Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

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

Trump declares 3-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine

By Abbey Fenbert | May 8, 2026 9:13 pm

https://kyivindependent.com/breaking-trump-announces-3-day-ceasefire-b
etween-russia-and-ukraine/

President Volodymyr Zelensky then issued an official declaration authorizing Russia to hold a Victory Day parade in Moscow. The declaration states that Ukraine will not attack Red Square while the parade is underway.

"For the duration of the parade (beginning at 10:00 a.m. Kyiv time on Saturday May 9, 2026), the area of Red Square shall be excluded from the plan for the use of Ukrainian weapons," the declaration reads. It also includes the precise coordinates of Moscow's Red Square.

The declaration makes no mention of a ceasefire on attacks elsewhere in Russia.

"They were concerned about one specific square, and now, as part of the diplomatic process, permission has been granted to hold a parade in that square," an official from the Ukrainian Presidential Office told reporters.

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

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Friday, May 8, 2026 5:30 PM

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

Putin’s attack dog flips — now he calls him a ‘war criminal’

By Kathrine Frich | May 8, 2026

https://www.dagens.com/war/putins-attack-dog-flips-now-he-calls-him-a-
war-criminal

Loyalty in a strict regime usually lasts right up until the moment it suddenly vanishes.

For years, insiders have followed the rules and crushed dissent. But when one of those fierce defenders abruptly changes sides, it often exposes a hidden, dangerous fracture.

A sudden shift

Ilya Remeslo spent roughly ten years working as a loyal lawyer and propagandist for the Kremlin. Then, this past March, he publicly turned on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He demanded the leader step down.

According to reports from the Washington Post and Ziare.com, authorities quickly moved to silence him. They dragged him to a psychiatric hospital against his will. The swift arrest happened right after he called the Russian leader a “war criminal and thief” in public.

Then something highly unusual happened. In a country known for locking up government critics for decades, officials released the blogger after just thirty days.

Not backing down

The former loyalist has chosen to stay in Russia rather than flee. He plans to keep fighting the current leadership. He insists he will not be quiet.

“I said from the beginning that I would not stop,” Remeslo told the Washington Post in his first interview since leaving the hospital. “I decided that this is my life’s work.”

The lawyer claims he is not acting completely alone. He told reporters that a colossal wave of discontent is sweeping through the system behind closed doors. He believes the current friction mirrors the final days of the Soviet Union.

Cracks in the wall

Tensions are boiling over as the economy falters and internet restrictions tighten. State polling firm VCIOM reported that the president’s approval rating recently hit its lowest point since the invasion of Ukraine began.

Experts suggest a massive internal fight is unfolding between political advisers and state security forces. Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky believes this hidden friction explains why the outspoken lawyer walked free.

“There is an absolutely clear conflict between the presidential administration and the second directorate of the FSB,” the London-based opposition figure explained.

Remeslo echoed this idea of an elite turf war, pointing to the obvious fractures in the government. “There is a very big battle for power,” he said. “The FSB and the administration are in strong conflict.”

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Friday, May 8, 2026 9:16 PM

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

I don't give a flying fuck about Putin.

Your pansy, non-threatening faggot ass can say as much stupid shit about Putin as it wants.

There are no Nazis in 2026. Grow the fuck up, you stupid bitch.

We're sick of your hyperbole that you've allowed to evolve into full-blown psychosis.

You are not a serious human being.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.
Be real for once, 6ix. Your life is a fucked up mess because you are fucked up.

My life is fine. Why don't you worry about your own for once?

How was work this week? I haven't done that for seven years, next month.

Look at your pathetic life, dude. You spend all day here whining about Trump, calling people Nazis and telling people to kill themselves.

Get some help.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.
The world wasn't safe until Hitler was dead, along with millions of Nazis and their families.

Shut the fuck up, psycho.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Saturday, May 9, 2026 7:08 AM

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

Not getting the Western weapons it wanted drove Ukraine to create the gear and tactics the West now seeks

Story by Sinéad Baker | May 8, 2026

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/not-getting-the-western-weapons-i
t-wanted-drove-ukraine-to-create-the-gear-and-tactics-the-west-now-seeks/ar-AA22G7Xm

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Saturday, May 9, 2026 7:11 AM

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted "victory will be ours" during his speech to mark Victory Day on May 9, addressing a parade lacking any military equipment due to Moscow's changing fortunes in the war in Ukraine.

The decision to not show off any military hardware at the parade this year was made in large part because of the threat of Ukraine's increasingly effective long-range drones.

https://kyivindependent.com/victory-will-be-ours-putin-tells-victory-d
ay-parade-without-any-tanks/

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Saturday, May 9, 2026 7:20 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:

Shut the fuck up, psycho.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

Ukraine is moving to implement a major expansion of defence spending in its 2026 state budget, building on a €90 billion EU support package designed to cover wartime financing needs through 2027.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said the government has prepared budget amendments that significantly increase resources for the security and defence sector, with funding enabled by the EU loan agreement.

The package is expected to deliver €45 billion in 2026, with the first tranche scheduled for June. Earlier government planning outlined that initial disbursements would prioritise domestic defence production and energy security, particularly drone manufacturing and protection of critical infrastructure.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/08/eu-loan-fuels-major-ukraine-def
ence-expansion/

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 6:04 AM

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

For the first time since both sides started ramping up ranged attacks two years ago, the Ukrainians launched more systems against Russia than Russia used against them — about 7500 to 6500.

The steep rise in Ukrainian attacks over the last two months points to successes in Ukrainian manufacturing capacity. To go from a previous peak of just over 4000 strikes to about 7500 is a massive increase in a short period.

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-184-a-most-revea
ling

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

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 6:07 AM

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

Ukrainian defense successes on the battlefield have prevented Russian forces from making significant advances across the theater, depriving Russian President Vladimir Putin of any significant operational successes to celebrate on Victory Day. Putin did not discuss the battlefield situation in Ukraine during Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9 and instead simply claimed that Russia’s victory is inevitable.[19]

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-may-9-2026/

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 6:13 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
For the first time since both sides started ramping up ranged attacks two years ago, the Ukrainians launched more systems against Russia than Russia used against them — about 7500 to 6500.

The steep rise in Ukrainian attacks over the last two months points to successes in Ukrainian manufacturing capacity. To go from a previous peak of just over 4000 strikes to about 7500 is a massive increase in a short period.

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-184-a-most-revea
ling

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

Oh, baloney. A lot of the drones are being manufactured in Europe. Europe even says so.

-----------

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

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 8:42 AM

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

ANALYSIS: Why Russia Violated Every Ceasefire for 12 Years, Even Those They Proposed

Kyiv Post scrutinizes 17 ceasefires starting with the Kremlin’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2014. Since the first one on June 20, 2014, all have been violated by the Russians. Here, Kyiv Post covers why Russia does so and what Ukraine and its allies could do.

