Only if Kamala has a death wish. She'd go giggling to her grave.

You're probably right that about the number of Clintonistas within the Ruling Class but that's not enough. She remains a terrible campaigner who can never stop putting her foot in her mouth and it's for these reasons that she is intensely disliked even within her own party. They will never forgive her for losing an election they "thought" was in the bag. And, like Trump and Biden, she is as old as dirt.

Replies: @Kronos

Actually it wasn’t a case of believing her.

From my own experience, once you hit 70, you do slow down a bit. Not the same energy level, aches and pains.

Of course that’s not stopping Trump but he seems driven. But I suppose all politicians are driven.

As for Biden I’ve heard his wife wants him to run. I suspect that’s true.

I don’t know if Hilary is still driven or if she was ever at the level of Trump in ambition.

If she’s still hankering for one last shot, we’ll know soon.

Replies: @The Anti-Gnostic, @Mike Conrad

Hilary is no spring chicken herself. She’s 76.

In 2019 she said she would not seek office again.

https://westchester.news12.com/im-not-running-hillary-clinton-rules-out-2020-bid-for-first-time-on-camera-in-exclusive-interview-with-news-12-40067049

Replies: @Kronos, @DenverGregg

Except that Hillary was a terrible candidate last time, and will be a worse candidate this time...She's lazy or infirm, and people don't like her, including a fair number of Democrats...

Replies: @Kronos

The man seems more like an actor than anything else.
 

Well played sir!

Nice job, JR! Your story is uplifting to me. I wish more Americans would take a stand, even if just a small one.

When I was last suffering in corporate America under mandatory diversity training, I was amused that a black lady friend at work hated it even more than I did. (The eternal contradictions of liberalism: they make "diversity training" to be nice to blacks but then blacks end up hating it even more than whites.) Anyhow, she flat out told the boss she wouldn't attend the mandatory training anymore.

And the boss ...

... did nothing.

He wasn't going to lose his one really good black female employee over some BS corporate mandate. Whether his sentiment was shared all the way of the hierarchy or whether he just forged her attendance signature and swept it under the rug, I don't know. But I still felt a sense of liberation-by-proxy that she could just defy the woke directive, even if I knew the same option wasn't open to me.

Replies: @Sam Malone

The oil producing regions would be rife with shaped charges used in perforating guns. In rocky areas dynamite and ANFO are still used for pipeline construction and gravel pits. ANFO made with fertilizer could easily be obtained in agricultural areas. So yes, the middle of the nation is populated with men with knowledge and the means of producing and deploying IEDs

It is often said that an infantryman's pack has never gotten lighter since Roman legionnaire times.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's significantly heavier in these days of automatic weapons when the amount of ammunition that can be carried can be decisive. I'm guessing Roman troops likely weighed in the 130 to 140 pound range. And the Roman army was really smart about not overburdening their men. I read Edward Luttwak's book "The Grand Strategy of Rome" and he emphasized how the legions could march for 1000 miles or more and arrive in better shape than when they left. They only marched 4 or 5 hours per day and had lots of techniques for ensuring that they ate and slept well en route.

Replies: @John Henry, @Almost Missouri, @Joe Stalin, @GeologyAnonMk6, @Kronos

Infantry might carry more gear, but the total number of miles they hump is probably less than ever. After basic training, they are getting moved via motorized, mechanized, or even airborne transport.

For every vet with a valid disability claim, there are five with faked/exaggerated claims getting paid.

It's an open secret. Most of the claimants with no real problems are non-Whites gaming the system, though with the drop-off in honor and integrity over the past few decades, many White vets these days are doing it, too. It's sickening.

There are so many stories of patrols hiking for days with 80lbs rucks. It's no wonder there's such a high number of foot, knee, and back problems. Had a family friend who worked at the local VA who'd talk about it occasionally.

BTW, Mystery Ranch backpacks are awesome!

https://youtu.be/PETJgpWTrVA

One of these countries is not like the others.

Replies: @Kronos

Yes, and the process is farther along than that image suggests: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are seriously considering applying to join BRICS, and the existing BRICS members may say yes within the next 2-3 years.

and, yet, Peter Zeihan (new book out) thinks that re-shoring will happen this decade

Replies: @Kronos

Don't forget environmental legislation, which became a big deal in the 1970s and 80s. The reason we in the developed world get to preen ourselves over how clean our water/air/food/etc is, is because we exported all of our polluting industries to Asia.

It's actually a pretty common argument and basically the only one they have:

"Women have no agency and can't help but fuck like rabbits. Why do we want to punish them for that?"

