ALERT RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE - Consolidated Thread

Ukraine War Day #280: Pope Says Racist Sh*t


Posted on November 30, 2022 by yalensis


Dear Readers:
Yesterday we were discussing the propaganda war against Russia, and various Western-funded organizations such as Tsipso, which carry out this war. But in reality, this Informational War against Russia has been going on for literally centuries. Be it medieval Russia, Soviet Russia, modern Russia, whatever. And guess who has been always at the vanguard of this attack?

England! Er, yes, that too, but that was not the answer I was looking for, so we’ll make this a multiple choice question. With the other correct answer being the Catholic Church!

Teutonic Knight tosses Russian kid into fire.

So, last week, Pope Francis gave this rather remarkable interview to an American Jesuit publication. In which, among things, he uttered some utterly racist sh*t about two ethnic groups who belong to the Russian Federation. Here is the main soundbite that has got things stirring:

When I speak about Ukraine, I speak of a people who are martyred. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them. When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in. Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on. Certainly, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear. Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname.

A lot of people reading this went, Holy Shit! Did the Pope just say something racist about Chechens and Buryats? Why, yes he did.
To put in context: The exact equivalent would be something like this: The Archbishop of Constantinople declares that American soldiers are so cruel, because their ranks are filled with Negroes and other non-white people. If they were all just white, they would act nicer towards the civilians of the various countries they invade.

One should not act like an always-offended Snowflake Princess; and in a way it’s kind of amusing, except that this sort of rhetoric, this sort of racist dehumanization of Russians, has been going on for many centuries. At least back to the time of the Crusades; with the Catholic Church standing at the dark heart of it all. Hence, this is not quite at the same level of, say, somebody taking offense at a Polish joke, or making fun of an Italian accent.


Buryat wrestler: “Bring it on, baby! Have you seen my pecs?”


Catholic Crusader: “Please excuse my horns, but I am here to kill Buryats.”

To help us break down the Pope’s stupid words, I have this piece, penned by a whole team of intrepid reporters: Darya Volkova, Alyona Zadorozhnaya, and Evgeny Pozdnakov. But first, I just want to say, from my own experience, living in the U.S., it’s all true! The racism, I mean. If I only had a nickel for every time I heard some ignorant American opine on the reason why Russians are such brutal beasts, so inferior to pristine Europeans: It usually involves the unpleasant Russian habit of “inter-mixing” with violent Asiatic races like Mongols. Granted, Americans never heard of Buryats, that’s a more recent meme. In the past it was Mongols this, and Mongols that.

Mongols being the epitome of the primitive, ignorant, violent, inferior race. Sometimes, just to troll them, I’d go, “Hey, some of my best friends are Mongols, and they are really nice people, once you get to know them!” Which is not actually true, I mean it’s true that they are nice people; not true that I have any Mongol friends. But it would sure shut people up; maybe even make them feel slightly ashamed of what they just uttered, words going directly from gut to tongue, without passing through the brain first.

Buryats, by the way, for those who still don’t know, are Mongolians too, sort of. They live way out there in Siberia, near Lake Baikal, speak their own Buryat language, and mostly practice a brand of the Buddhist religion. I never heard anybody say anything bad about them, until the Ukrainians started this anti-Buryat meme.

Okay, with that introductory material under our belts, let’s delve into the piece I just linked, and see what these analysts have to say about all of this nonsense.

We Are Not Amused By Your Infallible Racism

The Pope’s words triggered a very sharp response in Russia. Russia’s Ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev issued an official protest. Avdeev declared: “The unity of the multi-ethnic Russian people is unshakable; and nobody shall be allowed to put this under question.”

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, also gave vent to her sharp tongue. She reminded the Pope that during the 90’s it was the Chechens who were the angels, because certain Chechens, back then, were fighting against Russia. Back then, Westies claimed that Russian Slavs were tormenting the glorious peoples of the Caucasus. But now the worm has turned, and it’s the Caucasians who are the bad guys. The rule is a very simple one: If you are against Russia, then you are an angel; but if you are with Russia, then you are a demon.

