Open Thread 197
Search Text Case Sensitive Exact Words Include Comments
List of Bookmarks
Here’s a new Open Thread for the Karlin Community.
Please restrict your Tweets or place them under a MORE tag to avoid overloading the thread.
— Ron Unz
Follow @akarlin0
I am surprised that these threads, in addition to endless cud chewing I expected, contain some interesting comments on a variety of topics. In retrospect, I admit that Ron was right to preserve this forum.
Here is an interesting article. (1)
Globalism only wins making Christian Populism anathema.
As the Overton Window shifts. Christian Populism is spreading to Italy, and Sweden, and Austria, and so on. SJW Islamic cultural contamination can be pushed back.
The option guaranteed to lose is — Giving Up.
PEACE 😇
_________
(1) https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/09/22/the-overton-window-moveth/
Russian Technological Capability
Sanctions and siege warfare against Russia is a popular topic. The discussions often assume Russia is technologically helpless and dependent on the West. It comes as a surprise to many that Russia is still very strong in areas where they were able to hold on to the achievements of the Soviets and keep moving forward. Production rates are low in many areas, but that is a different issue. My rankings for a number of areas follow along with a few questions (1 is best, 10 is worst).
Where does Russia Stand in Terms of World Rankings?
Technology Area
These Areas Very Strong
Nuclear Power 1st
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4
These areas very weak
Microelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7
What about these areas?
Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?
Out of curiosity, what did you use to establish rankings? Or is it more or less your intuition on the matter? Regardless it should be interesting to see other's input.
It would seem that Philip Own might have some opinions on the question marked items. I know in particular he felt that Russia was very dependent on Western inputs in the BioTech and AgriTech categories.Replies: @QCIC
What type of missile?
Hypersonic cruise missile: League of its own
SAM:#1(Others also have capable SAMs)
Anti ship cruise missile:#1 Onyx/Yakhont
MANPADS:#1 Verba
AAM:Short Range IR:Average(Compared to say IRIS T and Python 5) BVR:Below average(Compared to Meteor Aim 120 AMRAAM)
Man portable anti tank: Average French MMP is the best followed by Spike ER and Javelin etc etc.
Also over 30 years after its collapse Russia is still living of the tech glories of the USSR with little than can be considered clean sheet new designs.Replies: @QCIC
Ha ha just kidding. In my field many of the top performers are Russian in origin and educated by the commies. They are a completely different beast from Chinese or Indians virtually none of which can be described as such.
I hear the Chinese are catching up fast but I personally see only minuscule real world evidence in support of this argument. Also I am a racist poop-head so any Chinese or Indians reading this can ignore me. : )
Anything the Russians can't make they can just buy on the black market with their windfall energy profits. The front page article on Liz Truss has great quotes. Apparently socialized home heating is soon coming to Great Britain. I wonder how high the price of a loaf of bread has to go before the government decides to give all those away too.
Nuclear Power 1st Definitely top rank.
Military Aircraft 2nd No really informed opinion.
Missiles 1 No really informed opinion but inertial guidance used basic. Not cantilever.
Submarines 1 No really informed opinion. I note Yeltsin carried on spending.
Civil Aircraft 4 Not very good.
Radar/Military Electronics 2 No really informed opinion.
Metallurgy 2 Hugely variable. World class titanium skills. Indifferent steel.
Launch vehicles 3 In my time arguably #1 for the big stuff. Nowhere for small payloads.
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1 Yep
Solid rocket engines 2 No really informed opinion.
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2 Civil poor. Military No really informed opinion.
Small Naval Ships 1 No really informed opinion. Obviously good icebreakers. Trawlers-trying.
Photonics 4 Science base and prototyping excellent. Manufacturing is more like workshop level.
Software 4 1C is not a substitute for SAP. Government UNIX has not conquered all. But not my bag.
These areas very weak
Microelectronics 8 Weak.
Machine tools 10 Could have been better but lost key skills.
Industrial gas turbines 7 Struggling. Power Machines can't cope without Siemens.
What about these areas?
Chemical Engineering ?
No direct involvement but from observation,
The Soviet Union failed to develop world class petroleum refining despite inventing it.
Bulk production certainly still there in some classes. eg NH4
Fine Chemicals ? No.
Petroleum capital equipment ? Patchy.
BioTech ?
My direct experience says awful. So does the fate of Sputnik V.
Russia simply had no actual manufacturing capacity. Think vats for brewing penicillin.
Pharma about nothing. Heavy use of Indian precursors anyway.
AgriTech ?
Machinery. Typical generic Russian manufacturing product. 1970s.
Factory farms* and large scale crops depend totally on foreign genetics. Disaster by end 2023.
Traditionally run farms are not exciting but use local breeds and seed suppliers. They will be resilient under sanctions.
*Import substitution programmes went for the quick fix. So they increased production or efficiency (reducing import costs) but increased technical dependency for factory farms, pharmaceutical production, refinery equipment, advanced harvesting equipment, pipeline pumping stations (hello Power of Siberia), machine tools etc etc. Almost anything that was modernized really. All top down quick fixes paid for by oil rather than the organic growth of a native industry. Civil aerospace, some auto (Kamaz does great 1970s trucks), basic agricultural equipment and standards driven industries like heavy electrical equipment or some building materials being the main exceptions.
Subject to revision as new stuff occurs to me.Replies: @QCIC
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
Thanks, that’s an interesting list.
Out of curiosity, what did you use to establish rankings? Or is it more or less your intuition on the matter? Regardless it should be interesting to see other’s input.
It would seem that Philip Own might have some opinions on the question marked items. I know in particular he felt that Russia was very dependent on Western inputs in the BioTech and AgriTech categories.
I’m already seeing today’s referendums being associated in Western Media with the one in Crimea in 2014. A new own goal of the Kremlin. Probably the people most insulted by the Kherson and Zaporozhie farces are the inhabitants of Donbas and Crimea, whose desire to join Russia very few people doubt is genuine.
Why do autocrats need these 90%+ approval comedies? Who do they expect to fool? I’d hate to have people and territories become part of my country in this shameful fashion. I don’t have the results of past elections in these regions handy but I remember that Kherson was not even particularly pro-Russian. There was a neighboring region (possibly Mykolaiev) where the pro-Russian parties got better results. Perhaps Ukrainian elections were not very representative of the popular will either, having banned some ideologies, but they sure were vastly more credible than this absurdity in the middle of a war, with massive amounts of displaced people and not even the whole regions where they’re voting in Russia’s hands.
If you’re going to annex a territory for security or whatever reasons, be a man and declare openly what you’re doing and why.
Comparatively, a democratically elected autocrat (yes, there are) acts freely, knowing that he has the endorsement of the people.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Here are the results of the 2012 parliamentary election:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2012#%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%86%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%96%D0%B2_(%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0)
It was run by Yanukovich, so cannot be accused of being pro-Western.
The "Orange" parties won slightly more than 40% of the vote in Kherson province. The Party of Regions won 29% and the Communists won 23%.
So the pro-Russian Parties together got more than did the pro-Western parties. But pro-Russian in 2012 does not mean support for annexation by Russia. Russia and Ukraine enjoyed cordial relations at the time. Support for this party simply meant preference for closer economic ties with Russia rather than with the West. A pro-American Canadian supporter of NAFTA or whatever it is called now does not necessarily want Canada to be annexed by the USA.
Here is support for the Opposition Party in the 2019 election. Kherson is the province immediately north of Crimea. In all but one of the districts within Kherson province, the pro-Russian party got between 10% and 20% of the vote; it got between 20% and 30% in the eastern-most district:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D1%96%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D1%97_%D0%9E%D0%9F%D0%97%D0%96_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2019_%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%83.svg/1024px-%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D1%96%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D1%97_%D0%9E%D0%9F%D0%97%D0%96_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2019_%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%83.svg.png
Note that even here support for this party doesn't mean support for annexation by Russia, though some percentage of the supporters of this party probably would want that. I wouldn't doubt if 5% of Kherson's population would want to be annexed by Russia, possibly even 10%, but I doubt it would be more than that.
I wonder if the sham referendum will give support at 80% or whatever.
:::::::::::::::
Also of note, the Russians do not control 40% of Zaporizhia province, including the province's capital and largest city (so Russians have less than 50% of the province's population). But they will claim the entire province based on the fake results from the piece that they control.Replies: @GomezAdddams
Why do autocrats need these 90%+ approval comedies? Who do they expect to fool? I'd hate to have people and territories become part of my country in this shameful fashion. I don't have the results of past elections in these regions handy but I remember that Kherson was not even particularly pro-Russian. There was a neighboring region (possibly Mykolaiev) where the pro-Russian parties got better results. Perhaps Ukrainian elections were not very representative of the popular will either, having banned some ideologies, but they sure were vastly more credible than this absurdity in the middle of a war, with massive amounts of displaced people and not even the whole regions where they're voting in Russia's hands.
If you're going to annex a territory for security or whatever reasons, be a man and declare openly what you're doing and why.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @AP, @Wanderghost
There is this apprehension always in the back of “autocrat” that he may be out of step with popular narrative; these “referendums” are just to convince himself that they still care for the people and the people still like the autocrat. This happens especially when the elections are fixed beforehand, Soviet style. The autocrat knows that the election results are tampered, and does not reflect the real wishes of the people, so these referendums are a sort of substitutes for legitimacy through elections.
Comparatively, a democratically elected autocrat (yes, there are) acts freely, knowing that he has the endorsement of the people.
Also, if the elections like 2020 presidential ones in the US confer legitimacy, I am the Pope.
I don’t know about Kherson or Zaporozye, but in Donbass >95% of the residents hate Ukraine after eight years of bombing and shelling that killed and maimed thousands of civilians, including lots of children. Today in Donbass you’d be punched in the face for speaking Ukrainian. So, I won’t be surprised if the results show >95% support for joining RF, as this would imply protection from Ukie aggression.
Kiev regime does all it can to make residents of other areas controlled by Russian troops hate it. Their actions are carbon-copies of those that caused burning hatred in Donbass: shelling and terrorist acts murdering and mutilating civilians. As these lasted just a few months, as compared to eight years in Donbass, I’d expect lower support for joining RF in those areas.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @Triteleia Laxa, @Dave Bowman
Anyone know any good podcasts? (I.e., downloadable)
I’m open to anything that isn’t pozzed, or full of adverts, especially local ones, which near me are calculated to be maximally insulting and offensive.
Just trying to browse a bit, it is amazing how much is thoroughly pozzed. Like if you are into history, you’ll find some museum that put four episodes in row with “queer” in their title. Or four in a row about fake black inventors/pioneers.
I’m amazed at how successfully the regime seems to have captured both the high and the low of media.
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
The list is ambiguous and a bit arbitrary.
What type of missile?
Hypersonic cruise missile: League of its own
SAM:#1(Others also have capable SAMs)
Anti ship cruise missile:#1 Onyx/Yakhont
MANPADS:#1 Verba
AAM:Short Range IR:Average(Compared to say IRIS T and Python 5) BVR:Below average(Compared to Meteor Aim 120 AMRAAM)
Man portable anti tank: Average French MMP is the best followed by Spike ER and Javelin etc etc.
Also over 30 years after its collapse Russia is still living of the tech glories of the USSR with little than can be considered clean sheet new designs.
Many countries produce advanced missiles, but Russia and the USA are the only ones who clearly produce a full range. I leave out China because I can't really tell how much of their military technology is still coming from Russia.
For missiles I think Russia has more recent state-of-the-art developments than USA so they are #1. At the end of the cold war the USA was possibly ahead in most of these missile types but many developments were stopped when the West decided to focus on beating up third-world countries. Russian samples include the recent missiles in S-400/500 systems, Nudol, Kinzhal, Zircon, Bulava and Sarmat. Most of the other types seem to be comparable between countries, but who really knows?Replies: @Vishnugupta, @Here Be Dragon
PEACE 😇
Here is a ranking of major countries by their relative physical output, e.g., steel, coal, oil, machine tools, chemicals, food, etc. Services are excluded.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1549554660184231936.html
On this basis, the Russian physical economy is 2/3 the size of the US’. China’s is 50% greater than the US’. And Russia’s is 4 times as large as Germany’s
(along those lines you can add Belarus to Russia but that makes little difference).
By this metric, Canada has twice the so-called "real economy" of Germany!
Comparatively, a democratically elected autocrat (yes, there are) acts freely, knowing that he has the endorsement of the people.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Would have made sense if it made sense in this case. I cannot name a single Western “democratic” leader who has genuine popular support in his/her country at the level that Putin has in Russia. Can you?
Also, if the elections like 2020 presidential ones in the US confer legitimacy, I am the Pope.
I don’t know about Kherson or Zaporozye, but in Donbass >95% of the residents hate Ukraine after eight years of bombing and shelling that killed and maimed thousands of civilians, including lots of children. Today in Donbass you’d be punched in the face for speaking Ukrainian. So, I won’t be surprised if the results show >95% support for joining RF, as this would imply protection from Ukie aggression.
Kiev regime does all it can to make residents of other areas controlled by Russian troops hate it. Their actions are carbon-copies of those that caused burning hatred in Donbass: shelling and terrorist acts murdering and mutilating civilians. As these lasted just a few months, as compared to eight years in Donbass, I’d expect lower support for joining RF in those areas.
I am not saying that elections like the last American one in 2020 confer legitimacy; far from it; I firmly believe that all those people who helped in "flipping" the elections know that their power is not legitimate, and thus will have that lurking fear that people may call their power illegitimate at sometime. All I am saying is that a leader elected legitimately will feel that people are behind him; an autocrat who tampered with the elections (mark again - I do not classify Putin into this category) fears that people may not be behind him. And that affects his behaviour.
And we can see this after big events, where 'the system" came under attack. E.g 9/11.
Suddenly Bush had 90% approval, up from ~40%! This is because support for the system was now expressed as support for him.
Or we can see it in Zelenskyy's support going from 19% to near unanimous.
You can even see it in the conversations of the more ambitious Jan 6th rioters. They really did talk about 'insurgency", but they also expressed it as legitimate within the system.
In Russia, the system basically is Putin, and voicing disapproval is seen as revolutionary, which it takes a tremendous amount more to express disapproval. He is therefore considerably less popular than Biden, if you compare like with like.
And you can see this in the consent of the governed. Americans obey laws more readily, pay their full taxes more completely and generally show much lower levels of violence, despite facing far less punishment for disobedience.
Imagine had, on Jan 6th protestors stormed the Kremlin, and have been recorded talking of "insurgency". Would their punishment have been lighter, or much, much worse? Would only one have been shot?
But don't worry, your inability to understand this stuff is not limited to you. It is an old cliché that ungrateful immigrants from less developed countries want to pretend that things work better back home and so find themselves unable to make basic observations. Their ingratitude, of course, is their wounded vanity. People haven't treated them as the super special individual that they always thought they were. But, as I mentioned previously, you've grown to hate everywhere you've lived, for as long as you lived there, and there's only one constant.Replies: @Wokechoke
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1549554660184231936.html
On this basis, the Russian physical economy is 2/3 the size of the US’. China’s is 50% greater than the US’. And Russia’s is 4 times as large as Germany’sReplies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel, @AP
Judging by the scale of self-inflicted damage in Europe because of “sanctions”, it might be about right. BTW, in different estimates the fraction of the US economy “produced” by creative accounting ranges between half and two-thirds.
Out of curiosity, what did you use to establish rankings? Or is it more or less your intuition on the matter? Regardless it should be interesting to see other's input.
It would seem that Philip Own might have some opinions on the question marked items. I know in particular he felt that Russia was very dependent on Western inputs in the BioTech and AgriTech categories.Replies: @QCIC
These are my considered opinions after observing most of these technical areas for decades, nothing more than that. My work overlaps several of these but not all. Is obviously somewhat subjective but I think I can give a credible justification for most of these rankings. In some of these areas it is very difficult to separate production capacity from intellectual abilities. There may be disagreements about the higher rankings, first or second or whatever, but the capability seems to be real.
Dmitry says:
Perhaps you forgot or failed to notice that you have been rather rude than polite lately. When a person is telling me “For your next lecture you can teach us that the sky is blue,” or “You cannot read the comment or understand the text?” – it makes me feel that he is being rude.
Not that I take offence or care at all but I cannot remember ever talking to you in such a tone, that is what I am asking about. Did I provoke such an aggressive reaction or is it you being in a bad mood for another reason?
Because it was the third comment in a row when you began with that kind of line, or like in the latest one – “I cannot continue the conversation with an expert, who thinks you need to know Chinese to use Chinese military equipment.”
That does not sound polite to me. Does it sound polite in England? Because where I am from one might get a slap in the face for talking in such a manner. You are free to choose to do whatever but let me know if we have a misunderstanding.
Did I imagine that?
No one can estimate what has been lost. There can be no list of visualized losses, whatever that means.
What we can do is assess the situation on the ground seeing what is being used in the field. If Ukraine has to receive Mi-8 helicopters from Afghanistan, T-55 tanks from Slovenia and T-62 from elsewhere that is showing their situation is not good.
If Ukraine does not have enough missiles to counter the Russian strikes on her cities it is not in a good position. Ukraine has no fleet and no air force, and it appears like it does not have air defence. It does not have enough tanks either.
On the other hand Russia has stopped that so-called counteroffensive fast and easy. That is showing that she has technical advantage. The counteroffensive happened to be another puke in the air – as I said when most others here were cheerleading for Ukraine.
I am not aware of such news. You must have seen it on BBC or Voice of America. But here is what a Bulgarian website reported two weeks ago.
New batch of T-90M Proryv tanks left the UralVagonZavod plant
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/09/10/new-batch-of-t-90m-proryv-tanks-left-the-uralvagonzavod-plant/
“An entire echelon of new T-90M tanks and BREM-1M engineering vehicles have been delivered to the Russian army. In Russia, one echelon equals an entire train set.”
That plant produces a lot of various machines. Regardless of the number of one particular model made in a particular month it has been working full time and I have not heard of problems with supplies or something like that.
Ukraine is more militarized with cannon fodder and grenade launchers. Like Berlin in 1945.
These few Himars and a hundred of howitzers do not compensate what Ukraine has lost. With no air force and air defense it has nothing to fight a real war with and in late December or so we will all see that.
You said that in Russia the mobilization has been known in April, including letters that had been published with categories of people they will mobilize. You said as well that in April it was reported that the part mobilization of reserves would begin.
I asked to provide a reference. So where is it?
You provided an article that does not contain such information. Your article is informing that four positions for specialists in mobilization were opened in Yekaterinburg in May. The other article is saying that medics in the same city were being checked whether they have served in the military.
Not even a hint in either of these articles about a potential mobilization in April.
Other electronic equipment is not a weapon. It is unlikely that another language would be included in the interface but the language of the country purchasing it. For the same reason that potential adversaries use different calibers for their guns – they don’t want the enemy to be able to use it in case the equipment is captured.
China has not been exporting her tanks until the recent times. A few hundreds of worn out ZTZ96 has been sold to Sudan or something and Bangladesh is intending to purchase the newer ZTQ-15. Both of these are inferior to T-72.
The newest model MBT-3000 is perhaps better than T-72 or the likes of it but it is priced at $4.9 million. The reported ost of T-80 is $3 million, of T-90MS – $4.5 million. These are the export prices.
So it does not make any sense, especially considering that the reported unit cost of T-14 Armata is $4.6 million. For the domestic use the price of T-90 should be perhaps a half of that.
I remember using the map he posted that I borrowed from his blog once or twice, but I would not repost another man’s post.
He does include accurate references though, so I consider him trustworthy.
Not in Ukraine?
It is understandable. The Americans would love to take one apart and see where the sensors and radars are located so it could be damaged then with an anti-material rifle. The Russians would not like it to happen – better to save it for later. Who knows what is coming?
Perhaps a war with NATO.
No mobilization, ever? No one has said that. No one would have, no one could have.
It was obvious that at some point it would become inevitable, considering the ambitious goal of the operation. It cannot be done with such a small number of personnel.
Did he say when? I doubt that. He would not have said that and could not have said. That is a declaration of intentions and not a promise.
Distrusting any information coming from the official sources and at the same time swallowing bull crap from so-called opposition is a useful instinct being misused.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJYDYeLPCE. Peskov said a week ago they were not considering mobilization, while of course they were considering mobilization while he says it. https://tass.ru/politika/15735191 What do you think is the result of following those statements? There were many dozens of these "declaration of intentions". It sounded very good in his time. Medvedev talked about the future in an optimistic and healthy way. You can almost hope. But now it is a decade later, if you try to match it to the achievement, the public intentions are apparently not very useful.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/5413 It's been healthy, to not believe the government too much, and has been more and more confirmed in the negative direction, while when I had believed their statements I was disconfirmed. Follow your instincts.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
What type of missile?
Hypersonic cruise missile: League of its own
SAM:#1(Others also have capable SAMs)
Anti ship cruise missile:#1 Onyx/Yakhont
MANPADS:#1 Verba
AAM:Short Range IR:Average(Compared to say IRIS T and Python 5) BVR:Below average(Compared to Meteor Aim 120 AMRAAM)
Man portable anti tank: Average French MMP is the best followed by Spike ER and Javelin etc etc.
Also over 30 years after its collapse Russia is still living of the tech glories of the USSR with little than can be considered clean sheet new designs.Replies: @QCIC
My target audience includes people who believe Russia is technologically backward, so the ranking is intended to give them a hint at the true situation. I agree with your points. I tried to base my rankings on developments that have matured post-Soviet union, though it is clear that most of these developments were thought about long ago. That is true of most Western projects as well.
Many countries produce advanced missiles, but Russia and the USA are the only ones who clearly produce a full range. I leave out China because I can’t really tell how much of their military technology is still coming from Russia.
For missiles I think Russia has more recent state-of-the-art developments than USA so they are #1. At the end of the cold war the USA was possibly ahead in most of these missile types but many developments were stopped when the West decided to focus on beating up third-world countries. Russian samples include the recent missiles in S-400/500 systems, Nudol, Kinzhal, Zircon, Bulava and Sarmat. Most of the other types seem to be comparable between countries, but who really knows?
Those products where Russia had to rebuild capabilities within its territory after Ukrainian independence are the most problematic like Solid fueled SLBMs,Marine Turbines,IR seekers etc.
Perhaps you can include these new Russian vessels to your list. They do not only look futuristic but as they say there are many technological innovations never previously implemented anywhere.
https://i.postimg.cc/G2h30cYj/170701-1.jpg
As the Russians often do they built them first and announced later. Only recently. Although they have already built seven of these. Each of them is a little different from others.
https://i.postimg.cc/VvfKBVxv/170701-2.jpg
As is the case with anything the Russians do there are a number of usual idiotic deficiencies. First of all it does not have a memorable name – instead it is called Project 170701.
Second, as always there are some parts of the design that could have been obviously made better looking, but were not. And third there is a complete absence of marketing.
The Russians have always been good at invention and bad at innovation. Let us wait and see until the Americans or the Europeans pick it up and improve it, call it their own and make the Russians look stupid once again.Replies: @QCIC, @Emil Nikola Richard, @PetrOldSack
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1549554660184231936.html
On this basis, the Russian physical economy is 2/3 the size of the US’. China’s is 50% greater than the US’. And Russia’s is 4 times as large as Germany’sReplies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel, @AP
Totally arbitrary metric based on 10 single products that also makes the economies of India and Brazil several times “larger” than those of Japan, Germany and France. This guy also thinks that education and pharma products are non-essential and puts the latter in the services category. If services are so unimportant, why are we willing to spend so much money on them? Like everybody in the developed world and increasingly in the developing one, I spend much more money on internet, streaming, mobile connectivity, leisure, healthcare… than on wheat, iron, meat or products made of such raw materials.
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
You omit Russian superiority in flying saucers and ESP!
Ha ha just kidding. In my field many of the top performers are Russian in origin and educated by the commies. They are a completely different beast from Chinese or Indians virtually none of which can be described as such.
I hear the Chinese are catching up fast but I personally see only minuscule real world evidence in support of this argument. Also I am a racist poop-head so any Chinese or Indians reading this can ignore me. : )
Anything the Russians can’t make they can just buy on the black market with their windfall energy profits. The front page article on Liz Truss has great quotes. Apparently socialized home heating is soon coming to Great Britain. I wonder how high the price of a loaf of bread has to go before the government decides to give all those away too.
Why do autocrats need these 90%+ approval comedies? Who do they expect to fool? I'd hate to have people and territories become part of my country in this shameful fashion. I don't have the results of past elections in these regions handy but I remember that Kherson was not even particularly pro-Russian. There was a neighboring region (possibly Mykolaiev) where the pro-Russian parties got better results. Perhaps Ukrainian elections were not very representative of the popular will either, having banned some ideologies, but they sure were vastly more credible than this absurdity in the middle of a war, with massive amounts of displaced people and not even the whole regions where they're voting in Russia's hands.
If you're going to annex a territory for security or whatever reasons, be a man and declare openly what you're doing and why.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @AP, @Wanderghost
It was not.
Here are the results of the 2012 parliamentary election:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2012#%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%86%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%96%D0%B2_(%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0)
It was run by Yanukovich, so cannot be accused of being pro-Western.
The “Orange” parties won slightly more than 40% of the vote in Kherson province. The Party of Regions won 29% and the Communists won 23%.
So the pro-Russian Parties together got more than did the pro-Western parties. But pro-Russian in 2012 does not mean support for annexation by Russia. Russia and Ukraine enjoyed cordial relations at the time. Support for this party simply meant preference for closer economic ties with Russia rather than with the West. A pro-American Canadian supporter of NAFTA or whatever it is called now does not necessarily want Canada to be annexed by the USA.
Here is support for the Opposition Party in the 2019 election. Kherson is the province immediately north of Crimea. In all but one of the districts within Kherson province, the pro-Russian party got between 10% and 20% of the vote; it got between 20% and 30% in the eastern-most district:
Note that even here support for this party doesn’t mean support for annexation by Russia, though some percentage of the supporters of this party probably would want that. I wouldn’t doubt if 5% of Kherson’s population would want to be annexed by Russia, possibly even 10%, but I doubt it would be more than that.
I wonder if the sham referendum will give support at 80% or whatever.
:::::::::::::::
Also of note, the Russians do not control 40% of Zaporizhia province, including the province’s capital and largest city (so Russians have less than 50% of the province’s population). But they will claim the entire province based on the fake results from the piece that they control.
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
I haven’t been following the NATO v. Putin war as closely as some who comment here. So here’s my question: Russia has an air force, why aren’t they operating within the parameters of Ukrainian air space? Supposedly NATO-supplied artillery batteries are impeding Russian progress on the ground. Why isn’t Russia taking them out from the air?
I assume the fighting on the ground is planned to 1) Claim/reclaim the territories they want 2) Kill NeoNazis 3) Induce the more reasonable/practical Ukrainians to throw off the Western-sponsored yoke which caused this war. I don't know how to accomplish #3, but maybe the Russians do.
Russia flies plenty of tactical sorties but since they don't actually want to destroy the big ticket items they may be conserving aircraft for more important problems which crop up later with the West. The risk of losing aircraft in the troop support missions seems very high so I think they are pacing themselves since they don't have that many planes. Russia does gain some combat-hardened pilots out of the SMO, as with the Syria intervention.Replies: @Old Brown Fool
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1549554660184231936.html
On this basis, the Russian physical economy is 2/3 the size of the US’. China’s is 50% greater than the US’. And Russia’s is 4 times as large as Germany’sReplies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel, @AP
If you’re going to do this you might as well add Canada to the USA total, their economies are very integrated. Russia is 53% of USA + Canada.
(along those lines you can add Belarus to Russia but that makes little difference).
By this metric, Canada has twice the so-called “real economy” of Germany!
Here come the Barbarians..,
I think the Russian Air Force and surface-based missiles could readily destroy much of the Ukrainian critical infrastructure in a week. This has not happened because it is not what they want to do.
I assume the fighting on the ground is planned to 1) Claim/reclaim the territories they want 2) Kill NeoNazis 3) Induce the more reasonable/practical Ukrainians to throw off the Western-sponsored yoke which caused this war. I don’t know how to accomplish #3, but maybe the Russians do.
Russia flies plenty of tactical sorties but since they don’t actually want to destroy the big ticket items they may be conserving aircraft for more important problems which crop up later with the West. The risk of losing aircraft in the troop support missions seems very high so I think they are pacing themselves since they don’t have that many planes. Russia does gain some combat-hardened pilots out of the SMO, as with the Syria intervention.
Not that I take offence or care at all but I cannot remember ever talking to you in such a tone, that is what I am asking about. Did I provoke such an aggressive reaction or is it you being in a bad mood for another reason?
Because it was the third comment in a row when you began with that kind of line, or like in the latest one – "I cannot continue the conversation with an expert, who thinks you need to know Chinese to use Chinese military equipment."
That does not sound polite to me. Does it sound polite in England? Because where I am from one might get a slap in the face for talking in such a manner. You are free to choose to do whatever but let me know if we have a misunderstanding. Did I imagine that?
No one can estimate what has been lost. There can be no list of visualized losses, whatever that means.
What we can do is assess the situation on the ground seeing what is being used in the field. If Ukraine has to receive Mi-8 helicopters from Afghanistan, T-55 tanks from Slovenia and T-62 from elsewhere that is showing their situation is not good.
If Ukraine does not have enough missiles to counter the Russian strikes on her cities it is not in a good position. Ukraine has no fleet and no air force, and it appears like it does not have air defence. It does not have enough tanks either.
On the other hand Russia has stopped that so-called counteroffensive fast and easy. That is showing that she has technical advantage. The counteroffensive happened to be another puke in the air – as I said when most others here were cheerleading for Ukraine. I am not aware of such news. You must have seen it on BBC or Voice of America. But here is what a Bulgarian website reported two weeks ago.
New batch of T-90M Proryv tanks left the UralVagonZavod plant
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/09/10/new-batch-of-t-90m-proryv-tanks-left-the-uralvagonzavod-plant/
"An entire echelon of new T-90M tanks and BREM-1M engineering vehicles have been delivered to the Russian army. In Russia, one echelon equals an entire train set."
That plant produces a lot of various machines. Regardless of the number of one particular model made in a particular month it has been working full time and I have not heard of problems with supplies or something like that. Ukraine is more militarized with cannon fodder and grenade launchers. Like Berlin in 1945.
These few Himars and a hundred of howitzers do not compensate what Ukraine has lost. With no air force and air defense it has nothing to fight a real war with and in late December or so we will all see that. You said that in Russia the mobilization has been known in April, including letters that had been published with categories of people they will mobilize. You said as well that in April it was reported that the part mobilization of reserves would begin.
I asked to provide a reference. So where is it?
You provided an article that does not contain such information. Your article is informing that four positions for specialists in mobilization were opened in Yekaterinburg in May. The other article is saying that medics in the same city were being checked whether they have served in the military.
Not even a hint in either of these articles about a potential mobilization in April. Other electronic equipment is not a weapon. It is unlikely that another language would be included in the interface but the language of the country purchasing it. For the same reason that potential adversaries use different calibers for their guns – they don't want the enemy to be able to use it in case the equipment is captured.
China has not been exporting her tanks until the recent times. A few hundreds of worn out ZTZ96 has been sold to Sudan or something and Bangladesh is intending to purchase the newer ZTQ-15. Both of these are inferior to T-72.
The newest model MBT-3000 is perhaps better than T-72 or the likes of it but it is priced at $4.9 million. The reported ost of T-80 is $3 million, of T-90MS – $4.5 million. These are the export prices.
So it does not make any sense, especially considering that the reported unit cost of T-14 Armata is $4.6 million. For the domestic use the price of T-90 should be perhaps a half of that. I remember using the map he posted that I borrowed from his blog once or twice, but I would not repost another man's post.
He does include accurate references though, so I consider him trustworthy. Not in Ukraine?
It is understandable. The Americans would love to take one apart and see where the sensors and radars are located so it could be damaged then with an anti-material rifle. The Russians would not like it to happen – better to save it for later. Who knows what is coming?
Perhaps a war with NATO. No mobilization, ever? No one has said that. No one would have, no one could have.
It was obvious that at some point it would become inevitable, considering the ambitious goal of the operation. It cannot be done with such a small number of personnel. Did he say when? I doubt that. He would not have said that and could not have said. That is a declaration of intentions and not a promise. Distrusting any information coming from the official sources and at the same time swallowing bull crap from so-called opposition is a useful instinct being misused.Replies: @Dmitry
You seem to be sensitive and irritable. That was my impression, anyway. A lot of your comments about how somebody insulted you, somebody is angry with you, somebody was rude to you.
But sorry if I have sounded rude or not polite in my comments to you. Maybe I am writing in an irresponsible way, with use of sarcasm, which can be misinterpreted, especially in the internet.
Read my comments in a friendly tone, as between friends.
It’s possible your comment is more true than my comment and your view is more correct than my view. It benefits that you write a different point of view. If you read academic defense journals and military magazines, it’s likely you should be informative and create the productive discussion.
Actually in England and Ireland it is very similar to Russia. People like to speak with sarcasm. In America, maybe they are more sensitive against this.
Ukraine’s equipment situation has been very limited. That is irrelevant to my comment, which is that modern equipment for the Russian military is limited.
There can be hundreds of thousands of mobilized soldiers, but the proportion of modern equipment will not match the potential soldiers.
They are more militarized than in February, with more modern equipment than in the beginning of the fighting. You can read a list of equipment they receive here. https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html
You said you need to know Chinese language to use a Chinese tank. So the army of Pakistan must know the Chinese language, as they have just imported hundreds of Chinese tanks. It’s more likely they just put the multi-language userinterface, which would be not difficult to do, even the easiest part of this project.
https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2020/09/23/pakistan-army-shows-off-new-new-chinese-tank-for-offensive-role.html
Thanks for the resource. So there have been two “batches” now.
As I wrote in my post, you can try to infer about the production, from the fact the release of the first 10 tanks public tanks since February, was a very public important news and the event was celebrated on the federal television channels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJYDYeLPCE.
Peskov said a week ago they were not considering mobilization, while of course they were considering mobilization while he says it. https://tass.ru/politika/15735191 What do you think is the result of following those statements?
There were many dozens of these “declaration of intentions”.
It sounded very good in his time. Medvedev talked about the future in an optimistic and healthy way. You can almost hope. But now it is a decade later, if you try to match it to the achievement, the public intentions are apparently not very useful.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/5413
It’s been healthy, to not believe the government too much, and has been more and more confirmed in the negative direction, while when I had believed their statements I was disconfirmed. Follow your instincts.
The deal is that I spent some time in the countries where people consider it normal to be rude. I could not get used to it.
One great Russian poet was killed in a duel for making a sarcastic remark concerning the other person. Remember?
I think duels should be legalized. How modern the equipment is should be put in the context. Since Ukraine does not have modern air defence even the outdated aircraft is good enough for the given situation.
This war does not require a lot of state of the art and brand new gear. Most of the howitzers the Russians are using are of the Soviet production but it does not make them less effective. Here is the page that gives estimates on this topic.
https://warsawinstitute.org/comparing-western-supplies-ukrainian-losses-war-russia/
And with regards to serious equipment according to these estimates Ukraine used to have and since has lost more than what it has now. Bear in mind that most of what has been given to them is obsolete and is not on a par with what has been lost. If a tank is imported and exported it will be prepared and tuned for the needs of the customer. If it is given as aid, having been used, than it will be given as is. Your comment implied that China can deliver some number of tanks to Russia as aid.
Therefore it would have all the designations in Chinese, and it is not all software but as well hardware. Understand that in order to make use of it there would have to be mechanics who know how to fix it and spare parts for them to do that. And a sufficient number of shells would have to be delivered as well.
And Russia does not need them whatsoever. Your video does not contain information regarding the number of the tanks that were being sent nor does it celebrate the fact of it as an important event. A regular report that another batch of the T-90s were going to the front line.
And a batch is an entire train. He said those were strategic goals and directions. It takes longer than a decade to accomplish those. And it was in 2009 – before Crimea, before Donbas and before the sanctions. Should it not be taken into account?
I am far from being a fan of Russia. I cannot accept it as it is and what it has turned into at all, but here I see mismanagement and error rather than lies. I do not think that his declaration was intended to deceive the people.Replies: @Dmitry
Maybe interesting related to the discussion last thread about the film “Born on the Fourth of July” by Oliver Stone.
I saw a report on YouTube about American soldiers traveling to Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.
They interview soldiers who fly from America to Vietnam before a year of fighting. Then they interview soldiers flying from Vietnam to America after the year of fighting.
One of the soldiers had said they had earlier planned going to Canada to going to the army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film)
And I mean exhausted. If you have seen this story only one time you do not ever need to sit through it again. The 1978 movie had Jane Fonda, Jon Voigt, and Bruce Dern and plenty of people watched it. It had Academy Award nominations.
Oliver Stone is one weird dude. Have you heard he wrote the Scarface screenplay when he was big time cocaine addict?Replies: @Timur The Lame, @songbird
What I do not understand about Oliver Stone’s movie is why he even made it. The sex crippled Viet Vet experience had already been exhausted in the 1978 movie Coming Home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film)
And I mean exhausted. If you have seen this story only one time you do not ever need to sit through it again. The 1978 movie had Jane Fonda, Jon Voigt, and Bruce Dern and plenty of people watched it. It had Academy Award nominations.
Oliver Stone is one weird dude. Have you heard he wrote the Scarface screenplay when he was big time cocaine addict?
I am sure that you know that the movie was based on the real life crippled Vet turned activist Ron Kovic so it wasn't a gratuitous "sex crippled Viet Vet" movie. I thought it spoke to how veterans are instant expendables once they have done their 'duty', and a nuisance if they require expensive repair work. This theme resonated with me ever since I read Robert Graves's Goodbye To All That.
If more people understood that when people are willing to give their most precious gift, a young life, for their country ( propaganda notwithstanding) but end up considered instant excrement if they return broken, physically or mentally, then jingoistic adventures on behalf of Mammon might not be so easily undertaken.
Added to which, I don't see how Stone using cocaine has anything to do with writing a screenplay unless the screenplay turns out to be incomprehensibly bad. I suppose that Hemingway and Mozart are also off limits to you seeing as most of their works were fueled by alcohol.
Cheers-Replies: @Dmitry
Here are the results of the 2012 parliamentary election:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2012#%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%86%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%96%D0%B2_(%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0)
It was run by Yanukovich, so cannot be accused of being pro-Western.
The "Orange" parties won slightly more than 40% of the vote in Kherson province. The Party of Regions won 29% and the Communists won 23%.
So the pro-Russian Parties together got more than did the pro-Western parties. But pro-Russian in 2012 does not mean support for annexation by Russia. Russia and Ukraine enjoyed cordial relations at the time. Support for this party simply meant preference for closer economic ties with Russia rather than with the West. A pro-American Canadian supporter of NAFTA or whatever it is called now does not necessarily want Canada to be annexed by the USA.
Here is support for the Opposition Party in the 2019 election. Kherson is the province immediately north of Crimea. In all but one of the districts within Kherson province, the pro-Russian party got between 10% and 20% of the vote; it got between 20% and 30% in the eastern-most district:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D1%96%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D1%97_%D0%9E%D0%9F%D0%97%D0%96_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2019_%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%83.svg/1024px-%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D1%96%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D1%97_%D0%9E%D0%9F%D0%97%D0%96_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85_%D0%B2_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%96_2019_%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%83.svg.png
Note that even here support for this party doesn't mean support for annexation by Russia, though some percentage of the supporters of this party probably would want that. I wouldn't doubt if 5% of Kherson's population would want to be annexed by Russia, possibly even 10%, but I doubt it would be more than that.
I wonder if the sham referendum will give support at 80% or whatever.
:::::::::::::::
Also of note, the Russians do not control 40% of Zaporizhia province, including the province's capital and largest city (so Russians have less than 50% of the province's population). But they will claim the entire province based on the fake results from the piece that they control.Replies: @GomezAdddams
How many of the refugees in Russia come from Donbass-Lugansk –4 million and are voting? Cry foul Amtrak Joe Biden —Jackboot Justin Trudeau and London Bridge going to fall down Liz Truss—
Why do autocrats need these 90%+ approval comedies? Who do they expect to fool? I'd hate to have people and territories become part of my country in this shameful fashion. I don't have the results of past elections in these regions handy but I remember that Kherson was not even particularly pro-Russian. There was a neighboring region (possibly Mykolaiev) where the pro-Russian parties got better results. Perhaps Ukrainian elections were not very representative of the popular will either, having banned some ideologies, but they sure were vastly more credible than this absurdity in the middle of a war, with massive amounts of displaced people and not even the whole regions where they're voting in Russia's hands.
If you're going to annex a territory for security or whatever reasons, be a man and declare openly what you're doing and why.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @AP, @Wanderghost
What actions were ever going to be described favorably at this point? If you start getting a ‘strange new respect’ in western media, your time as an autocrat may soon be over.
Like it or not, the Western media does matter. We are at a point of global risk not seen at least since the Cuba missiles crisis and well past the stage where the media is conscious or unconsciously demonizing the Russians and stoking bellicosity in the public. Russia would do well not fueling that dynamic.
Pretending that the people of some semi-occupied territories are consenting to be annexed in the middle of an unfinished war is totally 3rd-worldish. The perfect confirmation for the Western warmongers and neocons that this is another one of their struggles between good democrats and perverse dictators.Replies: @AP
Many countries produce advanced missiles, but Russia and the USA are the only ones who clearly produce a full range. I leave out China because I can't really tell how much of their military technology is still coming from Russia.
For missiles I think Russia has more recent state-of-the-art developments than USA so they are #1. At the end of the cold war the USA was possibly ahead in most of these missile types but many developments were stopped when the West decided to focus on beating up third-world countries. Russian samples include the recent missiles in S-400/500 systems, Nudol, Kinzhal, Zircon, Bulava and Sarmat. Most of the other types seem to be comparable between countries, but who really knows?Replies: @Vishnugupta, @Here Be Dragon
I agree with your assessment but Bulava in terms of throweight is more comparable to the retired Trident C4 rather than the D5 or even the French M51.A much inferior missile to the cancelled Grom which was a deep modernization attempt of the the SS N 20 and originally intended to be the primary armament if the Borei.
Those products where Russia had to rebuild capabilities within its territory after Ukrainian independence are the most problematic like Solid fueled SLBMs,Marine Turbines,IR seekers etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film)
And I mean exhausted. If you have seen this story only one time you do not ever need to sit through it again. The 1978 movie had Jane Fonda, Jon Voigt, and Bruce Dern and plenty of people watched it. It had Academy Award nominations.
Oliver Stone is one weird dude. Have you heard he wrote the Scarface screenplay when he was big time cocaine addict?Replies: @Timur The Lame, @songbird
I am not a Tom Cruise fan but I thought he did a very good job in the movie. I found the movie quite powerful with several scenes being especially poignant such as the one where the crippled soldier was dressed up, put in the back of a convertible and driven (displayed) through a small town motorcade while the musical background was ” Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon..” .
I am sure that you know that the movie was based on the real life crippled Vet turned activist Ron Kovic so it wasn’t a gratuitous “sex crippled Viet Vet” movie. I thought it spoke to how veterans are instant expendables once they have done their ‘duty’, and a nuisance if they require expensive repair work. This theme resonated with me ever since I read Robert Graves’s Goodbye To All That.
If more people understood that when people are willing to give their most precious gift, a young life, for their country ( propaganda notwithstanding) but end up considered instant excrement if they return broken, physically or mentally, then jingoistic adventures on behalf of Mammon might not be so easily undertaken.
Added to which, I don’t see how Stone using cocaine has anything to do with writing a screenplay unless the screenplay turns out to be incomprehensibly bad. I suppose that Hemingway and Mozart are also off limits to you seeing as most of their works were fueled by alcohol.
Cheers-
Also, if the elections like 2020 presidential ones in the US confer legitimacy, I am the Pope.
I don’t know about Kherson or Zaporozye, but in Donbass >95% of the residents hate Ukraine after eight years of bombing and shelling that killed and maimed thousands of civilians, including lots of children. Today in Donbass you’d be punched in the face for speaking Ukrainian. So, I won’t be surprised if the results show >95% support for joining RF, as this would imply protection from Ukie aggression.
Kiev regime does all it can to make residents of other areas controlled by Russian troops hate it. Their actions are carbon-copies of those that caused burning hatred in Donbass: shelling and terrorist acts murdering and mutilating civilians. As these lasted just a few months, as compared to eight years in Donbass, I’d expect lower support for joining RF in those areas.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @Triteleia Laxa, @Dave Bowman
I agree that there is at present not a single leader in the entire American sphere of influence who can be called a leader of his people; everyone is just a stooge for the oligarchy. However, America had elected autocrats in the past – Franklin Roosevelt, for one.
I am not saying that elections like the last American one in 2020 confer legitimacy; far from it; I firmly believe that all those people who helped in “flipping” the elections know that their power is not legitimate, and thus will have that lurking fear that people may call their power illegitimate at sometime. All I am saying is that a leader elected legitimately will feel that people are behind him; an autocrat who tampered with the elections (mark again – I do not classify Putin into this category) fears that people may not be behind him. And that affects his behaviour.
This comment is a reply to comment # 828 by LatW from the previous Open Thread.
Those not interested in Ethno-nationalist utopian daydreaming might scroll down to other comments, there is nothing here worth your time.
First of all, LatW I always appreciate our conversations, which are quite thought provoking in general. I was planning to write down a detailed answer, but got carried away by a discussion started by Mr Hack about the relative antiquity (or lack thereof) of Ukrainian cultural identity when compared to the Breton and Occitan ones. (I am smiling as I write…)
So let’s get back to our discussion:
Yes a people is responsible to maintain its culture alive and this is precisely why an ethnostate is today not the best possible organizing principle for national survival when faced with the Globalist Great Reset. How are you going to face this in the small and completely globalized economies of your countries? Marx was wrong on so many levels, but he was right about the defining role of economy in influencing cultural developments. So if your ethnostate economy is completely dominated by the TNCs (as it eventually will) and its finances controlled entirely by the global financial oligarchy (as it is already) how are you going to prevent the erosion of your cultural identity? And eventually a replacement of your genetic lineages with cheaper third world human ressources ?
If and when these troubled times are over, after this Смута and Поруха ushered in by a certain WEF Young Global Leader which was so often the “Times Magazine Man of the Year” is gone, and the mess he left in his wake is cleaned and streamlined, then there might be occasions to rebuild a healthier relationship. But for that a clean up should be done on your side as well. Russians should give up on their fake sense of entitlement, while you guys should work to heal your past historical trauma which for a great part are not even related to Russians as an ethnic group but to the Sovok as a political system.
It is probably the most important problem with Empire building. But a solution could be found in local self-government and other checks and balances that have been well worked out by the Anglo-saxon “Western Partners”. You certainly don’t want a French type Absolutism to arise and bulldoze everything that is somewhat different from the Imperial norm.
I believe Kiev would be a great location. The language should be equally understood by all Empire subjects and equally “foreign” for all of them. It should not be Russian or Ukrainian or even Slav (although Church Slavonic would possibly do). Given that we are daydreaming and projecting utopian ideas, a reconstructed Proto Indo-European, complete with all the current technological terminology would do. This is similar to what has been done in Israel with the modernization of the Hebrew language. Today it could probably be done using deep learning algorithms inspired by bioinformatics to find the best forms of words that would be as close as possible to the different languages spoken on the Imperial lands.
I don’t know how real it is. It looks somewhat staged. But when the Смута gets momentum, as it most probably will, there will be different movements fighting for the control of the Northern Eurasian landmass. One might only hope that some Neo-Bolshevik will not be one of those and that the Islamists will not end imposing control on significant areas.
The flag is beautiful, much more so than the one that Piter the Great copied from the Dutch.
These efforts in economic and cultural ressources preservation are interlinked (see the point above) and are the main (only?) reason it would be better to organize in a more or less ethnically compatible great ensemble under a “Federal Empire”. Without this, the Globalization will erase both cultures and peoples. It already does that.
Yes precisely and attain their full potential on all possible levels of achievement.
Absolutely. And that is precisely why they should be massively outnumbered by other populations around and prevented from taking over through their clanishness by a strictly enforces Imperial Meritocracy. Use the ancient Confucean Chinese example of meritocratic examination of the Mandarin class as a basis to build upon. Also use Indian Varna system to set clear social boundaries.
I agree and concur.
Yes I am aware of that. Biletskyi is a very intelligent man.
Yes this is a problem. Especially given the “Black diggers” and a global market for archeological finds. There was an outcry recently in Moscow after some big company just bulldozed the remnants of an ancient Finno-Ugric gorodishhe to build some rental space or commercial property (I don’t recall exactly what they built). It is a shame and should be prevented from happening or punished if it does happen.
Proto Balto-Slav is in my understanding a shortcut for later development of Eastern Corded Ware Culture. Of course there were many stages in development to get to Balts and Slavs, but basically we are Corded Ware folks with some genetic accretions from our neighbors (especially the ones related to Y haplogroup N).
Great to daydream a little in your company LatW.
Have a nice weekend.
🙂
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-196/#comment-5563313
The general point is correct but I think you make too much of names. The map is not the territory and the word "Ukraine" with its recent usage does not a confer a magical recentness to the people using that name. What matters are culture (customs, religion, and including language) and descent. Whether these people call themselves Rusnaks or Ukrainians is irrelevant, if they have the same language, culture and blood they are the same ethnos as their ancestors.
So the French are not the Franks, who are not Gauls. But whenever the Franks mass adopted the local version of Latin, then France was born. Likewise England in the true sense began after the Norman invasion.
So Ukraine did not begin 200 years ago when the word "Ukrainian" began to be widely adopted but around 1400-1500 when the Rus of what is now Ukraine fused with the Poles.
These Rus from Ukraine already spoke a recognizable Ukrainian language back then, they just called it Rusyn or Little Russian. They did not become a new ethnos when they changed their name.
Here are excerpts from an "intermedia" written in 1619, the playwright Mitrophan Dovhalevsky wrote most of his work in Polish but used vernacular Rusyn for comedic breaks. It's a ot like modern Ukrainian. An example:
Климко: Що ты тутъ, побратиме, собі порабляешь?
Кажи мені, як живешь, та якъ ся маешь?
Стецько: Я тут не роблю ничого. Ось иду до дому свого
Та и зъ тоіеми горшками, якъ зъ своими сусідами.
About 40 of these intermedia have been preserved.
(the original link no longer works but my transcription is preserved in the Unz archives)
And these Rus from Ukraine who spoke a Ukrainian language also recognized that Muscovites were a foreign people. hey recognized this from the 1400s.
Starting from the 1440s the Volhynian Chronicle for example described territory of Grand Duchy of Lithuania as “all the Rus lands” and Russia as Muscovy. In a list of different lands, Muscovia was categorized alongside Bulgaria and Moldavia as Orthodox, but not Rus. The Battle of Orsha (1517) was described in the Volhynian Chronicle as a battle of Lithuanians and Rus against Muscovites. Very partially. They belonged to the Polish cultural sphere so they practiced Sarmatism which meant adopting aspects of Turkish dress. But they were overwhelmingly Slavic. Look through the biographies (wiki is convenient). The Cossack officers were mostly Rus petty gentry (though
the Sitch was founded by a Rurikid prince) and the rank and file were typically escaped Slavic serfs. Yes, occasional Scottish or Romanian adventurers joined them, but those were rare exceptions. But Russians claim that Volodymyr was a Russian, which is equivalent.Replies: @PetrOldSack
There should be some reflexion. In the 90s there was an unfortunate combination of social and political factors that didn't help. Right now it won't be possible to have a relationship because of Ukraine, but once a new Russia emerges and once my people create a somewhat decent military and once we unite with Poland & Ukraine, we can reach out to those Russians who want to be amicable. The issues on our side can be mitigated with calm, but open conversations. It's a misconception that it is "historical trauma". The problem is today. We hear everything that the likes of Solovyev say (along with his whole entourage). And we see what is dug out in Izyum. I saw the picture of Mykhailo Dianov yesterday, I can't even describe what I felt. I hate to even bring it up with you because I know you do not approve of any of it.
On the other hand, when it comes to history, you do have a point, because there are some aspects that the Baltic people avoid facing. Hypothetically, some color can be added to the current narratives to show things in a more balanced light. Even without changing the narrative itself, you can still show it differently. There are quite a few examples of this. For instance, they don't like to talk about how the mobilization into the German ranks during WW2 was actually illegal (historians talk about it but not the public that much). Also, how the Tsar provided some resources at the beginning of the 20th century to open our spas, so it was very much with the Tsar's blessing that we could build up on that. And other histories that, if brought up, wouldn't challenge the existing narratives, but could balance the overall picture, maybe open people's minds a little. Not to mention episodes from the Russian history that could smash some of the stereotypes, such as, for instance, the Novocherkassk massacre, which happened as early as 1962 and which is not something that is widely known about in the Baltic States (although it should be).
If the Russian side gives up its entitlement, then it completely changes the whole equation. It removes a lot of the defensiveness. Of course, I can't speak for everyone but when it comes to the Russian ethno-nationalists' views (and, yes, they are a very small group), with them in particular there is nothing at all to argue about and their attitude is completely disarming. But they're a small percentage of the Russian population.
Why is this important? Because it's not just us, it's practically everyone around Russia now. We have Forest Brothers and the Ukrainians have povstantsi, etc, etc. There are a lot of us now. Personally, I don't want to lose those Russians who could potentially come to our side or who were already pretty much aligned with us to begin with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film)
And I mean exhausted. If you have seen this story only one time you do not ever need to sit through it again. The 1978 movie had Jane Fonda, Jon Voigt, and Bruce Dern and plenty of people watched it. It had Academy Award nominations.
Oliver Stone is one weird dude. Have you heard he wrote the Scarface screenplay when he was big time cocaine addict?Replies: @Timur The Lame, @songbird
For that matter, why watch a 2 hour movie, when you can hear it sung in under 3 minutes?
Cheers-Replies: @songbird, @Barbarossa, @LondonBob
https://mossrobeson.medium.com/azov-delegation-visits-the-us-b535ba336eb1
This is like the Youngbloods song.
Nazis and Jews together!!!
(I don’t actually know members of Congress {Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)} religions. They are members of Congress. For all practical purposes as far as I’m concerned they are Jews.)
Hi, I’m replying to this:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-196/#comment-5563313
The general point is correct but I think you make too much of names. The map is not the territory and the word “Ukraine” with its recent usage does not a confer a magical recentness to the people using that name. What matters are culture (customs, religion, and including language) and descent. Whether these people call themselves Rusnaks or Ukrainians is irrelevant, if they have the same language, culture and blood they are the same ethnos as their ancestors.
So the French are not the Franks, who are not Gauls. But whenever the Franks mass adopted the local version of Latin, then France was born. Likewise England in the true sense began after the Norman invasion.
So Ukraine did not begin 200 years ago when the word “Ukrainian” began to be widely adopted but around 1400-1500 when the Rus of what is now Ukraine fused with the Poles.
These Rus from Ukraine already spoke a recognizable Ukrainian language back then, they just called it Rusyn or Little Russian. They did not become a new ethnos when they changed their name.
Here are excerpts from an “intermedia” written in 1619, the playwright Mitrophan Dovhalevsky wrote most of his work in Polish but used vernacular Rusyn for comedic breaks. It’s a ot like modern Ukrainian. An example:
Климко: Що ты тутъ, побратиме, собі порабляешь?
Кажи мені, як живешь, та якъ ся маешь?
Стецько: Я тут не роблю ничого. Ось иду до дому свого
Та и зъ тоіеми горшками, якъ зъ своими сусідами.
About 40 of these intermedia have been preserved.
(the original link no longer works but my transcription is preserved in the Unz archives)
And these Rus from Ukraine who spoke a Ukrainian language also recognized that Muscovites were a foreign people. hey recognized this from the 1400s.
Starting from the 1440s the Volhynian Chronicle for example described territory of Grand Duchy of Lithuania as “all the Rus lands” and Russia as Muscovy. In a list of different lands, Muscovia was categorized alongside Bulgaria and Moldavia as Orthodox, but not Rus. The Battle of Orsha (1517) was described in the Volhynian Chronicle as a battle of Lithuanians and Rus against Muscovites.
Very partially. They belonged to the Polish cultural sphere so they practiced Sarmatism which meant adopting aspects of Turkish dress. But they were overwhelmingly Slavic. Look through the biographies (wiki is convenient). The Cossack officers were mostly Rus petty gentry (though
the Sitch was founded by a Rurikid prince) and the rank and file were typically escaped Slavic serfs. Yes, occasional Scottish or Romanian adventurers joined them, but those were rare exceptions.
But Russians claim that Volodymyr was a Russian, which is equivalent.
If pharmakos were reinitiated, I suppose the freaks with giant prosthetic breasts would have to drop them, as they ran from the crowds.
https://twitter.com/CampariWithSoda/status/1572890855773732864?s=20Replies: @Barbarossa, @songbird, @Coconuts
Many countries produce advanced missiles, but Russia and the USA are the only ones who clearly produce a full range. I leave out China because I can't really tell how much of their military technology is still coming from Russia.
For missiles I think Russia has more recent state-of-the-art developments than USA so they are #1. At the end of the cold war the USA was possibly ahead in most of these missile types but many developments were stopped when the West decided to focus on beating up third-world countries. Russian samples include the recent missiles in S-400/500 systems, Nudol, Kinzhal, Zircon, Bulava and Sarmat. Most of the other types seem to be comparable between countries, but who really knows?Replies: @Vishnugupta, @Here Be Dragon
Target audience includes people who believe Russia is technologically backward.
Perhaps you can include these new Russian vessels to your list. They do not only look futuristic but as they say there are many technological innovations never previously implemented anywhere.
As the Russians often do they built them first and announced later. Only recently. Although they have already built seven of these. Each of them is a little different from others.
As is the case with anything the Russians do there are a number of usual idiotic deficiencies. First of all it does not have a memorable name – instead it is called Project 170701.
Second, as always there are some parts of the design that could have been obviously made better looking, but were not. And third there is a complete absence of marketing.
The Russians have always been good at invention and bad at innovation. Let us wait and see until the Americans or the Europeans pick it up and improve it, call it their own and make the Russians look stupid once again.
Can you clarify what you mean by: "Russians...good at invention and bad at innovation."Replies: @Here Be Dragon
The Norwegians are the top. This one is engineered to find the remnants of Atlantis:
https://www.ship-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2018/05/1l-image-Kronprins-Haakon.jpgReplies: @Here Be Dragon
The US, Great Britain, Iran, France and so many others (not apparently following up, as far as i see in the few pictures of their speed boats in de Gulf of Aden), all master these concepts. The slight downside is the sensibility to side-currents and side-winds. Covering distances at sea means fighting (or taking advantage) of two daemons: wind and waves (and the mix they produce over time on the wave variables). Wind can come from an often slightly different angle as the direction of waves.
Not my piece of cake, but there must be many ready designs using above principles in sail and motoring. Pleasure yachts (problem with scaling, waves don't shrink), cruise ships designs must be readily available of the shelves. A good place to start: the Netherlands and their boutiques of yacht designers.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
Perhaps you can include these new Russian vessels to your list. They do not only look futuristic but as they say there are many technological innovations never previously implemented anywhere.
https://i.postimg.cc/G2h30cYj/170701-1.jpg
As the Russians often do they built them first and announced later. Only recently. Although they have already built seven of these. Each of them is a little different from others.
https://i.postimg.cc/VvfKBVxv/170701-2.jpg
As is the case with anything the Russians do there are a number of usual idiotic deficiencies. First of all it does not have a memorable name – instead it is called Project 170701.
Second, as always there are some parts of the design that could have been obviously made better looking, but were not. And third there is a complete absence of marketing.
The Russians have always been good at invention and bad at innovation. Let us wait and see until the Americans or the Europeans pick it up and improve it, call it their own and make the Russians look stupid once again.Replies: @QCIC, @Emil Nikola Richard, @PetrOldSack
Very imposing for a fishing trawler!
Can you clarify what you mean by: “Russians…good at invention and bad at innovation.”
One example.
It is considered that mobile phones were invented in the US and that the first commercial model was made in the US. It was called DynaTAC 8000X.
Here is the article about that thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC
"The first cellular phone was the culmination of efforts begun at Bell Labs," et cetera. "Martin Cooper was the first person to make an analog cellular mobile phone call in 1973."
That is the official narrative. And it is a complete lie.
Motorola DynaTAC was presented in 1983. It took them a decade to develope it, and it had the weight of more than 1 kg, the charging time of 10 hours and the range of 20 km, and 30 minutes of talk time. It was 25 cm in size. And the price of it was $3,995 at the time – i.e. about $10,000 in equivalent now. Motorola made $30 billion selling these phones.
However a Soviet engineer Leonid Kupriyanovich presented his first model of a mobile phone in 1957, and in 1961 his later and better model was prepared for serial production on one of the Soviet plants. Here it is on the right, and he with his first model on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/T3M3qtnj/Leonid-Kupriyanovich-radiophone-1961.jpg
The photograph is from a Soviet newspaper. It was patented and documented, tested and prepared for serial production back in 1961. But the government later decided that it was not needed. And the production did not even start!
His phone had the range of 80 km and the weight of 70 g. His first model from 1957 had the weight of 0.5 kg. Both models were superior to other experimental items of that kind and to that of Motorola, but few people know about it now.
Has anybody ever seen a Russian mobile phone?
That is what I meant, and I can mention a lot of other things as an example. The Russians are great inventors but lack the understanding of what to do with it.Replies: @QCIC
In response to Bashibuzuk:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-196/#comment-5563576
You wouldn’t disallow the Chinese from accepting all of their cultural inheritance, because throughout their long history they’ve experienced so many name changes? No Lao Tsu (Zhonguo), no Confucius (Zhao)?
Many countries have experienced name changes, why so punctilious with regards to Ukraine and Ukrainians? 🙂
Perhaps you can include these new Russian vessels to your list. They do not only look futuristic but as they say there are many technological innovations never previously implemented anywhere.
https://i.postimg.cc/G2h30cYj/170701-1.jpg
As the Russians often do they built them first and announced later. Only recently. Although they have already built seven of these. Each of them is a little different from others.
https://i.postimg.cc/VvfKBVxv/170701-2.jpg
As is the case with anything the Russians do there are a number of usual idiotic deficiencies. First of all it does not have a memorable name – instead it is called Project 170701.
Second, as always there are some parts of the design that could have been obviously made better looking, but were not. And third there is a complete absence of marketing.
The Russians have always been good at invention and bad at innovation. Let us wait and see until the Americans or the Europeans pick it up and improve it, call it their own and make the Russians look stupid once again.Replies: @QCIC, @Emil Nikola Richard, @PetrOldSack
Peter the Great’s greatest feat was importing Dutch shipbuilding tech.
The Norwegians are the top. This one is engineered to find the remnants of Atlantis:
There has been just one thing that the Norwegians have created on their own: Black metal.Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ41d63BEk0
They have degenerated to the point on no return. The Russians should annihilate them.
Thanks, that was moving. My favorite song, being somewhat of a WW1 buff was “When This Lousy War Is Over” that I first saw on the fantastic and irreverent movie “Oh! What A Lovely War” (1969) adapted from stage by Richard Attenborough.
Cheers-
Eric Bogle (in the '70s) wrote two pretty good WWI-themed songs: "The Green Fields of France" and "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", though I am sure you must have already heard them.
Off the top of my head, my favorite antiwar song of any antiquity is "Arthur MacBride." More rollicking than moving, and not exactly pacifistic:
https://youtu.be/cBGkhPx529g
I like songs that tell stories. But with the modern decline of culture, it seems like they are becoming rarer.
https://youtu.be/DWnc-ZlIo5s
https://youtu.be/PdY-1u-rk_MReplies: @Wokechoke
None. But you don’t need to carry out unnecessary actions that negate your previous legitimate ones and provide full confirmation of your enemies’ narrative.
Like it or not, the Western media does matter. We are at a point of global risk not seen at least since the Cuba missiles crisis and well past the stage where the media is conscious or unconsciously demonizing the Russians and stoking bellicosity in the public. Russia would do well not fueling that dynamic.
Pretending that the people of some semi-occupied territories are consenting to be annexed in the middle of an unfinished war is totally 3rd-worldish. The perfect confirmation for the Western warmongers and neocons that this is another one of their struggles between good democrats and perverse dictators.
Also, if the elections like 2020 presidential ones in the US confer legitimacy, I am the Pope.
I don’t know about Kherson or Zaporozye, but in Donbass >95% of the residents hate Ukraine after eight years of bombing and shelling that killed and maimed thousands of civilians, including lots of children. Today in Donbass you’d be punched in the face for speaking Ukrainian. So, I won’t be surprised if the results show >95% support for joining RF, as this would imply protection from Ukie aggression.
Kiev regime does all it can to make residents of other areas controlled by Russian troops hate it. Their actions are carbon-copies of those that caused burning hatred in Donbass: shelling and terrorist acts murdering and mutilating civilians. As these lasted just a few months, as compared to eight years in Donbass, I’d expect lower support for joining RF in those areas.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @Triteleia Laxa, @Dave Bowman
That’s because not all “support” is equal. Democracies allow and, even encourage, disapproval of the government, especially in the social media age. But wanting a different representative within the system is not the same as wanting a different system, which is what you’d have to compare to Putin’s “support.”
And we can see this after big events, where ‘the system” came under attack. E.g 9/11.
Suddenly Bush had 90% approval, up from ~40%! This is because support for the system was now expressed as support for him.
Or we can see it in Zelenskyy’s support going from 19% to near unanimous.
You can even see it in the conversations of the more ambitious Jan 6th rioters. They really did talk about ‘insurgency”, but they also expressed it as legitimate within the system.
In Russia, the system basically is Putin, and voicing disapproval is seen as revolutionary, which it takes a tremendous amount more to express disapproval. He is therefore considerably less popular than Biden, if you compare like with like.
And you can see this in the consent of the governed. Americans obey laws more readily, pay their full taxes more completely and generally show much lower levels of violence, despite facing far less punishment for disobedience.
Imagine had, on Jan 6th protestors stormed the Kremlin, and have been recorded talking of “insurgency”. Would their punishment have been lighter, or much, much worse? Would only one have been shot?
But don’t worry, your inability to understand this stuff is not limited to you. It is an old cliché that ungrateful immigrants from less developed countries want to pretend that things work better back home and so find themselves unable to make basic observations. Their ingratitude, of course, is their wounded vanity. People haven’t treated them as the super special individual that they always thought they were. But, as I mentioned previously, you’ve grown to hate everywhere you’ve lived, for as long as you lived there, and there’s only one constant.
Like it or not, the Western media does matter. We are at a point of global risk not seen at least since the Cuba missiles crisis and well past the stage where the media is conscious or unconsciously demonizing the Russians and stoking bellicosity in the public. Russia would do well not fueling that dynamic.
Pretending that the people of some semi-occupied territories are consenting to be annexed in the middle of an unfinished war is totally 3rd-worldish. The perfect confirmation for the Western warmongers and neocons that this is another one of their struggles between good democrats and perverse dictators.Replies: @AP
While the previous referendum in Crimea was “legitimate” in the sense that the final result matched the most likely wishes of the majority, looking at the 2012 parliamentary election results suggests that the 2014 Crimean referendum was fake.
In 2012 about 21% of Crimeans voted for pro-Western parties. Yanukovich ran that election, I doubt he was fake-boosting the pro-Western vote there.
Yet less than 2 years later, the official Russian referendum results showed 97% of Crimeans voting to join Russia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_status_referendum
I have little doubt that Russia would have gotten 60%-70% of the vote there legitimately. Maybe 80%-85% , if you factor in a lot of pro-Ukrainians fleeing and not being able to vote in this referendum. But it is inconceivable that a population that voted 21% for pro-Western parties in 2012 would vote 97% to be annexed by Russia in 2014.
Russians claiming 80% or whatever the final vote will be in favor of union with Russia in Kherson will highlight the fake nature of the 2014 Crimean results.
Sounds just like New York and California, where anti-white racism ensures that the GOP can never hold the office of Governor or US Senator.Replies: @LondonBob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJYDYeLPCE. Peskov said a week ago they were not considering mobilization, while of course they were considering mobilization while he says it. https://tass.ru/politika/15735191 What do you think is the result of following those statements? There were many dozens of these "declaration of intentions". It sounded very good in his time. Medvedev talked about the future in an optimistic and healthy way. You can almost hope. But now it is a decade later, if you try to match it to the achievement, the public intentions are apparently not very useful.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/5413 It's been healthy, to not believe the government too much, and has been more and more confirmed in the negative direction, while when I had believed their statements I was disconfirmed. Follow your instincts.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
I do remember telling two stories that could be related to that. Perhaps I have told these more than once.
The deal is that I spent some time in the countries where people consider it normal to be rude. I could not get used to it.
One great Russian poet was killed in a duel for making a sarcastic remark concerning the other person. Remember?
I think duels should be legalized.
How modern the equipment is should be put in the context. Since Ukraine does not have modern air defence even the outdated aircraft is good enough for the given situation.
This war does not require a lot of state of the art and brand new gear. Most of the howitzers the Russians are using are of the Soviet production but it does not make them less effective.
Here is the page that gives estimates on this topic.
https://warsawinstitute.org/comparing-western-supplies-ukrainian-losses-war-russia/
And with regards to serious equipment according to these estimates Ukraine used to have and since has lost more than what it has now. Bear in mind that most of what has been given to them is obsolete and is not on a par with what has been lost.
If a tank is imported and exported it will be prepared and tuned for the needs of the customer. If it is given as aid, having been used, than it will be given as is. Your comment implied that China can deliver some number of tanks to Russia as aid.
Therefore it would have all the designations in Chinese, and it is not all software but as well hardware. Understand that in order to make use of it there would have to be mechanics who know how to fix it and spare parts for them to do that. And a sufficient number of shells would have to be delivered as well.
And Russia does not need them whatsoever.
Your video does not contain information regarding the number of the tanks that were being sent nor does it celebrate the fact of it as an important event. A regular report that another batch of the T-90s were going to the front line.
And a batch is an entire train.
He said those were strategic goals and directions. It takes longer than a decade to accomplish those. And it was in 2009 – before Crimea, before Donbas and before the sanctions. Should it not be taken into account?
I am far from being a fan of Russia. I cannot accept it as it is and what it has turned into at all, but here I see mismanagement and error rather than lies. I do not think that his declaration was intended to deceive the people.
Sure that Ukraine also receives a lot of obsolete equipment like old tanks from Poland and M113 APCs. Ukraine is receiving air defense systems in the next months - "4 IRIS-T SLM Systems* [To be delivered]
8 NASAMS Batteries [To be delivered]" https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html Some even younger than others, and it is not good for the literature fans, if you don't think Lermontov would write something better after he was 27 years old, or Pushkin could not have a middle age.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
On its own hard won territory animal will fight an opponent it would normally flee from. Ukraine is far closer to being Russia than the West. In this connection, Obama refused to arm Ukraine because he said Russia had “escalatory dominance”; needs to be borne in mind over–against open ended backing for Ukraine continuing to advance after the RusFed incorporation of Donbass and, in defiance of Putin’s public warning that (contrary to what Hodges and serving Austrian Colonel Markus Reisner would have one believe), Russia has an actual capability for theatre thermonuclear strike in a scenario increasing plausible and a pathway to the situation where it is the least bad option is clear.
For Reisner Ukraine is winning on the battlefield, and is only vulnerable through Western nervousness being exacerbated by Russia’s psychological manipulation, which includes nuclear war scares. However, he is trying to have it both ways because Russia would hardly consider using a thermonuclear weapon on the Ukrainian battlefield unless it was being trounced on that battlefield.
Trained lawyer Putin is readying a backstop in case the Russian army gets routed again, which seems to be increasingly likely. He wants the West to understand his country will by no means consider him crazy for ordering a theatre thermonuclear weapon detonated on the rear area of an Ukrainian army if it continues driving into RF occupied Ukrainian land after that territory has in Russian law become indistinguishable from Vladivostok.
I assume the fighting on the ground is planned to 1) Claim/reclaim the territories they want 2) Kill NeoNazis 3) Induce the more reasonable/practical Ukrainians to throw off the Western-sponsored yoke which caused this war. I don't know how to accomplish #3, but maybe the Russians do.
Russia flies plenty of tactical sorties but since they don't actually want to destroy the big ticket items they may be conserving aircraft for more important problems which crop up later with the West. The risk of losing aircraft in the troop support missions seems very high so I think they are pacing themselves since they don't have that many planes. Russia does gain some combat-hardened pilots out of the SMO, as with the Syria intervention.Replies: @Old Brown Fool
There were some claims that as much as 10% Russian fighters are already destroyed by Ukraine!
Can you clarify what you mean by: "Russians...good at invention and bad at innovation."Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Yes I can.
One example.
It is considered that mobile phones were invented in the US and that the first commercial model was made in the US. It was called DynaTAC 8000X.
Here is the article about that thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC
“The first cellular phone was the culmination of efforts begun at Bell Labs,” et cetera. “Martin Cooper was the first person to make an analog cellular mobile phone call in 1973.”
That is the official narrative. And it is a complete lie.
Motorola DynaTAC was presented in 1983. It took them a decade to develope it, and it had the weight of more than 1 kg, the charging time of 10 hours and the range of 20 km, and 30 minutes of talk time. It was 25 cm in size. And the price of it was $3,995 at the time – i.e. about $10,000 in equivalent now. Motorola made $30 billion selling these phones.
However a Soviet engineer Leonid Kupriyanovich presented his first model of a mobile phone in 1957, and in 1961 his later and better model was prepared for serial production on one of the Soviet plants. Here it is on the right, and he with his first model on the left.
The photograph is from a Soviet newspaper. It was patented and documented, tested and prepared for serial production back in 1961. But the government later decided that it was not needed. And the production did not even start!
His phone had the range of 80 km and the weight of 70 g. His first model from 1957 had the weight of 0.5 kg. Both models were superior to other experimental items of that kind and to that of Motorola, but few people know about it now.
Has anybody ever seen a Russian mobile phone?
That is what I meant, and I can mention a lot of other things as an example. The Russians are great inventors but lack the understanding of what to do with it.
Thanks for introducing me to Kupriyanovich.
His Ritmoson/Rhytmoson sounds intriguing. Sounds like early Transhumanist tech which the Karlinites would like!
This one also is a Norwegian build:
Similar: https://images-global.nhst.tech/image/VXdrR0xyODdxTGt4SUh5cDdWOXlld2JBUEdCdmh4b1l5dlU4cDZKYmRxYz0=/nhst/binary/b91ad166e7cc8be43dd85ccf2666db4f
There are always people who vote with who they think will win. It has been measured many times in different countries and ranges from 5 to 15%. That’s why the polls are manipulated, e.g. before 2016 US election. Not everyone who votes is fully engaged and the preference to be on the winning side is strong.
In Crimea, given the upheaval, Maidan, soldiers, etc… the desire to vote with the winner was very strong. The 18% gap between 2014 and 2016 in pro-West votes was a combination of people leaving, turnout, winner’s bias (see above), and probably electoral manipulation. I remind you that election manipulation happens in the West regularly (mail voting, remote votes, dead people, etc…), no election with millions people voting is ever totally clean. That doesn’t devalue the result if it reflects the will of the majority.
The same can be expected in Kherson and Donbas in this referendum. It is not a big mystery and it doesn’t devalue the referendum. The issue is not the results but whether a part of a country can separate without approval from the whole country. That was settled with Nato in Kosovo. Too bad for Kiev, but Nato rewrote the rules, they can’t complain now. Laws and rules have to be universal.
One example.
It is considered that mobile phones were invented in the US and that the first commercial model was made in the US. It was called DynaTAC 8000X.
Here is the article about that thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC
"The first cellular phone was the culmination of efforts begun at Bell Labs," et cetera. "Martin Cooper was the first person to make an analog cellular mobile phone call in 1973."
That is the official narrative. And it is a complete lie.
Motorola DynaTAC was presented in 1983. It took them a decade to develope it, and it had the weight of more than 1 kg, the charging time of 10 hours and the range of 20 km, and 30 minutes of talk time. It was 25 cm in size. And the price of it was $3,995 at the time – i.e. about $10,000 in equivalent now. Motorola made $30 billion selling these phones.
However a Soviet engineer Leonid Kupriyanovich presented his first model of a mobile phone in 1957, and in 1961 his later and better model was prepared for serial production on one of the Soviet plants. Here it is on the right, and he with his first model on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/T3M3qtnj/Leonid-Kupriyanovich-radiophone-1961.jpg
The photograph is from a Soviet newspaper. It was patented and documented, tested and prepared for serial production back in 1961. But the government later decided that it was not needed. And the production did not even start!
His phone had the range of 80 km and the weight of 70 g. His first model from 1957 had the weight of 0.5 kg. Both models were superior to other experimental items of that kind and to that of Motorola, but few people know about it now.
Has anybody ever seen a Russian mobile phone?
That is what I meant, and I can mention a lot of other things as an example. The Russians are great inventors but lack the understanding of what to do with it.Replies: @QCIC
OK, that is what I thought.
Thanks for introducing me to Kupriyanovich.
His Ritmoson/Rhytmoson sounds intriguing. Sounds like early Transhumanist tech which the Karlinites would like!
https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/08/31/why-washington-should-provide-atacms-weapons-to-ukraine/
The ATECMS seems t0 be what is behind Russia and American theatre thermonuclear weapons warnings and and counter warning/ attribution of toying with using a nuke. The idea is being floated that Ukraine could be given the large long range HIMARS missile and agree to note use ATECMS inside the borders of Russia proper, but in fact America already has a veto on every proposed target of HIMARS strikes in the Ukraine war, and America prolly provides 99% of the surveillance for identifying the location of those targets anyway.
If Russia has to transport its artillerys’ ammunition on trucks from hundreds of miles behind the front line (because Ukraine has used the longer range ATECMS to totally disrupt the far more efficient railway transport) then Russia will have as good as lost the war–although it may take time for that result. America’s preferred scenario is just such a surely lost cause for Russian, and them heading for retreat, but not too fast. Unfortunately the Kremlin have understood the ACTEMS will be a stake through the heart for them, and so are saying they will not stand for it. America’s strategists do not like its freedom of action being constrained; hence all the thermonuclear posturing.
When you read Reuters word counts with infographics are a good idea.
I noticed a fun narrative clash.
All the Ukie/CIA/GCHQ agents hall monitors on here try to sell the idea that Moscow is sending in Buryat Orcs to kill Kiev’s Rus.
The regular press keeps mentioning that Russia’s Ethnic minorities are most heavily effected by the war. Example: “War Between Russia and Ukraine, African Americans most Impacted”. There’s even a Buryat Freedom Movement getting tons of mentions in the western press.
On the one hand the CIA is trying to sell the Asiatic Horde to right wing racists while it sells poor little put upon Mongols who are being oppressed by whitey to liberals. It’s first class cognitive dissonance.
I should have said (((CIA))) though.
There were some claims that Earth is flat.
Remember when Yevardian scoffed at the idea of a slaughter of whites by Russia’s captive yellow horde? He joked about the 5000 Buryats killing off whites in Siberia? I can reliably report that the CIA is fostering a separatist movement in Russia Buryat Freedom Movement. Russia is on the chopping block.
The next Kosovo could be around Lake Baikal. Not around the Crimea. And with NATO and US backing. I shit you not. There’s really 500,000 of them.
https://t.me/bazabazon/13333 Those areas do not have any much recent history of anti-government or nationalist actions.Replies: @Wokechoke
In 2012 Yanukovich won in Crimea. So that 21% voted against the winner.
In Kosovo (as in Crimea, or Ossetia) the local majority wanted to go along with the annexation and illegal territorial changes. Here for the first time since the last world war, someone is grabbing and annexing territory where the majority of the local population opposes the move. If Crimea was Sudetenland or Danzig, Kherson is Bohemia or Poland.
Waiting for the Barbarians.Replies: @AP
Clint Eastwood has either directed or acted in several war films that are either quite accurate, ie the WWII films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima come to mind, or, relatively speaking, fairly accurate, such as the Civil War era films The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or, The Outlaw Josey Wales.
I’ll concentrate a bit on the Civil War era film The Outlaw Josey Wales filmed in 1976. Before going further I’ll say that both ‘sides’ in that brutal war had a pretty poor moral cause, ie the South’s (despite the lies told to the men) being in reality about ‘state’s rights’ so as to preserve chattel slavery, while the North’s (despite the lies told their men) being in reality about ‘preserving the Union’ so as to force upon a recalcitrant South the North’s more productive (and hence more profitable) wage slavery, ie specifically the so called ‘cheap labor’/’mass immigration’ system.
As the vast majority of the men neither owned chattel slaves nor exploited others as wage slaves (ie so called ‘cheap labor’), but rather had to suffer grievously under these two competing slavery systems, both of which had been put in place over them by diktat, the guns should have been turned upon the slaving elites and their hangers on, North and South, rather than upon each other. A true abolition of slavery (ie both chattel and wage) could of been put in place, and then self determination could of been allowed for those people(s) desiring it to go their own ways.
Anyhow, the first clip below from The Outlaw Josey Wales has Eastwood’s group of Southern (ie Missouri) partisans (without Clint, who holds back) surrendering to Senator James Lane’s Kansas ‘Red Legs’, the latter being Northern partisans and called such due to their distinctive red pants. Kansas Senator Lane and his Red Legs outfit was associated with the ‘woke’ progressives of their day, ie the radical Republicans of New England, the political and spiritual descendants of the same types who had conducted the (‘hang them all’!) Salem witch trials.
The Red Legs betray their promise of ‘decent treatment’ and simply decide to murder in cold blood all the now disarmed men who have surrendered. Senator Lane can be seen at the 2:10 mark telling the protesting Southern partisan leader that his men had indeed been decently treated, as in they had been ‘decently treated, decently fed, and decently shot’.
Clint’s character in this ahistorical scene sees the slaughter taking place, and belatedly tries to save the lives of his friends by taking out a good eighty or ninty of the primordial woketoids by turning their own weapons against them, but it’s far too little, far too late.
Sadly, in real life, just as the early woke progressives would enmasse commit suicide at Jonestown, so, too, would Senator Lane suicide after the war in July, 1866.
The murder in their hearts so many of the woke progressives carry towards their fellow man, then and now, unless excised from them in some fashion, has a way in time of turning inward upon themselves.
Clint’s character makes an agreement that his physical and cultural people (as so defined) in mutual respect will respect the boundaries and peoplehood (as similarly so defined) of the Indian tribe, and vice versa. No doubt many a woke progressive would deem such an arrangement ‘hate’ and try to destroy it.
But, wouldn’t it be the progressives that are the haters here?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Lane_(Union_general)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales
I stated many times that the Russians would sacrifice at least 250,000 men to keep Crimea. I think now that I underestimated their willingness to do so. The ante is now up to 350,000, by my reckoning.
Waiting for the Barbarians.
Cheers-Replies: @songbird, @Barbarossa, @LondonBob
If I am not mistaken, that film has been mentioned here before, but I have not seen it.
Eric Bogle (in the ’70s) wrote two pretty good WWI-themed songs: “The Green Fields of France” and “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”, though I am sure you must have already heard them.
Off the top of my head, my favorite antiwar song of any antiquity is “Arthur MacBride.” More rollicking than moving, and not exactly pacifistic:
I like songs that tell stories. But with the modern decline of culture, it seems like they are becoming rarer.
Waiting for the Barbarians.Replies: @AP
Looks like Russia keeps losing in Donbas. More Ukrainian breakthroughs, as pro-Russian sources admit:
Only a few weeks ago Russian fans were insisting that Ukraine was incapable of offensives.
I did think that the funniest thing about the whole story was the drone-like response of the school admin. responding to community outcry with some stock spiel about "inclusive and safe space for expression of gender blah blah blah". They have no brain, no values, and no idea of where or if a red line exists for divergent behavior. They are like pathetic robots who can do nothing but hopelessly bleat the same dogmatic formula.
The madness comes from the top, but is ultimately perpetuated the most enthusiastically by dimwit conformist middle managers with have had the common sense beaten out of them by the "education" system and replaced by slavish adherence to progressive dogma.Replies: @sher singh
Anyway, speaking of QAnon and and Pizzagate, etc - after Anne Heche died in mysterious circumstances after making a movie about a ring of sexual traffickers of children, I would say that they have a martyr now.
And we can see this after big events, where 'the system" came under attack. E.g 9/11.
Suddenly Bush had 90% approval, up from ~40%! This is because support for the system was now expressed as support for him.
Or we can see it in Zelenskyy's support going from 19% to near unanimous.
You can even see it in the conversations of the more ambitious Jan 6th rioters. They really did talk about 'insurgency", but they also expressed it as legitimate within the system.
In Russia, the system basically is Putin, and voicing disapproval is seen as revolutionary, which it takes a tremendous amount more to express disapproval. He is therefore considerably less popular than Biden, if you compare like with like.
And you can see this in the consent of the governed. Americans obey laws more readily, pay their full taxes more completely and generally show much lower levels of violence, despite facing far less punishment for disobedience.
Imagine had, on Jan 6th protestors stormed the Kremlin, and have been recorded talking of "insurgency". Would their punishment have been lighter, or much, much worse? Would only one have been shot?
But don't worry, your inability to understand this stuff is not limited to you. It is an old cliché that ungrateful immigrants from less developed countries want to pretend that things work better back home and so find themselves unable to make basic observations. Their ingratitude, of course, is their wounded vanity. People haven't treated them as the super special individual that they always thought they were. But, as I mentioned previously, you've grown to hate everywhere you've lived, for as long as you lived there, and there's only one constant.Replies: @Wokechoke
Your profiled attitudes certainly are a piece of work. Did you torture Afghans in Black sites or have operatives do it for you?
You are writing like mobilization in Russia is a Triumph of Western Strategery. Are you a Demon?
This is potentially ww1 or 1941 all over gain.
we are looking at 1914 or 1941 all over again.
1939 or 1941 were horrible. Preemptive capitulation for the sake of avoiding war would have been worse. Putin is at fault for invading and escalating. It can all end if he just takes his troops home.
Failure to remove the liberal regime in Kiev will inevitably lead to the illiberal regime in Moscow being removed.
I said 1914…or 1941…not 1939.
Cheers-Replies: @songbird, @Barbarossa, @LondonBob
Yeah, that movie is one of my favorites. I’m probably the one songbird is thinking of when he remembers someone bringing it up. It’s a really surreal, yet so poignant movie. The absurdity is of course the point in highlighting the greater absurdity of WW1.
Crimea and Donbas was 1938, now Putin has given us 1939.
https://twitter.com/CampariWithSoda/status/1572890855773732864?s=20Replies: @Barbarossa, @songbird, @Coconuts
It’s a bizarre circle jerk. When does parody of clown world (if that what he’s doing) become just perpetuation of clown world? I’m supportive of breaking the system, but it’s still messed up. Even if he is gaming the system it’s indistinguishable from the earnest freaks.
I did think that the funniest thing about the whole story was the drone-like response of the school admin. responding to community outcry with some stock spiel about “inclusive and safe space for expression of gender blah blah blah”. They have no brain, no values, and no idea of where or if a red line exists for divergent behavior. They are like pathetic robots who can do nothing but hopelessly bleat the same dogmatic formula.
The madness comes from the top, but is ultimately perpetuated the most enthusiastically by dimwit conformist middle managers with have had the common sense beaten out of them by the “education” system and replaced by slavish adherence to progressive dogma.
They keep this among themselves & away from minorities unless Conservative.Conservatives are liberal universalists.https://www.eurocanadians.ca/2022/09/canada-2041-50-million-people-half-immigrants.html
Looks like the war is in mop-up stage
They are mopping up whatever random minority from the outskirts of the empire that they can send to the front.
Yea I’m sure random men will do really well against experienced soldiers with advanced artillery.
Give them an AK and point them in the direction of the front. Genius idea.
And to think I was scolded by the Putin cheerleaders for being against this stupid war.
Was all about the Jews I was told. Send another 100k Whites to the grinder and I’m sure that will really stick it to Soros. He might even have to make another billion dollar investment.
Might as well light your money on fire, shoot yourself in the leg and yell TAKE THAT JEWS.
The population has been subject to de-facto ethnic cleansing, even before the reality that the outcome of the vote is known in advance.
Sounds just like New York and California, where anti-white racism ensures that the GOP can never hold the office of Governor or US Senator.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/complaints-about-russias-chaotic-mobilisation-grow-louder-2022-09-24/
looks like the next flag we will see on twitter profiles will be Free Buryats… the double think is impressive. Both Barbaric Mongols rape white pepo and nasty white Muscovites oppress poor Mongols.
When the CIA sponsor the breakaway Buryat Republic you’ll be cheering on the slaughter of whites around Lake Baikal.
You are really losing it.
Yea I'm sure some remote region of Mongols will be slaughtering Whites any day now.
Maybe all the Buddhists will lead the attack.Replies: @Wokechoke
Liberals have made it clear that they won’t tolerate a European country having an illiberal system. You are sucking up to liberalism which literally will rot the country you claim to defend from the inside.
Failure to remove the liberal regime in Kiev will inevitably lead to the illiberal regime in Moscow being removed.
No, Russian Mobilization occurred in 1914 and 1941. And now this in 2022.
We haven’t seen the Felons being mobilized to act in a Wild Weasel role and destroy the remainder of Ukraine’s Flankers.
Is it all to prevent diplomatic escalation and delivery of F-35? Delivery would still take time even if it used reflagged Western pilots.
Ground attack aircraft cannot survive even legacy air defense, and the US should immediately send its A-10s to become scrap and museum pieces. The F-15EX order should be cancelled.
When the CIA sponsor the breakaway Buryat Republic you’ll be cheering on the slaughter of whites around Lake Baikal.
You are really losing it.
Yea I’m sure some remote region of Mongols will be slaughtering Whites any day now.
Maybe all the Buddhists will lead the attack.
Given that no serious country, not even China, has recognised Russian rule over Crimea, we can be perfectly certain that none will recognise these comical “referenda” in the rest of Ukraine.
And this means that there’ll be no nukes.
If Putin couldn’t persuade Xi to recognise Crimea in the last 8 years, he most certainly isn’t going to be able to persuade him to recognise that it makes sense to launch nukes to “defend” Kherson, a region Putin doesn’t even fully control.
Furthermore, even after mobilisation, Russia’s pipeline of future troops, both fully-trained to conduct assaults, and the reservist infantry types to hold ground, is smaller than Ukraine’s. The momentum you see now is baked in for at least 6 months. There will be no change in the direction of the war and there is nothing Putin can do about it.
Were I Putin, when inputting the election totals to my spreadsheet for announcement on the news, I would make “joining Russia” lose everywhere but Donetsk and Luhansk. This would allow me to humbly recognise the vote, withdraw my troops to much more defensible lines where they started the war and negotiate hard for peace. Perhaps offering the $300 billion, and a bucketload of cheap gas, to buy those places.
I’m not saying it would work, but it might. Otherwise Russia will lose everything it started with. There’s nothing Putin can do, and refusing to recognise this fact will just see more dead Slavs on both sides of the war, especially the Russian, and pointless bloodshed on the way to Putin’s inevitable defeat.
For Bashibuzuk…
Because protectionism is not allowed within the EU, there is only one way – through sheer competitiveness. It’s not easy, but Lithuania, for example, has already succeeded in it to some extent (Lithuanian owned companies operating regionally and beyond), so it means it is possible. Of course, it’s not ideal, but currently this is all that’s available.
Btw, a lot of people don’t know there is a “Globalist Great Reset” taking place. Although they may be able to sense something by now…
There is a fintech revolution going on right now, so that is potentially one avenue (but again, it’s not easy and there will be concentration of capital that doesn’t favor us but at least it’s something that people can have some control over).
The ethnostate is also protecting the cultural identity as long as normal people run it (which is not always a given, ofc, once the woke replace the somewhat normal ones, it’s over). It is the job of the people themselves to protect the identity. One has to deliberately put both public and private resources into it. Where I see the importance of the state is in the protection of basic rights, legally, financially, etc. No other entity, except the nationstate and family, can protect a person (outside of the spiritual realm, I mean). For instance, the EU has a human rights court but it takes forever to get through to it, while if something were to happen to a person, their state would be readily available to protect them. Those kinds of protections need to be immediately available, and may not be as accessible in a larger, federal structure. And these things should not be decided by someone outside of those particular communities.
Again, this is something that is the responsibility of the people itself. The nation itself needs to choose to be viable. If not, then so be it. Others will replace it. (The future world without us promises to be pretty funny, so there’s that, too…). And, yes, it should also be the job of the state to facilitate this but then it would need to be a national socialist state. Show me one of those in Europe today. And, as we both know, today’s Russia is not that, despite of all the fascist posturing and fascist clampdowns. I already said in another thread – what good is it for a state to be fascist, if it can’t even guarantee the basic social needs of its people and make the people grow organically. Also, remember that our people like to be free and unencumbered so there would need to be a compromise between freedom and obligation. How do you then see an even bigger federal structure delivering this? Unless this federation is based on national socialist (or national democratic, if you will) principles.
Best would be to create some kind of a loosely coordinated confederation of like minded, genetically similar nations (your definition of this is broader than mine, you seem more ambitious, my goals are much more humble and regionally focused, lol). The EU, for instance, is already very closely knit. It works, but even the EU has to review its mechanisms to make them more efficient.
I agree. It will become the shiny city on the hill, enveloped in the aura of Ukrainian heroism. Location wise, well positioned. It has a metropolitan, big city vibe yet the presence of antiquity is felt very closely and it holds great meaning for Slavic people (as long as you guys don’t fight over who inherits it, the way the Holy City is fought over). You know what else I find interesting — how, e.g., in the States and Canada there is one administrative center and then there is the much bigger, more dynamic cultural and business center. Btw, for Intermarium we are looking at a North to South axis, not necessarily East – West. But all of it needs to be somehow incorporated.
This is an amazing idea and I applaud it. A Balto-Slav algorithm would just translate everything and it would simultaneously preserve the heritage (and I already know several of those languages, haha). Btw, it only takes a few months of learning for a Russian speaker to understand Ukrainian, so it’s easy. It would actually be easier than the EU (they have to provide translation for all languages). Btw, the EU boosts our smaller languages, and this is very good for us.
Yea, it does look a bit staged, but that might be for recruitment purposes. Certainly the videos of the logos in different places in Russia do not seem fake. I so wish they were real. If Russia doesn’t want them they should live with us.
Yea, I’m very curious about this. I know that many ethno-nationalists are in prison right now, they might eventually get released. But they are a small group.
And it’s obvious that Kadyrov is already prepping for the post-Putin world. He will have to go down with Putin though since they rely on each other so much.
OMG, it is so beautiful, the moment I laid my eyes on it, I was enamored with it and it immediately conjured up the images of true Russia in my mind. The pristine white is like the white of the birch bark and the azure is so deep and bright — like the Northern waters or on an icy lake with the Sun glistening over it.
Oh yea? Wow, I thought it was somehow related to the Serbian colors. You know, normally, I would find messing with the flag a bit objectionable (such as removing the red (“bloody”) stripe), I do not support the desecration of a flag. However, given the Russian behavior in Ukraine, I thought screw that, and I really like the white blue one anyway. It should be flying freely and proudly next to all of the Intermarium flags.
Yes, I understand this, of course. But as I said, it would have to be based on the right principles. It’s the principles and the will that matter above all, the political structure comes second to that.
I support Imperial Meritocracy, but wait till you get certain Asian groups or Armenians and such competing. Not to mention another well known nationality… they will quickly climb all over our children. And then try to boss our children around.
He’s a history major and a big city person, that city used to be an academic hub for history and military, afaik. Shame what is happening right now. I’m glad he survived and was able to hide out. It was the right thing to do (from his and his supporters’ pov). Now the whole crown of Azov is pretty much preserved, albeit a crown of bloody thorns. He was amicable towards the Russian ethno-nationalists (at least until February). He called them saratniks.
Yea, this has been a problem in the Baltic States, too. Anything having to do with ancient artifacts should be totally hands off. Or any history, for that matter.
I’m also worried about the Old Prussian heritage in Kaliningrad. And worried about Kaliningrad being isolated and alienated from the Baltic States in general. I know that they have done a good job maintaining an Old Prussian museum there for which I’m very grateful. And there have to be even more deposits in Russia itself.
Anyway, hope this is not too long. Enjoy the weekend. Keep the dreams alive. 😊
The deal is that I spent some time in the countries where people consider it normal to be rude. I could not get used to it.
One great Russian poet was killed in a duel for making a sarcastic remark concerning the other person. Remember?
I think duels should be legalized. How modern the equipment is should be put in the context. Since Ukraine does not have modern air defence even the outdated aircraft is good enough for the given situation.
This war does not require a lot of state of the art and brand new gear. Most of the howitzers the Russians are using are of the Soviet production but it does not make them less effective. Here is the page that gives estimates on this topic.
https://warsawinstitute.org/comparing-western-supplies-ukrainian-losses-war-russia/
And with regards to serious equipment according to these estimates Ukraine used to have and since has lost more than what it has now. Bear in mind that most of what has been given to them is obsolete and is not on a par with what has been lost. If a tank is imported and exported it will be prepared and tuned for the needs of the customer. If it is given as aid, having been used, than it will be given as is. Your comment implied that China can deliver some number of tanks to Russia as aid.
Therefore it would have all the designations in Chinese, and it is not all software but as well hardware. Understand that in order to make use of it there would have to be mechanics who know how to fix it and spare parts for them to do that. And a sufficient number of shells would have to be delivered as well.
And Russia does not need them whatsoever. Your video does not contain information regarding the number of the tanks that were being sent nor does it celebrate the fact of it as an important event. A regular report that another batch of the T-90s were going to the front line.
And a batch is an entire train. He said those were strategic goals and directions. It takes longer than a decade to accomplish those. And it was in 2009 – before Crimea, before Donbas and before the sanctions. Should it not be taken into account?
I am far from being a fan of Russia. I cannot accept it as it is and what it has turned into at all, but here I see mismanagement and error rather than lies. I do not think that his declaration was intended to deceive the people.Replies: @Dmitry
He used to speak responsibly, present accurate description of problems and vision of a country that would serve its population, where young people will have good jobs etc.
But you judge on the actions and results, not the words. I can talk about how I am going to build a bridge and we are going to travel safety across the bridge and continue our life. But then steal the money invested in the bridge, sell the metal parts, let the bridge collapse, shoot you after you fall in the water, etc.
Medvedev at least half-way believes his projects, although many were partly ways to cut the budget, sometimes in a different industry than promised (e.g. Innopolis cuts the budget more for construction managers than informatics ones).
But this is not less dangerous for the public to believe, than for the politicians who do not believe them. For example, Eisenhower has believed “Domino theory”. This doesn’t mean it is less dangerous for young Ron Kovic to believe “Domino theory”.
Yes, there are ten tanks in the train, each one was blessed. As for being an important event, it was very important news in Russia on television.
This video is from Uralvagonzavod YouTube. But in the Russian television, this parts of this video was one of the main news of the day in the country.
In Russian media, you have to not look at the literal statements, but at what they are trying to say to you. In the local media, the journalists are explaining that they are preparing for the mobilization, they are hiring the staff for this, they are preparing the reservists.
When Peskov says they are not considering full or partial mobilization in September 13, you know the reality was – they are considering it.
Before the war, Ukraine has T-64 tanks, D-30 howitzers, Igla manpads. Now their militarization includes M-777 howitzers, PzH 2000, thousands of Stinger manpads, Javelin ATGM.
Sure that Ukraine also receives a lot of obsolete equipment like old tanks from Poland and M113 APCs.
Ukraine is receiving air defense systems in the next months – “4 IRIS-T SLM Systems* [To be delivered]
8 NASAMS Batteries [To be delivered]” https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html
Some even younger than others, and it is not good for the literature fans, if you don’t think Lermontov would write something better after he was 27 years old, or Pushkin could not have a middle age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT8rb22SjUc
And what makes you think it was "very important" news? That topic is a regular feature on the Russian TV. You can google this: Russia 'can't make more' tanks because of this key sanction, Biden official says.
It was published on the 9th of May. Your video is from the 18th of May. The manager of the plant addresses that particular claim in the video. It was a refutal of that false claim that was being spread through the social networks at the time, which is obvious.
You need to be very biased to draw such a conclusion out of it.
From the Wikipedia entry on Uralvagonzavod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralvagonzavod The report on the Russian TV was a refutation of that.
The fact is Uralvagonzavod is not producing less now, but is producing more than ever before. So if the plant is working in three-shift regime now it is for sure not producing less than in 2008, and that was 10 T-90A per month back then. Preparing – of course. But that does not mean it was intended to begin mobilization in April. He said that at the moment – at the moment, and not in general – a mobilization was not being discussed. Was he supposed to announce it beforehand? You are biased, friend.
The Soviet Igla MANPADS is of the same age as the Stinger, but is superior in range and some other important parameters. The Stinger is a downgrade, not an upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
See the comparison chart.
Ukraine had about 350 of T-72 and 100 of T-80 tanks before the war, and 600 of modernized T-64s.
What does it have now instead?
You said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – 22 of them! And these are not better than what the Russians have. Ukraine had about 600 of self-propelled howitzers similar to some of these below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3orkL84sGIs
The M-777 howitzers are not an upgrade either. There is nothing special about them. Except for the NLAW and Javelins, and these HIMARS the stuff sent to Ukraine is mediocre and outdated.
I heard there have been a lot of sniper rifles given to them but I guess that these were sent along with snipers.
As for the MRLS before the war Ukraine had about 150 of Uragan and Smerch – the Soviet counterpart of the HIMARS. Do the 20 of the latter compensate the loss of most of the former?
Ukraine had 250 of the S-300. Now it is to be delivered – 12 machines of lesser range instead of those 200 of S-300 that have been destroyed. That is not modernization.
Not to mention that Ukraine has lost most of her aircraft. Ukraine had about 120 of the Mig-29, Su-24, Su-25 and Su-27. Now it has a few left.
It had 50 of the Mi-24 and 50 of the Mi-8 helicopters. Now it has 20 of the M-17.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine You and others need to stop fantasizing.
To be delivered are huge loads of the Russian shells and another 300 thousand troops, a lot of tanks and more planes. This winter Russia will begin a new phase of this war.
And Ukraine is going to lose.Replies: @Sean, @216, @Dmitry
I am sure that you know that the movie was based on the real life crippled Vet turned activist Ron Kovic so it wasn't a gratuitous "sex crippled Viet Vet" movie. I thought it spoke to how veterans are instant expendables once they have done their 'duty', and a nuisance if they require expensive repair work. This theme resonated with me ever since I read Robert Graves's Goodbye To All That.
If more people understood that when people are willing to give their most precious gift, a young life, for their country ( propaganda notwithstanding) but end up considered instant excrement if they return broken, physically or mentally, then jingoistic adventures on behalf of Mammon might not be so easily undertaken.
Added to which, I don't see how Stone using cocaine has anything to do with writing a screenplay unless the screenplay turns out to be incomprehensibly bad. I suppose that Hemingway and Mozart are also off limits to you seeing as most of their works were fueled by alcohol.
Cheers-Replies: @Dmitry
The director of this film Oliver Stone, was a combat soldier fighting in the Vietnam war for more than a year.
He made three films about the war. I’ve also seen “Platoon” which is more of the mix of the traditional Hollywood war film.
But the aggressive and intense emotions in those films seem very authentic.
It has a lot of very true parts. This general story about how vulnerable the utopia of his youth and suddenly falling into this reality.
Caucasian families are sometimes crying in the mobilization of reservists videos https://t.me/bazabazon/13360 Sometimes they were arguing.
In the small published samples of videos of Yakuts’ partial mobilization, it looked like this process is feeling quiet this week. It’s not known as a region with so much nationalist activity anyway.
https://t.me/bazabazon/13333
Those areas do not have any much recent history of anti-government or nationalist actions.
"David R. Shedd is former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.Ivana Stradner is an advisor to the Barish Center for Media Integrity at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.The fight for Ukraine will not just be won on the battlefield. For all the high-tech weaponry the West has delivered, psychological war against Russia remains a key opportunity for the United States.Historically, such an approach focused on selling Russians on the American dream. But this strategy is a relic of the Cold War, ill-suited to present-day Russia. Instead of pitching the benefits of Levi’s and Hollywood, U.S. information operations should use Russian nationalism to turn the tables on the Kremlin — highlighting the war’s damage to Russia, exposing government corruption and inequities inside Russia, and exploiting resentment among Russia’s ethnic minorities. These, dare we say, Russia-style tactics will bear more fruit than tales about the wonders of American democracy."Have you loaded the Buryat flag for your twitter profile yet, Fella?
I did think that the funniest thing about the whole story was the drone-like response of the school admin. responding to community outcry with some stock spiel about "inclusive and safe space for expression of gender blah blah blah". They have no brain, no values, and no idea of where or if a red line exists for divergent behavior. They are like pathetic robots who can do nothing but hopelessly bleat the same dogmatic formula.
The madness comes from the top, but is ultimately perpetuated the most enthusiastically by dimwit conformist middle managers with have had the common sense beaten out of them by the "education" system and replaced by slavish adherence to progressive dogma.Replies: @sher singh
Middle managers toe the line or face dismissal, blacklisting & mob at their door.
Smaller town Canadians are petty, vindictive & conformist.
They keep this among themselves & away from minorities unless Conservative.
Conservatives are liberal universalists.
https://www.eurocanadians.ca/2022/09/canada-2041-50-million-people-half-immigrants.html
I forgot to address one of your points…
There should be some reflexion. In the 90s there was an unfortunate combination of social and political factors that didn’t help. Right now it won’t be possible to have a relationship because of Ukraine, but once a new Russia emerges and once my people create a somewhat decent military and once we unite with Poland & Ukraine, we can reach out to those Russians who want to be amicable. The issues on our side can be mitigated with calm, but open conversations.
It’s a misconception that it is “historical trauma”. The problem is today. We hear everything that the likes of Solovyev say (along with his whole entourage). And we see what is dug out in Izyum. I saw the picture of Mykhailo Dianov yesterday, I can’t even describe what I felt. I hate to even bring it up with you because I know you do not approve of any of it.
On the other hand, when it comes to history, you do have a point, because there are some aspects that the Baltic people avoid facing. Hypothetically, some color can be added to the current narratives to show things in a more balanced light. Even without changing the narrative itself, you can still show it differently. There are quite a few examples of this. For instance, they don’t like to talk about how the mobilization into the German ranks during WW2 was actually illegal (historians talk about it but not the public that much). Also, how the Tsar provided some resources at the beginning of the 20th century to open our spas, so it was very much with the Tsar’s blessing that we could build up on that. And other histories that, if brought up, wouldn’t challenge the existing narratives, but could balance the overall picture, maybe open people’s minds a little. Not to mention episodes from the Russian history that could smash some of the stereotypes, such as, for instance, the Novocherkassk massacre, which happened as early as 1962 and which is not something that is widely known about in the Baltic States (although it should be).
If the Russian side gives up its entitlement, then it completely changes the whole equation. It removes a lot of the defensiveness. Of course, I can’t speak for everyone but when it comes to the Russian ethno-nationalists’ views (and, yes, they are a very small group), with them in particular there is nothing at all to argue about and their attitude is completely disarming. But they’re a small percentage of the Russian population.
Why is this important? Because it’s not just us, it’s practically everyone around Russia now. We have Forest Brothers and the Ukrainians have povstantsi, etc, etc. There are a lot of us now. Personally, I don’t want to lose those Russians who could potentially come to our side or who were already pretty much aligned with us to begin with.
And this means that there'll be no nukes.
If Putin couldn't persuade Xi to recognise Crimea in the last 8 years, he most certainly isn't going to be able to persuade him to recognise that it makes sense to launch nukes to "defend" Kherson, a region Putin doesn't even fully control.
Furthermore, even after mobilisation, Russia's pipeline of future troops, both fully-trained to conduct assaults, and the reservist infantry types to hold ground, is smaller than Ukraine's. The momentum you see now is baked in for at least 6 months. There will be no change in the direction of the war and there is nothing Putin can do about it.
Were I Putin, when inputting the election totals to my spreadsheet for announcement on the news, I would make "joining Russia" lose everywhere but Donetsk and Luhansk. This would allow me to humbly recognise the vote, withdraw my troops to much more defensible lines where they started the war and negotiate hard for peace. Perhaps offering the $300 billion, and a bucketload of cheap gas, to buy those places.
I'm not saying it would work, but it might. Otherwise Russia will lose everything it started with. There's nothing Putin can do, and refusing to recognise this fact will just see more dead Slavs on both sides of the war, especially the Russian, and pointless bloodshed on the way to Putin's inevitable defeat.Replies: @Sean
China cannot afford to have Russia cowed, because that would leave China immeasurably weaker when facing the might of America alone in any future confrontation. I think Xi would tell Putin ‘If you had to do it , then you had to do it’. Note the past tense because Putin is not going to ask Xi’s permission (and Xi would not want that because it would be a way for the US to blame him for the whole thing). I suspect some hints might be dropped but that is all.
Foreign recognition is unimportant to the Kremlin in this context because Putin’s intention is to condition Russians including those who would have to execute the order, that a battlefield use of thermonuclear weapon(s) might be appropriate. The decision for actual use would be entirely made by Russians in the Kremlin, and once in Russian law Donbass is incorporated into Russia proper, Putin will have a good rationale in his own country for halting a future Ukrainian offensive into Donbass with a theatre thermonuclear detonation. The objective for Putin in all these PR maneuverings is to get America to recognize that Putin means what he says, and if pushed further he’ll do what he claims.
Donetsk and Luhansk are not defensible in a sustainable way, because the same crucial logistic bottlenecks created on the east bank occupied Kherson by HIMARS strikes on railway bridges would be destroying all critical nodes of the Russian artillery’s logistics supply system, and so the ammunition is accumulating in railheads moved back out of HIMARS range where the truck cannot transport it quickly enough. Russian artillery is not fed properly any more, is being HARMed by US i radar emission homing missiles, and the Ukrainians have the Excalibur GSP guided shell which is pinpoint accurate . America’s NSA and DIA can see everything the Russian’s do in Ukraine where they are weak where they are not and put fires including HIMARS strikes in at will; this is the decisive advantage Ukraine now has.
There is discussion in Washington over whether to give Ukraine the Army Tactical Missile System, which would mean the Russian ammunition hubs would have to be moved back another hundred miles and truck borne ammunition transport would be still further attenuated. That would probably lead to a relatively swift Russian collapse under the weight of largely unanswered Ukrainian heavy howitzer fire. But America fears the Russian reaction and is angry about having to worry what Russia thinks, so the US has been warning Russia privately for weeks that they better not think they would solve a problem in Ukraine by thermonuclear means. Of course the Kremlin interprets that attribution and warning as a veiled threat, and are publicly pushing back by laying the groundwork for thermonuclear use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C8fB8p6crY
You are really losing it.
Yea I'm sure some remote region of Mongols will be slaughtering Whites any day now.
Maybe all the Buddhists will lead the attack.Replies: @Wokechoke
Give it a year.
This is from the pen of the DIA. It means in all practical terms encouraging slants to slaughter whites.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Here Be Dragon
https://t.me/bazabazon/13333 Those areas do not have any much recent history of anti-government or nationalist actions.Replies: @Wokechoke
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/07/waging-psychological-war-against-russia-00054995
“David R. Shedd is former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Ivana Stradner is an advisor to the Barish Center for Media Integrity at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The fight for Ukraine will not just be won on the battlefield. For all the high-tech weaponry the West has delivered, psychological war against Russia remains a key opportunity for the United States.
Historically, such an approach focused on selling Russians on the American dream. But this strategy is a relic of the Cold War, ill-suited to present-day Russia. Instead of pitching the benefits of Levi’s and Hollywood, U.S. information operations should use Russian nationalism to turn the tables on the Kremlin — highlighting the war’s damage to Russia, exposing government corruption and inequities inside Russia, and exploiting resentment among Russia’s ethnic minorities. These, dare we say, Russia-style tactics will bear more fruit than tales about the wonders of American democracy.”
Have you loaded the Buryat flag for your twitter profile yet, Fella?
“U.S. information operations should also seek to fuel anti-Kremlin grievances among Russia’s ethnic minority groups. Groups such as the Buryats, the Yakuts and the Chechens face consistent discrimination, while the state turns a blind eye. Meanwhile, during the war in Ukraine, the Russian army has recruited vastly higher rates of soldiers from minority groups than other groups, resulting in an elevated rate of minority casualties. This recruitment process represents the Kremlin’s continual exploitation of those living in poorer regions who lack employment opportunities. Putin already fears that ethnic minorities could form secessionist movements that divide Russia’s multiethnic society. As such, he has sought to impose his “power vertical” on these groups. For example, Moscow just stripped the head of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan of his title as president of the region, which had sought independence back in the 1990s. Washington should ensure every Tatar in Russia knows what they have lost and encourage them to fight for their rights.”
This is from the pen of the DIA. It means in all practical terms encouraging slants to slaughter whites.
The Borat news can be interpreted any way you wish. Try this. You know damn well they offered Georgia the moon to start some shit and they have decided it is a better idea to just wait and see. The Borats ain't gonna do diddly squat.
When they re-do Princess Bride in 2040 maybe the line will be Never get involved in a land war east of the Vistula River.Replies: @Wokechoke
The Chechens get the most of them. And the Chechens do not produce a thing except for more Chechens. That is ridiculous. The republic has been rebuilt and restored after the war and now there is no reason to continue flooding them with billions of $.
But at least these understand that without Russia their so-called republic is not going to survive even a decade, so the Chechens serve. And it has been with them like that the entire time since the conquest of the Caucasus. The Chechens are warriors who serve the state.
As long as the state appreciates them.
The neighboring republic of Dagestan is the same but those no not have a strong leader and are more criminalized. The Dagestanis do not feel the obligation to serve and have not made an attempt at being independent so there is a ticking bomb there for sure.
As for the rest of the minorities there is a problem with those who were part of the Golden Horde and were independent before the conquest of Siberia. Among them the Yakutians were the strongest. The rest of those of the Mongoloid race are the same as them.
There is a strong nationalist movement in Yakutia and it is growing.
Therefore I consider the best option for the Russian Federation would be to get rid of these republics – to dismantle the current federation and then form a new one, without those minorities. And not because I support ethnic nationalism but because that would be better for them.
And better for those minorities.
https://i.postimg.cc/X7KTFb9X/Ethnic-Russian-population-in-the-Russia.jpg
These regions in red and pink should be excluded from the new federation. Russia should instead create three new republics – East, West and Center. Since most of the national wealth is in the Center there should be founded a new capital. Yakutians should be forced to cede these islands in the north and transfer them to Russia.
The Russians should build port cities on all of these islands in the ocean and set up a trade route there. That would create a stable logistic chane and connect the East to the West. Such a federation would be a lot better than the one there is now.
An independent Yakutia would invite the Chinese and the latter would have a new prospect of expansion, and it would not be Russia. Let them take Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Yakutia. Russia should restore Socialism and form a long term alliance with China.
This is how I see it.Replies: @Dmitry
If China allow Russia to go down into the grave, they’ve got no friends left for the confrontation that’s looming with the US. I’m pretty sure their military know it.
Cheers-Replies: @songbird, @Barbarossa, @LondonBob
My great grandfather worked in an ammunition factory but all his five brothers served in the trenches during WWI, and they all enjoyed it. They were all coal miners so they already worked in a dirty and dangerous job, where death and injury were everyday occurrence. The opportunity to go abroad was also a factor, people didn’t travel then. The past sixty years or so is unique in that premature death and life changing illness have largely been eradicated, life is easy, previously it was hard and military service was an improvement for many.
Sounds just like New York and California, where anti-white racism ensures that the GOP can never hold the office of Governor or US Senator.Replies: @LondonBob
Partition and population transfers worked for Turkey and Greece, it will work for the Ukraine too, the pro Russian population can move south, the pro Ukrainian can move north. Homogenous nation states always brings forth peace and prosperity.
___There was plenty of land for two nation states in the 1922 Palestinian Mandate.
https://jewsdownunder.com/wp-content/uploads/mandate-for-palestine.png
Unfortunately, a non-viable border was randomly scribbled to avoid the necessary population transfers. The result is the ongoing Muslim occupation of Jewish Palestine. And, perpetual Islamic initiated violence by Muslim colonists.
___The French made a similar mistake dividing their Mandate.
https://i.redd.it/67pik40g2hm41.jpg
Better lines and population transfers could have formed a Lebanon with a permanent Christian majority. Lack of will and foresight has rendered Lebanon a failed state.Both Druze and Kurds could have established separate & stable nations.
___The Russian Orthodox population in Ukraine has a similar problem to Lebanese Christians and Palestinian Jews. All of the situations need to be fixed and a common approach will work across all three. Reasonable & defensible borders with compensated relocation to permanently cure the source of conflict. PEACE 😇
https://twitter.com/CampariWithSoda/status/1572890855773732864?s=20Replies: @Barbarossa, @songbird, @Coconuts
Haven’t really looked into the story too deeply, but I suspect that is just a /pol joke. Reminds me a bit of QAnon – the idea that good elements in the state are just on the cusp of purging the bad ones. Some of the trannies are false flags, trying to bring down the regime? I think that is why trannies and gays are so effective – normal men aren’t willing to fake it.
Anyway, speaking of QAnon and and Pizzagate, etc – after Anne Heche died in mysterious circumstances after making a movie about a ring of sexual traffickers of children, I would say that they have a martyr now.
This is from the pen of the DIA. It means in all practical terms encouraging slants to slaughter whites.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Here Be Dragon
When you are replying to yourself perhaps consider that a signal to take a break. : )
The Borat news can be interpreted any way you wish. Try this. You know damn well they offered Georgia the moon to start some shit and they have decided it is a better idea to just wait and see. The Borats ain’t gonna do diddly squat.
When they re-do Princess Bride in 2040 maybe the line will be Never get involved in a land war east of the Vistula River.
You are correct.
The key is creating a logical and effective border between populations with different ambitions. This could work in Ukraine.
___
There was plenty of land for two nation states in the 1922 Palestinian Mandate.
Unfortunately, a non-viable border was randomly scribbled to avoid the necessary population transfers. The result is the ongoing Muslim occupation of Jewish Palestine. And, perpetual Islamic initiated violence by Muslim colonists.
___
The French made a similar mistake dividing their Mandate.
Better lines and population transfers could have formed a Lebanon with a permanent Christian majority. Lack of will and foresight has rendered Lebanon a failed state.
Both Druze and Kurds could have established separate & stable nations.
___
The Russian Orthodox population in Ukraine has a similar problem to Lebanese Christians and Palestinian Jews. All of the situations need to be fixed and a common approach will work across all three. Reasonable & defensible borders with compensated relocation to permanently cure the source of conflict.
PEACE 😇
https://twitter.com/CampariWithSoda/status/1572890855773732864?s=20Replies: @Barbarossa, @songbird, @Coconuts
I was listening to the Spanish woman and something I was reading the other day came into mind… ‘the democratic spirit secretly venerates anarchy and predation and cannot escape their fascination’.
https://youtu.be/29bQrNPbGYI
I am very surprised that there is only one, very quiet, thread discussing today’s elections in Italy.
https://www.unz.com/ghood/italians-vote-in-crucial-election-on-sunday/
Meloni’s center right coalition looks to have a comfortable win. The authoritarian, far left EU is already panicking.
Italy is a huge economy with an unsolvable € denominated debt load. The ECB has been kicking the can down the road for some time now. However, this required a pliable EU puppet like Draghi. Meloni is going to fix the problem and hand the EU the bill.
PEACE 😇
Then there needs to be a judge who has the authority to make a ruling in disputes about whether the laws are truly being applied in a just and universal way.
And who can decide when to declare a state of exception, if some unexpected circumstances arise that threaten the integrity of the whole system of laws itself.
Then wars are fought to determine who gets to be the judge and who gets to declare the state of exception.
Funny you’d mention that. Just yesterday I watched the clip below, the very first minute of which very well illustrates this very point. There was a lot of good writing in the early years of that series.
The Borat news can be interpreted any way you wish. Try this. You know damn well they offered Georgia the moon to start some shit and they have decided it is a better idea to just wait and see. The Borats ain't gonna do diddly squat.
When they re-do Princess Bride in 2040 maybe the line will be Never get involved in a land war east of the Vistula River.Replies: @Wokechoke
I missed the timeout on the edit function! Was not intended as a reply to myself. Was obviously for Johnny Johnson. I thought it was important to show an excerpt from the pen of the former chief of the DIA in a mainstream publication. The Idea that the CIA or Pentagon is funding and encouraging and arming a Buryat Freedom Movement is not a figment of anyone’s imagination. It’s openly talked about by senior officials. There are around 500,000 in that single Oblast and various millions spread around Baikal.
https://youtu.be/DWnc-ZlIo5s
https://youtu.be/PdY-1u-rk_MReplies: @Wokechoke
Fed and clothed to a reasonable standard for Brits for the first time. The Germans however were stepping down from a comfortable lifestyle and safer working conditions.
I watched the Eric Weinstein Brian Keating interview (sort of while I was doing some mindless chores yesterday.)
1. Weinstein is stinking rich
2. He also is really smart
3. He is also really really lucky
4. He oozes human misery which is not easy to do onto a webcam
5. There are many possibilities
A. He is fat and ugly but this hardly seems sufficient
B. He is surrounded by millions of southern Californians which does not seem sufficient either
There is a transcript which you might maybe want to skim but probably prefer to skip.
Also he complains nobody has asked him about his Geometric Unity theory of everything. This is bullshit. He hasn’t even put his work onto the archive preprint server and I clicked on the “send me a copy in e-mail” widget on his webpage and gave him my e-mail and never got a response. Liars who complain about dishonesty get zero sympathy from me.
As you allude, it’s not at all likely China will ‘abandon’ Russia. They’ve been probably working together behind the scenes for a long time.
At least that’s what Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn alleged, and I tend to believe him.
According to Golitsyn, when the time was right, Russia and China will give up any pretense of a division existing between them (a division allegedly having been in place, more or less, since the ‘Sino-Soviet split’ circa 1960), and form ‘one clenched fist’ to strike.
You know, kind of like how the United States and United Kingdom gave up any pretense of any split existing between them (at least officially) since 1776 with their formation of the ‘special relationship’ circa 1900, and have ever since been ‘one clenched fist’ towards the world in their initiation of now three world wars.
https://archive.org/details/GolitsynAnatoleTheNewLiesForOldOnes/page/n337/mode/2up
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoliy_Golitsyn
Haven’t seen this Woman King movie which seems to be historically inaccurate, and possibly inflammatory.
But I will give it points for promoting the HBD idea that the sex differences between Africans aren’t as profound, as well, by inference, that the Greek myth about Amazons may have had its distant origin in tales told by Phoenician explorers, who had made it to that area.
I don’t think many pro-Ukrainians even took part in that referendum so perhaps the official results were not so far off but yes, I’m sure they embellished them, just as they insisted that the little green men were not Russian soldiers. They just can’t help it, it seems.
This is from the pen of the DIA. It means in all practical terms encouraging slants to slaughter whites.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Here Be Dragon
I have been telling people for a long time – Russia requires a number of strategic changes, and one of the most important is restructuring of the current federation. These Asiatic minorities are not being discriminated. Quite the opposite – the Russians are financing them.
The Chechens get the most of them. And the Chechens do not produce a thing except for more Chechens. That is ridiculous. The republic has been rebuilt and restored after the war and now there is no reason to continue flooding them with billions of $.
But at least these understand that without Russia their so-called republic is not going to survive even a decade, so the Chechens serve. And it has been with them like that the entire time since the conquest of the Caucasus. The Chechens are warriors who serve the state.
As long as the state appreciates them.
The neighboring republic of Dagestan is the same but those no not have a strong leader and are more criminalized. The Dagestanis do not feel the obligation to serve and have not made an attempt at being independent so there is a ticking bomb there for sure.
As for the rest of the minorities there is a problem with those who were part of the Golden Horde and were independent before the conquest of Siberia. Among them the Yakutians were the strongest. The rest of those of the Mongoloid race are the same as them.
There is a strong nationalist movement in Yakutia and it is growing.
Therefore I consider the best option for the Russian Federation would be to get rid of these republics – to dismantle the current federation and then form a new one, without those minorities. And not because I support ethnic nationalism but because that would be better for them.
And better for those minorities.
These regions in red and pink should be excluded from the new federation. Russia should instead create three new republics – East, West and Center. Since most of the national wealth is in the Center there should be founded a new capital. Yakutians should be forced to cede these islands in the north and transfer them to Russia.
The Russians should build port cities on all of these islands in the ocean and set up a trade route there. That would create a stable logistic chane and connect the East to the West. Such a federation would be a lot better than the one there is now.
An independent Yakutia would invite the Chinese and the latter would have a new prospect of expansion, and it would not be Russia. Let them take Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Yakutia. Russia should restore Socialism and form a long term alliance with China.
This is how I see it.
The Chechens get the most of them. And the Chechens do not produce a thing except for more Chechens. That is ridiculous. The republic has been rebuilt and restored after the war and now there is no reason to continue flooding them with billions of $.
But at least these understand that without Russia their so-called republic is not going to survive even a decade, so the Chechens serve. And it has been with them like that the entire time since the conquest of the Caucasus. The Chechens are warriors who serve the state.
As long as the state appreciates them.
The neighboring republic of Dagestan is the same but those no not have a strong leader and are more criminalized. The Dagestanis do not feel the obligation to serve and have not made an attempt at being independent so there is a ticking bomb there for sure.
As for the rest of the minorities there is a problem with those who were part of the Golden Horde and were independent before the conquest of Siberia. Among them the Yakutians were the strongest. The rest of those of the Mongoloid race are the same as them.
There is a strong nationalist movement in Yakutia and it is growing.
Therefore I consider the best option for the Russian Federation would be to get rid of these republics – to dismantle the current federation and then form a new one, without those minorities. And not because I support ethnic nationalism but because that would be better for them.
And better for those minorities.
https://i.postimg.cc/X7KTFb9X/Ethnic-Russian-population-in-the-Russia.jpg
These regions in red and pink should be excluded from the new federation. Russia should instead create three new republics – East, West and Center. Since most of the national wealth is in the Center there should be founded a new capital. Yakutians should be forced to cede these islands in the north and transfer them to Russia.
The Russians should build port cities on all of these islands in the ocean and set up a trade route there. That would create a stable logistic chane and connect the East to the West. Such a federation would be a lot better than the one there is now.
An independent Yakutia would invite the Chinese and the latter would have a new prospect of expansion, and it would not be Russia. Let them take Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Yakutia. Russia should restore Socialism and form a long term alliance with China.
This is how I see it.Replies: @Dmitry
Yakutia is extremely wealthy in terms of the resources. There is the world’s largest diamond mining company, the largest uranium, some of the most important gas, the largest coal mine in Russia. For this reason, they will not have independence.
China wants resources, not land. They don’t need the land where there is resource extraction, but they want to trade for those resources that have been extracted. The gas for the “Power of Siberia” pipe to China is from the field in Yakutia. China doesn’t need this land, but they want to pay to Russia for the gas supply by this pipe, both diplomatically and financially.
The Russians will not clone Stalin.
As for Yakutia there are some resources but not so much. Losing it would not make Russia less rich.
https://i.postimg.cc/mDjBS8ZM/Russian-Oil-Basins.jpg
Most of the oil is in West Siberia. A lot more than there is in Yakutia, a lot more. And so most of the gas is in West Siberia. Yakutia does not have much. Though it does have enough to feed itself, which is good.
https://i.postimg.cc/B6QdJssL/Natural-gas-reserves-in-Russia.png
An independent Yakutia would be dependent on Russia so it would not be hard for the Russians to make an alliance with them. At the same time such a reform would remove the question of separatism forever and allow both nations to build a healthier and safer state to live in. China does not want land now. Right now. But in 50 years it will need it, not want it. The Russians need to think about that. Plan for 50 years ahead, the same as China does it.
But alas, the Russians are stupid. They have everything they need, but other nations achieve a lot more having a lot less.
Unless you have a reading comprehension problem you should understand: “5 to 15% of people vote for who they think will win” – obviously that leaves 85-95% who are not swayed by it. More than enough for your 21%.
We don’t know that they oppose it. Some data will come from the referendum (turnout…) and we have the previous elections and census. You make sweeping assertions based on exiles who left the region – all exiles are by definition the least representative and reliable source, the same is true about the ones who went to Russia.
It is probably a continuum: in Donbas 80-90% want to join Russia, in Kherson maybe 60-70%, possibly less. By Western standards 50%+1 is enough. I would remind you that there was no referendum in Kosovo and it was all based on Nato power. If the West enthusiastically supported a war to separate Kosovo they cannot now object when the Russians living in Ukraine do the same.
You can hallucinate about Sudetenland and Danzig all you want – it is ancient history that is not very applicable. What matters is that Nato explicitly stated in Kosovo that a minority group has a right to separate and then used extreme force to maker it happen. There is no way they can walk away from it now.
For that to be true, every Yanukovich voter plus even some Tymoshenko voters in 2012 were Russian nationalists who wanted Kherson to be annexed by Russia.
More to the point, our former host posted poll results from April 2014, before the pro-Westerners had consolidated their rule in Ukraine, about how people would react if Russia tried to annex their territories:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/why-belarus-isnt-ukraine/
https://i.imgur.com/hAMsKv4.png
Summary from our former host: "Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. "
Combine this, with every election result, and there is no evidence for majority support for Russian annexation in Kherson. Again, Kosovo was 90% Albanian. A majority did not want to be part of Serbia. This was an illegal act, but one that reflected the will of the majority of the residents in the area affected.
Crimea was more like Kosovo; the majority is smaller, but it was still a majority. An illegal act that reflected the will of the majority of the people affected.
Kherson is very different: grabbing and annexing territory against the will of the majority of the population. This hasn't happened in Europe since World War II.Replies: @Sean, @Beckow
Precisely: the war is the judge. In Middle Ages it was explicitly accepted: the winner had the divine blessing. We haven’t advanced much beyond that. The West has reaffirmed this rule again and again in the last generation. So it will be settled by force.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/661318913421869086/985711453359185920/Akaaall.png
Also, might turn into important case: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article266293056.html
American morale is breaking, and its good to see.
ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕਾਖਾਲਸਾਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕੀਫਤਿਹ
There is a caveat, the supporters of liberal pacification are entitled to wage war on anyone judged to be threatening it.
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-196/#comment-5563313
The general point is correct but I think you make too much of names. The map is not the territory and the word "Ukraine" with its recent usage does not a confer a magical recentness to the people using that name. What matters are culture (customs, religion, and including language) and descent. Whether these people call themselves Rusnaks or Ukrainians is irrelevant, if they have the same language, culture and blood they are the same ethnos as their ancestors.
So the French are not the Franks, who are not Gauls. But whenever the Franks mass adopted the local version of Latin, then France was born. Likewise England in the true sense began after the Norman invasion.
So Ukraine did not begin 200 years ago when the word "Ukrainian" began to be widely adopted but around 1400-1500 when the Rus of what is now Ukraine fused with the Poles.
These Rus from Ukraine already spoke a recognizable Ukrainian language back then, they just called it Rusyn or Little Russian. They did not become a new ethnos when they changed their name.
Here are excerpts from an "intermedia" written in 1619, the playwright Mitrophan Dovhalevsky wrote most of his work in Polish but used vernacular Rusyn for comedic breaks. It's a ot like modern Ukrainian. An example:
Климко: Що ты тутъ, побратиме, собі порабляешь?
Кажи мені, як живешь, та якъ ся маешь?
Стецько: Я тут не роблю ничого. Ось иду до дому свого
Та и зъ тоіеми горшками, якъ зъ своими сусідами.
About 40 of these intermedia have been preserved.
(the original link no longer works but my transcription is preserved in the Unz archives)
And these Rus from Ukraine who spoke a Ukrainian language also recognized that Muscovites were a foreign people. hey recognized this from the 1400s.
Starting from the 1440s the Volhynian Chronicle for example described territory of Grand Duchy of Lithuania as “all the Rus lands” and Russia as Muscovy. In a list of different lands, Muscovia was categorized alongside Bulgaria and Moldavia as Orthodox, but not Rus. The Battle of Orsha (1517) was described in the Volhynian Chronicle as a battle of Lithuanians and Rus against Muscovites. Very partially. They belonged to the Polish cultural sphere so they practiced Sarmatism which meant adopting aspects of Turkish dress. But they were overwhelmingly Slavic. Look through the biographies (wiki is convenient). The Cossack officers were mostly Rus petty gentry (though
the Sitch was founded by a Rurikid prince) and the rank and file were typically escaped Slavic serfs. Yes, occasional Scottish or Romanian adventurers joined them, but those were rare exceptions. But Russians claim that Volodymyr was a Russian, which is equivalent.Replies: @PetrOldSack
Thanks
Yes, but it won’t take 4 years. My guess is either 6 to 9 months, or possibly 30 minutes.
Not as all encompassing as WW I or WW II, but correct as to the general direction. The best solution at this late date is an armistice. We are headed into Winter which will metaphorically, and to a certain weather extent, freeze the lines. There is every reason to believe that Putin would accept an armistice. Thus, the problem is with Zelensky.
Continuing this fight benefits neither the people of Ukraine, nor the people of Russia. Zelensky has to see that the Globalists forces funding his aggression are losing to Populists. The commitment of cash and arms is drying up. The longer he waits, the harder the outcome will be on the Ukrainian people.
When Kiev obtain new, more reasonable, leadership?
PEACE 😇Replies: @Wokechoke, @216
Following through on the Minsk agreements might have worked. At a minimum, it would have brought a generation of de-escalation. The European WEF pushed Poroshenko then Zelensky stupidity. A decade of Kiev regime aggression against the Russian Orthodox in the East generated a response. Now things are worse.
Not as all encompassing as WW I or WW II, but correct as to the general direction. The best solution at this late date is an armistice. We are headed into Winter which will metaphorically, and to a certain weather extent, freeze the lines. There is every reason to believe that Putin would accept an armistice. Thus, the problem is with Zelensky.
Continuing this fight benefits neither the people of Ukraine, nor the people of Russia. Zelensky has to see that the Globalists forces funding his aggression are losing to Populists. The commitment of cash and arms is drying up. The longer he waits, the harder the outcome will be on the Ukrainian people.
When Kiev obtain new, more reasonable, leadership?
PEACE 😇
Russia was demanding extraterritorial authority over the Donbass, while conceding nothing to Ukraine and the West. We don't know the results of a "free and fair" election to determine what the residents want, and it is arguably impossible to hold a vote today. And we don't know if a "free and fair" election in Russia would result in President Navalny and EU membership, even though its plausible that such an outcome could happen.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @AnonfromTN
Not as all encompassing as WW I or WW II, but correct as to the general direction. The best solution at this late date is an armistice. We are headed into Winter which will metaphorically, and to a certain weather extent, freeze the lines. There is every reason to believe that Putin would accept an armistice. Thus, the problem is with Zelensky.
Continuing this fight benefits neither the people of Ukraine, nor the people of Russia. Zelensky has to see that the Globalists forces funding his aggression are losing to Populists. The commitment of cash and arms is drying up. The longer he waits, the harder the outcome will be on the Ukrainian people.
When Kiev obtain new, more reasonable, leadership?
PEACE 😇Replies: @Wokechoke, @216
It was funny when one of those British generals was yapping about this being 1936-1938 moment…It’s well past that.
At least not without a fight sponsored by Uncle Schlomo.
Sure that Ukraine also receives a lot of obsolete equipment like old tanks from Poland and M113 APCs. Ukraine is receiving air defense systems in the next months - "4 IRIS-T SLM Systems* [To be delivered]
8 NASAMS Batteries [To be delivered]" https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html Some even younger than others, and it is not good for the literature fans, if you don't think Lermontov would write something better after he was 27 years old, or Pushkin could not have a middle age.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Have you never seen a military freight train? There are not ten but more like a hundred carriages in it. You got it confused with a service train of the internal railroad of the plant.
And what makes you think it was “very important” news? That topic is a regular feature on the Russian TV.
You can google this: Russia ‘can’t make more’ tanks because of this key sanction, Biden official says.
It was published on the 9th of May. Your video is from the 18th of May. The manager of the plant addresses that particular claim in the video. It was a refutal of that false claim that was being spread through the social networks at the time, which is obvious.
You need to be very biased to draw such a conclusion out of it.
From the Wikipedia entry on Uralvagonzavod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralvagonzavod
The report on the Russian TV was a refutation of that.
The fact is Uralvagonzavod is not producing less now, but is producing more than ever before.
So if the plant is working in three-shift regime now it is for sure not producing less than in 2008, and that was 10 T-90A per month back then.
Preparing – of course. But that does not mean it was intended to begin mobilization in April.
He said that at the moment – at the moment, and not in general – a mobilization was not being discussed. Was he supposed to announce it beforehand?
You are biased, friend.
The Soviet Igla MANPADS is of the same age as the Stinger, but is superior in range and some other important parameters. The Stinger is a downgrade, not an upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
See the comparison chart.
Ukraine had about 350 of T-72 and 100 of T-80 tanks before the war, and 600 of modernized T-64s.
What does it have now instead?
You said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – 22 of them! And these are not better than what the Russians have. Ukraine had about 600 of self-propelled howitzers similar to some of these below.
The M-777 howitzers are not an upgrade either. There is nothing special about them. Except for the NLAW and Javelins, and these HIMARS the stuff sent to Ukraine is mediocre and outdated.
I heard there have been a lot of sniper rifles given to them but I guess that these were sent along with snipers.
As for the MRLS before the war Ukraine had about 150 of Uragan and Smerch – the Soviet counterpart of the HIMARS. Do the 20 of the latter compensate the loss of most of the former?
Ukraine had 250 of the S-300. Now it is to be delivered – 12 machines of lesser range instead of those 200 of S-300 that have been destroyed. That is not modernization.
Not to mention that Ukraine has lost most of her aircraft. Ukraine had about 120 of the Mig-29, Su-24, Su-25 and Su-27. Now it has a few left.
It had 50 of the Mi-24 and 50 of the Mi-8 helicopters. Now it has 20 of the M-17.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine
You and others need to stop fantasizing.
To be delivered are huge loads of the Russian shells and another 300 thousand troops, a lot of tanks and more planes. This winter Russia will begin a new phase of this war.
And Ukraine is going to lose.
The 50 mile range of the particular HIMARS rockets currently sent to Ukraine is when given precise location of targets like artillery supply hubs (which Ukraine is being given because US electronic, optical satellite an spy plane surveillance is omnipresent in Ukraine) hit it with GPS guided accuracy and by forcing the artillery dumps back out of range has halved Russia artillery fire. If Russia does very well Ukraine would just be given the getting the Army Tactical Missile System, which would mean the Russian ammunition hubs would have to be moved back another hundred miles.
Ukraine's resources are limited in an counter intuitive way because the worse Ukraine does in this war, the more they will be given in order to keep them in the fight. It is not a zero sum game between Ukraine and Russian inasmuch the aim of America is to keep Ukraine fighting and attriting Russia; Ukraine and its population's fate is an incident not an end, therefore Ukraine and Russia can lose, or both win a pyrrhic victoryReplies: @Here Be Dragon
Also, might turn into important case: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article266293056.html
American morale is breaking, and its good to see.
ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕਾਖਾਲਸਾਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕੀਫਤਿਹ
Kiev regime threatened lengthy jail terms to anyone participating in the referendums in Donbass, Kherson, and Zaprozye regions. So, it ensured clear self-selection among potential participants.
BTW, many Western people do not appreciate an important aspect of current events: one achievement of rabid Western propaganda is that Russian authorities no longer give a hoot what the propaganda of “unfriendly countries” (using their term) says. The USSR never achieved this point.
The Norwegians are the top. This one is engineered to find the remnants of Atlantis:
https://www.ship-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2018/05/1l-image-Kronprins-Haakon.jpgReplies: @Here Be Dragon
Are you a Norwegian?
You must be, otherwise I cannot imagine what else could make you say that. A total nonsense!
Norwegians cannot build a ship, not even a mediocre one. They are lazy, stupid and depraved nation of faggots and lesbians, who do not work.
All of their navy ships and submarines were built either in Germany or in Spain, whereas the Russians build the largest nuclear powered stealth submarines and icebreakers on their own.
There has been just one thing that the Norwegians have created on their own: Black metal.
Check it out!
They have degenerated to the point on no return. The Russians should annihilate them.
The Yakutians will not have independence because the Russians have no leader who can understand the situation as I see it, and even if there was such a leader he would have to be of steel character to accomplish such a task. And considering the current situation the best option the Russians have is to clone Stalin.
The Russians will not clone Stalin.
As for Yakutia there are some resources but not so much. Losing it would not make Russia less rich.
Most of the oil is in West Siberia. A lot more than there is in Yakutia, a lot more. And so most of the gas is in West Siberia. Yakutia does not have much. Though it does have enough to feed itself, which is good.
An independent Yakutia would be dependent on Russia so it would not be hard for the Russians to make an alliance with them. At the same time such a reform would remove the question of separatism forever and allow both nations to build a healthier and safer state to live in.
China does not want land now. Right now. But in 50 years it will need it, not want it. The Russians need to think about that. Plan for 50 years ahead, the same as China does it.
But alas, the Russians are stupid. They have everything they need, but other nations achieve a lot more having a lot less.
Saw a post on the American defeat of Iraq in 21 days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT8rb22SjUc
And what makes you think it was "very important" news? That topic is a regular feature on the Russian TV. You can google this: Russia 'can't make more' tanks because of this key sanction, Biden official says.
It was published on the 9th of May. Your video is from the 18th of May. The manager of the plant addresses that particular claim in the video. It was a refutal of that false claim that was being spread through the social networks at the time, which is obvious.
You need to be very biased to draw such a conclusion out of it.
From the Wikipedia entry on Uralvagonzavod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralvagonzavod The report on the Russian TV was a refutation of that.
The fact is Uralvagonzavod is not producing less now, but is producing more than ever before. So if the plant is working in three-shift regime now it is for sure not producing less than in 2008, and that was 10 T-90A per month back then. Preparing – of course. But that does not mean it was intended to begin mobilization in April. He said that at the moment – at the moment, and not in general – a mobilization was not being discussed. Was he supposed to announce it beforehand? You are biased, friend.
The Soviet Igla MANPADS is of the same age as the Stinger, but is superior in range and some other important parameters. The Stinger is a downgrade, not an upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
See the comparison chart.
Ukraine had about 350 of T-72 and 100 of T-80 tanks before the war, and 600 of modernized T-64s.
What does it have now instead?
You said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – 22 of them! And these are not better than what the Russians have. Ukraine had about 600 of self-propelled howitzers similar to some of these below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3orkL84sGIs
The M-777 howitzers are not an upgrade either. There is nothing special about them. Except for the NLAW and Javelins, and these HIMARS the stuff sent to Ukraine is mediocre and outdated.
I heard there have been a lot of sniper rifles given to them but I guess that these were sent along with snipers.
As for the MRLS before the war Ukraine had about 150 of Uragan and Smerch – the Soviet counterpart of the HIMARS. Do the 20 of the latter compensate the loss of most of the former?
Ukraine had 250 of the S-300. Now it is to be delivered – 12 machines of lesser range instead of those 200 of S-300 that have been destroyed. That is not modernization.
Not to mention that Ukraine has lost most of her aircraft. Ukraine had about 120 of the Mig-29, Su-24, Su-25 and Su-27. Now it has a few left.
It had 50 of the Mi-24 and 50 of the Mi-8 helicopters. Now it has 20 of the M-17.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine You and others need to stop fantasizing.
To be delivered are huge loads of the Russian shells and another 300 thousand troops, a lot of tanks and more planes. This winter Russia will begin a new phase of this war.
And Ukraine is going to lose.Replies: @Sean, @216, @Dmitry
They already have lost by rejecting what was on offer in 2019, which everyone including the US was on board with, but Zelensky caved in to nationalists and by August 2001 he was telling the Donbass population of Russian ethnicity to leave the Ukraine for Russia if they felt so Russian.
Ukraine is inexorably being given more and more firepower, some of it GPS guided like the Excalibur shell that is pinpoint accurate out to 25 miles. Other artillery ammunition already given included shells that each the disperse multiple anti tank mines As far we have been told those that each scatter anti personal mines with several automatically deployed tripwires have not been sent, but they will if a Russia starts to get momentum in an offensive operation.
The 50 mile range of the particular HIMARS rockets currently sent to Ukraine is when given precise location of targets like artillery supply hubs (which Ukraine is being given because US electronic, optical satellite an spy plane surveillance is omnipresent in Ukraine) hit it with GPS guided accuracy and by forcing the artillery dumps back out of range has halved Russia artillery fire. If Russia does very well Ukraine would just be given the getting the Army Tactical Missile System, which would mean the Russian ammunition hubs would have to be moved back another hundred miles.
Ukraine’s resources are limited in an counter intuitive way because the worse Ukraine does in this war, the more they will be given in order to keep them in the fight. It is not a zero sum game between Ukraine and Russian inasmuch the aim of America is to keep Ukraine fighting and attriting Russia; Ukraine and its population’s fate is an incident not an end, therefore Ukraine and Russia can lose, or both win a pyrrhic victory
https://i.postimg.cc/3x8c45nC/British-Army-Alvis-Stormer-fitted-with-Shielder-Volcano.jpg
NATO forces do have machines such as the M136 Volcano. These provide an automated mine dispersion of anti-tank mines and allow to set up a mine field in seconds, but the range of it is 500 m at most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HrjrFCqxa0
And the Russian forces are using machines such as UR-77 Meteorit that are capable of making a passage through a mine field in a minute or two.These are used in the urban environment as well and not for mine sweeping alone but as a weapon against personnel. Dumbass!Even a complete moron is supposed to understand that 50 km more or 50 less of the distance does not affect the rate of fire of artillery batteries whatsoever. It cannot affect it except for making one spend a little more fuel to deliver the shells to the front line. Russia has sent 6 reconnaissance satellites onto the high orbit in 2022, and another 4 are going to be sent during the next two months. 20 satellites had been sent during 2020-21. Altogether the Russians have 160 satellites on the orbit.Russia has advanced – perhaps even the best – radar equipment, and excellent if not the best reconnaissance planes, such as Beriev A-50.
https://i.postimg.cc/kg2D3yHQ/Beriev-A-100.jpg
40 of them. And it has a couple of the latest model A-100 which is even better. These planes are at least on a par with the American ones.One thing that Russia is lagging behind is drones, but I guess the real advantage that Ukraine has with regards to reconnaissance is people. There are a lot of people on the territories that Russia has taken who work for Ukraine.That is how Ukraine is gettin her intel. And where would the Ukrainian ammunition hubs have to be moved?The Russians have better missiles. Surface-to-surface, air-to-surface and what not. You are under the wrong impression that Russia is a backward nation.Replies: @Johnny Rico, @Sean
Boring stupid narrative belied by the fact that China doesn’t even recognise Crimea as Russia.
Reality is more reality than the geopolitical fanfic you tell yourself.
Yes, all of your assumptions about how things work are wrong.
I can explain why and how if you like, but honestly it is so tiresome dealing with eunuch’s power fantasies.
At least you’re not as completely idiotic as WokeChoke, or as bitter as Beckow, or deranged as Gerard, or gone all loony like AK, it whatever the hell is wrong with Mikhail and the sociopathic “Dissident Right” but the fact, again stated, is that China doesn’t recognise Crimea as Russia, so it most certainly isn’t going to recognise Kherson, nor support nukes over Ukraine.
No one is. Because that’s insane.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.politico.eu/article/return-crimea-turkey-president-erdogan-putin-russia/Replies: @AnonfromTN
Kherson might be the least pro-Russian of the southern regions but it is notable prominent Kherson politicians including Vladimir Saldo and the recently departed Aleksey Kovalev and Alexei Zhuravko support seceding to Russia.
The Kherson-born Vladimir Zhabotinsky (AKA Ze’ev Jabotinsky) said “We are a people as all other peoples; we do not have any intentions to be better than the rest We do not have to account to anybody, we are not to sit for anybody’s examination and nobody is old enough to call on us to answer. We came before them and will leave after them. We are what we are, we are good for ourselves, we will not change, nor do we want to.”
