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  • AUS-97HORN
    AUS-97HORN

    For the love of Christ woman,  stop posting the same fucking thing every 20 mins just to make your neurotic self feel better.     Bring something useful to the thread other than your inane babbli

  • Im_smarter_then_you
    Im_smarter_then_you

  • InkaUtexas
    InkaUtexas

    I volunteered today. Log/Admin role to replace people for 30-60 days. The operation is in the west, or should the Orcs win will be pulled back behind the NATO wall. Either way the humanitarian effort

Posted Images

#67753

Surovikin just left for "a quick errand"

⚡️Surovikin's daughter said in an interview with "Bazi" that the general "wasn't arrested by anyone and everything is fine with him"According to her, "everyone is at their workplace." https://t.co/HDcjTwn5Aw

 

#67754
On average, the survey respondents have seven family members or friends who fell victim to Russia's war since Feb. 24, 2022.The poll was conducted on May 25 - June 5 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).https://t.co/GSCXuvdcpP

An incredible number. This war won't leave the Ukrainian conscience for centuries. I read a report last week about a British nonprofit that is arranging telehealth and virtual therapy to help give Ukrainians access to the care they need. This shows how important that work is to rebuilding Ukraine. I also wonder what the corresponding figure in Russia is. 

#67755
9 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Zeihan called out exactly what the Russians would do 10 years ago. He has been nails predicting geopolitics in general, and the Russians specifically. You might not like his style (the hair needs to go imo) but you're dead wrong if you think he doesn't know what he's talking about or think he's a hack.

This presentation was in 2014 and he nailed it:

 

 

Ho lee shit, did you even watch the video you posted?    Laughably bad. I was pleased to learn that the US is the ONLY country that will meet it's Kyoto protocols obligations.   Dude's big talent is looking at a map and talking about it in a pedantic way.  These are mountains, you can't move an army easily over mountains, deserts don't support big populations, this is a choo choo track goods move efficiently here... oh shit this guy has it all figured out!

 

oh here's a blurb from his wiki page...  Yup you guessed it, he wrote a book about maps and terrain features.

Quote

In 2014 he released Accidental Superpower. The book was reviewed by The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Kirkus Reviews.[8][11][12] The book focused on topographical and geographical landmarks (rivers, oceans, mountains, etc.) as distinct advantages in a nation's ability to dominate others economically, industrially, and militarily. With the use of maps, Zeihan pointed out that navigable rivers, or access to the oceans, along with a reliable road or rail network make a critical difference.[8] Another three books were published afterwards including The Absent Superpower (2017), Disunited Nations (2020), and The End of the World Is Just the Beginning (2022).

 

If you want a good book about the real world effects of geography (and actual analysis) I recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel.

#67756
23 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

They were bought and are called RANE now. They have videos on YT and George Friedman (Austinite) runs Geopolitical Futures now.

 

 

Zeihan called out exactly what the Russians would do 10 years ago. He has been nails predicting geopolitics in general, and the Russians specifically. You might not like his style (the hair needs to go imo) but you're dead wrong if you think he doesn't know what he's talking about or think he's a hack.

This presentation was in 2014 and he nailed it:

 

 

When you say he nailed it, what exactly did he nail there?

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the presentation, but anything important had already occurred (Crimea, Donbas) and the rest of his predictions didn’t pan out. Specifically Odesa never went Russian. And it wasn’t 4 years before they did anything more radical. As we know, it was 8 years. 

I think it’s important to have speculative theorizors, but it’s also important to recognize them as such. He likes taking data and analyzing what if scenarios. But timing and how many of his what ifs come to pass aren’t nearly as important as just having some of them come true. 

In any case, the Kerch bridge was a Ukrainian special forces operation using a truck bomb and forward intelligence of a fuel laden rail car to create a massive explosion that damaged the bridge and the underlying support structure. Not a clandestine IS strike or unannounced long range weaponry. 

Which is not my effort to debunk Zeihan, but merely to ask people to not necessarily take everything he says completely at face value. He doesn’t even take everything he says at face value. 

#67757
33 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

They were bought and are called RANE now. They have videos on YT and George Friedman (Austinite) runs Geopolitical Futures now.