Oleg Tsarev is a well-known Ukrainian politician now living in exile in Russia. When asked to comment about the Pope’s gaffe, he had this to say: “It started in 2015, with these Ukrainian fakes about the so-called Buryats. The Ukrainians were trying to prove that Russian troops were secretly there, fighting in the Donbass. And since [Slavic] Russians and Ukrainians are visually indistinguishable from one another, Ukrainian propagandists had to make up these stories about [Asiatic-looking] fighters, so they came up with the Buryat meme. And similarly with the Chechens, who also look different.”

Alexei Tsydenov


The Hambo Lama

The head of the Buryat Republic is a man named Alexei Sambuevich Tsydenov. Born in 1976, Alexei is the product of grotesque racial miscegenation, spawn of a Buryat father and a Russian mother. All of his ancestors and members of his family worked on the railroad [like the losers that they were], and Alexei himself has university degrees in Railroad Engineering and Economics. He is the eldest of three sons. Tsydenov commented on the Pope’s gaffe, not without a sense of humor: “To hear this kind of talk from the Head of the Catholic Church, regarding the cruelty of specific ethnic groups — more precisely Buryats and Chechens — especially when these groups are working so hard to defend the civilian populations — is rather strange, to say the least. On the other hand, if our Buryat warriors have been noticed on the battlefield, then that means they are doing a good job.”

A man with the funny name Damba Badmaevich Ayusheev is the Head of the Russian [Traditionalist] Buddhist community, called the Sangha. He holds the even funnier title of Hambo Lama. [To me, sounds like “Hambone”.] Ayusheev was born in 1962 and graduated from a Pedagogical Institute. Then also from Buddhist University. He is also a specialist in Tibetan Medicine, whatever that is. In 1991 he was appointed as regent to the resurrected Lama, and then in 1995 was elected to the position of Hambo Lama himself. He has been involved in various religious debates, and is said to be critical of some of the more Shamanistic factions.

This is what he had to say about the Pope’s gaffe:

“The people living in Siberia and the Far East are not cruel at all. These people are strong and enduring, they have been forced on multiple occasions to defend their Motherland against fascism. It is a pity that these facts are not understood by the Latinized Europeans.”

Next we hear the objections from the Chechen side of the aisle. Akhmed Dudaev is Chechen Minister of National Politics, External Ties, Press and Information. In rebutting the Pope’s words, he unfortunately could not restrain himself from making this whole thing all about gays and lesbians:

“The Roman Pope and the other European leaders are not fond of the very firm and principled position of the Head of the Chechen Republic [Ramzan Kadyrov] against this worldwide LGBT-lobby.” Well, maybe there is some logic there, since most people, when criticizing the Catholic Church, always bring up that rather awkward paedophilia topic.

Next: We get the reactions of the Russian Orthodox Church. And then onto the issue of Ukrainian atrocities routinely blamed on Russia; and why the Pontiff might just be misinformed.
[to be continued]

===
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raven

TB Fanatic
The Pope . . . and (since he is the head of) the Catholic Church IS described as . . . Agenda Contributor to the World Economic Forum.
The Catholic Church contributes to the agenda of the WEF.
And so must be a member of the World Economic Forum.

Now, drink some wine, eat a biscuit, and go to confession.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Tibetan Medicine - oh of the sort I describe in another thread about old-fashioned doctors (even in the West had to learn to observe in order to diagnose people rather than just depending on a modern machine.

I mentioned how Nightwolf's oldest medical school teacher was shocked when on a visit, the official physician for the Deli Llama gave a demonstration at his hospital. The man correctly diagnosed a number of heart and medical conditions using only an old-fashioned stethoscope to listen to the heart and take the patient's pulsed. He had been trained to diagnose a variety of diseases by the 5,000-year-old plus method and every single time he proved to be correct. The modern Western Teaching Hospital was floored!

