Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Germany's history is filled with misfortune.
Poland's history is filled with misfortune.
Jewish history.... oy vey! Is it filled wih misfortune!
Palestinian history...
Central and South America ...

What's your point?

Oh, that's right. You never have one.
That's just your sociopathy rearing its ugly head again, 'cause you get off on people being killed.

-----------
"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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Thursday, June 27, 2024 12:35 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Germany's history is filled with misfortune.
Poland's history is filled with misfortune.
Jewish history.... oy vey! Is it filled wih misfortune!
Palestinian history...
Central and South America ...

What's your point?

Oh, that's right. You never have one.
That's just your sociopathy rearing its ugly head again, 'cause you get off on people being killed.

-----------
"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.

You fixated on the word "misfortune" which signals that you are silliness personified. Does being silly make you feel like booking your next holiday in Crimea? When misfortune strikes you while holidaying in Ukraine, be sure to blame anything other than foolishly vacationing in a war zone.

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

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Thursday, June 27, 2024 2:05 PM

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

Further proof that the war is Dumb vs Dumber:

Amid war setbacks and complaints, Ukraine changes another top general

By Isabelle Khurshudyan, Serhii Korolchuk | June 26, 2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/26/ukraine-army-sodol-zel
ensky-syrsky/

KYIV — A prominent Ukrainian officer this week accused a top commander of incompetence, blaming him for “thousands” of casualties in a rare public criticism from within the military that reflects growing discontent among the troops as Russia has advanced on the battlefield.

Maj. Bohdan Krotevych, the chief of staff of the influential Azov Brigade, filed a request to Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation concerning “a [Ukrainian] general who in my opinion has killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general,” he wrote Monday in a post on Telegram.

Within hours, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had replaced Lt. Gen. Yuriy Sodol as Ukraine’s Joint Forces’ commander. Sodol is also in charge of the ground forces for the critical section of the front stretching across the eastern Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, and is expected to be removed from that post as well.

The incident is the latest in a series of military leadership shake-ups this year amid Ukraine’s struggles along the 600-mile front line. Sodol had been in the post for just four months after he was installed by Ukrainian military chief Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, whom Zelensky only appointed to the top position earlier this year.

Analysts said Sodol’s swift removal could weaken Syrsky — already widely disliked by rank-and-file soldiers for what they consider to be brutal and old-school tactics reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s army leadership. It also threatens to backfire on Zelensky, who took greater ownership over battlefield decisions when he sacked popular Gen. Valery Zaluzhny in February.

Since Russia invaded more than two years ago, public scrutiny of Ukraine’s military — consistently rated the country’s most trusted institution in polling — has been taboo. And disputes and grievances within the ranks are typically kept private; soldiers who criticize their command could face retribution. Discussion of combat losses are considered a state secret, something Ukraine’s political leadership has chosen to downplay so as to not weaken society’s morale.

Krotevych’s call for an investigation into Sodol is a surprising display of the fractures within the Ukrainian command. It echoed what other Ukrainian military personnel have been quietly grumbling about for months — what they considered unreasonable orders that led to casualties while they were undermanned and lacking weapons.

All of this is occurring against the backdrop of Russia retaking some 260 square miles in the past four months.

“It bothers me that they convict battalion and brigade commanders for the loss of an observation post, but they don’t convict a general for the loss of [regions] and dozens of cities and thousands of soldiers,” Krotevych said on Telegram.

In his nightly address Monday, Zelensky didn’t provide a reason for Sodol’s dismissal, only saying that he would be replaced by Brig. Gen. Andriy Hnatov. On Wednesday morning, Zelensky posted a video from the Donetsk region, after a visit to soldiers in the area with Syrsky and Hnatov.

“General Hnatov’s task is clear: to destroy the occupier and, importantly, to preserve the lives of our soldiers as much as possible,” Zelensky said.

According to his complaint, which was obtained by The Washington Post, Krotevych accused Sodol of a litany of missteps dating back to his role as commander of the doomed defense of the city of Mariupol in 2022. It was in this siege that the Azov Brigade, part of the National Guard, gained fame for holding out in the Azovstal plant long after the rest of the city had fallen.

“Although Gen. Sodol did not manage the city’s defense and did not spend a single hour in Mariupol, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine,” Krotevych wrote, adding that he didn’t supply the Azov Brigade with ammunition or build up the city’s defense structures ahead of the attack.

After one commander in the city asked Sodol for instructions, Krotevych witnessed Sodol respond, “We’re [screwed],” before hanging up, he said in the complaint.

More recently, during his command of the eastern front, Sodol ordered Azov to advance without the necessary artillery ammunition, and when arguments were given for why it was not possible, “formal investigations were initiated against [Azov’s] commander,” said the complaint.

“Gen. Sodol is inadequately commanding the troops, and his decisions have led to the deaths of thousands of servicemen from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard, and other defense units, resulting in a weak position on the front and the loss of a large amount of territory,” said Krotevych.

Other influential figures have also questioned Sodol’s command. Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko, whose YouTube channel has nearly 2 million subscribers, wrote on X that his appointment was “a personnel disaster.” Sternenko and others have claimed that Ukraine’s marines who were ordered to assault the left bank of the Kherson region suffered senseless casualties.

“It is hard to imagine a worse candidate who is [more] indifferent to the lives of soldiers,” he added.

Lawmaker Mariana Bezuhla, a member of the parliament’s defense committee, referred to Sodol as “a criminal” in a Facebook post and has also called on Syrsky to resign. Bezuhla was similarly critical of Syrsky’s predecessor, Zaluzhny.

The turnover in personnel at the top of Ukraine’s military ranks comes at a tumultuous time on the battlefield. Since February, Ukraine has lost the eastern town of Avdiivka and a swath of villages to the west of it. Russia has also advanced north of Avdiivka with an assault on the town of Chasiv Yar. And last month, Russia began a new assault in the northeastern Kharkiv region, taking new territory near the border.

A six-month delay in U.S. military assistance certainly contributed to the setbacks, but so has a slow mobilization of new troops even after Ukrainian commanders reported that units were badly in need of replenishment.

With each setback on the front line, Syrsky has been quick to make personnel changes and sack lower-level commanders; he even disbanded an entire brigade that had been posted in Chasiv Yar.

Less than a week after Russia began its offensive in the Kharkiv region last month, Syrsky replaced Yuriy Halushkin, who had been overseeing units in the area.

Lately, soldiers said, officers at the battalion and company levels who question orders to hold a position when they feel it would be wiser to move back a bit are being punished or removed. That has led to diminished morale along the battlefield, military personnel said, and a growing lack of faith in the senior leadership.

“I’ve seen how senior officers made inadequate decisions because the ‘generals’ above ordered them to do so, and not being on the ground, they only gave commands,” said the head of a drone unit who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

“It was difficult to prove that this was arrogance and folly, although the issue often involved moving a position by 40 to 100 meters, which would have increased the safety of my position,” 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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Thursday, June 27, 2024 2:07 PM

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

Further proof that the war is Dumb vs Dumber:

Russia Sends Waves of Troops to the Front in a Brutal Style of Fighting

By Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, Marc Santora | June 27, 2024, 10:38 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/us/politics/russia-casualties-ukrai
ne-war.html

May was a particularly deadly month for the Russian army in Ukraine, with an average of more than 1,000 of its soldiers injured or killed each day, according to U.S., British and other Western intelligence agencies.

But despite its losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month — roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, U.S. officials said. That has allowed its army to keep sending wave after wave of troops at Ukrainian defenses, hoping to overwhelm them and break through the trench lines.

It is a style of warfare that Russian soldiers have likened to being put into a meat grinder, with commanding officers seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are sending infantry soldiers to die.

At times, this approach has proved effective, bringing the Russian army victories in Avdiivka and Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. But Ukrainian and Western officials say the tactics were less successful this spring, as Russia tried to take land near the city of Kharkiv.

American officials said that Russia achieved a critical objective of President Vladimir V. Putin, creating a buffer zone along the border to make it more difficult for the Ukrainians to strike into the country.

But the drive did not threaten Kharkiv and was ultimately stopped by Ukrainian defenses, according to Western officials.

“President Putin and Moscow have really tried to make big gains, to break through the front lines this spring,” Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, said in an interview with The New York Times editorial board. “They tried and they failed. They made very small gains, and they are paying a very high price.”

Russian casualties have spiked at other times, especially during the assaults on Avdiivka and Bakhmut. But the assaults on those cities were spread out over several months. The push in May, both outside Kharkiv and along the eastern front, involved more intense periods of Russian wave attacks. British military intelligence analysts said Russia’s casualties in May, which they put at an average of 1,200 a day, were the highest of the war.

