579 Comments
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Oct 19
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Racial slurs of any kind are not allowed here, against any race or religion, for the sake of upkeeping a semblance of decorum and hospitable conversation space. Given the severity of what you wrote, I'm forced to give you a moderate-length ban.

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The AA, the Houthis, and West Point

For once a more or less accurate assessment of the impact and the strength of the AA from the kernal of the US military machine

As the toughest and least amenable and most extremely well defended & in general militarily impervious to US military intervention

One of the very few westie authors to note the significance of the AA set up in Irak

Barring one or two bended knees to ideological icons such as Iran backed, and maybe RF supported

Which help the authors lead into a startling but inaccurate conclusion that it would be easier for the US to shut down Iran so to deprive the AA of power

The truth is that insurgent groups as dedicated as the AA have an aversion of outside control which matches their irredentist ideology and ensures that they are beholden to no one

The Russians know one when they see one, as do the North Koreans

https://ctc.westpoint.edu/a-draw-is-a-win-the-houthis-after-one-year-of-war/

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What is AA?

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Read the link

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Ansar Allah.

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Thank you for this.

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Yemen are the fly in the ointment to the grand plan. It could be argued that their intervention has totally fucked the whole thing for USUK. Imagine if they weren't involved.

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Exactly - thank you for this - and I'd say they were in fact invincible or the closest one can imagine to that, there's a lot more they can do even, single handed stalemate

Even the North Koreans, no fools at going their own way, do not have this degree of autonomy, although they can play the same ish role in east Asia

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So, for all practical purposes, and unless NATO steps in, Russia commands the destiny of Ukraine.

But, after all the dust settles, what will Ukraine look like?

I think Russia should command all of what was formerly Ukraine and rename it "Western Russia". That way the Western media could spin it as "Boy, we sure kicked those Russian asses in Western Russia". Ukraine was a failed experiment best forgotten and re-birthed.

Next, I think Russia should allow for a salient 25km by 150km inland (Keep your friends close and your possible enemies closer) along its westernmost part of New Russia, with its own autonomy similar to that of Hong Kong in China. It's the point from which Russia does business with Western Europe. Sanctions or not, Russia holds the European energy lifeline it needs to function as a society. Some Western countries are likely to break away from US's diminishing global hegemon as a last desperate measure to restore their economies. Russia tells the world, "We are open for business". (profit maximization)

Upon taking over, Russia should allow the right to citizenship of Western Russia over the conquered and liberated land or a free ticket to a country that will take them. Of course, basic citizen screening applies requiring certain conditions to qualify. (weed out the malfeasants)

And last, surrender means the enemy is not to touch or damage their weapons as they are now Russian property with applicable property laws and legal punishment for offenders. Those weapons will be trophies and some re-purposed.

Any other ideas?

I think Russia's failure to take Ukraine at the most opportune time would result in a strategic defeat because it would fail to eliminate the threat long term. What would NATO do in Russia's place? They'd take over the whole country a la Desert Storm, man. Shock and Awe those Ruskins to surrender. "Bombs away, pilot", "Roger that, Fallen Eagle".

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Russia seems to have incrementally increased the pressure, these threats of escalation provide ample reason for Russia to turn it up even faster. The Nazi presence so obvious to many of us should have the whole NATO alliance hanging it's head in shame. We pay you for defense and you go Fascist on us!

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I think we know from our experience of this organization over many years and in many theatres that its purpose has never been defensive.

You use the word "nazi," and the clear-headed amongst us realize that this term is double-speak for "jewish," as all the main players both in the west and in Ukraine itself are of this ethnicity.

The fact that they cloak themselves in the honourable symbols of the Third Reich is simply demonstrative of their ability to successfully gaslight those who observe their ongoing shenanigans

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Oh FFS! No they aren't, some of them are zionists, American Caesar's proxies du jour.

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Oct 19
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As I've aid, I'm an atheist, I have no truck with superstitious mumbo jumbo and none for superstitious bigotry.

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Oct 19
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"Superstitious bigotry"?

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It doesn't really matter what you believe.

It's what the protagonists believe that's important, and they definitely cloak themselves at least partly in religious ideas.

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Stop with the nonstop Jew thing. We get it but you don't need to spam about it 24/7 otherwise it begins to look like a discrediting operation. Most forums have rules to stay 'relatively' on topic anyway, and though I allow people to go off topic, that crosses a line when the "off topic" discussion is spammed so numerously that it begins overtaking the "on topic" one in volume.

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Going to start removing anti-Semitic comments then?

Zionists want to label push back againist them as anti Semitic. So people coming into post anti Semitic posts help Zionists out.

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To me it is irrelevant the title a psychopath hides behind. It seems likely that Jewish people are probably, by the numbers, among the smartest people on the planet.

However they have been hijacked and used by psychopaths with an evil agenda. These psychos will wear any uniform at hand to perpetuate their agenda.

They have infiltrated every single institution in the world. They are insidious. According to Robert Hare they make up between 4-6% of any given population.

So there are way more psychopaths than Jews! Those who shout it is all the Jews fault are likely psychos.

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Oct 19Edited
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Yet more haSSbara fatuity, go to the back of the class.

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No they haven't, Jews are the opposite of zionists.

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I never equate Jews with Zionists!

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" Jewish people are probably, by the numbers, among the smartest people on the planet. "

In you onion then, what group of people are among some of the dumbest on this planet ? You cant have one without the other.

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Thanks Deplorable. I'll bite. Anyone who forms core beliefs from watching, tv, film or lots of video. So yes, some of my beliefs are dumb as sometimes watch video. Occasionally glimpse tv, it always shocks me. Rarely 'get' references from film.

Least favorite core belief. It's all Putin's fault. Replace with? Psychos rule the world.

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Oh boy; there's a lot of competition for the dumbest. Then again, it depends on the type of intelligence. Trump is average in intellectual intelligence but he could hustle a physicist with a 160 IQ.

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If Jewish people are the smartest (according to you), why would they allow themselves to be hijacked by psychopaths. To me it looks very stupid

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Among the smartest if you want an exact quote. Turns out psychos are very adept at manipulating all people. They are impeccable liars. Hare was asked where he would look to research psychopathic behaviors if he lost access to prisoner populations. Wall St. I guess the contention I would make is Psychopaths are our source of grief more than any given ethnic group.

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Zionist....

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Stop with the anti-semitic nonsense, they are Zionists! Many Jews are not Zionist.

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You anti semites can't stop

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"The fact that they cloak themselves in the honourable symbols of the Third Reich is simply demonstrative of their ability to successfully gaslight those who observe their ongoing shenanigans"

Nazi confirmed, have screen capped fur proof.

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Oct 19Edited
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This is a warning, stop the endless race-baiting and attacking of members. There are MANY other forums on the internet where you'll be welcomed to post 24/7 on this topic. But these posts are off-topic and hostile/antagonistic and will now be removed in force.

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I'm assuming it's "Greenberg "

Am I right?

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Tim please don't put words in my mouth or include me in your rants as a willing participant. Have no desire to understand what would make the symbols "honorable" in your world.

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Wait what? this pro nazi comment stays up, but my pushback comments get removed.

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Had you read my comments, you would have noticed that I never said anything supportive of "nazis," rather, I was supportive of National Socialists, and the two terms are antithetical.

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I think you miss the point that NATO was birthed from Nazism. Do some research on Operation Gladio, or operation Paperclip. Later on Operation Aerodynamic continues the same modus operandi. And it wasn't only Nazism. Don't forget the US moved almost the entire Unit 731 from China to the US after the defeat of the Imperial Japanese.