Overall a fun read but I'd be careful about making fun of ancient non-Western forms of medicine if you know nothing about them. Today most Eastern Doctors (Vedic or Chinese/Asian) use a combination of Ancient Eastern and modern techniques. That is especially useful when you are a thousand miles from an MRI machine.

Sorry for the thread drift, as I said, otherwise the article makes a good point about the Ukrainians trying to "Other" the Russians because a large portion of them break down to have some Mongolian DNA, and folks from Eastern Russian often have epicanthic eye folds (so do a lot of Americans with Native American or Finnish ancestors).
 

onetimer

Veteran Member

jward

passin' thru
Europeans should also be questioning whether their own 'Leaders' and Governments are their 'Allies'...
New to this thread?
The people have been pushing back and resisting all along, and their dot-guvs have responded by telling them tough! Protest as much as you like, it will not change our pro-ukranian stance.
 

jward

passin' thru
FLASH
@Flash_news_ua
6m

The German government wants to transfer more Gepard self-propelled artillery mounts to Ukraine, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

“Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Also,made it clear that we can again send Ukraine a certain number of Gepard tanks,” Hebestrait said.
View: https://twitter.com/Flash_news_ua/status/1598041681873584130?s=20&t=iua1VFCtep_Yi4iWCeoLUQ
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic

Russian upper house Duma passes LGBTQ 'propaganda' bill​

The upper house of Russia's parliament has unanimously approved a bill that significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBTQ rights in the country
By The Associated Press
November 30, 2022, 12:26 PM

WireAP_486c157bfdb34ad4ad41c7d1ec12bd76_16x9_992.jpg


MOSCOW -- The upper house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill significantly expanding restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBTQ rights in the country, the latest move in an ongoing crackdown on the country’s embattled LGBTQ community.

The Federation Council quickly rubber-stamped the bill following its equally speedy approval last week by the lower house, the State Duma. It will now go to President Vladimir Putin who will sign it into law
.

A 2013 law banned what authorities deem to be spreading “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors. The new bill expands that ban to spreading such information to people aged 18 and older.

The new bill outlaws advertising, media and online resources. books, films and theater productions deemed to contain such “propaganda.”

It also broadens the existing restrictions by banning information about gender transitions to be conveyed to minors.

Violations are punishable by fines and, if committed by non-residents, could lead to their expulsion from Russia.

The fines range from 100,000 to 2 million rubles ($1,660-$33,000). For some violations, foreigners could face 15 days’ detention prior to expulsion.

The bill does not make violations a criminal offense as Russian law stipulates that the criminal code can be amended only through an independent bill. Some lawmakers have suggested they favor such a measure.

Russia explicitly outlawed same-sex marriages in 2020 by adopting amendments to the country’s Constitution that, among other things, stipulated that the “institution of marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”

 

Tristan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
New to this thread?
The people have been pushing back and resisting all along, and their dot-guvs have responded by telling them tough! Protest as much as you like, it will not change our pro-ukranian stance.


No more than you...

And, I meant it in a more general sense. Ukraine is just the current focal point.
 

wait-n-see

Veteran Member

BAKHMUT IS ABOUT TO FALL​


Runtime - 13:36

Nov 30, 2022
Russia's Battle for Bakhmut. Decisive, or obsessive? As Russian forces climb the hilltops south of the city, Ukraine sends in all its remaining reserves to plug the gaps. Late fall makes the fighting even more difficult, both for men, and machine.
 

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
Fair Use Cited
--------------
Rail freight on Crimea Bridge still restricted, ferries bring cargo across

Published on 25-11-2022 at 07:00

Ever since the bomb blast of the Crimea Bridge that connects the Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia, rail wagons have been shipped across the Kerch Strait by vessels. The railway bridge is currently open with a single track, and this is likely to remain the case until fall next year.

