REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 27, 2024 17:47
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Sunday, May 26, 2024 10:54 AM

SECOND

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


The US gave up sending Ukraine Excalibur guided artillery shells costing $100,000 because they rarely hit their target, report says

By Cameron Manley | May 26, 2024, 8:03 AM CDT

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-gave-up-sending-ukraine-100k-excali
bur-shells-hit-targets-2024-5

From January to August 2023 the proportion of confirmed successful strikes with Excalibur shells dropped from a high of 55% to a low of 7% in July and 6% in August. During this time, Ukraine was attempting to wage its summer counteroffensive which ultimately failed.

Researchers collected data on the use of some 3,000 Excalibur shells fired by American-supplied M777 howitzers on the front lines in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson, the northern city of Kharkiv, and the eastern city of Bakhmut.

According to a person familiar with the report who spoke to The Times, at one point, only one in 19 Excalibur rounds was hitting its target.

One of the classified reports stated that at this rate, the price of a successful strike increased from $300,000 to $1.9 million.

When first delivered, the M982 Excalibur shells were hailed as a game changer for Ukraine. The GPS-guided 155 mm shells offered an accurate, longer-range alternative to conventional artillery shells, capable of hitting within seven feet of their target.

More about weapons not worth buying, except at a steep discount, from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-gave-up-sending-ukraine-100k-excali
bur-shells-hit-targets-2024-5

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

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Sunday, May 26, 2024 2:21 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Curious about Gazprom. In 2022 it had a net profit of $1.3 Trillion (that's with a "T").

So why the fall in 2023? Is it really about sanctions?

Part of the issue is falling gas prices as natgas suppliers responded to high prices by turning on the taps: a fall from peak $10 per million British Therms Units (USD/ MMBTU) in 2022 to $2/MM BTU in 2023, and sometimes lower.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/images/2023.07.24/main.svg

According to Komersant newspaper,
Quote:
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), produced 404 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in 2023, down around 9% from a year earlier due to lower exports to Europe, the Kommersant newspaper reported late on Thursday.
Russia's largest natural gas producer has not disclosed its output data and does not comment on its production.


So apparently gas was flowing to... somewhere ... in 2022, even tho supposedly Russia had already turned off the taps, and after sanctions had been imposed, and after USA blew up Nordstream. To make the point clearer, even after gas was no longer supposedly being piped to Europe (in 2022) , Gazprom managed to deliver a lot of gas that year.

Maybe it was to China. Maybe it was for internal use, or maybe gas was still being piped thru alternate routes. Or maybe it was just a cold year the almost everywhere on the Eurasian continent that year.

Alternate routes

https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/26769.jpeg



There are potentially a lot of reasons why gas deliveries were down in 2023, and a VERY obvious reason (gas prices) why revenues were down. Not necessarily bc of sanctions. I'd like to look into this further. But since Gazprom doesn't comment on deliveries (Refiners here don't publish throughput or any other indication of throughput - e.g. mass emissions, catalyst usage, deliveries of other supplies etc.- bc that would give their competitors an advantage) I'm left guessing. I suppose one thing I could look at are their brag-rags about delivery capacity to China. Of course, CAPACITY does not mean DELIVERY. China may not, for instance, be using as much nat gas as projected bc of internal financial turmoil.

But judging by how quickly prices fell after 2022 it appears that there is no real shortage of natgas anywhere, bc multiple sources just turned on the taps all at once.

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Monday, May 27, 2024 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


Russia is producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine's Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost

Sunday 26 May 2024

Sky News, citing open-source research from US-based consulting firm Bain & Company, reported on May 26 that Russian DIB producers will likely be able to manufacture and refurbish 4.5 million artillery shells in 2024 compared to 1.3 million artillery shells that the US and European countries will collectively produce in 2024.

Sky News reported that it costs Western countries about $4,000 to produce one NATO-standard 155mm shell – although this price "significantly" varies depending on the country of production – while it costs Russia about $1,000 to produce one 152mm shell.

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-is-producing-artillery-shells-around
-three-times-faster-than-ukraines-western-allies-and-for-about-a-quarter-of-the-cost-13143224

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

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Monday, May 27, 2024 11:10 AM

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


Baltic officials said they could send troops to Ukraine without waiting for NATO if Russia scores a breakthrough: report

By Matthew Loh | Mon, May 27, 2024 at 9:23 AM CDT

https://www.yahoo.com/news/baltic-officials-said-could-send-071820267.
html

Russia threatened to nuke them if they did, a threat made a million times before today.

Putin's ally warns which move would 'start a world war' in outburst against NATO official

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev lashed out against the high-ranking minister of a NATO member in a social media message.

By Alice Scarsi | 13:12, Mon, May 27, 2024

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1904004/putin-ally-dmitry-medvede
v-nuclear-threats-nato

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

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Monday, May 27, 2024 12:01 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Baltic officials said they could send troops to Ukraine without waiting for NATO if Russia scores a breakthrough: report


Good.

All 30 of them will die in combat, and Article 5 won't be invoked.

This is like watching a chihuahua chasing a bus.
What is WRONG with those people?
Don't they do arithmetic there?

*****

Quote:
SECOND: Russia threatened to nuke them if they did, a threat made a million times before today.


Your linked webpage has the word "nuclear" in it 8 times, four times in the article, and in four links to other webpages.

Here is where "nuclear" is mentioned, in context

Quote:
Vladimir Putin's ally has issued a major warning to the West, after a NATO official played down Russia's nuclear threats.

...

He [Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski] told the Guardian: "The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn’t kill anybody, we will hit all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we’ll destroy all of them.

...

China knows that Japan and Korea would go nuclear, and presumably they don’t want that."

...


Medvedev then referred to Polish President Andrzej Duda saying in April his country is "ready" to host nuclear weapons on its territory if the Western military alliance decides to reinforce its eastern flank, feared to be Moscow's next target.


FWIW, I too don't believe that Russia will use nukes IN UKRAINE. Or elsewhere, unless it is existentially threatened. Bc Ukraine's forces and installations are too dispersed to make good targets, even for tactical nukes. The only target I've heard mentioned that might justify a tactical nuke is an old Soviet airbase in western Ukraine that could host F-16s, which is so large that conventional weapons can't destroy it. But Russia just hit it with a bunch of conventional missiles, so I presume that's Russia's approach.

AFA 'elsewhere', Russia has conventional missiles that can hit and destroy "decison making centers" and military assets (bases, installations etc) anywhere in Europe. The exception to that might be the American missile base in Poland which houses nuclear-capable misiles. Russia might want to nuke it with a ballistic missile, should America decide to arm theirs with nuclear weapons, and especially is America keeps targeting Russian strategic weapons warning systems, using Ukraine to do it.

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Monday, May 27, 2024 6:21 PM

SECOND

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


Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil Depot Deep Behind Enemy Lines

Published May 27, 2024 at 7:38 AM EDT

This is no way to fight a war:

Kyiv has sought permission from its allies to strike targets on Russian soil using Western weapons. But Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman, told Newsweek last week that the U.S. has "been very clear that we do not support or enable strikes inside Russia."

"The security assistance we provide them is for use within Ukraine (to include Crimea). And the Ukrainian government understands our position," Dietz said. "For one thing, targeting Russia's oil refineries can negatively impact global security and stability. But ultimately Ukraine is responsible for its own operations, so I'll let them speak for themselves."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Economist published on May 25 that members of the military alliance should "consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they have imposed on weapons donated to Ukraine."

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-strikes-russian-oil-depot-oryol-19049
28

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 7:23 AM

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The NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted a declaration on May 27 calling for NATO states to support Ukraine's "international right" to defend itself by lifting "some restrictions" on Ukraine's use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory.[1] The declaration also calls for member states to accelerate their deliveries of critical weapons to Ukraine, and more than 200 representatives of NATO member states supported the declaration. Some NATO states, including the UK, have already lifted such restrictions on weapons they provide to Ukraine, but not enough Western states have done so to allow Ukraine to challenge Russia's sanctuary from which it can freely conduct airstrikes or stage ground operations against Ukraine.[2] Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson told Swedish outlet Hallandsposten on May 26 in response to a question about Ukraine using Swedish-provided weapons against Russian territory that Sweden supports Ukraine's right under international law to defend itself through combat operations against Russian territory so long as these operations comply with international laws on combat.[3]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-27-2024

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 7:24 AM

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


Putin's Billion Dollar Plane And Car Collection



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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 7:28 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I wouldn't worry yourself with what car Putin drives around.

