Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Buddahaid]

Huge crisis: Russia seizes about 600 aircraft by order of Putin! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im2vfKvhO0k

That has been building for three weeks already and those aircraft will become worthless to the west and will likely never fly outside of Russia again as they will be deemed not airworthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz4gCE4ccRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJEpgInFZ6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyoNeoJEb0

[mapuc]

I think that this increase of Russian military activity could mean two thing either they want to win as much land they can before any ceasefire or they have changed tactic in the war

Markus

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwcxZJyW0iA

[Skybird]

It became known that on March 2nd, 2 Russian Su-24 and 2 Russian Su-27 violated Swedish airspace with course plotted to Gotland, and then got intercepted by Swedish Gripen interceptors in Swedish airspace. The Russians than showed the Swedish plane their armaments and revealed that they were equipped with nuclear missiles. Photos have been shot by the Swedish that prove the incident, says Sweden. The incident lasted for around 1 minute inside Swedish airspace.


This rabid psychopath manages to launch a nuclear war by accident only to get his wanted thick entry in the history books.



Europe needs to get more US-independent nuclear deterrant. Germany shouold get it. Maybe Italy, Poland. Finland and Sweden also are candidates in my book. They both should not be too hesitent anymore to join NATO.

[Buddahaid]

This is how Trump gets tough on Russian aggresion.

11/26/2018
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/europe/russia-trump-analysis-hodge-intl/index.html

[mapuc]

An intense fire is burning near Kharkiv after two major explosion around 20.40
(I saw it and follow the fire live-Hopefully no one was killed or hurt in the explosion.)

Edit
"Russian missile destroyed oil depot in Dnipro city, no casualties - Head of regional council "
End edit

Markus

[Skybird]

This is how Trump gets tough on Russian aggresion.

11/26/2018
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/europe/russia-trump-analysis-hodge-intl/index.html
Don't be unfair, he recently commented on the Ukraine: he demanded Zelenskji to invent for him the dirt Trump wants to smear the two Bidens with.

Interesting set of priorities.

Before that he had suggested that the assault on Ukraine showed that Putin had cojohnes.

And didn'T he once suggest that drinking chlorine bleacher may desinfect the body from within? :haha: My all-time great quote by him. :yeah:

[Buddahaid]

Russia is apparently now using technicals. I'm looking for better reporting but this is all I've found so far.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/ts5ous/russians_are_now_deploying_technicals/

[Skybird]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60923158



A Ukrainian refugee from Mariupol has told the BBC that she and others from her area were taken to Russia, despite making it clear they did not want to go.
[...]
Their bus continued to travel to a refugee camp in a sports centre in Russia.
There they were told they would be sent to economically depressed areas in Russia where people were needed for work.
It gets better and better.

Russia is a 100% fascist regime, and Putin is a 100% fascist Duce.

I also move away from thinking all Russians are suffering under Putin - but Putin offered them a deal many years ago. He did not much for jobs and economy, instead he offered again the illusion of glory and global fame from being feared, in exchnage for getting his way to enrich himself and his gang by exploiting the country and abusing the people. And the people let him. They buy the Stalinist cultist garbage and they prefer the illusion of Sovjet glory reinstalled. It does not imrpove their eocnomy, but it is the deal they accepted. So lets call them out over this detail. And midn you, they accepted to fall for it when propaganda was still weak in Russia, and media ciontrol was still low, too.

Well, I often said it in different contexts before: people are to be held acountable for their choices and decisions.

The BBC story above now is, additional to genocide and war crimes, another crime: that of hijacking and enslaving and slave keeping.

How further backward towards the Dark Ages and primitivity and barbary is this Russia to fall? Want they to go back to even before the early medieval?

Here in Germany, our elder, the generation of my grandparents, still know this old proverbial wisdom, this old saying we have in Germany: "Die Gefahr lauert im Osten" ("Danger lurks in the East"), and it was a warning back then and before the second world war and before the first world war, and it still is today. We just forgot it for some years. The behaviour of Russian soldiers in the occupied cities of defeated Germany was not feared for no reason, and became part of the collectivce trauma memory of a whole generation: abuse, rape, torture, plundering, kidnapping, enslaveing, all this in masses and masses, oftehn systewmtically done. We have forgotten all that, but we see the Russian soldiers seem to not have changed much since then.

Now, the long 30 years peace in Europe has come to an end. And the setting we now get is probably even more dangeorus than that of the cold war before, because in the cold war, there were stability, kind of, and buffer zones, and predictability. All this is not there today. No stability, no predictability, and no buffer zones.

Not good.

Putin will continue to attack, if his buddies let him and do not put a bullet in his head. He will attack NATO states, his old arch enemy Chodorkowsky said in an interview yesterday, and he is right. Who said the Russians will attack with tanks and missiles? They could attack by destabilizatoin effort of the sort we have already seen in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Europe-wide coordination of the right wing movements and even climate activists - we have had all that before in germany: the freedom movement, the Anti-US movement, the anti-atom movement, the ecological awakening groups, the RedArmy faction and other terroism - we KNOW today from documents that the StaSi and the KGB had a very heavy hand in manipulating, influencing and controlling these movements back in the 70s and 80s.

A new cold war 2.0? Forget it. Welcome in World War III. It wages already since many years.

We have seen the instrumentalisation of mass migration to overwhelm control and stability in European states (Poland-Belarus the example). At last here this time the calculation of the villains in the Kremlin may not work, because those many Ukrainians that also come to Germany (and Poland) , many are culturally and regarding moral values far more compatible and indeed integration-willing: different to so many from Africa and Islamic countries. The German authorities say by their first countings it seems half of the ukrainians coming to Germany have academical education, and where of the African and Middle East migrant most still do not work and ask for social wellfare first, of the Ukrainians that arirved the vast majority did not ask for wellfare first, but asked first for jobs to work in. And different to 2015, many of these people now, mostly women/mothers, actually are qualified for better and higher jobs: teachers, doctors amongst them, engineers, even IT specialists. And Germany has a lack of all these groups, its a big economic problem, also qualified craftsman are desperately needed. Germany has a massive brain drain, and a shortage of qualfiied employees! So, if these Ukrainian refugees cannot return to Ukraine, they are indeed highly welcome over here. This is much different than 2015. :up:

[les green01]

instead of a swear Jar Neal needs to put out a Trump jar seem like to me when he was in office the folks over in europe was bending over backwards for putin i didn't hear anything about you all sending military aid or getting tough with Russia with heavy sanctions until after Ukraine was attack maybe you guys would done things sooner Russia wouldn't have went after ukraine you guys log on here slam Trump when yours aint no better this thread starting to be like watching the news you get more bs than not i'm here to read up on the ukraine and russia war and watch the movies the folks posting if i want to read or hear about Trump,Biden and all the leaders seem like they are countries pollical threads if we talk leaders in this one let keep it has Russian and ukraine leaders

[Buddahaid]

Then why doesn't Fox shut up about how Trump's murderous war criminal friend Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if he was in office? Talk about BS and then there's Putin's new cheerleader Tucker Carlson who makes me sick. I won't be happy until Putin is on the wrong end of a firing squad.

[Aktungbby]

Plus, I'd prefer to see him wigglin' on a rope...after his trial at the Hague for war crimes.:shifty::roll::rock::dead:

I won't be happy until Putin is on the wrong end of a firing squad. "It won't mean thing if it ain't got that swing" errrr wiggle! :shucks:

[Commander Wallace]

Then why doesn't Fox shut up about how Trump's murderous war criminal friend Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if he was in office? Talk about BS and then there's Putin's new cheerleader Tucker Carlson who makes me sick. I won't be happy until Putin is on the wrong end of a firing squad.

Wrong end ? I think you mean on the business end of a firing squad. Better yet, life in front of a firing squad. :yep::haha:

I think that this increase of Russian military activity could mean two thing either they want to win as much land they can before any ceasefire or they have changed tactic in the war

Markus

More like Russia is just resetting or regrouping it's forces. The only reason Russia has considered this is for no other reason than the Ukrainians have out fought them. Putin understands nothing except a bloody nose.

Hey, I know, send tough guy Will Smith over to Russia. I understand he is good for a good slap, maybe two. :hmmm::yep:

[August]

Then why doesn't Fox shut up about how Trump's murderous war criminal friend Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if he was in office? Talk about BS and then there's Putin's new cheerleader Tucker Carlson who makes me sick. I won't be happy until Putin is on the wrong end of a firing squad.


What do you care what Fox is saying? Don't you have a half dozen news organizations to listen to that are more in your wheelhouse? Or is it that THEY can't shut up about Trump either?

[Skybird]

A French General who headed France's intelligence service got fired for not having forseen the Russian attack on the Ukraine.


Far too few heads are rolling in the Western nations, for my taste.

[Skybird]

Not really what was hoped for. :-? DER SPIEGEL writes:


After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ruble's decline was the most immediate consequence of the war felt by Russia's citizens. In the meantime, the Russian currency lost almost half of its value against the dollar and the euro.

Five weeks after the outbreak of war, however, the situation is currently different. The Russian leadership's stabilization measures seem to have been successful. Not only has the ruble's plunge been halted, but the Russian currency has even been able to make up almost all of the lost ground. Thus, one dollar currently costs about 81 rubles - before the outbreak of war, it had been 75 rubles. The ruble has also been able to make up ground against the euro.

Russia reacted to the ruble crash in February with a whole series of steps. For example, Russian export companies were obliged to exchange 80 percent of their foreign currency earnings into rubles within three days. Transactions by foreign investors were restricted. Russian citizens were prohibited from bringing more than $10,000 out of the country. Remittances abroad were capped at $5,000 per month. Commercial banks were also prohibited from selling foreign currency to citizens in exchange for rubles until at least September.

For the Russian leadership, stabilizing the currency is an important development because otherwise the massive devaluation of the currency could drastically reduce the savings and purchasing power of the Russian population and thus fuel social discontent. One of the reasons for this is the fact that numerous consumer goods are not produced in Russia but have to be imported from abroad at high cost. Because they often have to be paid for in dollars or euros, when the ruble exchange rate falls, the price that Russian customers end up paying in stores in Moscow or St. Petersburg rises.

Indeed, prices for many goods had skyrocketed. The official inflation rate rose to more than 15 percent last week.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

It's also reported since 24 hours that Putin told Scholz that Germany can continue to pay gas in Euros via Russian Gazprom bank which is not on the sanction list and then will convert Euros into Rubles internally.

See, thats what happens if you announce huge sanction packages - and then leave open escape gates wider and bigger than a barn door. The most important Russian banks are saved from sanctions until today, namely the Sperbank and Gazprom bank. :dead:

[Buddahaid]

What do you care what Fox is saying? Don't you have a half dozen news organizations to listen to that are more in your wheelhouse? Or is it that THEY can't shut up about Trump either?

I'll shut about Trump when he's out of politics.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaaEd73oT2c

[Jimbuna]

Russian leader Vladimir Putin threatens to stop gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries if they don't deal in the Russian currency.

Ukraine's government is sending dozens of buses to Mariupol, in a fresh effort to evacuate people and deliver humanitarian aid.

Russia has declared a one-day ceasefire in the heavily-bombed port city, but there is scepticism if it will hold - up to 170,000 people remain trapped.

The head of defence alliance Nato says Russian units are being redeployed to fight in the east.

Russia massively misjudged the situation in Ukraine, UK and US intelligence agencies say.

They say President Putin's advisers are not telling him the truth about the situation on the ground.

Our correspondents Orla Guerin, in Kyiv, and Jenny Hill, in Moscow, are answering your questions about the war.

[Jimbuna]

We will not be blackmailed by Putin - Germany
In response to Russia's move to make foreign buyers pay into rouble accounts for Russian gas, Germany has said it will not be blackmailed by Putin.

Robert Habeck, the economy minister, says allies with whom he's spoken believed existing gas contracts must be respected, Reuters news agency is reporting.

He adds that he's yet to see any new gas bill from Russia - and insists they are prepared for anything Putin might decide on gas.

Russian gas accounts for about 40% of the EU's natural gas imports, with Germany the largest customer by far.

Only time will tell.

[Otto Harkaman]

Russia-Ukraine live news: NATO says Russian forces ‘regrouping’

https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/INTERACTIVE_UKRAINE_CONTROL-MAP-DAY36_2.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C770

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/30/russia-ukraine-putin-being-misled-by-advisers-us-says-liveblog

[mapuc]

NATO/USA send a B52H into the air over Poland some hours ago.

I say this step was to send a signal to Putin.

Putin could also see this as an escalation from NATO/USA side.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

French intelligence chief Vidaud fired over Russian war failings

The head of French military intelligence, Gen Eric Vidaud, is losing his job after failing to predict Russia's war in Ukraine, reports say.

Seven months after he took on the role, one report said he was blamed for "inadequate briefings" and a "lack of mastery of subjects".

The US correctly assessed that Russia was planning a large-scale invasion, while France concluded it was unlikely.

Gen Vidaud was blamed for that by France's military chief, a source said.

However, the military source told AFP news agency that his job was to provide "military intelligence on operations, not on premeditation". As Gen Vidaud's service concluded that Russia had the means to invade Ukraine, the source said that "what happened proves him right".

When contacted by the BBC, a military spokesman said French armed forces chief Gen Thierry Burkhard had no comment to make.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60938538

[mapuc]

Found an interesting page about EMP from a nuke explosion

https://www.chds.us/ed/resources/uploads/2010/05/2017_HS_Summit_Lane_Electromagnetic_Pulses.pdf

Markus

[Skybird]

Only time will tell.
I already figured there was somethign fishy in Putin's suggestion to Scholz, but couldn't figure what it was. Now we know.



Still, the bigger receiver in damage here I think is nevertheless Russia. Not the war effoprt, that runs independently from civial and finaical economy and doe sso quite autark, but too big losses in the state's fiscal budget must sooner or later reahc the street and the common public - and opinion.

[Jimbuna]

I already figured there was somethign fishy in Putin's suggestion to Scholz, but couldn't figure what it was. Now we know.



Still, the bigger receiver in damage here I think is nevertheless Russia. Not the war effoprt, that runs independently from civial and finaical economy and doe sso quite autark, but too big losses in the state's fiscal budget must sooner or later reahc the street and the common public - and opinion.

The effect comes into being tomorrow and Russia threatens to rip up already existing contracts so we will see who 'blinks; first.

I sincerely hope it is Russia but I honestly can't see that happening.

[August]

I'll shut about Trump when he's out of politics.

Well lets hope that he gives you another 4 years in the oval office to complain about then. We wouldn't want to deprive the Democrats of their primary foil for their own malfeasance and incompetence. Blaming Bush for everything would be so twenty-teenish!

[Jimbuna]

Straight from the devils mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69UaBb2gq0o

[ET2SN]

Meanwhile, CNN reported a couple of hours ago that Putin has ordered the conscription of 134,000 new soldiers. :hmmm:

That's like doubling down when you're holding a pair of threes. :doh:

[Aktungbby]

I wonder how U say: "I'm expendible" in Russian?

[Jimbuna]

Meanwhile, CNN reported a couple of hours ago that Putin has ordered the conscription of 134,000 new soldiers. :hmmm:

That's like doubling down when you're holding a pair of threes. :doh:

Very true :yep:

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-drafts-134500-conscripts-says-they-wont-go-ukraine-2022-03-31/

[Buddahaid]

They do draft two times a year for reserves so it's normal. I wouldn't read much into that.

[Jimbuna]

Yeah but could the timing be any 'better' :)

[Otto Harkaman]

https://youtu.be/ZwScTlCf5IQ

[mapuc]

^ Who is he the man shown in the video montage ?

Why I ask is that I also have seen him in video montage in our Wuhan virus thread.

Markus

[Skybird]

Meanwhile, CNN reported a couple of hours ago that Putin has ordered the conscription of 134,000 new soldiers. :hmmm:

That's like doubling down when you're holding a pair of threes. :doh:
Thats actually their common yearly scheme, and the defence ministry says this year they draw a few thousand less than last year.

In Russia, the draw is twice per year, I red somewhere.


This thing with the gas payment is becoming more and more confusing to me. I did not understand it, then I thought I understand it, and now I am clueless again. It just makes no sense, and either is a dud, or just a psychological statement aimed at the Russian public to support the Rubel. Western customers (enterprises) will pay in Euro and Dollar onto a new account they have to open at the Gazprom bank, and the Gazprom bank then will convert the payment into Rubel. But the customer pays in Western currency nevertheless. If there is a substantial material, real gain for Russia in this, then I do not see it. Or do they want to lure customers to the Gazprom bank so to protect the bank from future sanctions and boyotts since then it is essential for keeping the assets of Gazprom free so that Westerners can continue and pay and get gas?

I am very confused over this manouver. Could be something, could be nothing.

[Skybird]

^ Who is he the man shown in the video montage ?

Why I ask is that I also have seen him in video montage in our Wuhan virus thread.

Markus
Thats is a doctor who runs vidoe lessons at "Medcram" channel at Youtube. Those lectures on a variety of medical topics are top class. I quoted some videos by him, als the thermobaric weapon video I have already posted some weeks ago. He did severla videos on Coivid, vitmaine D, suppokementaiton and immune prtection, and just has released a new video on chemical weapons.

[mapuc]

Thats is a doctor who runs vidoe lessons at "Medcram" channel at Youtube. Those lectures on a variety of medical topics are top class. I quoted some videos by him, als the thermobaric weapon video I have already posted some weeks ago. He did severla videos on Coivid, vitmaine D, suppokementaiton and immune prtection, and just has released a new video on chemical weapons.

Thank you Skybird. Now I wonder is Thermobaric weapon classified as Chemical weapon ??

Markus

[Skybird]

^No.

[mapuc]

^No.

I listen to the first 2 minutes of the video and now I understand why he is in it-Speaking-To talk about the bodily side effect from the blast from this weapon.

Markus

[MaDef]

Meanwhile, CNN reported a couple of hours ago that Putin has ordered the conscription of 134,000 new soldiers. :hmmm:

That's like doubling down when you're holding a pair of threes. :doh:

Not much of a risk when NATO is holding a 7-2 off suit.:03:

[mapuc]

Not much of a risk when NATO is holding a 7-2 off suit.:03:

Will you explain what it means for a novice like me ?

Markus

[tmccarthy]

[QUOTE=Onkel Neal;2801178]I hope this isn't accurate, but it's crazy scary to think Putin is this effectively strategic. :wah:


What if Putin Didn’t Miscalculate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/ukraine-war-putin.html

The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin catastrophically miscalculated.
/QUOTE]


Well, if you find this interesting I'm breaking down the miscalculation so far like this:

Russia: 0% miscalculation:
-they know this is a very difficult war, they know they are going to take high casualties, they know they have the military power to win in Ukraine.

America 90% miscalculation:
-all the things I'm not hearing being considered or discussed. Everyone is jumping to easy conclusions, incompetence, failure etc.

This is my own alternate personal view of part of what may be going on, especially in regard to refugees.

-First week

2. Invade Ukraine with a relatively small invasion force with a mix of 1st rate and conscript units.

-test American resolve and gauge levels of reaction sensitivity (what actions get warnings)to intervene militarily.

-Allowing time for women and children refugees to leave Ukraine, makes war much easier in many ways, 500,000 left the first week, 4 million after a month. Refugees are now a problem for west that causes distress and guilt, not feelings of occupied civilians who need to be defended militarily. The average man will fight to a certain point to defend his home and country, he will fight to the death to defend his family which are now not there.

-start achieving military objectives and find where the Ukraine army is strong and weak.

3. Have best Army and Airforce units near the western border, plus reserves prepared to fight NATO. Start war during the muddy season which favors the defender, NATO vs Russia....


