Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You don't seriously expect us to believe that Russia has the same relationship with the USA as Canada?
Do you?
Really???

You, like a lot of westerners, are mesmerized by the German blitzkrieg. But that's not the war that Russia is fighting. It's only been mentioned a few dozen times so I'll leave you ro puzzle it out for yourself. (If you can)

And don't forget: Germany lost, and lost to Russia.

The difference between Canada and Russia? Russia has threatened to destroy the US about 42 times in the last 42 days. Canada has never made that threat. That could be why Canada is prosperous and Russia is not.

The last time that Russians invaded Europe at an excruciatingly slow pace, as it is once again doing in Ukraine, 27,000,000 Russians died. Does Russia want more citizens to die now than in WWII? Then Russians should keep fighting the way they have in Ukraine. Or Russia can bring out the nukes and kill 146,420,000 Russians on the same day.

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 8:03 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You don't seriously expect us to believe that Russia has the same relationship with the USA as Canada?
Do you?
Really???

You, like a lot of westerners, are mesmerized by the German blitzkrieg. But that's not the war that Russia is fighting. It's only been mentioned a few dozen times so I'll leave you ro puzzle it out for yourself. (If you can)

And don't forget: Germany lost, and lost to Russia.
The difference between Canada and Russia? Russia has threatened to destroy the US about 42 times in the last 42 days. Canada has never made that threat. That could be why Canada is prosperous and Russia is not.

The last time that Russians invaded Europe at an excruciatingly slow pace, as it is once again doing in Ukraine, 27,000,000 Russians died. Does Russia want more citizens to die now than in WWII? Then Russians should keep fighting the way they have in Ukraine. Or Russia can bring out the nukes and kill 146,420,000 Russians on the same day.

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

The difference between Canada and Russia?
The USA hasn't been actively trying to destroy Canada since 1917

Get your head out of your ass, SECOND. You live in a world of shit. If you can't do it on your own, get one of the orderlies to bring some Vaseline and a crowbar.

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 8:28 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

The difference between Canada and Russia?
The USA hasn't been actively trying to destroy Canada since 1917

Get your head out of your ass, SECOND. You live in a world of shit. If you can't do it on your own, get one of the orderlies to bring some Vaseline and a crowbar.

North Korea exists because Russia set it into motion for magnanimous reasons, while South Korea exists only because the UN and the US are evil manipulators. That is the way North Korea describes the US. North Korea's economy ought to be prospering compared to South Korea because South Korea has been insanely hostile toward North Korea since 1950. And South Korea has been subservient to the US while North Korea is free from the US. But when I check the economic statistics, North Korea is extraordinarily impoverished compared to South Korea. That doesn't make sense since North Korea is such a powerful yet peaceful country, exactly like Russia, going about its own business and protected by its nuclear weapons from the warmongers in South Korea who have no A-bombs and no H-bombs, unlike North Korea. The statistics must be fake news if the numbers show that South Korea is many times more prosperous than North Korea.

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:16 PM

You don't know shit, Second.

You should stop talking before I wreck you again.

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

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:43 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You don't know shit, Second.

You should stop talking before I wreck you again.

6ix, if you are right, then pretty soon the average North Korean will be more prosperous than an average South Korean because North Korea despises South Korea and could nuke that country off the face of the Earth. And if you are right, average Russians will soon be more prosperous than average Canadians because Canada is a teeny-tiny lap dog, a servile pet, of the US while Russia is as strong and free as a Giant Siberian Timber Wolf that eats lap dogs in one bite. The Wolf will gobble up Ukraine in one bite, too!

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:46 PM

I didn't say shit about North Korea.

I'm just talking about the 100,000 words you plagiarized off of idiots and pasted into this thread since its inception.

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

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Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:59 PM

Oh... and P.S.....

If Biden* and the Democrats hadn't given child rapist Zelensky over $100 Billion last year and he wasn't getting tanks and weapons from the US and a myriad of other NATO nations, then yeah...

Ukraine wouldn't even exist anymore right now.

I can't wait for that to happen. And it will happen.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 6:42 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Oh... and P.S.....

If Biden* and the Democrats hadn't given child rapist Zelensky over $100 Billion last year and he wasn't getting tanks and weapons from the US and a myriad of other NATO nations, then yeah...

Ukraine wouldn't even exist anymore right now.

I can't wait for that to happen. And it will happen.

6ix, spending money because of Russia is a US tradition.

The US spent $5.8 trillion on nuclear weapons by 1996. That wasn't because France or the UK had H-bombs. It was because of Russia.
https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/costs-us-nuclear-weapons/

And the US will spend $634 billion on nuclear weapons over the 2021–2030 period because of . . . Russia.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57240

6ix, are you seeing the pattern? That the US spends money because of Russia? If Russia was run by sensible people who didn't say on a daily basis that they were going to nuke the US, the US wouldn't be spending all this money.

Funny thing is that North Korea, which only exists because Russia set it up, is also swearing it, too, will nuke the US and/or South Korea. The US has gotten into another habit of spending to protect South Korea from the Russian-inspired Kim Family in North Korea.

The average Russian or North Korean could become as rich as the average Canadian, but only if Russia or North Korea stopped squandering lives and money on H-bombs. Canada never built any H-bombs, which is a very sensible way for Canada to go about its business. Russia and North Korea should copy that behavior and grow rich. But those two will probably stay stupid, build H-bombs, and remain poor.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 6:45 AM

lol

Canada is the largest net benefactor of US military spending. The second largest is Mexico.

Maybe you need to check out a map.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 7:33 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

Canada is the largest net benefactor of US military spending. The second largest is Mexico.

Maybe you need to check out a map.

The only country that ever invaded Canada was . . . the US. Which country invaded Mexico? The US, again. I am not as sure as you are that increasing US defense spending is a benefit that causes decreasing Canadian and Mexican defense spending. I am certain that the US spent many trillions on nukes because Russia keeps threatening to nuke the US. If Russia does conquer Ukraine, Russia won't be more peaceful. It will be MORE belligerent toward the US and probably switch from threatening to nuke the US only once per day to threatening in the morning, at noon, and in the evening to nuke the US.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 8:45 AM

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

Top Russian Diplomat Erupts over Nation's Lack of Allies

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has said in a fiery exchange that "It was a big mistake on the part of our elites to believe that foreign countries will help us," she added. "Russia has only two allies: its army and its navy."

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-diplomat-maria-zakharova-moscow-lack-a
llies-1780739

Why do North Korea and China not send troops to help Russia? What is wrong with those people? Why are they not helping Russia in the glorious battle against the Nazis? (Hint: Russia is not fighting the Nazis. That is why. Even North Koreans can see that Russian propaganda about the Nazis is nonsense and stupid. If Russia thinks it is fighting the Nazis, crazy Russia gets to fight alone against its hallucinations.)

As of 2021 North Korea is the second largest military organization in the world, with 29.9% of the North Korean population actively serving, in reserve or in a paramilitary capacity. How many North Koreans are fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine? Zero. If Kim has any sense of self-preservation, that number will stay at zero.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 10:38 AM

K2PO

Quote:
Originally posted by K2PO:
Signy, your whole schtick is that we're being lied to about Russia and Ukraine. If this is true, why do you keep making your point by sharing articles that are full of lies themselves?

