This one will be relatively short, as I have been up since 6am my time and on the road, so to speak, for… uh… add the one, carry the three… about 7 hours, all told. I’ve been dealing with the joys of a railway system that appears to be rapidly going the way of the Dirt World, which is even less fun than it sounds. But it is important for us all to understand that the world order that existed before September 23rd, is now absolutely dead and gone.
The world changed completely on Wednesday morning, when the Neo-Tsar made his announcement about a small partial mobilisation of Russia’s reserves, right on the heels of the four liberated regions of Ukraine declaring that they would hold an election solely on the issue of joining the Russian Federation.
In the space of 48 hours, the 404 War changed completely from a relatively limited, contained, and restrained (on Russia’s part, anyway) Special Military Operation, with strict rules of engagement, to a campaign to defend the very territory of the Motherland.
(The Russians, by the way, refer to their country as the “Motherland” – Родина-Мать – and the “Fatherland” – “отетчество”. Somehow, they keep the whole thing straight in their heads. I think the feminine version applies when they want to wax romantic and lyrical about its beauty and complexity, and the masculine version applies when they decide to get serious about kicking butts and taking names. The rest of us just find the whole thing extremely confusing.)
Let us be very clear about what that change means. The Russians believe that they are fighting an existential war for the very survival of their country. They believe – with ABSOLUTE justification – that they are at war with the entire combined might of the collective West. (Or, as we like to say around here, the Empire of Lies.)
The Russian Bear has been poked in the nose with a sharp stick for the better part of a decade. That bear has had just about enough of taking the Empire’s shit, and is now striking back, hard.
The outcomes of the referendums in the liberated territories is not in doubt. In Lugansk and Donetsk, I fully expect at least 90% of the electorate to vote in favour of accession to the Russian Federation. In Kherson and Zaporozh’ye regions, it will probably be around 70%. Either way, that is FAR more than the number of Brits that voted to GTFO of the EU, and vastly more than voted for the Fake President or the God-Emperor in the USSA.
The moment that those territories become part of Russia, any attack on them becomes an attack on the soil of Mother Russia herself. If so much as an artillery shell lands in the woods of Donetsk after October 1st, that means Ukraine has effectively declared war on Russia.
The Russian response will be swift, uncompromising, and brutal in the extreme. As I have pointed out repeatedly, the Russians have already demonstrated that they have the ability to turn out Ukraine’s lights in the space of about 30 minutes (less, actually, if they use hypersonic weaponry). They can turn the entire country into one big parking lot in the space of a few weeks, should they so choose.
This war is no longer an SMO for them. It is a holy crusade now. The voice of the people is clear – Russia must give the West an ass-whoopin’ the likes of which it has not seen in three generations. And it is the collective West’s fault that things have gotten to this point.
I’m not joking about the “holy crusade” part, either. Take a look at this song:
The chorus to that song translates, roughly, as:
Half the sky is on fire,
Half the sky is smog,
Donbass is for us,
And with us – God!
Half the sky is on fire,
Half the sky is smog,
Russia is for us,
And with us – God!
Them’s fightin’ words. And that sums up very well exactly how the vast majority of the Russian population feels about this whole situation.
The rest of us would do well to heed the warning.
And that’s about enough for one day – I need a hot shower and a long rest. But, never let it be said that I am not a faithful servant of my readership. We all know what day it is, and around here, we celebrate Fridays properly.
This week’s lovely lady to close out proceedings is, rather fittingly, Polina Chistyakova (Полина Чистякова), age 26 from St. Petersburg. Apparently, she is a blogger and makeup artist who likes hockey and football – or whatever, I’m picking out random things from her biography page and who knows what she actually does.
Happy Friday, gentlemen. We do indeed live in interesting times, and they are going to get, uh, interestinger, as the days go by.
5 Comments
I busted out laughing at the creeper. Had to be intentional, but well done nonetheless.
That song would make me want to fight.
When I was a young lad and only slightly more ignorant of the world and history than I am now, I visited what was then the USSR at the height of Glasnost. We visited St. Petersburg and Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery. It was early March and bitter cold but the Russians were standing in very long lines to pay their respects. It was very clear then as it is now that they will defend the Motherland to the very end.
Girl-wise, she’s all right but you’ve done better. Video-wise…if you haven’t seen this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4cb2AErYg&t=379s
Is that a popular song in Russia?
Yup. The live version, recorded earlier this year at the Saur-Mogila, has over 300K views on TEH YOOTOOBZ alone. That’s before we get to the reception it received in Russia itself. If you add up the various versions of the song on YouTube, the views are in the tens of millions, most of them (unsurprisingly) from the Russian-speaking world.