REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 27, 2024 17:47
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PAGE 74 of 151

Friday, April 21, 2023 9:03 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Ukraine isn't at war with Russia. USA and NATO are. Your masters are just propagandizing them and making them march to their death for you.

Consider yourself lucky that you don't live in a country that shares a border with somebody the Pentagon is at war with or you'd have already mindlessly marched to your own death for no good goddamned reason and you wouldn't be able to post your dumb shit here everyday.

well, yanno... SECOND was inveigled into joining up for Vietnam. (If you can believe his posts.)

I guess he doesn't want to be the only to be fooled!

Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Russians killed millions of Ukrainians during Holodomor https://holodomor.ca/resource/holodomor-basic-facts/
And the Russians would kill millions more nowadays. Signym and 6ix, do you now understand why Ukrainians fight Russians?

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, April 21, 2023 1:20 PM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

As usual, you (and the media you plagiarize) misquote, take out of context, exaggerate, and lie.

Yanno, just like your posts about "Trumptards", "6IX" and "Russian troll" are sheer malicious lies.

I interpret your posts as the bullshit that they are.

Have a nice day








Hey comrade. This isn’t rocket science. Things are happening, the media is reporting it, and you and Jack say the opposite. That makes you a moron, simple. A Mike Lyndall, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox news type moron. You prove that with every post.

T


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Friday, April 21, 2023 3:34 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.



Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As usual, you (and the media you plagiarize) misquote, take out of context, exaggerate, and lie.
Yanno, just like your posts about "Trumptards", "6IX" and "Russian troll" are sheer malicious lies.
I interpret your posts as the bullshit that they are.
Have a nice day



THUGR: Hey comrade. This isn’t rocket science. Things are happening, the media is reporting it, and you and Jack say the opposite. That makes you a moron, simple. A Mike Lyndall, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox news type moron. You prove that with every post.

Yanno, one of us should face a big climb-down, and I don't think it's going to be me.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Saturday, April 22, 2023 5:43 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Yanno, one of us should face a big climb-down, and I don't think it's going to be me.

You have been touting the inevitable Russian Victory in Bakhmut for months. There is a reason why Victory has been delayed for so long, Signym, and it is not for the reasons you give. Victory is delayed because of the poor quality of Russian soldiers:

‘A quick death or a slow death’: Russian prisoners choose war to get lifesaving drugs

An estimated 20 percent of Russia prisoner recruits are H.I.V. positive. To some, the front lines seemed less risky than prisons where they said they were denied effective treatments.

In Russian prisons, they said they were deprived of effective treatments for their H.I.V. On the battlefield in Ukraine, they were offered hope, with the promise of anti-viral medications if they agreed to fight.

It was a recruiting pitch that worked for many Russian prisoners.

About 20 percent of recruits in Russian prisoner units are H.I.V. positive, Ukrainian authorities estimate based on infection rates in captured soldiers. Serving on the front lines seemed less risky than staying in prison, the detainees said in interviews with The New York Times.

“Conditions were very harsh” in Russian prison, said Timur, 37, an H.I.V.-positive Russian soldier interviewed at a detention site in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine, and identified only by a first name, worried that he would face retaliation if he returned to Russia in a prisoner swap.

After he was sentenced to 10 years for drug dealing, the doctors in the Russian prison changed the anti-viral medication he had been taking to control H.I.V. to types he feared were not effective, Timur said.

He said he did not think he could survive a decade in Russian prison with H.I.V. In December, he agreed to serve six months in the Wagner mercenary group in exchange for a pardon and supplies of anti-viral medications.

“I understood I would have a quick death or a slow death,” he said of choosing between poor H.I.V. treatment in prison and participating in assaults in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “I chose a quick death.”

Timur had no military experience and was provided two weeks of training before deployment to the front, he said. He was issued a Kalashnikov rifle, 120 bullets, an armored vest and a helmet for the assault. Before sending the soldiers forward, he said, commanders “repeated many times, ‘if you try to leave this field, we will shoot you.’”

Soldiers in his platoon, he said, were sent on a risky assault, waves of soldiers with little chance of survival sent into battle on the outskirts of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Most were killed on their first day of combat. Timur was captured.

More at https://web.archive.org/web/20230422012601/https://www.nytimes.com/202
3/04/21/world/europe/russia-wagner-group-hiv-prisoners-ukraine.html


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, April 23, 2023 6:21 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin is likely attempting to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to go over to the defensive ahead of a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Prigozhin is also advocating for Russia to focus on holding the current frontlines rather than seeking more gains so that Russian forces can regain their combat effectiveness for later offensive operations. Prigozhin is not arguing for Russia to end the war and negotiate with Ukraine and the West as some Russian and Western sources reported, as ISW previously observed, but is instead condemning the faction within the Kremlin that is hoping to end the war in negotiations.[7] Prigozhin is actually arguing that Russia needs to meet the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive at full strength and try to hold the current frontlines without ending the war or entering into peace negotiations.[8] He argues that a pause after the Ukrainian attack culminates would allow Russia to regain combat power and build nationalist support within the Russian society for renewing the fight even in the event of a defeat.[9] Prigozhin is also attempting to redefine and undermine some of Putin’s key maximalist goals in Ukraine—namely the “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine—likely to minimize the informational impact that might result from going over to the defensive and abandoning efforts to gain more ground now.[10] Russian far-right paramilitary formation Rusich (Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group), which facilitates recruitment of Russian ultranationalist and irregular forces, echoed Prigozhin’s rejection of the “denazification” and “demilitarization” goals.[11] Rusich noted that Russia is fighting Ukraine to avenge Donbas, for living space, and for combat experience—rather than fighting claimed Ukrainian “fascism” and “Nazism.” By reframing Putin’s goals, Prigozhin and some factions within the ultranationalist community may be attempting to condition the Russian domestic information space for the prospect of frozen frontlines, potentially near the initial lines of February 23, 2022.

The Russian military command is likely attempting to convince Putin to turn to defensive operations as well—but may be unable to bluntly deliver this message to Putin.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-22-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, April 23, 2023 6:47 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Timothy Snyder: The Making of Modern Ukraine.

Class 23. The Colonial - the Post-Colonial - the Global

Start at 27 minutes if you are short on time. This is the last of 23 videos.

Class 23 brings the effects of the past century of imperialism into sharp focus. Ukraine was the country most touched by Soviet and Nazi terror: what can we learn about those systems, then, from Ukraine?



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, April 23, 2023 9:31 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


The Sun also interviewed former US General Ben Hodges. The retired US Army officer, a former commander of the US Army Europe, was skeptical that a victory for Ukraine in Bakhmut was the only necessity for the country's troops.

"Ukraine could kill every Russian soldier within 200 miles of Bakhmut, and it wouldn't change the strategic situation," Hodges told The Sun. He said a push to recapture Crimea was the "decisive terrain" in the conflict. Crimea was invaded and illegally annexed by Putin's regime in 2014.

"Ukraine knows that it will never be safe without taking back Crimea," Hodges told the news outlet.

https://www.businessinsider.nl/ukraine-is-aiming-to-launch-a-big-bang-
style-counter-offensive-in-order-to-break-stalemated-war-says-military-expert
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, April 23, 2023 4:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


"And I want a pony, and a unicorn, and I want to be an astronaut and...."

Quote:

"We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough," Melnik tweeted Saturday.

He said, "Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year." The official called on Western partners "to cross all artificial red lines & devote 1% of GDP for weapons deliveries




https://twitter.com/intent/follow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweet
embed%7Ctwterm%5E1649782042555498500%7Ctwgr%5E4fa2a429a1fd00053a1063d3747d654bd8008d5e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fnot-enough-ukraine-official-demands-endless-streams-western-military-aid&screen_name=MelnykAndrij


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Monday, April 24, 2023 6:56 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Ukraine: The Haze of Propaganda | Timothy Snyder | March 1, 2014

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2014/03/01/ukraine-haze-propaganda/

From Moscow to London to New York, the Ukrainian revolution has been seen through a haze of propaganda. Russian leaders and the Russian press have insisted that Ukrainian protesters were right-wing extremists and then that their victory was a coup. Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, used the same clichés after a visit with the Russian president at Sochi. After his regime was overturned, he maintained he had been ousted by “right-wing thugs,” a claim echoed by the armed men who seized control of airports and government buildings in the southern Ukrainian district of Crimea on Friday.

Interestingly, the message from authoritarian regimes in Moscow and Kiev was not so different from some of what was written during the uprising in the English-speaking world, especially in publications of the far left and the far right. From Lyndon LaRouche’s Executive Intelligence Review through Ron Paul’s newsletter through The Nation and The Guardian, the story was essentially the same: little of the factual history of the protests, but instead a play on the idea of a nationalist, fascist, or even Nazi coup d’état.

In fact, it was a classic popular revolution. It began with an unmistakably reactionary regime. A leader sought to gather all power, political as well as financial, in his own hands. This leader came to power in democratic elections, to be sure, but then altered the system from within. For example, the leader had been a common criminal: a rapist and a thief. He found a judge who was willing to misplace documents related to his case. That judge then became the chief justice of the Supreme Court. There were no constitutional objections, subsequently, when the leader asserted ever more power for his presidency.

In power, this leader, this president, remained a thief, but now on a grand, perhaps even unsurpassed, scale. Throughout his country millions of small businessmen and businesswomen found it impossible to keep their firms afloat, thanks to the arbitrary demands of tax authorities. Their profits were taken by the state, and the autonomy that those profits might have given them were denied. Workers in the factories and mines had no means whatsoever of expression their own distress, since any attempt at a strike or even at labor organization would simply have led to their dismissal.

The country, Ukraine, was in effect an oligarchy, where much of the wealth was in the hands of people who could fit in one elevator. But even this sort of pluralism, the presence of more than one very rich person, was too much for the leader, Viktor Yanukovych. He wanted to be not only the president but the oligarch-in-chief. His son, a dentist, was suddenly one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Tens of billions of dollars simply disappeared from the state budget. Yanukovych built for himself a series of extravagant homes, perhaps the ugliest in architectural history.

