Debt Rattle January 9 2023

 

Home Forums The Automatic Earth Forum Debt Rattle January 9 2023

Viewing 35 posts - 81 through 115 (of 115 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #125620
    tboc
    Participant

    kultsommer, let me real in my brashness and be a little more civil. Within 75 miles each side of my residence and indeed centered around my residence there resides all branches of the US armed forces. There is also a large contingent of civil service. The revolving door starts at light bird in the service and at upper mid level in the civil service. Selling how the procurement system works is a quite a lucrative trade. All of the services under the executive branch engage in this system. This is not speculation, i played ball with some of these fellows for over 25 years. The congress is not the only culprit in non-functional overpriced trash.

    The US armed services have an up or out policy. Those who advance, remember Lindman, are selected for reasons other than national defense. As one of my acquaintances says, “I thought full birds were special and then they made me one”. Living with the armed services for 60 years takes the shine off the romance. The colonel may be speaking how he “feels”, however he did not get where he is by putting the constitution, the nation and her people first. Not one of those i know in the revolving door serve the nation, they serve someone but not the nation.

    #125621
    John Day
    Participant

    The year 2023 will proceed with China playing the New Great Game deep inside, crafting a globalization 2.0 that is institutionally supported by a network encompassing BRI, BRICS+, the SCO, and with the help of its Russian strategic partner, the EAEU and OPEC+ too. No wonder the usual suspects are dazed and confused.
    https://thecradle.co/Article/Columns/20037

    Tom Luongo looks at NATO-member Turkey’s increasingly independent national stance under Erdogan, who survived a US-led coup in 2015, by fleeing to Iran on very short notice from Vladimir Putin, which saved Erdogan’s life and government. Turkey is central to energy flows into southern Europe, sea shipping through the straits, and has the second largest NATO army. It used to have very healthy trade with Syria, the foundation of both economies, until the US/NATO began the attempted coup/revolution in Syria, and Turkey was forced to betray their neighbor.
    Turkey is taking diplomatic steps to restore full neighborly trade and diplomacy with Syria, get Turkish troops out of Syria, and coordinate this with Russia. The meetings have begun and the changes are underway. Turkey can be ejected from NATO, but NATO will lose more than Turkey will in that arrangement. US forces will need to withdraw from Syria and will lose Incirlik air base.
    That being said, Erdogan has been a handful for Putin to deal with, but Putin has patiently done so all of that time. Erdogan’s political position is always in flux, and he will benefit in elections this fall by having arranged peace with Syria, and repatriated most of the Syrian refugees in Turkey.
    “But the timing of this is the most inconvenient for the US/UK neocons who are clearly ramping up a 2023 regime change operation against Putin in Russia.
    ​ ​When you put it all together — Erdogan facing stiff opposition in the polls, hyperinflation, unrest at home, and an election later this year — ending the war in Syria had to be tops on his to-do list for 2023​”​… ​ ​
    ..”It means that Syria will shoot down an Israeli F-16 at some point and Israel will have to take it. Or it will provoke Bibi to do something so rash that no one will be able to spin it in his favor.
    ​ ​Davos is hanging Israel out to dry at the UN, driving the Neocons to the point of alcoholism.
    ​ ​Either way, what Putin has done here, with Erdogan’s help, is turn the entire power dynamic of aggression on its head.
    ​ ​Now, the Russians can allow Syria and Iran to ‘defend themselves’ while keeping his hands mostly clean there.
    ​ ​Now the real ‘bluff calling’ phase of this situation begins.​”​

    Turkiye’s Erdogan Flips Syria on its Head

    ​Russian counter-batteries did return fire fonto Ukrainian artillery, from Ukrainian shelling attacks, but only that​.
    Russia honors Christmas truce despite Ukrainian strikes
    https://www.rt.com/russia/569522-russia-christmas-truce-observation/

    M.K. Bhadrakumar , ​Biden’s existential angst in Ukraine
    ​ ​Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia. Cooper stated explicitly that the war in Ukraine threatens the US’ global standing:
    ​ ​“From an overall strategic perspective, it is hard to emphasise enough the devastating consequences if Putin were to be successful in achieving his objective of taking over Ukraine. This would rewrite international boundaries in a way that we have not seen since World War II. And our ability to reverse these gains and to support and stand by the sovereignty of a nation, is something that resonates not just in Europe, but all around the world.”
    ​ ​The cat is out of the bag, finally — the US is fighting in Ukraine to preserve its global hegemony. Coincidence or not, in a sensational interview in Kiev, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov also blurted out in the weekend that Kiev has consciously allowed itself to be used by NATO in the bloc’s wider conflict with Moscow!