Although Russian Railways announced that traffic had resumed two days after the attack on 9 October, the reopening was only limited to a single track. In order to compensate for the lost capacity for cargo on the rails (and also road, which was damaged more), several ferry services were reinstated across the strait.

From October 9 to November 24, 2022, the vessels deployed on the route transported in round trips 2,622 rail cars, 24,227 vehicles and 37,114 passengers, according to the Russian Transport Ministry. Rail cars are transported by train ferries Konro Trader and Avangard.

Repair until September 2023

According to the UK ministry of Defense, the repair work on the railway bridge could take till September next year. “Replacement of the damaged rail bridge has been contracted for completion by September 2023, although Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister stated the repair timeline would be expedited”, the ministry posted on Twitter.

“One track is open, but rail transport remains restricted. Repair activity will be heavily dependent on weather conditions through the winter months”, it added.

Background

On the morning of 8 October, a truck bomb went off on the road lane of the Crimea Bridge (also Kerch Bridge). As a result, part of the bridge collapsed, while the explosion triggered a fire on a freight train on the parallel rail section. The train was carrying fuel tanks, and seven of them caught fire.

When assessing the damage, it turned out that the bridge under the railway tracks was damaged. An even larger portion of the roadway was ripped off its joints and fell into the sea.

The Crimea Bridge was built by Russia after it annexed the Crimea in 2014. With a length of 19 km, it is the longest bridge in Europe. Freight traffic mostly runs between the Crimea, Moscow and St. Petersburg, but more recently, it was reportedly used for the supply of military equipment. The bridge attack has disrupted Russian logistics supplies for Crimea and southern Ukraine.

 

jward

passin' thru
Ankit Panda
@nktpnd


"Ukraine’s arsenal was formidable. It started the war with over 1,000 barrel artillery systems (those with long tubes) and 1,680 multiple-rocket launchers—more than Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Poland put together"
View: https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1598079506673291276?s=20&t=DPKcm43pBV65dE_fBaCxtQ


"The average life expectancy of a fixed-wing drone was approximately six flights; that of a simpler quadcopter a paltry three. Such attrition would chew up the fleets of European armies in a matter of days."
 

jward

passin' thru
Russia firing unarmed missiles to deplete Ukraine air defense, says U.S. military official
2 minute read November 29, 2022 1:24 PM CST Last Updated a day ago
3-4 minutes

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Russia is firing unarmed cruise missiles that were designed to carry nuclear warheads at targets in Ukraine to try to deplete Kyiv's stocks of air defenses, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday.

The official, who declined to be named, was asked about a Nov. 26 assessment by Britain's military intelligence which said that Russia was "likely" removing nuclear warheads from cruise missiles and firing the unarmed munitions into Ukraine.

That intelligence update cited open source imagery showing wreckage of an air-launched cruise missile fired at Ukraine that seemed to have been designed in the 1980s as a nuclear delivery system.

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Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

The British defense ministry said a ballast was probably being substituted for the warheads, a system that will still produce damage through the missile's kinetic energy and unspent fuel.

Asked about the assertion, the U.S. military official told Pentagon reporters: "It's certainly something that they're trying to do to mitigate the effects of the air defense systems that the Ukrainians are employing."
Latest Updates

Power cuts could affect emergency calls in France this winter - Orange CEO
Ambulance workers to strike, further disrupting UK health service
EU leaders to push for defence investment programme at December summit -draft
Russia says it will focus on building nuclear arms infrastructure in 2023
Russia's Medvedev warns NATO over supplying Ukraine with Patriot systems

These are the first comments by a U.S. official about the assessment.

The Pentagon has said that Russia's surge in missile strikes in Ukraine is partly designed to exhaust Kyiv's supplies of air defenses and finally achieve dominance of the skies above the country.

For that reason, the United States and other allies have focused on providing air defense supplies for Ukraine. That ranges from everything from legacy Soviet-era systems to more modern, Western ones.

