December 8, 2024
"600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever."
"Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success. Likewise, Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!"
The NY Post writes about that statement in "Trump calls on 'weakened' Russia to enact ceasefire in Ukraine after Kremlin ally Assad is toppled in Syria." Excerpt: "Trump, who has at times expressed a fascination with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, remarked about how feeble Moscow appeared in Syria after the shocking and swift fall of Bashar al-Assad, whom Russia backed with troops, aircraft and navy ships."
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136 comments:
These people just cannot be honest about anything. Trump is reacting like a normal human being with a perfectly natural reaction to war.
They cannot criticize what he is actually saying honestly so they have to add their fever dreams of Trump's "collusion" with Russia.
They are just evil people who want to see the world burn for their own profit.
All world leaders are allowed to talk to Putin.
Obama - Hillary etc... THEY can even take Putin's money.
But Trump is not allowed to talk to Putin - and if he does, it's a felony, and it proves he's in bed with Putin.
CORRECT MADDOW D-MSNBC BULLSHIT LEFTISTS?
"Trump, who has at times expressed a fascination with Russian leader Vladimir Putin." Fascination? Really? He's said some nice things here and there. It's called diplomacy.
Sad that our CIA and FBI cannot topple Putin... but they can topple us with Covid, lies, DEI, Woke, trans madness, pedo, and buttf**king in the congressional hall.
I’ve made this comment before, but I think it is worth repeating. I spoke to NE state senator Tom Brewer. Tom is a Native American and he flew Apache helicopters for the Army. Brewer was at the frontlines in Ukraine. He told me that the Russians left their dead on the field of battle. The corpses rotted and he said the stench was unbearable.
The ancient Greeks always tried to recover their battlefield dead. That has always been the way of the West. But Russia has not done so. Why won’t the NYT report that important story? Does the NYT support endless war? Is the NYT a supporter of the fascinating Putin?
NYP: "who has at times expressed a fascination with Russian leader Vladimir Putin"
Just asserted out of the blue. Without evidence. No examples of his alleged "fascination" or what they mean by this backhanded bullshit.
You know, I think a President of the United States should be particularly interested - fascinated even - in another President of another country that has 4,000 nuclear warheads pointed at us.
The NY Post should fuck off with this bullshit echoing of the Democrat Party's narratives. Or we should not renew our subscriptions to this alleged newspaper that just makes shit like this up out of whole cloth and tries to pass it off as "news."
They're no longer called "Apache" helicopters. That was cultural theft. They're now called "Commander" helicopters.
Ukraine as a "North Atlantic" (?!) Treaty Organization member always seemed like a taunt and eye-poke at Russia. Think if Mexico petitioned the old USSR for Warsaw Pact membership. More realistic reason for our involvement in Ukraine was to obscure Joe Biden and family grift as unregistered agents of a foreign government.
Hundreds of thousands of lives, billions in property damage and treasure. Sad.
The only way Putin could get on the FBI's radar is if he attended a PTA meeting.
Hillary Clinton sold Putin the uranium he now points at us in the form of nuclear weapons. She should be in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with her pervert, kiddie raping husband.
“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place.”
I recall Trump inviting Putin to fight ISIS.
The West is vastly exaggerating Russian casualty figures, but that's all good for President Trump's plan to bring peace back to Europe. Voldemort Zelensky continues to pretend Ukraine has only lost under 50000 soldiers, making him look like a deceitful lunatic on top of being a coke-addled warmonger.
On the other hand, Russia can't be happy about a change of government in Syria. Now is a great time to do a deal for both sides. Before they both lose a lot more.
You've scored a 10 on the Quaestor Scale, Dixcus.
"He's said some nice things here and there. It's called diplomacy."
Exactly. The usual cast of characters performing diplomacy around the world are really bad at it. 'Oh, he's a bad guy, so we can't give him legitimacy by talking to him'. Idiots.
Trump, who has at times expressed a fascination with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, remarked about how feeble Moscow appeared in Syria...
The point of Trump's outstretched diplomatic arm is that it allows him to make his cutting "feeble" observation sound less triumphant and more like an imperative for negotiation.
A million people dead--and for what? And even if Ukrainian casualties are just 50,000 as Zelensky claims--see doctrev at 1055-- that's close to the number of US soldiers killed in Viet Nam. U kraine's population is probably less than that of California.
If you talk to them, then you "normalize" them and "platform" them. This is how Democrats think in their social media games playing and it's now infecting their foreign policy. They are dangerous children and we should not be allowing them to play with matches in the United States.
Most of the conflicts we are involved in, past present ones, are the result of our CIA or other 'intelligent' agencies creating a mess, and then who ever is President has to fix it.
Ukraine is a perfect example of people who profit from war and evil, being in charge.
