well, maybe the financial world really is fascist and no one ever talks about that..
Posted by: james | Jun 5 2022 16:37 utc | 26
The current global war is not only the war of a declining West empire against a rising East empire.
It is also kind of a class war. On one side, in the West, the owners of finance&capital power, who control the state. On the other side, the owners of the state power (gov of China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran) who control the economy.
It is obvious, as soon as one thinks about it ” and no one ever talks about that..”.

Posted by: parisian Guy | Jun 5 2022 22:50 utc | 104

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 22:45 utc | 105
Seems I too live in the third world. Surprised me!. Yes I do have 3 tiled bathrooms and toilets but dear or dear! I am not connected to sewage. have a very effective biocycle. Jeeepers!

Posted by: watcher | Jun 5 2022 22:51 utc | 106

Summer homes (dachas) out in the countryside often have pit latrines and everyone has a summer home, so in a way it’s a reasonable statement that a large number, perhaps a majority, of Russians own at least one residence without indoor plumbing. If someone has convinced themselves that urban complexes in major metropolitan areas operate without indoor plumbing and waste management systems — they are too dumb for you to waste your time on.
Having said that, a lot of government services rely on having an officially registered place of residence and there can be various reasons for registering your dacha as your primary residence. This shows up in the officially issued statistics, together with the utilities that you yourself have declared that your dacha is connected to (meaning lots of outdated information).
Russia is also home to a substantial number of communities and individuals who shun city living entirely and essentially live off the land. A lot of older people sign over their city apartments to their children and move out into the country for a peaceful retirement, but there are other categories of people drawn to cheap land and negligible estate taxes, like religiously inclined foreigners, naturists etc. They are then in charge of their own utilities, unless they pick a strategic location between urban centers with connected utilities or on the outskirts of an urban center. Of course, there are some villages which are so off the grid they don’t even have a dirt-road connection, either newly built or remnants of past centuries, and the houses there are still attractive to hunting and fishing enthusiasts.
In short, there’s a ton of land and people are left to their own devices on how they want to live. The government primarily takes care of providing all necessities to urban centers and adjacent villages, but if you want to live in a solitary hut in the woods you’re on your own. I’m currently residing in Sweden, 30 minute bike-ride away from sewage connected to a water treatment facility, and all of our waste is collected in 12 or so separate latrine barrels around the neighborhood that are emptied by truck once a month. If tiny Sweden can’t get its shit together, what can you expect from 11 time zones of Russian territory?

Posted by: Skiffer | Jun 5 2022 23:04 utc | 108

Holy fuck, out-houses for toilets. In Russia. That’s fucking news, 80% of Canadians reserves, where the ‘natives’ are warehoused don’t have clean potable water and are under constant boil water advisories. Next we’ll hear that a run on TP in Russia has increased demand for antique Sears Roebuck catalogues. Remember to crinkle the shiny pages….softer on the bum.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 5 2022 23:45 utc | 110

Re: Sean the Leprechaum, @113,
it’s not “just” the reserves in Canada, my parents live up north and the rule for all of the counties is, “if you’re not within the town itself, you get jack!”. it’s really, really infuriating because the town councils are emulating Toronto, the Megacity, in that they’ve expanded the municipal limits (i.e. the tax base), 5, 10, 15 miles beyond what they were 20yrs ago, they jacked up everyone’s property taxes but offer no services. No garbage pickup, no water, no sewage, nothing. the garbage pickup is worst, because the people who live within the town get “free” garbage pickup, but us rural rubes have to pay $2/bag to drop off garbage at the dump, even though we pay the same taxes. People get around this with burn barrels, dumping garbage at the side of the major roads or having “private” family dumps. As for the boil water advisories, those really aren’t a big deal, if you don’t have a deep well or a water treatment system, you have to boil your water, simple as that (this might sound harsh, but these hamlets have been settled for 200+ yrs, we’ve been boiling water or drinking whiskey for a while). My family’s house has had terrible water forever (lots of tannin, sulfur, iron even E Coli) and until we got the water treatment system we had drink bottled water, just like most of the other people in the hamlet.
P.S. one of our neighbors didn’t even have indoor plumbing, she was an 80yr old woman and I still remember her getting bundled up to go use the outhouse in the dead of winter during a blizzard.

