The situation in Syria

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello again,

I have a few things to share with you about the NATO/Russia war being fought in the Ukraine. You might remember the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea in late September, 2022.

The western government/media complex, in synchronized fashion, promulgated the baseless conspiracy theory that Russia blew up the pipeline, which it had built itself to service gas needs in Europe, primarily Germany. This theory made absolutely zero sense and was not backed by any evidence.

Indeed, the only realistic suspect from day one was the US itself, presumably with assistance from one or more of its NATO puppets. It appeared to be the same old story from day one, from the very well-worn playbook of false flags/inside jobs carried out by globalist agents of the New World Order:

1) Plan a crime; 2) Commit the crime while simultaneously covering up the tracks; 3) Get the globalist mainstream media and puppet politicians, social media types, etc, to whip up an international hysteria in which blame is ‘unanimously’ pinned on an uninvolved party; 4) Double down on the narrative as time goes on, attacking anyone who would dare question the official narrative in any way.

Well, I have two developments to share with you: The first short, the second longer. Firstly, an OFFICIAL German investigation into the pipeline explosion/s recently concluded that there was NO EVIDENCE of Russian involvement in the act. This is of course a no-brainer, but it is nonetheless surprising that the German government itself, clearly controlled by the globalists, has even admitted that it did not find evidence of Russian involvement.

Now, the second point. Seymour Hersh is a Pullitzer Prize winning reporter who has just released a lengthy report with the minutest of details about how the act of sabotage happened, and who was responsible. While a Pullitzer Prize is not evidence of one’s credibility, Hersh has proved himself over the years to be among the tiny minority of mainstream journalists who is actually interested in REAL JOURNALISM, and is genuinely anti-war, regardless of whatever party might be currently in power in Washington, or elsewhere.

I will provide you a brief summary of the article he released, but will post a link to the article for anyone who may be interested in reading it. Here are my summary points:
- Despite the New York Times (among many others) claiming that it was a ‘mystery’ as to who bombed the pipeline, there is actually no doubt that it was the USA which was responsible, in a covert operation.
- It was done by deep sea US navy divers, who planted remotely-triggered explosives on the pipelines in June, three months before the pipelines were blown up. They were planted under cover of NATO military exercises in the area.
- There were essentially two pipelines, one of which had supplied Germany/Europe for the previous ten years, the other one of which was not quite yet operational.
- The White House/CIA, both of which are truth-haters, have predictably denied responsibility.
- The planning in Washington to destroy the pipeline/s went back to the time before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- High-up US (and other western) figures had long been openly on the record about their hostility to the existence of the Nord Stream pipeline.
- US officials were worried that the soon-to-be operational second pipeline would move Germany and Russia closer together, with the amount of cheap Russian gas available to Germany soon to be doubled.
- There was on-the-record US antagonism towards Germany for daring to want to be involved in this partnership with Russia.
- The international tensions around the Nord Stream escalated as the Russian preparations for the invasion of Ukraine became more advanced.
- With this in mind, plans were made in Washington to destroy the pipeline/s, even before the war had commenced. The covert operation to destroy the Nord Stream began to be hatched out by the CIA/NSA/Navy.
- As plans developed further, some elements within the intelligence community made it clear that they were against the provocation being planned by their colleagues.
- The plans were finalized in early 2022 and Biden, in a televised press conference, said that the Nord Stream pipeline will be ended if Russia invaded Ukraine (video link to this statement is provided within the article)
- Some involved in the covert plan saw this as an unofficial declassification of their sabotage mission.
- US/NATO poodle Norway was used as the base for the provocation.
- Contact between the covert US saboteurs and enlisted Norwegian saboteurs initiated around March, and the specific details of the plan were hatched out and crystalized.
- Certain human elements from Denmark and Sweden were brought in on the plan for operational purposes.
- The decision was made to carry out the action under the cover of a publicly-known NATO exercise which was being held on the water in the vicinity of the pipeline/s.
- Initial intentions to detonate the mines within two days of laying them were put on ice, with fears that such a short turnaround between the NATO exercise, and detonation of the Nord Stream, making US responsibility for the crime far too obvious.
- Thus, under CIA control, the US/Norwegian sabotage team laid the mines with the understanding that they would not be detonated until much later.
- Yet, the longer they lay there, the bigger the chance that they could be accidentally detonated by an unwitting 3rd party which was sailing, and sending unrelated signals in that part of the Baltic Sea.
- On September 26, 2022, a Norwegian surveillance plan flew over the area and dropped a sonar buoy into the sea over the pipeline/s, in order to detonate the explosives. It succeeded, and the pipeline/s were essentially destroyed.
- The US/western media then, in unison, pretended that it was really a mystery as to who did it, but that Russia was the likely culprit.
- A high-up US official then described the destruction of the Nord Stream as a ‘tremendous opportunity’ to weaken Russia.
- Other US figures expressed similar satisfaction about the destruction of the pipleline/s.