The fighting last month decimated the town of Vovchansk, about 40 miles from Kharkiv, where Ukrainian and Russian are engaged in a grueling battle for control.

Russian soldiers have said on Telegram, the social media and messaging platform, that their units are suffering high casualties. Some say their ranks are being cut down by drones, machine gun fire and artillery barrages.

Russia’s use of infantry in wave attacks reflects one of its advantages in the war: Its population is much larger than Ukraine’s, giving it a bigger pool of potential recruits.

But the casualties have forced Russia to ship new recruits to Ukraine relatively quickly, meaning that the soldiers sent to the front are poorly trained.

The lack of structured training, and the need to commit new recruits to combat operations, has limited Russia’s ability to generate more capable units. It also increases casualties.

But it is more complicated than that. The changing nature of modern warfare has also increased the body count in recent months.

Ubiquitous drones have made it easy for both sides to spot, and target, enemy forces. And mines and cluster munitions make movement across open ground a nearly suicidal endeavor.

Since Mr. Putin launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 350,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III recently said. British estimates put the number of Russians killed or wounded at more than 500,000.

U.S. estimates of casualties in the war are based on satellite imagery, communication intercepts, social media and news media dispatches from reporters, as well as official reporting from Russia and Ukraine. But such estimates vary, even within the U.S. government.

Reliable estimates of Ukraine’s casualties are more difficult to come by. Ukrainian officials guard those numbers carefully. Several U.S. officials insist they do not have an accurate account. Mr. Zelensky has said that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the first two years of the war, but American officials say that number appears to understate Ukraine’s losses.

Russia conducted a partial mobilization in September 2022, which led to tens of thousands of young men fleeing the country. But Western intelligence analysts say Russia will not need to conduct another such mobilization or draft this year.

Russia appears to be able to sustain its current campaign by offering financial incentives to recruits, drawing on convicts and bringing in some Russian mercenaries from Africa.

But the major question for this year will be whether Russia’s current strategy can best the Ukrainian military, which is finding its defensive footing. Arms and ammunition from a new $60 billion U.S. aid package are finally reaching the front lines, and Ukrainian commanders are no longer having to ration rounds. Russia still outguns Ukraine, but not by as much.

Ukraine has shifted its posture, building fortifications and laying minefields to slow the Russian advance. War favors the defender, and Ukraine is focusing on holding its lines, American officials said.

“What I see is a slowing of the Russians’ advance and a stabilizing of that particular piece of the front,” Mr. Austin told reporters in Brussels this month. “A couple of weeks ago, there was concern that we would see a significant breakthrough on the part of the Russians. I don’t think we’ll see that going forward.”

And Russia’s new buffer zone at the border near Kharkiv may be a hollow achievement.

Ukraine has still been able to use longer-range American weapons to strike into Russia because of a policy shift by the Biden administration that allows the Ukrainian military to use U.S. missiles to strike military targets just over the border.

American officials said the change is beginning to have an impact, taking out Russian artillery and making it harder for Moscow to strike against Kharkiv.

The result, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this month, was that the Kharkiv offensive had proved to be “yet another mistake for Russia.”

“The destruction of Russian terrorists’ positions and launchers by our forces, our warriors, near the border really matters,” he said. “It is working. Exactly as we expected.”

But for all of Ukraine’s success around Kharkiv, there are more challenges ahead. In the weeks to come, U.S. and Western officials expect the fighting to shift back to the east and the south, as Russia continues to appear willing to expend forces to make incremental gains.

Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.

Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times, focusing on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism issues overseas, topics he has reported on for more than three decades.

Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.

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

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Thursday, June 27, 2024 5:01 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Germany's history is filled with misfortune.
Poland's history is filled with misfortune.
Jewish history.... oy vey! Is it filled wih misfortune!
Palestinian history...
Central and South America ...

What's your point?

Oh, that's right. You never have one.
That's just your sociopathy rearing its ugly head again, 'cause you get off on people being killed.

-----------
"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.
You fixated on the word "misfortune" which signals that you are silliness personified. Does being silly make you feel like booking your next holiday in Crimea? When misfortune strikes you while holidaying in Ukraine, be sure to blame anything other than foolishly vacationing in a war zone.

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

By that logic, Ukrainians shouldn't feel safe anywhere either, and have no reason to complain when civilians are killed
Let the mayhem begin!

-----------
"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.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, June 28, 2024 6:56 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

By that logic, Ukrainians shouldn't feel safe anywhere either, and have no reason to complain when civilians are killed
Let the mayhem begin!

Ukrainians are NOT safe anywhere. Do you recall that Russia is on a clear path to destroying all electric power plants? Russia doesn't have enough bombs to destroy all civilians unless it drops nukes. Instead, Russia is concentrating on the easiest thing to kill them all, their electricity.

Slow grinding Russian offensive operations in the Toretsk direction are in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin's articulated theory of victory that posits that Russian forces will be able to continue gradual creeping advances indefinitely, prevent Ukraine from conducting successful operationally significant counteroffensive operations, and win a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces.[11] The current rate of Russian advance suggests that Russian forces may pursue individual operationally significant objectives over the course of many months if not years, and Russian forces may accept the prospect of conducting offensive operations for months to seize Toretsk and advance northwestward towards Kostyantynivka.[12] The Russian military command likely hopes that offensive pressure in the Toretsk direction will aid its efforts to prevent Ukraine from accumulating the personnel and resources Ukraine needs to contest the theater-wide initiative, and this objective may supersede any specific territorial operational objective that Russian forces have in the Toretsk area.[13] The West must proactively provide Ukrainian forces with the necessary equipment and weapons at the scale, timing, and regularity that Ukrainian forces require for operations that liberate significant swaths of occupied Ukraine and challenge Putin's belief that he can gradually subsume Ukraine should rapid total victory appear unreachable.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-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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Friday, June 28, 2024 11:37 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

By that logic, Ukrainians shouldn't feel safe anywhere either, and have no reason to complain when civilians are killed
Let the mayhem begin!
SECOND
Ukrainians are NOT safe anywhere.

And yet, up until a couple of months ago, when "recruiters" started grabbing men off the streets, the nightclubs in Kiev and Odessa were doing good business.

Quote:
Slow grinding Russian offensive operations in the Toretsk direction are in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin's articulated theory of victory that posits that Russian forces will be able to continue gradual creeping advances indefinitely, prevent Ukraine from conducting successful operationally significant counteroffensive operations, and win a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces.[11] The current rate of Russian advance suggests that Russian forces may pursue individual operationally significant objectives over the course of many months if not years, and Russian forces may accept the prospect of conducting offensive operations for months to seize Toretsk and advance northwestward towards Kostyantynivka.[12] The Russian military command likely hopes that offensive pressure in the Toretsk direction will aid its efforts to prevent Ukraine from accumulating the personnel and resources Ukraine needs to contest the theater-wide initiative, and this objective may supersede any specific territorial operational objective that Russian forces have in the Toretsk area.[13] The West must proactively provide Ukrainian forces with the necessary equipment and weapons at the scale, timing, and regularity that Ukrainian forces require for operations that liberate significant swaths of occupied Ukraine and challenge Putin's belief that he can gradually subsume Ukraine should rapid total victory appear unreachable.

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

Yep, Vicki Nuland's think tank is once again publishing drivel.

It's funny. No matter what spin they put on their latest piece, it always ends the same:

Ukraine is winning! More money and weapons!
The war is in stalemate. More money and weapons!
After Kiev, Russia takes Europe! More money and weapons!
Ukraine is getting battered! More money and weapons!

I don't know why they keep publishing stories because I already know the ending.

-----------
"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.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, June 28, 2024 3:57 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Yep, Vicki Nuland's think tank is once again publishing drivel.

It's funny. No matter what spin they put on their latest piece, it always ends the same:

Ukraine is winning! More money and weapons!
The war is in stalemate. More money and weapons!
After Kiev, Russia takes Europe! More money and weapons!
Ukraine is getting battered! More money and weapons!

I don't know why they keep publishing stories because I already know the ending.

The Russians are out of their minds:

Russia Moves to Investigate ‘Finnish Genocide of Soviet Peoples’ - The Moscow Times

June 27, 2024

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/06/27/russia-moves-to-investigate-
finnish-genocide-of-soviet-peoples-a85538

Russian prosecutors announced Thursday that they have asked a court to recognize crimes committed by Nazi Germany and its then-collaborator Finland in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk as a “genocide.”