Posted by: Kadath | Jun 6 2022 1:01 utc | 112

I guess I can be forgiven for thinking this thread was “shit”… 🙂

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 6 2022 2:40 utc | 114

The pros and cons of longdrop vs french tickler…. A mate of mine would not drink river water when he was young because fish pissed in it.
Swamp water is not good. After a day without water a mate had a gutfull of swamp water. I tasted it and thought better to be dry. He was somewhat unwell for a number of days.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 6 2022 2:44 utc | 116

Posted by: librul | Jun 5 2022 22:43 utc | 104
Posted by: Olivier | Jun 5 2022 22:47 utc | 106
I have asked the same question about Kolomoyskij several weeks ago. I thought that he may be in Switzerland or in Cyprus or in Israel. Nobody had an answer if I remember. Now, the narrower supposition is “Geneva”. I doubt that Kolo and Achmetov would reside in the small place like Geneva, because they are hating each other intensely – and Swiss authorities would not look kindly on some gang style shootouts in that peaceful place. The German “Die Welt” published in 2014 an article about both of them and about Firtasch. It is well worth reading
https://www.welt.de/print/die_welt/wirtschaft/article131474811/Der-kalte-Krieg-der-Oligarchen.html

Posted by: fanto | Jun 6 2022 3:09 utc | 118

Posted by: dh | Jun 6 2022 3:10 utc | 122
“The UK government has not confirmed how many weapons will be sent, but the BBC understands it will be three initially.”
So much for those.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 6 2022 3:16 utc | 120

The three latest Gonzalo Lira videos…
In the first one, he talks about the significance of Ukrainian enriched uranium stockpiles at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
2022.06.05 Mr. Grossi, Zaporizhia, and Nuclear Weapons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egpkp9BlFyc
In the second, he explains why there will be no “peace treaty” until Russia seizes all of Ukraine.
2022.06.05 There Will Be No Peace Agreement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru18yg-0Epo
And in the last, he discusses what will happen in Europe when the Ukraine war is over.
2022.06.05 What Happens To Europe When Russia Wins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdUYtvk4sqE
His opinion is that Russia will seize all of Ukraine, annex all the southern and eastern areas, and install a puppet regime in the rest of Ukraine, because Lira is smart enough to know that Russia can’t allow the rest of Ukraine to be infiltrated by the West.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 6 2022 3:37 utc | 122

Sorry for turning this thread into shit.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 6 2022 3:39 utc | 126
don’t be sorry, comic relief is necessary and a nice change from post after post about missiles and endless opinions about Russian intentions.
My first thought was omg what kind of people believe countries like Russia don’t have public sanitation handled? Probably a lot more than would be ready to admit it.

Posted by: K | Jun 6 2022 3:48 utc | 124

@ parisian Guy | Jun 5 2022 22:50 utc | 107
thanks.. yes, a few folks have called this a class war.. i think that is what this is too..

Posted by: james | Jun 6 2022 4:15 utc | 126

@68 and @87, re: Ukraine’s first post-coup governors in March 2014 were oligarchs appointed by the new government whose PM Yatsenyuk had been selected by the US (“Yats is the guy,” per V. Nuland). NY Times doesn’t mention Yats til 6th parag., says idea of calling in oligarch’s was someone else’s, names were announced by pres. office but Yats/US were likely involved in selections–esp. those in E. Ukraine since this was a US government obtained via violent coup planned for 2 yrs. Two key Eastern Ukraine governorships were given to Sergei Taruta in Donetsk and Ihor Kolomoysky in Dnipropetrovsk. US policy for the East was that it remain under constant attack, so it’s likely the governors awarded Eastern regions were down with the program….3/2/2014, “Ukraine Turns to Its Oligarchs for Political Help,“ NY Times, Andrew E. Kramer, Kiev, Ukraine
“The interim government…[led by US selected Prime Minister Yatsenyuk] is recruiting the country’s wealthy businessmen, known as the oligarchs, to serve as governors of the eastern provinces.
The strategy…is recognition that the oligarchs represent the country’s industrial and business elite, and exercise great influence over thousands of workers in the east, which is largely ethnically Russian….
The office of President…announced on Sunday the appointments of two billionaires-Sergei Taruta in Donetsk and Ihor Kolomoysky in Dnipropetrovsk-
and more were reportedly under consideration for positions in the eastern regions….
After the meeting, the government began asking the oligarchs to take the positions in the regional governments….
The ultra-wealthy industrialists wield such power in Ukraine that they form what amounts to a shadow government, with empires of steel and coal, telecoms and media, and armies of workers.
Persuading some to serve as governors in the east was a small victory for the new government in Kiev….
“The risk is this will be seen as business as usual by putting wealthy people in government.
That has been part of the problem for the past 22 years”…said Steven Pifer, a former American ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Brookings Institution….
Mr. Kolomoysky, a steel, airline and media tycoon, accepted the position of governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, an area on the fracture line between east and west in Ukraine. His acceptance was first reported on Sunday by 1+1, a television station that Mr. Kolomoysky owns….
Another figure reported to be under consideration for a governorship in the east
is Aleksandr Yaroslavsky, a developer and banker. The interim government
offered him the position of governor of the Kharkiv region, where pro-Russian protesters on Saturday overran a regional administration building.”…https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/europe/ukraine-turns-to-its-oligarchs-for-political-help.html?_r=2&auth=login-email&login=email

