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The Unz Review •�An Alternative Media Selection$
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War in Donbass
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War in Donbass

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Roman Protasevich Served in the Azov Battalion
•�May 26, 2021
•�1,000 Words •�219 Comments
The rumors that Roman Protasevich was associated with the Azov Battalion, a Neo-Nazi regiment incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard, came off as too perfect of a "pro-Kremlin" caricature for me to initially put much faith in them. But over the past couple of days it has been more or less confirmed that those initial... Read More
War Postponed, for Now
•�April 22, 2021
•�600 Words •�359 Comments
I have compared the current standoff in Donbass to a poker game. By amassing troops around Ukraine, Putin let it be known that a Ukrainian attack on Donbass would be - well, if not assuredly catastrophic, then at least extremely risky for its continued statehood. Ukraine could raise by going ahead with it anyway. It... Read More
Game of Chicken Kiev
•�April 18, 2021
•�1,100 Words •�195 Comments
There's not much to add now except that we are approaching the moment of maximum danger. (I noted that if it happens, it will probably happen sometime from late April to July). What I think essentially happened is that the Ukrainians wanted to do an Operation Storm on Donbass, which is why movements of military... Read More
War in Donbass Update
•�March 25, 2021
•�600 Words •�341 Comments
For various reasons I am upping my probability of intense fighting in the Donbass this year (probably this summer) to over 50%. The Ukrainian buildup on the border continues. Wheeling in all those guns and equipment and letting them stand idle is expensive. The Americans have sent a cargo ship which is unloading more equipment... Read More
Biden to Exchange Donbass for Nord Stream?
•�March 17, 2021
•�900 Words •�150 Comments
There's been reports of a Ukrainian military buildup in the Donbass for several weeks now. The Saker, amongst others, has also reported on them, quoting a Telegram blogger who is claimed to have good sources in Kiev: My main reason for skepticism that the Ukrainians have serious aggressive intentions is that the Ukraine is still... Read More
The Russian Donbass Is Here to Stay
•�March 7, 2021
•�1,400 Words •�370 Comments
There's renewed rumors of war in the Donbass. But I don't think it's happening for a multitude of different reasons: Polls suggest that since around 2019 an outright majority of the LDNR wants direct union with Russia (<10% want independent, 12% want reintegration into Ukraine). The region is increasingly integrated into Russia de facto. The... Read More
Census of Foreign Fighters in the Ukraine
•�October 7, 2019
•�900 Words •�200 Comments
Some interesting estimates of the numbers of foreign fighters that participated in the Donbass War from 2014-2019 from a report [PDF] by the Soufan Center. (h/t Kholmogorov) The claim that 13,372 foreigners fought for the LDNR sounds like a lot, considering that the NAF numbers ~40k troops and that not more than 10% of them... Read More
What If?: Galicia Rose Up In Place of Donbass
•�May 11, 2019
•�400 Words •�110 Comments
Five years since the referenda in Donetsk and Lugansk about joining the Russian Federation. By early February 2014, numerous regional administrative offices (OGAs) had been seized by Maidan forces in Far West Ukraine, with attempts at storming them elsewhere in the West and Center. Some city and regional councils made autonomy- or even independence-sounding proclamations.... Read More
LDNR Residents to Get Russian Passports
•�April 24, 2019
•�400 Words •�125 Comments
Putin has just signed a law on simplified citizenship for residents of the LDNR. Any person with LDNR residency documents now has the right to apply for Russian citizenship, and can expect an answer within three months. Citizenship is immediately conferred upon a positive decision. Comments: 1. Fundamentally, this is the humanitarian thing to do,... Read More
Is Zelensky Putler's Puppet?
•�April 22, 2019
•�2,400 Words •�209 Comments
Prokudin-Gorsky. Malorossiya, c.1905-1915. In the 24 hours since the results of the second round of the Ukrainian Presidential elections became known, there has been a strange convergence of views on Ukraine's course under President-Elect Zelensky from opposite sides of the barricades. Many "svidomy" Ukrainians are in tears over their "hoodwinked" or "stupid" compatriots electing a... Read More
HABBENING: The Ukraine Elections 2019 (2nd Round)
•�April 20, 2019
•�900 Words •�135 Comments
The second round of the Ukrainian elections are this Sunday. * Zelensky is almost certainly going to win (PredictIt has had him at ~95% for weeks now). It looks like he is going to blow Poroshenko out, probably something like Zelensky 67% vs. Poroshenko 30%. * Unless plans change I'll be discussing the Ukrainian elections... Read More
Chalenko's Ukraine
•�April 20, 2019
•�1,300 Words •�11 Comments
Alexander Chalenko. There are many forms of Ukrainian identity. The svidomy believe that the Ukraine is a purely autochthonous entity, whose "Russian" achievements were stolen by Muscovy (Richard Sakwa, more politely, calls them "monists"). There are "pluralists" who believe that they share a common cultural and genetic ancestry with Russia and Belorussia in the medieval... Read More
Remembering Slavyansk
•�October 6, 2018
•�800 Words •�205 Comments
Today I was at the presentation of Alexander Zhuchkovsky's new book 85 Days in Slavyansk [buy]. The author is a Novorossiya activist and humanitarian help coordinator who is based long-term in the DNR. Many of the big names in Russian nationalism were there: On the far left is Egor Kholmogorov (see our translations of his... Read More
Open Thread 55: Chilli Pepper Thread
•�September 14, 2018
•�1,800 Words •�261 Comments
I have more chilli peppers than I know what to do with (about 20 kg worth of it). Any ideas? My "Stupid People" post has been phenomenally successful, generating almost 1,000 comments and more visits than other post of mine at the UR since The Road to World War III this April. It also generated... Read More
Putin Needs to Sacrifice the Donbass to Survive. (Not Really).
