Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
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US and Western officials are urging Ukraine to shift its focus from the brutal, months-long fight in the eastern city of Bakhmut and prioritize instead a potential offensive in the south, using a different style of fighting that takes advantage of the billions of dollars in new military hardware recently committed by Western allies, US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN.
For nearly six months, Ukrainian forces have been going toe-to-toe with the Russians over roughly 36 miles of territory in Bakhmut, which lies between the separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Heavy shelling has left the city almost completely destroyed.
“It is a brutal and grinding fight,” a senior Western intelligence official said last week, with each side exchanging anywhere from 100-400 meters of land per day and exchanging several thousands of artillery rounds almost daily. “[Bakhmut] is less attractive militarily, in terms of any sort of infrastructure, than it might have been if it had not been this destroyed.”
Now, ahead of what is widely expected to be a brutal spring of fighting, there is a tactical opening, US and Western officials say. In recent weeks they have begun suggesting that Ukrainian forces cut their losses in Bakhmut, which they argue has little strategic significance for Ukraine, and focus instead on planning an offensive in the south.
That was part of a message delivered by three top Biden officials who traveled to Kyiv last week.
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, said the US wants to help Ukraine shift away from the sort of pitched battle of attrition playing out in Bakhmut and focus instead on a style of mechanized maneuver warfare that uses rapid, unanticipated movements against Russia, sources familiar with their discussion said.
More at https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/ukraine-shift-tactics-bakhmut/
index.html
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:To Defend Civilization, Defeat Russia
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I disagree. The USA has lost multiple wars abroad and not come to a sense of vulnerability. The only thing that will shock Americans out of their stupor is another 911 moment. But seeing that TPTB simply used that terror attack to promote another whole series of nation-destruction across the globe, Russia will probably try to avoid a galvanizing event on USA soil. More likely, they will play a war of attrition with the USA dollar (and what pathetic excuse we have for an economy,) instead. A long, slow grind.
by Tom Nichols
Ukraine needs any weapon its troops can learn to use, including tanks, to hold the line on the international order and the world’s safety.
January 23, 2023, 6:02 PM ET
Some NATO nations are wavering about sending tanks and other advanced weapons to Ukraine. I understand fears of escalation, but if Russia wins in Ukraine, the world will lose.
No Other Choice
I don’t often find myself agreeing with Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina conservative who long ago rebranded himself as Donald Trump’s faithful valet and No. 1 fan. Last week, however, Graham lashed out in frustration at the dithering in Europe and America over sending more weapons to Ukraine. “I am tired of the shit show surrounding who is going to send tanks and when they’re gonna send them,” he said during a press conference in Kyiv, flanked by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “World order is at stake. [Vladimir] Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms.”
Graham is right. Germany, for example, has been reluctant to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine; the Germans, for their part, would likely prefer to see the United States send American tanks first. But everyone in the West should be sending anything the Ukrainians can learn to use, because a lot more than mere order is at stake, and order, by itself, is not enough. As Rousseau wrote, “Tranquility is found also in dungeons,” but that does not make dungeons desirable places to live. Global civilization itself is on the line: the world built after the defeat of the Axis, in which, for all of our faults as nations and peoples, we strive to live in peace and cooperation—and, at the least, to not butcher one another. If Russia’s campaign of terror and other likely war crimes erases Ukraine, it will be a defeat of the first order for every institution of international life, be it the United Nations or the international postal union.
I suspect that many people in Europe and the United States are having a hard time getting their arms around the magnitude of this threat. We are all afflicted by normalcy bias, our inherent resistance to accept that large changes can upend our lives. I struggled with this in the early stages of the war; I thought Ukraine would probably lose quickly, and then when the Russians were repulsed by the heroic Ukrainian defenses, I hoped (in vain) that the fighting would fizzle out, that Putin would try to conserve what was left of his shattered military, and that the world’s institutions, damaged by yet another act of Russian barbarism, would somehow continue to limp along.
We’re long past such possibilities. Putin has made clear that he will soak the ground of East-Central Europe with blood—both of Ukrainians and of his own hapless mobiks, the recently mobilized draftees he’s sending into the military meat grinder—if that’s what it takes to subjugate Kyiv and end the Kremlin’s unexpected and ongoing humiliation. At this point, the fight in Ukraine is not about borders or flags but about what kind of world we’ve built over the past century, and whether that world can sustain itself in the face of limitless brutality. As the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in Davos last week: “We don’t know when the war ends, but Ukraine has to win. I don’t see another choice.”
