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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
Monday, June 5, 2023 9:36 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: Apparently Ukrainian attacks were repelled and Kiev lost more than 16 tanks and 3,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
Monday, June 5, 2023 10:24 PM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Monday, June 5, 2023 11:07 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Fuck Ukraine.
Monday, June 5, 2023 11:54 PM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Fuck Ukraine.Ukraine will flush Russia down the toilet.
Quote:In response, 6ix, please don't brag about how well your life is going because your lying is sad and unconvincing as are Russian lies:
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:51 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Fuck Ukraine.Ukraine will flush Russia down the toilet. Russia will crush Ukraine.
Quote:KYIV, Ukraine (AP) â Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine that Russia controls, sending water gushing from the breached facility and threatening possible massive flooding and what officials called an âecological disaster.â Ukrainian authorities ordered hundreds of thousands of residents downriver to evacuate. Russian officials countered that the Kakhovka dam was damaged by Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area. The fallout could have broad consequences: Flooding homes, streets and businesses downstream; depleting water levels upstream that help cool Europeâs largest nuclear power plant; and draining supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 6:26 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Looks like Ukraine is being flushed down the toilet as we speak...
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 6:28 AM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 8:31 AM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 12:56 PM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Quote: Journalists Are Asking Ukrainian Soldiers To Hide Their Nazi Patches, NYT Admits ...The surprising Monday Times headline said that "Nazi Symbols on Ukraineâs Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History." This acknowledgement comes after literally years of primarily indy journalists and geopolitical commentators pointing out that yes indeed... Ukraine's military and paramilitary groups, especially those operating in the east since at least 2014, have a serious Nazi ideology problem.
Quote: Nazi Symbols on Ukraineâs Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History A soldier resting in a trench. A small bag on his belly bears a blue and yellow patch with a black skull emblem on it. An image of a Ukrainian soldier wearing a patch containing the Totenkopf symbol, an example of Nazi iconography, that was posted on the Twitter account of Ukraineâs Defense Ministry, then deleted. Credit...Vlad Novak, via Ukraine MOD Twitter account Thomas Gibbons-Neff By Thomas Gibbons-Neff Published June 5, 2023 Updated June 6, 2023, 10:59 a.m. ET KYIV, Ukraine â Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last year, the Ukrainian government and NATO allies have posted, then quietly deleted, three seemingly innocuous photographs from their social media feeds: a soldier standing in a group, another resting in a trench and an emergency worker posing in front of a truck. In each photograph, Ukrainians in uniform wore patches featuring symbols that were made notorious by Nazi Germany and have since become part of the iconography of far-right hate groups. The photographs, and their deletions, highlight the Ukrainian militaryâs complicated relationship with Nazi imagery, a relationship forged under both Soviet and German occupation during World War II. That relationship has become especially delicate because President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has falsely declared Ukraine to be a Nazi state, a claim he has used to justify his illegal invasion.
Quote: Ukraine has worked for years through legislation and military restructuring to contain a fringe far-right movement whose members proudly wear symbols steeped in Nazi history and espouse views hostile to leftists, L.G.B.T.Q. movements and ethnic minorities. But some members of these groups have been fighting Russia since the Kremlin illegally annexed part of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 and are now part of the broader military structure. Some are regarded as national heroes, even as the far-right remains marginalized politically. The iconography of these groups, including a skull-and-crossbones patch worn by concentration camp guards and a symbol known as the Black Sun, now appears with some regularity on the uniforms of soldiers fighting on the front line, including soldiers who say the imagery symbolizes Ukrainian sovereignty and pride, not Nazism.
Quote: In the short term, that threatens to reinforce Mr. Putinâs propaganda and give fuel to his false claims that Ukraine must be âde-Nazifiedâ â a position that ignores the fact that Ukraineâs president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
Quote: More broadly, Ukraineâs ambivalence about these symbols, and sometimes even its acceptance of them, risks giving new, mainstream life to icons that the West has spent more than a half-century trying to eliminate. âWhat worries me, in the Ukrainian context, is that people in Ukraine who are in leadership positions, either they donât or theyâre not willing to acknowledge and understand how these symbols are viewed outside of Ukraine,â said Michael Colborne, a researcher at the investigative group Bellingcat who studies the international far right. âI think Ukrainians need to increasingly realize that these images undermine support for the country.â
Quote: In a statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that, as a country that suffered greatly under German occupation, âWe emphasize that Ukraine categorically condemns any manifestations of Nazism.â So far, the imagery has not eroded international support for the war. It has, however, left diplomats, Western journalists and advocacy groups in a difficult position: Calling attention to the iconography risks playing into Russian propaganda. Saying nothing allows it to spread. Even Jewish groups and anti-hate organizations that have traditionally called out hateful symbols have stayed largely silent. Privately, some leaders have worried about being seen as embracing Russian propaganda talking points. Questions over how to interpret such symbols are as divisive as they are persistent, and not just in Ukraine. In the American South, some have insisted that today, the Confederate flag symbolizes pride, not its history of racism and secession. The swastika was an important Hindu symbol before it was blah blah blah ...