By Sergii Kostezh | May 9, 2026, 1:04 pm

https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/75728

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 8:45 AM

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Planning three years ahead for more war with Russia

Swedish Gripen jets become top priority for Ukraine's air defense

Ukraine's Defense Ministry names key advantages of Swedish Gripen jets

By Daryna Vialko | Fri, May 08, 2026 – 23:04

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/swedish-gripen-jets-become-top-priorit
y-for-1778270002.html

Ukraine and Sweden are preparing to sign contracts for the supply of Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets. The aircraft has officially been identified as one of the top priorities for strengthening Ukraine’s Air Force, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

Key features of the Gripen fighter jets

The Swedish-made Gripen was specifically designed for conditions very similar to the realities of the war in Ukraine. One of the aircraft’s main advantages is its ability to operate from dispersed locations.

The fighter jet can take off and land on ordinary highways and short runways. This helps protect aircraft from strikes on airfield infrastructure, as it becomes harder for the enemy to locate the jets.

In addition to mobility, the Gripen is known for requiring only a minimal number of personnel for maintenance. For air-to-air missions, full refueling and rearming take less than 10 minutes, while preparation for ground attack missions requires under 20 minutes.

Features of the Gripen E variant

Ukraine is particularly interested in the Gripen E version. The aircraft is powered by a General Electric F414G engine, allowing speeds of up to 2,500 km/h and a combat radius exceeding 800 kilometers.

Its Raven ES-05 radar with active electronically scanned array technology can detect targets at long range, even under intense enemy electronic warfare interference.

The jet is also equipped with the Saab Arexis electronic warfare system. The aircraft can carry up to 7.2 tons of combat payload.

It is also capable of carrying Meteor missiles with a range exceeding 100 kilometers, giving it an advantage over Russian interceptor aircraft.

Ukraine and Sweden are in talks over Gripen jets

Earlier reports suggested Ukraine and Sweden could sign a Gripen agreement as early as this year. Under the proposed plan, both sides would finalize the contract terms and financing model for the fighter jet purchase.

Last autumn, Sweden also clarified when deliveries of Gripen E jets to Ukraine could begin. At the time, officials said the first aircraft could arrive within three years after all required agreements are signed.

Swedish officials have repeatedly highlighted the fighter’s technical advantages, especially its ability to operate from short runways and roads. That capability is seen as critically important for protecting Ukrainian airspace amid ongoing Russian attacks on airfield infrastructure.

How will the planes be financed? How many? Will Ukraine still be at war when the earliest planes are first delivered? Here: https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-and-sweden-could-sign-gripen-f
ighter-1778176476.html

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

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Sunday, May 10, 2026 12:50 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
ANALYSIS: Why Russia Violated Every Ceasefire for 12 Years, Even Those They Proposed

Second day of "ceasefire": Russians have attacked Ukrainian positions 60 times so far

Russian forces are conducting artillery attacks on border areas. The following settlements have been affected: Korenok, Novovasylivka, Rohozine, Yastrubshchyna, Budky, Atynske, Neskuchne, Bachivsk, Luzhky, Volfyne and Iskryskivshchyna in Sumy Oblast.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/05/10/8034069/

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Monday, May 11, 2026 4:44 AM

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

Instability in Moscow

By Joshua Yaffa** | May 8, 2026

https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/rumors-of-instability-in-mosco
w

. . . Since Putin first assumed the Presidency, almost twenty-seven years ago, his rule has rested on a certain mythology: that he is the country’s unitary authority and arbiter, the one figure who can hold together Russia’s many factions, clans, and interests. For members of the élite, even if they don’t like every decision—including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022—it is safer and more profitable to have Putin in charge than to face a Hobbesian all-against-all struggle for power and resources. “The defining characteristic of the Russian élite is its opportunism,” Konstantin Remchukov, a newspaper publisher in Moscow, said. “And its ability to survive in any conditions. That’s how they get to be the élite in the first place.” In Putin’s repressive state, the costs of disloyalty are clear: Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, after all, is not only full of political prisoners but ministers, generals, and governors.

The war has tested but not yet broken that loyalty. “Just about everyone would like to stop the war tomorrow—that’s obvious,” a fixture of Russia’s political élite told me. “There’s not a single person, other than Putin and the military brass, who wants to keep on fighting. But no one would ever dare to express their displeasure.”

The only real threat to Putin’s authority came a year into the war, when Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, a Russian paramilitary organization, launched a mutiny directed against Russia’s military leadership. He claimed that he wasn’t targeting Putin, but the sight of Wagner mercenaries in armored vehicles barrelling toward Moscow was undeniably a sign of instability. Putin called it “treason against our country,” saying that “all those who consciously chose the path of betrayal . . . will suffer inevitable punishment.” Two months later, Prigozhin and Wagner’s top leadership were killed when a private jet they were on exploded shortly after takeoff from Moscow. Message received.

The recent series of events—none of which, on their face, are as dramatic as an armed uprising of mercenary fighters—has created a sense that the political system is at once tightly controlled and utterly rudderless. “On the one hand, the regime is more airless than ever,” Farida Rustamova, the founder of “Vlast,” a newsletter on Russian politics, said. “All the screws have been tightened to the max.” At the same time, she said, “it’s also never been as chaotic and unpredictable.” There is a sense, among everyone from military officials to regional bureaucrats, that “the old rules are breaking down, and no one knows what the new ones are, or whether they exist at all.”

The main factor is the seemingly unresolvable deadlock in Ukraine. . . .
_______________________________

** Joshua Yaffa is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the author of “Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia,” which won the Orwell Prize in 2021. He is currently the writer-in-residence at Bard College Berlin.

Download a free copy of Joshua Yaffa’s book from https://annas-archive.gl/search?q=Joshua+Yaffa

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

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Monday, May 11, 2026 5:09 AM

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

Analysis: Is Ukraine starting to win the war again?

By Francis Farrell | Updated: May 11, 2026 1:16 am

Who is winning?

Since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the information space around the war has been obsessed with this deceptively simple question, and the constant new iterations of answers to it.

In the hands of those fighting the narrative war, from officials on both sides, online cheerleaders, armchair generals, and a certain world leader who likes to talk about who has the cards, the answers differ radically, but all are delivered with consistent venom, emotion, and intellectual assuredness.

One camp says that Ukraine, with its stark disadvantage in manpower and without the backing of the United States, cannot hope to out-endure Russia, and should sign whatever peace deal now, as time is on Moscow's side.

The other camp says that Russia has already been defeated, their human wave attacks are stupid and hopeless, and at this rate they would take a century to take Ukraine.

Serious analysts are more careful, speaking of positive or negative trends as they grapple with the vast complexity of such a large-scale war. As much as Moscow might be humiliated by this or that event, as long as its plan to secure victory by slowly grinding down the outnumbered Ukrainian military continues, there is no cause for celebration, they say. The upper hand will be gained by the side in whose favor the long attritional fight is running.

