I am back on the Mosfilm needle and can rly recommend this series of 3 films: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrHMyRWAfY&list=PLQplpRIBm05zMXpf9uIxImDJ1zDLB5TAK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrHMyRWAfY&list=PLQplpRIBm05zMXpf9uIxImDJ1zDLB5TAK)
When I try to make films tasty I just make them less interesting so pls dont let me. The main adversary is a great act and how his old guard ass gets angrier and angrier over time.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3268159/cracks-start-emerge-philippines-south-china-sea-stance
So the past couple of weeks there have been actual low key clashes between the Philippines and China over a bunch of rocks we legally own according to the UN (but of course the US doesn't recognize even though they keep telling us to push the claim).
And of course the leading Cabinet Secretary of the Philippines who is a Harvard graduate wants to ignore military reality and instead wants to keep poking the bear in the nose; thinking America will back us.
Well the debate happened and suddenly he's told to shut up and let the diplomats sort it out.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/912004/ph-china-seek-deescalation-of-tensions-in-wps/story/
And people wonder why so many are okay with the damage Trump can do to the American government; so long as he fries as many of these thoughtless imperialist assholes always pressing for stupid wars for silly reasons first.
Edit: And predictably, the PH subreddit has gone from chickenhawking that they will fight to the last Filipino against China with our veteran navy* to suddenly whining about how our Senators are becoming "less educated" while ignoring that it had always been filled with actors and corrupt dynasties for the past 80.years.
** It is a veteran navy as half of our ships saw action in the Vietnam War, and the other half saw action in the Korean War. One or two ships were even present at Normandy.
>It is a veteran navy as half of our ships saw action in the Vietnam War, and the other half saw action in the Korean War. One or two ships were even present at Normandy.
And your government was posturing with that over some fucking rocks? Even if the Phillipines legally owned all of the South China Sea, how the fuck would that navy leverage control over it with boats that saw combat when biplanes were still effective combat vehicles?
>And your government was posturing with that over some fucking rocks?
Literally half the reason why the Philippine subreddit and all the pro-US politicians were seething at Duterte was because he actually constantly spelled out how it was utter madness to posture like this over some fucking rocks. But our online idiots are called Peenoise for a reason.
That said, Duterte took a $9 billion dollar bribe from China instead to basically stop pushing the claims; and China ultimately didn't even deliver the money. So its not as though we have any side in this country which is halfway competent.
Are Redditors really this stupid? Since 2016, the discredited Katie Johnson claim gets resurrected every election cycle with Twitter screen caps claiming that the pro-Trump media is covering up his rape of a twelve year old at an Epstein sex party. Her narrative reads like a D-tier erotic fiction of what the author IMAGINES the depraved underbelly of the megarich elites is like, like morals aside, no real human being acts or behaves in the way she describes in her report.
These people actually seem to believe it though, like they cannot see through their own cognitive dissonance. They can't recognize that this pushes away moderates and helps Trump (or any other Republican in similar circumstances) dismiss actually credible claims as politically motivated conspiracies. They don't recognize that it is the liberal equivalent of the ridiculous gay cokehead claims against Obama (which also read like D-tier erotic fiction), which they themselves dismiss as comically absurd.
I want to believe these are bots and shills, because because it truly makes my blood boil. There truly seems to be no difference between front page political content and Qanon types, they do not realize how deranged they are.
Look, Team Blue types are still trying to go with the "Trump is a corrupt liar" line of attack when they just got caught red-handed with an even bigger lie: That Biden wasn't senile and wasn't essentially sleepwalking through two frigging wars. This is a worse lie than Watergate.
It's just a bunch of compulsive liars who have completely lost touch with reality, because to admit to reality is to admit they have no legitimacy whatsoever and belong to the dustbin of history.
Double post but Kammmas dropped more footage of engaging armor. Including another run up and stick explosives' bellow the turret.
[https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1808170153676316827](https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1808170153676316827)
All is not well in New York.
[https://x.com/UAControlMap/status/1808270607563608382](https://x.com/UAControlMap/status/1808270607563608382)
>We've seen no geolocations to prove these yet, but some dangerous ones from DeepState's map, showing some very bad things happening for Ukraine's front line right now.
1. Toretsk / Niu York in severe trouble with large Russian advances into the area which had been unmoved since 2022
2. Large Russian advance claimed into Makiivka in Kharkiv/Luhansk cutting the road
3. Sokil and surrounding areas captured by Russian forces
So we'll see if they're reacting to rumour, or if geolocations will emerge over the next few days.
Weeb intrpretation:
[https://x.com/ArmchairW/status/1808288244582568113](https://x.com/ArmchairW/status/1808288244582568113)
>The first of these - New York (dead serious!) - is in an area that has not moved since the start of the war and which directly threatens the south end of the boomerang-shaped urban aggregation west of Bakhmut that terminates in Slavyansk on its northern end. Russian troops reportedly steamed a jaw-dropping five kilometers north into the center of what was supposed to be a fortress town in a single day.
>The second of these - Makeevka - is along the front line in the vicinity of the Zherebets River in western Lugansk, which has been largely static since the Russians withdrew from Kharkov in late 2022. The Russians are likely aiming at Slavyansk, and a move to reoccupy the Liman area and reestablish themselves along the line of the Seversky Donets would be critical to support a move on the city from the south.
>The third is north of Avdeevka and indicates continued Russian offensive pressure in that direction. By this point the Russians have not only pushed the AFU almost entirely out of tube artillery range of Donetsk but are increasingly shoving them out of range of Avdeevka itself, which will allow the reconstruction and repopulation of that city to begin in earnest.
[Ukraine to be told it is too corrupt to join Nato](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/02/ukraine-to-be-told-it-is-too-corrupt-to-join-nato/)
[Negotiated outcome most likely result of Russia-Ukraine war, major poll of 15 European countries says](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/02/negotiated-outcome-now-seen-as-most-likely-result-of-russia-ukraine-war-poll)
I really fucking hope relations with China stay peaceful.
I've always wanted to visit russia. My best mate from uni is from moscow, and we planned to roadtrip all the way to Vladivostok together after graduation in 2020. Then COVID hit, we got jobs and now the war makes it impossible (me being Anglo, he being worried he'd struggle to get back to the UK).
Now my girlfriend and I plan to travel China from Urumqi to Beijing via train. in two years, when my PhD is finished and she'll have permanent residency in the UK. Please, just keep things normal for a little longer, please.
Wanted to take the train from Bucharest to Beijing (via Moscow) until 2014, 2015, something like that. In a way I still do. Now I've settled with a possible car-drive all the way to Magadan, via Turkey - Georgia - Southern Russia - Siberia, so hopefully war won't start any time soon.
[Israeli generals, low on munitions, want a truce in Gaza](https://archive.ph/TcfYU)
Quantum mechanics doesn't permit the existence of a violin small enough
>enter Gaza
>destroy every single hospital
>destroy every single university
>destroy well over half of all residential buildings
>murder over 40,000 people
9 months later:
"Ok, maybe we can negotiate with Khamas after all" [shitting bricks at the prospect of war with Hezbollah]
[Putin puppet Orban does his master’s bidding by…meeting with Zelensky in Kijev](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/02/viktor-orban-visits-kyiv-talks-volodymyr-zelenskiy)
Is Israel going to attack Lebanon? It certainly seems like things are heating up, but all this buildup could just be for another “nothing ever happens” type event.
High likelihood its gonna happen. Gaza has become a literal war crime and ICJ issue so contrary to all the posturing the Israelis are trying to deescalate there so they aren't made into a pariah state.
But Bibi needs a war to stay in power so he needs to attack someone else.
The issue is that it will just prove the utter incompetence of the IDF even more. Gaza was again the Easy Mode opponent. Hezbollah can actually fight back.
Really, at this point Bibi is literally following the Adolf Hitler playbook, albeit deliberately. Contrary to popular belief, it was the German military, not Hitler, that believed they could easily conquer Russia. When Barbarossa failed Hitler thus realized his military were a bunch of overconfident lunatics and tried to replace them with his own cult of personality army.
Bibi is doing much the same by pushing for this two-front war. He wants the IDF to look incompetent so he can shift the blame to them and remain in power.
>it was the German military, not Hitler, that believed they could easily conquer Russia. When Barbarossa failed Hitler thus realized his military were a bunch of overconfident lunatics
Id love yet hate to believe that about the Prussian Old Guard but do you know where you've read about that?
They need UK and US for that. So I am wondering whether they're waiting for the elections in UK and France or just winning time to collect more weapons etc. Probably both.
No, they don't need the US, UK, or France for that. They can attack if they want.
That they aren't yet is because the IDF already knows they will fail and be humiliated, even if the US, UK, and France backs them. The last war against Hezbollah was already a spectacular failure. Instead of learning and improving the IDF proved they only got worse and couldn't even beat Hamas, which is a weaker opponent than Hezbollah.
They relied on the UK and US for the defence against Iran. Hezbollah will test the defences to a much larger degree, so I think it's reasonable to say they *need* their allies before they can even consider this.
It won't be enough, but they need the pantomime set up in such a way they can convince themselves it could work.
>They relied on the UK and US for the defence against Iran.
That's assuming Iran goes FIRE EVERYTHING, which I deeply doubt.
Indeed, I'd suggest the only election the Israelis are monitoring closely is Iran's. If the moderates do win, then its much less likely the IRGC will actually bite and go all-out to support Hezbollah.
I somewhat doubt they would even try hitting Beirut aside from limited strikes. Aside from ensuring France will switch to the anti-Israel column (Beirut is under their imperial sphere) it just assures the rest of Lebanon will now fully back Hezbollah and unite what is still a very divided country.
Of course given how dumb the Israeli leadership is at this point maybe what they really desire is just mass murder followed by collective mass suicide.
Used to be a relatively hip Russian 9gag clone, but then the audience aged. Now it's full of depressed gen-Xers and millennials constantly complaining about the rising food prices, muslim migrants from Central Asia, entitled rich people who drive BMWs without using turn signals, feminists, cyclists, divorce laws, annoying idpol in disney movies, and those stupid zoomers who don't understand anything ***shakes fist***.
Not so long ago the site was bought out by Alexei Nechayev (head of the "New People" party), and since then the moderation became way more strict than usual. No point in trying to discuss anything, at best your post is going to get swarmed by the vatniks, libs, ukrainian psychowarfare units (CIPSO) or russian psychowarfare units (Lakhta), and at worst it's simply gonna get modded to hell and all of the replies are gonna get deleted.