    Biden’s existential angst in Ukraine

    #125622
    John Day
    Participant

    ​The House of Representatives is returning more to constitutional roots, away from the centralized power of the Pelosi years.​
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/55th-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-no-nancy-pelosi-and-thats-good-thing

    ​ ​McCarthy Faces First Test With House Rules Package, Including Vote To Cut IRS Funding
    ​ ​Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted “This is what we’ve been fighting for,” in relation to seven bills that the holdouts were able to include in the rules package, which is expected to be put to a vote on Monday.
    1) A bill to cut some of the additional funding that was made available to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
    2) A bill to authorize the secretary of Homeland Security to turn away people crossing the border illegally.
    3) A bill that includes prohibiting the secretary of energy from sending petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.
    4) A tough-on-crime bill that includes amending the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to direct the district attorney and prosecutor’s office to report to the attorney general.
    5) A bill to require a national instant crime background check system to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies when information surfaces that a person present in the United States illegally may be trying to obtain a firearm.
    6) A bill to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions.
    7) A bill to amend Title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mccarthy-faces-first-test-house-rules-package-including-vote-cut-irs-funding

    ​After they did a big clean up and bussed a lot of migrants into Mexico over the past few days.
    ​President Joe Biden has finally visited the US-Mexico border for the first time since taking office – but didn’t see or meet with any migrants despite taking a trip to a migrant respite center. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-finally-visits-border-fails-meet-single-migrant

    #125623
    greco
    Participant

    I imagine people come to Tae for a variety of reasons. Ilargi supplies the lettuce. The commenters provide the dressing. Personally, I come for info about .gov shenannigans and tips on how to stay out of the way. Dr. John and Germ are helpful.
    Then there’s the entertainment angle. DR D and Bosco rank high. So do the fights and name calling on the far end of the playground. Something about agw. I usually don’t bother reading those. Just skip to the end where they call each other names. Trolls also entertain. Why do they try to det in a club where nobody likes them. Must be somebody puts them up to it.

    #125624
    Leon Blanc-Sec
    Participant

    Is Mr. Escobar on drugs?

    The way the little Special Military Operation has been going, after what is soon to be a full year, should be enough to dispel the myth that the Russian Army is incredibly competent, equipped with all sorts of unstoppable whiz-bang fanciest equipment, and led by a military super-genius that was popular in some circles… until the invasion of Ukraine.

    Russia has its hands full fighting backward, second-world at best, corrupt Ukraine, and it is supposed to be able to take on all NATO member states, disabling all their defenses, economic infrastructure and military installations in the blink of an eye, when it never managed to take Kiev located 200 miles from its border?

    And what’s with the criticality of the George Washington bridge to NYC?

    #125625
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

    How an anti-drone gun works. Archival footage of the interception of an enemy UAV in the Donetsk direction.

    A fighter of the DPR People’s Militia, using a “drone swatter”, in a matter of seconds “drew” the copter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and suppressed its control channels. After that, the “bird” of the enemy was planted and disabled.

    The electromagnetic gun used by the operator is equipped with additional antennas with an increased gain of the beam, which allows you to increase its range, and therefore play ahead of the curve. In modern combat, this is extremely important.

    The fighters of the DPR NM had to immediately change their position, since the coordinates of the place of loss of communication with the copter were known to the enemy. So, there was a possibility of getting under artillery fire from Ukrainian militants.

    @milchronicles

    #125626
    WES
    Participant

    Just a few random observations.

    1. The west is clearly winning the propaganda war in the Ukraine. Since both Hitler and the USSR won their propaganda wars, then history tells us the west is likely losing the war in the Ukraine.

    2. Why has Russian artillery been so effective in the Ukrainian war? People mention drones. What nobody seems to mention are the tethered drones. What are tethered drones you may ask? These are drones tethered to the ground by a physical connection. They stay in one place just like an observation balloon. However one can only place tethered drones if you have air superiority. Russia’s air defense system of S-300s, S-400s, and S-500s missiles does just that. This means Russia is able to maintain 24/7 surveillance on their frontlines in real time. The second thing about tethered drones is they are impervious to electronic jamming not to mention very hard to detect.

