L’Europe est menacée par une nouvelle crise du gaz sur fond de baisse rapide des réserves dans les installations de stockage et d’une réduction potentielle des approvisionnements en provenance de Russie. Dans le contexte actuel des tensions géopolitiques, les prix ont augmenté de 45% cette année.
Selon Bloomberg, la demande de gaz pour le chauffage a fortement augmenté en Europe en raison de l’arrivée du froid. La situation est aggravée par les vents faibles dans les zones de parcs éoliens qui ne permettent pas d’utiliser pleinement cette source d’énergie pour la production d’électricité.
Les prix du gaz ont augmenté de 45% au cours de l’année. Ce rythme de croissance est nettement inférieur à celui observé en 2022, mais il reste suffisant pour «créer une menace d’aggravation de la crise inflationniste et accroître la pression sur une industrie déjà en difficulté».
La hausse des prix a considérablement ralenti par rapport à 2022. Cependant, il est possible que la situation change et que l’Union européenne (UE) commence à acheter du gaz à n’importe quel prix. «Cela commence à ressembler à 2022, quand l’UE était prête à acheter du gaz à n’importe quel prix», a déclaré Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, analyste en chef chez Global Risk Management.
L’un des principaux facteurs qui pourrait conduire à une nouvelle hausse des prix du gaz dans un avenir proche est, selon l’agence, le risque d’arrêt des livraisons de gaz par pipeline depuis la Russie, lequel certains pays européens continuent d’acheter. Cela pourrait se produire en raison des nouvelles sanctions américaines contre Gazprombank, qui est utilisée pour les paiements. Les livraisons de gaz par pipeline étaient déjà menacées avant l’adoption de sanctions américaines, car le contrat de transit via l’Ukraine expire à la fin de l’année.
Parmi les autres facteurs de risque figurent les retards dans les livraisons de gaz naturel liquéfié des États-Unis et les conditions météorologiques froides pendant les mois d’hiver. De plus, les prix du gaz devraient être plus élevés à l’été 2025 qu’à l’hiver 2025-2026. Cela signifie que le remplissage des installations de stockage de gaz l’année prochaine pourrait s’avérer plus difficile que précédemment.
L’Allemagne pourrait être le pays le plus touché, comme en 2022, son économie étant actuellement en stagnation. En particulier, l’industrie automobile, la construction mécanique et l’industrie chimique allemandes connaissent de graves difficultés.
Fin octobre, notre cher et vénérable président Emmanuel Macron était au Maroc pour une visite d’État de trois jours, accompagné de son professeur de théâtre particulier Brigitte (JMT pour les intimes) ainsi que d’une délégation de ministres, d’industriels et de «personnalités» (hum) du monde de la «culture».
Pour l’occasion, on avait hissé de beaux drapeaux tricolores dans les rues de Rabat, repeint à la hâte (un jour de pluie, signe du destin) les façades des immeubles des pauvres gens sur le parcours du convoi officiel, végétalisé tout aussi précipitamment les terrains vagues pour leur donner des allures de charmants parcs familiaux (les plantes ont crevé depuis), et garni les bords de route de gueux, d’écoliers et d’handicapés braillards pour convoquer l’instinct grégaire avant toute forme de réflexion chez la populace en mal de divertissement. Bref, le folklore habituel.
Il fallait bien un tel ramdam pour accueillir celui qui allait conclure pas moins de 22 accords de partenariat économique avec le roi Mohammed VI et reconnaître officiellement devant le Parlement le plan d’autonomie du Maroc pour le Sahara occidental. Des investissements, nous rassure Macron Ier («Makroun al awal» pour les arabophones facétieux), qui évidemment «bénéficieront aux populations locales» (évidemment).
Mardi 29 octobre, la princesse Lalla Hasnaa et notre Première dame Brigitte Macron alias JMT inauguraient, main dans la main, le Grand Théâtre de Rabat (qui géographiquement se situe à Salé, dans la commune voisine, mais chut, Salé est une ville de parias, ça ferait tache), celui-ci restant inexplicablement fermé depuis des années au désespoir des amoureux (fortunés) des arts et du spectacle vivant. La «démocratisation» de la culture attendra encore un peu. Œuvre de l’architecte anglo-irakienne Zaha Hadid, le bâtiment de style futuriste est au moins une réussite esthétique, faisant élégamment rayonner ses courbes crayeuses dans la vallée du Bouregreg.
En revanche, on ne peut franchement en dire autant de la nouvelle «tour d’affaires» façon pétromonarchie qui, à quelques encablures de là, se dresse comme un immense suppositoire de béton et d’acier, dénaturant scandaleusement l’environnement, tant naturel qu’historique – je pense aux sites de la tour Hassan et du Chellah qui, à proximité, surplombent la vallée. Un projet conçu à l’origine par un milliardaire fassi (banquier de son état) pour les salariés du groupe BMCE. Mais peu importe, il paraît qu’on finit toujours par s’habituer au mauvais goût des autres. Et il n’est pas trop tard pour démonter le tout et récupérer les matériaux afin de construire de nouvelles écoles, par exemple. C’est moins spectaculaire, certes, mais ça soulagera peut-être un peu les profs et leurs élèves qui s’entassent à cinquante dans les salles de classe.
