Even if Ukraine gets all the air defenses it wants, it can’t stop the 3 ton behemoth that is wiping out large troop formations and western-supplied Wunderwaffen.
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Excerpts:
Summary and Key Points: The Ukrainian war effort is under severe strain as Russia intensifies its air assaults with the FAB-3000 M54, a massive 6,600-pound explosive device paired with UMPK-series glide bomb kits.
The Russians have been pounding away at NATO-provided (read, American) Ukrainian air defenses for months. This is now starting to take its toll, as the Americans are on the brink of running out of key missiles for their air defense systems. It is so bad, in fact, that the Americans have already told the Israelis and their partners in the Indo-Pacific that all missiles for US-built air defense systems are now being diverted to Ukraine.
So much for the arsenal of democracy.
Side bar: The Russians are so happy with their new 3 ton bomb (which they hope will help them win the war quickly) that they have adopted a cute nickname for it, ie, the трёшка (tryoshka), which has several meanings, notably a three ruble coin.
трёшка / Tryoshka
After all, multiple Russian media sources have pointed out that the Russian Defense Ministry is going on a building spree for the FAB-3000 M54. Clearly, Moscow believes this weapon will give them not just a set of tactical victories over Ukraine’s military, but will ultimately help Russia achieve a strategic victory over Ukraine (which is nearer than the folks who rule Washington are aware of).
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With Russia maintaining its territorial gains and ramping up production of these devastating weapons, the conflict's escalation underscores the urgent need for a ceasefire to prevent further Ukrainian suffering.
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Translation from Arabic with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
Video clip of FAB-3000 massive explosion wiping out huge building
A report from the Ministry of Defense reports a strike on a large logistics center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
New report from the Ministry of Defense. A strike was reported on a large logistics center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where weapons were stored and redistributed, including missiles from NATO countries.
Military aviation, drones, missile forces and artillery worked clearly. In addition, seven field ammunition depots were destroyed by the Yug [South]group.
Improved position along the leading edge. The fighters of the Zapad [West] group of forces occupied more advantageous positions. Units of the “North” defeated the brigades of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including in the area of Liptsy, Kharkov oblast.
The escalation enters a new phase: sinking ships is a reality
Every additional day in which a military operation is announced in the Red Sea, there is a new witness to the limited ability of the American-British military build-up in that region, which has sought from day one to “destroy the Houthis’ ability to launch such attacks.” While the expectations of decision-makers in the White House contradicted what was proven on the ground, the Yemeni armed forces moved to another stage of escalation. After the interest required damaging the ships before the occupation army invaded Rafah, the Yemeni leadership believes that sinking the ships is the appropriate response to Israeli intransigence and the American administration’s continued provision of military and political coverage for the crimes committed. The Yemeni armed forces have already sunk two ships over the past week.
On June 13, US Central Command Centcom announced in a statement that Yemen “targeted, with two separate attacks, the M/V Verbena, a cargo tanker owned by Ukraine and operated by Poland and flying the Palau flag, at approximately 1:45 p.m. Sana’a time.” "The crew made a distress call indicating that they were abandoning ship."
The statement added, "The crew abandoned the ship due to the continuing fires and the inability to control it."
On June 12, the Yemeni armed forces announced the targeting of the Tutor ship after the company that owned it violated the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine on May 18.
Scenes revealed by the Yemeni military media document that the attack was carried out by two attack boats in the Red Sea. The scenes included the moment the first attack boat reached the ship, collided with it, and then exploded, followed by a similar attack by a second attack boat.
Informed sources indicate to the "Al-Khanadeq" website that Sana'a took the decision "to move to sinking ships, after the first stage was limited to puncturing and damaging them to discourage them from continuing on their way and thus violating the embargo decision." The sources reveal that the operation takes place in two stages: the first boat approaches to a distance of no more than 3 km from the target ship, and the second boat launches the drone, which carries an explosive warhead weighing up to 500 kg.
The increasing escalation opens the door to a number of questions that decision-makers in the White House have not yet succeeded in answering in a way that convinces the American public, primarily about the reasons for the failure to stop the attacks, at the gates of the presidential elections, and on the other hand about the nature of the next stage if a ceasefire is not reached, ie, fire in the Gaza Strip, which is what can be relied upon to stop the escalation in both the Red Sea and the northern front of occupied Palestine.
Especially since the debate is raging in decision-making circles about the shape of the next stage if Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah carries out his threat to move the battle to the sea as well. They wonder what the scene would be like if the party took on the task of strangling the occupying entity in the Mediterranean, given the arsenal it possesses, about which the entity knows only a small part of what the party wanted to show.