I hope, and pray, that Trumps new heads of those agencies change that. Tulsi is a good pick, as she seems to want to keep us out of war. or at least wars for profit.
Trump can help to stop the war. I hope he can stop companies who are planning to make billions rebuilding Ukraine, or what ever is left of it.
I'm more hopeful this time around. One reason is that Senators who are messing around with Trumps picks seem to be very pro war, especially Ukraine. And the same people who helped turn blue states reddish, are now saying they will primary those Senators in 26. It is about time politicians who make millions off of the death of young Americans are held to account.
Not just losing their Senate seat, but being investigated for any financial gains they made as a result of their support for the Ukrainian war, or any other war.
It is fascinating that Trump is announcing his foreign policy aims and positions directly to the world, not through "emissaries" and "spokespersons" and "back channels", or the op-eds planted by various state power centers. (Whether he is using the method to accomplish aims less straightforward remains to be seen--the man has been known to play 4-demensional chess).
Also fascinating that nobody is insisting that Joe Biden is still President.
Trump’s analysis is correct in every particular. Only someone in thrall to the military-industrial complex and warmongering neo-conservatives could argue otherwise. Sad that most of the Democrats fall into that category these days. The Party of Perpetual War…
Trump, who has at times expressed a fascination with Russian leader Vladimir Putin...
So says the New York Times, who at times has covered up and obfuscated every crime know to man as long as it was committed by someone named Kennedy, Clinton, Obama or Biden.
"I hope [[Trump] can stop companies who are planning to make billions rebuilding Ukraine, "
Good point. No more billions of US tax dollars to US companies to rebuild what billions of US tax dollars blew up in the first place. Break the cycle.
Did good senator take pictures
@Left Bank, I don’t recall that, but it seems like a real good idea. Are you on the side of ISIS, then?
You are a fucking liar. Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union (and its Russian successor) have made new weapons grade uranium (or plutonium for that matter) since the 1980's. Unfortunately, we both have enough of both that we don't know what to do with it.
I noticed you didn't argue with me about Bill Clinton's predilections. Quite telling.
How much Russian cash has Hillary scooped in through the Clinton Foundation from oligarchs AFTER the same of Uranium One (there is only one single use of uranium in the Soviet Union and that is to replenish warheads on their nuclear missiles as they age.)
It's the NY Post, North.
And Trump is also in thrall to the military-industrial complex. With all his bitching about foreign entanglements, he has zero interest in reining in defense spending. If he really wants to disengage from the rest of the world, he doesn't need to spend 40% of the entire world's military budget on the U.S. armed forces. Nor does he need to outspend the next nine biggest spenders combined.
remember back when Trump said, that HE would end the Ukraine war, in One Hour?
I was assuming that the clock wouldn't start until he was sworn in.
Trump Calls for Immediate Ceasefire in Ukraine
Trump called on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end "the madness," prompting Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy and the Kremlin to list their conditions.
Trump made his comments just hours after meeting Zelenskyy in Paris
Serious Question: WHO is running our country?
I do hope that everybody here realizes there are no good guys in this conversation. Putin, Zelenskyy, the Clintons, the Biden’s, the incredibly feckless EU, Assad, the Syrian rebels, the Iranian government butchers, the Saudi’s and all of their cousins, they are all villains. So who is Trump supposed to speak to concerning these world events? The NYT has no clue as that paper is run by 13 year mean girls. Let a leader speak to whoever desires peace. And that is what Trump is trying to do.
The notion of two enemies fighting each other gives Left Bank the sads?
Yes jolanis not a good guy
"Serious Question: WHO is running our country?"
Top. Men.
"If he really wants to disengage from the rest of the world, he doesn't need to spend 40% of the entire world's military budget on the U.S. armed forces."
That's hard to assess, when the Defense Dept can't account for where the money has been going.
It is not telling. Your comment about Bill Clinton is irrelevant to the current conversation, so I ignored it.
You are just an idiot. Russia produces about 17% of its electricity from nuclear. It also has a large fleet of nuclear powered submarines.
And the uranium and plutonium cores of nuclear weapons do not need to be replenished (half lifes are 70.2 million years and 24 thousand years). Tritium, the other major radioactive element used in nuclear weapons, does need to be replenished.
And claiming that Hillary scooped money from the Clinton Foundation is an outright lie. UnlikeTrump who regularly self dealt from his Foundation, which is why the Clinton Foundation still exists while Trump's was shut down and he is prohibited from creating a charitable foundation in New York.
No wonder it’s called Truth Social.
It’s the most on point foreign policy post I’ve seen from Trump.
Note the focus on the human cost of war.