Is geopolitical futures the same style as Stratfor? Can you get free content?

#67758
21 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

An incredible number. This war won't leave the Ukrainian conscience for centuries. I read a report last week about a British nonprofit that is arranging telehealth and virtual therapy to help give Ukrainians access to the care they need. This shows how important that work is to rebuilding Ukraine. I also wonder what the corresponding figure in Russia is. 

They’ll end up the best part of NATO.  This thing will end, UKr will kick Russia out, they’ll join, and they’ll have some sharp sticks pointing east from that day on.  No begging them for the 2% gdp spend or whatever.  
 

8 hours ago, BamaATL said:

we'd shut the power off in Russia first with a cyber attack, followed by an attack on their communication satellites, shortly after we'd sink their Navy (all of it), then we'd hit as many missile installations we knew of with stealth cruise missiles, then we'd down their Air Force (all of it).   Then I guess we could hit the bridge I guess for shits and giggles.  

image.gif.3fd10fd0cfe2b946140ad331cf9690ca.gif

#67759
20 minutes ago, locodos said:

Ho lee shit, did you even watch the video you posted?    Laughably bad. I was pleased to learn that the US is the ONLY country that will meet it's Kyoto protocols obligations.   Dude's big talent is looking at a map and talking about it in a pedantic way.  These are mountains, you can't move an army easily over mountains, deserts don't support big populations, this is a choo choo track goods move efficiently here... oh shit this guy has it all figured out!

 

oh here's a blurb from his wiki page...  Yup you guessed it, he wrote a book about maps and terrain features.

 

If you want a good book about the real world effects of geography (and actual analysis) I recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel.

 

This was just one video I could find in a couple of minutes of searching. He actually called out the Russian moves in his first book in 2011, and he is a proponent of Geography predicting Geopolitics because of history. I've read Gun, Germs, and Steel and it's great.

 

18 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Is geopolitical futures the same style as Stratfor? Can you get free content?

 

Yes, and they have some videos as well. Friedman has lots of interviews and videos on YT too, though he seems to have slowed. Ian Bremmer, Michael Kofman, and Stephen Kotkin are good too imo.

 

19 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

When you say he nailed it, what exactly did he nail there?

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the presentation, but anything important had already occurred (Crimea, Donbas) and the rest of his predictions didn’t pan out. Specifically Odesa never went Russian. And it wasn’t 4 years before they did anything more radical. As we know, it was 8 years. 

I think it’s important to have speculative theorizors, but it’s also important to recognize them as such. He likes taking data and analyzing what if scenarios. But timing and how many of his what ifs come to pass aren’t nearly as important as just having some of them come true. 

In any case, the Kerch bridge was a Ukrainian special forces operation using a truck bomb and forward intelligence of a fuel laden rail car to create a massive explosion that damaged the bridge and the underlying support structure. Not a clandestine IS strike or unannounced long range weaponry. 

Which is not my effort to debunk Zeihan, but merely to ask people to not necessarily take everything he says completely at face value. He doesn’t even take everything he says at face value. 

 

He can be a little too declaratory sometimes imo but he's been ahead of the curve predicting the weakening of globalization, Russia, Chinese/American relations, and EU power. He's not Nostradamus, but he's been better than most Geopolitical analysts the past decade.

 

Edited by MagicSoccerSpray

#67760

I should have preferenced my comments on Zeihan as rhetorical.    I do not think we hit the bridge.   It was not worth the possible issues with escalation and if we had, it would be out of commission.   I do not think Zeihan is the end all be all of commentary but he's one of the voices I listen to for a viewpoint.   He really, really beats the demographics drum hard and also about how few people in Russia would be capable of replacing Putin/his cronies.   

  • Popular Post
#67761
1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

I respect them mixing it up and saying ATV accident. The falling out a window was getting stale. 

Ever since the o.g. defenestration event in Prague more than 400 years ago, Eastern Europeans have been limited to no more than four involuntary window exitings per month.

Initially it was six, but the figure was revised downward after special pleadings from the Catholic church, the World Health Organization, and the United Glassmakers Union of Ipswich (#382).

