Another fascinating revelation has come by way of the latest FT article, whose “sources” reveal a portrait of Trump 180-degrees reversed from his ‘for-public-consumption’ persona:
Move to Costa Rica you'll live pretty well on $2000/mo SS. My brother doesnt have anything but SS and lives large in a beach house.
America is very expensive. I don't even have a house payment anymore but house still costs $1000/mo between taxes, insurance and maintenance. Add in utilities is another $500 so $1500 for a roof over head. If I had house payment that would be another $2000. And $3500> $2000 SS.
Only reason I have not left for good is both our parents are in 80s and need care at times but I will. I will be twice as rich as my brother with $3800 pension/annuity and $2200 SS. Poor staying in America lol.
The only situation in which the behavior of Russian leadership both makes sense and is not treasonous is if they know that WWIII is inevitable and are just stalling for time to roll out more BMD around key sites and more first strike systems so that they come out of it as intact as possible. In such a situation it might make sense to suck up to Trump and delay open confrontation in order to buy more time. But there likely would be some evidence if e.g. large-scale BMD roll out effort was ongoing (those things are not exactly small and easily hidden), and we haven't seen anything.
Otherwise what we are watching is negotiating the terms of surrender, i.e. they will once again betray Russia strategically for the short-term benefit of the oligarchic clique around them.
Everything that is in the public view points to the latter.
Also, there is just no need to humiliate Russia like that in the first scenario. A lot of things were said publicly and repeatedly, with a remarkable consistency, that there was absolutely no need for, and which were so bad that they rank right there with the most treasonous statements from the likes of Yakovlev and Kozyrev.
In the second scenario it makes much more sense. Although if that is the case, they have miscalculated once again, because nobody intends to make deals with them, so their whole delusional dream of making such a deal simply has no basis in reality. ..
>He has, after all, overseen a pretty impressive comeback for Russia during his rule.
Has he really?
Look at the map in 1999, look at it now.
1) Baltics in NATO
2) Romania, Bulgaria in NATO
3) Most of the former Yugoslavia in NATO
4) Finland and Sweden in NATO
5) Libya gone
6) Iraq gone
7) Syria gone
8) Azerbaijan allied with Israel and Turkey, strongly anti-Russian
9) Armenia, one of the traditionally most strongly tied to Russia places, flipped
10) Central Asia lost too. Tajikistan looks to be the most friendly place at the moment (at governmental level, not necessarily within the population), but it is also the most distant. Meanwhile in Kazakhstan the same processes that were happening in Ukraine 20 years ago are happening now too.
11) Moldova occupied by NATO
12) Ukraine... well, do we even need to revisit this one. Where was it in 1999, where is it now?
All of that happened under Putin. These are absolutely catastrophic geopolitical defeats, and most of them happened with the active acquiescence, even outright assistance of Putin. The only reason Georgia isn't on the list is Medvedev (not Putin) winning the war against them.
Sure, the economy is "doing well" and the cities are clean and shiny. The problem is so they are in Dubai and in Qatar, and for similar reasons -- reliance on raw resource extraction, which is unsustainable and does not build real strength (for all of Qatar's wealth, Israel bombed them and Qatar could do absolutely nothing). Russia needed a massive reindustrialization program, but that was only forced on Putin as a result of sanctions and it is still nowhere near what it has to be.
Meanwhile he had to seriously prepare for war, and he knew that since the moment he took power, but he didn't.
>Wouldn’t there be better ways to commit treason if that’s what he was up to
You have to go back to the 1990s. In 1996 Yeltsin would have lost the elections if it wasn't for the Americans who helped him steal them. And the communists would have won. Things were that bad. But then they got worse -- Khasavyurt, Russia defaulted in 1998, constant terror attacks, etc. The problem is Russia has a long history of the people coming together in critical situations -- e.g. during the Time of Troubles the Poles occupied Moscow, but were then driven out by a bottom up movement. If another Gorbachev was to come in that situation and try to finish off the country, that is precisely what might have happened. Much better to lull people into complacency with a savior figure that they trust. I am not saying that is what actually is happening, but what we see publicly is entirely consistent with it, while being very much not consistent with Putin being a genuine Russian patriot doing his best to defend the country's interests.
BTW, Gorbachev himself did not immediately openly go about destroying the USSR after taking power. There is this famous quote from Yakovlev, in the introduction to the "Black Book of Communism" no less, bragging about what he did:
>After the XX Congress, in an ultra-narrow circle of our closest friends and associates, we often discussed the problems of democratization of the country and society. We chose a simple - like a sledgehammer - method of propagating the "ideas" of late Lenin. A group of true, not imaginary reformers developed (of course, orally) the following plan: to strike with the authority of Lenin at Stalin, at Stalinism. And then, if successful, - to strike with Plekhanov and Social Democracy - at Lenin, and then – with liberalism and "moral socialism" - at revolutionarism in general... The Soviet totalitarian regime could be destroyed only through glasnost and totalitarian party discipline, while hiding behind the interests of improving socialism. [...] Looking back, I can proudly say that a clever, but very simple tactic - the mechanisms of totalitarianism against the system of totalitarianism – has worked.
So as you can see, it was deliberate from the start, and not only was it a deliberately pursued goal, but pulling the wool over people's eyes in order to make it happen was a key consideration.
What better for the second act now than someone with such authority internally as Putin?
Russia had the power to veto NATO expansion using force at any moment Putin has been president, he is at fault for 1 to 6 too. In fact it has become more and more difficult to do it the more NATO expanded.
And the way the Syria fiasco unfolded was a story of Russia being Israel's errand boy ever since Medvedev was replaced (in the first year in 2011-12 things were different)
Let's see, Elena wrote "He has, after all, overseen a pretty impressive comeback for Russia during his rule." and you replied with total nonsense that ignores the vital substance of that comeback.
Under Yeltsin Russia was a failed state. It could not feed its own people and at least one key point was dependent upon donated supplies of chicken from the US to ensure sufficient protein to several key cities. The country was falling apart into warlord and mafia-run fiefdoms. Individual governors of large regions were assembling private militias and thinking about declaring autonomy. Crime was rampant.
Under Yeltsin the military industrial complex had disintegrated. Military forces were cut more than tenfold and most of the industrial complex serving the military went bankrupt or just disappeared, the empty factories turning into ruins. It was an open question if Russia could guarantee the physical safety of mountains of loose, weapons grade plutonium that had piled up from the reduction of the arsenal from over 30,000 warheads to about 5,000. Nuclear weapons designers were looking at side jobs selling jeans so their families could afford to eat. Aircraft designers who had once designed fighters were taking gigs designing cruise missiles for Iran.
The economy had nearly totally collapsed. Construction of apartment and other buildings had ceased with major industrial concerns in ruins, people trying to get by based on a sea of ad hoc tiny businesses. Russia was bankrupt, defaulting on bonds. Schools had no financing, the pension system was bankrupt, and the health care system nearly ceased functioning. Oligarchs stole whatever they wanted when they wanted and bought anybody and anything they wanted. Some maintained private security forces that were larger than the armies of small European states.
All that was before Putin. Putin within a few short years established order, tamed the oligarchs, brought the country back together again, established professionalism in federal, state, and local governments, got a court system running (so people didn't have to settle disputes with shootouts in the streets), funded the schools and the pension system, reformed the tax system, and got the economy going again. It boomed, and in the last 25 years has gone from being a failed, bankrupt economy to the fourth largest real economy on Earth.
Russia is now an economic superpower and it has true sovereignty. Russia's military is easily, hands down, the most combat capable military on Earth. It is easily defeating the US and all of the US vassals put together in Ukraine and it is doing that at the same time that its economy continues to grow while Russia is completely defeating the US and US vassal economic war on Russia.
The quality of life in Russia is absolutely superb, truly fantastic. Kids in their 20's and early 30's have no idea what life was like under the Union or during the 90's. They live in a world of endless cafes, restaurants, and shopping malls that are filled with any product they could possibly want or imagine, most of which can be delivered to them with a few clicks on their phones either the same day or the next day. Want really good sushi delivered to your apartment at 4 AM? No problem.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of energy (oil, gas, coal, hydro power electricity, enriched uranium), of food products (wheat, other grains, food oils, fish, dairy, pork, beef, etc) and of key resources (strategic metals, fertilizer to grow food, aerospace metals like nickel, titanium, aluminum, industrial and fine diamonds, wood, industrial plastics, steel for car bodies, rare metals like gold, palladium for catalytic converters, platinum, etc) and even manufactured goods. It is the world's major space power besides the United States and it is an IT superpower.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, the US can do to stop Russia's economy because more than half of the world depends upon Russian energy, Russian food resources (food or fertilizer), and Russian resources to either maintain first world or second world status or to avoid food insecurity. The world can get along just fine without the US and the US's stooges but most of the world depends upon Russia for prosperity and almost half depends on Russia to avoid food insecurity or even starvation.
Three billion of the world's eight billion people are also close friends of Russia: China and India. To this day the world depends upon China for industrial production, and China depends upon Russia for resources.
That's what makes a real superpower: a genuine superpower economy that thrives no matter what the US does and genuine superpower military force that can defeat absolutely anything the US or US stooges can throw at it. To this day, Russia is a larger and more technically sophisticated nuclear power than the US. All that happened under Putin. While the US was letting its nuclear arsenal get ever more progressively out of date, under Putin Russia modernized its arsenal substantially and introduced new generations of strategic weapons. The US still depends for launches on ICBMs designed in the 60's. Russia has Sarmat with hypersonic, ultra maneuverable reentry vehicles and modernized warheads. Russia is also decades ahead of the US with hypersonics in both conventional and nuclear war. The US has yet to demonstrate even a reliable hypersonic prototype while Russia has had hypersonics for 20 years and has been routinely using them in war.
NATO expanded in the 90's contrary to NATO and Western promises when Russia's military had collapsed, taking advantage of Russia's military inability to enforce the deals that had been made. Under Putin, it has not been easy for Russia to rebuild the military that had been destroyed in the 1990's but it has done that. Now, Russia calls the shots and when it delivers an ultimatum, as it did in late 2021, it can and will use military force to enforce the ultimatum, as it did in early 2022.
Joining NATO has turned out to hurt both NATO and the new joiners, because now they have discovered that believing in foolish promises of protection from NATO when they started a war against Russia was a huge mistake. They have a tiger by the tail in that they are losing the war they started against Russia and they do not have the economic strength (joining NATO in a campaign against Russia is destroying their economies) to win either an economic or a military war against Russia. Finland is becoming impoverished as a country that formerly didn't even need border guards or fences with Russia finds itself in a war with Russia that could lead to its annihilation.
Central Asia is still solidly with Russia. Only a cretin thinks what happens in failed states like Libya, Iraq, Syria, or Moldova remotely matters compared to the truly relevant relationships Russia has in Asia, such as with China. Turkey is emerging as a strong partner of Russia, not the failed West. Doh.
Both. The "taming" part was making it clear to the oligarchs that if they challenged the state they would be destroyed. Worked perfectly except for nut cases like Khodorkovsky, who seemed to think that if he had friends in the West he could defy the state.
The "deal" part was showing the oligarchs how and why behaving like law abiding citizens like ordinary people was in their interest and would make them even richer.
What western dupes who are under the influence of US and US-stooge propaganda for morons about Russia don't realize is that Russia is neither a dictatorship nor is it a lawless state. It actually has very robust institutions and and picks its leaders through elections. What confuses Westerners is how Russians are far more unified than Western populations: when Russians really do like somebody, like they like Putin, and they vote for him by overwhelming margins the confused Westerner says, "see? that's proof the election was rigged," not thinking for a moment that instead it could simply be proof the man is really, genuinely popular. In a US that hasn't had such a dominantly popular leader since FDR people just can't get it through their heads that the population really does love Putin.
So when Putin was telling the oligarchs you either behave and honor the system or you will be destroyed he wasn't making a dictatorial threat, he was telling them how a genuine democracy works, that the people pick the government they want in charge and then it's that government that calls the shots and not an unelected oligarch who thinks he can do whatever the heck he wants, laws be damned. That was a watershed moment in the re-imposition of a rule of law and not men in Russia.
When it actually happened plays off the "deal" side of things, because you can't go from a totally lawless environment like the 90's under Yeltsin to a budding new rule of law country under Putin without fitting a few square pegs into round holes.
Very soon after he came to power Putin called the leading oligarchs together in a meeting and told them that the lawless bullshit was ended right then and there, and if they defied the state they would be destroyed. That was the stick. The carrot part was he told them a rule-of-law state was in their interests and they'd make more money then ever as chaos was replaced by a rising economy.
He told them he didn't see any way to reverse all the shady maneuverings that some of the oligarchs had used to achieve their plutonic wealth. But the deal to avoid witch hunts and reprisals was that now that they were wealthy they had to use their wealth lawfully and for the benefit of the country. If they invested into the country all was forgiven. If they used their wealth to try to distort political outcomes (you know, like Soros does), they'd be destroyed. Basically, stay out of politics, honor the law, and invest in building legal businesses and you get to stay rich and become richer than ever.
All of them except Khodorkovsky took that deal. Khodorkovsky didn't and was destroyed, the many, ahem, "loose ends" attendant to his rise providing more than enough legitimate threads from which to knit the rope that hanged him.
The difference between having many very rich people in Russia and a boyars oligarchy is that the rich in Russia focus on business and not on politics. They do speak up and many have come to play a key role in advising the government. After all, they tend to be highly expert in business and a business-friendly government is keenly interested in hearing their advice on how to build a strong and growing economy. But they're not remotely like a hereditary aristocracy or the boyars.
One more thing: the stereotypical slam of oligarchs having all stolen their wealth is false. I know some of them (by random chance, amazingly...) and the ones I know are all self-made billionaires. Most of the current generation of oligarchs seem to be that way, people who are entrepreneurs who opened wildly successful online marketing businesses, started new airlines, built up new industries and such. They have brought jobs and prosperity to millions of people. They're heroes in my book, not boyars.
The not so grand , but mentally very old Duke of york , marching up and down his imaginary “treasonous” hill as per usual, all the while shouting chicken-little like, that the Russian sky is falling down. Again
The future is always uncertain. What we can know is the current situation. Support for Ukraine is drying up, Europe is politically and economically fractured, Russia is up to the task of taking on and prevailing against the West and Trump is overextended it all manner of ways. The Chinese have a monopoly on the future and have been very clear that they won't sit by and see the Russians defeated. Then there is the DPRK who have recently upgraded their missile tech to allow ballistic strikes on continental US and Iran who proved they can destroy Israel without a nuclear weapon in the recent conflict. The Empire have squandered their dominance while the resistance seems to have prepared well.
Spot on, Elena! GM should listen more to you. The World and their leaders are grey, not black and white. Events unfold and could have consequences far beyond anyones imagination. Tell me a Leader that didnt make a mistake during their ”succesful” ruling.
No, because I would not put much stock in anything Trump says at any given time. Rather, his advisors, sycophants, courtiers, and hangers on and their respective conflicting agendas are the ones running the show.
"Donald Trump seems to be keeping a single marble in reserve." Isn't he physiognomically made like us? In that case, I could understand Melania's letters to Putin.
Incredibly, but not really, Trump pardoned disgraced and despised former Congressman George Santos, who was expelled from the House by a majority vote of over two-thirds of the members, and subsequently found guilty by a jury on a laundry list of high crimes and misdemeanors. This terrible individual stole from a disabled veteran, posed as a charity for animal welfare to scam donors, defrauded American taxpayers with unemployment insurance fraud, received COVID relief money for a fake company, stole from an elderly man in Brazil he was supposed to be caring for, and the list goes on. Yet Trump considered Santos worthy of a pardon. Corruption in the US has reached a new level of shame.
The problem is Simplicius himself has a case of the TDS. Last time I checked, the USA has improved greatly from the previous administration. No more DEI transgender b.s., no more free money for Ukraine, no more wars started everywhere, no more destruction in Gaza, no war with Iran, gas and eggs down 50%, etc.
I agree, he's getting a little heavy on the Trump criticism. Trump is not representative of the Deep State ensconced in the Federal Triangle, he's not swimming in the swamp, like the Clintons, Obama and Biden.
Hello, Hunter Biden anyone? How about Mark Rich? You seem selective in your outrage which is both comical and sad. Santos was just the same as most in Congress, and he was unacceptable to his fellow grifters.
Who cares about George Santons, no one even knows who this guy is. However, the entire world cares about the Ukraine war and the fact that a former Vice President and his son received bribes that led to corruption and war in Eastern Europe.
Mouse, meet elephant. And he wouldn't have done it if trump and his republicans hadn't spent years trying to crucify the schmuck - and promising to continue.
What is relevant about Santos and Trump's pardon is that both Santos and the pardon are more examples, not of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but of General Western Delusion Malady.
In his role as the 47th president of the United States Donald Trump granted executive clemency to more than 1,600 individuals as of July 23, 2025, all of whom were charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses. In many cases, Trump also removed the requirement that these individuals pay restitution and fines, costing their victims an estimated $1.3 billion. At least three individuals who had been convicted in white-collar fraud cases and who were granted executive clemency also had their pending United States Securities and Exchange Commission civil enforcement actions dropped as a result. 1500+ of these pardons were related to the events on January 5, 2021.
What positions, relationships, and contacts do these pardoned people hold?
How can they become and be useful to Trump again?
In my opinion, a clever move: make "friends" who owe you something, even if not in leadership positions, then at least in contact with groups that could be useful to you, even if only to spread and support opinions...
Whether one of the pardoned people has a mother, father, uncle, or nephew in another interesting position, or is a member of a group...
Slick Willy Clinton (I did not have sex with that woman!) established the modern pardon 'principle' with the Marc Rich "deal". Rich, not a Lutheran, likely bartered nookie (cf Denise Rich)<<link>> and boodle for his "get-out-of-jail-not-for-free-deal" with Clinton. The book, Metal Men, <<link>> is a fascinating read about how a rag collector moved on to the much larger cons that landed him in trouble with the Feds. Some lads just have a bucket of balls. As Mel Brooks said, "it's good to be the king..."
