A few weeks ago, I wrote Part I about the Military Situation. The thesis was the back story, that is to say, why, even before the onset of hostilities on February 24, the Ukrainian army was destined to fail. The reason in my estimation was simple: The Ukrainian army was firmly under the control of the Ukronazi elements. Worse, they were the ones calling the shots in the political sphere, as well.
For proof, I showed a video of President Zelensky trying to exert control over a military unit back in 2019, just a few short months after he won an overwhelming electoral victory as president of Ukraine. It showed Ukrainian soldiers openly mocking him. Frankly, it was embarrassing.
For a normal, “rules-based” country, this is unheard of. Period. In America, General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur, one of our greatest generals, was fired for less than that back in 1953. If nothing else, it is a stunning admission that Ukraine is indeed what I have long said it is: a failed state. As such, it would not be able to prosecute a conventional war going forward.
This defect cannot be ignored when contextualizing the present situation. Nonetheless, this is not to say that the present-day Ukrainian army cannot fight or at least put up a spirited defense. By and large, it has.
Nevertheless, the military situation is what it is. As Col Douglas MacGregor has been saying from the outset, the Russians operate a first-rate, professional military. Ukraine has been training up to NATO standards but when the rubber has hit the road, the Russian doctrine of maneuverable warfare has proven to be superior to Western standards.
From the outset, the Russian forces captured close to 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, not including the Crimean Peninsula, which they annexed in 2014. As of now, they control 25 percent, an area of land roughly the size of England and Wales. The question is, given the overwhelming firepower of the Russian army, why did they not capture more? Why in fact, did they not take Kiev? These questions must be addressed.
The twenty-five percent of the land that Russians now control is the richest, most productive land in the Ukraine. As for Ukraine itself, its natural resources, including commodities like wheat, barley, nickel, platinum, etc, should make it one of the wealthiest countries on earth. Instead, thanks to the rampant corruption put in place by rapacious oligarchs, it is the poorest country in Europe.
The Russians had several overarching objectives which they had to achieve within exceptionally short order. Objectives that were all equally important:
- Because the Ukrainians were getting ready to execute their own punishing invasion of the Donbass within a week, the incursion into the Donbass had to happen immediately. In other words, the Russians engaged in a “spoiler attack;” an aggressive action designed to preempt another aggressive attack by the enemy. In this, they succeeded.
- The Russians had to immediately neutralize the Ukrainian navy and air force, as well. This was necessary to protect their own expeditionary force. Again, they succeeded; since the first week, the Russians have enjoyed effective control of the air space over Ukraine. As for the Sea of Azov, it is now a Russian lake. Except for some mines planted by the Ukrainians, the same can be said for the Black Sea, as well.
- The Russians had to destroy, take over or otherwise neutralize the Ukrainian biowarfare labs. According to the earliest reports, we were told that there were eight, then eleven such biowarfare labs. Gail has told me that now the number is closer to fifty. According to Victoria Nuland, they were funded by the Pentagon. She admitted this when she appeared before the Senate back in March.
- In addition to these labs, the Russians had to seize control of the nuclear power plants.
- Finally, the Russians had to make it clear that they would brook no interference from NATO forces.
As stated, all of these objectives had to have been met immediately; that is to say within the first 72 hours. Otherwise, any one of them would have given the Ukrainians more strategic space to mount counter-offensives.
Consider, for example, the week-long siege of Kiev, in which an estimated 40,000 Russian troops were marching in a 24-mile long column to the north of Kiev. Had the Ukrainian air force been intact, a few fighter-bombers could have made short work of that formation. (In reality, it was a feint, designed to draw Ukrainian forces away from the Donbass.)
On the other hand, pathogens from the biowarfare labs could have been unleashed on Russian soil or used against Russian troops. Ukrainian warships could have also been used to shell Russian forces in and around Mariupol, and NATO missiles fired at the Donbass would have caused immeasurable damage to the Russian war effort.