Posted by: susan mullen | Jun 6 2022 5:28 utc | 128

The Japanese government is rotten, but the toilet is very clean.

Posted by: Nosuhiri | Jun 6 2022 6:17 utc | 130

@lex talionis | Jun 5 2022 20:53 utc | 76

@ 74 TQC – I think the Ruskies are pretty advanced!
Russian Cyber Farm

LOL hilarious, thank you for that!!
The Russians are managing the sanctions: Natasha from russia

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 6:30 utc | 132

Michael Tracey has been talking recently about the (very obvious) comparisons with Vietnam, which was, as everyone has now forgotten, ‘the liberals’ war’.
The war was started by Eisenhower, but was aggressively supported by the liberals’ hero, JFK, who wrote: “Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.”
JFK obviously extended the war and increased American involvement, and it was LBJ who really went to town on the American involvement.
Nixon and Kissinger, despite their many crimes, actually deserve credit for ending the war (insofar as any American President deserves credit for anything).
What we are seeing here is Vietnam on full throttle. It’s a sign, incidentally, of how much more brainwashed the Americans (and Europeans) are, that this de facto American invasion of Ukraine, despite the fact that it’s taking place completely in the open, is causing so little public pushback. Even in the early 1960s there was the beginnings of an anti-war movement. Now, nothing.
Incidentally, like Vietnam, this war will inevitably spread and risk nuclear war. Completely inevitable.
A lot of people on this thread are getting far too excited, incidentally, asking ‘when will this war end?’ Very simple: it will never end. It can’t. The Amerikan Empire is on the march now and won’t rest until the real ‘enemy’, China, is annihilated.
David Wearing, in his book AngloArabia: revealed that one of the key reasons for the War of Terror was to prevent China getting access to Iraqi war (Afghanistan was also part of the plan to weaken Russia). So this war has already been going on for 20 years (longer if one counts the Nato invasion of Yugoslavia): it will go on for another 40/50. years minimum and will not end until either China or the US has triumphed. For both, this is existential.

Posted by: Hidari | Jun 6 2022 6:59 utc | 134

> Posted by: bevin | Jun 5 2022 18:56 utc | 52
Brilliant.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jun 6 2022 7:23 utc | 136

The UK follows along like the faithful lapdog it’s always been as the USA’s bitch in sending rocket systems to Ukraine. But only really as a distraction from the Tory’s appalling conduct on everything else.
Now tonight, the turd Johnson faces a vote of no confidence. I suspect he’ll survive because, at the end of the day, his would-be removers, are themselves a bunch of unprincipled, opportunistic shits and won’t risk losing. God forbid if that complete arsewipe Tugenhadt does win any subsequent Tory leadership race. He makes the dullard Truss look like an intellectual.

Posted by: Vragtes | Jun 6 2022 8:25 utc | 138

librul | Jun 5 2022 22:43 utc | 104

Q: Wonder where Igor Kolomoisky is hiding these days?
>~ …Oligarch Igor stands to lose a fortune – capital F – if the Donbas does not remain part of Kiev-Ukraine