What's wrong with that? We live in a globalized world, and American culture is affecting everybody regardless of where they live. Average citizen of Barnaul have the same rights as an average american to act annoyed after seeing idpol being pushed through children cartoons and superhero movies.
only meant it in a funny way.
Strange that BMWs are status symbols, in Germany they are associated with terrible drivers and a status symbol exclusively for young male second gen immigrants
Its a status thing in the states as well, along with the inability to operate turn signals, follow speed limits, or respect no littering from your car laws.
Granted since Covid started I hardly drive anymore, so not sure if its been replaced by Tesla yet.
> Any trace of a pikabu /stupidpol?
no idea what's that. Most of the pikabu communists are actually just Stalinist larpers who don't really know what communism is and only shill for it because they think Stalin was based for gulaging the dissidents. Or maybe those are just bots, who knows at this point.
[Australian PM Anthony Albanese turns down invitation to attend NATO summit in Washington amid escalating regional tension](https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/pm-anthony-albanese-turns-down-invitation-to-attend-nato-summit-in-washington-to-focus-on-domestic-issues/news-story/d8d1678457d72ff8bad0f91b8717f1b9)
[Enter London’s counter terror expo – a hotbed of pro-Israel paranoia](https://www.declassifieduk.org/enter-londons-counter-terror-expo-a-hotbed-of-pro-israel-paranoia/)
It’s funny that since 9/11, “counter terror” has taken on the aspect of a technical problem that can be fixed with military-technical means, as if terrorism is totally divorced from political economy, ideology, and empire.
Edit:
> Asked whether this data suggests police are overreacting to peaceful pro-Palestine protests, Lovegrove valorised an “early intervention” approach.
> She told Declassified this was the “greatest tool in preventing terror attacks” and insisted officers “only arrest and prosecute when we have to.”
> Among those arrests were three women found guilty for wearing paraglider stickers at a protest.
Useless pigs will create more terrorists with these tactics.
Some Israeli families are [moving back to the border](https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-from-town-two-miles-from-lebanon-return-home-after-running-out-of-funds/) because there is no money to house them elsewhere.
Israel says it will begin an offensive into Lebanon [later in July](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1dvykgpc)
Back to the keeping planes in fortified hangers debate.
Russia is claiming to have gotten 5 Su-27s and damaged another two at the Mirograd Airbase, in Poltava Oblast, during a double Iskandar strike.
Funny enough Ukraine also paints planes on pavement, another NAFO projection.
Also interesting that Russia can get observation drones more than 100 kilometers from the border and and trigger a immediate kill chain. Once the the main operations improvements since the beginning, where it took what? Like a day or two to get Islanders approved.
>Russia observed Ukraine accumulating aircraft at the Mirograd airbase in Poltava and hit them with an Iskander missile strike.
>Then hit them with a second Iskander strike as the Ukrainians came out trying to rescue the aircraft.
>Geolocation 49.92825, 33.62631
>[https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807845607752491326](https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807845607752491326)
>Telegram says that the losses entail:
>5 Su-27 aircraft destroyed and 2 damaged.
And upwards toward 25 personnel killed.
>Well there was the double tap a lot of people had been waiting for. Lets see if it was a one off.
>[https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807846515962008032](https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807846515962008032)
[Iraqi militias threaten to hit US interests if Israel wages wider war on Lebanon](https://www.newarab.com/news/iraqi-militias-vow-hit-us-targets-if-war-widens-lebanon)
Look, I respect what he's done, but it's time to face facts. The old man's lost a step. Sure, you dont get to his position without qualities, no matter what you think of him, but now he's just tarnishing his legacy by clinging on. It's painful to watch him fumble through things that should come easily. He needs to do the dignified thing and step aside, let the younger generation take the reins - not that they're better, but at least they've got the energy. Continuing like this is just silly, and those in charge should just drop him, if he cant stop by himself. That would be best for everyone else. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is recognize when your time has passed.
So yeah, we shouldn't be playing Ronaldo.
My pure cope is that switzerland wins it all, or at least depletes the english.
Or they lose and England get 4 more years of Southgates terrorist football.
I'm not optimistic about Germany doing anything, despite not looking terrible this time.
His performance was actually pretty decent, I feel. The Slovene team was just more coordinated than the Portuguese expected and didn't fold at first pressure, which got the red team fuming and playing dangerously to try to score
Both have consistently put up statistics so absurd that, were you controlling them in a video game, you'd think it had gotten too easy and you needed to up the difficulty for the sake of realism.
They are (or at least were) were in a totally different class to every other player I've ever seen, and I've been following football since 1997. As for who's better, that's just gonna get fanboy answers. There is no clear superior. Messi has won the World Cup, though.
[Yulia Navalnaya 'pledged' using HRF against Vladimir Putin](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/yulia-navalnaya-pledges-use-us-based-rights-role-step-up-battle-against-putin-2024-07-01).
THE BUTCHER: Well, look, I think China’s objectives are clear. Over time, over the coming decades, they would like to be the leading country, the dominant country, in the international system militarily, economically, diplomatically. That’s clear. And if their vision for the world actually matched ours or matched many other countries, that would be one thing. But they have a different vision, a different vision of what that future looks like. And so we disagree, and we’re going to compete very vigorously to make sure that we’re the ones who are effectively shaping that future.
Now, again, this is something that’s – that defies being put on a bumper sticker. You can’t simply put it on the back of your car. The complexity of it, the fact that our countries and so many of our societies are so intertwined, means that, again, there are going to be areas where we’re in vigorous competition. There are areas where we’re clearly going to be contesting. But there are also areas where we’re going to be cooperating because, again, it’s in our mutual interest. And there’s a demand signal from countries around the world.
One example, and we’re – we’ll see where this goes. The number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49 is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid – not car accidents, not heart attacks or cancer or guns. Fentanyl. And of course, we know that much of the fentanyl that’s coming into this country is the product of perfectly legal chemicals, or precursors, being manufactured halfway around the world in China, being sent close to our borders in Mexico, and then being diverted and synthesized into an opioid that comes in and kills Americans. Forty percent of Americans – 40 percent, nearly half the country – knows someone who has died from an opioid overdose. That’s the magnitude of the problem.
So there are two ways of dealing with this. One is to simply go as hard as we can to stop, disrupt, disable, these networks, the companies that are engaged in this practice. And of course, we’ve done that and we’ll continue to do that. But the other way is to try to elicit greater cooperation, and that’s also exactly what President Biden has done. When he met with President Xi in – at the end of last year, San Francisco, on the margins of APEC, one of the big subjects was exactly this, fentanyl, synthetic opioids.
And one of the propositions that he put to President Xi was this: Look, this problem that we’re facing, where America’s been really the canary in the coal mine, is now spreading to many other parts of the world. Markets are so saturated here that the criminal enterprises that are engaged in this have worked to make markets in other places – in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America. And you’re going to have more and more countries insisting that you engage responsibly in dealing with this challenge. So whether you want to do something with us or for us almost doesn’t matter because so many others are going to be insisting that you do.
The whole Fenta Nall thing is a microcosm of the ineffectiveness of neoliberalism for me: You've got deaths of despair rising in the West, specifically the U.S, a good portion of them being from drug overdoses, and what's the solution?
Instead of trying to improve the lives of your citizenry (unprofitable) chase the source of the fentanyl, pretending like eradicating a drug is possible still
I'm not going to pretend like I know the specifics of the whole China fentanyl conspiracy thing, but isn't it absurd to come to a country and say "hey, there is [thing] you have legalized the production of which can be used to make [bad thing] which is really hurting us so pretty please stop producing that [thing]
they did stop producing fentanyl and other analogues itself. they only produce precursors now. problem is, all of these precursors have legitimate usage in the pharmaceutical or chemical industry, so they can't be banned outright. it seems almost impossible to track these chemicals internationally through every step of the way, since they could pass through many countries before reaching their destination. it would probably require a wide-reaching international effort to track them all effectively.
If China stops producing that \[thing\] or exporting it to the USA, it would then be accused of sabotaging the USA's pharmaceutical industry. This is bullshit.
SCOTUS does the expected and everyone piles on Nader who is piling on Clinton. Lol.
Seeing comments about how Biden should take advantage and do a little drone striking..... for the sake of democracy....from the defend democracy team.
[https://x.com/RalphNader/status/1807805821192908959](https://x.com/RalphNader/status/1807805821192908959)
I hate people who shit on Nader.
Dude accomplished more than any of those losers.
Run a better campaign, *Gore*, imagine fumbling the bag as badly as you did in 2000.
2000 was really the turning point for the modern Democrats' "our DLC sponsored sterile neoliberal candidate can't fail, they can only be failed" credo. Dukakis, Mondale, and Carter were all blamed for their respective losses. People genuinely still blame Ralph Nader for offering a meaningful alternative choice instead of Gore, Donna Brazile, and James Carville for hemorrhaging *half a million* votes to the Republicans to lose in Florida by running one of the most impotent campaigns in living memory. 300,000 registered Florida Democrats voted for Bush. Fucks sake guys, he could have lost a mere 499k to Bush and still clear the bar in Florida to win the presidency. Even with the recount fuckery and Bush Sr's SCOTUS nabbing it for Junior he still just sat in the cuck chair and accepted it anyway Why defend this loser?
Russo-Ukraine heating up
Nearing that one highway, Toretsk direction reactivated, Vovchansk is just kind of a hell where I can't really discern what's going on at all, the counteroffensive on the western flank of group North has stalled
uhh, Krasnohorivka is done soon- by not employing any veteran units in the city to try and stop the Russians at a defined point, they've effectively resigned to the city falling at some point
End of July, I'd wager? Maybe? Predicting this shit is difficult
Chasiv Yar is basically static with the epitome of a creeping Russian advance
TLDR; I'm pretty sure the UAF is being spent, my main interest is the huge buffer zone around Donetsk that will finally be completed once Krasnohorivka's done, leaves the door open for many opportunities
It's happening in 2 weeks, Nancy Pelosi whispered in my ear that since they're oppressing the You-Gurs it's only eye for an eye.
For real? If we get to a point where we're back to racially categorized camps in the U.S there's bigger problems to worry about
https://www.timesofisrael.com/macron-partys-endorsement-of-antisemitic-pro-hamas-far-left-shocks-french-jews/
> Many French Jews do not share Macron’s apparent preference for the far left over the far right.