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
What the OSCE discovered was that the bombardment dramatically intensified as the week went on until it reached a peak on February 19, when a total of 2,026 artillery strikes were recorded.

Sig: That's over 2000 artillery strikes in one day. On a civilian atea.

That's a complete misrepresentation of the OSCE report. I'll point out why, but I encourage everyone to see for themselves how Signy is lying. If anyone has any questions about making sense of the report, I'll gladly help explain (I've read a few of these): https://www.osce.org/files/2022-02-20-21%20Daily%20Report_ENG.pdf?itok
=82567

What the OSCE report actually says about the 2026 "artillery strikes":

1. Were not in a single day, but over a 48hr period (18th-20th)
2. Were not "artillery strikes" but "explosions" (including mortars, etc.)
Were described as both incoming and outgoing - and most of those identified were fired by the separatists
3. Hardly any of them were recorded in civilian areas, on either side
4. There were no recorded civilian casualties

A spike in hostilities, yes, but by both sides in their trenches firing at each other. With many more reported breaches by the pro-Russians, according to this report.

Had enough time to feel guilt/remorse/embarrassment about this propagation of falsehoods yet, Signy?

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Monday, February 13, 2023 12:38 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by K2PO:

Had enough time to feel guilt/remorse/embarrassment about this propagation of falsehoods yet, Signy?

News Flash: The number of North Koreans in Ukraine may soon be as many as 500.

North Korea’s government recently ordered North Korean trading companies in Russia to select personnel to send to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine so they can take part in reconstruction efforts, South Korean newspaper Daily NK reported.

According to Daily NK’s sources, the relevant order, among others, was issued to the companies Cholhyon Construction and Kumrung Construction, associated with the Ministry of Defense of North Korea.

Given that all these companies are affiliated with military or security agencies, it is presumed that North Korea intends to send soldiers or police personnel, as opposed to civilians, to eastern Ukraine.

The trading companies have orders to select young men between the ages of 19 and 27. Most are married and would leave their families behind in North Korea. This is reportedly done to dissuade defection attempts.

The first group of North Korean citizens, upwards of 500 people, are expected to arrive in the occupied regions of Ukraine by mid-February or March.

The orders do not specify exactly what tasks will be assigned to these North Koreans in Ukraine, but they are unlikely to be involved in combat operations, the newspaper reports. Otherwise, the participation of the North Korean citizens in the conflict could make it appear as if Pyongyang has sent mercenaries to Russia.

The personnel will likely take part in reconstruction efforts, such as renovating buildings and repairing roads in the war zone.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has consistently supported Moscow’s position. Pyongyang voted against resolutions condemning Russia at the UN and was also the only one in the world to officially support the results of the sham “referendums” in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

At the end of January, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made a statement that North Korea “will always be in the same trench with the army and people of Russia.”

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11800

In other news, all North Koreans with the name "Ju-ae" will have to change their name because Kim does not want anyone to have the same name as his ten-year-old daughter. North Korea is such a sane country, much like Russia.

This practice dates back to the era of the regime’s founder Kim Il-sung, when people were banned from having the same name. Additionally, during the time of Kim Jong-il’s rule, those with the same name were also forced to change it. After the current leader, Kim Jong-un, came to power, the state forced people named Jong-un and Sol-ju, the name of his wife, to also change their names.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3209935/north-korea-f
orces-people-same-name-kim-jong-uns-daughter-ju-ae-change-it-report

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 1:04 PM

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

“Russia today poses the biggest threat to Norwegian and European security, and the confrontation with the West will be long-lasting,” said Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram.

The deputy head of the foreign Norwegian Intelligence Service Lars Nordrum said that Norway’s oil and gas installations could be targeted by Russian sabotage. NSM head Sofie Nystrøm warned that “all of Europe will suffer” if Norwegian gas and oil installations were hit.

“Norway is now Europe’s most important energy supplier after Russia ended its gas exports to the West," said Nordrum. But PST assessed that it's unlikely Russia would carry out any sabotage operation on Norwegian soil this year.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/norway-russia-threat-eu
rope-97077078

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 1:53 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

Canada is the largest net benefactor of US military spending. The second largest is Mexico.

Maybe you need to check out a map.
The only country that ever invaded Canada was . . . the US. Which country invaded Mexico? The US, again. I am not as sure as you are that increasing US defense spending is a benefit that causes decreasing Canadian and Mexican defense spending. I am certain that the US spent many trillions on nukes because Russia keeps threatening to nuke the US. If Russia does conquer Ukraine, Russia won't be more peaceful. It will be MORE belligerent toward the US and probably switch from threatening to nuke the US only once per day to threatening in the morning, at noon, and in the evening to nuke the US.

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

Red herring alert!

Comparing our policy towards Canada to our policy towards Russia.
Even THUGR knows they're not the same, either in broad scope or detail.

Idiot.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 1:57 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
“Russia today poses the biggest threat to Norwegian and European security, and the confrontation with the West will be long-lasting,” said Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram.

The deputy head of the foreign Norwegian Intelligence Service Lars Nordrum said that Norway’s oil and gas installations could be targeted by Russian sabotage. NSM head Sofie Nystrøm warned that “all of Europe will suffer” if Norwegian gas and oil installations were hit.

“Norway is now Europe’s most important energy supplier after Russia ended its gas exports to the West," said Nordrum. But PST assessed that it's unlikely Russia would carry out any sabotage operation on Norwegian soil this year.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/norway-russia-threat-eu
rope-97077078

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

Maybe if Norway hadn't helped blow up 3 of 4 Nordstream pipelines, they wouldn't be eperiencing a well-earned butt-puckering moment.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 2:33 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Maybe if Norway hadn't helped blow up 3 of 4 Nordstream pipelines, they wouldn't be eperiencing a well-earned butt-puckering moment.

I don't want to nitpick as a lawyer would, but you need a source for your accusation. When I look I see: Russia, without providing evidence, has repeatedly said the West was behind the blasts affecting the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines last September - multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects that carried Russian gas to Germany. Reuters was unable to corroborate the allegations.

FYI, Both Russia and North Korea would not be relatively impoverished nations if the rest of the world could trust that those two would not go on ordinary murder rampages nor would they destroy other nations in nuclear attacks.

Also, Signym, France has H-bombs, using the same physics as Russia's and North Korea's, but few think the French will destroy the world because the French don't keep threatening to do so, unlike Russia and North Korea. That is the major reason why France is not impoverished as Russia and North Korea are.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 3:06 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

Canada is the largest net benefactor of US military spending. The second largest is Mexico.

Maybe you need to check out a map.
The only country that ever invaded Canada was . . . the US. Which country invaded Mexico? The US, again. I am not as sure as you are that increasing US defense spending is a benefit that causes decreasing Canadian and Mexican defense spending. I am certain that the US spent many trillions on nukes because Russia keeps threatening to nuke the US. If Russia does conquer Ukraine, Russia won't be more peaceful. It will be MORE belligerent toward the US and probably switch from threatening to nuke the US only once per day to threatening in the morning, at noon, and in the evening to nuke the US.

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

Red herring alert!

Comparing our policy towards Canada to our policy towards Russia.
Even THUGR knows they're not the same, either in broad scope or detail.

Idiot.

I have been thinking about this for an hour. Signym, there has to be an explanation for why you responded this way. Let me suggest how different Canada is from Russia.