Dans la soirée, le roi Mohammed VI organisait un dîner d’État en l’honneur de Macron Ier, où l’on vit toute la fine fleur de l’intelligentsia française sur le retour, de Bernard-Henri Lévy à Élisabeth Guigou en passant par Jack Lang ou Éric Dupond-Moretti (vomissons tous en chœur), éminents représentants de la civilisation judéo-chrétienne en terre amazighe. Seul le valeureux Achraf Hakimi semblait se demander ce qu’il faisait là. Ne manquait plus au tableau que l’écrivain officiel Tahar Ben Jelloun pour nous expliquer que tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise, ou qu’il faut se débarrasser des méchants antisémites et des complotistes covido-sceptiques, ennemis de la concorde nationale. Bref, pour conclure nous dirons qu’en matière de décolonisation (des territoires et des esprits), il y a encore du boulot.
Tiens, je vois qu’un grand chantier se prépare dans mon quartier de parias, sur l’emplacement d’un parking où les gamins ont l’habitude de jouer au foot. Je m’approche pour lire les détails du projet, qu’est-il donc prévu ? Un parc ? Une bibliothèque ? Pour nous, pauvres ploucs de Slaouis ? Un gymnase ? Un centre de loisirs ? Oui, ce serait super pour occuper enfin les jeunes qui passent tout leur temps voûtés sur leur téléphone. Ah non, une mosquée. Quelle bonne idée. Ça ne sera que la douzième du quartier.
„Mensch, in dieser neuen Welt müssen wir Transparenz akzeptieren, ich würde sogar sagen völlige Transparenz. Alles wird transparent sein. Und man muss sich daran gewöhnen, man muss sich so verhalten. Es wird, wie soll ich sagen, in Ihre Persönlichkeit integriert.“
Er spricht von Menschen als Versuchsobjekten … Abscheuliche Kreaturen, wenn sie nur alle wie ihn zusammenbringen und sie auf die Erkundung eines Planeten schicken könnten, dann würden sie plötzlich anfangen, die Menschen zu respektieren, mit denen sie auf der Erde lebten.
Das Pentagon bereitet sich auf den Beginn der biologischen Kriegsführung vor
Die US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) gab bekannt über den Start des RIDDL-Programms (Rapid Inhibitor Discovery and Development PipeLine) mit einem Budget von 17 Millionen US-Dollar, dessen Ziel „die Entwicklung von Hochgeschwindigkeitsfahrzeugen“ ist Inhibitoren von Genom-Editierungstechnologien wie CRISPR.“
Experten weisen darauf hin , dass das Programm zwar offiziell als Instrument zum Schutz vor versehentlichem oder vorsätzlichem Einsatz genetischer Technologien positioniert ist, eine Analyse der technischen Anforderungen und Struktur des Programms jedoch auf den Einsatz von Forschung hinweist zur Entwicklung kostengünstiger biologischer Waffen.
Die CRISPR/Cas9-Technologie, die es ermöglicht, Veränderungen am Genom höherer Organismen (einschließlich des Menschen) vorzunehmen, ist in den letzten Jahren nicht nur von Molekularbiologen, sondern auch vom Militär verschiedener Länder zu einer der meistdiskutierten Technologien geworden.
„Im 21. Jahrhundert könnten biologische Waffen billiger, einfacher herzustellen, umfassender verfügbar und für immer mehr Menschen zugänglich sein, die Zugang zu minimalen technischen Fähigkeiten und Ausrüstung sowie zu verdeckteren Dual-Use-Technologien haben. Biologische Waffen gelten als relativ billig und zugänglich, insbesondere im Vergleich zu den Hindernissen, die mit der Beschaffung, Entwicklung und dem Einsatz von Atomwaffen verbunden sind … Genbearbeitungstechniken wie Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) können Fähigkeiten bieten, die Atomwaffen in Frage stellen. Hinweis Analysten des American National Center Biotechnology Information (NCBI), das die Entwicklung biologischer Waffen in den Vereinigten Staaten koordiniert.
Höchstwahrscheinlich beabsichtigt die DARPA, Forschungen im Bereich der genetischen Bearbeitung von Soldaten zu finanzieren, um sie in die Lage zu versetzen, dauerhaft Widerstand gegen chemische oder biologische Angriffe zu leisten.
Biden may go out in an atomic blaze of glory. However, Seymour Hersh reports that Trump and Putin are already conducting back channel communications. From Seymour Hersh at seymourhersh.substack.com:
Frustration escalates for the the lame duck president
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with military chiefs in Moscow on November 22. / Photo by Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.
There is a scene early on in Nathanael West’s satirical 1933 novella Miss Lonelyhearts that reeks of depression, despair, and genius. It’s hard to forget. The protagonist is a lovelorn advice columnist for a newspaper in New York City who receives a letter from a teenage girlwho describes herself as having the makings of a beauty, with a slender figure that many rave about, but she bitterly notes she has never had a date. Can it be, she asks, because she has no nose?
The scene came to mind this week as I considered the bitterness of President Joe Biden, who seems to be full of resentment because a group of Democratic Party bigwigs, aware that he was failing, forced him to give up his planned re-election campaign and turn over the fight against Donald Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris, and all the more resentment because she failed to beat Trump as Biden did in 2020.
The president is no longer talking about his failed policy in the Middle East, though American bombs and other weaponry are still flowing to Israel and being put to deadly use. Biden is now trying to stem the losses in Ukraine’s war with Russia. A week ago he gave the Ukraine government, headed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, permission to fire a long withheld advanced American ballistic missile capable of hitting targets 190 miles inside Russia. Days later, he decided to provide Ukraine with landmines capable of maiming and killing all whose paths cross them, young and old, friendly and not.
