Dear Readers:
Today’s post is a sort of “Tale of Two Moods”, contrasting a clinically depressed Zelensky with a rather upbeat Budanov. Yesterday I left off right in the middle of Budanov’s interview, so I’ll get back to that in a bit. But first:
“Unfortunately, all the holidays have a bitter aftertaste for us this year. And we can feel the traditional Spirit of Christmas differently. Dinner at the family table cannot be so tasty and warm. There may be empty chairs around it. Our houses and streets can’t be so bright. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly. Through air raid sirens, or even worse – gunshots and explosions. And all this together can pose a bigger threat. It is a disappointment. Of the higher forces and their power, of goodness and justice in the world. Loss of hope. Loss of love. Loss of myself …“
This is not a made-up quote. This was what, according to the translation in Newsweek, a clinically depressed Zelensky told the people of Ukraine during his nightly video address on December 24, his broadcast dedicated to those Ukrainians who celebrate the Catholic Christmas.
One may only speculate why Zelensky is having such a “Blue Christmas”, in the words of Elvis Presley. Okay, so he lost hope. He can’t win the war, that would make any Generalissimo sad. But he still has the affection of his loyal wife, right? Loss of love… Some Evil Tongues in the Russophile blogosphere speculate that Zel’s wife left him, maybe she found a new boyfriend in Paris, someone who isn’t quite as disgusting. Other gossips claim that Zelensky’s boyfriend left him on Christmas Eve, although they are not sure exactly who is said boyfriend is. Some say Yermak, others say it is this mysterious guy known only as Zhenya.
In any case, Zelensky looks to be a “glass half-empty” kind of guy. How can he talk about “loss of love” when he received so much sugar at the U.S. Congress? Nancy Pelosi even kissed his damn dirty ape paws. And they even gave him an American flag folded into a triangle, one of the most sacred symbols of the United States of America… Oh wait! Those same Evil Tongues say those ritually folded flags are only given to the dead; or the relatives of the dead. To those who fallen bravely in the service of the American Empire. So maybe a not so subtle hint to Zelensky? Paraphrasing Schiller: “We deeply appreciate everything you have done for us. But now it is time for you to go away. So that we can bring in fresher blood.”
Always Hold Your Chins Up High!
Which brings us back to Kirill Budanov! Who is nothing if not cheerful and confident in the future. And life has been good to him. Compare the before and after photos: He used to have that lean ferret-face of your dedicated Nazi. Now he looks like a well-fed Slavic hamster, with more chins than a Chinese phonebook, as the old joke goes.
Without further ado, continuing my translation of this very interesting interview of the Ukrainian magazine LIGA.NET with Hamster-Face. Previously I had forgotten to mention the names of the two reporters: Yury Smirnov and Valeria Kondratova.
Where we left off, Budanov was explaining to the reporters why he doesn’t listen to anybody else’s opinions, and how he plans to conquer Crimea this summer. Budanov: Ukraine is a nation that is recognized within its borders of 1991. He who disagrees with this statement, disagrees with the entire world order that has existed since the end of World War II and the foundation of the United Nations. [yalensis: Tell that to the Serbs!]
Crimea will be returned in a combination of ways: Both by force, and by diplomacy. But without force nothing can be achieved. Our units will enter Crimea carrying weapons in their hands.
Liga: Does the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Agency (ГУР) have agents within Russia, and have their numbers increased since the start of the war?
Budanov: That’s a strange question. Where do you think we get our information from? From [internet] Telegram channels?
Liga: Has this work intensified since the start of the big war? Perhaps there is a segment of Russian citizens who don’t agree with the war, and have decided to collaborate with us?
Budanov: Exactly so. The number of such people has increased at various levels, and hence so has our access to information at various levels: From the social-political elements to purely military issues. This also serves as an answer to your earlier question, why I say things that are sometimes at odds with what other people say.
Liga: How many traitors have been uncovered within the ГУР since February 24?
Budanov: Not a single one. [yalensis: He’s lying! His own former boss, Zelensky’s childhood friend, turned out to be a traitor!]
Liga: By that, do you mean you didn’t catch anyone, or that you didn’t investigate anyone?
