Sign Up | Log In
REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 3:43 PM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Quote:Originally posted by captaincrunch: Quote:Originally posted by second: Russia’s inevitable defeat, deep economic malaise, and loss of great-power status at the hands of a country whose existence the Kremlin didn’t even recognize will be fertile ground for extremists. That counts double should Putin’s regime fall and a struggle for the future course of Russia ensue. If the pro-war nationalists searching for enemies to blame are the only opposition left in Russia, the world may be going down a dark and dangerous track. Putin is getting squeezed on both sides. Something's gotta give - or someone. https://puck.news/fear-and-loathing-in-moscow/ The former queen mother of the Russian opposition, Evgenia Markovna Albats, now living in exile, reflects on the terror that drove her compatriots from the capital, the contempt among those left behind, and the oligarchs who are on the verge of revolt. Julia Ioffe: What are things like in Moscow? Evgenia Markovna Albats - Moscow is unbearable. I couldn’t stand being there. In the square where I live, I saw the PriceWaterhouseCoopers sign come down and the Starbucks close and the office towers empty out.
Quote:Originally posted by second: Russia’s inevitable defeat, deep economic malaise, and loss of great-power status at the hands of a country whose existence the Kremlin didn’t even recognize will be fertile ground for extremists. That counts double should Putin’s regime fall and a struggle for the future course of Russia ensue. If the pro-war nationalists searching for enemies to blame are the only opposition left in Russia, the world may be going down a dark and dangerous track.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 4:02 PM
Quote: The Kharkov game-changer September 14, 2022 by Pepe Escobar Wars are not won by psyops. Ask Nazi Germany. Still, it’s been a howler to watch NATOstan media on Kharkov, gloating in unison about “the hammer blow that knocks out Putin”, “the Russians are in trouble”, and assorted inanities. Facts: Russian forces withdrew from the territory of Kharkov to the left bank of the Oskol river, where they are now entrenched. A Kharkov-Donetsk-Luhansk line seems to be stable. Krasny Liman is threatened, besieged by superior Ukrainian forces, but not lethally. No one – not even Maria Zakharova, the contemporary female equivalent of Hermes, the messenger of the Gods – knows what the Russian General Staff (RGS) plans, in this case and all others. If they say they do, they are lying. As it stands, what may be inferred with a reasonable degree of certainty is that a line – Svyatogorsk-Krasny Liman-Yampol-Belogorovka – can hold out long enough with their current garrisons until fresh Russian forces are able to swoop in and force the Ukrainians back beyond the Seversky Donets line. All hell broke loose – virtually – on why Kharkov happened. The people’s republics and Russia never had enough men to defend a 1,000 km-long frontline. NATO’s entire intel capabilities noticed – and profited from it. There were no Russian Armed Forces in those settlements: only Rosgvardia, and these are not trained to fight military forces. Kiev attacked with an advantage of around 5 to 1. The allied forces retreated to avoid encirclement. There are no Russian troop losses because there were no Russian troops in the region. Arguably this may have been a one-off. The NATO-run Kiev forces simply can’t do a replay anywhere in Donbass, or in Kherson, or in Mariupol. These are all protected by strong, regular Russian Army units. It’s practically a given that if the Ukrainians remain around Kharkov and Izyum they will be pulverized by massive Russian artillery. Military analyst Konstantin Sivkov maintains that, “most combat-ready formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now being grounded (…) we managed to lure them into the open and are now systematically destroying them.” The NATO-run Ukrainian forces, crammed with NATO mercenaries, had spent 6 months hoarding equipment and reserving trained assets exactly for this Kharkov moment – while dispatching disposables into a massive meat grinder. It will be very hard to sustain an assembly line of substantial prime assets to pull off something similar again. The next days will show whether Kharkov and Izyum are connected to a much larger NATO push. The mood in NATO-controlled EU is approaching Desperation Row. There’s a strong possibility this counter-offensive signifies NATO entering the war for good, while displaying quite tenuous plausible deniability: their veil of – fake – secrecy cannot disguise the presence of “advisers” and mercenaries all across the spectrum. Decommunization as de-energization The Special Military Operation (SMO), conceptually, is not about conquering territory per se: it is, or it was, so far, about protection of Russophone citizens in occupied territories, thus demilitarization cum denazification. That concept may be about to be tweaked. And that’s where the tortuous, tricky debate on Russia mobilization fits in. Yet even a partial mobilization may not be necessary: what’s needed are reserves to properly allow allied forces to cover rear/defensive lines. Hardcore fighters of the Kadyrov contingent kind would continue to play offense. It’s undeniable that Russian troops lost a strategically important node in Izyum. Without it, the