To some degree, I think the "women of color" variation is at least a little bit honest, if at odds with their other stated beliefs.

a) it is already happening, people are turning their back to the NFL

b) it is hopeless. You will have to turn your back to EVERYTHING, because EVERYTHING will become first leftist and then crazy extreme Leftist. Don't think there is any institution that will be spared.

Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing [O’Sullivan] [Robert Conquest]

Left-wingers, utterly intolerant, will not hire a non-Leftist. Leftists will harass and oust1 non-leftists at every opportunity. They even get rid of CEO’s2. Naïve right wingers hire neutrally: the Right is perfectly willing to admit openly left-wing employees, in the interest of fairness.

Leftist intolerance crowds out3 right-wing tolerance. Those elements of Western and Anglo-Saxon culture, which prize even-handedness and “fair play,” are turned against the culture itself4*5*6.

 

Replies: @Barnard, @Hrw-500, @Colin Wright, @JimDandy

I been saying it for years, i can not understand this "obsession" so many conservative folks have with sports, sports teams, etc.
Just like in ancient Rome, circus for the masses

Replies: @Seneca44, @Corn

It’s the hardest ask for many members of the sane community, but it’s time to turn your back on the NFL, and most pro sports.
 

Done.

Yep. Pro sports (and most other institutions) have cast their lot with ideological evil, and I have disengaged with them to the extent possible.

Replies: @Nicholas Stix

It’s the hardest ask for many members of the sane community, but it’s time to turn your back on the NFL
 

This appears to be a decision and statement by the D.C. Swamp Creatures Team (formal name pending), and Ron Rivera. That's who should be loudly criticized, mocked and boycotted. If they are forced to pay a price in merch, tickets, and viewership it will register and set an example.

Why should fans boycott Tom Brady or Bill Belichek (who are based) because they don't like fucktards like Rivera or Colin Kapernick?

Replies: @JimDandy

As a kid I remember the highlight of many weeks was watching the NFL on Sunday, then talking about it Monday with my friends. We would all play football on the playground and pretend to be various players; we also played baseball and basketball. Seeing what’s become of the leagues literally makes me sick to my stomach.

In college I took a class called Sports Sociology as an easy few extracurricular credits. It was taught by a hardcore lefty lesbian, and very little of the class had to do with sports, but rather what would now be called woke ideology. I remember thinking to myself, why in the heck is a woman like this teaching a class like this, when the content really has nothing to do with sports?… now I know. The left has been playing “the long game” with major sports for decades, and now has weaponized it against the populace.

Done and done.

Certainly this is correct. It is very hard because sports do represent some of the good of this life, but the pro and big-time college sports are as political as CNN. It’s awful, they’re converting no one and alienating their real fan bases. So why are they doing it? The answer should open up a big bottle of red pills to guys primarily unconcerned with the political world.

Replies: @AndrewR, @Jack P

Hahahahahhahaha!!!!!!!
Corvinus showed up to call the poster a Troll.

I've missed his bitchy little posts, since he clearly had some kind of severe mental complex to hang out on Unz and try to forward MSNBC talking points. Now all we get is a pussified call of "troll," with no further comment? As your SJW overlords say, Corvinus, do better. Do Better.

Everything about (((sportsball))) is anti-White; life is full of far more interesting things.

I'm close to giving up the NFL, for real. For the first time. The tranny cheerleader on Carolina and the Del Rio fine might be it. But here's the issue:

ALL sports have been corrupted. All four major team sports have embraced BLM and the sexual deviance agenda, and the gayness only seems to be getting worse.

Even less progressive sports like golf were affected. And even the Trump-supporting UFC celebrates "pride" month. Is there any completely unaffected American sport? Let me know.

It's not like college sports are safe. Lots of college teams wore BLM on uniforms in 20-21, and some (like Cinderella St. Peter's) wore it in 21-22. Plus college athletes get paid now. So it's pro sports, just lower quality.

I guess there's an argument that the NFL is so egregious and as the #1 sport, it's more symbolic to give up. But this needs to be a comprehensive process from both fans and politicians to take back sports.

Replies: @JimDandy

Bill Kristol did what he does, and we did nothing, and now here he is doing it again and it's all happening again.

The media is loving these cutesy protests where "thousands" of students walk out of schools to protest gun violence. Of course they're more at risk out on the city streets

Replies: @Reg Cæsar, @Corn, @Nicholas Stix

A lot of gun control advocates are the sort of people who believe "George Floyd was murdered". But also live in non-diverse areas.
So they literally have to worry more about rare mass shootings than mere "common crime".
It's a bit like the historian for the website Governing; wrote about looking toward Canada for possible gun control legislation. While ignoring all the articles on his website advocating repeal or noncompliance with "common sense" laws that disproportionately impact Blacks (as they put it).

