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August 22, 2023
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-199
Comments
Has the strategic culture blog been hacked?
Posted by: Stevelurker | Aug 22 2023 15:55 utc | 1
It is blocked (cannot be found) in certain places. Also New Eastern Outlook, those are the only two I am aware of at the moment, and South Front was forced to change their web address.
Likely to see more of that going forward. Twitter was made a walled garden too, probably a related effort to limit what gets out.
Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 22 2023 16:02 utc | 2
Breaker 1-9
Hal Turner reports the U.S. Embassy is Minsk has called for the immediate evacuation of all Americans abroad. It’s as is shit may be about to hit the proverbial fan in regards to the up and coming Polish invasion of SW Belarus.
Over and out.
Posted by: LtGen_Breedluvv | Aug 22 2023 16:06 utc | 3
they will also have to change their website from a usa based web to something different..
censorship is alive and well in the usa – canada – and various other western countries.. its called 2023 democracy, lol..
Posted by: james | Aug 22 2023 16:07 utc | 4
Zaporozhia NPP on the Day of the State Flag of Russia
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 16:07 utc | 5
@ LtGen_Breedluvv | Aug 22 2023 16:06 utc | 3
that message is getting tiring…. i will believe it when i see it..
Posted by: james | Aug 22 2023 16:08 utc | 6
Posted by: LtGen_Breedluvv | Aug 22 2023 16:06 utc | 3
Strange, if that were the case, US should also evacuate its citizens and embassy staff from Poland.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 22 2023 16:14 utc | 7
Stevelurker @ 1
Seems there’s a concerted effort in effect, same as happened to Southfront, Twitter is right black to blocking people, Garland Nixon just got nixed – why do you think they called it X, they are going to start Xing dissenters, they are telling you in the idiotic new name!
My guess things are going even worse than stated in country 404. When things are going well dissent is tolerated, semblance of free speech, honey traps, limited hang outs and all that, it’s when they go bad that the clamp down comes. Expect more sites to go down including here.
Today, our website, strategic-culture.org has been denied access to the .org domain, run by the U.S.-based Public Interest Registry. This comes in the wake of numerous cyberattacks aimed at the website’s infrastructure.
There is no doubt that this act of cyber warfare is an attempt to silence another independent media critical of the American empire. Currently, all our materials are accessible on Telegram and we will resume the operation of our website soon. Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Strategic Culture Foundation
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 16:25 utc | 8
The Zero Line:
In the north near Kupyansk the Russians are advancing on a 11 km front East of the Oskil River. It appears that taking Kupyansk on the east side of the Oskil River is one of the Russian goals. If this winds up being a serious Russian mobilization, it will be the first since Wagner took Bakhmut, ending in May 2023.
In the south in the Zaporizhzhia area, Ukraine continues to make minor advancements losing a lot of troops and equipment.
Overall, the zero line has been and continues to be at a stalemate.
It will be interesting to see if Russia is in a serious mobilization mode in moving towards and taking Kupyansk east of the Oskil River. This should become evident within a couple of weeks.
If this is the case, I am sure the speculations will run wild.
Posted by: young | Aug 22 2023 16:32 utc | 9
LtGen_Breedluvv @ 3
Hal Turner reports the U.S. Embassy is Minsk has called for the immediate evacuation of all Americans abroad. It’s as is shit may be about to hit the proverbial fan in regards to the up and coming Polish invasion of SW Belarus.
Or the Russian invasion of the Suwalki Gap? Wagner is an attack force, not for sitting in trenches behind dragon’s teeth along the Polish boarder. Hal Turner cries hurricane every time it rains, in these times it’s called monetization and click bait, evacuating an embassy is published info not secret info privy only to Hal Turner. Got an official link?
Over and out.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 16:39 utc | 10
As it is said, the oldest sins have the longest shadows, and, as this report seems to suggest, the shape of that shadow always seems to be resemble Ukraine.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/hdfeds-urged-biden-give-ukraine-loan-guarantee-he
Posted by: Milites | Aug 22 2023 16:48 utc | 11
FYI: https://news.yahoo.com/eleven-balkan-countries-adopt-declaration-104800786.html
Balken Summit “declaration” published text in full.
Honestly, all these “optic” PR stunts, these humiliating sieges of the US to grasp at “International validation” as some kind of juvenile popularity contest is getting worse.
NONE of these “joint declarations”, “international majority”
Or “resolutions”, whether they be born like this one in an absolute group of nobodies, or by the UN General Assembly
Majority vote “Resolutions” passed will change a thing on the ground.
Russia (even if China abstained) will veto ANY actionable resolution the West dreams up, a “humanitarian corridor” a “no fly zone” an “unconditional surrender “ a “ceasefire”.
The idea Russia is going to “fold” and risk extinction of itself as a nation state over “international pressure” or go into the background shadows as some “has been power” is ludicrous.
I’m only saying all this because had I known how embarrassingly bottom of the barrel this decline would be, and knowing that publicly, the US has even much further it can and will go (leaving out any actual military confrontation-I hope), I’m just at a point, that maybe Russians were at with Gorbachev “ what the hell nation am I in… and who are these people?”…
NOTE: was only referring to a collapse/decline of a recent empire, I’ve no actual experience or knowledge what Russians felt about Gorbachev.
Anyways, these little click idiotic get togethers is just getting to school gymnasium for me anymore.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 16:49 utc | 12
Posted by: young | Aug 22 2023 16:32 utc | 9
Canne see it myself. Wagner threw 30,000 prisoners into the meat grinder of Bakhmut. Which is sick and should not even be a thing in the year 2023. Just on moral grounds alone. That sort of thing belongs in the dark ages of you ask me.
Apparently the Storm Z troops In the north near Kupyansk are also made up of prisoners. Only difference is they are Shoigu’s private army and not Prigozhin’s this time around.
So who knows ?