That was my summary. But if you want to read it all for yourself, click the link below:

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how ... ord-stream

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi again,

I don’t have time to write up long summaries today, but there are two articles I wish to refer you to. They are reasonably balanced and offer you some of the latest information from the NATO/Ukraine-Russia warzone.

The first is from the ‘Real Clear Defence’ site. It’s from a pro-western/Ukraine perspective, but still makes some attempt at balance. It is titled, ‘New Russian offensive underway in Ukraine’. It is quite well researched and referenced, with analysis of potential upshot and downside for both of the armies.

Link below:

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articl ... 82310.html

The second is from an online source called ‘The Eurasian Times’. The title is, ‘Russia has achieved its strategic objectives in Ukraine; Kyiv 100% reliant on NATO for survival: Chinese expert’.

To be fair, this seems to be from a slightly pro-Russian viewpoint, as evidenced in the title itself which is only half-true at this point (the first half is clearly not true at this point).

A main thrust of the piece is that Russia clearly didn’t achieve its objectives in the initial part of the war (to take the capital city). Further to this, it abandoned that goal and is now focussed primarily on taking regions in the south and east of the country. Even this goal has yet to be achieved, although it would appear to be achievable if they are willing to suffer substantial further amounts of losses, both material and human.

For propaganda purposes, western mainstream media continues to pretend that Russia is still intent on its first (now long-abandoned) goal, so that western politicians/media/etc can continue to mock, troll and spam Russia for failing to achieve plan A, even though Russia has already moved onto its plan B since around the middle of last year.

Clearly, Russian forces also suffered a number of significant setbacks in the second half of last year, as admitted in the article (when would you ever see western corporate media admit Ukrainian/NATO setbacks in the war? Answer- not often at all. And even when they do ‘admit’ to a Ukrainian/NATO setback, they frame it as a ‘strategic withdrawal’ by Ukrainian forces, or a ‘pyrric victory’ for Russian forces).

There are plenty of links and images for you to check out in this piece, as well as further info.

Link below:

https://eurasiantimes.com/russia-has-ac ... se-expert/

I will continue to try to bring you relatively balanced coverage of the war in Ukraine. I say ‘relatively’ because I don’t believe that ‘perfectly balanced’ is a theoretically possible notion for us fallen humans.

In summary, if you are noticing that there is something very, very wrong with establishment media, and are interested in bypassing their lies and getting a feel for what might REALLY be going on in the Ukraine, I will continue to try to find and post reports in this forum that might offer you some proper information.

In the meantime, I suggest that we pray that all of the warmongers on all sides- NATO, Russia, and in the corrupt Ukrainian government itself- are sidelined so that piece may be given a chance.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello again,

I don’t know why, but I felt the urge to share with you what I think would be the best way for the NATO/Ukraine versus Russia war to end as soon as possible.

It is very morally dubious to wish for anything other than a quick end to it, especially if cheering on one side or the other in relative safety and comfort from afar.

Firstly, here come the disclaimers. I am just a random guy on the internet and have no delusion that my idea could in any way come to fruition, or even gain a bit of traction.

Secondly, it is only Jesus who can change the hearts of people; only He who can ultimately end war and bring piece.

Nonetheless, here are my views on how to end the war. In order to bring forth a meaningful solution, the nature of the problem itself first needs to be addressed. The problem here is quite clearly that Ukraine- a not particularly influential or powerful nation- is stuck between a rock and a hard place, i.e. two powerful countries that want to swallow it up in the name of empire building.

On the left side is US-dominated Europe (namely, NATO) and on the right side is Russia. Both sides want to control it and, fake compassion and crocodile tears aside, neither side could care less about the Ukrainian people. In the Ukraine itself, meanwhile, is a gangster government controlled by NATO.

In short, Russia is more than happy to lay waste to the country in order to control it, while the US/NATO is more than happy to send hundreds of thousands (even millions) of Ukrainians off to the slaughter, and have the country lain waste to, as long as they can prevail in their tug-of-war against Russia.

That was a basic summary of the overall problem. So, now to the solution.

Any solution would require painful concessions from either side, and would require both sides to put the interests of the Ukrainian people ahead of their own (note; I make a clear distinction between the Ukrainian people on one side, and the NATO-controlled government of Ukraine on the other).

In my opinion, the best solution would be as follows: All Russian troops and their allies should leave all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and go home, never to return.

Further to this, NATO should be permanently abolished, and all US troops stationed in Europe should leave all European territory and go home, never to return.

