1. Larry Johnson posted yesterday a very good piece from his friend on Maskirovka and deception in Operation Z.

Deception. The Soviets were probably the greatest masters of battlefield deception that there has ever been. I recommend David Glantz’s book for those who want to make a real study of it and for those who want a shorter introduction I suggest this essay (“one is awed by the magician’s illusions of objects disappearing and appearing”). Some in the West may remember D-Day’s ghost army but, as far as I know, this was the only time the Western Allies did deception on this scale. As the references above make clear, the Soviets did deception operations on this scale all the time – dummy vehicles, faked tank tracks, silent movement, lights moving at night, loudspeakers making engine noises, feint attacks, radio traffic, carefully encouraging the enemy to see what he wanted to see; as House says, they almost always fooled the Germans. And not just then – the 1939 attack at Khalkhin Gol stunned the Japanese – “we had no prior clue“. One may be certain that the Russian Army has inherited this talent.

Read the whole thing at Larry's blog--it is excellent.

2. The Hill, ever neocon and exceptionalist rag, suddenly was afflicted by a bout of clarity and in an opinion piece concluded:

The unprecedented U.S.-led Western sanctions against Russia have been likened to economic weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that would ultimately destroy the Russian economy. In reality, the sanctions are like a double-edged sword — they inflict pain on Russia but also impose costs on their imposers. The West, in fact, is caught in a trap: The sanctions and the deepening conflict, by helping to raise global commodity and energy prices, translate into higher revenues for Moscow in spite of a significant decrease in its exports. And the higher international prices, by fueling inflation, mean political trouble at home for those behind the sanctions.

No shit, geniuses. How about learning what actual economy is and how it operates. The author also makes another discovery.

Look at another paradox: Despite Russia being cut off from the world’s financial arteries, the Russian ruble has dramatically recovered through state intervention. But, as if to signal that Japan is paying a price for following the U.S. lead on Russia, the Japanese yen (the world’s third-most-traded currency) has sunk to a 20-year low against the U.S. dollar, ranking this year as the worst performing of the 41 currencies tracked — worse than the ruble.

In general, Russophobia is being made by Russia a very expensive luxury. But the author DOES give a sensible explanation on why Operation Z proceeds the way it proceeds.

Biden’s belief that “this war could continue for a long time” is backed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who testified that he expects it to last years. But as the conflict drags on and the boomerang effects of the sanctions deepen the cost-of-living crisis, the divides in the Western camp will widen and “Ukraine fatigue” will set in. The West will be left with little choice but to negotiate with Putin to end the conflict, as predicted by Javier Solana, a former NATO chief who also served as Spain’s foreign minister. Such negotiations will be vital to halt Ukraine’s destruction and avert Europe from paying the main price.

You see, Russia CAN afford to be methodical and deliberate in her demilitarization of Ukraine, the West cannot--it simply doesn't have time. And that is the difference, a strategic one, between real economy and a virtual one. Nobody cares what Biden believes or what kind of, traditionally wrong, forecasts all those D.C. think-tanks produced, the reality "on the ground" has its own mind and those who do not understand it are bound to fail. Of course news like this:

China Calls Out U.S. Dollar Dominance As It Buys Russian Coal With Yuan

also send shivers down the spines of many in D.C. because all that is just the unfolding spectacle of the destruction of the US Dollar dominance. You see, one cannot accuse me of Russian rah-rah, all what I posted here is taken from the US sources. Repeat after me--reality is a bitch.