    3. AFKTT mentioned how it seems like the majority always wins, and is probably right, but here on TAE we are definately the minority! The majority rarely win with us!

    #125627
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Do what you do do well, boy, do what you do do well.

    The meaningless do. And how English became the third-rate language in its own country. (Those damned Normans, conquering England, and then much of the rest of the world).

    Just think, if the English had not been successful in turfing out most of the French and Spanish from America, English would not be the dominant language of the times we live in.

    Russian and Chinese are clearly upward moving languages, as Oceania, otherwise known as NATO, progressively loses its wars with Eurasia and Eastasia.

    #125628
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘We Are Facing The Entire NATO In Ukraine’: Kremlin Says, As UK Mulls Battle Tanks

    BY TYLER DURDEN

    TUESDAY, JAN 10, 2023 – 10:45 AM

    Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has issued ultra-provocative words claiming that it’s not fundamentally Ukraine that Russia is at war with, but that the Russian military is facing all of NATO inside Ukraine.

    “The events in Ukraine aren’t a clash between Moscow and Kiev. It’s a military confrontation of NATO, first of all the US and Britain, with Russia. Fearing a direct engagement, NATO instructors push Ukrainian men to certain death,” he said in a fresh interview with state-owned newspaper aif.ru.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kremlin-says-military-confrontation-nato-already-happening-uk-mulls-sending-tanks

    #125629
    citizenx
    Participant

    “Tell me this isn’t the mRNA “vaccines” doing this. It pains me to see good, but too trusting, people dying like flies.”

    “I’m with you. Breaks my heart to witness what’s happening. If this thing continues to go south, I will have no one I’m close to who make it through. I’ve got my fingers crossed this begins to lessen in the very near future.”

    Oh fuck all that noise.

    When society runs on irrational fears this is expected. This is Karmic, cause – effect, fuck around and find out lessons. One cannot escape the consequences of reality, no matter how much one tries to deny reality.

    The Covid cult members that went along with this bs, that did not resist, that obediently obeyed, that did not push back and defend basic human rights with dignity, that displayed eggregious condescending arrogance…they can all fuck off and die, sooner the better.

    As for the Cult overlord pushers, no mercy. If you want a better world, then you better be damn ready to dish out some pain to those fuckers. If you want a bitter world, then do nothing and complain about it like a coward.

    Do not obey, do not comply. Do not forget or forgive the cult, ever. Your life and everything you love is at stake. Live like it. You’re ALIVE, fucking act like it.

    Boo hooing for the virtue signalling vaxtards that are now sicker and dying as a result of their own stupidity? Heartbroken that they chose spiritual bankruptcy, zero intellectual curiosity and lined up like lab rat sheep? No way, Fuck that and fuck them.

    As for the children caught up in all this- Remember the words of a few of our “Leaders” –
    Madeleine Albright- “the price of 500,000 dead children was worth it”

    Team Obama- WASHINGTON — A 16-year-old American boy killed in an Obama administration drone strike “should have [had] a far more responsible father,” Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs says.

    We already know that War Criminal US Politicians do not blink an eye over murdering innocent children.
    We aleady knew Pharm Corporations were felons who have sickened and killed hundreds of thousands of human beings for profit. We know MSM are blatant liars and advertisers for the worst abusers.

    No one can claim “we didn’t know and how could this have happened?” However, the possibility still exists that WE can emphatically look at each other and insist that heads roll and this bs never happens again.

    Antidote for irrational fears? Courage, discernment, calm, logic, pause, process, honor, restraint, caution, extreme care. Danger, EXPLOSIVES, Handle with care.

    “In 3 to 5 years 90% of the vaxd will be dead”. We’re not even 2 years into this.

    Those are people who DIED, DIED, all of my friends, they DIED…

    #125630
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Dead Dead Dead

    “The Covid cult members that went along with this bs, that did not resist, that obediently obeyed, that did not push back and defend basic human rights with dignity, that displayed eggregious condescending arrogance…they can all fuck off and die, sooner the better.”

    You appear to be getting your request.

    #125631
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Drone corrected and directed artillery in action

    No where to run, no where to hide


    #125632
    zerosum
    Participant

    Think. Imagine.

    Elevators in your high-rise building does not work.

    What will it take for you to leave/go live somewhere else?
    (Ask a Ukrainian.)

    #125633
    citizenx
    Participant

    You appear to be getting your request.