When was the last time Canada threatened to nuke anybody off the face of the Earth? And Signym, don't say Canada couldn't, because if Canada wanted to make such threats, it could secretly build what it needs to make the threat real.

On the other side of the world, Russia has been threatening, invading, and conquering countries for hundreds of years. This behavior has not made Russia wealthy compared to Canada.

When will average Russians ever stop and think carefully about what they are doing? They have had centuries to figure this out, but they haven't done the thinking except for a few famous exceptions like Andrei Sakharov.

Andrei D. Sakharov
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/andrei-d-sakharov/

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 3:07 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

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

Maybe if Norway hadn't helped blow up 3 of 4 Nordstream pipelines, they wouldn't be eperiencing a well-earned butt-puckering moment.
I don't want to nitpick as a lawyer would, but you need a source for your accusation... Blah blah blah...Russia blah blah blah....

This is why I think you're posting from a psych ward.

You posted Sy Hersch's article IN FULL on this very topic, as a copyright challenge.

Why should I take your posts seriously when it's clear that even YOU don't?

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 4:25 PM

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

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

Maybe if Norway hadn't helped blow up 3 of 4 Nordstream pipelines, they wouldn't be eperiencing a well-earned butt-puckering moment.
I don't want to nitpick as a lawyer would, but you need a source for your accusation... Blah blah blah...Russia blah blah blah....

This is why I think you're posting from a psych ward.

You posted Sy Hersch's article IN FULL on this very topic, as a copyright challenge.

Why should I take your posts seriously when it's clear that even YOU don't?

You are referring to http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=64887&mid=11692
91#1169291

Russia and North Korea continuously and angrily wonder why they get relatively poorer compared to Canada and South Korea, which never threaten to use nukes, but steadily grow richer.

Russia owned those pipelines and it is positively good that Russian property is being destroyed for once rather than Russia getting a free pass to destroy anything in Ukraine while, at the very same time, the destruction of anything inside Russia is yet another excuse for Russia to threaten to nuke the world, a threat that Russia has made thousands of times since it built its first A-bomb.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 5:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Russia doesn't threaten to use nukes. It reiterates it's self defense posture, which is that if it is attacked on its own soil and it's existence is threatened it may use nukes. That has been it's nuclear weapons policy for a long time.

The USA OTIH constantly threatens first strike and/or use of tactical nukes, and has backed that up by withdrawing from a whole series of nuclear weapons treaties and placing missile launchers in Poland.

So pry your head out if your ass, SECOND, and stop lying to yourself and everyone else.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 5:48 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russia doesn't threaten to use nukes. It reiterates it's self defense posture, which is that if it is attacked on its own soil and it's existence is threatened it may use nukes. That has been it's nuclear weapons policy for a long time.

The USA OTIH constantly threatens first strike and/or use of tactical nukes, and has backed that up by withdrawing from a whole series of nuclear weapons treaties and placing missile launchers in Poland.

So pry your head out if your ass, SECOND, and stop lying to yourself and everyone else.

You are in error, Signym. From today:

A Russian TV host and close ally of Vladimir Putin has issued yet another threat against the UK for its support of Ukraine.

Can't we finally strike at London? What is the problem?

He added:

No, no, no—only at military targets. Well, at the parliament, too.

Solovyov then referred to the Kremlin’s widely dismissed claims that the West's support of Ukraine is encouraging neo-Nazism and Russophobia:

In this case we will not recognize at all—for us then there is no England at all. No France. No Germany. Instead, there are Nazi states united by hatred for everything Russian,

And so let's get serious. Do they think there are no red lines? OK. Well, let's show them that there are no more red lines. Let's strike! So that the fist would ring.

He went on to describe French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as 'Nazi b*****ds'.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vladimir-putin-ally-issues-terrif
ying-threat-on-russian-tv-can-t-we-finally-strike-london/ar-AA17qP9q

The Russian fallback position would be that since London has not been nuked there was no real threat to nuke London. It is all a big joke. We're not serious. It is just talk-talk-talk. "You can not seriously believe Russia would nuke London until you see the mushroom cloud, can you?" Russians might say. No threat. No threat. Never mind what got said.

Sorry to let you know this, Signym, but that was another threat by Russia to nuke the world.

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 9:24 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russia doesn't threaten to use nukes. It reiterates it's self defense posture, which is that if it is attacked on its own soil and it's existence is threatened it may use nukes. That has been it's nuclear weapons policy for a long time.

The USA OTIH constantly threatens first strike and/or use of tactical nukes, and has backed that up by withdrawing from a whole series of nuclear weapons treaties and placing missile launchers in Poland.

So pry your head out if your ass, SECOND, and stop lying to yourself and everyone else.
You are in error, Signym. From today:

A Russian TV host and close ally of Vladimir Putin has issued yet another threat against the UK for its support of Ukraine.

Can't we finally strike at London? What is the problem?

He added:

No, no, no—only at military targets. Well, at the parliament, too.

Solovyov then referred to the Kremlin’s widely dismissed claims that the West's support of Ukraine is encouraging neo-Nazism and Russophobia:

In this case we will not recognize at all—for us then there is no England at all. No France. No Germany. Instead, there are Nazi states united by hatred for everything Russian,

And so let's get serious. Do they think there are no red lines? OK. Well, let's show them that there are no more red lines. Let's strike! So that the fist would ring.

He went on to describe French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as 'Nazi b*****ds'.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vladimir-putin-ally-issues-terrif
ying-threat-on-russian-tv-can-t-we-finally-strike-london/ar-AA17qP9q

The Russian fallback position would be that since London has not been nuked there was no real threat to nuke London. It is all a big joke. We're not serious. It is just talk-talk-talk. "You can not seriously believe Russia would nuke London until you see the mushroom cloud, can you?" Russians might say. No threat. No threat. Never mind what got said.

Sorry to let you know this, Signym, but that was another threat by Russia to nuke the world.

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

Jeezus, SECOND, you're a twisted fuck.

a) It was a TV HOST. Not Putin, not Shoigu, not anyone in their Security Council. A TV HOST. One is not like the others.

b) Did he say NUCLEAR strike? No, he did not. Aiming at "Parliament" with a nuclear warhead is a little like shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun. Can you say "overkill"? Sure you can!

But I can assure you, a visit from Mr Kinzhal or Mr Zircon would surely ruin Parliament's day.

Fuck you, maroon. And that's an insult to maroons everywhere.

-----------
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If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake

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Monday, February 13, 2023 10:01 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Jeezus, SECOND, you're a twisted fuck.

a) It was a TV HOST. Not Putin, not Shoigu, not anyone in their Security Council. A TV HOST. One is not like the others.

b) Did he say NUCLEAR strike? No, he did not. Aiming at "Parliament" with a nuclear warhead is a little like shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun. Can you say "overkill"? Sure you can!

But I can assure you, a visit from Mr Kinzhal or Mr Zircon would surely ruin Parliament's day.

Fuck you, maroon. And that's an insult to maroons everywhere.

Ordinary people take these death threats emanating from Russia seriously:

When asked in what scenario Russia would use nuclear weapons, Putin appeared to feign offense at the question, and said: "If someone decides to destroy Russia, then we have a legal right to respond. Yes, for humanity it will be a global catastrophe, for the world it will be a global catastrophe."

