Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

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

Russian troops discuss mass exodus from frontline in leaked calls as Putin faces mutiny

An intercepted phone call between a furious Russian soldier and his mother reveals that conditions on the frontline are rapidly deteriorating for Vladimir Putin's men. The recent phone call, shared by CNN, signalled a growing move among Russian troops towards fleeing the military and its war in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin admitted on Wednesday that there are "problems with equipment" for Russian troops.

This follows concerns that ill-equipped Russian soldiers, already suffering from low morale, face a gruelling and freezing winter in Ukraine as temperatures drop below zero.

Laying out the conditions on the frontlines, a soldier told his mother back in Russia: "Leaving, leaving, people are leaving."

The mother responds: "Leaving? Like running away?"

The soldier confirms: "Yes running away, what else?

"Five f****** days under pouring rain, with no sleep."

The intercepted call continued as the worried mother told her son: "That's deserting, watch out."

However, the fed-up soldier was defiant, telling her: "If they don't let us leave in December, we will go away too.

"You just can't imagine, we live in a swamp.

"Everything is leaking, we have no sleep, no food, nothing!"

On Wednesday, President Putin told reporters: "Regarding the problem with equipment as far as I can tell, this has already been sorted out.

"However, if something else needs our special attention somewhere, of course, I would ask for more information. Then we will deal with it."

Discussing President Putin's recent remarks and the intercepted call, CNN's Erin Burnett told viewers: "Putin has his back pressed firmly up against the wall because he knows his invasion has not gone according to plan.

"An admission of problems with equipment, as soft as that admission may feel, for Putin to say that is a big deal.

"He is forced to admit it because of what his troops are seeing each day."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-troops-discuss-mass-exodu
s-from-frontline-in-leaked-calls-as-putin-faces-mutiny/ar-AA1555ob

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 8:12 AM

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

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could "end tomorrow" if there were a "political will" on the part of Kiev and ruled out talks on further annexations of territories for the time being.

Peskov pointed out that if the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, "had that desire", there could be talk of an end to the war, according to information gathered by the Interfax news agency.

"Zelensky knows when all this can end: it can end tomorrow if that's what he wants," he pointed out.

He also ruled out the annexation of new territories in the area affected by the Russian "military operation", as Moscow refers to the invasion, and indicated that "there are no doubts about it". "At least there are no communiqués on this issue. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to liberate these territories," he has maintained.

"We know that in a large number of new regions of Russia there are occupied territories that have to be liberated," he asserted before insisting that one of the objectives of the Russian military intervention is "to protect the population living in the southeast of Ukraine, in the Donbas."

Therefore, he stressed that "to protect these people, the territories have to be formed, so they had to be annexed with a referendum". "This is what the president (Vladimir Putin) has been talking about," he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-says-ukraine-invasion-coul
d-end-tomorrow-and-rules-out-talks-on-further-annexations/ar-AA1530JE

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 8:31 AM

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

Russia has claimed the war could “end tomorrow” if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky orders a retreat from territories within Putin’s recently-annexed four regions in the southeast. In comments tantamount to blaming Ukraine for defending its own territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested the Ukrainian Armed Forces were preventing a ceasefire by continuing to liberate cities across the front line. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin labelled the annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson as a “significant result”, with Peskov subsequently suggesting the aims of the Russian army were to “protect” those within those regions.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1707328/Russian-invasion-of-Ukrai
ne-Dmitry-Peskov-Vladimir-Putin

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 8:44 AM

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

Slovakia's Foreign Minister Rastislav Kacer on Thursday warned those who are in favor of negotiating an end to the war with Russia without taking into account Ukraine's demands, that something similar happened with Adolf Hitler and that "led to the destruction of Czechoslovakia and World War II".

"What Russia is doing in Ukraine was not, is not, and will never be acceptable," the head of Slovak diplomacy remarked during a joint press conference in Kiev with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dimitro Kuleba.

"To those who say that 'we want peace, we are for negotiations', we always say that we have already experienced that with Hitler (...) We know that this led to the destruction of the then Czechoslovakia, the beginning of the Second World War, and the loss of tens of millions of people," he has warned.

"We will never repeat this. We have learned the lessons of history and I will support you until the end," Kacer emphasized, who has bet that it is Ukraine who will decide on what terms the war should end.

In this sense, Kacer pointed out that the version that should prevail is "Ukrainian peace", with which "it will restore its borders and completely recover its sovereign territory". However, he explained, that even under these terms, "this is not final".

"This will happen when Russia will not pose a threat to the international community and when Ukraine will become a full participant in all important European meetings," he has remarked.

This week the Slovak government approved a new package of military aid to Ukraine, including not only weapons and combat vehicles but also equipment for Ukrainian forces.

https://www.news360.es/usa/2022/12/08/slovakia-compares-negotiating-pe
ace-with-russia-to-the-dialogues-with-hitler-that-led-to-wwii-2/

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 9:51 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Slovakia's Foreign Minister Rastislav Kacer on Thursday warned those who are in favor of negotiating an end to the war with Russia without taking into account Ukraine's demands, that something similar happened with Adolf Hitler and that "led to the destruction of Czechoslovakia and World War II".

"What Russia is doing in Ukraine was not, is not, and will never be acceptable," the head of Slovak diplomacy remarked during a joint press conference in Kiev with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dimitro Kuleba.

"To those who say that 'we want peace, we are for negotiations', we always say that we have already experienced that with Hitler (...) We know that this led to the destruction of the then Czechoslovakia, the beginning of the Second World War, and the loss of tens of millions of people," he has warned.

"We will never repeat this. We have learned the lessons of history and I will support you until the end," Kacer emphasized, who has bet that it is Ukraine who will decide on what terms the war should end.

In this sense, Kacer pointed out that the version that should prevail is "Ukrainian peace", with which "it will restore its borders and completely recover its sovereign territory". However, he explained, that even under these terms, "this is not final".

"This will happen when Russia will not pose a threat to the international community and when Ukraine will become a full participant in all important European meetings," he has remarked.

This week the Slovak government approved a new package of military aid to Ukraine, including not only weapons and combat vehicles but also equipment for Ukrainian forces.

https://www.news360.es/usa/2022/12/08/slovakia-compares-negotiating-pe
ace-with-russia-to-the-dialogues-with-hitler-that-led-to-wwii-2/

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

The stones on that guy.

Found an answer to one of the questions I've been wondering about:

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Friday, December 9, 2022 10:42 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by captaincrunch:

The stones on that guy.