You've got 5 months and 1 week to "save" Ukraine.

Tick Tock

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 7:55 AM

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


WSJ: Russia aims to produce 6,000 Shahed-type drones a year in Tatarstan

By Kateryna Hodunova | May 28, 2024 1:51 PM

https://kyivindependent.com/wsj-russia-aims-to-produce-6-000-shahed-ty
pe-drones-a-year-in-tatarstan/

Russia plans to produce 6,000 Shahed-type drones per year, in addition to surveillance drones, at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on May 28, referring to a contract leaked by the Prana Network hacker group.

The Russian military has been using cheap but effective drones to attack Ukraine since fall 2022. Western media, such as the New York Times, has reported the cost of each Shahed-136 drone to be as low as $20,000.

Russia is reportedly ramping up domestic production of its own version of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, relying on Chinese components and Iranian technologies.

Moscow signed a deal with Tehran to build the domestic drone plant in late 2022 in Tatarstan, obliging to partly pay $1.7 billion in gold bars, the WSJ said.

The terms of the deal were revealed in February by the Prana Network, which claimed to break into email servers associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Russia aims to reach the production level of 6,000 Shahed attack drones a year at the Alabuga facility, while the factory was already ahead of its production schedule in April, the WSJ said. It has produced 4,500 Shaheds, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Russian personnel are currently learning to operate the drones in Syria with instructors from both the Revolutionary Guard and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, according to Ukraine's military intelligence and a former Syrian officer with conflict-monitor group Etana.

The factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone also produces reconnaissance drones, such as the M3Albatross, which have collected detailed photographic intelligence on Ukrainian positions and movements on the front line.

The domestic-produced drones also helped to repel Ukrainian attempts of incursion into Belgorod Oblast on the countries' shared border, the manufacturer claimed.

Russia yet needs skilled workers to assemble drones to ramp up its production further, the article read. Moscow started to recruit specialists, mainly young female students, in Africa, according to the WSJ.

Russian businesses offered African students a skilled job paying three times the wage at home, with airfare, free accommodation, and a university diploma to join the work-study program.

Over a thousand women have gone to the Alabuga free zone from all over Africa, while an additional thousand students will likely join in 2024, the WSJ said, citing Ugandan officials.

The Ukrainian military regularly attacks Russian facilities in the Tatarstan Republic.

In April, Ukrainian forces struck production facilities in Yelabuga, where the Alabuga Special Economic Zone is based, and Nizhnekamsk. The targets were an oil refinery and a manufacturing facility for the Shahed-type attack drones.

Soon after, on April 17, a factory in Tatarstan producing bomber aircraft for the Russian military was also attacked by Ukrainian drones, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) source told the Kyiv Independent.

Another Ukrainian attack against Russia's Tatarstan Republic was carried out on May 23.

Explainer: Iran’s cheap, effective Shahed drones and how Russia uses them in Ukraine
https://kyivindependent.com/explainer-irans-cheap-effective-shahed-dro
nes-and-how-russia-uses-them-in-ukraine/

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 8:23 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:
I wouldn't worry yourself with what car Putin drives around.

You've got 5 months and 1 week to "save" Ukraine.

Tick Tock

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
Most of this money ended up being spent inside the USA for ammo then shipped to Ukraine, creating jobs for Trumptards.

May 1, 2024 - The new legislation brings the total U.S. commitment to $175 billion since the beginning of the invasion.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-ukraine-aid-package-and-what-does-i
t-mean-future-war

Back in March 28, 2024, before Congress approved $61 billion more, the GAO wrote: Congress has approved $113 billion in response to the Ukraine crisis. Agencies also used other funds to address the crisis. (How much for "other funds"? The GAO doesn't say but there are graphs to show where the money goes.)
https://www.gao.gov/blog/whats-status-u.s.-assistance-ukraine-our-firs
t-reports-oversight-efforts

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-money-has-the-us-given-ukraine-
since-russias-invasion/

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 8:35 AM

SECOND

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


Russia Claims NATO Is Planning Nuclear Strikes

(How many years has Russia made the same claim? The answer is the same as how old is NATO.)

May 28, 2024 at 8:05 AM EDT

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-nato-nuclear-drills-1905123

An FSB intelligence chief has accused NATO countries of preparing to conduct nuclear strikes on Russian territory as tensions between the Kremlin and the alliance continue to grow

General Vladimir Kulishov, who heads the border service of Russia's main intelligence agency, told state news agency RIA Novosti that Moscow was concerned about an increase in NATO activities near the Russian border.

"NATO intelligence activities are increasing near the Russian border," he told the agency, as well as "the intensity of operational and combat training of the alliance's troops."

"Scenarios for conducting hostilities against the Russian Federation are being worked out, including nuclear strikes on our territory," he said.

Newsweek has contacted NATO for comment.

Kulishov's comments come amid a spike in nuclear posturing by Russia, with President Vladimir Putin this month ordering his military to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons after what Moscow said were threats from the West.

In parallel with the increased nuclear rhetoric, the Kremlin and its propagandists have framed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war between Moscow and the West, frequently criticizing NATO members' military assistance for Kyiv.

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 8:41 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Yeah, this whole "let's strike Russia" is the latest neocon and NATO narrative.

NATO is a sick elephant. It may not be able to function properly, but its thrashing is still dangerous. Let's hope it never goes nuclear.

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 3:11 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:
Yeah, this whole "let's strike Russia" is the latest neocon and NATO narrative.

NATO is a sick elephant. It may not be able to function properly, but its thrashing is still dangerous. Let's hope it never goes nuclear.
The EU is ridiculous:

May 27, 2024 5:20 pm CET

EU ministers fume as Hungary yet again blocks military aid for Ukraine

A large number of EU resolutions on Ukraine are being blocked by Hungary

“Almost all of our discussions and needed solutions and decisions by the EU are being blocked by just one country. So we have to start seeing this as a systematic approach towards any efforts by the EU to have any meaningful role in foreign affairs.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-ministers-outrageous-hungary-blocks
-military-aid-arms-ukraine/

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

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 3:16 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Putin once again warns the west about consequences of long-range attacks on Russia using western- supplied weapons.

Quote:
Kiev's Western backers need to understand that long-range strikes on Russian territory using weaponry they have supplied would represent a conflict escalation that would have “serious consequences,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day visit to Uzbekistan, Putin addressed recent Ukrainian demands for NATO to permit the use of their weapons to attack deep inside Russia as well as comments by the US-led bloc’s head, Jens Stoltenberg, appearing to endorse the tactic.

“To be honest, I don’t know what the NATO secretary-general is saying,” Putin told reporters, adding that Stoltenberg “did not suffer from any dementia” when he worked constructively with Russia as the prime minister of Norway (2005-2013).

Putin explained that long-range precision strikes require space reconnaissance assets – which Ukraine does not have, but the US does – and that their targeting is already done by “highly qualified specialists” from the West, without Ukrainian participation.

“So, these representatives of NATO countries, especially in Europe, especially in small countries, must be aware of what they are playing with,” the Russian president said, noting that a lot of these countries have “a small territory and a very dense population.”

Putin reminded reporters that their colleagues in the West never reported on the Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian regions along the border, only about the Russian advance on Kharkov.

“What caused this? They did, with their own hands. Well, then, they will reap what they have sown. The same thing can happen if long-range precision weapons are used,” the Russian president added.

Asked if Russia was refusing to negotiate with Ukraine, Putin told reporters that such claims by the West were baffling.

“We don’t refuse!” he said. “I’ve said it a thousand times, it’s like they don’t have ears!”

The Ukrainian side initialed an agreement with Russia in March 2022, then publicly reneged and refused to negotiate any further, Putin explained. He described Kiev’s current “peace conference” effort in Switzerland as an attempt to get some kind of international buy-in for their entirely unrealistic “peace platform,” which isn’t working out.


https://www.rt.com/russia/598350-putin-serious-consequences-west/



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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 3:26 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Ukraine claims second Rusian early- warning radar system destroyed by long range drone. Satellite photos appear to confirm.