Machiavelli said “I conclude therefore that, fortune being changeful and mankind steadfast in their ways, so long as the two are in agreement men are successful, but unsuccessful when they fall out. For my part I consider that it is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be mastered by the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly. She is, therefore, always, woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are less cautious, more violent, and with more audacity”.
Kiev born Asher Ginsberg said the wise ponder carefully on the advantages of any course of action’s drawbacks, and move only when they can see what the result of their action will be; but while they are deep in thought, the men with self-confidence ‘come and see and conquer.’ He was an important pre-state Zionist thinker and the founder of cultural Zionism.
Erdogan also does not recognize the claim: (1)
Putin’s obvious counter — Erdogan must return all land that Turkey has occupied, including Northern Cyprus.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.politico.eu/article/return-crimea-turkey-president-erdogan-putin-russia/
https://www.unz.com/ghood/italians-vote-in-crucial-election-on-sunday/
Meloni's center right coalition looks to have a comfortable win. The authoritarian, far left EU is already panicking.
Italy is a huge economy with an unsolvable € denominated debt load. The ECB has been kicking the can down the road for some time now. However, this required a pliable EU puppet like Draghi. Meloni is going to fix the problem and hand the EU the bill.
PEACE 😇Replies: @A123
The first round of exit polls are in. Even The Guardian is admitting that Meloni coalition has won.
I placed a larger update in the thread linked above.
PEACE 😇
As we all could see, RF had difficulties supplying and equiping properly even those mobilized several tens of thousands LDNR troops, but now on top of that, panicked after Kharkov Kremlins, are quickly adding hundreds of thousands new troops at the start of rainy seasons and colds, so results might be not that impressive as they may seem on paper at the high desks.
Cause strictly on paper this new mobilization should be enough to surround and take at least Slavyansk/Kramatorsk without that much bloody hassle, but majority of RF regular army forces+LDNR mobilized conscripts on paper at 02.24 also should have been absolutely enough to take and be able to keep way more than just Kherson and half of Lugansk and Zaporozhe oblast as it happened in reality over the course of half year.
In short – results may vary.
/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/xov88y/russian_mobilized_men_are_asked_to_buy_pads_and/
Philadelphia — City of Brotherly Love
Umm… Love…. Hmmmm….
PEACE 😇
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.politico.eu/article/return-crimea-turkey-president-erdogan-putin-russia/Replies: @AnonfromTN
It’s amazing how slow on the uptake some Western people are. The lines are drawn, all pretense and subtlety is gone, RF clearly sees who are the enemy and who are not. The RF leadership couldn’t care less who outside of the country recognizes what. The empire and all its vassals did not recognize Crimea, but this did not make it less of the RF subject. The RF leadership only cares what the people living on those territories recognize. They do no give a hoot about the opinions of the US and any of its sidekicks, including the EU, the UK, or the Republic of Palau. I know that it’s hard to accept for those who like to teach others, but is it so hard to understand?
https://www.funnybeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Get-On-The-Short-Bus.png
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT8rb22SjUc
And what makes you think it was "very important" news? That topic is a regular feature on the Russian TV. You can google this: Russia 'can't make more' tanks because of this key sanction, Biden official says.
It was published on the 9th of May. Your video is from the 18th of May. The manager of the plant addresses that particular claim in the video. It was a refutal of that false claim that was being spread through the social networks at the time, which is obvious.
You need to be very biased to draw such a conclusion out of it.
From the Wikipedia entry on Uralvagonzavod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralvagonzavod The report on the Russian TV was a refutation of that.
The fact is Uralvagonzavod is not producing less now, but is producing more than ever before. So if the plant is working in three-shift regime now it is for sure not producing less than in 2008, and that was 10 T-90A per month back then. Preparing – of course. But that does not mean it was intended to begin mobilization in April. He said that at the moment – at the moment, and not in general – a mobilization was not being discussed. Was he supposed to announce it beforehand? You are biased, friend.
The Soviet Igla MANPADS is of the same age as the Stinger, but is superior in range and some other important parameters. The Stinger is a downgrade, not an upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
See the comparison chart.
Ukraine had about 350 of T-72 and 100 of T-80 tanks before the war, and 600 of modernized T-64s.
What does it have now instead?
You said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – 22 of them! And these are not better than what the Russians have. Ukraine had about 600 of self-propelled howitzers similar to some of these below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3orkL84sGIs
The M-777 howitzers are not an upgrade either. There is nothing special about them. Except for the NLAW and Javelins, and these HIMARS the stuff sent to Ukraine is mediocre and outdated.
I heard there have been a lot of sniper rifles given to them but I guess that these were sent along with snipers.
As for the MRLS before the war Ukraine had about 150 of Uragan and Smerch – the Soviet counterpart of the HIMARS. Do the 20 of the latter compensate the loss of most of the former?
Ukraine had 250 of the S-300. Now it is to be delivered – 12 machines of lesser range instead of those 200 of S-300 that have been destroyed. That is not modernization.
Not to mention that Ukraine has lost most of her aircraft. Ukraine had about 120 of the Mig-29, Su-24, Su-25 and Su-27. Now it has a few left.
It had 50 of the Mi-24 and 50 of the Mi-8 helicopters. Now it has 20 of the M-17.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine You and others need to stop fantasizing.
To be delivered are huge loads of the Russian shells and another 300 thousand troops, a lot of tanks and more planes. This winter Russia will begin a new phase of this war.
And Ukraine is going to lose.Replies: @Sean, @216, @Dmitry
The advantage of the M777 is being lightweight for helicopter transport.
Ukraine has a few of their pre-war stock of the Mi-8 and something like 20 of the Mi-17 that the Americans brought from Afghanistan.
The M777 is a towed howitzer. Mass – 4,200 kg.
The Mi-8 helicopter's mass without fuel is 7,100 kg. The Mi-17 is 7,500 kg. Both have 3,700 l fuel tank. Therefore, with fuel the Mi-8 has the mass of 10,800 kg and the Mi-17 – 11,200 kg.
The maximum takeoff weight of both is 13,000 kg. Neither of them is capable of transporting an M777 howitzer. The Americans use Boeing CH-47 Chinook to do that.
The Chinook has the mass of 11,150 kg without fuel. 18,000 kg with fuel. The maximum takeoff weight of it is 22,600 kg. A Chinook is capable of transporting an M777 howitzer.
Does Ukraine have the Boeing CH-47 Chinook?
Not as all encompassing as WW I or WW II, but correct as to the general direction. The best solution at this late date is an armistice. We are headed into Winter which will metaphorically, and to a certain weather extent, freeze the lines. There is every reason to believe that Putin would accept an armistice. Thus, the problem is with Zelensky.
Continuing this fight benefits neither the people of Ukraine, nor the people of Russia. Zelensky has to see that the Globalists forces funding his aggression are losing to Populists. The commitment of cash and arms is drying up. The longer he waits, the harder the outcome will be on the Ukrainian people.
When Kiev obtain new, more reasonable, leadership?
PEACE 😇Replies: @Wokechoke, @216
The Minsk agreement infringed on Ukrainian sovereignty, it did not produce an agreeable settlement such as one that gave Ukraine both EU and EAEU membership.
Russia was demanding extraterritorial authority over the Donbass, while conceding nothing to Ukraine and the West. We don’t know the results of a “free and fair” election to determine what the residents want, and it is arguably impossible to hold a vote today. And we don’t know if a “free and fair” election in Russia would result in President Navalny and EU membership, even though its plausible that such an outcome could happen.
As to Russia joining the EU, it might have been possible 15-20 years ago (although there would be a question who joins who), but now most Russian residents have nothing but disgust and contempt for the EU. See, nobody respects puppets, even those who respect the puppeteer.Replies: @216, @Wielgus
What is the story with Iran?
-Ethnic separatists
-Cringe Marvel feminist uprising
-Based monarchist revival
-GAE color revolution
-Global warming driven collapse
The US Right has not been the winner in what is otherwise an easy layup to humiliate the Biden Usurpation. De-Facto usurper Sullivan wants to bail the IRI out by returning to a deal that doesn’t force Iran to resume diplomatic relations with the US and Israel. Instead the US left has been defaming the Right as being no different or worse than the Shia clerics.
There is simply nothing that can be done to directly impact what sociopath Khamenei is doing to his own people on the ground. The most that can be achieved from the outside is preventing Iran from obtaining funds that will be used for violence.
Eventually a single military officer with a pistol will empower the counter revolution. It takes someone willing to die to free their people, which is a tough ask.
The next government of Iran will be a military dictatorship, like the one in Egypt. While less than ideal, it will be vastly better than the horror imposed by the current theocracy.
PEACE 😇Replies: @216
Russia was demanding extraterritorial authority over the Donbass, while conceding nothing to Ukraine and the West. We don't know the results of a "free and fair" election to determine what the residents want, and it is arguably impossible to hold a vote today. And we don't know if a "free and fair" election in Russia would result in President Navalny and EU membership, even though its plausible that such an outcome could happen.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @AnonfromTN
The probability of Navalny winning an election In Russia is as close to zero as makes no difference. He might have gotten 5% a few years ago; today he’d get 2% at best. That’s the key problem with the empire: it always bets on the worst shit every nation has to offer, and than acts surprised why that shit is unpopular. Russian libtards are largely despised by the population. The older segment still remembers the catastrophe of the 1990s, created by Western thieves and domestic libtards (who also turned out to be thieves; some were also bandits, like Khodorkovsky). Real opposition in Russia with potential popular support is a lot more anti-Western than Putin.
As to Russia joining the EU, it might have been possible 15-20 years ago (although there would be a question who joins who), but now most Russian residents have nothing but disgust and contempt for the EU. See, nobody respects puppets, even those who respect the puppeteer.
The most recent polling indicates that Russian opinion pre-war was 50/50 on EU favorability, and that was with no political forces campaigning for membership. The average Russian isn't a social conservative monarchist, just a warmed over Bernie-type socialist that would eagerly join the Western poz if the West wasn't portrayed by state run media as incompetent bullies. Doubt, LDRP doesn't poll well, and is adrift with its goals now imposed as policy and its leader deceased.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW
Russia was demanding extraterritorial authority over the Donbass, while conceding nothing to Ukraine and the West. We don't know the results of a "free and fair" election to determine what the residents want, and it is arguably impossible to hold a vote today. And we don't know if a "free and fair" election in Russia would result in President Navalny and EU membership, even though its plausible that such an outcome could happen.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @AnonfromTN
So why did Ukraine sign it? As a matter of fact, Ukraine did, Russia didn’t (RF, Germany and France only signed a guarantors).
I’m not the one who has suggested the idiotic course of action that’s provoked/lead to Russia mobilising. I’m quite capable of seeing what’s hidden on the other side of the hill and to anticipate consequences. Neocon policy exists as a private conversation between the two halves of Bill Kristol’s Brain. Yet it is the official foreign policy of a bunch of selfrighteous retards anyway.
-Ethnic separatists
-Cringe Marvel feminist uprising
-Based monarchist revival
-GAE color revolution
-Global warming driven collapse
The US Right has not been the winner in what is otherwise an easy layup to humiliate the Biden Usurpation. De-Facto usurper Sullivan wants to bail the IRI out by returning to a deal that doesn't force Iran to resume diplomatic relations with the US and Israel. Instead the US left has been defaming the Right as being no different or worse than the Shia clerics.Replies: @A123
The Green Movement of 2009 had foreign roots. The Iranian regime was able to turn that external engagement back on the attempt to free Iranian civilians from tyrannical theocracy.
There is simply nothing that can be done to directly impact what sociopath Khamenei is doing to his own people on the ground. The most that can be achieved from the outside is preventing Iran from obtaining funds that will be used for violence.
Eventually a single military officer with a pistol will empower the counter revolution. It takes someone willing to die to free their people, which is a tough ask.
The next government of Iran will be a military dictatorship, like the one in Egypt. While less than ideal, it will be vastly better than the horror imposed by the current theocracy.
PEACE 😇
Nor do Russia or China seem to benefit from changing the system via a coup, unless there was a future Supreme Leader who wanted to align with the West.
The IRI is something of a novel system of government, and it would be sad to see it go despite its many misdeeds and my sympathies for a Pahlavi restoration. Khomeini directly challenged the lie of that "progress" would do away with religion.
You are pretty close, but you have you fix one thing:
The EU/WEF and its sidekicks, including the US, the UK, or the Republic of Palau
Not only is the U.S. not leading, it is not even in play. Not even consigned to the back of the bus…. Not-The-President Biden rides the Short Bus…
PEACE 😇
The US President has signed things that the Senate refused to ratify, Ukraine’s parliament did not ratify the constitutional changes, which would then have gone to referendum. Those who negotiated the agreement were voted out of office.
As to Russia joining the EU, it might have been possible 15-20 years ago (although there would be a question who joins who), but now most Russian residents have nothing but disgust and contempt for the EU. See, nobody respects puppets, even those who respect the puppeteer.Replies: @216, @Wielgus
If this is genuinely true, then the autocracy should have no problem with him running and losing. I suspect it is not. The French system has repeatedly tried to jail Marine Le Pen because they view her as a threat.
The most recent polling indicates that Russian opinion pre-war was 50/50 on EU favorability, and that was with no political forces campaigning for membership. The average Russian isn’t a social conservative monarchist, just a warmed over Bernie-type socialist that would eagerly join the Western poz if the West wasn’t portrayed by state run media as incompetent bullies.
Doubt, LDRP doesn’t poll well, and is adrift with its goals now imposed as policy and its leader deceased.
LDPR's political platform is not accepted by broad masses because it's a bit extreme (most minorities probably can't stomach it and most Russians don't want to upset the minorities openly). They are just a niche party. The largest political niche is taken by United Russia. The Russian electorate is probably structured something like this: nationalists / hardcore imperialists (somewhat smallish), the reds / Communists (pretty big chunk), pro-Western liberals (small group, most likely under 10%), and middle of the ground people (Putin supporters, vatniks, just normal middle class, maybe skewing slightly older as well).
But it doesn't really matter because truly independent political parties don't really exist, in the last 10-15 years the whole political scene has been wiped out, it's like scorched earth now. In a truly free Russia, all of the parties would have to be built up anew, some even from scratch. It is doubtful that the biggest party to come out of this would be pro-Western liberals. It would most likely be some pragmatic, mildly patriotic party (some form of derzhavniks / statists).
There is some talk on the exiled Russian YouTube channels that Nikolai Patrushev, during his recent visit in China, was informing Xi about the power transition that might take place. Apparently, Patrushev wants to put his son, Dmitry, in charge (ofc, the elder Patrushev would still be ruling from the background, probably until he's in his 80s or so). But this is just a speculation. It's not known how stable Russia will be, let's say, next year.Replies: @216
There is simply nothing that can be done to directly impact what sociopath Khamenei is doing to his own people on the ground. The most that can be achieved from the outside is preventing Iran from obtaining funds that will be used for violence.
Eventually a single military officer with a pistol will empower the counter revolution. It takes someone willing to die to free their people, which is a tough ask.
The next government of Iran will be a military dictatorship, like the one in Egypt. While less than ideal, it will be vastly better than the horror imposed by the current theocracy.
PEACE 😇Replies: @216
The socialist PM from the 80s wanted back into power, he was electorally robbed and then put under house arrest.
I don’t see why they would change the system, other than to demand a weak Supreme Leader or a transition to a triumvirate. The system of two armies is designed to coup-proof the system.
Nor do Russia or China seem to benefit from changing the system via a coup, unless there was a future Supreme Leader who wanted to align with the West.
The IRI is something of a novel system of government, and it would be sad to see it go despite its many misdeeds and my sympathies for a Pahlavi restoration. Khomeini directly challenged the lie of that “progress” would do away with religion.
The most recent polling indicates that Russian opinion pre-war was 50/50 on EU favorability, and that was with no political forces campaigning for membership. The average Russian isn't a social conservative monarchist, just a warmed over Bernie-type socialist that would eagerly join the Western poz if the West wasn't portrayed by state run media as incompetent bullies. Doubt, LDRP doesn't poll well, and is adrift with its goals now imposed as policy and its leader deceased.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW
Thing is, Navalny is in jail for embezzlement. He was treated unusually leniently because Putin wanted him roaming free for his propaganda purposes: he wanted an example to show what kind of shit the libtards are.
Russians were relatively positive about Europe until said Europe showed its true colors.
LDPR is not perceived as an opposition. It was and is a clown show, and now it’s adrift because the clown has passed away.
More combative anti-Western opposition is not united: powers that be work to prevent it from becoming a serious organized force, exactly because it is perceived as a threat. Putin often borrows items from them. When he does, his approval goes through the roof, when he is seen vacillating and caving to the empire, his numbers go way down. He was doing this balancing act for years now. When he is gone, anti-Western feeling in Russia will be unleashed. The West will rue the day when that happens.
It is pissing down with rain right now in Donbass and more widely in Eastern Ukraine. Off-road operations won’t be happening for a bit either way. 53F at night with rain. it’s a good time to mobilize if you haven’t got much to do for a month or so.
The most recent polling indicates that Russian opinion pre-war was 50/50 on EU favorability, and that was with no political forces campaigning for membership. The average Russian isn't a social conservative monarchist, just a warmed over Bernie-type socialist that would eagerly join the Western poz if the West wasn't portrayed by state run media as incompetent bullies. Doubt, LDRP doesn't poll well, and is adrift with its goals now imposed as policy and its leader deceased.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW
That doesn’t mean that the alternative to LDPR will be a large liberal party that will be able to assume power (or even come anywhere near power).
LDPR’s political platform is not accepted by broad masses because it’s a bit extreme (most minorities probably can’t stomach it and most Russians don’t want to upset the minorities openly). They are just a niche party. The largest political niche is taken by United Russia. The Russian electorate is probably structured something like this: nationalists / hardcore imperialists (somewhat smallish), the reds / Communists (pretty big chunk), pro-Western liberals (small group, most likely under 10%), and middle of the ground people (Putin supporters, vatniks, just normal middle class, maybe skewing slightly older as well).
But it doesn’t really matter because truly independent political parties don’t really exist, in the last 10-15 years the whole political scene has been wiped out, it’s like scorched earth now. In a truly free Russia, all of the parties would have to be built up anew, some even from scratch. It is doubtful that the biggest party to come out of this would be pro-Western liberals. It would most likely be some pragmatic, mildly patriotic party (some form of derzhavniks / statists).
There is some talk on the exiled Russian YouTube channels that Nikolai Patrushev, during his recent visit in China, was informing Xi about the power transition that might take place. Apparently, Patrushev wants to put his son, Dmitry, in charge (ofc, the elder Patrushev would still be ruling from the background, probably until he’s in his 80s or so). But this is just a speculation. It’s not known how stable Russia will be, let’s say, next year.
Now, if for whatever reason there was a sea change in the West which brought social conservatives back to power; the monarchists in Russia would be the beneficiary. The "civilizational space" of Russki Mir is not broad enough to exclude the West without considerable authoritarianism, no more than it can exclude Islamic influence.
It’s a known fact that when governments, and, or, powerful people want to get a message across they will sometimes use spooks (current or ‘former’, if the latter even exist) to do it. ‘Spooks’ of course is slang for people who are involved in espionage, spying, intelligence work, etc.
In this instance, we are speaking of an intellectual type of message, rather than a physical message
This is presumably because they know how to be ‘sneaky’ about it, ie they know about camouflage and subterfuge, and are thought to be reasonably intelligent people who can apply these same ‘spy’ skills towards the human intellect of a targeted audience.
How do they do this?
Well, motion pictures happen to be an ideal vehicle to get a particular message across to a person’s subconscious mind, as is attested to below by two historic experts in the field of propaganda:
‘The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment [motion] picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.’ Elmer Davis, Chief of US Office of War Information (1942-45) as quoted in Hollywood Goes to War
And..
‘The American motion picture is the greatest unconscious carrier of propaganda in the world today. It is a great distributor for ideas and opinions. The motion picture can standardize the ideas and habits of a nation.’ Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud,
and author of Propaganda (1928)
One famous example of a spy being used to get an idea across via film is the US CIA agent E Howard Hunt. Hunt, at the CIA’s bequest, in 1954 had traveled to the UK and arranged for the financing and production of an animated version of George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm. The film was succesfully made and has enjoyed a certain popularity since.
Camouflaging/poison pilling the story by presenting it inside of a cartoon no doubt had the intended effect of deflecting any criticism of the book’s serious message, and that the film had even been made at all ..it was ‘just a cartoon’ after all.
Hunt did excellent work for the CIA (and perhaps MI6 as well who may have put in the original request to the CIA that the film be made for British consumption) with the production of Animal Farm.
I propose another example of this sort of thing may have been a series of five movies released in the United States between 1968-73. Below ‘more’ I’ll reveal what these films were with clips and stills, along with source links, though you may be able to guess.
Almost everyone involved with it’s creation, from the writer of the 1963 book the movies are based upon, Pierre Bouell, it’s English translator, Xan Fielding, to the scriptwriter of four (of five) of the movie screenplays, Paul Dehn, had British wartime intel backgrounds, specifically the SOE (Special Operations Executive).
These three men’s heroic exploits with the SOE ranged across the world, from China, Crete, Norway, and France, to the super secret ‘Camp X’ in Ontario, Canada. Paul Dehn, the man who wrote the bulk of the series movie scripts, besides performing SOE missions in Europe, was the Camp X Political Warfare officer from 1942-44, with a rank of Major.
And, with no irony intended, was the creation of this world renowned series of movies to be the culmination of these three men’s greatest and most succesful ‘secret mission’, ie the pre-conditioning of the collective human mind to accept what has been planned for it?
The plotline of this series of movies was only a thinly veiled allegory about the then strained Black (sub-Saharan Africans) and White (Anglo-Saxon and, or, European) relations in the United States, something that was readily acknowledged at the time these movies were produced during the late 1960’s and early 70’s. But, the plotline is much more than that, as it also tells of the future of these relations.
The future begins with a global pandemic. Then proceeds on to Black race riots unsuccessfully suppressed by the police, ‘Karens’ as represented by the character Mrs Riley, city blocks burned by the Blacks, ‘taking the knee’ by White(s) in deference to Blacks, Black revolution, and ultimately the use of a nuclear bomb upon New York City, destroying it.
Whites (ie Euros) are to be dumbed down to the point they can no longer speak and are reduced to wearing animal skins, while Blacks are to be raised up to where they are dominant over Whites, even enslaving Whites, when they (Blacks) are not killing them for sport. The ‘N word’ is forbidden for Whites to say, but Blacks can say it.
Unless something stops this demented dream/nightmare (which appears to be coming to pass in real time) the future for Whites as presented by these movies would seem to be be bleak indeed.
The creator(s) of this series of movies camouflaged it’s deadly serious and very negative message by presenting it as science fiction while surrounding it with the poison pill of the preposterous and comical.
So you shouldn’t be surprised (if you haven’t guessed the name of this series of movies already) if your first reaction once finding out it’s identity is incredulity.
That reaction is exactly what was intended by it’s creators so that you will crimestop, and not engage in crimethink, and most importantly of all, not hinder their propagandizing/conditioning you as you watch these movies with a propped open mind.
Note: I see Blacks as human beings and believe in mutual respect between peoples, though with the right of self determination, including the right of separation for any reason (including for racial reasons, ie anti-genocide, anti-violence, self-preservation, etc) for those peoples desiring it.
The hatefilled progressives, whose spiritual and political forebears ran the British North American slave trade from New England, and are still neck deep in slavery with their involvement in it’s monetization, wage slavery, ie specifically the so called ‘cheap labor’/’mass immigration’ system, who have created these series of movies as an openly acknowledged allegory, and to deliberately fan hatred and murder between races, have crudely in these films presented Blacks as apes, gorillas, chimps, etc, and Whites also crudely as basically almost all ‘Nazis’!TM/’Fascist’!TM, etc.
I’m presenting these stills and clips with descriptions in ‘the raw’ from the movie as it were so that people can see plainly what a hateful series of movies these in reality were, and the crudity of it’s creators who feed upon hatred.
And, to, so that people can see what the self proclaimed ‘progressives’ have planned for humanity.
Humans (Whites) in cages under ape (Black) domination
Police brutality against Blacks by Whites. They are all quite ‘literally ‘Nazis!’TM
Mostly peaceful protests..
Taking a knee..
Behind their fronts, Whites are all really monsters on the inside..
‘This was my home!’…A White person from New York City is shown what is planned for his hometown.
Recent New York City Nuclear Strike PSA
All five Planet of the Apes movie trailers from 1968-73.
Elmer Davis and Edward Bernays quotes:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Davis
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/791322
The CIA, E Howard Hunt, and the animated film Animal Farm:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/how-cia-brought-animal-farm-to-the-screen/
https://www.nndb.com/people/418/000027337/
The CIA and the Media (Rolling Stone – October 20, 1977)
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2021/11/23/the-cia-and-the-media/
The French Spy Who Wrote the Planet of the Apes (BBC) – Aug 2, 2014
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28610124
Bios of writer Pierre Bouelle, English translator Xan Fielding, and script writer Paul Dehn.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Boulle
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xan_Fielding
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dehn
Wiki link for Planet of the Apes (1968).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_filmp
But the particular plot of the book probably crosses the uncanny valley, because by the end, the animals are anthropomorphized, to a certain extent. So what do you do? Depict them (or some of them) with humans wearing prosthetics? That would be pretty freaky, IMO, due to the fact that some were meant for consumption.
_____
Did recently have a thought about movies: intentionally moving diversity into areas that would be naturally Euro otherwise, states like Maine, probably is part of a plan that has nothing to due with movies, yet it has an enormous cultural effect.
Allow a plausibly Euro-only setting in America and even most progressives will be comfortable making an odd movie or TV show will a Euro only cast. And people who saw it would think, "Wow, isn't that nice?" But when you add diversity to such an area, you create the pressures for diversity casting, even if it is only in the background, among the extras.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Mr. Hack, @S
If I don’t believe what the DOJ and the NYAG are doing to Trump, why should I believe that the SKR didn’t frame Navalny?
The most damaging action that Putin ever did to his approval was raising the retirement age to 65/62. Which is lower than the US retirement age of 67. Most US Millennials think they might never retire The previous number was 62/58. So much for the stereotype of Russians being tough.
Yes, an increase in retirement age was (and still is) quite unpopular in Russia. When Putin voiced his support for this measure, his approval dropped significantly. However, I am talking about two events after which his approval soared: acceptance of Crimea in 2014, recognition of DPR and LPR and the beginning of military operation in Ukraine in 2022. What does it tell you?
LDPR's political platform is not accepted by broad masses because it's a bit extreme (most minorities probably can't stomach it and most Russians don't want to upset the minorities openly). They are just a niche party. The largest political niche is taken by United Russia. The Russian electorate is probably structured something like this: nationalists / hardcore imperialists (somewhat smallish), the reds / Communists (pretty big chunk), pro-Western liberals (small group, most likely under 10%), and middle of the ground people (Putin supporters, vatniks, just normal middle class, maybe skewing slightly older as well).
But it doesn't really matter because truly independent political parties don't really exist, in the last 10-15 years the whole political scene has been wiped out, it's like scorched earth now. In a truly free Russia, all of the parties would have to be built up anew, some even from scratch. It is doubtful that the biggest party to come out of this would be pro-Western liberals. It would most likely be some pragmatic, mildly patriotic party (some form of derzhavniks / statists).
There is some talk on the exiled Russian YouTube channels that Nikolai Patrushev, during his recent visit in China, was informing Xi about the power transition that might take place. Apparently, Patrushev wants to put his son, Dmitry, in charge (ofc, the elder Patrushev would still be ruling from the background, probably until he's in his 80s or so). But this is just a speculation. It's not known how stable Russia will be, let's say, next year.Replies: @216
You underestimate the power of Open Society and its fellow travelers. Even while banned in Hungary their friends got into the 40% of the electorate, and control of the largest cities.
Now, if for whatever reason there was a sea change in the West which brought social conservatives back to power; the monarchists in Russia would be the beneficiary. The “civilizational space” of Russki Mir is not broad enough to exclude the West without considerable authoritarianism, no more than it can exclude Islamic influence.
Well, there are those who genuinely believe in a Western type of free society* in Russia and there is also the youth (although the youth is probably not homogenous in their views either). It’s just really a question of whether they could ever gain enough momentum to come close to real power.
I don’t believe that Western NGOs can exert any significant influence on the Russian society the way they do in much smaller Eastern European countries. The types of Dozhd (liberal & pro-Western media outlet) and the like are in exile now anyway, but even if they came back, it’s doubtful they would dominate (outside of parts of Moscow). I think that those more genuine freedom loving political movements could appear from the ground up in places such as the Far East. Some time ago there were regional demands for more freedom in Habarovsk, for instance, as well in the North, in places such as Shyes (where people protested against Moscow dumping their garbage there). Those are more genuine and legitimate requests for self-determination than any kind of imported Western ideas.
* The Russian perception of freedom may not necessarily be the same as the Western liberalism though.
Poroshenko negotiated the agreement in 2015 but never enacted it, and the low level war in Donbass went on. Zelensky won on a landslide promising peace and bringing the rebel area in the Donbas back under control. So if his electioneering meant anything it was something along the lines of Minsk with some new concessions to Ukraine. In 2019 Zelensky got such concessions from Russia began enacting a modified Misk agreement, but then did a U turn, apparently under the influence of demos that were noisy and outside his Presidential offices, but not very massive by those he had defeated in the election.
Ukraine gets given better arms and more real time intel the worse it does against Russia on the battlefield. It’s a tar baby for Russia.
Where do you get this?
Yanukovich’s parties won in Crimea. Therefore the 21% were not people who voted against him because he thought he would lose. By your logic, the Yanukovich party vote totals were inflated, not the Orange ones.
Zero evidence of that (Kherson, not Donbas)..
For that to be true, every Yanukovich voter plus even some Tymoshenko voters in 2012 were Russian nationalists who wanted Kherson to be annexed by Russia.
More to the point, our former host posted poll results from April 2014, before the pro-Westerners had consolidated their rule in Ukraine, about how people would react if Russia tried to annex their territories:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/why-belarus-isnt-ukraine/
Summary from our former host: “Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. ”
Combine this, with every election result, and there is no evidence for majority support for Russian annexation in Kherson.
Again, Kosovo was 90% Albanian. A majority did not want to be part of Serbia. This was an illegal act, but one that reflected the will of the majority of the residents in the area affected.
Crimea was more like Kosovo; the majority is smaller, but it was still a majority. An illegal act that reflected the will of the majority of the people affected.
Kherson is very different: grabbing and annexing territory against the will of the majority of the population. This hasn’t happened in Europe since World War II.
Crimea might not be recognised, nor is Turkish Cyprus, but both have thrived, and so will these new regions.
Kherson might be the least pro-Russian of the southern regions but it is notable prominent Kherson politicians including Vladimir Saldo and the recently departed Aleksey Kovalev and Alexei Zhuravko support seceding to Russia.
GBP pummelled hard after the delusional budget last week, not even in to October and the Western financial system is starting to fray, sanctions have backfired badly. No sense the political and media blob here have realised their catastrophic error.
USD up up, oil&gas down down, should be really done more&more of such horrible sanctioned fray and life will be way more upbeat, just not for RF propjunkies ofc;)
But dream on. What else can you do in your irrelevant vaudeville “state”, anyway.
Perhaps you can include these new Russian vessels to your list. They do not only look futuristic but as they say there are many technological innovations never previously implemented anywhere.
https://i.postimg.cc/G2h30cYj/170701-1.jpg
As the Russians often do they built them first and announced later. Only recently. Although they have already built seven of these. Each of them is a little different from others.
https://i.postimg.cc/VvfKBVxv/170701-2.jpg
As is the case with anything the Russians do there are a number of usual idiotic deficiencies. First of all it does not have a memorable name – instead it is called Project 170701.
Second, as always there are some parts of the design that could have been obviously made better looking, but were not. And third there is a complete absence of marketing.
The Russians have always been good at invention and bad at innovation. Let us wait and see until the Americans or the Europeans pick it up and improve it, call it their own and make the Russians look stupid once again.Replies: @QCIC, @Emil Nikola Richard, @PetrOldSack
The concept of wave-piercing (hull shape at the surface of the sea), and hydrodynamics protecting the surfaces and work-areas on the ships is not exactly high-tech. Look at a racing trimaran (sailing) and the shape of the hulls noses will match for least resistance and “piercing”, not being lifted in a vertical parasitic move over the waves.
The US, Great Britain, Iran, France and so many others (not apparently following up, as far as i see in the few pictures of their speed boats in de Gulf of Aden), all master these concepts. The slight downside is the sensibility to side-currents and side-winds. Covering distances at sea means fighting (or taking advantage) of two daemons: wind and waves (and the mix they produce over time on the wave variables). Wind can come from an often slightly different angle as the direction of waves.
Not my piece of cake, but there must be many ready designs using above principles in sail and motoring. Pleasure yachts (problem with scaling, waves don’t shrink), cruise ships designs must be readily available of the shelves. A good place to start: the Netherlands and their boutiques of yacht designers.
https://ia802706.us.archive.org/3/items/argonautsofweste00mali/argonautsofweste00mali.pdf
It seems that as long as serious disputes arise about who gets to be the judge arise, and the opposing parties won’t back down, conflicts will arise.
There don’t seem to be strong reasons to believe in the claims of liberalism, that a situation can be brought about where there are no more serious disputes about who gets to be judge and make the authoritative rulings. Liberalism often involves the further assumptions that this state of pacification is supposed to be the default human norm.
There is a caveat, the supporters of liberal pacification are entitled to wage war on anyone judged to be threatening it.
216 is a retarded cuck I’d suggest ignoring him.
If enough of our people saw through your guile, our lands would be taken back in a fortnight.
For that to be true, every Yanukovich voter plus even some Tymoshenko voters in 2012 were Russian nationalists who wanted Kherson to be annexed by Russia.
More to the point, our former host posted poll results from April 2014, before the pro-Westerners had consolidated their rule in Ukraine, about how people would react if Russia tried to annex their territories:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/why-belarus-isnt-ukraine/
https://i.imgur.com/hAMsKv4.png
Summary from our former host: "Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. "
Combine this, with every election result, and there is no evidence for majority support for Russian annexation in Kherson. Again, Kosovo was 90% Albanian. A majority did not want to be part of Serbia. This was an illegal act, but one that reflected the will of the majority of the residents in the area affected.
Crimea was more like Kosovo; the majority is smaller, but it was still a majority. An illegal act that reflected the will of the majority of the people affected.
Kherson is very different: grabbing and annexing territory against the will of the majority of the population. This hasn't happened in Europe since World War II.Replies: @Sean, @Beckow
When rejecting the 2019 Minsk based agreement for peace in Donbass, Ukraine thought any consequent war with Russia would be a limited liability one?
It happened in the Middle East though. And WW1 started in a different way that WW2, so raising the spectre of a WW2-type WW3 ignores the possibility that misdiagnosing a Ukraine as an incipient WW2 type conflict may cause WW3 to start like WW1.
In this instance, we are speaking of an intellectual type of message, rather than a physical message
This is presumably because they know how to be 'sneaky' about it, ie they know about camouflage and subterfuge, and are thought to be reasonably intelligent people who can apply these same 'spy' skills towards the human intellect of a targeted audience.
How do they do this?
Well, motion pictures happen to be an ideal vehicle to get a particular message across to a person's subconscious mind, as is attested to below by two historic experts in the field of propaganda:
'The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment [motion] picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.' Elmer Davis, Chief of US Office of War Information (1942-45) as quoted in Hollywood Goes to War
And..
'The American motion picture is the greatest unconscious carrier of propaganda in the world today. It is a great distributor for ideas and opinions. The motion picture can standardize the ideas and habits of a nation.' Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud,
and author of Propaganda (1928)
One famous example of a spy being used to get an idea across via film is the US CIA agent E Howard Hunt. Hunt, at the CIA's bequest, in 1954 had traveled to the UK and arranged for the financing and production of an animated version of George Orwell's book, Animal Farm. The film was succesfully made and has enjoyed a certain popularity since.
Camouflaging/poison pilling the story by presenting it inside of a cartoon no doubt had the intended effect of deflecting any criticism of the book's serious message, and that the film had even been made at all ..it was 'just a cartoon' after all.
Hunt did excellent work for the CIA (and perhaps MI6 as well who may have put in the original request to the CIA that the film be made for British consumption) with the production of Animal Farm.
I propose another example of this sort of thing may have been a series of five movies released in the United States between 1968-73. Below 'more' I'll reveal what these films were with clips and stills, along with source links, though you may be able to guess.
Almost everyone involved with it's creation, from the writer of the 1963 book the movies are based upon, Pierre Bouell, it's English translator, Xan Fielding, to the scriptwriter of four (of five) of the movie screenplays, Paul Dehn, had British wartime intel backgrounds, specifically the SOE (Special Operations Executive).
These three men's heroic exploits with the SOE ranged across the world, from China, Crete, Norway, and France, to the super secret 'Camp X' in Ontario, Canada. Paul Dehn, the man who wrote the bulk of the series movie scripts, besides performing SOE missions in Europe, was the Camp X Political Warfare officer from 1942-44, with a rank of Major.
And, with no irony intended, was the creation of this world renowned series of movies to be the culmination of these three men's greatest and most succesful 'secret mission', ie the pre-conditioning of the collective human mind to accept what has been planned for it?
The plotline of this series of movies was only a thinly veiled allegory about the then strained Black (sub-Saharan Africans) and White (Anglo-Saxon and, or, European) relations in the United States, something that was readily acknowledged at the time these movies were produced during the late 1960's and early 70's. But, the plotline is much more than that, as it also tells of the future of these relations.
The future begins with a global pandemic. Then proceeds on to Black race riots unsuccessfully suppressed by the police, 'Karens' as represented by the character Mrs Riley, city blocks burned by the Blacks, 'taking the knee' by White(s) in deference to Blacks, Black revolution, and ultimately the use of a nuclear bomb upon New York City, destroying it.
Whites (ie Euros) are to be dumbed down to the point they can no longer speak and are reduced to wearing animal skins, while Blacks are to be raised up to where they are dominant over Whites, even enslaving Whites, when they (Blacks) are not killing them for sport. The 'N word' is forbidden for Whites to say, but Blacks can say it.
Unless something stops this demented dream/nightmare (which appears to be coming to pass in real time) the future for Whites as presented by these movies would seem to be be bleak indeed.
The creator(s) of this series of movies camouflaged it's deadly serious and very negative message by presenting it as science fiction while surrounding it with the poison pill of the preposterous and comical.
So you shouldn't be surprised (if you haven't guessed the name of this series of movies already) if your first reaction once finding out it's identity is incredulity.
That reaction is exactly what was intended by it's creators so that you will crimestop, and not engage in crimethink, and most importantly of all, not hinder their propagandizing/conditioning you as you watch these movies with a propped open mind.
Note: I see Blacks as human beings and believe in mutual respect between peoples, though with the right of self determination, including the right of separation for any reason (including for racial reasons, ie anti-genocide, anti-violence, self-preservation, etc) for those peoples desiring it.
The hatefilled progressives, whose spiritual and political forebears ran the British North American slave trade from New England, and are still neck deep in slavery with their involvement in it's monetization, wage slavery, ie specifically the so called 'cheap labor'/'mass immigration' system, who have created these series of movies as an openly acknowledged allegory, and to deliberately fan hatred and murder between races, have crudely in these films presented Blacks as apes, gorillas, chimps, etc, and Whites also crudely as basically almost all 'Nazis'!TM/'Fascist'!TM, etc.
I'm presenting these stills and clips with descriptions in 'the raw' from the movie as it were so that people can see plainly what a hateful series of movies these in reality were, and the crudity of it's creators who feed upon hatred.
And, to, so that people can see what the self proclaimed 'progressives' have planned for humanity.
Humans (Whites) in cages under ape (Black) domination
https://miro.medium.com/max/1100/0*7aRt5pc9T-NdFnzy.jpg
Police brutality against Blacks by Whites. They are all quite 'literally 'Nazis!'TM
https://pota.goatley.com/lobby-cards/uk/t_conquest-uk-lobby-09.jpg
Mostly peaceful protests..
https://pota.goatley.com/lobby-cards/uk/t_conquest-uk-lobby-22.jpg
Taking a knee..
https://pota.goatley.com/lobby-cards/uk/t_conquest-uk-lobby-12.jpg
Behind their fronts, Whites are all really monsters on the inside..
https://pota.goatley.com/lobby-cards/beneath-fotobustas/t_Beneath-Italian-Fotobusta-02.jpg
'This was my home!'...A White person from New York City is shown what is planned for his hometown.
https://youtu.be/KKoPAIkiU3o
Recent New York City Nuclear Strike PSA
https://youtu.be/zznmdUJbeU8
All five Planet of the Apes movie trailers from 1968-73.
https://youtu.be/hxzpPGypcX4
Elmer Davis and Edward Bernays quotes:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Davis
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/791322
The CIA, E Howard Hunt, and the animated film Animal Farm:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/how-cia-brought-animal-farm-to-the-screen/
https://www.nndb.com/people/418/000027337/
The CIA and the Media (Rolling Stone - October 20, 1977)
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2021/11/23/the-cia-and-the-media/
The French Spy Who Wrote the Planet of the Apes (BBC) - Aug 2, 2014
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28610124
Bios of writer Pierre Bouelle, English translator Xan Fielding, and script writer Paul Dehn.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Boulle
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xan_Fielding
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dehn
Wiki link for Planet of the Apes (1968).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_filmpReplies: @songbird
Haven’t seen the “Animal Farm” movie, but I don’t blame them at all for making it a cartoon. To begin with, it is really hard to do live-action with animals. Even in modern-times, with CGI, a lot of people really didn’t like the “Lion King” remake because the animals have no expression and the colors aren’t as bright.
But the particular plot of the book probably crosses the uncanny valley, because by the end, the animals are anthropomorphized, to a certain extent. So what do you do? Depict them (or some of them) with humans wearing prosthetics? That would be pretty freaky, IMO, due to the fact that some were meant for consumption.
_____
Did recently have a thought about movies: intentionally moving diversity into areas that would be naturally Euro otherwise, states like Maine, probably is part of a plan that has nothing to due with movies, yet it has an enormous cultural effect.
Allow a plausibly Euro-only setting in America and even most progressives will be comfortable making an odd movie or TV show will a Euro only cast. And people who saw it would think, “Wow, isn’t that nice?” But when you add diversity to such an area, you create the pressures for diversity casting, even if it is only in the background, among the extras.
Maybe it was a bad day?
I look at the Capitalist and Communist propaganda now as being both 'right' and both 'wrong' at the same time. It's all part of this manufactured dialectical 'struggle' we've been living (suffering?) under the past couple hundred years. Supposed to lead to the two ideology's 'synthesis' where (theoretically) we all will be living in peace and harmony together.
Yeah, right. :-)
The Capitalism vs Communism dialectic is a very materialistic thing on both 'sides' and correspondingly works towards a change of mind, when what is really needed is a change of the human heart.
That's a valid point. And as cartoons go Animal Farm was reasonably high quality production wise from what I've read. All the same, the cartoon format worked towards the CIA's interest (and maybe MI6's too). Anyone saying aloud they thought they were being propagandized with such a film, and didn't much care for it, would no doubt be told, it's 'just a cartoon' from more than one person. More valid points, probably the cartoon was best choice all around.
Speaking about 'humans wearing prosthetics' I have to say the POTA (Planet of the Apes) franchise was revolutionary in that regard, specially the first 1968 film. More so, getting people (mostly Europeans, ie 'Whites') to pay and be 'entertained' while being majorly propagandized/conditioned with what was in reality some pretty negative stuff was a real coup on it's creator's part.
Things aren't looking good all over nowadays, in particular for New York (what, with it's own special nuclear PSA, and all) it would seem.
https://youtu.be/KKoPAIkiU3o Sure, they almost certainly have done stuff like that. If you've ever read any of Edward Bernay's writings regarding advertising, it's kind of disturbing, as it come off more like unethical brainwashing rather than a 'contest of ideas', and some of the ideas he was writing about are almost a hundred years old now. A more healthy society would outlaw (and police against) such 'advertising'.Replies: @songbird
The US, Great Britain, Iran, France and so many others (not apparently following up, as far as i see in the few pictures of their speed boats in de Gulf of Aden), all master these concepts. The slight downside is the sensibility to side-currents and side-winds. Covering distances at sea means fighting (or taking advantage) of two daemons: wind and waves (and the mix they produce over time on the wave variables). Wind can come from an often slightly different angle as the direction of waves.
Not my piece of cake, but there must be many ready designs using above principles in sail and motoring. Pleasure yachts (problem with scaling, waves don't shrink), cruise ships designs must be readily available of the shelves. A good place to start: the Netherlands and their boutiques of yacht designers.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
The state of the art starts here:
https://ia802706.us.archive.org/3/items/argonautsofweste00mali/argonautsofweste00mali.pdf
But the particular plot of the book probably crosses the uncanny valley, because by the end, the animals are anthropomorphized, to a certain extent. So what do you do? Depict them (or some of them) with humans wearing prosthetics? That would be pretty freaky, IMO, due to the fact that some were meant for consumption.
_____
Did recently have a thought about movies: intentionally moving diversity into areas that would be naturally Euro otherwise, states like Maine, probably is part of a plan that has nothing to due with movies, yet it has an enormous cultural effect.
Allow a plausibly Euro-only setting in America and even most progressives will be comfortable making an odd movie or TV show will a Euro only cast. And people who saw it would think, "Wow, isn't that nice?" But when you add diversity to such an area, you create the pressures for diversity casting, even if it is only in the background, among the extras.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Mr. Hack, @S
I tried to watch Animal Farm and didn’t get past the 15 minute mark.
Maybe it was a bad day?
But the particular plot of the book probably crosses the uncanny valley, because by the end, the animals are anthropomorphized, to a certain extent. So what do you do? Depict them (or some of them) with humans wearing prosthetics? That would be pretty freaky, IMO, due to the fact that some were meant for consumption.
_____
Did recently have a thought about movies: intentionally moving diversity into areas that would be naturally Euro otherwise, states like Maine, probably is part of a plan that has nothing to due with movies, yet it has an enormous cultural effect.
Allow a plausibly Euro-only setting in America and even most progressives will be comfortable making an odd movie or TV show will a Euro only cast. And people who saw it would think, "Wow, isn't that nice?" But when you add diversity to such an area, you create the pressures for diversity casting, even if it is only in the background, among the extras.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Mr. Hack, @S
World renown Byzantologist Ihor Sevcenko, was one of the first to understand the great significance of Orwell’s masterpiece and was able to translate it into Ukrainian:
https://www.darcymoore.net/2022/02/27/the-ukrainian-animal-farm/
The novel still has great significance in helping to understand the macabre intentions of Putler and his inner circle of animals.
I think I'll foreswear eating pork now, at least for a few days. :-)
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwW4TG86/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier.png
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
https://i.postimg.cc/Prc6GBcJ/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/yNKysBT1/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-3.png
Keep talking about "Putler and his animals" now, dumbass.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Yahya, @German_reader, @Philip Owen
But the particular plot of the book probably crosses the uncanny valley, because by the end, the animals are anthropomorphized, to a certain extent. So what do you do? Depict them (or some of them) with humans wearing prosthetics? That would be pretty freaky, IMO, due to the fact that some were meant for consumption.
_____
Did recently have a thought about movies: intentionally moving diversity into areas that would be naturally Euro otherwise, states like Maine, probably is part of a plan that has nothing to due with movies, yet it has an enormous cultural effect.
Allow a plausibly Euro-only setting in America and even most progressives will be comfortable making an odd movie or TV show will a Euro only cast. And people who saw it would think, "Wow, isn't that nice?" But when you add diversity to such an area, you create the pressures for diversity casting, even if it is only in the background, among the extras.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Mr. Hack, @S
It’s not bad. It might be on YouTube.
I look at the Capitalist and Communist propaganda now as being both ‘right’ and both ‘wrong’ at the same time. It’s all part of this manufactured dialectical ‘struggle’ we’ve been living (suffering?) under the past couple hundred years. Supposed to lead to the two ideology’s ‘synthesis’ where (theoretically) we all will be living in peace and harmony together.
Yeah, right. 🙂
The Capitalism vs Communism dialectic is a very materialistic thing on both ‘sides’ and correspondingly works towards a change of mind, when what is really needed is a change of the human heart.
That’s a valid point. And as cartoons go Animal Farm was reasonably high quality production wise from what I’ve read. All the same, the cartoon format worked towards the CIA’s interest (and maybe MI6’s too). Anyone saying aloud they thought they were being propagandized with such a film, and didn’t much care for it, would no doubt be told, it’s ‘just a cartoon’ from more than one person.
More valid points, probably the cartoon was best choice all around.
Speaking about ‘humans wearing prosthetics’ I have to say the POTA (Planet of the Apes) franchise was revolutionary in that regard, specially the first 1968 film. More so, getting people (mostly Europeans, ie ‘Whites’) to pay and be ‘entertained’ while being majorly propagandized/conditioned with what was in reality some pretty negative stuff was a real coup on it’s creator’s part.
Things aren’t looking good all over nowadays, in particular for New York (what, with it’s own special nuclear PSA, and all) it would seem.
Sure, they almost certainly have done stuff like that. If you’ve ever read any of Edward Bernay’s writings regarding advertising, it’s kind of disturbing, as it come off more like unethical brainwashing rather than a ‘contest of ideas’, and some of the ideas he was writing about are almost a hundred years old now. A more healthy society would outlaw (and police against) such ‘advertising’.
Minor correction: in the US the retirement age is 67.5 years. That’s when you get full social security payments.
Yes, an increase in retirement age was (and still is) quite unpopular in Russia. When Putin voiced his support for this measure, his approval dropped significantly. However, I am talking about two events after which his approval soared: acceptance of Crimea in 2014, recognition of DPR and LPR and the beginning of military operation in Ukraine in 2022. What does it tell you?
Like a lot of people, I presumed the lead vocals of Shocking Blue was a man until I first saw them. A Dutch band by the way.
I’ve got to say Mr Hack, that’s a particularly disgusting looking pig on that edition of Animal Farm you have there.
I think I’ll foreswear eating pork now, at least for a few days. 🙂
Yea, sure. All kinds of oil above $80, OPEC basket at $96, USD up against the currencies of its vassals and down against Russian ruble, inflation in the US, the UK, and the EU at 40-year high. Great victories! As Pyrrhus rightly said, “Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined.”
But dream on. What else can you do in your irrelevant vaudeville “state”, anyway.
https://youtu.be/QRBBIgBPaykReplies: @AnonfromTN
As one woman I know says, “the only thing a man can do and a woman can’t is peeing all over the fence while standing”.
A facile analogy. It is true that all white color crime is prosecuted selectively and framing is always present. The difference is that Navalny was physically involved with falsifying a sale of lumber and defrauded a French company – his brother has been in jail for 5-6 years for it, but he was on probation that he violated. He was treated more leniently because of his celebrity.
You can call it framed but there is material basis and a judicial process was followed. In Trump’s case so far he is charged with overstating value of assets to obtain a loan – that is completely bogus since stating what real estate is worth is subjective, it is up to the bank to verify it. And holding on to ‘secret documents‘ – those charges look more unreal than the actual fraud that happened with Navalny.
Charging uncomfortable political rivals with crimes is done all over the world. It has accelerated in the last few years as more outsiders like Trump started to win. We will see more of it, the blond babe who just won in Italy is probably already being investigated by the magistrates. It goes back to Ceasar – populists when they can’t be stopped are often charged (Ceasar was repeatedly) or even outright eliminated.
For that to be true, every Yanukovich voter plus even some Tymoshenko voters in 2012 were Russian nationalists who wanted Kherson to be annexed by Russia.
More to the point, our former host posted poll results from April 2014, before the pro-Westerners had consolidated their rule in Ukraine, about how people would react if Russia tried to annex their territories:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/why-belarus-isnt-ukraine/
https://i.imgur.com/hAMsKv4.png
Summary from our former host: "Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. "
Combine this, with every election result, and there is no evidence for majority support for Russian annexation in Kherson. Again, Kosovo was 90% Albanian. A majority did not want to be part of Serbia. This was an illegal act, but one that reflected the will of the majority of the residents in the area affected.
Crimea was more like Kosovo; the majority is smaller, but it was still a majority. An illegal act that reflected the will of the majority of the people affected.
Kherson is very different: grabbing and annexing territory against the will of the majority of the population. This hasn't happened in Europe since World War II.Replies: @Sean, @Beckow
You don’t seem to understand the ‘winners’s bias‘ that adds 5-15% to the side that is winning. If people in Kherson think that Russia will win a certain percentage will vote pro-Russian, and vice versa. You base everything on the assumption that one’s preferences are fixed. In actual wars the shifts are much bigger – first there is polarization and then joining the winning side.
Close to 50% of Kherson people in the 2014 survey said that they ‘would not interfere‘ (in Donbas too) – they are the ones who go with the winner. And many understand that showing one’s intentions is not wise in times of crisis.
If Nato committed an illegal act in Kosovo they have no standing to object to a similar act today in Ukraine. There was no referendum in Kosovo, it was all done by force. Russians have been going through the trouble of holding referendums. You make a distinction between 90% and maybe 50-60% support, why? Will of a majority is will of a majority. Based on your previous views if they don’t like it they can move to the rump-Ukraine. Zelko was suggesting sending the Russian-speakers to Russia as late as January 2022.
This is getting very ugly on all sides. We are way beyond any legality or even words. It is a bloody tribal conflict, the winner will take what they can, vae victis. For years rational people were telling Kiev to compromise and they refused. The Kosovo precedent makes the Western yapping meaningless – you can’t do it in Kosovo and then pretend to be horrified that others do it. The definition of terms like ‘law’ and ‘rules’ is that they apply to all equally. Nato shot itself in the foot with Kosovo, it is too late to cry over it.
But in Kherson, of those who said they would do something - 37% said they would resist, only 1.2% said they would welcome the Russians, and .5% said they would join the Russians. Lopsided against Russia.
In contrast, more people in Donbas said they would welcome or help the Russians than said they would resist the Russians.
The obvious conclusion is that in an honest non-fake referendum Russia would win in Donbas but lose in Kherson, Kharkiv, etc.
That's why our former host concluded:
“Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. ” Annexing Crimea was a similar act. Annexing Donbas also.
Annexing Kherson and Zaporizhia are very different acts. Unlike Crimea and Donbas, the majority population in these regions (especially Kherson) do not want union with Russia.
Try being honest for change. There is no 50% to 60% of support for annexation in Kherson.
In the poll Karlin posted, only 1.7% in Kherson said they would welcome the Russian forces or would join them. 37% would resist, 48% would not interfere. Don't lie about my previous (indeed, current) views.
If a minority doesn't like it, they should live with it or move. So if Russian fanatics don't like living in Kiev or Kharkiv where they are a minority, they should move to Russia rather than demand that their neighbors cater to their wishes. Or accept how things are. And if Ukrainian nationalists do not like living in Donetsk or Crimea where they are a minority, they should move to Kiev or Kharkiv.
But I don't support the pro-Ukrainian majority in Kherson being forced to live in Russia or the Russian majority in Crimea being forced to live in Ukraine. (though my opinion is not so strong about Crimeans now, as a result of the invasion. As for Germans in Sudetenland or Danzig as a result of their invasion) Kosovo precedent doesn't apply to Kherson. Kosovo was 90% Albanians, who didn't want to be part of Serbia.
It is now the 1939 Poland precedent. What were the consequences of that for Europe?Replies: @Beckow
In my view, Navalny has several weaknesses. The fact that he is a thief and embezzler is not the most important: virtually every politician is guilty of some punishable crimes. His main weakness is that he is dumb. Before the last presidential election Ksenia Sobchak (who actually ran and lost) did an interview with him. Even though she belongs to the same libtard faction, because of his monumental stupidity she could not resist the temptation to smear him over the wall. She certainly is a narcissistic bitch, but she is orders of magnitude smarter than him.
These latest comments of Mr Schmuck have made me realize that he is even crazier than his schizophrenic mentor APey. The little idiot has shielded himself from the real world with an unpenetratable wall of pathological silliness. Not a thing comes through the filter of that sick mind of his – that is amazing!
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
Keep talking about “Putler and his animals” now, dumbass.
https://assets.mycast.io/actor_images/actor-olga-kurylenko-261271_large.jpg?1629812487
Otherwise keep your photos to yourself.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
It's strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren't even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Here Be Dragon, @silviosilver, @Barbarossa
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwW4TG86/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier.png
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
https://i.postimg.cc/Prc6GBcJ/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/yNKysBT1/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-3.png
Keep talking about "Putler and his animals" now, dumbass.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Yahya, @German_reader, @Philip Owen
Yes, this is a particularly deranged personage. Like his ideological predecessors, Banderites, he doesn’t even have the smarts to hide his crimes. But let’s be objective: he is not typical. There are lots of Nazis among Ukie military, and even more people with Nazi tattoos. However, there aren’t many cannibals.
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwW4TG86/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier.png
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
https://i.postimg.cc/Prc6GBcJ/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/yNKysBT1/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-3.png
Keep talking about "Putler and his animals" now, dumbass.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Yahya, @German_reader, @Philip Owen
Here Be Dickhead,
Please stop posting distasteful photos.
Not even if they are below the more tag.
We don’t need to see that crap.
If you’re going to insist on posting photos of Ukrainians, stuff like this would be more appropriate:
Otherwise keep your photos to yourself.
It is good to know that my feeling was spot on, seeing your true colors now. I am grateful to you for that. Hope I'll learn the lesson and will trust my instinct more in the future.
And if you thought that I would insult you back, you were wrong. You are free to use ignore commenter feature. Ask that Arab-hating opponent of yours A123 how to do that. He has been using it against me for some time now.
You are advised to do the same, because in future comments I will not refrain from speaking what I think about the Arabs and their dumb religion no longer.
Until now I have been holding it back – out of sentiment of respect, since we had communicated and had no problem with each other. Now I am not restrained with that ethics, so consider it a warning.
And also consider this: if an Arab kissed a Jew in the arse, the Jew would have to take a ritual bath three times, because it would defile him. That is because his arse is pure, and an Arab is a bag of scum.
An Arab is so foul and abominable, that if he touches a bottle of wine it becomes an abomination as well, so a Jew cannot drink it. For that reason a Jew cannot sit with an Arab at the same table.
As a matter of fact, a Jew cannot have sex an Arab woman, because she is no better than a she-ass. If a Jew was caught in bed with an Arab woman, he was to be punished as for having sex with an animal.
That is because an Arab does not have a human soul.
He is an ass in the human form, created and born to be used as cattle. An Arab does not have a better purpose in his life. No matter what he can believe in – his real purpose is to be used.
Can a retarded son of a bitch who counts time with Moon calendar have a better purpose?
Of course not. You can keep collecting photos of white women as long as you wish, but they will never give you anything but wet dreams. You do not even live in a normal country like some of your lucky brethren so your chance to ever touch a white woman is literally zero, unless she is a whore. And even then – maybe!
So relax and chill out, and accept the reality.
Your fate is to marry a woman with a hairy back, and sleep with it even after she begins growing mustaches.
https://i.postimg.cc/cHVy0D6R/Harem-3.jpg
Keep listening to Mozart.Replies: @German_reader, @Yahya
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwW4TG86/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier.png
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
https://i.postimg.cc/Prc6GBcJ/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/yNKysBT1/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-3.png
Keep talking about "Putler and his animals" now, dumbass.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Yahya, @German_reader, @Philip Owen
Did the video show the eating part? If not, I think it’s more likely the intention was to boil off the flesh, so he could keep the skull as a trophy, like some US marines did during the Pacific war (who sometimes decorated jeeps etc. with Japanese skulls…if you’re already into the Totenkopf aesthetic anyway, that might seem like a pretty cool idea which could inspire fear in the enemy).
It’s strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren’t even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.
This kind of extreme shows mental illness of the perpetrator more than anything else. Although you might retort that mass murder of children and pregnant women by Banderites in Volhynia was not a psychiatric issue. That’s debatable.Replies: @German_reader
I did not watch the video. But the blog post said, "Another Ukrainian cannibal." I tried to find it and post it here, but it has been removed. So I used the photo from the post.
https://i.postimg.cc/BQJyZvrX/This-video-has-been-removed-for-violating-You-Tube-s-policy-on-violent-or-graphic-content.png
However I think the blogger did not lie, because it is not the first time a Ukrainian does something like that. Here is a video that is still on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXVRUIc0N2g
The kid speaks Russian!
He found a bone of a Russian soldier in a BTR with some meat on it, then cooked it as a barbeque and ate it. And he said he had been dreaming of doing that for a long time. It is on the Ukrainian side. The Russians do not have it.
From 2014 and so on the Ukrainians have been acting weird. It is indeed something pathological. You can order a cocktail with a name like "Blood of the Russian babies" in a bar or a steak called "A Roasted Russian soldier" in a restaurant. It amazes me how far it has gone. No one can understand it but the people who turned these Ukrainian idiots into savages in a matter of a few months. Some people in the US and the UK know how it works for certain, but for us it is an enigma.
Though as we remember the Ukrainians have done even worse things during the war before so I guess it is a trait of their collective national character.Replies: @Mr. Hack
Btw, I've seen photos of WWII Ustase posing for portraits in dress uniform showing off the severed head of a Serb. There are probably pics still floating around the internet, but I don't care to see it again so I'm not checking.
I suppose that is why the cult of the honorable warrior was so important to historical societies; as an attempt to keep the worst excesses in check.
What helicopter?
Ukraine has a few of their pre-war stock of the Mi-8 and something like 20 of the Mi-17 that the Americans brought from Afghanistan.
The M777 is a towed howitzer. Mass – 4,200 kg.
The Mi-8 helicopter’s mass without fuel is 7,100 kg. The Mi-17 is 7,500 kg. Both have 3,700 l fuel tank. Therefore, with fuel the Mi-8 has the mass of 10,800 kg and the Mi-17 – 11,200 kg.
The maximum takeoff weight of both is 13,000 kg. Neither of them is capable of transporting an M777 howitzer. The Americans use Boeing CH-47 Chinook to do that.
The Chinook has the mass of 11,150 kg without fuel. 18,000 kg with fuel. The maximum takeoff weight of it is 22,600 kg. A Chinook is capable of transporting an M777 howitzer.
Does Ukraine have the Boeing CH-47 Chinook?
It's strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren't even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Here Be Dragon, @silviosilver, @Barbarossa
It’s only natural. The most vicious fights are domestic fights. Close relatives are often the worst enemies. E.g., Serbs and Croats speak essentially the same language (although they write it using different alphabets). Arabs are the closest existing relatives of Jews. And so on.
This kind of extreme shows mental illness of the perpetrator more than anything else. Although you might retort that mass murder of children and pregnant women by Banderites in Volhynia was not a psychiatric issue. That’s debatable.
Apart from Western Ukraine with its Polish/Habsburg imprint and Uniate church, Ukraine seems rather different to me...which makes the intensity of hatred on both sides all the more baffling. Anyway, I don't really want to get into an in-depth discussion about this, tbh it increasingly pisses me off that some idiotic conflict between East Slavs might even lead to general nuclear annihilation. Maybe Generalplan Ost wasn't such a bad idea after all, at least one wouldn't have had to worry about that kind of thing then.Replies: @AnonfromTN
This kind of extreme shows mental illness of the perpetrator more than anything else. Although you might retort that mass murder of children and pregnant women by Banderites in Volhynia was not a psychiatric issue. That’s debatable.Replies: @German_reader
With Serbs and Croats there’s a religious difference though, and centuries of divergent development (under the Ottomans vs the Habsburgs). Regarding Jews and Arabs, there’s also a very strong religious element, and even regarding the genetics it’s an over-simplification to say they’re closely related (maybe true for Jews from Iraq, but hardly for those from Europe).
Apart from Western Ukraine with its Polish/Habsburg imprint and Uniate church, Ukraine seems rather different to me…which makes the intensity of hatred on both sides all the more baffling. Anyway, I don’t really want to get into an in-depth discussion about this, tbh it increasingly pisses me off that some idiotic conflict between East Slavs might even lead to general nuclear annihilation. Maybe Generalplan Ost wasn’t such a bad idea after all, at least one wouldn’t have had to worry about that kind of thing then.
Maybe I am an inveterate optimist, but I don’t think that we will get to the point where nukes start flying. Germany will deindustrialize and likely experience uncomfortably low temperatures at home in winter, but Germans will survive. The same thing will happen to the rest of Europe, in and outside of the EU. The US will lose the ability to rob the whole world through the dominance of the dollar, but Americans will survive, too.
After the dust settles, we will live in a different world. There will be multiple poles of power. Europe will become what it really is: a peninsula of Asia, like India or Indochina. But we will live.Replies: @German_reader, @216
Nordstream 2 got (partially) blown up, apparently sabotage.
Would be very interesting to know who did it and for what reason. Official narrative seems to be Russia did it, to prevent Germany using the gas already in the pipeline.
Germany couldn't get sufficient gas even with some gas still flowing through Nordstream 1. Actually thought this news was fake when I first read it, absolutely dire news for Europe.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader
Apart from Western Ukraine with its Polish/Habsburg imprint and Uniate church, Ukraine seems rather different to me...which makes the intensity of hatred on both sides all the more baffling. Anyway, I don't really want to get into an in-depth discussion about this, tbh it increasingly pisses me off that some idiotic conflict between East Slavs might even lead to general nuclear annihilation. Maybe Generalplan Ost wasn't such a bad idea after all, at least one wouldn't have had to worry about that kind of thing then.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Generalplan Ost was a bad idea by the most rigorous criterion: it failed.
Maybe I am an inveterate optimist, but I don’t think that we will get to the point where nukes start flying. Germany will deindustrialize and likely experience uncomfortably low temperatures at home in winter, but Germans will survive. The same thing will happen to the rest of Europe, in and outside of the EU. The US will lose the ability to rob the whole world through the dominance of the dollar, but Americans will survive, too.
After the dust settles, we will live in a different world. There will be multiple poles of power. Europe will become what it really is: a peninsula of Asia, like India or Indochina. But we will live.
On the other hand, if Ukraine keeps winning and makes moves to re-conquer all of Donbass or even Crimea, Russia will probably use nukes.
Stalemate lasting years might avoid such an outcome, but would also be disastrous in its own way. Hoping to become something like India, or even Vietnam, would probably be overly optimistic, at least those countries are sovereign powers, and don't seem intent on replacing their own population with foreigners.Replies: @AnonfromTN
It's strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren't even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Here Be Dragon, @silviosilver, @Barbarossa
He will keep the skull for sure!
I did not watch the video. But the blog post said, “Another Ukrainian cannibal.” I tried to find it and post it here, but it has been removed. So I used the photo from the post.
However I think the blogger did not lie, because it is not the first time a Ukrainian does something like that. Here is a video that is still on YouTube.
The kid speaks Russian!
He found a bone of a Russian soldier in a BTR with some meat on it, then cooked it as a barbeque and ate it. And he said he had been dreaming of doing that for a long time.
It is on the Ukrainian side. The Russians do not have it.
From 2014 and so on the Ukrainians have been acting weird. It is indeed something pathological. You can order a cocktail with a name like “Blood of the Russian babies” in a bar or a steak called “A Roasted Russian soldier” in a restaurant. It amazes me how far it has gone.
No one can understand it but the people who turned these Ukrainian idiots into savages in a matter of a few months. Some people in the US and the UK know how it works for certain, but for us it is an enigma.
Though as we remember the Ukrainians have done even worse things during the war before so I guess it is a trait of their collective national character.
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rb-composite-cannibal-house.jpg?w=1040
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Barbarossa, @AP, @Mike_from_Russia
I thought Navalny was a mid-wit: smart enough to function but lacking critical thinking. Then he went back to Russia, and unless he was somehow forced by his sponsors, he dropped down to simply being a moron. If at best of times his chances in Russia were around 5%, by January ’21 his chances were hovering around zero.
That was a mysterious return. Two things are possible: sponsors played for time (similar to the Kazakh and Belarus uprisings, Azeri attacks…) since they needed more time to arm and prepare Ukies. Or they are at the end of their wits and are throwing all cadres and resources into the melee. They spent decades developing the assets, and it is now or never. Navalny not feigning an illness or resisting the idiotic plan suggests that he is not very smart.
The now-or-never mentality explains other things, e.g. the willful massacre of the trained Ukie cadres that just happened in the Kherson steppes. See NY Times for details, but it requires a strong stomach.
Maybe I am an inveterate optimist, but I don’t think that we will get to the point where nukes start flying. Germany will deindustrialize and likely experience uncomfortably low temperatures at home in winter, but Germans will survive. The same thing will happen to the rest of Europe, in and outside of the EU. The US will lose the ability to rob the whole world through the dominance of the dollar, but Americans will survive, too.
After the dust settles, we will live in a different world. There will be multiple poles of power. Europe will become what it really is: a peninsula of Asia, like India or Indochina. But we will live.Replies: @German_reader, @216
I wouldn’t be sure about that, we’re rapidly approaching the point where a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine becomes completely impossible. I know you think that Russia will win and “re-format” Ukraine, but given how much the collective West has already invested and how bellicose lots of Western normies are, I think there would be direct NATO intervention, if that should happen.
On the other hand, if Ukraine keeps winning and makes moves to re-conquer all of Donbass or even Crimea, Russia will probably use nukes.
Stalemate lasting years might avoid such an outcome, but would also be disastrous in its own way.
Hoping to become something like India, or even Vietnam, would probably be overly optimistic, at least those countries are sovereign powers, and don’t seem intent on replacing their own population with foreigners.
NATO so far avoids direct intervention. It keeps making awkward attempts to retain deniability (which is becoming increasingly implausible), from which I conclude that they are scared shitless. By “they” I mean the empire: that’s where the decisions are made.
Anyway, I still don’t think anyone is crazy enough to use nukes. But if it comes to that, we’d have no more problems: the dead don’t have any. The country can win its sovereignty only by its own effort. Nobody can do that for it. It is said that every nation has the government it deserves. Today it sounds rabidly anti-American and anti-Western.
The pigs in Animal Farm are specifically said to be the cleverest of the animals. They are Zelensky’s coreligionists obviously.
It's strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren't even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Here Be Dragon, @silviosilver, @Barbarossa
Personally, I find it crazy that that level of hatred could exist between any peoples, regardless of how unrelated. I’m sure you’re aware of my dislike of blacks, but I just want to separate from them, not hurt them – let alone hurt them for bizarre ritualistic purposes. Some people evidently take their hate a lot more seriously than I do.
Btw, I’ve seen photos of WWII Ustase posing for portraits in dress uniform showing off the severed head of a Serb. There are probably pics still floating around the internet, but I don’t care to see it again so I’m not checking.
I did not watch the video. But the blog post said, "Another Ukrainian cannibal." I tried to find it and post it here, but it has been removed. So I used the photo from the post.
https://i.postimg.cc/BQJyZvrX/This-video-has-been-removed-for-violating-You-Tube-s-policy-on-violent-or-graphic-content.png
However I think the blogger did not lie, because it is not the first time a Ukrainian does something like that. Here is a video that is still on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXVRUIc0N2g
The kid speaks Russian!
He found a bone of a Russian soldier in a BTR with some meat on it, then cooked it as a barbeque and ate it. And he said he had been dreaming of doing that for a long time. It is on the Ukrainian side. The Russians do not have it.
From 2014 and so on the Ukrainians have been acting weird. It is indeed something pathological. You can order a cocktail with a name like "Blood of the Russian babies" in a bar or a steak called "A Roasted Russian soldier" in a restaurant. It amazes me how far it has gone. No one can understand it but the people who turned these Ukrainian idiots into savages in a matter of a few months. Some people in the US and the UK know how it works for certain, but for us it is an enigma.
Though as we remember the Ukrainians have done even worse things during the war before so I guess it is a trait of their collective national character.Replies: @Mr. Hack
Of course, “the kid speaks Russian”! Cannibalism is a long and established culinary object of Russian cuisine. This is one factor that definitely separates Ukrainians from Russians. Be sure to fact check your silly nonsense first:
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/
Category:Russian cannibals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_cannibalsB
Dmitry and Natalia Baksheevy
Alexander Bychkov
N
Vladimir Nikolayev (murderer)
O
Kegashbek Orunbayev
S
Eduard Seleznev
Eduard Shemyakov
Vasily Smirnov (serial killer)
Alexander Spesivtsev
Aleksey Sukletin
Z
Sofia ZhukovaReplies: @Here Be Dragon
I'm sure that we'd all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a "handicap" assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?Replies: @German_reader, @Mr. Hack, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry
When people provide themes apropos of nothing, they just reveal something about themselves, not about anyone or anything else. Here be Dragon is a very sick person, as one would expect, given his ancestry. The descendent of a Soviet policeman during the end of the Red Terror can't help but have gore and cannibalism on his mind.
You know what else he is obsessed with? He reveals it in his posts. He'll speak for himself here, these are his words, sharing what is often on his mind. His true essence, revealed when he speaks freely:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5529385
"cannot stop masturbating watching negroes screw white women on the internet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-190-russia-ukraine/#comment-5397918
"sucker of a Negro cock"
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/why-there-will-be-more-payton-gendrons/#comment-5347999
"Yes whites created PornHub, so you can watch how Negroes drill white women"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5535828
"does it allow blowing a black dick in a prison toilet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-194/#comment-5505674
"blowing a Negro’s dick"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-192/#comment-5433076
"a nasty movie about a nigga with a long dick"
::::::::::::::
What a strange obsession he has!Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Dmitry, @Here Be Dragon
On the other hand, if Ukraine keeps winning and makes moves to re-conquer all of Donbass or even Crimea, Russia will probably use nukes.
Stalemate lasting years might avoid such an outcome, but would also be disastrous in its own way. Hoping to become something like India, or even Vietnam, would probably be overly optimistic, at least those countries are sovereign powers, and don't seem intent on replacing their own population with foreigners.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Ukraine took back a small chunk of the territory it lost, could not move into Kherson region, could not even retake a few townships in neighboring Nikolaev region they lost earlier. Suffered catastrophic losses, even NYT reported that (the first time in years that NYT reported something truthful). Ukies made a few attempts to take back Zaporozhye NPP, lost a lot of men and equipment, and failed. Tried to get to the border of Lugansk People’s Republic and failed. Ukies keep retreating in Donetsk People’s Republic. Ukies kept shelling cities in all Russian-controlled areas, killed quite a few civilians, but failed to stop referendums. In his recent speech clown even offered to abide by Minsk agreement and Steinmeier formula. It’s too late for that. Medicine might help before the patient is dead, it is useless after.
NATO so far avoids direct intervention. It keeps making awkward attempts to retain deniability (which is becoming increasingly implausible), from which I conclude that they are scared shitless. By “they” I mean the empire: that’s where the decisions are made.
Anyway, I still don’t think anyone is crazy enough to use nukes. But if it comes to that, we’d have no more problems: the dead don’t have any.
The country can win its sovereignty only by its own effort. Nobody can do that for it. It is said that every nation has the government it deserves. Today it sounds rabidly anti-American and anti-Western.
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rb-composite-cannibal-house.jpg?w=1040
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Barbarossa, @AP, @Mike_from_Russia
Like I said, there’s along history of cannibalism among Russians:
Category:Russian cannibals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_cannibals
B
Dmitry and Natalia Baksheevy
Alexander Bychkov
N
Vladimir Nikolayev (murderer)
O
Kegashbek Orunbayev
S
Eduard Seleznev
Eduard Shemyakov
Vasily Smirnov (serial killer)
Alexander Spesivtsev
Aleksey Sukletin
Z
Sofia Zhukova
I did not post a photograph of a serial maniac, such as Andrei Chikatilo – a Ukrainian who murdered 60 women and children and ate them.
Андрій Романович Чикатило
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo
He alone murdered more people than all of those Russian maniacs in aggregate.
But the point is that in Ukraine right now it is not serial killers who are doing that but regular people who are considered normal, despite thinking that it is fun to boil a head of a man in a pot and eat it on camera. Young people! The point is imbecile that a lot of Ukrainians keep speaking Russian, and at the same time believing that to be a Ukrainian is something different – what is the reason for that? A border on the map?
These people have been driven mad. You are so dumb that I am incapable of helping. You cannot comprehend. But perhaps someone else can. So I post it for the benefit of third parties.Replies: @sudden death
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rb-composite-cannibal-house.jpg?w=1040
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Barbarossa, @AP, @Mike_from_Russia
Thanks so much for doubling down on “Here Be Dragon’s” grotesque and pointless digression.
I’m sure that we’d all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a “handicap” assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?
After 2022, someone will have to update those memes. With this accelerating trajectory of history, we will have already head cooking cannibals among the ruins of the lost Soviet spaceships.Replies: @Barbarossa
It's strange though that this level of hatred exists in a war between two closely related peoples (at least as far as Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are concerned), which frequently speak the same language and mostly aren't even divided by religion. Very hard to understand for outsiders.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Here Be Dragon, @silviosilver, @Barbarossa
As you of course know, that sort of macabre trophy keeping is pretty much a universal feature of war going back to time immemorial. War will always attract and feed the worst inclinations of sadists and even bring out the inner sadist in otherwise “normal” people.
I suppose that is why the cult of the honorable warrior was so important to historical societies; as an attempt to keep the worst excesses in check.
I'm sure that we'd all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a "handicap" assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?Replies: @German_reader, @Mr. Hack, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry
If the context weren’t so serious, it would be pretty funny though. Sure, there were previous discussions here about food, spices etc., but I hadn’t expected that the next culinary experience to be discussed here would involve human flesh. UR continues to provide fresh and exciting content.
One good thing about the mobilisation protesters in Russia is that the penal Batallions will be filled with deserved human mine sweepers.
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
I did some of this for real for the Russian Academy of Sciences among others. 120 projects for them. I did 14 years trying to find Russian technologies that might cope on the world market for clients or myself, found maybe 3. The next 14 years looking for sales and investment opportunities for foreign clients. Lots more exposure. Here goes on what I know. I don’t think I have/had many rivals. Descriptive rather than ranking.
Nuclear Power 1st Definitely top rank.
Military Aircraft 2nd No really informed opinion.
Missiles 1 No really informed opinion but inertial guidance used basic. Not cantilever.
Submarines 1 No really informed opinion. I note Yeltsin carried on spending.
Civil Aircraft 4 Not very good.
Radar/Military Electronics 2 No really informed opinion.
Metallurgy 2 Hugely variable. World class titanium skills. Indifferent steel.
Launch vehicles 3 In my time arguably #1 for the big stuff. Nowhere for small payloads.
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1 Yep
Solid rocket engines 2 No really informed opinion.
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2 Civil poor. Military No really informed opinion.
Small Naval Ships 1 No really informed opinion. Obviously good icebreakers. Trawlers-trying.
Photonics 4 Science base and prototyping excellent. Manufacturing is more like workshop level.
Software 4 1C is not a substitute for SAP. Government UNIX has not conquered all. But not my bag.
These areas very weak
Microelectronics 8 Weak.
Machine tools 10 Could have been better but lost key skills.
Industrial gas turbines 7 Struggling. Power Machines can’t cope without Siemens.
What about these areas?
Chemical Engineering ?
No direct involvement but from observation,
The Soviet Union failed to develop world class petroleum refining despite inventing it.
Bulk production certainly still there in some classes. eg NH4
Fine Chemicals ? No.
Petroleum capital equipment ? Patchy.
BioTech ?
My direct experience says awful. So does the fate of Sputnik V.
Russia simply had no actual manufacturing capacity. Think vats for brewing penicillin.
Pharma about nothing. Heavy use of Indian precursors anyway.
AgriTech ?
Machinery. Typical generic Russian manufacturing product. 1970s.
Factory farms* and large scale crops depend totally on foreign genetics. Disaster by end 2023.
Traditionally run farms are not exciting but use local breeds and seed suppliers. They will be resilient under sanctions.
*Import substitution programmes went for the quick fix. So they increased production or efficiency (reducing import costs) but increased technical dependency for factory farms, pharmaceutical production, refinery equipment, advanced harvesting equipment, pipeline pumping stations (hello Power of Siberia), machine tools etc etc. Almost anything that was modernized really. All top down quick fixes paid for by oil rather than the organic growth of a native industry. Civil aerospace, some auto (Kamaz does great 1970s trucks), basic agricultural equipment and standards driven industries like heavy electrical equipment or some building materials being the main exceptions.
Subject to revision as new stuff occurs to me.
Most areas I ranked highly are military, which is no surprise.
It seems if sanctions extend Russia is dependent on China for numerous important but largely invisible things to keep the wheels turning. They are at risk of "The kingdom fell for want of a nail" scenario. They can do all the easy stuff, but the harder specialized non-military production areas take an extended commitment of time and money which may not have happened.
What happened with Sputnik V?Replies: @Philip Owen
I'm sure that we'd all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a "handicap" assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?Replies: @German_reader, @Mr. Hack, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry
Well, I’ve been able to stop the Dragon Man from posting anymore lurid photos for about one hour. What’s he going to counter with?…The wikipedia article is genuine, as far as I know. The Russians start a war, and the Ukrainians are at fault. The Russian tries to implicate Ukrainians for being cannibals, the Ukrainian points out that there’s more information about Russian style cannibalism. I realize that I’m only possibly adding fuel to the fire, but I’m not perfect. 🙁
https://assets.mycast.io/actor_images/actor-olga-kurylenko-261271_large.jpg?1629812487
Otherwise keep your photos to yourself.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
It is good to see that my intuition is strong. I had a feeling that something was wrong about you, when we were having a long and polite discussion on the Arab culture.
It is good to know that my feeling was spot on, seeing your true colors now. I am grateful to you for that. Hope I’ll learn the lesson and will trust my instinct more in the future.
And if you thought that I would insult you back, you were wrong.
You are free to use ignore commenter feature. Ask that Arab-hating opponent of yours A123 how to do that. He has been using it against me for some time now.
You are advised to do the same, because in future comments I will not refrain from speaking what I think about the Arabs and their dumb religion no longer.
Until now I have been holding it back – out of sentiment of respect, since we had communicated and had no problem with each other. Now I am not restrained with that ethics, so consider it a warning.
And also consider this: if an Arab kissed a Jew in the arse, the Jew would have to take a ritual bath three times, because it would defile him. That is because his arse is pure, and an Arab is a bag of scum.
An Arab is so foul and abominable, that if he touches a bottle of wine it becomes an abomination as well, so a Jew cannot drink it. For that reason a Jew cannot sit with an Arab at the same table.
As a matter of fact, a Jew cannot have sex an Arab woman, because she is no better than a she-ass. If a Jew was caught in bed with an Arab woman, he was to be punished as for having sex with an animal.
That is because an Arab does not have a human soul.
He is an ass in the human form, created and born to be used as cattle. An Arab does not have a better purpose in his life. No matter what he can believe in – his real purpose is to be used.
Can a retarded son of a bitch who counts time with Moon calendar have a better purpose?
Of course not.
You can keep collecting photos of white women as long as you wish, but they will never give you anything but wet dreams. You do not even live in a normal country like some of your lucky brethren so your chance to ever touch a white woman is literally zero, unless she is a whore. And even then – maybe!
So relax and chill out, and accept the reality.
Your fate is to marry a woman with a hairy back, and sleep with it even after she begins growing mustaches.
Keep listening to Mozart.
https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music112/v4/33/f6/0f/33f60f88-a082-2668-fb6b-9225b3ddc2db/artwork.jpg/1200x1200bf-60.jpg
But actually the most beautiful Egyptian girl I've seen was fairly brown. Will do. I just downloaded Von Karajan's interpretation of the Requiem in D Minor on my phone. Will listen to it in my car on the way to work tomorrow. Stuff like this encourages me to get up in the morning!Replies: @Barbarossa
It is good to know that my feeling was spot on, seeing your true colors now. I am grateful to you for that. Hope I'll learn the lesson and will trust my instinct more in the future.
And if you thought that I would insult you back, you were wrong. You are free to use ignore commenter feature. Ask that Arab-hating opponent of yours A123 how to do that. He has been using it against me for some time now.
You are advised to do the same, because in future comments I will not refrain from speaking what I think about the Arabs and their dumb religion no longer.
Until now I have been holding it back – out of sentiment of respect, since we had communicated and had no problem with each other. Now I am not restrained with that ethics, so consider it a warning.
And also consider this: if an Arab kissed a Jew in the arse, the Jew would have to take a ritual bath three times, because it would defile him. That is because his arse is pure, and an Arab is a bag of scum.
An Arab is so foul and abominable, that if he touches a bottle of wine it becomes an abomination as well, so a Jew cannot drink it. For that reason a Jew cannot sit with an Arab at the same table.
As a matter of fact, a Jew cannot have sex an Arab woman, because she is no better than a she-ass. If a Jew was caught in bed with an Arab woman, he was to be punished as for having sex with an animal.
That is because an Arab does not have a human soul.
He is an ass in the human form, created and born to be used as cattle. An Arab does not have a better purpose in his life. No matter what he can believe in – his real purpose is to be used.
Can a retarded son of a bitch who counts time with Moon calendar have a better purpose?
Of course not. You can keep collecting photos of white women as long as you wish, but they will never give you anything but wet dreams. You do not even live in a normal country like some of your lucky brethren so your chance to ever touch a white woman is literally zero, unless she is a whore. And even then – maybe!
So relax and chill out, and accept the reality.
Your fate is to marry a woman with a hairy back, and sleep with it even after she begins growing mustaches.
https://i.postimg.cc/cHVy0D6R/Harem-3.jpg
Keep listening to Mozart.Replies: @German_reader, @Yahya
Your comments really are a good argument against cannabis use, the level of brainrot evident in them is frightening.
Deutsche Soldaten
und Offiziere,
Deutsche Kommandanten –
nicht kapitulieren!
In Crimea, Yanukovich’s side won so the 21% who voted there for the pro-Western parties did so in spite of your claimed winners bias.
Sure, many don’t want to fight. Most women, for example.
But in Kherson, of those who said they would do something – 37% said they would resist, only 1.2% said they would welcome the Russians, and .5% said they would join the Russians. Lopsided against Russia.
In contrast, more people in Donbas said they would welcome or help the Russians than said they would resist the Russians.
The obvious conclusion is that in an honest non-fake referendum Russia would win in Donbas but lose in Kherson, Kharkiv, etc.
That’s why our former host concluded:
“Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. ”
Annexing Crimea was a similar act. Annexing Donbas also.
Annexing Kherson and Zaporizhia are very different acts. Unlike Crimea and Donbas, the majority population in these regions (especially Kherson) do not want union with Russia.
Try being honest for change.
There is no 50% to 60% of support for annexation in Kherson.
In the poll Karlin posted, only 1.7% in Kherson said they would welcome the Russian forces or would join them. 37% would resist, 48% would not interfere.
Don’t lie about my previous (indeed, current) views.
If a minority doesn’t like it, they should live with it or move. So if Russian fanatics don’t like living in Kiev or Kharkiv where they are a minority, they should move to Russia rather than demand that their neighbors cater to their wishes. Or accept how things are. And if Ukrainian nationalists do not like living in Donetsk or Crimea where they are a minority, they should move to Kiev or Kharkiv.
But I don’t support the pro-Ukrainian majority in Kherson being forced to live in Russia or the Russian majority in Crimea being forced to live in Ukraine. (though my opinion is not so strong about Crimeans now, as a result of the invasion. As for Germans in Sudetenland or Danzig as a result of their invasion)
Kosovo precedent doesn’t apply to Kherson. Kosovo was 90% Albanians, who didn’t want to be part of Serbia.
It is now the 1939 Poland precedent. What were the consequences of that for Europe?
Category:Russian cannibals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_cannibalsB
Dmitry and Natalia Baksheevy
Alexander Bychkov
N
Vladimir Nikolayev (murderer)
O
Kegashbek Orunbayev
S
Eduard Seleznev
Eduard Shemyakov
Vasily Smirnov (serial killer)
Alexander Spesivtsev
Aleksey Sukletin
Z
Sofia ZhukovaReplies: @Here Be Dragon
Mr. Schmuck is a fabulous Ukrainian cretin!
I did not post a photograph of a serial maniac, such as Andrei Chikatilo – a Ukrainian who murdered 60 women and children and ate them.
Андрій Романович Чикатило
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo
He alone murdered more people than all of those Russian maniacs in aggregate.
But the point is that in Ukraine right now it is not serial killers who are doing that but regular people who are considered normal, despite thinking that it is fun to boil a head of a man in a pot and eat it on camera. Young people!
The point is imbecile that a lot of Ukrainians keep speaking Russian, and at the same time believing that to be a Ukrainian is something different – what is the reason for that? A border on the map?
These people have been driven mad. You are so dumb that I am incapable of helping. You cannot comprehend. But perhaps someone else can. So I post it for the benefit of third parties.
But in Kherson, of those who said they would do something - 37% said they would resist, only 1.2% said they would welcome the Russians, and .5% said they would join the Russians. Lopsided against Russia.
In contrast, more people in Donbas said they would welcome or help the Russians than said they would resist the Russians.
The obvious conclusion is that in an honest non-fake referendum Russia would win in Donbas but lose in Kherson, Kharkiv, etc.
That's why our former host concluded:
“Even within the historical region of Novorossiya that Russian irredentists were dreaming about in 2014, the share of respondents who answered that they would respond with “armed resistance” was more than twice as high as those saying they’d welcome the Russian troops (or join them). The only two regions where more people were ready to support Russian troops than oppose them were Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. Hard to imagine that it’s a coincidence that the People’s Republics successfully formed precisely in those two territories, while the attempted coups in Kharkov and Odessa – where anti-Russians were twice as numerous as pro-Russians – failed. ” Annexing Crimea was a similar act. Annexing Donbas also.
Annexing Kherson and Zaporizhia are very different acts. Unlike Crimea and Donbas, the majority population in these regions (especially Kherson) do not want union with Russia.
Try being honest for change. There is no 50% to 60% of support for annexation in Kherson.
In the poll Karlin posted, only 1.7% in Kherson said they would welcome the Russian forces or would join them. 37% would resist, 48% would not interfere. Don't lie about my previous (indeed, current) views.
If a minority doesn't like it, they should live with it or move. So if Russian fanatics don't like living in Kiev or Kharkiv where they are a minority, they should move to Russia rather than demand that their neighbors cater to their wishes. Or accept how things are. And if Ukrainian nationalists do not like living in Donetsk or Crimea where they are a minority, they should move to Kiev or Kharkiv.
But I don't support the pro-Ukrainian majority in Kherson being forced to live in Russia or the Russian majority in Crimea being forced to live in Ukraine. (though my opinion is not so strong about Crimeans now, as a result of the invasion. As for Germans in Sudetenland or Danzig as a result of their invasion) Kosovo precedent doesn't apply to Kherson. Kosovo was 90% Albanians, who didn't want to be part of Serbia.
It is now the 1939 Poland precedent. What were the consequences of that for Europe?Replies: @Beckow
You still don’t comprehend that winners’ bias applies only to a minority of population – 5 to 15% in research. The 21% are not a part of that 15%. Is it that hard to understand?
Why? Because of some old numbers that you think show that pro-Russians are under 50%? We don’t know that – there is a referendum to get new results. You can call it fake – and I can call your elections fake – but it will establish a new baseline. The referendum is superior as a source of data to a survey from 2014. They can also correctly say that in 8 years things have changed and that many Ukie enthusiasts left.
The might is right. The Kosovo precedent was not about numbers or laws, it was about the principle that might is right. Who has the power decides what happens. It was a catastrophic Nato error: for a very small reward they threw away the law. It allows others to do the same. Of course, the might is right principle established in Kosovo means that Kiev (or Nato) can try to win the war. Then their truth will prevail. But if they lose, the Kosovo precedent is very clear: the winner takes what they want and Kherson will be Russian. Strategic mistakes have consequences.
That just bolsters my case that the 97% in the Russian referendum in Crimea was fake. Every survey and election, not to mention demographics (Kherson oblast, 14% ethnic Russian), shows that support for annexation in Kherson would be well under 50%. Indeed, and for those who support lies it is convenient to falsely label everything as equally fake.Replies: @Beckow
And apart from the border regions where there still is a Serb presence (and which probably should be united with Serbia, if possible), most of Kosovo's population is Albanian and was clearly in favour of independence.
Kosovo war was still wrong imo and certainly contributed to erosion of international law/tensions with Russia, but the analogy with Russia annexing territories where most people probably have no desire of becoming part of Russia is highly imperfect.Replies: @Beckow
Here is one more test and I am sure it will once again demonstrate that a Ukrainian is not national belonging, but a diagnosis.
Check it out, Mr Schmuck.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwW4TG86/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier.png
A Ukrainian soldier is cooking a head of a Russian soldier in a pot. He uploaded the video on the internet. He ate it with his friends who were shooting the video. Note the Totenkopf tattoo on his left arm, imbecile.
https://i.postimg.cc/Prc6GBcJ/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/yNKysBT1/Ukrainian-Nazi-with-the-head-of-a-Russian-soldier-3.png
Keep talking about "Putler and his animals" now, dumbass.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Yahya, @German_reader, @Philip Owen
It might be a response to the two cannibals who have joined Wagner as a result of the prison drive. The Saratov one boiled his murdered friends head as well as eating some thigh.
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rb-composite-cannibal-house.jpg?w=1040
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Barbarossa, @AP, @Mike_from_Russia
It’s a sad mark of Soviet influence. Such behavior can be expected of people corrupted by Soviet rule. As he has shown everyone, Here be Dragon can’t help but demonstrate his own total moral corruption, no better than that of these guys cooking heads. It’s a veritable circus of freaks, these Soviets. We can expect Gerard to pitch in with similar, it’s all the same.
When people provide themes apropos of nothing, they just reveal something about themselves, not about anyone or anything else. Here be Dragon is a very sick person, as one would expect, given his ancestry. The descendent of a Soviet policeman during the end of the Red Terror can’t help but have gore and cannibalism on his mind.
You know what else he is obsessed with? He reveals it in his posts. He’ll speak for himself here, these are his words, sharing what is often on his mind. His true essence, revealed when he speaks freely:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5529385
“cannot stop masturbating watching negroes screw white women on the internet”
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-190-russia-ukraine/#comment-5397918
“sucker of a Negro cock”
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/why-there-will-be-more-payton-gendrons/#comment-5347999
“Yes whites created PornHub, so you can watch how Negroes drill white women”
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5535828
“does it allow blowing a black dick in a prison toilet”
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-194/#comment-5505674
“blowing a Negro’s dick”
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-192/#comment-5433076
“a nasty movie about a nigga with a long dick”
::::::::::::::
What a strange obsession he has!
The people of the United States of America and their neighbors and brethren, the people of Canada have together created the most malicious, the most contagious and the most harmful phenomenon that has ever been known – pornographic movies.
Using another diabolical creation of theirs – the internet – these two depraved and satanic nations have been spreading that spiritual disease throughout the earth, infecting with it other nations and other people of all social strata and ages – including children.
The revenues of this so-called business are not less than $5 billion worldwide, of which $3 billion is generated in the United States alone. For this reason pornographic material is available without restriction and is so widespread that it has become unavoidable.
The pornographers are interested in expansion of their clientele so the more children are exposed to their product the higher the revenue. Once addicted to porn most people are incapable of stopping to consume it, and children get addicted in a matter of a month.
A recent research has demonstrated – the Americans are far ahead of the rest of mankind with regards to consumption of the pornographic material. This depraved and retarded flock of human sheep is consuming orders of magnitude more of that crap than other nations.
https://i.postimg.cc/tTw1sXWn/US-is-the-most-porn-obsessed-country-in-the-world.png
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with Negroes!
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with the Negroes! The Americans admire watching, and find a lot of pleasure in seeing how a Negro is drilling a white woman.
And that is true indeed, considering that the Americans produce 68 million searches of porn per months, and most of them are searching for videos of Negroes having sex with white women.
For a comparison, the Russians generate less then 700 thousand searches per month, and most of them are searching for the Russian porn. Yet the Americans however prefer seeing Negroes.
It is not hard to figure it out, for what reason in particular the white people in America have such a peculiar interest in watching Negroes screwing white women – for the size of their sex organ!
Otherwise what would indeed make a white man want to see a man of the hated race, which most of them consider to be inferior, having sex with his appreciated and precious, beautiful white woman?
The Americans are perverse and depraved, and to the point of being decadent and degenerate. There is no other explanation of that. And it is because of that I mentioned and pointed out that fact in a few heated and furious discussions with them.
Because I am not taking a lesson on morals and ethics from a pervert, AP.
There are 2 times more of the Americans than there are the Russians, but the Americans consume 100 times more porn. Therefore an average American is 50 times more depraved than an average Russian. That is a fact!
An average Russian is consuming 2% of what an average American is.
You can stick these schizophrenic ideas about the immoral Soviet people up into the arse. Brainless Ukropithecus! That one was for another imbecile, walking around his flat wearing a souvenir sword who is as well a retarded racist, hating the Negroes for having a bit darker skin than his own brown arse has.
He said his religion is allowing him to steal and rob, so the question should be put in that context. But could a retarded anthropoid miss a chance to fart with his excrements for brain through his mouth once more?
Of course not!
https://i.postimg.cc/bY7crvNP/Cuckoo-1.pngReplies: @sudden death, @Coconuts, @AP
At the time of the 2001 census a broadly pro Moscow government was in charge of Ukraine. Here we see the underlying ethnic majorities. Clearly there will have been a lot of ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians by the Russians of the Donbas since but not in Kherson or Zaporizhie.
I tried to embed this but failed hence no MORE tag as I did remedial editing.
I'm sure that we'd all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a "handicap" assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?Replies: @German_reader, @Mr. Hack, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry
I believe this was all covered a couple years ago in a huge flame war regarding the phenomena of cannibalism for survival during the Stalin ordered famine in the 1930’s. That might maybe have been the thread when Karlin began to wonder what exactly the hell he was putting his name on to the top of.
My wife was into reading a lot of historical account of shipwrecks and seafaring a couple of years ago, and as we talked about the books I fully realized just how usual cannibalism was in those situations. Similarly with situations like the Donner party or other starvation scenarios.
The morality of such situations becomes blurry. It's of course wrong to kill someone to eat them no matter what the duress, but if someone dies naturally...it's easy to see how people would be driven by desperation to sustain themselves.
It seemed that in shipwreck situations in the 19th century there was often an assumption that cannibalism may have been resorted to, but it was left unspoken and kept quiet as an unsavory though not unexpected reality.
So you are suggesting that if not for winners’ bias the pro-Western result in Crimea in 2012 (where pro-Russian were the winners) would have been not 21% but up to 36%.
That just bolsters my case that the 97% in the Russian referendum in Crimea was fake.
Every survey and election, not to mention demographics (Kherson oblast, 14% ethnic Russian), shows that support for annexation in Kherson would be well under 50%.
Indeed, and for those who support lies it is convenient to falsely label everything as equally fake.
Kosovo wasn’t annexed by another state, it hasn’t even been united with Albania yet.
And apart from the border regions where there still is a Serb presence (and which probably should be united with Serbia, if possible), most of Kosovo’s population is Albanian and was clearly in favour of independence.
Kosovo war was still wrong imo and certainly contributed to erosion of international law/tensions with Russia, but the analogy with Russia annexing territories where most people probably have no desire of becoming part of Russia is highly imperfect.
When people provide themes apropos of nothing, they just reveal something about themselves, not about anyone or anything else. Here be Dragon is a very sick person, as one would expect, given his ancestry. The descendent of a Soviet policeman during the end of the Red Terror can't help but have gore and cannibalism on his mind.
You know what else he is obsessed with? He reveals it in his posts. He'll speak for himself here, these are his words, sharing what is often on his mind. His true essence, revealed when he speaks freely:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5529385
"cannot stop masturbating watching negroes screw white women on the internet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-190-russia-ukraine/#comment-5397918
"sucker of a Negro cock"
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/why-there-will-be-more-payton-gendrons/#comment-5347999
"Yes whites created PornHub, so you can watch how Negroes drill white women"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5535828
"does it allow blowing a black dick in a prison toilet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-194/#comment-5505674
"blowing a Negro’s dick"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-192/#comment-5433076
"a nasty movie about a nigga with a long dick"
::::::::::::::
What a strange obsession he has!Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Dmitry, @Here Be Dragon
I regret that I posted that here. Too many good and patriotic Ukrainians are Russian speakers, it’s not really their fault, it’s actually very similar to diaspora Ukrainians that soon revert to speaking in English.
216 is a retarded cuck I'd suggest ignoring him.Replies: @216
Guess who doesn’t believe in fair play. That would be you.
If enough of our people saw through your guile, our lands would be taken back in a fortnight.
Maybe I am an inveterate optimist, but I don’t think that we will get to the point where nukes start flying. Germany will deindustrialize and likely experience uncomfortably low temperatures at home in winter, but Germans will survive. The same thing will happen to the rest of Europe, in and outside of the EU. The US will lose the ability to rob the whole world through the dominance of the dollar, but Americans will survive, too.
After the dust settles, we will live in a different world. There will be multiple poles of power. Europe will become what it really is: a peninsula of Asia, like India or Indochina. But we will live.Replies: @German_reader, @216
You have been warned before that this statement is a denial of our inviolate rights of self-determination.
I try to avoid tweets [MORE] however, I have not seen this in any other format.
Meloni explicitly calls out The IslamoSoros as a threat to the Italian people. I believe the video dates back to 2018.
PEACE 😇
___
Embedding tweets under [MORE] should work. Key tips, make sure the URL:
— Begins “https://twitter ” — (no www)
— Ends “?s=20” — the UR embedding script *NEEDS* the “?” symbol
Given that Judaism has religious restrictions on porcines , I applaud your insight.
Zelensky is no longer a “Jew”. At best he is a post-Judiac apostate, for example a non-Jew Bolshevik.
PEACE 😇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT8rb22SjUc
And what makes you think it was "very important" news? That topic is a regular feature on the Russian TV. You can google this: Russia 'can't make more' tanks because of this key sanction, Biden official says.
It was published on the 9th of May. Your video is from the 18th of May. The manager of the plant addresses that particular claim in the video. It was a refutal of that false claim that was being spread through the social networks at the time, which is obvious.
You need to be very biased to draw such a conclusion out of it.
From the Wikipedia entry on Uralvagonzavod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralvagonzavod The report on the Russian TV was a refutation of that.
The fact is Uralvagonzavod is not producing less now, but is producing more than ever before. So if the plant is working in three-shift regime now it is for sure not producing less than in 2008, and that was 10 T-90A per month back then. Preparing – of course. But that does not mean it was intended to begin mobilization in April. He said that at the moment – at the moment, and not in general – a mobilization was not being discussed. Was he supposed to announce it beforehand? You are biased, friend.
The Soviet Igla MANPADS is of the same age as the Stinger, but is superior in range and some other important parameters. The Stinger is a downgrade, not an upgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
See the comparison chart.
Ukraine had about 350 of T-72 and 100 of T-80 tanks before the war, and 600 of modernized T-64s.
What does it have now instead?
You said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – 22 of them! And these are not better than what the Russians have. Ukraine had about 600 of self-propelled howitzers similar to some of these below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3orkL84sGIs
The M-777 howitzers are not an upgrade either. There is nothing special about them. Except for the NLAW and Javelins, and these HIMARS the stuff sent to Ukraine is mediocre and outdated.
I heard there have been a lot of sniper rifles given to them but I guess that these were sent along with snipers.
As for the MRLS before the war Ukraine had about 150 of Uragan and Smerch – the Soviet counterpart of the HIMARS. Do the 20 of the latter compensate the loss of most of the former?
Ukraine had 250 of the S-300. Now it is to be delivered – 12 machines of lesser range instead of those 200 of S-300 that have been destroyed. That is not modernization.
Not to mention that Ukraine has lost most of her aircraft. Ukraine had about 120 of the Mig-29, Su-24, Su-25 and Su-27. Now it has a few left.
It had 50 of the Mi-24 and 50 of the Mi-8 helicopters. Now it has 20 of the M-17.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine You and others need to stop fantasizing.
To be delivered are huge loads of the Russian shells and another 300 thousand troops, a lot of tanks and more planes. This winter Russia will begin a new phase of this war.
And Ukraine is going to lose.Replies: @Sean, @216, @Dmitry
Yakutsk has over 1/4 of the world’s diamond production, has the largest uranium, the largest coal mine in Russia.
Yakutsk is the source of the gas which is going to China by pipeline. https://radiosputnik.ria.ru/20201124/gaz-1586126546.html
I know personally someone who is very rich, because their father is a manager in a company working with those resource. I also know an engineer who is working there. This is an important economic region.
China has a falling population and especially in Northern areas of China.
You can read the resource “4 IRIS-T SLM Systems* [To be delivered] 8 NASAMS Batteries [To be delivered]” https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html
Those might be the number they received in 1991. Ukraine does not have working versions of these weapons in those numbers before the war. Their GDP is the around the same as Ecuador.
Perhaps in 1991. Ukraine is almost not considered to have a functional air force at the beginning of the war in 2022, according to the military experts.
A mobilization was being discussed and considered, when he said they were not.
His job, the public pay him the salary, is to communicate information about the government with the public, and this message is telling someone who listens and follows the literal words, the opposite of the indication of what will be the true situation. This is why you shouldn’t read their communications literally, unless you want to be making the wrong decisions based on this.
Of course, they should say they are planning it. The salary of the politicians’ is paid by the population, not the other way.
Mobilization of reservists beginning with multiply small numbers from April, would have been a lot more sensible.
There are ten tanks in the ceremony, it is the number of tanks which can be verified that they have released.
It is the only time they showed it and it was not just the federal channels. It was the local news. It was the official page of the city (Tagil). It was news of the region. https://ura.news/news/1052553744
When people provide themes apropos of nothing, they just reveal something about themselves, not about anyone or anything else. Here be Dragon is a very sick person, as one would expect, given his ancestry. The descendent of a Soviet policeman during the end of the Red Terror can't help but have gore and cannibalism on his mind.
You know what else he is obsessed with? He reveals it in his posts. He'll speak for himself here, these are his words, sharing what is often on his mind. His true essence, revealed when he speaks freely:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5529385
"cannot stop masturbating watching negroes screw white women on the internet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-190-russia-ukraine/#comment-5397918
"sucker of a Negro cock"
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/why-there-will-be-more-payton-gendrons/#comment-5347999
"Yes whites created PornHub, so you can watch how Negroes drill white women"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5535828
"does it allow blowing a black dick in a prison toilet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-194/#comment-5505674
"blowing a Negro’s dick"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-192/#comment-5433076
"a nasty movie about a nigga with a long dick"
::::::::::::::
What a strange obsession he has!Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Dmitry, @Here Be Dragon
It’s not so sophisticated how you try to mix some personal dislike with another idiosyncratic netizen, for some antisoviet propaganda.
You can’t notice it is two sides of the same coin. He will now return to talking about how your “unusual” views are result of American corruption, because of being descendent of Ukrainian peasants etc. There is the same “logic” and argument style that is common and shared by both of you.
Soviet official culture as projection by media to the population was relatively very polite and civilized. The vulgarization and cultural collapse is the last 30 years.
Perhaps the most shocking difference, is to compare television, from the calm and polite television until 1991, until the primitive gangster shouting of the political television today, which is the end result of the decline of television of the last 20 years, especially after around 2008. There you really feel how rapidly culture has reversed, especially in the last 10-15 years.
Tribalists cooking each other’s heads in the trashcan of history is not quite a representative sample of normal behavior in the historical trashcan (i.e. Second World). But it feels somehow like the accurate metaphor of the historical direction of postsovietization.
And the most tragic event was in 2014 when people from Australia and Netherlands were flying to their vacation, their plane has been traveling over the tribal war area, and was destroyed by one of the careless spears thrown from some tribal fighters below who had been trying to kill each other.
Call on the people to stop using shared heorin needles and start going back to church on Sunday.
Maybe if that had been the policy of RF they could win Ukraine back over without ruinous war between demographically depleted nations.Replies: @Dmitry
The Soviet era brought about a colossal increase in divorce, abortion and drug abuse. The whole host of Eastern Europe is still in recovery from these wretched times.
Call on the people to stop using shared heorin needles and start going back to church on Sunday.
Maybe if that had been the policy of RF they could win Ukraine back over without ruinous war between demographically depleted nations.
However, in the late Russian Empire and then in the Soviet Union, the population is moving to the cities and other areas of the government control (including the mass literacy), where the modern state easily begins to regulate the social norms of the mass of the population. This is by the the postwar time in the middle 20th century, that the modern Western kind of lifestyle is the normal for the majority of the Soviet citizens, where people are behaving like in the developed countries. This is the kind of bourgeois Western European morality becomes common in the population (not in hinterland) in the 20th century. By the 1950s, both America and Russia the people are socially not that different from each other. Probably the early 1960s, is when the overall populations of America and the Soviet Union attain the greatest convergence in their lifestyle and social norms. This is the pre-1960s American industrialized culture social norms, which are in the Soviet Union also in the 1970s and 1980s.
* (For Russian readers here , there is some related quote from Boris Mironov's book (“Social history of Russia in the period of the empire”) https://i.imgur.com/5TAJXXT.jpg. )Replies: @216, @Coconuts
Deutsche Soldaten
und Offiziere,
Deutsche Kommandanten –
nicht kapitulieren!
I'm sure that we'd all love a 200 post flame war about who is the most cannibalistic; Russians or Ukrainians!
There is a lot of nuance possible in plumbing the depths of this topic. For example, does it count if Ukrainians are eating Ukrainians and Russians are eating Russians, or only if they are eating each other? Is there a "handicap" assigned in the scoring system for potential extenuating circumstances such as famine? A difference in scoring assigned for finding an already deceased body (a cannibal of opportunity as it were) versus killing with the express intent to cannibalize?Replies: @German_reader, @Mr. Hack, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry
I remember some years ago (maybe 3 years ago?) Anon4/Bashibuzuk was posting memes in the forum from the kind of theme “traces have been found of an earlier, more advanced civilization”.
Oldtimers here should remember those?
This meme is usually something like a photo of ruined sculptures of cosmonauts next to a current alcohol shop (usually “red and white” which is where the alcoholics like to collapse in front of).
After 2022, someone will have to update those memes. With this accelerating trajectory of history, we will have already head cooking cannibals among the ruins of the lost Soviet spaceships.
Modern society reminds me of a tree which looks healthy but is entirely hollowed out. The storm comes and the tree collapses because it was only a shell, with no core of strength to support it.
And apart from the border regions where there still is a Serb presence (and which probably should be united with Serbia, if possible), most of Kosovo's population is Albanian and was clearly in favour of independence.
Kosovo war was still wrong imo and certainly contributed to erosion of international law/tensions with Russia, but the analogy with Russia annexing territories where most people probably have no desire of becoming part of Russia is highly imperfect.Replies: @Beckow
Whether annexed or not (yet) is actually completely irrelevant – it was the forced separation by bombing a sovereign state done by Nato that established a precedent.
We don’t know what were the desires of people in Kosovo – there was no referendum, it was done by force. The analogy is with the use of force – Nato bombed until they got the result they wanted – incl. the largest US base in Europe.
Of course, the analogy is imperfect – no two events are ever the same. We can argue that since Nato did it first – and then did it in a few other countries – the analogy is actually in Russia’s favor: they refrained from using force much longer than Nato did.
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks...yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn't mean one has to deny obvious facts). One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an "internal" RF matter)...none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN, @216, @Triteleia Laxa
Call on the people to stop using shared heorin needles and start going back to church on Sunday.
Maybe if that had been the policy of RF they could win Ukraine back over without ruinous war between demographically depleted nations.Replies: @Dmitry
You can talk to most people who were living in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. It was a relatively good time, from the average citizens’ point of view. Of course, it was economically very vulnerable and the financial basis has started to collapse in the early 1980s, there were the usual problems of life in the police state (although less than in police states today as the technology basis for the mass surveillance was less in the USSR, there was freedom in the private space).
Sharing needles for heroin users is a 21st century reality. It happens following the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic collapse and then incompetent management of pandemics that emerges, open borders with Central Asia, lack of harm-reduction policy.
If you look in the early 19th century and the 18th century, the life in the village was very hedonistic, including the sexual relations,* and the government could not much control villagers’ behavior, and the primary investment of many generations of priests is to transform the village life to the modern morality.
However, in the late Russian Empire and then in the Soviet Union, the population is moving to the cities and other areas of the government control (including the mass literacy), where the modern state easily begins to regulate the social norms of the mass of the population.
This is by the the postwar time in the middle 20th century, that the modern Western kind of lifestyle is the normal for the majority of the Soviet citizens, where people are behaving like in the developed countries. This is the kind of bourgeois Western European morality becomes common in the population (not in hinterland) in the 20th century. By the 1950s, both America and Russia the people are socially not that different from each other.
Probably the early 1960s, is when the overall populations of America and the Soviet Union attain the greatest convergence in their lifestyle and social norms. This is the pre-1960s American industrialized culture social norms, which are in the Soviet Union also in the 1970s and 1980s.
* (For Russian readers here , there is some related quote from Boris Mironov’s book (“Social history of Russia in the period of the empire”) https://i.imgur.com/5TAJXXT.jpg. )
It's not the Western way to shame you over this, Western conservatives only feel guilt over legal abortion, and constantly try to valorize single mothers as heroic.
But you should be ashamed. What the USSR did was monstrous. Qutb would agree, but most Americans alive during this time would not. American junkies share needles at far lower rates, and libtard municipalities hand out free needles.
"harm-reduction" what a load of libtard trash. What is missing is the political will to execute dealers like Singapore and China do.Replies: @Dmitry
There seems to have been some lively form of instinctive 'honour culture' in the villages, with a lot of stabbings and brawling about young women and beating women to make sure they behave was also more acceptable.
Come on, most of them are Albanians, they clearly didn’t want to be ruled by Serbs.
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks…yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn’t mean one has to deny obvious facts).
One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an “internal” RF matter)…none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).
Serbians didn't see NATO troops walking the streets of Belgrade and evicting Milosevic from office. Open Society and its friends got them into the streets and they willingly capitulated. They were defeated without fighting, but unlike the Japanese they didn't have to "embrace defeat".
As a certain Hollywood film once said "People should know when they are conquered" No, but only one of them has used nuclear weapons, landed on the Moon, and defeated the USSR while simultaneously underwriting the rebuilding of Europe.
And when it asked another Great Power to join the tariffs on Communist China, it was refused and retaliation was explicitly targeted to damage the Redstan economy.
And that same other Great Power preferred buying natural gas from an autocracy, rather than coming down from its haughty green pride and fracking like those dirty Redstanis. And they mocked Redstan's champion when he called them out on it.Replies: @German_reader
The Russian claims that they have tried for peace have been extremely disingenuous and never shown in any practical way.
Their deepest desire is to deal with their resentment, which is why they constantly talk about how they "won't be humiliated" and their only acceptable political objective is the Belarussification of Ukraine, which is also its deletion. Their pride needs Ukraine subordinated. There is no middle ground for that. Once subordinated, Ukraine will be entirely subject to Russia's will, just like Belarus. They call Zelenskyy a puppet, because they see him as someone who should be their puppet.
And Zelenskyy is not a Western puppet. Yes, because of this war, he has become extremely dependent on the West, but he could eviscerate any Western leader, including Biden, any time he wanted. He's done it to the Israelis, he did it to the Germans and he has even had Azov invited to the US Capitol. Azov, to the country Charles Murray is too much of a Nazi for polite society! If Biden turned off the taps of military support to Ukraine, who do you think would win a public spat? Really do you think Biden could out-argue Zelenskyy? That's not a 'puppet." And if Zelenskyy signed a peace, everyone would be relieved, but Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland, and an angry God has been awakened.
Even the Minsk accords, that Russian shills bleet in about, were supposed to achieve the complete subordination of Ukraine. By giving the two regions, controlled by Russian goons, and I don't use "goon" lightly, a veto over every policy, they essentially handed Putin complete control over the country, which is why they had to be ignored. And every Russian partisan knows this, but will lie endlessly to hide it. If you think Versailles was bad, imagine had the Rhineland instead been controlled by a British Mafia organisation, which could literally refuse any and every piece of legislation for the whole of Germany!
There are not "two equal sides" here. There are the scumbags who will lie, deceive, murder and whatever, to delete Ukraine, so they can again feel superior, and there are a large collection of varied others who do not want that to happen, sometimes for selfish interests of their own, but also sometimes because they just don't want Ukrainians to suffer. There are no such of these latter people shilling for Russia.
You might not like a lot of stuff, but, if you can't see this basic dynamic, you have a problem. Russians just can't accept that Ukrainians are not their toy. Everything else is noise. Russia never wanted the bombed out Donbas, they just needed it to crush Ukraine. And they still don't really want it. They just want to punish Ukraine and cause as much carnage as possible, because they now know, in their hearts, that they will never succeed in Ukraine, and so they at least want Ukraine to be unable to succeed without them.
Sometimes it is ok to try to "both sides it", especially for a while, for there are always problems on both sides, but sometimes you just need the courage to have a little clarity and stop valuing your image of yourself as someone above, or distant, from it all, and actually realise that one side really is a lot more sh*t than the other.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
That just bolsters my case that the 97% in the Russian referendum in Crimea was fake. Every survey and election, not to mention demographics (Kherson oblast, 14% ethnic Russian), shows that support for annexation in Kherson would be well under 50%. Indeed, and for those who support lies it is convenient to falsely label everything as equally fake.Replies: @Beckow
In general. that’s the way it works. Given that in 2012 Crimea and Ukraine were not yet heavily polarized, the going-with-the-winner percentage was probably smaller, closer to 5%. People’s views are fluid, probably a quarter of Crimea in 2012 and now leans pro-West and 3/4 lean pro-Russia.
The referendum was not fake – it correctly reflected the Crimean majority preferring to be in Russia, precise numbers are for autistic nerds and of little importance. What matters is whether the will of the majority prevailed.
Until this one. The referendum taking place now is the latest and most precise, it asks a direct question. Let’s see what comes out. Calling what you don’t like fake is a cop-out. Every contentious vote during a crisis can be labeled fake – somebody is always in charge, people always have imperfect information, there is always fear and uncertainty.
Kiev’s votes post-Maidan were far from perfect: parties were banned, there was violence, media was one-sided. You just don’t like it when the shoe is on the other foot. To get your way, you must win the war. As of today, in spite of endless propaganda, Kiev is losing.
Nuclear Power 1st Definitely top rank.
Military Aircraft 2nd No really informed opinion.
Missiles 1 No really informed opinion but inertial guidance used basic. Not cantilever.
Submarines 1 No really informed opinion. I note Yeltsin carried on spending.
Civil Aircraft 4 Not very good.
Radar/Military Electronics 2 No really informed opinion.
Metallurgy 2 Hugely variable. World class titanium skills. Indifferent steel.
Launch vehicles 3 In my time arguably #1 for the big stuff. Nowhere for small payloads.
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1 Yep
Solid rocket engines 2 No really informed opinion.
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2 Civil poor. Military No really informed opinion.
Small Naval Ships 1 No really informed opinion. Obviously good icebreakers. Trawlers-trying.
Photonics 4 Science base and prototyping excellent. Manufacturing is more like workshop level.
Software 4 1C is not a substitute for SAP. Government UNIX has not conquered all. But not my bag.
These areas very weak
Microelectronics 8 Weak.
Machine tools 10 Could have been better but lost key skills.
Industrial gas turbines 7 Struggling. Power Machines can't cope without Siemens.
What about these areas?
Chemical Engineering ?
No direct involvement but from observation,
The Soviet Union failed to develop world class petroleum refining despite inventing it.
Bulk production certainly still there in some classes. eg NH4
Fine Chemicals ? No.
Petroleum capital equipment ? Patchy.
BioTech ?
My direct experience says awful. So does the fate of Sputnik V.
Russia simply had no actual manufacturing capacity. Think vats for brewing penicillin.
Pharma about nothing. Heavy use of Indian precursors anyway.
AgriTech ?
Machinery. Typical generic Russian manufacturing product. 1970s.
Factory farms* and large scale crops depend totally on foreign genetics. Disaster by end 2023.
Traditionally run farms are not exciting but use local breeds and seed suppliers. They will be resilient under sanctions.
*Import substitution programmes went for the quick fix. So they increased production or efficiency (reducing import costs) but increased technical dependency for factory farms, pharmaceutical production, refinery equipment, advanced harvesting equipment, pipeline pumping stations (hello Power of Siberia), machine tools etc etc. Almost anything that was modernized really. All top down quick fixes paid for by oil rather than the organic growth of a native industry. Civil aerospace, some auto (Kamaz does great 1970s trucks), basic agricultural equipment and standards driven industries like heavy electrical equipment or some building materials being the main exceptions.
Subject to revision as new stuff occurs to me.Replies: @QCIC
Thanks. Your comments on items such as foreign seeds, fine chemicals, pharma, etc. are helpful. These are crucial if the country is under sanctions.
Most areas I ranked highly are military, which is no surprise.
It seems if sanctions extend Russia is dependent on China for numerous important but largely invisible things to keep the wheels turning. They are at risk of “The kingdom fell for want of a nail” scenario. They can do all the easy stuff, but the harder specialized non-military production areas take an extended commitment of time and money which may not have happened.
What happened with Sputnik V?
1 Lack of production capacity. Most was made in India but rather late in the day.
2 It was most effective for the under 50s. The group that needed it least.
Import Substitution - new investment in general.
Russia had too much money. It could buy in whole industries with capital goods and specialized elements in the supply chain. Poorer countries like South Korea or Turkey have had to build from the bottom so they have a more developed ecology around any paraticualr technology, say washing machines. Even if Turkey imports LCDs for displays the rest of the set up is native.
It is good to know that my feeling was spot on, seeing your true colors now. I am grateful to you for that. Hope I'll learn the lesson and will trust my instinct more in the future.
And if you thought that I would insult you back, you were wrong. You are free to use ignore commenter feature. Ask that Arab-hating opponent of yours A123 how to do that. He has been using it against me for some time now.
You are advised to do the same, because in future comments I will not refrain from speaking what I think about the Arabs and their dumb religion no longer.
Until now I have been holding it back – out of sentiment of respect, since we had communicated and had no problem with each other. Now I am not restrained with that ethics, so consider it a warning.
And also consider this: if an Arab kissed a Jew in the arse, the Jew would have to take a ritual bath three times, because it would defile him. That is because his arse is pure, and an Arab is a bag of scum.
An Arab is so foul and abominable, that if he touches a bottle of wine it becomes an abomination as well, so a Jew cannot drink it. For that reason a Jew cannot sit with an Arab at the same table.
As a matter of fact, a Jew cannot have sex an Arab woman, because she is no better than a she-ass. If a Jew was caught in bed with an Arab woman, he was to be punished as for having sex with an animal.
That is because an Arab does not have a human soul.
He is an ass in the human form, created and born to be used as cattle. An Arab does not have a better purpose in his life. No matter what he can believe in – his real purpose is to be used.
Can a retarded son of a bitch who counts time with Moon calendar have a better purpose?
Of course not. You can keep collecting photos of white women as long as you wish, but they will never give you anything but wet dreams. You do not even live in a normal country like some of your lucky brethren so your chance to ever touch a white woman is literally zero, unless she is a whore. And even then – maybe!
So relax and chill out, and accept the reality.
Your fate is to marry a woman with a hairy back, and sleep with it even after she begins growing mustaches.
https://i.postimg.cc/cHVy0D6R/Harem-3.jpg
Keep listening to Mozart.Replies: @German_reader, @Yahya
Well I was almost feeling guilty about insulting you, because we did indeed have polite and interesting conversations about Arab culture a month ago; and typically I don’t insult people unless they’ve attacked me first. But your comment has assuaged any guilt of mine.
Well there’s plenty of white women in my social circle. As you may know, Egypt like many other Islamic countries took a few slaves from further North back in the Medieval period. So now a half-millennia later we have a few vaguely Slavic-looking folks (I call them Slavo-Arabs) floating about in Egypt, particularly in the upper class, though they are blissfully unaware of their slave background. Two of my close childhood friends have dirty-blonde hair (one with green eyes). I asked both of them where they thought their ancestors came from; the first one said he didn’t care. The other one said she thought her ancestors came from Italy, as her father’s family hails from Alexandria. I pointed out she’s more likely to be of Eastern European or Caucasian stock (omitting the slave part of course); and she said “oh, that’s why people tell me I look Russian!”
But anyway, there are plenty of Arabs who aren’t “white” in the Nordic phenotype sense, but who are white-skinned nonetheless. And there are beautiful brown ones as well, as you yourself admitted. My favorite female phenotype, looks wise, is the Levantine black-haired, olive-skinned Arab girl look ala Rola Azar:
But actually the most beautiful Egyptian girl I’ve seen was fairly brown.
Will do. I just downloaded Von Karajan’s interpretation of the Requiem in D Minor on my phone. Will listen to it in my car on the way to work tomorrow. Stuff like this encourages me to get up in the morning!
After 2022, someone will have to update those memes. With this accelerating trajectory of history, we will have already head cooking cannibals among the ruins of the lost Soviet spaceships.Replies: @Barbarossa
The decline is real, and not just in post-Soviet places. I see the same precipitous decline in the US, though not to the head cooking stage quite yet!
Modern society reminds me of a tree which looks healthy but is entirely hollowed out. The storm comes and the tree collapses because it was only a shell, with no core of strength to support it.
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks...yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn't mean one has to deny obvious facts). One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an "internal" RF matter)...none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN, @216, @Triteleia Laxa
I concede that the Albanians almost certainly wanted to separate. Still it is puzzling that there was never a referendum – as if the Western countries tried to keep it hush-hush and invisible. Allowing a referendum would be a precedent. In theory, not voting on it was a major shortcoming.
We are discussing external events, so that one doesn’t really apply. But it was inconsistent.
I do. An ideal solution would be to lower the temperature, stop hating – that in practice means to stop hating the Russians, stop shooting, apply normal European rules – that means minorities have language and autonomy rights even if they happen to be Russian, Ukraine is neutral and takes advantage of trade with everyone.
That was the Minsk deal, it was the best one available. We may evaporate because a bunch of no-nothing fanatics insisted on stupid things that are really of no interest. The fanatics are mostly non-Europeans like the emigre offspring here that wants total victory but never plans to live anywhere close to Ukraine (right AP, Mr. Hacks?)
However, in the late Russian Empire and then in the Soviet Union, the population is moving to the cities and other areas of the government control (including the mass literacy), where the modern state easily begins to regulate the social norms of the mass of the population. This is by the the postwar time in the middle 20th century, that the modern Western kind of lifestyle is the normal for the majority of the Soviet citizens, where people are behaving like in the developed countries. This is the kind of bourgeois Western European morality becomes common in the population (not in hinterland) in the 20th century. By the 1950s, both America and Russia the people are socially not that different from each other. Probably the early 1960s, is when the overall populations of America and the Soviet Union attain the greatest convergence in their lifestyle and social norms. This is the pre-1960s American industrialized culture social norms, which are in the Soviet Union also in the 1970s and 1980s.
* (For Russian readers here , there is some related quote from Boris Mironov's book (“Social history of Russia in the period of the empire”) https://i.imgur.com/5TAJXXT.jpg. )Replies: @216, @Coconuts
There were over 5 mln abortions per annum during this time. We can’t ask those unborn millions how good it was going, but the fact they aren’t around today should tell us that things were not as sanguine as some Boomer’s nostalgia.
It’s not the Western way to shame you over this, Western conservatives only feel guilt over legal abortion, and constantly try to valorize single mothers as heroic.
But you should be ashamed. What the USSR did was monstrous.
Qutb would agree, but most Americans alive during this time would not.
American junkies share needles at far lower rates, and libtard municipalities hand out free needles.
“harm-reduction” what a load of libtard trash. What is missing is the political will to execute dealers like Singapore and China do.
Besides that, I'm not the greatest pro-government person so wouldn't have been too happy about the Soviet policies, although I guess I sometimes have a feeling towards government apologetics, which is probably result of the sense "it can always be worse and probably soon will be". @Barbarossa As they said, the Soviet Union was the more advanced stage of history. Ukrainian head cooking is the bright future promised to our ancestors. There is the level waiting for you if you climb high enough.Replies: @216
You could even say that the UR is on the bleeding edge of culinary discussion, eh?
To be honest, it’s not like the topic of head boiling during war-time is a topic which offends my delicate sensibilities. I can think of several interesting avenues of discussion such a topic might take, such as the abrogation of norms during war. However, I know it’s just going to be a silly ethnically charged pissing match. As you have pointed out, it’s quite remarkable how the pro-Ukie side here is often the mirror image to the silliness of the pro-Russian side.
Regarding the head boiling issue...agreed, it's potentially an interesting, if somewhat disturbing, question what makes people in war do something like that. I don't think it's that common in modern wars though (as opposed to antiquity or something like the Mongols and their skull pyramids, or some tribal peoples), the only example I could think of is the Pacific war as I mentioned, and there it was still a minority pursuit. Even the German-Soviet war, though it involved plenty of disrespect for the enemy dead (both sides systemically destroyed the other side's military cemeteries) and was extraordinarily brutal, doesn't seem to have featured collection of body parts on a large scale, so it seems some more specific factors are needed for something like that to happen.
If the Ukraine war produces more of such incidents, maybe it will at least be an interesting opportunity for anthropologists.Replies: @Yevardian
https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music112/v4/33/f6/0f/33f60f88-a082-2668-fb6b-9225b3ddc2db/artwork.jpg/1200x1200bf-60.jpg
But actually the most beautiful Egyptian girl I've seen was fairly brown. Will do. I just downloaded Von Karajan's interpretation of the Requiem in D Minor on my phone. Will listen to it in my car on the way to work tomorrow. Stuff like this encourages me to get up in the morning!Replies: @Barbarossa
Yeah, for what it’s worth, my own observation is that certain Middle Eastern women can be among some of the most beautiful. It seems like the more Arab types are less attractive, while Lebanese or Persians are more. You are more versed in the ethnic phenotypes though; I’m just shooting from the hip.
2) Armenians
3) Turks
4) Persians
5) PalestiniansSo yes I would tend to agree with you that more Northern types are better looking. I'd rank Saudi Arabia and Egypt pretty low unfortunately. Perhaps that's because i'm acquainted with these two on a personal level, and naturally have looked at one too many ugly women. With the other countries my observations are mostly through the media; where of course the women are disproportionately attractive. But sadly with any country the majority of women are nothing to look at. There's no use in even rating them. I'm not sure if there's a scientific way of looking at these things. My technique is to compare the list of actresses on Google from each country. But conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran would be disadvantaged since their TV industries don't select for sex appeal the same way Lebanon or Turkey might. I know that in Saudi Arabia i've seen some very beautiful ones in shopping malls and other such places; but you're never going to find them on TV or Youtube. Lebanese women are my favorite among Arabs. A big part of that is the way Lebanese women carry themselves, at least the upper class there, they are elegant and intelligent (though sadly a plastic surgery pandemic surged in Lebanon in recent years). Think Amal Clooney, Julia Boutros, or Nadine Labaki. North African women conversely I downgrade for a lack of class, though there are some stunning actresses like Najla Ben Abdullah, Dorra Zarouk, and Maryam Touzani. Of course the Kardashians put Armenians on the beauty map, and rightfully so. Turks are underrated; they have a good quantity of beauties in their upper class. I'm thinking Ozge Yagiz and Beren Sat, but there are much more, and you can easily find them if you watch Turkish TV or listen to Turkish music (one of my favorite singers is the beautiful Elif Guresci). Again Persian women are disadvantaged by their headscarves, the only beautiful actress from Iran proper I can think of is Leila Hatami, though among the exiled Iranian expat community in the West there is Sarah Shahi, Nazan Boniadi, and Golshifteh Farahani.How to objectively say which nation among them is most beautiful, I don't know. My vote would go to the Lebanese. I think Turks would agree with me as well. I recall watching this video of a Lebanese song uploaded, titled and viewed by Turks. There's also an Arabic upload of the same video, though it doesn’t have nearly as many views as the Turkish one (7.1M). The comment section was pretty interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Uf8YuMicw&ab_channel=cebeci1982 Replies: @Yevardian, @AnonfromTN, @Emil Nikola Richard
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks...yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn't mean one has to deny obvious facts). One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an "internal" RF matter)...none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN, @216, @Triteleia Laxa
Let’s assume that. Then please logically explain two facts: 1) there was never a referendum in Kosovo, even after its “independence”; 2) about a third of Kosovo residents ran away from there after “independence”.
One third of the population seems exaggerated to me though, do you have a source for that?Replies: @AnonfromTN
2. Serbia lost the war
It is irrelevant that annexation requires a referendum. The Golan and East Jerusalem were annexed with the clear knowledge that the populations residing there were opposed. When the West Bank is inevitably annexed the same will apply. Sinai was returned to Egypt despite some evidence that the population there may not have wanted it, and preferred independence or autonomy.
West Germany annexed East Germany without a referendum (but by consent of the occupying powers), and South Korea is entitled to annex North Korea without a referendum.
East Prussians didn't vote on being annexed to Russia either, they were deported, and are blocked from returning. Unlike Palestinians, they don't seem to be indignant and accept they lost the war.
It may be a bit heartless on my part (Ukraine has been the victim of aggression after all, and I’m still in favour of giving – qualified – support to the country, including weapons), but if I’m completely honest, I’ve started to feel intense dislike for both sides. Russians are pretty insufferable with their megalomaniacal great power chauvinism and their claim to “respect” (doesn’t seem to occur to them that maybe there could be better ways to earn it than brute force), but I don’t see much to like in Ukraine either tbh…I recently mentioned that the Ukrainian ex-“ambassador” to Germany fantasizes about trying German “Kremlin propagandists” in a war crimes tribunal (not a joke, he repeated that in another tweet, so apparently serious)…total joke that such people fight for “our liberty and democracy too”, more like they come from the same rotten tree as their Russian counter-parts.
Regarding the head boiling issue…agreed, it’s potentially an interesting, if somewhat disturbing, question what makes people in war do something like that. I don’t think it’s that common in modern wars though (as opposed to antiquity or something like the Mongols and their skull pyramids, or some tribal peoples), the only example I could think of is the Pacific war as I mentioned, and there it was still a minority pursuit. Even the German-Soviet war, though it involved plenty of disrespect for the enemy dead (both sides systemically destroyed the other side’s military cemeteries) and was extraordinarily brutal, doesn’t seem to have featured collection of body parts on a large scale, so it seems some more specific factors are needed for something like that to happen.
If the Ukraine war produces more of such incidents, maybe it will at least be an interesting opportunity for anthropologists.
Anyway, there's quite a moving Greek documentary about this phenomenon during the junta, interestingly of the interviewees its the seemingly most intelligent and decent of them that goes the furthest in sadism:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLNRhJCN7Y Of course. Its comical and at the same time ridiculous to watch all the Russians, Ukrainians (and to lesser, degree Balts and Poles) all drag each other deeper into the mud, they seem have the impression it makes their 'side' look comparatively more sympathetic, but they seem unaware that outside observers are naturally going to put them together in the same tribe or shared culture. And yes, the Russian/Ukrainian hatred is especially bizzare given the differences between them are so minimal (different political evolution since 1991, literally the sum total..), AP seems on some crusade to prove Ukraine would be like the Czech Republic if not for the USSR, nevermind both Russia and Ukraine have both become cultural deserts run by bandits since it collapsed.. eh, enough.I think this old classic pretty could be seen as an allegory for post-Soviet nationalisms, I'm sure LatW and Dmitri know it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3vn7JodhA0@AnonfromTN A third is definitely too much. It wouldn't even say much even so given the level of emigration from the Balkans already. It's not as if under Yugoslavia the Serbs didn't have the opportunity to work a reasonable compromise with the Albanians who made up the vast majority there, but no, they had zero interest in doing so, they're hardly blameless. After Tito died various gangsters and crooks stirred up literal criminals to start idiotic tribal wars so they could steal more easily, a great legacy.I noticed from Strelkov and Podolyaka that the Ukrainians are even continuing to push towards Donbass, despite Russian mobilisation, even Podolyaka seems to becoming pessimistic about Russia's longterm prospects at this point.Replies: @German_reader
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks...yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn't mean one has to deny obvious facts). One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an "internal" RF matter)...none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN, @216, @Triteleia Laxa
Sun Tzu praises the ability to defeat the enemy without fighting, Westerners have a hard time accepting this. It’s why “stabs in the back” carry so much weight.
Serbians didn’t see NATO troops walking the streets of Belgrade and evicting Milosevic from office. Open Society and its friends got them into the streets and they willingly capitulated. They were defeated without fighting, but unlike the Japanese they didn’t have to “embrace defeat”.
As a certain Hollywood film once said “People should know when they are conquered”
No, but only one of them has used nuclear weapons, landed on the Moon, and defeated the USSR while simultaneously underwriting the rebuilding of Europe.
And when it asked another Great Power to join the tariffs on Communist China, it was refused and retaliation was explicitly targeted to damage the Redstan economy.
And that same other Great Power preferred buying natural gas from an autocracy, rather than coming down from its haughty green pride and fracking like those dirty Redstanis. And they mocked Redstan’s champion when he called them out on it.
As for the rest of your MAGAtard gibberish, lol, not going to address any of that. Amusing though that you included the atomic bombings among American accomplishments, that's a take I hadn't seen before.Replies: @216
Well, of course the Serbs fled, after all the Albanians might have killed them otherwise (and for the record, I don’t condone NATO’s role in bringing this about, I’m opposed to such “humanitarian” interventions).
One third of the population seems exaggerated to me though, do you have a source for that?
https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-07-11-is-population-emigration-turning-into-a-general-threat-for-kosovo-.H1-vBCtsq.html
https://balkaninsight.com/2019/04/25/leaving-kosovo-legal-migration-upsurge-causes-depopulation-fears/Replies: @German_reader
It's not the Western way to shame you over this, Western conservatives only feel guilt over legal abortion, and constantly try to valorize single mothers as heroic.
But you should be ashamed. What the USSR did was monstrous. Qutb would agree, but most Americans alive during this time would not. American junkies share needles at far lower rates, and libtard municipalities hand out free needles.
"harm-reduction" what a load of libtard trash. What is missing is the political will to execute dealers like Singapore and China do.Replies: @Dmitry
HIV rates are minimized because of the free needles and harm reduction. Without this policy, the epidemic is maintained as a “reserve” in this needle sharing population.
Singapore is almost an island. The Russian Federation has the world’s largest open borders, including to Central Asia, and you know what country these are contiguous – Afghanistan.
Also in terms of political culture like in the McCarthyism in America, the 1950s and early 1960s are probably the closest American culture was to the Soviet Union. The external policy of the government also can be relatively parallels, and not necessarily with the USSR as the always worse example. In that time America’s growing intervention in Indochina was even more problematic than the Soviet interventions until Afghanistan.
It was a type of contraception. The basis of ethics is to not harm another consciousness, so obviously if the fetus is conscious at the time of the abortion, there is a serious moral problem with the later abortions.
I was born after the collapse of the Soviet Union so there is some physical impossibility to be responsible for their abortion policies. Unless you believe in re-incarnation, in which example, I could have been more a victim killed when in mother’s womb, statistically more likely than being the re-incarnated official policy influencer, who were a lot smaller in numbers.
Besides that, I’m not the greatest pro-government person so wouldn’t have been too happy about the Soviet policies, although I guess I sometimes have a feeling towards government apologetics, which is probably result of the sense “it can always be worse and probably soon will be”.
As they said, the Soviet Union was the more advanced stage of history. Ukrainian head cooking is the bright future promised to our ancestors. There is the level waiting for you if you climb high enough.
Joe McCarthy was right, the Venona decrypts confirm it, he was sabotaged by J. Edgar Hoover (one of our great African-Americans) and Bobby Kennedy. I do admire that honor cultures can be very blunt, Western liberals almost never admit this. Russia could copy Poland's laws, they have not.
The Western way is to hold successive generations responsible for past atrocities, if one can appreciate the great deeds of our ancestors, we must also bear responsibility for their evils.
Westerners aren't virtue signaling, they are genuinely pained by what occurred in the past and want to make amends. But what Western liberals deny is that the formerly subaltern has no regard for the Christian notion of forgiveness.
Serbians didn't see NATO troops walking the streets of Belgrade and evicting Milosevic from office. Open Society and its friends got them into the streets and they willingly capitulated. They were defeated without fighting, but unlike the Japanese they didn't have to "embrace defeat".
As a certain Hollywood film once said "People should know when they are conquered" No, but only one of them has used nuclear weapons, landed on the Moon, and defeated the USSR while simultaneously underwriting the rebuilding of Europe.
And when it asked another Great Power to join the tariffs on Communist China, it was refused and retaliation was explicitly targeted to damage the Redstan economy.
And that same other Great Power preferred buying natural gas from an autocracy, rather than coming down from its haughty green pride and fracking like those dirty Redstanis. And they mocked Redstan's champion when he called them out on it.Replies: @German_reader
Germany isn’t a great power, it’s a joke country that nobody takes seriously (except when it comes to asking for money, and that will soon run out). Germans may be still be able to be somewhat mean towards penurious Greeks, or attempt to bully Hungarian football fans for the sake of sodomite rights, but that’s about it.
As for the rest of your MAGAtard gibberish, lol, not going to address any of that. Amusing though that you included the atomic bombings among American accomplishments, that’s a take I hadn’t seen before.
1. International Law is liberal pablum
2. Serbia lost the war
It is irrelevant that annexation requires a referendum. The Golan and East Jerusalem were annexed with the clear knowledge that the populations residing there were opposed. When the West Bank is inevitably annexed the same will apply. Sinai was returned to Egypt despite some evidence that the population there may not have wanted it, and preferred independence or autonomy.
West Germany annexed East Germany without a referendum (but by consent of the occupying powers), and South Korea is entitled to annex North Korea without a referendum.
East Prussians didn’t vote on being annexed to Russia either, they were deported, and are blocked from returning. Unlike Palestinians, they don’t seem to be indignant and accept they lost the war.
I have no doubt that the cannibalism ground has already been well tilled. It’s an interesting ethical area in certain situations, honestly.
My wife was into reading a lot of historical account of shipwrecks and seafaring a couple of years ago, and as we talked about the books I fully realized just how usual cannibalism was in those situations. Similarly with situations like the Donner party or other starvation scenarios.
The morality of such situations becomes blurry. It’s of course wrong to kill someone to eat them no matter what the duress, but if someone dies naturally…it’s easy to see how people would be driven by desperation to sustain themselves.
It seemed that in shipwreck situations in the 19th century there was often an assumption that cannibalism may have been resorted to, but it was left unspoken and kept quiet as an unsavory though not unexpected reality.
One third of the population seems exaggerated to me though, do you have a source for that?Replies: @AnonfromTN
Here are some data and rudimentary analysis
https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-07-11-is-population-emigration-turning-into-a-general-threat-for-kosovo-.H1-vBCtsq.html
https://balkaninsight.com/2019/04/25/leaving-kosovo-legal-migration-upsurge-causes-depopulation-fears/
https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-07-11-is-population-emigration-turning-into-a-general-threat-for-kosovo-.H1-vBCtsq.html
https://balkaninsight.com/2019/04/25/leaving-kosovo-legal-migration-upsurge-causes-depopulation-fears/Replies: @German_reader
Sure, Kosovo isn’t exactly a success story, lots of emigration from it…but that doesn’t mean in any way that Kosovo Albanians would have preferred to continue being under Serbian rule.
Besides that, I'm not the greatest pro-government person so wouldn't have been too happy about the Soviet policies, although I guess I sometimes have a feeling towards government apologetics, which is probably result of the sense "it can always be worse and probably soon will be". @Barbarossa As they said, the Soviet Union was the more advanced stage of history. Ukrainian head cooking is the bright future promised to our ancestors. There is the level waiting for you if you climb high enough.Replies: @216
This view can only be the product of history created by foreign leftists.
Joe McCarthy was right, the Venona decrypts confirm it, he was sabotaged by J. Edgar Hoover (one of our great African-Americans) and Bobby Kennedy.
I do admire that honor cultures can be very blunt, Western liberals almost never admit this.
Russia could copy Poland’s laws, they have not.
The Western way is to hold successive generations responsible for past atrocities, if one can appreciate the great deeds of our ancestors, we must also bear responsibility for their evils.
Westerners aren’t virtue signaling, they are genuinely pained by what occurred in the past and want to make amends. But what Western liberals deny is that the formerly subaltern has no regard for the Christian notion of forgiveness.
Regarding the head boiling issue...agreed, it's potentially an interesting, if somewhat disturbing, question what makes people in war do something like that. I don't think it's that common in modern wars though (as opposed to antiquity or something like the Mongols and their skull pyramids, or some tribal peoples), the only example I could think of is the Pacific war as I mentioned, and there it was still a minority pursuit. Even the German-Soviet war, though it involved plenty of disrespect for the enemy dead (both sides systemically destroyed the other side's military cemeteries) and was extraordinarily brutal, doesn't seem to have featured collection of body parts on a large scale, so it seems some more specific factors are needed for something like that to happen.
If the Ukraine war produces more of such incidents, maybe it will at least be an interesting opportunity for anthropologists.Replies: @Yevardian
I was personally told a long time ago from a friend’s family member about how they witnessed exactly this sort of thing being done with Palestinians during the Lebanese civil war. Especially in conflicts between relatively disorganised forces without a lot of overhead control, terror-tactics can give an edge. You also never know who can be capable of extreme sadism, it’s hardly always just psychopaths and thugs, it would be more comfortable fur us if it were. Of course as a German this sort of thing must be drummed into your heads endlessly all through school though, right? Or the focus is just on a special metaphysical evil unique to Teutons or white people, I have no idea.
Anyway, there’s quite a moving Greek documentary about this phenomenon during the junta, interestingly of the interviewees its the seemingly most intelligent and decent of them that goes the furthest in sadism:
Of course. Its comical and at the same time ridiculous to watch all the Russians, Ukrainians (and to lesser, degree Balts and Poles) all drag each other deeper into the mud, they seem have the impression it makes their ‘side’ look comparatively more sympathetic, but they seem unaware that outside observers are naturally going to put them together in the same tribe or shared culture. And yes, the Russian/Ukrainian hatred is especially bizzare given the differences between them are so minimal (different political evolution since 1991, literally the sum total..), AP seems on some crusade to prove Ukraine would be like the Czech Republic if not for the USSR, nevermind both Russia and Ukraine have both become cultural deserts run by bandits since it collapsed.. eh, enough.
I think this old classic pretty could be seen as an allegory for post-Soviet nationalisms, I’m sure LatW and Dmitri know it.
A third is definitely too much. It wouldn’t even say much even so given the level of emigration from the Balkans already. It’s not as if under Yugoslavia the Serbs didn’t have the opportunity to work a reasonable compromise with the Albanians who made up the vast majority there, but no, they had zero interest in doing so, they’re hardly blameless. After Tito died various gangsters and crooks stirred up literal criminals to start idiotic tribal wars so they could steal more easily, a great legacy.
I noticed from Strelkov and Podolyaka that the Ukrainians are even continuing to push towards Donbass, despite Russian mobilisation, even Podolyaka seems to becoming pessimistic about Russia’s longterm prospects at this point.
Well beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that. My personal opinion:
1) Lebanese
2) Armenians
3) Turks
4) Persians
5) Palestinians
So yes I would tend to agree with you that more Northern types are better looking. I’d rank Saudi Arabia and Egypt pretty low unfortunately. Perhaps that’s because i’m acquainted with these two on a personal level, and naturally have looked at one too many ugly women. With the other countries my observations are mostly through the media; where of course the women are disproportionately attractive. But sadly with any country the majority of women are nothing to look at. There’s no use in even rating them.
I’m not sure if there’s a scientific way of looking at these things. My technique is to compare the list of actresses on Google from each country. But conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran would be disadvantaged since their TV industries don’t select for sex appeal the same way Lebanon or Turkey might. I know that in Saudi Arabia i’ve seen some very beautiful ones in shopping malls and other such places; but you’re never going to find them on TV or Youtube.