The Prosecutor General’s Office said archival documents and witness testimonies indicated that over 8,000 civilians and 18,000 Soviet prisoners of war were killed in more than 100 concentration camps built during the 1941-44 occupation of the Soviet region of Karelia.

“More than 7,000 prisoners died in Petrozavodsk concentration camps during the Finnish occupation alone,” the law enforcement body said in a statement.

Russia estimates damages to Karelia’s economy — from “destroyed towns, villages and all industrial and agricultural enterprises” — at 20 trillion rubles ($231.9 billion).

It was not immediately clear how Moscow would seek compensation from Finland, but a similar World War II-era “genocide” case claims 6.4 trillion rubles in damages from Nazi Germany’s actions in the Moscow region. Both countries are members of the EU, whose relations with the Kremlin have plummeted since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has regularly evoked World War II history in justifying the full-scale invasion, claiming it was needed to “denazify” Ukraine and stop “genocide” against the Russian-speaking population of partially occupied eastern Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies have dismissed those arguments.

The Russian authorities have launched a series of investigations into World War II atrocities committed by Nazi invaders across Soviet Russia. This comes amid what observers say is renewed interest — spearheaded by Putin — in the war and how Russia remembers the conflict.

Around 27 million Soviet citizens were estimated to have been killed in World War II, which Russia and some former Soviet republics refer to as the Great Patriotic War. Ukraine estimates it lost at least 8 million as part of the Soviet Union in that war.

The conflict between Soviet Russia and Finland during World War II, known as the Winter War (1939-1940) and the Continuation War (1941-1944), arose from Soviet territorial demands and the subsequent Finnish resistance, leading to significant battles and occupations, particularly in the region of Karelia.

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

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Friday, June 28, 2024 4:03 PM

Nobody gives one single fuck about Ukraine.

That was true 3 years ago when you worthless, virtue signalling fucks couldn't stop talking about it, and $200 Billion+ later it sure as hell true now.

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

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

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Friday, June 28, 2024 4:22 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody gives one single fuck about Ukraine.

That was true 3 years ago when you worthless, virtue signalling fucks couldn't stop talking about it, and $200 Billion+ later it sure as hell true now.

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

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

6ixStringJack, you keep reminding everybody that you are stupid. Can you stop telling them about how empty you are inside?

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

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Friday, June 28, 2024 5:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody gives one single fuck about Ukraine.

That was true 3 years ago when you worthless, virtue signalling fucks couldn't stop talking about it, and $200 Billion+ later it sure as hell true now.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
6ixStringJack, you keep reminding everybody that you are stupid. Can you stop telling them about how empty you are inside?

Sure thing, buddy.

I'm the stupid guy who's always eventually proven right and gets to laugh at you in your face, over and over and over and over and over again.

You're the empty one man. A shell of a human being who was hollowed out by your TDS and you've had your brain pumped full of Legacy Media poison with all that room they made where your personality used to lie.

Your world is crashing down all around you, just like I said it would.

And at the end of the day the fact that Joe Biden* won* the 2020 election was ultimately the undoing of everything you thought you wanted.

Tick Tock

Oh... and Happy Pride Month, BTW... In case you didn't even realize it was almost over since nobody talks about it at all in 2024.

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

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

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Saturday, June 29, 2024 6:12 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Sure thing, buddy.

I'm the stupid guy who's always eventually proven right and gets to laugh at you in your face, over and over and over and over and over again.

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

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

You recommended that Julian Assange move to Russia to avoid being assassinated by Biden.
I'd recommend that Trump move to Russia to avoid the same if he loses.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=66090&mid=11956
25#1195625

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 29, 2024 6:13 AM

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

Russia’s Most Dangerous Jets Are Parked In The Open A Hundred Miles From Ukraine. But Kyiv Needs Washington’s Permission To Strike Them.

By David Axe | Jun 28, 2024, 05:58pm EDT

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/06/28/russias-most-dangerou
s-jets-are-parked-in-the-open-a-hundred-miles-from-ukraine-but-kyiv-needs-washingtons-permission-to-strike-them/

Voronezh Malshevo air base, in southern Russia 100 miles from the border with Ukraine, might be the most important—and most vulnerable—target in Russia.

But it’s seemingly off of Ukraine’s list of targets for now.

From the base, Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers belonging to the Russian air force’s 47th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment fly daily sorties lobbing powerful glide bombs at Ukrainian troops and civilians from 25 miles away or farther.

The carnage is staggering. “It takes only minutes for a [Sukhoi] jet to reach the launch area near the border and then return to the base,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight explained. “The large number of jets stationed at the airfield enables the simultaneous deployment of bombs, allowing multiple targets in Ukrainian territory to be engaged at once.”

The regiment’s dozens of Sukhoi Su-34s—possibly representing around half of Russia’s active fleet of the supersonic, twin-engine fighter-bombers—routinely park out out in the open on the tarmac of the recently renovated base.

They’re within range of Ukraine’s best deep strike weapon—its American-made Army Tactical Missile System rockets. “Ukraine could potentially incapacitate the entire operational fleet stationed there if permitted to conduct such a strike,” Frontelligence Insight noted.

But the administration of Pres. Joe Biden hasn’t yet given the Ukrainian government permission to aim the ATACMS at Voronezh Malshevo. And so, for now, the Su-34s at Voronezh Malshevo bomb with near impunity—lobbing a significant percentage of the roughly 100 glide bombs the Russians drop on Ukrainian positions and cities every day, killing soldiers and civilians alike.

To be clear, Ukrainian forces have other ways of stopping the glide bombers. So far, however, they’re not working on the planes from Voronezh Malshevo.

One option is to shoot down the bombers before they release their munitions. The problem is that the Ukrainian air force doesn’t have enough of its best U.S.-made Patriot air-defense batteries to protect major cities—to say nothing of extending that protection close enough to the border to intercept the 47th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment’s Sukhois.

Ukraine has just five Patriot batteries in place or on the way. One protects Kyiv. It seems others protect Odesa and Kharkiv. Two additional batteries that Germany and the United States have pledged—but not yet delivered—could safeguard Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih.

Unless and until Ukraine’s allies send a lot more Patriot batteries, don’t expect the Ukrainians to risk one along the northern border between Voronezh Malshevo and Kharkiv.

The last time the Ukrainian air force hit the road with a mobile Patriot battery, a Russian drone spotted it—and a Russian rocket blew up two of its truck-mounted launchers. “Attempting to ambush these jets [from Voronezh Malshevo] with a Patriot battery in a drone-saturated environment ... poses considerable risks,” Frontelligence Insight pointed out.

Likewise, it would be risky for the Ukrainian air force to deploy its future fleet of ex-European F-16 fighters against the glide bombers. “The glide-bomb sorties will be very challenging to intercept regularly,” analyst Justin Bronk wrote in a new study for the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The main problem is Russia’s ground-based air defenses, which make it extremely dangerous for Ukrainian warplanes to fly at high altitude practically anywhere in Ukraine—but especially within a hundred miles or so of the front line, well within reach of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries.

“When close to the front lines, Ukrainian pilots will have to fly them at very low altitudes to avoid being detected and shot down,” Bronk wrote. “At such low altitudes, the [F-16s’] missiles start out in dense air with a lot of aerodynamic drag and must climb against gravity to reach the altitudes where their targets are.” That limits their range.

Ukraine could always aim long-range strike drones at Voronezh Malshevo. Recent drone strikes on two other Su-34 bases—Kuschevka and Morozovsk, both in Russia around a hundred miles from the eastern front line—have apparently damaged or destroyed several Sukhois.

For some reason, Voronezh Malshevo hasn’t come under heavy bombardment from drones. It’s possible the same dense Russian air defenses that imperil the F-16s also prevent drones from reaching the Sukhoi base.

Which brings us back to the ATACMS, still probably the best weapons for hitting Voronezh Malshevo and blunting Russia’s brutal glide-bombing campaign. But Ukraine probably won’t jeopardize future supplies of the rockets by using them against targets the United States doesn’t approve in advance.

So the Ukrainians wait for permission they hope is coming soon. “It is painful to watch those missiles flying over our heads toward Kharkiv and thinking if your home would be destroyed this time,” a Ukrainian drone commander told The Washington Post.

Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here. Send me a secure tip.

Sources:

1. Frontelligence Insight: https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/impact-and-defense-mitigating-th
e

2. Justin Bronk: https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/dama
ged-su-57-emphasises-vulnerability-russian-airbases-near-ukraine

3. The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/06/01/us-ukraine
-weapons-kharkiv-biden/

David Axe is a journalist and filmmaker based in Columbia, South Carolina. He joined Forbes in 2020, and currently focuses on Ukraine.

