President Trump’s Penalty Box

Military publicist Vladislav Shurygin on the new U.S. sanctions against an anti-aircraft missile defense regiment.

I open the news and read that the U.S. has announced sanctions against a few Russian military organizations. Among them, the Design Office, the Department of Defense Institute, the Saint Petersburg Training Center and the 183rd Guards Air Defense Missile Regiment…

I’m tripped up, and reread it: “183rd Guards Air Defense Missile Regiment.” It seems incorrect. I feverishly try to remember where that unit is deployed. Could it be in the state of Missouri or Alaska? No, that’s not right. Kaliningrad Oblast. Quite recently the regiment has been rearming with the newest S-400 surface-to-air missile system.

It turns out that the U.S. imposed sanctions against this regiment. Against an anti-aircraft missile defense regiment. Sanctions…

The military history of “the penalty box” is centuries old. Back in the 18th century, the imperial Russian army had a practice of demoting penalized officers to rank-and-file soldiers and sending them to combat areas.

This entire regiment has fallen into the penalty box. There was a legend at the time that the famous Emperor Paul I sent the “prosecuted” officers of a parade unit to Siberia. However, in reality, they were simply kicked out of the parade and sent to Tsarskoye Selo, a popular place for nobility to vacation in the summer.

And now 250 years later, a new Russian regiment appears to be in the “penalty box.” Yet no one in the history of the world has ever put part of a foreign army in the “penalty box.” No one in history! Yet here’s President Trump, literally re-discovering America! More precisely, he discovered America. We have, of course, heard that in the state of Idaho it is possible to end up in court for fishing while sitting on a giraffe or camel, and that in Alabama, you can get the death penalty for sprinkling salt on railroad tracks. But to impose sanctions on a foreign regiment or division? This has never happened before.

I would like to ask how exactly the U.S. is going to punish the 183rd Surface-to-Air Missile Regiment? By denying it access to the “Swift” financial service? By refusing to issue them American loans? Or, heaven forbid, by refusing to let them (the regiment!) onto U.S. territory? Will they forbid communication with official American organizations?

Regarding the latter, I frankly have serious doubts that any American “federal institutions” want to closely communicate with the Russian S-400 regiment, because communicating with them at an official level is only possible in one way: American targets (aircraft, missiles, and drones) appearing in the zone of destruction of the 183rd SAM complexes. Considering the effectiveness of the S-400 complex, a 90 percent chance of hitting the target, this “communication” would be more than close.

Well, you never know. There’s still a chance that the regiment’s access to “Swift” will be cut off. But I strongly doubt that the officers and soldiers of the regiment have heard anything about this system at all, since they’re normally paid by the Russian Federation’s treasury. So what is the point of these sanctions?

By the way, these sanctions also hit the Gatchina Surface-to-Air Missile Training Center, the General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate and the 18th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense in Kursk. This is just the beginning, apparently. Afterward, you can write down the entire organizational structure of the Russian Federation’s armed forces. The main thing is not to rush. This way these “sanctions” can be stretched out over another 50 years.

These new American sanctions are so meaningless and stupid they could make the remains of legendary Persian King Xerxes roll over in his tomb. He, as we know, imposed “sanctions” on the sea for destroying his bridges with its insubordination and temper. Xerxes ordered that the sea be flogged, branded, and shackled, and no one dared disobey the distraught king. It’s unknown, however, what the sea thought of all of this. By the way, it’s still there, and now nobody knows where the remains of terrible King Xerxes are …

But what the Russian anti-aircraft gunners think about such U.S. sanctions was easy to determine during the most recent strike on Syria by America and its allies. Out of 110 “Tomahawks” launched at Syrian targets, 77 were shot down — detection, capture, killing the target! Onward, gentleman!