Biden gave 4,245 pardons on his last day, he even pardoned his sicko son and a lot of other crooks that were involved with Ukraine scamming millions, he particulary dated it back to 2014 when US organised the coup i Ukraine and started this whole mess... All US presidents are corrupt to the core!
IOW, the two police officers who later died from their injuries, along with many others who were injured, don't matter, according to your logic. If the roles were reversed and Democrats rioted, you would be screaming bloody murder, demanding justice be served.
DerBrainIstLos. Liar. No cops were attacked Two peaceful protesters were murdered by the DC cops. One was beaten to death, the other shot from 10 feet away. Flat out murder. The pig cop got a promotion. Trump freed the 1000+ falsely imprisoned w/o access to phone calls or legal representation. The Jewish nazi Merrick Garland had 380 undercover FBI agents encouraging the protesters to enter the Capital building to set them up.
Garland had Trump charged for several bogus crimes, an unrelenting mafia-style enforcer goon for Biden and the Deep State.
You are the clinical definition of the Dunning-Krueger Effect, lol. Never mind inconvenient facts. The previous ten years were the hottest in recorded history, with each year more sizzling than the previous. The last 30-day period during which the planet experienced cooler-than-average temperatures was December 1985.
The cognitive dissonance of the denialists has manifested itself as the most retarded instance of mass denial in human history, courtesy of a decades-long multi-billion-dollar PR & think tank denial campaign that worked wonders, creating an entire army of amateur denier warriors. They all can see and feel the consequences, but to admit it’s time to prepare for more and worse would be to admit they were wrong, which is akin to death for true believers. This is how denial destroys lives and, eventually, the world. Pretending it’s not happening and dismissing it as hype is the only way they can protect their messianic beliefs.
Per FactCheck: "Two law enforcement deaths are tied to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack in different ways: several officers were physically assaulted that day, and at least one Capitol Police officer who later died by suicide has been formally recognized as a line-of-duty death connected to the attack. Reporting across multiple outlets documents injuries to dozens of officers during the riot and delineates the subsequent government determinations that linked at least one suicide to Jan. 6 trauma."
The full reversal would involve MAGA politicising the entirety of the FBI and other alphabet agencies; MAGA-FBI sending agent provocateurs into the Democrat rally to 'suggest' the protestors do something stupid; MAGA leadership deciding they wanted a skeleton security level that day; and the never-ending 9/11-style hyping by the corporate media of that event which was actually quite mundane. Certainly compared to the blood-soaked organised 'regime-changes' DC is so skilled at abroad.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt in your first post, but this one proved you are a braindead retard. No police died from "riot injuries" you lying shill.
Bullshit. Over 700 of them were convicted of doing violent, destructive things. Everyone has seen those videos from dozens of angles. So many of them were stupid enough to video their own crimes and post their achievements online.
They wouldn't have tried anything like that in Russia. If they had, that many people, hundreds would have been killed. So stop with your revisionist bullshit.
Wow, you are quite the liar. The bullshit is coming from you and repeating the democratic talking points. Fact are, the vast majority of Jan 6 defendants did not commit violent crimes - yes, we all saw the videos and so did you which covered about 30 minutes of video. But did you know there are >40,000 hours of video from that 6 hour protest but Nancy Pelosi refused to released the videos after many requests - Wonder why?????. Even though the Jan 6 protests got out of hand at least they didn't kill people unlike the the endless BLM and Antifa protests, that went all summer long, were so violent they resulted in the destruction of tens of Billion dollars of property, destruction of small businesses and worse of all 25 deaths. Yeah but to you Jan 6 was worse - sicko!
Per FactCheck: "Two law enforcement deaths are tied to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack in different ways: several officers were physically assaulted that day, and at least one Capitol Police officer who later died by suicide has been formally recognized as a line-of-duty death connected to the attack. Reporting across multiple outlets documents injuries to dozens of officers during the riot and delineates the subsequent government determinations that linked at least one suicide to Jan. 6 trauma."
Everyone saw it. They had thousands of video hours worth of these pieces of shit being violent as fuck. From the retards' own phones. All the police bodycam video, and cameras all over the Capitol. And journalists on scene.
Tell it to these reality inverting vatniks and magatards.
Of course, you're correct, but facts don't matter to this group—just the narrative. It's hard to believe this is the world we live in, though a society that embraces fairy tales over truth is nearing its end.
No law enforcement officers died as a result of Jan 6th, this lie has been debunked many times. Only person who died that day related to the riot was Ashley Babbitt who was shot in the neck in cold blood by a capitol police officer.
He could easily have run as a Democrat, they were after all where he sent most donation-money, and supported most causes. But his friends the Clintons wanted him to destabilise the Repugs and leave the demonrats to Killery instead.
The Repug leadership quite obviously loathed Trump, there was no way Trump would have been in a Bush cabinet fx, lol.
It's not so much that he is Dem or Rep, it's that he is ever-so-slightly independent, prone to random acts, and is far, far too honest where an insider would automatically lie. About Syrian oil, fx.
Can't help wondering what's so special about Venezuelan drugs though, lol, Must smell of all that oil...
What positions, relationships, and contacts do these pardoned people hold?
How can they become and be useful to Trump again?
In my opinion, a clever move: make "friends" who owe you something, even if not in leadership positions, then at least in contact with groups that could be useful to you, even if only to spread and support opinions...
Whether one of the pardoned people has a mother, father, uncle, or nephew in another interesting position, or is a member of a group...
I can answer that one: you mix your frauleins mit unser Alabama Black Snake, and what do you get? A new and better master race! Just look at the origin of Disco.
Very nice! Amazing how many consider themselves "clever" why they sit behind their keyboard. I love to see them put in their place! You have more energy than I do to engage with them.
His main saving grace in Donnie's eyes is that he is a rabid zionist, so he can do anything he likes, up to and including murdering and maiming hundreds of thousands of civilians, and he will still be "all good" in the zio-in-chief's eyes.
The only reason the House expelled him was because he was garnering too much financial assistance from AIPAC, which they had targeted for their own use.
The only reason I can imagine for the COMMUTATION, not pardon, was to piss off the left. After all, half the leftists in Washington are guilty of treason yet not a one is languishing in prison. I might have held my nose and released Santos also. At least he served SOME time in prison. It's not like he's still in Congress having done all those crimes. Having control of a large part of the judiciary has served the Demonrats well. MAGA needs to take off the kid gloves and start the bare-knuckled bouts we know are necessary. Judges need to be charged with overreach and removed from benches after being accused. At least they won't have to do four years of solitary confinement for having committed their trespass on Presidential authority.
100% I also enjoy how the TDS sufferers are ratioed hard. They truly believe they are a majority but they are a very sad minority that are always full of rage and hatred. Their chronic TDS brings them great suffering, it brings me joy as they drive zemselves insane.
Halloween is coming when all good little boys and girls pick the most sincere pumpkin patch to await the coming of The Great Pumpkin. Orange man good, not bad.
You poor pathetic fool. Are you still searching for universal morality? That Kantian Categorical Imperative. I grow tired of virtue Signalers like you. I would have you read The Prince and reflect on all the lost peoples who placed supposed virtue over victory. I would especially focus on Pope Alexander VI. “Never was there a man who had greater power in making promises, or who observed them less; and if ever a man knew how to use art and deceit, it was he; and he always succeeded in this, because he knew the art well.”
If I were searching for universal morality I'm certain I would have died of frustration by now. I'll settle for a little justice and as far as the governments of liars in Europe and Washington are concerned: fuck em. Al the VI is long gone and his church is nearly powerless in geo-political affairs. I guess you could call that a great victory, I just call it some measure of justice. In my morality I've decided on the Boy Scouts of America oath before the radical left forced gay scoutmasters on them and then allowed the parents of the raped boys to blame the organization, not the leftists who let the foxes into the chicken coop.
So "you poor pathetic fool", let's get it on. I shall be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. But nothing says I have to be a chump for the evil doers of the world and believe that lying, stealing, murdering and making war is a high art worthy of praise. Machiavelli favored republics not absolute monarchists such as his prince. I take the long view and believe that by and large mankind has made at least a little progress from the caves where we used to devour our own young when famine struck.
Pick up my gauntlet or fuck off. Don't expect any more replies tonight, its getting late I'll play with you tomorrow. BOY
I see.... so pedophilia is a Democratic only thing, lol.
British ITN and The Discovery Channel uncovered the most expansive child exploitation conspiracy ever to disgrace American politics. Their findings are presented in a jointly produced documentary, "Conspiracy of Silence."
In advance of Republican fundraisers in Washington, DC, the most handsome teenage boys (i.e., Toy Boys) were selected from the "Boys' Town Stable," flown by private plane to Washington, then deposited at a Georgetown safe house where the Boys Town youth were presented a smorgasbord of drugs and alcohol to render them more pliable.
Upon the conclusion of Washington soirees, Republican politicians and big-money donors would rendezvous at the Georgetown safe house with their previously selected Boy Toy. You can use your sickest imagination to appreciate what happened next.
Nebraska State Senator and Chairman of the Boys' Town State Investigative Committee, Loran Schmit, confirmed that pedophilia reached the highest levels of the Republican Party. Despite tremendous pressure from the Reagan White House and the Republican National Committee to bury the scandal, Senator Schmit refused to change the report's conclusions. The senator was so shocked and disgusted by the committee's findings that he permanently resigned from the Republican Party and returned to farming. Thank you, Senator Schmit, for your impeachable integrity.
The Republican National Committee tried to quash the Boys' Town scandal by buying the documentary's publication rights for an enormous sum; fortunately, one brave soul leaked a copy of the film into the public domain before the RNC could destroy the evidence.
"I see.... so pedophilia is a Democratic only thing, lol."
Strange I don't remember saying that, I said, "Radical left." They are the pedophiles teaching the little children to bend over for the nice man dressed like a clown. It's strange you would assume I meant Democratic Party. You did mean the party didn't you? The phrase "Boys Town Stable" yields nothing on Google AI search except a description of the real Boys Town of Father Flanagan. However I would readily grant that pedophilia is not a monopoly of the Democratic Party. How about you? Do you indulge in "boy love"? As for myself, not this lifetime anyway.
Jesus called it the abomination since during his days it was common for a homosexual to purchase a young boy and 'train' him as his sweet little lover. Between consenting adults I find nothing wrong with the practice of same sex relations. Love is lovely, let it grow. I would advise you to grow up and realize what the word propaganda means. I don't know who you've been listening to but I would broaden my horizons and realize there is good and bad in everyone and it is our pathways in life, our choices that determine which we each are. One must judge what is good or bad for themselves after all. That is how we choose. No one is born good or bad or indifferent we simply grow like trees and sometimes our branches get bent out of shape.
As for me I know darn well that the Discovery Channel and British ITN are in the grip of Big Brother and Little Sister. Discovery Channel cannot utter two sentences without one of them being about the evil of global warming and how you should obey the imperative to 'save the world'. British ITN has bureau offices in China which oddly enough is not socialist except on the highest level which makes them more anti-trust in the vein of the Sherman Anti-trust laws than communist.
Both Discovery and British ITN would undoubtedly be familiar to George Orwell, both are puppets of Big Brother and Little Sister. BB is very famous and I now tell you that LS is named Karen, the practitioner of mommyism whether you like it or not and I don't like it. Both must be included in the 'narrative' striving to bring about the rise and iron tyranny of socialist/communists desire. Are you a communist? It's hard not to be one if you graduate from a college in Western Civilization. Capitalism is a curse word in academia and they push Marxism shamelessly. Something the Russian Federation gave up as a bad job when they dropped The Soviet.
Right.......you were referring to the "radical left," "leftists," and "Demonrats" of the Republican Party. You are a slippery one. "Having control of a large part of the judiciary has served the Demonrats well."
So what is Russia’s objective? I had thought it is the Donbass, Crimea and a pledge not to join NATO or align strategically with Russia’s adversaries. But now I am confused.
The minimum sufficient winning condition for Russia is that Ukraine disappears as an independent country and Ukrainian identity is eventually erased completely.
Nothing else will suffice to bring peace and solve the strategic problems.
And that is obvious to everyone with a brain and loyalty to Russia.
Now contrast that to the officially stated Russian goals and the way the (not)war has been (not) fought. What does that tell us about the quality and integrity of current Russian leadership?
The current strategy has more chance of absorbing Poland and Finland by democratic mandate (especially as the EU is facing a radical collapse). That is the real long term direction of this chessboard Russian advance.
The key is in her phrase "democratic mandate, " ie Poland / Finland may well decide amongst themselves that they have a brighter future through alliance with Russia than with their previous narcissistic abusers.
Russia would need to fully mobilize to take Poland. Ain't going to happen.
I expect Finland and Sweden to reclaim their neutrality status sooner or later. Who wants to be harnessed to a bunch of globalist half-wits running the EU, Germany, Britain and France.
I don't believe Putin is interested in Europe west of Ukraine. It was a headache in the Soviet era, can't believe it would be better today. Russia is redirecting east and south anyway.
They're assuming the Russians will act like they did in Ukraine... BIG mistake!
If, if there were a war with Poland, then NATO would see a completely different picture! And it's doubtful that Russian tanks would ever roll into Berlin again, not because they wouldn't win, but because that kind of war is over.
For Western Europe, a few hypersonics would be enough, and they wouldn't be able to intercept them to shut down energy and refineries, not to mention the ammunition stockpiles.
A Poland on its own, however, would be finished in no time, and that's with the troop strength currently involved in the SMO, which, according to Putin, is around 970,000 troops. The main task wouldn't be carried out by infantry anyway, but rather by hypersonic geraniums and drone crews.
And a Trump or his successor would be faced with a choice... trading Boston, New York, etc., for Warsaw... WHAT would he choose? Really his own ass, because his oligarchs do NOT want to spend their wealth in bunkers that can then be cracked open with hazelnuts...they want to enjoy their yachts and villas and don't give a damn about ALL of Europe!
Probably the best thing that could happen to NATO Europe would be a Ruskie horde rolling through Berlin, Brussels and Paris then forcing the European hoi polloi to take their balls back from Ursula.
I see more trouble in the Baltics. They treat the Russian-speaking population as second-class citizens. They try to provoke on every occasion. They try to cut off St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. And there is no good reason for all this behavior, meaning you cannot have talks with them to solve the issues.
For sure it tells me that Mister Putin is tired of playing games with EU, NATO and it’s US sugar daddy, he wants to retire and aiming for the noble price for peace in 2026. This war cannot end, see Gaza release of the hostages, cease fire and everyone knows what followed, lynching, bombing and there we go again.
The war is going through its military phase, and Russia is clearly winning in that department.
Simultaneously, a sociological war is being waged for the hearts and minds of Ukraine's civilian population, who now see the need for a cessation of hostilities, 80% of them wanting a negotiated settlement.
The originally-ascendant Banderite philosophy which so defiled the nation has been eradicated by and large , ie all those who wished to implement its nazi doctrines have had their say, and have ended up as streaks of red in the black earth.
All it will take is the now-overdue ouster of Zelensky and his cabal, and peace will return.
Putin's clearly-stated objectives will all have been achieved, ie denazification, demilitarization, and denatoization.
Denazi-, demilitary- even denatoization won’t stop this war, all others are impatiently waiting in line to take over and continue as long as it takes…technocratisation, eugenics, gov-corp globalists and in many aspects of life as well as Nazis and Cabal and communism have declared 5G war to our genes as the new war zone with totalitarian surveillance, biochemical engineering, and all are after the same enemy in you, your ID, your genes, your natural immune system.
Pure Medvedev. Although I do not disagree with the comment for that- except for the last para designed simply to sew discord in Russia, which is the only way the west can win this now. Hence the blast of black propaganda in recent weeks which fell on its face when Putin masterfully countered the Tomahawk bluff. When Trump loses a bluff he often does an about turn and takes it out on the side that pushed him into a losing move. Bad day for Ukraine.
Having someone in charge in Russia who is not going to blow up a Russian victory by falling for western provocations only to find itself holed up somewhere fighting a still virile Ukrainian force, is what the Russian strategy has been all about. It is not Russia being bled out by this strategy, and that is what has made it such a success.
<<<<<<Ukrainian identity is eventually erased completely.<<<<<
No. Just that part of their identity that makes them a threat to Russia and Russians. To that end, Russia is fighting a brilliant campaign establishing a new kind of warfare in the process.
Good point! Only Galicia is special (and of course Transcarphatia, but this is another story). And remember the election of Zelensky, he promised to bring peace! He promised to fulfill the Minsk agreement! He promised to talk to the Russians! He promised to bring good relations with Russia and the West!
I'm not sure who you are responding to or even exactly what your point is but I will say this:
The blacks in America have been intermingled for two hundred years, intermarried for one hundred years and integrated for fifty years. However ask any black person and he will tell you there is such a thing as a black identity and culture.
The Ukrainians have their own language, their own religion, their own culture, their own economic system, their own expectations of civil society, their own currency and their own unique form of government.
To some it appears a streamliner, to others a locomotive—but those attuned to harmony see it for what it is: a current conducted by twin souls, with a tall, tangle-haired engineer shimmering above and behind— motion as spirit, teamwork as energy flow.
No, I did not reply to you, you invited yourself.
I'd leave the race crap alone, but statistics belie your absurd claims about blacks. For every black murdered by an Asian or white, there are 20 murders of whites or Asians by blacks. Rapes, the ratio is 50:1. When I was in DC, there was a year-long series of 15 murders of Asian shopkeepers by a black serial murderer, and another long series of 15-20 murders by a black sniper.
BLM is a racist terrorist group which has a history of racist violence and murder. A white person risks hostility for TALKING - there are hundreds of words and phrases that sociologists scream "You're a racist:!" when they are uttered, such as "You People".