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 29, 2024 6:47 AM

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

Why would anyone want to leave Russia, the greatest country on Earth? There are reasons:

Mikhail Baryshnikov on Leaving Everything Behind

Fifty years ago, Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union. “It was the start of a new life,” he says of the night in 1974 when he dodged K.G.B. agents in Toronto as he rushed to meet Canadian and American friends in a getaway car.

By Javier C. Hernández | June 28, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/arts/dance/mikhail-baryshnikov-sovi
et-union-defection.html

On the night of June 29, 1974, after a performance with a touring Bolshoi Ballet troupe in downtown Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov made his way out a stage door, past a throng of fans and began to run.

Baryshnikov, then 26 and already one of ballet’s brightest stars, had made the momentous decision to defect from the Soviet Union and build a career in the West. On that rainy night, he had to evade K.G.B. agents — and audience members seeking autographs — as he rushed to meet a group of Canadian and American friends waiting in a car a few blocks away.

“That car took me to the free world,” Baryshnikov, 76, recalled in a recent interview. “It was the start of a new life.”

His cloak-and-dagger escape helped to make him a cultural celebrity. “Soviet Dancer in Canada Defects on Bolshoi Tour,” The New York Times declared on its front page.

But the focus on his decision to leave the Soviet Union has sometimes made Baryshnikov uneasy. He said he does not like how the term “defector” sounds in English, conjuring an image of a traitor who has committed high treason.

“I’m not a defector — I’m a selector,” he said. “That was my choice. I selected this life.”

Baryshnikov was born in Soviet-occupied Riga, Latvia, and moved to Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in 1964, when he was 16, to study with the renowned teacher Alexander Pushkin. When he was 19, he joined the Kirov Ballet, now known as the Mariinsky, and quickly became a star on the Russian ballet scene.

Q: You were born eight years after Latvia was forcibly annexed to the Soviet Union; your father was one of the Russian workers sent there to teach. How does your experience growing up there affect how you see this war?

A: I spent the first 16 years of my life in Soviet Latvia, and I know the other side of the coin. I was the son of an occupier. I knew that experience of living under the occupation. The Russians treated it like their territory and their land, and they said the Latvian language is garbage.

I don’t want Putin and his army to enter Riga. Finally Latvia has real independence, and they’re doing pretty good. My mother is buried there. I feel when I’m coming to Riga, I’m coming back to my home.

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 29, 2024 11:00 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Sure thing, buddy.

I'm the stupid guy who's always eventually proven right and gets to laugh at you in your face, over and over and over and over and over again.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
You recommended that Julian Assange move to Russia to avoid being assassinated by Biden.
I'd recommend that Trump move to Russia to avoid the same if he loses.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=66090&mid=11956
25#1195625

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

Trump won't lose.

Why would Joe Biden* assassinate Trump if he won again?

You are a really fucked up dude.

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

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

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Saturday, June 29, 2024 6:53 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Sure thing, buddy.

I'm the stupid guy who's always eventually proven right and gets to laugh at you in your face, over and over and over and over and over again.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
You recommended that Julian Assange move to Russia to avoid being assassinated by Biden.
I'd recommend that Trump move to Russia to avoid the same if he loses.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=66090&mid=11956
25#1195625

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

Trump won't lose.

Why would Joe Biden* assassinate Trump if he won again?

You are a really fucked up dude.

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

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

It is like asking why the leadership of the Allies put enormous effort into killing the Axis leadership by hanging when the Axis had already lost WWII. (Hint: because citizens of the Axis nations would follow those old leaders at the first opportunity that comes up when the Allies leadership looks away. To make sure that did not happen, the old leaders were declared to be criminals and then were executed. That's gonna be Trump's fate: time in jail, or at least be forced to pay all his income taxes for the first time in his life. I think Trump should flee to Russia and avoid the necessity to pay what he owes to the IRS.)

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 29, 2024 8:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Sure thing, buddy.

I'm the stupid guy who's always eventually proven right and gets to laugh at you in your face, over and over and over and over and over again.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
You recommended that Julian Assange move to Russia to avoid being assassinated by Biden.
I'd recommend that Trump move to Russia to avoid the same if he loses.
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=66090&mid=11956
25#1195625

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

Trump won't lose.

Why would Joe Biden* assassinate Trump if he won again?

You are a really fucked up dude.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
It is like

You are a really fucked up dude.

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

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

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Sunday, June 30, 2024 7:42 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

You are a really fucked up dude.

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

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

Wars answer the question about ownership. 6ix and Trumptards in general support Trump's claim they own America. (Specifically, 6ix writes Biden* with the * indicating Biden is not the real president while Trump lives.) Putin claims Russia owns Ukraine. (Specifically, Putin would write President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy*.) The Axis powers claimed they own the world. War is about violently knocking down these false claims of ownership. Beyond their Army's defeat, the leadership spreading these false claims have to be knocked down and trampled on or else the war will start again at the first opportunity.

* Putin says Ukraine's Zelenskiy lacks legitimacy after term expired
May 24, 2024, 5:02 PM CDT
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-legitimacy-ukraines-ze
lenskiy-is-over-2024-05-24/

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Sunday, June 30, 2024 7:42 AM

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A Russian milblogger claimed that new Russian personnel receive roughly 14 days of training on average before deploying to the frontline.[63] The milblogger noted that new Russian personnel receives four to five days of real training and that the 14 days encompass the time between signing a military contract and arriving at the front in Ukraine.[64] A former Storm-Z instructor agreed with the milblogger's assessment and bemoaned problems with general training.[65] The milblogger also noted that an average Ukrainian soldier appears to receive much more training than the average Russian soldier.[66] The Russian military is currently committing all Russian forces, regardless of their formal designations, to more or less similar operations along the front and continues to mainly leverage mass in infantry and occasional mechanized assaults to make creeping advances instead of relying on highly trained units.[67] This decision has likely lowered training requirements for most new Russian personnel set to fight in Ukraine, although 14 days is still insufficient for generating even limited combat effective personnel. While many new Russian personnel may receive inadequate training, Russian forces likely provide Russian personnel with further training following deployment to Ukraine and are likely attempting to offer better training for select elements.

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

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Sunday, June 30, 2024 11:51 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

More propaganda from Vicki Nuland's think tank?

Yanno, SECOND, drenching yourself in propaganda is never gonna help you understand the world.

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Monday, July 1, 2024 6:21 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
More propaganda from Vicki Nuland's think tank?

Yanno, SECOND, drenching yourself in propaganda is never gonna help you understand the world.

Putin's current theory of victory rests on Russia's ability to outlast and overcome pledged Western security assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian efforts to mobilize more of its economy and population for the war effort.[11] Putin and the Russian military command are increasingly viewing the retention of the theater-wide initiative as a strategic imperative and will continue to leverage the initiative to try to force Ukraine to commit manpower and materiel to current defensive operations and to prevent Ukraine from accumulating the personnel and resources Ukraine needs to contest the initiative.[12] Putin's theory of victory rests on the assessment that Ukraine lacks the capability to liberate operationally significant territory — Russia's creeping advances hold no operational significance if Ukraine can undo those gains more rapidly when Ukraine regains the battlefield- or theater-wide initiative. Western security assistance and Ukrainian force generation efforts that allow Ukraine to contest the initiative are thus crucial to changing Putin's calculus, and it is unlikely that Putin will change his assessment regarding the feasibility of destroying Ukraine without further significant Russian defeats. Western security assistance that provides Ukrainian forces with the necessary equipment and weapons at the scale, timing, and regularity that Ukrainian forces require for operations that liberate significant swaths of occupied Ukraine remains the only likely path for reducing Putin's current commitment to destroying Ukrainian statehood and identity regardless of time or cost.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-june-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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Monday, July 1, 2024 7:13 AM

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What if Russia Wins the War in Ukraine?

By Carl Bildt, the co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden. | July 1, 2024, 12:41 AM

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/01/russia-ukraine-war-europe-politic
s-refugees/

A Russian victory and collapse of the Ukrainian state would have extremely grave consequences for Europe.

In the Ukrainian territories Russia has occupied — first in 2014 and then since 2022 — the population is now a fraction of what it was before. If a similar ratio applies to further Russian conquests, it would be realistic to count on 10 million to 15 million refugees, in addition to the slightly more than 4 million Europe is hosting already, flowing into nearby European states.

A Russian victory would transform European politics. Defense expenditures — set to reach 4 percent of GDP in Poland this year and at least 2 percent across much of NATO — will need to double yet again in order to credibly deter threats from the Russian regime.