Lebanese women are my favorite among Arabs. A big part of that is the way Lebanese women carry themselves, at least the upper class there, they are elegant and intelligent (though sadly a plastic surgery pandemic surged in Lebanon in recent years). Think Amal Clooney, Julia Boutros, or Nadine Labaki. North African women conversely I downgrade for a lack of class, though there are some stunning actresses like Najla Ben Abdullah, Dorra Zarouk, and Maryam Touzani.
Of course the Kardashians put Armenians on the beauty map, and rightfully so. Turks are underrated; they have a good quantity of beauties in their upper class. I’m thinking Ozge Yagiz and Beren Sat, but there are much more, and you can easily find them if you watch Turkish TV or listen to Turkish music (one of my favorite singers is the beautiful Elif Guresci). Again Persian women are disadvantaged by their headscarves, the only beautiful actress from Iran proper I can think of is Leila Hatami, though among the exiled Iranian expat community in the West there is Sarah Shahi, Nazan Boniadi, and Golshifteh Farahani.
How to objectively say which nation among them is most beautiful, I don’t know. My vote would go to the Lebanese. I think Turks would agree with me as well. I recall watching this video of a Lebanese song uploaded, titled and viewed by Turks. There’s also an Arabic upload of the same video, though it doesn’t have nearly as many views as the Turkish one (7.1M). The comment section was pretty interesting.
But I'm pretty well in agreement, though for me Iranians come first. Azeri girls can also be very pretty. Goldshifteh Farahani became a famous actress in Iran first though. There's also Googoosh in her youth, though they don't have Hatami's classical features. Hedia Tehrani does though, she starred in some decent films. Also the MP Arpine Hovhannisyan. On Egypt only Fawzia Chirine comes to mind, though I doubt she had a drop of Egyptian blood in her.What did you make of Houellebecq's Soumission btw? Honestly, I think it's unquestionably his weakest novel by a fair margin (and it was the first of his books I read, so no bias there), the protagonist is an unlikeable cipher even by his usual standards in that. I did introduce me to Huysmans though, about halfway through Huysman's À Rebours I realised he was going to become one of my favourite authors. Do you read French btw? I know Egypt isn't Lebanon (Camille Chamoun and his class apparently could barely speak grammatical Arabic), but is it still very common for middle and upper-class Egyptians to know French?Replies: @Yahya, @Yahya
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
As for the rest of your MAGAtard gibberish, lol, not going to address any of that. Amusing though that you included the atomic bombings among American accomplishments, that's a take I hadn't seen before.Replies: @216
We are speaking of the EU.
Reciprocity and loyalty are concepts that you struggle with. But Americans are a generous people, even to those that don’t want the gift. The “city on a hill” is who we are and we will never cease our nature.
And yet you still spend inordinate amounts of time going on about how wonderful America's role in the world is, how St Ronnie defeated the evil commies, how ungrateful foreigners like me are, how America needs to enforce "respect" for herself through military action etc. Totally warped priorities. And that's one reason why people like you will continue to be played by political opportunists and will continue to be total losers.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
Why no one bothered to ask them? That’s the question.
2) Armenians
3) Turks
4) Persians
5) PalestiniansSo yes I would tend to agree with you that more Northern types are better looking. I'd rank Saudi Arabia and Egypt pretty low unfortunately. Perhaps that's because i'm acquainted with these two on a personal level, and naturally have looked at one too many ugly women. With the other countries my observations are mostly through the media; where of course the women are disproportionately attractive. But sadly with any country the majority of women are nothing to look at. There's no use in even rating them. I'm not sure if there's a scientific way of looking at these things. My technique is to compare the list of actresses on Google from each country. But conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran would be disadvantaged since their TV industries don't select for sex appeal the same way Lebanon or Turkey might. I know that in Saudi Arabia i've seen some very beautiful ones in shopping malls and other such places; but you're never going to find them on TV or Youtube. Lebanese women are my favorite among Arabs. A big part of that is the way Lebanese women carry themselves, at least the upper class there, they are elegant and intelligent (though sadly a plastic surgery pandemic surged in Lebanon in recent years). Think Amal Clooney, Julia Boutros, or Nadine Labaki. North African women conversely I downgrade for a lack of class, though there are some stunning actresses like Najla Ben Abdullah, Dorra Zarouk, and Maryam Touzani. Of course the Kardashians put Armenians on the beauty map, and rightfully so. Turks are underrated; they have a good quantity of beauties in their upper class. I'm thinking Ozge Yagiz and Beren Sat, but there are much more, and you can easily find them if you watch Turkish TV or listen to Turkish music (one of my favorite singers is the beautiful Elif Guresci). Again Persian women are disadvantaged by their headscarves, the only beautiful actress from Iran proper I can think of is Leila Hatami, though among the exiled Iranian expat community in the West there is Sarah Shahi, Nazan Boniadi, and Golshifteh Farahani.How to objectively say which nation among them is most beautiful, I don't know. My vote would go to the Lebanese. I think Turks would agree with me as well. I recall watching this video of a Lebanese song uploaded, titled and viewed by Turks. There's also an Arabic upload of the same video, though it doesn’t have nearly as many views as the Turkish one (7.1M). The comment section was pretty interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Uf8YuMicw&ab_channel=cebeci1982 Replies: @Yevardian, @AnonfromTN, @Emil Nikola Richard
Lol, you obviously spend a lot of time on this subject, though admittedly a much more pleasurable and natural one than autistic comparisons of weapons systems and product unboxings (no offence intended).
But I’m pretty well in agreement, though for me Iranians come first. Azeri girls can also be very pretty. Goldshifteh Farahani became a famous actress in Iran first though. There’s also Googoosh in her youth, though they don’t have Hatami’s classical features. Hedia Tehrani does though, she starred in some decent films. Also the MP Arpine Hovhannisyan. On Egypt only Fawzia Chirine comes to mind, though I doubt she had a drop of Egyptian blood in her.
What did you make of Houellebecq’s Soumission btw? Honestly, I think it’s unquestionably his weakest novel by a fair margin (and it was the first of his books I read, so no bias there), the protagonist is an unlikeable cipher even by his usual standards in that. I did introduce me to Huysmans though, about halfway through Huysman’s À Rebours I realised he was going to become one of my favourite authors. Do you read French btw? I know Egypt isn’t Lebanon (Camille Chamoun and his class apparently could barely speak grammatical Arabic), but is it still very common for middle and upper-class Egyptians to know French?
I did not post a photograph of a serial maniac, such as Andrei Chikatilo – a Ukrainian who murdered 60 women and children and ate them.
Андрій Романович Чикатило
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo
He alone murdered more people than all of those Russian maniacs in aggregate.
But the point is that in Ukraine right now it is not serial killers who are doing that but regular people who are considered normal, despite thinking that it is fun to boil a head of a man in a pot and eat it on camera. Young people! The point is imbecile that a lot of Ukrainians keep speaking Russian, and at the same time believing that to be a Ukrainian is something different – what is the reason for that? A border on the map?
These people have been driven mad. You are so dumb that I am incapable of helping. You cannot comprehend. But perhaps someone else can. So I post it for the benefit of third parties.Replies: @sudden death
Should go on and share your unparalleled wisdoms with Mexicans who speak Spanish, but somehow don’t consider themselves Spaniards or Brazilians who speak Portugese, but are not Portugals themselves.
2) Armenians
3) Turks
4) Persians
5) PalestiniansSo yes I would tend to agree with you that more Northern types are better looking. I'd rank Saudi Arabia and Egypt pretty low unfortunately. Perhaps that's because i'm acquainted with these two on a personal level, and naturally have looked at one too many ugly women. With the other countries my observations are mostly through the media; where of course the women are disproportionately attractive. But sadly with any country the majority of women are nothing to look at. There's no use in even rating them. I'm not sure if there's a scientific way of looking at these things. My technique is to compare the list of actresses on Google from each country. But conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran would be disadvantaged since their TV industries don't select for sex appeal the same way Lebanon or Turkey might. I know that in Saudi Arabia i've seen some very beautiful ones in shopping malls and other such places; but you're never going to find them on TV or Youtube. Lebanese women are my favorite among Arabs. A big part of that is the way Lebanese women carry themselves, at least the upper class there, they are elegant and intelligent (though sadly a plastic surgery pandemic surged in Lebanon in recent years). Think Amal Clooney, Julia Boutros, or Nadine Labaki. North African women conversely I downgrade for a lack of class, though there are some stunning actresses like Najla Ben Abdullah, Dorra Zarouk, and Maryam Touzani. Of course the Kardashians put Armenians on the beauty map, and rightfully so. Turks are underrated; they have a good quantity of beauties in their upper class. I'm thinking Ozge Yagiz and Beren Sat, but there are much more, and you can easily find them if you watch Turkish TV or listen to Turkish music (one of my favorite singers is the beautiful Elif Guresci). Again Persian women are disadvantaged by their headscarves, the only beautiful actress from Iran proper I can think of is Leila Hatami, though among the exiled Iranian expat community in the West there is Sarah Shahi, Nazan Boniadi, and Golshifteh Farahani.How to objectively say which nation among them is most beautiful, I don't know. My vote would go to the Lebanese. I think Turks would agree with me as well. I recall watching this video of a Lebanese song uploaded, titled and viewed by Turks. There's also an Arabic upload of the same video, though it doesn’t have nearly as many views as the Turkish one (7.1M). The comment section was pretty interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Uf8YuMicw&ab_channel=cebeci1982 Replies: @Yevardian, @AnonfromTN, @Emil Nikola Richard
In their teens and early twenties southern chicks look very good, much prettier than white gals. Unfortunately, by about 30 their sideburns start growing, and by 40 most have mustaches a 20-year-old man would be proud of. I am not even talking about later, when they become hairy and scary harridans.
2) Armenians
3) Turks
4) Persians
5) PalestiniansSo yes I would tend to agree with you that more Northern types are better looking. I'd rank Saudi Arabia and Egypt pretty low unfortunately. Perhaps that's because i'm acquainted with these two on a personal level, and naturally have looked at one too many ugly women. With the other countries my observations are mostly through the media; where of course the women are disproportionately attractive. But sadly with any country the majority of women are nothing to look at. There's no use in even rating them. I'm not sure if there's a scientific way of looking at these things. My technique is to compare the list of actresses on Google from each country. But conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran would be disadvantaged since their TV industries don't select for sex appeal the same way Lebanon or Turkey might. I know that in Saudi Arabia i've seen some very beautiful ones in shopping malls and other such places; but you're never going to find them on TV or Youtube. Lebanese women are my favorite among Arabs. A big part of that is the way Lebanese women carry themselves, at least the upper class there, they are elegant and intelligent (though sadly a plastic surgery pandemic surged in Lebanon in recent years). Think Amal Clooney, Julia Boutros, or Nadine Labaki. North African women conversely I downgrade for a lack of class, though there are some stunning actresses like Najla Ben Abdullah, Dorra Zarouk, and Maryam Touzani. Of course the Kardashians put Armenians on the beauty map, and rightfully so. Turks are underrated; they have a good quantity of beauties in their upper class. I'm thinking Ozge Yagiz and Beren Sat, but there are much more, and you can easily find them if you watch Turkish TV or listen to Turkish music (one of my favorite singers is the beautiful Elif Guresci). Again Persian women are disadvantaged by their headscarves, the only beautiful actress from Iran proper I can think of is Leila Hatami, though among the exiled Iranian expat community in the West there is Sarah Shahi, Nazan Boniadi, and Golshifteh Farahani.How to objectively say which nation among them is most beautiful, I don't know. My vote would go to the Lebanese. I think Turks would agree with me as well. I recall watching this video of a Lebanese song uploaded, titled and viewed by Turks. There's also an Arabic upload of the same video, though it doesn’t have nearly as many views as the Turkish one (7.1M). The comment section was pretty interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Uf8YuMicw&ab_channel=cebeci1982 Replies: @Yevardian, @AnonfromTN, @Emil Nikola Richard
Lebanon has the best looking people. It came from those millennia of sacrificing all those children to Baal. Baal wanted good looking fodder so He messed with their DNA to upgrade the race.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
When people provide themes apropos of nothing, they just reveal something about themselves, not about anyone or anything else. Here be Dragon is a very sick person, as one would expect, given his ancestry. The descendent of a Soviet policeman during the end of the Red Terror can't help but have gore and cannibalism on his mind.
You know what else he is obsessed with? He reveals it in his posts. He'll speak for himself here, these are his words, sharing what is often on his mind. His true essence, revealed when he speaks freely:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5529385
"cannot stop masturbating watching negroes screw white women on the internet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-190-russia-ukraine/#comment-5397918
"sucker of a Negro cock"
https://www.unz.com/jtaylor/why-there-will-be-more-payton-gendrons/#comment-5347999
"Yes whites created PornHub, so you can watch how Negroes drill white women"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-195/#comment-5535828
"does it allow blowing a black dick in a prison toilet"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-194/#comment-5505674
"blowing a Negro’s dick"
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-192/#comment-5433076
"a nasty movie about a nigga with a long dick"
::::::::::::::
What a strange obsession he has!Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Dmitry, @Here Be Dragon
That is nothing but a pure and honest reflection of the truth, which is a known and indeed a frightening fact and is however being ignored, so it has to be brought up once in a while or otherwise we will forget it, whereas we must remember.
The people of the United States of America and their neighbors and brethren, the people of Canada have together created the most malicious, the most contagious and the most harmful phenomenon that has ever been known – pornographic movies.
Using another diabolical creation of theirs – the internet – these two depraved and satanic nations have been spreading that spiritual disease throughout the earth, infecting with it other nations and other people of all social strata and ages – including children.
The revenues of this so-called business are not less than $5 billion worldwide, of which $3 billion is generated in the United States alone. For this reason pornographic material is available without restriction and is so widespread that it has become unavoidable.
The pornographers are interested in expansion of their clientele so the more children are exposed to their product the higher the revenue. Once addicted to porn most people are incapable of stopping to consume it, and children get addicted in a matter of a month.
A recent research has demonstrated – the Americans are far ahead of the rest of mankind with regards to consumption of the pornographic material. This depraved and retarded flock of human sheep is consuming orders of magnitude more of that crap than other nations.
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with Negroes!
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with the Negroes! The Americans admire watching, and find a lot of pleasure in seeing how a Negro is drilling a white woman.
And that is true indeed, considering that the Americans produce 68 million searches of porn per months, and most of them are searching for videos of Negroes having sex with white women.
For a comparison, the Russians generate less then 700 thousand searches per month, and most of them are searching for the Russian porn. Yet the Americans however prefer seeing Negroes.
It is not hard to figure it out, for what reason in particular the white people in America have such a peculiar interest in watching Negroes screwing white women – for the size of their sex organ!
Otherwise what would indeed make a white man want to see a man of the hated race, which most of them consider to be inferior, having sex with his appreciated and precious, beautiful white woman?
The Americans are perverse and depraved, and to the point of being decadent and degenerate. There is no other explanation of that. And it is because of that I mentioned and pointed out that fact in a few heated and furious discussions with them.
Because I am not taking a lesson on morals and ethics from a pervert, AP.
There are 2 times more of the Americans than there are the Russians, but the Americans consume 100 times more porn. Therefore an average American is 50 times more depraved than an average Russian. That is a fact!
An average Russian is consuming 2% of what an average American is.
You can stick these schizophrenic ideas about the immoral Soviet people up into the arse. Brainless Ukropithecus!
That one was for another imbecile, walking around his flat wearing a souvenir sword who is as well a retarded racist, hating the Negroes for having a bit darker skin than his own brown arse has.
He said his religion is allowing him to steal and rob, so the question should be put in that context. But could a retarded anthropoid miss a chance to fart with his excrements for brain through his mouth once more?
Of course not!
The discovery of popularity of the singer Lizzo and her cultural icon status in the US has partly triggered this. (I strongly doubt that AP is part of this culture though).Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Emil Nikola Richard
So you have two obsessions, things you often bring up out of context, because they are on your mind a lot: black male anatomy, and lurid photos of atrocities.
These reveal a lot about you, and your upbringing, your morals, etc. They probably explain why you don’t have a family, too, which is all for the best of course.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Perhaps they were just following the precedent set by the Benes decrees. In a nutshell, when one group first tries to ‘cleanse’ or ‘genocide’ another, they can’t complain if that group turns the tables and cleanses/genocides them; third parties are permitted (almost obliged) to turn a blind eye.
That largely depends whom these third parties are favouring. The Anglosphere was all too happy watching the Germans gobble up Sudetenland in the forlorn hope of appeasing Hitler. Less well-known are the later events in March of 1939 when he essentially turned the Czechs into a servile puppet state, and so the figleaf of “protecting ethnic German interests” was not even bothered with.
There were scant attempts at making him pay. Had he not further invaded, the fate of the Czechs wouldn’t have been very bright.
The only reason why Benes got away with what he did is because the geopolitical calculus had changed for these third parties. This also has implications for the Armenian-Azeri conflict, because the same principles apply. Geopolitics was never about morality and even the actions of these smaller countries are rarely successful out of their own might alone, but rather as a consequence of greater games by larger powers.
Too much panic over climate change in Southern Europe should be balanced by looking across the Med to their Arab neighbours and learn profitably from their architectural traditions.
There is much to learn from the Arabs when it comes to building homes that can withstand massive and sustained heatwaves. Even contemporary Arabs could learn from their own, often forgotten, old masters. Cutting down on AC usage – and building visually appealing and pleasurable homes in the process.
Before making sarcastic remarks about another man’s wisdom, a retarded moron should go on and read a page or two on what he is going to make fun of. Checking his idiotic comment for spelling errors would not hurt him either.
There are no such people as Portugals – these are called the Portuguese, and so is their language. Stupid son of a bitch.
Unlike the Mexicans or the Brazilians whose ethnic composition is mixed, the Ukrainians are of the same origin with the Russians.
Unlike the Mexicans, most of whome have a large share of the Meso-American genes, most of the Ukrainians are of the same genetic group with the Russians.
Unlike the Mexicans whose ancestors were forced to forget their original culture and language, the Ukrainians were encouraged to remember it.
And the same can be applied to the Brazilians. Unlike the Brazilians and the Mexicans, the Ukrainians are not descended from immigrants and inhabit the land, which used to be called Rus’.
If we want to draw parallels here, a better comparison would be of the Saudis and the Yemenis – both of these are the Arabs. The difference is that the Saudis are called Arabians and the Yemenis are not.
The same it is between the Ukrainians and the Russians. Both are the Rus people, but the Russians keep their historical name and the name of their land and the Ukrainians do not.
The name Ukraine does not refer to a state or a nation. It was the name of a province in Poland when it occupied a part of the original land of the Rus’.
The Ukrainians are the Russian people who adopted the name of a Polish province.
The people of the United States of America and their neighbors and brethren, the people of Canada have together created the most malicious, the most contagious and the most harmful phenomenon that has ever been known – pornographic movies.
Using another diabolical creation of theirs – the internet – these two depraved and satanic nations have been spreading that spiritual disease throughout the earth, infecting with it other nations and other people of all social strata and ages – including children.
The revenues of this so-called business are not less than $5 billion worldwide, of which $3 billion is generated in the United States alone. For this reason pornographic material is available without restriction and is so widespread that it has become unavoidable.
The pornographers are interested in expansion of their clientele so the more children are exposed to their product the higher the revenue. Once addicted to porn most people are incapable of stopping to consume it, and children get addicted in a matter of a month.
A recent research has demonstrated – the Americans are far ahead of the rest of mankind with regards to consumption of the pornographic material. This depraved and retarded flock of human sheep is consuming orders of magnitude more of that crap than other nations.
https://i.postimg.cc/tTw1sXWn/US-is-the-most-porn-obsessed-country-in-the-world.png
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with Negroes!
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with the Negroes! The Americans admire watching, and find a lot of pleasure in seeing how a Negro is drilling a white woman.
And that is true indeed, considering that the Americans produce 68 million searches of porn per months, and most of them are searching for videos of Negroes having sex with white women.
For a comparison, the Russians generate less then 700 thousand searches per month, and most of them are searching for the Russian porn. Yet the Americans however prefer seeing Negroes.
It is not hard to figure it out, for what reason in particular the white people in America have such a peculiar interest in watching Negroes screwing white women – for the size of their sex organ!
Otherwise what would indeed make a white man want to see a man of the hated race, which most of them consider to be inferior, having sex with his appreciated and precious, beautiful white woman?
The Americans are perverse and depraved, and to the point of being decadent and degenerate. There is no other explanation of that. And it is because of that I mentioned and pointed out that fact in a few heated and furious discussions with them.
Because I am not taking a lesson on morals and ethics from a pervert, AP.
There are 2 times more of the Americans than there are the Russians, but the Americans consume 100 times more porn. Therefore an average American is 50 times more depraved than an average Russian. That is a fact!
An average Russian is consuming 2% of what an average American is.
You can stick these schizophrenic ideas about the immoral Soviet people up into the arse. Brainless Ukropithecus! That one was for another imbecile, walking around his flat wearing a souvenir sword who is as well a retarded racist, hating the Negroes for having a bit darker skin than his own brown arse has.
He said his religion is allowing him to steal and rob, so the question should be put in that context. But could a retarded anthropoid miss a chance to fart with his excrements for brain through his mouth once more?
Of course not!
https://i.postimg.cc/bY7crvNP/Cuckoo-1.pngReplies: @sudden death, @Coconuts, @AP
This is pure enterntainment over here and I don’t mean porn lol
Or I am the only one who finds himself giggling when still drugs hyping allegedly former(?) acid junkie finds adult people fucking on screen for money the most harmful thing ever that could be done or seen?
If there was given a hypothethical choice of a world without drugs or a world without porn, myself really would choose the former in a heartbeat without any long considerations, especially knowing that most ugly porn is quite often fueled by nothing but all kinds of drugs too.
A world without drugs would be a world without art. The greatest art was made inder the influence of drugs. A world without art would be a world of ugliness, even without porn. You know it how – from a personal experience?
Porn is fueled with lust and greed, and drugs have nothing to do with it. There is no such a drug that makes one feel greed, and even if there are some that stimulate lust it is up to a person to decide what to do with that. No drug makes one a pervert or a porn addict.
His lust and greed do it.
The borders the Communists drew in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia needed to be redone peacefully after the collapse of the Eastern bloc to reflect ethnic realities. Unfortunately the ruling ideology of the West was now also Communist and against the nation state. US geopolitical interests were to dismember Serbia so Serbs in Bosnia were denied their desire to join Serbia proper, similarly Montenegro was also separated from Serbia, I assume the priority was to deny Serbia access to the sea, whether the people in Montenegro genuinely wanted that I have no idea, and I doubt NATO cared either way. In many ways Russia is doing similarly to the Ukraine now, although this very avoidable war is very much the responsibility of the neocons, not the Kremlin.
Would be very interesting to know who did it and for what reason. Official narrative seems to be Russia did it, to prevent Germany using the gas already in the pipeline.Replies: @LondonBob
That would be a ‘powerful take’. Restoration of gas supplies is a key lever for a peace deal.
Germany couldn’t get sufficient gas even with some gas still flowing through Nordstream 1. Actually thought this news was fake when I first read it, absolutely dire news for Europe.
Germany couldn't get sufficient gas even with some gas still flowing through Nordstream 1. Actually thought this news was fake when I first read it, absolutely dire news for Europe.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader
The price of natgas in EU has been dropping like a rock from the heights over last several weeks as underground facilities have been filled up nearly completely, so who is really interested in keeping some tensions and not happy with depressed prices while looking absolutely clowns while refusing to take back repaired turbines due to BS reasons?
There is high probability Gazprom will take now those gas turbines back quickly, but will continue crying crocodile tears about inability to give more gas now cause of “diversions” while also giving it as a reason in the courts for not fulfiling contracts, instead of having legally indefensible “oil leak” in old turbine or “incapability” to take turbine back from Germany.
No surprise this happened after the Italian election.
As crazy as I thought Klain-Blinken and the rest of them are, I didn't think they were this bad, a clear act of war.
define high prices...sure there was a spike that's receeded a little but the price is like a pair of testicles in a vice grip getting squeezed.
No, prices remain multiples of the historic average for Europe, demand has come down somewhat because energy industry has started shutting down. Storage is there to supplement pipeline flows when usage is at its highest, it cannot replace.
No surprise this happened after the Italian election.
As crazy as I thought Klain-Blinken and the rest of them are, I didn’t think they were this bad, a clear act of war.
However, in the late Russian Empire and then in the Soviet Union, the population is moving to the cities and other areas of the government control (including the mass literacy), where the modern state easily begins to regulate the social norms of the mass of the population. This is by the the postwar time in the middle 20th century, that the modern Western kind of lifestyle is the normal for the majority of the Soviet citizens, where people are behaving like in the developed countries. This is the kind of bourgeois Western European morality becomes common in the population (not in hinterland) in the 20th century. By the 1950s, both America and Russia the people are socially not that different from each other. Probably the early 1960s, is when the overall populations of America and the Soviet Union attain the greatest convergence in their lifestyle and social norms. This is the pre-1960s American industrialized culture social norms, which are in the Soviet Union also in the 1970s and 1980s.
* (For Russian readers here , there is some related quote from Boris Mironov's book (“Social history of Russia in the period of the empire”) https://i.imgur.com/5TAJXXT.jpg. )Replies: @216, @Coconuts
In cases like these it is probably important to look at infant mortality rate and things like the number of pregnancies per women, because these societies were probably not hedonistic in the modern sense, which is very sanitised. ‘Vitalistic’ might be a better word?
There seems to have been some lively form of instinctive ‘honour culture’ in the villages, with a lot of stabbings and brawling about young women and beating women to make sure they behave was also more acceptable.
The people of the United States of America and their neighbors and brethren, the people of Canada have together created the most malicious, the most contagious and the most harmful phenomenon that has ever been known – pornographic movies.
Using another diabolical creation of theirs – the internet – these two depraved and satanic nations have been spreading that spiritual disease throughout the earth, infecting with it other nations and other people of all social strata and ages – including children.
The revenues of this so-called business are not less than $5 billion worldwide, of which $3 billion is generated in the United States alone. For this reason pornographic material is available without restriction and is so widespread that it has become unavoidable.
The pornographers are interested in expansion of their clientele so the more children are exposed to their product the higher the revenue. Once addicted to porn most people are incapable of stopping to consume it, and children get addicted in a matter of a month.
A recent research has demonstrated – the Americans are far ahead of the rest of mankind with regards to consumption of the pornographic material. This depraved and retarded flock of human sheep is consuming orders of magnitude more of that crap than other nations.
https://i.postimg.cc/tTw1sXWn/US-is-the-most-porn-obsessed-country-in-the-world.png
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with Negroes!
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with the Negroes! The Americans admire watching, and find a lot of pleasure in seeing how a Negro is drilling a white woman.
And that is true indeed, considering that the Americans produce 68 million searches of porn per months, and most of them are searching for videos of Negroes having sex with white women.
For a comparison, the Russians generate less then 700 thousand searches per month, and most of them are searching for the Russian porn. Yet the Americans however prefer seeing Negroes.
It is not hard to figure it out, for what reason in particular the white people in America have such a peculiar interest in watching Negroes screwing white women – for the size of their sex organ!
Otherwise what would indeed make a white man want to see a man of the hated race, which most of them consider to be inferior, having sex with his appreciated and precious, beautiful white woman?
The Americans are perverse and depraved, and to the point of being decadent and degenerate. There is no other explanation of that. And it is because of that I mentioned and pointed out that fact in a few heated and furious discussions with them.
Because I am not taking a lesson on morals and ethics from a pervert, AP.
There are 2 times more of the Americans than there are the Russians, but the Americans consume 100 times more porn. Therefore an average American is 50 times more depraved than an average Russian. That is a fact!
An average Russian is consuming 2% of what an average American is.
You can stick these schizophrenic ideas about the immoral Soviet people up into the arse. Brainless Ukropithecus! That one was for another imbecile, walking around his flat wearing a souvenir sword who is as well a retarded racist, hating the Negroes for having a bit darker skin than his own brown arse has.
He said his religion is allowing him to steal and rob, so the question should be put in that context. But could a retarded anthropoid miss a chance to fart with his excrements for brain through his mouth once more?
Of course not!
https://i.postimg.cc/bY7crvNP/Cuckoo-1.pngReplies: @sudden death, @Coconuts, @AP
This is a topic which is getting some attention in the dissident right at the moment, ‘Negrified America’, or the American project of ‘Global Negro Communism’.
The discovery of popularity of the singer Lizzo and her cultural icon status in the US has partly triggered this. (I strongly doubt that AP is part of this culture though).
A white American is feeling inferior and insecure. That causes enormous frustration, which is expressed as paranoia taking the form in such ridiculous neurotic theories.
Let us not forget, the white men know that their wonderful white women watch the Negro porn as well. How otherwise could it be that the white women prefer dating the Negroes more and more?
A white woman wishes a long black dick – that is obvious!
So do me a favour, stop telling me that nonsense and about the dissident right, who are a bunch of latent homosexuals.
https://i.postimg.cc/mk6RFqZr/Blue-Oyster.jpg
Come out of the closet!Replies: @Coconuts
Kind of like Palestine v Israel, Hutu v Tutsi, Ukraine v Russia.
That is because considerations require a modicum of intelligence, and a dumbass has none.
A world without drugs would be a world without art. The greatest art was made inder the influence of drugs. A world without art would be a world of ugliness, even without porn.
You know it how – from a personal experience?
Porn is fueled with lust and greed, and drugs have nothing to do with it. There is no such a drug that makes one feel greed, and even if there are some that stimulate lust it is up to a person to decide what to do with that. No drug makes one a pervert or a porn addict.
His lust and greed do it.
But I'm pretty well in agreement, though for me Iranians come first. Azeri girls can also be very pretty. Goldshifteh Farahani became a famous actress in Iran first though. There's also Googoosh in her youth, though they don't have Hatami's classical features. Hedia Tehrani does though, she starred in some decent films. Also the MP Arpine Hovhannisyan. On Egypt only Fawzia Chirine comes to mind, though I doubt she had a drop of Egyptian blood in her.What did you make of Houellebecq's Soumission btw? Honestly, I think it's unquestionably his weakest novel by a fair margin (and it was the first of his books I read, so no bias there), the protagonist is an unlikeable cipher even by his usual standards in that. I did introduce me to Huysmans though, about halfway through Huysman's À Rebours I realised he was going to become one of my favourite authors. Do you read French btw? I know Egypt isn't Lebanon (Camille Chamoun and his class apparently could barely speak grammatical Arabic), but is it still very common for middle and upper-class Egyptians to know French?Replies: @Yahya, @Yahya
It mystifies me why people aren’t more interested in phenotypes. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. Of course I do it in such a manner such that i’m always looking at beautiful women from each ethnos, and that makes it all the more pleasurable. Perhaps if academics and others were to follow my ways, they would put more time and effort into phenotypic research.
Forgot about the Azeris, though for some reason I don’t really view them as Middle Eastern the same way as Armenians. But yes they have some beauties, starting with their first lady (though she’s a bit old).
I’ll also add Moroccan Jewish women to the mix. Roni Elkabetz, Emanuelle Chirqui, Ofir Ben Shitri.
Tehrani is handsome, but I wouldn’t put her down as particularly attractive.
Again, handsome but not particularly attractive. Probably because of her sour countenance.
In the 20th century, actress Hind Rostom was considered the “Marilyn Monroe of the East”. Other female icons of the period were Shadia, Soad Hosny and Faten Hamama (wife of Omar Sharif). Incidentally the first two were of Turkish descent, while Soad Hosny was of Kurdish descent on her father’s side. Only Faten Hamama was of pure Egyptian stock. The best-looking was Shadia imo:
Today the most beautiful Egyptian actress is Iman Al-Assi:
Apparently Queen Fawzia was of Albanian and Circassian descent from her father’s side, and French, Greek and Egyptian descent from her mother. She has a peculiar phenotype, if I were guessing I’d have pegged her down as Circassian. Though all her ancestral components (except the French) are fairly similar in appearance (on a world scale); she can pass in any of them. She looks more “Caucasian” than the average Egyptian, though I spot some Egyptian features around her eyes and cheekbones.
Circassians were fairly prominent in Egypt during the past century, but seem to have faded away. Like the Turco-Egyptians, they seem to have blended into the Egyptian population and lost their identity. Same thing happened to my family actually, my great-grandparents were Turkish; but we’ve lost all connection to Turkey and consider ourselves Egyptians only.
No.
No. The middle class is mostly taught English, but as a secondary language to their primarily Arabic curriculum. Most of them can speak (broken) English, but I’ve seen very few who can speak French. Most in the upper class and those slightly below are taught in British, American, French and German international schools where these languages are more dominant than Arabic in the curriculum. But these are only a tiny subset of the population. It’s sort of a symbol of prestige for elites and aspiring elites. I couldn’t find stats on this, but my guess would be that of those who attend international schools, 65% are taught in English-based schools, 25% in French and 10% German. I found these interesting stats on the number of English-medium international schools worldwide:
French isn’t widely spoken or used in Egypt. I’d guess no more than 6-8% of the population can speak it. English seems to be the working second language, though in my view it isn’t nearly as widely used as French is in the Maghreb.
Yes, this is quite commonplace across the post-colonial world. Great leaders who led their nations’ independence were ironically more fluent in English than their native languages. Lee Kuan Yew once recounted giving a speech in Hokkien in his early days as PM, only to be laughed at by the crowd for poor grammar. He later resolved to improve his Hokkien by recruiting a personal tutor. Nehru likewise lamented his lack of proficiency in his native tongue relative to his fluency in English. I believe this pattern holds for many elites in post-colonial societies even today. In Egypt this is also true, but only for the very tiny subset at the top. In the Arab world the problem is compounded by the inherent difficulty of classical Arabic, as well as the fact that it isn’t used in the vernacular. It’s not possible to learn classical Arabic to fluency when you are taught in an English or French curriculum.
I will get to Submission in another post.
The discovery of popularity of the singer Lizzo and her cultural icon status in the US has partly triggered this. (I strongly doubt that AP is part of this culture though).Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Emil Nikola Richard
No doubt it is a direct result of watching so much of Negro porn, and seeing a whole lot of oversized black penises.
A white American is feeling inferior and insecure. That causes enormous frustration, which is expressed as paranoia taking the form in such ridiculous neurotic theories.
Let us not forget, the white men know that their wonderful white women watch the Negro porn as well. How otherwise could it be that the white women prefer dating the Negroes more and more?
A white woman wishes a long black dick – that is obvious!
So do me a favour, stop telling me that nonsense and about the dissident right, who are a bunch of latent homosexuals.
Come out of the closet!
But I'm pretty well in agreement, though for me Iranians come first. Azeri girls can also be very pretty. Goldshifteh Farahani became a famous actress in Iran first though. There's also Googoosh in her youth, though they don't have Hatami's classical features. Hedia Tehrani does though, she starred in some decent films. Also the MP Arpine Hovhannisyan. On Egypt only Fawzia Chirine comes to mind, though I doubt she had a drop of Egyptian blood in her.What did you make of Houellebecq's Soumission btw? Honestly, I think it's unquestionably his weakest novel by a fair margin (and it was the first of his books I read, so no bias there), the protagonist is an unlikeable cipher even by his usual standards in that. I did introduce me to Huysmans though, about halfway through Huysman's À Rebours I realised he was going to become one of my favourite authors. Do you read French btw? I know Egypt isn't Lebanon (Camille Chamoun and his class apparently could barely speak grammatical Arabic), but is it still very common for middle and upper-class Egyptians to know French?Replies: @Yahya, @Yahya
Well the great literary critic Samuel Johnson once said “all judgement is comparative”, and like I mentioned previously I don’t read enough literature to form a solid basis for judgement. But since you asked; I felt the book was enjoyable, easy to read, and the plot plausible and realistic enough (with major caveats), with a few perceptive insights here and there – but ultimately it is not great literature.
Its first weakness was a lack of memorable characters, poor development on the part of Houellebecq. I had to look up the name of the main character (“Francois”) just now since I had forgotten. You mentioned him being unlikeable, but that’s not the main flaw in my humble opinion. The main character in Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground was also unappealing, but he sticks to the mind long after you’ve read him. His flaws were vivid, unique and interesting. Francois on the other hand is just a plain boring fellow. The most interesting character actually was Ben Abbas, but Houellebecq unfortunately didn’t flesh him out as well as I would’ve liked. So a wasted opportunity on his part.
Another flaw is that the core plot, a Muslim Brotherhood victory in France, seems like a very remote possibility. Even in most Islamic countries where Islam has been rooted for centuries, Islamist movements are struggling to gain and retain power. Where have they succeeded? Iran, maybe Turkey (a very soft Islamism), and now perhaps Afghanistan. But that’s about it. And again, these are nations where Islam has deep roots. How likely is it that Islamists gain any meaningful power in France?
I did however think his portrayal of how the Muslim Brotherhood would govern should they win was fairly realistic. It wouldn’t be anything violent, they’d win through the ballot box as they did in Egypt, Tunisia or Turkey. They’d also make sure to denounce extremists and make nice with Christian and Jewish organizations. They’re main goal would be allowing more Muslim autonomy in areas of education, and subsidizing Islamic centers and welfare services (Houellebecq thinks the MB in France would just let Saudi Arabia fund all the mosques and focus on birth rates). Also he thinks they’d take a centre-left “distributist” approach to economics; the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was actually fairly pro-free market; one of the main leaders was a businessman who owned a major furniture chain. Likewise Erdogan’s party seems to be pro-business. But their main focus would be on social issues and trying to gradually increase Islamic power. Houellebecq also has Ben Abbas aiming over the long run to unify the Mediterranean into a new Roman Empire with Islamic characteristics, with himself as leader. That’s an interesting take. But I’m not sure if it’s a realistic one; its certainly true that many Islamist leaders harbor dreams of Islamic unification under their caliphate, but I think most of them are aware of the realities of nation states, and eventually adjust themselves to that reality.
I also liked his diagnosis of Europe’s malaise. It’s nothing new, basically the decline of faith, the nuclear family, patriarchy, and birth rates and ultimately the will to survive among Europeans. But he has a way of putting things that sums it up neatly. He also made a perceptive point: in most parts of the world, people are fighting and dying over metaphysical questions, whereas the West, people are quarreling over market share and who gets to hunt where.
But ultimately the purpose of the book is where I felt Houellebecq has disappointed. What I got from the book was a simple diagnosis of the malaise facing Europe. I didn’t see any solutions, or suggestions on how to address the problem on the part of Houellebecq. Nor was there a clear call to action. Contrast Submission with Orwell’s Animal Farm or 1984. You read Orwell and you come out wary of totalitarianism, maybe even inclined to fight against it. But after reading Submission, what is the message? Do we come out wary against Islamism? The Muslim Brotherhood and Ben Abbas didn’t seem very scary to me. It seems as if most things continued as normal, except for a few changes here and there. The worst that happened was his Jewish girlfriend fleeing to safety in Israel. Hardly a reason for concern for most of his non-Jewish readers. Perhaps Houellebecq thinks Islamism won’t be that bad; or he wasn’t brave enough to write an explicitly dystopian novel like the Camp of the Saints. Or perhaps he thought it would be unoriginal.
But anyway, I felt his basic message, which stops at a diagnosis of the European malaise, could’ve been expressed through an article, which is incidentally how he explained much of his ideas, by summarizing fictious articles in the novel. But he could’ve done much more with the novel format (perhaps drawing out the novel over multiple generations, and showcasing a gradual erosion of French culture over a few centuries, until an end state of oblivion. Perhaps symbolized by converting all cathedrals into mosques. Just throwing ideas). But he didn’t.
One would think you would understand this, I can remember rather emotional comments of yours about how Magyars used to oppress Slovaks...yet somehow you pretend to be remarkably obtuse when it comes to the national sentiment of (some) other peoples.
(for the record, I still think NATO was wrong to bomb Serbia, but that doesn't mean one has to deny obvious facts). One could also argue that Russia used pretty extreme force in Chechnya back in the 1990s (not that the Chechens were innocent either, and it might be seen as an "internal" RF matter)...none of the great powers has clean hands.
Somewhat pointless discussion though, what matters is that nobody involved in the Ukrainian mess seems to have any interest in compromise (not Russia, not Ukraine, not the US and other NATO countries).Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN, @216, @Triteleia Laxa
This isn’t true though. People like Macron were constantly trying to negotiate and compromise. Even here, people like “AP,” have made it quite clear that RusFed returning to pre-war lines would result in him wanting peace. Nor did America want this war. They kept telling everyone, in the lead up, that it was about to happen, precisely in order to try to stop it.
The Russian claims that they have tried for peace have been extremely disingenuous and never shown in any practical way.
Their deepest desire is to deal with their resentment, which is why they constantly talk about how they “won’t be humiliated” and their only acceptable political objective is the Belarussification of Ukraine, which is also its deletion. Their pride needs Ukraine subordinated. There is no middle ground for that. Once subordinated, Ukraine will be entirely subject to Russia’s will, just like Belarus. They call Zelenskyy a puppet, because they see him as someone who should be their puppet.
And Zelenskyy is not a Western puppet. Yes, because of this war, he has become extremely dependent on the West, but he could eviscerate any Western leader, including Biden, any time he wanted. He’s done it to the Israelis, he did it to the Germans and he has even had Azov invited to the US Capitol. Azov, to the country Charles Murray is too much of a Nazi for polite society! If Biden turned off the taps of military support to Ukraine, who do you think would win a public spat? Really do you think Biden could out-argue Zelenskyy? That’s not a ‘puppet.” And if Zelenskyy signed a peace, everyone would be relieved, but Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland, and an angry God has been awakened.
Even the Minsk accords, that Russian shills bleet in about, were supposed to achieve the complete subordination of Ukraine. By giving the two regions, controlled by Russian goons, and I don’t use “goon” lightly, a veto over every policy, they essentially handed Putin complete control over the country, which is why they had to be ignored. And every Russian partisan knows this, but will lie endlessly to hide it. If you think Versailles was bad, imagine had the Rhineland instead been controlled by a British Mafia organisation, which could literally refuse any and every piece of legislation for the whole of Germany!
There are not “two equal sides” here. There are the scumbags who will lie, deceive, murder and whatever, to delete Ukraine, so they can again feel superior, and there are a large collection of varied others who do not want that to happen, sometimes for selfish interests of their own, but also sometimes because they just don’t want Ukrainians to suffer. There are no such of these latter people shilling for Russia.
You might not like a lot of stuff, but, if you can’t see this basic dynamic, you have a problem. Russians just can’t accept that Ukrainians are not their toy. Everything else is noise. Russia never wanted the bombed out Donbas, they just needed it to crush Ukraine. And they still don’t really want it. They just want to punish Ukraine and cause as much carnage as possible, because they now know, in their hearts, that they will never succeed in Ukraine, and so they at least want Ukraine to be unable to succeed without them.
Sometimes it is ok to try to “both sides it”, especially for a while, for there are always problems on both sides, but sometimes you just need the courage to have a little clarity and stop valuing your image of yourself as someone above, or distant, from it all, and actually realise that one side really is a lot more sh*t than the other.
Macron, sure he tried diplomacy...for which he constantly got shit from hysterical Poles and Balts and their Anglo-American fans. There has never been a coordinated, coherent attempt at achieving a diplomatic solution since the start of this war, those in the Western camp favouring such an approach have been sidelined and denigrated as appeasers. And in any case, since you yourself argue that Minsk agreements were totally unacceptable, what would there even be to negotiate about?
As for the Americans, whether they "wanted" this war, who knows...but Biden's administration definitely didn't try everything to avert it. They never showed the slightest willingness to talk about Ukraine's future NATO membership (a prospect that was deliberately confirmed in the partnership agreement with Ukraine in August 2021, so no, it was never taken off the table or just a theoretical possibility). Of course Putin might still have invaded even if there had been serious negotiations about Ukrainian neutrality, we'll probably never know for sure. But the fact that the Western hegemon didn't even try to avert this disaster through a compromise is damning enough.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
The Russian claims that they have tried for peace have been extremely disingenuous and never shown in any practical way.
Their deepest desire is to deal with their resentment, which is why they constantly talk about how they "won't be humiliated" and their only acceptable political objective is the Belarussification of Ukraine, which is also its deletion. Their pride needs Ukraine subordinated. There is no middle ground for that. Once subordinated, Ukraine will be entirely subject to Russia's will, just like Belarus. They call Zelenskyy a puppet, because they see him as someone who should be their puppet.
And Zelenskyy is not a Western puppet. Yes, because of this war, he has become extremely dependent on the West, but he could eviscerate any Western leader, including Biden, any time he wanted. He's done it to the Israelis, he did it to the Germans and he has even had Azov invited to the US Capitol. Azov, to the country Charles Murray is too much of a Nazi for polite society! If Biden turned off the taps of military support to Ukraine, who do you think would win a public spat? Really do you think Biden could out-argue Zelenskyy? That's not a 'puppet." And if Zelenskyy signed a peace, everyone would be relieved, but Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland, and an angry God has been awakened.
Even the Minsk accords, that Russian shills bleet in about, were supposed to achieve the complete subordination of Ukraine. By giving the two regions, controlled by Russian goons, and I don't use "goon" lightly, a veto over every policy, they essentially handed Putin complete control over the country, which is why they had to be ignored. And every Russian partisan knows this, but will lie endlessly to hide it. If you think Versailles was bad, imagine had the Rhineland instead been controlled by a British Mafia organisation, which could literally refuse any and every piece of legislation for the whole of Germany!
There are not "two equal sides" here. There are the scumbags who will lie, deceive, murder and whatever, to delete Ukraine, so they can again feel superior, and there are a large collection of varied others who do not want that to happen, sometimes for selfish interests of their own, but also sometimes because they just don't want Ukrainians to suffer. There are no such of these latter people shilling for Russia.
You might not like a lot of stuff, but, if you can't see this basic dynamic, you have a problem. Russians just can't accept that Ukrainians are not their toy. Everything else is noise. Russia never wanted the bombed out Donbas, they just needed it to crush Ukraine. And they still don't really want it. They just want to punish Ukraine and cause as much carnage as possible, because they now know, in their hearts, that they will never succeed in Ukraine, and so they at least want Ukraine to be unable to succeed without them.
Sometimes it is ok to try to "both sides it", especially for a while, for there are always problems on both sides, but sometimes you just need the courage to have a little clarity and stop valuing your image of yourself as someone above, or distant, from it all, and actually realise that one side really is a lot more sh*t than the other.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
Russia mobilizes.
NordStream 2 sabotaged.
Russia uses draft resisters as human mine sweepers.
Germany mobilizes.
CIA sponsors separatists in Tartarstan and Buryata.
NATO is hell bent on stopping up the Don estuary with Ukrainian Azov Batallions.
define high prices…sure there was a spike that’s receeded a little but the price is like a pair of testicles in a vice grip getting squeezed.
You are ruled by hostile elites who hate people like you and want to dispossess you.
And yet you still spend inordinate amounts of time going on about how wonderful America’s role in the world is, how St Ronnie defeated the evil commies, how ungrateful foreigners like me are, how America needs to enforce “respect” for herself through military action etc. Totally warped priorities. And that’s one reason why people like you will continue to be played by political opportunists and will continue to be total losers.
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why "consent from the governed" is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people's actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of "hostile elites", "be alienated", "be bitter", as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don't confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a "woman," which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There'll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like "collapse." "Satan" is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn't "genocide". It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That's idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn't because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn't. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you'll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn't.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world's population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can't change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn't mean I don't have preferences. I do. And they're fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let's see how long she lasts... hopefully for a thousand years.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader, @Barbarossa, @Greasy William
Case in point about imminent chaos in supplying the mobilized,someone immediately got and filmed the instruction from RF army about having to buy nearly everything themselves, english titles available on reddit, copy all below text into browser search as Unz discriminates the link:
/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/xov88y/russian_mobilized_men_are_asked_to_buy_pads_and/
Anyway, there's quite a moving Greek documentary about this phenomenon during the junta, interestingly of the interviewees its the seemingly most intelligent and decent of them that goes the furthest in sadism:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLNRhJCN7Y Of course. Its comical and at the same time ridiculous to watch all the Russians, Ukrainians (and to lesser, degree Balts and Poles) all drag each other deeper into the mud, they seem have the impression it makes their 'side' look comparatively more sympathetic, but they seem unaware that outside observers are naturally going to put them together in the same tribe or shared culture. And yes, the Russian/Ukrainian hatred is especially bizzare given the differences between them are so minimal (different political evolution since 1991, literally the sum total..), AP seems on some crusade to prove Ukraine would be like the Czech Republic if not for the USSR, nevermind both Russia and Ukraine have both become cultural deserts run by bandits since it collapsed.. eh, enough.I think this old classic pretty could be seen as an allegory for post-Soviet nationalisms, I'm sure LatW and Dmitri know it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3vn7JodhA0@AnonfromTN A third is definitely too much. It wouldn't even say much even so given the level of emigration from the Balkans already. It's not as if under Yugoslavia the Serbs didn't have the opportunity to work a reasonable compromise with the Albanians who made up the vast majority there, but no, they had zero interest in doing so, they're hardly blameless. After Tito died various gangsters and crooks stirred up literal criminals to start idiotic tribal wars so they could steal more easily, a great legacy.I noticed from Strelkov and Podolyaka that the Ukrainians are even continuing to push towards Donbass, despite Russian mobilisation, even Podolyaka seems to becoming pessimistic about Russia's longterm prospects at this point.Replies: @German_reader
Thanks for the link to the documentary about torture under the Greek military dictatorship, looks very interesting, unless I forget I’ll try watching it on the weekend.
And yet you still spend inordinate amounts of time going on about how wonderful America's role in the world is, how St Ronnie defeated the evil commies, how ungrateful foreigners like me are, how America needs to enforce "respect" for herself through military action etc. Totally warped priorities. And that's one reason why people like you will continue to be played by political opportunists and will continue to be total losers.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
No, that’s just an internet narrative written by people alienated from the political mainstream, and encouraged by the general drama that surrounds politics as-entertainment-therapy these days.
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why “consent from the governed” is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people’s actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of “hostile elites”, “be alienated”, “be bitter”, as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don’t confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a “woman,” which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There’ll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like “collapse.” “Satan” is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn’t “genocide”. It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That’s idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn’t because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn’t. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you’ll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn’t.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world’s population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can’t change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have preferences. I do. And they’re fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let’s see how long she lasts… hopefully for a thousand years.
I don't support what Russia is doing in Ukraine, in fact I think it's pretty bad, but the level of outrage ("genocide") is clearly manufactured to a considerable extent. A lot of hard right-wingers were already skeptical about Meloni, given that she's turned up at "National Conservatism" events organized by the likes of Yoram Hazony and AEI neocons, that an establishment shill like you likes her is probably another warning sign. But we'll see.
Anyway, I've told you before that your stupid psychobabble doesn't work on me. I'm undoubtedly a bitter person with lots of psychological flaws, I've never denied that, but on the crucial issues I'm still right, and you are wrong (provided you even really believe in your own comments, I'm not convinced you're even a real person and not some sort of professional "hall monitor").
Gender/ racial ideology is a win for our oligarchs because a populace which accept such absurdities is one which is constantly unsure of it's own opinions and constantly looking for the newest approved position. That is the only safe path for them.
Gender/ racial ideology is a win because it keeps people constantly focused on in-fighting and navel-gazing. Meanwhile the accumulators of power and wealth can freely mop up their gutting of the middle class and consolidation of assets.
I'm sure BlackRock loves gender/ racial ideology since it takes the traditional anger of the Left against vulture capital and handily sublimates it in a safe direction. BlackRock et.al. can even have a Pride flag on their Twitter feed and be the #GoodGuys. Meanwhile the Right is handily occupied pushing back against Drag Queen Story Hour.
Check. Mate.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
I don't want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.Replies: @Wokechoke, @keypusher, @Emil Nikola Richard, @AP
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why "consent from the governed" is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people's actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of "hostile elites", "be alienated", "be bitter", as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don't confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a "woman," which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There'll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like "collapse." "Satan" is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn't "genocide". It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That's idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn't because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn't. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you'll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn't.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world's population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can't change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn't mean I don't have preferences. I do. And they're fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let's see how long she lasts... hopefully for a thousand years.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader, @Barbarossa, @Greasy William
Nothing better than having at the helm some woman rightwinger whom also seems not being Putler bootlicker for money like LePen;)
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why "consent from the governed" is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people's actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of "hostile elites", "be alienated", "be bitter", as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don't confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a "woman," which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There'll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like "collapse." "Satan" is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn't "genocide". It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That's idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn't because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn't. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you'll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn't.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world's population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can't change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn't mean I don't have preferences. I do. And they're fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let's see how long she lasts... hopefully for a thousand years.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader, @Barbarossa, @Greasy William
Lol, as if most Western normies (including journalists) give a shit about what’s happening in Yemen or countless forgotten conflict zones like the West Sahara.
I don’t support what Russia is doing in Ukraine, in fact I think it’s pretty bad, but the level of outrage (“genocide”) is clearly manufactured to a considerable extent.
A lot of hard right-wingers were already skeptical about Meloni, given that she’s turned up at “National Conservatism” events organized by the likes of Yoram Hazony and AEI neocons, that an establishment shill like you likes her is probably another warning sign. But we’ll see.
Anyway, I’ve told you before that your stupid psychobabble doesn’t work on me. I’m undoubtedly a bitter person with lots of psychological flaws, I’ve never denied that, but on the crucial issues I’m still right, and you are wrong (provided you even really believe in your own comments, I’m not convinced you’re even a real person and not some sort of professional “hall monitor”).
Germany couldn't get sufficient gas even with some gas still flowing through Nordstream 1. Actually thought this news was fake when I first read it, absolutely dire news for Europe.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader
Yeah, I don’t really believe this explanation either, what would Russia gain from it. If it really was sabotage, that raises a lot of questions, but somehow I suspect we won’t get to know the answers for a long time, if ever.
The people of the United States of America and their neighbors and brethren, the people of Canada have together created the most malicious, the most contagious and the most harmful phenomenon that has ever been known – pornographic movies.
Using another diabolical creation of theirs – the internet – these two depraved and satanic nations have been spreading that spiritual disease throughout the earth, infecting with it other nations and other people of all social strata and ages – including children.
The revenues of this so-called business are not less than $5 billion worldwide, of which $3 billion is generated in the United States alone. For this reason pornographic material is available without restriction and is so widespread that it has become unavoidable.
The pornographers are interested in expansion of their clientele so the more children are exposed to their product the higher the revenue. Once addicted to porn most people are incapable of stopping to consume it, and children get addicted in a matter of a month.
A recent research has demonstrated – the Americans are far ahead of the rest of mankind with regards to consumption of the pornographic material. This depraved and retarded flock of human sheep is consuming orders of magnitude more of that crap than other nations.
https://i.postimg.cc/tTw1sXWn/US-is-the-most-porn-obsessed-country-in-the-world.png
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with Negroes!
And as the same research has established, the most popular of various categories of porn among the American people is sex with the Negroes! The Americans admire watching, and find a lot of pleasure in seeing how a Negro is drilling a white woman.
And that is true indeed, considering that the Americans produce 68 million searches of porn per months, and most of them are searching for videos of Negroes having sex with white women.
For a comparison, the Russians generate less then 700 thousand searches per month, and most of them are searching for the Russian porn. Yet the Americans however prefer seeing Negroes.
It is not hard to figure it out, for what reason in particular the white people in America have such a peculiar interest in watching Negroes screwing white women – for the size of their sex organ!
Otherwise what would indeed make a white man want to see a man of the hated race, which most of them consider to be inferior, having sex with his appreciated and precious, beautiful white woman?
The Americans are perverse and depraved, and to the point of being decadent and degenerate. There is no other explanation of that. And it is because of that I mentioned and pointed out that fact in a few heated and furious discussions with them.
Because I am not taking a lesson on morals and ethics from a pervert, AP.
There are 2 times more of the Americans than there are the Russians, but the Americans consume 100 times more porn. Therefore an average American is 50 times more depraved than an average Russian. That is a fact!
An average Russian is consuming 2% of what an average American is.
You can stick these schizophrenic ideas about the immoral Soviet people up into the arse. Brainless Ukropithecus! That one was for another imbecile, walking around his flat wearing a souvenir sword who is as well a retarded racist, hating the Negroes for having a bit darker skin than his own brown arse has.
He said his religion is allowing him to steal and rob, so the question should be put in that context. But could a retarded anthropoid miss a chance to fart with his excrements for brain through his mouth once more?
Of course not!
https://i.postimg.cc/bY7crvNP/Cuckoo-1.pngReplies: @sudden death, @Coconuts, @AP
Wow, such a long, mistake-laden, and desperate response when your obsession with certain anatomy was revealed. Правда does indeed глаз колит.
So you have two obsessions, things you often bring up out of context, because they are on your mind a lot: black male anatomy, and lurid photos of atrocities.
These reveal a lot about you, and your upbringing, your morals, etc. They probably explain why you don’t have a family, too, which is all for the best of course.
You forgot to mention these alleged mistakes, because there are none. The Americans generate 60% of world porn business revenue and are obsessed with interracial sex, in particular with the Negroes.
Did I make it up? Your habit of ascribing YOUR fault to others is pathological. YOUR people committed the atrocities, and YOUR people are obsessed with black dicks! Not me.
And I am not a follower, I am a leader. I start discussions and I end them; I control them. I create the context. Yes of course.
I was brought up as a pacifist and a humanist. I was taught not to lie and be honest. I was taught to respect the elders and protect the weak. And I was taught to asppreciate what I have.
The morals I follow as much as I can are those found in the teachings of sages, such as Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha.
I do not have either a wife or children because I had to spend the best age of life struggling for survival and had no means to be a husband and a father.
But in the end I am glad that I have no children, because I see what is happening to them now, and I do not want it to happen to a child of mine.
You got more questions?Replies: @AP
The Russian claims that they have tried for peace have been extremely disingenuous and never shown in any practical way.
Their deepest desire is to deal with their resentment, which is why they constantly talk about how they "won't be humiliated" and their only acceptable political objective is the Belarussification of Ukraine, which is also its deletion. Their pride needs Ukraine subordinated. There is no middle ground for that. Once subordinated, Ukraine will be entirely subject to Russia's will, just like Belarus. They call Zelenskyy a puppet, because they see him as someone who should be their puppet.
And Zelenskyy is not a Western puppet. Yes, because of this war, he has become extremely dependent on the West, but he could eviscerate any Western leader, including Biden, any time he wanted. He's done it to the Israelis, he did it to the Germans and he has even had Azov invited to the US Capitol. Azov, to the country Charles Murray is too much of a Nazi for polite society! If Biden turned off the taps of military support to Ukraine, who do you think would win a public spat? Really do you think Biden could out-argue Zelenskyy? That's not a 'puppet." And if Zelenskyy signed a peace, everyone would be relieved, but Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland, and an angry God has been awakened.
Even the Minsk accords, that Russian shills bleet in about, were supposed to achieve the complete subordination of Ukraine. By giving the two regions, controlled by Russian goons, and I don't use "goon" lightly, a veto over every policy, they essentially handed Putin complete control over the country, which is why they had to be ignored. And every Russian partisan knows this, but will lie endlessly to hide it. If you think Versailles was bad, imagine had the Rhineland instead been controlled by a British Mafia organisation, which could literally refuse any and every piece of legislation for the whole of Germany!
There are not "two equal sides" here. There are the scumbags who will lie, deceive, murder and whatever, to delete Ukraine, so they can again feel superior, and there are a large collection of varied others who do not want that to happen, sometimes for selfish interests of their own, but also sometimes because they just don't want Ukrainians to suffer. There are no such of these latter people shilling for Russia.
You might not like a lot of stuff, but, if you can't see this basic dynamic, you have a problem. Russians just can't accept that Ukrainians are not their toy. Everything else is noise. Russia never wanted the bombed out Donbas, they just needed it to crush Ukraine. And they still don't really want it. They just want to punish Ukraine and cause as much carnage as possible, because they now know, in their hearts, that they will never succeed in Ukraine, and so they at least want Ukraine to be unable to succeed without them.
Sometimes it is ok to try to "both sides it", especially for a while, for there are always problems on both sides, but sometimes you just need the courage to have a little clarity and stop valuing your image of yourself as someone above, or distant, from it all, and actually realise that one side really is a lot more sh*t than the other.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
AP is an irrelevant internet commenter speaking only for himself, in reality high Ukrainian officials frequently make deranged statements about how they’re going to take back even Crimea, and how nothing but total victory including reparations from Russia and war crimes trials will be acceptable.
Macron, sure he tried diplomacy…for which he constantly got shit from hysterical Poles and Balts and their Anglo-American fans. There has never been a coordinated, coherent attempt at achieving a diplomatic solution since the start of this war, those in the Western camp favouring such an approach have been sidelined and denigrated as appeasers. And in any case, since you yourself argue that Minsk agreements were totally unacceptable, what would there even be to negotiate about?
As for the Americans, whether they “wanted” this war, who knows…but Biden’s administration definitely didn’t try everything to avert it. They never showed the slightest willingness to talk about Ukraine’s future NATO membership (a prospect that was deliberately confirmed in the partnership agreement with Ukraine in August 2021, so no, it was never taken off the table or just a theoretical possibility). Of course Putin might still have invaded even if there had been serious negotiations about Ukrainian neutrality, we’ll probably never know for sure. But the fact that the Western hegemon didn’t even try to avert this disaster through a compromise is damning enough.
Weird that... Naturally they make a wide range of statements, but oddly you only focus on the ones that justify your bile. They said Putin wanted no less than Ukraine, and they were right. Actually there were peace talks, but Putin refused to speak with Zelenskyy, not considering him a head of state, rather a subordinate in a Russian dominion, so instead Putin sent some clown. Minsk would mean that Ukraine could never be a state independent of Russia. Not even in its basic domestic legislation.
So yes, you're right, like the Balts and Poles, there was nothing to negotiate about with Putin. Minsk was Ukraine giving surrender and Ukraine didn't want to surrender.
However, if Putin had other interests, than the domination of Ukraine, they could have negotiated Crimea and the parts of the Donbas they held. The conflict over those had entirely died down. That is already de facto recognition of Russian control. But that is also precisely the time at which Putin launched his invasion. Why would Biden be making a decision for Ukraine, a sovereign state? Why would NATO reject countries applying to it because Putin said so? Is it even slightly appropriate for Biden to have negotiated on Ukraine's behalf?
You talk about not wanting American imperialism, but now you basically demand it. This is inane. Utter nonsense. The US could have armed Ukraine years ago with all equipment that it is only doing so now. And they avoided this, in order to not have Russia invade. Or the US could have found a way to get Ukraine into NATO, during the last 30 years, but did not. Or the US could have built a base there, but did not.
Try to think! Thinking involves actually making the best argument, in your head, for the opposite of what you're about to say, before you say it, so you can see that you're not missing all of these incredibly easy points. Surely this stuff is obvious to you, just as my other comment that you had to ignore the substance of, to keep your self-harming frame.Replies: @German_reader, @Sean
Indeed. And her pro-Russian coalition partners saw a decreased vote, not getting out of the single-digits, so they will not have much leverage in the coalition.
The discovery of popularity of the singer Lizzo and her cultural icon status in the US has partly triggered this. (I strongly doubt that AP is part of this culture though).Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Emil Nikola Richard
When Bruce Schneier gave his talk at google his opening was something I have not forgotten and I only watched it one time close to ten years ago.
He sounded totally sure of himself. I have never watched Game of Thrones and google does not actually have any clue what kind of porn I like because I have never amused myself with internet pornography. Also I haven’t spent any time considering what kind of porn the rest of you like. If you wank to Lizzo it’s none of my business at all.
Kind of like Palestine v Israel, Hutu v Tutsi, Ukraine v Russia.
A white American is feeling inferior and insecure. That causes enormous frustration, which is expressed as paranoia taking the form in such ridiculous neurotic theories.
Let us not forget, the white men know that their wonderful white women watch the Negro porn as well. How otherwise could it be that the white women prefer dating the Negroes more and more?
A white woman wishes a long black dick – that is obvious!
So do me a favour, stop telling me that nonsense and about the dissident right, who are a bunch of latent homosexuals.
https://i.postimg.cc/mk6RFqZr/Blue-Oyster.jpg
Come out of the closet!Replies: @Coconuts
Nah, the ‘Negrified America’ idea is from 70 years ago. It’s more like experience unexpectedly confirming an eccentric old prediction.
https://people.com/human-interest/us-army-rappers-take-stage-at-historic-royal-edinburgh-military-tattoo/
https://youtu.be/cRpqty5kOUA
Preliminary results from the Russian referendum give 97% support for annexation in Kherson, only 1% less than in Donbas.
A shameless liar such as you will claim it isn’t fake:
If you do bad things to your enemies and they then win, they are likely to do the same to you. There is nothing fake about it - it is actually quite consistent. These are the fruits of the madness of Maidan where an active minority staged a coup (or revolution) against the rest of the country where large numbers disagreed. With very heavy foreign assistance no less. The tables have turned at least partially. Why wouldn't the other side be able to act the way your side did? What goes around comes around.Replies: @AP
Watched the highlights of this years Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, some great performances by various countries celebrating their nation’s military traditions and cultures, then we had the US contribution…
https://people.com/human-interest/us-army-rappers-take-stage-at-historic-royal-edinburgh-military-tattoo/
Macron, sure he tried diplomacy...for which he constantly got shit from hysterical Poles and Balts and their Anglo-American fans. There has never been a coordinated, coherent attempt at achieving a diplomatic solution since the start of this war, those in the Western camp favouring such an approach have been sidelined and denigrated as appeasers. And in any case, since you yourself argue that Minsk agreements were totally unacceptable, what would there even be to negotiate about?
As for the Americans, whether they "wanted" this war, who knows...but Biden's administration definitely didn't try everything to avert it. They never showed the slightest willingness to talk about Ukraine's future NATO membership (a prospect that was deliberately confirmed in the partnership agreement with Ukraine in August 2021, so no, it was never taken off the table or just a theoretical possibility). Of course Putin might still have invaded even if there had been serious negotiations about Ukrainian neutrality, we'll probably never know for sure. But the fact that the Western hegemon didn't even try to avert this disaster through a compromise is damning enough.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
And yet can you find one “irrelevant internet commenter” who shills for Russia who can make a single reasonable peace proposition?
Weird that…
Naturally they make a wide range of statements, but oddly you only focus on the ones that justify your bile.
They said Putin wanted no less than Ukraine, and they were right.
Actually there were peace talks, but Putin refused to speak with Zelenskyy, not considering him a head of state, rather a subordinate in a Russian dominion, so instead Putin sent some clown.
Minsk would mean that Ukraine could never be a state independent of Russia. Not even in its basic domestic legislation.
So yes, you’re right, like the Balts and Poles, there was nothing to negotiate about with Putin. Minsk was Ukraine giving surrender and Ukraine didn’t want to surrender.
However, if Putin had other interests, than the domination of Ukraine, they could have negotiated Crimea and the parts of the Donbas they held. The conflict over those had entirely died down. That is already de facto recognition of Russian control. But that is also precisely the time at which Putin launched his invasion.
Why would Biden be making a decision for Ukraine, a sovereign state? Why would NATO reject countries applying to it because Putin said so? Is it even slightly appropriate for Biden to have negotiated on Ukraine’s behalf?
You talk about not wanting American imperialism, but now you basically demand it. This is inane.
Utter nonsense. The US could have armed Ukraine years ago with all equipment that it is only doing so now. And they avoided this, in order to not have Russia invade. Or the US could have found a way to get Ukraine into NATO, during the last 30 years, but did not. Or the US could have built a base there, but did not.
Try to think! Thinking involves actually making the best argument, in your head, for the opposite of what you’re about to say, before you say it, so you can see that you’re not missing all of these incredibly easy points. Surely this stuff is obvious to you, just as my other comment that you had to ignore the substance of, to keep your self-harming frame.
This "We couldn't have refused Ukrainian NATO membership" talking point is just completely disingenuous, and I doubt you're really stupid enough to believe it. Reinforces my suspicion that you're not arguing in good faith, but either playing some strange game or pursuing a specific agenda. In either case I'm not going to waste time on your nonsense.
In 2014, after a yet another revolution. Ukraine began to get the old hybrid war treatment from Russia, and just like Saakashvili, new president Poroshenko tried to get tough then found his forces were no match for formed up units of the Russian army that crossed the border, but although the wily Poroshenko made preliminary agreements* to stop the Russian advance, {see Appendix} he did not give actually anything and just kept playing for time while he tried to bring the Americans in. The war in Donbass continued at a low level. and the Steinmeier Formula for restarting negotiation was unable to change that. In 2019, Poroshenko's hard line was rejected by the Ukrainian electorate: the audacious youthful Zelensky was elected on a landslide mainly on the strength of his sitcom persona as an honest man in a Ukrainian kleptocracy run by corrupts oligarchs (chiefly Poroshenko), but it is a fact that although completely vague about how he would attain the such a desirable state of affairs Zelensky was promising peace and reincorporation of the lost and rebel territory, especially in Donbass. One month after his May 2019 inauguration, new President Zelensky had his conversation with Trump about weapons (no serious weapons had been provided at that point although Trump had reversed Obama's veto on arms for Ukraine) about investigation into Poroshenko having had Biden's son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company (Zelensky was at that time trying to get Poroshenko indicted on corruption charges over this among many other things). Zelensky was not worried about Putin in those early months or about weapons either, because Zelensky was intending to reach a final settlement with Russia advantageous to Ukraine as he was elected promising to do. By September in became public knowledge Zelensky intended to fulfill his campaign promises by following the Steinmeier Formula {see Appendix B}.
In October Zelensky. who had made hardly any public announcements since taking up the office of President, said an agreement had been signed, it was basically Steinmeier's formula. There was uproar among those Ukrainians who called it a capitulation. It is fair to say that it was not only hard line nationalists who were of this opinion, but many middle of the road Ukrainians too. So Zelensky did a U turn and his rhetoric flipped 180 degrees also; it began to be seaming about recovering the lost territories by the military pressure of Ukraine strengthened army being too much for Russian bullying to work any more, or even victory in any hostilities Russia might start. I am afraid that the conclusion must be democracy tends to favour those who make promises that are unreasonable for them to make, and the electorate vote for such candidates because people tend to want incompatible things. Or maybe the geopolitical perspective in which states are living things that will fight to maintain their freedom of action right or wrong is more pertaining. Putin too has not been facing unpleasant facts about what is necessary to be sovereign and secure. Russia and Ukraine have cost each other plenty, and both are getting very far from an acceptable ending in the short term. I think America can provide Ukraine with many things that would greatly turn up the heat of Russia, but the US strategem is to keep Russia is being grievously attrited economically and militarily a la boiling-a-frog, slowly so it cannot realise and escape. Much more of this treatment will bring Putin close to a epiphany; it will come sooner or later he must decide on whether it is worth playing to win or lose it all (Appendix C).Appendix A, B and C [B] In 2016 the then Foreign minister of Germany Steinmeier made some proposals. [B2] [C] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhODhTAuGkU
I look at the Capitalist and Communist propaganda now as being both 'right' and both 'wrong' at the same time. It's all part of this manufactured dialectical 'struggle' we've been living (suffering?) under the past couple hundred years. Supposed to lead to the two ideology's 'synthesis' where (theoretically) we all will be living in peace and harmony together.
Yeah, right. :-)
The Capitalism vs Communism dialectic is a very materialistic thing on both 'sides' and correspondingly works towards a change of mind, when what is really needed is a change of the human heart.
That's a valid point. And as cartoons go Animal Farm was reasonably high quality production wise from what I've read. All the same, the cartoon format worked towards the CIA's interest (and maybe MI6's too). Anyone saying aloud they thought they were being propagandized with such a film, and didn't much care for it, would no doubt be told, it's 'just a cartoon' from more than one person. More valid points, probably the cartoon was best choice all around.
Speaking about 'humans wearing prosthetics' I have to say the POTA (Planet of the Apes) franchise was revolutionary in that regard, specially the first 1968 film. More so, getting people (mostly Europeans, ie 'Whites') to pay and be 'entertained' while being majorly propagandized/conditioned with what was in reality some pretty negative stuff was a real coup on it's creator's part.
Things aren't looking good all over nowadays, in particular for New York (what, with it's own special nuclear PSA, and all) it would seem.
https://youtu.be/KKoPAIkiU3o Sure, they almost certainly have done stuff like that. If you've ever read any of Edward Bernay's writings regarding advertising, it's kind of disturbing, as it come off more like unethical brainwashing rather than a 'contest of ideas', and some of the ideas he was writing about are almost a hundred years old now. A more healthy society would outlaw (and police against) such 'advertising'.Replies: @songbird
I was thinking recently that advertising is so pernicious in its creep and messaging, often so ineffective in its mercenary goals, that perhaps there should be a name for a society that effectively bans it, and we should all hope to live in it.
To be honest, almost all current media is mental pollution at this point, but ads are always garbage in.
I would love to live in an ad-free country, although ad blocker, lack of TV, and living in the middle of nowhere comes close on a personal level.Replies: @songbird
Weird that... Naturally they make a wide range of statements, but oddly you only focus on the ones that justify your bile. They said Putin wanted no less than Ukraine, and they were right. Actually there were peace talks, but Putin refused to speak with Zelenskyy, not considering him a head of state, rather a subordinate in a Russian dominion, so instead Putin sent some clown. Minsk would mean that Ukraine could never be a state independent of Russia. Not even in its basic domestic legislation.
So yes, you're right, like the Balts and Poles, there was nothing to negotiate about with Putin. Minsk was Ukraine giving surrender and Ukraine didn't want to surrender.
However, if Putin had other interests, than the domination of Ukraine, they could have negotiated Crimea and the parts of the Donbas they held. The conflict over those had entirely died down. That is already de facto recognition of Russian control. But that is also precisely the time at which Putin launched his invasion. Why would Biden be making a decision for Ukraine, a sovereign state? Why would NATO reject countries applying to it because Putin said so? Is it even slightly appropriate for Biden to have negotiated on Ukraine's behalf?
You talk about not wanting American imperialism, but now you basically demand it. This is inane. Utter nonsense. The US could have armed Ukraine years ago with all equipment that it is only doing so now. And they avoided this, in order to not have Russia invade. Or the US could have found a way to get Ukraine into NATO, during the last 30 years, but did not. Or the US could have built a base there, but did not.
Try to think! Thinking involves actually making the best argument, in your head, for the opposite of what you're about to say, before you say it, so you can see that you're not missing all of these incredibly easy points. Surely this stuff is obvious to you, just as my other comment that you had to ignore the substance of, to keep your self-harming frame.Replies: @German_reader, @Sean
Because it’s up to NATO which countries to accept as members, and because NATO involvement in Ukraine can hardly be claimed to have enhanced the security of existing members, instead getting us into an open-ended proxy war with a nuclear-armed power?
This “We couldn’t have refused Ukrainian NATO membership” talking point is just completely disingenuous, and I doubt you’re really stupid enough to believe it. Reinforces my suspicion that you’re not arguing in good faith, but either playing some strange game or pursuing a specific agenda. In either case I’m not going to waste time on your nonsense.
Looks like parts of both North Stream 1 and 2 were really blown up with explosives.
I’ll withhold judgement for now, maybe Putin and his circle are really crazy enough to go for such an operation, for disinformation purposes. But if the more obvious explanation who’s the culprit is correct, well, that would be immensely clarifying.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/27/baltic-pipe-norway-poland-gas-pipeline-opens-in-key-move-to-cut-dependency-on-russia
Focusing on Benes is deceptive. In summer 1945 there was a massive movement to push the Sudeten Germans out – it was spontaneous, but it had a range of emotions and motives from revenge to greed. Allies agreed to it and Benes issued the expulsion decrees, that was only an acknowledgement of the already ongoing process. The same happened in Poland, Hungary and a few other places.
Using it as a precedent has major problems: it was after a bloody 6-year war in which the losing side unquestionably murdered millions of civilians in those countries. And it was long time ago. It is not credible to claim a similar situation in Kosovo or for that matter in Crimea or Ukraine. If there is a long war with millions of dead, we can consider it.
Your point is not very illuminating, let’s focus on what is unquestionably similar: Kosovo and Crimea, now enlarged to Kosovo and the Russian-leaning parts of Ukraine.
@German_reader Remarkable? More like a case of "strike while the iron's hot."
Since the word seems to be on everyone's lips lately, let me say this: Like most Serbs I was raised to regard Kosovo as 'sacred land', and unlike most Serbs I even had a grandfather who lived there, but I'm not particularly aggrieved by its loss nor even by the manner in which it was snatched away (Serbs gambled, they lost, end of). Mostly, I think Serbia is better off without it and the attendant Albanians. And although I'm not motivated by a desire for vengeance, I could sooner justify a retaliatory war for nothing but reasons of vengeance (or a "Humiliate Rival" casus belli for any EU4 players out there) than I could a war to reincorporate Kosovo back into Serbia. Or rather, I could if there were not other fish to fry - like the coming explosion of the black African population and its radiation into parts of the world hitherto blissfully free of its ghastly embrace, an existential problem that utterly dwarfs any issues or differences I might have with an Albanian.
All that said, if Serbs in 1912 - when "the iron was hot" - had done what they tried in 1999, Kosovo today would still be theirs, and not even the do-gooderist of western Europeans in the 90s would have been clamoring for 'justice' over it.
(I know I use "they" and "them" and "theirs" a lot. I am so very detached from the obsessions of Serbian nationalism, I can't bring myself to use we, us and ours on these topics.)Replies: @Beckow
I get the impression that in that novel the MB and Islam is being used to raise questions or make certain points about the traditional (could be called reactionary) Catholic culture of France. I think when Houellebecq wrote it was still harder to do this directly and reach a mass audience without provoking defensive reactions. Iirc he said at the time that the novel is mainly about the state of French and European culture, rather than Islam.
The way the main character approaches Islam reminded me of the attitude of Comte and the conservative wing of the positivist movement to Catholicism, and their successors in Action Francaise, who were all agnostics or atheists by and large, but praised reactionary Catholicism for its social utility. Houellebecq also directly references Comte in other novels so maybe this is not an accident.
I’m an outsider but there seem to be obvious issues about the way parts of the French left have embraced Islam and Islamic migration, after having campaigned for so long and with such vigour to remove Catholicism and traditional Christian culture from having any influence on French social life.
Sure, whoever did that likely covered his tracks well. As to suspects, the list of those who opposed NS2 from the start is known. The capabilities of some of them is not a secret, either. That makes putting together the list of prime suspects easy. But that’s as far as we can go, now and for the foreseeable future.
Cui bono? Russia controls the pipes so they don't need sabotage to keep gas from flowing, 'broken' pump will do. Germany too. That leaves the usual suspects, either the guys with New Zealand passports or possibly Polish fishermen.
I have no evidence but it's pretty obvious which way to bet.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Results are results, you also need to look at turnout. These numbers are similar to the post-Maidan results: they were also too high to be true reflection of people’s preferences. The anti-Maidan voters were simply prohibited or intimidated. You had a situation where for decades close to half of the population voted for the pro-Russian parties and suddenly in 2014 it shrunk to low teens. And you (and the Western media) celebrated it as the height of democracy.
If you do bad things to your enemies and they then win, they are likely to do the same to you. There is nothing fake about it – it is actually quite consistent. These are the fruits of the madness of Maidan where an active minority staged a coup (or revolution) against the rest of the country where large numbers disagreed. With very heavy foreign assistance no less. The tables have turned at least partially. Why wouldn’t the other side be able to act the way your side did? What goes around comes around.
Recent Polish joke:
– What is the difference between Poland and Titanic?
– When Titanic went down, it had electricity and coal.
What’s really remarkable is that Czechoslovakia intended not just to get rid of the Sudeten Germans in 1945/46 (understandable given the German occupation, though unfair in the indiscriminate nature of the expulsions), but also wanted to expel all Hungarians. iirc this didn’t succeed quite as planned, because the Western allies objected and the Soviets weren’t enthusiastic either, but it’s pretty telling about the motivation behind the expulsions.
Biden: “There will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”
The US has most to gain, though that in and of itself doesn’t mean they – or their British or Polish subordinates – actually did it, but for now they are the most likely culprits.
Obviously if we did it, it was likely on behalf of the US, with us merely acting as proxies. That would also be ideal for the Americans if this ever came out, since we'd be convenient fall guys.
I have no proof, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is what happened.
The US has been very adamant about cutting any energy relationship between Germany and Russia off. The more hooked on US LNG Europe becomes, the better for them.
All the more reason to go all in on nuclear and/or renewables.
https://i.postimg.cc/yxc2zNtH/Nordstream.jpg
Both pipelines have been blown up. The diameter of that circle is about 100 m. The precise location of the leakage – eastward of Bornholm island.
https://i.postimg.cc/FFbwHY1f/Nord-Stream-2.jpg
The flights of the American Navy helicopters on September 2 above that same area. Note the helicopter's photograph and identification on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/26RXzYDF/Nord-Stream-3.jpg
An article from June 14, 2022 in Seapower magazine. Seapower – the official publication of the Navy League of the United States.
BALTOPS 22: A Perfect Opportunity for Research and Resting New Technology
https://seapowermagazine.org/baltops-22-a-perfect-opportunity-for-research-and-resting-new-technology/ U.S. Navy had conducted testing of underwater drones in that same area. These drones are in particular related to the mine warfare.
https://i.postimg.cc/XY2kHbq7/RAND-on-the-Ukraine-war.jpg
The article that had been published in Sweden on 13 of September. According to the Swedish press the RAND corporation had prepared a plan of the war in Ukraine two months before it started.
The shocking document: How the US planned the war and the energy crisis in Europe Chockerande dokumentet: Så planerade USA kriget och energikrisen i Europa
https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/chockerande-dokumentet-sa-planerade-usa-kriget-och-energikrisen-i-europa/
The RAND corporation of course does not recognize that document however it is worth reading because it is not a fake. Use automatic translation, the article is in Swedish.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Triteleia Laxa
Well, in the United States the Supreme Court crazily declared business corporations to in effect be people. With that, businesses have the same ‘free speech’ rights as an individual, which for them manifest as the right to advertise.
Presumably, that decision would have to be thrown out to do things like ban ‘cold calling’ by sales people. They have now where you can put yourself on a ‘no call’ list, but I think it should be the other way around, ie if your open to getting sales calls (or being proselytized at home) you can put yourself on a list, otherwise by default you are to be left alone. Severe penalties could be enacted against those who contact those not on the ‘do call’ lists. Probably phone sales would die then as a business. So be it.
They could simply print catalogs, and, or, have on the net, comprehensive lists of businesses and descriptions of what they do. Maybe limit advertising strictly to there, ie no more bill boards cluttering up the roads.
I agree with you that a lot of advertising seems ineffective. Apparently enough people are out there which are easily suggestible (relatively speaking) to make it worth there time.
A society with a lot less of what amounts to psychological harassment/haranguing, aka ‘advertising’, could simply be called ‘a sane society’. 🙂
I am surprised it took this long. It puts an end to any plans for an energy compromise and it will make any future deliveries vulnerable. That had to be the motivation.
Cui bono? Russia controls the pipes so they don’t need sabotage to keep gas from flowing, ‘broken’ pump will do. Germany too. That leaves the usual suspects, either the guys with New Zealand passports or possibly Polish fishermen.
Preliminary results from partial count in the referendums are coming. I think even the most rabid Ukies did not doubt the results in LPR and DPR (with possible exception of certifiable idiots). But as to Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, looks like Kiev threats of lengthy jail terms for participation worked: pro-Ukraine voters did not vote. That skewed the results the way Putin wanted. Ukies often call each other “agents of Putin” and “agents of Kremlin”. Maybe they have a point. Although there is a view that you don’t need elaborate conspiracy theories when simple stupidity explains everything satisfactorily.
It’s a Game Thrones move. The bankers’ intelligence services would whack any party doing this without their go-ahead.
I have no evidence but it’s pretty obvious which way to bet.
It’s like Kennedy assassination: anyone with a few brain cells to spare knows the only perpetrators who had the means to organize massive cover-up that followed, but no direct proof surfaced in 60 years. Professional criminals cover their tracks well.
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why "consent from the governed" is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people's actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of "hostile elites", "be alienated", "be bitter", as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don't confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a "woman," which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There'll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like "collapse." "Satan" is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn't "genocide". It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That's idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn't because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn't. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you'll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn't.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world's population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can't change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn't mean I don't have preferences. I do. And they're fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let's see how long she lasts... hopefully for a thousand years.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader, @Barbarossa, @Greasy William
Woke politics and controversy serve their purpose, part of which is keeping people agitated over and agitating for stupid things.
Gender/ racial ideology is a win for our oligarchs because a populace which accept such absurdities is one which is constantly unsure of it’s own opinions and constantly looking for the newest approved position. That is the only safe path for them.
Gender/ racial ideology is a win because it keeps people constantly focused on in-fighting and navel-gazing. Meanwhile the accumulators of power and wealth can freely mop up their gutting of the middle class and consolidation of assets.
I’m sure BlackRock loves gender/ racial ideology since it takes the traditional anger of the Left against vulture capital and handily sublimates it in a safe direction. BlackRock et.al. can even have a Pride flag on their Twitter feed and be the #GoodGuys. Meanwhile the Right is handily occupied pushing back against Drag Queen Story Hour.
Check. Mate.
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they're generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don't actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a "hall monitor." This is loony stuff.
And then there's just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin's comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That's ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don't see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and "false flags" are generally not worth the risk, but I also don't see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn't going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don't like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can't be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don't care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don't think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don't reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you'd think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Coconuts, @Barbarossa, @PhysicistDave
Advertising is mental pollution 100% of the time which is why I avoid it at all costs, especially in relation to my kids. I think the adverse effects of advertising are among the most underrated in society.
To be honest, almost all current media is mental pollution at this point, but ads are always garbage in.
I would love to live in an ad-free country, although ad blocker, lack of TV, and living in the middle of nowhere comes close on a personal level.
But I genuinely feel a kind of empathic pain, for individuals who can't avoid it, especially the elderly, who probably remember ads, when everything wasn't saturated with them, and when they weren't super offensive.
But I also suspect there are broader negative social effects. Such as the smartest minds being harnessed to generate clicks, etc.
_____
Since the topic of hirsuteness has been brought up earlier in this thread, I shall make my reply here:
IMO, one of the most interesting HBD mysteries is why certain men get hairier, as they age. Is there an evolutionary explanation for Andy Rooney and Brezhnev's eyebrows? Or for hairy ears, which I believe develop years after puberty?
Are these men somehow maximizing the use of T, even after it falls? Perhaps, capturing and holding onto it with special receptors? Are they the best middle-aged warriors? The most virile old men?Replies: @S
https://twitter.com/Holbornlolz/status/1574268999453614080
When I visited London over the New Year (2021/22), I noticed how many more women in full niqab/burka than what I am accustomed to in Stockholm, where it is exceedingly rare. I speculated that perhaps some of this is an illusion, and simply a reflection of wealthy Gulf tourists visiting London in much greater numbers.
Though when I got on at train stations at residential areas, some 10 km away from the central areas of London, you still saw these women, complicating the hypothesis.
Well, perhaps this settles the question. For whatever reason, moslems in Stockholm don’t act like this and they don’t generally dress very conservative either. Maybe it is Pakistani-specific? The UK has tons of them, after all.
I have no evidence but it's pretty obvious which way to bet.Replies: @AnonfromTN
No doubt. Cui bono is obvious. But there is no proof that can be presented in court. The perpetrators would do their best to ensure that there won’t be any direct proof ever.
It’s like Kennedy assassination: anyone with a few brain cells to spare knows the only perpetrators who had the means to organize massive cover-up that followed, but no direct proof surfaced in 60 years. Professional criminals cover their tracks well.
The US has most to gain, though that in and of itself doesn't mean they - or their British or Polish subordinates - actually did it, but for now they are the most likely culprits.Replies: @Thulean Friend, @Here Be Dragon
I wouldn’t even rule out us. The attacks happened close to our waters and Sweden has some of the most quiet diesel SIP-engine submarines in the world. Most people suspect that the pipeline was torpedoed.
Obviously if we did it, it was likely on behalf of the US, with us merely acting as proxies. That would also be ideal for the Americans if this ever came out, since we’d be convenient fall guys.
I have no proof, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what happened.
The US has been very adamant about cutting any energy relationship between Germany and Russia off. The more hooked on US LNG Europe becomes, the better for them.
All the more reason to go all in on nuclear and/or renewables.
Visegrad 24 triumphing (including reaction by German Twitter user):
https://twitter.com/weissiger_gamer/status/1574762404499623936
Thulean Friend - I went from London to Stockholm earlier this year and concur that full Islamic garb is much more common in London though I did notice quite a few Somali-looking women in Stockholm wearing headscarves.
BTW I went into two pizza/kebab places in Stockholm and both seemed to be run by Middle East (Syrian?) Christians. (They looked Middle Eastern & one had prominently displayed cross whilst in the other the counter staff wore crucifixes). Is that a widespread thing there or maybe it was just the neighbourhood I was staying in?Replies: @German_reader, @LondonBob, @Thulean Friend
If you do bad things to your enemies and they then win, they are likely to do the same to you. There is nothing fake about it - it is actually quite consistent. These are the fruits of the madness of Maidan where an active minority staged a coup (or revolution) against the rest of the country where large numbers disagreed. With very heavy foreign assistance no less. The tables have turned at least partially. Why wouldn't the other side be able to act the way your side did? What goes around comes around.Replies: @AP
Nonsense. There was no 97% result post Maidan.
The loss of Crimea and Donbas explains most of the collapse in support for pro -Russian parties. If the USA lost California and West Coast there would be a similar loss in votes for the Democratic Party.
I had a close friend in high school, a girl from a mixed family. Her German grandmother quickly married a Slovak (commie) guy to avoid expulsion after WWII – the first grandma’s husband was a Nazi officer who died on the eastern front. They had memorabilia for both Nazis and reds all over the house. It was a confusing bizarre mess (good with Nirvana music.)
The Hungarians were seen as active Nazis because of their Munich land grab. Their expulsion was stopped because communists in Budapest had Moscow’s ear. There was instead a voluntary exchange – basically, round up Gypsies and ship them to each other. Wars can be quite entertaining.
https://twitter.com/weissiger_gamer/status/1574762404499623936Replies: @Matra
Has this Visegrad guy ever been identified? I vaguely recall some prominent Polish person – maybe a politician or political aide – being doxxed over the BasedPoland account. I’m thinking this Visegrad 24 might be the same person.
Thulean Friend – I went from London to Stockholm earlier this year and concur that full Islamic garb is much more common in London though I did notice quite a few Somali-looking women in Stockholm wearing headscarves.
BTW I went into two pizza/kebab places in Stockholm and both seemed to be run by Middle East (Syrian?) Christians. (They looked Middle Eastern & one had prominently displayed cross whilst in the other the counter staff wore crucifixes). Is that a widespread thing there or maybe it was just the neighbourhood I was staying in?
I read somewhere Visegrad24 was run by a Brazilian???Replies: @Matra
Thulean Friend - I went from London to Stockholm earlier this year and concur that full Islamic garb is much more common in London though I did notice quite a few Somali-looking women in Stockholm wearing headscarves.
BTW I went into two pizza/kebab places in Stockholm and both seemed to be run by Middle East (Syrian?) Christians. (They looked Middle Eastern & one had prominently displayed cross whilst in the other the counter staff wore crucifixes). Is that a widespread thing there or maybe it was just the neighbourhood I was staying in?Replies: @German_reader, @LondonBob, @Thulean Friend
I don’t think it’s a single person or just a private individual, imo it’s pretty clear it’s a PiS (that is Polish government) propaganda account.
Similar is not identical. You are obsessed with insignificant minutia.
No it doesn’t. It can only account for 15% if you do the numbers – there were pro-West votes in Crimea and Donbas and the regions accounted for 15% of overall vote.
Pro-Russian votes were suppressed after Maidan and that makes those elections ‘fake’. You cannot credibly claim that half the population (or even a third) simply disappeared. Or overnight became rabidly nationalistic and pro-West.
If you do fake elections and bomb countries (Kosovo), you have no standing to criticize others. There are no rules, no virtues, it will be decided by force. As always in the past.
So the simple territorial adjustment itself accounts for about 15% drop in pro-Russian votes as a share of total votes. So from 48% in 2012 it would be about 33%, just from geography.
The other factor is widespread turn against Russia after the 2014 events. I personally know Party of Region voters who were against Maidan but who said they would never vote for a pro-Russian party after Russia stabbed Ukraine in the back (their words). It’s an anecdote, but poll data show support for Russia dropping significantly in 2014, as one would expect towards a country that supplies bullets to rebels that kill your soldiers and that grabbed pieces of your territory. That accounts for most of the rest of the drop.
Maybe your claimed winners bias gave another 5% or so away from the loser Opposition Bloc.
In 2014 the two pro-Russian parties got 12.5% of the vote. This improved to 16% in 2019.
Yes, the Communists were banned; outside Donbas and Crimea they maybe accounted for 10% of the vote and some of them probably chose not to vote, others voted for Opposition Bloc.
This situation cannot be compare to the referendum in Kherson which ha 97% for joining Russi, same as Crimea in 2014.Replies: @Beckow
Thulean Friend - I went from London to Stockholm earlier this year and concur that full Islamic garb is much more common in London though I did notice quite a few Somali-looking women in Stockholm wearing headscarves.
BTW I went into two pizza/kebab places in Stockholm and both seemed to be run by Middle East (Syrian?) Christians. (They looked Middle Eastern & one had prominently displayed cross whilst in the other the counter staff wore crucifixes). Is that a widespread thing there or maybe it was just the neighbourhood I was staying in?Replies: @German_reader, @LondonBob, @Thulean Friend
Pizza places, kebab shops and general restaurants are commonly run by Middle Eastern immigrants, including in small regional towns.
I read somewhere Visegrad24 was run by a Brazilian???
So you have two obsessions, things you often bring up out of context, because they are on your mind a lot: black male anatomy, and lurid photos of atrocities.
These reveal a lot about you, and your upbringing, your morals, etc. They probably explain why you don’t have a family, too, which is all for the best of course.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
You are missing an important point – it is related to YOU and YOUR obsessions, not mine. And it is documented.
You forgot to mention these alleged mistakes, because there are none. The Americans generate 60% of world porn business revenue and are obsessed with interracial sex, in particular with the Negroes.
Did I make it up?
Your habit of ascribing YOUR fault to others is pathological. YOUR people committed the atrocities, and YOUR people are obsessed with black dicks! Not me.
And I am not a follower, I am a leader. I start discussions and I end them; I control them. I create the context.
Yes of course.
I was brought up as a pacifist and a humanist. I was taught not to lie and be honest. I was taught to respect the elders and protect the weak. And I was taught to asppreciate what I have.
The morals I follow as much as I can are those found in the teachings of sages, such as Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha.
I do not have either a wife or children because I had to spend the best age of life struggling for survival and had no means to be a husband and a father.
But in the end I am glad that I have no children, because I see what is happening to them now, and I do not want it to happen to a child of mine.
You got more questions?
You are just a Soviet loser obsessed with gory deaths and black male anatomy. And various street drugs. Nothing more than that. They have been mentioned and discussed before. You were too stupid to understand, and no one else seems to care, so I won’t bother repeating. No, plenty of poor people have families and you made it to the West. You are just a morally grotesque person (as demonstrated by your passions here) and people see that in you and act accordingly. You mention just having unpleasant interactions in Ukraine where you grew up, Poland, Israel. You live in the West but have contempt for Westerners, you are an ungrateful parasite. You grew up in Ukraine but have contempt for Ukrainians, you are half Russian but don’t like Russians either, nor do you like Ashkenazi Jews despite being 1/4 one.
Someone else mentioned the dark cloud that follows you, but more realistically you are just a stain. Soviet filth. Interesting how you couldn’t help but start insulting others when I chose to ignore you?
Anyways that’s all for now, others here have asked me not to interact with you. I didn’t, until you responded to my post.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Sweden, Poland, one of the Balts, Royal Navy, USN, all obvious suspects, I can’t imagine such a serious escalation not being approved by, at least elements, in the Klain-Blinken regime though.
The European economy is now absolutely screwed, the hope was always a peace deal in midwinter, even then that would have just meant keeping the lights on as the economy collapsed.
I expect the German government to do nothing, but even so, failing to respond forcefully, doing so a De Gaulle, to such an overt act of war is really something.
I read somewhere Visegrad24 was run by a Brazilian???Replies: @Matra
I read somewhere Visegrad24 was run by a Brazilian???
LOL So the mass immigration has barely started but already foreigners are doing the jobs Poles won’t do.
The places I went into served kebabs but they presented themselves as pizzerias. I avoid kebabs in European cities for possibly paranoid hygienic reasons, but not pizzerias.
The European economy is now absolutely screwed, the hope was always a peace deal in midwinter, even then that would have just meant keeping the lights on as the economy collapsed.
I expect the German government to do nothing, but even so, failing to respond forcefully, doing so a De Gaulle, to such an overt act of war is really something.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Current German “government” is a coalition of nonentities and morons. At best, they decide by themselves when to go pee. All serious decisions are made for them by their puppeteers.
The Americans have lost SoCal.
Mr Anne Applebaum (Radek Sikorski, Member of European Parliament) has weighed in.
Gender/ racial ideology is a win for our oligarchs because a populace which accept such absurdities is one which is constantly unsure of it's own opinions and constantly looking for the newest approved position. That is the only safe path for them.
Gender/ racial ideology is a win because it keeps people constantly focused on in-fighting and navel-gazing. Meanwhile the accumulators of power and wealth can freely mop up their gutting of the middle class and consolidation of assets.
I'm sure BlackRock loves gender/ racial ideology since it takes the traditional anger of the Left against vulture capital and handily sublimates it in a safe direction. BlackRock et.al. can even have a Pride flag on their Twitter feed and be the #GoodGuys. Meanwhile the Right is handily occupied pushing back against Drag Queen Story Hour.
Check. Mate.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
The problem with your view is that it can only be considered true if you hold everyone else as completely braindead sheep, and you, and those who agree with you, as categorically different and superior, but this is not an attitude which is tenable when you actually look at the people who agree with you, and those who most often don’t. Most people who agree with you are probably less functional than average, and certainly not so much more functional that they might as well be a different species. Otherwise, they’d be in power.
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they’re generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don’t actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a “hall monitor.” This is loony stuff.
And then there’s just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin’s comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That’s ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don’t see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and “false flags” are generally not worth the risk, but I also don’t see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn’t going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don’t like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can’t be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don’t care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don’t think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don’t reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you’d think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.
As an amusing/ disturbing aside, I recently realized what a strange strange creature Anglin really is recently.
I really have only had slight exposure to his bombastic political content on Unz, which is over the top, sometimes in a marginally amusing way.
I somehow ended up following a link from something on Unz over to Daily Stormer and ended up reading this.
https://dailystormer.in/model-takes-sexy-photos-with-teenage-son-she-is-sex-victimizing-women-are-so-ugly-part-ii/
The first part is... whatever, but it really goes off the deep end in the second half of the article. What a strange and perverse mindset to view the world. Perhaps the strangest bit was his comparison pics of women with/ without makeup/ digital filters. Personally, the women au-natural are all more appealing than the strange space aliens in the right column. Poor Anglin must have looked at way too much porn to have short circuited his brain to that degree.
But anyway, I never paid much attention to Anglin or the boring distasteful comments on his articles, and I have less inclination now that I have seen his full ouvre!Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
I would say that the modern age seems quite good at producing brain dead sheep. The conversations that I have with people in education do not bode well for the next few decades. General life competency is dropping quickly and is about to head into total free fall. It's not a question of superiority, but of upbringing. The parents and educational systems have been serving most younger generations very poorly indeed, which is a tragedy and a disservice of criminal proportions. Unz in general is a strange mixed bag of course. It attracts lots of the outcasts and discontents of the greater internet, of which I can be lumped in. I like Unz (or at least Sailer, the AK community, and the sadly defunct AE blog as freewheeling examples of stimulating conversation and thought. I'm not sure it's a worthwhile effort to read too much into my worldview as purely viewed through the greater Unzsphere of Anglin et. al.
I would actually say that in real life, the people who broadly agree with my basic worldview (trust me, nobody, including myself, agrees with me completely!) are generally quite highly functional, perhaps not in the sense of dying with the most BMWs in the driveway, but do pretty well in metrics of having functional families, productive and engaging work and social lives and being generally happy and contented.
I'm not quite sure what you are getting at, but if you find the Anglin or 4 chan commentariat to be fellow travelers to you or myself, I would say that you are laboring under false assumptions. 4chan style disillusionment is just another from of surreal dysfunction mirroring it's woke complement.
They merely want to deny power to people like you.
But that level of sanity exceeds your comprehension.
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they're generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don't actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a "hall monitor." This is loony stuff.
And then there's just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin's comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That's ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don't see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and "false flags" are generally not worth the risk, but I also don't see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn't going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don't like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can't be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don't care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don't think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don't reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you'd think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Coconuts, @Barbarossa, @PhysicistDave
I don’t have time to engage your entire comment right now, but will get back later.
As an amusing/ disturbing aside, I recently realized what a strange strange creature Anglin really is recently.
I really have only had slight exposure to his bombastic political content on Unz, which is over the top, sometimes in a marginally amusing way.
I somehow ended up following a link from something on Unz over to Daily Stormer and ended up reading this.
https://dailystormer.in/model-takes-sexy-photos-with-teenage-son-she-is-sex-victimizing-women-are-so-ugly-part-ii/
The first part is… whatever, but it really goes off the deep end in the second half of the article. What a strange and perverse mindset to view the world. Perhaps the strangest bit was his comparison pics of women with/ without makeup/ digital filters. Personally, the women au-natural are all more appealing than the strange space aliens in the right column. Poor Anglin must have looked at way too much porn to have short circuited his brain to that degree.
But anyway, I never paid much attention to Anglin or the boring distasteful comments on his articles, and I have less inclination now that I have seen his full ouvre!
There are older women who screw teenage boys. See Mrs. Macron. It is very unusual. We were teenage boys once. Did you ever know anybody who was screwing an old woman? I think I might have known one out of the hundreds of teenage boys I knew. Maybe.
As an amusing/ disturbing aside, I recently realized what a strange strange creature Anglin really is recently.
I really have only had slight exposure to his bombastic political content on Unz, which is over the top, sometimes in a marginally amusing way.
I somehow ended up following a link from something on Unz over to Daily Stormer and ended up reading this.
https://dailystormer.in/model-takes-sexy-photos-with-teenage-son-she-is-sex-victimizing-women-are-so-ugly-part-ii/
The first part is... whatever, but it really goes off the deep end in the second half of the article. What a strange and perverse mindset to view the world. Perhaps the strangest bit was his comparison pics of women with/ without makeup/ digital filters. Personally, the women au-natural are all more appealing than the strange space aliens in the right column. Poor Anglin must have looked at way too much porn to have short circuited his brain to that degree.
But anyway, I never paid much attention to Anglin or the boring distasteful comments on his articles, and I have less inclination now that I have seen his full ouvre!Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
Anglin cribs off 4chan. There is the occasional shining gemstone there but the signal noise ratio is ~.005. It’s mostly something to gape at. Much of the internet is like that.
There are older women who screw teenage boys. See Mrs. Macron. It is very unusual. We were teenage boys once. Did you ever know anybody who was screwing an old woman? I think I might have known one out of the hundreds of teenage boys I knew. Maybe.
Lunacy. EU Eastern enlargement was the biggest mistake ever, who in his right mind would want anything to do with those psychos.
The US has most to gain, though that in and of itself doesn't mean they - or their British or Polish subordinates - actually did it, but for now they are the most likely culprits.Replies: @Thulean Friend, @Here Be Dragon
Here is what we know so far.
Both pipelines have been blown up. The diameter of that circle is about 100 m. The precise location of the leakage – eastward of Bornholm island.
The flights of the American Navy helicopters on September 2 above that same area. Note the helicopter’s photograph and identification on the left.
An article from June 14, 2022 in Seapower magazine. Seapower – the official publication of the Navy League of the United States.
BALTOPS 22: A Perfect Opportunity for Research and Resting New Technology
https://seapowermagazine.org/baltops-22-a-perfect-opportunity-for-research-and-resting-new-technology/
U.S. Navy had conducted testing of underwater drones in that same area. These drones are in particular related to the mine warfare.
The article that had been published in Sweden on 13 of September. According to the Swedish press the RAND corporation had prepared a plan of the war in Ukraine two months before it started.
The shocking document: How the US planned the war and the energy crisis in Europe
Chockerande dokumentet: Så planerade USA kriget och energikrisen i Europa
https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/chockerande-dokumentet-sa-planerade-usa-kriget-och-energikrisen-i-europa/
The RAND corporation of course does not recognize that document however it is worth reading because it is not a fake. Use automatic translation, the article is in Swedish.
I'm not voting for fake but to say it is not a fake is ridiculous. If you knew that you would not be allowed to reveal it.
Those lost areas were about 15% of the population but they had above average turnout thanks to Yanukovich’s political machine in Donbas and were the heartland of the pro-Russian vote (over 80% voted for pro-Russian parties there).
So the simple territorial adjustment itself accounts for about 15% drop in pro-Russian votes as a share of total votes. So from 48% in 2012 it would be about 33%, just from geography.
The other factor is widespread turn against Russia after the 2014 events. I personally know Party of Region voters who were against Maidan but who said they would never vote for a pro-Russian party after Russia stabbed Ukraine in the back (their words). It’s an anecdote, but poll data show support for Russia dropping significantly in 2014, as one would expect towards a country that supplies bullets to rebels that kill your soldiers and that grabbed pieces of your territory. That accounts for most of the rest of the drop.
Maybe your claimed winners bias gave another 5% or so away from the loser Opposition Bloc.
In 2014 the two pro-Russian parties got 12.5% of the vote. This improved to 16% in 2019.
Yes, the Communists were banned; outside Donbas and Crimea they maybe accounted for 10% of the vote and some of them probably chose not to vote, others voted for Opposition Bloc.
This situation cannot be compare to the referendum in Kherson which ha 97% for joining Russi, same as Crimea in 2014.
Mistake, mistake…but look at it this way: we have been dealing with these psychos for a long time, why not share with others?
Sikorski has an IQ of a bag of manure. The tweet is servile genuflecting to his bosses, he just couldn’t stay quiet.
But really revealing. This entire war has been a revelatory experience, not so much regarding Putin and Russians (not really a surprise after all that imperialist chauvinism has an unfortunate appeal for quite a few Russians), but the attitudes in certain eastern EU members. The EU as it was before February is deader than dead, people just haven't realized it yet.Replies: @Beckow, @Triteleia Laxa
Yes, Sikorski already thanked the perpetrators for blowing up both Nord Stream pipelines. As Russian saying puts it, “a moron blurts out what a smarter person keeps to himself”.
I doubt his bosses can be happy…if it was the US or some other NATO country, this open gloating destroys all plausible deniability, if it was Russia, it’s a total own goal that will benefit Russian propaganda.
But really revealing. This entire war has been a revelatory experience, not so much regarding Putin and Russians (not really a surprise after all that imperialist chauvinism has an unfortunate appeal for quite a few Russians), but the attitudes in certain eastern EU members. The EU as it was before February is deader than dead, people just haven’t realized it yet.
But then, the most important politician in Poland, also justifiably thinks that Putin murdered his twin brother.
Perhaps Putin, who tries to show himself as a conservative and traditional type of figure, might not have tried to alienate the leaders of the most important traditional country in the EU?
And maybe all these "anti-Russian" Eastern Europeans were basically all correct all along, and, had the West listened to them, we would not be in this situation now?
Not the energy part, not the part where Ukraine was vulnerable, none of it.
And Europe wouldn't be relying on the US for defence, just as the US tried to persuade Europe not to.
Time for Europe to grow up and stop blaming its issues on the US. Such a habit is really pathetic when you think about it. Just as it means things never improve. Those who can't find responsibility in themselves will never change, for they think they aren't the problem.
Meloni gets it. But I guess you don't want to. Hopefully Scholz does.
https://twitter.com/Steve_Sailer/status/1461290105067294729?s=20&t=rEC9OqQaRpkNjDsa_8-PPQReplies: @Sean
So the simple territorial adjustment itself accounts for about 15% drop in pro-Russian votes as a share of total votes. So from 48% in 2012 it would be about 33%, just from geography.
The other factor is widespread turn against Russia after the 2014 events. I personally know Party of Region voters who were against Maidan but who said they would never vote for a pro-Russian party after Russia stabbed Ukraine in the back (their words). It’s an anecdote, but poll data show support for Russia dropping significantly in 2014, as one would expect towards a country that supplies bullets to rebels that kill your soldiers and that grabbed pieces of your territory. That accounts for most of the rest of the drop.
Maybe your claimed winners bias gave another 5% or so away from the loser Opposition Bloc.
In 2014 the two pro-Russian parties got 12.5% of the vote. This improved to 16% in 2019.
Yes, the Communists were banned; outside Donbas and Crimea they maybe accounted for 10% of the vote and some of them probably chose not to vote, others voted for Opposition Bloc.
This situation cannot be compare to the referendum in Kherson which ha 97% for joining Russi, same as Crimea in 2014.Replies: @Beckow
It can and will be compared. No matter how you churn the numbers the dramatic drop in pro-Russian votes after Maidan was caused by suppression, intimidation, censorship and outright bans. Whether it was half of the drop or a third doesn’t matter: those were not free elections and that makes them ‘fake’.
You are comparing what looks like two manipulated elections within 10 years. To denounce one and justify the other is irrational – we need to apply the same standard. The precise amount of manipulation is not that important – the numbers are not that far apart. If one is ‘fake’ so is the other.
Now we move on from the electoral theatre – fake or not – to who can win the war. If Kiev can storm Kherson and keep it, they will do it by force. And vice versa. When you go on about fake-this and that you are stuck in the past – we are beyond that point. So who will win on the ground? In the region, we have 150 million Russians against maybe 30 million Ukies left. Russia is better equipped and can keep this going indefinitely. Kiev should realize it and make the best deal they can. I suspect Kherson is gone.
But here is the proof that little of the drop can be attributed to the factors you describe.
In the 2012 election before the war, the pro-Russian parties got 48% of the vote.
Geographic changes would bring it down to 33%.
Popularity of Russia declined about 40% from 2012 until 2014 (the poll in May still included Donbas so the drop isn't accounted for by geographic changes much):
https://www.kiis.com.ua/materials/pr/20141706/graf2.jpg
So corresponding vote for pro-Russian parties should have also declined by that amount; 40% of 33% is slightly less than 20%.
So based on geographic changes and changes in popularity, pro-Russian parties should have gotten 20% of the vote in 2014.
You insisted that winners bias would add 5% to 15% of the vote.
So if winners bias played a role, the pro-Russian parties should have gotten 16% or so.
Instead they got 12.5% of the vote.
So "suppression, intimidation, censorship and outright bans" accounted for 3.5% lower vote as total percentage of votes, for pro-Russian parties in the 2014 election. 7.5% if you don't include "winners bias."
That is incomparable to the scale of fakery necessary to produce an 87% vote in favor of annexation of Kherson province. Or any number over 50%. Real support of annexation would be in the single digits to 10% or so at most. Ukrainians are motivated to defend their country, Russians aren't motivated to invade Ukraine. Winter is coming, Ukrainians are home and well-supplied, Russians are poorly supplied and neglected, and far from home.Replies: @Beckow
https://i.postimg.cc/yxc2zNtH/Nordstream.jpg
Both pipelines have been blown up. The diameter of that circle is about 100 m. The precise location of the leakage – eastward of Bornholm island.
https://i.postimg.cc/FFbwHY1f/Nord-Stream-2.jpg
The flights of the American Navy helicopters on September 2 above that same area. Note the helicopter's photograph and identification on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/26RXzYDF/Nord-Stream-3.jpg
An article from June 14, 2022 in Seapower magazine. Seapower – the official publication of the Navy League of the United States.
BALTOPS 22: A Perfect Opportunity for Research and Resting New Technology
https://seapowermagazine.org/baltops-22-a-perfect-opportunity-for-research-and-resting-new-technology/ U.S. Navy had conducted testing of underwater drones in that same area. These drones are in particular related to the mine warfare.
https://i.postimg.cc/XY2kHbq7/RAND-on-the-Ukraine-war.jpg
The article that had been published in Sweden on 13 of September. According to the Swedish press the RAND corporation had prepared a plan of the war in Ukraine two months before it started.
The shocking document: How the US planned the war and the energy crisis in Europe Chockerande dokumentet: Så planerade USA kriget och energikrisen i Europa
https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/chockerande-dokumentet-sa-planerade-usa-kriget-och-energikrisen-i-europa/
The RAND corporation of course does not recognize that document however it is worth reading because it is not a fake. Use automatic translation, the article is in Swedish.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Triteleia Laxa
This is a partisan opinion.
I’m not voting for fake but to say it is not a fake is ridiculous. If you knew that you would not be allowed to reveal it.
https://i.postimg.cc/yxc2zNtH/Nordstream.jpg
Both pipelines have been blown up. The diameter of that circle is about 100 m. The precise location of the leakage – eastward of Bornholm island.
https://i.postimg.cc/FFbwHY1f/Nord-Stream-2.jpg
The flights of the American Navy helicopters on September 2 above that same area. Note the helicopter's photograph and identification on the left.
https://i.postimg.cc/26RXzYDF/Nord-Stream-3.jpg
An article from June 14, 2022 in Seapower magazine. Seapower – the official publication of the Navy League of the United States.
BALTOPS 22: A Perfect Opportunity for Research and Resting New Technology
https://seapowermagazine.org/baltops-22-a-perfect-opportunity-for-research-and-resting-new-technology/ U.S. Navy had conducted testing of underwater drones in that same area. These drones are in particular related to the mine warfare.
https://i.postimg.cc/XY2kHbq7/RAND-on-the-Ukraine-war.jpg
The article that had been published in Sweden on 13 of September. According to the Swedish press the RAND corporation had prepared a plan of the war in Ukraine two months before it started.
The shocking document: How the US planned the war and the energy crisis in Europe Chockerande dokumentet: Så planerade USA kriget och energikrisen i Europa
https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/chockerande-dokumentet-sa-planerade-usa-kriget-och-energikrisen-i-europa/
The RAND corporation of course does not recognize that document however it is worth reading because it is not a fake. Use automatic translation, the article is in Swedish.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Triteleia Laxa
Some web-based news site claims some document fulfilling all Russian narratives has been leaked from Rand. Rand calls it a bizarre fake and the “alternative” webzine offers absolutely no proof of its document’s legitimacy.
And think about this all:
If the US did enact a masterplan to destroy Russia and own Europe, then why did Russia invade Ukraine, thereby making the US’s masterplan succeed?
See how the Russians unconsciously know that they are the world’s foremost bunglers? Even their fantasies put them into the fool’s role of no agency idiots.
No, it is obvious that Russia is desperate, after having started a failed war that it misguidedly believed would be a “pacifying” operation, and is flailing around for any deus ex machina that will save them, without them losing face by just going home.
I wonder what else they’re trying.
Anyone who believes that this document is real is an idiot. Its veracity would mean that US intelligence services can basically predict every single thing that actually happens, months ahead, even individuals’ choices and reactions, and that every one of Russia’s enemies has exactly the motivations that Russian narratives put out.
So either the Russians understand how everyone feels and thinks, and America understands what everyone will do and decide, like only God would, or, this was written recently, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, to serve unsubtle and desperate Russian propaganda.
I wonder which one…
If you believe this, I have my diary from when I was five to sell you. I just read it, and it says: there’ll be a worldwide respiratory plague starting in 2019/2020, Russia will invade Ukraine in 2022, a very rich man called Elon Musk will arise, Trump will become President, and England will win the World Cup this year.
Anyone now want to put bets on England? My diary from when I was five literally made all these perfect predictions!
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf An interesting document.
Content topics include:Economic Measures – Measure 1: Hinder Petroleum Exports
Measure 2: Reduce Natural Gas Exports and Hinder Pipeline Expansions
Measure 3: Impose Sanctions
Measure 4: Enhance Russian Brain DrainGeopolitical Measures – Measure 1: Provide Lethal Aid to Ukraine
Measure 2: Increase Support to the Syrian Rebels
Measure 3: Promote Regime Change in Belarus
Measure 4: Exploit Tensions in the South Caucasus
Weird that... Naturally they make a wide range of statements, but oddly you only focus on the ones that justify your bile. They said Putin wanted no less than Ukraine, and they were right. Actually there were peace talks, but Putin refused to speak with Zelenskyy, not considering him a head of state, rather a subordinate in a Russian dominion, so instead Putin sent some clown. Minsk would mean that Ukraine could never be a state independent of Russia. Not even in its basic domestic legislation.
So yes, you're right, like the Balts and Poles, there was nothing to negotiate about with Putin. Minsk was Ukraine giving surrender and Ukraine didn't want to surrender.
However, if Putin had other interests, than the domination of Ukraine, they could have negotiated Crimea and the parts of the Donbas they held. The conflict over those had entirely died down. That is already de facto recognition of Russian control. But that is also precisely the time at which Putin launched his invasion. Why would Biden be making a decision for Ukraine, a sovereign state? Why would NATO reject countries applying to it because Putin said so? Is it even slightly appropriate for Biden to have negotiated on Ukraine's behalf?
You talk about not wanting American imperialism, but now you basically demand it. This is inane. Utter nonsense. The US could have armed Ukraine years ago with all equipment that it is only doing so now. And they avoided this, in order to not have Russia invade. Or the US could have found a way to get Ukraine into NATO, during the last 30 years, but did not. Or the US could have built a base there, but did not.
Try to think! Thinking involves actually making the best argument, in your head, for the opposite of what you're about to say, before you say it, so you can see that you're not missing all of these incredibly easy points. Surely this stuff is obvious to you, just as my other comment that you had to ignore the substance of, to keep your self-harming frame.Replies: @German_reader, @Sean
Saakashvili became president in January 2004 after the bloodless “Rose Revolution” led by Saakashvili. Poroshenko was the main force behind the Revolution of Dignity
Russia said it was not a party to the war in Donbass, and that Ukraine had to negotiate with the Ukrainian rebels in Ukraine about autonomy for Donbass within Ukraine that would if granted close off any possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. Poroshenko refused to grant this, so the and years later he put it in the Ukrainian constitution that Ukraine would join NATO, which had been announced officially announced in 2008 and every year since (Georgia had been included in 2008 as a way of dissuading Putin from his harassing hybrid war against them but a few months after the announcement Russia invaded Georgia).
In 2014, after a yet another revolution. Ukraine began to get the old hybrid war treatment from Russia, and just like Saakashvili, new president Poroshenko tried to get tough then found his forces were no match for formed up units of the Russian army that crossed the border, but although the wily Poroshenko made preliminary agreements* to stop the Russian advance, {see Appendix} he did not give actually anything and just kept playing for time while he tried to bring the Americans in. The war in Donbass continued at a low level. and the Steinmeier Formula for restarting negotiation was unable to change that.
In 2019, Poroshenko’s hard line was rejected by the Ukrainian electorate: the audacious youthful Zelensky was elected on a landslide mainly on the strength of his sitcom persona as an honest man in a Ukrainian kleptocracy run by corrupts oligarchs (chiefly Poroshenko), but it is a fact that although completely vague about how he would attain the such a desirable state of affairs Zelensky was promising peace and reincorporation of the lost and rebel territory, especially in Donbass. One month after his May 2019 inauguration, new President Zelensky had his conversation with Trump about weapons (no serious weapons had been provided at that point although Trump had reversed Obama’s veto on arms for Ukraine) about investigation into Poroshenko having had Biden’s son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company (Zelensky was at that time trying to get Poroshenko indicted on corruption charges over this among many other things). Zelensky was not worried about Putin in those early months or about weapons either, because Zelensky was intending to reach a final settlement with Russia advantageous to Ukraine as he was elected promising to do. By September in became public knowledge Zelensky intended to fulfill his campaign promises by following the Steinmeier Formula {see Appendix B}.
In October Zelensky. who had made hardly any public announcements since taking up the office of President, said an agreement had been signed, it was basically Steinmeier’s formula. There was uproar among those Ukrainians who called it a capitulation. It is fair to say that it was not only hard line nationalists who were of this opinion, but many middle of the road Ukrainians too. So Zelensky did a U turn and his rhetoric flipped 180 degrees also; it began to be seaming about recovering the lost territories by the military pressure of Ukraine strengthened army being too much for Russian bullying to work any more, or even victory in any hostilities Russia might start.
I am afraid that the conclusion must be democracy tends to favour those who make promises that are unreasonable for them to make, and the electorate vote for such candidates because people tend to want incompatible things. Or maybe the geopolitical perspective in which states are living things that will fight to maintain their freedom of action right or wrong is more pertaining. Putin too has not been facing unpleasant facts about what is necessary to be sovereign and secure. Russia and Ukraine have cost each other plenty, and both are getting very far from an acceptable ending in the short term. I think America can provide Ukraine with many things that would greatly turn up the heat of Russia, but the US strategem is to keep Russia is being grievously attrited economically and militarily a la boiling-a-frog, slowly so it cannot realise and escape. Much more of this treatment will bring Putin close to a epiphany; it will come sooner or later he must decide on whether it is worth playing to win or lose it all (Appendix C).
Appendix A, B and C
[B] In 2016 the then Foreign minister of Germany Steinmeier made some proposals.
[B2]
[C]
But really revealing. This entire war has been a revelatory experience, not so much regarding Putin and Russians (not really a surprise after all that imperialist chauvinism has an unfortunate appeal for quite a few Russians), but the attitudes in certain eastern EU members. The EU as it was before February is deader than dead, people just haven't realized it yet.Replies: @Beckow, @Triteleia Laxa
A lot of things as they were before February are gone. The Eastern attitudes are varied, we actually mostly have a sense of humor about it.
Sikorski is a screw-up, he talks too much and even in Poland he is irrelevant. But yeah, this was an own goal.
Regarding the appeal of imperialist chauvinism you are a bit one-sided. Objectively looking at the world there is no more imperialist chauvinism than US-UK (and EU as an accomplice). Russia has patiently stayed in its own region, the war is fought in areas that are at least partially Russian. That is less imperial than what our friends Anglos have been doing. Russians may have the urge, but so do many others.
Britain is more complicated for me, from my perspective it's as much a victim as an accomplice of the US. Its role in the world has been largely negative though over the last 30 years, no disagreement here.
Anyway, my point is, I'm hostile to American domination, it's one of the biggest issues for Europe from my pov. But unfortunately Russians in their autistic megalomania ("Russia stronk! Our wunderwaffen are the best! We don't care what anybody thinks about us, you are all inferior anyway!") aren't exactly an attractive alternative or a reliable partner either...and on top of that, they've also shown themselves to be stunningly incompetent.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
But really revealing. This entire war has been a revelatory experience, not so much regarding Putin and Russians (not really a surprise after all that imperialist chauvinism has an unfortunate appeal for quite a few Russians), but the attitudes in certain eastern EU members. The EU as it was before February is deader than dead, people just haven't realized it yet.Replies: @Beckow, @Triteleia Laxa
Sikorski is personally bitter against Putin. He thinks Putin got him fired. He’s probably right, but he may be somewhat unhinged on this issue.
But then, the most important politician in Poland, also justifiably thinks that Putin murdered his twin brother.
Perhaps Putin, who tries to show himself as a conservative and traditional type of figure, might not have tried to alienate the leaders of the most important traditional country in the EU?
And maybe all these “anti-Russian” Eastern Europeans were basically all correct all along, and, had the West listened to them, we would not be in this situation now?
Not the energy part, not the part where Ukraine was vulnerable, none of it.
And Europe wouldn’t be relying on the US for defence, just as the US tried to persuade Europe not to.
Time for Europe to grow up and stop blaming its issues on the US. Such a habit is really pathetic when you think about it. Just as it means things never improve. Those who can’t find responsibility in themselves will never change, for they think they aren’t the problem.
Meloni gets it. But I guess you don’t want to. Hopefully Scholz does.
The RF is not fighting only Ukies. It is fighting the whole NATO shebang. The Ukies are so far almost the only cannon fodder used simply because it’s the least valuable from the imperial point of view. Chances are, when the Ukies start losing badly, the puppeteers will send in the second least valuable cannot fodder, the Poles. They might stop at that, or they might send in the next portion of cannon fodder, some Eastern Europeans and/or Germans. All this will prolong the war, increase the destruction in Ukraine and Russian war expenditures, but won’t change the outcome: neither Europe, nor the puppeteers have anything comparable in strength, motivation, and efficiency to Hitler’s army. Even that formidable force lost in the end. The downside for the empire is that each additional portion of cannon fodder would entail the loss of more puppets in the end. That might not stop the empire, though, as it sees all aborigines as disposable material and their “countries” as gambling chips.
If anyone among the very top Russian decision makers or those advising them privately believes it at all likely Russia can now gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine and force it to submit then I would be very surprised. They are not being bull headed, but they have to try everything, before taking it to the fateful plane of a an explicit thermonuclear threat unless Ukraine ceases the HIMARS attacks and trying to advance, Russia will use a theatre thermonuclear weapon. That would just be killings a few thousand Ukrainians, although in a different way. But if the US airforce were to attack the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian navy in retaliation, as is being talked about by many retired generals, then that would be an act of war by America against a country with a comparable nuclear arsenal to the US's, and one that had already used crossed the Rubicon of detonating theatre thermonuclear weapons on or rather over enemy combatants.
Surely American F35s attacking Russia's Black Sea Fleet for nuking the Ukrainian army would be a gambit of even more uncertain outcome than the Russian one. Especially as thermonuclear tactical anti aircraft detonation(s) would be the only effective defense against such an attack. Are the Russian (including captains with such weapons possibly on board) supposed to, considering how useless the fleet has been in practice of late, just accept the sinkings? Well they might, but maybe that like Russia's nuclear weapons nit working, is hardy something to be confident about. I don't think the US really knows what it would do in the event of Putin getting desperate enough to play the only card his enemies fear though perceiving the long term hopelessness of continuing against the Ukraine--US assemblage as he is for the foreseeable future and hoping the Russia army will somehow get better. It will but so will the Ukrainian, and even more so.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel
You forgot to mention these alleged mistakes, because there are none. The Americans generate 60% of world porn business revenue and are obsessed with interracial sex, in particular with the Negroes.
Did I make it up? Your habit of ascribing YOUR fault to others is pathological. YOUR people committed the atrocities, and YOUR people are obsessed with black dicks! Not me.
And I am not a follower, I am a leader. I start discussions and I end them; I control them. I create the context. Yes of course.
I was brought up as a pacifist and a humanist. I was taught not to lie and be honest. I was taught to respect the elders and protect the weak. And I was taught to asppreciate what I have.
The morals I follow as much as I can are those found in the teachings of sages, such as Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha.
I do not have either a wife or children because I had to spend the best age of life struggling for survival and had no means to be a husband and a father.
But in the end I am glad that I have no children, because I see what is happening to them now, and I do not want it to happen to a child of mine.
You got more questions?Replies: @AP
I have indeed documented how you repeatedly and out of context bring discus black male sexual organs and atrocity photos. Reflections of your obsessions.
Your grandiose lying to yourself (the comparisons to Buddha and Jesus are particularly poignant) is as funny as it is sad.
You are just a Soviet loser obsessed with gory deaths and black male anatomy. And various street drugs. Nothing more than that.
They have been mentioned and discussed before. You were too stupid to understand, and no one else seems to care, so I won’t bother repeating.
No, plenty of poor people have families and you made it to the West. You are just a morally grotesque person (as demonstrated by your passions here) and people see that in you and act accordingly. You mention just having unpleasant interactions in Ukraine where you grew up, Poland, Israel. You live in the West but have contempt for Westerners, you are an ungrateful parasite. You grew up in Ukraine but have contempt for Ukrainians, you are half Russian but don’t like Russians either, nor do you like Ashkenazi Jews despite being 1/4 one.
Someone else mentioned the dark cloud that follows you, but more realistically you are just a stain. Soviet filth. Interesting how you couldn’t help but start insulting others when I chose to ignore you?
Anyways that’s all for now, others here have asked me not to interact with you. I didn’t, until you responded to my post.
I’m not one-sided, I have expressed my negative views about the US and its aggressive quest for global domination on more than one occasion in the past here, and nothing has changed about my views in this regard.
Britain is more complicated for me, from my perspective it’s as much a victim as an accomplice of the US. Its role in the world has been largely negative though over the last 30 years, no disagreement here.
Anyway, my point is, I’m hostile to American domination, it’s one of the biggest issues for Europe from my pov. But unfortunately Russians in their autistic megalomania (“Russia stronk! Our wunderwaffen are the best! We don’t care what anybody thinks about us, you are all inferior anyway!”) aren’t exactly an attractive alternative or a reliable partner either…and on top of that, they’ve also shown themselves to be stunningly incompetent.
Regarding reliability: EU (Germany) signed a contract for NS2, they reneged on it. Germany and France guaranteed Minsk agreement and they reneged on it. They promised that Kiev won't be in Nato, they quietly stood aside as US and UK were openly dragging Ukraine into Nato. They also ignored a prima facie human rights abuses in Kiev - bombing its own population and shutting down Russian schools - as they pretended that Ukies are negotiating to be in EU.
How is EU or Germany a reliable partner?
But then, the most important politician in Poland, also justifiably thinks that Putin murdered his twin brother.
Perhaps Putin, who tries to show himself as a conservative and traditional type of figure, might not have tried to alienate the leaders of the most important traditional country in the EU?
And maybe all these "anti-Russian" Eastern Europeans were basically all correct all along, and, had the West listened to them, we would not be in this situation now?
Not the energy part, not the part where Ukraine was vulnerable, none of it.
And Europe wouldn't be relying on the US for defence, just as the US tried to persuade Europe not to.
Time for Europe to grow up and stop blaming its issues on the US. Such a habit is really pathetic when you think about it. Just as it means things never improve. Those who can't find responsibility in themselves will never change, for they think they aren't the problem.
Meloni gets it. But I guess you don't want to. Hopefully Scholz does.
https://twitter.com/Steve_Sailer/status/1461290105067294729?s=20&t=rEC9OqQaRpkNjDsa_8-PPQReplies: @Sean
Poland’s refusal to compromise on Poles working in the UK being able to claim British welfare benefits for their children back in Poland was the main reason for Brexit. Had they given on that, Cameron would have before the referendum returned in triumph a la Thatcher after her talks with the EU. It was on Sikorsky’s–supposed expert on the Brits–advice (he knew Boris and Cameron from university and has that silly Appelbaum woman as wife) that the Poles stood on their veto and made Cameron look like a dork with “weak leader” tattooed on his forehead. He developed a terrible back problem that was prolly psychosomatic, and was actually relieved when he had to resign after the country rejected his recommendation for stay in the EU.
When they were part of the Warsaw Pact Poland got cheap energy from the Soviet Union, in late sixties Austria got a nice deal with the Soviets for gas, and in the early eighties the USSR started selling energy to Germany and some other west European countries, so Poland could not freeload on the USSR. Hence they joined and became the greatest recipient of EU funds. One reason Poland is so 51st state on its policies and hosting of US missile bases is a desire for fracked gas from America, supplied at a highly subsided price of course. Their maneuverings to that end are going to be successful now. They will also have about the most powerful army in Europe.
Obviously I had in mind the expulsion of the Germans from the east in toto. My use of “Benes decrees” was part metonym, part friendly jab at you (and your Czechslovak origins) personally – you who very consistently fails to see parallels when doing so doesn’t suit his purposes. Of course there was tremendous enthusiasm for expelling the Germans. I hardly meant to suggest that Benes had to force an unwilling populace to comply with his orders.
You can continue the vain search for a precise formula for justice in geopolitics if you like. Seems to be a hobby horse of yours. Much simpler to consign ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ to the class of noble lies fed to children in a bid to make the world a nicer place – other famous ones being ‘we’re all equal’ and ‘looks don’t matter’ – the falsity of which people often spend the rest of their lives realizing and coming to terms with.
Remarkable? More like a case of “strike while the iron’s hot.”
Since the word seems to be on everyone’s lips lately, let me say this: Like most Serbs I was raised to regard Kosovo as ‘sacred land’, and unlike most Serbs I even had a grandfather who lived there, but I’m not particularly aggrieved by its loss nor even by the manner in which it was snatched away (Serbs gambled, they lost, end of). Mostly, I think Serbia is better off without it and the attendant Albanians. And although I’m not motivated by a desire for vengeance, I could sooner justify a retaliatory war for nothing but reasons of vengeance (or a “Humiliate Rival” casus belli for any EU4 players out there) than I could a war to reincorporate Kosovo back into Serbia. Or rather, I could if there were not other fish to fry – like the coming explosion of the black African population and its radiation into parts of the world hitherto blissfully free of its ghastly embrace, an existential problem that utterly dwarfs any issues or differences I might have with an Albanian.
All that said, if Serbs in 1912 – when “the iron was hot” – had done what they tried in 1999, Kosovo today would still be theirs, and not even the do-gooderist of western Europeans in the 90s would have been clamoring for ‘justice’ over it.
(I know I use “they” and “them” and “theirs” a lot. I am so very detached from the obsessions of Serbian nationalism, I can’t bring myself to use we, us and ours on these topics.)
My point was not about Serbia or Albania. My point was that Nato (the collective West) broke its own rules to bomb Serbia, force a new state against existing international rules, and murdered civilians. That is what happened - no sane person can deny it - and today West has no standing to try to enforce the no-longer accepted rules on the others, e.g. in Ukraine.
This is the elephant in the room: all the yapping by Western politicians and media is pointless, it is like a thief complaining that others are stealing. There are no words, or rules, it is about power and force - and it has always been, but with the Nato attack on Serbia it became official.
By the way, I don't seek justice, you misunderstand. Justice is an empty concept and seeking justice leads to bloody mess and a lot of dead people. What I seek is consistency and rationality: that requires that similar situations are treated similarly. And that X has same standing as Y. Or we can just defer to pure power.Replies: @Yevardian
Sikorski doesn’t like Nordstream because there’s lots of other pipelines which are fine, and they go through Eastern Europe, which he believes protected Eastern Europe from Russian invasion, because the Eastern Europeans could just turn them off.
Makes rational sense to me. It might not justify any particular action, but it is obviously reasonable for him to dislike Nordstream intensely.
I always wondered why Putin waited until Nordstream 2 was literally just about to open before invading. It seemed odd. Germany was already dependent on his gas. I guess I just ignored the Eastern Europeans before the war, thought they were being dramatic and didn’t realise they had such valid concerns.
https://twitter.com/radeksikorski/status/1574849994062020609?s=20&t=zqPEfcDa-A1QTtJVMd_T6Q
Anyway, if it was Russia who blew up the pipelines (as a warning that they can do the same to others which are actually being used or for some other bizarre reason) we'll know soon enough. But I suspect it might remain a "mystery".Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Triteleia Laxa, @Wokechoke
The 50 mile range of the particular HIMARS rockets currently sent to Ukraine is when given precise location of targets like artillery supply hubs (which Ukraine is being given because US electronic, optical satellite an spy plane surveillance is omnipresent in Ukraine) hit it with GPS guided accuracy and by forcing the artillery dumps back out of range has halved Russia artillery fire. If Russia does very well Ukraine would just be given the getting the Army Tactical Missile System, which would mean the Russian ammunition hubs would have to be moved back another hundred miles.
Ukraine's resources are limited in an counter intuitive way because the worse Ukraine does in this war, the more they will be given in order to keep them in the fight. It is not a zero sum game between Ukraine and Russian inasmuch the aim of America is to keep Ukraine fighting and attriting Russia; Ukraine and its population's fate is an incident not an end, therefore Ukraine and Russia can lose, or both win a pyrrhic victoryReplies: @Here Be Dragon
Disperse multiple anti-tank mines – the shells?
Another fabulous imbecile.
Have you ever seen an anti-tank mine?
Shells with small anti-personnel mines do exist and those have been supplied to Ukraine. Ukraine has been using them against the peaceful civilians of Donbas at least three times. The shell explodes and a few dozen small mines that look like a Zippo lighter are dispersed around the area in radius of 100 m.
With anti-tank mines it is not possible as the lightest and the smallest of them weight more than 10 kg.
NATO forces do have machines such as the M136 Volcano. These provide an automated mine dispersion of anti-tank mines and allow to set up a mine field in seconds, but the range of it is 500 m at most.
And the Russian forces are using machines such as UR-77 Meteorit that are capable of making a passage through a mine field in a minute or two.
These are used in the urban environment as well and not for mine sweeping alone but as a weapon against personnel.
Dumbass!
Even a complete moron is supposed to understand that 50 km more or 50 less of the distance does not affect the rate of fire of artillery batteries whatsoever. It cannot affect it except for making one spend a little more fuel to deliver the shells to the front line.
Russia has sent 6 reconnaissance satellites onto the high orbit in 2022, and another 4 are going to be sent during the next two months. 20 satellites had been sent during 2020-21. Altogether the Russians have 160 satellites on the orbit.
Russia has advanced – perhaps even the best – radar equipment, and excellent if not the best reconnaissance planes, such as Beriev A-50.
40 of them. And it has a couple of the latest model A-100 which is even better. These planes are at least on a par with the American ones.
One thing that Russia is lagging behind is drones, but I guess the real advantage that Ukraine has with regards to reconnaissance is people. There are a lot of people on the territories that Russia has taken who work for Ukraine.
That is how Ukraine is gettin her intel.
And where would the Ukrainian ammunition hubs have to be moved?
The Russians have better missiles. Surface-to-surface, air-to-surface and what not. You are under the wrong impression that Russia is a backward nation.
A crucial principle of warfare is to to "concentrate strength against weakness". Russia cannot use mass effect because concentrations of troops, shells, ECT ECT get destroyed by HIMARS. The Russian reserves are being held way back out of HIMARS range, hence the success of the . The much longer range Army Tactical Missile System will greatly exacerbate Russian's woes when it is given to Ukraine. It has been regarded as such (although militarily powerful) for half a millennium. To get out of this, Russia will have to brandish its thermonuclear weapons in a theatre context.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Translation: Sikorski and his ilk didn’t like the Nordstream pipelines, because their operation would have meant loss of transit fees for Poland/Ukraine, and even more importantly loss of the ability to blackmail Germany and other core EU countries into supporting their preferred Russia policy.
Anyway, if it was Russia who blew up the pipelines (as a warning that they can do the same to others which are actually being used or for some other bizarre reason) we’ll know soon enough. But I suspect it might remain a “mystery”.
We need a "Fucking idiot!" button.
I also saw this fascinating article. Russia just sliv'd Armenia as when Armenia was attacked, it called the CSTO equivalent of Article 5, and Russia was unable/unwilling to prioritise to help, before the US stepped into save Armenia.
So now some Russian "thinker' has been trotted out onto RT to write a long article essentially on why living up to formal alliances is not a Russian thing to do, and that's good, because it is actually a degenerate Western thing to do.
I wonder what the Armenians think?
https://www.rt.com/russia/563607-bordachev-russias-conflict-with-west/
As for who blew up the pipeline? Given where it is, I assume Germany will run the investigation. It might take a week for the danger of gas to subside, so I guess they'll be down at the site then. Anything before, without actual smoking gun evidence, is just people wish fulfilling who they want it to be.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian
Also, if the elections like 2020 presidential ones in the US confer legitimacy, I am the Pope.
I don’t know about Kherson or Zaporozye, but in Donbass >95% of the residents hate Ukraine after eight years of bombing and shelling that killed and maimed thousands of civilians, including lots of children. Today in Donbass you’d be punched in the face for speaking Ukrainian. So, I won’t be surprised if the results show >95% support for joining RF, as this would imply protection from Ukie aggression.
Kiev regime does all it can to make residents of other areas controlled by Russian troops hate it. Their actions are carbon-copies of those that caused burning hatred in Donbass: shelling and terrorist acts murdering and mutilating civilians. As these lasted just a few months, as compared to eight years in Donbass, I’d expect lower support for joining RF in those areas.Replies: @Old Brown Fool, @Triteleia Laxa, @Dave Bowman
That would be Viktor Orban. You’re welcome.
Britain is more complicated for me, from my perspective it's as much a victim as an accomplice of the US. Its role in the world has been largely negative though over the last 30 years, no disagreement here.
Anyway, my point is, I'm hostile to American domination, it's one of the biggest issues for Europe from my pov. But unfortunately Russians in their autistic megalomania ("Russia stronk! Our wunderwaffen are the best! We don't care what anybody thinks about us, you are all inferior anyway!") aren't exactly an attractive alternative or a reliable partner either...and on top of that, they've also shown themselves to be stunningly incompetent.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
I wouldn’t call it incompetence, but Putin and his generals made some serious miscalculations. One is his usual, repeated many times: he overestimated the reasonableness of both Ukies and the empire (the latter includes NATO, as no NATO decisions are made in Europe). He did not rightly see that this will become an existential struggle for the empire-controlled world: it perceives the loss as unacceptable. Which in a way it is for them: the loss would be not of Ukraine (which has limited worth), but of world dominance.
Because of this miscalculation the RF did not send enough forces to do the job before the empire and its sidekicks have time to intervene. Looks like Putin is correcting this error now, but it would cost a lot more in lives and treasure. That’s a very serious mistake. It also made the situation more dangerous for innocent (and no so innocent) bystanders. On the other hand, it forced everyone to show their true colors, both inside and outside of the RF. Forced coming-out is to his benefit: no more pretense, no more hiding in shadows, all cards are on the table.
Basically, instead of a low-value local conflict he expected the RF got a decisive struggle with the empire. Both sides see it as an existential battle, nobody is prepared to back off. We’ll see how the situation develops (what else can we do).
In the past few decades the United States was run out of Vietnam, launched and ultimately lost a colossally stupid war in Iraq, and failed dismally in Afghanistan. None of those defeats affected its superpower status, any more than Carrhae and Teutoberg Forest brought down Rome. But some war where the USA not even a direct combatant is finally going to do it in? Doesn't make any sense.
This war is definitely existential for Ukraine. It may be existential for Russia, though I doubt it. It's not existential for the USA. It can't lose, except in a general nuclear exchange where everyone loses.Replies: @Beckow
3 million would be required.
Anyway, if it was Russia who blew up the pipelines (as a warning that they can do the same to others which are actually being used or for some other bizarre reason) we'll know soon enough. But I suspect it might remain a "mystery".Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Triteleia Laxa, @Wokechoke
Feature request.
We need a “Fucking idiot!” button.
Makes sense. Explains why same scum accuses both Orban and Putin of being undemocratic dictators.
Anyway, if it was Russia who blew up the pipelines (as a warning that they can do the same to others which are actually being used or for some other bizarre reason) we'll know soon enough. But I suspect it might remain a "mystery".Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Triteleia Laxa, @Wokechoke
You’re ungenerous in your words, but not wrong with your description. Yet, of course, if Eastern Europe desperately wanted to keep themselves in the pipeline loop to ensure protection from Russia, why did Russia desperately want them out?
I also saw this fascinating article. Russia just sliv’d Armenia as when Armenia was attacked, it called the CSTO equivalent of Article 5, and Russia was unable/unwilling to prioritise to help, before the US stepped into save Armenia.
So now some Russian “thinker’ has been trotted out onto RT to write a long article essentially on why living up to formal alliances is not a Russian thing to do, and that’s good, because it is actually a degenerate Western thing to do.
I wonder what the Armenians think?
https://www.rt.com/russia/563607-bordachev-russias-conflict-with-west/
As for who blew up the pipeline? Given where it is, I assume Germany will run the investigation. It might take a week for the danger of gas to subside, so I guess they’ll be down at the site then. Anything before, without actual smoking gun evidence, is just people wish fulfilling who they want it to be.
Though better to ask Avery (though I don't know if he has much to say, he posts mostly on Anglin's articles.. used to be funny when I was a teenager but he's just a total incel freak now), since he actually grew up in the Armenian SSR, I've only ever visited there briefly, my family were from generations of diaspora. Please, don't make me vomit, do even you have a shred of evidence to support that assertion? There was an almost complete Western media blackout on the conflict, I think whatever abuses against civilians Israel committed that month, or the Saudi invasion of Yemen were more reported on.
US involvement in the conflict on either side has been nil.Anyway, I noticed this:"Even now, Armenia, Russia’s conditional ally in the South Caucasus, can use the presence of the CSTO as a way of exerting pressure on Russian diplomacy while absolving itself of all responsibility."Ok, so this is a pretty disgusting article.
First of all, the initial Azeri provocations leading to the 2020 Second Artsakh War actually began around Tavush in July, i.e. on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia proper. Aliev was obviously testing the waters to see how Russia would react to a direct attack
And yes, the meeting for the "Collective Security Treaty Organisation" was mysteriously cancelled, after some formulaic words from Lavrov condemning violence, etc. So Azerbaijan actually had a 2-month military buildup in confidence Russia wouldn't saction them before they actually attacked.Russia also went on to continue selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia both after the First Artsakh War and after the 2016 skirmishes. There was even a big Russian arms deal with Azerbaijan that year, probably trying to curry favour with Turkey after the failed (with the US greenlighting it?) coup against Erdogan. Belarus also openly favours the Azeris for sales, Luka even had the cheek to chastise Armenia for violating UN resolutions after Rubyinyan (iirc) complained, imao. Yeltsin's actually government signed a decree that they'd sell to neither that I don't think was ever rescinded.. whatever.
Pretty much the only advantage Armenia got from the CSO was slightly discounted Russian prices (still bought on loan though), but Azeris have oil-money to buy from all sorts of suppliers, particularly from Israel (drones, but also tavor rifles for standard infantry), Our Greatest Ally and defender of the West against Islamic aggression. Israel actually gets most of its oil from the Azeris.Russia has been a shitty 'ally' to Armenia if they can even be called that, but frankly its not as if there's any alternative. Everyone in the country knows that. An intimate security partnership with the Islamic Republic isn't exactly enticing, and anywhere else is too far away, indifferent or if sympathic, equally powerless (chiefly Greece, possibly Kurds).
Hopefully the Russian government (whatever form it takes in the future) will realise that Turkey is slowly becoming an increasingly serious security threat it and all its neighbors. Fact remains Russia has permanent interests in the Caucasus region, so has at minimum a vested interest in ensuring Armenia remains on the map, if only to keep it a conflict-zone forever. But for the US its an obscure region on the other side of the world, any commitment there would be domestically unpopular and could instantly be removed after any election.
Turkey is the largest NATO army by an enormous margin, and unfortunately they'll never be kicked out, short of doing so on their own terms, if Turkey decides that it just doesn't need membership anymore. If not for the atrocious and probably irreversible direction Erdogan has taken Turkish society, I would have considered a major compromise with Turkey conceivable, but not now. Outside of the government, Iranian society is far less Islamist than Turkey's at this point, Armenian ethnogenesis essentially begins as a blend of Hellenistic and Iranian culture.Replies: @Yevardian, @Triteleia Laxa, @Yahya
There’d be no Brexit without a lot of things, but Merkel inviting in a million “Syrian” “refugees” was the biggest factor. It was so obviously a terrible idea that even mainstream US Republicans actively opposed it.
And it hit very hard among normal Brits. As, from now on, any guilt-ridden far off leader, could invite in people from completely incompatible cultures at tremendous scale, and there’d be no democratic accountability.
It was a multi-layered betrayal in a way that just immigration, or even uncontrolled European immigration, was not. There was no hope for accountability and it looked apocalyptic, with most “refugees” likely to eventually head to British for reasons of English.
There was that sort of feeling:- Yet Brexit would not have happened and Cameron had to resign, had not Boris won support for the Brexit vote in previously Labour Party heartlands of Northern England where decent jobs are hard to come by and wages in them were stagnating, especially since the Labour government of Blair had opened the door (from Poland chiefly).Replies: @Wokechoke
To be honest, almost all current media is mental pollution at this point, but ads are always garbage in.
I would love to live in an ad-free country, although ad blocker, lack of TV, and living in the middle of nowhere comes close on a personal level.Replies: @songbird
I also do my best to avoid it. One of my minor fears is that they will do away with adblocker at some point, in the near future.
But I genuinely feel a kind of empathic pain, for individuals who can’t avoid it, especially the elderly, who probably remember ads, when everything wasn’t saturated with them, and when they weren’t super offensive.