complete liberation of Donbass becomes significantly harder. Yet for the collective West, whose carcass slouches inside a vast simulacra bubble, it’s the pysops that matters much more than a minor military advance: thus all that gloating on Ukraine being able to drive the Russians out of the whole of Kharkov in only four days – while they had 6 months to liberate Donbass, and didn’t. So, across the West, the reigning perception – frantically fomented by psyops experts – is that the Russian military were hit by that “hammer blow” and will hardly recover. Kharkov was preciously timed – as General Winter is around the corner; the Ukraine issue was already suffering from public opinion fatigue; and the propaganda machine needed a boost to turbo-lubricate the multi-billion dollar weaponizing rat line. Yet Kharkov may have forced Moscow’s hand to increase the pain dial. That came via a few well-placed Mr. Khinzals leaving the Black Sea and the Caspian to present their business cards to the largest thermal power plants in northeast and central Ukraine (most of the energy infrastructure is in the southeast). Half of Ukraine suddenly lost power and water. Trains came to a halt. If Moscow decides to take out all major Ukraine substations at once, all it takes is a few missiles to totally smash the Ukrainian energy grid – adding a new meaning to “decommunization”: de-energization. According to an expert analysis, “if transformers of 110-330 kV are damaged, then it will almost never be possible to put it into operation (…) And if this happens at least at 5 substations at the same time, then everything is kaput. Stone age forever.” Russian government official Marat Bashirov was way more colorful: “Ukraine is being plunged into the 19th century. If there is no energy system, there will be no Ukrainian army. The matter of fact is that General Volt came to the war, followed by General Moroz (“frost”). And that’s how we might be finally entering “real war” territory – as in Putin’s notorious quip that “we haven’t even started anything yet.” A definitive response will come from the RSG in the next few days. Once again, a fiery debate rages on what Russia will do next (the RGS, after all, is inscrutable, except for Yoda Patrushev). The RGS may opt for a serious strategic strike of the decapitating kind elsewhere – as in changing the subject for the worse (for NATO). It may opt for sending more troops to protect the front line (without partial mobilization). And most of all it may enlarge the SMO mandate – going to total destruction of Ukrainian transport/energy infrastructure, from gas fields to thermal power plants, substations, and shutting down nuclear power plants. Well, it could always be a mix of all of the above: a Russian version of Shock and Awe – generating an unprecedented socio-economic catastrophe. That has already been telegraphed by Moscow: we can revert you to the Stone Age at any time and in a matter of hours (italics mine). Your cities will greet General Winter with zero heating, freezing water, power outages and no connectivity. A counter-terrorist operation All eyes are on whether “centers of decision” – as in Kiev – may soon get a Khinzal visit. This would signify Moscow has had enough. The siloviki certainly did. But we’re not there – yet. Because for an eminently diplomatic Putin the real game revolves around those gas supplies to the EU, that puny plaything of American foreign policy. Putin is certainly aware that the internal front is under some pressure. He refuses even partial mobilization. A perfect indicator of what may happen in winter is the referenda in liberated territories. The limit date is November 4 – the Day of National Unity, a commemoration introduced in 2004 to replace the celebration of the October revolution (it already existed in imperial times). With the accession of these territories to Russia, any Ukrainian counter-offensive would qualify as an act of war against regions incorporated into the Russian Federation. Everyone knows what that means. It may now be painfully obvious that when the collective West is waging war – hybrid and kinetic, with everything from massive intel to satellite data and hordes of mercenaries – against you, and you insist on conducting a hazily-defined Special Military Operation (SMO), you may be up for some nasty surprises. So the SMO status may be about to change: it’s bound to become a counter-terrorist operation. This is an existential war. A do or die affair. The American geopolitical /geoeconomic goal, to put it bluntly, is to destroy Russian unity, impose regime change and plunder all those immense natural resources. Ukrainians are nothing but cannon fodder: in a sort of twisted History remake, the modern equivalents of the pyramid of skulls Timur cemented into 120 towers when he razed Baghdad in 1401. If may take a “hammer blow” for the RSG to wake up. Sooner rather than later, gloves – velvet and otherwise – will be off. Exit SMO. Enter War.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 4:05 PM
SECOND
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 4:25 PM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 4:38 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: The Kharkov game-changer September 14, 2022 by Pepe Escobar
Wednesday, September 14, 2022 9:55 PM
Thursday, September 15, 2022 5:18 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Omfg. You're spouting nonsense. Not gonna explain. You figure it out.