-Tim

[tmccarthy]

This is long but what Col. Doug Macgregor, armor veteran of the Gulf War, says in the first 10 minutes is worth considering. It's a little old too but I'm just finding out about these guys at "The Grey Zone", they are asking good questions and doing interesting interviews.


https://youtu.be/NFngc_8RiVc

[Skybird]

Finally some info on the gas-rubles-issue that somewhat explains why what happened. From the Neue Zürcher Zeitung:

Foreign buyers of Russian natural gas from states classified as "unfriendly" due to the sanctions imposed on Russia will have to make their payments in rubles starting this Friday, April 1. Failure to do so could result in the suspension of deliveries. Making payments only in rubles was ordered by President Vladimir Putin a week ago.

On Thursday, the Kremlin published a decree by Putin setting out the modalities for Western customers. The announcement had caused excitement and uncertainty, especially in European countries that are particularly dependent on Russian gas. Now it seems that the Kremlin, the Central Bank and the natural gas export monopolist Gazprom have sought a Solomonic solution.

The mandatory payment in rubles is more appearance than reality. European customers will be obliged to open two "special accounts" with Gazprombank: a ruble account and a foreign currency account. They are to transfer the contractually agreed price in euros to the latter. Gazprombank is authorized to exchange the transferred amount into rubles on the Moscow Stock Exchange and transfer it to the ruble account. From this account, the natural gas supplier - i.e. Gazprom - is then paid in rubles. This changes less than the Europeans had feared.

The Russian side avoided two equally conceivable schemes that would probably have led to more resistance from the Western states. The Europeans had assumed that they would have to convert the amount due into rubles themselves and transfer this ruble sum to Gazprom. Another option would have been for European customers to continue paying in euros, but to transfer the money to a ruble account, where it would have been automatically converted.

The solution now chosen leaves the conversion entirely to Gazprombank as the intermediary. However, it presupposes the willingness of Europeans to open accounts, including a ruble account, with Gazprombank, which is deliberately not subject to sanctions. In this way, Gazprom and, indirectly, the Russian state secure the revenues from the gas business in any case.

From the Russian point of view, this does not change anything in terms of the contractual basis. The risk arising from dependence on the ruble exchange rate remains with Gazprom. It is not transferred to the customer, as some observers had suspected, and ruble prices are not suddenly charged, which would have made a change in contract mandatory and thus lengthy legal negotiations foreseeable.

For Gazprom, the new arrangement is likely to have advantages and disadvantages. As economist Marcel Salikhov of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow told the Russian Internet portal "The Bell," the requirement to settle through Gazprombank reduces the risk of sanctions: funds in foreign currency could be blocked less easily. In principle, however, little changes.

However, Gazprom will no longer receive foreign currency. Since the beginning of March, under the economic crisis regime, the group had already had to exchange 80 percent of its sales made in foreign currency into rubles within three days. Just like all importers. Now it is effectively 100 percent. This supports the ruble exchange rate, which has recovered strongly since the crash at the beginning of the "special military operation," as the war in Ukraine is officially called. However, experts believe it is artificial because it is currently almost impossible to conduct foreign currency transactions in Russia given extensive crisis-related currency controls.

Putin's decree gives the Government Commission on Foreign Investment the leeway to waive the new mode of payments in rubles in individual cases. This would make it possible to accommodate customers who cannot adopt the changeover due to certain political constraints. Russian commodity expert Mikhail Krutikhin pointed out in an interview that Putin had probably not been aware of the risks associated with the changeover. If the Europeans were to refuse to accept the payment terms and forgo gas supplies, it would be a disaster for the Russian state, which is heavily dependent on natural gas exports.

In the form now presented, the change appears primarily in a political light. Putin had already lamented when the measure was announced that the "collective West" had discredited its own currencies - the euro and the dollar - through its sanctions policy and especially by freezing Russia's currency reserves. On Thursday, he said the West had decided to use the economy as a weapon against Russia. Therefore, Russia wants nothing more to do with foreign currencies.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)


I think Putin did not realise himself in full what he triggered there, and then wanted only a face-saving option out of it.

[Buddahaid]

[QUOTE=Onkel Neal;2801178]I hope this isn't accurate, but it's crazy scary to think Putin is this effectively strategic. :wah:


What if Putin Didn’t Miscalculate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/ukraine-war-putin.html

The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin catastrophically miscalculated.
/QUOTE]


Well, if you find this interesting I'm breaking down the miscalculation so far like this:

Russia: 0% miscalculation:
-they know this is a very difficult war, they know they are going to take high casualties, they know they have the military power to win in Ukraine.

America 90% miscalculation:
-all the things I'm not hearing being considered or discussed. Everyone is jumping to easy conclusions, incompetence, failure etc.

This is my own alternate personal view of part of what may be going on, especially in regard to refugees.

-First week

2. Invade Ukraine with a relatively small invasion force with a mix of 1st rate and conscript units.

-test American resolve and gauge levels of reaction sensitivity (what actions get warnings)to intervene militarily.

-Allowing time for women and children refugees to leave Ukraine, makes war much easier in many ways, 500,000 left the first week, 4 million after a month. Refugees are now a problem for west that causes distress and guilt, not feelings of occupied civilians who need to be defended militarily. The average man will fight to a certain point to defend his home and country, he will fight to the death to defend his family which are now not there.

-start achieving military objectives and find where the Ukraine army is strong and weak.

3. Have best Army and Airforce units near the western border, plus reserves prepared to fight NATO. Start war during the muddy season which favors the defender, NATO vs Russia....


-Tim

Can't get past the pay window for the article.

I still say he needs to be shot, hung, or whatever for the huge death toll he managed especially if it was calculated.

[MaDef]

Will you explain what it means for a novice like me ?

Markus

Worst starting cards in Texas hold 'Em. Very few options to win, other than a successful bluff. (which in my opinion, is what NATO is trying to do. They aren't ready to actually do what is needed to curb Russia's behavior.)

[Skybird]

This is long but what Col. Doug Macgregor, armor veteran of the Gulf War, says in the first 10 minutes is worth considering. It's a little old too but I'm just finding out about these guys at "The Grey Zone", they are asking good questions and doing interesting interviews.


https://youtu.be/NFngc_8RiVc
How Macgregor describes the war in tbe first 8 minutes is not the war that is running in the Ukraine, but a fiction with a very obvious political, pro putin bias. I stopped watching then, because it was too much bull.

And on Grayzone, know who they are.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone


The Grayzone's news content is generally considered to be fringe (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_theory),[3] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:0-3)[15] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:8-15)[16] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:3-16)[17] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:11-17) with its content ideologically centered around the website's desire for a multipolar (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_(international_relations)) world.[3] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:0-3) Along this vein, the website has supported the government of Bashar al-Assad (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad) in Syria (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria),[24] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-JoICJOUP2021-24) publishing content denying that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douma_chemical_attack) during the Syrian Civil War (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war),[3] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:0-3)[25] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-25) and maintains a pro-Kremlin (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_Vladimir_Putin) editorial line.[24] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-JoICJOUP2021-24)[2] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:10-2) The website has also denied the scope of the Xinjiang internment camps (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_internment_camps) and the Uyghur genocide (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_genocide), downplaying widely reported abuses by the Chinese government (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_China) against Turkic (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_peoples) Muslim (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_China_(1911%E2%80%93present)) minorities in Xinjiang.

[tmccarthy]

[QUOTE=tmccarthy;2801393]

Can't get past the pay window for the article.



Yeah, I couldn't get past the pay window either and I screwed up the reply window. But if you go to original post by Onkel Neal #2746 and hit the spoilers button I believe that is the article?

[ET2SN]

I wonder how U say: "I'm expendible" in Russian?

"Dasvidaniya Rodina". :O:

[tmccarthy]

How Macgregor describes the war in tbe first 8 minutes is not the war that is running in the Ukraine, but a fiction with a very obvious political, pro putin bias. I stopped watching then, because it was too much bull.

And on Grayzone, know who they are.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone


[/URL]

Yeah, I looked into who the Grayzone is, and finding totally unbiased news sources seems pretty impossible these days. What I'm looking for is the other side of the story? Why is our media not doing that and talking to people with a different view like Col. Macgeagor? Do you believe he is politically motivated and "pro-Putin" biased?
(*edit this report is 2 weeks old, they are hard to find, but what is inaccurate at that time?)

Normally western media is full of coverage of news stories where they put up both sides of a story, "talking heads", and have them fight it out on air. Why isn't that happening now? My point is, to put it bluntly, the western traditional media is now almost completely united on this strory and is wrong and full of lies and we shouldn't be making any judgments based only on the story coming from places like BBC, CNN, MSNBC and even Fox.

More from Col. Macgregor, I'd like to hear your disagreement with any of the points he's making in these videos'?

[url]https://youtu.be/UecsXAgl618 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone#cite_note-:0-3)

[les green01]

How Macgregor describes the war in tbe first 8 minutes is not the war that is running in the Ukraine, but a fiction with a very obvious political, pro putin bias. I stopped watching then, because it was too much bull.

And on Grayzone, know who they are.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone




i watch a program the other day retire col saying how Ukraine has already lost and all that I guess no one has told Ukraine they lost bad thing about news they just want to report what they want you to know what supports their agenda

[tmccarthy]

i watch a program the other day retire col saying how Ukraine has already lost and all that I guess no one has told Ukraine they lost bad thing about news they just want to report what they want you to know what supports their agenda

:up: Personally I always look for the opinions of retired Colonels (and Captians) with combat experience first. The fact that a man makes it to General or Admiral is a good sign they might already be too political to be completely relieable.:03:

[tmccarthy]

Sorry I don't mean to be stacking the argument here but I'm just coming back from a couple day break and just caught this video a few minutes ago, which I think is too interesting to pass up. Off to bed, good nite:salute:

https://youtu.be/W9pVEP0AzZ4

[Skybird]

Macgregor is not offering another perspective, he offers nonsense. He says Putin still negotiates while obviously he does not, he says he avoids shooting civilians and civilian buildings and that is obviously not true, he says the Ukrainians suck while obviously they are capable, he says Russian losses are low and Ukrainians losses are high.

Bull.

[Catfish]

Macgregor is not offering another perspective, he offers nonsense. He says Putin still negotiates while obviously he does not, he says he avoids shooting civilians and civilian buildings and that is obviously not true, he says the Ukrainians suck while obviously they are capable, he says Russian losses are low and Ukrainians losses are high.
Bull.
Exactly. (emphasis mine)
On the other hand some certain person would call it alternative facts :03:

re tmccarthy
Why is our media not doing that and talking to people with a different view like Col. Macgeagor? Do you believe he is politically motivated and "pro-Putin" biased?Yes. They obviously do talk to him, he and this greyzone has a lot of media presence.
In comparison I take it Karadcic and Mladic were just bad in propaganda when it came to news outside of Serbia back then.

[Skybird]

A "grain OPEC"?

FOCUS writes:

By occupying the Black Sea ports, Russia controls large parts of the global grain trade. Russian ruler Putin is thus obtaining a "food weapon" that could end up being more powerful than bombs and missiles. Experts are sounding the alarm.

Opec is the most powerful cartel in the world; its members can decide the economic weal and woe of other countries through their agreements on the price of oil. But there could be a second, a more powerful cartel. One that decides human welfare. And that, scientists believe, is what Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and his oligarchy are working on. Some observers even see this as the real reason for the war: it's about a kind of grain opec.

As the country with the largest arable land in the world, Russia has become one of the world's most important wheat exporters over the past 15 years. But Russia, as a supplier on the world market for wheat and wheat products, has to compete not only with the EU, Canada, USA, and Australia, but so far also with neighboring countries, especially Ukraine. "As a major producer and top exporter of agricultural products, Ukraine is a 'heavyweight' in the global agricultural market," says an internal paper by Ebner Stolz, an international consulting firm active in the agri-food sector, among others.

Around 400 million people worldwide are directly dependent on exports from Ukraine, it said. With 24 million tons expected this year before the outbreak of war, Ukraine ranks fourth among global wheat exporters, he said. Ahead of that is Russia, with 35 million tons, the consultants calculate. What is becoming clear: Together, the two cannot be beaten.

In addition, there is Kazakhstan, which harvests between 10 and 20 million tons of wheat annually with fluctuating harvests. But the country has no direct access to world ports and is forced to transport its wheat by Russian railroads to ports in the Black Sea. "Because of this geographical location, the export of wheat from Kazakhstan to the world market is practically under Russia's control," notes Oleksandr Perekhozhuk.

The agricultural economist studied in Kiev and is currently conducting research at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Transition Economies in Halle. There, he is involved in international projects dealing with issues of world nutrition. And Perekhozhuk has been following Russia's efforts to establish a grain opec for 15 years. He now reports on this in a technical article for the "Agrarzeitung" newspaper.

The idea of developing a platform to coordinate grain exports from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan first came up for discussion in 2007 as the Black Sea Grain Pool. At that time, Russia was the driving force behind the grain pool; resistance came from the outset from Ukraine, which wanted to orient itself more in the direction of Western Europe. Further attempts by the initiative in 2009 and 2011 were unsuccessful because of this resistance. The Ukrainians, with their developed port infrastructure on the Black Sea, had no interest in it. After all, they could successfully compete with Russia on the world wheat market.

This, however, is a thorn in the side of Russia's ruler and his oligarchs who control the economy. "The existence of the Russian economy is based on the dominance of monopolistic and oligopolistic market structures, which can influence pricing in both domestic and international markets," writes Perekhozhuk, an agricultural economist. Almost all sectors of the Russian economy are monopolized by state-owned enterprises, including agri-food, he adds.

By occupying southern Ukraine, he says, the Russian president and Russian oligarchs now want to impose their economic interests. If Ukraine loses its territories on the Black Sea, it will no longer have free and direct access to the world market. Russia can then control all grain trade in the Black Sea region, and use grain as a new food weapon, Perekhozhuk writes. "The food weapon is more dangerous than the 'natural gas weapon' or 'oil weapon,' even more dangerous than Russian missiles or bombs."

Ebner Stolz consultants describe the situation more soberly, but by no means less explosively. "Although the EU and Germany are not dependent on wheat exports from any of the countries involved in the conflict because of their high degree of self-sufficiency, a reduced global supply and growing uncertainty about future harvests are having an impact on wheat prices." What's more, Russia and Ukraine have an unassailable position in the global market, and not just for wheat. The two countries are also thick in corn, sunflowers, soybeans and fertilizers. "Against the backdrop of the escalating conflict, there are increasing supply disruptions. The virtually complete breakdown of important maritime logistics hubs is further exacerbating the situation," Ebner Stolz notes.

Anyone who buys a loaf of bread from their local baker in this country has already noticed the price increase caused by Russia. It is true that the supply in Germany is secured by regional agricultural products. But it costs more. Christian Hörger, managing director at baked goods giant Lieken, which includes brands such as "Golden Toast" and "Lieken Urkorn," calculates: "Wheat flour accounts for about 70 percent of the total raw material requirement for our products, so the current price and cost development is not leaving us unscathed." The bakers' guilds believe that the price per kilo for bread could settle at around 3.80 euros. Today, it averages 3.50 euros.

While the Germans can cope with that, a price increase for staple foods in poorer countries is a much bigger problem than rising energy prices, describes world food expert Perekhozhuk. The scientist speaks of "price elasticity": "When energy prices rise, alternative solutions for energy supply can be found. Price elasticity of demand for food, especially bread grains, is inelastic in poorer regions of the world." There are no alternatives, he said. And the countries of the grain opec, which so far exists only in Russian sketches, export primarily to the world's most populous regions. Putin's "food weapon" thus has the potential to trigger "an artificial famine in various parts of the world" with the consequence of mass migrations toward Europe and North America.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

[Moonlight]

Beware of misinformation on the Web.

The website below is just one of many I've come across since I've been looking for alternative news about the war in Ukraine, the one sided nonsense that's been spouted by mainstream media since the Russo\Ukrainian war began has not been to my taste.

And this site below is not to my taste either, It just goes to show that you can't trust anyone these days, that website below is probably run by Russian sympathizers, holocaust deniers and Covid vaccine deniers along with many other deniers as well.

For anyone with any more brain cells than 50 you soon realize that the site is full of misinformation and antisemitic contributors, its not my cup of tea and its been eradicated from my browsing history just like the other one's have.

The Truth Seeker (That's what you call that bollocks inside of it is then is it?)
thetruthseeker.co.uk

Meh!, Sitrep: Operation Z
Now this is bloody interesting, in Ukraine we've got snow on the ground and supposedly soldiers getting bloody frostbite as well, but a photo at the top of the article with something burning in the background appears to have been taken sometime in summertime, apparently the laws of physics doesn't apply in Ukraine anymore.

One of the contributors, I've provided a short version below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon, 9 June 1963 (age 58)
Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv Israel, he's a British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer. Atzmon has written satirical novels, non-fiction works and read essays on the subjects of Palestinian rights, Israel and identity politics.

These writings have been described by scholars and anti-racism activists as being antisemitic and containing Holocaust denial.

Why are the British government giving these pillocks a British passport in the first place?, I thought they had checks in place to stop such unworthy individuals from entering the country?. British immigration is not doing what they should be doing and that's refusing entry or citizenship to characters like this one.

[mapuc]

Someone wrote

Russian soldiers who had been placed in Chernobyl is suffering from Radioactive sickness and are being treated in Belarus.

Will Kreml use this as a false flag operation and say Ukrainian has used chemical weapons ?

Markus

[tmccarthy]

https://youtu.be/meE1UMbDFOc

https://youtu.be/mnsZdegld0A

https://youtu.be/eylbRuQKKxY

https://youtu.be/T7w0Q0TBqkg

[mapuc]

I never thought a pipeline with gas/oil could burn so intensive as shown in this livestream
It's camera right bottom(R2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6RDbXEBj4

Markus

[Buddahaid]

GPS jamming is effecting civil aviation on flights skirting Russian airspace. The first part is a GPS primer and then it's about the reported problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xPeZfEExy8&t=29s

[Buddahaid]

I never thought a pipeline with gas/oil could burn so intensive as shown in this livestream
It's camera right bottom(R2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6RDbXEBj4

Markus

Interesting once I figured out the action is on the lower right camera and the vids in real time.

[Jimbuna]

Food for thought?

New clues suggest Putin does have terminal illness as mystery surrounds health
Those around the Putin remain tight-lipped about his health but recent public appearances saw the leader looking "bloated" and "weakened". The appearance of the 69-year-old "strong man" has changed dramatically in the past years causing speculation that he may be suffering from a severe physical illness.

And now, a new investigation has revealed the tyrant is “constantly” accompanied by a doctor specialising in thyroid cancer. The report states that surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov has flown to the Russian leader no less than 35 times in the Black Sea resort Sochi, reports The Sun.

The respected doctor’s expertise is thyroid cancer. The discovery backs recent theories that Putin declared war when he was suffering medical problems hidden from the Russian people.

Back in November 2020, political analyst Valery Solovei revealed the cancer and Parkinson's theory claiming that Putin also needed to have emergency surgery. He said at the time of Putin's health issues: “One is of psycho-neurological nature, the other is a cancer problem.

“If anyone is interested in the exact diagnosis, I'm not a doctor, and I have no ethical right to reveal these problems. The second diagnosis is a lot, lot more dangerous than the first-named diagnosis as Parkinson’s does not threaten physical state, but just limits public appearances.

“But there is a fatal diagnosis. Based on this information people will be able to make a conclusion about his life horizon, which wouldn’t even require specialist medical education.”

He added that the Russian President had undergone surgery with another source claiming it was an abdominal cancer operation. Video footage showed Putin's leg moving constantly and his fingers twitching, backing the Parkinson's theory.

Putin also suffered a coughing fit during a televised meeting but the claims about his health were disputed by Kremlin. The report continues to identify medics who regularly travel with Putin on trips, especially in Sochi which he prefers to Moscow.