Budanov: What are you talking about? Our internal security organs work around the clock, we are constantly investigating everybody. For example, we look at instances where people do not follow security protocols involving state secrets, such examples do occur. But in the majority of cases, this turns out to be just simple negligence, for example, somebody might carelessly send an email, and this gets intercepted by the enemy. These things do happen, unfortunately. It’s a problem endemic to all the organs of our government.
Does Russia Have Enough Rockets?
Liga: How many more opportunities does Russia have to keep inflicting these massive rocket strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure?
Budanov: Doing the math and calculating how many rockets they still have, assuming 70-75 rockets each time, and assuming the same intensivity, they have enough left for 2 or 3 more strikes. In principle they will run out of rockets eventually.
If you look at the intensivity of the strikes, these terrorist acts against objects of our critical infrastructure — Initially it was once a week. Then every 10 days. Then now every 2 weeks. And now even longer.
This lag is determined exclusively by one factor: The rapid depletion of Russia’s rocket arsenal. Their industry is not capable of churning out the same quantity as what they are using up. It’s just not realistic for them.
Liga: But are they capable of reorganizing their industry to produce new rockets? Tsaplienko [a Ukrainian journalist and war correspondent] alluded to certain “intelligence experts” who wrote that Russia is planning to increase its annual output of, for example X-101 rockets, from 56 (currently) to 467.
Budanov: You’ll need to ask Mr. Tsaplienko where he got those figures from. I recall that the Russians were dreaming about producing 20 marine-based Kalibr rockets per month. You need to take into account what comprises a single “strike”: It includes X-101, X-555 and Kalibr rockets as well. Well, here are the numbers, you can read them. As for Iskanders, they barely produce any of those.
Liga: The Russian dictator Putin, at the Collegium of the Ministry of Defense, just last week, announced their plans to produce a nuclear triad and “Sarmat” rockets…
Budanov: Don’t even bother finishing your sentence. Already for 2 years now he has been waving the Sarmat around and threatening to turn everything into nuclear ash. And every year he declares that the Sarmat is “almost” ready for use, it’s just going through the final preparations, and then it goes into military service.
Liga: Why are the Russians conserving their Kinzhal missiles?
Budanov: Towards the beginning of the war they had, if I remember correctly, 47 of those things. As time went by, they were able to manufacture a few more, when they could find spare parts. It’s just not serious. You can threaten the world with your Kinzhal missiles, but then, after you actually start to use them, then what? You can deliver 47 strikes. Just to compare: they have used up over 900 Iskanders. What is 47 compared to that?
Liga: In other words, the Kinzhal is technologically unfeasible?
Budanov: It’s almost impossible for them to produce them now. They can’t acquire many of the necessary parts, due to the sanctions. They do a parallel import, but this only complicates matters and increases the time it takes to manufacture them.
And certain parts they cannot even obtain at all.
Technological Famine
Liga: Aside from rockets, what else is Russia lacking to engage in intensive warfare? Is it possible they are suffering from technological famine, due to the sanctions?
Budanov: Exactly so. The Russian army is coming up against exactly the same kinds of issues that our army faces too. It’s just that our problems started in March, and theirs approximately since the start of autumn. Just as we had issues with artillery shells — issues that we are solving thanks to our partners — so it has started to happen with them. And the same goes for anti-tank high-explosive fragmentation shells. And the same for anti-air systems.
Currently the Russians are seeking all over the world, where they can acquire 122 and 155 mm artillery shells, anti-tank high-explosive fragmentation shells, and anti-air missiles for their Grad and Uragan systems.
Liga: Are there countries that are willing to help them?
Budanov: There are. But mostly they deliver these systems via third parties.
Liga: At the start of December Russia announced its increased cooperation with Iran. Will this cooperation have an impact on the Russian-Ukrainian war?
Budanov: Everybody has already heard and seen these so-called “flying mopeds”. Some people have even felt their presence. These drones were handed over [from Iran to Russia]. But will they go even farther and give Russia some rockets? That’s a question. Everybody is working very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. And Iran itself understands that if they give these rockets to Russia, then the world will not accept this. Even that part of the world in which they dwell.
Liga: In other words, aside from these “mopeds”, Russia should not expect anything from Iran?
