RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 24.12.2024
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
THE UKRAINIAN REGIME CLEARLY BEATEN. EUROPEAN LEADERS FICO AND ORBAN SEEK A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION - SOON WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF DONALD TRUMP.
COLLECTIVE WEST | RUSSIA
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: US Admin Prepares BIG Russian ENERGY Sanctions; Ukraine KURSK Debacle; Sudzha Being Surrounded.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU & ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Fico in Moscow. Orban, 'Europe lost conflict in Ukraine'.
The West calls Robert Fico's visit to Russia shocking.
GARLAND NIXON: CHECKMATE - THE UKRAINE PROJECT IS LOST - THE EMPIRE IS SHATTERED.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: WSJ, don't talk to PUTIN. Waltz, 'as long as it takes' is OVER. Elensky wants to investigate FICO.
EU should investigate Ukraine, not Slovakia – lawmaker.
Prime Minister Robert Fico did nothing wrong in visiting Russia, MP Richard Gluck has told RT.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s demand for the EU to investigate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is absurd, a member of parliament from Slovakia’s ruling party told RT. Richard Gluck argued that Kiev is the one violating its deal with the bloc not to obstruct energy deliveries.
Fico traveled to Moscow over the weekend to discuss with President Vladimir Putin how Bratislava can continue to buy Russian oil, gas and nuclear fuel. Zelensky criticized the meeting on social media.
The prime minister’s decision to go to Moscow was “very smart” and “how all sovereign countries should act,” Gluck told RT on Monday.
“Russia is our partner,” he added. “We need to have good energy supplies for a reasonable price.”
Zelensky claimed that Bratislava’s engagement with Moscow is “a big security issue” for the EU and raises the question of how much Russia is paying Fico. The Ukrainian leader urged Slovakia’s “law enforcement and special services” to get involved in the matter.
Read more: Putin meeting was response to Zelensky’s threats – EU state’s PM
Gluck disagreed with Zelensky’s assessment, noting that Fico has committed no crime. He said that the democratically elected prime minister acted as the leader of a sovereign country to protect Slovakia’s interests.
Zelensky’s comments are “a little bit funny,” Gluck said, given that Ukraine violated the terms of its application to join the EU by blocking gas deliveries to a member of the bloc. Gluck suggested that the EU should investigate this issue instead.
Slovakia needs to keep the lights on and its industry running and “cannot afford to act like children,” Gluck said.
After his meeting with Putin, Fico said his trip to Russia was in response to Zelensky’s refusal to allow the transit of Russian natural gas to Slovakia. “Such attitudes financially harm Slovakia and threaten the operation of nuclear power plants in Slovakia, which is unacceptable,” Fico said at the time.
Russia delivers gas to Slovakia mainly through the Soviet-era Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline. Kiev is unwilling to extend the gas transit agreement with Moscow, which is set to expire on December 31.
Last week, Fico accused Zelensky of offering him a bribe of €500 million ($521 million) in exchange for Bratislava supporting Kiev’s bid to join NATO. The Slovak prime minister has publicly said he would veto any attempt by Ukraine to become a member of the US-led military bloc, as this would amount to a war with Russia.
Russian Forces Target Ukrainian Airfields and Drone Depots, Liberate Storozhevoye in Donetsk Region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported strikes on Ukrainian military airfield infrastructure and drone storage facilities. According to the statement, strikes also targeted enemy personnel and military equipment in 143 areas. The operations involved tactical aviation, drones, missile forces, and artillery.
Additionally, Russian air defenses reportedly shot down 14 fixed-wing drones. Since the beginning of the special military operation, the ministry claims the following Ukrainian units have been destroyed:
650 aircraft
283 helicopters
38,355 drones
590 air defense systems
19,961 tanks and armored vehicles
1,504 multiple rocket launch systems
19,953 artillery pieces and mortars
29,452 military transport vehicles
Meanwhile, forces of the Vostok Battlegroup reportedly took control of the village of Storozhevoye in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The ministry described the action as a result of decisive operations by the group.