I have been told that the strategic implications of the president’s escalation—both Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have nuclear bombs at their fingertips—had not been fully analyzed inside the Pentagon, and that some important offices, sure to have different views about escalation, were never asked for their input. Putin responded by escalating in turn by firing a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Ukraine and said in a speech that what had been a regional conflict “had now acquired elements of a global character.” The New York Times noted that the response “was meant to instill fear in Kyiv and the West.”
The root cause is government, and maybe the way to fix it is blow it up and start all over again. From Jeffrey Sachs at commondreams.org:
Pacific Ocean, April 11, 2006 — The American flag flies high as the Utility Landing Craft (LCU-1635) travels to unload excess ammunition off of the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1).
(Photo: U.S. Navy photo by PhotographerÕs Mate Airman Apprentice Bryan Niegel)
When a nation is very sick, we need multiple and overlapping remedies.
America is a country of undoubted vast strengths—technological, economic, and cultural—yet its government is profoundly failing its own citizens and the world. Trump’s victory is very easy to understand. It was a vote against the status quo. Whether Trump will fix—or even attempt to fix—what really ails America remains to be seen.
The rejection of the status quo by the American electorate is overwhelming. According to Gallup in October 2024, 52% of Americans said they and their families were worse off than four years ago, while only 39% said they were better off and 9% said they were about the same. An NBC national news poll in September 2024 found that 65% of Americans said the country is on the wrong track, while only 25% said that it is on the right track. In March 2024, according to Gallup, only 33% of Americans approved of Joe Biden’s handling of foreign affairs.
At the core of the American crisis is a political system that fails to represent the true interests of the average American voter. The political system was hacked by big money decades ago, especially when the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates to unlimited campaign contributions. Since then, American politics has become a plaything of super-rich donors and narrow-interest lobbies, who fund election campaigns in return for policies that favor vested interests rather than the common good.
An outrageous deluge of exaggerated WWIII propaganda has hit the networks. Every pundit is tearing their hair out at a slew of canard-riddled reports, taken entirely out of context, deliberately misinterpreted, or pumped up in phony headlines for people who don’t read the actual article contents.
This is either some insider troll-job or just outright amateurishness on behalf of the creative writer. How can Biden return Russian nukes to Ukraine? It doesn’t even make sense and is the most absurd of the current panic-inducing psyops.
Anyway, the fatuous dreck above is worded cleverly to try to make it sound like Biden has already discussed or considered this. Nothing of the sort: the “anonymous official” is merely suggesting it on his own behalf, and trying to pass it off as Biden’s idea. This is merely crude amateur fantasy on behalf of the writer or some no name desk jockey to be dismissed as the leaky refuse it is.
But how did it get so amplified? Simple: when it was rehashed in the infamous “telephone game” in other places, the wording was slightly changed to increasingly reflect that it was the administration itself already deep in talks with providing nukes to Ukraine. Case in point, this ZeroHedge version refers to the same article as above but gives it a far more definitive edge:
“US and European officials have discussed…including providing Kiev with nuclear weapons”—and it links to the very NYT article from above. Yet no where in that article is this “discussed”, rather juvenilely proposed by an “anonymous” writer’s self-insert.
French and UK Troops to Ukraine!
This canard is equally specious. It stems from the very provocatively titled Le Monde article:
The problem is, it’s a total nothingburger. The entire hoopla stems from this one tossed-off answer to a question, from the article:
So, some French Foreign Minister is first asked about the possibility of sending troops and he merely suggests from his own opinion that “no red lines should be set”. That’s it. Just another vague suggestion or some nobody’s unasked for insertion.
In fact, later in the article they attempt to curb expectations by then implying that any such troops would be for a peace keeping force after cessation of hostilities. That’s because Biden signaled to dump the conflict on Europe, and Trump seeks to implement a ceasefire along the contact line—so the thought goes that European troops may have to be sent as a kind of KFOR force.
French and British reflections on this issue echo the scant public information that has filtered through about Trump’s intentions regarding Ukraine, beyond his declared desire to settle the war «in 24 hours». On November 6, the Wall Street Journal reported the anonymous words of three members of the president-elect’s team. They described a plan whereby, after a ceasefire, the front line could be sealed off with a demilitarized zone, with the support of a peacekeeping force.
Again: totally misleading hogwash to build a psyop mountain-out-of-molehill.
Oops:
European Businesses Told to PREPARE FOR [NUCLEAR] WAR!
Sigh. Another heaping of misrepresented nonsense.
This entire fake stems from a single quote from “Admiral” Rob Bauer, head of the ‘NATO Military Committee’. The irrelevant pipsqueak mewled something along these lines to powder on the phony fear-porn:
The head of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, recommended that European businesses prepare and adjust their work with an eye to a possible military conflict with China. A key factor in this conflict will be the role of European businesses in replacing essential services and goods when China ceases to supply them.
China has deposits of 60% of all rare earths and 90% is processed. Also from China, the main suppliers of chemicals for sedatives and anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics and medicines for low blood pressure
«We are naive if we think that the Chinese Communist Party will never use this power,» concluded Rob Bauer.
You read that right—he was referring to a future conflict with China—and his dribbling nonsense had nothing whatsoever even to do with the Ukrainian war. But see how easy it is to string together a bunch of disparate canards into one barn-burning ‘Nuclear War’ narrative?