Thursday, September 15, 2022 6:14 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Omfg. You're spouting nonsense. Not gonna explain. You figure it out."Nobody goes back behind bars," Prigozhin, founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, can be seen telling men in a video from a Russian prison yard. "If you serve six months, you are free. If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we execute you." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/video-shows-the-head-of-a-shadowy-mercenary-group-recruiting-at-a-russian-prison-offering-inmates-freedom-if-they-fight-in-ukraine-but-death-if-they-run/ar-AA11PLXe The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Thursday, September 15, 2022 9:43 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: So, to show that you're not spouting nonsense you spout moe nonsense?
Thursday, September 15, 2022 12:19 PM
CAPTAINCRUNCH
... stay crunchy...
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Like SECOND'S posts I get one or two sentences in and I trip over something so egregiously stupid I have to stop. Life is unbearable bc she misses Starbucks??
Thursday, September 15, 2022 1:37 PM
Thursday, September 15, 2022 2:07 PM
Thursday, September 15, 2022 3:53 PM
Thursday, September 15, 2022 6:24 PM
THG
Thursday, September 15, 2022 6:33 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Russia is fighting with one hand tied behind it's back bc of the self-imposed limits of an SMO. Taking out a significant portion of Ukraine electrical power (and therefore water) should remind you that if Russia were to escalate to an "anti-terrorist" operation (a la Chechnya) it could destroy Ukraine in a couple of days. First, take out ALL of the grid, substations included. Then, bomb Kiev, starting with it's government buildings, TV stations, internet and telephone relays etc. And then start bombing every known military command center, troop concentrations, border crossings whete foreign weapons/troops arrive, railways etc. Russia has got a lot of missiles left. It would be remarkably easy.
Thursday, September 15, 2022 6:53 PM
Quote:Originally posted by captaincrunch: Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Russia is fighting with one hand tied behind it's back bc of the self-imposed limits of an SMO. Taking out a significant portion of Ukraine electrical power (and therefore water) should remind you that if Russia were to escalate to an "anti-terrorist" operation (a la Chechnya) it could destroy Ukraine in a couple of days. First, take out ALL of the grid, substations included. Then, bomb Kiev, starting with it's government buildings, TV stations, internet and telephone relays etc. And then start bombing every known military command center, troop concentrations, border crossings whete foreign weapons/troops arrive, railways etc. Russia has got a lot of missiles left. It would be remarkably easy. And that would be justified because why...? Ukraine has the nerve to defend itself?
Thursday, September 15, 2022 9:52 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: That's why Russia is limiting itself. That was just a reminder.
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Also, the west and Russia are fighting an economic war as well as a militry one.
Thursday, September 15, 2022 10:26 PM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:07 PM
Quote:Originally posted by CAPTAINCRUNCH: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: That's why Russia is limiting itself. That was just a reminder. A reminder that they can murder more people? Thanks Putin. Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Also, the west and Russia are fighting an economic war as well as a militry one. Would they be fighting this war (I thought it was a special operation? Careful what you type online!) if Russia hadn't invaded Ukraine? Uh, no.
Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:30 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: uh, yeah. They've been sanctioning Russia for over eight years already.