Alongside Selivanov the Russian leader is also followed by a neurosurgeon. Another surgeon Dr Alexey Shcheglov "follows Putin so relentlessly that during public events he allegedly gets into joint photographs with the head of state.”

He is seen as “the doctor who, among other things, can be the first to detect problems with the thyroid gland, including oncological ones”, it is claimed.

There has been widespread speculation in the West that Putin had serious medical issues when he launched a war in Ukraine that estimates say killed 17,000 Russian troops plus many Ukrainian defenders and civilians. It's believed the Russian leader's decision to invade Ukraine on February 24 may have been sparked by his failing physical condition.

Intelligence sources previously suggested that the bloated face of the Russian dictator as well as his lust for violence may be caused by steroid treatment for cancer. Additionally, the report stated that Vladimir Putin has "publicly shown interest in the problem of thyroid cancer" after meeting with the head of the National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, Ivan Dedov in 2020.

The report states: “Dedov told the president about the high prevalence of thyroid cancer and spoke about the new hormonal drug Tyrogin, which fights metastases after surgery. Recovery of 95-98%?’ Putin asked and heard an affirmative answer.”

The report continues that in early autumn last year Putin year, "behaved especially strangely" when after a long stay in isolation due to Covid he met with the Paralympians. “That is how, standing in a crowd of people, Putin suddenly announced that he had to go into isolation, because there were too many people around who were sick with the coronavirus. The news came as a surprise even to the president's entourage. "

The report adds: “Whether the president was then undergoing some kind of medical manipulation is unknown, but after that, he began to communicate with people at a very great distance - sitting on opposite sides of huge tables. " The abnormally large meeting table used by Putin in his public appearances has been widely mocked.

Body language expert Erik Bucy noted the size of the 13-foot table could signal "unease with close contact, another sign of physical illness or frailty". Many of Putin's visitors, including both staff and politicians, have reportedly been forced to quarantine in hotels for two weeks before meeting him- and some even had to walk through an elaborate disinfectant-spraying tunnel.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/new-clues-suggest-putin-does-have-terminal-illness-as-mystery-surrounds-health/ar-AAVL2ri?ocid=mailsignout&li=AAnZ9Ug

[Skybird]

^ Now you know what could happen to you if you dont take your daily vitamine pills! :D

I'll go and buy a bottle of champagne and a small garden firework, just in case... :haha:

[Jimbuna]

^ Now you know what could happen to you if you dont take your daily vitamine pills! :D

I'll go and buy a bottle of champagne and a small garden firework, just in case... :haha:

Me too :03:

[Jimbuna]

The International Committee of the Red Cross is making another attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol after failing yesterday.

The organisation said it did not get sufficient security guarantees in two prior attempts bring aid to the besieged port.

More than 3,000 people have managed to leave the besieged southern port city anyway, Ukraine's President Zelensky says.

Seven humanitarian corridors have been planned for today, according to Ukraine's deputy prime minister.

Meanwhile, a pull-out of Russian troops is "slow but noticeable" in the north, according to Zelensky.

Zelensky warns Ukrainians, however, that "hard battles lie ahead" in the east of the country around Donbas and Kharkiv.

Ukraine's foreign ministry says it cannot confirm or deny claims its forces attacked an oil depot in Russia.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-H1aw69P4

[Skybird]

Good video, but for PC reasons I say there are some grim visuals. Still I think its good and valid to post since it is ordinary people soldiers speaking out, and what they say just sounds so natural. From the Washington Post.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/30/ukraine-frontline-town-military-routs-russians/


Calls up some unwanted memories. Have seen such mess twice, though by far not on that scale. I am just happy that while having seen it I nevertheless never needed to be a soldier actually fighting in such messes.
Without any such direct own experience I think any media input necessarily must give you an altered, clinically cleaned, by your own mind manipoulated impression of the rwelaity the pictures show, because without the experience your mind simply lacks the callibration to put the images you see in the news into the correct framework, that way you get an interpretation that glosses over the reality it wanted to describe, but doesn't adequately. Your mind protects you from a reality that is so brutal that it can be overhwelming. It keeps you mnetally distanced - for the sake of self-protection.

[Aktungbby]

"It won't mean thing if it ain't got that swing" errrr wiggle! :shucks:



Can't get past the pay window for the article.

I still say he needs to be shot, hung, or whatever for the huge death toll he managed especially if it was calculated.
I caught that green 'hung!':O:
"Dasvidaniya Rodina". :O:I declare WWIII fully on; :yep:The Geneva Convention is dead; the arrogance displayed by the Russian calling the alleged Belograd oil refinery attack inside Russia "untrustworthy during negotiations"(probably a misguided russian missile or false-flag ploy?) is double-standardly unbelievable in an outright invasive war of aggression. Apparently only Russia can do it!!?? As aggressive warfare is a war crime, my terms for settlement: restore the Czar; pay full reparations; deliver Putin in cuffs to the Hague for trial...full and unremitting sanctions to be implemented against a terrorist state.:arrgh!: We should be at Defcon One and Biden needs to be aloft in AirForce One...with his nuke-code football aide. And someone needs to sink those four russian military supply ships headed for Europe from Kamchatka...just to to up the ante on free seas and right of "innocent passage" the observing Chinese allies(Putin's limitless friends?) are so fond of. Vlad the Bastard, using negotiations as a time delay to regroup, isn't playing by any rules; neither should we. The West did not respond when China invaded Tibet nor when Russia invaded Crimea; now we are all expendible until we are not...ie we are now paying the price of appeasement.

[Skybird]

The third world war began many, many years ago, and since then Russia is attacking Europe and the US on many invisible fronts day in, day out. The West slept through its beginning, and dreamed sweet dreams during many Russian offensives and operations, until five weeks ago.
--------------------
ISS moves into the focus of the war and sanctions.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/02/russia-to-end-cooperation-over-international-space-station

[Jimbuna]

It was only a little over a week ago that reports were suggesting they (the Russians) might refuse to return the US astronaut to earth.

[Catfish]

I stole this from another forum, this video was the answer to russian trolls trying to play the poor Russian victim card, maybe they had Lavrov in mind?

https://youtu.be/CywJD13fujw?t=70

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-3kslYsOpI

[Skybird]

^ I could swear I have red the robo-narrator's text orignally 1:1 from first to last word in some news article a couple of days ago.

[mapuc]

An AFP news agency reporter in Bucha, near Kyiv, counted at least 20 bodies. At least one man had his hands tied.

Ukrainian forces regained control of the town this week and photos show widespread devastation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60967463

Markus

[Catfish]

Directly from Russia:
"It is the beginning of the end. No more Fairey can be bought"

"Exactly after Vladimir had preached in that stadium from the gospel according to Matthew, »that there was no love greater than his for the people of Ukraine, and that he was ready to kill them all if they did not answer his feelings«, all laundry detergents vanished from the shelves, also flour and sugar. Putin also took insuline, ibuprofene and baby care out of drugstores and into his bunkers.
The propaganda was fast in calming down the population, that basic supplies were safe.

People here in the region live quite modest, they were not afraid of sanctions. Nobody believes Putin one word anyway, but they were astonished.
During his stunt in the stadium he looked different, somehow blown up. Some said this was because he was wearing two bulletproof vests on top of each other, others said he had not left his bunker but had appeared as a distorted hologram.
His speech was suddenly cut off and replaced with war pop music. Some thought he had been shot. The next day a lot of people mourned at Putin's empty bier.

Russian leadership has always been perceived as a force of nature by the russian people – unpleasant but inevitable.
The neigbours, baptists in the fifth generation, told that Putin was recently thinking of himself as the rider of the apocalypse, a herald of doomsday.
The epiphany reveals there are four riders: The first spreads the plague, the second sows the seeds of war, the third was responsible for supply bottlenecks, and the fourth brought death. Putin decided to ride all four horses, alone.

I asked whether there was a chance that he came a cropper. Yes, they said. If he continues in that way the people will push him off the horse on his nose in a way even his stolen baby care will not help him."

(translated from russian)

[Gorpet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-3kslYsOpI

If the North Vietnamese had YouTube. Sure could have saved a lot of American lives.

[Gorpet]

It would seem that,Tanks in the future will only be used by Governments that have the drones.And the tanks will be used against their own populations. So i hope some freedom fighters out there take and hide a ton of those drones for the fight their grandchildren will have.

[Gorpet]

Apparently he's somebody that Catfish thinks has unapproved opinions.

LoL, How will we ever get a new World Order without Catfish's

[Gorpet]

i watch a program the other day retire col saying how Ukraine has already lost and all that I guess no one has told Ukraine they lost bad thing about news they just want to report what they want you to know what supports their agenda

Les, Of course Ukraine is winning the West aka" United States" and the European's Must win after all they have to show their Chinese masters 2 things 1 how quickly they can turn and put the screws to Putin.Look at a world map what could be better for them. 2 Ukraine holds secrets of the great Democracy's of the World Politicians and they want it Destroyed why do you think NATO and its Allies are bringing the World to the point we have not seen since 1962 . It is time we sweep away Career Politicians and their families absorb 90% of their wealth and put into the social programs they created during the years they were in office and force them to rejoin the human race. Dissolve Nato and let Europe tend to its own borders .The United States has enough problems within it's own country to deal with. Hell their pumping so much water out of our local lakes and rivers i can't even catch a Catfish

[Skybird]

Streets of freed suburbs and small towns around Kyiv are scatattered with bodies of civilians that the hastily retreating Russians apparently have massacred in huge numbers. Many bodies have their hands cuffed. Internationally, calls are growing louder for Russia to be indicted for the most serious war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Germany has announced to support intensifying sanctions for this very reason.

Other images show how intense the fighting must have been and how relentlessly the Ukrainian defenders raged among the attacking Russian armored vehicle columns. There are records of streets lined with wreck after wreck in two rows. The Russian defeat at Kyiv is total, unconditional and utmost humiliating.

"Welcome to hell" (Ukrainian CIC Gen. Zaluzhnyi).


The Ukrainians paid for that victory with almost complete destruction of civilian areas, housing, and infrastructure - and obviously the retreating Russians commiting atrocities in bloodthirsty revenge. Talk is of kidnappings, torture, rape, and obviously: massacres.

It was also written that the Russian concept of airborne/air assault units, which have been emphasized by doctrine since Sovjet times, have been a total fail. All Russian raids with them - and there have been between half and a full dozen when I read about it a week ago - have failed, and their PCs and IFVs, designed to be light enough for air transport, have shown to offer totally inapt protection only even against medium and some small callibre fire - thats why these air assault mobile units suffered extremely high losses, apparently.

I have strong doubt that the Russian units that were pulled out of the Kyiv region, can just be shuttled to the East and then enter combat again in the Donbass and Luhansk region. Many of these units have seized to exist as coherent combat formations, and are broken apart. Even more limiting may be not just the number of KIAs, but the many wounded that must be taken care of and must be transported. Morale is down, at the lowest. Apparently there are many desertions and mutinies and refusals to obey orders.

Never would I have believed in advance that the Russians would perform this chaotic and bad. Never. All the money they invested into reforms and modernization, obviously have been completely wasted, and it all vanished in corrupted military structures.

Now the Russian air defence has been humiliated by two daring gunship crews that penetrated into Russian airspace by flying extremely low and blew up an oil depot. The fire is reported to cause tremendous damage and many hours later still was not under control. It seems the ukrainians start to go after logistics networks and supply chains even on Russian soil. And why not bringing the war to the territory of the attacker who is guilty of having launched it? In a fair and perfect world, it would be Russian places being turned into smoking rubble, not Ukrainian towns and cities.

[mapuc]

Skybird wrote:
"Never would I have believed in advance that the Russians would perform this chaotic and bad. Never. All the money they invested into reforms and modernization, obviously have been completely wasted, and it all vanished in corrupted military structures"

Doesn't it come down to the mentality of the ordinary soldier and their officers ? Didn't they act the same way during WWII ?

"Now the Russian air defence has been humiliated by two daring gunship crews that penetrated into Russian airspace by flying extremely low and blew up an oil depot."

The Ukrainian denies they have done it and thinking about on the Russian skills in creating false flag operation I tend to believe the Ukrainian.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcR5GEYstL0

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUf5_rvdtRs

[Jimbuna]

As Moscow's forces retreat from areas near Kyiv, evidence of civilian killings is mounting.

Reporters in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, have found at least 20 bodies strewn in the streets.

Ukraine's foreign minister has called killings in Bucha a deliberate massacre.

"It looks exactly like war crimes," says a Ukrainian presidential adviser of images coming out of the towns of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin.

Thick black smoke has covered the skies over the strategic southern port city of Odesa, after Russian air strikes this morning.

Russia claims it targeted oil facilities in the region that Ukraine was using to supply its troops. Ukraine has reported no casualties.

Meanwhile, Ukraine says its forces have retaken the entire region around Kyiv, as Russian forces withdraw from key towns.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dGzRysbMYQ

[Skybird]

Doesn't it come down to the mentality of the ordinary soldier and their officers ? Didn't they act the same way during WWII ?

And since before WWII, since always, so to speak. I posted on the issue a week ago or so.


The Ukrainian denies they have done it and thinking about on the Russian skills in creating false flag operation I tend to believe the Ukrainian.
There is video showing low flying Hi-24 at that depot and I do not see a false flag interest of Russia there. Lets keep it simple. It probably is what it looks like: a Ukrainian air raid successfully done. The Ukrainians do not want to verbally escalate, if that is possible. If they admit they did the attack, Russia can take that as a confession of guilt justifying new "measurements". Its all about formality here.



The whole war is absurd. Russia still delivers gas to Europe. Europe delivers weapons to Russia'S war opponent. Russia dleivers gas through the Ukraine. The Ukraine takes transfer fees being used to fight Russia, also buying weapons from European companies directly with these fees. The whole contellation is bizarr, unreal. It cannot get much more absurd.

[Jimbuna]

The whole war is absurd. Russia still delivers gas to Europe. Europe delivers weapons to Russia'S war opponent. Russia dleivers gas through the Ukraine. The Ukraine takes transfer fees being used to fight Russia, also buying weapons from European companies directly with these fees. The whole contellation is bizarr, unreal. It cannot get much more absurd.

Aye crazy :yep:

[Skybird]

For the first time ever NATO has activated its Rapid Response Force and will deploy major parts of this 40+thousand combat-ready formation to Eastern Europe. This force is claimed to have a readiness level that allows first spearhead units to deploy within 48 hours. The US has set up to 12 thousand troops on increased readiness for deployment with that force.

[Jimbuna]

For the first time ever NATO has activated its Rapid Response Force and will deploy major parts of this 40+thousand combat-ready formation to Eastern Europe. This force is claimed to have a readiness level that allows first spearhead units to deploy within 48 hours.

Wasn't that a month ago? :hmmm:

[Skybird]

Wasn't that a month ago? :hmmm:
The video here, NBC gives it as Breaking News for April 3rd.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/europe-sort-found-backbone-rcna22622




Edit.
The text site is of April 3rd,but the video is from February 26th. I sensed something was strange, but I did not get it. You gotta young mind, Jim!

[Jimbuna]

Yep, this one is dated 25th February https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/02/25/nato-deploying-rapid-reaction-force-for-the-first-time-to-defend-eastern-borders/

[Aktungbby]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ex-russian-oligarch-says-this-moment-in-war-drove-putin-insane/vi-AAVOura?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=16501e56d3f140949378e724dfb802be

[Aktungbby]

Vlad the Bastard, using negotiations as a time delay to regroup, isn't playing by any rules;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dGzRysbMYQ "playing 4 all the marbles in WWIII" :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSeWVHB5GX8

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZWKwg87baY

[ET2SN]

So, I've been thinking.. :hmmm:

Anyone remember this movie?

http://www.videocollector.co.uk/data/images/brain-smashera-love-story-9451l.jpg


Andrew Dice Clay had a great line when he said, "Get ready for the most embarrassing half hour of your life". :haha:

Assuming we all don't empty the ICBM silos and ruin a perfectly good planet, I can't figure out a way for Putin to avoid living in a storm drain or going on trial in The Hague. :yep:

Now, I'm an old fart on a VA pension. If I can figure this out, what do you suppose the The Duma is thinking in Moscow?

:Kaleun_Wink:

[Skybird]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSeWVHB5GX8
"Russia's super tanks"? Its a video about the T-72, which is, even in its newest versions, in no way a super tank anymore. It lived up to its intended purpose when it was fielded, but that fielding is half a century ago!


Not mentioning the limited visibility and scopes in even the newest mods of the T-72.



By design decision on display, the Armata may be a super tank with some revolutonary design details, and I do not give to much in the breakdown in one of the earliest produced models during that parade 2015, such things could happen and do happen to Wedstern armies as well: just look at the long list of teething problems of Western fighters, transports and naval units. But we have not seen the Armata in combat in the Ukraine, or have we? If so, still much would depend on the doctrine deciding its tactical use, and the skill of the tactical leaders. The best tank is not living up to its expectations if the commanders handle it tactically bad.

[Skybird]

Ukraine has asked Germany to give it 100 old Marder IFVs (that are being replaced by Pumas and Lynx anyway).

Guess what the German defence ministry said.

:down:Instead there will be a "sanction package 5" that targets more people from Putin's closer circle, and some more banks. Wowh. I imagined how it would feel to now have one single poetic tear in my left eye (left, the side of emotions, intuition and creativity), that much moved I was. Dont they tell men all the time to stand by their weaknesses?


At the same time Scholz insisted in a statement that Germany continues to deliver the ukraine weapons "so that it can defend itself." - ...???

[mapuc]

In the news here in Denmark it was told yesterday that Biden/USA will send some old TXX - Tanks and other old stuff to Ukraine.

They didn't say where it should come from and how many.

The Biden administration will work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to bolster Ukrainian defenses in the country’s eastern Donbas region, a U.S. official said on Friday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/us/politics/us-tanks-ukraine.html

Markus

[Skybird]

A visibly embittered President Zelensky invited Merkel and Sarkozy to visit Butcha, where they could see for themselves where their sympathetic policies towards Russia had led and how Ukrainians were tortured and murdered there.

Not only are there several hundred bodies of residents laying in the streets, many with bound hands, they now have started to found even mass graves. The mayor said about one fo them it could hold 300 bodies maybe. Expoerts say first impression is that the atriocities were not just cidnuicted from frustrated Russiansd when they fled, but that they were going on since all time of the Russian's stay.

Stalin wanted to prevent an Ukrainian nation at all costs, and tried to starve the Ukrainian people to death. Millions died.

Either Stalin did not know that bullets get the job done much faster, or Putin is just not as patient.

[tmccarthy]

In the news here in Denmark it was told yesterday that Biden/USA will send some old TXX - Tanks and other old stuff to Ukraine.

They didn't say where it should come from and how many.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/us/politics/us-tanks-ukraine.html

Markus

Looks like Hungry, Romania and Bulgarian types still have plenty of Russian tanks and armored vehicles. Probably ship Ukraine that stuff the US & ammunition manufacturers don't want in NATO anyways, then sell those countries (or more likely us tax payers pay for) our old refurbished M-1 tanks and Bradley's in storage(at like new prices $ of course.) Another Win-Win for defense contractors.

-Tim

[tmccarthy]

A visibly embittered President Zelensky invited Merkel and Sarkozy to visit Butcha, where they could see for themselves where their sympathetic policies towards Russia had led and how Ukrainians were tortured and murdered there.

Not only are there several hundred bodies of residents laying in the streets, many with bound hands, they now have started to found even mass graves. The mayor said about one fo them it could hold 300 bodies maybe. Expoerts say first impression is that the atriocities were not just cidnuicted from frustrated Russiansd when they fled, but that they were going on since all time of the Russian's stay.

