(December 2, 2024 at 8:07 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: BrianSoddingBoru4:
 
   It’s happening all over the planet. Even in places like France and Germany the far right is making serious progress and everyone is scared in one way or another. + Russia and probably China are backing these movements because they think it will help them to destabilize the West.

    Still, if we go back some 500 years in history, whenever we wanted to remove a government there had to be corpses lying in the streets of our capital cities or at least a few hundred deaths among high ranking people by poison, strangulation or being thrown into the waters of the Bosporus.

    So even with a personality like Narendra Modi in India, if that person has been fairly elected, we have to respect it as the will of the people.

    But: Are we teaching our young individuals to understand their huge responsibility as a citizen of this or that country? Do we educate both rich and poor people on issues like critical thinking, skepticism toward all sources of information (especially social media)? And the basic philosophy that is the foundation of our social contract as it is today, that’s a whole different issue.  
 

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- I don’t think the Donald Trump will completely give up on Ukraine. Even if he does, Europe is not giving up on Ukraine. I think Zelensky’s proposal is the best one we have. NATO should ensure the security of the remaining Ukrainian territories while the rest is left to whenever the regime change happens in Russia.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/germanys-scho...27004.html
 
- The reason why I am worried are not missiles. I don’t know why a rather poor country like Russia has 5000 of them. France and the UK have some 250 warheads each (China has 500 of them). Personaly I don’t even understand why they don’t start dismantling at least ¾ of these weapons.
 
- The real danger is the North-Korean troops. What if France decides to keep its promise and start sending ground troops as well? If that happens, we are technically in a new global conflict. That’s how close we are right now.
 
Otherwise: Who cares about Iran or North Korea having nuclear capabilities for instance? There is no weapon in this world that can magically transform a rogue state into a strong, modern state that meets the basic requirements of true statehood.

None of that explains why I have to respect a bad decision by American voters.

Boru

Blinken has confirmed that ukraine will receive 50b in frozen russian assets in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, in russia, the 2024 budget deficit alone amounts to 60% of the remaining liquidity in the national wealth fund. That fund having been depleted both by the war and the falling ruble.... to around 50b.

Putin remains a master strategist.

(November 20, 2024 at 8:08 pm)Belacqua Wrote: KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnubZfJA-Z8

Whataboutism

(December 5, 2024 at 4:08 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Blinken has confirmed that ukraine will receive 50b in frozen russian assets in the coming weeks.  Meanwhile, in russia, the 2024 budget deficit alone amounts to 60% of the remaining liquidity in the national wealth fund.  That fund having been depleted both by the war and the falling ruble.... to around 50b.  

Putin remains a master strategist.

Blinken wants to lower Ukraine’s conscription age from 24 to 20 or 22. And that new weapons and training will still be provided to these troops one way or another.
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-says-...17763.html
 
So I won’t exclude the possibility that Trump and Elon Musk may have some sort of plan for this conflict.

How is Georgia doing? I know there have been a lot of protests, is there much of a chance of it leading to a timely (for Ukraine) revolution?

(December 6, 2024 at 8:09 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: Blinken wants to lower Ukraine’s conscription age from 24 to 20 or 22. And that new weapons and training will still be provided to these troops one way or another.
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-says-...17763.html
 
So I won’t exclude the possibility that Trump and Elon Musk may have some sort of plan for this conflict.

Yeah, it's generally accepted that 18-24 is prime service age.  Physical performance and standards increase over that period and then fall off a cliff thereafter.  Particularly for infantry which are crucial to physically taking and holding territory.  Ukraines been smart, holding off on this for two reasons.  First to have their prime service population available at their time of greatest need..and second so that they might have a demographic future after the war.   Russia went the other way with it, and we see how that's worked out for them.

It's certainly true that from an immediate military perspective ukraine could have used those extra troops, otoh ukraine already has more troops than they have equipment for.  They stood up a few brigades this year - took conscripts off the line to train them in maneuver warfare while russia was pushing on the promise of a certain amount of gear and vehicles from the west which never materialized.  So they lost ground and still don't have those brigades fully operational.  

Trump and Elmos plan is to surrender ukraine to the russians on ukraines behalf.  There's no "may" here - it's already out in the open.  Keith Kellog is the man for the job.  General Surrender.

In other news...Tucker Carlson's interview with Lavrov was released...in which he explains that russia does not want to attack anyone. It was the USA that attacked Russia through the hands of the Ukrainian regime.

I won't be linking the interview.

(December 6, 2024 at 11:38 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: How is Georgia doing? I know there have been a lot of protests, is there much of a chance of it leading to a timely (for Ukraine) revolution?

Quote:TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgian police on Wednesday raided the offices of an opposition party and arrested its leader in an apparent attempt to squelch a wave of mass protests triggered by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.

During the past six nights, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. More than 300 protesters have been detained since Thursday and over 100 people have been treated for injuries.

On Wednesday, the Coalition for Change opposition party said that police raided its offices and detained its leader, Nika Gvaramia. It shared a video showing several officers dragging Gvaramia into a car.

Georgian media reported that police also raided the offices of several other opposition groups and non-government organizations.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party said the raids targeted those who encouraged violence during protests in an attempt to topple his government. “I wouldn’t call this repression; it is more of a preventive measure than repression,” he said.

https://apnews.com/article/georgia-prote...6c23535157

I personally think that Georgia will remain, essentially, a Russian puppet. The government there cannot acquiesce to the protest demands without courting a Russian invasion. As small as Georgia is, it wouldn't have to be a massive operation. I think the only way matters change is if the protests actually overthrow the government.

Iran is demanding that ukraine stop supporting terror in syria.

(December 6, 2024 at 1:44 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: In other news...Tucker Carlson's interview with Lavrov was released...in which he explains that russia does not want to attack anyone. It was the USA that attacked Russia through the hands of the Ukrainian regime.

I won't be linking the interview.

I wonder how people like carlson or lavrov can stomach looking into a mirror.

Also not linking to a propaganda piece is what I see to be a good choice. No need to help ruᛋᛋia with spreading it.