I've got to admit that I'm surprised I would agree with Fiona Hill, but
Trump wants to be Putin's pet, but he's not.
A blog dedicated to the rational discussion of politics and current events.
I've got to admit that I'm surprised I would agree with Fiona Hill, but
Australia's tough on immigration, as is the case with the rest of the commonwealth, is something I agree with. It's dumb for people on the left to want to support open borders for a plethora of reasons. Unless they are doing it to highlight the idiocy of US imperialist, warlike policies, but that action is really lost in translation.
Revenons à nos moutons!
I've made it clear that I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton even if ranked Choice was an option. She would definitely come in behind my write in votes for my dogs and Bozo the clown if there were still choices.
But this video shows that Hillary is up there with 'Orrible 'Arris for bad candidates fielded by an awful party.
No Russians involved! Unless Russians run the DNC.
And about that photo of Ghislaine Maxwell at Chelsea's wedding: It's easily searchable at Getty Images. There are at least three copies: https://media.gettyimages.com/id/103183991/photo/chelsea-clinton-marries-marc-mezvinsky-in-rhinebeck-new-york.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=hwRpJ3P-iRaanxtDIQ_yWaQL3LNMJoz-ddvP7bP1ans=
OK, maybe you don't give an fcuk about Palestinians, but Israelis live high on the hog with universal health care, nice homes, education, and all sorts of other goodies paid for by the US tax payers.
You don't get the "socialism" and "welfare state", but you pay to support a nation that does not act in the US interest.
Actually, it's more like they blame Russians for interference even though the 2016 election was thrown by the Electoral College, which comes from the US CONSTITUTION! It's called distraction.
And I don't care how pro-Israel you happen to be: that money would be much better spent here.
They say Russia almost became Islamic. The story is that Tsar Jaroslav
the Wise during the Kievan Rus wanted to give up paganism. So, he called
together representatives from all the world's religions.
The
Islamic representative told him he could have all the wives he wanted.
Jaroslav said, "Yeah, go on". The Islamic rep said, "But you can't drink
alcohol". And Jaroslav was all like "get outta here..."
The likelihood of my voting for Hillary Clinton was next to non-existent.[1]
And the Russians had fuck all to do with it.
Unless, of course, Russians run the democratic party, which in retrospect seems to be the case since they pretty much trashed the 2016 election.
Especially since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, yet LOST IN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
The problem is that the duopoly wants to pretend that a vote for a third party is anything but a vote for that party. 2016 was liberating for me since I saw that my vote didn't count.
It doesn't count in primary elections and it also doesn't count in the general election.
Having a "right to vote" is meaningless if the voting is not done in a truly free and fair election with a secret ballot and parties that actually represent the people.
So, please, stop saying that third party voters are spoilers.
Unless we are spoiling the illusion for the duopoly.
Footnote:
[1] I might vote for Hillary Clinton if Ranked Choice Voting were in place, but she would be somewhere after a write in vote for all my dogs and maybe one of the legitimate candidates.
And definitely in the last month.
I often wonder how long it would have taken me to get up to speed linguistically if I had been allowed to join the international legion. I know I could drive a truck and free up a space, but I am too old. Anyway, I find I am talking to people in Ukraine and helping in the ways that I can. I don't feel too useful, which is incredibly frustrating for me.
I just had a conversation with someone in Lv'iv, which is in the west and "away" from the heavy fighting in the east. It's an area close to the Polish border. Still, they are having a hard time.
I wish this would end.
Narcissists have a hard time admitting defeat or that they were wrong. Argue with my ex-wife is you don't believe me. Anyway, the drama seems to have toned down. So back to the Russian overt narc.
People are beginning to believe the Ukrainians when they releast the casualties and losses for the Russian army.
As for Nato expansion, all the former Eastern Block countries get it. The current spate of war crimes in Ukraine show why the West should have been doing all it could to supply the Ukrainians in the war to save their homeland.
OK, getting back on my feet after leaving my narc wife, which is something that Doggone has been waiting for me to do for the last 12 years!
Anyway, I mentioned Chernobyl in a previous post. It seems that:
Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering “acute radiation sickness” from contaminated soil, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Russians really effed this one! https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-troops-suffer-acute-radiation-sickness-after-digging-chernobyl-trenches
More videos of demoralised Russian soldiers (Hi, Mitch, watch this space), yet no Russian surrender.
