Russians With Attitude

The amount of videos where Poles are spontaneously attacking Ukrainians is getting pretty ridiculous. But it also offers a sneak peek of the upcoming mass deportation of Ukrainian fighting age men from Poland and the rest of the EU. The laws are already in…

The amount of videos where Poles are spontaneously attacking Ukrainians is getting pretty ridiculous. But it also offers a sneak peek of the upcoming mass deportation of Ukrainian fighting age men from Poland and the rest of the EU. The laws are already in place, so Ukrainians getting beat up is just going to become institutionalized.

Putin visited the Kuril Islands. Apparently, it was his first visit ever. I was under the false impression that he had been there several times already, but that was probably Medvedev. In any case, Tokyo’s reaction was predictably furious. Some Japanese right-wingers seem particularly fixated on the islands and are willing to worsen relations with Russia over territory Japan lost to the Red Army at the end of WWII. The irony is that, if America hadn’t been made to hurry up and nuke Japan, the entire northern half of the country might as well have been speaking Russian by now. The sad part is that this traditional "Kuril outrage" started at exactly the same time when a good number of Japanese corporations were beginning to make inroads back into Russia. For what it’s worth, I think the popular idea that Japan is simply an American lapdog is patently false. Despite hosting US military bases, Japan is considerably more sovereign than, say, Germany, and there are clearly many forces in Tokyo that would like to see more trade and cooperation with Russia. Problem is, the Kuril Question remains a political kill switch for any serious improvement in relations between two of the world's top-10 economies. But what are the Kurils, really? They're a chain of remote islands, home to some 20,000 Russians, stretching from Kamchatka to Hokkaido. Their economy is mostly built around fishing, but the islands also host a fairly significant Russian military base. Does Japan, with its own declining population, actually need them? Not particularly. Do they serve some grand geopolitical purpose? Yes, they do. The Kurils are strategically important to Russia’s access to the Pacific and, especially, the security of the Sea of Okhotsk. It’s little surprise that Russia isn’t inclined to give them away. And yet, in terms of population and economic weight, it is a relatively minor territorial dispute that has somehow become a remarkably effective stumbling block in a relationship that has every reason to be much better. So how do we solve the Kuril problem? Let's first accept that wanting the Kurils back is fundamentally a Japanese problem. If Japan actually wants them, it might want to try something more creative than issuing angry diplomatic notes solely to earn US good-boy points. Suppose Russia and Japan were to establish a joint special economic zone covering parts of the Kurils, Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Hokkaido. Japan would drop all the anti-Russian sanctions it imposed back in 2022. Russia and Japan could then build an undersea tunnel from Hokkaido to Sakhalin, and then to the mainland, linking Japan to the Trans-Siberian and, by extension, the rest of Eurasia. The Kuril Islands could be demilitarized on a tit-for-tat basis, reciprocated by the demilitarization of nearby US and Japanese bases. That would turn the territorial dispute into a far more interesting deal, which could be beneficial to both parties in the long run. This is what Shinzo Abe's vision was roughly about -- too bad he was killed by a random ex-sailor with a homemade gun. Hate when that happens. Just imagine: the Cossacks and the Ainus playing pachinko while sipping on vodka on the neon-lit streets of Kurilsk, Iturup. Japanese freight trains running down Trans-Siberian railway, carrying their silly cube cars all the way to Lisbon. Anime Hyperborea is possible, if you believe hard enough.

Lots to talk about on this episode of RWA News. After an aside on European vs American videogame culture, we talked about the deep strike escalation with Russia "turning off" the port of Odessa, an increase in Ukrainian terrorism -- the restaurant bombing in Moscow as well as a car bomb in Yekaterinburg, the designation of Pavel Durov as an "extremist" by the Russian Federation, the battle of MinCult slop vs Marvel slop currently raging inside Russian movie theaters... Of course, we talked about the very weird resurrection of Yabloko, the pro-Western left-liberal party that peaked in 1993, and what it means for the elections. The episode was recorded before today's court decision to ban them from the elections, though. Also, we discussed who we'll vote for in September. Much to cover, so this was a big one, almost two hours. Hope you enjoy and feel informed afterwards! Tune in now on Substack Or Gumroad

Irina Chechetkina, co-founder and co-owner of "Rozetka", the largest Ukrainian e-marketplace: "Today I was supposed to publish a post about ROZETKA turning 21. To thank our clients, partners, and team for this long road we've traveled together. Instead…

Irina Chechetkina, co-founder and co-owner of "Rozetka", the largest Ukrainian e-marketplace: "Today I was supposed to publish a post about ROZETKA turning 21. To thank our clients, partners, and team for this long road we've traveled together. Instead, during the night I watched as my whole life's work burned down after a strike by three ballistic missiles. We opened the distribution warehouse complex in Brovary at the beginning of 2017. It was the largest, the most automated. Our pride. Here we processed over 100 thousand orders a day. It is destroyed beyond restoration. What did I feel that night? Devastation and pain." Special Military Operation To Teach Ukrainians Cause And Effect