It doesn’t reflect well on the Russian army if they have to rely on sending prisoners into a neat grinder just in order to make some gains and take well defended cities. Even more so as private armies that their owners make money from it. Is a very bad look indeed.
I simply don’t understand how any decent person can support it ?
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 16:52 utc | 13
@echo chamber
Re:these things shouldn’t happen in the year 2023!
Jeez buddy did the world turn over a new more progressive leaf just because your alive?
Lol, get real human nature hasn’t changed in 250000 years, your time is nothing special. It’s no worse than zelensky getting tens of thousands conscripts killed so he can skim money and launder some more back to his US collaborators.
Frankly, I think if you knew more about this world, the honest deal of freedom for fighting for these prisoners is relatively honorable.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Aug 22 2023 17:06 utc | 14
Wagner threw 30,000 prisoners into the meat grinder of Bakhmut. Which is sick and should not even be a thing in the year 2023.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 16:52 utc | 13
##############
Citizens doing dangerous work to shorten prison sentences is one of the most humane things that can be done. Those prisoners were volunteers, taking risks for a reward.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 17:08 utc | 15
@ 12
Biden is more like a senile version of Chernenko. Rather than Gorbachev, and just like the U.S.S.R the US propaganda apparatus is trying to cover up what is glaringly, insultingly obvious.
That the US leadership class & institutions are moribund, and slowly decaying causing socio-economic decline and loss of state effectiveness.
The US hasn’t had its Gorbachev yet, but if it does. Then internal attempts at systemic reform & shoring up would probably end in a cascading unpredictable set of crisis.
What’s more likely is the US owner class, will pig-headedly try to maintain “mature neo-libralism” as is (of course in the end that means “let it rot” in practice). Until they reach a point where even that is unsustainable…
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 22 2023 17:11 utc | 16
Re: Strategic Culture.org.
I first noticed that Oz was receiving an ‘edited’ version of SC.org about a month ago when the article by Mearsheimer was missing from the Oz version. Lazily, links to the story on other websites were still linking to the unadulterated site.
Thanks to LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 16:25 utc | 8
for clearing up the mystery 🙂
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 22 2023 17:13 utc | 17
Zelensky just sent 10s of thousands of untrained teenagers and seniors to their death. No air support. No artillery support. Direct death.
Yet some dudes here are crying about Russian volunteer prisoners.
Lol todays trolls
Posted by: Comandante | Aug 22 2023 17:14 utc | 18
Again with the snakes
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Lol why? Why does the nazis try to get to snakey rock again? Seems absolutely meaningless even as a PR stunt.
“At about 11:00 a.m. Moscow time, to the east of the Zmeiny (Snake) Island, a US-made Willard Sea Force high-speed military vessel carrying a landing group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on board was destroyed by an aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” the ministry said.
From “Russian Aerospace Forces Strike Another Ukrainian Navy Ship in Black Sea in Less Than 24 Hrs” at Sputnikglobe dot com. Text URL:
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230822/russian-aerospace-forces-strike-another-ukrainian-navy-ship-in-black-sea-in-less-than-24-hrs-1112787521.html
At the current time Sputnikglobe is having fun using a photo of snake-like contrails at the top of the article.
The kind of boat in question is a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) and quite small. I found a nazi photo of what might be the exact same boat for all I know (the link goes to the StartPage proxy of a Bing (Microsoft) image result). Or one can take a look at the RIB home page of the maker Willard Marine (go to a specific model —”Sea Force 1100″ being the biggest and most likely— and turn on various scripts if you want to see images).
Okay to be fair it does say “to the east of” (thus further from the coast than Snake Island) but even so. I guess the alternative is they were trying to get to Crimea? That’s even more clown.
The empty rock is moving up on my list of places I would like to visit if I ever get the chance; its surrealness and absurdity score is sky high.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 22 2023 17:15 utc | 19
@Echo Chamber, 13
Canne see it myself.
that’s the second time I’ve seen you use this wording. Is it a typo? Alternatively, are you trying to use the Scots vernacular? If so, the spelling is “cannae”.
Posted by: cirsium | Aug 22 2023 17:16 utc | 20
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Aug 22 2023 17:06 utc | 14
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 17:08 utc | 15
Not the way Prigozhin treated them in Bakhmut it wasn’t. There was absolutely nothing honorable about that. It was profiting from slaughter.
I have a few red lines myself and if Shoigu treats the Storm Z troops in the same way. Then count me out and many will question this brave new world Putin is claiming he wants to create.
It’s barbaric behaviour and does not belong in today’s world. I won’t be supporting this type of brave new world at any cost. It’s not who I am as a person. This brave new world comes with values and Morales attached and human rights.
None of that should be sold down the river just for change sake. It has to be done right or you end up no different to any despot in human history.
Every person should have their own red lines it makes us who we are.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 17:24 utc | 21
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 17:24 utc | 20
Your ‘concern’ is noted. Funny how it only goes one way.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 17:29 utc | 22
A comment got swallowed by the anti-spam software due to links but nothing of much value was lost; I was only making fun of the recent Snake Island news as reported by Sputnikglobe and linking to an image of a Rigid Inflatable Boat of the kind that it likely was, and so on 🙂
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 22 2023 17:29 utc | 23
@ 13.
Probably because the convicts are essentially paroled volunteers who get a pardon & some money, for a set enlistment term. Plus assuming they aren’t cretins, they know they’re not getting sent on the “easy jobs” and combat in urban ruins is really tricky.
Also the 30’000 figure is pulled stright from Prig’s arse, and he’s an ex-con and known liar himself.
Also the AFU has *fascist-prison-gang* types like Azov under arms & doing real death-squad dirty, all while lauded by the NATO-land propaganda apparatus.
So decency has f**k all to do with it…
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 22 2023 17:30 utc | 24
It’s a mighty big bar when it’s got an echo!