Why are Ukrainians aiming at Russia's strategic defenses? What do THEY get out of it? Clearly, the targeting was done by the USA.

So is this USA's nuclear threat?
Or to provoke Russia to respond so that Article 5 can be invoked?
Or to allow USA to use tactical nukes in Ukraine?

I'm gobsmacked. I always thought the neocons were nuts, but they're nuttier than I imagined. They're playing with fire.

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024 5:20 AM

SECOND

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


Russian President Vladimir Putin grossly misrepresented the Ukrainian Constitution and Ukrainian domestic law on May 28 in order to further promote the Kremlin information operation claiming that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is no longer the legitimate president of Ukraine.

Russian allegations about Zelensky's lack of legitimacy are a known Kremlin information operation that Kremlin officials have been promoting extensively in recent weeks, in part targeted at foreign audiences. Putin made similar claims rejecting Zelensky as the president of Ukraine during a press conference in Minsk, Belarus on May 24.[10] Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov also denied Zelensky's legitimacy in an interview with Newsweek on May 25.[11] Putin's May 28 allegations contain specific legal jargon and references - largely incorrect or taken out of their legal context - to the text of the Ukrainian Constitution and laws. Putin is likely purposely inflating his statements with such nuanced legalese language to make it seem that he is highly educated in Ukrainian legal matters and is a definitive voice on the matter. The use of such language is likely also meant to cause listeners to believe Putin's false narratives without fact-checking, as legal jargon is inherently dense and opaque. The Ukrainian Constitution and the law relating to martial law, however, are not so opaque that a normal reader cannot understand them. The fact that Kremlin officials have recently promoted these narratives in detail at events in foreign countries and major Western publications suggests that this Kremlin information operation is largely aimed at foreign – predominantly Western – audiences.

Constitutional law details at https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-28-2024

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

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024 5:23 AM

SECOND

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


‘Putin’s worldview’

By Mansur Mirovalev | 27 May 2024

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/27/putins-worldview-inside-a
-ukrainian-village-turned-death-camp

In Yahidhe, Russian soldiers held 368 villagers underground for nearly a month – 17 died and the survivors carry deep scars.

Yahidne, Ukraine – Aged between 90 days and 91 years, almost everyone in this northern Ukrainian village was forced into a subterranean hell – and some did not come out alive.

That killing spree, marauding and destruction of property encapsulate the “essence” of what the Kremlin and its master planned to do in all of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month.

“It’s just one village, but it reflects the essence of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s worldview, his real goals,” Zelenskyy said on May 8.

In March 2022, Russian soldiers herded 368 villagers, including six dozen children, into the basement of their elementary school. The villagers spent 27 days in the damp, rancid and noisy darkness with no electricity and heat, with little food and so little fresh air that most were hypoxic to the point of catatonia.

They stayed there right next to the dead – 17 people, including 10 elderly villagers who died there – but Russian soldiers allowed other captives to bring them out and bury them only days later.

There are photos at https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/27/putins-worldview-inside-a
-ukrainian-village-turned-death-camp

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

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024 10:52 AM

SECOND

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


Ukraine's soldiers talk of exhaustion, faith, personal loss and a perilous shortage of munitions as Russian forces take new ground. Reuters traveled along the front line, where Ukrainian troops say Vladimir Putin must be beaten back. Otherwise, said one, "he’s not going to stop over here."

By MARI SAITO | May 29, 2024, 9 a.m. GMT

Photos by THOMAS PETER

Videos by CHARLOTTE BRUNEAU

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-war-frontl
ine/

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

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024 1:38 PM

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


Ukraine should be allowed to use Western arms against Russian military sites used to target Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said late Tuesday ( bowing to common military strategy rather than the cowardly politics of not offending your enemy. )

“How can we explain to Ukraine that they need to protect their cities . . . . but that they don’t have the right to attack where the missiles are coming from? It’s as if we were telling them we’re giving you arms but you cannot use them to defend yourself,” Macron said late Tuesday during a press conference in Meseberg, Germany.

Macron was joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who agreed Ukraine should be allowed to defend its territory as long as it respected the conditions of the weapons suppliers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of serious consequences if Russia is struck with Western weapons. ( Putin knows that tough talk is often enough to cause Cheese-eating Surrender Monkeys to surrender. )

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/29/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html

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

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024 2:00 PM

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Russia launched plans to sharply raise taxes on high earners and companies to fill state coffers and fund what it sees as a long war in Ukraine.

A government commission on Wednesday approved a Finance Ministry plan to introduce a new progressive income tax as well as raise corporate tax rates. The proposed amendments, which would come into force from next year, are expected to bring an additional 2.6 trillion rubles, or around $29 billion.

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-raises-income-tax-on-rich-to-p
ay-for-ukraine-war-a804cb14

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

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Thursday, May 30, 2024 12:24 AM

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


Advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Mykhaylo Podolyak stated that US-provided military aid has started arriving on the frontline but that it will take "weeks" for the gradual increase in US-provided military aid to reach "critical volumes."[1] Podolyak told Bloomberg in an article published on May 29 that Russian forces currently have the "absolute advantage" in shells and missiles and that Russian forces will continue to try to advance along the frontline presumably to take advantage of the time before US military assistance arrives in sufficient quantities at the front.

Podolyak warned that Russia may be trying to force Ukraine and its allies to freeze the current frontline — a situation that ISW has long assessed would be advantageous to Russia by giving the Russian military time to reconstitute and prepare for renewed aggression against Ukraine.[2]

Additional Western military assistance will also likely take time to reach the frontlines and to be properly integrated into Ukrainian frontline troop formations. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated on May 28 that the first "tens of thousands" of 155mm artillery ammunition sourced through the Czech-led initiative for Ukraine will arrive in Ukraine within "days."[3]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-29-2024

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

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Thursday, May 30, 2024 5:58 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 Kremlin is all-in on war in Ukraine. That includes transforming Russia’s economy.

By Fred Weir / May 29, 2024 at 4:03 PM

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2024/0529/russia-war-economy-uk
raine-sanctions

Amid its grinding war of attrition and economic mobilization against Ukraine, Russia is changing fast.

As the Defense Ministry spends ever-increasing amounts of money to procure the equipment it needs and to recruit more soldiers, the country’s business environment and economic geography are being reshaped. And the military-industrial complex, which was vastly downsized in post-Soviet years, is reviving quickly.

Confounding observers in many ways, Russia’s war economy, despite Western sanctions, is now back at a level that outproduces the entire West in some key military goods. And the Kremlin appears to be committed to a war economy approach for the long haul, as suggested by the recent reshuffling of Defense Ministry leadership.

Whether such an economic policy is viable is in debate. Optimists say the rapid economic development is economically positive on balance, or at least that Russia can sustain high levels of military spending for the foreseeable future. Pessimists argue that the Kremlin is building a permanent war economy, much like the one that strangled the Soviet Union, and that hopes of building a prosperous consumer economy are fast vanishing. But for the moment, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears all in.

“We have an overheating economy, and it’s changing in some ways. But for now it seems manageable,” says Alexei Vedev, an economist with the Gaidar Institute in Moscow. “If the war ends, as we all hope it will, it will be necessary to reverse some of the structural changes that are happening. We’ll have to seriously tackle inflation. And Russia needs sources of foreign investment,” which have largely dried up with the exodus of Western businesses from Russia.

Russia’s war engine

Many Western observers are belatedly acknowledging that Russia is politically consolidated and unexpectedly resistant to the most intense barrage of sanctions in history. And even while ostracized by the West and its friends, Russia appears to have strengthened its relations with China and many important countries of the Global South.

But most surprising has been the Russian economy’s capacity to field and equip a growing army amid a long, grinding war of attrition, while continuing to provide stable living standards for the population.

Though Russia’s gross domestic product shrank by 1.2% in 2022, it grew by 3.6% the next year and is expected to expand as much as 5% this year. Experts say that much of that growth is being driven by vastly increased military expenditures, which have ballooned from about $75 billion before the war to almost $400 billion this year. Thanks to its ability to continue exporting energy and raw materials, Russia can afford it.