Budanov: Aside from the Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 mopeds, there was also a large Mojaher-6, very similar to a Bayraktar, in its tactical-technological features. They [the Russians] are attempting to buy ammunition [from Iran], and they want the Iranians to sell them ballistic rockets. However, the Iranians have not delivered a single rocket. [yalensis: yeah, but at least, you said it yourself, the Russians are trying to buy stuff from Iran. Not like your team, which just begs and schnorrs for free stuff…]
Liga: What about China?
Budanov: China has also not delivered any weapons [to Russia]. Not will they, as we understand.
Naval Strikes, “Spy” Arestovich, And A Holiday In Crimea
Liga: Ukraine is currently collecting its own kamikaze drones. Can we expect further strikes in the Black Sea [against Russian targets]?
Budanov: One of the reasons why the Russian fleet cannot operate in a normal fashion, is because of the weather conditions. The weather has not been very conducive for the operation of ships. Nor for the use of naval drones, for that matter. Once the conditions change for the better, we should expect to see more drone activity.
Liga: To what extent have you been assisted by the People’s Sputnik volunteers [a group that observes Russian activities on the ground], in discovering the enemy’s position and equipment?
Budanov: I can’t answer that question. Such an organization does not actually exist. We use quite a lot of satellite intel. The data flows into a single stream.
Liga: Did Alexei Arestovich once actually serve in the ГУР?
Budanov: If I remember correctly, he did indeed serve in my agency at one time in the past.
Liga: In other words, that’s not a fake?
Budanov: That was a long time ago. I need to go back and rummage through the files. But, as I recall, yes he did. [yalensis: Budanov doesn’t want to admit that Lusya was a top spy for the ГУР. Operating under the code-name “Karamelka”, she set many honey traps and seduced many Russian operatives, back in the day.]
Liga: How many guests did they need to clear out of the Crimean-Tatar restaurant Musafir, when you decided to have lunch there with Deputy Defense Minister Emine Djaparova?
Budanov: Not a single one.
Liga: How did your bodyguards react when you told them you were going to eat at the Musafir?
Budanov: I don’t see what you’re getting at. We [Emine and I] needed to talk. I even go to the store sometimes. Do you think they would close down the entire mall when I arrived? No, that doesn’t happen.
Of course, I always have some officers with me, but I am not a paranoiac.
Liga: Where do you recommend one spend one’s summer vacation in the summer of 2023?
Budanov: I would advise you to go to Crimea. This is the pearl of the Ukraine, and they have for a long time been awaiting Ukrainian tourists.
[THE END]
Awful Avalanche 
Delusional doesn’t he know the Russians ran out of missiles months ago? The corporate media says so every month. And the idea that they cannot make more is the inverse delusion from the 1945 German wonder weapons that weee going to win the war. I maintain that Hitler in the bunker was more rational than these jokers.
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If Russia picked up the pace, the party would be over in 30 days, but the Nazi savages, before their flight to Europe, would murder all civilians to blame the Russians in the Western media.
Russia was able alone against all of Europe enlisted in the German army where Nazism was invented and secretly helped by the US and the UK, as it will not be able to with a group of clowns who will flee at the first scare to enjoy what they have stolen.
These speeches only serve in the West to appease the people who are starving while public resources are spent on criminal political adventures. But before the looting of the politicians, the people are also looting and destroying everything they can.
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I wish Russia would pick up the pace too.
However, I heard yesterday, on Dima’s Military Summary Channel, that the Russians have announced they don’t even plan to start their big offensive until April 2023! Yikes!
I didn’t hear that any other place, only from Dima. So I hope he is wrong. This thing certainly needs to be over soon.
The longer it drags on, the more chance that NATO will be able to pull off a first strike somehow.
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@ LG/y,
Why would Russia be in a hurry? Everything’s working her way. The [Russian] losses are minimized. The adversaries’ losses maximized. EU/US economies are dying. EU/US industries are on life support. EU/US military have burned through most of their military stockpiles.
Watch Systema in action [and think like it]:
Russia has already won. The rest is just gravy… When this is all over, the world will have changed for the better. Finally.
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I think I once took that same self-defense class, and my opponent almost broke my wrist!
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With “intelligence” like Budanov’s, who needs stupidity?