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 22 2023 17:31 utc | 25
I’ve been trawling through my old hangout Counterpunch for rich information on the Ukraine war.
It’s like the war isn’t even a thing anymore.
As if it’s a minor skirmish in an obscure part of the globe.
Before Ukraine, any war was well covered on Counterpunch.
No shortage of solid,insightful articles on conflicts.
Now just crickets.
Occasionally we get a tirade from Eric Draitzer.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 17:32 utc | 26
Strategic Culture Foundation
two hours ago
🚨 Dear friends,
Today, our website, strategic-culture.org has been denied access to the .org domain, run by the U.S.-based Public Interest Registry. This comes in the wake of numerous cyberattacks aimed at the website’s infrastructure.
There is no doubt that this act of cyber warfare is an attempt to silence another independent media critical of the American empire. Currently, all our materials are accessible on Telegram — https://t.me/strategic_culture and we will resume the operation of our website soon.
Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Strategic Culture Foundation
Posted by: Martina | Aug 22 2023 17:43 utc | 27
Oh all those poor unfortunate prisoners with military automatic weapons, grenade launchers, mortars, tanks, artillery, drones, and whatnot else in their hands!
How unfortunate and powerless and lacking in any free will or choice! How devoid of any power over their own lives and facing impossible odds if sneaking off in a prison break while unchained and far outside of prison! 😛
So absolutely locked down under oppression they couldn’t even be left alone on a holiday trip to remote Moskva!
SARCASM! 😀 (still dead but we keep trying).
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 22 2023 17:43 utc | 28
Posted by: young | Aug 22 2023 16:32 utc | 9
Canne see it myself. Wagner threw 30,000 prisoners into the meat grinder of Bakhmut. Which is sick and should not even be a thing in the year 2023. Just on moral grounds alone. That sort of thing belongs in the dark ages of you ask me.
Apparently the Storm Z troops In the north near Kupyansk are also made up of prisoners. Only difference is they are Shoigu’s private army and not Prigozhin’s this time around.
So who knows ?
It doesn’t reflect well on the Russian army if they have to rely on sending prisoners into a neat grinder just in order to make some gains and take well defended cities. Even more so as private armies that their owners make money from it. Is a very bad look indeed.
I simply don’t understand how any decent person can support it ?
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 16:52 utc | 13
I agree….
You should post on the other thread for the purpose of castigating France for it’s Foreign Legion…
AND….
The US for using prisoners during WWII as throwaways during commando raids….
Definitely, using prisoners on parole as cannon fodder stinks…
Of Course, those Wagner guys were not thrown to the wolves like the Ukies do with their conscripts….
Their bodies were buried with full military honors, unlike the Ukies who either leave them to rot on the battlefield, or cremate them, or if they are wounded, cut them up while alive to harvest their organs..
Their kin received pensions, houses, cars, and posthumously awarded medals, unlike the Ukie conscripts who are abandoned to penury…
Those who survived their 6 month enlistment, were discharged with all their convictions/charges dismissed with predjudice….
In summary…. those Wagnerians must be villified!! Villified I say!!
Bakhmut must be returned to it’s rightful owners!!
Only one question….
Exactly who are the rightful owners??? Not only of Bakhmut…. but of the entirety of the FSU???
Answer….
RUSSIA!!
INDY
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Aug 22 2023 17:45 utc | 29
Wagner threw 30,000 prisoners into the meat grinder of Bakhmut. Which is sick and should not even be a thing in the year 2023.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 16:52 utc | 13
Can we take a moment to deplore the fate of the thousands of ethnic Russians and Hungarians whom yhe elensky gang disproportionately and preferentially tossed into the meat grinder?
Somehow I find a risky “get out of jail free” scheme less depraved than naked ethnic cleansing.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 17:46 utc | 30
Then count me out and many will question this brave new world Putin is claiming he wants to create.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 17:24 utc | 20
#############
OH NO!
You’re out! The war will be lost. Russia was depending on your superior moral and martial values to win. Now millions must die because Shoigu did something you didn’t like.
Tragic!
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 17:48 utc | 31
LoveDonbass: I’m sure Russia was also counting on dulis daily 30,000 words on monetary theory.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 17:50 utc | 32
An army is a group of people that acts as one. To build an army you need something that unites. Traditionally, nationalism or religion have been used. Sometimes money is used, with varying success (mercenaries).
For the past 70 years the USA has tried to stamp out nationalism and religion in Europe. If NATO now wants to build an army to take on the Russians, it faces an uphill battle.
Posted by: Passerby | Aug 22 2023 17:51 utc | 34
It is blocked (cannot be found) in certain places. Also New Eastern Outlook, those are the only two I am aware of at the moment, and South Front was forced to change their web address.
Likely to see more of that going forward. Twitter was made a walled garden too, probably a related effort to limit what gets out.
Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 22 2023 16:02 utc | 2
Blocked everywhere – it just takes time for all DNS server caches to be refreshed.
Just as was predicted when the .org domain changed hands.
Posted by: Martina | Aug 22 2023 17:51 utc | 35
Trubind1 @12, I’m glad you posted about this! I learned of it through a link from Viktor Orban’s Twitter X account.
https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1693308956792213770
And then Orban hosted His Highness Tamim Bin Hamad of Qatar. Nothing to see here, one presumes, just another day in the garden.
https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1693592199772979511
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 22 2023 17:53 utc | 36
It’s barbaric behaviour and does not belong in today’s world. I won’t be supporting this type of brave new world at any cost. It’s not who I am as a person. This brave new world comes with values and Morales attached and human rights.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 17:24 utc | 20
###############
This is how the world has always been, and probably always will be. The strong survive and the weak perish. There is no fairness on this plane of existence. Most of the time might makes right.
Morals and values and human rights have always been a luxury won by men willing to spill blood to create a world safe enough for some folks to moral grandstand in.