Who is right? This spring, something strange is in the air. What? Find out at https://kyivindependent.com/analysis-is-ukraine-really-turning-the-tid
e-of-this-war/

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

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Monday, May 11, 2026 9:12 AM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
For the first time since both sides started ramping up ranged attacks two years ago, the Ukrainians launched more systems against Russia than Russia used against them — about 7500 to 6500.

The steep rise in Ukrainian attacks over the last two months points to successes in Ukrainian manufacturing capacity. To go from a previous peak of just over 4000 strikes to about 7500 is a massive increase in a short period.

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-184-a-most-revea
ling

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Oh, baloney. A lot of the drones are being manufactured in Europe. Europe even says so.

-----------

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

Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead and signym is hiding, because the evidence over the years has been presented. Our comrade Russian friends were wrong about everything; everything. Russian interference not just in America but globally, and how Russia is a paper tiger; everything.
All we need to do is quote old posts and give updates with the current facts to show we were right.

Hey comrade; Russia is losing the war.

T

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Monday, May 11, 2026 10:16 AM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM: Sunday, February 27, 2022 3:13 PM

Kiev surrounded, says the mayor.

https://california18.com/live-kiev-surrounded-follow-the-news-of-the-w
ar-in-ukraine/3558542022/

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

Are you sure?

T

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Monday, May 11, 2026 10:28 AM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM: Thursday, March 3, 2022 8:08 PM

SIGNYM
Humanitarian corridors were negotiated.

This could be useful

Reminds me of the battle for Aleppo. Remember, however, it wasn't the Russians who blocked the humanitarian corridors, but the various terrorist groups (ISIS,HTS etc) who didn't want to lose their human shields.

So let's hope that the far right Ukies stick to the agreement- something they don't have a great history of doing- and allow civilians and surrendering soldiers to exit safely.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

Russia slammed as ‘inhumane’ after blocking UN cross-border aid operation to Syria

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/11/europe/un-syria-aid-turkey-russia-veto-
intl-hnk

Oops...

T

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Monday, May 11, 2026 11:03 AM

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

West has power to end Russia’s war against Ukraine — it’s choosing not to: Human rights lawyer tells us why

Human rights lawyer Simon Papuashvili on what Western governments won’t say out loud — and what it would actually take to stop Russia.

By Olena Mukhina | May 11, 2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/11/west-has-power-to-end-russias-w
ar-against-ukraine-its-choosing-not-to-human-rights-lawyer-tells-us-why/

There are people who know things, and there are people who will say them. Simon Papuashvili, Program Director of the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), is rare in being both.

The Brussels-based NGO documents killings, torture, and abductions through open-source investigations — and in 2016, their evidence contributed to the International Court of Justice proceedings against Russia over crimes in occupied Crimea.

Which is why, when I spotted him at B4Ukraine, a conference on strengthening sanctions against Russia, I wanted to talk to him.

What strikes you first is that he doesn't convey urgency. He is calm, with the occasional trace of a smile that suggests he has already thought through whatever you're about to ask. What he says, however, is not calm at all. He is one of the few voices willing to state it plainly: Europe has adopted sanction after sanction against Russia, and then, quietly, looked the other way on enforcement.

Can you tell what works better, kinetic or economic sanctions?

Well, I think they're both important, and they should be seen as complementary rather than one or the other.

If you look at the Russian state budget, a large part of its revenue comes from the sale of fossil fuels. Still, four years after the full-scale war, a big chunk of the fossil fuels that Russia sells are being bought by the European states. We're talking about hundreds of billions of euros that go directly into the Russian state budget.

Taking this into consideration, the most effective sanction would be to basically say no to buying Russian oil and gas. That will have a direct, immediate impact on the war and Russia's ability to continue it.

Is Russia's gas and oil biggest part of Russian budget?

Well, the most conservative estimate is 30%, and even if we stick to that, 30% of income is a lot, you know. Russia has still been able to operate a shadow fleet, beside Europeans continue to buy oil and gas.

"The price cap on oil and gas, mostly on oil, has not been effectively enforced. There are things that can be done in this regard," Papuashvili said.

What has worked with sanctions and what hasn't, and how can we tell?

The sanctions' impact has been limited, and this is partly because we have a big problem with enforcement.

This problem is partly due to the fact that sanctions are not far-reaching and come very slowly and painfully. Also, it's because Europeans and Americans, Ukraine's allies, don't have, and haven't been put in place, proper institutions that are well-resourced to ensure that the sanctions in place are effectively enforced.

"So you can adopt as many sanctions as you want, but if you don't enforce them, there's no point. We have a big problem with enforcement, or the lack of enforcement," the human rights lawyer explained.

Experts say that Russia's overall goals — Ukraine and Europe's destruction — will not change, even if its economy declines

To gauge the war, you need resources. War is expensive, and you can't conduct a war if you don't have money. It’s very simple.

The Russians are used to living in harsh conditions, and they probably still have room to go in terms of how bad it can get.

"But if the government of Russia does not have money to produce drones, missiles, military equipment, and pay the soldiers, they just will not be able to sustain this. Full stop," he stressed.

It's not just about worsening economic conditions. Generally speaking, it's about financing actual military combat operations.

We can see that Hungary demanded that Russian gas be delivered to Europe through Druzhba pipeline, despite many years of genocide…

I do hope that, in the medium to long term, this Hungarian government and other European nations disengage from dependence on Russian fossil fuels and build infrastructure for renewable energy that can make this possible.

Saying no to Russian fossil fuels cannot possibly happen overnight; it doesn't matter how much Ukraine wants this. It takes some time. But what is clear is that we're like four years in the full-scale war, and if the European nations, including Hungary, had wanted to do that, they could have done a lot.

Hungary and its former prime minister, Orban, did not want to do that. Hopefully, this will change now that they have the new government.

However, it’s clear that Peter Magyar would have likely avoided implementing unpopular decisions amid the election campaign. As it could have had a negative impact on the Hungarian economy, leading to him losing elections and, in the future, to Fidesz returning to power.

So maybe problem is talking to society and explaining why prices are rising?

Absolutely, yeah. Finland has been doing a great job in this regard. They take this whole-society approach, with drastic policy measures, including saying no to Russian fossil fuels. They spend a great deal of time, energy, and resources explaining to society why they do this, why it will be painful, and why they have to endure this pain.

They run information campaigns, produce explainers that are shared on social media, have dedicated TV programs, and people write articles in the news to explain this.

What do Western governments believe about how this war ends? How? Do they have strategy?

Unfortunately, they don't. I don't see that, especially in Europe. The US is a particular case right now.

"The Europeans don't seem to have a vision for how to end this war. That's a big problem," Papuashvili noted.