I am a great believer in “Just War” Theory. It must be admitted that Russia violated the primary reason for Just War Theory –i.e. to not be the aggressor. Having said that, I also believe that this theory must be updated to account for spoiling attacks against hypersonic missiles and the surreptitious release of pathogens, two military agents which were not conceivable during the Middle or early Modern Ages. In my view, the Russians were fully within their rights to not only preempt the Ukrainian army from invading the Donbass, punishing the civilians, but to take out the biowarfare labs, the majority of which were in the eastern part of the Ukraine. In other words, close to Russia itself.
Russia effectively had a gun to her head. This was self-preservation, not a pre-emptive attack. Nor can it be forgotten that NATO has admitted that they have engaged in long-term provocations of Russia, using the Ukraine as their proxy.
Now, what did the Russians not do?
- They did not decapitate the Ukrainian leadership, neither the civilian nor the military.
- They did not actively seek to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure.
- They did not engage in wanton “shock and awe” destruction of Ukrainian assets.
- Contrary to mendacious, Western reportage, the Russians did not engage in atrocities against Ukrainian civilians. Nor did they molest captured Ukrainian soldiers; the same could not be said for the other side.
All in all, the Russians Special Military Operation not only set the battlespace to their terms but they have been remarkably restrained in the prosecution of the hostilities.
Next: The Military Situation: Part III –the Order of Battle
DAY OF FAMILY, LOVE, FIDELITY (FEAST OF STS. PETER AND FEVRONIA) IS NOW FEDERAL HOLIDAY IN RUSSIA
The popular Russian holiday of the Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity, celebrated on the feast of Sts. Peter and Fevronia of Murom, is now a federally recognized holiday.
“In order to preserve traditional family values and the spiritual and moral education of the children and youth, I decree to establish the Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity and celebrate it on July 8,” reads the text of the decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on June 28, reports Patriarchia.ru.
The Orthodox Church honors the memory of the Right-Believing Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, named David and Euphrosyne in monasticism, the miracle workers of Murom, who are recognized as the patrons of marriage on July 8.
The Day of the Family, Love and Fidelity was established on the initiative of the Murom townspeople in 2008 and supported by Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The establishment of this feast was approved by the Interreligious Council in Russia and supported by Russian regions.
Since then, it has been widely celebrated in all cities of Russia, and now it is officially recognized as a state holiday.
Read about Sts. Peter and Fevronia, the patron saints of marriage, the in articles, “Loyalty and Love,” by Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov, and, “They Lived Happily and Died on the Same Day,” by Archpriest Pavel Gumerov.
See: https://orthochristian.com/147017.html
Ukrainian Mayor Accuses Kiev of Killing Monks and Burning Orthodox Monastery, Defects to Russia (Video)
Vladimir Bandura, the Ukrainian mayor of Svyatogorsk, a Donbass town, home to the famous Orthodox monastery – the Svyatogorsk Lavra, has defected to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). He appeared in a video claiming the Ukrainian military killed several monks in the Lavra and set fire to a unique wooden cathedral that belonged to the monastery. He said, there was “confirmed information, that the Nazis are killing priests and monks and concealing these facts.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCx3QtZSBuk
I don’t even know how to respond. Lord have mercy.
But, but, but, but! I thought that St Zelensky’s regime could do no wrong! Are you telling me that the Corporate Media has been lying to me?
Oh woe! I won’t be able to sleep tonight!
Day of Family, Love, Fidelity, signed into law by a divorced president with a mistress 30 years younger. Ha.
The West has become “…the bloody city!
it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not” alive!
[Nahum 3:1 KJV]
If Christian civilisation is to survive, Russia must win.
Exactly. You stated this perfectly. The government is not at war with Christianity in Russia, as it is in the west. It’s like we’re trying to survive in a modern Sodom and Gomorrah.
Canada’s Health Minister: “You Will Never Be Fully-Vaxxed”
This is the new ‘right way’ to think about vaccinations…
Despite increasingly compelling data and peer reviewed studies coming out detailing the harms and side-effects of vaccinations, Canada’s Liberal-Socialist coalition government is doubling down on vaccinations, and appear ready move the goalposts on what constitutes vaccine compliance.
As reported via Blacklocks Reporter (@mindingottawa on Twitter),
Canadians will be required to get a Covid shot every nine months for the foreseeable future, says Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Previous definitions of “fully vaccinated” made no sense, he told reporters.