But at some point the gun control lobby took a dramatic shift in political marketing.
 

Replies: @Kronos

But at some point the gun control lobby took a dramatic shift in political marketing. Instead of black crime (the leading cause in gun fatalities) the narrative focused on extremely rare cases of mentally ill (white) students shooting up schools. Did PR marketing firms find this a far more effective strategy in advocating gun control to the public?
 

Kronos, I did not know this picture. I merely recognize Generals Patton, Bradley and Eisenhower. Please would you be so kind as to explain its context. Thank you !

Replies: @Kronos

Dueling requires a sense of honor that most of Obama's sons simply lack. Walking apart from each other with backs turned then turning around and firing one at a time? Imagine that happening in the hood.

You completely misunderstand dueling. Dueling IS legalistic. Dueling was governed by the Code Duello. It was literally written down in a book:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Code_of_Honor/usEiFvrXbF8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Ghetto blacks don't read books and aren't into abiding by all sorts of elaborate rules. Ambushing their enemies at a vulnerable moment (say when they are at a funeral) is more their style.

Dueling was a very upper class thing. Although there are all sorts of TV shows nowadays that retcon blacks into the historic upper class, the truf is that ghetto blacks are the polar opposite of the upper class.

Replies: @kaganovitch

Legalize dueling and you’d save a lot of heartache and suffering.

Considering the marksmanship of the contestants, I'm afraid 'seconds' would have a very limited life expectancy.

Replies: @HammerJack

Can you really imagine ghetto blacks sorting out their differences like Barry Lyndon and Lord Bullingdon?

Somehow, I doubt it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6VhEkslEJI

Replies: @Achmed E. Newman, @John Johnson

They couldn’t trot out this photo the last time Castreau stood for election?

Fucking Canadian amateurs!

Replies: @Kronos

That's just armchair internet expert stuff, doesn't matter that it's from lawyers. It's about as decisive as the 'clear evidence' of a missile being launched just as the plane is about to hit the WTC.

It's quite possible to get hit in the nose and think you've broken your nose and haven't, or haven't significantly. Especially if you've never been hit like that before. It's possible it's what she felt at the time. She said a doctor said there had been damage to cartilage and I do remember Depp's lawyers worked hard to stop her presenting that ('objection objection objection objection objection objection objection objection objection objection objection objection ')

Replies: @Kronos

Many argued that defending Heard was a bad idea but I doubt even they understood how bad the optics would ultimately pan out.
 

Any husband suffering in silence out of fear of a mentally ill wife now has some glimmer of hope that their stories may be believed and not be mocked.
 

Replies: @Kronos

ACLU abandoned their free speech absolutism under trump when they were inundated with contributions and they realized it was much more lucrative to be just another left wing anti trump organization. No longer free speech on politics, race, gender, etc.

There was a time I could respect the ACLU even as I often didn’t agree with it. No longer

Replies: @Paleo Liberal, @Curle

By " actresses" you mean " women",right?😇

Replies: @Hapalong Cassidy

And we should not believe all women, as they sometimes tell wild stories to gain advantage in divorce court.

There are others like them, for example, I have heard it argued (I don't know or necessarily agree) that Dave McCormick is pretty much an establishment Republican.

I don't know if this is a swing at Bush vs Gore, but let's not forget that recount was done and Bush won. The re-re-recounts were opposed because two years earlier the Florida Democrats were caught stuffing ballots and a judge overturned a Miami mayoral election.

Replies: @Kronos

A Freudian slip? Or did he just officially concede that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a mistake?
 

It's the Revelation of the Method.
"According to Michael Hoffman: first they suppress the counterargument, and when the most opportune time arrives, they reveal aspects of what’s really happened, but in a limited hangout sort of way.

We were told the vaccines were harmless, until Pfizer debased their own safety claims, but not before the entire world had been vaccinated. Lockdown Apologists across the corporate media are now almost unanimous that lockdowns do more harm than good. This is no arbitrary volte-face, but rather a carefully planned sequence of disclosures when the time is ripe.