Found an answer to one of the questions I've been wondering about:

The Russian Air Force would give its maximum to defend Mother Russia. Despite Putin claiming Ukraine is an existential threat to Russia, the Air Force knows this war is no more than Putin glorifying himself. Therefore, the Air Force will give the minimum. This is because stupid people can't get into the Air Force. Instead, it is the Russian Army for them.

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 11:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
OMG. Somebody throw that broken record in the landfill already.

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

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
6ix, yesterday, admitted to being defective, but claims he has overcome his defects. Ha! Ha! Actually, he hasn't. He remains unemployed:
Quote:
And if you drink too much. Drink less. And if you play video games too much. Play less video games. And if you watch too much TV. Watch less TV.

White men today aren't dropping out of the workforce merely because of the financial reasons listed above, although I'm sure that working at Wal-Mart stocking shelves for a pittance at 30 years old isn't helping. They're among the two and going on three generations of divorced white families who's lives were trashed at a young age because their selfish and idiot parents should have never married in the first place.

They're lost. They had no role models at home, and there are no good male role models on TV for them to try to emulate either. They need an anchor. Many of them just need to find a reason to live.

It's out there. If you look for it.

I wish you all luck.

I can't give any advice to you beyond that, because trust me... You don't want to find the reason to live via the same means that I did.

All I can tell you is that when you find it, it's going to be a great feeling to have a reason to get out of bed every morning to face the challenges ahead of you for the day that doesn't involve hacking and slashing Orcs and Dragons with your fake online friends.
The whole statement is here http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=61954&mid=11662
33#1166233

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

The whole statement, which you stripped of all context by only posting the 2nd half of it and neglecting to post the article that preceded it are at the link above.

I'm not unemployed. Joe Biden* wouldn't tell you that I'm unemployed. You have to be filing for unemployment benefits to be unemployed.

I don't work, son. Not for money. I don't have to.

How's work going today, honey? I slept in.

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

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 11:56 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

I'm not unemployed. Joe Biden* wouldn't tell you that I'm unemployed. You have to be filing for unemployment benefits to be unemployed.

Do the unemployed become employed when their benefits end? No, 6ix. Your "definition" of employed is flawed. Workers in most states are eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation program, although ten states provide fewer weeks.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
ompensation-are-available

I'm collecting $4,555 per month from Social Security Retirement. Does that mean I am retired? No, 6ix, I am working.

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 12:03 PM

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

I'm not unemployed. Joe Biden* wouldn't tell you that I'm unemployed. You have to be filing for unemployment benefits to be unemployed.
Do the unemployed become employed when their benefits end? No, 6ix. Your "definition" of employed is flawed. Workers in most states are eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation program, although ten states provide fewer weeks.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
ompensation-are-available

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

I didn't give a definition of employed. I simply pointed out that since I wasn't filing for or collecting unemployment benefits that I am not considered by the government to be unemployed. Joe Biden* likes that. One less person bumping up his unemployment numbers.

If there's any flaw here, it's the government's definition of unemployed that is flawed, which is an argument I've made in the past several times in the RWED boards.

I also didn't make any claim that I was currently employed or unemployed.

I'm neither employed nor unemployed. I'm retired with hobbies.

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

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 2:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
I'm collecting $4,555 per month from Social Security Retirement. Does that mean I am retired? No, 6ix, I am working.

Oh... And that's cute. You got that number for the maximum benefits paid out when retiring at 70 from here:

https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/average-monthly-social-security-ch
eck/

Yanno... The same very same article that Google used to misrepresent what the average SS payout for retiring at 62 was when they instead gave you the the maximum number and fooled you into posting something stupid just yesterday right here:

http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=65414&mid=11662
29#1166229

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Since the average Social Security check at age 62 is $2,572

No it isn't dummy, but I know exactly how you got that. Looks like Google lied to you again.

Click on the bankrate.com article that Google used to provide those fake numbers and actually read it.

The Average check today for ALL recipients, of any age, including disability payments and survivor benefits payments is only $1,550.48.

Here's the part that Google grabbed and presented as the answer to your question:

Quote:
The maximum initial monthly benefit for 2023 by retirement age:

At age 62: $2,572
At age 65: $3,279
At age 66: $3,506
At age 70: $4,555

These figures assume a worker had steady earnings at the maximum taxable level since age 22. For 2023, maximum taxable income is $160,200, a number that usually rises each year.

This isn't only hilarious, but is a great example of how you lack any critical thinking skills whatsoever, and why it is so easy for the Legacy Media to make you believe whatever they tell you to.

Have a nice day!

This ain't the real world where you can lie to people all day long in person and there's no receipts of you lying and/or all the dumb shit you say dude.

We know nothing about you dude. Nobody believes anybody who tells the world that they're perfect and always right and always better than everybody around them, both online and in real life.

I know I'm a flawed individual. Perhaps even deeper than the Median person is.

And even with all the things that I have been doing right and all the improvements I've been making for myself and those that I care about, I'm not shy about admitting my current shortcomings, both IRL and right here on these boards. Something you know full well because you live for reading my posts and saving them to try to embarrass me when you think you've somehow got the upper hand because of something I've posted previously.

SPOILER ALERT: You can't embarrass me. You can't even attempt to talk down to me. You're nothing but a lying little worm of an indeterminate age with a grand old fake online persona you've made for yourself.

You are not only nothing to me, but you are nothing to yourself... which is the saddest part about all of this.

And I never said I wasn't working. More often than not I'm keeping myself busy working on one thing or another. I just don't care about money beyond what I need to live, and I've made saving and spending wisely into an art-form over the last two decades.

I don't have to give my time away for a pittance or have to answer to any terrible bosses anymore, yanno... like the fake one you've made for your garbage online persona right here in the RWED.

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

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 3:42 PM

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

Russia has claimed the war could "end tomorrow" if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky orders a retreat from territories within Putin's recently-annexed four regions in the southeast.

In comments tantamount to blaming Ukraine for defending its own territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested the Ukrainian Armed Forces were preventing a ceasefire by continuing to liberate cities across the front line.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Peskov was asked about when the "special military operation" in Ukraine would end in light of comments by Mr Zelensky that the war would be over by 2023.

Peskov said: "You can speculate until blue in the face when it all can end. Zelensky knows when it all might end, it all might end tomorrow if he wishes."

The Kremlin spokesman then said in "Russia's new regions", there were "occupied territories that will have to be liberated".

Peskov was suggesting that Ukrainian forces, in reclaiming land occupied by Russia earlier this year, were themselves occupying this territory against the will of its residents.