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 1:11 PM
Quote: 1000s Evacuated As Massive Wall Of Water Surges Through Ukraine After Major Dam 'Blown Up' Tuesday, Jun 06, 2023 - 04:20 AM Images and videos posted on social media show a major dam and hydroelectric power plant in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, located in southern Ukrainian, destroyed early Tuesday. Water rushed through the dam into the Dnieper River, which separates Ukrainian and Russian forces. Both sides accuse each other of the attack that puts tens of thousands of homes at risk and might even threaten the safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Source: Washington Post It was not immediately clear who was responsible for blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a drone video showing the damaged dam as water gushed downriver. Zelenskyy blamed "Russian terrorists." Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land. Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror. Itâs only⌠pic.twitter.com/ErBog1gRhH
Quote: The situation appears critical as Ukraine's state power agency said the damaged dam poses an additional threat to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station. "Water from the Kakhovka Reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP. The station's cooling pond is now full: as of 8:00 a.m., the water level is 16.6 meters, which is sufficient for the station's needs," the agency said.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 1:13 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 1:16 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 1:30 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 1:47 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: IMHO Progozhin has lost it. Bakhmut is firmly in Russia's hands, and Progozhin wasn't anywhre near the latest fighting, so how would he know?
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:33 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: IMHO Progozhin has lost it. Bakhmut is firmly in Russia's hands, and Progozhin wasn't anywhre near the latest fighting, so how would he know? SECOND: Tell me how you know where Prigozhin was and what he knows.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:39 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:41 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: You know Joe Biden* blew up the dam. -------------------------------------------------- Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 7:24 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 9:45 PM
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 11:03 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: In other words, no sweat off Putin's balls. Meanwhile, child rapist Zelensky has spent over $150 Billion in US taxpayer dollars and will run out by September if we don't give him more. Go Joe*! Keep that sunk cost fallacy up in perpetuity until the US Dollar is worthless.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 6:48 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:10 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:11 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space
Quote: war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones.
Quote: The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive...
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:27 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:32 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be "Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:40 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 8:01 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 9:30 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: In other words, no sweat off Putin's balls. Meanwhile, child rapist Zelensky has spent over $150 Billion in US taxpayer dollars and will run out by September if we don't give him more. Go Joe*! Keep that sunk cost fallacy up in perpetuity until the US Dollar is worthless.The US Defense Department wrote on May 31, 2023: In total, the United States has committed more than $30.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $32.4 billion and more than $29.8 billion since the beginning of Russiaâs unprovoked and brutal invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Quote:I get the feeling that 6ixStringJack is Stupid and Crazy and Dishonest. He'd make a fine Russian. And 6ix, just like Trump, does not pay taxes so all the whininess about tax dollars is his nuttiness.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 10:13 AM
THG
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by second: Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space Funny but that's not what the article says. Quote: war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones. Ya think? Quote: The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive... There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be "Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space"
