Ukraine Open Thread 2024-265
News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...
Posted by b on November 3, 2024 at 15:28 UTC | Permalink
next page »On the situation in the Kursk direction (information from the Russian Ministry of Defense):
During the day, the Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 150 servicemen, one armored personnel carrier and one electronic warfare station and five vehicles were destroyed.
In total, during the fighting in the Kursk direction, the enemy lost more than 29,250 military personnel, 180 tanks, 102 infantry fighting vehicles, 106 armored personnel carriers, 1,063 armored fighting vehicles, 785 cars, 255 artillery pieces, 40 multiple rocket launchers missile systems, including 11 HIMARS and six US-made MLRS, ten launchers anti-aircraft missile systems, seven transport and loading vehicles, 59 electronic warfare stations, 12 counter-battery radars, four air defense radars, 25 engineering and other equipment units, including 13 engineering obstacle clearance vehicles, one mine clearance device UR-77 installation, as well as five armored evacuation vehicles for repair equipment and one command and control vehicle.
Posted by: ossi | Nov 3 2024 16:10 utc | 2
I think a realistic estimate is that Ukraine will last another 6-9 months...That timetable could accelerate if enough Ukrainians flee or desert, or if there is a sudden Russian breakthrough on the hard ground....
Posted by: Pyrrhus | Nov 3 2024 16:14 utc | 3
Just sharing.
The Ukraine War is Lost. Three Options Remain.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/01/the-ukraine-war-is-lost-three-options-remain/
Ukraine plans for two Americas: Harris aid or Trump peace push
https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/11/02/ukraine-stakes-survival-in-make-or-break-us-election/
Posted by: Dogon Priest | Nov 3 2024 16:20 utc | 4
from slavyangrad telegram:
🇩🇪🤡Bundestag member Norbert Rettgen:If Trump is elected, and if he manages to reach a quick deal with Putin on Ukraine, it can only be a deal at the expense of Ukraine's security, and that means European security. And then NATO will not be what it has been for decades. That's the worst-case scenario, because then war would be rewarded for Putin. And if the war is rewarded, if the war pays off, then we will have a deep division within the West, which is exactly what both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want - to split the West to weaken it. And if that weakening comes from the inner circle, from the president of the U.S.S.R., the most powerful country in the world and in NATO. It will be a fundamental damage to the West, our cohesion and our ability to defend democracy and our values.
tdr, pdr, germanys regime idiots have it all. but hey, at least they have some "values".
love how this "doctor" seems to be geographically challenged, as always excluding the biggest european nation from "europe". clown.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Nov 3 2024 16:30 utc | 5
edit to #5 "u.s.s.r" is a translation error, he said usa.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Nov 3 2024 16:30 utc | 6
Ya hear all this crap about Trump making peace with Putin, but how are they gonna spin Putin dismissing Trump as just another irrelevant american boob?
Posted by: comrade simba | Nov 3 2024 16:36 utc | 7
Ukraine Weekly Update, 1st November 2024: May be useful to some: https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-weekly-update-a32
Posted by: Dr. Rob Campbell | Nov 3 2024 16:39 utc | 8
@8 Dr. Rob Campbell
Thanks for adding to my Sunday AM reading pre NFL
Posted by: Dogon Priest | Nov 3 2024 16:42 utc | 9
Posted by: Justpassinby | Nov 3 2024 16:30 utc | 5
.
.
.
Now this Rödgen is a nasty warmonger and closely linked to Blackrock, but even in Germany he is known as a mouthpiece for the war and Blackrock.
But ultimately he is also primarily concerned with saving face, and with the fact that a capitulation of Ukraine would mean trillions in losses for his clients, and the danger that the stock exchange would lose not millions but billions of investors, and Blackrock also needs one thing... the trust of its investors. But no matter who wins the election, a Trump would fail with the war ending in days, not even weeks. Putin's demand to lift sanctions is something that Trump could never fulfill, without the USA AND EU losing face forever worldwide. Not to mention that Trump would credibly be able to give guarantees... he too has only been in power for 4 years... and to date the USA has broken every contract or terminated it in a flimsy manner.
But whatever...don't forget the trillions that are gone if Putin takes the whole of Ukraine...although he already has the cream of the crop, if he also takes Odessa it's like a capitulation, an annihilation of the Ukraine and at least then TOTALLY uninteresting for the EU and the Western bubble, just a playground for the Nazis
Posted by: ossi | Nov 3 2024 16:48 utc | 10
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 3 2024 15:42 utc | 1
###########
As the weather deteriorates ground conditions, the FABs (and Iskander strikes) are a massive advantage for the North Koreans.
I mean, Russians. 😛
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 16:57 utc | 11
Has the United States been spending the interest on Russian funds, or has that been Europe? Hilarity might ensue if Trump agrees that Russia has to be reimbursed, and as part of his peace settlement the seized funds are to be released.
Though at the end of the day, if the sanctions on selling energy, gold, diamonds, etc., are ended by Trump* then Russia can generate enough income to make that interest look like chump change. But imo I think it will be an important point to get the seized funds released. That seizure was nearly on par with a Russian ship flying a Russian flag being impounded on the high seas. You can't let that level of theft slide.
But the interest on their money getting taken can be written off as being gouged by corrupt bureaucrats. Something to claw back someday, but not a deal breaker when war or peace are on the line.
*Europe can't be forced to buy Russian energy, but if Americans are allowed to buy from Russia again then Europe would be further impoverishing itself for no good reason. Gold is totally fungible, as are uncut diamonds. And if America can sell to Russia again, than Europe would have a short window of time to get back in before the United States and China had effectively locked them out. Russia would honor any contracts it signed with them.
Posted by: Babel-17 | Nov 3 2024 17:01 utc | 12
🇩🇪🤡Bundestag member Norbert Rettgen:
If Trump is elected, and if he manages to reach a quick deal with Putin on Ukraine, it can only be a deal at the expense of Ukraine's security, and that means European security. And then NATO will not be what it has been for decades. That's the worst-case scenario, because then war would be rewarded for Putin. And if the war is rewarded, if the war pays off, then we will have a deep division within the West, which is exactly what both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want - to split the West to weaken it. And if that weakening comes from the inner circle, from the president of the U.S.S.R., the most powerful country in the world and in NATO. It will be a fundamental damage to the West, our cohesion and our ability to defend democracy and our values.
##########
I recently saw a short video on Twitter of some Germans (male and female) being "walked" like dogs by other Germans in some major city.
Must preserve those Western values!
I am sure there is a quiet minority in Germany praying for liberation by Russia.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:01 utc | 13
Posted by: Babel-17 | Nov 3 2024 17:01 utc | 12
###########
"The Art of the Deal" is very informative as to how Trump negotiates. He's always seeking leverage, and where none exists, he bluffs. The Russians know that Trump (even if he is elected and survives future Deep State attempts on his life) will be gone in 4 years and the game will reset again.
I can see the Kremlin "missing" Trump's "perfect phone calls" for several months.
America has nothing that Russia wants and is on the ropes in two theaters now. What is that saying? "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
Putin cannot end the fighting until he has achieved de-militarization and de-Nazification. The integrity of the Russian state, externally AND internally depends upon it.
