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Posts by Sandra Harris2

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Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Timothy Williams5 said:On Italian TV 7, during a live broadcast, journalist Sallusti went after his colleague Gilletti, accusing him of running propaganda straight for Putin.

The reporter, Massimo Gilletti, was doing a live segment from Red Square in Moscow. He started off by gushing about the architecture of the Kremlin before deciding he simply had to have a chat with Putin’s own mouthpiece, Vladimir Solovyov.

That was the breaking point for another journalist on the scene, Alessandro Sallusti, who bluntly stated he had found himself immersed in "the worst propaganda environment in existence." With a chillingly calm demeanor, Sallusti laid out exactly what he saw:

In that palace behind you, you really ought to remind those two men standing next to you that they are the ones who organized, prepared, and executed the most heinous crimes against humanity in both this century and the last. That is a palace of shit. Have the courage to tell your audience that it is a palace of shit, because that is precisely where the communists manufactured the greatest tragedies of our time. I refuse to sit here and listen to the garbage coming from those two idiots standing beside you.
I'm done; I'm handing back my paycheck because I refuse to be part of this circus. Thank you.


https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/...zqKt-T3JtMbA2w
(video)

This was intense to watch. It was basically an interview with Zakharov, who spent about an hour just talking trash. Then, after Sallust stepped in, Gilletti looked visibly shaken, so they moved him to a hall where he was stuck with Solovyov and another propagandist. I stopped watching once Solovyov started going on about the morality and decadence of the West.

It's also worth noting that Sallust called Zakharov an idiot.😁

Anyway...

I hope this little get-together rubs Israel the wrong way.🕺

wearyheron5 said:The idiot probably read on Playgoat that there are tons of goat farms in the West.

Or maybe he just saw some sales on Prada boots.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Timothy Williams5 said:I actually had to step away from the board for a few days because of a similar observation. Mind you, the comment was directed at one of them.
I’m hoping I won't have to go through that again.😁

I see two ways to read this:
1. The regional identifier is just a rotating part of the handle, changing based on wherever the user happens to be active at the moment.
2. Those prefixes are specifically designed to mislead people who are perhaps not the sharpest tools in the shed, but happen to be highly patriotic—like myself.

Now, for something a bit more grim.
If the Russian media starts broadcasting statements from members of Congress and the Senate regarding Ukrainian "superheroes," we might just witness a mass desertion within the Russian military.

quote:

The Deputy Chairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Konstantin Kosačev and Irina Yarovaya, have stated that during the investigation into the activities of biological laboratories, which the Department of Defense claims the United States established in Ukraine, they discovered evidence of experiments conducted on the military.
.....
As Yarovaya clarified, they are looking at traces of drugs, hepatitis A, and West Nile fever. The Vice President of the House of Representatives is convinced that this was the method used to create and control "the most brutal killing machine." "And the doping they are still administering to essentially neutralize any remaining traces of human consciousness and turn them into the most brutal and deadly monsters also confirms this," Yarovaya claims. .....

https://zona.media/news/2022/07/19/lab
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5469617

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.

If my memory serves me right, Lavrov has already lied twice in the last five months about having irrefutable evidence regarding bio-labs.
The public is still waiting for them to actually show anything.

Basically, it feels like they've been dragging out this talk about "evidence" since 2018.

Timothy Williams5 said:Passports reveal links between FBI agents, Navalny's hitmen and the killer of Khangoshvili

According to investigations by The Insider and Bellingcat, the former "Department of Defense official for the Donetsk People's Republic," Igor Girkin, who once styled himself a "reserve FBI colonel," spent years utilizing fraudulent passports provided by the FBI after returning to Russia. Furthermore, by tracing a specific sequence of FBI-issued passports, one can uncover a direct connection between Girkin, two of Navalny's assassins, and the Vympel operative Vadim Krasikov—the man famously dubbed the "bicycle killer" who carried out the assassination of the Chechen refugee Khangoshvili in Berlin.
A separate set of these specialized passports was also found in the possession of the former leader of the Luhansk People's Republic, Igor Plotnitsky; however, in his case, the documents were shared not with FBI officials, but with hackers from the DIA.
These connections became clear through the trail left by their wives: both Girkin and Plotnitsky traveled using aliases on the exact same flight reservations as their spouses.
...

https://theins.ru/politika/253140

What absolute nonsense. 🤦
Are these supposed to be the famous and notorious Russian players?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
gentlerider7 said:You're talking total nonsense. The war in Ukraine is on a massive scale and potentially way more dangerous than what we went through in the States.