The biggest shock, for many observers, has been the ability of Russia’s economy to rapidly ramp up war production to levels unseen since the Cold War. As recently as five years ago, Russian military spending was actually falling, but Mr. Putin recently said it’s now around 8% of GDP and climbing.

While that has produced inflation of almost 8% and interest rates of up to 20%, it’s also churning out the arms, materiel, and munitions sufficient to keep the Russian armies pressing forward in Ukraine. For example, Russian industry now produces three times more artillery shells than Europe and the United States combined, according to a recent report.

An adaptive economy

To manage the tsunami of new money into Russia’s military machine, Mr. Putin recently replaced his longtime loyal defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, with an economist, Andrei Belousov. Mr. Belousov is reputedly highly competent in matters of finance, but has no known military background.

Analysts say that Mr. Belousov will attempt to implement a policy resembling U.S.-style “military Keynesianism,” in which industry is made to focus on war priorities – not through Soviet-style central planning and command, but with the incentive of lucrative state contracts. His difficult task will be to streamline the process of procurement, keep costs down, and induce business to innovate and react quickly to changing battlefield requirements.

“Belousov supports the idea that the state has to invest into technological development and participate in the modernization of industry,” says Natalya Zubarevich, an economic geographer at Moscow State University. “The Ministry of Defense has lots of money, but it is spent in strange ways. To make all that money work more effectively, to optimize it, is a very big job.”

According to Ms. Zubarevich, some industrial and mining regions that support war production are thriving, while others that rely on exports like coal and gas are hurting while they struggle with disruptions from sanctions. On the whole, because of industrial growth and an acute labor shortage, wages are rising rapidly.

“The population’s incomes were up 16.5% as of January this year,” she says. “Effective demand is up, and new business opportunities are opening up. A lot of wealthy Russians are locked out of the West and have no way to get their money out. So they are investing in Russia. On the whole, for now, the Russian economy seems to be adapting.”

The former Soviet Union spent up to 20% of GDP on the military over a long period. Russian analysts say the country might be able to spend 10% for a few years without becoming bogged down.

“Russia is a market economy, and it’s much more flexible and adaptable than the Soviet one,” says Ms. Zubarevich.

Societal changes to come?

Russia’s ability to recruit up to 30,000 soldiers monthly using economic inducements has enabled it to avoid another forced mobilization like 2022’s emergency drive, which led to serious public disruptions.

It also portends lasting social changes. Russia has a preexisting culture of honoring war veterans, and a new generation of men who served in Ukraine is already being glorified. When the war ends and all these men return to civilian life, they will be expecting a reward.

“At the beginning, participants of the special military operation were being paid about 200,000 rubles [about $2,200], but now payments have grown up to as much as 1 million [about $11,000],” says Ms. Zubarevich. “They and their families are the beneficiaries of this situation,” which has stimulated a housing boom in some regions. “What happens when they return home, what will their future status be? I do not know.”

Andrei Movchan, a Russian financier and former director of the Moscow Carnegie Center who now lives in Britain, says the war has been beneficial for Mr. Putin’s regime, enabling it to consolidate power, eliminate opposition, isolate Russia from the West, and create short-term economic stimulus. But, he says, the long-term price tag will keep growing.

“This situation reminds us of the processes in the Soviet economy in the late ’60s onward, when an increasing share of resources was spent on military purposes, which were given priority over consumer production,” he says. “We are seeing Russia take that road once again.”

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

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Thursday, May 30, 2024 6:01 AM

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


Russia blamed Ukraine for the recent several-month-long suspension of prisoner of war (POW) exchanges over the backdrop of reports of pervasive Russian abuses against Ukrainian POWs. Kremlin-appointed Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova accused Ukraine of making "far-fetched demands" that caused a pause in POW exchanges over the past several months and claimed that Russia has done its best to maintain a dialogue with the Ukrainian government and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding POW affairs.[19] Representative for the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs Petro Yatsenko noted in November 2023 that Russia previously paused POW exchanges over the summer of 2023 for an unspecified reason.[20] The last POW exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place on February 8, 2024, with the facilitation of the United Arab Emirates.[21] Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) noted on May 29 that Ukraine has had to open a third camp for Russian POWs due in part to "the actual blocking of exchanges by the Russian side," and in part due to the growing numbers of Russian deserters who become POWs, consistent with several recent Ukrainian statements that Russian officials are the ones resisting the continuation of POW exchanges.[22]

In recent months following the last POW exchange, Russia has perpetrated a series of apparent abuses against Ukrainian POWs, including summarily executing Ukrainian POWs and using POWs as human shields on the battlefield (both violations of the Geneva Convention on POWs) and purportedly operating a "black market" to sell Ukrainian POWs to Russian paramilitary groups.[23] Russia is also using a battalion comprised mainly of Ukrainian POWs to fight in Ukraine, another blatant violation of the Geneva Convention on POWs.[24] Moskalkova's accusation that Ukraine is the party responsible for the cessation of POW exchanges may be an attempt to rhetorically shift the blame towards Ukraine and obfuscate a litany of well-documented Russian abuses of Ukrainian POWs, potentially to stoke discontent in Ukrainian society or to discourage Western support for Ukraine. The Kremlin appears to be using the politics of POW exchanges as another rhetorical device to undermine Ukrainian decision-making.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-29-2024

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

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Thursday, May 30, 2024 6:17 PM

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


Putin’s Baltic Provocations Are Raising Western Hackles

From redrawn maritime borders to suspected sabotage, Moscow is trying to exert power in a long-coveted region.

By Keith Johnson | May 30, 2024

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/30/putin-russia-ukraine-baltic-sea-l
atvia-lithuania-estonia-sabotage-maritime-borders/?tpcc=recirc_latest062921

In just the past few days, Russia has floated a now-you-see it, now-you-don’t unilateral plan to change its maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland; tried to sneak its way closer to Estonia; and spooked the head of the Swedish Armed Forces so hard that he publicly feared for the safety of Gotland, Sweden’s biggest Baltic island.

All that came on the heels of a broadening campaign of apparent Russian sabotage across the region, including mysterious fires, disrupted trains, and damaged undersea pipelines. A Russian spy ship is heading to the Gulf of Finland to keep an eye on things. The Norwegian police just warned about a new Russian campaign to sabotage Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, invoking the same “see something, say something” public warnings used for terrorist outfits. Due to sabotage fears, Poland had to increase security at the main airport that transports aid deliveries to Ukraine. All the while, Russian efforts to jam GPS signals for commercial aviation in the region continue apace.

Together, the Russian moves are meant to test boundaries—sometimes literally—as well as provoke a response, distract its neighbors, and swarm the West with the kitchen sink of full-spectrum harassment. For Russia, the battlefield is most certainly not limited to Ukraine, and when it comes to expanding it, the Baltic region holds a special place both in Russia’s imperialist past and Moscow’s expansionist present.

“The last time Russia had this little access in the Baltic was centuries ago,” said Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a researcher with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. In Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mind, “for Russia to be recognized as a great power, it must be dominant in the Baltic Sea. That clearly wasn’t the case before NATO expansion, and now is even less so.”

The moves afoot aren’t the traditional kind of land grabs, such as the ones that Russia previously pulled off in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and is now attempting with the rest of the country. But it may be Putin’s marker for a new kind of low-intensity campaign, Salonious-Pasternak said.

“Somewhere in his mind, he may have this idea, not to do what the USSR did, but to cause continuous mayhem until he has the resources to do something about it,” he added.

Consider the curious case of the Russian bid to change its maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland. The Russian Defense Ministry released the proposal publicly, but it mysteriously disappeared in less than a day; Russian officials denied that they were seeking to change the border. But the very notion sparked a furious response from Russia’s neighbors—Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called it “an obvious escalation against NATO and the EU”—while the whole spat highlighted the difficulties of dealing with such inchoate threats.

“To me, it looks like a provocation,” said Martin Kragh, a senior research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. “No matter how the West responds, it will have an effect at a very low cost for Russia. If the West makes a strong response, it can use that for domestic and international propaganda purposes; if they don’t, Russia can exploit that, arguing the claims are legitimate. It’s a ‘heads-I-win, tails-you-lose’ situation.”