A: Israel.
Kolomoisky like so many others involved in the Ukrainian project has had an ignominious fall.
Blinken and Team CYA have moved against Kolor-murky.
He’s on an FBI wanted list and ….. well. He’s no longer living the dream.
FBI goes after Igor Kolomoisky
The State Department issued a ban against Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky entering the US on 5 March due to allegations […] (173 words)
Issue dated 24/03/2021
https://www.intelligenceonline.com/corporate-intelligence/2021/03/24/fbi-goes-after-igor-kolomoisky,109652697-art
Controversial Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky banned from US
US Secretary of State Blinken accuses Jewish tycoon of corruption, undermining democracy
By AFP. 7 March 2021
https://www.timesofisrael.com/controversial-ukrainian-oligarch-igor-kolomoisky-banned-from-us/
10 Dots Connected On Ukraine
dannielleblumenthal March 8, 2022 2 Minutes
1. Kolomoisky is Zelensky’s financial benefactor. [[or. was: past tense??]]
2. Kolomoisky co-owned a Ukrainian bank named PrivatBank. He took out $5.5 billion of Ukrainian money from the bank to “invest” and never paid it back.
* Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: “PrivatBank was nationalized in 2016 after allegations of years of fraud. Before regulators took over, however, Kolomoisky managed to move $5.5 billion out of the country using the bank’s branch in Cyprus.”
3. Through intermediaries his money funded Jewish charities. [Note: “Authorities have not accused the charities of wrongdoing.”] The money creates an institutional barrier to talking openly about this crook.
4. The DOJ/FBI is aggressively pursuing this matter. The State Dept. (Blinken) banned him from the USA 1 year ago (March 2021). When banning Kolomoisky from the USA, Secretary of State Blinken said Kolomoisky needed to stop meddling in Ukrainian politics (read: Zelensky). The oligarch controlled not just that, but also obviously the courts never convicted him.
* NYT: “In a statement, Mr. Blinken said Mr. Kolomoisky had used a position in government as a regional governor in Ukraine for his personal benefit. While acknowledging that the Ukrainian holds no official role today, Mr. Blinken said he posed a risk for “ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes and institutions,” an apparent reference to his efforts to influence the Zelensky administration. Mr. Zelensky has denied he is beholden to the businessman.”
5. The IMF had to clean up Kolomoisky’s mess in Ukraine leading to the bank’s nationalization.
6. Under bought and paid for Zelensky, Kolomoisky has escaped any sort of justice in Ukraine whatsoever.
7. The FBI chased Kolomoisky to Israel. Israel was about to give him up to the USA. He escaped.
* “’Two unrelated sources have told us that Kolomoisky returned because the FBI had him pinned in Israel. The amount of information on the oligarch’s schemes is supposedly so large that the local Mossad had already gladly made plans to hand him over to the Americans, despite the fact that Israel does not extradite its own citizens to anyone (which is why Kolomoisky went there from Switzerland),’ the Telegram [archive link] channel states.” (UAWire.org [Archive link])
8. Burisma is the gas company concerning which then-VP Biden threatened to withhold loan guarantees if they didn’t fire the prosecutor.
9. Keep in mind Biden didn’t just do this off the cuff. It was part of a coordinated U.S. effort to stop Ukraine corruption. However it is glaringly obvious that his son’s presence on the board was part of the corruption.
10. “Kolomoisky publicly said in 2019 that he refused to cooperate with efforts by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to get his help in investigating Hunter Biden and Burisma—and potentially Joe Biden, multiple news outlets reported. House Democrats’ impeachment report on Trump also cited the incident in late 2019.”
How Hunter Biden’s Interests ‘Overlapped’ With Banned Ukrainian Oligarch
By Dr. Dannielle (Dossy) Blumenthal. All opinions are the author’s own…..

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jun 6 2022 8:36 utc | 140

… How Hunter Biden’s Interests ‘Overlapped’ With Banned Ukrainian Oligarch …..
Posted by: Melaleuca | Jun 6 2022 8:36 utc | 143
Great info, thanks. The more territory RF captures, the more chance that something or someone falls into RF hands that could personally incinerate Dirty Joe & Grunter.

Posted by: anon2020 | Jun 6 2022 9:07 utc | 142

Last I was in Kiev no one drank the tap water. While it may have been technically potable, no one believed that it was. I doubt things have changed much since then, for the better anyway. Clothes washers were a luxury item and many city dwellers lacked one. No one I knew had a drier. Never saw a laundromat. Public toilets were nasty and to be avoided. Outhouse at the dacha much preferred. Same in Russia. Rural Ukraine is the same as rural Russia as far as amenities goes.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 6 2022 9:24 utc | 144

Thus, instead of culture being the site of revolutionary action against an élite (per Gramsci), the lUS and European social platforms and MSM, cleansed of non-western rivals, have become precisely the site where the ‘system’ – the élite – can reassert itself, neutering the possibility of political resistance by dominating the cultural sphere: Big-platform algorithmic and MSM demonization of China and Russia.

