Dmitry Orlov

Just as people around the world started to blissfully forget that the wretched failed state formerly known as the Ukraine even exists, it reminded us of its existence by attacking the Kursk region of Russia, which it borders. Over a thousand Ukrainian troops, many of them from battle-tested Nazi formations and many of them pulled off parts of the existing 1000-km-long front, along which the Ukrainian side is currently in broad, methodical retreat, were equipped with remaining tanks and artillery, most of it, at this point, Western-provided, and ordered to attack a weakly defended, previously peaceful part of Russian territory in a terrorist-style attack. Some Polish and French mercenaries and some well-known Georgian cutthroats were also observed.

Numerous theories have been circulated over the past few days, attempting to explain why the Ukrainians would attack Kursk. After all, if you already have a 1000-km active frontline with Russia along which you are retreating steadily while incurring massive losses, the one thing that you definitely wouldn’t want to do is extend it. The rationale offered by Mikhailo Podolyak, Zelensky’s henchman, that the goal is to improve the Ukraine’s negotiating position vis-à-vis Russia, is blatantly ridiculous, for there are no negotiations, nor will there ever be, for a solid set of reasons:

First, Russia does not recognize the Kiev régime as legitimate: the term of its president expired in May; the term of its parliament expires tomorrow (August 11); therefore, nobody in Kiev has the authority to sign any peace agreements. (Articles of capitulation are a different matter: any old loser can be forced to sign those, as his first and last official act.)

Second, Russia has spelled out its terms for the cessation of hostilities. The first of these is the lifting of all anti-Russian sanctions, from the US, the EU and their allies, which Russia considers as illegal under international law. Then there are the guarantees of future Ukrainian neutrality, the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries, demilitarization, and denazification (the Nazis will have to stand trial à la Nuremberg). Last but not least, Russia’s new regions of Crimea, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson have to be internationally recognized as sovereign Russian territory.

What does this have to do with the Kiev régime and its putative representatives such as Mikhailo Podolyak? Well, nothing at all, really. This is way over their heads; the Russians are speaking directly to the Washingtonians or they are not speaking at all and just shooting and bombing to their hearts’ content. And so let’s put the “improved negotiating position” theory where it belongs: in the trash.

Some analysts pointed out that perhaps this incursion was an expression of an idiosyncratic Nazi tendency:

• At the end of World War I, Kaiser Wilhelm ordered his remaining troops to march on Paris. They didn’t make it far and the Kaiser capitulated shortly thereafter.

• At the end of World War II, a certain mediocre Austrian painter ordered his remaining troops to march on Northern Italy… and shot himself a short while later.

Former Ukrainian president Zelensky has just the pistol for that occasion: a hand-engraved CZ75 pistol presented to him by President Pavel of Czechia. But I somehow doubt that Zelensky will shoot himself; more likely, he’ll fly to his mansion in Miami and just relax and enjoy life for a bit. You see, the Ukrainian régime is all about money — nothing else. The millions of dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers, the economic and social devastation — that is all just some collateral damage to them. All that’s important to them, and to their overseas Washingtonian masters, is that it has made them rich.

Then come the superficially technical-seeming analysts. Some surmise that the target of the attack on Kursk was the Kursk Atomic Energy Station (or nuclear power plant). But given that it is some 60km away from the border and can only be reached by driving armored columns on roads (the land is riddled with swamps, gullies and other obstacles), which roads are very easily attacked from the air (given Russia’s complete air superiority) destroying said armored columns, the notion that the Ukrainians could reach the nuke plant is pure fancy.

Some other analysts have theorized that the target of the Ukrainian attack is the town of Sudzha, not far from the border. What sets Sudzha apart is that it is the location of the natural gas pumping and metering station, from where the pipeline goes across the Ukraine and feeds Moldova (through Transnistria), Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. If the Ukraine cut the flow of gas, that would pose quite a problem for these countries. While Moldova and Hungary could get the volumes of Russian gas they need via Turkey, Slovkia and Hungary would be forced to make other, far more expensive arrangements involving liquified natural gas pumped through countries that have LNG ports. As for the Ukraine itself, it was formerly a major user of Russian gas, but now that it has a much smaller population and virtually no industry left, the paltry 20 billion cubic meters per year of its domestic production are quite sufficient for its needs.

But why do the Ukrainians need to invade Sudzha to shut down the pipeline when there are other pumping stations conveniently located directly on Ukrainian-held territory? There is really just one plausible answer: if something nasty (no doubt, Ukraine-related) were to happen to the pumping station at Sudzha, the Kiev régime could claim that to be an inadvertent consequence of military action and therefore a force majeur; furthermore, any responsibility for consequential economic damage would rest with the Russians, not with the Ukrainians, since Sudzha is on Russian territory. Therefore, the Ukrainians could blow up the pumping station and then demand that Russia compensate them for lost transit fees (which Russia wouldn’t do, but that’s still good enough for propaganda purposes).<

But the Kiev régime, and its Washingtonian friends, do not need to blow up the Sudzha pumping station in order to make money — which, as I mentioned before, is their ultimate goal. It’s enough for them to THREATEN to blow up the pumping station to get European gas futures to jump.

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