But I also suspect there are broader negative social effects.
_____
Since the topic of hirsuteness has been brought up earlier in this thread, I shall make my reply here:
IMO, one of the most interesting HBD mysteries is why certain men get hairier, as they age. Is there an evolutionary explanation for Andy Rooney and Brezhnev’s eyebrows? Or for hairy ears, which I believe develop years after puberty?
Are these men somehow maximizing the use of T, even after it falls? Perhaps, capturing and holding onto it with special receptors? Are they the best middle-aged warriors? The most virile old men?
Though I imagine if a person were to ask nicely the HHS (Health and Human Services) might give a million dollar grant to some lucky recipient to study the matter. (Surely somebody's already thought to do that, haven't they?)
Wiki's entry on 'Ear Hair' doesn't offer much on the subject, but did have this fun fact: As noisome as an over abundance of ear hair might well be to the sensitive type, every person should be thankful they don't have 'werewolf syndrome', aka 'hypertrichosis', like the poor soul below did.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Joris_Hoefnagel_-_Animalia_Rationalia_et_Insecta_%28Ignis%29-_Plate_I.jpg/300px-Joris_Hoefnagel_-_Animalia_Rationalia_et_Insecta_%28Ignis%29-_Plate_I.jpg
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_hair#
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HypertrichosisReplies: @songbird
Anyway, if it was Russia who blew up the pipelines (as a warning that they can do the same to others which are actually being used or for some other bizarre reason) we'll know soon enough. But I suspect it might remain a "mystery".Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Triteleia Laxa, @Wokechoke
Ukies and Poles appear to have impunity for these sort of sabotage and terroristic operations. I’d guess it’s them. Just outside Danish waters, day after Norwegian-Pole Pipeline opens.
I also saw this fascinating article. Russia just sliv'd Armenia as when Armenia was attacked, it called the CSTO equivalent of Article 5, and Russia was unable/unwilling to prioritise to help, before the US stepped into save Armenia.
So now some Russian "thinker' has been trotted out onto RT to write a long article essentially on why living up to formal alliances is not a Russian thing to do, and that's good, because it is actually a degenerate Western thing to do.
I wonder what the Armenians think?
https://www.rt.com/russia/563607-bordachev-russias-conflict-with-west/
As for who blew up the pipeline? Given where it is, I assume Germany will run the investigation. It might take a week for the danger of gas to subside, so I guess they'll be down at the site then. Anything before, without actual smoking gun evidence, is just people wish fulfilling who they want it to be.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian
It was Polish and Ukie frogmen.
Look bro. It’s ww3 already. The only error if anything was the Coup de Main on Kiev that made western capitals have a stroke.
After the UK escaped, Brussels had a chance to reform. Instead it doubled down on authoritarian SJW Globalism. The desperate attempt to eliminate the veto power held by sovereign nations has failed. Italy is now certain to support Hungary and Poland.
The smart move would be accepting that the EU is a collection of sovereign EQUALS. Of course, Leftoid hubris prevents this sane option.
The EU and single € currency EZ are headed towards a dead end. The key questions are — When? And, How?
PEACE 😇
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they're generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don't actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a "hall monitor." This is loony stuff.
And then there's just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin's comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That's ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don't see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and "false flags" are generally not worth the risk, but I also don't see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn't going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don't like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can't be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don't care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don't think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don't reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you'd think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Coconuts, @Barbarossa, @PhysicistDave
Idk, on some issues there seems to be a lot of evidence that something is the case (say that our liberal democratic regimes are run by something like a mixture of oligarchical family and financial interests) but few will want to publicly recognise the fact, even if these groups are providing quite effective government at the moment.
Imo a similar thing applies in respect of the fact that say, hereditary monarchical and aristocratic rule made Britain disproportionately powerful and dynamic as a nation before the reform acts in the later 19th century. But history also seems to suggest it.
Another old hypothesis is that liberal democratic regimes always end up ruling in the long-term interests of foreigners rather than their indigenous populations. There seems to be mounting evidence that this might prove to be the case, but again no one really discusses it or why it comes about.
Germany lacked firepower at the front lines, and even more especially for hitting high value targets at long range. Ukraine is getting arms better than Russia has across the board, and has already got made a huge difference to the Russian strong suite of artillery by disrupting the logistics using the surpassing capabilities of US surveillance/ intel and the fifty mile range HIMRS, If the Ukrainian suffer any kind of reverses they are going to instantly be given the Army Tactical Missile System, which can hit command and artillery ammunition supply hubs well over a hundred miles deeper behind the Russian front lines. The US will supply real time intel for those too; the US actually has a veto over what gets hit and in fact the Ukraine don’t know the identity of the generals they take out, only the US does. Amerivca is not worried about Ukraine hitting Russia proper; the real reason the ATMS has not been given to Ukraine is it is not necessary, yet.
If anyone among the very top Russian decision makers or those advising them privately believes it at all likely Russia can now gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine and force it to submit then I would be very surprised. They are not being bull headed, but they have to try everything, before taking it to the fateful plane of a an explicit thermonuclear threat unless Ukraine ceases the HIMARS attacks and trying to advance, Russia will use a theatre thermonuclear weapon. That would just be killings a few thousand Ukrainians, although in a different way. But if the US airforce were to attack the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian navy in retaliation, as is being talked about by many retired generals, then that would be an act of war by America against a country with a comparable nuclear arsenal to the US’s, and one that had already used crossed the Rubicon of detonating theatre thermonuclear weapons on or rather over enemy combatants.
Surely American F35s attacking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for nuking the Ukrainian army would be a gambit of even more uncertain outcome than the Russian one. Especially as thermonuclear tactical anti aircraft detonation(s) would be the only effective defense against such an attack. Are the Russian (including captains with such weapons possibly on board) supposed to, considering how useless the fleet has been in practice of late, just accept the sinkings? Well they might, but maybe that like Russia’s nuclear weapons nit working, is hardy something to be confident about. I don’t think the US really knows what it would do in the event of Putin getting desperate enough to play the only card his enemies fear though perceiving the long term hopelessness of continuing against the Ukraine–US assemblage as he is for the foreseeable future and hoping the Russia army will somehow get better. It will but so will the Ukrainian, and even more so.
I'm not saying Russia cannot win this war with tactical nukes. I just don't see a clear path from the latter to the former in the current scenario.Replies: @Philip Owen, @A123, @Sean
If anyone among the very top Russian decision makers or those advising them privately believes it at all likely Russia can now gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine and force it to submit then I would be very surprised. They are not being bull headed, but they have to try everything, before taking it to the fateful plane of a an explicit thermonuclear threat unless Ukraine ceases the HIMARS attacks and trying to advance, Russia will use a theatre thermonuclear weapon. That would just be killings a few thousand Ukrainians, although in a different way. But if the US airforce were to attack the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian navy in retaliation, as is being talked about by many retired generals, then that would be an act of war by America against a country with a comparable nuclear arsenal to the US's, and one that had already used crossed the Rubicon of detonating theatre thermonuclear weapons on or rather over enemy combatants.
Surely American F35s attacking Russia's Black Sea Fleet for nuking the Ukrainian army would be a gambit of even more uncertain outcome than the Russian one. Especially as thermonuclear tactical anti aircraft detonation(s) would be the only effective defense against such an attack. Are the Russian (including captains with such weapons possibly on board) supposed to, considering how useless the fleet has been in practice of late, just accept the sinkings? Well they might, but maybe that like Russia's nuclear weapons nit working, is hardy something to be confident about. I don't think the US really knows what it would do in the event of Putin getting desperate enough to play the only card his enemies fear though perceiving the long term hopelessness of continuing against the Ukraine--US assemblage as he is for the foreseeable future and hoping the Russia army will somehow get better. It will but so will the Ukrainian, and even more so.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel
Highly improbable scenarios. If Russia uses nukes, it won’t be against Ukraine or other puppets, it would be against the puppeteers.
Guardian asks who dunnit.
Polish niggers quoted. They Dindu Nuffin.
https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/27/nord-stream-1-2-pipelines-leak-baltic-sabotage-fears
No, you’ve been misled by lefties who do not want to admit that Brits hated Poles for functioning as a reserve army of labour for good working class jobs and as a result preventing wages for those semi/skilled skilled occupations rising. Or maybe you like many people (including myself) are too slow to recognise how venally Bolshie Brits are when is comes to anything immediately affecting their wages and how comparatively uninterested in replacement immigration by non Europeans. In a 1968 speach Enoch Powell said, ‘As Lord Elton once put it: ‘If it were known in my home village that the Archbishop of Canterbury were coming to live there, we should undoubtedly ring a peal on the church bells. If it were known that five archbishops were coming, I should still expect to see my neighbours exchanging excited congratulations at the street corners. But if it were known that 50 archbishops were coming, there would be a riot.’”
There was that sort of feeling:-
Yet Brexit would not have happened and Cameron had to resign, had not Boris won support for the Brexit vote in previously Labour Party heartlands of Northern England where decent jobs are hard to come by and wages in them were stagnating, especially since the Labour government of Blair had opened the door (from Poland chiefly).
I also saw this fascinating article. Russia just sliv'd Armenia as when Armenia was attacked, it called the CSTO equivalent of Article 5, and Russia was unable/unwilling to prioritise to help, before the US stepped into save Armenia.
So now some Russian "thinker' has been trotted out onto RT to write a long article essentially on why living up to formal alliances is not a Russian thing to do, and that's good, because it is actually a degenerate Western thing to do.
I wonder what the Armenians think?
https://www.rt.com/russia/563607-bordachev-russias-conflict-with-west/
As for who blew up the pipeline? Given where it is, I assume Germany will run the investigation. It might take a week for the danger of gas to subside, so I guess they'll be down at the site then. Anything before, without actual smoking gun evidence, is just people wish fulfilling who they want it to be.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian
Well, I don’t believe you’re not a real person and you consistently argue in bad faith (why would someone with your banal beltway views even be on this weirdo site, and how would you have found it?), but since you posed the question, I’ll answer it.
Though better to ask Avery (though I don’t know if he has much to say, he posts mostly on Anglin’s articles.. used to be funny when I was a teenager but he’s just a total incel freak now), since he actually grew up in the Armenian SSR, I’ve only ever visited there briefly, my family were from generations of diaspora.
Please, don’t make me vomit, do even you have a shred of evidence to support that assertion? There was an almost complete Western media blackout on the conflict, I think whatever abuses against civilians Israel committed that month, or the Saudi invasion of Yemen were more reported on.
US involvement in the conflict on either side has been nil.
Anyway, I noticed this:
“Even now, Armenia, Russia’s conditional ally in the South Caucasus, can use the presence of the CSTO as a way of exerting pressure on Russian diplomacy while absolving itself of all responsibility.”
Ok, so this is a pretty disgusting article.
First of all, the initial Azeri provocations leading to the 2020 Second Artsakh War actually began around Tavush in July, i.e. on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia proper. Aliev was obviously testing the waters to see how Russia would react to a direct attack
And yes, the meeting for the “Collective Security Treaty Organisation” was mysteriously cancelled, after some formulaic words from Lavrov condemning violence, etc. So Azerbaijan actually had a 2-month military buildup in confidence Russia wouldn’t saction them before they actually attacked.
Russia also went on to continue selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia both after the First Artsakh War and after the 2016 skirmishes. There was even a big Russian arms deal with Azerbaijan that year, probably trying to curry favour with Turkey after the failed (with the US greenlighting it?) coup against Erdogan. Belarus also openly favours the Azeris for sales, Luka even had the cheek to chastise Armenia for violating UN resolutions after Rubyinyan (iirc) complained, imao. Yeltsin’s actually government signed a decree that they’d sell to neither that I don’t think was ever rescinded.. whatever.
Pretty much the only advantage Armenia got from the CSO was slightly discounted Russian prices (still bought on loan though), but Azeris have oil-money to buy from all sorts of suppliers, particularly from Israel (drones, but also tavor rifles for standard infantry), Our Greatest Ally and defender of the West against Islamic aggression. Israel actually gets most of its oil from the Azeris.
Russia has been a shitty ‘ally’ to Armenia if they can even be called that, but frankly its not as if there’s any alternative. Everyone in the country knows that. An intimate security partnership with the Islamic Republic isn’t exactly enticing, and anywhere else is too far away, indifferent or if sympathic, equally powerless (chiefly Greece, possibly Kurds).
Hopefully the Russian government (whatever form it takes in the future) will realise that Turkey is slowly becoming an increasingly serious security threat it and all its neighbors. Fact remains Russia has permanent interests in the Caucasus region, so has at minimum a vested interest in ensuring Armenia remains on the map, if only to keep it a conflict-zone forever. But for the US its an obscure region on the other side of the world, any commitment there would be domestically unpopular and could instantly be removed after any election.
Turkey is the largest NATO army by an enormous margin, and unfortunately they’ll never be kicked out, short of doing so on their own terms, if Turkey decides that it just doesn’t need membership anymore. If not for the atrocious and probably irreversible direction Erdogan has taken Turkish society, I would have considered a major compromise with Turkey conceivable, but not now. Outside of the government, Iranian society is far less Islamist than Turkey’s at this point, Armenian ethnogenesis essentially begins as a blend of Hellenistic and Iranian culture.
Though better to ask Avery (though I don't know if he has much to say, he posts mostly on Anglin's articles.. used to be funny when I was a teenager but he's just a total incel freak now), since he actually grew up in the Armenian SSR, I've only ever visited there briefly, my family were from generations of diaspora. Please, don't make me vomit, do even you have a shred of evidence to support that assertion? There was an almost complete Western media blackout on the conflict, I think whatever abuses against civilians Israel committed that month, or the Saudi invasion of Yemen were more reported on.
US involvement in the conflict on either side has been nil.Anyway, I noticed this:"Even now, Armenia, Russia’s conditional ally in the South Caucasus, can use the presence of the CSTO as a way of exerting pressure on Russian diplomacy while absolving itself of all responsibility."Ok, so this is a pretty disgusting article.
First of all, the initial Azeri provocations leading to the 2020 Second Artsakh War actually began around Tavush in July, i.e. on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia proper. Aliev was obviously testing the waters to see how Russia would react to a direct attack
And yes, the meeting for the "Collective Security Treaty Organisation" was mysteriously cancelled, after some formulaic words from Lavrov condemning violence, etc. So Azerbaijan actually had a 2-month military buildup in confidence Russia wouldn't saction them before they actually attacked.Russia also went on to continue selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia both after the First Artsakh War and after the 2016 skirmishes. There was even a big Russian arms deal with Azerbaijan that year, probably trying to curry favour with Turkey after the failed (with the US greenlighting it?) coup against Erdogan. Belarus also openly favours the Azeris for sales, Luka even had the cheek to chastise Armenia for violating UN resolutions after Rubyinyan (iirc) complained, imao. Yeltsin's actually government signed a decree that they'd sell to neither that I don't think was ever rescinded.. whatever.
Pretty much the only advantage Armenia got from the CSO was slightly discounted Russian prices (still bought on loan though), but Azeris have oil-money to buy from all sorts of suppliers, particularly from Israel (drones, but also tavor rifles for standard infantry), Our Greatest Ally and defender of the West against Islamic aggression. Israel actually gets most of its oil from the Azeris.Russia has been a shitty 'ally' to Armenia if they can even be called that, but frankly its not as if there's any alternative. Everyone in the country knows that. An intimate security partnership with the Islamic Republic isn't exactly enticing, and anywhere else is too far away, indifferent or if sympathic, equally powerless (chiefly Greece, possibly Kurds).
Hopefully the Russian government (whatever form it takes in the future) will realise that Turkey is slowly becoming an increasingly serious security threat it and all its neighbors. Fact remains Russia has permanent interests in the Caucasus region, so has at minimum a vested interest in ensuring Armenia remains on the map, if only to keep it a conflict-zone forever. But for the US its an obscure region on the other side of the world, any commitment there would be domestically unpopular and could instantly be removed after any election.
Turkey is the largest NATO army by an enormous margin, and unfortunately they'll never be kicked out, short of doing so on their own terms, if Turkey decides that it just doesn't need membership anymore. If not for the atrocious and probably irreversible direction Erdogan has taken Turkish society, I would have considered a major compromise with Turkey conceivable, but not now. Outside of the government, Iranian society is far less Islamist than Turkey's at this point, Armenian ethnogenesis essentially begins as a blend of Hellenistic and Iranian culture.Replies: @Yevardian, @Triteleia Laxa, @Yahya
Typed this on the phone on a groggy morning commute, sorry if its not very legible.
They climb a ladder three steps at a time in Russia, do they?
Unless he is senile or deluded, Putin is going to eventually perceive the one way to keep Russia as a power of the first rank is to halt the comprehensive writing down of Russia by the American sockpuppet , by escalating to a an explicit threat of Russia using a theater thermonuclear weapon against Ukraine, something that he will prolly have to actually do. Yet this something he is far from being in a hurry to do. I am sure some in his inner circle will be aghast and balk at it. but they like other Russians must be educated or shamed up to the necessity of it. Putin must get his people to follow him when he takes that hardest of all decisions.
It would help some of us if the current cast could wear the appropriate hats!
You are just a Soviet loser obsessed with gory deaths and black male anatomy. And various street drugs. Nothing more than that. They have been mentioned and discussed before. You were too stupid to understand, and no one else seems to care, so I won’t bother repeating. No, plenty of poor people have families and you made it to the West. You are just a morally grotesque person (as demonstrated by your passions here) and people see that in you and act accordingly. You mention just having unpleasant interactions in Ukraine where you grew up, Poland, Israel. You live in the West but have contempt for Westerners, you are an ungrateful parasite. You grew up in Ukraine but have contempt for Ukrainians, you are half Russian but don’t like Russians either, nor do you like Ashkenazi Jews despite being 1/4 one.
Someone else mentioned the dark cloud that follows you, but more realistically you are just a stain. Soviet filth. Interesting how you couldn’t help but start insulting others when I chose to ignore you?
Anyways that’s all for now, others here have asked me not to interact with you. I didn’t, until you responded to my post.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Your obsessions. You are an American here and not me. You are a porn addict, and not me. You love a black dick – most Americans do!
Am I an American?
No.
I am not an American, and nor am I a Ukrainian.
You are a Ukrainian, and not me. Your people perpetrated those atrocities, and not mine. You defend them. You are therefore responsible, along with them.
Not me – I bring it up to remind about that. You will otherwise forget about that.
But we will not forget.
How can a liar accuse an honest person of being a liar while telling a lie about the honest person being a liar?
Take medications, sicko.
I would not make such a comparison. You are here the one who considers himself to be noble and moral – not me. I am a regular man, who is making an effort as much as he can to follow the teaching he believes in. You are not.
You are a liar, and an arrogant fool.
A tribalistic moron! A fascist, who said he is a Christian, while supporting genocide and murder of innocent and peaceful people. You are going to Hell in the end of it.
You belong in Hell.
You are a disgusting person, spreading hatred and lies. Such people should be castrated.
One who has not ever struggled has not ever won. You are not in a position to call me a loser.
You do not know a thing about me either so these fantasies about me being this or that are nothing but fantasies. Your sick imagination generates these ideas. None of these are true.
Most of the poor people have families. And most of these families are miserable and the marriages are ill-fated. I have seen enough of it on the examples of the people I knew and did not want it for a child of mine.
You are inexperienced and do not understand that it is easier to for the poor people to create families than it is for the rich. The poor are seeking a partner because it is hard to get through the hard times on their own.
I could have a wife and children more than a few times. It was a choice of mine not to get married.
One who has ever worked as hard and as much as I did cannot be considered a parasite. The West and the wealth of it was built at the expense of people like me. I never lived on welfare and I never had it, except for one month in summer, a long time ago.
You are a true parasite here – one who is doing nothing good and is getting a pack of cash for it.
I have nothing to be greatful for.
Depending on the point of view I am either an Ashkenazi or a Romanian but not a Russian. We derive our enthnic belonging either from our father or from our mother.
I do not like much neither of the aforementioned peoples because I know them well. Either of these has pleasant and good people, but in aggregate none of these is a good people rather than bad.
I can like a people as a culture for as long as I do not know about their dark side.
You are the one who had been here a long time before me, and I guess the one who had a lot more than others contributed to formation of the gross character of this club.
Your noble manners and high morals have produced a fruit. And now except for a few of us, we all here insult each other.
Congratulations!
No one can be stupid enough to not understand such a fool. Your intellect is that of a demented man who was never smart in the first place, and that is what I understand well.
You won’t bother repeating because no one cares, and no one cares because there is not a thing to care about. You are known here as a pathological liar with a bunch of sick ideas in the head, seeking attention.
So piss off, schizophrenic.
Military Aircraft 2nd
Missiles 1
Submarines 1
Civil Aircraft 4
Radar/Military Electronics 2
Metallurgy 2
Launch vehicles 3
Liquid-fueled rocket engines 1
Solid rocket engines 2
Aircraft Gas Turbines 2
Small Naval Ships 1
Photonics 4
Software 4These areas very weakMicroelectronics 8
Machine tools 10
Industrial gas turbines 7What about these areas?Chemical Engineering ?
Fine Chemicals ?
Petroleum capital equipment ?
BioTech ?
AgriTech ?Replies: @Barbarossa, @Vishnugupta, @Emil Nikola Richard, @SunBakedSuburb, @Philip Owen, @Sean
An area where the USSR surpassed the US can only means thermonuclear warhead ICBMs, which the Soviets are supposed to have had an advantage in at one point in the eighties. If they did it was less through technological edge than sheer willingness to commit the Lion’s share of national resources to that one area. The only arms where Russia retains such a numerical and possible practical advantage is in tactical thermonuclear weapons numbers. America anticipated if these clunky old theatre weapons that Russia retains so many of were ever used it would be against China in Siberia, as a result there is not yet a technological counter or well worked out theory on how to prevent/ deter their use or respond to their use so as to avoid escalation. Putin has one advantage left, if he dares use it before it is nullified.
Most areas I ranked highly are military, which is no surprise.
It seems if sanctions extend Russia is dependent on China for numerous important but largely invisible things to keep the wheels turning. They are at risk of "The kingdom fell for want of a nail" scenario. They can do all the easy stuff, but the harder specialized non-military production areas take an extended commitment of time and money which may not have happened.
What happened with Sputnik V?Replies: @Philip Owen
Sputnik V
1 Lack of production capacity. Most was made in India but rather late in the day.
2 It was most effective for the under 50s. The group that needed it least.
Import Substitution – new investment in general.
Russia had too much money. It could buy in whole industries with capital goods and specialized elements in the supply chain. Poorer countries like South Korea or Turkey have had to build from the bottom so they have a more developed ecology around any paraticualr technology, say washing machines. Even if Turkey imports LCDs for displays the rest of the set up is native.
It’s not an existential battle for the “empire.” It’s not even that big a deal in the United States — watch the news. The USA is not on any kind of level with Russia. It has more twice the population and more than ten times the GDP. It projects every kind of power there is all over the globe, while Russia is apparently unable to subdue a former province.
In the past few decades the United States was run out of Vietnam, launched and ultimately lost a colossally stupid war in Iraq, and failed dismally in Afghanistan. None of those defeats affected its superpower status, any more than Carrhae and Teutoberg Forest brought down Rome. But some war where the USA not even a direct combatant is finally going to do it in? Doesn’t make any sense.
This war is definitely existential for Ukraine. It may be existential for Russia, though I doubt it. It’s not existential for the USA. It can’t lose, except in a general nuclear exchange where everyone loses.
- Russia prevails and annexes 10-20-30...% of Ukraine
- It gets escalated to a nuclear exchange of some kind.Both are quite unpleasant for the Washington-London-Brussels leaders, they would in effect fail. The outcome they want, some sort of a victory or stalemate, is unlikely.No matter what happens, Ukraine is the big loser: they will be smaller, weaker, poorer - and that is the positive scenario. They should have avoided getting into a war. But it seems they wanted one.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian, @Johnny Rico
Britain is more complicated for me, from my perspective it's as much a victim as an accomplice of the US. Its role in the world has been largely negative though over the last 30 years, no disagreement here.
Anyway, my point is, I'm hostile to American domination, it's one of the biggest issues for Europe from my pov. But unfortunately Russians in their autistic megalomania ("Russia stronk! Our wunderwaffen are the best! We don't care what anybody thinks about us, you are all inferior anyway!") aren't exactly an attractive alternative or a reliable partner either...and on top of that, they've also shown themselves to be stunningly incompetent.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
Attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder, contra gustum non est argumentum.
Regarding reliability: EU (Germany) signed a contract for NS2, they reneged on it. Germany and France guaranteed Minsk agreement and they reneged on it. They promised that Kiev won’t be in Nato, they quietly stood aside as US and UK were openly dragging Ukraine into Nato. They also ignored a prima facie human rights abuses in Kiev – bombing its own population and shutting down Russian schools – as they pretended that Ukies are negotiating to be in EU.
How is EU or Germany a reliable partner?
You can tell Richard Widmark is a good guy because he is wearing a beige hat.
It would help some of us if the current cast could wear the appropriate hats!
If anyone among the very top Russian decision makers or those advising them privately believes it at all likely Russia can now gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine and force it to submit then I would be very surprised. They are not being bull headed, but they have to try everything, before taking it to the fateful plane of a an explicit thermonuclear threat unless Ukraine ceases the HIMARS attacks and trying to advance, Russia will use a theatre thermonuclear weapon. That would just be killings a few thousand Ukrainians, although in a different way. But if the US airforce were to attack the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian navy in retaliation, as is being talked about by many retired generals, then that would be an act of war by America against a country with a comparable nuclear arsenal to the US's, and one that had already used crossed the Rubicon of detonating theatre thermonuclear weapons on or rather over enemy combatants.
Surely American F35s attacking Russia's Black Sea Fleet for nuking the Ukrainian army would be a gambit of even more uncertain outcome than the Russian one. Especially as thermonuclear tactical anti aircraft detonation(s) would be the only effective defense against such an attack. Are the Russian (including captains with such weapons possibly on board) supposed to, considering how useless the fleet has been in practice of late, just accept the sinkings? Well they might, but maybe that like Russia's nuclear weapons nit working, is hardy something to be confident about. I don't think the US really knows what it would do in the event of Putin getting desperate enough to play the only card his enemies fear though perceiving the long term hopelessness of continuing against the Ukraine--US assemblage as he is for the foreseeable future and hoping the Russia army will somehow get better. It will but so will the Ukrainian, and even more so.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Mikel
I doubt Russia would be able to kill thousands of Ukrainian soldiers with a tactical nuke, unless maybe they are willing to nuke a city and kill thousands of civilians as well. But the front is thousands of km long. How exactly would killing hundreds or even thousands of enemy troops (and somehow avoiding to hurt its own ones) allow Russia to win the war? And would taking that action be worth the risk of the promised Western response and a possible dirty nuclear bomb retaliation by Ukraine?
I’m not saying Russia cannot win this war with tactical nukes. I just don’t see a clear path from the latter to the former in the current scenario.
• What is the fallout zone EAST of Kiev?
• What territory have Russian Forces withdrawn from?
Hhhmmmmm......
PEACE 😇
I don't think Putin will do it until he and those around him are satisfied it is the least bad option, and rule out capitulating by agreeing to withdraw to the preinvasion defacto borders. I don't think either of those are certain, but the realisation he cannot win is going to dawn on him eventually; the US will try to dissuade him from that perception by any and all means including deception and reducing key supplies and targeting intel to the Ukrainians if they are doing so well Putin might panic (he already should be panicking).
Because a situation like this has never been anticipated and the ramifications pondered over exhaustively for decades, there are no simple ready to hand answers as with a Soviet invasion of Nato territory; it is not obvious US currently knowns would do militarily or otherwise. One point that cannot be overemphasised is direct hostilities with Russia in the form of a raid on the Black Sea Fleet would be be taken by them as effectively a declaration of war. By the point in time the US attacked, Russia would be a country that had already crossed the thermonuclear Rubicon and could match the US all the way up the ladder of escalation. So why would they not use a thermonuclear anti aircraft missile against the attack, and why would the US would not retaliate in kind?; that is with a tactical nuclear strike on Russia armed forces. Once you go nuclear you go nuclear for good and know it.Replies: @216, @Mikel
I'll withhold judgement for now, maybe Putin and his circle are really crazy enough to go for such an operation, for disinformation purposes. But if the more obvious explanation who's the culprit is correct, well, that would be immensely clarifying.Replies: @Philip Owen
Coincidentally to the North Stream sabotage, Poland received its first gas from Norway today.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/27/baltic-pipe-norway-poland-gas-pipeline-opens-in-key-move-to-cut-dependency-on-russia
In the past few decades the United States was run out of Vietnam, launched and ultimately lost a colossally stupid war in Iraq, and failed dismally in Afghanistan. None of those defeats affected its superpower status, any more than Carrhae and Teutoberg Forest brought down Rome. But some war where the USA not even a direct combatant is finally going to do it in? Doesn't make any sense.
This war is definitely existential for Ukraine. It may be existential for Russia, though I doubt it. It's not existential for the USA. It can't lose, except in a general nuclear exchange where everyone loses.Replies: @Beckow
They think it is. Losing in Ukraine would be pretty catastrophic, it would unhinge Europe, weaken dollar as a reserve currency, and make China much stronger. I agree that it is a gradual retreat, but still a retreat. If the empire would not make it so dramatic with unwise statements and over-the-top media it would be easier to simply walk away. But they are infantile hot-heads who don’t know how to do math.
There are two main scenarios:
– Russia prevails and annexes 10-20-30…% of Ukraine
– It gets escalated to a nuclear exchange of some kind.
Both are quite unpleasant for the Washington-London-Brussels leaders, they would in effect fail. The outcome they want, some sort of a victory or stalemate, is unlikely.
No matter what happens, Ukraine is the big loser: they will be smaller, weaker, poorer – and that is the positive scenario. They should have avoided getting into a war. But it seems they wanted one.
Russia is done for this war, short of pulling off a tactical miracle, the gig is up. I still cannot believe, even after everything that has already happened, the utter and embarassing incompetence on display over just the past few days. Russia is heading for some sort of real crisis of legitimacy soon, but its anybody's guess exactly when or what form its going to take. Just never discount things being able to get worse in the post Soviet world.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow, @Philip Owen
You are not an objective observer. You are a Russia fanboy.
Losing in Ukraine will certainly not be catastrophic for you because you would never admit error in predicting the exact opposite at every turn for the duration of this conflict.
No matter what happens you will always be the smartest guy in the room.Replies: @Wokechoke
I'm not saying Russia cannot win this war with tactical nukes. I just don't see a clear path from the latter to the former in the current scenario.Replies: @Philip Owen, @A123, @Sean
If Russia uses a small nuke, the Black Sea Fleet disappears as the USAF attacks. If Russia uses a large nuke, Engels becomes a sheet of glass and I lose a lot of friends. The response will come from the US. UK missiles carry 5 large city breaking war heads each. They are of deterrence value not for escalation.
There was that sort of feeling:- Yet Brexit would not have happened and Cameron had to resign, had not Boris won support for the Brexit vote in previously Labour Party heartlands of Northern England where decent jobs are hard to come by and wages in them were stagnating, especially since the Labour government of Blair had opened the door (from Poland chiefly).Replies: @Wokechoke
There’s some truth to this. However I think that white Brits felt it was okay to use Polish as a Euphemsim for Pakis too.
Would anyone miss it if Cardiff were nearly erased though?
I'm not saying Russia cannot win this war with tactical nukes. I just don't see a clear path from the latter to the former in the current scenario.Replies: @Philip Owen, @A123, @Sean
Strategic nukes versus Lviv, Kiev, and a few key rail towns would virtually cut off supply lines for Kiev regime aggression. It would also be profoundly demoralizing for those seeking to overthrow Russian Orthodox Christianity.
• What is the fallout zone EAST of Kiev?
• What territory have Russian Forces withdrawn from?
Hhhmmmmm……
PEACE 😇
- Russia prevails and annexes 10-20-30...% of Ukraine
- It gets escalated to a nuclear exchange of some kind.Both are quite unpleasant for the Washington-London-Brussels leaders, they would in effect fail. The outcome they want, some sort of a victory or stalemate, is unlikely.No matter what happens, Ukraine is the big loser: they will be smaller, weaker, poorer - and that is the positive scenario. They should have avoided getting into a war. But it seems they wanted one.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian, @Johnny Rico
These cunts, fags and kikes have turned the Baltic into a warzone.
And they talk about 'global warming'. As always the ideological fanatics bring about the exact opposite of what they preach.Replies: @AnonfromTN
@German_reader Remarkable? More like a case of "strike while the iron's hot."
Since the word seems to be on everyone's lips lately, let me say this: Like most Serbs I was raised to regard Kosovo as 'sacred land', and unlike most Serbs I even had a grandfather who lived there, but I'm not particularly aggrieved by its loss nor even by the manner in which it was snatched away (Serbs gambled, they lost, end of). Mostly, I think Serbia is better off without it and the attendant Albanians. And although I'm not motivated by a desire for vengeance, I could sooner justify a retaliatory war for nothing but reasons of vengeance (or a "Humiliate Rival" casus belli for any EU4 players out there) than I could a war to reincorporate Kosovo back into Serbia. Or rather, I could if there were not other fish to fry - like the coming explosion of the black African population and its radiation into parts of the world hitherto blissfully free of its ghastly embrace, an existential problem that utterly dwarfs any issues or differences I might have with an Albanian.
All that said, if Serbs in 1912 - when "the iron was hot" - had done what they tried in 1999, Kosovo today would still be theirs, and not even the do-gooderist of western Europeans in the 90s would have been clamoring for 'justice' over it.
(I know I use "they" and "them" and "theirs" a lot. I am so very detached from the obsessions of Serbian nationalism, I can't bring myself to use we, us and ours on these topics.)Replies: @Beckow
I am not going to argue with your disillusionment. I agree that overall Serbia is better off getting rid of Kosovo – as always with imperial meddling, the local Albanians there were the losers. That’s why they leave in such large numbers.
My point was not about Serbia or Albania. My point was that Nato (the collective West) broke its own rules to bomb Serbia, force a new state against existing international rules, and murdered civilians. That is what happened – no sane person can deny it – and today West has no standing to try to enforce the no-longer accepted rules on the others, e.g. in Ukraine.
This is the elephant in the room: all the yapping by Western politicians and media is pointless, it is like a thief complaining that others are stealing. There are no words, or rules, it is about power and force – and it has always been, but with the Nato attack on Serbia it became official.
By the way, I don’t seek justice, you misunderstand. Justice is an empty concept and seeking justice leads to bloody mess and a lot of dead people. What I seek is consistency and rationality: that requires that similar situations are treated similarly. And that X has same standing as Y. Or we can just defer to pure power.
You have no proof for your claim.
But here is the proof that little of the drop can be attributed to the factors you describe.
In the 2012 election before the war, the pro-Russian parties got 48% of the vote.
Geographic changes would bring it down to 33%.
Popularity of Russia declined about 40% from 2012 until 2014 (the poll in May still included Donbas so the drop isn’t accounted for by geographic changes much):
So corresponding vote for pro-Russian parties should have also declined by that amount; 40% of 33% is slightly less than 20%.
So based on geographic changes and changes in popularity, pro-Russian parties should have gotten 20% of the vote in 2014.
You insisted that winners bias would add 5% to 15% of the vote.
So if winners bias played a role, the pro-Russian parties should have gotten 16% or so.
Instead they got 12.5% of the vote.
So “suppression, intimidation, censorship and outright bans” accounted for 3.5% lower vote as total percentage of votes, for pro-Russian parties in the 2014 election. 7.5% if you don’t include “winners bias.”
That is incomparable to the scale of fakery necessary to produce an 87% vote in favor of annexation of Kherson province. Or any number over 50%. Real support of annexation would be in the single digits to 10% or so at most.
Ukrainians are motivated to defend their country, Russians aren’t motivated to invade Ukraine. Winter is coming, Ukrainians are home and well-supplied, Russians are poorly supplied and neglected, and far from home.
- Russia prevails and annexes 10-20-30...% of Ukraine
- It gets escalated to a nuclear exchange of some kind.Both are quite unpleasant for the Washington-London-Brussels leaders, they would in effect fail. The outcome they want, some sort of a victory or stalemate, is unlikely.No matter what happens, Ukraine is the big loser: they will be smaller, weaker, poorer - and that is the positive scenario. They should have avoided getting into a war. But it seems they wanted one.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian, @Johnny Rico
Have you been following this absolutely shambolic train-wreck of mobilisation? Do you know anyone of draft age in Russia? The total demoralisation on display, especially when compared to the Armenian-Azerbaijan war in 2020, really has to be seen. There are Z-supporters in my contacts trying to get to Kazakhstan who sincerely believe the mobilisation won’t result in anything but the capture of thousands of totally untrained and unmotivated Russian conscripts over the next few months.
Russia is done for this war, short of pulling off a tactical miracle, the gig is up. I still cannot believe, even after everything that has already happened, the utter and embarassing incompetence on display over just the past few days. Russia is heading for some sort of real crisis of legitimacy soon, but its anybody’s guess exactly when or what form its going to take. Just never discount things being able to get worse in the post Soviet world.
My point was not about Serbia or Albania. My point was that Nato (the collective West) broke its own rules to bomb Serbia, force a new state against existing international rules, and murdered civilians. That is what happened - no sane person can deny it - and today West has no standing to try to enforce the no-longer accepted rules on the others, e.g. in Ukraine.
This is the elephant in the room: all the yapping by Western politicians and media is pointless, it is like a thief complaining that others are stealing. There are no words, or rules, it is about power and force - and it has always been, but with the Nato attack on Serbia it became official.
By the way, I don't seek justice, you misunderstand. Justice is an empty concept and seeking justice leads to bloody mess and a lot of dead people. What I seek is consistency and rationality: that requires that similar situations are treated similarly. And that X has same standing as Y. Or we can just defer to pure power.Replies: @Yevardian
Sure. Don’t forget the primary rule of realpolitik though – people prefer to side with the winner.
Reading between the lines here I detect the experts at FP Mag expect Putin to go on a while.
Putin is more Stalin, Alexander and dare I say Peter than he is Gorby.Replies: @John Johnson
Probably your mom.
https://i.postimg.cc/3x8c45nC/British-Army-Alvis-Stormer-fitted-with-Shielder-Volcano.jpg
NATO forces do have machines such as the M136 Volcano. These provide an automated mine dispersion of anti-tank mines and allow to set up a mine field in seconds, but the range of it is 500 m at most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HrjrFCqxa0
And the Russian forces are using machines such as UR-77 Meteorit that are capable of making a passage through a mine field in a minute or two.These are used in the urban environment as well and not for mine sweeping alone but as a weapon against personnel. Dumbass!Even a complete moron is supposed to understand that 50 km more or 50 less of the distance does not affect the rate of fire of artillery batteries whatsoever. It cannot affect it except for making one spend a little more fuel to deliver the shells to the front line. Russia has sent 6 reconnaissance satellites onto the high orbit in 2022, and another 4 are going to be sent during the next two months. 20 satellites had been sent during 2020-21. Altogether the Russians have 160 satellites on the orbit.Russia has advanced – perhaps even the best – radar equipment, and excellent if not the best reconnaissance planes, such as Beriev A-50.
https://i.postimg.cc/kg2D3yHQ/Beriev-A-100.jpg
40 of them. And it has a couple of the latest model A-100 which is even better. These planes are at least on a par with the American ones.One thing that Russia is lagging behind is drones, but I guess the real advantage that Ukraine has with regards to reconnaissance is people. There are a lot of people on the territories that Russia has taken who work for Ukraine.That is how Ukraine is gettin her intel. And where would the Ukrainian ammunition hubs have to be moved?The Russians have better missiles. Surface-to-surface, air-to-surface and what not. You are under the wrong impression that Russia is a backward nation.Replies: @Johnny Rico, @Sean
The only thing Russia has that is “on par” with American ones is vodka.
Since not long ago we have a bunch of new illiterate trolls here. I guess it began with the announcement of mobilization. Or was it the referendums?
How many of you are sitting in the same room?
Johnny Rico, Sean, 216, John Johnson, Mikel, et cetera are a paid East European troll squad. Philip Owen and Triteleia Laxa – two British Russophobes. A123 – a racist Christian Zionist. AP and Mr. Hack – two Ukrainian schizophrenics.
Excellent!
https://i.postimg.cc/GtXw0zqv/Cuckoo-3.pngReplies: @216, @Mr. Hack
- Russia prevails and annexes 10-20-30...% of Ukraine
- It gets escalated to a nuclear exchange of some kind.Both are quite unpleasant for the Washington-London-Brussels leaders, they would in effect fail. The outcome they want, some sort of a victory or stalemate, is unlikely.No matter what happens, Ukraine is the big loser: they will be smaller, weaker, poorer - and that is the positive scenario. They should have avoided getting into a war. But it seems they wanted one.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Yevardian, @Johnny Rico
You and your scenarios.
You are not an objective observer. You are a Russia fanboy.
Losing in Ukraine will certainly not be catastrophic for you because you would never admit error in predicting the exact opposite at every turn for the duration of this conflict.
No matter what happens you will always be the smartest guy in the room.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots
shambolic mobilizations in the Union. Irish migrants lynch blacks in NYC in protest. American Civil War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising
Britain in ww1! Volunteer and Conscript armies chewed up by German Heer. Various mutinies in 1917 and essentially loses Ireland, goes on to win.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtrafbat
USSR in ww2. Millions of troops surrender to Wehrmacht. Cowards get put in Punishment Battalions. Becomes hegemon anyway.
Chaos in mobilization and incompetence doesn’t mean you lose. Might have a very different effect. Sure it’s 1914 or 1941…Dissolution or Triumph but the outcome isn’t known.
Could be a Kronstadt Mutiny moment of course. But how likely is this? There’s no Bolshevik confidence trick ready to pick up the pieces this time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_mutinies
You are not an objective observer. You are a Russia fanboy.
Losing in Ukraine will certainly not be catastrophic for you because you would never admit error in predicting the exact opposite at every turn for the duration of this conflict.
No matter what happens you will always be the smartest guy in the room.Replies: @Wokechoke
If he’s a Slovak he’s expecting the war to arrive on his doorstep.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/what-mobilization-means-russia
Reading between the lines here I detect the experts at FP Mag expect Putin to go on a while.
Putin is more Stalin, Alexander and dare I say Peter than he is Gorby.
Stalin was brutal but was fighting a defensive war. It's easier to make men face the front if the enemy is indeed intent on destroying them. Might as well take a few out if you are doomed anyways.Replies: @Wokechoke
Russia is done for this war, short of pulling off a tactical miracle, the gig is up. I still cannot believe, even after everything that has already happened, the utter and embarassing incompetence on display over just the past few days. Russia is heading for some sort of real crisis of legitimacy soon, but its anybody's guess exactly when or what form its going to take. Just never discount things being able to get worse in the post Soviet world.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow, @Philip Owen
Are you sure about that? Say, if you pick 100 people at random, you are going to get maybe 20-30 cowards, two schizophrenics, and one color-blind person. So, you can calculate the numbers of each kind if you pick 100,000. If you look at 2,000 schizophrenics, that won’t tell you much about the rest, would it? Besides, any mechanism can be tested only by using it. Say, a car might look good but won’t start when you try to drive it. The institute of regional military representatives responsible for the draft sure needs an overhaul. The military often handed those jobs to those they had no use for, essentially failed officers. This process has started: at least two regional ones have already been dismissed and replaced by more competent people. There are likely dozens more to go. The same happened in Syria: everybody was tested, incompetents were weeded out, and it took some time. The results are crystal clear now.
FYI, Kazakhstan just announced that it would extradite to Russia those wanted for draft dodging.
Now, that’s true for the whole world, not only post-Soviet. Murphy’s law was formulated in the US. As physicists joke, it’s the fourth law of thermodynamics.
Bottom line is, if you rely on Western or Ukie sources, you’d believe that Donbass freedom fighters shelled themselves, that Russians shelled their own troops at Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and that Russia blew up Nordstream pipes. Next you’d believe that the Earth is flat. Use standard approach we developed in the USSR: when you hear something, think who is spreading this and, most importantly, cui bono. This way we used to get a pretty accurate picture even from heavily censored media.
You would have to be quite deluded to not see that the mobilization is a disaster. Thousands of men are leaving the country which will put even more pressure on the economy. It will in fact cause brain drain because anyone with a marketable skill will have an easier time adapting to another country.
The men they are grabbing are not fighting men and the Russians can’t even provide them with torniquets.
That’s a smuggled cell phone video, not Russian or Ukrainian news media. As if Russian media would tell us anything truthful at this point.
Just stop. Defending this dictator and his needless war is not worth your effort. It isn’t going to get any better from here. You can’t fight a modern war by just grabbing some random Ahmed from the corner of the empire and handing him an AK-47. These conscripts are going against experienced Ukrainian troops with HIMARS and artillery. The world can see this was a huge mistake. Killing another 100k men just makes Putin look even worse.
last paragraph is a reasonable assessment. "Putin has available to him to an immense architecture of repression. Numerous media have been serving as government mouthpieces for the past two decades. And since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the remaining nongovernmental outlets have been shut down or forced out of Russia. Putin himself came from the security services, as have many of his colleagues in the Kremlin. He has every resource he needs to transform Russia into a brutal police state, far more repressive than it is at the present moment. That will win him no sincere support for the war, and it may give him no new advantage in the war. But it will grant him a means of corralling Russians into the war effort and severely punishing anyone who stands in his way. In prosecuting his war in Ukraine, Putin will be relentless. In prosecuting his war at home, he will be ruthless."
Hardware does not win wars. People do.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/what-mobilization-means-russia
last paragraph is a reasonable assessment.
“Putin has available to him to an immense architecture of repression. Numerous media have been serving as government mouthpieces for the past two decades. And since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the remaining nongovernmental outlets have been shut down or forced out of Russia. Putin himself came from the security services, as have many of his colleagues in the Kremlin. He has every resource he needs to transform Russia into a brutal police state, far more repressive than it is at the present moment. That will win him no sincere support for the war, and it may give him no new advantage in the war. But it will grant him a means of corralling Russians into the war effort and severely punishing anyone who stands in his way. In prosecuting his war in Ukraine, Putin will be relentless. In prosecuting his war at home, he will be ruthless.”
I'm not saying Russia cannot win this war with tactical nukes. I just don't see a clear path from the latter to the former in the current scenario.Replies: @Philip Owen, @A123, @Sean
Russia’s theatre thermonuclear weapons total several thousand, and were intended for halting a Chinese army. I think we can be confident that the Russians have a well worked out military doctrine for how to use a few of them to smash an advancing army on a long front.
I don’t think Putin will do it until he and those around him are satisfied it is the least bad option, and rule out capitulating by agreeing to withdraw to the preinvasion defacto borders. I don’t think either of those are certain, but the realisation he cannot win is going to dawn on him eventually; the US will try to dissuade him from that perception by any and all means including deception and reducing key supplies and targeting intel to the Ukrainians if they are doing so well Putin might panic (he already should be panicking).
Because a situation like this has never been anticipated and the ramifications pondered over exhaustively for decades, there are no simple ready to hand answers as with a Soviet invasion of Nato territory; it is not obvious US currently knowns would do militarily or otherwise. One point that cannot be overemphasised is direct hostilities with Russia in the form of a raid on the Black Sea Fleet would be be taken by them as effectively a declaration of war. By the point in time the US attacked, Russia would be a country that had already crossed the thermonuclear Rubicon and could match the US all the way up the ladder of escalation. So why would they not use a thermonuclear anti aircraft missile against the attack, and why would the US would not retaliate in kind?; that is with a tactical nuclear strike on Russia armed forces. Once you go nuclear you go nuclear for good and know it.
Failing that, the US could simply remove a B61 from its stocks and give it to the AFU. That bomb is far more powerful, with variable yield for tactical or strategic uses. Enough to wipe out the entire Donbass or Crimea.
If the US is going down the disgusting route of bombing pipelines, there won't be much hesitation to allow the use of a single bomb to leak, especially if Russia has already used a nuclear weapon.Replies: @Sean
Maybe there are still some Hegel fans here who will enjoy talking about how Timati (a rapper in Russia) has repatriated Starbucks coffee.
Because of the exit of American brands from Russia, there were cheap bargains to buy the former businesses. So, Timati and his partners have purchased the old franchise of Starbucks.
He is too lazy to change the logo. His fashion line for Shoigu and the ministry of defense was rebranded clothes from Aliexpress. He says he will open 130 branches from October.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChhfLdAI5Hc/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CiPd9x_uIu1/
Where are you from, sweetheart?
Since not long ago we have a bunch of new illiterate trolls here. I guess it began with the announcement of mobilization. Or was it the referendums?
How many of you are sitting in the same room?
Johnny Rico, Sean, 216, John Johnson, Mikel, et cetera are a paid East European troll squad. Philip Owen and Triteleia Laxa – two British Russophobes. A123 – a racist Christian Zionist. AP and Mr. Hack – two Ukrainian schizophrenics.
Excellent!
Alhambra in Grenada had an airconditioning system already in the 13th century.
There was a Spanish documentary about its history on YouTube. I guess in our mentality today, it reminds of the Mexican colonial style of gangster mansion.
You are the commander of these trolls here? Or is it John Johnson? I am wondering, nothing personal. I think it must be John Johnson. Am I right or wrong?
The reason I think it must be John Johnson is because he is a lot more experienced. Your technique is childish. It does not work on this page – we are all grown people here.
Of course.
For those who is interested here is an official and elaborate report of the RAND corporation on Russia from 2019. It is not at all different from what was published in Sweden except it is focused on Russia alone.
Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf
An interesting document.
Content topics include:
Economic Measures –
Measure 1: Hinder Petroleum Exports
Measure 2: Reduce Natural Gas Exports and Hinder Pipeline Expansions
Measure 3: Impose Sanctions
Measure 4: Enhance Russian Brain Drain
Geopolitical Measures –
Measure 1: Provide Lethal Aid to Ukraine
Measure 2: Increase Support to the Syrian Rebels
Measure 3: Promote Regime Change in Belarus
Measure 4: Exploit Tensions in the South Caucasus
As to Russia joining the EU, it might have been possible 15-20 years ago (although there would be a question who joins who), but now most Russian residents have nothing but disgust and contempt for the EU. See, nobody respects puppets, even those who respect the puppeteer.Replies: @216, @Wielgus
My own survey of the Russian Internet is that there is a large constituency which thinks Putin and the authorities are not hardline enough. The exchange of Azov prisoners was especially unpopular.
After exchange of Azov criminals several Russian bloggers said the same thing: now Russian soldiers know that Nazis should not be taken prisoners, they should be shot on the spot. There is historic precedent: there were direct orders to take Vlasov’s troops prisoner in WWII, but Soviet troops did not take any, shot them on the spot instead. Even formidable Stalin’s repressive machine proved impotent. Putin is nowhere near Stalin in this regard.Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Wielgus
I think it is perhaps China’s economic growth is slowing because of the middle income trap in the textbook way. If the economy slows significantly for multiple years this will be significantly bad for the world economy this decade obviously because China has been a lot of world’s economic growth this century so far.
Officials in China begin talking about the middle income trap around early 2010s. They attain the GDP per capita of $10,000 around 2019, which is usually viewed as the beginning of the middle income level by the economists. So, they would predict the beginning of the slowdown according to the middle income trap. Although there are different definitions of the middle income trap used by the expert community (2017 article about the topic of the different definitions https://voxchina.org/show-3-55.html) .
Reading between the lines here I detect the experts at FP Mag expect Putin to go on a while.
Putin is more Stalin, Alexander and dare I say Peter than he is Gorby.Replies: @John Johnson
Putin is more Stalin, Alexander and dare I say Peter than he is Gorby.
Stalin was brutal but was fighting a defensive war. It’s easier to make men face the front if the enemy is indeed intent on destroying them. Might as well take a few out if you are doomed anyways.
I don't think Putin will do it until he and those around him are satisfied it is the least bad option, and rule out capitulating by agreeing to withdraw to the preinvasion defacto borders. I don't think either of those are certain, but the realisation he cannot win is going to dawn on him eventually; the US will try to dissuade him from that perception by any and all means including deception and reducing key supplies and targeting intel to the Ukrainians if they are doing so well Putin might panic (he already should be panicking).
Because a situation like this has never been anticipated and the ramifications pondered over exhaustively for decades, there are no simple ready to hand answers as with a Soviet invasion of Nato territory; it is not obvious US currently knowns would do militarily or otherwise. One point that cannot be overemphasised is direct hostilities with Russia in the form of a raid on the Black Sea Fleet would be be taken by them as effectively a declaration of war. By the point in time the US attacked, Russia would be a country that had already crossed the thermonuclear Rubicon and could match the US all the way up the ladder of escalation. So why would they not use a thermonuclear anti aircraft missile against the attack, and why would the US would not retaliate in kind?; that is with a tactical nuclear strike on Russia armed forces. Once you go nuclear you go nuclear for good and know it.Replies: @216, @Mikel
Ukraine has nuclear power stations, and thus has the ability to manufacture a crude bomb in six months. Even a crude bomb could do tremendous damage to Moscow, St. Petersburg or Donetsk. Delivery could be accomplished via an SU-24 or SU-27. Miniaturization to fit on an IRBM would take longer.
Failing that, the US could simply remove a B61 from its stocks and give it to the AFU. That bomb is far more powerful, with variable yield for tactical or strategic uses. Enough to wipe out the entire Donbass or Crimea.
If the US is going down the disgusting route of bombing pipelines, there won’t be much hesitation to allow the use of a single bomb to leak, especially if Russia has already used a nuclear weapon.
300,000 mobilized will not be enough to conquer Ukraine.
3 million would be required.
Since not long ago we have a bunch of new illiterate trolls here. I guess it began with the announcement of mobilization. Or was it the referendums?
How many of you are sitting in the same room?
Johnny Rico, Sean, 216, John Johnson, Mikel, et cetera are a paid East European troll squad. Philip Owen and Triteleia Laxa – two British Russophobes. A123 – a racist Christian Zionist. AP and Mr. Hack – two Ukrainian schizophrenics.
Excellent!
https://i.postimg.cc/GtXw0zqv/Cuckoo-3.pngReplies: @216, @Mr. Hack
Wrong
It’s easy to find a video recording of Joe Biden’s threat to the Nord Stream. In a video shot in early February 2022, Biden, making a statement following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, says: “If [Russian] tanks and troops cross the border, there will be no Nord Stream–2, we will end it.” When asked from the audience how this will be done, Biden says without explanation that “we will be able to do it.”
Poland's antagonism towards Russia is undisguisable. If EU Russia relations are patched up, the Yamal pipeline would generate huge amounts of revenue for Poland. It is a huge win-win.
Poland's rapid "Thanks to America" message could be an excellent diversion for their own involvement. Close geography and undersea work associated with Baltic Pipe provided access. The bombs could have been planted weeks or even months ago.
Proving Poland did it will be tough, but this is by far the most likely scenario.
___
The less likely layer:
• Kiev Regime -- The recent Populist victories in Sweden and Italy already working against Zelensky's aggression. The upcoming Israel elections and U.S. midterms will also reduce resources to Kiev. The lack of proximity is an issue.
• German Green Party -- These are irrational anti-hydrocarbon nutters of the greatest magnitude. They have the will to commit this act for the "Greater Good". Suborning a German technical partner that worked on NS2 construction would provide the technical capability.
• European WEF (via Not-The-President Biden) -- Increasing energy costs is a wealth transfer to Red States. Intentionally making Blue States worse off before the midterms would be suicidal. However, Not-The-President Biden's desire & will to serve European WEF Elites is unparalleled. Europe's SJW Globalists are histrionic about Meloni's win. Perhaps, the Davos-Paris-Berlin axis ordered their anti-American puppet to execute attack?
___
It is going to be hard to recover any explicit proof from the sea floor. Expect the accusations & recrimination to continue for months.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Miro23
Furthermore the reason Nordstream 2 was never opened was because Putin decided to invade Ukraine just before it was about to open, and Putin's plan for Ukraine failed completely.
Had Putin not invaded Nordstream 2 would be open. Or had his plan succeeded as he thought, it would also be open.
I wouldn't be shocked if the US did it, nor if the Russians, Eastern Europeans or nobody actually did it, and it is merely a badly reported accident, but your "evidence" is nothing of the sort.Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN
Stalin was brutal but was fighting a defensive war. It's easier to make men face the front if the enemy is indeed intent on destroying them. Might as well take a few out if you are doomed anyways.Replies: @Wokechoke
Stalin had attacked Finland Romania and Poland and the Baltic states before Germany struck back with a Pan European army. He had also sent expeditionary troops to Spain and Manchuria.
Defensive and offensive defined is a matter of what slice of time you stop and start the story. And Stalin wasn’t even a Russian.
What are the odds that Ukraine targets the other pipelines, before this is over?
Who blew up the NS pipelines?
Poland’s antagonism towards Russia is undisguisable. If EU Russia relations are patched up, the Yamal pipeline would generate huge amounts of revenue for Poland. It is a huge win-win.
Poland’s rapid “Thanks to America” message could be an excellent diversion for their own involvement. Close geography and undersea work associated with Baltic Pipe provided access. The bombs could have been planted weeks or even months ago.
Proving Poland did it will be tough, but this is by far the most likely scenario.
___
The less likely layer:
• Kiev Regime — The recent Populist victories in Sweden and Italy already working against Zelensky’s aggression. The upcoming Israel elections and U.S. midterms will also reduce resources to Kiev. The lack of proximity is an issue.
• German Green Party — These are irrational anti-hydrocarbon nutters of the greatest magnitude. They have the will to commit this act for the “Greater Good”. Suborning a German technical partner that worked on NS2 construction would provide the technical capability.
• European WEF (via Not-The-President Biden) — Increasing energy costs is a wealth transfer to Red States. Intentionally making Blue States worse off before the midterms would be suicidal. However, Not-The-President Biden’s desire & will to serve European WEF Elites is unparalleled. Europe’s SJW Globalists are histrionic about Meloni’s win. Perhaps, the Davos-Paris-Berlin axis ordered their anti-American puppet to execute attack?
___
It is going to be hard to recover any explicit proof from the sea floor. Expect the accusations & recrimination to continue for months.
PEACE 😇
What was true in 1982 still rings true today.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Wokechoke
The US deep state/ CIA have a proven ability to run "regime change" operations in countries as diverse as Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, Syria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia itself under Yeltsin.
Victoria Nuland and the Neocons truly HATE Vladimir Putin for chasing them out of Russia and imprisoning their presidential candidate Mikhail Khodorkovsky and they want payback.
The idea is the breakup of Russia using Ukraine as a NATO battering ram.
Problem that Putin knows what's going on and the EU is getting seriously hurt by Victoria's project.
Since not long ago we have a bunch of new illiterate trolls here. I guess it began with the announcement of mobilization. Or was it the referendums?
How many of you are sitting in the same room?
Johnny Rico, Sean, 216, John Johnson, Mikel, et cetera are a paid East European troll squad. Philip Owen and Triteleia Laxa – two British Russophobes. A123 – a racist Christian Zionist. AP and Mr. Hack – two Ukrainian schizophrenics.
Excellent!
https://i.postimg.cc/GtXw0zqv/Cuckoo-3.pngReplies: @216, @Mr. Hack
Dragon Man hard at work putting together his latest sovok project: The “Cuckoo Club”. He’s finally putting his burned out brain (from many years of drug abuse) to good use. Go sovok man go!!!
Dragon Man’s obsession with large Black American penis is finally analyzed and explained:
🙂
But I genuinely feel a kind of empathic pain, for individuals who can't avoid it, especially the elderly, who probably remember ads, when everything wasn't saturated with them, and when they weren't super offensive.
But I also suspect there are broader negative social effects. Such as the smartest minds being harnessed to generate clicks, etc.
_____
Since the topic of hirsuteness has been brought up earlier in this thread, I shall make my reply here:
IMO, one of the most interesting HBD mysteries is why certain men get hairier, as they age. Is there an evolutionary explanation for Andy Rooney and Brezhnev's eyebrows? Or for hairy ears, which I believe develop years after puberty?
Are these men somehow maximizing the use of T, even after it falls? Perhaps, capturing and holding onto it with special receptors? Are they the best middle-aged warriors? The most virile old men?Replies: @S
As you allude, little is known about the subject scientifically. I suspect it’s simply a sign of ‘getting older’, ie ‘ageing’.
Though I imagine if a person were to ask nicely the HHS (Health and Human Services) might give a million dollar grant to some lucky recipient to study the matter. (Surely somebody’s already thought to do that, haven’t they?)
Wiki’s entry on ‘Ear Hair’ doesn’t offer much on the subject, but did have this fun fact:
As noisome as an over abundance of ear hair might well be to the sensitive type, every person should be thankful they don’t have ‘werewolf syndrome’, aka ‘hypertrichosis’, like the poor soul below did.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_hair#
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrichosis
However, I am inclined to think that there may be some art or purpose in hairy ears, as they show up a lot earlier. (20s, maybe, or even late teens.)
One possibility is that it could be a late-stage test of paternity. (Perhaps, especially significant in clan-based societies.). Though this idea is somewhat complicated by inheritance of hairy ears not always being linked to the Y-chromosome. (Believe it usually is Y-mediated.) It might as easily be allotropically linked to some other, less superficial trait.
BTW, I'm fascinated by that strange line in the wiki article that seems to imply Indians (dot) often have hair concentrated in a certain part of the ear (the lower ear?). Never heard that before, and I did previously encounter some ear-hair literature that mentioned India.
I've often lamented that all the great Victorian-era ethnographers are long dead. They had a genius for theorizing and data-gathering, though poor tools compared to today. But, then again, they lived in a different political environment, and it would not be so easy today.
The only people who could do it now, politically, East Asians, are just not as hairy.Replies: @S
Listening to an energy expert on Nord Stream his point was this not only guarantees issues this winter for Europe but next as well, likely more.
Amused to see the mental gymnastics of some of the bluechecks, only the US had the means to, the motive and could be sure there would be no blowback.
Poland's antagonism towards Russia is undisguisable. If EU Russia relations are patched up, the Yamal pipeline would generate huge amounts of revenue for Poland. It is a huge win-win.
Poland's rapid "Thanks to America" message could be an excellent diversion for their own involvement. Close geography and undersea work associated with Baltic Pipe provided access. The bombs could have been planted weeks or even months ago.
Proving Poland did it will be tough, but this is by far the most likely scenario.
___
The less likely layer:
• Kiev Regime -- The recent Populist victories in Sweden and Italy already working against Zelensky's aggression. The upcoming Israel elections and U.S. midterms will also reduce resources to Kiev. The lack of proximity is an issue.
• German Green Party -- These are irrational anti-hydrocarbon nutters of the greatest magnitude. They have the will to commit this act for the "Greater Good". Suborning a German technical partner that worked on NS2 construction would provide the technical capability.
• European WEF (via Not-The-President Biden) -- Increasing energy costs is a wealth transfer to Red States. Intentionally making Blue States worse off before the midterms would be suicidal. However, Not-The-President Biden's desire & will to serve European WEF Elites is unparalleled. Europe's SJW Globalists are histrionic about Meloni's win. Perhaps, the Davos-Paris-Berlin axis ordered their anti-American puppet to execute attack?
___
It is going to be hard to recover any explicit proof from the sea floor. Expect the accusations & recrimination to continue for months.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Miro23
What was true in 1982 still rings true today.
We have to keep a foot on the Germans.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ron Unz
Failing that, the US could simply remove a B61 from its stocks and give it to the AFU. That bomb is far more powerful, with variable yield for tactical or strategic uses. Enough to wipe out the entire Donbass or Crimea.
If the US is going down the disgusting route of bombing pipelines, there won't be much hesitation to allow the use of a single bomb to leak, especially if Russia has already used a nuclear weapon.Replies: @Sean
It would be a high risk option for Putin, but the only one unless he want to retreat in ignominy. Hitting cities with a megaton device is not what I was discussing. It is battlefield use, of the type NATO had plans for to use to stop successful Soviet attack. I happen to think the Ukraine–America assemblage is a steamroller that Russia cannot stop any other way than with the threat and then prolly use of a theatre thermonuclear weapon of a couple of hundred kilotons
If Ukraine destroyed a Russian city then that would not be tit for tat for the aforementioned military use but a massive escalation that Russia would certainly respond to in kind–and then some. Why would the leadership in Kiev order something like that when it would lose them allies in all quarters and result in the currently intact part of their county losing its major cities? I think the US would veto it; Russia’s ICBMs are essentially comparable to America’s making Russia too dangerous for a US ally to be allowed to send them into strategic city-incinerating mode.
Poles thanked America for it, so it was prolly the Poles. They want American energy: starting ASAP lasting forever more and guaranteed and at very advantageous prices. America will have to now. won’t they?
What was true in 1982 still rings true today.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Wokechoke
Apparently Mr Unz has decided to let his falling out with Whitney over the flu and flu shot pass. He re-posted the “it’s really about Germany” story on the front page this morning.
We have to keep a foot on the Germans.
Speaking of flu shots, do you or any of our more scientifically inclined minds here (AP, Professor Tennessee, Dmitry etc.) have any opinions on its advocacy? How about the "new and improved" covid vaccine, that's been designed to include immunity against the Omicron variant?Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
However, he went on to publish almost 30 articles this year focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and I generally agreed with nearly all of them. His February piece about Germany being America's real target went super-viral at the time, with an astonishing total of nearly 900,000 views, and in many respects it has proven prescient considering the American destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the enormous economic catastrophe that Germany is now facing. Given these developments, I naturally promoted it to the "Hot News" section.
Although he hasn't written anything lately, I'm hoping he'll soon do so, and will certainly publish it when he does.
Incidentally, the discussion surrounding the pipeline attacks has published this thread closer to nearly 150,000 words and since it's getting sluggish, I've started a new one:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-198/
Though better to ask Avery (though I don't know if he has much to say, he posts mostly on Anglin's articles.. used to be funny when I was a teenager but he's just a total incel freak now), since he actually grew up in the Armenian SSR, I've only ever visited there briefly, my family were from generations of diaspora. Please, don't make me vomit, do even you have a shred of evidence to support that assertion? There was an almost complete Western media blackout on the conflict, I think whatever abuses against civilians Israel committed that month, or the Saudi invasion of Yemen were more reported on.
US involvement in the conflict on either side has been nil.Anyway, I noticed this:"Even now, Armenia, Russia’s conditional ally in the South Caucasus, can use the presence of the CSTO as a way of exerting pressure on Russian diplomacy while absolving itself of all responsibility."Ok, so this is a pretty disgusting article.
First of all, the initial Azeri provocations leading to the 2020 Second Artsakh War actually began around Tavush in July, i.e. on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia proper. Aliev was obviously testing the waters to see how Russia would react to a direct attack
And yes, the meeting for the "Collective Security Treaty Organisation" was mysteriously cancelled, after some formulaic words from Lavrov condemning violence, etc. So Azerbaijan actually had a 2-month military buildup in confidence Russia wouldn't saction them before they actually attacked.Russia also went on to continue selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia both after the First Artsakh War and after the 2016 skirmishes. There was even a big Russian arms deal with Azerbaijan that year, probably trying to curry favour with Turkey after the failed (with the US greenlighting it?) coup against Erdogan. Belarus also openly favours the Azeris for sales, Luka even had the cheek to chastise Armenia for violating UN resolutions after Rubyinyan (iirc) complained, imao. Yeltsin's actually government signed a decree that they'd sell to neither that I don't think was ever rescinded.. whatever.
Pretty much the only advantage Armenia got from the CSO was slightly discounted Russian prices (still bought on loan though), but Azeris have oil-money to buy from all sorts of suppliers, particularly from Israel (drones, but also tavor rifles for standard infantry), Our Greatest Ally and defender of the West against Islamic aggression. Israel actually gets most of its oil from the Azeris.Russia has been a shitty 'ally' to Armenia if they can even be called that, but frankly its not as if there's any alternative. Everyone in the country knows that. An intimate security partnership with the Islamic Republic isn't exactly enticing, and anywhere else is too far away, indifferent or if sympathic, equally powerless (chiefly Greece, possibly Kurds).
Hopefully the Russian government (whatever form it takes in the future) will realise that Turkey is slowly becoming an increasingly serious security threat it and all its neighbors. Fact remains Russia has permanent interests in the Caucasus region, so has at minimum a vested interest in ensuring Armenia remains on the map, if only to keep it a conflict-zone forever. But for the US its an obscure region on the other side of the world, any commitment there would be domestically unpopular and could instantly be removed after any election.
Turkey is the largest NATO army by an enormous margin, and unfortunately they'll never be kicked out, short of doing so on their own terms, if Turkey decides that it just doesn't need membership anymore. If not for the atrocious and probably irreversible direction Erdogan has taken Turkish society, I would have considered a major compromise with Turkey conceivable, but not now. Outside of the government, Iranian society is far less Islamist than Turkey's at this point, Armenian ethnogenesis essentially begins as a blend of Hellenistic and Iranian culture.Replies: @Yevardian, @Triteleia Laxa, @Yahya
My favourite contemporary thinker is Steve Sailer, and has been since I was a child.
I am also on record here really liking and basically sympathising with AK’s article on Putin’s ideal future for Russia, from before this completely stupid war.
I agree that Anglin was funny at the beginning. I like outrageous humour, but the nihilism, bitterness and resentment is too depressing, and the commenters too obviously disordered, for me to be able to enjoy it anymore.
It is like sharing a first cannabis joint with someone, but then seeing them, 10 years later, sleeping on a drug house floor and giving out handjobs for crack. You realise that they were not smoking that joint for the same reasons you were. It wasn’t ever fun for them, but just an elaborate scheme of self-harm and self-hatred.
Thanks!
Just the words of a member of the Armenian government, which is good enough for me. I see no reason for them to lie in their gratitude.
Yes, the Iranian youth are genuinely secular. Iran’s current set-up will not last long, but I think you overestimate how religious Turkey is. Things have changed since Erdogan’s star was waxing. I doubt he’ll survive the next election. And when the secular opposition take power, Turkish society will change very quickly.
That would be nice.
You’d be surprised. The Armenian elite share the same basic values as the American elite. As, in fact, do almost all of the world’s upper middle-classes and upwards, now. Obviously both Putin and Xi do.
The conflict only comes when the other elite, non-American, needs to close their society somewhat in order to maintain their party’s rule.
And, to close their society, they need to style themselves as antagonistic towards the US, which is the main agent of power in the world.
Unsurprisingly, this antagonises the US, but not so much that there is actual direct conflict. Instead, it is mostly theatre, even if the performers are sincere in not realising that performing is what they are doing.
So, since much of it is performance, until someone makes a catastrophic misjudgement and things get out of hand, the costs of the US helping shared valued elites is also mostly performative. This is how Biden stopped Azerbaijan with a phone call.
Or even more obvious when you realise that US military aid to Ukraine so far is less than 2% of their annual department of defence budget.
Ukraine itself was a catastrophic misjudgement by Putin, who clearly thought he was “pacifying” Ukraine, not having to defeat the place, and is now stuck doubling down in idiocy. There would have been minimal sanctions. Nordtream 2 would have been opened. And everyone would have moved on, were Ukraine actually a fake and gay country that wanted to be Russia.
And America does stick well by shared-value elites that are not performatively antagonistic. That’s what makes American politicians feel best. It has more impact than domestic politics, and relates to helping people they can understand more easily than some of their own domestic constituents even. It is the reason to go into politics, not finance. You probably make less money, but you have more fun and prestige.
I know it is hard to imagine that this is really how the world is like for many people, if you’ve never been part of these circles or live in more peripheral countries, but this is really how it is. And, to be fair, many people in these circles confuse their own performance for reality, but that it is a human issue generally.
And if you want to know the real reason why America, and other places, don’t have much empathy for Iran and so on, it is simply because they do not share values with their elites, but they do with the Ayatollah’s grandchildren, so you can expect things to change soon.
This is also why China presents as a complicated issue. The CCP only gets it legitimacy from China’s fabulous 4 decade boom. This sounds great, but it means that it has no legitimacy when eventually it slows down or a bust happens, which everyone knows will happen one day.
So to maintain their security of power, the CCP has been trying to discredit all alternatives through domestic propaganda, and have therefore begun to shut themselves off from the world. In other words, their elite’s class interests now clash with their values, and it is uncertain which one that elite will go with. It is also why they find Taiwan so existentially threatening. It is a better China, without the CCP.
Personally, I see nothing to worry about there, as, if China continues to try to transform into the Hermit State, it will become irrelevant anyway. But it clearly bothers the US elites, because, not being confident of things and worrying, is adaptive when you’re the decision-maker. It keeps you up at night trying to do the best you can.
Going back to Armenia, protecting Armenia is cheap for the US, and the type of easy exercise of power that politicians so love. And, to stay in side with the Americans, you just need to start from the same conceptual basic framework as your elites do anyway, and not set your countries ideology up as antagonistic. Beyond that, you might get some media scolding for not being trans-friendly or some other bullsh*t, but it won’t affect anything material, even if it hurts your feelings a little. And anyway, that fashion, or trend, of projection and theatrical moral judgement will pass.
Let me remind you that NATO troops with lots of expensive advanced toys at their disposal were facing Ahmeds and Mohameds with AK-47 in Afghanistan not so long ago. If your attention span is longer than that of a guppy you should remember how this ended.
Hardware does not win wars. People do.
But Putin could make an explicit threat of starting to use small theatre thermonuclear weapons on the battlefield against the Ukrainian army unless it stops advancing with its comparatively unlimited supply of Western equipment. That is a threat that once made 'officially' by Russia, everyone--especially America-- would have to take seriously.Replies: @Beckow
The Americans won every battle they ever had against the Taliban, but the problem for them was that war is about achieving political aims, and their political aims were impossible.
So, for 20 years, they banged their head against the wall, trying to transform the outlook of the people of Afghanistan, and especially their elites, in world record time, winning every military engagement, but going very little distance in achieving their actual aims.
It isn't unlike trying to stop you from being so patently stupid - hopeless on anything that might be considered a reasonable timescale, but, in lifetimes, thankfully inevitable.
Amused to see the mental gymnastics of some of the bluechecks, only the US had the means to, the motive and could be sure there would be no blowback.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
Why does it “guarantee” that? Russia can easily sell gas to Europe. There’s plenty of pipeline infrastructure in place.
This is ridiculous. It wasn’t a threat to blow it up, it was 8 months ago and Nordstream 2 was never opened anyway.
Furthermore the reason Nordstream 2 was never opened was because Putin decided to invade Ukraine just before it was about to open, and Putin’s plan for Ukraine failed completely.
Had Putin not invaded Nordstream 2 would be open. Or had his plan succeeded as he thought, it would also be open.
I wouldn’t be shocked if the US did it, nor if the Russians, Eastern Europeans or nobody actually did it, and it is merely a badly reported accident, but your “evidence” is nothing of the sort.
Mafia-style murder of Soleimani at Bagdad airport was a criminal act. Blowing up NS1 and NS2 pipes was a criminal act. The same terrorist organization did both. Former Polish foreign minister Sikorski has already thanked it.Replies: @Wokechoke
That’s what most people in the West refuse to understand. Real opposition in Russia that has a chance to get to power is a lot more hardline than Putin, whereas Russian libtards have no chance. Every time Putin makes a hardline move (Crimea in 2014, military operation in Ukraine in 2022) his approval soars. Every time he is perceived as vacillating or caving to the West, his approval goes south. Russian powers that be put a lot more effort into deflecting hardline threat than into dealing with impotent libtards.
After exchange of Azov criminals several Russian bloggers said the same thing: now Russian soldiers know that Nazis should not be taken prisoners, they should be shot on the spot. There is historic precedent: there were direct orders to take Vlasov’s troops prisoner in WWII, but Soviet troops did not take any, shot them on the spot instead. Even formidable Stalin’s repressive machine proved impotent. Putin is nowhere near Stalin in this regard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQ4_e_BM8k
I like him!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYx_j5lOhkw
But here is the proof that little of the drop can be attributed to the factors you describe.
In the 2012 election before the war, the pro-Russian parties got 48% of the vote.
Geographic changes would bring it down to 33%.
Popularity of Russia declined about 40% from 2012 until 2014 (the poll in May still included Donbas so the drop isn't accounted for by geographic changes much):
https://www.kiis.com.ua/materials/pr/20141706/graf2.jpg
So corresponding vote for pro-Russian parties should have also declined by that amount; 40% of 33% is slightly less than 20%.
So based on geographic changes and changes in popularity, pro-Russian parties should have gotten 20% of the vote in 2014.
You insisted that winners bias would add 5% to 15% of the vote.
So if winners bias played a role, the pro-Russian parties should have gotten 16% or so.
Instead they got 12.5% of the vote.
So "suppression, intimidation, censorship and outright bans" accounted for 3.5% lower vote as total percentage of votes, for pro-Russian parties in the 2014 election. 7.5% if you don't include "winners bias."
That is incomparable to the scale of fakery necessary to produce an 87% vote in favor of annexation of Kherson province. Or any number over 50%. Real support of annexation would be in the single digits to 10% or so at most. Ukrainians are motivated to defend their country, Russians aren't motivated to invade Ukraine. Winter is coming, Ukrainians are home and well-supplied, Russians are poorly supplied and neglected, and far from home.Replies: @Beckow
In your analysis (i am being generous) the main point is:
The positive attitude toward Russia dropped from close to 80% to little over 50%. This is in 2014 in the middle of the Crimea-Donbas crisis. And it was still over 50%. For you to argue that because it was no longer 80%, it had to lower electoral support by 33% is deceptive (and you know it, thus you are ‘lying’).
Obviously there was some correlation between those who had positive pro-Russian attitude, 80%, and the 48% that voted for pro-Russian parties. But clearly it wasn’t 1-to-1, there were many Ukies who were voting for nationalist parties who also liked Russia. Even in 2014 the positive attitude stayed above 50%. Your own numbers defeat your argument.
Why would a government in Kiev running a country where 50% of people have pro-Russian sympathies provoke a war with Russia with its insane Nato bid and by banning Russian schools? And bombing the pro-Russian regions? Even Zelko got 70% on a pro-Russian platform – then he U-turned and completely betrayed.
This is a self-inflicted disaster for Ukraine – they pissed into a hurricane for so long that now they are thoroughly wet.
I see a lot of Ukies who left and display zero motivation to fight. The lines of Ukies trying to escape the mobilization few months ago were a lot longer than the lines on Russia’s borders. The Russians living in Ukraine (millions) seem to be motivated. At the end it will be decided by logistics (proximity) and weapons, morale only take each side so far. Or we can escalate ourselves into an oblivion.
Kiev’s (and Nato) best bet was Russia collapsing internally, an economic meltdown. They clearly counted on it and went all the way out to make it happen. It failed. They are still trying but it is very unlikely to work. In the meantime, Russia can bomb until it wins. Like Nato did in Kosovo.
The drop from 85% to 51% would be enough to reduce that 33% to 20%.
You were very adamant about winners bias, which would shave some more % off that 20%.
So the final result of 12.5% voting for pro-Russian parties in Ukraine minus Donbas and Crimea would not have been the result of much intimidation or oppression. Geography, drop in support for Russia, and winners bias accounts for most of the collapse from 48% in 2012.
What is difficult for you to understand? See above. The 50% still included Donbas, they were gone later. Many people who liked Russia also wanted Ukrainian schools not Russians secondary schools, and wanted Ukraine to be part of NATO. Both issues had majority support after 2014. Now you lie about his platform. He was pro-EU and pro-NATO. He even thought Bandera was cool, though he was fine with other regions not celebrating him.
He was softer than Poroshenko, wanted things to be done more gradually, thought he could dialogue with Putin, but was not a pro-Russian. My relatives who found themselves in the West when it started went back. Those are anecdotes. In reality Ukraine has mobilized 100,000s of additional soldiers. Most have not tried to run away, it's their country after all.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Beckow
Greta was spotted scooping the burning gas…this sh.t is dirty.
And they talk about ‘global warming’. As always the ideological fanatics bring about the exact opposite of what they preach.
And they talk about 'global warming'. As always the ideological fanatics bring about the exact opposite of what they preach.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Nothing new. “Do what the priest says, not what the priest does” was around for centuries.
Hardware does not win wars. People do.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
Will does, and Russian is fighting much closer to its home ground than America, which is why it has escalatory dominance. Up until this point Russia has been very vague and not really gone beyond obscure menaces by saying it can retaliate in kind, and then some.
But Putin could make an explicit threat of starting to use small theatre thermonuclear weapons on the battlefield against the Ukrainian army unless it stops advancing with its comparatively unlimited supply of Western equipment. That is a threat that once made ‘officially’ by Russia, everyone–especially America– would have to take seriously.
Furthermore the reason Nordstream 2 was never opened was because Putin decided to invade Ukraine just before it was about to open, and Putin's plan for Ukraine failed completely.
Had Putin not invaded Nordstream 2 would be open. Or had his plan succeeded as he thought, it would also be open.
I wouldn't be shocked if the US did it, nor if the Russians, Eastern Europeans or nobody actually did it, and it is merely a badly reported accident, but your "evidence" is nothing of the sort.Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN
It wasn’t an accident. NS2 was not going to open under any circumstances – check the 2020-21 developments and Germans themselves repeatedly blocking it. If you don’t know it, you are misinformed. Russia didn’t need to blow it up – all they had to do is use a switch, they control it. Based on cui bono it is quite obvious who blew it up. We can’t expect them to admit it, the stuff is very dirty, it would be bad PR.
What’s left now is the Turkish Stream and half of the Ukie pipeline. That amounts to 25-30% of the previous capacity. The Yamal pipeline was shut by Poland earlier this year. And LNG – Russia also sells a lot of LNG but it is much more expensive.
Europe is looking at a drop of 70-80% in gas supplies from Russia. About half of it can be replaced by paying 4 to 7 times more. 10-15% can be saved by shutting down big users and more efficiency. It leaves a shortage of 20-25% that will last for a few years. In some countries more, Germany is looking at 30% shortage. There are some reserves for 4-6 months.
Russia will get less revenue. But given the increase in prices and the shift to China-Asia, it will be only 20-25% less. They can compensate by selling LNG through middlemen.
The best thing that could happen to Europe is a warm winter and a deep recession to lower demand. Let’s see how it plays out, but it will not be painless.
But, if we must use it in the simplest sense, then the Poles and the Ukrainians benefited most.
The Poles, because they now control the Russian gas line to Europe, and can re-open Yanal, and the Ukrainians because they can trust the Poles more than anyone else, and control the other line. Perhaps also the Turks.
However, "who benefits" is usually who is most able to take advantage of a situation, not solely determined by first order effects.
In which case, it could be anyone. Not only do a lot of people want to sell energy to Europe, and would benefit from doing so, but there are other interests, such as Russia being desperate to drive a wedge in NATO, so Putin can find a way to stop losing his stupid war.
I honestly don't think, though, that anyone can actually benefit enough from taking this risk for it to be worth it. The downside of getting caught is too high. I mean, the downside for Russia would be nothing and only actually nothing for them, but they also would gain very little...except to cast suspicion on their enemies, and sew dissent among them, as you hope this does.
Which actually makes it very plausible for it to be the Russians. Zero downside, or risk, and an upside for Russia that has made even you extremely excited, for some reason that I assume you see as worthwhile and tangible...is that not enough?Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
Furthermore the reason Nordstream 2 was never opened was because Putin decided to invade Ukraine just before it was about to open, and Putin's plan for Ukraine failed completely.
Had Putin not invaded Nordstream 2 would be open. Or had his plan succeeded as he thought, it would also be open.
I wouldn't be shocked if the US did it, nor if the Russians, Eastern Europeans or nobody actually did it, and it is merely a badly reported accident, but your "evidence" is nothing of the sort.Replies: @Beckow, @AnonfromTN
Very believable: three virtually simultaneous explosions were an accident. I have a bridge to sell you.
Mafia-style murder of Soleimani at Bagdad airport was a criminal act. Blowing up NS1 and NS2 pipes was a criminal act. The same terrorist organization did both. Former Polish foreign minister Sikorski has already thanked it.
Russia is done for this war, short of pulling off a tactical miracle, the gig is up. I still cannot believe, even after everything that has already happened, the utter and embarassing incompetence on display over just the past few days. Russia is heading for some sort of real crisis of legitimacy soon, but its anybody's guess exactly when or what form its going to take. Just never discount things being able to get worse in the post Soviet world.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow, @Philip Owen
You seem bitter that Russia didn’t fully stand with Yerevan in its war with Azerbaidzan. Fair enough, but don’t go ballistic based on a few Western videos. If you judge a country by how many people refuse to serve in military you would write off Ukraine long time ago – the draft evasion there was absolutely astounding. As it was in the West when they tried it. If Germany does a draft to fight Russia, I would fully expect long lines on Swiss borders and lots of men with money taking the first flight out. Actually I even know a few Armenians who are quietly hiding abroad. It is just human nature.
Russia has 15o million people. Enough soldiers will not be their problem. It is about morale, and as others pointed out (AnonfromTN…) the public opinion in Russia is more pro-war than Putin’s government. In Kiev it is the opposite. You do the math.
But Putin could make an explicit threat of starting to use small theatre thermonuclear weapons on the battlefield against the Ukrainian army unless it stops advancing with its comparatively unlimited supply of Western equipment. That is a threat that once made 'officially' by Russia, everyone--especially America-- would have to take seriously.Replies: @Beckow
I don’t think Russia would ever use a nuke of any kind against Ukies (‘brothers‘ or something). That threat would be seen as a bluff, that’s why Russia won’t make it.
We need to listen to what they say – they are simple people and lie less than Westerners – they will use nukes only against an existential threat to Russia. There isn’t one, yet.
It will play out more simply and closer to the ground: a gradual dismantlement of the Ukie army, consolidating the territory, some big booms in central-western Ukraine, attrition and breaking the morale. It could take a few months or up to 3 years (from February). During that time West has a shot at collapsing Russia – either economically or politically – and they will throw all they have at Russia.
Nobody wins in a war – look at the recent Nato attacks on different countries, all of them were more costly than worth it. But this war was forced on the key players: Russia couldn’t have a Nato in Ukraine with suppressed Russians there. Nato couldn’t stop its expansion – the resulting loss of face would be almost as catastrophic as the current slow loss in an actual war. And of course, Kiev wasn’t given a choice.
We have to keep a foot on the Germans.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ron Unz
What Mike Whitney article do you have in mind?
Speaking of flu shots, do you or any of our more scientifically inclined minds here (AP, Professor Tennessee, Dmitry etc.) have any opinions on its advocacy? How about the “new and improved” covid vaccine, that’s been designed to include immunity against the Omicron variant?
This is the best Whitney though:
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/are-the-opponents-of-the-covid-injections-anti-vaxx-crackpots/
Hardware does not win wars. People do.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
Because you’ve bought into Russian propaganda (fantasy cope) that war is about defeating the enemy army, you get everything wrong.
The Americans won every battle they ever had against the Taliban, but the problem for them was that war is about achieving political aims, and their political aims were impossible.
So, for 20 years, they banged their head against the wall, trying to transform the outlook of the people of Afghanistan, and especially their elites, in world record time, winning every military engagement, but going very little distance in achieving their actual aims.
It isn’t unlike trying to stop you from being so patently stupid – hopeless on anything that might be considered a reasonable timescale, but, in lifetimes, thankfully inevitable.
“Cui Bono” is a ridiculously overused simplification.
But, if we must use it in the simplest sense, then the Poles and the Ukrainians benefited most.
The Poles, because they now control the Russian gas line to Europe, and can re-open Yanal, and the Ukrainians because they can trust the Poles more than anyone else, and control the other line. Perhaps also the Turks.
However, “who benefits” is usually who is most able to take advantage of a situation, not solely determined by first order effects.
In which case, it could be anyone. Not only do a lot of people want to sell energy to Europe, and would benefit from doing so, but there are other interests, such as Russia being desperate to drive a wedge in NATO, so Putin can find a way to stop losing his stupid war.
I honestly don’t think, though, that anyone can actually benefit enough from taking this risk for it to be worth it. The downside of getting caught is too high. I mean, the downside for Russia would be nothing and only actually nothing for them, but they also would gain very little…except to cast suspicion on their enemies, and sew dissent among them, as you hope this does.
Which actually makes it very plausible for it to be the Russians. Zero downside, or risk, and an upside for Russia that has made even you extremely excited, for some reason that I assume you see as worthwhile and tangible…is that not enough?
What was true in 1982 still rings true today.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Wokechoke
i’m not sure what you would recall about the era but the cold war ended more or less because Russia could provide cheap natural gas to Western Europe which would enrich the upper classes in Russia and undercut domestic coal miners and working class people in Germany, France and Britain. No need for a stand off apparently.
1984 was the point at which the Thatcherite UK started to enact this shift with the battle on Arthur Scargill’s miners.
But, if we must use it in the simplest sense, then the Poles and the Ukrainians benefited most.
The Poles, because they now control the Russian gas line to Europe, and can re-open Yanal, and the Ukrainians because they can trust the Poles more than anyone else, and control the other line. Perhaps also the Turks.
However, "who benefits" is usually who is most able to take advantage of a situation, not solely determined by first order effects.
In which case, it could be anyone. Not only do a lot of people want to sell energy to Europe, and would benefit from doing so, but there are other interests, such as Russia being desperate to drive a wedge in NATO, so Putin can find a way to stop losing his stupid war.
I honestly don't think, though, that anyone can actually benefit enough from taking this risk for it to be worth it. The downside of getting caught is too high. I mean, the downside for Russia would be nothing and only actually nothing for them, but they also would gain very little...except to cast suspicion on their enemies, and sew dissent among them, as you hope this does.
Which actually makes it very plausible for it to be the Russians. Zero downside, or risk, and an upside for Russia that has made even you extremely excited, for some reason that I assume you see as worthwhile and tangible...is that not enough?Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
That’s absurd. However it’s possible the Danes and Poles agreed to do it. Or let the Americans get away with it. NS2 was in the US’s crosshairs as a target from the beginning and I think the Swedes objected to it from the start.
Mafia-style murder of Soleimani at Bagdad airport was a criminal act. Blowing up NS1 and NS2 pipes was a criminal act. The same terrorist organization did both. Former Polish foreign minister Sikorski has already thanked it.Replies: @Wokechoke
Is Hall Monitor also the Head Girl?
But, if we must use it in the simplest sense, then the Poles and the Ukrainians benefited most.
The Poles, because they now control the Russian gas line to Europe, and can re-open Yanal, and the Ukrainians because they can trust the Poles more than anyone else, and control the other line. Perhaps also the Turks.
However, "who benefits" is usually who is most able to take advantage of a situation, not solely determined by first order effects.
In which case, it could be anyone. Not only do a lot of people want to sell energy to Europe, and would benefit from doing so, but there are other interests, such as Russia being desperate to drive a wedge in NATO, so Putin can find a way to stop losing his stupid war.
I honestly don't think, though, that anyone can actually benefit enough from taking this risk for it to be worth it. The downside of getting caught is too high. I mean, the downside for Russia would be nothing and only actually nothing for them, but they also would gain very little...except to cast suspicion on their enemies, and sew dissent among them, as you hope this does.
Which actually makes it very plausible for it to be the Russians. Zero downside, or risk, and an upside for Russia that has made even you extremely excited, for some reason that I assume you see as worthwhile and tangible...is that not enough?Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
Simplification? You don’t say, I suppose your convoluted upside-down excited finger pointing is an example of sophistication. Whatever, we don’t know and will probably never know.
Some of the potential beneficiaries are excluded by logistics: Turks get around a lot, but underwater explosions in the Baltic are too far. Same holds for some other beneficiaries. That leaves people with local access: Poland, Germany, US, Russia. For simplicity let’s add Ukraine-Balts under the Polish column and Sweden-Denmark under US (where they so blissfully live for decades while blabbing about ‘being free’).
Germans don’t do stuff like this and would hardly benefit. US and Poland would almost certainly act together so let’s merge them. That leaves two main suspects: US-Poland and Russia. Or possibly Dr.Evil from his underwater lair.
Russia has nothing to lose by being found out and they know that they will be accused anyway, but they visibly lack initiative and don’t have a history of doing stuff like that. The timing with the referendums is also bad for Russia – if they would do it, I would expect maybe November-December. But possible.
US-Poland (Ukraine) have the means, motivation and opportunity. Plus they can blame it on Russia and fog up the referendum story. On points, I lean towards this option. But we will never know and it wasn’t an accident.
• Poland loathes the neo-fascist EU. Poland would have acted alone, both for operational security and to avoid WEF interference. The central German government perhaps not. As I suggested above, Not-The-President Biden serves the European WEF. Thus, Germany fully directs the actions of the illegitimate DNC regime in America. If it is not in Germany's interest, one can be quite sure the U.S. is not involved.However, the extreme German Left (e.g. Antifa, Green Party) have both the will and capability. German private enterprise was involved with NS2 construction. The under water explosive could have been planted some time ago, before NS2 was cancelled.
___I would be amazed if it is anything other than a Polish solo act. However, there is unlikely to be adequate evidence to prove that the Poles did it.PEACE 😇Replies: @Beckow
It is clear that “Hall Monitor” is a paid troll. The identity of individual trolls is irrelevant: the same masters are paying them all. He, who pays the musicians, calls the tune.
Fair enough, but I’m still not yet convinced that it can’t be an accident.
Is there even a reliable account of what and where is actually damaged?
And you might say “but it is a crazy coincidence” but coincidences are inevitable in life and anyway, is a pipeline being shut down not perhaps more likely to have pressure problems and/or leak/explode?
There’s too much I just don’t know, nor anyone seems to know, and I find none of the offered motives particularly compelling.
There is no reason to believe that America and Poland would act together. In fact, just the opposite is true:
• Not-The-President Biden loves the authoritarians in Brussels.
• Poland loathes the neo-fascist EU.
Poland would have acted alone, both for operational security and to avoid WEF interference.
The central German government perhaps not. As I suggested above, Not-The-President Biden serves the European WEF. Thus, Germany fully directs the actions of the illegitimate DNC regime in America. If it is not in Germany’s interest, one can be quite sure the U.S. is not involved.
However, the extreme German Left (e.g. Antifa, Green Party) have both the will and capability. German private enterprise was involved with NS2 construction. The under water explosive could have been planted some time ago, before NS2 was cancelled.
___
I would be amazed if it is anything other than a Polish solo act. However, there is unlikely to be adequate evidence to prove that the Poles did it.
PEACE 😇
That’s the beauty of our times: nothing is really compelling and yet it is all existential.
Regarding a possible accident: two separate pipelines with half a dozen explosions is statistically so unlikely that we need to rationally discard that option. The odds that Dr.Evil is behind it are better.
One thing that puzzles me is the location next to Sweden-Denmark – they could have used something more ‘Asiatic‘, closer to less valuable people. Maybe there is a secondary motivation to piss on Greta and tell the Greens that their brief time in the sun is over. They need to get out the shovels and start digging for coal. The Poles have already started.
Underwater tourism has been trending lately:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdvKZKJWIAE0Smq?format=jpg&name=small
After exchange of Azov criminals several Russian bloggers said the same thing: now Russian soldiers know that Nazis should not be taken prisoners, they should be shot on the spot. There is historic precedent: there were direct orders to take Vlasov’s troops prisoner in WWII, but Soviet troops did not take any, shot them on the spot instead. Even formidable Stalin’s repressive machine proved impotent. Putin is nowhere near Stalin in this regard.Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Wielgus
A personal question if I may ask one. What is your opinion on this guy?
I like him!
US citizens are being advised to leave Russia now.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-embassy-moscow-urges-american-124844169.html
• Poland loathes the neo-fascist EU. Poland would have acted alone, both for operational security and to avoid WEF interference. The central German government perhaps not. As I suggested above, Not-The-President Biden serves the European WEF. Thus, Germany fully directs the actions of the illegitimate DNC regime in America. If it is not in Germany's interest, one can be quite sure the U.S. is not involved.However, the extreme German Left (e.g. Antifa, Green Party) have both the will and capability. German private enterprise was involved with NS2 construction. The under water explosive could have been planted some time ago, before NS2 was cancelled.
___I would be amazed if it is anything other than a Polish solo act. However, there is unlikely to be adequate evidence to prove that the Poles did it.PEACE 😇Replies: @Beckow
They have neither one: they are bike-riding incompetents scared of large metal objects. Not on my list of suspects.
US-EU-Poland relationship is non-linear. The neo-con anti-Russia policy is on one level where US and Poland are fully aligned (with Poles as supplicants). The Brussels-Poland feud is on a different level. They don’t interfere with each other.
Possible. But two objections: Poles never do stuff like this alone. Unless it is “will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” situation (look up Thomas Beckett). But a bigger objection is that it was done competently, no loose ends, no floating bodies, sunken boats, etc…can Poles really pull something like that off?
• The Green Party could deploy an equivalent to Fang Fang Bang Bang.
• Antifa is capable of more technical blackmail. The EU is puppet master to Not-The-President Biden's illegitimate administration. This is a 100% linear relationship where the EU has absolute control.
Poland is not stupid enough to trust a rapidly failing coup regime (with the DNC as supplicant to the European WEF).
____
Small loads in a "non-design" orientation can have outsized impact on industrial equipment. A small crew could have done this with little difficulty.
The seismic events were not the explosives. They were the initial blast of high pressure gas (1,500+ psi) departing the pipeline.
PEACE 😇Replies: @songbird
Is it bluff or preparation for a nuclear strike? Which is stupider?
NS1 and NS2 were blown by very competent terrorists with immense capabilities. The amounts of explosives used are staggering. This rules out a lot of suspects, including Poles.
I've dived down to just over 60 metres, which does qualify as a technical "deep dive", but that's all, and I've only ever dived recreationally. I assure you there are a lot of people who are more than capable of this.Replies: @Wokechoke
https://i.postimg.cc/3x8c45nC/British-Army-Alvis-Stormer-fitted-with-Shielder-Volcano.jpg
NATO forces do have machines such as the M136 Volcano. These provide an automated mine dispersion of anti-tank mines and allow to set up a mine field in seconds, but the range of it is 500 m at most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HrjrFCqxa0
And the Russian forces are using machines such as UR-77 Meteorit that are capable of making a passage through a mine field in a minute or two.These are used in the urban environment as well and not for mine sweeping alone but as a weapon against personnel. Dumbass!Even a complete moron is supposed to understand that 50 km more or 50 less of the distance does not affect the rate of fire of artillery batteries whatsoever. It cannot affect it except for making one spend a little more fuel to deliver the shells to the front line. Russia has sent 6 reconnaissance satellites onto the high orbit in 2022, and another 4 are going to be sent during the next two months. 20 satellites had been sent during 2020-21. Altogether the Russians have 160 satellites on the orbit.Russia has advanced – perhaps even the best – radar equipment, and excellent if not the best reconnaissance planes, such as Beriev A-50.
https://i.postimg.cc/kg2D3yHQ/Beriev-A-100.jpg
40 of them. And it has a couple of the latest model A-100 which is even better. These planes are at least on a par with the American ones.One thing that Russia is lagging behind is drones, but I guess the real advantage that Ukraine has with regards to reconnaissance is people. There are a lot of people on the territories that Russia has taken who work for Ukraine.That is how Ukraine is gettin her intel. And where would the Ukrainian ammunition hubs have to be moved?The Russians have better missiles. Surface-to-surface, air-to-surface and what not. You are under the wrong impression that Russia is a backward nation.Replies: @Johnny Rico, @Sean
Russia’s top electronic warfare commander was killed in May, after his HQ was sent to an airport logation that had already been devistatingly shelled twice before and o it was known the Ukrainians were zeroed in on. The Russian army is not very good across the board, and the intel the special operation was based on was atrociously bad. I do not think Russia has much of a future as a state if it continues to use and rely on its conventional capabilities, because in practice these are far less than anyone dreamt possible pre 2022.
A crucial principle of warfare is to to “concentrate strength against weakness”. Russia cannot use mass effect because concentrations of troops, shells, ECT ECT get destroyed by HIMARS. The Russian reserves are being held way back out of HIMARS range, hence the success of the . The much longer range Army Tactical Missile System will greatly exacerbate Russian’s woes when it is given to Ukraine.
It has been regarded as such (although militarily powerful) for half a millennium. To get out of this, Russia will have to brandish its thermonuclear weapons in a theatre context.
Ukraine then mobilized at least 500 thousand more. The defence minister of Ukraine said in summer that there were 700 thousand of personnel in the armed forces and 300 thousand more of the police and border guard. So considering the Ukrainian forces in aggregate outnumber the Russians 5 : 1 it is impressive that Ukraine has lost 20% of her land, two big cities and a nuclear power plant. The russian forces managed to stretch the front line up to 1000 km and hold it.
A good troll is supposed to know that there is a limit to how much of lies he can use. You are not a good troll. An intelligent reader will understand that without good intel and good performance of her forces Russia would not have been able to accomplish that.
How was it possible to accomplish that?
Before the war the Russians collected a lot of intel with satellites and put the Ukrainian airports and tank depots on the map. Most of the aircraft Ukraine had was demolished on the ground as well as most of her tanks. Without proper air support Ukraine failed to resist despite having a lot larger personnel. During the first month or two Ukraine had a lot of the Turkish drones. Propaganda was then praising these and there was not a troll who did not write how Ukraine was demolishing hundreds of the Russian tanks with them. Where are these drones now?
There are no more Turkish drones in Ukraine.
Where are the planes and helicopters and self-propelled howitzers that Ukraine had before the war? Where are her S-300 launchers and T-72 tanks? All of that is lost. Ukraine has some number of howitzers left in Donbas because these are protected in the bunkers. Except for these, most of her equipment has been demolished.
For what reason these T-55 and T-64 are being sent from East Europe to Ukraine? For what reason the U.S. has been sending howitzers there?
The reason is that Ukraine has lost and without that aid would have nothing to continue fighting with. You are a Ukrainian troll and it is obvious. Your entire post is a paraphrase of this propaganda article on a Ukrainian web site.
Why is Russia so vulnerable to HIMARS in Ukraine?
https://kyivindependent.com/national/why-is-russia-so-vulnerable-to-himars-in-ukraine
You are spreading the word, we get it. Someone has to. But it is pointless on this page.
Regarding the points though I figure that with coming of winter when the trees will stand naked and there will be no forestation to hide in, these remaining 8 machines will not last long. There were 12 of them in summer.
And the rumors about alleged destruction of the Russian shell depots are exagerated propaganda – in truth a few times Ukraine succeeded in doing that but not as often as her own depots have been demolished with the Russian cruise missiles.
The largest Ukrainian shell depot was busted with one Kinzhal hit. No.
Those missiles are large and expensive enough to use more sophisticated S-300 and S-400 missiles against them. A standard rocket is in comparison cheap and small so the Russians use less expensive air defense against them. You are not a good troll.
A powerful nation cannot be a backward nation at the same time. Russia has been one of the smartest nations on earth for centuries. The entire world is familiar with her culture and science. The Russians have invented so much that it is pointless to point it out.
You on the other hand for sure belong to some retarded and worthless tribe.
To which one?Replies: @Mikel, @Sean
You really are like some hysterical old dear. You think the Poles would be unable to get enough explosives down 70 metres to blow up some pipes?
I’ve dived down to just over 60 metres, which does qualify as a technical “deep dive”, but that’s all, and I’ve only ever dived recreationally. I assure you there are a lot of people who are more than capable of this.
Sledgehammer to crack a nut is absolutely appropriate. Typical Russian mindset.
I don't think Putin will do it until he and those around him are satisfied it is the least bad option, and rule out capitulating by agreeing to withdraw to the preinvasion defacto borders. I don't think either of those are certain, but the realisation he cannot win is going to dawn on him eventually; the US will try to dissuade him from that perception by any and all means including deception and reducing key supplies and targeting intel to the Ukrainians if they are doing so well Putin might panic (he already should be panicking).
Because a situation like this has never been anticipated and the ramifications pondered over exhaustively for decades, there are no simple ready to hand answers as with a Soviet invasion of Nato territory; it is not obvious US currently knowns would do militarily or otherwise. One point that cannot be overemphasised is direct hostilities with Russia in the form of a raid on the Black Sea Fleet would be be taken by them as effectively a declaration of war. By the point in time the US attacked, Russia would be a country that had already crossed the thermonuclear Rubicon and could match the US all the way up the ladder of escalation. So why would they not use a thermonuclear anti aircraft missile against the attack, and why would the US would not retaliate in kind?; that is with a tactical nuclear strike on Russia armed forces. Once you go nuclear you go nuclear for good and know it.Replies: @216, @Mikel
The one thing we can be confident the Russians have is a military doctrine of how to invade a neighboring country but it failed them miserably this time. After so many retreats and regroupings, the Ukrainians keep advancing in Kharkiv and Donetsk. The Russian attempt to stabilize the front along the Oskil river hasn’t succeeded. So much for Russian military doctrines.
Let’s hope they realize that if they try to implement their never tested doctrines on tactical nukes to win the war on Ukrainian soil, things may equally backfire badly.
In any case, there seem to be quite a few escalatory steps that the Russians for one reason or another haven’t taken yet, such as blowing up all 17 bridges on the Dnieper. That would seriously hamper the transfer of Western weapons and troops to the fronts. At the beginning of the war they would have possibly avoided such a step to prevent disruption of civilian life but I guess if you’re willing to use nukes, you’d rather try something like that first.
He could do this best by taking action: a frightening demonstration of the awesome destructive power he might weld on any major Ukrainian advances in the South. An example might detonating a Tactical on Snake Island, but that would be too showy perhaps. Most effective Im my opinion would be to give the impression that in relation to Ukraine, which is relatively speaking its part of the world rather than the West's, the Kremlin views its battlefield nukes as tools to be used to solve practical military problems without worrying very much about the West's scandalised reaction. One tempting gambit in this connection could be detonating thermonuclear mines to create huge craters that would be an obstacle for Ukraine to drive on Kherson or the coastal area between it and the Donbass
Wouldn’t know, other than that sort of thing is usually not seen as a good sign.
But were they wearing SS uniforms and speaking polish though?
Demand a raise from your boss: this narrative is very hard to push. The results of a recent poll in Germany, with a question who blew up Nordstream: 94% – the US, 3% – Russia.
You need to have a more open mind. All that is required is compromising a contract firm working on NS2.
• The Green Party could deploy an equivalent to Fang Fang Bang Bang.
• Antifa is capable of more technical blackmail.
The EU is puppet master to Not-The-President Biden’s illegitimate administration. This is a 100% linear relationship where the EU has absolute control.
Poland is not stupid enough to trust a rapidly failing coup regime (with the DNC as supplicant to the European WEF).
____
Small loads in a “non-design” orientation can have outsized impact on industrial equipment. A small crew could have done this with little difficulty.
The seismic events were not the explosives. They were the initial blast of high pressure gas (1,500+ psi) departing the pipeline.
PEACE 😇
That’s too funny. Your fantasy “poll” has as much credibility as the Russian fantasy “referenda.” The leak only just happened.
I've dived down to just over 60 metres, which does qualify as a technical "deep dive", but that's all, and I've only ever dived recreationally. I assure you there are a lot of people who are more than capable of this.Replies: @Wokechoke
The explosion may have been 100 tons.
Sometimes you sound original then you write like that. N’guy the only incompetents in this war are the people running Western Europe, the same people who are inexplicably running Western Europe into the slough of despond.
Some Germans (sorry, Austrians) have a sense of humor approaching Russian. Austrian stand-up comedian Lisa Eckhart is trolling Germans:
Eighty years ago, in 1942 Germans were freezing near Stalingrad. Now they are freezing again, and again Russians are to blame. However, Germans got smarter. They discovered that to freeze you don’t need to travel so far.
Who was in the missing 3% there? Aliens? Terrorists? James Bond 007’s nemesis?
Though better to ask Avery (though I don't know if he has much to say, he posts mostly on Anglin's articles.. used to be funny when I was a teenager but he's just a total incel freak now), since he actually grew up in the Armenian SSR, I've only ever visited there briefly, my family were from generations of diaspora. Please, don't make me vomit, do even you have a shred of evidence to support that assertion? There was an almost complete Western media blackout on the conflict, I think whatever abuses against civilians Israel committed that month, or the Saudi invasion of Yemen were more reported on.
US involvement in the conflict on either side has been nil.Anyway, I noticed this:"Even now, Armenia, Russia’s conditional ally in the South Caucasus, can use the presence of the CSTO as a way of exerting pressure on Russian diplomacy while absolving itself of all responsibility."Ok, so this is a pretty disgusting article.
First of all, the initial Azeri provocations leading to the 2020 Second Artsakh War actually began around Tavush in July, i.e. on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia proper. Aliev was obviously testing the waters to see how Russia would react to a direct attack
And yes, the meeting for the "Collective Security Treaty Organisation" was mysteriously cancelled, after some formulaic words from Lavrov condemning violence, etc. So Azerbaijan actually had a 2-month military buildup in confidence Russia wouldn't saction them before they actually attacked.Russia also went on to continue selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia both after the First Artsakh War and after the 2016 skirmishes. There was even a big Russian arms deal with Azerbaijan that year, probably trying to curry favour with Turkey after the failed (with the US greenlighting it?) coup against Erdogan. Belarus also openly favours the Azeris for sales, Luka even had the cheek to chastise Armenia for violating UN resolutions after Rubyinyan (iirc) complained, imao. Yeltsin's actually government signed a decree that they'd sell to neither that I don't think was ever rescinded.. whatever.
Pretty much the only advantage Armenia got from the CSO was slightly discounted Russian prices (still bought on loan though), but Azeris have oil-money to buy from all sorts of suppliers, particularly from Israel (drones, but also tavor rifles for standard infantry), Our Greatest Ally and defender of the West against Islamic aggression. Israel actually gets most of its oil from the Azeris.Russia has been a shitty 'ally' to Armenia if they can even be called that, but frankly its not as if there's any alternative. Everyone in the country knows that. An intimate security partnership with the Islamic Republic isn't exactly enticing, and anywhere else is too far away, indifferent or if sympathic, equally powerless (chiefly Greece, possibly Kurds).
Hopefully the Russian government (whatever form it takes in the future) will realise that Turkey is slowly becoming an increasingly serious security threat it and all its neighbors. Fact remains Russia has permanent interests in the Caucasus region, so has at minimum a vested interest in ensuring Armenia remains on the map, if only to keep it a conflict-zone forever. But for the US its an obscure region on the other side of the world, any commitment there would be domestically unpopular and could instantly be removed after any election.
Turkey is the largest NATO army by an enormous margin, and unfortunately they'll never be kicked out, short of doing so on their own terms, if Turkey decides that it just doesn't need membership anymore. If not for the atrocious and probably irreversible direction Erdogan has taken Turkish society, I would have considered a major compromise with Turkey conceivable, but not now. Outside of the government, Iranian society is far less Islamist than Turkey's at this point, Armenian ethnogenesis essentially begins as a blend of Hellenistic and Iranian culture.Replies: @Yevardian, @Triteleia Laxa, @Yahya
The indifference isn’t surprising to be honest since Armenia is a fairly isolated, peculiar nation without much connection to a broader civilizational sphere (i.e the West or the Islamic world) or ethno-linguistically similar nations to come to its aid. Of course there used to be a time when its status as a Christian nation would elicit some support from European powers, but we know that time is long gone.
What surprises me more is the Islamic world’s lack of support for Azerbaijan. I think only Turkey provides any meaningful support, perhaps Pakistan too though only diplomatically. The rest of the Islamic world – silence. The parallels between the Azeri-Armenian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts would suggest Islamic nations would rally behind the Muslims against the infidel. But no-one seems to care much.
I remember scrolling through Ayatollah Khamenei’s (surprisingly entertaining) Twitter feed during the period. He only made one tepid remark about the conflict, mainly to warn against closing the Iran-Armenia border. But then he continued on his regular routine of bashing on Israel and voicing support for Palestine.
This even though he is an ethnic Azeri himself, and Iran of course being a fellow Shia nation with roughly similar genetics. I’d imagine Azeris would be upset at this sort of indifference from their fellow Islamic nations, especially considering the amount of attention given to Palestine, though I suppose secular Azerbaijan shouldn’t be expecting much anyway. And like you said they have sold out to Israel, which won’t endear them much to Muslims.
Not so sure about that. What are you basing this on, the recent protests in Iran? Because one thing i’ve learnt from the Egyptian Revolution is not to take mass protests as any indicator of wider societal views. Probably no more than 20% of the population join any given protest (in Iran only 11.1% attended a peaceful demonstration according to the 2020 WVS). A sizable chunk of the other 80% are probably sitting at home shaking their heads.
Iran has a relatively secular urban bourgeois that wants to get rid of the Ayatollahs, but they are in the minority, albeit a sizable one (i’d estimate 20-30%). The average Iranian cab driver or peasant probably still supports the Islamic regime. People often ignore them because they are not as prominent as urban folks, especially the anti-clerical Iranian expat community, but they are there, they support an Islamic system, and they form the majority.
Turkey of course has a wide base of Islamist support, but Turks seem more secular than Iranians on average. The World Values Survey (WVS) [1] bares this out; 70.5% of Iranians viewed religion as being “very important” to their life, while a comparatively fewer 60% of Turks answered the same way. Likewise 81.5% of Iranians thought God was “very important”, versus 44.7% for Turkey. However, roughly 34% of Turks strongly agreed with the statement “whenever science and religion conflict, religion is always right” versus 18.9% for Iran; which shows Iran is more rationalistic at least on the scientific front. 63.7% of Iranians prayed several times a day, versus 41.1% of Turks. 83.2% of Iranians described themselves as religious versus 66% of Turks.
Most importantly, when asked on “Having a system governed by religious law in which there are no political parties or elections”, 42% of Iranians thought it was a very good idea, and another 36.4% thought it was a fairly good idea, meaning roughly 78% of Iranians wish to be ruled according to Islamic law. Whereas only 6.3% of Turks answered “very good”, and another 24.3% “fairly good”.
Iran is more Islamist than Turkey.
[1] WVS: https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV7.jsp
Things have been changing fast. The internet is as widespread as Italy, but the government is ridiculous.
The increase in knowledge of alternatives, combined with having clown world laws like enforced head scarves, have chased people away from religion. Imagine your female friend being whipped 70 times for having something other than her hands or face "exposed" in public, or your sister, or wife, or daughter.
This insanity, being thrown in their faces, I now why only 30% even claim to believe in heaven and hell.
Your knowledge is about 10 years out of date.
https://theconversation.com/irans-secular-shift-new-survey-reveals-huge-changes-in-religious-beliefs-145253
Though I imagine if a person were to ask nicely the HHS (Health and Human Services) might give a million dollar grant to some lucky recipient to study the matter. (Surely somebody's already thought to do that, haven't they?)
Wiki's entry on 'Ear Hair' doesn't offer much on the subject, but did have this fun fact: As noisome as an over abundance of ear hair might well be to the sensitive type, every person should be thankful they don't have 'werewolf syndrome', aka 'hypertrichosis', like the poor soul below did.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Joris_Hoefnagel_-_Animalia_Rationalia_et_Insecta_%28Ignis%29-_Plate_I.jpg/300px-Joris_Hoefnagel_-_Animalia_Rationalia_et_Insecta_%28Ignis%29-_Plate_I.jpg
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_hair#
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HypertrichosisReplies: @songbird
I suspect that there are hormonal changes, perhaps to do with pigment (greying or whitening of hair), that might result in impressive eyebrows. Likely, as you say, really impressive eyebrows might be merely a sign of aging in some individuals.
However, I am inclined to think that there may be some art or purpose in hairy ears, as they show up a lot earlier. (20s, maybe, or even late teens.)
One possibility is that it could be a late-stage test of paternity. (Perhaps, especially significant in clan-based societies.). Though this idea is somewhat complicated by inheritance of hairy ears not always being linked to the Y-chromosome. (Believe it usually is Y-mediated.) It might as easily be allotropically linked to some other, less superficial trait.
BTW, I’m fascinated by that strange line in the wiki article that seems to imply Indians (dot) often have hair concentrated in a certain part of the ear (the lower ear?). Never heard that before, and I did previously encounter some ear-hair literature that mentioned India.
I’ve often lamented that all the great Victorian-era ethnographers are long dead. They had a genius for theorizing and data-gathering, though poor tools compared to today. But, then again, they lived in a different political environment, and it would not be so easy today.
The only people who could do it now, politically, East Asians, are just not as hairy.
I remember a scene from the original Hawaii 5-0, one of the earlier episodes, where McGarrett makes a pass to a receptive young woman (like Kirk in Star Trek, he was always doing that) and her complimentary response (believe it or not) was that McGarrett didn't have hairy ears. Haha!
Speaking of flu shots, do you or any of our more scientifically inclined minds here (AP, Professor Tennessee, Dmitry etc.) have any opinions on its advocacy? How about the "new and improved" covid vaccine, that's been designed to include immunity against the Omicron variant?Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
Front page, Newsworthy & promoted again because of current events block, top story.
This is the best Whitney though:
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/are-the-opponents-of-the-covid-injections-anti-vaxx-crackpots/
???
• The Green Party could deploy an equivalent to Fang Fang Bang Bang.
• Antifa is capable of more technical blackmail. The EU is puppet master to Not-The-President Biden's illegitimate administration. This is a 100% linear relationship where the EU has absolute control.
Poland is not stupid enough to trust a rapidly failing coup regime (with the DNC as supplicant to the European WEF).
____
Small loads in a "non-design" orientation can have outsized impact on industrial equipment. A small crew could have done this with little difficulty.
The seismic events were not the explosives. They were the initial blast of high pressure gas (1,500+ psi) departing the pipeline.
PEACE 😇Replies: @songbird
Greta and the Greens would scratch their heads, and ask you to quantify it in Holstein cow farts.
‘This business will get out of control…and we’ll be lucky to live through it.’
The American government broadly gives Americans what they want. This is why "consent from the governed" is about as high as it has ever been in history, as evidenced by an all-time low in political violence, and general revolutionary impetus.
Remember, look at people's actions, not their melodramatic words. Indeed, inward migration of white people to the United States continues to be far higher than outmigration, so white people seem to like the place very much.
You, as an individual, like to push this line of "hostile elites", "be alienated", "be bitter", as you feel alienated and rejected and prefer company in your resentments, but please your don't confuse your emotional needs for reality.
A simple observable fact is that current political acrimony is mostly centered on what it is to be a "woman," which is a topic that everyone gets excited about, but basically means nothing compared to political conflicts of yesteryear. The same passions are there, as people still need an outlet for their passions, but the stakes are close to non-existent. No one is going to the barricades over this. There'll be no civil war either. The idea is hysterical. Like "collapse." "Satan" is not coming. Rich country humans have just moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and are pretending that their squabbles are just as base as the ones over who starves etc. They are not.
Immigration and low birth rates isn't "genocide". It makes me feel sad as I am attached to white, especially Northern European peoples, but it is no more a crime than my sister not having a child is murder. That's idiotic.
What is REAL however is that Russia launched a war into Ukraine and is currently killing Ukrainians for no measurable benefit. So if you care about Ukrainians, that is a big deal.
And if you ever wonder why Western politicians, peoples and media get so much more aninated over foreign conflicts, the answer is obvious. And it isn't because of some paranoid delusional conspiracy theory. It is simply because the stakes for the participants are higher. It is about death, life and freedom, not who gets to use which bathroom. Or whether pantomine is ok, but drag isn't. Or whether taxes should vary by a couple of percent or not.
But I doubt you'll be able to follow my argument, because then it leaves you with the question of why you get so agitated and attached. Well, 1. you like to be entertained. And 2. you, like practically every other human engaged in this grand psychodrama, project your internal conflicts onto politics and therefore deeply feel that this is like life or death for you, when it obviously isn't.
In the last 150 years, extreme poverty has gone from 92% of the world's population to 8%. Despite generally less productive parts of the world becoming a lot bigger percentage of the population. Yet people still need to pretend that their internal existential crises are really about the world etc. You can't change it, but it is extremely comical when you see it.
That doesn't mean I don't have preferences. I do. And they're fringe. Except in Italy, I guess, where my newest favourite politician just got elected. But let's see how long she lasts... hopefully for a thousand years.Replies: @sudden death, @German_reader, @Barbarossa, @Greasy William
I do care about Ukrainians. But I also care about British, Italians, Poles, Germans, French, Australians, and Americans. The peoples of those countries are counting on a Russian victory. For us this is a matter of survival against our own Satanic elites. In the US especially the regime has become increasingly aggressive over the past 6 months.
I don’t want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.
If Putin wins, it won't help you one iota. If Putin loses, you'll be no worse off than you currently are.
Fight for your own country, in your own country.Replies: @216, @Greasy William
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.
The sooner an end to this is negotiated the better. It is not impossible.
Putin would follow up a victory by doubling down on his government's support for BLM for America and mass Arab and African immigration for Europe; his goal is to weaken, not strengthen, Russia's rivals. He is not some sort of philanthropist, he pursues the interests of the Russian state (not even Russian people, and certainly not your people).Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Wokechoke
I don't want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.Replies: @Wokechoke, @keypusher, @Emil Nikola Richard, @AP
No use negotiating with The Head Girl tbh.
US/EU will impose a travel ban
The Jews want White blood to flow.
The apparent sabotage of the pipeline is remindful of the analogy used in The Hunt for Red October, ie Cortez burning his ships to motivate his men to fight.
No going back.
Below is another clip (like the preceding one with the carrier jet crash) from the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October.
The sub’s political officer Putin (yes, that’s his name in the film) quotes from the Bible about Armageddon, and is then murdered..
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October_(film)
The 50% still included the Russians of Donbas.
Geography (loss of Crimea plus 2/3 of Donbas population) was enough to drop support for pro-Russian parties to 33%.
The drop from 85% to 51% would be enough to reduce that 33% to 20%.
You were very adamant about winners bias, which would shave some more % off that 20%.
So the final result of 12.5% voting for pro-Russian parties in Ukraine minus Donbas and Crimea would not have been the result of much intimidation or oppression. Geography, drop in support for Russia, and winners bias accounts for most of the collapse from 48% in 2012.
What is difficult for you to understand?
See above. The 50% still included Donbas, they were gone later.
Many people who liked Russia also wanted Ukrainian schools not Russians secondary schools, and wanted Ukraine to be part of NATO. Both issues had majority support after 2014.
Now you lie about his platform. He was pro-EU and pro-NATO. He even thought Bandera was cool, though he was fine with other regions not celebrating him.
He was softer than Poroshenko, wanted things to be done more gradually, thought he could dialogue with Putin, but was not a pro-Russian.
My relatives who found themselves in the West when it started went back. Those are anecdotes. In reality Ukraine has mobilized 100,000s of additional soldiers. Most have not tried to run away, it’s their country after all.
I don't want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.Replies: @Wokechoke, @keypusher, @Emil Nikola Richard, @AP
There is nothing funnier than an anti-woke westerner thinking that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is going to save him. The cargo cultists of the South Pacific were masters of causal reasoning by comparison.
If Putin wins, it won’t help you one iota. If Putin loses, you’ll be no worse off than you currently are.
Fight for your own country, in your own country.
If Ukraine evicts Russia, and causes a color revolution in Moscow, illiberals will have no power in Europe. Orban and PiS (those who cannot see the forest for the trees) will quickly be evicted by Brussels.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher
Wokeism thrives on stability, peace and prosperity. When those things go, Wokeism will go with it.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher, @AnonfromTN
However, I am inclined to think that there may be some art or purpose in hairy ears, as they show up a lot earlier. (20s, maybe, or even late teens.)
One possibility is that it could be a late-stage test of paternity. (Perhaps, especially significant in clan-based societies.). Though this idea is somewhat complicated by inheritance of hairy ears not always being linked to the Y-chromosome. (Believe it usually is Y-mediated.) It might as easily be allotropically linked to some other, less superficial trait.
BTW, I'm fascinated by that strange line in the wiki article that seems to imply Indians (dot) often have hair concentrated in a certain part of the ear (the lower ear?). Never heard that before, and I did previously encounter some ear-hair literature that mentioned India.
I've often lamented that all the great Victorian-era ethnographers are long dead. They had a genius for theorizing and data-gathering, though poor tools compared to today. But, then again, they lived in a different political environment, and it would not be so easy today.
The only people who could do it now, politically, East Asians, are just not as hairy.Replies: @S
Could be. I’ve always thought the really hairy people, men and women, were throwbacks to our earlier Neanderthal phase, but, I could be wrong. 🙂
I remember a scene from the original Hawaii 5-0, one of the earlier episodes, where McGarrett makes a pass to a receptive young woman (like Kirk in Star Trek, he was always doing that) and her complimentary response (believe it or not) was that McGarrett didn’t have hairy ears. Haha!
The drop from 85% to 51% would be enough to reduce that 33% to 20%.
You were very adamant about winners bias, which would shave some more % off that 20%.
So the final result of 12.5% voting for pro-Russian parties in Ukraine minus Donbas and Crimea would not have been the result of much intimidation or oppression. Geography, drop in support for Russia, and winners bias accounts for most of the collapse from 48% in 2012.
What is difficult for you to understand? See above. The 50% still included Donbas, they were gone later. Many people who liked Russia also wanted Ukrainian schools not Russians secondary schools, and wanted Ukraine to be part of NATO. Both issues had majority support after 2014. Now you lie about his platform. He was pro-EU and pro-NATO. He even thought Bandera was cool, though he was fine with other regions not celebrating him.
He was softer than Poroshenko, wanted things to be done more gradually, thought he could dialogue with Putin, but was not a pro-Russian. My relatives who found themselves in the West when it started went back. Those are anecdotes. In reality Ukraine has mobilized 100,000s of additional soldiers. Most have not tried to run away, it's their country after all.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Beckow
I have a 40 + year old cousin, who emigrated to the US when he was 15 years old who returned to Ukraine (Kyiv region) when the war started to help out and joined up with a Kyiv militia group. He stayed there for over a month and then returned to be with his wife & kids. Kyiv was bravely defended from the holota from the north quite successfully.
I don't want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.Replies: @Wokechoke, @keypusher, @Emil Nikola Richard, @AP
Pro 20:3
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.
The sooner an end to this is negotiated the better. It is not impossible.
If Putin wins, it won't help you one iota. If Putin loses, you'll be no worse off than you currently are.
Fight for your own country, in your own country.Replies: @216, @Greasy William
If Ukraine is completely destroyed, liberals will look weak across the Western world. AfD might come into power in Germany.
If Ukraine evicts Russia, and causes a color revolution in Moscow, illiberals will have no power in Europe. Orban and PiS (those who cannot see the forest for the trees) will quickly be evicted by Brussels.
Today Ukraine is just a tool to assert NATO's dominance in that geographic zone, while RusFed is as much Russia as Macron's France is Napoleonean Empire or Truss's UK is the British Empire in its heyday.
In fact, unbeknownst to most Westerners, Russia ended in 1653, everything after that was less and less Russian, up to today's RusFed which is the Nth dilution of the original spirit (pun intended).
Back in May when the Russians were still creeping forward, they were going so slow that it would have taken them 50 years to conquer Ukraine. Now that they are moving backwards, conquest of the whole country has become even less likely. This isn't World War II. Small, not terribly effective armies, coupled with the presence of nuclear weapons, make crushing victories on the battlefield hard to come by.
And if they do conquer Ukraine somehow, liberalism in the West will be strengthened, not weakened. Did the Taliban taking Kabul weaken feminism?Replies: @216
And when (probably soon) the last traces of traditional way of life are to be found only among the Islamic diaspora in the West, where do you think the tradition driven Westerners will flock to ?
It has already started happening.
Mainly due to original European identities having been erased by Christianity long ago, while now Christianity itself is being erased after having become nearly completely corrupted and irrelevant.
Intelligent people need a meaning to life, if they find none left in their native culture, then they will look somewhere else.
Islam happens to be superficially simple, so A’adjam find it easy to adopt.
If only they understood Islam’s contradictions, they wouldn’t so easily fall for it.
At the same time, you can observe some growing revival of interest in European traditions among Westerners. The spread of this may be being artificially inhibited by tech companies, but I think you can already see some political reflections of it.
OTOH, I also think you are right about the high levels of entropy in Western societies, this is probably the only reason something like the LGBTQ-Islam-black nationalism-feminism alliance is not just sustainable but looks like it might (temporarily) dominate.
This could be significant in terms of the outcome in the war in Ukraine. It looks like the GAE is really out to punish Putin, but if they are successful, do they really have the cultural vitality and coherence to absorb RF, Ukraine, Belarus into the GAE sphere? I doubt it at the moment.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
If Ukraine evicts Russia, and causes a color revolution in Moscow, illiberals will have no power in Europe. Orban and PiS (those who cannot see the forest for the trees) will quickly be evicted by Brussels.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher
Let me correct it a bit: If NATO evicts RusFed from Ukraine and causes a civil war in Moscow…
Today Ukraine is just a tool to assert NATO’s dominance in that geographic zone, while RusFed is as much Russia as Macron’s France is Napoleonean Empire or Truss’s UK is the British Empire in its heyday.
In fact, unbeknownst to most Westerners, Russia ended in 1653, everything after that was less and less Russian, up to today’s RusFed which is the Nth dilution of the original spirit (pun intended).
If those who pay you think that people who voted or people in the RF care about their opinions, they should think again (always assuming that they have something to think with).
Maybe “draft dodgers” can extradited from Tennessee as well?
It’s also unfair that only young men should be sent for “vacation” in Ukraine. After all, you are never too old to enjoy camping with your colleagues in nature, sleeping under the stars, riding in historical tanks, the adventures in the Ukrainian mine field.
But seriously, one of the nice things about Russia, is they don’t know where you are even inside Russia, and of course not outside Russia. They don’t seem to know if you don’t live in Russia, years after you emigrated. And the authorities don’t know even that people might not live in their official address in Russia that has not been updated for years.
I’m not sure how careful other countries are, but it definitely seems funny when they still think a person is living in the address of ten years ago, when they have been living half-way across the world from there for many years.
And this is not probably just a kind of conditional freedom from having a badly organized government. The system perhaps feels like it was designed to not track the people exiting Russia and this was probably convenient for private interests of the people who design the system until now.
If Putin wins, it won't help you one iota. If Putin loses, you'll be no worse off than you currently are.
Fight for your own country, in your own country.Replies: @216, @Greasy William
A Ukrainian victory wouldn’t be the end of the world but a Ukrainian defeat would mark the official end of the post WW2 liberal world order. It would end the EU and open the door to Chinese annexation of Taiwan.
Wokeism thrives on stability, peace and prosperity. When those things go, Wokeism will go with it.
Although, there are extremes that could go way worse than what we see today on the Cultural Marxism front.
I am unsure whether a full fledged conflict between the Woke and the Conservative might be easily won by the Conservative.
I suspect the 2nd principle of thermodynamics might have something to do with me having second thoughts about the potential victory of the Right.
The Woke seem to have entropy working on their side.
If Ukraine evicts Russia, and causes a color revolution in Moscow, illiberals will have no power in Europe. Orban and PiS (those who cannot see the forest for the trees) will quickly be evicted by Brussels.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher
Ukraine won’t be destroyed, and there won’t be a color revolution.
Back in May when the Russians were still creeping forward, they were going so slow that it would have taken them 50 years to conquer Ukraine. Now that they are moving backwards, conquest of the whole country has become even less likely. This isn’t World War II. Small, not terribly effective armies, coupled with the presence of nuclear weapons, make crushing victories on the battlefield hard to come by.
And if they do conquer Ukraine somehow, liberalism in the West will be strengthened, not weakened. Did the Taliban taking Kabul weaken feminism?
So, yes.
People “searching a meaning for life”, is surely like symptom that they are not appreciating its meaning because they were distracted to appreciate what they have.
If AnoninTN would be sent to fight in Ukraine, he would appreciate suddenly his warm bed and his happy life in TN.
If something bad happens to you, then you look back at your old life and understand how happy it was before this bad thing happens. If your family member, would be diagnosed with cancer, suddenly you would appreciate them as sufficient, even though their positive qualities do not change.
So, also, if you avoid something bad, or something good happens, usually part of your brain stops worrying for a short time, and then your brain allows you to appreciate the small things in life, if you can remember how the perception of the world changes on the morning of the first day of the summer vacation when you don’t have to worry about waking for school.
Wokeism thrives on stability, peace and prosperity. When those things go, Wokeism will go with it.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher, @AnonfromTN
Amen to that!
Although, there are extremes that could go way worse than what we see today on the Cultural Marxism front.
I am unsure whether a full fledged conflict between the Woke and the Conservative might be easily won by the Conservative.
I suspect the 2nd principle of thermodynamics might have something to do with me having second thoughts about the potential victory of the Right.
The Woke seem to have entropy working on their side.
Wokeism thrives on stability, peace and prosperity. When those things go, Wokeism will go with it.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher, @AnonfromTN
I think your predictions are wrong, but never mind. Eventually we’ll all find out what the future holds, unless we get blown up first. What’s really striking is this:
So, one, you hate wokeism so much you’ll sacrifice stability, peace, and prosperity to get rid of it.
Two, you’re in such despair that you think giving up stability, peace, and prosperity is the only way to defeat wokeism.
IMO, not healthy, nor sane.
But it's not about that. It's that I have two choices before me: peace and prosperity with slavery or chaos and hardship with freedom. I do not want chaos and hardship. But I cannot live under the boot of the Left. Especially after the Covid stuff. Like I said above: it's no longer about revenge, now it's about survival.Replies: @Keypusher
Back in May when the Russians were still creeping forward, they were going so slow that it would have taken them 50 years to conquer Ukraine. Now that they are moving backwards, conquest of the whole country has become even less likely. This isn't World War II. Small, not terribly effective armies, coupled with the presence of nuclear weapons, make crushing victories on the battlefield hard to come by.
And if they do conquer Ukraine somehow, liberalism in the West will be strengthened, not weakened. Did the Taliban taking Kabul weaken feminism?Replies: @216
Roe v Wade got overturned
So, yes.
Wokeism thrives on stability, peace and prosperity. When those things go, Wokeism will go with it.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @keypusher, @AnonfromTN
We are close to the point when anything that makes wokeism go is good.
Well, Dmitry you are an existentialist and a materialist. Which is fine, it probably makes life easier, but some people are different. To paraphrase a well-known Russian parable : “what is good for a Gnostic/Psychic is a Somatic/Hylic’s death”. And of course the opposite is also true.
Azerbaijan is not really much part of the Muslim world in the recent centuries, but part of the Russian empire. Baku became an strategic part of the Russian empire where the population was then mostly secularized in the Soviet times.
It is parts of the Soviet Union which since 30 years ago has been given to a local KGB family.
As for people claiming that Russia should be actively involved in the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. This would be irrational, although questions of rationality are not always relevant for Moscow’s actions to say it mildly.
Both those countries are supposed to be allies of Moscow. Azerbaijan has more leverage for various reasons, so between those two “countries”, Baku probably has higher prioritization. Probably one of the more simple reason Azerbaijan has more leverage is because it has the border with Russia and Aliev is often trolling Moscow by doing things like banning the movement of Azerbaijanis on the border. Many of the countries that have borders with Russia can then use those as leverage against Russia. This is one reason Kazakhstan probably has a significant leverage with Moscow. They have the most vast border they are only minimally guarding.
I don't want a Russian victory, I need a Russian victory. We can worry about helping the Ukrainian people later on.Replies: @Wokechoke, @keypusher, @Emil Nikola Richard, @AP
Not the Poles. Nor the Italians just elected a very pro-Ukrainian PM.
Putin would follow up a victory by doubling down on his government’s support for BLM for America and mass Arab and African immigration for Europe; his goal is to weaken, not strengthen, Russia’s rivals. He is not some sort of philanthropist, he pursues the interests of the Russian state (not even Russian people, and certainly not your people).
With examples of Kremlins support to the BLM and the "browning" of EU.
Thanks! He pursues the interest of his clique, not Russian state, nor Russian people. He is still mentally in the Ozero Cooperative, it's just that now the Cooperative has grown global.Replies: @AP
Putin would follow up a victory by doubling down on his government's support for BLM for America and mass Arab and African immigration for Europe; his goal is to weaken, not strengthen, Russia's rivals. He is not some sort of philanthropist, he pursues the interests of the Russian state (not even Russian people, and certainly not your people).Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Wokechoke
Would you care to elaborate more about it?
With examples of Kremlins support to the BLM and the “browning” of EU.
Thanks!
He pursues the interest of his clique, not Russian state, nor Russian people. He is still mentally in the Ozero Cooperative, it’s just that now the Cooperative has grown global.
https://www.rt.com/usa/482423-black-man-beaten-nypd-cops/
Also:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612221082052
“newer media properties like In The NOW, Soapbox, and Redfish supported the BLM movement with clickbait-style videos highlighting racism in America.”
:::::::::::::::
As for Putin’s role in destabilizing Western Europe by promoting mass immigration, it’s commonly talked about in Poland. The case of the migrants sent through Belarus is obvious. Here is Putin blaming the West for the migrants trying to enter Poland from Belarus and condemning Poland for keeping them out:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-nato-drills-black-sea-are-serious-challenge-moscow-2021-11-13/
“ He accused Polish forces on the border with Belarus of beating migrants, firing rounds above their heads and turning on lights and sirens at night nearby.
"This doesn't really tie in well with the ideas of humanity that supposedly underpin all the policies of our Western neighbours," he said”
::::::::
Putin’s enabler Merkel opened the floodgates in Europe to the refugees created by Putin’s assault of Syrian civilians. US General Breedlove:
“ Barrel bombs are designed to terrorize, get people out of their homes, get them on the road and make them someone else's problem. These indiscriminate weapons used by both Assad and the non-precision use of weapons by Russia, I can't find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem."
Here is an example involving Libya. It might explain why Italy’s heroic new PM, whose country bears the brunt of this onslaught, is so anti-Putin.
Western conservatives who think of Putin as a savior are the same sort of dupes as the old school leftist useful idiots who looked to the USSR for salvation.
https://unherd.com/2022/03/vladimir-putins-secret-weapon/
… in recent years, it’s been in Libya that Putin has pursued his most fierce — and secret — weaponisation of migrants. There, Russia exploits its increased presence by collaborating with militias to foster and facilitate crippling migrant flows into Europe. By deploying Russia’s ‘private’ military companies in the region, Putin all but controls the most significant routes for mass migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe — and therefore has the power to cripple economies and sow societal division.
Take Khalifa Hafar, the commander of the Libyan National Army — a nominal national force that is really an amalgamation of local militias. Hafar is currently trying to rebrand himself as Libya’s next President, but in reality is nothing more than a Russian-speaking warlord who benefits from the support of at least 1,500 Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group.
What would drive Putin to dirty his hands in the chaotic, tribal world of North African politics? As Mark Grey, Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College, has observed: “Large tribes control vast territories in the region, operate beyond the control of nation states and ignore borders. Just as Italy pays militias to curtail migration from western Libya, Russia can pay tribes and militias to just as easily encourage and facilitate migration as control it.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1614663/putin-plan-africa-famine-refugee-crisis-wheat-ports-blockade
“2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN is seeking to 'cause a famine in Africa' for the wave of refugees resulting from a hunger crisis to destabilise the West…”
:::::::::::::::
And why wouldn’t a man who sends Chechens and Buryats to rape and murder people in the heart of Europe wreck havoc on the West by helping to pour in destabilizing migrants on a mass scale?Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Bashibuzuk
You don’t need to label “existentialist”, “materialist”.
Remember how you were on the first day of summer vacation when you were a 12 years old. You didn’t need to look for meaning, as meaning was already obvious to you in most of what you were doing, even just being able to watch cartoons in the morning.
The problem is on the last day of the vacation, your brain would turn off the switch and you are programmed that you have to start to not appreciate small things of life, to worry about the tasks required of you.
Society and probably at the lower level our evolutionary needs are exploiting these switches and we are mostly being programmed to worry, especially by our very artificial society. But when you were young you could notice these switches turning on and off more obviously.
It’s not like there is an easy solution for most of us or that you should be better to be always like a child during vacation considering this would give you a bad situation with the society we live in. But the fact we all have plenty of experience of when we seemed to understood the “meaning of life” and we didn’t feel so much need to search for anything to find it, indicates it’s probably not something so distant from your current situation.
I remember that you were very fond of watching movies, have you watched Into the Wild ?
My current situation, and I would guess yours too, is quite different from the one I've lived in when I was 12 years old. That year I was in a typical Soviet summer camp in a forest by a small river in the countryside around an hour and a half drive south west from Moscow. Since then both the world and I have changed a lot.
"When we were young, long days and laughing eyes, walk through the fields - sunshine and butterflies. Fragile place, nothing ever lasts for long, foreign lands - take right and make it wrong..."
However, there is something in Ch'an/Zen that we call "original mind", that is perhaps somewhat close to what we experienced when we were children. Speaking of which there is this saying in the Gospel of Thomas:
"The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same."
That of course sounds very Ch'an/Zen Buddhist, probably because those who have found meaning in life, often sound similar and express the same eternal and often simple truths.
And I agree that there's no need to be existentialist and/or materialistic.
To find again this feeling of "meaning in life" one sometimes just needs to go for a couple of days of solitary hiking in some beautiful and remote wilderness.
Nature brings balance back.
Civilization brings neuroticisms.Replies: @Dmitry
If it was just that I hated liberals and liberalism so much that I was willing to see the world burn as long as they burned along with it, I agree that that would be neither healthy or sane.
But it’s not about that. It’s that I have two choices before me: peace and prosperity with slavery or chaos and hardship with freedom. I do not want chaos and hardship. But I cannot live under the boot of the Left. Especially after the Covid stuff. Like I said above: it’s no longer about revenge, now it’s about survival.
That’s what life under the boot looks like. There was a lot of bullshit over masks and vaccines over the past couple years. That’s not life under the boot.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Greasy William
I am sure they will be very legalistic about it and extradite only those for whom they get Russian court order. Maybe that’s the reason for the new Russian law: to create legal grounds for issuing that court order.
I have no address in Russia since 1993, and crossed Russian border many times since then. Nobody cared. In fact, I lived w/o valid Russian internal passport until about a year ago, and this created no problem. I only needed that passport number to register at Gosuslugi site. I have no registration in that passport, so legally speaking I don’t even have an address in the RF.
In the US the only situations when you need a proven postal address (show utility bills addressed to you) is when you open a bank account or move to another state and want to get that state’s drivers license. When you renew your drivers license or your US passport for international travel (both once in ten years), they ask your address. With the license you can lie that it’s the same, you receive it in person. With passport you can’t lie, as the new one will be mailed to you at the address you give. You put your address on the tax return every year, but whether it is correct only matters if you expect communications from the IRS: all official communications are via mail.
In Europe it’s mixed. In Italy they take your passport for a day at hotels to register you, but that does not happen in small mom-and-pop hotels. In the UK, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, and many other countries they don’t do that. They don’t do that in non-European countries I went to where I stayed in hotels: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Egypt. Funny thing in Malaysia is that when you fly from other parts of it to the province of Sarawak, they check your passport and put a stamp into it, as if you are entering a different country.
So, it’s a pretty common thing in the world that the authorities don’t care to know where you are. But Big Brother is watching you via your credit cards, more efficiently than KGB ever could.. If you don’t want to be tracked, use cash. The only country I know where they prefer cards to cash is Sweden. Some places don’t even accept cash. In the rest of the world you can travel untracked, if you wish.
Just to be clear: I am not hoping for an end of the Ukrainian state or to see Ukraine converted into a Russian satellite. I just want the war to be a clear Russian victory, something akin to the USSR’s victory over Finland in 1940.
There must be a clear defeat of the United States and the European Union. Both of those entities are a bigger threat to Ukrainians than Russia ever could be.
It’s funny in America people have to write their own taxes each year, which is now less modern than in Russia, where they do it all automatically by computer.
Although personally I would prefer “less modern” and “less digitization” from the government in as many areas of bureaucracy, as this implies a bit more liberty from the state. Even if there is some inconvenience as your taxes.
I think in the EU they are becoming more strict all the time and the hotels want to book your passport in the last couple years. Even when you buy a bus ticket across the countries.
In Soviet times, there was such kind of personal freedoms, not from intention of the state, but from inability of the state, because there were limited technological resources to monitor the population. That’s why the potential of the 21st century could be even more dystopian than the 20th century, as we are establishing digitization in our daily life.
If the problems will not be managed, in a few decades, people will probably be dreaming to join the anti-technology cults like Amish or Haredim for a strange kind of freedom, and the last truly free peoples of the world lose their ancestral forests in the Amazon.
It is all accelerating and probably converging into some focal telos of control upon matter, energy, space and time. A kind of Big Bang in reverse on a planetary scale. The Technosphere is lusting for it. That is if our Civilization doesn't break into pieces during the process and/or we don't end up wiped out as a species.
All this talk about "multipolar world " is of course bogus nonsense, there must be "one ring to rull them all" in the end. And it probably won't be human. Some "deep learning algorithm" will tell you how to live your life. Or something that pretends being "an algorithm" will do.
BTW, Pelevin in his last book, conviently named "Transhumanism Inc", has a couple of amusing short stories about our future after the Great Reset. I doubt it will be translated into English any time soon.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S
The parts of the world that are not in the imperial patch (roughly 4/5th of it) are saner, so I don’t expect them to get stricter in spying on you. I have two trips planned in the next half-a-year, both to countries that don’t toe the imperial line. Some additional trips on my to-do list are also to saner parts of the world. I don’t think I will go to any imperial vassal in my remaining lifetime. From my perspective, it’s not the tech that’s at fault, it’s the way the elites are using it. So, I am anti-elite, not anti-tech. Maybe because I need a lot of high-tech things for my work.
A non-story, globally-speaking, but I enjoyed the gesture
But it's not about that. It's that I have two choices before me: peace and prosperity with slavery or chaos and hardship with freedom. I do not want chaos and hardship. But I cannot live under the boot of the Left. Especially after the Covid stuff. Like I said above: it's no longer about revenge, now it's about survival.Replies: @Keypusher
Ok, look, there’s a book you should read. The House of Government, by Yuri Slezkine. In the first part, before the revolution, the Bolsheviks are all in exile in Siberia. In the middle they’re in power and putting all their opponents in the gulag, or worse. In the third part, it’s the Purges and Stalin is having all the Bolsheviks taken to the Lubyanka cellars to be shot.
That’s what life under the boot looks like. There was a lot of bullshit over masks and vaccines over the past couple years. That’s not life under the boot.
Anyone who tells me to get over the Covid shit, I know immediately that person is a Biden voter. A person who wanted vaccine passports and masks forever and who supported the Nazi police arresting people for jogging on the beach. And now that the masks, the vaccines and lockdowns have been discredited, we are all supposed to just move on.
Yeah, that's not gonna happen. There is no returning to coexistence after what you guys did.
Excellent insight unlike Ben Hodges’ BS.
Some follow-up on the below tweet:
– An acquaintance has a cousin who drives cab in Lugansk. Awhile back, this cabbie was pulled over by a Kiev regime militia that gave him the choice of either joining them or getting arrested for terrorism. Such manner is in line with the footage of people gritting yanked off the streets to serve the corrupt, undemocratic and neo-Nazi influenced Kiev regime.
– Between 2015 and prior to the SMO, a couple of Ukrainians I know (who don’t know each other) said the Kiev regime totaled whole neighborhoods in Donbass which had no rebels.
– Poroshenko is on record for saying that children in the Kiev regime will go to school and play outside as Donbass children stay in basements.
– Zelensky said those speaking Russian and having a pro-Russian sentiment should leave Ukraine (as in its Communist drawn boundary). They should leave the territory of their ancestors, which has had centuries of togetherness with Russia?
Communist drawn Ukraine encompassed people with different sympathies. The disrespect and violence exhibited towards the pro-Russian perspective has served to ignite conflict.
A majority of people, and a super majority of young people, are not even religious. Nevermind wanting a theocratic state.
Things have been changing fast. The internet is as widespread as Italy, but the government is ridiculous.
The increase in knowledge of alternatives, combined with having clown world laws like enforced head scarves, have chased people away from religion. Imagine your female friend being whipped 70 times for having something other than her hands or face “exposed” in public, or your sister, or wife, or daughter.
