Here is to hoping, part of me wonders how well the Republican party can fair in the future without them helping them.
I mean they were caught funneling like 50 million to them from the NRA and been pushing their propaganda for them. Without that, will their gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement be enough against the voters.
Since we can't call out Trolls and Bad Faith posters and the Ignore function doesn't actually ignore it. Add
"mmo-champion.com##li.postbitignored"
to your ublock or adblock filter to actually ignore ignored posters. Now just need a way to ignore responses to them as well.
I think at this point we need to just fight them. That's also clearly what the EU wants.
Sorry if that makes people feel bad, but a line has to be drawn at their actions if it goes past warmongering in one region. Mass starvation is a no.
From what we've seen their performance in Ukraine, we all know how a Russian military conflict with the US would go down. I don't know why Biden is so scared now after he appeared to be all hardass on Putin for so long.
Last edited by YUPPIE; 2022-05-25 at 04:15 PM.
"Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."
There are two views about how strong or weak this conflicts makes Russia look
1. It's obviously the most prominent in the West and on this forum which is the fact that Russia has performed poorly in Ukraine.
2. The other view is that everybody knows that this conflict has become a proxy war between NATO and Russia. The Western politicians especially wanted to make it Vietnam 2.0 for Putin. Ukraine got tremendous military and financial aid and training from the NATO/EU to the point that stock levels of certain weaponry started depleting. Nevertheless, despite all the aid to Ukraine and anti-Russia sanctions, Russia has slowly advanced to their goals in Ukraine and its economy did not crumble as many have expected.
The fact that NATO and EU couldn't break Russia with all the sanctions and military aid to Ukraine gives good PR opticals for Russia.
Last edited by alkyd; 2022-05-25 at 04:31 PM.
2 = Russians goals in Ukraine (a 3 day storming of kyiv) failed badly. losing 30k men probably wasn't in the goals either. They have had to adjust their goals and scale them down multiple times, and they still arent going well. The recent push in the donbas isn't some masterstroke. If you zoom out Ukraine can currently afford to lose land in return for attrition to russian forces (although ukrainian losses have been high).
Its economy is fucked. And will bite soon, they are burning through billions of reserves.
"Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."
Time to start the three week countdown again, right?
Well, Shalcker should be back tomorrow, I guess.
"The difference between stupidity
and genius is that genius has its limits."
--Alexandre Dumas-fils
you could, but don't hold your breath
I'm sure there's something up, but best to not get your hopes up. OTOH these things can suddenly take a turn for the worse.
It is my life experience that the worst kind of people is also the one that is alive and resilient in spite of terminal diseases that should've killed them a long time ago, while good people suffer and die from the same causes. So, if anything, you should hope beyond hope that Putin is actually a kind and just man.
U.S. National Guardsmen trained Ukrainian soldiers and it seems to have paid off
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Behind some of the success of Ukraine's military in its fight against Russia is a little-known U.S. initiative, an initiative built around a state National Guard. Jay Price of North Carolina Public Radio brings us this story.
JAY PRICE, BYLINE: The skill of the Ukraine military surprised a lot of people, but not David Baldwin. When the California National Guard adjutant general got a text from a Ukrainian colonel saying the invasion had begun, his first reaction was concern for his friends.
DAVID BALDWIN: Then also a little bit of a calmer feeling because I knew that these guys were ready for this fight and that they were going to do well.
PRICE: He knew that because for nearly 30 years, California's citizen soldiers have been helping Ukraine shape its military. And after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the guards of several other states began pitching in. They've taught sniper skills, ambush tactics, aerial combat and how to launch the Javelin missiles celebrated for destroying so many Russian tanks. They also helped Ukraine build an asset Russia doesn't have - a cadre of noncommissioned officers who know how to lead from the front lines. Troops from Ukraine and California have flown back and forth dozens of times for exercises and training. Baldwin lost count of his own visits to Ukraine after 40.
BALDWIN: Yes, we do increase actual combat capability of our partners, but what we really deliver is this notion of the United States is there to help your country. We really are coming in to help.
PRICE: The Ukrainians say that's true. Major General Borys Kremenetsky is the Ukrainian defense attache in the Washington embassy.
BORYS KREMENETSKY: This partnership help us to increase our combat capabilities and to increase the spirit of our - not only soldiers, but population at all.
PRICE: The State Partnership Program is a joint initiative between individual states and the Pentagon, but it's not just about military training. It also models values like civilian control of the military and abiding by international law for combatants. The program now partners state guards with more than 90 nations. When it started, though, it was aimed squarely at one region.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
ROBERT SIEGEL, BYLINE: This is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel. Mikhail Gorbachev resigned today as president of a country that had already dissolved - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
PRICE: In 1991, as the remnants of the Soviet Union came apart, the United States saw an opportunity.
JOHN FINNEY: The Department of Defense believed that we should reach out to these nations in central and Eastern Europe who had been part of the Warsaw Pact...
PRICE: John Finney is a senior strategic adviser with the National Guard Bureau.
FINNEY: ...To help them refashion their militaries, which were, of course, developed under the Soviet Union, and prepare them for more modern military engagements and to prepare them for eventual membership in NATO.
PRICE: Finney says the Pentagon chose the National Guard for the mission because it felt that would seem less threatening to Russia. And Guard troops can build long-term relationships because, unlike regular active duty troops, they often stay with the same unit for years.
Baldwin, the California Guard adjutant general, says he's been working with Ukrainians since 1994. He's now acting as a conduit between the Pentagon and Ukraine commanders on things like battlefield intelligence and weapons needs.
BALDWIN: We can have very frank discussions about what they're asking for and what the U.S. can deliver or can't deliver. And sometimes it softens the blow, if we're giving them bad news, if it comes from me rather than from the U.S. government. And then by the same token, I can also, you know, encourage them and coach them on things that are in the realm of possibility that they can ask for.
PRICE: Baldwin is talking to his embattled counterparts regularly. In fact, the day after the invasion, he activated his emergency headquarters in Sacramento. He wanted to make sure the guard's Ukrainian partners and friends had the round-the-clock support they need.
For NPR News, I'm Jay Price.
Rather interesting. I know California and Hawaii National Guards also hold joint training exercises with Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Philippine militaries.
Last edited by Makabreska; 2022-05-25 at 08:35 PM.
Sometimes, the light of the moon is a key to other spaces. I've found a place where, for a night or two, the streets curve in unfamiliar ways. If I walk here, I might find insight, or I might be touched by madness.
A train load of Russian T62M tanks have been seen in occupied Melitopol in Ukraine.
They might be sending them to the separatists, but, impossible as it seems, they do seem to be destined for the war.