That's because someone else wrote it. Obviously not in his style and has no grammatical errors. And I’m fine with that, he’s not a foreign policy expert
Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union (and its Russian successor) have made new weapons grade uranium (or plutonium for that matter) since the 1980's Of course not. Governments never do anything related to weapons in secret . They always tell their friends and even enemies what they're doing.
"That's because someone else wrote it. …. And I’m fine with that, he’s not a foreign policy expert.
Yes, Presidents have writers, but your suggestion that it's not his foreign policy is idiotic. You seriously think it was released without his approval?
@Left Bank, a less intelligent comment could not be imagined.
If anyone has followed any videos, such as Perun on YouTube, you know the Russians have burned through a latge portion of their Soviet era reserves. Vladimir's Ukrainian Adventure has done severe damage to Russia, and the reconstitution of Russian Empire 3.0 isn't working out.
“he’s not a foreign policy expert”
That’s not saying Trump doesn’t have foreign experts in his administration.
OG Mike needs to improve on his reading skills.
Original Mike, I am afraid that it is the bottoms right now.
Do not go boldly
Trump is delusional if he thinks Russia has been weakened by Ukraine or that Iran has been weakened by Israel. They are both stronger than they have ever been and are not in a mood to be bullied by Trump.
Well, the NYT still blows!
Just in losses to Iranian proxies and in Russian equipment reserves both have been weakened severely. Let alone the casualties both have suffered, and the loss of prestige. Example: Russia's airborne took severe losses at that airport outside of Kiev, and that's not something easily or cheaply recreated.
Trump is drinking the kool aid. You can't make foreign policy off of propaganda, and it's pretty clear that they are holding out on him still as to what is going on in the world.
Rich needs to improve his. What Trump ran on and the people voted for is a rejection of your foreign policy "experts".
Every word of the first paragraph here is a lie. To take just the first:
That Russia is taking huge casualties is a simple fact, backed up by different kinds of evidence. Three kinds are particularly useful: videos of them being killed or lying around in piles unburied, social media in which Russian solders complain about how many friends and colleagues they've lost, and records from their home towns (e.g. on-line obituaries, cemeteries expanded with whole new sections, war monuments with very long lists of names even in small towns). Did you know that there are people tracking vehicle losses on both sides who have precise geographic locations for every wreck, so they can avoid duplicates? People 'on the spectrum' are very useful in some fields.
By the way, I'm still waiting for you to tell me who my "co-ethnics on the right wing" are (link). As I said there, "I don't believe I've ever mentioned my ethnicity in my ~20 years commenting here", so who are they?
"And claiming that Hillary scooped money from the Clinton Foundation is an outright lie."
She most likely used it to hand out cozy sinecures, in order to grease the palms that needed to be grease, which was why Putin gave her foundation hundreds of millions of dollars.
To use the selective prosecution of the New York courts as evidence of innocence is pretty funny too. "Our partisan New York courts didn't prosecute Hilary, so she didn't do anything" is laughable. She kept classified information in an unsecured personal server to avoid Congressional oversight, she destroyed Federal records of meetings, when she was SoS, with foreigners who had business before the State Department, this one attested under oath by her personal assistant.
“I’ve never seen anyone put their schedule in the burn bag – because every one of them had a state.gov email address and therefore their daily schedules became public records, as required by law,”
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0705/Did-Hillary-Clinton-violate-protocol-by-using-burn-bags
And yet, Hillary wasn't prosecuted.
I think that you are the delusional one, esp when it comes to Russia. Their Navy is maybe weaker than it’s been in our lifetimes. They have lost significant numbers of their almost first line planes and tanks, and large numbers of their massive numbers of 2nd and 3rd line tanks. And maybe as importantly, their massive reserves of older equipment has always been seen as one of their strategic assets. No more. What they have that hasn’t been degraded are their strategic assets - nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and maybe strike aircraft. And their fatality counts are survivable, unlike the case for Ukraine. My guess is that, when the smoke clears, and an honest assessment of casualties will probably show that the numbers are probably comparable on both sides (esp since attackers usually have notably higher casualties than defenders). But Russia can absorb them more easily, esp since they seem to be recruiting more from their outlying areas. Which means that if both sides suffered a quarter million dead military, Russia will be weakened some, but Ukraine will take a generation or two to recover - which they won’t have. Which is why the war was idiotic on their part. Zelensky, the Bidens, etc, made a lot of money, while the country itself was effectively destroyed by their greed.
The loss of Syria and the fall of Assad is a massive prestige blow to Putin and his corrupt gangster regime and his Iranian ally. Syria was his only foreign policy "trophy" a hollow, bombed-out mess of a country, plundered and fought over by its neighbors and Putin's Wagner mercenary thugs. After ten years of bloody fighting, he has nothing to show for his failed adventure in Assadland.