Stalin wanted to prevent an Ukrainian nation at all costs, and tried to starve the Ukrainian people to death. Millions died.

Either Stalin did not know that bullets get the job done much faster, or Putin is just not as patient.

Atrocities are happening on both sides, we're just being shown the western view of how they want the war to be seen by the public right now. Russia, judging by history, can be expected to be the most brutal and in the end likely be judged to have committed the most atrocities. But I don't see the Ukraine Army as being automatically the "clean good guys" by far.

I think the Ukraine army is going to be guilty enough of war atrocities in the end that I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them.

I'm not trying to excuse either side but once it gets started reprisals are bound to happen back and forth and sometimes the victims are those who are just unlucky enough to be on hand for crimes to be committed. The Russians probably aren't capturing that many Ukrainian soldiers in this type of war so civilians pay the price. There's no excuses, Nothing but disgusting all around.

[Vietnam- Benjamin Valentino estimates 110,000–310,000 deaths as a "possible case" of "counter-guerrilla mass killings" by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces during the war]

"some of these Ukrainian forces have behaved like ISIS and committed terrible atrocities against the Russians." Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_in_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Kneecapping of Russian soldiers On 27 March a video purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners in the knees was uploaded on Telegram.[175][176] The video was likely shot in Malaya Rohan, to the south east of Kharkiv, in an area which had been recently had recently been recaptured by Ukrainian troops.[176] The footage purports to depict a number of captured soldiers lying on the ground; many appear to be bleeding from leg wounds and are questioned by their captors. At one point, three prisoners are brought out of a vehicle and shot in the legs with a rifle. The accents and the uniforms of the captors are consistent with them being Ukrainians from the east of the country.[176][16]

-Tim

[tmccarthy]

Believe it or not this video below is exactly what the Expansion of NATO by Bill Clinton, the war in Ukraine, and our future war with Russia was/is all about. When Tucker mentions a theme re "Afghanistan" just replace it with a theme re "Russia".

We and our military have been 'played' into fighting this fight, for the interests of eastern european and jewish neoconservatives, globalist, liberals and woke-ism.

That is the nucleus of the "War Against Putin" and changing Russia's culture for woke goals.

Same people, same mission.

I got to this conclusion when I asked "Why did President Barrack Obama, of all people, want to go after Russia so badly?" Surely as the first black president, he'd have other priorities for his time in office?

Hillary Clinton's war with Putin from the beginning a long, long, long time ago?

(I never would have believed this was possible in a thousand years 2 months ago.)

https://youtu.be/bu1KHfZzaMg

[Catfish]

^ did you just have your russian coming-out?
oh YES it is all the gays' and woke's fault. And LGBTQ. And the democrats. And Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton. Did i mention Mrs Levinsky, eMails, Nancy Pelosi and (not to forget) sex pandas threatening the US.

The decadent west gets what it deserves! Russia shtronk!
:haha:

[Skybird]

The opposition in the Bundestag has demanded the replacement of defence minister Lembke, accusing her of utmost incompetence and disgracing Germany before the international community.

The accusation is 110% correct. Lembke knows nothing about this ressort, and wanted to retire, but Scholz pressed her to take the job. He needed a left for balancing ghe wings in his party and needed a woman due to gender quotas. Gender and agenda trumps competence and experience these days. There are several such duds in his cabinet.

[Catfish]

^ Make that LAMBRECHT and i agree :hmmm:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gDtXmMaIFw


Notable self-restraint by this officer :haha:

[Skybird]

I can give the names of only four ministers in the current coaltion government - and that includes the chancellor already. Only three. That present the others are in my thinking.

[August]

Atrocities are happening on both sides, we're just being shown the western view of how they want the war to be seen by the public right now. Russia, judging by history, can be expected to be the most brutal and in the end likely be judged to have committed the most atrocities. But I don't see the Ukraine Army as being automatically the "clean good guys" by far.

I think the Ukraine army is going to be guilty enough of war atrocities in the end that I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them.

I'm not trying to excuse either side but once it gets started reprisals are bound to happen back and forth and sometimes the victims are those who are just unlucky enough to be on hand for crimes to be committed. The Russians probably aren't capturing that many Ukrainian soldiers in this type of war so civilians pay the price. There's no excuses, Nothing but disgusting all around.

[Vietnam- Benjamin Valentino estimates 110,000–310,000 deaths as a "possible case" of "counter-guerrilla mass killings" by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces during the war]

"some of these Ukrainian forces have behaved like ISIS and committed terrible atrocities against the Russians." Col. Douglas Macgregor (Ret.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_in_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Kneecapping of Russian soldiers On 27 March a video purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners in the knees was uploaded on Telegram.[175][176] The video was likely shot in Malaya Rohan, to the south east of Kharkiv, in an area which had been recently had recently been recaptured by Ukrainian troops.[176] The footage purports to depict a number of captured soldiers lying on the ground; many appear to be bleeding from leg wounds and are questioned by their captors. At one point, three prisoners are brought out of a vehicle and shot in the legs with a rifle. The accents and the uniforms of the captors are consistent with them being Ukrainians from the east of the country.[176][16]

-Tim


So the best you can cite is a supposed wounding of some captured soldiers and you want us to figure that puts the Ukrainians in the same moral boat as the Russians who are murdering civilians wholesale left and right?

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByY6PxbY_Xk

[mapuc]

Seen and heard on the news
Putin accuse NATO for having "Ordered" these picture of dead civilians

Putin reject have anything to do with it.

Markus

[Skybird]

Can the Russian assumption that the will to resist by of the Ukrainians can be broken by conducting ever more brutal acts, actually work? A survey implies that this does not seem likely. Quite the opposite.

https://blogs.prio.org/2022/03/will-terror-deter-or-motivate-ukrainian-resistance-survey-evidence-from-besieged-ukraine/

[Jimbuna]

Shocking images of civilian bodies in the streets of Bucha, near Kyiv, have led to an outpouring of international condemnation of Russia.

The BBC has seen further evidence of civilian killings near Kyiv - a shallow grave where four people allegedly shot dead by Russian forces were buried.

France's President Macron says there are clear indications Russian forces have committed war crimes.

He calls for more sanctions targeting Russia oil and coal exports - but doesn't mention gas.

Germany, which relies heavily on Russian gas, says it is "working towards" an embargo on Russian energy but won't act immediately.

UK PM Boris Johnson accused Russia of "despicable attacks" while the White House called it a "punch to the gut"

"This isn't a one-off atrocity... we are going to discover a significant number of acts like this," military expert Jack Watling tells the BBC

[mapuc]

Can the Russian assumption that the will to resist by of the Ukrainians can be broken by conducting ever more brutal acts, actually work? A survey implies that this does not seem likely. Quite the opposite.

https://blogs.prio.org/2022/03/will-terror-deter-or-motivate-ukrainian-resistance-survey-evidence-from-besieged-ukraine/

Hmm trying to remember what it was said in some of the documentary from WWII.

Despite the massive bombings of the civilians by the Allied and the nazis, it had an opposite effect. People supported their leader even more
(Can have forgot some word)

Markus

[Subnuts]

Good job "liberating" Ukraine from "the Nazis," and not being Nazis yourselves, Russia! :nope:

[mapuc]

Good job "liberating" Ukraine from "the Nazis," and not being Nazis yourselves, Russia! :nope:

There are those who claim that neonazisme is massive in Ukraine they say they got something about 2 % in the last election.

I haven't fact checked it.

But there's nazis in every country even here in Denmark and in Sweden, so it's not like it's new thing.

Edit
After I posted the comment I read an issue on a friends wall-This friend doubted very much that the Russian should be behind the killing of these Civilian outside Kyiv. One of his proof was that the victims had these white thing around the arm-Which should indicate they are Russian supporters.
He is entitle to have this opinion I say it's easy to put these white thing on a persons arm after s/he is dead.
End edit

Markus

[les green01]

There are those who claim that neonazisme is massive in Ukraine they say they got something about 2 % in the last election.

I haven't fact checked it.

But there's nazis in every country even here in Denmark and in Sweden, so it's not like it's new thing.

Edit
After I posted the comment I read an issue on a friends wall-This friend doubted very much that the Russian should be behind the killing of these Civilian outside Kyiv. One of his proof was that the victims had these white thing around the arm-Which should indicate they are Russian supporters.
He is entitle to have this opinion I say it's easy to put these white thing on a persons arm after s/he is dead.
End edit

Markus
Markus what i'm reading their hands was tied with the white rags behind their backs not has a id band

[August]

Besides how many Russian supporting civilians could there be in kiev outskirts. More likely the white armband is like Less says.

[Skybird]

The dead with their hands handcuffed were not hidden in some cellar, and their assassination did not take place at night in some forsaken backyard. They were shot on open display, in the streets, and the bodies were left were they fell to the ground, with the hands still tied.

Whoever did that, obviously had no intention at all to hide his deed. Instead, he wanted it to be seen, and easily.

Therefore, he had an intention,l and that intention can only have been that he wanted to send a message to the people living in the place, region, country: "You have to submit, if you resist, we will kill you at random, arbitrarily, without caring whom we hit: young or old, men or women, and everybody can be hit by us, anwhere, anytime."

Now who has the more convincing motive to terrorise the civilian population in this region of the Ukraine, which is belonging to the Europe-leaning, anti-Russian part of the Ukrain ? The Russian attackers, or the defenders of that place?

Attempts by some right-wing media in the West, by Russian diplomats in Berlin and at the UN, and the mass murderers in Moscow, to claim it all were theatre actors only that arranged a scene after the Ukrainian troops moved in and started blaming Russia for atrocities that it had not committed, are cyncial, inhumane and obscene. And show what murderous human scum we are dealing with. Putin two days ago got quoted with seriously having claimed that not a single civilian ever was targetted by Russian forces, and that the Ukraininas committ mass executions amongst their people only to give Russia a bad name!

And some unscrupolous stupids in the west even echo this BS!

Zelensky said that the massacres at Buccha were the outstanding atrocity of the 21st century. He was wrong, there have been precedences for it, in Syria. And already it was Russia playing an infamous dominant in it. Its the kind of behaviour Russians have been feared for by our grandparents' generation in and after WW2. They have a long tradition of being this barbaric. Others may have been like that at times, too, namelyx Germany durign the Thousand Years Reich. The point is: Germany learned from it, and chnaged. Russia just has stopped the clocks alreayd three hundred years ago, and never fundamentally evolved beyond the brutal fundaments of its nature and essence. The Tsars. The Revolution. Stalin. The cold war'S rebellions and hwo the Russianc cracked down on them. Putin.

Nothing is new. Nothing has changed. This is the same Russia as it always has been in the last centuries. Note the plural. Opressive to its own people, aggressive to outside people/countries. Paranoia justifying endless police dictatorship and state terror.

Over two thirds of Russians, so I read over the past days repeatedly, fully believe Putin's narration, and defend the war, accusing the Ukraine of beign the aggressor. I even red pieces where Russian war mothers of fallen boys under tears said they nevertheless defend the war and that their boy died for a right cause and his wonderful country.

Its a brutal and primitive and petrified country. Thats what it gets down to. And I dont care whether somebody takes this as offensive. Like I do not care when a Nazi would complain that I attack fascism. And nobody should be mistaken. When Putin dies or gets removed - NOT MUCH, IF ANYTHING, WILL CHANGE. It will remain to be a brutal and primitive and petrified country.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrbHXral3X4

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7MoV2zG1jQ

[mapuc]

^ Good idea I don't think Russia would fire upon these Turkish warship.

Markus

[Aktungbby]

Not if it wants to get it's four military supply laden ships currently enroute from Kamchatka thru the Bosphorus:hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-FQN80MGsw

[mapuc]

Not if it wants to get it's four military supply laden ships currently enroute from Kamchatka thru the Bosphorus:hmmm:


They expect they will enter the black sea..as it is now nobody knows it's destination.

Markus

[Catfish]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1511001899184627712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1511001899184627712%7Ctwgr% 5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwi tter.min.html1511001899184627712

Russia does not even try to hide it anymore

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZEgRGtJcFo

[tmccarthy]

Conspiracy theory Number 2::):hmmm:

-The Washington D.C Globalist-Woke Vision

Thought experiment: For a moment forget what people are saying they are doing in these conflicts, the rhetoric, the media and all the arguments about who's at fault and who's right or wrong.
Think in simplified terms of What is Actually Happening.

-Iraq:
attacked, degraded, destroyed, rebuilt in globalist-neoconservative vision.* (mission fail)

-Afghanistan:
attacked, degraded, destroyed, rebuilt in globalist-neoconservative vision.* (mission fail)

-Ukraine:
attacked, degraded, destroyed (to be be rebuilt in globalist- woke vision.*)

-Russia:
attacked, degraded


Questions:
1. Before the war what do we think the globalist-woke view really was of Ukraine as far as a country that they wanted to change?
2. Do we believe the globalist-woke believe groups in Ukraine like the Azov Battalion, a white supremacist organization, are really freedom fighters or are they seen as an enemy and they are happy to see them degraded and destroyed in this war?
3. Right now both Ukraine and Russia are being degraded in this war, are they "killing two birds with one stone."?
4. Do the globalist -woke really see Ukraine and Russia as two things or as the same thing?
5. Nobody in the globalist-woke movement seems too concerned about stopping Ukraine from being destroyed so is that what they actually want?


I just had these thoughts and typed this out in the last 10 minutes so I would be curious to hear what anybody thinks about any part of this view? Tear my ideas apart, call me crazy, whatever I'm fine with it.:up:
-Tim

*edits: corrected mistake woke vision to neoconservative vision and additions
I'm presenting this as a theroy, but it is essentially what I believe is happening right now. That is changing day to day and that's what I'm interested in, and I have no problem being wrong, or changing anything that I believe. I'm not on either side just trying to look at the situation with realism and get to the truth...

[Skybird]

Not if it wants to get it's four military supply laden ships currently enroute from Kamchatka thru the Bosphorus:hmmm:
It should not happen anyway since the straits have been closed by Turkey early on in the war, and by treaty obligations that includes EVERY nation's military ships. Turkey cannot be selective which military ship it lets pass and which one not, or selective on nations, so even NATO ships cannot pass (except Turkey's, I assume). Thats how I understand that treaty.

[Skybird]

Germany has expelled 40 Russian diplomats accused of spying.

[Catfish]

Russian propaganda: https://ria.ru/20220403/ukraina-1781469605.html

Translation:

"Denazification is necessary when a significant part of the people - most likely the majority - has been mastered and drawn into the Nazi regime in its politics. That is, when the hypothesis "the people are good - the government is bad" does not work. Recognition of this fact is the basis of the policy of denazification, of all its measures, and the fact itself is its subject matter.
Residents of Mariupol receive humanitarian aid delivered from Russia from the People's Militia of the DPR - RIA Novosti, 1920,

Russia is responsible for Ukraine

Ukraine is in just such a situation. The fact that the Ukrainian voter voted for the "peace of Poroshenko" and "peace of Zelensky" should not be misleading - the Ukrainians were quite satisfied with the shortest path to peace through the blitzkrieg, which the last two Ukrainian presidents transparently hinted at when they were elected. It was this method of "appeasement" of internal anti-fascists - through total terror - that was used in Odessa , Kharkov , Dnepropetrovsk , Mariupol, other Russian cities. And this quite suited the Ukrainian man in the street. Denazification is a set of measures in relation to the nazified mass of the population, which technically cannot be subjected to direct punishment as war criminals.

However, in addition to the top, a significant part of the masses, which are passive Nazis, accomplices of Nazism, are also guilty. They supported and indulged Nazi power. The just punishment of this part of the population is possible only as bearing the inevitable hardships of a just war against the Nazi system, carried out with the utmost care and discretion in relation to civilians. Further denazification of this mass of the population consists in re-education, which is achieved by ideological repression (suppression) of Nazi attitudes and strict censorship: not only in the political sphere, but also necessarily in the sphere of culture and education. It was through culture and education that a deep mass nazification of the population was prepared and carried out, secured by the promise of dividends from the victory of the Nazi regime over Russia , Nazi propaganda, internal violence and terror, as well as an eight-year war with the people of Donbass who rebelled against Ukrainian Nazism.

Denazification can only be carried out by the winner, which implies (1) his absolute control over the denazification process and (2) the power to ensure such control. In this respect, a denazified country cannot be sovereign. The denazifying state - Russia - cannot proceed from a liberal approach with regard to denazification. The ideology of the denazifier cannot be disputed by the guilty party subjected to denazification. Russia's recognition of the need to denazify Ukraine means the recognition of the impossibility of the Crimean scenario for Ukraine as a whole. However, this scenario was impossible in 2014 and in the rebellious Donbass. Only eight years of resistance to Nazi violence and terror led to internal cohesion and a conscious unambiguous mass refusal to maintain any unity and connection with Ukraine.
....

The terms of denazification can in no way be less than one generation, which must be born, grow up and reach maturity under the conditions of denazification. The nazification of Ukraine continued for more than 30 years, beginning at least in 1989, when Ukrainian nationalism received legal and legitimate forms of political expression and led the movement for "independence" towards Nazism.
....

Therefore, denazification cannot be carried out in a compromise, on the basis of a formula like " NATO- no, the EU - yes. "The collective West is itself the designer, source and sponsor of Ukrainian Nazism, while the Western Bandera cadres and their "historical memory" are only one of the tools for the Nazismization of Ukraine. Ukronazism carries not less, but a greater threat the world and Russia than the German Nazism of the Hitlerite version."


Laughable, but imagine being bombarded with such BS for years :nope:

[FUBAR295]

Conspiracy theory Number 2::):hmmm:

-The Washington D.C Globalist-Woke Vision

Thought experiment: For a moment forget what people are saying they are doing in these conflicts, the rhetoric, the media and all the arguments about who's at fault and who's right or wrong.
Think in simplified terms of What is Actually Happening.

-Iraq:
attacked, degraded, destroyed, rebuilt in globalist-woke vision. (mission fail)

-Afghanistan:
attacked, degraded, destroyed, rebuilt in globalist-woke vision. (mission fail)

-Ukraine:
attacked, degraded, destroyed

-Russia:
attacked, degraded


Questions:
1. Before the war what do we think the globalist-woke view really was of Ukraine as far as a country that they wanted to change?
2. Do we believe the globalist-woke believe groups in Ukraine like the Azov Battalion, a white supremacist organization, are really freedom fighters or are they seen as an enemy and they are happy to see them degraded and destroyed in this war?
3. Right now both Ukraine and Russia are being degraded in this war, are they "killing two birds with one stone."?
4. Do the globalist -woke really see Ukraine and Russia as two things or as the same thing?
5. Nobody in the globalist-woke movement seems too concerned about stopping Ukraine from being destroyed so is that what they actually want?


I just had these thoughts and typed this out in the last 10 minutes so I would be curious to hear what anybody thinks about any part of this view? Tear my ideas apart, call me crazy, whatever I'm fine with it.:up:
-Tim


Conspiracy theories are all a bunch of Bull S... not worth the time to consider.

[Catfish]

Germany has expelled 40 Russian diplomats accused of spying.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/germany-expels-40-russian-diplomats-with-suspected-spy-agency-links-1.1747469

If this green, left and young foreign ministress (ahem) Mrs Baerbock reacts like that, Russia really must have hit a nerve :o

[tmccarthy]

Conspiracy theories are all a bunch of Bull S... not worth the time to consider.

So you don't believe conspiracies exist in the world? That seems like a very dangerous way to live.

I really prefer to stick to any of the points I raised instead of avoiding them and focusing on the use of the word "conspiracy". But if not here's something to maybe consider...

-Tim

Just because it's a conspiracy doesn't mean it isn't true | Matthew Dentith - Ted Talk

https://youtu.be/zlvS-GrA00I

[FUBAR295]

Yeah, they exist, for the weak minded who do not think things through, or do not approach it what is being said logically, step by step.