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 10:22 AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 12:59 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SECOND: Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia can be seen from space SIGNY: unny but that's not what the article says. Quote: war-related fires may be the result of Russian attacks as well as Ukrainian ones. Ya think? Quote: The overall number of war-related fires has not increased in the past few days. ... IF the Ukrainians truly have begun their counter-offensive... There is literally nothing in the article about a Ukrainian advance. Anywhere. In fact, they apparently can't even detect a counteroffensive yet. A more accurate title would be "Ukrainian advances on Donetsk and Zaporizhia might be able to be seen from space" THUGR: Being Russian comrade Signym wouldnât know that you probe an enemy as you start an offensive. Youâre looking for weak spots and even strong areas of resistance you may want to avoid. You look for areas you can take advantage of. This is what is happening now.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 2:43 PM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 4:46 PM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 4:47 PM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Putin's Shifting Strategy Anders Ă slund, an economist and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, said that the conflict has now entered a "new phase." "Putin has gradually changed strategy," Ă slund, who has served as an economic adviser to the governments of Russia and Ukraine, told Newsweek. "During the first week of the war, the Russians just tried to go in and take everything. They did not bomb anything but really military targets," he said. Russian forces then targeted Ukraine's critical infrastructure from October 2022 in retaliation for an attack on the Kerch bridge. This links the annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia. Kyiv denied responsibility. "First, they went for the [power] grid, and then, from January, they went for the power stations. So they have gone deeper and deeper into infrastructure, in steps," said Ă slund. He drew a comparison between the dam's destruction and how Iraqi President Saddam Hussein set oil wells on fire in 1991 when he was forced out of Kuwait. "When you have lost territory, then you destroy it," Ă slund said. "I think that this is something that you do when you give up. It's not an offensive action but sour grapes. [Russia is saying], 'We have lost the apple; we are destroying as much as possible.'" Domestic Stability Ă slund said he believes the Russian leader has become increasingly concerned about his domestic stability in Russia. There have been recent attacks by Russian anti-Putin militia groups in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. "It's also important that these incursions into the bordering regions show that Russia cannot defend its own border. So, all of a sudden, Putin has spoken about it repeatedly, 'it's a question of our country's survival,'" Ă slund said. "They substantially changed tone from being aggressive to claiming some false victimhood, but I think that he's really concerned about domestic stability now," Ă slund added. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment. https://www.newsweek.com/putin-war-ukraine-new-phase-kakhovka-dam-flooding-russia-1804965
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 5:45 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: OMFG. So, let's see... Russia blew up its own gas pipelines to deny Germany natgas...when it could have simply turned off the taps? And Russia was shelling the Zaparozhiy Nuclear Power Plant even tho they were positioned there? And Russia blew up the Kakhova Dam even tho they were in control of it, to sweep away a Ukrainian advance (that wasn't happening) ...even tho they could have simply opened the gates??? How stupid do they think we are?? How stupid are YOU, Nazi troll? Jeez!!
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 6:30 PM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 6:53 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 7:31 PM
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 8:04 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I think YOU'RE the one who keeps going on and on about how perfect you are and how stupid "Trumptards" are and how evil and subhuman Russians are, and how they deserve to be killed, Nazi troll SECOND: Attacking Ukraine's Kakhovka Dam Fits Russia's Centuries' Old Pattern by Christopher Atwood All it takes is a brief review of Russian state television to understand what drives Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Just days before the destruction of the dam, a prominent Russian propagandist called for the destruction of "every living thing" in one of Ukraine's eastern regions in order to "punish and deter" Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 8:17 PM