•�September 1, 2018
•�1,300 Words •�197 Comments
Donbass is the heart of Russia. 1921 poster. Or so some people seem to believe and hope. So let's tally up these reasons: The Russian economy is getting increasingly desperate. Two percent GDP growth isn't anything to write home about, but neither is it particularly catastrophic. The budget is balanced, inflation is at record lows,... Read More
BREAKING: DNR Head Alexander Zakharchenko Has Been Assassinated
•�August 31, 2018
•�400 Words •�219 Comments
Alexander Zhuchkovsky reports that there has been an explosion at the "Separ" [separatist] restaurant in Donetsk, killing DNR head Alexander Zakharchenko. DNR Income and Collections Minister Alexander Timofeev has also been seriously injured. He had come under increasing criticism in recent years for making loud pronouncements that went unfulfilled, such as promising that the Ukraine... Read More
MH17 Take
•�May 24, 2018
•�100 Words •�145 Comments
Broke: Russians downed MH17 so Russia must pay reparations, withdraw from the Ukraine, Putler must go to the Hague. Woke: Muh Ukrainian false flag. *scribbles 5,000 words on obscure alt media webzine that no-one will read* Bespoke: Russians downed MH17 and Russia must face up to it like a civilized, Western country (i.e. no apologies,... Read More
Russia Elections 2018: Why Did Grudinin Do Well in the East?
•�March 22, 2018
•�500 Words •�4 Comments
Israel Shamir argues that Pavel Grudinin doing relatively well east of the Urals - then declining in the (much more populated) European Russia - constitutes evidence of fraud. This is unlikely to be true, since all the statisticians who regularly analyze Russian electoral fraud - needless to say, virtually all of them anti-Putin - agree... Read More
The Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished (And Won't Anytime Soon)
•�March 17, 2018
•�5,000 Words •�254 Comments
Since the Russian election is taking place on the anniversary of Crimea's incorporation into Russia - an intentional play to increase turnout - now is as good a time as any to reflect on the complete failure of the Kremlin's Ukraine policy. The Adepts of Putin's "Clever Plan" have predicted all twelve of the Ukraine's... Read More
"Russia Will Always Betray You, Son"
•�February 28, 2018
•�800 Words •�50 Comments
That's Dnepropetrovsk mayor Boris Filatov, close Kolomoisky acolyte and Maidan hardliner: Well, he's not wrong. This pretty much summarizes the whole affair, with these two comments [1, 2] filling in the rest of the details. There are serious questions over whether she actually did commit suicide, or was "helped" with it - she apparently shared... Read More
Open Thread 36: PowULRful Takes
•�February 16, 2018
•�800 Words •�53 Comments
* Blog status: Main posts in the last couple of weeks: RationalWiki Hagiography Colonize Space… With Nukes IQ in Time and Space Russia Elections 2018: The Political Compass The Rybka Affair * Large bunch of interesting books that have come out recently. Heiner Rindermann with a huge (592 pages) academic synthesis of research on IQ/GDPcc... Read More
Perhaps 200 Russian Servicemen Died in the Donbass
•�December 9, 2017
•�200 Words •�108 Comments
This is one possible interpretation of a recent report in Vedomosti, which analyzed a Russian Ministry of Defense tender for military insurance for the years 2018-2019. Included within was detailed Russian military mortality statistics for the 2012-2016 period, lifting the lid on a veil of secrecy on such matters since 2010. 2005 2012 2013 2014... Read More
Navalny vs. Strelkov Debate. Get Hype!
•�July 12, 2017
•�900 Words •�103 Comments
H/t Eduard-456. Navalny has accepted Strelkov's call for a debate from June 15. Get hype? At any rate, this is probably the closest things to politics that has happened in Russia this year. There are going to be the main topics of discussion in the debate next week, which may be hosted by Echo of... Read More
New Poll on Russia-Ukraine Relations
•�June 27, 2017
•�104 Comments
The figures for Russia are from Levada, those for Ukraine are from KMIS. The basic story is that there was a (mutual) collapse in Ukraine-Russia views of the other country around 2014, which has remained steady since.
3 Years of War in Donbass
•�April 8, 2017
•�100 Words •�7 Comments
I don't follow many people on YouTube, since it's not really my format, but EmperorTigerstar is one of the few people I make an exception for. Not only has he mapped all the classics - WW2, WW1, Napoleonic Wars, history of Europe and the Roman Empire - but also plenty of relatively less well known... Read More
Has Poroshenko Lost His Jarlig to Rule the Ukraine?