Repeating Putin's suggestion that Russian forces were "protecting" the people of Donbas and "southeastern Ukraine", citing sham referendums as proof of their desire to be within Russia as oppose to Ukraine, Peskov called on the Ukraine forces to give back the territory to Russia.

On February 24, when the invasion was initiated, Putin made no mention of these territories, rather he said the reason behind the move was "the protection of people who have been subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years". He added that Moscow's plans "do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories".

Infuriated Russian commentator Boris Rozhin, known as 'ColonelCassad' on Telegram and who has more than 800,000 followers, stated that "the annexation of Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts was not among the declared goals of the special military operation on February 24".

Other bloggers suggested Putin's redefinition of the objectives and the admission that this will be a long occupation reflected the fact that he does not have the capacity to continue pursuing his maximalist goals, forcing the Kremlin to accept protracted war as the means to wear down Ukraine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kremlin-claims-that-russia-might-
end-war-even-tomorrow-but-there-is-one-condition/ar-AA154VE1

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 3:52 PM

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

Igor Girkin is a former Russian military commander who led the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Girkin wrote:

In most parts of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, soldiers and officers do not understand in the name of what, for what, and with what purposes they are fighting.

It's a mystery for them what is the condition for victory or just a condition for ending the war.

The authorities of the Russian Federation are not able to explain this to them, since setting a clear goal for the SMO [Special Military Operation] means 'limiting room for maneuver' — that is, losing the opportunity to declare the goals of the SMO as achieved at any moment that the Kremlin leaders consider convenient.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ex-russian-operative-who-visited-
the-front-in-ukraine-says-russian-troops-are-in-disarray-due-to-a-crisis-of-strategic-planning/ar-AA152azR

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 7:50 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I have never seen anyone virtue-signal so hard as SECOND. It's like he has to justify his existence to himself and everybody else.

If he's as successful as he says he is, then he won the energy-speculation lottery. He should be smiling every day about his good fortune.

Instead, he's a miserable little shit and a malicious twerp. He must really despise himself.

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 7:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

I have never seen anyone virtue-signal so hard as SECOND. It's like he has to justify his existence to himself and everybody else.

If he's as successful as he says he is, then he won the energy-speculation lottery. He should be smiling every day about his good fortune.

Instead, he's a miserable little shit and a malicious twerp. He must really despise himself.

And I always just thought he liked to argue.

T

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Friday, December 9, 2022 10:05 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

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

I have never seen anyone virtue-signal so hard as SECOND. It's like he has to justify his existence to himself and everybody else.

If he's as successful as he says he is, then he won the energy-speculation lottery. He should be smiling every day about his good fortune.

Instead, he's a miserable little shit and a malicious twerp. He must really despise himself.

And I always just thought he liked to argue.

T

He likes to threaten, harass (IRL), libel, lie, insult, and bob and weave.

That's not arguing. Arguing is when you assemble your facts and use facts and logic to dispute another's position, or posit one of your own

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 11:54 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have never seen anyone virtue-signal so hard as SECOND.

Yes, you have. Putin was signaling a lack of virtue:

Vladimir Putin has warned that any country that attacks Russia would be “wiped off the face of the Earth”.

The Russia president issued his latest threat to the West at the Eurasian Economic Union summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

Mr Putin also said that Moscow could adopt what he described as a “US concept” of using preemptive military strikes, in a blunt statement amid rising Russia-NATO tensions over Ukraine.

It comes as Russian forces placed Grad multiple-launch-rocket systems on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s territory, according to Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator.

The rocket launchers are next to spent nuclear fuel storage units near the plant’s sixth reactor, it said, and are likely to be used to strike cities on the opposite side of the Dnipro River, using the reactor and fuel storage as a “shelter” from return fire, according to Energoatom.

Russia’s move violated conditions for nuclear and radiation safety, the company said in its statement, which was backed by several Ukrainian ministers.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukraine-news-%E2%80%93-live-russi
a-installs-multiple-launch-rocket-systems-at-nuclear-power-plant/ar-AA154OMn

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

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Friday, December 9, 2022 11:58 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

He likes to threaten, harass (IRL), libel, lie, insult, and bob and weave.

That's not arguing. Arguing is when you assemble your facts and use facts and logic to dispute another's position, or posit one of your own

Vladimir Putin appears ‘drunk’ as he charges Ukraine for attacks

Friday 9 December 2022 04:19 , Arpan Rai

Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of initiating attacks on civilian infrastructure in the ongoing invasion by Moscow.

“There’s a lot of noise right now about our strikes against the energy infrastructure of the neighbouring country,” Mr Putin said at a state awards ceremony where he appeared with a glass of a sparkling beverage.

Swaying from one side to another, he said: “Yes, we are doing it, but who started it? Who struck the Crimean bridge?”.

Economist and author Anders Aslund said: “This is the first time that I have seen Putin seeming drunk in any context. He talks nonsense as usual, but he seems to realise that he is a loser. Very interesting & promising. All Russians will see that he is drunk & weak.”

“Putin, clearly drunk at today’s Russian military awards ceremony, gets his Kremlin propaganda lies mixed up - it’s supposed to be Crimea that Ukraine denied water to, not Donetsk,” said Ukrainian editor and journalist Euan MacDonald.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukraine-news-%E2%80%93-live-russi
a-installs-multiple-launch-rocket-systems-at-nuclear-power-plant/ar-AA154OMn

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 6:20 AM

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

Ukrainians aren’t delighted about sharing their Nobel peace prize

Many resent being lumped in the same basket as Russia and Belarus.

by Veronika Melkozerova, December 9, 2022 6:57 pm CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-share-nobel-peace-prize-russia
-berit-reiss-andersen/

OSLO — Ukrainians are happy about winning their first Nobel prize since independence, but it stings that they’ll be sharing the limelight on Saturday with fellow laureates from Russia and Belarus.

It’s clear what the Norwegian Nobel committee is seeking to achieve by sharing the peace prize between civil society activists from three nations locked in a war, with Committee Chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen admitting the committee wanted to send a signal that the conflict in Ukraine must end.

In order to send this message, it has awarded the prize jointly to Russia’s now disbanded Memorial Center, jailed Belarusian opposition activist Ales Bialiatsky and Ukrainian human rights watchdog Center for Civil Liberties, which documents Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

From the Ukrainian perspective, however, it leaves a bitter taste that activists in their country — on a very different, democratic political trajectory from Moscow and Minsk — are still lumped together in the post-Soviet sphere with campaigners tackling the regimes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, complained the joint prize boosted the Kremlin’s narrative about the war and Putin’s claims of the unity of Russian and Ukrainian people.