Putin added: "But still, as a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state, then I want to ask myself the question: 'Why do we need such a world if there is no Russia there?'"

Signym, Putin issued a death threat. He says he has a legal right. "If someone decides to destroy Russia" is the trigger and the words "If someone decides . . ." might be as minor as an attack on Crimea. But Putin doesn't actually need a reason. He can end the world just for the hell of it.

Putin's stupid mouth said the words. This is exactly the kind of fast and loose thinking that has impoverished both Russia and North Korea. Both countries ought to stop issuing death threats and, instead, in the case of North Korea, start emulating South Korea if North Korea wishes to prosper. Russia could emulate Canada if Russia wishes to prosper. If Russia and North Korea won't stop making threats and building more nukes, they will ruin themselves.

https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-said-2018-would-use-nuclear-weap
ons-if-russia-attacked-2022-4

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

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Monday, February 13, 2023 10:30 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Meanwhile, let's not forget that we blew up the energy supply of a supposed democratic ally.

-----------
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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 4:25 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Meanwhile, let's not forget that we blew up the energy supply of a supposed democratic ally.

Let's not forget that it was "Anonymous" who gave the tip to the writer, who then elaborated a few thousand more words on the tip. For all we know, "Anonymous" is a fictional creation by the writer of the article. Let's also not forget this article:

Kremlin 'Crazy' Enough To Use Nukes, Russian TV Pundits Warn
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-crazy-enough-nuclear-weapons-state-tel
evision-1780790
"We need to win, that is all. We have to achieve this with the means that we have. I would remind you that a nuclear weapon is not just a bomb, it is the heritage of the whole Russian people." Definitely crazy talk.

The doctrine of mutually assured destruction (M.A.D.) assumes both sides are sane, but one side can get a cheap psychological advantage over the other by hinting that they are crazy. For example, North Korea has been hinting for years that Kim is crazy enough to use nukes whenever he feels an urge in his loins. It doesn't take much effort to feign craziness but that will make the never-ending parade of newly elected South Korean leaders insomniatic, nervous, and anxious, which is the whole point of what Kim is doing.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 7:36 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, so NOW you remember your extended quote on the topic?
You're a brainless twat posting from a psych ward.

Unlike NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, CNN and other liars that you splatter the board with so liberally, Seymour Hirsch's articles in the end are proven right.

-----------
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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 9:57 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh, so NOW you remember your extended quote on the topic?
You're a brainless twat posting from a psych ward.

Unlike NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, CNN and other liars that you splatter the board with so liberally, Seymour Hirsch's articles in the end are proven right.

Seymour Hersh's Abusive Use of Anonymous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#Use_of_anonymous_sources

In 2015, Vox's Max Fisher wrote that "Hersh has appeared increasingly to have gone off the rails. His stories, often alleging vast and shadowy conspiracies, have made startling — and often internally inconsistent — accusations, based on little or no proof beyond a handful of anonymous 'officials'."[71] Slate magazine's James Kirchick wrote, "Readers are expected to believe that the story of the Bin Laden assassination is a giant ‘fairy tale’ on the word of a single, unnamed source... Hersh's problem is that he evinces no skepticism whatsoever toward what his crank sources tell him, which is ironic considering how cynical he is regarding the pronouncements of the U.S. national security bureaucracy."[17][72] Politico wrote in 2015 that Hersh's reporting had increasingly been called into question due to "his almost exclusive reliance on anonymous sources".[73]

Nord Stream sabotage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#Nord_Stream_sabotage

In February 2023, in a post to Substack, Hersh claimed that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines had been carried out by the US Navy, the CIA, and the Norwegian Navy, under the direct order of President Biden. Hersh's report relied on an anonymous source who stated that, in June 2022, US Navy divers placed explosive C4 charges on the pipelines at strategic locations selected by the Norwegians. The source said that charges were placed under the cover of a multi-nation wargame simulation known as BALTOPS 22, and remotely detonated three months later by a signal from a sonar buoy dropped by a Norwegian P-8 surveillance plane.[57][58]

Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the United States had questions to answer over its role in the explosions.[59] A spokesperson for the United States National Security Council said the report was "utterly false and complete fiction".[60] The CIA said the claims were "completely false", and this was also the reaction from the Norwegian Foreign Department.[61]

Hersh wrote that NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg had been cooperating with US intelligence services since the Vietnam war and has been cleared ever since, and that this was part of the reason why the U.S. involved Norway in the operation.[62] At the time the Vietnam war ended, Jens Stoltenberg was 16 years old and, as late as 1985, Stoltenberg advocated for Norway leaving NATO.[62] Hersh's article said the U.S. divers who planted the explosives had operated from a Norwegian Alta-class minesweeper. The Norwegian Defence Forces said no Norwegian Alta-class mine sweepers had participated in BALTOPS 22 or were in the vicinity of the explosions during the exercise.[62]

Following Hersh's report, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) tweeted that if the story was true, he and many of his fellow senators were not informed of the attack on Nord Stream. "If this turns out to be true, we've got a huge problem," Lee tweeted on 2/8/23.[63] The Chair of Russia's lower house of parliament called for an international investigation for "bringing Biden and his accomplices to justice".[64]

Hersh's reporting was heavily criticized by other journalists.[65] Eliot Higgins, the founder of investigative journalism group Bellingcat, said that Hersh was unable to get his article published in a reputed newspaper and that his reporting would only impress the likes of people who support Putin and al-Assad.[66] Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev described Hersh's report as "total fiction" and stated that his reporting is seriously damaging to journalism.[65][66]Hersh's article was first picked up by the Russian state-controlled RT and Hersh gave his first interview to the Russian news agency TASS.[66]

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 10:00 AM

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

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/13/russia-putin-war-ukraine-disaster/

Putin's War Is a Long-Term Disaster for Russians
by Brent Peabody

As Russia ramps up its second offensive, a debate has erupted over whether Moscow or Kyiv will have the upper hand in 2023. While important, such discourse also misses a larger point related to the conflict’s longer-term consequences. In the long run, the true loser of the war is already clear; Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will be remembered as a historic folly that left Russia economically, demographically, and geopolitically worse off.

Start with the lynchpin of Russia’s economy: energy. In contrast to Europe’s (very real) dependence on Russia for fossil fuels, Russia’s economic dependence on Europe has largely gone unremarked upon. As late as 2021, for example, Russia exported 32 percent of its coal, 49 percent of its oil, and a staggering 74 percent of its gas to OECD Europe alone. Add in Japan, South Korea, and non-OECD European countries that have joined Western sanctions against Russia, and the figure is even higher. A trickle of Russian energy continues to flow into Europe, but as the European Union makes good on its commitment to phase out Russian oil and gas, Moscow may soon find itself shut out of its most lucrative export market.

In a petrostate like Russia that derives 45 percent of its federal budget from fossil fuels, the impact of this market isolation is hard to overstate. Oil and coal exports are fungible, and Moscow has indeed been able to redirect them to countries such as India and China (albeit at discounted rates, higher costs, and lower profits). Gas, however, is much harder to reroute because of the infrastructure needed to transport it. With its $400 billion gas pipeline to China, Russia has managed some progress on this front, but it will take years to match current capacity to the EU. In any case, China’s leverage as a single buyer makes it a poor substitute for Europe, where Russia can bid countries against one another.