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As long as we understand that nazism has nothing whatsoever to do with National Socialism.

jews defeated it via their Allied proxies, and so of course took the next step, by creating NATO and the UN, and all the other supranational bodies, which of course are designed to first subvert all power, before finally delivering it all into their hands.

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Take your meds nazi

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After you take your Zyklon B.

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Awesome sir !

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Now, now!

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There's only one tribe in the world with "nazi" in their name.

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It's sad to see Simplicius tolerating the tribe invasion of his comment section.

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Nazism was simply a derivative of the Western ethnic supremacism and genocides of the previous centuries. It wasn't special, it just genocided Europeans instead of Amerindians, Africans, Indians, Indonesians etc. Scrape the surface of Western "Liberalism" and you will find fascism underneath.

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IOW, as we know all genocides were of jewish origin, then nazism was just the same thing re branded.

They're still at it today, ICYMI.

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abcdefg I am only too familiar with Nazi ideology imbedded in US regulators.

My advice to 'them'? Stop pretending you are not supporting Fascism, stop calling it Democracy, it isn't and hasn't been.

The more lies you get caught in the more ridiculous your calls to obedience become.

We would fight for Democracy, not Nazism! Stop insisting we should!

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As you imply, dealing with the aftermath of conflict is always far more difficult than dealing with war itself - and even that isn't easy.

Some sort of mass reconstructional effort at extremely favourable terms, would be needed to keep the everyday Ukrainian onside, and compliant with a new Russian jurisdiction.

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Take a look at the history of Western Ukraine (=Galicia) and then rewrite your proposal again. The Russian leadership is extremly well eductated, they will not include this western part into Russia.

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The desire of the Russian leadership is not only to incorporate those territories which wish to be incorporated, but also to ensure that those that don't, do not then get used by the west to provide a breeding ground for Russophobia and allow themselves to be used for the stationing of eastwards- pointing

weaponry.

Providing them with various economic incentives to remain nationalistic if they wish, but not Russophobic, is therefore the sensible course for Russia to pursue.

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There is no way Russia would or could assimilate the whole of Ukraine.

If they tried, the CIA would have half a million people available to recruit.

Absorbing the regions where ethnic Russians are a clear majority makes perfect sense and will probably be done. Where the division is about 50-50 would be unwise. Absorbing the western part where most of the people are dyed-in-the-wool Ukrainian nationalists would be stupid. Putin knows that, and is not stupid, so will not do it.

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Russia does not want the whole of Ukraine back. It simply wants to protect its ethnic Russians in the Eastern Oblasts and to prevent Ukraine stationing NATO nuclear weapons on its soil.

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If you look at successful insurgencies on recent decades, the one thing they all have in common is a young population. The median age in Yemen was 19.

The median age in Ukrane was over 40, and that from before the war. Ukraine is not ripe for insurgency.

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Oct 19Edited

None of this would have been an issue had Putin done his job in 2022, the years prior, and after that

1) Not allowing Ukraine to be Banderized and taken over by the West. Putin was in the KGB, then head of the FSB for a bit, etc. Surely it was not a secret to him what a threat the Banderites were after the NKVD spent a decade with tens of thousands of victims subduing them back in the 1940s and early 1950s.

2) Not allowing the Maidan to happen in the first place. It's not as if there was no warning - there had already been the Orange revolution a decade earlier

3) Reversing the Maidan immediately with a massive invasion while the AFU was nearly nonexistent as a force

4) Not allowing Ukraine to be militarized to North Korea levels in the 8 years since.

5) The second-to-last chance to stop it -- going in properly in 2022 and eliminating the regime altogether instead of bluffing with a token symbolic force and looking once again for some kind of a deal where there is none to be had.

6) The last chance to stop it -- after the failure of the first months of 2022, mobilizing fully immediately and finally doing what had to be done.

None of that was done.

But the only real objective of the war was to stop NATO from situating nukes in Ukraine. Not to preserve Russians in Ukraine from being genocided, not to stop the resurgence of Nazism, all of that the Kremlin was more than willing to accept. The only real red line were the nukes, because then the West would have been able to use the nuclear gun pointed at the Kremlin's temple to extort the Russian oligarchy into handing over much of its control over Russia's resources directly to the West.

However, because in the end nothing was done to seriously solve the Ukrainian problem, then what was anyone expecting to happen but nukes eventually being placed in Ukraine regardless of NATO membership?

In fact, it is quite likely they have been there for a while now, it's just not acknowledge.

Great job by Mr. Putin as usual - decisively solving the problems of the Russian state in favor of the country and the Russian people...

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Yeah right. It's all Russia's fault.

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Not "Russia"'s fault.

The Russian elites' fault.

And yes, it is their fault.

Why does Ukraine exist in the first place?

Because Russian elites were willing to break up the USSR in order to transform political power into direct ownership (for themselves, of course) and loot the immense riches of the country.

For those same reasons there was no effort made after 1991 to make sure Ukraine was not Banderized and captured by the West - it would have gone against the interests of the comprador oligarchy that has been in power in both countries since then.

So yeah, it is the fault of Russian elites. And Putin serves their interests, not the interests of Russian people.

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Have you tried pounding on his desk ? Try that. See if you can get his attention.

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Do trolls know when they are getting trolled? Personally I think they're too dumb... might even be algo-driven.

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@Charlie M

GM must use a SHOE while pounding on desk, traditional Russian technique.

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In 2014, Putin was still locked in an existential struggle for control of Russia with the "Russian elites" that you mention, and the outcome was in no way certain. Those elites had enormous support and influence in the west, and most were dual-citizens with the full support of the State of Israel in their struggle against Putin.

There's only so much bandwidth to tackle any great problem. Putin did a good job threading the needle of a very complex tapestry.

Putin has been locked in a Jewish war against him since he first came to power, as soon as he turned on those same powers after being handed the reigns of state.

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I'm NOT Kamala Harris and I approve of this message. One other benefit to Russia is the SMO proving that NATO is nothing more than a loud-mouthed money laundering operation for the MIC in the U$$$A. Ike continues to spin in his grave after his warning/message was so stupidly ignored re the MIC. But..as always...

Mo' money...mo' money...mo' money...

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Brilliant! Dead on… the SMO has proven the “west” sells a bunch of expensive AND poor quality toys… against a peer (and determined) adversary — all the wunderwaffen are systematically destroyed! At huge expense to the provider and buyer. And now the EUs military cupboards are bare: AMERICA to the rescue — to sell the NEWEST batch of wunderwaffen…and to force all EU vassals to pony up MORE money for military junk… you know, because of the threat of RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA (do I hear a Hilary Clinton echo?). The deep state and the MIC NEED Russia to give them an excuse to exist, expand and thrive! Watch a comedy — to break the tension — “The Man Who Knew Too Little”… unfortunately it was a mockumentary of the current situation. Just like Idiocracy is a mockumentary of current America.

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It is sad. The level of violating basic logic, that you are doing.

Soviet communists almost destroyed Russia, they inherited one of the richest countries in the world and drove it into abyss.

So profound devastation of a nation that left nothing on which to try to rebuild. Gorbachev was scared to death of communism, he didn‘t know where he was going, he hadn‘t found a star in the skies that could guide him, but he knew he had to get out of communism if Russia is to survive.

And the rest is history.

You are wrong about Putin. Putin‘s decisions are against elites, and you are investing great effort not to see it, not to admit it.

Western oriented elites are at a loss with Putin, as Russia is independent.

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No. Your picture of the world is literally turned upside down.

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Name one country that is not ruled by „comprador oligarchy“.