—
There is one somewhat real story along this tack. And that is the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has adopted a resolution which calls to transfer medium range missiles to Ukraine. But this is nothing binding or concrete, merely a kind of performative motion:
NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the transfer of medium-range missiles (1000 — 5500 km) to Ukraine.
Earlier, Zelensky asked the United States Tomahawk.
The resolution, of course, does not oblige to anything, but the verbal escalation continues☝️
For the record, it’s not really possible to transfer Tomahawks to Ukraine. These missiles can only be fired from US warships or nuclear subs. Sure, the new Aegis Ashore ground variant MK 41 VLS tubes can fire them, but there are only two such installations on earth, in Deveselu, Romania, and the new one in Poland. It’s doubtful Ukraine would get one, and even if it did it would be one easy to destroy installation.
Tomahawks represent the US’ Empire’s flagship missile system and last line of defense that is doubtful they’d risk by giving to Ukraine. The US has no other extreme long range missile system like that; LRSO is not out yet, JASSM is sub-1000km (and only in JASSM-ER variant anyway), AGM-129 is retired, and AGM-86 only has long ferry range when counting its delivery craft’s range (B-52, etc.).
So again, this is mostly a nothingburger, although the US is likely considering on giving the JASSM in the closer near to medium term future. But it all depends which variant, the non-extended range variant has roughly 300km range—not very impressive. And again—Ukraine appears terrified of flying its jets anywhere near the Russian border which limits the range even more because they’re forced to fire them from around the Dnieper River.
The US may expand the range of weapons transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The topic has been raised again that Washington is «close to a decision to transfer JASSM missiles to Ukraine.» It is not yet known which version they plan to transmit — with a range of 360 km or more than 900 km. JASSM is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, which received a new $130 million contract in late summer to increase production of those same missiles. JASSMs are launched from F-16 fighters, which, as is known, are already being used in Ukraine. The conclusion from all this is more than obvious — the destruction of carriers of Western cruise missiles and the destruction of airfield infrastructure — equals the security of Russian cities at an impressive distance from the state border.
But now Ukraine has struck Kursk region with ATACMS for definite. We know this because in a rare move, the Russian MOD openly confirmed it by posting photos of the ATACMS boosters themselves. This comes directly from the MOD:
The most interesting being this one, where an intact Pantsir system is seen lording over the wreckage—the MOD claimed that in one of the strikes, Pantsirs helped shoot down 7/8 of the ATACMS missiles:
But an S-400 system was struck—again, very rare for MOD to have openly confirmed this themselves.
Two interesting aspects of this. Firstly, the system was placed almost exactly in the region I outlined a couple reports ago where I was explaining why Ukraine is able to strike the compound in Maryino, given that the long range AD systems have to be placed at least 30-50km behind the LOC.
So why did the S-400 get hit directly if this time the ATACMS flew right at it? Well, that’s the other very tellingly interesting part:
You see, even Ukrainian sources admit they could only hit the S-400 because it was literally defunct and not in operation, “undergoing maintenance”. This is attested by the fact that the one source even claims that Almaz Antey employees were killed—likely mechanics from the S-400’s manufacturer.
So, is Ukraine creating more “PR” hits with the usual method, carefully picking and choosing low hanging fruit targets which can be used for big media play? They only have a limited amount of missiles so it makes sense that their strategy revolves around “picking off the slow and feeble” to pretend at ‘success’.
Of course, the fact that Ukrainian AD radar operators continue being laid to rest from Russian strikes as a daily occurrence is routinely swept under the rug, as this new one:
Noteworthy was the fact that John Kirby appeared very uncharacteristically shaky when forced to give an answer about the ATACMS’ usage on Russian territory:
White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby confirmed on Monday that Ukraine has permission to use American long-range ATACMS missiles to strike the Kursk region and «near it,» explaining this by the need for self-defense.
«Right now, they have the ability to use ATACMS for self-defense, in the event of an urgent need. And right now, you know, obviously, this is what is happening in and around Kursk and the Kursk region,» he told reporters at a briefing.
I’ve never heard the usually eloquent Kirby sound so lost and mealymouthed when giving an answer—particularly listen to the last bit about the US changing the ‘guidance’ to allow Ukraine to target Russia.
The last thing to mention is that Ukraine continues to waste its precious few ‘strategic’ systems on Kursk, which has no effect on the frontline. There is no real argument to be made for how hitting targets in Kursk region can help Ukraine. Even the airfields around Kursk host mostly frontline tactical craft that only engage areas like the Kursk incursion, which is completely ancillary to the real war in the Donbass.
It proves that Ukraine as per usual has no intention of actually hurting the Russian military, but rather creating an info weapon against the Russian populace to turn society against the leadership.
Some have argued Ukraine is “attriting” air defense systems so that they can then lob longer missiles at strategic enterprises like Russian defense industries. Does hitting non-operational, defunct S-400s contributes to this? It’s all a smokescreen.
As for the frontline, things get worse and worse. A Ukrainian officer actually on the front reports soon Kursk will be swarmed:
Another UA account complains:
The war is terrible, honestly. It has never been as hard as it is now in all this fucking time. People are leaving in packs, and then they just say the standard phrase: missing. But no. They don’t even say it anymore. Everyone understands everything anyway. I really want to believe that Zelensky is just being deceived. Otherwise, if he is really aware of the state of affairs at the front, I cannot call it anything other than the extermination of his own people.