    This is not my “request” asshole. Do not twist my words out of context. Are you too stupid to realize that Biden and company request mandated forced this crap on all of us? This was their request not mine…

    The govt/media/pharma/military/corporations decided to force vax our entire Nation. You want the vax? Go right ahead. You want to force rape me by vax? Fuck you and die.

    #125634
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    What incredibly shallow claptrap…

    #125635
    citizenx
    Participant

    The way the little Special Military Operation has been going…

    Russia has its hands full fighting backward, second-world at best, corrupt Ukraine, and it is supposed to be able to take on all NATO member states

    @Leon Blanc-Sec

    ^^^ Hahahaha found another one

    The conflict is still ongoing, RF has destroyed hundreds of thousands of ukr nazis, taken and secured territory , and exposed Natos murderous intentions.

    Like I said, the conflict is still happening….

    Why not give us some of your expertise regarding the US led Nato war in Afghanistan that has ended for the US, cough cough? Trillions of dollars, ten of thousands of deaths, complete and total humiliating loss for the US just like Vietnam.

    The US did not fair too well against sandals and AK’s now did they? The RF will and must defend itself as the US and Nato have declared war on RF at its doorstep. What are your pronouns Mr Rainbow military enthusiast?

    #125636
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #125637
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Boo-Hoo!

    #125638
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant
    #125639
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #125640
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Fatty Fight!

    With Mask face diapers on!

    Nice

    #125641
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    So much Doom & Gloom, devoid of any spiritual connection ~ I take a couple of days off the incessant whinging, banter & self-important rants only to find it worse then when I left 😕

    There’s a solution, but not in The land of the blind, where the one-eyed truth tellers are unnoted…

    Looks like Brazil is running the wildly successful Reichstag/Jan. 6 scam (following yet another *blatantly* corrupted s-election cabal filching), will it stand without protest like it has for the U.$. kleptocracy?

    Fascism for the Master Class + it’s select minions, Bread & Circuses (pretend sociolism) for *everyone* else, with a da$h of random winnowing for the unlucky souls that *trust* the med/science/pharm chem mafioso 😕

    Now I’m getting all Doom & Gloom, it’s getting real hard to see a happy ending in this here near pitch darkness, but I know somehow, somewhere, someday the *solution* will materialize…

    Sure hope they understand the insidious rot that the creation & exploitation of Emergency Powers have created & navigate back to *normalcy*.

    All blessings,

    Gary

    #125642
    John Day
    Participant

    @Germ: Where inn this did you find the relative responsiveness of variants to HCQ and IVM, or did you already know that, and just compare rising variants by region?
    https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
    &Thank you for Gail’s latest. That girl is hip and diplomatic, without obfuscating her meaning.


    @Red
    : Thank you for good finds and very good comments today, Brother.

    #125643
    zerosum
    Participant

    In 10 – 15 years
    https://phys.org/news/2023-01-sea-sponge-covid-blocking-powers.html
    Sea sponge has COVID-blocking powers
    by University of British Columbia

    All three of the most effective compounds were found in Canada: alotaketal C from a sea sponge collected in Howe Sound, B.C., bafilomycin D from a marine bacteria collected in Barkley Sound, B.C., and holyrine A from marine bacteria collected in Newfoundland waters.

    “We’ve been collecting things for 40 years all over the world, but these three just happen to be Canadian, and two are from B.C.,” said co-author Dr. Raymond Andersen, professor in the department of chemistry.

    Further testing showed the three compounds were effective against the delta variant and several omicron variants, and they are about as safe for human cells as current COVID-19 treatments. Many of these treatments are no longer effective against currently circulating omicron variants because the virus is evolving. This highlights the need for new antivirals, said Dr. Jean.

    More information: Jimena Pérez-Vargas et al, Discovery of lead natural products for developing pan-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics, Antiviral Research (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2022.105484
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354222002534?via%3Dihub

    #125644
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for the Alastair Crooke, F.S. He is a gd analyst, has a lot of experience, and is a fine wordsmith.
    He does not go as deep into the rabbit hole as I would. The west is leveraged into massive debt-overhang and needs to rape Russia to pull out of the flaming dive.
    The $US was weaponized to pull that off and it failed, ruining the $US even more rapidly.
    Now US/NATO has sabotaged Germany/Europe, starved them for energy, and is slapping them around in public.
    Crooke acts if the US might save global $US hegemony somehow, but it is just running on momentum, and heading for the cliff where expediency evaporates and $US debts are defaulted upon widely.
    Trust is already gone.
    The UK empire jumped from the square mile of London to the US, for the most part.
    Can it be smothered to death? It’s not a baby. It’s a monster…

    #125645
    zerosum
    Participant

    Beyond my paygrade
    https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Alotaketal-A
    COMPOUND SUMMARY
    Alotaketal A
    ——-
    https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6438812
    COMPOUND SUMMARY
    Bafilomycin D
    ———–
    https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Holyrine-A
    COMPOUND SUMMARY
    holyrine A
    ———-

    #125646
    zerosum
    Participant

    .

