If He Talks Like a Russian Plant and Acts Like a Russian Plant

Then maybe he's a Russian plant.

MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon is calling on President Donald Trump to nix support for Ukraine after it carried out a surprise drone attack in Russia that blindsided the White House.
...
Bannon, one of Trump’s closest confidants, commended Ukraine for executing the attack. However, he was not pleased that it occurred without Trump’s knowledge, as the White House revealed on Monday.

“The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast Monday.

Bannon said Kyiv should have notified Trump of the escalation. He said the supposed betrayal, which he claims has brought the United States closer to war with Russia, must have consequences for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Betrayal"? Really? The Ukrainians are fighting a war against a brutal invader. They are not our proxies, unless Bannon is saying that we are at war with Russia and the Ukrainians are our tools. They don't need our permission to strike back, using their weapons which they have designed and produced.

No, this reads as though Bannon is a mouthpiece for the Russians.

I've been busy with other stuff, so I haven't commented on the Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's long-range bomber force. For one thing, it may take some time to get a good damage assessment, but keep in mind they've previously shot down two A-50s (Russian AWACS), and the Russians don't have a lot of them.

Now the Russians have to contend with the fact that any truck travelling their roads could, in essence, be a Ukrainian aircraft carrier. They will have to protect their bases all the way to the Pacific coast.

And that has its own challenges.

It also has some rather harsh implications for the rest of the world. While it may be difficult to mount such an attack on Diego Garcia (which has a lot of American bombers parked there), there are other places that are close to civilian areas where a bunch of drones could be launched from a truck. Basically, everything from a Geo Metro on up is now a potential aircraft carrier.

From 3-D printed weapons to drones, a lot of things that were once state-only or state-controlled items are now available to anyone with the skills to make and use them. Those skills don't seem to be terribly difficult to acquire.

Truly, It’s Amateur Hour in this Administration

Update: Steve Witkoff was in Moscow when he was added to the Signal chat group. So it is a pretty reasonable bet that the FSB was also reading the group's texts.

High-ranking members of the Trump Administration (VEEP, Cabinet Secretaries) had a reporter included in a group chat where they discussed planning for bombing the Houthis.

If a Democrat had done this, there would be cause from the Republicans/Maga for impeachment of various peoples, but for this White House, it's just incompetent business as usual.

One might wonder who else Krasnov has in the text groups.

It's also a blatant violation of the Presidential Records Act, but since this is an administration led by criminals, that's to be expected.

Meanwhile his "special envoy" for talks on the Russo-Ukrainian War just goes on TV and repeats Russian propaganda. I don't have the time to dig into that. But you know that the Ukrainians are well aware that the Trump Administration sent a Russian plant who is conducting the talks.

1938 is calling: The Czechoslovakians would like to have a word.

The United States and Russia will appoint high-level teams to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine and are working to reestablish diplomatic channels, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the end of key talks that excluded Kyiv.

The Ukrainians and the Europeans undoubtedly sense that a massive buttfuck is coming, if Little Marco and the rest of Putin's Poodles get their way.

A Professional Military

When the Russians aren't engaging in terrorism by targeting children's hospitals, they're shooting up their own military columns.

it's a pretty slick, move to kill your own troops and then post it on social media, as if it is something to be proud of. when that video spreads throughout Russia, as it most certainly will, it will, no doubt, be of comfort to the family who have lost their men in Putin's war of aggression.

No Wonder Vance Wants the Ukrainians to Give Up

If this report is accurate, things are not going well for his patron's armies.

In Ukraine there is additional evidence of Russian shortages as dead Russian soldiers are found alongside their 1890s vintage Mosin-Nagant rifles. Since over 39 million of these rifles were produced between 1891 and 1973, millions of them are still in use and many are being issued to Russian soldiers sent to Ukraine.

How the bloody hell could the Russians run out of Kalashnikovs? And SkS carbines? Didn't they make tens of millions of them?

Putin’s European Asset Reported In

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, in a visit that has been heavily criticised by EU leaders and Ukraine's government.

Friday's meeting was part of what Mr Orban called a "peace mission", coming three days after a visit to Kyiv where he met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The "peace" envisioned by Orban and Putin is the same deal offered to Czechoslovakia in 1938: "You guys surrender to aggression in the vain hope of avoiding a wider war." Putin's terms for suspending the war include the surrender of territory Russia doesn't control.

And it is a suspension, for as soon as Putin can rebuild his second-rate army, he'll finish the job. Maybe he's convinced Orban Russia will invade Hungary last.

The Hungarians haven't changed since they were allied with the Nazis. One might have thought that 1956 would have reminded them of what life was like under Russian rule, but I guess they've forgotten.

If True, the Irony is Kilometers-Thick; Russian Ed.

I haven't taken the time to run this down, but StrategyPage is saying that the Russians are talking about giving up a vast chunk of their territory in the Far East to China, comprising 9% of Russian territory, in payment for dual-use war material supplied by China.

