Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
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Many Russians Disapprove of Putin Method for Filling Military Ranks
By Jon Jackson | Dec 15, 2023 at 9:36 PM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/many-russians-disapprove-putin-method-filling
-military-ranks-1853031
A poll released on Friday found that more than half of Russians do not support pardoning prisoners who have previously committed serious crimes if they take part in the war in Ukraine upon release.
Russian Field, a nonpartisan Moscow-based research company, released its findings on Telegram. According to the poll, 55 percent of respondents said they do not support the idea of pardoning participants in the Ukraine war who were convicted of serious crimes prior to joining Russian troops. Thirty-two percent of respondents said they do support pardoning prisoners who fight for Russia.
The independent Russian media outlet Meduza reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees in June that pardons prisoners who agree to fight in Ukraine. Putin reportedly said the recidivism rate among prisoners who become soldiers is low. However, there have been multiple media reports of former prisoners accused of committing serious crimes—including murder—after they returned home from the front lines of Ukraine.
Ivan Rossomakhin, a former inmate who had been convicted of murder three years ago, returned home from the war in Ukraine this summer. Less than 10 days after his military release, he reportedly confessed to stabbing an elderly lady to death.
When Dmitry Peskov — Putin's press secretary — was asked in November about convicted felons being granted pardons for their war service, he answered: "They atone with blood for crimes on the battlefield, in assault brigades, under bullets, under shells."
Women were more likely to oppose the idea of pardoning prisoners who serve in the military, with 60 percent stating they are against it, compared to 27 percent in favor of pardons. Forty-eight percent of men oppose the pardon plan, and 39 percent said they support it.
Younger respondents and people with higher incomes and/or higher education levels were more likely to oppose pardoning prisoners, according to Russian Field.
The survey involved 1,600 respondents and was conducted from December 4 to December 12. Russian Field did not provide a margin of error.
The recruitment of inmates from Russian penal colonies first became a practice publicized by the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries before reports alleged the Russian Ministry of Defense was also taking in convicts.
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense said in May that Russia had ramped up" its recruitment of prison inmates this year due to its military not satisfying personnel staffing goals, but the effort reportedly was not keeping pace with Russia's casualty rate in Ukraine.
Reports in recent weeks also indicate the Kremlin has been hesitant to turn to another wave of mobilization out of fear that such a move could harm Putin's campaign for reelection in 2024.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Usually you make more sense, so please explain...Quote:Is that even an issue? And ... that's a good thing, right? I don't understand your point.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX, if "The Interagency" has such a tight grip on foreign policy, money supply and all that, what Congress does or doesn't do hardly makes a difference. At this point Congress is mostly a bunch of feckless twats stroking each other and grandstanding for the electorate.
But aside from that, AFA Ukraine is concerned, Russia is in the driver's seat. It's not up to the President, Congress, or "The Interagency" what happens next, unless Biden dementedly starts a nuclear war. As long as it remains conventional, the various American and European factions will continue to squabble with each other and amongst themselves until Ukraine surrenders. After that, Russia will start addressing NATO directly.
It's not in Congress's hands, even if they like to think so.
Chill.
SIX: I just don't seeing our TDS suffering elected officials getting us one step closer to joining some sort of EU.
I must have been tired when I wrote that or something. I meant to say "I just don't like seeing". This is not a good thing. I view this vote as taking us one step closer to joining some sort of EU.
Quote:Quote:
SIX: The countries with the most are the ones giving up their quality of life for everyone else.
It's bad enough that we're giving the whole damn country away to illegal foreign invaders as it is.
The countries that are suffering the most are in the EU, and AFAIK Germany and Britain are suffering the most.
So IDK what this point is either.
That's exactly my point. Whatever we join, we're the losers. We don't even have to be in any organization at all and we're always splitting up and devaluing the US dollar everyday with those printing presses constantly running and giving it all away to foreign countries while the homeless keep mounting in the streets here.
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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:There is a federal program to end homelessness, but the homeless say what 6ix says: "I'm doing fine. I don't want the Federal government telling me what to do with my life." And so the drunken fools lie around all day doing nothing other than picking up aluminum cans for money because they refuse to allow anybody to stop them from being proud fools.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's exactly my point. Whatever we join, we're the losers. We don't even have to be in any organization at all and we're always splitting up and devaluing the US dollar everyday with those printing presses constantly running and giving it all away to foreign countries while the homeless keep mounting in the streets here.
Federal Funding for Homelessness Programs HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program is at the core of federal efforts to end homelessness. Each year, HUD awards Homeless Assistance Grants to communities that administer housing and services at the local level.
https://endhomelessness.org/ending-homelessness/policy/
There is an Ending Homelessness Act of 2023 that will never pass because Republicans don't want it to pass: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4232/text
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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The United States has provided more than $71 billion in aid to Ukraine since the start of the war. That includes $43.9 billion in military assistance, more than the next 11 donating countries combined, according to a tracker maintained by Germany’s Kiel Institute.
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tra
cker/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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The Financial Times (FT) reported on December 15 that the G7 may consider using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.[24] FT reported that US officials circulated a discussion paper about how G7 members and other states could seize Russian sovereign assets in a way “consistent with international law” as a “countermeasure to induce Russia to end its aggression” in Ukraine during G7 committee meetings. FT reported that the G7 could use a portion of the $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets to fund assistance packages to Ukraine and that a US official stated that G7 leaders may discuss the proposal at their meeting in February 2024.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-16-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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What happens in Ukraine if US aid disappears?
Countries will take the lesson from a defeat of Ukraine — which gave up the nuclear weapons on its territory in the 1990s in exchange for security guarantees from Russia and the United States — that they should acquire a nuclear deterrent of their own. This is particularly true for countries with their own belligerent neighbors such as Japan, South Korea, even NATO countries. They worry about how much the US would actually support them when they needed it, and how vulnerable they are to pressure or attack by another nuclear power.
Earlier this year, in a speech in Warsaw after his landmark visit to Ukraine, Biden described Russia’s invasion as a test not only for Ukraine but for the United States and the democratic world. Russia, he said, had met the “iron will of America and the nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear and force.”
Other countries will take note if this “iron will” starts to bend.
https://www.vox.com/world-politics/24002840/ukraine-russia-war-united-
states-aid-volodymyr-zelensky-vladimir-putin-europe-congress-border
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:There is a federal program to end homelessness, but the homeless say what 6ix says: "I'm doing fine. I don't want the Federal government telling me what to do with my life." And so the drunken fools lie around all day doing nothing other than picking up aluminum cans for money because they refuse to allow anybody to stop them from being proud fools.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's exactly my point. Whatever we join, we're the losers. We don't even have to be in any organization at all and we're always splitting up and devaluing the US dollar everyday with those printing presses constantly running and giving it all away to foreign countries while the homeless keep mounting in the streets here.
That's a boldfaced lie.
There are homeless programs, but it's a grift that very few people get rich off of while it does absolutely nothing to help homeless people.
I thought you guys were the party of "don't blame the victims".
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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:OK! Makes sense now! (Just keep an eye on your blood sugar, there have been more uninterpretable sentences lately, and you're MUCH more on top of your posts than that.)
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Usually you make more sense, so please explain ...
SIX: I just don't seeing our TDS suffering elected officials getting us one step closer to joining some sort of EU.
SIGNY: Is that even an issue? And ... that's a good thing, right? I don't understand your point.
SIX: I must have been tired when I wrote that or something. I meant to say "I just don't like seeing". This is not a good thing. I view this vote as taking us one step closer to joining some sort of EU.
Quote:Right now the USA is climbing on the drowning EU's back. Since we convinced them to sanction Russian energy and blew up their pipeline, their energy costs ... the base for any modern industrial economy .... roughly pentupled and their industries are moving here, they say, where energy is cheaper.
SIX: The countries with the most are the ones giving up their quality of life for everyone else.
It's bad enough that we're giving the whole damn country away to illegal foreign invaders as it is.
SIGNY: The countries that are suffering the most are in the EU, and AFAIK Germany and Britain are suffering the most.
So IDK what this point is either.
SIX: That's exactly my point. Whatever we join, we're the losers. We don't even have to be in any organization at all and we're always splitting up and devaluing the US dollar everyday with those printing presses constantly running and giving it all away to foreign countries while the homeless keep mounting in the streets here.
Not that you'd notice it from our industrial production, tho!
I'm really REALLY not a big fan of us joining international organizations that remove sovereign rights from USA and prevent our government from representing OUR .... i.e. the American people's and society's ... interests. But our elite manage to screw that up even without joining anything.
Heck, look at Ukraine: Is it part of NATO??? Then WTF are we doing there? I could say the same for most of the Mideast, Africa, and S and Central America, where we wasted trillions upon trillions of dollars doing shit that didn't help anyone except the rich get richer.
It's a matter of corruption. DC is almost to a person corrupt and, at this point, so well insulated from the real world as to be stupefied and delusional.
And Americans have been so comfortable in their belief that America is the only nation that counts they pay no attention at all to foreign policy.
It just reminds me of the book "When society becomes an addict".
We are addicted to comforting ideas about us, about the world, but these ideas are dysfunctional in the real world. Look at JO753. Look at THUGR. Look at SECOND.
Instead of demanding jobs in a vibrant economy, we're stuck on demanding handouts, "reparations", blaming all kinds of "isms", living on credit cards and social media... WTF kind of society and economy is THAT???
We may have to hit hottom, have a nationwide red pill moment, throw out the entire echelon of politicos and elites and media whores on their collective asses, and reconstitute ourselves with a better grip on reality.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:Matthew Perry died last week because he did not have a 24/7 guardian who could not be fired and who would consistently tell him that, no, he could not use those drugs and if he even tried the guardian would zap him with a cattle prod. That lack of a guardian is what is wrong with most Americans. They can't control themselves, nobody is doing it for them, and they won't voluntarily behave well 24/7, all of which gets them into trouble and shortens their lives. They are feckless.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It just reminds me of the book "When society becomes an addict".
We are addicted to comforting ideas about us, about the world, but these ideas are dysfunctional in the real world. Look at JO753. Look at THUGR. Look at SECOND.
Instead of demanding jobs in a vibrant economy, we're stuck on demanding handouts, "reparations", blaming all kinds of "isms", living on credit cards and social media... WTF kind of society and economy is THAT???
We may have to hit hottom, have a nationwide red pill moment, throw out the entire echelon of politicos and elites and media whores on their collective asses, and reconstitute ourselves with a better grip on reality.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=65798&mid=11852
07#1185207
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:6ix, you talk nonsense. If you don't blame the fucking victim, they go off and victimize themselves until they are dead, all the time wondering why bad things happen to them. 6ix, your drunkenness was all your fault. You bought the beers and you drank them. If you had kept it up and drank the money that should be used to pay your taxes on your house, you'd be homeless, too. No power in America could stop you from ruining yourself. If you stop using insulin and stop replacing your diabetes monitor, you are dead. Again, if you stop, you ruin yourself and it is your fault.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's a boldfaced lie.
There are homeless programs, but it's a grift that very few people get rich off of while it does absolutely nothing to help homeless people.
I thought you guys were the party of "don't blame the victims".
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=65798&mid=11852
07#1185207
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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If the US stops supporting Ukraine there will be bad consequences for America. Not immediately, but eventually and very expensively:
Putin’s reassurances about his peaceful intentions toward NATO ring hollow in the context of the threats he and Kremlin pundits have recently been making against NATO member states. Putin threatened Poland on July 21, stating that Russia would respond “with all the means” at its disposal after Warsaw sent troops to the Belarusian-Polish border due to the redeployment of Wagner Group fighters to Belarus.[8] Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev threatened on August 29 that Russia had “an opportunity to act within the framework of jus ad bellum against everyone in NATO countries” when commenting on Western support of Ukrainian strikes on occupied Crimea.[9] Medvedev similarly threatened Poland in November when he stated that Russia deems Warsaw to be a “dangerous enemy” that could lose its “statehood.”[10] A Russian propagandist suggested on Russian state TV on December 2 that Baltic states would be Russia’s next military target and that they would fall shortly after Ukraine.[11] Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, Medvedev, and other pundits consistently threaten to use nuclear weapons against the United States and other NATO countries.[12] These threats are part of long-standing Russian narratives about attacking NATO that predated Finland’s application and acceptance into the alliance on April 4.[13] The statements of Russian pundits do not pose a military threat to NATO countries, to be sure, but they are important context for Putin’s ostensible effort to calm the waters during his December 17 interview. Putin’s proclamation that Russia has no interest in invading NATO is also very similar to the Kremlin’s persistent claims in late 2021 and early 2022 — including right up to the eve of the invasion — that Russia did not intend to invade Ukraine.[14] The interview was likely a deliberate attempt to reamplify the Kremlin’s efforts to misrepresent the Russian military threat as an imaginary and artificial NATO invention.[15]
Putin’s worldview suggests that Putin regards anything less than full Western surrender to Russian grand strategic objectives as insufficient.[43]
This zero-sum world view of geopolitics is indicative of Putin’s personal philosophy, which prizes power above all else and frames any compromise as defeat. Putin implied in the Rossiya 1 interview that he did not apologize to his mother as a child (despite her punishments and numerous requests for an apology) but held firm until she finally wavered in punishing him.[44] This anecdote, bizarrely intruded into a conversation about Russian strategic objectives, may have been an indirect reference to Putin’s commitment to force those opposed to him to capitulate. This view is also clearly seen in the key thesis of Putin’s quasi-auto-biography First Person, which argues that Putin concluded that it was necessary to impose his will upon the world for Russia’s survival.[45]
The Kremlin's repeated rhetoric about its hostile intent towards NATO, coupled with Russia’s potential future military capabilities in the event of Russian victory in Ukraine, poses a credible — and costly — threat to Western security. If Russia were able to achieve its stated maximalist objective of full Ukrainian capitulation, likely leading to a Russian military occupation of Ukraine, Russia would be able to deploy forces right up to NATO’s border from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean.[46] ISW recently assessed that the sudden collapse of Western aid would likely lead sooner or later to the collapse of Ukraine’s ability to hold off the Russian military.[47] Given Russia’s demonstrated hostile intent towards NATO and its potential military capabilities along almost the entirety of NATO’s eastern border, the West would be obliged to prepare to defend against possible Russian action against NATO. The cost of these defensive measures would be astronomical and would likely be accompanied by a period of very hig
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, you talk nonsense.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's a boldfaced lie.