It is hard to have all of the power and all of the money at the same time, because power comes from the state, and the state has to have a budget. If a leader steals so much from the people that the state goes bankrupt, then his power is diminished. Yanukovych actually faced this problem last year. And so, despite everything, he became vulnerable, in a very curious way. He needed someone to finance the immediate debts of the Ukrainian state so that his regime would not fall along with it.

Struggling to pay his debts last year, the Ukrainian leader had two options. The first was to begin trade cooperation with the European Union. No doubt an association agreement with the EU would have opened the way for loans. But it also would have meant the risk of the application of the rule of law within Ukraine. The other alternative was to take money from another authoritarian regime, the great neighbor to the east, the Russian Federation.

In December of last year, the leader of this neighboring authoritarian regime, Vladimir Putin, offered a deal. From Russia’s hard currency reserves accumulated by the sale of hydrocarbons he was willing to offer a loan of $15 billion, and lower the price of natural gas from Russia. Putin had a couple of little preoccupations, however.

The first was the gay conspiracy. This was a subject that had dominated Russian propaganda throughout last year but which had been essentially absent from Ukraine. Perhaps Ukraine could join in? Yes indeed: the Ukrainian prime minister began to explain to his population that Ukraine could not have closer cooperation with Europe, since the EU was interested chiefly in gay marriage.

Putin’s second preoccupation was something called Eurasia. This was and is Putin’s proposed rival to the European Union, a club of dictatorships meant to include Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Again, perhaps Ukraine could join? Yanukovych hesitated here, seeing the trap—the subordination of Ukraine of course meant his own subordination—but he did allow himself to be jollied along toward the necessary policies. He began to act like a proper dictator. He began to kill his own people in significant numbers. He bloodied his hands, making him an unlikely future partner for the European Union.

Enter a lonely, courageous Ukrainian rebel, a leading investigative journalist. A dark-skinned journalist who gets racially profiled by the regime. And a Muslim. And an Afghan. This is Mustafa Nayem, the man who started the revolution. Using social media, he called students and other young people to rally on the main square of Kiev in support of a European choice for Ukraine. That square is called the Maidan, which by the way is an Arab word. During the first few days of the protests the students called it the Euromaidan. Russian propaganda called it, predictably enough, the Gayeuromaidan.

When riot police were sent to beat the students, who came to defend them? More “Afghans,” but “Afghans” of a very different sort: Ukrainian veterans of the Soviet Red Army, men who had been sent to invade Afghanistan during after the Soviet invasion of that country in 1979. These men came to defend “their children,” as they called the students. But they were also defending a protest initiated by a man born in Kabul at the very time they were fighting their way toward it.

In December the crowds grew larger. By the end of the year, millions of people had taken part in protests, all over the country. Journalists were beaten. Individual activists were abducted. Some of them were tortured. Dozens disappeared and have not yet been found. As the New Year began the protests broadened. Muslims from southern Ukraine marched in large numbers. Representatives of the large Kiev Jewish community were prominently represented. Some of the most important organizers were Jews. The telephone hotline that people called to seek missing relatives was established by gay activists (people who have experience with hotlines). Some of the hospital guards who tried to stop the police from abducting the wounded were young feminists.

In all of these ways, the “decadent” West, as Russia’s foreign minister put it, was present. Yes, there were some Jews, and there were some gays, in this revolution. And this was exploited by both the Russian and Ukrainian regimes in their internal propaganda. The Russian press presented the protest as part of a larger gay conspiracy. The Ukrainian regime instructed its riot police that the opposition was led by a larger Jewish conspiracy. Meanwhile, both regimes informed the outside world that the protestors were Nazis. Almost nobody in the West seemed to notice this contradiction.

On January 16, Yanukovych signed a series of laws that had been “passed” through parliament, entirely illegally, by a minority using only a show of hands. These laws, introduced by pro-Russian legislators and similar to Russian models, severely constrained the freedom of speech and assembly, making of millions of protesters “extremists” who could be imprisoned. Organizations that had financial contacts with the outside world, including Catholic and Jewish groups, were suddenly “foreign agents” and subject to immediate harassment.

After weeks of maintaining their calm in the face of repeated assaults by the riot police, some protesters now chose violence. Out of public view, people had been dying at the hands of the police for weeks. Now some of the protesters were killed by the regime in public. The first Ukrainian protester to be killed was an Armenian. The second to be killed was a Belarusian.

Then came the mass killings by the regime. On February 18 the Ukrainian parliament was supposed to consider a compromise that many observers believed was a first step away from bloody confrontation: a constitutional reform to return the state to parliamentary democracy. Instead, the riot police were unleashed in Kiev, this time armed not only with tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets, but also with live ammunition. The protesters fell back to the Maidan and defended it, the way revolutionaries do: with cobblestones, Molotov cocktails, and in the end their bare hands.

On February 20, an EU delegation was supposed to arrive to negotiate a truce. Instead, the regime orchestrated a bloodbath. The riot police fell back from some of the Maidan. When protesters followed, they were shot by snipers who had taken up positions on rooftops. Again and again people ran out to try to rescue the wounded, and again and again they were shot.

Who was killed? Dozens of people, in all about a hundred, most of them young men. Bohdan Solchanyk was a young lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic University, a Ukrainian speaker from western Ukraine. He was shot and killed. Yevhen Kotlyov was an environmentalist from Kharkiv, a Russian speaker from eastern Ukraine. He was shot and killed. One of the people killed was a Russian citizen; a number of Russians had come to fight—most of them anarchists who had come to aid their Ukrainian anarchist comrades. At least two of those killed by the regime, and perhaps more, were Jews. One of those “Afghans,” Ukrainian veterans of the Red Army’s war in Afghanistan, was Jewish: Alexander Scherbatyuk. He was shot and killed by a sniper. Another of those killed was a Pole, a member of Ukraine’s Polish minority.

Has it ever before happened that people associated with Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Polish, and Jewish culture have died in a revolution that was started by a Muslim? Can we who pride ourselves in our diversity and tolerance think of anything remotely similar in our own histories?

The people were victorious as a result of sheer physical courage. The EU foreign ministers who were supposed to be treated to a bloody spectacle saw something else: the successful defense of the Maidan. The horrifying massacre provoked a general sense of outrage, even among some of the people who had been Yanukovych’s allies. He did something he probably had not, when the day began, intended to do: he signed an agreement in which he promised not to use violence. His policemen understood, perhaps better than he, what this meant: the end of the regime. They melted away, and he ran for his life. Power shifted to parliament, where a new coalition of oppositionists and dissenters from Yanukovych’s party formed a majority. Reforms began, beginning with the constitution. Presidential elections were called for May.

Still, the propaganda continued. Yanukovych stopped somewhere to record a video message, in Russian, claiming that he was the victim of a Nazi coup. Russian leaders maintained that extremists had come to power, and that Russians in Ukraine were under threat. Although the constitutional transition is indeed debatable in the details, these charges of a right-wing coup are nonsense.


The Ukrainian far right did play an important part in the revolution. What it did, in going to the barricades, was to liberate itself from the regime of which it had been one of the bulwarks. One of the moral atrocities of the Yanukovych regime was to crush opposition from the center-right, and support opposition from the far right. By imprisoning his major opponents from the legal political parties, most famously Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych was able to make of democracy a game in which he and the far right were the only players.

The far right, a party called Svoboda, grew larger in these conditions, but never remotely large enough to pose a real challenge to the Yanukovych regime in democratic elections. In this arrangement Yanukovych could then tell gullible westerners that he was the alternative to the far right. In fact, Svoboda was a house opposition that, during the revolution, rebelled against its own leadership. Against the wishes of their leaders, the radical youth of Svoboda fought in considerable numbers, alongside of course people of completely different views. They fought and they took risks and they died, sometimes while trying to save others. In the post-revolutionary situation these young men will likely seek new leadership. The leader of Svoboda, according to opinion polls, has little popular support; if he chooses to run for president, which is unlikely, he will lose.

The radical alternative to Svoboda is Right Sector, a group of far-right organizations whose frankly admitted goal was not a European future but a national revolution against all foreign influences. In the long run, Right Sector is the group to watch. For the time being, its leaders have been very careful, in conversations with both Jews and Russians, to stress that their goal is political and not ethnic or racial. In the days after the revolution they have not caused violence or disorder. On the contrary, the subway runs in Kiev. The grotesque residences of Yanukovych are visited by tourists, but they are not looted. The main one is now being used as a base for archival research by investigative journalists.

The transitional authorities were not from the right, or even from the western part of Ukraine, where nationalism is more widespread. The speaker of the parliament and the acting president is a Baptist preacher from southeastern Ukraine. All of the power ministries, where of course any coup-plotter would plant his own people, were led by professionals and Russian speakers. The acting minister of internal affairs was half Armenian and half Russian. The acting minister of defense was of Roma origin.

The provisional authorities are now being supplanted by a new government, chosen by parliament, which is very similar in its general orientation. The new prime minister is a Russian-speaking conservative technocrat. Both of the major presidential candidates in the elections planned for May are Russian speakers. The likely next president, Vitali Klitschko, is the son of a general in the Soviet armed forces, best known in the West as the heavyweight champion boxer. He is a chess player and a Russian speaker. He does his best to speak Ukrainian. It does not come terribly naturally. He is not a Ukrainian nationalist.

