Exactly. The money and corruption are
precisely why the Biden familia (including precious Hunter) got so involved in Ukraine during Obama's presidency. But even then, note that
Burisma was actually run largely by wealthy Russians. And of course, the Bidens were always happy to take Russian money, such as the widow of the mayor of Moscow herself, Elena Baturina for instance, who strangely to this day is exempt from sanctions (somewhat ironically, fwiw, her husband was fired as mayor…for corruption). Ukraine and Russia have always been heavily linked/tied together.
And this is just pure desperation on the part of the Zelensky regime:
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However, most significant to ongoing events is the correct analysis of why Zelensky would choose to strike the plant just now. It is obvious to us that it represents a terminal desperation from the AFU, which can only mean that their situation on the ground is in fact grinding to a culminating point, which answers one of the chief questions we've had about the ongoing Kursk adventure.
There was still some hesitation on my part on whether the Kursk madness was truly a sign of an AFU reaching its critical end point or not, though mostly I leaned on the affirmative. However, the latest desperate move seems to fully avow this interpretation of events. But, I believe there are a few multi-varied nuances to properly interpreting Zelensky's threatening signal.
First: it can be said that this act of desperation was a strong signal to Zelensky's own "partners" in the U.S. and the West. I predicted long agolast yearthat once things finally grind down to the gristle for Ukraine, Zelensky would have no choice but to begin threatening his partners through escalation to save his own hide. He would threaten not only pushing Russia's red lines in unnerving ways which would pose the threat of nuclear annihilation to the U.S., but as a last ditch effort he would also float the threat of unveiling many secrets and 'skeletons in the closet' of his Western partners as blackmail.
But what's happening now is in effect a double nuclear blackmail. Not only was Zelensky trying to reach the Kursk nuclear plant for this very purpose, but has now acted out his furious frustration at the ZNPP, as well. It's difficult to know for certain, but captured AFU POWs have in fact now attested to the Kursk plant as being the objective, or Kurchatov, the town where the plant sits. This was supposed to have been reached in the first day or two, which now appears to have been a miserable failure being covered up by more antics.
More on the nuclear
attack at the sitrep/link. The IAEA observers heard explosions (from the Ukrainian drone strikes), but Zelensky the wonder worker claims tire fires were started by Russians? And
why would the Russians start a fire at the one of 4 nuke plants they control in the former "Ukraine" vs. rocketing/striking any of the other three? Such an absurdity. Der Spiegel:
Quote:
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Gressel: The Ukrainian leadership wants to create pressure for possible negotiations with Russia. For this it needs negotiating leverage, which it now wants to gain with quickly and cheaply occupied territory.
When asked for the worst-case scenario, here's how they respond:
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Gressel: In Germany, the Wagenknecht camp would gain popularity. Ukraine could come across as an unreliable go-getter. Berlin and Washington would reduce their support. The Kursk maneuver could herald the military end of Ukraine.
Sounds under control;
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The biggest issue currently is that the much stronger than usual fog of war has allowed Western/pro-UA sources to completely confabulate various fake "advances" in the Kursk region. Virtually every new map from Western sources, whether ISW, the various articles posted above, etc., are currently completely phony. In fact, the AFU was driven out of every deep advance in the Kursk region, and now occupy only a small area around Sudzha.
About right.
More at the link, as always.