I really believe that if they wanted to end the war, they have the power to do so. If they say, "In one year, we want the Russian economy to be in tatters, and we want Russian troops to be out of all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and we want Ukraine to join the EU", this is possible. But they are not doing it. They're not doing it because of…

… because they feel comfortable with what is going on right now? “Ukraine fights, but Russia doesn't lose?"

Unfortunately, it is so.

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

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Monday, May 11, 2026 2:32 PM

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

Putin is down. This is the time to start kicking him

The West must ensure that Volodymyr Zelensky is empowered to secure a just peace for the Ukrainian people

By Hamish de Bretton-Gordon | 11 May 2026 5:02 pm BST

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/11/putin-russia-ukraine-war-m
oscow-victory-parade/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-is-down-this-is-the-time-to
-start-kicking-him/ar-AA22Vyqr

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attempted to project an image of strength and inevitability over Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine. Yet the reality on display during Saturday’s deeply underwhelming Victory Day parade in Moscow told an altogether different story.

For the first time in two decades, Russia could not muster a single tank in what is traditionally the Kremlin’s grand annual exhibition of military might – an event Putin himself describes as a warning to Russia’s enemies. What the world witnessed was not power, but weakness: a diminished parade, hollow symbolism, and a regime increasingly fearful of its own vulnerability.

Speaking after the scaled-back spectacle, Putin declared, “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” referring to what he still absurdly calls his “special military operation” in Ukraine. Yet even the parade itself exposed the Kremlin’s anxiety. With Ukrainian drones and missiles now capable of striking deep inside Russia, Putin clearly dared not risk displaying valuable military hardware at a known time and location. Instead, the regime relied heavily on massed marching formations, including North Korean troops, to create the illusion of scale and strength.

A temporary US-brokered ceasefire undoubtedly allowed the event to proceed without incident, although both Ukraine and Russia later accused one another of breaching the three-day truce. Nevertheless, the atmosphere surrounding the parade was unmistakably subdued.

Even Putin’s speech, usually a lengthy endurance test in which the dictator indulges in imperial nostalgia and Soviet-era rhetoric, was remarkably brief and muted. Gone was the swagger of a leader convinced of inevitable victory. In its place stood a man attempting to justify an increasingly costly and strategically catastrophic war. Putin insisted Russia was fighting a “just” war and described Ukraine as an “aggressive force” being armed by NATO. It is an extraordinary claim from the man who launched an entirely illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, having already illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Later, during a press conference, Putin accused the West of fuelling confrontation with Russia. The irony is breathtaking. It is Russia, not the West, that has spent years conducting a sustained hybrid war against Europe and particularly the United Kingdom. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko and the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury remain chilling reminders of the Kremlin’s willingness to conduct state-sponsored attacks on British soil, alongside relentless cyber warfare, sabotage and espionage across Europe.

Nevertheless, the suggestion of peace emerging from the Kremlin offers some hope for Ukraine’s exhausted civilian population, many of whom have spent years sleeping in underground shelters rather than their own homes. The strategic landscape has shifted dramatically since previous negotiations, when Putin believed he could dictate terms demanding that Ukraine surrender territory, weaken its armed forces and abandon its Western ambitions.

Today, the battlefield reality is moving increasingly in Ukraine’s favour. Ukrainian forces continue to make incremental but meaningful advances while Russia suffers appalling losses in both manpower and equipment. Crucially, Ukraine is now beginning to manoeuvre armour more effectively through what had previously become a static, drone-dominated battlefield. These small tactical gains could soon evolve into something far more significant.

At the same time, Ukraine has demonstrated an increasingly sophisticated ability to strike strategically important targets deep inside Russia, even without large-scale American military support. Critical infrastructure attacks are now placing growing pressure on the Russian economy and exposing the Kremlin’s inability to fully defend its own territory. Putin’s implicit admission that Moscow itself can no longer be guaranteed safety sends a powerful message: Russia’s war is no longer confined to distant frontlines.

All of this comes amid growing signs of unease inside Russia itself. Public criticism of the war, once almost unthinkable, is becoming more visible as ordinary Russians begin to question the price of Putin’s disastrous gamble in Ukraine. This criticism would be even more evident were it not for a recent crackdown on internet services in Russia and the silencing of many dissenting voices.

If Europe, and critically the United States under Donald Trump, remain firmly committed to supporting Kyiv, then the prospect of achieving a just and sustainable peace settlement may now be closer than at any point since the illegal annexation of Crimea over a decade ago.

The responsibility now lies squarely with Western leaders. Britain, under Keir Starmer, still has an important role to play despite years of underinvestment in our own military. Let us hope he still has the bandwidth to lift his head occasionally for a look around as he tries to save his own skin. The British Armed Forces remain highly professional and significant.

What Saturday demonstrated beyond doubt is that Putin is wounded politically, militarily and psychologically. History teaches us that when a dangerous predator is weakened, that is precisely the moment to apply maximum pressure – not to offer concessions for the sake of expediency. The most effective time to kick a man is when he’s down.

The West must ensure that Volodymyr Zelensky is empowered to secure a just peace for the Ukrainian people, rather than allowing Putin an escape route simply to bring the fighting to a premature close.

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

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Monday, May 11, 2026 3:13 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
]Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead and signym is hiding, because the evidence over the years has been presented. Our comrade Russian friends were wrong about everything; everything. Russian interference not just in America but globally, and how Russia is a paper tiger; everything.
All we need to do is quote old posts and give updates with the current facts to show we were right.

Hey comrade; Russia is losing the war.

I've decided, THGR, that you and SECOND are hopelessly brainwashed and that no amount of information will penetrate.

-----------

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

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Monday, May 11, 2026 3:16 PM

Yup.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 8:07 AM

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

Ukraine’s IMF lifeline depends on tax reforms parliament keeps stalling

A $614 million parcel tax that unlocks $8.1 billion in IMF funding is six weeks past its deadline.

By Peeter Helme | May 12, 2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/12/ukraine-imf-parcel-tax-wartime-
economy/

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

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 8:12 AM

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

Putin’s War Comes Home to Moscow

He can no longer hide the consequences from the Russian public.

By Anne Applebaum | May 11, 2026, 11:31 AM ET

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/05/russian-discontent-ukraine-w
ar/687131/

Four years ago, President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow and its business elite a de facto deal: Support my war in Ukraine, and in exchange you won’t have to think about it. In the past week, that deal was broken.

Not that Moscow was ever fully immune: As long ago as May 3, 2023, the first two Ukrainian drones to reach Moscow exploded over the Kremlin, doing no damage but revealing that the capital’s air defenses weren’t as stellar as advertised—and that the war wasn’t as far away as Muscovites assumed. Eventually, the Ukrainians shifted their efforts toward Moscow’s airports, using drones dozens of times to buzz the runways or circle the airports, deliberately creating travel chaos and expense.