Neither do I, and it’s past time to send Ukraine even more and better weapons. (Or, as my colleague David Fru
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
US and Western officials are urging Ukraine to shift its focus from the brutal, months-long fight in the eastern city of Bakhmut and prioritize instead a potential offensive in the south, using a different style of fighting that takes advantage of the billions of dollars in new military hardware recently committed by Western allies, US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN.
For nearly six months, Ukrainian forces have been going toe-to-toe with the Russians over roughly 36 miles of territory in Bakhmut, which lies between the separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Heavy shelling has left the city almost completely destroyed.
“It is a brutal and grinding fight,” a senior Western intelligence official said last week, with each side exchanging anywhere from 100-400 meters of land per day and exchanging several thousands of artillery rounds almost daily. “[Bakhmut] is less attractive militarily, in terms of any sort of infrastructure, than it might have been if it had not been this destroyed.”
Now, ahead of what is widely expected to be a brutal spring of fighting, there is a tactical opening, US and Western officials say. In recent weeks they have begun suggesting that Ukrainian forces cut their losses in Bakhmut, which they argue has little strategic significance for Ukraine, and focus instead on planning an offensive in the south.
That was part of a message delivered by three top Biden officials who traveled to Kyiv last week.
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, said the US wants to help Ukraine shift away from the sort of pitched battle of attrition playing out in Bakhmut and focus instead on a style of mechanized maneuver warfare that uses rapid, unanticipated movements against Russia, sources familiar with their discussion said.
More at https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/ukraine-shift-tactics-bakhmut/
index.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly]
Yes, this article is dead on. Russia can’t possibly defend across the entire front, so logic dictates it’s time to open it up. The supplies and weapons are pouring in in preparation for this.
tick tock
T
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
If Russia finally captures Ukraine by mass murder, torture, and nuclear threats, then everything the world has gained since the defeat of the Axis in 1945 and the end of the Cold War in 1991 will be in mortal peril. Putin will prove to himself and to every dictator on the planet that nothing has changed since Hitler, that lawless nations can achieve their aims by using force at will, by killing and raping innocent people and then literally grinding their ashes into the dirt. This is no longer about Russia’s neo-imperial dreams or Ukraine’s borders: This is a fight for the future of the international system and the safety of us all.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232111/https://www.theatlantic.com
/newsletters/archive/2023/01/ukraine-russia-weapons-nato-germany/672817/
Correct...
T
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Quote:By who???
Ukraine Rocked By Corruption Scandal, Wave Of Top Officials Resign: Sports Cars, Mansions & Luxury Vacations As People Suffered
Tuesday, Jan 24, 2023 - 08:50 AM
The Ukrainian government on Tuesday confirmed the resignation of multiple high ranking officials amid large-scale corruption allegations, in what's being called the biggest mass resignation and graft scandal since the Russian invasion began.
Some dozen officials have quit their posts after a huge political shake-up over allegations and probes into cases ranging from bribery, to mismanagement of aid funds for purchasing food, to embezzlement, to driving expensive cars while common people suffer under wartime conditions.
A top presidential adviser and four deputy ministers - among these two defense officials, along with five regional governors were forced out of their posts.
Quote:
And among the regional governors to step down included officials overseeing regions which have seen intense fighting, including the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, where Russian forces have lately reported gains.
Zelensky to Congress in Dec. visit: aid to Ukraine is an investment in democracy and "not charity". Via Reuters
In reference to the announcement by a senior government official, Oleg Nemchinov, international reports detail the following list:
Deputy Prosecutor General Oleskiy Symonenko
Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Ivan Lukeryu
Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Vyacheslav Negoda
Deputy Minister for Social Policy Vitaliy Muzychenk
And the regional governors of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy and Kherson
And separately, "the defense ministry had earlier announced the resignation of deputy minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was in charge of the army's logistical support, on the heels of accusations it was signing food contracts at inflated prices."
In this case regarding the food contracts, Shapovalov is accused of signing a deal with an unknown, shady firm. In his role as deputy defense minister, his is the most notable and visible resignation. Crucially he would have had no small part in overseeing the billions of dollars flowing from the pockets of US and European taxpayers as authorized defense aid.
