Posted on 01/08/2024 7:34:58 PM PST by Timber Rattler
A counterintelligence directorate created by former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin and made famous by the James Bond novels of author and former British spy Ian Fleming has reportedly made a return to Russia.
SMERSH is a portmanteau of the Russian for "death to spies," or "smert shpionam." It was announced in 1943 as a move to target Nazi spy rings, traitors and foreign agents during the World War II, before it was disbanded in 1946.
Fleming portrayed the group as cold-blooded foes of James Bond. One of his characters was Rosa Klebb—an assassin handy with a flick-knife shoe, who was played by Austrian actress Lotte Lenya in the 1963 film version of From Russia with Love.
Not just a byword for the brutality of the Stalin era, SMERSH has been recreated in the present day to hunt down intelligence officers Moscow believes are targeting Russia, the British Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
In December, Andrey Gurulyov, a Russian parliament (Duma) member and former military commander, told state television channel Russia-1 that SMERSH had been revived in Ukrainian regions that Vladimir Putin declared as annexed, although they are only partially under the control of his forces.
Meanwhile, a video posted on Belgorod Telegram channel Fonar showed local resident Denis Boban apologizing for sharing video of Russian air defenses that had been operating on January 2 against a Ukrainian attack.
He was flanked by two men wearing fatigues with SMERSH uniform patches and described his "willingness to take responsibility," although it is not clear if he faces any criminal charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
But we are supposed to ignore all that, and instead be consumed by hate for Emmanuel Goldstein Putin.
nice deflection.
According to Peter Zeihan, Russia is losing 5:1 in men and 10:1 in vehicles.
Russia can throw insane amounts of men and equipment into Ukraine. Their army is so bad, their losses are so high they can't accomplish much except at a huge cost.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
In the movie, Rosa Klebb had defected from SMERSH and joined SPECTRE. Tatiana Romanova was unaware of the defection.
As I recall, the novels were different.
80 percent of casualties in this war are from land-based artillery.
Russia has such a huge advantage in artillery 5:1 or more, that it is impossible for Ukraine to have 1/5 of their casualties.
Ukraine medical sources mid 2023 admitted to 50K amputations. By Afghanistan/Iraq ratios that would be 500K casualties before the Counter-Offensive even started.
By Korea ratios (last peer war) it would be 1,000,000 Ukrainian casualties by June 2023.
Source for the first, and I did not say the latter. 1 - 3/5 = 2/5. They NYT ascribed 3/5s of all casualties to Russia, 2/5s to Ukraine. I also spelled ou the reason for this, the Russian army throws men and equipment into a battle, and takes heavy casualties for a few square miles. Then they act like capturing a square mile of rubble is like winning the Battle of Stalingrad.
"Ukraine medical sources mid 2023 admitted to 50K amputations."
The estimated range was 20,000 to 50,000, not just 50,000. No one knows the Russian amputee numbers. However, when unequipped Russian soldiers froze to death last year, Russia has higher casualty rates than Ukraine, and a worse KIA/WIA ratio.
Russian medical care is so bad there are many recorded cases of wounded Russians killing themselves. They know there are no medics, no field hospitals, no going home after getting wounded. Via Reddit:
ua pov - Russian soldier shoots himself in the head after being bombed by a Ukrainian drone
PMC unit commander Wagner, callsign Cherdash, commits suicide on the battlefield
A Russian soldier commits suicide with his own grenade after being hit by a drone-dropped grenade.
etc... etc...
Wounded Ukrainians can get amputations. Wounded Russians end up in body bags.
Is today Opposites Day?
“According to Peter Zeihan, Russia is losing 5:1 in men and 10:1 in vehicles.”
“more than 4:1...”
https://www.newsweek.com/why-ukraine-burning-through-ammo-war-russia-1812294
Sorry, using the New York Times to support your position doesn’t work. Try harder.
Does that mean the same thing as "Plubinsthykya Grotinikska Ylbloninkshya Hrontski Zelenskyyintska Penuskitoya" in Youcraynian?
You do know that you're on an American conservative forum where English is the language don't you? So given that fact, why do you put Youcraynian gobblediegook in your tagline? Hmmm.
BTW, where are your nice, colorful Youkie flags? Will you ever put an AMERICAN flag in your timeline? Do your loyalties lie first with Youcrayne?
What the heck is THAT all about?
By your own standards of population disparity a loss of 500k or 1 million as you just stated there would be no Ukranian military left to fight the Russians, certainly not in the numbers to stop them from advancing freely, yet they can’t
How do you reconcile that?
“By your own standards of population disparity a loss of 500k or 1 million as you just stated there would be no Ukranian military left to fight the Russians, ...”
Because Ukraine is on its third army.
What are you talking about?
As could be said if Russia, but by the claims of many where would this third army come from, and if as stated by many these are poor out of shape old sods yanked from the streets to man the trenches, how is it that Putin and his second greatest military has not rolled over the Ukrainians?
It is a serious question , it can’t be both Ukraine is out of people, and what military they have left are all fat elderly conscripts, and russia can only advance in distances measured in meters and large loses
Two years into this and what I hear from one side is “Ukranian offensive failed, Russia is winning”. If taking one small town with massive casualties, giving back large swaths of territory they had captured in “goodwill gestures “, thousands of pieces of equipment lost, tens of thousands killed and wounded, third mobilization….
If that is your metric for success, well then okay
If this was WW2 I think the Wehrmacht would be satisfied with those results, wouldn’t call it winning, but certainly not losing
The Ukrainians have had a black list (which includes a kill list) of people who don’t talk nicely enough about their country since 2014. They claim it’s just an NGO site not affiliated with the government, but it’s used by government agencies including border checkpoints, courts, etc., and folks on the kill list have turned up dead. Sorry it’s the blasted wiki, but anyone interested can check out the footnotes which include OSCE reports, media articles, etc.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrotvorets
The Hungarians and Bulgarians are not amused:
https://dailynewshungary.com/viktor-orban-listed-as-enemy-of-state-on-ukranian-death-list/
The president of Croatia is also on the list. Gerhard Schröder and Henry Kissinger, too. It’s quite a long list.
Even before the Russian SMO, journalists and political figures both foreign and domestic were targeted (and sometimes killed:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/world/europe/reporter-branded-terrorist-ukraine.html
https://www.dw.com/en/gerhard-schr%C3%B6der-labeled-enemy-of-the-state-in-ukraine/a-46319939
Meanwhile, the Russia Black Sea fleet is being destroyed. The fleet is forced to desert the Crimean ports of operation. Crimean targets are being destroyed. The Russian air force is incapacitated and won’t fly. s
The effort on the ground is not the only assault in progress.
More conspiracy theory nonsense.
But Ukraine has lost…
Funny how Ukraine not “winning” means they have lost and Russia is winning
Wonder how much more “success” they can manage
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