Russian Forces Liberate Two Key Settlements in Donetsk and Kharkov Region
Other Developments
Forces of Russia’s Tsentr Battlegroup repelled 13 Ukrainian counterattacks, eliminating up to 610 soldiers, two tanks, an M113 APC, an American MaxxPro armored vehicle, and various artillery systems. The battlegroup advanced into Ukrainian defenses, targeting infantry and mechanized brigades near Dzerzhinsk, Shcherbinovka, Lysovka, Shevchenko, Dachenskoye, Novoolenovka, and Novotroitskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The Sever Battlegroup inflicted losses on Ukrainian forces in the Kharkov direction, targeting mechanized and territorial defense brigades near Borshchevaya and Lebedevka. Ukrainian casualties reportedly included 50 personnel, two vehicles, and three D-30 howitzers.
Forces of the Vostok Battlegroup targeted motorized infantry, mechanized, and territorial defense brigades near Razdolnoye, Razliv in the Donetsk People's Republic, and Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye region. Ukrainian losses reportedly included up to 155 soldiers, four vehicles, a Caesar and Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, a D-20 gun, and an electronic warfare station.
The Yug Battlegroup improved tactical positions and repelled a Ukrainian assault, targeting mechanized, assault, and airmobile brigades near Druzhkovka, Konstantinovka, Chasov Yar, Artema, and Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People's Republic. Ukrainian losses allegedly included up to 400 soldiers, an M113 APC, a Paladin self-propelled howitzer, two pickups, and several artillery systems.
Forces of Russia’s Zapad Battlegroup struck troops and equipment of five Ukrainian brigades and repelled two counterattacks near Kopanki, Dvurechnaya, Zagryzovo, Zeleny Gai in the Kharkov region, Novoegorovka in Luhansk, and Terny in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian losses reportedly exceeded 400.
The Dnepr Battlegroup targeted infantry, mountain assault, and territorial defense brigades near Novovandreyevka, Lobkovo, Neteryanka in Zaporozhye Region, and Mikhailovka in the Kherson region. Ukrainian losses included 45 soldiers, three vehicles, a D-20 howitzer, and an electronic warfare station.
DANNY HAIPHONG - SCOTT RITTER: Russia DESTROYS Ukraine's Kursk Offensive, NATO Trapped in North Korea LIE.
PBD PODCAST: "I Trust Putin More Than Zelenskyy" - Exiled Zelenskyy Top Insider Oleksii Arestovych TELLS ALL.
SEBASTIAN SAS: Fico Chooses Russia And Sends A Clear Message To The EU.
SEBASTIAN SAS: Regime Change In Slovakia, Vremivka Front Collapsing & Mark Rutte Criticises Zelensky.
BRIAN BERLETIC of THE NEW ATLAS: Russia Advances in Ukraine, Pivots to Libya as US Poised to Continue Global Aggression into 2025.
Dr. GILBERT DOCTOROW: Russia's Decisive Retaliation: Ukraine's Offensive Shattered.
LEVAN GUDADZE: Explosions in Kiev. $895 billion for the Pentagon. Moldova-Belarus-Georgia at the crossroads...
Macro Analysis Of The Year 2024 Featuring: Professor Michael Rossi | PART 1.
DANIEL DAVIS: Putin Vows ‘Destruction’ on Ukraine for Kazan Drone Attack.
PEPE ESCOBAR: Russia Stays in Syria.
BORZZIKMAN: Russia Overtook The US! Russian Submarine Fleet Became The World's Most Powerful and Largest.
COLLECTIVE WEST | GLOBAL MAJORITY
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU & ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Spheres of influence in Syria.
COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR - JAMESCARDEN: Neocons Pushing Trump Into IRAN WAR. Devastating Consequences.
Houthis Likely Shot Down US Jet Over Red Sea - Former Pentagon Analyst.
The Yemeni Ansar Allah group (Houthis) have claimed responsibility for shooting down a US Navy F/A-18 jet over the Red Sea on December 22. The US Central Command, however, stated that the warplane was downed by "friendly fire" from the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg.
"We know the Houthis are war-hardened, extremely tough, smart, and motivated," retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, told Sputnik, commenting on the group’s alleged downing of a US warplane. "They have a variety of drones and hypersonic missiles, and they are fighting a long war for fundamental reasons, specifically to free the Arab world from Israeli, NATO, and US domination."
The CENTCOM explanation seems questionable to Kwiatkowski for three reasons:
1.
The Pentagon typically avoids admitting friendly fire incidents due to the embarrassment. The quick acknowledgment after the crash suggests the truth might be even more embarrassing.
2.
The incident is being downplayed and underreported in domestic news, aside from the survival of the pilots.