Your own ancestors, by virtue of the fact that you exist, had to survive other humans so that you could be born. Maybe they kept slaves, maybe they slit throats, maybe they took women violently. Not all of them were pure white moral angels who never engaged in any competitive or violent behavior.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 17:54 utc | 37
Re: Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 17:32 utc | 25
Agreed. Only now and then even in MSM, this recent trash piece of CNN, or an occasional one like it. You know, how Ukraine is “advancing”. But even those are getting “lost” these days.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/ukrainian-strikes-reportedly-hit-bases-in-russia-housing-supersonic-warplanes/ar-AA1fCUxW
There seems to be much more focus on picking every single news article written by Russia, skewing and vilifying it, as well as flat making stories up, the most recent another “Surovekin” tale.
They also seem to really want to emphasize how Ukraine is attacking “deep inside Russian territory” as opposed to anything about Ukraine. As if that’s some sort of “victory”, but they really pump those stories up.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 18:02 utc | 38
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 17:54 utc | 36
Your own ancestors, by virtue of the fact that you exist, had to survive other humans so that you could be born. Maybe they kept
Well put. Every border drawn on the map was drawn in blood.
Yet it’s within these bloody borders that we are born and live.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 18:03 utc | 39
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 18:02 utc | 37
They also seem to really want to emphasize how Ukraine is attacking “deep inside Russian territory” as opposed to anything about Ukraine.
That’s the “tell” that a news outlet is fully compromised by Empire.
Thankfully antiwar.com is still alive and apparently un-compromised.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 18:07 utc | 40
It has been reported by Rybar that Surovikin was dismissed from his role but has now joined Wagner.
Posted by: SlowSoft | Aug 22 2023 18:09 utc | 41
So decency has f**k all to do with it…
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 22 2023 17:30 utc | 23
It does when you claim to be better than the Nazis and claim to be making a brave new world via BRICS. Claim to have higher values than the West.
French foreign legion doesn’t claim to be any of these things.
Decency, values, Morales, standards, behaviours and rights has EVERYTHING to do with it. If you can’t see that why are we even here ?
What so Russia can just replace America and act exactly like the West ? Is that it ? With the only difference being they bash metal instead of services ?
Not for me. I want change wrapped up in Decency, values, Morales, standards, behaviours and rights and not as right wing. More shared and less selfish.
I’m pretty sure I am not the only one.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 18:10 utc | 42
I want change wrapped up in Decency, values, Morales, standards, behaviours and rights and not as right wing. More shared and less selfish.
I’m pretty sure I am not the only one.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 18:10 utc | 41
############
Fair enough, what are you willing to do to achieve it?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 18:16 utc | 43
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 18:10 utc | 41
French foreign legion doesn’t claim to be any of these things.
So you’re saying that if Putin had made no claims of moral justice in this war, you would have been ok with it?
Or are you releasing the FFL from any obligation to espouse a moral framework?
A moral world doesn’t emerge from anything Putin or Xi or Biden intends or does.
A moral world emerges from the equilibrium that results from a balance of power.
That equilibrium is impossible to achieve by “moral” means alone – because “immoral” men must be dealt with and any interaction with the immoral must result in engagement and therefore “taint” by the immoral.
We see this in all war: War, whether justified or not makes criminals of all sides.
As the consequence of living is death, so the consequence of war is lost innocence.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 18:22 utc | 44
Re: Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 18:07 utc | 39
Agreed. At first I thought MSM was blasting those “deep inside Russian territory” as distracting from failed counter offensive.
Then how “brave they are”… is this their pitch get other NATIONS to “join in”?? “See… they won’t pulverize you”…
Lately, is the spin there to result in a FF major event because “Russia had enough” thing?
Honestly, guessing it’s to keep putting tin cup out for now. It’s obvious the West is frothing at the bit to get Russia to the end the Ukraine project and put it out if it’s misery.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 18:36 utc | 45
“Not for me. I want change wrapped up in Decency, values, Morales…”
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 18:10 utc | 41
The unmistakable smell of hypocrisy wrapped in Ed Bernays’ “tools.”
Posted by: Cerena | Aug 22 2023 18:42 utc | 46
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 22 2023 17:53 utc | 35
Thanks a lot for those links. I had not seen either. On the same note of the CSTO Belarus:
http://www.chinaview.cn/europe/20230822/66453e7d314c49328d204663a9f97eaf/c.html
This was posted in Xinhua…
“The “Skala-2023” exercises will take place from Sept. 1 to 6 in Belarus” stated was posted 18 hours ago?
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 18:49 utc | 47
Myself, I just wonder who this Morales guy (or gal or whatever) is that Derek Henry aka Echo Chamber keeps harping on about.
(And is there more than one person posting behind that nick? I note drastically different writing styles lurking beneath it.)
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 18:53 utc | 48
Agreed. At first I thought MSM was blasting those “deep inside Russian territory” as distracting from failed counter offensive.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 18:36 utc | 44
It’s just how propagandists word everything. Everything is “deep”, “critical””major”, “important”, and “devastating”. Adjectives shadowbanned will use almost every time he posts about some minor event, but wants to blow it up as a “major” failing of Putin.
Posted by: UWDude | Aug 22 2023 19:06 utc | 49
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 18:53 utc | 47
(And is there more than one person posting behind that nick? I note drastically different writing styles lurking beneath it.)
Been wondering the same.
Maybe we have Echo Chamber wrong. Maybe he just wants us to elect this Morales dude (Mexican?) to leadership once he gets his brave new world …
“Change Wrapped In Morales!”
ba dum tss! And that’s me for the night!
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 19:10 utc | 50
“Myself, I just wonder who this Morales guy (or gal or whatever) ”
Spanish auto correction. Dude speaks spanish. You can tell a LOT from peoples posts these days.
Posted by: Comandante | Aug 22 2023 19:10 utc | 51
I hope b sees the writing on the wall about the .org domain.
