Posts by hollowdriver13

Grace Jones86 said:By the way... that bizarre decision to strip a massive neighbor—one packed with resources and one that Russia has always historically obsessed over as their own "homeland"—of its nuclear capabilities through some 90s paperwork and "agreements"... it smells like a West game plan.

It’s like they're just teasing the Russians, driving them mad. They deliberately left the door open for exactly this scenario today. Why? It isn't obvious at first glance, but the motive is pretty clear.
To humiliate Russia... during their moment of madness... and wipe them off the historical stage entirely.

It's the same reason they ensured China became intensely tied to the West after the 80s, riding the wave of prosperity that followed.

You toss a bone to one group (the Russians) so they can attack aimlessly and flex those pathetic Slavic muscles 😁 while you buy off another group with unprecedented prosperity for hundreds of millions of people. From zero to 124 miles/h in just 30 years.

Edit: The point is that Americans have maintained an absolutely dominant position through all these combinations.
They let China grow exactly where they wanted it to.
They removed the nukes from Ukraine. They could have insisted back in the 90s when they had total dominance over the Russians 😁 that the nukes stay put... but they didn't.

Right, because Russia wasn't a signatory to the Budapest Memorandum, no, no—it was just the "evil West" forcing UA into it. 🙏

Grace Jones86 said:That wouldn't be a problem. He's been a puppet since day one... just like that regime over there.

They know perfectly well that the second the West decides to stop the talking, both the Kyiv regime and Ukraine itself mean nothing compared to the comfort and peace the West enjoys. ☕

So, they'd just abandon them to their fate. Kyiv knows this, obviously.
They have zero autonomy.

Ironically, that’s exactly why you see Ukrainian flags everywhere in the West. It’s not about caring for Ukraine; it’s about signaling Western ideals. Period.

Honestly, calling a democratically elected government a "regime" pretty much gives away which side of the fence you're sitting on.

But hey, go ahead and try explaining to Germans that they don't actually care about Ukraine—since you clearly know better than they do.

https://twitter.com/meyer_resende/st...CqxZ2NmN4rAAAA

Oh wait, look at this—support for Ukraine actually went up by 4% in the last 30 days, hitting 74%.

I guess you should try explaining to the rest of Europe and America that they don't really support UA either, just because "Grace Jones86 knows best."™

Andrew Booth29 said:I’m just not convinced they’re going to sacrifice the entire planet for 15% of Ukraine. Does that actually look like a smart trade to you? If I were sitting on the sidelines, I’d be shorting the whole thing. lol.

For the time being, "US deterrence" seems to be doing its job, whatever they might be telling Moscow behind closed doors.

Publicly, all we’ve seen is them basically saying, "Hey, don't do it—you'll regret it."

coastalbison6 said:Something's brewing...
https://twitter.com/AAhronheim/statu...93236383506432

So, those Tu-160s have already been deployed in the area; they're using them to launch missiles straight from Russian territory.

Putin claims he’s just out here protecting Russian culture from all that woke, neo-colonialist Western nonsense.

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status...68888327524352

At the celebration for the annexation, they’re actually singing that New Zealand shanty, "Wellerman."🙏

Revenger20 said:Wait, they don't have them? Just look at Israel.

So we're just supposed to believe those columns of vehicles that even the Finns themselves have already debunked?

Basic logic tells you that if resources start drying up, there's going to be more wars fought over them, not fewer. It doesn't work the other way around.

It’s honestly wild how people are so blinded that they can't see the current international order is basically finished, and we're heading toward a world where "cowboy diplomacy" becomes the new norm.

Russians are only hovering near the Finnish border, right? Those kilometer-long convoys heading toward Georgia and Kazakhstan are pure fiction... not to mention all those flights and ticket prices that have gone absolutely through the roof.

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/statu...50454509981708

Russia has pulled about 80% of its troops away from the borders near the Baltic Sea. It looks like they're desperately trying to plug holes in their front lines before everything just completely falls apart.

So much for all those big, scary threats toward Finland and Sweden and that "unprecedented retaliation" they promised if those guys joined NATO. Turns out, talk is cheap.

quietcobra21 said:I don't think anyone's suggesting it’s worth throwing $11 billion down the drain just so Germans can buy coal briquettes from Russians. Nobody is claiming there isn't a direct link between Germany's need for cheap gas and what Russia is exporting.

Honestly, it's just a lack of vocabulary in the American language. We tend to call everything "coal."