3.
There is confirmed evidence of Houthi capabilities to hit ships, drones, and slower-moving aircraft in the Red Sea over the past 15 months.
Houthis Claim to Down US F/A-18 in Bold Strike on Aircraft Carrier in Red Sea
How Could the Houthis Have Downed the US Warplane?
Kwiatkowski noted that the F/A-18 was struck shortly after takeoff, as it was gaining speed and altitude.
"It is likely that the countermeasures in the F-18 were not usable so soon after takeoff and at the altitude they were hit," she suggested. "Security for takeoff is the carrier battle group’s primary responsibility."
Additionally, if a Houthi missile attack was detected, it's possible that US defense systems were trying to avoid friendly fire. This algorithm might have allowed the missile or drone to find its target so close to the USS Harry Truman, within the US-friendly zone.
Why is the US Navy Downplaying the Houthi Missile Threat?
According to Kwiatkowski, the primary reason for downplaying is that "the US Navy and Air Force are aging, overstretched for the types of global missions its politicians demand, and demoralized by both the politics of 'war' and extremely poor military leadership."
"The US Naval offensive posture – 12 nuclear Carrier Battle Groups with associated submarine escorts – has become a global target and a technological sitting duck," which are "hard to man, expensive to operate, and difficult to defend."
The needed changes are being resisted by current military and political leadership, according to the former Pentagon analyst.
"It is the end of this model, and a time for a new US military posture that matches its actual means and constitutional goals. And, dare I say at this time of year, a push for peace," Kwiatkowski concluded.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Death Squads In Syria.
MATTHEW HOH: How U.S. Backing for Israel Shapes Middle East Stability.
KEVORK ALMASSIAN: Explained: Why Israel Supported the 'Syrian Rebels'.
KIM IVERSEN: Bashar Al-Assad Releases Letter Clarifying What happened.
RACHEL BLEVINS - MARK SLEBODA: Israel Vows Escalation After Missile Attacks from Yemen + CIA Director Visits Kiev.
PEPE ESCOBAR: Russia Stays in Syria.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: Against Defeatism: Israel Is Not Sustainable and Will Not Win, w/ Susan Abulhawa.
GEOPOLITICAL TRENDS: Houthis: Downed a US F-18, Targeted an Aircraft Carrier & Destroyers, Fired Missile at Tel Aviv.
COLLECTIVE WEST | BRICS
After Smearing China, the U.S. UN Ambassador Fled Away.
USA
COLONEL LARRY WILKERSON: The U.S. Faces a Critical Choice.
GEORGE GALLOWAY - DANIEL DAVIS: INTERVIEW: Warhawks swoop on Tulsi Gabbard.
EUROPE | BRITAIN
SEBASTIAN SAS: Fico Chooses Russia And Sends A Clear Message To The EU.
REDACTED: "Germany's COLLAPSE is the worst since World War 2" Anna Nguyen AfD MP.
Half of the West is doomed: Here’s why.
Western Eurioe is falling behind rapidly, but its elites appear to be in denial.
By Timofey Bordachev, program director of the Valdai Club
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Only a few years ago, most of Western Europe seemed like a fortress of stability in international politics. With robust economies, solid social systems, and the grand edifice of “European integration,” it gave an impression of permanence, impervious even to major geopolitical upheavals. Now, however, it has become an inexhaustible source of peculiar headlines and confusion.
We see endless talk of sending “European peacekeepers” to Ukraine, drawn-out dramas over forming a government in France, or pre-election storms in a teacup in Germany. There are attempts to meddle in the Middle East, and above all, a deluge of irresponsible, often meaningless statements from Western European politicians. For outsiders, these developments provoke a mix of bemusement and concern.
In Russia, the Western side of our shared continent’s apparent decline is met with suspicion but also a certain sadness. For centuries, Western Europe has been both an existential threat and a source of inspiration for Russia. Peter the Great famously reformed the country to borrow the best from European thoughts and culture. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union, despite great sacrifices, secured victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. And for many Russians, Western Europe has long been an “Eden,” offering respite from what were often harsh realities back home.
But a Western Europe that is economically unstable, politically chaotic, and intellectually stagnant is no longer the same as what once inspired reforms or envy. It’s no longer a place Russia can look to as a neighbor worth emulating or even fearing.