There are homeless programs, but it's a grift that very few people get rich off of while it does absolutely nothing to help homeless people.
I thought you guys were the party of "don't blame the victims".
I'm quoting dumbfuck shitlibs from websites you read everyday.
Vox: A safety campaign blames pedestrians for getting hit by cars. This response is perfect.
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/31/8319189/pedestrian-safety-campaign
Quote:
What Browne is pointing out here is that the original ad is engaging in a bit of victim-blaming.
Yes, if you're a pedestrian, wearing bright colors reduces your risk of getting hit by a car. But ultimately, it's drivers that are responsible for running over pedestrians — and there's something weird about putting up safety ads on buses that focus on pedestrians' choice of attire instead.
Vox: Things not do in anti-rape campaigns: blame the victim
https://www.vox.com/2014/8/4/5966593/anti-rape-campaign-victim-blaming
Vox: Megan Thee Stallion, Me Too, and hip-hop’s cycle of misogynoir
The outcome of the Tory Lanez shooting trial won’t erase Megan Thee Stallion’s pain.
https://www.vox.com/culture/23494788/megan-thee-stallion-tory-lanez-as
sault-trial
Quote:
There’s a very real combination of slut-shaming and victim-blaming that is happening in this case, as well.
Vox: Stop calling them “accidents”
From car crashes to environmental spills to workplace injuries, author Jessie Singer encourages us to reconsider the word “accident.”
https://www.vox.com/23016529/there-are-no-accidents-jessie-singer
Quote:
When someone is killed in an “accident,” let’s say a car crash, for example, people almost always ask questions like, “Was he in the crosswalk? Was she wearing a helmet? What color clothes were they wearing?” Why is it that we feel compelled to do that?
Questions of blame are really important to us when things get scary. This is especially true with accidents because they seem random, because we’re focused on that last person who made a mistake. It seems like there could have been no other conditions under which that mistake was made.
Seemingly random horrors and tragedies are terrifying. As a result, victim blaming, or even perpetrator blaming, is a comfort because it’s a way of feeling in control of an uncontrollable situation.
Vox: Quiz: Are you blaming the victim?
https://www.vox.com/2014/7/25/5937977/what-is-victim-blaming-quiz
Quote:
Stephen A. Smith, one of ESPN's marquee sports commentators, felt the wrath of Twitter Friday afternoon after an on-air conversation about domestic violence took a controversial but familiar turn. Smith was discussing NFL player Ray Rice, who recently received a two-game suspension from the Baltimore Ravens as punishment for a February arrest for assaulting his now-wife.
Smith noted that violence against women is wrong, but he also cautioned women to "make sure [they] don't do anything to provoke wrong actions" and to do their part "in making sure [an assault] doesn't happen." This sparked some heavy debate about how much responsibility women might carry for violence committed against them by men, as well as accusations of victim-blaming.
It's an issue around which there is much confusion. So what is blaming the victim? Are you doing it? Click below to find out.
Quote:
If you don't blame the fucking victim, they go off and victimize themselves until they are dead, all the time wondering why bad things happen to them.
I agree. 100%.
Vox would disagree with you. Maybe you should stop supporting them and/or believing everything else they tell you.
Quote:
6ix, your drunkenness was all your fault. You bought the beers and you drank them. If you had kept it up and drank the moNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It just reminds me of the book "When society becomes an addict".
We are addicted to comforting ideas about us, about the world, but these ideas are dysfunctional in the real world. Look at JO753. Look at THUGR. Look at SECOND.
Instead of demanding jobs in a vibrant economy, we're stuck on demanding handouts, "reparations", blaming all kinds of "isms", living on credit cards and social media... WTF kind of society and economy is THAT???
We may have to hit hottom, have a nationwide red pill moment, throw out the entire echelon of politicos and elites and media whores on their collective asses, and reconstitute ourselves with a better grip on reality.
SECOND: Matthew Perry died last week because he did not have a 24/7 guardian who could not be fired and who would consistently tell him that, no, he could not use those drugs and if he even tried the guardian would zap him with a cattle prod. That lack of a guardian is what is wrong with most Americans.
Our Congresspeople and "officials" need a cattleprod to remind them to behave well.
They can't control themselves, nobody is doing it for them, and they won't voluntarily behave well 24/7, all of which gets them into trouble and ruins America. They are feckless.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:My Congressmen are Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and Brian Babin. They are Republicans and none of them did a damn thing admirable as private citizens and they were worse once in government. I know Trumptards. They love to talk about how competent and farsighted they are but none of you ever anticipate problems before they become crises, not in your personal lives and definitely not in your politics. You Trumptards screw up yourselves and you want to expand into ruining other people's lives with your lack of wisdom and inability to foresee the obvious, whether it is climate change or Russia invading Europe after Ukraine, rehanging the old Iron Curtain:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Our Congresspeople and "officials" need a cattleprod to remind them to behave well.
They can't control themselves, nobody is doing it for them, and they won't voluntarily behave well 24/7, all of which gets them into trouble and ruins America. They are feckless.
Cruz, Cornyn vote down Ukraine aid
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/06/ted-cruz-john-cornyn-texas-ukr
aine-israel-border/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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How about a recap of SECOND'S endless diarrhea of the brain?
Quote:Er, no. Russia could EASILY sink any ship with its extensive array of medium-range anti-ship missiles, and could easily mine the sea lanes. It doesn't bc being seen interfering with grain shipments would be bad politics with the "global south".
?Ukraine has won a major victory over Russia
The net result of the ‘pushing back’ of the Black Sea Fleet to the east is that the water between the Ukrainian port of Odesa and Snake Island is now fairly safe for merchant shipping
Quote:
[A]s Christopher Fettweiss and others have pointed out, the theory of Realism was falsified by events since the end of the Cold War. So-called Realism predicted that large states always seek to maximize their power and aggrandize their preeminence, but the Soviet Union voluntarily went out of existence.
Wow. That undercuts SECOND'S whole premise that Russia will inevitably invade Europe. Leave it to SECOND for an "own goal"!
Quote:Demilitarization, de-Nazification, neutrality. How far they need to go to achieve these goals is up to the west. Russia was willing to negotiate in 2022. The west was not. The west STILL isn't ready to negotiate.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova emphasized that Russia's maximalist objectives in Ukraine have not changed, repeating the Kremlin’s demand for full Ukrainian political capitulation and Kyiv’s acceptance of Russia’s military and territorial demands rather than suggesting any willingness to negotiate seriously.
Quote:You wouldn't know it by how their armed forces fight.
Hazing ... In 2006, [ seventeen years ago ] as Lenta.ru reported, the then-prosecutor-general of Russia, Vladimir Ustinov, even admitted in a speech to President Vladimir Putin and his prosecutor colleagues that he “is unable to do anything about the criminality in the armed forces.”
The survivors of this hazing say the main goal is to break young men. They are turned into submissive, intimidated, and obedient drones who will not ask unnecessary questions nor show any independent thought or initiative.
Quote:The USA was stuffing Ukraine with weapons from 2014 onwards. If the collective west is no longer supplying weapons it's bc we have none to spare. Beating on us isn't going to make artillery shells and Patriot Systems and tanks magically appear. Russia was willing to negotiate in 2022. The west wasn't. The west STILL isn't ready to negotiate.
Where the Russia-Ukraine war is headed in 2024
by Mark Temnycky [a Kiev functionary in the Atlantic Council]
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4350387-where-the-russia-ukr
aine-war-is-headed-in-2024/
To date, the U.S. has provided more than $46 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine and sent more than $26 billion in financial and humanitarian aid. The slow pace at arming Ukraine was alarming, and it may have prolonged the war.
Quote:Demilitarize, de-Nazify, neutrality. Russia was willing to negotiate in 2022. AFA western support: we can give Kiev money, but that won't solve their military problem bc they're running out of weapons and soldiers. Russia was ready to negotiate in 2022. The west wasn't. The west STILL isn't.
US intelligence reportedly assessed that Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine in fall 2023 and through the upcoming winter aim to weaken Western support for Ukraine instead of achieving any immediate operational objectives.
Quote:Rusdia was willing to negotiate in 2022. The west coast wasn't. The west STILL isn't ready to negotiate. Since the west refused to honor previous agreeme
The Kremlin appears to be returning to expansionist rhetoric last observed before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an effort to resurface its claims that Ukraine is part of historically Russian territory and discuss the borders Russian leaders regard as appropriate for a rump Ukrainian state.
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Quote:I see what is wrong with you. There have been thousands of years of experience with alcoholism, so you could NOT be unaware of what you were doing before you became an alcoholic, but you drank for years despite that history. You most certainly lack something if you cannot anticipate what is going to happen and foolishly allow bad experiences to teach you what is already well known. The same is true of all of Russian history as it is true of all the history of alcohol. It is obvious that Russia and alcohol are problems. The entire record of both are two parallel stories of human suffering.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
If you stop using insulin and stop replacing your diabetes monitor, you are dead. Again, if you stop, you ruin yourself and it is your fault.
I agree. 100%.Quote:
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=65798&mid=11852
07#1185207
I don't even understand why you posted this in your reply.
All it does is confirm that I agree 100% with what you posted about my alcoholism being my own fault.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Signym, Russia has killed about 100 million Russians since 1900 by incompetence at growing food, incompetence at making war, and incompetence at running a government. This is not what happens to normal, rational, sane people. And now the Russians are bringing their uniquely defective personalities to Ukraine.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
How about a recap of SECOND'S endless diarrhea of the brain?
Er, no. Russia could EASILY sink any ship with its extensive array of medium-range anti-ship missiles, and could easily mine the sea lanes. It doesn't bc being seen interfering with grain shipments would be bad politics with the "global south".
Wow. That undercuts SECOND'S whole premise that Russia will inevitably invade Europe. Leave it to SECOND for an "own goal"!
Demilitarization, de-Nazification, neutrality. How far they need to go to achieve these goals is up to the west.
You wouldn't know it by how their armed forces fight.
The USA was stuffing Ukraine with weapons from 2014 onwards. If the collective west is no longer supplying weapons it's bc we have none to spare. Beating on us isn't going to make artillery shells and Patriot Systems and tanks magically appear.
Demilitarize, de-Nazify, neutrality. Russia was willing to negotiate in 2022. AFA western support: we can giveKiev money, but that won't solve their military problem bc they're running out of weapons and soldiers.
Rusdia was willing to negotiate last year. Since the west refused to honor previous agreements or negotiate a way forward, Russia has shifted to a military solution.
Thru Crimea??? Been there, tried that. All it did was lose Ukraine a
tons of armored vehicles and tens of thousands of soldiers.
True. Russia was willing to negotiate in 2022. Not any more.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Russia+has+killed+about+100+million+Ru
ssians+since+1900
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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More diarrhea of the brain, SECOND? Are you saying that the Russian of today is the same as the Russia of 1900?
Man, you are stuck in some sort of fantasy, aren't you???
What will you do when reality catches up with you??
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:The belief system that motivated Texans to join the Confederacy is very much alive in East Texas. If there weren't laws against it, slavery and Civil War murder would rampage across the former Confederate States of America. While America has changed for the better since 1900, Russia has failed to leave its horrifying past behind. This is why Russia continuously threatens to nuke the West, split Korea into North and South which is still killing millions of North Koreans, held on to Eastern Europe until the Soviet Union collapsed, held on to the Kuril Islands despite Japan demanding the return of the islands, and why Russia invaded Ukraine.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More diarrhea of the brain, SECOND? Are you saying that the Russian of today is the same as the Russia of 1900?
Man, you are stuck in some sort of fantasy, aren't you???
What will you do when reality catches up with you??
On February 7, 2023, the 168th anniversary of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, Japan reaffirmed its position that it considers the four islands to be illegally occupied by Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute#Japan_reaffirms_it
s_position_that_the_islands_are_illegally_occupied
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Fuck Texas and Fuck you.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Yep!
SECOND is still stuck in fantasy-land!
*****
Why did Germans allow themselves to be screwed over by USA neocons and con-artist globalists?
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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SnowStorm | Sumy Front | A Complete Mess On The Combat Contact Line. Military Summary For 2023.12.17
A Wiretap Was Found In Zaluzhny Office | Russians Attack Supply Routes. Military Summary 2023.12.18
SnowStorm | Ukraine Retreats From Novomykhailivka | Ivanivske Pincers. Military Summary 2023.12.18
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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A combination of artillery ammunition shortages and delays in the provision of Western security assistance is likely causing Ukrainian forces to husband materiel and may delay future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations. Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Commander Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi stated in an interview with Reuters published on December 18 that Ukrainian forces have shortages of 122mm and 152mm shells along the entire frontline.[1] Tarnavskyi stated that the shortages are prompting Ukrainian forces to redistribute artillery ammunition and replan military tasks.[2] Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister General Ivan Havrylyuk also acknowledged on December 18 that Ukrainian artillery ammunition shortages will continue.[3] Tarnavskyi stated that Russian forces are also having issues with artillery ammunition, although Ukrainian and Western officials have reportedly assessed that the Russian forces are currently conducting artillery fire at a rate five to seven times greater than the Ukrainian forces.[4]
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have likely expended large portions of their Soviet-era stocks of 122mm and 152mm artillery shells, forcing both to look abroad for other stocks of this artillery ammunition. Russia has recently received large quantities of these shells from North Korea, and Ukraine and its Western partners have engaged in efforts to source these shells from foreign stocks.[5] It is unclear what delays or impediments there may be in Ukrainian and Western efforts to source 122mm and 152mm shells and how any such delays may be contributing to current Ukrainian shortages. Ukrainian forces are increasingly using Western-provided 155mm artillery systems along the front, and possible delays in Western security assistance may impact available supplies of 155mm shells, although US assistance packages have recently included 155mm shells.[6] Havrylyuk stated that Ukraine is currently focusing on the domestic production of drones to offset artillery shortages and is planning to produce 155mm ammunition in Ukraine with Western companies in 2024.[7]
Artillery shortages and delays in Western security assistance will create uncertainty in Ukrainian operational plans and likely prompt Ukrainian forces to conserve resources, which may force Ukrainian forces to make tough decisions about prioritizing certain sectors of the front over sectors where limited territorial setbacks are least damaging. BBC’s Russian service reported that Ukrainian officials said that they make periodic changes to what could be considered rough operational plans for 2024 based on the situation at the front.[8] A Ukrainian official reportedly stated that it is difficult to make military calculations for these plans due to the significant reduction in Western aid to Ukraine since September 2023.[9] Tarnavskyi stated that Ukraine is preparing reserves for further large-scale actions.[10] Artillery shortages and delays in Western aid will very likely decrease Ukraine’s ability to plan and prepare for these actions. Delays in concrete Ukrainian operational planning and the materiel necessary for counteroffensive preparations will likely in turn delay 2024 counteroffensive operations.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-18-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Wrong response from your vast repertoire of empty words from an empty drunk, temporarily dry. Instead, tell me that Trump will be the next President and he'll end the war in one day. How? He would never allow this to happen to Putin, the man who can blackmail Trump:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Fuck Texas and Fuck you.
