Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
PAGE 258 of 1104
Whoops! That backfired. 
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:War has an aftermath. I noticed that most people can't think usefully that far ahead, which leaves them confused about international war's purpose. I expect they can't think on an international level because most people can't think on a local level since they don't have a clear purpose, a meaningful life, a direction. For them life is just one thing after another and then they die. Religion gives them hope that maybe god knows because most people measurably don't know. For "religion", substitute "Trump" or the "Motherland" or "family traditions" if you are that kind, but you still don't know. Too bad for you.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You're probably right.
It’s Easy to Write a Memoir About War — but Hard to Write an Anti-War Memoir
by Peter Maass, January 8 2023, 6:00 a.m.
War is hell, we hear that all the time. If the cliché is true, another one is too: Depictions of war’s brutality can entice people to seek it out.
The 9/11 wars have yielded a bumper crop of books and films about U.S. soldiers that often have the effect of glorifying combat. Some of these works are blunt odes to violence and chauvinism, such as “American Sniper,” the memoir by Navy SEAL Chris Kyle that was turned into a blockbuster film by Clint Eastwood. While many memoirs and movies are more honest and complex, there’s a dilemma that even the best war literature has a hard time avoiding. No matter how much a writer might emphasize the dehumanization of boot camp or the dreadfulness of killing, there’s usually enough of a heroic glint in their tales to make young Americans want to get some of the action themselves.
Lyle Jeremy Rubin deals with this conundrum in his thoughtful new memoir, published by Bold Type Books, about being a Marine in the time of the forever wars. “If there is one thing most agree on, it is that to die at war as an American is to be a hero,” he writes. “To almost die at war as an American is to be a hero. To go to war at all as an American is to be a hero. … American war is American heroism.” Anyone who might wish to write an anti-war book about soldiers in combat winds up staring into the smoking barrel of the quandary Rubin faces: How can he leave no pathway for readers to emerge from his book with a desire to get their own taste of that heroism?
Rubin chose as his title a Marine motto that would seem to promise his readers nothing but dumb machismo: “Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body.” But the subtitle – “A Marine’s Unbecoming” – gets at the real business he undertakes, which is to subvert the traditional thrall and scope of war memoirs.
The book opens with a requisite combat scene from Afghanistan, though it’s just a few pages long. The reader must then leaf through nearly 200 pages before Rubin’s narrative settles back into Afghanistan. He charts how his slow epiphany began during a pre-deployment stint at the National Security Agency — the electronic spy agency where he saw how America could “eradicate anyone holding an earmarked SIM card” and used that power with insufficient restraint. He realizes that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not innocent mistakes by a well-meaning superpower that happened to overreach. “Now I was prepared to accept the obvious – that U.S. militarism counted as a principal part of this problem,” he writes.
His book includes lengthy passages on how American militarism oppresses not just foreigners, but Americans too, and how he morphed from an eager college Republican before joining the military to a supporter of Occupy Wall Street after his service. It is, in many ways, a bildungsroman of the 9/11 generation, about his Jewish upbringing, his early political and sexual experiences, his initiation into a military culture that breaks down and reconstructs identity, and his unsuccessful efforts to remain connected
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Have you seen what our southern border looks like? Joe Biden* didn't. DHS kicked them all the hell out of wherever Biden* was going to be walking before he got there.
Nobody gives a shit about Ukraine.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:I live in Texas and I don't give a shit about the border with Mexico. The people who care are the same as fearful Chihuahuas barking at every noise because they are neurotic.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Have you seen what our southern border looks like? . . .
Nobody gives a shit about Ukraine.
You know who else stupidly barks like Chihuahuas? Russians. The Kremlin's false claim that its forces killed 600 Ukrainian troops in a retaliation strike is generating new discontent among Russian military bloggers. The bloggers noted that the Russian ministry frequently presents fraudulent claims and fabrications. A Finnish reporter visited the site of the so-called "retaliatory" strike on Sunday and said it hit an empty school. The school’s deputy director also rejected Moscow’s claims, telling Associated Press reporters at the site that "nobody saw a single spot of blood anywhere. ... It’s just people cleaning up.”
The Russians are barking at the moon crazy and howling mad.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/01/09/ukraine-russia-wa
r-live-updates/11017113002/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine sees ‘year of victory,’ but the decisive defeat of Russia won’t be easy
With upgraded weaponry on the way, Western resolve holding firm, and the Ukrainian army continuing to outmaneuver and outwit Russia’s flailing military, Ukraine’s promised “year of victory” is off to a good start.
If 2023 continues as it began, there is a good chance Ukraine will be able to fulfill President Volodymyr Zelensky’s New Year’s pledge to retake all of Ukraine by the end of the year — or at least enough territory to definitively end Russia’s threat, Western officials and analysts say.