Michael Hoffman suggests that the ruling elite are giving notice of their supremacy. Declaring themselves virtuoso criminal masterminds, above the law and beyond reproach. But most of all, they are telling you, in no uncertain terms, that you are without recourse, these events are beyond your control, as is your own destiny for that matter. Eventually a sense of apathy and abulia engulfs humanity, demoralising us to the point of conceding defeat to a system we are powerless to change."
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/29/revelation-of-the-method/

Replies: @JohnnyWalker123

There’s also a strong quality component to the supply. You hear a lot from the gun community that most gun crimes aren’t committed with fancy $1200 Berettas but cheap Hi-Points which are VERY cheap. Hi-Points are cheap because the quality and reliability sucks. But they are within easy financial reach of high crime risk demographics.

https://youtu.be/P9O7bgkKC-0

https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgm-content/sites/armslist/uploads/posts/2012/04/23/377610_01_hi_point_cf380_pistol_used_in__640.jpg

Rumors abounded that PJ Washington (Renner’s ex-boyfriend) had to pay a whopping $200,000 in child support. While an extreme example, it does demonstrate the real favoritism of women over men in society.
 

Replies: @Anon

I thought that was the beauty of desperate impact. It doesn’t matter if the test is intentionally racist or not. If blacks score lower on it compared to whites it is therefore a racist test. I guess divorce court is sexist.
 

She later told him she lied (years later.) She liked him that much. Then he told me and I tried not to laugh.
 

Isn’t that the mirror image of the “that loose skank with the short skirt was asking for trouble” statement that got feminists so riled up?
 

But mothers could in practice (and do) easily deprive the child from the father which too is cruel. The law is in her orbit.
 

The destruction of Roe v. Wade may lead to a truly more equitable legal balance between mother and father. If abortion law restarts on the state level there’s room for political maneuvering and compromise.
 

Unfortunately, there’s been plenty of examples of women misusing child support for non child rearing purposes. Especially seen in a certain racial demographic.
 

It happened to a male Mormon high school friend. Girl claimed to be on birth control but she lied. They’re married now and live in his parents basement with two kids. I’m not sure if they’re happily married. He has a future, but I’d wager it would have been brighter had that unfortunate incident not occurred.
 

Replies: @Art Deco, @Kronos

You have difficulty maintaining a linear dialogue and staying on point.
It wastes too much time having to bring someone back around to the points being made.
Take your Adderall, it'll likely help.

Replies: @Kronos

Roe v. Wade left a legal groove within the wood of family law that made it easy for women to maintain control over the child even after birth. Even after the child is born, the kid needs to be nursed and taking the child away is seen as cruel.
 

That then goes into the issue of child support and how US women are allowed to largely spend that money however they wish.
 

Even if she lied about being on birth control.
 

Replies: @Kronos

I had no idea that both were protected.
 

Replies: @Art Deco

I was most likely recalling that disastrous comment by RBG. Thanks for coming to the rescue John Johnson!

https://www.personaldefenseworld.com/2021/04/states-nullify-federal-gun-control/

Remember: assault weapons (5.56 mm, 6.8 mm) for home defense are a bad idea in built up areas due to overpenetration, and full auto 12 gauge shotguns can't be controlled due to recoil.

Full auto is useful during assaults and ambushes, when intense fire can compensate for lack of time to aim or targets to aim at. Full auto might be useful for home defense in the country, where there is a more or less safe backstop and you might have room to room contests, but even in the country full auto would only be useful if the house has some cover (that would stop invader's rounds) that you can hide behind.

Full auto favors those who have a tactical plan that replaces numbers of defenders with firepower. Preferably, you want an alarm system and some obstacles that alert you and keep the home invaders at a reasonable distance while you discourage further probing by signaling that the house is tenanted and defended. Your goal is to hold out until the relief force arrives (police, neighborhood watch of some kind if there aren't police, failing that a good burial plan).

And remember, the home invaders can have full auto also. They can even have plans.

Replies: @John Johnson, @Joe Stalin, @prosa123, @Anon

There's been a sweeping number of pro-second amendment victories. I didn't know George Soros was a big fan of firearms. I guess he really wants to fan the flames in the inner cities.

https://waynedupree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019.09.03-02.12-waynedupree-5d6e74d3bbbb1.jpg

Roe v. Wade had real teeth and made itself felt in US divorce court. It paved the way for the sheer lopsided favoritism divorce court shows to women over men.
 

Replies: @Kronos

I think Sandra Day O’Connor once spoke an absolutely pathetic gaffe that either had to do with abortion or affirmative action. It was something like the Supreme Court has the right to cave from political pressure, a real doozy. (I can’t find it but if someone could that’ll be super cool!)

RBG made such a gaffe.

She said they had to serve the politicians at the time because there were so many unwanted pregnancies (from the 60s welfare programs).

So in a single sentence she admitted it wasn't about the constitution.

WHOOPS

Replies: @Kronos

"It paved the way for the sheer lopsided favoritism divorce court shows to women over men. A women had the power of life and death and the father had absolutely no say. But, would have to bear the price of child support if the woman deemed it acceptable to keep the pregnancy. As Rollo Tomassi has repeatedly stated “all responsibility, and zero authority.” That ain’t political peanuts"

The logical chain here is unclear. It seems to me like the GOP politicians are looking under this political light and that's where you've decided to expect the solution. If the system is just as lopsided against men five years from now will you change your viewpoint?