New conflicts could be on the horizon. To which old borders would Russian President Vladimir Putin like to restore the Kremlin’s empire? Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states were all once ruled from Moscow, and anyone with access to Kremlin-approved television can find Russian imperialist dreamers talking in these terms.

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Tuesday, July 2, 2024 6:20 AM

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

Patriotic Russian poetry praising Vladimir Putin and backing his war in Ukraine has turned out to be translations of Nazi verses penned in the 1930s and 1940s. The 18 poems of Gennady Rakitin have attracted quite a following in Russia in the past year and been mentioned in poetry prizes, but pranksters have revealed they invented Rakitin and simply translated poems such as Führer and odes to Nazi stormtroopers, replacing references to Germany with Russia. “We read collections of Z poetry and saw straight-up nazism there. We suspected that they probably wrote exactly the same things in Nazi Germany, and we turned out to be right,” said the group behind the project, in written responses to questions from the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/02/ukraine-war-brie
fing-thousands-of-ukrainian-convicts-join-fight-against-russian-forces

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Tuesday, July 2, 2024 6:20 AM

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"There is an impenetrable civilizational divide between us and the Russian Federation. Just yesterday, a horrifying photo of a Ukrainian defender tortured in Russian captivity circulated nationwide. Today, we show how true soldiers, who have honor and dignity, treat enemy prisoners," reads the post by Ukrainian soldiers.

The military refers to the photo of Oleksandr Hrytsiuk from Kivertsi in Volhynia, who Russians captured in April 2022. In January 2024, his family was informed that his body had returned from captivity. "His head was entirely blue, his nose to the side, and his index fingers had no nails. There were signs of torture all over his body," says Hrytsiuk's wife. The soldier "did not want to speak Russian."

Dozens of occupiers were taken captive. "Most of them were mobilized and were sentenced to death in 'meat attacks.' They chose life," add the defenders. They emphasized that the prisoners are treated well and by international law.

"Our fighters provided them with the necessary qualified medical assistance and behaved as humanely as possible, given the combat conditions. Atrocities, civilian murders, torture, and abuse of the unarmed are the path of dark Russia. On the front, we are doing everything to erase even the traces of the Russian Federation in our free, civilized country," assured the fighters of the Ukrainian "Rubizh" brigade.

https://essanews.com/ukrainian-rubizh-brigade-captures-russian-soldier
s-in-dramatic-surrender,7044414512817793a

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Tuesday, July 2, 2024 7:34 AM

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This war is Dumb vs Dumber: “A million years of war, sheep do not learn anything.”

The Ukrainian Air Force Parked Six Su-27 Fighters In The Open 100 Miles From The Front Line. A Russian Missile Destroyed Two Of Them.

On or just before Monday, July 1, six Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 supersonic fighters were parked in the open at the base in broad daylight. A Russian Iskander missile barreled in, destroying two of the precious Sukhois and damaging the other four.

The Ukrainian air force went to war in February 2022 with around 125 Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s and other jets. In 28 months of hard fighting, the Ukrainians have lost around 90 jets that the analysts at Oryx have confirmed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/07/01/the-ukrainian-air-for
ce-parked-six-su-27-fighters-in-the-open-100-miles-from-the-front-line-a-russian-missile-destroyed-two-of-them/

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 6:18 AM

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Russia missed out on an opportunity to steamroll Ukraine and secure notable battlefield gains, former Australian major general Mick Ryan said on Tuesday.

"Russia has built strategic momentum with its assaults on Ukraine in the past six months. However, they have largely failed to exploit their opportunities," Ryan, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote on X. "Russia appears to have blown what might have been its last chance to strike a decisive blow against Ukraine in this war," he said.

The former general said Russia missed an opportunity to make gains that emerged in late 2023 when Ukraine wrapped up its unsuccessful counteroffensive, running short on munitions and manpower.

Ryan argued that "the Russians over the last six months have generally failed to capitalise on this convergence of opportunities."

This situation, he said, "was probably Russia's best opportunity to make significant gains on the battlefield which it could then turn into significantly increased political and diplomatic pressure on Ukraine for peace negotiations."

He pointed to Russia's limited progress, noting that the Russians have paid in hundreds of lives for each kilometer of territory captured. That's a "poor return on investment - in any war," Ryan said.

"The question now is whether Ukraine, which seeks to liberate more of its territory occupied by Russia, can build all the different physical, moral and intellectual elements of offensive combat power to do better than Russia has either later this year or in 2025," Ryan concluded.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-missed-probably-its-best-o
pportunity-to-steamroll-ukraine-war-analyst-argues/ar-BB1piwfN

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 6:39 AM

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Russia has become so economically isolated that China could order the end of war in Ukraine

Published: July 1, 2024 12:23pm EDT

https://theconversation.com/russia-has-become-so-economically-isolated
-that-china-could-order-the-end-of-war-in-ukraine-232951

Western leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated by China’s role in enabling the war in Ukraine. And they are right to focus on China’s position of power. Russia is now so dependent on the only major economy still taking the risk to support its regime, that China could effectively force Vladimir Putin to end the conflict.

The extent of Russia’s economic dependence became apparent fairly quickly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Just a few months later, things were not going to plan.

In the hope of putting pressure on European countries supporting Ukraine, Russia decided to cut almost all of its exports of gas to the west. Before the war, Russia had provided about 40% of Europe’s gas.

While at first that decision provoked an energy crisis and a surge in bills across the continent, Europe eventually managed to wean itself from Russia’s supply. They did this in part by replacing gas with other sources of energy, but also by substituting Russian imports with gas from other countries, including the US.

Electricity prices in Europe are now roughly back to pre-war levels. And while gas prices are still high, they have dropped, with storage facilities expected to be almost full later this year.

So now Russia faces a massive problem of its own: selling its gas.

For the first time in over 20 years, the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom sustained a financial loss in 2023. Until then, the custom and tax revenues from the company contributed around 10% of the country’s budget.

Revenue from oil exports has also decreased. As western countries have banned Russian oil, the country is forced to sell it for less, absorbing the additional costs of transporting production to the likes of China and India while mainstream transporters refuse to risk carrying it.

As for natural gas, geography makes things even worse for Russia. China is the only potential customer large enough to justify a new pipeline to replace the ones which used to deliver to Europe. But given this privileged position, China feels able to demand the gas at a huge discount.

In this kind of bargaining situation, China has the upper hand.

China can buy gas from anywhere in the world, but Russia can only sell it (at the volumes it needs) to China. Then there is the question of urgency – Russia needs to finance a war now, while China has no pressing energy need it cannot fulfil.
Bargaining basement

Russia’s dependence on China applies to other sectors of the economy too. The Chinese yuan now accounts for 54% of trades in Russia’s stock exchange since it was cut off from the global banking system in 2022. It has no credible alternative to replace that money if China started to apply similar sanctions.

Even more crucial for the war, China is responsible for around 90% of Russia’s import of “high priority” dual-use goods – electronic components, radars, sensors – without which it could not build advanced military hardware. Again, there is no alternative supplier.

It is hard to win a war with only North Korea and Iran – two countries themselves subject to heavy economic sanctions – on your side. In short, this means that China is now in a position to demand anything from Russia.

More at https://theconversation.com/russia-has-become-so-economically-isolated
-that-china-could-order-the-end-of-war-in-ukraine-232951

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 4:02 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Russian Note To The U.S.: Your Drones Are Now Targets

A new statement by the Russian Defense Ministry says:

The Russian Defence Ministry noted the increased intensity of U.S. strategic unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea waters, which are conducting reconnaissance and targeting high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western states to launch strikes at Russian facilities.

This demonstrates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.

Such flights increase the possibility of air incidents involving the Russian Aerospace Forces' aircraft, increasing the risk of a direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation.

The NATO countries will be responsible for this.

The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov has instructed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to make proposals on measures for rapid response to provocations.

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 5:57 PM

THG

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 5:58 PM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

When I hear nonsense like ..."destroyed 30 refineries" I know he's fullacrap.

Son, have you ever been to a refinery?? I've been to several.

They are HUGE. And built to withstand heat and pressure.

A drone is a fart compared to a refinery.

Think CIA...

T

How Ukraine Wins The War Against Russia

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 6:14 PM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Russian Note To The U.S.: Your Drones Are Now Targets

A new statement by the Russian Defense Ministry says:

The Russian Defence Ministry noted the increased intensity of U.S. strategic unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea waters, which are conducting reconnaissance and targeting high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western states to launch strikes at Russian facilities.