But while Zelensky was rallying Ukrainians to expect victory this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin used his New Year’s speeches to prepare Russians for a drawn-out fight. Russian troops are digging into fortified defensive positions reinforced by at least 100,000 newly mobilized soldiers, and though it seems unlikely that Russia can seize more territory anytime soon, it will also be tougher for Ukraine to make advances in 2023 than it was last year, despite momentum from recent victories, military experts say.
If Kyiv cannot achieve significant breakthroughs against this entrenched, growing Russian force, there is a risk that the war will become a protracted conflict favoring Putin, said Elizabeth Shackelford of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A $45 billion aid package approved by Congress will tide Ukraine over for the year, she said, but with U.S. presidential elections in 2024, the longer-term outlook is harder to predict.
“2023 is really the year,” Shackelford said. “If it doesn’t wrap in 2023, Putin will have a very big upper hand. As it is, Zelensky still has a shot because he still has very strong support.”
“After that,” she added, “all bets are off.”
Putin cannot cede to Ukraine the four eastern provinces he has declared part of Russia. He must retain control of positions in eastern and southern Ukraine that provide future jumping-off points for renewed offensives to take the rest of Ukraine. Eight years separated Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its invasion nearly a year ago. Count on Putin to be patient to achieve his destiny.
Any cease-fire would leave Russian forces in a strong position to resume their invasion whenever they are ready. The only way to avoid such a scenario is for the United States and its allies to urgently provide Ukraine with a dramatic increase in military supplies and capability — sufficient to enable Ukraine to push out Russian forces in the east and south.
Because there are serious logistical challenges associated with sending American Abrams heavy tanks, Germany and other allies should fill this need. NATO members also should provide the Ukrainians with longer-range missiles, advanced drones, significant ammunition stocks (including artillery shells), more reconnaissance and surveillance capability, and other equipment. These capabilities are needed in weeks, not months.
https://attentiontotheunseen.com/2023/01/08/ukraine-sees-year-of-victo
ry-but-decisive-defeat-of-russia-wont-be-easy/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:I live in Texas
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Have you seen what our southern border looks like? . . .
Nobody gives a shit about Ukraine.
Here's the part you left out...
Quote:
Joe Biden* didn't. DHS kicked them all the hell out of wherever Biden* was going to be walking before he got there.
Classic Democrat.
It's exactly what Gavin Newsom did in Los Angeles with the homeless population right before the Super Bowl. There wasn't a single homeless person or tent within 2 miles of SoFi Stadium and LAX on game day.
You should see what it looks like now.
Democrats are cancer.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Moscow has cast the conflict as a fight between Russia and hostile Western nations.
"The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv - this is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday.
"The Westerners' plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world," Patrushev, one of Putin's closest allies, told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was "the most intense on the entire frontline".
"So many remain on the battlefield ... either dead or wounded," he said on YouTube. "They attack our positions in waves, but (their) wounded as a rule die where they lie, either from exposure as it is very cold or from blood loss."
Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine's eastern forces, told Ukrainian television Russian forces were deploying their best Wagner fighters at Soledar, which had been struck 86 times by artillery over the past 24 hours.
He said Russia was using World War One-style tactics, throwing large numbers of men into battle and absorbing heavy losses.
"This is basically not a 21st-century war," he said.
More at https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-fights-russian-assault-salt-mini
ng-town-along-eastern-front-2023-01-09/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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I win again, huh?
Imagine that.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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"Ukraine's Year of Victory"?
I don't know what SECOND gets out of posting other people's delusions. Does he think we're going to be delusional with him?
Hey, SECOND, did you know you sound like Hitler in his bunker, or Baghdad Bob?
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:I live in Texas and I don't give a shit about the border with Mexico. The people who care are the same as fearful Chihuahuas barking at every noise because they are neurotic.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Have you seen what our southern border looks like? . . .
Nobody gives a shit about Ukraine.
You know who else stupidly barks like Chihuahuas? Russians. The Kremlin's false claim that its forces killed 600 Ukrainian troops in a retaliation strike is generating new discontent among Russian military bloggers. The bloggers noted that the Russian ministry frequently presents fraudulent claims and fabrications. A Finnish reporter visited the site of the so-called "retaliatory" strike on Sunday and said it hit an empty school. The school’s deputy director also rejected Moscow’s claims, telling Associated Press reporters at the site that "nobody saw a single spot of blood anywhere. ... It’s just people cleaning up.”
The Russians are barking at the moon crazy and howling mad.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/01/09/ukraine-russia-wa
r-live-updates/11017113002/
One of the things the Biden administration is trying to do SECOND, is to get the migrants to file for asylum in the other countries they pass through before getting here.
The thinking is, once they've left the country they are fleeing from, the country they claim they came from because they were in danger, they can no longer claim they need asylum. That is because they could have filed for asylum in the other countries they've passed through and chose not to.
In order to claim asylum here, they will have to show they were turned down by the other countries.
Brilliant, go Joe.
T
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