“Nine months is very clear and will help people understand why ‘up to date’ is the right way to think about vaccination now,” said Duclos.
“‘Fully vaccinated’ makes no sense now. It’s about ‘up to date.’ So am I up to date in my vaccination? Have I received a vaccination in the last nine months?”
Duclos previously called for the provinces to make vaccinations mandatory and when asked by reporters if mandates would return this fall, he replied “We must continue to fight against Covid.”
Canada seems to be one of the few countries outside Communist China who is frantically clinging to the COVID narrative, relentlessly pushing largely ineffective (and arguably dangerous) vaccines on an increasingly fed up population.
See: https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/canadas-health-minister-you-will-never-be-fully-vaxxed
Viva Rossia !
This is interesting…Georgia Guidestones demolished after bombing damages mysterious monument!
See: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/active-police-investigation-shuts-down-roads-around-mysterious-georgia-monument/SYW477PW45AOBLMS56PWSWSDXQ/
No one knows who created the Guidestones and no one will probably know who bombed them. I sure hope they bombed the part where it talks about the size of the population!
It’s gone. Good.
Ukraine was not the poorest country in Europe, at least before the war. Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, are all poorer than Ukraine. And the part of the country that Russia controls, mostly Donbass, is not the richest, more productive part of Ukraine, but the opposite, it’s the Ukrainian version of the American Rust Belt. Shrinking, dirty industrial cities, even by Eastern Europe standars, full with outdated industries. The Donbass region has the lower life expectancy, fertility rates of all Ukraine and it has been losing population since the 90s faster than any other region of the country. That without mention that is sinply black humor to call rich and productive an area that is almost completely destroyed. Since the 90s the economic power of Ukraine has been shifting to the center and the west of the country. Kiev and Odessa are the wealthiest city while the West has experienced something similar to what happened to the American South, from be a mostly rural, non industrialized area to be the leading region in terms of economic growth, help by its closeness to EU economies. Russia has more resources than any other country, European or not, and still it has a GDP smaller than that of Italy.
If Russia had a GDP smaller than that of Italy,
it’s economy would have collapsed under the first round of sanctions.
But it didn’t; and it’s the EU and US economies that are collapsing.
Russia economy will shrink between 8% and 10% according to their own Ministry of Economy and Development. There is no “collapse” of US or European economies. And yes, Russia’s GDP is smaller than that of Italy. Or Canada, or France for that matter.
One may reasonably wonder why, then, Russia is perceived as such a threat to the West or why western powers fail to defend the Ukraine, being as it is “so very critical” to Western interests and the survival of democracy in general.
Rather than worry about Russia’s “shrinking economy” you might want to worry about ours.
Militarily and economically, the way things are going for the West presently, most everybody from BoJo to Biden to Macron will be long-gone before Putin.
You did hear about the Dutch farmers spraying manure on govt buildings? And now Polish farmers are uprising as well.
My comment about the shrinking of the Russian economy was in response to another comment who said Russian GDP was bigger than that of Italy. My comment to your post was in response to your claim that the area controlled by Russia, specially Donbass, was the “richest, most productive” of the country, when in fact its the most deprived, shrinking area of Ukraine, apart from being almost completely destroyed. Read the comment again if you have any doubts, I didn’t speak about US, EU economies. And everybody will long gone before Putin, or Xi, or Kim, those guys don’t leave power.
And by how much is Britain’s economy shrinking?
Or Germany’s? Or that of France? Or Italy? Or…etc?
Russia can satisfy it’s own food and energy needs.
The EU can’t. Russia is winning and will win.
Already the crazies in the State Department (+ Pompeo)
are pivoting to provoke a war with China over Taiwan.
.. . The standards of living of people in the U.S, Germany, Britain, Italy, etc. are always going to be higher than those of people living in Russia, both in times of crisis or economic growth.
Really? You think so? And then when the Euros and Dollars hyperinflate, then what?
Always? Always?
Always is a very large word.
The West is in recession, Russia is not.
The EU will break long before Russia does.
The EU is almost gone. There will be another “EU” but it will be on behalf of the countries that signed up for the Alliance, which includes Russia. The EU wouldn’t let Russia in!