Unless Trump is willing to throw his Nazi pals (he materially supported them significantly so they could murder in the Donbass), then Putin has nothing to talk to Trump about. It's been 2 years and Russia has intellectually moved beyond the money stolen, in my opinion.
Recently, Poland and some Baltic states refused to pay for gas in Rubles. Within a day both capitulated and the EU is supposedly moving legislation that will allow EU states to make payments in Rubles.
At the end of the bluster and big talk from the West, people need stuff.
China and Russia have what they need and a lot of guns to make sure it is paid for in full.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:14 utc | 14
It just occurred to me that Russia traded that stolen money for a bunch of the richest agricultural land and its mineral wealth.
Under different circumstances, I am sure BlackRock could find many billions to make such a purchase.
I do know it is important to the Russians that Crimea and the Donbass are recognized internationally as Russian.
I don't know that Trump can do that even if he wanted to. He knows it would be an explicit admission of American failure (not unlike withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation). Because the American citizenry has been insulated from Ukraine, there is no PR bump to ending the SMO for Trump. There was a massive PR windfall to leaving Afghanistan and would have bolstered his ridiculous phony peacemaker narrative.
Trump is not a good sport and won't take a short-term loss for a long-term win. Democracy doesn't incentivize forward-thinking or planning. Roy Cohn taught Trump to never admit he is wrong, and for the most part, he has lived by that.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:21 utc | 15
@Posted by: Pyrrhus | Nov 3 2024 16:14 utc | 3
I think a realistic estimate is that Ukraine will last another 6-9 months...That timetable could accelerate if enough Ukrainians flee or desert, or if there is a sudden Russian breakthrough on the hard ground....
The Ukrainians are already depleting their support troops to keep up the numbers at the front. The last gasp will be allowing the press gangs to go after the very small population of 18-25 years olds. Given the carefulness of the Russians with respect to losses, preferring the grinding process until the Ukies go into full collapse, the Ukies could still hold out for another 6-9 months; which means about 420,000 to 630,000 more Ukie casualties (or perhaps more as the loss rate continues to escalate). The ability for the Ukrainian "zombie" to keep on fighting in the face of massive losses has surprised me.
By the time of the presidential inauguration on Jan 20th, the Russians may very well have Kurakhove, with the front line running from just south of Pokrovsk through Andriivka to Zolota Nyva. A big loss for the Ukrainian army, but still 80km from Zaporizhzhia and even more from Dnipro. The Russians may also have Chasov Yar and Toretsk by then, but not even Konstyantynivka lets alone Kramatorsk and Slavyangrad.
If the Russians do not change the dynamics at the front, perhaps by a drive north from the Robotyne area to isolate the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro supply lines from the southern front or from Belarus to surround Kiev, this could grind on for quite a while. The Germans kept on fighting for two years after the battle of the Kursk Salient ended any chance of victory.
If Trump wins the presidency I really do see a delusional offer being made to Russia, then possibly a failed escalation to "strong-arm" Russia. A possible surprise would be the Dems pulling an "Afghanistan" and early in the new term giving up on Ukraine and attempting to keep the territory west of the Dniepr in a peace settlement. Either way, the only relatively quick resolution will be up to the Russians.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 3 2024 17:34 utc | 16
> NY Times Announces Ukraine Narrative Change
Not only NYT, check this movie motto: https://imdb.com/title/tt21375036
REGIME: the humble servant of hte people
This is ZE end, ny only friend, ZE end.
Posted by: Arioch | Nov 3 2024 17:35 utc | 17
LoveDonbass@1721
Whatever failings and fallings may be attributed to Trump, one factor interests me. He is an artful dodger. What does this appellation entail? He might call out the likes of Bolton and Pomposity as having been "nudged" by his other advisors, such as the flailing Rudy Giuliani...a fixer if there ever was one. The claim would be that as a neophyte to insider political gamesmanship; he allowed bad advice to come from some of the "experts" with whom he had been saddled.
Likely that the Maga types would buy that line and would continue to support their "savior"...who some label as the "Orange Jesus"...for crisesakes. "Not my fault" would be his mantra. As the Maidan Coup was installed under the Obaminable regime, on behalf of his owners, the Pritzker Crime Clan, bosses of not only Chicagua; but through their governorship, the entire state of Ill-Noise....Trump, if well advised this time around; Trump could truthfully claim that the SMO resulted from that coup engineered by the Neocons in the $tate Department...along with the despicable Little Georgie of Our $orrow$.
This scenario is not probability factored, yet it is within the realm of the possible.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 3 2024 17:38 utc | 18
@Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:14 utc | 14
Exactly, the time for US huffing and puffing is long past. Russia, China and Iran are now in much better positions to where they were in 2016 and can simply ignore the empty threats. In response I do see a Trump as president trying to escalate to force a resolution amenable to him, but this will just end in a bigger humiliation.
The trolls are losing their marbles as Russia/China/Iran play chess and the US plays checkers. They know that they cannot play battleships in the South China Sea, or anywhere near Iran - "you sank my aircraft carriers" would be the only result.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 3 2024 17:39 utc | 19
> the last gasp will be allowing the press gangs to go after the very small population of 18-25 years olds.
> Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 3 2024 17:34 utc | 18
nope, not the last
there are also females (some few already were gangpressed into front medics, albeit this is not massive yet) and 12-14 yo's (what's good for Africa is good for Ukraine)
unless they would be interrupted by Ru-Army suddenly accelerating 100-fold and "taking Kiev in three days" - EuroMaidanians would eventyually draw from that resource too
Posted by: Arioch | Nov 3 2024 17:41 utc | 20
@15
The warmonger faction decided that it peoples’ lives, treasure and illicit honor are bound to the administrative borders finalized by Krushjev.
High set of rules and norms defending sacred borders for Stalin.
No border west of the aural has historic credibility, so many tribes….
Posted by: paddy | Nov 3 2024 17:42 utc | 21
Because of the election hysteria, so much is focused upon the effect of a possible Trump-win upon the war.
First of all, the entire DS-apparatus and essentially all the vassal states are doing everything to make sure that does not happen. I am convinced this also includes every possible cheating. The ends justify the means here. A DS-win with Harris as perfect marionette is very possible, I think more than not.
Secondly, I agree with people above mentioning that Trump would not be able to forge a lasting peace. He may be a bargainer, but I do not see him as a peace facillitator, because this would require him to give many concessions and not be able to use leverage. He simply has nothing to offer that Kremlin would accept. He may be personable with Putin, but Russian leadership is not going to let charm purchase thousabds of lives.
Thirdly, even if he gets an "outstanding" team with him, there will be nothing happening before end of January. That is almost 3 months. In the meantime, Biden handlers will have thoroughly mined his room to manouvre for a long time.
Finally, Trump (or Harris) will be too occupied with managing the cold (so far) CW at home. I think Rutte, Macron, Starmer and Schultz will be forced to manage more on their own for a long time.
I think Mearsheimer is most correct. This will, at best (from Western POV) be a frozen conflict, even though it looks most like it is heading for a total Ukrainean/NAZO defeat.
Maybe BlackRock will invest in Chinese and Indian enterpreneurs to be able to find SOME place to recoup losses. This failed Venture could tip entire WS into a depression at worst.