Read more: Germany has become Europe’s political wasteland
How the rest of the world sees ‘Europe’
For most of the world, Western Europe’s problems provoke only curiosity. Major powers like China and India are happy to trade with its various countries and benefit from its technology and investment. But if Western Europe were to disappear from the global stage tomorrow, it wouldn’t disrupt their plans for the future. These nations are vast civilizations in their own right, historically shaped far more by internal dynamics than by European influence.
Meanwhile, African and Arab nations still view Western Europe through the lens of colonialism. For them, its decline is of material interest but little emotional consequence. Türkiye sees European countries as prey, aging and weakened rivals. Even the United States, a supposed ally, approaches the continent’s crises with a businesslike detachment, focused solely on how to maximize its own interests at Europe’s expense.
Why is this happening to Europe?
It’s tempting to blame Western Europe’s odd behavior on the degeneration of its elites. After decades under US patronage, its leaders have lost the ability to think critically or strategically. The end of the Cold War allowed them to govern without serious competition, leading to complacency and mediocrity. Many of the brightest minds went into business, leaving politics to those less capable. As a result, Western European foreign policy departments now resemble provincial bureaucracies, out of touch with global realities.
The expansion of the EU in the early 2000s, which brought in several small former Eastern European nations, only exacerbated this problem. Their provincial outlook often dominates discussions, reducing complex issues to simplistic, parochial concerns. Today, Western Europe’s politicians are adept at convincing the world – and perhaps even themselves – of their own incompetence.
But the root of the problem runs deeper. Western Europe faces a growing contradiction: its political insignificance clashes with its still-considerable material wealth and intellectual legacy. For centuries, its countries have accumulated vast resources and developed unparalleled intellectual traditions. Yet its strategic irrelevance renders these assets useless. Even France’s nuclear arsenal, once a symbol of power, now garners little respect on the world stage.
Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse, exemplifies this impotence. Despite its wealth, it has failed to translate economic strength into political influence, even over its own affairs. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022, allegedly at the hands of its American allies, symbolizes the bloc’s inability to defend its interests or hold its partners accountable.
The United Kingdom, often touted as Western Europe’s most active foreign policy player, plays this role largely under American patronage. Brexit, for all its drama, did little to change this dynamic.
Seethe, Western elites: The world likes Russia despite your hate
A century of decline
More than 100 years after the First World War dismantled Europe’s empires, the continent finds itself with resources it can no longer wield. The EU’s most recent foreign policy “victory” — the difficult absorption of impoverished Moldova — highlights its limitations. Meanwhile, Georgia, with its defiant government, remains beyond Brussels’ grasp. Even in the Balkans, the EU’s influence is limited to countries subdued by NATO and completely encircled by the US-led geopolitical order.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of modern Western Europe is its lack of reflection. Even the continent’s intellectual elite seems to live behind a wall of denial, detached from reality. This attitude extends to domestic politics, where the rise of non-mainstream parties is dismissed as voters “choosing the wrong way.” In foreign policy, its leaders continue to act as though their opinions still shape global politics, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
The EU states march on, oblivious to their diminishing power and the shifting global environment. In theory, such persistence might seem admirable. But world politics is not a Glass Bead Game, as Hermann Hesse would have put it, and clinging to outdated behaviors will only hasten Western Europe’s decline. At some point, even its vast material and intellectual wealth will no longer be enough to sustain it.
What comes next?
For Russia, Western Europe’s intellectual and moral stagnation presents both challenges and questions. Historically, the EU was a neighbor that inspired reforms and shaped foreign policy strategies. But how does one engage with a declining power that refuses to acknowledge its own fall? And if the bloc is no longer a meaningful counterpart, who will become Russia’s new “unifying other”?
These are questions Russia must answer as it navigates a world where Western Europe’s influence continues to wane. Whatever the answer, it’s clear that its era of dominance is over. Its decline is undeniable – even if Western Europeans themselves refuse to see it.
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VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.
THE UKRAINIAN REGIME CLEARLY BEATEN. EUROPEAN LEADERS FICO AND ORBAN SEEK A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION - SOON WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF DONALD TRUMP.
I really want to believe that you are right…..but I am just not sure about Trump part… 😘….”THE UKRAINIAN REGIME CLEARLY BEATEN. EUROPEAN LEADERS FICO AND ORBAN SEEK A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION - SOON WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF DONALD TRUMP.”