We must also take in mind that none of the European countries has as much economic autonomy as Russia does. As far as agriculture is concerned, the Netherlands is the second largest exporter in the world, Germany the largest manufacturing nation in Europe, Romania the largest European oil producer, etc.
Only Russia has all three and then some.
And yet, despite having the most natural resources in the world, is GDP is still behind that of Italy or Canada and when it comes to per capita income and standard of living virtualy any European country is much more wealthy than Russia.
Mike, there’s also an economic concept known as PPP. Something to do with parity.
Look at it this way: which worker is better off? The one who makes $12/hr and who walks 6 blocks to work or the one who is making $18/hr but has to drive 20 miles to work?
All things being equal, the first worker. Not only does he not have to pay for gasoline but he saves on automobile maintenance. He also has the benefit of healthy exercise.
Russia may not be able to import I-phones, Cadillacs or Dell computer products thanks to the sanctions but they make all of their own analogs there. Same with French wine, Danish cheese or Dutch barley. They can get Georgian wine, local cheese and barley, all at a reduced price.
And then there’s the fact that the ruble is now on the gold standard.
Our parish has Georgian wine at coffee hour. Very fortunate we are.
A blessed upcoming Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter & Paul this coming Tuesday, to those who are on the Patristic Calendar! (those on the Patristic Calendar will soon be mostly all serious Orthodox Christians, even here in the West – since the “new/’revised Julian’ calendar” seems to be going the way of the dodo bird ECUSA, as in “why bother with it?”).
Judging by GDP/PPP, Russia is the sixth largest economy. However, it is getting richer from the present conflict and the pivot East. Due to its large nuclear arsenal (largest on earth, far surpassing a much more modest Chinese capacity) and due to China’s economic dependence (interdependence, admittedly) on Russian oil, all of this especially in light of an imminent war with the US over Taiwan, Russia may be the “senior partner” in the partnership, or at least an equal.
The world is changing and this is the beginning of the Eurasian Century. Adjust plans and investments accordingly.
“European or not, and still it has a GDP smaller than that of Italy.”
Measuring the size of an economy is quite tricky. Read this:
https://www.chinausfocus.com/finance-economy/a-reevaluation-of-the-size-of-the-chinese-and-russian-economies
An excellent analysis. Thanks for the link.
Jeffrey D. Sachs | Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57106.htm
‘ The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the U.S. wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these U.S. foreign policy debacles. …
The main message of the neocons is that the U.S. must predominate in military power in every region of the world and must confront rising regional powers that could someday challenge U.S. global or regional dominance, most important Russia and China. For this purpose, U.S. military force should be pre-positioned in hundreds of military bases around the world and the U.S. should be prepared to lead wars of choice as necessary. …
The neocon outlook is based on an overriding false premise: that the U.S. military, financial, technological, and economic superiority enables it to dictate terms in all regions of the world. It is a position of both remarkable hubris and remarkable disdain of evidence.
Since the 1950s, the U.S. has been stymied or defeated in nearly every regional conflict in which it has participated. Yet in the “battle for Ukraine,” the neocons were ready to provoke a military confrontation with Russia by expanding NATO over Russia’s vehement objections because they fervently believe that Russia will be defeated by U.S. financial sanctions and NATO weaponry. …
The facts on the ground, however, suggest otherwise. The West’s economic sanctions have had little adverse impact on Russia, while their “boomerang” effect on the rest of the world has been large.
Moreover, the U.S. capacity to resupply Ukraine with ammunition and weaponry is seriously hamstrung by America’s limited production capacity and broken supply chains. …
The most likely outcome of the current fighting is that Russia will conquer a large swath of Ukraine, perhaps leaving Ukraine landlocked or nearly so. Frustration will rise in Europe and the U.S. with the military losses and the stagflationary consequences of war and sanctions.
The knock-on effects could be devastating, if a right-wing demagogue in the U.S. rises to power (or in the case of Trump, returns to power) promising to restore America’s faded military glory through dangerous escalation. … ‘
Sachs was doing ok till he did the Orange Man Bad thing.
(Trump started no wars. He tried to end them.)
Other than that, it’s a fairly accurate analysis.
One thing you can say about Trump is that he is not a warmonger. During his administration, he never started a single war.
