Fake cheers and retreats: Russians fall back as Ukrainian advance on Kherson "accelerates" in Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk

Hot Air ^ | October 4, 2022 | Ed Morrisey

[Timber Rattler]

A sense of unreality continues to permeate Russia and their claims to annexation of southern Ukraine, and that may be almost literally. Newsweek reports today that the Kremlin added “fake cheers” to Vladimir Putin’s speech on Friday announcing the annexation to sell this glorious nonsense to a Russian audience that has clearly grown tired of the war. And speaking of the audience …

Unedited footage from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation speech in Moscow on Friday appears to show fake cheers were edited onto clips broadcast on state TV, while reports say that people were bussed in to attend the rally. …

Local Telegram and Twitter channels have shared unedited clips that were taken at the event itself, alongside videos that appear to have cheers and chants added by state media.

On-the-ground clips show a lifeless crowd, with many standing still while holding Russian flags as they watch a speech by Ivan Okhlobystin, an actor and director, as well as a staunch Putin fan.

Okhlobystin called Putin’s war against Ukraine “holy,” and he led battle cries. Edited clips appear to show the audience cheer and applause in response, but the raw footage shared on Telegram shows just several responding positively to his speech.

[Timber Rattler]

Comrade Putin resorting to piping in fake cheers at his rallies...

VIDEO: Unedited footage from Putin’s recent war rally in Moscow appears to show complete indifference among the captive crowd of bussed-in state workers. It seems propagandists added cheers and chants in the editing room. Is anything in Russia not faked?

[Magnum44]

Taking a page from the Biden playbook...

[JonPreston]

Hot Air is leftist propaganda

[SpaceBar]

Joe Putin

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Starosillia and Davydiv Brid in Kherson region. VIDEO
News Censor.NET War in Ukraine

Ukrainian defenders liberated Starosillia in the Kherson region. In addition, the Ukrainian flag was also raised in the village of Davydiv Brid.

“Kherson region, Starosillia. Yesterday they went to Arkhanhelske, today - to Starosillia. Step by step, Kherson region is freed from the occupiers,” said one of the soldiers.

There was also information that a Ukrainian flag was also raised in the village of Davydiv Brid in the Kherson region.

https://censor.net/en/news/3371420/armed_forces_of_ukraine_liberated_starosillia_and_davydiv_brid_in_kherson_region_video

[allendale]

Putin made a catastrophicw mistake waging complete war on Ukraine. Just prior to his offensivive, Russian units without opposition entered without opposition the contested regions and it was apparent that Ukraine was about to concede these regions to Russia. When Putin invaded the rest of eastern Ukraine and tried to seize the capital Kiev, all out war which was unnecessary, began as a matter of Ukrainian survival.

With this absurd decision Putin negated whatever progress Russia made extracting itslf from the soul killing 90 years of communism. He has created immense strategic problems for Russia. China now knows that Russia cannot defend conventionally its rich underpopulated Asian Pacific territories or Siberia. NATO also knows that the Russian army, once feared and respected, is not a conventional offensive threat.

Now with energy supplies severely compromised and the EU poisoned on the tonics of green lunacy, Europe faces cold, dark, economically depressed times.

Putin and to some extent the American response has made the world a much poorer and dangerous place. Talk of “limited nuclear war” is now a serious concern among rational people.

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

“Out of 23 people, only 7 remain. we are waiting for you”: the occupier with the call sign Cannibal urges Russians not to be afraid and go to war against Ukraine.

Video

An occupier with the call sign ‘Cannibal’ complains about the lack of military personnel in the ranks of the occupation army.

As the censor reports. No, the video was released by Russian propagandists.

“We have 7 out of 23 people left on the 19th. We need people, this is the most important resource. ... We are waiting for them (mobilized. - Ed.), do not be afraid, we will win together,” the Russian occupier said.

censor.net/ua/v3371462

[AppyPappy]

I can’t help but think Xi Jinping went into hiding because Putin said he was going to use a nuke on Ukraine.

[Chainmail]

Amateurs like Putin talk about "limited" nuclear war, without knowing the severe downsides for themselves and the rest of the world.

1. The first nuke used - tactical, Atomic Demolition Munition (ADM) or full-up strategic - will unleash the gates of Hell for the world. They know it, we know it.

2. Nukes are filthy weapons; besides the blast, burn. direct radiation to the target, the indirect radiation, debris, and unconsumed radioactive matter from the bomb itself will be carried upward into the stratosphere and downwind and then all over the world. Everyone, everywhere - and their food supplies - will be in danger. Will make Chernobyl look like a picnic. Downwind in that part of the world includes most of the Middle and Near East and likely China too. New cancers, anyone?

3. It gives lie to the claim that they would be "liberating" the Ukraine - since it would be poisoning the ground for decades to come.

[SpaceBar]

Not only that, Putin doesn’t have a red button directly wired up to nuclear silos, he has to give the orders which are carried out by his generals, and when he does, he will be arrested because those same generals don’t have palatial estates with bunkers to hide out in like Vlad, and know the consequences.

[AppyPappy]

Putin is moving up the nukes
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/10/03/nuclear-weapons-convoy-sparks-fears-putin-could-preparing-test/

[Kazan]

https://sonar21.com/premonitions-by-helmholtz-smith/

In short, the Western plan is not working. The sanctions cost the West more, it’s running out of weapons to send and there are signs of softening. If Moscow’s plan was to move slowly and wait them out, then it’s working.