That’s it. Not too complicated, is it? It’s fair, requires sacrifice on both sides, and puts the interests of the Ukrainian people first.

Of course, until Jesus returns and puts things right, humans will continue to be humans, and wars like the one in Ukraine will continue to rage.

That’s all. God bless, and have a pleasant week.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi again Friends,

Google search algorithms are obviously designed to bury independent/libertarian/truth-seeking sources, and elevate globalist establishment sources which push the western narrative.

But with creative word searches, a bit of persistence and sniffing around, you can still find some good sources. I had such an instance of luck today.

It’s from Polish source www.pulaski.pl. They apparently do a weekly update, and I today stumbled across their newest. I’d never heard of their site before today.

As a country, Poland, which has a history of legitimate grievances against Russia, has not been able to let go. In fact, besides the main warring parties- namely the Ukraine, USA and Russia- Poland is clearly the most pro-war.

That aside, the weekly update which I read today was really well-written, full of genuine insight that you would almost never get from western mainstream media, and it made a genuine attempt at balance.

For mine, I don’t really care if a person or source is pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. But I just can’t stand it when there is little if any attempt made at providing balanced coverage.

I don’t know if all of the previous weekly updates at the site were as good as this one. I can only comment on this one, and will now endeavour to check their future updates.

The update I read today was all about the battle at Bakhmut, the current epicentre of fighting on the entire front.

It’s a long read, and you’ll need up to 20 mins. So grab a tea/coffee, even a beer/wine if you are so inclined, and have a read (if you have the time/inclination). Link below:

https://pulaski.pl/war-in-ukraine-weekl ... 3-03-2023/

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi Everyone,

I wish to comment more on the battle of Bakhmut. The front line across eastern Ukraine is very long, and minor movements are ongoing within what currently appears to be a broader stalemate.

It’s within this context that the battle of Bakhmut takes on great significance. A city of approximately 70,000-80,000 (before the fighting started), virtually no-one outside of the Ukraine would have ever heard of it before this war started. But now it is consistently in international headlines.

Both sides appear unwilling to take a backward step, with both pouring in more manpower and hardware. There are also reportedly internal tensions on both sides.

Ukraine’s western sponsors would reportedly prefer their Ukrainian proxy forces to make a strategic withdrawal from Bakhmut, and are purportedly concerned that Ukraine’s manpower reserves and equipment could be degraded in Bakhmut to the extent that their mooted Spring counteroffensives could be jeopardised.

On the other hand, Russian mercenary group Wagner, spearheading the Russian effort in and around Bakhmut, appears to be having on-again, off-again tiffs with the Russian Defence Ministry, who are their allies.

To add to the fog of war, these alleged internal tensions on both sides could be deliberate disinformation. The supposed disagreement between the Ukrainian government and their western sponsors could be deliberate disinfo to lull Russia into a false sense of security about the upcoming (mooted) Ukrainian counteroffensives.

Furthermore, the purported tensions between Wagner and Russian Defence Ministry could be western media disinfo designed to sow discord between Wagner and the Russian government. Conversely, it could be Russian disinfo designed to give Ukraine/NATO the false idea that there is discord between Wagner and the Russian government. Who would know (?)

What is widely accepted is that the battle of Bakhmut, still ongoing, has been probably the biggest and bloodiest battle on European soil since World War Two. As it stands, the city is surrounded on three sides by Wagner/Russian forces, and the other side is under their partial fire control.

A Ukrainian garrison of roughly 10,000 troops or so is entrenched in the city centre, but in an increasingly dire situation. The Wagner/Russian forces, for their part however, may have to contend with further steep losses to finally take the city.

Some in the media have begun to compare this battle with the battle of Stalingrad in World War Two, which is widely recognized as the biggest land battle in the history of warfare. The battle of Stalingrad ultimately tipped the advantage towards the Red Army in their war against Nazi Germany on the eastern front. It also ultimately tipped the advantage in favour of the allies when you consider World War Two in a holistic manner.

While Bakhmut is obviously on a smaller scale, it could (just maybe) be comparable to Stalingrad in the way that an otherwise insignificant city of limited strategic value somehow became an epic (and unthinkably murderous) struggle for the highest of stakes on the battlefield.

Of course, we could only know this with certainly about Stalingrad with the benefit of hindsight, and it will be quite some time- months but maybe even years- until we will have such hindsight about Bakhmut.

I now wish to post an article for you, which I came across a few days ago, titled, ‘1943 Stalingrad Vs. 2023 Bakhmut: A decisive battle that decides the Ukraine War?’ It’s from the site, ‘1945’ which, in my opinion, offers publishes propaganda on behalf of the military-industrial-complex, but sometimes publishes a good article or two.

The one I am posting today is a good one, in my opinion. It’s balanced, provides plenty of background, and potential upshots/drawbacks for either side going forward, with well-made comparisons to the battle of Stalingrad.