Give Russia’s Frozen Assets to Ukraine Now
Putin should pay for the damage his invasion has caused, and the money is needed immediately.
By Anne Applebaum | December 18, 2023, 6 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/ukraine-russia-froze
n-assets/676390/
A majority of Americans and a majority of Congress want to help Ukraine win the war against Russia, and to stop the spread of autocracy into Europe. A majority of people in the European Union and a majority of EU leaders want the same. But small minorities of lawmakers — some inspired by Russian President Vladimir Putin or his money, some bent on bargaining for other things — have managed to block or delay that aid.
On both sides of the Atlantic, the crunch has arrived. The far-right faction that now controls the Republican Party captured the House last year and has successfully blocked a new spending bill for many months. The prime minister of Hungary, himself a de facto autocrat, is also blocking an EU financial package for Ukraine. Eventually the European prime ministers and the Biden administration alike may well do deals and allocate the money. But in the meantime — and just in case they fail — there is something else that American and European governments can do.
At the very beginning of the conflict, the U.S., the EU, the United Kingdom, and other democratic governments jointly froze more than $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets, mostly in Europe. This is money that Russia cannot sell or borrow against. Nor can Russia make use of any of the interest this money earns. At the time, many believed that the decision to freeze these assets would shock the Russian government into pulling back. That did not happen. After nearly two years, the countries that hold these assets — all of them — should take the next step and transfer the money to Ukraine.
Laurence Tribe, the American constitutional scholar, has been promoting this idea for some time. In September, he and a team of lawyers published a 187-page report making the “legal, practical, and moral case” for transferring Russian assets to Ukraine. https://rdi.org/articles/making-putin-pay/ The moral argument is the easiest: Russia should pay for the damage it has done to Ukraine. The fundamental legal case, Tribe told me, rests on the many treaties that Russia broke by invading Ukraine, destroying whole cities, murdering civilians, deliberately damaging power grids and grain storage. By doing so, Russia lost any standing to complain about the violation of its sovereignty or property rights, since it denies those to Ukraine.
In truth, we in the West already crossed that bridge when we froze the assets in the first place. “If you have the authority to freeze the assets,” Tribe told me, “you have taken them away from the sovereign that claimed to be their owner. Why should they now have to lie idle while a country is decimated?” The frozen assets would solve some of Ukraine’s immediate budgetary and financial problems. More important, $300 billion is a reasonable down payment on the reparations that Russia should pay to Ukraine. Russian money should rightly compensate Ukrainians for the harm that Russia has done, and help rebuild the Ukrainian infrastructure that Russia destroyed.
The strongest Western objections to transferring the frozen Russian money to Ukraine have been practical ones. Tribe cited an “inchoate concern that hegemony of the dollar will be threatened, and people’s willingness to park reserves in the U.S. and other Western countries will be jeopardized.” Some countries may fear that their own assets could be at risk if kept in Western financial institutions, and will instead place them in China or elsewhere.
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Quote:Signym, you will never stop dodging Russia's history of murdering a hundred million Russians, will you? Russians deny the full scope of their history because talking about it would make them the next victim of the Russian government. Russia killing 4 million Ukrainians in the Holodomor? Mentioning that in an overheard conversation will get a Russian imprisoned.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yep!
SECOND is still stuck in fantasy-land!
https://www.google.com/search?q=Holodomor
Russia has killed about 100 million Russians since 1900 by incompetence at growing food, incompetence at making war, and incompetence at running a government. This is not what happens to normal, rational, sane people. And now the Russians are bringing their uniquely defective personalities to Ukraine.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Russia+has+killed+about+100+million+Ru
ssians+since+1900
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Here's a list of how many millions of babies have been murdered in the US since 1973.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/185274/number-of-legal-abortions-i
n-the-us-since-2000/
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yep!
SECOND is still stuck in fantasy-land!
SECOND: Signym, you will never stop dodging Russia's history of murdering a hundred million Russians, will you?
I'm not dodging Russian history. I don't dodge AMERICAN history either, which is also full of injustices like the genocide of natives, slavery, and murder across the globe.
BUT I DONT BLAME AMERICANS FOR WHAT WAS DONE A GENERATION AGO. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S AMERICANS FOR SLAVERY. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S GERMANS FOR THE HOLOCAUST. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S RUSSIANS FOR WHAT HAPPENED A CENTURY AGO.
Doing so is PROPAGANDA AND LIES. And I reject propaganda and lies from any direction. Even yours.
Blame people, blame a nation, blame the decisons-makers for what THEY are doing or have fone.
Identify the act you believe is criminal. Find EVIDENCE for your allegations.
Anything else is just lies, propaganda, and bullshit, and you know it.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Im still trying to figure out what Russia has in mind. Officials are all singing the same tune: Ukraine's only way out is surrender. And they all seem confident.
A year ago, Russia would probably have negotiated.
Since NONE of their objectives (demilitarization, de-Nazification, neutrality, protection for Russian-speaking people) included TAKING TERRITORY, they agreed early on to setting aside the status of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea in return for Ukrainian neutrality, protected by security guarantees from Russia and the west.
It would have been a sweet deal for Ukraine. Ukraine would have kept its borders, and even EU membership was open. But since westen objectives had nothing to do with Ukraine and everything to do with regime change in Russia and subsequent depredations by BlackRock etc., the west forced Ukraine to give up that deal and keep fighting.
"We will support you as long as it takes" BoJo said. "But if you accept this deal you can forget about security guarantees from us". A carrot and big, big stick.
I wouldn't be surprised if money changed hands, and oligarchs and officials were looking to cash in on the money flow. Shades of Afghanistan!
*****
Well, Russia has withstood sanctions and the Great Counteroffensive, and Ukraine's army broke against the Russian wall. Most of Russia's army isn't even at the front line. Local offensives ("active defense") IMHO are practice runs for when Russia TRULY goes on the offensive. They are testing which tactics and weapons work best against Ukrainian defense. Their plan, now, is to take a large part of Ukraine including Odessa and absorb it into Russia.
In turn, the USA has sent a three star general to directly oversee Kiev's military. I think that they are advising Ukraine to go on defense, build the equivalentof a "Surovikin line", and hold on thru next year's election while they rebuild yet another Ukrainian army. I'm sure Russia is planning for that. It may even work into Russian plans to slowly demilitarize NATO.
So Russia's envisioned outcome is a neutral, demilitarized, landlocked, "rump" Ukraine.
They still have eastern NATO nations to deal with, especially those American missile bases in Poland and Romania. I can't imagine us negotating in good faith with Russia over that (or anything) unless the entire USA government and functionaries are sacked, and that's not about to happen in my lifetime. But Russia might slowly pick the EU apart, negotiating concessions from individual nations. Those nations might be willing to give up some American installations, if they see the USA powerless in Ukraine. That will necessitate regime changes in Europe. Not gonna happen quickly.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:I'm guessing you have never visited East Texas or been around whites who live close to Indian Reservations. The Whites feel, but do not behave, as nasty as they were in the 19th century. What changed? The government changed. The Federal government, but not Texas state government, would punish those Whites if they did what they talked about doing.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yep!
SECOND is still stuck in fantasy-land!
SECOND: Signym, you will never stop dodging Russia's history of murdering a hundred million Russians, will you?
I'm not dodging Russian history. I don't dodge AMERICAN history either, which is also full of injustices like the genocide of natives, slavery, and murder across the globe.
BUT I DONT BLAME AMERICANS FOR WHAT WAS DONE A GENERATION AGO. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S AMERICANS FOR SLAVERY. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S GERMANS FOR THE HOLOCAUST. I DON'T BLAME TODAY'S RUSSIANS FOR WHAT HAPPENED A CENTURY AGO.
Doing so is PROPAGANDA AND LIES. And I reject propaganda and lies from any direction. Even yours.
Blame people, blame a nation, blame the decisons-makers for what THEY are doing or have fone.
Identify the act you believe is criminal. Find EVIDENCE for your allegations.
Anything else is just lies, propaganda, and bullshit, and you know it.
The same is true in Germany. The rotten behavior of would-be or wanna-be Nazis in the 21st century would be severely punished. Those people are forced to behave themselves.
How about Russia? The people do NOT behave well. Why? Because the government never repudiated their rotten past, the Iron Curtain, stealing the Kuril Islands, setting up North Korea on land owned by Korea, the Holodomor in Ukraine, the Gulag everywhere, the constant threats to nuke the West, etc. The government has not punished anybody, or even taken down the statues of the criminals who ruled Russia. (In the US, the former Confederate states have a similar problem with Civil War statues honoring Civil War "heroes" who should have been hanged rather than allowed to live free. But at least they have not yet reinstated slavery or ended Blacks' voting rights because it was made illegal at the Federal level, but not at the state level.) The angry poor white trash of Texas would go fully back to the Antebellum Era if not for the Federal government forbidding it.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More diarrhea of the brain, SECOND? Are you saying that the Russian of today is the same as the Russia of 1900?
Man, you are stuck in some sort of fantasy, aren't you???
What will you do when reality catches up with you??
- SIGNYM
Panic among Russian ranks as 'Mouse Fever' ravages troops
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/panic-among-russian-ranks-as-mo
use-fever-ravages-troops/ar-AA1lJFPr?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f5db32157b874d84a808afd697150c9c&ei=62
Laughing here comrade...
T
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly invoking the Kremlin's pre-invasion pseudo-historical rhetoric to cast himself as a modern Russian tsar and framing the invasion of Ukraine as a historically justified imperial reconquest. Putin addressed the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) Collegium on December 19 and largely reiterated boilerplate Kremlin rhetoric on the war in Ukraine by blaming NATO and the collective West for encroaching on Russia's borders and exculpated himself for issues faced by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine by deflecting the blame towards the Russian MoD bureaucracy.[1] Putin additionally lauded Russian battlefield operations and Russia's defense industrial base’s net output in 2023, furthering several of his standard talking points. Putin once again invoked the concept of "compatriots abroad" when discussing residents in "southeastern Ukraine" who, he asserted, have historical, cultural, and linguistic attachments to Russia, in order to justify the invasion of Ukraine on ideological grounds. ISW previously assessed that Putin rhetorically contextualized Russia's maximalist objectives in Ukraine within a wider framing of Russian "sovereignty" at Putin’s “Direct Line” event on December 14.[2] Putin notably claimed that while Russia is the sole guarantor of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russia will also not interfere in "territorial disputes" in western Ukraine, where he claimed that many residents want to return to either Poland, Romania, or Hungary, concluding that "history will put everything in its place."
Putin's claim that Russia can be the only true guarantor of Ukraine's sovereignty is not a new narrative. In a 2021 essay entitled "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians," Putin similarly claimed that "true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible precisely in partnership with Russia."[3] In the same essay, Putin also utilized a pseudo-historical framework of Ukraine’s and Russia's relationship that essentially defines the lands of modern, sovereign Ukraine as either part of Malorossiya (Little Russia), Novorossiya (New Russia), or fragments of other historical empires.[4] This essay dismissed Ukraine's historical claim to its own sociocultural development, historical sovereignty, and territorial integrity, which the Russian Federation formally recognized and, indeed, guaranteed, in 1994.[5] During the December 19 Collegium Address, Putin further engaged with this pseudo-historical framing to suggest that western Ukraine is also not truly Ukrainian and claimed that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin "gave it away" to Ukraine from pieces of Poland, Romania, and Hungary following the Second World War.[6] Putin baselessly claimed that people living in western Ukraine want to return to their "historical homeland," suggesting that western Ukraine could feasibly return to 17th-century conceptions of state borders and become parts of Poland, Romania, or Hungary. This statement suggests that Putin is selectively weaponizing facets of Eastern and Central European history as they suit his ideological line to further rhetorically strip Ukraine of its internationally recognized sovereignty.
Putin's MoD Collegium claims are rife with rhetorical contradictions and are dependent on tenuous historical allegories that fall apart when considered in different historical contexts. During a November 28 speech at the World Russian People's Council, Putin defined the concept of the "Russian World" (Russkiy Mir) as "all other peoples who have lived and are living in [Russia]," geographically defined as what belonged to Ancient Rus (Kyivan Rus), the Kingdom of Muscovy, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the contemporary Russian Federation, which suggests that Putin was broadly including parts of eastern European states such as Poland and Romania in this conception of the Russian World.[7] During the December 19 Collegium Add
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Putin remains committed to the fantasy that the old Russian Empire can be recreated. That means neither Ukraine nor the rest of Europe will have peace until he and his political project are soundly defeated.
By Carl Bildt | Dec 19, 2023
Carl Bildt was Sweden’s foreign minister from 2006 to 2014 and prime minister from 1991 to 1994
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/putin-russia-must-be-defe
ated-for-ukraine-and-europe-to-enjoy-peace-by-carl-bildt-2023-12
STOCKHOLM – In his annual press conference, Russian leader Vladimir Putin made it clear that he will be ready for a peace settlement with Ukraine only after he has achieved his goals, which have not changed since he launched his full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. He wants Ukraine to be demilitarized, meaning subjected to Russian military and security control of its territory; and he wants “denazification,” meaning Ukraine would be put under Russian political control. In other words, Russia would absorb Ukraine so that the latter ceases to exist as an independent nation-state.