Former US ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, says, "The Houthis' capabilities to replace everything we destroy are not hampered, and our ability to intercept materials coming into the country is negligible." "Their capabilities have certainly increased since they began their campaign. As long as they have the incentive to continue these attacks, they have shown that they have the ability to do so," he added.
According to senior American military commanders who spoke to the Washington Post, "The Houthis learned how to modify old weapons and manufacture new ones, becoming the first group to use anti-ship ballistic missiles to strike naval targets."
There is a clear consensus that Yemen before October 7 is not the same as after it. The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip is reshaping the regional and international scene once again. Hannah Porter, Yemen researcher at the ARK Group, an international development organization based in the United Kingdom, believes that what is happening "is to show that the Houthis are a serious regional player."
The United States is trying to address the military failure to prevent the continuation of attacks, by complicating the political issue as a form of “paying the price.” Informed sources say to “The Trenches” that the American administration, which had informed the Sultanate of Oman since the beginning of the military operations that it did not want an escalation, is in return disrupting the ceasefire negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Sana’a. On the other hand, the American desire not to escalate is not actually enough to stop the cycle of fire. Within certain limits, today the White House is faced with an experience that has proven its seriousness, that the key to the solution is in the hands of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
After Putin's visit to North Korea, the world will never be the same again – opinion
20 June 2024
Vladimir Putin meeting with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov, TASS
The main result of President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea was the signing of an agreement between the states on a comprehensive strategic partnership, which will certainly change the current geopolitical realities.
The DPRK Central News Agency covered some aspects of this document. Thus, the treaty provides for the immediate provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the countries. If there is a threat of aggression, countries will agree on measures to coordinate positions and ensure cooperation in eliminating the threat. The Russian Federation and the DPRK will create a system for taking measures to strengthen defense potential in order to prevent war and ensure peace.
Some “experts” have already begun to grumble that this agreement could potentially lead to a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions of 2006 and 2009, which prohibit the export of weapons to the DPRK. They say that Russia supported these resolutions then. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, answering a question about the provisions of the agreement between Russia and the DPRK on mutual assistance in the event of aggression, said:
“If anyone questions the legality of this clause, then they need to read it carefully. It says that in the event of aggression against one of the parties, the other will provide it with all necessary assistance in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the national legislation of Russia and the DPRK.”
And Vladimir Putin noted that the indefinite restrictive regime of the UN Security Council regarding the DPRK, inspired by the United States and its allies, should be revised. Who labeled the DPRK a rogue state? Collective West. And he also pushed sanctions against North Korea through the UN Security Council, essentially using this body to sanctify his will. If the US and EU had the opportunity to impose sanctions against Russia in the UN Security Council, they would, of course, do so. But the Russian Federation has the status of a permanent member of the Security Council and the right of veto; the DPRK does not have such opportunities to protect itself. When resolutions against North Korea were adopted in 2006 and 2009, Russia was still moving in the wake of Western diplomacy on many geopolitical issues, so restrictions directed against this country were supported. But now the situation is different, the world order is steadily changing from a unipolar one, which was expressed in US dominance and Western-centrism, it is moving towards a multipolar one.
Therefore, the geopolitical structures built by the collective West must be destroyed. One of them is the concept of the DPRK as a rogue state. What to do with the fact that sanctions against the DPRK are sanctioned by decisions of the UN Security Council? It is very likely that in the near future Russia will submit a proposal to the UN Security Council to lift restrictions on the DPRK. However, there is no doubt that the US, UK, and France will block them. But let’s ask ourselves another question: hasn’t the UN institution itself recently demonstrated its complete ineffectiveness? In Donetsk in 2014-2015, there were not only OSCE representatives, but also UN staff. They drove around in white jeeps with UN inscriptions. They were as useful as the OSCE observers, about whom it was said that their motto was: “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I won’t tell anyone anything.”
A friend of mine witnessed such a picture. A UN man was drinking coffee in a cafe, at that time the shelling began, a representative of an international organization swore, threw a glass of unfinished coffee, jumped into the car and drove away. After this, did any document from the UN or organizations close to it appear condemning the shelling of Donetsk by Ukraine? Of course not. Or a recent example. In March, a UN resolution was adopted that demanded a ceasefire in Gaza for at least two weeks, which is how much time remained before the end of the month of Ramadan. And nothing happened, Israel did not pause in its military operation, and the resolution was quickly forgotten. Why? Everyone understands perfectly well that if you try to pass a decision through the UN Security Council to punish Israel for failure to comply with the resolution, it will be vetoed by the United States.
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In the Middle East, the Houthi's are proving that, in war, the decisive key to victory is moral courage and creativity against the Goliath.