This demonstrates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.

Such flights increase the possibility of air incidents involving the Russian Aerospace Forces' aircraft, increasing the risk of a direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation.

The NATO countries will be responsible for this.

The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov has instructed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to make proposals on measures for rapid response to provocations.

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Thursday, July 4, 2024 3:11 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Uh, you DO remember how Afghanistan ended, right?
Bc you seem to have forgotten that the goal of the military is winning wars, not making movies.

*****

Meanwhile, according to Military Summary (with geolocated videos, official, and reliable reports from both sides)

and Alexander Mercouris (The Duran)

Russia destroyed three Ukrainian airfields, including 5(?) Su-27s (the kind that carry storm shadows and glide bombs), Mig-29s and helicopters.

Chasov Yar microdistrict was taken, "citadels" (heavily defended areas of high rises) in three villages were taken, Ukraine is losing 2000+ soldiers a day, and the front is moving so quickly I don't even recognize the names of the villages anymore.

-----------
"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."
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Friday, July 5, 2024 6:13 AM

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

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev claimed on July 4 that around 190,000 Russians signed military service contracts during the first six months of 2024 during a Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) meeting about staffing the Russian military with contract soldiers.[65] Medvedev noted that the MoD's average daily recruitment rate is 1,000 people and praised the MoD for fulfilling its force generation tasks. The Russian MoD claimed on April 3 that more than 100,000 Russians signed military service contracts since the beginning of 2024.[66] (93 days from January 1 - April 3, 2024)

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-july-4-2024

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

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Friday, July 5, 2024 5:15 PM

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

America Is in Denial About Ukraine's Future in NATO

An alliance that includes Ukraine will require a vastly larger military and economic commitment.

By Daniel Treisman, a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

July 5, 2024, 10:02 AM

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/05/america-nato-ukraine-denial/

U.S. President Joe Biden has said for years that Ukraine will one day become a member of NATO. In fact, he was asserting this before most Ukrainians had any desire to join the alliance. “If you choose to be part of Euro-Atlantic integration, which I believe you have, then we strongly support that,” he announced on a trip to Kyiv as vice president in 2009. In Ukraine that year, only 28 percent favored NATO membership for their country, while 51 percent opposed it. Biden has remained committed to the idea in principle. “Ukraine’s future lies at NATO,” he insisted again in Vilnius, Lithuania, last summer.

At the same time, he has made extremely clear that the United States is not prepared to go to war with Russia to defend Kyiv. Any direct involvement of U.S. troops in the current conflict could mean “World War III,” he said in 2022, and “we will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.” Biden raced to pull all U.S. troops out of the country ahead of Russia’s invasion in February 2022. And, to avoid provoking Moscow, he has delayed supplying Kyiv with advanced weapons and has restricted their use in ways that critics say have hamstrung Ukraine’s defense.

There’s no direct inconsistency in these positions. After all, Ukraine is not a NATO member yet. And Biden has said the country will not become one until after the current war is over. It is eminently reasonable for a U.S. president to worry about nuclear escalation. And at times the White House seems to have received alarming intelligence about Russian preparations to use tactical nuclear weapons.

But Biden’s stance raises some difficult questions. If he is unwilling to risk provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin into a nuclear confrontation, then why are we promising to commit to do just that if necessary to defend Ukraine in the future? After Ukraine enters NATO, that is what Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty will require, as Biden clearly recognizes. If defeating Russia in Ukraine is a U.S. vital interest, then why are we holding back now? And if it is not, then why should we pledge to risk everything on Ukraine’s behalf later?

These questions about Ukraine point to a troubling contradiction in how NATO has expanded in the recent past. The alliance’s deterrent power depends on widespread belief in the strength of its members’ mutual commitment. At the height of the Cold War, U.S. leaders really were prepared to raise the nuclear ante to defend their European allies. But the way NATO grew after 1989—with no obvious military threat looming, a blurry mission, and little discussion of the dangers—invites speculation about just how strong that commitment is today.

The U.S. public was never much engaged with the issue. As foreign-policy experts clashed in early 1997 about NATO expansion, only 20 percent of American respondents said they were following the debates even “fairly closely.” Later that year, only 10 percent could identify even one of the potential new members. What made NATO enlargement sellable to Western publics was, paradoxically, the sense that it was not really needed. Back then, Russia hardly looked threatening, so what did it matter what one promised to its neighbors? Had Western citizens thought they might have to send troops to defend Tallinn or Warsaw, opposition would certainly have been louder.

NATO expansion was supposed to be not just safe but cheap: It was not meant to cut into the promised “peace dividend.” This led to the odd spectacle of a defense alliance simultaneously expanding its territory and slashing its armaments and military spending (as a share of GDP). At times, NATO looked less like a military partnership than a disarmament pact.

Since 1989, NATO has added 16 countries. At the same time, the 16 pre-1989 members cut their military expenditures from an average 3.7 percent of GDP in the alliance’s first 40 years to 1.9 percent since 1989. Total manpower in the 16 countries’ armed forces fell from 5.8 million in 1989 to 3.5 million in 2020.

After joining the club, the new members also downsized their forces. The 12 that enrolled between 1999 and 2009 had spent 1.8 percent of GDP on defense in the decade before accession on average. That fell to 1.5 percent in the 10 years after joining. A decade after accession, the median new member had 75 percent fewer tanks, 55 percent fewer combat aircraft, and 59 percent fewer artillery pieces, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Its military manpower had dropped by a third.

NATO’s border with Russia in the Baltics was left particularly vulnerable. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had three tanks between them when they joined in 2004—and still only three tanks 10 years later. War games suggested that invading Russian troops could reach Tallinn and Riga in “36 to 60 hours.” Until 2010, NATO did not even have a plan for their defense.

Initially, one could reasonably think that Russia posed no real threat. But after Putin’s tirade to the 2007 Munich Security Conference, the massive cyberattack on Estonia that year, Russia’s suspension of implementation of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, its invasion of Georgia in 2008, its military exercise in 2009 simulating an attack on a Baltic neighbor and a nuclear strike on Poland, the seizure of Crimea in 2014, and the covert war in Donbas, that line was no longer tenable.

NATO did eventually respond in 2017 by deploying about 3,000 German, British, and Canadian troops in the Baltic states. But, against a potential Russian force of scores of thousands, those service members were at best a trip wire, at worst a pool of hostages. Only after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 did planning step up. Even now, the pace arguably lacks urgency. Latvia’s defense minister has warned it may take a decade to build the first line of defensive bunkers on his country’s borders.

To be clear, expanding NATO in the 1990s may have been the right decision. There were two plausible strategies vis-à-vis Russia—enlarge and defend or don’t enlarge and engage—both with pros and cons and huge uncertainty. But the course actually chosen—expand and disarm—did not make much sense.

From early on, there was a sense of unreality about the whole operation. Western leaders wanted to expand the West’s footprint on the cheap. And the new recruits thought NATO membership could substitute for building an adequate conventional defense. The Ukraine invasion exposed the wishful thinking in these positions.

This legacy cannot be ignored as the West ponders Ukraine’s future. For all NATO leaders’ impressive rallying after February 2022, Putin has observed the alliance over the past 30-plus years and drawn conclusions. His goal is to exploit the internal weakness and self-delusion that he senses at its heart. He may not frontally attack a NATO member in the near future. But he has already stepped up subversion and sabotage. And he is watching for opportunities.

For Ukraine, NATO membership would link the calculus of nuclear escalation to any future Russian aggression. But if Putin suspects that Western readiness to face annihilation for Kyiv is patchy, he may view the brinkmanship game as one he can win. Given his goal of undermining NATO cohesion, membership for Ukraine would also pin a new target on its back. Ukraine in NATO would risk becoming, in Putin’s eyes, the alliance’s front-line weak spot.

The key question is whether other alliance members—not just their foreign-policy elites but general publics as well—are ready, in Biden’s words, to “fight the third world war” over Ukraine. If they are not, then inducting Kyiv after the current war ends may actually make both it and the West less secure. It will provoke Putin to prod and probe in the hope of inflaming Western divisions.

To reject Ukraine’s bid for membership now would implode morale and set off bitter recriminations. Having prematurely promised this in 2008, the West cannot safely retract its pledge. But on this point, Biden may be right to delay. Focusing on the NATO question is to miss the real point—what Ukraine most needs now and in any future scenario is a formidable conventional defense capacity.

The 10-year security agreement signed by Biden on June 13 expresses the right sentiment. But it epitomizes the limitations of the West’s recent policy. All know this agreement may disappear in a puff of smoke on Inauguration Day 2025. As usual, the West offers generous promises with murky paths to fulfillment. Too many pieces of paper, too few F-16s.