This market isolation, however, would be survivable were it not for the gravest unintended consequence of Russia’s war — an accelerated transition toward decarbonization. It took a gross violation of international law, but Putin managed to convince Western leaders to finally treat independence from fossil fuels as a national security issue and not just an environmental one.

This is best seen in Europe’s turbocharged transition toward renewable energy, where permitting processes that used to take years are being pushed up. A few months after the invasion, for example, Germany jump-started construction on what will soon be Europe’s largest solar plant. Around the same time, Britain accelerated progress on Hornsea 3, slated to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm upon completion. The results already speak for themselves; for the first time ever last year, wind and solar combined for a higher share of electrical generation in Europe than oil and gas. And this says nothing of other decarbonization efforts such as subsidies for heat pumps in the EU, incentives for clean energy in the United States, and higher electric vehicle uptake everywhere.

The cumulative effect for Russia could not be worse. Sooner or later, lower demand for fossil fuels will dramatically and permanently lower the price for oil and gas—an existential threat to Russia’s economy. When increased U.S. shale production depressed oil prices in 2014, for example, Russia experienced a financial crisis. Lower global demand for fossil fuels will play out over a longer timeline, but the result for Russia will be much graver. With its invasion, Russia hastened the arrival of an energy transition that promises to unravel its economy.

Beyond a smaller and less efficient economy, Putin’s war in Ukraine will also leave Russia with a smaller and less dynamic population. Russia’s demographic problems are well-documented, and Putin had intended to start reversing the country’s long-running population decline in 2022. In a morbid twist, the year is likelier to mark the start of its irrevocable fall. The confluence of COVID and an inverted demographic pyramid already made Russia’s demographic outlook dire. The addition of war has made it catastrophic.

To understand why, it’s important to understand the demographic scar left by the 1990s. In the chaos that followed the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Russia’s birthrate plunged to 1.2 children per woman, far below the 2.1 needed for a population to remain stable. The effects can still be seen today; while there are 12 million Russians aged 30-34 (born just before the breakup of the Soviet Union), there are just 7 million aged 20-24 (born during the chaos that followed it). That deficit meant Russia’s population was already poised to fall, simply because a smaller number of people would be able to have children in the first place.

The Other Ukraine War

A new book examining Russia’s 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine reveals some uncomfortable truths. Russia’s invasion has made this bad demographic hand cataclysmic. At least 120,000 Russian soldiers have died so far—many in their 20s and from the same small generation Russia can scarcely afford to lose. Many more have emigrated, if they can, or simply fled to other countries to try to wait out the war; exact numbers are hard to calculate, but the 32,000 Russians who have immigrated to Israel alone suggest the total number approaches a million.

Disastrously, the planning horizons of Russian families have been upended; it is projected that fewer than 1.2 million Russian babies may be born next year, , which would leave Russia with its lowest birthrate since 2000. A spike in violent crime, a rise in alcohol consumption, and other factors that collude against a family’s decision to have children may depress the birthrate further still. Ironically, over the last decade Putin managed to slow (if not reverse) Russia’s population decline through lavish payoffs for new mothers. Increased military spending and the debt needed to finance it will make such generous natalist policies harder.

The invasion has left Russia even worse off geopolitically. Unlike hard numbers and demographic data, such lost influence is hard to measure. But it can be seen everywhere, from public opinion polls across the West to United Nations votes that the Kremlin has lost by margins as high as 141 to 5. It can also be seen in Russia’s own backyard; while an emboldened NATO could soon include Sweden and Finland, Russia’s own Collective Security Treaty Organization is tearing at the seams as traditional allies such as Kazakhstan and Armenia realize the Kremlin’s impotence and look to China for security.

Perhaps most important of all, Russia has reinvigorated the cause of liberal democracy. In the year after its invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron won a rare second term in France, the far-right AfD lost ground in three successive elections in Germany, and “Make America Great Again” Republicans paid an electoral penalty in the U.S. midterms. (The far right did sweep into power in both Sweden and Italy, but such wins have so far failed to dent Western unity and appear more motivated by immigration.) And this says nothing of the wave of democratic consolidation playing out across Eastern Europe, where voters have thrown out illiberal populists in Slovenia and Czechia in the last year alone. It is impossible to attribute any of these outcomes to just one factor (U.S. Democrats also got a boost from the overturn of Roe v. Wade and election denialism, for example), but Russia’s invasion—and the clear choice between liberalism and autocracy it presented—no doubt helped.

Nowhere, however, has Russia’s invasion backfired more than in Ukraine. Contrary to Putin’s historical revisionism, Ukraine has long had a national identity distinct from Russia’s. But it’s also long been fractured along linguistic lines, with many of its elites intent on maintaining close relations with the Kremlin and even the public unsure about greater alignment with the West.

No longer. Ninety-one percent of Ukrainians now favor joining NATO, a figure unthinkable just a decade ago. Eighty-five percent of Ukrainians consider themselves Ukrainian above all else, a marker of civic identity that has grown by double digits since Russia’s invasion. Far from protecting the Russian language in Ukraine, Putin appears to have hastened its demise as native Russian speakers (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky included) switch to Ukrainian en masse. Putin launched his invasion to bring Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit. He has instead anchored its future in the West.

Of course, one can argue that, however much the war has cost Russia, it has cost Ukraine exponentially more. This is true. Ukraine’s economy shrank by more than 30 percent last year, while Russia’s economy contracted by just about 3 percent. And this says nothing of the human toll Ukraine has suffered. But, like Brexit, Western sanctions on Russia will play out as a slow burn, not an immediate collapse. And while Russia enters a protracted period of economic and demographic decline, once peace comes, Ukraine will have the combined industrial capacity of the EU, United States, and United Kingdom to support it as the West’s newest institutional member—precisely the outcome Putin hoped to avoid. Russia may yet make new territorial gains in the Donbas. But in the long run, such gains are immaterial—Russia has already lost.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 10:08 AM

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

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/11/can-eu-russia-relations-b
e-repaired-post-putin

Can EU-Russia relations be repaired post-Putin?

Putin’s decision-making has set Russia down a path that any successor would find difficult to turn from.

by Dimitar Bechev, Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe

A year after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the debate about whether this is President Vladimir Putin’s war or not continues. Anti-war Russians, many of whom have sought refuge outside the country, blame the Russian president. For them, his delusions and paranoia have caused a turn to neo-totalitarianism at home and military aggression abroad.

The Russian opposition in exile and in prison insists that if Putin is to fall from power, the situation would reverse. Leonid Volkov, the number two of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has even suggested that following the end of the war, the West should offer “a Marshall Plan” not only for Ukraine, in dire need of reconstruction, but also for Russia.

In other words, opposition-minded Russians hope that Moscow will rebuild bridges with Europe and the US once Putin is no longer on the throne.

Understandably, the notion of “Putin’s war” has next to no purchase in Ukraine itself. By and large, Ukrainians fault Russia as a country and as a society, whether it is the jingoistic cheerleaders for Moscow’s “special military operation” or the silent majority who choose to simply ignore it and get on with their daily lives.

Why should Russia be trusted to behave differently one day, they ask, given that Putin speaks for a nation with an imperial mindset?