This insanity, being thrown in their faces, I now why only 30% even claim to believe in heaven and hell.
Your knowledge is about 10 years out of date.
https://theconversation.com/irans-secular-shift-new-survey-reveals-huge-changes-in-religious-beliefs-145253
Things have already backfired for Putin to an astounding extent. But that now works to his advantage because he is in a hole. So he can stop digging (ask for terms), or ascend out of it on the ladder of non conventional escalation by explicitly threatening to use a little thermonuclear weapon on the Ukrainian army unless it stops taking back everything won this year and maybe making the previous big gain (Crimea) vulnerable.
He could do this best by taking action: a frightening demonstration of the awesome destructive power he might weld on any major Ukrainian advances in the South. An example might detonating a Tactical on Snake Island, but that would be too showy perhaps. Most effective Im my opinion would be to give the impression that in relation to Ukraine, which is relatively speaking its part of the world rather than the West’s, the Kremlin views its battlefield nukes as tools to be used to solve practical military problems without worrying very much about the West’s scandalised reaction. One tempting gambit in this connection could be detonating thermonuclear mines to create huge craters that would be an obstacle for Ukraine to drive on Kherson or the coastal area between it and the Donbass
After exchange of Azov criminals several Russian bloggers said the same thing: now Russian soldiers know that Nazis should not be taken prisoners, they should be shot on the spot. There is historic precedent: there were direct orders to take Vlasov’s troops prisoner in WWII, but Soviet troops did not take any, shot them on the spot instead. Even formidable Stalin’s repressive machine proved impotent. Putin is nowhere near Stalin in this regard.Replies: @Here Be Dragon, @Wielgus
A late Soviet film from 1985, The Battalion Requests Fire, has a scene where Soviet troops capture a sniper who was firing at them from a building. He pretends to be German at first and has no obvious ROA insignia but turns out to be a Russian from the town of Arzamas. The “Vlasovite” is taken away and shot.
That made me think of Aaron B.
I remember that you were very fond of watching movies, have you watched Into the Wild ?
My current situation, and I would guess yours too, is quite different from the one I’ve lived in when I was 12 years old. That year I was in a typical Soviet summer camp in a forest by a small river in the countryside around an hour and a half drive south west from Moscow. Since then both the world and I have changed a lot.
“When we were young, long days and laughing eyes, walk through the fields – sunshine and butterflies. Fragile place, nothing ever lasts for long, foreign lands – take right and make it wrong…”
However, there is something in Ch’an/Zen that we call “original mind”, that is perhaps somewhat close to what we experienced when we were children. Speaking of which there is this saying in the Gospel of Thomas:
“The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.”
That of course sounds very Ch’an/Zen Buddhist, probably because those who have found meaning in life, often sound similar and express the same eternal and often simple truths.
And I agree that there’s no need to be existentialist and/or materialistic.
To find again this feeling of “meaning in life” one sometimes just needs to go for a couple of days of solitary hiking in some beautiful and remote wilderness.
Nature brings balance back.
Civilization brings neuroticisms.
Oh absolutely, it will be more dystopian. It has already started. Our times compared to 2050 would be like 1922 compared to 1992 because of the accelerating technologically trends.
It is all accelerating and probably converging into some focal telos of control upon matter, energy, space and time. A kind of Big Bang in reverse on a planetary scale. The Technosphere is lusting for it. That is if our Civilization doesn’t break into pieces during the process and/or we don’t end up wiped out as a species.
All this talk about “multipolar world ” is of course bogus nonsense, there must be “one ring to rull them all” in the end. And it probably won’t be human. Some “deep learning algorithm” will tell you how to live your life. Or something that pretends being “an algorithm” will do.
BTW, Pelevin in his last book, conviently named “Transhumanism Inc”, has a couple of amusing short stories about our future after the Great Reset. I doubt it will be translated into English any time soon.
I saw a mainstream report the other day the Chinese are going to have fusion energy in five years. Did you ever see Bill Hicks' routine? Key phrase:
it's a hoot!Replies: @A123
Should their plans come to fruition, after the world war, and after they have reduced the global population to five hundred million souls, that is, of course, should there be an after, there will be what is in theory to be a global democratic republic, the 'United States of the World'.
Directed from the City of London, it is what both wings of the manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic have long been working towards since their late 18th century beginnings, even if but somewhat unwittingly on the part of most of their ideological adherants.
However, the projected world state, with it's ideology of Global Multi-Culturalism, which is the synthesis of Capitalism and Communism, cannot be more than the total sum of its parts, in particular those persons at or near the top.
In the case of the buildup towards the United States of the World, historically, these would be powerful elements of the elites and hangers on of the Anglo-Saxon and Jewish peoples.
These people, amongst others to be sure, have historically had something of an addiction to slavery, at their own and other people's very great expense.
This historic addiction, due to self-deception at best, was greatly worsened in the early 19th century with the monetization of chattel slavery and it's trade, wage slavery, ie specifically the introduction of the so called 'cheap labor'/'mass immigration' system within the Anglosphere countries, under cover of a purported 'abolition'.
Wage slavery is the economic and political basis of the modern progressive Multi-Cultural state, a state which, with it's alien wage slave (aka 'the immigrant') as it's economic centerpiece, closely parallels the Anglosphere chattel slave holding society it directly evolved from, the latter with the alien chattel slave as it's economic centerpiece.
The failure to have dealt with chattel slavery and it's trade in a truthful manner, and instead of abolishing it as claimed, to have instead monetized it with the introduction of wage slavery, ie the so called 'cheap labor'/'mass immigration' system, has been a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions for the peoples of the world, and for humanity as a whole.
The world today in regards to the scourge of slavery is therefore like a person who's deadly skin cancer appears to have faded away, and the person happily thinks they are now cured, when in reality the cancer has metastasized to their internal organs, and they have mere months left to live.
People are creatures of habit. What those at the top of the coming world state are used to (and are comfortable with) is slavery, historically chattel, and now wage.
Unless something should radically change the course of events, and recognizing it is exceedingly difficult to overcome addictions, such as slavery is, there is no reason to think the planned world state, the United States of the World, won't be slavery based economically and politically, as modeled by the Anglosphere states today.
They won't call it slavery of course. It's just that most of the five hundred million likely traumatized, psychologically conditioned, and to be dumbed down survivors will be working at ten cents on the dollar of what the labor is actually worth. Or, who knows, maybe they won't be paid at all. With the right conditioning it could maybe be done...ie as was recently heard, though with a slight addendum:
'You will have nothing, and you will work for nothing, and you will be happy.'
The powers that be love double and triple entendres in regards to word meanings. The UN has a term (see link below) they use for the wage slaves, the so called 'cheap labor', ie 'migrant stock'.
One meaning of 'stock' (amongst others) is 'merchandise', and I submit, that deep down that is much in reality just how they see the wage slaves, aka 'immigrants', ie the so called 'cheap labor'.
So, in the end, and I certainly hope I'm wrong about this, it looks as though the United States of the World may well be a world order tainted by slavery, where the vast majority of the world's five hundred million people will be a highly mobile, dumbed down, rootless, and without identity workforce, ie 'migrant stock', who will be paid (if they are paid at all) far below the actual value of their labor.
A relative few and their hangers on will rule, and live high on the hog indeed, from off the value of the labor they systematically steal from the 'migrant stock'.
As has been aforementioned, the progressives due to their long ago having adopted the ends justify the means to achieve objectives and to take what they want, have become what they (at least claimed) they said they were fighting against all along.
Amongst those things slavers, with their wage slavery system, and torturers, with their 'rendition' program.
What better examples of this projection are there than can be found in the very progressive Multi-Cultural Star Trek series.
https://youtu.be/GL1U_NZ8TWQ
https://youtu.be/ltTOoGp60u8
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/fr/content/international-migrant-stockReplies: @AnonfromTN
That’s what life under the boot looks like. There was a lot of bullshit over masks and vaccines over the past couple years. That’s not life under the boot.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Greasy William
The digital Googlag (pun intended) is being built incrementally. They don’t make same mistakes twice. No need for harsh moves. The frogs should not notice that they’re being boiled. Nobody wants to run looking around for those who escaped the cauldron. Stay here, it’s warm and cozy even though it’s getting warmer all the time. Stay distracted with War in Ukraine, Wokeism, BLM and the “economy”. The cauldron is the place where we all belong, where else could an honest frog turn to ?
So Brandon and Vlad are both brown-bagging it. Rather mystifying caricature, though.
Why is it mistyfying, if it’s done from official erdoganist perspective which officially tries to present himself as some neutral peacenik these days, while both RF and US are not backing down yet?
My views on this have changed a bit in the last couple of years, as Western Islam seems to be becoming more integrated into the intersectional alliance (with LGBTQ, feminists, black nationalists). Imo this compromises its status as a traditional alternative for people who don’t inherit it as part of an ethnic identity. This is something that I don’t think Houellebecq fully predicted in Submission.
At the same time, you can observe some growing revival of interest in European traditions among Westerners. The spread of this may be being artificially inhibited by tech companies, but I think you can already see some political reflections of it.
OTOH, I also think you are right about the high levels of entropy in Western societies, this is probably the only reason something like the LGBTQ-Islam-black nationalism-feminism alliance is not just sustainable but looks like it might (temporarily) dominate.
This could be significant in terms of the outcome in the war in Ukraine. It looks like the GAE is really out to punish Putin, but if they are successful, do they really have the cultural vitality and coherence to absorb RF, Ukraine, Belarus into the GAE sphere? I doubt it at the moment.
Eighty years ago, in 1942 Germans were freezing near Stalingrad. Now they are freezing again, and again Russians are to blame. However, Germans got smarter. They discovered that to freeze you don’t need to travel so far.Replies: @LondonBob
The Eighth Army at Stalingrad was an Austrian army, as was Hitler.
John Helmer says the Poles did it with US approval, looks the most likely, purpose of Radek’s tweet is obvious now.
http://johnhelmer.org/the-bornholm-blow-up-repeats-the-bornholm-bash-poland-attacks-germany-and-blames-russia/
Interview with Doomberg on the energy situation, dire for Europe. Also an interesting interview with David Goldman by John Woo, on the military and economic situation.
Larry Johnson also saying Poland.
https://sonar21.com/what-a-coincidence/
I concur, no one is afraid of the Germans anymore…
The whole cartoon is really quite interesting. At first glance, I didn’t really pay close attention to the brown paper bags that are full of air that are ready to be popped any time soon. But when they are popped, the poor internationalist, global technician should really be jolted into reality. The blue and yellow sticks of dynamite are clearly metaphors for the war in Ukraine. Perhaps one of the messages of this fascinating little cartoon is that it will take more outside parties to help end this quagmire of chaos than just Russia and the US? Perhaps, more “peaceniks” like Erdogan are really needed to make any headway?
But the “distraction” in Ukraine may very well end up determining the future course of the world’s future. Everybody here, including yourself, are paying very close attention to this “distraction”.
But other people around me, that have no direct relationship with RusFed and/or Ukiestan don't really care anymore.
It is just a tribal warfare fought with mid twentieth century strategies and tactics on RusFed side and NATO weapons on Ukie side.
Nothing exciting, a little like Pakistan vs India skirmishes or the forever ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Normies wouldn't care if not for occasional nuclear sabre-rattling by Kremlins and the artistic talent of Zelenskyi (I hope he gets an Academy Award when the whole thing is over).Replies: @Mr. Hack
https://sonar21.com/what-a-coincidence/
I concur, no one is afraid of the Germans anymore...Replies: @A123
I concur.
He makes a good point about energy dependency: (1)
Allowing Germany to become an energy hub and exporter to other European nations would increase the threat to Poland.
Just the opposite. Poland fears EU/German aggression.
Look at the damage the German dominated EU inflicted on both Cyprus & Greece. Germany is actively stalking Hungary & Poland.
Under Angela Merkel, Germany loathed Judeo-Christians. She imported violent Muslims, Great Replacers, to suppress local cultures across Europe. Scholz has not wound back any of her offensive policies. If anything, the Green Party linked Scholz has made things worse.
Countering Germany’s migrant based aggression is simple self defense (and common sense).
PEACE 😇
At the same time, you can observe some growing revival of interest in European traditions among Westerners. The spread of this may be being artificially inhibited by tech companies, but I think you can already see some political reflections of it.
OTOH, I also think you are right about the high levels of entropy in Western societies, this is probably the only reason something like the LGBTQ-Islam-black nationalism-feminism alliance is not just sustainable but looks like it might (temporarily) dominate.
This could be significant in terms of the outcome in the war in Ukraine. It looks like the GAE is really out to punish Putin, but if they are successful, do they really have the cultural vitality and coherence to absorb RF, Ukraine, Belarus into the GAE sphere? I doubt it at the moment.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
No Mu’min I have ever known would recognize such an alliance as anything but artificial. What they call “Western Islam” is a sham. The tradition is clearly described in Islam through the hadith and it is without equivocation: the homosexual must be chased from the Ummah, the nationalism is an heretical innovation (bid’ah) and the rights and duties of both sexes are clearly defined for the days to come. Of course the Globalist try to manipulate Islam as they did manipulate Reformed Judaism first and Christian denominations second (Protestant starting in the early twentieth century, then Catholic after Vatican 2 and today extending somewhat to the eastern Orthodox but with very limited success until today). But it will be hard to do outside the very-Westernized immigrant stratum which is close to kufr anyway and would be considered hypocrite (munafiqun) by any Islamic authority.
Islamists might well use “anti-racism” as a weapon against the Western majority, and pretend to adapt the “feminine condition” in the Din, but all these moves are to be seen as a tactical ruse. They very well know and freely admit that “the war is the way of deception”. Their final goal is a cultural domination and uniformity under Islamic norm.
This is what Houllebecq is pointing at: the potential of Islam to withstand postmodern onslaught of meaninglessness and impose itself as a new cultural and spiritual norm. He sees this in the French society where it is very much apparent today, despite all the efforts to bring the influence of Islam down. It is also on the rise in RusFed, where ethnic Slav are converting in high numbers and ROC is losing its popularity and respected status it had for a generation or so.
Which brings us to the Ukrainian matters, one of the outcomes of this fratricidal conflict is the metamorphosis of both the Russian and Ukrainian identities into much more permeable ones to Globalist influence. Partly through the downgrading of the Orthodox Church, partly through the active combat roles of Islamic fighters on both sides of the frontline and the neo-pagan and outright occult ideology of some fringe, but very active militias (Azov for example).
A Slav is now many things to many people, it is fractional and hence much more “digestible” to postmodern zeitgeist of the GAE. Moreover, some pro-LGBTQ signaling on the Ukrainian side might well be just a marketing move to please the “Western Partners”, but given the role of the Gay and the pederastic cliques in the Maidan and the post-Maidan Kiev power circles (not surprising given the Open Society and other similar structures support of the movement which led to the coup), it might also be an attempt to impose new cultural and gender norms onto the Eastern Slav.
Another outcome of this war on both sides of the conflict is depopulation and a fall in the already anemic demographic trends in both RusFed and Ukraine. Projected on a couple of generations, this conflict might well have an outcome similar to the one of the fall of Communism.
Both these outcomes are of course very much aligned with the Globalist agenda and will ease the spread of this postmodern ideology to the whole Eurasian landmass if RusFed is defeated or if Ukraine survives as an independent political project.
When devil plays chess, he plays it on both ends of the board.
I have a feeling intersectionalism is stronger in the Anglo world, maybe in Germany as well.
France may have self-harmed in a somewhat different but related way by imposing the Republican and liberal tradition on itself too thoroughly. There are some writers I wasn't familiar with when reading Houellebecq in the past, but now I know a little better, and they seem to hang around in the background of his more political books like famished ghosts at the feast.
Sure, it will play a role and I have ethnic and family reasons to be interested in the course of events.
But other people around me, that have no direct relationship with RusFed and/or Ukiestan don’t really care anymore.
It is just a tribal warfare fought with mid twentieth century strategies and tactics on RusFed side and NATO weapons on Ukie side.
Nothing exciting, a little like Pakistan vs India skirmishes or the forever ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Normies wouldn’t care if not for occasional nuclear sabre-rattling by Kremlins and the artistic talent of Zelenskyi (I hope he gets an Academy Award when the whole thing is over).
Welcome to Planet Earth!Replies: @Bashibuzuk
They should rename the pound sterling the pound queer.
Still trying to think of a nickname for the new dollar, but it is harder. A pity the DM was dropped – would be an easy one to satirize.
They could call the new digitalized dollar Funny Money. 'FM' for short. :-)Replies: @songbird
Putin would follow up a victory by doubling down on his government's support for BLM for America and mass Arab and African immigration for Europe; his goal is to weaken, not strengthen, Russia's rivals. He is not some sort of philanthropist, he pursues the interests of the Russian state (not even Russian people, and certainly not your people).Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Wokechoke
BLM is Biden’s street mob you nincompoop.
BLM is the SJW Islamist street mob for violent Islam. The signs & flags are 100% undeniable and unambiguous. BLM is a front for terrorist Jihad.
PEACE 😇
https://worldisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/palestine-mixed-with-black-lives-matter-750x400.jpg
Still trying to think of a nickname for the new dollar, but it is harder. A pity the DM was dropped - would be an easy one to satirize.Replies: @Wokechoke, @S
The Sadiq Kwarteng is a better name for Pound Sterling.
Besides, ideally it should be something easy to understand and pronounce within global financial markets. Something the Chinese could say.
But other people around me, that have no direct relationship with RusFed and/or Ukiestan don't really care anymore.
It is just a tribal warfare fought with mid twentieth century strategies and tactics on RusFed side and NATO weapons on Ukie side.
Nothing exciting, a little like Pakistan vs India skirmishes or the forever ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Normies wouldn't care if not for occasional nuclear sabre-rattling by Kremlins and the artistic talent of Zelenskyi (I hope he gets an Academy Award when the whole thing is over).Replies: @Mr. Hack
Andrew Anglin would severely disagree with you:
The Situation in the Ukraine Is an Historical Event of Immense Magnitude
Welcome to Planet Earth!
I understand why Ukrainians would see their unfortunate circumstances as of historical importance, and I understand why the Moskvabad dwarves would concur with their Ukiestan counterparts, but the destiny of mankind is decided elsewhere.
Indo-pacific is where the game will be played.
Sinosphere vs Globalised West.
The Slav are just (idiotic) cannon fodder in a war they should have avoided by all means. They should have played the game the Turkic peoples are playing today. The Turks are wisely hedging their bets and making profit out of other people's mistakes.
When I look at it, all I think is what a shame...
From being able to go together to Mars (project Aelita was supposed being launched by the end 90ies) to killing each other in Donbass for no good reason. This is how degenerative social trends look like. This will probably be an example for future history books of what should be avoided in nation-building processes.Replies: @S
Not-The-President Biden cannot even fill a campaign appearance. The idea that he directs any large group is ludicrous.
BLM is the SJW Islamist street mob for violent Islam. The signs & flags are 100% undeniable and unambiguous. BLM is a front for terrorist Jihad.
PEACE 😇
More evidence that Make Italy Great Again [MIGA] is real (1)
The Globalist Uniparty shell game relies on — Labour Left / Corporate Right
Italy has joined Hungary and Poland to have a “Labour Right“. This is how Christian Populism will win versus SJW Islamophile Globalism.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/09/29/italy-election-polling-finds-wealthiest-voted-left-working-and-middle-voted-right/
That’s what life under the boot looks like. There was a lot of bullshit over masks and vaccines over the past couple years. That’s not life under the boot.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Greasy William
The Covid regime was definitely life under the boot. Especially in places like Australia, NZ, Canada, UK/Ireland and Western Europe. It wasn’t as bad in America because Americans have not been disarmed yet (and believe me, that is definitely on the agenda) but it was still bad. Further, had it not been for the release of the vaccines, we would still be wearing masks now.
Anyone who tells me to get over the Covid shit, I know immediately that person is a Biden voter. A person who wanted vaccine passports and masks forever and who supported the Nazi police arresting people for jogging on the beach. And now that the masks, the vaccines and lockdowns have been discredited, we are all supposed to just move on.
Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. There is no returning to coexistence after what you guys did.
The drop from 85% to 51% would be enough to reduce that 33% to 20%.
You were very adamant about winners bias, which would shave some more % off that 20%.
So the final result of 12.5% voting for pro-Russian parties in Ukraine minus Donbas and Crimea would not have been the result of much intimidation or oppression. Geography, drop in support for Russia, and winners bias accounts for most of the collapse from 48% in 2012.
What is difficult for you to understand? See above. The 50% still included Donbas, they were gone later. Many people who liked Russia also wanted Ukrainian schools not Russians secondary schools, and wanted Ukraine to be part of NATO. Both issues had majority support after 2014. Now you lie about his platform. He was pro-EU and pro-NATO. He even thought Bandera was cool, though he was fine with other regions not celebrating him.
He was softer than Poroshenko, wanted things to be done more gradually, thought he could dialogue with Putin, but was not a pro-Russian. My relatives who found themselves in the West when it started went back. Those are anecdotes. In reality Ukraine has mobilized 100,000s of additional soldiers. Most have not tried to run away, it's their country after all.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Beckow
…it conclusively shows that Ukraine after Maidan didn’t have free elections. Period. You can play with numbers all you want, but in a country where 50% of people have a positive attitude toward Russia and in four elections in a row 48-52% voted for the pro-Russian parties, the drop to 12.5% cannot be explained in any other rational way.
Staging a violent Maidan against friendship with Russia was a height of stupidity in a country that at that time had 80% positive feelings toward Russia. Now you are paying a terrible price for that stupidity.
Stop with the ad hoc unverifiable arguments. How many of your ‘relatives‘ were wounded or killed? If the answer is none, based on statistics you are simply lying or exaggerating. The videos of Ukie men being round up by force, taken from hundreds of thousands of cars on the borders, the guys we see daily sitting in the coffee ships and occasionally digging ditches – that is the best proof that a large percentage of Ukies had resisted the mobilization. They are the smarter ones.
This is a losing war and unnecessary bloodshed. For what? So you can claim that it is the “Russians themselves who don’t want Russian language in schools and want to join Nato to fight Russia?” Right. How stupid can people get when fanaticism and ideology take over their minds.
You are irrational (or pretend to be, one can not ignore your bad faith and dishonesty), so rational explanations don’t work for you.
The loss of the territories that were most pro-Russian in Ukraine was enough to drop the pro-Russian vote from 48% to 33%. The 40% drop in Russia’s popularity corresponding to a similar decline in voting for pro-Russian parties would bring that down to 20%. You yourself insisted that something called a winners bias means the people will just vote for the winner. That would further whittle down the pro-Russian vote. So very little of the lost on pro-Russian vote could be attributed to other factors, such as oppression.
It’s all very clear.Replies: @Beckow
Too topical, IMO. Sadiq may be in power in Londonstan until he dies of old age, or is impacted by one of the “horns of the bull” and gets an assegai buried in his chest, but they are already talking about ditching Kwarteng.
Besides, ideally it should be something easy to understand and pronounce within global financial markets. Something the Chinese could say.
And that is the reason why you would greet CCP’ied China (which is to this day doing real actual physical lockdowns of their peasants, not the Western parody of lockdowning) troops as the liberators from scary Brandon?
Sounds like an incredible hare brained mental clownery beyond belief, lol
Brandon and Co, in contrast, absolutely are a threat to me. And you are deluded if you don't think that the Brandon regime would have done CCP style lockdowns if they could have gotten away with it. My entire family are liberals and they loooooooved the lockdowns, the masks and the vaccines. They absolutely saw what China did as a model worth emulating.
You can't coexist with dangerous fanatics.
The CCP is bad. Putin is bad. But neither of them are a threat to me.
Brandon and Co, in contrast, absolutely are a threat to me. And you are deluded if you don’t think that the Brandon regime would have done CCP style lockdowns if they could have gotten away with it. My entire family are liberals and they loooooooved the lockdowns, the masks and the vaccines. They absolutely saw what China did as a model worth emulating.
You can’t coexist with dangerous fanatics.
Don’t go to extremes. The people – if you were among them – who concocted the crazy “take these shots or else!” mania need to be held accountable. Otherwise we simply don’t have a civilization.
There are excuses: ‘I was too stupid, with too little information, or too scared, or old and feeble…” none of it justifies pushing potentially toxic shots on healthy young people before proper testing, and even 5-year olds. The latest Harvard study shows that the risk of side effects for 18-35 old men is 90 times higher with MRNA vaccines than with Covid. That is because there is statistically close to zero risk for healthy young people from Covid – and literally no risk for children.
I don’t know about Chinese and don’t plan to live there. But the mindless busy-bodies who spent 18 months trying to push an untested drug on everyone need to own up to it. Your hysteria is your own problem, but trying to hurt others is a crime in every society no matter how much fake paperwork you hide behind.
Welcome to the Cyberpunk, welcome to the Meltdown.
https://youtu.be/fiaWsgtJrNI
Welcome to the third millennium AD.
🙂Replies: @Beckow
Furthermore, one of the reasons why China keeps their intermittent lockdowns is because their vaccines don't work as well as the MRNA ones.
And the point, as regards New Zealand, cannot be dismissed except by "everything is fake" flapping around, and the "studies", cited on alterative "news" sites, have no credibility, nor observable real world evidence, and, in fact, are merely the result of people who were wrong about "Covid isn't real', "it is actually 5G", "the vaccine will kill billions" etc. being unable to admit their biases and move on from what is a straightforward issue.
I will agree that is is possible Ivermectin was brushed aside and is moderately effective. I will also agree that Covid is not particularly dangerous to under-60s with no health issues; however a very large number of under 60s were infected, so many still died. Any respiratory Doctor will confirm and recount their experiences.
On the other hand, fewer people died of COVID after they had been given the vaccine. Again, any hospital-based respiratory specialist will confirm and this is also remarkably easy to see at country-wide levels in undeniable statistics, like how many people died each month and year.
Personally, I like the way the Swedes handled the pandemic. The Chinese have been amazing in a way, but almost any other population would put up with it, and their approach appears to have spiralled into mass and seemingly permanent germaphobia, which could be catastrophic for them.
Overall, I suspect that most developed countries did as good a job as they could.
Responses have to fit the society's expectations because people have to go along with them.
Having said all this, I still want to understand what Japan did. It appears to have avoided mass infections, lockdowns and everything else. People about ventilation as potentially being the key factor, or maybe cultural Japanese social distancing, but the issues is to cloudy for me to understand.Replies: @Beckow
It is all accelerating and probably converging into some focal telos of control upon matter, energy, space and time. A kind of Big Bang in reverse on a planetary scale. The Technosphere is lusting for it. That is if our Civilization doesn't break into pieces during the process and/or we don't end up wiped out as a species.
All this talk about "multipolar world " is of course bogus nonsense, there must be "one ring to rull them all" in the end. And it probably won't be human. Some "deep learning algorithm" will tell you how to live your life. Or something that pretends being "an algorithm" will do.
BTW, Pelevin in his last book, conviently named "Transhumanism Inc", has a couple of amusing short stories about our future after the Great Reset. I doubt it will be translated into English any time soon.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S
Your media is erroneous. We ain’t even ever going to see robot cars out of the experimental testing phase.
I saw a mainstream report the other day the Chinese are going to have fusion energy in five years. Did you ever see Bill Hicks’ routine? Key phrase:
it’s a hoot!
I will believe it when it is commercially available.
PEACE 😇
Maybe. My info is outdated. Lately I avoid Europe as much as I can: if Europe chose to commit economic suicide, why should I get in the way? In the last two years I stayed in a hotel in Europe only once, this Spring in Sweden (was an official opponent at PhD defense at Karolinska). I went only because I personally know the advisor and did not feel comfortable saying “no”. Still, I was in four different hotels in three cities there (rented a car and used the trip to see more of Sweden, where I never was before and likely won’t ever be again), and nowhere they did the “registration” thing. My info about Italy, Greece, and Germany is 3-4 years old, the rest is even older.
The parts of the world that are not in the imperial patch (roughly 4/5th of it) are saner, so I don’t expect them to get stricter in spying on you. I have two trips planned in the next half-a-year, both to countries that don’t toe the imperial line. Some additional trips on my to-do list are also to saner parts of the world. I don’t think I will go to any imperial vassal in my remaining lifetime.
From my perspective, it’s not the tech that’s at fault, it’s the way the elites are using it. So, I am anti-elite, not anti-tech. Maybe because I need a lot of high-tech things for my work.
I saw a mainstream report the other day the Chinese are going to have fusion energy in five years. Did you ever see Bill Hicks' routine? Key phrase:
it's a hoot!Replies: @A123
Fusion has the same timeline as Global Cooling / Warming / Change — It has been 5 years away for the last 50 years.
I will believe it when it is commercially available.
PEACE 😇
It is all accelerating and probably converging into some focal telos of control upon matter, energy, space and time. A kind of Big Bang in reverse on a planetary scale. The Technosphere is lusting for it. That is if our Civilization doesn't break into pieces during the process and/or we don't end up wiped out as a species.
All this talk about "multipolar world " is of course bogus nonsense, there must be "one ring to rull them all" in the end. And it probably won't be human. Some "deep learning algorithm" will tell you how to live your life. Or something that pretends being "an algorithm" will do.
BTW, Pelevin in his last book, conviently named "Transhumanism Inc", has a couple of amusing short stories about our future after the Great Reset. I doubt it will be translated into English any time soon.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S
I agree.
Should their plans come to fruition, after the world war, and after they have reduced the global population to five hundred million souls, that is, of course, should there be an after, there will be what is in theory to be a global democratic republic, the ‘United States of the World’.
Directed from the City of London, it is what both wings of the manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic have long been working towards since their late 18th century beginnings, even if but somewhat unwittingly on the part of most of their ideological adherants.
However, the projected world state, with it’s ideology of Global Multi-Culturalism, which is the synthesis of Capitalism and Communism, cannot be more than the total sum of its parts, in particular those persons at or near the top.
In the case of the buildup towards the United States of the World, historically, these would be powerful elements of the elites and hangers on of the Anglo-Saxon and Jewish peoples.
These people, amongst others to be sure, have historically had something of an addiction to slavery, at their own and other people’s very great expense.
This historic addiction, due to self-deception at best, was greatly worsened in the early 19th century with the monetization of chattel slavery and it’s trade, wage slavery, ie specifically the introduction of the so called ‘cheap labor’/’mass immigration’ system within the Anglosphere countries, under cover of a purported ‘abolition’.
Wage slavery is the economic and political basis of the modern progressive Multi-Cultural state, a state which, with it’s alien wage slave (aka ‘the immigrant’) as it’s economic centerpiece, closely parallels the Anglosphere chattel slave holding society it directly evolved from, the latter with the alien chattel slave as it’s economic centerpiece.
The failure to have dealt with chattel slavery and it’s trade in a truthful manner, and instead of abolishing it as claimed, to have instead monetized it with the introduction of wage slavery, ie the so called ‘cheap labor’/’mass immigration’ system, has been a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions for the peoples of the world, and for humanity as a whole.
The world today in regards to the scourge of slavery is therefore like a person who’s deadly skin cancer appears to have faded away, and the person happily thinks they are now cured, when in reality the cancer has metastasized to their internal organs, and they have mere months left to live.
People are creatures of habit. What those at the top of the coming world state are used to (and are comfortable with) is slavery, historically chattel, and now wage.
Unless something should radically change the course of events, and recognizing it is exceedingly difficult to overcome addictions, such as slavery is, there is no reason to think the planned world state, the United States of the World, won’t be slavery based economically and politically, as modeled by the Anglosphere states today.
They won’t call it slavery of course. It’s just that most of the five hundred million likely traumatized, psychologically conditioned, and to be dumbed down survivors will be working at ten cents on the dollar of what the labor is actually worth. Or, who knows, maybe they won’t be paid at all. With the right conditioning it could maybe be done…ie as was recently heard, though with a slight addendum:
‘You will have nothing, and you will work for nothing, and you will be happy.’
The powers that be love double and triple entendres in regards to word meanings. The UN has a term (see link below) they use for the wage slaves, the so called ‘cheap labor’, ie ‘migrant stock’.
One meaning of ‘stock’ (amongst others) is ‘merchandise’, and I submit, that deep down that is much in reality just how they see the wage slaves, aka ‘immigrants’, ie the so called ‘cheap labor’.
So, in the end, and I certainly hope I’m wrong about this, it looks as though the United States of the World may well be a world order tainted by slavery, where the vast majority of the world’s five hundred million people will be a highly mobile, dumbed down, rootless, and without identity workforce, ie ‘migrant stock’, who will be paid (if they are paid at all) far below the actual value of their labor.
A relative few and their hangers on will rule, and live high on the hog indeed, from off the value of the labor they systematically steal from the ‘migrant stock’.
As has been aforementioned, the progressives due to their long ago having adopted the ends justify the means to achieve objectives and to take what they want, have become what they (at least claimed) they said they were fighting against all along.
Amongst those things slavers, with their wage slavery system, and torturers, with their ‘rendition’ program.
What better examples of this projection are there than can be found in the very progressive Multi-Cultural Star Trek series.
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/fr/content/international-migrant-stock
Was Peter III acting competently when immediately on being crowned he not only let Prussia off the hook, but actually became an ally of Fredrick’s state and even helped with its other enemies? Only if you believe Peter’s death soon afterwards was really from hemorrhoids. No Western leadership could hope to stay in power were it to do what you seem to advocate.
Was Britain being competent when it backed Fredrick the Great right down the line when with a weak economic base and a moderately large army, he predated on a neighbouring country and found himself in a war against huge coalition of more powerful states including Russia, which although suffering tremendous logistical problem (plus ça change) had the great commander virtually beaten when he was saved by the godsend of a succession to the Russian crown that put Fredrick’s fanboy in charge of Russia ?
Maybe not, but Britain gained from backing Fredrick’s apparent rash bravado, while France’s apparently safe bet lost the country its primacy, and the cost was a factor in a its revolution. Kiev-born founder of cultural Zionism Asher Ginsberg said those called wise who calculate the net advantage to be gained by a course of action, and move only when they can be sure of a beneficial outcome remain paralyzed while the apparently foolhardy often win out through the difficulties and triumph. That could apply to Putin with his insouciant invasion or Zelensky’s overlong overconfidence that the build up was a bluff.
Welcome to Planet Earth!Replies: @Bashibuzuk
Andrew Anglin is a troll, probably paid by Christina Potupchik or some other slut in Kremlins’ service.
I understand why Ukrainians would see their unfortunate circumstances as of historical importance, and I understand why the Moskvabad dwarves would concur with their Ukiestan counterparts, but the destiny of mankind is decided elsewhere.
Indo-pacific is where the game will be played.
Sinosphere vs Globalised West.
The Slav are just (idiotic) cannon fodder in a war they should have avoided by all means. They should have played the game the Turkic peoples are playing today. The Turks are wisely hedging their bets and making profit out of other people’s mistakes.
When I look at it, all I think is what a shame…
From being able to go together to Mars (project Aelita was supposed being launched by the end 90ies) to killing each other in Donbass for no good reason. This is how degenerative social trends look like. This will probably be an example for future history books of what should be avoided in nation-building processes.
They won’t be held accountable and civilization is so passé. It sounds like we are still living in la belle époque, but we’re not.
Welcome to the Cyberpunk, welcome to the Meltdown.
Welcome to the third millennium AD.
🙂
The inherent unsustainable features of the system have come to dominate - as they eventually had to. If all is based on money and there are no constraints then the elites will over time buy everything and are bought in return. There is a gradual closing off all free spaces because they threaten the safety of 'money'. It is not a failure of the system, it is an inevitable evolution based on how the system works. The elderly players seemingly in charge now are just going through the motions: hysteria, vaccines, gender chaos, war to the end, fake money, fake jobs. Only running out if material resources can stop it. We are almost there.
This is an era of a peak global-homo-liberalism - it is what the underlying principles inevitably led to. These principles go back to at least Enlightenment and with some back-and-forward and occasional resistance they have reached their apogee - the ultimate in 'liberty'. Are we having fun yet?
Next time they will use guns to stick needles into 2-year old kids - because they are enlightened and we are not. It is a state of mind, incurable.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
For the first time in my life I’m now sometimes ashamed to be
white, mostly because of the troglodyte behavior by Germans and
Russians. Compare North and South America since, say, 1900 to
Europe in the last 120 years. The Americas, while not perfect,
have been largely peaceful, although with high levels of crime,
esp. in Latin America. Europe, in contrast, has experienced two
bloody World Wars, with stratospheric levels of killing,
and another bloody shooting war going on right now. Germans
are truly the Negroes of Europe, both Germans and blacks being
historically prone to hyperviolence. Germans have been clearly more
violent than the Russians, but both the Germans and the Russians with
their bloated national egos and delusions of grandeur have been
an embarrassment to white people. Hopefully, both will soon
be reduced to nonentities, for the world has no need of people
who are incapable of civilized behavior.
white, mostly because of the troglodyte behavior by Germans and
Russians. Compare North and South America since, say, 1900 to
Europe in the last 120 years. The Americas, while not perfect,
have been largely peaceful, although with high levels of crime,
esp. in Latin America. Europe, in contrast, has experienced two
bloody World Wars, with stratospheric levels of killing,
and another bloody shooting war going on right now. Germans
are truly the Negroes of Europe, both Germans and blacks being
historically prone to hyperviolence. Germans have been clearly more
violent than the Russians, but both the Germans and the Russians with
their bloated national egos and delusions of grandeur have been
an embarrassment to white people. Hopefully, both will soon
be reduced to nonentities, for the world has no need of people
who are incapable of civilized behavior.Replies: @Matra, @songbird
Yes, if only everyone could be like Poland life and politics would be free of rancor. lol
With examples of Kremlins support to the BLM and the "browning" of EU.
Thanks! He pursues the interest of his clique, not Russian state, nor Russian people. He is still mentally in the Ozero Cooperative, it's just that now the Cooperative has grown global.Replies: @AP
His propaganda channel RT used to promote the racism and the anti-police narrative in order to promote racial tension in the USA. This article for example:
https://www.rt.com/usa/482423-black-man-beaten-nypd-cops/
Also:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612221082052
“newer media properties like In The NOW, Soapbox, and Redfish supported the BLM movement with clickbait-style videos highlighting racism in America.”
:::::::::::::::
As for Putin’s role in destabilizing Western Europe by promoting mass immigration, it’s commonly talked about in Poland. The case of the migrants sent through Belarus is obvious. Here is Putin blaming the West for the migrants trying to enter Poland from Belarus and condemning Poland for keeping them out:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-nato-drills-black-sea-are-serious-challenge-moscow-2021-11-13/
“ He accused Polish forces on the border with Belarus of beating migrants, firing rounds above their heads and turning on lights and sirens at night nearby.
“This doesn’t really tie in well with the ideas of humanity that supposedly underpin all the policies of our Western neighbours,” he said”
::::::::
Putin’s enabler Merkel opened the floodgates in Europe to the refugees created by Putin’s assault of Syrian civilians. US General Breedlove:
“ Barrel bombs are designed to terrorize, get people out of their homes, get them on the road and make them someone else’s problem. These indiscriminate weapons used by both Assad and the non-precision use of weapons by Russia, I can’t find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else’s problem.”
Here is an example involving Libya. It might explain why Italy’s heroic new PM, whose country bears the brunt of this onslaught, is so anti-Putin.
Western conservatives who think of Putin as a savior are the same sort of dupes as the old school leftist useful idiots who looked to the USSR for salvation.
https://unherd.com/2022/03/vladimir-putins-secret-weapon/
… in recent years, it’s been in Libya that Putin has pursued his most fierce — and secret — weaponisation of migrants. There, Russia exploits its increased presence by collaborating with militias to foster and facilitate crippling migrant flows into Europe. By deploying Russia’s ‘private’ military companies in the region, Putin all but controls the most significant routes for mass migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe — and therefore has the power to cripple economies and sow societal division.
Take Khalifa Hafar, the commander of the Libyan National Army — a nominal national force that is really an amalgamation of local militias. Hafar is currently trying to rebrand himself as Libya’s next President, but in reality is nothing more than a Russian-speaking warlord who benefits from the support of at least 1,500 Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group.
What would drive Putin to dirty his hands in the chaotic, tribal world of North African politics? As Mark Grey, Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College, has observed: “Large tribes control vast territories in the region, operate beyond the control of nation states and ignore borders. Just as Italy pays militias to curtail migration from western Libya, Russia can pay tribes and militias to just as easily encourage and facilitate migration as control it.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1614663/putin-plan-africa-famine-refugee-crisis-wheat-ports-blockade
“2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN is seeking to ’cause a famine in Africa’ for the wave of refugees resulting from a hunger crisis to destabilise the West…”
:::::::::::::::
And why wouldn’t a man who sends Chechens and Buryats to rape and murder people in the heart of Europe wreck havoc on the West by helping to pour in destabilizing migrants on a mass scale?
2. She also made Germany dependent on Russian gas, making this war much more likely and putting a timebomb under the continental economy.
3. Finally, she gutted the German military, meaning that Europe is stuck dependent on the US for security.
Remarkably, these are the three major peripheral powers to Europe, and exactly who a good leader would seek to avoid dependence on. Was she a "spy" for any of them? No, European leaders are just too used to having someone else to blame for their failures of leadership that now they need to be dependent to maintain that dynamic.
Time to break the cycle. Slammed-shut borders. European energy sovereignty. And a peer to the US military. No more f*cling around.Replies: @A123
Thanks for the breathtaking plot of this cloak and dagger scenario.
You used to be more impartial AP.
Of the both of us, you were the person complementary of Uncle Vlad's supposedly commendable efforts in rebuilding RusFed.
I always have seen Putin as a п☆дор and a double agent he most probably is.
So that's quite a change of perspective you have had since the Ukraine invasion by Putin's troops.
🙂Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP, @Dmitry
Not just them. Also the people who enthusiastically went along with them. We’re talking about 45 million Americans who need to pay for what they did
I understand why Ukrainians would see their unfortunate circumstances as of historical importance, and I understand why the Moskvabad dwarves would concur with their Ukiestan counterparts, but the destiny of mankind is decided elsewhere.
Indo-pacific is where the game will be played.
Sinosphere vs Globalised West.
The Slav are just (idiotic) cannon fodder in a war they should have avoided by all means. They should have played the game the Turkic peoples are playing today. The Turks are wisely hedging their bets and making profit out of other people's mistakes.
When I look at it, all I think is what a shame...
From being able to go together to Mars (project Aelita was supposed being launched by the end 90ies) to killing each other in Donbass for no good reason. This is how degenerative social trends look like. This will probably be an example for future history books of what should be avoided in nation-building processes.Replies: @S
That is for sure…
New Zealand, which avoided mass COVID infections before they managed to administer the MRNA shots, also managed to avoid the excess deaths that other countries had.
Furthermore, one of the reasons why China keeps their intermittent lockdowns is because their vaccines don’t work as well as the MRNA ones.
And the point, as regards New Zealand, cannot be dismissed except by “everything is fake” flapping around, and the “studies”, cited on alterative “news” sites, have no credibility, nor observable real world evidence, and, in fact, are merely the result of people who were wrong about “Covid isn’t real’, “it is actually 5G”, “the vaccine will kill billions” etc. being unable to admit their biases and move on from what is a straightforward issue.
I will agree that is is possible Ivermectin was brushed aside and is moderately effective. I will also agree that Covid is not particularly dangerous to under-60s with no health issues; however a very large number of under 60s were infected, so many still died. Any respiratory Doctor will confirm and recount their experiences.
On the other hand, fewer people died of COVID after they had been given the vaccine. Again, any hospital-based respiratory specialist will confirm and this is also remarkably easy to see at country-wide levels in undeniable statistics, like how many people died each month and year.
Personally, I like the way the Swedes handled the pandemic. The Chinese have been amazing in a way, but almost any other population would put up with it, and their approach appears to have spiralled into mass and seemingly permanent germaphobia, which could be catastrophic for them.
Overall, I suspect that most developed countries did as good a job as they could.
Responses have to fit the society’s expectations because people have to go along with them.
Having said all this, I still want to understand what Japan did. It appears to have avoided mass infections, lockdowns and everything else. People about ventilation as potentially being the key factor, or maybe cultural Japanese social distancing, but the issues is to cloudy for me to understand.
Welcome to the Cyberpunk, welcome to the Meltdown.
https://youtu.be/fiaWsgtJrNI
Welcome to the third millennium AD.
🙂Replies: @Beckow
Think it through. It is wobbly, but let’s not give up.
The inherent unsustainable features of the system have come to dominate – as they eventually had to. If all is based on money and there are no constraints then the elites will over time buy everything and are bought in return. There is a gradual closing off all free spaces because they threaten the safety of ‘money’. It is not a failure of the system, it is an inevitable evolution based on how the system works. The elderly players seemingly in charge now are just going through the motions: hysteria, vaccines, gender chaos, war to the end, fake money, fake jobs. Only running out if material resources can stop it. We are almost there.
This is an era of a peak global-homo-liberalism – it is what the underlying principles inevitably led to. These principles go back to at least Enlightenment and with some back-and-forward and occasional resistance they have reached their apogee – the ultimate in ‘liberty’. Are we having fun yet?
Next time they will use guns to stick needles into 2-year old kids – because they are enlightened and we are not. It is a state of mind, incurable.
People can have a friendly attitude towards Russia and also prefer EU to Eurasia. Not everyone voting for pro-Western parties hates Russia. That’s why when 85% of Ukrainians had a favorable view of Russia, only around 50% of them voted for pro-Russian rather than pro-Western parties.
You are irrational (or pretend to be, one can not ignore your bad faith and dishonesty), so rational explanations don’t work for you.
The loss of the territories that were most pro-Russian in Ukraine was enough to drop the pro-Russian vote from 48% to 33%. The 40% drop in Russia’s popularity corresponding to a similar decline in voting for pro-Russian parties would bring that down to 20%. You yourself insisted that something called a winners bias means the people will just vote for the winner. That would further whittle down the pro-Russian vote. So very little of the lost on pro-Russian vote could be attributed to other factors, such as oppression.
It’s all very clear.
https://www.rt.com/usa/482423-black-man-beaten-nypd-cops/
Also:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612221082052
“newer media properties like In The NOW, Soapbox, and Redfish supported the BLM movement with clickbait-style videos highlighting racism in America.”
:::::::::::::::
As for Putin’s role in destabilizing Western Europe by promoting mass immigration, it’s commonly talked about in Poland. The case of the migrants sent through Belarus is obvious. Here is Putin blaming the West for the migrants trying to enter Poland from Belarus and condemning Poland for keeping them out:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-nato-drills-black-sea-are-serious-challenge-moscow-2021-11-13/
“ He accused Polish forces on the border with Belarus of beating migrants, firing rounds above their heads and turning on lights and sirens at night nearby.
"This doesn't really tie in well with the ideas of humanity that supposedly underpin all the policies of our Western neighbours," he said”
::::::::
Putin’s enabler Merkel opened the floodgates in Europe to the refugees created by Putin’s assault of Syrian civilians. US General Breedlove:
“ Barrel bombs are designed to terrorize, get people out of their homes, get them on the road and make them someone else's problem. These indiscriminate weapons used by both Assad and the non-precision use of weapons by Russia, I can't find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem."
Here is an example involving Libya. It might explain why Italy’s heroic new PM, whose country bears the brunt of this onslaught, is so anti-Putin.
Western conservatives who think of Putin as a savior are the same sort of dupes as the old school leftist useful idiots who looked to the USSR for salvation.
https://unherd.com/2022/03/vladimir-putins-secret-weapon/
… in recent years, it’s been in Libya that Putin has pursued his most fierce — and secret — weaponisation of migrants. There, Russia exploits its increased presence by collaborating with militias to foster and facilitate crippling migrant flows into Europe. By deploying Russia’s ‘private’ military companies in the region, Putin all but controls the most significant routes for mass migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe — and therefore has the power to cripple economies and sow societal division.
Take Khalifa Hafar, the commander of the Libyan National Army — a nominal national force that is really an amalgamation of local militias. Hafar is currently trying to rebrand himself as Libya’s next President, but in reality is nothing more than a Russian-speaking warlord who benefits from the support of at least 1,500 Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group.
What would drive Putin to dirty his hands in the chaotic, tribal world of North African politics? As Mark Grey, Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College, has observed: “Large tribes control vast territories in the region, operate beyond the control of nation states and ignore borders. Just as Italy pays militias to curtail migration from western Libya, Russia can pay tribes and militias to just as easily encourage and facilitate migration as control it.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1614663/putin-plan-africa-famine-refugee-crisis-wheat-ports-blockade
“2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN is seeking to 'cause a famine in Africa' for the wave of refugees resulting from a hunger crisis to destabilise the West…”
:::::::::::::::
And why wouldn’t a man who sends Chechens and Buryats to rape and murder people in the heart of Europe wreck havoc on the West by helping to pour in destabilizing migrants on a mass scale?Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Bashibuzuk
1. Merkel broke the EU, and general European cooperation, by bringing in the “refugees.” This has greatly empowered Turkey as Turkey can control the flow of “refugees”, making Europe dependent on Turkey for its borders!
2. She also made Germany dependent on Russian gas, making this war much more likely and putting a timebomb under the continental economy.
3. Finally, she gutted the German military, meaning that Europe is stuck dependent on the US for security.
Remarkably, these are the three major peripheral powers to Europe, and exactly who a good leader would seek to avoid dependence on. Was she a “spy” for any of them? No, European leaders are just too used to having someone else to blame for their failures of leadership that now they need to be dependent to maintain that dynamic.
Time to break the cycle. Slammed-shut borders. European energy sovereignty. And a peer to the US military. No more f*cling around.
___Functionally, both the EU and NATO are shambling corpses that need to be replaced. A Christian European Atlantic Treaty Organization [CEATO] that excludes Islamic caliphates, like Germany and Turkey, would be highly functional for defending Christendom. Small Naval vessels, Frigates and Cutters, sinking Jihadist troop transports would do much to dissuade illegal Med crossings. PEACE 😇
white, mostly because of the troglodyte behavior by Germans and
Russians. Compare North and South America since, say, 1900 to
Europe in the last 120 years. The Americas, while not perfect,
have been largely peaceful, although with high levels of crime,
esp. in Latin America. Europe, in contrast, has experienced two
bloody World Wars, with stratospheric levels of killing,
and another bloody shooting war going on right now. Germans
are truly the Negroes of Europe, both Germans and blacks being
historically prone to hyperviolence. Germans have been clearly more
violent than the Russians, but both the Germans and the Russians with
their bloated national egos and delusions of grandeur have been
an embarrassment to white people. Hopefully, both will soon
be reduced to nonentities, for the world has no need of people
who are incapable of civilized behavior.Replies: @Matra, @songbird
The Mexican Revolution was actually pretty bloody. Some put the total dead >1 million.
Still trying to think of a nickname for the new dollar, but it is harder. A pity the DM was dropped - would be an easy one to satirize.Replies: @Wokechoke, @S
I think they may use the impending world war as a cover to simply go cashless (ie digital) on the dollar, Bitcoin (and such) being something of a transitory conditioning device.
They could call the new digitalized dollar Funny Money. ‘FM’ for short. 🙂
Though, I guess it is already there in some measure, just not at Chinese lockdown levels.Replies: @S
https://www.rt.com/usa/482423-black-man-beaten-nypd-cops/
Also:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612221082052
“newer media properties like In The NOW, Soapbox, and Redfish supported the BLM movement with clickbait-style videos highlighting racism in America.”
:::::::::::::::
As for Putin’s role in destabilizing Western Europe by promoting mass immigration, it’s commonly talked about in Poland. The case of the migrants sent through Belarus is obvious. Here is Putin blaming the West for the migrants trying to enter Poland from Belarus and condemning Poland for keeping them out:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-nato-drills-black-sea-are-serious-challenge-moscow-2021-11-13/
“ He accused Polish forces on the border with Belarus of beating migrants, firing rounds above their heads and turning on lights and sirens at night nearby.
"This doesn't really tie in well with the ideas of humanity that supposedly underpin all the policies of our Western neighbours," he said”
::::::::
Putin’s enabler Merkel opened the floodgates in Europe to the refugees created by Putin’s assault of Syrian civilians. US General Breedlove:
“ Barrel bombs are designed to terrorize, get people out of their homes, get them on the road and make them someone else's problem. These indiscriminate weapons used by both Assad and the non-precision use of weapons by Russia, I can't find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem."
Here is an example involving Libya. It might explain why Italy’s heroic new PM, whose country bears the brunt of this onslaught, is so anti-Putin.
Western conservatives who think of Putin as a savior are the same sort of dupes as the old school leftist useful idiots who looked to the USSR for salvation.
https://unherd.com/2022/03/vladimir-putins-secret-weapon/
… in recent years, it’s been in Libya that Putin has pursued his most fierce — and secret — weaponisation of migrants. There, Russia exploits its increased presence by collaborating with militias to foster and facilitate crippling migrant flows into Europe. By deploying Russia’s ‘private’ military companies in the region, Putin all but controls the most significant routes for mass migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe — and therefore has the power to cripple economies and sow societal division.
Take Khalifa Hafar, the commander of the Libyan National Army — a nominal national force that is really an amalgamation of local militias. Hafar is currently trying to rebrand himself as Libya’s next President, but in reality is nothing more than a Russian-speaking warlord who benefits from the support of at least 1,500 Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group.
What would drive Putin to dirty his hands in the chaotic, tribal world of North African politics? As Mark Grey, Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College, has observed: “Large tribes control vast territories in the region, operate beyond the control of nation states and ignore borders. Just as Italy pays militias to curtail migration from western Libya, Russia can pay tribes and militias to just as easily encourage and facilitate migration as control it.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1614663/putin-plan-africa-famine-refugee-crisis-wheat-ports-blockade
“2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN is seeking to 'cause a famine in Africa' for the wave of refugees resulting from a hunger crisis to destabilise the West…”
:::::::::::::::
And why wouldn’t a man who sends Chechens and Buryats to rape and murder people in the heart of Europe wreck havoc on the West by helping to pour in destabilizing migrants on a mass scale?Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Bashibuzuk
I see, Doctor Evil is in fact Kremlin Dwarf’s little brother.
Thanks for the breathtaking plot of this cloak and dagger scenario.
You used to be more impartial AP.
Of the both of us, you were the person complementary of Uncle Vlad’s supposedly commendable efforts in rebuilding RusFed.
I always have seen Putin as a п☆дор and a double agent he most probably is.
So that’s quite a change of perspective you have had since the Ukraine invasion by Putin’s troops.
🙂
Is AP really an idiot? Well, if you know him for years, then you will notice some things. AP doesn't only write this kind of idiocy, but also sometimes very accurate and true statements, that can make us seem to appear as the idiots. Maybe he is smarter than the normal people here. For example, he is the only person in this forum who knew how the war would be. So, in some ways, he's more accurate than much more sensible writing people here. I will assume he has more interesting insights than I can. Why was he saying how good is this kind of hedonistic, self-interested government we've had in the last 30 years. If there was a government which prioritized the air force or even technology, science, logistics, education and industrial power, then Ukraine's army could have been mostly destroyed by now. For different reasons, I had been believing that Latin American style of government prioritization is not the worst situation, as I assume people who enjoy these things wouldn't crash the plane and kill all the passengers. I would assume if you were planning for large wars, you would invest in the basis of national power, instead of asset stripping and using the country's wealth in a hedonistic and short-term way. Although history of 2022 showed unfortunately that you can have a large war, without the intention for a large war, only a short-term military operation.Replies: @Yevardian, @Bashibuzuk, @Here Be Dragon
The inherent unsustainable features of the system have come to dominate - as they eventually had to. If all is based on money and there are no constraints then the elites will over time buy everything and are bought in return. There is a gradual closing off all free spaces because they threaten the safety of 'money'. It is not a failure of the system, it is an inevitable evolution based on how the system works. The elderly players seemingly in charge now are just going through the motions: hysteria, vaccines, gender chaos, war to the end, fake money, fake jobs. Only running out if material resources can stop it. We are almost there.
This is an era of a peak global-homo-liberalism - it is what the underlying principles inevitably led to. These principles go back to at least Enlightenment and with some back-and-forward and occasional resistance they have reached their apogee - the ultimate in 'liberty'. Are we having fun yet?
Next time they will use guns to stick needles into 2-year old kids - because they are enlightened and we are not. It is a state of mind, incurable.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
Democracy ending up in tyranny has already been foretold in Plato’s Republic. It is not a bug but a feature of the system’s evolution. Those who have jump-started this thing during the Renaissance must have known about it, given that they basically were Platonicists. Given Machiavelli’s writings we would be hard pressed to believe that these people were naive.
There is no any extremes on my part as this is a direct quote from Greasy at the previous thread, that’s why it looked so harebrainedly funny – better let Chinese troops lockdown me, cause else it seems to me my relatives potentially might do it, lol:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-196/#comment-5557726
As a Malaysian,indeed you need to use a passport to enter Sarawak and sabah.that includes Malaysians who are born in the peninsular Malaysia to parents who aren’t native to Sabah and sarawak.that immigration rule /law goes back to the time when Malaysia was created with the merger of the Malay peninsular, Singapore,Sarawak and Sabah in 1963.When Sabah and Sarawak was asked to join the new nation of Malaysia ,the leaders of both Borneo states asked for autonomy in several areas in which immigration was one of them
Europe is ready for a winter without Russian Gas:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/europe-is-ready-for-a-winter-without-russian-gas-bnef-says
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-next-great-depression/
Bloomberg out with the propaganda.
https://twitter.com/financialjuice/status/1575403477152501761?s=20&t=NVR6gCS7g8boB0Pl4sUi1A
Can’t have it both ways; if Russia has as good as lost, then it is presented with either coming to terms and withdrawing/ fighting on to the worst humiliation since the Ethiopians beat Italy, or issue a clear warning of battlefield nukes being detonated on the advancing Ukrainian army and if Ukraine continues regardless, making good on the threat.
I would not say Putin will take his pretty vague rhetoric so far being scoffed at as bluff to be a dare to suddenly do something, but the war has not got beyond the point of no hope for him yet. If as seems likely he soon comes to the realisation that for Russia’s invasion will put even Crimea in peril, then Putin’s thermonuclear option (an open explicit threat then use when the redline is crossed) is the least bad one, inasmuch it is a way to end the war and keep what Russia currently has in territory and international status. It certainly would end the war because you cannot fight conventionally against even very small H bombs, and no one is going to get into a thermonuclear conflict because Putin balks at giving Ukraine only a qualified victory.
China does not want to alienate the US, but China can’t allow Russia to lose and be humiliated, because China is going to need Russia as a friend to deal with the US in future. So no. China will not isolate Russia. In a nutshell, Russia is not necessitated to decide against playing the nuclear non empty threat card at all by what China or anyone else’s reaction might be . It depends on the Russian mindset. Do they think they are a third rate country?; because that is what being defeated without daring to use their enormously expensive nuclear weapons against the conventionally armed medium sized country of Ukraine would amount to for Russia.
So, Europe won’t be cold, only deindustrialized. In fact, nobody wanted them to freeze (or at least didn’t give a hoot one way or the other), the empire only wanted to deindustrialize Europe to eliminate a competitor. Mission accomplished.
That explains it. Another funny thing I noticed traveling to both countries: the same island is Borneo in Malaysia and Kalimantan in Indonesia. How does the Sultanate of Brunei call it?
Should their plans come to fruition, after the world war, and after they have reduced the global population to five hundred million souls, that is, of course, should there be an after, there will be what is in theory to be a global democratic republic, the 'United States of the World'.
Directed from the City of London, it is what both wings of the manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic have long been working towards since their late 18th century beginnings, even if but somewhat unwittingly on the part of most of their ideological adherants.
However, the projected world state, with it's ideology of Global Multi-Culturalism, which is the synthesis of Capitalism and Communism, cannot be more than the total sum of its parts, in particular those persons at or near the top.
In the case of the buildup towards the United States of the World, historically, these would be powerful elements of the elites and hangers on of the Anglo-Saxon and Jewish peoples.
These people, amongst others to be sure, have historically had something of an addiction to slavery, at their own and other people's very great expense.
This historic addiction, due to self-deception at best, was greatly worsened in the early 19th century with the monetization of chattel slavery and it's trade, wage slavery, ie specifically the introduction of the so called 'cheap labor'/'mass immigration' system within the Anglosphere countries, under cover of a purported 'abolition'.
Wage slavery is the economic and political basis of the modern progressive Multi-Cultural state, a state which, with it's alien wage slave (aka 'the immigrant') as it's economic centerpiece, closely parallels the Anglosphere chattel slave holding society it directly evolved from, the latter with the alien chattel slave as it's economic centerpiece.
The failure to have dealt with chattel slavery and it's trade in a truthful manner, and instead of abolishing it as claimed, to have instead monetized it with the introduction of wage slavery, ie the so called 'cheap labor'/'mass immigration' system, has been a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions for the peoples of the world, and for humanity as a whole.
The world today in regards to the scourge of slavery is therefore like a person who's deadly skin cancer appears to have faded away, and the person happily thinks they are now cured, when in reality the cancer has metastasized to their internal organs, and they have mere months left to live.
People are creatures of habit. What those at the top of the coming world state are used to (and are comfortable with) is slavery, historically chattel, and now wage.
Unless something should radically change the course of events, and recognizing it is exceedingly difficult to overcome addictions, such as slavery is, there is no reason to think the planned world state, the United States of the World, won't be slavery based economically and politically, as modeled by the Anglosphere states today.
They won't call it slavery of course. It's just that most of the five hundred million likely traumatized, psychologically conditioned, and to be dumbed down survivors will be working at ten cents on the dollar of what the labor is actually worth. Or, who knows, maybe they won't be paid at all. With the right conditioning it could maybe be done...ie as was recently heard, though with a slight addendum:
'You will have nothing, and you will work for nothing, and you will be happy.'
The powers that be love double and triple entendres in regards to word meanings. The UN has a term (see link below) they use for the wage slaves, the so called 'cheap labor', ie 'migrant stock'.
One meaning of 'stock' (amongst others) is 'merchandise', and I submit, that deep down that is much in reality just how they see the wage slaves, aka 'immigrants', ie the so called 'cheap labor'.
So, in the end, and I certainly hope I'm wrong about this, it looks as though the United States of the World may well be a world order tainted by slavery, where the vast majority of the world's five hundred million people will be a highly mobile, dumbed down, rootless, and without identity workforce, ie 'migrant stock', who will be paid (if they are paid at all) far below the actual value of their labor.
A relative few and their hangers on will rule, and live high on the hog indeed, from off the value of the labor they systematically steal from the 'migrant stock'.
As has been aforementioned, the progressives due to their long ago having adopted the ends justify the means to achieve objectives and to take what they want, have become what they (at least claimed) they said they were fighting against all along.
Amongst those things slavers, with their wage slavery system, and torturers, with their 'rendition' program.
What better examples of this projection are there than can be found in the very progressive Multi-Cultural Star Trek series.
https://youtu.be/GL1U_NZ8TWQ
https://youtu.be/ltTOoGp60u8
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/fr/content/international-migrant-stockReplies: @AnonfromTN
As far as I remember Tolkien, that one ring brought its owner to grief, was lost (so that the other rings were independent of it for a long time), and was destroyed along with the owner when he tried to get it back.
Setting up a manufactured Capitalist vs Communist Hegelian Dialectic in the late 18th century (ie in 1776 and 1789) and then attempting to control and manipulate both sides of it, can't be done without it tending to corrupt both the perpetrators and the artificial dialectic itself. It's simply cheating for lack of a better team.
One can be for peace between peoples, and work towards it, without using such a deceitful, corrupting, and totalitarian methodology..ie lead by example instead.
Lord Acton had it right, though I am glad that he left 'almost' in his quote...
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…"
2. She also made Germany dependent on Russian gas, making this war much more likely and putting a timebomb under the continental economy.
3. Finally, she gutted the German military, meaning that Europe is stuck dependent on the US for security.
Remarkably, these are the three major peripheral powers to Europe, and exactly who a good leader would seek to avoid dependence on. Was she a "spy" for any of them? No, European leaders are just too used to having someone else to blame for their failures of leadership that now they need to be dependent to maintain that dynamic.
Time to break the cycle. Slammed-shut borders. European energy sovereignty. And a peer to the US military. No more f*cling around.Replies: @A123
Well… It was quite bad before she arrived. But Merkel did make it worse.
Polish and Hungarian Christians realize that their greatest threat is German/EU aggression. A build up by anti-Christian Berlin would require a counter build up by the Visegrád 4.
Your other two suggestions for border & energy security are very workable.
___
Functionally, both the EU and NATO are shambling corpses that need to be replaced.
A Christian European Atlantic Treaty Organization [CEATO] that excludes Islamic caliphates, like Germany and Turkey, would be highly functional for defending Christendom. Small Naval vessels, Frigates and Cutters, sinking Jihadist troop transports would do much to dissuade illegal Med crossings.
PEACE 😇
Phil Pilkington out with a great article on where Europe is heading.
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-next-great-depression/
Bloomberg out with the propaganda.
Thanks for the breathtaking plot of this cloak and dagger scenario.
You used to be more impartial AP.
Of the both of us, you were the person complementary of Uncle Vlad's supposedly commendable efforts in rebuilding RusFed.
I always have seen Putin as a п☆дор and a double agent he most probably is.
So that's quite a change of perspective you have had since the Ukraine invasion by Putin's troops.
🙂Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP, @Dmitry
I thought that AP’s retort was rather straight forward, not too much “cloak and dagger” about it. A lot of facts where all you need to do is connect the dots?….
https://youtu.be/0v1pB8l6pQc
https://live.staticflickr.com/2119/2478061292_25896dc13e_b.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOPeopHWYAE6W5U.jpg
https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/photos/a.10150228477601479/10150229212286479/?type=3
When the devil plays chess, he plays on both ends of the board.
The Bank always wins (and fools always lose).
As you said, all one needs is to connect the dots.Replies: @Mr. Hack
You are irrational (or pretend to be, one can not ignore your bad faith and dishonesty), so rational explanations don’t work for you.
The loss of the territories that were most pro-Russian in Ukraine was enough to drop the pro-Russian vote from 48% to 33%. The 40% drop in Russia’s popularity corresponding to a similar decline in voting for pro-Russian parties would bring that down to 20%. You yourself insisted that something called a winners bias means the people will just vote for the winner. That would further whittle down the pro-Russian vote. So very little of the lost on pro-Russian vote could be attributed to other factors, such as oppression.
It’s all very clear.Replies: @Beckow
What is clear is the 87% vote in Kherson to unite with Russia. They can easily explain the number by whatever they want: the Ukie die-harders left, winners’ bias, turn-out, change in attitudes…
It is 87%. What happened to your ‘everyone hates Russians‘ rhetoric? Millions of people who supposedly hate Russians voted to unite with them. Did anyone hold a gun to their head, did anyone ‘switch’ their vote from No to Yes? Do you have videos? Prove it.
The same holds for post-Maidan elections: they were imperfect, in a menacing nationalist era, with pro-Russians openly murdered (Odessa), and round-the-clock Ukie hysterical propaganda, etc…
You can’t accept one and reject the other. As you can’t support (albeit passively) Nato’s attack on Serbia and then denounce the current war. Same rules apply to all, your claim to be being ‘special’ is bunk. Nobody is special, the rules are the same. Or win by force.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDAQwWndT0Replies: @S, @Beckow, @Mikhail
It’s even more straightforward (in an Occam’s razor manner) to present the whole thing this way:
https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/photos/a.10150228477601479/10150229212286479/?type=3
When the devil plays chess, he plays on both ends of the board.
The Bank always wins (and fools always lose).
As you said, all one needs is to connect the dots.
What rock have you been sleeping under, Comrade Beckow?
Yes, that is how it went. One can see a metaphor there.
Setting up a manufactured Capitalist vs Communist Hegelian Dialectic in the late 18th century (ie in 1776 and 1789) and then attempting to control and manipulate both sides of it, can’t be done without it tending to corrupt both the perpetrators and the artificial dialectic itself. It’s simply cheating for lack of a better team.
One can be for peace between peoples, and work towards it, without using such a deceitful, corrupting, and totalitarian methodology..ie lead by example instead.
Lord Acton had it right, though I am glad that he left ‘almost’ in his quote…
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…”
https://youtu.be/0v1pB8l6pQc
https://live.staticflickr.com/2119/2478061292_25896dc13e_b.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOPeopHWYAE6W5U.jpg
https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/photos/a.10150228477601479/10150229212286479/?type=3
When the devil plays chess, he plays on both ends of the board.
The Bank always wins (and fools always lose).
As you said, all one needs is to connect the dots.Replies: @Mr. Hack
So Putler is really a closet transhumanist (by association, anyway)? No wonder Karlin has always admired him so much. 🙂
All is pointing to the fact that Putin has also been (and still is) a Globalist agent provocateur.
The conflict right now is between the Chinese version and the Western version of the Globalist future.
Slavs, whether Ukrainian or Russian are just tools of a proxy war between these two projects.
They are unfortunate fools dying for other people's interests.
A generation ago they built planes and starships and could have gone together to the stars. Today they torture and maim war prisoners and boil heads of the killed enemies. Back to the dark ages in a single generation. Unbelievable regression.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDAQwWndT0Replies: @S, @Beckow, @Mikhail
Please disregard the ‘LOL’, Mr Hack. It wasn’t intended for your post. The thread is getting a little slow I suppose. Thanks.
Beckow,
Not-The-President Biden is so tragic even the Leftist of the Left are taking shots at him.
Jump to 3:45 if the auto time start does not work:
The U.S. is so embroiled in domestic dysfunction, America is not leading anything internationally. Fuggedaboutit!
PEACE 😇
Currently, most governments in the Globalized West are controlled by the Globalist cabal.
All is pointing to the fact that Putin has also been (and still is) a Globalist agent provocateur.
The conflict right now is between the Chinese version and the Western version of the Globalist future.
Slavs, whether Ukrainian or Russian are just tools of a proxy war between these two projects.
They are unfortunate fools dying for other people’s interests.
A generation ago they built planes and starships and could have gone together to the stars. Today they torture and maim war prisoners and boil heads of the killed enemies. Back to the dark ages in a single generation. Unbelievable regression.
This is difficult to disentangle. CCP got its start as a Soviet client but received extensive patronage from DS (these "China Hands" were predominately WASPs rather than Jews)
https://i.postimg.cc/MHCw84sw/Dixie-Mission-commander-Colonel-David-D-Barrett-and-Mao-Zedong-in-Yenan-1944.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_MissionReplies: @Bashibuzuk
Identity politics can be very effective for them, if it allows them to protect their core communities and spiritual beliefs, and also expand via higher birth rates and continued immigration.
The way intersectional politics works, Islam remains protected and favoured, exempt from most of the norms that the other groups in the coalition are imposing on the majority population. This means that in some ways they would be taking over because the majority group extensively self-harmed in their favour. It’s certainly a possibility, because it is hard to say how much damage the intersectionalists will do to future generations, and to what extent they will be brought to forget their own cultural history.
I have a feeling intersectionalism is stronger in the Anglo world, maybe in Germany as well.
France may have self-harmed in a somewhat different but related way by imposing the Republican and liberal tradition on itself too thoroughly. There are some writers I wasn’t familiar with when reading Houellebecq in the past, but now I know a little better, and they seem to hang around in the background of his more political books like famished ghosts at the feast.
It has never been about cold. Who cares? people lived for thousands of years and managed, I prefer cold weather. It is about industry and the cost of energy that is up 4 to 7 times. Energy is 12% of production costs, for chemical, metallurgy, fertilizers, cement it is around 40%. When energy costs go up 4-7 times, the total cost goes up by 50 to 200%. That is not sustainable – it makes production in Europe uncompetitive.
EU will offer subsidies, but to keep it going would cost few hundred billion euros annually. The choices are: let prices rise to reflect the new higher cost for energy and close markets to cheaper US-Asian competitors. Or find energy at the low cost that Europe used to pay to Russia. That is unlikely, most suppliers are tapped out and prices have always been higher in Asia (Asia has cheap labor, raw materials and no regulation to compensate.)
There is no other way. Or de-industrialize and go for the Disney model of economy. Few things Europe can do: re-start coal industry in a big way, build nuclear, or win the war against Russia and claim its resources. Nukes take a long time to build, coal is very dirty, and Europe can’t defeat Russia. Even with Ukie soldiers and US weapons, it would just go nuclear.
Instead Europe panics and go hysterical: media claims ‘victory‘ every time a Ukie climbs a hill, shut down discussion, suggest warmer clothes and colder rooms, and project using nukes on the enemy. In addition, Europe is completely emasculated. Somebody is blowing up their pipelines (Germany paid $5.5 billion for NS2) and they are too scared to think straight about who could have done it. Like children they wait to be told what to think. Where are the men?
All is pointing to the fact that Putin has also been (and still is) a Globalist agent provocateur.
The conflict right now is between the Chinese version and the Western version of the Globalist future.
Slavs, whether Ukrainian or Russian are just tools of a proxy war between these two projects.
They are unfortunate fools dying for other people's interests.
A generation ago they built planes and starships and could have gone together to the stars. Today they torture and maim war prisoners and boil heads of the killed enemies. Back to the dark ages in a single generation. Unbelievable regression.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
If Putler is some sort of proxy for Klaus Schwab, a “globalist agent provocateur” as you put it, what is the purpose of the globalist agenda to pit Russia against Ukraine, and why is Putler playing along with this fruitless scenario that stands to put his country to ruination? This is risky business for Putler, who might actually finally fall from grace by his own kremlinites?
This is a war of the Globalists (the Global higher elite 0.1% and their owned TNCs and Financial System) against the nation states and the global middle class which us the true base of these nation states.
The end goal is the deconstruction of the nation states, decimation of the global middle class and outright depopulation in the next 2-3 generations.
Then a transhumanist NWO post Great Reset ruled by an "invisible" Nomenklatura of the highest elite setvants through the IA and Deep Learning algorithms, digital identification, CBDC and smart contracts.
No one would ever be free again in that brave new world.
About Putin, he might have been recruited by the BND in 1989 in Dresden. Then before appearing all of a sudden close to the top of the food chain in Leningrad in 1990, he would have been probably instructed about the goals of the USSR dismantling (it was one of the steps of the Globalist agenda controlled by people such as Otto Von Habsburg, who has put Klaus Schwab where he is today around 1970).
Then he was brought to the top of the food chain in Moscow and RusFed as a whole. Under his rule, the RusFed exported to the Globalized West trillions in natural ressources, injecting into the global financial system around 2 trillion $ and has ended up dismantling 99% of the science and high technology inherited from the Soviets. The demography stagnated at best, but in fact continued its downward trend and RusFed has become a country of middle aged people.
All his achievements were bogus and fake, his notoriety a product of global and domestic propaganda. Described as a "Villain" or a "Savior" by his haters and fans, he was just a spook for the Davos Crowd, milking RusFed, while euthanizing Russia.
He has made absolutely impossible rebuilding of the Slavdom into a global force it should rightly be. He has spent around 1,5 trillion $ on RusFed defense in the last 22 years with the results we see today in Donbass. Meanwhile the TFR among ethnic Slav in the Eastern Slav nations is today around 1,5 and hundreds of thousands of potential fathers will die on the frontline. During that time, RusFed is flooded with Central Asian gastarbeiters/immigrants forever altering the ethnic makeup of the core Russian lands.
When he retires and has a plastic surgery to modify his appearance so he could live the end of his days in some cozy and opulent surroundings, he might rightly declare: "mission accomplished, everything went according to the plan".Replies: @Mr. Hack, @S, @S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDAQwWndT0Replies: @S, @Beckow, @Mikhail
They are guarding the process. Google it and you will find exactly the same high security whenever elections are in a war zone: Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe after WWI and WW2. Why would it be unusual? Kiev threatened anyone who votes, so you need security.
There was no need to harass people in their homes at the point of a gun to obtain voting forms. Some people were undoubtedly apolitical and didn't want to get involved in a sham plebiscite.
Furthermore, one of the reasons why China keeps their intermittent lockdowns is because their vaccines don't work as well as the MRNA ones.
And the point, as regards New Zealand, cannot be dismissed except by "everything is fake" flapping around, and the "studies", cited on alterative "news" sites, have no credibility, nor observable real world evidence, and, in fact, are merely the result of people who were wrong about "Covid isn't real', "it is actually 5G", "the vaccine will kill billions" etc. being unable to admit their biases and move on from what is a straightforward issue.
I will agree that is is possible Ivermectin was brushed aside and is moderately effective. I will also agree that Covid is not particularly dangerous to under-60s with no health issues; however a very large number of under 60s were infected, so many still died. Any respiratory Doctor will confirm and recount their experiences.
On the other hand, fewer people died of COVID after they had been given the vaccine. Again, any hospital-based respiratory specialist will confirm and this is also remarkably easy to see at country-wide levels in undeniable statistics, like how many people died each month and year.
Personally, I like the way the Swedes handled the pandemic. The Chinese have been amazing in a way, but almost any other population would put up with it, and their approach appears to have spiralled into mass and seemingly permanent germaphobia, which could be catastrophic for them.
Overall, I suspect that most developed countries did as good a job as they could.
Responses have to fit the society's expectations because people have to go along with them.
Having said all this, I still want to understand what Japan did. It appears to have avoided mass infections, lockdowns and everything else. People about ventilation as potentially being the key factor, or maybe cultural Japanese social distancing, but the issues is to cloudy for me to understand.Replies: @Beckow
New Zealand and Japan are islands and closed their borders. I agree about Sweden.
It depends on how you define overall. The costs are enormous, I won’t list them all, but just damage done to the kids and young will be with us for the next 50-75 years. The long term consequences of being isolated and shut-down, of tens of millions of kids injecting ‘vaccine’ that was of no value for them and has longterm consequences – we don’t know exactly what, but the results so far suggest that immunity, heart, neural system, and fertility are impacted. For some catastrophically, for most they simply weaken.
In return the best that vaccine enthusiasts can claim is that the vaccine made Covid slightly less dangerous and was effective for 4 months, or maybe 9 months (these are official acknowledgments). The less dangerous part is hard to validate since the Corona virus was weakening as the vaccines were introduced – it is hard to separate the impacts.
This was a disaster and a failure. It was also an example of a busy-body meddling and plain stupidity. If the leaders can be so easily manipulated, so inconsistently risk averse, what are they good for? You try to bury the issue because you know that it was handled very badly. The gullible ‘vaccinated’ try to forget their own foolishness, but most know they made a mistake. They are also not really ‘vaccinated‘ and get Corona as much as anyone, or more since their immunity is compromised.
On the plus side we have a claim that maybe a few hundred thousand old and sick may have lived slightly longer or had lower fever. Sweden published data that average age of Corona victim was 84 and their expected longevity 4 months. Many were very sick, fat and lived unhealthy lifestyles. And for that elusive gain a generation of young was sacrificed.
This is a big deal to those first-hand sources. Their lives became far less depressing as their dying patients became far less young and numerous.Replies: @Beckow
Polands got a new supply on line from Norway, and the next day someone blew up the old pipe from Russia? Hmmm.
Poland got a new supply on line from Norway, and the next day someone blew up the old pipe from Russia? Hmmm.
Like I originally said “prolly the Poles.” With tacit permission from the US. And both sticking it to Germany.
They could call the new digitalized dollar Funny Money. 'FM' for short. :-)Replies: @songbird
People do like to hate the Boomers, but I do sometimes wonder if their techno-ignorance hasn’t delayed the lurch towards electronic authoritarianism.
Though, I guess it is already there in some measure, just not at Chinese lockdown levels.
Western civilization is now run by women. Priss Factor and his A-men-corner at unz think it’s the Jews and they are half right, but most importantly half wrong. (Half the Jews are women.)
No country with a shred of sovereignty will send any ground troops to fight those treacherous Russians. This would require balls.
This is not entirely a bad thing. Half of humanity is female so it’s only cosmic justice they should get a shot sooner or later. : )
Note: I assume but have no evidence Priss Factor is a man.
Why do you lie about millions of people voting?
It is false to claim the two are even close to equal.
A crucial principle of warfare is to to "concentrate strength against weakness". Russia cannot use mass effect because concentrations of troops, shells, ECT ECT get destroyed by HIMARS. The Russian reserves are being held way back out of HIMARS range, hence the success of the . The much longer range Army Tactical Missile System will greatly exacerbate Russian's woes when it is given to Ukraine. It has been regarded as such (although militarily powerful) for half a millennium. To get out of this, Russia will have to brandish its thermonuclear weapons in a theatre context.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Ukraine had 200 thousand of personnel at the beginning of the war. Russia sent 140 thousand – a half of her contractors – and the Donbas republics gathered 60 thousand. Together it was equal to the amount of the forces that Ukraine had.
Ukraine then mobilized at least 500 thousand more. The defence minister of Ukraine said in summer that there were 700 thousand of personnel in the armed forces and 300 thousand more of the police and border guard.
So considering the Ukrainian forces in aggregate outnumber the Russians 5 : 1 it is impressive that Ukraine has lost 20% of her land, two big cities and a nuclear power plant. The russian forces managed to stretch the front line up to 1000 km and hold it.
A good troll is supposed to know that there is a limit to how much of lies he can use. You are not a good troll. An intelligent reader will understand that without good intel and good performance of her forces Russia would not have been able to accomplish that.
How was it possible to accomplish that?
Before the war the Russians collected a lot of intel with satellites and put the Ukrainian airports and tank depots on the map. Most of the aircraft Ukraine had was demolished on the ground as well as most of her tanks. Without proper air support Ukraine failed to resist despite having a lot larger personnel.
During the first month or two Ukraine had a lot of the Turkish drones. Propaganda was then praising these and there was not a troll who did not write how Ukraine was demolishing hundreds of the Russian tanks with them. Where are these drones now?
There are no more Turkish drones in Ukraine.
Where are the planes and helicopters and self-propelled howitzers that Ukraine had before the war? Where are her S-300 launchers and T-72 tanks? All of that is lost. Ukraine has some number of howitzers left in Donbas because these are protected in the bunkers. Except for these, most of her equipment has been demolished.
For what reason these T-55 and T-64 are being sent from East Europe to Ukraine? For what reason the U.S. has been sending howitzers there?
The reason is that Ukraine has lost and without that aid would have nothing to continue fighting with.
You are a Ukrainian troll and it is obvious. Your entire post is a paraphrase of this propaganda article on a Ukrainian web site.
Why is Russia so vulnerable to HIMARS in Ukraine?
https://kyivindependent.com/national/why-is-russia-so-vulnerable-to-himars-in-ukraine
You are spreading the word, we get it. Someone has to. But it is pointless on this page.
Regarding the points though I figure that with coming of winter when the trees will stand naked and there will be no forestation to hide in, these remaining 8 machines will not last long. There were 12 of them in summer.
And the rumors about alleged destruction of the Russian shell depots are exagerated propaganda – in truth a few times Ukraine succeeded in doing that but not as often as her own depots have been demolished with the Russian cruise missiles.
The largest Ukrainian shell depot was busted with one Kinzhal hit.
No.
Those missiles are large and expensive enough to use more sophisticated S-300 and S-400 missiles against them. A standard rocket is in comparison cheap and small so the Russians use less expensive air defense against them.
You are not a good troll.
A powerful nation cannot be a backward nation at the same time. Russia has been one of the smartest nations on earth for centuries. The entire world is familiar with her culture and science. The Russians have invented so much that it is pointless to point it out.
You on the other hand for sure belong to some retarded and worthless tribe.
To which one?
In fact, the Russians took two! Ukrainian nuclear plants. But in a masterfully planned feint they decided to give Chernobyl back to their enemies.
The only reason why not everybody is marvelled at the big success that the Russian SMO has been is because of the lying analysts, including most Russian ones, and the internet trolls. But considering all the circumstances you point out, there is no doubt one day historians will put the SMO on par with, if not above, the battles of Thermopylae and Agincourt or the Fall of France in 1940.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDAQwWndT0Replies: @S, @Beckow, @Mikhail
Though, I guess it is already there in some measure, just not at Chinese lockdown levels.Replies: @S
Well, I’m not one of those who ‘hate the Boomers’, not that you are. One thing good about cash is that it let’s you retain privacy, otherwise they could track a person’s every move, like they already can do with the internet and cell phones. The use of cash, come to think about it, might be one of our last quasi privacy rights left.
I wish that was the case, it would be much better. But it is run by beta males, gays, confused genderless screw-ups and women who chose not to focus on their own biological essence.
They have few things in common: lack of clear-headed thinking, tendency to over-react with hysteria, obsession with process work, little real interest in the future. Many are officially dead-enders – their biology ends with them. Others are just boneless wonders.
It only partially overlaps with the traditional feminine worldview, having real women would be an improvement.
Nobody west of Ukraine will fight in this war. They won’t even try to get European troops into the war – it will be up to the Ukie manhood. One exception are the Poles, I can see them rushing in. So in effect the war is eliminating the few men left in Europe. The boneless, genderless dead-enders are celebrating, it is a win-win for them.
“Guarding the process” or subverting the outcome to fit their preconceived notions?
There was no need to harass people in their homes at the point of a gun to obtain voting forms. Some people were undoubtedly apolitical and didn’t want to get involved in a sham plebiscite.
There’s a counter to that, having to do with better ensuring security, given Kiev regime threats to those voting and recent fatal attacks by the regime on those deemed as collaborators.
Numerous instances of people going to the polls to vote on their own.
For sure, not a perfect process. Then again, the Kiev regime has had far from perfect elections since the 2014 coup.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16529230_web1_web_rmz-june3.jpg?crop=1Replies: @Mikhail, @Beckow
Some Poles. Others have a **** ’em all attitude when it comes to Russians and Ukrainians. Someone in US Army reserves tells me of his Polish friend bring one such person.
Ukraine then mobilized at least 500 thousand more. The defence minister of Ukraine said in summer that there were 700 thousand of personnel in the armed forces and 300 thousand more of the police and border guard. So considering the Ukrainian forces in aggregate outnumber the Russians 5 : 1 it is impressive that Ukraine has lost 20% of her land, two big cities and a nuclear power plant. The russian forces managed to stretch the front line up to 1000 km and hold it.
A good troll is supposed to know that there is a limit to how much of lies he can use. You are not a good troll. An intelligent reader will understand that without good intel and good performance of her forces Russia would not have been able to accomplish that.
How was it possible to accomplish that?
Before the war the Russians collected a lot of intel with satellites and put the Ukrainian airports and tank depots on the map. Most of the aircraft Ukraine had was demolished on the ground as well as most of her tanks. Without proper air support Ukraine failed to resist despite having a lot larger personnel. During the first month or two Ukraine had a lot of the Turkish drones. Propaganda was then praising these and there was not a troll who did not write how Ukraine was demolishing hundreds of the Russian tanks with them. Where are these drones now?
There are no more Turkish drones in Ukraine.
Where are the planes and helicopters and self-propelled howitzers that Ukraine had before the war? Where are her S-300 launchers and T-72 tanks? All of that is lost. Ukraine has some number of howitzers left in Donbas because these are protected in the bunkers. Except for these, most of her equipment has been demolished.
For what reason these T-55 and T-64 are being sent from East Europe to Ukraine? For what reason the U.S. has been sending howitzers there?
The reason is that Ukraine has lost and without that aid would have nothing to continue fighting with. You are a Ukrainian troll and it is obvious. Your entire post is a paraphrase of this propaganda article on a Ukrainian web site.
Why is Russia so vulnerable to HIMARS in Ukraine?
https://kyivindependent.com/national/why-is-russia-so-vulnerable-to-himars-in-ukraine
You are spreading the word, we get it. Someone has to. But it is pointless on this page.
Regarding the points though I figure that with coming of winter when the trees will stand naked and there will be no forestation to hide in, these remaining 8 machines will not last long. There were 12 of them in summer.
And the rumors about alleged destruction of the Russian shell depots are exagerated propaganda – in truth a few times Ukraine succeeded in doing that but not as often as her own depots have been demolished with the Russian cruise missiles.
The largest Ukrainian shell depot was busted with one Kinzhal hit. No.
Those missiles are large and expensive enough to use more sophisticated S-300 and S-400 missiles against them. A standard rocket is in comparison cheap and small so the Russians use less expensive air defense against them. You are not a good troll.
A powerful nation cannot be a backward nation at the same time. Russia has been one of the smartest nations on earth for centuries. The entire world is familiar with her culture and science. The Russians have invented so much that it is pointless to point it out.
You on the other hand for sure belong to some retarded and worthless tribe.
To which one?Replies: @Mikel, @Sean
In fact, the Russians took two! Ukrainian nuclear plants. But in a masterfully planned feint they decided to give Chernobyl back to their enemies.
The only reason why not everybody is marvelled at the big success that the Russian SMO has been is because of the lying analysts, including most Russian ones, and the internet trolls. But considering all the circumstances you point out, there is no doubt one day historians will put the SMO on par with, if not above, the battles of Thermopylae and Agincourt or the Fall of France in 1940.
Mariupol is the second city in significance in the entire country, being an industrial center and a cargo port. The largest metallurgical combine however was damaged to the point of now being impossible to restore.
Kherson is an important city for controlling the canal passing water from Dnieper to Crimea. Having taken these two cities the Russians have secured both electric power needed to supply the new territories and the delivery of water.
Chernobyl was of no use. That is right.
The Russians have been losing the information war not even trying to counter it. Apparently it is because most international platforms are being owned and controlled by the West. Perhaps the Russians decided not to waste resources on it.
They work in Telegram only and for some reason they only work in the Russian language. There are several high quality channels that provide with trustworthy information, but none of these is in English. To be fair they were unprepared to it.
They still have not created any alternative to YouTube and Twitter. Though they are trying to promote that new Bastion platform that is uncensored and anonymous and is kind of a hybrid of Twitter and YouTube, it has not been successful so far. One day when the dust settles all of these events will be assessed properly, without propaganda and then it will be obvious to everybody how easily they were manipulated and how cinically their media were lying to them.
The latest example – that super successful Ukrainian counter-offensive. Despite the fact that most media resources acknowledged that the Russians were outnumbered 8 : 1 – google it – they are still claiming that it was a great success.
Whereas in truth Ukraine had assembled a huge amount of troops in one spot, attacked the Russians with 8 : 1 advantage and forced them to retreat while retaking 60 km of the previously lost territory, the only value of which is a railway hub.
The Russians pulled a little back and demolished two power plants feeding the railway leading to that hub. The counter-offensive laster a week. Now the trains are not going in that area, the logistic hain has been interrupted.
Where is the success?Replies: @Mikel
Ukraine then mobilized at least 500 thousand more. The defence minister of Ukraine said in summer that there were 700 thousand of personnel in the armed forces and 300 thousand more of the police and border guard. So considering the Ukrainian forces in aggregate outnumber the Russians 5 : 1 it is impressive that Ukraine has lost 20% of her land, two big cities and a nuclear power plant. The russian forces managed to stretch the front line up to 1000 km and hold it.
A good troll is supposed to know that there is a limit to how much of lies he can use. You are not a good troll. An intelligent reader will understand that without good intel and good performance of her forces Russia would not have been able to accomplish that.
How was it possible to accomplish that?
Before the war the Russians collected a lot of intel with satellites and put the Ukrainian airports and tank depots on the map. Most of the aircraft Ukraine had was demolished on the ground as well as most of her tanks. Without proper air support Ukraine failed to resist despite having a lot larger personnel. During the first month or two Ukraine had a lot of the Turkish drones. Propaganda was then praising these and there was not a troll who did not write how Ukraine was demolishing hundreds of the Russian tanks with them. Where are these drones now?
There are no more Turkish drones in Ukraine.
Where are the planes and helicopters and self-propelled howitzers that Ukraine had before the war? Where are her S-300 launchers and T-72 tanks? All of that is lost. Ukraine has some number of howitzers left in Donbas because these are protected in the bunkers. Except for these, most of her equipment has been demolished.
For what reason these T-55 and T-64 are being sent from East Europe to Ukraine? For what reason the U.S. has been sending howitzers there?
The reason is that Ukraine has lost and without that aid would have nothing to continue fighting with. You are a Ukrainian troll and it is obvious. Your entire post is a paraphrase of this propaganda article on a Ukrainian web site.
Why is Russia so vulnerable to HIMARS in Ukraine?
https://kyivindependent.com/national/why-is-russia-so-vulnerable-to-himars-in-ukraine
You are spreading the word, we get it. Someone has to. But it is pointless on this page.
Regarding the points though I figure that with coming of winter when the trees will stand naked and there will be no forestation to hide in, these remaining 8 machines will not last long. There were 12 of them in summer.
And the rumors about alleged destruction of the Russian shell depots are exagerated propaganda – in truth a few times Ukraine succeeded in doing that but not as often as her own depots have been demolished with the Russian cruise missiles.
The largest Ukrainian shell depot was busted with one Kinzhal hit. No.
Those missiles are large and expensive enough to use more sophisticated S-300 and S-400 missiles against them. A standard rocket is in comparison cheap and small so the Russians use less expensive air defense against them. You are not a good troll.
A powerful nation cannot be a backward nation at the same time. Russia has been one of the smartest nations on earth for centuries. The entire world is familiar with her culture and science. The Russians have invented so much that it is pointless to point it out.
You on the other hand for sure belong to some retarded and worthless tribe.
To which one?Replies: @Mikel, @Sean
The front line is stretched because Russia failed to get it straight. Russia was and still is has been unable to break through the Ukrainian backstop line of fortifications in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Elsewhere it advanced rapidly, though not without significant losses, and unstretching the line was mainly done by retreating then being driven back. Having lost the initiative, now Russia doubles its force which will be necessarily more concentrated because it was forced to retreat behind its own Donbass fortifications. In Kherson logistically bottlenecked and vulnerable . By my way of thinking Russian high command’s performance and use of public source intel in Western media in this operation after it got started is abysmal. Kofman the Ukrainian American military academic was as good as saying in podasts before the offensive in the North that Ukraine was secretly up to something.
Ukraine is an American sockpuppet. The zero sum game is between Russia and America.
Ukraine fires off a lot of cheaper rockets at the same time it uses HIMARs, thereby concealing which is the HIMARS missile.
A front line is never straight and should never be. That is right, but that is to be expected. Ukraine spent $50 million on building these.
There are concrete bunkers and concrete trenches, bomb-proof. It will take time to find the weak spots in these fortifications and break through them.
https://i.postimg.cc/T3v3Ld9w/Donbas-fortification-lines.jpg
Moreover there are two or three rows of these as we can see on this map. If the Ukrainians are forced to pull back there is another line behind they can take positions at.
Right now the Russians do not have enough manpower to push forward. The Russians do not have any fortifications there. They were forced to retreat being outnumbered 1:8 on a small piece of land about 60 km long and 60 km deep. That does not mean anything significant. That is right. That is right as well.
But these are standard rockets that cannot do a lot of damage. The other ones you mentioned are used with the same chassis but a different launch container. These are bigger and more powerful than the standard ones.
That will be impossible to conseal these because it will be seen on the radars, which is which.
Thanks for the breathtaking plot of this cloak and dagger scenario.
You used to be more impartial AP.
Of the both of us, you were the person complementary of Uncle Vlad's supposedly commendable efforts in rebuilding RusFed.
I always have seen Putin as a п☆дор and a double agent he most probably is.
So that's quite a change of perspective you have had since the Ukraine invasion by Putin's troops.
🙂Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP, @Dmitry
Until 2022 he had done a pretty good job, my first visit was in 1999, I lived in Russia for a bit in the early 2000s and have been visiting every year or every other since that time, until Covid (my last trip was December before Covid). I was supposed to go for New Years 2021-2022 but instead rented a cottage in the mountains with some friends and planned to go in April instead. Who could have predicted I’d be transporting medical supplies and bulletproof vests to Warsaw in April, rather than enjoying Moscow’s theaters? Wish I had gone to Moscow for New Year’s, I missed my last chance, perhaps for years.
Every year since 1999 saw gradual improvement and probably sometime around 2012 Moscow had become the best large city in the western or semi-western world. Friends who are from other large cities such as Nizhni and visit them also have very positive impressions. So Putin did do a good job of rebuilding Russia, at least from the perspective of working class, middle to upper middle class people.
It’s tempting to see people who fuck everything up that way. There must be a logical reason. But sometimes people just make blunders, that lead to ruin.
He had done a good job but made an enormous mistake in Ukraine, based on the the common Russian myth that Ukrainians are the same as Russians and wouldn’t really object too strongly to being ruled from Moscow. One would have thought that Putin would have had better intelligence in Ukraine and would have avoided such a blunder. If his assumption had been correct, his move would not have been a terrible one from a Russian POV: quick bloodless war, Ukrainians rejoin Russia as a little brother grudgingly at first but come to like it when they get more prosperous, Moscow becomes a greater power better able to stand up to the USA and China. But it was all a fantasy, built on wishful thinking.
Nicholas was a much better human being than Putin, but shares in the tragedy of having had a rather good long reign followed by a colossal bloody mistake that undid the good that had been done.
All is pointing to the fact that Putin has also been (and still is) a Globalist agent provocateur.
The conflict right now is between the Chinese version and the Western version of the Globalist future.
Slavs, whether Ukrainian or Russian are just tools of a proxy war between these two projects.
They are unfortunate fools dying for other people's interests.
A generation ago they built planes and starships and could have gone together to the stars. Today they torture and maim war prisoners and boil heads of the killed enemies. Back to the dark ages in a single generation. Unbelievable regression.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
The conflict right now is between the Chinese version and the Western version of the Globalist future.
This is difficult to disentangle. CCP got its start as a Soviet client but received extensive patronage from DS (these “China Hands” were predominately WASPs rather than Jews)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Mission
Interesting speculation that the US/Polish attack on Nord Stream was to stymie talks between Russian and European powers as well as potential attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/09/27/checkers-usa-plays-chess/
While UA troops keep pushing around Liman the high spirits are somewhat souring at RF propjunk department:
BUTCHER HOUSE Inside the Russian ‘cannibal family’s house of horrors’ where they ‘killed and ATE 30 people lured from dating sites’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rb-composite-cannibal-house.jpg?w=1040
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4550298/inside-the-russian-cannibal-familys-house-of-horrors-where-they-killed-and-ate-30-people-lured-from-dating-sites/Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Barbarossa, @AP, @Mike_from_Russia
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1575550915855392768Replies: @sudden death
For the context, UA offensive plan looks like this, whether they will be able to finish it succesfully, have no idea atm:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO?format=jpg&name=4096×4096
shorturl.at/CEJR1Replies: @A123
for whatever reason full link stopped working, pasting shortened one for convenience if anybody might be interested:
shorturl.at/CEJR1
If you want the embed to work. Preserve the format (in this case .jpg) and get rid of the extraneous junk. Your link should end like this.
/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpg
An even better option is sharing ISW maps. The may not be as "zoomed in", however they have more credibility versus other sources.
PEACE 😇
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Kharkiv%20Battle%20Map%20Draft%20September%2029%2C2022.pngReplies: @sudden death
A Salon article about Georgia Meloni came up in my newsfeed containing this line:
If you switch ‘stoking fear against immigrants’ for ‘stoking fear against part of the majority population’ it’s a great quote, obviously applicable to more than the Brothers of Italy. It sounds like a synopsis of a lot of the commentary in the UK Guardian’s editorial section, say, maybe Salon as well.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/yes-italy-s-new-prime-minister-is-really-a-fascist-the-old-fashioned-kind/ar-AA12nHvU?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c2301a5e4a6648aa80f2c9965c687d40
Numerous instances of people going to the polls to vote on their own.
For sure, not a perfect process. Then again, the Kiev regime has had far from perfect elections since the 2014 coup.Replies: @Mr. Hack
Are you really so clueless as to not being able to see the cynicism and uselessness of holding a plebiscite during the height of a war? Neither side should be so brazen and crass in trying to pull something like this off, and try to get world approval for the predetermined results. Even China has yet to approve of the Crimean plebiscite in 2014. These are things that should be considered after a war ends, with the assistance of neutral, outside parties monitoring the whole thing.
https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1574995473550540805
Once again,, the instances you tap dance on involve concern security measures against fatal Kiev regime attacks on the process.
Also -
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0ed1aaa1-4124-4905-8907-9ec2f8d3ff6b Replies: @Mr. Hack
https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16529230_web1_web_rmz-june3.jpg?crop=1Replies: @Mikhail, @Beckow
You overlook realities like this –
Once again,, the instances you tap dance on involve concern security measures against fatal Kiev regime attacks on the process.
Also –
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0ed1aaa1-4124-4905-8907-9ec2f8d3ff6b
An interestingly thought provoking overview on NATO/Kiev regime limits and Russian abilities –
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/the-war-has-just-begun
While it is possible that Covid may just have become less lethal at exactly the same time as young people were vaccinated, it is nonetheless a plain fact, described to me by multiple first-hand sources, that far fewer young people were bedded down dying in hospitals after that point.
This is a big deal to those first-hand sources. Their lives became far less depressing as their dying patients became far less young and numerous.
You hide in sob stories. Answer the simple question: why was the young generation sacrificed for the elusive goal of keeping some old and sick people alive maybe a little longer? or maybe not even that? If that is not a government failure, what would be? Is this a gerontocracy?Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
shorturl.at/CEJR1Replies: @A123
SD,
If you want the embed to work. Preserve the format (in this case .jpg) and get rid of the extraneous junk. Your link should end like this.
/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpg
An even better option is sharing ISW maps. The may not be as “zoomed in”, however they have more credibility versus other sources.
PEACE 😇
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpgReplies: @LondonBob, @A123
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/the-war-has-just-begunReplies: @keypusher
If the Ukrainians were anyones sockpuppets they would have surrendered or run away like the Afghans.
There should be a Godwin’s law for the SMO: any time you quote Ritter, Macgregor, or bigserge you’ve lost the argument. Hodges and no doubt others on the pro-Ukrainian side, I suppose.
Anyone noticed what’s happening in Lyman?
The Neocons were wrong about Iraq, but they weren't wrong on a weekly basis, in every little detail.
QAnon was obviously an absurd fantasy, but whichever joker made that up was generally smart enough to not make decisive statements that would be disproven the very next day.
Even the whole politically correct psychodrama of "trans this" and "PoC that" is couched in shoulds and ambiguity, though genuinely mediocre minds like Kendincome close to breaking it.
Perhaps that really is one of the attractions of PutinAnon, as narrated by Ritter, MacGregor etc? It, unlike the seemingly deceptive ambiguous hypocrisy of the narratives described above, instead just outright lies, and only ever doubles down? Only getting more and more confident in its stupidity?
But the thing about political speech that looks deceptively ambiguous and hypocritical is that its strength is that it can flex and bend and adapt, while this Putin absolute lying cannot. And what cannot bend and flex and adapt, really does eventually collapse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSfz4N9GMM&t=6sReplies: @Triteleia Laxa
Putin has really burned his boat with that speech.
It is like when Cortes burned the boats of his Conquistadors.
“Onwards to conquer or die.”
This is very serious…but only necessarily for him.
The problem is that no boats are actually required for Russians to return to Russia. They need only not mind embarassing their dear lost little leader
And no one cares about the “referenda.” Bringing them up as if they’re credible only humiliates the person bringing them up.
Why stick with Putin? The old man would send another 60,000 Russians lads to die, with many more wounded and traumatised, rather than admit he was wrong about Ukraine.
An honest Officer consoling the future hundreds of thousands of grieving Russian mothers, when asked “but why did he have to die?” would say “well, your son died for a reason, Putin didn’t want to admit he was wrong and so, although he failed, your son sacrificed his life for that tiny chance that Putin might have been able to save face.”
Fortunately, the latest Levada Centre poll has shown a very sharp turn against the war, which, given the authoritarian turn of Russia, we can infer that the majority that says Russia needs to “end the war with peace talks now” actually opposes the war entirely.
This is exactly what Putin was trying to avoid by delaying mobilisation until long after it would not win him the war: a preference cascade. People scared to say or do something taboo suddenly have less reason to be afraid, and majority opinion swings decisively in one direction, with momentum only building.
Who’s going to want their amateur relations forced to go and replace those poor, professionals dying, surrounded in the next Lyman? Or get butchered in the already 3 month-long Russian military main effort of failing to take Bakhmut?
This war has been a disaster for Russia from beginning until now, and events are making it a once in a century catastrophic.
Anyone who supported this war, after falling for Putin’s lies, but cares more about Russia and Russians than their fragile ego, will at least quietly be praying for Putin to shuffle off this mortal coil, or be shuffled.
Hell, I know that if somebody lied to me so much that they told me a war would be over in 3 days, and I believed them, despite Russia getting routed back to where they started 7 month’s later, I know most people would be angry.
Why aren’t you guys more angry? You’ve been tricked, used and your heroes’ lives have been thrown away, nevermind that Ukrainians have been murdered in your name? Is there not some human fury welling below the surface?
This is not a war of RusFed against the Ukiestan (I don’t want to name these two mad bordello territories Russia and Ukraine, it would be giving them too much credit).
This is a war of the Globalists (the Global higher elite 0.1% and their owned TNCs and Financial System) against the nation states and the global middle class which us the true base of these nation states.
The end goal is the deconstruction of the nation states, decimation of the global middle class and outright depopulation in the next 2-3 generations.
Then a transhumanist NWO post Great Reset ruled by an “invisible” Nomenklatura of the highest elite setvants through the IA and Deep Learning algorithms, digital identification, CBDC and smart contracts.
No one would ever be free again in that brave new world.
About Putin, he might have been recruited by the BND in 1989 in Dresden. Then before appearing all of a sudden close to the top of the food chain in Leningrad in 1990, he would have been probably instructed about the goals of the USSR dismantling (it was one of the steps of the Globalist agenda controlled by people such as Otto Von Habsburg, who has put Klaus Schwab where he is today around 1970).
Then he was brought to the top of the food chain in Moscow and RusFed as a whole. Under his rule, the RusFed exported to the Globalized West trillions in natural ressources, injecting into the global financial system around 2 trillion $ and has ended up dismantling 99% of the science and high technology inherited from the Soviets. The demography stagnated at best, but in fact continued its downward trend and RusFed has become a country of middle aged people.
All his achievements were bogus and fake, his notoriety a product of global and domestic propaganda. Described as a “Villain” or a “Savior” by his haters and fans, he was just a spook for the Davos Crowd, milking RusFed, while euthanizing Russia.
He has made absolutely impossible rebuilding of the Slavdom into a global force it should rightly be. He has spent around 1,5 trillion $ on RusFed defense in the last 22 years with the results we see today in Donbass. Meanwhile the TFR among ethnic Slav in the Eastern Slav nations is today around 1,5 and hundreds of thousands of potential fathers will die on the frontline. During that time, RusFed is flooded with Central Asian gastarbeiters/immigrants forever altering the ethnic makeup of the core Russian lands.
When he retires and has a plastic surgery to modify his appearance so he could live the end of his days in some cozy and opulent surroundings, he might rightly declare: “mission accomplished, everything went according to the plan”.
Will the head honchos have their own space station circling the earth including all of the super cool props that you imagine?
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121108_BondPhoto-0915a.files.jpgReplies: @Bashibuzuk
It is the murdering of not just large numbers of the targeted peoples physically, but the murdering of their spirit, ie their culture via the deliberate targeted destruction of cultural monuments and their ways of doing things, and setting them up physically and psychologically where they can be 'mixed' out of existance forever (ie genocided in the truest sense of that much abused term) by 'mass immigration' imposed by diktat.
The targeted peoples are always described as 'bad' or 'evil' irrespective of what the reality might actually be. They could be a country of ten million Ghandi like goat herders and the same would be said, along with the standard 'atrocity' accusations, again irrespective of the actual truth.
Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the world wars are given a free pass regarding their own atrocities.
This murder of peoplehood is intended for most every people, one way, or, the other.
Regarding these planned world wars, the whole thing is a very cold mechanistic affair, pitiless, and without the slightest human empathy or compassion about it, the latter two things in their inverted world they call 'hate'.
The ends justify the means, or, so they tell themselves.
They'll have to do something similar with the Capitalist United States, that is cause it's collapse, which they seem to be trying their darndest to do economically.
Once the Fall of Capitalism has been induced, then they can move forward with the final synthesis of Capitalism and Communism, ie Global Multi-Culturalism, and introduce it's accompanying global super-state, the United States of the World.
The establishment of the United States of [North] America in 1776 had merely been the first cog.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/425000/images/_425929_gaddafi300.jpg http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/425929.stm
Just watched some Ukrainian government representative on BBC World (which I haven’t watched in ages) expressing thanks to the USA and Estonia. He then went on a rant calling out Germany for not providing them with tanks and other hardware that, he said, would make a huge difference. He said he couldn’t understand why Germany doesn’t want to help. This type of talk combined with the destruction of both Nord Streams and Poland upping the ante against Germany regarding reparations make it difficult to argue that Germany is not the main political target of this war. So far though I haven’t heard much from the German government – are they hiding in their cellars? – and with this Scholtz guy coming across as a weakling, if not an outright American Quisling, it’s hard to feel sympathy for a country that won’t stand up for itself.
https://nitter.net/meyer_resende/status/1575749923487698944Replies: @German_reader
I used to think descriptions of Germany as an "occupied country" were exaggerated and wasn't even convinced that there's a deliberate plan to hurt Germany with this war, but it's becoming blatantly obvious that this is indeed the agenda. And yes, no German politician (apart from those on the left and right who are permanently shut out from power) will ever even openly state that fact, let alone object to it.Replies: @A123
I’ve never such a group of clowns. They get everything spectacularly wrong, week by week, and yet are always there the following one, presenting themselves as totally masterful and confident experts!
The Neocons were wrong about Iraq, but they weren’t wrong on a weekly basis, in every little detail.
QAnon was obviously an absurd fantasy, but whichever joker made that up was generally smart enough to not make decisive statements that would be disproven the very next day.
Even the whole politically correct psychodrama of “trans this” and “PoC that” is couched in shoulds and ambiguity, though genuinely mediocre minds like Kendincome close to breaking it.
Perhaps that really is one of the attractions of PutinAnon, as narrated by Ritter, MacGregor etc? It, unlike the seemingly deceptive ambiguous hypocrisy of the narratives described above, instead just outright lies, and only ever doubles down? Only getting more and more confident in its stupidity?
But the thing about political speech that looks deceptively ambiguous and hypocritical is that its strength is that it can flex and bend and adapt, while this Putin absolute lying cannot. And what cannot bend and flex and adapt, really does eventually collapse.
If you want the embed to work. Preserve the format (in this case .jpg) and get rid of the extraneous junk. Your link should end like this.
/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpg
An even better option is sharing ISW maps. The may not be as "zoomed in", however they have more credibility versus other sources.
PEACE 😇
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Kharkiv%20Battle%20Map%20Draft%20September%2029%2C2022.pngReplies: @sudden death
Checking if it works…
There are some blue gains south of Lyman, however there are orange gains south of the blue gains. Also, the supply corridor appears much wider on the more or less impartial ISW map.
The map from your source has bizzaro phweet "rashist" labelling. It appears to be dramatically overstating Ukie gains, plus ignoring losses further south.
• How long has the Ukie offensive been trying to pocket Lyman?
• And, what have the casualties been?
I concur that they still have a chance. However, if Kiev captures Lyman, it will have paid a very high price.
PEACE 😇
This is difficult to disentangle. CCP got its start as a Soviet client but received extensive patronage from DS (these "China Hands" were predominately WASPs rather than Jews)
https://i.postimg.cc/MHCw84sw/Dixie-Mission-commander-Colonel-David-D-Barrett-and-Mao-Zedong-in-Yenan-1944.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_MissionReplies: @Bashibuzuk
And if we dig further, we find that both USSR and Communist China have been Globalist projects since their very inception. The International of Socialist parties and the Fin-Intern (the term used in the 1930ies by the Russian Fascists in Harbin to describe the nascent Global financial system) did their best to help both Mao and Stalin. The main part of the Soviet industrial development was achieved with direct Western (mainly American) assistance. During that time, millions of Soviet Citizens perished of hunger and inhumane exploitation in Gulag. Russian Empire was supposed to have a population of around 400 million by the end of 1940ies, but wars, terror and famine prevented this. China, through the one child policy also has been prevented from reaching its full demographic potential. The West was paid in gold for its industrial exports, Kolyma gold extracted by the ZeKas and gold acquired from grain exports, grain taken from starving peasants of Ukraine and Russia (among which my grandmother’s family in Penza).
I’ve ignored Ritter since about late March or so when he correctly highlighted some Russian failures only to back down and change his mind when he received criticism from his Trust The Plan allies. I guess he realized then that even a pro-Russia analyst like himself had to toe the line 100% of the time – 90% wasn’t good enough! – or he would never get another interview again.
Latest Macgregor, who appears mote astute than Hodges and the clowns on CNN –
1. Russia is outperforming even the wildest pro-Russian expectations!
2. Ukraine will collapse tomorrow.
3. Russia has kept its A Team back and has most of its military chilling out somewhere in Russia.
4. Russia has systematically destroyed the Ukrainian army, just as planned.
5. Putin is too kind and humane.
6. The Russian people demanded mobilisation.
7. Russia is going to start trying now.
8. "Referenda."
9. What about America...and Cuba?
10 "Cui Bono."
11. The devious Anglo-Saxons.
12. "Please Germany, save us Russia."
13. Hopefully Germans freeze to death.
14. I can't say it wasn't Washington, but I'm obsessed with blaming Washington.
15. Russia will be saved by the German government collapsing.
16. This war will end NATO?!?!
17. I am actually an American patriot, not a Putin shill.
18. Russia has immense forces about to destroy the Ukrainians any day now.
19. The Ukrainians are already all dead.
20. Zelenskyy is making WMDs.
21. Putin wants a ceasefire, because he is a peaceful and all Ukrainians are dead, while Russia has never been stronger.
22. Zelenskyy is going to be kicked out tomorrow for the way Ukraine has lost everything.
LolReplies: @Mikhail, @songbird
Perhaps a noticeable German backlash might happen at some point.
Putin is so worried about the “threat of NATO” and how “NATO is so aggressive” and how “NATO is surrounding” Russia, that Russia has pulled 24,000 troops out of Kaliningrad, leaving just 6,000.
What type of war machine has he built that, 7 months into a “Special Military Operation” against Ukraine, which has received less than 2% of the US’s annual Department of Defence spending in military aid, Putin needs to sliv on Armenia, thereby destroying the CSTO, empty Kaliningrad, mobilise, and still be getting routed right on Russia’s borders!?!?!
At least the Soviet Union would actually live up to its agreement to defend its constituent parts. Putin dumped the CSTO at the first sign of the…Azeri army!?!
Putin’s hubris is taking the East Slavic world off a cliff and for no other reason than to murder and immiserate the Eastern Slav Ukrainians. Ffs, could there be a greater evil if you even care on but about the Eastern Slavs?
Putin isn’t Hitler. Hitler took Austria in a bloodless sweep. Were Putin like Hitler, Hitler would have needed to have invaded and then, 7 months later, still be failing to take some minor town just past Germany’s border, while the Wermacht was routed elsewhere
And look, I get that some partisans for Putin really do believe that care about Ukrainians, but, as I’ve said before, if you want to get people to join your country, consider them the same people as you, and they live on your borders, make your country such an incredible place that they actually want to join!
Don’t put some false machismo, plastic surgeried ex- pen pusher in charge, who mostly wants to play the big man, while stealing all of your money and building a fake military.
Because you’ll end up with him believing his own lies and delivering you a huge pile of sh*t!
What happened to the “13,000 tanks” and “1 million+ trained professional soldiers”, the “best missile defence system in the world,” the constant stream of “wonder weapons”, an “air force better than the Americans”, an “untouchable navy?”
Putin has had to sacrifice the CSTO, the garrison in Kaliningrad and even mobilised the general population, all in order to achieve no more than getting routed by just the Ukrainians barely past Russia’s borders.
The last 20 years in Russia has all been a lie. The economy started to go backwards in 2012, and is swirling down the drain now. The foreign exchange reserves are gone. And who knows where all the military money went? Putin’s cheek fillers?
It does not have to be this way!
But for once, those involved, if only by having to consent to being governed, need to stop blaming everyone else, and take responsibility for their own situation.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpgReplies: @LondonBob, @A123
Pretty obvious Krasny Liman is a trap, but Ukrainian and NATO ideological blinkers means they have blundered straight in to it, Seversk and Kharkhov counteroffensive coming.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd2yVP5XoAo47kO.jpgReplies: @LondonBob, @A123
This is where the ISW map is better.
There are some blue gains south of Lyman, however there are orange gains south of the blue gains. Also, the supply corridor appears much wider on the more or less impartial ISW map.
The map from your source has bizzaro phweet “rashist” labelling. It appears to be dramatically overstating Ukie gains, plus ignoring losses further south.
• How long has the Ukie offensive been trying to pocket Lyman?
• And, what have the casualties been?
I concur that they still have a chance. However, if Kiev captures Lyman, it will have paid a very high price.
PEACE 😇
It seems most Germans are just normal people who don’t want neverending futile appeasements which are leading nowhere near the peaceful solutions:
https://nitter.net/meyer_resende/status/1575749923487698944
Anyway, no use in complaining about it though, the way things are going a cleansing end in nuclear fire seems to be getting likelier, and then these things won't matter anymore. And if not, Eastern Europeans with their petty chauvinisms will find that the globohomo empire will turn out to be a rather harsher master than they had imagined.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Beckow, @LatW
Of course, only a certifiable idiot would accept Western propaganda narrative that Putin blew up NS pipes to snatch the leverage out of his own hands. Maybe despite years of blatantly false propaganda many Europeans are still not certifiable idiots eager to toe the imperial line. But I don’t think that any popular protests in Europe would matter to the empire, even if they materialize. The essence of Western “democracy” now is “do what I say, or else”. Terrorist act against both NS pipelines was the use of slave-driver’s whip on slaves who were suspected of thinking that rebellion is possible. That applies to all Europeans and includes Germany. The slaves were brought to order, crimethink nipped in the bud. End of story.
Yeah, that’s the refrain. Ukraine has gotten billions since 2014, there are at least 500 000 Ukrainians on welfare in Germany, heavy artillery and multi-rocket-launchers have been sent from Bundeswehr stocks, our entire economy is going to be devastated…but Germany “doesn’t want to help”. Charming people. If the EU weren’t likely to implode anyway, Ukrainians would be truly a wonderful addition to our happy European family, just like their Polish and Baltic friends.
I used to think descriptions of Germany as an “occupied country” were exaggerated and wasn’t even convinced that there’s a deliberate plan to hurt Germany with this war, but it’s becoming blatantly obvious that this is indeed the agenda. And yes, no German politician (apart from those on the left and right who are permanently shut out from power) will ever even openly state that fact, let alone object to it.
If 80%+ of the German people insist on being Sheeple, there is little hope of an outside rescue. Germans are voting for their own destruction.
PEACE 😇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSfz4N9GMM&t=6sReplies: @Triteleia Laxa
I played Putin shill bingo. Here’s the hilarious “points” he made:
1. Russia is outperforming even the wildest pro-Russian expectations!
2. Ukraine will collapse tomorrow.
3. Russia has kept its A Team back and has most of its military chilling out somewhere in Russia.
4. Russia has systematically destroyed the Ukrainian army, just as planned.
5. Putin is too kind and humane.
6. The Russian people demanded mobilisation.
7. Russia is going to start trying now.
8. “Referenda.”
9. What about America…and Cuba?
10 “Cui Bono.”
11. The devious Anglo-Saxons.
12. “Please Germany, save us Russia.”
13. Hopefully Germans freeze to death.
14. I can’t say it wasn’t Washington, but I’m obsessed with blaming Washington.
15. Russia will be saved by the German government collapsing.
16. This war will end NATO?!?!
17. I am actually an American patriot, not a Putin shill.
18. Russia has immense forces about to destroy the Ukrainians any day now.
19. The Ukrainians are already all dead.
20. Zelenskyy is making WMDs.
21. Putin wants a ceasefire, because he is a peaceful and all Ukrainians are dead, while Russia has never been stronger.
22. Zelenskyy is going to be kicked out tomorrow for the way Ukraine has lost everything.
Lol
https://nitter.net/meyer_resende/status/1575749923487698944Replies: @German_reader
They are brainwashed fools who can’t mentally process that their vital interests could be deliberately destroyed by supposed “friends” and “allies”, and who can easily be morally shamed into supporting parasitical foreigners. Eastern Europeans in their behaviour towards Germany aren’t really much different from Arab and African “refugees” and various poc activists, they are good at manipulation and know which buttons to push to get the desired result, and gratitude is just as foreign to them. They’ll also shamelessly play the Nazi card, even those whose national history of collaboration with Nazi Germany should preclude it. It’s no accident that the Greens and other shitlibs are Ukraine’s biggest fans in Germany (despite all the hilariously ugly Bandera stuff), it’s another occasion to enforce their authority over Germans who dare to consider that their own interests should maybe have priority for once. If there’s one thing this war has shown, it’s that the idea there could ever be a “European alliance of patriots” or that “based” Eastern Europeans could be of use to right-wing Westerners was a total fantasy.
Anyway, no use in complaining about it though, the way things are going a cleansing end in nuclear fire seems to be getting likelier, and then these things won’t matter anymore. And if not, Eastern Europeans with their petty chauvinisms will find that the globohomo empire will turn out to be a rather harsher master than they had imagined.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16529230_web1_web_rmz-june3.jpg?crop=1Replies: @Mikhail, @Beckow
You seem to live in the media world and buy into any propaganda – no mater how primitive. Goebbels loved the likes of you: a few cheap caricatures, good and evil, only one side.
Ideally. But the world is what it is, we have to get any info where we can. The majority of people in those regions voted to unite with Russia. Do you actually doubt that it is a majority? You focus on insignificant details because that reality destroys your worldview.
We pointed out to you that Kiev also did an election right after Maidan – when the war just started, in a menacing and heavy nationalist (armed Galicians mostly) atmosphere. With no voting allowed where opposition was in control. Did you object then? Did the Western media even comment on it?
I used to think descriptions of Germany as an "occupied country" were exaggerated and wasn't even convinced that there's a deliberate plan to hurt Germany with this war, but it's becoming blatantly obvious that this is indeed the agenda. And yes, no German politician (apart from those on the left and right who are permanently shut out from power) will ever even openly state that fact, let alone object to it.Replies: @A123
The idea that Germany is occupied by America is indeed ludicrous.
There is indeed a deliberate plan to hurt German Christians. However the plotters are German Islamophile Elites. The Great Replacement of Christians with Muslims is Merkel’s EU Globalist policy. Scholz has done nothing to change course.
Why aren’t more Germans voting for AfD. They are truthful about the Jihadist threat to Christianity. Yet they only get 10-15% of the vote.
If 80%+ of the German people insist on being Sheeple, there is little hope of an outside rescue. Germans are voting for their own destruction.
PEACE 😇
https://twitter.com/ArthurM40330824/status/1574995473550540805
Once again,, the instances you tap dance on involve concern security measures against fatal Kiev regime attacks on the process.
Also -
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0ed1aaa1-4124-4905-8907-9ec2f8d3ff6b Replies: @Mr. Hack
I’m not doubting the authenticity of this peaceful looking crowd. Melitopol has been under Russian control since March 5, plenty of time to orchestrate any kind of “potemkin village” type of scenario that the Russians need and want. A real referendum, not a sham one as was conducted as in Melitopol and elsewhere, would be preceded with at least a 3 month period of calm, where all political views would be allowed to be expressed before any sort of vote would be conducted. Also, it would be monitored by international observers, to help insure that everything was conducted above board. Was this how these “referendums” were conducted?
The Russia is losing/Russia has lost crowd is in a make believe world.
Rhetorical question.Replies: @Mr. Hack
Thulean Friend - I went from London to Stockholm earlier this year and concur that full Islamic garb is much more common in London though I did notice quite a few Somali-looking women in Stockholm wearing headscarves.
BTW I went into two pizza/kebab places in Stockholm and both seemed to be run by Middle East (Syrian?) Christians. (They looked Middle Eastern & one had prominently displayed cross whilst in the other the counter staff wore crucifixes). Is that a widespread thing there or maybe it was just the neighbourhood I was staying in?Replies: @German_reader, @LondonBob, @Thulean Friend
I’ve previously noted that pre-2015, Sweden was quite unique in Europe in that we had more Christian MENA migrants than moslems. So yes, it’s quite common.
It’s said that he’s a Brazilian immigrant living in Poland. IIRC, he has even banned some Polish nationalists for going “too far”. Reminds me of this “PeterSweden” guy on Twitter who is half-Norwegian/British.
Anyway, no use in complaining about it though, the way things are going a cleansing end in nuclear fire seems to be getting likelier, and then these things won't matter anymore. And if not, Eastern Europeans with their petty chauvinisms will find that the globohomo empire will turn out to be a rather harsher master than they had imagined.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Beckow, @LatW
Germany is the main economic powerhouse of the EU, as long as German economy is working alright, the EU economy could be kept afloat. As long as it is kept afloat, the EU middle class would be kept out of poverty and loss of their civic rights. These rights prevent the full implementation of the post Great Reset Globalist NWO. These rights and the middle class that is supposedly protected through their existence have to be erased. And erased they will be. RusFed has already lost this war, despite the war possibly still going on for a potentially protracted period (years maybe). During his years at the helm of the RusFed, Putin has masterfully prepared its final dismantling. Azef and pope Gapon are smiling and hugging each other in Hell looking at their spiritual offspring in Kremlin. The war, the impoverishment of the middle class and the militarization of the West will usher in a new era of total control. The reality after this World War will be completely different in the whole world. In a couple of generations we will be living in a posthuman (notice the similarity to posthumous) civilization. The Age of Man is over welcome to the machine. I was right a week ago when I prayed for VVP’s removal and wrote about the start of the World War (I would have preferred being proven wrong).
In either case, "Europe" is finished, it's been shown to be nothing but a mirage. Russia's future is going to be bleak too, certainly nothing like Karlin's fantasies about the war bringing "joy and national regeneration", which just look like childish wishful thinking now. He should have read something else than the propagandistic rantings of freaks like chubby Kholmogorov.
The Poles and the Balts in their narrow-minded stupidity will probably rejoice and think it's their turn at having in the place in the sun, lol. They will deserve everything that is going to happen to them.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Thulean Friend
Anyway, no use in complaining about it though, the way things are going a cleansing end in nuclear fire seems to be getting likelier, and then these things won't matter anymore. And if not, Eastern Europeans with their petty chauvinisms will find that the globohomo empire will turn out to be a rather harsher master than they had imagined.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Beckow, @LatW
In the east we have the same fools and the same split, including the uncomfortable past. What makes the idiocy more annoying is the layer of ever-present low-level greed that resembles the refugees. Is it better to be fools with material motives or just being a fool like Baerbock?
Unfortunately. But let’s be careful about the cleansing, it would be dirty. There is a certain pride among the cursed easterners: in spite of our inadequacies and small-minded indiscipline we could bring about the end of the world – or at least of Europe.
Westerners never understood that when not fully bought we have unique gifts and an existential devil-may-care spirit lacking in the West. When devil plays chess here, he plays both ends of the board.
And you seem to live in a world where historical realities do not exist, and even your own propaganda minister (Putler) acquiesced to those elections that you are now crying about:
What are the odds nukes get used up to now? 1 in 100? I don’t care about politics I just want to see things get blown up.
Either we will all get blown up in nuclear war when Ukraine tries to re-take the annexed territories or even Crimea, or there’ll be some sort of stalemate, with RF being weakened by emigration and sanctions, and Western Europe de-industrializing and becoming even more irrelevant, nothing more than a pawn for the masters in Washington.
In either case, “Europe” is finished, it’s been shown to be nothing but a mirage. Russia’s future is going to be bleak too, certainly nothing like Karlin’s fantasies about the war bringing “joy and national regeneration”, which just look like childish wishful thinking now. He should have read something else than the propagandistic rantings of freaks like chubby Kholmogorov.
The Poles and the Balts in their narrow-minded stupidity will probably rejoice and think it’s their turn at having in the place in the sun, lol. They will deserve everything that is going to happen to them.
Since the 1990s, they've been the fulcrum for NATO in Eastern Europe, a role that has only strengthened with this war. So the structural reasons for them having wind in their back isn't weakening, if anything only getting stronger. The problem for Europe is that the national interests of these eastern EU countries align perfectly with US objectives for the region, which prevents a rational Russia policy. But it's ultimately the fault of Western Europe for being too weak and fragmented to by letting this happen. That is a preventable failure, which can be reversed at any moment. Nothing is written in the stars on this.Replies: @LondonBob
A week or so ago I wrote my opinion about tactical nukes being used in Ukraine in the coming months, placing the odds at around 65%. It was before the North Stream has been blown up. Now I would write about the odds being 75 % in the next 6 months. If Ukraine joins NATO then it is a 100%, unless Putin is removed in a coup, which might be the plan all along: bring humankind to the brink of the nuclear war and then impose the Great Reset agenda in an accelerated way. We’ll see.
Blundering into a couple more traps should bring the Ukrainians to Severodonetsk.
I really don’t care what Putin or anyone else acquiesced to. Let’s compare the situations based on what they are: Maidan was a violent overthrow of the elected government by active violent part of the population – they also claimed ‘majority‘ in questionable circumstances and proceeded to implement controversial policies. They had very massive foreign help.
The other side reacted in kind: also using violence and foreign help. You cannot question their methods if you supported Maidan and the equally ‘fake’ elections after the Ukie nationalists seized power. My point is that in the 4 regions that just voted there is majority support for uniting with Russia – maybe less than claimed but the data shows majority. If some old lady voted under ‘duress’, the same happened with Maidan – an equal intimidation and duress. Same rules need to apply. Or we can defer to pure force.
We don’t live in an ideal world. Do you doubt that majority of people in Donbas and the other two regions prefer to be in Russia? If that is true not, who cares about the details.
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk. Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence.
https://i.postimg.cc/qqTcqVzC/23-people-dead-and-34-wounded.jpg
That is showing who the people side with and who is against these people. A lot of the Ukrainians dot not indeed support that nationalistic regime.
I have relatives in Kiev who used to speak Russian and now began speaking with their little children in Ukrainian. When I asked them about it from what they answered I got an impression that they were scared as much as they were brainwashed.
There is an immense amount of pressure the Russian-speaking people feel in Ukraine now, most of them simply are trying to avoid it. Their support for the Ukrainian nationalism is not genuine.Replies: @sudden death
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk (at least, those areas occupied by Russian forces) Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence, indeed Russian “win” is evidence for the fakery of the referendum.
Do you think the pro-Soviet “elections” in the Baltics in 1940 were not fake?Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
This is a war of the Globalists (the Global higher elite 0.1% and their owned TNCs and Financial System) against the nation states and the global middle class which us the true base of these nation states.
The end goal is the deconstruction of the nation states, decimation of the global middle class and outright depopulation in the next 2-3 generations.
Then a transhumanist NWO post Great Reset ruled by an "invisible" Nomenklatura of the highest elite setvants through the IA and Deep Learning algorithms, digital identification, CBDC and smart contracts.
No one would ever be free again in that brave new world.
About Putin, he might have been recruited by the BND in 1989 in Dresden. Then before appearing all of a sudden close to the top of the food chain in Leningrad in 1990, he would have been probably instructed about the goals of the USSR dismantling (it was one of the steps of the Globalist agenda controlled by people such as Otto Von Habsburg, who has put Klaus Schwab where he is today around 1970).
Then he was brought to the top of the food chain in Moscow and RusFed as a whole. Under his rule, the RusFed exported to the Globalized West trillions in natural ressources, injecting into the global financial system around 2 trillion $ and has ended up dismantling 99% of the science and high technology inherited from the Soviets. The demography stagnated at best, but in fact continued its downward trend and RusFed has become a country of middle aged people.
All his achievements were bogus and fake, his notoriety a product of global and domestic propaganda. Described as a "Villain" or a "Savior" by his haters and fans, he was just a spook for the Davos Crowd, milking RusFed, while euthanizing Russia.
He has made absolutely impossible rebuilding of the Slavdom into a global force it should rightly be. He has spent around 1,5 trillion $ on RusFed defense in the last 22 years with the results we see today in Donbass. Meanwhile the TFR among ethnic Slav in the Eastern Slav nations is today around 1,5 and hundreds of thousands of potential fathers will die on the frontline. During that time, RusFed is flooded with Central Asian gastarbeiters/immigrants forever altering the ethnic makeup of the core Russian lands.
When he retires and has a plastic surgery to modify his appearance so he could live the end of his days in some cozy and opulent surroundings, he might rightly declare: "mission accomplished, everything went according to the plan".Replies: @Mr. Hack, @S, @S
Thanks for being so open and clear about your views. How were you able to place some wings onto this whole “conspiracy theory” and make it fly? Who are some of your fellow ideologues that share some of these views? The only part that seems a little bit James Bondish to me is this part:
Will the head honchos have their own space station circling the earth including all of the super cool props that you imagine?
1) need to balance biosphere, mankind and technosphere (through depopulation).
2) need to prevent future runaway technological progress and the potential ensuing Singularity (through a total control on high technology).
3) need to reform the financial and economic models to ensure the long-term survival of the posthuman/transhumanist civilization (through blockchain smart contract control on allocation of ressources).
4) need to ensure a single global network and center of power to implement the global projects such as a Space Program capable of truly launching a Solar System colonization (through AI / Deep Learning central planning).
All these needs are directly derived from the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which both Globalized West and China are currently playing the leading roles.
They consider their needs legitimate, their aims ethnically sound and their actions motivated by greater good.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
In either case, "Europe" is finished, it's been shown to be nothing but a mirage. Russia's future is going to be bleak too, certainly nothing like Karlin's fantasies about the war bringing "joy and national regeneration", which just look like childish wishful thinking now. He should have read something else than the propagandistic rantings of freaks like chubby Kholmogorov.
The Poles and the Balts in their narrow-minded stupidity will probably rejoice and think it's their turn at having in the place in the sun, lol. They will deserve everything that is going to happen to them.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Thulean Friend
It will most probably become a shooting war between RusFed and NATO before Christmas. BTW I would not be surprised in the slightest if NATO accuses RusFed of the North Stream attack. That would be their much needed 9-11, Putin would be dwacribed as the “new Osama Bin Laden” and RusFed the new “international terrorism” we all need to unite to vanquish. This might be used as a reason to bypass and amend NATO’s rules and rush Ukraine in. Then NATO will intervene directly to prevent RusFed from prevailing on the frontline through using its newly mobilized troops (300K is a lie, the total number of drafted is probably much higher and is classified). And then, unless Putin is removed from power, it will be nuclear war.
-- -- How many troops from each nation?Not-The-President Biden is facing a disastrous midterm election rout. He cannot obtain the necessary "Authorization for Use of Military Force" [AUMF] from Congress. Thus, open involvement by American Forces has an absolutely 0% Probability.Turkey has the largest nearby ground army. However, they are much more concerned about the Syrian front for Erdogan's new Ottoman Empire. I am hard pressed to understand where your European WEF, non-NATO, offensive will come from. France perhaps?
___More importantly, the European WEF actually wants the Kiev regime to lose. A messy failure in Ukraine maximizes the Great Replacement, which is the true goal of Merkel/Scholz German policy dictated to Brussels for promulgation to EU.PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
There may be some chance that it was Russia, but all the scenarios I've seen so far for this are ridiculously contorted. The obvious suspects are the US, Poland and Ukraine. The fact that there is no real debate in Germany about this and its possible implications tells one everything one needs to know.Replies: @Beckow, @songbird
In either case, "Europe" is finished, it's been shown to be nothing but a mirage. Russia's future is going to be bleak too, certainly nothing like Karlin's fantasies about the war bringing "joy and national regeneration", which just look like childish wishful thinking now. He should have read something else than the propagandistic rantings of freaks like chubby Kholmogorov.
The Poles and the Balts in their narrow-minded stupidity will probably rejoice and think it's their turn at having in the place in the sun, lol. They will deserve everything that is going to happen to them.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Thulean Friend
High energy prices won’t last forever. I’ve looked pretty closely which businesses have shifted extra capacity to the US and it’s typically steelmakers like ArcelorMittal or Tesla taking advantage of new govt subsidies that the Biden admin signed into law recently, which are temporary factors. Outside of that, the list rapidly gets thinner.
The simple truth is that Europe has more high-quality workers than anywhere else on the planet (outside of China) and these workers aren’t going anywhere. Capital always follows talent, not vice versa.
This meme of permanent decline is bogus. High prices will come down and Europe’s large array of advantages will remain.
I’ve been writing this for many years. I’m glad that others are now catching up, even if it took them longer. But this is nothing new.
A lot will depend on how much China wants to bail them out, IMO. That’s still largely unknown. So far, the early signs aren’t positive.
It’s as if you took Warsaw’s foreign policy wishlist and just checked every box.
They wanted more US soldiers and a permanent military base and they got it. They wanted an end to NS1 and NS2 and they got it. They wanted a permanent severing of the ties with Russia and they got it. And they’ve started to slowly shield themselves from Russian gas imports with their Baltic Pipe project, which will only accelerate over the next year.
On top of that, they’ve received a huge demographic boost of mostly other slavic immigrants. Despite predictions of massive social tensions, you don’t hear much about it, indicating that assimilation is going smoothly. I think Poland in particular has probably been the single biggest winner in Europe from this war.
If you look at their broader history, you could say that they’ve been on an upward trend for the past century. They had barely come into (re)existence in 1922. After WWII, they were arguably one of the geographic winners. They got much better borders after the war than they had going into it.
Since the 1990s, they’ve been the fulcrum for NATO in Eastern Europe, a role that has only strengthened with this war. So the structural reasons for them having wind in their back isn’t weakening, if anything only getting stronger.
The problem for Europe is that the national interests of these eastern EU countries align perfectly with US objectives for the region, which prevents a rational Russia policy. But it’s ultimately the fault of Western Europe for being too weak and fragmented to by letting this happen. That is a preventable failure, which can be reversed at any moment. Nothing is written in the stars on this.
https://twitter.com/philippilk/status/1575045912497655808?s=20&t=4g6f45B5JlhSFLd6_BpxdgReplies: @AnonfromTN
The NATO treaty doesn’t allow for a NATO offensive. By definition it cannot be NATO. That is impossible.
Do you mean European WEF nations that are part of NATO? If so:
— — Which ones?
— — How many troops from each nation?
Not-The-President Biden is facing a disastrous midterm election rout. He cannot obtain the necessary “Authorization for Use of Military Force” [AUMF] from Congress. Thus, open involvement by American Forces has an absolutely 0% Probability.
Turkey has the largest nearby ground army. However, they are much more concerned about the Syrian front for Erdogan’s new Ottoman Empire.
I am hard pressed to understand where your European WEF, non-NATO, offensive will come from. France perhaps?
___
More importantly, the European WEF actually wants the Kiev regime to lose.
A messy failure in Ukraine maximizes the Great Replacement, which is the true goal of Merkel/Scholz German policy dictated to Brussels for promulgation to EU.
PEACE 😇
Let's ask the Serbs...Replies: @A123
To the extent it’s even discussed in German media (it’s not a dominant issue as it should be, but kept rather low-key), they’re already doing this. Some hilarious suggestions, that Russia may already have installed explosives when the pipelines were built, lol. The kind of stuff you would hear in 9/11 conspiracy theories, but this time coming from “experts” and good and respectable people. Because it’s of course unthinkable that our “friends” and “allies” could show their utter disrespect for German sovereignty in what’s essentially an act of war.
There may be some chance that it was Russia, but all the scenarios I’ve seen so far for this are ridiculously contorted. The obvious suspects are the US, Poland and Ukraine. The fact that there is no real debate in Germany about this and its possible implications tells one everything one needs to know.
Possibly influenced by this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Grozny_stadium_bombing
(In which a bomb was buried in concrete months ahead of time.)
I like the theory (though don't believe in it), but I do wonder how it would be triggered in such a scenario, if not with a timer. (Perhaps, sonar? Or ELF radio waves?). But I'd be very surprised if America didn't have underwater drones that could explode or carry a bomb, on short notice.
Though, I tend to doubt it was America that did it directly. Possibly, they made a phone call to their subordinates. But not necessarily.Replies: @German_reader
To be fair, though it’s true they have been doing this( book your passport) in the EU countries I have visited, when our hotel stay coincided with my birthday – the staff there did send up to our room a birthday card, wide variety of snacks, fruits, cake and a bottle of wine. Would have only done it because all passport details on their system- nobody mentioned the birthday to the staff.
A non-story, globally-speaking, but I enjoyed the gesture
Will the head honchos have their own space station circling the earth including all of the super cool props that you imagine?
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121108_BondPhoto-0915a.files.jpgReplies: @Bashibuzuk
What you call the “James Bondish part” is fully disclosed in the publications and presentations by the WEF circle. It is all in the open. They hide nothing at all. Of course they use “newspeak” and “think positive” but they have clearly stated their plans and have explained their reasons based on the following needs:
1) need to balance biosphere, mankind and technosphere (through depopulation).
2) need to prevent future runaway technological progress and the potential ensuing Singularity (through a total control on high technology).
3) need to reform the financial and economic models to ensure the long-term survival of the posthuman/transhumanist civilization (through blockchain smart contract control on allocation of ressources).
4) need to ensure a single global network and center of power to implement the global projects such as a Space Program capable of truly launching a Solar System colonization (through AI / Deep Learning central planning).
All these needs are directly derived from the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which both Globalized West and China are currently playing the leading roles.
They consider their needs legitimate, their aims ethnically sound and their actions motivated by greater good.
This is a big deal to those first-hand sources. Their lives became far less depressing as their dying patients became far less young and numerous.Replies: @Beckow
We know that Covid became less dangerous, that is an established fact, not ‘possible’. The number of young who were seriously impacted by Covid was very small, in children almost zero. The ones impacted were already sick or very fat.
You hide in sob stories. Answer the simple question: why was the young generation sacrificed for the elusive goal of keeping some old and sick people alive maybe a little longer? or maybe not even that? If that is not a government failure, what would be? Is this a gerontocracy?
Personally, I have no fear of death, other than my strategies so far in my life going to waste, and the sadness of those in my life who do fear death, but I cannot just hand wave away everyone else's fears. At the least, they will determine what they do.
E.g had there been no lockdown, huge numbers of young people would still have hid at home, but this time they would also have had to quit their jobs. There are some hiding even now, though mostly enabled by "work from home.'
You also have to realise that the hospitals, during the peaks of Covid, really were hellish. And they were inundated with the dying, including the young. The lockdowns just about stopped them from being overwhelmed by reducing the peaks. Again, I know this from first-hand sources.
On the other hand, I will agree that, had the same effort to make the lockdowns work, gone into making the medical system work better, then it is possible that it would have had the same effect, but I don't know how easy it is to scale-up medical care and I also suspect that the professionals did know best, or, at least, as well as anyone did.
Again, my preference is Sweden, but I am uncertain whether that could have been achieved elsewhere. The Swedes really are an exceptionally conformist people. This can lead to some authoritarianism in government, but it can also lead to the government not needing authoritarianism to get things done, as people will conform and do them anyway.
I hated the lockdowns and, furthermore, agree that there are all sorts of costs from them which are even yet to be revealed. Germaphobia is a huge deal, for example, but is it really a result of the lockdown, or of the pandemic? I don't know.Replies: @Beckow
-- -- How many troops from each nation?Not-The-President Biden is facing a disastrous midterm election rout. He cannot obtain the necessary "Authorization for Use of Military Force" [AUMF] from Congress. Thus, open involvement by American Forces has an absolutely 0% Probability.Turkey has the largest nearby ground army. However, they are much more concerned about the Syrian front for Erdogan's new Ottoman Empire. I am hard pressed to understand where your European WEF, non-NATO, offensive will come from. France perhaps?
___More importantly, the European WEF actually wants the Kiev regime to lose. A messy failure in Ukraine maximizes the Great Replacement, which is the true goal of Merkel/Scholz German policy dictated to Brussels for promulgation to EU.PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
NATO – a defensive alliance?
Let’s ask the Serbs…
• You ducked the critical questions-- Which European nations are going to send ground troops to Ukraine to fight your hypothetical WEF/RusFed War? -- How many soldiers will be sent by each EU member?Are you even sure that your European WEF leaders want to put boots on the ground for the "Greater EU Empire"? I suspect there will be much talk from your Brussels/Berlin/Davos Axis, but very little action is forthcoming.PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
There may be some chance that it was Russia, but all the scenarios I've seen so far for this are ridiculously contorted. The obvious suspects are the US, Poland and Ukraine. The fact that there is no real debate in Germany about this and its possible implications tells one everything one needs to know.Replies: @Beckow, @songbird
They burnt the boats. There is no way back now, the fight must be joined to the end. (It would apply to Russia too if they did it, which is unlikely.)
It is an all-out war. When two comparable forces fight the decisive factor is the ability to escalate – who will go deeper into the abyss? Both sides are playing their part but Russia has better ability to keep escalating. We have 25% odds of some nukes at some point.
What people don’t understand is that in an all-out war options dramatically narrow as time goes on. Things nobody thought possible at the beginning become inevitable. Maxed-out credit could be a smart move now. I mean, relatively 🙂
Kingdom for a horse, indeed.
1) need to balance biosphere, mankind and technosphere (through depopulation).
2) need to prevent future runaway technological progress and the potential ensuing Singularity (through a total control on high technology).
3) need to reform the financial and economic models to ensure the long-term survival of the posthuman/transhumanist civilization (through blockchain smart contract control on allocation of ressources).
4) need to ensure a single global network and center of power to implement the global projects such as a Space Program capable of truly launching a Solar System colonization (through AI / Deep Learning central planning).
All these needs are directly derived from the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which both Globalized West and China are currently playing the leading roles.
They consider their needs legitimate, their aims ethnically sound and their actions motivated by greater good.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
This is false. Schwab Gates Bezos Musk et al’s promoted technology ain’t ever going to happen. No super AI. No Mars colony. No brain chips (except for cripples). No transhumans. No time travel. No quantum computers running everything.
It is 99.9% a scam.
Have you taken those experimental MRNA virus medications?
That also is a scam. It could have been your first clue.
In fact, the Russians took two! Ukrainian nuclear plants. But in a masterfully planned feint they decided to give Chernobyl back to their enemies.
The only reason why not everybody is marvelled at the big success that the Russian SMO has been is because of the lying analysts, including most Russian ones, and the internet trolls. But considering all the circumstances you point out, there is no doubt one day historians will put the SMO on par with, if not above, the battles of Thermopylae and Agincourt or the Fall of France in 1940.Replies: @Here Be Dragon
Chernobyl plant is not operational so it does not have any value. The other plant in Enerhodar produces 20% of electricity in Ukraine. Now it will be used to supply Donbas and the other two regions that have been annexed.
Mariupol is the second city in significance in the entire country, being an industrial center and a cargo port. The largest metallurgical combine however was damaged to the point of now being impossible to restore.
Kherson is an important city for controlling the canal passing water from Dnieper to Crimea. Having taken these two cities the Russians have secured both electric power needed to supply the new territories and the delivery of water.
Chernobyl was of no use.
That is right.
The Russians have been losing the information war not even trying to counter it. Apparently it is because most international platforms are being owned and controlled by the West. Perhaps the Russians decided not to waste resources on it.
They work in Telegram only and for some reason they only work in the Russian language. There are several high quality channels that provide with trustworthy information, but none of these is in English. To be fair they were unprepared to it.
They still have not created any alternative to YouTube and Twitter. Though they are trying to promote that new Bastion platform that is uncensored and anonymous and is kind of a hybrid of Twitter and YouTube, it has not been successful so far.
One day when the dust settles all of these events will be assessed properly, without propaganda and then it will be obvious to everybody how easily they were manipulated and how cinically their media were lying to them.
The latest example – that super successful Ukrainian counter-offensive. Despite the fact that most media resources acknowledged that the Russians were outnumbered 8 : 1 – google it – they are still claiming that it was a great success.
Whereas in truth Ukraine had assembled a huge amount of troops in one spot, attacked the Russians with 8 : 1 advantage and forced them to retreat while retaking 60 km of the previously lost territory, the only value of which is a railway hub.
The Russians pulled a little back and demolished two power plants feeding the railway leading to that hub. The counter-offensive laster a week. Now the trains are not going in that area, the logistic hain has been interrupted.