Friday, September 16, 2022 12:01 AM
Quote:Originally posted by CAPTAINCRUNCH: Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: uh, yeah. They've been sanctioning Russia for over eight years already. So, Trump sanctions are why Russia is murdering Ukrainians?
Friday, September 16, 2022 1:16 AM
Friday, September 16, 2022 6:06 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: No. NATO aggression is why Russia is defending itself. If Biden* and NATO weren't funneling money to fuel this conflict, Ukraine would have surrendered in one single day. This isn't even Ukraine's battle.
Friday, September 16, 2022 6:51 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Quote:Originally posted by CAPTAINCRUNCH: Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: uh, yeah. They've been sanctioning Russia for over eight years already. So, Trump sanctions are why Russia is murdering Ukrainians? Not good at arithmetic, are you?
Friday, September 16, 2022 7:32 AM
Friday, September 16, 2022 10:19 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: 6ix, your weirdness is showing when you support Russia's goal.
Quote:It's the same as you supporting robbery.
Friday, September 16, 2022 10:44 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Quote:Originally posted by second: 6ix, your weirdness is showing when you support Russia's goal. No it's not. Fuck NATO. Quote:It's the same as you supporting robbery. Get fucked, Leftist. That's exactly what I've been watching you and your entire party do since the summer of 2020.
Friday, September 16, 2022 10:57 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Quote:Originally posted by second: 6ix, your weirdness is showing when you support Russia's goal. No it's not. Fuck NATO. Quote:It's the same as you supporting robbery. Get fucked, Leftist. That's exactly what I've been watching you and your entire party do since the summer of 2020.That is funny because the Democratic Party did NOT do what you said it did.
Friday, September 16, 2022 12:35 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: There used to be a programing concept called GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you put gabage in your brain what comes out is, well, garbage.
Friday, September 16, 2022 1:19 PM
Quote:Originally posted by captaincrunch: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: There used to be a programing concept called GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you put gabage in your brain what comes out is, well, garbage. Hey - that's probably what explains how you can get outraged over someone liking Starbucks but are fine with dead women and children. GIGO!
Friday, September 16, 2022 1:51 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Oh, I have no problem with anyone liking Starbucks, CAPON. But to say that not having Starbucks makes a city "unbearable"? That byatch has NO IDEA of "unbearable". Clearly, she hasn't visited our dirty, crime-ridden cities. And especially the Starbucks where the homeless hang out and the addicted take drugs in the restrooms. And I DO have a problem with dead women and children. That's what started this whole mess in Ukraine to begin with. Seriously dood - it's Kiev that uses human shields and massacres "collaborators", not the LDNR militias. I never expect honesty from you CAPON, so I'm never disapointed.
Friday, September 16, 2022 2:52 PM
Friday, September 16, 2022 6:30 PM
Friday, September 16, 2022 6:46 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Most importnatly I don't falsely attribute statements, beliefs, and associations to you. And when I run out of on-point things to say, I don't fling random ad hominems. That's something YOU do. When I accuse you of lying and libel, it's specific and demonstrable.
Saturday, September 17, 2022 6:36 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I think I've got my feet pretty firmly planted and my head screwed on straight, and I believe in solving problems, not covering them up, like you do. Let's see where your (and the DNC's) smarmy rationalizations and blame shifting and warmongering get us in the next few years. Oh, and have a nice day
Saturday, September 17, 2022 6:53 AM
Saturday, September 17, 2022 7:42 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I couldn't give a rat's ass what Ukraine needs Ukraine's oligarchs want. Maybe if it was "What does AMERUCA need?" I'd bother to read.
Saturday, September 17, 2022 9:41 AM
Saturday, September 17, 2022 9:42 AM
Saturday, September 17, 2022 9:50 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: When asked how long the war could last, Ryder declined to speculate.
Saturday, September 17, 2022 1:14 PM
Quote:Originally posted by captaincrunch: One thing you can say about Putin is he doesn't care how many Russians he has to kill to keep fighting.