Replies: @Kronos

The Pill isn’t constitutionally protected, but abortion is.
 

A women had the power of life and death and the father had absolutely no say. But, would have to bear the price of child support if the woman deemed it acceptable to keep the pregnancy.
 

Replies: @Kronos

The Pill isn’t constitutionally protected, but abortion is.
 

Griswold v Connecticut



Majority
Douglas, joined by Warren, Clark, Brennan, Goldberg
Concurrence
Goldberg, joined by Warren, Brennan
Concurrence
Harlan
Concurrence
White
Dissent
Black, joined by Stewart
Dissent
Stewart, joined by Black


Roe v Wade


Majority
Blackmun, joined by Burger, Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Powell
Concurrence
Burger
Concurrence
Douglas
Concurrence
Stewart
Dissent
White, joined by Rehnquist
Dissent
Rehnquist

 

Replies: @Kronos

As Rollo Tomassi has repeatedly stated “all responsibility, and zero authority.”
 

Replies: @Rosie, @Kronos

If you were pro-abortion, Roe v. Wade was a continuous quagmire that bled backers dry politically as well as financially.
 

But overall American women became entitled skanks soon after its passing.
 

Replies: @Kronos

Why do you like killing things so much, man? You sound weird. Do you look like Satan? Stay away from my kids. You might kill them or something. Anyone ever peg you for Lucifer IRL?

Replies: @J.Ross, @Anon

I get it. But the pro-life people have been at this for almost fifty years. Roe v. Wade is one of the most retarded legal decisions ever made by the US Supreme Court. So I’m happy to let Charlie Brown finally kick the stupid football. In terms of legal foundation it’s as stable as a quadriplegic with vertigo. Sure, it kept the black population in check so something good did come of it. But overall American women became entitled skanks soon after its passing. Roe v. Wade killed plenty of whites as well as blacks and it’s time the white birth rate finally goes up however slightly. I can’t see how much will change with pro-abortion states. If you were pro-abortion, Roe v. Wade was a continuous quagmire that bled backers dry politically as well as financially. A Pyrrhic victory if ever there was one.

https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781481462099/kick-the-football-charlie-brown-9781481462099_hr.jpg

Replies: @Jack D

The statistics on abortion patients disagree.

That had always been the problem with Roe v. Wade. The original backers didn’t think it could ever happen but it did.

Buscemi was superb in Boardwalk Empire.
 

I can't imagine this movie being made after the 2013 Great Awokening. Sure, hillybillies and rednecks have been used as chaotic evil villains for decades but "Tucker & Dale vs Evil" provided a level of self aware parody of it that most studios couldn't demonstrate in contemporary film. They flipped that formula and turned it into a great horror comedy.

The Coen brothers really get the best out of their actors.

https://youtu.be/KMAo3D1mib0

Replies: @Achmed E. Newman

Always watching and noticing.

another fellow journalist
 

I realize that to some people here the "alternative news arena" represents just another POV that is different from the MSM (maybe in their topsy turvy world, the MSM is the propaganda and Lira is the pravda) , but there has to be a line where "alternative news" ends and outright falsehoods begin.

Apparently Lira is alive and well although possibly under some form of house arrest in Kharkiv. In any case the cruel Ukrainian "Nazis" have not executed him and left his body in the street like the Russian "anti-fascists" do.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/04/journalist-gonzalo-lira-is-missing-and-presumed-dead-but-his-bucha-video-is-not.html

Speaking of being alive and (not so) well, Putin and Shoigu made a live appearance on TV the other day and neither of them looked very healthy. Putin looked like he was holding on to the table in order to remain upright and Shoigu read/mumbled from a script. The whole sight was rather pathetic. Russians are not really a smiley bunch but if this was the "victory" announcement for Mariupol the optics were not very victorious. I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were both just drunk as Russians are wont to do but Putin is known not to be a drinker.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10742521/Putin-seen-gripping-table-amid-cancer-battle-rumours-meets-slurring-defence-minister.html

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/22/13/56918087-10742521-A_bloated_Vladimir_Putin_has_been_seen_gripping_a_table_whilst_s-a-34_1650632365603.jpg

We really need to get rid of the geriatric clowns who send young men to die everywhere (including the US). There is a thing in cults (like Mormon polygamists) where the older male leaders push the young men out because they don't want them competing for the females - this must be deeply rooted in primate behavior. There should be some fairly low age limit on leadership. Old, wise heads could be advisors but the man in charge should be young enough to attract women on his own without having to kill off the youth.