Time and again, Putin has declared that there is no historical justification for Ukraine, since it comprises territories that were long held by the Russian Empire. But something similar can be said of countries across Europe today. Many previously fell under the yoke of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Wilhelmine, or Russian empires. And globally, the vast majority of the 193 countries that make up the United Nations became independent only in the aftermath of World War II. In the historical period that preoccupies Putin, many of today’s countries did not exist even in people’s imaginations.
The problem, for Putin, is that the age of empires is long gone. He stubbornly refuses to accept that we now live in the age of nation-states, with an international order organized around the UN Charter’s principle of territorial integrity, which prohibits any redrawing of national borders by force. Instead, he fantasizes about recreating the Russian Empire by swallowing up Ukraine and Belarus (followed, perhaps, by many other neighboring countries).
More at https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/putin-russia-must-be-defe
ated-for-ukraine-and-europe-to-enjoy-peace-by-carl-bildt-2023-12
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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I heard they found Putin crying in a closet.
T
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
I heard they found Putin crying in a closet.
How old are you?
Four?
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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I heard they're going to find Zelensky dead in the closet... (yanno, because he's a closeted homosexual and child rapist)
Defying Biden’s plea, Congress skips town without passing aid for Ukraine, Israel
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/dec/20/defying-bidens-plea-c
ongress-skips-town-without-pa/
Fuck Ukraine.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:6ix, did you graduate from a Russian University class on how to write falsehoods? Or are you just naturally this way?
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I heard they're going to find Zelensky dead in the closet... (yanno, because he's a closeted homosexual and child rapist)
Moscow State University (MGU) is reportedly ending its master's program in “information and hybrid warfare” aimed at teaching students how to create information operations and conduct hybrid warfare, generating outrage from Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. MGU Higher School of Telecommunications Dean Vitaly Tretyakov defended MGU’s decision to discontinue the master’s program on Solovyov’s show on December 18 because students graduating from the program would face difficulties finding employment abroad.[23] Tretyakov also argued that the master’s program, which offers a course in “special propaganda” (a Russian term for information and psychological operations), would threaten MGU’s reputation.[24] Solovyov dismissed Tretyakov’s explanations and questioned the patriotism of MGU’s students and faculty.[25] Solovyov praised the now-closing master’s program and noted that Russian universities need to teach “special propaganda” and combat Western narratives of history.[26] Former Duma Deputy Elena Panina echoed Solovyov’s support for the program and claimed that the Russian government should fund similar programs at various universities.[27] MGU announced the creation of the master’s program in 2022, the same year it admitted its first class of students, reportedly to teach and promote Russian objectives for the war in Ukraine.[28] MGU also is reportedly closing the program due to the low salaries of the professors teaching its courses and an ongoing scandal regarding faculty bribery.[29]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-20-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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To overstress the Kremlin’s training establishment and trigger a downward spiral in Russian military readiness, Ukrainian forces need to kill or maim at least 100,000 Russian troops in 2024, according to a recent assessment by the Estonian defense ministry.
“If undisrupted, Russia has the capacity to train approximately 130,000 troops every six months into cohered units and formations available for launching operations,” the Estonian defense ministry concluded.
260,000 fully-trained new recruits a year sustain a deployed force of around 420,000 troops. “Additional troops can be mobilized and pushed into Ukraine as untrained replacements, but these do not provide effective combat power,” the ministry in Tallinn estimated.
Kyiv should aim to inflict so many losses on Moscow that the Russian training system must increase output, by speeding up basic training. The less training a new recruit or draftee gets, the less value they have on the battlefield and the more likely they are themselves to become casualties.
Page 11 of https://kaitseministeerium.ee/sites/default/files/setting_transatlanti
c_defence_up_for_success_0.pdf
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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When Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive ended this fall and Russia’s attempt to capture the eastern city of Avdiivka slowed to a bloody grind, a war of maneuver in Ukraine became a war of attrition.
It’s apparent neither Ukraine nor Russia possesses the excess combat power it would need to achieve a major breakthrough that swiftly and radically could alter the course of Russia’s 22-month wider war on Ukraine.
Instead, the ultimate winner might be the country that attrits enough of the enemy’s forces to cause a military-wide collapse. According to the Estonian defense ministry, Ukraine can ensure Russia’s defeat in 2025 by killing or maiming 100,000 Russian troops in 2024.
That’s a lot of Russians. But then, the Ukrainians have been killing ... a lot of Russians. According to the best estimates, Ukrainian troops so far have killed or wounded 315,000 Russian troops. That’s 172,000 per year.
“If undisrupted, Russia has the capacity to train approximately 130,000 troops every six months into cohered units and formations available for launching operations,” the Estonian defense ministry concluded.
260,000 fully-trained new recruits a year sustain a deployed force of around 420,000 troops. “Additional troops can be mobilized and pushed into Ukraine as untrained replacements, but these do not provide effective combat power,” the ministry in Tallinn estimated.
Kyiv should aim to inflict so many losses on Moscow that the Russian training system must increase output, by speeding up basic training. The less training a new recruit or draftee gets, the less value they have on the battlefield and the more likely they are themselves to become casualties.
This dynamic is on bloody display around Avdiivka, where the Ukrainian garrison has killed or wounded an estimated 13,000 attacking Russians—many of them minimally-trained draftees—in just two months.
Replacement troops with less preparation fight worse and die faster, requiring the training base further to speed up training. That in turn could lead to more losses, more quickly. Killing at least 100,000 Russians in 2024 could decrease the Russian training base’s output to just 80,000 fully-trained new recruits a year, according to Tallinn. Forcewide erosion could become irreversible.
This feedback loop of dead and injured Russians might be the most direct path to a Ukrainian victory. “By redoubling our military support efforts, the attrition pace of Russian manpower and particularly the associated military equipment is bound to accelerate to unsustainable levels for Russia,” the Estonians wrote.
Of course, the Ukrainians must kill 100,000 Russians while mitigating their own losses.
“Ukraine’s army expanded from 150,000 ground forces to over 700,000 in 2022,” according to the Estonian defense ministry. But Ukrainian forces have suffered nearly 200,000 casualties—dead and wounded—in 22 months.
“There was heavy attrition among experienced field officers and soldiers alike,” the Estonian ministry explained. With too few experienced staff officers, the Ukrainians have been unable to organize complex operations.
“The effective span of control of a brigade for offensive operations is therefore approximately two companies,” according to the Estonians. “The result is that the [Ukrainian military] plans and executes operations with a horizon of exploitation limited to approximately 1,200 meters.”
Ukraine’s foreign allies have trained more than 100,000 Ukrainian troops since Russia widened the war in February 2022. But the standard course for a Ukrainian trainee is just five weeks long. Basic training for U.S. Army recruits is 10 weeks—and those new soldiers also get months of additional training for their particular speciality.
“It is time for us to set new objectives, a new pace and a new standard of quality in training” for Ukrainian recruits and draftees, the Estonians advised. Expanded foreign training of Ukrainian troops should include intensive, 10-week courses for staff officers, so that Ukrainian brigades finally can begin fighting as brigades.
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, did you graduate from a Russian University class on how to write falsehoods? Or are you just naturally this way?
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I heard they're going to find Zelensky dead in the closet... (yanno, because he's a closeted homosexual and child rapist)
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:6ix, every time you or Signym post a comment, or Trump opens his mouth, you are showing me why you have so many personal problems. You think you are only expressing "opinions" or "facts," but you are only showing the malfunctionality that is causing your personal problems. Please don't deny you have a myriad of problems. I don't think you can make the connection (or don't want to because it's too painful) between what you are and what inevitably happens to you. You're all malfunctioning all the time.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:--------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, did you graduate from a Russian University class on how to write falsehoods? Or are you just naturally this way?
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I heard they're going to find Zelensky dead in the closet... (yanno, because he's a closeted homosexual and child rapist)
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Blah, blah, blah....
We know dude. You're perfect, and so is every person who has ever voted Democrat. You're all going to live forever without any health issues because voting Democrat is the key to immortality and perfection.
Heard it already.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
When Ukraine’s summer counteroffensiveended,failedWAS DEFEATED this fall and Russia’s attempt to capture the eastern city of Avdiivka slowed to a bloody grind, a war ofmaneuverattrition in Ukrainebecame a war of attritionCONTINUED.
Quote:
This dynamic is on bloody display around Avdiivka, where the Ukrainian garrison has killed or wounded an estimated 13,000 attacking Russians—many of them minimally-trained draftees—in just two months.
That's about 216 a day.
This sounds bogus. According to Ukrainian videos, their forces mostly attack with PFV drones. But bc the explosive power of most drones is limited, even the best drone operators can only manage 5-8 soldiers per day. You would need 30-40 drone operators plugging away day after day, EVERY day, only in the Avdiivka area, just to reach those figures. And that's not happening. Not even according to Kiev.
And then there are mines and the few anti-tank missiles. Russian tanks require 2-3 operators, depending on model. Tanks are often damaged and disabled by drone, but the operators escape. You'd have to hit a tank with an ATGM for a sure kill, and I've seen very few of those. You could have a total of 200 disabled tanks on the field (and I haven't seen anything like that number) but that doesn't mean 400-600 dead operators, and that doesn't come close to adding up to the number that Kiev is blathering about either.
So while I'm certain that Russia is taking losses ... this is war, after all ... I've been kind of keeping a mental tally of potentially dead Russians from Kiev's brag videos. My guesstimate is 50 dead Russians on a bad day, with 25 being more typical. Not 216 a day. That's ludicrous.
****
But it looks like Ukraine is going on the defensive, which they should have done more than 6 months ago. It's far easier to defend than to attack. And ina war of attrition, the defender has the advantage.
Russia has a huge advantage in weapons and munitions. They're being sparing of their soldiers by preparing their targets with missiles, artillery, bombs, and drones before they send in infantry.
Missiles are good for distant, high-value targets (bunkers, command centers, large munitions and fuel depots, infrastructure and the like) and guided bombs and artillery are good for reducing fortifications, buildings etc. Drones are good for smaller targets - individual artillery pieces, radar dishes and communications relays, tanks, and APCs, trenches, squads, etc.
But IMHO preparation only works up to a point. It gets down to the individual soldier in a machine gun nest or foxhole, and only the infantry is useful.
Tanks seem to be last war's weapon. There are now so many anti-tank strategies - mines, drones, RPGs, ATGMs, etc etc., that they seem to be less and less useful on the battlefield.
Just my $0.02.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Japan is reportedly preparing to revise its defense equipment export policy to backfill US stockpiles of Patriot missiles and UK artillery ammunition stores.[11] The Japanese government will reportedly meet on December 22 to finalize plans to allow for Japan’s first export of lethal military equipment since 1967, when Japan established its Three Principles on Arms Exports, which prohibits the export of defense equipment to countries party to a conflict.[12] The revision will reportedly allow Japanese manufacturers to export completed defense equipment to the country in which the manufacturing license for that weapon originated.[13] Japanese Patriot missiles exported to the US will help fill US stockpiles, allowing the US to send more Patriot missiles to Ukraine. The Financial Times (FT) reported on December 21 that Japan is also considering exporting 155mm artillery shells to the United Kingdom (UK) to indirectly aid Ukraine in a similar way.[14]
ISW has assessed that the collapse of Western aid would likely lead to the eventual collapse of Ukraine’s ability to hold off the Russian military and that the current positional war in Ukraine is not a stable stalemate because the current instable balance could readily be tipped in either direction by decisions made in the West.[5] Continued Western security assistance that empowers Ukrainian forces to repel ongoing and future Russian offensive efforts and to liberate more Ukrainian territory is the only course of action at this time that can make the Russian failure to achieve Putin’s maximalist objectives in Ukraine permanent.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-21-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:You always bring up the word "perfect". That is where typical Trumptard thinking goes wrong. Think of it more like driving a car, which does not require perfection, but only requires drivers to not make fatal mistakes. Trumptards make fatal mistakes often, but unlike in driving, their deaths are time delayed by months or years.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Blah, blah, blah....
We know dude. You're perfect, and so is every person who has ever voted Democrat. You're all going to live forever without any health issues because voting Democrat is the key to immortality and perfection.
Heard it already.
If it is smoking, death from cancer is delayed, not immediate. If it is a Trumptard marriage, the death of the marriage is delayed by the amount of time the wife can tolerate her husband's mistakes. If it is a Trumptard business, the death of the business is delayed by the time customers can tolerate the business mistakes the owner makes. If a career, the death of the career is delayed only by the tolerance of the boss for the Trumptard employee's mistakes.
Russia has made a mistake by invading Ukraine. Putin is calculating that he will be dead from old age before the delay is over. See the collapse of the Soviet Union from Gorbachev's mistakes for what can happen to Russia once the time delay is over between Putin's mistakes and Russia's fate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev#1931%E2%80%931950:_chi
ldhood
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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The Kremlin accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing “pulp fiction” on Friday after it reported that the death of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash had been orchestrated by Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev.
The WSJ reported that Prigozhin’s private plane was downed by a small bomb placed under a wing, citing interviews with Western intelligence agencies, former US and Russian security and intelligence officials, and former Kremlin officials. The report also said the Kremlin’s denial of involvement and Putin’s suggestion that a hand grenade had detonated onboard were false.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen the story but would not comment on it, before adding: “Lately, unfortunately, the Wall Street Journal has been very fond of producing pulp fiction.”
The Journal said the assassination was two months in the making and approved by Putin’s ally and former spy, Nikolai Patrushev, according to Western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer.
“On the tarmac of a Moscow airport in late August, Yevgeny Prigozhin waited on his Embraer Legacy 600 for a safety check to finish before it could take off,” the report said.
“Through the delay, no one inside the cabin noticed the small explosive device slipped under the wing. When the jet finally left, it climbed for about 30 minutes to 28,000 feet, before the wing blew apart, sending the aircraft spiraling to the ground.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/dec/22/russia-ukraine-war-
latest-news-updates
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:You always bring up the word "perfect".
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Blah, blah, blah....