Posted by: NorwegianPawn | Nov 3 2024 17:52 utc | 22
As this new thread has been opened before I could thank several people, I am re-posting here my thanks:
Posted by: Jane | Nov 3 2024 3:38 utc | 246
Posted by: SOS | Nov 3 2024 9:31 utc | 255
Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 3 2024 9:40 utc | 257
Posted by: Larsbo | Nov 3 2024 13:28 utc | 280
Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 3 2024 13:50 utc | 285Thanks to Jane, SOS, DunGroanin, Larsbo and Avtonom. You all relieve me from the task to explain everything to an obviously dyslexic someone.
When my comment was in no way addressed to him, but to one "anonymous", he chose to insult me (= ad personam fallacy). That is without having been provoked.
Why dyslexic?
Because he wrote several times "Dneipr" instead of Dniepr.
I like very much his explanation about Paris Rive Gauche (= left bank) being on the right side of the river. LOL!!!
Maybe in his world boats are only going upstream and never downstream.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 17:51 utc | 307
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 17:55 utc | 23
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 3 2024 17:38 utc | 20
#############
Being a critic is easy.
Displaying moral courage is hard.
Most living beings take the easy route (energy conservation is essential to survival).
In his first term, his big moment of moral courage was taking Jerusalem from the Palestinians by recognizing it with an embassy when no previous President had the balls to do so, as Jerusalem is widely understood to be the Capital of the Palestinian state.
Trump is an easy discussion topic. Everyone has some opinion about him.
But it is ultimately unproductive. Trump is merely emblematic of America. Aggressive, threatening, and bullying.
If you went into a laboratory in 2024 and wanted to create the perfect avatar of the United States, you couldn't do much better than a reality TV real-estate/casino (speculation and gambling are sins) billionaire who was friends with Jeffrey Epstein and is more popular in Israel than he is in America.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:56 utc | 24
If Trump is elected, and if he manages to reach a quick deal with Putin on Ukraine, [...]
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:01 utc | 13
1) Trump will not be elected.
2) There will be no quick deal.
Didn't you read the conditions by Russia?
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 18:03 utc | 25
Posted by: Justpassinby | Nov 3 2024 18:01 utc | 26
Why are you mentioning a comment which has already been deleted? Hence the importance to not answer to trolls. Yesterday too one troll's comment was quickly gone.
Cleaning the bar is surely tedious, but we must thank B for doing the cleaning.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 18:07 utc | 26
@20
“You sank my aircraft carrier “.
Houthi could done USS Eisenhower but refrained.
US losing a CVN would be such a defeat as to begin a huge dumb war, which U$$A would lose but do huge damage…..
Why Ike withdrew, and USS Lincoln is hanging out in the Indian Ocean outside Gulf of Oman.
Better cost benefit from throw rocket back and forth every month or so in the Levant, unless ur Palestinian or Israeli.
Posted by: paddy | Nov 3 2024 18:09 utc | 27
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 18:03 utc | 27
############
I feel like you responded without reading everything I wrote.
I assure you, it was some of my best stuff, and I have been calling a Trump loss at the bar for months now.
Laziness on your part undermines what you have to say.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:09 utc | 28
I wonder if Trump has read and understood Russia’s Dec 2021 draft security treaty?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 18:18 utc | 29
I feel like you responded without reading everything I wrote.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:09 utc | 30
Should I have?
If quoting a German support of the ukronazis and an enemy of Russia is your "best stuff", well, I prefer not to comment further.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 18:19 utc | 30
Should I have?
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 18:19 utc | 30
############
That you admit replying without first reading completely says a lot about the value of your "contributions".
Lemme guess. American?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:21 utc | 31
LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 17:21 utc | 15
I don't know that Trump can do that even if he wanted to.
---
I like most of your posts, but as typical of many non citizens, they simply do not understand the United States.
Here's the deal: the USA is a capitalist society in the most fundamental sense that they will sell you the rope in which to hang them.
The dollar is dead - any rational analysis understands this inevitable outcome. In a purely materialistic culture, that means astute investors will undercut and short sell to achieve financial profits. That's just baked in; the only options are quick or slow.
If one has any patriotic inclination whatsoever, they would understand a long, protracted decline & collapse will necessarilyl lead to civil war. On the other hand, they may be just be a chance that through quick action the collpase can be managed without a complete dissolution of the union.
I don't know which way Trump will go - I typically view him as a narcisist running for president just to prove it. Again, though he actually may have some greater vision. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
So, back to my orginal point, as Putin says if a fight is inevitable, then get the first punch in. So too Trump - since the USA is going down, better to rip the bandage off and try to begin the recovery process as soon as possible.
Posted by: markw | Nov 3 2024 18:21 utc | 32
Government tells about need to mobilize 500,000 people. This thesis was called reason for Zaluzhnyi's dismissalIn Ukraine, the rate of mobilization has been decreasing for the second month. Since the end of spring, when the law on mobilization came into effect, it was planned to call up 200,000 people to the army, but now these numbers seem insufficient to the authorities.
Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, said this on the air of the Priamyi TV channel.
The rate of mobilization decreased in September. In October, the authorities tried to improve the indicators, but in general, the trend is towards a decrease in mobilization.
The MP emphasized that this cannot be allowed under any circumstances. According to him, the decrease in the level of mobilization will result in a big problem, it will be impossible to catch up with the process.
Kostenko also recalled how, at the end of 2023, the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi declared the need to mobilize 500,000 people.
The MP admitted that taking into account today's figures and which army needs replenishment, Zaluzhnyi's figure is more relevant.
"All the same, I come to the opinion that Zaluzhnyi did not take those numbers from the ceiling. I rather agree with him here that after all, such a number is more relevant than what we gather, than what we were told before that we don't need that," Kostenko said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in December 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, initiated the mobilization of 500,000 people.
At the end of January 2024, Zelenskyy said in an interview with foreign media that he saw no reason to call up 500,000 people to the army.
At the same time, according to the American publication The Washington Post, disagreements on the issue of additional mobilization allegedly became one of the reasons for Zaluzhnyi's dismissal.
We also wrote that in July of this year, Zelenskyy stated that there are 14 brigade-level units in the reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They cannot participate in battles due to lack of weapons.
https://ukranews.com/en/news/1045057-government-tells-about-need-to-mobilize-500-000-people-this-thesis-was-called-reason-for-zaluzhnyi-s
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 18:33 utc | 33
I like most of your posts, but as typical of many non citizens, they simply do not understand the United States.
##############
How do you know that I am a non-citizen?
Americans, from my many experiences across the United States, are not special or exceptional. They suffer the same maladies as all humans. The difference is that they believe they are different, probably due to their short history and insulated geography. And the mythology that God created Americans as righteous and good. Similar to Zionism...
Putin already took the first punch when he sent troops to Kiev. We're much deeper into the game now.
Many Americans have already been killed in Ukraine and Kursk. Tons of US equipment have been turned into scrap. BRICS is undermining the US financial hegemony. If you expect Putin's first punch to be a nuke over DC, you do not understand Putin (or Russians) at all. They are Christians, which means they operate quite consistently within a moral structure that is alien to the West.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:35 utc | 34
If I have learned anything from the internet, it is that everyone in the world gets US propaganda, disguised as "news". I remember during the full-scale attack on Syria, when we were inundated with anti-Assad propaganda here, watching a Syrian comedian making fun of it, and wondering why on Earth Syrians also got US propaganda. He knew every talking point put out by our rulers.