What Ukraine needs is a detailed, fully funded, broadly backed Western plan, insulated against future political turbulence, to create the kind of defense infrastructure on its eastern border that could repel—and therefore deter—a future Russian invasion. To avoid Russian blackmail, if not actual missiles, the country will need a large network of top-of-the-line air defenses. It will need intelligence-sharing arrangements with Western governments and an in-country military-industrial base that can rapidly resupply weapons. And, of course, it will need economic aid to rebuild its civilian infrastructure and capital stock. This is a very tall order. But an invitation to NATO will not in itself provide these things—and it cannot substitute for them.

To deter attacks on other NATO members, the alliance must rapidly reinforce its eastern borders. All three Baltic states now have conscription, so the number of trained reserves will grow. But their armed forces now own no battle tanks and no fighter aircraft. At the July 2023 Vilnius summit, NATO leaders agreed to scale up the battlegroups of roughly 1,000 Western troops stationed in each Baltic state to “brigade-size units” of more than 3,000 troops each. But they gave no timeline and promised the increase only “where and when required,” hardly a reassuring phrase.

As a possible second Trump presidency looms and Russian troops inch forward on the Ukrainian battlefield, it remains uncertain whether NATO leaders will draw the right lessons from recent decades. To avoid vulnerability to Putin’s blackmail, we must prevent Russian troops from seizing land and then declaring it under their nuclear umbrella. Treaty commitments are no substitute for robust border defenses. These must be rapidly reinforced, despite the cost. And this time, leaders must explain clearly to their citizens why the safety of all NATO members now depends on what happens in Ukraine and the alliance’s own front-line states.

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

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Friday, July 5, 2024 5:24 PM

Fuck Ukraine. Fuck NATO.

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

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

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Friday, July 5, 2024 8:47 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Fuck Ukraine. Fuck NATO.

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

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

You are an isolationist Republican.

Lend-Lease was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and 1945. The aid was given free of charge on the basis that such help was essential for the defense of the United States.[2] After a decade of neutrality, Roosevelt knew that the change to Allied support must be gradual, given the support for isolationism in the country.

Opposition to the Lend-Lease bill was strongest among isolationist Republicans in Congress, who feared the measure would be "the longest single step this nation has yet taken toward direct involvement in the war abroad". When the House of Representatives finally took a roll call vote on February 8, 1941, the 260 to 165 vote was largely along party lines. Democrats voted 236 to 25 in favor and Republicans 24 in favor and 135 against.[19]

The vote in the Senate, which occurred on March 8, revealed a similar partisan difference: 49 Democrats (79 percent) voted "aye" with only 13 Democrats (21 percent) voting "nay". In contrast, 17 Republicans (63 percent) voted "nay" while 10 Senate Republicans (37 percent) sided with the Democrats to pass the bill.[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease

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

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Friday, July 5, 2024 9:33 PM

Yeah. Some of the Democrats had brains back then.

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

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

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Friday, July 5, 2024 10:00 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah. Some of the Democrats had brains back then.

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

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

I get the strong feeling that you would have supported Hitler's side rather than France and England but wish to obscure your true nature by pretending that non-participation promotes prosperity, peace, and long life.

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

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Saturday, July 6, 2024 12:09 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah. Some of the Democrats had brains back then.

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

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.
I get the strong feeling that you would have supported Hitler's side rather than France and England but wish to obscure your true nature by pretending that non-participation promotes prosperity, peace, and long life.

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

Funny you should mention that, since we decided to start funding ... Yanno... ACTUAL Nazis in Ukraine. (Azov Brigade.)

I see nothing wrong with being an isolationist. The Founding Fathers thought we should be. So why do we feel we HAVE to run around the world butting in anyway? It's one thing to to help out a nation with mutual interests. It's another thing to stir up trouble just for the helluvit. That seems to be what we're doing 90% of the time.

Oh, BTW, just bc you're trying to stay out of a fight doesn't mean you support one side or the other. False dilemma and mind reading.

-----------
"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."
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Saturday, July 6, 2024 7:47 AM

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

Putin's rejection of any ceasefire agreement contradicts the Kremlin's previous effort to place the onus for negotiations on the West and Ukraine. Putin blamed the West and Ukraine for the lack of negotiations while explicitly rejecting future Russian participation in any meaningful ceasefire negotiations during his July 4 press conference at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a stark contradiction in his rhetoric.[12] Putin also dismissed the possibility that any international body or head of state could mediate a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, despite previously presenting China and various Western leaders as possible actors that Russia could negotiate with. Russian opposition outlet Meduza reported on July 5 that it obtained a Kremlin manual ordering pro-Kremlin and Russian state media to highlight Putin's July 4 statements blaming the West and Ukraine for impeding peace negotiations with "ultimatums" and framing Russia as a willing, good-faith negotiator.[13] The manual recommends that Russian state media should present Putin's demands for Ukrainian capitulation as logical and realistic and Ukraine and the West as untrustworthy and deceptive. Putin's statements during his July 4 press conference and July 5 meetings will likely complicate the apparent ongoing Kremlin effort to convince select audiences that Russia remains interested in negotiations.[14]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-july-5-2024

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

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Saturday, July 6, 2024 7:55 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

I see nothing wrong with being an isolationist. The Founding Fathers thought we should be.

That is not true. August 1775 to July 1776:

As the defeat of Continental forces in Quebec became a reality, the attention of Congressional leaders was drawn fully into the search for an explanation for that defeat. Some, like John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, adopted a deus ex machina approach, specifically blaming the outbreak of smallpox that ravaged Continental troops outside the walls of Quebec City for the failure of American arms.3 Most others, however, laid the blame for the Continental defeat in Quebec elsewhere. Rather than look upwards for the source of Continental defeat, most Congressional leaders chose instead to look inwards. This choice was based primarily upon a series of reports issued by a Congressional committee (composed of Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll Jr. of Maryland) appointed to investigate the problems facing Continental troops in Quebec.4 Eventually, it was established by the members of the Continental Congress as the official explanation for their forces’ ultimate defeat. These reports, written in May 1776, made it clear that the blame for Continental defeat should be laid squarely on the shoulders of Congressional leaders themselves. More specifically, Congressional leaders’ indecision and lack of organization had prevented Continental troops from receiving the financial and military support necessary to execute any sort of effective military strategy.

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedi
a/article/quebec-campaign

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

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Saturday, July 6, 2024 2:50 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SECOND, grasping at straws.

The intention of the Founding Fathers is crystal clear:

Quote:
The Founding Fathers had just broken free from one empire, and the idea that foreign power could influence their young democracy was a prominent source of anxiety.

When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, they represented a loosely held confederacy of Atlantic states recently freed from British rule. If the American experiment was going to work, the founding fathers knew that they had to insulate their new republic from deep-pocketed interests and old alliances from Europe.

Through a course of heated conversations and compromises, safeguards against foreign influence as a corrupting force were built into the Constitution.

“The founders had just broken free from one empire, and the idea that some other empire was going to swallow them up was a constant source of fear for them,” says Mary Sarah Bilder, law professor and constitutional historian at Boston College Law School, and author of Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention.

American statesmen like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were no strangers to the backroom deals and soap-opera plot lines of 18th-century European politics. Gift-giving was common practice among foreign dignitaries, as was bestowing of titles of nobility on foreign political friends. Intermarriage of royal families was another classic way to bind the interests of two nations together.

If the United States was going to be different, the framers needed a founding document that fully recognized and defended against the corrupting influence of foreign money and power, particularly on the president.

“Article II of the Constitution gives such power to the president to run the executive branch that a president under the influence of a foreign nation would be far more dangerous than any other single individual,” says Stephen Saltzburg, professor at The George Washington University Law School. “That kind of conflict, between loyalty to the United States and loyalty to a foreign nation, would be intolerable.”
Two Key Provisions Protect Against Presidential Corruption

To guard against such conflicts and provide a remedy for a worst-case scenario of presidential corruption, the founders built two key provisions into the Constitution: the so-called “emoluments clause” and the power to impeach a president.

The emoluments clause is laid out in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution: “And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.”

MORE AT https://www.history.com/news/foreign-influence-constitution-founding-f
athers

Quote:
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.'

- Thomas Jefferson

Quote:
"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world."

- George Washington

-----------
"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, July 6, 2024 4:04 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, grasping at straws.