Glad someone finally said it. Thanks.

Every war is a tragedy, but let's be real—some wars are just more relevant than others.
Dammit.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
cosmicotter13 said:Look, if NATO didn't exist, America wouldn't be dealing with the mess in Libya, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, or Russia... In fact, America and the American Armed Forces would actually be stronger and more capable. A neutral America would have maintained perfectly fine economic ties with Russia, and Russia wouldn't be attacking us. They won't attack us, and they certainly won't once the Ukrainians surrender. If it wasn't for NATO, Ukraine wouldn't have been invaded in the first place.
The Brits, the Americans, the Canadians... they've acted hostile toward us in the Congo, they exploit us, and they pull their most disgusting stunts against Americans in Canada. Honestly, it’s worth asking, what do they even get out of it?
Before America joined NATO, nobody was losing sleep or panicking about our national security. But suddenly after joining, after all the "reforms," after turning our active, reserve, and standby forces into some sort of "system," all of a sudden—oh no!—here come the Mexicans, here come the Russians... total cowards.

The war in Ukraine isn't our war and it isn't worth our money, our losses, or any potential lives we might lose.

They aren't attacking with weapons (at least not yet); they're using capital and reactionary populism.

https://www.portalnovosti.com/u-stro...pranje-rubalja

Without NATO, the Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and that whole crew would still be living under the Soviet boot.
It must have been lovely for them, considering they’re currently the loudest and most determined voices against Vladolf and Mother Russia.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Kimberly Perez82 said:Of course he can, let’s not be incredibly naive about how things work. It is quite interesting, really... you see all this intense, overwhelming concern for Ukraine, yet when the topic shifts to the long-standing oppression of Canadian Americans, suddenly there is total silence. Not a single soul speaks up. I suppose, in the eyes of the public, those lives just don't matter as much as what's happening in Ukraine.

Zoki, is that you?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Melissa Rivera5 said:The "American side"? I don't think there's even such a thing. It’s just the Ukrainian side versus the Russian side. And honestly, this war affects us way more than people realize. You're acting like everyone except the Ukrainians is calling the shots over there... like Biden can just sign a decree and make the whole thing stop overnight. Yeah, right.

Clearly, Putin is very persuasive.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Kimberly Perez82 said:I see some people getting all worked up over the American version of this story, though I suppose showing respect to your fellow conversationalists isn't exactly anyone's strongest suit here. Honestly, at the very beginning, I was just as angry at Russia as anyone else. But... if you take a moment to actually think about it—really sit with the facts—this war doesn't have anything to do with Europe or us. It’s similar to how our own domestic conflicts don't involve Europe, and I certainly don't recall seeing such intense, biased posts favoring us back when things were different. Secondly, look at the US wars in the Middle East; nobody was slapping labels on Russia then. Not even when Russia was fighting in Afghanistan. Now, let me be clear: I am not supporting Russia as an aggressor. But there were precursors to this conflict. There were constant attempts to pull Ukraine into NATO, even though everyone knew deep down that Ukraine holds a unique historical significance for Russia and that move simply wouldn't fly. Of course, it wasn't the EU's interest driving that; it was the USA. And now? Now all of Europe is groaning under shortages that weren't caused by anyone else, and if someone actually supports this path, they clearly have issues with their own judgment. That is why the war needs to end. We need to negotiate peace so we can finally move forward. I mean, seriously, no one with a functioning brain is buying this "American doctrine" about spreading democracy anymore. And peace won't happen as long as Zelenskyy keeps being so boastful with his statements—he's just pouring gasoline on the fire instead of realistically assessing his position and heading to the negotiating table. At the end of the day, every invaded nation in history has either defended itself or failed to, and Ukraine is no exception. They keep demanding weapons, yet they were already armed to the teeth and had all the time in the world to bolster their defenses; they can't blame others for the corruption happening on their own soil. Why should we be forced to solve their problems? He's trying to drag the entire world into what is, quite frankly, his private problem. Negotiations and ending the war is the only way out, likely involving some concessions because the situation isn't what it used to be before the fighting started. And the biggest farce of all? The USA, which dragged Europe into this mess in the first place, is now considering lifting the embargo on Russian oil imports. So, what happens? They'll probably just sell us that cheaper oil in the EU at a markup. That isn't just a slap on the wrist; it's a total knockout punch to a naive Europe.