Don't take offense, please, lovedonbass, but what country do you live in? I can tell from your comments about Trump that you get the full spectrum of American msm propaganda, so I'm interested in knowing where you live.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Nov 3 2024 18:49 utc | 35
I wonder if Trump gets elected how DNC will explain and refuse it lost. Maybe another meddling into the US election by an evil foreign power? China for once? Or will they dare accuse Russia again?
Posted by: scc | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 36
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 3 2024 15:42 utc | 1
weather only counts in war if one side has an advantage because of it. Meaning if one side has an air advantage, then cloudy days take that away.
What I mean is mud is just as tough to deal with for Ukrainians as it is for Russians.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 37
Maybe another meddling into the US election by an evil foreign power? China for once? Or will they dare accuse Russia again?
Posted by: scc | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 36
No those usual suspects are like used rubbers now.
Lets go with the Spanish or better yet ...The Duchy of Grand Fenwick
Posted by: Angelo | Nov 3 2024 19:43 utc | 38
No, those usual suspects are like used rubbers now.
Let us go with the Spanish or better yet ...The Duchy of Grand Fenwick
Posted by: Angelo | Nov 3 2024 19:43 utc | 38
------------------------------------------------------------------
I think that you might be wrong Angelo. If Harris loses, she and the DP leadership will blame Russia, and the "evil" Putin. If Trump loses, he and the whole MAGA establishment will blame China and Iraq.
Posted by: Ed | Nov 3 2024 19:52 utc | 39
I wonder if Trump has read and understood Russia’s Dec 2021 draft security treaty?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 18:18 utc | 29
He famously doesn't read at all. His handlers in the White House had to get every complex message down to one A5 sheet with big Sharpie letters or perhaps a big drawing on the whiteboard and even then they couldn't be sure he got the message.
Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 3 2024 19:57 utc | 40
@Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 37
The Ukrainians have very few tracked vehicles left, now relying mostly on wheeled light armoured vehicles, SUVs, cars and feet. The Russians have lots and lots of tracked vehicles, which are much, much better suited to mud. Also to the snow that will also be a factor within weeks. The Russians also have electricity and heating.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 3 2024 19:59 utc | 41
He famously doesn't read at all.
Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 3 2024 19:57 utc | 40
Total bullshit.
He reads books, (every now and then he mentions a book he has read), and especially magazines and newspapers.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 20:03 utc | 42
With all those long lists of Ukrainian material losses it's one thing that can't escape my mind. Every western state power is openly throwing incredible amounts of good money after bad. Why doesn't one single of them ask Ukraine to spend their generous gifts more wisely than e.g. throwing it all into Kursk to be destroyed etc. etc.
Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 3 2024 20:07 utc | 43
in particular, Trump talks about books he has read about presidents and industry leaders.
As far as magazines and newspapers, he for sure reads articles about himself. the black guy who came in second place in an apprentice season and sued for racial discrimination said Trump had a stack of papers and magazines next to his desk, all piled up and rolled open, presumably to the articles about Trump.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 20:09 utc | 44
aristodemos 1 - The weather on the line of contact has been exceptionally dry...........so perfect for rapid RF advances and a disorientation of Ukronazi forces, especially the UAF Territorial units which are poorly trained, equipped and led (and which have been literally thrown into front line positions as gap fillers and are being pounded by FAB's, drone and heavy arty fire).
I expect the disintegration of the Ukronazi forces to accelerate substantially and attain May 1940 France scale very soon.......
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Nov 3 2024 20:13 utc | 45
"If you expect Putin's first punch to be a nuke over DC, you do not understand Putin (or Russians) at all. They are Christians, which means they operate quite consistently within a moral structure that is alien to the West."
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:35 utc | 34
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you know, Russians are Orthodox Christians. While I don't have a lot of experience with Russian Orthodox Christians, I have observed from their art, their philosophy, their history, and their political struggles, that they are a distinctly different type of Christian than the Catholics and the Western-style evangelical "Christians" like we have in the USA.
During Russia's long history its faith, and the Church, have been an anchor for millions of devout Russians. Even during their communist period: events like WW2 and the death of over 20 million Soviets and ethnic Russians were only bearable due to the Russian Orthodox Church. This is what the Christians in the U.S. do not have; a history?
Posted by: Ed | Nov 3 2024 20:30 utc | 46
Posted by: scc | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 36
It's going to be interesting to see which script is going to be used for this shit show.
I think Trump has been picked to rescue the democrats from the genocide label and salvage their reputation on Ukraine by blaming him for the loss.
I don't think that the dems want a win. Too much money in losing and they need to try and rescue the brand.
Posted by: Posted by: scc | Nov | Nov 3 2024 20:44 utc | 47
With all those long lists of Ukrainian material losses it's one thing that can't escape my mind. Every western state power is openly throwing incredible amounts of good money after bad. Why doesn't one single of them ask Ukraine to spend their generous gifts more wisely than e.g. throwing it all into Kursk to be destroyed etc. etc.
Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 3 2024 20:07 utc | 43
A slightly different version of planned obsolescence. The military business requires a steady supply of orders for new stuff. A pointless destructive war like Ukraine is like a gold mine for them. The USA government is happy to oblige them.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 3 2024 20:44 utc | 48
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Nov 3 2024 20:13 utc | 45
I was about to go check on their weather. All last year it mirrored my weather here in midcoast Maine. Consistently same temps, same rainfall.
Our normal August drought has so far extended right into November. The deluges that should been well under way in mid-October have yet to appear. Just little sprinkles now & then
So I'm not surprised it's the same over there.
Posted by: Mary | Nov 3 2024 20:46 utc | 49
He reads books, (every now and then he mentions a book he has read), and especially magazines and newspapers.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 20:03 utc | 42
----------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps he will read "Prison for Beginners." LOL! I would prefer that he reads "Genocide for Beginners."
Posted by: Ed | Nov 3 2024 20:48 utc | 50
******Jeremy Rhymings-Lang @ 33
I like most of your posts, but as typical of many non citizens, they simply do not understand the United States.
*********LoveDonbass @ 34
How do you know that I am a non-citizen?
********
Jeremy may be on to something and I would add those with dual citizenship.
Posted by: Jerr | Nov 3 2024 20:48 utc | 51
Posted by: Posted by: scc | Nov | Nov 3 2024 20:44 utc | 47
---------------------------------------------------------------- |
The last time I checked, the proxy war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza were still a bipartisan endeavor.
Posted by: Ed | Nov 3 2024 20:54 utc | 52
markw @ Nov 3 2024 18:21 utc | 32
Didn't Ambrose Bierce state that patriotism is the last refuge of the American?
Visions.. a German chancellor once quipped in an interview "If I have visions, I will go visit a doctor"
LoveDonbass @ Nov 3 2024 18:35 utc | 34
Expanding on the above, Americans love to profess their exceptionalism.
The more disenfranchised the person, the more patriotic - clearly a coping mechanism.