Replies: @Art Deco

This is not doxing as it is normally understood. They "shone an MSM spotlight on him" which is not the same thing. He apparently WANTED public attention under his real name with his YouTube rants, just not this type of attention. Sorry, you don't get to choose, especially not if you are broadcasting propaganda in an enemy country in the middle of a war. What did he THINK was going to happen? He should have been arrested for stupidity if nothing else.

Replies: @dalyia, @Kronos

I don't want him to be tortured or killed, but obviously he knew that he couldn't be a propagandist for the Russians while living in Ukraine indefinitely.

I'm sorry, where did they dox him? In the article it mentions that he was in Kyiv at the start of the war. It doesn't seem to narrow it down farther than this. It doesn't give his address. Apparently Gonzalo Lira is his real name. In what sense was he "doxxed"?

Replies: @Kronos

Thank you for making this point. It is disheartening that the host of this one, particular blog either does not understand this fact or disingenuously refuses to approach it.

It is simultaneously encouraging that the owner, publisher and editor of this entire publication -- who pays a salary to that blog host and makes this discussion possible -- does in fact make clear that he knows the truth.

This site is a place for all arguments. That is good. In this particular case, I know without a doubt whose perspective I share in this dialectic.

Replies: @JimDandy

"And if the Russians decide to invade Finland, a country with a population smaller than NYC, to prevent them from joining Nato, is there any real doubt to the outcome?"

Yes.

Replies: @Rich, @Whiskey, @clifford brown, @Muggles

1. Prevent Ukraine from joining Nato.
2. Destroy Ukrainian military.
3. Protect Russians within Ukraine.

Which of these 3 goals the Russians set out are they not accomplishing?
 

Replies: @FKA Max, @SunBakedSuburb, @Frank Fahey, @HA, @Hypnotoad666, @JimDandy, @Houston 1992, @Twinkie, @Yevardian

"Which of these 3 goals the Russians set out are they not accomplishing?"

Judging by his recent actions, whichever of those 3 goals the FSB was in charge of:

[According to the London Times] Putin ‘purges’ 150 FSB agents in response to Russia’s botched war with Ukraine

A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department responsible for Ukraine was sent to prison

...All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up...to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of keeping them within Russia’s orbit
 

All this is perfectly in line with earlier London Times FSB whistleblower excerpts:

The Pandora’s Box is open – a real global horror will begin by the summer…I can’t say what guided those in charge to decide to proceed with the execution of this operation (Ukraine invasion), but now they are methodically blaming us (FSB).
 

Replies: @Clyde, @Wokechoke, @Antiwar7

Well, Lavrov just acknowledged that the war aims are not so tidy. Yes the invasion was about a neutral Ukraine but you don’t get there without a direct challenge to NATO’s eastward movement, and you can’t realistically pull that off without the near certainty of an escalation with the west that is way more consequential and dangerous than what happens on the ground outside Kyiv.

Now it could be true that Russia would be happy with those three objectives. But I think all parties knew the conflict could not be resolved without addressing much larger questions. And that once the larger battles are joined—as they have been—the conflict is no longer about those three little things but about financial and strategic dominance.

But even when considered in this larger context I think Steve is way too sure he knows what is going on, and that Russia goofed.

Replies: @3g4me

Which of these 3 goals the Russians set out are they not accomplishing?
 

Poor countries that have deep economic ties to Germany and other Western European countries can get rich as low-cost suppliers of manufactured goods to the richer countries of Europe.

The top export of Poland is car parts (followed by cars), and the top destination is Germany. For Romania, it’s also car parts followed by cars, with Germany as the top destination. Hungary and Slovakia shake things up: there it’s cars followed by car parts, again with Germany as the top destination. Ukraine’s top export is seed oil, and its top trade partner is Russia. And the problem with being part of a Russia-centric economic system is that the Russian economy is based on fossil fuel extraction. Germany’s manufacturing economy can send supply-chain tendrils out to its neighbors, who start out manufacturing the lowest-value components and then move up. But there’s no value chain that Russia can export.
 

In February of 2013, under Yanukovych and with his allies enjoying a majority in parliament, Ukraine was poised to ratify an association agreement with the EU. Putin didn’t like that and pressured Yanukovych to make a deal with Russia instead. In November 2013 Yanukovych acquiesced, triggering massive protests and ultimately leading to the Revolution of Dignity, Putin annexing Crimea,2 and Russia sponsoring separatist rebellions in the Donbas region.

Since then, Ukraine has become steadily less cleft.