“Awarding three human rights organizations from three countries does not answer the question of protecting peace, but openly promotes the destructive thesis about the same notorious ‘trinity of the Slavic peoples’ that Russian propaganda constantly talks about in global public opinion,” he told POLITICO.

He explained that Moscow sought to portray the people of the three countries as wanting peace but being prevented from reaching a truce by non-Slavic countries. He also issued a criticism that, while Ukrainians were fighting for survival, civil society groups in Russia and Belarus were largely shying away from active actions against the invasion.

“This is an extremely insensitive move at times when Russians are killing Ukrainians with the help of Belarusians,” said Olga Rudenko, chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, and one of the favorites for the 2022 peace prize.

She added all the candidates deserved the award and that Ukrainians would have no problem if each of them got the prize individually. The problem was putting all three together in a year when the nations they represent are riven by a war sparked by Russian colonial ambitions.

“As if the ‘grownup’ West wants to lock us kids in the same room after a fight and order us to make peace,” Rudenko said.

More at https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-share-nobel-peace-prize-russia
-berit-reiss-andersen/

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 6:28 AM

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

The Ukrainian 6th Separate Rifle Battalion (SRB) Lost Its First Battle. Then It Got Javelin Missiles.

The 6th SRB formed in May in eastern Ukraine. As early as July, the battalion was in combat in Avdiivka, a settlement in Donetsk Oblast that anchors Ukrainian positions opposite the pro-Russian separatists based in Donetsk city.

The Russians and their separatist allies since February have been trying to capture Avdiivka. The 6th SRB's territorials joined the battle with only light weaponry - and got slaughtered.

In mid-July, former members of the battalion recorded a video blaming Zelensky for their losses. "We as fighters of the territorial defense were illegally sent to the front lines," their spokesman said.

"We lost 70 percent of the personnel," the spokesman continued. "Then we expressed our distrust of the battalion command about the fact that there was an oral order to occupy and hold unequipped positions without heavy equipment and artillery."

The defense ministry in Kyiv apparently internalized this criticism. When the 6th SRB reappeared along the front line around Avdiivka, it was a much more powerful formation. Videos the battalion began posting online in November depict several successful strikes on Russian armored vehicles by 6th SRB troopers firing American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles.

There’s no evidence the 6th SRB possesses any weaponry heavier than a 50-pound Javelin, or any vehicles heavier than a truck. The 6th SRB does however operate the usual bomb-dropping quadcopter drones. As long as the battalion doesn't try to advance long distances while under fire — and so far, it hasn’t - the Javelins and drones might suffice.

Notably, there haven't been any other public protests from the battalion like what occurred in July. The 6th Separate Rifle Battalion still is in the thick of the fighting. But its territorials apparently are confident they can beat the more heavily-armed Russians.

More at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-ukrainian-6th-separate-rifle-
battalion-lost-its-first-battle-then-it-got-javelin-missiles/ar-AA155Fef

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 9:09 AM

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

War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change

Ukraine may have the opportunity to rebuild a postwar society that is more democratic, less corrupt, and more economically diversified

By Kevin Sullivan, David L. Stern and Kostiantyn Khudov

December 8, 2022 at 1:00 a.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/08/ukraine-oligarchs-powe
r-war/

BURSHTYN, Ukraine — Over two days in October, eight Russian cruise missiles screamed out of the sky and obliterated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of critical machinery at this city’s hulking coal-fired power plant.

The attacks were designed to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. But they also deepened a financial crisis for the plant’s owner, Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man.

Akhmetov’s wealth has dived from $7.6 billion to $4.3 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, according to Forbes. In 2012, before Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in Ukraine’s east, locations where Akhmetov also had numerous assets, the magazine estimated his wealth at $16 billion.

The losses are largely from Russia’s destruction and confiscation of his vast networks of power and steel plants, coal mines and agricultural operations. Most notable were his two huge steel plants in the port city of Mariupol, including Azovstal, where Ukrainian fighters staged a defiant last stand against Russian forces earlier this year. Akhmetov is suing Russia for up to $20 billion in the European Court of Human Rights.

One billionaire becoming less of a billionaire isn’t breaking hearts in a country fighting a war for its very existence. But it provides some insight into how the Russian invasion is affecting Ukraine’s oligarchs, a group of fewer than 20 fantastically wealthy people who have wielded outsize — and often, anti-corruption activists contend, malign — influence over Ukraine’s politics, economy and society since the country’s independence in 1991.

In Kherson city, sympathies for Russia complicate reintegration into Ukraine

In interviews with more than two dozen current and former Ukrainian and U.S. officials, analysts and others, nearly all agreed that the dominant power of oligarchs in Ukrainian life has been diminished. They cited vast losses from the war, growing government pressure and a newly energized population no longer willing to tolerate the politics of the past. They said that could give Ukraine the opportunity to rebuild a postwar society that is more democratic, less corrupt and more economically diversified.

“This is the end of an epoch, the end of a political culture,” said Viktor Andrusiv, a former adviser to Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide, who has written extensively about Ukraine’s oligarchs and is now fighting on the front lines in the Ukrainian army.

Akhmetov, in exchanges with The Washington Post over WhatsApp, also said he supports economic diversification. Asked about his vision of Ukraine after the war, he called for a “new Marshall Plan” of hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and a country remade in the image of the West, not Russia.

“The goal is to build a new, strong, and European Ukraine, a member of the [European Union], with strong institutions, the rule of law, clear anti-corruption rules, a democratic political system, and fair treatment of citizens,” said Akhmetov, who declined an in-person interview but answered written questions.

Pressure on oligarchs had already been building before Russia’s invasion, with a “de-oligarchization” law promoted by Zelensky that took effect this year. The law places limits on the political activity of super-rich individuals who meet certain criteria, including those who have major holdings in television and other media to press their financial interests and political agenda. The Zelensky government is also crafting antitrust measures to crack down on monopolies controlled by oligarchs in areas from coal mining to electricity to railroads.

“The system was so strong and well institutionalized that it was quite difficult to break, but we will do everything we can to make sure it never recovers,” said Rostyslav Shurma, a close economic aide to Zelensky who previously worked for many years as a top executive in Akhmetov’s steel company, Metinvest.

Many cautioned that the country’s wealthiest people are still incredibly rich and influential.

“They are not disappearing,” Andrusiv said. “The key thing is to end their monopolies, which were produced by their political connections. Now they will have to act more like big businessmen.”

Akhmetov and other critics have warned that Zelensky’s attack on oligarchs could be a power grab dressed up as reform.