A senior U.S. defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity in Tuesday's briefing, acknowledged that the Patriot missile defense system was one of the many capabilities being considered to help Kyiv protect against Russian missiles.

The United States has already provided a range of air defense capabilities to Ukraine, including NASAMS air defense systems as well as more than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems and counter-artillery and air surveillance radars.

article-prompt-devices
 

jward

passin' thru

northern watch

TB Fanatic
China says it will not buy Russian oil without EU-approved insurance. I doubt that.
 

jward

passin' thru

jward

passin' thru

jward

passin' thru
Ukraine latest updates: Moscow warns against NATO enlargement
NATO

By Edna Mohamed
Published On 30 Nov 202230 Nov 2022

This live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Wednesday, November 30:

As NATO meets for the second day in Bucharest, Russia warns that Sweden and Finland joining the alliance could lead to Arctic tensions.
Turkey says the two Nordic nations have made progress towards joining NATO as members but still needed to do more to satisfy Ankara’s requests on tackling “terrorism”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the front is “difficult” and that Russia is “planning something in the south”, without elaborating.
Kyiv ramps up security at its embassies abroad after Spain says an employee at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured after opening a letter bomb.

 

Abert

Veteran Member
talk 'bout a messy custody battle eh

World Nuclear News
@W_Nuclear_News

European safety regulators have backed Ukraine as the rightful owner and authority to oversee the Zaporizhzhia #nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Russia's Rosenergoatom has appointed Yury Chernichuk as 'director' of the plant https://tinyurl.com/xw9t4p49
View: https://twitter.com/W_Nuclear_News/status/1598180842450300931?s=20&t=XMHiCHBGK__5g49dzGD-1w
Well unless they have a few Divisions ready to take the plant for Ukraine - don't think a STRONG letter is going to do it.
 
Presenting the synopsis of a tremendously detailed examination of....

The Coming European Economic Apocalypse​



Written by Dr. Seshadri Kumar, 25 November, 2022​


Copyright © 2022 Dr. Seshadri Kumar. All Rights Reserved.​



Executive Summary​



At the start of the human tragedy that is the Ukraine war, I delved into the underlying causes of the conflict from the perspective of a historian and political scientist. That analysis, “Understanding The Great Game in Ukraine,” is available here.
Events have progressed since then, and an important fallout of the war has been economic. In this article, I look at the role and situation of Europe from the perspective of an economist.

The European Union has taken a very definite political stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, aligned with the United States. It has applied 8 rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, and at the time of writing, is working on a 9th package.

What has the economic impact of these sanctions been - on Russia and on Europe itself? What will happen in the months to come? That is the focus of the present article. I conclude that​

  • The war in Ukraine that started on February 24, 2022, is going to be the most consequential change in the world since the Second World War. It is going to fundamentally change power relationships in the world. The dominance of the Western world will end and be replaced by a multipolar world.
  • Europe’s prosperity of the past few centuries is likely to end because of short-sighted and poorly-thought-out decisions related to the Ukraine conflict, taken by European leaders with the full support of their people. These have to do primarily with the ill-considered economic sanctions that Europe has unilaterally applied on Russia, that have started to boomerang on Europe, with the high probability of things getting much worse in the coming months.

The analysis presented here is primarily an economic one, and mainly looks at the effect on the economies of Europe of prolonged sanctions (and, in the present context, “prolonged” could even mean another six months) imposed by the West on Russia.


I present evidence that makes the case that Western sanctions on Russia have hurt Europe a lot more than they have hurt Russia in the nine months since they were imposed, and in the coming months will continue to severely degrade Europe’s economies, while only marginally affecting Russia’s. The primary reason for this is that Russia is far more self-sufficient than Europe is. The only action that will save Europe is an unconditional revocation of its self-destructive sanctions and a peace agreement in Ukraine on Russia's terms.