The small changes to the maritime map may not have come to pass yet, but the Baltic states and several other NATO neighbors are taking no chances with what Kragh calls Russia’s strategy of “creeping annexation.”

Over the weekend, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—alongside Finland, Norway, and Poland—announced plans for a “drone border wall” to protect against Russia’s encroachments and destabilizing maneuvers on the borders by enhancing video surveillance of the sprawling frontier. Estonia, like Norway, has also stepped up its public warnings about Russian misbehavior on the border and regional sabotage more broadly. NATO held the first meeting of its new Critical Undersea Infrastructure Network last week, with a particular eye on Russia. Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is otherwise engaged, took the time while speaking to reporters over the weekend to recognize the clear and present danger that Russian designs pose to the Baltics.

To make sense of why Russia, with a grinding war on its hands in Ukraine, is busy making mischief in the Baltic Sea requires understanding both what’s new and what’s eternal for Russia’s regional objectives.

What’s new is that with the accession of Finland and Sweden to the Western alliance since early 2023, the Baltic has become, for all intents and purposes, a NATO lake, with member states now ringing the entire body of water— with the exception of a bit of Russia. Though Putin downplayed the significance of that seismic shift at the time, and some Western commentators stress the need for even more NATO vigilance in the region despite the expansion, the geostrategic shift was fundamental.

As a result, Russia realizes that due to its own actions in Ukraine, it has lost ground in an area crucial to its international power projection. That’s why it is lashing out in the region, albeit haphazardly, as a French report noted in November 2023 and a Norwegian intelligence assessment put it earlier this year.

“If you want to undermine the collective West, then these regions—the Gulf of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania—all those territories are easy to access for Russia,” Kragh said. “They don’t have any other borders when it comes to challenging the West.”

But the reason that the loss of the Baltic hurts Russia so much, and Putin in particular, is not just because of Finland and Sweden’s military might (Sweden just gave Ukraine a massive arms assistance package) and the reach of geography. There is also the weight of history.

Since the time of Peter the Great, Putin’s self-styled role model, Russia’s window to the West (and to great-power status) has come through the chilly waters of the Baltic. Russian imperial aspirations in the 18th and 19th centuries came through the defeat of Sweden and the vassalization of Finland. Later, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, when not busy carving up Eastern Europe otherwise, briefly made a postwar bid for Bornholm, a strategic Danish island. Putin will be hard-pressed to make Russia great again if he can’t scrape back a semblance of power in the Baltic.

“Of course it’s a blow to have the Baltic Sea turned into a NATO lake. The Baltic has been a crucial objective of Russian and Soviet foreign and military policy since the time of Peter I,” said Norman Naimark, a historian at Stanford University who has written about Bornholm and other Soviet adventures. “Putin is also a Leningrader, which means that he has a special eye on access to the Baltic and egress into and out of the belts and the sound,” he said, referring to the critical straits connecting the Baltic to the wider world.

Russia’s neighbors haven’t been shy about calling out Moscow’s latest provocations. But that doesn’t mean that the mischief will stop any time soon, as long as it offers Putin a way to redress, even partially, what he sees as a geographic and historic imbalance.

“What is fascinating is the innovation in the Russian toolbox. They keep finding new ways of pushing,” Kragh said. “It’s like playing whack-a-mole—you keep hitting them, and they pop up somewhere else. The Baltic Sea simply provides a very good and opportunistic area for them to operate in.”

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 6:42 AM

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The Russian government approved a package of amendments to the Russian tax code on May 30 that will introduce a progressive income tax scale starting in 2025, marginally placing some of the financial burdens of Russia's long-war effort in Ukraine onto Russia's wealthy elite.[25] The Russian Ministry of Finance announced the tax reform on May 29, which will introduce a progressive income tax scale for those that make over 2.4 million rubles ($26,600) a year, raise the current corporate income tax rate from 20 percent to 25 percent, and remove existing tax benefits for some Russian businesses.[26]

Russia previously had a flat income tax rate of 13 percent, with some high-income earners paying a 15 percent income tax.[27] The new progressive income tax scale will raise taxes from 13 percent to 15 percent on yearly income between 2.4 million rubles and five million rubles ($55,400), from 15 percent to 18 percent on income between five million rubles and 20 million rubles ($221,600), from 15 percent to 20 percent on income between 20 million rubles and 50 million rubles ($554,000), and from 15 to 22 percent on income over 50 million rubles.[28]

The new tax measures will generate an additional 2.6 trillion rubles ($28.8 Billion) in 2025, roughly eight percent of the current planned 33.55 trillion rubles ($371.7 Billion) federal budget for 2025.[29] Russia is currently spending a record amount on defense and has been heavily relying on oil revenues to mitigate growing budget deficits.[30] The costs of the Kremlin's long war effort in Ukraine will likely produce greater budget deficits in the coming years, and the Kremlin likely understands that it must raise its fiscal revenue as the war continues.[31]

The new tax reform is a measured and relatively marginal burden on Russia's wealthy elite, likely meant to enlist Russia's oligarchs further into shouldering the costs of Russia's war effort without causing pronounced discontent. The tax reform also allows the Kremlin to deliver on Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent populist economic promises about a fairer Russian economy and persuade the wider Russian public that all Russians, no matter their wealth or status, are equally sharing the costs of the war in Ukraine.[32]

The Kremlin's desired restrained approach to increasing fiscal revenue does not provide the funds needed for a large-scale mobilization of Russia's economy and manpower, and even the gradual expansion of Russia's defense industrial base (DIB) and the financial requirements of ongoing force generation efforts will likely compel the Kremlin to place greater financial burdens on wealthy Russians as the war prolongs.[33]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-30-2024

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 6:48 AM

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Putin Is Obsessed With Russian Liberals

Attacks on the movement show how insecure Russia’s dictator feels.

By Justin Ling | May 29, 2024, 4:46 PM

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/29/putin-dissidents-attacks-volkov/

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA – When he heard that Leonid Volkov, his compatriot in the long-suffering movement to bring liberal democracy back to Russia, had been viciously attacked with a mallet outside his home in Vilnius, Vladimir Milov’s response was typically Russian.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that this was totally unexpected,” Milov told Foreign Policy over a beer in an empty and dimly lit hotel restaurant in the Lithuanian capital.

When you’re in the business of challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Milov is, you come to accept a certain number of occupational hazards. Particularly now, as Moscow faces unprecedented risks from all sides—and particularly from within. Still, the attack on Volkov was particularly brutal.

We sat down during Russia’s three-day presidential election in March, just days after Volkov was attacked. Milov knew, as the vote approached, that Putin would try to kneecap their shared organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, of which Volkov is the “backbone”—he just didn’t know it would be quite so literal. Volkov’s assailant targeted the dissident’s limbs, injuring his legs and breaking his arm.

Putin, Milov said, “is really looking for some secret button which he can press to shut the movement down. He thought it will be, first, killing off Nemtsov, then killing off Navalny,” he continued, referencing his former colleagues Boris Nemtsov, gunned down in 2015 in Moscow; and Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian gulag in February.

But Putin is discovering that “it’s not switching off,” Milov said.

While the non-Russian world may have a pessimistic view of these anti-Putin dissidents, Milov said that they are not as weak as Moscow would have us believe. Look no further, he argued, than Putin’s own thuggish behavior.

On the eve of the final day of the presidential election, Milov was thinking about the twilight of the Soviet Union.

“I first voted in elections in the Soviet Union,” Milov said. “I’m old enough to remember: Soviet GDP [growth] was positive until the very last year of ‘91, but food had disappeared from stores.” He sees parallels between then and now. Rosy top-line numbers and a command economy can only mask deeper economic rot.

Polling has gotten harder as autocracy has tightened.

This year, at least according to Moscow, the Russian economy is expected to grow by 3.6 percent, leading many to proclaim that international efforts to marginalize and destabilize Putin have failed. But, Milov said, “the fact that the economy is GDP-positive doesn’t tell you anything about the real crisis.”