“Relations with business should be regulated in a civilized way followed by all developed countries, rather than through populist laws,” Akhmetov told The Post. “Neither the United States nor the E.U. has a law on ‘oligarchs’ that would allow making unlawful lists of undesirables through extrajudicial procedures. Instead, they have a law on lobbying in place.”

Akhmetov also disputed being called an oligarch.

“I am not an oligarch,” he told The Post. “I have never been and am not going to be an oligarch. I am the biggest private investor, employer, and taxpayer in Ukraine.”

Since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, Akhmetov said he has not left Ukraine and has been living in Kyiv, which has been his home since 2014. He has also become Ukraine’s largest private individual donor to the war. He has given more than $100 million worth of military and humanitarian aid — everything from drones to food. Most other oligarchs have also been loud and public with their patriotic support of Ukraine and Zelensky.

Some critics have said Akhmetov is trying to atone for his actions in 2014, when he appeared to be initially unclear about his allegiance after Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in the east. He eventually supported Ukraine.

“I will start respecting him after he starts selling all his mansions in Switzerland, France and Great Britain and creates a fund to support the army in Ukraine,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, and one of the nation’s leading advocates of reform.

Asked about criticism that he should be doing even more, Akhmetov said, “My business has suffered the most. Maybe it’s not quite modest of me to say it, but I do help a lot more than anyone else, and I’m not going to stop.”

Ukraine has been gripped by oligarchs since the chaotic days after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, when a small number of individuals acquired on the cheap massive state-owned assets, including mines, factories, railroads and agricultural enterprises that were hastily privatized.

Those new capitalists amassed huge fortunes and protected their new empires by building — and sometimes buying — influence in media, key government agencies and, critically, parliament.

Akhmetov, for instance, ran for the Verkhovna Rada, or national parliament, and was elected in 2006 as a member of the Party of Regions, which was seen as close to Moscow. He was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Viktor Yanukovych who became Ukraine’s president in 2010. Yanukovych fled to Russia during Ukraine’s 2014 “Revolution of Dignity,” which was set off by his insistence on closer ties with Moscow after he reversed an earlier promise to move the country toward the European Union.

Ukraine’s oligarchs have also been able to wield greater political power than their counterparts in Russia partly because Ukraine has never produced an authoritarian leader like Vladimir Putin with the power to crush or co-opt them.

The result of oligarch influence has been a nation long weighed down by weak institutions, analysts said. That has left Ukraine “stuck in the transition between communism and capitalism,” said Vladyslav Rashkovan, a former deputy governor of the Ukrainian Central Bank who now represents the country on the International Monetary Fund’s executive board.

In a study of the oligarch system last year, before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Rashkovan noted that Ukraine had a greater per capita gross domestic product than Poland in 1990. But Poland, which embraced a much more open market economy, eventually leading to membership in the European Union, grew its per capita GDP to more than triple Ukraine’s. And Ukraine’s hope of E.U. membership, despite being an official candidate, remains a distant dream.

“Ukraine was actually a relatively wealthy country,” said Marie Yovanovitch, a former U.S. ambassador in Kyiv. “And if that money had been going back into the country to reinvest, rather than into people’s pockets and sent abroad, Ukraine would have been in a much better place. This was the fundamentally corrupt system that the oligarchs personified.”

Rashkovan’s study noted that the list of the top 20 richest people in Ukraine varies slightly each year. But only seven people have been on the list every year since 2007. And one of them has never budged from the top spot: Rinat Akhmetov.

Much more at https://web.archive.org/web/20221209200439/https://www.washingtonpost.
com/world/2022/12/08/ukraine-oligarchs-power-war/

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 9:28 AM

Keep burying your last bullshit little argument that you started and lost, like all the of the other arguments you lose when you try to get personal with me, you little worm.

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

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 10:06 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Keep burying your last bullshit little argument that you started and lost, like all the of the other arguments you lose when you try to get personal with me, you little worm.

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

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

This will probably not be understood by you, but your reply today at http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=61587&mid=11663
19#1166319 does not make good sense. My opinion is that most of what you do, 6ix, is not what a sensible person does. That is true about Russians, too. Their whole history does not make much sense, but I don't think they could do better. They are not mentally tough enough to be anywhere other than right in the middle of the messiness, stupidness and preposterousness they create for themselves. It is awe inspiring how Russians are unconscious about being half-asses at life. If Russians can't get their shit together, they will shame themself for all time in Ukraine. But being unconscious, most Russians won't notice. The few Russians that do notice will emigrate and start over somewhere better than Russia.

5 Million Russian Citizens Left Russia Under Putin
Young, well-educated Russians are seeking a better life abroad.
By Uliana Pavlova
Updated: Oct. 13, 2021
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/10/13/5-million-russian-citizens-l
eft-russia-under-putin-a75246

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 10:25 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
My opinion is that most of what you do, 6ix, is not what a sensible person does.

Nobody gives one single fuck about your opinion.

Back to this. We're not done here.

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

I'm not unemployed. Joe Biden* wouldn't tell you that I'm unemployed. You have to be filing for unemployment benefits to be unemployed.
Do the unemployed become employed when their benefits end? No, 6ix. Your "definition" of employed is flawed. Workers in most states are eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation program, although ten states provide fewer weeks.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
ompensation-are-available

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

AND

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
I'm collecting $4,555 per month from Social Security Retirement. Does that mean I am retired? No, 6ix, I am working.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Since the average Social Security check at age 62 is $2,572

No it isn't dummy, but I know exactly how you got that. Looks like Google lied to you again.

Click on the bankrate.com article that Google used to provide those fake numbers and actually read it.

The Average check today for ALL recipients, of any age, including disability payments and survivor benefits payments is only $1,550.48.

Here's the part that Google grabbed and presented as the answer to your question:

Quote:
The maximum initial monthly benefit for 2023 by retirement age:

At age 62: $2,572
At age 65: $3,279
At age 66: $3,506
At age 70: $4,555

These figures assume a worker had steady earnings at the maximum taxable level since age 22. For 2023, maximum taxable income is $160,200, a number that usually rises each year.

This isn't only hilarious, but is a great example of how you lack any critical thinking skills whatsoever, and why it is so easy for the Legacy Media to make you believe whatever they tell you to.

Have a nice day!

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 10:29 AM

If you don't want to talk about yourself and your lies in Russia threads, than you'd be advised to stop pulling my personal life out of context into your puny little dick-brained "arguments".

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

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 10:51 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
If you don't want to talk about yourself and your lies in Russia threads, than you'd be advised to stop pulling my personal life out of context into your puny little dick-brained "arguments".