If it's true, the irony is rich that Russia has gone to war to try to conquer Ukraine and will lose a vast chunk of its Asian territory in the process. I doubt if that's going to go over well with the Russian nationalists, let alone the Russian people, when they figure it out.

Putin's Useful Idiots in the Senate

Update: The bill is now law. The taps are opening.

McConnell had some harsh words for those "poo-flinging chaos monkeys":

“The holiday from history is over,” McConnell said on the Senate floor before the vote. “Will the Senate indulge the fantasy of pulling up a drawbridge? Will we persist in the 21st century with an approach that failed in the 20th? Or will we dispense with the myths of isolationism and embrace reality?

“So much of the hesitation and shortsightedness that has delayed this moment is premised on sheer fiction. And I take no pleasure in rebutting misguided fantasies,” McConnell said in a rebuke of some members of his party. “I wish, sincerely, that recognizing the responsibilities of American leadership was the price of admission for serious conversations about the future of our national security.”

McConnell knows that his party was on the wrong side of history in 1940-41; he doesn't want to repeat that error. He blamed both Tuckyo Rose and the TOFF for the delay in authorizing aid to Ukraine.

JD Vance, on the other hand, offered the lame-ass excuse that Putin is not Hitler. that's true, if the deciding factor is industrial-based genocide. but as to everything else, such as invading neighboring countries, abolishing freedom of the press and jailing people for having the temerity to even mildly speak out in dissent, there isn't a sliver of difference between the two.

I'll post the roll-call roster when I find a form that's easy to copy. But, having said that, a majority of GOP senators chose to vote for tyranny and for Putin. Most of the expected suspects in the Caucus of Appeasers voted to appease Putin: Blackburn, Hawley, Cruz, Johnson, among others.

I am glad that enough Republican senators stood up to their pro-Putin wing. But it's sad that it was a minority of Republicans in both houses of Congress. Pro-Hitler then, Pro-Putin now.

Too Bad MTG Wasn't On Board as an Observer

Ukraine said it shot down a Russian strategic bomber in combat for the first time since the Kremlin’s invasion began after the aircraft launched a missile strike that left at least nine people dead in the central Dnipro region.

The Tu-22M3 was downed some 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Ukrainian border after launching missiles, Ukraine’s military intelligence, or GUR, said on its website. It was the first successful hit against this type of bomber since the start of Russia’s invasion, GUR said. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the strike.

She has been busy pulling her pro-Putin tricks to try and screw up helping the Ukrainians fend off the Katsaps. Even some people on the GOP Agitprop Channel have had enough of her.

Suggestions From the Peanut Gallery

I receive suggestions from time to time that have been sent in by readers. I do read all the articles. I don't always watch the videos; often I do on about 1.75 speed. (I like reading, so sue me.)

These two are from the suggestion pile.

I saw only a little bit of Sen. Britt's response speech. It was all I could take. Between the breathy moralism and the fact that some half-brain-dead lunatic thought it was a good idea to have her speak from a kitchen made me wonder whether or not she was also barefoot and pregnant. Because anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the Christian Taliban will know that they want their women to be in the kitchen, pregnant, and when they speak, it's to affirm whatever their man thinks.

I found it nauseating and almost as tone deaf as Bobby Jindal's SOTU reponse. But the hypocrisy goes far deeper, as Jess Piper well knows. Give her a read. it's free.

Shifting gears, the Katsaps want to refuel the nuclear power plant that they stole from Ukraine. But it's not going well.

Hungary's semi-elected dictator met with the TOFF and urged him to win/steal the election, bend a knee to Putin, give Ukraine to the Katsaps and thereby end the war. Orban and the TOFF either don't know or don't care that the Baltic nations are on Putin's target list, as well as every other country that was ever a part of the Russian Empire. For all we know, Orban has dreams of resurrecting the Austro-Hungarian Empire, possibly because he wants to have a navy.

Finally, let's be clear on one thing: The Republican party is dead. It no longer exists. It's the Party of Trump, now, as he cemented his takeover of the party, including installing his daughter-in-law, who has no qualifications other than being loyal to her hubby's daddy. She has already stated that the national party will devote all its money to the TOFF, so if you're in charge of a state branch that once got some financial help from your mothership or if you're running for the Congress, well, kid, yer on yer own.

Pretty sad that a party that began as an anti-slavery party which got civil rights effectively into the Constitution (changing it from aspirational to a force of law) ended its days in service of a wannabee dictator whose main objectives are to stay out of prison and grift every penny he can.

A Katsap Warship That Didn't Get Much of Chance to Rust

A special forces unit from Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) carried out a successful naval drone attack on the Sergey Kotov patrol ship from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on Monday night, the GUR reported on Telegram.

Russian "Z-blogger" "Thirteenth" laments the loss of yet another Russian Black Sea Fleet ship:

"At night, the Ukrainians sank our Sergey Kotov patrol ship. An anmanned warship hit it.
I don't want to comment on it. Because if it goes on like this, the Black Sea Fleet will… https://t.co/3KPMpgxXD8 pic.twitter.com/YM5hua5dry

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 5, 2024

That ship was pretty new.

