8/18/2024, 5:20:46 PM · by ransomnote · 3 replies
x.com ^ | Aug 16, 2024 | Mykhailo Podolyak @Podolyak_M
The video begins with a foggy clip of Boris Johnson saying that the Ukrainians have shown us once again that we have underestimated the Ukrainians, "so now, by all that's Holy, now is the time for us in the West to give them permission to use the weapons they already have." Johnson urgers readers to learn more by reading his article in the Daily Mail.
ransomnote: From Johnson's Daily Mail article, "So for pity's sake, can we finally cut the cackle, drop the ludicrous Putin-phobia and give the Ukrainians the tools they really need to finish the job; and by that I mean the proper permission to use the tools we have already given."
Mykhailo Podolyak, a political adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters that the Kursk operation is needed to convince Russia to start fair talks.
ransomnote: Reuters quotes Podolyak (August 16, 2024), "We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia," Podolyak wrote on Telegram. "In the Kursk region, we clearly see how the military tool is objectively used to convince the Russian Federation to enter into a fair negotiation process.
2:42 in video, Christoforou reads an x.com post, which he notes is conveniently published in English, from Mykhailo Pedolyak:
ransomnote: full text of Podolyak's X.com post here:
@4:45 How many excuses, how many reasons have we heard from the Ukraine and the collective West to explain the Kursk operation for the last week and a half?
* We now have, 'to get Russia to negotiate'
* We have, 'to humiliate Putin'
* We have, 'to scare the citizens of Russia'
* We have, 'to create a buffer zone'
* We have, 'to divert Russian resources away from Donbas
Yesterday, Ukraine launched missiles into a shopping center in the Kursk area - that's another reason.
They'll say anything but the truth; the reason for the Kursk operation was to get to the Kursk nuclear power plant, and they failed.
To be honest, if they admitted to this, and we now know the US had some sort of hand in this operation, some sort of planning, NATO, the United States, we don't know to what extent (it would be naive to believe they didn't know about it, that they didn't help strategize, provide intel ).
US/NATO can't admit they knew the Ukraine was enterring Kursk to attack the nuclear power plant with collective West tanks and artillary, that would look really bad for them, and they can't admit that, especially now that the operation has failed.
Had the Kursk operation succeeded, then the collective West would have made up another reason like, 'the Ukraine has a right to defend itself, and it's only putting the power plant in harm's way to bring about a ceasefire....' They'd make something up and get the media to go with it.
They can't say, 'the goal of the operation, the purpose of it all was to threaten to destroy a nuclear power plant and cause a melt down.'
Two days ago it was, 'to create a buffer zone.' Now, they're saying, 'we have no interest in Russian territory.' That's not what it's really about.
Christoforou refers to the NYT article, "Urkaine's incursion into Russia reveals a Dramatic Shift" and says they give all the reasons he's already talked about.
The NYT admits that, although one of the Ukraine's goals was to force Putin to redeploy troops away from Donbas and into Kursk, Putin didn't really move his troops as hoped. The NYT is pushing the idea Russian citizens normally don't talk about the war, and that the Kursk operation has now engaged the Russian pubic in discussion. Christoforou laughs at the idea the Russians weren't talking about the war before the Kursk operation, "Trust me. I was there. People talk about it." He says it's crazy that NYT is pushing that narrative.
Christoforou says the very disturbing part about the NYT article is that it talks about the Ukraine shifting their forces away from conventional military operations and instead turning to terrorism. He said that he may be mistaken, but that's what he got out of the following paragraphs.
Christoforou quotes the CIA head, William Burns, who told the New York Times reporter(s) it's good to puncture Putin's hubris because Russia wouldn't be willing to make any concessions until his overconfidence is punctured. Burns praises the Ukraine for taking the intiative, exposing Russia's weaknesses and humiliating Putin.
Christoforou located and read the NYT paragragh he felt was most disturbing:
ransomnote: the above quotes are taken from the following article:
Ukraine’s Incursion Into Russia Reveals a Dramatic Shift
New York Times
By Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt
Aug. 15, 2024
Christoforou says that last paragraph is alarming, and hints at something very very bad. The collective West is planning something very bad going forward. He wraps up his comments about the New York Times article by dryly noting that Putin was 'so humiliated' that he destroyed two Patriot Missile batteries (Aug 17th), 'that's how humiliated Putin was, how scared Russians were'. Patriot Missile systems that the Ukraine does not have the luxury to lose. Zelensky has admitted Ukraine is running out of air defense, or it doesn't have enough air defense.