Why don;t you go to a bustop in metro DC, young blacks wearing $300 sneakers joking but goofing on me, one eye on me in the background, jiving with each other "Get on the bus, (n-word)" and "Move your black as-, (nword)". Their humor would turn instantly to hostility if I react.
Ever had guns pointed at your head by three 14-year old blacks? I was at my church when this happened, in after-hours counseling. Also my nephew's new van was firebombed when he was visiting a black friend in Chicago. My friend in Tampa yelled back at a car passing by. The blacks stopped and nearly crippled him. Had my car run off the road by a black truck driver, had bottles thrown at me walking by a black playground, attacked, in the army, by blacks, many other times a victim of skin color-based racism and violence.
I'm just one person in America, multiply that by millions. I could carry that grudge around like the media and university peddle their DEI sewage and woke hate, but I don’t.
Black leaders in big blue cities are flat-out racists, making decisions about policies and contracts based not on ability, but on skin colors. They put their race first and foremost.
Graft, corruption and racism in black-run American cities. Why else does infrastructure cost 10x estimates? And Pentagon weapons that do not work? Corruption by hiring using unqualified blacks - they benefit from "set-asides" and "affirmative action" and when they get the contract, produce 10x-20x over-contract specs crap.
In short, black leaders do not take any responsibility for their race - everything is the fault of other races. If whites are not in the pictures, how will blacks get along with Chinese? Even worse.
Their ethics are way out of whack, overbalanced by skin color, ignoring other communities and the country.
Have you ever been in Ukraine or Russia either?
Your screen never informed you about the 24/7/365 demonstrations urging “Soyuz” in Sevastopal and Simferopol. Going from Simferopol to downtown is a 15 mile trolley bus trip. Every 50 meters was a sign urging “Soyuz
"Ukrainians have their own economic system". LOL! Yeah, it’s called extortion, blackmail and scams. The big scammers scam the little scammers. Mandated monthly payoffs for even a small business to a range of palms out going from building security on up to the son of the mayor (my experience in Lugansk pre-Maidan). In the market people did not even use the word “grivna” when exchanging money, they said “rubles.”
Did I ever speak a single word of Ukrainian in Ukraine. Never, only Russian.
The Ukrainian “language” was conbbled together in the late 1800’s by Austria-Hungary to create separation and divisiveness in Russia, and carve out a piece of the economic pie. You know, Napoleon, Hitler, now the US bringing candy for the nice baby.
What kind of a human rights-less country BANS a LANGUAGE?. And loots CHURCHES?
Ukraine has their own "unique form of government". Yeah it's unique all right! Run by a CIA-appointed druglord whose claim to fame is playing the piano with his dick, and who appears nightly on everyone’s TV making speeches which cajole, demand or are paranoid, depending on if he is coming down or going up -how long ago - his last white line of powder went up his nose, courtesy of a rolled-up US hundred-dollar bill.
Why has the war gone on for so long- because it is supported by screen dupes. More “screen experts" basing their false data on the gormless slop fed to the masses by the noxious media overlords, as Sim might put it.
You were trying to be a comedian, like Zelensky, right? Fail.
If Russia doesn't want a nest of saboteurs controlled by MI6 and the CIA on its doorstep, the entire Ukraine must fall.
Ideally, Poland and Hungary would swallow the rest of Western Ukraine.
BUT they too would have very, very big problems with the Nazis fleeing there!
And not just domestically, politically, even if these NEW EU citizens were to be proven to have carried out sabotage towards (then) Russia... which would then lead to attacks from the EU and NATO countries.
That means Poland, Hungary, and possibly Romania would have to clean up their "new" territories with an iron broom!
NO ONE
Is thinking today about where the Nazis would flee to, perhaps the entire Ukraine...no one wanted them; the most corrupt among them have long since established their refuge in their villas. Where is the "little" Nazi who executes the plan?
.
Oh yes, a side effect of completely taking over Ukraine would be... Hungary would once again have a direct border with Russia, as would Romania. A direct border would mean the BRIC economic area, which the EU would not be happy about.
There is a clear plan for the Ukrainian Nazis if Putin is couped and Russia goes for actual victory -- they will be used the same way they were used inside Ukraine, i.e. as muscle to suppress the population, but this time in Europe.
But these Ukrainians trained in weapons, plus armor-piercing weapons... could be interesting for politicians' limousines, and even more so for the poor police.
Russians, Ukrainians, Nazis, Cabalists even Eurocrats and Yankeycrats all weirdos together will be streamlined into the same matrix of being digitalised technoslaves.
Appears we have form on the UK's absorption of Ukrainian "Banderite" Nazis John. After WW2 Britain took in 8500 former members of the SS Galizien Panzer Division who some how ended up iirc, got stranded in Rimini, Italy. A document known as the Rimini Papers held by MI5 documents all this, even their names. It is even reported that in 1981 there were 1200 still alive, however no doubt elderly.
Please type "RichPlanet dot net" into your search engine.
Richard D Hall is probably the only real expert on the "Manchester Bombings" and he makes the unassailable case that there were no bombs on that day - just flashbangs and a cast of crisis actors.
The BBC's Marianna Springer was used to bring him down - he went to court, and the judge refused to accept his magnum opus "The Night of the Bang" in evidence - for the obvious reason.
They then bankrupted him.
Exactly the same scenario played out in the London Tube Bombings 7 / 7 / 05 - Muadh Dibh ( John Anthony Hill ) tried to get his " 7 / 7 Ripple Effect" video seen by the jury, but once again it was denied, and they claimed he was trying to pervert the course of justice, even though everything he said showed that it was MI5 behind the whole thing; eg the explosions blew the tube carriage sides in, whereas they should have been blown out if "moslem terrorists with backpacks" were behind the events on that day.
Pretty obvious they were just patsies, and they got the reward of all patsies at Canary Wharf later that day.
Way too many options to choose from. A recent Neutrality Studies YouTube had a quote that said if you follow the money all terrorism leads to an intelligence service. Krainer keeps pointing at MI5
The thing about history is that it's not over until it's over.
Nobody really knows what's going to happen until it's happened, and then the criticisms can begin, and armchair generals can start to tell us how things should have been done.
Russia's strategy, which seems by and large to have been embraced by all in the Kremlin, is that Ukraine should be squeezed and bled dry, rather than being overwhelmed by some sort of big arrow assault.
The nation seems to be close to collapse on many fronts, so when the paint is dry, I think we will all agree that what was done was the best that could have been done.
The objectives changed with how things went on the battlefield. At first it was keeping UKR out of NATO, but as RU took territory the objective changed to include keeping that territory. Which is logical, and predictable to anyone who has read history.
The point isn't to keep Ukraine out of NATO, the point is to keep NATO out of Ukraine.
Also, look at the Houthis. Who happen to be the good guys (the only ones in this world together with North Korea), but that is not the point. The point is that they are as broken economically as you can get, and with no direct land link to any allies, but they have a triple digit number of MRBMs towards Israel in the last two years.
So you can demolish as of Ukraine you want, all that you are going to achieve is to destroy the efforts of your own grandfathers who built it, but the missiles and drones that will not in any way stop.
NATO in Ukraine/Ukraine in NATO. There is no difference.
A wrecked Banderan rump state will be occupied by "peace-keepers" from NATO members: Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Probably some Bulgarians in the mix as well. Putin will not mind.
Right. A landlocked small state with all it's military age men dead, fled or in vicious gangs. No infrastructure, no economy, no civil state and extremely resentful towards the "peace keepers" who let them down after all the promises went unfulfilled.
That would be the Russian tropics (aka Bali where all those patriots who fled Russia when the SMO began scurried off too).
The sun is bad in Bali and quickly softens the brain quite quickly for those not accustomed, which explains a few things. Also explains why you have so much time on your hands.
On the plus side , falling out of the window of a grass hut is not so much of a problem.
Give my Regards to Fat Freddy Kagan and his lovely wife Vicki.
The Donbas needed Russia to reclaim them to keep the Banderan NAZI factions out. Forever.
Of course, I am believing that Putin and most Russians aren't averse to reclaiming all or part of Lenin's Great Land Gift that created the original borders of the Ukraine SSR.
The initial Russian response was an R2P operation on behalf of the people of Donbas, who had been the subject of a state anti terrorist operation for eight years, from 2014 when Maidan happened, to 2022 when the invasion occurred as a result of huge Ukrainian forces being assembled on the Donbas border.
Once the Russians decided the issues could only be resolved militarily, and all her diplomatic efforts to push for a security framework for the entire region had been rebuffed with contempt, her comprehensive and non negotiable demands could then be tabled, including denazification, demilitarization, and denatofication.
Hahaha...you ignorant feminist NAZI Hoes should stick to topics you are familiar with, but still don't understand, such as "tran's rights are women's rights".
Don't forget to get your mRNA gene therapy posing as a vaccine booster.
Just how many thousands times must Russia repeat the same, never changing objectives of SMO stated endlessly by Putin, Lavrov, Peskov, Medinsky and every Russian official in existence? Stated every few weeks, like clockwork. Yet there are still those who ask this...
1. 4 regions that voted to join Russia must be under Russian control and recognized by Ukraine.
2. Denazification - legislative ban on Banderite ideology. Purging Ukraine of neo-Nazi influence.
3. Demilitarization - complete disarmament of Armed Forces.
4. Neutrality - no NATO aspirations, legally binding in Ukraine's Constitution.
"4. Neutrality - no NATO aspirations, legally binding in Ukraine's Constitution."
In Aug 1991, the 1st Ukraine's Constitution declared "Ukraine's neutrality, not joining any military blocks and equality of languages." Ukraine lied, because it knew that otherwise Russia'd disputed Ukraine's "1991 borders" in 1991. The problem is that Ukraine's constitution is not worth the paper it is printed on.
The Ukrainian SSR solemnly proclaims its intention to become in the future a permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three non-nuclear principles: not to accept, produce, or acquire nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian SSR guarantees all nationalities living within the Republic's territory the right to their free national and cultural development.
The article concerns Trump's ever changing public vs private stance and the media spin machine's response.
Since Trump's temperament is transactional and Zelensky's position is no surrender of territory (as per the Constitution), the article focusses on the territorial stumbling block.
The abbreviated list of high level Russian objectives provided by taukey is correct.
"Zelensky's position is not to cede territory (in accordance with the Constitution)" Incorrect, the beggar's position is to live one more day, and for that he sacrifices hundreds of Ukrainians every day on the altar of the god Stefan.
It is not incorrect. It is the legal framework behind his position:
"Article 2
> The sovereignty of Ukraine extends throughout its entire territory.
>Ukraine is a unitary state.
>The territory of Ukraine within its present border is indivisible and inviolable.
----------
Article 73
> Issues of altering the territory of Ukraine are resolved exclusively by an All-Ukrainian referendum."
----------
Zelensky's conundrum is that if he voluntarily agrees to cede territory he is in violation of the Constitution and could be jailed or worse for treason.
The legal argument does not invalidate the cynical viewpoint that you express.
There is no longer a constitution in Ukraine, except for a few sheets of paper in the palace bathroom, perhaps. The tyrant and his equally tyrannical political tribe have washed it clean. To do this, the tyrant even got rid of the constitutional judges who used to throw the constitution under his nose. I don't think the constitution stated that the genocide of the male and now female people was to be carried out to preserve it.
Yes. There was nothing in the article that contradicts the 4 points that have been set in stone for a couple years now. Just a more subtile way of attaining the goals.
"3. Demilitarization - complete disarmament of Armed Forces."
If Germany and Japan are to be taken as examples of how to achieve complete demilitarization by the US, without secret weapon procurement's and military build up, nothing short but full occupation of the Ukraine is the only viable option for Russia. If they don't take over the Ukraine in its entirety, you will have history repeat itself just like WW1/2. As bad as US foreign policy is, maybe the only good thing they achieved is having kept the 2 instigators of both world wars at bay and under ruthless occupation.
Something the Russians can learn from, but I highly doubt it.
The Soviets wanted and Putin needs now, the US to continue occupying western Europe. Otherwise, the Western Europeans will revert to their default position; wars.
And the logical conclusions of that? Can it be achieved or forced?
1. Russian can force AFU out of the Oblast but they will not be recognized by either Ukraine or the western world.
2. Legislative bans imposed by whom and to what territory? Purging the neo-nazis…where? It has spread to from Ukraine to Poland, Finland, Sweden and Brussel. Merz, Pistorius are soon to be clad in uniforms… Will not happen if you not occupy the whole of Ukraine or, god forbid, annihilate the Leadership.
3. Complete disarmament of Armed forces means to kill every AFU-soldier, occupy the whole of Ukraine and oust the thousands of NATO-people there. There will be no volontary disarmament.
4. Neutrality can be achieved if the rulers in Ukraine make the right decisions. Anyway, such a decision can be revoked in the future.
Is the Russian outspoken objectives achievable with the tactic&strategy they have used and are using now? No.
Ukrainian or NATO pledges are totally worthless, so Putin will keep going until Russia controls and neutralizes a rump Ukraine...which includes seizing Odessa and complete control pf the Black Sea...
I believe that taking the entire Black Sea regions of Ukraine is key to securing Russia's national interests on their borders. Otherwise the British and their European partners will have an open avenue to further subversion. Partitioning of what remains of Ukraine among various European interests (Hungary, Romania, Poland, etc) will be necessary.
Russia's objective is ensuring its own security. It never had a territorial list per se, although certain minimums. The territory it must take to ensure its security simply grows the more resistant the west becomes to any settlement proposal, as Putin pointed out after the Alaska punt was rejected by EU-NATO-Ukraine.
The influx of western barbarians (including “artists”) has only been since the late 50’s , early sixties. The very high human culture that existed in Bali for over a thousand years, appears to have been devastated by the incursion. That being said ,it did appear to me that many Balinese still embodied in some degree that high state , to which most westerners are oblivious.
Actually, gotta disagree with you on the Economist point at the end there....they appear to have cornered the bustling market of propaganda pieces quite effectively. That would make them quite the Economists.
This historical movement that we are living through continues to surprise. At first, I would have considered it logically impossible for the head of state of a country involved in an "existential" conflict to be concerned with appearing "amenable". But here we are. This is an almost mystical maintenance of the tension of opposites.
Imagine that in October 1943 Stalin had come out and said "Hey, we don't want to appear not amenable to diplomacy, so let's freeze the front lines and have Hitler permanently keep most of Ukraine and the Baltics. No need for Operation Bagration, we need to appear reasonable in front of the world".
How does that sound?
Well, that is exactly what Putin is doing right now. Exactly.
Except he hasn't done any of that. As the article points out, he merely stated he was open to that. That deal will almost certainly be rejected, allowing Putin to appear amenable and wanting peace, while continuing to wage war as he wishes. It's a "can't-lose" situation for him, since even if UKR agreed, he would likely claim to have changed his mind.
Is taking Kiev even an objective at the moment? No, that is completely out of the question.
And we have that from Putin himself last year, when he said "if we want to be back around Kiev, we need to mobilize another half a million to a million". Which he then proceeded to not do.
So yes, we are exactly in the situation where the Nazis (literally so) have captured the Baltics and most of Ukraine and Russian leadership officially refuses to do anything about it.
"He simply discovered that he was open to it." Are you also serving in his office? And I read in a newspaper that you are... portrait he that I believe? Surely
>"Unless we were to go in with them – which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us. It clearly is for the Russians, by the way"
There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.
So why has Putin not finished off the war yet and is instead completely eroding Russia deterrence and slaughtering so many of his own people?
Can anyone provide a non-BS answer to that question that does not automatically raise the next urgent question of the necessity of the immediate removal of Putin and everyone associated with him from power?
Speaking of which:
>during the recent phone call with Trump, Putin had reiterated that he’s willing to give up parts of Kherson and Zaporozhye in exchange for Ukraine giving up Donbass [...] nor does it mean Putin’s “capitulation” or lowering of the conflict’s aims [...] The context here is not a total and final end to the war—Putin never offered such a thing. What Putin has offered is that he would call an immediate ceasefire—understood to be conditional and temporary—should Ukrainian troops pull out of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Forget about whether this is another stupid diplomatic game. Look at the facts.
Let's recall that in November 2022 Putin surrendered without a fight a regional capital of the Russian Federation, and has practically never mentioned it since then, except for that June 2024 statement. He didn't even have the courage to address the nation when it happened. The KPRF filed an official inquiry on the matter in the Duma, it was immediately vetoed, and with that the subject was closed.
This is also the same man that put Crimea on the table in Istanbul in 2022.
Both of these are acts of grand treason according to the Russian constitutions and laws, no ifs and buts about it, yet nobody dares call him out on it, because if you do that, you end up like Strelkov.
Now if military necessity mandated that this is done temporarily, it can be an understandable temporary measure. But in such a case you constantly remind the Russian public that it is temporary and that we will get the city back. Even if you don't intended to do it, it is a largely cost-free palliative measure. Instead Putin has never mentioned it.
What does that tell us?
Second, the current official goals of the war already amount to complete defeat and surrender.
Let's say Zelensky agrees and withdraws even from Zapozozhye city and the administrative borders of Kherson and Zaporozhye on the other side of the river. Does that solve any of the problems Russia had before the war started and the numerous additional ones that it has now as a result of the inept actions of its leadership?
Absolutely not.
Is that going to demilitarize Ukraine? No.
Has Ukraine been demilitarized in any way? No, exactly the opposite, it is now a hypermilitarized entity that exists with the sole purpose of hurting Russia. Is that going to change? No.
Is it going to denazify Ukraine? Absolutely not. How would it do it?
Has Ukraine been denazified in any way in the last four years? No, once again exactly the opposite happened.
Is it going to stop the US from situating its missiles in Ukraine and firing them from point-blank range? Not at all, and it is happening anyway already.
Is it going to stop the drones from reaching Bashkiria and Orenburg? No, those fly from Kharkov and Sumy.
