Eurasia note #65 - Russia Withdraws, Regroups East Of Dnieper
Retreat from Kherson could be a tactical move as draft is mobilized
Russian forces pull back across the Dnieper in surprise withdrawal from Kherson.
At first glance this undercuts the narrative of Russia’s invasion, but may be a feint.
Tactics and material lines dictate the move, rather than a strategic capitulation.
(1,000 words or 5 minutes of your time.)
Tbilisi, Nov 10, 2022
Russian forces withdraw to east side of the Dnieper, abandoning the city of Kherson — for now.
Kherson was the biggest city, arguably the only major city, that Russia had captured in eight months of fighting.
It is a logical move that allows time to regroup but which was likely driven by the difficulty of supplying Russian troops across the Dniper/Dnipro which is one of the widest rivers in Europe and whose bridges have been attacked by both sides.
The result was that Russian forces were increasingly vulnerable to being cut off in Kherson. The partial mobilization in Russia is proceeding but many of the draftees have not yet reached the front.
In advance of the retreat, Russia has been evacuating the city and surrounding areas for several weeks, taking civilians to safety.
The regional adminstration had already moved to the coastal city of Henichesk where yesterday the deputy head Kirill Stremousoy was killed in what Russian media says was a car bomb.
The Slavic slur
The withdrawal means Russian missiles will be able to strike Kherson with impunity while Russia’s draftees mobilize.
The BBC, a state-owned propaganda ministry for which I worked between 1987 and 1989 before being let go for wrongthink, says Chechen troops working on behalf of the Russian military are “in the city, in cafes, and moving around the streets.”
Is the BBC revealing its racism against Muslim men, who are tolerated in Salford but not Kyiv? Who knows — it is a question for churnalists who take their orders from the British state.
On the European front — meaning the conflict within the European Union —- Germany has threatened member-candidate Serbia that it must choose between loyalty to its fellow Slavs and its aspiration since 2009 to join the EU. Belgrade has refused to join sanctions against Moscow. Germany has historical baggage towards Slavs and promoted the breakup of Yugoslavia by supporting the pro-Nazi Ustaše under Croatia’s Franjo Tudjman.
The U.S. is getting closer to an overt deployment of troops in Ukraine. It has bolstered its presence on the country's borders by thousands since before Russia’s invasion at the end of February. Now under the pretext of keeping an eye on armaments donations, Washington is sending in weapons inspectors.
The Kherson line
Moneycircus suggested months ago that the Russian forces may draw a line to the west of the occupied-integrated territory of Donbas, in order to consolidate territory and protect peoples who voted to become part of Russia — rather than risk everything in an all-out assault.
This seems to be the policy: for now a primarily defensive posture in contrast to the West’s contrary projection of rabid expansionism.
Russia's decision to conscript a third of a million troops and to absorb four regions of Ukraine into Russia might just sow the seeds of a status quo — if the Monsanto-Gates-Roundup-Rockefeller-led West gives them space.
We wrote on Sep 23, 2022
“In the event that the regions become part of Russia, the matter of defence would be handled not by militia such as those of DPR and LPR but by Russian forces. That is a possible reason for president Vladimir Putin’s announcement of mandatory registration of about 300,000 reservists who would be called upon in the event of war.
The intervention in Ukraine is currently classified as a special military operation, a designation short of war.
Putin also reinforced warnings that nuclear weapons might be used “if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened.
Combined with the reference to such weaponry, even if limited to battlefield or tactical, the presidential statement might be seen as trying to draw a line under the conflict: Russia mostly has what it originally wanted and if it becomes Russian territory it would logically send Russian troops to defend it.”
This may be consistent with reports that the White House's national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has held secret talks with Russian diplomat and former UN ambassador Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Sullivan's counterpart, that to avert a US-Russian war.
Europe’s crisis
No one in the state corporate media has ever apparently sought to explain the U.S.'s withdrawal from Afghanistan. For what reason did it happen, why at that time, when was the decision taken, and who motivated such a move?
The EU is now seeing its greatest influx of migrants since the previous record year of 2015. Ukrainians are first in line, for humanitarian reasons, and there are reported to be eight to 10 million, about a quarter of the country's population seeking refuge.
A wit might quip that Ukraine is joining the European Union, accession or not. Behind Ukrainians in the queue stand Afghans and Syrians.
Is it happenstance or do others wish it upon us? Numerous UN-linked officials have said in the past that Europe must surrender its culture and submit to assimilation. UN representative for migration Peter Sutherland was just such a voice. [1]
The arguments ventured by such people always seemed contradictory, less to do with humanitarian outreach than a United Nations agenda of miscegenation:
Europe needs young workers to support the retirees - but fertility is declining; the population is shrinking.
There is a skills shortage - so why are migrants coming from rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Regional food and fuel security is being undermined by, at the very least, incompetence - so why import more mouths to feed?
A cynic would say this is a crisis in the making. If that indeed sounds cynical, what to make of the wilfull strangulation of Europe's industry, and the starving of German manufacturing in particular by the constriction of energy?
To put it bluntly: is someone trying to “take down” Europe, in the same way that the United States faces so many coincidental assualts that the shark leaps out of the water at the suggestion of coordination?
[1] Peter Sutherland, 2016 — International Dialogue on Migration
You hit the nail on the head at the end of the article. The war itself is just another means to stave off demographic collapse. “They” have been working tirelessly for at least the last few decades if not longer to collapse fertility worldwide, but especially in the west. I think European Union “leaders” realize that anti-immigration sentiment is reaching a crescendo, yet to them, the plan to miscegenate and debase the European people (to erase any historical sense of sovereignty and self-determination) must continue.
Enter the Ukraine war, a great way to take the eyes of the skeptical public off the covid scam and to convince the gullible to support the new current thing. Europe is also being boosted demographically by millions of young Ukrainians, whose skills and labors will help the economy limp along for the next few years or perhaps decade. It also addresses the need to continue unmitigated migration but in a way that won’t piss the natives off as much, since hey, at least they’re white people this time. Machiavellian genius, no doubt. There is no reason to believe the replacement won’t continue though, as we await the next chapter in this globally orchestrated tragi-comedy.