WWIII? Or just a little fuckery?

[Joe Guy]

I certainly hope that liberty isn't considering a career change to a suicide bomber. There's no future in it.

[BoSoxGal]

There is a world of worthwhile contribution between trained infantry foot soldiers and fanatical suicide bombers. There are older men not in tip top shape serving admirably in the Ukraine resistance - one doesn’t have to be tip top shape to be effective in urban insurgency, as one’s most important skill is superior knowledge of the terrain over one’s adversary. That and shooting reasonably straight and accuracy tossing Molotov cocktails can turn citizens of all ages and sizes and fitness levels into valuable members of the force.

[dales]

I certainly hope that liberty isn't considering a career change to a suicide bomber. There's no future in it.

What about the 27 virgins?

[MajGenl.Meade]

By the time the war is over, there'll be seven and twenty less

[MajGenl.Meade]

BBC reports that Ukraine has suggested it will drop its NATO aspirations which, as was suggested previously in this thread, was perhaps the biggest thorn in Putin's paw. I found this summary useful (Reuters):

1991: Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declares independence from Moscow.
2004: Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovich is declared president but allegations of vote-rigging trigger protests, known as the Orange Revolution, forcing a re-run of the vote. Pro-Western former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, is elected president.

2005: Yushchenko takes power with promises to lead Ukraine out of the Kremlin's orbit, towards NATO and the EU.
2008: NATO promises Ukraine it will one day join the alliance.

2010: Yanukovich wins a presidential election.
2013: Yanukovich's government suspends trade and association talks with the EU and opts to revive economic ties with Moscow, triggering months of mass rallies in Kyiv.

February 2014: Parliament votes to remove Yanukovich after bloodshed in the protests. Within days, armed men seize parliament in the Ukrainian region of Crimea and raise the Russian flag. Moscow later annexes the territory.

April 2014: Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Donbass declare independence. Some 15,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army, according to the Kyiv government.

2017: An association agreement between Ukraine and the EU opens markets for free trade of goods and services, and visa-free travel to the EU for Ukrainians.
2019: Former comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy is elected president.

Jan. 2021: Zelenskiy appeals to US President Joe Biden to let Ukraine join NATO. In February, his government freezes the assets of opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, the Kremlin's most prominent ally in Ukraine.
Spring 2021: Russia begins massing troops near Ukraine's borders in what it says are training exercises.

November 2021: Satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies show ongoing build-up of Russian forces near Ukraine with estimates soon surpassing 100,000 troops deployed.
17 December 2021: Russia presents security demands including that NATO pull back troops and weapons from eastern Europe and bar Ukraine from ever joining. [And an opportunity for negotiation goes begging IMO]

24 January 2022: NATO puts forces on standby and reinforces eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets.
26 January 2022: Washington responds to Russia's security demands, repeating a commitment to NATO's "open-door" policy while offering a "pragmatic evaluation" of Moscow's concerns. Two days later Russia says its demands not addressed.

February 2022: Amid growing Western fears Russia could attack Ukraine, the United States says it will send 3 000 extra troops to NATO members Poland and Romania. Washington and allies say they will not send troops to Ukraine but warn of severe economic sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin takes military action.

And then the people of the Sudetenland invited Hitler to lunch

[ex-khobar Andy]

The bit that's missing from that summary is that most people - including Zelenskyy - thought that Putin was just rattling his sabres and would not attack because it made no sense to do so. See GWB and Iraq in 2003 and Hitler and Poland in 1939. Hitler knew - or should have known - that the invasion of Poland would bring Britain and France into the war and he made up 'reasons' (ethnic Germans being harassed in Poland) for it. But even after he amassed troops on the border many in Britain thought he would not go through with it.

Looks as if the 'doomed to repeat history' guy was right.

Edited to correct 'trips' to 'troops.'

[MajGenl.Meade]

I don't think that something which didn't happen is properly placed in a summary of what did happen. And the Poland analogy is somewhat inapt, no matter on how many FF miles Hitler earned on his trips to the border. The Sudetenland is more apt (or apter as we free souls like to say), given the "ethnic" savior motif (i.e. lying ratbag excuse)

“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme" M Twain. I'm afraid the nuclear option has changed how this particular verse of history is voiced.

[BoSoxGal]

On another board where I read/post, someone mentioned the 1997 Aleksandr Dugin text Foundations of Geopolitics as the playbook for Putin’s current actions in Ukraine, and really much of what he’s been doing the last two decades.

Here’s the Wiki summary:

In Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin calls for the United States and Atlanticism to lose their influence in Eurasia, and for Russia to rebuild its influence through annexations and alliances.[2]

The book declares that "the battle for the world rule of Russians" has not ended and Russia remains "the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution". The Eurasian Empire will be constructed "on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us."[9]

Military operations play relatively little role. The textbook advocates a sophisticated program of subversion, destabilization, and disinformation spearheaded by the Russian special services. The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of Russia's gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries.[9]

The book states that "the maximum task [of the future] is the 'Finlandization' of all of Europe".[9]

In Europe:

Germany should be offered the de facto political dominance over most Protestant and Catholic states located within Central and Eastern Europe. Kaliningrad Oblast could be given back to Germany. The book uses the term "Moscow–Berlin axis".[9]

France should be encouraged to form a bloc with Germany, as they both have a "firm anti-Atlanticist tradition".[9]

The United Kingdom, merely described as an "extraterritorial floating base of the U.S.", should be cut off from Europe.[9]

Finland should be absorbed into Russia. Southern Finland will be combined with the Republic of Karelia and northern Finland will be "donated to Murmansk Oblast".[9]