We know dude. You're perfect, and so is every person who has ever voted Democrat. You're all going to live forever without any health issues because voting Democrat is the key to immortality and perfection.
Heard it already.
Because perfection is how you portray yourself.
Write a better character.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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It's amazing how often SECOND drags the thread off topic. It's almost as if he's trying to bury it.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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I had to snicker
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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$4.99? What a ripoff.
Even in 2023 toilet paper and kindling are a lot cheaper than that price.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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The Kremlin is rallying Russians for a long-term fight with the West. The anti-Western narrative will become the foundation of the Kremlin’s next national myth if Russia wins. The narrative of confrontation with the West has increasingly defined Putin’s rule.[11] Missing Putin’s accumulating grudge is exactly why the West has been strategically surprised by Putin in the past.[12] The 2022 invasion has taken anti-American narratives in Russia to new heights.[13] Confrontation with the West has become the Kremlin’s central domestic justification of this war and a key justification for its own increasingly authoritarian rule — after the initial justifications about denazification, demilitarization, etc. became less resonant. Anti-Western rhetoric in Russia comes in many forms: from the Kremlin talking heads discussing a potential nuclear strike on the US[14]; to Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev’s insinuations about a civil war in the US[15]; to constant explicit and thinly veiled threats against NATO states,[16] including Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov’s statements that one “Sarmat” [nuclear] missile is enough to drown the United Kingdom[17] [18]; to falsely blaming the United States for the Kremlin’s failures, and even implying that the United States supports terrorism in Russia.[19] It is easy to dismiss these statements as lunacy. But narratives rule Russia, they have got us where we are today with Russia, and they will shape Russia’s foreign policy for years to come. If Russia wins in Ukraine, these narratives will serve as the basis for the next Russian national myth.
The Kremlin explicitly intends to reconstitute its large-scale warfighting capability — an effort that disproportionally depends on whether Russia keeps or loses its gains in Ukraine. Russia has significantly depleted its military capability in Ukraine. But, unlike in 2022, the Kremlin today is acutely aware of its capability gap and seeks to close it. Russia is pursuing large-scale military reforms,[20] revamping its defense industrial base (DIB), investing in technological adaptation, and reconfiguring its international web of capability partners. The Russian military uses Belarus’ trainers and training grounds to augment Russian force generation capabilities.[21] The Kremlin has accelerated its militarization of Russian society by instituting mandatory patriotic and military education in Russian schools, among other measures, as it seeks to expand Russia’s future recruitment base via the indoctrination of its population.[22] [23] The Kremlin’s progress is constrained by its decision to employ half-measures for DIB revitalization, as well as the invasion cannibalizing Russia's long-term military reforms.[24] But the potential for Russia to rebuild its military should not be underestimated if the Kremlin gets a reprieve or a win in Ukraine and can focus on reconstitution with full force, new knowledge, stronger commitment, and a resilient web of military capability partners — like Iran and North Korea — that the Kremlin has codified throughout the invasion.
Russia would absorb — not just control — any areas of Ukraine and Belarus it seizes, expanding Russia’s military footprint and resource base. Russia has made alarming progress in normalizing a continuous military presence in Belarus, including securing unprecedented basing access and freedom of movement even beyond Belarusian military infrastructure.[25] A Russian victory in Ukraine would free up the Kremlin’s capacity to finalize its control over Belarus. But in such a case the Kremlin will likely go beyond control and use Russia’s ‘digestion’ playbook (its brutal rapid version in Ukraine and a softer slower version in Belarus) to erase local identity in any areas of Ukraine and Belarus that Russia manages to control.
The Kremlin is likely to pursue an outright absorption of Belarus and areas of Ukraine it manages to seize for two reasons. First, Ukraine and Belarus are core to Putin’s vision of the Russian world and also to Putin’s accelerated effort
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Notice the change in narrative?
A year ago it was all "Ukraine is WINNING!" and "Russian troops are unmotivated brutal orcs only good to feed into meat grinders" and "Russia's economy is in tatters." and "Russia is running out of missiles/ planes/ artillery/ (fill in the blank)".
Now, it's ...
What if Russia wins?
https://www.ft.com/content/a788b749-c94c-4d9e-99e4-47300b0c6ea8
The High Price of Losing Ukraine: Part 2 — The Military Threat and Beyond
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/high-price-losing-ukrain
e-part-2-%E2%80%94-military-threat-and-beyond
What could happen if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?
https://news.sky.com/story/what-could-happen-if-russia-wins-war-in-ukr
aine-experts-consider-the-scenarios-13031013
What If Russia Wins?
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-02-18/what-if-rus
sia-wins
‘We’ll Be at Each Others’ Throats’: Fiona Hill on What Happens If Putin Wins
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/12/fiona-hill-ukraine-p
utin-00131285
****
Wow. Neocons and their prostitute media slowly coming to grips with reality?
The best analysis of what this means comes from ISW, the Kagan-Nuland branch of neoconism, as quoted by Simplicius:
Quote:
"To deter and defend against a renewed Russian threat following a full Russian victory in Ukraine the United States will have to deploy to Eastern Europe a sizable portion of its ground forces. The United States will have to station in Europe a large number of stealth aircraft. Building and maintaining those aircraft is intrinsically expensive, but challenges in manufacturing them rapidly will likely force the United States to make a terrible choice between keeping enough in Asia to defend Taiwan and its other Asian allies and deterring or defeating a Russian attack on a NATO ally. The entire undertaking will cost a fortune, and the cost will last as long as the Russian threat continues—potentially indefinitely."
In other words, all of the required defensive measures would bankrupt us.
More importantly
Quote:
"The future of NATO is bound up with the future of Ukraine much more tightly than most people understand...
Altering America’s will is no small thing. America is an idea. America is a choice. America is a belief in the value of action. US domestic resilience and global power come in no small part from people and countries choosing the United States and from Americans preserving their agency to act with intent. An adversary learning how to alter these realities is an existential threat — especially when ideas are that adversary’s core weapon."
Simplicius continues...
Quote:
" ' America the Myth floated along during all of this. It was a shared catechism of the American religion, but is becoming harder to swallow. We are becoming American Atheists and when the people stop believing in their own myths they perish.'
Now let’s see Kagan and cohort’s exegesis one more time, side by side:
'Altering America’s will is no small thing. America is an idea. America is a choice. America is a belief in the value of action. US domestic resilience and global power come in no small part from people and countries choosing the United States and from Americans preserving their agency to act with intent. An adversary learning how to alter these realities is an existential threat — especially when ideas are that adversary’s core weapon.'
Ah….so there it is. You see, American power is enshrined in nothing more than a Myth of supremacy and entitlement, one itself cloaked in various euphemistic coys and vapory misdirections like “the rules based order.” "
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/breaking-down-thinktank-lands-late
st
Losing in Ukraine might lead large parts of the world to suddenly realize that America is not invincible. They might decide they had backed the wrong horse. Many nations might switch sides, or at least become equidistant. A tipping point may be re
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This belongs in the Palestine thread, but is also relevant to America's standing in the world, and with its allies....
Pentagon's Operation Prosperity Guardian "Falls Apart" As Spain, Italy, France Reject Request
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagons-operation-prosperity-
guardian-falls-apart-spain-italy-france-reject-request
US Attacked 100 Times In Iraq & Syria Since October
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-attacked-100-times-iraq-syri
a-october
Israeli-Linked Tanker Struck By Drone Off India, Signaling Attacks Set To Widen
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-linked-tanker-struck-dr
one-india-signaling-attacks-set-widen
96% Of Saudis Oppose Ties With Israel, Hamas Grows In Popularity: Poll
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/96-saudis-oppose-ties-israel-ha
mas-grows-popularity-poll
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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The timing of Putin’s reported interest in a ceasefire is more consistent with Russia’s ongoing efforts to delay and discourage further Western military assistance to Ukraine, than with a serious interest in ending the war other than with a full Russian victory. ISW observed similar Kremlin efforts to mislead Western policymakers into pressuring Ukraine to negotiate with Russia in winter 2022-2023, and effectively redirecting Western focus onto hypothetical negotiations rather than ensuring that Ukraine has sufficient materiel before its spring-summer counteroffensive.[7]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-23-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Kimberly Kagan is founder and President of that think tank. Kimberly is married to Frederick Kagan.
Frederick Kagan is Director of the "Critical Threats" project at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.
Frederick Kagan is Robert Kagan's brother.
Robert Kagan is cofounder (with Bill Kristol) of the Project for New America Century, which called for global domination.
Robert is married to Victoria "fuck the EU" Nuland, who, from her perch in the State Department, runs various neocon regime change ops, including Ukraine and attempts at regime change in Russia.
It's a nest of Jewish Zionist neocons, really, who have a very narrow agenda which does NOT include America's overall benefit.
The Kagans Are Back; Wars to Follow
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-kagans-are-back-wars-to-follow/55801
71
*****
But that's OK, sweetie. Keep the pedal to the metal. You're heading for a cliff, so I'm not gonna stand in your way.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Notice the change in narrative?
A year ago it was all "Ukraine is WINNING!" and "Russian troops are unmotivated brutal orcs only good to feed into meat grinders" and "Russia's economy is in tatters." and "Russia is running out of missiles/ planes/ artillery/ (fill in the blank)".
Now, it's ...
What if Russia wins?
The High Price of Losing Ukraine: Part 2 — The Military Threat and Beyond
What could happen if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?
What If Russia Wins?
‘We’ll Be at Each Others’ Throats’: Fiona Hill on What Happens If Putin Wins
****
Wow. Neocons and their prostitute media slowly coming to grips with reality?
Nah.
The War Machine hasn't been properly fed for a while.
Just commericals for Raytheon and the like is all.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:Ummmm...
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Notice the change in narrative?
A year ago it was all "Ukraine is WINNING!" and "Russian troops are unmotivated brutal orcs only good to feed into meat grinders" and "Russia's economy is in tatters." and "Russia is running out of missiles/ planes/ artillery/ (fill in the blank)".
Now, it's ...
What if Russia wins?
The High Price of Losing Ukraine: Part 2 — The Military Threat and Beyond
What could happen if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?
What If Russia Wins?
‘We’ll Be at Each Others’ Throats’: Fiona Hill on What Happens If Putin Wins
****
Wow. Neocons and their prostitute media slowly coming to grips with reality?
Nah.
The War Machine hasn't been properly fed for a while.
Just commericals for Raytheon and the like is all.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
I think they're more desperate than that, SIX. They banked a lot on Project Ukraine. Them, and the WH, State Dept, neocons, EU, NATO, IMF, BlackRock, Monsanto, Pfizer et al. A lot of political capital and currency was committed to succeeding. Not only have they not regime-change Russia (there go all of those lovely acquisitions!) they haven't managed to fold Ukraine into NATO, or even defend it from "Russian aggression". So much for those IMF loans and aid packages!
And if Russia takes most of Ukraine, financialists and transnationals won't even get the consolation prize of picking the Ukraine carcasse.
If Russia wins it'll be a huge black eye for NATO and the EU bureaucracy. A huge black eye for German, UK, French, etc leadership. A huge black eye for our Pentagon, resident neocons, and American influence in the Mideast and Asia! So much for Taiwan! ANOTHER black eye for our media!
The ONLY sector that made money on this in the MIC. Everything else will suffer.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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No reason to do it overnight.
Can't bleed the plebs dry if they won the "war" in a week.
We're still going to be hearing about Ukraine 10 years from now.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:You seem to think that the west is going to determine when the war ends.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
No reason to do it overnight.
Can't bleed the plebs dry if they won the "war" in a week.
We're still going to be hearing about Ukraine 10 years from now.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs High Representative Josep Borrell stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in a limited territorial victory in Ukraine and will continue the war “until the final victory.”[1] Borrell reported on December 24 that Putin would not be satisfied with capturing a “piece” of Ukraine and allowing the rest of Ukraine to join the EU.[2] Borrell added that Putin will not “give up the war” and called on the West to prepare for a “conflict of high intensity for a long time.”[3] Borrell’s statements are consistent with ISW’s assessment that Russia is not interested in a ceasefire or good-faith negotiations with Ukraine but retains its maximalist goals of a full Russian victory in Ukraine.[4]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-24-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russia’s Best Su-34 Fighter-Bombers Are Falling From The Sky In Startling Numbers
Four claimed shoot-downs in three days.
By David Axe | Dec 24, 2023,04:19pm EST
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/12/24/russias-best-su-34-fi
ghter-bombers-are-falling-from-the-sky-in-startling-numbers/
Two days after shooting down, in a deadly missile-ambush south of Kherson, three of the Russian air force’s best fighter-bombers, the Ukrainian claimed it shot down a fourth fighter-bomber. This one over occupied Mariupol.
That’s four Sukhoi Su-34s in three days, a weekly rate of loss that’s one of the worst so far for the Russian air force, 22 months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.
And it just might get even worse for the Russians. The Ukrainian air force is about to get a significant upgrade, in the form of ex-Dutch Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters.
The Ukrainian air force swatted those three Su-34s around noon on Friday just south of the Dnipro River in southern Kherson Oblast. The Sukhois reportedly were flying at high altitude, lining up to lob satellite-guided glide-bombs at the Ukrainian bridgehead in Krynky, on the otherwise Russian-held left bank of the Dnipro.
It’s unclear how the Ukrainians shot down those three twin-engine, two-seat Sukhois on Friday, reportedly killing most of the aviators aboard. But it’s worth noting that Germany recently had delivered a Patriot air-defense missile battery, Ukraine’s third.
A Patriot PAC-2 missile ranges as far as a hundred miles under the best circumstances, making it Ukraine’s farthest-traveling air-defense missile. A Patriot battery situated well behind the front line in Kherson easily can hit a Russian glide-bomber at its farthest release point, 25 miles or so from a target along the Dnipro.
The three confirmed recent Su-34 shoot-downs — four if you count Sunday’s claimed shoot-down — bring to 25 or 26 the number of the fighter-bombers the Russians have lost over Ukraine, out of a total pre-war fleet of probably fewer than 150 aircraft.
The Su-34 is the Russian air force’s best fighter-bomber, and the only type in the Russian inventory that has the combination of sensors, avionics and smart weaponry that allows it to detect and attack pop-up targets on short notice.