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@ JMF,
Thanks for a heartwarming LOL moment. Appreciated!
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right…the ukies are so confident that they are asking to “negotiate” at the UN. in two months. not a transparent stalling ploy AT ALL. this guy agrees:
https://tass.com/politics/1556465
the term “ammunition famine” is classic but i especially like his 100% accurate assessment of this as “trying to fool us with another minsk”. totally the behavior of a military that’s “winning”.
someone needs to remind this twat again: saddam, bin laden, noriega; all fed off the MIC gravy train and thought they were “pals” with the west. not sure why this guy thinks his movie will have a different ending.
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Because he’s special.
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You can’t imagine how impatient I was to read “the end”. But it’s the kind of intelligence that feeds western news feeds and politicians. No wonder why as early as April our media with serious sources from the intelligence already talked about Russians lacking of everything. Aufgewärmtes Kohl, reheated cabbage as our German friends would say. I think the worst with B or Z is not that they seem to live in a parallel world, but that they conscientiously lie, as I’m pretty sure he knows very well how baseless his assurances are. Russia had troubles not with producing ammunition but delays with supplying them, ads himars forced russian logistics to adjust, divert, divide, change routes etc. His numbers about missiles are far from being accepted by the most pro western experts. In short, he is just playing the game of propaganda. No worries guys, it’s just about time, wr are not winning but when Russians won’t have any ammunition left, we will win. Mayne B is good at torturing opponents in a gloomy cave at the directorate hq, but as a head of a military intelligence agency, he convinced me only that they know they are losing.
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That Ukrainian officials lie their guts out, that is the truth!
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Sacha,
it’s “aufgewärmter Kohl”, Kohl is masculine.
**********************
but that they conscientiously lie
consciously lie? While fully aware its a lie or while utterly honest? A sincere lie? Would be an oxymoron.
You seem to have deception in mind: ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive,’
Sir Walter Scott.
*******
Thanks Yalensis, interesting interview.
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Danke sehr for the bad grammar! 🙏
Well there is what is called white lie indeed. I meant he knows he lies and blatantly tells his audience bs. He may also be genuinely believing what he tells so it wouldn’t be a lie but ignorance. I dismiss 6gtythis option.
Yes probably a deception strategy.
As we say in colloquial French, il nous prend pour des cons.
U
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@ moon,
A friend’s dying of cancer. You visit him in the hospital. He looks you in the eye and asks, “What do I look like?”
You hug him and say, “I love you, man.”
You didn’t answer his question, but did you lie…?
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The Black Sea has grown exponentially. It’s assumed this happened because of spontaneous, internal combustion…
https://e3.365dm.com/22/03/1600×900/skynews-lights-ukraine_5699598.jpg?20220309035530
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Is it flooding?
🙂
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That was tedious. Two high school newspaper reporters quiz the manager of the security detail at the city zoo kind of level. Can’t imagine the Americans let him run around without direction too often , this Mr Badenough. He’s far down the curve on the far side of the Peter Principle.
Meanwhile Vlad has a real one-on-one with national reporters at the Kremlin. Pretty pertinent questions, and yes, he does prevaricate fairly often. But overall, very interesting and he all but says the US was responsible for the explosions on NordStream. Somehow he manages to remain calm and level without hurling personal insults at the West’s leaders. But hey, what would you expect from a barbaric thug? Old slow gentle Joe manages to foam at the mouth and threaten damnation like a trooper by comparison.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/70170
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@ Beluga,
I was told [by Russians] that ‘our’ shortening of names as a token of appreciation, in this case has the opposite effect, as ‘Vlad’ is considered to be [very] rude. The appropriate name to address him as a respected person should be ‘Vovo.’
I didn’t know that either.
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Technically, to show respect you would address an adult as, e.g., “Vladimir Vladimirovich”. In Russian, the child-nickname for Vladimir is “Vova” or “Vovochka”. In American, the equivalent would be “William” and “Billy”. So, technically, these child nicknames should not be used for an adult unless one is VERY close and familiar. To be sure, Russian adults loosen the standards sometimes, just like Americans do (“Call me Bob!”)