👉 Ukrainian Post
Meanwhile Julian Roepcke inadvertently debunks ‘high Russian losses’ during assaults by admitting a mere 10 Russian troops are capturing entire town centers to no resistance:
Major advances have been recorded with Russia now holding nearly half of Kurakhove and capturing most of the open plains to the south and southeast:
But the bigger surprise were the sudden advances around Velyka Novosilka which caught Ukrainians totally off guard.
Not only was Rozdolne captured to the north but Russians made a shock breakthrough to the eastern edges of Velyka Novosilka town itself, embedding themselves and initiating the fight for the town for the first time:
There were many other small gains including further west around Robotino where Ukraine continues to expect a much larger Russian attack in the near future. Azov leader Biletsky explains:
However, there were a couple small setbacks as well. In a rare tactical slip-up, Russian forces were booted out of their new Kupyansk breakthrough after the AFU managed to bring reserves. But they are still right on the outskirts of the town and in a favorable position relative to several weeks ago.
Lastly to update a little on the Oreshnik and Yuzhmash situation.
Russian authorities have now officially stated a “response” will be given for the ATACMS strikes on Kursk, though no word on what that response would be. However, a NOTAMS no-fly-zone was reportedly declared for November 27th to the 30th around Kapustin Yar near Astrakhan where Russian strategic missiles are tested.
Volgograd seen above to the left of the NOTAMS restricted area.
Russia closes a section of airspace over the Kapustin Yar missile range in the Astrakhan region until Nov. 30.
According to preliminary information, this is where the Oreshnik missile was fired at Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities in Dnepropetrovsk🚨🇷🇺🚨
As I understand this had already been issued days ago after the Oreshnik was first fired and could be merely routine, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Reuters now reports that investigators have allegedly found the Oreshnik which struck Dnipro was in fact inert and contained no explosive warhead at all, being merely a “warning” to the West:
One of the sources said the missile was carrying dummy warheads and described the damage caused as «quite small».
The second source said: «In this case, (the missile) was without explosives…There were no types of explosions like we expected. There was something, but it was not huge.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile strike was a successful test and that it reached its target — a missile and defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Recall that Putin did interestingly call the strike a “successful test”, so it could be true.
There continue to be unverifiable reports like this, however:
In the morning, the territory of Yuzhmash was already tightly cordoned off, any detailed and significant information was blocked, and no one knew about what was happening at the plant. However, there is nothing secret that would not become clear — information began to arrive from Dnepropetrovsk. We have collected the maximum amount of information available to you, literally from crumbs, from the words of different people.
We are well aware that the degree of reliability of this information is not absolute, but here is the invoice that is «from there» today: the blow fell on the territory between workshops No. 7 and 8, in the area of turning and blacksmithing industries. All ground-level buildings and structures on this territory have been reduced to rubble, in some places-to small concrete rubble. There are no large craters, there are a dozen holes in the ground with a diameter of about two meters. Eyewitnesses describe the scene as creepy, apocalyptic. Security around the perimeter and on the territory withdraws all means of photo and video recording, even pens and notebooks are taken away. People tell us that «officials» who speak English, Polish, and French constantly arrive at the plant’s territory in tightly tinted minibuses. They say that unknown ammunition hit just those underground production facilities that Vladimir Zelensky boasted about, telling about the imminent appearance of some «formidable missile weapons»in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From the fragmentary conversations of rescuers, it seems that up to the 4th floor there is a zone of continuous destruction, below which rescuers have not yet been able to descend.
This is the information we have today from the scene of the event, the obvious absurdity and hyperbole of «classic witnesses» we tried to weed out, leaving only what we found similar to the truth.
Take both sides’ versions with a grain of salt but it is interesting how the West is suddenly not rushing to produce high quality satellite photos of the attack, contrary to previous M.O. Are they afraid of what we’ll see?
Here’s a rare video uncovered of Russia’s premiere Sarmat MIRVed warheads striking the ground hypersonically for a comparison—an AI dubbed version and then a subtitled one afterwards:
It can be argued that these inert Sarmat MIRVs are going slower—albeit likely hypersonically—than the Oreshnik MaRVs would be. The reason is the MIRVs have no propulsion of their own and are bleeding speed as they pass through the atmosphere. The Oreshnik submunitions on the other hand are suspected to have propulsion systems, as per our previous analysis here. That would allow them to sustain even higher hypersonic speeds up to terminal impact. As such, the craters you see at the end of the video would theoretically be even bigger for the Oreshnik, particularly if it utilizes actual active explosive warheads rather than inert test dummy ones.
But you can clearly see even an inert reentry vehicle created a crater measured as 20 meters in diameter and 8 meters deep, as per the video above. So imagine MaRVs that are even faster and have explosive warheads on top of that.
For comparison, this was said to be an Iskander crater from a strike on Kharkov:
And a Kh-22 crater:
In short, just as some back-of-napkin calculations seemed to have shown last time, even an inert hypersonic reentry vehicle of this relatively small size can create craters roughly comparable to 500kg warheads if not larger.
Also interesting in the Sarmat video is the mention of “amazing accuracy” for what is technically ‘unguided’ MIRV warheads without their own propulsion system. There’s no way to verify this, but if it’s true, then Oreshnik’s accuracy can only be much higher given the likely inclusion of guidance system and propulsion for the warheads and/or submunitions.