The pro-Russian faction lost power in 2014 when it became clear that the bar for being pro-Russian was “voluntarily abandon your best chance for economic development” rather than “have a lot of Russian-language shows on TV.” And that’s because the pro-Russian faction was ultimately controlled by Moscow and did not reflect the interests and aspirations of Russophone Ukrainians. That put the anti-Russian faction in the driver’s seat for years, but they didn’t do a great job of governing the country. That led to Zelenskyy’s landslide win in 2019, where he did much better in the eastern parts of the country than the west. Zelenskyy is a native Russian speaker, and part of his platform was to be more open to negotiating with Russia to end the conflict in Donbas.

This did not work (obviously), but its very failure successfully consolidated Ukrainian identity precisely because Zelenskyy’s policy initially was not seen as coming from a place of hardcore Ukrainian nationalism. What Zelensky was trying to give people was the basic ingredients of the end of history: good government, autonomy, and prosperity through integration with the richer parts of the world. In his own mind, Putin is surely waging some kind of battle for Russian civilization. But by shelling the cities of eastern Ukraine, he’s just confirmed to everyone that he doesn’t care about them — or really anyone — and that the way forward is to have an independent country on the road to EU membership.

 

Replies: @stari_momak, @Sam Malone

Well, even if we ignore that your short list has been retrofitted to assume that Putin's current aims were the same as his previous military goals on the first day of the invasion, then #2 and #3 have certainly not happened and are not likely to happen.

It's possible that the Ukrainian military will be better armed, better trained, and more capable of fending off the Russians by the time this war ends than it was when the war began. I'm not saying that will happen, but it's certainly possible.

Has any Russian official been quoted saying they didn’t expect stiff Ukrainian resistance?
 

Were either Sweden or Finland allies of Russia before this war?
 

Moscow clearly does not want either country in NATO. It has said so on numerous occasions. But the result of this war is that both are now much more likely to end up in the military alliance. How is that not a loss for Putin and Russia?

And if the Russians decide to invade Finland, a country with a population smaller than NYC, to prevent them from joining Nato, is there any real doubt to the outcome?
 

Replies: @NOTA

1. Prevent Ukraine from joining Nato.
 

2. Destroy Ukrainian military.
 

3. Protect Russians within Ukraine.
 

Replies: @Wokechoke

I am generally sympathetic to the Russian side in this...and indeed have become more so the more I learn about this Borderland place pre-invasion.

But things are not going well for Putin or Russia. They might not be going as badly as portrayed in the Western press, but they aren't going well and long term this looks like a huge blunder by Putin.

I don't know why he didn't pull another limited 'green man' infiltration or some other type of op.

And if the Russians decide to invade Finland, a country with a population smaller than NYC, to prevent them from joining Nato, is there any real doubt to the outcome?
 

Replies: @newrouter, @Rich

Ukraine is giving Russia a thrashing. Even if Russia wins, the military will almost certainly be in no place to beat Finland and Sweden combined, despite how bitch-made those countries have become. Even I could knock out Tyson Fury if he just got done doing five rounds with Manny Pacquiao and hadn't had time to even catch his breath.

Well, what happened the last time Russia and Finland fought? IIRC, that was a tough winter for the Soviets.

Russia (and her fanbois) seem to think that Russia could take on this state or that state in a war if the war were fought in a vacuum. But there are other countries in Europe! They will react strongly to Russia invading any European country. If Putin had invaded a ‘Stan, Europe might not have gotten all het up. They all remember the last time European countries played Risk. Sanctions and arming the Ukes were things Putin should have seen coming. (If) Russia wins? Those sanctions will be in place for decades. Putin will find it very difficult to leave Russia for a trip to anywhere but the Hague. When he gets there, he’ll be spending the rest of his life there.

In the before time, the Russian Empire had some patriotism backing it up. Under the Soviets, there were true believers in Russia and other countries, probably more of the latter. Today? What exactly is Putin’s appeal? Patriotism is passé. It’s hard to be patriotic about a country that has all the natural resources of Russia, but whose only entrepreneurial talent is found in Jews. Russian patriotism was along the lines of “we can bear so much suffering.” But the EU’s appeal is not “suffer some more so Putin can steal another billion this year,” the EU’s appeal is “you can be free and rich. Like us.” Putin might have invaded Ukraine for the same reasons the Soviets hated West Berlin. Here was a city divided into a Russian-dominated police state and command economy, and just on the other side of the Wall, there was a city of the same ethnicity living in freedom and wealth. That always pissed off the Russians. Ukraine in NATO and the EU, even if full membership was a decade or two away, would be the same situation, except much worse. Not only would it be a slice of the Russian people (just ask Putin) living in a free country and getting richer every day, but their integration with Russia (some factories are split between the countries) means Russians will know Ukrainians are getting better off, but their living standard falls a little every year.