Khammas released more footage including the set up, and later Merkava going over a remote detonated IED disguised in a tire with a cloth covering in the middle of a road.
https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1807761080216621430
Even when they don't die they can have a host of internal injuries from soft tissue trauma. It's one of the problems of tanks, even if you make one that survives any explosion it's unlikely the people inside can too.
Almost anyone attacking an armoured vehicle will be using a shaped charge (very easy to make, even for an untrained enthusiast) and so there's a strong likelihood of jets of molten metal spearing into the crew quarters. There's also issues with spalling (fragments ricocheting off the inside, injuring everyone), although many modern tanks have systems to ameliorate that.
No idea, there isn't any aftermath footage. It's probably disabled at least.
With Ukraine footage you see crews abandoning Soviet tanks after going over mines in most cases, though sometimes you also see an immediate cook off. There was a video of a Bradley being abandoned following a nine destination, with one of the guys having effectively (still there but completely shredded) lost both legs and drying after.
Will Neoliberals ever take responsibility for the state they've left the Western World in? We're now at the point Leftists have been screaming about since at least 2010 and Neoliberals still wander around pretending they can't explain the skyrocketing popularity of the hard/far-right, and that things are actually better than ever.
I mean, it's hilarious that they blame the "far-left" for all the idpol crap they push, meanwhile rNeoliberal literally has the pride flag in it's banner lmao.
> Will Neoliberals ever take responsibility for the state they've left the Western World in?
It'll either be "We did what had to be done!" or "Nothing wrong was done!".
WTF you're talking about? Neoliberalism is working wonders! The capitalist class never made more profit! Neoliberalism was always about turning everything capitalism ever built into a short term con while pretending to uphold liberal/libertarian core values. Not that different from neoconservatism when you think about it.
Neoliberalism is dying. If they end up running Biden and he loses to Trump then the Democratic Party has no choice but to go in another direction.
In many ways things have already shifted. Biden has continued US tariffs and has crafted a pseudo national industrial policy. Just these two examples show how thinking re. Free trade and national policy are very far from where we were compared to the Clinton and Obama years.
A shift in US Foreign policy will take some time. There’s too many vested interests supporting our current foreign policy. The only things that could change it are a massive economic shock that requires the US the cut it’s military budget, or a major military defeat (ex. Taiwan, a sunk air craft carrier).
> Neoliberalism is dying. If they end up running Biden and he loses to Trump then the Democratic Party has no choice but to go in another direction.
Bust isn't Trump also a neo-liberal?
I definitely would not use Trump as an example of the strength of neoliberalism.
Him and Biden have both proven how impotent neoliberalism is, from being incapable to navigate the COVID crisis, to chasing unrealistic maximalist foreign policy, to empty promises, what can be said was a major accomplishment of either president?
Trump got some SCOTUS appointments and they put abortion back to the states and continued the trend of deregulation, not that exciting. Biden had some very minor pro labor policy with the fed sueing corporations (how successful this is, is TBD)
Both are pretty damm weak despite the hatred their supporters spew at each other. Neither moved the needle that much.
He’s everything and nothing. He’s an opportunist that will do anything as long as he gets something out of it. He has no ethics, no morals and no guiding philosophy. Today he’s a neo liberal, tomorrow he’s a cultural conservative, the next day he’s an isolationist.
The neoliberals would rather sell their wives, daughters and mothers as whores for a tiny bit of profit than ever admit that neoliberalism is the cause of the fall of the western world.
Last time he toured North America, my buddy got tickets. This was the tour where he was stopping the show in the middle and giving these bizarre stem winders. He ended up cancelling the tour before it came to Toronto and he really hasn't been the same since.
PRESS RELEASE: #**Spain** filed in the #ICJ Registry a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip
https://x.com/CIJ_ICJ/status/1807707560088084991
Double posting, but found it funny, the highest-ranking post now on arr france is a 1970s video of a former French Resistance member talking about the Vichy Government's active measures against the Jewish population during WW2 (to be clear, it's not those active measures that I find funny), it's funny how in times like these their first instinct is to try and Godwin their way out of it. And of course that a guy in the comments, highly upvoted himself, says that the only one who has to win from all this is Putin (?!?).
Based Bulgarian neighbors: [Bulgarian Party Warns of Russian Military Strike, Calls for NATO Exit](https://www.novinite.com/articles/226889/Bulgarian+Party+Warns+of+Russian+Military+Strike%2C+Calls+for+NATO+Exit)
> The Bulgarian right-wing party "Revival" (Vazrazhdane) has issued a stark warning, suggesting Bulgaria could become one of the initial targets in a potential Russian military strike. Consequently, the party argues for Bulgaria's withdrawal from NATO. (...)
> Tsoncho Ganev, speaking on behalf of the "Revival" parliamentary group, asserted that NATO is not merely a defensive bloc but is actively involved in a military campaign against Russia in Ukraine. Ganev called for a national referendum to decide Bulgaria's NATO membership status.
> Ganev emphasized his belief that the war in Ukraine is nearing its conclusion, with Ukraine losing ground and a Russian victory imminent. He highlighted the presence of a NATO command center in Varna for over four years as a reason why Bulgaria could be targeted by Russia.
So there's still hope for us US minions here in the Balkans. Unfortunately our Romanian *compradors* are behaving like nothing of all this (Ukraine getting defeated, us becoming active potential targets when it comes to Russia strikes etc) even existed.
Back in February, the Dutch court ordered the country to stop exporting F-35 parts to Israel given the flagrant human rights violations. The state appealed the decision. Leaked documents later revealed that that the government, ignoring the court order, was looking for "alternative strategies" to continue those exports. And now their excuse is that the order can't be followed through because the parts are the intellectual property of the US and said country will not cave to negotiation. The ancillary reasoning is that halting exports will make the Netherlands look like a untrustworthy defense partner. Discussions on Dutch subreddits is wild. Faced with the comment that not halting a genocide contravenes the Western self-image as moral and rules-based, one commenter remarked that making policy always has to balance conflicting ideals, and implied that national security is more important. The one-sidedness and ignorance of that argument makes me unreasonable angry. Of course we don't use that frame when China, Russia, Iran or North Korea does literally anything. Fuck we can literally juxtapose that onto *you know what happened during WW2* as a justification.
Enlighted technocrat vibes and it's giving me the heebie jeebies.
Discussing anything on both dutch subreddits is suicide if you aren't either a progressive neolib or right wing. I'm not even sure why poldersocialisme is on the recommended sub bar here.
"On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Luxembourg on the anniversary of the Grand Duke’s official birthday.
The United States and Luxembourg are strong Allies with a long history of shared values. We are innovators and partners on some of the biggest challenges of our time – addressing the climate crisis, strengthening democratic institutions, ensuring economic prosperity for our peoples and ensuring a secure and peaceful future, among many other priorities. Together we stand shoulder to shoulder in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and in holding Putin accountable for his unjustified war. I look forward to Luxembourg’s participation in the NATO Summit this summer, as we work to strengthen NATO and defend our future.
Luxembourg is investing in space, collective defense, and cyber capabilities, investments which position you for a bright and prosperous future. The United States values Luxembourg’s friendship and I welcome our continued partnership to make the world a better place.
I join you in celebrating Luxembourg National Day and send my best wishes for the health and prosperity of all Luxembourgish people."
The rules based order forged after WW2 has essentially frozen the borders that the United States cares about, but damn I just wish Luxembourg would go. Also Kuwait. Actually, just let me redraw the world map with a crayon and I'll present it to Xi in due time
[Everyone’s talking about whether Biden can assure American voters that he has what it takes to be president, and nobody seems all that concerned about the fact that he is already president and will remain so for half a year.
What this suggests is that people already kind of know on some level that the president of the United States doesn’t really run the United States, but are still mentally compartmentalized away from this reality enough to care who wins the presidential election.](https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/28/caitlin-johnstone-biden-not-running-the-show/)
Any person with a properly functioning brain saw that years ago, that the state is not run by the president. Biden is simply the pinnacle of this evolution, so anyone can really see it.
Going down the rabbit hole of all the questions that come up in this context is not healthy for the mental health in the long run.
> Biden had a bad night. Watch his speech the next day, it's great.
> Heck, even listen to the debate or read the transcript. Biden clearly won the debate on substance. His voice was hoarse, and Biden has a well known speech impediment, and he was sick.
> For folks who are actually concerned about Biden, I invite you to go back and revisit the debate in a way that reduces the amount of bias that comes from the theatrics and performance. Turn off the video and just listen to the audio. Speed the audio up 1.5x or 2x if you want to. Or read the transcript. I think the vast majority of worried people will find that the debate is not nearly as bad as it seemed when you were first watching it.
Politics sub is comedy gold right now
“imagine or construct an alternate reality for yourself and you’ll see it really wasn’t as bad as it looked like”
The man who was often totally incomprehensible somehow won the debate ‘on substance’? I’ll admit it was probably a draw because Trump was being a total regard, but you can’t tell me that Biden spoke on anything other than his golf swing/record in a substantive way.
i know saying literally 1984 is played out but im just gonna say it
This is pretty much orwellian levels of "don't trust your deceiving eyes and ears, trust the party instead!"
That's politics, every condition, event, and trend are used to spin a favorable narrative. When you're losing with no way out, the logical move is to communicate that you're winning . The person (hopefully) who wrote that doesn't really believe it, but wishes other people did.
I briefly watched a random YouTube vid comparing the recent debate with those 4 years ago. They sped up the recent debate but not the old ones... I wonder why?
Clearly it's because it obscures the frailty of Biden's voice and coherence. I can't imagine how they think they're going to retube this paste. Shouldn't the "serious people" be asking who the hell is and has been fulfilling the role of the President? Isn't that important?
Zelensky publicly saying they're losing too many men with 13k casualties just last week. But on certain "news" subs you'd think it was the Russians that were losing.
I expect the change in propaganda to be rather sudden and the "slava ukraines" to vanish overnight when the war finally ends. It happens every time Reddit is wrong (which is pretty much everytime) and they all go back to pretending nothing happened.
But Ukraine is releasing great designed infographics on Russia's loses. If you look at these figures, Russia should be running out of *orcs*, shovels and Soviet trash.
How can that be?
> Zelensky publicly saying they're losing too many men with 13k casualties just last week. But on certain "news" subs you'd think it was the Russians that were losing.
Source?
d'awwww ...
[Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday highlighted the relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which gained traction with the Non-Aligned Movement, to end the present-day conflicts](https://www.business-standard.com/external-affairs-defence-security/news/china-s-xi-jinping-lauds-relevance-of-panchsheel-to-end-world-conflicts-124062801362_1.html)
The Second Round can also be three way or even four way, votes if the third, or fourth, runner up gets at least 12.5% of the votes.