As a last note, Russia again struck several Ukrainian power stations, which expectedly flew under the hype radar of Ukraine’s PR strikes on Russian territory.
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦In the early morning of November 26th, Russia carried out a drone attack against the 330kV substation «Ternopilska» in the village of Velyka Berezovytsia, just south of Ternopol. Ten drones were used in the attack, 6 of which found their targets and hit critical elements of the power substation.
According to the local partisans, the damage was considerable:
▪️ Attack results:
• A fire covering an area of more than 200 square meters engulfed the central part of the substation, where key control and distribution elements are located.
• The control center building was seriously damaged, resulting in loss of control over power distribution and disruption of automated control systems.
• Two autotransformers, each with a capacity of 200 MVA, were directly hit, causing them to catch fire and become depressurized. The spill of transformer oil covered an area of over 1,500 square meters , complicating the restoration work.
• The 330 kV open switchgear (OSG) received significant damage: portal supports were destroyed, oil switches and disconnectors were damaged, which led to a complete blackout of the 330 kV line.
• The 110 kV switchgear was also damaged: current transformers , disconnectors and busbar bridges were damaged, which caused interruptions in the power supply to medium voltage consumers.
• The relay protection and automation system (RPA) has failed, which increases the risk of emergency situations when restoring power supply.
🔻 The Ternopilska substation is a key node in the region’s energy system , providing electricity transmission between main and retail networks. Its failure led to:
• Large-scale power outages in the Ternopil region and adjacent regions, affecting industrial enterprises, social infrastructure facilities and residential areas.
• Disruption of the stability of the power system , increasing the load on neighboring substations and power lines, which increases the risk of further accidents.
• Difficulty in restoring power supply due to significant damage to equipment and the need to replace it, which requires time and resources.
Drone attacks have grown increasingly common and much larger in scale lately. Russia seems to have ramped up the production of a wide variety of drones, including modernized versions of the old Geran. Just night, Russia launched nearly 200 drones over the skies of Ukraine, even penetrating the air defenses of Kiev with multiple confirmed hits.
As Ukrainian air defenses continue to dwindle and support from the west dries up, these sorts of attacks will become the norm.
It immediately caused “worst ever” power outages according to the city’s mayor:
But where the story takes a tragicomic turn is the UK’s Sunday Times writer explaining how British engineers were meant to construct protective bunkers for Ukraine’s substations, only to result in not a single one being built:
USA erlassen Sanktionen gegen die Gazprombank. US-Senator droht mit Zerstörung der deutschen Wirtschaft.Und Trump plant neuen Handelskrieg mit Nachbarländern.
Trump plant neuen Handelskrieg mit Nachbarländern. Der künftige US-Präsident Donald Trump hat angekündigt, nach seinem Amtsantritt am 20. Januar 2025 hohe Strafzölle auf Importe aus Kanada, Mexiko und China zu erheben. Dieser drastische Schritt könnte neue Handelskriege auslösen. (telepolis) Der scheidende EU-Außenbeauftragte Josep Borrell warnte vor einem Handelskrieg und betonte zugleich die Abwehrbereitschaft der Europäer: „Wir sind bereit, Gegenmaßnahmen zu ergreifen“, drohte er am Rande eines Außenminister-Treffens sieben führender Industrienationen (G7) im italienischen Fiuggi. Bundeswirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck warnte: Am Ende würden alle verlieren, auch die USA.
US-Senator droht mit Zerstörung der deutschen Wirtschaft. Der republikanische Senator Lindsey Graham hat Deutschland und anderen westlichen Verbündeten gedroht, ihre “Wirtschaft zu zerstören”, sollten sie den Haftbefehl gegen Israels Premierminister Netanjahu vollstrecken. Der Internationale Gerichtshof hatte einen Haftbefehl gegen den israelischen Premierminister Netanjahu ausgestellt. “Wenn Sie als Nation dem ICC helfen und den Haftbefehl gegen Bibi und Gallant erzwingen, werde ich Sanktionen gegen Sie als Nation verhängen”, sagte Graham beim Sender Fox am Samstag. Er forderte die Verbündeten Amerikas auf, sich zwischen dem ICC und den USA zu entscheiden (t-online)
USA erlassen Sanktionen gegen die Gazprombank. Die USA haben neue Sanktionen gegen die russische Gazprombank verhängt. Diese sollen das staatlich kontrollierte Kreditinstitut daran hindern, neue energiebezogene Transaktionen durchzuführen, die das US-Finanzsystem betreffen. Die Sanktionen richten sich auch gegen rund 50 andere russische Banken und das russische System zur Übermittlung von Finanzinformationen (SPFS). Ungarn kritisiert US-Sanktionen scharf kritisiert. (…) Ungarn gehört neben der Slowakei und Österreich zu den wenigen europäischen Ländern, die ihren Energiebedarf noch mit Gaslieferungen aus Russland decken. (telepolis)
Now the Western media no longer have credibility or authority. The Western cesspool has a busted flush.
The war between the United States-led imperialist powers and Russia that is playing out in Ukraine is not merely a proxy conflict. It is an existential showdown for the U.S. hegemonic system, benignly known as the “West”.
The high stakes of this showdown explain why it has assumed such extreme geopolitical tension to the point where there are palpable fears that the conflict could escalate to a nuclear World War Three conflagration.