Link below:

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/03/194 ... raine-war/

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello again,

I wish to share two articles with you about the current situation in the Ukraine War. It’s actually a two-part series (or maybe the start of a longer series?).

It’s from a site called ‘1945’, which I’ve referenced in earlier posts. In my opinion, the site is largely pro-military industrial complex, but puts out the odd balanced report here or there. In fact, I believe that its writer Daniel Davis is a generally balanced, unemotional reporter who seeks to give us useful information and facts. He is the writer of the two pieces I will link to.

The first is titled, ‘Will Ukraine’s spring offensive bring Kyiv victory- or set the stage for defeat?’ It’s a well-written piece which, if I’m to summarize in short, makes the following points:

- A real manpower shortage for the Ukrainian forces is starting to bite. This has been brought on by huge casualties suffered by Ukrainian forces since the Russian invasion was launched in February 2022.

- The lifeline for the Ukrainian state is the Polish border, where huge quantities of supplies- above all military supplies- are being flooded in by NATO/the US.

- Russian forces are much better prepared for the coming (mooted) Ukrainian/NATO counter-offensive, compared to the second half of last year when they were stretched too thinly and ceded swathes of territory to Ukraine/NATO in counter-offensives at the time.

- Such a counter-offensive now, even if relatively successful, would involve further large losses of Ukrainian personnel, exacerbating their growing manpower problems.

- Russian forces have also suffered huge losses of personnel and equipment, but has much more of both to draw on. Thus, in an ongoing war of attrition (if both parties ‘stay the course’ until the bitter end) it is the Russians who have a clear advantage.

- The coming counter-offensive of the Ukrainians is effectively a roll of the dice to inflict colossal losses upon the Russians in terms of people, equipment and territory. Whether successful or not, it may be the last proper counter-offensive that the Ukrainians are actually capable of waging.

- As seen by any rational, well-meaning person (and I believe that the writer of this piece appears to fit the description), the only way to end the slaughter is to start negotiations in which both sides would have to make concessions (this is something that the US regime obviously has no interest in, as indicated by its old-blooded ‘Fight against Russia until the last Ukrainian’ policy which is making weapons manufacturers filthy rich and also similarly benefitting politicians across both parties, as well as establishment corporate media).

I haven’t read the follow-up article to the first piece yet, as part two was only released a few hours ago. And, on second thought, I would rather not refer to it or link it until I’ve read it.

I may or may not make a follow-up post about it in the coming days. But I’m sure you could easily locate it yourselves if you were keen to find it.

In the meantime, I recommend that you read part one, for which the link is below:
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/04/wil ... or-defeat/

If you are wondering how to pray about this, I have a suggestion. Ask The Lord that the warmongers on all sides be side-lined, and that peacemakers be somehow allowed to enter the fray. Even if that peacemaker would have ulterior motives, like a player such as China (who would obviously want an end to the war for geo-political or financial reasons), it’s still a better option than the perpetual war endlessly pushed by the military industrial complex based in Washington.

A willingness to act out of goodwill, instead of the egotistical self-interest which we know is so prevalent among most politicians, would also be a worthy prayer point. Could The Lord, for instance, force a feeling of good-will and well-meaning motives onto the hearts of anyone involved in a future Ukraine-Russia peace process?

I’ll leave it there.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi my friends,

I’ve now read the second article, from what is apparently a two-part series, and will provide the link below.

It basically continues the thrust of the first article, but with further detail. I’d just like to underscore some points from the second piece, before providing the link:

- The title of the piece is, ‘Ukraine’s coming offensive: What happens if its fails?’ The overall theme of the article is that NATO elements planning the coming Ukrainian counter-offensive seem to have no plan at all beyond the offensive itself.

- This will apparently be Ukraine’s last opportunity to launch a largescale counter-offensive. And win, lose or draw, there is no guarantee that it will improve their strategic situation within the longer-term war against Russia.


- The western strategy for Ukraine has been to pour in more modern weapons and provide NATO-supervised training for tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops. There is little if any consideration given to the aftermath of the offensive, regardless the outcome.

- It is quite plausible that, in the short term, the mooted Ukrainian counter-offensive could inflict significant casualties on the Russians, and take back some land. But it’s a given that they will suffer large (to say the least) casualties themselves, adding to their increasing manpower shortages.


- A repeat of their successful counter-offensives from the second half of last year is far from a given, with Russian forces this time well dug-in, prepared and more numerous.

- The writer of the article then gave an overview of the shifting momentum of the war to date, since the Russian invasion in February of last year.


- The writer of the article then pointed out that Ukraine could still lose the overall war even if the mooted, looming counter-offensives of theirs is successful.