Is it going to dissolve the SBU and GUR? Negative again.
Is it going to repeal all the anti-Russian laws and re-Rusify Ukraine? Negative here too.
So as they currently stand, even if Putin's official goals are achieved, we have a big red X on every single strategic goal that the war started with.
What does that tell us about Putin's official goals? From which he is already retreating if that FT information is correct...
Worse, let's imagine that the real goals are to redo Operation Bagration and solve the problem once and for all. Do you see any signs of something like that being prepared? Not at all, there is no mobilization, the forces don't exist. So the official goals do indeed look to be the real goals at the moment...
It's not in the official document, but was discussed and was in a draft document.
Your post reveals that you didn't follow events in real time, and you didn't pay attention later either.
Because that Putin put Crimea on the table was widely reported at the time it happened, to the disbelief of everyone, and was later confirmed many times, by independent sources (Arestovych, Lukashenko, and others). Here is Lukashenko talking about it in June 2023:
>Президент Белоруссии Александр Лукашенко заявил, что во время переговоров в Стамбуле в марте 2022 года делегации России и Украины обсуждали условия аренды Крыма и Донбасса. Он заявил, что президент России Владимир Путин показывал ему этот документ. Однако украинская сторона, утверждает господин Лукашенко, от договора отказалась.
How can Putin discuss "a lease" on Crimea in 2022 when by that time Crimea and Sevastopol had been federal subjects enshrined in the constitution for eight years?
It was, as usual, the Ukrainians saving Russian from Putin and refusing.
Putin is an agent for the West and has a romantic love for them. Since his Russian presidency what WAR if any has he won? Russo-Georgian-War was during Medvedev's rule which was won decisively and conclusively.
The silent majority are more patriotic towards Russia than the Putin-fan boys'n'gals.
No, too high IQ and holy spirit. But I confirm, degenerates from a degenerate people. It's an old French strain who tells you this but who saved his spirit by fleeing this Neanderthal slum.
🇷🇺 Russia’s Golden Revenge: “Thanks, Biden.” The dollar was weaponized. Now gold is retaliating.
While Brussels lectures the world about “European values,” Russia is quietly stacking bricks of yellow defiance and laughing all the way to the vault.
📈 In just two years, Russia’s gold reserves have ballooned by $142 billion, now worth a staggering $282B, thanks to one thing: the collapse in trust in the fiat dollar.
Gold went from $1,800/oz to over $4,300/oz, and guess who’s holding the bag?
🇪🇺 Europe, of course, the ever-obedient vassal who torched its own energy security, industry, and savings to follow the Biden admin's script.
🔥 Who lit the fire?
• The Biden admin and EU vassals, thinking sanctions were a magic spell, froze half of Russia’s FX reserves in 2022.
• That move sent a nuclear signal to the world: “Your dollar isn’t safe.”
• So Russia pivoted hard — toward gold, yuan, and ruble reserves.
• And now? It’s profiting massively, while the dollar bleeds trust globally.
EU Elites: Sanctioned into Stupidity
Let’s be clear: this didn’t backfire accidentally.
• Brussels greenlit the dollar war.
• Brussels greenlit cutting off Russian oil and gas, only to buy it back laundered through India.
• Brussels took lead in confiscating frozen Russian assets to illegally fund Ukraine forever wars.
Meanwhile, Russia is mining wealth, quite literally, while Europe’s factories shutter and its currency wobbles.
Gold is the currency of kings. The ruble is backed by it. The euro is backed by… lectures from Ursula von der Leyen.
🌒@EastCalling
Source Telegram
Everyone is looking at the military aspect of the conflict and totally neglect the economics. The longer this conflict drags on the more the west is dragged down economically and the stronger the emerging financial system becomes. The West has a monopoly on information but is rapidly destroying their credibility.
I'll be honest with you, in my opinion no amount of gold or treasure comes close to the now tens of thousands of good Russian men who are now dead because of this evil war.
I totally agree with you. The issue is at the commencement of the conflict the Russian leadership stated their intent to fight a small conflict now to prevent a large conflict later. If one understands Russian history with their Western European neighbours it's easy to understand the Russian mindset. It must be admitted, though the losses are a tragedy. The numbers for Russia would be much worse if it was a general open war with NATO.
Warfare with industrial revolution weapons is fearfully bloody and the nations fighting them have massive powers of recuperation. "Quoi qu'on fasse, on perd beaucoup de monde" (Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men, Charles Mangin)
Russia, China and their allies have been hoarding gold for years now. I wonder when they will pop up a gold backed alt currency like Gaddafi tried to do in 2010?
Yeah: I’ll literally PAY you to eliminate yourself! Dont think about it too long, the offer will expire….sadly some of the greenwashed really are that dumb. Oh wait here comes the Hale-Bop Comet….don you Nikes!!
Just another 180 turn from Trump and we can be assured it is not the last one. Politics is a game; the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the destruction of nations are an acceptable outcome. His own nation is getting close to be on the menu but that is another subject.
As far as the Budapest meeting I am not fully comfortable with that one. The city has a major concentration of cosmopolitans who do run the show there. It is a major playground for Europe’s Jewish population and they are handled with soft gloves as they have their unclean hands on business, finances and politics as well. They can pull off any dirty trick we ever heard of and some we have never heard before.
Ooooops, another 180 by the (Formerly) White House. Trump is not going to Budapest after a phone conversation between Marco Rubio and Lavrov. "There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," a White House official said.
AND, Two well timed fires Monday (October 20, 2025) night, within a few hours, local time: In Hungary a fire at an oil refinery that receives oil from Russia. In Romania fire at Lukoil, a Russian owned refinery. These fires followed the release of an Ukraine man who was arrested in Poland for blowing up the Baltic pipelines. The judges actually stated there that he is a freedom fighter, a hero.
Thanks so much, Simplicius, for this superb analysis. All your articles are extremely valuable. I look forward to each one.
I wonder, though, how reliable are those reports of Putin's offer to give up some territories. One would think they are total lies.
Although you have game-theoretically explained the logic behind such a gambit, it still seems very risky especially how that offer would look in the eyes of the Russian population. It would look like giving up...hopefully, there will be no need for this gambit.
"Although you have theoretically explained the logic behind such a bet." Do you want me to share my logic based on my imagination? That would really be something personal and not based on newspaper scraps.
That would be a dangerous domestic political game for Putin!
There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West." In view of the number of casualties, hardly anyone is talking about "brotherly people" anymore, at least as far as the western Ukrainians are concerned. Only in the media does such a definition occasionally appear, ergo more like propaganda!
And
In the event of a ceasefire, Putin could NOT explain the tactics behind it to his people, as in this article...
It would definitely seem like a defeat to the people as well as the army...which could be very dangerous for Putin in the Kremlin.
"There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West."
Ah no, there are no such "growing calls" among the population in Russia. In fact, the exact opposite is true. There are growing calls to incinerate the West. Lucky for the West (and, in my view, for Russia), that viewpoint is still a minority viewpoint but it is part of a broader trend that certainly is a majority view that harsher responses by Russia should greet Western acts of war against Russia.
"which could be very dangerous for Putin in the Kremlin."
Absolute nonsense. That's Western self-delusion spawned, I suppose, by the West's infinite capacity to believe the lies it tells about Russia in general and Putin specifically.
Putin is wildly, genuinely popular in Russia. He's only disliked by the tiny percentage of Russians who are crazed liberals, say, 4% of the population, and lucky for all the rest of us who live in Russia those crazed liberals tend to be conveniently clustered within a few very large cities.
People may disagree with Putin from time to time, which is healthy in a large, sophisticated, complex society like Russia, but there's zero "danger" to Putin of any kind. If an embolism in his brain popped and resulted in some sort of drastic personality change where he started doing totally insane things well, then sure, he wouldn't be re-elected. But the amount of trust people have in Putin far exceeds what's necessary for people who doubt the specifics of some of his tactics to all the same stay the course with Putin.
But you're OK with Putin meeting Trump, whose armed forces and proxies in his first and second terms (just so far) have butchered far more people than Al-Sharaa could kill in a hundred years? This is a joke, right?
Syria is rough territory, a place of endemic violence where various factions butcher each other. That's true of many other countries in the world.
If a country doesn't want to have diplomatic relationships with other countries or the leaders of other countries who have "butchered" people, it's going to have to give up having diplomatic relationships with much of Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. That's reality.
The other approach is to observe that many people who have come to power through violence have ended up being a force for development of their countries and have settled down to peaceful relationships. Even if they don't end up being saints they can still sometimes play a role in reducing the evil being done in a region.
There's a school of diplomatic thought that says, for good reason, it is a wise move to maintain diplomatic relationships even with unsavory characters so you can influence them to be less unsavory.
There's also a school of diplomatic thought that says you often don't get a choice in who the actors are in a region, that they're all unsavory or outright evil, and that the best you can do is to work with the least worst choice so the evil that does happen is less than if the most worst actor had free rein.
That could be what's going on in Syria today, where Al-Sharaa just may end up being the least worst choice. Or do you think it's a better idea that Israel and the US annex all of Syria, start ethnically cleansing it and building "settler" villages?
al-Julani is simply a pawn who was used by Turkey-Israel-US to remove air defense systems, clear the air space across Syria, to make aggression against Iran possible.
He has sufficient cogency to understand his life is hanging by a thread, his usefulness is now marginal. The three countries who installed him are the most untrustworthy, violent and psychopathic on earth.
By reaching out to Russia, to see if he has any use to them, makes sense. His terror forces could be useful to Russia to complicate the consolidation of Syria plans by the occupiers.
Putin needs to verify all resources available for his country's defense.
"Putin needs to verify all resources available for his country's defense."
? Syria has nothing to do with Russia's defense, and Russia has no need to utilize resources from Syria for its defense. Russia is handling the defense of Russia just fine on its own.
No that's not exactly what you said. You said nothing about public TV or the destruction of Warsaw. On the contrary, you said, "There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West."
It sounds like you don't understand English very well if to think that calls "to finally end the violence against "the West"" means that there are calls *for* violence against the West. The words "to finally end the violence against the West" means people are opposed to using violence, *not* for it.
Move to Costa Rica you'll live pretty well on $2000/mo SS. My brother doesnt have anything but SS and lives large in a beach house.
America is very expensive. I don't even have a house payment anymore but house still costs $1000/mo between taxes, insurance and maintenance. Add in utilities is another $500 so $1500 for a roof over head. If I had house payment that would be another $2000. And $3500> $2000 SS.
Only reason I have not left for good is both our parents are in 80s and need care at times but I will. I will be twice as rich as my brother with $3800 pension/annuity and $2200 SS. Poor staying in America lol.
The only situation in which the behavior of Russian leadership both makes sense and is not treasonous is if they know that WWIII is inevitable and are just stalling for time to roll out more BMD around key sites and more first strike systems so that they come out of it as intact as possible. In such a situation it might make sense to suck up to Trump and delay open confrontation in order to buy more time. But there likely would be some evidence if e.g. large-scale BMD roll out effort was ongoing (those things are not exactly small and easily hidden), and we haven't seen anything.
Otherwise what we are watching is negotiating the terms of surrender, i.e. they will once again betray Russia strategically for the short-term benefit of the oligarchic clique around them.
Everything that is in the public view points to the latter.
Also, there is just no need to humiliate Russia like that in the first scenario. A lot of things were said publicly and repeatedly, with a remarkable consistency, that there was absolutely no need for, and which were so bad that they rank right there with the most treasonous statements from the likes of Yakovlev and Kozyrev.
In the second scenario it makes much more sense. Although if that is the case, they have miscalculated once again, because nobody intends to make deals with them, so their whole delusional dream of making such a deal simply has no basis in reality. ..
>He has, after all, overseen a pretty impressive comeback for Russia during his rule.
Has he really?
Look at the map in 1999, look at it now.
1) Baltics in NATO
2) Romania, Bulgaria in NATO
3) Most of the former Yugoslavia in NATO
4) Finland and Sweden in NATO
5) Libya gone
6) Iraq gone
7) Syria gone
8) Azerbaijan allied with Israel and Turkey, strongly anti-Russian
9) Armenia, one of the traditionally most strongly tied to Russia places, flipped
10) Central Asia lost too. Tajikistan looks to be the most friendly place at the moment (at governmental level, not necessarily within the population), but it is also the most distant. Meanwhile in Kazakhstan the same processes that were happening in Ukraine 20 years ago are happening now too.
11) Moldova occupied by NATO
12) Ukraine... well, do we even need to revisit this one. Where was it in 1999, where is it now?
All of that happened under Putin. These are absolutely catastrophic geopolitical defeats, and most of them happened with the active acquiescence, even outright assistance of Putin. The only reason Georgia isn't on the list is Medvedev (not Putin) winning the war against them.
Sure, the economy is "doing well" and the cities are clean and shiny. The problem is so they are in Dubai and in Qatar, and for similar reasons -- reliance on raw resource extraction, which is unsustainable and does not build real strength (for all of Qatar's wealth, Israel bombed them and Qatar could do absolutely nothing). Russia needed a massive reindustrialization program, but that was only forced on Putin as a result of sanctions and it is still nowhere near what it has to be.
Meanwhile he had to seriously prepare for war, and he knew that since the moment he took power, but he didn't.
>Wouldn’t there be better ways to commit treason if that’s what he was up to
You have to go back to the 1990s. In 1996 Yeltsin would have lost the elections if it wasn't for the Americans who helped him steal them. And the communists would have won. Things were that bad. But then they got worse -- Khasavyurt, Russia defaulted in 1998, constant terror attacks, etc. The problem is Russia has a long history of the people coming together in critical situations -- e.g. during the Time of Troubles the Poles occupied Moscow, but were then driven out by a bottom up movement. If another Gorbachev was to come in that situation and try to finish off the country, that is precisely what might have happened. Much better to lull people into complacency with a savior figure that they trust. I am not saying that is what actually is happening, but what we see publicly is entirely consistent with it, while being very much not consistent with Putin being a genuine Russian patriot doing his best to defend the country's interests.
BTW, Gorbachev himself did not immediately openly go about destroying the USSR after taking power. There is this famous quote from Yakovlev, in the introduction to the "Black Book of Communism" no less, bragging about what he did:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Yakovlev#Perestroika
>After the XX Congress, in an ultra-narrow circle of our closest friends and associates, we often discussed the problems of democratization of the country and society. We chose a simple - like a sledgehammer - method of propagating the "ideas" of late Lenin. A group of true, not imaginary reformers developed (of course, orally) the following plan: to strike with the authority of Lenin at Stalin, at Stalinism. And then, if successful, - to strike with Plekhanov and Social Democracy - at Lenin, and then – with liberalism and "moral socialism" - at revolutionarism in general... The Soviet totalitarian regime could be destroyed only through glasnost and totalitarian party discipline, while hiding behind the interests of improving socialism. [...] Looking back, I can proudly say that a clever, but very simple tactic - the mechanisms of totalitarianism against the system of totalitarianism – has worked.
So as you can see, it was deliberate from the start, and not only was it a deliberately pursued goal, but pulling the wool over people's eyes in order to make it happen was a key consideration.
What better for the second act now than someone with such authority internally as Putin?
Russia had the power to veto NATO expansion using force at any moment Putin has been president, he is at fault for 1 to 6 too. In fact it has become more and more difficult to do it the more NATO expanded.
And the way the Syria fiasco unfolded was a story of Russia being Israel's errand boy ever since Medvedev was replaced (in the first year in 2011-12 things were different)
He's at it again. GM never stops, so long as you answer something....
Let's see, Elena wrote "He has, after all, overseen a pretty impressive comeback for Russia during his rule." and you replied with total nonsense that ignores the vital substance of that comeback.
Under Yeltsin Russia was a failed state. It could not feed its own people and at least one key point was dependent upon donated supplies of chicken from the US to ensure sufficient protein to several key cities. The country was falling apart into warlord and mafia-run fiefdoms. Individual governors of large regions were assembling private militias and thinking about declaring autonomy. Crime was rampant.
Under Yeltsin the military industrial complex had disintegrated. Military forces were cut more than tenfold and most of the industrial complex serving the military went bankrupt or just disappeared, the empty factories turning into ruins. It was an open question if Russia could guarantee the physical safety of mountains of loose, weapons grade plutonium that had piled up from the reduction of the arsenal from over 30,000 warheads to about 5,000. Nuclear weapons designers were looking at side jobs selling jeans so their families could afford to eat. Aircraft designers who had once designed fighters were taking gigs designing cruise missiles for Iran.
The economy had nearly totally collapsed. Construction of apartment and other buildings had ceased with major industrial concerns in ruins, people trying to get by based on a sea of ad hoc tiny businesses. Russia was bankrupt, defaulting on bonds. Schools had no financing, the pension system was bankrupt, and the health care system nearly ceased functioning. Oligarchs stole whatever they wanted when they wanted and bought anybody and anything they wanted. Some maintained private security forces that were larger than the armies of small European states.
All that was before Putin. Putin within a few short years established order, tamed the oligarchs, brought the country back together again, established professionalism in federal, state, and local governments, got a court system running (so people didn't have to settle disputes with shootouts in the streets), funded the schools and the pension system, reformed the tax system, and got the economy going again. It boomed, and in the last 25 years has gone from being a failed, bankrupt economy to the fourth largest real economy on Earth.
Russia is now an economic superpower and it has true sovereignty. Russia's military is easily, hands down, the most combat capable military on Earth. It is easily defeating the US and all of the US vassals put together in Ukraine and it is doing that at the same time that its economy continues to grow while Russia is completely defeating the US and US vassal economic war on Russia.