6ix, you share characteristics with Putin and Trump. All three of you are belligerent, obnoxious, and stupid. Putin showed that side of himself only after he was in power. Trump has always shown it, but he has been protected by the best lawyers money can buy. When the average Trumptard, unprotected by power and money, displays belligerency, obnoxiousness, and stupidity, the Trumptard gets fired, gets kicked out of their relationships, or falls into various troubles that they will blame on the Democrats rather than their stupidity. The average Russian does the same: it is the Democrats' fault our mighty military is losing in Ukraine. Nuke the USA!

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 1:59 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
He likes to threaten, harass (IRL), libel, lie, insult, and bob and weave.
That's not arguing. Arguing is when you assemble your facts and use facts and logic to dispute another's position, or posit one of your own

SECOND: Vladimir Putin appears ‘drunk’ as he charges Ukraine for attacks

Friday 9 December 2022 04:19 , Arpan Rai

Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of initiating attacks on civilian infrastructure in the ongoing invasion by Moscow.

“There’s a lot of noise right now about our strikes against the energy infrastructure of the neighbouring country,” Mr Putin said at a state awards ceremony where he appeared with a glass of a sparkling beverage.

Swaying from one side to another, he said: “Yes, we are doing it, but who started it? Who struck the Crimean bridge?”.

Economist and author Anders Aslund said: “This is the first time that I have seen Putin seeming drunk in any context. He talks nonsense as usual, but he seems to realise that he is a loser. Very interesting & promising. All Russians will see that he is drunk & weak.”

“Putin, clearly drunk at today’s Russian military awards ceremony, gets his Kremlin propaganda lies mixed up - it’s supposed to be Crimea that Ukraine denied water to, not Donetsk,” said Ukrainian editor and journalist Euan MacDonald.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukraine-news-%E2%80%93-live-russi
a-installs-multiple-launch-rocket-systems-at-nuclear-power-plant/ar-AA154OMn

Quote:
SIGNY: He likes to threaten, harass (IRL), libel, lie, insult, and bob and weave.
That's not arguing. Arguing is when you assemble your facts and use facts and logic to dispute another's position, or posit one of your own

. And that includes posting M$M disinformation.

You're a miserable hate-filled little man, SECOND.
Get help.

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

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Saturday, December 10, 2022 11:55 PM

Yeah. It must be painful to be Second.

I had a great day today. How about you Sigs?

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

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 6:16 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Yeah. It must be painful to be Second.

I had a great day today. How about you Sigs?

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

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

We had a nice day relaxing together. Tomorrow ... well today, actually... we're supposed to get rain, so I'm goimg to get on the stick and finish cleaning the house. Maybe get a Christmas tree and get one up early for a change. I'm hoping for a nice family Christmas this year. Make warm memories for us.

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 8:15 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

And that includes posting M$M disinformation.

You're a miserable hate-filled little man, SECOND.
Get help.

Is the Russian Nobel Peace Prize laureate a miserable hate-filled little man, Signym?

Russian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yan Rachinsky blasted President Vladimir Putin’s “insane and criminal” war on Ukraine in his acceptance speech in the Norwegian capital Oslo on Saturday.

Rachinsky, from Russia’s human rights organization Memorial, claimed resistance to Russia is known as “fascism” under Putin, adding this has become “the ideological justification for the insane and criminal war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Memorial, one of Russia’s most well-known and respected human rights groups, worked to expose the abuses and atrocities of the Stalinist era for more than three decades before it was ordered to close by the country’s Supreme Court late last year. https://www.memo.ru/en-us/ https://memohrc.org/en

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/10/europe/russian-nobel-peace-laureate-sla
ms-putin-war-intl/index.html

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 8:26 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

We had a nice day relaxing together. Tomorrow ... well today, actually... we're supposed to get rain, so I'm goimg to get on the stick and finish cleaning the house. Maybe get a Christmas tree and get one up early for a change. I'm hoping for a nice family Christmas this year. Make warm memories for us.

Here is a warm memory for you. The Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1975 had similar problems with the Kremlin as does the 2022 winner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Sakharov#Attacked_by_Soviet_estab
lishment_from_1972

The Russian co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize has said Kremlin authorities told him to turn down the award.

Yan Rachinsky, who heads Memorial, said he was told not to accept the prize because the two other co-laureates - a Ukrainian human rights organisation and jailed Belarusian rights defender - were deemed "inappropriate".

Memorial is one of Russia's oldest civil rights groups, and was shut down by the government last year.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC's HARDtalk programme, Mr Rachinsky said his organisation had been advised to decline the award, but "naturally, we took no notice of this advice".

Despite threats to his safety, Mr Rachinsky said the work of Memorial remained essential.

"In today's Russia, no-one's personal safety can be guaranteed," he said. "Yes, many have been killed. But we know what impunity of the state leads to… We need to get out of this pit somehow."

Memorial has documented historical Soviet repression.

Its first chairman - Arseny Roginsky - was sent to Soviet labour camps for the so-called "anti-communist" study of history.

Announcing the prize winners, the Nobel Committee said that Memorial was founded on the idea that "confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63929130

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 11:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Yeah. It must be painful to be Second.

I had a great day today. How about you Sigs?

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

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

We had a nice day relaxing together. Tomorrow ... well today, actually... we're supposed to get rain, so I'm goimg to get on the stick and finish cleaning the house. Maybe get a Christmas tree and get one up early for a change. I'm hoping for a nice family Christmas this year. Make warm memories for us.

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

That sounds nice. I hope your plans for the day work out.

I'll be putting my new faux fireplace together so I can show it off when my dad drops by next week and then do a little cleaning around my house today. Probably a light day other than that after some long nights helping my friend paint his basement.

I ate so good yesterday. Have you ever had a Gyro Burger? Damn that was good. Then they got Chick fila for dinner. Never had a chicken sandwich from there before. Wow.

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

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 11:51 AM

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

Putin won't have the excuse for losing Ukraine that the Emperor of Japan had for losing WWII. Maybe Putin will blame NATO?

Put yourself in the shoes of the emperor. You’ve just led your country through a disastrous war. The economy is shattered. Eighty percent of your cities have been bombed and burned. The Army has been pummeled in a string of defeats. The Navy has been decimated and confined to port. Starvation is looming. The war, in short, has been a catastrophe and, worst of all, you’ve been lying to your people about how bad the situation really is. They will be shocked by the news of the surrender. So which would you rather do? Admit that you failed badly? Issue a statement that says that you miscalculated spectacularly, made repeated mistakes, and did enormous damage to the nation? Or would you rather blame the loss on an amazing scientific breakthrough that no one could have predicted? At a single stroke, blaming the loss of the war on the atomic bomb swept all the mistakes and misjudgments of the war under the rug. The Bomb was the perfect excuse for having lost the war. No need to apportion blame; no court of enquiry need be held. Japan’s leaders were able to claim they had done their best. So, at the most general level the Bomb served to deflect blame from Japan’s leaders.