Except China, Vietnam that are governed by communist party that accomodates, accepts basic „comprador“ = capitalist beliefs

Accusing „comprador oligarchy“ of wishing good relationwith the west is OK, but it is illogical to put Putin who opposes the West in an existential battle on the same side.

Illogical if one stays inside your own world.

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All unfortunately true. But the view is worse if you stand back and look at the big picture. Virtually all countries are some variation of Ranchers (חוואים) farming the human population for power and shekels.

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Putin was naive, as he admitted in his conversation with Tucker...but there is no chance that Ukraine has hidden any kind of nuclear weapons from Russian intelligence, or NATO...And even tactical nukes require maintenance, which would make them easily detectable....

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"Easily detectable" how?

Also, you clearly are not aware that Ukraine didn't even return all Soviet nuclear warheads that it was supposed to give up. It is not clear in what shape those are, of course - the thermonuclear ones expire rather quickly without maintenance, but the fission ones may still be OK.

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General Moron returns with his usual low IQ opinions. I have to admit he is good for a laugh.

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I have noticed many times that Western people, even the most friendly and trying to learn more about Russia, do not understand Russia at all, and tell each other fairy tales about it, sometimes scaring each other like boyscouts at a night campfire, sometimes extolling Russia. GM very accurately describes the situation as seen from inside Russia. But then come the evil little Western trolls and call him morron. Lol.

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Not a moron so much as a western asset trying to undermine Putin knowing that would lead to a possible Russian defeat...and a sock puppet.

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No one is going to overthrow him. Let him finish the war, finish his term, and retire, covered in glory. Vladimir the Victor! But after him, Russia will need to be put in order, and this is impossible without a correct assessment of reality. And without people in power who care about Russia, and not about pleasing "our Western partners."

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He reminds me so much of a twit in the comedy Brain Candy who works for a drug company and finally gets to present at a Board meeting. He proudly announces to the executive he has "Invented a drug that gives worms to exgirlfriends" . He is being lead out of the building moments later while complaining how nobody gets him and his invention.

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I have no idea whether GM's conclusions are good, bad, or in-between, nor do I really care. But since the inception of this blog, the kind of responses you've repeatedly made to commenters, never address the issues they try to raise. You deliberately evade such hard work. Instead, your lazy contribution is to make snide personal remarks about the commenter. That tactic is as old as the ancient Greeks; it's called shooting the messenger. It's a logical fallacy. Try looking it up sometime, you might learn something, especially about useful interactive discussion. Until that happens, you should strongly consider keeping your yap shut.

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Oct 19Edited

If you don't know if his bullshit is good or bad that shows you too are a clueless fuckwit.

BTW I don't address the "issues" of trolls and morons, as there are no issues they bring up. Just misinformation and misguided opinions.

So you should consider eating a dick.

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Ah, very good, you've just provided even more proof that I'm correct.

Have a nice day, buh-bye!

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hahahaha! Great sense of humor...

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Even if we imagine that Ukraine somehow retained nuclear weapons, it cannot use them because the launch codes (the notorious nuclear briefcase with the red button) have always been in Moscow. The Ukrainian president could not launch nuclear weapons either in 1992 or 2024. This is clearly written in this article. And why would Kyiv even need to store these missiles if it could have sold them profitably to Iran or North Korea back in the 90s?

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Oct 19Edited

Strategic nuclear weapons - ICBMs and SLBMs - have launch codes.

Tactical nukes don't.

Do you seriously think the Davy Crockett was intended to be armed remotely by the president with the codes?

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There will obviously be protective systems in place to prevent inadvertent or malicious launch of these devices.

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An implosion style fission warhead relies on an electric charge to set off explosives shaped to concentrate a fissionable mass down to a very small, very dense core.

A neutron generator "initiator" is used to send a flow of neutrons into the core to start the chain reaction. Simple gun-type U-235 weapons "Little Boy" for instance, do not need an initiator, but are very wasteful of fissile mass. Plutonium weapons are considered to require it.

The initiators have a limited lifespan (a generalization - newer designs require less service and last longer) and are the part that limits the lifespan of an untouched fission warhead. Older designs were dependent on things like polonium with extremely short half-lives. Tritium is another material used, with a half-life of 12.3 years.

Multistage weapons (H-bombs) use a fission design to set off a much larger thermonuclear weapon. These weapons typically use lithium deuteride today. This, unlike tritium, is not radioactive. However, it is corrosive and explodes in contact with humidity/water.

All weapons, as you'll draw from this, require periodic servicing, if only for a power source and neutron generator. There are no real mysteries, as Putin said, in their construction. Any protective measures can be worked around by the competent. Some weapons will have additional components that require periodic testing, such as the switches (krytrons were common in the past).

If you don't service the weapons, there are big problems with them and you'd fear to open them up for some reasons that should follow from the brief discussion above.

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I think that Ukraine's allies can give it tactical nuclear weapons at any time if they want to set off a nuclear explosion in Russia. And then say, as in the case of Nord Stream, that it was a Ukrainian nuclear bomb. Although, most likely, the explosion will be in Kharkov, so that the city does not fall into the hands of the Russians.

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I don't think that dodge would work. Also, keep in mind that Russians will be able to quickly assay the material from the bomb after the explosion and be able to tell you with pretty good accuracy what the source of the plutonium is. That is where the response will be aimed.

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There can be no Ukrainian nuke. CIA and MI6 exert such level of official and even deeper unofficial control over Ukrainian secret services, if anything nuclear ever appears in Ukrainian grand finale, it is with their knowledge and support.

If something happens it will be before definite defeat that will bring Russia across Dnieper, and in control of Harkov, Odesa, Kiev

Definitely no attacks on Russia, possible candidates are assets, cities, regions states that might fall under Russian control; Harkov, Baltic states,

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Even less clear is how those warheads can be used, without what was described as complete Russian control over their launch codes, etc.

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Either the themonuclear expire fast OR the fission ones .... The fission is created by a thermonuclear event, therefore, you need to have a normal bomb as core and some hydrogen around. This core would expire (by the way, the hydrogen much faster).

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@werner hillinger

You have that just about exactly backwards.

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Look, GM , how many times do we have to tell you , the only reason why Putin is doing it all wrong is because you never gave him your phone number so he can call you daily for military advice, he and his General staff. If you aren't going to get your number to him, stop whining on these boards.

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As if readers would travel from overseas to Moscow to fight Putin. You would think that Western presidents do everything perfectly, and only Putin harms his country.

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Listening to Putin speak, and contrasting it to Western politicians, his accuracy on many details is refreshing. On matters that are not to his advantage, even. I'd excuse his mistakes more readily. He appears to be actually thinking about this stuff.

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Russia will continue the war against NATO until victory. Putin said it right there in the article.

2014 was too early to start fighting NATO, hence they waited till 2022.

PS. Ukraine is just the vehicle (for both sides).

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Putin....escalation management....it's a learning curve.

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To your points:

I think it wasn't as simple as taking a strong arm approach at thebeginning and boom! problem solved. There were a few considerations which I think you have neglected to mention:

1. Timing - right around the Sochi Olympics. This is absolutely not a minor matter and in all likelihood Maidan was enacted specifically at the time Russia was engaged in hosting the Olympics (which were very important to the people). You may want to note also that the take-over of Crimea and the bloodless way in which it happened occurred right after the Olympics ended. Coincidence?

2. Russia was not in fact in the kind of position - militarily and politically - to blast Ukraine out of Donbass. I think people have a hard time accepting just how weakened Russian armed forces became post Yeltsin and this is not something that can be fixed in a week or five. The strategists at the kremlin correcly judged that post 2014 they needed to buy time for the coming confrontation. That, I believe is the reason they were willing to play the Minsk game, which we all knews was just that - a game. It wasn't just the france and Germany that played Minsk board game. Russia did as well.