Where is the success?
At the start of this war everybody assumed that by this time the Ukrainians would have occupied Crimea, most of Southern Russia and perhaps even Moscow. Instead, they are only making the Russians retreat in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk. The magnificence of the SMO will be studied in military academies for centuries to come.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Here Be Dragon
You hide in sob stories. Answer the simple question: why was the young generation sacrificed for the elusive goal of keeping some old and sick people alive maybe a little longer? or maybe not even that? If that is not a government failure, what would be? Is this a gerontocracy?Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
The young I knew were more pro-lockdown than the old I knew. I think fear of death is usually partly overcome in the old and intelligent, if not always overcome entirely.
Personally, I have no fear of death, other than my strategies so far in my life going to waste, and the sadness of those in my life who do fear death, but I cannot just hand wave away everyone else’s fears. At the least, they will determine what they do.
E.g had there been no lockdown, huge numbers of young people would still have hid at home, but this time they would also have had to quit their jobs. There are some hiding even now, though mostly enabled by “work from home.’
You also have to realise that the hospitals, during the peaks of Covid, really were hellish. And they were inundated with the dying, including the young. The lockdowns just about stopped them from being overwhelmed by reducing the peaks. Again, I know this from first-hand sources.
On the other hand, I will agree that, had the same effort to make the lockdowns work, gone into making the medical system work better, then it is possible that it would have had the same effect, but I don’t know how easy it is to scale-up medical care and I also suspect that the professionals did know best, or, at least, as well as anyone did.
Again, my preference is Sweden, but I am uncertain whether that could have been achieved elsewhere. The Swedes really are an exceptionally conformist people. This can lead to some authoritarianism in government, but it can also lead to the government not needing authoritarianism to get things done, as people will conform and do them anyway.
I hated the lockdowns and, furthermore, agree that there are all sorts of costs from them which are even yet to be revealed. Germaphobia is a huge deal, for example, but is it really a result of the lockdown, or of the pandemic? I don’t know.
It is a fertility control tool and a means towards depopulation. The spike protein toxin lowers the fertility in both males and females it also induces a cardiovascular inflammation which will reduce total life expectancy. BTW, the virus itself does the same (it also reduces cognitive capability and lowers immunity). Now the virus has become endemic everywhere except New Zealand and China. The populations everywhere will be affected. The depopulation is one of the goals of the Great Reset. Therefore the Covid epidemic and vaccination are not scams but Great Reset tools.
Did you take it?Replies: @Bashibuzuk
We haven't had any vaccination but have had the 'Vid pretty good once and I do believe very mildly a couple of other times, in case you are curious.
I would not be surprised on the lower immunity bit as it would potentially explain something I've observed for some time. I've noticed that after the 'Vid that we (and a lot of other people I know) seem to be catching minor colds and bugs all the time. I've asked doctors that I know and they say it is an accurate observation. This has been a very unusual state for my own family since we are normally sick quite infrequently.
My explanation for this was that everyone isolating/ moving around less greatly reduced transmission of minor colds, flu, etc. This made our immune systems more naive to these infections once they started circulating normally creating a greater number of symptomatic infections until our systems are reacquainted to the normal slew of threats.
Do you have any data supporting a widespread and long lasting drop in immune response among those who have had the 'Vid/ Shot?
I do fully agree with your point that the infection/ shot seem to carry the same slew of adverse reactions. This seemed sensible fairly early on since the spike protein is a symptomatic component of the virus.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
Nonsense. Your lies are becoming more outlandish. Unless you mean all 4 collectively rather than individually.
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk. Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence.
A group of civilian cars going from the still Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia towards the Russian-controlled territory has been bombed this morning. 23 people dead and 34 wounded.
That is showing who the people side with and who is against these people. A lot of the Ukrainians dot not indeed support that nationalistic regime.
I have relatives in Kiev who used to speak Russian and now began speaking with their little children in Ukrainian. When I asked them about it from what they answered I got an impression that they were scared as much as they were brainwashed.
There is an immense amount of pressure the Russian-speaking people feel in Ukraine now, most of them simply are trying to avoid it. Their support for the Ukrainian nationalism is not genuine.
https://i.postimg.cc/qqTcqVzC/23-people-dead-and-34-wounded.jpg
That is showing who the people side with and who is against these people. A lot of the Ukrainians dot not indeed support that nationalistic regime.
I have relatives in Kiev who used to speak Russian and now began speaking with their little children in Ukrainian. When I asked them about it from what they answered I got an impression that they were scared as much as they were brainwashed.
There is an immense amount of pressure the Russian-speaking people feel in Ukraine now, most of them simply are trying to avoid it. Their support for the Ukrainian nationalism is not genuine.Replies: @sudden death
According to preliminary data from gathered explosive fragments, it was a S-300 rocket strike and only RF had and been using such modifications of S-300 with special capability of land targeting:
https://ria.ru/20170530/1495355883.html
https://t.me/m0sc0wcalling/12093
https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/1575839749083906048?s=46&t=GTO8gRAWynCT0OOjn6o5vg
But for your information, the S-300 missiles are surface-to-air only and there is no such a version that can be used as surface-to-surface for ground attacks, and for one simple reason: these missiles are very sophisticated and expensive. They are for high-value targets only, such as combat aircraft and cruise and ballistic missiles.
The system does not even allow using them in any other way since these missiles are guided by the radars.
And Russia has a number of various cheaper surface-to-surface missiles to use for ground attacks.Replies: @sudden death
Let's ask the Serbs...Replies: @A123
That is a somewhat fair point, however:
• It is more than 2 decades out of date, and
• You ducked the critical questions
— Which European nations are going to send ground troops to Ukraine to fight your hypothetical WEF/RusFed War?
— How many soldiers will be sent by each EU member?
Are you even sure that your European WEF leaders want to put boots on the ground for the “Greater EU Empire”? I suspect there will be much talk from your Brussels/Berlin/Davos Axis, but very little action is forthcoming.
PEACE 😇
If you believe the info coming from current Kiev regime, I have a bridge to sell you. Also accept my condolences: stupidity is incurable.
Nonsense. Your lies are becoming more outlandish. Unless you mean all 4 collectively rather than individually.
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk (at least, those areas occupied by Russian forces) Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence, indeed Russian “win” is evidence for the fakery of the referendum.
Do you think the pro-Soviet “elections” in the Baltics in 1940 were not fake?
Also this:
Are you a complete idiot?
A front line is never straight and should never be.
That is right, but that is to be expected. Ukraine spent $50 million on building these.
There are concrete bunkers and concrete trenches, bomb-proof. It will take time to find the weak spots in these fortifications and break through them.
Moreover there are two or three rows of these as we can see on this map. If the Ukrainians are forced to pull back there is another line behind they can take positions at.
Right now the Russians do not have enough manpower to push forward.
The Russians do not have any fortifications there. They were forced to retreat being outnumbered 1:8 on a small piece of land about 60 km long and 60 km deep. That does not mean anything significant.
That is right.
That is right as well.
But these are standard rockets that cannot do a lot of damage. The other ones you mentioned are used with the same chassis but a different launch container. These are bigger and more powerful than the standard ones.
That will be impossible to conseal these because it will be seen on the radars, which is which.
ofc, way better to automatically believe and parrot RF propjunk hallucinations like completed and done capture of the Siversk several months ago, while at the time UA sources with photo/video proofs were showing it being nonsense, lol
1. Russia is outperforming even the wildest pro-Russian expectations!
2. Ukraine will collapse tomorrow.
3. Russia has kept its A Team back and has most of its military chilling out somewhere in Russia.
4. Russia has systematically destroyed the Ukrainian army, just as planned.
5. Putin is too kind and humane.
6. The Russian people demanded mobilisation.
7. Russia is going to start trying now.
8. "Referenda."
9. What about America...and Cuba?
10 "Cui Bono."
11. The devious Anglo-Saxons.
12. "Please Germany, save us Russia."
13. Hopefully Germans freeze to death.
14. I can't say it wasn't Washington, but I'm obsessed with blaming Washington.
15. Russia will be saved by the German government collapsing.
16. This war will end NATO?!?!
17. I am actually an American patriot, not a Putin shill.
18. Russia has immense forces about to destroy the Ukrainians any day now.
19. The Ukrainians are already all dead.
20. Zelenskyy is making WMDs.
21. Putin wants a ceasefire, because he is a peaceful and all Ukrainians are dead, while Russia has never been stronger.
22. Zelenskyy is going to be kicked out tomorrow for the way Ukraine has lost everything.
LolReplies: @Mikhail, @songbird
More accurate than Hodges, Leighton, Hertling et al.
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk (at least, those areas occupied by Russian forces) Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence, indeed Russian “win” is evidence for the fakery of the referendum.
Do you think the pro-Soviet “elections” in the Baltics in 1940 were not fake?Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
In fact, the results are the evidence of monumental stupidity of current Kiev regime. It threatened lengthy prison terms for participation in the referendums. Thus, whoever supports it did not participate. The results were skewed exactly the way Putin wanted without any machinations on his part. Maybe those morons in Kiev are actually “agents of Putin” or “agents of Kremlin”, as they usually call each other. But the most parsimonious explanation is that they are simply idiots.
At least one EU honcho and more than one Kiev regime official said the situation will be settled on the battle field. There’s also the matter of a not so democratic Kiev regime having restricted the perspective of millions following the coup against Yanukovych.
The Russia is losing/Russia has lost crowd is in a make believe world.
• You ducked the critical questions-- Which European nations are going to send ground troops to Ukraine to fight your hypothetical WEF/RusFed War? -- How many soldiers will be sent by each EU member?Are you even sure that your European WEF leaders want to put boots on the ground for the "Greater EU Empire"? I suspect there will be much talk from your Brussels/Berlin/Davos Axis, but very little action is forthcoming.PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
Poland, Romania and Baltic States would be more than happy to participate in an anti-RusFed “punitive operation”.
Scandinavian countries might also enjoy some action on the Eastern Front, especially Sweden.
Added to Ukrainian troops it would be more than enough to cause a serious problem to RusFed Army and its Sovok vintage weaponry, strategy and tactics.
The other NATO countries might add a strong naval and missile support on both Baltic and Black Sea battlefields.
This might be correct, but we all should keep in mind the Covid epidemic – these people are extremists.
Also they really did blow NS up, it shows they mean it.
Again, I hope that I will be proven wrong, that RusFed will not use tactical nukes in Ukraine and that NATO will not directly fight RusFed.
Plus, if Ukraine is being divvied up, any Polish operation may be for the good of "Greater Poland". While the Kiev regime wants help, it does not want to lose territory to Poland.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
That preliminary data could have been only gathered from explosive fragments of the sick brain of the Ukrainian propaganda bureau. Though for the people like AP and Mr. Schmuck as well as yourself it may be sufficiently persuasive, considering how biased and incompetent you are.
But for your information, the S-300 missiles are surface-to-air only and there is no such a version that can be used as surface-to-surface for ground attacks, and for one simple reason: these missiles are very sophisticated and expensive. They are for high-value targets only, such as combat aircraft and cruise and ballistic missiles.
The system does not even allow using them in any other way since these missiles are guided by the radars.
And Russia has a number of various cheaper surface-to-surface missiles to use for ground attacks.
But for your information, the S-300 missiles are surface-to-air only and there is no such a version that can be used as surface-to-surface for ground attacks, and for one simple reason: these missiles are very sophisticated and expensive. They are for high-value targets only, such as combat aircraft and cruise and ballistic missiles.
The system does not even allow using them in any other way since these missiles are guided by the radars.
And Russia has a number of various cheaper surface-to-surface missiles to use for ground attacks.Replies: @sudden death
Not only you seem to be clueless about your beloved RF weapon systems, despite allegedly reading military journals, but also not even capable to read in Russian from provided Kremlin ruled media sources, such like RIA, which reported S-300 modification having ability and being used in practice for land targets without any radars being necesarry, but just having given land coordinates:
https://ria.ru/20170530/1495355883.html
https://missilery.info/missile/c300pmu2С-300ПМУ2 «Фаворит», зенитная ракетная система
https://www.arms-expo.ru/armament/samples/1263/68896/ЗРК С-300ПМУ2 Фаворит. Дальность поражения. Состав. Ракеты
http://oruzhie.info/vojska-pvo/605-s-300pmu2-favoritNote that in specification section below each one of these articles gives the lowest altitude of the target as 10 m. These missiles are not made to be used against ground targets. And they are way too expensive for it. The news agency is not a reliable source of information on such a topic. They are incompetent in the field and often either make things up or get confused in terminology. Simply because they are a state owned agency does not make them any more credible.Russia does have as I said a number of various surface-to-surface missiles that would have been used if that was a Russian strike.The fact that it was a mistaken report is obvious from the report itself: It says that a number of armoured vehicles were destroyed with the S-300 missiles. However the S-300 missiles cannot destroy armoured targets. They do not have an appropriate warheads for such a task. All the S-300 missiles destroy their targets with fragments which would be absolutely ineffective against any armoured vehicle.Replies: @Philip Owen, @sudden death
All of the nations you mention, expect Poland, have trivial military potential. Poland knows that it *needs* to stay behind the nuclear armed NATO defense shield. If it openly attacks Russia that protection goes away.
Plus, if Ukraine is being divvied up, any Polish operation may be for the good of “Greater Poland”. While the Kiev regime wants help, it does not want to lose territory to Poland.
PEACE 😇
The Globalist might use Poland to weaken RusFed, while at the same time enjoying the destruction on the battlefield of Poland's potential for becoming the focal point for Eastern European integration. And we should never underestimate both Polish resentment against RusFed and Germany and Polish revanchism. These are the offspring of people who have launched suicidal cavalry attacks on German panzers we are talking about. They are not entirely rational when it comes to their historical record.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
Mariupol is the second city in significance in the entire country, being an industrial center and a cargo port. The largest metallurgical combine however was damaged to the point of now being impossible to restore.
Kherson is an important city for controlling the canal passing water from Dnieper to Crimea. Having taken these two cities the Russians have secured both electric power needed to supply the new territories and the delivery of water.
Chernobyl was of no use. That is right.
The Russians have been losing the information war not even trying to counter it. Apparently it is because most international platforms are being owned and controlled by the West. Perhaps the Russians decided not to waste resources on it.
They work in Telegram only and for some reason they only work in the Russian language. There are several high quality channels that provide with trustworthy information, but none of these is in English. To be fair they were unprepared to it.
They still have not created any alternative to YouTube and Twitter. Though they are trying to promote that new Bastion platform that is uncensored and anonymous and is kind of a hybrid of Twitter and YouTube, it has not been successful so far. One day when the dust settles all of these events will be assessed properly, without propaganda and then it will be obvious to everybody how easily they were manipulated and how cinically their media were lying to them.
The latest example – that super successful Ukrainian counter-offensive. Despite the fact that most media resources acknowledged that the Russians were outnumbered 8 : 1 – google it – they are still claiming that it was a great success.
Whereas in truth Ukraine had assembled a huge amount of troops in one spot, attacked the Russians with 8 : 1 advantage and forced them to retreat while retaking 60 km of the previously lost territory, the only value of which is a railway hub.
The Russians pulled a little back and demolished two power plants feeding the railway leading to that hub. The counter-offensive laster a week. Now the trains are not going in that area, the logistic hain has been interrupted.
Where is the success?Replies: @Mikel
Again, you are right.
At the start of this war everybody assumed that by this time the Ukrainians would have occupied Crimea, most of Southern Russia and perhaps even Moscow. Instead, they are only making the Russians retreat in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk. The magnificence of the SMO will be studied in military academies for centuries to come.
Actually, yes, everyone predicted that Ukraine would win the conventional war and conquer Moscow, and this means that Russia is truly effecting a victory for the ages by having only just failed to take Bakhmut. Russia can go home now. Russian under Pootin iz da best. Yous r da bigges' an' da bes'! Kingz of wauugh!Replies: @Philip Owen
Russia has indeed succeeded in taking three most important and valuable targets at this time – Mariupol with its port and the other metallurgical combine that is still operational, Kherson with the water canal and the power plant in Energodar.
These are essential strategic resourses.
However at the same time Russia has sustained huge losses on the economics front: first of all the $300 billion that were seized and now the Nord Stream pipelines as well. Most of all the money of course – it is unforgiveable.
Not to bring the money out of the West before starting a war is an unbelievable stupidity. They could have done it easily and now they might have had the money and the Western assets in Russia, which would have made the West now think how to get it back.
But instead the West got the money and the Russians got the Western assets which are of approximately the same value. This maybe is allowing them to keep the face but is depriving them from having any leverage. A huge mistake!
Now as far as I understand without the Nord Stream their ability to generate income will be significantly reduced and therefore financing this war will become a heavy load on the budget, especially considering the loss of the $300 billions.
Hence in the given circumstances they will probably have to reduce their ambitions as well. Before the Nord Stream sabotage I had been thinking they were going to take a half of Ukraine which is east of Dnieper, and that would be the best outcome of the war.
Now I think they will take the historical New Russia territories and that will be it. Taking a half of Kiev would require assembling a million people, or at least 600 thousand people. That is a lot of money, food and fuel. I do not think they can pull it off now.
Most probably they will take the territories which are here on these maps below.
The Russian-speaking territories.
https://i.postimg.cc/4dNtdmhC/Ukraine-2.png
The current map of Ukraine.
https://i.postimg.cc/8Cgm1pHD/New-map-of-Ukraine.png
The historical New Russia territories, that were conquered in the 18th century.
https://i.postimg.cc/WzxJX8Yj/New-Russia.jpgReplies: @Sean, @Philip Owen
I would not doubt majority support in Donbas and Luhansk (at least, those areas occupied by Russian forces) Those regions have ethnic Russian majority or near-majority, polls have shown more support than opposition to Russian invasion, etc.
No evidence of majority support in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Fake referendum doesn’t count as evidence, indeed Russian “win” is evidence for the fakery of the referendum.
Do you think the pro-Soviet “elections” in the Baltics in 1940 were not fake?Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow
You understand nothing. All you do when you lose an argument is to yell “lies!” It is irrelevant in a discussion – address the actual points and do not hide behind emotional infantilism.
AnonfromTN made a valid point: the pro-Ukie voters were intimidated into not participating, so 93% and 87% it is. That’s the way the cookie crumbled, you lost. Similar dynamic existed post-Maidan: Ukie nationalist side controlled the process and intimidated half of the population who disagreed with them (in the pre-Maidan borders).
Is a huge problem for and you try to avoid addressing it: they also came to power in a violent coup. But as I said before, this is now beyond words – the force will decide it.
There are two scenarios: Russia takes a large part of the south-east, or we end up with a nuclear exchange. It didn’t have to come to this: there was an imperfect compromise available till February. Or you can try to win the war, but how?
When someone lies I call it that. The claimed turnout of over 50% is fake.
If turnout was 10% and Russia got 87% it would be a real (though invalid) result. It was not similar, because results closely (though not perfectly) matched peoples will which is the purpose of voting.
These results are the opposite of peoples will. Maidan: Popular revolt, no foreign troops involved, that put the popular vote winner of the most recent elections into power. Later elections matched what people wanted, though reduced the losing sides’s total by 5% or so (not enough to make a difference).
Kherson: Foreign invasion that placed a guy who lost the mayoral race in the capital into power. Made a referendum that resulted in the opposite of what people wanted.
Beckow: it’s all the same.Replies: @Beckow
At the start of this war everybody assumed that by this time the Ukrainians would have occupied Crimea, most of Southern Russia and perhaps even Moscow. Instead, they are only making the Russians retreat in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk. The magnificence of the SMO will be studied in military academies for centuries to come.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Here Be Dragon
Who?
Actually, yes, everyone predicted that Ukraine would win the conventional war and conquer Moscow, and this means that Russia is truly effecting a victory for the ages by having only just failed to take Bakhmut. Russia can go home now. Russian under Pootin iz da best. Yous r da bigges’ an’ da bes’! Kingz of wauugh!
Cardiff is where the Chevaline war heads used in the British nuclear submarines are assembled and maintained. Prime target.
Plus, if Ukraine is being divvied up, any Polish operation may be for the good of "Greater Poland". While the Kiev regime wants help, it does not want to lose territory to Poland.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Bashibuzuk
I am unsure whether thinking in terms of nation states is still justified and useful in the current situation. Many decisions taken by the national governments in different countries in the past few years would appear as a nuisance to the governed nations, but would make perfect sense if seen through a framework of Globalist struggle against nation states and of global elite against the global middle class.
The Globalist might use Poland to weaken RusFed, while at the same time enjoying the destruction on the battlefield of Poland’s potential for becoming the focal point for Eastern European integration. And we should never underestimate both Polish resentment against RusFed and Germany and Polish revanchism. These are the offspring of people who have launched suicidal cavalry attacks on German panzers we are talking about. They are not entirely rational when it comes to their historical record.
But yes, Polish national conservatives are braindead, they have effectively sealed their fate by tying themselves completely to continued American hegemony over Europe. If that hegemony lasts, as it probably will, they can kiss goodbye to their fantasy about a mostly homogenous, Catholic nation state, Poland isn't Saudi-Arabia and won't be allowed to continue along such lines, once the Russian bear has been slain. If American hegemony ends unexspectedly, Germany and/or Russia will have to take steps to solve the Polish problem, because you can't tolerate a neighbour with such outsized resentments and ambitions that will always present an opening for meddling by other powers.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
Hungary, Poland, Italy are all standing up against Globalism. Austria and Sweden are close. Both are moving in the correct direction. The Islamophile WEF probably *want* to reduce the Polish Christian population. However, there is no sign that Polish leadership is that stupid.
The only WEF nations foolish enough to send ground troops are the core authoritarian, anti-Christian governments. Will France and Germany commit to major combat operations in Ukraine? Without these two militaries, the probability of a WEF/RusFed war are quite small.
___
Even German states are is trying to slip the WEF leash and their nation's folly: (1) It may be too late for Germany to save itself, however anything that reduces the threat to their Christian neighbors is valuable.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://rmx.news/article/germany-overwhelmed-by-migrants-12-out-of-16-federal-states-begin-blocking-refugees/
Actually, yes, everyone predicted that Ukraine would win the conventional war and conquer Moscow, and this means that Russia is truly effecting a victory for the ages by having only just failed to take Bakhmut. Russia can go home now. Russian under Pootin iz da best. Yous r da bigges' an' da bes'! Kingz of wauugh!Replies: @Philip Owen
MArgarita Simoyan predicted that Russia would take Kiev in 2 days on the night before the attack.
Personally, I have no fear of death, other than my strategies so far in my life going to waste, and the sadness of those in my life who do fear death, but I cannot just hand wave away everyone else's fears. At the least, they will determine what they do.
E.g had there been no lockdown, huge numbers of young people would still have hid at home, but this time they would also have had to quit their jobs. There are some hiding even now, though mostly enabled by "work from home.'
You also have to realise that the hospitals, during the peaks of Covid, really were hellish. And they were inundated with the dying, including the young. The lockdowns just about stopped them from being overwhelmed by reducing the peaks. Again, I know this from first-hand sources.
On the other hand, I will agree that, had the same effort to make the lockdowns work, gone into making the medical system work better, then it is possible that it would have had the same effect, but I don't know how easy it is to scale-up medical care and I also suspect that the professionals did know best, or, at least, as well as anyone did.
Again, my preference is Sweden, but I am uncertain whether that could have been achieved elsewhere. The Swedes really are an exceptionally conformist people. This can lead to some authoritarianism in government, but it can also lead to the government not needing authoritarianism to get things done, as people will conform and do them anyway.
I hated the lockdowns and, furthermore, agree that there are all sorts of costs from them which are even yet to be revealed. Germaphobia is a huge deal, for example, but is it really a result of the lockdown, or of the pandemic? I don't know.Replies: @Beckow
You should get out more 🙂 Maybe the dweebs living in societies with limited human interaction (like US, Canada, Australia…), but there was another side. I agree that some would isolate voluntarily, but it would be up to them. Their own hypochondria and psychosis is their own issue. Let the rest of us live our own lives. Their busy-body interventions exceeded many totalitarian systems in the past.
Almost all governments sided with the hypochondriacs – and the old and sick – that was very revealing. A healthy vibrant society would not do it. I am not sure there is an easy way back. First of all, it was an unfortunate precedent. Also in the long-run there are consequences and potential health issues, mental issues for kids, failed businesses, etc…
When a massive intervention into human life is undertaken there has to be a very good reason: Covid was a weak reason and it was exaggerated and lied about (Vaccines are the salvation!) That is incompetent – it was the opposite of your original claim: overall the governments mostly failed.
1. They tested whether the sheeple would submit to total control. They are likely happy with the result: sheeple proved docile and stupid. As an added bonus, a few humans among the population identified themselves. These will be targeted, when the time comes.
2. Moderna, Pfizer, and several others made billions pushing their snake oil on the population. The beauty of this is that the funds they defrauded the people of were tax money, paid by said sheeple to their governments. That proved that the sheeple can be fleeced at will.
So, overall covid was a successful experiment. We failed, but the elites did not.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
Yes, those people need help. Germaphobia sounds funny but is often a devastating mental illness. Sufferers can spend their life in fear, no less real than rational fears of the same intensity, and unable to go out, or basically "live." The media pushing the efficacy of the vaccines persuaded a large number of people, who were emotionally committed to lockdowns, to leave their homes and support re-opening up.
It is very hard to get people bought into one type of behaviour (staying at home) to change, without a change that they can narrate to themselves. I'm glad the media treated the vaccines as miracles.
What reason can China use to persuade its hypochondriacs now that they've missed the vaccine excuse? You'd be surprised by how many dweebs there are, everywhere. The really extreme ones are still at home. Personally, I took Covid as an opportunity to get more space on cheap long-haul flights, stay in major city 5* hotels for less than a hostel costs, and enjoy empty beaches.
I don't believe in this Great Reset thing or the 500,000,000 global population thing, but, if it happens, and I make the cut, it certainly won't be all downside.
But, unfortunately, the only fertility that really should be reduced is the sub-Saharan African one, or they should have a half child policy, or even a no child for 30 years policy.
Yet most of them didn't even get vaccinated...
Let's hope my suspicions are wrong about how and why Africa doesn't seem able to develop and that it really is actually easily changeable culture and the legacy of colonialism at fault.
Given how many smart Africans I have met, this is possible, but given the state of those countries, I highly doubt it. And those Africans I've met are most likely just the tiniest minority of the overall surging population. I tend towards the "if everyone looks like they're failing, then it is very hard to succeed" opinion. And will re-evaluate my definitions of success and failure to take account of that. It is certainly a general habit that allows me to be kinder to myself, for which I am grateful.
The Globalist might use Poland to weaken RusFed, while at the same time enjoying the destruction on the battlefield of Poland's potential for becoming the focal point for Eastern European integration. And we should never underestimate both Polish resentment against RusFed and Germany and Polish revanchism. These are the offspring of people who have launched suicidal cavalry attacks on German panzers we are talking about. They are not entirely rational when it comes to their historical record.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
Those attacks are a myth from German propaganda. iirc Poland did use some cavalry units during the 1939 war, but they were used relatively efficiently, not in such a suicidal manner.
But yes, Polish national conservatives are braindead, they have effectively sealed their fate by tying themselves completely to continued American hegemony over Europe. If that hegemony lasts, as it probably will, they can kiss goodbye to their fantasy about a mostly homogenous, Catholic nation state, Poland isn’t Saudi-Arabia and won’t be allowed to continue along such lines, once the Russian bear has been slain. If American hegemony ends unexspectedly, Germany and/or Russia will have to take steps to solve the Polish problem, because you can’t tolerate a neighbour with such outsized resentments and ambitions that will always present an opening for meddling by other powers.
However, their politics are not as risky as the Kremlin Dwarves' games. Also, I wonder whether the British wouldn't be the ones who agitate the Poles. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Bruts who have blown NS and not Americans.
Does anyone know what is the ownership of the Baltic gas pipeline that has been completed a short time before the NS was blown ?
Any British interests involved into the Baltic gas pipeline?
Any American?
Who's the owner of this pipeline?Replies: @A123
Since the 1990s, they've been the fulcrum for NATO in Eastern Europe, a role that has only strengthened with this war. So the structural reasons for them having wind in their back isn't weakening, if anything only getting stronger. The problem for Europe is that the national interests of these eastern EU countries align perfectly with US objectives for the region, which prevents a rational Russia policy. But it's ultimately the fault of Western Europe for being too weak and fragmented to by letting this happen. That is a preventable failure, which can be reversed at any moment. Nothing is written in the stars on this.Replies: @LondonBob
Poland is wrecked.
I would not put it that way. That would be incompetent if the governments actually cared about people’s health. They did not and do not. They achieved two obvious goals.
1. They tested whether the sheeple would submit to total control. They are likely happy with the result: sheeple proved docile and stupid. As an added bonus, a few humans among the population identified themselves. These will be targeted, when the time comes.
2. Moderna, Pfizer, and several others made billions pushing their snake oil on the population. The beauty of this is that the funds they defrauded the people of were tax money, paid by said sheeple to their governments. That proved that the sheeple can be fleeced at will.
So, overall covid was a successful experiment. We failed, but the elites did not.
The population is not homogenous.
Some (unknown) percentage are absolute sheep and will be happy to follow mandates.
Some (better known) percentage are stubborn independents.
Some (unknown) percentage figured taking the shot, wearing the masks, honoring negroes and sodomists, &c, &c, are betting, with reservations. It is likely there is a trickle of a flow from this third category to the middle.
So the outcome is uncertain and it depends on what the real world numbers are. Say for the sake of argument the numbers are 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3. Then 1/3 are up for grabs and the Davos crowd isn't looking so almighty in that case. But nobody knows.
They think they know how many people have taken the shot. Those numbers have been prepared by people on the payroll who know the answer their bosses want to hear. It is very likely there is a large error in that number, and it is a near-absolute certainty (P > .99999999999) the direction of that error.
That is all quite informative but you didn’t answer my question.
Did you take it?
https://twitter.com/philippilk/status/1575045912497655808?s=20&t=4g6f45B5JlhSFLd6_BpxdgReplies: @AnonfromTN
All things considered, good riddance.
But yes, Polish national conservatives are braindead, they have effectively sealed their fate by tying themselves completely to continued American hegemony over Europe. If that hegemony lasts, as it probably will, they can kiss goodbye to their fantasy about a mostly homogenous, Catholic nation state, Poland isn't Saudi-Arabia and won't be allowed to continue along such lines, once the Russian bear has been slain. If American hegemony ends unexspectedly, Germany and/or Russia will have to take steps to solve the Polish problem, because you can't tolerate a neighbour with such outsized resentments and ambitions that will always present an opening for meddling by other powers.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
I agree about Poland’s politics being risky. When Sikorksi tweeted about NS ,I thought: “What a crazy bunch, they will end divided again. ”
However, their politics are not as risky as the Kremlin Dwarves’ games. Also, I wonder whether the British wouldn’t be the ones who agitate the Poles. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the Bruts who have blown NS and not Americans.
Does anyone know what is the ownership of the Baltic gas pipeline that has been completed a short time before the NS was blown ?
Any British interests involved into the Baltic gas pipeline?
Any American?
Who’s the owner of this pipeline?
__________(1) https://www.baltic-pipe.eu/
Another lie.
When someone lies I call it that.
The claimed turnout of over 50% is fake.
If turnout was 10% and Russia got 87% it would be a real (though invalid) result.
It was not similar, because results closely (though not perfectly) matched peoples will which is the purpose of voting.
These results are the opposite of peoples will.
Maidan: Popular revolt, no foreign troops involved, that put the popular vote winner of the most recent elections into power. Later elections matched what people wanted, though reduced the losing sides’s total by 5% or so (not enough to make a difference).
Kherson: Foreign invasion that placed a guy who lost the mayoral race in the capital into power. Made a referendum that resulted in the opposite of what people wanted.
Beckow: it’s all the same.
If I seem to be clueless to a clueless troll it is not my fault.
Here is the article in English describing all the models of the S-300 missiles. Look at the table and read what it says in the Guidance column.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system#Missiles
All models of the S-300 missiles use either semi-active radar homing (SARH) guidance or track-via-missile (TVM) guidance which is a variation of the SARH. There is no model with satellite guidance which is required for striking a static target with its coordinates given.
I like not the Russian weapons but all good weapons and I never talk about things I do not know enough about.
Here are three Russian resources which give detailed information about that particular S-300 model that you mentioned.
Зенитно-ракетная система C-300 ПМУ-2 ‘Фаворит’
https://missilery.info/missile/c300pmu2
С-300ПМУ2 «Фаворит», зенитная ракетная система
https://www.arms-expo.ru/armament/samples/1263/68896/
ЗРК С-300ПМУ2 Фаворит. Дальность поражения. Состав. Ракеты
http://oruzhie.info/vojska-pvo/605-s-300pmu2-favorit
Note that in specification section below each one of these articles gives the lowest altitude of the target as 10 m. These missiles are not made to be used against ground targets. And they are way too expensive for it.
The news agency is not a reliable source of information on such a topic. They are incompetent in the field and often either make things up or get confused in terminology. Simply because they are a state owned agency does not make them any more credible.
Russia does have as I said a number of various surface-to-surface missiles that would have been used if that was a Russian strike.
The fact that it was a mistaken report is obvious from the report itself:
It says that a number of armoured vehicles were destroyed with the S-300 missiles. However the S-300 missiles cannot destroy armoured targets. They do not have an appropriate warheads for such a task. All the S-300 missiles destroy their targets with fragments which would be absolutely ineffective against any armoured vehicle.
So no US response to the annexation, the bluff has been called, Europe has rejected WWIII and the use of tactical nukes. Didn’t really expect Scholz to do a De Gaulle but Stoltenberg’s speech was a bit more grounded in reality than I expected.
The annexations are still extremely bad news, any peace settlement is now impossible, best one can hope for is a ceasefire like in Korea.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AnonfromTN, @LondonBob
1. They tested whether the sheeple would submit to total control. They are likely happy with the result: sheeple proved docile and stupid. As an added bonus, a few humans among the population identified themselves. These will be targeted, when the time comes.
2. Moderna, Pfizer, and several others made billions pushing their snake oil on the population. The beauty of this is that the funds they defrauded the people of were tax money, paid by said sheeple to their governments. That proved that the sheeple can be fleeced at will.
So, overall covid was a successful experiment. We failed, but the elites did not.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
It is too early to tell.
The population is not homogenous.
Some (unknown) percentage are absolute sheep and will be happy to follow mandates.
Some (better known) percentage are stubborn independents.
Some (unknown) percentage figured taking the shot, wearing the masks, honoring negroes and sodomists, &c, &c, are betting, with reservations. It is likely there is a trickle of a flow from this third category to the middle.
So the outcome is uncertain and it depends on what the real world numbers are. Say for the sake of argument the numbers are 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3. Then 1/3 are up for grabs and the Davos crowd isn’t looking so almighty in that case. But nobody knows.
They think they know how many people have taken the shot. Those numbers have been prepared by people on the payroll who know the answer their bosses want to hear. It is very likely there is a large error in that number, and it is a near-absolute certainty (P > .99999999999) the direction of that error.
Did you take it?Replies: @Bashibuzuk
I did it cause my dad who is 80 years old kept pestering me about it. He was truly afraid of Covid and kept asking me each time I came visiting when I gonna get the vaccine. I have strongly recommended to my kids to avoid it. So yeah I am a conformist when it comes to interacting with my parents and I can take risks and accept potential uncomfortable outcomes to appease them.
I don’t think they did side with them. Lockdowns could have been a lot longer and a lot more stringent. Even now, there are people who think we should be in them.
Yes, those people need help. Germaphobia sounds funny but is often a devastating mental illness. Sufferers can spend their life in fear, no less real than rational fears of the same intensity, and unable to go out, or basically “live.”
The media pushing the efficacy of the vaccines persuaded a large number of people, who were emotionally committed to lockdowns, to leave their homes and support re-opening up.
It is very hard to get people bought into one type of behaviour (staying at home) to change, without a change that they can narrate to themselves. I’m glad the media treated the vaccines as miracles.
What reason can China use to persuade its hypochondriacs now that they’ve missed the vaccine excuse?
You’d be surprised by how many dweebs there are, everywhere. The really extreme ones are still at home. Personally, I took Covid as an opportunity to get more space on cheap long-haul flights, stay in major city 5* hotels for less than a hostel costs, and enjoy empty beaches.
I don’t believe in this Great Reset thing or the 500,000,000 global population thing, but, if it happens, and I make the cut, it certainly won’t be all downside.
But, unfortunately, the only fertility that really should be reduced is the sub-Saharan African one, or they should have a half child policy, or even a no child for 30 years policy.
Yet most of them didn’t even get vaccinated…
Let’s hope my suspicions are wrong about how and why Africa doesn’t seem able to develop and that it really is actually easily changeable culture and the legacy of colonialism at fault.
Given how many smart Africans I have met, this is possible, but given the state of those countries, I highly doubt it. And those Africans I’ve met are most likely just the tiniest minority of the overall surging population.
I tend towards the “if everyone looks like they’re failing, then it is very hard to succeed” opinion. And will re-evaluate my definitions of success and failure to take account of that. It is certainly a general habit that allows me to be kinder to myself, for which I am grateful.
Did you exspect them to immediately nuke Moscow?
The annexations are still extremely bad news, any peace settlement is now impossible, best one can hope for is a ceasefire like in Korea.
Look at it from the imperial perspective. A ceasefire would save some Ukie lives. Would the empire be interested? Of course not, for them Ukies are a penny a dozen. A ceasefire would save some Russian lives and reduce Russian expenditures. That’s a no-no for the empire, it wants Russia to lose as much as possible in this conflict, and they would gladly sacrifice every last Ukie to achieve this.
So, even if Putin would be prepared to negotiate a ceasefire (sacrificing a significant chunk of his popular support in Russia), Ukies won’t be allowed to do that by their puppeteers. The war will keep going to the bitter end (unconditional capitulation). From imperial perspective, the longer the better.
Of course, from European perspective any truce is better than a prolonged war. But the overlords of the EU and UK don’t give a hoot about European perspective. Nuland’s “fuck the EU” expressed the imperial position concisely. The empire won’t take into account European interests in this conflict any more than it did blowing up both NS pipelines. It put all that subservient trash in power in virtually all European countries because it does not want Europe to assert itself. And, lo and behold, it does not. Every European government (with very few exceptions, like Orban) actively works against the interests of the countries they govern. That’s where you are, and the empire will do everything it can to keep you right there.
Stoltenberg basically waved the white flag, they are stuck continuing the same losing strategy they have been doing so far. Having to buy ammunition and weapons from Pakistan now.
The response to the annexation is to ignore it. It changes nothing. It is a sham.
The annexations are still extremely bad news, any peace settlement is now impossible, best one can hope for is a ceasefire like in Korea.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AnonfromTN, @LondonBob
Putin has only burned his own ship. Russia can kick out Putin and continue as if they never happened. In fact, Putin can probably ignore them. His propaganda game is so tight that he has his supporters declaring the war so far as a stunning success against all of the odds.
Best case scenario now is the front stabilizing at current levels (God forbid Russia still try to take Odessa or something of the sort, as the more deranged Russian chauvinists still seem to be hoping for), ceasefire, and then decades of frozen conflict.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
The Globalist might use Poland to weaken RusFed, while at the same time enjoying the destruction on the battlefield of Poland's potential for becoming the focal point for Eastern European integration. And we should never underestimate both Polish resentment against RusFed and Germany and Polish revanchism. These are the offspring of people who have launched suicidal cavalry attacks on German panzers we are talking about. They are not entirely rational when it comes to their historical record.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
European WEF Globalism versus Christian Populist Nations is a valid perspective.
Hungary, Poland, Italy are all standing up against Globalism. Austria and Sweden are close. Both are moving in the correct direction.
The Islamophile WEF probably *want* to reduce the Polish Christian population. However, there is no sign that Polish leadership is that stupid.
The only WEF nations foolish enough to send ground troops are the core authoritarian, anti-Christian governments. Will France and Germany commit to major combat operations in Ukraine? Without these two militaries, the probability of a WEF/RusFed war are quite small.
___
Even German states are is trying to slip the WEF leash and their nation’s folly: (1)
It may be too late for Germany to save itself, however anything that reduces the threat to their Christian neighbors is valuable.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://rmx.news/article/germany-overwhelmed-by-migrants-12-out-of-16-federal-states-begin-blocking-refugees/
Anyway, no use in complaining about it though, the way things are going a cleansing end in nuclear fire seems to be getting likelier, and then these things won't matter anymore. And if not, Eastern Europeans with their petty chauvinisms will find that the globohomo empire will turn out to be a rather harsher master than they had imagined.Replies: @Bashibuzuk, @Beckow, @LatW
I will concede that some of the things thrown at Germany in the spring by Ukrainians and their allies were not tactful and it must be frustrating if it continues, I also believe that EEs shouldn’t live in large numbers in Western Germany (they should be mostly concentrated in Poland & the surrounding EE states or maybe the USA), however, please, be a little bit more discerning here.
The Ukrainian refugees are mostly women and children who have been pushed out of their homes. I have spoken to some of the displaced and a lot of them want to go home (but can’t right now) – it is very hard for a woman to be separated from her home and a beloved spouse. There are also elderly who will find it hard to start a new life abroad and will not be participating in any politics. So please do not put them in the same group as the previous waves of “refugees” to Germany. As to being parasitic, Ukrainian men in the West try to work as soon as they can typically. Most EEs do not want to be on welfare, the reason they give up so much at home is exactly to not be poor in the West (the welfare packages, while generous overall, are too meagre compared to the median income on the individual family level by EE standards, the Arabs and Africans can pull it off because they rely heavily on the family and have their under the table side gigs).
Hopefully, at some point, a large portion of the Ukrainian refugees can return to Ukraine. Hopefully they remember the help that was provided to them by countries such as Germany and Poland. Ukraine needs to be made whole, and for the population to return, unfortunately, statistically it is only 1 in 3 that usually return. After the war, there should be a systematic effort to help the Ukrainians return (or at least let them settle in other EE countries where they are closer to home culturally).
Anyway, this doesn’t take away from your general point, and you have the right to legitimately question why the Ukrainian refugees should be on the German dole (it seems there are many in Germany who do want to help though) or whether there should be a big influx of Slavs into Germany (I believe no) and the Slavs fleeing in such large numbers now is causing frustration for many, but please do differentiate between war victims and opportunistic migrants.
I understand that your point was that at the end of the day, they are all foreign and will have an agenda separate from the interests of Germans, so you do have the right to pose these objections. However, they should be aimed at the Greens, not at the EEs (even if you feel the two are banding together).
Well, soon Germany could be flooded with Russian muzhiks fleeing the mogilization. Afaik, at least the US will accept them and Germany, too, has been amicable to the idea of accepting Russians. I hope you enjoy those at least, since you’ve always respected (and feared) the Russians more than Russia’s neighbors. But you’re in the luck, as most of those young muzhiks seem to be from the middle class and with some cash on them so might prove to be decent residents. It will be a huge loss for Russia and will create another male shortage (that they just barely crawled out of) with negative future implications.
For some Europeans this may still be valid.
Give me a break. The Western right wingers, for years, were shilling for Russia, saying it will be exactly Russia that will “save them from globohomo” and what not. (Btw, where are they now that Russian muzhiks in their prime are hoarded into buses and their mothers wailing, as they ride off into a sure death? Why aren’t these “Western patriots of Russia” coming to help?)
And that Russia’s neighbors are “fake and gay” and should be subsumed by Russia. That their countries have no right to exist, that they should’ve been assimilated into the Russian nation in the 19th century (the idiots don’t even know that the forced assimilation policies by Tsar Alexander II (in the light of otherwise liberal reforms) were exactly one of the reasons why the Russian Empire broke up). We all read it on this website for years. It wasn’t you personally (so don’t take it so), but it was the general consensus or at least a very strong vibe.
In other right wing circles, there was some support for us, but it was always in competition with the above mentioned alt-right and them constantly cavorting with the Russian imperialists. I mean, they have the right to do as they wish but then don’t be surprised of animosity from Russia’s neighbors. This has been the case for many years now. You always want to go to the Russians over our heads. And so do the Russians and then complain why it causes animosity and distrust.
As for "parasitic Eastern Europeans" I'm not even thinking so much about individual Ukrainian refugees, obviously their situation is difficult and they deserve support. No, I'm thinking about your (Ukraine's, and even more so Poland's and the Baltic states' - unlike Ukraine you aren't at war after all, you just behave as if you were -) governments and about your media which are deliberately running an anti-German campaign. Everything done in support of Ukraine is always answered with even more insolent and outlandish demands. At this point I'm simply sick of it, because it's become abundantly clear that none of this is done in good faith, it's all deeply manipulative, and in the case of Poland at least it's run by people who are simply motivated by racial hatred against Germany (there is no other way to call it, from my pov Poland crossed the Rubicon early this year when they cut language classes for the German minority in Silesia in a blatant attempt at blackmail, completely incompatible with the spirit of any kind of European cooperation, obviously for these people the EU was never more than a way to snatch gibs and wait for an opportune moment when they could attack Germany and indulge their insatiable desire for revenge). I'm not going to take the side of open enemies of my country and at this point a lot of you Eastern Europeans fit that description more than Russians tbh.Replies: @LatW, @sudden death
And to German_Reader, "East Europeans" is a bit unfair, it's really just the Balts and Poland. The rest of Visegrad or Bulgaria and Romania don't act like this.Replies: @sudden death, @LatW
Forget it, any Russian government that made such concessions would come under extreme pressure from more hardline elements. Maybe not so much for Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, but definitely for Crimea, and probably also for Luhansk and Donezk. No Russian government will give them back unless Russia is totally defeated, and if that would ever come close to happening, it would probably move to a nuclear level.
Best case scenario now is the front stabilizing at current levels (God forbid Russia still try to take Odessa or something of the sort, as the more deranged Russian chauvinists still seem to be hoping for), ceasefire, and then decades of frozen conflict.
It is still possible, if Russia can stop losing, that they could agree to peace along pre-war lines with Ukraine. Not going to happen. There's no upside to Russia using a nuke, and endless downside. Even among the most sycophantic Putin shills, I doubt you can find any who would support such a thing. Or maybe you can, some of them are insane.
Mikhail, Gerrard, HereBeDragon, would you wonderful specimens continue to support Putin if he nuked Ukraine?
Let's say if Ukraine continued to rout the Russian army but never posed a genuine threat to the globally-recognised borders of Russia?
Would you still cheerlead this East Slavic blood sacrifice if the ritual were performed under a cloud of radioactive dust?
If Russia can't have Ukraine, would you really demand it be turned into nuclear wasteland?Replies: @German_reader, @Here Be Dragon
However, their politics are not as risky as the Kremlin Dwarves' games. Also, I wonder whether the British wouldn't be the ones who agitate the Poles. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Bruts who have blown NS and not Americans.
Does anyone know what is the ownership of the Baltic gas pipeline that has been completed a short time before the NS was blown ?
Any British interests involved into the Baltic gas pipeline?
Any American?
Who's the owner of this pipeline?Replies: @A123
Poland and the Danes (1)
There was a Norwegian partner when this was originally conceived a few years ago, but they apparently dropped out. Perhaps they will reappear when Baltic2 gets underway.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.baltic-pipe.eu/
It is a backstop red line America dare not let Ukraine’s army cross, because assuming a Russia theater thermonuclear device were detonated on a Ukrainian force for pushing further into Donetsk, Russia is hardly going to play nice after a USAF assault on the Black Sea Fleet. You cannot fight conventionally against nuclear weapons. America may be blustering publicly, but privately they are telling Ukraine to not go any further.
There is no "red line", just a shambolic attempt by Putin to make his bungled operation look decisive.
Furthermore, expect the Ukrainians to continue their grinding move towards Kherson and possibly open up another axis in the direction of Melitopol.Replies: @Beckow, @Sean
Are the fresh mass graves of those who opposed the occupation somewhere nearby?
Rhetorical question.
The annexations are still extremely bad news, any peace settlement is now impossible, best one can hope for is a ceasefire like in Korea.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AnonfromTN, @LondonBob
That ain’t gonna happen (I know that ain’t ain’t a word, thank you very much).
Look at it from the imperial perspective. A ceasefire would save some Ukie lives. Would the empire be interested? Of course not, for them Ukies are a penny a dozen. A ceasefire would save some Russian lives and reduce Russian expenditures. That’s a no-no for the empire, it wants Russia to lose as much as possible in this conflict, and they would gladly sacrifice every last Ukie to achieve this.
So, even if Putin would be prepared to negotiate a ceasefire (sacrificing a significant chunk of his popular support in Russia), Ukies won’t be allowed to do that by their puppeteers. The war will keep going to the bitter end (unconditional capitulation). From imperial perspective, the longer the better.
Of course, from European perspective any truce is better than a prolonged war. But the overlords of the EU and UK don’t give a hoot about European perspective. Nuland’s “fuck the EU” expressed the imperial position concisely. The empire won’t take into account European interests in this conflict any more than it did blowing up both NS pipelines. It put all that subservient trash in power in virtually all European countries because it does not want Europe to assert itself. And, lo and behold, it does not. Every European government (with very few exceptions, like Orban) actively works against the interests of the countries they govern. That’s where you are, and the empire will do everything it can to keep you right there.
At the start of this war everybody assumed that by this time the Ukrainians would have occupied Crimea, most of Southern Russia and perhaps even Moscow. Instead, they are only making the Russians retreat in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk. The magnificence of the SMO will be studied in military academies for centuries to come.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Here Be Dragon
Let us be fair I am not as much optimistic. Russia has been indeed successful on the battlefield against an adversary which has 5 times more personnel at hand, but for the most part it is a result of the total incompetence of Ukraine.
Russia has indeed succeeded in taking three most important and valuable targets at this time – Mariupol with its port and the other metallurgical combine that is still operational, Kherson with the water canal and the power plant in Energodar.
These are essential strategic resourses.
However at the same time Russia has sustained huge losses on the economics front: first of all the $300 billion that were seized and now the Nord Stream pipelines as well. Most of all the money of course – it is unforgiveable.
Not to bring the money out of the West before starting a war is an unbelievable stupidity. They could have done it easily and now they might have had the money and the Western assets in Russia, which would have made the West now think how to get it back.
But instead the West got the money and the Russians got the Western assets which are of approximately the same value. This maybe is allowing them to keep the face but is depriving them from having any leverage. A huge mistake!
Now as far as I understand without the Nord Stream their ability to generate income will be significantly reduced and therefore financing this war will become a heavy load on the budget, especially considering the loss of the $300 billions.
Hence in the given circumstances they will probably have to reduce their ambitions as well. Before the Nord Stream sabotage I had been thinking they were going to take a half of Ukraine which is east of Dnieper, and that would be the best outcome of the war.
Now I think they will take the historical New Russia territories and that will be it. Taking a half of Kiev would require assembling a million people, or at least 600 thousand people. That is a lot of money, food and fuel. I do not think they can pull it off now.
Most probably they will take the territories which are here on these maps below.
The Russian-speaking territories.
The current map of Ukraine.
The historical New Russia territories, that were conquered in the 18th century.
The recent annexations are a nuclear weapons threat to Ukraine, which indicates Putin now believes his country is barely--if at all--a match for Zelensky's smoll state.Replies: @Wokechoke
Also your maps are wrong. See below.
https://twitter.com/PCOwen_a/status/1575964669612736514?s=20&t=Is2tN2vn3XukFXNWGyPh-wReplies: @Here Be Dragon
Because unlike you Russia has something to offer we need (energy and other commodities) and also the power to potentially destroy all of Europe. And you have no reason to complain, you were admitted to EU and NATO, and it’s now clearer than ever that there was no serious danger of Russia just invading the Baltic states. Balts know that as well, otherwise they’d behave differently. There are German troops in Lithuania, yet the only thing Lithuanian politicians seem to care about is joining in calls for Germany to send tanks to Ukraine (as if there were an infinite number to give away…you don’t make that kind of demand if you’re seriously afraid that Russia might open a 2nd front in the Baltics). No, this isn’t about security, it’s about your absurd exspectation that everybody else has to make your deranged hatreds their own.
As for “parasitic Eastern Europeans” I’m not even thinking so much about individual Ukrainian refugees, obviously their situation is difficult and they deserve support. No, I’m thinking about your (Ukraine’s, and even more so Poland’s and the Baltic states’ – unlike Ukraine you aren’t at war after all, you just behave as if you were -) governments and about your media which are deliberately running an anti-German campaign. Everything done in support of Ukraine is always answered with even more insolent and outlandish demands. At this point I’m simply sick of it, because it’s become abundantly clear that none of this is done in good faith, it’s all deeply manipulative, and in the case of Poland at least it’s run by people who are simply motivated by racial hatred against Germany (there is no other way to call it, from my pov Poland crossed the Rubicon early this year when they cut language classes for the German minority in Silesia in a blatant attempt at blackmail, completely incompatible with the spirit of any kind of European cooperation, obviously for these people the EU was never more than a way to snatch gibs and wait for an opportune moment when they could attack Germany and indulge their insatiable desire for revenge). I’m not going to take the side of open enemies of my country and at this point a lot of you Eastern Europeans fit that description more than Russians tbh.
And, please, do not pretend that your politicians didn't know who they're dealing with. For decades, and starting as early as the early 1990s, there was aggressive language coming out of the Russian media towards the neighbors - "We will crush you", "We will nuke you", "We'll send you to Magadan again", etc, etc. As well as more intricate threats, meddling, etc. In fact, in some cases it was aligned with what the West wanted for the EE, too. At every Western embassy, there is a foreign service officer who prepares media reports for the ambassador so this was all very well known but it was ignored because the threats were aimed towards the "pathetic", in your eyes, EEs (who have been used to being pushed around and can just endure). Who's security can always be compromised since they are located further from the center of Europe. Again, I'm not blaming your country for trying to seek what is lucrative or trying to seek peaceful appeasement at the expense of Russia's neighbors, from their perspective, it makes sense. Peace was very much desired by everybody. We "swallowed" and endured Chechnya, Georgia, the meddling, the hostility, etc., but Ukraine was one big step too far. You cannot berate Poland for being worried when Russia bombs objects near Lviv. The danger from the east to the Baltic nations has existed for hundreds of years and will continue to exist even after the current Russian defeat. And the Baltic nations have slowly started to "behave differently" since 2014. The draft has been re-instated and there is other activity, albeit not enough (by my standards). So I will partially accept this criticism (the local nationalists have been concerned about this for years). Yes, it is very embarrassing to me personally, but thank you anyway, as that might be needed right now (even symbolically). I hope your troops are well taken care of. The Russians have removed the troops from around the Baltic now (due to the shortage of troops in Ukraine), however, they have for years war gamed an attack on Lithuania - recently with using Belarus as a platform for nukes. And we did not know until March 2022 that Russia could not hypothetically open a second front, the Russian military was perceived as stronger even by the Western intelligence. I did wonder though occasionally how they could cover such large perimeters. It's obvious now they can't, they are very thinly spread (although the front line is something like 1000kms which is a lot). I also mentioned to some of the Russia shills here that they could not produce an indefinite number of special forces. But with all that said, they could still pose a tremendous danger (as we see with their artillery). Everything that was saved over the years is being used up now. I have already stated to you that this isn't about hatreds. I'm starting to think that this is simply not visible from your end. Also, yes, one does hate someone who threatens their kids. Russia needs to be stopped there so that they do not continue the current modus operandi of slicing away territory and then "escalating to de-escalate". It's not just for the sake of the Baltic States, but that kind of behavior is unacceptable to many in the world. Had Russia attacked the Baltic States instead of Ukraine in February, NATO would not exist anymore. Because the Ukrainian martial spirit is higher than that of all of us combined. Of course, if there was a direct attack on our lands, the martial spirit would surface very quickly (there has been increased recruitment of volunteers in the militia since 2014). But all those German and other Western troops would be quickly helicoptered out of there. As to deranged hatreds, I already told Beckow - there is data out there about who hates the Russians and Russia the most in Europe. It is NOT the Balts! It is the North Westernerns. It was the case even before February. (I can't find that graph right now, but it was posted on this forum, too). I agree that the communication towards Germany has been maybe too harsh. On the one hand I tend to believe that nobody owes anything to anybody (a country needs to have its own military hardware or not be a country), but then again it is not in European interests that random invasions happen so close to her borders. I know you don't think it's close, but it is because it presents a pattern that can be replicated elsewhere, endlessly. Surkov said - "Our job is to export chaos". Who needs that??There was a security vacuum in the region that they thought could be filled with soft power, but it was a mistake to assume that. That security vacuum should've been filled by those countries themselves (not sure how realistic it would've been but possibly). Plus back then we didn't have Ukraine. Had it happened already by late 1990s, we wouldn't have to worry about wokeness invading our countries either, since being independent militarily, we could've shaped our cultural and social policy as we please. Unfortunately, this was not realistic at the time or at least wasn't considered seriously enough. I don't see manipulation from the Ukrainian side, I see desperation. It's their war of independence. The Ukrainians are saying over and over, we can do the job, just give us the weapons. It's very straightforward, not manipulative. I'm not well informed about this, so I don't want to meddle. I have personally experienced only slight tinges of that type of sentiment while observing some of the remnants of the German culture around the area of the Curonian Spit. But in the end I have only felt amicability and slight sadness that it is almost lost. So I can't really speak for the Poles as obviously for them it is different. I personally believe it would be desirable to show amicability towards the German minority anywhere in Europe. But I also understand that the Polish position is different due to a very different experience. Should they have worked more deliberately on these issues? Possibly. The problem is that eveyrone wants the other party to be liberal while they themselves remain nationalist. You probably want the liberals to be in charge in Poland, such as Tusk, because he would've toned all of this down. But you want nationalists in charge of Germany. Which I don't blame you for. Such is often the dilemma with neighbors. I only recently discovered the depth of the schism you're having and it is very unfortunate and sad to see. One of the reasons though why the Poles are pushing this somewhat unappealing reparations narrative might be as a response to some of the pressure they may have been experiencing from the German establishment over the years (and the EC). This article from the Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau was a surprise to me due to its strong undertones: https://japan-forward.com/freedom-and-equality-of-nations-are-the-only-defense-against-the-threat-of-imperialism/ Wow, really that bad? Sigh... It was very sad for me to see that "the imperialism" that he seems to be alluding to here is, in fact, German "imperialism" (or even the "imperialism" of the stronger EU countries). It is very sad that it has come to this and that one has to reach out to Japan for companionship and understanding and that it's not more readily available from more immediate European neighbors. It is your choice, of course. Unfortunately, it looks like history is coming back in circles again. I'm not against the EU, but best would have been to create separate blocs of likeminded states. We are too much into each others' faces, it's gotten too tight.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
However it needs to said that there is no slightest illusion than German manned tanks would have much use in case against direct RF aggresion, knowing the essentially servile attitude of core EU politicum and notable parts of electorate (25-30% at least) towards RF, that's why it looks better from security perspective to try giving them to those who actually got the balls, need and ability to destroy RF invaders in the field directly right now, cause the more RF army is being demilitarized in UA the less ability and forces they have remaining in order to invade Baltics.
Best case scenario now is the front stabilizing at current levels (God forbid Russia still try to take Odessa or something of the sort, as the more deranged Russian chauvinists still seem to be hoping for), ceasefire, and then decades of frozen conflict.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
My reading of Putin’s decision after the Northern reverses to make what Russian forces still occupy officially part of Russia is: he suspects further reverses are in the offing, and so has decided to avoid any further conventional fighting, reinforce the front lines and throw down a theatre thermonuclear gauntlet. You cannot fight wars with nuclear weapons or conventionally against them. The Ukraine conflict is all but over.
Best case scenario now is the front stabilizing at current levels (God forbid Russia still try to take Odessa or something of the sort, as the more deranged Russian chauvinists still seem to be hoping for), ceasefire, and then decades of frozen conflict.Replies: @Sean, @Triteleia Laxa
Losing wars does not empower warmongering factions. It discredits them. I can think of no clear-cut counterexample.
Prior to the war, Crimea was all but formally accepted as Russian. Meanwhile, their unofficial holdings in Donetsk and Luhansk were no longer militarily contested.
It is still possible, if Russia can stop losing, that they could agree to peace along pre-war lines with Ukraine.
Not going to happen. There’s no upside to Russia using a nuke, and endless downside. Even among the most sycophantic Putin shills, I doubt you can find any who would support such a thing. Or maybe you can, some of them are insane.
Mikhail, Gerrard, HereBeDragon, would you wonderful specimens continue to support Putin if he nuked Ukraine?
Let’s say if Ukraine continued to rout the Russian army but never posed a genuine threat to the globally-recognised borders of Russia?
Would you still cheerlead this East Slavic blood sacrifice if the ritual were performed under a cloud of radioactive dust?
If Russia can’t have Ukraine, would you really demand it be turned into nuclear wasteland?
The people who think this can or should end in Russia being completely defeated and Putin killed or tried in The Hague are crazy.Replies: @Sean, @A123, @Triteleia Laxa
But I support the war because I do not like what has been happening in Ukraine and I want it to stop. I think as well that partitioning of Ukraine between Russia and Poland would be a better and safer situation for both the Ukrainians and the Russians.
I consider that Ukraine is a fake state. Another failed attempt at creating a manufactured nation. The Ukrainians are no more a separate people than the so-called Siberians. The same as the Russians who live in Siberia are calling themselves the Siberians while being Russians most of the Ukrainians are calling themselves the Ukrainians while being in fact Russians. Ukraine is not a name of a nation but is a name of a place.
The Ukrainians are not a separate ethnic group but a group of the Russian people who adopted the name of the province in which their ancestors lived. The Ukrainian language is a derivate of the Russian language mutated due to the influence of the Polish language.
The current Ukrainian nationalist madness in an echo of the past, when it was created as a localized version of the German Nazism.
Most people in Ukraine east of Dnieper are a lot stronger associated with Russia than with Poland, whereas most people west of Dnieper are a lot closer to Poland – due to the westmost part of Ukraine having been a part of Poland for much longer.
Most people in the left bank part prefer to speak Russian and in the right bank Ukrainian. The Ukrainian nationalism is spreading from the western part of Ukraine, where most people feel as a separate ethnic group, towards the rest of the population and is imposed on the rest of the population regardless of their choice in a violent and aggressive manner.
Therefore considering the aforementioned the best outcome of this situation is a partition of Ukraine along the Dnieper river, with one part becoming a part of Russia and the other part becoming a part of Poland and therefore NATO and the EU.
As for the nuclear weapons, there is no chance and will be no need of their use unless NATO interferes, bringing real forces en masse to the front line. Other than that there is no chance for Ukraine to create a serious danger for the Russians to lose this war.
Ukraine is doomed.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
“[N]o US response to the annexation.” You are mistaken.
https://news.yahoo.com/us-unveils-new-sanctions-against-russia-in-response-to-annexation-in-ukraine-143046384.html
The Ukrainian army has already crossed it, and will continue to cross it. What do you think the advance around Lyman is? Give it 3 days and Lyman will fall, before the Ukrainians use the national park and woods nearby, and their advantage in them, to infiltrate back to Severodonetsk.
There is no “red line”, just a shambolic attempt by Putin to make his bungled operation look decisive.
Furthermore, expect the Ukrainians to continue their grinding move towards Kherson and possibly open up another axis in the direction of Melitopol.
It is still possible, if Russia can stop losing, that they could agree to peace along pre-war lines with Ukraine. Not going to happen. There's no upside to Russia using a nuke, and endless downside. Even among the most sycophantic Putin shills, I doubt you can find any who would support such a thing. Or maybe you can, some of them are insane.
Mikhail, Gerrard, HereBeDragon, would you wonderful specimens continue to support Putin if he nuked Ukraine?
Let's say if Ukraine continued to rout the Russian army but never posed a genuine threat to the globally-recognised borders of Russia?
Would you still cheerlead this East Slavic blood sacrifice if the ritual were performed under a cloud of radioactive dust?
If Russia can't have Ukraine, would you really demand it be turned into nuclear wasteland?Replies: @German_reader, @Here Be Dragon
Bizarre question, as if it mattered what any commenter here thinks.
If Russia came close to being decisively defeated and possibly even losing Crimea, thereby also losing its status as a great power which Putin and other Russian elites obviously care so much about, why not make a desperate last gamble and use tactical nukes against Ukrainian troop concentrations? Or against a NATO base in Poland or some other European country? Escalate to de-escalate. And since I don’t believe that the US will back down in such an event, things would probably escalate even further and spiral out of control. We don’t know what would happen then, but what reason is there to believe that under conditions of intense time pressure, uncertain state of information and hysteria it couldn’t end in a strategic nuclear exchange?
The people who think this can or should end in Russia being completely defeated and Putin killed or tried in The Hague are crazy.
Putin is waiting until after the current U.S. midterms. Almost all of the funds for Ukie Maximalist aggression are coming from DC. It is quite obvious to those of us who are Americans that Zelensky is going to take a huge funding cut in the near future
Not-The-President Biden might squeal, but he is powerless.
Time is on Putin's side. Ukie Maximalists will be desperate in 2023. Fortunately, no one is foolish enough to give Zelensky a nuke.
____
Again. The best option for both Ukrainian Christians and Russian Christians is an armistice. The fact that the Kiev regime refuses is de facto proof that Zelensky, like his Islamophile WEF pay masters, is an enemy of Christianity.
When will the Ukrainian people obtain a President capable of negotiations?
PEACE 😇
Not dissimilar to how all Americans hated GWB, until he was brought back to public life by the elites hating Trump even more. Perhaps if Putin lives long enough, he too can be rehabilitated.
Russia has indeed succeeded in taking three most important and valuable targets at this time – Mariupol with its port and the other metallurgical combine that is still operational, Kherson with the water canal and the power plant in Energodar.
These are essential strategic resourses.
However at the same time Russia has sustained huge losses on the economics front: first of all the $300 billion that were seized and now the Nord Stream pipelines as well. Most of all the money of course – it is unforgiveable.
Not to bring the money out of the West before starting a war is an unbelievable stupidity. They could have done it easily and now they might have had the money and the Western assets in Russia, which would have made the West now think how to get it back.
But instead the West got the money and the Russians got the Western assets which are of approximately the same value. This maybe is allowing them to keep the face but is depriving them from having any leverage. A huge mistake!
Now as far as I understand without the Nord Stream their ability to generate income will be significantly reduced and therefore financing this war will become a heavy load on the budget, especially considering the loss of the $300 billions.
Hence in the given circumstances they will probably have to reduce their ambitions as well. Before the Nord Stream sabotage I had been thinking they were going to take a half of Ukraine which is east of Dnieper, and that would be the best outcome of the war.
Now I think they will take the historical New Russia territories and that will be it. Taking a half of Kiev would require assembling a million people, or at least 600 thousand people. That is a lot of money, food and fuel. I do not think they can pull it off now.
Most probably they will take the territories which are here on these maps below.
The Russian-speaking territories.
https://i.postimg.cc/4dNtdmhC/Ukraine-2.png
The current map of Ukraine.
https://i.postimg.cc/8Cgm1pHD/New-map-of-Ukraine.png
The historical New Russia territories, that were conquered in the 18th century.
https://i.postimg.cc/WzxJX8Yj/New-Russia.jpgReplies: @Sean, @Philip Owen
Get this into your noggin. Putin started the special military operation threatening the conventionally powerful (relative to Russia) US with escalation to the plane of nuclear weapons where Russia has comparable capabilities to Russia.
The recent annexations are a nuclear weapons threat to Ukraine, which indicates Putin now believes his country is barely–if at all–a match for Zelensky’s smoll state.
It'll stick in your throat.
There is no "red line", just a shambolic attempt by Putin to make his bungled operation look decisive.
Furthermore, expect the Ukrainians to continue their grinding move towards Kherson and possibly open up another axis in the direction of Melitopol.Replies: @Beckow, @Sean
What if they don’t? Russia has the option to go ‘shock and awe‘ on Kiev and Western Ukraine. So far they have refrained from doing it, but they could. No need for nukes, just the US-Nato style shock-and-awe: destroy gment buildings, infrastructure, bridges…How long would Ukies take those losses?
If the West retaliates and attacks Russia itself – or Crimea – using Ukies as intermediaries, what do you think would happen?
This is not winnable. The best bet Nato had was Russia economically collapsing and Putin removed. It hasn’t happened. We either gradually move towards some nuclear exchange or Russia eventually gets the regions it wants. Running around forests around Lyman won’t change anything, even taking Lyman. By the way, you now consider it a ‘victory’ if Russia agrees to the pre-February lines – then why didn’t Kiev and Nato agree to it and we could have avoided the war?
The scary thing now is that Russia can dramatically escalate, what then? They can bomb Ukies to smithereens with no regard for ‘collateral damage’ – like Nato always does – it is still a better and more likely option than going nuclear.
There may be some chance that it was Russia, but all the scenarios I've seen so far for this are ridiculously contorted. The obvious suspects are the US, Poland and Ukraine. The fact that there is no real debate in Germany about this and its possible implications tells one everything one needs to know.Replies: @Beckow, @songbird
Believe one of the Russian theories is that it was American bombs planted years ago.
Possibly influenced by this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Grozny_stadium_bombing
(In which a bomb was buried in concrete months ahead of time.)
I like the theory (though don’t believe in it), but I do wonder how it would be triggered in such a scenario, if not with a timer. (Perhaps, sonar? Or ELF radio waves?). But I’d be very surprised if America didn’t have underwater drones that could explode or carry a bomb, on short notice.
Though, I tend to doubt it was America that did it directly. Possibly, they made a phone call to their subordinates. But not necessarily.
I doubt we'll ever know, doesn't even look like the German government cares or that there'll be much of an investigation.Replies: @songbird, @Philip Owen
Possibly influenced by this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Grozny_stadium_bombing
(In which a bomb was buried in concrete months ahead of time.)
I like the theory (though don't believe in it), but I do wonder how it would be triggered in such a scenario, if not with a timer. (Perhaps, sonar? Or ELF radio waves?). But I'd be very surprised if America didn't have underwater drones that could explode or carry a bomb, on short notice.
Though, I tend to doubt it was America that did it directly. Possibly, they made a phone call to their subordinates. But not necessarily.Replies: @German_reader
I have no idea about the technical issues tbh. One reads conflicting information, claims that it was a very difficult operation which only a few states could have carried out vs claims that it was really simple, could maybe theoretically even have been done by private individuals. Also applies to the question if it could be known for certain who did it or if it’s impossible to find out.
I doubt we’ll ever know, doesn’t even look like the German government cares or that there’ll be much of an investigation.
And it is kind of scary because it is a simple demonstration of how fragile energy infrastructure is open to attack.
IMO, if anyone capable wants the lights out - they will be out for a long time. What I heard is that the Euro grid is crap and that the American grid is even worse.
I can't think of any solution myself, except perhaps small, buried nuclear power plants, which seem like a political impossibility, right now.
Poland or Estonia? Estonia is small. They could probably keep a secret.
Gazprom creating Force Majure to excape from its contracts?Replies: @A123
The people who think this can or should end in Russia being completely defeated and Putin killed or tried in The Hague are crazy.Replies: @Sean, @A123, @Triteleia Laxa
He’d not suddenly do it without warning, but surely first threaten very explicitly and clearly he would unless Ukraine stopped, which would put the ball in Ukraine’s court
Eisenhower:’Be slow to say what you will do and never say what you won’t’.
So America, being predetermined not to back down (irrespective of the consequences) is going to give Ukraine a bank check, inasmuch if it wins a few battles and gets nuked then American is going to open hostilities with a state that can match it at any level of thermonuclear escalation.
When someone lies I call it that. The claimed turnout of over 50% is fake.
If turnout was 10% and Russia got 87% it would be a real (though invalid) result. It was not similar, because results closely (though not perfectly) matched peoples will which is the purpose of voting.
These results are the opposite of peoples will. Maidan: Popular revolt, no foreign troops involved, that put the popular vote winner of the most recent elections into power. Later elections matched what people wanted, though reduced the losing sides’s total by 5% or so (not enough to make a difference).
Kherson: Foreign invasion that placed a guy who lost the mayoral race in the capital into power. Made a referendum that resulted in the opposite of what people wanted.
Beckow: it’s all the same.Replies: @Beckow
A lot of noise and excuses that amount to nothing. To deny that Maidan was an armed uprising that overthrew the elected government – with very heavy foreign assistance, the luminaries were right there on Maidan feeding people cookies – is desperate.
One actual point that you made:
You don’t know that. All we have are the official numbers. If you don’t believe it, show us data to prove it. Anyone can say that the numbers are made-up. We can say it about post-Maidan elections or about any elections we don’t like. Show us the proof; your emotional feelings are not a proof.
And why would you say ‘though invalid‘? We have been over this: post-Kosovo the requirement that a part of a country cannot vote to separate – or join another country – no longer holds, it was explicitly abolished by Nato. They even had their ‘International Court’ in Hague rule in 2010 that it is legal. So it is then legal in every situation. The Kosovo precedent applies.
This is a myth. Russia does not have the capability. If they had the capability they would have gone “shock and awe” on the Ukrainian military in the field as they advance. Instead, FIRMS data, as regards even Russian artillery fire, has been quiet for weeks. Russia has maxed out, and the likely reason they have often avoided civiliian targets is because they have limited resources and have had to desperately prioritise the military ones. Russia is already losing air assets every day. The threat you mention is totally unrealistic.
Russia is losing ground every day and the latest polls in Russia point towards an anti-war majority in a huge shift that inevitably has momentum. Meanwhile, the slow unravelling of the Russian economy continues. Even Putin’s propaganda machine cannot survive these trends.
You’ve been saying this since the war began, only previously you were saying that it’d likely be all of Ukraine and certainly all of coastal Ukraine, potentially leaving a small, isolated rump state in the North-West.
So, if you want to imagine the future, just make that same adjustment of “what Russia will accept again” and now get rid of the remaining 15% or so of Ukraine that Russia is squatting on. You dropped the other 85% already, so it should be conceptually easy.
It is certainly a more optimistic sign for Ukraine, than failing to travel the 30km to Bakhmut in 7 months has been for Russia.
That was never offered. Putin wanted Ukraine. Not the parts of the Donbas that his corrupt government had already ruined.
The fact is that if he had wanted only what he had de facto control of before the war, then he would never have needed to invade.
And if you remember, he responded to this de facto endnof conflict and rising international tolerance to his control, by pushing Russian troops into the Donbas, this time undisguised and in uniforms, and Biden still didn’t call it an invasion.
In fact, Biden avoided that, as otherwise he would need to trigger sanctions that nobody wanted. But Putin kept going and going and going, thinking the war would be over and victory all his
, until defeated in Kyiv, defeated in Sumy, defeated in Kharkhiv and stopped everywhere else, before now, getting ground back in Kherson, Luhansk, Donestk and Zaporozhye.
But I guess he need not worry, Ritter, MacGregor and all of those idiots, are still opining that “the real war” starts now and that the ‘Ukrainian army is destroyed” and that total Russian victory happens tomorrow.
A day that will never come.
What, by invading Ukraine? Blowing up their own version of NATO, the CSTO? Emptying the Kaliningrad garrison? Withdrawing from the borders of Finland afterFinland joins NATO? Withdrawing troops from Syria? Mobilising? Importing Iranian drones? Begging for North Korean artillery shells? Emptying the prisons?
They’ve tried all of this and are still losing ground.
No, they tried that, and failed, and no longer even have the capability to bomb, or shell, Ukrainian advances “to smithereens.” Priority number one. Their industrial production is as hollow as their military. Corruption at all levels. Utterly fake and gay.
Any Russian patriot would want peace now, under the best terms possible, but what they could get, then to return home, replace Putin, and go about building Russia, literally the most land-rich and least densely populated country in the world, into something real and great.
Does it really make sense for Russian soldiers to be dying in the fields of Ukraine when they’re absolutely needed to create the next generations that might actually make the country lived in?
500,000,000 Russians in Russia would be a serious power come 2100. Less than 4 children per woman would get them there.
Imagine that, with Slavic demographics, as the West does God knows what.
Imagine that with a first world real economy.
Imagine that as China shrinks to the same population.
That is a real vision of Russian greatness, and perhaps an unachievable goal,.but certainly something to not be unhappy to just miss, rather than failing to take Bakhmut while running sham referenda, horrifying the best and brightest among your young, having your economy fall even further behind, fertilising Ukrainian fields with your men, and staining your souls with Ukrainian blood.
The people who think this can or should end in Russia being completely defeated and Putin killed or tried in The Hague are crazy.Replies: @Sean, @A123, @Triteleia Laxa
There is no desperation. Thus, no reason to unnecessarily escalate.
Putin is waiting until after the current U.S. midterms. Almost all of the funds for Ukie Maximalist aggression are coming from DC. It is quite obvious to those of us who are Americans that Zelensky is going to take a huge funding cut in the near future
Not-The-President Biden might squeal, but he is powerless.
Time is on Putin’s side. Ukie Maximalists will be desperate in 2023. Fortunately, no one is foolish enough to give Zelensky a nuke.
____
Again. The best option for both Ukrainian Christians and Russian Christians is an armistice. The fact that the Kiev regime refuses is de facto proof that Zelensky, like his Islamophile WEF pay masters, is an enemy of Christianity.
When will the Ukrainian people obtain a President capable of negotiations?
PEACE 😇
Russia can’t even obliterate Ukrainian advances. It most certainly doesn’t have the capability to obliterate Kyiv.
1. Russia is outperforming even the wildest pro-Russian expectations!
2. Ukraine will collapse tomorrow.
3. Russia has kept its A Team back and has most of its military chilling out somewhere in Russia.
4. Russia has systematically destroyed the Ukrainian army, just as planned.
5. Putin is too kind and humane.
6. The Russian people demanded mobilisation.
7. Russia is going to start trying now.
8. "Referenda."
9. What about America...and Cuba?
10 "Cui Bono."
11. The devious Anglo-Saxons.
12. "Please Germany, save us Russia."
13. Hopefully Germans freeze to death.
14. I can't say it wasn't Washington, but I'm obsessed with blaming Washington.
15. Russia will be saved by the German government collapsing.
16. This war will end NATO?!?!
17. I am actually an American patriot, not a Putin shill.
18. Russia has immense forces about to destroy the Ukrainians any day now.
19. The Ukrainians are already all dead.
20. Zelenskyy is making WMDs.
21. Putin wants a ceasefire, because he is a peaceful and all Ukrainians are dead, while Russia has never been stronger.
22. Zelenskyy is going to be kicked out tomorrow for the way Ukraine has lost everything.
LolReplies: @Mikhail, @songbird
Technically, believe he said “Anglo-Saxon countries” which is a subtle but possibly major distinction.
The Senate just voted 75-25 to approve a supplemental appropriation that included $12 billion for Ukraine. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said “Assisting Ukraine is not some feel-good, symbolic gesture. It’s literally an investment in our own national security and that of our allies.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-passes-stopgap-bill-to-avert-shutdown-aid-ukraine/ar-AA12p9jP
There are Republicans who are against aiding Ukraine, but they are in the minority in their own party.
Even if the Republicans do very well in the midterms (which is not looking terribly likely at the moment), that seems unlikely to change.
• Go to zero? No.
• Be substantially reduced -and- tied to MAGA priorities? Yes.
Much of the heavily lifting is behind the scenes. Long before a final vote is reached.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Keypusher
The people who think this can or should end in Russia being completely defeated and Putin killed or tried in The Hague are crazy.Replies: @Sean, @A123, @Triteleia Laxa
Let’s see: retire and tend to your grandchildren, or quite possibly go down as history’s worst person?
Putin probably should be killed, but nobody is advocating that Ukraine invades Russia. They merely hope that the Russian people will scapegoat Putin and use his blood to wash themselves clean of this catastrophe.
Not dissimilar to how all Americans hated GWB, until he was brought back to public life by the elites hating Trump even more. Perhaps if Putin lives long enough, he too can be rehabilitated.
As for "parasitic Eastern Europeans" I'm not even thinking so much about individual Ukrainian refugees, obviously their situation is difficult and they deserve support. No, I'm thinking about your (Ukraine's, and even more so Poland's and the Baltic states' - unlike Ukraine you aren't at war after all, you just behave as if you were -) governments and about your media which are deliberately running an anti-German campaign. Everything done in support of Ukraine is always answered with even more insolent and outlandish demands. At this point I'm simply sick of it, because it's become abundantly clear that none of this is done in good faith, it's all deeply manipulative, and in the case of Poland at least it's run by people who are simply motivated by racial hatred against Germany (there is no other way to call it, from my pov Poland crossed the Rubicon early this year when they cut language classes for the German minority in Silesia in a blatant attempt at blackmail, completely incompatible with the spirit of any kind of European cooperation, obviously for these people the EU was never more than a way to snatch gibs and wait for an opportune moment when they could attack Germany and indulge their insatiable desire for revenge). I'm not going to take the side of open enemies of my country and at this point a lot of you Eastern Europeans fit that description more than Russians tbh.Replies: @LatW, @sudden death
Ok, I accept that, but then again if Poland (et al) had “nothing to offer” they would not even be admitted into the EU.
The Ukrainian troops have been opening a lot of the Russian equipment that they’ve captured and they’re saying that a lot of it is filled with Western parts. For years, there was a tremendous exchange of resources (overall possibly a trillion euros, some of it stayed in Russia, but Bashi is also correct in that a lot of it went back to the West, certainly the poor muzhiks that are now lined up to die didn’t see much of it). But it didn’t matter to these Western manufacturers (and their politician friends) that this can be used against Russia’s neighbors.
And, please, do not pretend that your politicians didn’t know who they’re dealing with. For decades, and starting as early as the early 1990s, there was aggressive language coming out of the Russian media towards the neighbors – “We will crush you”, “We will nuke you”, “We’ll send you to Magadan again”, etc, etc. As well as more intricate threats, meddling, etc. In fact, in some cases it was aligned with what the West wanted for the EE, too. At every Western embassy, there is a foreign service officer who prepares media reports for the ambassador so this was all very well known but it was ignored because the threats were aimed towards the “pathetic”, in your eyes, EEs (who have been used to being pushed around and can just endure). Who’s security can always be compromised since they are located further from the center of Europe.
Again, I’m not blaming your country for trying to seek what is lucrative or trying to seek peaceful appeasement at the expense of Russia’s neighbors, from their perspective, it makes sense. Peace was very much desired by everybody. We “swallowed” and endured Chechnya, Georgia, the meddling, the hostility, etc., but Ukraine was one big step too far. You cannot berate Poland for being worried when Russia bombs objects near Lviv.
The danger from the east to the Baltic nations has existed for hundreds of years and will continue to exist even after the current Russian defeat. And the Baltic nations have slowly started to “behave differently” since 2014. The draft has been re-instated and there is other activity, albeit not enough (by my standards). So I will partially accept this criticism (the local nationalists have been concerned about this for years).
Yes, it is very embarrassing to me personally, but thank you anyway, as that might be needed right now (even symbolically). I hope your troops are well taken care of.
The Russians have removed the troops from around the Baltic now (due to the shortage of troops in Ukraine), however, they have for years war gamed an attack on Lithuania – recently with using Belarus as a platform for nukes. And we did not know until March 2022 that Russia could not hypothetically open a second front, the Russian military was perceived as stronger even by the Western intelligence. I did wonder though occasionally how they could cover such large perimeters. It’s obvious now they can’t, they are very thinly spread (although the front line is something like 1000kms which is a lot). I also mentioned to some of the Russia shills here that they could not produce an indefinite number of special forces. But with all that said, they could still pose a tremendous danger (as we see with their artillery). Everything that was saved over the years is being used up now.
I have already stated to you that this isn’t about hatreds. I’m starting to think that this is simply not visible from your end. Also, yes, one does hate someone who threatens their kids. Russia needs to be stopped there so that they do not continue the current modus operandi of slicing away territory and then “escalating to de-escalate”. It’s not just for the sake of the Baltic States, but that kind of behavior is unacceptable to many in the world. Had Russia attacked the Baltic States instead of Ukraine in February, NATO would not exist anymore. Because the Ukrainian martial spirit is higher than that of all of us combined. Of course, if there was a direct attack on our lands, the martial spirit would surface very quickly (there has been increased recruitment of volunteers in the militia since 2014). But all those German and other Western troops would be quickly helicoptered out of there.
As to deranged hatreds, I already told Beckow – there is data out there about who hates the Russians and Russia the most in Europe. It is NOT the Balts! It is the North Westernerns. It was the case even before February. (I can’t find that graph right now, but it was posted on this forum, too).
I agree that the communication towards Germany has been maybe too harsh. On the one hand I tend to believe that nobody owes anything to anybody (a country needs to have its own military hardware or not be a country), but then again it is not in European interests that random invasions happen so close to her borders. I know you don’t think it’s close, but it is because it presents a pattern that can be replicated elsewhere, endlessly. Surkov said – “Our job is to export chaos”. Who needs that??
There was a security vacuum in the region that they thought could be filled with soft power, but it was a mistake to assume that. That security vacuum should’ve been filled by those countries themselves (not sure how realistic it would’ve been but possibly). Plus back then we didn’t have Ukraine. Had it happened already by late 1990s, we wouldn’t have to worry about wokeness invading our countries either, since being independent militarily, we could’ve shaped our cultural and social policy as we please. Unfortunately, this was not realistic at the time or at least wasn’t considered seriously enough.
I don’t see manipulation from the Ukrainian side, I see desperation. It’s their war of independence. The Ukrainians are saying over and over, we can do the job, just give us the weapons. It’s very straightforward, not manipulative.
I’m not well informed about this, so I don’t want to meddle. I have personally experienced only slight tinges of that type of sentiment while observing some of the remnants of the German culture around the area of the Curonian Spit. But in the end I have only felt amicability and slight sadness that it is almost lost. So I can’t really speak for the Poles as obviously for them it is different. I personally believe it would be desirable to show amicability towards the German minority anywhere in Europe. But I also understand that the Polish position is different due to a very different experience. Should they have worked more deliberately on these issues? Possibly. The problem is that eveyrone wants the other party to be liberal while they themselves remain nationalist. You probably want the liberals to be in charge in Poland, such as Tusk, because he would’ve toned all of this down. But you want nationalists in charge of Germany. Which I don’t blame you for. Such is often the dilemma with neighbors. I only recently discovered the depth of the schism you’re having and it is very unfortunate and sad to see.
One of the reasons though why the Poles are pushing this somewhat unappealing reparations narrative might be as a response to some of the pressure they may have been experiencing from the German establishment over the years (and the EC).
This article from the Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau was a surprise to me due to its strong undertones:
https://japan-forward.com/freedom-and-equality-of-nations-are-the-only-defense-against-the-threat-of-imperialism/
Wow, really that bad? Sigh…
It was very sad for me to see that “the imperialism” that he seems to be alluding to here is, in fact, German “imperialism” (or even the “imperialism” of the stronger EU countries). It is very sad that it has come to this and that one has to reach out to Japan for companionship and understanding and that it’s not more readily available from more immediate European neighbors.
It is your choice, of course. Unfortunately, it looks like history is coming back in circles again. I’m not against the EU, but best would have been to create separate blocs of likeminded states. We are too much into each others’ faces, it’s gotten too tight.
I've noticed before that you seem to think Ukrainians are fighting for "you" (meaning Eastern Europeans in general) and that you have to feel gratitude for that, because otherwise Russia would be coming for you too. From my perspective that's a mistaken assumption. One can admire the bravery and patriotism of Ukrainian soldiers, but they're fighting for Ukraine, for no one else, and claims to the contrary are just propaganda. "Nationalism" in Western Europe means not wanting to become a minority in your own country/being subjected to an ever radicalizing regime of progressive ideologues. It's something Eastern Europeans don't seem to get, because you're still in the 19th century stage where it's all about hating your immediate neighbour for things that happened a hundred years ago.
Anyway, what Poland did early this year was very revealing, they reduced language classes for the German minority in Silesia (descendants of people who lived there before many present-day Polish inhabitants, one has to remember) arguing that Germany would have to grant Poles in Germany official status as a national minority with attendant wide-ranging rights. Now Poles in Germany are overwhelmingly recent immigrants (who can hardly claim to be "oppressed" in Germany, it's not like there are any restrictions on their cultural life), so there's no logical reason at all why similar demands couldn't be made by Turks, Kurds, Arabs etc. It's an example of Poland directly seeking to advance the balkanization of Germany, and not so subtly threatening to make life unpleasant for a vulnerable minority (the remnant of a population that was ethnically cleansed with quite a bit of violence by Poland) if its extortionte demands aren't met. That's one reason why I wrote that a "European alliance of patriots" has proven to be an illusion...if you've got "friends" like that, who needs enemies? That's just wishful thinking. There was a lot of that on the German right too ("It's just due to Merkel's policies, we have to understand"), but that is fading now, PiS Poland has overplayed its hand in the last year. It's become too obvious that there never was any chance of constructive relations.Replies: @AP, @LatW
The recent annexations are a nuclear weapons threat to Ukraine, which indicates Putin now believes his country is barely--if at all--a match for Zelensky's smoll state.Replies: @Wokechoke
The annexation is quite interesting.
It’ll stick in your throat.
And, please, do not pretend that your politicians didn't know who they're dealing with. For decades, and starting as early as the early 1990s, there was aggressive language coming out of the Russian media towards the neighbors - "We will crush you", "We will nuke you", "We'll send you to Magadan again", etc, etc. As well as more intricate threats, meddling, etc. In fact, in some cases it was aligned with what the West wanted for the EE, too. At every Western embassy, there is a foreign service officer who prepares media reports for the ambassador so this was all very well known but it was ignored because the threats were aimed towards the "pathetic", in your eyes, EEs (who have been used to being pushed around and can just endure). Who's security can always be compromised since they are located further from the center of Europe. Again, I'm not blaming your country for trying to seek what is lucrative or trying to seek peaceful appeasement at the expense of Russia's neighbors, from their perspective, it makes sense. Peace was very much desired by everybody. We "swallowed" and endured Chechnya, Georgia, the meddling, the hostility, etc., but Ukraine was one big step too far. You cannot berate Poland for being worried when Russia bombs objects near Lviv. The danger from the east to the Baltic nations has existed for hundreds of years and will continue to exist even after the current Russian defeat. And the Baltic nations have slowly started to "behave differently" since 2014. The draft has been re-instated and there is other activity, albeit not enough (by my standards). So I will partially accept this criticism (the local nationalists have been concerned about this for years). Yes, it is very embarrassing to me personally, but thank you anyway, as that might be needed right now (even symbolically). I hope your troops are well taken care of. The Russians have removed the troops from around the Baltic now (due to the shortage of troops in Ukraine), however, they have for years war gamed an attack on Lithuania - recently with using Belarus as a platform for nukes. And we did not know until March 2022 that Russia could not hypothetically open a second front, the Russian military was perceived as stronger even by the Western intelligence. I did wonder though occasionally how they could cover such large perimeters. It's obvious now they can't, they are very thinly spread (although the front line is something like 1000kms which is a lot). I also mentioned to some of the Russia shills here that they could not produce an indefinite number of special forces. But with all that said, they could still pose a tremendous danger (as we see with their artillery). Everything that was saved over the years is being used up now. I have already stated to you that this isn't about hatreds. I'm starting to think that this is simply not visible from your end. Also, yes, one does hate someone who threatens their kids. Russia needs to be stopped there so that they do not continue the current modus operandi of slicing away territory and then "escalating to de-escalate". It's not just for the sake of the Baltic States, but that kind of behavior is unacceptable to many in the world. Had Russia attacked the Baltic States instead of Ukraine in February, NATO would not exist anymore. Because the Ukrainian martial spirit is higher than that of all of us combined. Of course, if there was a direct attack on our lands, the martial spirit would surface very quickly (there has been increased recruitment of volunteers in the militia since 2014). But all those German and other Western troops would be quickly helicoptered out of there. As to deranged hatreds, I already told Beckow - there is data out there about who hates the Russians and Russia the most in Europe. It is NOT the Balts! It is the North Westernerns. It was the case even before February. (I can't find that graph right now, but it was posted on this forum, too). I agree that the communication towards Germany has been maybe too harsh. On the one hand I tend to believe that nobody owes anything to anybody (a country needs to have its own military hardware or not be a country), but then again it is not in European interests that random invasions happen so close to her borders. I know you don't think it's close, but it is because it presents a pattern that can be replicated elsewhere, endlessly. Surkov said - "Our job is to export chaos". Who needs that??There was a security vacuum in the region that they thought could be filled with soft power, but it was a mistake to assume that. That security vacuum should've been filled by those countries themselves (not sure how realistic it would've been but possibly). Plus back then we didn't have Ukraine. Had it happened already by late 1990s, we wouldn't have to worry about wokeness invading our countries either, since being independent militarily, we could've shaped our cultural and social policy as we please. Unfortunately, this was not realistic at the time or at least wasn't considered seriously enough. I don't see manipulation from the Ukrainian side, I see desperation. It's their war of independence. The Ukrainians are saying over and over, we can do the job, just give us the weapons. It's very straightforward, not manipulative. I'm not well informed about this, so I don't want to meddle. I have personally experienced only slight tinges of that type of sentiment while observing some of the remnants of the German culture around the area of the Curonian Spit. But in the end I have only felt amicability and slight sadness that it is almost lost. So I can't really speak for the Poles as obviously for them it is different. I personally believe it would be desirable to show amicability towards the German minority anywhere in Europe. But I also understand that the Polish position is different due to a very different experience. Should they have worked more deliberately on these issues? Possibly. The problem is that eveyrone wants the other party to be liberal while they themselves remain nationalist. You probably want the liberals to be in charge in Poland, such as Tusk, because he would've toned all of this down. But you want nationalists in charge of Germany. Which I don't blame you for. Such is often the dilemma with neighbors. I only recently discovered the depth of the schism you're having and it is very unfortunate and sad to see. One of the reasons though why the Poles are pushing this somewhat unappealing reparations narrative might be as a response to some of the pressure they may have been experiencing from the German establishment over the years (and the EC). This article from the Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau was a surprise to me due to its strong undertones: https://japan-forward.com/freedom-and-equality-of-nations-are-the-only-defense-against-the-threat-of-imperialism/ Wow, really that bad? Sigh... It was very sad for me to see that "the imperialism" that he seems to be alluding to here is, in fact, German "imperialism" (or even the "imperialism" of the stronger EU countries). It is very sad that it has come to this and that one has to reach out to Japan for companionship and understanding and that it's not more readily available from more immediate European neighbors. It is your choice, of course. Unfortunately, it looks like history is coming back in circles again. I'm not against the EU, but best would have been to create separate blocs of likeminded states. We are too much into each others' faces, it's gotten too tight.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
The Baltic is going down.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdvjDv1WYAIb-g1.png
The Globalist Uniparty shell game relies on -- Labour Left / Corporate RightItaly has joined Hungary and Poland to have a "Labour Right". This is how Christian Populism will win versus SJW Islamophile Globalism.PEACE 😇
__________(1) https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/09/29/italy-election-polling-finds-wealthiest-voted-left-working-and-middle-voted-right/Replies: @Miro23
IOW the working class Right.
I doubt we'll ever know, doesn't even look like the German government cares or that there'll be much of an investigation.Replies: @songbird, @Philip Owen
Yes, I agree. Nobody will be held unaccountable, despite the talk.
And it is kind of scary because it is a simple demonstration of how fragile energy infrastructure is open to attack.
IMO, if anyone capable wants the lights out – they will be out for a long time. What I heard is that the Euro grid is crap and that the American grid is even worse.
I can’t think of any solution myself, except perhaps small, buried nuclear power plants, which seem like a political impossibility, right now.
I’d guess this speech was designed to play well with Russian chauvinism.
You are widely exaggerating Liman, bombing, public opinion in Russia, Russian economy, etc…you clearly believe (your own) propaganda. None of that is happening to the extent that you claim.
But there is no point in arguing this until the facts are settled on the ground. If Ukies march on Donetsk, take back Kherson, Mariupol, etc…if Russian economy collapses, government gets replaced…then let’s talk. Until then what you wrote is wishful thinking.
To attack Ukie infrastructure would be trivial for Russia. If you think they don’t have the capability you are fooling yourself. They have done a few missiles and those worked. There were many in the West who believed in the past that Russia was standing on legs off clay. They rued the leaders who got them into wars with Russia and paid a very high price.
You are free to believe that this time it is different. But what if it is not? The open loss in Ukraine would cause devastation for the West, is that worth the mad dream of Nato in Ukraine and banning Russian language?
That was six hours ago, and it supports my contention there is a completely new red line for Ukraine Zelensky understands very clearly if he wants his army to avoid a nuking, he cannot go further without American protection/permission. He is not going to get it.
At this point I am pretty sure Zelko is on drugs - or his bodyguards keep him on a short leash.Replies: @Johnny Rico
As for "parasitic Eastern Europeans" I'm not even thinking so much about individual Ukrainian refugees, obviously their situation is difficult and they deserve support. No, I'm thinking about your (Ukraine's, and even more so Poland's and the Baltic states' - unlike Ukraine you aren't at war after all, you just behave as if you were -) governments and about your media which are deliberately running an anti-German campaign. Everything done in support of Ukraine is always answered with even more insolent and outlandish demands. At this point I'm simply sick of it, because it's become abundantly clear that none of this is done in good faith, it's all deeply manipulative, and in the case of Poland at least it's run by people who are simply motivated by racial hatred against Germany (there is no other way to call it, from my pov Poland crossed the Rubicon early this year when they cut language classes for the German minority in Silesia in a blatant attempt at blackmail, completely incompatible with the spirit of any kind of European cooperation, obviously for these people the EU was never more than a way to snatch gibs and wait for an opportune moment when they could attack Germany and indulge their insatiable desire for revenge). I'm not going to take the side of open enemies of my country and at this point a lot of you Eastern Europeans fit that description more than Russians tbh.Replies: @LatW, @sudden death
imho, overall obsession with tanks atm is quite weird cause neither side so far in war could use them very effectively, also UA needs all kinds of artillery and anti-rocketry systems way more than tanks.
However it needs to said that there is no slightest illusion than German manned tanks would have much use in case against direct RF aggresion, knowing the essentially servile attitude of core EU politicum and notable parts of electorate (25-30% at least) towards RF, that’s why it looks better from security perspective to try giving them to those who actually got the balls, need and ability to destroy RF invaders in the field directly right now, cause the more RF army is being demilitarized in UA the less ability and forces they have remaining in order to invade Baltics.
Look at it from their side. Don’t you think a Polish government minister thanking the US for blowing up Nordstream (tweet now deleted) was just a bit too much? Incredibly stupid too, considering the collapse of the German economy will take all of Eastern Europe down with it.
And to German_Reader, “East Europeans” is a bit unfair, it’s really just the Balts and Poland. The rest of Visegrad or Bulgaria and Romania don’t act like this.
https://missilery.info/missile/c300pmu2С-300ПМУ2 «Фаворит», зенитная ракетная система
https://www.arms-expo.ru/armament/samples/1263/68896/ЗРК С-300ПМУ2 Фаворит. Дальность поражения. Состав. Ракеты
http://oruzhie.info/vojska-pvo/605-s-300pmu2-favoritNote that in specification section below each one of these articles gives the lowest altitude of the target as 10 m. These missiles are not made to be used against ground targets. And they are way too expensive for it. The news agency is not a reliable source of information on such a topic. They are incompetent in the field and often either make things up or get confused in terminology. Simply because they are a state owned agency does not make them any more credible.Russia does have as I said a number of various surface-to-surface missiles that would have been used if that was a Russian strike.The fact that it was a mistaken report is obvious from the report itself: It says that a number of armoured vehicles were destroyed with the S-300 missiles. However the S-300 missiles cannot destroy armoured targets. They do not have an appropriate warheads for such a task. All the S-300 missiles destroy their targets with fragments which would be absolutely ineffective against any armoured vehicle.Replies: @Philip Owen, @sudden death
HIMARs travel at Mach 2.5 and Russia is not hitting many if any. Syrian S300s were quite ineffective against Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Poland's antagonism towards Russia is undisguisable. If EU Russia relations are patched up, the Yamal pipeline would generate huge amounts of revenue for Poland. It is a huge win-win.
Poland's rapid "Thanks to America" message could be an excellent diversion for their own involvement. Close geography and undersea work associated with Baltic Pipe provided access. The bombs could have been planted weeks or even months ago.
Proving Poland did it will be tough, but this is by far the most likely scenario.
___
The less likely layer:
• Kiev Regime -- The recent Populist victories in Sweden and Italy already working against Zelensky's aggression. The upcoming Israel elections and U.S. midterms will also reduce resources to Kiev. The lack of proximity is an issue.
• German Green Party -- These are irrational anti-hydrocarbon nutters of the greatest magnitude. They have the will to commit this act for the "Greater Good". Suborning a German technical partner that worked on NS2 construction would provide the technical capability.
• European WEF (via Not-The-President Biden) -- Increasing energy costs is a wealth transfer to Red States. Intentionally making Blue States worse off before the midterms would be suicidal. However, Not-The-President Biden's desire & will to serve European WEF Elites is unparalleled. Europe's SJW Globalists are histrionic about Meloni's win. Perhaps, the Davos-Paris-Berlin axis ordered their anti-American puppet to execute attack?
___
It is going to be hard to recover any explicit proof from the sea floor. Expect the accusations & recrimination to continue for months.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Miro23
“The best guide to future behavior is past behavior” is apparently the most reliable rule in psychology.
The US deep state/ CIA have a proven ability to run “regime change” operations in countries as diverse as Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, Syria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia itself under Yeltsin.
Victoria Nuland and the Neocons truly HATE Vladimir Putin for chasing them out of Russia and imprisoning their presidential candidate Mikhail Khodorkovsky and they want payback.
The idea is the breakup of Russia using Ukraine as a NATO battering ram.
Problem that Putin knows what’s going on and the EU is getting seriously hurt by Victoria’s project.
And to German_Reader, "East Europeans" is a bit unfair, it's really just the Balts and Poland. The rest of Visegrad or Bulgaria and Romania don't act like this.Replies: @sudden death, @LatW
bit of nitpicking, but Sikorski is from opposition party to current Poland governmernt, not a minister and just European parliament member now, which in fact equals some kind of a retirement position for a serious politician.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-passes-stopgap-bill-to-avert-shutdown-aid-ukraine/ar-AA12p9jP
There are Republicans who are against aiding Ukraine, but they are in the minority in their own party.
Even if the Republicans do very well in the midterms (which is not looking terribly likely at the moment), that seems unlikely to change.Replies: @Matra, @A123
The USA itself is the problem, not the Democrats. The USA has been the anti-Europe, the anti-West, ever since the revolting Americans went against their King, country, and kith in 1776. First rebellion, now deconstructionism & decolonisation. Compare the scenes of well-dressed respectable Russians singing their national anthem in Moscow tonight to American heroine, the fat, almost naked negress, Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute earlier this week. Tradition and basic standards of behaviour are all a big joke to Americans and their Eurotrash imitators. Russia can never be as bad as the USA.
The USA has been the anti-Europe, the anti-West, ever since the revolting Americans went against their King, country, and kith in 1776.
The below was published in the United States in 1853, italics in original: https://archive.org/details/newrome00poes/page/70/mode/2up
You're histrionic.Replies: @Coconuts
You most certainly would not see that distinction if some 10th rate clearly deranged Jewish academic said that ze hated “white countries.” Nevermind call it “major.”
Anyway, it is not difficult to see a distinction between people and governments. Especially today, just look at the British cabinet.
For the record, I think Ze and Putin are both opportunists, not ideologues. Their main distinction is that they exist within different power spheres. Ze's ethnic identity just makes it less likely that he will challenge the existing ideology of the Western political sphere within which he is a small, slavish and greedy cog.
Thanks for the breathtaking plot of this cloak and dagger scenario.
You used to be more impartial AP.
Of the both of us, you were the person complementary of Uncle Vlad's supposedly commendable efforts in rebuilding RusFed.
I always have seen Putin as a п☆дор and a double agent he most probably is.
So that's quite a change of perspective you have had since the Ukraine invasion by Putin's troops.
🙂Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP, @Dmitry
AP in this forum has been writing for years about how he is a Putin fan because the most possibly idiotic reasons I could ever hear (like somebody repeating the lines from the infamous deleted Timati song).
AP is saying a government is good which does not invest in the basis of national power like education, healthcare, military, computer science, or to build a future industrial base beyond resource extraction for the next generation, so they would be able to survive the energy transition which will begin in the 2030s (for example, as demand for oil is going to fall, the most important priority should have been to prepare for new industries that will employ the future generations). But the government are good because they used some significant parts of our money to put shiny kitsch things in Moscow that has impressed the American tourist that has taste for Disney castles.
It’s like in La Cosa Nostra, the godfather invests to have shiny shoes and beautiful external appearance. So you will say, John Gotti is great, look at this attractive Armani suit. How elegant and successful he has been, just look at those shiny shoes. Someone with an attractive Armani trousers must be the well organized and competent citizen. Who cares about the schools, hospitals and the paint on the walls of the university, the sign of the responsible person is the prioritization for high quality stone floors, Armani and attractive mansions.
Is AP really an idiot? Well, if you know him for years, then you will notice some things. AP doesn’t only write this kind of idiocy, but also sometimes very accurate and true statements, that can make us seem to appear as the idiots. Maybe he is smarter than the normal people here.
For example, he is the only person in this forum who knew how the war would be. So, in some ways, he’s more accurate than much more sensible writing people here. I will assume he has more interesting insights than I can.
Why was he saying how good is this kind of hedonistic, self-interested government we’ve had in the last 30 years. If there was a government which prioritized the air force or even technology, science, logistics, education and industrial power, then Ukraine’s army could have been mostly destroyed by now.
For different reasons, I had been believing that Latin American style of government prioritization is not the worst situation, as I assume people who enjoy these things wouldn’t crash the plane and kill all the passengers. I would assume if you were planning for large wars, you would invest in the basis of national power, instead of asset stripping and using the country’s wealth in a hedonistic and short-term way. Although history of 2022 showed unfortunately that you can have a large war, without the intention for a large war, only a short-term military operation.
So you already know that I agree with what you wrote.
For me RusFed is not Russia, it is a simulacrum that took the place of my homeland - a parasitic wasp eating my country from the inside.
Today I laughed a lot while listening to Putin's speech.
I guess you would know why I did so...
AP is an extremely intelligent and well educated person, he is of aristocratic background and he is aware and proud of it.
But he is basically of Polish-Galician ethnic stock and he is deeply attached to his roots.
He is and always will be partial.
Which doesn't make him a bad person or someone we should resent.
The same goes for Mr Hack, who is a nice person of Ukrainian background and who is rooting for the country of his ancestors.
This is entirely normal and predictable.
People usually flock to and in support of those who are most similar to them and their kin, especially in time of need and suffering.
OTOH certain people of Russian descent and cultural background sometimes have a peculiar ability to sympathize and feel at home with people of very different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
I have felt at home and at ease with people from very different origins, whether religious and cultural or ethnic, and I have done that despite being in my very core deeply attached to the blood, soil and history of my ancestors.
But perhaps I have done that because I respect their differences and their attachments to their own roots out of respect for my own difference and my own peculiar cultural and historical background ?
Perhaps we are just different because we have since times immemorial stood between East and West, North and South?
We can bridge their divide.
Perhaps it is due to the very nature of our native language, which is so precise and complex and yet so open to lexical innovation and search for novel meaning?
I don't know how or why, but our souls are different from most of them.
It is just a fact of life, there is nothing we can do about it.
A great poet told it well before me and explained it in a better way, so I would just cite him: 🙂
Be well and have a great weekend.
Such a neurosis is sometimes described as latent schizophrenia. I have spent the last 3 or 4 months in discussion with that gentleman and have not seen him make accurate and true statements – at least in conversations with me.
Though who knows what Dmitry can imply by that?
Dmitry himself becomes irrational and weird once the conversation touches upon Russia. He believes that T-14 Armata is a fake tank made of sheet aluminum and that Russia has produced not more than 10 T-90 tanks since February. He said he came to these conclusions reading between the lines.
He also believes the Soviet Union was a police state run by the KGB.
So who knows what he meant by accurate and true statements. This forum is full of cuckoos.
I described it as a popular uprising.
It brought to power the winners of the previous election’s popular vote.
No foreign troops were involved.
Cookies don’t count.
Kherson in contrast was the product of an invasion by a foreign country, and happened under the occupation of that country’s soldiers.
To say that the situations were the same is a lie.
Every previous election either under Yanukovich or afterwards and every poll disproves the idea that 87% of people in Kherson would vote for annexation. As do demographics (Kherson is only 14% ethnic Russian). And those elections had foreign observers.
All we have to support the claim that 87% of people in Kherson voted for annexation are the words of the same government that has been lying since it claimed that the little green men in Crimea were locals, no one corroborated anything.
You didn’t answer my earlier question: do you claim that the elections in the Baltics in 1940 that brought in Soviet rule were not fake?
An election with 10% participation is invalid.
Kosovo and what followed (Crimea, South Ossetia, etc.) all involved majorities illegally leaving the country where they lived. Kosovo, a part of Serbia, was 90% Albanian but was illegally removed from Serbia by force; Crimea, part of Ukraine, was 60% Russian but illegally removed from Ukraine by force. None of those involved a grab of territory by one country, where the majority of the inhabitants belong to the ethnicity of the nation that was attacked. This is not like Kosovo, it is like Baltics, Bohemia or Poland in the mid 20th century. It is dishonest to claim otherwise, to equate these.
Putin has chosen to return Europe to the time of the second world war.
And, please, do not pretend that your politicians didn't know who they're dealing with. For decades, and starting as early as the early 1990s, there was aggressive language coming out of the Russian media towards the neighbors - "We will crush you", "We will nuke you", "We'll send you to Magadan again", etc, etc. As well as more intricate threats, meddling, etc. In fact, in some cases it was aligned with what the West wanted for the EE, too. At every Western embassy, there is a foreign service officer who prepares media reports for the ambassador so this was all very well known but it was ignored because the threats were aimed towards the "pathetic", in your eyes, EEs (who have been used to being pushed around and can just endure). Who's security can always be compromised since they are located further from the center of Europe. Again, I'm not blaming your country for trying to seek what is lucrative or trying to seek peaceful appeasement at the expense of Russia's neighbors, from their perspective, it makes sense. Peace was very much desired by everybody. We "swallowed" and endured Chechnya, Georgia, the meddling, the hostility, etc., but Ukraine was one big step too far. You cannot berate Poland for being worried when Russia bombs objects near Lviv. The danger from the east to the Baltic nations has existed for hundreds of years and will continue to exist even after the current Russian defeat. And the Baltic nations have slowly started to "behave differently" since 2014. The draft has been re-instated and there is other activity, albeit not enough (by my standards). So I will partially accept this criticism (the local nationalists have been concerned about this for years). Yes, it is very embarrassing to me personally, but thank you anyway, as that might be needed right now (even symbolically). I hope your troops are well taken care of. The Russians have removed the troops from around the Baltic now (due to the shortage of troops in Ukraine), however, they have for years war gamed an attack on Lithuania - recently with using Belarus as a platform for nukes. And we did not know until March 2022 that Russia could not hypothetically open a second front, the Russian military was perceived as stronger even by the Western intelligence. I did wonder though occasionally how they could cover such large perimeters. It's obvious now they can't, they are very thinly spread (although the front line is something like 1000kms which is a lot). I also mentioned to some of the Russia shills here that they could not produce an indefinite number of special forces. But with all that said, they could still pose a tremendous danger (as we see with their artillery). Everything that was saved over the years is being used up now. I have already stated to you that this isn't about hatreds. I'm starting to think that this is simply not visible from your end. Also, yes, one does hate someone who threatens their kids. Russia needs to be stopped there so that they do not continue the current modus operandi of slicing away territory and then "escalating to de-escalate". It's not just for the sake of the Baltic States, but that kind of behavior is unacceptable to many in the world. Had Russia attacked the Baltic States instead of Ukraine in February, NATO would not exist anymore. Because the Ukrainian martial spirit is higher than that of all of us combined. Of course, if there was a direct attack on our lands, the martial spirit would surface very quickly (there has been increased recruitment of volunteers in the militia since 2014). But all those German and other Western troops would be quickly helicoptered out of there. As to deranged hatreds, I already told Beckow - there is data out there about who hates the Russians and Russia the most in Europe. It is NOT the Balts! It is the North Westernerns. It was the case even before February. (I can't find that graph right now, but it was posted on this forum, too). I agree that the communication towards Germany has been maybe too harsh. On the one hand I tend to believe that nobody owes anything to anybody (a country needs to have its own military hardware or not be a country), but then again it is not in European interests that random invasions happen so close to her borders. I know you don't think it's close, but it is because it presents a pattern that can be replicated elsewhere, endlessly. Surkov said - "Our job is to export chaos". Who needs that??There was a security vacuum in the region that they thought could be filled with soft power, but it was a mistake to assume that. That security vacuum should've been filled by those countries themselves (not sure how realistic it would've been but possibly). Plus back then we didn't have Ukraine. Had it happened already by late 1990s, we wouldn't have to worry about wokeness invading our countries either, since being independent militarily, we could've shaped our cultural and social policy as we please. Unfortunately, this was not realistic at the time or at least wasn't considered seriously enough. I don't see manipulation from the Ukrainian side, I see desperation. It's their war of independence. The Ukrainians are saying over and over, we can do the job, just give us the weapons. It's very straightforward, not manipulative. I'm not well informed about this, so I don't want to meddle. I have personally experienced only slight tinges of that type of sentiment while observing some of the remnants of the German culture around the area of the Curonian Spit. But in the end I have only felt amicability and slight sadness that it is almost lost. So I can't really speak for the Poles as obviously for them it is different. I personally believe it would be desirable to show amicability towards the German minority anywhere in Europe. But I also understand that the Polish position is different due to a very different experience. Should they have worked more deliberately on these issues? Possibly. The problem is that eveyrone wants the other party to be liberal while they themselves remain nationalist. You probably want the liberals to be in charge in Poland, such as Tusk, because he would've toned all of this down. But you want nationalists in charge of Germany. Which I don't blame you for. Such is often the dilemma with neighbors. I only recently discovered the depth of the schism you're having and it is very unfortunate and sad to see. One of the reasons though why the Poles are pushing this somewhat unappealing reparations narrative might be as a response to some of the pressure they may have been experiencing from the German establishment over the years (and the EC). This article from the Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau was a surprise to me due to its strong undertones: https://japan-forward.com/freedom-and-equality-of-nations-are-the-only-defense-against-the-threat-of-imperialism/ Wow, really that bad? Sigh... It was very sad for me to see that "the imperialism" that he seems to be alluding to here is, in fact, German "imperialism" (or even the "imperialism" of the stronger EU countries). It is very sad that it has come to this and that one has to reach out to Japan for companionship and understanding and that it's not more readily available from more immediate European neighbors. It is your choice, of course. Unfortunately, it looks like history is coming back in circles again. I'm not against the EU, but best would have been to create separate blocs of likeminded states. We are too much into each others' faces, it's gotten too tight.Replies: @Wokechoke, @German_reader
I find your reasoning here bizarre tbh. Yes, Western Europe is decadent and our militaries aren’t what they were 40 years ago, and yes, Baltic states are theoretically vulnerable to a Russian invasion. But “NATO would not exist anymore”? Get real, given the Russian performance in Ukraine so far there’s no question anymore that Russia would lose a war against NATO, and would lose it badly. And no, the Western troops wouldn’t be “helicoptered out”, their purpose would be to fight and die, and once that has happened it would be an open NATO-Russia war.
I’ve noticed before that you seem to think Ukrainians are fighting for “you” (meaning Eastern Europeans in general) and that you have to feel gratitude for that, because otherwise Russia would be coming for you too. From my perspective that’s a mistaken assumption. One can admire the bravery and patriotism of Ukrainian soldiers, but they’re fighting for Ukraine, for no one else, and claims to the contrary are just propaganda.
“Nationalism” in Western Europe means not wanting to become a minority in your own country/being subjected to an ever radicalizing regime of progressive ideologues. It’s something Eastern Europeans don’t seem to get, because you’re still in the 19th century stage where it’s all about hating your immediate neighbour for things that happened a hundred years ago.
Anyway, what Poland did early this year was very revealing, they reduced language classes for the German minority in Silesia (descendants of people who lived there before many present-day Polish inhabitants, one has to remember) arguing that Germany would have to grant Poles in Germany official status as a national minority with attendant wide-ranging rights. Now Poles in Germany are overwhelmingly recent immigrants (who can hardly claim to be “oppressed” in Germany, it’s not like there are any restrictions on their cultural life), so there’s no logical reason at all why similar demands couldn’t be made by Turks, Kurds, Arabs etc. It’s an example of Poland directly seeking to advance the balkanization of Germany, and not so subtly threatening to make life unpleasant for a vulnerable minority (the remnant of a population that was ethnically cleansed with quite a bit of violence by Poland) if its extortionte demands aren’t met. That’s one reason why I wrote that a “European alliance of patriots” has proven to be an illusion…if you’ve got “friends” like that, who needs enemies?
That’s just wishful thinking. There was a lot of that on the German right too (“It’s just due to Merkel’s policies, we have to understand”), but that is fading now, PiS Poland has overplayed its hand in the last year. It’s become too obvious that there never was any chance of constructive relations.
Ukrainian fighting in the beginning of the war won them a lot of time. And that part of fighting was done before the arrival of the more serious Western artillery. Then the world saw that it is worth helping them and did. One of the scenarios that my friend from the militia discussed with me is that, in the case of a Russian invasion, all our best troops could retreat Westwards, and only leave militia in place to harass the incoming Russians. Then the regular troops would come back with a counter offensive with Western troops. But that's when Russia could "escalate to de-escalate". The West largely agrees that this scenario needed to be avoided on the EU soil.
There is no doubt that Russia would try one way or another. It's all wargamed. Not immediately but over a longer period of time. Decades possibly. They will continue to do this until they're reformatted ideologically. Again, as I alluded, those troops would be decimated before the West had enough time to prepare and bring in more troops. The Ukrainians were able to buy themselves more time. They have more depth. Although, they fought successfully in Sumy, which is on the Russian border, so they showed us that one can fight effectively with limited depth. But we didn't really have that knowledge before February (and it was very costly both for the military and civilians). They are paying with their blood for these lessons. Of course, I support that, but I couldn't help noticing how both German and Russian sides yearn for liberals (or all kinds of appeasers) to be in charge in EE, but want nationalists in their own countries. It's normal and understandable and very primal - you want your enemies to be weaker. I have repeatedly stressed that this is not about something that happened a hundred yeas ago. You have a bias because the Unz forum tackles a lot of historical details. The issues are today. And what they have been directing at us for 30 years. I'm extremely tired of it. Life could've been much better without it and future generations should not be subjected to it. I understand this, this is similar to what the Russians were trying to do in the Baltic States (with the help of very meddlesome liberal Germans and Dutch, mind you). I can relate to your frustrations. In the EU laws, the status of a national minority typically is granted to a minority with very deep roots in a given country. If I understand this correctly, Poland wanted reciprocity just based on their recent immigration and I do agree that this may be a slippery slope since this could then be applied to any recent immigrant. While Poles in Germany should be respected, from my pov, Poland should focus on its own demographic situation instead. Poland should focus on repatriation not antagonizing Germany. They shouldn't use petty mechanisms like this to advance their positions somehow or try gain an upper hand here or there. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or inadvertent. I believe it can be either. I agree that it is a bit too aggressive but then I haven't delved into the Polish diaspora situation in Germany (don't know if they have any legitimate issues). Frankly, Poland should try to retain its people instead of ship them into Germany where they would be destined to be assimilated and then bicker. This is unnecessarily cruel. It can be an alliance when it comes to non-Europeans, but not so much during inter European spats, hahaha. Same old. It's the same patterns again, I can see why you don't want Russia to lose. Well, if a foreign affairs minister expresses such open musings... there could be something to it. I'm saying this because we had a similar pattern with Russia. Russia started doubting the fact of our occupation and that's when we threw the "reparations" document in their face. I think the MFA did that because there were no other means to counter Russia's rhetoric, so this may be similar, but it's just a guess. It's quite serious.
The truth is, the EC has been pressuring Poland and obviously there is something they feel uncomfortable about. But they should've been more careful about going this far.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
Russia has indeed succeeded in taking three most important and valuable targets at this time – Mariupol with its port and the other metallurgical combine that is still operational, Kherson with the water canal and the power plant in Energodar.
These are essential strategic resourses.
However at the same time Russia has sustained huge losses on the economics front: first of all the $300 billion that were seized and now the Nord Stream pipelines as well. Most of all the money of course – it is unforgiveable.
Not to bring the money out of the West before starting a war is an unbelievable stupidity. They could have done it easily and now they might have had the money and the Western assets in Russia, which would have made the West now think how to get it back.
But instead the West got the money and the Russians got the Western assets which are of approximately the same value. This maybe is allowing them to keep the face but is depriving them from having any leverage. A huge mistake!
Now as far as I understand without the Nord Stream their ability to generate income will be significantly reduced and therefore financing this war will become a heavy load on the budget, especially considering the loss of the $300 billions.
Hence in the given circumstances they will probably have to reduce their ambitions as well. Before the Nord Stream sabotage I had been thinking they were going to take a half of Ukraine which is east of Dnieper, and that would be the best outcome of the war.
Now I think they will take the historical New Russia territories and that will be it. Taking a half of Kiev would require assembling a million people, or at least 600 thousand people. That is a lot of money, food and fuel. I do not think they can pull it off now.
Most probably they will take the territories which are here on these maps below.
The Russian-speaking territories.
https://i.postimg.cc/4dNtdmhC/Ukraine-2.png
The current map of Ukraine.
https://i.postimg.cc/8Cgm1pHD/New-map-of-Ukraine.png
The historical New Russia territories, that were conquered in the 18th century.
https://i.postimg.cc/WzxJX8Yj/New-Russia.jpgReplies: @Sean, @Philip Owen
Russia is already raising taxes as the budget has gone negative.
Also your maps are wrong. See below.
https://i.postimg.cc/DwLDM6hB/Ukraine-and-the-Russian-language.png
The blue regions are where most people prefer to speak Russian. The numbers are the percentage of the people who prefer to speak Russian.The data is taken from the official Ukrainian statistics. П'яте всеукраїнське муніципальне опитування
https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/fifth_municipal_survey_september_2019_ua_final_12-5-2019.pdfPage 249.Replies: @AP, @Philip Owen
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-passes-stopgap-bill-to-avert-shutdown-aid-ukraine/ar-AA12p9jP
There are Republicans who are against aiding Ukraine, but they are in the minority in their own party.
Even if the Republicans do very well in the midterms (which is not looking terribly likely at the moment), that seems unlikely to change.Replies: @Matra, @A123
You do not understand how the American system works. Appropriation bills start in the House which, baring extreme cheating, will go over to the GOP with MAGA making the difference. Will funding for Kiev regime aggression:
• Go to zero? No.
• Be substantially reduced -and- tied to MAGA priorities? Yes.
Much of the heavily lifting is behind the scenes. Long before a final vote is reached.
PEACE 😇
I've noticed before that you seem to think Ukrainians are fighting for "you" (meaning Eastern Europeans in general) and that you have to feel gratitude for that, because otherwise Russia would be coming for you too. From my perspective that's a mistaken assumption. One can admire the bravery and patriotism of Ukrainian soldiers, but they're fighting for Ukraine, for no one else, and claims to the contrary are just propaganda. "Nationalism" in Western Europe means not wanting to become a minority in your own country/being subjected to an ever radicalizing regime of progressive ideologues. It's something Eastern Europeans don't seem to get, because you're still in the 19th century stage where it's all about hating your immediate neighbour for things that happened a hundred years ago.
Anyway, what Poland did early this year was very revealing, they reduced language classes for the German minority in Silesia (descendants of people who lived there before many present-day Polish inhabitants, one has to remember) arguing that Germany would have to grant Poles in Germany official status as a national minority with attendant wide-ranging rights. Now Poles in Germany are overwhelmingly recent immigrants (who can hardly claim to be "oppressed" in Germany, it's not like there are any restrictions on their cultural life), so there's no logical reason at all why similar demands couldn't be made by Turks, Kurds, Arabs etc. It's an example of Poland directly seeking to advance the balkanization of Germany, and not so subtly threatening to make life unpleasant for a vulnerable minority (the remnant of a population that was ethnically cleansed with quite a bit of violence by Poland) if its extortionte demands aren't met. That's one reason why I wrote that a "European alliance of patriots" has proven to be an illusion...if you've got "friends" like that, who needs enemies? That's just wishful thinking. There was a lot of that on the German right too ("It's just due to Merkel's policies, we have to understand"), but that is fading now, PiS Poland has overplayed its hand in the last year. It's become too obvious that there never was any chance of constructive relations.Replies: @AP, @LatW
This is true, but in fighting for their country Ukrainians are making other countries (especially those in eastern Europe) safer by grinding down and destroying so much of Russia’s military capability.
Is AP really an idiot? Well, if you know him for years, then you will notice some things. AP doesn't only write this kind of idiocy, but also sometimes very accurate and true statements, that can make us seem to appear as the idiots. Maybe he is smarter than the normal people here. For example, he is the only person in this forum who knew how the war would be. So, in some ways, he's more accurate than much more sensible writing people here. I will assume he has more interesting insights than I can. Why was he saying how good is this kind of hedonistic, self-interested government we've had in the last 30 years. If there was a government which prioritized the air force or even technology, science, logistics, education and industrial power, then Ukraine's army could have been mostly destroyed by now. For different reasons, I had been believing that Latin American style of government prioritization is not the worst situation, as I assume people who enjoy these things wouldn't crash the plane and kill all the passengers. I would assume if you were planning for large wars, you would invest in the basis of national power, instead of asset stripping and using the country's wealth in a hedonistic and short-term way. Although history of 2022 showed unfortunately that you can have a large war, without the intention for a large war, only a short-term military operation.Replies: @Yevardian, @Bashibuzuk, @Here Be Dragon
I’m not really familiar with post-Soviet popular culture in Russia not picked up from dumb Khovansky videos (he’s in Serbia now, go figure), can you grace us with this gem?
AP’s mild opinion of Putin until this year seems to come from his “Black Book of Communism” comparative views of the USSR.
I doubt we'll ever know, doesn't even look like the German government cares or that there'll be much of an investigation.Replies: @songbird, @Philip Owen
The pipelines were all at working pressure. Hard to break them from the outside without a massive amount of shaped charges. Real expertise needed. Send a PIG and it should be easy to break them from the inside. As a sometime valve designer I am staggered that there were no valves on either pipeline. Is this normal for seabottom operation?
Poland or Estonia? Estonia is small. They could probably keep a secret.
Gazprom creating Force Majure to excape from its contracts?
• How would a sea floor valve be maintained?My understanding is that gas pipeline valves are usually positioned above ground as part of compressor stations. Undersea applications larger than 6" (maybe 8") are very rare. I know of one 12" valve, because I saw it from a boat 10-12 feet under. Given the amount of stuff growing on it, I doubt it could be turned.PEACE 😇Replies: @Philip Owen
Annexation looks fantastic if the Russkies can hold it.
And to German_Reader, "East Europeans" is a bit unfair, it's really just the Balts and Poland. The rest of Visegrad or Bulgaria and Romania don't act like this.Replies: @sudden death, @LatW
Former minister. Current MP (of Europarliament). In the European tradition, MPs are much more verbose, open and “free-thinking” than those in the executive power. Granted, some of these EuroAtlanticists do yap a little too much. Obviously, if somebody in the north did it, let’s say, the British or Americans, then this is a very bold step (and that would be an understatement).
I have already pointed out that any kind of damage to the German economy is very negative. Both for practical, economical reasons and for ethical reasons – you don’t want people to lose work or for industries to shrink. Doubt there will be a straight up collapse and while EEs do rely heavily on Germany, they have other trading partners, too. Obviously, none of this is good.
Just remember that the Western economy was already changing to the negative side even before the war. Inflation and other problems started during Covid and some of these problems are potentially due to some structural issues in the Western (global?) economy. To blame Ukraine or Russia’s neighbors for all of these hardships is not fully objective.
Those nations are not as closely exposed to Russia’s influence.
I remember that you were very fond of watching movies, have you watched Into the Wild ?
My current situation, and I would guess yours too, is quite different from the one I've lived in when I was 12 years old. That year I was in a typical Soviet summer camp in a forest by a small river in the countryside around an hour and a half drive south west from Moscow. Since then both the world and I have changed a lot.
"When we were young, long days and laughing eyes, walk through the fields - sunshine and butterflies. Fragile place, nothing ever lasts for long, foreign lands - take right and make it wrong..."
However, there is something in Ch'an/Zen that we call "original mind", that is perhaps somewhat close to what we experienced when we were children. Speaking of which there is this saying in the Gospel of Thomas:
"The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same."
That of course sounds very Ch'an/Zen Buddhist, probably because those who have found meaning in life, often sound similar and express the same eternal and often simple truths.
And I agree that there's no need to be existentialist and/or materialistic.
To find again this feeling of "meaning in life" one sometimes just needs to go for a couple of days of solitary hiking in some beautiful and remote wilderness.
Nature brings balance back.
Civilization brings neuroticisms.Replies: @Dmitry
He exited the forum earlier this year maybe in beginning March, probably because we were talking too much about Ukraine. He was posting here a lot still last year when we were discussing more topics like kale and mushroom collecting.
In his later discussions here, we could be concerned he was talking how he only drinks expensive French wines and Normandy butter from artisan shops in Brooklyn – there were such dangerous indications he was in risk of becoming bourgeois.
His views he was by this year promoting were the American transcendentalism movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism#Importance_of_nature
Yes this is the point I was trying to describe. There is/was the switch in your brain, which says you are allowed to appreciate the day, or not At least in our modern habituation, this has been programmed or exploited to be tracking your situation in society. When you were a 12 years old, you could experience these switches obviously.
It’s the first day of vacation, society ends its demand from you, then the brain allows you to enjoy everything like you are waking in the Garden of Eden. It’s the last night of summer vacation, and suddenly your food doesn’t taste as good and you are thinking about the practical tasks and the demand of society. We all remember this very much from our youth.
Of course, between a first day of vacation and a last day of vacation, the world hasn’t changed, the cartoons are not different. But by the last day of vacation, you will be switched back to the demands of society and it’s impossible to enjoy the cartoons in the same way.
I don’t think there is some easy solution for this, as we our default perspective is easily switched from “appreciation the meaning of life”. But it’s a good example from the memory of youth how this is the switch of the perspective of the perception, not external change of things that are perceived.
Unfortunately, too many things change as years go by. When you are a teenager your basic needs are taken care of by your parents and, indeed, when you are on vacation nobody expects you to do anything much but enjoy life. That ends very soon. As you become an adult you don't only need to take care of your needs but also of your dependents. When you are a teenager life is ahead of you, everything has just started and there are unlimited possibilities and hopes. When you become older, most of your life is already behind. Hormone production changes and you are no longer as energetic, your brain develops and makes you more grounded and realistic, physical condition tends to deteriorate after your 3rd decade of life and to accelerate its deterioration past the 6th decade or so, life has probably left you some physical or psychological scars,... sadly I don't think there is any switch to go back to that mental state of your youth. But I'm all ears if someone thinks there is.
Btw, rather than going to that weird, kind of absurd place called Paradise, I would prefer to go back to my 14th/15th birthday and start all over again.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Dmitry, @Bashibuzuk
I am running out of agree/disagree/etc
So I replied just to say thanks!Replies: @AP
Poland or Estonia? Estonia is small. They could probably keep a secret.
Gazprom creating Force Majure to excape from its contracts?Replies: @A123
Not that hard, though it does require some knowledge.
Both NS2 and Baltic Pipe were under construction at the same time. The Danes, or much more likely the Poles, had ample opportunity to set up the charges months ago. That is vastly easier than post-construction deep dive sabotage.
You should be able to answer your own question:
• Do valves require maintenance?
• How would a sea floor valve be maintained?
My understanding is that gas pipeline valves are usually positioned above ground as part of compressor stations. Undersea applications larger than 6″ (maybe 8″) are very rare. I know of one 12″ valve, because I saw it from a boat 10-12 feet under. Given the amount of stuff growing on it, I doubt it could be turned.
PEACE 😇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcjNfSPtBQ.
I think he is trolling us a bit, or even very beautifully, especially when he seems to invert the cultural degradation of the last decades and pretend there has been some cultural ascension. He enjoys the “game” of the internet forum and is a talented person in creating the alternative histories.
Although objectively in the “black book”, you can go past the cultural and social achievements of communism, and see also having technological advancement in areas of the military purposes, building tens of thousands of tanks, thousands of fighter planes, world’s largest artillery stocks, thousands of nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles, as negative things.
It’s possible to argue, effects for humanity of building such a superpower, is not necessarily better than if your money was used to buy bottles of Moet. A short-term hedonistic prioritization, based on transfering from the productive parts of the country to a parasite ruling class, could be less scary, even than effective increase in the national power that can have negative results in the world or cause arms races.
Although the comic aspect, is you have to forget the possibility of following the concepts of normal national development. Most people will know that the responsible development should avoid asset-strip half the country, to invest in education, to build infrastructure in a nationally balanced way, to invest in good hospitals and healthcare, to give the population skills that will allow them to produce something in future when oil demand may be falling and generally noticing that overspending in 1% of the land in the world’s largest country is not such a healthy indicator.
• Go to zero? No.
• Be substantially reduced -and- tied to MAGA priorities? Yes.
Much of the heavily lifting is behind the scenes. Long before a final vote is reached.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Keypusher
Somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of Republican congressmen, and almost all Democratic congressmen, support Ukraine. So if Republicans take the House (as is likely) nothing will change. The Republicans will fight the administration about the economy and the border. Not Ukraine.
Republicans will fight the administration about the economy and the border, which means transferring money from another line item. Where will the finding come for immigration priorities such as improved border security. Taking funds out of the Kiev give away is a no brainer.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Keypusher, @Keypusher
It is quite obvious that you are not an American.
Republicans will fight the administration about the economy and the border, which means transferring money from another line item. Where will the finding come for immigration priorities such as improved border security. Taking funds out of the Kiev give away is a no brainer.
PEACE 😇
Since overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress and both parties will continue to support Ukraine, aid will continue to flow, assuming the war goes on.
I've noticed before that you seem to think Ukrainians are fighting for "you" (meaning Eastern Europeans in general) and that you have to feel gratitude for that, because otherwise Russia would be coming for you too. From my perspective that's a mistaken assumption. One can admire the bravery and patriotism of Ukrainian soldiers, but they're fighting for Ukraine, for no one else, and claims to the contrary are just propaganda. "Nationalism" in Western Europe means not wanting to become a minority in your own country/being subjected to an ever radicalizing regime of progressive ideologues. It's something Eastern Europeans don't seem to get, because you're still in the 19th century stage where it's all about hating your immediate neighbour for things that happened a hundred years ago.
Anyway, what Poland did early this year was very revealing, they reduced language classes for the German minority in Silesia (descendants of people who lived there before many present-day Polish inhabitants, one has to remember) arguing that Germany would have to grant Poles in Germany official status as a national minority with attendant wide-ranging rights. Now Poles in Germany are overwhelmingly recent immigrants (who can hardly claim to be "oppressed" in Germany, it's not like there are any restrictions on their cultural life), so there's no logical reason at all why similar demands couldn't be made by Turks, Kurds, Arabs etc. It's an example of Poland directly seeking to advance the balkanization of Germany, and not so subtly threatening to make life unpleasant for a vulnerable minority (the remnant of a population that was ethnically cleansed with quite a bit of violence by Poland) if its extortionte demands aren't met. That's one reason why I wrote that a "European alliance of patriots" has proven to be an illusion...if you've got "friends" like that, who needs enemies? That's just wishful thinking. There was a lot of that on the German right too ("It's just due to Merkel's policies, we have to understand"), but that is fading now, PiS Poland has overplayed its hand in the last year. It's become too obvious that there never was any chance of constructive relations.Replies: @AP, @LatW
NATO wouldn’t exist in the current format (there would, of course, be a more militant Western European NATO, meaning those changes that are taking place now, would definitely take place, just in an even more challenged security environment). Hypothetically, Russia could choose to “escalate to de-escalate” in the Baltic States, the way they are attempting to do now in Ukraine. I believe that NATO would fight, but an attack on the Baltic States could rearrange the region pretty significantly.
Ukrainian fighting in the beginning of the war won them a lot of time. And that part of fighting was done before the arrival of the more serious Western artillery. Then the world saw that it is worth helping them and did. One of the scenarios that my friend from the militia discussed with me is that, in the case of a Russian invasion, all our best troops could retreat Westwards, and only leave militia in place to harass the incoming Russians. Then the regular troops would come back with a counter offensive with Western troops. But that’s when Russia could “escalate to de-escalate”. The West largely agrees that this scenario needed to be avoided on the EU soil.
There is no doubt that Russia would try one way or another. It’s all wargamed. Not immediately but over a longer period of time. Decades possibly. They will continue to do this until they’re reformatted ideologically.
Again, as I alluded, those troops would be decimated before the West had enough time to prepare and bring in more troops. The Ukrainians were able to buy themselves more time. They have more depth. Although, they fought successfully in Sumy, which is on the Russian border, so they showed us that one can fight effectively with limited depth. But we didn’t really have that knowledge before February (and it was very costly both for the military and civilians). They are paying with their blood for these lessons.
Of course, I support that, but I couldn’t help noticing how both German and Russian sides yearn for liberals (or all kinds of appeasers) to be in charge in EE, but want nationalists in their own countries. It’s normal and understandable and very primal – you want your enemies to be weaker.
I have repeatedly stressed that this is not about something that happened a hundred yeas ago. You have a bias because the Unz forum tackles a lot of historical details. The issues are today. And what they have been directing at us for 30 years. I’m extremely tired of it. Life could’ve been much better without it and future generations should not be subjected to it.
I understand this, this is similar to what the Russians were trying to do in the Baltic States (with the help of very meddlesome liberal Germans and Dutch, mind you). I can relate to your frustrations. In the EU laws, the status of a national minority typically is granted to a minority with very deep roots in a given country. If I understand this correctly, Poland wanted reciprocity just based on their recent immigration and I do agree that this may be a slippery slope since this could then be applied to any recent immigrant. While Poles in Germany should be respected, from my pov, Poland should focus on its own demographic situation instead. Poland should focus on repatriation not antagonizing Germany. They shouldn’t use petty mechanisms like this to advance their positions somehow or try gain an upper hand here or there.
I’m not sure if it’s deliberate or inadvertent. I believe it can be either. I agree that it is a bit too aggressive but then I haven’t delved into the Polish diaspora situation in Germany (don’t know if they have any legitimate issues). Frankly, Poland should try to retain its people instead of ship them into Germany where they would be destined to be assimilated and then bicker.
This is unnecessarily cruel.
It can be an alliance when it comes to non-Europeans, but not so much during inter European spats, hahaha. Same old. It’s the same patterns again, I can see why you don’t want Russia to lose.
Well, if a foreign affairs minister expresses such open musings… there could be something to it. I’m saying this because we had a similar pattern with Russia. Russia started doubting the fact of our occupation and that’s when we threw the “reparations” document in their face. I think the MFA did that because there were no other means to counter Russia’s rhetoric, so this may be similar, but it’s just a guess. It’s quite serious.
The truth is, the EC has been pressuring Poland and obviously there is something they feel uncomfortable about. But they should’ve been more careful about going this far.
Like what? Is there anything more substantial than propaganda and the occasional shit-stirring among your Russian minority?
I can to some extent understand that it's oppressive to live next to a much larger neighbour that regularly makes threatening noises about using its military and where demented expansionist chauvinism is part of the official discourse. But it's not a unique situation, other countries like Greece have lived under similar situations for a long time. My own country lived for 40 years with the knowledge that it could become a battlefield between the super powers and would be the first to be turned into a nuclear wasteland if such a clash occurred. Given that background the attitude of many Balts strikes me as rather imprudent tbh. Do you really think that attempting to remove all Russian influence from Ukraine and integrate Ukraine firmly into the Western camp has made you safer? It might of course turn out to be a success in the end, but it's a very high-risk gamble. It's of course too late now, but imo a more cautious approach would have been better, even if the Minsk agreements could be considered unfair in some ways. I admit part of me doesn't want Russia to "lose" (in the sense of being completely defeated and even having to give up Crimea...I don't think Russia has a legitimate claim to a territory like Kherson and most of the other regions it has just annexed, and I definitely don't want Russia to occupy even more territory) because of my objection to a unipolar American-led world order, which I don't regard as a positive thing.
But the more important reason which should be acceptable even to people without my ideological predispositions is that I really believe there's a significant chance of nuclear war if Russia suffers the kind of crushing defeat that would genuinely threaten Putin's rule. The situation isn't comparable. Germany acknowledged its atrocities against Poland a long time ago (and also accepted the loss of the Oder-Neisse territories a long time ago, there's virtually zero revanchism about it), this isn't like with Russians who sometimes are even claiming Soviet rule benefited the Baltic states.Replies: @LatW
Retirees don’t have too many demands from society, they live in a permanent vacation but they don’t typically go back to the same appreciation of life that you correctly describe during our teenage years.
Unfortunately, too many things change as years go by. When you are a teenager your basic needs are taken care of by your parents and, indeed, when you are on vacation nobody expects you to do anything much but enjoy life. That ends very soon. As you become an adult you don’t only need to take care of your needs but also of your dependents. When you are a teenager life is ahead of you, everything has just started and there are unlimited possibilities and hopes. When you become older, most of your life is already behind. Hormone production changes and you are no longer as energetic, your brain develops and makes you more grounded and realistic, physical condition tends to deteriorate after your 3rd decade of life and to accelerate its deterioration past the 6th decade or so, life has probably left you some physical or psychological scars,… sadly I don’t think there is any switch to go back to that mental state of your youth. But I’m all ears if someone thinks there is.
Btw, rather than going to that weird, kind of absurd place called Paradise, I would prefer to go back to my 14th/15th birthday and start all over again.
I've had enough personal experience to feel quite confident that the physical dimension of reality is not the only one. Beyond that I'm not sure how it will play out, but I suppose their is only one way to find out and we'll all get their eventually!Replies: @Mikel
https://youtu.be/c8-BT6y_wYg
Are you sure this is accurate? I heard it is only 50% of Republicans. So it is a concern for the future. Also, weren’t the younger Republicans predominantly pro-Russian (in general, not in the Congress)?
No particular offense intended to our estimable commentariat, but when I read this I thought, “A man ahead of his time, Umberto Eco must have predicted the internet comment section!”
“There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics…Cretins don’t even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble…Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation…Fools don’t claim that cats bark, but they talk about cats when everyone else is talking about dogs. They offend all the rules of conversation, and when they really offend, they’re magnificent…Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says that all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, therefore cats bark…Morons will occasionally say something that’s right, but they say it for the wrong reason…A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn’t know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic on the other hand, doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars…There are lunatics who don’t bring up the Templars, but those who do are the most insidious. At first they seem normal, then all of a sudden…”
“There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics…Cretins don’t even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble…Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation…Fools don’t claim that cats bark, but they talk about cats when everyone else is talking about dogs. They offend all the rules of conversation, and when they really offend, they’re magnificent…Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says that all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, therefore cats bark…Morons will occasionally say something that’s right, but they say it for the wrong reason…A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn’t know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic on the other hand, doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars…There are lunatics who don’t bring up the Templars, but those who do are the most insidious. At first they seem normal, then all of a sudden…”Replies: @Wokechoke
Johnny Rotten occasionally talked about the Templars.
I have seen documentation of this in the short term but the effect is supposed to be transitory. Do you know of any data supporting a permanent effect? I already have 5 kids so I’m not too worried for my own part, but for their sakes I would hope that this was not the case.
We haven’t had any vaccination but have had the ‘Vid pretty good once and I do believe very mildly a couple of other times, in case you are curious.
I would not be surprised on the lower immunity bit as it would potentially explain something I’ve observed for some time. I’ve noticed that after the ‘Vid that we (and a lot of other people I know) seem to be catching minor colds and bugs all the time. I’ve asked doctors that I know and they say it is an accurate observation. This has been a very unusual state for my own family since we are normally sick quite infrequently.
My explanation for this was that everyone isolating/ moving around less greatly reduced transmission of minor colds, flu, etc. This made our immune systems more naive to these infections once they started circulating normally creating a greater number of symptomatic infections until our systems are reacquainted to the normal slew of threats.
Do you have any data supporting a widespread and long lasting drop in immune response among those who have had the ‘Vid/ Shot?
I do fully agree with your point that the infection/ shot seem to carry the same slew of adverse reactions. This seemed sensible fairly early on since the spike protein is a symptomatic component of the virus.
https://robertstark.substack.com/p/new-us-birth-data-vindicates-breeder
And you might factor in the 9 month pregnancy to say this isn't definitely relevant, but preliminary 2022 figures show a further small increase.
The current birth rate for U.S. in 2022 is 12.012 births per 1000 people, a 0.09% increase from 2021.
I know none of this is conclusive, but it is interesting for the other reasons the article mentions.Replies: @Barbarossa
You might trim it a little. : )
I am enjoying "Foucault's Pendulum" quite a bit, by the way. When I say the thickness, I thought it would take me a bit given my limited time, but it seems to be progressing surprisingly quickly.Replies: @Wokechoke
Unfortunately, too many things change as years go by. When you are a teenager your basic needs are taken care of by your parents and, indeed, when you are on vacation nobody expects you to do anything much but enjoy life. That ends very soon. As you become an adult you don't only need to take care of your needs but also of your dependents. When you are a teenager life is ahead of you, everything has just started and there are unlimited possibilities and hopes. When you become older, most of your life is already behind. Hormone production changes and you are no longer as energetic, your brain develops and makes you more grounded and realistic, physical condition tends to deteriorate after your 3rd decade of life and to accelerate its deterioration past the 6th decade or so, life has probably left you some physical or psychological scars,... sadly I don't think there is any switch to go back to that mental state of your youth. But I'm all ears if someone thinks there is.
Btw, rather than going to that weird, kind of absurd place called Paradise, I would prefer to go back to my 14th/15th birthday and start all over again.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Dmitry, @Bashibuzuk
It’s strange to me that so many people regard their teenage years with so much loathing. I really enjoyed my teenage years. Some awkwardness aside, they were a wonderful time of exploration which I think fondly back on. But, I didn’t run with a bad crew or get into bad trouble. I could see these years being highly traumatic with highly negative input.
I agree with you that the conception of paradise as sitting on a cloud and playing a harp, or as some sort of perfect earthly reunion is absurd, but that is not how any serious people view it. I just see it as progressing to the higher state of being. Hopefully God will have work for me to do, whatever that might mean.
I’ve had enough personal experience to feel quite confident that the physical dimension of reality is not the only one. Beyond that I’m not sure how it will play out, but I suppose their is only one way to find out and we’ll all get their eventually!
There was a standalone vote for $40 billion in aid to Ukraine in May. House Republicans voted yes something like 149-57 (so not quite 3:1) and Senate Republicans 39-11 (so not quite 4:1).
Four months in politics is a long time, and of course there will be turnover in the elections, but those are big majorities to overcome.
The most recent package of aid was part of an omnibus spending bill to keep the government running, so it was closer. I don’t think that’s a good indication of Ukrainian support in Congress.
Occasionally you’ll see very online American alt-righters lamenting how their normie conservative friends all support Ukraine. That’s how it looks to me.
I don’t know about younger Republicans, but I wouldn’t be surprised if what you say about them is true. But there aren’t loads of young Republicans….
We haven't had any vaccination but have had the 'Vid pretty good once and I do believe very mildly a couple of other times, in case you are curious.
I would not be surprised on the lower immunity bit as it would potentially explain something I've observed for some time. I've noticed that after the 'Vid that we (and a lot of other people I know) seem to be catching minor colds and bugs all the time. I've asked doctors that I know and they say it is an accurate observation. This has been a very unusual state for my own family since we are normally sick quite infrequently.
My explanation for this was that everyone isolating/ moving around less greatly reduced transmission of minor colds, flu, etc. This made our immune systems more naive to these infections once they started circulating normally creating a greater number of symptomatic infections until our systems are reacquainted to the normal slew of threats.