- This conclusion was based on mathematics. In short, Russia has a huge advantage in the area of available manpower, which would be even more evident in the aftermath of the counter-offensive regardless of the result.


- Moreover, the military industry in Russia is dramatically picking up pace to meet the war needs of its military deployed in the Ukraine. This means that, despite the weapons and munitions being constantly poured in by NATO/the US, Russia’s troops in the foreseeable future will possibly be better armed and equipped than even Ukraine’s troops.


Link below:
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/04/ukr ... -it-fails/

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi Everyone,

Haven’t posted for a while. A fair bit has happened regarding NATO/Russia/Ukraine in recent weeks.

One of these days I would like to compile a list of what (in my opinion) are relatively balanced news sources vis-à-vis the Ukraine war. Most of these would be sources already referenced in this forum at one time or another. But a compact list might be helpful for someone.

So, the battle for Bakhmut is grinding on. High casualties, in the many hundreds for either side on a daily basis, continue to be suffered, as Russian forces and their Wagner mercenary allies continue to put the squeeze on the battered Ukrainian garrison there, which is now holed up in the western part of the city.

Approximately 80-90% of the city is apparently under Russian control. But Ukrainian forces, for now, are apparently able to battle on and make life hard for the Russian forces who are trying to deal with the several thousand Ukrainian fighters still somehow managing to hold out. The city, meanwhile, is largely now comprised of ruins.

The much-vaunted Ukrainian counter-offensive is yet to come. I am not willing to make a prediction about whether or not it will come and, if it indeed does, what success it will have for Ukrainian forces. Elements of western mainstream media are pumping it up as if it is going to be akin to a magic pill for Ukrainian forces, and will lead to massive gains for them and huge losses for the Russian.

People with a bit more balance and wisdom are tending to take a wait-and-see approach, and are at least open to the possibility that it won’t necessarily be a winner-takes-all, barnstorming success for Ukrainian forces.

You would have all heard about the leaked documents. I can’t remember if I touched on these in the last post I made. My initial feeling was that there were three possibilities re: the leaked documents; a) that it was essentially a fake (staged) leak orchestrated by CIA-type elements to spread western disinfo; b) that it was essentially the same scenario as possibility ‘a’, but that the Russians were responsible for it; and c) that it was a legitimate leak, and that the documents comprised genuine confidential info.

I tend towards possibility ‘c’. After all, why would western intelligence elements release documents that would essentially be an admission that western politicians, media, intel agents, etc, have all been lying about the Ukraine war? Possibility ‘b’ also doesn’t make much sense to me in this case. I believe that possibility ‘c’ is easily the most likely, but with a caveat.

What’s this caveat? That the reporting in establishment media about this leak has been filled with lies and deliberate disinformation to cushion the fallout from the leak. I don’t believe for a second that it was all the work of some low-ranking early-20s soldier. While I don’t have evidence to support my gut feeling, I know that mainstream media and its controllers are hopelessly dishonest.

My best guess at this point would be that the young man they have pinned it on is essentially a scapegoat, who may or may not have been involved in the actual leak.

There are also other elements of the info in the leak that have already been walked back by the government/media complex. For example, it was reportedly stated in the leaked documents that Russian forces had suffered approximately 40,000 KIA, while Ukrainian forces had suffered over 70,000 KIA.

However, from the moment that the leak hit the headlines, the media insisted that some of the details in the leaked documents had been ‘tampered with’, ‘altered’, etc. Thus, the figure of over 70,000 Ukrainian forces KIA was quickly walked back thereafter to approximately 17,000, obviously in order to keep up the inaccurate appearance of relatively low Ukrainian casualties for propaganda purposes.

For what it’s worth, from all of the reading and research I have done from various sources, trying to balance it all out, etc, my current estimate is that up to 50,000 Russian forces have perished in this war, while well over 100,000 Ukrainian forces have also perished.

A key takeaway from the leaks is that western politicians, media, intel agencies, and so on, have (as mentioned) been lying to us. In a nutshell, they have generally been shilling that Ukraine is kicking butt, winning, doing really well, etc, while the Russians are totally incompetent and are losing big. What the leaks reveal, however, is that the situation is far more akin to a stalemate, and it’s hard to see how either side could be categorized as ‘winning’.

I wish to refer you to a video of about 12 minutes from the Jimmy Dore YouTube channel. Dore is occasionally vulgar and uses vulgar language from time to time. I do not believe that he is a Christian and I am not endorsing his channel here. However, I sometimes watch his channel because he is at least genuinely anti-war, critical of the establishment (not a partisan hack), pro-freedom and not anti-Christian.