The fall of one dictatorship often sets off a chain reaction leading to the collapse of other regimes, as we saw in 1989-91 and the Arab Spring. Authoritarian regimes that appear outwardly strong, stable and in control can suddenly collapse if unexpected events make them look weak. And weakness is the one thing no autocrat can afford.
Ukraine might be wise to seize the moment before Trump takes office and launch a surprise offensive to test Russia's will and the regime's resilience at a moment of vulnerability. It may not be as strong as it looks. An unexpected reverse and fall of an important town might well cause a collapse in Russian military morale at the front and the collapse of confidence in the Putin system already buckling under the strain of a three-year conflict. The road to Moscow runs through Damascus.
Why is anyone here surprised at how Trump operates. He shows his geopolitical opponents respect, and they talk to him as a result. He mostly demonized the NORK great leader, but was actually able to negotiate with him, by showing a small bit of respect. Putin, no doubt, doesn’t see himself as the great “baddy”, but much more likely the great patriot protecting the Motherland”, and esp leading the Christian fight agains Muslim Jihadist attacks.
Our buddy the liberator.
You are a fucking liar. Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union (and its Russian successor) have made new weapons grade uranium (or plutonium for that matter) since the 1980's.
Freder spews, but misses. Russia's plutonium production reactor wasn't shut down until 2010, and the reprocessing plant was shut down in 2012. Since that time, they have been producing hundreds of tons of highly-enriched uranium (or HEU 90% equivalent), ostensibly for "research' and "breeder reactors'.
- Krumhorn
Biden claims credit!
Who did *we* put into power? One of Al Baghdadi's senior commanders. That's right, the Iraq War is still ongoing. Well, at least Europe can send all of the Syrian refugees home, right?
Now we are making our own grab for Syria.
https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/1865841718366450013
Russia has been shown to be a paper tiger in Ukraine, but dangerous nonetheless. The Russians have never been particularly concerned with losses in combat, but sooner or later severe losses have to have negative affect on Putin. The Ukraine can not afford heavy losses just from a manpower point of view- never mind morale. The war in Ukraine is effectively at a stalemate and the non-fighting season is upon it. Good time to negotiate a halt. Remember in a negotiation, the best results usually arise when no one is happy with them, but accepts them anyway.
There really is nothing more tiresome than an idiot like Freder reading other people's minds.
Twitter reports that many of the 2,000,000 Syrian refugees in Europe are already packing their bags to go home, and many of the 4,000,000 in Turkey have already crossed the border to go home. Here's a video of the traffic jam at the Turkey-Syria border: link. Hundreds of thousands more have already packed up and moved out of the already-free enclave around Idlib to go back to their homes in Aleppo and elsewhere.
Of course, we had absolutely nothing to do with putting HTS in power, and they don't even seem to have told their Turkish patrons what they were about to do. And that's assuming they are even in power in any real sense. Citizens of all ethnicities and religions are celebrating all over Syria, and I doubt HTS has the numbers to force them all into submission against their will. They will certainly have to compromise with the Kurds, whom the US is supporting, and stay away from the small remnants of ISIS in the desert, whom the US is currently bombing.
General Freder is so far off the reservation today I don't have the energy to answer. Here's a piece on the Russian nuke situation. You decide.
Syria is absolutely none of our business. Let them kill each other and have God sort them out.
As it turns out, Assad has landed in Russia, where Vlad has granted him political asylum on 'humanitarian grounds'. Next up: Nobel prize, probably.
Bruce Hayden:
Two small points to back up what you just wrote:
1. I've read that Mali kicked our troops out of the expensive base we built there because the Malian government felt they were always "talked down to" by American diplomats who couldn't conceal the fact that they thought they were better than Africans, even African heads of state.
2. I've read that Trump got along well with Kim because he always treated him as an equal, addressing him as one head of state to another.
Nothing to worry about. Trump promised to end the Russian/Ukrainian war withing 24 hours.
Israel is making airstrikes against the area of the central square of Damascus right now. I am sure that these are very precise and only military targets have been engaged.
https://x.com/Partisangirl/status/1865858395909333025
Basically we are leveling the country with the help of Israel. Turning it into another Libya.
They are both stronger than they have ever been and are not in a mood to be bullied by Trump.
Trump is the bully. Got it.
Always helpful to see a member of the fifth column identify his/herself.
'Jaq' thinks 'Syrian Girl' is a valid source? She's been shilling for Assad and Putin for years, while living safely in Australia, and is a known liar and antisemite. She's always denied that Syria ever had, much less used, chemical weapons, but a few days ago was openly wishing they still had them to use on HTS. Oops!
Quoting her is as stupid as quoting Scott Ritter. Here's something she posted 10 hours ago (link):
"The Ukraine war was a Zionist war.
"Zelensky was best friends with Netanyahu and said he wanted Ukraine to be a second Israel.