Last week, the whining noise of unmanned flying objects could be heard in the city of Moscow once again. On the morning of May 7, the mayor of Moscow announced that the Russian air force had shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones aimed at the city. Two days later, Moscow was due to host Russia’s annual May 9 military parade, a celebration linked very intimately with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who had revived this Soviet-era celebration of Stalin’s victory over Nazi Germany and his conquest of Europe.

Suddenly, and very publicly, Russian officials appeared nervous, afraid that their parade would be spoiled. The Russian foreign minister issued a threat, promising “no mercy,” whatever that means, if Ukrainians struck the parade. The Kremlin’s spokesperson reassured Muscovites that security was tight because the “threat from the Kyiv regime” had already been taken into account. The Russian president even persuaded the American president to ask the Ukrainian president for a one-day cease-fire. Volodymyr Zelensky granted Putin’s wish, after Trump offered to broker an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war. Zelensky then issued a magnanimous, droll decree, formally granting Putin permission to hold the parade.

The tone of Russia’s official communications has changed, and no wonder: Three years after the first drones exploded over the Kremlin, and more than four years into a conflict that was supposed to be nothing more than a brief “special military operation,” Muscovites have no choice but to think about the war. Alleged security measures—some think they are a form of censorship—had already rendered cellphone coverage in Moscow and across Russia unreliable, at times nonexistent. Although Russians had already lost access to most forms of Western social media, in April the state cut access even to the Russian-built app Telegram, as well as many VPNs. Without public internet, many physical systems, including ATMs, also stopped working. Ride apps don’t function either. These inconveniences come on top of high inflation and high interest rates that have weighed on even Russia’s wealthiest businesses and consumers for months.

The war, and the Kremlin’s anxiety about the war, is also finally now visible on the streets. Briefly, during the former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin’s very short rebellion in 2023, Muscovites were told to stay home for fear of violence. For the past several days, they were once again put on high alert. According to a diplomat of my acquaintance, snipers were visible in and around Red Square, in advance of the parade, as well as soldiers with anti-drone weapons. Ordinary people were prevented from entering the city center. Photographs taken on the day of the parade show empty streets.

Russians watching the parade from farther away would also have noticed some differences. Fewer foreign leaders bothered to show up this year, and no tanks, missiles, or fighting vehicles were on display. The whole show was brief, lasting only 45 minutes. Putin looked gray, anxious. Solemn North Korean soldiers, marching alongside Russians, provided the only novelty. But their presence was a reminder of the thousands of North Koreans who had died helping Russia recapture its own Kursk province, which Ukrainian forces occupied for eight months in 2024–25. Also, as the only foreigners present in significant numbers, the North Koreans sent an ominous message about the current state of Russia’s alliances.

Of course, it was just a parade. But the anniversary matters because Putin thinks it matters. He revived the May 9 celebration in its current form in 2008, deliberately choosing to celebrate the moment of Moscow’s imperial victory, when Stalin controlled all of the territory between Moscow and Berlin. Perhaps not coincidentally, Russia invaded the former Soviet republic of Georgia later that year.

The carefully promoted cult of the Second World War started in Soviet times, but Putin has deepened and expanded it. The loss of the Soviet empire in 1989 and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 created enormous nostalgia for 1945, and Putin has been promoting that nostalgia for more than two decades. During that time, he also built that nostalgia into the fabric of the city of Moscow and other cities across Russia, adding and expanding the monumental sculptures and brutalist memorials that glorify the heroic war dead.

Now, at last, the cult of the war has caught up with him. Putin knows he can’t live up to the mythology he created, and everyone else can see that too. His unnecessary, illegal, brutal war in Ukraine has already lasted longer than the Russian war against the Nazis, killing or wounding more than a million Russian soldiers and producing neither military nor political nor any other kind of success. On the contrary: He can’t even hold a parade in Moscow without fearing that the Ukrainians will disrupt it.

That doesn’t mean his Ukraine war is over, or that Putin’s reign has ended. But it does mean that Russians in general, and Muscovites in particular, can now clearly see the contrast between propaganda and reality. A vacuum has opened up, and sooner or later something else, or someone else, will fill it.

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

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 8:46 AM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:

]Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead and signym is hiding, because the evidence over the years has been presented. Our comrade Russian friends were wrong about everything; everything. Russian interference not just in America but globally, and how Russia is a paper tiger; everything.
All we need to do is quote old posts and give updates with the current facts to show we were right.

Hey comrade; Russia is losing the war.

I've decided, THGR, that you and SECOND are hopelessly brainwashed and that no amount of information will penetrate.

-----------

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

Sure it will, not brainwashed. The problem is that you post Russian propaganda and not truths. Like how powerful Russia's navy was. How they controlled the Black Sea. How no navy in the world dared enter there with Russia's permission. How they are advancing in Ukraine and not how they hold less ground than then did after the first week of the war.

Question; do you think Kamala would have started the wars Trump has? Would you still vote for Trump? Please don't tell me you didn't vote for him both times. Do you think that Trump is better for the economy? Should he be president or impeached? Is he the most corrupt president in modern history?

We did this before. You can't name any topic that his polling numbers show a majority of the people like what he is doing.

Question; can you name anything he is doing you like comrade?

I've posted this in another thread, but I want you to see and respond to it.

You post in this and other threads extensive posts informing what Putin wants and how America is an aggressor, an antagonist. You conveniently forget, Russia has broken every agreement they’ve entered into. Ukraine and the Budapest Memorandum. Crimea, The Minsk Agreements, Chechnya: Peace Treaties, Georgia: Occupation After Agreements, Moldova: Though a ceasefire was reached, Russia never withdrew its troops, Russia’s Expanding Map of Aggression

Countries and territories where Russia have invaded or maintained hostile military presence since 1992 includes Ukraine (2014 Crimea, 2022 invasion) Georgia (Abkhazia & South Ossetia, 1992–2008–present) Moldova (Transnistria, 1992–present) Chechnya (1994–2009), Syria (2015–present), African nations (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger via Africa Corps).

I don’t defend or agree with everything America does. Especially now with Trump, I’m too busy pointing out that Russia’s agenda is your agenda. This thread is another good example of that. Instead of pointing out the United States helped Russia After the Soviet Union’s collapse, you blame America for all that ails Russia and post their agenda as though it isn’t complete bullshit. The Soviet Union collapsed from the inside. Countries wanted out.

The truth is, the United States played a major role in supporting Russia and the other new independent states to prevent chaos, reduce nuclear risks, and promote market reforms at great expense to America.

America provided diplomatic and political support, economic and technical assistance, scientific and technical exchanges, arms control and security cooperation, humanitarian and development aid. These efforts were aimed at stabilizing Russia, prevent nuclear proliferation, and lay the groundwork for a new U.S.–Russia relationship in the post-Cold War era.