3. In the meantime, as so-called negotiations in Minsk continued, Donbass militia were slowly strengthened and many rights were extended to the people of Donbass, like Russian pensions, passports and work permits. That said, I do think it was a major mistake on Russian FSB's part to take its eyes off the ball in Donbass which allowed the assassination of key figures like Motorolla, Givi and Zachranzenko. The cynic in me even thinks this might have been deliberate, assuming the plan was all along to somehow find a way to incorporate Novoroussiya into Russia. Stars like Givi could be a problem in such an exercise.

4. Yes, I know the people of Donbass suffered greatly over that 8 year period. But I also think there was no way for Russia to come in more forcefully during that time. Russia had issues it needed to solve, both in terms of personnel and materiel as well as the endemic corruption in and around the Defense administration (anyone noticed how many people were fired and/or called to account over corruption just in the past year?).

5. Finally, the most important point perhaps - Russia, knowing full well what kind of sanctions the west would impose if they moved in militarily before '22, had to set the stage so as to have its own allies firmly in its corner. not just China either. The planning for BRICS expansion was ongoing, if perhaps not so visibly, and it was essential to give time for steps to be prepared to counter the fiancial, commercial and all around sanctions that Russia knew would be imposed should they make a move.

Taking all this into account, I honestly believe that Russia played masterfully a hand that was not as strong at the onset as some would like to believe. That hand required full diplomatic, political and military commitment and the support of their own citizens in the face of what could have been a disaster. I'd especially commend people like Lavrov and Nibullina, who tirelessly moved the play forward, each in their own super-important areas. Shoigu as well, in his own way, even if he ends up having his own wings clipped for not bringing corruption under control in a timely manner. And many other Russian high level players, whose names we are only now coming to know, like the new Defense Minister.

Not to mention the super-important role played by Xi of China, always careful, always planning ahead, but seemingly a loyal friend. I think it took some major doing for Putin and Xi to forge the close relationship and trust they now seem to have despite a long history of enmity and distrust. Some day, when the dust settles, I believe history will recognize the achievement that this rapproachment between historical adversaries beset by centuries of mutual suspicion represented. Some day.

All in all, it's not as easy to run a major country under high conflict situations facing an implacable hegmon as it is to look in the rear view mirror and rehash things of which we - keybpard warriors that we all are - never had full visibility.

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Oct 19Edited

>1. Timing - right around the Sochi Olympics.

What was more important? The stupid Olympics or preventing the existential threat that a Nazi/Western takeover of Ukraine represents? Weren't priorities perhaps misplaced a bit here?

>2. Russia was not in fact in the kind of position - militarily and politically - to blast Ukraine out of Donbass. I think people have a hard time accepting just how weakened Russian armed forces became post Yeltsin and this is not something that can be fixed in a week or five. The strategists at the kremlin correcly judged that post 2014 they needed to buy time for the coming confrontation.

First, the fact remains the AFU was in a much worse *relative* position to Russia back then. When they fought directly in the Donbass, Russia dominated them totally. Not the case right now.

Second, Putin did not in fact spend the next eight years preparing for war. The military budget went up a bit in 2015-16, but that was because of Syria, then it promptly went back to what it had been before, and remained there until the SMO, There was no preparation of the ground forces whatsoever.

Third, the opportunities that did exist even as things stood to secure territory in the Donbass back then were blocked by the Kremlin. Mariupol ended up destroyed precisely because of such a veto from Moscow -- the DPR forces had it on a plate in 2014-15, were ordered to stay out, and what happened in the end? Which had further negative ramifications - had the Russian army not wasted so much time with Mariupol in early 2022, it might have gone a lot further north and west, and many of the bloody battles of the last two years might have been avoided. Those were the most competent units too, under Mordvichev.

And you know why Mariupol wasn't taken? Because back in 2014 Rinat Akhmetov pulled some strings to secure the port, which otherwise would have been under sanctions, and with it all his coal and steel exports. For the same reason, Avdeevka was not taken for two years - the AKHZ belonged to Metinvest and was to be spared if possible. This sort of thing - Putin caring about the oligarchs first, often not even just the Russian ones, but the Ukrainian oligarchs too - is everywhere in the history of the war, and the direct and indirect death toll from it runs well into the six figures on both sides so far.

But this is something that westoids have a hard time comprehending, even if they think they are on Russia's side...

>3. In the meantime, as so-called negotiations in Minsk continued, Donbass militia were slowly strengthened and many rights were extended to the people of Donbass, like Russian pensions, passports and work permits. That said, I do think it was a major mistake on Russian FSB's part to take its eyes off the ball in Donbass which allowed the assassination of key figures like Motorolla, Givi and Zachranzenko. The cynic in me even thinks this might have been deliberate, assuming the plan was all along to somehow find a way to incorporate Novoroussiya into Russia. Stars like Givi could be a problem in such an exercise.

Notice the names of the DPR and the LPR? "People's republics". Which smells too much of communism, and that is a mortal sin in the eyes of the Kremlin. Is it any wonder they were not supported properly?

>4. Yes, I know the people of Donbass suffered greatly over that 8 year period. But I also think there was no way for Russia to come in more forcefully during that time.

First, yes, there was a way. There wasn't a will.

Second, was there an alternative? Does anyone seriously suggest that it would have been harder for Russia to get to the Polish border in 2014 than it is now in 2024?

>Taking all this into account, I honestly believe that Russia played masterfully a hand that was not as strong at the onset as some would like to believe.

This is laughable. Putin has "masterfully" maneuvered Russian into being reduced to the same kind of semi-failed state that is Syria, i.e. everyone can bomb it at will, and there will be no response.

That is so far the only tangible result of the SMO. Has any of the objectives been achieved?

Demilitarization of Ukraine? It's more militarized and with greater capabilities than ever.

Denazification? It is more naizifed than ever.

NATO? It is not an official member, but it has been effectively NATO fighting Russia there for quite some time now.

Meanwhile strikes into Russia proper with NATO weapons are now a daily occurrence. Plus an outright NATO invasion into pre-war Russia too.

So progress on the objectives is negative. Deeply into the negative in fact.

"Masterfully" played my ass...

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You sure you are not Strelkov in disguise?

many of your points were made over time by the so-called "sixth column" in Russia, otherwise known by some as the "hooray patriots". The Saker (who I miss) used to have fun poking at their claims. I won't try since you seem quite firm in your convictions.

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Go back to what The Saker was writing back in early 2022 and compare to what actually happened since then

It should an eye opening exercise if done properly

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I think this is written by a Marxist.

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The Saker turned out to be totally incompetent.

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I was glad he retired, I was fed up with his anti-gay bigotry and Goebbels-esque crap about Russia being the saviour of 'christendom'. Ouanqueur.

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Missing The Saker… hope the deep state hasn’t taken him and his family out.

You can tune into Rachel at MSNBC to get real news <sarc>.

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"anti-gay bigotry"

So you are a supporter of sodomites. Interesting. I have always suspected a homo and his supporter have no daylight between them. The only difference being the latter hasn't been fucked up the arse, but secretly desires it.

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> I was fed up with his anti-gay bigotry

Well, now I belatedly like him more. Sexual degeneracy and perversion should be forcefully eradicated in all available ways.

Only looked at his stuff on occasion though. He seemed too full of himself, and so sensitive that mean words made him weep.

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"People's republics".Which smells too much of communism, and that is a mortal sin in the eyes of the Kremlin." Indeed. The Kremlin hates these names of these republics so much that it has kept them to this day, and did not rename them when they were included in the Constitution, when it was legally possible to do so. The liberated cities of Donbass are getting their Soviet names back. The Moscow metro is named after Lenin, and Lenin himself lies in the Mausoleum. The Kremlin hates communism as much as Kyiv does.