#67762
7 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

This was just one video I could find in a couple of minutes of searching. He actually called out the Russian moves in his first book in 2011, and he is a proponent of Geography predicting Geopolitics because of history. I've read Gun, Germs, and Steel and it's great.

 

 

Yes, and they have some videos as well. Friedman has lots of interviews and videos on YT too, though he seems to have slowed. Ian Bremmer, Michael Kofman, and Stephen Kotkin are good too imo.

 

 

He can be a little too declaratory sometimes imo but he's been ahead of the curve predicting the weakening of globalization, Russia, Chinese/American relations, and EU power. He's not Nostradamus, but he's been better than most Geopolitical analysts the past decade.

 

I don’t have a problem with Zeihan. I’m too declarative. It’s effective rhetorically. Passion and conviction changes hearts and minds. 

The central issue is his speculations regarding the Kerch bridge. It shouldn’t be taken seriously. He likes throwing out what ifs. It’s important to note. The video you linked is a good example. Based on what he knew in 2014 he speculated that Russian friendly areas - including Odesa that was famously founded by Catherine the Great, and the implied move of Kherson over to Russia by more clandestine means would allow Russia to shut off Ukraine access to Dnipro and the Black Sea, their grain would have no export market because it’s too low quality for Europe, the US would not have any incentive to support Eastern Europe in any kind of face off with Russia, and Germany would then be impelled to send troops through Poland to fight off Russia in Ukraine. Cue ironic laughter. 

Instead the lines of battle became static. Russia quit risking their military in excursions in Ukrainian territory. I don’t agree with his assessment that the Ukrainian military fell into a trap. But they never were as aggressive in taking back territory. Poroshenko was elected as rabidly anti Russian, then Zelensky was elected as a primarily Russian speaking Ukrainian who wouldn’t be as much of a hardliner towards Russia. And a pro Ukrainian Biden was elected president. None of which could be predicted in 2014 regardless of demographic trends. Doesn’t make them wrong or unhelpful. 

The truth is - and we’ve talked about it unpteen times before - the invasion was a massive mistake. But the crusades were a massive mistake, too. They were both carried out for the wrong reasons by zealots where what made sense was less important than the religious cause behind them. With the crusades the restoration of the Holy Land in Christian hands. With the invasion the restoration of imperial Russia and the final erasure of the historical mistake of Ukraine. But that wasn’t predictable in 2014 by Zeihan because he didn’t have enough information at his disposal. He saw any military action in Ukraine as a mopping up exercise for the final remnants of an isolated Ukraine. As far as predictions go, that’s a really bad one. 

#67763
54 minutes ago, locodos said:

Ho lee shit, did you even watch the video you posted?    Laughably bad. I was pleased to learn that the US is the ONLY country that will meet it's Kyoto protocols obligations.   Dude's big talent is looking at a map and talking about it in a pedantic way.  These are mountains, you can't move an army easily over mountains, deserts don't support big populations, this is a choo choo track goods move efficiently here... oh shit this guy has it all figured out!

 

oh here's a blurb from his wiki page...  Yup you guessed it, he wrote a book about maps and terrain features.

 

If you want a good book about the real world effects of geography (and actual analysis) I recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel.

He dumbs things down for the 99% of people who aren't the geopolitical nerds like we have here.  Sure it's a bit oversimplfied, but still effective.  He went mainstream when Russia invaded in 2022 and we all discovered his presentations on Youtube.  Those much better than the "pop geopolitics" vids he makes today.  And FWIW, one of his talks was in front of a group of US military folks.  (Looked like mid-level officers?)  So he must have some good insight.

One of his "what if's" talked about how the Mexican drug lord problem has commonalities with Afganistan's tribal war lords.  He wasn't advocating for a US miltary intervention, but suggesting we have good expertise that can be drawn on.  Good stuff.

#67764

Russian apologist Douglas MacGregor is on the PBD Broadcast right now.  (PBD is poor man's Joe Rogan.  He had Andrew Tate's douchebag brother on a few weeks ago.)

Watched 3 minutes and already got these nuggets:

"Putin's mistakes shrink when compared to our own mistakes."

"I would argue that most of the World backs Russia over us."