•�March 17, 2017
•�900 Words •�6 Comments
On March 15, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, headed by Alexander Turchinov, a hardliner who launched the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" as the interim President after Euromaidan, signed off on the legalization of the Donbass blockade, and transmitted a request to Ukraine's Central Bank to finalize a plan to put sanctions on Russian banks... Read More
DNR Fixes Its Borders at the Frontline
•�March 13, 2017
•�700 Words •�37 Comments
It has emerged that on February 27, the PM of the DNR Alexander Zakharchenko issued an edict fixing the borders of the DNR at the current frontline. The document, posted at the website of the DNR's Ministry of State Security, illegalizes border crossings between the DNR and "territories under the temporary authority of Ukrainian state... Read More
LDNR Nationalizes Ukrainian Enterprises
•�February 28, 2017
•�500 Words •�26 Comments
This is in response to the blockade of coal shipments from the LDNR into Ukraine by right wing militants, who oppose absolutely anything that helps finance the republics. The resulting energy blockade threatens the stability of what appears to be a surprisingly vigorous Ukrainian economic recovery, and puts Poroshenko - with his record low ratings... Read More
A Couple of Things on MH17
•�September 28, 2016
•�1,100 Words •�46 Comments
Over the years I have studiously avoided commentary on MH17 because of the banal fact that I am not an expert on plane crash forensics. The official Dutch inquiry that has just released its findings says that it was downed by a Buk missile that came from rebel-controlled territory. Many serious people have come to... Read More
7 Reasons Why Russia Won't Invade Ukraine
•�August 20, 2016
•�1,800 Words •�107 Comments
Another August, another war scare. Intermittent reports of Russian military forces "staging" near Ukraine. Are the guns about to honor the title of a famous history book once again? Almost certainly not. Or at least, not by Russia's hand. (1) Though you could play a drinking time for every mention of "Gleiwitz" in conjunction with... Read More
World Tension: Rising
•�June 18, 2016
•�1,300 Words •�37 Comments
Just a collection of completely random, not very important news snippets. (1) Diplomats’ Dissent Bolsters Calls for U.S. Assault on Assad: For now, the Obama administration seems inclined to agree. A U.S. official who did not sign the memo but read it told Foreign Policy that the document was unlikely to influence Oval Office policy... Read More
Inconvenient Fact: 78% of DNR Fighters in 2014 Were Ukrainian Citizens
•�May 26, 2016
•�500 Words •�67 Comments
One of the main thrusts of the Maidanist Ukrainian and Western information campaign against Russia during the Ukrainian conflict has beeen the allegation that the NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) were mostly manned by Russian citizens or even the Russian military. This is not to say that there haven't been voices of dissent. For instance, Prof.... Read More
One Day in a BS-Life
•�August 31, 2015
•�1,100 Words •�7 Comments
For those who missed this affair, the aptly urled Russian website bs-life.ru (Business Life) published a secret Kremlin directive to compensate the relatives of 2,000 Russian military KIA and 3,200 WIA . Alarm bells should have rung from the start. Start with the website. The design runs on a free, mass-use Joomla magazine template. I... Read More
Boomerang Babitsky
•�July 10, 2015
•�900 Words •�1 Comment
The Guardian's Shaun Walker reports on the latest activities of Andrey Babitsky, the anti-Putin journalist who was fired from RFERL close to a year ago amidst a conspiracy of silence. Here is my full article on Babitsky's account of his work and departure from RFERL, including translations from an interview he did with a Czech... Read More
Novorossiya Sitrep June 12, 2015
•�June 13, 2015
•�1,600 Words •�99 Comments
The second one in my new series. This one is substantially shorter, as will be most consequent sitreps. Gallup Has conducted a very comprehensive poll about attitudes in the EU, Russia, Ukraine, and the US to various aspects of the Ukrainian crisis. Here is the link to it. I will highlight the most important findings.... Read More
Novorossiya Sitrep June 5, 2015
•�June 6, 2015
•�3,100 Words •�126 Comments
This is the first post in a new series that I intend to do in 1-2 week intervals every Friday. Just like Patrick Armstrong does with his RF Sitreps on Russia Insider, these sitreps are intended to cover both developments in the ongoing War in the Donbass. Assassination of Alexey Mozgovoy On May 23, the... Read More
"War in Donbass" Items Across Entire Archive
Anatoly Karlin
About Anatoly Karlin

I am a blogger, thinker, and businessman in the SF Bay Area. I’m originally from Russia, spent many years in Britain, and studied at U.C. Berkeley.

One of my tenets is that ideologies tend to suck. As such, I hesitate about attaching labels to myself. That said, if it’s really necessary, I suppose “liberal-conservative neoreactionary” would be close enough.

Though I consider myself part of the Orthodox Church, my philosophy and spiritual views are more influenced by digital physics, Gnosticism, and Russian cosmism than anything specifically Judeo-Christian.