Alastair Crooke, Al Mayadeen 5 Jun 2022
Russia-Ukraine conflit: an african perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOJ1woQTYck

Posted by: António Ferrão | Jun 6 2022 9:59 utc | 146

It’s frustrating to whatch Military Summary, meanwhile for me the most important source about the state of the war, and to realize how slowly the allied forces gain territory, if any, and how – especially- the Ukrainians are still able to bomb civilians in Donetsk 7/24, and how irrelevant the Russian air supremacy seems to be.
How is this possible?
Posted by: njet | Jun 6 2022 5:11 utc | 130
The city of Donezk isn`t that far away from UAF-held territory. Most of the attacks carried out against this and other cities use BM-21 GRAD and similar, Katjusha-style, rocket launchers*. They are pretty mobile, they have/had lots of them, and they are imprecise. (Hence perfect for shelling civilian areas, if you are so inclined.) These multi-rocket launcher rockets can hardly be shot down like ballistic or cruise missiles. They have a range of up to 40 km, more modern version probably beyond that. Plus the Tochka-Us.
You can expect where the Czech MRLs will be deployed and used, if they get there.
I do expect that over time, most of these systems and their crew will be eliminated, and Russia will push to the borders of the Donbass and create a military-free zone beyond that (at least), so further such attacks will be made impossible.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21_Grad
NB: Back in the day when that US battle-ship was shelling cities (and military positions) in Lebanon (methinks), I wondered why those on the receiving end never utilized their GRADs (of whom they had quite a few) to send some greetings to the US Navy, since the ship was close enough to the shore. Then again, I was young back in the day …

Posted by: CM of Berlin | Jun 6 2022 10:03 utc | 148

Posted by: Arioch | Jun 5 2022 22:21 utc | 98
Spain does not have any 1A4 Leos. They are 2A4 and will not do Ukr much good – Turkey lost 10 of them in Iraq to Kornets. They may never reach UKr since they are training the Ukies in Lithuania so how they intend to move them to the battlefield is not self-evident and who will maintain them ?
Spain offered these to Peru for evaluation but they were rejected

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Jun 6 2022 10:11 utc | 150

Speaking of MH17, I’ve been wondering if the SMO would turn up any new information on it, or if it will forever remain relegated to the realm of speculation. Kiev was the primary beneficiary and the party that blocked timely and effective investigation. Kolomoisky is certainly amoral enough to have been involved.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 6 2022 10:16 utc | 152

The European Union and the Euro

The EU’s position of complete follow-through in relation to US policy also demonstrates that holding reserves in euros does not provide any guarantees.
In addition to the weaknesses evidenced by the system of payments between central banks of the euro, system (Target 2), the Euro countries, by following the American positions, also liquidated any wish that this currency could constitute itself as a reliable and safe reserve for the emerging countries. [5]
The persistence and even worsening of imbalances between most eurozone countries and Germany indicate that a new euro crisis cannot be excluded, which makes the euro even less reliable. This real perspective is also driven by the inflation situation caused by COVID and now by the war in Ukraine that will lead to an increase in interest rates, which will be extremely negative for the most indebted countries such as Portugal.
Low interest rates and negative interest rates actually played the role of restructuring the debts of indebted countries. Decrease in interest rates, lengthening of maturities and even haircuts when rates were negative.
But this restructuring, without being named, could be interrupted by the rise in interest rates that is already in the offing, and this increase may not even be smooth. The “Euribor” has been increasing and the last loans have been carried out under more onerous conditions.
Germany has revised its inflation rate forecast for this year to 6.17% from 3.3% in January and will not stop pushing for interest rate hikes.
The prolongation of this war on European soil, a strategy of the United States of America, to confess to weakening Russia, will lead to a substantial worsening of the social, financial and economic situation throughout Europe, with political consequences and heavier bills for the indebted countries that they will seek to endorse the workers and the people.

Carlos Cravalhas, 28 May 2022

Posted by: António Ferrão | Jun 6 2022 10:31 utc | 154

China reported that Russia destroyed in Kiev the tanks sent by NATO.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/special-coverage/Ukraine-Tensions-Timeline.html

Posted by: Surferket | Jun 6 2022 10:41 utc | 156

This website is for Kremlin bots and anti West clowns. FU sideways, idiots.