Then came Putin, your hero, who wound up destroying Russia. Yet you still promote his agenda. You also supported Trump. Another strongman bent on destroying America and doing a good job of it. What is it with you and strongmen?

T

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 1:41 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:

Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead

HAHAHAHA! Kiki is not dead.

Quote:
and signym is hiding,

Nope!

Quote:
because the evidence over the years has been presented. Our comrade Russian friends were wrong about everything; everything. Russian interference not just in America but globally, and how Russia is a paper tiger; everything.
All we need to do is quote old posts and give updates with the current facts to show we were right.

Wrong again.

Quote:
Hey comrade; Russia is losing the war.

More wrongness

Quote:
SIGNY:
I've decided, THGR, that you and SECOND are hopelessly brainwashed and that no amount of information will penetrate.

THGR:

Sure it will, not brainwashed. The problem is that you post Russian propaganda and not truths. Like how powerful Russia's navy was. How they controlled the Black Sea. How no navy in the world dared enter there with Russia's permission.

You keep posting that and yet have never been able to find my post like that.
Liar. Or stupid. Your choice.

Quote:
How they are advancing in Ukraine and not how they hold less ground than then did after the first week of the war.

Russia is winning the war. The first invasion was a bluff meant to scare Zelensky into negotiating, not take and hold territory. It worked until BoJo got involved.

Quote:
mQuestion; do you think Kamala would have started the wars Trump has?

IDK.
Trump didn't start the war in Iran, Israel did.
Kamala prolly would have tripled down in Ukraine.

Quote:
Would you still vote for Trump? Please don't tell me you didn't vote for him both times.

I didn't vote the 2nd time.

Quote:
Do you think that Trump is better for the economy?

Better than who?

Quote:
Should he be president or impeached?

I think he should be Section 25'd.

Quote:
Is he the most corrupt president in modern history?

IDK.

Quote:
We did this before. You can't name any topic that his polling numbers show a majority of the people like what he is doing.

People are happy that he stopped the tidal wave of illegal immigrants. And altho ppl may not understand or remember, bowing out of the "free trade" agreements is a good thing.

Quote:
Question; can you name anything he is doing you like comrade?

I just did.

Quote:
I've posted this in another thread, but I want you to see and respond to it.

Well. I wasted my time responding. Don't expect it too often.

Quote:
You post in this and other threads extensive posts informing what Putin wants and how America is an aggressor, an antagonist. You conveniently forget, Russia has broken every agreement they’ve entered into. Ukraine and the Budapest Memorandum

Wrong

Quote:
Crimea

What?

Quote:
The Minsk Agreements

Russia wasn't even a signatory, ya dope.

Quote:
Chechnya: Peace Treaties

What?

Quote:
Georgia: Occupation After Agreements

What?
Georgia attacked, not the other way around.

Quote:
Moldova: Though a ceasefire was reached, Russia never withdrew its troops

Ceasefire, not a treaty. Transnistrians want them there .
So much wrongness here.

Quote:
blah blah blah...

So, yanno, I have a metric crapton of things to do.
The End

-----------

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

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 5:05 PM

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

May 12, 2026, at 7:26 AM

The Kremlin repeated Russian President Vladimir Putin's assertion that the war in Ukraine was almost over on Tuesday. [Not until every Russian and North Korean inside Ukraine is dead or imprisoned and every Russian refinery is a smoking ruin.]

"I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters on Saturday of the war, now in its fifth year.

Asked to comment on Putin's remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a certain amount of trilateral work with Ukraine and the United States had been done towards finding a peace deal.

"This accumulated groundwork in terms of the peace process allows us to say that the completion is indeed approaching," Peskov told reporters, though he added that it was difficult to provide specific details at the current time. . . .

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-12/kremlin-repeats-
putins-assertion-that-ukraine-war-is-nearly-over-after-zelenskiy-casts-doubt

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

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 5:45 PM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:

Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead

HAHAHAHA! Kiki is not dead.

Quote:
The Minsk Agreements

Russia wasn't even a signatory, ya dope.

-----------

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

In early 2022, amid rising tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed," using this as a pretext for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This marked a significant escalation in the conflict and highlighted the agreements' failure to provide a sustainable framework for peace

kiki is dead.

T

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 7:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:

Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead

HAHAHAHA! Kiki is not dead.

Quote:
The Minsk Agreements

Russia wasn't even a signatory, ya dope.

-----------

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

In early 2022, amid rising tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed," using this as a pretext for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This marked a significant escalation in the conflict and highlighted the agreements' failure to provide a sustainable framework for peace

kiki is dead.

T

Archived.

https://archive.ph/wIUHi

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 10:18 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:

Archived.

https://archive.ph/wIUHi

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

6ix, planning on killing yourself? Is your archive the revenge? Want somebody to pay because you are dead? There will be no consequences when you're gone, but there will be when Putin croaks:

The Death of Putin

A Field Guide to the Day After In Russia

By Rick Wilson | May 09, 2026

https://www.againstallenemies.net/p/the-death-of-putin

Picture it. A crisp early summer Tuesday morning, Moscow time.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Tsar of All the Russias, Conqueror of Crimea, Bare-Chested Equestrian of the Steppe, Owner of a Stolen Super Bowl Ring discovers the unique cardiovascular properties of the third-floor window plunge workout.

Or the tea tastes…off. You know…oolong with a note of polonium. Or some cousin or younger brother of a Wagner remnant takes his shot. Or by sheer dumb luck, a Ukrainian drone swarm finds Putin’s motorcade.

However it goes down, the small bald man is gone, and the world wakes up to a Russia-shaped hole in the geopolitical map. . . .

. . . Look at the May 9 parade. No tanks. No ICBMs. No mobile column. For the first time since 2008, Red Square’s cobblestones carried some iffy-looking infantry and prerecorded propaganda videos because the actual hardware is either on fire in Donetsk or rusting in Novorossiysk. The guest list was Lukashenko, the King of Malaysia, and the President of Laos, a tableau so threadbare that even Slovakia’s thirsty Robert Fico couldn’t bring himself to attend the parade itself.

Forty-five minutes, start to finish. They call it “scaled back.” It was a wake. . . .

Much more at https://www.againstallenemies.net/p/the-death-of-putin

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

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 10:38 PM

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

Archived.

https://archive.ph/wIUHi

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.
6ix, planning on killing yourself?

Nope.

Sorry to disappoint you, psycho.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2026 10:50 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead.

HAHAHAHA! Kiki is not dead.

THGR
The Minsk Agreements

SIGNY:
Russia wasn't even a signatory, ya dope.

THGR:
In early 2022, amid rising tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed," using this as a pretext for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This marked a significant escalation in the conflict and highlighted the agreements' failure to provide a sustainable framework for peace

THGR:
kiki is dead.

a) I know for a fact KIKI isn't dead bc we've been in touch, ya dope.

b) Despite your misunderstanding, Russia was never a signatory. The agreements were between Kiev and eastern Ukraine.