About the drones.

Updated and Even More Deadly

The S-200, a 55-year old mssile system, which Ukraine allegedly used to shoot down a second Russian A-50.

If you love fascism, if you want to see Russia reconquer most of Eastern Europe, then vote for Republicans. If you believe that the Russians have reverted to being the same evil empire that they were labelled in the early 1980s, then don't vote for Republicans.

It is that simple.

Piss on the Katsaps (and Their American Fellow-Travelers).

Show Ukraine some love.

United Help Ukraine.

Unicef Ukraine.

And spend a little time tonight, damning Putin's Poodles in the Congress.

Yuri, You Lost Another AWACS?

Ukraine says it has downed a Russian A-50 military spy plane - the second such claim in just over a month.

The plane was hit between the Russian cities of Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, Ukrainian military sources said, over 200km (124 miles) from the front line.

Emergency services reportedly found plane fragments in Kanevskoy district and put out a raging fire.

The ISW reports that Russian military bloggers are claiming that the Russians accidentally shot it down, because it's somehow better for Russian morale if they say that the Russians are so incompetent as to repeatedly shoot down their most valuable and scarcest aviation assets.

Still, that serves as sort of left-handed confirmation that the Ukrainians did, in fact, blow another Russian A-50 out of the sky.

She Is So Screwed!

Russia’s main domestic intelligence agency has arrested a woman with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship on charges of treason, accusing her of collecting money for the Ukrainian military.
...
Russia’s Federal Security Service alleges that [Ksenia] Khavana had been “proactively” raising funds for a Ukrainian organization since February 2022 — money that it says was “subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

Putin will have his pound of flesh of anyone who crosses him, whther it's a ballerina who gave a few bucks to a Ukrainian charity or a Russian pilot who defected. His forces continue to commit war crimes.

Ukraine is not done. Even though the Republican traitors and appeasers would hope they are.

(Never vote for a Republican for any office whatsoever.)

This Loss of a Ukrainian City Is Brought to You By Bible Mike and His Caucus of Appeasers

Ukraine says its troops have withdrawn from Avdiivka - a key eastern town besieged by Russian forces for months.

The decision was taken in order to save the soldiers' lives, said President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had taken "full control" of the town, with President Vladimir Putin hailing it as an "important victory".

Its fall marks Russia's biggest win for months, and Mr Zelensky blamed faltering Western weapons supplies.

This is on the Party of Appeasement. They have done everything that they can do to choke off aid to Ukraine because they think that people who want to remain free should, instead, bend their necks to a murderous dictator. In that regard, they have not changed a bit from their stance 83 years ago.

One of Putin's Poodles is in Munich to argue that appeasement is the proper policy. I suppose he's blind to the outcome of the last time Western politicians went to Munch to argue that the aggressor should be given terrirtory to appease him.

Vance, Johnson and the rest of those useful idiots will be condemned by history for being the appeasement monkeys that they are.

Another Possible Loss for the Katsap Navy

A big Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, has sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine's armed forces.

Powerful explosions were heard early on Wednesday, according to local social media, which suggested the landing ship was hit south of the town of Yalta.

It eas the third ship of the Ropucha class LSTs to be destroyed by the Ukranians. The video in the news report doesn't seem to show any defensive fire from the ship.

It will be a sad day in the offices of the Putinite Caucus in Congress.

The Katsaps Lose Another Ship

Ukrainian sea drones have sunk a Russian warship in the Black Sea in the most successful attack of its kind to date.

Footage captured by the drones shows them navigating choppy waters as they home in on the Ivanovets, a Tarantul-class missile corvette while Russian sailors respond with a hail of bullets.

The sea drones struck the ship’s hull multiple times, causing heavy damage which Ukraine said eventually sank Ivanovets.

Meanwhile, the EU overcame their embedded Putinist Poodle to pass a large aid package for Ukraine. Our own Nazi Putinist Puppet continues to do what she can to ensure a Russian victory.

Blowing a Russian A-50 AWACS Out of the Sky

This is how the Ukrainians may have done it.

The reportage I've seen differs as to numbers, but they all hold that the Russians have only a handful of operational A-50s. So it's doubtful that the Russian Air Force is going to risk any more of them.

And its accompanying Il-22M may be a writeoff, as well.

Quisling Mike Johnson is Likely Putin's Favorite Poodle

Johnson is saying that no aid to Ukraine is possible anytime soon.

Nothing has changed when it comes to the far Right and aggression by Euopean tyrants. They closed their eyes to it in 1914 and 1939 and they are holding their eyes tightly shut in 2024.

The bare naked fact is that Putin has designs on other Euopean countries, including our allies. We can stop the Russians where they are and it will only cost us more money.

Or we can turn our backs on Ukraine, the way that the Right wants to do now, and, like in the 20th Century, end up sending our young to fight and die to stop the Russians in 2025 or 2026 and spending a shitload more money to do it.

For some reason, the far Right loves dictators and hates freedom. They always have.