Young men with portable skills have fled the country. Why would they stay? There’s no ideology behind “Putinism,” which really seems to just be “Remember Yeltsin? He was awful and Westernizing. Remember how American Jews rigged the post-Soviet economy so that Russian Jews could take all the wealth of Russia? That’s what Westernizing gets you!” Putin’s sending their brothers (metaphorically, because Russia’s TFR is awful) in ancient vehicles, carrying rifles that were old when the Soviets collapsed. Fanbois say this is brilliant. Putin’s army is eating all the Javelins without wasting valuable modern equipment. If Russia wants to be anything but a gas station, it should take the white world’s lead. Fewer people plus more human and physical capital lead to pleasant lives. In addition to the men fleeing for anywhere, I’m guessing pretty women are also getting out of Russia. I hope they don’t end up slaves in rich Arabs’ harems.

The looting of Ukraine hints that whatever the numbers were on paper, the Ukrainians had higher pc income than Russians, and had it for years. Washing machines? Tablets? These are things the working class has in most of America, NYC excepted. Muskovites might live Western-equivalent lives, but out in the boonies, Russians are poor. All the wealth the oligarchs suck off, it comes from them. I’m surprised the media talks about all the Putin-associated oligarchs. It might give Americans ideas about the billionaires who are so close to America’s politicians.

Whatever happens in Ukraine after they drive the Russians out, I hope we don’t have a lot of Jews involved in the rebuilding effort. No offense to Jack D, but after Russia… Nor economists. After the Rape of Russia, the State Department needs to go back to and expand upon their old rules: no one works in/on the country their (grand?)parents immigrated[sic] from, no Jews work on Israel, and no one works on a country that the dIplomat’s religion/ethnicity hates. Given how the postwar recovery went in Germany vs post-Soviet era in Russia, maybe the military should be in charge of rebuilding Ukraine?

I realize that Germans and Russians are different people. Even under the communists, the clockwork efficiency of the Stasi compared to the drunken purges of the Russians showed the difference. IIRC, East Germany had a higher standard of living than Russia, even after the Russians stole so much from them. I also realize Russians would be better off if they were more ethical. Their “anyone who trusts me deserves to be cheated” culture guarantees that they won’t get much better off from foreign capital. Their inability to tell the truth in public is another thing holding them back. The drinking means their industry will never have a low error rate, so they can’t do complicated, multi-step production. Indeed, most of their exports are between zero and two steps from “we pulled this out of the ground. Can you make anything from it? We need money to buy wodka.”

Replies: @Spect3r

Correct.

Here's a very good rule about this conflict--and it's this (Ron Unz, our esteemed website proprietor, is absolutely right).

Until you watch Mearshimer, and read his interview in The New Yorker, and truly absorb and internalize Mearshimer's insights, you should be forbidden to make ANY comments about this catastrophe.

And that is not to make a person, as some on here seem to ludicrously think, a "fanboy" of Putin. Far from it.

It remains astonishing to me that a lot of commenters on here, many of whom are quite sensible when it comes to other aspects of our collapsing culture, corrupt media, and idiot politicians, take leave of their senses and are in thrall of the neocon zeitgeist when it comes to this war.

But hey, we'll cheer the prospect of Sweden joining NATO! That'll show that dastardly Putin.

Replies: @Anonymous

1. Prevent Ukraine from joining Nato.
2. Destroy Ukrainian military.
3. Protect Russians within Ukraine.

Which of these 3 goals the Russians set out are they not accomplishing?
 

They just don't get the chess that the european elites have been playing with one another for centuries. The purpose of european wars is not to win or lose, it is to cull the commons when they get too numerous.

Let's see how this plays out with The One Road initiative.

But then

Import of defence equipment to be exception; will require DAC, defence minister’s nod

https://theprint.in/india/import-of-defence-equipment-to-be-exception-will-require-dac-defence-ministers-nod/902396/

 

Interesting. There were posts, supposedly debunking this story, on twitter last night of Coultier at a SHAPE LANDCOM conference in Izmir. But they seem to have been scrubbed today

Who is teaching the Ukuleles to use Javelins so effectively? Their army had Soviet bloc Saggers and RPGs. I would be surprised if there weren't Special Forces and SAS on the front lines

Let's not forget the CIA's secretive 'ground branch', who were reported to be at work in Eastern Ukraine by Yahoo News, among others.

There would be a heightened apprehension about these operators being taken alive.

Russia claims hundreds of foreign fighters have died in missile strikes, yet it's hush-hush in Western media.