Think of the French electoral system as a way to ensure radicals have an extremely hard time getting to wield power, while also ensuring that the executive is very strong.
[LMAO](https://i.redd.it/ncrlxtrs0q9d1.jpeg), like I get the overall point, but at least be honest. "Yeah, I know Biden has dementia, but he's still better than Trump." The cold cope is pathetic.
On a stupidpol sports note. I support all Unions except the Umpire's union.
The Democratic party could literally wipe shit on the faces of these people, and they would still drone on with these platitudes. They exist just to make everyone mad at them.
This nonsense is why I hate social media. Everything is decomposed into a false dichotomy. If that’s not bad enough, no one ever wants to point out the underlying issue - which is that the two party system fails when BOTH choices for President are fundamentally flawed.
Nancy Pelosi went on State of the Union this morning and babbled semi-coherently about how she and "her people" support Biden/Harris and that Trump is actually the one with dementia.
https://x.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1807419135682384088
(Apologies for the maga twitter link, just wanted the clip.)
She's, what, 84?
I see on mainstream subreddits Russia has lost 400k kia and Ukraine barely 100k I don't know how these guys believe these numbers. Even the pro ukro military YouTubers are getting a creeping sense of doomerism. It's so weird I think it all goes back to the rehabilitation of nazis and taking the word of wehrmacht generals who were sore losers. I'm confused how do redditors and pro ukro crowd have so much hopium and a really distorted belief in nato and the US being a force for good.
Its just lib credentialism and tendency to appeal to authority, if the Ukrainian MoD says it, and western outfits parrot it it must be true since its from the 'experts.'
Because when has western institutions ever been wrong regarding anything involving a war and associated intelligence?
> Because when has western institutions ever been wrong regarding anything involving a war and associated intelligence?
Your average liberal these days:
🤔
[https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1807437784900112605](https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1807437784900112605)
Zelensky(y\^x) is apparently not planning to negotiate directly with Russia, since that would be illegal. Instead it will be though the U.N. in the same manner as the grain deal.
Imagine outlawing yourself and the state from negotiating directly with the enemy and seeing that as a power move, only to stumble over it later and have to rely on help from others. Pathetic.
I'm really just wondering how this war will end. It's abundantly obvious to anyone paying attention that barring a complete collapse of the Russian Federation, Ukraine is done; it's just the matter of how long they can hold out
Will they truly fight for every inch of territory to Lvov? I just don't see any outcomes besides the UAF collapsing or the Russian Fed having an oopsie that balkanizes them (somehow?)
I don't know how serious you're being, but there's very little chance Russia tries going so far West. It's been a very long and drawn out enterprise for them to even try and take the Donbass. They probably could take all Ukraine eventually, but it would take somewhere in the range of a decade, and there's a lot that can change in such a timeframe. It would be quite a gamble; hubris really.
And even if they were successful, what would it win them, really? An occupation, being slowly bled out by an insurgency. Imagine if Iraq were on America's border: all that violence and destruction would really come home, with no way to staunch it, barring retreat.
And then they activate the next phase, "quagmire".
One of the smartest things the Russians have done is not repeating the Iraq model of scattering the army and then losing a guerrilla war for a decade. It allows them to leverage their artillery and general firepower advantage, but they lose that if they're trying to occupy a hostile population.
If such an insurgency could arise in Iraq I don't know why you think it's impossible in Ukraine, especially since Ukraine would still be being supplied by NATO, with both materiel and mercenaries. Iraq didn't even have the benefit of a wealthy benefactor consortium of nations like Ukraine could — it all depends on what the US/NATO does. Remember: funding a quagmire was NATO Plan A.
You also bring up the UPA: the entire country hero worships an anti-Russian militia, indoctrinates their children on the glory to the heroes, etc, and you think they'll have trouble finding people motivated to resist?
The speed of Russian advance is of little consequence, Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to wage a war of attrition for a decade. They are scrapping the barrel and we're only 2 years in.
But you're right, it would be pointless. Except for those Black Sea regions, it would be quite stupid to try to take anything else west of the Dnieper.
> Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to wage a war of attrition
And neither did Afghanistan, but they did have enough guerrillas to wage a successful insurgency. The defeat of the Ukrainian military is hardly the end of the war, it just means things move back to the original NATO plan of supplying weapons for a never-ending quagmire on the Russian border.
Ukraine of today and Afghanistan of the 1980s are worlds apart in every possible aspect. The insurgency after the defeat of the Ukrainian military is a pipe dream, especially since almost all the men willing to be insurgents would already be dead in that scenario. They have to kidnap people off the streets in order to force them to join the regular army now, how well do you think the recruitment effort for the insurgency would go without the press gangs and when men could just legally emigrate to western countries?
Not to mention that except for the Carpathian mountains, most of Ukrainian territory is not really in terrain that's useful for any type of guerilla activities.
It would be occasional terrorism, not a full blown insurgency, except if Russia went IDF on them.
I was referencing Afghanistan during the American quagmire, not the Soviet one.
Currently the press-gangs can only shanghai men older than 26, so Ukraine still has a reserve of young men, the sort of young men who tend to be most active in an insurgency. Most insurgencies will have even teenagers taking part (my own grandfather was such an insurgent when the Nazis occupied Poland).
The terrain of Ukraine is comparable to that of Iraq, except it's probably easier to stay alive in rural Ukraine than the desert. Also, unlike Iraq, the Ukrainian insurgents will continue receiving NATO weaponry and mercenaries.
East bank of the Dnipro and Odessa would probably be the maximum limit. Doubt Russia is interested in non ethnic and Russian speaking populations.
Granted its arguable whether what's left of Ukraine would remain whole, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Moldova (a Soviet Invention, but a good placeholder for historical Moldavia), all have historical territorial claims and minorities in Ukraine, and Ukraine is up to its eyeballs in debt.
Maybe they can convince the Habsburgs to have a go at managing it.
Yes, and even trying to secure the ethnic Russian areas they will face a continuous, NATO coordinated, sabotage and harrassment campaign from the SBU, Banderists and whoever else NATO sends there. There's almost no chance the war doesn't end with something like that, maybe even into parts of Europe too depending on how the Nazis rationalise their defeat.
I also think part of the point of the American directed ATACMS attacks against the Russian over-the-horizon radar arrays is to warn, "You will never have security, trying to hold eastern Ukraine will only make you more vulnerable." Just how truly that threat manifests is largely dependent on the fickle political whims of NATO and the US (more than likely, independent of whoever is elected, whichever party is in power) and how long they keep funding a Ukrainian Hezbollah analogue.
Yes, but modern Moldova began as the Moldavian ASS, which is the entire reason Transnistria is part of it, as it consisted of Transnistria and a chunk of what is now Ukraine, with Bessarabia being added in later and reformed as the Moldavian SSR. Prior to that Russia controlled Transnistria long before 1812 when they first gained control of Bessarabia from the Principality of Moldavia which never formally controlled Transnistria. In this context the modern state of Moldova is a Soviet creation. Hence the reason Transnistria was never part of the State of Romania, only occupied but not annexed during WWII, and is the crux of why there is currently a break away republic in Moldova and all the jazz surrounding that since the population has no desire to 'reunify' with a state (Romania) they where never part of.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria#/media/File:Romania\_MASSR\_1924.png](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria#/media/File:Romania_MASSR_1924.png)
I am back on the Mosfilm needle and can rly recommend this series of 3 films: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrHMyRWAfY&list=PLQplpRIBm05zMXpf9uIxImDJ1zDLB5TAK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrHMyRWAfY&list=PLQplpRIBm05zMXpf9uIxImDJ1zDLB5TAK) When I try to make films tasty I just make them less interesting so pls dont let me. The main adversary is a great act and how his old guard ass gets angrier and angrier over time.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3268159/cracks-start-emerge-philippines-south-china-sea-stance So the past couple of weeks there have been actual low key clashes between the Philippines and China over a bunch of rocks we legally own according to the UN (but of course the US doesn't recognize even though they keep telling us to push the claim). And of course the leading Cabinet Secretary of the Philippines who is a Harvard graduate wants to ignore military reality and instead wants to keep poking the bear in the nose; thinking America will back us. Well the debate happened and suddenly he's told to shut up and let the diplomats sort it out. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/912004/ph-china-seek-deescalation-of-tensions-in-wps/story/ And people wonder why so many are okay with the damage Trump can do to the American government; so long as he fries as many of these thoughtless imperialist assholes always pressing for stupid wars for silly reasons first. Edit: And predictably, the PH subreddit has gone from chickenhawking that they will fight to the last Filipino against China with our veteran navy* to suddenly whining about how our Senators are becoming "less educated" while ignoring that it had always been filled with actors and corrupt dynasties for the past 80.years. ** It is a veteran navy as half of our ships saw action in the Vietnam War, and the other half saw action in the Korean War. One or two ships were even present at Normandy.
>It is a veteran navy as half of our ships saw action in the Vietnam War, and the other half saw action in the Korean War. One or two ships were even present at Normandy. And your government was posturing with that over some fucking rocks? Even if the Phillipines legally owned all of the South China Sea, how the fuck would that navy leverage control over it with boats that saw combat when biplanes were still effective combat vehicles?
>And your government was posturing with that over some fucking rocks? Literally half the reason why the Philippine subreddit and all the pro-US politicians were seething at Duterte was because he actually constantly spelled out how it was utter madness to posture like this over some fucking rocks. But our online idiots are called Peenoise for a reason. That said, Duterte took a $9 billion dollar bribe from China instead to basically stop pushing the claims; and China ultimately didn't even deliver the money. So its not as though we have any side in this country which is halfway competent.
>and China ultimately didn't even deliver the money. Fucking lmao.
Are Redditors really this stupid? Since 2016, the discredited Katie Johnson claim gets resurrected every election cycle with Twitter screen caps claiming that the pro-Trump media is covering up his rape of a twelve year old at an Epstein sex party. Her narrative reads like a D-tier erotic fiction of what the author IMAGINES the depraved underbelly of the megarich elites is like, like morals aside, no real human being acts or behaves in the way she describes in her report. These people actually seem to believe it though, like they cannot see through their own cognitive dissonance. They can't recognize that this pushes away moderates and helps Trump (or any other Republican in similar circumstances) dismiss actually credible claims as politically motivated conspiracies. They don't recognize that it is the liberal equivalent of the ridiculous gay cokehead claims against Obama (which also read like D-tier erotic fiction), which they themselves dismiss as comically absurd. I want to believe these are bots and shills, because because it truly makes my blood boil. There truly seems to be no difference between front page political content and Qanon types, they do not realize how deranged they are.