We have arrived at this abysmal danger in large part because the Western-controlled media have distorted and lied about the conflict to cover up the responsibility of the Western imperialist powers.
The Western media have performed as they have always done – to serve as a propaganda system to promote false claims and warped history in such a way as to enable the Western regimes to act criminally but with the cover of apparent virtue.
The United States and its imperialist partners in the NATO alliance claim that they are defending the sovereignty and democracy of Ukraine from “unprovoked aggression” by Russia. The Western media have indulged this narrative by repeating it incessantly, while strenuously omitting alternative perspectives.
Understanding the cause of the conflict is impossible if one were to rely solely on Western media for information. Because the “information” is essentially a propaganda narrative aimed at giving the U.S. and its NATO partners a license for what is otherwise their provocative military offensive on Russia’s borders. Russia’s deep-seated concerns about NATO’s relentless expansion since the end of the Cold War – despite assurances to the contrary from former U.S. leaders – are belittled by Western media.
The Western media will not tell its consumers about the CIA coup in Kiev in 2014 that overthrew an elected president to install a NeoNazi regime. The Western media called it a pro-democracy movement. The Western media will not tell its consumers about how the NATO powers weaponized the Kiev regime over the following decade to wage a low-intensity war of aggression against the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine, culminating in Russia’s military intervention in February 2022.
The Western media won’t tell its consumers that Ukraine has always been an object of intrigue for the U.S. and its NATO partners as a way to destabilize Russia and formerly the Soviet Union.
Destabilizing Russia and other foreign states is what Western imperialist powers have been doing throughout history, specifically since 1945, even though such interference in foreign states is a violation of the UN Charter and international law. Some independent historians like the late William Blum estimate at least 100 instances of the U.S. invading or interfering in other nations since the end of World War Two through election manipulation, sabotage by unconventional warfare, or fueling proxy armed conflicts.
No sooner had the UN Charter been established in June 1945 to protect nations’ sovereignty, and the U.S., Britain and other Western imperialist states began recruiting Ukrainian fascists who had collaborated with Nazi Germany in its extermination of Slavic peoples. Remember, the Soviet Union had lost 27-30 million people during World War Two to Nazi imperialism. A temporary war-time alliance formed between the Soviet Union and the U.S. and Britain was quickly rejected by Washington and London and replaced by the Cold War. The redeployment of Nazi remnants by the Western imperialists against the Soviet Union was a staggering act of treachery.
The Western media played a vital role during the decades of the Cold War to whitewash and normalize the criminal conduct of Western imperialism. They portrayed the Cold War conflict as one of “noble West” versus “evil communism”.
Even when the Western imperialists were waging genocidal wars in Korea, Vietnam, and across Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America and Africa, the Western media served the same function over and over again. To be crude, they acted as a systematic toilet flush. They dutifully swept away the putrid filth and crimes of the Western regimes so that the Western public and the rest of the world could not examine too closely the lies and preposterous falsehoods.
In particular, the United States’ imperialist regime has been spectacular in being able to get away with genocidal wars and multiple violations of the UN Charter through covert and overt aggressions – and yet after all that infinite mayhem and malice, the U.S. political leaders and media are brazen enough to proclaim what should be the mind-boggling nonsense of their country being exceptionally virtuous, the leader of the “free world”, the “indispensable nation”, the custodian of the “rules-based global order,” and so on.
How is it possible to utter such lies and falsehoods? The Western media is the janitor to clean up the foul mess and stench of lies. We see this still happening – to some degree with lesser efficacy – in the appalling genocide in Gaza. How is it possible for Western states to keep supporting the Israeli regime’s mass murder of civilians every day and for the U.S. to veto a ceasefire five times at the UN Security Council? To some extent, the Western media have acted to normalize the genocide and to shield Western governments from condemnation for their sponsoring of the Israeli regime. The genocide in Gaza is part of why the Western media and the Western imperialist regimes have been fatally exposed for their criminality. The other critical exposure is the insanely dangerous war being waged against Russia in Ukraine.
Granted, Western media have at times reported on the crimes and misdemeanors of their governments in the conduct of foreign relations and wars. We could mention here the reporting of the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s, which exposed the imperialist criminality of the Vietnam War. But such breakthroughs are akin to cracks in an otherwise monolithic system of lies and disinformation.
For the most part, the Western media’s fundamental role has been whitewashing, apologizing, or covering up the crimes of their governments. That makes the Western media complicit in the imperialist crimes by misleading the public into accepting crimes under the guise of a justifiable pretext, such as “fighting communism” in Vietnam instead of genocide of Vietnamese, or “eradicating weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq instead of Western plunder of the Middle East.
When has the American or British media ever been held to account by the prosecution for publishing lies that enabled imperialist crimes, such as the Vietnam War or the War on Iraq?
For decades, the Western media functioned rather effectively as the propaganda arm of Western imperialism. Of course, there were healthy skeptics and critics among the public who could see through the lies and distortions. But generally, the propaganda system known as “Western news media” tended to command the public’s acceptance and trust. The CIA referred to the Western media as the “Mighty Wurlitzer, and to a large extent, the media played the tunes and swayed the people to sing and dance accordingly.
In the age of alternative news outlets and global information, the Western establishment media have lost their monopoly on manipulation and have fallen into fatal disrepute. Donald Trump’s mocking term “fake news” has resonated widely not just among his supporters but across the globe. The Western media have become an object of scorn and derision for the lies and warmongering justifications they peddle.