The video I am linking you to here is hosted by guest host Aaron Mate, who is filling in for Dore this week as I write this post. There is no vulgarity from Mate, and no obscene language, so it’s clean content. The title of this video is, ‘Ukraine can’t win and the leaked Pentagon docs prove it!’

If you watch the video, you’ll see a really good review of the documents, what they mean going forward, and what they tell us about the time beforehand as well.

Link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v3PRfMOITQ

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi Everyone,

This is just to share some breaking news with you. If you're following the Ukraine situation, you might have already heard the news that Bakhmut has finally fallen to the Russian side, courtesy of (in large part) the efforts of the Wagner mercenary group.

Bakhmut has been mentioned numerous times in this forum already, and has been the epi-centre of fighting in recent months. Once a town of about 70,000 people, it became the key battle of the war so far this year, with both sides pouring in huge amounts of manpower and equipment. Massive losses have been suffered by both sides as the fight for this town took on a significance of its very own.

Russia has now apparently prevailed, and is now in control of what has become a largely-abandoned mid-sized town that is largely comprised of ruins.

Moreover, the capture of this town takes place amid the backdrop of fever-pitch talk of Ukraine's coming counter-offensive. Whether the capture of Bakhmut has any bearing on Ukraine's much-mooted offensive- or has little if any bearing at all- remains to be seen.

Of course, while the town now appears to be fully taken, the propaganda war remains front and centre and becomes more and more predictable to the seasoned observer.

Whenever an important victory is achieved by one side or the other, the losing side (and its media) generally tend to react in the following way:

a) firstly deny claims of victory made by the other side, insisting that the battle is not yet over, then;

b) maintain general vagueness on the situation as long as possible, and;

c) as the dust begins to settle, and the opposition claims of victory become evident, then downplay the claims of the other side. This can be done by any number of ways, including talk of a pre-planned, 'fighting withdrawal', or assertions that the primary aim was never really to hold the lost territory anyway. Another classic, well-used option is to frame the victory of the other side as a 'Pyrric victory' at best.

At the time of writing, Ukrainian government/media and western establishment media are currently on stage a, going onto stage b. Look out for stage c to become evident in western globalist media headlines in the coming days.

To be fair, Russia also does propaganda and has presumably followed this 'a/b/c' procedure- or something similar to it- during this war.

I won't write any more today, but refer you to a brand new article on the fall of Bakhmut, from the Asia Times, which I rate as one of the very few relatively balances sources of coverage on the war. Truth, rather than spin, seems to hold a degree of importance for the Asia Times.

The piece is titled, 'Bakhmut has finally fallen to the Russians', and was released only in the last hours.

Link below:

https://asiatimes.com/2023/05/bakhmut-h ... -russians/

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello Everyone,

Here is a little update on the Ukraine War. As you’d know, the main focus for many months had been the huge battle of attrition over Bakhmut, which ended a couple of weeks ago with Russian forces in control of the (largely destroyed) city.

Now, attention has turned to the much-mooted Ukrainian counter-offensive, which has apparently kicked off over the last few days.

It’s obviously way too soon to tell how it is going to pan out. To add to the complication, Ukraine state/media and western mainstream media will predictably spin everything in their own favour, while Russian/pro-Russian government and sources will spin it all in their own favour.

Through the mist, from what I can gather, Ukrainian forces have made some localized gains in recent days (some open territory, a village here or there, etc) while suffering ‘significant’ losses, as even admitted by CIA-run outlet CNN.

It seems that Ukrainian forces have lost dozens of armoured vehicles, and many hundreds (even possibly in the low thousands) of men since the action kicked off last week. Meanwhile, the Russian government, in a rare admission, has also admitted that casualties on its own side have risen above the previously standard levels due to the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Though I have no way of knowing, based on scouring various sets of numbers and making an educated guess, I believe that over 50,000 Russian forces and their allies have been killed since the start of the war in late February 2022. I believe that the number of Ukrainian forces (and their allies) KIA is well over 150,000.

If you would like to read a bit about the early stages of the offensive- from sources which at least make something of an attempt at providing facts and balanced coverage- I will link two articles.

The first is a piece from yesterday at Asia Times. It is titled, ‘Big development in Ukraine?’ The main thrust of this piece is that- amid what could be seen as a less-than-successful beginning to the counter-offensive- there may be growing (if still fringe) calls within the Ukrainian state to consider peace negotiations with Russia.

Here’s the link:

https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/big-devel ... n-ukraine/

The other item is from Meduza news, which is openly pro-Ukraine but at least makes an attempt at providing balanced reporting. The piece is brand new and is titled, ‘Ukraine on the offensive’. Link below:

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/06/11 ... -offensive

I believe that I have mentioned both of these news outlets previously in this thread.

I’ll refer you to more developments as time goes on.

All the best, and God bless you.