Just a thought…..
I follow the commodities markets several times a day. For me this is a real time barometer.
Of interest is the currencies market (as well as the gold and oil markets). Depending on observation with other commodities one can get different perspectives and a more accurate indication of what is really going om.
European currencies are taking a massive hit, but I don’t think this was planed(?) by globalists or the US but rather an unintended consequence. Conversely the ruble has become stronger despite the sanctions. The USD index is at 106 which IMO means nothing since the effect of a higher or lower index affects and is affected by other economic factors….confusing indeed, and like any other indicators or markers any cherry-picked economic indicators can be used to present whatever the intended purpose is.
My conclusion is that economic indicators are just lies, damn lies and statistics.
Perhaps economists would do better to read entrails or cast the runes.
The only real economic factor that matters is if you are broke or not. TPTB would prefer that we are barely making ends meet or poor and dependent on the whims and vagaries of the state.
Bingo! Commodities are “really real” unlike purely financial instruments.
Our Achilles’ heel –there are several actually but the big one–is the fact that we’ve gone from manufacturing-based capitalist economy to one based on finance capitalism. The latter is ultimately a Ponzi scheme.
What a crazy 24 hours, we’ve had the resignation of BoJo and half of his cabinet and more tragically the assassination of Abe.
Call it the First Economic World War, a war the West seems to be losing badly. Macron lost his parliamentary majority, Estonia’s govt fell, Bojo is resigning, and Germany is on the brink of an economic catastrophe. Inflation is high, especially regarding gasoline and foodstuffs.
Meanwhile Russia is humming along with mild deflation and an ever-strengthening currency. Their coffers are filling quickly from increased energy exports despite the sanctions regime so much that they’re paying out increases in social benefits. Putin’s popularity hovers around ninety percent now. Russia, China, India and Iran, et al., are coordinating an alternative economic order for the 80% of the world that is not “the West”.
In Ukraine, Russia is steadily gaining ground and will have penetrated the fortified locations in the Donbass when they conquer Kramatorsk. After that, it is open field running to the Polish border. Now would be a good time for Zelensky to pick up the phone to Moscow. It would also be a good time for the West to reconsider the sanctions so that matters have a chance to de-escalate before winter sets in.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Misha, I’m hopeful that things here in the U.S will turn around at the Midterms (predicated on a fair election). We have the opportunity to win the House/Senate and install many America-first/insular populists – what Trump was trying to do.
As The Duran has noted, in the U.S we’re in a good position to be entirely self-sustaining. If we are able to elect into office those who are willing to play along with the new Fair World Order then we will be set. Because, not only do we have the ability to self-sustaining in agriculture, manufacturing and energy, but, we have the ability to export all of that.
If not, if we can’t turn things around, well then it’s lights out and terminal decline of America. America is one of the host countries for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and as it stands now the world is going to see all the rot and decay of our major cities and our failing infrastructure and any allusion that America is some glistening great place will be totally decimated.
We shall see in 4 months what path we choose to take.
BTW, the Saker is back up and running!
Here’s the latest about all the weapons the West is giving the Ukraine, most of it winds up on the black market. And get this, the Donetsk rebels have been buying them from the Ukrainians for years now:
“The protracted conflict in Donbass has long been one of the main sources of weapons for numerous European extremists and Islamic terrorists, but now the sale of arms has become completely uncontrolled. On the very first day of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian authorities were already offering machineguns and rifles to just about everyone. Some of these weapons immediately ended up on the black market. Soon, there were also offers for the sale of body armor, night vision devices, grenade launchers and MANPADS. Amid total corruption, which, despite all its efforts to bring Ukraine into the EU, Europe has not been able to defeat, Ukrainian military supply officers are selling everything. The Russians recently announced that several new French and German self-propelled howitzers, delivered in perfect condition to Russian design bureaus for study, were not seized in battle, but bought at a big discount at the frontlines. This is not new, however, as some of the volunteer units of the Donbass separatists have long been active buying loads of weapons and equipment from across the frontline. Besides, the Europeans really don’t care much about who will be firing the Javelins, Zelensky’s soldiers or Donetsk separatists, as long as this weapon stays on the battlefield. European- and US-supplied weapons are up for grabs by anyone. “Stingers” can be had for a price ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, paid in cryptocurrency. With some patience, you can find reliable suppliers.”
