A missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday during the heaviest Russian bombardment on Ukraine in months, which stretched across five regions and reportedly killed some forty people.
On September 4, Russian anti-fascist Azat Miftakhov was released from jail, only to be instantly rearrested. Vladimir Putin claims to be fighting Ukrainian Nazis — but he persecutes anti-fascists in Russia itself.
Herein lies a significantly different argument from whether or not Putin or Russia was the aggressor when they invaded the Ukraine
The moral here from the US military-industrial complex is: stay the course. The returns are worth it. And in such a calculus, concepts such as freedom and democracy can be commodified and budgeted. As for Ukrainian suffering? Well, let it continue.
The moral here from the US military-industrial complex is: stay the course. The returns are worth it. And in such a calculus, concepts such as freedom and democracy can be commodified and budgeted. As for Ukrainian suffering? Well, let it continue.
A viral video this week of a Russian couple who are volunteers in occupied Ukraine. They were shocked at their treatment by native Ukrainians who don’t regard them as liberators. Far from it. Most times, with their Russian license plate, they’re refused service at gas stations. And besides all the rude comments, they fear for their safety, and they even try not to spend nights there for fear of not waking up.
And if the video strikes you as some bizarre exercise in cognitive dissonance where they regard the native Ukrainians as “traitors”, I’ll remind you again that this is how ordinary Russians are taught. It makes no sense at all to the rest of us, but to them it does.
Putin’s doing a Trump or is Trump dreaming of doing a Putin? Putin disappears generals like Trump does lawyers
Russia’s most senior generals have dropped out of public view following a failed mercenary mutiny aimed at toppling the top brass, amid a drive by President Vladimir Putin to reassert his authority and unconfirmed reports of at least one arrest.
That is daily life in Ukraine, where pilotless vehicles known as drones litter the sky in an endless video gamelike – but actually very real – war with Russia.
Should they be taking them? Ukraine is desperate for any bit of warring materiel its armed forces can lay their hands on, but depleted uranium shells would surely not be a model example of use. And yet, the UK, in an act of killing with kindness, is happy to fork them out to aid the cause against the Russians, despite the scandals, the alleged illnesses, and environmental harms.
The failure to prosecute American officials and other powerful nations for war crimes has created a jurisdictional mess.
It seems clear at this point that the Biden administration’s position is that increasing Ukraine’s military capacity is a win-win scenario: Even if Kyiv does not expel Moscow’s forces and retake of all of its territory — including Crimea — as Zelenskyy has stated is the central objective, the proxy war will nonetheless deliver a series of potent punches to the vital organs that constitute Vladimir Putin’s reign. Russia will continue to sacrifice the lives of its soldiers and deplete its economic and military capacity — and Putin will be weakened internally and internationally. The goal is that one way or another, Putin loses without having to sacrifice U.S. or NATO lives.
But what if none of that happens? What if Putin survives this brutal war with his grip on power intact? What if Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was right when he said last November that a Ukrainian victory “is maybe not achievable through military means”? What if Ukraine is forced to accept a negotiated solution where it formally concedes the loss of its territory? What type of accountability could then be brought to bear for Putin’s decision to invade a neighboring country?
There are currently only two Jewish heads of state in the world. The first, not surprisingly, leads Israel. The second is Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine.
So much for conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world.
We can’t even get together to control the outcome of the war in Ukraine. They don’t get along.
why on earth has the world’s only Jewish state failed to support the only other country with a Jewish leader? So much for conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world. We can’t even get together to control the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
When Israel refused to provide Ukraine with its Iron Dome air defense system, in the face of Russia’s brutal aerial assault on Ukrainian infrastructure, Zelensky couldn’t contain his frustration in an interview with French TV: “You know there are many people in Ukraine of Jewish origin, and there are a lot of Ukrainians in Israel. How is it possible to have this attitude? I was shocked.”
Zelensky and Netanyahu may share the distinction of being Jewish leaders. But the Ukrainian should not expect much in the way of military help from Israel. Frankly, the latter is too busy heading in the direction of fascism to be much help in defending a democratic state from Putinism.
