Dugin's Moscow - Teheran Axis In Action - But Out Of 300 Drones And Missiles, Only 3 Got Through The Air Defenses And Fighter Aircraft
This is what happens when you have an effective air defense, and an effective air force - you have air superiority. Iran's attack failed, and Israeli air defense was well-tested, and passed...
“Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!” - GEN George S Patton
If Ukraine had had an effective air force, sufficient munitions, and an effective air defense - thus air superiority over the entirety of its land - and the capability to project such force beyond its borders, the Russians, after having been driven out of Kyiv Oblast, and then Kharkiv Oblast, could have been kicked out of the remaining oblasts invaded by them - and Crimea, and for Russia, the war would have been over in the first year - followed quickly by the end of Putin and his gang. But Ukraine was solemnly instructed not to use any of the Western military aid provided beyond its borders, it was to use it strictly for “self defense”. So the Russians, having been told this by Ukraine’s putative allies, naturally did what was expedient for them to achieve their goals - simply stand outside of Ukraine’s airspace and shoot inwards. Against such attacks, Ukraine could not use any of the military aid provided to fight back. Ukraine was told to fight with one hand behind its back, while its opponent could use every trick in the book - and did. Eventually, Ukraine developed its own drone weaponry, and took out 15% of Russian oil refining capacity, amongst other things. And as George Patton found out in World War II, when you run out of gas, you go nowhere, so fuel has the highest logistical importance. And Ukraine figured this out and acted appropriately - something that should have happened with the support of its allies in the first year - and that would have stopped Russia. No av gas, no mo gas, no diesel, no go, they’d have been stopped cold, with a long walk back to the Rodina. And that would have put an end to this. Instead, the US Secretary of Defense sternly admonished Ukraine to stop hitting the refineries *right now*, because that would “hurt Joe Biden’s chances of re-election”. I can’t think of anything more galling than that - an “ally” who constrains you to fight a wily peer opponent with one hand tied behind your back, with the opponent facing no such strictures, and then when you develop a tactic which will make it possible for you to win the war, then this nonsense happens. With such “friends”, who needs enemies? And of course, in allowing Moscow to drag this out for two years, Moscow was allowed to activate Aleksandr Dugin’s “Moscow - Teheran Axis” - a concept, along with the rest of Dugin’s plan, published in 1997, which plan Putin has been following since 2007:
“The most ambitious and complex part of Dugin's program concerns the South, where the focal point is a Moscow-Teheran axis. "The idea of a continental Russian-Islamic alliance," he writes, "lies at the foundation of anti-Atlanticist strategy. [T]his alliance is based on the traditional character of Russian and Islamic civilization" (158). "On the whole," he continues, "the entire Islamic zone represents a naturally friendly geopolitical reality in relation to the Eurasian Empire, since the Islamic tradition ... fully understands the spiritual incompatibility of America and religion. The Atlanticists themselves see the Islamic world, on the whole, as their potential opponent" (239).
As the result of an especially broad Grand Alliance to be concluded with Iran, Dugin maintins that Eurasia-Russia will enjoy the prospect of realizing a centuries-old Russian dream and finally reach the "warm seas" of the Indian Ocean. "In relation to the South," he writes, "the 'geopolitical axis of history' [Russia] has only one imperative--geopolitical expansion to the shores of the Indian Ocean" (341). "Having received geopolitical access--in the first place, naval bases--on the Iranian shores," he writes, "Eurasia will enjoy full security from the strategy of the 'Anaconda ring'" (241). Eurasia-Russia and the Empire of Iran, he emphasizes, will have "one and the same geopolitical tendency" (242).
As a consequence of this Grand Alliance, Eurasia-Russia should be prepared to divide up the imperial spoils with "the Islamic Empire in the South" (239). After asking the question "What is the Russian South?" Dugin claims that it includes "the Caucasus [all of it]"; "the eastern and northern shores of the Caspian (the territories of Kazakhstan and Turkmeniya)"; "Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgiziya and Tajikistan"; plus "Mongolia." Even these regions, he notes, should be seen "as zones of further geopolitical expansion to the south and not as 'eternal borders of Russia'" (343). "Control over the Caucasus," Dugin notes at one point in the book, "opens ... an exit to the 'warm seas'" (349).