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Btw the name "People's republic" was chosen by someone in the Kremlin in order to play on old patriotic Soviet feelings. I don't think the name was an "organic" occurrence.

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Not masterful played but as best as they could play. In hindsight one can argue over a lot but we dont know the whole picture and exactly how strong or weak the participants where. I am sure they did not know for themselves. Neither side. War is a development not a pre-written formula.

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I absolutely agree with you.

I think that Putin and his inner circle still dream about being friends with "their partners" again, about ice cream in Toscana and shopping in Paris.

Russian elite suffers to lesser value complex.

Even if attacked with nuclear weapons, Russia would probably not retaliate.

It is how much they adore the west.

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Yeeeeeaaaaah right... I actually think your thought process is, to put it nicely, f.cked up.

In comparison to the West, which is now a hodge podge of failed states, look up the real inflation rates across Western nations, not the fake ones, look up economic growth of Germany, UK, the US, Russia is doing great and Putin is surely crying, crying of laughter of how stupid our Western Elites are.

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You are right GM! The Kremlin has committed IMHO 4 major failures:

first not rolling back the Maidan right after the coup happened and before the new power structure was established,

Second, failing to support the Donbas sufficiently during 2014-2022,

Third, invading Ukraine in 2022 with a half-ass force hoping to avoid a large war with a show of force,

Fourth, failing to mobilize in mass after the Istanbul charade.

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A sober and eminently reasonable analysis.

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If you recall, Illovaisk and Debaltsevoe happened where Ukrainian troops were surrounded and hammered by DPR men. In fact they had almost entered Marioupol but then stopped due to Akhmetov's business interests.

In addition, plans for the formation of the KNR and ONR were abandoned and the cities were left to Avakov's goons, even though in the latter weapons were ready to go and people were just waiting on the order and that the Russians would come. Even as late as 2016 it was still possible, as there were still many flowers brought to the Trade Union building in Odessa. Instead Putin chose 8 years of waffling with Minsk 1 and 2.

It seems there was no information preparation of the population of Ukraine to counteract Ukrainian propaganda that has been ramping up in Ukraine since 2014. Indeed, Russian intelligence thought the situation and support would be identical to what it was in 2014 and before, which is part of the reason why they went in with such a small force. They thought it would be Crimea all over again, and the Ukrainian soldiers would surrender and join their side.

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Everything you said is exactly as it was.

But those are inconvenient facts for the narrative peddled by most here.

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It was a race with time. And a learning curve. And with hindsight everything looks like it could have been done better.

It would have been better for everyone if war could have been avoided.

Intelligent and wise knew in 2014 that war cannot be avoided. But in 2024 even dumb, even naive, even less well informed know with certainty that there was no other way for Russia.

And that Ukraine will lose if it chooses war.

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Spot on! ” Russia played masterfully a hand that was not as strong at the onset as some would like to believe.”. It is always easy to look in the mirror and Russia has done what they could.

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Dunning-Kruger says hi.

In hindsight everyone can criticize. I challenge you to become president of Russia and do a better job. Not holding my breath.

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Murmurings are already being heard in the corridors of the Kremlin to facilitate a soft takeover of all power by yourself.

I think your points are very valid, but hindsight is always 20:20, and I'm sure all the points you put forward were considered, and for some reason, rejected.

Putin seems to have favoured the Roman adage "Festina lente," and thought that an amicable arrangement could be arrived at, with what are effectively, the slavering attack dogs of the west.

As to the "nukes in Ukraine" point you make, re-read what was said about the US' inability to make the cores needed to expand the arsenal.

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No matter how much I communicated with Americans, they think they know better. About everything, not only about the States, but also about Russia. And for myself, I still haven't found an answer - why should I try to convince them otherwise.

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What? Are you suggesting Americans are both arrogant AND provincial!?

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Should I answer you honestly or politely?

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Some of us do know better about everything. But it's also true that most Americans have opinions and beliefs that were installed by comprehensive propaganda programs since birth. Beliefs like "it's normal to be obese", "infinite growth leads to prosperity", "Russia is our enemy", and "the parasites are our greatest ally".

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Wrong, shortsighted, lacking strategic isight or to be more precise too concentrated on NovoRossia, formerly Eastern Ukraine. Putin as a leader of Russia has the duty not to enter wars that could be lost.

All that seems possible today would be impossible if Russia has not been able to survive sanctions.

War on battlefield is just the visible tip of the iceberg.

Not to repeat in detail: Putin had to prepare economy, army, establish real trust with Chinese leader, organize BRICS….

Just to give an idea;

wouldn‘t it have been smarter for Napoleon not to attack Russia?

wouldn‘t it have been smarter for Kaiser Wilhelm not to attack Russia ?5

for A.H too in 1941?

Yet they all decided to attack …

and Kaiser‘s Germany succeeded in instilling the virus of bolshevism and destroying Russian state and society by transporting Lenin in sealed railwaycar across half Europe and releasing him in Finland.

Putin‘s main achievement lies in simultaneously successfully discouraging US and Europeans from entering a real war with Russia, and making Russian society and state significantly more immune to foreign interference,

by relying on Russian qualities, virtues, strengths and trusted allies.

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I think John Helmer would agree with you. He was often critical of Putin for the very same reasons.

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As an honorably discharged US veteran I just want to say we are not the evil pricks who have taken over the World. Many of the people are brain-washed into thinking violence can solve this. It won't solve a damn thing.

If the only solution you can think of involves launching nukes then step aside. Resign. This war started long before 2014. Just think if we had spent all the money spent on war, making the world safe for everyone.

You can blame anyone you like for where we are now. The true heroes will get us safely out of this insanity. You can take your next false flag and shove it where the sun don't shine.

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As a US veteran you are definitely not one of the evil pricks who have taken over the world. You're one of their mercenary army who made it happen. They couldn't have done it without you running around the globe and carelessly destroying other nations for the people who bought yours wholesale.

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Well list me as a cheap mercenary then cuz I didn't do it for the money. You raise a valid topic but I got an appointment to keep. The whole idea that we, as sailors and soldiers could put a stop to the craziness is empowering. I agree totally.

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I applaud your honest introspection. 🫡

'The birds they sang at the break of day

"Start again", I heard them say

Don't dwell on what has passed away

Or what is yet to be

Ah, the wars they will be fought again

The holy dove, she will be caught again

Bought and sold and bought again

The dove is never free

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

We asked for signs, the signs were sent

The birth betrayed, the marriage spent

Yeah, the widowhood of every government

Signs for all to see

I can't run no more with that lawless crowd

While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud.'

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Also honorably discharged US veteran, and thankfully was only an occupier of a European country for a couple years. As you learn after growing up, all wars are banker wars, and the bankers in question wear very small hats. There are no heroes, and literal cattle with 4 legs will overthrow their farmers and ranchers before the human cattle do.

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I would like to think there is something we as vets could do to slow down this runaway train. I would say, difficult as it must be, sharing our stories, no matter how gory seems better than suffering alone. Like you I never killed anyone. However.

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Unfortunately, optimism and reality are in direct conflict. When is the last time the 'non-elites' decided their own fate? There have been revolts and revolutions, and those were fomented by interests above the pay grade of the cannon fodder who fought them. While "mean and degrading", that meme about the goyim being nothing but slaves and cattle is all too accurate.

I don't know of any way to change the nature of our species.

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Well getting a clear picture of what is going on is helpful. The loneliness in our culture is a sign that we have a long way to go. I try to keep my chin up, I know people who live with more freedom than most. There is safety in numbers if,,,.