The quality of life in Russia is absolutely superb, truly fantastic. Kids in their 20's and early 30's have no idea what life was like under the Union or during the 90's. They live in a world of endless cafes, restaurants, and shopping malls that are filled with any product they could possibly want or imagine, most of which can be delivered to them with a few clicks on their phones either the same day or the next day. Want really good sushi delivered to your apartment at 4 AM? No problem.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of energy (oil, gas, coal, hydro power electricity, enriched uranium), of food products (wheat, other grains, food oils, fish, dairy, pork, beef, etc) and of key resources (strategic metals, fertilizer to grow food, aerospace metals like nickel, titanium, aluminum, industrial and fine diamonds, wood, industrial plastics, steel for car bodies, rare metals like gold, palladium for catalytic converters, platinum, etc) and even manufactured goods. It is the world's major space power besides the United States and it is an IT superpower.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, the US can do to stop Russia's economy because more than half of the world depends upon Russian energy, Russian food resources (food or fertilizer), and Russian resources to either maintain first world or second world status or to avoid food insecurity. The world can get along just fine without the US and the US's stooges but most of the world depends upon Russia for prosperity and almost half depends on Russia to avoid food insecurity or even starvation.
Three billion of the world's eight billion people are also close friends of Russia: China and India. To this day the world depends upon China for industrial production, and China depends upon Russia for resources.
That's what makes a real superpower: a genuine superpower economy that thrives no matter what the US does and genuine superpower military force that can defeat absolutely anything the US or US stooges can throw at it. To this day, Russia is a larger and more technically sophisticated nuclear power than the US. All that happened under Putin. While the US was letting its nuclear arsenal get ever more progressively out of date, under Putin Russia modernized its arsenal substantially and introduced new generations of strategic weapons. The US still depends for launches on ICBMs designed in the 60's. Russia has Sarmat with hypersonic, ultra maneuverable reentry vehicles and modernized warheads. Russia is also decades ahead of the US with hypersonics in both conventional and nuclear war. The US has yet to demonstrate even a reliable hypersonic prototype while Russia has had hypersonics for 20 years and has been routinely using them in war.
NATO expanded in the 90's contrary to NATO and Western promises when Russia's military had collapsed, taking advantage of Russia's military inability to enforce the deals that had been made. Under Putin, it has not been easy for Russia to rebuild the military that had been destroyed in the 1990's but it has done that. Now, Russia calls the shots and when it delivers an ultimatum, as it did in late 2021, it can and will use military force to enforce the ultimatum, as it did in early 2022.
Joining NATO has turned out to hurt both NATO and the new joiners, because now they have discovered that believing in foolish promises of protection from NATO when they started a war against Russia was a huge mistake. They have a tiger by the tail in that they are losing the war they started against Russia and they do not have the economic strength (joining NATO in a campaign against Russia is destroying their economies) to win either an economic or a military war against Russia. Finland is becoming impoverished as a country that formerly didn't even need border guards or fences with Russia finds itself in a war with Russia that could lead to its annihilation.
Central Asia is still solidly with Russia. Only a cretin thinks what happens in failed states like Libya, Iraq, Syria, or Moldova remotely matters compared to the truly relevant relationships Russia has in Asia, such as with China. Turkey is emerging as a strong partner of Russia, not the failed West. Doh.
"tamed the oligarchs or cut a deal with them?"
Both. The "taming" part was making it clear to the oligarchs that if they challenged the state they would be destroyed. Worked perfectly except for nut cases like Khodorkovsky, who seemed to think that if he had friends in the West he could defy the state.
The "deal" part was showing the oligarchs how and why behaving like law abiding citizens like ordinary people was in their interest and would make them even richer.
What western dupes who are under the influence of US and US-stooge propaganda for morons about Russia don't realize is that Russia is neither a dictatorship nor is it a lawless state. It actually has very robust institutions and and picks its leaders through elections. What confuses Westerners is how Russians are far more unified than Western populations: when Russians really do like somebody, like they like Putin, and they vote for him by overwhelming margins the confused Westerner says, "see? that's proof the election was rigged," not thinking for a moment that instead it could simply be proof the man is really, genuinely popular. In a US that hasn't had such a dominantly popular leader since FDR people just can't get it through their heads that the population really does love Putin.
So when Putin was telling the oligarchs you either behave and honor the system or you will be destroyed he wasn't making a dictatorial threat, he was telling them how a genuine democracy works, that the people pick the government they want in charge and then it's that government that calls the shots and not an unelected oligarch who thinks he can do whatever the heck he wants, laws be damned. That was a watershed moment in the re-imposition of a rule of law and not men in Russia.
When it actually happened plays off the "deal" side of things, because you can't go from a totally lawless environment like the 90's under Yeltsin to a budding new rule of law country under Putin without fitting a few square pegs into round holes.
Very soon after he came to power Putin called the leading oligarchs together in a meeting and told them that the lawless bullshit was ended right then and there, and if they defied the state they would be destroyed. That was the stick. The carrot part was he told them a rule-of-law state was in their interests and they'd make more money then ever as chaos was replaced by a rising economy.
He told them he didn't see any way to reverse all the shady maneuverings that some of the oligarchs had used to achieve their plutonic wealth. But the deal to avoid witch hunts and reprisals was that now that they were wealthy they had to use their wealth lawfully and for the benefit of the country. If they invested into the country all was forgiven. If they used their wealth to try to distort political outcomes (you know, like Soros does), they'd be destroyed. Basically, stay out of politics, honor the law, and invest in building legal businesses and you get to stay rich and become richer than ever.
All of them except Khodorkovsky took that deal. Khodorkovsky didn't and was destroyed, the many, ahem, "loose ends" attendant to his rise providing more than enough legitimate threads from which to knit the rope that hanged him.
The difference between having many very rich people in Russia and a boyars oligarchy is that the rich in Russia focus on business and not on politics. They do speak up and many have come to play a key role in advising the government. After all, they tend to be highly expert in business and a business-friendly government is keenly interested in hearing their advice on how to build a strong and growing economy. But they're not remotely like a hereditary aristocracy or the boyars.
One more thing: the stereotypical slam of oligarchs having all stolen their wealth is false. I know some of them (by random chance, amazingly...) and the ones I know are all self-made billionaires. Most of the current generation of oligarchs seem to be that way, people who are entrepreneurs who opened wildly successful online marketing businesses, started new airlines, built up new industries and such. They have brought jobs and prosperity to millions of people. They're heroes in my book, not boyars.
Well said!
GM gives his consistently anti Putin commentary often. Salt to taste
The not so grand , but mentally very old Duke of york , marching up and down his imaginary “treasonous” hill as per usual, all the while shouting chicken-little like, that the Russian sky is falling down. Again
the usual Ukro propaganda line
Trump is irrelevant as is your speculation. At this point only the military situation is the determinant of any outcome.
The game must be played though the outcome is predetermined.
The future is always uncertain. What we can know is the current situation. Support for Ukraine is drying up, Europe is politically and economically fractured, Russia is up to the task of taking on and prevailing against the West and Trump is overextended it all manner of ways. The Chinese have a monopoly on the future and have been very clear that they won't sit by and see the Russians defeated. Then there is the DPRK who have recently upgraded their missile tech to allow ballistic strikes on continental US and Iran who proved they can destroy Israel without a nuclear weapon in the recent conflict. The Empire have squandered their dominance while the resistance seems to have prepared well.
Spot on, Elena! GM should listen more to you. The World and their leaders are grey, not black and white. Events unfold and could have consequences far beyond anyones imagination. Tell me a Leader that didnt make a mistake during their ”succesful” ruling.
Trump is weak, stupid and easily manipulated.
No, because I would not put much stock in anything Trump says at any given time. Rather, his advisors, sycophants, courtiers, and hangers on and their respective conflicting agendas are the ones running the show.
Explain, please.
Why point it out now? That has been his standard comment dozens (if not hundreds) of times....
"Donald Trump seems to be keeping a single marble in reserve." Isn't he physiognomically made like us? In that case, I could understand Melania's letters to Putin.
Incredibly, but not really, Trump pardoned disgraced and despised former Congressman George Santos, who was expelled from the House by a majority vote of over two-thirds of the members, and subsequently found guilty by a jury on a laundry list of high crimes and misdemeanors. This terrible individual stole from a disabled veteran, posed as a charity for animal welfare to scam donors, defrauded American taxpayers with unemployment insurance fraud, received COVID relief money for a fake company, stole from an elderly man in Brazil he was supposed to be caring for, and the list goes on. Yet Trump considered Santos worthy of a pardon. Corruption in the US has reached a new level of shame.
Trump’s god is money🤯
His god is Bibi.
No, his ‘minder’, his ‘guide’ in the Underworld, is Bibi🫣
Trump derangement syndrome. Go post this crap where it's relevant to the article.
You're going to have to do better than the same tired cliché. Better yet, make the case for Trump's disgusting Santos pardon.
Post your TDS crap somewhere else, along with your ANTIFA and BLM crap
The same MAGA king brownish crap that rained on anti-Trump protesters I guess..
South Africa - highest murder rate in the world.
The problem is Simplicius himself has a case of the TDS. Last time I checked, the USA has improved greatly from the previous administration. No more DEI transgender b.s., no more free money for Ukraine, no more wars started everywhere, no more destruction in Gaza, no war with Iran, gas and eggs down 50%, etc.
I agree, he's getting a little heavy on the Trump criticism. Trump is not representative of the Deep State ensconced in the Federal Triangle, he's not swimming in the swamp, like the Clintons, Obama and Biden.
Hello, Hunter Biden anyone? How about Mark Rich? You seem selective in your outrage which is both comical and sad. Santos was just the same as most in Congress, and he was unacceptable to his fellow grifters.
Who here was defending the pardons of Young Hunter or of Marc Rich?
That's not my point, Feral. I am using Hunter and Rich as examples to suggest hypocrisy.
Since I defend none of the above, not Santos, not Biden, not Rich (and nobody is defending Rich or Biden), how is that hypocrisy?
Who cares about George Santons, no one even knows who this guy is. However, the entire world cares about the Ukraine war and the fact that a former Vice President and his son received bribes that led to corruption and war in Eastern Europe.
Precisely correct. When all logical arguments fail, revert to the "what aboutism" standby. BTW, I live with six loving adopted feline family members.
But you are a dog, right?
"But what about Hunter?" 😍 Amazing!
Mouse, meet elephant. And he wouldn't have done it if trump and his republicans hadn't spent years trying to crucify the schmuck - and promising to continue.
Sure.
You make your own case, why should other people shag for you? Are you special or something?
Barranquilla - where Zelensky gets his white powder.
Let’s all welcome our new shit-agitator troll. Here to try to derail conversations and be a nuisance
Which still isn't relevant to the article, which is why it's easy to diagnose your TDS.
What is relevant about Santos and Trump's pardon is that both Santos and the pardon are more examples, not of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but of General Western Delusion Malady.
it is relevant since Trump is critical in the conflict.
He's pointing how ridiculous the american system has become. The orange man is just the most recent manifestation of it.
Trump's already given 1,600 pardons. More than any other Presidency and we're only in October! Just another Pay-to-Play grift.
I had no idea...wow.
I'm left wondering what he got in return.
I don't want to hog the spot. Others better qualified than me should get their chance, yes? 😉
A lollipop. Do you understand me?
Favors owed, which he can call in anytime.
In his role as the 47th president of the United States Donald Trump granted executive clemency to more than 1,600 individuals as of July 23, 2025, all of whom were charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses. In many cases, Trump also removed the requirement that these individuals pay restitution and fines, costing their victims an estimated $1.3 billion. At least three individuals who had been convicted in white-collar fraud cases and who were granted executive clemency also had their pending United States Securities and Exchange Commission civil enforcement actions dropped as a result. 1500+ of these pardons were related to the events on January 5, 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_in_the_second_Trump_presidency#:~:text=In%20his%20role%20as%20the,convicted%20of%20federal%20criminal%20offenses.
Let's take a closer look!
What positions, relationships, and contacts do these pardoned people hold?
How can they become and be useful to Trump again?
In my opinion, a clever move: make "friends" who owe you something, even if not in leadership positions, then at least in contact with groups that could be useful to you, even if only to spread and support opinions...
Whether one of the pardoned people has a mother, father, uncle, or nephew in another interesting position, or is a member of a group...
Melania is a rabid sodomite enabler, so I expect she was the one who demanded he be released.
Oh good grief is there no low people like you will go to smear those you disagree with and hate. How is Melania germane to the article?
You probably have never heard the saying, "Behind every ***** man, there is a **** woman."
Just pointing out the missing link in the article - she holds fundraisers for the Log Cabin Boys at Mar a Lago.
( A sodomite Republican organization. )
Her opinions and desires will be fully taken account of by her husband.
Remember how she is in contact with Putin behind the scenes?
And writes him letters?
What does that get you? Once a pardon is signed it can't be undone.
Amazing. This crap is enough to disqualify the US as a democracy or even as a country directed by the rule of law.
The much hyped "rule of law" has long been a joke.
Hardly, fascism-yearner.
What's up with using multiple "Steve Mitzner" screen names-
"Anemic Steve Mitzner"
"Steve Mitzner CockWorshipper"
& Etc.?
Slick Willy Clinton (I did not have sex with that woman!) established the modern pardon 'principle' with the Marc Rich "deal". Rich, not a Lutheran, likely bartered nookie (cf Denise Rich)<<link>> and boodle for his "get-out-of-jail-not-for-free-deal" with Clinton. The book, Metal Men, <<link>> is a fascinating read about how a rag collector moved on to the much larger cons that landed him in trouble with the Feds. Some lads just have a bucket of balls. As Mel Brooks said, "it's good to be the king..."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26193988
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/socialite-denise-rich-dumps-us-passport-idUSBRE8680MN/
The feds entrapped people who walked into the open doors of a public building, and jailed them for misdemeanor parading. It was an op to destroy MAGA.
Biden gave 4,245 pardons on his last day, he even pardoned his sicko son and a lot of other crooks that were involved with Ukraine scamming millions, he particulary dated it back to 2014 when US organised the coup i Ukraine and started this whole mess... All US presidents are corrupt to the core!
Those pardons are mostly for the Jan 6 protesters who did absolutely nothing but trespass on public property. Wrongly charged = deserved pardon.
You are referring to the Jan 6 protesters that should have never been charged. He undid an injustice which was the proper thing to do.
IOW, the two police officers who later died from their injuries, along with many others who were injured, don't matter, according to your logic. If the roles were reversed and Democrats rioted, you would be screaming bloody murder, demanding justice be served.
you lost your credit with this sophistry
You never had any credibility. Your little YouTube nonsense demonstrates that years ago.
Anyone visiting your substack profile can check your credibility. You define yourself as an asseater and claim you rape families. Get lost weirdo.
DerBrainIstLos. Liar. No cops were attacked Two peaceful protesters were murdered by the DC cops. One was beaten to death, the other shot from 10 feet away. Flat out murder. The pig cop got a promotion. Trump freed the 1000+ falsely imprisoned w/o access to phone calls or legal representation. The Jewish nazi Merrick Garland had 380 undercover FBI agents encouraging the protesters to enter the Capital building to set them up.
Garland had Trump charged for several bogus crimes, an unrelenting mafia-style enforcer goon for Biden and the Deep State.
Your TDS crap is off -topic.
zeroliked again, you factchecking hund
he is a climatechangist dumb. Check out his profile.
You are the clinical definition of the Dunning-Krueger Effect, lol. Never mind inconvenient facts. The previous ten years were the hottest in recorded history, with each year more sizzling than the previous. The last 30-day period during which the planet experienced cooler-than-average temperatures was December 1985.
The cognitive dissonance of the denialists has manifested itself as the most retarded instance of mass denial in human history, courtesy of a decades-long multi-billion-dollar PR & think tank denial campaign that worked wonders, creating an entire army of amateur denier warriors. They all can see and feel the consequences, but to admit it’s time to prepare for more and worse would be to admit they were wrong, which is akin to death for true believers. This is how denial destroys lives and, eventually, the world. Pretending it’s not happening and dismissing it as hype is the only way they can protect their messianic beliefs.
Per FactCheck: "Two law enforcement deaths are tied to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack in different ways: several officers were physically assaulted that day, and at least one Capitol Police officer who later died by suicide has been formally recognized as a line-of-duty death connected to the attack. Reporting across multiple outlets documents injuries to dozens of officers during the riot and delineates the subsequent government determinations that linked at least one suicide to Jan. 6 trauma."
The full reversal would involve MAGA politicising the entirety of the FBI and other alphabet agencies; MAGA-FBI sending agent provocateurs into the Democrat rally to 'suggest' the protestors do something stupid; MAGA leadership deciding they wanted a skeleton security level that day; and the never-ending 9/11-style hyping by the corporate media of that event which was actually quite mundane. Certainly compared to the blood-soaked organised 'regime-changes' DC is so skilled at abroad.
LIAR.
Pants on fire! Get a diaper change.
Blame Pelosi. She was in charge of security, she was warned, and Trump offered National Guard troops, which were staged nearby.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt in your first post, but this one proved you are a braindead retard. No police died from "riot injuries" you lying shill.
What injuries and who inflicted them? You are spewing disinformation. The world now knows the real story and Democrats are still stuck on dumb.
This is a n absolute lie. No protesters harmed anyone.
Next up, the release of Ghislaine, who is probably a "fine woman" in Donnie's playbook.
Bullshit. Over 700 of them were convicted of doing violent, destructive things. Everyone has seen those videos from dozens of angles. So many of them were stupid enough to video their own crimes and post their achievements online.
They wouldn't have tried anything like that in Russia. If they had, that many people, hundreds would have been killed. So stop with your revisionist bullshit.
Fail more.
Your 2nd paragraph is fantastic and betrays you as a Russophobe. Do you write for The Economist?