The only major assumptions I have made in this analysis are that, in the next two to three months,

  1. The war in Ukraine does not end in complete defeat for Russia
  2. Ukraine and Russia do not reach a peace agreement, and
  3. Vladimir Putin is not ousted in a coup in Russia — and hence, the current economic and military policies of both Europe and Russia will continue for the foreseeable future.


Although Russia looks unlikely to be affected very significantly by Western sanctions, and is in a strong position on the battlefield, because of its high inherent economic and military strength (recent reported gains by Ukraine notwithstanding), I argue that in the unlikely case event that Russia were to appear likely to lose the war on the battlefield or on the economic front, China will do whatever it takes to prevent such outcomes, to secure its own future.

This essay is organized in six chapters, followed by a summary and conclusions chapter:

  • Chapter I details the background of the events that have happened since February 24, 2022, until today, especially the West’s economic sanctions as a response to Russia’s invasion, and highlights the fact that these sanctions, as well as the West’s military and economic aid to Ukraine, have not had the effect on Russia that the West had hoped for.
  • Chapter II discusses various indicators related to the Russian economy and concludes that it is in better health than many Western nations, especially in the context of the protracted economic war between Russia and Europe that has been initiated by Europe through the enforcement of Western sanctions on Russia.
  • Chapter III talks about Russia’s interconnectedness with the rest of the world and, especially, with Europe, in terms of trade balances, and concludes that Russia is far more important to Europe than Europe is to Russia. It also concludes that an embargo of Russian goods would not fatally harm the Russian economy.
  • Chapter IV talks specifically about Europe’s energy dependency on Russia, and shows that Europe’s energy crisis is not one of price but of supply — that the energy supplied by Russia cannot be replaced by any other source; that most European nations are critically dependent on irreplaceable Russian supplies of natural gas, crude and refined petroleum, and coal; that a European energy embargo on Russia will be devastating to European economies and cause the de-industrialization of Europe, while causing minimal and manageable losses to Russia.
  • Chapter V talks about the de-industrialization of Europe which has started to happen because of the West’s sanctions on Russia that have resulted in depriving Europe’s economies, not only of Russian gas, oil, and coal, but potentially of food, fertilizer, and several valuable minerals that Russia is a dominant supplier of, and how this de-industrialization is going to intensify in the coming months and years. It also explains how this crisis is two years in the making, and that the war in Ukraine is just the last nail in Europe’s economic coffin. It also talks about the negative consequences on Europe of the impending oil price cap that it plans to impose on Russian oil exports.
  • Chapter VI talks about what Europe can do in response to these challenges, by discussing the most commonly floated solutions: gas storage in Europe, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), and renewable energy; and shows how none of these options will be adequate to stave off the coming economic apocalypse for Europe.
  • Finally, a SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS chapter talks about the longer-term impact of the West’s sanctions on Russia, and how they will fundamentally change the power calculus in the twenty-first century.


====

ETA: I highly recommend reading the Chapter on Summary and conclusions.

a snippet:


“Not One Step Backward!”​



On 22 June, 1941, Adolf Hitler, then at the height of his power, made a fateful decision by invading Russia. His decision was predicated on the belief that “one kick at the door and the whole rotten structure will come crumbling down,” referring to the Soviet State. Hitler was, of course, wrong about the weakness of the Soviet state, as history informs us. The USSR was far stronger, far more resourceful, and far more resilient than what not only Hitler, but the whole Western world believed.

By the beginning of December, 1941, Hitler’s generals knew that they had made a grievous error. They realized that while the Soviet army was giving up very easily in the early battles, leading to the loss of about 2 million troops killed or captured, their resolve had stiffened and they were now fighting hard. The German army realized that they were not adequately equipped to fight a war in the brutal Russian winter. The winter of 1941-42 resulted in the deaths of more than a million German soldiers in the frozen wastes of Russia outside Moscow.

