You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: Current Events Thread
https://www.yahoo.com/news/zelensky-sig … 24955.html
I know our own media and government have been proven to be in cahoots, but should we really be pretending Ukraine is some bastion of Western Democracy and freedoms?
No one cares about Ukraine anymore but it is fun to watch Russia melt down on itself from a military standpoint.
Re: Current Events Thread
It's been really enjoyable to watch the Republicans in the house eat their own. They really have no interest in governing and the clowns that will be in power in the House are going to make the next 2 years an absolute clown show. What an embarrassment. It'll be nothing more than the Donald Trump revenge tour that will be little more than a cough as Gaetz, Green and Boebert do press and hold rallies with absolutely no point or purpose other than getting their faces on tv more and more.
They're in complete chaos with no real objectives, just lots of drama. The Dems should've been slaughtered in the midterms.
The Republicans have 2 years to purge themselves of Trump. If they don't, they'll be giving the house right back.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Current Events Thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpr2nQKdlWI
Some good insights about the Ukraine War from a retired general.
Interesting point of view. The problem is the west refuses to acknowledge the Russian point of view and how NATO and the US have ignored every historical precedent and agreement over the past 20 years or so. When the Soviet empire fell, the west agreed they wouldn't expand NATO into the former soviet bloc states. We now have American missiles in Poland and Romania aimed at Russia.
People who only get their information from corporate media may forget that a violent coup actually occurred in Ukraine in 2014 and the democratically elected government was violently pushed out. (this is what an actual coup or insurrection look like, they bring weapons and kill people, not wave flags in a rotunda) And the new government immediately started cozying up to the EU and NATO.
No one thinks Kennedy is a monster for his response to the cuban missile crisis, but despite the West acting in bad faith and taking every step (including supporting violent revolutions) to increase their dominance and supremacy in the region. I certainly haven't forgotten about Obama and the media mocking Romney when he called Russia our greatest geo-political threat before they invaded and took over Crimea. But I'm sure the people who changed their facebook profile picture to be a flag of Ukraine have forgotten.
When Americans riot and loot because a bad man was shot 2k miles away, they think of themselves as warriors and righteous. But if the bad man is setting up a missile defense shield and continually grabbing land right next to your territory, any suspicion that the West isn't being honest in their actions is immediately dismissed.
Don't get me wrong, Putin is a tyrant and if God took him in his sleep tonight I wouldn't weep over it. But this black and white thinking that only considers a short period of time is exactly what all authority loves about stupid, gullible people.
None of the loudest voices are sacrificing anything. None of our world leaders served in combat and neither did their children. The best America has is the waiver they gave to a 40 year old Hunter to be in the Navy reserve before he got kicked out for testing hot for coke. I served with Beau in Iraq, we were in the same brigade. I met the man a few times and he was nothing but nice to me. But he was the VP's kid, everyone knew that, and he spent his entire 8 months in country at Camp Victory in Baghdad, occasionally flying with the Brigade's CG to morale and photo ops. Point being none of these people are ever willing to put their lives and fortunes on the line for their goals and power grabs, but they're more than willing to risk the lives of other people's kids for their shot at infamy.
Ukraine isn't a beacon of egalitarian values. They're not a beacon of democracy. It's a nation of authoritarian and anti-democratic behavior , slightly worse than most of the nations that comprise NATO. Every public spectacle they make is solely catered to garner support from western plebes who will feel morally righteous when their country sends new weapon systems to Ukraine.
I can sit here all day and talk about how I wish if I jumped into the lion's exhibit at the zoo I would go unmolested. I could quote poetry or philosophy to qualify that desire and win lots of support. But no amount of hope is going to change the reality that if I hop into that exhibit I'm going to be mauled, and I'm a fucking idiot if I think the support of strangers is somehow a shield from that lion's claws. It's the same thing with Russia and Ukraine. I can wish for Putin to not want Ukraine as a buffer for NATO and under the thumb of the Russian empire. I can pontificate on how bad war is and how evil it is for Putin to disregard the territory of another sovereign nation. I can find millions of strangers to give me a like on social media for this thought. But none of that changes reality. Russia has been adamant for decades that western expansion of NATO wouldn't be tolerated. This isn't a new insight. Experts and every political leader have know the cost should the west continue its expansion into the former soviet bloc states. They chose to move forward with that decision anyway, so they're not immune or separated from the current conflict. To say nothing of the danger of the West creating its own edicts that every nation must adhere to, or not be allowed into the room. This is why China and India are allying up with Russia and not the West. What that means long term, I don't know.