"The objective was to weaken Russia long enough to destroy #Syria for the sake of Israel.
"Now that it’s done there will be a ceasefire. And all those Russian and Ukrainian lives lost for nothing.
Ofcourse the US would trade Ukraine for Israel. Israel controls the US."
OK, what about Centcom? Is that a valid source for you? It has a silver checkmark. But I will look for other sources.
Too late. US warplanes have struck 75 ISIS locations in Syria. Joe is working some of that old Biden magic before he leaves.
https://x.com/ah_bilalmustafa/status/1865801763531395085
How about Reuters?
Regarding Dr. Weevil's point: We got kicked out of Niger after a coup because our embassy decorated itself in pride colors and flew the pride flag, in addition to condescending to the government over the issue. Now we have to find a new host country so we can monitor terrorists operating in The Sahel. Left behind was a drone base costing $100 million that the Russian Wagner Group (mercenaries) is no in control of. Thanks, Brandon...
If he really wants to disengage from the rest of the world, he doesn't need to spend 40% of the entire world's military budget on the U.S. armed forces. Nor does he need to outspend the next nine biggest spenders combined.
Freder lays blame at the feet of the guy who's been in DC for four years and not the one who's been there for 50.
Typical, hyper-partisan hack.
So the fast collapse of the Russian-backed Assad government means Russia is weak. But the fast collapse of the Afghan government when the US ignominiously withdrew with our tail between our legs? What does that mean?
Nothing to worry about. Trump promised to end the Russian/Ukrainian war withing 24 hours.
So you'd rather they go on killing each other - and using our money to do so - than have Trump succeed? Remind us again how many 'minor incursions' happened under Trump's watch.
Similar dynamic sunni majority wont fight for allawite minority
LOL, I wonder what is going to happen about the $10 million reward we put on the head of the new warlord we put in place in Syria?
https://x.com/USEmbassySyria/status/864144602584035328
Those free syrian rebels are busy attacking the kurds
The loss of Syria and the fall of Assad is a massive prestige blow to Putin and his corrupt gangster regime and his Iranian ally.
Dick Cheney is that you?
And wow a massive blow to his "Prestige", man that is terrible. Before, all that "Prestige" and $5 got Putin a latte at Starbucks. Wow, he's hurting. In other news, the Ukrainians lost more ground in the Donbass region as Russian troops advanced and took control of about 6 more square kilometers along the southern bank of the Solena River.
BTW, I sincerely doubt the Russians have lost 3 men for every 2 Ukrainians. The Ukes have been taking losses to keep territory, and throughout the conflict the Russians have had complete air superiority and in the Ukes own words, firing 3 or 5 artillery shells for every Ukrainian one. I suspect the losses will be found to be even when the war is over.
After Turkish-backed terrorists toppled the state and government, Israel in the second phase is now destroying the country's military logistics
Israel is destroying Syrian air bases, military and defense systems, intelligene, military & government structures.
https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/1865798395597668523
No. I want the war to end. But do you really believe that Trump will end the war in 24 hours as he promised? Really?
Gilbert Pinfold:
Thanks! Yes, it was Niger, not Mali. And I think it was more than just the pride flag, that our diplomats were a condescending bunch of smug pricks in general.
The leader of the Syrian Rebels is an "ex-Al Qaeda " leader. Yeah, that "ex" makes all the difference. Remember when Al-Queda were the "Bad Guys"? Guess no longer.
Well that was his youthful indiscretion period honest
https://x.com/Nervana_1/status/1865869347194872144
"But do you really believe that Trump will end the war in 24 hours as he promised? Really?"
Did you really believe that Trump believed he would end the war in 24 hours? Really?
How about Reuters? Do you really object to Israel destroying "a research center associated with Syrian chemical and missile programs"? Making sure Syrian chemical weapons and the tools to make more of them don't get into the hands of the wrong people - or any people at all - seems to me an obviously good thing. And that is utterly different from Syrian Girl's ridiculous claim that they are bombing downtown Damascus.
Speaking of bombing civilians, the Russian air force was doing just that in Syria a week or so ago, hitting five hospitals in Idlib and civilian neighborhoods in Aleppo after HTS seized it. Thousands of Russian troops are still in Syria, surrounded in at least half a dozen locations, with no easy way out. Some silly on-line Russians are suggesting that Putin might be able to make a deal with HTS and keep their naval base in Tartus if they pay him enough, but that seems unlikely. They'll be lucky if they can get their troops out safely.