As specialists in Russian and Ukrainian nationalism have been predicting for weeks, the claim that the Ukrainian revolution is a “nationalist coup,” as Yanukovych, in Russian exile, said on Friday, has become a pretext for Russian intervention. This now appears to be underway in the Crimea, where the Russian flag has been raised over the regional parliament and gunmen have occupied the airports. Meanwhile, Russia has put army battle groups on alert and sent naval cruisers from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

Whatever course the Russian intervention may take, it is not an attempt to stop a fascist coup, since nothing of the kind has taken place. What has taken place is a popular revolution, with all of the messiness, confusion, and opposition that entails. The young leaders of the Maidan, some of them radical leftists, have risked their lives to oppose a regime that represented, at an extreme, the inequalities that we criticize at home. They have an experience of revolution that we do not. Part of that experience, unfortunately, is that Westerners are provincial, gullible, and reactionary.

Thus far the new Ukrainian authorities have reacted with remarkable calm. It is entirely possible that a Russian attack on Ukraine will provoke a strong nationalist reaction: indeed, it would be rather surprising if it did not, since invasions have a way of bringing out the worst in people. If this is what does happen, we should see events for what they are: an entirely unprovoked attack by one nation upon the sovereign territory of another.

Insofar as we have accepted the presentation of the revolution as a fascist coup, we have delayed policies that might have stopped the killing earlier, and helped prepare the way for war. Insofar as we wish for peace and democracy, we are going to have to begin by getting the story right.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, April 24, 2023 7:30 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
"And I want a pony, and a unicorn, and I want to be an astronaut and...."

Quote:

"We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough," Melnik tweeted Saturday.

He said, "Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year." The official called on Western partners "to cross all artificial red lines & devote 1% of GDP for weapons deliveries


Spending 1% of GDP on defense might seem too high for now, but spending 100% when the Russians attack your country seems just the right amount. Signym, I expect you will claim that Putin will not attack. Too bad for you but he means it:

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and threatening to resume nuclear tests.

"The elites of the West do not hide their purpose. But they also cannot fail to realize that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield," he told his country's political and military elite.

Alleging that the United States was turning the war into a global conflict, Putin said Russia was suspending participation in the New START treaty, its last major arms control treaty with Washington.

The Russian leader said, without citing evidence, that some in Washington were considering breaking a moratorium on nuclear testing.

"... if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed," Putin said.

"A week ago, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty."

It was not immediately clear which systems he meant.

Putin, who has over the past year repeatedly hinted that Russia could use a nuclear weapon if threatened, was in effect saying that he could dismantle the architecture of nuclear arms control unless the West backs off in Ukraine.

"The people of Ukraine have become the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords, who have effectively occupied this country in the political, military and economic sense," he said.

Speaking for an hour and 45 minutes below a large two-headed Russian eagle crest, and flanked by eight tricolour Russian flags, Putin vowed that Moscow would achieve its aims in Ukraine and thwart the U.S.-led NATO alliance in the process.

"They intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation," he said. "This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country." Putin made a BIG reversal of the truth when he said that out loud because Russia's existence is NOT threatened, but Russia is truthfully threatening Ukraine's existence. All those Russian troops in Ukraine and all the damage Russians have done to Ukraine reveal who is threatening who with annihilation/extinction/non-existence.

More at https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-update-russias-elite-ukraine-war-m
ajor-speech-2023-02-21
/

Signym, do your magic trick where you turn the plain and obvious meaning of Putin's speech upside down and backward so that Russia is not threatening to nuke the West, despite obviously threatening to nuke the West, unless the West gives Putin all of Ukraine.

I'm guessing that Putin thinks he can say in Russian that he will destroy the West and his ambassadors can say in English that was not what Putin meant and nobody in the West who speaks both Russian and English will be alarmed by the fatal contradictions.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, April 25, 2023 7:25 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


At U.S. behest, Ukraine held off anniversary attacks on Russia

Shane Harris, Isabelle Khurshudyan

In February, with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine days away, officials in Kyiv were busy making plans to attack Moscow.

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the country’s military intelligence directorate, the HUR, instructed one of his officers “to get ready for mass strikes on 24 February … with everything the HUR had,” according to a classified report from the U.S. National Security Agency. Officials even mused about a sea-based strike using TNT in the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, a largely symbolic operation that would nevertheless demonstrate Ukraine’s ability to hit deep inside enemy territory.

Back in Washington, officials were secretly monitoring the Ukrainians’ plans. The White House had long worried that attacks inside Russia could provoke an aggressive response from the Kremlin.

On Feb. 22, two days before the anniversary, the CIA circulated a new classified report: The HUR “had agreed, at Washington’s request, to postpone strikes” on Moscow. The documents, part of a trove of classified information allegedly leaked on a gaming server by a 21-year-old member of the National Guard, don’t explain precisely who interceded and why the Ukrainians agreed to stand down.

But they offer a specific example of a broader tension that has characterized much of the war: Ukraine, eager to bring the fight to Russia’s home turf, is sometimes restrained by the United States, which has tried to avoid escalating the conflict into a direct fight between U.S. and Russian forces. Some U.S. officials see attacks on Russia, particularly if they involve U.S.-supplied weapons, as highly risky operations that Russian President Vladimir Putin could find so threatening that he resorts to using tactical nuclear weapons.

And yet mysterious explosions and drone strikes continue to happen in Russia. Ukrainian officials are often coy about the incidents, hinting that they’re responsible without directly taking credit.

“The Earth is round — discovery made by Galileo,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter in December after an attack on the Engels-2 air force base, deep inside Russia. “If something is launched into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to departure point.”

Operations on foreign soil fall under the HUR’s purview. Budanov, an ambitious 37-year-old general and rising star in the Ukrainian military, doesn’t acknowledge that his agency is behind the attacks. But he has warned they will continue.

“This shattered their illusions of safety,” Budanov told The Washington Post in January. “There are people who plant explosives. There are drones. Until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored, there will be problems inside Russia.”

Budanov did not comment for this article. U.S. officials did not comment on the leaked documents about anniversary strikes.

Privately, U.S. and European officials express their admiration for Budanov. But they also say his audacity sometimes makes them nervous.

On Feb. 13, the day that the NSA document said Budanov had instructed one of his officers to be ready for an operation presumably aimed at Novorossiysk, the United States repeated its public advisory for citizens in Russia to leave the country immediately. It’s not clear that the warning anticipated an aggressive Ukrainian strike, but it appears to reflect a level of concern in Washington about attacks around the anniversary.

Budanov is known for bold claims and pronouncements, which many Western officials regard skeptically. He has said that Putin is terminally ill, an assertion that U.S. intelligence officials have rejected, and that he uses multiple body doubles. Budanov exudes confidence that Ukraine will prevail over Russia — and soon. He has said that Crimea, the highly fortified peninsula Russia illegally annexed in 2014, must be returned to Kyiv this summer. The leaked documents show that the U.S. intelligence community views that scenario as unlikely.

The documents also make clear that the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring Budanov’s communications, which seems not to be news to the general. In past interviews with The Post, Budanov, perhaps aware that he was being spied on, has played music or static noise in his office at HUR headquarters.

Washington’s intercession ahead of the war’s anniversary appears to have been only partially successful. “There is no indication” that Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, “agreed to postpone its own plans to attack Moscow around the same date,” the CIA report said. The SBU, which is responsible for state security and reports directly to the president, also conducts special operations.

Ukraine appears not to have held its fire for long. A week after the anniversary, Moscow publicly accused Kyiv of attempting drone strikes on infrastructure in Russia, including near the capital.

Ukraine continues to have ambitions to expand the battlefield beyond its home territory, the classified documents show.
Budanov’s agency made plans to attack members of the notorious Russian military contractor Wagner Group in Mali, where personnel provide security assistance to the Malian government and training for its military, the documents state. Wagner has played a pivotal role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and provides essential front-line support to Russian military forces.

“It is unknown what stage the operations [in Mali] were currently in and whether the HUR has received approval to execute its plans,” the NSA document says.

The HUR also developed plans to conduct covert attacks on Russian forces in Syria using secret Kurdish help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky halted the offensive, but one of the intelligence documents details how Budanov’s agency could still launch deniable attacks that would avoid implicating the Ukrainian government itself.

Officials in Washington and Europe have admonished Ukraine for attacks outside its territory that they felt went too far. After a car bomb near Moscow in August killed Daria Dugina, in an attack that appeared intended for her father — a Russian nationalist whose writing had helped to shape a Kremlin narrative about Ukraine — Western officials said they made clear to Zelensky that they held operatives in his government responsible. The attack was seen as provocative and risked a severe Russian response, officials said.

Russia on Aug. 22 accused Ukraine of orchestrating the car-bombing that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist near Moscow. (Video: Reuters)

U.S. officials are also concerned that Beijing is likely to view attacks by Ukraine inside Russia as “an opportunity to cast NATO as the aggressor,” and that China could increase its support to Russia if it felt the attacks were “significant,” according to other classified documents contained in the trove.

So far, officials have said there is no indication that China has granted Russia’s request for lethal military aid. However, a Ukrainian attack on Moscow using weapons provided by the United States or NATO would probably indicate to Beijing that “Washington was directly responsible for escalating the conflict” and provide possible justification for China to arm Russia, the analysis concludes.

The United States prohibits Ukraine from using American weaponry to strike Russia. One Ukrainian official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, pointed to an attack in December on a Russian strategic bomber base using Ukrainian-made drones as evidence that Kyiv was adhering to the rules Washington has imposed.

Ukrainian officials have long privately said that the United States has de facto control over some military operations. For example, Kyiv typically won’t fire its advanced U.S.-provided rocket systems without coordinates confirmed or provided by U.S. military personnel from a base in Europe, to ensure the strikes’ accuracy and to conserve artillery.

A senior Ukrainian official said that Kyiv’s willingness not to fire on certain targets and to coordinate with the Americans should encourage the United States to provide more modern and longer-range weapons, such as the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a munition that can travel up to 185 miles. Biden administration officials have declined to provide the weapon, which is in limited supply and might be seen by Russia as an escalation by the United States, officials have said.