The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced some changes, as they say, "aimed at improving the systems of materiel and military-technical support for the troops" (personal opinion in brackets): - General Valery Solodchuk, who held the post of Commander of the Central Military District, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation; he will be in charge of all logistics support (Solodchuk is a good general, he was promoted last year after leading the Russian liberation of Kursk oblast. Putin called him one of the most talented commanders in the Russian military and I tend to agree. Looks like they're putting him in charge of some new sort of centralized logistics command, making him Logistics Tsar, which sounds interesting, but I'm not entirely sure his talents will be able to fully shine there -- though logistics is just as important as tactical acumen, of course) - Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation General Alexander Sanchik, previously head of materiel-technical support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, will be in charge of organizing military procurement (former commander of Army Group South, promoted late last year, don't know much about him) - Deputy Minister of Defense Alexei Krivoruchko will "oversee the development of advanced armaments and military and specialized equipment" (came to the MoD from big business in 2018, have heard both good and bad things about him, but he seems to have his finger on the pulse wrt drone development and such at least) - General Ivanaev, who previously commanded Army Group East, has been appointed the new commander of Army Group Center (I've heard better things about him since he was put in charge of East than when he was in charge of the 20th CAA, other than that, don't know very much about him) - General Bolgarev, who held the post of Chief of Staff of Army Group East, has been appointed Acting Commander of Army Group East (I know nothing about the guy but the Army Group East Staff has done some really great stuff) - General Lyamin, Chief of Staff of Army Group Center, has been appointed commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces. (I have heard Lyamin described as "a true intellectual", "a genius", "worth his weight in gold" and "perhaps the best staff officer in the world right now". Certainly doesn't feel wrong to put him in charge of the drone forces)

Putin signed a law today that bans immigrants with *any* criminal record, including in their home countries, from obtaining Russian citizenship or a residency permit, which sounds great on paper, but includes e.g. former Ukrainian citizens who have been sentenced by Banderite clown courts for "separatism", or Westerners with censorship-related convictions. I've known cases of the former, and it's a bureaucratic nightmare usually, so there'll be a lot of unpleasant edge cases. Though as a general rule it's great of course

How Ukraine has become the Israel of the Third World In late 2013, on Maidan Square, Ukrainians launched their great anti-Russian crusade. They laid their troubles squarely at the feet of Russia’s influence and legacy, convinced that the West offered a far better deal. Fast-forward to today, and the West is wielding Ukraine as a blood-soaked weapon against Russia, perfectly content with whatever losses its weapon is forced to endure. It has also become obvious that Kiev is never joining the EU or NATO in any substantive sense beyond its current role. Stranger still, Ukrainians themselves do not seem particularly wounded by this realization. All those Maidan protesters from more than a decade ago now seem to find solace in watching a Wildberries warehouse burn somewhere deep inside Russia, while appearing far less troubled by the everyday misery of living in a state of permanent collapse. Why is that? I'd argue that it is because they have discovered a new vocation. Shut out of the European bonanza, which, as it turns out, was never quite real anyway, they have instead recast themselves as the gritty, battle-hardened military outpost of the West. A goyische Israel, if you will. By nearly every measurable metric, 2013 was Ukraine’s finest year. GDP, economic growth, wages, everything was trending upward. Granted, this was relative to a rather abysmal starting point, but the improvement was palpable. The country had not yet fractured catastrophically along linguistic and religious lines, though the cracks were already there. In late 2013, "the people" rose against a "corrupt pro-Russian" president. Was Yanukovich corrupt? Absolutely. Was he pro-Russian? Not really, at least not in any way that actually benefited Russia. His real talent was in playing both sides, extracting funds from Russia and EU alike while signing hollow agreements with each, using one as leverage against the other. He took his cut, invested in more gilded toilet fixtures, and allowed a creeping, top-down Ukrainization to proceed, all while letting most people live in relative quiet. Urban Ukrainians, however, were not satisfied. Their media, amplified by the West’s encouragement, convinced them that signing pieces of paper with either Russia or the EU wasn’t just another round of regular Ukrainian shenanigans, but a full‑blown civilizational choice. That Ukraine in 2013 deserved something far grander than what they had. And that Yanukovich, the mafia thug that he was, was betraying the shining European dream of waking up tomorrow as the French Riviera. Such was the prevailing belief of Ukrainians at the time. No one then could foresee that in short order, this would metastasize into a dying terrorist-state with total mobilization and closed borders, its sole existential purpose reduced to gnawing away at Russia, with no end in sight. Ukraine ending up as Israel’s special needs mirror state was basically the only path left. It is, after all, one of the ancestral Jewish homelands, and the chosen people remain vastly overrepresented at the highest echelons of the Ukrainian state to this day. Ukrainian identity, much like Israeli identity, is a fragile patchwork enforced from above, perpetually locked in conflict with The Other over lands and holy sites to which both have dubious claims. Israelis had to "learn their mother tongue" seventy years ago; Ukrainians are doing the same now. Even the most fringe, far-right Ukrainian movements are strangely philosemitic, somehow merging Nazi imagery with Magen Davids in a grotesque visual reinforcement of this unholy duo. For decades, Israel stood alone as America’s undisputed favorite. The only ally US truly cherished, the one that made American neocons cream their pants on the daily. In the last ten years or so, that has changed. American public sentiment has grown increasingly indifferent, with the baseline attitude becoming "let them fight their own wars, I don't care." Pure antisemitism, if you ask me, and, without a doubt, a troubling development for Tel Aviv. But now Israel has found a twinsie. Like Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's and Burger King, their rivalry is nothing if not chivalrous, for they are owned by the same interests, and funded from the same treasury. This is not to say they are friends, but they occupy roughly the same role from the American perspective: heavily militarized states somewhere far‑away, mired in forever wars with supposed enemies of the US. Of course, Israel is far more developed and comfortable for the average citizen, but that only works to its advantage. If the US is willing to bankroll the gopniks of Dnepropetrovsk, then it will certainly, at the very least, triple down on funding the Judeo-Christian allies from its gleaming new embassy in Jerusalem. That’s why Laura Loomer and her ilk are now actively involved in the pro‑Ukraine cause alongside their usual pro‑Israel lobbyism. The two have basically become part of the same grift. What does this all mean? It means Ukraine is never joining the EU or NATO, but it also means that the war will continue for as long as this entity exists. Ukraine will go on adopting Israeli tactics: buying up senators, flooding EU and US with lobbyists, and having the SBU LARP as Mossad. And, as always, the 🇵🇸-🇺🇦 emoji crowd will take yet another humiliating L. But then again, that is nothing new for them.