Wow, you are quite the liar. The bullshit is coming from you and repeating the democratic talking points. Fact are, the vast majority of Jan 6 defendants did not commit violent crimes - yes, we all saw the videos and so did you which covered about 30 minutes of video. But did you know there are >40,000 hours of video from that 6 hour protest but Nancy Pelosi refused to released the videos after many requests - Wonder why?????. Even though the Jan 6 protests got out of hand at least they didn't kill people unlike the the endless BLM and Antifa protests, that went all summer long, were so violent they resulted in the destruction of tens of Billion dollars of property, destruction of small businesses and worse of all 25 deaths. Yeah but to you Jan 6 was worse - sicko!
They did nothing but trespass. Should have been at MOST a misdemeanor.
Anyone smarter than a carrot knows the "1600" were the peaceful protesters falsely persecuted by Biden.
He did not give pardons to two of them - DC cops already murdered them at the demonstration.
Why such lazy lying?
Per FactCheck: "Two law enforcement deaths are tied to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack in different ways: several officers were physically assaulted that day, and at least one Capitol Police officer who later died by suicide has been formally recognized as a line-of-duty death connected to the attack. Reporting across multiple outlets documents injuries to dozens of officers during the riot and delineates the subsequent government determinations that linked at least one suicide to Jan. 6 trauma."
Everyone saw it. They had thousands of video hours worth of these pieces of shit being violent as fuck. From the retards' own phones. All the police bodycam video, and cameras all over the Capitol. And journalists on scene.
Tell it to these reality inverting vatniks and magatards.
Of course, you're correct, but facts don't matter to this group—just the narrative. It's hard to believe this is the world we live in, though a society that embraces fairy tales over truth is nearing its end.
No law enforcement officers died as a result of Jan 6th, this lie has been debunked many times. Only person who died that day related to the riot was Ashley Babbitt who was shot in the neck in cold blood by a capitol police officer.
His major crime was winning as a Republican. Inexcusable.
He could easily have run as a Democrat, they were after all where he sent most donation-money, and supported most causes. But his friends the Clintons wanted him to destabilise the Repugs and leave the demonrats to Killery instead.
The Repug leadership quite obviously loathed Trump, there was no way Trump would have been in a Bush cabinet fx, lol.
It's not so much that he is Dem or Rep, it's that he is ever-so-slightly independent, prone to random acts, and is far, far too honest where an insider would automatically lie. About Syrian oil, fx.
Can't help wondering what's so special about Venezuelan drugs though, lol, Must smell of all that oil...
People who think it's cute to use silly, offensive names get a block because I don't need to read that kind of stuff. Yuck. It's very unserious.
Let's take a closer look!
What positions, relationships, and contacts do these pardoned people hold?
How can they become and be useful to Trump again?
In my opinion, a clever move: make "friends" who owe you something, even if not in leadership positions, then at least in contact with groups that could be useful to you, even if only to spread and support opinions...
Whether one of the pardoned people has a mother, father, uncle, or nephew in another interesting position, or is a member of a group...
Your post jumps to a conclusion w/o any evidence.
Typical TDS screen-based Cognitive Deficit Syndrome - TDS CDS
If you want to do a paper, get off your lazy butt and do your own research, instead of asking other people to fetch for you.
Well your answer is typical for the IQ average of 40.
Actually, it's 148. I got top score on the ACT tests in my high school class of 400.
You dont like the AfD, either?
Germany used to be a great country. Why did they let the Americans stay for so long, long after the black GI's corrupted it?
I can answer that one: you mix your frauleins mit unser Alabama Black Snake, and what do you get? A new and better master race! Just look at the origin of Disco.
Very nice! Amazing how many consider themselves "clever" why they sit behind their keyboard. I love to see them put in their place! You have more energy than I do to engage with them.
nasty
His main saving grace in Donnie's eyes is that he is a rabid zionist, so he can do anything he likes, up to and including murdering and maiming hundreds of thousands of civilians, and he will still be "all good" in the zio-in-chief's eyes.
The only reason the House expelled him was because he was garnering too much financial assistance from AIPAC, which they had targeted for their own use.
Incredibly, but not really…
55 likes on a comment FULLY off-topic.
Deranged.
The only reason I can imagine for the COMMUTATION, not pardon, was to piss off the left. After all, half the leftists in Washington are guilty of treason yet not a one is languishing in prison. I might have held my nose and released Santos also. At least he served SOME time in prison. It's not like he's still in Congress having done all those crimes. Having control of a large part of the judiciary has served the Demonrats well. MAGA needs to take off the kid gloves and start the bare-knuckled bouts we know are necessary. Judges need to be charged with overreach and removed from benches after being accused. At least they won't have to do four years of solitary confinement for having committed their trespass on Presidential authority.
God Bless Us All
100% I also enjoy how the TDS sufferers are ratioed hard. They truly believe they are a majority but they are a very sad minority that are always full of rage and hatred. Their chronic TDS brings them great suffering, it brings me joy as they drive zemselves insane.
Halloween is coming when all good little boys and girls pick the most sincere pumpkin patch to await the coming of The Great Pumpkin. Orange man good, not bad.
God Bless Us All
You poor pathetic fool. Are you still searching for universal morality? That Kantian Categorical Imperative. I grow tired of virtue Signalers like you. I would have you read The Prince and reflect on all the lost peoples who placed supposed virtue over victory. I would especially focus on Pope Alexander VI. “Never was there a man who had greater power in making promises, or who observed them less; and if ever a man knew how to use art and deceit, it was he; and he always succeeded in this, because he knew the art well.”
If I were searching for universal morality I'm certain I would have died of frustration by now. I'll settle for a little justice and as far as the governments of liars in Europe and Washington are concerned: fuck em. Al the VI is long gone and his church is nearly powerless in geo-political affairs. I guess you could call that a great victory, I just call it some measure of justice. In my morality I've decided on the Boy Scouts of America oath before the radical left forced gay scoutmasters on them and then allowed the parents of the raped boys to blame the organization, not the leftists who let the foxes into the chicken coop.
So "you poor pathetic fool", let's get it on. I shall be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. But nothing says I have to be a chump for the evil doers of the world and believe that lying, stealing, murdering and making war is a high art worthy of praise. Machiavelli favored republics not absolute monarchists such as his prince. I take the long view and believe that by and large mankind has made at least a little progress from the caves where we used to devour our own young when famine struck.
Pick up my gauntlet or fuck off. Don't expect any more replies tonight, its getting late I'll play with you tomorrow. BOY
God Bless Us All
I see.... so pedophilia is a Democratic only thing, lol.
British ITN and The Discovery Channel uncovered the most expansive child exploitation conspiracy ever to disgrace American politics. Their findings are presented in a jointly produced documentary, "Conspiracy of Silence."
In advance of Republican fundraisers in Washington, DC, the most handsome teenage boys (i.e., Toy Boys) were selected from the "Boys' Town Stable," flown by private plane to Washington, then deposited at a Georgetown safe house where the Boys Town youth were presented a smorgasbord of drugs and alcohol to render them more pliable.
Upon the conclusion of Washington soirees, Republican politicians and big-money donors would rendezvous at the Georgetown safe house with their previously selected Boy Toy. You can use your sickest imagination to appreciate what happened next.
Nebraska State Senator and Chairman of the Boys' Town State Investigative Committee, Loran Schmit, confirmed that pedophilia reached the highest levels of the Republican Party. Despite tremendous pressure from the Reagan White House and the Republican National Committee to bury the scandal, Senator Schmit refused to change the report's conclusions. The senator was so shocked and disgusted by the committee's findings that he permanently resigned from the Republican Party and returned to farming. Thank you, Senator Schmit, for your impeachable integrity.
The Republican National Committee tried to quash the Boys' Town scandal by buying the documentary's publication rights for an enormous sum; fortunately, one brave soul leaked a copy of the film into the public domain before the RNC could destroy the evidence.
Here is the YouTube address for the Discovery Channel & British ITN jointly produced documentary, "Conspiracy of Silence" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DquLnRycZms
"I see.... so pedophilia is a Democratic only thing, lol."
Strange I don't remember saying that, I said, "Radical left." They are the pedophiles teaching the little children to bend over for the nice man dressed like a clown. It's strange you would assume I meant Democratic Party. You did mean the party didn't you? The phrase "Boys Town Stable" yields nothing on Google AI search except a description of the real Boys Town of Father Flanagan. However I would readily grant that pedophilia is not a monopoly of the Democratic Party. How about you? Do you indulge in "boy love"? As for myself, not this lifetime anyway.
Jesus called it the abomination since during his days it was common for a homosexual to purchase a young boy and 'train' him as his sweet little lover. Between consenting adults I find nothing wrong with the practice of same sex relations. Love is lovely, let it grow. I would advise you to grow up and realize what the word propaganda means. I don't know who you've been listening to but I would broaden my horizons and realize there is good and bad in everyone and it is our pathways in life, our choices that determine which we each are. One must judge what is good or bad for themselves after all. That is how we choose. No one is born good or bad or indifferent we simply grow like trees and sometimes our branches get bent out of shape.
As for me I know darn well that the Discovery Channel and British ITN are in the grip of Big Brother and Little Sister. Discovery Channel cannot utter two sentences without one of them being about the evil of global warming and how you should obey the imperative to 'save the world'. British ITN has bureau offices in China which oddly enough is not socialist except on the highest level which makes them more anti-trust in the vein of the Sherman Anti-trust laws than communist.
Both Discovery and British ITN would undoubtedly be familiar to George Orwell, both are puppets of Big Brother and Little Sister. BB is very famous and I now tell you that LS is named Karen, the practitioner of mommyism whether you like it or not and I don't like it. Both must be included in the 'narrative' striving to bring about the rise and iron tyranny of socialist/communists desire. Are you a communist? It's hard not to be one if you graduate from a college in Western Civilization. Capitalism is a curse word in academia and they push Marxism shamelessly. Something the Russian Federation gave up as a bad job when they dropped The Soviet.
God Bless Us All
Right.......you were referring to the "radical left," "leftists," and "Demonrats" of the Republican Party. You are a slippery one. "Having control of a large part of the judiciary has served the Demonrats well."
That's right, you've got it now. Don't forget.
God Bless Us All
He wasn't pardoned. His sentence was commuted. Blocked due to inaccuracy. There is no discourse possible with liars.
"Blocked for inaccuracy." There won't be anyone left.
Just you wait, he has every intention of pardoning Epstein’s pimp. The writing’s been on the wall for a while now
Corruption in the USA reached its historic peak under Joey B Biden. Trump has a ways to go to match it.
Biden's autopen pardoned some 1500 or 2000 people, including members of the Biden Crime Family and the scoundrel Lil Tony Fraudci.
To this day we don't know who was sneaking into the autopen room every night to sign yet more pre-emptive pardons.
So what is Russia’s objective? I had thought it is the Donbass, Crimea and a pledge not to join NATO or align strategically with Russia’s adversaries. But now I am confused.
The minimum sufficient winning condition for Russia is that Ukraine disappears as an independent country and Ukrainian identity is eventually erased completely.
Nothing else will suffice to bring peace and solve the strategic problems.
And that is obvious to everyone with a brain and loyalty to Russia.
Now contrast that to the officially stated Russian goals and the way the (not)war has been (not) fought. What does that tell us about the quality and integrity of current Russian leadership?
And then they take Poland and Finland? Sorry, not buying that. Any other responses?
Yes, they take Poland and Finland if Poland and Finland decide to go to war.
If they don't, then there is no problem
The current strategy has more chance of absorbing Poland and Finland by democratic mandate (especially as the EU is facing a radical collapse). That is the real long term direction of this chessboard Russian advance.
Cretin , they have no need of either of those countries as Putin has said repeatedly.
Been munching on Nuland’s hash cookies as usual.
BTW seems the KGB have your address.
Avoid windows.
What she said was true.
The key is in her phrase "democratic mandate, " ie Poland / Finland may well decide amongst themselves that they have a brighter future through alliance with Russia than with their previous narcissistic abusers.
Reply was to General Melschitt
Russia would need to fully mobilize to take Poland. Ain't going to happen.
I expect Finland and Sweden to reclaim their neutrality status sooner or later. Who wants to be harnessed to a bunch of globalist half-wits running the EU, Germany, Britain and France.
Note that nobody will fight village by village for Poland.
I don't believe Putin is interested in Europe west of Ukraine. It was a headache in the Soviet era, can't believe it would be better today. Russia is redirecting east and south anyway.
They're assuming the Russians will act like they did in Ukraine... BIG mistake!
If, if there were a war with Poland, then NATO would see a completely different picture! And it's doubtful that Russian tanks would ever roll into Berlin again, not because they wouldn't win, but because that kind of war is over.
For Western Europe, a few hypersonics would be enough, and they wouldn't be able to intercept them to shut down energy and refineries, not to mention the ammunition stockpiles.
A Poland on its own, however, would be finished in no time, and that's with the troop strength currently involved in the SMO, which, according to Putin, is around 970,000 troops. The main task wouldn't be carried out by infantry anyway, but rather by hypersonic geraniums and drone crews.
And a Trump or his successor would be faced with a choice... trading Boston, New York, etc., for Warsaw... WHAT would he choose? Really his own ass, because his oligarchs do NOT want to spend their wealth in bunkers that can then be cracked open with hazelnuts...they want to enjoy their yachts and villas and don't give a damn about ALL of Europe!
Feedback geben
Russia has no interest in doing anything other than neutering the Ukrainian / NATO threat.
Nobody with an ounce of sanity thinks that she wishes to engage in some sort of military rampage through Europe.
There is a middle ground to your two extremes. The Baltics are an attractive buffer. As is Finland, Poland, Moldova, and Romania.
Probably the best thing that could happen to NATO Europe would be a Ruskie horde rolling through Berlin, Brussels and Paris then forcing the European hoi polloi to take their balls back from Ursula.
"She?" Does "she" give good head too?
Sounds reasonable.
I see more trouble in the Baltics. They treat the Russian-speaking population as second-class citizens. They try to provoke on every occasion. They try to cut off St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. And there is no good reason for all this behavior, meaning you cannot have talks with them to solve the issues.
For sure it tells me that Mister Putin is tired of playing games with EU, NATO and it’s US sugar daddy, he wants to retire and aiming for the noble price for peace in 2026. This war cannot end, see Gaza release of the hostages, cease fire and everyone knows what followed, lynching, bombing and there we go again.
I can think of almost nothing that would interest Putin less than the Nobel Peace Prize. He's an adult, not an idiot.
The war is going through its military phase, and Russia is clearly winning in that department.
Simultaneously, a sociological war is being waged for the hearts and minds of Ukraine's civilian population, who now see the need for a cessation of hostilities, 80% of them wanting a negotiated settlement.
The originally-ascendant Banderite philosophy which so defiled the nation has been eradicated by and large , ie all those who wished to implement its nazi doctrines have had their say, and have ended up as streaks of red in the black earth.
All it will take is the now-overdue ouster of Zelensky and his cabal, and peace will return.
Putin's clearly-stated objectives will all have been achieved, ie denazification, demilitarization, and denatoization.
Denazi-, demilitary- even denatoization won’t stop this war, all others are impatiently waiting in line to take over and continue as long as it takes…technocratisation, eugenics, gov-corp globalists and in many aspects of life as well as Nazis and Cabal and communism have declared 5G war to our genes as the new war zone with totalitarian surveillance, biochemical engineering, and all are after the same enemy in you, your ID, your genes, your natural immune system.
Your only loyalty is to the US Deep state as is obvious .
Ukraine
Pure Medvedev. Although I do not disagree with the comment for that- except for the last para designed simply to sew discord in Russia, which is the only way the west can win this now. Hence the blast of black propaganda in recent weeks which fell on its face when Putin masterfully countered the Tomahawk bluff. When Trump loses a bluff he often does an about turn and takes it out on the side that pushed him into a losing move. Bad day for Ukraine.
Having someone in charge in Russia who is not going to blow up a Russian victory by falling for western provocations only to find itself holed up somewhere fighting a still virile Ukrainian force, is what the Russian strategy has been all about. It is not Russia being bled out by this strategy, and that is what has made it such a success.
How are you, mascot? How many neurons did you bring with you today? All of them? That's good, beautiful pair of neurons.
GM
<<<<<<Ukrainian identity is eventually erased completely.<<<<<
No. Just that part of their identity that makes them a threat to Russia and Russians. To that end, Russia is fighting a brilliant campaign establishing a new kind of warfare in the process.
>Just that part of their identity that makes them a threat to Russia and Russians.
Which is all of it.
The whole basis of Ukrainian identity is being anti-Russian.
There is nothing else.
Remove that and you are left with a Russian.
Have to agree with you there somewhat.
Ukrainians and Russians have been intergrated, interningled, and intermarried for generations.
Have you ever been closer to Ukraine than your screen?
You sound like a virtual reality expert (media dupe (useful idiot)).
Good point! Only Galicia is special (and of course Transcarphatia, but this is another story). And remember the election of Zelensky, he promised to bring peace! He promised to fulfill the Minsk agreement! He promised to talk to the Russians! He promised to bring good relations with Russia and the West!
Transcarphatia is actually about as pro-Russian as Kherson was before the SMO. It is not a simple west-to-east gradient.
The Rusyns were even publicly begging Putin for help back in 2014. But he, of course, didn't even help the Donbass...
Lindsey Reed
I'm not sure who you are responding to or even exactly what your point is but I will say this:
The blacks in America have been intermingled for two hundred years, intermarried for one hundred years and integrated for fifty years. However ask any black person and he will tell you there is such a thing as a black identity and culture.
The Ukrainians have their own language, their own religion, their own culture, their own economic system, their own expectations of civil society, their own currency and their own unique form of government.
thank you ron.
To some it appears a streamliner, to others a locomotive—but those attuned to harmony see it for what it is: a current conducted by twin souls, with a tall, tangle-haired engineer shimmering above and behind— motion as spirit, teamwork as energy flow.
No, I did not reply to you, you invited yourself.
I'd leave the race crap alone, but statistics belie your absurd claims about blacks. For every black murdered by an Asian or white, there are 20 murders of whites or Asians by blacks. Rapes, the ratio is 50:1. When I was in DC, there was a year-long series of 15 murders of Asian shopkeepers by a black serial murderer, and another long series of 15-20 murders by a black sniper.