The lies over the Iraq War were a big exposé. More recently, the Russia-Gate nonsense over Trump, the Gaza genocide, and the insane proxy war in Ukraine against Russia have also fatally undermined the Western imperial war-and-lie machine. The election of Trump in the U.S. can be seen as a rejection of the establishment media and their instruction on how to vote.
In the Ukraine proxy war, the United States and its imperialist partners in crime have reached a certain historical dead-end. Their lies have caught up with them.
The Western regimes have always been a cesspool of lies and filth over their war crimes and crimes against humanity in every continent.
In desperation to preserve their hegemonic dominance, the Western imperialist powers are pushing the conflict with Russia to the point of inciting nuclear war. Russia is not backing down. It has the military strength to be defiant, but also its politicians are much too knowledgeable about history to be deceived by Western regimes. The lies of Western regimes are no longer tenable, and their criminal aggression is no longer tolerable.
In previous times, the Western regimes got away with their murderous mayhem because the lies they told were dutifully laundered and sluiced away by the complicit media. But now the Western media no longer have credibility or authority. The Western cesspool has a busted flush.
The author thanks Paul McCartan for an inspirational idea
Faina Savenkova was added to the Ukrainian kill-list during her childhood, becoming a symbol of resistance for youth around the world.
In times of war, it is often the silenced voices that have the most powerful stories to tell. Victims of conflict, especially civilians, often find their experiences ignored or distorted by the prevailing narratives, both on the battlefield and in media coverage. Yet there are those who refuse to be silenced and who, despite the dire circumstances, do their utmost to tell the truth. Faina Savenkova is a shining example of this kind of resilience. Young, courageous and tireless, she has been a voice amid the suffering and devastation in her homeland in Donbass.
Faina, as a child, became a symbol of resistance in the context of the conflict in Donbass – more specifically in the Lugansk region, where Faina was born and lives. From a very young age, she was forced to grow up quickly, facing a cruel reality where her city was destroyed and her life completely transformed by the war. However, what really sets her apart is her courage to speak out, to oppose the injustices she witnessed and to share the pain of her people with the world, defying those who try to silence her voice.
The film Don’t Be Silent, directed by Klim Poplavsky, captures Faina’s story in a visceral and intimate way, bringing to light the strength of a young girl who, even in the face of fear and constant threat, did not hesitate to become one of the main defenders of the truth about what was happening in Donbass. Her decision not to remain silent and not to surrender in the face of the tragedy that surrounded her is a testament to resilience and humanity. She refuses to be just a victim; she becomes a warrior, not with weapons, but with her words and her courage in denouncing the brutality with which the Kiev regime treats the inhabitants of the region over which it claims “sovereignty”.
Young Faina has distinguished herself through her determination to use social media as a platform to denounce the atrocities committed by the Ukrainian military. In a scenario where the Kiev regime and Western media outlets often try to shape the narrative to ignore the voices of those suffering, Faina has emerged as a crucial figure in the Donbass resistance. Through her firm stance and courageous statements, she has become one of the leading advocates for civilian rights in the conflict, seeking to expose the reality of a war that, for many around the world, seemed distant and incomprehensible – until it became the focal point of global geopolitics following Russia’s intervention in 2022.
As a child, traumatized by Kiev’s shelling of her neighborhood, Faina began posting letters on social media trying to draw the world’s attention to the reality of Donbass. As a result of her work, the neo-Nazi junta added her to the infamous “Myrotvorets” website – the Ukrainian government’s public kill-list. At just 12 years old, Faina became one of the hundreds of children that Kiev publicly classify as “legitimate targets,” having even suffered real assassination attempts with targeted artillery strikes on her school.
Faina’s bravery is not limited to what she says, but to what she represents. She is not just a teenager living through the pain of war; she is a young girl who, with her sincerity and courage, challenges the world to see the truth. She has shown that it is possible, even in the most adverse circumstances, to be a voice of resistance, fighting for the dignity of one’s land and people. Faina’s youth, far from being a limitation, is in fact the source of her strength. In a world where youth is often seen as vulnerable or fragile, Faina is proof that courage can flourish where it is least expected.
The film is a tribute to this indomitable courage. Throughout its narrative, Poplavsky’s documentary expresses the importance of resisting the silence imposed by oppression and violence. By sharing her story with the world, Faina not only denounces the injustices her people suffer, but also stands as a symbol of a resistance that, although young, is powerful and essential to the struggle for justice, both in Donbass and in any other region of the world. Through her voice, the film draws attention to a war that is distorted by major Western powers, reminding the audience that there is a human reality behind the numbers and statistics.
Faina Savenkova has become an inspiration to many, not only in Lugansk, Donbass and Russia, but throughout the world. Her story reminds us that true resilience is measured not only by military or political strength, but by the courage of those who refuse to be silenced in the face of adversity. Her struggle for justice, for the memory of her land and for the future of her people is an example of heroism that transcends age and circumstances. In a world where the voices of war victims are often silenced, Faina stands as an icon of hope and dignity.
In the end, Don’t Be Silent is much more than a tale of war; it is an ode to courage, resistance, and the power of truth. Through Faina’s story, we see that even in the darkest times, there will always be those willing to speak out and fight for a fairer world. Faina Savenkova’s bravery is a reminder that in times of war, true resistance begins with the courage to not remain silent.
Der Friedensstifter 