Besides, a successor to the 70-year-old leader is unlikely to come from the pro-Western opposition or be any different from the current occupant of the Kremlin. Some of the names pundits speculate about – say the head of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev – are at least as hawkish as Putin. So for Ukrainians, Russia has to be defeated, no matter who runs the show in Moscow.

But what about the European Union? Has the war moved its relations with Russia – cultivated so carefully for so long – past a point of no return?

For Poland and the Baltic States that is very much the case. For a year now, they have had their “told you so” moment. Even before the Russian invasion last year and the occupation of Crimea in 2014, they made the case that Russian revanchism poses a fundamental threat to the post-Cold War order in Europe.

To the west, France and Germany, however, have been much more ambiguous in their approach to relations with Russia. From the moment he first assumed office in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has been making a case that Europe should think about the long term and engage the Russians. Macron stuck to this line pretty much until the invasion and kept calling Putin in the hope of working out a diplomatic solution of some sort. And as recently as last December, the French president spoke of “security guarantees” to Russia that should be part of a settlement.

Germany has elicited even more frustration and ire among Eastern European friends of Ukraine. Long years of cosying up to the Russians and business cum political ventures, such as the Nord Stream gas pipeline, have tainted its record. The German political class has long seen Russia as a friend and some, like former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, landed lucrative gigs with Moscow’s state-run energy companies.

In the past year, there has been some change in action and rhetoric. In the wake of the invasion, Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared the so-called Zeitenwende (historic turning point), the idea that Berlin will finally take European defence seriously and put its weight behind it both financially and politically. His position has found support among the German public, the majority of which is pro-Ukraine, too.

However, the German bias towards hugging closely Russia, in the expectation that denser ties yield greater security and predictability, has not been relegated to the past. With Scholz dragging his feet on providing military aid to Ukraine, notably on the Leopard tanks, he is signalling that the German leadership has not given up on Moscow altogether. In Germany’s logic, Russia will always be there, whether we like it or not, and we cannot simply shut it down, build a fence around it or ignore it.

Of course, a more charitable interpretation of the tank tussle is that Scholz’s gambit aimed at committing the US to European security, with the 2024 US presidential elections looming on the horizon. But even so, it is safe to assume the Germans will not be in the avant garde of the “stop Russia” coalition going forward.

So then does the lack of full alignment on Russia mean that the EU is leaving the door open for normalisation of relations in the long term? Not exactly.

The war may and probably will last years. So long as there is fighting, it is hard to envisage any form of productive diplomatic engagement, let alone rekindling political and economic links. Certainly, until Putin is in office relations will be confrontational.

In case of de-escalation, a new line will be drawn across Eastern Europe leaving Ukraine and possibly Moldova and Georgia on the “Western side”, Belarus on Russia’s, and Armenia and Azerbaijan in no-man’s land. A Cold War-like scenario will materialise, with the pro-Western countries drawn into EU and NATO’s orbit and Russia entrenching itself in whatever parts of Ukraine it might succeed to keep.

This also means that Cold War-style diplomacy will be deployed. The EU – and its ally, the US – will engage with Russia only in order to preserve stability and avoid a full-frontal collision. The essence of Western policy will be containment, not integration as was the case in the 1990s and 2000s.

The war has taken a heavy toll on economic links between Russia and the EU and Putin’s policy choices have accelerated forces that any future leader might struggle to reverse. Moscow used to be one of the main energy suppliers to the union; it is no more and is unlikely to recover its position. The Russian share of the European gas imports has gone down from 50 percent in 2021 to a meagre 12.9 percent at present.

The European sanctions have forced Russia to gravitate towards China and to some extent, the Global South. This will be one of the war’s lasting legacies.

Anti-Putin Russians hope that their country may eventually find its way back to the West. European leaders are right to think long and hard about what comes after the fighting stops – as sooner or later it will. Yet, as history shows, wars are transformative events. For better or worse, the clock will not turn back to February 23, 2022.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 1:04 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So SECOND, I see that you're splattering the board with walls of shit, again.

Just OOC how many NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, etc articles depend on "anonymous"? Nearly every one? CLEARLY, SECOND, you're a brain-broken inmate posting from a psych ward. There's no other explanation for your posts which are so disconnected from each other. And from reality.

And... we attacked a democratic ally's vital energy infrastructure. An act of war by any interpretation.

Neocons are as nutty as you.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 1:10 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

USA Today: "Little By Little" Russia Is Winning Key Ground War

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/02/13/ukraine-russia-wa
r-live-updates/11246942002/

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Pity would be no more,
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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 1:37 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
"Little By Little" Russia Is Winning Key Ground War

The scenes are chaotic: Russian tanks veering wildly before exploding or driving straight into minefields, men running in every direction, some on fire, the bodies of soldiers caught in tank tracks.

Russian military bloggers are calling it a fiasco, and worse.

About 20 videos geolocated by CNN show basic tactical blunders in an area that’s open and flat, where Ukrainian spotters on higher ground can direct artillery strikes and where minefields are worsening Russian casualties.

The Russian Defense Ministry has insisted the assault on Vuhledar, where the 155th Marine Brigade is prominently involved, is going according to plan. In remarks recorded for a Sunday television show, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the “marine infantry is working as it should. Right now. Fighting heroically.”

A previously ill-conceived plan in November to take Vuhledar led to heavy casualties and a near mutiny among men of the 155th Marine Brigade.

Critics of Russia’s military high command say the handling of the latest offensive is worse still, with one military blogger describing it as a “shameful debacle.”

Cooper says the Russians built a formidable force around Vuhledar, “say, a total of about 20,000 troops, 90 MBTs [main battle tanks], perhaps two times as many IFVs [infantry fighting vehicles], and about 100 artillery pieces.”

But attacks launched in the last week of January were fatally flawed, he said. “They were advancing along a relatively narrow route, all the time in sight of Ukrainian observers posted atop of high buildings in Vuhledar, and now facing about 500 meters of empty terrain on the eastern side of the town,” Cooper wrote on his blog.

“Ukrainian artillery not only caused heavy losses to the advancing units but hit their rear too – cutting off both their supply links and their possible withdrawal routes.”

A number of prominent Russian military bloggers have been unrestrained in their criticism of the Vuhledar offensive.

“They were shot like turkeys at a shooting range,” said former DPR Defense Minister Igor Strelkov, who has become a strident critic of the campaign.

Strelkov, also known as Igor Girkin, added on Telegram that “a lot of good T-72B3/T-80BVM tanks and the best paratroopers and marines were liquidated.”

In another post on Telegram, Strelkov wrote: “Only morons attack head-on in the same place, heavily fortified and extremely inconvenient for the attackers for many months in a row.”

Moscow Calling asserted that older T-72 tanks deployed in Vuhledar lack upgrades that would improve the driver’s breadth of vision. That may help explain several instances in which Russian tanks seemed to get entangled or reverse blindly.

“How are blind, deaf tanks, armored personnel carriers, with equally blind, deaf infantry supposed to fight without columns? And then how to coordinate any actions if there is no communication and situational awareness?” he wrote.

“If the Russian Armed Forces try to disperse, they will shoot each other, because they do not understand who is in front of them.”

Russian forces continue to have a distinct advantage in firepower. On Saturday they launched a barrage of thermobaric missiles at Vuhledar, a reminder that they are more capable of inflicting destruction than taking territory.

Much, much more at https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/europe/russia-ukraine-vuhledar-donetsk-
fiasco-intl/index.html

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 2:07 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh look!!!