Stop posting shit about which you know nothing.
It makes you look stupid.

-----------

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

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 7:14 AM

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

Putin hails Russia's test launch of new ICBM known as Satan II, calls it "most powerful missile in the world"

The Russian leader has repeatedly brandished the nuclear sword after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to try to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.

May 12, 2026 | 5:23 PM EDT

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-test-launch-missile-satan-ii-calls
-putin-worlds-most-powerful/

________________________

Russian President Vladimir Putin is leaning on nuclear saber-rattling to project military strength after Russia’s apparent failure to ensure full security for the May 9 Victory Day parade without asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a ceasefire.

Putin’s posturing with the Sarmat ICBMs also likely aims to distract from Russia’s worsening performance on the battlefield, particularly during the Russian spring-summer 2026 offensive. Putin and senior Russian military officials have intensified their exaggerations of Russian battlefield successes throughout 2026, but the Russian rate of advance has declined monthly since October 2025 as Ukrainian forces escalated their mid-range strike campaign and imposed additional costs on Russian efforts to advance.[6]

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-may-12-2026/

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

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 8:06 AM

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

Mikhail Kasyanova, Russian Prime Minister from 2000 to 2004, told Digi24 that Putin’s sudden death could trigger a ceasefire within three months or sooner, as a new leader would prioritize restoring ties with the West. He compared this to Stalin’s death in 1953, when Soviet leaders quickly moved to end the Korean War. Kasyanov claimed many in Russia’s current administration want the war to end, but President Putin remains the main barrier.

Elite dissatisfaction and potential change

Garry Kasparov told RBC-Ukraine that elites and ordinary Russians increasingly believe Putin cannot win the war, a situation that historically leads to leadership change. He noted that Russian tradition does not forgive a leader for losing a war, and signs of economic, military, and psychological strain are growing.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/kasyanov-says-putin-s-death-cou
ld-end-war-in-3-months/gm-GMC2A74F1E

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

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 9:54 AM

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

Let’s Re-Do the Math on Ukraine

The deadly arithmetic of Russian casualties may add up to Putin’s defeat.

By Brynn Tannehill | May 12, 2026

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/lets-re-do-the-math-on-ukraine-vance-dron
es-support-war-russia-putin-trump

IN 2024, REPUBLICANS WHO WERE SOURING on Ukraine came up with lots of arguments for why the United States should cut off its support for the besieged democracy. They ranged from allegations that most of the aid was gobbled up by waste and corruption to warnings that helping Ukraine would lead to World War III to “we’re ignoring our own people’s problems.” Each of these arguments was flawed, but perhaps none exploded quite so spectacularly as the one championed by JD Vance and adopted by President Trump: that Ukraine is doomed to lose anyway, so American aid is a waste.

Vance became the chief proponent of this argument when he published an op-ed in the New York Times under the title “The Math on Ukraine Doesn’t Add Up.” His argument was simple: “Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more materiel than the United States can provide.” In other words, defeat was certain and “This reality must inform any future Ukraine policy, from further congressional aid to the diplomatic course set by the president.”

President Trump, in his less articulate fashion, repeated this same argument to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the infamous February 28, 2025 Oval Office ambush: “You’re, right now, not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position,” Trump told Zelensky. “You don’t have the cards right now.”

This argument is worth reexamining not only because it proved so demonstrably false, but because the Russian government has dedicated such effort into ensuring that Trump still believes it. “Russian President Vladimir Putin has worked hard to convince the world that Ukraine’s defeat is inevitable when it is not,” reports the Institute for the Study of War. “His biggest success has come not on the front line but in the battle of narratives.”

As recently as December, Trump said that Russia had the “upper hand” in Ukraine, adding, “At some point, size will win.” If that was true then, it certainly isn’t now.

Last weekend, at Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations commemorating the end of World War II in Europe, Putin suggested that the war in Ukraine “may be coming to an end.” What he meant is open to varying interpretations, but whatever his intent, that “end” is clearly not the inevitable Russian victory Vance, Trump, and others have clearly had in mind.

WHEN VANCE PUBLISHED THAT New York Times article in 2024, he was thinking in terms of expensive and/or outdated U.S. weapons systems. He focused on surplus military equipment sent to Ukraine billed at the sticker price, such as 155-millimeter artillery shells. But, even as far back as May 2023 it was clear that the war was increasingly using drones, and that high-end systems and artillery would matter less over time.

Ukraine still needs a few high-value American systems, like PATRIOT missile interceptors used for defense against Russian Kinzhal and Iskander missiles. But almost all of the military items that Vance argued the United States would have to provide turned out to be largely irrelevant. Other particularly expensive U.S. systems, like Abrams tanks, Switchblade drones, and guided artillery have largely underperformed on the battlefield.

At the start of the war, Ukraine had to make do with whatever it could get its hands on. This was mostly “exquisite” Western weapons systems, but older and surplus models. By definition, Ukraine was getting the things the United States and other countries were most willing to part with. Since then, Ukraine has built up its own, far more cost-effective capabilities. As the effectiveness of PATRIOT has dropped over time, Ukraine has increasingly been using electronic warfare to severely degrade Russian Shahed drones, Kinzhal missiles, and thousands of precision glide bombs. They have also developed numerous low-cost methods for shooting down the swarms of Shaheds that Russia sends by the thousands every month.

Ukraine’s most serious disadvantage is in manpower. Vance portrayed this problem as insurmountable, but Ukraine has at least mitigated it to the point that Russia struggles to advance. They’ve done so by making leaps ahead in FPV drone technology and manufacturing. Ukraine’s use of drones in the air and on the ground means that, in the brutal and bloody arithmetic of war, Ukrainians now kill several Russians for every loss of their own. Russia, for the first time, is losing more troops than it is recruiting, while the quality of recruits fall—so Russia faces a manpower shortage. “Russia has nearly four times the population of Ukraine,” Vance declared in 2024. It doesn’t seem to have done them much good since then. At the same time, Ukraine’s reliance on drones has drastically reduced its demands for infantry, with multiple soldiers echoing the sentiment that the ubiquity of drones “means we don’t have infantry.”

Ukraine’s goal is to produce 7 million short-range drones this year, and 10 million thereafter. This number is crucial: The Ukrainians estimate that with that many drones, they can reach their goal of causing 50,000 Russian casualties per month—at which point they predict the Russian Army will lose overall combat effectiveness.

HERE IS WHERE THE MATH GETS INTERESTING.