Posted by: Myroslav Druzhenko | Jun 6 2022 11:14 utc | 158

@ CM of Berlin | Jun 6 2022 10:03 utc | 150
It is going to take some good few weeks for RF to clean Donbas. Unless RF gets a grip with really cutting off AFU there and does it fast and relentless. So far, propaganda or not, there is still a rather steady flow of troops, arms, and fuel to the East and AFU.
I would call it a big strategic issue with RF.
One can argue that it is better to let AFU to gather at one place and then to destroy it.
So far, while focused on Lysishiansk-Sieverodonietzk conglomerate, Avdiivka is the biggest issue and the biggest threat there.
Also RF’s inability to cross the river in the North is a bit strange. River level is now lower than in March/April/May and a big push is needed there to reshape the frontline and push for total cut off of the East.
Instead and as it seems RF is trying to develop two southern ‘forked’ front lines towards Mariupol and Dnipro.
That might refocus AFU to try an additional attempt to fortify there, but I doubt that it’ll work.
‘Military Summary’ is superb at assessing terrain and possible RF/AFU tactical moves, however he and we all overestimate RF’s used bare minimum in force and capacity.
That is why it all seems a bit in a slow-motion.
There are two options: add some more BTG’s, go fast, win while bearing more casualties (even collateral as would be the case in Avdiivka) and this what we are witnessing now.

Posted by: whirlX | Jun 6 2022 11:19 utc | 160

A lot of talk out there about Russia getting bogged down. I don’t see it that way. I’ve said before that I think Russia is following established Russian military doctrine: frontal assaults paired with pincers. The cauldron in the east is real, and is drawing more and more of the Ukrainian military into it, on the illusory hope Russia can be defeated.
In an era more familiar with warfare, and more grounded in reality, such as WWII, a situation in which a military like Ukraine’s is surrounded on all sides but one — the exit — by an enemy vastly larger and more resource-rich would rightly be seen as no-win. But the Ukrainian running things right now — Arestovich — seem to strategize day-to-day according to a shifting set of ideological and adrenaline-charged illusions, about total Russian defeat or, at least, exhaustion, that would be more than a little familiar to the Sixth Army. Ukraine is throwing everything it can gets its hands on, including all the ”eclectic” aid (to put it kindly) coming in from “the West,” into the cauldron, even as the water comes slowly to a boil.
It all reminds me of the Battle of Stalingrad, which occurred over months, and in which the Soviets bided their time until the moment was right to close the lid.

Posted by: line islands | Jun 6 2022 11:40 utc | 162

https://thesaker.is/japans-perceptions-of-the-propaganda-regarding-the-smo/
an interesting article from The Saker, written by a person who lives in Japan. Sheds some light on something I wonder about, the attitudes of the people in countries occupied by the US.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 6 2022 12:40 utc | 164

RE: The generosity of Spaniard Arms contributions to the Ukraine debacle:
I used to have an aunt, she loved being generous to her nieces and nephews, but not her own children as you’ll understand in a moment. Whenever her closets and/or attic storage area got too cluttered, she solved the problem by calling us up and inviting us for a visit, to then take said clutter away from her house to ours. How could we refuse- right? It was wonderful stuff, and still quite serviceable. Not. I said USED to have an aunt, she passed away some years ago. At the memorial service, we reminisced about the giving nature of that aunt of ours. One of my cousins admitted that she put her stuff in yard sales and made some money off it. I wonder if Ukraine will possibly do the same thing with the hand-me-downs from the Spaniards?