What makes it dangerous is stupid people believing this nonsense.

That is all I have to say on this subject.

[tmccarthy]

Copy.

-Tim

[tmccarthy]

So the best you can cite is a supposed wounding of some captured soldiers and you want us to figure that puts the Ukrainians in the same moral boat as the Russians who are murdering civilians wholesale left and right?

Do you think that is "supposed wounding" of Russian soldiers?! Like afterward the Ukrainians gave them a ride to the 'emergency room' to see a doctor?

I believe it is torture and murder of POW's.

I admitted that the Russians are surely going to be worse but I'm willing to put the Ukrainians in the same "boat" of committing atrocities until proven otherwise.

I don't like either side! And why is everybody so with the Ukrainians? Just because they are fighting the guys we traditionally don't like? Ukraine has some serious bad issues to.

And I offered more, Col. Macgregors statement of Ukraine Army acting like ISIS and the fact that we don't know the full story yet and there's no reason to believe the Ukraine Army isn't committing atrocities looking at the historic and ethnic situation there it is certain.

Again, I'm trying not to attack you personally but that's just the way it comes out? You/me/we it's all the same...

-Tim

*edit: I had to come back and add this: Shooting Prisoners of War in the knees is "wounding"?

[Buddahaid]

I don't want to get into an argument about conspiracies of "globalist-woke" agendas since I see it as more about foreign policy goals than internal US political name calling.

I side with Ukraine mostly because I see Putin's Russia as an agressor state starting a war on thin pretense of the boogie man neo nazi as if the Ukraine was massing battalions of nazi criminals on the border preparing to invade or some such nonsense. Anyway, name one war that didn't have atrocities on both sides?

"*edit: I had to come back and add this: Shooting Prisoners of War in the knees is "wounding"?"

POW's were routinely shot dead in WW1 when they were a liability to a mission.

[les green01]

though the test of history becoming a pow not really a best of thing comes down to it call it in on you least if you get it the other sob won't have the satisfaction of doing you in

[Buddahaid]

Some battle analysis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTCdl6-VVw

[tmccarthy]

I don't want to get into an argument about conspiracies of "globalist-woke" agendas since I see it as more about foreign policy goals than internal US political name calling.

I side with Ukraine mostly because I see Putin's Russia as an agressor state starting a war on thin pretense of the boogie man neo nazi as if the Ukraine was massing battalions of nazi criminals on the border preparing to invade or some such nonsense. Anyway, name one war that didn't have atrocities on both sides?

"*edit: I had to come back and add this: Shooting Prisoners of War in the knees is "wounding"?"

POW's were routinely shot dead in WW1 when they were a liability to a mission.

I understand your point of view on the war and it's such an immense issue and there's probably at least 5 things in your response (and many in my posts) that we could get into and argue and debate endlessly.

So these two points. I'm not trying to engage in name-calling, I'm just trying to define what I see. I think an important part of how we got to this war started with Putin 10 or so years ago was about trying to change racism and discrimination in Russia and defined Putin as the main target. That's where people like Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama really seem to have started and where I think people like Joe Biden come from. That is what I'm calling the "globalist-woke" movement. People who think it's our job to socially redesign other cultures in the world, like in the Tucker Carlsons piece on Afghanistan and I think it's behind the goal of getting Ukraine into NATO and ultimately confronting and defeating Russia. A worthy cause, but I don't think it's really our job, this is not the best way to do it and how much we are risking is proportionately unacceptably dangerous.

There's racism and discrimination all over this world why did they think it was a priority to try and fix it in Russia?

Second, I can't say I agree with the shooting of POW's during WW1 on a mission. But there is at least some justification, being on a mission they were still in 'combat' and the POW's were a threat to their survival so on those grounds you could still say technically they were "enemy combatants" to justify killing them.
But how does that relate to committing a war crime of shooting POW's in the knees which I can only define as torturing prisoners?

-Tim

[Buddahaid]

Here's a book about it. There should some other free sources to dig out.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26070821

[tmccarthy]

though the test of history becoming a pow not really a best of thing comes down to it call it in on you least if you get it the other sob won't have the satisfaction of doing you in

Being taken prisoner seems like one of the worst fates possible. That's why I think putting POWs on TV and interviewing them and broadcasting their statements is pointless(and illegal). Whatever they say it's coming from a defeated man and very likely not what he would have said before he was captured.

-Tim

[tmccarthy]

Here's a book about it. There should some other free sources to dig out.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26070821

Copy.

-Tim

[les green01]

Being taken prisoner seems like one of the worst fates possible. That's why I think putting POWs on TV and interviewing them and broadcasting their statements is pointless(and illegal). Whatever they say it's coming from a defeated man and very likely not what he would have said before he was captured.

-Tim

that in a way depends look at wake island during ww2 the Marines was handing the Japanese their backsides when they landed when the Naval officer order them to lay down their arms Marines couldn't figure out why they was winning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os3PmiXl3DU just cause they become pows don't mean they don't still have the spunk some American pows will flip off the enemy and tell them its the good luck sign or something or send info with blinks of the eye lids even give names

[August]

I don't like either side! And why is everybody so with the Ukrainians? Just because they are fighting the guys we traditionally don't like? Ukraine has some serious bad issues to.

Well name the country that doesn't serious issues, of some sort, we apparently have white supremacists behind every tree and bush if you believe the corporate media but you have to agree that Ukraine for all it's warts at least didn't send an army to invade their neighbors.

*edit: I had to come back and add this: Shooting Prisoners of War in the knees is "wounding"?
Wounding means to inflict a an injury. I don't understand your problem with the definition of the word.

[tmccarthy]

that in a way depends look at wake island during ww2 the Marines was handing the Japanese their backsides when they landed when the Naval officer order them to lay down their arms Marines couldn't figure out why they was winning ..... just cause they become pows don't mean they don't still have the spunk some American pows will flip off the enemy and tell them its the good luck sign or something or send info with blinks of the eye lids even give names

“oorah! - Semper Fi !”. I also remember the US Airmen and US Marine POW's on Iwo Jima who were killed and had their livers eaten by Major General Yoshio Tachibana.

Boy, has my posting become fun :nope:

-Tim

[tmccarthy]

Well name the country that doesn't serious issues, of some sort, we apparently have white supremacists behind every tree and bush if you believe the corporate media but you have to agree that Ukraine for all it's warts at least didn't send an army to invade their neighbors.

Well this is where it gets difficult because I believe we/ America are responsible for Ukraine being invaded. Putin basically said either take Ukraine membership in NATO off the table or I will wreck the Ukraine. The US said "No" and Ukraine is being wrecked. And I'm willing to bet that whatever the outcome of this war is Ukraine will not be joining NATO, not as long as Putin is alive.
The other thing is that this war is not about Putin. Any leader of Russia would have reacted the same way to the US trying to bring Ukraine into the NATO military alliance. That would have allowed the US Army, German Army, Polish Army any army in NATO to move its forces into Ukraine right on Russia's borders. And allow the deployment of US nuclear missiles in Ukraine with a flight time of about 7 minutes to Moscow. What do we think we are doing?

As far as countries with serious issues in the parking lot at the mall by my house there are people who are having to live in their cars and are sleeping in their cars at night. A few nights ago late at night when I went to the convenience store for some smokes there was a lady standing out front with a tray of homemade chocolates selling them to make some money! So let's try and fix our problems at home and not spend billions of dollars trying to change Russian culture and change who Russia has as a leader which is what started all this. Russia invading Ukraine is an aftereffect of our 20 years of misguided foreign policy in Europe. I say America first. Ukraine would have been better off if they had never known us.

[/QUOTE]Wounding means to inflict a an injury. I don't understand your problem with the definition of the word.[/QUOTE]

Shooting POW's in the knees is just "wounding"? My brain can't answer that one...

I did check up on the story and one of the Russian POW's died. This happened a month ago long before the current headlines of war crimes. And it's going to continue to get worse as long as the war continues...

-Tim

[em2nought]

What do we think we are doing?
-Tim
We don't think, we're mostly dumb as rocks. Most Americans, including our sitting President, probably couldn't correctly label more than five foreign countries on a globe. No way they know which countries have been invaded by who, or how often, and why they might be a little touchy about that sort of thing. We need a "pathetic" emoji.

[Catfish]

because I believe we/ America are responsible for Ukraine being invaded.
Really? Why and how? What about Russia?
Putin basically said either take Ukraine membership in NATO off the table or I will wreck the Ukraine.That would have been blackmail and the answer would have been given instantly. Putin said nothing of the kind beforehand. Lavrov: "No one intends to invade the Ukraine". Next Putin claimed he would draw back his forces from the Ukraine border, that it was only a manoeuvre, again an obvious lie directly in our face. He just waited a bit and acted after his good friend Xi Jin Ping had ended his winter games, to not spoil it.
The US said "No" and Ukraine is being wrecked. And I'm willing to bet that whatever the outcome of this war is Ukraine will not be joining NATO, not as long as Putin is alive.You are willing to bet, so you say it is effectively the US which wrecked Ukraine. I see your point but it is of course bullsh!t. Regarding Ukraine will not be joining NATO as long as Putler is alive .. we will see .. This war is about Putin and only about Putin and his lies. Lavrov is usually the man to speak tacheles, he must be fuming to have to officiall spread his boss's lies all the time.
Ukraine was neither allowed to join NATO nor to join the EU. Even if it had joined NATO in 2008 there would have been no missiles stationed there, and everyxone knows that.
This war happens to make an egomaniac a$$hole's wet dream true, to make Russia great again like in the borders of 1989. Won't happen.
You will not blackmail the whole world, just so Russia can invade any country under the threat of a nuclear war.


Regarding Russia asking for "guarantees" i do not see why and how. Every independent country like Ukraine can choose its own path and membership of course. And Putin does not care for guarantees as we saw, from Georgia, Chechenia, Krim to Belarus and so on. So Lavrov is talking about security and guarantees for Russia, and only for Russia. What about the world? Who tf is Putin to lecture the whole world about his opinion on history and demand the rest of the world to kowtow?



The rest of your post indicates how bad the people have to live, in this poor USA:
As far as countries with serious issues in the parking lot at the mall by my house there are people who are having to live in their cars and are sleeping in their cars at night. A few nights ago late at night when I went to the convenience store for some smokes there was a lady standing out front with a tray of homemade chocolates selling them to make some money!:) How nice, i now think the russians are much better off, are they eating caviar the whole day?
So let's try and fix our problems at home and not spend billions of dollars trying to change Russian culture and change who Russia has as a leader which is what started all this. Russia invading Ukraine is an aftereffect of our 20 years of misguided foreign policy in Europe. I say America first. Ukraine would have been better off if they had never known us.I don't know but this is the russian side of views, and i think you are a troll.

[Skybird]

I have long time argued that when NATO gives Ukraine an explicit timetable for membership, that would be the time when Russia with 100% probability would attack - BEFORE membership and thus article 5 become an issue for Russia. I did not expect that Russia would attack without a imminent causal trigger.

Obviously that assumption was wrong. I now think Russia wants its sovjet empire back anyway - no matter what the US would do. So, the US in my view is relieved of the accusation that it pressed or provoked the Russian attack.



The US has made it its hobby to push its own system in other places, and got recently repeatedly some bloody nose. But regarding Russia this US missionising maybe plays less a role than previously thought. The Russian desire is what it is, it stands independent from American action. Preventing Russian aggression is thus only possible by the fielding of superior combat power. In other words: by military deterrance.

[ET2SN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1v5GXOrrOU


Some stuff I was thinking about last month. :hmmm:
Its great to have debates about conspiracies and what-about-isms when your town isn't getting shelled. :yep:

[Skybird]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1v5GXOrrOU

Now, after the needed correction of assumptions that was enforced by Russia's invasion and its behaviour in its victim's country, the man in the video probably is right.

I also have started moving towards thinking that NATO must intervene in the Ukraine. A Russian victory of any sort there is only an encouraging of an attack against Poland, the most likely target. Thats not an issue of national pride or principle. It is simply an essential need of survival.

Russia still has immense military ressources, by material it is aabsolutely superior to the ukriane, and in the nlong run, in a war of attrition, it will be found that Russia could afford that while the Ukraine cannot. So, a Russian victory in the Ukraine still is absolutely possible, depsite recent Ukrainian battle victories. Russian still has a fearsome ammount of artillery and missile firepower and obviously has fallen back to what it already did in Syria: keeping distance and start shelling cities from a distance.

And the Russians will learn from what they have seen in the past 6 weeks, and will try to adapt. They will not blindly and optimistically rush into Poland again, but will prepare, and to their best understanding: improve their approach to things, if they can.

Lets not forget there also is Hungary with a quite Russia-friendly Victor Orban who just has secured an absolute majority in elections and now starts his fourth term, much to Brussel's despair. Russia maybe must not even strike Hungary to get it back.

And then there is Bulgaria, maybe even more Russia-friendly than Orban is.

[Skybird]

The value is rather symbolic, but still:

https://beta.dw.com/en/german-president-steinmeier-admits-mistakes-over-russia-policy/a-61362153

Note that he said normalisation of ties is impossible with a Russia under Putin. Which implies the illusion of that without Putin, Russia would be something better. I predict it does not matter that much, but that Russia will not change at all if Putin is gone.

Especially in the German economy, which is heavily invested in Russia, there seems to be the hope that after the war and a settling of things sanciton would go away soon and there could be business as usual again, at least business closer to a former normal state. Quite some companies still refuse to prepare cutting ties completely. Inexcusable. The german compoanies are not alone in this however, intenraitonal companies also are hesitent to completekly cut ties, and just put their activities in a temporary freeze.

[Skybird]

Der Spiegel, Reuters:

The EU Commission wants to ban all coal imports from Russia. This was reported by SPIEGEL, and earlier by the news agency Reuters and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".

According to the report, the import ban is to become part of the next sanctions package against Russia. More specifics, such as when and to what extent coal imports from Russia could be stopped, were not initially known. According to diplomats, the Commission intends to present the sanctions package to the EU countries on Tuesday. They will then have to vote on it.

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, the import of wood, cement, rubber, chemicals and luxury foods such as caviar and spirits such as vodka will also be banned. This would involve a total volume of five billion euros annually. Russian trucks and ships should also no longer be allowed into the EU. The export of semiconductors, high-tech machinery, certain liquefied gas technology and other equipment is also to be banned. The export ban would have a volume of ten billion euros.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Skybird]

Alexander Vindman became famous as a key witness in Donald Trump's Ukraine affair. Even after his expulsion from the White House, he remains an important voice as an expert on Eastern Europe. He fears a failure of Western policy on Ukraine. From the Neue Zürcher Zeitung:

Mr. Vindman, you emigrated from what was then still Soviet Ukraine more than 40 years ago as a child. What goes through your mind when you see millions fleeing that country now?

It is tragic that Ukraine is facing such a brutal attack. Putin's dangerousness was not recognized in time. For too long, people clung to wishful thinking about Russia. This is now outdated in view of the barbarity of the Kremlin leadership. However, its character had been recognized earlier, in Syria, in the Donbass war from 2014, in Georgia and also in the Chechen war more than 20 years ago.

Can the current war be stopped before it turns into a long-term conflict with total destruction?

Yes, but I don't think that will happen. Because the politicians in the EU and America will not have the courage to take the necessary measures. They are afraid to provide Ukraine with enough weapons. Moreover, courageous decisions are needed in terms of new sanctions. Europe could impose energy sanctions despite its energy dependence on Russia. That every house is heated should be ensured, but it could be decided, for example, that industry has to cut back. Then this war would end more quickly.

Back to military aid. You are a lieutenant colonel and a war veteran yourself. What do you think the Ukrainian armed forces need?

The Ukrainians are doing well, but they are not winning fast enough. Russia, as a country of nearly 150 million people, has enormous resources. Despite its losses, it still has much more military equipment in its arsenals. It is taking too long for Putin to realize that he cannot achieve his goals. His calculus could change if he lost his power in airspace. This would require modern air defense systems on the Ukrainian side, but much more. Long-range combat drones would be crucial. With them, the Ukrainians could attack Russian air bases or destroy missile sites.

In other words: What the U.S. government is doing you think is totally insufficient.

It is not nearly enough. It is not enough to help Ukraine win this war. To be sure, the Biden administration has done a lot of things right. It laid the groundwork early on for a united Western response to the invasion. For that, it deserves a lot of credit. But it is not enough to funnel anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine. Much more powerful systems are needed - ones that can take out even high-flying Russian fighter-bombers.

The counterargument is that supplying certain weapons would invite escalation with nuclear power Russia. That's why the U.S. opposed the delivery of Polish MiG fighter jets to Ukraine. You criticize this?

Yes, because with such a step we would not be anywhere near the threshold of war. After all, it wouldn't be us flying those jets. It would be Ukrainian pilots striking back with Soviet-era fighters. We must not forget that there are many precedents for proxy wars from the Cold War era. In the Korean War, Soviet pilots flew MiG fighters and killed Americans with them. In Vietnam, the Soviets operated anti-aircraft systems that shot down American jets. During the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, we armed the mujahedin. None of this ever led to a major war.

So what specifically are you proposing?

The Turks have long provided Ukraine with Bayraktar combat drones. Why shouldn't the U.S. do the same? Instead, we provide only the very small Switchblade drones, which have limited capabilities and achieve little against armored vehicles. We act as if this is an important step. But it isn't. Delivering capable drones would be significant. The same goes for air defense. Ukraine should receive systems like the S-300 defense missiles.

In the background, there is always the concern that the West could somehow trigger a nuclear war.

This is the wrong basic assumption. The balance of terror still applies - the fact that in a nuclear war, mutual destruction is guaranteed and no one can win. That is an immutable principle. Russia, therefore, has no incentive for nuclear war. And a conventional strike against NATO would be equally problematic, because the Russians are already facing enormous difficulties in Ukraine. The hurdle for a confrontation with the West is therefore extremely high.

Putin is a person who sits at a huge distance from his closest advisors because he doesn't want to come down with covid. Such a person is not a suicidal person who wants to plunge into a destructive nuclear war.

But how can we be sure that Putin will not use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine?

Ukraine is a different case. It does not have nuclear weapons. It gave up its nuclear arsenal inherited from the Soviet Union in the 1990s - in exchange for useless Russian security guarantees. Faced with a threat of nuclear weapons, what options do the Ukrainians have? They will not capitulate. They will go as far as they have to in order to preserve their freedom and independence. We can make it clear to Putin that the use of weapons of mass destruction would have an immediate impact on the security of the West. That could deter him.

Putin will also be wary of deployment for other reasons. He calls Kiev the cradle of Russian civilization. Using a nuclear weapon against a "brother nation" would be difficult to justify. The use would also show weakness and make it clear to the Russian people that Russia is not winning, as is always claimed. Nuclear bombs are a weapon of last resort.

More likely, Putin will one day simply declare victory. He will destroy Ukrainian cities and Ukrainian military industry, but then congratulate his army and withdraw.

In your book "Here, Right Matters," you write that the U.S. has struggled to understand the mindset of the Russian leadership. What are the biggest misconceptions?

As a former intelligence officer, Putin is a master psychologist. For decades, he has manipulated world leaders. He capitalized on our hopes as well as our fears - hopes for a successful relationship with Russia, but also fears of a nuclear power. There is no doubt that the West should try to maintain good relations with Moscow. But we made the mistake of prioritizing Russia even when Russia had long since proved to be an unusable partner.

Instead, we should have set new priorities: closer relations with Ukraine, a willing partner. By subordinating Ukraine policy to Russia's considerations, progress was hampered.

Is there anything that even the Selensky government could have done differently to prevent the war?