BLM is a racist terrorist group which has a history of racist violence and murder. A white person risks hostility for TALKING - there are hundreds of words and phrases that sociologists scream "You're a racist:!" when they are uttered, such as "You People".
Why don;t you go to a bustop in metro DC, young blacks wearing $300 sneakers joking but goofing on me, one eye on me in the background, jiving with each other "Get on the bus, (n-word)" and "Move your black as-, (nword)". Their humor would turn instantly to hostility if I react.
Ever had guns pointed at your head by three 14-year old blacks? I was at my church when this happened, in after-hours counseling. Also my nephew's new van was firebombed when he was visiting a black friend in Chicago. My friend in Tampa yelled back at a car passing by. The blacks stopped and nearly crippled him. Had my car run off the road by a black truck driver, had bottles thrown at me walking by a black playground, attacked, in the army, by blacks, many other times a victim of skin color-based racism and violence.
I'm just one person in America, multiply that by millions. I could carry that grudge around like the media and university peddle their DEI sewage and woke hate, but I don’t.
Black leaders in big blue cities are flat-out racists, making decisions about policies and contracts based not on ability, but on skin colors. They put their race first and foremost.
Graft, corruption and racism in black-run American cities. Why else does infrastructure cost 10x estimates? And Pentagon weapons that do not work? Corruption by hiring using unqualified blacks - they benefit from "set-asides" and "affirmative action" and when they get the contract, produce 10x-20x over-contract specs crap.
In short, black leaders do not take any responsibility for their race - everything is the fault of other races. If whites are not in the pictures, how will blacks get along with Chinese? Even worse.
Their ethics are way out of whack, overbalanced by skin color, ignoring other communities and the country.
Have you ever been in Ukraine or Russia either?
Your screen never informed you about the 24/7/365 demonstrations urging “Soyuz” in Sevastopal and Simferopol. Going from Simferopol to downtown is a 15 mile trolley bus trip. Every 50 meters was a sign urging “Soyuz
"Ukrainians have their own economic system". LOL! Yeah, it’s called extortion, blackmail and scams. The big scammers scam the little scammers. Mandated monthly payoffs for even a small business to a range of palms out going from building security on up to the son of the mayor (my experience in Lugansk pre-Maidan). In the market people did not even use the word “grivna” when exchanging money, they said “rubles.”
Did I ever speak a single word of Ukrainian in Ukraine. Never, only Russian.
The Ukrainian “language” was conbbled together in the late 1800’s by Austria-Hungary to create separation and divisiveness in Russia, and carve out a piece of the economic pie. You know, Napoleon, Hitler, now the US bringing candy for the nice baby.
What kind of a human rights-less country BANS a LANGUAGE?. And loots CHURCHES?
Ukraine has their own "unique form of government". Yeah it's unique all right! Run by a CIA-appointed druglord whose claim to fame is playing the piano with his dick, and who appears nightly on everyone’s TV making speeches which cajole, demand or are paranoid, depending on if he is coming down or going up -how long ago - his last white line of powder went up his nose, courtesy of a rolled-up US hundred-dollar bill.
Why has the war gone on for so long- because it is supported by screen dupes. More “screen experts" basing their false data on the gormless slop fed to the masses by the noxious media overlords, as Sim might put it.
You were trying to be a comedian, like Zelensky, right? Fail.
Correct
If Russia doesn't want a nest of saboteurs controlled by MI6 and the CIA on its doorstep, the entire Ukraine must fall.
Ideally, Poland and Hungary would swallow the rest of Western Ukraine.
BUT they too would have very, very big problems with the Nazis fleeing there!
And not just domestically, politically, even if these NEW EU citizens were to be proven to have carried out sabotage towards (then) Russia... which would then lead to attacks from the EU and NATO countries.
That means Poland, Hungary, and possibly Romania would have to clean up their "new" territories with an iron broom!
NO ONE
Is thinking today about where the Nazis would flee to, perhaps the entire Ukraine...no one wanted them; the most corrupt among them have long since established their refuge in their villas. Where is the "little" Nazi who executes the plan?
.
Oh yes, a side effect of completely taking over Ukraine would be... Hungary would once again have a direct border with Russia, as would Romania. A direct border would mean the BRIC economic area, which the EU would not be happy about.
Feedback geben
There is a clear plan for the Ukrainian Nazis if Putin is couped and Russia goes for actual victory -- they will be used the same way they were used inside Ukraine, i.e. as muscle to suppress the population, but this time in Europe.
Damn...another comment I agree with. Ursula's EU army.
Well, probably against the politicians...
But these Ukrainians trained in weapons, plus armor-piercing weapons... could be interesting for politicians' limousines, and even more so for the poor police.
Russians, Ukrainians, Nazis, Cabalists even Eurocrats and Yankeycrats all weirdos together will be streamlined into the same matrix of being digitalised technoslaves.
I think we'll take a lot of them in GB, given how close they are to MI6.
We took Muslim fundies who fought for us in Libya and got the Manchester bombing for our troubles.
So I can see us making the same mistake again.
Appears we have form on the UK's absorption of Ukrainian "Banderite" Nazis John. After WW2 Britain took in 8500 former members of the SS Galizien Panzer Division who some how ended up iirc, got stranded in Rimini, Italy. A document known as the Rimini Papers held by MI5 documents all this, even their names. It is even reported that in 1981 there were 1200 still alive, however no doubt elderly.
Simon Robinson
Canada took in five thousand of similar but probably from different units. Canada's population was much smaller.
Agreed Simon.
Please type "RichPlanet dot net" into your search engine.
Richard D Hall is probably the only real expert on the "Manchester Bombings" and he makes the unassailable case that there were no bombs on that day - just flashbangs and a cast of crisis actors.
The BBC's Marianna Springer was used to bring him down - he went to court, and the judge refused to accept his magnum opus "The Night of the Bang" in evidence - for the obvious reason.
They then bankrupted him.
Exactly the same scenario played out in the London Tube Bombings 7 / 7 / 05 - Muadh Dibh ( John Anthony Hill ) tried to get his " 7 / 7 Ripple Effect" video seen by the jury, but once again it was denied, and they claimed he was trying to pervert the course of justice, even though everything he said showed that it was MI5 behind the whole thing; eg the explosions blew the tube carriage sides in, whereas they should have been blown out if "moslem terrorists with backpacks" were behind the events on that day.
Pretty obvious they were just patsies, and they got the reward of all patsies at Canary Wharf later that day.
Dead men tell no tales.
Where would the Nazis go?
Same place they went last time.
Upstate New York and some remote area of Canada.
From there they would groom and release more Alexander Vindmans and Chrystia Freelands over the next 50 years.
Ritter sometimes brings them up.
I like your BRICS thought. It counters Mearsheimer's rather simplistic "realist" perspective.
I hear that the Poles don't want the Nazis but they want Lvov. Maybe some Gaza-lite space can be set up in the villages between Lvov and Kiev. /s/s/s
But woe betide those Nazi Ukrainians who are then in Poland, Hungary, and Romania and who launch actions against Russia from these NATO countries...
What then... § 5
Way too many options to choose from. A recent Neutrality Studies YouTube had a quote that said if you follow the money all terrorism leads to an intelligence service. Krainer keeps pointing at MI5
The thing about history is that it's not over until it's over.
Nobody really knows what's going to happen until it's happened, and then the criticisms can begin, and armchair generals can start to tell us how things should have been done.
Russia's strategy, which seems by and large to have been embraced by all in the Kremlin, is that Ukraine should be squeezed and bled dry, rather than being overwhelmed by some sort of big arrow assault.
The nation seems to be close to collapse on many fronts, so when the paint is dry, I think we will all agree that what was done was the best that could have been done.
The objectives changed with how things went on the battlefield. At first it was keeping UKR out of NATO, but as RU took territory the objective changed to include keeping that territory. Which is logical, and predictable to anyone who has read history.
That’s right.
How do you keep Ukraine out of NATO without controling the territory?
faking is one thing Ze's good at.
How to get them into NATO of what’s left of it, once it’s demoralised, depopulated, crushed, demolished and obliterated?
The same way Ukraine stayed out of NATO before it changed it's constitution.
A broken and landlocked Banderan state will have little value to a humiliated and bankrupted NATO.
You are completely clueless.
The point isn't to keep Ukraine out of NATO, the point is to keep NATO out of Ukraine.
Also, look at the Houthis. Who happen to be the good guys (the only ones in this world together with North Korea), but that is not the point. The point is that they are as broken economically as you can get, and with no direct land link to any allies, but they have a triple digit number of MRBMs towards Israel in the last two years.
So you can demolish as of Ukraine you want, all that you are going to achieve is to destroy the efforts of your own grandfathers who built it, but the missiles and drones that will not in any way stop.
NATO in Ukraine/Ukraine in NATO. There is no difference.
A wrecked Banderan rump state will be occupied by "peace-keepers" from NATO members: Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Probably some Bulgarians in the mix as well. Putin will not mind.
TheRepublicIsDead
Right. A landlocked small state with all it's military age men dead, fled or in vicious gangs. No infrastructure, no economy, no civil state and extremely resentful towards the "peace keepers" who let them down after all the promises went unfulfilled.
You're a Bandera supporter who's taken refuge in the West, admit it.
How do you keep your trousers up without a belt
I live in the tropics.
That would be the Russian tropics (aka Bali where all those patriots who fled Russia when the SMO began scurried off too).
The sun is bad in Bali and quickly softens the brain quite quickly for those not accustomed, which explains a few things. Also explains why you have so much time on your hands.
On the plus side , falling out of the window of a grass hut is not so much of a problem.
Give my Regards to Fat Freddy Kagan and his lovely wife Vicki.
no need to talk down on Bali, a tiny island, part of enormous Indonesia, which is BRICS.
Ensure that the government is changed to a pro Russian one.
The Donbas needed Russia to reclaim them to keep the Banderan NAZI factions out. Forever.
Of course, I am believing that Putin and most Russians aren't averse to reclaiming all or part of Lenin's Great Land Gift that created the original borders of the Ukraine SSR.
The initial Russian response was an R2P operation on behalf of the people of Donbas, who had been the subject of a state anti terrorist operation for eight years, from 2014 when Maidan happened, to 2022 when the invasion occurred as a result of huge Ukrainian forces being assembled on the Donbas border.
Once the Russians decided the issues could only be resolved militarily, and all her diplomatic efforts to push for a security framework for the entire region had been rebuffed with contempt, her comprehensive and non negotiable demands could then be tabled, including denazification, demilitarization, and denatofication.
Well stated.
putinista-69 - so sweet
Hahaha...you ignorant feminist NAZI Hoes should stick to topics you are familiar with, but still don't understand, such as "tran's rights are women's rights".
Don't forget to get your mRNA gene therapy posing as a vaccine booster.
That’s why they dashed for Kiev, failing miserably
"So what is Russia’s objective?"
Just how many thousands times must Russia repeat the same, never changing objectives of SMO stated endlessly by Putin, Lavrov, Peskov, Medinsky and every Russian official in existence? Stated every few weeks, like clockwork. Yet there are still those who ask this...
1. 4 regions that voted to join Russia must be under Russian control and recognized by Ukraine.
2. Denazification - legislative ban on Banderite ideology. Purging Ukraine of neo-Nazi influence.
3. Demilitarization - complete disarmament of Armed Forces.
4. Neutrality - no NATO aspirations, legally binding in Ukraine's Constitution.
"4. Neutrality - no NATO aspirations, legally binding in Ukraine's Constitution."
In Aug 1991, the 1st Ukraine's Constitution declared "Ukraine's neutrality, not joining any military blocks and equality of languages." Ukraine lied, because it knew that otherwise Russia'd disputed Ukraine's "1991 borders" in 1991. The problem is that Ukraine's constitution is not worth the paper it is printed on.
DECLARATION ON THE STATE SOVEREIGNTY OF UKRAINE
The Ukrainian SSR solemnly proclaims its intention to become in the future a permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three non-nuclear principles: not to accept, produce, or acquire nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian SSR guarantees all nationalities living within the Republic's territory the right to their free national and cultural development.
Did you read the article?
The article concerns Trump's ever changing public vs private stance and the media spin machine's response.
Since Trump's temperament is transactional and Zelensky's position is no surrender of territory (as per the Constitution), the article focusses on the territorial stumbling block.
The abbreviated list of high level Russian objectives provided by taukey is correct.
"Zelensky's position is not to cede territory (in accordance with the Constitution)" Incorrect, the beggar's position is to live one more day, and for that he sacrifices hundreds of Ukrainians every day on the altar of the god Stefan.
Zelenski's position fits the description of the Yiddish word, 'kapo'.
Kapo, a very Ukrainian specialty in Russian prison camps
It is not incorrect. It is the legal framework behind his position:
"Article 2
> The sovereignty of Ukraine extends throughout its entire territory.
>Ukraine is a unitary state.
>The territory of Ukraine within its present border is indivisible and inviolable.
----------
Article 73
> Issues of altering the territory of Ukraine are resolved exclusively by an All-Ukrainian referendum."
----------
Zelensky's conundrum is that if he voluntarily agrees to cede territory he is in violation of the Constitution and could be jailed or worse for treason.
The legal argument does not invalidate the cynical viewpoint that you express.
There is no longer a constitution in Ukraine, except for a few sheets of paper in the palace bathroom, perhaps. The tyrant and his equally tyrannical political tribe have washed it clean. To do this, the tyrant even got rid of the constitutional judges who used to throw the constitution under his nose. I don't think the constitution stated that the genocide of the male and now female people was to be carried out to preserve it.
Yes. There was nothing in the article that contradicts the 4 points that have been set in stone for a couple years now. Just a more subtile way of attaining the goals.
"3. Demilitarization - complete disarmament of Armed Forces."
If Germany and Japan are to be taken as examples of how to achieve complete demilitarization by the US, without secret weapon procurement's and military build up, nothing short but full occupation of the Ukraine is the only viable option for Russia. If they don't take over the Ukraine in its entirety, you will have history repeat itself just like WW1/2. As bad as US foreign policy is, maybe the only good thing they achieved is having kept the 2 instigators of both world wars at bay and under ruthless occupation.
Something the Russians can learn from, but I highly doubt it.
If Russia isn't demilitarizing Ukraine now, then tell us what it is? Do you even know what death entails? Its definition?
Ukraine is much more militarized now than it was in 2022.
Could it strike Ufa back then? No,
Well, it is doing it every other day now.
Who's writing to me? The neuron on the right or the one on the left?
You've found a lice in me. My mission: not to let go of the lunatics, the fanatics, the degenerates. A deal with humanity.
The Soviets wanted and Putin needs now, the US to continue occupying western Europe. Otherwise, the Western Europeans will revert to their default position; wars.
And the logical conclusions of that? Can it be achieved or forced?
1. Russian can force AFU out of the Oblast but they will not be recognized by either Ukraine or the western world.
2. Legislative bans imposed by whom and to what territory? Purging the neo-nazis…where? It has spread to from Ukraine to Poland, Finland, Sweden and Brussel. Merz, Pistorius are soon to be clad in uniforms… Will not happen if you not occupy the whole of Ukraine or, god forbid, annihilate the Leadership.
3. Complete disarmament of Armed forces means to kill every AFU-soldier, occupy the whole of Ukraine and oust the thousands of NATO-people there. There will be no volontary disarmament.
4. Neutrality can be achieved if the rulers in Ukraine make the right decisions. Anyway, such a decision can be revoked in the future.
Is the Russian outspoken objectives achievable with the tactic&strategy they have used and are using now? No.
Do not be confused on Crimea. That is a place they will keep whatever it takes.
Ukrainian or NATO pledges are totally worthless, so Putin will keep going until Russia controls and neutralizes a rump Ukraine...which includes seizing Odessa and complete control pf the Black Sea...
I believe that taking the entire Black Sea regions of Ukraine is key to securing Russia's national interests on their borders. Otherwise the British and their European partners will have an open avenue to further subversion. Partitioning of what remains of Ukraine among various European interests (Hungary, Romania, Poland, etc) will be necessary.
Russia's objective is ensuring its own security. It never had a territorial list per se, although certain minimums. The territory it must take to ensure its security simply grows the more resistant the west becomes to any settlement proposal, as Putin pointed out after the Alaska punt was rejected by EU-NATO-Ukraine.
If you question the All mighty SMO you are not a believer and will be ostracized.
Confusion is only the middle name of this shitshow.
One day people will wake up and ask themselves; what was all this about, why did millions die, for what?
Empire always dies fighting on the borderlands. This time is no different.
So, you think Russia dies? Or do you mean EU is an Empire?
The influx of western barbarians (including “artists”) has only been since the late 50’s , early sixties. The very high human culture that existed in Bali for over a thousand years, appears to have been devastated by the incursion. That being said ,it did appear to me that many Balinese still embodied in some degree that high state , to which most westerners are oblivious.
Actually, gotta disagree with you on the Economist point at the end there....they appear to have cornered the bustling market of propaganda pieces quite effectively. That would make them quite the Economists.
Maybe, but they're shit economists from the mercantile school. Never saw a broken window they didn't spin into a good thing for the economy.
Trump is playing.... If he cared for dead Slavs he would not be selling arms nor providing targeting intel, etc.
If he cared for peace security guarantees of Dec 2021 from Russia would be implemented!
Ryussian Federation will achieve its requirements with kinetics.
This historical movement that we are living through continues to surprise. At first, I would have considered it logically impossible for the head of state of a country involved in an "existential" conflict to be concerned with appearing "amenable". But here we are. This is an almost mystical maintenance of the tension of opposites.
Imagine that in October 1943 Stalin had come out and said "Hey, we don't want to appear not amenable to diplomacy, so let's freeze the front lines and have Hitler permanently keep most of Ukraine and the Baltics. No need for Operation Bagration, we need to appear reasonable in front of the world".
