Excerpts from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address at the signing of the agreements on admission of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia:

✅ The referendums have concluded and their results are well-known. The people have made their choice. Their decisive decision.

📜 Undoubtedly, it is their unalienable right, which is enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter – “the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples”.

✊🏻 There’s nothing more powerful than determination of millions of people, who share the same culture, religion, traditions and language to consider themselves a part of Russia. Whose ancestors lived in a unified state for centuries.

🔙 There’s nothing more powerful that the decision of these people to return to their true homeland.  

🇷🇺 People who live in Lugansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye are becoming our citizens.

❗️ Forever.

Escobar: Nord Stream Sabotage Propels 'Disaster Capitalism' To New, Toxic Level | ZeroHedge
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-nord-stream-sabotage-propels-disaster-capitalism-new-toxic-level

🇷🇺 Tens of thousands of people on Red Square in Moscow celebrate the accession of four new regions

⚡BREAKING NEWS⚡

NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg's speech on German channel DW is interrupted by footage of Putin speaking at a concert welcoming new regions into Russia.

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NATO COWARDS BLINK

Oh, no - we have nothing to do with this. The mandate remains the same: we fight till the last Ukrainian. And no, no NATO for them.

Over and out.

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69465

Putin's historic speech.

First part.

Quem lucra com o Terrorismo de Gasoduto?

Pepe Escobar

A Guerra dos Corredores Econômicos entrou em território incandescente e inexplorado: o Terrorismo de Gasoduto.

https://sakerlatam.org/quem-lucra-com-o-terrorismo-de-gasoduto/

Very important. Already rippin' in Brazil, on the eve of the Return of Lula. Straussians included.

So, take your pick. The truth is somewhere in between.

Has a decision been made to surrender the town? It is not clear, as the Russian Army can relatively easily evacuate the garrison that has pulled to Penkovsky Yar positions in the outskirts of Liman and the withdraw from the corridor. This is not happening at the moment, and the explanation could be that there are preparations for a counter strike, together with the arrived 58th Army reinforcements.

Or it could be that the 58th Army is preparing the garrison that surely had an incredibly difficult time holding the line for evacuation (the simplest such evacuation route is toward Kremennaya, but that road is also attacked by the Ukrainian artillery, so evacuation is fraught with difficulty). In the case of the evacuation, the 58th Army units will facilitate it and then withdraw from the corridor themselves, just as was done at Balakleya.

Are the yet-additional reinforcements being sent to Liman for the purpose of holding the line and counterattacking, or are they being sent because the withdrawal of the troops appears to have become a more difficult venture than expected?

It may be that, purely out of political desire to get some sort of result at Liman as soon as possible, Zelensky has now unwittingly drawn the Russian Army into a battle it would have preferred to avoid (but now simply cannot) by withdrawing the better defensive lines east- and north-wards. In this case, both the strategies are flawed, and Liman may indeed become the unwilling Stalingrad of the northern front.

It could well be that Russia is still preparing counteroffensive actions at Liman—perhaps because their information about the operational situation and the losses suffered by the Ukrainian troops indicates that such actions are warranted.

I am marginally leaning, at the moment, towards the variant that the additional reinforcements being sent by the Southern Military District command are going there to facilitate the safe withdrawal of the Liman garrison and the 58th Army units. However, this assessment is subject to change.

And yes, despite my optimism and hope, Liman is on the verge of being lost now. It has not been abandoned yet.

This seems to be the most realistic evaluation of the Krasny Liman drama as it stands. It does NOT look good. Quite possible Liman may become the STALINGRAD of the northern front.

Zin note: While I believe this is unhelpful, I'll post it for the purpose of reporting.

I have always said: there is nothing better than the voiced truth, albeit bitter, offensive, but the truth. This is the only way to move forward. Therefore, I cannot remain silent about what happened in Krasny Liman.

The defense of this section was led by the commander of the Central Military District, Colonel-General Alexander Lapin. The same Lapin, who received the star of the Hero of Russia for the capture of Lisichansk, although de facto he was not there and was not around. Lapin was also given over to the troops of the Western Military District.

The colonel-general deployed mobilized fighters from the LPR and other units on all frontiers of the Liman direction, but did not provide them with the necessary communications, interaction and the supply of ammunition. Two weeks ago, Major General Commander of the special forces "Akhmat", my dear BROTHER Apty Alaudinov, personally reported to me that our fighters could become an easy target. In turn, I informed Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, about the danger. But the general assured me that he had no doubts about Lapin's leadership talent and did not believe that a retreat was possible in Krasny Liman and its environs.

A week later, Lapin moves his headquarters to Starobilsk, a hundred kilometers from his subordinates, while he sits himself in Lugansk. How can you quickly manage units, being 150 km away from them? Due to the lack of elementary military logistics, today we have left several settlements and a large piece of territory.

It's not a shame that Lapin is mediocre. And the fact that he is covered at the top by the leaders in the General Staff. If I had my way, I would have demoted Lapin to the rank of private, would have deprived him of his awards and, with a machine gun in his hands, would have sent him to the front lines to wash away my shame with blood.

Army nepotism will not lead to good. In the army, it is necessary to appoint people of a strong character, courageous, principled, who worry about their fighters, who tear their teeth for their soldier, who know that a subordinate cannot be left without help and support. There is no place for nepotism in the army, especially in difficult times.