It's Weapons of Mass Distraction!!!

Snowden Says UFO Hysteria Is "Engineered" Distraction From Nord Stream Pipeline Bombshell
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/snowden-says-ufo-hysteria-engineer
ed-distraction-nord-stream-pipeline-bombshell

followed by ...

In Sudden Narrative Shift, Pentagon Admits Mystery Objects 'Probably' Private Craft Not Tied To Spying
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sudden-narrative-shift-pentagon-ad
mits-mystery-objects-probably-private-craft-not-tied

Yep, our war in Ukraine must be going really well if we have to float "UFO" spy balloons.

"The truth is out there".
Somewhere.
But not in the M$M.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 4:35 PM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh look!!!

It's Weapons of Mass Distraction!!!

Snowden Says UFO Hysteria Is "Engineered" Distraction From Nord Stream Pipeline Bombshell
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/snowden-says-ufo-hysteria-engineer
ed-distraction-nord-stream-pipeline-bombshell

followed by ...

In Sudden Narrative Shift, Pentagon Admits Mystery Objects 'Probably' Private Craft Not Tied To Spying
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sudden-narrative-shift-pentagon-ad
mits-mystery-objects-probably-private-craft-not-tied

Yep, our war in Ukraine must be going really well if we have to float "UFO" spy balloons.

"The truth is out there".

Here is some truth comrade.

T

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 4:46 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh look!!!

I looked, but as per your usual, you've got nothing, Signym.
I've got something:

Feb 14, 2023 - Nick Paton Walsh investigates Russia's use of prisoners to fight the war in Ukraine.
Hear Russian prisoner's chilling final message to wife after fighting in Ukraine.

The Tactical Training for these recruits is both simple and very ineffective.
You can see why the Russians have massive casualties, even if you know nothing about tactics.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 5:22 PM

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

Russian forces have moved at least 6,000 Ukrainian children to camps and facilities across Russia for forced adoptions and military training, according to a new report issued on Feb 14th.

The report is “Russia’s systematic program for the re-education and adoption of Ukraine’s children.”
https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/apps/sites/#/home/pages/chi
ldren-camps-1

“Consider this report a gigantic Amber Alert,” Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said on a call with reporters. He added that this is the most “consequential and comprehensive report” yet published on the matter.

Raymond said that Conflict Observatory researchers, in partnership with Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, discovered a network of at least 43 camps and facilities where Russian authorities hold Ukrainian children.

“The primary purpose of the camps and facilities that we have identified appears to be political re-education,” Raymond said. He added that some sites are dedicated to an expedited adoption process and others are used as military training centers.

The youngest child at an adoption camp is 4 months old, while the youngest children at the military training camps appear to be about 14, Raymond said. He said that all levels of the Russian government are involved in the expansive program.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/14/ukraine-war-news-russia-has-relocated-
more-than-6000-children.html

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 7:23 PM

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

Elite Russian Marine Unit 'Nearly Destroyed' Near Ukraine’s Vuhledar

An elite Russian naval infantry unit made up of mostly mobilized troops has lost nearly all its troops in fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, Russian media reported Monday, citing one of the survivors.

The 5,000-strong 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been “nearly destroyed” after up to 300 marines per day were killed in Russia's assault on the coal-mining town, according to comments by the Ukrainian defense forces to Politico on Sunday.

A surviving marine who spoke with the 7x7 regional news site said the losses were so severe that only eight men remained in one landing assault company, while the other survivors were taken prisoner.

“Those who survived were said to be deserters,” the unnamed marine was quoted as saying, estimating the brigade’s losses at 500 or more men killed.

Citing his commander, the marine told 7x7 that the brigade — nearly 90% of whom were recently mobilized soldiers — did not expect to return to Russia alive or unscathed.

“I wish I had been taken prisoner and never returned,” he added, complaining about the officers’ treatment of their soldiers.

The assault began on Jan. 23, the surviving marine told 7x7.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had “neutralized” Ukrainian soldiers and military hardware near Vuhledar last week.

That claim drew ridicule from Russian pro-war military bloggers for repeating the mistakes of past failed offensives and dented their belief in the military’s capacity to mount a widely reported large-scale offensive.

The Russian Pacific Fleet’s 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade made headlines in November after accusing its commander of causing massive losses in an assault near the eastern city of Donetsk.

Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a rare statement at the time denying the unit’s claims. The surviving marine told 7x7 on Monday that the brigade commander gave them a “strict reprimand” for airing its accusations in public.

The 155th brigade had to undergo three waves of restaffing after suffering defeats in Ukraine, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskiy, the spokesman for the regional chapter of Ukraine’s defense forces, told Politico.

The marine who described the assault on Vuhledar to 7x7 said his command was “bringing in new” soldiers, many of whom are killed on the battlefield.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/14/elite-russian-marine-unit-ne
arly-destroyed-near-ukraines-vuhledar-a80220

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 7:39 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I hope you don't mind,but I'm going to shitcan your posts along with the KIEV IS WINNING! and 2000,000 RUSSIAN DEAD! and the rest of the bullshit in the "establishment" press.

Just bc they're "establishment" doesn't mean they're sane.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 8:21 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hope you don't mind,but I'm going to shitcan your posts along with the KIEV IS WINNING! and 2000,000 RUSSIAN DEAD! and the rest of the bullshit in the "establishment" press.

Just bc they're "establishment" doesn't mean they're sane.

If the war doesn't end well for Russia you will be completely blindsided, Signym. I know how Russians handle bad news: It is fake news. We Won. Victory Was Ours! There can be no defeat large enough to eclipse the Eternal Glorious Sun of Russia!

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 10:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hope you don't mind,but I'm going to shitcan your posts along with the KIEV IS WINNING! and 2000,000 RUSSIAN DEAD! and the rest of the bullshit in the "establishment" press.

Just bc they're "establishment" doesn't mean they're sane.
If the war doesn't end well for Russia you will be completely blindsided, Signym. I know how Russians handle bad news: It is fake news. We Won. Victory Was Ours! There can be no defeat large enough to eclipse the Eternal Glorious Sun of Russia!

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

I'm willing to take that risk.

Question is, will YOU ever admit to being wrong?
I suspect you'll do like any of the other neocons... you'll just drag another RUSSIA!TRUMP!WHATEVER! red herring across the topic and try to memory hole your egregious OPPS.

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

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023 11:32 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

I'm willing to take that risk.

Question is, will YOU ever admit to being wrong?
I suspect you'll do like any of the other neocons... you'll just drag another RUSSIA!TRUMP!EHATEVER! Ted herring across the topic and try to memory hole your egregious OPPS.

This Russian General, who understands better than you ever will, is worried about Russia:

Retired Russian Colonel-General Ivashov: One Year Ago, I Warned That Invading Ukraine Will Hurt Russia; The Current Reality Is Much Worse Than I Predicted

"I'll speak abstractly. Let's take two countries. One country [Russia] is conducting mass mobilization. Naturally, various 'tough' officials, children of businessmen, avoid this mobilization. All the rest remain, [and] with their help they are going to achieve mass superiority on the battlefield. And another country [Ukraine] is mobilizing intelligence, the smartest people in all areas: in the economy, in intelligence, in security issues, in military affairs, and so on. And I am convinced that without any mass mobilization, this collective intelligence will defeat any army of millions. Intelligence always dominates the battlefield...