Saturday, September 17, 2022 8:11 PM
Quote:Originally posted by captaincrunch: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I couldn't give a rat's ass what Ukraine needs Ukraine's oligarchs want. Maybe if it was "What does AMERUCA need?" I'd bother to read. America needs Ukraine to beat the ever lovin' shit out of Russia. Putin is a dangerous, joyless old dinosaur, still using ancient artiliery/trench warfare strategies from WW1, and KGB inspired policing of his own citizens. The world is too fucking small for his type. He's going to get plowed under, it's only a matter of time - what Russia does effects the entire globe, and in this case it's for nothing. Just drawing lines on a map or serving his ego. One fcking guy. But Ziggy, you go ahead and keep supporting Putin. https://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-authorities-discover-mass-grave-161036986.html Brigid Kennedy, Staff Writer Fri, September 16, 2022, 12:10 PM·1 min read Mass burial site in Izyum, Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have uncovered a mass grave with over 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced Friday, per CNN. Izium was recently recaptured from Russian forces, after having been "subject to intense ... artillery attacks" in the spring, CNN writes. The city, nestled near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regious, served as an "important hub" for Putin's offensive "during five months of occupation." Some of the victims in the mass grave were killed by gunfire, while others died of "so-called mine explosion traumas," Serhii Bolvinov, Kharkiv's chief police investigator, told the United Kingdom's Sky News, per CNN. "Some died because of airstrikes," he continued. "Also we have information that a lot of bodies have not been identified yet. So the reasons of death will be established during the investigations." The buried corpses were also "mostly civilians," according to Ukraine's Center for Stategic Communications, and showed some signs of torture, adds The Associated Press. Per CNN, Bolvinov believes there could be other mass graves in the Kharkiv area. "Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izium ... Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for it," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, alluding to tales of similar civilian tragedies from earlier in the invasion, said in a video address on Thursday. "We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to." =========
Saturday, September 17, 2022 9:37 PM
Saturday, September 17, 2022 11:57 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: STORY WITHDRAWN ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
Sunday, September 18, 2022 1:31 AM
Sunday, September 18, 2022 2:59 AM
Sunday, September 18, 2022 7:10 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Same as it ever was... Nobody gives a single shit about Ukraine. -------------------------------------------------- Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
Sunday, September 18, 2022 8:35 AM
Quote:Originally posted by second: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Same as it ever was... Nobody gives a single shit about Ukraine. -------------------------------------------------- Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus 6ix, I've seen this particular style of dealing with reality from Trumptards. Anybody, including Democrats, using this style will fall behind people who are repelled by the Trumptards' way of thinking. This style worked from 300,000 years ago until the 19th century, but isn't evolutionary adaptive today. More adaptive would be ignoring Ukraine, not having any opinion.
Sunday, September 18, 2022 10:27 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: It wasn't a "mass grave", it was a burial site: individual graves marked with crosses. Hardly a pit where bodies were dumped..
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: The story NOW is that Russia shelled... ITSELF??? But Kiev uses the same shell, fired from the same kind of cannon, and most likely fired them at Bucha.
Sunday, September 18, 2022 12:54 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: It wasn't a "mass grave", it was a burial site: individual graves marked with crosses. Hardly a pit where bodies were dumped. CAPN: Hey - you're not lying again are you? (trick question) According to Ziggy, It's not a mass grave if "400+ bodies are buried separately." And how could you possibly know how many bodies are under each cross? SIGNYM: The story NOW is that Russia shelled... ITSELF??? But Kiev uses the same shell, fired from the same kind of cannon, and most likely fired them at Bucha. CAPN: What do you mean, "the story NOW is?" Who's story?
Quote:Dozens of civilians who died during the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha were killed by tiny metal arrows from shells of a type fired by Russian artillery, forensic doctors have said.
Quote:And what do you mean by "most likely?"
Quote: Didn't you suggest that Ukraine was bombing it's own Nuclear power station at one point?
Quote:And now you suggest they killed 440 of their own people? Why 440? Wouldn't 50 be enough to make the point? You are promoting a staggering amount of stupid.
YOUR OPTIONS
NEW POSTS TODAY
OTHER TOPICS
FFF.NET SOCIAL