One day, we'll have a big RWA meetup at the Cucumber Day festival in Suzdal, Vladimir oblast.

Ukrainian military news website "Militarnyi" reports that "Rassvet", Bureau 1440's satellite internet mission, already provides a couple of hours of coverage of Ukrainian territory with the first batch of satellites in place. The second batch was launched not long ago and will improve capacities further once it reaches operational altitude in orbit. Their satcom expert says that by the fourth batch of satellites, Rassvet will provide "secure round-the-clock coverage over Ukraine" and thus enable capabilities equivalent to what the AFU has with Starlink. “We can see that a chain with good coverage has effectively already been formed, which provides this level of coverage about twice a day, but in reality there are more passes — that is, several such chains can fly over various regions at intervals of about every 1,5 hour. But what’s important is that these satellites are already providing fairly dense coverage” “This could have serious consequences for the Defense Forces if they do not deploy effective countermeasures by that time.”

Throughout the entire “long nineteenth century” (1789-1914), the image of Russia was an important component of France’s internal discourse: first as an example of “enlightened absolutism”, then of backwardness, and then of order. At times these concepts blended together, succeeded one another with extraordinary speed, or existed in parallel within different currents of French social and political thought. New article up on Substack

A fresh episode of RWA News! There was much to discuss. Some light digressions on AI-supported book burning and Japanese-themed bars in Moscow. Zelensky's "40 days" prophecy of destroying Russia leading to a borderline landlocked Ukraine. The Ukrainian war on Russian fuel and Wildberries, along with a short discussion on what "dual-use" even means. Will Russian megacorps now field private Cyberpunk armies? Will the Wildberries machine guns be pink?.. Zelensky keeps making enemies, by sacking the popular Instagram grifter from his post as Minister of Defense, and by murdering Iranian sailors. Will Russia be forced to condemn Iran for killing the entire Ukrainian government? And, of course, a short survey of the frontlines, as usual, accompanied by a look at the military career of the new Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Drapatyi. There was also a very particular Russian missile strike that “unalived”, among others, a Knight of Malta... Episode's free, as always. Go tune in now! On Gumroad

War in Africa is still more 20th century than in the SMO zone. POV Footage of an old-fashioned firefight between the Russian Africa Corps and Al Qaeda in Mali. Looks like 6-8 dead terrorists.

Mikhail Drapatyi, the new Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief, does have some military achievements under his belt, most notably slowing down Lapin's Volchansk operation in 2024. Lapin fucked that one up so badly that he was sacked and is now a veteran's affairs…