of russia to supply its logistical and strategic needs.   what with the fall of lyman (remember that, it has been just days ago), the ability (or inability) of the russians to move back towards kharkiv will be further determined by the fate of kreminna and svatove.

each of these advances brings russia closer to defeat, and a far more imminent defeat that a lot of people seem able to conceive.   all of this, coupled with a fall in kherson, leaves russia with a very tenuous toe hold in the ukraine.   russia is on the brink, and they are very close to crumbling.

all of the drone damage, and all of the buffoonery and worthless palaver, from the past three or four days does not alter the posture of the reality coming out of the battlefields.   and, the russians continue to loose, big time, on the battlefield.   it sounds callous to say, but all of the destroyed buildings and dead civilians will not count for much with regard to which side prevails in this war.   and, again, russia is loosing badly on the battlefield.

badly.

the wapo reports this.   the other reports blather about blather, and blathering idiots, and show pictures of destroyed buildings.  these things do not communicate the realities determined by the outcome of battle. 

john jay @ 10.25.2022