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hi Everyone,

I wish to share with you an update about the much-vaunted Ukrainian counteroffensive, which is now about two weeks old.

I cannot comment on the future, as I’m not a prophet. Maybe there will be a twist or a turnaround in the course of this counteroffensive as time goes on.

War is full of disasters for all warring parties, and this war is no different. All of that said, the counteroffensive thus far seems to have been an absolute military disaster for the western-backed Ukrainian forces.

This is my best assessment based on spending heaps of time looking for balanced, relatively unbiased reports, and also checking out the propaganda being pumped out by both sides to try to iron it all out and gain an overall picture.

Western mainstream media, which is obviously putting out constant propaganda on behalf of the Ukrainian government, has been largely muted in its coverage of the counteroffensive. This is obviously already an indication that the counteroffensive is not going well. That is to say, if the Ukrainian forces were making legitimate gains, western corporate media would be shouting it out from the rooftops (so to say).

Instead, coverage has been mostly bland, and has even admitted here and there that the fight is hard even for the Ukrainian side. In short, Ukrainian forces have so far only taken some open areas and about half-a-dozen villages essentially between the front lines.

Establishment media has predictably talked up these ‘advances’ and ‘gains’ over the last couple of weeks, but has also largely avoided talk of losses, except for admitting that some of the western-supplied vehicles given to Ukrainian forces were damaged or destroyed upon the commencement of the counteroffensive.

In short, it appears that the initial Ukrainian push across sections of the front lines has not been able to break through the Russian first lines of defence. In many cases, they were not even able to get close to these lines before they had to withdraw under heavy fire.

It is clear that many, many dozens (perhaps even in the low hundreds) of Ukrainian armoured vehicles have already been destroyed, damaged or abandoned in the first fortnight of the counteroffensive. A minimum of many, many hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers (and presumably some of their covert/mercenary allies) have already perished in this counteroffensive. Bigger numbers of them have been wounded or captured.

To be fair, Russian casualties and losses have also gone up since the commencement of the counteroffensive, but it goes without saying that the Ukrainian figures are several times higher than the Russian ones.

Russia has had several months to construct extensive, highly complex lines of defences across the front lines which are designed not only to blunt the counteroffensive of the Ukrainians, but to inflict severe casualties upon them.

Meanwhile, dissenting voices here or there are expressing dismay at the military-industrial complex, pro-war western types who are ruthlessly using the youth of Ukraine as cannon fodder in order to carry out their geo-political, globalist agenda against Russia.

As I have stated earlier in this forum, I believe that any unbiased, truth-seeking assessment of the current tragedy in Ukraine will find that there is plenty of blame to be shared between Russia and the USA. In my opinion, while it could be argued that Russia is more to blame than the USA for this particular tragedy (I’m quite open to this possibility), there is still plenty of blame which must be attributed to the USA.

Put very simply, if both had left the Ukraine alone then none of this would have happened in the first place. I’m firmly convinced of this. Instead, both want to expand empire and both have a lot of blood on their hands.

The latest news, currently getting quite a bit of coverage even in establishment media, is that the Ukrainian government wants to ‘pause’ the counteroffensive and re-evaluate tactics. All spin aside- if confirmed- this could only be for one possible reason: it’s not going well.

Finally, I reiterate that I am not a military-minded person. I’m just pretty good at researching things, and have a good radar when it comes to detecting and deciphering propaganda. Ukraine could indeed make good progress on their counteroffensive over the coming days or weeks. Let’s see. All I can do is comment on how it has gone up until this point.

I will link you to a mainstream media dispatch on the reported ‘pause’ to the counteroffensive. As expected, it’s bland and spun to make out any such measure as standard operating procedure or tactical. Predictable, if subtle propaganda.

But again, if the counteroffensive had gone well up until this point it would most assuredly not pause, lest momentum be lost.

Link below:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/u ... 88683.html

[TrueAndMagneticNorth]

Hello Everyone,

You probably heard the news yesterday about an aborted coup attempt in Russia. I have read, listened and viewed widely about the broader incident and I’d like to share with you my view of what exactly has happened.

Firstly, a disclaimer: I’m not an intelligence insider with top-secret info at my fingertips. It’s possible that some of the info I offer you in this post will be incorrect or only partially true. This is not intentional. But I believe that I have a reasonably sound overall picture of how and why it happened.

Under certain circumstances, the coup could have represented a legitimate crisis to the Russian state. At the very minimum, lots of blood would have been shed in order to crush the mutiny. It was certainly a shock, and I didn’t see it coming. But in hindsight I can certainly see some warning signs that I missed at the time.