If your domain is not under your national top level domain it is subject to the union of US and local rules (ie, the intersection of their freedoms).
Posted by: DF | Aug 22 2023 19:10 utc | 52
@ Malenkoy, §47:
Evo Morales, erstwhile president of Bolivia and leader of the coca farmers´ union?
Posted by: John Marks | Aug 22 2023 19:11 utc | 53
Fair enough, what are you willing to do to achieve it?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 18:16 utc | 42
Not send thousands of prisoners to their deaths and profiting from it the way Prigozhin did in Bahkmut for starters. There was nothing honourable about it. It was nothing but slaughter.
I don’t agree with private armies to begin with. Or any privatisation in general. They are called a “public service” for a reason. That’s part of my own personal values.
Russians don’t need to bring themselves down to the Morales or values of the Nazis in Ukraine or the West to win this war. When the world is watching and thinking about joining BRICS how you do things matters. Who you are and what you project matters more than anything as long as it is the truth.
Otherwise it is nothing more than a battle of the upper classes the elites. Normal folk will be treated the way they have always been treated as servants.
Winning needs to mean something not just the status quo. Once you see what it means you can then decide as individuals free from GROUPTHINK if you support it or not. There are a lot of people around the world waiting to see what that looks like.
I simply refuse to change who I am just for a win. Again, I’m pretty sure I am not the only one.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 19:13 utc | 54
Re: Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 22 2023 17:11 utc | 16
“What’s more likely is the US owner class, will pig-headedly try to maintain “mature neo-libralism” as is (of course in the end that means “let it rot” in practice). Until they reach a point where even that is unsustainable”…
Completely agree. I’ve been wondering for several years now what that looks like. Because the “unsustainable” part keeps getting closer.
It sometimes looks like it’s going to end up a Colombian style mass austerity & repression, where you have all these nation states in “turf wars”, inclusive of arms & drugs,but held together, well by greed and corruption. Or this ushered in totalitarian authoritarian, under the guise of patriotism or liberalism or whatever label the power structure chooses to name it.
There are still many that are tirelessly working to make sure neither of those “governances” come to full power.
I know Putin made a statement once, and I had never considered the difference before:
I can’t directly quote: but was along the lines of:
“We are a patriotic nation and believe in “patriotism”… but we would never want to become “nationalists” or acquire “Nationalists” ideology “… paraphrasing… but after “Hitler”..: I get his meaning.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 19:19 utc | 55
Poor convicts. Getting a chance at freedom for risk. They are better off rotting in a Russian prison for decades.
Or maybe that is too brutal for echo too…
..so maybe he feels these convicts are better off on the streets of Russia, swimming in vodka, raping, robbing, and being a typical drunk asshole.
Posted by: UWDude | Aug 22 2023 19:19 utc | 56
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 19:13 utc | 53
> I simply refuse to change who I am just for a win. Again, I’m pretty sure I am not the only one.
By all means, try first to win with elegance and style.
If you cannot, just win. Still better than the alternative.
Posted by: hopehely | Aug 22 2023 19:20 utc | 57
@47 Who cares?
@33 We may get surprised how “Atlanticism” and “Democracy” have emptied minds and won them over, or just won emptied minds over.
Posted by: Baddy | Aug 22 2023 19:20 utc | 58
Something is up…
“Army General Sergei Surovikin has been relieved of his post due to a transfer to another job and is at his disposal” (Ministry of Defense. – RBC ), a source familiar with the situation told RBC and confirmed a source familiar with the personnel decision in the Ministry of Defense.
“He is currently on a short vacation,” one of the sources said.
Earlier, the former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy Alexei Venediktov (recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent) reported about the removal of Surovikin from the post of commander-in-chief of the VKS. According to one of the interlocutors of RBC, after the removal from the post of commander of the Aerospace Forces, Surovikin ceased to be the deputy commander of the operation in Ukraine.
General Surovikin was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces at the end of November 2017. In 2017-2019, with a break of several months, he led the Russian group in Syria.
In June 2022, it became known that Surovikin was in command of the southern group of troops participating in the military operation in Ukraine. Surovikin participated in the capture of Severodonetsk and the operation to unblock the Azot plant, as well as in the fighting near Lisichansk.
On October 8, 2022, Surovikin was appointed commander of the joint group of troops in the area of the special operation in Ukraine. On January 11, 2023, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, replaced Surovikin at the head of the joint group of troops. Surovikin became Gerasimov’s deputy, along with Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Alexei Kim.
“Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov said that Surovikin is on vacation. “Surovikin is now resting. Not yet available,” Kartapolov answered a question from a journalist from the Shot telegram channel.
t.me/iEarlGreyTV
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 22 2023 19:30 utc | 59
“Spanish auto correction. Dude speaks spanish. You can tell a LOT from peoples posts these days.
Posted by: Comandante | Aug 22 2023 19:10 utc | 50”
Well, seeing as he prides himself on his text editor . . . but then, I’ve noticed that some text editors aren’t very good at detecting the intended language.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 19:32 utc | 60
@Norwegian | Aug 22 2023 19:30 utc | 58
A lot if people seem to believe the Surovikin news is a psyop, so take it with a bucket of salt.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 22 2023 19:41 utc | 61
Given Wagner was run by a criminal and took money from the government, It’s odds on that numbers in Wagner and the casualties they took are probably inflated for the purposes of personal gain by officials on both sides. The ‘ghost battalion’ is a well known effect when money is directly linked to head counts, and corruption thrives as a result. Part of the reason for the woeful performance of some the ANA units was that their official strength bore no relation to reality, with everyone responsible for the scam getting their slice of the cut.
As for issues of morality, the conventional approach would be to look at issues of agency, personal responsibility and outcome of their decision. Russia has a tradition of using penal units in combat, and the Wagner prisoners seem to have had a far better deal than their historical counterparts were ever offered.