One should not rule out the possibility of a negotiated settlement and it may be that NATO realizes in time that it has painted itself into a corner from which that is the only exit. But it’s hard to see, given all the hyperbole, how the West’s present rulers could admit to such an enormous failure. Electoral replacement, while happening, is too slow. And why would Moscow ever trust anything the West says? A unilateral surrender by Kiev is possible but the only way I could see it is if Zelensky were overthrown. Therefore I rate a negotiated ending as not impossible at the moment but of very low probability. But time is on Russia’s side and October’s improbability may be March’s desperate desire.

More likely to me is, to use a World War II analogy, that now that Kiev’s Operation Citadel in the Kursk Salient is petering out, it’s time for a really powerful mechanized offensive accompanied by strikes deep in the rear with no holding back. One must remember that Putin said they hadn’t really started – I think we’re about to see what he meant. And sooner, I would guess, rather than later. I can’t imagine that anyone in Moscow wants this thing still going on next February.

[taxcontrol]

The slippery slope of loosing a firefight:
Loose the firefight, loose the objective / hilltop / position, etc
Loose the position, the line breaks
The line breaks, units fall back
As more units fall back it turns into a retreat [Russia is here]
As the units retreat, panic sets in and it becomes a rout
Routs loose the war
---
One of the jobs of a strong leader is to stop retreats by inspiring men to stand their ground and fight. I do not see a whole lot of Russian Sr officers able to do this critical leadership task.

[ansel12]

Yes, Putin’s legacy will be leaving Russia in shambles, poor, weak, backward, and vulnerable.

[Renfrew]

“In short, the Western plan is not working. “

Ukrainian forces have been steadily advancing on all fronts.

It sure looks like the Western Plan is working.

[Jewbacca]

lol, no.

Russia is losing, badly.

Now, do I support crazy Joe’s probable destruction of the Nord pipeline? No.

Do I think the idiots in DC are risking nuclear war over a fight that they should have steered clear of? Yes.

Do I think the only reason the Democrats care is there is a lot of money for them to make in the Ukraine or from a destabilized Russia? Yes.

But there is zero reason to repeat Russian propaganda. Russia is probably going to collapse as a result of this.

Which is a huge opportunity for China, which is Russia’s real enemy. Stupid Putin screwed Russia.

[MalPearce]

I don't agree. Ukraine cannot afford to concede any territory for the simple reason that the conditions of the Belovezh Accords, Alma-Ata Protocols, and the Budapest Memorandum depend on Ukraine NOT formally conceding their subservience to the will of Russia.

As long as Ukraine refuses, Russia doesn't have carte blanche to arbitrarily rewrite the borders of former Soviet republics to suit its own domestic requirements.

Ironically, the party most benefiting from Ukraine's dogged refusal to give up its right to tell Russia to pound sand is Belarus.

Glasnost, followed by the 1998 devolution of powers to the local soviets, established the principle that Russia was the center of a Union comprised of states that have self-government. Each republic was empowered to explore its own identity. That principle was further enshrined in the CIS Charter.

If Russia can annexe regions of other nations militarily - and do so legally, and against the wishes of those other nations - then that rips up a 34 year old principle established by Russia first, fed thru the Supreme Soviet, and cascaded down to local Soviets.

Lukashenko, and several other leaders of what used to be local Soviet republics, should be concerned - it's only because of that principle that they have real power over their own countries.

Many Muscovite nationalists want to reverse that entire process of devolution - claw the regional power structures back into Moscow, and rule from the center. To them, all UN Charter recognition, and all independent statehood, is illusory. They don't recognise the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine, or the 'Stans as properly independent - their attitude is, ALL OF YOU BELONG TO MOTHER RUSSIA.

On Saturday, a guest on Rossiya 1 insisted that Belarus is part of Russia. To the utter horror of Vadim Gigin, who amongst other things is Chairman of the Belarusian Society Knowledge Association .

Even after the correction from Gigin that Belarus is actually an independent republic (i.e. not a district of Russia!), the other guy retorts, "Belarus is Russia".

Today, Lukashenko said: “As far as our participation in the special military operation in Ukraine is concerned, we are participating in it. We don't hide it. But we don't kill anyone. We don't send our military personnel anywhere. We don't violate our commitments.”

It's very difficult to not see that as a warning shot to Moscow: Belarus is the closest it still has (with the possible exception of Chechnya) to a loyal lapdog but even it has its limits. It has signed multiple agreements of non-aggression and recognition with Ukraine AND THE OTHER SSRs, and it regards the principle of self-determination behind it to be sacrosanct. It will not launch an invasion on Ukraine, no matter what Moscow tells it to do. And, if the Muscovite ultranationalists insist on treating Belarus as if it were simply another district that needs to take orders, it might just find that Belarus stops cooperating.

[Fai Mao]

“But there is zero reason to repeat Russian propaganda. Russia is probably going to collapse as a result of this.

Which is a huge opportunity for China, which is Russia’s real enemy. Stupid Putin screwed Russia.”
___________

Not to mention the hit Russian military sales are going to take!

[caww]

Putins got a new Military leader too. hings are going to get dicey over there - Ukraines counting it’s chickens way to early.

[jdsteel]

No sane person wants a nuke, but don’t get hysterical. Nagasaki and Hiroshima look better now than Detroit and have for a long time.

Overestimating the damage from a tactical nuke is as bad as underestimating the damage.