The Russian air force “is almost certainly anxious to minimize further losses of these expensive and complex aircraft,” Justin Bronk, Nick Reynolds and Jack Watling noted in a November 2022 study for the Royal United Services Institute in London. https://static.rusi.org/SR-Russian-Air-War-Ukraine-web-final.pdf
At the time RUSI published the study, the Russians had lost just 17 Su-34s. Now that they’ve lost as many as 26 of the $50-million jets — nearly a fifth of the fleet — the Russians’ anxiety undoubtedly is much worse.
It’s not for no reason that, after the Ukrainians swatted three Sukhois on Friday, the Russian air force reportedly halted — at least temporarily — glide-bombing raids on Ukraine’s Dnipro bridgehead.
Novosibirsk-based plane-maker Chkalov Aviation Plant annually produces just a handful of new Su-34s. Moscow cannot sustain the current rate of loss, to say nothing of sustaining a potentially higher rate of loss once Ukraine’s new F-16s join the fight in the coming weeks.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:You seem to think that the west is going to determine when the war ends.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
No reason to do it overnight.
Can't bleed the plebs dry if they won the "war" in a week.
We're still going to be hearing about Ukraine 10 years from now.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
Not exactly "The West" as in Team America! Fuck Yeah!
I'm just talking about the people behind the scenes who control all of these things but don't hold any actual elected offices.
They hold no allegiance to any geographic boundaries or people when they view the planet as their property and all of its people as their slaves.
And make no mistake, if they actually wanted the war to end tomorrow, it would end tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:Since he believes people behind the scenes who control all of these things run the world, it is not surprising to me that 6ixStringJack does not take personal responsibility for why his life has so far gone badly. It is much more psychologically comfortable to believe people behind the scenes wrecked his life rather than his crash was his fault. It is also no surprise that 6ix is attached to Trump, who promised to oppose these people behind the scenes. It is Jesus versus Satan, with Trump being the returned deity. For a certain kind of Russian, it is Putin in the role Trump plays while the West is Satan.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:You seem to think that the west is going to determine when the war ends.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
No reason to do it overnight.
Can't bleed the plebs dry if they won the "war" in a week.
We're still going to be hearing about Ukraine 10 years from now.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
Not exactly "The West" as in Team America! Fuck Yeah!
I'm just talking about the people behind the scenes who control all of these things but don't hold any actual elected offices.
They hold no allegiance to any geographic boundaries or people when they view the planet as their property and all of its people as their slaves.
And make no mistake, if they actually wanted the war to end tomorrow, it would end tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
Putin attacks West as 'satanic', hails Russian "traditional" values
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSS8N2Z80G1/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:From what I can see, you are not a grownup. Yes, you did remove tons of garage sale junk that cluttered your house, overcoming your hoarding tendencies. Yes, you also stopped drinking alcohol, overcoming another tendency. There are more trivial accomplishments I won't list. But in the bigger world, normal children with parents who aren't themselves immature have grown past the stage you are now in by the time they are 21. The Russians also need to become grownups, but that is a long story of how Russia never matured because of the trauma of 100,000,000 Russians being murdered by other Russians.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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What 2023 Taught Us in the Russia-Ukraine War
Foreign Policy’s best reads on the state of the conflict and the implications going forward.
By Stefan Theil, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/26/russia-ukraine-war-lessons-milita
ry-aid-2023/
As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third winter, the scenarios for its outcome are still unclear. With neither side making substantial territorial gains in more than a year, there is much debate about whether the conflict has entered a stalemate — and who is to blame for Ukraine not advancing more quickly. At the same time, the fighting remains highly volatile in other ways, as Ukraine’s effective defeat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 2023 has shown.
The more crucial fight, it seems, is political. With Russian forces unable to gain any significant ground since summer 2022, President Vladimir Putin is betting on Western exhaustion. Already, weapons deliveries to Ukraine have slowed to a trickle as the U.S. Congress debates and delays the next allotment of aid. Along with Berlin, Washington has held back on delivering key weapons systems, such as the longer-range missiles that would allow Ukraine to hit important Russian targets farther behind the front, including in occupied Crimea.
Rightly or wrongly, Ukraine and its supporters believe that Western aid is calibrated to allow the Ukrainians not to lose and not to win.
Putin likely has his eyes on the U.S. election in November 2024. Should former President Donald Trump return to the White House for a second term, Ukraine could lose its most significant source of military aid, sanctions against Russia could quickly crack, and Kyiv could be pushed to hand substantial parts of its territory and population to Moscow — while likely still facing the Kremlin’s designs to control the country.
More at https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/26/russia-ukraine-war-lessons-milita
ry-aid-2023/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:From what I can see, you are not a grownup. Yes, you did remove tons of garage sale junk that cluttered your house, overcoming your hoarding tendencies. Yes, you also stopped drinking alcohol, overcoming another tendency. There are more trivial accomplishments I won't list. But in the bigger world, normal children with parents who aren't themselves immature have grown past the stage you are now in by the time they are 21. The Russians also need to become grownups, but that is a long story of how Russia never matured because of the trauma of 100,000,000 Russians being murdered by other Russians.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Agreed...
T
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:From what I can see, you are not a grownup. Yes, you did remove tons of garage sale junk that cluttered your house, overcoming your hoarding tendencies. Yes, you also stopped drinking alcohol, overcoming another tendency. There are more trivial accomplishments I won't list. But in the bigger world, normal children with parents who aren't themselves immature have grown past the stage you are now in by the time they are 21. The Russians also need to become grownups, but that is a long story of how Russia never matured because of the trauma of 100,000,000 Russians being murdered by other Russians.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Agreed...
T
How's work treating you today, dummies? Making that money to pay all that interest on things you're never going to pay off before you die?
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:Your latest brag: "I've been looking at that every time I used those stairs for about 12 years now. Nice to NOT notice it anymore."
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
How's work treating you today, dummies? Making that money to pay all that interest on things you're never going to pay off before you die?
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=65350&mid=11855
11#1185511
6ix, you are wasting your life. The Russians are wasting theirs.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:From what I can see, you are not a grownup. Yes, you did remove tons of garage sale junk that cluttered your house, overcoming your hoarding tendencies. Yes, you also stopped drinking alcohol, overcoming another tendency. There are more trivial accomplishments I won't list. But in the bigger world, normal children with parents who aren't themselves immature have grown past the stage you are now in by the time they are 21. The Russians also need to become grownups, but that is a long story of how Russia never matured because of the trauma of 100,000,000 Russians being murdered by other Russians.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Agreed...
T
How's work treating you today, dummies? Making that money to pay all that interest on things you're never going to pay off before you die?
Fucking Jack can't even hold down a j
ob and he's suggesting those who can are the ones lacking.
He can't sell that shit even on his best day. Better keep it a secret Jack. Nobody thinks someone
who can't hold down a job is a winner.
Too funny...
T
T
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Can you say Jack is a loser. I can...
T
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By the way, Ukraine is kicking Russias' ass.
T
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Weapons are what counts. Although sanctions are important, it is the vast military aid provided predominately by the United States that has changed the reality on the ground in Ukraine. Superior weapons allowed the Ukrainians to repel the initial Russian advance and take back large swaths of territory. If Ukraine had had these capabilities before the war, Putin may have thought twice before launching a full-scale invasion. The same lesson applies to Taiwan. With the help of its partners, the island must become a porcupine bristling with armaments to deter any possible attempt to take it by force. China must calculate that the cost of an invasion is simply too high to bear.
Finally, the most important way to deter a Chinese move on Taiwan now is to ensure a Ukrainian victory. If Russia can gain territory and establish a new status quo by force, China and other autocratic powers will learn that the democratic world’s resolve is weak. That in the face of nuclear blackmail and military aggression, it chose appeasement over confrontation.
This outcome would make the entire world a more dangerous place. That is why all those who believe in a democratic Taiwan and a rules-based international order must work to ensure Ukraine prevails.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/05/russia-ukraine-next-war-lessons-c
hina-taiwan-strategy-technology-deterrence/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:From what I can see, you are not a grownup. Yes, you did remove tons of garage sale junk that cluttered your house, overcoming your hoarding tendencies. Yes, you also stopped drinking alcohol, overcoming another tendency. There are more trivial accomplishments I won't list. But in the bigger world, normal children with parents who aren't themselves immature have grown past the stage you are now in by the time they are 21. The Russians also need to become grownups, but that is a long story of how Russia never matured because of the trauma of 100,000,000 Russians being murdered by other Russians.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My life is fine. In many ways, thanks to the fact that I have taken personal accountability for any of my failures, acknowledged them, owned them, fixed whatever I could, and then recognized those things that can't be fixed or weren't worth investing time and energy into and moved on with my life.
I have zero debts to anyone. Financially or otherwise. Everything I own is mine free and clear, everybody I know is indebted to me one way or the other.
Enjoy your holiday break. You've got to get back to work soon, wageslave.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Agreed...
T
How's work treating you today, dummies? Making that money to pay all that interest on things you're never going to pay off before you die?
Fucking Jack can't even hold down a j
ob and he's suggesting those who can are the ones lacking.
He can't sell that shit even on his best day. Better keep it a secret Jack. Nobody thinks someone
who can't hold down a job is a winner.
Too funny...
T
T
I don't need a job. I have everything I want.
Eventually my paid for house will be finished and I'll get bored and need something to do. Maybe I'll flip the house, pay zero capital gains taxes on it and start over.
Have fun working for the man paying off all that debt you never should have taken on and can't ever possibly pay off, buddy.
Say hi to your boss for me.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack: "I don't need a job. I have everything I want."
And Trump will be the next President. Sure, 6ix. You have got it all figured out. If only humanity could see things your way, reality would be so much better. NOT.
Ukraine's Ready to Use Game-Changing Weapons
By Aila Slisco | Dec 26, 2023 at 2:04 PM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-ready-use-f-16-fighter-jets-1855547
The prospect of Ukraine obtaining F-16s had been in doubt until May when President Joe Biden agreed to allow NATO allies to provide the jets after initially resisting repeated requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
So far, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium have agreed to provide Ukraine with a supply of F-16s. The Netherlands is set to send Kyiv an initial shipment of 18 jets out of 42.
Although the exact timeline for the arrival of the F-16s to Ukraine is unclear, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte informed Zelensky during a phone call last week that the first batch would be sent soon.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that the F-16s will not improve Ukraine's footing in the war, saying during the Eastern Economic Forum in September that procurement of the jets "simply prolongs the conflict."
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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How many "game changing" weapons has Ukraine gotten? M777 howitzers? Leopard tanks? Patriot missiles? Bradleys? Abrams tanks? That hasn't prevented 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers being taken out of action, one way or another.
The only weapons that seem to work for Ukraine are mines, the HIMARS launchers, cruise missiles, and FPV drones. And Russia has a lot more of those, or equivalent, than Ukraine. I can't imagine what you think F-16s are gonna do, since Ukraine's previous fleet of warplanes was destroyed.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack: "I don't need a job. I have everything I want."
Yup. I don't pray at the altar of God Money like you do. I have more than my share, and I see no reason to stack excess 1's and 0's that are just going to sit in a virtual bank somewhere until I die.
Have you ever once heard me bitch personally about MY money?
If I need to work, I'll go back to work. It'll be part time. It will be low paying but low responsibility. And I'll be stacking up enough to take another 5 year vacation. Because my cost of living is obscenely low compared to all you wage slaves, you see.
Quote:
And Trump will be the next President. Sure, 6ix.
Everything points to this being the case right now.
Quote:
You have got it all figured out.
Most of the stuff that means anything...yup.
Quote:
If only humanity could see things your way, reality would be so much better. NOT.
Most of humanity does. You're the lefty lunatic on the fringes there, Reaverfan.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Russia's likely capture of Marinka in Donetsk Oblast represents a limited Russian tactical gain and does not portend any operationally significant advance unless Russian forces have dramatically improved their ability to conduct rapid mechanized forward movement, which they show no signs of having done.
A small and completely destroyed settlement does not offer Russian forces a secure operational foothold from which to launch further offensive operations. Marinka is located less than a kilometer from the pre-invasion frontline and Ukrainian forces have long fortified many of the surrounding settlements, which Russian forces have been similarly struggling to capture.[8] Russian forces have advanced roughly over three kilometers in depth into Marinka since February 24, 2022, and there are no indications that the rate of Russian advance to the next settlements identified as tactical Russian objectives will be any quicker, especially considering the rate of attrition that Russian forces suffered to capture a small settlement directly on the border of territory Russia has controlled since 2014. Russia's capture of Marinka follows several months of highly attritional marginal gains and is not the result of a sudden rapid mechanized Russian advance. Russian forces have not conducted any offensive operation that resulted in a rapid and mechanized forward advance since Spring 2022, and Russian capabilities to conduct the mechanized maneuver that would be required for such an advance have been severely degraded.[9] Russian forces have recently illustrated the lack of these capabilities in failed waves of mass mechanized assaults to capture Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, and those offensive operations resulted in further armored vehicle losses that have prompted the Russian command to transition to infantry-heavy ground attacks.[10]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-26-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
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Quote:6ix, most of humanity lives in relative poverty compared to you. They better be content with their poverty or else be miserable about how God mistreats them or angry that "The West" stole their wealth. (That last option describes average Russians, which makes it easy for Putin to blame the Ukraine War on "The West", not on Putin.) Come to think of it, 6ix has much in common with average Russians but rather than "The West" he blames "The Democrats". 6ix, you have been angry/envious which is why you have all those Disney failure threads predicting the end of wealthy Disney. Personally, I became disinterested in Disney products back when Walt Disney hosted a weekly TV show called "The Wonderful World of Color" because I had real-world adventures rather than make-believe TV.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
If only humanity could see things your way, reality would be so much better. NOT.
Most of humanity does. You're the lefty lunatic on the fringes there, Reaverfan.