"Russian minorities are treated well.  Look at the Chechnians."

"Russia is more cohesive than we are."

"This war is gonna help him (Putin) enormously. It will lead to an awakening (in Russia society)."

dazed-and-confused-okay.gif

#67765
6 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Russian apologist Douglas MacGregor is on the PBD Broadcast right now.  (PBD is poor man's Joe Rogan.  He had Andrew Tate's douchebag brother on a few weeks ago.)

Watched 3 minutes and already got these nuggets:

"Putin's mistakes shrink when compared to our own mistakes."

"I would argue that most of the World backs Russia over us."

"Russian minorities are treated well.  Look at the Chechnians."

"Russia is more cohesive than we are."

"This war is gonna help him (Putin) enormously. It will lead to an awakening (in Russia society)."

dazed-and-confused-okay.gif

I mean, it's Russia, but that last comment has an outside chance of being true. Just not in the way he's presenting. 

#67766
1 minute ago, Parliament said:

He dumbs things down for the 99% of people who aren't the geopolitical nerds like we have here.  Sure it's a bit oversimplfied, but still effective.  He went mainstream when Russia invaded in 2022 and we all discovered his presentations on Youtube.  Those much better than the "pop geopolitics" vids he makes today.  And FWIW, one of his talks was in front of a group of US military folks.  (Looked like mid-level officers?)  So he must have some good insight.

One of his "what if's" talked about how the Mexican drug lord problem has commonalities with Afganistan's tribal war lords.  He wasn't advocating for a US miltary intervention, but suggesting we have good expertise that can be drawn on.  Good stuff.

Going by the video posted above he doesn't know what's happening in the actual state/country he lives in, forgive me if I doubt his ability to project real valuable insight across the globe.

All I get from this guy are con man vibes.  He's monetizing talking.  So he has interesting things to say whether those things are true or not. Like the TB claim in the video posted above. "Most (Russian) teenagers have TB"  

Here's what the NIH says about TB in Russia "In Russia and the former Soviet Union, TB has been an acute problem. Today, the official estimate of the incidence of TB is about 82 to 83 per 100,000 population." 

He is an entertainer. 

#67767
26 minutes ago, Parliament said:

He dumbs things down for the 99% of people who aren't the geopolitical nerds like we have here.  Sure it's a bit oversimplfied, but still effective.  He went mainstream when Russia invaded in 2022 and we all discovered his presentations on Youtube.  Those much better than the "pop geopolitics" vids he makes today.  And FWIW, one of his talks was in front of a group of US military folks.  (Looked like mid-level officers?)  So he must have some good insight.

One of his "what if's" talked about how the Mexican drug lord problem has commonalities with Afganistan's tribal war lords.  He wasn't advocating for a US miltary intervention, but suggesting we have good expertise that can be drawn on.  Good stuff.

 

He's former state department and has consulted for some three letter agencies. Here is his presentation to the Army Maneuver Warfighter Conference the week before the Ukrainian invasion.

 

 

#67768
2 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Did the ATV fly through a window?

It slipped on some polonium.

#67770
41 minutes ago, locodos said:

Going by the video posted above he doesn't know what's happening in the actual state/country he lives in, forgive me if I doubt his ability to project real valuable insight across the globe.

All I get from this guy are con man vibes.  He's monetizing talking.  So he has interesting things to say whether those things are true or not. Like the TB claim in the video posted above. "Most (Russian) teenagers have TB"  

Here's what the NIH says about TB in Russia "In Russia and the former Soviet Union, TB has been an acute problem. Today, the official estimate of the incidence of TB is about 82 to 83 per 100,000 population." 

He is an entertainer. 

He has a lot of problems with citing sources for his figures. I think some of his analysis is interesting, but he has a tendency to find facts he likes without doing much to research into their sources or to verify their reliability.  

#67774
8 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Have you heard him laugh?

His awkward laughter is short lived. Those ties are fucking nails on chalkboard for minutes or hours at a time. 

#67775
1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

he has a tendency to find facts he likes without doing much to research into their sources or to verify their reliability.  

Sounds like he'd fit right in here. Maybe he gets his facts from TikTok comments? 