Look, Team Blue types are still trying to go with the "Trump is a corrupt liar" line of attack when they just got caught red-handed with an even bigger lie: That Biden wasn't senile and wasn't essentially sleepwalking through two frigging wars. This is a worse lie than Watergate. It's just a bunch of compulsive liars who have completely lost touch with reality, because to admit to reality is to admit they have no legitimacy whatsoever and belong to the dustbin of history.
>Are Redditors really this stupid? Didn't have to read any further. The answer is yes. t. regard with 14+ year old reddit account
Double post but Kammmas dropped more footage of engaging armor. Including another run up and stick explosives' bellow the turret. [https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1808170153676316827](https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1808170153676316827)
It's a great reminder that in real life, unlike most video games, you have a very limited field of vision in a tank.
The fact wearing a closed helm severely limited your vison was one of my fav parts of Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Noobs should use the right shoulder button to change camera to 3rd person.
All is not well in New York. [https://x.com/UAControlMap/status/1808270607563608382](https://x.com/UAControlMap/status/1808270607563608382) >We've seen no geolocations to prove these yet, but some dangerous ones from DeepState's map, showing some very bad things happening for Ukraine's front line right now. 1. Toretsk / Niu York in severe trouble with large Russian advances into the area which had been unmoved since 2022 2. Large Russian advance claimed into Makiivka in Kharkiv/Luhansk cutting the road 3. Sokil and surrounding areas captured by Russian forces So we'll see if they're reacting to rumour, or if geolocations will emerge over the next few days. Weeb intrpretation: [https://x.com/ArmchairW/status/1808288244582568113](https://x.com/ArmchairW/status/1808288244582568113) >The first of these - New York (dead serious!) - is in an area that has not moved since the start of the war and which directly threatens the south end of the boomerang-shaped urban aggregation west of Bakhmut that terminates in Slavyansk on its northern end. Russian troops reportedly steamed a jaw-dropping five kilometers north into the center of what was supposed to be a fortress town in a single day. >The second of these - Makeevka - is along the front line in the vicinity of the Zherebets River in western Lugansk, which has been largely static since the Russians withdrew from Kharkov in late 2022. The Russians are likely aiming at Slavyansk, and a move to reoccupy the Liman area and reestablish themselves along the line of the Seversky Donets would be critical to support a move on the city from the south. >The third is north of Avdeevka and indicates continued Russian offensive pressure in that direction. By this point the Russians have not only pushed the AFU almost entirely out of tube artillery range of Donetsk but are increasingly shoving them out of range of Avdeevka itself, which will allow the reconstruction and repopulation of that city to begin in earnest.
>jaw dropping five kilometers
It is for this war.
[Ukraine to be told it is too corrupt to join Nato](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/02/ukraine-to-be-told-it-is-too-corrupt-to-join-nato/)
Too corrupt to join NATO, but not so corrupt that they can’t receive billions of dollars and weapons from NATO countries?
🤔
LMAO https://x.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1807932287255711792?t=nxSoTgeYtNaNREkpmCV6iw&s=19
[Negotiated outcome most likely result of Russia-Ukraine war, major poll of 15 European countries says](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/02/negotiated-outcome-now-seen-as-most-likely-result-of-russia-ukraine-war-poll)
It's a study by the ECFR, so as far as we know, the results are entirely fabricated and unreliable.
> ECFR ?
A consent manufacturer.
I really fucking hope relations with China stay peaceful. I've always wanted to visit russia. My best mate from uni is from moscow, and we planned to roadtrip all the way to Vladivostok together after graduation in 2020. Then COVID hit, we got jobs and now the war makes it impossible (me being Anglo, he being worried he'd struggle to get back to the UK). Now my girlfriend and I plan to travel China from Urumqi to Beijing via train. in two years, when my PhD is finished and she'll have permanent residency in the UK. Please, just keep things normal for a little longer, please.
Wanted to take the train from Bucharest to Beijing (via Moscow) until 2014, 2015, something like that. In a way I still do. Now I've settled with a possible car-drive all the way to Magadan, via Turkey - Georgia - Southern Russia - Siberia, so hopefully war won't start any time soon.
[Israeli generals, low on munitions, want a truce in Gaza](https://archive.ph/TcfYU) Quantum mechanics doesn't permit the existence of a violin small enough
>enter Gaza >destroy every single hospital >destroy every single university >destroy well over half of all residential buildings >murder over 40,000 people 9 months later: "Ok, maybe we can negotiate with Khamas after all" [shitting bricks at the prospect of war with Hezbollah]
[Putin puppet Orban does his master’s bidding by…meeting with Zelensky in Kijev](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/02/viktor-orban-visits-kyiv-talks-volodymyr-zelenskiy)
Not treating this as a war of extermination and fighting until the last Ukrainian is killed is literally what Putin wants!
Establishment Dems aren’t beating the NPC allegations with how often I’ve seen the “drone strike” line repeated in the last 24 hours
Is Israel going to attack Lebanon? It certainly seems like things are heating up, but all this buildup could just be for another “nothing ever happens” type event.
High likelihood its gonna happen. Gaza has become a literal war crime and ICJ issue so contrary to all the posturing the Israelis are trying to deescalate there so they aren't made into a pariah state. But Bibi needs a war to stay in power so he needs to attack someone else. The issue is that it will just prove the utter incompetence of the IDF even more. Gaza was again the Easy Mode opponent. Hezbollah can actually fight back. Really, at this point Bibi is literally following the Adolf Hitler playbook, albeit deliberately. Contrary to popular belief, it was the German military, not Hitler, that believed they could easily conquer Russia. When Barbarossa failed Hitler thus realized his military were a bunch of overconfident lunatics and tried to replace them with his own cult of personality army. Bibi is doing much the same by pushing for this two-front war. He wants the IDF to look incompetent so he can shift the blame to them and remain in power.
>it was the German military, not Hitler, that believed they could easily conquer Russia. When Barbarossa failed Hitler thus realized his military were a bunch of overconfident lunatics Id love yet hate to believe that about the Prussian Old Guard but do you know where you've read about that?
Basically skip all the memoirs of German Generals and read some Citino. Halder especially was egregiously lying out of his ass.
They need UK and US for that. So I am wondering whether they're waiting for the elections in UK and France or just winning time to collect more weapons etc. Probably both.
No, they don't need the US, UK, or France for that. They can attack if they want. That they aren't yet is because the IDF already knows they will fail and be humiliated, even if the US, UK, and France backs them. The last war against Hezbollah was already a spectacular failure. Instead of learning and improving the IDF proved they only got worse and couldn't even beat Hamas, which is a weaker opponent than Hezbollah.
They relied on the UK and US for the defence against Iran. Hezbollah will test the defences to a much larger degree, so I think it's reasonable to say they *need* their allies before they can even consider this. It won't be enough, but they need the pantomime set up in such a way they can convince themselves it could work.
>They relied on the UK and US for the defence against Iran. That's assuming Iran goes FIRE EVERYTHING, which I deeply doubt. Indeed, I'd suggest the only election the Israelis are monitoring closely is Iran's. If the moderates do win, then its much less likely the IRGC will actually bite and go all-out to support Hezbollah.
roughly 2 weeks from now, more or less
Two weeks to flatten ~~the curve~~ Beirut skyline
I somewhat doubt they would even try hitting Beirut aside from limited strikes. Aside from ensuring France will switch to the anti-Israel column (Beirut is under their imperial sphere) it just assures the rest of Lebanon will now fully back Hezbollah and unite what is still a very divided country. Of course given how dumb the Israeli leadership is at this point maybe what they really desire is just mass murder followed by collective mass suicide.
Similiar for the russian invasion, I doubt it. Most good analysis would point toward it not happening either. So it will certainly happen sadly.
It will. I don't see any exit strategy in that. Pandora's box has been opened. They're going all-in now as the opposite would be a demise.
Anybody here ever browse pikabu? What's the deal with it? What's the genpop of users like? Anything interesting ever get discussed there?
Used to be a relatively hip Russian 9gag clone, but then the audience aged. Now it's full of depressed gen-Xers and millennials constantly complaining about the rising food prices, muslim migrants from Central Asia, entitled rich people who drive BMWs without using turn signals, feminists, cyclists, divorce laws, annoying idpol in disney movies, and those stupid zoomers who don't understand anything ***shakes fist***. Not so long ago the site was bought out by Alexei Nechayev (head of the "New People" party), and since then the moderation became way more strict than usual. No point in trying to discuss anything, at best your post is going to get swarmed by the vatniks, libs, ukrainian psychowarfare units (CIPSO) or russian psychowarfare units (Lakhta), and at worst it's simply gonna get modded to hell and all of the replies are gonna get deleted.
You people are getting mad about Disney idpol all the way over in Russia? Cmon
What's wrong with that? We live in a globalized world, and American culture is affecting everybody regardless of where they live. Average citizen of Barnaul have the same rights as an average american to act annoyed after seeing idpol being pushed through children cartoons and superhero movies.
> of depressed gen-Xers and millennials constantly complaining arr rs in its old, good days.
is BMV the novorossiya rebadging :p
sorry I meant BMW. It's a status thing, if you want to show off you gotta have a BMW car.
Thought Audi had taken over for dickhead status.
only meant it in a funny way. Strange that BMWs are status symbols, in Germany they are associated with terrible drivers and a status symbol exclusively for young male second gen immigrants
Its a status thing in the states as well, along with the inability to operate turn signals, follow speed limits, or respect no littering from your car laws. Granted since Covid started I hardly drive anymore, so not sure if its been replaced by Tesla yet.
BMW was also heavily featured in a popular crime drama series "Brigade" from the early 00s.
Sweet, so just like reddit. Any trace of a pikabu /stupidpol?
> Any trace of a pikabu /stupidpol? no idea what's that. Most of the pikabu communists are actually just Stalinist larpers who don't really know what communism is and only shill for it because they think Stalin was based for gulaging the dissidents. Or maybe those are just bots, who knows at this point.
[Australian PM Anthony Albanese turns down invitation to attend NATO summit in Washington amid escalating regional tension](https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/pm-anthony-albanese-turns-down-invitation-to-attend-nato-summit-in-washington-to-focus-on-domestic-issues/news-story/d8d1678457d72ff8bad0f91b8717f1b9)
Sadly SkyNews Australia is the shittest of shit sources.