Shes an egyptian doctor living in london but she has been very wise
Stop lying, you stupid son of a bitch! The US had nothing to do with putting HTS in power. One more time, there were until yesterday THREE major factions in Syria, not two. One of them (Muslim HTS) just totally defeated the second one (Assad's secular tyranny) while the third (Kurds, Yazidis, and democratic Syrians) is holding on to the northeast, defending against Turkish-backed Muslim terrorists on one side and taking over positions abandoned by Assad's army on the other. We support the third faction, who are the "good guys" in Syria, and did nothing to help either side in the big fight (more like a rout) between the first two, though the US has accepted the results and promised to deal with the winners.
"They'll be lucky if they can get their troops out safely."
On Insty it was suggested they'll be handing over Assad to get their troops back.
In the most basic terms, Assad fell because:
Russia overcommitted to Ukraine and lacked the mobility to quickly respond to the offensive. Iran overcommitted to Israel and lost significant operational capability in Syria. Assad was always weak without someone to prop him up.
Thanks for that insight, Dave Begley. I learned something today.
Agreed.
Seriously, not literally.
It's not about "bullying." It's about taking a strong stance in negotiations. We aren't going to make Russia or Iran do things, but if we are tough-minded negotiators maybe we can minimize our own losses and embarassments, and perhaps end some of these wars.
… he doesn't need to spend 40% of the entire world's military budget on the U.S. armed forces
Actually, yes he does. Two thousand years ago the Romans said “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” I’ll let you look up the translation yourself. (Hint: it’s Latin)
Freder is not a General. He is FIELD MARSHALL FREDER.
The road to Moscow actually runs through Smolensk, but how many armies, having reached Smolensk, failed to make it to Moscow?
North, the NYT supported the Soviets' crimes, too, which were much worse than to "liberal's misdemeanors".
FWIW, my own take is that the media, deep in the throes of the “Russia, Russia, Russia” hoax, enjoyed being able to hamstring Trump’s efforts to engage Putin diplomatically, and are eager to yank him and his national security advisors around and are eager to repeat their childish fun. If my interpretation is correct, Trump’s reference to “Russia, Russia, Russia” is a subtle warning to the Lefty newsmedia knock it off because it isn’t going to work this time. They aren’t paying attention — it’s called “hubris.”
They(Russians) lose a safe port in the Med.
The juice isn't worth the sqeeze. Putin poses a greater threat to himself than us.
Freder. You're a fucking liar! More money is spent discretionary spending than on the military. (look it up). Proctor and Gamble makes more than the top five government contractors combined.
The Russians have not had complete air superiority- from the very beginning of the conflict. Which is a major reason they weren't able to reach Kiev within a week as originally planned- or as everyone thinks was originally planned. AFAIK, no dogfighting. But missiles are taking their toll. Not to mention that drones have taken out a lot of aircraft on the ground. We don't actually know how many they've lost, but it's in the hundreds. And another look- they've lost 10% of their meager fleet. Against a country with no discernible Navy.
Apparently very few of their Shaheed drones are getting though. The current world leader in drone warfare is Ukraine. And they're getting better at it.
We're just now starting to get onboard with the drone revolution. And drone defense tactics. From one source I know- we do apparently have point defense EMP pulse weapons. Not yet in wide use.
No.
Russia is America's enemy, and will remain that way so long as Putin is in charge.
So long as Russia is fighting and under sanctions, they are doing great harm to themselves and burning through stockpiles they are unlikely to be able to replace.
They invaded Ukraine. Russia has NO legitimate interests in Ukraine. They gave that up with the Budapest Accords.
No, you don't get to sign a deal that gives you a bunch of what you want, the come back X years later and demand more.
"CIA! Color Revolution!"
GFY
Putin is a KGB Colonel who venerates Stalin, who murdered millions of Ukrainians in the Holodomore.
No matter how pitifully stupid / ignorant you are, the Ukrainians are not. They remember that, know the Putin would do it again to them if he could, and So it takes a complete fucking moron to believe that the Ukrainian people need the CIA's help to not want to be ruled from Moscow.
Last I heard, the Russian advantage in artillery fired was down to 3:2, and theirs are a lot less accurate, due to worn out barrels and shoddy North Korean shells. Both sides also seem to agree that drones have taken over most of the roles artillery used to fill, and that the Ukrainians are far better at drone warfare. I also "sincerely doubt the Russians have lost 3 men for every Ukrainian": it's obvously more like 4-1 or even 6-1 than 3-2, and their losses have doubled since a year ago to around 1,600 a day.
The only proper solution to the situation is :Russia loses, and gets completely kicked out of Ukraine as defined by the 1994 Budapest Accords.
Or else Ukraine gets its nukes back, and gets to tell Russia GTFO or we nuke Moscow."
Can there be a deal where Russia "nationalist" morons who want to be part of Russia can sell their land for a good price before they move to Russia? Sure!
But Russia is an evil shithole of a country. So no one should be able to take any part of any other country with them to Russia when they go there themselves.