Estonia should be given to Germany's sphere of influence.[9]

Latvia and Lithuania should be given a "special status" in the Eurasian–Russian sphere.[9]

Poland should be granted a "special status" in the Eurasian sphere.[9]

Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, "Serbian Bosnia" and Greece – "Orthodox collectivist East" – will unite with "Moscow the Third Rome" and reject the "rational-individualistic West".[9]

Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because "Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics". Ukraine should not be allowed to remain independent, unless it is cordon sanitaire, which would be inadmissible.[9]

In the Middle East and Central Asia:

The book stresses the "continental Russian–Islamic alliance" which lies "at the foundation of anti-Atlanticist strategy". The alliance is based on the "traditional character of Russian and Islamic civilization".
Iran is a key ally. The book uses the term "Moscow–Tehran axis".[9]

Armenia has a special role: It will serve as a "strategic base," and it is necessary to create "the [subsidiary] axis Moscow-Yerevan-Teheran". Armenians "are an Aryan people ... [like] the Iranians and the Kurds".[9]

Azerbaijan could be "split up" or given to Iran.[9]

Georgia should be dismembered. Abkhazia and "United Ossetia" (which includes Georgia's South Ossetia) will be incorporated into Russia. Georgia's independent policies are unacceptable.[9]

Russia needs to create "geopolitical shocks" within Turkey. These can be achieved by employing Kurds, Armenians and other minorities.[9]

The book regards the Caucasus as a Russian territory, including "the eastern and northern shores of the Caspian (the territories of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan)" and Central Asia (mentioning Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).[9]

In East and Southeast Asia:

China, which represents a danger to Russia, "must, to the maximum degree possible, be dismantled". Dugin suggests that Russia start by taking Tibet–Xinjiang–Inner Mongolia–Manchuria as a security belt.[1] Russia should offer China help "in a southern direction – Indochina (except Vietnam), the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia" as geopolitical compensation.[9]

Russia should manipulate Japanese politics by offering the Kuril Islands to Japan and provoking anti-Americanism.[9]
Mongolia should be absorbed into Eurasia-Russia.[9]
The book emphasizes that Russia must spread anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."

In the United States:

Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics".[9]

The Eurasian Project could be expanded to South and Central America.[9]

[liberty]

If the Ukrainians lose their country, we will be obligated to allow them to come here all 43 million if they want to come. If something close to that many comes within a few years, that is going to be a real burden on this country. It’s going to affect every one of us, but we have no choice. When they agreed to give up their nuclear weapons, we promised they would be safe from a Russian invasion; so we would have no choice. We gave our word; it’s a matter of honor, and a life without honor is life not worth living.

If they come here to become Americans, it will cost us economically, but our national defense capability will greatly improve, at least for a few generations.

[ex-khobar Andy]

From the Guardian:

A senior Russian diplomat has warned that from now on Moscow will consider arms shipments to Ukraine as “legitimate targets”.

The comments by the deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, reported by Sky News and BuzzFeed News, are likely to raise fears over a potential escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.

Ryabkov said that Russia had made its position clear to the US.

He said that Russia “warned the US that pumping weapons from a number of countries it orchestrates isn’t just a dangerous move, it’s an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets”.

Interesting. If they have a means of determining 'legitimate targets' there is an inference that there are such things as 'illegitimate targets.' I wonder what they are.

[BoSoxGal]

Interesting. If they have a means of determining 'legitimate targets' there is an inference that there are such things as 'illegitimate targets.' I wonder what they are.

They are apparently not babies, pregnant women or old people in nursing homes.

Fucking Putin is making me start to hate his fucking brainwashed Russian subjects.

[Burning Petard]

Only the losers seem to pay the price. DuPont got rich from the IG Farben patents given to that private corporation as spoils of war. Meantime, the losers in Germany went cold and hungry and built up anger that fueled the Great War, part deus. My generation, which was too young for WWII and too old for Vietnam, read smugly SlaughterHouse Five, about the firebombing of Dresden, and made few connections with the firebombing of Japan, both of which predictably destroyed schools, hospitals and old-folks homes.

The people of Ukraine are now paying the price for the seizing of Crimea with no significant international response, or the chemical bombing in Syria (which was one of many 'lines in the sand' to be drawn and blown away by the slightest wind) The chemical attacks with probably be next for Ukraine.

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Comrade Trump, chief money launderer

[BoSoxGal]

53F8610A-54F2-4154-8D4B-625C3C5C41EF.jpeg (45.29 KiB) Viewed 1893 times

[BoSoxGal]

[Jarlaxle]

Comrade Trump, chief money launderer

Naah...that would be Hunter Biden. Though he has to give a cut to The Big Guy.

[Scooter]

The Russian Consolate in Montreal now sits on Avenue Zelensky.

There was a bill introduced in Parliament to similarly rename the road running by the Russian Embassy in Ottawa as Zelensky Boulevard.

[BoSoxGal]

Lovely! I saw a piece on the news the other day that many cities in Eastern Europe were doing that at well on the streets where their Russian embassies reside.

DC should step it up!

[Bicycle Bill]

Lovely! I saw a piece on the news the other day that many cities in Eastern Europe were doing that at well on the streets where their Russian embassies reside.

DC should step it up!

Nah, they'll just paint a mural on the pavement saying "UKRAINIAN LIVES MATTER" and let it go at that.

-"BB"-

[Scooter]

And if the embassy staff can't look out a window or walk out the door without seeing that, then I'm good with that.