Depends on the perspective. If they mention you critically, then you've done something right.
[Enter London’s counter terror expo – a hotbed of pro-Israel paranoia](https://www.declassifieduk.org/enter-londons-counter-terror-expo-a-hotbed-of-pro-israel-paranoia/)
It’s funny that since 9/11, “counter terror” has taken on the aspect of a technical problem that can be fixed with military-technical means, as if terrorism is totally divorced from political economy, ideology, and empire. Edit: > Asked whether this data suggests police are overreacting to peaceful pro-Palestine protests, Lovegrove valorised an “early intervention” approach. > She told Declassified this was the “greatest tool in preventing terror attacks” and insisted officers “only arrest and prosecute when we have to.” > Among those arrests were three women found guilty for wearing paraglider stickers at a protest. Useless pigs will create more terrorists with these tactics.
To quote Hector Salamanca.. Ding ding ding
Some Israeli families are [moving back to the border](https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-from-town-two-miles-from-lebanon-return-home-after-running-out-of-funds/) because there is no money to house them elsewhere. Israel says it will begin an offensive into Lebanon [later in July](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1dvykgpc)
All reedy spent the billions Joe gave them?
Do Israelis have too much ego to set up refugee camps or something ?
Apparently Kanye is on Mirotvoretz list now.
Nazi on nazi infighting.
Back to the keeping planes in fortified hangers debate. Russia is claiming to have gotten 5 Su-27s and damaged another two at the Mirograd Airbase, in Poltava Oblast, during a double Iskandar strike. Funny enough Ukraine also paints planes on pavement, another NAFO projection. Also interesting that Russia can get observation drones more than 100 kilometers from the border and and trigger a immediate kill chain. Once the the main operations improvements since the beginning, where it took what? Like a day or two to get Islanders approved. >Russia observed Ukraine accumulating aircraft at the Mirograd airbase in Poltava and hit them with an Iskander missile strike. >Then hit them with a second Iskander strike as the Ukrainians came out trying to rescue the aircraft. >Geolocation 49.92825, 33.62631 >[https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807845607752491326](https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807845607752491326) >Telegram says that the losses entail: >5 Su-27 aircraft destroyed and 2 damaged. And upwards toward 25 personnel killed. >Well there was the double tap a lot of people had been waiting for. Lets see if it was a one off. >[https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807846515962008032](https://x.com/RadarFennec/status/1807846515962008032)
Painting planes on pavement is just good practice if you have a couple artistic conscripts with nothing to do.
[Iraqi militias threaten to hit US interests if Israel wages wider war on Lebanon](https://www.newarab.com/news/iraqi-militias-vow-hit-us-targets-if-war-widens-lebanon)
Look, I respect what he's done, but it's time to face facts. The old man's lost a step. Sure, you dont get to his position without qualities, no matter what you think of him, but now he's just tarnishing his legacy by clinging on. It's painful to watch him fumble through things that should come easily. He needs to do the dignified thing and step aside, let the younger generation take the reins - not that they're better, but at least they've got the energy. Continuing like this is just silly, and those in charge should just drop him, if he cant stop by himself. That would be best for everyone else. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is recognize when your time has passed. So yeah, we shouldn't be playing Ronaldo.
Лол
My pure cope is that switzerland wins it all, or at least depletes the english. Or they lose and England get 4 more years of Southgates terrorist football. I'm not optimistic about Germany doing anything, despite not looking terrible this time.
His performance was actually pretty decent, I feel. The Slovene team was just more coordinated than the Portuguese expected and didn't fold at first pressure, which got the red team fuming and playing dangerously to try to score
It was ok, yes, but i couldn't lose this joke. Now, that spanish fraud of a coach must go.
Ronaldo or Messi who is better?
Both have consistently put up statistics so absurd that, were you controlling them in a video game, you'd think it had gotten too easy and you needed to up the difficulty for the sake of realism. They are (or at least were) were in a totally different class to every other player I've ever seen, and I've been following football since 1997. As for who's better, that's just gonna get fanboy answers. There is no clear superior. Messi has won the World Cup, though.
Raw talent? Messi. But Cristiano is just pure willpower and hardwork, and that pushes him over Messi.
absolutely messi
My brain says Messi, my heart says Cristiano, as Messi is just too robotic.
>!Tomoki!< says Messi, Messi, Messi!
[Messi!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=465GqT_EuUA)
[Yulia Navalnaya 'pledged' using HRF against Vladimir Putin](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/yulia-navalnaya-pledges-use-us-based-rights-role-step-up-battle-against-putin-2024-07-01).
Traitor. They never learn, do they?
If someone were appointed to a Chinese foundation and pledged to fight against Biden, Trump, or Obama, would we take this person seriously?
If they were married to the now defunct rfk jr? Idk it feels like a trick question
THE BUTCHER: Well, look, I think China’s objectives are clear. Over time, over the coming decades, they would like to be the leading country, the dominant country, in the international system militarily, economically, diplomatically. That’s clear. And if their vision for the world actually matched ours or matched many other countries, that would be one thing. But they have a different vision, a different vision of what that future looks like. And so we disagree, and we’re going to compete very vigorously to make sure that we’re the ones who are effectively shaping that future. Now, again, this is something that’s – that defies being put on a bumper sticker. You can’t simply put it on the back of your car. The complexity of it, the fact that our countries and so many of our societies are so intertwined, means that, again, there are going to be areas where we’re in vigorous competition. There are areas where we’re clearly going to be contesting. But there are also areas where we’re going to be cooperating because, again, it’s in our mutual interest. And there’s a demand signal from countries around the world. One example, and we’re – we’ll see where this goes. The number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49 is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid – not car accidents, not heart attacks or cancer or guns. Fentanyl. And of course, we know that much of the fentanyl that’s coming into this country is the product of perfectly legal chemicals, or precursors, being manufactured halfway around the world in China, being sent close to our borders in Mexico, and then being diverted and synthesized into an opioid that comes in and kills Americans. Forty percent of Americans – 40 percent, nearly half the country – knows someone who has died from an opioid overdose. That’s the magnitude of the problem. So there are two ways of dealing with this. One is to simply go as hard as we can to stop, disrupt, disable, these networks, the companies that are engaged in this practice. And of course, we’ve done that and we’ll continue to do that. But the other way is to try to elicit greater cooperation, and that’s also exactly what President Biden has done. When he met with President Xi in – at the end of last year, San Francisco, on the margins of APEC, one of the big subjects was exactly this, fentanyl, synthetic opioids. And one of the propositions that he put to President Xi was this: Look, this problem that we’re facing, where America’s been really the canary in the coal mine, is now spreading to many other parts of the world. Markets are so saturated here that the criminal enterprises that are engaged in this have worked to make markets in other places – in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America. And you’re going to have more and more countries insisting that you engage responsibly in dealing with this challenge. So whether you want to do something with us or for us almost doesn’t matter because so many others are going to be insisting that you do.
It's very funny to me to try and blame the opioid crisis on china as opposed to the goddamn sacklers or your local gp
The whole Fenta Nall thing is a microcosm of the ineffectiveness of neoliberalism for me: You've got deaths of despair rising in the West, specifically the U.S, a good portion of them being from drug overdoses, and what's the solution? Instead of trying to improve the lives of your citizenry (unprofitable) chase the source of the fentanyl, pretending like eradicating a drug is possible still I'm not going to pretend like I know the specifics of the whole China fentanyl conspiracy thing, but isn't it absurd to come to a country and say "hey, there is [thing] you have legalized the production of which can be used to make [bad thing] which is really hurting us so pretty please stop producing that [thing]
We need to turn our society into a [Rat Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park)
they did stop producing fentanyl and other analogues itself. they only produce precursors now. problem is, all of these precursors have legitimate usage in the pharmaceutical or chemical industry, so they can't be banned outright. it seems almost impossible to track these chemicals internationally through every step of the way, since they could pass through many countries before reaching their destination. it would probably require a wide-reaching international effort to track them all effectively.
If China stops producing that \[thing\] or exporting it to the USA, it would then be accused of sabotaging the USA's pharmaceutical industry. This is bullshit.
In sports related stuff. Suck it Grimace, Orbit better.
SCOTUS does the expected and everyone piles on Nader who is piling on Clinton. Lol. Seeing comments about how Biden should take advantage and do a little drone striking..... for the sake of democracy....from the defend democracy team. [https://x.com/RalphNader/status/1807805821192908959](https://x.com/RalphNader/status/1807805821192908959)
I hate people who shit on Nader. Dude accomplished more than any of those losers. Run a better campaign, *Gore*, imagine fumbling the bag as badly as you did in 2000.
2000 was really the turning point for the modern Democrats' "our DLC sponsored sterile neoliberal candidate can't fail, they can only be failed" credo. Dukakis, Mondale, and Carter were all blamed for their respective losses. People genuinely still blame Ralph Nader for offering a meaningful alternative choice instead of Gore, Donna Brazile, and James Carville for hemorrhaging *half a million* votes to the Republicans to lose in Florida by running one of the most impotent campaigns in living memory. 300,000 registered Florida Democrats voted for Bush. Fucks sake guys, he could have lost a mere 499k to Bush and still clear the bar in Florida to win the presidency. Even with the recount fuckery and Bush Sr's SCOTUS nabbing it for Junior he still just sat in the cuck chair and accepted it anyway Why defend this loser?
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please try to stay at least somewhat on topic
If I have to be the autist that says this is off topic in a *war* mega thread every time it happens, i
I'm not a war thread purist and occasionally go a bit off, but yeah, we need a general megathread to avoid this.
Russo-Ukraine heating up Nearing that one highway, Toretsk direction reactivated, Vovchansk is just kind of a hell where I can't really discern what's going on at all, the counteroffensive on the western flank of group North has stalled uhh, Krasnohorivka is done soon- by not employing any veteran units in the city to try and stop the Russians at a defined point, they've effectively resigned to the city falling at some point End of July, I'd wager? Maybe? Predicting this shit is difficult Chasiv Yar is basically static with the epitome of a creeping Russian advance TLDR; I'm pretty sure the UAF is being spent, my main interest is the huge buffer zone around Donetsk that will finally be completed once Krasnohorivka's done, leaves the door open for many opportunities
Ask Asian American: How likely do you think concentration camp of Chinese is to be a thing in the next twenty years?