There are cases of terrorists switching over to democratic politics, Gerry Adams for one. And didn't Menachem Begin help blow up the King David Hotel? We can certainly hope that Jolani will have the sense to do the same - switch over to democratic politics, I mean, not blow up hotels. So far, he's been quite reasonable.
So was belhadj until he murderered the former libyan army chief of staff
@Rusty, no, Freder is merely ignorant. Last time I saw a breakdown of the DoD budget the vast bulk of the money in the budget when for personnel costs, including medical, veterans' pensions, food, and housing, along with the basic salaries paid to the troops. Freder presumably would not be happy unless he saw the army reduced to one or two platoons and the navy to a single frigate.
Jaq, if you have infinite time to argue with a Bloomberg drone who can be replaced by AI, have at it. Most countries outside the collective West don't believe ridiculous propaganda from the Zios, so you don't actually have to spend your time refuting it except when it might illustrate some broader point or unless you have a business which needs the clicks.
Even if Israel really didn't have anything to do with the collapse of Syria, Russia is not just friendly with Iran but Saudi Arabia as well. Perhaps a new Syrian government would insist on joining NATO and pushing Russia out, but then there would be zero doubt whose purposes would be served.
Yes, there are still Hillary dead enders, years after the last of her political relevance has bled out. Obama will be the same way: there will be no shortage of young socialists eager to take his share of the grift. While the party will be opposing President Trump, and why not, a lot of useless and withered corpses have to pushed into their coffins along the way.
It's a nice bit of irony, Jaq. But the upcoming bloodshed in Syria is going to make Libya look like small beer indeed. Certain people, with whom Weevil of course shares no common interests or characteristics, are trying to play Hearts of Iron in the Middle East. Which is very doable IN Hearts of Iron, but it hasn't gone well for Western powers since the Suez Crisis.
That it makes the foreign agents in the US government look like particularly stupid hypocrites is just a bonus.
@Dixcus: what about Black Hawks, Comanches, Chinooks, and for that matter, Apaches? Got a citation for your claim?
"You are a fucking liar. Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union (and its Russian successor) have made new weapons grade uranium (or plutonium for that matter) since the 1980's. "
"The United States ended Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) production in 1992, but continues to use HEU for military and civilian purposes, and to engage in HEU commerce. The United States has eight remaining reactors that utilize civil HEU, including two advanced Test Reactors (ATR and ATR-C); the TREAT Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory; GE-NTR in Sunol California; the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; the MIT Reactor-II (MITR) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) at the University of Missouri in Columbia; and the National Bureau of Standards Reactor (NBSR) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
So Feder? who is the Fing liar?
As for Plutonium, every operating Uranium reactor, of which there are more than 1000, are making new plutonium every day, all over the world. Neutron radiation converts U 238 to Plutonium. So did you lie??
From previous comments you are an exact truth no nuance person, I have given the exact truth and you are wrong.
"The only proper solution to the situation is :Russia loses, and gets completely kicked out of Ukraine as defined by the 1994 Budapest Accords."
What's right and what's achievable are two different things.
When Trump reaces out with the hand of negotiation, the MSM chops it off and shoves it up his as*
"From previous comments you are an exact truth no nuance person,…"
LOL. That's a very diplomatic way to put it.
doctrev really needs to stop hinting and say what he means. He refuses to answer my question about who my "co-ethnics" are, calls me a "Bloomberg drone" (I've never read a word of any Bloomberg publication), refers to "Zios" (Zionists?), and now talks about "Certain people, with whom Weevil of course shares no common interests or characteristics". I can only conclude that he really wants to call me a filthy Jew (or some nastier equivalent) but doesn't have the guts, or the decency, to spell out what he means.
That of course makes him an utter moron as well as a disgusting anti-Semitic asshole. Only a moron could suppose that my particular opinions on the Middle East, or Ukraine, or any other subject, are opinions that could only be held by a Jew. But anti-Semites do tend to be morons, don't they?
Russia can make 5 or 6 "hypersonic" missiles and 2 or 3 supersubs. But where is the pipeline? All the general techies fled to avoid the draft and resulting slaughter in Ukraine.
What they can't do is make a hundred thousand 155 mm arty shells.
Putin's use of NOK troops indicates that Russia's supply chain is out of everything but bone and blood. Russia has nothing left but an Asian forlorn hope.
I would have expected Putin to show signs of being ashamed, or of anger, but he keeps on perking away. But so did Assad.
Your theory will be unfalsifiable until Jan 20.