Re: Current Events Thread
https://www.yahoo.com/news/zelensky-sig … 24955.html
I know our own media and government have been proven to be in cahoots, but should we really be pretending Ukraine is some bastion of Western Democracy and freedoms?
Some good insights about the Ukraine War from a retired general.
Yeah I remember all the articles pre-2022 talking about how Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
As soon as Russia started massing troops on the border....here comes the image makeover...and Ukraine/the West really lucked into having such a charismatic leader on the world stage.
Even though I loathe social media...I used it a lot during the weeks before and for about 5-6 months of the war.
I quickly noticed the use of memetic engineering to get the general public on the "right" side of the conflict.
Zelensky himself becoming a meme(I need ammo, not a ride), "The Ghost of Ukraine", and all the other shit that went viral...such as troops dancing with bazookas, the Molotov cocktail grannies, etc.
I suppose it's an aspect of what they're calling hybrid warfare now.
I've also wondered how much of the success.... especially in the early days/weeks of the conflict can be credited to the US and not Ukraine. Obviously we're giving them satellite Intel but it might go deeper than that.
A few examples...
- Russian forces killed within hours of landing at the Kiev airport
- Shooting down planes loaded with Russian paratroopers/special forces
Those incidents had to have a large psychological impact not just on troops but the people running the war. No chance of air superiority if a bunch of your planes/jets are getting shot down. They now rarely fly across the border. That bomber equivalent to our B-1 launches its missiles a couple hundred miles from the border.
- All the assassination attempts on Zelensky failing
- The Chechen forces bragging on TikTok about how much ass they'd kick in Ukraine getting massacred within a couple hours of crossing the border
-The so called lucky strikes on Russian ships
- Some Ukrainian astronomers have claimed that on some nights they've seen the sky full of drones
It does make you wonder.
I don't think Russia can win. With Ukraine getting American weapons funneled in... they'll never run out.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Current Events Thread
Russia could win the war today if they wanted an insurgency and refugee camps to deal with the influx in people after Kiev was left in rubble. They clearly don’t want that.
Russia has already secured the eastern cities that some argue want to be part of Russia. And they’ve demonstrated they can be outside Kiev in a couple days if they want.
Putin doesn’t want Ukraine joining the EU or NATO. He’s made that clear repeatedly. And gone far further than anyone thought to to demonstrate that point. They tried to assassinate Zelenskyy and invaded his fucking country. I don’t know how much more of a display of force a nation can display short of a full on invasion and nukes.
What happens when drones start buzzing NATO countries? Are the western powers going to war if the President of Latvia gets drone striked? Poland was hit by Ukrainian missiles, not Russian.
Don’t get me wrong, the moxy and readiness of the average Russian soldier has been exposed. It ain’t pretty. I’m just telling you that European forces are less supplied, less trained, and haven’t seen a conflict in decades. And as to the US, while our soldiers are the best trained and supplied in the world, few remaining have seen combat and they’re just as stupid and young as their Russian counterparts. The same idiots using their cell phones in the barracks will be found in our Army too. Humans gonna human.
Putin didn’t conquer Ukraine. But I’m not sure if he really tried, and the narrative that the war is lost or Putin is on the ropes is more about western propaganda than a reflection of the current situation.
For Putin, the war isn’t lost until Ukraine is part of NATO. I don’t see their status changing anytime soon.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Current Events Thread
I think we’ve been helping a lot unofficially. Not just selling them weapons but actual military strikes, assassinations and sabotage. There’s just no way our special forces haven’t been involved. A lot of those high values kills and operations have our fingerprints all over them. Anyone really think it *wasn’t* us who destroyed the pipeline?
