Day 311: December 31

Today in the morning, British Intelligence issued a warning that the Russians will likely break their usual pattern of strikes in an effort to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian population over the new year holiday period, and as it turned out, they were totally right. Around 3 hours later, the Russians, indeed, had launched their missiles.

This time the Russians primarily launched Caliber rockets from the warships in the Black Sea, and they also tapped into their stock in Astrakhan, near the Caspian Sea. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that the Russians carried out a total of about 20 rocket launches. However, looking at the videos of launches and traces, one can count more than 20 rockets, and this is where it gets interesting once again.

The reason why only 20 rockets entered the territory of Ukraine is simple – Russian air defense seems to have shot down several rockets once again. Today, shortly after the rockets were launched from Astrakhan, the footage was released of how one rocket fell in the Volgograd region. The footage captured only burning grey fragments of the rockets. Given that no explosions were reported and that there is no shall crater on the ground, it means that the rocket was intercepted by Russian air defense and its remnants just fell on the ground without explosion.

A similar situation seems to have happened in Crimea. Here, the footage also captures how Russian air defense starts intercepting some objects. Some sources claim that Russian air defense is actually intercepting Ukrainian drones. There is a theory that the Ukrainians are launching their massive drone attacks simultaneously with Russian strikes in order to confuse the air defense system. However, even though at first glance it seems like a smart move, there are a lot of problems associated with the implementation of this plan.

Firstly, the Ukrainians need to know exactly from which base the Russians decided to launch their rockets this time. As you might have noticed, there is some sort of rotation process between the launch places, and they use a different combination of places each time. Secondly, the drones are much slower, so in order to the time it perfectly, the Ukrainian would need to know not only the exact place but also the exact time for which the launch has been planned. Thirdly, the operational altitude and speed differences are still large enough to tell the difference between the missiles and drones. Lastly, when the Ukrainians hit Crimea with drones, there was usually footage featuring them, which is quite easy to tell because they are loud. So, for these reasons, I am inclined to think that there was no simultaneous massive Ukrainian drone attack, and the Russians just have some internal problems with their air defense system.

In the meantime, some Ukrainian officials are also teasing the Russians with predictions that Moscow will spend the New Year in the dark. After the Ukrainians struck the Russian strategic airfield in the deep Russian rear two times, the Kremlin decided to take no chances. The Russians are reportedly boosting their air defense around Moscow and have already deployed around 2 thousand people just to monitor the sky during the New Year. The Russians have several circles of air defense around Moscow, which they recently reinforced even more.

First of all, such a high level of alertness might partially explain why the Russians are shooting down everything moving in the sky, including their own rockets. But apart from that, such a high concentration of air defense around Moscow inevitably means that Russian air defense has been compromised somewhere else. The paranoia over the security of Moscow may open the door for a lot of other opportunities for the Ukrainians, so we will see whether these opportunities will be identified and exploited.

No Lie podcast episode 137: Republicans' House win set to BACKFIRE in stunning reversal.

00:00 Introduction
00:29 Qin Gang
01:59 Reopening & First Wave
08:12 Chinese Economy: Blue Collar Labour Force

“Ukraine was much more prepared for winter than Russia.”

Zelensky says Ukraine is making advances in the Donbas region, which Yevhen Petrov says is enabled by Ukraine’s winter readiness.

The war in Ukraine has been the biggest topic of 2022, but things haven't been going Putin's way. Check out today's epic new video to find out 5 ways Russia is suffering major losses in Ukraine.

In this video I look at GLOBAL DEBT and compare the situation today with the position prior to the GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS in 2008. Governments around the world have been issuing MASSIVE amounts of debt over the past 15 years and Global Leverage is now at frightening levels. The levels of debt in China have increased dramatically over the past 5 years and the situation now looks critical. As the Global Economy moves towards recession what are the risks that this amount of debt presents?

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:09 GLOBAL LEVERAGE
5:39 HOUSEHOLD DEBT
6:57 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
8:20 CORPORATE DEBT
9:36 TOTAL DEBT
10:20 GOVERNMENT LEVERAGE
11:55 INTEREST COSTS
13:24 CHINA
16:08 SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

Suddenly, talk of nuclear apocalypse is in the air for the first time in decades. With Moscow's forces continuing to struggle in Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin has begun regularly invoking his country’s massive arsenal of nukes in what many view as a sign of desperation. In a menacing speech, Putin recently claimed that he would use “all the forces and means at our disposal” to defend areas of Ukraine he had illegally annexed and that he was not bluffing. While the world has already witnessed the devastating impact of Putin’s missiles, could there be a secret weapon in Russia’s arsenal that has never been officially acknowledged?

00:00 - Introduction
1:20 - Russia's Secret Suitcase Nukes
2:03 - The Mystery of The Missing Suitcase Nukes
8:26 - Does US Also Possess Suitcase Nukes?
9:42 - Are Russia's Suitcase Nukes On The Loose?
11:08 - Suitcase Nukes a Threat To Ukraine?

Moscow Police Chief James Fry, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, Idaho State Police Col. Kedrick Wills and University of Idaho President Scott Green announce the arrest of Bryan Christopher Kohberger for the deaths of four University of Idaho college students in November 2022.