In short, yes, it was western-backed and there was almost certainly the involvement of foreign intelligence agencies, such as those from the Ukraine, Britain and the USA. But, from the Russian perspective, there was also an act of high treason from the main leader of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Wagner forces have fought ferociously and shed a lot of blood (their own and also Ukrainian blood) in Ukraine, most notably in the battle of Bakhmut and surroundings. Their leader, however, has been involved in ongoing public feuds with the Russian government- particularly Russian military top brass- for many months, with his statements against certain figures becoming more and more bellicose, and even including threats at times, eg. to hand over Wagner-held territory to their Ukrainian enemies.

Obviously noticing this, intelligence agencies in Kiev, but also those of their sponsors such as Britain and the USA, have purportedly reached out to him at some point and convinced him to become a turncoat.

I never saw it coming myself, but did notice that Prigozhin- whose statements had long been blustery and angry- had changed markedly over the last week or so. Instead of just ranting and singling out certain Russian military figures in his diatribes, he suddenly began to make pro-western statements that would be far more typical in western mainstream news or from western politicians, etc. In one of these statements, he said that the Russian war on Ukraine was ‘based on lies’, that Ukraine never represented a threat to Russian people, etc.

While I didn’t know that the attempted/aborted coup was coming, these comments struck me as very odd for a man whose forces had been fighting for Russia up until that point. Why did he go from criticising high-up Russian figures to suddenly mouthing pro-Ukrainian/NATO talking points?

I didn’t know at the time, but now I do. One can only speculate what Ukrainian/NATO intelligence services might have promised him when they managed to turn him. But another thing to note; if Russia had trouble keeping him on the leash, so too would Ukrainian/Western intelligence services.

When the whole story broke yesterday my initial feeling was that all of the globalist corporate media coverage seemed pre-packaged and ‘ready to roll out’. I’ve become expert at spotting this kind of stuff over the years, and would bet my house that Western intelligence/secret services institutions already had the narrative ready to pump out whenever the attempted coup commenced.

The whole thing would have been many weeks in the making. But there were also some things working against the success of this globalist coup attempt against Russia. I believe that it had been timed to coincide with the long-vaunted, much-mooted Ukrainian counteroffensive.

By all credible accounts, this counteroffensive has been a bloody debacle for NATO-backed Ukrainian forces. I believe that the coup attempt yesterday was planned before the counteroffensive had begun, at a time when the Western government/media/military complex was awaiting the commencement of the counteroffensive with sky-high confidence that the Ukrainians would be making huge progress by the time of the planned coup.

Thus, it was supposed to be a brutal one-two (I’m using boxing parlance here), with Russian forces expected to be in disarray on the front- simply folding under the onslaught of the Ukrainian counteroffensive- and the Russian state expected to be thus ever fragile in Moscow. It was supposed to be under these circumstances that the coup attempt led by the turncoat Prigozhin would lead his mercenary forces from the Ukrainian/Russian border all the way to Moscow.

Further to this, there were reports several days ago (obviously before the coup) of arrests across Moscow of pro-Ukraine/NATO agent provocateurs and saboteurs in that city, who it appears were going to commit terror acts in and around the capital to cause further anarchy and thus help prepare the way for Prigozhin as he entered the capital with his forces to complete the coup.

As a sidenote, the attempted/aborted coup was launched very shortly after a largescale NATO exercise in which they reportedly simulated a bombing campaign against the Russian mainland.

To be sure, the coup attempt was a longshot, especially since the Ukrainian counteroffensive had gone so badly, coupled with the apparent arrests of the associated cells ready to cause mayhem in the capital itself.

So why did the Ukraine/Western countries still attempt it? I don’t know. I suppose they might’ve known it was a longshot, but still thought it was worth a try.

It’s also a win for Ukraine/NATO in the information/propaganda war, and a blow for the prestige of the Russian government. Will there be any further fallout? Who knows.

Prigozhin is an unreliable and hot-headed character who was probably seduced by certain guarantees/promises given to him by Ukrainian/Western intel. He is now exiled from the Russian mainland, but has sanctuary in Belarus.

As to why he aborted the coup attempt, called his fighters back and accepted a deal with the leader of Belarus, I don’t know. But I do know that he is unpredictable, self-interested, prone to sudden changes of mind and not easy to control.

Russia can be every bit as unscrupulous and bloodthirsty as the USA and its Western allies have proven themselves to be. I say this because, while none of us are guaranteed to see tomorrow, I would be surprised if Prigozhin would still be alive in five years from now. No-one likes a traitor, no matter who they are, and I think he will be a marked man after the dust settles from this episode.

This is my incomplete overview of how I think things went down. There’s no doubt a lot of stuff which I don’t know, and while I try to keep speculation to a minimum, there was indeed a little bit of speculation in what I just wrote.

But while not all of the details would be right, I’m very confident that the general overall thrust of what I just wrote for you would not be far from the mark.

That’s all, and until next time.