Posted by: Milites | Aug 22 2023 19:54 utc | 62
SlowSoft @ 40
It has been reported by Rybar that Surovikin was dismissed from his role but has now joined Wagner.
Assuming this is true, then I will posit a possibility:
Maybe it’s not NATO in Poland that is escalating and on the offensive but Russia in Belarus, again Wagner is an offensive force, more like a pirate ship on land, probably worth little on defense. Regarding Africa I will point out the obvious that natural gas is vital for Germany while uranium is vital for France the two big power centers in continental Europe. Hmm, Interesting, right? Someone seems to be getting there balls placed in a vise, if woke Macron and Scholz have balls.
Surovikin oversaw Wagner in Syria, he has the experience working with asymmetric forces, and experience working with Arab, and possibly African leaders, militaries, and militias. Maybe Wagner wasn’t sent to Belarus and Central Africa as punishment but as a promotion for the sacrifice they made in Bakhmut?
When in 1984 Bernie Goetz, a white guy with a Charles Bronson vigilante hang up, shot four black kids on the NYC subway for fucking with him, the entire city establishment came out in his defense calling for instant exoneration, over the Grand Central viaduct some sharp citizen graffitied, “What if he was black and they were white?” From that I learned that sometimes to understand something it is worthwhile to flip it around.
On the other hand if Surovikin is fired then… Emily Litella voice, “…never mind”.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 19:56 utc | 63
Re: Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 22 2023 19:41 utc | 60
Agreed. At this point anyways, with all due respect to IEarlGrey telegram, the “source” the radio station I mean only “source” I’ve seen referenced…“The Echo of Moscow” was taken off air the first few weeks of SMO for non stop trash talk, and founder and host (Alexi something?), years of die hard Clinton/Western fan club interviews and air time, stationed now out of Latvia.
Anyways, plenty of mystery around Surveikin for sure.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Aug 22 2023 19:57 utc | 64
Posted by: UWDude | Aug 22 2023 19:19 utc | 55
#########
Rather than lose the men who haven’t committed crimes in battle, a chance at some forgiveness earned with sacrifice seems noble to me.
Emptier jails mean more money for the citizens that haven’t committed crimes, better healthcare, education, housing, etc.
Jailing people has to be one of the lowest return expenditures in any society, which probably explains why poorer countries try to spend as little as possible on it.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 19:58 utc | 65
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 19:13 utc | 53
###############
You’re telling me what you won’t do, not what you will do.
And that is how I know it is unlikely you will do anything.
Except complain. Complaining is low cost and habit forming.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 19:59 utc | 66
blackagendareport.com down in Iceland…looks like we are in the mids of a serious purge. Could anybody give feedback if its reachable anywere else?
Posted by: El Lissitzky | Aug 22 2023 20:03 utc | 67
Norwegian @60: “A lot if people seem to believe the Surovikin news is a psyop, so take it with a bucket of salt.”
He is being “sheep dipped” to provide plausible deniability for the Russian MoD? If so that suggests Surovikin is preparing for a controversial operation that could have some negative blowback for current officers in the Russian military.
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 22 2023 20:10 utc | 69
The Wagner prisoners were given a choice, a fair a not unpropitious one – you can climb aboard a pirate ship, become a privateer sanctioned by your country, or stay rotting away in the slammer. They knew the risks and what they were getting into just like everyone who ever chose the life of brigands and pirates.
For the most part they were also naturally patriotic and brave like a good part of the “scum of the earth”. To quote Bob Dylan, “To live outside the law you must be honest”.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 20:14 utc | 70
Regarding Surovikin, everytime Russia has shuffled the General Staff around it has preceded a new phase of strategic operations. Surovikin going to Belarus says “New Thrust Direction” to me. Perhaps cutting the ukraine right down the middle is in the cards.
Posted by: comradesimba | Aug 22 2023 20:15 utc | 71
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 19:58 utc | 64
”Jailing people has to be one of the lowest return expenditures in any society, which probably explains why poorer countries try to spend as little as possible on it.“
And there, in a nutshell, is why russian hopes of victory run against harsh reality.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | Aug 22 2023 20:20 utc | 72
Posted by: comradesimba | Aug 22 2023 20:15 utc | 70
Hard to believe for 1 second Surovikin would be “kicked out” of the army as MSM would has us believe. Talented commanders always have their place, he’s just given another role.
Btw, Pentagon wants to replace Zelensky with “someone more competent”. Names on the leaked documents include Klitschko, general Syrsky, Budanov, Zaluzhnyi. Or Zelensky could be replaced by a team of officials led by the head of parliament Ruslan Stefanchuck. Even evil Nuland is plotting it.
TBH, this is just arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but guess they need something to do out of boredom waiting Ukraine to disappear.
https://southfront.press/leaked-documents-indicate-zelensky-about-to-be-replaced/
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 22 2023 20:20 utc | 73
El Lissitzky @66
BAR is still accessible using Cisco and Google DNS servers, but SouthFront is not, so probably only a matter of a day or two before those DNS servers are also purged.
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 22 2023 20:22 utc | 74
Posted by: comradesimba | Aug 22 2023 20:15 utc | 70
Regarding Surovikin, everytime Russia has shuffled the General Staff around it has preceded a new phase of strategic operations. Surovikin going to Belarus says “New Thrust Direction” to me. Perhaps cutting the ukraine right down the middle is in the cards.
===========================================
Quite possibly they are preparing a forceful counter-attack if Poles put official Boots on the Ground in Galicia. Zelensky has already openly spoken about Poland taking some of Western Ukraine I believe but that doesn’t mean that RF is going to give their blessing.
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 22 2023 20:10 utc | 68
“He is being “sheep dipped” to provide plausible deniability for the Russian MoD? If so that suggests Surovikin is preparing for a controversial operation that could have some negative blowback for current officers in the Russian military.”
Sorry, but to me this sounds about the biggest piece of hopeful thinking / copium ever.