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"I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” Shoigu responded, the book says.

“Mr. Minister,” Austin said. “I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world. I don’t make threats.”

In other words, Shoigu $hit his pants. No wonder Putin cowers under his desk and is too scared to respond when Z/NATO blow up refineries, ammo dumps, etc. Well at least Dear Leader Putin has his sycophants to cheer for him over here.

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Watsamatter Raj, did the curry you ate last night upset your constitution?

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Hey. I like curry. (My wife hates it though, so I rarely get a chance to eat it).

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How does it feel to get your ass kicked in ukraine?

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A staunch supporter of the Democrats writes a book and the release date is just before the Presidential Election. I am not so sure that this is a good source.

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Would you believe John Helmer (Dances with Bears) or is everything that goes against your worldview of Dear Leader = propaganda? He corroborates Putin's cowardice and desperation for a truce, his attempts to throttle military progress and sideline Rogozin who is beloved by the military staff.

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Who told Helmer that? Rogozin is a meme in military. Go read telegram channels ran by real Russian military folk, try to brush off unrecognizable military abbreviations, crude warhammer 40k / jewish jokes and read comments as well. Well, it's nigh impossible to foreigners, but it's much better source than Helmer or all these retarded Russian war correspondents with their scares and idiotic analytics (it's all money baby, it sells). I wish Simp stopped to use them as source of information.

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A scary topic, but idk why the west thought it was smart to get into Ukraine and break Russia’s red line. The farmlands, titanium, and old racial scores are surely a factor but history will show that they bit too much and incurred a great enemy. After Ukraine is defeated by Russia in a year they will repay the US by supporting the Houthis, Iran, and other enemies more. Drones kept Ukraine alive far longer than it had right but it showed the west that their fancy equipment is very vulnerable by these cheap weapons. The AngloZionist empire is dying at long last. The elites know they can be in Europe, Middle East, and Asia so this will snowball.

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The US f.cked up big in Russia. They should have done it like they have done it with Germany. A lot of economic cooperation, hundreds of NGOs, Think Tanks with German Elites implemented in them. And look up Germany now, the German Elites are basically giving over the German big corporations to the US for free and are even bow to the US in the process.

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>Does Ukraine have a way to deliver a nuclear bomb to the heart of Russia? Not really

Incorrect. Large Ukrainian drones have flown as far as Perm, Kirov and Orenbrurg.

If those carried 300-kt each, that they were often suppressed shortly before they reached their target would not matter all that much.

>Such a thing would be folly because it would not gravely harm Russia but would incur a massive nuclear response that would end Ukraine’s existence.

Which would be the most idiotic thing possible to do, but completely in line with the Kremlin's retarded posture in the last three years.

This is in large part a civil war inside the Russian world instigated by the West to weaken it and destroy it from within. Any nuclear response on Moscow's part should not be directed at Ukraine, most of which is historic Russian land, but at the West. Otherwise the Kremlin is playing directly in the hands of the West.

But then it has been doing so for three years now by going for a war of attrition against its own people on the other side, brainwashed and confused as they might be, while doing absolutely nothing to shake them out of that brainwashing and confusion (never mind preventing it in the first place over the preceding decades)

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If you mean a dirty bomb, this is defined by a lot of nuclear material and a small explosive device. You need at least hundres of kilos to have some real effect, except you hit a very highly populated area; and then all world leaders will unite against such a terrorist.

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No, I mean a regular nuke, which does not weigh as much as you think.

A 500-kiloton warhead can weight less than 200 kg.

And the kind of Cessna-plane-sized drones that Ukraine has flown very, very deep into Russia can carry that.

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You are not serious. Ukraine cannot do anything without US and UK secret services knowing, and top level US approving.

Nuclear attack by Ukraine means immediate war with US and UK. Will never be approved.

Just think about mirror- what US does in Ukraine Russia can mirror in the West Asia.

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Clearly you have not been paying attention -- there were at least four nuclear attacks on Russia already, carried out by the US and the UK.

The reaction was to not acknowledge what has happened rather than to strike back at the US/UK.

Which was possible because the targets were military bases and ammo depots, and the warheads were relatively small. But still, Russia got nuked multiple times, and there was no response.

Such is the level of cuckoldry/treason in the Kremlin.

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How can I approach what you are saying? I do not know the facts. It could be true, but it could also be a deliberate attempt at disinformation, sowing defeatism., or just passive useful idiot type of action.

Let's try some logic.

If it is true, it would mean that US has complete command over the war, and can decide not only how the war will end but also when will it end.

It would also mean that US has had this capability in 2022. and for some reason let the war go on for two and a half years, without using this long range nuclear capability to inflict defeat on Russia.

it is very very unlikely.

This kind of truth cannot be hidden, war is approaching final phase, Ukraine is losing on battleground, and if there is a time to use this US long range capability this is the time,. In short we'll know in a few months, with high degree of certainty whether nuclear attacks deep into Russia are psychological warfare or reality.

Psychological warfare on the other side does not require logic, it is based on stirring emotions, of fear, insecurity. There are always cautious people , more than cautious, paranoid, and this characteristic is probably good for counter espionage (just remember pagers and talkie walks) it can be used, misused by well trained psychological war department specialists.

The idea is to disseminate doubts, in everything, especially leaders. And the more fantastical the plot, the better.

Is is not logic, it's emotion.

But the important part is not the bomb, nuclear bomb that is so well hidden that it is almost impossible to recognize, differentiate from conventional warhead.

Important part is deliberately insulting Russian leadership: there is no response, Putin is cuckold.

In war time such action demand either proof or should be recognised as part of enemy psychological warfare, and those distributing as enemies or at best useful idiots.

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Oct 20Edited

>If it is true, it would mean that US has complete command over the war, and can decide not only how the war will end but also when will it end.

That is correct, but not for military-technical reasons -- rather, it is because of how compromised Russian elites are, meaning that the US can safely (so far) bet on escalating without fearing a response. Because people's true loyalties are where their wives, mistresses, children, property and money are stashed away, and in the case of much of the Russian elites, that place is the West, not Russia. Until you see them brought back to Russia, no nukes will be flying the other way.

>It would also mean that US has had this capability in 2022. and for some reason let the war go on for two and a half years, without using this long range nuclear capability to inflict defeat on Russia.

Yes, of course the US had the capability to nuke Russia in 2022. And ever since then late 1940s. That is not the issue. The issue is it never felt emboldened enough to do it. Then something changed. What and how?

>This kind of truth cannot be hidden

Well, it has been. Because when people see a gigantic mushroom cloud going up sending columns of bright plasma miles up in the air, but are told it was an "ammo depot" exploding, they believe it immediately.

>But the important part is not the bomb, nuclear bomb that is so well hidden that it is almost impossible to recognize, differentiate from conventional warhead.

It's not at all impossible, it was abundantly clear nukes were used. For Morozovsk (August 3rd) and Toropetsk (September 18) in particular we have such indisputable footage of both the explosions themselves and the aftermath, that there is very little doubt about what happened. For the latter we even know with reasonable certainty the missile came from Latvia, not from Ukraine.

People just need to open their eyes and minds and acknowledge what is right in from of them.

P.S. One other reason Russia is hiding the truth that it already ate several nukes on its own territory -- it actually started it first in Ukraine (on multiple occasions). Which makes it all the more infuriating why the tactical nukes have not been used to hit the targets that really needed to be destroyed, in particular the bridges and the border crossings with Poland and Romania. If people are willing to believe "ammo depots" explode exactly like nuclear warhead even after having seen dozens, if not hundreds of videos of actual ammo depot explosions throughout this war (which look nothing like that), then it should have been possible to trick people into thinking that those huge craters that blocked the road and railroad connections with Poland and Romania were caused by 1,000-kg Kh-22 warheads, not by nukes.