The prudent thing to do then would have been to consolidate Germany’s gains and abandon any plans to move deeper into the Soviet Union. But, having failed in his big gamble to take the USSR in a single summer campaign, Hitler, like Napoleon before him, believed that if he persisted long enough, he would prevail over the Soviets and total victory would eventually be his. He failed to defeat the USSR, and instead, Germany was totally destroyed. When his initial attack, the Blitzkrieg in June 1941, failed, he did not reconsider his original plan to conquer the USSR. He doubled down on his efforts, and perished.

The West is making mistakes of a similar nature. In March 2022, they unleashed what they truly believed to be a “nuclear option” in financial terms. They froze Russia’s funds, seizing more than $300 billion of its money, and blocked it from SWIFT, preventing it from buying anything using dollars or euros. Just like Hitler believed his military blitzkrieg would bring the Soviet Union to its knees in short order, the West believed that its financial blitzkrieg would bring Russia to its knees and force it to abandon its special military operation. US President Joe Biden even bragged about that possibility in a public speech on March 26, 2022. But that did not happen. Russians hardly felt much pain due to the West’s actions. Instead of reconsidering their course of action and starting negotiations with Russia, the West got into an ideological trap, just like Hitler did in 1941. When Hitler’s generals radioed him that the Soviets were overrunning their frostbitten troops and requested permission to withdraw, they got the one-line response: “Not one step backward!”

Today’s Western nations are being equally obstinate, and are saying that they will not take one step backward on their strategy to financially choke Russia — a strategy that has clearly failed and will continue to fail. In their ideological blindness, they don't even seem to have done a basic sanity check to find out if the measures they took and are now contemplating (such as the impending oil price cap) will truly deal a death blow to Russia’s finances.
end of snip

====

From my perspective the only solution at this point is - for the West to Sue for Peace.
Truly, hit the reset button.

===
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northern watch

TB Fanatic
Russian FM: US, NATO directly involved in Ukraine conflict

Russia’s foreign minister has accused the West of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers

By The Associated Press
December 1, 2022, 9:26 AM

MOSCOW -- Russia’s foreign minister accused the West on Thursday of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said that Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of Western weapons.

“You shouldn't say that the U.S. and NATO aren’t taking part in this war. You are directly participating in it,” Lavrov said in a video call with reporters. “And not just by providing weapons but also by training personnel. You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries.”

He said the barrages of missiles, drones and artillery fire that have left millions of Ukrainians without power, heating and water was intended to “knock out energy facilities that allow you to keep pumping deadly weapons into Ukraine in order to kill the Russians.”


“The infrastructure that is targeted by those attacks is used to ensure the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces and the nationalist battalions,” Lavrov said.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of targeting key civilian infrastructure in order to reduce morale, cause Ukraine's people to suffer during the winter and to force the government in Kyiv into peace talks on Moscow’s terms.

The southern city of Kherson, which Russia's forces seized in the opening days of the conflict and withdrew from last month, is among the places targeted. Russian shelling on Thursday cut off power in the recently liberated city just days after it was restored.

Weeks before the pullback allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim Kherson, Russia declared the entire Kherson region part of its territory along with three other regions following hastily called "referendums" that Ukraine and the West rejected as shams.

Asked how the strikes on infrastructure in Kherson and other areas comply with Moscow's stated goal of protecting Ukraine's Russian-speaking population, Lavrov responded by drawing parallels with the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II.

“The city of Stalingrad also was part of our territory, and we beat the Germans to make them flee,” he said.

Lavrov insisted that Moscow remains open for talks on ending the conflict. “We never asked for talks but always said that we are ready to listen to those who are interested in a negotiated settlement,” he said.

The Kremlin has urged Ukraine to acknowledge Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as part of Russia and to recognize other land gains that Russia has made since sending its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. It also has pushed for guarantees that Ukraine wouldn't join NATO, along with vaguely formulated “demilitarization” and “denazification” goals.

Asked if a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden was possible, Lavrov replied that “we don’t shun contacts” but added that “we haven’t yet heard any serious ideas yet.”