Of course. The fact that the war was not prevented justifies criticism on all sides. The main blame certainly lies with the bellicose Putin. The West bears responsibility for not exerting enough pressure on the Kremlin in the run-up. And Selensky could have carried out more extensive reforms and fought corruption more vigorously. If he had shown the same courage in doing so as he has now in the war, he would have strengthened Ukraine in this way. Selenski also deserves criticism for his wishful thinking that Russia would not attack. He could have done more to prepare his country.

Why didn't he take the U.S. warnings seriously?

I think it was a kind of mental block. Despite the eight-year war in eastern Ukraine, he could not imagine that a historically close-knit country like Russia would launch a major attack with tens of thousands of casualties. He probably also wanted to keep the population calm and not scare the markets.

You became famous in 2019 as a key witness against President Donald Trump in the Ukraine affair. Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine at the time in order to get Selenski to investigate the Biden family. How do you view the affair in flashback?

The current events show why Trump's behavior was so damaging. Even then, I feared that blocking military aid to Ukraine might make war more likely. To me, Trump has blood on his hands. He made sure, with his behavior, that Ukraine became an issue in Washington that no one wanted to have anything to do with. To the last, Trump also praised Putin's "brilliance." But he will pay for it. The vast majority of Americans support Ukraine and will not overlook the fact that Trump encouraged Putin to go to war.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

[Skybird]

Poland buys 250 M1 Abrams MBTs. Value of the deal: around 4.6 bn. First tanks should be delivered this year.

Poland also invites, demands, wants the statiuoning of US nuclear weapons on its soil - in a bid to establish an American tripwire deterring Russia.

Germany has shut down Hydra, the world's biggest and Russian-run darknet marketplace. The servers for Hydra were located in Germany.

Several more European nations have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats, or should I say: spies.


And after reading somehting today, I wonder: how will the ukraine dela with loosing billions and billions of transfer fees for Russian gas in Ukrainian pipelines if gas would be boycotted completely? They get 2.60-2.70 dollars per 1000 m3 gas from Gazprom Russia, even now, while the war is raging. Another amongst several absurdities of this war. To say the economical constellations of this war, internationally, are absurd, is even an understatement.

[mapuc]

I....I...Shake my head wondering is this a new way of fighting a war-where fight your enemy with one hand, while you trade goods and other thing with this enemy with the other hand.

Markus

[Catfish]

^ happened already in WW2 and sure earlier .. Ford Motor Company, IBM..


Bucha: "The executions are definitely wanted"

"The war in Ukraine has been causing horror for weeks. However, the alleged massacre in Bucha surpasses everything else that has been committed in terms of atrocities.
In an interview with ntv.de, the Potsdam contemporary historian Juliane Fürst describes why something like this is not so unexpected."

https://www-n--tv-de.translate.goog/politik/Die-Exekutionen-sind-auf-jeden-Fall-gewollt-article23246215.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[ET2SN]

The value is rather symbolic, but still:

Note that he said normalisation of ties is impossible with a Russia under Putin. Which implies the illusion of that without Putin, Russia would be something better. I predict it does not matter that much, but that Russia will not change at all if Putin is gone.



I agree, you tend to fight the enemy you know rather than the one you don't. :hmmm:

There doesn't seem to be any kind of line of succession after Putin. So, even if Putin gets removed or they hold a "special election" to install a new President and cabinet, I don't see the rest of the world welcoming Russia back with open arms.

All that Russia has done is to become the new hermit kingdom, a kind of North North Korea. :doh:

[Skybird]

They more and more sound like the language used by North Korea.

FOCUS writes:

Now Russia says it openly: Ukraine is to be wiped out

A post by the Russian state news agency RIA has caused a stir. Titled: "What Russia Should Do Regarding Ukraine." The familiar narrative of a war of liberation by Nazi elites is adopted, but the rhetoric is frighteningly martial even for Kremlin-affiliated media.

"Back in April of last year, we wrote about the inevitability of Ukraine's denazification. We do not need a Nazi, gangster Ukraine, an enemy of Russia and an instrument of the West to destroy Russia": so begins the opinion piece by Russian journalist Timofei Sergeitsev, published by the Russian news agency RIA on Sunday.

Titled "What Russia should do about Ukraine," Sergeitsev repeats the Kremlin's familiar narrative: that Ukraine is run by a Nazi elite, and that Russia must liberate the country and its people. But the rhetoric is frighteningly martial, even for Kremlin-affiliated media.

"Denazification is one of a series of measures aimed at the Nazified mass of the population, which, formally speaking, cannot be punished directly as war criminals," it says, for example. In addition to the elite, significant parts of the population were also "accomplices of National Socialism." Their "just punishment" was only possible by "suffering the inevitable hardship of a just war."

The names of those who collaborated with the Nazi regime should be published after the military operation, the text continues. "Those who are not subject to the death penalty or imprisonment" should work on rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure "as punishment for their Nazi activities."

The name Ukraine "obviously cannot be retained as the name of a fully denazified state entity on the territory liberated from the Nazi regime," Sergeitsev stresses. "Denazification is inevitably also de-Ukrainianization," he writes further.

"The elite gang must be liquidated, its re-education is impossible. The social 'swamp' that actively and passively supports them must go through the hardships of war and digest the experience as a historical lesson and atonement."

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/ukraine-krise/russische-staatsmedien-jetzt-sagen-es-die-russen-offen-die-ukraine-soll-ausgeloescht-werden_id_79068916.html


They drift away from reality and any small remains of humaness and civilization, more and more. The victims of their atrocities, those done and those planned, get turned into things by using this abusive language. Thats what the Nazis did with their special way of talking about Jews and Bolshevists. Before you can torture and massacre them and get away with it, you have to dehumanise them. The purpose indeed is to dehumanise the human nature in a person, and turn this human being into a thing, a demonization, an incarnation of evil not having rights in a legal understanding of even just the mere right to live, to exist. Everything that is being done to it, thus is well-deserved, and oneself shines as the knight of justice in shining armour. Cruelty as a civilizational duty. Inflicting pain as a moral value.

More and more the question moves forward: what does it say about a civilization, the West, if we let this barbary happen right on our doorstep while we sit on the fenceline and watch? This is not some other continent, this is not the other side of the globe, the business of neighbouring nations and people there - this is our very own home region, our own civilizational sphere. And still we rationalise and find endless excuses not to intervene and seek the confrontation with the murderous villain. We weep crocodile tears, and in germany we say we prepare our readiness for boycots that - if following this German reasoning - is 1, 2 or more years away. In years, the war will be over this or that way.

I am grim on the Germans here, and know that it affects myself, too, but I admit I have a problem with acepting that our economic interest and comfort still dominates our stand on this issue. Our policy was wrong for over 20 years, for longer!, we supported a political caste that led us into a dead end and into complete paralysis - it would only be fair and just if now we pay the price for this haughtiness and intellectual laziness by suffering economically for the gain of immediately fire up all sanctions and even prepare to militarily intervene on grounds of protecting an ethnic group and culture against extinction by a barbaric slaughterer. Because it is clear what the Russians now openly talk about: genocide, and bringing extinction over all and everythign and everybody that and who is Ukrainian. Is Germany's warm living rooms and industry worth to let this happen? Or that of some other European nations?

We heat with Ukrainian blood. We burn Ukrainian corpses to generate electricity. We accept unimaginable pain and suffering as a price for our own material wellbeing.


I have a problem with this. I take offence from this. Not in my name.


Its time to stop being concerned about Putin's intimidation attempts, and start drumming the drums. Germany should contribute to any military effort - for example, enforcing that no-fly-zone (and yes, I know absolutely what that means) whatever it can: it will be little enough, I fear, but the minimum we can do is not tol stand in the way of full sanctions now.

80 years ago, many people in Europe benefitted from that the Allies did not make these sorts of calculations when they had to decide whether or not they wanted to confront Hitler. In the end, the Germans living in freedom and comfort today also benfit from the willingness of these nations to go the way of sacrifice and hardship in order to stop the Nazi's rule over most of Europe. Germany owes it to the world to now give back a little. Every nation that got freed from the Nazis, owes it as well. We can never again claim that we learn from history if we in fact show that we have not learned from history at all. The Eastern Europeans have it absolutely right when they say that the way to defend Eastern NATO is to stop Putin in the Ukraine. And thats what it is about: not about wiping out Russia, or invading and ruling it, that is impossible, but to fight against and stop by force Russian military aggression in the Ukraine now, and wherever it happens.

We are wimps if we let this Russian announced genocide happen right in viewing range from our warm, tidy houses. And what does history prove happens to wimps? Correct - they get mowed down sooner or later by those who are more courageous and are willing to use their strength mercilessly.

[Jimbuna]

In a speech to the UN Security Council, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky outlines a list of alleged Russian atrocities.

Showing a gruesome video, he alleges civilians were shot in the streets, thrown into wells and crushed by tanks for the "pleasure" of Russian troops.

Scenes in Bucha, near Kyiv - where civilian corpses were strewn in the streets - are being repeated in other parts of the country, he says.

Russia denies any war crimes and its ambassador repeats debunked claims about bodies in Bucha.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calls for further sanctions on Russian shipping, banks and gold on a visit to Warsaw.

Meanwhile heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is now focusing its battles.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAlJ83hZpZM

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T02qpuM7iko

[Jimbuna]

Bucha killings: Satellite image of bodies site contradicts Russian claims https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60981238

[Skybird]

Reports come in from other towns and small cities where the Ukrainians drove the Russian Orks out, where even worse atrocities are being discovered than in Bucha.

Its not just Bucha, that means. Its all over the country wherever the Russians have been, it seems.

[Skybird]

More and more NATO is willing to deliver Ukraine weapons that so far very unavailable. Talk is of tanks, APCs, IFVs, heavy mobile artillery, anti-artillery, anti-ship systems, "very capable" anti air systems (S-300s), and generally of heavy weapons as well as "high value" systems. It became known that Czech Republic has already delivered T-72M4s, and that much more equipment, preferrably of Russian production, is on the way or soon will be on the way.

Even germany is ,moving after it got under serious pressure for having rejected the asked-for Marders and the chencellor'S office being accused of endlessly delaying Ukrainian requests. There are 100 Marders waiting at Rheinmetall for upgrading, these now seem to get delivere after having undergone inspection.



The thing is that the Ukraine did well with ATGMs and ATMs and Manpads when fighiting in the cities in the north, but the sort of warfare that now lies ahead with Russia amassing its ork hordes in the east and preparing to overroll the whole Donbass and Luhansk region and shelling cities from a distance render these short-range weapons less effective. The Ukraine needs different weapons now. Also, military production inside the Ukraine has taken some blows.



Nevertheless the Ukrainians have taken several hundred tanks and APCs from the Russians, many of them functional or being functional again after being repaired.


I wish they would get long range drones that can carry heavy ordnance, not just the Turkish smaller ones, they are helpful and cheap, their eyxes are gopod and their staying time in air is impressive for the price and size, but their dent is single and light. I assume main interest of the ukraine is to be able to close the airspace for the Russian airforce, and to strike at the Russian long range artillery and missiles shelling cities from long distance. Also, Russian fighters firing cruise missiles from inside Russian airspace should be made attackable somehow.

[tmccarthy]

We don't think, we're mostly dumb as rocks. Most Americans, including our sitting President, probably couldn't correctly label more than five foreign countries on a globe. No way they know which countries have been invaded by who, or how often, and why they might be a little touchy about that sort of thing. We need a "pathetic" emoji.

I agree, that's what the powers in Washington are counting on as they destroy this country. I haven't been following the news and international political affairs much lately so I was ignorant when the war started and I'm guilty too. I've been doing a lot of catching the last month and one thing is for sure we are not going to survive if we keep doing things like this.

-Tim

[mapuc]

Will Russia see us-the west as a threat to their existence ??

Markus

[tmccarthy]

I don't know but this is the russian side of views, and i think you are a troll.

My Name is Tim McCarthy, 52 years old, conservative American Patriot, US Army Veteran, volunteered to serve 1991, Combat Engineers, during the Gulf War.

Grandpa & Grandma, Mom & Dad and Me
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1016/EgVT6p.jpg

[Skybird]

Will Russia see us-the west as a threat to their existence ??

Markus
Who cares anymore.


Meanwhile:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/mark-milley-ukraine-reaction-international-conflict/index.html


The top US military officer told lawmakers Tuesday that the world is becoming more unstable and the "potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing."Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appeared before the House Armed Services Committee in their first testimony before Congress since Russia's invasion of Ukraine (https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/europe/world-changes-ukraine-russia-intl-cmd/index.html). The two Pentagon leaders said the threats from both Russia and China remain significant, while they defended the US approach to the war and the flow of arms the US is sending to Ukraine.
Milley said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world" in his 42 years serving in the US military, but added it was "heartening" to see the world rally around Ukraine.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only European peace and stability but global peace and stability that my parents and a generation of Americans fought so hard to defend," Milley said.

[mapuc]

^ Russia do

Why I asked was you post about we are sending more advanced weapon and weapon system to Ukraine and in the Russian military doctrine it is said that nukes will only be used if their existence is in danger.

But helping Ukraine fighting Russia isn't threat to the Russian existence-That's who I see it.

Markus

[August]

I believe we/ America are responsible for Ukraine being invaded. Putin basically said either take Ukraine membership in NATO off the table or I will wreck the Ukraine


I totally disagree. If I refuse to say that I wouldn't have your back if someone attacks you it does not make it my fault when the bully beats you up anyways.

"Hey man will you stop me if I try to beat up your friend?"
"We'll some day I might if he gets accepted into our neighborhood safety committee."
"Well then I will actually have to go and cripple him forever because Orthodox God forbid I can't have my victims having powerful friends. And it will be all your fault!"

:doh:

If Putin attacks Finland will it be our fault too now that they have been considering NATO membership?

[Rockstar]

The speech speaks in part of Poland amd I reckon the same can be said of the direction towards freedom Ukraine seeks . Look at Poland, it was worth it.

https://youtu.be/Gm35tFTtsuc

[tmccarthy]

5 April 22/ Col Macgregor: "This war will end when Putin wants it to end" with Jackson Hinkle
https://youtu.be/_yFMbC9GEus

[Otto Harkaman]

https://youtu.be/GUQm7UqF-YA

[Rockstar]

While those who wander aimlessly blaming themselves because they choose to remain ignorant of America’s geopolitical objectives. And as Germans bitch and complain about the price of gas, Trump, and once again are lovingly whispering in the ear of Russia how to divided Eastern Europe between themselves. There are 140,000 NATO troops on the eastern front who stand guard for reasons unknown to the cry babies. This speech I think also acknowledges why Ukraine soldiers give their lives to a greater cause.

https://youtu.be/zu3Gm5PGvRM

[Skybird]

https://youtu.be/GUQm7UqF-YA
Good find!

I agree.

I am no Reagan fan, but I always gave him credit for knowing how to do speeches.

[tmccarthy]

American Cold War Policy: NSC-68

NSC-68 the basis of the cold war, "A wildly exaggerated depiction of the Soviet military threat."

by Andrew J. Bacevich U.S. Army Colonel (Ret), Vietnam - Gulf War

https://youtu.be/lSAwXg9oRhQ

[Catfish]

My Name is Tim McCarthy, 52 years old, [...] photos
Thanks, appreciated.
I still wonder.. but ok, your opinion.

[Catfish]

:haha: this is great

(By Christine Stevens, as a comment to "Russia having its own special truth" from Aleksandr Dugin. Aleksandr Dugin is the fascist philosopher behind Putin.


"Warning: Do Not Call It A Retreat From Kyiv
Call It A “Special Hindwards Military Operation”

And please do not imply that we have been forced by the heroic Ukrainian resistance to give up our insane plan of storming the capital of Kyiv.

Yes, it’s true that our convoy of tanks and soldiers got stuck, ran out of fuel and food, and most of the soldiers got frost bite and ran away.

But this is not a retreat.

The great Russian nation isn’t a nation of cowards. We are descendants of the Mongol horde, don’t forget. And in case you forget, here’s some footage of the chief propagandist of the fascist insanity in our great country, Aleksandr Dugin.


“We Have Our Special Russian Truth”

This special Russian truth is much like the famous Bizarro Jerry episode of Seinfeld, or kind of like “Opposite Day.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGunRKWtWBs

When we kidnap the pregnant woman and bring her to Russia and force her to go on camera and say “The Russians did not bomb the maternity hospital,” see, in our special Russian truth, that means we DID bomb the maternity hospital and F..K you.
(Yes, this video was released today. It just keeps getting more and more F..ed up, people.)

Most of what we say is F..K You to the West.

You don’t like it, though.

So sure, you might think this is your moment to celebrate the heroism of Ukraine, because it’s like some kind of Davy and Goliath story and Davy kicked Goliath’s ass and Goliath is running away.

F..K you! That’s not what happened.

This is our Special Saving Face Military Operation. This is our Special Running Away Military Operation. This is our Special Scaredy-Cat Chicken Out Pussy Military Operation. This is our Special Russian Truth In Reverse Operation.

But it is not a Retreat!

And this is not a War!

Understand?

Anybody who calls this a retreat is going to get poisoned personally by me, Uncle Vladimir.

Ukraine is not even a country.

But we love Ukrainians like brothers.

And we don’t bomb civilians.

And I don’t have thyroid cancer.

I’m healthy as a horse!

Everything is going according to plan!

And and and and and and and and and and …. …and don’t forget. I have nukes! Girl, I will nuke you!"


(original link: https://medium.com/the-haven/warning-do-not-call-it-a-retreat-from-kiev-93b6121bd5e7)

[Skybird]

Suffering from Trumpian feedback loop, maybe? :haha: First they formed him, now he forms them.

[Jimbuna]

Suffering from Trumpian feedback loop, maybe? :haha: First they formed him, now he forms them.

Sky....how much money is the EU and in particular Germany putting into this twunts war chest daily?

[Jimbuna]

Thousands of people are fleeing Ukraine's Donbas as Russia shifts the focus of its attacks to the east of the country.

Ukrainian authorities are calling on people to evacuate the eastern Luhansk region, with five humanitarian corridors out of the area planned today.

Nato foreign ministers are meeting for two days of talks on how best to support Ukraine.

It follows allegations of war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where evidence suggests Russian troops executed civilians.

The US is expected to announce more restrictions against Russian banks, as well as measures targeting Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters.

The EU Commission is proposing a ban on coal exports as part of a wide-ranging fifth package of sanctions being discussed today.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky listed alleged Russian atrocities in a speech to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. Russia denies the allegations.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ_G7fp33tc

[Skybird]

Sky....how much money is the EU and in particular Germany putting into this twunts war chest daily?
Trump or Russia you mean? :O:
They say 800-950million per day, all in all, by all EU. However, Russia does not need this money to run the war, since its military completely runs unlinked to the fiscal budget from civil economy's exports. They can produce tanks by their own ores and fuels by their own oil. The sanctions cannot hamper the war directly. And Putin has the support of 70% of Russians, western media say. But he would not need it anyway, since his is a violent police tyranny.

Thats why my trust in sanctions is kind of muffled. Putin can run the war into next year if he wants - with high losses and with total oil and gas and bank embargo in place.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27kw7XVvSA

[Jimbuna]

Trump or Russia you mean? :O:
They say 800-950million per day, all in all, by all EU. However, Russia does not need this money to run the war, since its military completely runs unlinked to the fiscal budget from civil economy's exports. They can produce tanks by their own ores and fuels by their own oil. The sanctions cannot hamper the war directly. And Putin has the support of 70% of Russians, western media say. But he would not need it anyway, since his is a violent police tyranny.

Thats why my trust in sanctions is kind of muffled. Putin can run the war into next year if he wants - with high losses and with total oil and gas and bank embargo in place.

That is my main worry/concern regarding this insane event.