    #125647
    Dora
    Participant

    #125648

    “supposed cures for these bioweapons.”
    Let’s not forget Spartacus’s mention of DRACO– the cure for all viruses.
    It’s harder to believe it was on purpose if they didn’t think they could be immune, themselves.

    #125649
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Russia has its hands full fighting backward, second-world at best, corrupt Ukraine, and it is supposed to be able to take on all NATO member states, disabling all their defenses, economic infrastructure and military installations in the blink of an eye, when it never managed to take Kiev located 200 miles from its border?

    Not sure about that. When the war started, most pundits in the West thought it would be over in 30 days and Putin would be gone. The Ruble would be reduced to rubble they said. The Russian economy would be crushed. Well that did not play out as expected.

    The other story that came out from the West was that the real aim was regime change, and the strategy was to pull Russia into a long drawn out quagmire. It seems that Russia’s countermeasure was to minimize casualties, even at the expense of giving up territory. Russia may be willing to play a long game — as long as Ukraine is bleeding more than Russia.

    Perhaps Russia could have taken Kiev if it had made a more determined effort. Or perhaps they saw that as a trap — one that would be quite costly, and which might cause public support to dry up. Or perhaps once the Ruble and the economy stabilized, they did not believe that they were under pressure to take Kiev anytime soon.

    If Russia is expanding trade, and the Ruble is holding strong, and Russia can expand its weapons production, and Russia is not losing men . . . then maybe this situation can last a lot longer than either side expected last March. Which side does it favor?

    #125650
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Not to be a wet blanket or anything like that about the anti-viral wet dream of DRACO or anything like it ( see link to definition of DRACO at comment #125648) but some viruses are already KNOWN to be important or vital to organic life forms like us. There are probably other as yet UNKNOWN such viruses that we living humans host which in might also be necessary to us staying that way (i.e. alive), who knows? WE sure as hell don’t know, and that’s my point.

    If there are such “vital viruses” then DRACO , or something like it, would be a death sentence. Kind of a drawback or contra-indication, to my way of thinking.

    #125651
    Polemos
    Participant

    citizenx and Boogaloo each provide a response to Leon Blanc-Sec’s criticism, and I’ll add the question: what does taking Kiev accomplish? Is it true that Russia has its hands full — what is it doing with Japan, for example? Boogaloo does point to the Bigger Picture, where we do note that Russia is taking on NATO, and in the process allowing NATO to tear itself apart from the power dynamics already at work within it, as its corrupt production of war machines (for profit rather than for warfighting) empties its stocks and grinds away at resources through debt and its political corruption of bureaucrat machines (for profit rather than for egalitarian justice) depletes tolerance and patience and allows for balkanization to return to the union.

    Not bad for a first post, Leon, and good to start with asking questions. (Don’t worry too much about the eaten comments; it happens to others too) It’s also good to hold onto the data point that Ukraine is corrupt, because that unifies the critics of NATO as well as the critics of Russia, and they’ll both need to criticize together for the benefit of all those who wish to criticize in the future, critical times when there won’t be any spaces left for doubtful views.

    At any rate, not all military action is about conquering land. “Politics by other means” suggests that one’s purposes for destroying lives and rendering industries useless also include subjugation of opposing forces through depletion to make others “tap out” of larger political strategies.

    For example, by tying up his interlocutors with making them spend time crafting their own thoughtful responses and inspiring their comments with their particular idiosyncrasies, a clever agent of online terrain operations not only gains insights into the psychology and reasoning of those interlocutors but also adapts in directing their efforts, discovers opportunities for more elaborate mimicry and redeployment of thoughtforms in other terrains, and inevitably discerns characteristic weaknesses in the psychological frameworks necessary for supporting adherence to those thoughtforms. The less clever, instead, do not engage in any revealing conversation but instead respond to the elaborate approach with dismissive attention on projected weaknesses supposedly common: not everyone online is a glass cannon, but sometimes you’ll find operators treating others as though they are. They respond to longer, thoughtful discussions with short, unengaging accusation and/or imperative, and this closes off the opportunity for genuine victory.