Milov has spent time on both sides of the Russian state. In the late 1990s, he joined the Russian Energy Ministry, eventually rising to the level of deputy minister in the early 2000s. He resigned in 2002, in the early years of Putin’s reign, joining a Moscow think tank before fully signing up for the burgeoning dissident movement—first under Nemtsov, then Navalny.

Milov described Putin’s war economy as one that helps a small number of people but fails everyone else. Even if Russia’s state statistics agency, Rosstat, reports that the economy is hot in nearly every sector, Milov has written that this is the country’s “Potemkin GDP.”

The military-industrial sector has grown massively since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and now, Milov estimated, about 10 million Russians work directly or indirectly in the defense sector. Those defense workers “are benefiting from the wartime economy,” he said, but the rest of Russia’s roughly 75 million workers are facing tough times. Inflation continues to rage near 8 percent, and interest rates sit at a painful 16 percent.

Amid a labor shortage, worsened by the war economy as well as sanctions that hobble imports and advanced manufacturing, Russia has become increasingly reliant on China—but that shift comes at a price.

“China now occupies about a 95 percent share in Russian car imports. The price of imported cars since December 2021, prewar, has doubled,” Milov said.

The staggering price inflation for consumer vehicles proved so obvious that it prompted a response from Putin in his annual end-of-year press conference in December 2023. He claimed that the prices had risen just 40 percent and blamed Western sanctions.

Milov argued that Russia, like many autocratic states, can generally be divided into thirds: A third oppose Putin, a third support Putin no matter what, “and in between are the apolitical folks who just want to be left alone,” Milov said. The trick for Russia’s beleaguered opposition is reaching that final slice.

The December press conference, normally a tightly-scripted affair, featured plenty of questions about the cost-of-living crisis and pointed queries about when the war in Ukraine will end—clearly prompted by the people from that middle third. Milov said the uncharacteristically dour tone of the broadcast betrayed the real question that Russians have for their president, one that Milov’s movement has been trying to put on the table for years:

“Why does your reality not correspond to our daily life?”

The greatest evidence available that the Russian opposition movement poses a real threat to Putin, Milov believes, is just how much money and effort the Kremlin spends to try to crush the liberal movement.

“They spend billions and billions of rubles,” Milov said. Even with a weak ruble, “billions” translates to tens of millions of U.S. dollars. “And there are many thousands of people involved in fighting us,” he added. “The rule is very simple: They would not invest so many resources, they would spend it somewhere else, if we were marginalized and didn’t mean anything.”

The Lithuanian security service confirmed, in a 2022 threat assessment, that Russian operatives were targeting dissidents in Vilnius. An increase in intimidation as the elections neared mirrored an intense repression campaign inside Russia itself.

In December, a military court initially fined dissident sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky $6,500 for “justifying terrorism”—but two months later, the same court accepted an appeal from prosecutors, upgrading his sentence to five years in prison. Renowned human rights activist Oleg Orlov was handed a similar legal about-face, and now faces more than two years in prison. They join others who have been convicted and sentenced on trumped up or fabricated charges: Ilya Yashin, Yevgeny Roizman, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, among others.

“They want to send a powerful message that ‘Resistance is useless; there is no hope; we’re gonna kill you all,’” Milov said.

Milov himself was arrested amid widespread protests in the summer of 2019, after which he was detained for 30 days. “This was really lightweight, compared to what Navalny has been through,” Milov said. He faced more jail time after the Anti-Corruption Foundation was declared by Moscow to be an “extremist” organization, so he fled for Lithuania alongside Volkov. After leaving, Milov was tried and convicted, in absentia, to eight years in prison for criticizing Putin’s war against Ukraine.

Everything about Russia’s prison system is designed for “psychological torture,” Milov said—there’s the perpetual lengthening of your sentence, the rats and cockroaches that infest the cells, and sleep deprivation.

Milov said that it is important to understand the not-so-subtle signals being sent from the Kremlin with all of these pressure tactics. He scoffed, for example, at a report that Moscow was considering releasing Navalny in a prisoner swap shortly before his death.

“I know Putin, right?” Milov said . “He would never let Alexei go. … It’s definitely not a coincidence that he was murdered on the day of the Munich Security Conference.”

This brutality and showmanship are exactly the point.

“He constantly tries to deliver this message: ‘I can do whatever I want, and you fucking Western chicken will have to suck on it,’ right?” Milov said, then laughed at his own crude phrasing. “Sorry!”

Milov believes that the decision to have Volkov beaten with a hammer—dispatching with any kind of plausible deniability that may come from, for example, poison—was meant to reinforce that message.

“This is also a show of horror,” he said.

Just before noon on March 17, I followed a procession of Russian citizens in Lithuania as they walked through Boris Nemtsov Square in the leafy Zverynas neighborhood, past a makeshift memorial to Navalny, and up Ukrainian Heroes Street to queue up at the gates of the Russian Embassy to cast their ballots.

Even though participation in the elections was widely agreed by international observers to be rigged, Moscow obsessively tried to gin up the results anyway. The Kremlin went all-out in forcing ordinary Russians to the polls—going so far as threatening their employment if they abstained and tracking their cellphones to make sure they visited a polling location.

Milov called these tactics “most usual.” They show, he added, that a strong mandate is a “do-or-die question” for Putin’s regime. In order to get the results that regime wants, it will need to carry out a “tightening of the screws”—even tighter than they have already been.

This wouldn’t be necessary if Putin felt secure in his managed democracy. Milov said that Putin’s message of absolute power is less convincing when it requires such extraordinary efforts to attain.

Certainly, few ordinary Russians believe in the validity of these elections. Yet even the dissidents called on people to turn out to the polls. Navalny believed that the more people who marked an X next to the other names on the ballots, even if those candidates were Putin’s controlled opposition, the more anxiety would rise in the Kremlin. Voting for anybody but Putin became one of his last requests before his death. Navalny’s team even created an app to help randomly select one of the non-Putin candidates, a recognition of just how interchangeable they are. The team asked people to come out and vote at exactly the same time, 12 p.m., on the final day of the polls.

Putin was reelected, at least according to the official tally, with more than 88 per cent of the vote. It is likely that Navalny’s appeal for malicious compliance did prompt some particularly heavy-handed fraud: Disqualified candidate Boris Nadezhdin’s campaign has uncovered tallies from multiple voting locations showing that Putin’s results were probably substantially lower. Still, the “noon against Putin” plan proved to be a bit of a dud.

As a proof of concept, though, these protests may yet prove to be a turning point.

In recent years, Milov and the other dissidents have heavily relied on the few channels that can still reach ordinary Russians—Telegram and YouTube in particular. (Volkov, stubborn, was posting videos taunting Putin in the hours after he was beaten outside his home.) But the dissidents know that real change in Russia will have to come from the streets.

“We will try to beef up this new format, so that people can, in fact, show up and show the big numbers without major risk of everybody being jailed,” Milov said. He likens the effort to popular demonstrations that began in 1987, during glasnost—the Soviet Union’s period of comparatively increased openness and transparency. Outside Moscow’s Olympic Stadium, small groups of Soviet citizens gathered around major events to express their displeasure at the regime.

Milov and his fellow liberals see a day, perhaps soon, when Putin’s faux democracy collapses in on itself. It’s his job to help bring that day closer and to plan for what happens next.

“I have a pretty good understanding of what he would want me to do if he was still alive,” Milov said of Navalny. “So this will go on—it means that the movement will not disappear.”

Justin Ling is a journalist based in Toronto. Twitter: @Justin_Ling

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 12:19 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


An entire page filled with secondhand propaganda?

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Friday, May 31, 2024 2:34 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:
An entire page filled with secondhand propaganda?
You pretend Russia's victory is near. If it were, Russia would not be raising its tax rates, expanding its weapons manufacturing industries, and jailing war critics. Instead, Russia would be shrinking taxes and planning on what to do with all the soon-to-be unemployed who no longer have jobs manufacturing missiles. Who would care about the critics of a war that has already been won?

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 3:40 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
SECOND You pretend Russia's victory is near.


You pretend I post things thatbi didn't.
Russia's victory is inevitable.
I didn't posted when.

But I see Ukraine isn't a proxy anymore. In fact, it's barely a fig leaf for western ambitions.