Do you have any data supporting a widespread and long lasting drop in immune response among those who have had the 'Vid/ Shot?
I do fully agree with your point that the infection/ shot seem to carry the same slew of adverse reactions. This seemed sensible fairly early on since the spike protein is a symptomatic component of the virus.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
White birth rates in the US actually increased post-vaccine 2020-2021, though black declined.
https://robertstark.substack.com/p/new-us-birth-data-vindicates-breeder
And you might factor in the 9 month pregnancy to say this isn’t definitely relevant, but preliminary 2022 figures show a further small increase.
The current birth rate for U.S. in 2022 is 12.012 births per 1000 people, a 0.09% increase from 2021.
I know none of this is conclusive, but it is interesting for the other reasons the article mentions.
I like Bashibuzuk's theory vis a vis the rationalization for China's Covid Zero policies. They are nicely logical and ascribe a rational motivation where otherwise it becomes difficult to find one.
However, as much as they appeal, unless there is some evidence to back up the underpinnings of them I suspect that they will be red herrings.
Sometimes humans are just weird and illogical, or following an inscrutable to outsiders set of motivations.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
Republicans will fight the administration about the economy and the border, which means transferring money from another line item. Where will the finding come for immigration priorities such as improved border security. Taking funds out of the Kiev give away is a no brainer.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Keypusher, @Keypusher
I’m not sure you’re even an Earthling.
Ukrainian fighting in the beginning of the war won them a lot of time. And that part of fighting was done before the arrival of the more serious Western artillery. Then the world saw that it is worth helping them and did. One of the scenarios that my friend from the militia discussed with me is that, in the case of a Russian invasion, all our best troops could retreat Westwards, and only leave militia in place to harass the incoming Russians. Then the regular troops would come back with a counter offensive with Western troops. But that's when Russia could "escalate to de-escalate". The West largely agrees that this scenario needed to be avoided on the EU soil.
There is no doubt that Russia would try one way or another. It's all wargamed. Not immediately but over a longer period of time. Decades possibly. They will continue to do this until they're reformatted ideologically. Again, as I alluded, those troops would be decimated before the West had enough time to prepare and bring in more troops. The Ukrainians were able to buy themselves more time. They have more depth. Although, they fought successfully in Sumy, which is on the Russian border, so they showed us that one can fight effectively with limited depth. But we didn't really have that knowledge before February (and it was very costly both for the military and civilians). They are paying with their blood for these lessons. Of course, I support that, but I couldn't help noticing how both German and Russian sides yearn for liberals (or all kinds of appeasers) to be in charge in EE, but want nationalists in their own countries. It's normal and understandable and very primal - you want your enemies to be weaker. I have repeatedly stressed that this is not about something that happened a hundred yeas ago. You have a bias because the Unz forum tackles a lot of historical details. The issues are today. And what they have been directing at us for 30 years. I'm extremely tired of it. Life could've been much better without it and future generations should not be subjected to it. I understand this, this is similar to what the Russians were trying to do in the Baltic States (with the help of very meddlesome liberal Germans and Dutch, mind you). I can relate to your frustrations. In the EU laws, the status of a national minority typically is granted to a minority with very deep roots in a given country. If I understand this correctly, Poland wanted reciprocity just based on their recent immigration and I do agree that this may be a slippery slope since this could then be applied to any recent immigrant. While Poles in Germany should be respected, from my pov, Poland should focus on its own demographic situation instead. Poland should focus on repatriation not antagonizing Germany. They shouldn't use petty mechanisms like this to advance their positions somehow or try gain an upper hand here or there. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or inadvertent. I believe it can be either. I agree that it is a bit too aggressive but then I haven't delved into the Polish diaspora situation in Germany (don't know if they have any legitimate issues). Frankly, Poland should try to retain its people instead of ship them into Germany where they would be destined to be assimilated and then bicker. This is unnecessarily cruel. It can be an alliance when it comes to non-Europeans, but not so much during inter European spats, hahaha. Same old. It's the same patterns again, I can see why you don't want Russia to lose. Well, if a foreign affairs minister expresses such open musings... there could be something to it. I'm saying this because we had a similar pattern with Russia. Russia started doubting the fact of our occupation and that's when we threw the "reparations" document in their face. I think the MFA did that because there were no other means to counter Russia's rhetoric, so this may be similar, but it's just a guess. It's quite serious.
The truth is, the EC has been pressuring Poland and obviously there is something they feel uncomfortable about. But they should've been more careful about going this far.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
No, I want “nationalists” in Europe to be sensible enough to cooperate on matters of common interest and not to re-open old feuds that had utterly destructive consequences in Europe during the 20th century.
Like what? Is there anything more substantial than propaganda and the occasional shit-stirring among your Russian minority?
I can to some extent understand that it’s oppressive to live next to a much larger neighbour that regularly makes threatening noises about using its military and where demented expansionist chauvinism is part of the official discourse. But it’s not a unique situation, other countries like Greece have lived under similar situations for a long time. My own country lived for 40 years with the knowledge that it could become a battlefield between the super powers and would be the first to be turned into a nuclear wasteland if such a clash occurred. Given that background the attitude of many Balts strikes me as rather imprudent tbh. Do you really think that attempting to remove all Russian influence from Ukraine and integrate Ukraine firmly into the Western camp has made you safer? It might of course turn out to be a success in the end, but it’s a very high-risk gamble. It’s of course too late now, but imo a more cautious approach would have been better, even if the Minsk agreements could be considered unfair in some ways.
I admit part of me doesn’t want Russia to “lose” (in the sense of being completely defeated and even having to give up Crimea…I don’t think Russia has a legitimate claim to a territory like Kherson and most of the other regions it has just annexed, and I definitely don’t want Russia to occupy even more territory) because of my objection to a unipolar American-led world order, which I don’t regard as a positive thing.
But the more important reason which should be acceptable even to people without my ideological predispositions is that I really believe there’s a significant chance of nuclear war if Russia suffers the kind of crushing defeat that would genuinely threaten Putin’s rule.
The situation isn’t comparable. Germany acknowledged its atrocities against Poland a long time ago (and also accepted the loss of the Oder-Neisse territories a long time ago, there’s virtually zero revanchism about it), this isn’t like with Russians who sometimes are even claiming Soviet rule benefited the Baltic states.
Basically, how the Russians are so special that they can relate to every nation on the planet the way that others, who are petty bigots without an open & generous soul, cannot (including those in Cologne), but in the end those people will be so fragile and their "skeletons so easy to crush" with their gigantic & generous bear hugs.
Amazing style. Can't beat that. No, I love it. It's so much more refined and elegant than Zhirik and Solovyov. 😆
The more cautious approach should've started much, much earlier. I'd say as soon as after 1993. And on BOTH sides. Thanks for being candid. Well, in some ways, the multi-polar world has already been here for a while. If Ukraine continues to win, then Ukraine could become one such pole (of course, if they do the homework and are able to heal their wounds and to re-assemble their people).
How would you feel if someone from aside was telling your people which territory is or isn't realistically theirs and which territory (where their ancestors lived and their men bled over, where they had homes as recent as in February and where their family graves are) should or shouldn't be given to anybody? The logic of force is in play now. The Ukrainian men are enraged because Ukrainian children were murdered. Their rage is cold and calculating so they have higher odds at succeeding. See how you talk.... it's not that "you don't think". It's that, no, Russia doesn't have the legal right to Kherson according to the international law. Ok, I guess, you're just trying to have a cautious tone.
If you're going to use force, expect force in return. The Russians used to know that, they even have this martial game "Stenka na stenku" (where they split up in two groups and then run into each other and try to crush each other, I think it's a game where you harden your spirit but it's crazy). Yes, it's like the parents' generation, they actually lived in fear of a nuclear war. On both sides. Raises the question of whether some crazy old Veps should have access to nukes at all. Maybe nobody should? I understand, ultima ratio regis... but come on. It's a bit too much power. I was talking about the instrumental side of it, not saying those situations are comparable. It's what Poles do because they feel pressured by Germany. Because they don't really have any other serious leverage?Replies: @German_reader, @Bashibuzuk
Unfortunately, too many things change as years go by. When you are a teenager your basic needs are taken care of by your parents and, indeed, when you are on vacation nobody expects you to do anything much but enjoy life. That ends very soon. As you become an adult you don't only need to take care of your needs but also of your dependents. When you are a teenager life is ahead of you, everything has just started and there are unlimited possibilities and hopes. When you become older, most of your life is already behind. Hormone production changes and you are no longer as energetic, your brain develops and makes you more grounded and realistic, physical condition tends to deteriorate after your 3rd decade of life and to accelerate its deterioration past the 6th decade or so, life has probably left you some physical or psychological scars,... sadly I don't think there is any switch to go back to that mental state of your youth. But I'm all ears if someone thinks there is.
Btw, rather than going to that weird, kind of absurd place called Paradise, I would prefer to go back to my 14th/15th birthday and start all over again.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Dmitry, @Bashibuzuk
If you don’t dislike the analogy too much, it is a bit like “permissions” in the software. When you go home at the end of the week, the permissions is switched on that you will be able to enjoy small things and that you are allowed to relax. You are allowed to appreciate the taste of the cold beer. But if you had tried to enjoy the same beer in the morning, you likely wouldn’t be allowed to appreciate it too much, even though it is the same drink.
Think about when you begin a relationship. At the beginning, a switch goes, it is like you are being injected with strong drugs and it can actually become difficult to see your girlfriend objectively. But it’s not like you are in control of this switch, even though you know a year a later those chemicals will be withdrawn. Those permissions are not something you can turn on or off voluntarily. But they are still just internal switches.
When you are young you had more switches going off that give you permission not to worry, including about the long term future.
For example, if you have a good test result, you could say you were in the optimal position you could be in relation to society’s demands and don’t need to worry more than this. I remember how when you received the good score, you could instantly say “everything is going perfectly so relax”.
But the state after this, is just relaxing and not worrying. It wasn’t something additional that was added by the hopes of the future. It was more of absence of needing to worry.
People like the Zen monks are training themselves to perceive without so much of the various programming that has been accumulated. Who knows how successful they are, although I believe there have been some interesting studies about these groups which you could research.
This seems more like something that can stress you with alternative histories. For all you know, you would have an unhappier fate, such as an accident that would make you paralyzed after your alternative birthday. Perhaps after a few worse alternative histories, you would have more permission to appreciate the current history, which I’m sure is far from the worst possible reality.
Perhaps you could even restart with all the wisdom that difficult life of paralysis may have given you, in a Buddhist reincarnation type of way, but I don't have these details ironed out yet. If I did and I had a more charismatic personality, I may consider founding a new religion. I'm sure plenty of people would adhere to my back to the teens cult.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
Republicans will fight the administration about the economy and the border, which means transferring money from another line item. Where will the finding come for immigration priorities such as improved border security. Taking funds out of the Kiev give away is a no brainer.
PEACE 😇Replies: @Keypusher, @Keypusher
I’m not sure you’re even an Earthling.
Since overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress and both parties will continue to support Ukraine, aid will continue to flow, assuming the war goes on.
To whom are you referring?
Anyway, it is not difficult to see a distinction between people and governments. Especially today, just look at the British cabinet.
For the record, I think Ze and Putin are both opportunists, not ideologues. Their main distinction is that they exist within different power spheres. Ze’s ethnic identity just makes it less likely that he will challenge the existing ideology of the Western political sphere within which he is a small, slavish and greedy cog.
Is AP really an idiot? Well, if you know him for years, then you will notice some things. AP doesn't only write this kind of idiocy, but also sometimes very accurate and true statements, that can make us seem to appear as the idiots. Maybe he is smarter than the normal people here. For example, he is the only person in this forum who knew how the war would be. So, in some ways, he's more accurate than much more sensible writing people here. I will assume he has more interesting insights than I can. Why was he saying how good is this kind of hedonistic, self-interested government we've had in the last 30 years. If there was a government which prioritized the air force or even technology, science, logistics, education and industrial power, then Ukraine's army could have been mostly destroyed by now. For different reasons, I had been believing that Latin American style of government prioritization is not the worst situation, as I assume people who enjoy these things wouldn't crash the plane and kill all the passengers. I would assume if you were planning for large wars, you would invest in the basis of national power, instead of asset stripping and using the country's wealth in a hedonistic and short-term way. Although history of 2022 showed unfortunately that you can have a large war, without the intention for a large war, only a short-term military operation.Replies: @Yevardian, @Bashibuzuk, @Here Be Dragon
Dima, despite the many differences in our worldview, we both have written here many times how corrupt RusFed is and how deplorable its “elites” are.
So you already know that I agree with what you wrote.
For me RusFed is not Russia, it is a simulacrum that took the place of my homeland – a parasitic wasp eating my country from the inside.
Today I laughed a lot while listening to Putin’s speech.
I guess you would know why I did so…
AP is an extremely intelligent and well educated person, he is of aristocratic background and he is aware and proud of it.
But he is basically of Polish-Galician ethnic stock and he is deeply attached to his roots.
He is and always will be partial.
Which doesn’t make him a bad person or someone we should resent.
The same goes for Mr Hack, who is a nice person of Ukrainian background and who is rooting for the country of his ancestors.
This is entirely normal and predictable.
People usually flock to and in support of those who are most similar to them and their kin, especially in time of need and suffering.
OTOH certain people of Russian descent and cultural background sometimes have a peculiar ability to sympathize and feel at home with people of very different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
I have felt at home and at ease with people from very different origins, whether religious and cultural or ethnic, and I have done that despite being in my very core deeply attached to the blood, soil and history of my ancestors.
But perhaps I have done that because I respect their differences and their attachments to their own roots out of respect for my own difference and my own peculiar cultural and historical background ?
Perhaps we are just different because we have since times immemorial stood between East and West, North and South?
We can bridge their divide.
Perhaps it is due to the very nature of our native language, which is so precise and complex and yet so open to lexical innovation and search for novel meaning?
I don’t know how or why, but our souls are different from most of them.
It is just a fact of life, there is nothing we can do about it.
A great poet told it well before me and explained it in a better way, so I would just cite him:
🙂
Be well and have a great weekend.
I like your comments.
I am running out of agree/disagree/etc
So I replied just to say thanks!
Unfortunately, too many things change as years go by. When you are a teenager your basic needs are taken care of by your parents and, indeed, when you are on vacation nobody expects you to do anything much but enjoy life. That ends very soon. As you become an adult you don't only need to take care of your needs but also of your dependents. When you are a teenager life is ahead of you, everything has just started and there are unlimited possibilities and hopes. When you become older, most of your life is already behind. Hormone production changes and you are no longer as energetic, your brain develops and makes you more grounded and realistic, physical condition tends to deteriorate after your 3rd decade of life and to accelerate its deterioration past the 6th decade or so, life has probably left you some physical or psychological scars,... sadly I don't think there is any switch to go back to that mental state of your youth. But I'm all ears if someone thinks there is.
Btw, rather than going to that weird, kind of absurd place called Paradise, I would prefer to go back to my 14th/15th birthday and start all over again.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Dmitry, @Bashibuzuk
I think you might perhaps enjoy this:
On other parts of Unz, just change “Templars” to “Jews”, I suppose, and the glove fits!
I am enjoying “Foucault’s Pendulum” quite a bit, by the way. When I say the thickness, I thought it would take me a bit given my limited time, but it seems to be progressing surprisingly quickly.
“The main character is Simone Simonini, a man whom Eco claims he has tried to make into the most cynical and disagreeable character in all the history of literature (and is the only fictional character in the novel). He was born in Turin in 1830. His mother died while he was still a child and his father was killed in 1848 fighting for a united Italy. He is brought up by his grandfather, an old reactionary who houses Jesuit refugees and hates the Jews. He claims that the French Revolution was planned by the Knights Templar, the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins, but he says behind them all were the Jews. Since he does not attend public school, Simonini is educated by Jesuits brought into his home at the behest of his grandfather. One such priest, Father Bergamaschi (a fictionalized portrait of the Italian Jesuit novelist Antonio Bresciani), teaches him the evils of secret societies, that, according to him, are no more than a cover for communism.
Simonini imbibes his grandfather's antisemitism, but his father's radicalism, and his dislike of the Jesuits, also arouse his anti-clerical inclinations. In the works of French writers such as Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas he enjoys reading of intrigues and conspiracies, and aspires to emulate these fictions in his own life.“
Simonini writes the Protocols of Zion, in this book. You have to get the joke right. These other organisations are euphemisms for Jews.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
At about the 42 minute mark, Mark Sleboda makes perfect sense, unlike the BS spouted by the likes of Stavridis and Petraeus:
https://rumble.com/v1m5al8-annexation-ceremony-elections-in-brazil-hurricane-ian-and-dc-statehood.html
Another good one:
https://rumble.com/v1m5al8-annexation-ceremony-elections-in-brazil-hurricane-ian-and-dc-statehood.html
Not like the PBS/BS NewsHour segments like the one with Nick Schifrin (anti-Russian hack extraordinaire) and Fiona Hill.
https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/anthony-blinken-gaslights-the-world?src_iid=69bfae0b-8f3f-4911-9cb7-c18f33fc29a1&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter-embed
You are right. But there are those in the West who would like the Ukie army nuked – or something in Ukraine. It would be an absolute PR gold. That’s the problem: we are watching two related nations about to destroy each other in order to please (and maybe entertain) some bozoos in Washington and London.
At this point I am pretty sure Zelko is on drugs – or his bodyguards keep him on a short leash.
Sorry, this link –
https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/anthony-blinken-gaslights-the-world?src_iid=69bfae0b-8f3f-4911-9cb7-c18f33fc29a1&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter-embed
• How would a sea floor valve be maintained?My understanding is that gas pipeline valves are usually positioned above ground as part of compressor stations. Undersea applications larger than 6" (maybe 8") are very rare. I know of one 12" valve, because I saw it from a boat 10-12 feet under. Given the amount of stuff growing on it, I doubt it could be turned.PEACE 😇Replies: @Philip Owen
The exposed surfaces can be plated with copper or even silver. But point taken.
Like what? Is there anything more substantial than propaganda and the occasional shit-stirring among your Russian minority?
I can to some extent understand that it's oppressive to live next to a much larger neighbour that regularly makes threatening noises about using its military and where demented expansionist chauvinism is part of the official discourse. But it's not a unique situation, other countries like Greece have lived under similar situations for a long time. My own country lived for 40 years with the knowledge that it could become a battlefield between the super powers and would be the first to be turned into a nuclear wasteland if such a clash occurred. Given that background the attitude of many Balts strikes me as rather imprudent tbh. Do you really think that attempting to remove all Russian influence from Ukraine and integrate Ukraine firmly into the Western camp has made you safer? It might of course turn out to be a success in the end, but it's a very high-risk gamble. It's of course too late now, but imo a more cautious approach would have been better, even if the Minsk agreements could be considered unfair in some ways. I admit part of me doesn't want Russia to "lose" (in the sense of being completely defeated and even having to give up Crimea...I don't think Russia has a legitimate claim to a territory like Kherson and most of the other regions it has just annexed, and I definitely don't want Russia to occupy even more territory) because of my objection to a unipolar American-led world order, which I don't regard as a positive thing.
But the more important reason which should be acceptable even to people without my ideological predispositions is that I really believe there's a significant chance of nuclear war if Russia suffers the kind of crushing defeat that would genuinely threaten Putin's rule. The situation isn't comparable. Germany acknowledged its atrocities against Poland a long time ago (and also accepted the loss of the Oder-Neisse territories a long time ago, there's virtually zero revanchism about it), this isn't like with Russians who sometimes are even claiming Soviet rule benefited the Baltic states.Replies: @LatW
Of course, we all want that. It’s desirable and a reasonable formula should be found to at least try to reach an alignment. But it’s just a trend I’ve noticed. I mean, be honest – I know you would prefer Tusk in Poland over PiS (if you were given a binary choice). And that would be bad for the Polish people in some ways and better for Globohomo. It’s the mirror image of the Ukrainian cause and the Greens. I know you will say that your preference is “reasonable nationalists” or neither of those two but sometimes we just have to be realistic? You don’t want Russia to lose because then Germany and France will lose some of their mediator role. It was a relatively easy role where you didn’t have to sacrifice much. Russia’s neighbors did the sacrificing. I accept your position but then don’t pretend to be some “universalist” who knows what is best for everyone. It was a purely selfish role, as much as it was universalist.
Like the poem that Bashi just posted? 😊
Basically, how the Russians are so special that they can relate to every nation on the planet the way that others, who are petty bigots without an open & generous soul, cannot (including those in Cologne), but in the end those people will be so fragile and their “skeletons so easy to crush” with their gigantic & generous bear hugs.
Amazing style. Can’t beat that. No, I love it. It’s so much more refined and elegant than Zhirik and Solovyov. 😆
The more cautious approach should’ve started much, much earlier. I’d say as soon as after 1993. And on BOTH sides.
Thanks for being candid. Well, in some ways, the multi-polar world has already been here for a while. If Ukraine continues to win, then Ukraine could become one such pole (of course, if they do the homework and are able to heal their wounds and to re-assemble their people).
How would you feel if someone from aside was telling your people which territory is or isn’t realistically theirs and which territory (where their ancestors lived and their men bled over, where they had homes as recent as in February and where their family graves are) should or shouldn’t be given to anybody? The logic of force is in play now. The Ukrainian men are enraged because Ukrainian children were murdered. Their rage is cold and calculating so they have higher odds at succeeding.
See how you talk…. it’s not that “you don’t think”. It’s that, no, Russia doesn’t have the legal right to Kherson according to the international law. Ok, I guess, you’re just trying to have a cautious tone.
If you’re going to use force, expect force in return. The Russians used to know that, they even have this martial game “Stenka na stenku” (where they split up in two groups and then run into each other and try to crush each other, I think it’s a game where you harden your spirit but it’s crazy).
Yes, it’s like the parents’ generation, they actually lived in fear of a nuclear war. On both sides. Raises the question of whether some crazy old Veps should have access to nukes at all. Maybe nobody should? I understand, ultima ratio regis… but come on. It’s a bit too much power.
I was talking about the instrumental side of it, not saying those situations are comparable. It’s what Poles do because they feel pressured by Germany. Because they don’t really have any other serious leverage?
In retrospect Merkel and Hollande shouldn't have bothered.
So it's mostly about rhetoric and the arrogant and deranged things Russians are saying? Do you think you are that special in this regard? There's probably more of a chance of Turkey invading the Greek islands given the frequent airspace violations and open threats from Turkey's side (something which Poles and Balts tend to ignore, since for you Turkey is one of the "good guys" insofar as it's useful against Russia).
From my pov there just was never a plausible scenario why Russia would invade the Baltic states, unless there was already a general war against NATO underway. Ukraine's future is as an American client state, nothing more. My country lost somewhere between a fourth and a third of its territory in the last 100 years (admittedly after doing a lot to provoke such an outcome). Then it was divided for 40 years, because it's what the super powers decided. Sometimes one has to accept such things, because there are no alternatives or they are much worse, like possibly blowing up much of the world in a nuclear war.
I also have to wonder if you ever cared about "international law" on all the occasions it was systematically broken by the US and its European side-kicks over the last 30 years. This is something where Beckow has a point, even though he goes too far in excusing Russia's actions. The annexation of Kherson is unacceptable and can't be part of a compromise settlement, because as far as I can tell the majority of the population there is Ukrainian in sentiment and doesn't want to be part of Russia. This is definitely not true for Crimea, and possibly also not at least for the parts of Donbass Russia had held since 2014. So I'm not going to treat all these territories as the same just because of "international law", which in other contexts you and other pro-Ukrainians couldn't give a fuck about. The alternative way of looking at it is that they now think they're strong enough and Germany weak enough that they can do things they always would have liked to do anyway.
In any case, there is no basis for a constructive relationship.Replies: @LatW
(And thanks, but comparing me to Solovyov and Zhirinovskyi is way too flattering. 😉)
https://www.meme-arsenal.com/memes/95ffbb3abc147640a4f3165764f34f1b.jpg
https://youtu.be/uzoedbi4b9I
😁Replies: @LatW
I am running out of agree/disagree/etc
So I replied just to say thanks!Replies: @AP
His comments are always worth reading. I don’t respond all the time (sorry!) because they deserve thoughtful responses and often I only have time for quickly written ones.
I am enjoying "Foucault's Pendulum" quite a bit, by the way. When I say the thickness, I thought it would take me a bit given my limited time, but it seems to be progressing surprisingly quickly.Replies: @Wokechoke
Eco looks at Anti semitism in a different book. Prague Cemetery or something like that.
“The main character is Simone Simonini, a man whom Eco claims he has tried to make into the most cynical and disagreeable character in all the history of literature (and is the only fictional character in the novel). He was born in Turin in 1830. His mother died while he was still a child and his father was killed in 1848 fighting for a united Italy. He is brought up by his grandfather, an old reactionary who houses Jesuit refugees and hates the Jews. He claims that the French Revolution was planned by the Knights Templar, the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins, but he says behind them all were the Jews. Since he does not attend public school, Simonini is educated by Jesuits brought into his home at the behest of his grandfather. One such priest, Father Bergamaschi (a fictionalized portrait of the Italian Jesuit novelist Antonio Bresciani), teaches him the evils of secret societies, that, according to him, are no more than a cover for communism.
Simonini imbibes his grandfather’s antisemitism, but his father’s radicalism, and his dislike of the Jesuits, also arouse his anti-clerical inclinations. In the works of French writers such as Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas he enjoys reading of intrigues and conspiracies, and aspires to emulate these fictions in his own life.“
Simonini writes the Protocols of Zion, in this book. You have to get the joke right. These other organisations are euphemisms for Jews.
The French Revolution was orchestrated by London bankers. Some of them were Jews. They all were freemasons. : )Replies: @Bashibuzuk
There is no "red line", just a shambolic attempt by Putin to make his bungled operation look decisive.
Furthermore, expect the Ukrainians to continue their grinding move towards Kherson and possibly open up another axis in the direction of Melitopol.Replies: @Beckow, @Sean
The BBC’s Russian correspondent Joshua Rosenberg said the same thing I am immediately the announcement of much accelerated annexations came very suddenly after the Northern victory of Ukraine, which shocked Russia.
Ukraine won’t do anything offensively without an assurance of continued support. The US never dreamt for one second that Ukraine could successfully do such a huge maneuver warfare offensive as it has in the Northern victory; the plan as laid out by Lloyd Austin was to weaken the Russians slowly and surely a la Afghanistan (or boiling a frog). Not have them getting fatalistic and thinking they might get routed.
Yes, but while I would have expected that to be the target of a methodical Ukrainian offensive with a possibility of a rapidly exploited breakthrough, that is exactly why Kherson (logistically bottlenecked and thus with compromised ability to sustain mass effect artillery bombardments) becoming part of Russia was considered urgent by the Kremlin. It is a political red line
Russia said they will not use a tactical battlefield nuke on the Ukrainian army unless it invades Russia, and that entails invading Russia would be considered by its population as justification for a very big bang, but not otherwise. Yet unless the objective of rushing the referendums and official incorporation of Kherson ECT, was to make a Ukrainian liberation of Kherson ten times more embarrassing for Putin, what would be the point of making Kherson a part of Russia?.
So the likelihood, although not the certainty, is the Russians are serious about defending Kherson with a theatre thermonuclear weapon. Ukraine’s patron Ameririca would retaliate in kind to first use of any type of thermonuclear weapon against America, or a member of NATO, but would not first use nukes in Europe.
Yet Russia has escalatory dominance because only they have established criteria for nuke use that fits the situation , and were they to use in Ukraine, such a strike on the advancing Ukraine army does not fall into any category cover by NATO doctrine of thermonuclear retaliation; it is not one that has a well worked out theory on what to do. So the US is in a quandary as to what might be appropriate after a Ukrainian army gets nuked by ignoring Putin’s warnings. Ukraine is going to be told that that they don’t have a black check, and should settle back down to a lower intensity near stalemate, whereby Russia is the one that does not know what to do.
Excerpt - The Kiev regime and its backers have yet to see the considerably greater military resources that Russia can utilize. Based on all which has been said, I gather Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to be somewhere in the 30-60 thousand range, with Russia and just formally reunited with Russia rebels in the area of 10 to 15 thousand.
Somewhat reminded of the US Civil War.Replies: @Sean
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/the-war-has-just-begun?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Excerpt –
The Kiev regime and its backers have yet to see the considerably greater military resources that Russia can utilize. Based on all which has been said, I gather Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to be somewhere in the 30-60 thousand range, with Russia and just formally reunited with Russia rebels in the area of 10 to 15 thousand.
Somewhat reminded of the US Civil War.
Another map of ongoing situation around Liman from UA pov:
Russia is winning fights around Donetsk. And continues to hold Kherson. These two locations are vastly more important to Russia's overall strategy.
PEACE 😇
__________
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-30
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/DraftUkraineCOTSeptember30%2C2022.png
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Kharkiv%20Battle%20Map%20Draft%20September%2030%2C2022.png
The annexations are still extremely bad news, any peace settlement is now impossible, best one can hope for is a ceasefire like in Korea.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AnonfromTN, @LondonBob
Elements in the Klain-Blinken administration have been pushing to use tactical nukes in the Ukraine and then blame it on Russia. Hence the weird nuclear weapons comments.
Stoltenberg basically waved the white flag, they are stuck continuing the same losing strategy they have been doing so far. Having to buy ammunition and weapons from Pakistan now.
Gender neutral Linsey Graham talking about it.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6313081495112
Not much more crazy than destroying Nord Stream.
Anglo-Saxons took the responsibility for all the terror as the visual proof emerged!
The basic fact that the NordStream pipelines were in all probability blown up by the US or some European NATO country like Poland (unless Russia did it to run one of the weirdest disinformation operations in history) isn't funny at all however. Because it would indeed be a striking demonstration of the true nature of the relationship between the US and its "allies", not that different from Russian views about the limited sovereignty of some of its neighbours.Replies: @Yevardian
Mikel’s quote took me back to those years and being forced to listen to John Lennon’s Imagine song in school assemblies.
But in perspective that seems more like it was a time of bourgeois nominalist hegemony. Maybe this is part of the explanation of the popularity of artists like Lizzo in this current generation. I remember I did start listening to gangsta rap around that time.
Matra writes:
The USA has been the anti-Europe, the anti-West, ever since the revolting Americans went against their King, country, and kith in 1776.
The below was published in the United States in 1853, italics in original:
https://archive.org/details/newrome00poes/page/70/mode/2up
https://missilery.info/missile/c300pmu2С-300ПМУ2 «Фаворит», зенитная ракетная система
https://www.arms-expo.ru/armament/samples/1263/68896/ЗРК С-300ПМУ2 Фаворит. Дальность поражения. Состав. Ракеты
http://oruzhie.info/vojska-pvo/605-s-300pmu2-favoritNote that in specification section below each one of these articles gives the lowest altitude of the target as 10 m. These missiles are not made to be used against ground targets. And they are way too expensive for it. The news agency is not a reliable source of information on such a topic. They are incompetent in the field and often either make things up or get confused in terminology. Simply because they are a state owned agency does not make them any more credible.Russia does have as I said a number of various surface-to-surface missiles that would have been used if that was a Russian strike.The fact that it was a mistaken report is obvious from the report itself: It says that a number of armoured vehicles were destroyed with the S-300 missiles. However the S-300 missiles cannot destroy armoured targets. They do not have an appropriate warheads for such a task. All the S-300 missiles destroy their targets with fragments which would be absolutely ineffective against any armoured vehicle.Replies: @Philip Owen, @sudden death
Another report but straight from RF MOD, not some news agency, this time from 2020, about using the capability of S-300 land attacks:
https://xn--80aejgga1bqhq2b.xn--90anlfbebar6i.xn--p1ai/social/health/news/more.htm?id=12272616@egNews
Of course a possibility of RF MOD itself being full of liars or clueless idiots who have no idea what are they doing or talking about is also not out of question at all, lol
1. Donbass freedom fighters shelled themselves for many years.
2. Russia shells its own troops at Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
3. Putin blew up NS1 and NS2, destroying his own leverage.
4. Russia shelled the people trying to flee Ukiestan in the direction of Russian-controlled territories.
A certifiable idiot would buy every one of these narratives. A person with IQ greater than shoe size would engage in crimethink: none of it makes any sense.
The report said "электронные пуски ракет" – i.e. not a real launch but an imitation. It is a training exercise. The report said "по наземным целям, имитирующим средства воздушного нападения" – i.e. the target were not real but emulated.
You do not think that for an exercise an actual cruise missile would be used as a target, and an actual S-300 missile would be wasted for training?
Read that article again.
"В ходе учения расчеты и подразделения управления совершили марш в район проведения условных пусков ракет."
"Условный пуск" – i.e. simulated launch, or "электронный пуск" – i.e. electronic launch is an exercise when a special device is used to create a fake target which appears on the radar and the crew conducts an imitation of a launch, being in such fashion trained to use the electronic equipment.
Read the article on that particular S-300 model.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1-300%D0%92
"Подрыв БЧ радиокомандный" – that is the crew triggers the missile explosion with a radio signal.
"Зона поражения аэродинамических целей: по высоте — 0,025-30 км. Границы зоны эффективного действия: нижняя — 0,025/1 км."
The lowest altitude of the effective range of these missiles is 25 m.
Once again let us imagine that the Russians got a wrong intel about a group of saboteurs or something, disguised as civilians and moving in civilian vehicles – a possible scenario.
What would the Russians do then?
First of all there are combat helicopters. There are planes. Then there are howitzers. There are rocket launchers, such as TOS or Smerch. The Russians would have had something of that kind at hand and use it.
There is no scenario whatsoever when the Russians would have sent, as the Ukrainians claim, 16 so expensive S-300 missiles against a low value target – even if that was possible.
And even if the Russians for whatever reason did not have another means to attack – which is not possible – these S-300 missiles are radar-guided and the radar has a limitation of 25 m. It does not see below 25 m.Replies: @sudden death
Basically, how the Russians are so special that they can relate to every nation on the planet the way that others, who are petty bigots without an open & generous soul, cannot (including those in Cologne), but in the end those people will be so fragile and their "skeletons so easy to crush" with their gigantic & generous bear hugs.
Amazing style. Can't beat that. No, I love it. It's so much more refined and elegant than Zhirik and Solovyov. 😆
The more cautious approach should've started much, much earlier. I'd say as soon as after 1993. And on BOTH sides. Thanks for being candid. Well, in some ways, the multi-polar world has already been here for a while. If Ukraine continues to win, then Ukraine could become one such pole (of course, if they do the homework and are able to heal their wounds and to re-assemble their people).
How would you feel if someone from aside was telling your people which territory is or isn't realistically theirs and which territory (where their ancestors lived and their men bled over, where they had homes as recent as in February and where their family graves are) should or shouldn't be given to anybody? The logic of force is in play now. The Ukrainian men are enraged because Ukrainian children were murdered. Their rage is cold and calculating so they have higher odds at succeeding. See how you talk.... it's not that "you don't think". It's that, no, Russia doesn't have the legal right to Kherson according to the international law. Ok, I guess, you're just trying to have a cautious tone.
If you're going to use force, expect force in return. The Russians used to know that, they even have this martial game "Stenka na stenku" (where they split up in two groups and then run into each other and try to crush each other, I think it's a game where you harden your spirit but it's crazy). Yes, it's like the parents' generation, they actually lived in fear of a nuclear war. On both sides. Raises the question of whether some crazy old Veps should have access to nukes at all. Maybe nobody should? I understand, ultima ratio regis... but come on. It's a bit too much power. I was talking about the instrumental side of it, not saying those situations are comparable. It's what Poles do because they feel pressured by Germany. Because they don't really have any other serious leverage?Replies: @German_reader, @Bashibuzuk
I’m not sure why you’re using the plural in “neighbors”. Baltic states and Poland didn’t “sacrifice” anything. Ukraine had to sacrifice something in the Minsk agreements insofar as it was an acknowledgement that her sovereignty was limited in some ways given the fact of Russian pressure. But the alternative would probably have been Russia doing a full-scale invasion already back in 2014/15…and crushing Ukraine without much effort, given the state of the latter’s army at the time. Which might have been better in some ways, since at least there would have been less carnage than now and no risk of it escalating into a direct NATO-Russia war (or even a world war, involving China) which we’re now perilously close to.
In retrospect Merkel and Hollande shouldn’t have bothered.
So it’s mostly about rhetoric and the arrogant and deranged things Russians are saying? Do you think you are that special in this regard? There’s probably more of a chance of Turkey invading the Greek islands given the frequent airspace violations and open threats from Turkey’s side (something which Poles and Balts tend to ignore, since for you Turkey is one of the “good guys” insofar as it’s useful against Russia).
From my pov there just was never a plausible scenario why Russia would invade the Baltic states, unless there was already a general war against NATO underway.
Ukraine’s future is as an American client state, nothing more.
My country lost somewhere between a fourth and a third of its territory in the last 100 years (admittedly after doing a lot to provoke such an outcome). Then it was divided for 40 years, because it’s what the super powers decided. Sometimes one has to accept such things, because there are no alternatives or they are much worse, like possibly blowing up much of the world in a nuclear war.
I also have to wonder if you ever cared about “international law” on all the occasions it was systematically broken by the US and its European side-kicks over the last 30 years. This is something where Beckow has a point, even though he goes too far in excusing Russia’s actions. The annexation of Kherson is unacceptable and can’t be part of a compromise settlement, because as far as I can tell the majority of the population there is Ukrainian in sentiment and doesn’t want to be part of Russia. This is definitely not true for Crimea, and possibly also not at least for the parts of Donbass Russia had held since 2014. So I’m not going to treat all these territories as the same just because of “international law”, which in other contexts you and other pro-Ukrainians couldn’t give a fuck about.
The alternative way of looking at it is that they now think they’re strong enough and Germany weak enough that they can do things they always would have liked to do anyway.
In any case, there is no basis for a constructive relationship.
Not Poland, Poland has come out a major winner out of a lot of these developments in the last 30 years (except the exodus of their people to the West), but the Baltic States did sacrifice a lot from the nationalist point of view. A lot of sovereignty was given up and a lot of amendments were made in legislation that were not in the interests of our people (purely due to Western pressure and they were not always done for the sake of "human rights"). This is a possibility, but we don't know for sure, surely Ukraine would've been crushed (although Russia would inherit a major mess) but we don't know if Russia was ready to annex or invade in 2014, from what I recall, Putin received a visit from someone in Switzerland who cautioned him against this idea. It may have been those who hold his money, they may have threatened him they would arrest the money (like it was done eventually). Obviously, this is all speculation. We remember how pissed off all the Russian imperialists were about it but they didn't have all the information. Come to think of it, the generals themselves may have objected at that time -- apparently, some of the generals objected to the current invasion as well (because they knew better, they were right).
The problem with Ukraine compromising over and over (remember that Ukraine had already lost territory by then) is the question of where it stops. I understand that there is not much that can be done against force, except opposing force, you measure strength with strength, as the Russians themselves say (Силой мерьте силушку), so, of course, Ukraine was in a very compromised position. All I am saying from the Western point of view and the point of view of Russia's neighbors, you have to put the foot down somewhere.
1991 was real for us even if the Russian imperialist (and their Western fans) believe it was a blip and they can just go back to the old Russia via some "quick and victorious little war". No, it's the human condition, many people have been historically wiped out. I agree to some extent that one has to be patient and live with what one has been dealt (I mean, look at Israel and how deliberately and patiently they are dealing with their geographic fate), but as I noted above, we are not alone in that regard at this point anymore. This is now a systemic problem.
And words are very important, if you keep cussing each other out, you build a lot of unneeded animosity. Instead, there should have been attempts to build amicability. Although who knows if that would've helped, they will grab what they like anyway as long as they can. They are very creative with coming up with pre-texts, a creative people who will believe in their own fairy tales. Turkey is not one of the good guys, Turkey is simply exercising whatever is available to her in a multi-polar environment that has arrived and that you yourself so coveted. Turkey is objectively a stronger country than Greece. And as to what our position should be is that Turkey is a NATO country, but Greece is a NATO and an EU country so Greece comes first. If there was real danger to Greece, we would need to side with Greece since we have obligations within the EU & NATO framework, regardless of any dreams of the Intermarium. This is your very rigid opinion, but you're entitled to it. Let me just note to you that Eastern Slavs are much more unruly than, let's say, Estonians. Quite willful with a decent IQ. Oh, and there are a lot of them. I know you're not looking forward to it, but it will be fun. I know this isn't a personal question, but I can tell you that my father really didn't like what Bush was doing back then, as well as a couple of close friends of mine. I know this is not much and they were in the minority, but thought I'd put it out there. I have also read about the consequences of the use of the phosphorus bombs on the Iraqi women and their offspring so I am aware of how severe and horrifying it was.
You know, we wouldn't have been as compelled to join NATO if Russian officers hadn't walked into auls and raped young Chechen girls back in the early 90s. I don't want to trash Russia for those days, as they are long past and Russia had reasons to defend herself, but because we cared more about those things than you ever did (or will), we had our reasons, too. In hindsight, it was probably the right thing to do. (Although I already described above what would've been my personal preferences, but building a regional bloc was probably not realistic at that time). I agree that this could be one way to look at it, and it is not healthy for the EU.
I just wanted to put our example out there because we did resort to such questionable mechanisms way back because we were attacked. Sorry to ask this (this is not my fave topic in general), but did Germany ever apologize to Poland and Ukraine specifically or only to the Jewish people and Russia / as the inheritor of the USSR? Because the way it might look for the Poles is that they took a big brunt of the invasion, but only Russia and Belarus got the respect. It's unfortunate that these things are being brought up right now and nobody can bring back those Polish citizens anyway. And Germany will not cease to be a Polish neighbor. Do they want to live in permanent tension? Well, just remember, Poland isn't going anywhere. It's the same way that Beckow always lectures Russia's neighbors to "just take it" because "Russia is not going anywhere". But it is unseemly and even against the spirit of the EU, I'd say, so I don't even deem it appropriate to direct it at the Germans.Replies: @German_reader
It’s only “funny” insofar as there of course isn’t much “Anglo-Saxon” about the US today, and increasingly unfortunately not about Britain either.
The basic fact that the NordStream pipelines were in all probability blown up by the US or some European NATO country like Poland (unless Russia did it to run one of the weirdest disinformation operations in history) isn’t funny at all however. Because it would indeed be a striking demonstration of the true nature of the relationship between the US and its “allies”, not that different from Russian views about the limited sovereignty of some of its neighbours.
Newest Strelkov today:
https://vk.com/igoristrelkov?w=wall347260249_664965
When Russia shut the gas down they stated that it was because of “unforeseeable technical problems.”
They did this because otherwise they would have been liable for the difference in cost between what they would have had to provide under contract and the what their contractors customers would end up paying without Russians supply.
Just like how an airline has to pay for your alterative flight, no matter how expensive, if they choose to cancel your original, but only need not charge you for the flight, if an unforseeable circumstance gets in the way.
In fact, Russia would have been liable for hundreds of billions and so it was certainly worth the lie, of inventing “unforseeable technical reasons”, especially given the huge, vulnerable foreign exchange reserves currently frozen by those same customers.
But lies about “unforseeable technical reasons” can only be a temporary measure. Any court will eventuall disregard them and that $300 billion could be awarded to the jilted customers.
So suddenly an explosion happens!
And what do you know? Russia has an instant scripted response at all levels of its propaganda apparatus, trying to make additional benefit by blaming America and sowing discord in NATO. Meanwhile, the US response is disorganised, shocked and flabbergasted.
Now Russia might not have been lying about the “unforseeable technical reasons’ and might simply have a propaganda apparatus that had an instant response to an “unforseeable event,” all of that is possible.
But Russia certainly had more motive than the US. There was no risk to Russia from their action, and this US motive, of 5D chess against Germany, pre-supposes that Germany was about to make some sort of alliance with Russia, when Germany had just stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, and Scholz has been exceptionally clear for months about his intentions. In fact, the only thing that might have caused Scholz to make good with Russia would be something like the US blowing up a vital gas pipe!
And Putin just called Western European elites “totalitarian, despotic and apartheidistic,” so he is obviously having a normal one, and would never blow up infrastructure in a European country anyway. Even though his talking heads on TV have repeatedly shouted into the camera that they will now have to deNazify Germany, liberate East Germany and nuke the country!
So they’d never create fictitious “unforseeable technical problems”, nor blow up their own gas pipe for the same reason.
No way…
There may be a possibility Russia did it for some unfathomably bizarre reason, but none of the scenarios proposed so far make the slightest bit of sense. The winter looks like it will be a disaster in much of Europe (the head of Germany's Netzagentur has already stated that private households used too much gas for heating last week and that this can't be tolerated...looks quite possible that there'll be a real shortage in the 2nd half of winter), and winter 2023/24 (if we make it that far) will probably be even worse...there's simply no good reason for Russia to permanently remove the valuable bargaining chip of the NordStream pipelines. Nor does it even make much sense from a perspective of "spreading chaos" within Europe, since the "Open NorthStream 2" demonstrations have obviously become rather pointless now.
The obvious explanation is the US or some other NATO country did it. Or possibly Ukraine...supposedly the CIA warned Germany about a possible attack on NordStream, because they had intercepted Russian communications in which the Russians had mentioned Ukraine planning attacks on Western infrastructure and already renting a boat in Sweden for that purpose. Deliberate Russian disinformation? Maybe. But at some point such theories that deny the most plausible explanations for purely ideological reasons ("They couldn't have done it, because it's just not in their nature") become rather absurd. We already saw a lot of that regarding the assassination of Dugin's daughter and the shelling of the nuclear power plant, so it's starting to look like a pattern.Replies: @songbird, @Mikhail
Of course a lot of that can't be taken seriously, is obviously manipulative etc., but if the speech is anything to go by Putin still hopes to be able to break up the Western coalition by appealing to the self-interest of Western European states. Destroying the NordStream pipelines doesn't make any sense in such a strategy, it removes one of Russia's main means of leverage.Replies: @AP, @Triteleia Laxa
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was using the Siemens engine that had to undergo a scheduled maintenance in Canada. It was not returned to Russia and was not repaired as needed.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was using the Russian-made engine. The Russians offered to start using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline instead of the Nord Stream 1 but the EU did not let them.
The pipelines were blown up with underwater mining drones. The Swedes registered explosions of about 700 kg TNT.
Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians could have done that. Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians have technical capabilities of this kind.
Except for the U.S. no other nation had both the capabilities and the motivation to do that. The U.S. had conducted training excersices focused on mine warfare at the site of the explosions in summer. The U.S. Navy planes and helicopters were seen cruising above the site.
https://i.postimg.cc/nVXpXVdf/Nord-Stream-3.jpg
That is when the drones were used to place the explosives. These drones are controlled from the aircraft.
It is clear and obvious that the U.S. did that, and the presence of these trolls here arguing that it is improbable and that the Russians did it themselves proves that the U.S. did it.
https://i.postimg.cc/Qds2Jjqt/Nord-Stream-4.jpg
The Russians could have continue to refuse to take the engines back claiming that the engines were not repaired as required or demanding that the engines were to be returned from Canada which required cancellation of the sanctions.
The Russians would have continue to insist on opening of the Nord Stream 2, which required cancellation of the sanctions as well. The revenues the Russians were getting from these pipelines were sufficient to finance the war.
The Russians had no motive and neither financial nor political interest to blow up their own pipelines.
The troll platoon here claiming the opposite should be ignored.Replies: @LondonBob
Some fat black American woman played a flute, and America decided to leave King George’s rule 250 years ago, so now Russia bombing and murdering Ukrainians is ok?
You’re histrionic.
Your map overstates the Lyman advance, a better one is below. That being said, it is hard to see how Russia can block an encirclement. Once Zelensky’s forces take Lyman, what is he going to do with it?
Russia is winning fights around Donetsk. And continues to hold Kherson. These two locations are vastly more important to Russia’s overall strategy.
PEACE 😇
__________
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-30
They did this because otherwise they would have been liable for the difference in cost between what they would have had to provide under contract and the what their contractors customers would end up paying without Russians supply.
Just like how an airline has to pay for your alterative flight, no matter how expensive, if they choose to cancel your original, but only need not charge you for the flight, if an unforseeable circumstance gets in the way.
In fact, Russia would have been liable for hundreds of billions and so it was certainly worth the lie, of inventing "unforseeable technical reasons", especially given the huge, vulnerable foreign exchange reserves currently frozen by those same customers.
But lies about "unforseeable technical reasons" can only be a temporary measure. Any court will eventuall disregard them and that $300 billion could be awarded to the jilted customers.
So suddenly an explosion happens!
And what do you know? Russia has an instant scripted response at all levels of its propaganda apparatus, trying to make additional benefit by blaming America and sowing discord in NATO. Meanwhile, the US response is disorganised, shocked and flabbergasted.
Now Russia might not have been lying about the "unforseeable technical reasons' and might simply have a propaganda apparatus that had an instant response to an "unforseeable event," all of that is possible.
But Russia certainly had more motive than the US. There was no risk to Russia from their action, and this US motive, of 5D chess against Germany, pre-supposes that Germany was about to make some sort of alliance with Russia, when Germany had just stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, and Scholz has been exceptionally clear for months about his intentions. In fact, the only thing that might have caused Scholz to make good with Russia would be something like the US blowing up a vital gas pipe!
And Putin just called Western European elites "totalitarian, despotic and apartheidistic," so he is obviously having a normal one, and would never blow up infrastructure in a European country anyway. Even though his talking heads on TV have repeatedly shouted into the camera that they will now have to deNazify Germany, liberate East Germany and nuke the country!
So they'd never create fictitious "unforseeable technical problems", nor blow up their own gas pipe for the same reason.
No way...Replies: @German_reader, @German_reader, @Yevardian, @Here Be Dragon
lol, that must be one of the dumbest propaganda talking points ever…there’s a proxy war going on in which Western states are helping to kill Russian soldiers and which might escalate into a direct NATO-Russia war, economic relations have already broken down, Russian assets abroad have been frozen and might be permanently lost…but Russia is going to blow up its own pipelines because it doesn’t want to get sued in lawcourts over payments. Sure!
There may be a possibility Russia did it for some unfathomably bizarre reason, but none of the scenarios proposed so far make the slightest bit of sense. The winter looks like it will be a disaster in much of Europe (the head of Germany’s Netzagentur has already stated that private households used too much gas for heating last week and that this can’t be tolerated…looks quite possible that there’ll be a real shortage in the 2nd half of winter), and winter 2023/24 (if we make it that far) will probably be even worse…there’s simply no good reason for Russia to permanently remove the valuable bargaining chip of the NordStream pipelines. Nor does it even make much sense from a perspective of “spreading chaos” within Europe, since the “Open NorthStream 2” demonstrations have obviously become rather pointless now.
The obvious explanation is the US or some other NATO country did it. Or possibly Ukraine…supposedly the CIA warned Germany about a possible attack on NordStream, because they had intercepted Russian communications in which the Russians had mentioned Ukraine planning attacks on Western infrastructure and already renting a boat in Sweden for that purpose. Deliberate Russian disinformation? Maybe. But at some point such theories that deny the most plausible explanations for purely ideological reasons (“They couldn’t have done it, because it’s just not in their nature”) become rather absurd. We already saw a lot of that regarding the assassination of Dugin’s daughter and the shelling of the nuclear power plant, so it’s starting to look like a pattern.
Many migrants probably don't even have the right mitochondria for dealing with a harsh winter, and I think many would be willing to leave in a hurry, especially if it were a bad winter, without heat. I used to have a black professor who wore gloves in April.
Of course, many seem to believe the opposite will happen. That it will just be an excuse for increasing progressive authoritarianism, through the use of smart meters and the like.Replies: @216
Has Mr. Unz ever featured a Luongo article here?
This is an excellent long form discussion of the European WEF / Globalist agenda: (1)
I do not fully agree with Luongo. He over estimates American foreign policy cohesiveness and effectiveness. However, his stand against anti-intellectual, disingenuous rants is greatly appreciated.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://tomluongo.me/2022/09/29/the-curious-whodunit-of-nordstreams-1-and-2/
They did this because otherwise they would have been liable for the difference in cost between what they would have had to provide under contract and the what their contractors customers would end up paying without Russians supply.
Just like how an airline has to pay for your alterative flight, no matter how expensive, if they choose to cancel your original, but only need not charge you for the flight, if an unforseeable circumstance gets in the way.
In fact, Russia would have been liable for hundreds of billions and so it was certainly worth the lie, of inventing "unforseeable technical reasons", especially given the huge, vulnerable foreign exchange reserves currently frozen by those same customers.
But lies about "unforseeable technical reasons" can only be a temporary measure. Any court will eventuall disregard them and that $300 billion could be awarded to the jilted customers.
So suddenly an explosion happens!
And what do you know? Russia has an instant scripted response at all levels of its propaganda apparatus, trying to make additional benefit by blaming America and sowing discord in NATO. Meanwhile, the US response is disorganised, shocked and flabbergasted.
Now Russia might not have been lying about the "unforseeable technical reasons' and might simply have a propaganda apparatus that had an instant response to an "unforseeable event," all of that is possible.
But Russia certainly had more motive than the US. There was no risk to Russia from their action, and this US motive, of 5D chess against Germany, pre-supposes that Germany was about to make some sort of alliance with Russia, when Germany had just stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, and Scholz has been exceptionally clear for months about his intentions. In fact, the only thing that might have caused Scholz to make good with Russia would be something like the US blowing up a vital gas pipe!
And Putin just called Western European elites "totalitarian, despotic and apartheidistic," so he is obviously having a normal one, and would never blow up infrastructure in a European country anyway. Even though his talking heads on TV have repeatedly shouted into the camera that they will now have to deNazify Germany, liberate East Germany and nuke the country!
So they'd never create fictitious "unforseeable technical problems", nor blow up their own gas pipe for the same reason.
No way...Replies: @German_reader, @German_reader, @Yevardian, @Here Be Dragon
I took the trouble to read his speech, and no, he’s clearly still trying to court opinion in continental Europe:
He actually even included a reference to the WW2 area bombing of Germany, presumably to pander to the sensibilities of German nationalists, lol.
Of course a lot of that can’t be taken seriously, is obviously manipulative etc., but if the speech is anything to go by Putin still hopes to be able to break up the Western coalition by appealing to the self-interest of Western European states. Destroying the NordStream pipelines doesn’t make any sense in such a strategy, it removes one of Russia’s main means of leverage.
He's also selling a narrative to the "dindu nuffins" in the third world that is very much the same.
The problem with this narrative, from his perspective, is that the types of people who buy it are generally the types who get things done, no matter how much they convince themselves that they're "the real doers."
My advice to such people is that everything they don't fully understand in their life is the result of their unconscious choices and, if they'd explore their unconscious, they'd realise how blessed and full of agency they always were. Referencing Dresden is a small sop in an otherwise flurry of Russian threats. But people who buy narratives as described above are easily sold with little morsels.
The problem for Putin's foreign propaganda strategy though, is that the people buying only generally have their opinion to give in exchange. That's the nature of the type of people who would fully buy into the Russian nonsense.
Also, you've literally just given a huge motive for Russia in your description for why Russia doing it makes no sense. It isn't like they have anything to lose. You've put the word "might" in there for a reason. It is the same reason that Russia lied about there being technical problems in the pipes. And it is the same reason why they would happily blow them up when those "technical reasons" no longer sufficed. The US reaction was too confused. And that wasn't just Biden's senility. Of course, it still could be anyone, but Russia already lied to shut down the pipe, so when the purpose of that lie expired, it is hardly a stretch to say they'd use explosives instead.
The basic fact that the NordStream pipelines were in all probability blown up by the US or some European NATO country like Poland (unless Russia did it to run one of the weirdest disinformation operations in history) isn't funny at all however. Because it would indeed be a striking demonstration of the true nature of the relationship between the US and its "allies", not that different from Russian views about the limited sovereignty of some of its neighbours.Replies: @Yevardian
The Americans blowing up Nordstream was a timely reminder to me just how little they respect or the the slightest care the have for Europe’s wellbeing, and how incredibly grim Ukraine’s future looks to be, even if they succeed militarily. Remember that endless stream of weapons sent to Ukraine aren’t gifts, they’re loans. To say nothing of how companies like Monsanto will be hovering over the country’s devastated agricultural sectore like vultures.
I was so disgusted by the scenes of unbelievable bungling and appalling conditions highlighted in Russia’s recent mobilisation (and real panic across the country, for the first time) that I temporarily forgot the dire consequences in store if the current Russian government implodes. It’s really uncharted territory… the USSR’s debacle in Afghanistan doesn’t even come close to military catastrophe potentially instore for Russia this point. To even continue holding the front I don’t even want to think about the amount of conscripts Russia will have to chew up before unrest at home eventually reaches breaking point.
But to Bashibuzuk, I wouldn’t attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. Putin was provoked (no value judgement intended, only the US knew how he could react and accepted if not welcomed all the risks) into making the defining, epochal blunder of his career. The still unfolding consequences are being and will be milked for all they’re worth, but I doubt a single masterplan of someone Charles Schwab (lol) was all behind it. When did you leave Russia btw? Was it still during the Yeltsin years?
Of course a lot of that can't be taken seriously, is obviously manipulative etc., but if the speech is anything to go by Putin still hopes to be able to break up the Western coalition by appealing to the self-interest of Western European states. Destroying the NordStream pipelines doesn't make any sense in such a strategy, it removes one of Russia's main means of leverage.Replies: @AP, @Triteleia Laxa
Destroying the pipelines and blaming the Americans or their allies would seem to fit this strategy. Even if the German government doesn’t go along they can still hope that much of the German public will; getting the AfD voters riled up could be usefully disruptive.
Not that I am 100% convinced the Russians did it, but it is certainly possible.
I'm not totally excluding the possibility that Russia did it, but the theories advanced so far aren't convincing at all.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AP
They did this because otherwise they would have been liable for the difference in cost between what they would have had to provide under contract and the what their contractors customers would end up paying without Russians supply.
Just like how an airline has to pay for your alterative flight, no matter how expensive, if they choose to cancel your original, but only need not charge you for the flight, if an unforseeable circumstance gets in the way.
In fact, Russia would have been liable for hundreds of billions and so it was certainly worth the lie, of inventing "unforseeable technical reasons", especially given the huge, vulnerable foreign exchange reserves currently frozen by those same customers.
But lies about "unforseeable technical reasons" can only be a temporary measure. Any court will eventuall disregard them and that $300 billion could be awarded to the jilted customers.
So suddenly an explosion happens!
And what do you know? Russia has an instant scripted response at all levels of its propaganda apparatus, trying to make additional benefit by blaming America and sowing discord in NATO. Meanwhile, the US response is disorganised, shocked and flabbergasted.
Now Russia might not have been lying about the "unforseeable technical reasons' and might simply have a propaganda apparatus that had an instant response to an "unforseeable event," all of that is possible.
But Russia certainly had more motive than the US. There was no risk to Russia from their action, and this US motive, of 5D chess against Germany, pre-supposes that Germany was about to make some sort of alliance with Russia, when Germany had just stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, and Scholz has been exceptionally clear for months about his intentions. In fact, the only thing that might have caused Scholz to make good with Russia would be something like the US blowing up a vital gas pipe!
And Putin just called Western European elites "totalitarian, despotic and apartheidistic," so he is obviously having a normal one, and would never blow up infrastructure in a European country anyway. Even though his talking heads on TV have repeatedly shouted into the camera that they will now have to deNazify Germany, liberate East Germany and nuke the country!
So they'd never create fictitious "unforseeable technical problems", nor blow up their own gas pipe for the same reason.
No way...Replies: @German_reader, @German_reader, @Yevardian, @Here Be Dragon
Yeah Russia blew up its own multi-billion, decades-in-the-making pipeline and its sole remaining source of leverage over Europe. Makes perfect sense.
You think Russia gives a shit about worrying over unpaid bills or being sued for damages by Europe at this point? Imbecilic logic.
AfD is at 14% in polls and has zero real political power. And as I wrote above, the “Open NorthStream 2” demonstrations have become pointless now. As far as I can tell (and obviously I have no idea what might go on in the heads of Russian intelligence operatives), Russia’s propaganda position is much worse now, since it’s harder to argue “Let’s cut a deal with Russia for our own interests, why isn’t our government doing this?”, given that the necessary infrastructure doesn’t exist anymore.
I’m not totally excluding the possibility that Russia did it, but the theories advanced so far aren’t convincing at all.
I don't get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn't work out as it might have.Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader, @songbird, @216
“The main character is Simone Simonini, a man whom Eco claims he has tried to make into the most cynical and disagreeable character in all the history of literature (and is the only fictional character in the novel). He was born in Turin in 1830. His mother died while he was still a child and his father was killed in 1848 fighting for a united Italy. He is brought up by his grandfather, an old reactionary who houses Jesuit refugees and hates the Jews. He claims that the French Revolution was planned by the Knights Templar, the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins, but he says behind them all were the Jews. Since he does not attend public school, Simonini is educated by Jesuits brought into his home at the behest of his grandfather. One such priest, Father Bergamaschi (a fictionalized portrait of the Italian Jesuit novelist Antonio Bresciani), teaches him the evils of secret societies, that, according to him, are no more than a cover for communism.
Simonini imbibes his grandfather's antisemitism, but his father's radicalism, and his dislike of the Jesuits, also arouse his anti-clerical inclinations. In the works of French writers such as Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas he enjoys reading of intrigues and conspiracies, and aspires to emulate these fictions in his own life.“
Simonini writes the Protocols of Zion, in this book. You have to get the joke right. These other organisations are euphemisms for Jews.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
These people drive me nuts.
The French Revolution was orchestrated by London bankers. Some of them were Jews. They all were freemasons. : )
Of course a lot of that can't be taken seriously, is obviously manipulative etc., but if the speech is anything to go by Putin still hopes to be able to break up the Western coalition by appealing to the self-interest of Western European states. Destroying the NordStream pipelines doesn't make any sense in such a strategy, it removes one of Russia's main means of leverage.Replies: @AP, @Triteleia Laxa
He’s selling a narrative amenable to a certain type of bitter old man, who is looking for another excuse for why everything in his life is everyone else’s fault.
He’s also selling a narrative to the “dindu nuffins” in the third world that is very much the same.
The problem with this narrative, from his perspective, is that the types of people who buy it are generally the types who get things done, no matter how much they convince themselves that they’re “the real doers.”
My advice to such people is that everything they don’t fully understand in their life is the result of their unconscious choices and, if they’d explore their unconscious, they’d realise how blessed and full of agency they always were.
Referencing Dresden is a small sop in an otherwise flurry of Russian threats. But people who buy narratives as described above are easily sold with little morsels.
The problem for Putin’s foreign propaganda strategy though, is that the people buying only generally have their opinion to give in exchange. That’s the nature of the type of people who would fully buy into the Russian nonsense.
Also, you’ve literally just given a huge motive for Russia in your description for why Russia doing it makes no sense. It isn’t like they have anything to lose.
You’ve put the word “might” in there for a reason. It is the same reason that Russia lied about there being technical problems in the pipes. And it is the same reason why they would happily blow them up when those “technical reasons” no longer sufficed.
The US reaction was too confused. And that wasn’t just Biden’s senility. Of course, it still could be anyone, but Russia already lied to shut down the pipe, so when the purpose of that lie expired, it is hardly a stretch to say they’d use explosives instead.
They cared enough about their frozen $300 billion foreign exchange reserves to lie about technical reasons. They surely care enough to blow up a pipe that can certainly be fixed, once that lie could no longer serve its purpose.
I'm not totally excluding the possibility that Russia did it, but the theories advanced so far aren't convincing at all.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AP
Meloni sweeps to power in Italy, while the AfD remain as unpopular as they’ve always been. Why?
I don’t get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn’t work out as it might have.
Regarding Germany: Who knows. Maybe Germans just aren't capable of measured course corrections in time, there's some truth to the view that they're tending towards extremes. Possibly might then over-react later given everything we've been subjected to in recent years. I've already wondered whether history might be replaying itself in a strange way...next year could be as bad as 1923 with all the inflation and energy shortages. Wouldn't it be funny in a way if by January 2033 there's another National Socialist chancellor in power for the 100-year anniversary?
Anyway, I should probably stop writing about political issues here for some time, I already feel bad about the nasty undertones of some of my previous comments. And it's not like it changes anything, one can only watch and wait and try to avoid the worst for oneself.
But to answer your question: Italy has always been very politically dynamic - some would call it unstable. I suspect a big part of the reason is that it is a bridge nation between Northern and Southern Europe and it lacks natural homogeneity, so it is harder to dominate. But perhaps part of it is the Italian constitution.Replies: @AP, @Beckow
It reminds one of the US "gender gap" in polling, which is really the "marriage gap".
If AFD matched its Eastern total in the West, it would be more likely that they could get into government.
I don't get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn't work out as it might have.Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader, @songbird, @216
I see you’re slowly groping your way towards reality…
Here’s an argument that the pipelines blew up because of shoddy maintenance. I’m not capable of evaluating the argument, but I did learn a couple of new terms: “hydrate plug” and “Diesel effect.”
Am I saying that there is no way that these incidents could possibly be the result of deliberate direct action? No. That area is too full of idiots — HOWEVER:
It’s hundreds of millions of cubic metres of extremely flammable — nay, explosive — gaseous hydrocarbons being transported by Russians, and subject to Russian maintenance. And I’m here to tell you — Russian maintenance under the current oligarchy system isn’t any better than it was under the Soviet system.
It blew up. Until I see evidence of bad actions, I’m going to shrug and say, “Damn. Must have been a day ending in “y”.
To deal with the most obvious objection, he says a deliberate saboteur wouldn’t wait 17 hours between blowing up the two pipelines. Too much risk of getting caught.
Anyway, it’s interesting, and perhaps worth your time.
https://thelawdogfiles.com/2022/09/nordstream.html
However, your scenario is that Russian crews at one end began reducing pressure in both NS1 and NS2. Failed maintenance is possible. However, step up the management chain to those in the boardroom. Senior 'leadership' may have ordered reduction of the standing pressure to recover vast amounts of saleable Nat Gas from the pipes.
PEACE 😇
I don't get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn't work out as it might have.Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader, @songbird, @216
Might be the understatement of the century, lol.
Regarding Germany: Who knows. Maybe Germans just aren’t capable of measured course corrections in time, there’s some truth to the view that they’re tending towards extremes. Possibly might then over-react later given everything we’ve been subjected to in recent years. I’ve already wondered whether history might be replaying itself in a strange way…next year could be as bad as 1923 with all the inflation and energy shortages. Wouldn’t it be funny in a way if by January 2033 there’s another National Socialist chancellor in power for the 100-year anniversary?
Anyway, I should probably stop writing about political issues here for some time, I already feel bad about the nasty undertones of some of my previous comments. And it’s not like it changes anything, one can only watch and wait and try to avoid the worst for oneself.
I largely agree with GR’s skepticism of the benefits of having masses of EEs in Western Europe, from a nationalist perspective.
Though, I have wondered whether Sweden might be a special case. Haven’t they helped propel the Sweden Democrats to power? (Not that I think the party isn’t pozzed)
The reason to rule out random accident is that both went with similar timing.
However, your scenario is that Russian crews at one end began reducing pressure in both NS1 and NS2. Failed maintenance is possible. However, step up the management chain to those in the boardroom. Senior ‘leadership’ may have ordered reduction of the standing pressure to recover vast amounts of saleable Nat Gas from the pipes.
PEACE 😇
I don't get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn't work out as it might have.Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader, @songbird, @216
Amusingly, Zeihan is calling Maloni proto-fascist, and saying she may develop into a full fascist, but it is too early to tell. I guess if we are not careful, she may order Italian forces to takeover Somaliland and Ethiopia! Most Somalis would probably welcome them.
But to answer your question: Italy has always been very politically dynamic – some would call it unstable. I suspect a big part of the reason is that it is a bridge nation between Northern and Southern Europe and it lacks natural homogeneity, so it is harder to dominate. But perhaps part of it is the Italian constitution.
I would be surprised if VVP and his Kremlins were that stupid. Uncle Klaus is to the Davos Consensus (a.k.a Great Reset) Santa Claus is to Christmas. He is the bearer of the 4th Industrial Revolution’s gifts to the multitudes. Yes we left in 1996.
I'm speaking in particular about the purported 'war' between Capitalism and Communism that everyone had to suffer under for so many years.
Now I've concluded that powerful elements amongst the elites and their hangers on are not nearly so well meaning, bungling, and, idiotic, as myself and many others had been led to believe, but, are instead quite deliberate and intelligent about a great many of their actions.
What amazes me today is how anyone can believe otherwise.
Anyhow, even when truth is suppressed, it has a way of revealing itself, if one listens:
https://youtu.be/ybvpQfsMXCI
Though, I have wondered whether Sweden might be a special case. Haven't they helped propel the Sweden Democrats to power? (Not that I think the party isn't pozzed)Replies: @A123
The EU concept of Schengen has been an epic disaster both ways:
Eastern “Donor” countries have lost family formation (and thus children) as young adults have travelled in search of better pay. There is also a brain drain effect as the highest achievers have huge incentives to permanently relocate.
Western “Recipient” nations have had indigenous worker pay undercut across the board. Governments have been hurt both by marginal natives being pushed into early retirement, and assistance schemes that subsidise families of the lowest wage intra-EU migrants.
The only winners have been Globalist MegaCorporations. Yet another reason why the failed EU experiment needs to end.
PEACE 😇
Putin, as controlled opposition, has ‘thrown down the gauntlet’, just as they wanted him to. The Ukrainians will continue attacking just as before.
As the situation in Lyman is entering a critical phase for it’s defenders, it’s not impossible (not that I wish it) that we may see Putin deploy a tactical nuke there, sooner than most may have expected.
Ukraine can then be allowed to join NATO and things can ‘escalate’ rather quickly (very quickly?) from there, which is exactly what the US/UK wants.
But, maybe they will wait a month, around US ‘election time’ (in quotes, as who knows how real it will actually be) to really kick things off, where the United States could well then be involved in both a Russian style Civil War and a world war simultaneously, amongst other things.
We shall see.
Below is a rather primitive ‘Davy Crockett’ recoilless nuclear gun from 1962 which had a yield of 20 tons of TNT. The warhead altogether weighed 76 pounds.
Today the United States would use a missile as the delivery device for any tactical nuclear bomb.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)
Unless you are in poverty there are enemies in your zip code. If you are lucky none of them are blood relatives. That guy 3 levels up in your corporate ladder that your boss is expected to emulate?
He is your enemy. Chinese philosophy is made for time like this. Did you know that the highest God in Daoism is Polaris? The top seven demons are the stars in the Big Dipper. It's far better than Star Trek.Replies: @S
But to answer your question: Italy has always been very politically dynamic - some would call it unstable. I suspect a big part of the reason is that it is a bridge nation between Northern and Southern Europe and it lacks natural homogeneity, so it is harder to dominate. But perhaps part of it is the Italian constitution.Replies: @AP, @Beckow
I was in Lombardy last summer; the faces of many of the native people there were a mixture of Mediterranean and Germanic. I saw a similar phenomenon among Romanians from Transylvania, who frequently have a Saxon grandparent great-grandparent.
I'm not totally excluding the possibility that Russia did it, but the theories advanced so far aren't convincing at all.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @AP
Unless a decision has been made in Moscow that actions will be taken that would preclude opening up the pipeline anytime soon, such as formal annexation and maybe use of nukes. In that case, there is nothing for the Russians to lose by blowing up the pipeline but something to gain by blaming it on the Americans, Poles, or Ukrainians (apparently a few weeks ago the CIA had heard Russian talking about Ukrainians trying to procure boats in Sweden and passed the info to the Germans).
I do doubt the Americans did it: the cost of blowing up relations with Germany wouldn’t be worth it. I think there is a possibility the Poles did it (perhaps with American support or acquiescence) because they have no problem doing outrageous things to German interests, and this explosion benefits them. If they get caught they can evoke World War II crimes. But more likely the Russians did it. Though who knows?
As for nukes, I think they'll only be used if Russia is on the verge of total defeat, because there would be a high risk of direct US intervention once the nuclear threshold has been crossed. Why, what's Germany going to do about it? Blow up American infrastructure in retaliation? Given that Germany has to be happy about every American LNG shipment it receives, the options for protest are limited. I'm sorry, but that attitude is just mental. I don't want to generalize, there are also a lot of positive experiences with Poles in Germany after all and not everything in Polish-German relations has been bad over the last 30 years, but the idea that something like this could be considered acceptable among EU members is just crazy.
There is however a third possibility that you didn't mention, that Ukraine did it on its own (though I'm not sure they could have done so, already hard to see how they would get hundreds of kilograms of explosives to the Baltic sea undetected). If so, it was a giant mistake that could backfire really badly once uncovered, because it would show Ukraine to be basically a gangster state cut from the same cloth as Russia and would totally undermine all the talk about Ukraine's European aspirations.Replies: @Beckow, @AP
The world according to Western propaganda (Ukie propaganda repeats what it is handed down by the overlords).
1. Donbass freedom fighters shelled themselves for many years.
2. Russia shells its own troops at Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
3. Putin blew up NS1 and NS2, destroying his own leverage.
4. Russia shelled the people trying to flee Ukiestan in the direction of Russian-controlled territories.
A certifiable idiot would buy every one of these narratives. A person with IQ greater than shoe size would engage in crimethink: none of it makes any sense.
I used to believe the idea, often fed to us in between the lines, that we are led by well meaning bungling idiots, but finally concluded that no one could be that consistently ‘stupid’ without it being deliberate.
I’m speaking in particular about the purported ‘war’ between Capitalism and Communism that everyone had to suffer under for so many years.
Now I’ve concluded that powerful elements amongst the elites and their hangers on are not nearly so well meaning, bungling, and, idiotic, as myself and many others had been led to believe, but, are instead quite deliberate and intelligent about a great many of their actions.
What amazes me today is how anyone can believe otherwise.
Anyhow, even when truth is suppressed, it has a way of revealing itself, if one listens:
But to answer your question: Italy has always been very politically dynamic - some would call it unstable. I suspect a big part of the reason is that it is a bridge nation between Northern and Southern Europe and it lacks natural homogeneity, so it is harder to dominate. But perhaps part of it is the Italian constitution.Replies: @AP, @Beckow
Italians are savvy and much harder to control. In this respect they are homogeneous. Italy matters, it is the largest Euro country that has shifted toward the traditional (normal). The hysterical reaction of liberals is backfiring because it is so obviously untrue. The scream: ‘Fascists are coming back in Italy!‘ is too bizarre to stick.
Brussels will learn how to live with new Italy: give a little, co-opt, confuse over time. Probably a new conservative-light forces will be appear around Europe to split the anti-liberal majorities. Remember that liberals only have around 15% solid support.
Greens are a spent force. The ‘corruption‘ meme has also run its course – too visibly opportunistic. In Czechia they invented a free-drugs-internet-cheap beer party called Pirates. These parties are always the same: funded by US-UK-Soros, with homo activists, ambitious people with no obvious skills or way to make a comfortable living. They are recruited, rewarded and promoted as the new ‘fresh’ alternative, burst on the scene, get media push, then fizzle out to be replaced with a new crew.
Their main role is in managing ‘democracy‘. The goal is simple: the majority preferences cannot be allowed to win. With migrants, economy, social policies, wars etc…the actual policies are mostly the exact opposite of what people want.
Democracy means that majority views are implemented. In Europe the opposite is true, on issue after issue unpopular policies are impossible to change. To call it a democracy is a stretch. Results matter.
Don't know much about the pirate parties, but I've always thought of them as being indigenous, for the simple reason that the US is hyperzealous about copyright.
Of course, it is certainly in the realm of possibility that they could be backing them, knowing that they are losers.Replies: @Beckow
I don’t think the pipelines will be repaired under the current political climate, so it’s not just that they won’t be operational again anytime soon, they will never be used again. Now it’s of course possible that Putin has really given up completely on relations with Europe, but it still seems unlikely to me that he would voluntarily destroy such a valuable bargaining chip, which might be useful once the economic crisis in Europe has really hit.
As for nukes, I think they’ll only be used if Russia is on the verge of total defeat, because there would be a high risk of direct US intervention once the nuclear threshold has been crossed.
Why, what’s Germany going to do about it? Blow up American infrastructure in retaliation? Given that Germany has to be happy about every American LNG shipment it receives, the options for protest are limited.
I’m sorry, but that attitude is just mental. I don’t want to generalize, there are also a lot of positive experiences with Poles in Germany after all and not everything in Polish-German relations has been bad over the last 30 years, but the idea that something like this could be considered acceptable among EU members is just crazy.
There is however a third possibility that you didn’t mention, that Ukraine did it on its own (though I’m not sure they could have done so, already hard to see how they would get hundreds of kilograms of explosives to the Baltic sea undetected). If so, it was a giant mistake that could backfire really badly once uncovered, because it would show Ukraine to be basically a gangster state cut from the same cloth as Russia and would totally undermine all the talk about Ukraine’s European aspirations.
There may be a possibility Russia did it for some unfathomably bizarre reason, but none of the scenarios proposed so far make the slightest bit of sense. The winter looks like it will be a disaster in much of Europe (the head of Germany's Netzagentur has already stated that private households used too much gas for heating last week and that this can't be tolerated...looks quite possible that there'll be a real shortage in the 2nd half of winter), and winter 2023/24 (if we make it that far) will probably be even worse...there's simply no good reason for Russia to permanently remove the valuable bargaining chip of the NordStream pipelines. Nor does it even make much sense from a perspective of "spreading chaos" within Europe, since the "Open NorthStream 2" demonstrations have obviously become rather pointless now.
The obvious explanation is the US or some other NATO country did it. Or possibly Ukraine...supposedly the CIA warned Germany about a possible attack on NordStream, because they had intercepted Russian communications in which the Russians had mentioned Ukraine planning attacks on Western infrastructure and already renting a boat in Sweden for that purpose. Deliberate Russian disinformation? Maybe. But at some point such theories that deny the most plausible explanations for purely ideological reasons ("They couldn't have done it, because it's just not in their nature") become rather absurd. We already saw a lot of that regarding the assassination of Dugin's daughter and the shelling of the nuclear power plant, so it's starting to look like a pattern.Replies: @songbird, @Mikhail
I continue to believe that a genuine energy crisis is Europe’s biggest opportunity for unpozzing. (Though, regrettably, I don’t think the necessary leadership is there, at present.)
Many migrants probably don’t even have the right mitochondria for dealing with a harsh winter, and I think many would be willing to leave in a hurry, especially if it were a bad winter, without heat. I used to have a black professor who wore gloves in April.
Of course, many seem to believe the opposite will happen. That it will just be an excuse for increasing progressive authoritarianism, through the use of smart meters and the like.
I've had enough personal experience to feel quite confident that the physical dimension of reality is not the only one. Beyond that I'm not sure how it will play out, but I suppose their is only one way to find out and we'll all get their eventually!Replies: @Mikel
I hope so too, lol. It’s probably just that our forefathers’ lives were so difficult and miserable that they thought a life of constant idleness must have been a good thing and imagined Paradise along those lines. But that’s not the only problem. As understand it, (after)life in Paradise has no sex, no beef steaks, no Cabernet Sauvignon, no hiking in the mountains, no traveling to tropical beaches, no internet… it’s so hard to imagine such a place as a desirable place to be in.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
We are in a war right now. The action is not that sideshow Ukraine and Russia. It is class war. The guys to study: Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Gramsci, Lukacs, et al. Lay low and take the long view. The war is going to continue past the time the Social Security actuarial tables say I am scheduled to be alive.
Unless you are in poverty there are enemies in your zip code. If you are lucky none of them are blood relatives. That guy 3 levels up in your corporate ladder that your boss is expected to emulate?
He is your enemy. Chinese philosophy is made for time like this. Did you know that the highest God in Daoism is Polaris? The top seven demons are the stars in the Big Dipper. It’s far better than Star Trek.
😁 Open Thread Humor 😂
More at:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/10/the-week-in-pictures-cat-5-bidenstorm-edition.php
PEACE 😇
OK, fair enough. But you would still have the hope of going back to 14 at the end of that life and starting again, assuming you don’t offend God, of course.
Perhaps you could even restart with all the wisdom that difficult life of paralysis may have given you, in a Buddhist reincarnation type of way, but I don’t have these details ironed out yet. If I did and I had a more charismatic personality, I may consider founding a new religion. I’m sure plenty of people would adhere to my back to the teens cult.
Perhaps you could even restart with all the wisdom that difficult life of paralysis may have given you, in a Buddhist reincarnation type of way, but I don't have these details ironed out yet. If I did and I had a more charismatic personality, I may consider founding a new religion. I'm sure plenty of people would adhere to my back to the teens cult.Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
I can think of only one benefit to my teenage experience. My religion made suicide out of the question.
Popular among some, unpopular among others. Basically, you are hiding behind a vague, weasel term.
The pro-Russian side won the elections – that’s why it had to be overthrown. You are hallucinating about the Galicians winning. It would be like saying that Clinton could stage a coup in 2016 because she ‘won the popular vote’.
The Galician-Kiev activists were funded and armed by foreign sponsors (US, Poland, UK…). Cookies don’t cost $5 billion that US admitted on spending to conquer Ukraine. Check out f..k-Europe-Nuland, she was very open and proud about it.
I don’t know and it was too long ago to care. Try the Waffen SS Balt grandpas, they get excited about it. It seemed a choice between Germany and Russia, I also recall that at least some Latvians were enthusiastic Bolshies and that the Baltics states were dictatorships before WW2. Why do you always avoid the context? (So was Poland in 1939 – it was am open dictatorship.)
The precedent was Nato bombing Serbia to force independence on a part of Serbia. It was an illegal use of force to change borders in Europe. Russians are simply doing the same, your convoluted excuses are irrelevant. What matters is the use of Nato force to change of borders – all else are subjective details. We don’t know which part of Serbia or Kosovo wanted independence – e.g. the Serb areas – there was no referendum, it was done by force. Nato did it first and never apologized. They did similar stuff later in Iraq (Kurdistan), Syria, Libya.
Kosovo started it. These are consequences of that crime. Today’s war is unthinkable without the Nato war in Kosovo. But with Kosovo it became almost inevitable. If that is not a precedent what would be? Where was “UN” and people like you at that time?
(Our resident Welsh twit, Philip Owen, was probably failing with Russian women at that time, he is still bitter.)
That Russia is losing to Ukraine is shocking, that Russia and Eastern Ukraine are losing to 'Galicia" is insane.
And yes, Lyman has fallen. Russia is being defeated on ground it most certainly wanted, even without the Ukrainians managing to spring a suprise.
Furthermore, Russia is not fighting NATO. Ukraine doesn't even have a proper air force.Replies: @Beckow
It popular among a larger part of the Ukrainian population than it was unpopular. In the 2012 election, the last prior to Maidan, the pro-Western parties won the popular vote. They came to power after Maidan.
Only one "hallucinating" (actually, lying) is you. Funded? Putin had just given Yanukovich's Ukraine a few $billion.
Armed? There were American weapons on Maidan? Proof please. $5 billion was total sum of aid given to Ukraine. It included stuff like fixing Chernobyl.
You are desperately trying to change the subject.
No American army imposed the Maidan on Ukraine. But Russian rule came to Kherson with Russian guns and tanks.
You claim there is no difference, because as we know you lie all the time. The precedent was NATO bombing Serbia so Serbia would be forced to allow the majority of Kosovo to what they wanted - to leave Serbia.
Crimea indeed followed that precedent.
NATO never took a piece of Serbia populated by Serbs and annexed it to another NATO country against the will of the Serbs living there. So Kherson is something very different.Replies: @Beckow
Don’t you believe that the covid vaccinations helped to dramatically increase the anti-bodies within your body against this possible fatal disease? Have you experienced any negative repercussions from taking these inoculations (you’ve taken at least two I would surmise)?
(Not 0.0 but 0 is for sure the nearest integer.)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36016361/
I had Covid since though, no big deal in my case. It possibly depends on the variant.
Ukrainian fighting in the beginning of the war won them a lot of time. And that part of fighting was done before the arrival of the more serious Western artillery. Then the world saw that it is worth helping them and did. One of the scenarios that my friend from the militia discussed with me is that, in the case of a Russian invasion, all our best troops could retreat Westwards, and only leave militia in place to harass the incoming Russians. Then the regular troops would come back with a counter offensive with Western troops. But that's when Russia could "escalate to de-escalate". The West largely agrees that this scenario needed to be avoided on the EU soil.
There is no doubt that Russia would try one way or another. It's all wargamed. Not immediately but over a longer period of time. Decades possibly. They will continue to do this until they're reformatted ideologically. Again, as I alluded, those troops would be decimated before the West had enough time to prepare and bring in more troops. The Ukrainians were able to buy themselves more time. They have more depth. Although, they fought successfully in Sumy, which is on the Russian border, so they showed us that one can fight effectively with limited depth. But we didn't really have that knowledge before February (and it was very costly both for the military and civilians). They are paying with their blood for these lessons. Of course, I support that, but I couldn't help noticing how both German and Russian sides yearn for liberals (or all kinds of appeasers) to be in charge in EE, but want nationalists in their own countries. It's normal and understandable and very primal - you want your enemies to be weaker. I have repeatedly stressed that this is not about something that happened a hundred yeas ago. You have a bias because the Unz forum tackles a lot of historical details. The issues are today. And what they have been directing at us for 30 years. I'm extremely tired of it. Life could've been much better without it and future generations should not be subjected to it. I understand this, this is similar to what the Russians were trying to do in the Baltic States (with the help of very meddlesome liberal Germans and Dutch, mind you). I can relate to your frustrations. In the EU laws, the status of a national minority typically is granted to a minority with very deep roots in a given country. If I understand this correctly, Poland wanted reciprocity just based on their recent immigration and I do agree that this may be a slippery slope since this could then be applied to any recent immigrant. While Poles in Germany should be respected, from my pov, Poland should focus on its own demographic situation instead. Poland should focus on repatriation not antagonizing Germany. They shouldn't use petty mechanisms like this to advance their positions somehow or try gain an upper hand here or there. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or inadvertent. I believe it can be either. I agree that it is a bit too aggressive but then I haven't delved into the Polish diaspora situation in Germany (don't know if they have any legitimate issues). Frankly, Poland should try to retain its people instead of ship them into Germany where they would be destined to be assimilated and then bicker. This is unnecessarily cruel. It can be an alliance when it comes to non-Europeans, but not so much during inter European spats, hahaha. Same old. It's the same patterns again, I can see why you don't want Russia to lose. Well, if a foreign affairs minister expresses such open musings... there could be something to it. I'm saying this because we had a similar pattern with Russia. Russia started doubting the fact of our occupation and that's when we threw the "reparations" document in their face. I think the MFA did that because there were no other means to counter Russia's rhetoric, so this may be similar, but it's just a guess. It's quite serious.
The truth is, the EC has been pressuring Poland and obviously there is something they feel uncomfortable about. But they should've been more careful about going this far.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
Maybe. Or maybe not. Couldn’t we Westerners please be left out of this fight to ideologically reformat the Russians? We already have plenty of ideological reformatting issues in our own societies. And we also had enough with 45 years of Cold War. It was so nice when the ideological struggle that kept us fearing Armageddon had finally evaporated.
I’m not sure that the current war is proof of your thesis either. Sure, Russians do have expansionist and revanchist tendencies but since the 90s it’s all been directed at their ethnic enclaves in the near abroad. The dissolution of the USSR was quite an exceptional event. Inevitably, some people ended up on the wrong side of the new borders and these situations, as we saw in Yugoslavia or in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, require plenty of tact and compromise to avoid conflicts. Instead of that, we Westerners always opted to support the anti-Russian side, Eastern Europeans displayed their own revanchist mindset and rushed to join NATO, and finally the Ukrainians bombed their own Russophone civilians while also threatening to encroach Russia as a new NATO member.
Everything is understandable, to one extent or the other. I know very well what it’s like to resent a bigger neighbor that oppressed your culture and made you join its decadence. And Putin’s invasion was a criminal act with no excuses. But it was not something that just came out of the blue, due purely to Russian perfidy. Everybody could have done a lot more to avoid getting here.
And, besides, you, Western Russophiles, have done exactly zero for the Russian nation. You spent years egging them on, helping build up their imaginary bubble of grandeur, insinuating that "the West is done", creating an alternative media mirage about how the West is so degenerate that it will never be able to defend itself so it's safe to present crazy ultimata and to go all in, and then when the calamity arrives, you present literally zero practical use to them. You want the Eastern Slavs to bear the brunt for furthering your delusional ideas of geopolitical role play. Where are the Russophiles now that Russian men are looking for asylum? What is going to happen to their women? Are you just going to swoop in like vultures again and snatch them up?
No, the Western so called Russophiles do not deserve a single inch of the Bearskin. Neither do the Western neocons or liberals for that matter. And do not bail the Russians out this time by sending them canned food or delivering IMF loans the way you did in the 90s, they need to go through this lesson themselves. I have already spoken as to what could've been done differently. It's not like I'm denying fault. I'm willing to take up some responsibility (the minimum), but so should everyone else.
Btw, I couldn't help but notice you mentioning in the previous thread that the Ukrainian tactical operations are performed by the British and that that's why they're successful.
Do not attempt to steal the Ukrainian victories from them!
Sure, the British might be helping, but the tactical planning is done by General Zaluzhniy. Obviously a very smart and creative man with a good team who deserves the credit. Give credit where it's due!Replies: @Mikel, @216
As for nukes, I think they'll only be used if Russia is on the verge of total defeat, because there would be a high risk of direct US intervention once the nuclear threshold has been crossed. Why, what's Germany going to do about it? Blow up American infrastructure in retaliation? Given that Germany has to be happy about every American LNG shipment it receives, the options for protest are limited. I'm sorry, but that attitude is just mental. I don't want to generalize, there are also a lot of positive experiences with Poles in Germany after all and not everything in Polish-German relations has been bad over the last 30 years, but the idea that something like this could be considered acceptable among EU members is just crazy.
There is however a third possibility that you didn't mention, that Ukraine did it on its own (though I'm not sure they could have done so, already hard to see how they would get hundreds of kilograms of explosives to the Baltic sea undetected). If so, it was a giant mistake that could backfire really badly once uncovered, because it would show Ukraine to be basically a gangster state cut from the same cloth as Russia and would totally undermine all the talk about Ukraine's European aspirations.Replies: @Beckow, @AP
I agree. It is a loss of $5 billion for Russia and $5 billion for Germany. They funded it 50-50. Russia has made $70 billion extra so far on the higher gas prices. For Germany it is a double loss: $5 billion plus the higher prices. I wonder if anyone will try to reclaim the pipes, or if there is insurance.
Ukies would have to do it with Poland with someone in Washington approving. US and Russia know who did it, the secondary players, Ukraine, Poland, Germany would not know unless they did it. US is keeping it hush-hush suggesting that they want the story to go away – the work is done, move on, nothing to see. Look at the likelihood in the situation, it tells us a lot.
It was another step on our journey to catastrophe. Franz Ferdinand turned out to be a metal pipe – it is nicely symbolic of our artificial age.
Monitor of Halls is a paid troll.
He and a bunch of others appeared here a week ago when the mobilization was announced. Best of all ignore him.
It does not make sense to argue with a troll.
That is an interesting linkage you propose.
Don’t know much about the pirate parties, but I’ve always thought of them as being indigenous, for the simple reason that the US is hyperzealous about copyright.
Of course, it is certainly in the realm of possibility that they could be backing them, knowing that they are losers.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/10/the-week-in-pictures-cat-5-bidenstorm-edition.php
PEACE 😇Replies: @songbird
In all seriousness, I believe the Swedes are too environmentally conscious to have pulled the trigger.
• They have sincerely believed, "THE END is a Decade Away!", for 5 decades.
• The world has literally ended 5 times on their watch.
• Humanity is 500% past the unrecoverable tipping point of planetary extinction.
This unparallel level of cultist zeal is amazingly dangerous.
PEACE 😇
Let’s all stop the pretense that half, or near half, of Ukraine is on Russia’s side.
That Russia is losing to Ukraine is shocking, that Russia and Eastern Ukraine are losing to ‘Galicia” is insane.
And yes, Lyman has fallen. Russia is being defeated on ground it most certainly wanted, even without the Ukrainians managing to spring a suprise.
Furthermore, Russia is not fighting NATO. Ukraine doesn’t even have a proper air force.
In your view, what is the size of the pro-Russian side? Based on the election results and census it was a clear majority in Donbas and most of the south-east, the areas that Russia actually claims.
You try to play this game of "Russia wanted everything! and since they only got 20%, they lost". That is nonsense, you are fighting a straw-man. Russia clearly wants two things: to absorb (protect?) the pro-Russian areas of Ukraine, and to keep Nato out of Ukraine. So far they are succeeding in both.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @sudden death
Many migrants probably don't even have the right mitochondria for dealing with a harsh winter, and I think many would be willing to leave in a hurry, especially if it were a bad winter, without heat. I used to have a black professor who wore gloves in April.
Of course, many seem to believe the opposite will happen. That it will just be an excuse for increasing progressive authoritarianism, through the use of smart meters and the like.Replies: @216
The Corona curveball was supposed to hearld in a new wave of border controls, but instead left technocrats in even greater levels of power, while “vaxports” were imposed on domestic life.
I don't get it. Nationalistic parties are consistently strong in Austria, the left is now sensible on immigration in Denmark, even Sweden has returned an almost patriotic government, but the AfD remains unable to achieve anything at all. Every country surrounding Germany is either getting its political activity together, or already has, and Germany goes nowhere.
Even Britain had Brexit, which suggests health, though it didn't work out as it might have.Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader, @songbird, @216
AFD polls in the 20s in East Germany, but much worse in West Germany.
It reminds one of the US “gender gap” in polling, which is really the “marriage gap”.
If AFD matched its Eastern total in the West, it would be more likely that they could get into government.
There may be a possibility Russia did it for some unfathomably bizarre reason, but none of the scenarios proposed so far make the slightest bit of sense. The winter looks like it will be a disaster in much of Europe (the head of Germany's Netzagentur has already stated that private households used too much gas for heating last week and that this can't be tolerated...looks quite possible that there'll be a real shortage in the 2nd half of winter), and winter 2023/24 (if we make it that far) will probably be even worse...there's simply no good reason for Russia to permanently remove the valuable bargaining chip of the NordStream pipelines. Nor does it even make much sense from a perspective of "spreading chaos" within Europe, since the "Open NorthStream 2" demonstrations have obviously become rather pointless now.
The obvious explanation is the US or some other NATO country did it. Or possibly Ukraine...supposedly the CIA warned Germany about a possible attack on NordStream, because they had intercepted Russian communications in which the Russians had mentioned Ukraine planning attacks on Western infrastructure and already renting a boat in Sweden for that purpose. Deliberate Russian disinformation? Maybe. But at some point such theories that deny the most plausible explanations for purely ideological reasons ("They couldn't have done it, because it's just not in their nature") become rather absurd. We already saw a lot of that regarding the assassination of Dugin's daughter and the shelling of the nuclear power plant, so it's starting to look like a pattern.Replies: @songbird, @Mikhail
Much better for Russia to have pipeline as a bargaining chip. Highly doubtful they could’ve pulled it off without getting caught.
Kadyrov is responding to Russia’s defeat on Lyman by calling for martial law and nukes. He also blames the fact the Russian troops were trapped on the General, but why was the General ordered to stay there another 24 hours so he’d be surrounded? Probably an order from the top, so Putin might save a little face.
Also, what government has someone like Kadyrov as the longest serving Federal Governor?
General Gurulev blames MoD.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_vrFpX0AUw2CV?format=png&name=small
Group "O" basically says Lapin was not responsible for the defense in the first place and was not far to the rear.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_zOiXWQAc8_X9?format=png&name=900x900
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the circular-firing-squad aspect of all this.
General Gurulev blames MoD rather than front commander.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_vrFpX0AUw2CV?format=png&name=small
Group "O" basically says Lapin was not responsible for the defense in the first place and was not far to the rear.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_zOiXWQAc8_X9?format=png&name=900x900
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the circular-firing-squad aspect of all this.
Maybe you ought to look at some epidemiology books. Our biggest health danger by two orders of magnitude is beer, soda pop, and salty snacks. The corona virus is a nothing burger.
(Not 0.0 but 0 is for sure the nearest integer.)
Don't know much about the pirate parties, but I've always thought of them as being indigenous, for the simple reason that the US is hyperzealous about copyright.
Of course, it is certainly in the realm of possibility that they could be backing them, knowing that they are losers.Replies: @Beckow
And the Pirates will never touch any copyrights. It is all talk. Look at Greens: they are in reality the most anti-environment and pro-war party. The ‘anti-corruption’ parties never touch the obvious oligarchic corruption, etc…
They always break their promises and carry out their threats. Even Trump kept the border open and cut taxes for his oligarch friends. All that matters are the results.
Excerpt - The Kiev regime and its backers have yet to see the considerably greater military resources that Russia can utilize. Based on all which has been said, I gather Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to be somewhere in the 30-60 thousand range, with Russia and just formally reunited with Russia rebels in the area of 10 to 15 thousand.
Somewhat reminded of the US Civil War.Replies: @Sean
Ukraine being devastated into giving up all territories Russia wants may or may not be within Russia’s conventional capability to bring about,’Tis beside the point. Lloyd Austin said America wants to get Russia to pour resources into the fighting in Ukraine until Putin has no significant invasion-level conventional military capability left at his disposal. That is US policy from the horse’s mouth.
While it may eventually get Ukraine to capitulate, doggedly deploying more and more powerful conventional forces against Ukraine in an end-gaining fashion is obtuse. A better stratagem is halting the war with a direct explicit theatre threat and possible use of thermonuclear weapon use; this is the only way Russia can now remain unbowed and avoid the fate that America has in store for it.
They did this because otherwise they would have been liable for the difference in cost between what they would have had to provide under contract and the what their contractors customers would end up paying without Russians supply.
Just like how an airline has to pay for your alterative flight, no matter how expensive, if they choose to cancel your original, but only need not charge you for the flight, if an unforseeable circumstance gets in the way.
In fact, Russia would have been liable for hundreds of billions and so it was certainly worth the lie, of inventing "unforseeable technical reasons", especially given the huge, vulnerable foreign exchange reserves currently frozen by those same customers.
But lies about "unforseeable technical reasons" can only be a temporary measure. Any court will eventuall disregard them and that $300 billion could be awarded to the jilted customers.
So suddenly an explosion happens!
And what do you know? Russia has an instant scripted response at all levels of its propaganda apparatus, trying to make additional benefit by blaming America and sowing discord in NATO. Meanwhile, the US response is disorganised, shocked and flabbergasted.
Now Russia might not have been lying about the "unforseeable technical reasons' and might simply have a propaganda apparatus that had an instant response to an "unforseeable event," all of that is possible.
But Russia certainly had more motive than the US. There was no risk to Russia from their action, and this US motive, of 5D chess against Germany, pre-supposes that Germany was about to make some sort of alliance with Russia, when Germany had just stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, and Scholz has been exceptionally clear for months about his intentions. In fact, the only thing that might have caused Scholz to make good with Russia would be something like the US blowing up a vital gas pipe!
And Putin just called Western European elites "totalitarian, despotic and apartheidistic," so he is obviously having a normal one, and would never blow up infrastructure in a European country anyway. Even though his talking heads on TV have repeatedly shouted into the camera that they will now have to deNazify Germany, liberate East Germany and nuke the country!
So they'd never create fictitious "unforseeable technical problems", nor blow up their own gas pipe for the same reason.
No way...Replies: @German_reader, @German_reader, @Yevardian, @Here Be Dragon
For the benefit of third parties.
The Russians did not shut the gas down.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was using the Siemens engine that had to undergo a scheduled maintenance in Canada. It was not returned to Russia and was not repaired as needed.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was using the Russian-made engine. The Russians offered to start using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline instead of the Nord Stream 1 but the EU did not let them.
The pipelines were blown up with underwater mining drones. The Swedes registered explosions of about 700 kg TNT.
Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians could have done that. Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians have technical capabilities of this kind.
Except for the U.S. no other nation had both the capabilities and the motivation to do that. The U.S. had conducted training excersices focused on mine warfare at the site of the explosions in summer. The U.S. Navy planes and helicopters were seen cruising above the site.
That is when the drones were used to place the explosives. These drones are controlled from the aircraft.
It is clear and obvious that the U.S. did that, and the presence of these trolls here arguing that it is improbable and that the Russians did it themselves proves that the U.S. did it.
The Russians could have continue to refuse to take the engines back claiming that the engines were not repaired as required or demanding that the engines were to be returned from Canada which required cancellation of the sanctions.
The Russians would have continue to insist on opening of the Nord Stream 2, which required cancellation of the sanctions as well. The revenues the Russians were getting from these pipelines were sufficient to finance the war.
The Russians had no motive and neither financial nor political interest to blow up their own pipelines.
The troll platoon here claiming the opposite should be ignored.
Interested to hear Robert Barnes on the Duran saying he knew people who explained how and who did it, even suggested they probably knew names of the people who did it. I note his friend Richard Baris was a Navy Seal a few years back.
The US has actually bragged about it now. Hope the Russians push to fix it, keeps it in the news and as leverage.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
Popular – of the people.
It popular among a larger part of the Ukrainian population than it was unpopular.
In the 2012 election, the last prior to Maidan, the pro-Western parties won the popular vote. They came to power after Maidan.
Only one “hallucinating” (actually, lying) is you.
Funded? Putin had just given Yanukovich’s Ukraine a few $billion.
Armed? There were American weapons on Maidan? Proof please.
$5 billion was total sum of aid given to Ukraine. It included stuff like fixing Chernobyl.
You are desperately trying to change the subject.
No American army imposed the Maidan on Ukraine. But Russian rule came to Kherson with Russian guns and tanks.
You claim there is no difference, because as we know you lie all the time.
The precedent was NATO bombing Serbia so Serbia would be forced to allow the majority of Kosovo to what they wanted – to leave Serbia.
Crimea indeed followed that precedent.
NATO never took a piece of Serbia populated by Serbs and annexed it to another NATO country against the will of the Serbs living there. So Kherson is something very different.
$5 billion was spent on Ukies until 2014 to fight Russia. You are free to subtract the few $100 millions for Chernobyl - it was still $4 billion plus. You lost, you are not very good with numbers. It is not. It is a precedent of a larger power taking by force a part of smaller country. Changing the borders by force. That was Kosovo, and that is what we see in Kherson, ipso facto a precedent. You are running away from the Nato Kosovo war like a scared puppy. I wonder why.
You know that Kosovo is a precedent and led to this war. In 2010 there was even a ruling in Hague about Kosovo specifically saying that a minority can vote for separation without approval from the whole country. Exactly that happened this month in some Ukrainian regions. The referendums passed. Are you going to go hysterical and yell that the babushkas were just scared?
Like all mid-wits you think that if you hide behind meaningless slogans you don't have to be consistent. You need to do better.Replies: @AP
That Russia is losing to Ukraine is shocking, that Russia and Eastern Ukraine are losing to 'Galicia" is insane.
And yes, Lyman has fallen. Russia is being defeated on ground it most certainly wanted, even without the Ukrainians managing to spring a suprise.
Furthermore, Russia is not fighting NATO. Ukraine doesn't even have a proper air force.Replies: @Beckow
Lyman is a small city of 10k that was only taken by Russians in July. Why are you so excited? I am still waiting for Kherson, Mariupol, Berdyansk – large strategic cities – to be taken. You have been promising it for over a month, so far nothing.
In your view, what is the size of the pro-Russian side? Based on the election results and census it was a clear majority in Donbas and most of the south-east, the areas that Russia actually claims.
You try to play this game of “Russia wanted everything! and since they only got 20%, they lost“. That is nonsense, you are fighting a straw-man. Russia clearly wants two things: to absorb (protect?) the pro-Russian areas of Ukraine, and to keep Nato out of Ukraine. So far they are succeeding in both.
Basically, how the Russians are so special that they can relate to every nation on the planet the way that others, who are petty bigots without an open & generous soul, cannot (including those in Cologne), but in the end those people will be so fragile and their "skeletons so easy to crush" with their gigantic & generous bear hugs.
Amazing style. Can't beat that. No, I love it. It's so much more refined and elegant than Zhirik and Solovyov. 😆
The more cautious approach should've started much, much earlier. I'd say as soon as after 1993. And on BOTH sides. Thanks for being candid. Well, in some ways, the multi-polar world has already been here for a while. If Ukraine continues to win, then Ukraine could become one such pole (of course, if they do the homework and are able to heal their wounds and to re-assemble their people).
How would you feel if someone from aside was telling your people which territory is or isn't realistically theirs and which territory (where their ancestors lived and their men bled over, where they had homes as recent as in February and where their family graves are) should or shouldn't be given to anybody? The logic of force is in play now. The Ukrainian men are enraged because Ukrainian children were murdered. Their rage is cold and calculating so they have higher odds at succeeding. See how you talk.... it's not that "you don't think". It's that, no, Russia doesn't have the legal right to Kherson according to the international law. Ok, I guess, you're just trying to have a cautious tone.
If you're going to use force, expect force in return. The Russians used to know that, they even have this martial game "Stenka na stenku" (where they split up in two groups and then run into each other and try to crush each other, I think it's a game where you harden your spirit but it's crazy). Yes, it's like the parents' generation, they actually lived in fear of a nuclear war. On both sides. Raises the question of whether some crazy old Veps should have access to nukes at all. Maybe nobody should? I understand, ultima ratio regis... but come on. It's a bit too much power. I was talking about the instrumental side of it, not saying those situations are comparable. It's what Poles do because they feel pressured by Germany. Because they don't really have any other serious leverage?Replies: @German_reader, @Bashibuzuk
Come LatW, you know well that there’s more to Aleksandr Blok than this. You just don’t understand the subtle and complex Russian art of self-derision. Something else we differ on from every other nation, something else that makes us outstandingly exceptional. 😋
(And thanks, but comparing me to Solovyov and Zhirinovskyi is way too flattering. 😉)
😁
In your view, what is the size of the pro-Russian side? Based on the election results and census it was a clear majority in Donbas and most of the south-east, the areas that Russia actually claims.
You try to play this game of "Russia wanted everything! and since they only got 20%, they lost". That is nonsense, you are fighting a straw-man. Russia clearly wants two things: to absorb (protect?) the pro-Russian areas of Ukraine, and to keep Nato out of Ukraine. So far they are succeeding in both.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @sudden death
I think the pre-war lines were reasonably accurate, though Russian sponsored administration in the Donbas was worse than even somewhere like Transniestria and the place was depopulating fast.
Ultimately, there was no more conflict and there wouldn’t have been conflict for a few years had Russia not sent its own troops in using disguise so many years before.
The Kharkhiv-Donetsk offensive is as impressive as retaking Kherson. Perhaps that’ll be next, or perhaps there’ll be another surprise.
NATO has never been more in Ukraine and the pro-Russian areas have never been worse for wear or less “protected.”
As for Putin wanting all of Ukraine, that is clear from the strategy, to his words, to the timing, to what has happened to Belarus etc.
But it doesn’t matter, Putin did not want what is happening, and now scumbags like Kadyrov are in public revolt. This is a catastrophe for Russia. Bungled from beginning to end, and it is only going to get worse, unless they withdraw now.
Better to withdraw yesterday than today, but better today than tomorrow.
Invading a sovereign democratic European (white) state is the worst idea in the world. The people there will defeat you. Don’t confuse low approval of the incumbent for low approval of the way the country is governed.
No one should ever try this again. No one should have ever tried it again. Now let’s hope this Russian disaster is over soon and Europe can get back to saving its European identity.
He stupidly thought that the rest of Ukraine (or at least most of it) would have been easy to take. Beckow and others here also assumed it - Zelensky would flee, soldiers would mass surrender, Russian rule meant greater prosperity, etc. etc. I recall Beckow once arguing that because Russia would win anyways, and fighting it would be grounds for arrest by the new authorities, the Ukrainian troops would refuse to fight so they wouldn't get arrested. And me writing from America had no idea what Ukrainians would do. Brilliant!
So here we are now. There is desperate talk of nukes from Russia (Kadyrov had been so boastful before, now he is begging for their use), because it looks increasingly likely that Russia can't win a conventional war. Russia is down to controlling about 15% of Ukrainian territory from 20%, with no gains in months. Mass increase in untrained conscripts with no motivation won't compensate for better and more weapons Ukraine is getting in the meantime, which Ukraine will use to eliminate those conscripts. It will perhaps slow down Ukrainian offensives, and will just make the kill ratio more in Ukraine's favor than it would have otherwise been. And now I guess more Slavs from Russia will be killed than had been killed before. A lesson that sadly has to be relearned from time to time.Replies: @Sean
All antibodies and all viruses are not created equal. I believe that Covid vaccines might well lead to ADE (Antibody Dependent Enhancement) of the ensuing Covid infections.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36016361/
I had Covid since though, no big deal in my case. It possibly depends on the variant.
It popular among a larger part of the Ukrainian population than it was unpopular. In the 2012 election, the last prior to Maidan, the pro-Western parties won the popular vote. They came to power after Maidan.
Only one "hallucinating" (actually, lying) is you. Funded? Putin had just given Yanukovich's Ukraine a few $billion.
Armed? There were American weapons on Maidan? Proof please. $5 billion was total sum of aid given to Ukraine. It included stuff like fixing Chernobyl.
You are desperately trying to change the subject.
No American army imposed the Maidan on Ukraine. But Russian rule came to Kherson with Russian guns and tanks.
You claim there is no difference, because as we know you lie all the time. The precedent was NATO bombing Serbia so Serbia would be forced to allow the majority of Kosovo to what they wanted - to leave Serbia.
Crimea indeed followed that precedent.
NATO never took a piece of Serbia populated by Serbs and annexed it to another NATO country against the will of the Serbs living there. So Kherson is something very different.Replies: @Beckow
Popular is ‘for people‘? How profound. Now you literally sound like a 9-year old, just spouting shallow nonsense.
$5 billion was spent on Ukies until 2014 to fight Russia. You are free to subtract the few $100 millions for Chernobyl – it was still $4 billion plus. You lost, you are not very good with numbers.
It is not. It is a precedent of a larger power taking by force a part of smaller country. Changing the borders by force. That was Kosovo, and that is what we see in Kherson, ipso facto a precedent. You are running away from the Nato Kosovo war like a scared puppy. I wonder why.
You know that Kosovo is a precedent and led to this war. In 2010 there was even a ruling in Hague about Kosovo specifically saying that a minority can vote for separation without approval from the whole country. Exactly that happened this month in some Ukrainian regions. The referendums passed. Are you going to go hysterical and yell that the babushkas were just scared?
Like all mid-wits you think that if you hide behind meaningless slogans you don’t have to be consistent. You need to do better.
You lied about it being a coup when instead it was a popular (of the people) uprising involving 100,000s of people and supported by about half the country, with the government being supported by about 1/4 of the population, who lived far from the capital.
It was not some coup with generals or politicians taking over. That was the total sum of all aid of all kinds. Chernobyl, hospitals, scholarships, etc. etc. Try not to lie so much. You claim that forcing a county to give up a territory where 90% of the population belongs to different and hostile ethnicity is not different from a country grabbing and annexing territory where 80+% of the population belongs to the ethnicity of the country that has been attacked and whose population hasn't shown any wish to join the invading country.
Just demonstrates your mendacity, nothing else. By that logic there is no difference between what Germany did in the mid 20th century and what was done to Germany in the mid 20th century. Changing borders by force. All the same, according to Beckow. Germany as much of a victim as everyone else.Replies: @Beckow
As for nukes, I think they'll only be used if Russia is on the verge of total defeat, because there would be a high risk of direct US intervention once the nuclear threshold has been crossed. Why, what's Germany going to do about it? Blow up American infrastructure in retaliation? Given that Germany has to be happy about every American LNG shipment it receives, the options for protest are limited. I'm sorry, but that attitude is just mental. I don't want to generalize, there are also a lot of positive experiences with Poles in Germany after all and not everything in Polish-German relations has been bad over the last 30 years, but the idea that something like this could be considered acceptable among EU members is just crazy.
There is however a third possibility that you didn't mention, that Ukraine did it on its own (though I'm not sure they could have done so, already hard to see how they would get hundreds of kilograms of explosives to the Baltic sea undetected). If so, it was a giant mistake that could backfire really badly once uncovered, because it would show Ukraine to be basically a gangster state cut from the same cloth as Russia and would totally undermine all the talk about Ukraine's European aspirations.Replies: @Beckow, @AP
If Putin made the decision to do things that would likely cause a permanent (or decades-long) boycott such as annexation or use of nukes than there is nothing lost for him by blowing up the pipelines, and some potential gain if he can pin it on the Americans, Poles or Ukrainians.
A rift in the transatlantic alliance is something America would not want but something that has been a Russian goal for many years.
I think if Poland did it and gets caught it will just say Germany has no right to complain because World War II, and Germany owes them a lot of money anyways. You don’t think they would pay that card, if they did it and got caught?
This would be great for Russia, which is why it planted the possibility several weeks ago when the CIA could hear it and transmit it to the Germans.
I think Ukraine is too dependent on all of the West due risk such an act. Poland, OTOH, already is in NATO and the EU and is not afraid to insult Germany in various ways.
Overall I would place greater odds of Russia doing it than Poland. Possibility of USA doing it, but lower, and possibility of Ukraine doing it not zero but lower still. We don’t know and will not know, probably.
I suspect even a lot of PiS voters would be embarrassed by something like that. Sure, it might be possible that Russia deliberately planted such disinformation in communications they knew would be intercepted, I alluded to that possibility in my previous comment. If so, it would be a genius move, and given the levels of competence shown by Russia in this war so far, I'm not sure one can regard it as likely. Not impossible though.
In any case, there should be a thorough investigation, since it's very serious business. But I suspect there won't be one, given the potential for embarrassing results.Replies: @Wokechoke
Also, what government has someone like Kadyrov as the longest serving Federal Governor?
https://twitter.com/rbukovansky/status/1576228061246558208?s=20&t=_We6Fb56E4P307ORLToGmwReplies: @keypusher, @keypusher
Two rejoinders, courtesy of @GeromanAT on Twitter.
General Gurulev blames MoD.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_vrFpX0AUw2CV?format=png&name=small
Group “O” basically says Lapin was not responsible for the defense in the first place and was not far to the rear.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_zOiXWQAc8_X9?format=png&name=900×900
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying the circular-firing-squad aspect of all this.
Also, what government has someone like Kadyrov as the longest serving Federal Governor?
https://twitter.com/rbukovansky/status/1576228061246558208?s=20&t=_We6Fb56E4P307ORLToGmwReplies: @keypusher, @keypusher
Pushback against Kadyrov, courtesy of @GeromanAT on Twitter.
General Gurulev blames MoD rather than front commander.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_vrFpX0AUw2CV?format=png&name=small
Group “O” basically says Lapin was not responsible for the defense in the first place and was not far to the rear.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd_zOiXWQAc8_X9?format=png&name=900×900
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying the circular-firing-squad aspect of all this.
$5 billion was spent on Ukies until 2014 to fight Russia. You are free to subtract the few $100 millions for Chernobyl - it was still $4 billion plus. You lost, you are not very good with numbers. It is not. It is a precedent of a larger power taking by force a part of smaller country. Changing the borders by force. That was Kosovo, and that is what we see in Kherson, ipso facto a precedent. You are running away from the Nato Kosovo war like a scared puppy. I wonder why.
You know that Kosovo is a precedent and led to this war. In 2010 there was even a ruling in Hague about Kosovo specifically saying that a minority can vote for separation without approval from the whole country. Exactly that happened this month in some Ukrainian regions. The referendums passed. Are you going to go hysterical and yell that the babushkas were just scared?
Like all mid-wits you think that if you hide behind meaningless slogans you don't have to be consistent. You need to do better.Replies: @AP
It’s not profound at all, that you can’t figure it out (or pretend not to) is your problem.
You lied about it being a coup when instead it was a popular (of the people) uprising involving 100,000s of people and supported by about half the country, with the government being supported by about 1/4 of the population, who lived far from the capital.
It was not some coup with generals or politicians taking over.
That was the total sum of all aid of all kinds. Chernobyl, hospitals, scholarships, etc. etc. Try not to lie so much.
You claim that forcing a county to give up a territory where 90% of the population belongs to different and hostile ethnicity is not different from a country grabbing and annexing territory where 80+% of the population belongs to the ethnicity of the country that has been attacked and whose population hasn’t shown any wish to join the invading country.
Just demonstrates your mendacity, nothing else.
By that logic there is no difference between what Germany did in the mid 20th century and what was done to Germany in the mid 20th century. Changing borders by force. All the same, according to Beckow. Germany as much of a victim as everyone else.
That would be a laughable argument even by PiS standards. “Hey, we’re entitled to blow up a critical part of energy infrastructure that could potentially be useful for all of central Europe because of what your great-grandparents did 80 years ago. Oh, btw when is our next batch of EU money coming?”.
I suspect even a lot of PiS voters would be embarrassed by something like that.
Sure, it might be possible that Russia deliberately planted such disinformation in communications they knew would be intercepted, I alluded to that possibility in my previous comment. If so, it would be a genius move, and given the levels of competence shown by Russia in this war so far, I’m not sure one can regard it as likely. Not impossible though.
In any case, there should be a thorough investigation, since it’s very serious business. But I suspect there won’t be one, given the potential for embarrassing results.
What is out of question is that we do have a clueless idiot here.
The report said “электронные пуски ракет” – i.e. not a real launch but an imitation. It is a training exercise. The report said “по наземным целям, имитирующим средства воздушного нападения” – i.e. the target were not real but emulated.
You do not think that for an exercise an actual cruise missile would be used as a target, and an actual S-300 missile would be wasted for training?
Read that article again.
“В ходе учения расчеты и подразделения управления совершили марш в район проведения условных пусков ракет.”
“Условный пуск” – i.e. simulated launch, or “электронный пуск” – i.e. electronic launch is an exercise when a special device is used to create a fake target which appears on the radar and the crew conducts an imitation of a launch, being in such fashion trained to use the electronic equipment.
Read the article on that particular S-300 model.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1-300%D0%92
“Подрыв БЧ радиокомандный” – that is the crew triggers the missile explosion with a radio signal.
“Зона поражения аэродинамических целей: по высоте — 0,025-30 км. Границы зоны эффективного действия: нижняя — 0,025/1 км.”
The lowest altitude of the effective range of these missiles is 25 m.
Once again let us imagine that the Russians got a wrong intel about a group of saboteurs or something, disguised as civilians and moving in civilian vehicles – a possible scenario.
What would the Russians do then?
First of all there are combat helicopters. There are planes. Then there are howitzers. There are rocket launchers, such as TOS or Smerch. The Russians would have had something of that kind at hand and use it.
There is no scenario whatsoever when the Russians would have sent, as the Ukrainians claim, 16 so expensive S-300 missiles against a low value target – even if that was possible.
And even if the Russians for whatever reason did not have another means to attack – which is not possible – these S-300 missiles are radar-guided and the radar has a limitation of 25 m. It does not see below 25 m.
As we can see from photo at least one S-300 rocket itself did hit just the dirt, but subsequent explosive fragmentation was enough to pierce nearby civilian cars.
In your view, what is the size of the pro-Russian side? Based on the election results and census it was a clear majority in Donbas and most of the south-east, the areas that Russia actually claims.
You try to play this game of "Russia wanted everything! and since they only got 20%, they lost". That is nonsense, you are fighting a straw-man. Russia clearly wants two things: to absorb (protect?) the pro-Russian areas of Ukraine, and to keep Nato out of Ukraine. So far they are succeeding in both.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @sudden death
However if we take schizo-RF official logic at face value, then Lyman is the first RF bordertown which is captured by fighting UA offensive, and relatively even without much trouble, inspite of all the previous nuclear hissing, cause Lyman is part of DNR, not Kharkov oblast.
Kiev refused to accept it and said that they will reclaim the areas by force. Germany and France refused to implement Minsk that they guaranteed. For 8 years. Civilians were still getting killed by Ukie bombing (as they are now). That’s why there is a war.
Not even close. Mostly rural districts with Ukrainian speaking population that Russia has no other than security interest in. Kherson would be strategic.
That simply not true. Nato has been run out of Ukraine for good, no more bases or talk (Sullivan just said ‘not a right time) – a complete turn-around from January when the Norwegian moron said ‘it is our business, it will happen, shut up Russia!.
Security declines during any war. But one can see that the Russian population will eventually be safe. That was not the case before the war – Zelko openly said that they would be expelled.
Nato did it in Serbia and separated Kosovo by force. The ‘worst idea’? So why were they celebrating themselves?
Where do you want Russia to withdraw? Would the Russian people living there be expelled or killed? Like in Odessa? This is not a joke, the violence by Kiev was quite extreme and it was neither punished nor even noticed in the West. For that reason I doubt Russia could withdraw.
Kharkiv Offensive and capture of Izium and Lyman makes it a lot harder for Russia to take the rest of Donetsk oblast. They also open up Luhansk oblast for further attack. Capturing Kherson would be more significant but "not even close" isn't accurate. Ukraine is now flooded with NATO weapons, there are volunteers from NATO countries, and massive training on NATO equipment by Ukrainian soldiers. True of the state (so technically you are correct - very rare of you) but not of ethnic Serbia, the lands inhabited by ethnic Serbs, which is probably what "Monitor of Halls" meant.
NATO attacked Serbia but did not invade it.
I'll remind you of the definition of invasion:
"an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity"
There were NATO troops in friendly Kosovo that was illegally removed form the Serbian state but not in Serbia itself. I suspect that if NATO had dared to invade Serbia it would have experienced a lot of bloodshed, as Russians have as a result of invading Ukraine.
Putin could have just annexed what he already had in Donbas and there would have been no wider war. Ukraine wouldn’t have attacked Crimea or Donbas-as-Russian territory.
He stupidly thought that the rest of Ukraine (or at least most of it) would have been easy to take. Beckow and others here also assumed it – Zelensky would flee, soldiers would mass surrender, Russian rule meant greater prosperity, etc. etc. I recall Beckow once arguing that because Russia would win anyways, and fighting it would be grounds for arrest by the new authorities, the Ukrainian troops would refuse to fight so they wouldn’t get arrested. And me writing from America had no idea what Ukrainians would do. Brilliant!
So here we are now. There is desperate talk of nukes from Russia (Kadyrov had been so boastful before, now he is begging for their use), because it looks increasingly likely that Russia can’t win a conventional war. Russia is down to controlling about 15% of Ukrainian territory from 20%, with no gains in months. Mass increase in untrained conscripts with no motivation won’t compensate for better and more weapons Ukraine is getting in the meantime, which Ukraine will use to eliminate those conscripts. It will perhaps slow down Ukrainian offensives, and will just make the kill ratio more in Ukraine’s favor than it would have otherwise been. And now I guess more Slavs from Russia will be killed than had been killed before.
A lesson that sadly has to be relearned from time to time.
Unless you are in poverty there are enemies in your zip code. If you are lucky none of them are blood relatives. That guy 3 levels up in your corporate ladder that your boss is expected to emulate?
He is your enemy. Chinese philosophy is made for time like this. Did you know that the highest God in Daoism is Polaris? The top seven demons are the stars in the Big Dipper. It's far better than Star Trek.Replies: @S
No, I didn’t know that about Polaris, the Big Dipper, and Daoism. But, now I do.
Thaaannks. 😀
If you get any good pre 1960 ethnography from China they explain this in the first chapter. The first time I read it I found it a big surprise. Levenda thinks he might be the first American guy to ever figure this out but in fairness to him
1. I didn't know it either when I read Levenda's book;
2. Who the hell reads old ethnographies from China?Replies: @S
True. Makes one wonder if Russia is setting them up – “you have now invaded RF!” They also claim that Ukies lost 200 soldiers in Lyman and that Russians withdrew with no losses. I am sure Kiev will claim the opposite.
It is refreshing to see the mentality of “we are winners! they die!” None of the silly Western victimhood where they would do the opposite: ‘they killed more of us and people of color suffered more! pay us!‘
You lied about it being a coup when instead it was a popular (of the people) uprising involving 100,000s of people and supported by about half the country, with the government being supported by about 1/4 of the population, who lived far from the capital.
It was not some coup with generals or politicians taking over. That was the total sum of all aid of all kinds. Chernobyl, hospitals, scholarships, etc. etc. Try not to lie so much. You claim that forcing a county to give up a territory where 90% of the population belongs to different and hostile ethnicity is not different from a country grabbing and annexing territory where 80+% of the population belongs to the ethnicity of the country that has been attacked and whose population hasn't shown any wish to join the invading country.
Just demonstrates your mendacity, nothing else. By that logic there is no difference between what Germany did in the mid 20th century and what was done to Germany in the mid 20th century. Changing borders by force. All the same, according to Beckow. Germany as much of a victim as everyone else.Replies: @Beckow
You just cannot address the Kosovo precedent. Thank you for conceding the point.
Your numbers prove my points. If you have half-the-population support and overthrow the elected government it is a coup. Period. Imagine if that happened in Washington after half the population voted for Trump. Even demonstrations were criminalized.
And money for scholarships? for god sake, are you that naive? $5 billion minus some small change was spent on grabbing Ukraine. Now the investments are being tested in an actual war – and so far the Galicians are coming up short. But maybe a few thousand more dead will do the trick.
The estimates show ratio of 4 or 5 to 1 in terms of Ukie casualties vs. Russian. Some think it is closer to 10 to 1. Your hallucinations change nothing about it. Ukies retook 2-3% of the previously lost 20% and not a single major city. Kiev is losing the war.
Also your maps are wrong. See below.
https://twitter.com/PCOwen_a/status/1575964669612736514?s=20&t=Is2tN2vn3XukFXNWGyPh-wReplies: @Here Be Dragon
The largest nationality on your map does not correlate with the preferred language which people actually speak. Here is the map based on the most recent Ukrainian research.
The blue regions are where most people prefer to speak Russian. The numbers are the percentage of the people who prefer to speak Russian.
The data is taken from the official Ukrainian statistics.
П’яте всеукраїнське муніципальне опитування
https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/fifth_municipal_survey_september_2019_ua_final_12-5-2019.pdf
Page 249.
Even if it was a “choice between Germany and Russia”, it doesn’t mean something like that should be done to Ukraine.
Beckow, you go on and on using these examples, but please put them in context. The grandfathers were Legionaries, SS is an organization of its own that had very high acceptance standards so be careful throwing this title around and a huge part of Legionaries were mobilized ILLEGALLY. It is illegal to conscript men in occupied territories under the human rights conventions (so Moscow is breaking rules now by mobilizing Ukrainians in Donbas and Kherson, essentially forcing Ukrainians to shoot other Ukrainians which is insanely cruel and not unlike what happened in these countries in WW2 due to the brutal occupations from both sides, same playbook).
Yes, some Latvians were Bolshes because Latvia urbanized too rapidly and they didn’t want to work 12 days a week in the factory or be bossed around by the Germans. Many other Latvians were anti-Bolshevik and fought them in 1920 and expelled them from the country. In 1940, for the majority that ideology was completely alien.
And many other nationalities were in a similar situation after the break up of the Russian Empire and joined the Reds. Notably, the Finns saved Lenin, literally guarded him in a camp in the woods (without their help he’d be eaten by mosquitos there). Countless Germans were Reds at that time and before even. Before the Russian revolutionaries, there was a whole wave of rebellion in Russia created by the so called narodniks, yes, they were different than the Reds but they assassinated the Tsar. All of this says there were deep reasons in Russia for the rise of the Reds that have little to do with Latvians.
And, no, the Baltic States were not dictatorships before the war, but relatively benign autocracies. Especially compared to the other countries that were touched by the wave of authoritarianism at that time.
(And thanks, but comparing me to Solovyov and Zhirinovskyi is way too flattering. 😉)
https://www.meme-arsenal.com/memes/95ffbb3abc147640a4f3165764f34f1b.jpg
https://youtu.be/uzoedbi4b9I
😁Replies: @LatW
Well, you’re right, I should ease up. 😊 But what the poem said is true either way…
Oh, I would’ve preferred your type of musings as “Russian propaganda” way more, but I must admit that the two of the above are highly entertaining. Oh, the laughs we’ve gotten out of Zhirik over the years…
Aleksandr Blok is certainly an excellent example of the Russian Silver Age.
https://allpoetry.com/The-Scythians
I would also suggest having a look at Ivanov :
Disintegration of the Atom https://g.co/kgs/n3u1FJ
I remember reading these lines when I was younger and being completely overwhelmed with their meaning: There is no Nihilism like Russian one. This is yet again something completely exceptional. 😉Replies: @LatW, @LatW
Is AP really an idiot? Well, if you know him for years, then you will notice some things. AP doesn't only write this kind of idiocy, but also sometimes very accurate and true statements, that can make us seem to appear as the idiots. Maybe he is smarter than the normal people here. For example, he is the only person in this forum who knew how the war would be. So, in some ways, he's more accurate than much more sensible writing people here. I will assume he has more interesting insights than I can. Why was he saying how good is this kind of hedonistic, self-interested government we've had in the last 30 years. If there was a government which prioritized the air force or even technology, science, logistics, education and industrial power, then Ukraine's army could have been mostly destroyed by now. For different reasons, I had been believing that Latin American style of government prioritization is not the worst situation, as I assume people who enjoy these things wouldn't crash the plane and kill all the passengers. I would assume if you were planning for large wars, you would invest in the basis of national power, instead of asset stripping and using the country's wealth in a hedonistic and short-term way. Although history of 2022 showed unfortunately that you can have a large war, without the intention for a large war, only a short-term military operation.Replies: @Yevardian, @Bashibuzuk, @Here Be Dragon
He is not an idiot, he is a neurotic. A serious neurosis makes a person think idiotic thoughts when particular emotional content is affected. Such a person can be normal in most areas of life and even more successful than normal people. Yet as soon as his neurotic side is awakened his thinking becomes pathological and irrational.
Such a neurosis is sometimes described as latent schizophrenia.
I have spent the last 3 or 4 months in discussion with that gentleman and have not seen him make accurate and true statements – at least in conversations with me.
Though who knows what Dmitry can imply by that?
Dmitry himself becomes irrational and weird once the conversation touches upon Russia. He believes that T-14 Armata is a fake tank made of sheet aluminum and that Russia has produced not more than 10 T-90 tanks since February. He said he came to these conclusions reading between the lines.
He also believes the Soviet Union was a police state run by the KGB.
So who knows what he meant by accurate and true statements. This forum is full of cuckoos.
Sour grapes but it’s good that you admit that these areas occupied by Russia and planned to be part of Russia forever are Ukrainian-speaking.
Kharkiv Offensive and capture of Izium and Lyman makes it a lot harder for Russia to take the rest of Donetsk oblast. They also open up Luhansk oblast for further attack. Capturing Kherson would be more significant but “not even close” isn’t accurate.
Ukraine is now flooded with NATO weapons, there are volunteers from NATO countries, and massive training on NATO equipment by Ukrainian soldiers.
True of the state (so technically you are correct – very rare of you) but not of ethnic Serbia, the lands inhabited by ethnic Serbs, which is probably what “Monitor of Halls” meant.
NATO attacked Serbia but did not invade it.
I’ll remind you of the definition of invasion:
“an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity”
There were NATO troops in friendly Kosovo that was illegally removed form the Serbian state but not in Serbia itself. I suspect that if NATO had dared to invade Serbia it would have experienced a lot of bloodshed, as Russians have as a result of invading Ukraine.
The French Revolution was orchestrated by London bankers. Some of them were Jews. They all were freemasons. : )Replies: @Bashibuzuk
The best part of Foucault’s Pendulum was Umberto Eco imagining a thoroughly Westernized Brazilian girlfriend who despite being an Atheist and working in academia ends up unexpectedly channeling some Candomble “deity” during a trance induced through music and dance at a ceremony.
He stupidly thought that the rest of Ukraine (or at least most of it) would have been easy to take. Beckow and others here also assumed it - Zelensky would flee, soldiers would mass surrender, Russian rule meant greater prosperity, etc. etc. I recall Beckow once arguing that because Russia would win anyways, and fighting it would be grounds for arrest by the new authorities, the Ukrainian troops would refuse to fight so they wouldn't get arrested. And me writing from America had no idea what Ukrainians would do. Brilliant!
So here we are now. There is desperate talk of nukes from Russia (Kadyrov had been so boastful before, now he is begging for their use), because it looks increasingly likely that Russia can't win a conventional war. Russia is down to controlling about 15% of Ukrainian territory from 20%, with no gains in months. Mass increase in untrained conscripts with no motivation won't compensate for better and more weapons Ukraine is getting in the meantime, which Ukraine will use to eliminate those conscripts. It will perhaps slow down Ukrainian offensives, and will just make the kill ratio more in Ukraine's favor than it would have otherwise been. And now I guess more Slavs from Russia will be killed than had been killed before. A lesson that sadly has to be relearned from time to time.Replies: @Sean
I think it depends of what country’s standpoint you are looking at it from. Americans are glad at what is happing to the Russians, but the Ukrainian sufferings are really severe even though they are doing remarkable well in the war relative to what expectations were originally.
Putin was surprised it was so difficult the original operational objective had to be given up as impossible, yet none of the problems have made him ask for terms.
He is not going to be overthrown, drop dead, or run out of troops or firepower to use. He seems to think its all worth it, suggesting in the final analysis his aim is less to win territory (annexed land does not become so officially until the 5th of October) for Russia than to, however blunderingly, take a heavy toll on Ukraine for defying Russia since 2014.
https://i.postimg.cc/DwLDM6hB/Ukraine-and-the-Russian-language.png
The blue regions are where most people prefer to speak Russian. The numbers are the percentage of the people who prefer to speak Russian.The data is taken from the official Ukrainian statistics. П'яте всеукраїнське муніципальне опитування
https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/fifth_municipal_survey_september_2019_ua_final_12-5-2019.pdfPage 249.Replies: @AP, @Philip Owen
Thanks for the map. It is a good one.
However you misrepresent it, as one would expect.
The map only shows the language of the people in the oblast centers – the provincial capitals, the most urban population. It does not show the language of the smaller towns and the rural areas in those provinces. As a result the map overestimates the level of Russian usage in Ukraine.
But it’s still a very nice map, for what it shows.
Interesting to see that in the city of Kiev, preference for Russian language has declined to 69%, it had been 80% to 90% for a long time. This war will accelerate the process everywhere that Russia fails to take and hold.
And Poltava, homeland of Kotliarevsky, remains a bastion of Ukrainian-speakers east of the Dnipro river.
Of course, preferred language doesn’t equal political loyalty. Otherwise Dubliners are occupied by Ireland and want to be liberated by the English.
https://i.postimg.cc/5tb12NMV/Ukrainian-and-Russian-in-Ukraine.png
Here is a table based on the data of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology from 2019. The data was collected from respondents living in 130 settlements in all areas of Ukraine. It therefore included the small towns and villages.
https://i.postimg.cc/g2B5fzks/Ukrainian-and-Russian-in-Ukraine-KIIS-2019.png
Thoughts and views on teaching the Russian language
https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=832
Does not look much different to me. Unlike the Ukrainians those people do indeed belong to a different ethnic group. The Dubliners are not English.
The Ukrainians who speak Russian at home are not a different ethnic group. These are the Russian people.Replies: @AP
One of the best ways to get a feel of a culture is to read their poetry.
Aleksandr Blok is certainly an excellent example of the Russian Silver Age.
https://allpoetry.com/The-Scythians
I would also suggest having a look at Ivanov :
Disintegration of the Atom https://g.co/kgs/n3u1FJ
I remember reading these lines when I was younger and being completely overwhelmed with their meaning:
There is no Nihilism like Russian one. This is yet again something completely exceptional. 😉
I found an audio book, a bit dark and very romantic which I like a lot. I like this one in particular, so full of longing... Только темная роза качнется,
Лепестки осыпая на грудь.
Только сонная вечность проснется
Для того, чтобы снова уснуть.Паруса уплывают на север,
Поезда улетают на юг,
Через звезды, и пальмы, и клевер,
Через горе и счастье, мой друг.Все равно – не протягивай руки,
Все равно – ничего не спасти.
Только синие волны разлуки,
Только синее слово «прости».И рассеется дым паровоза,
И плеснет, исчезая, весло...
Только вечность, как темная роза,
В мировое осыпется зло.And another, somewhat disturbing poem by him but again, one can relate to his longing, so definitely will try to read some more. Мне больше не страшно. Мне томно.
Я медленно в пропасть лечу
И вашей России не помню
И помнить её не хочу.И не отзываются дрожью
Банальной и сладкой тоски
Поля с колосящейся рожью,
Берёзки, дымки, огоньки...Replies: @Bashibuzuk
черную пустоту, и в ней, как беглую молнию, непостижимую суть жизни. Тысяча
безымянных, безответных вопросов, на мгновение освещаемых беглым огнем и
сейчас же поглощаемых тьмой."Interesting concept - "мировое уродство". Kind of existentially present and overwhelming yet intangible. You can feel the influences of existentialism very well in this piece. It reminded me a little of the work of another nihilist, Emil Cioran's "The Heights of Despair". Some of his emotions being separated from Russia are reflected here: Россия счастие. Россия свет.
А, может быть, России вовсе нет.И над Невой закат не догорал,
И Пушкин на снегу не умирал,И нет ни Петербурга, ни Кремля -
Одни снега, снега, поля, поля...Снега, снега, снега... А ночь долга,
И не растают никогда снега.Снега, снега, снега... А ночь темна,
И никогда не кончится она.Россия тишина. Россия прах.
А, может быть, Россия – только страх.Веревка, пуля, ледяная тьма
И музыка, сводящая с ума.Веревка, пуля, каторжный рассвет
Над тем, чему названья в мире нет.I wonder if certain vibes, similar to those experienced by this poet as he went into emigrated n 1922, will be floating around Russia in not too distant future. Thank you for this recommendation, I feel enriched. (Btw, he was born very close to where I used to spend summers as a child.)Replies: @Bashibuzuk
I suspect even a lot of PiS voters would be embarrassed by something like that. Sure, it might be possible that Russia deliberately planted such disinformation in communications they knew would be intercepted, I alluded to that possibility in my previous comment. If so, it would be a genius move, and given the levels of competence shown by Russia in this war so far, I'm not sure one can regard it as likely. Not impossible though.
In any case, there should be a thorough investigation, since it's very serious business. But I suspect there won't be one, given the potential for embarrassing results.Replies: @Wokechoke
This sort of thing is exactly how Poles think though. A nation of stinkers.
I did, for the eighth or whatever time:
“You claim that forcing a country to give up a territory where 90% of the population belongs to different and hostile ethnicity is not different from a country grabbing and annexing territory where 80+% of the population belongs to the ethnicity of the country that has been attacked and whose population hasn’t shown any wish to join the invading country.”
There is no Kosovo precedent for what Russia has done in Kherson: invaded and annexed a territory populated by the ethnic group from whose state it was taken. The last time this was done in Europe was the 1940s.
Britannica knows the English meaning:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/coup-detat
Unlike a revolution, which is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic, and political change, a coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel.
::::::::::::
It was a revolution rather than a coup. A Revolution supported by the majority in the western and central parts of the country, including the capital. Unless you think that what happened throughout Eastern Europe around 1990 was a series of coups?
Really, you are dishonest in almost everything you say, as usual.
If Trump were overthrown by some generals in cooperation with the FBI and some Democratic party bigshots in the Senate it would be a coup. If he were toppled by a mass popular revolt in the eastern and northern parts of the USA including the capital it would be a revolution (followed, perhaps, by a civil war).
You like to pretend to be stupid (part of your dishonesty) so you will not acknowledge that.
It is still possible, if Russia can stop losing, that they could agree to peace along pre-war lines with Ukraine. Not going to happen. There's no upside to Russia using a nuke, and endless downside. Even among the most sycophantic Putin shills, I doubt you can find any who would support such a thing. Or maybe you can, some of them are insane.
Mikhail, Gerrard, HereBeDragon, would you wonderful specimens continue to support Putin if he nuked Ukraine?
Let's say if Ukraine continued to rout the Russian army but never posed a genuine threat to the globally-recognised borders of Russia?
Would you still cheerlead this East Slavic blood sacrifice if the ritual were performed under a cloud of radioactive dust?
If Russia can't have Ukraine, would you really demand it be turned into nuclear wasteland?Replies: @German_reader, @Here Be Dragon
I do not support Putin. He is a weak and rather stupid person. I never though he was good as the president, and now with the loss of $300 billion of the national reserves he proved to be unfit for this role whatsoever.
But I support the war because I do not like what has been happening in Ukraine and I want it to stop. I think as well that partitioning of Ukraine between Russia and Poland would be a better and safer situation for both the Ukrainians and the Russians.
I consider that Ukraine is a fake state. Another failed attempt at creating a manufactured nation. The Ukrainians are no more a separate people than the so-called Siberians. The same as the Russians who live in Siberia are calling themselves the Siberians while being Russians most of the Ukrainians are calling themselves the Ukrainians while being in fact Russians. Ukraine is not a name of a nation but is a name of a place.
The Ukrainians are not a separate ethnic group but a group of the Russian people who adopted the name of the province in which their ancestors lived. The Ukrainian language is a derivate of the Russian language mutated due to the influence of the Polish language.
The current Ukrainian nationalist madness in an echo of the past, when it was created as a localized version of the German Nazism.
Most people in Ukraine east of Dnieper are a lot stronger associated with Russia than with Poland, whereas most people west of Dnieper are a lot closer to Poland – due to the westmost part of Ukraine having been a part of Poland for much longer.
Most people in the left bank part prefer to speak Russian and in the right bank Ukrainian. The Ukrainian nationalism is spreading from the western part of Ukraine, where most people feel as a separate ethnic group, towards the rest of the population and is imposed on the rest of the population regardless of their choice in a violent and aggressive manner.
Therefore considering the aforementioned the best outcome of this situation is a partition of Ukraine along the Dnieper river, with one part becoming a part of Russia and the other part becoming a part of Poland and therefore NATO and the EU.
As for the nuclear weapons, there is no chance and will be no need of their use unless NATO interferes, bringing real forces en masse to the front line. Other than that there is no chance for Ukraine to create a serious danger for the Russians to lose this war.
Ukraine is doomed.
Anyway, let me rephrase my question: how would you react if Russia exploded a nuclear weapon in Ukraine?Replies: @Beckow
I am trying to figure out how the Finnish commies saved Lenin from ‘death by mosquitos’. Did they offer their own flesh? Or where they running around with brooms and towels? That should be a movie.
Latvians were the main initial muscle for the Reds, if they were not representative I am not sure who would be. They were proportionally a lot more Bolshie than Russians.
The Latvians were members of SS and to this day they march in their uniforms openly. You can’t explain it by ‘illegal conscription’ – they were Nazis, they committed horrible atrocities. You downplaying it is in bad taste.
Latvia was a dictatorship, even the fanatically Atlanticist wiki says so, so it is probably true. The benign part is always claimed by all defenders of dictatorships. 1980’s were also very benign in Latvia.
Re the current referendums in Ukraine: they are imperfect but give us some data. The key point is that Kiev or Latvians are not in a position to call them ‘fake’. Latvian elections have excluded up to 1/3 of their population from voting due to their ‘Russian ethnicity’. How can you object now to what Russians are doing?
You are on very thin ice, what goes around, comes around. The sins of Ukies, Balts and the Nato bombers are coming back to haunt them. You really should had better democracy in Latvia with actual equality for all, and Nato should not had bombed Serbia to illegally change borders. We are living what the consequences of that arrogance and stupidity. If we live through it.
That being said, Baltic states need to be told to shut up. They've all just come out in support of quick NATO accession for Ukraine, and that level of grotesque bellicosity from states that in reality add almost nothing at all to NATO is really too much. Referendums with results like 97% don't give any data at all, they're obviously fake, and couldn't be free and fair given the circumstances. I don't know why you feel the need to defend this obvious charade, it makes any non-disastrous outcome even less likely than it already was.Replies: @Beckow
Yea, it should be, I'd watch it. 😊 Because Latvians had already experienced war, were better trained and equipped and because some Russians were actually begging for them to arrive? Even if it is true, that doesn't take away from the fact that a huge part of ethnic Slavs participated in the revolution. And that many subjects of the Empire were involved in the revolution of 1905. And that the leftist movements against the ancien regime were started by aristocrats, predominantly ethnic Russian ones. Alexander II was killed in a plot that was run by a Russian woman.
You are obviously some kind of a Red yourself, so you should be able to relate to all these Latvian & Estonian riflemen, and the progressive Russian narodniks and anarchists.
This doesn't change the fact that by 1920, the Reds were driven out of the Baltic States and in 1940 the Soviets were not wanted. Neither occupation was good. Yea, because they don't want to recognize that it was good for the people. So they will tend to portray it in a somewhat negative light. They were benign in the sense that people weren't straight up murdered or tortured or that children & elderly weren't exiled to Siberia.
Personally, I have a good image of the 80s (both the beginning - with the exception of the Afghan war - and the late 80s). But to say that it was a free society where nationalism (and potentially other good things) wasn't oppressed is a lie. And to say that it was better than the 1930s.... well, it's debatable, but not really. They were both good, but 1930s were better. 1980s with the pre-war population and some of that ideology would have been great. This has not been the case for many years now. Because I object to murder of Ukrainians. Please do not conflate the bombings of Serbia with what either the Baltic States or Ukraine have done over the years. We didn't participate in that. Even if we became NATO friendly later, doesn't mean we are responsible for it. That is a primitive manipulation and another one of your attempts to muddy the waters (something that you're so good at). That we are living through the consequences of certain gradual processes, doesn't mean it is ok to escalate to the current level, it doesn't mean it's ok to annex such large territories and it definitely doesn't mean it's ok to torture and kill on foreign soil.
Anyway, I didn't mean to derail your thread, so I apologize for interfering. Just wanted to throw in a few things.Replies: @Beckow
https://robertstark.substack.com/p/new-us-birth-data-vindicates-breeder
And you might factor in the 9 month pregnancy to say this isn't definitely relevant, but preliminary 2022 figures show a further small increase.
The current birth rate for U.S. in 2022 is 12.012 births per 1000 people, a 0.09% increase from 2021.
I know none of this is conclusive, but it is interesting for the other reasons the article mentions.Replies: @Barbarossa
Data like this reinforces the real world observations from my own perspective. I haven’t seen any personal evidence of any real post-Covid crash in fertility.
I like Bashibuzuk’s theory vis a vis the rationalization for China’s Covid Zero policies. They are nicely logical and ascribe a rational motivation where otherwise it becomes difficult to find one.
However, as much as they appeal, unless there is some evidence to back up the underpinnings of them I suspect that they will be red herrings.
Sometimes humans are just weird and illogical, or following an inscrutable to outsiders set of motivations.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35713410/
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-confirms-link-between-covid-19-vaccination-temporary-increase-menstrual-cycle-length
They are temporary, lasting a few months. But the vaccination was supposed to be administered once or twice a year. And Covid has become endemic in the West therfore people will be sick with Covid on a regular basis, perhaps once or twice a year. That way the cumulative effects of the Covid infections and vaccines will have a downward effect on total fertility.
Developed countries fertility is anemic in most countries, an additional percentage of fertility drop will accelerate depopulation, especially among the global middle class.
Chinese also have a fertility problem, they want to avoid exacerbating it.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Barbarossa
Amazing that one cannot focus on the incompetence of your own army, or the degeneracy in your own borders, your own household for that matter.
All you can do is wage psychological warfare against humble Western conservatives that are already denied self-determination and being rendered into hated minorities in our own lands.
The real target of his remarks was America's quest for global hegemony, and given how the US has used its power over the last 30 years, with an extremely militarized foreign policy and sanctions regimes intended to impoverish entire countries, he's undeniably got a point. However, it's of course a problem that his "anti-imperialism" is distinctly hypocritical, given that Russia is currently waging an imperialist war of conquest justified by some highly dubious arguments herself.Replies: @216
It was a fairly moderate authoritarian dictatorship, no mass terror or any really bad repression beyond locking up commies and fascists. Despite its nationalist bent there wasn’t even much organized discrimination against the national minorities (apart from some “positive discrimination” schemes of the kind you find today in countries like Malaysia, I have forgotten the details). You have in the past defended pre-1989 Czechoslovakia as a fairly good place to live in, so why is “dictatorship” suddenly supposed to be something completely disqualifying?