[mapuc]

Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast got hammered yesterday evening and during the night Shelling almost all the time and a lots of AA.

And they still are being shelled-I hear loud booms

Markus

[les green01]

Sanctions only work if close all loopholes and target everything but usually the regular people suffer while the folks like Putin don't effect them

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzCNRNNXlUE

[Skybird]

Vladimir Schirinovski got invited for a diabolic BBQ after for the past weeks he was sufficiently marinaded in Covid-19 sauce. The devil says he wants his steak bloody.

Damn Nazi. Why was he saved by Putin from getting denazificated...? :hmmm:

[Skybird]

Wanna have Rubles? :D Der Spiegel writes:


For the first time, Russia has made payments for two foreign currency bonds in rubles rather than dollars. Because of the Western blockade of its foreign currency reserves as a result of the war against Ukraine, Moscow intends to continue doing so in the future. "Russia has all the necessary resources to service its debts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "If this blockade continues and payments to service the debt are blocked, they could be made in rubles."

Earlier, the Finance Ministry had decided to make the payments of $649.2 million that were actually due to creditors of the government bonds maturing in 2022 and 2042 in the national currency, the ruble. According to experts, Russia now has 30 days left to transfer this money in dollars after all. Otherwise, the process will become "a formal default of Russia on foreign debt," as Russia expert Gerhard Mangott of the University of Innsbruck tweeted.

"Theoretically, a default situation could be created, but that would be a purely artificial situation," Kremlin spokesman Peskov said. "There are no grounds for a real default."

The U.S. had earlier increased pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The Treasury Department in Washington prevented the Russian government from making payments due from foreign currency reserves held at U.S. banks, which had previously been possible. This is intended to force the Kremlin to make a decision: To use dollars it can access domestically either to make payments to its creditors or to use them for other purposes, such as financing the war, and risk a sovereign default.

"Russia must decide whether to use up its remaining precious dollar reserves or generate new revenues - or default," said a U.S. Treasury spokesman. If the obligations are not met, Russia faces its first default since the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks did not recognize debts dating back to the tsarist era.

Rating agencies are warning of a Russian default, citing increased doubts about Moscow's willingness to pay. Although Russia has a well-filled treasury, its access to currency reserves has been severely limited by the sanctions.

The major U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase has so far handled Russian payments as a correspondent bank. It has now been stopped by the Treasury, an insider told Reuters news agency.

In total, Russia has 15 international bonds outstanding with a face value of about $40 billion. Russia currently has no access to international bond markets to borrow fresh money because of the sanctions. A default would potentially deny the country access to these markets for many years to come - namely until creditors are fully satisfied and all legal disputes resulting from the default are resolved.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Catfish]

No pity.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GicAriana/status/1122166053029785601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1122166053029785601%7Ctwgr% 5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwi tter.min.html1122166053029785601

[Skybird]

No pity.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GicAriana/status/1122166053029785601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1122166053029785601%7Ctwgr% 5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwi tter.min.html1122166053029785601
Who cares anymore? He is now on the grill and roasting away. Getting some ice-cold beer spilled over every once in a while. :D

[Jimbuna]

No pity.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GicAriana/status/1122166053029785601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1122166053029785601%7Ctwgr% 5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwi tter.min.html1122166053029785601

That tweet by Guy Verhofstadt further down the page made a lot of sense.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE4UiAcRXzw

[Jimbuna]

Here's the reality of the current situation regarding finance...

Josep Borrell, the EU's chief diplomat, separately acknowledged on Wednesday that the one billion euros ($1.09bn; £833m) Europe spent on Russian energy every day put into sharp perspective the billion euros given to Ukraine in military assistance since the start of the invasion.

[mapuc]

Mariupol city council reports that Russians started to sweep away the traces of their war crimes in the town and burn the bodies of murdered residents en masse in mobile crematoria." liveuaemap

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine's deputy PM urges residents of the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk to evacuate as fears grow that Russia will intensify attacks there.

"It has to be done now because later the people will be under fire and face the threat of death," says Iryna Vereshchuk.

The US imposes sanctions on Vladimir Putin's adult daughters and targets Russian banks following allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The UK freezes the assets of Russia's largest bank, Sbernak, and bans all British investment in Russia. The EU is also preparing further sanctions.

PM Boris Johnson says the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, and other events in the country, do not "look far short of genocide"

Twenty-five women and girls have said they were raped by Russian forces in Bucha, a senior Ukrainian official tells the BBC

Nato foreign ministers are meeting for two days of talks on how best to support Ukraine as the war continues.

[Andreas86]

Will Russia see us-the west as a threat to their existence ??

Markus

Meanwhile, at the White House:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGRxVITBGOA

I am sure Putin is shaking in his pants at the thought of what the leader of the free world will do to him.

On the bright side there is absolutely no threat of an atomic exchange, as Biden would never even FIND the nuke button and Russia knows this.

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m1qCxKYOWo

[Skybird]

NATO expects the war in Ukraine to continue for a long time. There are no signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin has given up his ambitions to control all of Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the alliance's 30 foreign ministers in Brussels. He said there is a need to realize that the war could continue for "many months or even years."

Stoltenberg explained the withdrawal of Russian troops from northern Ukraine with a major offensive planned in the east, according to NATO intelligence. According to the statement, the forces are to be reinforced and rearmed in order to take the entire Donbass and create a land bridge to the already occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

The consequence of the developments, according to Stoltenberg, is that NATO must prepare for a long road ahead. "We need to support Ukraine, maintain our sanctions, strengthen our defense and deterrence," he said. He said he sees an "urgent need" for more arms deliveries to Ukraine and expects more commitments from member countries to Kiev.

Die Welt

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[mapuc]

Meanwhile, at the White House:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGRxVITBGOA

I am sure Putin is shaking in his pants at the thought of what the leader of the free world will do to him.

On the bright side there is absolutely no threat of an atomic exchange, as Biden would never even FIND the nuke button and Russia knows this.

If I remember correctly US President can't single handed give the order to launch nukes. Only thing he can do is saying "Make it so" It is a group who is monitoring the country with nukes(NORAD).

Markus

[Catfish]

That tweet by Guy Verhofstadt further down the page made a lot of sense.

Indeed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41wft1daADg

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1511699242888351746?s=20&t=VWSTnEV1hMenrX1mfKhV7Q

[Jimbuna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibvTfTdU1_o

[Catfish]

^ re Andreas86

Read this and ask again what is going on, in America. You are cheering for the wrong ones.

https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/aleksandr-dugin-the-sinister-ideologue-whos-putins-favourite-philosopher-3829SiTsfS8P7UK19PwT4k

The idea of this swine and Putin is to convince the enemy that politics is just an opinion, nothing substantial, and that nothing can be proven or is secure. Diverting and splitting the enemy is thus a good strategy. In the US people still do not understand what happened in 2016 and the russian meddling and influence on the american people.

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/75445/Fisher_Thesis_Russian%20Interference%20in%20the%20 2016%20United%20States%20Presidential%20Election_2 019.pdf?sequence=1

Facebook and metadata are the new battlefield for propaganda, b.t.w. the same methods Cummings (ab)used for brexit.

"In Dugin's 1997 book, “Foundations of Geopolitics,” for example, which is perceived as highly influential in Russian military circles, he laid out a detailed strategy of how Russia could reassert itself on the international stage after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Among many other recommendations, Dugin suggested that Russia annex Ukraine and encourage Britain’s exit from the European Union (i.e., Brexit), both things that have come true at least in part."

[les green01]

Lmao some telling us we voted for the wrong one when theirs country doing nothing but buying Russia **** like going out of style or slamming trump for withholding aid seems if I remember right he released it anyway your country wasn't doing that much you guys been dragging on the US tit since 45

[Catfish]

^ proves my point :up:

[mapuc]

In the news today, a video clip was shown from the West Jutland town of Esbjerg where the largest ship ever to call at Esbjerg harbour. On board were 300 different armoured vehicles. They are going to Poland. There were some tanks I have not seen before, among others I saw one with a short gun barrel and a big muzzle-I've tried to find a picture of it so I could write what it was. No luck

Markus

[tmccarthy]

Thanks, appreciated.
I still wonder.. but ok, your opinion.

Right on. I get it and do still wonder. Because the trick answer is I don't know what I'm doing either. Never been in this position before. Trying different things out and seeing results. For me, a line was crossed where doing nothing was not an option and not saying anything is hard to so I guess this is how it starts...

-Tim

[Skybird]

That I one day would agree 100% with Verhofstadt... Mark this day, it saw miracles and wonders! :)

Regarding Germany I stick to what I said in my post here: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2802159&postcount=2912

Scholz is not acting with determination, but by indifference. He did not act and lead with courage at the begining of this, but reacted due to fear and only because circumstances had ammounted so massively against him that he just had to move any way. That was no initiative, that was no leadership by example. That the world applauded him for that only shows that the world still does not understand dull and thick-skinned German politics. The coalition in Berlin abuses the war for pushing its own crushing climate political agenda even faster than written down in the coalition treaty. But it remains to be completely unrealistic to acchieve, with even more drastic timetables, and still not a single thought about nuclear power.

Scholz is the continuation of Merkel with a different face. Why do you think did Merkel not hide that she supported/sympathized with him more than any her own party's candidates in candidates' race...?

Leaves Habeck. He gives the impression of being the steam locomotive getting things downe. But that is not really the case, because his goals he gives out are unrealistic to be acchievable in the timetables he set up, and tightens them further, and the coalition abuses the war to speed up its agenda defined in the colation treaty, an agenda with unrealistic timetables already back then. This thing called Energiewende: the way they want to do it IT WILL NOT WORK BECAUSE IT CANNOT WORK AS THINGS STAND NOW. There simply are not enough craftsmen, ressources, and no honest calculations, all numbers always base on the most optimal examples. But the world is not like that. And it is too ruinous for thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands of house owner. The costs do not amortize even after 20 years or so. It would not even work in a world without covid, debts crisis, high inflation, and transportation crisis and collapsing supply chains. How much less it can work in the world as it now is!

The whole thing will frontally crash into the wall of reality. For the German industry and private households and house owners it means: "Es gibt Kleinholz in Streichholzlänge".

Another danger now is that the Europeans and Germany walk straight into the next trap: turning a blind eye ionce again on nuclear bomb ambitions and instead doing big (gas) business with - IRAN. It will be interestign to see how Biden is positioning the US on the Iran topic. Maybe it needs to threaten the Europeans with sanctions to call them back to reason.

[August]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frIe7gk7jRI&t=61s

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine's foreign minister says he has travelled to Nato HQ in Brussels to discuss one thing: "Weapons, weapons, weapons"

Dmytro Kuleba will sit down with his counterparts and tell them of the horrors of the war.

It's the second day of talks for Nato foreign ministers, with a focus on how best to support Ukraine.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said that an era of engagement with Russia over European security is over.

The UK defence ministry says Russian forces are focused on the fight in eastern Ukraine but face morale, supply and manpower issues.

The BBC has seen residential areas flattened in Chernihiv following the withdrawal of troops.

[Jimbuna]

The Kremlin denies it all: the footage of bodies lying in the streets in Bucha, the mass graves and the terrible testimony of witnesses. And state TV parrots the narrative.

Since evidence of apparent Russian atrocities emerged from the settlements around Kyiv, programme editors have gone to extraordinary lengths to discredit the reports as a fabrication, a lie concocted by Ukraine and the West.

To switch on Russian TV has, for weeks now, been to step into a weird parallel universe where glossy presenters and well-dressed pundits chronicle a successful "special military operation" in Ukraine. There is no war, just heroic Russian soldiers defending the motherland while taking care to avoid targeting civilians.

The horrific images from Bucha have been broadcast, but viewers are told that the gruesome scenes were staged by Ukrainian officials, with help from the West.

"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations," said commentator Gevorg Mirzaryan. "[They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness."

Talk show host Olesya Loseva even suggested that the town of Bucha had deliberately been chosen because President Joe Biden had recently used the word butcher to describe Vladimir Putin, so "for Americans this word should be clear".

It is a classic Kremlin tactic in the face of such accusations - deny, dismiss as fake and, if possible, blame someone else.

[Jimbuna]

Russians fed twisted picture and one voice - that of Putin

The horrific images from Bucha have been broadcast, but viewers are told that the gruesome scenes were staged by Ukrainian officials, with help from the West.

"This was done by professionals, probably British. They're the best in the area of information operations," said commentator Gevorg Mirzaryan. "[They know how] to place the bodies correctly, do everything correctly, create a nice picture for the necrophilic Western consciousness."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61008293

[Skybird]

FOCUS, Der Spiegel:


According to a report in Der Spiegel, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service has intercepted radio transmissions from Russian soldiers in which they discuss the atrocities in Butscha. Individual conversations are even said to match photographed corpses. In one radio message, a soldier tells another that he and his comrades shot a person off a bicycle. In another radio message, a man is heard saying that the Russian soldiers questioned civilians, then shot them.

According to "Spiegel," the radio transmissions reveal that the massacres are not the acts of individual soldiers gone wild. Rather, the acts seem planned. The conversations about them sound commonplace. This certainly suggests that the murder of civilians - as in previous wars - is part of the war strategy of the Russians.

The audio recordings of the BND, which were presented in the parliamentary room on Wednesday, according to "Spiegel", are further evidence that Russian troops are responsible for the massacres in Butscha and the surrounding area. Terrifyingly, the intelligence service has other audio documents that suggest that there are such massacres in other regions as well. So far, however, they cannot be clearly assigned to locations.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)


Ukrainian intelligence has released an audio recording purporting to show a Russian commander talking to a soldier on the ground in Mariupol. The recording, if it turns out to be genuine, is a chilling illustration of the brutal attitude of Russian troops in the city, which has been under siege for weeks. "Damn them, kill them all," the commander is reported to say in a raised voice in the recording. "Civilians, everyone, kill them all."

The second man to take the announcement seems meek, the commander repeatedly resorting to insults and yelling at his soldier in between. In the end, the soldier only barely admits that he understands.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Commander Wallace]

FOCUS, Der Spiegel:


According to a report in Der Spiegel, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service has intercepted radio transmissions from Russian soldiers in which they discuss the atrocities in Butscha. Individual conversations are even said to match photographed corpses. In one radio message, a soldier tells another that he and his comrades shot a person off a bicycle. In another radio message, a man is heard saying that the Russian soldiers questioned civilians, then shot them.

According to "Spiegel," the radio transmissions reveal that the massacres are not the acts of individual soldiers gone wild. Rather, the acts seem planned. The conversations about them sound commonplace. This certainly suggests that the murder of civilians - as in previous wars - is part of the war strategy of the Russians.

The audio recordings of the BND, which were presented in the parliamentary room on Wednesday, according to "Spiegel", are further evidence that Russian troops are responsible for the massacres in Butscha and the surrounding area. Terrifyingly, the intelligence service has other audio documents that suggest that there are such massacres in other regions as well. So far, however, they cannot be clearly assigned to locations.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)


Ukrainian intelligence has released an audio recording purporting to show a Russian commander talking to a soldier on the ground in Mariupol. The recording, if it turns out to be genuine, is a chilling illustration of the brutal attitude of Russian troops in the city, which has been under siege for weeks. "Damn them, kill them all," the commander is reported to say in a raised voice in the recording. "Civilians, everyone, kill them all."

The second man to take the announcement seems meek, the commander repeatedly resorting to insults and yelling at his soldier in between. In the end, the soldier only barely admits that he understands.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)


Just read this. It is all over the wire.



Quote:
The audio recordings also suggest that the Russian mercenary military, the Wagner Group, played a key role in the atrocities in Bucha, Der Spiegel reported.
It is not entirely clear who runs or finances the Wagner Group, but the US (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1058) and European Union (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2020:341:FULL&from=EN) have linked Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the organization.


Russian troops talked about killing civilians in Bucha over the radio
(https://www.spiegel.de/politik/butscha-soldaten-besprachen-graeueltaten-gegen-zivilisten-ueber-funk-a-9e01662c-aa7e-4828-bf6f-f662d9b6164e)

The radio transmissions were obtained by German intelligence and presented in parliament Wednesday.
They contradict Russian claims that the atrocities found in the Ukrainian town were staged.

Germany intercepted radio transmissions of Russian soldiers discussing the killings of civilians in the town of Bucha, contradicting Russian propaganda claims of a hoax, according to a report by Der Spiegel. (https://www.spiegel.de/politik/butscha-soldaten-besprachen-graeueltaten-gegen-zivilisten-ueber-funk-a-9e01662c-aa7e-4828-bf6f-f662d9b6164e)
The radio transmissions were obtained by the Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany's foreign intelligence service, and presented to parliament on Wednesday, Der Spiegel reported.
In one of the recordings, a Russian soldier could be heard describing how he shot someone off their bicycle, Der Spiegel reported.
It is unclear what day the radio messages were sent and where the Russian troops were at the time.

Footage and images of people killed, with some on the street, in Bucha emerged earlier this week after Russian forces left the town.
On Tuesday, The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/world/europe/bucha-shooting-video.html) published independently verified aerial footage that shows a Russian armored vehicle shooting at a civilian on a bicycle in Bucha. It is unclear whether the person in the video was the same as the one referred to in the radio messages.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-intercepted-conversations-russian-soldiers-100550605.html

[Skybird]

We should not be surprised, they did the same already in Chechnya, Syria... To massacre and regionally exterminate the civilian population deliberately and on purpose is obviously an integral part of Russian military doctrine.

In Germany, in Berlin, there are still Soviet memorials. Unbearable. It is time to tear down this garbage and put it out of sight. Atrocities committed by Soviet troops were commonplace even during and after the Second World War. In Berlin the mass rapes of surviving German women were known and feared by the population, in Germany this was kept quiet for a long time, until just a few years ago. The barbarism of Soviet/Russian armies has a long history. It lives on in Russian civil society, in the extremely high rate of violence of fathers against sons, and even more of men against women.

To try to deal with such a barbaric, bestial power with sanctions - which are even more dramatically limited - only shows how naive the sanctioner's perception of it is. The Russians' willingness to use violence extends not only to the fighters and civilians of the other side, but extends to the members of their own army and their own civil society and citizens. Brutality as a reason of state, both internally and externally.

Reason and talking is lost here. Only brute force can hope to acchieve something. I doubt that the European and American political leaders have really understood this already. German foreign ministress Baerbock a couple of weeks ago still was stunned by her realization that "The Russians obviously were lying us to our face".

How can one still be surprised of this, after Crimea, Donbass, Aleppo, Georgia, Grozny?

Although I must admit me too took these events too lightly, too sober, back then when they happened. But then, I am not at the helm of the state and get less information. When I err, it has practically no consequences for anyone except maybe myself.

We should start to no longer care for clever differences between "defensive" and "lethal" weapons, but send the Ukrainians that heavy weapons stuff that they desperately demand. In the east, their most experienced troops face the new Russian offensive and are in danger to get encircled and trapped, then wiped out. If that happens, the Ukraine likely will still collapse, because then they have lost the most experienced parts of their army that they had. That will be a different kind of warfare there. Short ranged, slowly relocating weapons like Panzerfaust-style weapons in urban combat, will be of much less use there, they now need armoured vehicles, tanks.

And whether we like it or not, if we seriously are interested in preventing the ukraine getting destroyed and the people exterminated and preventing Russia from winning the war, we need to start preparing for entering the war by closing the air space and enforcing that closure with force. That means our air forces need to engage anti-air threats on the ground, too. Nobody wants it, but without doing this, we only delay Russian victory, but most likely will not prevent it.

Or in brief, we must stop playing the game according to Putin's rule book. Its high time to start violating the rules he has designed to make sure he wins. And where he mounts threats in reaction, we must react by showing bigger threats. Where he shows determination, we must show bigger determination. Where he pushes, we must push back stronger. That is the onyl way.