"If sober-minded people are muzzled, then you only become dumber and more corrupt, but not stronger in any way. We are being defeated by intellect. And in our country, instead of intellect, people are twisting arms, intimidating, and imprisoning. In such a situation, the country always loses and does not have long to live."

https://www.memri.org/reports/retired-russian-colonel-general-ivashov-
one-year-ago-i-warned-invading-ukraine-will-hurt

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 3:36 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Son, you have to start knowing who you should listen to and who you should ignore. If somebody over there signing from the same hymnbook as somebody over here who's lied (repeatedly) then you just tune out the sound altogether bc it's just noise.

I ignore your posts for the most part, and I ignore the ppl you cnstantly plagiarize bc they (and you) have been proven as serial liars.

BTW, this so-called general completely mischaracerizes what's happening in Ukraine. Anyone with two neurons and/or two hrivna to rub together has already fled. The remainder they're dragooning off the streets. They're trying to train up the younger, fitter ones to reserve for ... something. The rest, they're just throwing under Russian artillery fire Hardly a recipe for success.

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 4:27 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So I've been hearing conflicting opinions/"analysis" of Ukraine. Arecent RAND report, a recent CSIS report, a couple of reports from Col Vershinin and some random articles in FT are all pointing to Ukraine's failing outlook. Even Jens Stoltenberg recently admitted that NATO is running out of munitions to give to Ukraine.

And after all of these "whatever it takes for as long as it takes" statements of blood brotherhood, EU/NATO nations are realizing that their weapons cupboards are bare and they don't have enough to share with Ukraine.

The Pentagon was advising Z just last week that he needs to abandon Bakhmut and preserve his forces. The State Dept is telling him to cling on until those (so far unobtainable) weapons come rolling in. Or maybe do something dramatic like counterattack.

That there are conflicting narratives out there tells me that there is a previously hidden disagreement bubbling to the surface. It might be the Pentagon and Treasury v State Dept and WH neoconss. Possible blamestorming and fingerpointing and narrative revision being prepared? Not paying a whole lot of attn,jar what I've been hearing.

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 6:53 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

BTW, this so-called general completely mischaracerizes what's happening in Ukraine. Anyone with two neurons and/or two hrivna to rub together has already fled. The remainder they're dragooning off the streets. They're trying to train up the younger, fitter ones to reserve for ... something. The rest, they're just throwing under Russian artillery fire Hardly a recipe for success.

You will have a hard time disagreeing with the Russian general's opinion of NATO:
The Ukraine War Revived NATO After It Lost Its Meaning, Unified The Collective West

"I could not have guessed that Finland and Sweden would apply to join NATO. This whole chain of events is going according to plan. Frankly speaking, this is the third time we have saved NATO. After the collapse of the USSR, NATO [as a bloc] lost its meaning. We've ceded to them a significant portion of lands located in Eastern Europe; we allowed them to incorporate some of the former Warsaw Pact member-states. We worked extensively with NATO at one time and asked questions there, 'From whom are you defending yourselves now?'

"Many generals and officers perceived themselves to be unemployed. Then they created the 'Partnership for Peace' program. They had to bear such rubbish. I witnessed a gathering of defense ministers from 42 countries, and an Englishman came to the rostrum and started to talk about the main threats NATO was going to face. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction took first place, second came international terrorism; drugs came third, illegal immigration followed.

(Note: In 1994, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev signed the Partnership for Peace Agreement with NATO )

"Naturally, I asked the division commander, the air wing commander, the commander of some of their cruisers to tell me how they would fight the drug trade or illegal immigration, for instance. I said, 'What do you take us for? Do you take us for idiots?' Nevertheless, we agreed to it.

"Then the Yugoslav conflict saved NATO. And now we are saving it. We gave NATO over to the Americans completely: do whatever you want. Most European countries were constantly cutting back on defense expenditures. But we gave all Europe to the hands of the Americans. We talked all the time and continue to talk of some collective West, although no collective West existed previously. A mass of contradictions existed. But today we have created this collective West with our own hands. We couldn't predict all this. So, I agree with Putin that everything is going to plan...

"I look at this whole process as a dynamic. It all started with the question: to give or not to give Ukraine lethal weapons, or only bulletproof vests? And today the question is already: to give the F-16s or not? And today we are no longer talking about dozens of Abrams and Challenger [tanks]. The latest news: about 400 tanks have been promised to Ukraine. There are already agreements for 320 tanks. So, it's all serious. And there are no restrictions, except for missiles and combat aircraft. Everything is flowing. Because Russia gave Europe into the hands of the Americans."

https://www.memri.org/reports/retired-russian-colonel-general-ivashov-
one-year-ago-i-warned-invading-ukraine-will-hurt

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 7:24 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh look!!!

It's Weapons of Mass Distraction!!!

Snowden Says UFO Hysteria Is "Engineered" Distraction From Nord Stream Pipeline Bombshell
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/snowden-says-ufo-hysteria-engineer
ed-distraction-nord-stream-pipeline-bombshell

Snowden and Hersh: Useful idiots, posing as political dissidents, promote disinformation for Russia

A Pulitzer-winning journalist, Hersh has in recent years developed a reputation for questionable reporting. Now he once again produced an exclusive that was full of holes: he made scandalous allegations, but based them on a single source. He told a coherent story, but lacked a smoking gun. The verdict was clear: Hersh’s explosive investigation was self-published, because it would never get past an editor?

But if we just dismiss Hersh’s story as bad journalism, we risk missing its impact.

The story, tossed aside as not rigorous enough by many in mainstream policy and journalism circles, metastasized elsewhere, spread by Russian propagandists, American leftists and conservatives (“So many details in here, that it is not possible that it’s not true. It is true!” declared Tucker Carlson), Indian and Chinese outlets, Edward Snowden, Sky News Australia and even publications like the Times of London have picked it up. And I am naming only a few.

Those who didn’t pick up the original story, like Al Jazeera, reported on the Russian reaction to it. (In case you are wondering, Russians agreed with Hersh). We will never know who Hersh’s single, anonymous source on this story was, but in the end, the product bears all the hallmarks of disinformation.

“This is how disinfo 101 works,” says Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University in New York. “A piece is published, it triggers a reaction. Media then reports on the reaction, further extending the lifespan of that original piece.”

The result: millions of people around the world now believe that the United States conducted an act of war against Russia. Even though they haven’t seen any actual proof.

And millions more who will one day hear the allegation and google “Nord Stream pipeline” will find themselves lost in the avalanche of information that will either confirm their pre-existing biases or just confuse them further. Either way, truth and nuance are lost in the noise. Disinformation wins.

More at https://www.codastory.com/newsletters/seymour-hersh-nord-stream/

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 9:12 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SECOND, posting from the psych unit again

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 9:29 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, posting from the psych unit again

I don't often say this out loud to people I know who defend Trump, as you have done, Signym, because these people already have more than the average number of problems, most caused by the habitual way their minds work. I don't want to hurt them any more than they hurt themselves by telling them what they are, but Signym, you are fucking stupid and deserve all the problems you have. So do the Russians. If this war doesn't end the way they think it should, that would be because Russians are fucking stupid and ruining themselves for no good reason.

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

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Wednesday, February 15, 2023 9:35 AM