How does that sound?
Well, that is exactly what Putin is doing right now. Exactly.
Except he hasn't done any of that. As the article points out, he merely stated he was open to that. That deal will almost certainly be rejected, allowing Putin to appear amenable and wanting peace, while continuing to wage war as he wishes. It's a "can't-lose" situation for him, since even if UKR agreed, he would likely claim to have changed his mind.
That is exactly what he has done.
Is taking Kiev even an objective at the moment? No, that is completely out of the question.
And we have that from Putin himself last year, when he said "if we want to be back around Kiev, we need to mobilize another half a million to a million". Which he then proceeded to not do.
So yes, we are exactly in the situation where the Nazis (literally so) have captured the Baltics and most of Ukraine and Russian leadership officially refuses to do anything about it.
Kiev is a 90% Russian speaking city.
And after WWII the OUN/UPA guerilla warfare never got past Ternopol.
What "occupation" are you hallucinating about?
"He simply discovered that he was open to it." Are you also serving in his office? And I read in a newspaper that you are... portrait he that I believe? Surely
Imagine that October 2025 is not October 1943.
Luis. 👏👏👏👏👏
Short, sweet and to the point!
>"Unless we were to go in with them – which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us. It clearly is for the Russians, by the way"
There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.
So why has Putin not finished off the war yet and is instead completely eroding Russia deterrence and slaughtering so many of his own people?
Can anyone provide a non-BS answer to that question that does not automatically raise the next urgent question of the necessity of the immediate removal of Putin and everyone associated with him from power?
Speaking of which:
>during the recent phone call with Trump, Putin had reiterated that he’s willing to give up parts of Kherson and Zaporozhye in exchange for Ukraine giving up Donbass [...] nor does it mean Putin’s “capitulation” or lowering of the conflict’s aims [...] The context here is not a total and final end to the war—Putin never offered such a thing. What Putin has offered is that he would call an immediate ceasefire—understood to be conditional and temporary—should Ukrainian troops pull out of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Forget about whether this is another stupid diplomatic game. Look at the facts.
Let's recall that in November 2022 Putin surrendered without a fight a regional capital of the Russian Federation, and has practically never mentioned it since then, except for that June 2024 statement. He didn't even have the courage to address the nation when it happened. The KPRF filed an official inquiry on the matter in the Duma, it was immediately vetoed, and with that the subject was closed.
This is also the same man that put Crimea on the table in Istanbul in 2022.
Both of these are acts of grand treason according to the Russian constitutions and laws, no ifs and buts about it, yet nobody dares call him out on it, because if you do that, you end up like Strelkov.
Now if military necessity mandated that this is done temporarily, it can be an understandable temporary measure. But in such a case you constantly remind the Russian public that it is temporary and that we will get the city back. Even if you don't intended to do it, it is a largely cost-free palliative measure. Instead Putin has never mentioned it.
What does that tell us?
Second, the current official goals of the war already amount to complete defeat and surrender.
Let's say Zelensky agrees and withdraws even from Zapozozhye city and the administrative borders of Kherson and Zaporozhye on the other side of the river. Does that solve any of the problems Russia had before the war started and the numerous additional ones that it has now as a result of the inept actions of its leadership?
Absolutely not.
Is that going to demilitarize Ukraine? No.
Has Ukraine been demilitarized in any way? No, exactly the opposite, it is now a hypermilitarized entity that exists with the sole purpose of hurting Russia. Is that going to change? No.
Is it going to denazify Ukraine? Absolutely not. How would it do it?
Has Ukraine been denazified in any way in the last four years? No, once again exactly the opposite happened.
Is it going to stop the US from situating its missiles in Ukraine and firing them from point-blank range? Not at all, and it is happening anyway already.
Is it going to stop the drones from reaching Bashkiria and Orenburg? No, those fly from Kharkov and Sumy.
Is it going to dissolve the SBU and GUR? Negative again.
Is it going to repeal all the anti-Russian laws and re-Rusify Ukraine? Negative here too.
So as they currently stand, even if Putin's official goals are achieved, we have a big red X on every single strategic goal that the war started with.
What does that tell us about Putin's official goals? From which he is already retreating if that FT information is correct...
Worse, let's imagine that the real goals are to redo Operation Bagration and solve the problem once and for all. Do you see any signs of something like that being prepared? Not at all, there is no mobilization, the forces don't exist. So the official goals do indeed look to be the real goals at the moment...
It's not in the official document, but was discussed and was in a draft document.
Your post reveals that you didn't follow events in real time, and you didn't pay attention later either.
Because that Putin put Crimea on the table was widely reported at the time it happened, to the disbelief of everyone, and was later confirmed many times, by independent sources (Arestovych, Lukashenko, and others). Here is Lukashenko talking about it in June 2023:
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6043704
>Президент Белоруссии Александр Лукашенко заявил, что во время переговоров в Стамбуле в марте 2022 года делегации России и Украины обсуждали условия аренды Крыма и Донбасса. Он заявил, что президент России Владимир Путин показывал ему этот документ. Однако украинская сторона, утверждает господин Лукашенко, от договора отказалась.
How can Putin discuss "a lease" on Crimea in 2022 when by that time Crimea and Sevastopol had been federal subjects enshrined in the constitution for eight years?
It was, as usual, the Ukrainians saving Russian from Putin and refusing.
The "we" is the UK military......
I doubt the Russian army would feel much pressure from the extant so called royal army and royal air force....
Ed. It's the Royal Navy and the Royal Airforce, but it's the British Army because Fairfax and Cromwell created it.
RAF to use Indian instructors amid pilot shortage.
So, they're upgrading.
The same RAF that stopped a German invasion is now going to hire Rajeet to teach them how to fly? just another humiliation ritual for the natives.
Thank you.
You are a weirdo. Stop obsessing over stuff on the internet, it's not good for your mental health.
Do you really think that with a couple of neurons he risks a stroke? I don't believe it.
its his-her job
That's a brilliant summation of what is happening and I totally agree with you.
Flatulent crap as usual, the verbal diarrhoea runneth over.
Pure Poetic man!
Simple answer:
Putin is an agent for the West and has a romantic love for them. Since his Russian presidency what WAR if any has he won? Russo-Georgian-War was during Medvedev's rule which was won decisively and conclusively.
The silent majority are more patriotic towards Russia than the Putin-fan boys'n'gals.
ReynMeLo. Didn't he win the Second Chechen War?
More importantly, he won the peace afterward.
Ukraine will be a bigger challenge.
He did, but just listen to him then and now.
It's a completely different person.
We wish he went after Ukraine the same way he prosecuted the Second Chechen War...
Bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bla... Broken record... Chip
"who knew that Western leaders feed total slop to their gormless masses for the sake of political expediency?"
This guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Leaders_Lie
Leaders come from the people, right?
No, too high IQ and holy spirit. But I confirm, degenerates from a degenerate people. It's an old French strain who tells you this but who saved his spirit by fleeing this Neanderthal slum.
No, in Europe leaders come from the banking cartel.
A myth. They aren't even on the board of directors, but they are in the portfolio.
🇷🇺 Russia’s Golden Revenge: “Thanks, Biden.” The dollar was weaponized. Now gold is retaliating.
While Brussels lectures the world about “European values,” Russia is quietly stacking bricks of yellow defiance and laughing all the way to the vault.
📈 In just two years, Russia’s gold reserves have ballooned by $142 billion, now worth a staggering $282B, thanks to one thing: the collapse in trust in the fiat dollar.
Gold went from $1,800/oz to over $4,300/oz, and guess who’s holding the bag?
🇪🇺 Europe, of course, the ever-obedient vassal who torched its own energy security, industry, and savings to follow the Biden admin's script.
🔥 Who lit the fire?
• The Biden admin and EU vassals, thinking sanctions were a magic spell, froze half of Russia’s FX reserves in 2022.
• That move sent a nuclear signal to the world: “Your dollar isn’t safe.”
• So Russia pivoted hard — toward gold, yuan, and ruble reserves.
• And now? It’s profiting massively, while the dollar bleeds trust globally.
EU Elites: Sanctioned into Stupidity
Let’s be clear: this didn’t backfire accidentally.
• Brussels greenlit the dollar war.
• Brussels greenlit cutting off Russian oil and gas, only to buy it back laundered through India.
• Brussels took lead in confiscating frozen Russian assets to illegally fund Ukraine forever wars.
Meanwhile, Russia is mining wealth, quite literally, while Europe’s factories shutter and its currency wobbles.
Gold is the currency of kings. The ruble is backed by it. The euro is backed by… lectures from Ursula von der Leyen.
🌒@EastCalling
Source Telegram
Everyone is looking at the military aspect of the conflict and totally neglect the economics. The longer this conflict drags on the more the west is dragged down economically and the stronger the emerging financial system becomes. The West has a monopoly on information but is rapidly destroying their credibility.
I'll be honest with you, in my opinion no amount of gold or treasure comes close to the now tens of thousands of good Russian men who are now dead because of this evil war.
I totally agree with you. The issue is at the commencement of the conflict the Russian leadership stated their intent to fight a small conflict now to prevent a large conflict later. If one understands Russian history with their Western European neighbours it's easy to understand the Russian mindset. It must be admitted, though the losses are a tragedy. The numbers for Russia would be much worse if it was a general open war with NATO.
Warfare with industrial revolution weapons is fearfully bloody and the nations fighting them have massive powers of recuperation. "Quoi qu'on fasse, on perd beaucoup de monde" (Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men, Charles Mangin)
Russia, China and their allies have been hoarding gold for years now. I wonder when they will pop up a gold backed alt currency like Gaddafi tried to do in 2010?
I don't know but it'll be a laugh.
I stand by Larry Johnsons view. Trump's every-changing views are like watching a tennis match.
🤣 🤣 🤣
Pong!
Russia is getting their ass kicked , sadly Ukraines lose men.
But it looks like ratio is 20-1
Russia's losing 1000 a day .
Ukraine has 70,000 Russian soldiers Who surrendered !
They did right thing , don't have a reason to fight and maybe die for Putin's lies !
Putin is milking Russia for all they have. .., Russia has lost more than a million soldiers !
🍷💊
Nut job , the ratios are the exact opposite , which MSM comics are you reading.
That’s some serious copium🤣
Look, we have a lifelong Economist subscriber amongst our midst. 😂
another Ukranian operative passed the filter...
Hey STOP.
Can you explain how Russia with massive drone and fire power superiority is losing 20 men to every Ukrainian?
Just how is that possible?
If you're going to attempt Propaganda at least try to make it slightly believable. Because this is just pitiful!
Welcome to our new coper-bot….he’s here to convert the feeble minded!!
I am for sure the only one on this Earth that wishes they would have a nuclear war.
To me that is the ultimate reset, so sick of "humanity" I would love to see it all burned off the face of the Earth.
Fuck all of you.
It’s the trees I’d worry about , the Petulant Baboon’s relatives would have no where to live
Good news, you don’t have to wait for a nuclear war. You are more than welcome to exit the game anytime.
Spoken like a true loon Petulant Baboon
The unlovely side of the domesticated primates…..
Make yourself a nuclear pill, a rope, or a truck wheel, and you will sleep forever for our sake. Take courage with your hands and feet.
Bonus: you reduce your carbon footprint to zero!
I hadn't thought of it, but it's a great source of money in the sale of carbon credits.
Yeah: I’ll literally PAY you to eliminate yourself! Dont think about it too long, the offer will expire….sadly some of the greenwashed really are that dumb. Oh wait here comes the Hale-Bop Comet….don you Nikes!!
he said... Amd then hung himself and died.
You and GM...
Species self loathing is a helluva drug!
SO is posting when you're shit faced.
Touché
At least we would get rid of Israel.
Yes.
Just another 180 turn from Trump and we can be assured it is not the last one. Politics is a game; the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the destruction of nations are an acceptable outcome. His own nation is getting close to be on the menu but that is another subject.
As far as the Budapest meeting I am not fully comfortable with that one. The city has a major concentration of cosmopolitans who do run the show there. It is a major playground for Europe’s Jewish population and they are handled with soft gloves as they have their unclean hands on business, finances and politics as well. They can pull off any dirty trick we ever heard of and some we have never heard before.
Were you born an asshole or did it take special training?
Sorry this is Monday here when I do not have to love jews. :)))
It's Tuesday now - that feeling still with me. Gosh, I wonder why?
That's aunty schlep schtick 😂
Can you tell the difference between Jews and zionist arseholes? (The clue is in the question)
If it's genetic, does it also require training?
ops, he said the J word...
Make it twice and you have a Baerbock 360….
I think the Budapest meeting is a hopium pipe dream... Chip
Ooooops, another 180 by the (Formerly) White House. Trump is not going to Budapest after a phone conversation between Marco Rubio and Lavrov. "There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," a White House official said.
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/21/trump-putin-summit-on-hold-russia-ukraine-war
AND, Two well timed fires Monday (October 20, 2025) night, within a few hours, local time: In Hungary a fire at an oil refinery that receives oil from Russia. In Romania fire at Lukoil, a Russian owned refinery. These fires followed the release of an Ukraine man who was arrested in Poland for blowing up the Baltic pipelines. The judges actually stated there that he is a freedom fighter, a hero.
Thanks so much, Simplicius, for this superb analysis. All your articles are extremely valuable. I look forward to each one.
I wonder, though, how reliable are those reports of Putin's offer to give up some territories. One would think they are total lies.
Although you have game-theoretically explained the logic behind such a gambit, it still seems very risky especially how that offer would look in the eyes of the Russian population. It would look like giving up...hopefully, there will be no need for this gambit.
"Although you have theoretically explained the logic behind such a bet." Do you want me to share my logic based on my imagination? That would really be something personal and not based on newspaper scraps.
Right!
That would be a dangerous domestic political game for Putin!
There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West." In view of the number of casualties, hardly anyone is talking about "brotherly people" anymore, at least as far as the western Ukrainians are concerned. Only in the media does such a definition occasionally appear, ergo more like propaganda!
And
In the event of a ceasefire, Putin could NOT explain the tactics behind it to his people, as in this article...
It would definitely seem like a defeat to the people as well as the army...which could be very dangerous for Putin in the Kremlin.
"There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West."
Ah no, there are no such "growing calls" among the population in Russia. In fact, the exact opposite is true. There are growing calls to incinerate the West. Lucky for the West (and, in my view, for Russia), that viewpoint is still a minority viewpoint but it is part of a broader trend that certainly is a majority view that harsher responses by Russia should greet Western acts of war against Russia.
"which could be very dangerous for Putin in the Kremlin."
Absolute nonsense. That's Western self-delusion spawned, I suppose, by the West's infinite capacity to believe the lies it tells about Russia in general and Putin specifically.
Putin is wildly, genuinely popular in Russia. He's only disliked by the tiny percentage of Russians who are crazed liberals, say, 4% of the population, and lucky for all the rest of us who live in Russia those crazed liberals tend to be conveniently clustered within a few very large cities.
People may disagree with Putin from time to time, which is healthy in a large, sophisticated, complex society like Russia, but there's zero "danger" to Putin of any kind. If an embolism in his brain popped and resulted in some sort of drastic personality change where he started doing totally insane things well, then sure, he wouldn't be re-elected. But the amount of trust people have in Putin far exceeds what's necessary for people who doubt the specifics of some of his tactics to all the same stay the course with Putin.
find it difficult to understand how wise it was for Putin meeting Syria's butcher-in-chief Al-Sharaa (15/10) - http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/78208
But you're OK with Putin meeting Trump, whose armed forces and proxies in his first and second terms (just so far) have butchered far more people than Al-Sharaa could kill in a hundred years? This is a joke, right?
Syria is rough territory, a place of endemic violence where various factions butcher each other. That's true of many other countries in the world.
If a country doesn't want to have diplomatic relationships with other countries or the leaders of other countries who have "butchered" people, it's going to have to give up having diplomatic relationships with much of Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. That's reality.
The other approach is to observe that many people who have come to power through violence have ended up being a force for development of their countries and have settled down to peaceful relationships. Even if they don't end up being saints they can still sometimes play a role in reducing the evil being done in a region.
There's a school of diplomatic thought that says, for good reason, it is a wise move to maintain diplomatic relationships even with unsavory characters so you can influence them to be less unsavory.
There's also a school of diplomatic thought that says you often don't get a choice in who the actors are in a region, that they're all unsavory or outright evil, and that the best you can do is to work with the least worst choice so the evil that does happen is less than if the most worst actor had free rein.
That could be what's going on in Syria today, where Al-Sharaa just may end up being the least worst choice. Or do you think it's a better idea that Israel and the US annex all of Syria, start ethnically cleansing it and building "settler" villages?
al-Julani is simply a pawn who was used by Turkey-Israel-US to remove air defense systems, clear the air space across Syria, to make aggression against Iran possible.
He has sufficient cogency to understand his life is hanging by a thread, his usefulness is now marginal. The three countries who installed him are the most untrustworthy, violent and psychopathic on earth.
By reaching out to Russia, to see if he has any use to them, makes sense. His terror forces could be useful to Russia to complicate the consolidation of Syria plans by the occupiers.
Putin needs to verify all resources available for his country's defense.
"Putin needs to verify all resources available for his country's defense."
? Syria has nothing to do with Russia's defense, and Russia has no need to utilize resources from Syria for its defense. Russia is handling the defense of Russia just fine on its own.
That's exactly what I said above about the mood among the Russian population...to the point where public TV called for the destruction of Warsaw.
What didn't you understand about that...?
No that's not exactly what you said. You said nothing about public TV or the destruction of Warsaw. On the contrary, you said, "There are growing calls among the population to finally end the violence against "the West."
It sounds like you don't understand English very well if to think that calls "to finally end the violence against "the West"" means that there are calls *for* violence against the West. The words "to finally end the violence against the West" means people are opposed to using violence, *not* for it.