He purchased military rations at inflated prices in what appears a scheme to line the pockets of contractors, and potentially involving kickbacks to himself.
MORE,WITH PICTURES AND LINKS,AT
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-rocked-corruption-scand
al-wave-top-official-resignations-sports-cars-mansions
In addition, the Interior Minister and his top aide were killed in a helicopter crash, and Zelensky's former spin doctor and buddy Aristovich - fired one short week ago- is blabbing his head off that Ukraine isn't going to win.
Meanwhile the head of one of Z's security services, Budanov, claims that his agents were sent to negotiate with Russia in March merely to buy time for further military prep.
This goes along with Poroshenko's, Holland's and Merkel's admissions that the Minsk agreements were meant only to buy time for Ukraine's military buildup. Nobody had any intention of fulfilling the agreements, even as they pressed Russia +not a signatory) to enforce the peace
In other words, Ukraine and the collective west are not only "not agreement capable", they're not even negation capable.
Why should Russia negotiate?
It seems to me that thete is a huge internal conflict going on in Kiev. While CIA and State Dept neocons promoted Ukraine as a perfect tool to destabilize Russia, many (most?) Ukie officials saw the huge flow of weapons, supplies, and money as the perfect oppty to do what they've always done: grift.
Making Kiev an ineffective tool (just like Biden* is an effective tool).
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Quote:According to a 2021 report by Transparency International, Ukraine is the second most corrupt country in Europe after Russia. Globally, it ranked 122nd of 180 countries.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yanno, I'm sure many people in Ukraine understand the corrupt nature of their government and give it little political support.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter on Tuesday that the changes within the government showed Zelensky was committed to fighting corruption.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/europe/ukraine-anti-corruption-zelensky
-intl/index.html
Ukraine is ranked 122 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/ukr
Russia is ranked 136 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/rus
A lower number is better.
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021
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:Seems a little late, doesn't it? Especially since Z is corrupt as well.
Originally posted by second:Quote:According to a 2021 report by Transparency International, Ukraine is the second most corrupt country in Europe after Russia. Globally, it ranked 122nd of 180 countries.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yanno, I'm sure many people in Ukraine understand the corrupt nature of their government and give it little political support.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter on Tuesday that the changes within the government showed Zelensky was committed to fighting corruption.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/europe/ukraine-anti-corruption-zelensky
-intl/index.html
Ukraine is ranked 122 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/ukr
Russia is ranked 136 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/rus
A lower number is better.
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:According to a 2021 report by Transparency International, Ukraine is the second most corrupt country in Europe after Russia. Globally, it ranked 122nd of 180 countries.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yanno, I'm sure many people in Ukraine understand the corrupt nature of their government and give it little political support.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter on Tuesday that the changes within the government showed Zelensky was committed to fighting corruption.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/europe/ukraine-anti-corruption-zelensky
-intl/index.html
Ukraine is ranked 122 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/ukr
Russia is ranked 136 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/index/rus
A lower number is better.
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly] Seems a little late, doesn't it? Especially since Z is corrupt as well.
Comrade signym quotes zerohedge and expects us to believe what they say. Too funny...
T
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Quote:To me this is a battle between a dumb and corrupt country (Ukraine) and a dumber and even more corrupt country (Russia). Ukraine is trying hard to be a better country while Russia is not so much trying. Then there is the thing about Russia threatening to nuke the world, nearly every day since it first built an Atom Bomb and Russia solving political differences by murdering tens of millions of its citizens: Lethal Politics by R. J. Rummel
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Seems a little late, doesn't it? Especially since Z is corrupt as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Lethal-Politics-Soviet-Genocide-Murder/dp/15600
08873/
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:To me this is a battle between a dumb and corrupt country (Ukraine) and a dumber and even more corrupt country (Russia).
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Seems a little late, doesn't it? Especially since Z is corrupt as well.
Nah....
You've come up with abut three DOZEN "reasons" to "support Ukraine", and each one of them is as meaningless (to you) as the next. Just like you've come with the same kinds of rationalizations for hating Trump/Republicans/half of America/Americans in general.
You just need an outlet for your psychopathy isall.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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