At this point it takes some naivete to celebrate military might as something the American wields.
There may be more Americans killed if only to trade service for citizenship, cue any late Roman Empire comparisons here - the question is where between 63 CE and 455 CE we are.
Posted by: SOS | Nov 3 2024 20:57 utc | 53
Forwarded from Operation Z: War Correspondents of the Russian Spring‼️🇷🇺🎖The Author of "Walking Fortress" and "Capricorn": Russian Soldier-Inventor Changing the War on His Frontline
▪️The 150th division has a unique Kulibin, Russian nugget Ivan Poryadin, call sign Mechanic. He serves in a separate reconnaissance battalion. Kulibin. Cavalier of the medal "For Courage".
▪️At the front since May 15, 2022, volunteer. He fought on the Izyum Front. He saved the lives of unarmed comrades by single-handedly engaging in battle with an enemy ambush. From October 2022 to May 2023 - participant in the assault on Maryinka. Sniper group commander.
▪️During the battles for Maryinka, he came up with methods of combat operations that were called the "Walking Fortress".
❗️Thanks to this method, Mechanic's group had no combat losses during 8 months of heavy fighting. There are none to this day - after 2 years of war.
▪️Increasing the infantry's firepower, its first artillery weapon appeared - the 23 mm "fortress machine gun", with which the Mechanic's group destroyed enemy strongholds.
▪️Mechanic also invented Capricorn, a rocket-propelled gun, with which his group of snipers turned into artillerymen.
▪️Capricorn showed its full potential at Bakhmut, where the Mechanic battalion was redeployed. Among the targets destroyed by Capricorn's crew were: dugouts, equipment, guns, Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, etc.
▪️Capricorn went into production and is fighting on all front lines.
▪️He also developed the Drone-killer, a machine gun attachment for destroying UAVs. It also went into production and successfully shoots down quadcopters of any type.
🫡These are the wonderful people who serve in our army. We respect them. We are proud.
Posted by: anon2020 | Nov 3 2024 20:59 utc | 54
Posted by: Jerr | Nov 3 2024 20:48 utc | 51
I’m confused now, my post @Nov 3 2024 18:33 utc | 33 was a report from a Ukrainian news outlet. Never thought of Zaluzhny as a dual-citizen though.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 21:00 utc | 55
New wunderwaffen alert, the US are apparently shipping these drones to Ukraine, with a long range and small radar profile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_AI_MQ-35A_V-BAT
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Nov 3 2024 21:05 utc | 56
S took another page from B but this time fully acknowledging
Russian forces continue advancing along the southeastern front as Western headlines descend into ever-more-hopeless pleas. Moon of Alabama covered this angle well today, showcasing the NY Times’ gradual descent in pessimism in particular.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 3 2024 21:16 utc | 57
Reassuring to find out that Trump does read books; wonder if he has read any of Andrei Martyanov’s works? A collected set might make a suitable inauguration gift...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 21:17 utc | 58
Still from S
"Here’s Rezident UA channel, which, despite many people considering a mostly propaganda channel, has actually been proven accurate more times than not:
⚡️⚡️⚡️#Insider
MI-6 passed on new intelligence to the OP and the General Staff that the Kremlin is preparing a main offensive in Donbass with the onset of cold weather, for this purpose 8 new brigades have been formed and armed. The operation will begin after the capture of Pokrovsk, the front will be divided into two parts, the main attack on Pavlograd and a flank attack on Slavyansk/Kramatorsk. British intelligence recommends that Zelensky withdraw troops from the Kursk region and concentrate on the defense of Pokrovsk, which is the key to these plans."
Yes, pokrovsk is part of a critical arc, so is andriivka, can't understand what the AFU is doing strolling around lost positions...
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 3 2024 21:40 utc | 59
The big rush after Povrosk should not be expected.
1. it's expected, and an axiom of war is to always do the unexpected.
2. we heard this about Bakhmut and Avdiivka, and all that happened afterward was very slow grind.
3. That this war also has its geopolitical facets, it is conceivable that Putin wants to drag this war out for as long as possible, to use it for training and hardening, and even making Kursk a permanent hunting ground to season allied forces as well.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 3 2024 21:54 utc | 60
It’s now pretty obvious to anybody that this whole fuck the Ukrainians to the last of them was just the grande finale to degrade the Russian Federation with another bunch of disposable proxy Russian speaking Slavic peoples turned against their kith and kin! Manager through the fascist Nazi resurgence that had been preciously saved at the end of ww2 by the duplicitous ‘allies’ that were the Old and New Imperialists of the last century. After their last proxy , Nazi germany failed. The whole russophobic narrative for the last 15 years has been built up by the usual suspects.
They also meant to really ‘fuck the EU’ to stop it making the only long term logical partnership of a EU/EurAsian alliance. Brexit U.K.was part of that. The U.K. also takes a hit too through the sanctions and energy bills. And further austerity to make us more easily assimilated into the US commercial empire.
(I tried posting a sermon on that last night but it disappeared twice l’ll try on open thread again later)
Yes it’s the global collective wasters involved but Cookie Nudelman, kaganites , McCain and cronies, Obama, Clintons, Bushes and the current potus and family and friends couldn’t have done it by themselves for their collective global robber masters trying to manage it from DC alone.
The deluded English Aristo shit for brains Great Gamers did to Ukrainians what their real masters the shapeshifter ziokings demanded. Again.
This is that story, on a Twitter thread! I’ll post it in full incase anyone hasn’t seen it. It rings true. Tell me if anyone knows any better. It is on twatter so …
‘ Pete Liquid Питик
🧵1/10 - “ZELENSKY WAS HIRED BY BRITISH SECRET SERVICES IN 2019 TO WAGE WAR," says former Ukrainian Embassy official in the US, Andrey Telizhenko.
"After his inauguration in 2019, Vladimir Zelensky was supposedly being prepared for a trip to Donbass to deliver a reconciliatory
2/
speech in Donetsk Square, but he was recruited by British intelligence."
Andrey Telizhenko, a political analyst and former Ukrainian Embassy employee who left Ukraine, made this statement on journalist Alexander Shelest's channel.
Telizhenko explained: “We could have had
3/
Donbass and peace together. I spoke with Zelensky's team at the time, and they directly said that Zelensky was supposed to go to Donbass within the first three weeks after his inauguration and deliver a speech that we are one people and should move toward peace.
4/
There was such an agreement; Kolomoisky knew about it, and several oligarchs were aware as well. The plan was for Zelensky to arrive in a motorcade and stand with the people of Donbass in the square to advocate for peace.
Why didn’t it happen? He was taken to London and was
5/
prepared for war starting in 2019. That’s why roads [in Donbass] were plundered, why they allowed anything to happen, and why he acted the way he did with Trump, because he already had ‘protection’ then.”
Journalist Shelest was openly stunned by what he heard:“Wait.
6/
If there were plans for Zelensky to go and speak in Donetsk Square after his election, it doesn’t make sense… Did he already know there would be war?”
Telizhenko replied: "Zelensky made an agreement with British intelligence in London. They knew after that, Ukraine was
7/
sold out. That’s why Kolomoisky argued for abandoning NATO and negotiating with Russia—there’s an article about it in The New York Times.