Putin is doing a better job of trashing Russia than what he has been alleged to have done in the US.
BTW, my cousin is a medic in the Kharkiv region and doing OK.
Family issues have me occupied.
And they are getting the shit pounded out of them. I could get into the reasons, but it was a failure before it began,.
Some companies still aren't complying. Russia needs to be squeezed economically, even if it means discomfort for Europeans. What they would go through by having to turn down the hear and cut back on driving isn't as bad as what Ukrainians are going through.
Which is a way to get around that the "special military operation" has been a massive failure for Russia.
A joke from Moscow: "According to Putin the special military operation is really a conflict btw Russia and NATO about World dominance. Whats the situation now?" "Russia has lost 15000 troops, 6 generals, 500 tanks, 3 ships, 100 planes and 1000 trucks. NATO hasn't arrived yet."
Moscow could have mounted a much more limited offensive if capturing the whole of Donbass had been the objective from the start. That would have eliminated the effort and losses involved in invading Ukraine from the north, east and south.
"Obviously they have completely failed in everything they've set out to do and so now they are redefining what the purpose is so they can declare victory," said Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. army forces in Europe who now works for the Center for European Policy Analysis. "Clearly they do not have the ability to continue sustained large-scale offensive operations... Their logistics problems have been apparent to everybody, they've got serious manpower issues and the resistance has been way beyond anything they could have possibly imagined."Another problem for Russia was that the "liberation" was unwanted as evidenced by peaceful resistance. I wanted to do a piece on the Bayraktar TB2 drone, but that has been covered very well. On the other hand, here we have protesters in Svobody Square in Kherson singing the Byraktar Song:
Here we have a crowd of residents of Russian-occupied Slavutych in northern Ukraine forcing Russian troops to run with just their chants of “fuck off”, “go home, murderers”, and “glory to ukraine” despite being shot at.
And the Ukrainian Minstry of Defence provides the information if you want to steal a Russian tank:
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| From Le Monde online |
I keep waking up expecting to hear that Russia has finally surrendered, but Putain has doubled down on his losing bet. They are actually hurting their military while helping Ukraine build theirs.
As I keep saying, waiting for the Russian surrender is like:
The problem is that the Russians would have to make serious concessions if they surrender. They aren't in a position to ask for much as their military is being destroyed. I've heard it said that Putain would rather start World War III than admit his army was beaten by the Hostomel Territorial Defence Corps.
Western sources need to start taking Ukraine seriously because people who have trained with the Ukrainian Army prior to the war have only praise. Money and supplies are nice, but they need to be on the ground: not on paper.
I am also amazed that Western news sources are not reporting that the Russian forces have been pretty much contained around Kyiv. A month into Russia’s war against Ukraine - Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and other major cities are under the Ukrainian flag. That means the war will move to the Eastern part which is where the worst fighting has been for most of this war.
It's good that the pressure is off Kyiv, but things are really bad in the Eastern War zone. The people in the occupied territories are being mistreated by Russian forces. There are documented cases of War crimes. Also, the Russians are admitting they are not doing well in communications intercepted by Ukrainian military intelligence.
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| https://tinyurl.com/3bzck5m3 |
Russia cannot get out of the mess it created for itself without being seriously hurt.
There is a petition to NATO countries which is asking them to acknowledge:
My note: I mention that I get my info direct from the sources. Well, they aren't really happy with how this war is being covered. And I agree with what they say here, so. This is the complete piece from the New Voice of Ukraine, posted with permission:
NV is publishing an open letter to the foreign media covering Russian invasion of Ukraine from Ukrainian media organizations, reporters, photographers, media managers and communication professionals
Dear colleagues,
On February 24 2022, Russia began an unprovoked full scale invasion of Ukraine, a massive escalation of their eight-year war in Donbas in east Ukraine. Russia’s war is conducted along four axes, attacking all major Ukrainian cities with missiles, air strikes and in most instances, ground forces. Untold numbers of civilians and servicemen have been killed. In just over three weeks, more than three million Ukrainians have become refugees in Europe. Four members of the media community have been killed by Russian forces: Oleksandra Kuvshynova, Brent Renaud, Evgen Sakun and Pierre Zakrzewski.