But wait! There’s more (also from The Saker):
“And how many weapons will the Islamists in Syria and Iraq get from Ukraine? Including the very types capable of taking out NATO aircraft and armored vehicles of the renascent Iraqi army, which the US has been trying hard to prevent from falling into their hands? These are very uncomfortable questions for Europe and the US. In Western media Ukrainians are portrayed as warriors of light, and few people in the US, Canada and Europe are really aware of the scope of corruption and theft they have in Ukraine.”
Here’s proof that the Kiev regime is ordering the targeting of civilians in the Donbass:
https://fondfbr.ru/en/articles/sergey-yudayev-en/
A letter from a woman who lives in the Donbass (again, go to the Saker blog if you want to know more):
“I live in Donbass, and after the murder of children with weapons supplied by you and Europe, probably, should hate you and rejoice that the Lord punishes those because of whom our children die. But I am Russian and I have been living in the war for eight years now. I understand what death is, so I don’t feel anger and hatred. And I grieve with you for the dead. Human life is priceless, and murder is always terrible, because it is impossible to bring back those who have been lost, it is impossible to drown out this pain. Just as it is impossible to isolate yourself from the war, because the war, in which your government is no less to blame than the rest, will surely return to you.”
Well, well, well. Looks like there are some honest Ukrainian critics of St Zelensky.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-wince-as-their-ukrainian-born-colleague-thrashes-zelenskyy/ar-AAZB1g8?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8ae84c04df6444feb37182d36b05e235
I’m so glad that this blew up in the neocons’ face.
While I like to think that this was an honest critique, one which blew up in the warmongering wing of the RINOs, if I put on my tinfoil hat, it could be a strike against the current Ukromania which has swept across our land.
In other words, a signal that the winds are blowing in a different, anti-war, fashion.
Gazprom Declares Force Majeure,
Will Halt Gas Flows To Germany Indefinitely
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/gazprom-declares-force-majeure-will-halt-gas-flows-germany-indefinitely
‘ Already days before the July 22 European “Doomsday” when the scheduled Russian 10-day maintenance of the crucial Nord Stream pipeline to Germany is slated to end – but which was thrown into deep doubt given Gazprom recently said it can no longer guarantee its “good functioning” due to crucial turbines being previously held up in Canada related to sanctions – the Russian energy giant has declared Force Majeure to one major European customer.
Simply put, Gazprom declared extraordinary and extreme circumstances to void itself from all contractual obligations to this customer, thus the gas will stop flowing indefinitely, as Reuters reports in a breaking development Monday, “Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom has declared force majeure on gas supplies to Europe to at least one major customer starting June 14, according to the letter seen by Reuters.” The letter is dated July 14. “It said the force majeure measure, a clause invoked when a business is hit by something beyond its control, was effective from deliveries starting from June 14,” writes Reuters. … ‘
NATO: To keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.
Destroying Germany’s industrial base will certainly keep them down;
while removing a significant pole from the coming multi-polar world…
The Last Guardian of the Greek Necropolis
https://www-lifo-gr.translate.goog/now/greece/o-teleytaios-fylakas-tis-ellinikis-nekropolis?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
The 86-year-old Georgios Mihailovits and the hundred-year family
tradition of the largest military necropolis of Thessaloniki
‘ In August 1914, the First World War broke out.
Today, a hundred years later, the last guardian of the Mihailovic family still guards his dead. The same was done by his father before him and before that by his grandfather, a soldier himself in the Macedonian Front of the war. Today 86-year-old Georgios Mihailovic is the last man of the family that is traditionally responsible for guarding the Serbian sector of the Zeitenlik allied cemeteries, appointed by the Serbian state. …
They often come here and do trisaya Patriarchs, all political leaders of Serbia have passed through here, from Tito to Milosevic, Karadzic, presidents, generals, everyone. That’s how I met them all. But relatives also come. More great-grandchildren, because the grandchildren are also 80 years old and older. As it goes, it fades away, which is what the reason says. But history is not forgotten, that’s why we are here. ‘
The War to end wars has yet to end…