#67777
Artist’s impression of Putin looking for people with deep ties to hot dog enthusiast Y.V. Prigozhin https://t.co/Vjf1GUNGRd
Ramzan Kadyrov's forces are distinguishing themselves off the battlefield in Ukraine and at some distance from Wagner's mutiny – by not really doing anything.@courtney_ft on why the Checehns are more concerned with social media than battlefield success:https://t.co/emsdACDs7K

 

#67778
4 hours ago, KYHorn said:
#Russian Interior Ministry General Alexander Travnikov was involved in a serious ATV accident. He is in a hospital in critical condition.

 

I guess he drove it out the window of a high rise.  Horrible accident, but it happens.

#67779
12 hours ago, brakeman said:
🚨MUTINY: Russian army units are being annihilated in Ukraine. No munitions, food, or water. Not paid a single time over the entire deployment which started 3 months ago. Out of the 150-person company, only 16-17 survived. They refuse to follow orders to go back to frontline.

 

image.gif.7501d694c69f0a8173903a4292da9f0a.gif

  • Popular Post
#67780

fucking finally:

BREAKING: The United States is "close" to approving ATACMS to Ukraine, US and European officials say - WSJ

 

#67782
21 minutes ago, The Dog said:

fucking finally:

BREAKING: The United States is "close" to approving ATACMS to Ukraine, US and European officials say - WSJ

 

 

8e8e70c2218aafec441b3496457da313.jpg

#67783
13 hours ago, brakeman said:
🚨MUTINY: Russian army units are being annihilated in Ukraine. No munitions, food, or water. Not paid a single time over the entire deployment which started 3 months ago. Out of the 150-person company, only 16-17 survived. They refuse to follow orders to go back to frontline.

 

That guys liver is kissing his belly button.

 

#67784
Satellite imagery procured by Bellingcat suggests Russia intentionally flooded occupied Ukrainian city of Tokmak. The move occurred ahead of Ukraine's counteroffensive and is seen as part of a broader trend to create water obstacles in Zaporizhzhia oblast. https://t.co/zX9APHpPLR
Rescue operation ends in Kramatorsk with the current death toll from the Russian missile strike standing at 12 - including three children - and 65 wounded. https://t.co/lfEIdqmk3t

 

Edited by Schulz2.0

#67785
1 hour ago, Schulz2.0 said:
Artist’s impression of Putin looking for people with deep ties to hot dog enthusiast Y.V. Prigozhin https://t.co/Vjf1GUNGRd
Ramzan Kadyrov's forces are distinguishing themselves off the battlefield in Ukraine and at some distance from Wagner's mutiny – by not really doing anything.@courtney_ft on why the Checehns are more concerned with social media than battlefield success:https://t.co/emsdACDs7K

 

Chechens will revolt the second his troop levels are significantly reduced.  He can’t lose them.  That’s why they are blocking troops. 

#67786

take with a large grain of salt:

🇷🇺💥🇷🇺W Rosji wybuchła wojna między FSB a Ministerstwem Obrony - ukraiński wywiad

"

In Russia, a war broke out between the FSB and the Ministry of Defense - Ukrainian intelligence"

#67787
A very pleasant review of Z Generation - a "pacy" read about Russian fascism, online indoctrination, doublethink, and performativity - just in time for American release day on Saturday! https://t.co/TI8RbEjFIM
Results of the SBU unit 'A' past week:➡️5 tanks➡️3 self propelled guns Gvozdika➡️2 AD systems➡️2 D-30 howitzers➡️1 EW system➡️16 APVs➡️23 various types of vehicles➡️6 firing positions/dug outs➡️+- 100 men personnelEffective.

 

#67788
"First of all, the counteroffensive is at an early stage. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine recently said that most units have not yet been involved in it. Without a doubt, the Russians have been preparing the defense for months, so it is very difficult to break through it," the…
The sixth Russian billionaire renounced his Russian citizenshipBusinessman Igor Makarov has renounced his Russian passport, Forbes writes. He became at least the sixth billionaire who renounced Russian citizenship after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Makarov has a Cyprus…

 

#67789
4 hours ago, Macanudo said:

 He really, really beats the demographics drum hard and also about how few people in Russia would be capable of replacing Putin/his cronies.   