But attributing Japan’s defeat to the Bomb also served other specific political purposes. First, it helped to preserve the legitimacy of the emperor. If the war was lost not because of mistakes but because of the enemy’s unexpected miracle weapon, then the institution of the emperor might continue to find support within Japan.

Second, it appealed to international sympathy. Japan had waged war aggressively, and with particular brutality toward conquered peoples. Its behavior was likely to be condemned by other nations. Being able to recast Japan as a victimized nation — one that had been unfairly bombed with a cruel and horrifying instrument of war — would help to offset some of the morally repugnant things Japan’s military had done. Drawing attention to the atomic bombings helped to paint Japan in a more sympathetic light and deflect support for harsh punishment.

More at https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-
did/

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 12:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Yeah. It must be painful to be Second.

I had a great day today. How about you Sigs?

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

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

We had a nice day relaxing together. Tomorrow ... well today, actually... we're supposed to get rain, so I'm goimg to get on the stick and finish cleaning the house. Maybe get a Christmas tree and get one up early for a change. I'm hoping for a nice family Christmas this year. Make warm memories for us.

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

That sounds nice. I hope your plans for the day work out.

I'll be putting my new faux fireplace together so I can show it off when my dad drops by next week and then do a little cleaning around my house today. Probably a light day other than that after some long nights helping my friend paint his basement.

I ate so good yesterday. Have you ever had a Gyro Burger? Damn that was good. Then they got Chick fila for dinner. Never had a chicken sandwich from there before. Wow.

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

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

Oh... Right. I have to do laundry today too.

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

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 12:57 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Oh... Right. I have to do laundry today too.

Roses are Red
Life has No Meaning
The Voices in 6ix's Head
Are Constantly Screaming

"Trump will be fine."
- 6ix wrote for the thousandth time

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 1:04 PM

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

Oh... Right. I have to do laundry today too.
Roses are Red
Life has No Meaning
The Voices in 6ix's Head
Are Constantly Screaming

"Trump will be fine."
- 6ix wrote for the thousandth time

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

My life is full of meaning. When I'm not helping friends and family, I'm helping myself.

And for the 1001th time, Trump will be fine.

Have fun with your miserable little Sunday after yet another of your countless wasted weeks doing nothing of importance for yourself or anybody else.

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

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 3:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Putin won't have the excuse for losing Ukraine that the Emperor of Japan had for losing WWII. Maybe Putin will blame NATO?

Put yourself in the shoes of the emperor. You’ve just led your country through a disastrous war. The economy is shattered. Eighty percent of your cities have been bombed and burned. The Army has been pummeled in a string of defeats. The Navy has been decimated and confined to port. Starvation is looming. The war, in short, has been a catastrophe and, worst of all, you’ve been lying to your people about how bad the situation really is. They will be shocked by the news of the surrender. So which would you rather do? Admit that you failed badly? Issue a statement that says that you miscalculated spectacularly, made repeated mistakes, and did enormous damage to the nation? Or would you rather blame the loss on an amazing scientific breakthrough that no one could have predicted? At a single stroke, blaming the loss of the war on the atomic bomb swept all the mistakes and misjudgments of the war under the rug. The Bomb was the perfect excuse for having lost the war. No need to apportion blame; no court of enquiry need be held. Japan’s leaders were able to claim they had done their best. So, at the most general level the Bomb served to deflect blame from Japan’s leaders.

But attributing Japan’s defeat to the Bomb also served other specific political purposes. First, it helped to preserve the legitimacy of the emperor. If the war was lost not because of mistakes but because of the enemy’s unexpected miracle weapon, then the institution of the emperor might continue to find support within Japan.

Second, it appealed to international sympathy. Japan had waged war aggressively, and with particular brutality toward conquered peoples. Its behavior was likely to be condemned by other nations. Being able to recast Japan as a victimized nation — one that had been unfairly bombed with a cruel and horrifying instrument of war — would help to offset some of the morally repugnant things Japan’s military had done. Drawing attention to the atomic bombings helped to paint Japan in a more sympathetic light and deflect support for harsh punishment.

More at https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-
did/

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

Maybe Putin will be dead. Maybe he'll fall out of a window or something. He isn't the only one who needs to fall out of a window. Maybe _____ will as well?

T

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 4:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Maybe Putin will be dead. Maybe he'll fall out of a window or something. He isn't the only one who needs to fall out of a window. Maybe _____ will as well?

T

Who Ted?

Fill in that blank. I dare you.

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 5:08 PM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

My life is full of meaning.

The Joker had found his purpose in life and meaning by the end of the movie. 6ix, you could prove you are not the nihilist you once were, the guy who heaped praise on Joker, the movie about the origin of a mass murderer. How to do that? Joker 2 is in production. Avoid that movie when it is in theaters. Don't invite your father to part 2. Don't discuss it on fff.net. Also, stop with the "Fuck Ukraine," which gives away your degenerate state of mind.

Joker: Folie à Deux
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/joker-2-first-look-todd-phillips-da
y-one-1235456636/

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 5:51 PM

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

My life is full of meaning.
The Joker had found his purpose in life and meaning by the end of the movie. 6ix, you could prove you are not the nihilist you once were, the guy who heaped praise on Joker, the movie about the origin of a mass murderer. How to do that? Joker 2 is in production. Avoid that movie when it is in theaters. Don't invite your father to part 2. Don't discuss it on fff.net. Also, stop with the "Fuck Ukraine," which gives away your degenerate state of mind.

Well said SECOND, well said.

T

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 7:51 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Changing Russian goals, strategy and tactics in Ukraine. From SMO and negotiation to winning a war.

How has NATO failed, ideologically, politically, strategically, and militarily

How the USA military needs to be reformed

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

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 8:38 PM

Poor signym. She thinks Russia is winning the war. Anybody she would post claiming the same would also have to be nuts.

T

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Sunday, December 11, 2022 9:00 PM

Joe Biden* is about to be investigated. His pre-Presidential* ties to Puppet Zelensky will be exposed.

Tick Tock

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 7:47 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Changing Russian goals, strategy and tactics in Ukraine. From SMO and negotiation to winning a war.

