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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 8:44 am
(This post was last modified: January 1, 2026 at 8:45 am by Fake Messiah.)
(January 1, 2026 at 7:42 am)Deesse23 Wrote: (December 31, 2025 at 11:44 pm)Fake Messiah Wrote: Russians have lost half a million people to occupy almost nothing. According to official russian sources its closer to 1mio.
If you add all the recruiting numbers, factor in the starting size of the russian army as well as its current size (in Ukraine), there is about 1 million "missing".
I was thinking about the year 2025, when Russians lost close to half a million soldiers.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 9:58 am
Quote:Nearly half of Americans do not support President Trump’s efforts surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a new poll.
When asked in The Economist/YouGov poll about their support for “the way Donald Trump is handling the situation with Russia and Ukraine,” 49 percent of respondents said they “somewhat disapprove” or “strongly disapprove.”
Thirty percent of respondents in the same poll said they either “somewhat approve” or “strongly approve” Trump’s handling of the situation, while 20 percent were unsure.
https://thehill.com/policy/international...mp-russia/
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 4:20 pm
This is from Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, by Robert Gates, who was the director of the CIA and US Secretary of Defense:
[NATO expansion was] "recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests... When Russia was weak in the 1990s and beyond, we did not take Russian interests seriously. We did a poor job of seeing the world from their point of view... Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching."
It is possible that the director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense knows what he's talking about.
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 5:21 pm
(January 1, 2026 at 4:20 pm)Belacqua Wrote: This is from Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, by Robert Gates, who was the director of the CIA and US Secretary of Defense:
[NATO expansion was] "recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests... When Russia was weak in the 1990s and beyond, we did not take Russian interests seriously. We did a poor job of seeing the world from their point of view... Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching."
It is possible that the director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense knows what he's talking about.
Was the perceived threat intended by NATO, or was it a result of Russian insecurity bordering on paranoia?
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 6:20 pm
Robert Gates doesn’t get to make decisions for Ukraine any more than Russia does
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 8:52 pm
(January 1, 2026 at 4:20 pm)Belacqua Wrote: This is from Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, by Robert Gates, who was the director of the CIA and US Secretary of Defense:
[NATO expansion was] "recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests... When Russia was weak in the 1990s and beyond, we did not take Russian interests seriously. We did a poor job of seeing the world from their point of view... Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching."
It is possible that the director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense knows what he's talking about.
And yet that particular director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense seems to have missed that point that NATO is a defensive alliance. Russia’s ‘vital national interests’ seem to include the West making it more difficult for Russia to start wars of aggression.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 10:23 pm
(January 1, 2026 at 6:20 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Robert Gates doesn’t get to make decisions for Ukraine any more than Russia does
And yet he and other Americans have been making decisions for Ukraine which have led them to catastrophe. It would be better if they didn't.
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 11:01 pm
No decision ukraine made lead to disaster. Russia invaded.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 11:15 pm
It's all America's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine. That's why it makes sense for the US to give Ukraine to Russia. Still wondering what colour the sky is in his world.
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RE: Russia and Ukraine
January 1, 2026 at 11:18 pm
I makes perfect sense to people who've been drinking the spheres of influence koolaid.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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