Kolomoisky tried to negotiate, to get money from Russia to avoid this war, offering Zelensky an alternative to what the West had proposed.
8/
Unfortunately, Zelensky was swayed by the West’s promises of becoming an important leader and gaining more than Russia could offer. That’s why we are all suffering today.”
He added: “The West has its own long-term game, and they understand they’re holding onto Ukraine, and
10/
few people can trust today’s authorities.”🔚
@threadreaderapp unroll
• • •
https://nitter.poast.org/PeteLiquid/status/1850419338496413856#m
Whatcha think folks?
Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 3 2024 22:01 utc | 61
Dima says that there is no air defense above Kyev any more.
He also says that Ukraine maybe plans to surrender.
Posted by: vargas | Nov 3 2024 22:04 utc | 62
I sometimes wish Russians would dump the rotting corpses of foreigners on the doorsteps of the respective embassies with a deportation order pinned to whatever is left and make a media spectacle for all to see.
Not sure if this has already been brought up but that cadaver spotting the Ranger tattoo was last seen in a photo with Biden in Isreal.
Posted by: Suresh | Nov 3 2024 22:18 utc | 63
****Never thought of Zaluzhny as a dual-citizen though.
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang @55*****
He was born in the CCCP, yes?
The next interesting area may be Lativa.
Posted by: Jerr | Nov 3 2024 22:20 utc | 64
Not sure if this has already been brought up but that cadaver spotting the Ranger tattoo was last seen in a photo with Biden in Isreal.
Posted by: Suresh | Nov 3 2024 22:18 utc | 63
---------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have a URL for us?
Posted by: Ed | Nov 3 2024 22:32 utc | 65
He also says that Ukraine maybe plans to surrender.Posted by: vargas | Nov 3 2024 22:04 utc | 62
Well, Dima, for all his infallible and accurate analysis, has overlooked a slight problem: there is no legitimate entity in Ukraine to order a surrender, let alone sign a surrender document.
Dima forgets that the Ukrainian presidential term has time-expired, as has the parliamentary term.
Ask Dima these questions; who has the legal authority in Ukraine to order a surrender? Will the Azov/Right Sector forces accept such an authority? Is there anyone there that the Russians can actually trust?
I look forward to you, @vargas, reporting Dima’s replies to these questions...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 22:33 utc | 66
re: Dima, UKR no air defense
I draw a parallel to saying the AFU has no reserves: recently in the Toresk area AFU pushed back and retook territory. So they don't have many reserves and will only spend them on an important target/task. Same thing with air defense. So they didn't shoot down a cheap geran drone over Kyiv. Trying flying a helicopter at rooftop level and you will probably find out that they do indeed have some AD left.
None of that changes the fact that all the important metrics are in Russias favor and getting more so by the week.
I hope this finds you well
Posted by: ockham | Nov 3 2024 22:50 utc | 67
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 22:33 utc | 66
> Well, Dima, for all his infallible and accurate analysis, has overlooked a slight problem: there is no legitimate entity in Ukraine to order a surrender, let alone sign a surrender document.
Keitel has signed the capitulation of Nazi Germany armed forces.
So I guess Syrskyi can sign it for the UAF.
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 3 2024 22:51 utc | 68
The arms market is like any other market, it is the capitalist system! When it overflows, it must be emptied, or products with low added value can be eternalized, slowing down factory production...
The rest of the industry solved the dilemma adequately through planned obsolescence, but, due to their characteristics, weapons cannot be subjected to these parameters, since the calendar of military confrontations does not ensure predictability in time, or consumption of materials, and also, we have the problem that, being dangerous or explosive materials, they cannot fail without generating very high unintended costs among the producing and/or trading countries of said products.
So: the only way to renew the stocks of weapons and make possible new contracts, is, simply, to generate a new war every so often, that is foreseeable to the extent that arms shipments accumulate, warehouses fill up, the allocation of national resources begins to generate opposition and criticism, which is resolved and renewed through their consumption.
That this causes deaths and global destruction is not the problem for manufacturers, on the contrary, it generates new opportunities in other schemes, such as reconstruction, insurance, etc., etc. The fact that the political sector has reached a global consensus that bribes exist and are inevitable, means that they have unlimited access to decisions that affect the rest of society.
Today, nuclear escalation is resolved by new trips to the moon, Mars, etc., but what will happen when the planets run out? When the absurd plans for intergalactic colonization fail, or more modestly, for inhabiting the defenseless lunar surface?
The bombs will simply start falling because it is the only way to renew the contracts and defeat the pacifists once and for all...
Before, each war was like a gentlemen's agreement, now it is like an agreement between neighborhood drug dealers, nothing will be respected, the only certainty is destruction...
If this has been so evident for so many years, and continues its path towards the edge of the precipice, it is because our priorities as human beings have been shaped and blurred, until we have become puppets that can sit in front of a turned-off television without flinching...
https://textosandroides.blogspot.com/2017/03/sin-estrategia-de-retirada.html
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 3 2024 22:51 utc | 68
Maybe, but then “Trust, but verify” comes to mind. Would anything signed by Syrskyi actually count? Could the Russian side actually trust it?
One of the differences between 1945 and now is that Ukraine continues the charade of trying to present itself as democratic. Where would Syrskyi’s empowerment to sign a capitulation derive from?
I’m not convinced the Banderite supremacists would be in favour of such a move.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 23:11 utc | 71
Keitel has signed the capitulation of Nazi Germany armed forces.
So I guess Syrskyi can sign it for the UAF.
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 3 2024 22:51 utc | 68
______
Well, yes and no. Keitel was authorized to sign by Dönitz, who wax Hitler’s successor. Hitler himself was legitimate head of state thanks to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution and the so-called Enabling Act, thus rendering his appointment of Dönitz similarly legitimate.
elensky has lost any such legitimacy as there’s nothing in the Ukrainian Constitution analogous to Weimar’s Article 48.
Posted by: malenkov | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 72
DS Map dropped:
https://deepstatemap.live/en#10/48.2470828/37.4180603
Overall, this was a slow day for the RFA. 12 kmsq, as opposed to OCT pace of 17/day.
I would expect the rate to pick up again soon. Probably just statistical variance. There is a fair amount of fields to the N of Vuhledar and the N of the reservoir (in the Kurakhove) sector, that should convert relatively smoothly.
S to N:
1. 9 kmsq along the Vuhledar front, mostly in the fields.
a. 2.3 kmsq to NE of Yasnia Poliana
b. 6.3 kmsq in pocket W of Maksymivka, including small additional portion of that town.
c. 0.4 kmsq to N of Bohoiavlenka, approaching Trudove in a salient.
d. No kmsq, but a big increase in gray zone to NW of Vodiane. Perhaps a prelude to another big swath of fields converting to red tomorrow.
2. 3.1 kmsq to the SW of Tsukuryne. Just part of general, paced, conversion of this pocket N of the reservoir.
3. (loss of) 0.1 kmsq N of Druzhba, reversal of an advance from yesterday. Not momentous, but shows continued sparring in this area. RFA is stalled in this sector, for a while now.
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 73
[email protected] confirmation that it's been a City Opp from the beginning......