Quote: First There Were Neo-Nazis, Then There Were No Nazis, Then There Were June 6, 2023 By Patrick Lawrence / Original to ScheerPost I tell you, serving as a New York Times correspondent these days cannot be easy. You have to convey utter nonsense to your readers while maintaining a straight face and a serious demeanor. You have to suggest the Russians may have exploded a drone over the Kremlin, that they may have blown up their own gas pipeline, that their president is an out-of-touch psychotic, that their soldiers in Ukraine are drunkards using faulty equipment, that they attack with âhuman hordesâ (Orientalism, anyone?) and on and onâall the while affecting the gravitas once associated with the traditional âTimesman.â You try it sometime. I am reminded of that pithy passage in Daniel Boorstinâs regrettably overlooked book, The Image. âThe reporterâs task,â Boorstin wrote in 1962, âis to find a way of weaving these threads of unreality into a fabric that the reader will not recognize as entirely unreal.â Boorstin reflected on Americaâs resort to imagery, illusion, and distortion as Washington geared up its gruesome follies in Vietnam. The reporterâs task is a whole lot harder now, given how much farther we have wandered into illusion and distortion since Boorstinâs day. And now we have the case of Thomas GibbonsâNeff, a square-jawed former Marine covering the Ukraine war for The Timesâstrictly to the extent the Kyiv regime permits him to do so, as he explains with admirable honesty. This guy is serious times 10, he and his newspaper want us to know. Tomâs job this week is to persuade us that all those Ukrainian soldiers wearing Nazi insignia, idolizing Jew-murdering, Russophobic collaborators with the Third Reich, gathering ritually in Nazi-inspired cabals, marching through Kyiv in Klan-like torch parades are not what you think. Nah, our Tom tells us. They look like neoâNazis, they act like neoâNazis, they dress like neoâNazis, they profess Fascist and neoâNazi ideologies, they wage this war with the Wehrmachtâs visceral hatred of RussiansâO.K., but whyever would you think they are neoâNazis? They are just regular guys. They wear the Wolfsangel, the Schwarze sonne, the black sun, the Totenkopf, or Deathâs Headâall Nazi symbolsâbecause they are proud of themselves, and these are the kinds of things proud people wear. I was just wearing mine the other day. The slipping and sliding starts early in âNazi Symbols on Ukraineâs Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History,â the piece GibbonsâNeff published in Mondayâs editions. He begins with three photographs of neoâNazi Ukrainian soldiers, SS insignia plainly visible, that the Kyiv regime has posted on social media, âthen quietly deleted,â since the Russian intervention began last year. âThe photographs, and their deletions,â GibbonsâNeff writes, âhighlight the Ukrainian militaryâs complicated relationship with Nazi imagery, a relationship forged under both Soviet and German occupation during World War II.â Complicated relationship with Nazi imagery? Stop right there, Mr. Semper fi. Ukraineâs neoâNazi problem is not about a few indiscreetly displayed images. Sorry. The Ukrainian armyâs âcomplicated relationshipâ is with a century of ultra-right ideology drawn from Mussoliniâs Fascism and then the German Reich. As is well-known and documented, the neoâNazis who infest the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the AFUâamong many other national institutionsâhave made idols of such figures as Stepan Bandera, the freakishly murderous nationalist who allied with the Nazi regime during the war. This history is a matter of record, as briefly outlined here, but GibbonsâNeff alludes to none of it. Itâs merely a matter of poor image-making, you see. In support of this offensive whitewash, GibbonsâNeff has the nerve to quote a source from none other than Bellingcat, which was long, long back exposed as a CIA and MI6 cutout and which is now supported by the Atlantic Council, the NATOâfunded, spook-infested think tank based in Washington. âWhat worries me, in the Ukrainian context, is that people in Ukraine who are in leadership positions, either they donât or theyâre not willing to acknowledge and understand how these symbols are viewed outside of Ukraine,â a Bellingcat âresearcherâ named Michael Colborne tells GibbonsâNeff. âI think Ukrainians need to increasingly realize that these images undermine support for the country.â Think about that. The presence of Nazi elements in the AFU is not a worry. The worry is merely whether clear signs of Nazi sympathies might cause some members of the Western alliance to decide they no longer want to support Nazi elements in the AFU. I am reminded of that Public Broadcasting news segment last year, wherein a provincial governor is featured with a portrait of Bandera behind him. PBS simply blurred the photograph and ran the interview with another of the courageous, admirable Ukrainians to which we are regularly treated. I hardly need remind paying-attention readers that the neoâNazis-who-are-not-neoâNazis were for years well-reported as simply neoâNazis in the years after the U.S.âcultivated coup in 2014. The Times, The Washington Post, PBS, CNNâthe whole sorry lotâran pieces on neoâNazi elements in the AFU and elsewhere. In March 2018, Reuters published a commentary by Jeff Cohen under the headline âUkraineâs NeoâNazi Problem.â Three months later The Atlantic Council, for heavenâs sake, published a paper, also written by Cohen, titled, âUkraineâs Got a Real Problem with FarâRight Violence (And no, RT Didnât Write This Headline).