Anywhere between 70 and 96 percent of Russian casualties are now caused by drones. In March, Zelensky said that among Russian forces, “out of 100 percent of losses, 62 percent are killed and 38 percent wounded.” This ratio is astounding; in modern warfare there is usually a killed-to-wounded ratio of between 1-to-3 and 1-to-5. Russian losses nearly invert this ratio due to their unsupported infiltration tactics, the lethality of drones, lack of transportation, poor battlefield medicine, and enormous “gray zone” on either side of the front lines where movement is all but impossible because of the profusion of drones.

The current rate of about 1000 total Russian casualties per day (based on Ukrainian estimates) translates to 620 dead per day, 18,600 per month, and 226,300 per year. If Ukraine can achieve their goal of 50,000 Russian casualties per month, that translates to 372,000 Russians killed in action per year. Reaching that goal is predicated on boosting drone production to 10 million FPVs per year.

Ukraine has successfully expanded its military production infrastructure to the point that they have significantly more capacity than money to build munitions. This is why Ukraine is offering to export weapons during the middle of the war—to raise money for their own needs. According to Zelensky, “A surplus of production capacity in Ukraine for certain types of weapons reaches 50 percent, and this is a direct result of our state investment in Ukraine’s defense industry and our cooperation with partners.”

The big takeaway for the United States should be that financial military aid could go directly to producing drones that are far cheaper than those made here, and also far better. Ukrainian drones cost between $400 and $700, if they’re equipped with thermal vision. Splitting the difference gives an average of about $550 dollars per drone. The total cost of 10 million drones comes to about $5.5 billion. Subtract the 5 million drones Ukraine is already able to produce on its own, and the price tag for reaching the 10 million–drone goal falls to $2.25 billion. That’s not a lot, considering the military and economic damage they could do to the Russians.

Russian military signing bonuses are very high—estimated to be about $28,850 on average—and they’re rising. Death benefits are even higher: One Russian economist put it at $150,000 in salary and death compensation, excluding other bonuses and insurance payouts. Thirty-eight percent of Russia’s $70 billion dollar budget for military pay, and 14 percent of the overall defense budget, goes to death benefits already. As a back-of-the-envelope estimate: Each dead Russian soldier costs Russia $178,850—the total salary and death compensation plus the cost of recruiting a replacement (not counting training and equipping costs). Multiply that by 372,000 dead soldiers per year, and Russia has a whopping $66 billion allocated to death benefits and recruitment bonuses, with only $4 billion of their military budget left for everything else—and that’s just to keep their army at its current size, before factoring in desertions, injuries, defections, and any other forms of attrition.

Bottom line: a $2.25 billion investment in Ukraine’s drone production by America could, in a year’s time, result in a $66 billion drain on Russia’s budget. Add to this the crippling damage to Russia’s economy as they struggle to replace the huge loss in their work force, and the benefit is even greater. This is a twelve-to-one return on investment in the first year alone.

For further context, Russia’s 2026 military budget is projected at 14.9 trillion rubles, or about $190 billion, representing approximately 6.3 percent to 7.5 percent of its GDP (depending on what the GDP ends up being). This wartime budget prioritizes sustained, long-term conflict, focusing on weapons procurement, personnel costs, and defense industry support. For reference, the Soviet Union was spending 7.7 to 11.5 percent of GDP on the military in 1988, right before it collapsed. (Soviet defense spending and GDP ratios are still difficult to estimate because both the numerator and denominator are so difficult to specify.)

It’s also been noted by numerous Western outlets that the state of the Russian economy is, in the words of one Russian official, “not easy.”. There are some indicators, like the rate of non-payments, suggesting that their economy is already breaking down. As the military situation and economy deteriorate, a leaked European intelligence dossier suggests that Putin is growing increasingly anxious and paranoid. It seems possible that a nudge of only $1.65 billion in aid to cover 3 million more FPV drones (compared with 90 billion Euros being offered in loans by the EU) could put even more significant strain on the Russian economy. Putin probably isn’t wrong to be worried: Dictators who lose wars and collapse their national economies generally come to very bad ends.

PUTIN CLEARLY DIDN’T—AND DOESN’T—do the math when it comes to his Ukraine policy. He thought he could conquer a country of 40 million people with fewer than 200,000 troops. Now he ignores dire economic news as just some details for his central bank chair to handle. His policy is motivated not by rational calculation, but by interpretations of history, lust for power, and chauvinism.

Vance claimed to have done the math, but clearly he started with his preferred policy and fished around for numbers to support it without developing any real understanding of modern warfare. The moral, political strategic, and economic cases for supporting Ukraine remain as strong as ever. It’s Vance’s math that hasn’t held up.

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

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 4:08 PM

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Second, I remember when anyone would post about Russia signym and kiki would respond in a flash. They were incapable of letting anything negative about Putin or Russia pass without a rebuttal. Now kiki is dead.

HAHAHAHA! Kiki is not dead.

THGR
The Minsk Agreements

SIGNY:
Russia wasn't even a signatory, ya dope.

THGR:
In early 2022, amid rising tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed," using this as a pretext for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This marked a significant escalation in the conflict and highlighted the agreements' failure to provide a sustainable framework for peace

THGR:
kiki is dead.

a) I know for a fact KIKI isn't dead bc we've been in touch, ya dope.

b) Despite your misunderstanding, Russia was never a signatory. The agreements were between Kiev and eastern Ukraine.

Stop posting shit about which you know nothing.
It makes you look stupid.

-----------

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

She is dead. One day she was just gone, and she hasn't posted once since then.

T

PUTIN'S PARADE IS OVER

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 5:27 PM

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

Europe doesn’t make missile defenses at scale. Thirteen countries just joined Ukraine to fix that.

Thirteen European countries and NATO met in Kyiv on 12 May to launch coordinated anti-ballistic missile production—a shift from US Patriot dependence.

By Alexander Moisseenko | May 13, 2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/13/europe-doesnt-make-missile-defe
nses-at-scale-thirteen-countries-just-joined-ukraine-to-fix-that/

The American Patriot system armed with PAC-3 interceptors remains Ukraine's primary shield against Russian ballistic missiles, and the United States produces too few of them for everyone who needs them.

The math European armies are trying to fix

Russia produces roughly 70 ballistic missiles per month, 840 per year, many going directly from factory to launch site. Annual global production of the PAC-2 GEM-T and PAC-3 MSE interceptors that Patriot systems use against ballistic missiles is 850 missiles. That figure barely exceeds the lower-end estimate of Russia's annual ballistic missile output.

What the anti-ballistic coalition has not yet specified is timeline, production targets, financing structure, or how it will navigate the US State Department approvals that govern licensing of Patriot components and missiles. European defense manufacturer MBDA, which now produces Patriot missiles in Bavaria under joint venture with Raytheon, has flagged those approvals as the main constraint on genuine European independence from the slow US production rate of Patriot missiles.

Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/13/europe-doesnt-make-missile-defe
nses-at-scale-thirteen-countries-just-joined-ukraine-to-fix-that/

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

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026 5:50 PM