At this point I don't think the 'west', NATO, will talk with Mr Putin, or deal with him in any way shape or form, they would be humiliated forever, throughout history, going forward.
By now they will have gamed it out as to how long they can prolong the conflict and then deal with the new President of the Russian Federation when that time arived 4 or 5 years from now.
Cheers M
....the Brits, I'd never trust, Russia needs to put border guards at the Polish border or force a complete Ukraine capitulation..... unfortunately the latter entails more needless deaths.
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 3 2024 23:23 utc | 74
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 73
Now do US bonds...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 23:28 utc | 75
Posted by: malenkov | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 72
> elensky has lost any such legitimacy as there’s nothing in the Ukrainian Constitution analogous to Weimar’s Article 48.
If that is true then the Ukrainian army does not have a 'vertical' so is not an army any more, they are just bandits now.
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 3 2024 23:31 utc | 76
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 3 2024 18:21 utc | 31
That you admit replying without first reading completely says a lot about the value of your "contributions".
Quoting a german deputy says a lot about the value of that contribution.
Generalisation is not evidence of cleverness. Sorry.
Lemme guess. American?
That too is saying a lot about you.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 23:39 utc | 77
Posted by: Posted by: scc | Nov | Nov 3 2024 20:44 utc | 47
You raise a good and interesting point. Lower information citizens in the West will be outraged after journalists, and lots of cameras, are allowed back/force their way into the areas where Israel has been running its campaign of genocide, and the Democrats don't want to be the people standing behind podiums who are charged to provide explanations, and answer the question, "What now?".
Ditto that for explaining how hundreds of billions of dollars of western gear and aid wasn't enough to stop an army consisting of an unruly mob of gas station attendants with only shovels in their hands.
Posted by: Babel-17 | Nov 3 2024 23:43 utc | 78
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 73
The Russian Army destroyed some 70'000 ukies in one month. Who cares about km2? When Ukraine will be demilitarised, then we can speak about km2. In the mean time it is useless. But typical western mentality who understand about nothing to the way the Russians wage war.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 23:45 utc | 79
Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 3 2024 22:01 utc | 61
Great comment! Thnaks!
It explains the fate of the man with 3 passports...
Posted by: Naive | Nov 4 2024 0:01 utc | 80
Moon of Alabama covered this angle well today, showcasing the NY Times’ gradual descent in pessimism in particular.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 3 2024 21:16 utc | 57
---------------------------------------------------------
There will be months and months of 'attitude' adjustment and a discussion about the proper fig-leaf for 'who lost Ukraine,' Trump or no Trump. The Russians might care but don't have to.
As Walt Kelly's Pogo stated 'We have met the enemy and they are us.' Russia knows that no one in the West can be trusted and proceeds on that basis.
It is possible that sometime next year we may not have these conversations. I am looking forward to the fig leaf shopping. Should we end up with Kamala's word salads, they should be preserved in the Smithsonian.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Nov 4 2024 0:05 utc | 81
Posted by: SOS, LoveDonbass, et al
Expanding on the above, Americans love to profess their exceptionalism.
----
This right here is exhibit #1 - I had never seen this expression used in this manner to (self) describe 'Muricans before I started perusing offshore sites.
I'm going to let you all in on a little secret: being an American isn't about race or indoctrination; rather, it's a state of mind.
Everyone around the globe is familiar with the most ambitious within their countries gravitating towards the capital or leading financial city. Well, what about those willing to leave their home country and venture to a new place with a different language, culture and/or social emphasis?
These types of people are universally restless - like a terrier, they simply cannot sit still. Second, they place more emphasis on personal realization of material gains over family relationships and friendship networks.
If you understand these two key points, then it becomes much easier to visualize someone who, whether from Latin America, China, India, whereever, are focused on "getting ahead". That's it; it's really just that simple. Nothing more complicated, naunced, nested in other factors, etc.
Now, how does that type of national characteristic manifest itself in both domestic and foreign affairs? One, Americans know they work harder than anyone else. Two, they assign virtue to financial achievement. Three, they negatively view others who through either lack of effort, bad luck or other "personal failures" must resort to public assistance ie begging.
If you take a national creed of this nature, regardless if one is either a 'Democrat' or 'Republican', the political advertising is essentially identical if you're paying attention to appeals to an assumed underlying, shared national objective, rather than any superficial policy emphasis.
No one in particular possesses any kind of inherently evil outlook; rather, they hopefully expect that things will simply 'work out'. So, I guess in that regard, perhaps there is a strong undercurrent of faith among the general public.
I'm an odds player - I really do expect there could be as high as a 50/50 chance that Trump might go for a quick national bankruptcy process. We here and among any other higher intellectual site understand perfectly well the inevitable outcome facing the USA. If you were a policy maker, what recommendations would you make?
Here's a hypothetical: what would Putin do? You know, it's not like this stuff is rocket surgery - it's just Kubler-Ross on steriods. Take the hit, default the debt, terminate all public assistance (accept for the truly needy), slash the MIC, and try to guide the country through our own personal redemption arc like Russia in the 90s.
If we don't, if Trump is as retarded as he appears, then finance people like myself are going to make an absolute killing on the resulting carnage. Of course, those who have a clue already have their offshore bug out spots in case things go south, or are armed to the teeth in tight communities to ride out the storm.
Posted by: markw | Nov 4 2024 0:06 utc | 82
"If we don't, if Trump is as retarded as he appears, then finance people like myself are going to make an absolute killing on the resulting carnage."
Posted by: markw | Nov 4 2024 0:06 utc | 82
Please explain to an ignoramus (moi) how you can profit from the resulting carnage.
Posted by: Visitor | Nov 4 2024 0:17 utc | 83
Ed @ 65
On my phone and can't find it. Search for Biden photo op accidentally reveals SOF member in Isreal.
I'll try and find it if possible.
Posted by: Suresh | Nov 4 2024 0:46 utc | 85
"I’m not convinced the Banderite supremacists would be in favour of such a move."
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 3 2024 23:11 utc | 71
The Nazis have almost no power in Jew run Ukraine.
All the main politicians, including Zelensky, are Jews.
There are zero neo-Nazi politicians.
For crying out loud,... the wages of the Nazi soldiers were paid for by the Jew Kolomoisky, till American Jew politicians began paying them with American taxpayer money.
The Ukrainian Nazis appear to be (at least partially) aware of this as they point blank refuse tough assignments designed to kill them.
Posted by: Kolomoisky | Nov 4 2024 0:56 utc | 86
Posted by: Suresh | Nov 4 2024 0:46 utc | 85
>On my phone and can't find it. Search for Biden photo op accidentally reveals SOF member in Isreal.
>I'll try and find it if possible.
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 4 2024 0:58 utc | 87
that ship full of genocide bombs slowly steams to its port.
It will surely arrive. Now panicked with understanding, and positive outcome bias, after docking, the unloading takes a set amount of time.
To be sure, hit when docking, but for a fireworks show better than Beirut, hit at half unload time. That way some will be on their way to warehouses.
Oh! The poetic justice!
Posted by: uwdude | Nov 4 2024 1:01 utc | 88
Posted by: markw | Nov 4 2024 0:06 utc | 82
You forget souls who resonate with the american drive for success flock to America in the millions from all over the world. None of them are really "politically" oppressed as they claim, unless, they were, say Guiado supporters who bet on the losing horse, or translators in Iraq for "contractors". So the American DNA is constantly being filled with consumerists and failed coup rejects.