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I would be interested to see some evidence for these for nuclear attacks you claim have happened in Russia.

They leave radiological signatures in the air and ground, plus distinctive radiation patterns when detonated.

Do you have any reports for any of this being detected?

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So, what makes you think that the US and UK secret services would not be all in favor?

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Nuclear response

that will never happen, so just theoretically, will definitely be directed against US & UK.

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I doubt that Ukraine has the scientific and engineering muscle to make a tactical nuke in a few weeks or even months..My father was a nuclear physicist who consulted in this area, and while the concept is relatively simple, there is still knowhow of several kinds involved...How many competent physicists and mechanical engineers are left in the Ukraine, and where are they going to enrich uranium without a reliable power supply? Nor do I think another country would even consider getting involved in such a dangerous activity, which would likely be detected by Russian intelligence....

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Yes it has everything to do that. The issues are, however, of a different nature. There is enough skillset, engineers and material available. Even the infrastructure is there's, for the most part.

The trouble is something else: whether they decide to enrich or breed the necessary fuel (they should be able to do both), they need to either build suitable centrifuges or make some modifications (not even big) to some their reactors (it seems the latter even happened in Zapo plant).

They have the technical knowledge to do it and also some people with experience.

What they can't do, is the actual physical work to do it - be it for corruption or the complete incompetency of the state apparatus, combined with the fact that some necessary materials/parts are a bit too hard to get - therefore they'd require setting up production somewhere at home, after some lengthy design work. That's not going to be easy in today's Ukraine.

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Reliable power supply: the nuclear plants.

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Bottom line- Ukraine is a potty failed ganster state that has become a menace to international peace. Everyone else is better off if Russia takes back the whole of Ukraine and crushes its neo nazi cabal.

The current explosion of threats and menaces seals Ukraine's fate. Whatever the value to the west of all those resources in the east, they are lost. All the west can achieve by continuing to prosecute this war is further losses to itself including some truly dire ones. But Ukraine- as a war zone- has to be shut down. The neo Nazi cabal has to go, and Russia can then organise elections in Ukraine to absorb it into the RF. The west returns all Russia's assets, drops all the sanctions and co-operates with the Russians in achieving peace in this war zone it- the west- created.

This is the only way forward. If the west cannot face the loss of face in agreeing all this, then- at the very least- western europe will confront an horrendous tides of refugees heading into old europe over the winter as the Russians shut down Ukraine as a functioning society-economy. Russia will do what it has to, to bring peace, and Russia's allies understand this. Ironically, this hard nosed Russian courage and determination to bring this war to the only end visible, is what the west must now rely on to bail it out of this mess.

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Don't forget war crimes tribunals for every single scumbag that planned, participated in, and cheered this disaster.

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Yes the extradition of *certain people* must be part of the terms.

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Agreed, but the US ZOG is unlikely to prosecute itself.

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You would have to hold those in Washington and London, I am afraid.

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Why?

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Because that is where the responsible parties are. You are not going to be able to bring Nuland to justice from Kiev.

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Once the us dollar collapses and along with that US "power" Russia will extradite everyone they want to.

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Nuland is going to have to consume some polonium, i'm afraid.

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Really, I'm upset it has gone this far. Putin lets the government of Nazis, the Azovs, the arm chair generals, the money providers, NATO insiders, US state officials off and depopulates the common Slav, the little guy who got kidnapped by the above. Why not hit the draft boards for them. A war of attrition of people, erstwhile civilians, rather than politicians and Azovs bothers me a lot.

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It's the Russian way of war. It's also the SMO's clearly defined objectives demilitarization of that entire space. However, with that said, and against gangster type mentality of the likes of Israel, I do agree with you that the upper echelon of the Kiev Junta needs to be erased. Russia can outsource this business if it doesn't have the spirit for it. People keep talking about Ukraine this Ukraine that, I think a majority (of even Western Ukies) of them are sick of this confrontation. It is pretty clear that the US has fostered the remnants of old nationalist minority (a militia really) into a grand force and installed them in the political sphere for legitimacy and then these people are holding the Ukraine country as a hostage. Every statement they make is manufactured from Western input, yet they make them doning the Ukrainian flag, which is absurd and a farce. Some of those Generals fighting actually are sovereigntists not nationalists, yet are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They should be coerced into mutiny for the sake of preserving their country. An operation similar to Valkyrie is much needed

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Ukraine cannot “win.” But they can take us down with them.

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Jebus J! Are you psychic?! You just wrote down my waking/sleeping dreams. Dreams I've had for months. If you're not too busy can you pick the horse to win the 6th race at the Fair Grounds today? Thanks. (I write this as an American not fooled by Genocide Joe inna skirt or 'They're eating cats and dogs Trump'.)

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"“Mr. Minister,” Austin said. “I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world. I don’t make threats.”"

That statement sounds like a fairy tale.

Woodward is Deep State and always has been.

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Yeah. I don't believe that bullshit, either.

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What Austin actually said was "My tummy hurty so I'm a lie down in bed for a couple of weeks and not tell anyone."

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🤣

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Good one

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And after that me and my buddies in Raytheon are gonna be richie rich and openly corrupt to the tilt and nobody of you morons gonna do shite against it!

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"Mr. Minister, I am the leader of a band of castrated diversity hires coasting on yesterday's glories. I don't make credible threats."

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A literal LOL, my friend.

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Where is the discussion between these leaders as to why Russia invaded. Woodward is selling books with his BS

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He is the CIA so he lies for a living.

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Sounds like Bruce Willis playing the General in "The Siege": https://youtu.be/TP4Y9Y6cmbU?t=122

Ridiculous. If Austin really said that, Shoigu probably started laughing, pointing out the men masquerading as women among the top ranks of "the most powerful military..." which has never won any major war without the Red Army doing all the work.

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Absolutely. While he may - possibly - have reported some words correctly, I trust him not at all on the context and interpretation of same. The book coming out just before the election is a huge tell.

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The comment Woodward attributed to Shoigu sounds totally fake. Shoigu has never talked like that.

In a nutshell, you can't believe a word Woodward writes. He's always just been a stenographer for the Deep State, of which he was a part before he joined the Washington Post. He was an apparatchik, not a journalist, before he joined the Post.

His "revelations" from "Deep Throat" in the Watergate story weren't journalism but simply passing on almost verbatim what the second in command in the FBI wanted him to write, so the FBI could totally and completely screw Nixon.

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Yes. Don'r read Woodward for facts. The only way to read him is to read what the CIA wants the public to think. I would say that they are, once again, trying to deny all responsibility for this debacle and claiming that only their sober realism avoided nuclear war. "Putin was all set to nuke everything, but our clever diplomacy stopped him, and unfortunately, we would have won in Ukraine and everything would be great, except that we were so concerned about nuclear war that we backed down. We did everyone a favor." What rubbish. They promoted this war and brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. To try to blame Putin for that is ridiculous, but that is the purpose here.

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Here’s old Lloyd’s claim to fame: Austin holds the unique distinction of having commanded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan at the one-, two-, three- and four-star levels, and was the first African American to command a division, corps, and field army in combat. He is a recipient of the Silver Star, the nation's third highest award for valor, for his actions during the Iraq invasion, as well as five Defense Distinguished Service Medals.

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Alas, the Pentagon has become such a politicized and ideological place that you have to look at the details of the service record with a very skeptical eye to see if those were real distinctions or political fluff. Austin may have legitimately earned the Silver Star but with all the evisceration of honest standards that has been going on you can't take that for granted.