Eisenhower warned that “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
Solving Climate, Cost of Living, reducing the threat of war, Australia has it all. Why be held to ransom by fossil fuel?
Euronews observes that with regard to solar-generated electricity, “the Netherlands, Germany and Spain come out on top, with 23 per cent, 19 per cent and 17 per cent respectively during summer 2022.” Imagine how many billions of euros they would save on energy bills if those numbers were doubled, and were common in the rest of Europe. Moreover, moving quickly to wind, solar, hydro and battery would deeply weaken the Russian Federation and deprive it of a key lever of power and source of income.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky lambasted Israel on Monday, saying that the latter’s refusal to provide Ukraine with anti-missile defenses and its neutrality on the war had permitted Iran and Russia to deepen their ties, with benefits for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
Ukraine says Russia has destroyed almost one-third of its power stations over the past week — leaving more than 1000 towns blacked out — in a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure.
Gangsters are overtaking the planet and where they aren’t they are trying to in varying forms. By gangsters, I mean wannabe Caesars. Single heads of State representing themselves and/or a small minority of interests. That form of power has been far easier to organize than a majority in support of its own protection and any Democracy.
Trump, not as bright as most, tried with the advice of Steve Bannon in the USA. Now the Republicans have taken his lead. He may have tripped and we’ve yet to see if he failed. Or, has a replacement already been cloned? We’ve seen the rise of these would-be kings in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and in even self-claimed Democracies like Israel, Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Italy Sweden and Russia all really being seduced by the siren’s call of religious Nationalism trumpeted by these gangsters.
Putin is seen as their hero despite being just another wannabe Ceasar too. He’s a role model of power, and toughness, in his own mind. Flaunting his ability to command the support of a nation while milking it for all its worth. His problem,he believes in his own propaganda and in less than 8 months has had to distance himself from even his inner circle of sycophants who he can no longer trust becoming more and more a Nero rather than a Caesar.
His truth America wants to crush him like a bug but do it by proxy
Vladimir Putin’s misguided views of Ukraine’s independence are inaccurate, as history reveals, writes Susan Bothmann.
There will be myriad effects from the decision last week by the OPEC+ oil producers – led by Saudi Arabia and Russia – to cut production and increase the price of oil.
None of them are good. The energy supply and price squeeze in a Europe already bracing for brutal days and nights as winter approaches will be tightened. Inflation gets a boost – and the central banks will keep raising interest rates. Russia will reap revenues to ease the vice of Western sanctions imposed to punish Putin and his regime for the war in Ukraine. Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC partners will enjoy more money from petrol tanks flowing into their banks.
The OPEC+ decision also signals a deeper entente between Russia and Saudi Arabia: calculated strategic scheming by Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and the effective leader of the country.
Western estimates of Russian dead in the Ukraine war have ranged from more than 15,000 to over 20,000 — more than the Soviet Union lost during its 10-year war in Afghanistan. The Pentagon said last week that as many as 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, eroding Moscow’s ability to conduct big offensives.
Putin fast-track more Russian passports – Michael West
The Russian passport move appears to be part of Putin’s political influence strategy, which has also involved the introduction of the Russian rouble in occupied territory in Ukraine and could eventually result in the annexation of more Ukrainian territory into the Russian Federation. Russia already annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea in 2014.
The Russian president set the stage for such moves even before Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, writing an essay last summer claiming that Russians and Ukrainians are one people and attempting to diminish the legitimacy of Ukraine as an independent nation. Reports have surfaced of Russian authorities confiscating Ukrainian passports from some citizens.
The passport announcement came hours after Russian shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city on Monday killed at least six people and injured 31, prosecutors and local officials said. Russian troops launched three missile strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in an attack one official described as “absolute terrorism.”
The US-led sanctions on Russia were meant to force an end to Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and weaken his hold on power. Instead, their main effect has been to exacerbate the West’s own economic problems and deepen its internal divisions.