The strikes in Russia have been a morale booster for Ukrainian citizens, who have taken to calling the billowing smoke from the mysterious explosions “bavovna,” or “cotton.” Stores sell T-shirts with cotton flowers blooming on the Kremlin’s walls, and cotton bouquets are popular gifts.

The attacks may be getting to Putin, too. Citing security concerns, he recently opted to cancel some regional Victory Day parades celebrating the upcoming anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany. May 9 is considered one of Russia’s most important holidays and an opportunity for the Kremlin to flex its military muscle with a display of tanks and other weaponry in central Moscow.

Khurshudyan reported from Kyiv.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/24/discord-leaks-moscow-s
trikes-ukraine
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, April 26, 2023 6:05 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Senior US and EU officials assess that Russian President Vladimir Putin would remain unwilling to negotiate in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. The New York Times (NYT) reported on April 24 that a senior European official stated that the chances of Putin “backing down” in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive are “less than zero.”[1] The official stated that Putin would likely mobilize more soldiers to fight in Ukraine. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander said that there is “very little evidence” to suggest that Putin would alter his strategic goal of subjugating Ukraine “politically, if not fully militarily.” US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told Voice of America on April 25 that the US is increasing security assistance to Ukraine because the US expects that Russia will attempt to go on the offensive as the weather improves.[2]

A Ukrainian military official claimed on April 25 that Ukrainian forces are achieving “impressive results” in counter-battery combat against Russian forces on the Russian-occupied eastern (left) bank of the Dnipro River.[3] Spokesperson for the Ukrainian Southern Operational Forces Nataliya Humenyuk stated that Ukrainian forces hit and destroyed Russian artillery systems, tanks, armored vehicles, and air defense systems. Humenyuk added that Ukrainian forces are working to clear the frontline on the east bank in a “counter-battery mode.” Humenyuk added that Russian forces are evacuating civilians from the Dnipro River bank area to move in Russian units, which is simplifying Ukrainian operations.

Russian milbloggers continued to issue vehement denials on April 25 that Ukrainian forces established sustained positions on east (left) bank Kherson Oblast. The milbloggers amplified textual reports and video claims from Russian military personnel claiming that Ukrainian forces are not on east bank Kherson Oblast and that the situation is under control.[36]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-25-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, April 26, 2023 6:50 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Funny how SECOND's post about the Haze of Propaganda is followed by .... the haze of propaganda. with such scaremongering golden oldies as "The Russian Hordes at your Doorstep!" "Duck and Cover!" and "The Evil Emperor Ming Pootin!"

Oh, and let's not forget TRUMP! and TRUMPTARDS!

Sheesh.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Wednesday, April 26, 2023 7:38 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Funny how SECOND's post about the Haze of Propaganda is followed by .... the haze of propaganda. with such scaremongering golden oldies as "The Russian Hordes at your Doorstep!" "Duck and Cover!" and "The Evil Emperor Ming Pootin!"

Oh, and let's not forget TRUMP! and TRUMPTARDS!

Sheesh.

Signym, I'm pretty sure you didn't even read what you are attacking. Try reading this one all the way to the end:

Q: You write that there were "myriad" indications that the 2022 war in Ukraine was not a war as Russia's General Staff would wage it. So how has the execution of the current war differed from what you would have expected from Russia's military?

A: The Russian military, after all, has this very intellectual approach to war fighting, with lots of deeply tedious journal articles being written about it and a very clear, almost methodological approach to actually how they would fight a war, and in particular, they categorize wars along a whole kind of spectrum, and they have different ways in which they would address each type of war.

Now, a war in a country of more than 40 million people is obviously going to be a serious conflict, at the very least a regional war. And according to how Russian military doctrine suggests you'd approach that, you would have, first of all, a long buildup, you would set up carefully structured elements to plan it, to ensure that there's a clear chain of command, to assemble all the various means, whether it's soldiers or ammunition or whatever else, needed for it.

People would spend months preparing something like this, and then when the war starts, you would start with a massed — they call it a MRAU — a massed rocket-artillery strike to shatter every element of the other side, even before your forces roll across the border. And then when they do roll across the border, you would have one clear overall commander who actually has one vision of how the war can be won.

None of that was actually present in this conflict. There was no real concept of what this war would be because Putin didn't think there was really going to be a war. There wasn't the establishment of the specialized structures. There wasn't the long-term planning. There weren't all the necessary logistics in place. There wasn't a central commander. I mean, essentially, it broke every single rule, and that's simply because, as far as Putin was concerned, this was not going to be a war. He genuinely seems to have believed that Ukraine, this noncountry, would not be defended by its own people and it would basically fall apart at the first push.

More at https://www.businessinsider.nl/how-putin-spent-20-years-rebuilding-rus
sias-military-and-then-just-simply-destroyed-it-in-ukraine-according-to-an-expert-who-watched-it-happen
/



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 5:48 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Russia appears to be continuing a deliberate depopulation campaign in occupied areas of Ukraine in order to facilitate the repopulation of Ukrainian territories with Russians. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar stated on April 26 that Russia is trying to change the ethnic composition of Ukraine by actively conducting a large-scale resettlement of people mainly from poorer and remote regions of Russia into Ukraine.[1] Malyar noted that the most intensive efforts are ongoing in occupied Luhansk Oblast and remarked that Russia is also deporting Ukrainians and forcibly resettling them in Russia.[2] ISW previously reported on specific instances of Russian authorities overseeing the depopulation and repopulation of areas of occupied Ukraine, particularly in occupied Kherson Oblast over the course of 2022. Ukrainian sources remarked in October 2022 that Russian authorities in then-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast deported large groups of Ukrainian residents to Russia under the guise of humanitarian evacuations and then repopulated their homes with Russian soldiers.[3] Russia may hope to import Russians to fill depopulated areas of Ukraine in order to further integrate occupied areas into Russian socially, administratively, politically, and economically, thereby complicating conditions for the reintegration of these territories into Ukraine. ISW has previously assessed that such depopulation and repopulation campaigns may amount to a deliberate ethnic cleansing effort and apparent violation of the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.[4]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-26-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 5:51 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Comments made by Russian officials and prominent voices in the Russian information space continue to highlight a pervasive anxiety over potential Ukrainian counteroffensive actions. Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin remarked on April 26 that as soon as weather conditions improve in Bakhmut, Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive, which may coincide with Russia’s May 9 Victory Day holiday (the commemoration of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945).[14] A prominent Russian milblogger insinuated that Ukraine may be planning counteroffensive actions in order to ruin May 9 celebrations in Russia.[15] The invocations of May 9 suggest that the Russian information space continues to place symbolic importance on dates associated with Russia’s Great Patriotic War, which continues to shape discourse on the prospects of the war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated during a press conference in New York on April 25 that discussions about the potential for negotiations after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive are ”schizophrenic.”[16] Increasingly despondent and panicked rhetoric emanating from prominent information space figures suggests that the Russian information space has not yet settled on a line about how to address significant and growing concerns about the near future.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-26-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 6:11 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Intelligence leaks show the US and NATO are throwing away victory in Ukraine

Opinion by Stephen Blank, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). He is a former professor of Russian national security studies and national security affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and a former MacArthur fellow at the U.S. Army War College.

For the last two weeks, commentators have eagerly reported on the massive intelligence leaks in the U.S. But few analyses have seen fit to “connect the dots” or discuss what these leaks mean for actual policy.

For example, one highly publicized leak contended that Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive will likely not be as successful as expected, in no small measure due to an insufficiency of arms. Specifically, Ukraine was unlikely to gain more than “modest territorial gains because Kyiv was facing significant “force generation and sustainment shortfalls.” Beyond this, other intelligence assessments revealed that Ukraine’s air defenses were in danger of collapsing, thereby giving Russia uncontested air superiority.

Yet, nobody seemed to write that allied dithering, i.e. not only the U.S. but also European procrastination, was more than a little responsible for this state of affairs. Despite the fact that these leaks also underscored Washington’s possibly unprecedented intelligence penetration of the Russian government, intelligence and military, the crippling and increasingly unsubstantiated fear on both sides of the Atlantic that Russia might escalate still holds allied governments in thrall and also prevented the decisive, timely delivery of necessary weapons and training to Ukraine’s army after its successful September offensive.

Thus, there is good reason to argue that allied fears of giving Ukraine tanks, air and air defense assets prevented it from obtaining those weapons and then extending its offensive and administering what might have been close to a decisive defeat to Russian forces. Instead, Moscow gained time to mobilize new forces, construct defenses in depth across the entire front and even launch its own offensives, which are increasingly seen as futile.


Nevertheless, thousands of people on both sides were killed, and much more destruction was wreaked upon Ukraine.

The cumulative assessment coming out of these leaks fails to acknowledge Western fear and the absence of any coherent strategic response to the crisis. This fear and incoherence undoubtedly contribute to fortifying Putin’s resolve that Ukraine and/or its allies will lose heart or collapse before he or Russia does, a conclusion that appears to be reinforced by the statements and threats of such loyalists and/or sycophants like Nikolai Patrushev and Dmitry Medvedev. Thus, even if Putin is living inside a self-constructed bubble, we are not doing enough to exploit that situation and achieve a decisive victory that will secure Ukraine, ensure European security and administer a stinging and decisive defeat to the Sino-Russian alliance.

The failure of both Washington and Brussels to state their strategy suggests the absence of one or fear of victory, both of which are grist for Putin’s mill. He, his entourage and intelligence assessments that we know are biased to accord with his prejudices will invoke demonstrations in Europe due to energy and economic issues, and public opinion polls that show declining support for Ukraine will be used as justifications for prolonging the war to save his power.

Therefore, Washington and Brussels must not only proclaim a strategy and vision and then implement it, but they must also take it to their electorates and win public support for it. This strategy goes beyond giving Ukraine the weapons it needs now. We must also reinvigorate Western defenses and defense industrial bases to meet the Russian threat by creating a superior conventional deterrent for NATO from the Arctic to the Black Sea. The fact that Germany still cannot create even minimal conventional forces is not just a bad joke, it also reveals Germany’s unwillingness to face reality, and that of too many of its allies.