The average global personal income is $9,733 per year. The average global household income is $12,235 per year. The median per-capita household income is only $2,920 per year.
https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, most of humanity lives in relative poverty compared to you. They better be content with their poverty or else be miserable about how God mistreats them or angry that "The West" stole their wealth. (That last option describes average Russians, which makes it easy for Putin to blame the Ukraine War on "The West", not on Putin.) Come to think of it, 6ix has much in common with average Russians but rather than "The West" he blames "The Democrats". 6ix, you have been angry/envious which is why you have all those Disney failure threads predicting the end of wealthy Disney.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
If only humanity could see things your way, reality would be so much better. NOT.
Most of humanity does. You're the lefty lunatic on the fringes there, Reaverfan.
That's a real laugh, buddy. I have zero envy for the rich. Particularly for the rich and the famous, because I wouldn't wish that level of anti-anonymity on anyone. Money means nothing to me other than tokens that you barter in order to survive. My somewhat unique perspective on money has allowed me to become particularly good at allowing me to stack it and utilize it in just about the most efficient way you possibly could.
Sure, I exist on next to nothing without supplementing it right now, but ask yourself how I managed that in the first place. The only answer to that question is that I lived more or less the exact same way that I do now when I was working jobs making enough money to put myself in this position in the first place. How many people do you know that walk into their bank for a cashier's check to take to their house closing to pay it in full when they're only 32 years old who didn't have a rich mommy and daddy giving them that money? Now how many of them did it while only making about $250k in their life?
There are a lot of reasons to despise Disney. Their wealth is only one of them. I don't have a problem with the wealth that Disney has, but I do have a problem with how they choose to spend it.
Quote:
Personally, I became disinterested in Disney products back when Walt Disney hosted a weekly TV show called "The Wonderful World of Color" because I had real-world adventures rather than make-believe TV.
Yeah. Sure. Post another pirate link for content that you've downloaded and not paid your taxes on.
Quote:
The average global personal income is $9,733 per year. The average global household income is $12,235 per year. The median per-capita household income is only $2,920 per year.
Oh, that old gem again. We've been over this before ad nauseam. If you're living in a place where the average personal income is $9,733 per year, then everything you buy from food to clothing to transportation to entertainment costs a LOT less than somewhere where the average income is $40k per year. You don't even have to travel out of the country to see that this is true. Somebody working and living in NYC or LA is making a ton more than somebody doing the same job in bumfuck Kentucky doing the same job, but somebody in bumfuck Kentucky isn't paying $3,500 per month for a 600 sq ft. studio apartment.
--------------------------------------------------
Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:It's pretty obvious you have very few foreign stamps in your passport. Oh? You don't need a passport? You've seen all you need to know from a screen? Russians are pretty much the same since they get all their "facts" about the Failing West from Putin. Trumptards hear about the Failing NYTimes and Failing California from Trump.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh, that old gem again. We've been over this before ad nauseam. If you're living in a place where the average personal income is $9,733 per year, then everything you buy from food to clothing to transportation to entertainment costs a LOT less than somewhere where the average income is $40k per year. You don't even have to travel out of the country to see that this is true. Somebody working and living in NYC or LA is making a ton more than somebody doing the same job in bumfuck Kentucky doing the same job, but somebody in bumfuck Kentucky isn't paying $3,500 per month for a 600 sq ft. studio apartment.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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The Rebirth of Russian Spycraft
How the Ukraine War Has Changed the Game for the Kremlin’s Operatives — and Their Western Rivals
By Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan | December 27, 2023
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/rebirth-russian-spyc
raft
In April 2023, a prominent Russian national with suspected ties to Russian intelligence pulled off an impressive escape from Italian authorities. Artem Uss, a Russian businessman and the son of a former Russian governor, had been detained in Milan a few months earlier on charges of smuggling sensitive U.S. military technology to Russia. According to an indictment issued by a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, in October 2022, Uss had illegally trafficked in the semiconductors needed to build ballistic missiles and a variety of other weapons, some of which were being used in the war in Ukraine. But while Uss was awaiting extradition to the United States, he was exfiltrated from Italy with the help of a Serbian criminal gang and returned to Russia.
The escape, which was reported in The Wall Street Journal last spring, was only one of a series of recent incidents suggesting how much Russia’s intelligence forces have regrouped since the start of the war in Ukraine. Back in the spring of 2022, in the months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion, the Russian intelligence agencies had seemed disoriented and confused. One by one, European countries had kicked out Russia’s diplomats; according to one British estimate, some 600 Russian officials were expelled from Europe, of which perhaps 400 were believed to be spies. The FSB, Russia’s internal security service, had also badly misjudged the kind of resistance that Russian forces would face in Ukraine, assuming that Russia could quickly take Kyiv. This contributed to Russia’s humiliating performance.
Now, Russia’s foreign intelligence network appears to be back with a vengeance. And it is becoming more inventive, increasingly relying on foreign nationals — such as the Serbian gang that assisted Uss, for instance — to help it get around restrictions on Russians. Before the war, Western intelligence agencies mostly dealt with Russian operations being carried out by Russian nationals. That is no longer the case. Today, Russian intelligence activities draw on a range of foreign nationals, and that includes not only spying on the West and tracking arms shipments to Ukraine but also applying growing pressure on Russian exiles and opponents of the Putin regime who have fled abroad since the war started. Evidence of such activity is turning up everywhere from Georgia and Serbia to NATO countries such as Bulgaria and Poland. In early 2023, for example, British officials arrested five Bulgarians who were accused of spying for Russia, including in an effort to keep tabs on Russian exiles in London.
At the same time, Russia’s spy agencies also appear to have shifted their orientation. Before the war, there was a division of labor among the three principal intelligence services — the SVR (foreign intelligence), the GRU (military intelligence), and the FSB (domestic security). In the past, it was generally understood that the SVR mostly focused on political and industrial espionage and the GRU on military issues, while the FSB was primarily focused on Russia itself, using its foreign branch mainly to conduct operations against Russians abroad and to keep friendly regimes in neighboring countries in power. Now, these distinctions are no longer so clear: all three agencies are deeply involved in the war in Ukraine, and all three have been actively recruiting new assets among Russia’s most recent exiles abroad.
The return of Moscow’s spying apparatus has significant implications for the West in its efforts to counter Russian meddling and Russian intelligence operations. If recent indications are correct, Russian intelligence activities in Europe and elsewhere may pose a significantly greater threat than had been assumed in the early stages of the war. At the same time, these changes offer insi
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Ukrainian drone footage published on December 27 showed another Russian execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) near Robotyne in western Zaporizhia Oblast.[1] The geolocated video shows Russian servicemen shooting three Ukrainian soldiers whom Russian forces captured in a tree line west of Verbove (east of Robotyne). The video later depicts one Russian soldier shooting an already dead Ukrainian serviceman again at close range.[2] The Ukrainian Prosecutor General‘s Office announced that it opened an investigation into Russian forces violating the laws and customs of war in addition to premeditated murder.[3] The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office stated this incident occurred on an unspecified date in December 2023.[4] ISW previously reported observing drone footage of Russian servicemen using Ukrainian POWs as human shields near Robotyne on December 13.[5] The killing of POWs violates Article III of the Geneva Convention on the laws of armed conflict.[6]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-27-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:And yet, no links to the video(s).
Ukrainian drone footage published on December 27 showed another Russian execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) near Robotyne in western Zaporizhia Oblast. ..
So not gonna take Kiev's and ISW's word on this, since they're both trying to drum up MOAR WAR by any means, and they've lied repeatedly. Evidence, or it's going into my mental warehouse and eventually into the wastebasket.
*****
Right now they're trying to take the focus off RUSSIA TAKES MARINKA.
Marinka was the main position from which Kiev shelled CIVILIANS in Dontesk City, even with cluster rounds. The capture of Marinka is BIG DEAL bc it was heavily fortified, and this opens up a number of supply lines, villages, and eventually citiies to capture.
*****
You spend paras and paras dragging the thread into off- topics like "Trump" and "Trumptards" and insulting SIX. And SIX takes the bait.
Let's focus on Ukraine, shall we? You can create a thread called "slugfest" if you like.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Russia covered up and undercounted true human cost of floodings after dam explosion
By Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov | Updated 7:07 AM CST, December 28, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-dam-collapse-kakhovka-kh
erson-daacdc431f42912dfb91548794f03a3c
Over six months since the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region, an AP investigation has found Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating chapters of the 22-month war. Russian authorities took control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately removing bodies not claimed by family, and preventing local health workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead, threatening them when they defied orders.
“The scale of this tragedy, not just Russia, but even Ukraine doesn’t realize,” said Svitlana, a nurse who initially oversaw the process of collecting death certificates and later escaped to Ukrainian-controlled territory. “It’s a huge tragedy.”
Russia, which didn’t respond to questions for this article, has said 59 people drowned in the territory it controls, roughly 408 square kilometers (160 square miles) of flooded areas. But in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky alone, which Ukrainian military officials estimate had a population of 16,000 at the time of the flooding, the number is at least in the hundreds. An exact figure for the dead — in Oleshky, the occupied area’s most populous town before the war, and beyond — may never be known, even if Ukrainian forces retake the territory and are able to investigate on the ground.
The AP spoke to three health workers who kept records of the dead in Oleshky, one volunteer who buried bodies and said she was later threatened by Russian police, and two Ukrainian informants passing intelligence from the area to the Ukrainian security service. According to their accounts, mass graves were dug, and unidentified bodies were taken away and never seen again.
Nearly a dozen interviews were conducted with other residents, rescue volunteers and recent escapees from the area. The AP also gained access to a closed Telegram chat group of 3,000 Oleshky residents who posted about bodies lying on the streets, bodies collected by police and the many missing.
Most spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity or, like Svitlana, on condition only their first names be used, fearing reprisal from Russia on family members still in occupied territory.
Together, these accounts reveal a calculated attempt by Russian authorities to cover up the true cost of the dam collapse, which the AP has found was likely caused by Moscow. Residents of Oleshky fear their enduring traumas risk being forgotten as the war grinds on, and their beloved once idyllic home is gradually depopulated.
A TOWN ABANDONED
The dam burst in the early hours of June 6, causing extensive flooding along the lower Dnipro River, submerging entire communities across the Ukraine-controlled right and Russian-occupied left banks in a matter of hours.
At first, the Russian-appointed administration in Kherson told residents not to be alarmed. In a post on its official Telegram channel, it stressed the “situation is not critical.” So most went about their normal day — walking dogs, going to work, staying at home. Choices that would later prove fatal.
By the afternoon the water levels were rising quickly, inundating two-story homes as the powerful current swept everything away. The elderly struggled to climb up to roofs, people clung to their chimneys waiting to be saved by local rescue crews, most of them civilians who owned boats.
For the first three days of the floods occupation authorities were nowhere to be found, locals said, having apparently fled, despite initially reassuring residents. Conspicuously absent were police and prosecutors, both Russian-appointed officials authorized to deal with the deceased.
Bodies were piling up and decaying in the summer heat, their stench wafted in the air. Wailing relatives approache
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I thought this was really funny
There's a funny video on rumble but you have to go here...
https://sonar21.com/breaking-news-russia-admits-to-interfering-in-u-s-
elections-and-they-vow-to-do-it-again/
Quote:
"But there are powerful forces in Ukraine, previously nurtured by the U.S., which will resist to do so.[admit defeat] " -B
Exactly.
Just like in Afghanistan and elsewhere the US has created their own Frankenstein, now its blowback time; and they may do more than 'resist'- the previously 'nurtured' Nazis might come after Biden with vast 'intellectual ammunition"- the evidence of the Biden corruption in Ukraine.
That's a hell of a bargaining chip.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/12/us-is-pushing-kiev-into-admittin
g-defeat.html#comments
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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It is funny because that's exactly what he is doing. Making America great again. By the way, the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
Too funny, thanks Putty
T
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a number of statements on December 28 that also run contrary to the reported backchannel messaging on which the NYT oped and similar arguments rely. Lavrov claimed on December 28 in another interview with RIA Novosti that “hints and leaks” in the Western media show that the West wants to look for a way to end the war in Ukraine while still declaring a Ukrainian victory – possibly in response to Western reports about Russia’s willingness to negotiate.[6] Lavrov also claimed that Ukrainian demands for the return of its 1991 borders amount to “demands for genocide.” Lavrov claimed that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people” and lamented the fall of the Soviet Union, after which millions of Russians were left outside of the borders of the Russian Federation--echoing many statements that Putin has made.[7] Lavrov’s statements appear to invoke the Kremlin’s concept of “compatriots abroad” that is used to justify Russia’s definition of its “sovereignty” and right to defend ethnic Russians and Russian speakers beyond its borders. The Kremlin has recently returned to its “compatriots abroad” narrative to justify its war in Ukraine and when discussing Russia’s imperial reconquests in and beyond Ukraine.[8]
The oped’s focus on the need for Ukraine to cede its land, finally, obscures the horrors that the Russian occupation is inflicting on the Ukrainian people living on that land. Russian forces and administrations have been engaging in large-scale and deliberate ethnic cleansing campaigns, forcibly and illegally deporting Ukrainians to Russia and replacing them with Russians and migrants to Russia.[9] Russian administrations have illegally deported tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia under various schemes, including causing Russian families to adopt them.[10] Russian administrations are systematically working to eliminate the Ukrainian language, culture, history, and ethnicity in the areas that Russian forces occupy, as ISW has repeatedly documented.[11] Many of these activities appear to violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and deserve at least a mention in discussions about how Ukraine’s president should cede Ukraine’s land and people to Russia.[12]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-28-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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President Vladimir Putin promised Chinese leader Xi Jinping that his invasion of Ukraine would last five years, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Thursday, citing multiple anonymous sources familiar with Russian-Chinese diplomatic maneuvering.
Putin’s remark apparently came during Xi’s visit to Moscow in March 2023, when Russia was already one year and one month into the war and had suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks.
Nikkei interpreted Putin’s words that Russia “will fight for [at least] five years” as an assurance that Moscow would emerge victorious in the end and a possible warning for Xi not to reverse China’s pro-Russia policy.
It also said that Putin’s comments to Xi call into question recent reports that the Russian leader is quietly signaling readiness for ceasefire talks, saying Putin may be creating an “illusion” of seeking peace to use to his advantage in the 2024 presidential vote.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/28/putin-promised-xi-that-russi
a-will-fight-5-year-war-in-ukraine-nikkei-a83588
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian poets given long jail terms for reciting verses against Ukraine war
Artyom Kamardin, 33, and Yegor Shtovba, 23, sentenced for ‘undermining national security’, ‘inciting hatred’.