“But if we don’t do it then we run the risk that the storage facilities will not be full enough at the end of the year towards the winter season. And then we are blackmailable on a political level,” he said.
China sees Russia and Putin as a proxy satellite rather than a power unto itself and Putin is obliging them because without China’s silent support he couldn’t continue.
China has refused to criticise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or even to refer to it in such terms while accusing NATO of provoking Russia into attacking.
Russian forces now occupy about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as the battle clocked 100 days since the start of the invasion.
Meanwhile, the media attention to the Russian/Ukraine war seems to be in retreat. If that’s the case is the world surrendering to Putin?
Russia says it is waging a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine and rid it of nationalists threatening Russian-speakers there. Kyiv and Western countries say Russia’s claims are a false pretext for war. Thousands of people, including many civilians, have been killed and several million have fled their homes, either for safer parts of Ukraine or to other countries.
Putin will do anything he can to get the bastards back in power.
Fox News hosts and other right-wing media figures are complaining about the $39.8 billion bipartisan bill that would aid Ukraine as it fights against the Russian invasion. The bill — which includes funds for humanitarian, economic, and defense needs in the country — passed in the House earlier this week and is now being delayed in the Senate due to opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
The Israeli and Ukrainian governments have lambasted the Russian Federation for remarks of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a video interview with an Italian TV station. Lavrov defended Moscow’s creepy allegation that the Ukrainian government is dominated by Nazis, even though the president, Volodomyr Zelensky, is Jewish. Lavrov said that to his recollection, Adolf Hitler was part Jewish, and he alleged that some of the worst antisemites are Jewish.
Steadily, ominously, the stakes are rising in the confrontation that Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has provoked with the west. Russia’s state energy company Gazprom halted gas supplies to two EU member states – Poland and Bulgaria – on Wednesday and warned that more countries could be similarly targeted. Poland, with good reason, described this as a “direct attack”. Moscow is also talking darkly of delivering a “proportionate response” to the demonisation of Russia by western governments. On Tuesday, Mr Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused Nato of “engaging in a war with Russia through a proxy”. The risk of nuclear escalation, he said, was becoming “considerable”.
Hitler killed himself he only had a gun. Putin will kill every one else;
The Russians will not thank him for destroying their economy, the Russian troops’ parents and families will not thank him for killing their sons, and the Ukrainian people will never accept the reason for the invasion, or its apparent objective: The subjugation of its identity and status as a sovereign nation. The death and destruction means there will never be reconciliation between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin’s war is a grave mistake, and hundreds of thousands will pay the price. The greatest threat comes from Putin, and his absolute hold on power. He, if cornered, might pull out all the stops, and attempt to bluff the Unites States and Europe with the threat of nuclear war. The possibility is there, and it looks to be Putin’s last card.
Russia will feel the impact of this historic uncivilized fascist carnage a century from now and yes Putin will go down with Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, as humanity’s greatest shame. Maybe not in scale but in unsubtle threat and intent. Russians rich and poor left or right will come to know the truth of what’s being done in their names.
Ukraine has again been unable to secure Russia’s agreement on establishing humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians trapped in cities and towns, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says.
The Donbas is the country’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and have declared two independent republics that have been recognised by Russia. In recent weeks, the Kremlin declared the capture of the Donbas its main goal of the war after its attempt to storm Kyiv failed. After withdrawing from the capital, Russia began regrouping and reinforcing its ground troops in the east for an all-out offensive. “No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” Zelensky vowed. “We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”
When Diplomacy and Hypocrisy stand shoulder to shoulder it’s generally over more than one issue. Australia India and Russia aren’t signatories to the Glasgow Emissions Target agreement on Climate either. We and they are all pro-coal, fossil fuels and stand alone against the rest of the world including the Australian electorate. How is it this Australian Government can declare that the friend of my enemy is our friend and still pretend to support Ukraine? They just do it without qualification expecting we will vote for them? The Morrison Government’s legacy is tarnishing us in the eyes of the world. It’s no wonder why Biden couldn’t remember ScaMo’s name but Trump could.
Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, says the Modi government’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not an issue for Australia. Mr O’Farrell, the former premier of NSW, made the remarks at an event in New Delhi for the Australia India Institute, which is led by former Labor senator Lisa Singh. Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the Australia India Institute. Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the Australia India Institute. Australia has expressed concern about suggestions India could bypass Western sanctions via a bespoke banking system and India has been forced to defend its decision to buy up cheap Russian oil. Asked whether India’s “perceived neutrality” on Russia posed concerns for the newly revived Quad alliance – comprising Australia, the United States, India and Japan – O’Farrell said Australia opposed Putin’s war but respected India’s different stance. “In relation to what’s happening in Ukraine, Australia’s made our position very clear – Australia understands India’s position,”
What’s even funnier is Andrew Bolt dreams of retiring on a barge in Amsterdam and writing a novel. Let’s never forget it’s just a dream to placate the guilt of being the most impotent of the above Three Amigos whose only thing in common is being able to talk with their heads up their clackers.
In the Herald-Sun, Andrew Bolt managed to blame the war in Ukraine on climate activism, saying “Vladimir Putin would never have dared invade Ukraine if the green movement hadn’t first made Europe look helpless.” The only surprise was Andrew Bolt didn’t also try to blame the Ukraine war on African gangs from Melbourne’s outer suburbs.
If the Morrison government really wants us to believe it will ship 70,000 tonnes of Australian coal straight by the Russian navy in the Black Sea, bang through a war zone, it is proving very reluctant to share even the slightest detail of how it might accomplish this feat of ridiculousness. Callum Foote and Michael West report.
Israel not only refused to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system to Ukraine, but also blocked the U.S. from sending Iron Dome batteries owned by the U.S. Army to Kyiv.
The Russian TV editor who interrupted a news broadcast to protest the Ukraine war said on Sunday she acted out of dissatisfaction at propaganda disseminated by Vladimir Putin’s government, and said she had turned down an offer of asylum in France despite fearing further retaliation. Republicans in Washington have expressed concern that Carlson has veered too close to defending Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Marina Ovsyannikova, who describes herself as “a patriot”, was fined 30,000 roubles ($280) by a court in Moscow last week for the “spontaneous” act of rebellion in which she appeared during the live newscast with a sign saying “No War”. On Sunday, she told ABC’s This Week she needed to speak out after watching her employer, Channel One, spread “lies” about the Ukraine war.
The biggest gift a crime Trump was handed by Bannon was dismantling science, facts and the foundations of truth as we knew it and replacing it with nothing more than narrative. It left the brute force of the powerful in control of communication able to treat people like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit guaranteeing confusion grew. The of money, technology and the alt-right in control of the narratives have proven McCluhan’s prediction that the “medium is the message”
Russian scientists who have looked at the documents Russia calls proof of “bioweapons labs” in Ukraine say there is no evidence for such claims.
Republicans rooting for Putin and Trump…” Just Give Up”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Wednesday slammed President Joe Biden for sending more military aid to Ukraine, and said that things would be better off if Ukrainians just gave up their efforts to resist the Russian invasion.
It’s like watching a three-hundred-pound bully beat up a kid half his size, for no reason — bloodying the poor kid, pulverizing him. Yet you don’t dare try to stop the mayhem because the bully has a gun that he’ll use on you if you intervene. You look for police, but there are none.
Thousands of Russians have been arrested for protesting the war in Ukraine, but can the country’s jailed, exiled, or marginalized dissidents deter Putin?
Buying an electric car, though, and pressuring Congress to pass legislation to green our electricity grid, improve mass transportation, and discourage gasoline vehicles, would actually over time devastate oil prices and leave Putin with fewer resources to launch attacks on his neighbors. Using significantly less gasoline would cause oil prices to fall and deprive Putin of his bonanza. We’d produce less earth-wrecking carbon dioxide. And we’d save lots of money on gasoline. We can save ourselves in three different ways all at once with electric vehicles and electric commuter trains.
olddogthoughts 
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