At the same time, we must take Ukraine’s case to Western electorates to strengthen public support for it. The assessment (probably a correct one) that no matter what happens on the battlefield, negotiations are unlikely in 2023, cannot become a pretext for more self-denying policies. Putin still thinks he can somehow win or swindle a victory from an irresolute West and will not negotiate, since retreat is both psychologically and politically unacceptable to him and his court. Therefore, victory is, in fact, the only acceptable reply to his aggression here.

In any case, Putin violated at least eight international treaties signed by Russia — The Helsinki Treaty (as amended after the Cold War), the Tashkent Treaty of 1992, the Russo-Ukraine treaties of 1997 and 2010, the Budapest Accords, the START Treaty of 1993, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the United Nations Charter and the NATO-Russia agreement — to launch this war, so it is difficult to see what advocating for negotiations brings other than a time-out before the next round begins.

Thus, these assessments reveal a government and alliance adrift on the seas of mounting wars and crises. While we must act to prevent a recurrence of such intelligence disasters; we must also act to advance our interests and values, and those of our allies. Neither other governments, nor history, will forgive us if we fail to rise to this occasion.

As President Lincoln observed in a similar time of war, crisis, and testing, “We, even we here, hold the power, and bear the responsibility.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3970859-intelligence-lea
ks-show-the-us-and-nato-are-throwing-away-victory-in-ukraine
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 9:48 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


lol

Money well spent, huh?

Quote:

Intelligence leaks show the US and NATO are throwing away victory in Ukraine


Thank you for admitting what I've been saying all along. This is US's and NATO's war with Russia.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 11:48 AM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As usual, you (and the media you plagiarize) misquote, take out of context, exaggerate, and lie.
Yanno, just like your posts about "Trumptards", "6IX" and "Russian troll" are sheer malicious lies.
I interpret your posts as the bullshit that they are.
Have a nice day



THUGR: Hey comrade. This isn’t rocket science. Things are happening, the media is reporting it, and you and Jack say the opposite. That makes you a moron, simple. A Mike Lyndall, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox news type moron. You prove that with every post.

Yanno, one of us should face a big climb-down, and I don't think it's going to be me.






Comrade, you faced that big climb-down here years ago. Being a moron, you just don't get it.

T


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 12:06 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

Money well spent, huh?

Quote:

Intelligence leaks show the US and NATO are throwing away victory in Ukraine


Thank you for admitting what I've been saying all along. This is US's and NATO's war with Russia.

Throwing away victory does NOT mean what you think it means. Back in September, Ukraine was close to decisively defeating Russian forces but NATO would NOT give Ukraine the long, very sharp knife (ammo) to cut the Russian Army's throat so that it would never again be a threat to anybody. Why? NATO feared victory would mean "escalation", the secret code word for the scary yet fake concept of Russia attacking NATO with nukes once Ukraine murders the Russian Army. Russia wouldn't have nuked NATO, but fear kept NATO from supplying the ammo Ukraine needed to finish the job by driving Russia out of Crimea. So now there is a stalemate rather than a resounding victory for Ukraine that could have been had back in September.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 1:27 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As usual, you (and the media you plagiarize) misquote, take out of context, exaggerate, and lie.
Yanno, just like your posts about "Trumptards", "6IX" and "Russian troll" are sheer malicious lies.
I interpret your posts as the bullshit that they are.
Have a nice day


THUGR: Hey comrade. This isn’t rocket science. Things are happening, the media is reporting it, and you and Jack say the opposite. That makes you a moron, simple. A Mike Lyndall, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox news type moron. You prove that with every post.

SIGNY: Yanno, one of us should face a big climb-down, and I don't think it's going to be me.

THUGR: Comrade, you faced that big climb-down here years ago. Being a moron, you just don't get it.



Comrade, you've been wrong so often the scorecard doesn't have room for a number that big. You've just been too stupid to realize it.

All that shit you've been mouth-breathing for years...

Was Sberbank communicating with Trump Tower?
NO

Did Donald Trump Jr make secret deal with Russian agents?
NO

Were there a Russian agent on Trump's payroll?
NO. In fact George Papadopoulos was a former State Dept asset. The CIA tried to entrap him into making incriminating statements by setting him up with Halper and the mysterious Mifsud (who can no longer be found).

Did Russia exfiltrate the DNC's emails and give them to Assange?
NO. Even Crowdstrike (the pro-DNC private compnay that examined the computer logs) says there's no evidence of that.

Did Trump pay for a "golden showers" show in a Moscow hotel?
NO.

Was he even in Moscow at the time?
NO

Did Trump or the Trump campaign "collude" with Russia?
NO.

Did Trump cheat on his taxes?
So far, the IRS ... which has is records ... does not say that he did

Am I Russian, Russian-born, or Russia-affiliated?
NO, no, and no. I have no contacts with, or loyalty to, Russia or Russians.

Am I a troll?
NO. Posting facts that YOU DON'T LIKE doesn't make me a troll. YOU'RE a troll, tho, as is SECOND.

Did Nick Sandmann assault or harass Native American?
NO. If you'd have watched the entire encounter, you'd have seen it was the other way around.

Did Kyle Rittenhous commit murder?
NO

Did Russia lose 150,000 .... 200,000 250,000 men in Ukraine?
NO. But Kiev may have.

Is Russia suffering from western sanctions?
NOT AS MUCH AS the EU.

Do you love freedom and democracy?
NO. You fucking bleat about it all the time, but IN PRACTICE you're willng to libel, censor, shout down, or kill anyone who doesn't think or vote the way you want. So much for freedom and democracy!

Do you love America and Americans?
PROBABLY NOT. You spend nearly all of your time posting about UKRAINE! RUSSIA! (and soon CHINA!) without showing the slightest concern for, or admission of America's very real, and very serious problems. It seems the only way that you FEEL American is when you hate other nations. That's pretty shabby. You haven't the slighest feeling for ACTUAL FELLOW CITIZENS.

This is just off the top of my head. If I were to go back thru your posts I'm sure I'd find a lot more doozies in there, "comrade".


The only issue that you've shown any indepedent thought is CRT. Congrats on that.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 2:11 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


NATO allies and partner countries have delivered more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine during Russia's invasion and war, the military alliance’s chief said Thursday, giving Kyiv a bigger punch as contemplates launching a counteroffensive.

Along with more than 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, Ukraine's allies have sent "vast amounts of ammunition" and also trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

More than 30,000 troops are estimated to make up the new brigades. Some NATO partner countries, such as Sweden and Australia, have also provided armored vehicles.

"This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory," Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-98-combat-vehicles-promised-nato
-allies-partner-countries


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 3:08 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Did Trump cheat on his taxes?
So far, the IRS ... which has is records ... does not say that he did

Trump says he doesn't owe income taxes because he has no income. According to him, he has no income because he is an incompetent businessman but he spins that straw into political gold: Trump pays no taxes because he is a smart businessman.

How Trump paid $0 in income tax in 2020
https://thehill.com/business/3784189-how-trump-paid-0-in-income-tax-in
-2020
/

IRS chief says $1 trillion in taxes goes uncollected every year
Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee that the “tax gap” -- the difference between taxes legally owed and revenue collected -- has grown substantially since the last official estimate of a $441 billion annual average from 2011 to 2013.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-treasury-irs/irs-chief-says-1-t
rillion-in-taxes-goes-uncollected-every-year-idUSKBN2C0255


Signym, a $trillion in unpaid taxes means there are many more "smart" or incompetent businessmen like Trump in America.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 3:16 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Funny how SECOND's post about the Haze of Propaganda is followed by .... the haze of propaganda. with such scaremongering golden oldies as "The Russian Hordes at your Doorstep!" "Duck and Cover!" and "The Evil Emperor Ming Pootin!"

Oh, and let's not forget TRUMP! and TRUMPTARDS!

Sheesh.

Signym, I'm pretty sure you didn't even read what you are attacking. Try reading this one all the way to the end:

Q: You write that there were "myriad" indications that the 2022 war in Ukraine was not a war as Russia's General Staff would wage it. So how has the execution of the current war differed from what you would have expected from Russia's military?

A: The Russian military, after all, has this very intellectual approach to war fighting, with lots of deeply tedious journal articles being written about it and a very clear, almost methodological approach to actually how they would fight a war, and in particular, they categorize wars along a whole kind of spectrum, and they have different ways in which they would address each type of war.

Now, a war in a country of more than 40 million people is obviously going to be a serious conflict, at the very least a regional war. And according to how Russian military doctrine suggests you'd approach that, you would have, first of all, a long buildup, you would set up carefully structured elements to plan it, to ensure that there's a clear chain of command, to assemble all the various means, whether it's soldiers or ammunition or whatever else, needed for it.

People would spend months preparing something like this, and then when the war starts, you would start with a massed — they call it a MRAU — a massed rocket-artillery strike to shatter every element of the other side, even before your forces roll across the border. And then when they do roll across the border, you would have one clear overall commander who actually has one vision of how the war can be won.

None of that was actually present in this conflict. There was no real concept of what this war would be because Putin didn't think there was really going to be a war. There wasn't the establishment of the specialized structures. There wasn't the long-term planning. There weren't all the necessary logistics in place. There wasn't a central commander. I mean, essentially, it broke every single rule, and that's simply because, as far as Putin was concerned, this was not going to be a war. He genuinely seems to have believed that Ukraine, this noncountry, would not be defended by its own people and it would basically fall apart at the first push.

More at https://www.businessinsider.nl/how-putin-spent-20-years-rebuilding-rus
sias-military-and-then-just-simply-destroyed-it-in-ukraine-according-to-an-expert-who-watched-it-happen
/



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SEVOND, if your posts can't get thru the first three sentences ... sometimes just the headline... without fucking up, there's no point in me wasting my time further.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 3:25 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Did Trump cheat on his taxes?
So far, the IRS ... which has is records ... does not say that he did

Trump says he doesn't owe income taxes because he has no income.