The intention of the Founding Fathers is crystal clear:

Quote:
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.'
- Thomas Jefferson

Quote:
"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world."
- George Washington

Signym, you are joking. It is not just Canada that the Founding Fathers attacked. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson made treaties as an expeditious way to defraud the Indian nations. For isolationist Republicans, the USA has always intervened with other nations.

I thought the number of broken treaties with Indian nations was in the thousands. But I was too cynical about treaties being a cheap way to steal another nation’s land because the actual number broken was only hundreds: A treaty is a contract between nations. Nearly four hundred treaties were signed between Indian tribes and the U.S. until 1871 when Congress passed a law (25 U.S.C. 71) that prohibited the federal government from entering into additional treaties with the Indian tribes. The Supreme Court held, in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903), that treaties with Indian tribes may be abrogated (broken) by federal law and Congress has abrogated many Indian treaties in this fashion.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ana/fact-sheet/american-indians-and-alaska-nat
ives-treaties

Also for isolationist Republicans, besides invading Canada 1775-1776, the USA invaded Mexico and stole much of it, too. See Texas history for a particular example of how that worked.

At no time in American history was it "Isolationist" when there was material gain to have by interfering with other nations. There is gain in interfering with Russia gobbling up Ukraine, even if 6ixStringJack or Signym can't see what is to be gained.

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

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Saturday, July 6, 2024 4:53 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

The FF weren't entirely consistent. They wrote about all men being created equal but failed to extend that to women or slaves. And they were worried about Old World alliances bc those had enough money and weapons to create problems for the new nation. Jefferson, for example, bought a large part of southern USA (Louisiana Purchase) from France, considerate of French claims, but apparently didn't consider natives as having claims.

That doesn't take away from the fact that here we are, messing around in those nations that the FF EXACTLY warned us about!

BTW, Canada wasn't a nation either.

-----------
"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, July 6, 2024 5:29 PM

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 FF weren't entirely consistent.

That doesn't take away from the fact that here we are, messing around in those nations that the FF EXACTLY warned us about!

BTW, Canada wasn't a nation either.

You are missing the larger point that America has always, even back in 1775 with Canada, stopped being Isolationist when there is something to gain. When it is not obvious how much is to be gained, the Isolationists loudly protest against intervening but get quiet later for their various and sundry reasons after enough time passes to make the situation obvious to these numbskulls. Sometimes the Isolationists are correct. The Vietnam War was lost the day Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated: November 2, 1963. Maybe that War was lost even earlier when Diem refused to carry out the 1954 Geneva Accords, which had called for free elections to be held throughout Vietnam in 1956 in order to establish a national government. With the south torn by dissident groups and political factions, Diem established an autocratic regime that was staffed at the highest levels by members of his own family.

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

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Saturday, July 6, 2024 11:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
You are missing the larger point that America has always, even back in 1775 with Canada, stopped being Isolationist when there is something to gain.

You just admitted we wage war to steal, not to "spread freedom" or "defend democracy" or "fight terrorism".
On other words, we're an empire.

Glad you agree.

So, why are we fighting a proxy war in Ukraine?
What did TPTB expect to get out of it? (Not that most of us would get anything ... we just pay the taxes.)

-----------
"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, July 7, 2024 6:25 AM

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:
You are missing the larger point that America has always, even back in 1775 with Canada, stopped being Isolationist when there is something to gain.

You just admitted we wage war to steal, not to "spread freedom" or "defend democracy" or "fight terrorism".
On other words, we're an empire.

Glad you agree.

So, why are we fighting a proxy war in Ukraine?
What did TPTB expect to get out of it? (Not that most of us would get anything ... we just pay the taxes.)

How much tax money should the West spend to stop Russia from murdering the West once it finishes with Ukraine?

Khrushchev once said, "We will bury you." Signym, Russia claimed that was a translation error, and that Russia had no intention of destroying the West. Time passes and Putin has made it very clear he does intend to destroy Ukraine. Simultaneously, he is working very hard to do the same to the West.

Signym, what do you think is the best response to a threat to destroy the West? Give Russia what it demands in hopes that Ukraine is enough to satisfy its cravings? Or should the West realize that Putin's words are not a translation error? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you

Russia is trying to put a price tag on Nato’s involvement in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin is seeking reckless new ways to impose costs on the US and its allies

By Alexander Gabuev, Director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin

July 6 2024

https://www.ft.com/content/036f2b85-dfd6-4dee-8576-57ca08ab62db

When Nato leaders meet in Washington on July 9, the pivotal topic will be support for Ukraine and strengthening military deterrence against Russia. With the situation on the battlefield gradually turning in Moscow’s favour, the focus will be on Kyiv’s most immediate requirements, along with the need for Europe to increase its defence spending. Yet Nato also needs to discuss and act upon the dangerous new ways Vladimir Putin is finding to impose costs on the US and its allies — with the potential for ruinous spillover effects beyond anybody’s control.

In year three of its war against Ukraine, perceived by the Kremlin as just one thread in its broader confrontation with the west, inflicting pain on Kyiv’s supporters is increasingly a priority for Putin. The Kremlin wants to put a price tag on Nato’s growing involvement in the war on Ukraine’s behalf — as both deterrence and revenge. The latest White House decision to allow Kyiv to use western long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia itself, beyond occupied Ukrainian territory, as well as recent Ukrainian drone strikes on radars that are part of Russia’s nuclear attack early warning system, are prompting Putin to act more boldly than ever.

Since the start of the war, the west’s primary concern has been the possible use of nuclear weapons. Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin is again beating the tired drum of nuclear escalation. Moscow has started drills involving tactical nukes, and Putin is publicly talking about making Russia’s nuclear doctrine more offensive. Still, the risk of actual use is lower than it was in autumn 2022 after Ukraine made battlefield gains. With the outlook now more favourable for Russia, it’s unlikely that Putin will reach for the most potent instrument at his disposal — one better kept as the ultimate insurance against defeat.

But Putin is not short of other tools. Right now, Moscow’s primary instrument for escalation is the use of missiles and drones against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. An air strike campaign scaled up in spring has already destroyed more than half of Ukraine’s generation capacity. Repairs to some power stations will take years. With the onset of winter, large population centres will face the prospect of freezing and blackouts. Putin aims not only to pull the plug on military manufacturing plants in Ukraine, but to drive millions of new refugees westward, putting pressure on Europe and helping politicians who want an end to western involvement in the war.

Then there is Russia’s campaign of sabotage in Europe. Russian intelligence is busy targeting industrial and logistical assets that are critical for producing and transporting weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, the Kremlin is using western organised crime networks to kill traitors and harass Russian dissidents. This comes on top of many years of Russian efforts to exploit divisions in western societies. Now, as the Kremlin observes the youth anger in the west caused by the Gaza war, it sees a target-rich environment.

Finally, Russia is ready to share its sensitive military technologies with the west’s adversaries. On top of prior weapons design transfers to China and Iran, Putin has recently cemented a defence pact with North Korea, and may help Pyongyang to boost its nuclear and space programme. Earlier Putin mused about a potential transfer of weapons to any forces that oppose America — such as the Houthis in the Red Sea. The Kremlin’s approach is deliberately reckless, and Putin describes it as tit-for-tat in response to western arms provisions to Kyiv. The problem is that these actions may create situations beyond the Kremlin’s control.

Nato’s response must go beyond efforts to deliver more air defence to Ukraine, which will be constrained by output bottlenecks and the alliance’s own needs. Plans should be laid to help Ukraine through the winter and prepare for a possible wave of refugees. In addition to re-establishing military deterrence, the west should beef up its capabilities in counter-intelligence, counterterrorism and combating organised crime. It is the nexus of these three worlds that Russia is tempted to weaponise.

Finally, Nato should take back control of escalation management in this war. It’s worth having an honest discussion about the limits of Nato’s direct involvement, and agreeing some guidelines on how to talk about them in public. As many sensitive moves as possible should be made away from the public eye to avoid feeding Putin’s zeal for retaliation. Channels for discussing risk reduction with Moscow should remain open.

The conflict between Russia and the west is becoming even more dangerous and unpredictable. The path to meaningful diplomacy is still closed. Responsible risk management is as necessary as ever.

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

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Sunday, July 7, 2024 8:40 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
How much tax money should the West spend to stop Russia from murdering the West... blah blah blah

Oh, yeah.
Tell us again how Trump "colluded with Russia, and how Joe is fit for Presidency, and about those dominoes in SE Asia.

I don't think even YOU believe that crap.

How about hanging on to that one nugget of truth you stumbled on ... how the USA fights wars to steal ... instead of drenching us with propaganda?

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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, July 7, 2024 9:51 AM