That being said, Baltic states need to be told to shut up. They’ve all just come out in support of quick NATO accession for Ukraine, and that level of grotesque bellicosity from states that in reality add almost nothing at all to NATO is really too much.
Referendums with results like 97% don’t give any data at all, they’re obviously fake, and couldn’t be free and fair given the circumstances. I don’t know why you feel the need to defend this obvious charade, it makes any non-disastrous outcome even less likely than it already was.
Here is a map based on the data of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology from 2003.
Here is a table based on the data of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology from 2019. The data was collected from respondents living in 130 settlements in all areas of Ukraine. It therefore included the small towns and villages.
Thoughts and views on teaching the Russian language
https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=832
Does not look much different to me.
Unlike the Ukrainians those people do indeed belong to a different ethnic group. The Dubliners are not English.
The Ukrainians who speak Russian at home are not a different ethnic group. These are the Russian people.
So when villages are included the Russian percentage halves. Of course, methodology is somewhat different. Here they are asked what language they speak to friends and family, versus choosing which language to use in the survey. Dubliners are a mix of native English settlers and later Irish immigrants. The Dublin region was conquered by Anglo-Normans in the 12th century and settled by people from England, despite legal efforts such as banning the use of the Gaelic language they gradually became Gaelicized until the Tudors brought in another wave of English settlers. This area was called the Pale.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pale-restricted-area#ref205922
"“The Pale” in Ireland (so named after the late 14th century) was established at the time of Henry II’s expedition (1171–72) and consisted of the territories conquered by England, where English settlements and rule were most secure. The pale existed until the entire area was subjugated under Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603). Its area, which varied considerably depending upon the strength of the English authorities, included parts of the modern counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare."
The English themselves have a lot of Celtic descent so they are not so different from the Irish:
https://unherd.com/2020/08/who-do-the-english-think-they-are/
Genetically, Ukrainians, Poles and central/Southern Russians are nearly identical, while northern Russians are quite different. Do you think that Poles, Ukrainians and non-Northern Russians are one ethnicity?
Amazing that one cannot focus on the incompetence of your own army, or the degeneracy in your own borders, your own household for that matter.
All you can do is wage psychological warfare against humble Western conservatives that are already denied self-determination and being rendered into hated minorities in our own lands.Replies: @German_reader
Compared to CRT and other openly anti-white/anti-native policies promoted by Western governments Putin’s speech was actually pretty tame in this regard. There wasn’t really anything against white people per se in it, he gave some hints about still being interested in positive relations with countries like France, Germany, Italy, also mentioned that there are many good people in Europe and the US on the side of the emerging multi-polar world order…that’s a far cry from the “whites are irredeemable devils who need to be dispossessed” message of much of poc activism in the West.
The real target of his remarks was America’s quest for global hegemony, and given how the US has used its power over the last 30 years, with an extremely militarized foreign policy and sanctions regimes intended to impoverish entire countries, he’s undeniably got a point. However, it’s of course a problem that his “anti-imperialism” is distinctly hypocritical, given that Russia is currently waging an imperialist war of conquest justified by some highly dubious arguments herself.
I find RF propaganda incredibly self-serving to claim that US allies are "colonies", when these so-called colonies routinely underspend on defense. And these so-called vassals are trying to revive the Iran Deal and refused to join Trump's tariffs on China.
It's what we call "projection". It says more about how Putin sees Kazakhstan, than on how the US sees South Korea.Replies: @German_reader, @AnonfromTN
Rhetorical question.Replies: @Mr. Hack
Look, I started off my reply by comparing the plebiscite in Melitopol with a grand Potemkin village type of production. Everybody is happy, everybody loves Russia – what’s there not to like? I’m sure that the likes of Beckow found the predetermined results to be satisfying and the happy crowds beyond reproach.
I like Bashibuzuk's theory vis a vis the rationalization for China's Covid Zero policies. They are nicely logical and ascribe a rational motivation where otherwise it becomes difficult to find one.
However, as much as they appeal, unless there is some evidence to back up the underpinnings of them I suspect that they will be red herrings.
Sometimes humans are just weird and illogical, or following an inscrutable to outsiders set of motivations.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
The post-Covid infection and/or jab drop in both male and female fertility is real and documented.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35713410/
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-confirms-link-between-covid-19-vaccination-temporary-increase-menstrual-cycle-length
They are temporary, lasting a few months. But the vaccination was supposed to be administered once or twice a year. And Covid has become endemic in the West therfore people will be sick with Covid on a regular basis, perhaps once or twice a year. That way the cumulative effects of the Covid infections and vaccines will have a downward effect on total fertility.
Developed countries fertility is anemic in most countries, an additional percentage of fertility drop will accelerate depopulation, especially among the global middle class.
Chinese also have a fertility problem, they want to avoid exacerbating it.
The result is that the Chinese are terrified of death, as they have nothing they can consciously hold onto in the absence of this material plane. It is also why they would never accept anything less than COVID Zero. The Chinese government knows Chinese opinion.
Furthermore, it craters fertility. What does having children mean if everything is in meatspace? Other than fulfilling family pressure or getting a new accessory?
Both of which are less and less important as motivators the richer and more urban you get as a society. Family no longer controls you and you can pick your associates with more discrimination.
The extremely temporary fertility hit from the vaccines and/or COVID is not dissimilar to any illness or vaccine. In the general COVID hysteria, we need to remember that there's never been so much attention on such a moderate disease before. Of course there are all sorts of possible issues resulting from the immune system getting spun up, but there is with everything.
I also strongly suspect that subsequent Covid infections would have much less potential for fertility suppression, as the disease becomes less serious. Most of the bad Covid reactions were from the extremely strong initial immune system response/ inflammation. Subsequent exposures become less and less severe. It's mostly just a mild to moderate cold at this point for most people.
Personally I know that first time we had the 'Vid it was a pretty severe flu, but at this point it's extremely mild. I would be unsurprised to learn that I had temporarily lowered sperm counts after the first infection since I had a pretty good fever going etc. I would find it highly unlikely that my very mild Covid infections had the same impact.
I don't know if the fertility drop would be similarly decreased with subsequent jabs.
It would seem that if the fertility issue was the main concern for the Chinese they could steer clear of the mRNA shots.
Lacking evidence for a sustained and serious reduction decrease in fertility I just can't see it being a primary driver for such a huge policy directive like Zero Covid in China.
European WEF Greens are quite unhinged and fanatical.
• They have sincerely believed, “THE END is a Decade Away!”, for 5 decades.
• The world has literally ended 5 times on their watch.
• Humanity is 500% past the unrecoverable tipping point of planetary extinction.
This unparallel level of cultist zeal is amazingly dangerous.
PEACE 😇
That being said, Baltic states need to be told to shut up. They've all just come out in support of quick NATO accession for Ukraine, and that level of grotesque bellicosity from states that in reality add almost nothing at all to NATO is really too much. Referendums with results like 97% don't give any data at all, they're obviously fake, and couldn't be free and fair given the circumstances. I don't know why you feel the need to defend this obvious charade, it makes any non-disastrous outcome even less likely than it already was.Replies: @Beckow
Kherson claims 87%, comparable to most US congressional districts (look that up, it is shocking how uncompetitive majority of districts are – one-party domains).
The referendums showed that there are substantial numbers of pro-Russians in those 4 regions. A lot of people here claim that they are 10%, or that all previously pro-Russian voters changed their mind due to the war. The referendums kind of denied it – they were obviously imperfect, but there were supposedly up to 5 million votes, do you really think that was all made up? I think it shows that when situation changes there are enough pro-Russians left in those regions for Russia to comfortably annex them.
Because it was, it definitely was not a ‘dictatorship’ as most people would understand it. I was alluding to it when I said that Latvia in the 1980’s was also benign – I would guess that it was a lot more benign, open and prosperous than the 1930’s Latvia.
Jumping up and down about ‘fake’ elections by countries that don’t have them is rather silly: Latvia excludes many Russians from voting (it is better now, but for 20 years they were literally excluded based on their ethnicity, EU said very little). Let’s be consistent.
The crazy Balt behavior with begging to be nuked and to get into the war is a result of their lack of democracy. They are seriously unhinged and could pay a high price. They don’t have any situational awareness, just like the Poles. From bullies to victims and back, very strange people.
Sure, there are certainly still pro-Russia people in those regions, or those who are indifferent and can reconcile themselves to becoming part of Russia...but results like 97% are just not credible, totally meaningless. I'm not that big into "democracy" anyway, and can't really blame the Balts for severe reservations about their Russian minorities regarding their potential role as 5th columns. But I have to agree, their behaviour since the start of the war in Ukraine has been completely unhinged. Whenever I see something from a Baltic politician, it's some insane bs like calls for no-fly-zones, for sending weapons systems that could be used to attack Crimea or Russian territory, for sending NATO ships to the Black Sea as blockade-breakers, or now for Ukraine's quick NATO accession. Very strange people indeed.Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke
The real target of his remarks was America's quest for global hegemony, and given how the US has used its power over the last 30 years, with an extremely militarized foreign policy and sanctions regimes intended to impoverish entire countries, he's undeniably got a point. However, it's of course a problem that his "anti-imperialism" is distinctly hypocritical, given that Russia is currently waging an imperialist war of conquest justified by some highly dubious arguments herself.Replies: @216
If we did not sanction DPRK, Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, they would all pose much more significant military threats to the US. These are fundamentally speaking ideological regimes which hate the US, just as the PRC does. No one in the US Right would lift these sanctions which in 20 years time could make Red Dawn a reality.
I find RF propaganda incredibly self-serving to claim that US allies are “colonies”, when these so-called colonies routinely underspend on defense. And these so-called vassals are trying to revive the Iran Deal and refused to join Trump’s tariffs on China.
It’s what we call “projection”. It says more about how Putin sees Kazakhstan, than on how the US sees South Korea.
Come on, it’s not like these referendums were controlled by any independent observers, of course they can be made up to a substantial extent. And given the general situation, with a war going on, military occupation, repression against those committed to Ukrainian independence etc. one can hardly claim people could vote under free and fair conditions.
Sure, there are certainly still pro-Russia people in those regions, or those who are indifferent and can reconcile themselves to becoming part of Russia…but results like 97% are just not credible, totally meaningless.
I’m not that big into “democracy” anyway, and can’t really blame the Balts for severe reservations about their Russian minorities regarding their potential role as 5th columns. But I have to agree, their behaviour since the start of the war in Ukraine has been completely unhinged. Whenever I see something from a Baltic politician, it’s some insane bs like calls for no-fly-zones, for sending weapons systems that could be used to attack Crimea or Russian territory, for sending NATO ships to the Black Sea as blockade-breakers, or now for Ukraine’s quick NATO accession. Very strange people indeed.
The West has lied for so long and insisted on its own privileges that we ended up with all of it being essentially worthless - nobody listens to anyone. I have tried to be even-handed and consistent, pointing out the other side of the story - why restate what everyone else says? - but by now we are clearly beyond that: the f...ing hegemony US&Co. has been running is gone. It cannot be brought back. The good news is that for most people in the West it was a burden and their interests were sacrificed - e.g. with the migrants. So maybe there is a silver lining: but most will have to work harder and will get less. That is the result of losing their privileges.Replies: @AP, @Coconuts
I find RF propaganda incredibly self-serving to claim that US allies are "colonies", when these so-called colonies routinely underspend on defense. And these so-called vassals are trying to revive the Iran Deal and refused to join Trump's tariffs on China.
It's what we call "projection". It says more about how Putin sees Kazakhstan, than on how the US sees South Korea.Replies: @German_reader, @AnonfromTN
It would probably make more sense to worry about extraterrestrials given all those worrying reports about UFOs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tyFSI8ej4
The Boomer Right are big fans of this film.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
You're histrionic.Replies: @Coconuts
Maybe Lizzo’s current flute wielding prominence should be food for thought…
5 or 6 years ago I would have found the idea that liberalism means the rule of money in the interests of foreigners at least somewhat histrionic, maybe xenophobic.
But taking into account what data has emerged since about demographics and the general trend of politics in Western countries, the idea doesn’t seem as overblown now. Putin’s current regime in the RF may also count as a manifestation of liberalism, a more authoritarian version like Pinochet era Chile.
But I support the war because I do not like what has been happening in Ukraine and I want it to stop. I think as well that partitioning of Ukraine between Russia and Poland would be a better and safer situation for both the Ukrainians and the Russians.
I consider that Ukraine is a fake state. Another failed attempt at creating a manufactured nation. The Ukrainians are no more a separate people than the so-called Siberians. The same as the Russians who live in Siberia are calling themselves the Siberians while being Russians most of the Ukrainians are calling themselves the Ukrainians while being in fact Russians. Ukraine is not a name of a nation but is a name of a place.
The Ukrainians are not a separate ethnic group but a group of the Russian people who adopted the name of the province in which their ancestors lived. The Ukrainian language is a derivate of the Russian language mutated due to the influence of the Polish language.
The current Ukrainian nationalist madness in an echo of the past, when it was created as a localized version of the German Nazism.
Most people in Ukraine east of Dnieper are a lot stronger associated with Russia than with Poland, whereas most people west of Dnieper are a lot closer to Poland – due to the westmost part of Ukraine having been a part of Poland for much longer.
Most people in the left bank part prefer to speak Russian and in the right bank Ukrainian. The Ukrainian nationalism is spreading from the western part of Ukraine, where most people feel as a separate ethnic group, towards the rest of the population and is imposed on the rest of the population regardless of their choice in a violent and aggressive manner.
Therefore considering the aforementioned the best outcome of this situation is a partition of Ukraine along the Dnieper river, with one part becoming a part of Russia and the other part becoming a part of Poland and therefore NATO and the EU.
As for the nuclear weapons, there is no chance and will be no need of their use unless NATO interferes, bringing real forces en masse to the front line. Other than that there is no chance for Ukraine to create a serious danger for the Russians to lose this war.
Ukraine is doomed.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
I’ve seen this boilerplate for months, years even. Is it copy and pasted? Did you know you are full NPC on this issue?
Anyway, let me rephrase my question: how would you react if Russia exploded a nuclear weapon in Ukraine?
One PRC is bad enough for our interests, I don’t want several more smaller versions of the PRC.
The Boomer Right are big fans of this film.
From my pov China's threat is primarily economic. They might try to eventually conquer Taiwan/dominate East Asia through military means, and admittedly it's not an easy question how to react to that. But the idea that they could conquer the US mainland, as you seem to imply, is extremely far-fetched. And if you're seriously feeling threatened by Iran, let alone Venezuela or Cuba, I'm really at a loss for words. This level of paranoia that seems to be widespread among the American right is just grotesque when one considers the uniquely secure and advantageous geopolitical situation of the US.Replies: @216
Sure, there are certainly still pro-Russia people in those regions, or those who are indifferent and can reconcile themselves to becoming part of Russia...but results like 97% are just not credible, totally meaningless. I'm not that big into "democracy" anyway, and can't really blame the Balts for severe reservations about their Russian minorities regarding their potential role as 5th columns. But I have to agree, their behaviour since the start of the war in Ukraine has been completely unhinged. Whenever I see something from a Baltic politician, it's some insane bs like calls for no-fly-zones, for sending weapons systems that could be used to attack Crimea or Russian territory, for sending NATO ships to the Black Sea as blockade-breakers, or now for Ukraine's quick NATO accession. Very strange people indeed.Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke
Who is independent during a war? I don’t think you can make up 4-5 million votes – watch the videos – some were posted here. There were genuine votes, whether it was padded we can only suspect. I am skeptical of many so-called elections that I have seen – why only pick on this one?
Yes you can: a person is a person with same rights whatever nationality they have. When you start on the road to ‘5th column’ you are abandoning any pretense of democracy. Same would be true in Russia if they do it again – they have not so far. If you justify, or look the other way, when the Balts or Ukies do it, then why you get all upset if there are consequences and the other side retaliates?
The West has lied for so long and insisted on its own privileges that we ended up with all of it being essentially worthless – nobody listens to anyone. I have tried to be even-handed and consistent, pointing out the other side of the story – why restate what everyone else says? – but by now we are clearly beyond that: the f…ing hegemony US&Co. has been running is gone. It cannot be brought back. The good news is that for most people in the West it was a burden and their interests were sacrificed – e.g. with the migrants. So maybe there is a silver lining: but most will have to work harder and will get less. That is the result of losing their privileges.
Liberalism is where natural rights are human universals and are supposed to be inherent in individuals as individuals. The combination of the two, liberal democracy, aims at combining protection of individual rights and majority rule.
Iirc in 1945 half the pre-1940 Latvian population had been killed, deported or were refugees. This was related to the activities of 'the freest, most democratic nation in the world', the Soviet Union, and Nazi Fascism, which was also touted as the 'highest form of democracy' (in the Caesarian or Bonapartist mode). Soviet democracy then led to the settlement of many Slavs in Latvia, who now in the 2nd or 3rd generation I guess are supporters of liberal-democratic individualism?
If a Latvian wondered about where justice and the good of the Latvian people figured in all of this democracy, it wouldn't seem unreasonable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tyFSI8ej4
The Boomer Right are big fans of this film.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
I’ve seen Red Dawn. It’s mildly entertaining, but also spectacularly stupid.
From my pov China’s threat is primarily economic. They might try to eventually conquer Taiwan/dominate East Asia through military means, and admittedly it’s not an easy question how to react to that. But the idea that they could conquer the US mainland, as you seem to imply, is extremely far-fetched. And if you’re seriously feeling threatened by Iran, let alone Venezuela or Cuba, I’m really at a loss for words. This level of paranoia that seems to be widespread among the American right is just grotesque when one considers the uniquely secure and advantageous geopolitical situation of the US.
The Boomers quickly adapted the film to serve as a fantasy of rebelling against the federal government, which has done nothing but bode ill for the Right's electoral prospects. But the US is not demographically secure, and that makes it highly vulnerable to subversion. Which could over the course of many decades lead to a successful invasion.Replies: @German_reader
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35713410/
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-confirms-link-between-covid-19-vaccination-temporary-increase-menstrual-cycle-length
They are temporary, lasting a few months. But the vaccination was supposed to be administered once or twice a year. And Covid has become endemic in the West therfore people will be sick with Covid on a regular basis, perhaps once or twice a year. That way the cumulative effects of the Covid infections and vaccines will have a downward effect on total fertility.
Developed countries fertility is anemic in most countries, an additional percentage of fertility drop will accelerate depopulation, especially among the global middle class.
Chinese also have a fertility problem, they want to avoid exacerbating it.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Barbarossa
China’s fertility problem was enforced by the state, not only by the one child policy, but by the CCP going to war with China’s “soul.”
The result is that the Chinese are terrified of death, as they have nothing they can consciously hold onto in the absence of this material plane. It is also why they would never accept anything less than COVID Zero. The Chinese government knows Chinese opinion.
Furthermore, it craters fertility. What does having children mean if everything is in meatspace? Other than fulfilling family pressure or getting a new accessory?
Both of which are less and less important as motivators the richer and more urban you get as a society. Family no longer controls you and you can pick your associates with more discrimination.
The extremely temporary fertility hit from the vaccines and/or COVID is not dissimilar to any illness or vaccine. In the general COVID hysteria, we need to remember that there’s never been so much attention on such a moderate disease before. Of course there are all sorts of possible issues resulting from the immune system getting spun up, but there is with everything.
From my pov China's threat is primarily economic. They might try to eventually conquer Taiwan/dominate East Asia through military means, and admittedly it's not an easy question how to react to that. But the idea that they could conquer the US mainland, as you seem to imply, is extremely far-fetched. And if you're seriously feeling threatened by Iran, let alone Venezuela or Cuba, I'm really at a loss for words. This level of paranoia that seems to be widespread among the American right is just grotesque when one considers the uniquely secure and advantageous geopolitical situation of the US.Replies: @216
Military conquest is just the tentpole to draw the crowd in, its the subversion side show which concerns me more. I remember when Chavez was attempting to meddle in US politics with the “discounted heating oil”, and he was spreading his communism across the hemisphere.
The Boomers quickly adapted the film to serve as a fantasy of rebelling against the federal government, which has done nothing but bode ill for the Right’s electoral prospects.
But the US is not demographically secure, and that makes it highly vulnerable to subversion. Which could over the course of many decades lead to a successful invasion.
Anyway, let me rephrase my question: how would you react if Russia exploded a nuclear weapon in Ukraine?Replies: @Beckow
How would you react if US or UK exploded one? You specialize in preachy one-sided points. If it happens it frankly doesn’t matter much who does it first, we would be done.
Many Western leaders have been drumming up this nuclear narrative with very little basis in reality: Russia has said quite clearly that only in the case of existential danger to Russia would they consider using nukes. They could decide that the next village east of Liman is ‘existential’, but almost certainly not.
What the nuke-mongering by the West (and you) shows is the fundamental weakness of the position: they know that they cannot win the war and that Russia will not collapse. It can be delayed, up and down, but there is no victory for the West. They are too weak, their only soldiers are Ukies, their economy is based on issuing money, and now Russia has openly switched to the ‘rest-of-the-world’ side. The cheap goodies are gone forever.
You can hide in minutia and count the number of liberated tress around Liman, you can even march another tens of thousands Ukies to their death, or blow up Turkish Stream, whatever. It changes very little – the gig is up. You see it when the 80-year old Biden stares blankly at his paper or when that mad-cow Truss does her sad old-lady hysteria in public. You screwed up, so maybe talking about the nukes satisfies your death-wish. It would easier that way.
After a period of reflection, I would have my answer, but, were I to guess at it now, it would require me to actively oppose those governments.
As for the rest of your comment, it sounds like Baghdad Bob.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
The Boomers quickly adapted the film to serve as a fantasy of rebelling against the federal government, which has done nothing but bode ill for the Right's electoral prospects. But the US is not demographically secure, and that makes it highly vulnerable to subversion. Which could over the course of many decades lead to a successful invasion.Replies: @German_reader
That’s largely a self-inflicted problem that won’t be helped in any way by making life miserable for people in countries like Venezuela or Iran through excessive sanctions regimes, nor by military interventions in far-away places that shouldn’t really matter to most Americans based on any rational calculations of interests. In fact I’d say this striving for global dominance is linked to the mass immigration regime…imperial interventions always tend to bring back former dependents to the metropole (e. g. Hmong as a consequence of the Vietnam war), and the relaxation of US immigration rules in the 1960s was partly linked to a desire to win hearts and minds in the 3rd World against the background of the Cold War. When you claim to be a global empire with a universal mission for all mankind, you can’t really exclude anybody. The US right seems to be a prisoner of contradictory desires in this regard.
I find RF propaganda incredibly self-serving to claim that US allies are "colonies", when these so-called colonies routinely underspend on defense. And these so-called vassals are trying to revive the Iran Deal and refused to join Trump's tariffs on China.
It's what we call "projection". It says more about how Putin sees Kazakhstan, than on how the US sees South Korea.Replies: @German_reader, @AnonfromTN
Then please explain why the governments of the US allies act against the interests of their own countries, whereas the governments of the RF allies never do that? I am very curious what mental contortions one needs to explain that.
The sanctions on Russia and the voluminous aid to Ukraine remain overwhelmingly popular. That is not my fault personally, nor the fault of the US Right collectively. We have stuck our neck out for RF since 2016, and paid incredible damage at the polls. We were repeatedly lied to about an invasion not being imminent, and looked like fools when it happened and the Usurpation was proven correct.
The people of France could and should have voted for Le Pen. They did not.
The people of Germany could and should give AfD a majority in the Reichstag and make Hocke the Chancellor. They did not.
The people of Italy rewarded a previously pro-Russia party for doing a 180.
Europeans are willing to freeze to see Pride parades from Kiev to Vladivostok. RF isn't willing to stop being murderous for two seconds which would convince Warsaw and Prague that they have common ground.Replies: @AnonfromTN
I would ask myself what am I blind to internally that would cause to make such a huge misjudgement as to think they would never, when they actually did.
After a period of reflection, I would have my answer, but, were I to guess at it now, it would require me to actively oppose those governments.
As for the rest of your comment, it sounds like Baghdad Bob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4tyFSI8ej4
The Boomer Right are big fans of this film.Replies: @German_reader, @A123
Paul Harvey figured out the anti-Christian Globalist threat back in 1965.
PEACE 😇
Where did I say that this reformatting would be done by Westerners or that they should be involved in it in any way whatsoever? Wow, you really are full of yourselves if you assume that you should be present anywhere and at any time. This political reformatting (without losing the intrinsic Russian character) can only be done by the Russian people themselves (not counting on it, but hope springs eternal). So, yes, absolutely, please, do stay out of it this time around.
And, besides, you, Western Russophiles, have done exactly zero for the Russian nation. You spent years egging them on, helping build up their imaginary bubble of grandeur, insinuating that “the West is done”, creating an alternative media mirage about how the West is so degenerate that it will never be able to defend itself so it’s safe to present crazy ultimata and to go all in, and then when the calamity arrives, you present literally zero practical use to them. You want the Eastern Slavs to bear the brunt for furthering your delusional ideas of geopolitical role play. Where are the Russophiles now that Russian men are looking for asylum? What is going to happen to their women? Are you just going to swoop in like vultures again and snatch them up?
No, the Western so called Russophiles do not deserve a single inch of the Bearskin. Neither do the Western neocons or liberals for that matter. And do not bail the Russians out this time by sending them canned food or delivering IMF loans the way you did in the 90s, they need to go through this lesson themselves.
I have already spoken as to what could’ve been done differently. It’s not like I’m denying fault. I’m willing to take up some responsibility (the minimum), but so should everyone else.
Btw, I couldn’t help but notice you mentioning in the previous thread that the Ukrainian tactical operations are performed by the British and that that’s why they’re successful.
Do not attempt to steal the Ukrainian victories from them!
Sure, the British might be helping, but the tactical planning is done by General Zaluzhniy. Obviously a very smart and creative man with a good team who deserves the credit. Give credit where it’s due!
You do realize that we've never been closer to a nuclear war since at least the Cuban crisis, don't you? And during that crisis the Russians only had a small fraction of the nuclear weapons and delivery systems they now have, about half of what the Americans had, but still everybody was much more frightened than now. How the f*ck is it going to improve the EE geopolitical security if we all end up pulverized in a nuclear pyre?
All of my family is in as much risk of suffering the dire consequences of a nuclear war as anyone in the Baltics. Don't we at least have the right to criticize what we think has led us to this stupid fate? Like everyone else here, I only have very limited information. I think the different sources that say that the British (apparently more than the Pentagon) are giving battlefield advice to the Ukrainians are probably right but I don't know. It may be all a smoke screen. With or without foreign help, what the Ukrainian military are doing by first stopping the Russians and now driving them away from their territory is very impressive. So is the obvious bravery of the Ukrainian soldiers. Nobody expected any of this 7 months ago.
Is this enough or do I need to be more emphatic to avoid your accusing me of Ukrainophobia?Replies: @LatW
https://i.postimg.cc/DwLDM6hB/Ukraine-and-the-Russian-language.png
The blue regions are where most people prefer to speak Russian. The numbers are the percentage of the people who prefer to speak Russian.The data is taken from the official Ukrainian statistics. П'яте всеукраїнське муніципальне опитування
https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/fifth_municipal_survey_september_2019_ua_final_12-5-2019.pdfPage 249.Replies: @AP, @Philip Owen
The language is irrelevant. I speak English. I am most definitely not English. Exactly the same happened in my country as happened in Ukraine. A flood of immigrant speakers of the imperial language settled during a 19th C coal mining boom and swamped the local language by demanding education in the Imperialist language rather than switching to the native tongue. My loss of my own language accentuates the challenge to my identity, it doesn’t reduce it.
This is a war of the Globalists (the Global higher elite 0.1% and their owned TNCs and Financial System) against the nation states and the global middle class which us the true base of these nation states.
The end goal is the deconstruction of the nation states, decimation of the global middle class and outright depopulation in the next 2-3 generations.
Then a transhumanist NWO post Great Reset ruled by an "invisible" Nomenklatura of the highest elite setvants through the IA and Deep Learning algorithms, digital identification, CBDC and smart contracts.
No one would ever be free again in that brave new world.
About Putin, he might have been recruited by the BND in 1989 in Dresden. Then before appearing all of a sudden close to the top of the food chain in Leningrad in 1990, he would have been probably instructed about the goals of the USSR dismantling (it was one of the steps of the Globalist agenda controlled by people such as Otto Von Habsburg, who has put Klaus Schwab where he is today around 1970).
Then he was brought to the top of the food chain in Moscow and RusFed as a whole. Under his rule, the RusFed exported to the Globalized West trillions in natural ressources, injecting into the global financial system around 2 trillion $ and has ended up dismantling 99% of the science and high technology inherited from the Soviets. The demography stagnated at best, but in fact continued its downward trend and RusFed has become a country of middle aged people.
All his achievements were bogus and fake, his notoriety a product of global and domestic propaganda. Described as a "Villain" or a "Savior" by his haters and fans, he was just a spook for the Davos Crowd, milking RusFed, while euthanizing Russia.
He has made absolutely impossible rebuilding of the Slavdom into a global force it should rightly be. He has spent around 1,5 trillion $ on RusFed defense in the last 22 years with the results we see today in Donbass. Meanwhile the TFR among ethnic Slav in the Eastern Slav nations is today around 1,5 and hundreds of thousands of potential fathers will die on the frontline. During that time, RusFed is flooded with Central Asian gastarbeiters/immigrants forever altering the ethnic makeup of the core Russian lands.
When he retires and has a plastic surgery to modify his appearance so he could live the end of his days in some cozy and opulent surroundings, he might rightly declare: "mission accomplished, everything went according to the plan".Replies: @Mr. Hack, @S, @S
Yes, the world wars (including this present WWIII) are in large part about what I call the systematic murdering of peoples.
It is the murdering of not just large numbers of the targeted peoples physically, but the murdering of their spirit, ie their culture via the deliberate targeted destruction of cultural monuments and their ways of doing things, and setting them up physically and psychologically where they can be ‘mixed’ out of existance forever (ie genocided in the truest sense of that much abused term) by ‘mass immigration’ imposed by diktat.
The targeted peoples are always described as ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ irrespective of what the reality might actually be. They could be a country of ten million Ghandi like goat herders and the same would be said, along with the standard ‘atrocity’ accusations, again irrespective of the actual truth.
Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the world wars are given a free pass regarding their own atrocities.
This murder of peoplehood is intended for most every people, one way, or, the other.
Regarding these planned world wars, the whole thing is a very cold mechanistic affair, pitiless, and without the slightest human empathy or compassion about it, the latter two things in their inverted world they call ‘hate’.
The ends justify the means, or, so they tell themselves.
I’ve been observing since early February that a Russian general complained that Russia could no longer manufacture gun barrels for artillery or tanks. It is a contributing factor to the deferment of the Armata to 2032. They were bought from Ukraine and Germany.
This is a cross section of a gun barrel from a captured BMP2 examined by the Ukrainians. Presumably it is an extreme example but it illustrates the problems that arise. For example, how did it pass quality control?
An off centre bore will cause differential heating which will caue the barrel to bend. Shooting will be inaccurate. The barrel will heat up more quickly resulting in ammunition jamming or even the bursting of the barrel.
You will also observe wave like effects on the surface of the cross section. These are stress patterns. They will have similar effects to overheating. The steel is not up to spec. They can be relieved in lower quality steel by temperature recycling. In my heavy metal days this meant leaving casting and foundry products in the open air for a winter but the process can be accelerating by cycling through an oven.
By eyesight the main bore looks circular and the rifling seems even (not completely sure) so it could be worse.
It is impossible to tell whether the bore is consistently off centre or varies along the length of the barrel.
In retrospect Merkel and Hollande shouldn't have bothered.
So it's mostly about rhetoric and the arrogant and deranged things Russians are saying? Do you think you are that special in this regard? There's probably more of a chance of Turkey invading the Greek islands given the frequent airspace violations and open threats from Turkey's side (something which Poles and Balts tend to ignore, since for you Turkey is one of the "good guys" insofar as it's useful against Russia).
From my pov there just was never a plausible scenario why Russia would invade the Baltic states, unless there was already a general war against NATO underway. Ukraine's future is as an American client state, nothing more. My country lost somewhere between a fourth and a third of its territory in the last 100 years (admittedly after doing a lot to provoke such an outcome). Then it was divided for 40 years, because it's what the super powers decided. Sometimes one has to accept such things, because there are no alternatives or they are much worse, like possibly blowing up much of the world in a nuclear war.
I also have to wonder if you ever cared about "international law" on all the occasions it was systematically broken by the US and its European side-kicks over the last 30 years. This is something where Beckow has a point, even though he goes too far in excusing Russia's actions. The annexation of Kherson is unacceptable and can't be part of a compromise settlement, because as far as I can tell the majority of the population there is Ukrainian in sentiment and doesn't want to be part of Russia. This is definitely not true for Crimea, and possibly also not at least for the parts of Donbass Russia had held since 2014. So I'm not going to treat all these territories as the same just because of "international law", which in other contexts you and other pro-Ukrainians couldn't give a fuck about. The alternative way of looking at it is that they now think they're strong enough and Germany weak enough that they can do things they always would have liked to do anyway.
In any case, there is no basis for a constructive relationship.Replies: @LatW
I’m speaking for several populations, not just the Baltic States, but also Ukraine and even the freedom loving Russian ethnonationalists. If it were just about the Baltic States, I would be more receptive to criticisms, but the truth is there are a lot of us now. There are issues for Russia across the whole perimeter. It is evident in many Russophone Youtube outlets from different countries, you have no visibility of that because you don’t speak Russian and haven’t bothered to look.
Not Poland, Poland has come out a major winner out of a lot of these developments in the last 30 years (except the exodus of their people to the West), but the Baltic States did sacrifice a lot from the nationalist point of view. A lot of sovereignty was given up and a lot of amendments were made in legislation that were not in the interests of our people (purely due to Western pressure and they were not always done for the sake of “human rights”).
This is a possibility, but we don’t know for sure, surely Ukraine would’ve been crushed (although Russia would inherit a major mess) but we don’t know if Russia was ready to annex or invade in 2014, from what I recall, Putin received a visit from someone in Switzerland who cautioned him against this idea. It may have been those who hold his money, they may have threatened him they would arrest the money (like it was done eventually). Obviously, this is all speculation. We remember how pissed off all the Russian imperialists were about it but they didn’t have all the information. Come to think of it, the generals themselves may have objected at that time — apparently, some of the generals objected to the current invasion as well (because they knew better, they were right).
The problem with Ukraine compromising over and over (remember that Ukraine had already lost territory by then) is the question of where it stops. I understand that there is not much that can be done against force, except opposing force, you measure strength with strength, as the Russians themselves say (Силой мерьте силушку), so, of course, Ukraine was in a very compromised position. All I am saying from the Western point of view and the point of view of Russia’s neighbors, you have to put the foot down somewhere.
1991 was real for us even if the Russian imperialist (and their Western fans) believe it was a blip and they can just go back to the old Russia via some “quick and victorious little war”.
No, it’s the human condition, many people have been historically wiped out. I agree to some extent that one has to be patient and live with what one has been dealt (I mean, look at Israel and how deliberately and patiently they are dealing with their geographic fate), but as I noted above, we are not alone in that regard at this point anymore. This is now a systemic problem.
And words are very important, if you keep cussing each other out, you build a lot of unneeded animosity. Instead, there should have been attempts to build amicability. Although who knows if that would’ve helped, they will grab what they like anyway as long as they can. They are very creative with coming up with pre-texts, a creative people who will believe in their own fairy tales.
Turkey is not one of the good guys, Turkey is simply exercising whatever is available to her in a multi-polar environment that has arrived and that you yourself so coveted. Turkey is objectively a stronger country than Greece. And as to what our position should be is that Turkey is a NATO country, but Greece is a NATO and an EU country so Greece comes first. If there was real danger to Greece, we would need to side with Greece since we have obligations within the EU & NATO framework, regardless of any dreams of the Intermarium.
This is your very rigid opinion, but you’re entitled to it. Let me just note to you that Eastern Slavs are much more unruly than, let’s say, Estonians. Quite willful with a decent IQ. Oh, and there are a lot of them. I know you’re not looking forward to it, but it will be fun.
I know this isn’t a personal question, but I can tell you that my father really didn’t like what Bush was doing back then, as well as a couple of close friends of mine. I know this is not much and they were in the minority, but thought I’d put it out there. I have also read about the consequences of the use of the phosphorus bombs on the Iraqi women and their offspring so I am aware of how severe and horrifying it was.
You know, we wouldn’t have been as compelled to join NATO if Russian officers hadn’t walked into auls and raped young Chechen girls back in the early 90s. I don’t want to trash Russia for those days, as they are long past and Russia had reasons to defend herself, but because we cared more about those things than you ever did (or will), we had our reasons, too. In hindsight, it was probably the right thing to do. (Although I already described above what would’ve been my personal preferences, but building a regional bloc was probably not realistic at that time).
I agree that this could be one way to look at it, and it is not healthy for the EU.
I just wanted to put our example out there because we did resort to such questionable mechanisms way back because we were attacked. Sorry to ask this (this is not my fave topic in general), but did Germany ever apologize to Poland and Ukraine specifically or only to the Jewish people and Russia / as the inheritor of the USSR? Because the way it might look for the Poles is that they took a big brunt of the invasion, but only Russia and Belarus got the respect. It’s unfortunate that these things are being brought up right now and nobody can bring back those Polish citizens anyway. And Germany will not cease to be a Polish neighbor. Do they want to live in permanent tension?
Well, just remember, Poland isn’t going anywhere. It’s the same way that Beckow always lectures Russia’s neighbors to “just take it” because “Russia is not going anywhere”. But it is unseemly and even against the spirit of the EU, I’d say, so I don’t even deem it appropriate to direct it at the Germans.
"The whole perimeter" - the Caucasus and Central Asia? From my pov, none of our business, and I very much doubt attempting to undermine Russia's influence there will have positive consequences.
I don't particularly like Israel, but they have had to endure a lot more than words. Probably thousands of Israeli civilians were killed by Arab terrorists, there have been missile attacks on Israel etc. By contrast you're going on about the threat of a Russian invasion of the Baltic states which so far has been purely theoretical, and which would only make sense in a general war against NATO. Frankly, it often feels to me as if Balts think NATO should just dismantle the Russian Federation for them, so they can feel totally secure (how else to explain this constant agitation for measures that have a high chance of leading to a direct NATO-Russia clash, as if a proxy war weren't already bad enough). That's not a reasonable exspectation by any standard. Ukraine had disastrous demographics already before the war. Many Ukrainians have fled abroad. The longer the war lasts (and iirc you have always been of the opinion that Ukraine should never accept any territorial concessions), the bigger the carnage. At this point it's quite likely that hundreds of thousands will die. That's not a prospect I'm happy about, not at all. But the idea that an economically and demographically devastated Ukraine could be a pole that can hold its own (something not even Western Europe has managed to any real degree) is fantasy. I don't blame you for joining NATO, that was totally understandable. I do blame you (that is Balts and Poles) for continually making demands in regard to the present Ukraine conflict that have a high chance of leading to a catastrophic outcome if they ever become official policy. Multiple times since the 1960s at least. Maybe some things regarding financial compensation should have been handled more generously, but the Polish perception that their suffering at the hands of WW2 Germans has never been acknowledged is inaccurate.
As for Ukraine, I don't know, though it would surprise me if there hadn't been some sort of official statement, meaningless at that may be by itself.Replies: @LatW
Sure, there are certainly still pro-Russia people in those regions, or those who are indifferent and can reconcile themselves to becoming part of Russia...but results like 97% are just not credible, totally meaningless. I'm not that big into "democracy" anyway, and can't really blame the Balts for severe reservations about their Russian minorities regarding their potential role as 5th columns. But I have to agree, their behaviour since the start of the war in Ukraine has been completely unhinged. Whenever I see something from a Baltic politician, it's some insane bs like calls for no-fly-zones, for sending weapons systems that could be used to attack Crimea or Russian territory, for sending NATO ships to the Black Sea as blockade-breakers, or now for Ukraine's quick NATO accession. Very strange people indeed.Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke
I’m fascinated by the raw headcount. Which no western media will print.
If Russia can count on around 6 million being sympathetic to them or identifying as Russia then Ukries have a 6 gorrillion problem in this area.
I’d have to freshen up on it, but from what I remember reading is that Lenin, coming from an upper middle class family, was not very well prepared to living in the woods. From what I recall (and I may be mistaken) things were so dangerous for him that he couldn’t stay in what they call a “conspiratory” apartment and had to literally camp in the woods. So this Finnish Commie who was hiding him in the woods made sure that Lenin had everything he needs to survive. (I remember you defending them previously so you should be able to relate, many could, in fact, given the circumstances back then).
Yea, it should be, I’d watch it. 😊
Because Latvians had already experienced war, were better trained and equipped and because some Russians were actually begging for them to arrive?
Even if it is true, that doesn’t take away from the fact that a huge part of ethnic Slavs participated in the revolution. And that many subjects of the Empire were involved in the revolution of 1905. And that the leftist movements against the ancien regime were started by aristocrats, predominantly ethnic Russian ones. Alexander II was killed in a plot that was run by a Russian woman.
You are obviously some kind of a Red yourself, so you should be able to relate to all these Latvian & Estonian riflemen, and the progressive Russian narodniks and anarchists.
This doesn’t change the fact that by 1920, the Reds were driven out of the Baltic States and in 1940 the Soviets were not wanted. Neither occupation was good.
Yea, because they don’t want to recognize that it was good for the people. So they will tend to portray it in a somewhat negative light.
They were benign in the sense that people weren’t straight up murdered or tortured or that children & elderly weren’t exiled to Siberia.
Personally, I have a good image of the 80s (both the beginning – with the exception of the Afghan war – and the late 80s). But to say that it was a free society where nationalism (and potentially other good things) wasn’t oppressed is a lie. And to say that it was better than the 1930s…. well, it’s debatable, but not really. They were both good, but 1930s were better. 1980s with the pre-war population and some of that ideology would have been great.
This has not been the case for many years now.
Because I object to murder of Ukrainians.
Please do not conflate the bombings of Serbia with what either the Baltic States or Ukraine have done over the years. We didn’t participate in that. Even if we became NATO friendly later, doesn’t mean we are responsible for it. That is a primitive manipulation and another one of your attempts to muddy the waters (something that you’re so good at).
That we are living through the consequences of certain gradual processes, doesn’t mean it is ok to escalate to the current level, it doesn’t mean it’s ok to annex such large territories and it definitely doesn’t mean it’s ok to torture and kill on foreign soil.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to derail your thread, so I apologize for interfering. Just wanted to throw in a few things.
Western nations including the US have arms supply issues, on top of growing unease in Europe about supporting the the corrupt, undemocratic and neo-Nazi influenced Kiev regime, which has lost considerable personnel, with Russia nowhere near approaching full throttle.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35713410/
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-confirms-link-between-covid-19-vaccination-temporary-increase-menstrual-cycle-length
They are temporary, lasting a few months. But the vaccination was supposed to be administered once or twice a year. And Covid has become endemic in the West therfore people will be sick with Covid on a regular basis, perhaps once or twice a year. That way the cumulative effects of the Covid infections and vaccines will have a downward effect on total fertility.
Developed countries fertility is anemic in most countries, an additional percentage of fertility drop will accelerate depopulation, especially among the global middle class.
Chinese also have a fertility problem, they want to avoid exacerbating it.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @Barbarossa
Thanks, I have been familiar with this and similar data. It seems to me that the effect is too transitory and inconclusive to really be effective as an explicit Reset strategy to suppress population. Honestly, industrial chemical contamination in food and social media would likely have far more effect on fertility than Covid or it’s vaccines.
I also strongly suspect that subsequent Covid infections would have much less potential for fertility suppression, as the disease becomes less serious. Most of the bad Covid reactions were from the extremely strong initial immune system response/ inflammation. Subsequent exposures become less and less severe. It’s mostly just a mild to moderate cold at this point for most people.
Personally I know that first time we had the ‘Vid it was a pretty severe flu, but at this point it’s extremely mild. I would be unsurprised to learn that I had temporarily lowered sperm counts after the first infection since I had a pretty good fever going etc. I would find it highly unlikely that my very mild Covid infections had the same impact.
I don’t know if the fertility drop would be similarly decreased with subsequent jabs.
It would seem that if the fertility issue was the main concern for the Chinese they could steer clear of the mRNA shots.
Lacking evidence for a sustained and serious reduction decrease in fertility I just can’t see it being a primary driver for such a huge policy directive like Zero Covid in China.
This is a cross section of a gun barrel from a captured BMP2 examined by the Ukrainians. Presumably it is an extreme example but it illustrates the problems that arise. For example, how did it pass quality control?
An off centre bore will cause differential heating which will caue the barrel to bend. Shooting will be inaccurate. The barrel will heat up more quickly resulting in ammunition jamming or even the bursting of the barrel.
You will also observe wave like effects on the surface of the cross section. These are stress patterns. They will have similar effects to overheating. The steel is not up to spec. They can be relieved in lower quality steel by temperature recycling. In my heavy metal days this meant leaving casting and foundry products in the open air for a winter but the process can be accelerating by cycling through an oven.
By eyesight the main bore looks circular and the rifling seems even (not completely sure) so it could be worse.
It is impossible to tell whether the bore is consistently off centre or varies along the length of the barrel.
https://external-preview.redd.it/RhuRTNpVQ962GWn2JpwOwuPZLPSUtiw915Kpp3TdH-k.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f0065e20e37bfd0f8671f2f8f1dd2f8743321413Replies: @Barbarossa, @Here Be Dragon
I agree that the QC is terrible in that barrel. I don’t see any wave-like patterns on the cross section though. It looks like abrasive scratching from whatever they used to clean up the cut. Or did you mean that the stress patterns are something one would expect to find but are not visible in the photo?
This barrel will fire but the only moderately accurate shot will be the first. The lack of precision barrels may be why Russia is not using scoot and shoot tactics. With compromised accuracy, WW1 style barrages of massed artillery are the best tactic.
My first comment forgot to mention wear rate, which will of course be higher with a barrel like this.
Barrel replacement is always necessary however good the barrel. Russian fitters need to be faster at it than a NATO army would need to be. UA has a problem because of the huge variety of barrels they have.
Not Poland, Poland has come out a major winner out of a lot of these developments in the last 30 years (except the exodus of their people to the West), but the Baltic States did sacrifice a lot from the nationalist point of view. A lot of sovereignty was given up and a lot of amendments were made in legislation that were not in the interests of our people (purely due to Western pressure and they were not always done for the sake of "human rights"). This is a possibility, but we don't know for sure, surely Ukraine would've been crushed (although Russia would inherit a major mess) but we don't know if Russia was ready to annex or invade in 2014, from what I recall, Putin received a visit from someone in Switzerland who cautioned him against this idea. It may have been those who hold his money, they may have threatened him they would arrest the money (like it was done eventually). Obviously, this is all speculation. We remember how pissed off all the Russian imperialists were about it but they didn't have all the information. Come to think of it, the generals themselves may have objected at that time -- apparently, some of the generals objected to the current invasion as well (because they knew better, they were right).
The problem with Ukraine compromising over and over (remember that Ukraine had already lost territory by then) is the question of where it stops. I understand that there is not much that can be done against force, except opposing force, you measure strength with strength, as the Russians themselves say (Силой мерьте силушку), so, of course, Ukraine was in a very compromised position. All I am saying from the Western point of view and the point of view of Russia's neighbors, you have to put the foot down somewhere.
1991 was real for us even if the Russian imperialist (and their Western fans) believe it was a blip and they can just go back to the old Russia via some "quick and victorious little war". No, it's the human condition, many people have been historically wiped out. I agree to some extent that one has to be patient and live with what one has been dealt (I mean, look at Israel and how deliberately and patiently they are dealing with their geographic fate), but as I noted above, we are not alone in that regard at this point anymore. This is now a systemic problem.
And words are very important, if you keep cussing each other out, you build a lot of unneeded animosity. Instead, there should have been attempts to build amicability. Although who knows if that would've helped, they will grab what they like anyway as long as they can. They are very creative with coming up with pre-texts, a creative people who will believe in their own fairy tales. Turkey is not one of the good guys, Turkey is simply exercising whatever is available to her in a multi-polar environment that has arrived and that you yourself so coveted. Turkey is objectively a stronger country than Greece. And as to what our position should be is that Turkey is a NATO country, but Greece is a NATO and an EU country so Greece comes first. If there was real danger to Greece, we would need to side with Greece since we have obligations within the EU & NATO framework, regardless of any dreams of the Intermarium. This is your very rigid opinion, but you're entitled to it. Let me just note to you that Eastern Slavs are much more unruly than, let's say, Estonians. Quite willful with a decent IQ. Oh, and there are a lot of them. I know you're not looking forward to it, but it will be fun. I know this isn't a personal question, but I can tell you that my father really didn't like what Bush was doing back then, as well as a couple of close friends of mine. I know this is not much and they were in the minority, but thought I'd put it out there. I have also read about the consequences of the use of the phosphorus bombs on the Iraqi women and their offspring so I am aware of how severe and horrifying it was.
You know, we wouldn't have been as compelled to join NATO if Russian officers hadn't walked into auls and raped young Chechen girls back in the early 90s. I don't want to trash Russia for those days, as they are long past and Russia had reasons to defend herself, but because we cared more about those things than you ever did (or will), we had our reasons, too. In hindsight, it was probably the right thing to do. (Although I already described above what would've been my personal preferences, but building a regional bloc was probably not realistic at that time). I agree that this could be one way to look at it, and it is not healthy for the EU.
I just wanted to put our example out there because we did resort to such questionable mechanisms way back because we were attacked. Sorry to ask this (this is not my fave topic in general), but did Germany ever apologize to Poland and Ukraine specifically or only to the Jewish people and Russia / as the inheritor of the USSR? Because the way it might look for the Poles is that they took a big brunt of the invasion, but only Russia and Belarus got the respect. It's unfortunate that these things are being brought up right now and nobody can bring back those Polish citizens anyway. And Germany will not cease to be a Polish neighbor. Do they want to live in permanent tension? Well, just remember, Poland isn't going anywhere. It's the same way that Beckow always lectures Russia's neighbors to "just take it" because "Russia is not going anywhere". But it is unseemly and even against the spirit of the EU, I'd say, so I don't even deem it appropriate to direct it at the Germans.Replies: @German_reader
“Freedom loving Russian ethnonationalists” – is there any reason to believe they’re more than a fringe group? And the original question was about peoples who allegedly had to sacrifice something because of Western policies. Unless you want to go way back to 30 years ago and somehow blame all of Russia’s internal development on Western support for Yeltsin’s government, references to Russian ethnonationalists make no sense in this regard.
“The whole perimeter” – the Caucasus and Central Asia? From my pov, none of our business, and I very much doubt attempting to undermine Russia’s influence there will have positive consequences.
I don’t particularly like Israel, but they have had to endure a lot more than words. Probably thousands of Israeli civilians were killed by Arab terrorists, there have been missile attacks on Israel etc. By contrast you’re going on about the threat of a Russian invasion of the Baltic states which so far has been purely theoretical, and which would only make sense in a general war against NATO. Frankly, it often feels to me as if Balts think NATO should just dismantle the Russian Federation for them, so they can feel totally secure (how else to explain this constant agitation for measures that have a high chance of leading to a direct NATO-Russia clash, as if a proxy war weren’t already bad enough). That’s not a reasonable exspectation by any standard.
Ukraine had disastrous demographics already before the war. Many Ukrainians have fled abroad. The longer the war lasts (and iirc you have always been of the opinion that Ukraine should never accept any territorial concessions), the bigger the carnage. At this point it’s quite likely that hundreds of thousands will die. That’s not a prospect I’m happy about, not at all. But the idea that an economically and demographically devastated Ukraine could be a pole that can hold its own (something not even Western Europe has managed to any real degree) is fantasy.
I don’t blame you for joining NATO, that was totally understandable. I do blame you (that is Balts and Poles) for continually making demands in regard to the present Ukraine conflict that have a high chance of leading to a catastrophic outcome if they ever become official policy.
Multiple times since the 1960s at least. Maybe some things regarding financial compensation should have been handled more generously, but the Polish perception that their suffering at the hands of WW2 Germans has never been acknowledged is inaccurate.
As for Ukraine, I don’t know, though it would surprise me if there hadn’t been some sort of official statement, meaningless at that may be by itself.
I know that, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence service, Kirillo Budanov, the Ukrainians are working with the Caucasus but I don't know to what extent and in what depth. But it is understandable in their case because they neighbor that region and they are at war with the RusFed. And they were active in the Caucasus already in the 90s. So that's a separate issue. Here you are just straight up being misleading about my people. I have not heard a single politician who is still in power saying anything about dismantling Russia. I will admit that many Ukrainians are talking about it but mostly analysts and former diplomats, although Budanov did speak about it with relative certainty the other day.
The RusFed cannot be dismantled from the outside by anybody. Nobody has such power over the Russian population or such a reach within that country. The RusFed can only crumble from within due to the stresses that they have subjected themselves to with the current escapade (what do you think will happen when the first mobilized amateur "soldiers" reach the front lines and are decimated there or surrender in large numbers... the front will collapse which will reverberate across the whole RusFed) - and due to the oppressions they have doled out to their various constituents. At the end of the day they have no leverage over you and can't get into your accounts. Probably, I remember I once encountered some Belarusians who's relatives were getting some money for the forced labor.
Interesting quote from the 1853 book The New Rome:
https://archive.org/details/newrome00poes/page/124/mode/2up
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gTuAIAUych4/Tc5YT6dyCLI/AAAAAAABFr4/YA4Uyb2z7ys/s1600/Happy+Homemaker+20116-1.jpg
‘Business is the mighty godhead that is transforming the world.'
https://youtu.be/80TfG7C9azA
http://jbroccolis.blogspot.com/2011/05/the-union-jack-more-than-you-bargained.html?m=1
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire#:~:text=The History of the Decline and Fall of,the fall of Byzantium in the fifteenth century.
https://archive.org/details/newrome00poes/page/124/mode/2up
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations
After a period of reflection, I would have my answer, but, were I to guess at it now, it would require me to actively oppose those governments.
As for the rest of your comment, it sounds like Baghdad Bob.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
Atomic bombs have only been used twice. By Harry Truman president of the USA. Yet, here we are.
After a period of reflection, I would have my answer, but, were I to guess at it now, it would require me to actively oppose those governments.
As for the rest of your comment, it sounds like Baghdad Bob.Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow
Could be too late by then. But US is the only country that has used nukes, so your projection is quite odd.
One of us does. Soon we will know which one.
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they're generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don't actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a "hall monitor." This is loony stuff.
And then there's just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin's comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That's ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don't see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and "false flags" are generally not worth the risk, but I also don't see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn't going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don't like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can't be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don't care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don't think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don't reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you'd think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Coconuts, @Barbarossa, @PhysicistDave
To get back to you…
I would say that the modern age seems quite good at producing brain dead sheep. The conversations that I have with people in education do not bode well for the next few decades. General life competency is dropping quickly and is about to head into total free fall. It’s not a question of superiority, but of upbringing. The parents and educational systems have been serving most younger generations very poorly indeed, which is a tragedy and a disservice of criminal proportions.
Unz in general is a strange mixed bag of course. It attracts lots of the outcasts and discontents of the greater internet, of which I can be lumped in. I like Unz (or at least Sailer, the AK community, and the sadly defunct AE blog as freewheeling examples of stimulating conversation and thought. I’m not sure it’s a worthwhile effort to read too much into my worldview as purely viewed through the greater Unzsphere of Anglin et. al.
I would actually say that in real life, the people who broadly agree with my basic worldview (trust me, nobody, including myself, agrees with me completely!) are generally quite highly functional, perhaps not in the sense of dying with the most BMWs in the driveway, but do pretty well in metrics of having functional families, productive and engaging work and social lives and being generally happy and contented.
I’m not quite sure what you are getting at, but if you find the Anglin or 4 chan commentariat to be fellow travelers to you or myself, I would say that you are laboring under false assumptions. 4chan style disillusionment is just another from of surreal dysfunction mirroring it’s woke complement.
I think I see something on the right hand side. I won’t die on the hill. There will be stress in there.
This barrel will fire but the only moderately accurate shot will be the first. The lack of precision barrels may be why Russia is not using scoot and shoot tactics. With compromised accuracy, WW1 style barrages of massed artillery are the best tactic.
My first comment forgot to mention wear rate, which will of course be higher with a barrel like this.
Barrel replacement is always necessary however good the barrel. Russian fitters need to be faster at it than a NATO army would need to be. UA has a problem because of the huge variety of barrels they have.
And, besides, you, Western Russophiles, have done exactly zero for the Russian nation. You spent years egging them on, helping build up their imaginary bubble of grandeur, insinuating that "the West is done", creating an alternative media mirage about how the West is so degenerate that it will never be able to defend itself so it's safe to present crazy ultimata and to go all in, and then when the calamity arrives, you present literally zero practical use to them. You want the Eastern Slavs to bear the brunt for furthering your delusional ideas of geopolitical role play. Where are the Russophiles now that Russian men are looking for asylum? What is going to happen to their women? Are you just going to swoop in like vultures again and snatch them up?
No, the Western so called Russophiles do not deserve a single inch of the Bearskin. Neither do the Western neocons or liberals for that matter. And do not bail the Russians out this time by sending them canned food or delivering IMF loans the way you did in the 90s, they need to go through this lesson themselves. I have already spoken as to what could've been done differently. It's not like I'm denying fault. I'm willing to take up some responsibility (the minimum), but so should everyone else.
Btw, I couldn't help but notice you mentioning in the previous thread that the Ukrainian tactical operations are performed by the British and that that's why they're successful.
Do not attempt to steal the Ukrainian victories from them!
Sure, the British might be helping, but the tactical planning is done by General Zaluzhniy. Obviously a very smart and creative man with a good team who deserves the credit. Give credit where it's due!Replies: @Mikel, @216
That’s exactly what I mean. You call me a Russophile and, even worse, most likely believe that I am one, just because I dared criticize the Ukrainian shelling of civilians in Donbass, in the same way that I’m criticizing the Russian criminal invasion now. If you are not my friend you are my enemy. I perfectly understand how German_reader feels. You desperately want to drag us into your ethnic quarrels and, no matter what we do, it’s never enough. We must feel the same Russophobia as you do or else we are covert Putinists.
You do realize that we’ve never been closer to a nuclear war since at least the Cuban crisis, don’t you? And during that crisis the Russians only had a small fraction of the nuclear weapons and delivery systems they now have, about half of what the Americans had, but still everybody was much more frightened than now. How the f*ck is it going to improve the EE geopolitical security if we all end up pulverized in a nuclear pyre?
All of my family is in as much risk of suffering the dire consequences of a nuclear war as anyone in the Baltics. Don’t we at least have the right to criticize what we think has led us to this stupid fate?
Like everyone else here, I only have very limited information. I think the different sources that say that the British (apparently more than the Pentagon) are giving battlefield advice to the Ukrainians are probably right but I don’t know. It may be all a smoke screen. With or without foreign help, what the Ukrainian military are doing by first stopping the Russians and now driving them away from their territory is very impressive. So is the obvious bravery of the Ukrainian soldiers. Nobody expected any of this 7 months ago.
Is this enough or do I need to be more emphatic to avoid your accusing me of Ukrainophobia?
What gave you away is that you were criticizing Ukraine disproportionately. But you're not the worst, ofc.
My point still stands: for years, these Western pro-Russians, or pro-Putinists rather, were creating all these narratives about how "The West is weak", "The West is evil", etc., I'm starting to think that this may have partly led to the Russians believing that it makes sense to go all the way in (read the ultimatum in December). These are the same narratives that Solovyov was endlessly repeating to the naive Russian audience - that, yes, NATO is dangerous, but NATO is also weak and "they are all faggots there". They made the Russians believe that this is needed and would be doable. The group that you (and many others on this website) represent egged the Russians into it (not that they are not themselves responsible, but they definitely got some wind in the sails, so to speak).
But now that real calamity is at the door, there is literally absolutely nothing that these Western Putinists can or will do for the Russian people. Even worse, they will ignore the dire consequences of this on the Russian people. How dare you blame Russia's neighbors for that! Russia, the US and other countries bullied Ukraine in the 90s into giving up nukes and Russia comes back now to threaten to disassemble Ukraine. And you want to put all the responsibility on Russia's neighbors? The nukes are for deterrence, not for solving localized feuds or regional military problems. The nukes are not supposed to be used by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear power. Nothing in this region justifies their use. Not even NATO membership. Only a physical war on the Russian soil itself would justify them (after all the conventional means are exhausted). Putin is threatening with nukes because he knows that if they keep losing he will lose power, that they will all go down. This is done partly for personal reasons.
Do you yourself realize that someone like Kadyrov is suggesting nukes be used is not because of some real security issues but because he is worried about his own damn hide?? Which he so willingly sold to the Russians over his own people's heads. For your information, Kadyrov is someone who has for years tortured prisoners, allegedly while himself being present, and someone at whose orders peoples' mothers would get kidnapped. This is the guy who is currently threatening with nukes and you blame Russia's neighbors? Wow. Kadyrov sees that if Putin goes down he will go down and will be ripped to pieces by his fellow Chechens, so he is using these nuclear threats to save his own life. How is this normal? So these thugs should not be held responsible at all? No, it's not just the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers. It is the smarts and the talent and the creativity and discipline of the Ukrainian military leadership. Which you tried to deny!!! As in the British are doing this for them. No. The British are most likely helping but they cannot help to that extent at the on the ground level. So credit goes to the Ukrainians generals.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
Yes, teenage years are difficult for everybody, even for those of us who remember them as the best time of our life. I can understand that for some people the bad memories may be more significant than the good ones but I think that most people would like to repeat the experience, especially if they were allowed to return with the knowledge they gained later on in life.
You and the RF government don’t get to decide what their interests are. Every government in the EU was elected in something resembling a “free and fair” election.
The sanctions on Russia and the voluminous aid to Ukraine remain overwhelmingly popular. That is not my fault personally, nor the fault of the US Right collectively. We have stuck our neck out for RF since 2016, and paid incredible damage at the polls. We were repeatedly lied to about an invasion not being imminent, and looked like fools when it happened and the Usurpation was proven correct.
The people of France could and should have voted for Le Pen. They did not.
The people of Germany could and should give AfD a majority in the Reichstag and make Hocke the Chancellor. They did not.
The people of Italy rewarded a previously pro-Russia party for doing a 180.
Europeans are willing to freeze to see Pride parades from Kiev to Vladivostok. RF isn’t willing to stop being murderous for two seconds which would convince Warsaw and Prague that they have common ground.
The fact is, is, that the first flag of the self described ‘New Rome’ (aka the United States), the ‘Grand Union’ flag, is all but identical to the British East India Company flag, that Gibbon’s first volume of his epic masterpiece The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was first published in 1776, and that the de facto ‘Capitalist Manifesto’, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, was also first published in 1776, is all just ‘a remarkable coincidence’. 🙂
‘Business is the mighty godhead that is transforming the world.’
http://jbroccolis.blogspot.com/2011/05/the-union-jack-more-than-you-bargained.html?m=1
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire#:~:text=The History of the Decline and Fall of,the fall of Byzantium in the fifteenth century.
https://archive.org/details/newrome00poes/page/124/mode/2up
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations
Yea, it should be, I'd watch it. 😊 Because Latvians had already experienced war, were better trained and equipped and because some Russians were actually begging for them to arrive? Even if it is true, that doesn't take away from the fact that a huge part of ethnic Slavs participated in the revolution. And that many subjects of the Empire were involved in the revolution of 1905. And that the leftist movements against the ancien regime were started by aristocrats, predominantly ethnic Russian ones. Alexander II was killed in a plot that was run by a Russian woman.
You are obviously some kind of a Red yourself, so you should be able to relate to all these Latvian & Estonian riflemen, and the progressive Russian narodniks and anarchists.
This doesn't change the fact that by 1920, the Reds were driven out of the Baltic States and in 1940 the Soviets were not wanted. Neither occupation was good. Yea, because they don't want to recognize that it was good for the people. So they will tend to portray it in a somewhat negative light. They were benign in the sense that people weren't straight up murdered or tortured or that children & elderly weren't exiled to Siberia.
Personally, I have a good image of the 80s (both the beginning - with the exception of the Afghan war - and the late 80s). But to say that it was a free society where nationalism (and potentially other good things) wasn't oppressed is a lie. And to say that it was better than the 1930s.... well, it's debatable, but not really. They were both good, but 1930s were better. 1980s with the pre-war population and some of that ideology would have been great. This has not been the case for many years now. Because I object to murder of Ukrainians. Please do not conflate the bombings of Serbia with what either the Baltic States or Ukraine have done over the years. We didn't participate in that. Even if we became NATO friendly later, doesn't mean we are responsible for it. That is a primitive manipulation and another one of your attempts to muddy the waters (something that you're so good at). That we are living through the consequences of certain gradual processes, doesn't mean it is ok to escalate to the current level, it doesn't mean it's ok to annex such large territories and it definitely doesn't mean it's ok to torture and kill on foreign soil.
Anyway, I didn't mean to derail your thread, so I apologize for interfering. Just wanted to throw in a few things.Replies: @Beckow
You are not derailing. The Finnish ability to swat mosquitos and sit inside hot ovens drinking booze is legendary. But not as legendary as the Latvians Bolshevik rifles, or the murderous Latvians SS troops, and more recently the proud Latvian euro-apartheid builders. What are you guys down to, about million and half people left?
We all should. Did you also object to murder of Russians? Quite a few were murdered from Odessa to Donbas.
I will continue to do so. We can’t understand this war without including what happened in Kosovo. Nato did it, and Nato is at the heart of this war – admired ally for both Ukies and Balts. They own it.
I am thoroughly petty-bourgeoisie with a touch of very-low nobility. I find the Reds amusing. But not as amusing as the people who fear them like the devil and exaggerate like medieval Jesuits about hell.
Hell is not a place where we go to fry. Hell is a cold, echoing empty space with neither past nor future – a place where people repeat gibberish and affirm each others’ stereotypes. So have at it, the damn ‘Siberian’ huskies and widows tortured by the Reds (and only them) – must be true, it is your hellish identity. Thus anything Russian must be destroyed. Why you conflate Reds with Russians (and only them) is a mystery.
A fat, improbably white Finnish commie, swatting mosquitos in the woods as Lenin furiously writes orders to murder Latvian children? Did I get it right? You live in a kind of hell.
I don’t think that Russia can win this war without getting equivalent aid from China, comparable to which the US is providing to Ukraine. In order to subdue Ukraine, Russia has to mobilize up to 3 million soldiers. But much of the Russian army has no real willingness to fight in a war with unclear aims. RF allies appear unlikely to contribute troops in the form of the IRGC or the DPRK, who might be far more motivated and disciplined to adhere to an anti-Western cause.
Cut the crap, this might fly domestically, but it will sell just as well as your Ladas did in the West. The Third Worldism belched from Putin’s annexation speech is at least palatable to the Third World, which won’t do much other than buy some fertilizers and fossil fuels.
Keep ignoring that the US and its key allies have supply issues, combined with the Kiev regime having comparatively limited armaments and armed personnel than Russia, along with the considerable Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to date, plus growing European awareness that the comic book good guy (Kiev regime) bad guy (Russia) imagery is convoluted from reality.
One side has been shooting its load unlike the other. Patience will likely prevail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ
The sooner the Kiev regime seeks an earnest negotiation, the greater the likelihood it loses less territory.Replies: @Sean, @Keypusher
And, besides, you, Western Russophiles, have done exactly zero for the Russian nation. You spent years egging them on, helping build up their imaginary bubble of grandeur, insinuating that "the West is done", creating an alternative media mirage about how the West is so degenerate that it will never be able to defend itself so it's safe to present crazy ultimata and to go all in, and then when the calamity arrives, you present literally zero practical use to them. You want the Eastern Slavs to bear the brunt for furthering your delusional ideas of geopolitical role play. Where are the Russophiles now that Russian men are looking for asylum? What is going to happen to their women? Are you just going to swoop in like vultures again and snatch them up?
No, the Western so called Russophiles do not deserve a single inch of the Bearskin. Neither do the Western neocons or liberals for that matter. And do not bail the Russians out this time by sending them canned food or delivering IMF loans the way you did in the 90s, they need to go through this lesson themselves. I have already spoken as to what could've been done differently. It's not like I'm denying fault. I'm willing to take up some responsibility (the minimum), but so should everyone else.
Btw, I couldn't help but notice you mentioning in the previous thread that the Ukrainian tactical operations are performed by the British and that that's why they're successful.
Do not attempt to steal the Ukrainian victories from them!
Sure, the British might be helping, but the tactical planning is done by General Zaluzhniy. Obviously a very smart and creative man with a good team who deserves the credit. Give credit where it's due!Replies: @Mikel, @216
Which is better Russian or Persian? Asking for some thirsty neocon friends.
Ukies biggest problem is that similar sympathies for Russia also exist in about half of the country: from Kharkov to Odessa, Kiev to Sub-Carpathia. They over-reached.
You do realize that we've never been closer to a nuclear war since at least the Cuban crisis, don't you? And during that crisis the Russians only had a small fraction of the nuclear weapons and delivery systems they now have, about half of what the Americans had, but still everybody was much more frightened than now. How the f*ck is it going to improve the EE geopolitical security if we all end up pulverized in a nuclear pyre?
All of my family is in as much risk of suffering the dire consequences of a nuclear war as anyone in the Baltics. Don't we at least have the right to criticize what we think has led us to this stupid fate? Like everyone else here, I only have very limited information. I think the different sources that say that the British (apparently more than the Pentagon) are giving battlefield advice to the Ukrainians are probably right but I don't know. It may be all a smoke screen. With or without foreign help, what the Ukrainian military are doing by first stopping the Russians and now driving them away from their territory is very impressive. So is the obvious bravery of the Ukrainian soldiers. Nobody expected any of this 7 months ago.
Is this enough or do I need to be more emphatic to avoid your accusing me of Ukrainophobia?Replies: @LatW
You’re not a Russophile, but I simply don’t have a better term handy right now (I myself am a Russophile, too, as I like the Rus).
What gave you away is that you were criticizing Ukraine disproportionately. But you’re not the worst, ofc.
My point still stands: for years, these Western pro-Russians, or pro-Putinists rather, were creating all these narratives about how “The West is weak”, “The West is evil”, etc., I’m starting to think that this may have partly led to the Russians believing that it makes sense to go all the way in (read the ultimatum in December). These are the same narratives that Solovyov was endlessly repeating to the naive Russian audience – that, yes, NATO is dangerous, but NATO is also weak and “they are all faggots there”. They made the Russians believe that this is needed and would be doable. The group that you (and many others on this website) represent egged the Russians into it (not that they are not themselves responsible, but they definitely got some wind in the sails, so to speak).
But now that real calamity is at the door, there is literally absolutely nothing that these Western Putinists can or will do for the Russian people. Even worse, they will ignore the dire consequences of this on the Russian people.
How dare you blame Russia’s neighbors for that! Russia, the US and other countries bullied Ukraine in the 90s into giving up nukes and Russia comes back now to threaten to disassemble Ukraine. And you want to put all the responsibility on Russia’s neighbors? The nukes are for deterrence, not for solving localized feuds or regional military problems. The nukes are not supposed to be used by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear power. Nothing in this region justifies their use. Not even NATO membership. Only a physical war on the Russian soil itself would justify them (after all the conventional means are exhausted). Putin is threatening with nukes because he knows that if they keep losing he will lose power, that they will all go down. This is done partly for personal reasons.
Do you yourself realize that someone like Kadyrov is suggesting nukes be used is not because of some real security issues but because he is worried about his own damn hide?? Which he so willingly sold to the Russians over his own people’s heads. For your information, Kadyrov is someone who has for years tortured prisoners, allegedly while himself being present, and someone at whose orders peoples’ mothers would get kidnapped. This is the guy who is currently threatening with nukes and you blame Russia’s neighbors? Wow. Kadyrov sees that if Putin goes down he will go down and will be ripped to pieces by his fellow Chechens, so he is using these nuclear threats to save his own life. How is this normal? So these thugs should not be held responsible at all?
No, it’s not just the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers. It is the smarts and the talent and the creativity and discipline of the Ukrainian military leadership. Which you tried to deny!!! As in the British are doing this for them. No. The British are most likely helping but they cannot help to that extent at the on the ground level. So credit goes to the Ukrainians generals.
As for Ukraine giving up its nukes, that is at best a half-truth, they couldn't have used them anyway, at least not without a massive investment that might well have been beyond Ukraine's capabilities given the disastrous economic state of the country ever since the Soviet collapse.Replies: @LatW
The glorious Ukrainian Armed Forces, commanded by Great Leader Zaluzhny, have proven to the world that they don't need any training, advice or weapons from outside. Cowardly Western nations should immediately stop making those token gestures of support.
Moreover, the recent videos that are being uploaded of Ukrainian soldiers torturing Russian POSw taken around Lyman are all Kremlin propaganda. The Ukrainian soldier is brave, noble and notorious for being incapable of harming any defenseless person. Let's all bow in respect to these heroes.
Lymon has officially been taken back from its Russian occupiers. Just one day after Putler declares that this area was a part and parcel of Russia – more evidence that he has more than one loose screw in his brain:
The sanctions on Russia and the voluminous aid to Ukraine remain overwhelmingly popular. That is not my fault personally, nor the fault of the US Right collectively. We have stuck our neck out for RF since 2016, and paid incredible damage at the polls. We were repeatedly lied to about an invasion not being imminent, and looked like fools when it happened and the Usurpation was proven correct.
The people of France could and should have voted for Le Pen. They did not.
The people of Germany could and should give AfD a majority in the Reichstag and make Hocke the Chancellor. They did not.
The people of Italy rewarded a previously pro-Russia party for doing a 180.
Europeans are willing to freeze to see Pride parades from Kiev to Vladivostok. RF isn't willing to stop being murderous for two seconds which would convince Warsaw and Prague that they have common ground.Replies: @AnonfromTN
Nobody can help people with a death wish. Nobody will try to help them accomplish their suicide, Darwin prize for them. Posthumously.
"The whole perimeter" - the Caucasus and Central Asia? From my pov, none of our business, and I very much doubt attempting to undermine Russia's influence there will have positive consequences.
I don't particularly like Israel, but they have had to endure a lot more than words. Probably thousands of Israeli civilians were killed by Arab terrorists, there have been missile attacks on Israel etc. By contrast you're going on about the threat of a Russian invasion of the Baltic states which so far has been purely theoretical, and which would only make sense in a general war against NATO. Frankly, it often feels to me as if Balts think NATO should just dismantle the Russian Federation for them, so they can feel totally secure (how else to explain this constant agitation for measures that have a high chance of leading to a direct NATO-Russia clash, as if a proxy war weren't already bad enough). That's not a reasonable exspectation by any standard. Ukraine had disastrous demographics already before the war. Many Ukrainians have fled abroad. The longer the war lasts (and iirc you have always been of the opinion that Ukraine should never accept any territorial concessions), the bigger the carnage. At this point it's quite likely that hundreds of thousands will die. That's not a prospect I'm happy about, not at all. But the idea that an economically and demographically devastated Ukraine could be a pole that can hold its own (something not even Western Europe has managed to any real degree) is fantasy. I don't blame you for joining NATO, that was totally understandable. I do blame you (that is Balts and Poles) for continually making demands in regard to the present Ukraine conflict that have a high chance of leading to a catastrophic outcome if they ever become official policy. Multiple times since the 1960s at least. Maybe some things regarding financial compensation should have been handled more generously, but the Polish perception that their suffering at the hands of WW2 Germans has never been acknowledged is inaccurate.
As for Ukraine, I don't know, though it would surprise me if there hadn't been some sort of official statement, meaningless at that may be by itself.Replies: @LatW
I wasn’t saying there should be “attempts by the West to undermine Russia’s influence” there – why do you attribute to me what I never said or didn’t imply? I simply said that there are issues for Russia with very many neighbors now. Things are not ideal even in places such as Kazakhstan. My whole point is that you singling out “the Baltics and Poland” is absolutely irrelevant in the big picture that’s unfolding. I don’t even believe the West can do all that much about those regions.
I know that, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence service, Kirillo Budanov, the Ukrainians are working with the Caucasus but I don’t know to what extent and in what depth. But it is understandable in their case because they neighbor that region and they are at war with the RusFed. And they were active in the Caucasus already in the 90s. So that’s a separate issue.
Here you are just straight up being misleading about my people. I have not heard a single politician who is still in power saying anything about dismantling Russia. I will admit that many Ukrainians are talking about it but mostly analysts and former diplomats, although Budanov did speak about it with relative certainty the other day.
The RusFed cannot be dismantled from the outside by anybody. Nobody has such power over the Russian population or such a reach within that country. The RusFed can only crumble from within due to the stresses that they have subjected themselves to with the current escapade (what do you think will happen when the first mobilized amateur “soldiers” reach the front lines and are decimated there or surrender in large numbers… the front will collapse which will reverberate across the whole RusFed) – and due to the oppressions they have doled out to their various constituents.
At the end of the day they have no leverage over you and can’t get into your accounts.
Probably, I remember I once encountered some Belarusians who’s relatives were getting some money for the forced labor.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2681563
If you get any good pre 1960 ethnography from China they explain this in the first chapter. The first time I read it I found it a big surprise. Levenda thinks he might be the first American guy to ever figure this out but in fairness to him
1. I didn’t know it either when I read Levenda’s book;
2. Who the hell reads old ethnographies from China?
I don’t think the death rate for civilians in West Europe will exceed the death rate for Russian soldiers on the front lines.
I noticed a long time ago that you have a very active imagination.
I do? You wrote:
Heavy stuff, widows and orphans. Of course, you would claim that the Latvian SS didn’t kill anyone. And if they did, they were only Russians, commies and Jews – so I suppose that is ok with you. Why would anyone want to punish them for that after the war?
https://i.postimg.cc/5tb12NMV/Ukrainian-and-Russian-in-Ukraine.png
Here is a table based on the data of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology from 2019. The data was collected from respondents living in 130 settlements in all areas of Ukraine. It therefore included the small towns and villages.
https://i.postimg.cc/g2B5fzks/Ukrainian-and-Russian-in-Ukraine-KIIS-2019.png
Thoughts and views on teaching the Russian language
https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=832
Does not look much different to me. Unlike the Ukrainians those people do indeed belong to a different ethnic group. The Dubliners are not English.
The Ukrainians who speak Russian at home are not a different ethnic group. These are the Russian people.Replies: @AP
According to the table, “mostly Russian + only Russian” spoken with friends and relatives was 1.5% in Western Ukraine including villages, versus about 10% preferring Russian in the oblast centers (the first map you posted). In central Ukraine it was about 18.5% versus about 35%, it was 47.9% vs. about 92% in the South and 49.5% vs. 95% in the East.
So when villages are included the Russian percentage halves. Of course, methodology is somewhat different. Here they are asked what language they speak to friends and family, versus choosing which language to use in the survey.
Dubliners are a mix of native English settlers and later Irish immigrants. The Dublin region was conquered by Anglo-Normans in the 12th century and settled by people from England, despite legal efforts such as banning the use of the Gaelic language they gradually became Gaelicized until the Tudors brought in another wave of English settlers. This area was called the Pale.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pale-restricted-area#ref205922
““The Pale” in Ireland (so named after the late 14th century) was established at the time of Henry II’s expedition (1171–72) and consisted of the territories conquered by England, where English settlements and rule were most secure. The pale existed until the entire area was subjugated under Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603). Its area, which varied considerably depending upon the strength of the English authorities, included parts of the modern counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare.”
The English themselves have a lot of Celtic descent so they are not so different from the Irish:
https://unherd.com/2020/08/who-do-the-english-think-they-are/
Genetically, Ukrainians, Poles and central/Southern Russians are nearly identical, while northern Russians are quite different. Do you think that Poles, Ukrainians and non-Northern Russians are one ethnicity?
The West has lied for so long and insisted on its own privileges that we ended up with all of it being essentially worthless - nobody listens to anyone. I have tried to be even-handed and consistent, pointing out the other side of the story - why restate what everyone else says? - but by now we are clearly beyond that: the f...ing hegemony US&Co. has been running is gone. It cannot be brought back. The good news is that for most people in the West it was a burden and their interests were sacrificed - e.g. with the migrants. So maybe there is a silver lining: but most will have to work harder and will get less. That is the result of losing their privileges.Replies: @AP, @Coconuts
With total control and no access by any neutral observers the Russians can make up anything they want.
- the Kiev regime being a democracy
- Snake Island heroic fight to the death
- Ghost of Kiev
- Mariupol mosque bombed
- mass rape claim
- nothing hokey about Bucha massacre claim
among s0me other examples which will probably see additions. Some blue and yellow for yuh -
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Kherson_Military-Civil_Administration.svgReplies: @Mr. Hack
Aleksandr Blok is certainly an excellent example of the Russian Silver Age.
https://allpoetry.com/The-Scythians
I would also suggest having a look at Ivanov :
Disintegration of the Atom https://g.co/kgs/n3u1FJ
I remember reading these lines when I was younger and being completely overwhelmed with their meaning: There is no Nihilism like Russian one. This is yet again something completely exceptional. 😉Replies: @LatW, @LatW
Yes, I was reading some Yesenin not too long ago, another Silver Age star, they knew each other and have a few similar themes.
And, yes, The Scythians is a timeless and timely poem (given the current events).
That was a great poem you posted, it provides such relief when you read it, thanks.
And thanks for suggesting Ivanov, is the Disintegration of Atom available in Russian though?
I found an audio book, a bit dark and very romantic which I like a lot. I like this one in particular, so full of longing…
Только темная роза качнется,
Лепестки осыпая на грудь.
Только сонная вечность проснется
Для того, чтобы снова уснуть.
Паруса уплывают на север,
Поезда улетают на юг,
Через звезды, и пальмы, и клевер,
Через горе и счастье, мой друг.
Все равно – не протягивай руки,
Все равно – ничего не спасти.
Только синие волны разлуки,
Только синее слово «прости».
И рассеется дым паровоза,
И плеснет, исчезая, весло…
Только вечность, как темная роза,
В мировое осыпется зло.
And another, somewhat disturbing poem by him but again, one can relate to his longing, so definitely will try to read some more.
Мне больше не страшно. Мне томно.
Я медленно в пропасть лечу
И вашей России не помню
И помнить её не хочу.
И не отзываются дрожью
Банальной и сладкой тоски
Поля с колосящейся рожью,
Берёзки, дымки, огоньки…
What are you doing, Beckow? What you’re posting is completely insane. And attributing things to me that I never said nor believe. Even you should have limits.
My Ladas? WTF are you smoking? Would you prefer a blatant mis-characterization of the Kiev regime?
Keep ignoring that the US and its key allies have supply issues, combined with the Kiev regime having comparatively limited armaments and armed personnel than Russia, along with the considerable Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to date, plus growing European awareness that the comic book good guy (Kiev regime) bad guy (Russia) imagery is convoluted from reality.
One side has been shooting its load unlike the other. Patience will likely prevail.
The sooner the Kiev regime seeks an earnest negotiation, the greater the likelihood it loses less territory.
The British had to use American helicopter to get about in Afghanistan. You may be right about that being a factor because it is the one aspect of military wherewithal America cannot supply as good as or better replacements for, but you 'have to bring some to get some' and can't dance around throwing jabs all night, expecting the opponent to collapse. For a military victory, Putin ought to have hit it hard from zero hour, and told his commanders that he would accept a lot of combat casualties because the Ukrainians had to have their will broken in battles they came to see as hopeless. Instead, the Ukrainians saw that they could hurt the over-swiftly advancing Russians and make them recoil.
Instead of this kind of a slow but sure mass effect steamroller attack, Putin seems to have given his army to understand they were to attain objectives quickly without getting involved in fighting. As a result the Ukrainians morale remained intact, and then soared. Moreover, the country is now highly militerised in culture; it's become like Prussia complete with foreign subsidies. Not a chance they will; Zelensky would face a lot of unwanted examination of his performance. He already sought peace in 2019 and then criticism made him do a U turn. Zelensky has a great deal more power and popularity in war than he will after it, unless Ukraine were to regain substantial amounts of the territory lost in 2014. I think Zelensky is betting on that, and cognitive dissonance over it may even be the reason he was so insouciant about the prospect of an invasion beforehand.Replies: @216, @Mikhail
Like the BS about
– the Kiev regime being a democracy
– Snake Island heroic fight to the death
– Ghost of Kiev
– Mariupol mosque bombed
– mass rape claim
– nothing hokey about Bucha massacre claim
among s0me other examples which will probably see additions. Some blue and yellow for yuh –
This is a war of the Globalists (the Global higher elite 0.1% and their owned TNCs and Financial System) against the nation states and the global middle class which us the true base of these nation states.
The end goal is the deconstruction of the nation states, decimation of the global middle class and outright depopulation in the next 2-3 generations.
Then a transhumanist NWO post Great Reset ruled by an "invisible" Nomenklatura of the highest elite setvants through the IA and Deep Learning algorithms, digital identification, CBDC and smart contracts.
No one would ever be free again in that brave new world.
About Putin, he might have been recruited by the BND in 1989 in Dresden. Then before appearing all of a sudden close to the top of the food chain in Leningrad in 1990, he would have been probably instructed about the goals of the USSR dismantling (it was one of the steps of the Globalist agenda controlled by people such as Otto Von Habsburg, who has put Klaus Schwab where he is today around 1970).
Then he was brought to the top of the food chain in Moscow and RusFed as a whole. Under his rule, the RusFed exported to the Globalized West trillions in natural ressources, injecting into the global financial system around 2 trillion $ and has ended up dismantling 99% of the science and high technology inherited from the Soviets. The demography stagnated at best, but in fact continued its downward trend and RusFed has become a country of middle aged people.
All his achievements were bogus and fake, his notoriety a product of global and domestic propaganda. Described as a "Villain" or a "Savior" by his haters and fans, he was just a spook for the Davos Crowd, milking RusFed, while euthanizing Russia.
He has made absolutely impossible rebuilding of the Slavdom into a global force it should rightly be. He has spent around 1,5 trillion $ on RusFed defense in the last 22 years with the results we see today in Donbass. Meanwhile the TFR among ethnic Slav in the Eastern Slav nations is today around 1,5 and hundreds of thousands of potential fathers will die on the frontline. During that time, RusFed is flooded with Central Asian gastarbeiters/immigrants forever altering the ethnic makeup of the core Russian lands.
When he retires and has a plastic surgery to modify his appearance so he could live the end of his days in some cozy and opulent surroundings, he might rightly declare: "mission accomplished, everything went according to the plan".Replies: @Mr. Hack, @S, @S
I’ve always thought the USSR didn’t ‘fall’ naturally, that it had instead been a top down affair.
They’ll have to do something similar with the Capitalist United States, that is cause it’s collapse, which they seem to be trying their darndest to do economically.
Once the Fall of Capitalism has been induced, then they can move forward with the final synthesis of Capitalism and Communism, ie Global Multi-Culturalism, and introduce it’s accompanying global super-state, the United States of the World.
The establishment of the United States of [North] America in 1776 had merely been the first cog.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/425929.stm
The report said "электронные пуски ракет" – i.e. not a real launch but an imitation. It is a training exercise. The report said "по наземным целям, имитирующим средства воздушного нападения" – i.e. the target were not real but emulated.
You do not think that for an exercise an actual cruise missile would be used as a target, and an actual S-300 missile would be wasted for training?
Read that article again.
"В ходе учения расчеты и подразделения управления совершили марш в район проведения условных пусков ракет."
"Условный пуск" – i.e. simulated launch, or "электронный пуск" – i.e. electronic launch is an exercise when a special device is used to create a fake target which appears on the radar and the crew conducts an imitation of a launch, being in such fashion trained to use the electronic equipment.
Read the article on that particular S-300 model.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1-300%D0%92
"Подрыв БЧ радиокомандный" – that is the crew triggers the missile explosion with a radio signal.
"Зона поражения аэродинамических целей: по высоте — 0,025-30 км. Границы зоны эффективного действия: нижняя — 0,025/1 км."
The lowest altitude of the effective range of these missiles is 25 m.
Once again let us imagine that the Russians got a wrong intel about a group of saboteurs or something, disguised as civilians and moving in civilian vehicles – a possible scenario.
What would the Russians do then?
First of all there are combat helicopters. There are planes. Then there are howitzers. There are rocket launchers, such as TOS or Smerch. The Russians would have had something of that kind at hand and use it.
There is no scenario whatsoever when the Russians would have sent, as the Ukrainians claim, 16 so expensive S-300 missiles against a low value target – even if that was possible.
And even if the Russians for whatever reason did not have another means to attack – which is not possible – these S-300 missiles are radar-guided and the radar has a limitation of 25 m. It does not see below 25 m.Replies: @sudden death
All this fuss about it being simulated exercise is irrelevant, cause it still was exercise of an existing function of hitting land targets (пуски ракет по наземным целям) with S-300 rockets. The function, which you denied previously as possible, cause had no knowledge about it.
Now whether that function is enough effective or efficient, is entirely different question.
As we can see from photo at least one S-300 rocket itself did hit just the dirt, but subsequent explosive fragmentation was enough to pierce nearby civilian cars.
If you get any good pre 1960 ethnography from China they explain this in the first chapter. The first time I read it I found it a big surprise. Levenda thinks he might be the first American guy to ever figure this out but in fairness to him
1. I didn't know it either when I read Levenda's book;
2. Who the hell reads old ethnographies from China?Replies: @S
Thanks. Intriguing stuff. It seems the evidence for contact between ancient peoples grows more and more all the time.
Keep ignoring that the US and its key allies have supply issues, combined with the Kiev regime having comparatively limited armaments and armed personnel than Russia, along with the considerable Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to date, plus growing European awareness that the comic book good guy (Kiev regime) bad guy (Russia) imagery is convoluted from reality.
One side has been shooting its load unlike the other. Patience will likely prevail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ
The sooner the Kiev regime seeks an earnest negotiation, the greater the likelihood it loses less territory.Replies: @Sean, @Keypusher
‘Firstest with the mostest’. Rommel said something very similar.
America is by far the world most most formidable industrial and economic arms and finance power, yet in a full scale military effort against UkraineIf only it had started with a maximum effort alongside a mobilisation, Russia might have been expected to prevail quickly by mass effect allied to the many advantages of propinquity. Crucially, America could not have supplied Ukraine with anything if it was completely knocked out of the war. Proceeding any other way was overthinking it, yet that is precisely what the Kremlin did.
America can amp up production of arms, and only America actually matters because the other countries are freeloaders on
The British had to use American helicopter to get about in Afghanistan.
You may be right about that being a factor because it is the one aspect of military wherewithal America cannot supply as good as or better replacements for, but you ‘have to bring some to get some’ and can’t dance around throwing jabs all night, expecting the opponent to collapse. For a military victory, Putin ought to have hit it hard from zero hour, and told his commanders that he would accept a lot of combat casualties because the Ukrainians had to have their will broken in battles they came to see as hopeless. Instead, the Ukrainians saw that they could hurt the over-swiftly advancing Russians and make them recoil.
Instead of this kind of a slow but sure mass effect steamroller attack, Putin seems to have given his army to understand they were to attain objectives quickly without getting involved in fighting. As a result the Ukrainians morale remained intact, and then soared. Moreover, the country is now highly militerised in culture; it’s become like Prussia complete with foreign subsidies.
Not a chance they will; Zelensky would face a lot of unwanted examination of his performance. He already sought peace in 2019 and then criticism made him do a U turn. Zelensky has a great deal more power and popularity in war than he will after it, unless Ukraine were to regain substantial amounts of the territory lost in 2014. I think Zelensky is betting on that, and cognitive dissonance over it may even be the reason he was so insouciant about the prospect of an invasion beforehand.
Who says Zelensky will be prez for a prolonged period? It has already been hinted that he could be a fall guy.
Ali's rope a dope comes to mind. In Russia's case, they've greater strength over their opponent unlike when Ali went up against Foreman.Replies: @Sean
Some articles calling for ‘regime change’ in Russia appearing in the United State post Putin’s speech. [And exactly how will regime change be brought to the United States since Biden has stolen his way into power?]
Alexei Navalny: This is what a post-Putin Russia should look like
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/30/alexei-navalny-parliamentary-republic-russia-ukraine/
Putin Has Left the World No Other Option But Regime Change
https://www.yahoo.com/video/putin-left-world-no-other-180147049.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Navalny
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rothkopf
Aleksandr Blok is certainly an excellent example of the Russian Silver Age.
https://allpoetry.com/The-Scythians
I would also suggest having a look at Ivanov :
Disintegration of the Atom https://g.co/kgs/n3u1FJ
I remember reading these lines when I was younger and being completely overwhelmed with their meaning: There is no Nihilism like Russian one. This is yet again something completely exceptional. 😉Replies: @LatW, @LatW
So I read it (in Russian).
It’s very good (except the part with the dead girl). It’s quite dark and a bit hardcore (could maybe even be considered borderline dangerous in some ways, kind of on the edge of what might be morally accepted, and maybe a little too deliberately anti-aesthetic for my taste).
But it’s very enjoyable otherwise. I like the tempo, the flow of it (“stream of consciousness”), how it moves from image to image, impression to impression, every impression is unique and timeless, with some recurring themes, reaching deep into despair and emptiness. Horrifyingly beautiful at times:
“Человек, человечек, ноль растерянно смотрит перед собой. Он видит
черную пустоту, и в ней, как беглую молнию, непостижимую суть жизни. Тысяча
безымянных, безответных вопросов, на мгновение освещаемых беглым огнем и
сейчас же поглощаемых тьмой.”
Interesting concept – “мировое уродство”. Kind of existentially present and overwhelming yet intangible.
You can feel the influences of existentialism very well in this piece. It reminded me a little of the work of another nihilist, Emil Cioran’s “The Heights of Despair”.
Some of his emotions being separated from Russia are reflected here:
Россия счастие. Россия свет.
А, может быть, России вовсе нет.
И над Невой закат не догорал,
И Пушкин на снегу не умирал,
И нет ни Петербурга, ни Кремля –
Одни снега, снега, поля, поля…
Снега, снега, снега… А ночь долга,
И не растают никогда снега.
Снега, снега, снега… А ночь темна,
И никогда не кончится она.
Россия тишина. Россия прах.
А, может быть, Россия – только страх.
Веревка, пуля, ледяная тьма
И музыка, сводящая с ума.
Веревка, пуля, каторжный рассвет
Над тем, чему названья в мире нет.
I wonder if certain vibes, similar to those experienced by this poet as he went into emigrated n 1922, will be floating around Russia in not too distant future.
Thank you for this recommendation, I feel enriched.
(Btw, he was born very close to where I used to spend summers as a child.)
When Russia will be gone the Globalist will keep working towards a world from which "nothing human would come out alive". Russia and Russians are not your worst enemy. Once Russia gone for real, I wonder whether your nation would outlast for more than 2-3 generations. Whether any nation would...Replies: @LatW
The West has lied for so long and insisted on its own privileges that we ended up with all of it being essentially worthless - nobody listens to anyone. I have tried to be even-handed and consistent, pointing out the other side of the story - why restate what everyone else says? - but by now we are clearly beyond that: the f...ing hegemony US&Co. has been running is gone. It cannot be brought back. The good news is that for most people in the West it was a burden and their interests were sacrificed - e.g. with the migrants. So maybe there is a silver lining: but most will have to work harder and will get less. That is the result of losing their privileges.Replies: @AP, @Coconuts
Democracy is rule by the majority or according to ‘the general will’, however this is expressed. (Elections, Caesarism, Proletarian rule etc.) Democracy in itself is no obstacle to crushing minorities if the majority wills it.
Liberalism is where natural rights are human universals and are supposed to be inherent in individuals as individuals. The combination of the two, liberal democracy, aims at combining protection of individual rights and majority rule.
Iirc in 1945 half the pre-1940 Latvian population had been killed, deported or were refugees. This was related to the activities of ‘the freest, most democratic nation in the world’, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Fascism, which was also touted as the ‘highest form of democracy’ (in the Caesarian or Bonapartist mode). Soviet democracy then led to the settlement of many Slavs in Latvia, who now in the 2nd or 3rd generation I guess are supporters of liberal-democratic individualism?
If a Latvian wondered about where justice and the good of the Latvian people figured in all of this democracy, it wouldn’t seem unreasonable.
I found an audio book, a bit dark and very romantic which I like a lot. I like this one in particular, so full of longing... Только темная роза качнется,
Лепестки осыпая на грудь.
Только сонная вечность проснется
Для того, чтобы снова уснуть.Паруса уплывают на север,
Поезда улетают на юг,
Через звезды, и пальмы, и клевер,
Через горе и счастье, мой друг.Все равно – не протягивай руки,
Все равно – ничего не спасти.
Только синие волны разлуки,
Только синее слово «прости».И рассеется дым паровоза,
И плеснет, исчезая, весло...
Только вечность, как темная роза,
В мировое осыпется зло.And another, somewhat disturbing poem by him but again, one can relate to his longing, so definitely will try to read some more. Мне больше не страшно. Мне томно.
Я медленно в пропасть лечу
И вашей России не помню
И помнить её не хочу.И не отзываются дрожью
Банальной и сладкой тоски
Поля с колосящейся рожью,
Берёзки, дымки, огоньки...Replies: @Bashibuzuk
http://www.lib.ru/RUSSLIT/IWANOWG/raspad.txt
The British had to use American helicopter to get about in Afghanistan. You may be right about that being a factor because it is the one aspect of military wherewithal America cannot supply as good as or better replacements for, but you 'have to bring some to get some' and can't dance around throwing jabs all night, expecting the opponent to collapse. For a military victory, Putin ought to have hit it hard from zero hour, and told his commanders that he would accept a lot of combat casualties because the Ukrainians had to have their will broken in battles they came to see as hopeless. Instead, the Ukrainians saw that they could hurt the over-swiftly advancing Russians and make them recoil.
Instead of this kind of a slow but sure mass effect steamroller attack, Putin seems to have given his army to understand they were to attain objectives quickly without getting involved in fighting. As a result the Ukrainians morale remained intact, and then soared. Moreover, the country is now highly militerised in culture; it's become like Prussia complete with foreign subsidies. Not a chance they will; Zelensky would face a lot of unwanted examination of his performance. He already sought peace in 2019 and then criticism made him do a U turn. Zelensky has a great deal more power and popularity in war than he will after it, unless Ukraine were to regain substantial amounts of the territory lost in 2014. I think Zelensky is betting on that, and cognitive dissonance over it may even be the reason he was so insouciant about the prospect of an invasion beforehand.Replies: @216, @Mikhail
Some distance outside of Cleveland, Ohio; there is a 20,000 acre site known as the Ravenna Arsenal used during the Second World War to produce artillery ammunition. In a matter of six months, a new production line could be built on this site and there will be no more supply shortages.
черную пустоту, и в ней, как беглую молнию, непостижимую суть жизни. Тысяча
безымянных, безответных вопросов, на мгновение освещаемых беглым огнем и
сейчас же поглощаемых тьмой."Interesting concept - "мировое уродство". Kind of existentially present and overwhelming yet intangible. You can feel the influences of existentialism very well in this piece. It reminded me a little of the work of another nihilist, Emil Cioran's "The Heights of Despair". Some of his emotions being separated from Russia are reflected here: Россия счастие. Россия свет.
А, может быть, России вовсе нет.И над Невой закат не догорал,
И Пушкин на снегу не умирал,И нет ни Петербурга, ни Кремля -
Одни снега, снега, поля, поля...Снега, снега, снега... А ночь долга,
И не растают никогда снега.Снега, снега, снега... А ночь темна,
И никогда не кончится она.Россия тишина. Россия прах.
А, может быть, Россия – только страх.Веревка, пуля, ледяная тьма
И музыка, сводящая с ума.Веревка, пуля, каторжный рассвет
Над тем, чему названья в мире нет.I wonder if certain vibes, similar to those experienced by this poet as he went into emigrated n 1922, will be floating around Russia in not too distant future. Thank you for this recommendation, I feel enriched. (Btw, he was born very close to where I used to spend summers as a child.)Replies: @Bashibuzuk
These vibes have never stopped being floated around RusFed since its very beginning. RusFed was put in place, in the form it was, to extract as much as possible of the natural ressources and feed it to the Globalized West, weaken Russian spirit and corrupt it and then terminate Russia for good. Putin and his circle were instrumental in this slow and stealth but steady weakening of Russia. It was terribly cynical and deceptive.
When Russia will be gone the Globalist will keep working towards a world from which “nothing human would come out alive”. Russia and Russians are not your worst enemy. Once Russia gone for real, I wonder whether your nation would outlast for more than 2-3 generations. Whether any nation would…
The onus is now on the Russian people to deal with this. For the reasonable people to come on top. Not the likes of Kadyrov and Prigozhin.
The Russian population is needed as a buffer, as a reservoir, if it is not there, or if it is significantly reduced, it leaves a very dangerous open space. Which will not stay open but will be filled with something else.
As to the two poems, the common theme in both of them is the referencing of various world locations, geographies, somewhat randomly, and then at least the second piece reverts to the concept of emptiness, nothingness. What is the meaning of this.... Russia doesn't have borders but yet Russia doesn't exist?Replies: @Bashibuzuk
- the Kiev regime being a democracy
- Snake Island heroic fight to the death
- Ghost of Kiev
- Mariupol mosque bombed
- mass rape claim
- nothing hokey about Bucha massacre claim
among s0me other examples which will probably see additions. Some blue and yellow for yuh -
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Kherson_Military-Civil_Administration.svgReplies: @Mr. Hack
It’s been thoroughly analyzed and revealed that the Ghost of Kyiv was just a composite fictional character, and that the real ghost that instills fear into the heart of Putler, is the ghost of Bandera:
Happy freeing of Lymon Day!
Keep ignoring that the US and its key allies have supply issues, combined with the Kiev regime having comparatively limited armaments and armed personnel than Russia, along with the considerable Kiev regime armed personnel fatalities to date, plus growing European awareness that the comic book good guy (Kiev regime) bad guy (Russia) imagery is convoluted from reality.
One side has been shooting its load unlike the other. Patience will likely prevail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ
The sooner the Kiev regime seeks an earnest negotiation, the greater the likelihood it loses less territory.Replies: @Sean, @Keypusher
Zelensky just canceled the draft. Looks like he is not worried about running out of soldiers anytime soon.
Meanwhile it’s not clear where, if anywhere, the Russians will reform their lines after abandoning Liman.
They are going to 'regroup' from Kherson very soon as the Ukrainians are now hitting the coastal flanks of Kherson city in the north. They have captured a number of villages and will sweep through the west bank of Dnipro thereby threatening those Pontoon supply and escape lines to and from Kherson, it will happen very quickly this encirclement of Kherson. Of course none of this and many other military disasters would have happened without the disappearance of Russia's much hyped about air force or what I call it now the Russian air farce . Meanwhile it's widely reported that the top commanders in the military have formed a Polish firing squad and are in complete disarray.
It will be up to General Winter to stop this Russian Hemorrhaging and give them some breathing space to get their shitty shambolic military to work again.
Even Russia's milbloggers have turned on the military command because this rout of the northern front can't be denied.
What really stuns me is that Ukrainian heavy armour keeps taking these joy rides despite having no air support on their side completely unmolested. The Russian air farce exists only on paper?
The British had to use American helicopter to get about in Afghanistan. You may be right about that being a factor because it is the one aspect of military wherewithal America cannot supply as good as or better replacements for, but you 'have to bring some to get some' and can't dance around throwing jabs all night, expecting the opponent to collapse. For a military victory, Putin ought to have hit it hard from zero hour, and told his commanders that he would accept a lot of combat casualties because the Ukrainians had to have their will broken in battles they came to see as hopeless. Instead, the Ukrainians saw that they could hurt the over-swiftly advancing Russians and make them recoil.
Instead of this kind of a slow but sure mass effect steamroller attack, Putin seems to have given his army to understand they were to attain objectives quickly without getting involved in fighting. As a result the Ukrainians morale remained intact, and then soared. Moreover, the country is now highly militerised in culture; it's become like Prussia complete with foreign subsidies. Not a chance they will; Zelensky would face a lot of unwanted examination of his performance. He already sought peace in 2019 and then criticism made him do a U turn. Zelensky has a great deal more power and popularity in war than he will after it, unless Ukraine were to regain substantial amounts of the territory lost in 2014. I think Zelensky is betting on that, and cognitive dissonance over it may even be the reason he was so insouciant about the prospect of an invasion beforehand.Replies: @216, @Mikhail
Even America has limits – something presently evident. Is America going to stop producing key civilian sector goods to stop a perceived threat as was so during WW II?
Who says Zelensky will be prez for a prolonged period? It has already been hinted that he could be a fall guy.
Ali’s rope a dope comes to mind. In Russia’s case, they’ve greater strength over their opponent unlike when Ali went up against Foreman.
Enjoy it for as long as you can.
We have to keep a foot on the Germans.Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ron Unz
You’re totally confused. Although I thought his anti-vaxxing articles last year were utterly ridiculous, I still published them, and since he eventually stopped writing about that subject, I suspect that his own views may have gradually shifted.
However, he went on to publish almost 30 articles this year focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and I generally agreed with nearly all of them. His February piece about Germany being America’s real target went super-viral at the time, with an astonishing total of nearly 900,000 views, and in many respects it has proven prescient considering the American destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the enormous economic catastrophe that Germany is now facing. Given these developments, I naturally promoted it to the “Hot News” section.
Although he hasn’t written anything lately, I’m hoping he’ll soon do so, and will certainly publish it when he does.
Incidentally, the discussion surrounding the pipeline attacks has published this thread closer to nearly 150,000 words and since it’s getting sluggish, I’ve started a new one:
https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-198/
We’ll, that explains your username
Who says Zelensky will be prez for a prolonged period? It has already been hinted that he could be a fall guy.
Ali's rope a dope comes to mind. In Russia's case, they've greater strength over their opponent unlike when Ali went up against Foreman.Replies: @Sean
The US is not currently set up as a utilitarian military producer, but it could switch to being that and surely would if the alternative was Russia winning and winning and winning. Anyway, there are key weapons that Ukraine has not yet been given because as yet is is not necessary. Russia had referendum in Lyman the other week and then withdrew blowing up a bridge behind them.
I quoted what you said and asked a question if you really believe it.
This is a cross section of a gun barrel from a captured BMP2 examined by the Ukrainians. Presumably it is an extreme example but it illustrates the problems that arise. For example, how did it pass quality control?
An off centre bore will cause differential heating which will caue the barrel to bend. Shooting will be inaccurate. The barrel will heat up more quickly resulting in ammunition jamming or even the bursting of the barrel.
You will also observe wave like effects on the surface of the cross section. These are stress patterns. They will have similar effects to overheating. The steel is not up to spec. They can be relieved in lower quality steel by temperature recycling. In my heavy metal days this meant leaving casting and foundry products in the open air for a winter but the process can be accelerating by cycling through an oven.
By eyesight the main bore looks circular and the rifling seems even (not completely sure) so it could be worse.
It is impossible to tell whether the bore is consistently off centre or varies along the length of the barrel.
https://external-preview.redd.it/RhuRTNpVQ962GWn2JpwOwuPZLPSUtiw915Kpp3TdH-k.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f0065e20e37bfd0f8671f2f8f1dd2f8743321413Replies: @Barbarossa, @Here Be Dragon
You are a fabulous idiot Philip
What gave you away is that you were criticizing Ukraine disproportionately. But you're not the worst, ofc.
My point still stands: for years, these Western pro-Russians, or pro-Putinists rather, were creating all these narratives about how "The West is weak", "The West is evil", etc., I'm starting to think that this may have partly led to the Russians believing that it makes sense to go all the way in (read the ultimatum in December). These are the same narratives that Solovyov was endlessly repeating to the naive Russian audience - that, yes, NATO is dangerous, but NATO is also weak and "they are all faggots there". They made the Russians believe that this is needed and would be doable. The group that you (and many others on this website) represent egged the Russians into it (not that they are not themselves responsible, but they definitely got some wind in the sails, so to speak).
But now that real calamity is at the door, there is literally absolutely nothing that these Western Putinists can or will do for the Russian people. Even worse, they will ignore the dire consequences of this on the Russian people. How dare you blame Russia's neighbors for that! Russia, the US and other countries bullied Ukraine in the 90s into giving up nukes and Russia comes back now to threaten to disassemble Ukraine. And you want to put all the responsibility on Russia's neighbors? The nukes are for deterrence, not for solving localized feuds or regional military problems. The nukes are not supposed to be used by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear power. Nothing in this region justifies their use. Not even NATO membership. Only a physical war on the Russian soil itself would justify them (after all the conventional means are exhausted). Putin is threatening with nukes because he knows that if they keep losing he will lose power, that they will all go down. This is done partly for personal reasons.
Do you yourself realize that someone like Kadyrov is suggesting nukes be used is not because of some real security issues but because he is worried about his own damn hide?? Which he so willingly sold to the Russians over his own people's heads. For your information, Kadyrov is someone who has for years tortured prisoners, allegedly while himself being present, and someone at whose orders peoples' mothers would get kidnapped. This is the guy who is currently threatening with nukes and you blame Russia's neighbors? Wow. Kadyrov sees that if Putin goes down he will go down and will be ripped to pieces by his fellow Chechens, so he is using these nuclear threats to save his own life. How is this normal? So these thugs should not be held responsible at all? No, it's not just the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers. It is the smarts and the talent and the creativity and discipline of the Ukrainian military leadership. Which you tried to deny!!! As in the British are doing this for them. No. The British are most likely helping but they cannot help to that extent at the on the ground level. So credit goes to the Ukrainians generals.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
That’s just silly, the type of people commenting here has zero political influence, it’s absurd to think that they had any influence on Putin’s decision-making. And as you yourself admit, Mikel hasn’t even expressed any real sympathy for Russian imperialism. He and I, and quite a few others here, were wrong insofar as we didn’t exspect Ukraine to offer such determined resistance and Russia’s army to do so poorly. But that was a widespread view before the war. The US evacuated its diplomats and the general belief was that Russia would quickly occupy much of Ukraine and that resistance would be of the guerrilla type, not large-scale battles by regular forces as actually happened.
The only reason not to blame you (that is Balts specifically) is that the demented proposals your politicians regularly bring up fortunately haven’t become official Western policy for the most part. But if it were up to your representatives, the risk for a nuclear war would definitely be even higher than it already is.
As for Ukraine giving up its nukes, that is at best a half-truth, they couldn’t have used them anyway, at least not without a massive investment that might well have been beyond Ukraine’s capabilities given the disastrous economic state of the country ever since the Soviet collapse.
What gave you away is that you were criticizing Ukraine disproportionately. But you're not the worst, ofc.
My point still stands: for years, these Western pro-Russians, or pro-Putinists rather, were creating all these narratives about how "The West is weak", "The West is evil", etc., I'm starting to think that this may have partly led to the Russians believing that it makes sense to go all the way in (read the ultimatum in December). These are the same narratives that Solovyov was endlessly repeating to the naive Russian audience - that, yes, NATO is dangerous, but NATO is also weak and "they are all faggots there". They made the Russians believe that this is needed and would be doable. The group that you (and many others on this website) represent egged the Russians into it (not that they are not themselves responsible, but they definitely got some wind in the sails, so to speak).
But now that real calamity is at the door, there is literally absolutely nothing that these Western Putinists can or will do for the Russian people. Even worse, they will ignore the dire consequences of this on the Russian people. How dare you blame Russia's neighbors for that! Russia, the US and other countries bullied Ukraine in the 90s into giving up nukes and Russia comes back now to threaten to disassemble Ukraine. And you want to put all the responsibility on Russia's neighbors? The nukes are for deterrence, not for solving localized feuds or regional military problems. The nukes are not supposed to be used by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear power. Nothing in this region justifies their use. Not even NATO membership. Only a physical war on the Russian soil itself would justify them (after all the conventional means are exhausted). Putin is threatening with nukes because he knows that if they keep losing he will lose power, that they will all go down. This is done partly for personal reasons.
Do you yourself realize that someone like Kadyrov is suggesting nukes be used is not because of some real security issues but because he is worried about his own damn hide?? Which he so willingly sold to the Russians over his own people's heads. For your information, Kadyrov is someone who has for years tortured prisoners, allegedly while himself being present, and someone at whose orders peoples' mothers would get kidnapped. This is the guy who is currently threatening with nukes and you blame Russia's neighbors? Wow. Kadyrov sees that if Putin goes down he will go down and will be ripped to pieces by his fellow Chechens, so he is using these nuclear threats to save his own life. How is this normal? So these thugs should not be held responsible at all? No, it's not just the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers. It is the smarts and the talent and the creativity and discipline of the Ukrainian military leadership. Which you tried to deny!!! As in the British are doing this for them. No. The British are most likely helping but they cannot help to that extent at the on the ground level. So credit goes to the Ukrainians generals.Replies: @German_reader, @Mikel
OK, let’s try again.
The glorious Ukrainian Armed Forces, commanded by Great Leader Zaluzhny, have proven to the world that they don’t need any training, advice or weapons from outside. Cowardly Western nations should immediately stop making those token gestures of support.
Moreover, the recent videos that are being uploaded of Ukrainian soldiers torturing Russian POSw taken around Lyman are all Kremlin propaganda. The Ukrainian soldier is brave, noble and notorious for being incapable of harming any defenseless person. Let’s all bow in respect to these heroes.
When Russia will be gone the Globalist will keep working towards a world from which "nothing human would come out alive". Russia and Russians are not your worst enemy. Once Russia gone for real, I wonder whether your nation would outlast for more than 2-3 generations. Whether any nation would...Replies: @LatW
I don’t view Russians as the worst enemy. I just don’t want to sacrifice Russia’s neighbors for the mysterious common goal “in the fight against Globalists” like these Western Putinists insist we should. I believe it is highly manipulative and unjust.
The onus is now on the Russian people to deal with this. For the reasonable people to come on top. Not the likes of Kadyrov and Prigozhin.
The Russian population is needed as a buffer, as a reservoir, if it is not there, or if it is significantly reduced, it leaves a very dangerous open space. Which will not stay open but will be filled with something else.
As to the two poems, the common theme in both of them is the referencing of various world locations, geographies, somewhat randomly, and then at least the second piece reverts to the concept of emptiness, nothingness. What is the meaning of this…. Russia doesn’t have borders but yet Russia doesn’t exist?
1) Pre-historical period of tribes and clans of Balto-Slav and Finno-Ugric stock living side by side for thousands of years on the territory where their ancestors appeared as Corded Ware Culture thousands years ago.
2) The Goths conquest and Goth kingdom.
3) The Huns conquest and overthrow of the Goths domination.
4) Slav (including Wendish) expansion.
5) Ancient Rus
6) Golden Horde domination
7) Muscovy and Greater Lithuanian Polish Commonwealth
8) The time of troubles
9) Russian Empire
10) USSR
11) RusFed
A question must be asked whether all these periods can be considered equally "Russian" from the ethnic, cultural and religious/spiritual pov. If not, which one is the "most Russian" and which one is "least" ?
If we find strong cultural and ethnic variations, then we might ask whether some of these periods are "not really/truly Russian" or "not at all Russian".
It might seem strange questions to ask about a gigantic country which has played an important role in the world history, but if we start to analyze in depth the history of Russian people, we would soon start to find that these questions are justified.
My personal (and very subjective) answer to these questions is that starting from the advent of the Romanov dynasty, Russian Tsardom and later Empire has been losing its Rus/Russian character and becoming Westernized, until eventually it crumbled and Soviet Union was put in its place (built upon an extreme interpretation of a Western ideology). Then, the Soviet monstrosity has also crumbled, but Rus/Russia was not reborn as some might have hoped. RusFed - a corrupt comprador social construct was put in its place to staisfy the needs of the Globalized economy.
So where is "true Russia" today ?
Perhaps it is an idea/an archetype akin to the legendary Grad Kitezh.
https://medium.com/frame-of-reference/this-russian-city-disappeared-underwater-during-the-mongols-invasion-of-europe-9202be79419c
Basically, Russia still lives in the hearts of the Russian people, at least those among them who have not been entirely corrupted by the centuries of violent Romanovs' Westernization and its Soviet Communist and comprador RusFed aftershocks.
And God(s) willing, perhaps this idea/archetype would come again to life once the current turmoil passes. And if it does, then it will be very different from what we think of historical Russian Empire, Soviet Union and RusFed.Replies: @LatW
As for Ukraine giving up its nukes, that is at best a half-truth, they couldn't have used them anyway, at least not without a massive investment that might well have been beyond Ukraine's capabilities given the disastrous economic state of the country ever since the Soviet collapse.Replies: @LatW
I may have not made myself clear – I wasn’t talking about the specific people on this forum but the so called alternative media sphere with the narratives of “Western collapse” that appeared some time after the 2008 financial crisis. Not to say there are no problems in the West, but these narratives began to float very broadly and were not properly criticized. They were colluding with the narratives produced by outlets such as RT.
We kept hearing over and over from the likes of Solovyov that “The West is weak, collapsing, gay”. Thus the Russian people started believing that. Started believing that the time to act is now.
Well, you don’t know for sure what could have been “beyond Ukraine’s capabilities”.
Ukraine, by having been given essentially fake security guarantees, was put in a lull. Had the “partners” said, hey, remove all your weapons and hardware and you have nothing, the Ukrainians 1) either would not have given it up; or 2) there would have been a sense of urgency to gain these security guarantees elsewhere or build up their own military.
The economic sate of the country was not disastrous, yes, they were poor and had other issues, but there was a lot of hardware left over from the Soviet Union, labs, military academies, personnel, all of which could be built up on (as they partially did), no matter how poor a country is, a normal country with the instinct of self-preservation will always prioritize its military, its security. There are large, poor countries out there with significant militaries, even nukes, such as Pakistan. Of course, Russia (and maybe the West) would try to disrupt Ukraine for building its own defenses, but it could be done if there is a sense of urgency. But they were put in a lull, very unjustly. And now the likes of you and Mikel, etc, criticize them for just wanting to survive.
I once discussed this with AP and came up with several sources all saying the same thing: Ukraine never had real control over the Soviet nukes stationed on its territory, and turning them into working deterrent under Ukraine's control would have been a massive undertaking. I'm not going to look for that discussion, but here's an example for the argument:
https://nucleardiner.wordpress.com/2022/02/06/could-ukraine-have-retained-soviet-nuclear-weapons/ Europe's economy is going to be wrecked, my own country might well run out of gas in winter, and if we're unlucky we're all going to be incinerated in a nuclear war, so spare me this guilt-tripping drivel. The level of support and sympathy Ukraine has gotten goes well beyond anything that could reasonably have been exspected.Replies: @LatW
Like where? From Mars?
iirc Ukraine’s GDP over the last 30 years has never even reached the same level as in the last year of the Soviet Union. And you want to tell me it would have been feasible for them to spend billions on nuclear weapons and a massive conventional army (nukes alone are hardly a sufficient deterrent after all)?
I once discussed this with AP and came up with several sources all saying the same thing: Ukraine never had real control over the Soviet nukes stationed on its territory, and turning them into working deterrent under Ukraine’s control would have been a massive undertaking. I’m not going to look for that discussion, but here’s an example for the argument:
https://nucleardiner.wordpress.com/2022/02/06/could-ukraine-have-retained-soviet-nuclear-weapons/
Europe’s economy is going to be wrecked, my own country might well run out of gas in winter, and if we’re unlucky we’re all going to be incinerated in a nuclear war, so spare me this guilt-tripping drivel. The level of support and sympathy Ukraine has gotten goes well beyond anything that could reasonably have been exspected.
The onus is now on the Russian people to deal with this. For the reasonable people to come on top. Not the likes of Kadyrov and Prigozhin.
The Russian population is needed as a buffer, as a reservoir, if it is not there, or if it is significantly reduced, it leaves a very dangerous open space. Which will not stay open but will be filled with something else.
As to the two poems, the common theme in both of them is the referencing of various world locations, geographies, somewhat randomly, and then at least the second piece reverts to the concept of emptiness, nothingness. What is the meaning of this.... Russia doesn't have borders but yet Russia doesn't exist?Replies: @Bashibuzuk
When I think about it, I come to the conclusion that there were several stages or periods in the history of the territory of what we call today Russian Federation (or RusFed).
1) Pre-historical period of tribes and clans of Balto-Slav and Finno-Ugric stock living side by side for thousands of years on the territory where their ancestors appeared as Corded Ware Culture thousands years ago.
2) The Goths conquest and Goth kingdom.
3) The Huns conquest and overthrow of the Goths domination.
4) Slav (including Wendish) expansion.
5) Ancient Rus
6) Golden Horde domination
7) Muscovy and Greater Lithuanian Polish Commonwealth
8) The time of troubles
9) Russian Empire
10) USSR
11) RusFed
A question must be asked whether all these periods can be considered equally “Russian” from the ethnic, cultural and religious/spiritual pov. If not, which one is the “most Russian” and which one is “least” ?
If we find strong cultural and ethnic variations, then we might ask whether some of these periods are “not really/truly Russian” or “not at all Russian”.
It might seem strange questions to ask about a gigantic country which has played an important role in the world history, but if we start to analyze in depth the history of Russian people, we would soon start to find that these questions are justified.
My personal (and very subjective) answer to these questions is that starting from the advent of the Romanov dynasty, Russian Tsardom and later Empire has been losing its Rus/Russian character and becoming Westernized, until eventually it crumbled and Soviet Union was put in its place (built upon an extreme interpretation of a Western ideology). Then, the Soviet monstrosity has also crumbled, but Rus/Russia was not reborn as some might have hoped. RusFed – a corrupt comprador social construct was put in its place to staisfy the needs of the Globalized economy.
So where is “true Russia” today ?
Perhaps it is an idea/an archetype akin to the legendary Grad Kitezh.
https://medium.com/frame-of-reference/this-russian-city-disappeared-underwater-during-the-mongols-invasion-of-europe-9202be79419c
Basically, Russia still lives in the hearts of the Russian people, at least those among them who have not been entirely corrupted by the centuries of violent Romanovs’ Westernization and its Soviet Communist and comprador RusFed aftershocks.
And God(s) willing, perhaps this idea/archetype would come again to life once the current turmoil passes. And if it does, then it will be very different from what we think of historical Russian Empire, Soviet Union and RusFed.
I once discussed this with AP and came up with several sources all saying the same thing: Ukraine never had real control over the Soviet nukes stationed on its territory, and turning them into working deterrent under Ukraine's control would have been a massive undertaking. I'm not going to look for that discussion, but here's an example for the argument:
https://nucleardiner.wordpress.com/2022/02/06/could-ukraine-have-retained-soviet-nuclear-weapons/ Europe's economy is going to be wrecked, my own country might well run out of gas in winter, and if we're unlucky we're all going to be incinerated in a nuclear war, so spare me this guilt-tripping drivel. The level of support and sympathy Ukraine has gotten goes well beyond anything that could reasonably have been exspected.Replies: @LatW
They would be at a tough spot there because there would be limited choices. They would either have to align back with RusFed or build their own military. It was the duty of the international community to preserve Ukraine.
They would have to be creative preparing for the new age warfare. After 2014, they were starting to build up a domestic military industry and already starting to create pretty sophisticated missiles (Neptune) and lots of other smaller weapons. Not saying this would be sufficient, but one must at least TRY instead of always rely on some foreign uncle!
I'm tired of this moralistic guilt-tripping. It was one thing to argue that it can't be tolerated if Russia just subjugates all of Ukraine and turns her into a satellite, that sanctions and sending weapons were necessary to prevent such an outcome. That has been done and Russia's original aims were foiled. But now it looks like we're moving into territory where a total Russian defeat looks like it could be on the cards, that Ukraine might eventually try to storm all of Donbass or even Crimea. And the risks in such a scenario are enormous. There needs to be a discussion how to prevent this from escalating to a nuclear level. Yet all I can see is completely mindless bellicosity and attempts to morally shame anybody who thinks maximalist Ukrainian goals aren't identical with the interests of the Western countries supporting Ukraine. This war has completely fried the brains of far too many people.Replies: @LatW, @Triteleia Laxa
1) Pre-historical period of tribes and clans of Balto-Slav and Finno-Ugric stock living side by side for thousands of years on the territory where their ancestors appeared as Corded Ware Culture thousands years ago.
2) The Goths conquest and Goth kingdom.
3) The Huns conquest and overthrow of the Goths domination.
4) Slav (including Wendish) expansion.
5) Ancient Rus
6) Golden Horde domination
7) Muscovy and Greater Lithuanian Polish Commonwealth
8) The time of troubles
9) Russian Empire
10) USSR
11) RusFed
A question must be asked whether all these periods can be considered equally "Russian" from the ethnic, cultural and religious/spiritual pov. If not, which one is the "most Russian" and which one is "least" ?
If we find strong cultural and ethnic variations, then we might ask whether some of these periods are "not really/truly Russian" or "not at all Russian".
It might seem strange questions to ask about a gigantic country which has played an important role in the world history, but if we start to analyze in depth the history of Russian people, we would soon start to find that these questions are justified.
My personal (and very subjective) answer to these questions is that starting from the advent of the Romanov dynasty, Russian Tsardom and later Empire has been losing its Rus/Russian character and becoming Westernized, until eventually it crumbled and Soviet Union was put in its place (built upon an extreme interpretation of a Western ideology). Then, the Soviet monstrosity has also crumbled, but Rus/Russia was not reborn as some might have hoped. RusFed - a corrupt comprador social construct was put in its place to staisfy the needs of the Globalized economy.
So where is "true Russia" today ?
Perhaps it is an idea/an archetype akin to the legendary Grad Kitezh.
https://medium.com/frame-of-reference/this-russian-city-disappeared-underwater-during-the-mongols-invasion-of-europe-9202be79419c
Basically, Russia still lives in the hearts of the Russian people, at least those among them who have not been entirely corrupted by the centuries of violent Romanovs' Westernization and its Soviet Communist and comprador RusFed aftershocks.
And God(s) willing, perhaps this idea/archetype would come again to life once the current turmoil passes. And if it does, then it will be very different from what we think of historical Russian Empire, Soviet Union and RusFed.Replies: @LatW
Very good question that each nation should ask themselves about their history.
You have to ask these questions very carefully in your case because your nation is diverse, not to the extent as Americans but possibly more than the larger Euro nations – your nation can produce the likes of Navalny and the Gudkovs on one end of the spectrum and the likes of Simonyan and Zhirik on the other hand. And everything in between.
I have grown up with Russian people since childhood and only recently have started asking these questions. Why is this Russian speaker so quiet and rational, but this other one – so domineering and extrovert?
I know what you mean very well, this original character is still preserved in some Russian music. At least it appears so to me, although I cannot imagine with full certainty what people were like, let’s say, during the Iron Age. Even with my own people, I like to daydream about this, while looking at pages and pages of old costumes and archeological relics and listening to ancient lore, but I often catch myself thinking “What do I know how it was for them day to day….”. Even with ancient lore you have to peal off layer after layer to arrive at what possibly could’ve been their worldview. Only in my spirit I am together with them. Our people were once together as one, so only through this spirit we can learn about their original essence.
It’s an open question, Russia is an idea, just like Europe, too, is an idea. It’s a vessel into which anyone can pour whatever they like. Unless we stick to very pure and strict parameters (which has always been my choice and a strong conviction) such as genetics, language and a certain cultural code and mode of behaviour. As the very minimum.
What’s that even supposed to mean? Ukraine has gotten about as much support as is possible short of NATO declaring war on Russia and becoming a direct combatant. Which would in all probability end in an unfathomable catastrophe. And yet you and countless others like you constantly insinuate that somehow Ukraine was “betrayed”, not enough has been done etc.
I’m tired of this moralistic guilt-tripping. It was one thing to argue that it can’t be tolerated if Russia just subjugates all of Ukraine and turns her into a satellite, that sanctions and sending weapons were necessary to prevent such an outcome. That has been done and Russia’s original aims were foiled. But now it looks like we’re moving into territory where a total Russian defeat looks like it could be on the cards, that Ukraine might eventually try to storm all of Donbass or even Crimea. And the risks in such a scenario are enormous. There needs to be a discussion how to prevent this from escalating to a nuclear level. Yet all I can see is completely mindless bellicosity and attempts to morally shame anybody who thinks maximalist Ukrainian goals aren’t identical with the interests of the Western countries supporting Ukraine. This war has completely fried the brains of far too many people.
If the whole of the world, bar Zimbabwe and a handful of equally sh*t states, sees Crimea as Ukrainian, it is hardly a plot to destroy Russia to say they should return it.
And no one is advocating any military actions that threaten actual Russia, or take their territory - literally the biggest, least densely populated country in the world.
These are facts, please recognise how your hysterical fantasies do not match them.
Now, you might productively argue that Ukraine losing Crimea would be worth a quicker peace, but you can hardly claim that those who agree with China as regards Crimean nationality, are anti-Russian extremists.Replies: @German_reader
I'm tired of this moralistic guilt-tripping. It was one thing to argue that it can't be tolerated if Russia just subjugates all of Ukraine and turns her into a satellite, that sanctions and sending weapons were necessary to prevent such an outcome. That has been done and Russia's original aims were foiled. But now it looks like we're moving into territory where a total Russian defeat looks like it could be on the cards, that Ukraine might eventually try to storm all of Donbass or even Crimea. And the risks in such a scenario are enormous. There needs to be a discussion how to prevent this from escalating to a nuclear level. Yet all I can see is completely mindless bellicosity and attempts to morally shame anybody who thinks maximalist Ukrainian goals aren't identical with the interests of the Western countries supporting Ukraine. This war has completely fried the brains of far too many people.Replies: @LatW, @Triteleia Laxa
The guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum were USA, UK, Russia. So not really Europe.
At this point I am pretty sure Zelko is on drugs - or his bodyguards keep him on a short leash.Replies: @Johnny Rico
I think you are confused. I think you are thinking of Ramzan Kadyrov. He is the face of the RUSSIAN effort. He is the sick clown-king who rules over an outhouse, in Putin’s words, of 1.2 million who wants Ukraine to be nuked.
The Black Sea where else.
They are going to ‘regroup’ from Kherson very soon as the Ukrainians are now hitting the coastal flanks of Kherson city in the north. They have captured a number of villages and will sweep through the west bank of Dnipro thereby threatening those Pontoon supply and escape lines to and from Kherson, it will happen very quickly this encirclement of Kherson. Of course none of this and many other military disasters would have happened without the disappearance of Russia’s much hyped about air force or what I call it now the Russian air farce . Meanwhile it’s widely reported that the top commanders in the military have formed a Polish firing squad and are in complete disarray.
It will be up to General Winter to stop this Russian Hemorrhaging and give them some breathing space to get their shitty shambolic military to work again.
Even Russia’s milbloggers have turned on the military command because this rout of the northern front can’t be denied.
What really stuns me is that Ukrainian heavy armour keeps taking these joy rides despite having no air support on their side completely unmolested. The Russian air farce exists only on paper?
And the reason your view requires that assumption is that you place the general population as being distracted from the really important things, that you care about, by this complete nonsense, rather than what I said, is that they're generally safe, secure, content with how things are on big issues, and so have the luxury of engaging in complete nonsense, virtue signaling, hysterical theatrical partisanship and other LARPs.
Your view renders them utterly incapable maybe not even human idiots. Mine allows the possibility that they collectively know more than me, especially as regards what they themselves want.
What type of person will tend to think like your view implies you do?
And I don't actually think you fit that pattern for the reason they do, but, if you ever wonder why your (our?) fellow travellers are so often deranged or borderline sociopathic, well, now you have your answer.
Even more reasonable people like German_Reader will read my post, completely ignore all of the cold, straightforward arguments and then blindly declare I may be a spy or a "hall monitor." This is loony stuff.
And then there's just the utter psychopaths of Andrew Anglin's comment section. They like this ideological stream because it allows them to both worship cruelty, and feel superior to everyone, and have an excuse for generally being rejected.
Really read their comments. Imagine having to be neighbours with someone like them, or work with them, or have them marry into your family! Sadly, what gets painted as evil by the mainstream, will have a lot of basically evil people drift towards it. But not just because it is painted as evil, for humanity is not actually completely stupid, and what gets shoved to the fringes will have reasons why it deserves to get shoved to the fringes.
That's ok, I can live with that. Can you?
On a different note: the pipeline exploding is interesting.
I don't see why Russia would do it, as they control the gas anyway, and "false flags" are generally not worth the risk, but I also don't see why anyone else would do it.
Germany isn't going to sliv on Ukraine, and all European gas storage is basically full.
And I know most people here will try and blame the US, but why? They don't like Nordstream 2? Nordstream 2 and 1 are shut down anyway, by Russia. Why risk alienating Germany? Because this really would alienate Germany, and Germany is more than well-equipped to investigate.
Who does a crime where you gain basically nothing, are likely to get caught and the punishment for getting caught is big?
The US has something tiny to win and a lot to lose if caught. Russia had nothing to win if nothijgntonlose of caught, except this would be the 12 dimensional chess of trying to frame the US, and no one actually plays 12 dimensional chess, as decisions are not really made by individuals, but huge institutions and governing apparatuses. Even Putin, as much power as he has centralised in his own hands, is ruling alone. He sits on top of a vast bureaucracy that has to work together and coordinate, and 12 dimensional chess can't be played by something so diffuse.
Would you rob $1000 of the penalty was execution? Or rob $1 if the penalty was a few days in jail?
Neither.
Regardless, the very fact that both these are suspicions is why Germany needs to not be dependent on Russian energy and not be dependent on the US security blanket.
Instead, they need to build a proper European energy market and build a proper European military.
It can be flagged by each nation with Germany, as the biggest country, leading the way. Or it can be some Franco-German-Italian Eu flagged scheme. I don't care. They just need to stop being so completely pathetic.
I also don't think it could be the Ukrainians. What do they really care if gas flows? And the cost for them of being caught would be existential. Nor do I think they have the capability.
So confusing.
Could it be a worker doing sabotage out of their own imagined ideological or patriotic interests? Could it be an accident related to the pipes being shut down and the same internal systems failing?
It will be interesting.
I also wonder if the gas stored in the pipes is substantial. Like, would it have helped Europe get through the winter? If so, and the pipes can be easily fixed, then it was probably Russia after all.
But I don't reckon the gas in the pipes could really be enough to make a difference.
One thing I always find amusing is how, in all the conflict there is, things like gas pipelines and undersea internet cables are normally spared. And they go through some really conflicted areas where you'd think security would be hard, even though disrupting them can have outsized consequences. Like no one has ever attacked then until now? Even war is happily less total than it was last century.Replies: @Barbarossa, @Coconuts, @Barbarossa, @PhysicistDave
Monitor of Halls wrote to Barbarossa
Sane human beings do not want power.
They merely want to deny power to people like you.
But that level of sanity exceeds your comprehension.
I'm tired of this moralistic guilt-tripping. It was one thing to argue that it can't be tolerated if Russia just subjugates all of Ukraine and turns her into a satellite, that sanctions and sending weapons were necessary to prevent such an outcome. That has been done and Russia's original aims were foiled. But now it looks like we're moving into territory where a total Russian defeat looks like it could be on the cards, that Ukraine might eventually try to storm all of Donbass or even Crimea. And the risks in such a scenario are enormous. There needs to be a discussion how to prevent this from escalating to a nuclear level. Yet all I can see is completely mindless bellicosity and attempts to morally shame anybody who thinks maximalist Ukrainian goals aren't identical with the interests of the Western countries supporting Ukraine. This war has completely fried the brains of far too many people.Replies: @LatW, @Triteleia Laxa
It isn’t even considered radical or extreme to believe that Israel should return to its internationally recognised borders. In fact, with the tiny exception of the Golan Heights, it is the de facto international assumption, with maybe a little finesse in trading areas back and forth. It was basically Jared’s “ultra-Zionist” plan! And that’s equivalent of Russia being able to keep Sebastopol.
If the whole of the world, bar Zimbabwe and a handful of equally sh*t states, sees Crimea as Ukrainian, it is hardly a plot to destroy Russia to say they should return it.
And no one is advocating any military actions that threaten actual Russia, or take their territory – literally the biggest, least densely populated country in the world.
These are facts, please recognise how your hysterical fantasies do not match them.
Now, you might productively argue that Ukraine losing Crimea would be worth a quicker peace, but you can hardly claim that those who agree with China as regards Crimean nationality, are anti-Russian extremists.
And it doesn't matter what "the whole world" thinks about Crimea. What matters is that Crimea is full of Russians, that most Russians regard it as historic Russian land, and that there's a high chance of Russia using nuclear weapons to prevent any Ukrainian re-conquest of Crimea. Do you think a nuclear-armed state will just watch while possibly hundreds of thousands of its citizens are expelled or have to flee for their lives, and a hero city like Sevastopol is lost?
The problem with you, like with a few other commenters here, is that you regularly confuse what ought to happen in your opinion with what is likely to happen. Despite all your psychobabble you are surprisingly lacking in cognitive empathy.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @A123
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was using the Siemens engine that had to undergo a scheduled maintenance in Canada. It was not returned to Russia and was not repaired as needed.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was using the Russian-made engine. The Russians offered to start using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline instead of the Nord Stream 1 but the EU did not let them.
The pipelines were blown up with underwater mining drones. The Swedes registered explosions of about 700 kg TNT.
Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians could have done that. Neither the Poles nor the Ukrainians have technical capabilities of this kind.
Except for the U.S. no other nation had both the capabilities and the motivation to do that. The U.S. had conducted training excersices focused on mine warfare at the site of the explosions in summer. The U.S. Navy planes and helicopters were seen cruising above the site.
https://i.postimg.cc/nVXpXVdf/Nord-Stream-3.jpg
That is when the drones were used to place the explosives. These drones are controlled from the aircraft.
It is clear and obvious that the U.S. did that, and the presence of these trolls here arguing that it is improbable and that the Russians did it themselves proves that the U.S. did it.
https://i.postimg.cc/Qds2Jjqt/Nord-Stream-4.jpg
The Russians could have continue to refuse to take the engines back claiming that the engines were not repaired as required or demanding that the engines were to be returned from Canada which required cancellation of the sanctions.
The Russians would have continue to insist on opening of the Nord Stream 2, which required cancellation of the sanctions as well. The revenues the Russians were getting from these pipelines were sufficient to finance the war.
The Russians had no motive and neither financial nor political interest to blow up their own pipelines.
The troll platoon here claiming the opposite should be ignored.Replies: @LondonBob
Yes, only the US had the means to blow the pipelines, only the US had the power to strong arm others to go along with it, the area is saturated with NATO surveillance.
Interested to hear Robert Barnes on the Duran saying he knew people who explained how and who did it, even suggested they probably knew names of the people who did it. I note his friend Richard Baris was a Navy Seal a few years back.
The US has actually bragged about it now. Hope the Russians push to fix it, keeps it in the news and as leverage.
If the whole of the world, bar Zimbabwe and a handful of equally sh*t states, sees Crimea as Ukrainian, it is hardly a plot to destroy Russia to say they should return it.
And no one is advocating any military actions that threaten actual Russia, or take their territory - literally the biggest, least densely populated country in the world.
These are facts, please recognise how your hysterical fantasies do not match them.
Now, you might productively argue that Ukraine losing Crimea would be worth a quicker peace, but you can hardly claim that those who agree with China as regards Crimean nationality, are anti-Russian extremists.Replies: @German_reader
Has anybody tried to force them? Two state solution is dead, everybody knows that Israel will keep the occupied territories and hold the Palestinians in permanent subjection or even try to expel them, if there is ever an opportune moment to do so.
And it doesn’t matter what “the whole world” thinks about Crimea. What matters is that Crimea is full of Russians, that most Russians regard it as historic Russian land, and that there’s a high chance of Russia using nuclear weapons to prevent any Ukrainian re-conquest of Crimea. Do you think a nuclear-armed state will just watch while possibly hundreds of thousands of its citizens are expelled or have to flee for their lives, and a hero city like Sevastopol is lost?
The problem with you, like with a few other commenters here, is that you regularly confuse what ought to happen in your opinion with what is likely to happen. Despite all your psychobabble you are surprisingly lacking in cognitive empathy.
Two state solution is dead, everyone knows that indigenous Palestinian faith of Judaism will keep their religious homeland of Judea & Samaria, including Jerusalem.
Everyone knows that Islam is not native to Palestine. It arrived ~ 600 AD stealing land from the indigenous religions of Judaism and Christianity.
-- Will Islam ever give up Mecca & Medina?
-- Why should Jews & Christians give up Judea & Jerusalem?
The hypocritical double standard based on religious discrimination is painfully clear. Helping end the occupation of Palestine by non-native Muslims is the best long term solution. Compensated relocation to Muslim lands is both honourable and desirable. Why do generations of Muslim children have to die as Settlers occupying Infidel lands?
It has been conclusively proven that al'Aqsa is in the wrong location. Moving it to a historically accurate location in Jordan, or possibly Syria, would end the unnecessary Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount.
A New Muslim territory physically separate from Jewish Palestine would do much to help this non-Palestinian Muslim population. Their plight will become much better once they stop misidentifying as Palestinian and adopt a more accurate self image.
____
Why do Muslims subjugate their fellow Muslims? (1) Blaming the native Palestinian religion of Judaism for the problems faced by the Muslim Occupiers in Judea and Samaria is disingenuous. Most of the brutality heaped on this oppressed population comes from other Muslims.
Abbas is in the 17th or 18th year of his 4 year term.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18923/palestinians-syria
And it doesn't matter what "the whole world" thinks about Crimea. What matters is that Crimea is full of Russians, that most Russians regard it as historic Russian land, and that there's a high chance of Russia using nuclear weapons to prevent any Ukrainian re-conquest of Crimea. Do you think a nuclear-armed state will just watch while possibly hundreds of thousands of its citizens are expelled or have to flee for their lives, and a hero city like Sevastopol is lost?
The problem with you, like with a few other commenters here, is that you regularly confuse what ought to happen in your opinion with what is likely to happen. Despite all your psychobabble you are surprisingly lacking in cognitive empathy.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @A123
Yes, the Palestinians since 1948. And so too have many of the various Arab countries at various times, also with backing of the USSR. While the US has frequently tried to persuade them, and even forced them off the Suez Canal. As have non-governmental groups tried globally for decade after decade. The Israelis have certainly weathered more storms on this topic than the Russians have with the Donbas!
If, in 74 years, Russia is still occupying Crimea, despite all that effort, I would very likely suggest that the world recognise that pursuing a lost cause is a harmful idea.
In fact, I was already suggesting that as regards Crimea before this war, but things have changed, or rather, truths about Russia have been revealed.
As for what happens when Ukrainian forces get to Crimea, that’s a decision then. The USSR went through a much more extreme process than what you’re describing, so, we can see, it is you that lacks cognitive empathy, blocked on this issue, for the reasons I’ve informed you of previously.
Interested to hear Robert Barnes on the Duran saying he knew people who explained how and who did it, even suggested they probably knew names of the people who did it. I note his friend Richard Baris was a Navy Seal a few years back.
The US has actually bragged about it now. Hope the Russians push to fix it, keeps it in the news and as leverage.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa
The “trust the plan” guy?
It is funny when geopolitical fanfic narratives do crossovers. As if the Avengers starred Batman, with a cameo from Luke Skywalker.
Grifters will grift!
I could dive down that far. It is a technical “deep dive” but requires nothing more than a little planning and a spare tank. I assume Russia has people with reasonable scuba qualifications.
And it doesn't matter what "the whole world" thinks about Crimea. What matters is that Crimea is full of Russians, that most Russians regard it as historic Russian land, and that there's a high chance of Russia using nuclear weapons to prevent any Ukrainian re-conquest of Crimea. Do you think a nuclear-armed state will just watch while possibly hundreds of thousands of its citizens are expelled or have to flee for their lives, and a hero city like Sevastopol is lost?
The problem with you, like with a few other commenters here, is that you regularly confuse what ought to happen in your opinion with what is likely to happen. Despite all your psychobabble you are surprisingly lacking in cognitive empathy.Replies: @Triteleia Laxa, @A123
This type of misframing perpetuates the problem. This is a more accurate expression of the situation:
Two state solution is dead, everyone knows that indigenous Palestinian faith of Judaism will keep their religious homeland of Judea & Samaria, including Jerusalem.
Everyone knows that Islam is not native to Palestine. It arrived ~ 600 AD stealing land from the indigenous religions of Judaism and Christianity.
— Will Islam ever give up Mecca & Medina?
— Why should Jews & Christians give up Judea & Jerusalem?
The hypocritical double standard based on religious discrimination is painfully clear.
Helping end the occupation of Palestine by non-native Muslims is the best long term solution. Compensated relocation to Muslim lands is both honourable and desirable. Why do generations of Muslim children have to die as Settlers occupying Infidel lands?
It has been conclusively proven that al’Aqsa is in the wrong location. Moving it to a historically accurate location in Jordan, or possibly Syria, would end the unnecessary Muslim occupation of the Temple Mount.
A New Muslim territory physically separate from Jewish Palestine would do much to help this non-Palestinian Muslim population. Their plight will become much better once they stop misidentifying as Palestinian and adopt a more accurate self image.
____
Why do Muslims subjugate their fellow Muslims? (1)
Blaming the native Palestinian religion of Judaism for the problems faced by the Muslim Occupiers in Judea and Samaria is disingenuous. Most of the brutality heaped on this oppressed population comes from other Muslims.
Abbas is in the 17th or 18th year of his 4 year term.
PEACE 😇
__________
(1) https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18923/palestinians-syria
Russia is done for this war, short of pulling off a tactical miracle, the gig is up. I still cannot believe, even after everything that has already happened, the utter and embarassing incompetence on display over just the past few days. Russia is heading for some sort of real crisis of legitimacy soon, but its anybody's guess exactly when or what form its going to take. Just never discount things being able to get worse in the post Soviet world.Replies: @AnonfromTN, @Beckow, @Philip Owen
I have known three young men now of draft age since they were children. Two are radio-technical specialists. They were never conscripts due to their education. They are not drafted. One is also university educated in music without previous service. He lives in Moscow. So far not drafted. All of them expect to be called up. It has happened to their friends. One is a nationalist, believes the media and wants to fight, short of volunteering (one of the RT specialists so he is unlikely to end up as a squaddie – infantry grunt in American). The other two think Putin has destroyed Russia. (Rightly in my opinion. There will be sanctions for 30 years now he has threatened to use nuclear weapons). Their mothers, all former nationalistic patriots, are all but hysterical. Two are only children of single mothers. The nationalist has a sister and did have a father until drink took him. These people were already developing negaitve attitudes to Ukraine during the 2012 Presidential election in which all parties offered xenophobic campaigns. I was there. It was uncomfortable at the time.
The war inexorably spreads. Ukraine has its own imperial ambitions that reach into the guts of places like Rostov and Bogorod. The Azov Batallions was always about controlling the Don estuary and the fortress on the other side of that small inland Sea.
We are all waiting for the Barbarians now.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/18/ukraine-war-cross-border-russia-putin-belgorod
The war inexorably spreads. Ukraine has its own imperial ambitions that reach into the guts of places like Rostov and Bogorod. The Azov Batallions was always about controlling the Don estuary and the fortress on the other side of that small inland Sea.
We are all waiting for the Barbarians now.
The war inexorably spreads. Ukraine has its own imperial ambitions that reach into the guts of places like Rostov and Bogorod. The Azov Batallions was always about controlling the Don estuary and the fortress on the other side of that small inland Sea.
We are all waiting for the Barbarians now.Replies: @Bashibuzuk
In Belgorord region, most villages close to the border between RusFed and Ukiestan have already been partially destroyed by transborder attacks. Many have been abandoned by their inhabitants. The territory of RusFed has been under attack for months. So all this talk about a “serious answer” if Ukies attack “Russia proper” are typical RusFed hot air blowing (pun intended given the current situation on the Kerch bridge).
I am willing to bet that there’s going to be a sustained bombardment of Ukie infrastructure now.