â I recall, because it was so surprising coming from the council, that the original head on that paper was âUkraineâs Got a NeoâNazi Problem,â but that version now seems lost to the blur of stealth editing. Then came the Russian intervention, and Poof! There are no more neoâNazis in Ukraine. There are only these errant images that are of no special account. And to assert there are neoâNazis in Ukraineâto have some semblance of memory and a capacity to judge what is before oneâs eyesââplays into Russian propaganda,â GibbonsâNeff warns us. It is to âgive fuel to hisââVladimir Putinâsââfalse claims that Ukraine must be deâNazified.â For good measure GibbonsâNeff gets out the old Volodymyr-Zelensky-is-Jewish chestnut, as if this is proof of⌠of something or other. My mind goes to that lovely Donovan lyric from the Scottish singerâs Zen enlightenment phase. Remember âThere Is a Mountain?â The famous lines went, âFirst there is a mountain/ Then there is no mountain/ Then there is.â There were neoâNazis in Ukraine, then there were no neoâNazis, and now there are neoâNazis but they arenât neoâNazis after all. There are a few things to think about as we consider Thomas GibbonsâNeffâs story, other than the fact that it is horse-droppings as a piece of journalism. For one thing, nowhere in it does he quote or reference any member of the AFUâno one wearing a uniform, no one sporting one of these troubling insignia. Various image-managing officials speak to him about the neoâNazis who-are-not-neoâNazis, but we never hear from any neoâNazi-who-is-not-a-neoâNazi to explain things as a primary source, so to say. I wager GibbonsâNeff never got within 20 miles of one: He wouldnât dare, for then he would have to quote one of these insignia-sporting people saying that of course he was a neoâNazi. Canât you read, son? For another, GibbonsâNeff resolutely avoids dilating his lens such that the larger phenomenon comes into view. It all comes down to those three unfortunate insignia in those three deleted photographs. The parades, the corridors of neoâNazi flags, the ever-present swastikas, the reenactments of all-night SS rituals, the glorification of Nazis and Nazi collaborators, the Russophobic blood lust: Sure, it can all be explained, except that our Timesman does not go anywhere near any of this. GibbonsâNeffâs story follows by 10 days an even more contorted piece of pretzel-like rubbish published in The Kyiv Independent, a not-independent daily that has been supported by various Western governments. This is by one Illia Ponomarenko, a reporter much-lionized in the West, and appeared under the headline, âWhy some Ukrainian soldiers use Nazi-related insignia.â This is the kind of piece that is so bad it tips into fun. âNo, Ukraine does not have âa Nazi problem,ââ Ponomarenko states flatly, and this is the last flat sentence we get in this piece. âJust like in many places around the world, people with far-right and neoâNazi views, driven by their ideology, are prone to joining the military and participating in conflicts,â he writes. And then this doozy, where begins a riot of irrationality: "It is, of course, true that, for instance, the Azov Battalion was originally founded by neoâNazi and far-right groups (as well as many soccer ultra-fans), which brought along with it the typical aestheticsânot only neoâNazi insignia but also things like Pagan rituals or names like âThe Black Corps,â the official newspaper of Nazi Germanyâs major paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel (SS)." But worry not, readers. It is merely an aesthetic, part of a harmless, misunderstood âsubcultureâ: " In the oversimplified memory of some around the world, particularly within various militaristic subcultures, symbols representing the Wehrmacht, Nazi Germanyâs Armed Forces, and the SS are seen to reflect a super-effective war machine, not the perpetrators of one of the greatest crimes against humanity in human history." But of course. SS insignia, Wehrmacht iconography: Seen it everywhere people admire super-effective war machines. Remember this logic next time some liberal flamer proposes to persecute a MAGA supporter who partakes of this âsubculture.â Has Tom GibbonsâNeff given us a rewrite job? Having been around the block for a good long time, I have seen this kind of thing often enoughâcorrespondents scoring off the local dailies to look deep and penetrating back on the foreign desk. It is also possible, assuming for a moment GibbonsâNeffâs editors still read other newspapers, that they asked him for just such a piece after seeing Ponomarenkoâs. Either way, we get this in Ponomarenkoâs recognizably illogical style: " Questions over how to interpret such symbols are as divisive as they are persistent, and not just in Ukraine. In the American South, some have insisted that today, the Confederate flag symbolizes pride, not its history of racism and secession. The swastika was an important Hindu symbol before it was co-opted by the Nazis." If you are going to reach, Tom, may as well reach for the stars. We have a New York Times correspondent quoting Ukraineâs Defense Ministry and Bellingcat, an intel cutout that is part of a NATO think tank, and then rather too closely, I would say, aping a Western-supported newspaper in Kyiv. Yes, Virginia, I believe we all got ourselves one of them there echo chambers, just the way the Deep State likes âem. Last March, GibbonsâNeff was interviewed by The New York Times. Yes, they do this sort of thing down there on Eighth Avenue, where they simply cannot get enough of themselves. It is enlightening. The unfortunate Times reporter assigned as the straight man asked, as our intrepid correspondent self-aggrandized, âWhat have been the biggest challenges in covering the war?