Gawd, you're a FUCKING incompetent liar.

No TAXABLE income, moron.

Thanks to tax laws lobbied for by the wealthy to benefit .... themselves... there are plenty of LEGAL loopholes thru which the wealthy funnel their income into invisibility. Buffet, Gates, Bezos... the Clintons... and other seriously wealthy people all do the same. If you want to indict Trump, better get a stadium-sized courtroom for everyone else who does the same.


****

But, as usual, you seem to be confused about the topic of this thread. It's not Trump and your everlasting irrationality about him. It's Ukraine.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 3:58 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Did Trump cheat on his taxes?
So far, the IRS ... which has is records ... does not say that he did

Trump says he doesn't owe income taxes because he has no income.


Gawd, you're a FUCKING incompetent liar.

No TAXABLE income, moron.

Thanks to tax laws lobbied for by the wealthy to benefit .... themselves... there are plenty of LEGAL loopholes thru which the wealthy funnel their income into invisibility. Buffet, Gates, Bezos... the Clintons... and other seriously wealthy people all do the same. If you want to indict Trump, better get a stadium-sized courtroom for everyone else who does the same.


****

But, as usual, you seem to be confused about the topic of this thread. It's not Trump and your everlasting irrationality about him. It's Ukraine.

How much income tax did Trump pay? Zero percent per year, which makes him a crook, not a smart businessman, not the kind of man who should be President. Bill Gates, whose income from 2013 to 2018 was an average of $2.85bn a year, paid an average effective federal income tax rate of 18.4%. Lauren Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, earned an average of $1.57bn and paid an average tax rate of 14.8%.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/wealthiest-americans-t
ax-income-propublica-investigation


Even Putin, that giant thief, pays more than Trump. In theory, Putin only makes $140,000 per year but in reality, it is billions, which he doesn't pay taxes on because that would look bad if he started paying 15% taxes while working such a humble job as leader of Russia.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220302224637/https://fortune.com/2022/03
/02/vladimir-putin-net-worth-2022
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 4:01 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Did Trump cheat on his taxes?
So far, the IRS ... which has is records ... does not say that he did

Trump says he doesn't owe income taxes because he has no income.


Gawd, you're a FUCKING incompetent liar.

No TAXABLE income, moron.

Thanks to tax laws lobbied for by the wealthy to benefit .... themselves... there are plenty of LEGAL loopholes thru which the wealthy funnel their income into invisibility. Buffet, Gates, Bezos... the Clintons... and other seriously wealthy people all do the same. If you want to indict Trump, better get a stadium-sized courtroom for everyone else who does the same.


****

But, as usual, you seem to be confused about the topic of this thread. It's not Trump and your everlasting irrationality about him. It's Ukraine.

How much income tax did Trump pay? Zero percent per year, which makes him a crook,


Only in your irrational mind. The IRS so far doesn't agree.
Stupid troll.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 4:41 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Only in your irrational mind. The IRS so far doesn't agree.
Stupid troll.

It is a crime to cheat on your taxes. However, fewer than 2,000 people were convicted of tax crimes, 0.0022% of all taxpayers. That doesn't mean that there are only 2,000 crooks in America, Signym.

When the IRS head testified that the IRS does NOT collect $1 trillion per year owed, he meant exactly what he said. He didn't say that $1 trillion was eventually collected because the cheaters were caught. The $1 trillion will never be collected. Nobody will be going to jail over that uncollected money. The thieves won, and the IRS lost.
https://taxattorneydaily.com/tax-law/fraud-and-tax-crimes/

Roy Cohn, Trump's mentor, didn't pay taxes, either. He died without paying taxes. He kept the IRS confused and discombobulated for decades. The IRS just couldn't devise a workable plan to make Cohn pay (he escaped by death from AIDS) and Trump knows all this. Don't be shocked if Trump dies before he pays, too.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/19/roy-cohn-donald-tru
mp-documentary-228144
/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/04/04/roy-cohn-su
ed-for-7-million/e95ef05d-114e-4237-b128-d53344f655bf
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 4:54 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Russians cut throats of Ukrainian prisoners after interrogations

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Thursday, 27 April 2023, 12:00

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/04/27/7399654/

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has received confirmation that the occupiers brutally execute Ukrainian prisoners of war after interrogation.

Source: audio of a Russian serviceman’s conversation posted by the SSU

Details: It is noted that the SSU intercepted this call on Ukraine’s eastern front.

The soldier tells a woman in detail about how he cuts a person's throat. He adds that he has done it plenty of times and that it has to be done at night.

"People who are prisoners of war... there’s no point keeping them because we’ve got all the information out of them. There’s no point keeping them any longer. So... they need to be disposed of."

The SSU notes that it has already identified the executioner, his personal data, place of service and social circle.

The man in the audio is Yevgeny Suchko from Russia’s Novgorod Oblast, born in 1995. He was drafted into the military in autumn 2022, and since then, he and his unit have been deployed in Kharkiv Oblast.

Quote from the SSU: "The SSU is working to ensure that this Suchko and every war criminal from the Russian Federation are punished for their atrocities. The Ukrainian intelligence service is investigating more than 35,000 criminal proceedings with respect to violations of the laws and customs of war."



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 5:19 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Only in your irrational mind. The IRS so far doesn't agree.
Stupid troll.

It is a crime to cheat on your taxes. However, fewer than 2,000 people were convicted of tax crimes, 0.0022% of all taxpayers. That doesn't mean that there are only 2,000 crooks in America, Signym.

One reason why the rate is so low is bc there are so few audits.

HOWEVER, the IRS has Trump's records and is presumably auditing them.

That raises the odds considerably that if there is cheating going on, it will be detected.

You're still an irrational troll, troll.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 5:40 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

HOWEVER, the IRS has Trump's records and is presumably auditing them.

That raises the odds considerably that if there is cheating going on, it will be detected.

You're still an irrational troll, troll.

You know what is next: Trump refuses to make public his 2021, 2022, and 2023 tax returns because -- wait for it -- Trump says those years are under audit by the IRS. Then Signym will say that does not indicate Trump is a crook, only that he is being audited and that his lawyers advised him not to release his tax returns. And the Trumptards -- from my real experience, all are as crooked as Trump, but not as wealthy -- will vote for Trump.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, April 27, 2023 5:54 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Trump doesn't need to make his returns public. The agency that is supposed to have them, has them.
You're still an irrational troll, troll.

Are you going to get off your Trump fixation any time soon? Or are you still going to harp about Trump and "Trumptards" in a thread ostensibly about Ukraine and Russia?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Thursday, April 27, 2023 6:17 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


From the Military Summary Channel (a pro-Ukrainian vlogger)...



"We expect, and everybody expects, that Bakhmut is going to fall entirely" (2:05)

"Russians have almost encircled Marinka" (3:02) (Marinka is the heavily-fortified position from which Ukies shell Donetsk city)

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Friday, April 28, 2023 7:49 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Trump doesn't need to make his returns public. The agency that is supposed to have them, has them.
You're still an irrational troll, troll.

Are you going to get off your Trump fixation any time soon? Or are you still going to harp about Trump and "Trumptards" in a thread ostensibly about Ukraine and Russia?

I guess you totally forgot that Trump went to the Supreme Court, twice, to prevent his tax returns from being publicized. That is not the actions of a man who paid his taxes and is running for President.

Finally, you can see those returns at https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns

But that is not the end of it, Signym. The numbers on IRS forms could be completely fake. Each number must be compared to the buildings out in the world and the IRS has not done that work of going to those buildings and counting up the actual money. It is exactly like comparing Russia's claims with what actually happened. Russia can claim anything it wants about casualties because nothing has been verified as true. Some trustworthy auditors must count the Russian bodies by digging up some graves, but remember that Russia could be hiding bodies just like Trump could be hiding money.

Trump claims a loss of (65,905,501) on page 185 of https://s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs.taxnotes.com/2022/Trump_2020_1040.pdf
A real auditor would say to Trump: "If you cannot prove that number to me, I am throwing your fat ass into jail. Show me your proof, Donald."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, April 28, 2023 7:54 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Reframing the US policy debate on a ‘long war’ in Ukraine By Nataliya Bugayova
April 27, 2023

The policy debate about the US facing a “long war” in Ukraine is misframed. The catchall phrase “long war” is skewed by legacy US thinking about wars, intentional Kremlin information operations, and the inherent difficulties in parsing battlefield realities.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not a long war for the US, because the US is not fighting this war. Ukraine is defending itself against an unprovoked Russian invasion, and the US is supporting Ukraine. Comparisons to Iraq or Afghanistan are not appropriate.

The US is not fighting a proxy war. Ukraine’s choice to defend itself against Russia’s genocidal efforts is exogenous to the West’s decision-making. Ukraine would have defended itself against Russia’s 2022 invasion in the absence of support from its partners — at the cost of more territory and lives. Even in 2014, when Ukraine’s military capability and Western willingness to counter Russia were minimal, barely equipped Ukrainian volunteers rushed to the frontline to combat Russian aggression.[1]

The West and Ukraine are not protracting or spreading this war; Russia is. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is entirely a war of choice. The Kremlin chose to launch a full-scale invasion despite the years-long presence of a peace framework (that the Kremlin routinely violated) and years of diplomatic efforts by Ukraine and the West. The Kremlin is choosing to protract this war and can choose to end it at any point.

Fixating on the “long war” scenario obfuscates the very real US interest at stake in Ukraine. The US problem is not a long war per se. The US problem is the risk of escalation in which the US will need to fight in this war — a risk that increases if Russia’s war protracts and if Russia keeps its gains in Ukraine.