Future events can of course prove me wrong. Everybodys welcome to mock me then. Intelligent people of course will wait till then.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | Aug 22 2023 20:24 utc | 76
“…but to me this sounds…”
Shut up dickhead. Not a single non-troll reader here cares what you think.
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 22 2023 20:28 utc | 77
@all
regarding: blackagendareport.com
should have mentioned: using a iphone, i only get white screen with:
“ The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.”
After SC and Southfront the last days a little paranoia creeps in!
Posted by: El Lissitzky | Aug 22 2023 20:29 utc | 78
unimperator @ 73
Btw, Pentagon wants to replace Zelensky with “someone more competent”.
Zelesky is not leading Ukraine politically or militarily, he’s the media face and leading star of the Big Show, biggest show ever sold.
The Big Show like most over hyped woke crap these days is bombing, the big star had no staying power and, in fact, started giving people the creeps. The more time he’s on screen the more the ratings drop.
It’s like Amazon’s The Rings Of Power, it’s an unexpected, desperate rebrand of the Ukraine franchise.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 20:34 utc | 79
Neofeudalfuture | Aug 22 2023 17:06 utc | 14 Wagner, prisoners in Artemovsk
Spare your crocodile tears. Prisoners volunteering for high-risk jobs to get their records erased is nothing new and nothing unique with Wagner PMC. At least the Wagners get properly trained and paid around 3000 USD a month in money and gold, plus 55k to the family if they die. This is in stark contrast to the heavily exploited Californian prison inmate fire fighting crews who risk their lifes for 3 bucks day. (And here we have not yet discussed average incomes and local currency purchasing power).
Posted by: OttoE | Aug 22 2023 20:34 utc | 80
LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 19:58 utc | 64
Membrum Virile | Aug 22 2023 20:20 utc | 72
“…Jailing people has to be one of the lowest return expenditures in any society…
The West does not care about society. Private profits matter. The US is the epitome of an injust jail system profit racket. (Read the second link in my 20:34 utc | 80 here). Or dou you mean that the US has morally rotten so much that it already lost society status?
Also, shadowproof.com is an information trove on the prison subject.
Posted by: OttoE | Aug 22 2023 20:49 utc | 81
Re: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 17:32 utc | 25
You wrote “I’ve been trawling through my old hangout Counterpunch for rich information on the Ukraine war. It’s like the war isn’t even a thing anymore. As if it’s a minor skirmish in an obscure part of the globe. Before Ukraine, any war was well covered on Counterpunch. No shortage of solid,insightful articles on conflicts. Now just crickets.”
Indeed. Why is it that so many of the formerly anti-war people drank the Russophobic Kool-Aid? My thought is that the majority of the college-educated class was taught, and become in the habit of accepting whatever appeared in the NY Times (and later NPR) as gospel. There is an immense power created by the ability to feed false narratives to a gullible population. The editors of Counterpunch bought into the “evil Russian” narratives and became quite intolerant of anyone who thought otherwise.
Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 22 2023 20:54 utc | 82
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Aug 22 2023 17:32 utc | 25
iirc, counterpunch was sandbagged (purportedly, along with another 199 URLs) by the WaPoo-sponsored PropOrNot whisper list of “paid Russian proxies”. 2016 election cycle, RED SCARE IV, year No. 1. Nekkid Capitalist (2016), Consortium (2018), for example. Bank accounts were blocked, advertisers disappeared, contributing pubic intellectuals dismissed, editorial management adjusted. Since 2017 US Senate Judiciary Committee, Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee has reaped scale efficiency with co-operation of Big Tech “social media”.
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 22 2023 20:55 utc | 83
Membrum Virile @ 72
Jailing people has to be one of the lowest return expenditures in any society
In Prison-Industrial-Complex America it’s one of the highest return expenditures, hence, in a country that never misses a chance to make a buck, the highest prison rate in the world.
which probably explains why poorer countries try to spend as little as possible on it.
Ergo, the mass jailed poor in America would be better off if the country was poorer 🙃
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 21:11 utc | 84
Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 22 2023 20:54 utc | 82
##############
The simpler answer (and IMO, the likely correct one) is that they were just partisans. Easy to be anti-war when a scumbag like GWB is conducting wars, and those same tongues stop flapping when Saint Obama bombs Libya with Hillary as his right-hand gal.
Just look at how many “principled” anti-war Lefties deride Trump when he was the most peaceful President since Carter.
What people say is always trumped (pun unintended) by what they do.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 21:11 utc | 85
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 21:11 utc | 84
#########
My bad. When I speak about wealth, I never mean corporate profits, tax revenue, or the wealth of the Oligarchs. When I speak about wealth I always mean the wealth of the society at large. All of those “working-class slaves” that people in these comments often talk about.
None of them are better off paying for a large and persistent prison population that does little to contribute back to the society that supports their incarceration.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 21:14 utc | 86
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 22 2023 21:11 utc | 84
You are actually quoting :
LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 19:58 utc | 64
Posted by: Membrum Virile | Aug 22 2023 21:15 utc | 87
Today, our website, strategic-culture.org has been denied access to the .org domain, run by the U.S.-based Public Interest Registry.
Let them cur org censors hear 👂 from U!
https://thenew.org/org-people/work-with-us/contact/?gf_protect_submission=1
Posted by: Skull | Aug 22 2023 21:15 utc | 88
Just look at how many “principled” anti-war Lefties deride Trump when he was the most peaceful President since Carter.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 21:11 utc | 85
To use the descriptor “peaceful” wrt an American president is an egregious abuse of language.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 21:21 utc | 89
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 21:21 utc | 89
#############
I guess English may not be your first language. What I said was correct. “the most peaceful since Carter” You’re welcome to argue that Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden were more peaceful than Trump.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 22 2023 21:24 utc | 90
Skull | Aug 22 2023 21:15 utc | 88–
Thanks for that FYI. Here’s what SCF said:
“Today, our website, strategic-culture.org has been denied access to the .org domain, run by the U.S.-based Public Interest Registry. This comes in the wake of numerous cyberattacks aimed at the website’s infrastructure.