Police stormed into the apartment Kamardin shared with his then-girlfriend, Alexandra Popova, and another activist. According to Amnesty International, Popova said police beat and violated Kamardin with a dumbbell before forcing Popova to watch a video of the act. She also claimed that police super-glued stickers to her face and threatened to rape her. A clip later circulated on Telegram of the bruised and battered Kamardin apologising for his words.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/29/russian-poets-given-long-jai
l-terms-for-reciting-verses-against-ukraine-war
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Kremlin Pins Russians’ Anger, War Fatigue on ‘Nearly Naked’ Stars
By Pyotr Kozlov | Dec 28, 2023
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/28/kremlin-pins-russians-anger-
war-fatigue-on-nearly-naked-stars-a83598
The party’s organizer, television host and blogger Anastasia Ivleeva, has received the largest share of the blowback, having been hit with a $10 million class-action lawsuit and losing major sponsorship contracts in the past week despite publishing two apology videos.
Russian media reported that authorities have launched a tax audit against Ivleeva, a step that could lead to criminal prosecution.
This sweeping response can only have happened as a result of a political decision and a command from the highest level, Russian officials said.
"At first, the story with Ivleeva was spontaneous, but then, seeing its potential, the Kremlin decided to stir up the scandal," wrote independent political analyst and former Putin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov.
“The campaign to discredit these stars on this scale is absolutely internal politics,” said a Russian official who is involved in Putin’s campaign headquarters. “Without Putin’s approval and a direct order from [domestic policy supervisor Sergei] Kiriyenko and [TV and state media supervisor Alexei] Gromov, it is simply impossible.”
The official added that security officers and the Federal Security Service (FSB) lobbied for a more zealous response.
The initial backlash to the party came from ultra-conservative activists, pro-war figures and military bloggers.
Yekaterina Mizulina, the head of the Safe Internet League, posted screenshots of angry reactions from her followers, one of which allegedly came from the relative of a Russian soldier who lost both legs in Ukraine.
“Did our loved ones die for someone’s underwear? We don't need apologies from them! They need to finance prosthetics for my relative and for hundreds of soldiers!” the response read.
More at https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/28/kremlin-pins-russians-anger-
war-fatigue-on-nearly-naked-stars-a83598
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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NATO Needs Russia 'Ruined' in Ukraine for Future Peace: Official
By David Brennan | Dec 29, 2023 at 8:07 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/nato-needs-russia-ruined-ukraine-future-peace
-1856390
"Russia needs to walk away with the understanding that they lost, that they will lose the next war," Kusti Salm — the permanent secretary at the Estonian Defense Ministry — told Newsweek in an exclusive interview from Tallinn.
The Russian leader, Salm said, must end his gamble in Ukraine knowing "that economically they are ruined, we outlasted them, we kept our industry on a better footing, we have the technological advantage, we have better training, better morale; that they don't stand a chance."
"They need to walk away with the understanding that international law and the rule-based world functions and that you cannot bend it as you wish."
"This is the only way to draw a line there, so that this wouldn't happen again. If one of those elements is not fulfilled, then in a few years we will face another crisis, and not only from Russia, because everyone is learning."
"We think that it's three years before they will have the opportunity," Salm said of Russia's military recovery timelines. "Others go for five years, we have also heard seven or eight years. But the consensus is that they will regenerate, and they will come back. There is no one in intelligence, no one in defense circles who would dispute that."
"For Europe, for NATO, it's very simple," Salm added. "If Ukraine fails, NATO will be next...Deterring needs a lot more effort, a lot more investment, a lot more shifts in public opinion. It's actually a very high return on investment to keep on supporting Ukraine."
NATO nations have been sluggish in meeting the demands of a modern, high intensity war in which they are not direct combatants. Advanced weapons have arrived in Ukraine slowly, the mountains of required munitions remain undelivered, and the majority of alliance nations are yet to reach NATO's 2 percent of GDP military spending target.
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Newsweek in May that NATO's 2 percent target is insufficient given the danger posed by Putin's expansionist kleptocracy, adding she was both "worried" and "surprised" at allied failures to raise spending.
The 2 percent figure should be a floor, not a ceiling, Kallas said, adding: "I have the feeling that some maybe think that this will just go away. But it's not. I think it's the new reality. And we have to be prepared for this, to actually, really execute our defense investment pledge that we have given."
"120 billion [euros, $133 billion] a year would be something that would do the trick; 0.25 percent of GDP," Permanent Secretary Salm said. "It's not a lot, it's not a strategic topic, it's not something that we cannot afford."
"With that money you also ramp up your own industry, most of the money will remain in your own economies. It would be a stimulus package at a time of an incoming recession."
Such a stimulus, Salm acknowledged, is some way off. "Europe hasn't found a way to package this," he said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
NATO Needs Russia 'Ruined' in Ukraine for Future Peace: Official
By David Brennan | Dec 29, 2023 at 8:07 AM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/nato-needs-russia-ruined-ukraine-future-peace
-1856390
"Russia needs to walk away with the understanding that they lost, that they will lose the next war," Kusti Salm — the permanent secretary at the Estonian Defense Ministry — told Newsweek in an exclusive interview from Tallinn.
Sounds like a lot of hopium from a very tiny country.
No matter what Estonia wants, they're not going to change the outcome either way, they're too small.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:It is matter of arithmetic. If the EU spends 2% of its GDP on weaponry and then sends what ammo Ukraine needs, Russia loses. The saner portions of the Russian public can do the same math without a calculator.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sounds like a lot of hopium from a very tiny country.
No matter what Estonia wants, they're not going to change the outcome either way, they're too small.
One out of every two Russians wish for the war in Ukraine to end in 2024, according to survey results from the Russian Field polling agency published Friday, Dec 29, 2023. https://t.me/russian_field_soc/1294
When asked what they wish for Russians in the New Year, 50% of Russian Field’s respondents named “peace, a peaceful sky, and the end of” what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Russian Field further said 40% of its respondents wished for health and 14% “patience, optimism, resilience, optimism.”
Another 6% wished for Russia's “victory,” the pollster said.
Russian Fields shared its poll results one day after the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported, citing anonymous sources, that President Vladimir Putin promised Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this year to fight in Ukraine for five years.
Russian Field surveyed 1,600 Russian respondents between Dec. 4-12, 2023.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/29/50-of-russians-wish-for-end-
to-ukraine-war-in-2024-poll-a83606
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian forces have likely routinely attempted to draw and fix limited Ukrainian air defense systems away from the front, and the Russian strikes on December 29 follow recent indications that Ukrainian air defenses may be presenting significant challenges to Russian aviation operations along the frontline. Ukraine lacks the number of air defense systems required to provide coverage to all of Ukraine, and Russian forces have likely conducted a consistent series of strikes, even if at a low intensity, in part to force Ukrainian forces to concentrate those air defense systems on protecting larger population centers far from the front instead of providing coverage for military operations.[39] Russian forces reportedly decreased their aviation activity after Ukrainian forces shot down three Russian Su-34s in southern Ukraine between December 21 and 22, which was subsequently followed by a notable decrease in the tempo of Russian ground operations on the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast.[40] Russian forces had been relying on the mass use of glide bombs dropped from manned aircraft to support operations in Kherson Oblast and in eastern Ukraine, likely due to the reported Ukrainian ability to suppress long-range Russian artillery and shoot down Russian rotary wing aircraft.[41] A Ukrainian capability to suppress Russian aviation activity even in limited areas of the front would likely pose significant operational constraints on Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces have recently expanded their use of mobile air defense strike groups in an effort to avoid expending air defense missiles on routine Russian strikes with Shahed-136/131 drones.[42] The recent months of Shahed-heavy strikes and the relatively smaller number of Russian missile strikes may have eased pressure on Ukrainian air defenses in rear areas and allowed Ukrainian forces to strengthen air defense coverage along the front. Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ihnat stated on December 24 that Ukrainian forces can deploy air defense systems in any direction and not only in those where Russian forces have recently suffered aviation losses.[43] The Russian military’s increased use of missiles in the December 29 strike likely intends in part to reapply pressure on Ukraine’s limited air defense umbrella and prevent the Ukrainian command from redeploying air defense systems from the rear towards the front.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-december-29-2023
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Russian President Vladimir Putin's military on Friday launched what's been called the largest aerial attack of the Ukraine war, and one economic-focused Ukrainian outlet estimated the cost of the assault for Russia to be at least $1.273 billion.
Russia spent an estimated $1.17 billion on 90 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 long-range missiles missiles alone in the attack. Russian Kh-101 cruise missiles cost an estimated $13 million per missile.
While the bulk of the attack tally went toward Kh-101 missiles, Russia also reportedly used Kh-47 hypersonic missiles; Kh-22/Kh-32 cruise missiles; S-300/S-400/Iskander-M ballistic missiles; Kh-47M2 "Kinzhal" missiles; Kh-31P anti-radar missiles; one Kh-59 missile; and 36 Shahed-136/131 drones.
The total amount spent on the attack, according to Ekonomichna Pravda, was $1,273,220,000.
https://www.newsweek.com/putins-major-aerial-attack-ukraine-cost-russi
a-12-billion-report-1856666
If Russia could continue expending ammo at that rate for 365 days, the cost would be $465 billion. I think Russia should try that to see if throwing money at Ukraine will achieve victory by the beginning of 2025. Alternatively, I'm pretty sure Russia could more cheaply bribe Ukraine to surrender than bomb Ukraine into surrendering, assuming the bribes are delivered to the right Ukrainian government officials. Russians are only slightly more corrupt and dumber than Ukrainians, so this alternative plan could bring victory for Russia at a reduced cost compared to bombing Ukraine with very expensive missiles.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Edited for readability
Quote:
Ukraine Mounts Massive Series Of Attacks On Russian City, Killing At Least 14
Saturday, Dec 30, 2023 - 08:05 AM
Russia's Belgorod region, which lies just north of Kharkiv in Ukraine, was rocked by Ukrainian drone and missile fire which killed at least 14 people, with over 100 injured, according to revised updates. "According to updated information, 12 adults and two children were killed in Belgorod. Another 108 people, including 15 children, were injured," Russia's defense ministry said.
The death toll was so high due to the strikes on a residential area, the region's governor Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov indicated. While this Russian border region has throughout the war come under repeat cross-border attack, it has been relatively quiet of late, with only smaller sporadic mortar or drone attacks. In one instance a centrally located Christmas attraction, said to be (according to unverified reports) a skating rink with many children, came under fire.
Russia's defense ministry described a broader attack on Russian territory Saturday during which time the military intercepted and destroyed dozens of inbound missiles and drones.
Ukrainian media sources said that the armed forces launched some 70 drones on Russia in the series of deadly attacks, however, Kiev officials claim they only targeted military sites, including a direct hit on a electronic factory in Bryansk region where missile system components are made. "Unlike Russian terrorist attacks on the territory of Ukraine, the Security and Defense Forces have exclusively hit enemy military targets," a military source told Ukrainian media.
But Ukraine's military asserted it avoided civilian areas ... isn't born out by the video evidence.
Russian state media detailed that the shelling "targeted the central city district, which hosts regional government buildings, as well as the ‘Mayak’ city mall – a popular gathering place for locals that traditionally holds festive events on New Year’s Eve. Some reports also claimed that a local ice-skating rink was hit in the strike."
This major assault appears 'retaliation' by Ukraine for the major nationwide aerial strikes on Ukrainian cities that took place the day prior, where the rising death toll is at 39 Ukrainians killed.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces had cited that in the Friday Russian assault, up to 158 missiles and drones were launched, describing that this was a "record number" and the "most massive missile attack" of the conflict, excluding the very opening few days of the invasion.
*****
"This offence will not go unpunished," the Russian MoD said further. And spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing, "President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the Ukrainian armed forces' strike on residential neighborhoods in Belgorod."
Belgorod lies merely 20 miles from the Ukraine border, on the other side of which has witnessed two years of heavy fighting. Air raid sirens and the occasional inbound drone have become 'normal' for Russian residents in the region, however, the scale of Saturday's attack was unprecedented in intensity and the rate at which the missiles and drones hit central areas.
The Saturday attacks on Russia were rare for their size and scope, and likely Russian forces are preparing another wave of attacks on Ukraine. President Putin was reportedly briefed on the wide-ranging assault, detailed further as follows:
An initial statement from the Russian defence ministry on Saturday said 13 missiles were destroyed over the wider region overnight. Later, it said 32 drones had been shot down in the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow regions.
The governor of Bryansk region meanwhile said two villages were targeted and a child, born in 2014, had been killed. He said the attacks had damaged 55 homes, two private businesses, a football ground, a leisure centre and a pre-school.[/iNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
According to Military Summary Channel, Ukraine followed up its drone attack on civilians in Belgorod with a cluster munitions attack on them
A war crime, as even Dima points out.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:Russians say many things: Inside Putin's propaganda machine. Ordinary Russians were led to believe Europe faced imminent famine
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
According to Military Summary Channel, Ukraine followed up its drone attack on civilians in Belgorod with a cluster munitions attack on them
A war crime, as even Dima points out.
"They will soon begin to perish unless they receive aid from Russia to survive. Complaints are already being voiced. If the winter is harsh, they will go extinct like the mammoths. I say this in all seriousness." (Then it must be true because Russians are trustworthy, truthful, and civilized by Christianity, unlike the godless Europeans enthralled by Satan.)
https://essanews.com/inside-putins-propaganda-machine-ordinary-russian
s-were-led-to-believe-europe-faced-imminent-famine,6979313314670721a
Moscow called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday, adding it had requested that the Czech Republic's representative attend in New York to "explain this country's ammunition is being used for killing civilians in Belgorod."
Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavský, said Prague would not "be summoned anywhere by Russia," adding its representatives would attend a Security Council meeting "when Russia wants to discuss the withdrawal of its occupying troops" from Ukraine.
https://www.newsweek.com/belgorod-russia-ukraine-strikes-us-volodymyr-
zelensky-1856770
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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