There is more evidence of a shortage even of blood and bone. Enlistment bonuses for different regions are published online and keep going up - they're now something like 10 times what they were in some regions, as I recall. On-line obituaries sometimes have pictures of newly-recruited privates born in the '60s and even the '50s, many of them looking ten years older than that. In the last week, press gangs have been raiding Moscow gay bars and dragging off the younger men to be drafted. They're recruiting soldiers from a couple dozen Third World countries, many of them on false pretenses, e.g. telling them they'll be digging ditches far behind the front lines and then handing them guns and sending them to the front. A few days ago, a draftee was shot dead by his lieutenant for refusing to sign a contract. (Draftees can only serve inside Russia, though that's dangerous enough if you're sent to Kursk.) Meanwhile Ukraine, which is supposed to be running out of men, has ten new brigades but only enough equipment for 2 1/2 of them, because NATO can't even provide basic guns and uniforms.
You know that the "Holdomor" is bullshit, right? Stalin murdered millions of Soviets, communism caused massive famines, famines that killed millions of Soviets outside of Ukraine. It happened at the same time that Stalin collectivized the farms. That's an odd coincidence, isn't it.
I would like to see the evidence that Putin reveres Stalin. He certainly doesn't revere him in the way that the Ukrainians revere Stephan Bandera, to the point of naming the highway to one of the death camps that Bandera sent so many Jews to in Ukraine after him. It's sick.
Millions of casualties documents on video. LOL.
It's not even controversial that Russia has always enjoyed a large advantage in artillery over Ukraine, and it's conventional wisdom that artillery causes the most casualties in war. How is Ukraine reversing this? Oh, I forgot, the Ukrainians are a master race and the Russians are half-breed orcs. That explains it, right?
All Western leaders have had a fascination with Putin. He seems to be some kind of demigod who has the power to create all of the West's problems.
The real problem that we have with Putin is that we were looting Russia under Yeltsin, and Putin put a stop to it. What an evil man!
Meanwhile the people not safely ensconced thousands of miles away and actually facing the "liberators"
Typical Weevil argument. First he goes to some Ukrainian version of Sourcewatch and comes up with smears against any source that dares to question the Ukrainian narrative. For instance, SyrianGirl lives in Sydney, but is extremely concerned with what goes on in Syria, to the point of staying on top of Telegram channels and news reports, and, to be honest, her reports have seemed to prove accurate, as demonstrated in the cases on this page, far more often that Weevil, who is defending a terrorist whom the State Department has put a $10 million bounty on, and who seems extremely interested in telling us all about Ukraine, BUT DOESN'T LIVE IN UKRAINE.
[Sorry, I guess we are not supposed to use bolds anymore.]
LOL, even the Ukrainians are admitting that there were never any North Koreans in combat anywhere against Ukraine. This story came from the guy who just tried to do that coup in South Korea by declaring martial law and trying to arrest parliament. In other words, from a nut job.
It was all a lie to justify long range missile attacks into Russia, which, well, seem to have come to a stop after Russia claimed to take out five ATACMS launchers, and provided video, hit that missile factory in Dnipro, which hit was followed by three hours of secondaries, per BBC reports, and the claim that they took out that munitions train.
Maybe that's all lies, but there hasn't been another attack since the documented destruction of those HIMARS launchers, which are used to launch ATACMS, nor any Storm Shadows.
Stupid 'Jaq' hasn't heard that the Russian advantage in artillery has decreased from 10:1 to 3:2 over the course of the war because (among other things) barrels wear out and Russia doesn't have the technology to make new ones, since it's embargoed. Nor has he heard that drone warfare is rapidly evolving and taking over the role of artillery, as the Russians themselves acknowledge on social media. One reason the Syrian army collapsed so quickly is that Ukraine trained HTS in drone warfare and they killed half a dozen Syrian generals in the first two days of their offensive. Quoting "conventional wisdom" is as stupid as the admirals who still thought battleships would win World War II because they didn't understand the importance of aircraft carriers.
Where does 'Jaq' find this crap? That video of a traffic jam depicts Syrians returning home from Turkey, some lying asshole has copied it and relabeled it to claim the traffic is going the other way, and 'Jaq' swallows the lie like a pig at the swill bucket. Every other source on Twitter (I've seen dozens) says that Syrians are in fact going home from exile in huge numbers now that the tyrant is gone.
From a Reuters July 2024 investigation : "Years of miscalculations by U.S., NATO led to dire shell shortage in Ukraine"
A senior officer on Ukraine’s general staff provided Reuters previously undisclosed figures that demonstrate the deadly difference artillery makes. When Ukraine was firing 10,000 shells per day, between 35 and 45 Ukrainian soldiers were killed daily and about 250 to 300 were wounded. But when the daily fire fell to half that, more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed per day and at least a thousand were wounded.
Since the war began, artillery has proved so lethal that it has caused more than 80% of casualties on both sides, according to estimates by Ukrainian military commanders.
Rich is a certified Proust expert. Abraham Accords, Rich. Brilliant foreign policy.
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