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So he can now be openly corrupt and a piece of shite? An incompetent added to that? That's why he 'earned' his medals being brave and protecting the US and the soldiers under his command? And why was he in Iraq or Afghanistan anyways? Smedley Butler much?

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Do you want to know where DEI came from? I will tell you the truth. By the 1980s, the graduate schools in the U.S. had far too many students to fill the few faculty positions. There was no baby boom, and the great explosion in faculty, in response to the GI bill, had already occurred. There were few jobs and lots of job-seekers. Women, who struggled to compete with men, discovered that if they yelled, "sexist" enough, they would be considered for jobs for which they were unqualified. But they knew, everyone knew, that they were second tier and less qualified. How to remedy this? Demand that white men and Asian men be removed from consideration for new jobs, so that they were now no longer inferior to the competition. This is how DEI was born, and this is the reason why you find it everywhere. Promote someone based on her genitals or the color of his or her skin so that all the mediocre people around them looks smarter.

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I'm a bit disappointed Simplicius didn't at the very least add an aside about Woodward's words possibly being suspicious or dubious.

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Well Austin is a loser just like his superiors who ever they are. Just saw Biden looking out of it. What are the consequences of Biden kicking the bucket before Jan 20 ?

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Definitely a fairytale.

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Agreed…and I don’t believe any of those Joetato quotes are real…more than likely he spends most of his day drooling into his ice cream.

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So, in other words he's doing the nose whiskey by the shovel now. Why would NATO say "You can't join our gang but here, try these nukes on for size." or was he going to get some nukes from Nuke Depot ?

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I'm 100% behind Elensky's plan to strike 1000 km deep into Russia. War is war. There should be no limits to waging war. Perfidious Albion and Macron will provide the targeting data.

Just do it. Red lines are for suckers.

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surferket is a sucker.

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I've never believed in Putin's Red Lines. Unlike many suckers here and on MOA.

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I do. Russia has kicked nato's ass in ukraine and the world knows it. nato won't do jack shit to seriously attack Russia because EU ports and nato bases would get levelled and they know it. This ball game is all but over.

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I believe this to be correct. NATO appears to me to be primarily an air power, and now short on conventional ammo and manpower. A wider conflict would mean swift, remote destruction of bases, and conventional ground war follow up would run out of materiel very quickly.

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Cause Putin didn’t draw them, the west draw the lines to be able to afterwards brag about how they crossed the redlines and made the russian look weak for the plebs aka the western (russophobic) population.

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OK that would make sense if Ukraine could do itself, but it can't. The missles aren't theirs and the ISR assests are all western. If the shitkrainians had their own capabilities they already would have been conducting deep strikes. So don't be a raterd talking out the side of your ass like every other western moron who knows nothing about nothing. Ukraine is just a proxy and the west has always had a vendetta against the Russians that goes back as far as the 1800s with the British which was passed along to the US.

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Somehow I agree with this. They are fighting, Russia strikes everywhere in Ukraine, if Ukraine can strike deep into Russia then have at it. It becomes Russia job to suppress that capability. War is horrible, unfair, brutal, and these "rules" are bullshit

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Clearly you don't get it. Ukraine can't strike deep into Russia without without western but mostly US ISR targeting data. Which definitively makes them a party to the conflict, to which in turn would be fair for Russia to start striking western countries military and energy infastructures. But that would be WW3. Like how dumb do you have to be to not understand that.

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There are more ways to skin this cat than you think. The guidance parameters you're referring to apply to missiles such as storm shadow and whatnot. Not drones and other munitions. And the future is drones.

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You do realize that drone attacks inside Russia are made by cheap, smuggled drones from short distance? It's not magical drones which fly thousand of miles. That's why Russia not overreacting to that. Diversionary work, fair game. NATO controlled missiles? Different ball game (it won't work btw, the missiles are shit), it's matter of principle. "And the future is drones" - only as supplementary. It will never replace good old missiles and artillery, not even close (hint - payload)

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Russia will do no such thing. "Fair" has nothing to do with it.

This is not a polite sporting contest fought according to Marquis of Queensbury rules.

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Z's "Victory Plan" seems to assume that Russia will sit back and watch the show whilst its various important assets are being destroyed by Taurus, etc.

That's a bit like assuming that the hornets will not come forth and sting you to death if you poke their nest.

Massive retaliation would be unleashed, including levelling Kiev and any other Ukrainian city foolish enough to be implicated in the strikes.

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The more relevant question you should ask is how or with what he would achieve that strike?

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Well, you are. Somehow US, UK do not agree. Suckers.

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Lol, I would believe more of the retarded shite that comes out of the MSM. Anyways, I have a bridge to sell you Surferket, its really cheap, just 10 Bitcoins, its a big one man, you can demand a toll like a bridge troll for it man, you gonna earn big time man, trust me!

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The Cocaine Fuhrer had better watch his step. The empire has a habit of discarding its pawns when it has no more use for them or if they get too far out of line. He's pulling on the tiger's tail with this nuclear bullshit, and he might not live to regret it. It was a foregone conclusion that the empire would cut him loose at some point, and his stupidity regarding nukes might just be the excuse certain people will seize on to get rid of him.

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My thought on hearing about the so-called "Victory Plan" was that Z is a now a dead man walking. No way that the USA or EU or even the UK are going to risk armageddon for Z or his regime, and they are already walking away from it (eg no Ramstein). Addled though he seems to be, he must know this too. I have always thought him a puppet, and on this ocassion, he may well have been set up to say such idiotic things to give everyone an excuse to dump Project Ukraine. I have no doubt Putin's assassins will now find him but his eulogies will be remembered through the ages. At least that is what I expect to read in the MSM.

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"They will not risk Armageddon for Z," but the will for Israel? I think Iran has nukes, or something worse. The nuclear Fatwa was withdrawn, and there was an earthquake Iran with no aftershocks or settling. Just a "bang." Nukes are old as the hills and have undergone much refining. I hear some have been bought and sold. With and EMP nuke the grid goes down and no electronics and only the preppers with guns live.

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I dunno, Ghani is alive and well, and Saakashvili would be, if he hadn't gone back to Georgia.

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/*The enemies want to strike in the near future and before winter.

These include gunpowder factories in Kazan, Tambov and Perm, airfields up to 1000 km from the Ukrainian border, military-industrial complex enterprises producing UAVs and missile weapons, as well as headquarters and command posts in Rostov, Voronezh, Moscow, Belgorod, Kursk and St. Petersburg.

The list also includes logistics centers, testing grounds, transport hubs, including the Crimean Bridge, FSB and Russian National Guard headquarters, air defense units at ranges of up to 500 km, weapons depots, the Black Sea Fleet base in Novorossiysk, a command post near Sochi, and a number of federal government agencies "up to 1,000 km from launch sites."*/

- Doctor, prescribe me a potency medicine!

- Why do you need it, at 80 years old?

- My neighbor, my age, says he can do it every night, and not just once.

- Well, and you say too.

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I don't think Russia has ever needed to use nuclear weapons in ukraine and it looks as though they never will need to use them. I don't think there will be peace until Russia has taken all of the republics' territory and probably significant additional territory. The tide seems to have turned strongly in Russia's favor. The Kursk salient is crumbling and small but constant advances continue elsewhere.

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The MSM and the deep state lie, lie and then lie a little bit more. If Russia was planning on using nuclear weapons or 'tactical' nuclear weapons, it was always against Western enemies, never against Ukraine itself. Then they just spun it to, Russia is weak, its loosing, thats why they want to nuke Ukraine.

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