I think he's probably right on both.  Well, we know demographics is a problem for them - they upped their mobilization and enlistment ages up drastically, as well as loosening standards on mental and physical health.

In terms of replacing Putin and his cronies, I've heard him say only a few hundred people are capable of taking over and competently managing a large organization in Russia, and I think he's probably right - many/most who are competent in the civilian sector have probably left Russia years ago for greener pastures.  Maybe it's a thousand people, but Russian society simply doesn't have that many opportunities the way that the West does.

Those in the military - we are constantly seeing a serious lack of either independent thought/actions, or if they are capable of it, a fear of doing something that may seem right on the surface, but may catch hell from those above them, so they wait around for orders - we constantly see this on the battlefield, we saw it during Prigozhin's march.  It's not like Western militaries where independent thought is expected amongst junior NCOs and officers when faced with situations that change. It's not helped that in Russia, officers are making decisions and issuing commands that normally junior NCOs would be handling in the West.  And Putin has purged a lot of generals over the last 20 years, that he was worried about either because of potential coup implications, or just in general that they had developed a following amongst their men that he found threatening.  Instead, we get interchangeable generals who, regardless of their battlefield competence, are judged more for how Putin thinks they are doing.

Civilian area/political arena - the mindsets that we all saw in the Chernobyl mini-series on HBO is arguably still there with some of them.  Shit, Shoigu is running the military instead of somebody who came up through the ranks.  And there was no mass demonstration of independence on the part of the oblasts when Prigozhin was doing his thing - everybody seemed to be waiting to see what would happen, outside of a few dug-up highways (which would not have slowed Prigozhin down).  And combine that with the rampant corruption that leads those who are competent organizers/managers at a large-scale level to either scamming the system and keeping their heads down, or elevating themselves up to (or near) the oligarch level.

#67790
5 hours ago, locodos said:

Ho lee shit, did you even watch the video you posted?    Laughably bad. I was pleased to learn that the US is the ONLY country that will meet it's Kyoto protocols obligations.   Dude's big talent is looking at a map and talking about it in a pedantic way.  These are mountains, you can't move an army easily over mountains, deserts don't support big populations, this is a choo choo track goods move efficiently here... oh shit this guy has it all figured out!

 

oh here's a blurb from his wiki page...  Yup you guessed it, he wrote a book about maps and terrain features.

 

If you want a good book about the real world effects of geography (and actual analysis) I recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Agree about the book and the analyst! A few friends subscribed to StratFor. During the coup in Zimbabwe they were saying it was not happening. Meanwhile I am getting videos of the tanks moving from friends on the ground real time. 

Another good book if you want to get into geography and impact on military operations is Military Geography by John Collins. He is no longer with us, but dude was a bad ass. Basically ran Congressional Research Services which is a pretty good place for information. 

#67791
⚡️The Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces showed a photo from the Sea Breeze-2023 exercise, which started in the UK.18 countries are participating. On the Ukrainian side, the flotilla commander, Captain 1st rank Yurii Fedash, is in charge of the training.As part of the…
⚡️President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with ex-Vice President of the USA, Senator Mike Pence, who is visiting Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of full-scale russian aggression. They discussed defense, interaction between our peoples, security…

 

#67792
5 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

Zeihan called out exactly what the Russians would do 10 years ago. He has been nails predicting geopolitics in general, and the Russians specifically. You might not like his style (the hair needs to go imo) but you're dead wrong if you think he doesn't know what he's talking about or think he's a hack.

He has gotten a lot of things right, but some of his predicted outcomes could have been based on reasons other than he claims, and because it's Russia it's hard to say.

If you believe him when he says Putin is obsessed with pushing Russia's boundaries out to geographical barriers it makes sense, because you'd think Putin is afraid of the West invading Russia, and that he has to act now because of the demographic crisis and from here on out, every year leaves Putin with a smaller and smaller pool of manpower to draw from.