How has NATO failed, ideologically, politically, strategically, and militarily

How the USA military needs to be reformed

Signym, good job gathering two English-speaking hot air gas bags together. A Russian-speaking gas bag declares Russia will kill everyone who thwarts Putin.

Former Russian President and current Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has announced that Moscow is increasing "the production of the most powerful means of destruction" amid the invasion of Ukraine, unleashed on February 24 on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It is much more difficult for us. Our enemy has entrenched itself not only in Kiev province and in our native Little Russia. They are in Europe, in North America, in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand in other contemporary Nazi places," he has said.

"That is why we are increasing the production of the most powerful means of destruction, including those based on new principles," Medvedev has noted in a message on his Telegram account in which he has charged those whom he has described as "rabid pseudo-Ukrainian mongrel dogs with Russian surnames."

Thus, he has stated that these people "drown in their toxic saliva and declare that the enemy is on the borders of Russia, from the West to Vladivostok." "Rage has no cure", he concluded.

Medvedev thus referred to the statements of the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, Oleksi Danilov, who said on Saturday that the Ukrainian "enemy" is between the territory of the Donbas and Vladivostok and stressed that Kiev "is not going to ask anyone" before attacking targets on Russian territory.

Medvedev himself said in September that Russia "can use" all types of weaponry in case of threat, including nuclear weapons, adding that the country "has chosen its own path and there is no turning back."

Days later, the former Russian president stressed that "NATO would not intervene directly" in case of Moscow's use of nuclear weapons against "the Ukrainian regime", while defending that Moscow "has the right" to use this weaponry "if necessary".

New Zealanders noticed that Russia threatened to nuke them for being Nazis: https://www.herald.co.zw/russia-increasing-production-of-most-powerful
-means-of-destruction/

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 8:47 AM

What part of mutually assured destruction do the heads of NATO/EU and Joe Biden*'s administration not understand?

Keep fucking around and they're going to find out.

US 2014 plant and child rapist Zelensky needs to step down.

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 8:47 AM

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

Ukraine can win the war. But the cost may be too high for the West

The Wall Street Journal reports:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-and-allies-confront-cost-of-aid-assur
ing-ukraine-victory-over-russia-11670733607?mod=djemalertNEWS

Ukrainian leaders have vowed to retake all territory occupied by Russia, prompting a debate over what would be necessary for Ukraine to win and evict Moscow’s forces.

The answer is primarily military because Russia is only going to abandon its hard-won gains if its troops suffer catastrophic losses, military strategists say. Behind those talks about weapons and ammunition is a deeper political question as Ukraine’s battlefield fortunes rely heavily on the willingness of Western governments to continue their multibillion-dollar military assistance to Kyiv.

And pushing Russian forces out of the entrenched positions they hold in more than 15% of Ukraine’s territory will require an even greater flow of military support—possibly more than the West is willing and able to bear.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told The Wall Street Journal last Monday that the U.S. would support Kyiv in recovering territory Russia has grabbed since launching its large-scale invasion on Feb. 24, suggesting that Washington might not back Ukraine militarily in retaking areas that Russia seized in 2014, including the Crimean Peninsula.

Other Ukraine allies are adamant that Kyiv must win back all its lands.

“Anything less than a Russian defeat in Ukraine will embolden Moscow and other authoritarian powers,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström during a visit to Washington this past week.

Senior officials from Ukraine’s allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization predict the war likely will end at a negotiating table. But “what happens around that table is absolutely linked to the situation on the battlefield,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a recent meeting of foreign ministers in Bucharest.

“So it may sound like a paradox, but the reality is that the best way to achieve a lasting, durable peace in Ukraine is to provide military support to Ukraine,” he said.

That military support includes urgently needed air-defense systems to protect Ukraine from drones and missiles that Russia is using to demolish Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and threaten to spark a humanitarian crisis as winter sets in. Western governments in Bucharest pledged to deliver more equipment, and faster.

On the more traditional battlefield, Ukraine needs ammunition, weapons systems and more training for troops, as well as nonlethal aid such as medical equipment and body armor. Allies are providing all of those things, but not at levels Ukraine says it needs to achieve more success against Russian troops quickly.

Asked what Kyiv would require to prevail, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba declined to give specifics in Bucharest. “You cannot calculate the amount of weapons needed to win a war,” he said. But in the NATO meetings, which he attended, all allies agreed “that Ukraine has to receive everything that is needed to win,” he said.

A more fundamental issue, diplomats involved in the talks say, is what precisely the various parties mean by winning.

“The West has to ask itself a question: What is the end goal?” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said after the meetings.

He said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan had “a very good formula” when he said during the summer that Washington’s goal was to ensure that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine didn’t become a success for President Vladimir Putin, but a strategic failure instead.

“I don’t see a way for Russia to lose strategically and maintain occupied territories,” said Mr. Landsbergis.

More at https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-and-allies-confront-cost-of-aid-assur
ing-ukraine-victory-over-russia-11670733607?mod=djemalertNEWS

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 8:53 AM

Fuck Ukraine.

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 9:06 AM

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

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Fuck Ukraine.

The mounting cost of furnishing Ukraine with weapons and other supplies is increasingly drawing attention. The U.S. has already provided nearly $32 billion in aid to Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February, including almost $20 billion in arms and other security assistance.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-and-allies-confront-cost-of-aid-assur
ing-ukraine-victory-over-russia-11670733607?mod=djemalertNEWS

The three youtube videos Signym posted have correctly pointed out that the US Military is overfed with taxpayer dollars, yet has underperformed expectations. How much money? In FY 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD) had $1.64 Trillion distributed among its 6 sub-components. Compared to the DOD's spending ($1,640 billion) Ukraine's $32 billion is the epitome of efficiency.

https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2022

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 10:45 AM

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

A neo-Nazi group fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine has called for data on military movements in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, raising concerns over a potential rogue attack on a NATO member state, The Guardian reported.

Task Force Rusich, which has close ties to the Wagner Group paramilitary group and has been highly active in Ukraine, posted the appeal on its official Telegram channel on December 7, the paper reported.

Viewed by more than 60,000 members, the post asked for information regarding border posts, military movements and units in the three former Soviet states, the outlet said. The post asked for specifics on communication towers, security systems, and fuel depots in border areas, per The Guardian.

The move by Rusich could point to disenchantment with the Kremlin and frustration with how Putin’s war in Ukraine is going. The Kremlin could lose control of its far-right Russian paramilitary organisations, which may exploit more extreme methods to pursue the Ukrainian war.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/11/neo-nazi-russian-militia
-appeals-for-intelligence-on-nato-member-states

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

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Monday, December 12, 2022 10:51 AM