    So rather than blow up one thoughtful commentor with a strike at their ego (a common place to think is someone’s “capital” or “nerve center”) in as few words as possible, a far more dangerous approach is to figure out how someone thinks through studying their capacity to respond and engage with their own internal questions and allowing them space and opportunity to grind away, for in this way, you conquer an opponent through their own inconsistencies, which every human will have as a function of the language they use to articulate their thoughts (“How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Maria?”). They will change their minds on the basis of their own values, and in this metanoia one can insert just the right key strokes to effect great changes down the line. Someone who is doing this for the sake of truth, who changes their mind after thinking about it, this is one who is much more valuable a prize than turning someone into a memetic repeater: genuine people see and think clear through the fraud of the mindless repeater, and although the ubiquity of billboards proves that saturation has some benefits, a billboard never changes the whole of a society as much as a genuine and convinced human soul.

    I am just talking in a metaphor about warfare here. My point is simple: winning quickly is not the same thing as taking quickly, and “quickly” is not always the same thing as “efficiently”. Sometimes, the careful destruction of an opponent involves drawing them into their own self-destruction, with feinting, false securities, and informed study of “gravity centers” —those places where their forces draw their strength, momentum and orientation. A well-played strike to make an opponent doubt the gravity of their center will have long-term and altering effects ; an ill-timed display of ineffective aggression only reveals insufficiency and lack of preparation, and this never will significantly alter the terrain.

    #125652
    Leon Blanc-Sec
    Participant

    When the war started, most pundits in the West thought it would be over in 30 days and Putin would be gone

    Curious, I remember the opposite. Most people were saying that despite Ukrainian resistance they failed to see how Ukraine could not get crushed in a matter of weeks or a few months. And if western commentators were gloomy, the russophiles were triumphant. If I may I quote The Saker, who for some reason regularly gets reprinted on this blog like he’s an authority on the conflict even though he has been cosmically wrong about it:

    February 28
    The big story here is the gradual closing of the operational cauldron in the East. Once it it closed, about 10-12 Ukie brigades will have to chose: surrender or die.
    Kiev: the city is blocked from three directions, but the Russians have left one open corridor which anybody can take to safely get out.

    March 02
    For all practical purposes the entire Nazi concentration of course in the Donbass is now locked into an operational cauldron.
    Long range, standoff capabilities: gone
    Air defenses: gone
    Regular ground forces: no less than 65% (some say up to 80%) of the Ukie military is surrounded and condemned
    Ukrainian disarmament: mostly already done, the Ukraine has nothing to threaten Russia with
    the real magnitude of the Ukrainian defeat will become impossible to conceal in just a few days.
    the entire Nazi force in the Donbass is not getting resupplied. Not by air, not by sea and not by road.

    March 9
    Dismembering and disorganizing the Ukrainian military achieved in the estimated 24 hours
    Closing the operational cauldron behind the Ukie forces in the Donbass: achieved in 2 weeks
    Russia basically encircled Kiev.

    #125653
    Leon Blanc-Sec
    Participant

    What are your pronouns Mr Rainbow military enthusiast?

    Well a good evening to you too. Why don’t you leave the keyboard, take a long walk in the park, you may need it, you look a little tense.

    You have no idea what I think about anything – except, perhaps, how ridiculous is that little fantasy Mr. Escobar is having about Russia insouciantly crushing Europe and the US militarily and economically in a matter of minutes, considering the success it has had in the war it is already in. Destroying all bases in Europe, all airports, destroying all industrial infrastructure, destroying cities in another continent when it cannot do so in a war on its doorstep in a war it describes as existential.

    #125665
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘MMA promise Victoria Lee dies at age 18 of unknown causes

    Farewell to Victoria Lee

    Devastating news for the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Victoria Lee, one of its strongest young promises, died unexpectedly at age 18.’

    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/mma-promise-victoria-lee-dies-at-age-18-of-unknown-causes/ss-AA168wUK?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8542962b6226499d842e38800ad1ab0e

    Unexpectedly, unknown causes.

    Add to the lexicon of The Age of Consequences.

Viewing 35 posts - 81 through 115 (of 115 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.