Russian forces kidnap Ukrainian journalists in order to silence them, thus a Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roschina and Oleh Baturin
spent 6 and 8 days in captivity after disappearing. Ukrainian
photojournalist Maks Levin disappeared on March 13th while reporting
from the frontline near Kyiv. A publisher from Melitopol Mikhail Kumok
and three journalists - Yevgeniya Boryan, Yuliya Olkhovska and Lyubov
Chaika - has been also detained for 1 day and have been pressured to
collaborate with Russian occupational regime in their city.
Simultaneously
Russia has been attacking our core values of truthful, fact-driven and
honest reporting through continuous disinformation campaigns. Many
people are not aware of the scale and depth of these campaigns, and
their full impact is yet to be felt.
The
effectiveness of these disinformation narratives did not happen
overnight. They took time to seep into public discourse, capitalizing on
misrepresentations or misunderstandings over language, history and
politics, and exacerbating existing divisions in society until they
began to stifle civil discussion.
This is why, as individual journalists and organizations from the Ukrainian media community who have battled with Russian information warfare since 2014, we would like to highlight the following points regarding the language used to describe this war. Some of them might not be obvious but are vitally important to us and a truthful representation of this war. We ask media organizations to share this with their newsrooms and audiences:
1. One common error is to use terms like “crisis”, “conflict” or “military operation”, or call it “Ukrainian” i.e. “Ukraine Crisis” or “Ukraine conflict”. This is a full scale invasion of, and war against, Ukraine. We ask you to correctly indicate Russia’s role in the war with the wording “Russia’s war in Ukraine” and/or “Russian invasion of Ukraine”, especially in captions, headlines, leads and hashtags.
2. At the same time, we ask not to overuse the phrase “Putin's war”. Even though there is a temptation to believe that this war started only because of the Russian president, several polls from diverse polling organizations (Savanta ComRes, VCIOM, the research project "Do Russians Want War?") have reported that the silent majority of Russians – roughly 60 percent – support the war. During the first week of the war, public support for Putin in Russia grew from 60 to 71 percent. Russian soldiers on the ground are firing missiles and bombs, and deliberately killing civilians. Many of them do not have access to the facts and to independent media, but this does not take responsibility away from them.
3. Many refer to the 2014 pseudo-referendums in the Ukrainian territories of Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts as explanations for Russian military aggression. This is misleading. The territories of Crimea, and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, were annexed and occupied by Russian forces in 2014. Crimea was annexed by Russia in an unequivocal violation of international law. The war in Donbas was exclusively orchestrated and supported by the Russian State. The pseudo-referendums and proxy republics are not recognised by the international community. Experts (Orysia Lutsevych, Andrew Wilson, and Nikolay Mitrokhin to name a few) emphasize that neither the creation of the puppet "republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk nor the conventional war would have happened without Russian involvement. The current escalation demonstrates Russia’s desire to control the whole of Ukraine, and these “republics” are used as a platform for full-scale invasion and a tool for propaganda and disinformation.
4. Additionally the quasi “republics” in Donbas are not another armed side of the conflict. They operate as part of the Russian army and mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Using terms like “separatist-held areas” is therefore incorrect. Please consider using "Russian proxies".
5. Another common error we observe is to report Ukrainian and Russian positions as “two equal perspectives''. Russian positions are based on lies, propaganda and denial of the existence of Ukraine as a nation and state. Russian propaganda is not just “strategic communication” or another point of view, it is using disinformation to justify killing thousands of civilians and continuing a completely unprovoked war.
The narrative that characterizes the war as a proxy one between Russia and the West denies Ukrainian agency - something that the Ukrainian people’s resistance to invasion clearly demonstrates. NATO is an alliance based on the right of sovereign nations to collective defense, enshrined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. By focusing on ‘expansion’, the media are perpetuating the Kremlin’s justification for war and ignoring the democratic voice of the Ukrainian people who wish to live in peace, free from Russian aggression.
6. Finally, we implore you to include, engage and hear Ukrainian experts. The majority of international experts specialize in Russia or Eastern Europe. We ask to include Ukrainian experts, or those who have lived and worked in Ukraine in the journalism you publish about the war.