That whole “Vlad” thing started as an ignorant Westie attempt to sound knowledgeable, some dumb people who don’t know Russian but considered themselves experts in the Russian language, thought that “Vlad” was the nickname for “Vladimir”. It’s not. But now it’s sort of caught on, in certain circles! Maybe because reminiscent of that Romanian guy, Vlad the Impaler.
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Duly noted, and I won’t repeat the calumny. My ignorance on the matter was obviously profound, as I kind of like the guy, and meant no disrespect.
Delving into the Newsweek article and Zelensky’s downbeat Xmas message to his “people”, I noted some very germane observations by a Ukrainian commenter calling themselves Danila. Of course, this commonsense is dismissed out of hand by the Beltway Boys commenting goon squad keen to keep up the hate.
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Oh, that’s okay, Beluga, I wasn’t criticizing you for using “Vlad”, just trying to explain how that whole thing got started.
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Whoah, until you re-ran that old pic of Budanov in the Nazi-like cap and uniform, I did not realise the chipmunk-cheeked fellow in yesterday’s post was the same guy! And I had snarked about his ferret-faced appearance before. Someone’s eating well at those restaurants where NOBODY has to get kicked out to protect the kinglet’s safety. Is his real job as foreign spymaster to arrange assassinations and terrorist acts outside Ukraine?
Thanks for printing the posts with the interviews, Y, even though it goes against the general grain of your perspective. I occasionally read commentators I disagree with — not all the time, because there are only so many minutes I’m prepared to waste — but it’s good to not fall completely into confirmation bias. Generally, I find the anti-Russians to be unpersuasive. Do they have any hard facts to back up their brags of “we’re winning!”? Budanov tried, with his purported missile production numbers. But as others have pointed out here, the reality of continued missile barrages belies his claims.
If you want to get a look at the American version of what your antithesis is thinking, have you seen this guy named Adam Silverman on a blog called ‘Balloon Juice’? B-J is a Democrat-aligned political blog that’s been active since the mid-2000s. It’s where I go to see what the “Hillary would have made a GREAT president” types are thinking. Silverman had been in the U.S. military, has written about Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere for years. Mildly critical of some U.S. actions (especially when Trump was prez) but never getting at the imperialist brutality of the kkkorporate American regime. He’s viciously anti-Russian, to the point of wanting a no-fly zone even though he acknowledges it would probably kick off a war that would end civilisation. When I want to see what the mindset of the Shiba Inu meme-fellas is, Silverman’s the one.
While I don’t agree with him, I can see how these types think “we are the valiant cheerleaders for freedom, standing up for the plucky little country that was attacked for no reason by its large, vicious neighbour.” They believe that to their bones, and hand-wave away the Nazi element if they deign to mention it at all. So many people only want to look at one side of things (especially with Covid) even though the Internet makes it so easy to get a deep perspective on the complicated nature of reality.
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Hey, Bukko, I was thinking of you when I posted those 2 photos of Budanov side by side. You were the one who had previously called him out as the Nazi Ferret-Face. And now he is the Slavic well-fed hamster face.
It’s not really like me to be a catty bitch, I don’t usually sink to the level of attacking people’s physical appearance. I have a certain chivalrous side within me, especially for women, but even for men.
It’s just that in this case there is a definite pattern: A lot of members of Zelensky’s inner circle (including Zelensky himself) have put on weight and aged 10 years since the start of the war. (Except for Misha Podolyak, he seems to hold himself together.) I think it’s probably ascribed to nervous eating and maybe drinking too much to soothe themselves. Their inner doubts get reflected onto their bodies.
I have a friend who was once a psychotherapist, she had a favorite saying: “The mind denies, but the body knows.” In other words, they have somehow convinced themselves that they are winning and everything is gonna be okay. But deep down inside their body is, like, “Give me something to calm me down!”
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You can basically take everything he says and invert it and get much closer to the probable truth. Russia has been ‘running out of X’ (missiles/shells/tanks/food/men/everything) since at least March. Watch as it stubbornly continues to not run out of anything and the daily strikes continue.
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Yup. Ukrainian propagandists are masters of projection. Every problem they have – they project onto Russia. Every bad thing they do – they project onto Russia. They are such good projectionists, they should get a job at the Quad Cineplex.
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