â GibbonsâNeffâs reply is pricelessly revealing. âWrestling with access and being allowed to go certain places to see things that you need the press officer for, or permission from the military unit,â the fearless exâMarine explains. âUkrainians know how to manage the press fairly well. So navigating those parameters and not rubbing anyone the wrong way has always been tough.â Forget about bombs, missiles, gore, the fog of war, courageous sergeants, trench stench, grenades, or any of the other horrors of battle. GibbonsâNeffâs big problems as he pretends to cover the Ukraine war are maintaining access, getting the Kyiv gatekeepersâ permission to go someplace, and avoiding annoying the regimeâs authorities. Does this tell you everything you want to know about our Timesman or what? It is always interesting to ask why a piece such as this appears when it does. Dead silence for months on the neoâNazi question, and then suddenly a long explainer that does its best to avoid explaining anything. Always interesting to ask, never easy to answer. It could be that a lot of stuff on these awful people is sifting out from under the carpet. Or maybe something big is on the way and this piece is preemptive. Or maybe either GibbonsâNeff or his editors saw the Ponomarenko piece as an opportunity to dispose of one of the Kyiv regimeâs most embarrassing features. Or maybe the larger context counts here. As mentioned in this space last week, The Timesâs Steve Erlanger recently suggested from Brussels that NATO might do a postwar Germany job with Ukraine: Welcome the west of the country to the alliance and let the eastern provinces go for an indefinite period, unification the long-term objective. Late last week Foreign Affairs ran a fantastical piece by Andriy Zagorodnyuk, formerly a Ukrainian defense minister and now, yes indeedy, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. It appeared under the headline, âTo Protect Europe, Let Ukraine Join NATOâRight Now.â Zagorodnyukâs argument is as loopy as his subhead, âNo Country Is Better at Stopping Russia.â But these kinds of assertions, dreamily hyperbolic as they may be, have a purpose. They serve to enlarge the field of acceptable discourse. They inch us closer to normalizing the thought that Ukraine must be accepted in the North Atlantic alliance for our sake, the sake of the West, no matter how provocative such a move will prove. This suggest that GibbonsâNeffâs piece, along with the one he followed in the Kyiv paper, are by way of a cleanup job. The Western press, working closely with intelligence agencies, did its best to prettify the savage jihadists attempting to bring down the Assad government in Damascus, you will recall. Remember the âmoderate rebels?â Maybe GibbonsâNeff is on an equally dishonorable errand. Semper fi, huh? Always faithful to what?
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 9:25 PM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: OMFG. So, let's see... Russia blew up its own gas pipelines to deny Germany natgas...when it could have simply turned off the taps? And Russia was shelling the Zaparozhiy Nuclear Power Plant even tho they were positioned there? And Russia blew up the Kakhova Dam even tho they were in control of it, to sweep away a Ukrainian advance (that wasn't happening) ...even tho they could have simply opened the gates??? How stupid do they think we are?? How stupid are YOU, Nazi troll? Jeez!!You, 6ix, Trump, and Russian State TV announcers have got two things in common: highly articulate
Thursday, June 8, 2023 7:25 AM
Thursday, June 8, 2023 7:56 AM
Thursday, June 8, 2023 1:46 PM
Thursday, June 8, 2023 2:03 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: How can you POSSIBKY keep thumping such ridiculous lies, Nazi troll? Yanno, you're like good Berliner Nazis at the end of WWII: They firmly believed that some wunderwaffe would defend them. LOSUNG THE WAR TO RUSSIA CAME AS A VAST SURPRISE.
Thursday, June 8, 2023 2:04 PM
Thursday, June 8, 2023 2:43 PM
Thursday, June 8, 2023 4:46 PM
Friday, June 9, 2023 5:35 AM
Quote: So, as you can see. The enemy approached the minefields in the âno manâs landâ between the two armies south of Orekhov. They rode in vehicles with headlights off, counting on their fancy NATO ânightvisionâ. They began to clear mines with trawls and with the UR-77 âSnake Gorynchâ mine clearer. However, many of them still appeared to hit mines anyway at one point or another. Russian analyst Yuriy Podolyaka gives further details: Yuriy Podolyaka: "The Armed Forces of Ukraine could not clear the fields, they are forced to go through narrow corridors. There are shots of a cluster of tanks: one is hit, and the rest are afraid to bypass it, run into mines. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are compressed, our artillery and aviation are working. All night long, our night hunters worked as a carousel, shooting a lot of enemy equipment.
Friday, June 9, 2023 5:58 AM
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