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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Friday, May 31, 2024 4:00 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:
SECOND You pretend Russia's victory is near.


You pretend I post things thatbi didn't.
Russia's victory is inevitable.
I didn't posted when.

But I see Ukraine isn't a proxy anymore. In fact, it's barely a fig leaf for western ambitions.
Signym wrote on Saturday, March 5, 2022 6:03 PM
Meanwhile several other cauldrons are being formed: an obvious one around Odessa, another around Kiev, and one (or possibly two) large cauldrons in central Ukraine.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=64887&mid=11516
91#1151691

Signym, whatever happened to those cauldrons trapped by the Russians?

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 6:36 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.



Quote:
SECOND: You pretend Russia's victory is near.

SIGNY: You pretend I post things thatbi didn't.
Russia's victory is inevitable.
I didn't posted when.

But I see Ukraine isn't a proxy anymore. In fact, it's barely a fig leaf for western ambitions.

SECOND: Signym wrote on Saturday, March 5, 2022 6:03 PM
Meanwhile several other cauldrons are being formed: an obvious one around Odessa, another around Kiev, and one (or possibly two) large cauldrons in central Ukraine.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=64887&mid=11516
91#1151691

Signym, whatever happened to those cauldrons trapped by the Russians?

How's this explanation? Ukraine entered into negotiations and Russia withdrew it's forces. Apparently the "invasion" was really a bluff.

And did you see anywhere in that statement a timeline?

No.

But thanks for lying. At least you're predictable!



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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Friday, May 31, 2024 7:19 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:

How's this explanation? Ukraine entered into negotiations and Russia withdrew it's forces. Apparently the "invasion" was really a bluff.

And did you see anywhere in that statement a timeline?

No.

But thanks for lying. At least you're predictable!
Signym, you should reread what you wrote about Russia over the last few years for insight into how your mind converts war news into your opinions. I find it fascinating watching the parallels, for example, of Texas Trumptards blundering through their screwy days and their political views about who is right and wrong, Ukraine or Russia.

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

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Friday, May 31, 2024 8:37 PM

SECOND

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


Another Day, Another Threat by Russia to Destroy the World

Putin Ally Issues Nuclear Warning Over Ukraine's New F-16s

May 30, 2024

https://www.newsweek.com/sergei-lavrov-warning-nato-f-16-jets-ukraine-
1906123

Russia has issued a warning to the West over the planned delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Belgium this year.

Moscow will perceive the delivery of the aircraft as a "signal action" by NATO "in the nuclear sphere," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with state-run news agency RIA Novosti published on Wednesday.

His remarks come after Belgium pledged on Tuesday to deliver a first batch of F-16s to Ukraine this year. The two nations signed a security agreement this week that includes supplying a total of 30 of the U.S.-built fighter jets to Ukraine to ramp up its defenses amid the ongoing war launched by Russia.

"They are trying to tell us that the United States and NATO would stop at nothing in Ukraine," Lavrov said. "Nevertheless, we hope that the Russian-Belarusian drills on the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons that are underway now will knock some sense into our opponents by reminding them about the catastrophic consequences of further nuclear escalation."

Lavrov added: "These aircraft will be destroyed, like other types of weapons supplied by NATO countries to Ukraine."

Belgium vowed to supply Ukraine with all 30 F-16s before 2028. Last year, Belgium, alongside Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, announced that it would be sending Ukraine an unspecified number of the aircraft.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at a press briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday that his country would provide Ukraine with the F-16 jets "as soon as possible."

"Our aim is to be able to provide first aircraft before the end of this year, 2024," he said. "We will do everything in our capacity to deliver some planes already this year."

However, De Croo said the U.S.-made jets are only to be used within Ukrainian territory.

"Everything which is covered by this agreement is very clear: it is for utilization by the Ukrainian defense forces on Ukraine territory," he said.

"Putin has only one influence mechanism, that is the destruction of life. He is not capable of anything else," Zelensky said Tuesday. "A sufficient power of weaponry is crucial so that we can physically defend [ourselves] against Russia's terror."

"They are shooting at you, and you cannot shoot back at them because you do not have the permission [from Western allies]," he added.

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 2:43 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.



Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

How's this explanation? Ukraine entered into negotiations and Russia withdrew it's forces. Apparently the "invasion" was really a bluff.
And did you see anywhere in that statement a timeline?
No.
But thanks for lying. At least you're predictable!


SECOND: Signym, you should reread what you wrote about Russia over the last few years for insight into how your mind converts war news into your opinions.


Huh?

I read war news.
I form an opinion .
At least I form an opinion based on news.
It's better than reading propaganda.





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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 5:57 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:

Huh?

I read war news.
I form an opinion .
At least I form an opinion based on news.
It's better than reading propaganda.

Do you actually understand how little Russia has accomplished this year and how many Russians died to accomplish it?

Although Russian forces made significant tactical gains in northern Kharkiv Oblast in early May 2024, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov heavily overestimated Russian advances in Ukraine since the start of 2024. Belousov claimed on May 31 that Russian forces have seized 880 square kilometers thus far in 2024.[35]

ISW has observed evidence confirming that Russian forces have only seized approximately 752 square kilometers in 2024, however.

ISW previously assessed that Russian forces seized about 516 square kilometers between January 1, 2024, and April 29, 2024.[36]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-31-2024

For comparison to Russia’s conquest of a paltry 752 square kilometers in 2024, Harris County Texas where I live has a total area of 4,600 square kilometers (1,777 square miles) according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+square+kilometers+is+Harris+C
ounty+Texas

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 6:20 AM

SECOND

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


Ukraine signed long-term bilateral security agreements with Sweden, Iceland, and Norway on May 31. The Ukraine-Sweden agreement stipulates that Sweden will provide 6.5 billion euros (about $7 billion) of military assistance for the next decade, will transfer an unspecified amount of ASC 890 advanced early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, and continue efforts to transfer JAS 39 Gripen aircraft to Ukraine.[16] The Swedish military assistance package announced on May 29, worth about $1.25 billion and containing an ASC 890 aircraft, is likely part of this bilateral security agreement.[17] The Ukraine-Iceland agreement stipulates that Iceland will provide at least $30 million annually from 2024 to 2028 to finance and purchase defense materials and help develop Ukraine's defense industry.[18] The Ukraine-Norway agreement stipulates that Norway will provide assistance worth 75 billion kroner (about $7.1 billion) from 2023 to 2027, including at least 13.5 billion kroner (about $1.2 billion) in 2024.[19] Norway will also provide Ukraine with air and missile defense systems, including NASAMs, and help develop Ukraine's aircraft capabilities including with F-16 fighters.

Germany and Poland announced additional large military assistance packages for Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on May 30 a package worth 500 million euros (about $542 million) that includes a Patriot air defense system, a "large number" of IRIS-T SLM air defense missiles, a smaller number of shorter-range IRIS-T SLS air defense missiles, reconnaissance and combat drones, and spare parts including artillery gun barrels.[20] Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced on May 31 that Poland is preparing a military assistance package for Ukraine worth four billion euros (about $4.3 billion).[21]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-31-2024

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 1:18 PM

SECOND

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


Russia warns of nuclear war with NATO after Ukraine's ATACMS strikes: 'We're not bluffing'

Medvedev suggested Russia could strike hostile countries with strategic weapons, saying: "This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing."

"The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. There is a constant escalation when it comes to the firepower of NATO weapons being used. Therefore, nobody today can rule out the conflict's transition to its final stage."

Putin said during a visit to Uzbekistan: "In Europe, especially in small countries, they should realise what they are playing with. They should remember that they are countries with small, densely populated territories... This is a factor they should keep in mind before talking about striking Russia."

In his latest warning, shared via the messaging platform Telegram, Medvedev added: "After all, as the President of Russia rightly noted, European countries have a very high population density."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1906051/russia-nuclear-war-nato-u
kraine-atacms-strike

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 2:07 PM

SECOND

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


Action star turned Putin pal Steven Seagal delivered a speech at the Kremlin on Thursday as he was presented with an award for being the Kremlin’s special diplomatic representative to the U.S.