“There is no doubt that this act of cyber warfare is an attempt to silence another independent media critical of the American empire. Currently, all our materials are accessible on Telegram — https://t.me/strategic_culture and we will resume the operation of our website soon.”
Unfortunately, its Telegram isn’t open so you must subscribe to view unless you have a direct link like this one to Escobar’s “BRICS: the China–India factor.” For those able to access VK, here’s its link.
@ Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 21:30 utc | 93
My previous comment is for LoveDonbass of course.
karlof1: Perhaps you should compose using a word processing program, then cut/paste here. That way if you lose a comment to Typepad’s mood swings, you can try again. A lot of us hang on your comments, you know!
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 22 2023 21:33 utc | 94
Decency, values, Morales, standards, behaviours and rights has EVERYTHING to do with it. If you can’t see that why are we even here ?
What so Russia can just replace America and act exactly like the West ? Is that it ? With the only difference being they bash metal instead of services ?
Not for me. I want change wrapped up in Decency, values, Morales, standards, behaviours and rights and not as right wing. More shared and less selfish.
I’m pretty sure I am not the only one.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 22 2023 18:10 utc | 41
No you aren’t the only one who aspires to positive change, but I have a few things to say about your post. Nothing abrasive I hope. First how could Russia conceivably replace the US as the primary hegemony?
Compare US military / defense budget to that of Russia’s to begin with. Russia’s is around 10% of Americas. Now of course that US budget includes Homeland Security, perhaps the NSA, I don’t know, but much of which is money spent to spy on it’s own people. Clearly a happy happy joy joy collective of American Patriots. Tongue in cheek.
Only the US has 800 odd military bases around the world, Russia? In Russia they recently deployed extra troops to their Arctic region which has recently prompted a great hue and cry from Western media who I believe speak for their governments. Imagine the nerve of those Ruskies, sending troops to their own Arctic territories. Personally I wouldn’t want to go, too cold for an old man like me.
Personally I don’t want to see a calamity evolve, a sudden and shocking transfer of power from one side of the world to the other. Some cooperation and respect might help to achieve some balance. But, a concerted effort to achieve a more equitable balance of economic opportunity and less predatory domination by the likes of Josef Borrel’s beautiful garden may pay dividends and allow people to stay in THEIR OWN COUNTRIES.
Which would leave the Hedge Funders et al to come out of the closets they’ve been hiding in for ever so many years.
Do you remember the glass steagall act and when it was cast into the dustbin of history? It was truly a monumental moment in modern history.
I wonder if you ever listened to Dr. Ron Paul and his views on the above? I didn’t always agree with him, especially his extreme Libertarian views, but I respected him very much for what he tried to do, and that, unlike 4 of the last 5 American Presidents, he wasn’t a serial draft dodger. Those who sent others to wars but were too cowardly to go themselves.
Even tho Dr. Paul had a family, he volunteered to serve in the US Medical Corp in Vietnam as a surgeon.
The Republican party dismissed him as a crank, and the so called Democrats snickered into their sleeves.
Posted by: bubbles | Aug 22 2023 21:38 utc | 95
Although this is old news by now on MoA, Military Watch Magazine has an interesting article about the Ukrainian drone attack yesterday on the T22 bomber on the Soltsy-2 airbase at Novgorod: https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukrainian-drone-strike-damage-tu22m ; including a photo of the T22 engulfed in massive flames, with only the nose sticking out — clearly a T22, There is also an overhead photo of T22’s in their revetments at the airbase. The article has an interesting discussion about the implications of the attack on the strategic depth of Russia; essentially that everything in that range is vulnerable to surprise done attacks from the Ukraine. Novgorod, at 58-33 N, is almost exactly due north of Kiev at 50-27 N: eight degrees of latitude, 480 nautical miles; with the obvious implication: that anything within that distance of a major Ukrainian base, or a city, where drones can easily be concealed, is vulnerable to surprise attack. As is Moscow at 55-45 N, almost due north of Kharkov at 49- 59 N, six degrees of latitude, roughly 360 nautical miles, closer still.
Posted by: Seward | Aug 22 2023 21:42 utc | 96
RU counter-attack has forced AFU out of central part of Robotyne. There are fighting going on in the northern part of the village.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 22 2023 21:53 utc | 97
I am wondering when the Ukrainian offensive against its own government begins.
I am watching the collapse of the Czar’s forces in Dr. Zhivago and wondering when the individual soldiers and citizens will have had enough.
Posted by: ICPtasking | Aug 22 2023 21:54 utc | 98
Prisoners being able to volunteer for services to their nation in exchange for a clean record, monetary rewards and a chance for redemption, maybe even prestige.
In some freer, democratic countries, Prisoners ain’t even allowed to vote.
More rumours about Surovikin, sure. I mean the commander of Airborne forces was killed, then sack, then part of the Wagner rebellion. Last seen still commander of Airborne forces. *cough*
SCF, Southfront have both been taken offline before. Who remembers when American contributors to SCF was threatened with having their finances withheld?
Presstv lost their .org domain awhile ago an RT at the beginning of the SMO.
Only means Russia is winning bigly.
Posted by: Suresh | Aug 22 2023 21:54 utc | 99
Putin was not able to attend the Brics conference because of fears that his partners would arrest him. Let that sink in. Zelensky gets to travel the world while Putin hides. This is not winning. This is losing.
Posted by: TruthCanHurt | Aug 22 2023 20:19 utc | 71
Meanwhile, Zelensky is frightened to set foot in almost a third of his country for fear he’ll be jailed for all the war crimes he’s been a party too.
Posted by: HERMIUS | Aug 22 2023 22:01 utc | 100