This makes them very "special" indeed.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 4 2024 1:06 utc | 89
The Russian Army destroyed some 70'000 ukies in one month. Who cares about km2? When Ukraine will be demilitarised, then we can speak about km2. In the mean time it is useless. But typical western mentality who understand about nothing to the way the Russians wage war.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 23:45 utc | 79
Oooh! An area/attrition flame war! We haven't had one of these for...a day now?
Srsly: they're both important, but the kmsq is the easiest of the two to measure, and (like the us10yr and the fed rate!) the two can be expected to move together in the long run.
Anonymous, I for one appreciate the daily summaries!
Posted by: CT | Nov 4 2024 1:54 utc | 90
90:
Purrr...thanks, man.
The funny thing is that doing them is sort of teaching me the names of the villages along with some tendencies of the data sources, and even of the combatants. Nothing earth shattering...but I do find that I don't need to watch YT vid summaries any more. And I've learned how to use several (not all) of the widgets on the DS Map.
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 4 2024 2:26 utc | 91
Watching a WWII documentary on the German push through Africa, I just got the perfect analogy for the Goebbels propaganda reels that were the equivalent of must see TV back in the day.
1940: Goebbels news reels in a theater near you!
2024: Newsweek, Business Insider, and Forbes!
The Goebbels newsreels live!
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Nov 4 2024 2:34 utc | 92
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 4 2024 2:26 utc | 91
> The funny thing is that doing them is sort of teaching me the names of the villages along with some tendencies of the data sources, and even of the combatants.
Don't get hung up too much on those names. The names of the villages there are all wrong.
They are in Ukrainian, and as they get liberated their original Russian names are restored.
Posted by: hopehely | Nov 4 2024 2:43 utc | 93
also, check your browser histpry after visiting deepstate maps. i have never seen any other website do that before.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 4 2024 2:50 utc | 94
UWDude@1922
A bit shortsided on this one, contending that mud would be equally difficult for the Ukes as for the Russians. The UAF have little left of their once massive array of armor. Fast moving assaults, even in this age of drones and electronic warfare, require armor and numerous forms of transport. Solid ground and frozen ground are not problematical for vehicular movements...most particularly tracked machines. Ukraine has little left while the Russian military industry is constantly adding to their proliferation.
Mud may or may not stop wide-tracked armor...but as for the wheeled support and logistics vehicles, getting mired in mud is a nightmare. Thus, General Mud would certainly stall a Russian advance and give the Ukies a breather in order to reorganize their defenses.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 4 2024 2:51 utc | 95
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 4 2024 2:51 utc | 95
why would mud affect Russian logistic vehicles and not Ukrainian again?
Nothing can sit still on the contact line.
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 4 2024 2:57 utc | 96
@UWdude
Be careful out there. DS maps signed a contract w/ Ukrainian government and by proxy western intelligence agencies.
I’d use a burner laptop after bouncing through a few VPNs and the coffee shop wifi before I’d feel safe from spyware and possible software drops of bots and malware of the APT type.
Get in bed with a whore and you’d better get tested afterwards.
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Nov 4 2024 3:09 utc | 97
You know, it's not like this stuff is rocket surgery.... Take the hit, default the debt, terminate all public assistance (accept for the truly needy), slash the MIC, and try to guide the country through our own personal redemption arc like Russia in the 90s.
Posted by: markw | Nov 4 2024 0:06 utc | 82
I was halfway agreeing with your analysis of people who immigrate to America until you said that. Then I remembered that America before 1945 was a different country than America after 1945.
America was settled by misfits and criminals first. Even the Dutch didn't like the Puritans, and England used the US and Australia as a place to dump their criminals.
In the 19th and early 20th century the US was a refuge for draft dodgers and the wretchedly poor.
In 1924 they cut off immigration, because it was getting ridiculous. So for the next 40 years, the US was made up of whoever had showed up before 1924 and their offspring.
Their attitude was NOT "I will get rich and have a bigger house than my neighbor", it was "I don't want to work 12 hour days for 6 days a week and risk my life for the robber barons".
The socialists and communists were strong and workers fought for unionization.
When the crash of 1929 came along, the commies pointed to the USSR and its full employment and asked "Why can't we do that?"
Then FDR came in. You think that Trump should cut off pensions and food stamps?? They only came in because of FDR, and FDR is why some people cling to the Democrat Party to this day. Of course, FDR was saving the country for the capitalists, but no one remembers that today.
If Trump echoed FDR's inauguration speech and enacted work programs to improve the infrastructure of the country, the way the New Deal did, he would be elected four times, the way FDR was.
Oh, that's right. The Republicans passed a two term limit after FDR, and dumbass Americans today think that policy is some sort of Holy Writ.
"In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men."
After WW2 the US bent the immigration laws to allow Nazis, war criminals, drug lords, and death squad leaders into the country. Their offspring are now in positions of power.
And now they have opened the borders to millions of others of uncertain providence. For sure, we're back to importing criminals and death squad leaders, though. Mostly though, it's cheap labor for the robber barons, same as it ever was.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Nov 4 2024 3:27 utc | 98
I wonder if Trump gets elected how DNC will explain and refuse it lost. Maybe another meddling into the US election by an evil foreign power? China for once? Or will they dare accuse Russia again?
Posted by: scc | Nov 3 2024 19:22 utc | 36
You might have noticed that for the last year abouts, the Kremlin has been equally apportioning disinterest, insult, irrelevance, incompetence, trolling sarcasm to BOTH US presidential candidates. Putin and Lavrov and Peskov have all been scrupulously avoiding any taints of favouritism. They can sincerely say "We had nothing to do with YOUR OWN outcome". The result might be that America has to at last take full responsibility for its president!!!
Otoh, China (Xi) has been absolutely silent. And none of the western commentariat seems to have asked them or even hypothesised on the side effects of Trump or Harris. But of course China can/will get IT blame conspiracies thrown at it.
As a non-American, I can't wait for Nov 6th to see the red or the blue shit hit the fan.
Posted by: ScoobyDoo | Nov 4 2024 3:31 utc | 99
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 3 2024 23:16 utc | 73
... In the mean time it is useless.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 3 2024 23:45 utc | 79
It's not useless for everyone - he is pushing the drivel usefull for the Ukranians, that Russia's actions are somehow "subpar".
Setting up imagined goals for Russia and critisizing Russia for failing to do something she has shown no intent to do, is a standard CIPSO Modus Operandi.
Posted by: Rutte | Nov 4 2024 3:36 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
At this point the accelerating crumbling of overwhelmed Ukie forces in the Donbass, particularly, can only hope that General Mud will slow down the Russian avalanche. The fortified bastions are being outflanked and pocketed...then fall, as battered and sleep-deprived UAF survivors either surrender, desert or trek and trudge westwards in freaked-out retreat.
Full collapse may be merely a matter of weeks, particularly when General Winter comes into play on frozen ground and likely with now-cover as well. Russian military history is well versed on winter strategy and tactics.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 3 2024 15:42 utc | 1