"Coal briquettes" usually refers to industrial coal or lignite briquettes.

"Charcoal briquettes" are those little things you grab at the store for grilling meat.

Joshua Myers432 said:How so? Go watch some Russian news channels and try to find a single Russian colonel or general who actually believes Ukrainians have a shot.🕺

So, you’ve got these self-proclaimed "experts" and military bigshots on TV constantly spinning this narrative, claiming they actually pulled one over on NATO. They’re basically telling everyone that NATO had to stop the bombing because they were outsmarted, acting like they somehow dodged being neutralized while bragging about how many planes they've supposedly shot down every single day. It's honestly pretty wild to watch. 🙏🙏🙏

I haven't even started getting into the mental state of these so-called "experts" yet, let alone their "alternative history" nonsense...

Honestly, I’d probably rather spend my time scrolling through threads from war theory professors or reading stuff from retired NATO and US generals. Those guys were actually calling this whole situation what it is back in March, right when the Ukrainians were defending Kyiv and everything looked like some straight-up sci-fi movie.
I’d say their "crystal ball" is actually working a lot better than that cheap knockoff version the guys over in Mexico are using. 🕺

wanderingdriver68 said:It should be quite something to watch. When is that session scheduled for?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...endum-results/

The resolution is still being drafted, so they haven't set a specific date for the session just yet.

rowdytiger13 said:Russia is going to call for a UN Security Council meeting regarding the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. 🙏🙏

https://n1info.com/world/russia-nord-stream/

They also called a Security Council meeting about the massacre in Izyum after those mass graves were found.
Honestly, whenever they call for these sessions, it feels almost like a public admission of guilt.

On a more political note, though, the Security Council session called by the US is probably going to be way more interesting—the one dealing with violations of UN mandates and the military annexation of occupied territories.

We can pretty much expect Russia to block it with a veto (and if that happens, the US has already said they'll just move the vote over to the General Assembly anyway), but watching how China votes will be the real kicker. The US has basically backed them into a corner here. If they vote against the resolution or even just stay neutral, it shows that all their talk about respecting territorial integrity and international law is nothing but empty rhetoric, which would totally tank their political credibility. On the flip side, if they actually vote for the resolution, they’re essentially stabbing Russia in the back, especially since they claimed back in February that their "partnership has no limits." ☕

https://mobile.twitter.com/DaveKeati...C4-YCD_dsrAAAA

Now the heavy hitters from Western economies are finally stepping up, bringing out those secondary sanctions to squeeze anyone even thinking about doing business with Russians.

It’s basically "us versus them" now.

Honestly, at least now it makes sense why Turks, Armenians, Vietnamese, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks all suddenly went on a massive spree buying up those Russian MIR cards a few days ago—they clearly saw this coming.

Morgan Wright5 said:There isn't any concrete around those pipes, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...e_in_Kotka.jpg

Just a shot of a section of the pipe so everyone can see what it actually looks like.

David Wright4 said:Sorry if this sounds like a bit of a random question, but does anyone know for sure if this isn't just some kind of technical glitch or a hardware malfunction?

We're looking at three separate breaches in the pipelines—one on NS2 and two on NS1—all within 3.7 miles a stone's throw of each other.
It’s a bit hard to swallow the idea that those would all be caused by simple malfunctions.

Timothy Nelson5 said:Force of the blast A 2.1 to 2.2 on the Richter scale is roughly equivalent to an explosion of 1,500 to 2,500 kg of TNT.

That’s... well, it's probably about 7 to 10 times more than what your average heavy torpedo puts out.

Even the pipeline itself could probably be torn apart by a simple 10 kg shaped charge placed directly against the pipe.

So, if this was actual targeted sabotage, a relatively small mine would have done the trick.

It seems unlikely that someone just went out and planted such a massive amount of explosives right now.
I guess it's much more likely that this was set up a long time ago—maybe even before the pipeline was even laid down there.

https://twitter.com/CovertShores/sta...70419551145989

By the way, some pretty sketchy "little boats" were loitering around that area earlier this summer.

Then, right on cue, the CIA Berlin Station gets a heads-up about potential sabotage on the pipeline.

And then the US Navy sends the USS Kearsage (which, let's be real, acts more like a light carrier despite being labeled an amphibious assault ship) out to the Baltic Sea.

Terry Green3 said:Still hoping for a more colorful story, like the one boldbison40 put together.

Ship names, crew lists, small boats, specific dates, unloading times—he’ll claim he got all that intel straight from Kaliningrad.