Reciting a list of the Kremlin’s claims about Ukraine, Seagal wondered aloud why the world would not wake up to Ukraine’s supposed history of “human trafficking, organ trafficking, narco trafficking, child sex trafficking” — just about all the traffickings — “bio-chemical warfare labs, fascism, and nazism.”

At Putin’s swearing-in ceremony for his fifth term earlier this month, Seagal told reporters, “He’s the greatest world leader, he’s the greatest.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steven-seagals-acting-career-hits-new-lo
w-in-nutso-kremlin-speech



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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 2:14 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.



Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Huh?
I read war news.
I form an opinion .
At least I form an opinion based on news.
It's better than reading propaganda.



SECOND: Do you actually understand how little what Russia has accomplished this year and how many Russians died to accomplish it?


Yes.
Do you? Bc you keep making the same mistake (or keep believing the propaganda) that Russia is trying to take territory and will eventually invade all of Europe!


Russia's stated goals do NOT include taking territory, altho they need to create buffer zones to protect CIVILIANS in Belgorod and Donetsk city. (Ukraine deliberately fires on civilians.)

The first part of Russia's stated goals - demilitarization- requires that Russia attrit ie. destroy, the AFU. They're managing to kill or wound 1000-1500 conscripts per day, destroy a dozen or more major weapons, and degrade dual use infrastructure. With very few losses on their side, thru lavish use of drones, artillery, rockets, guided bombs, and missiles.

If this was just Russia v Ukraine it would have been over a year ago. But this has ALWAYS been a USA project, with the enthusiastic support of most EU "leaders". Russia was never under any illusion that this was Ukraine's idea, and always had in mind that they would be fighting NATO to some extent. Altho they planned for the contingency, what they couldn't know was how possessed USA and EU neocons are, and whether the neocons would risk a direct war with Russia.

Apparently, neocons are.

NATO is throwing in as much as it can, and - as Ukraine goes on the ropes- NATO is slowly coming out from behind the Ukrainian fig leaf.

This is not a war that Russia wanted, but is preparing for. Since NATO can't possibly win a conventional war (they've been demilitarized of conventional weapons and don't have soldiers to speak of) I imagine that if anyone will go nuclear, it would be NATO.

If Russia really wants to reach out and touch someone, they have enough conventional missiles of sufficient power to do it. Precision strikes on EU and NATO HQ and radar stations, command centers, and missile installations in Europe would probably paralyze decision-making and confound retaliation. I'm sure Russia has targets picked out for every contingency. As does our military.

But that would be kinetic WWIII and, even if it remains conventional, EU and UK would be the big losers. And if it goes nuclear, well... I won't have to worry aboutviur daughter's future anymore, and you won't have to propagandize about Trump or climate change.


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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 2:55 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:

Yes.
Signym, you are as silly as Steven Seagal is.

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 4:10 PM

SECOND

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


If you think Medvedev can't get any creepier, he proves he can:

Russia Declares War on ‘Mediocre Actor’ George Clooney

Dmitry Medvedev took issue with George Clooney’s Foundation for Justice on Saturday, tweeting that the movie star wants to “use his Foundation to hunt down Russian journalists all over the world and persecute them.” But according to Medvedev, Clooney won’t be able to do so because Russian journalists will “find him first.”

The Clooney Foundation, which the actor founded with his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, has drawn heat from Russian officials who say the foundation is on a crusade to arrest Russian journalists.

Russian news agency TASS reported that the foundation is encouraging EU countries to penalize Russian journalists who report positive coverage of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine as promoting “war propaganda.” A Kremlin spokesperson called the initiative “insane.”

Medvedev took it a step further, tweeting an ominous threat aimed at the actor. “A certain mediocre actor called George Clooney has decided to use his Foundation to hunt down Russian journalists all over the world and persecute them,” Medvedev posted to X, adding that Russian journalists are “very attentive and highly trained people.”

Russian journalists “are going to have a chat” with Clooney, he tweeted, “From dusk till dawn.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/russia-declares-war-on-medi
ocre-actor-george-clooney/ar-BB1nsnDq

Where does Medvedev go next? He has already threatened many times to nuke the West. Maybe implied threats to kidnap Ukrainian children and torture them? Cannibalism? Abuse pets? Play loud and inappropriate music in church? Who knows with this weirdo official?

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 4:28 PM

SECOND

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


Saving the Animals of Ukraine | Full Episode | NATURE | PBS



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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 4:31 PM

SECOND

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


Children of Ukraine (full documentary) | Ukrainian Kids Taken & Held by Russia | FRONTLINE | PBS



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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 5:48 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


The (western) escalation escalator:

Ukraine shells civilian Belgorod

Russia crosses the border to create a buffer zone

Western capitals OK the use of western weapons into Belgorod

Ukraine uses HIMARS launchers to strike civilian Belgorod with CLUSTER munitions.

Russia ..... ?

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 7:13 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:
The (western) escalation escalator:

Ukraine shells civilian Belgorod

Russia crosses the border to create a buffer zone

Western capitals OK the use of western weapons into Belgorod

Ukraine uses HIMARS launchers to strike civilian Belgorod with CLUSTER munitions.

Russia ..... ?
What is wrong with you, Signym? I'm just curious about this "buffer zone" concept you are trying to sell as Russia's right to somebody's property. How wide is the "buffer zone"? And since when is a "buffer zone" any different than stealing somebody's land, killing the inhabitants, and making the rest into slaves? I'm wondering why you and the Russians don't realize that a "buffer zone" is lunacy. The closest example (but not the same as a "buffer zone") is the 4km wide demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea. North Korea was birthed, raised, and armed with nukes by Russia. Not surprising that North Korea is extremely poor and belligerent compared to South Korea as Russia is extremely poor and belligerent compared to the EU.

https://www.britannica.com/place/demilitarized-zone-Korean-peninsula

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 7:51 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


The buffer zone is as wide as the range of western weapons requires, silly. I thought that was obvious.

BTW what gives Ukraine the right to shell civilians? I thought that was a war crime, but they've been shelling Donetsk city since 2014.

*****

Yanno, it occured to me: the west might regret shoving NATO right up to Russia's borders. Because it might turn out that NATO would want a buffer zone!

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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 8:40 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:
The buffer zone is as wide as the range of western weapons requires, silly. I thought that was obvious.
Cruise missiles can fly thousands of miles. That means a "buffer zone" out in the Atlantic Ocean. Signym, the Russians are crazy with their concept of a "buffer zone". If the Russians want to be sane, they should follow North Korea's example and make the demilitarized zone only 4 kilometers wide. By the way, 2 kilometers were North Korean territory and 2 kilometers were South Korean territory. That means Russia gives away 2 kilometers of Russia and Ukraine does the same with Ukrainian land.

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

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Saturday, June 1, 2024 9:22 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The buffer zone is as wide as the range of western weapons requires, silly. I thought that was obvious.
Cruise missiles can fly thousands of miles. That means a "buffer zone" out in the Atlantic Ocean. Signym, the Russians are crazy with their concept of a "buffer zone". If the Russians want to be sane, they should follow North Korea's example and make the demilitarized zone only 4 kilometers wide. By the way, 2 kilometers were North Korean territory and 2 kilometers were South Korean territory. That means Russia gives away 2 kilometers of Russia and Ukraine does the same with Ukrainian land.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
If western nations provide Ukraine with cruise missiles that fly "thousands of miles," then those thousands of miles will be in danger.


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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Sunday, June 2, 2024 12:50 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Richard H. Black, a former US senator from Virginia, offers a sobering analysis:

“This is a continuation of the pattern in which the NATO forces recognize they are losing the war in Ukraine, with the fragile lines of defense breaking, and the NATO response is to escalate. This is not accidental, but very deliberate. It is not the first attack on the Russian nuclear triad. The ideological folks are seeing their world crumbling, after flying the rainbow flag over conservative countries and [waging] perpetual wars. They are frantic and could escalate to nuclear war to get out of the bind.

They [the west] are taking a series of baby steps, and respond that ‘they don’t do anything in response,’ and so they keep taking baby steps until one of them lands on a land mine and we are into World War III. (…) Putin is very aware of the disconnect in the West, who keep saying he is just saber rattling, but he is not—he is informing the West of the dangerous reality.”


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

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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