Metering Western support to Ukraine, inadequately resourcing all of the required Ukrainian counteroffensives — not just the next one, and setting premature expectations of negotiations with Russia, will protract Russia’s war and increase the associated risks for the US. The length and effects of this war are path-dependent on at least two variables:

More at https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/reframing-us-policy-deba
te-%E2%80%98long-war%E2%80%99-ukraine


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, April 28, 2023 1:24 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


GENEVA, April 28 (Reuters) - A United Nations committee said on Friday it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.

In its findings on Russia, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on the Russian authorities to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed during the invasion of Ukraine.

"The Committee was deeply concerned about the grave human rights violations committed during the ongoing armed conflict by the Russian Federation's military forces and private military companies ...," it said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

In its report, the committee listed excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, killings and the forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia among the violations committed.

Russia, which the U.N. committee said had refused to provide it with information on the conflict, has denied committing atrocities and deliberately attacking civilians in Ukraine. It denies deporting Ukrainian children to Russia, saying it has evacuated them to keep them safe.

"The refusal of the Russian Federation to address these issues did not hinder us from addressing them in our concluding observations, but of course it made our work more difficult," committee member Mehrdad Payandeh told reporters in Geneva.

"We would have liked to engage in a constructive dialogue."

The U.N. committee also noted its concern about the Russian military drafting soldiers from ethnic minorities and "incitement to racial hatred and propagation of racist stereotypes against ethnic Ukrainians", including on state-owned television.

Rights activists from one region, Buryatia, have accused the authorities of focusing their draft efforts on far-flung regions with ethnic minorities to avoid sparking popular anger in Moscow and other major cities.

Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by William Maclean

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/un-body-deeply-concerned-grave-hu
man-rights-abuses-by-russia-ukraine-2023-04-28
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, April 28, 2023 7:53 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Trump doesn't need to make his returns public. The agency that is supposed to have them, has them.
You're still an irrational troll, troll.

Are you going to get off your Trump fixation any time soon? Or are you still going to harp about Trump and "Trumptards" in a thread ostensibly about Ukraine and Russia?

I guess you totally forgot that Trump went to the Supreme Court, twice, to prevent his tax returns from being publicized.

I guess you forgot that I don't give a fuck about Trump keeping his tax returns secret. Unless he's charged with a tax crime or there is evidence of influence peddling or conflict of interest, it has no bearing on policy... which is what I would have voted on.

Not tax returns.

I see you're still obsessed with Trump.
Yanno "I pay my taxes" must be your one major claim to legitimacy. It must bug the shit out of you that I don't care whether you do or don't. Our whole tax law is a gimme for rich people. Let's do something about THAT.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Saturday, April 29, 2023 1:51 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Trump doesn't need to make his returns public. The agency that is supposed to have them, has them.
You're still an irrational troll, troll.

Are you going to get off your Trump fixation any time soon? Or are you still going to harp about Trump and "Trumptards" in a thread ostensibly about Ukraine and Russia?

I guess you totally forgot that Trump went to the Supreme Court, twice, to prevent his tax returns from being publicized. That is not the actions of a man who paid his taxes and is running for President.

Finally, you can see those returns at https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns



Yup. And they've been up there for all of you dumb shits to look at for months now.

There is nothing there, fucktard. If there was you know good goddamned well that your Media Masters would be talking about it non-stop every fucking day for the next two years and all the way through Trump's second Presidency.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Saturday, April 29, 2023 7:59 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Yup. And they've been up there for all of you dumb shits to look at for months now.

There is nothing there, fucktard. If there was you know good goddamned well that your Media Masters would be talking about it non-stop every fucking day for the next two years and all the way through Trump's second Presidency.

The only number we know that is true on Trump's tax returns is how much he paid. That number is zero. Trump's true contribution to society is zero, year after year. Well, some years it is $750, but mostly it is zero or Trump even wants a refund from the IRS, in which case Trump was contributing less than zero.

All other numbers on Trump's IRS forms could be completely fake. Each number must be compared to the buildings out in the world and the IRS has NOT done that work of going to those buildings and counting up the actual money. If they had, we'd know about that because FBI agents would have to actually raid buildings and offices to find out what really happened, not what Trump's fake numbers claim happened. The only FBI raid was on Mar-a-Lago, which definitely got news coverage.

It is exactly like comparing Russia's claims with what actually happened. Russia can claim anything it wants about casualties because nothing has been verified as true. Some trustworthy auditors must count the Russian bodies by digging up some graves, but remember that Russia could be hiding bodies just like Trump could be hiding money.

For example, Trump claims a loss of (65,905,501) on page 185 of https://s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs.taxnotes.com/2022/Trump_2020_1040.pdf
There is no documentation of where that number came from. For all we know, it is pure fiction.

A real auditor would say to Trump: "If you cannot prove that number to me, I am throwing your fat ass into jail. Show me your proof, Donald."

Again, the only numbers we know are "true" on Trump's tax returns are the numbers he paid. Trump is either asking the IRS for a multi-million dollar refund, which the IRS definitely won't send that crook. Or Trump claims he should pay either zero or $750 (Trump used that number twice in different years which is extremely ridiculous that everything precisely adds up to to $750 twice in row).

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Saturday, April 29, 2023 8:06 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

I guess you forgot that I don't give a fuck about Trump keeping his tax returns secret. Unless he's charged with a tax crime or there is evidence of influence peddling or conflict of interest, it has no bearing on policy... which is what I would have voted on.

Not tax returns.

I see you're still obsessed with Trump.
Yanno "I pay my taxes" must be your one major claim to legitimacy. It must bug the shit out of you that I don't care whether you do or don't. Our whole tax law is a gimme for rich people. Let's do something about THAT.

I never forget that Russians and Trump lovers care nothing about telling the truth.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on April 27 codifying conditions for the further large-scale deportation to Russia of residents of occupied areas of Ukraine. Putin signed a decree entitled “On the Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation” that defines those who are living in Russian-occupied territories who have declared their desire to retain their current citizenship and refuse to accept Russian passports as “foreign citizens and stateless persons currently residing in the Russian Federation.”[8] The decree holds that such individuals may continue to reside in occupied territories until July 1, 2024, suggesting that these individuals may be subject to deportation following this date.[9] This decree codifies coercive methods to encourage residents of occupied areas to receive Russian passports and also sets conditions for the deportation of Ukrainians who do not agree to become Russian citizens. Russian authorities are also continuing other efforts to deport Ukrainians, particularly children, to Russia under various schemes.[10] ISW continues to assess that all lines of effort aimed at deporting Ukrainians to Russia may constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as a potential deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign.

Ukrainian officials continue to draw attention to Russia’s illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Ukrainian People’s Deputy Maria Mezentseva announced on April 28 that Ukraine has provided the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) a list of 19,000 Ukrainian children forcibly deported by Russia.[55] Mezentseva stated that the ICRC has the authority to visit the children placed in Russian camps, foster families, and other places where Russian authorities are illegally keeping children but that it is unknown when these visits will take place.[56] The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported on April 28 that Russian occupation authorities intend to withdraw Ukrainian children from schools in Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, at the end of the school year and force their parents to travel with them to Russia under the pretext of evacuation.[57]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-28-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Saturday, April 29, 2023 2:46 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

I guess you forgot that I don't give a fuck about Trump keeping his tax returns secret. Unless he's charged with a tax crime or there is evidence of influence peddling or conflict of interest, it has no bearing on policy... which is what I would have voted on.

Not tax returns.

I see you're still obsessed with Trump.
Yanno "I pay my taxes" must be your one major claim to legitimacy. It must bug the shit out of you that I don't care whether you do or don't. Our whole tax law is a gimme for rich people. Let's do something about THAT.

I never forget that Russians and Trump lovers care nothing about telling the truth.



OMFG, you lie like a rug, SECOND!
THUGR may have posted a hundred doozies, but you've prolly posted over a thousand! (Let's see... Three lies a day for 365 days... Yep, at least a thousand.)




-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


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Sunday, April 30, 2023 6:59 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner forces from Bakhmut if the Russian military command fails to provide more ammunition to the Wagner mercenaries.

Prigozhin stated in an interview with a Kremlin-affiliated milblogger on April 29 that the Wagner mercenaries will continue to fight in Bakhmut but will need to “withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die” if the situation does immediately not improve.[1] Prigozhin stated that Wagner needs about 80,000 shells per day — its previous shell allowance prior to apparent Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) efforts to reduce Wagner’s influence. Prigozhin added that Wagner is only receiving 800 of the 4,000 shells per day that it is currently requesting. Prigozhin claimed that Wagner and Deputy Commander of Russian Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergei Surovikin developed a plan to “grind” the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut that deprived Ukraine of its initiative on the battlefield. Prigozhin’s mention of Surovikin is likely an attempt to publicly affiliate with Surovikin as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favor is shifting away from Chief of the Russian General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov’s network.[2] Prigozhin is likely attempting to regain access to more ammunition as Putin is once again reshuffling the Russian military leadership in a way that may favor Prigozhin.

Prigozhin also continued his efforts to convince the Kremlin to go over to the defensive in eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin claimed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive could take place before May 15 but that the Russian military is not rushing to prepare to repel attacks.[3] Prigozhin’s threat to withdraw from Bakhmut may also indicate that Prigozhin fears that the Russian positions in Bakhmut’s rear are vulnerable to counterattacks.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-april-29-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, May 1, 2023 5:01 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


It’s time to restore the distinction between disinformation and plain old lying.
by Monika Richter
25 Apr 2023, 9:22 am

In 2014, Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine drove me to enter the field of disinformation research. Humiliated by the PR failure of its 2008 invasion of Georgia, the Kremlin had been quietly growing its global media influence and information strategy, in an effort that initially attracted little attention from the United States or other Western countries. With Ukraine, Putin was ready: Russia launched a massive disinformation campaign to justify the annexation of Crimea, undermine Western support for Ukraine, and engineer distrust and dissensus both among allies and within individual countries. The effort was intended to weaken transatlantic unity and, crucially, to paralyze our ability to defend our national interests. It was an early taste of what was to come, and I feared (rightfully) that the West was unprepared to confront Moscow’s resurgent global ambitions to destabilize the post-World War II democratic order and usher in a new “multipolar” era of authoritarian impunity.