Just to add some context here. The Americans found the Russian explosives already in place and started poking around them, trying to get a look at the tech and reverse-engineer their methods. Something clearly went sideways, and then we saw explosions hit three out of the four positions.
So what now? The wolf finally caught the sheep.
Maybe the Russians put that there as some kind of failsafe during the pipeline installation, a little ace up their sleeve. Then the Americans showed up, started poking around, and well... here we are.

😒
Speedos featuring a bald eagle draped over the Stars and Stripes, with "Property of US Navy SEALs" stitched right onto the inside.

Linda Collins3 said:True, but hey, they are Americans after all.

Because, you know, Russia and Putin aren't exactly famous for blowing up their own stuff... oh wait, my bad, let's not forget 1999 and those Moscow bombings orchestrated by the FSB to justify the second Chechen War.
And honestly, they don't lie much... okay, maybe a little bit lately in 2022, but otherwise they're pretty reliable, and it’s not like they haven't been poisoning people across the EU and sowing discord for ages.

So, what's the actual endgame for the USA here? What's in it for them?

What does the USA actually gain by breaking apart the unity of the NATO alliance—especially after years of friction and internal bickering finally settled down?
Plus, if the EU and NATO are their strongest and biggest allies, why on earth would they go out of their way to dismantle them now? 🤔

On the flip side, a fractured EU suits Russia way more. A united EU makes Russia look like a tiny player by comparison.
But a broken EU? That makes the RF a massive factor on the continent again, and it's so much easier to manipulate everyone when they're all pulling in different directions.
And looking at the mess with Nord Stream 1, you could argue that since the pipeline is trashed, they have a perfect excuse: "Sorry, we can't deliver." By turning off the taps and ripping up contracts, they dodged being sued in international courts where they'd likely lose; even if they wouldn't pay, their assets worldwide could have been seized to cover it.

As crazy as it sounds to destroy your own assets, for them, there are way more potential upsides compared to the USA, where most moves like this just bring a bunch of downsides.

If there weren't sanctions and if Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were running smoothly, I'd be much more inclined to believe the USA did this to disable them—even at the cost of souring relations with Europe—just as a way to cut off the funding to the RF.

dustyfalcon122 said:With drones? Good grief, it’s like we’re living straight out of 1984.
You just slide a drone into a pipe somewhere over the water, or better yet, grab an underwater drone—they cost a bit more, sure, but they're totally accessible.

It’s not impossible, but we’re talking more about an autonomous submarine than some tiny little drone at that point. (And here we go again, back to the fact that the US had those submarine hunter helicopters and planes patrolling that area back then, just tearing things up left and right.)

Punching through an underwater pipeline isn't exactly a walk in the park. You've got steel walls that are several inches thick, all encased in a concrete sleeve or sarcophagus that averages about 8 inches deep. Because of that, sections of undersea gas or oil pipelines usually weigh dozens of tons. To actually breach something like that, you'd need a seriously massive amount of explosives.

Christian Torres3 said:Ever heard of the word "contract"? You know, where there are specific clauses defining who does what, how, and when? Everything is laid out precisely.

In that case, the only remaining suspect is Ukraine...

Come on, explain to me how Ukrainians would blow up gas pipelines 80-90 meters deep in the ocean when they don't even share a border with them. I'm waiting. Please, enlighten me.

EZ ☕

Terry Green3 said:As for Russ, the only motive I can spot is exactly what we're doing right now: sowing confusion and doubt.
But is it worth billions in investment? Any rational person would say no. And like I mentioned before, it’s a disaster waiting to happen because Russ is completely unpredictable—like a madman swinging a knife that you can only stop by shooting him.
For the Americans, the only goal is to ensure they don't trust Europeans, especially Germans. Again, unbelievable.

Nord Stream 2 was basically dead on arrival anyway; it never even really got going. And let's be real, NS1 was heading for the exact same fate once Germany started distancing itself from Russian gas.
Then you've got the maintenance costs for dead pipelines sitting on the owner (Russia). Now that the pipeline is trashed, those costs are gone, and hey, maybe you can even squeeze some cash out of insurance.
Plus, it definitely stirs the pot in the West.

James Phillips92 said:I’d lean toward the Americans. I just don't see much of a reason for the Russians to go through with it.

What's the actual endgame for the Americans blowing up an inactive, half-dead pipeline? To have it come out that they did it, just so relations with all of Europe sour again, and to prove to the rest of the world once more that they're the bad guys fueling the conflict?