But one could argue that there are other issues at play that drove Putin - arrogance over getting away with 2014, a belief that NATO was at a weak point and divided, greed and a fear that if Ukraine brought its offshore resources into play (which was in the works), it could cripple Russia economically and therefore Russia had to annex the coastal areas to get control of them.  And Putin getting older (closing in on 70) and wanting to cement his legacy and/or a concern that he needed some wins to keep the people in line.

Unfortunately we probably won't know exactly what Putin was thinking for a long time to come.

  • Popular Post
#67793
22 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Yes, quite the reverse of how the Russians were greeted, if you recall.

I've thought of both parties many times, especially once the "special operation" started to not go to plan for the invaders.

Is she still alive? Are the Russians? If they died, where did they fall? Was her prophecy still in their ears as they took their final breaths?

What initially seemed like an act of defiance in a hopeless cause has become quite prophetic--that lady truly did curse them that day.

New shirt. Arrived a few weeks back 

 

PXL_20230603_011437184.thumb.jpg.12b3bd8b1084897d9723a3249e647840.jpg

#67794
1/ The bitter feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov appears to have originated in Syria, as an interesting personal account by Prigozhin of the February 2018 Battle of Khasham illustrates. ⬇️

tl;dr version (best I can come up with):

1. Prigozhin wanted to capture the Conoco oil fields for an oil oligarch associated with Wagner;

2. Prigozhin is BFF with Surovikin (head of Russian AF) and thought he would have air support;

3. Gerasimov ordered the Russian military to stand down and not support the attack once underway;

4. Russia MOD denied involvement which gave the US the green light to wipe them out;

5. Prigozhin ran to Moscow in a rage once it was over and was ignored by Shoigu and Gerasimov.

#67795
Gen Surovikin’s deputy, air force commander Gen Col Yudin, has been dismissed from the Russian armed forces, the well-informed Ekho Moskvy ex-chief Venediktov claims. https://t.co/QqELQuiPkn
... Prigozhin bent his line publicly and openly, which cannot be said about Surovikin, who from the very beginning of the war was scheming in the General Staff." 2/2

 

#67796
14 minutes ago, The Dog said:
1/ The bitter feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov appears to have originated in Syria, as an interesting personal account by Prigozhin of the February 2018 Battle of Khasham illustrates. ⬇️

tl;dr version (best I can come up with):

1. Prigozhin wanted to capture the Conoco oil fields for an oil oligarch associated with Wagner;

2. Prigozhin is BFF with Surovikin (head of Russian AF) and thought he would have air support;

3. Gerasimov ordered the Russian military to stand down and not support the attack once underway;

4. Russia MOD denied involvement which gave the US the green light to wipe them out;

5. Prigozhin ran to Moscow in a rage once it was over and was ignored by Shoigu and Gerasimov.

Prigozhin to Russia: "my troops are being slaughtered in Syria and Ukraine, this will not stand!"

Prigozhin to his troops: "I'm peacing out to Belarus on my private jet, y'all are on your own lol"

#67798
Russian MP Andrey Karapatolov is the Duma Defence Committee chiefHis views on the Wagner Group have evolved since Prigozhin's mutiny and provide a window into how Putin might handle Wagner going forwardSome more details /1
Karapatolov made it very clear that Wagner Group fighters who chose to partake in Rostov-on-Don insurrection would be open to signing contracts to the Russian Defence MinistrySimilar to what Putin alluded to in his June 26 address /3
Given the small initial uptake of Wagner fighters to the MoD, Kartapolov's comments appear to point to a removal of Wagner from the frontlinesKirill Budanov from GUR tends to play up Wagner and came to a similar conclusionRussia's offensive potential is shredded /END

 

#67799
14 minutes ago, The Dog said:

image.thumb.png.67404874636f7379529e5bca6ce4e13f.png

If that's the sofa of a Russian billionaire.  Imagine how shitty the sofa of a Russian millionaire must be? 

Also, I'm picturing the Air Force commander being dismissed.  And they're trying to figure out how to throw him out of a window but with some military dignity for his service as a pilot to the RF.  And somebody walks in with a copy of the Goose ejection scene in Top Gun on the glass cockpit.  And Putin says, "Oh, I like that.  I like that idea very much."  

#67800
Please say this is true, sir!!!!https://t.co/nnJTsnxVQC

 

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