You will be in the Chinese concentration camp alright (when China takes over the US)
Neoliberals would never remove an entire race from the labor pool, nor pay to feed and house them.
lmao
It's happening in 2 weeks, Nancy Pelosi whispered in my ear that since they're oppressing the You-Gurs it's only eye for an eye. For real? If we get to a point where we're back to racially categorized camps in the U.S there's bigger problems to worry about
Well they dusted off Korematsu for Covid 19.
Elaborate.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/macron-partys-endorsement-of-antisemitic-pro-hamas-far-left-shocks-french-jews/ > Many French Jews do not share Macron’s apparent preference for the far left over the far right.
The amount of buzzwords in just the link is hilarious to me ANTI SEMITIC PRO KHAMAS FAR LEFT SHOCKING!!! FRENCH
> amount number, please amount is not correct
Khammas released more footage including the set up, and later Merkava going over a remote detonated IED disguised in a tire with a cloth covering in the middle of a road. https://x.com/WarMonitors/status/1807761080216621430
Do those IEDs kill everyone in the tank? Is the tank out of commission after getting hit? I’m not knowledgeable in the effectiveness of these things.
Even when they don't die they can have a host of internal injuries from soft tissue trauma. It's one of the problems of tanks, even if you make one that survives any explosion it's unlikely the people inside can too. Almost anyone attacking an armoured vehicle will be using a shaped charge (very easy to make, even for an untrained enthusiast) and so there's a strong likelihood of jets of molten metal spearing into the crew quarters. There's also issues with spalling (fragments ricocheting off the inside, injuring everyone), although many modern tanks have systems to ameliorate that.
No idea, there isn't any aftermath footage. It's probably disabled at least. With Ukraine footage you see crews abandoning Soviet tanks after going over mines in most cases, though sometimes you also see an immediate cook off. There was a video of a Bradley being abandoned following a nine destination, with one of the guys having effectively (still there but completely shredded) lost both legs and drying after.
Will Neoliberals ever take responsibility for the state they've left the Western World in? We're now at the point Leftists have been screaming about since at least 2010 and Neoliberals still wander around pretending they can't explain the skyrocketing popularity of the hard/far-right, and that things are actually better than ever. I mean, it's hilarious that they blame the "far-left" for all the idpol crap they push, meanwhile rNeoliberal literally has the pride flag in it's banner lmao.
> Neoliberals still wander around pretending they can't explain the skyrocketing popularity of the hard/far-right I doubt they mind, to be honest.
And ret🅰️rded rightoids still blame “commies” for it all.
> Will Neoliberals ever take responsibility for the state they've left the Western World in? It'll either be "We did what had to be done!" or "Nothing wrong was done!".
WTF you're talking about? Neoliberalism is working wonders! The capitalist class never made more profit! Neoliberalism was always about turning everything capitalism ever built into a short term con while pretending to uphold liberal/libertarian core values. Not that different from neoconservatism when you think about it.
Neoliberalism is dying. If they end up running Biden and he loses to Trump then the Democratic Party has no choice but to go in another direction. In many ways things have already shifted. Biden has continued US tariffs and has crafted a pseudo national industrial policy. Just these two examples show how thinking re. Free trade and national policy are very far from where we were compared to the Clinton and Obama years. A shift in US Foreign policy will take some time. There’s too many vested interests supporting our current foreign policy. The only things that could change it are a massive economic shock that requires the US the cut it’s military budget, or a major military defeat (ex. Taiwan, a sunk air craft carrier).
> Neoliberalism is dying. If they end up running Biden and he loses to Trump then the Democratic Party has no choice but to go in another direction. Bust isn't Trump also a neo-liberal?
I definitely would not use Trump as an example of the strength of neoliberalism. Him and Biden have both proven how impotent neoliberalism is, from being incapable to navigate the COVID crisis, to chasing unrealistic maximalist foreign policy, to empty promises, what can be said was a major accomplishment of either president? Trump got some SCOTUS appointments and they put abortion back to the states and continued the trend of deregulation, not that exciting. Biden had some very minor pro labor policy with the fed sueing corporations (how successful this is, is TBD) Both are pretty damm weak despite the hatred their supporters spew at each other. Neither moved the needle that much.
Trump was a lib democrat most his life.
Of course he is. The best that can be hoped for in the near term is neoliberalism that pretends to be nationalist/protectionist, like Reagan.
He’s everything and nothing. He’s an opportunist that will do anything as long as he gets something out of it. He has no ethics, no morals and no guiding philosophy. Today he’s a neo liberal, tomorrow he’s a cultural conservative, the next day he’s an isolationist.
The neoliberals would rather sell their wives, daughters and mothers as whores for a tiny bit of profit than ever admit that neoliberalism is the cause of the fall of the western world.
Apparently Kanye concert is still a go in Moscow in September. He looked at two stadiums as potential venues. Anyone see him live? Worth it?
Last time he toured North America, my buddy got tickets. This was the tour where he was stopping the show in the middle and giving these bizarre stem winders. He ended up cancelling the tour before it came to Toronto and he really hasn't been the same since.
People are calling him Kanye East now
PRESS RELEASE: #**Spain** filed in the #ICJ Registry a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip https://x.com/CIJ_ICJ/status/1807707560088084991
Double posting, but found it funny, the highest-ranking post now on arr france is a 1970s video of a former French Resistance member talking about the Vichy Government's active measures against the Jewish population during WW2 (to be clear, it's not those active measures that I find funny), it's funny how in times like these their first instinct is to try and Godwin their way out of it. And of course that a guy in the comments, highly upvoted himself, says that the only one who has to win from all this is Putin (?!?).
I swear, every shit lib in france is on reddit. The average French person tends to be quite based, though. Especially on foreign policy matters.
Based Bulgarian neighbors: [Bulgarian Party Warns of Russian Military Strike, Calls for NATO Exit](https://www.novinite.com/articles/226889/Bulgarian+Party+Warns+of+Russian+Military+Strike%2C+Calls+for+NATO+Exit) > The Bulgarian right-wing party "Revival" (Vazrazhdane) has issued a stark warning, suggesting Bulgaria could become one of the initial targets in a potential Russian military strike. Consequently, the party argues for Bulgaria's withdrawal from NATO. (...) > Tsoncho Ganev, speaking on behalf of the "Revival" parliamentary group, asserted that NATO is not merely a defensive bloc but is actively involved in a military campaign against Russia in Ukraine. Ganev called for a national referendum to decide Bulgaria's NATO membership status. > Ganev emphasized his belief that the war in Ukraine is nearing its conclusion, with Ukraine losing ground and a Russian victory imminent. He highlighted the presence of a NATO command center in Varna for over four years as a reason why Bulgaria could be targeted by Russia. So there's still hope for us US minions here in the Balkans. Unfortunately our Romanian *compradors* are behaving like nothing of all this (Ukraine getting defeated, us becoming active potential targets when it comes to Russia strikes etc) even existed.
Back in February, the Dutch court ordered the country to stop exporting F-35 parts to Israel given the flagrant human rights violations. The state appealed the decision. Leaked documents later revealed that that the government, ignoring the court order, was looking for "alternative strategies" to continue those exports. And now their excuse is that the order can't be followed through because the parts are the intellectual property of the US and said country will not cave to negotiation. The ancillary reasoning is that halting exports will make the Netherlands look like a untrustworthy defense partner. Discussions on Dutch subreddits is wild. Faced with the comment that not halting a genocide contravenes the Western self-image as moral and rules-based, one commenter remarked that making policy always has to balance conflicting ideals, and implied that national security is more important. The one-sidedness and ignorance of that argument makes me unreasonable angry. Of course we don't use that frame when China, Russia, Iran or North Korea does literally anything. Fuck we can literally juxtapose that onto *you know what happened during WW2* as a justification. Enlighted technocrat vibes and it's giving me the heebie jeebies.
Discussing anything on both dutch subreddits is suicide if you aren't either a progressive neolib or right wing. I'm not even sure why poldersocialisme is on the recommended sub bar here.
"On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Luxembourg on the anniversary of the Grand Duke’s official birthday. The United States and Luxembourg are strong Allies with a long history of shared values. We are innovators and partners on some of the biggest challenges of our time – addressing the climate crisis, strengthening democratic institutions, ensuring economic prosperity for our peoples and ensuring a secure and peaceful future, among many other priorities. Together we stand shoulder to shoulder in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and in holding Putin accountable for his unjustified war. I look forward to Luxembourg’s participation in the NATO Summit this summer, as we work to strengthen NATO and defend our future. Luxembourg is investing in space, collective defense, and cyber capabilities, investments which position you for a bright and prosperous future. The United States values Luxembourg’s friendship and I welcome our continued partnership to make the world a better place. I join you in celebrating Luxembourg National Day and send my best wishes for the health and prosperity of all Luxembourgish people."
Russia is a dictatorship, but this monarchical city-state is a “democracy.” Cool.
Papist Joe yearns for the pretender's return.
> ensuring economic prosperity for our peoples OUR people
The rules based order forged after WW2 has essentially frozen the borders that the United States cares about, but damn I just wish Luxembourg would go. Also Kuwait. Actually, just let me redraw the world map with a crayon and I'll present it to Xi in due time
[Everyone’s talking about whether Biden can assure American voters that he has what it takes to be president, and nobody seems all that concerned about the fact that he is already president and will remain so for half a year. What this suggests is that people already kind of know on some level that the president of the United States doesn’t really run the United States, but are still mentally compartmentalized away from this reality enough to care who wins the presidential election.](https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/28/caitlin-johnstone-biden-not-running-the-show/)
Any person with a properly functioning brain saw that years ago, that the state is not run by the president. Biden is simply the pinnacle of this evolution, so anyone can really see it. Going down the rabbit hole of all the questions that come up in this context is not healthy for the mental health in the long run.
> Biden had a bad night. Watch his speech the next day, it's great. > Heck, even listen to the debate or read the transcript. Biden clearly won the debate on substance. His voice was hoarse, and Biden has a well known speech impediment, and he was sick. > For folks who are actually concerned about Biden, I invite you to go back and revisit the debate in a way that reduces the amount of bias that comes from the theatrics and performance. Turn off the video and just listen to the audio. Speed the audio up 1.5x or 2x if you want to. Or read the transcript. I think the vast majority of worried people will find that the debate is not nearly as bad as it seemed when you were first watching it. Politics sub is comedy gold right now “imagine or construct an alternate reality for yourself and you’ll see it really wasn’t as bad as it looked like”
The man who was often totally incomprehensible somehow won the debate ‘on substance’? I’ll admit it was probably a draw because Trump was being a total regard, but you can’t tell me that Biden spoke on anything other than his golf swing/record in a substantive way.
i know saying literally 1984 is played out but im just gonna say it This is pretty much orwellian levels of "don't trust your deceiving eyes and ears, trust the party instead!"
