The Peanut Gallery: Kremlin Deploys Chemical Weapons in Ukraine - NATO Must Act.
January 30, 2024
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Your daily dose of unfounded speculation.
Please remember that I know nothing.
Iran and Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah are conducting an information operation to distance Iran from the January 28 one-way drone attack that killed three US service members in northeastern Jordan.
Run.
The CIA didn’t forget how to topple governments, by the way. We just stopped doing it because it’s a terrible idea. In most cases.
The anticipated Russian 2024 winter-spring offensive effort is underway in the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border area.
Oh, are we calling it now? This happening? Okay.
I mean sure, ISW, it’s been going for a few days, but I guess we can make it official. Apparently, this is a “for realsies” push. Huzzah! Witness the confetti.
The thing is, though, I’m not seeing huge gains. The front remains stagnant, just as stagnant as it was (and is) in Avdiivka. In launching...whatever this is, Putin’s spending what’s left in the treasury. There’s nowhere else to escalate from here, resource wise. 40% of GDP: that’s the number I saw floating around. Almost half.
And yet still payin’ out pensions, eh, Putin? “Oh, I bribe the Muscovites to stay passive and asleep. This is great! Better start a war.” Fuckin’ dumbass.
Anyway, Russia is pressing hard into Kupyansk, and, in some places, making marginal gains. Like we’re talking one-or-two hamlets. It’s adorable, considering the weight Putin’s attempting to bring to bear.
ISW intends to bring us an extended analysis of the RF offensive thus far shortly. I'll cover it when it pops up.
Ukrainian officials continued to deny rumors about the purported dismissal of Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
The dismissal rumor was bullshit yesterday and it’s still bullshit today.
Russian forces appear to be continuing to violate the Chemical Weapons Convention to which Russia is signatory.
This one actually signifies a significant escalation.
Like, sure the Kremlin’s been dropping tear gas on Krynky for months now, and the West hasn’t said a thing. Not a peep. Now the Kremlin has escalated to this wack-ass shit,
Chloropicrin is primarily used as a soil fumigant that can be fatal when inhaled, and it is sometimes classified as a riot control agent (RCA) due to its harmful and irritant effects.[9] The CWC prohibits the use of RCAs in warfare.
This stuff’s nasty, essentially extra-strength bugspray and it’ll kill you if you breathe it for long enough. It was used extensively in World War One, which is how you know it's good. Ain't no cruelty like old-timey cruelty.
Kremlin’s dropping this shit from Belgorod to Zaporizhya, five times in the last couple days. Extensive usage of chemical weapons would be...beyond barbaric, and this isn't even close to the worst the Kremlin's got in its stockpile.
They should feel ashamed of themselves. We left this chapter behind. Every country signed the Chemical Weapons Convention for a damn reason—even Hitler didn’t use these things (on soldiers). And it's easy to see why he was so terrified, as Hitler lost a testicle in the First World War. Such a trauma... it changes a man. The thought of chemical weapons likely triggered all sorts of PTSD flashbacks.
Senior Russian officials may be intensifying their attempts to frame and justify Russia’s long term war effort in Ukraine as an existential geopolitical confrontation with the West by explicitly equating the US with the Nazis.
Yawn.
Russian opposition sources suggested that widespread internet outages in Russia on January 30 may be the result of Russian efforts to establish the “sovereign internet” system.
The Kremlin didn’t just decide to flick the internet off on a whim. They changed their DNS information, meaning the downtime was likely how long it took for the change to populate.
Either way, this is probably the most significant story in the ISW’s entire article, because it means the Russian internet now flows through a Kremlin controlled DNS server. Putin looked at the modem, he looked at the firewall, and spread his cheeks wide to human centipede himself between the two. Wonderful.
This will grant the Kremlin absolute control over public discourse. The power behind this sort of thing cannot be overstated. By deciding who is allowed to connect to “the internet” Putin is deciding whether someone exists. Entire regions can find themselves cutoff from the outside world with a keystroke. VPNs become useless, as all outside communication must route through the Kremlin’s DNS server. They catch dissidents before they even get out the door. With this one change, the Kremlin has seized absolute control over Russian communications.
You guys remember all those videos of Muscovites complaining about their burst pipes? Yeah, that sort of thing is about to become super uncommon—not because it isn’t happening, rather we just won’t hear about it.
The Kremlin has been intensifying efforts to consolidate control over the Russian information space in advance of the March 2024 Russian presidential election, and these efforts support the development of the “sovereign internet” system.
Well he’s got it now. This Presidential election is going to go smoothly whether it wants to or not, apparently.
Russian authorities are planning to increase the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia in 2024. Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Council Deputy Alla Barkhatnova stated on January 30 that occupation authorities in Kherson Oblast are working to increase the number of children who go on “trips” to “health and recreation” camps in Russia in 2024.[85] Barkhatnova noted that several such programs took place in 2023 and that Ukrainian children underwent ”social and psychological adaptation” in various camps, including in Litvonovo, Moscow Oblast, and in Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai.
Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this to an end.
'Q’ For the Community:
So ISW says the Kupyansk Offensive is real. How do you think it'll turn out?
Join the conversation over on /r/TheNuttySpectacle.
And consider subscribing. You could have this screaming monkey in your inbox every morning. Or rather, Monday, Wednesday, Friday as I try not to spam. Click the button below to experience the paradise I have described.