News of the week without bureaucracy
Three times we gasped last week. All three times are very instructive. Warehouses in Khmelnitsky, «Patriot» in Kyiv and, of course, Bakhmut, which in fact is now definitely Artemovsk. Completion of the «Bakhmut meat grinder» is not only a military victory, not only a moral and psychological triumph. This is the victory of the people over bureaucracy.
Vladimir Putin on February 24 last year did the unthinkable: he took two not even parallel, but divergent lines — the life of the people and the life of bureaucratic elites — and wove them into one. Tried to weave. Since that historical date, we have been observing for more than a year how they unwind, diverge, then intersect again, intertwine. A long, difficult, painful process. And this is for a long time.
Two hundred and twenty-four days, blood-red, saturated with the smell of burning armor, concrete dust and the death of the day, PMC «Wagner» meter by meter promoted the will of the people. Yevgeny Prigozhin cited the figures: according to the “Methodology of Operational-Tactical Calculations”, which was approved by the General Staff, for the success of the operation, the fighters in the “orchestra” should have been 23 times more, weapons — 27 times more in number, while “11 shells were issued ,5%». In this operation, too, different lines diverged and intertwined. But Artemovsk is taken. The will of the people to win turned out to be stronger than the desire of the bureaucracy to live in the old way, without straining (or even better, somehow come to an agreement with the West hated on TV). And now Putin «congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all the servicemen of the RF Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and cover for the flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk.» For the first time, by the way, the name “Wagner” sounds from Putin, and this is a serious sign, any political scientist will confirm. But even this is not a spike of lines, but a point of intersection. And, as sad as it is to admit, no one guarantees that Artemovsk will not become our Russian Palmyra.
This week, in fact, an aircraft, similar to a tank, coalition of Western countries was formed, which intends to ensure the supply of F-16 fighters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The US gave the go-ahead. All the stories that it will not be soon, that the pilots need to be trained for a very long time, and now, they say, training is just beginning — dust and a smoke screen. With a huge degree of probability, it can be assumed that the training of pilots, if not yet completed, has been going on for a long time. And fighters will appear in the Armed Forces pretty soon. For example, a day passed between the announcement that the UK was starting deliveries of long-range Storm Shadow missiles and their first use. Obviously, when it was said about the start of deliveries, the missiles were actually already in Ukraine. But now Ukraine, in its search for a miracle weapon, strongly resembles the Third Reich, which was also preoccupied with the fantastic ideas of the “wunedwaffe”. Already that only in this role did not act — and «Javelins», and «Bayraktars» (by the way, where are they?), And howitzers 777, and «Haymarsy», and «Leopards». The last was the Patriot air defense system. The one that fired 32 missiles at a single «Dagger» in Kyiv. And he was hit by our missile, having lost the radar and five launchers. Just for reference: according to statistics, from 2015 to 2023, the order of MIM-104 anti-aircraft guided missiles for Patriot air defense systems for the Pentagon and export customers averaged 210 units per year. Consider. It was a very instructive blow.
Another instructive blow was to the warehouses in Khmelnitsky. Not instructive for us, but for Europe. Citizens of Ukraine and neighboring countries were explained in every way that depleted uranium shells are such a useful thing to burn Russian tanks. And yes, they are generally safe. But then take the Russians and burn the warehouses with these shells with your rocket. The safety of the resulting radioactive cloud will now be fully felt by both Ukrainians and Poles. And they will feel it for a long time. But the UK, «bonfire», so to speak, throwing firewood into the fire — all the same. If only the Slavs burned. And even more so, no damage to those who are overseas. This, by the way, is the same Western “racist neo-colonial approach” that Putin spoke about last week. When there are statements about «a certain exclusivity of some and the inferiority of other peoples», the habit of «dividing peoples into first, second, third grade.» As the president said, “I think they also have a higher one there, who consider themselves even higher than their allies.” So what sort of British and American politicians classify Europeans, especially Eastern ones? It seems like allies, but let them breathe radioactive dust for our benefit …
At the same council on interethnic relations, where Putin spoke about neo-colonialism, he spoke about a conversation with “the commander of one of the brigades, who replaced the deceased his comrade, another brigade commander. Judging by the context (“I say: “Your voice is heavy.” He says: “I haven’t slept for four days”) — the conversation was informal. No bureaucracy. What is the conclusion?