The only way. The Vulcan "Hello", as this terrible new Start Trek Discovery series called it: read here, under Act Four:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Vulcan_Hello_(episode)


Everybody is afraid that we could provoke wordl war 3. But that ölogic is flawed, it bases on a false assumnption. Word War 3 already has started, and started long time ago. What has changed is that now is no longer a cold war, but has gone hot.



The war is on. And Chgina has chosen its side. Russia and China are no allies, no friends, but they have shared interests, and thats why they cooperate. Their priority is to destroy Western dominance and Western rules of world functioning. Due to our still maintained cowardice they already have made very good progress in this.


I dont like to see things like I describe, nor do i poike tpo speka them out. But its the only way in which things make sense to me. Hope is no strategy. Weakness is no value. Who refuses to accept the fight nevertheless can find out that he still can be killed.

[mapuc]

Hearing and watching the news and reading your comment makes me even more convinced that NATO will sooner or later be part of the war.

Following is a free ride of my imagination

NATO gets involved in the war..Russia starts to lose heavily then China show it's true agenda and join forces with Russia together with Serbia, Syria and the other country(forgot it's name)

Markus

[kpv1974]

take care of your brain

[Skybird]

May 9th marks a holiday day in the USSRRussia (victzory over Nazi Germany), and it is assumed that Putin will try just about everythign to get a success until then that he can sell to the Russian public as a "victory". Everything. The weeks until then will become very nasty, most likely.

[les green01]

So sky you keep talking about fighting and attacking and such when are you pushing away from the keyboard and going

[Rockstar]

Hearing and watching the news and reading your comment makes me even more convinced that NATO will sooner or later be part of the war.

Following is a free ride of my imagination

NATO gets involved in the war..Russia starts to lose heavily then China show it's true agenda and join forces with Russia together with Serbia, Syria and the other country(forgot it's name)

Markus


https://youtu.be/OZUMJ_T1YBI

[Gorpet]

So the best you can cite is a supposed wounding of some captured soldiers and you want us to figure that puts the Ukrainians in the same moral boat as the Russians who are murdering civilians wholesale left and right?

No,We do not know that Russians are murdering civilians wholesale.Do we?

[August]

No,We do not know that Russians are murdering civilians wholesale.Do we?




Sure seems that way.


Catching up on unread posts? :)

[Gorpet]

Yes, Let's get back to the real deal,The Americans are gambling again, And NATO will follow like the sheep they are. So this time it's war again, You know America and it's Allies and that might be You! must fight..Democracy must have an Enemy or it will not survive. We have had the Chinese release a devastating virus on the World that has cost millions of lives.Yet here we are again looking the other way Why? Do your Politicians have so many secrets in Ukraine that they will take this World to Nuclear Destruction? Why do our Politicians want to fight the Russian people?

Look at it this way, would any one of your countries accept the same sanctions on your country and it"s people.Will your government set back and let you starve have your country's economic system collapse. What is the difference between bullets and sanctions. Years ago in our past it was called Blockade, starve them and they will surrender. That didn't work out so good. Why do the so called Smartest brains of the year 2022 think they are so much smarter?

This is regional conflict between Ukraine and Russia.And that's it. Example: USA vs Mexico another USA vs Canada..USA vs South America Who is coming to this fight? The UN would be really Funcked wouldn't they. Poland joined NATO 20 some years ago. Do you think now that they are the Spearhead and could be first recipients of real climate change. They must be overjoyed with their decision. It's time for the people the everyday people to stop the Elites and their Quest for Power and their New World Order. Their gambles amongst themselves could cost the death of the entire population of this planet. Common Sense bound with experience and intelligence is the future.Not the Elite's in their vision of the world where they are The Shepherds with the Staff who control a planet of sheep.

[Buddahaid]

"Not the Elite's in their vision of the world they are The Shepherds with the Staff who control a planet of sheep."

Well that statement speaks volumes to me. The strange thing is I pretty much feel the same way except about authoratarian figures in which I put Putin and Trump and the January 6th day of national shame participants.

:hmmm::haha:

[Gorpet]

"Not the Elite's in their vision of the world they are The Shepherds with the Staff who control a planet of sheep."

Well that statement speaks volumes to me. The strange thing is I pretty much feel the same way except about authoritarian figures in which I put Putin and Trump and the January 6th day of national shame participants.

:hmmm::haha:

How about the entire year of shame in 2019 thru 2020 that America had to share with the world. Rampaging peoples, burning and looting, killing under the Banners of Antifa,Blm where were the elected that took an oath of office to protect their sheep?
I hope the videos of real destruction and insurrection within a state of the United States are still all over the internet.Let the World see American citizens in their raw form a wild mob.That was a national shame.And it would seem you have no problem bering that shame.Young man you must understand shame is carried on the backs of the loser. And i will take a liberty here and say in the future you and your birds of a feather will get just what birds of your feather deserve by the Shepherds you follow.

[Gorpet]

Skybird wrote:
"Never would I have believed in advance that the Russians would perform this chaotic and bad. Never. All the money they invested into reforms and modernization, obviously have been completely wasted, and it all vanished in corrupted military structures"

Doesn't it come down to the mentality of the ordinary soldier and their officers ? Didn't they act the same way during WWII ?

"Now the Russian air defence has been humiliated by two daring gunship crews that penetrated into Russian airspace by flying extremely low and blew up an oil depot."

The Ukrainian denies they have done it and thinking about on the Russian skills in creating false flag operation I tend to believe the Ukrainian.

Markus

Wow i have seen nothing but Ukraine victorys. But Volodymyr Zelenskyy and all the Elite of Ukraine government are showing up on The BBC.They want anything and everything NATO can give them. It seems to me, they are in the fight of their lives. What we are seeing is the Rich and Elite of Ukraine destroying their country to survive. Let all the peoples of the world watch and learn. Set limits on your politicians, look into their families and if you want a real leader elect me. I'm not a politician but i will give you 1/4 of everything i promised if you elect me. It takes a lot of cash to support a me and all my family.We do carry the World on our Shoulders.OOP's That damn dog Joey and his party, lie,lie,liers and double dog liers.

[Gorpet]

Sure seems that way.


Catching up on unread posts? :)

Yes and it would seem if i'm going to hang around the briar patch.I have two choices, jump in and get scratched or learn to keep my fingers under control. I hope you are doing well up there, Spring and Summer is around the corner and i bet it's going to be beautiful in your neck of the woods.Tks.August

[Catfish]

^ where did we recently hear this, and five years ago, and decades ago?

Black lives matter was the answer to the killing of foremost black people, an answer and demonstration against racial hate of some policemen, with an underlying systemic problem it seems; and this reaction was "somehow" understandable, don't you think so?
But Trump blamed all the looting and plundering on BLM or (just of all) the Antifa, while he was busy provoking it everywhere with his brazen bullsh!t. He may have done some better things in international relations (while relations with allies was not his forte), but in national and internal affairs he was following Putin's playbook. Maybe not fully intentional, ok.

Putin's ideas: Blame Black lives matter and Antifa, gays and LGBTQ, and "decadence" to be the reason for destroying society. Exclude common people from science, from self determination, from certain technology, make them forget striving for personal happiness and individualism, abandon the internet [yes he directly mentioned this], cut the people from real information.
Convince the west enemy that politics are just an opinion, nothing substantial, and that nothing can be proven or is secure. Divide them. Make them fight themselves. Weaken them.

Dividing, diverting and splitting the enemy is thus a good strategy and Putin is obviously doing a "good job" as i can even read here, in a forum with a relatively enlightened bunch of people. But some still do not understand what happened, and happens now.

"The US Senate and intelligence services reported a massive online campaign by Russia, ordered directly by Putin, to influence the US 2016 election. Putin responded in a 2017 interview by appropriating Jewish suffering, claiming the accusation was “like antisemitism”.
Then in an NBC interview in 2018, he blamed the Jews, Ukrainians and Tatars."

https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/...fS8P7UK19PwT4k (https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/aleksandr-dugin-the-sinister-ideologue-whos-putins-favourite-philosopher-3829SiTsfS8P7UK19PwT4k)

The fight is greater than people imagine. The goal for Putin and his ideological guru Dugin is a new world (read New Russia) dominance with the reversal of progress. It has to be one Eurasia under russian leadership. Ukraine is just the tip of the iceberg. Unless we stop them.
Putin would go straight to Lisbon if he could. Seems he can't, only thanks to ukrainian fighters and a bit of western military support for a western quiet conscience.

I am all for going in as Europe alone and fully conventional, with the background of nuclear retaliation if Putin thinks of using even one tactical nuclear bomb. If i were some years younger and not married i would consider to go straight to Ukraine, and maybe i will. If Russia does not visit the rest of Europe first.

When this "special operation" started i was first in disbelief, even denial. We contacted some friends from intelligence, and then we all became a bit angry up to red hot fury. It seemed so 20ieth century, Realpolitik out of a dictator's playbook, in 2022? Open fascism without even trying to hide it? With some of our people even liking that?

Appeasement does not always work, and never in the long run. Disinformation and diversion, making a nations people fight each other obviously does. Do not fall for any of it.

[Gorpet]

^ where did we recently hear this, and five years ago, and decades ago?

Black lives matter was the answer to the killing of foremost black people, an answer and demonstration against racial hate of some policemen, with an underlying systemic problem it seems; and this reaction was "somehow" understandable, don't you think so?
But Trump blamed all the looting and plundering on BLM, while he was busy provoking it everywhere with his brazen bullsh!t. He may have done some better things in international relations (while supporting allies was not his forte), but in national and internal affairs he was following Putin's playbook. Maybe not even fully intentional.

Putin's ideas: Blame Black lives matter and Antifa, gays and LGBTQ, and "decadence" to be the reason for destroying society. Exclude common people from science, from self determination, from certain technology, make them forget striving for personal happiness and individualism, abandon the internet [yes he directly mentioned this], cut the people from real information.
Convince the west enemy that politics are just an opinion, nothing substantial, and that nothing can be proven or is secure. Divide them. Make them fight themselves. Weaken them.

Dividing, diverting and splitting the enemy is thus a good strategy and Putin is obviously doing a "good job" as i can even read here, in a forum with a relatively enlightened bunch of people. But some still do not understand what happened, and happens now.

"The US Senate and intelligence services reported a massive online campaign by Russia, ordered directly by Putin, to influence the US 2016 election. Putin responded in a 2017 interview by appropriating Jewish suffering, claiming the accusation was “like antisemitism”.
Then in an NBC interview in 2018, he blamed the Jews, Ukrainians and Tatars."

https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/...fS8P7UK19PwT4k (https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/aleksandr-dugin-the-sinister-ideologue-whos-putins-favourite-philosopher-3829SiTsfS8P7UK19PwT4k)

The fight is greater than people imagine. The goal for Putin and his ideological guru Dugin is a new world (read New Russia) dominance with the reversal of progress. It has to be one Eurasia under russian leadership. Ukraine is just the tip of the iceberg. Unless we stop them.
Putin would go straight to Lisbon if he could. Seems he can't, only thanks to ukrainian fighters and a bit of western military support for a western quiet conscience.

I am all for going in as Europe alone and fully conventional, with the background of nuclear retaliation if Putin thinks of using even one tactical nuclear bomb. If i were some years younger and not married i would consider to go straight to Ukraine, and maybe i will. If Russia does not visit the rest of Europe first.

When this "special operation" started i was first in disbelief, even denial. We contacted some friends from intelligence, and then we all became a bit angry up to red hot fury. It seemed so 20ieth century, Realpolitik out of a dictator's playbook, in 2022? Open fascism without even trying to hide it? With some of our people even liking that?

Appeasement does not always work, and never in the long run. Disinformation and diversion, making a nations people fight each other obviously does. Do not fall for any of it.

How about this statement Catfish,Appeasement does not work!! Will this fill your belly?
The American Government is a spineless piece of S..t institution. NATO troops should be leading the Ukraine troops on the battlefield. NATO air forces should be clearing Ukraine skies of Russian planes .NATO ships should be entering the Black Sea guns blazing. NATO commando teams should be dropping into Moscow to apprehend that Soviet devil President Putin and drag his ass back to Poland.To stand trial for war crimes.Yes YouTube and every Woke Nation on this Planet demand's it.Let's get this S..t show of a war in gear and on the road to its inevitable end. And the world can see some real political and climate change.Joey,Nancy,Chuck, and Mitch the Cuck who married Fang Fang's mother.Get a spine and hit the Button. There ya go want to build back better here's the world's chance. Just think about it you might have 6 months to go crazy with your credit card,stundent loan debt never have to worry about it.You will find the Eutopia the Politicians promised you in the hand's of what ever god you believe in.Yip E Kia Ya Good night Earthlings,

[Skybird]

So sky you keep talking about fighting and attacking and such when are you pushing away from the keyboard and going
Oh, a pointy tongue.

At 55, with the apparent onset of athrosis in my right knee, a nerve disease that will kill me soon enough, and 5 and 6 diopters in my eyes, it's a bit late to ask the German Air Force to teach me to fly a Eurofighter, don't you think...?
I did something better. In the middle of March I donated 500 Euros to an alliance of aid organizations taking care of the Ukrainian refugees arriving in Germany, and last week I donated the same amount to a local alliance here in Münster taking care of the Ukrainians arriving in my town.

Normally I don't donate so easily. I am forced to pay taxes, for plenty of bull I do not want to support at all, but must, thats why I usually do not additionally donate, but offset the donation against the compulsory taxes for purposes I object to. But this time its almost neighbours of ours, and in my living town, not some completely foreign people from a culture hostile to our Western world.

How much have you already done, wise guy?

Which leaves the question whether my argumentation is not liked by you because its me telling it, or whether you think its wrong by argument's content. In case of the latter, I'm listening, in case of the first, I dont care.

[u crank]

Black lives matter was the answer to the killing of foremost black people, an answer and demonstration against racial hate of some policemen, with an underlying systemic problem it seems; and this reaction was "somehow" understandable, don't you think so?


No. In spirit BLM made sense. But the moment it resorts to murder and mayhem then no. It loses all credibility and shows itself for what it really is. Just another gang of thugs like Antifa. And I find it hard to believe that anyone who believes in a Liberal society would support that kind of 'protest'.

[Skybird]

Lives matter, no matter the colour.

As long as the owner of said life does not dispise the life of others.

I never liked the slogan "BLM", therefore. Blacks are not more of worth than whites, browns, yellows, reds, pinks and invisible ones.

Having a skin color is not a merit that ennobles you. (Same for sexual orientation, btw: "Gay pride" makes no sense to me, slogans like this are intellectual duds for me.)


edit:
arent we in the wrong thread for this...?

[Catfish]

No. In spirit BLM made sense. But the moment it resorts to murder and mayhem then no. It loses all credibility and shows itself for what it really is. Just another gang of thugs like Antifa. And I find it hard to believe that anyone who believes in a Liberal society would support that kind of 'protest'.
I was not in the US when these protests got out of hand, i was seeing this via tv, papers, internet.
We always hear that there is no racism, a thing of the past, we got over it... bullsh!t. It is everywhere, not only in the US, but there was a bit too much shooting at black people with video and internet evidence to ignore it. So yes in spirit BLM makes sense because this slogan reminds the people that there is racial bias, more black people killed in relation, wanting to remind the world that black lives ALSO MATTER. It never meant that ONLY black lives matter, as the usual suspects immediately perpetrated, but that they ALSO do.

Next are demonstrations with the usual rabble rousers walking along with the initially peaceful organisers, abusing them for hiding in the masses and create some action. How much demonstrations have we seen where the organisers tried to get rid of the aggressive idiots and looters and drive them out of their marching blocks. Never saw this on Breitbart and Fox? Too bad.

What certain people wanted was to condemn all the demonstrations, to divert from the real problem and re-install the usual propaganda in the people's minds of blacks and leftists looting.
What a ... will come to that later –

[August]

Yes and it would seem if i'm going to hang around the briar patch.I have two choices, jump in and get scratched or learn to keep my fingers under control. I hope you are doing well up there, Spring and Summer is around the corner and i bet it's going to be beautiful in your neck of the woods.Tks.August

:salute:

[u crank]

What certain people wanted was to condemn all the demonstrations, to divert from the real problem and re-install the usual propaganda in the people's minds of blacks and leftists looting.
What a ... will come to that later –

One billion dollars damage and twenty people killed during the 2020 George Floyd 'protests'. And the results. No change what so ever. In a civilized, progressive, liberal society social change is never brought about by violence regardless of the cause. Stop making excuses for it. If the leaders of BLM want to change things they need to get elected.

[FUBAR295]

How about we get back on topic.... :hmmm:

[Aktungbby]

edit:
arent we in the wrong thread for this...?

How about we get back on topic.... :hmmm:Indeed! The next post must have the word(s) Putin, Russian, or war criminal in it!:shucks:

[Commander Wallace]

Russia removed from UN Human Rights Council after Ukraine atrocities



https://www.foxnews.com/world/un-suspends-russia-human-rights-council-ukraine-war

[les green01]

I already sweated for my country who you think pays for all this aid and hardware going over every American that pays taxes that who I'm sure your right about Russia and China doing the net crap but then I'm sure we are too ones who calls for fighting should be first ones up if NATO gets attacked then go all in no problem but it's a loose loose situation for America going get blame for everything anyway

[Otto Harkaman]

https://youtu.be/P_RVtqQA404


https://youtu.be/rcgghYLuDRQ

[mapuc]

Read somewhere that Australia have decided to send lethal aid to Ukraine

Australia will send a further $26.5 million in military aid for Ukraine in the form of anti-armour weapons and ammunition.

https://www.aap.com.au/news/australia-backs-further-russia-sanctions/

Edit
Going off topic
Since it has to do with WWIII I post it here
When did WWII Start In my opinion it started Sept. 3rd the prolog to WWII Started Sept. 1 st(When Germany invaded Poland)

Why I ask Someone has put up some equation where the sum is 68 in all World Wars
And they have put up Sept. 1st as start of the war. Maybe you seen it ?
End edit

Markus

[Skybird]

https://youtu.be/P_RVtqQA404

Impressive, I applaude the man, and fullheartly agree with evertyhing he said.


Only at around minute 5:00 he said something like that Russia will be willing to escalate or stay dangerous for as long as Putin is there. I can only warn, warn again, and warn more against this perception of that without Putin Russia will change for the better. IT WILL NOT. This one war maybe will be given up, but Russia's acting and behaviour will not fundamentally change. However, I fear, that Western politicians rather sooner than later will be prone again to listen to and believe in sweet lies about a better future, friendship, beign partners and all that bull.

[les green01]

When I was getting ready for work this morning the news said Russia admitted to a war crime but didn't catch any of it anyone know anything about that

[Ostfriese]

When did WWII Start In my opinion it started Sept. 3rd the prolog to WWII Started Sept. 1 st(When Germany invaded Poland)

Depends on the point of view. You could argue the to dates for the war in Europe (1st/3rd Sept 1939). You could also easily point out to the start of the Sino-Japanese war (Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 or Mukden Incident 18 September 1931). But it's also valid to say that the war didn't become a global war until Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

Why I ask Someone has put up some equation where the sum is 68 in all World Wars
And they have put up Sept. 1st as start of the war. Maybe you seen it ?
End edit

Markus
Sorry to put it in harsh words: that's esoteric hogwash.

[Catfish]

One billion dollars damage and twenty people killed during the 2020 George Floyd 'protests'. And the results. No change what so ever. In a civilized, progressive, liberal society social change is never brought about by violence regardless of the cause. Stop making excuses for it. If the leaders of BLM want to change things they need to get elected.
I have nothing to object here. But promoting this idea and chances to be elected.. good luck with that.
It is more hip to scrap with a political opponent than to improve society and care for the real issues.
And with why this happens here we are back to Putin..