Information warfare and disinformation academics and experts warn that Russian tactics, perpetuated by its supporters here in the West and abroad, have one objective: to divide, deceive, sow doubt and create enough distrust of information that people do not know what to believe, and question even the most well-evidenced facts. They will play on the truths we tell ourselves and promises which go unkept. They will attack sentiments shared by, and within, ethnic, gender, linguistic and socio-economic groups. Disinformation aims to oversimplify existing issues and turn victims into perpetrators. We see this already with Russians supporting this war believing they are fighting NATO and "neo-Nazis" in Ukraine. We have seen it in the past with disinformation targeting the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe and the truth behind the downing of flight MH-17 in 2014.
A full and truthful account of this war is pivotal to defeating Russia’s information war, consisting of propaganda and manipulation targeted at Ukraine and at liberal democratic countries and institutions. Therefore, we believe that the public needs to be aware of how Russia will manipulate the effects of this war. They will attempt to weaponize behaviors which contradict our collective values, such as double standards towards refugees and racial discrimination against minority groups. They will attempt to hyper-charge the rise of nationalist movements, in order to deflect the blame from Russia to Ukraine, NATO and Europe.
We believe that it is important to raise these issues now, to allow for a civilized and open discourse on how to collectively tackle these and future issues which undoubtedly will arise from this war.
Signed,
Media organizations:
Commission on Journalism Ethics
Ukrainian Media Business Association
National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, - Sergiy Tomilenko, President
Institute of Mass Information - Oksana Romaniuk, director
Internews Ukraine - Kostiantyn Kvurt, the head
Regional Press development Institute
Center for Democracy and Rule of Law
Independent Media Council, Ukraine
Ukrainian Media and Communication Institute - Diana Dutsyk, CEO
Detector media NGO - Natalyia Lygachova, head, chief editor
Souspilnist Foundation, - Taras Petriv, president
Media Development Foundation - Eugene Zaslavsky, Executive Director
Ukrainian Association of media psychologists and media educators - Lyubov Naydonova, President
Suspilne (UA: PBC) - Angelina Kariakina, head of news
Hromadske - Yuliia Fediv, CEO
LB.UA - Sonya Koshkina, Editor-in-Chief
Ukrayinska Pravda - Sevgil Musaieva, chief editor
Zaborona Media - Katerina Sergatskova, editor-in-chief, Roman Stepanovych, CEO
Realnaya Gazeta - Andrii Dikhtiarenko, chief editor
Glavcom (Information Agency) - Mykola Pidvezianiy, chief editor
Individual journalists, media professionals, experts
Emine Ziyatdinova, Independent Media consultant and documentary photographer. London, UK.
Nina Kuryata, Independent Media consultant. Kyiv, Ukraine.
Svitlana Ostapa, Supervisory Board of PJSC, the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, The Chair
Maryna Synhaivska, "Ukrinform" National News Agency of Ukraine, Deputy Director General
Liza Kuzmenko, Head of NGO “Women in the Media”, the CJE member
Julia Smirnova, analyst and journalist, London
Olena Dub, journalist, media-consultant
Olga Yurkova, media trainer, media consultant
Marichka Varenikova, freelance journalist and producer
Oksana Parafeniuk, freelance photojournalist and producer
Tetiana Stroi, CEO of Donetsk Press Club, media trainer, media expert
Svitlana Yeremenko, CEO of Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, journalist, media expert
Roman Kifliuk, independent media expert
Anastasia Magazova, journalist and author, Berlin/Kyiv
Anastasia Vlasova, visual storyteller
Oksana Grytsenko, independent journalist
Tetiana Pechonchyk, head of the Human Rights Center ZMINA, the CJE member
Andrii Ianitskyi, Center for Journalism at Kyiv School of Economics, the head
Veronika Melkozerova, the New Voice of Ukraine executive editor
According to the Wall Street Journal (https://tinyurl.com/2p8w9kcw) :
NATO says that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner or are missing in Ukraine, said a senior military official from the alliance.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization calculates the figure based on information provided by Ukrainian authorities and information obtained from Russia – both officially and unintentionally, the official said.
NATO estimates that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Using statistical averages from past conflicts that for every casualty roughly three soldiers are wounded, NATO analysts reach their total figure.
Russia began its invasion with roughly 190,000 troops. It has since brought in additional troops from Chechnya, Syria and other locations.
I have to admit that I though the Russian military would have done slightly better, but I knew the Ukrainians would put up incredibly strong resistance. I also didn't expect the amount of unification that the Russian invasion and subsequent war would cause.