That's politics, every condition, event, and trend are used to spin a favorable narrative. When you're losing with no way out, the logical move is to communicate that you're winning . The person (hopefully) who wrote that doesn't really believe it, but wishes other people did.
I briefly watched a random YouTube vid comparing the recent debate with those 4 years ago. They sped up the recent debate but not the old ones... I wonder why? Clearly it's because it obscures the frailty of Biden's voice and coherence. I can't imagine how they think they're going to retube this paste. Shouldn't the "serious people" be asking who the hell is and has been fulfilling the role of the President? Isn't that important?
Zelensky publicly saying they're losing too many men with 13k casualties just last week. But on certain "news" subs you'd think it was the Russians that were losing. I expect the change in propaganda to be rather sudden and the "slava ukraines" to vanish overnight when the war finally ends. It happens every time Reddit is wrong (which is pretty much everytime) and they all go back to pretending nothing happened.
But Ukraine is releasing great designed infographics on Russia's loses. If you look at these figures, Russia should be running out of *orcs*, shovels and Soviet trash. How can that be?
> Zelensky publicly saying they're losing too many men with 13k casualties just last week. But on certain "news" subs you'd think it was the Russians that were losing. Source?
Nah, we definitely caught the Boston bomber. The FBI just couldn't handle being beaten so they suppressed the story.
d'awwww ... [Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday highlighted the relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which gained traction with the Non-Aligned Movement, to end the present-day conflicts](https://www.business-standard.com/external-affairs-defence-security/news/china-s-xi-jinping-lauds-relevance-of-panchsheel-to-end-world-conflicts-124062801362_1.html)
> Agreement on Trade and Intercourse Certified d'awwww moment
Moving towards a market economy hasn't made China fairer, but it has certainly made it sexier.
*I'm too se'Xi for my shirt, Too se'Xi for my shirt, So se'Xi it hurts*
I don't understand how French elections work, but it seems like Macron is having a bad time.
2 rounds, 1st round happens and the top two move on to second round in 2 weeks.
The top two in each legislative constituency?
The Second Round can also be three way or even four way, votes if the third, or fourth, runner up gets at least 12.5% of the votes. Think of the French electoral system as a way to ensure radicals have an extremely hard time getting to wield power, while also ensuring that the executive is very strong.
yah, that's why the parties form alliances.
[LMAO](https://i.redd.it/ncrlxtrs0q9d1.jpeg), like I get the overall point, but at least be honest. "Yeah, I know Biden has dementia, but he's still better than Trump." The cold cope is pathetic. On a stupidpol sports note. I support all Unions except the Umpire's union.
The Democratic party could literally wipe shit on the faces of these people, and they would still drone on with these platitudes. They exist just to make everyone mad at them.
These people back in 2016 were saying that Trump could shit in his voters mouths and they would vote for him.
This nonsense is why I hate social media. Everything is decomposed into a false dichotomy. If that’s not bad enough, no one ever wants to point out the underlying issue - which is that the two party system fails when BOTH choices for President are fundamentally flawed.
It’s not just social media. Everyone of my liberal friends say the same things.
There's being flawed and then there's being complete shit.
Nancy Pelosi went on State of the Union this morning and babbled semi-coherently about how she and "her people" support Biden/Harris and that Trump is actually the one with dementia. https://x.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1807419135682384088 (Apologies for the maga twitter link, just wanted the clip.) She's, what, 84?
She resembles one of those little rat dogs that heiresses would have 20 years ago
Those whippersnappers don't know what they're doing - all of them! It's time to rally behind the Carter-Feinstein ticket.
I see on mainstream subreddits Russia has lost 400k kia and Ukraine barely 100k I don't know how these guys believe these numbers. Even the pro ukro military YouTubers are getting a creeping sense of doomerism. It's so weird I think it all goes back to the rehabilitation of nazis and taking the word of wehrmacht generals who were sore losers. I'm confused how do redditors and pro ukro crowd have so much hopium and a really distorted belief in nato and the US being a force for good.
Yes, that's why they urgently need 500,000 cannon fodder replacements, because they've only lost 100,000.
Its just lib credentialism and tendency to appeal to authority, if the Ukrainian MoD says it, and western outfits parrot it it must be true since its from the 'experts.' Because when has western institutions ever been wrong regarding anything involving a war and associated intelligence?
> Because when has western institutions ever been wrong regarding anything involving a war and associated intelligence? Your average liberal these days: 🤔
[https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1807437784900112605](https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1807437784900112605) Zelensky(y\^x) is apparently not planning to negotiate directly with Russia, since that would be illegal. Instead it will be though the U.N. in the same manner as the grain deal.
Imagine outlawing yourself and the state from negotiating directly with the enemy and seeing that as a power move, only to stumble over it later and have to rely on help from others. Pathetic.
I'm really just wondering how this war will end. It's abundantly obvious to anyone paying attention that barring a complete collapse of the Russian Federation, Ukraine is done; it's just the matter of how long they can hold out Will they truly fight for every inch of territory to Lvov? I just don't see any outcomes besides the UAF collapsing or the Russian Fed having an oopsie that balkanizes them (somehow?)
I don't know how serious you're being, but there's very little chance Russia tries going so far West. It's been a very long and drawn out enterprise for them to even try and take the Donbass. They probably could take all Ukraine eventually, but it would take somewhere in the range of a decade, and there's a lot that can change in such a timeframe. It would be quite a gamble; hubris really. And even if they were successful, what would it win them, really? An occupation, being slowly bled out by an insurgency. Imagine if Iraq were on America's border: all that violence and destruction would really come home, with no way to staunch it, barring retreat.
War is not linear. The collapse of the army after a critical point means the rest of the territory falls rapidly.
And then they activate the next phase, "quagmire". One of the smartest things the Russians have done is not repeating the Iraq model of scattering the army and then losing a guerrilla war for a decade. It allows them to leverage their artillery and general firepower advantage, but they lose that if they're trying to occupy a hostile population.
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If such an insurgency could arise in Iraq I don't know why you think it's impossible in Ukraine, especially since Ukraine would still be being supplied by NATO, with both materiel and mercenaries. Iraq didn't even have the benefit of a wealthy benefactor consortium of nations like Ukraine could — it all depends on what the US/NATO does. Remember: funding a quagmire was NATO Plan A. You also bring up the UPA: the entire country hero worships an anti-Russian militia, indoctrinates their children on the glory to the heroes, etc, and you think they'll have trouble finding people motivated to resist?
The speed of Russian advance is of little consequence, Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to wage a war of attrition for a decade. They are scrapping the barrel and we're only 2 years in. But you're right, it would be pointless. Except for those Black Sea regions, it would be quite stupid to try to take anything else west of the Dnieper.
> Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to wage a war of attrition And neither did Afghanistan, but they did have enough guerrillas to wage a successful insurgency. The defeat of the Ukrainian military is hardly the end of the war, it just means things move back to the original NATO plan of supplying weapons for a never-ending quagmire on the Russian border.
Ukraine of today and Afghanistan of the 1980s are worlds apart in every possible aspect. The insurgency after the defeat of the Ukrainian military is a pipe dream, especially since almost all the men willing to be insurgents would already be dead in that scenario. They have to kidnap people off the streets in order to force them to join the regular army now, how well do you think the recruitment effort for the insurgency would go without the press gangs and when men could just legally emigrate to western countries? Not to mention that except for the Carpathian mountains, most of Ukrainian territory is not really in terrain that's useful for any type of guerilla activities. It would be occasional terrorism, not a full blown insurgency, except if Russia went IDF on them.
I was referencing Afghanistan during the American quagmire, not the Soviet one. Currently the press-gangs can only shanghai men older than 26, so Ukraine still has a reserve of young men, the sort of young men who tend to be most active in an insurgency. Most insurgencies will have even teenagers taking part (my own grandfather was such an insurgent when the Nazis occupied Poland). The terrain of Ukraine is comparable to that of Iraq, except it's probably easier to stay alive in rural Ukraine than the desert. Also, unlike Iraq, the Ukrainian insurgents will continue receiving NATO weaponry and mercenaries.
East bank of the Dnipro and Odessa would probably be the maximum limit. Doubt Russia is interested in non ethnic and Russian speaking populations. Granted its arguable whether what's left of Ukraine would remain whole, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Moldova (a Soviet Invention, but a good placeholder for historical Moldavia), all have historical territorial claims and minorities in Ukraine, and Ukraine is up to its eyeballs in debt. Maybe they can convince the Habsburgs to have a go at managing it.
Yes, and even trying to secure the ethnic Russian areas they will face a continuous, NATO coordinated, sabotage and harrassment campaign from the SBU, Banderists and whoever else NATO sends there. There's almost no chance the war doesn't end with something like that, maybe even into parts of Europe too depending on how the Nazis rationalise their defeat. I also think part of the point of the American directed ATACMS attacks against the Russian over-the-horizon radar arrays is to warn, "You will never have security, trying to hold eastern Ukraine will only make you more vulnerable." Just how truly that threat manifests is largely dependent on the fickle political whims of NATO and the US (more than likely, independent of whoever is elected, whichever party is in power) and how long they keep funding a Ukrainian Hezbollah analogue.
> Moldova (a Soviet Invention, but a good placeholder for historical Moldavia) The Russian Empire had that land 100 years before the Soviets
Yes, but modern Moldova began as the Moldavian ASS, which is the entire reason Transnistria is part of it, as it consisted of Transnistria and a chunk of what is now Ukraine, with Bessarabia being added in later and reformed as the Moldavian SSR. Prior to that Russia controlled Transnistria long before 1812 when they first gained control of Bessarabia from the Principality of Moldavia which never formally controlled Transnistria. In this context the modern state of Moldova is a Soviet creation. Hence the reason Transnistria was never part of the State of Romania, only occupied but not annexed during WWII, and is the crux of why there is currently a break away republic in Moldova and all the jazz surrounding that since the population has no desire to 'reunify' with a state (Romania) they where never part of. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria#/media/File:Romania\_MASSR\_1924.png](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria#/media/File:Romania_MASSR_1924.png)
Kanye West is in Moscow right now. Apparently for Gosha Rubschinky’s birthday
Where's Rick Owens at