The extensive stretch of territory lying to the south of the Russian Federation is to be divvied up with a future Iranian Empire and with Armenia as well. "A special geopolitical role," Dugin writes, "is played by Armenia, which is a traditional and reliable ally of Russia in the Caucasus. Armenia will serve as a most important strategic base in the thwarting of Turkish aggression to the north and to the east." It is necessary, therefore to create "the [subsidiary] axis Moscow-Erevan-Teheran" (352). "The Armenians," Dugin underscores with approval, "are an Aryan people ... [like] the Iranians and the Kurds" (243).
Azerbaijan represents one example of how the trio Eurasia-Russia, Iran, and Armenia might choose to divide up the spoils. "If Azerbaijan," Dugin warns, "maintains its [present] pro-Turkish orientation, then that 'country' will be split up among Iran, Russia, and Armenia. Almost the same holds true with regard to other regions of the Caucasus--Chechnya, Abkhaziya, Dagestan, etc." (243). "It makes sense," Dugin writes elsewhere, "to bind Azerbaijan to Iran" (352).
According to Dugin, Kazakhstan will be integrated "into a common continental bloc with Russia" (354). Abkhaziya, too, will be tied "directly to Russia" (351). He speculates that a "united Osetiya" also might be incorporated into Eurasia-Russia (351). And as for the remaining parts of Georgia? Dugin implies that what remains of this Orthodox Christian country after Russia absorbs Abkhaziya and South Osetiya might be turned over to Iran as booty, appropriate punishment, presumably, for its prickly independent course toward Russia in the post-communist period.” https://tec.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/aleksandr-dugins-foundations-geopolitics
Look up this reference and see how much of it Putin has followed - even as to the rhetoric and the mystical ideas - to a “T”. Russia has within the last week announced its intent to take Kazakhstan, it has already incorporated Abkhazia and South Ossetia into Krasnodar Krai, and it’s working away on Armenia. And there is a very solid connection with the Shi’ite government in Teheran, which had in previous months used its proxies to create a very effectual diversion, drawing the world’s attention away from what Russia has been doing in Ukraine, and fastening it on Israel, which Teheran has now attacked:
It appears that Iran’s attack has been every bit as much of a failure as Russia’s initial attack on Ukraine in 2022, but this is just the opening salvo, because Iran is working hard on getting a nuclear weapon, and the continued existence of that effort is now an existential threat to Israel - and Iran and Israel are now at war following Iran’s attack.
And none of this needs to have happened if we had at least had the appearance of strength and resolve to stop it dead in its tracks. That’s deterrence, and that prevents wars and their horrendous consequences. Weak and vacillating leaders, who speak loudly at first, but don’t have the backbone to follow up their words - and the will to continue the fight, if it happens, to the eventual defeat of the aggressor - invite aggressors to attack. Weakness in front of a bully just invites abuse, lack of confidence and the willingness to fight back invites further aggression and abuse. The only way to deal with bullies is by projecting strength - and if that fails, to beat them bloody - and if that entails laying for them and smashing them upside their head with a baseball bat, then that’s what it takes. At that point, deterrence is re-established, so to speak. But it would be far better not to invite attack in the first place.
And now we have the “choice” of a weak, vacillating appeaser, who would hand over Ukraine chunk by chunk to its invader, as opposed to two others, who would hand it over wholesale. How in Hell we ended up with this kind of … disgusting isn’t quite the word for it … choice of “leadership” is beyond me. If we’d had this choice in 1940, we’d be singing the Horst Wessel Lied:
and Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willen would have won an Academy Award…
John Kennedy of Louisiana - on point:
Perhaps he could run for President…