Lavrov said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has raised the issue of U.S. citizens imprisoned in Russia in a phone call, but he noted that Putin and Biden agreed to set up a separate channel of communication between special services to discuss the issue when they met in Geneva in June 2021.

“It’s working, and I hope that some results will be achieved,” he said.

The Biden administration has tried for months to negotiate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, including through a possible prisoner swap with Moscow.

Commenting on Russia's decision to postpone a round of nuclear arms control talks with the United States that was scheduled for this week, Lavrov maintained "it’s impossible to discuss strategic stability nowadays while ignoring everything that is happening in Ukraine.”

“The goal has been announced to defeat Russia on the battlefield or even destroy Russia,” he said. “How can the goal of defeating Russia not bear significance for strategic stability, considering that they want to destroy a key strategic stability actor?”

During the online news conference that lasted for 2½ hours, Lavrov railed against the U.S. and its NATO allies, accusing them of trampling on international law while trying to isolate and destroy Russia.

He claimed the U.S. has tried to discourage other countries, including India, from maintaining close ties with Russia but said those attempts have failed.



Russian FM: US, NATO directly involved in Ukraine conflict - ABC News (go.com)
 

jward

passin' thru
hmm. reckon we'll have to send mo $$$

Ukraine Weapons Tracker
@UAWeapons

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian ITEC Skif reconnaissance UAV was reportedly forced to land by Russian troops using a anti-drone gun in the East.
This is the first recorded loss of this type.
 

jward

passin' thru
Faytuks News Δ
@Faytuks
7h

6 letter bombs have been sent to various targets in Spain since last week. They include:

- Ukraine's embassy
- US Embassy
- Spain's PM
- Air force base
- Arms manufacturer
- Defense Ministry

Spain's MoD: No letter or other violent action will deter us from helping Ukraine
 

jward

passin' thru
(any # above 30 still earns profits, iirc)

Faytuks News Δ
@Faytuks

BREAKING: EU governments have tentatively agreed on a $60/per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil, Poland has until 1500 GMT to agree, EU diplomat - Reuters
 

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
Dec 1, 2022 UATV English
Die from alcoholism or die at the front. The Kremlin does not seem to see any other options for its citizens. This year, the consumption of strong alcohol has increased in the Russian Federation. According to the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, 549 million liters of strong alcohol were sold in the country in the first half of the year - 42 million liters more than in the same period last year. Tens of thousands of Russians die every year due to the use of surrogates. How Russia is drinking too much - our correspondents will tell.

4:57

Alcohol addiction becomes a norm in Russia: Drinking even surrogate, triple cologne, glass cleaner

View: https://youtu.be/QB7Ko48uNpU
 

Grumphau

Veteran Member
View: https://youtu.be/TCbD4WBqPg4

RT: 57:51

Synapsis: British volunteer to the Ukrainian Foreign Legion returns home and is interviewed. Lots of guys from around Europe, ex-Soviet states and North America turned up to fight, many with civilian clothes and without basic cold weather gear. Their induction based was hit hard by Russian Kalibr missiles and destroyed. It took 9 days to receive weapons. American volunteers showing up for high-speed low drag CQB bugged out when they started taking mortars/artillery and couldn't get air support at all. US Rangers, Marines and 10th Mountain guys fight well. Ukraine has ticks.
 

wait-n-see

Veteran Member
From oct, have not seen this posted yet.

Irish MEP Clare Daly Names & Shames EU & America Over State-Sponsored Terrorism In Viral Speech​



Runtime - 1:15

Premiered Oct 21, 2022
Ireland News Today: An Irish Member of the European Parliament who previously condemned Israel as “genocidal” has said it is “laughable” that those calling for arms to Ukraine do not support arms being supplied to Palestine. Clare Daly MEP voted against an October 5 resolution condemning an escalation of Russia’s war effort. The motion followed a debate on “illegal and illegitimate” referendums used as a pretext by Russia to annex four eastern regions of Ukraine.
 
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