Of course, Putin is so scared and humiliated that the Russian military continues to advance in Donbas at a very quick pace across the entire front - everywhere, Russia is advancing in every direction. The irony is that the Ukraine is running around saying a main purpose of the Kursk operation is to force Putin to redeploy troops from Donbas to Kursk, when in fact it's the Ukraine which has diverted most of its reserves from Donbas to Kursk for a PR stunt: threatening a nuclear power plant. Before, in the first days of the operation, it was about threatening a nuclear power plant. Now, it's become a PR stunt, an information war tactic.
On the 17th, Russian sources (intel and media) claimed the Ukrainians were planning to launch missiles into the nuclear power plant(s); either the Kursk nuclear power plant and/or the plant in Zaporozhna. Chrisoforou noted that he's also read reports that Russia knows what the Ukrainians are planning and are very well prepared to defend against such missile attacks. Kyiv says they are not planning any such attack.
ATACAMS - that's why Zelensky wants ATACAM missiles. Zelensky wants to launch something deep inside Russian territory, but the US has said they won't give Zelensky permission to use long range missiles inside Russian territory, outside of the approved Kharkiv region. That includes the delivery of the JASSM missiles. The US policy on use of long range missiles still holds. The US even stopped the Ukraine from using British long range missiles. The US knows if the Ukraine used long range missiles to strike inside Russia, and it succeeded, it would be game over for Kyiv, very very bad.
But who knows? As things fall apart in project Ukraine, who knows what the Biden White House might do? After all, Biden doesn't care anymore, he's on his way out. Who knows what the Biden family may finally decide to do, or what permission they will give to Zelensky. (ransomnote: I suspect this is why Biden is propped up in place despite obvious dementia, so he can serve as a puppet/scape goat by those who plan to make unthinkably bad decisions. Then Biden takes the blame while the replacement selected by the puppet masters is free to portray shocked guilt-free concern and 'offer solutions' etc.)
Christoforou chuckles over the cover image below, noting that Zelensky is depicted with a big head, poking the Russian Bear.
Canada's Trudeau gave Zelensky permission to use Canadian weapons. Christoforou goes on to mock 'tough guy' Trudeau's desire to show the world that he has big...male genitals. Christoforou resorts to falsetto as he portrays Trudeau, bragging that he will show everyone by letting 'his' Canadian weapons to be used in the Kursk operation. Then he uses his high Trudeau voice to ask, "Christia, where is Kursk?"
Christoforou says this permission for Ukraine to use Canadian weapons in Russia is not a good look for Canada or Trudeau, but that's what his regime decided.
The Putin government doesn't even see Zelensky as the President of Ukraine and essentially calls the Zelensky government a criminal regime (ransomnote: Zelensky's presidential term expired in May, Zelensky had previously canceled elections due to martial law).
Christoforou doesn't believe Biden didn't know about the Kursk invasion in advance. He notes that some analysts make the case that Putin knew about the invasion in advance, and others believe that Kurks is a trap for Ukrainian soldiers who are trapped there, 'ratteling around' (Per Mercouris) Kursk in small bands, unable to leave. Christoforou says it appears Putin is eliminating Ukraine's soldiers.
Christoforou says he senses that the statements being made to spin the Kursk invasion are setups for the Ukraine to somehow declare victory and leave. 'We humiliated Putin.' 'We scared the Russian people,' and 'We showed Russia we have the capabilities of entering Russia territory, and now we want talks.' 'We want negotiations with Russia because now they see what we can do.' If the Ukrainians can get their troops out of Russia, Christoforou believes they will transition to 'negotiations' as if it was intended all along.
There are conflicting reports that some Westerners are telling Zelensky to get his soldiers out of Russia. Conflicting reports say Zelensky is telling his head of military, Syrskyi, to double- and triple-down in Kursk, and to 'hold on to Russian territory as long as possible because we've got to hold on through the elections. We've got to hold territory at least until November.'
@22:49, the Ukrainian portion of this 28 minute video ends, and Christoforou introduces the topic of the approved extradition of Kim.com from New Zealand.