Let's start with a quote from an article in Politico,The Real Goal of Kremlin Disinformation Isn’t What You Think:
"We live in a hyperactive attention economy of unprecedented scale and intensity. And as we swipe and scroll through our news feeds, the Kremlin is biding its time and waiting for us to succumb to 'Ukraine fatigue'. In fact, they are banking on it."
That draws a few interesting observations not all realted to the War in Ukraine. But the most pertinent observation isn't that I have fatigue, but I get more and more annoyed. In fact, it makes it even more important that Russia gets hammered in any surrender agreement. Or to paraphrase Basil Fawlty,
"You keep mentioning the war."
"Well, you started it."
"We didn't start it."
"Yes, you did...you invaded Ukraine."
Part of me wants to see Russia get as hammered as Germany was after the 14-18 War, but that treaty was too harsh. Anyway, This is today's update from the New Voivce of Ukraine:
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been going on for a month. Today, March 23rd, is the 28th day of Putin's war.
UPDATE (1233): Operational information of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Russian invasion as of 1200.
· The return of certain units of the Republic of Belarus to points of permanent deployment has been partially confirmed. At the same time, the Lukashenka regime continues to hold a significant group of troops near the state border of Ukraine;
· The invaders tried to advance to the area of the village of Teterivske in Kyiv Oblast (about 70 kilometers north-west of central Kyiv), but due to limited forces they did not succeed and were forced to withdraw.
· As a result of the fighting in the area around Izyum, the Ukrainian defense forces destroyed up to 60% of the personnel and military equipment of an invading Russian force.
· On the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the area of Dzhankoy, the arrival and concentration of personnel and military equipment of units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation has been recorded.
· The Ukrainian Defense Forces are conducting a stabilization operation in certain areas, holding back the advance of the enemy, and in certain directions forcing the enemy to retreat.
Which takes us back to the Politico article which gets into how Russian propaganda works. The best way to counter propaganda is to know how it works. Again, that has interesting ramifications, especially for the Russiagate Crowd. In fact, it confirms my opinion of Russiagate, but that is totally off subject since the an important part is:
Predictive projection. Predictive projection is a preemptive flying of a false flag. If you want to understand what the Kremlin will do next, pay attention to what it says others will do first. Before Putin’s invasion, Russian officials claimed that Ukraine was preparing to taunt the 150,000 Russian troops amassed on its border and attack its own sovereign eastern territory under Kremlin occupation. Now Russian state media is conjuring the specter of Ukraine building a “dirty bomb” and making biological weapons in secret labs with American conspirators. Russian military officials are tying themselves in knots to allege that Ukrainians in the city of Dnipro are laying mines in their own hospitals so as to cause them to explode while Moscow’s jets fly overhead. Such ominous finger-pointing is a characteristic projection of the Kremlin’s own actions and intentions.
In other words, when Russia is talking about biolabs or chemical warfare, it means that Russia may use those methods. In fact, Russia is using landmines in Ukraine. The video above shows where the Russians want to take this war.
Bottom line is Russia has its back against a wall by continuing a losing war. Their intentions are not good.
And the Ukrainians are the real protectors of the World since the "superpowers" are messing with the world.
this story is true, that Ukrainians have surrounded the Russian Army at Bucha, NW of Kyiv.
I'm seeing numerous reports, and harassing official Russian sites with them, that the Russian forces west of Kyiv are out of food, fuel, and other supplies. The Russian army is stuck on roads. Cutting supply lines would be almost the same as creating a pocket. It is well known that the Russian supply chains and logistics were shit from the start. It will be the biggest defeat of a Russian army until now if this is true. A rough estimate of 9 thousand Russians would be trapped if the pocket is sealed. Ukraine now needs to start worrying about too many POWs.
The thing is that this has been a major focus for Russia. It's not about Kyiv falling but about diverting large amounts of Ukrainian troops. Then Ukrainian units can be freed up to save the east.
Additionally, Fighting in and around the southern port city of Mariupol remains fierce, as Russia tries to claim a first strategic victory after weeks of fighting. It now includes naval shelling launched from the Sea of Azov, the senior defense official said.
That means the Russians are toast! As I have been saying all along, I am amazed they haven't surrendered long ago. The problem is that Putain sees defeat as a moral failure.
Well, Putain has failed in so many ways!