We didn't have enough raisins? Even then, I said: shoot at the enemy’s military concentration in the Izyum captured by the Nazis, especially since our artillery at that time had such an opportunity. They would have done away with the main Satanists and fascists at once. We must carry out NWO in the full sense of the word, and not flirt. Use every opportunity and every weapon to defend OUR territory. Donetsk is still being shelled. Residents of the joined 4 territories want to be protected.

I don't know what the RF Ministry of Defense reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but in my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons. It is not necessary to take every decision with an eye on the Western American community - it has already said so and done a lot against us.
Yesterday there was a parade in Izyum, today a flag in Liman, and what tomorrow?
Everything would be fine if it weren't so bad.

https://t.me/RKadyrov_95/2911

KADYROV NO HOLDS BARRED.

He's absolutely right.

MUST READ.

https://www.unz.com/pescobar/who-profits-from-pipeline-terror/

Very important. Top story at Unz today. This is the sequel to the "declaration of war" column - written before the Return of the Baby Bears. A lot of key points - including pre-confirmation of what the SVR and Putin himself reiterated afterwards.

http://thesaker.is/germany-and-eu-have-been-handed-over-a-declaration-of-war/


Please support The Saker. His house in Florida was destroyed by hurricane Ian, he's goin' through a very rough ordeal. Hit the site, make a donation, spread the word - this is one of the net's absolute top geopolitical analysis sites. He won't post for a while, so this is the last one from me on the site, the "declaration of war" column - with plenty of sharp, top comments. Please read it in conjunction with the follow-up, Who Profits from Pipeline Terror, at The Cradle and Unz. Support all of them - plus the fab team at Strategic Culture. We tell it like it is - and we take no prisoners. And feel free to be VERY p****d about Krasny Liman. I do hope the MoD learned the lesson.

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69465

Putin's full - mega-historic - speech on the Return of the Baby Bears.

Alea jacta est.

Note that the last full paragraph starts with...

"Behind these words stands a glorious spiritual choice".

Post post-modernism starts here.

TREMENDOUS STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY

That's all everyone needs to know.

Just like 9/11 was a "tremendous strategic opportunity" for indiscriminate invasion/bombing/killing/plunder across the lands of Islam.

Strelkov:

Kadyrov supported by Prigozhin attacked General Lapin for surrendering Liman, although it is unlikely to be only his fault, since Lapin was not initially responsible for defending Liman - his units were sent to help from another section of the front and, moreover, were sent too late.

There were also direct accusations against the Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov - these, in my personal opinion, are much more substantiated. This particular comrade is responsible for all our "victories" in the current "SMO" - beginning with the "de-escalation" of the Kiev, Sumy and Chernigov oblasts, continuing with the "successful regrouping" from under Balakleya, Izyum, Kupyansk, Volchansk and ending with "withdrawal to more convenient positions" near Liman.

"What an idiot to just about admit the US did this."

The definitive concise judgement, by one of my Beltway intel sources, on Little Blinkie's "opportunity" re: the Blow Up of the Nord Stream Twins.

HOW WILL RUSSIA RESPOND TO THE BLOW UP OF THE NORD STREAM TWINS - in 30 seconds

Goddess Maria summarized it:

“We will respond with an investigation. This is a must, and our law-enforcement bodies have already launched it. This [the Nord Streams] is our property, resources, and infrastructure.”

So there’s no Russian retaliation FOR NOW. It will come - and it will be asymmetrical. Russian intel already knows what happened. An investigation must cover all legal bases.

The definitive working hypothesis remains the same.

This was an intra-NATO op - Poland, US, Denmark, Sweden, with NATO air surveillance support from Sigonella, against NATO member Germany.

Only the braindead may believe in NATO investigating itself.

"Pentagon says US was absolutely not involved in Nord Stream pipeline gas leak incident."

Now, with this denial as a source, the fact checkers can leap into action and pump out articles declaring it a stone-cold fact.

Then the social media and tech giant censorship algorithms kick in and start censoring everyone claiming otherwise, based on the fact checkers, while hyping up news companies publishing wild, warmongering speculation.

It is an efficient narrative control process involving hundreds of thousands of people working with unlimited budgets; it is the most effective propaganda machine ever created.

Alexander Dugin: "We are dealing with a barbaric, terrible force. There are no rules anymore, we are in a completely different phase of global confrontation. And we must realize that we can hardly resolve this crisis by soft negotiation. We must be strong, we must win, we must mobilize our entire society.
We laughed a lot at them. At Biden, who is out of his mind, at Zelensky, who is a drug addict, but the West attacks us very harshly, and sometimes effectively and painfully. This theme of mockery of the enemy has exhausted itself, we need to take this battle seriously.
A drug addict and a senile old man communicating with spirits is a facade. Behind this is the iron power of Anglo-Saxon and NATO civilization, the West, liberalism, globalism. This is the result of the last 500 years of their history.
They stand for their idea, a totally false and totally inhuman idea, but most importantly, we have no place at all in their world. We must realize that we are condemned, and no compromise can be reached with this terrible, dark, cruel force. We must be mobilized for this fundamental confrontation in order to save Russia, humanity, and the world in the end."