Dezinformatsiya, as it is called in the original Russian, refers to a specific practice of psychological warfare or “active measures” developed by the early Soviet KGB, aimed at weakening foreign adversaries through information manipulation. Under Putin, Russia has resurrected disinformation as a core part of its international intelligence strategy, and presciently adapted the practice, beginning in the early 2010s, to the digital domain. The provenance of the term is important: by historical definition, disinformation is a tool of foreign political warfare.

Aside from a handful of Cold War dons and family and friends in Eastern Europe, almost no one I spoke to in 2014 had heard of disinformation. Trump had not yet mainstreamed his “fake news” rhetoric, and panicked prognostications about the advent of a “post-truth world” were almost two years away, pending Brexit and the 2016 election.

More at https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/not-your-grandmothers-disinfo
rmation
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, May 1, 2023 5:08 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

OMFG, you lie like a rug, SECOND!
THUGR may have posted a hundred doozies, but you've prolly posted over a thousand! (Let's see... Three lies a day for 365 days... Yep, at least a thousand.)

A former children's rights commissioner for Russia said during a recent broadcast on Russian state TV that murdering ambassadors is "within the framework of international law."

Pavel Astakhov, the children's ombudsman from 2009-2016, made the comment on a television program hosted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov while making a reference to Poland's ambassador to Russia.

Poland is frequently the target of inflammatory rhetoric on Kremlin-backed media outlets due to the NATO country being one Kyiv's strongest allies in the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine in February 2022. Along with taking in many Ukrainians displaced by the war, Poland has supplied Ukraine with large supplies of munitions, including powerful Leopard 2 tanks.

Astakhov said he wonders why the Polish ambassador to Russia has yet to be "found floating in the Moskva River".

Astakhov said he believes "retaliatory measures for unfriendly actions" is not a crime and part of the nature of war.

"The whole theme of the Russian approach to the Ukraine war seems to be, 'We're the good guys here. Sure, there are mass graves found in every city we occupied and then retreated from. But don't make us get nasty,'" Thomas E. Ricks, an author who frequently covers the military and national security issues, wrote on Twitter about Astakhov's remarks on murdering envoys.

Along with featuring guests who have often expressed ant-Ukrainian sentiments, Solovyov himself has also made headlines for making controversial statements.

Earlier this month, Solovyov called for destroying Kyiv as well as the capitals of Poland and Germany. Weeks before, he unleashed a rant on his radio show Polniy Kontakt (Full Contact) about "screwed up pacifists in Russia" who oppose the country deploying nuclear weapons.

More at https://www.newsweek.com/ex-russian-childrens-rights-commissioner-advo
cates-killing-ambassadors-1797583


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, May 1, 2023 8:23 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Reminiscent of Stalin: ISW explains why Putin keeps changing military leadership
by Iryna Balachuk — Monday, 1 May 2023, 10:05
Ukrainska Pravda

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appoint a single commander of troops at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine because he hoped for a quick victory which he wanted to take credit for; the Russian dictator later began to constantly change the Russian military leadership, thereby trying to shift responsibility for failures in Ukraine to the appointed generals.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report, in which analysts delve into the changes in the Russian military command from 24 February, 2022

Quote: "Putin may have been reluctant to appoint a commander for this invasion to avoid crediting a military commander with the military victory in Ukraine – a dynamic similar to the one between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov during World War II. Stalin had limited and outdated wartime experience and was reportedly jealous of Zhukov’s military exploits and fame. Putin has no military experience, which may have further contributed to his decision not to appoint a commander for his invasion who could have upstaged him by claiming credit for the expected dramatic victory."

Details: Putin likely sought to portray himself as the commander-in-chief and mastermind of the successful invasion of Ukraine, ISW analysts said.

According to intercepted Russian military plans, the Kremlin expected Kyiv to be captured in a matter of days. Putin therefore likely wanted to declare this swift invasion a personal geopolitical victory.

Analysts believe that Putin's reluctance to appoint a theatre-wide commander for his invasion of Ukraine has had trickle-down consequences for the Russian military. Such actions have specifically contributed to intensive fragmentation and disorganised command structures, and have fueled unattainable expectations.

Putin appointed the first commander of the theatre of war, Army General Alexander Dvornikov, in April 2022. This was in response to Russia's failed attempt to advance on Kyiv. But at the end of May, Putin replaced this general because of Dvornikov's inability to meet the high expectations of the Russian dictator in the first months after the retreat from Kyiv.

Thereafter, Putin began to change military leaders constantly.

Analysts believe that such a regular change of command has led to an increasing fragmentation of the Russian armed forces and disorganisation of command structures,
which further worsens the ability of the Russian armed forces to conduct a coordinated campaign in Ukraine.

It is also noted that the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Kremlin have deliberately failed to report most of these command changes.

The chronology of the changes which the ISW cites in its report is based on official Russian statements, as well as on the analysis of unconfirmed statements and reports from Russian, Ukrainian and Western sources.

Analysts believe that the Kremlin and the Russian Defence Ministry are trying to use changes in command to create desirable information effects to compensate for the increasingly worse results on the battlefield.

"Putin and the MoD have either obscured or carefully announced command changes throughout the war in Ukraine to shield themselves from criticism, set up scapegoats for military failures, appease certain voices within the Russian information space, or compound efforts to sell marginal territorial gains as operational victories to the Russian public," says the ISW.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/05/1/7400127/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023 6:32 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


The White House assessed on May 1 that Russian forces have suffered 100,000 causalities — 80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed — in fighting for Bakhmut since January 2023.[7] US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby announced that half of the 20,000 killed in action were Wagner Group fighters. Kirby also assessed that Russia’s offensive on Bakhmut has failed.[8]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-1-2023


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023 6:34 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


If a Ukraine that believes in the rule of law and human rights can achieve victory against a much larger, much more autocratic society, and if it can do so while preserving its own freedoms, then similarly open societies and movements around the world can hope for success too. After the Russian invasion, the Venezuelan opposition movement hung a Ukrainian flag on the front of its country’s embassy hall in Washington. The Taiwanese Parliament gave a rapturous welcome to Ukrainian activists last year. Not everyone in the world cares about this war, but for anyone trying to defeat a dictator, it has profound significance.

In Kyiv, we had the opportunity to ask one of Ukraine’s leading experts on Russian imperialist behavior why a squad of Russian soldiers, presumably busy planning the retreat from Kherson, had stolen Potemkin’s bones. “I’m not sure that they know who Potemkin is,” Volodymyr Zelensky said. The Ukrainian president waved away the question: “I think for them, it doesn’t matter what they’ve stolen.” When the Russians left Kherson they took everything: paintings, furniture, dishwashers, the raccoons from the zoo, the skull of Catherine’s lover. The long legacy of Prince Potemkin, the neoclassical stone cathedral, the extraordinary weight of the past—none of that matters, he reckoned, to the men who fled Kherson.

“When they run, they take everything they see,” Zelensky told us. “You know what they took from the Kyiv region? Urinals. They stole urinals!”

https://web.archive.org/web/20230501234609/https://www.theatlantic.com
/magazine/archive/2023/06/counteroffensive-ukraine-zelensky-crimea/673781
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023 8:54 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
If a Ukraine that believes in the rule of law and human rights can achieve victory against a much larger, much more autocratic society, and if it can do so while preserving its own freedoms, then similarly open societies and movements around the world can hope for success too.



Yeah. That's what's happening. /sarcasm

$145 BILLION in US taxpayer dollars and ordinance, and Child Rapist Zelensky begging everyone in the world for more money and ordinance and shaming people who won't give him what he wants.

This ain't David vs. Goliath here.

This is NATO backed Iron Man vs. some old dude on a hill that just wants to be left alone.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023 9:22 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:

Originally posted by second:
If a Ukraine that believes in the rule of law and human rights can achieve victory against a much larger, much more autocratic society, and if it can do so while preserving its own freedoms, then similarly open societies and movements around the world can hope for success too.



Yeah. That's what's happening. /sarcasm

$145 BILLION in US taxpayer dollars and ordinance, and Child Rapist Zelensky begging everyone in the world for more money and ordinance and shaming people who won't give him what he wants.

This ain't David vs. Goliath here.

This is NATO backed Iron Man vs. some old dude on a hill that just wants to be left alone.

This year the US will spend another $1 trillion on defense. Who is the US defending itself from? From the past records, we know what country was used as the justification for these huge defense budgets. It is Russia. The US has already spent more than $10 trillion in a nuclear arms race with Russia, but since 1945 the US never had the guts to beat the shit out of the Russians so that there would not be an arms race. But at long last, there is a country (Ukraine) that is beating the shit out of Russians, but 6ix wants the beating to stop. What is going on in 6ix's head?

6ix, what the fucking hell is wrong with YOU? Is your diabetes rotting your brain? Or have your failures in life or did your neglectful/drug-addled mommy damage your personality? It is fitting that Trump, the coward who dodged the Vietnam War draft, is your leader. He is saying he could win the Ukraine war in a day. Trump is preposterous. That worthless asshole has never fought in his life. Trump is as cowardly as you are, 6ix.

Trump: I will end Ukraine war in 24 hours but I won’t tell you how
https://nypost.com/2023/03/27/trump-i-will-end-ukraine-war-in-24-hours
-but-i-wont-tell-you-how
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023 9:43 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


What's going on in my brain is FUCK UKRAINE.

I want to know what's going in in YOUR BRAIN, dipshit.

Somehow the Democrats turned you into a pro-military warmonger with a fear boner.

You sound like a fucking NeoCon in 2023.

Get fucked.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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