Posted by: KVegasPatriot | Jun 6 2022 13:44 utc | 166

The two Ukraines.
1/ A soldier notes he can be shot for desertion…..so why not the leaders who have already fled.
2/ The Comedian in Chief makes a cameo appearance on the front lines.
Comrade Ozan (Troller) @ComradeAmongus
https://twitter.com/ComradeAmongus
Ukrainian soldier speaks. He speaks a lot in only 15 seconds.
Oliver Carroll. @olliecarroll.
https://twitter.com/olliecarroll/status/1533619320093388800
Zelensky actually went right into the Severodonetsk salient. Remarkable
And I liked these:
Taurevanime. @Taurevanime
I like this new dark Medvedev the war as unleashed.
Spriteer @spriteer_774400
Turkish edition of Hürriyet, Russia and Turkey have started a new round of negotiations to replace departed Western brands with Turkish companies
May 23, 2022
Hours out from facing a no confidence vote:
Boris Johnson @BorisJohnson
United Kingdom government official
We cannot stand by while Russian long-range artillery flattens cities and kills innocent civilians. 
The UK will gift the Ukrainian Armed Forces multiple-launch rocket systems so they can effectively repel the continuing Russian onslaught.
>>UK to gift multiple-launch rocket systems to Ukraine
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced that Britain will send M270 launchers, which can strike targets up to 80km away with precision guided rockets. [[no numbers specified]]
>Alongside the weapon system, the UK will also supply M31A1 munitions at scale.
>Ukrainian troops will be trained on how to use the launchers in the UK, so that they can maximise the effectiveness of the systems.
Britain previously announced that Ukrainian personnel would be trained to use a variety of armoured vehicles which the UK donated, including Mastiff, Husky and Wolfhound.
>The UK was the first European country to supply lethal aid to Ukraine, and has since provided thousands of anti-tank missiles, anti-air systems and armoured vehicles to Ukrainian forces.
>Britain has also taken a leading role in coordinating international donations of military aid, with Ben Wallace hosting two international donor conferences to coordinate support from 35 partner nations, while RAF aircraft have moved thousands of tonnes of military assistance from donors around the world to Ukraine.
>The UK will continue to provide aid to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against brutal Russian aggression.
Boris channels his most Churchillian somber, sober and Sabre rattling sermon.
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1532726808394752001?cxt=HHwWgoCzgau6q8UqAAAA
Watch it. I defy you not to barf.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jun 6 2022 15:03 utc | 168

México with AMLO is at the forefront of the Spanish world, not everybody is invited to the summit therefore I won’t go, that is a great victory and a warning, a long frontier with land claims and mixed populations, a Ukraine right at the border. Bravo AMLO, follow the steps of the greatest, Castro, El Che, Sandino, Pancho Villa who defeated the ballyhooed Patton.
I don’t want to do a search, but someone in this thread insulted Spain siding with an oppressed Cataluña, beware of those “freedom fighters” from Langley, divide and rule is their method, creating Ukraines all over the place, keeping their hostages tied with the ghost of Barcelona who has as many native Spanish speakers as Catalonians, going into a Maidan. The writing is on the wall for the anglo-saxon yoke , karma is pointing clearly that it’s time to pay for the many crimes committed.

Posted by: Paco | Jun 6 2022 16:11 utc | 170

@149 Peter Krohn – Thank you for that collection of photos. For those interested in the MH17 incident, Kees van der Pijl wrote a great book on the sad subject.
Flight MH17, Ukraine and the new Cold War – Prism of disaster
@153 – Paul Greenwood – Very interesting. Thank you for that!
@132 Norwegian – Natasha!!
@137 Semi old guy – Can’t they just be merciful and pull the plug now. “…there is always a future in computer repair…”

Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 6 2022 16:40 utc | 172

Great thread. The T-62’s in reality are for LPR/DPR defense forces to give them equipment to use to protect the lands they now have and to use as rolling pill boxes supporting RAF attacking.
Soon, Phase 3 of the Russian Operation will be to secure Odessa and crush the Ukrainian ability to threaten Russia by bringing in Armored Mechanized Infantry and Armor Divisions and unleash them to finish up destroying all Ukrainian ability to wage war again.
It will be brutal and has already started.
Here is something I wrote about the TOS-1A in action and what its TRUE effects are on Ukraine moral.
The video shows the effect of Russian technology designed for this type warfare but fought up close and nasty.
Wait until Kiev is surrounded by Russian artillery and a few TOS-1A’s are used so that every Ukrainian in Kiev can see a Flame Thrower in action.
https://meddyverse.locals.com/post/2243411/bringing-a-flame-thrower-to-a-gun-fight

Posted by: Meddy | Jun 7 2022 9:06 utc | 174

The subtext of all “Russians don’t have toilets, Russians don’t have electricity, Russians don’t have Dior” arguments is:
Russians are subhuman. We’re the Eloi; they’re the Morlocks. Therefore they can be destroyed at will, and we, unlike the Eloi, have the ability to do just that.
Plays beautifully into the American Calvinist “God loves us because we’re rich and vice versa” “morality.”
And, as OttoE points out above, the American impoverished and homeless are easily swept aside — for exactly the same reason.

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 7 2022 13:44 utc | 176

cops that is.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 7 2022 13:48 utc | 178