“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”
"Valar morghulis; valar dohaeris."
Commucrats are most efficient at converting sins and crimes to accidents or misunderstandings.-Oswald Bastable
Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless.
Freedom isn't free.
"Attitude is the paintbrush that colors our world." TV Series, Haven.
My Spirit Animal has rabies.
I'd rather be an American than a Democrat.
"If you can make a man afraid, you can control him" Netflix Series, The Irregulars
Well, I can see irony is lost on at least a couple of our members, but be as that may, when the name calling and personal attacks begin, you know the opposing position no longer has a leg to stand on.
Correct alismith. Putin does not want to conquer Ukraine. If he did he would have started with a bombing campaign to take out all infrastructure and every weapon system he could, then rolled into Ukraine like we did in Iraq. Putin wants three things...NATO off his doorstep per the Belgrade Agreement, for the Donbas region to be able to hold free referendums on whether they wish to remain part of Ukraine or rejoin with Russia (prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union they were part of Russia proper, along with Crimea) per the Minsk Agreements, and for the low grade civil war Ukraine has been waging on the Donbas region (at our behest to harry Russia) to end.
The hardliners in Putin's government are far more vicious than Putin. If they take control you can be assured things will spiral out of control. It is from their mouths that threats of nuclear escalation have come, not Putin's.
Last edited by Oswald Bastable; 05-11-2022 at 10:49 AM.
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
Read the other day a few ukrainian transport ships may have been sunk along with a number of marines, trying to reclaim snake island from the russians.
"And how we burned in the camps later thinking, what would things have been like, if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain, whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?"
Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket???
I think Putin is like a lot of dictators who've been in power too long. There's no one left who dares to question them or say that's a bad idea.
He's surrounded by yes-men and wallflowers who hope he doesn't notice them. Eventually their ego and arrogance catches up to them......of course he will never admit he was wrong and just start purging them and replacing them with other yes-men.
Does make me wonder though if he had the ability to stomp Ukraine......why make a half-assed effort doomed to fail???
Just felt like getting rid of some excess tanks and troops I guess.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1523664324950036480
Last edited by weevil; 05-11-2022 at 06:25 PM.
Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket???
"Valar morghulis; valar dohaeris."
Commucrats are most efficient at converting sins and crimes to accidents or misunderstandings.-Oswald Bastable
Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless.
Freedom isn't free.
"Attitude is the paintbrush that colors our world." TV Series, Haven.
My Spirit Animal has rabies.
I'd rather be an American than a Democrat.
"If you can make a man afraid, you can control him" Netflix Series, The Irregulars
It's not just our media that's reporting this, other outlets without a dog in the fight like Al Jazeera are reporting the same thing.
It's only hard to tell if you don't look for it, there are plenty of other sources for information, even the Russians themselves have admitted to "significant losses".
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...ragedy-kremlin
And no one on either side is denying the Russians abandoned their attack on Kiev and retreated back to Russia, supposedly to be sent to Donbas. If they were winning would they have retreated with their tail between their legs?
Last edited by weevil; 05-11-2022 at 07:34 PM.
Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket???
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
Never sir...you're one of the good guys...this I know.
I'd just suggest you look a bit deeper into this than you have. Knock and it shall be opened unto you...seek and ye shall find.
I would suggest there are levels of reality that you have yet to plumb, and a deeper dive might be in your best interest, going forward in this crazy new reality.
Last edited by Oswald Bastable; 05-12-2022 at 01:34 PM.
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
A sober view from outside the propaganda machine...and about the propaganda machine:
https://www.rt.com/news/555356-hatre...-mcdonalds-us/
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
"Valar morghulis; valar dohaeris."
Commucrats are most efficient at converting sins and crimes to accidents or misunderstandings.-Oswald Bastable
Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless.
Freedom isn't free.
"Attitude is the paintbrush that colors our world." TV Series, Haven.
My Spirit Animal has rabies.
I'd rather be an American than a Democrat.
"If you can make a man afraid, you can control him" Netflix Series, The Irregulars
I found it most informative also, though I was already well acquainted with the propaganda machine...I've been watching it develop my whole life.
Weevil believes I have some fondness for Russia and Putin...he is mistaken...I have a fondness for reality, but not the sort the propaganda machine proselytizes.
There are always deeper machinations...and they task me...they task me!
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
I heard Sweden and Finland just formally asked to be joined in NATO. This should get interesting! https://nypost.com/2022/05/18/finlan...p-application/
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
How do we know the Russian propaganda machine isn't behind this article???
"But alas, not everyone in the world can travel to Russia and see the reality for themselves. Unfriendly foreign countries, in cahoots with a venal media, perfectly understand this handicap, which allows them to portray Russia as the ‘evil empire’, something straight out of a Bond flick. And then one day, when Russia finds itself in a situation where it is forced to say ‘enough!’ and resorts to what it considers to be a legitimate act of self-defense – certainly no less legitimate than the military offensives undertaken by the Western hemisphere over the years – a vicious virtue-signaling campaign against Russia and Russians begins in earnest, and to great effect."
Now doesn't that seem a bit over the top? Poor old Russians just defending themselves by invading another country....and don't give me that Ukraine is part of Russia, I know the Russian propaganda you've been listening to has you convinced that's the case but obviously the Ukrainians don't agree. Isn't invading other countries sort of a hallmark of "evil-empires" whether in Bond flicks or otherwise?
Couldn't those poor ol' misunderstood Russians have found a better more civilized method of "legitimate self-defense" than trying to use military force and a campaign of terror to bully their neighbors into submission? Gee I wonder why Finland and Sweden want to join NATO....oh that's right it's the WEF behind it, says the guy duped by Russian propaganda.
Nobody was doing any "virtue signalling" until their armies marched across the border of another country....I know I wasn't giving two shits about Russia and had simply assumed they had become a more or less stable country that had for the most part joined the rest of the world as another normal corrupt kleptocracy.
Last edited by weevil; 05-19-2022 at 01:33 AM.
Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket???
Here's a review of the author's book and a little biography on him: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-r...erican-empire/
Again you show your naivety of the history of that region. All that region east of the Donbas River was part of Russia for centuries until the breakup of the Soviet Union when for some reason the borders were redrawn to add that area to Ukraine.
I will infer here that you've not examined any of the treaties I mentioned, nor have you done any research into the WEF, its aims, goals and agenda. Since you know little of the history or politics involved, it seems fruitless to continue any semblance of discussion with you.
I must also infer that you've done no research on the low grade civil war the Ukrainians have been waging on the Donbas region for the last decade.
But hey...you are starting to sound a lot like Adam Schiff.
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
EU wants lockdown style restrictions...because...Great Reset...RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...ssian-oil-use/
I need some new conspiracy theories weevil...all my old ones have come true.
If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.
He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond
There are some things I will not abide within my sight!
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