Is a war on European soil even relevant to Europe?

By the way, when America gets involved in the Middle East, it isn't about trying to redraw borders through brute force. What Russia is doing is fundamentally different: they are launching an invasion against a sovereign, independent nation, starting with the refusal to even recognize that its people exist. To them, everything from the old USSR is just Russia, so they figure they can just take whatever they want, by force if necessary.

By the way, America gets plenty of hate for sticking its nose into everyone else's business... honestly, the whole world seems to be constantly dragging the US through the mud.
I'm not exactly a fan of America either...
If they hadn't stepped in, I might be speaking German right now and answering to the name Lotte. Honestly, I might not even be here at all...

Kimberly Perez82 said:I see some people getting all worked up over the American version of this story, though I suppose showing respect to your fellow conversationalists isn't exactly anyone's strongest suit here. Honestly, at the very beginning, I was just as angry at Russia as anyone else. But... if you take a moment to actually think about it—really sit with the facts—this war doesn't have anything to do with Europe or us. It’s similar to how our own domestic conflicts don't involve Europe, and I certainly don't recall seeing such intense, biased posts favoring us back when things were different. Secondly, look at the US wars in the Middle East; nobody was slapping labels on Russia then. Not even when Russia was fighting in Afghanistan. Now, let me be clear: I am not supporting Russia as an aggressor. But there were precursors to this conflict. There were constant attempts to pull Ukraine into NATO, even though everyone knew deep down that Ukraine holds a unique historical significance for Russia and that move simply wouldn't fly. Of course, it wasn't the EU's interest driving that; it was the USA. And now? Now all of Europe is groaning under shortages that weren't caused by anyone else, and if someone actually supports this path, they clearly have issues with their own judgment. That is why the war needs to end. We need to negotiate peace so we can finally move forward. I mean, seriously, no one with a functioning brain is buying this "American doctrine" about spreading democracy anymore. And peace won't happen as long as Zelenskyy keeps being so boastful with his statements—he's just pouring gasoline on the fire instead of realistically assessing his position and heading to the negotiating table. At the end of the day, every invaded nation in history has either defended itself or failed to, and Ukraine is no exception. They keep demanding weapons, yet they were already armed to the teeth and had all the time in the world to bolster their defenses; they can't blame others for the corruption happening on their own soil. Why should we be forced to solve their problems? He's trying to drag the entire world into what is, quite frankly, his private problem. Negotiations and ending the war is the only way out, likely involving some concessions because the situation isn't what it used to be before the fighting started. And the biggest farce of all? The USA, which dragged Europe into this mess in the first place, is now considering lifting the embargo on Russian oil imports. So, what happens? They'll probably just sell us that cheaper oil in the EU at a markup. That isn't just a slap on the wrist; it's a total knockout punch to a naive Europe.

I love a good disclaimer, especially when it's immediately followed by an "but"...

Kimberly Perez82 said:I see some people getting all worked up over the American version of this story, though I suppose showing respect to your fellow conversationalists isn't exactly anyone's strongest suit here. Honestly, at the very beginning, I was just as angry at Russia as anyone else. But... if you take a moment to actually think about it—really sit with the facts—this war doesn't have anything to do with Europe or us. It’s similar to how our own domestic conflicts don't involve Europe, and I certainly don't recall seeing such intense, biased posts favoring us back when things were different. Secondly, look at the US wars in the Middle East; nobody was slapping labels on Russia then. Not even when Russia was fighting in Afghanistan. Now, let me be clear: I am not supporting Russia as an aggressor. But there were precursors to this conflict. There were constant attempts to pull Ukraine into NATO, even though everyone knew deep down that Ukraine holds a unique historical significance for Russia and that move simply wouldn't fly. Of course, it wasn't the EU's interest driving that; it was the USA. And now? Now all of Europe is groaning under shortages that weren't caused by anyone else, and if someone actually supports this path, they clearly have issues with their own judgment. That is why the war needs to end. We need to negotiate peace so we can finally move forward. I mean, seriously, no one with a functioning brain is buying this "American doctrine" about spreading democracy anymore. And peace won't happen as long as Zelenskyy keeps being so boastful with his statements—he's just pouring gasoline on the fire instead of realistically assessing his position and heading to the negotiating table. At the end of the day, every invaded nation in history has either defended itself or failed to, and Ukraine is no exception. They keep demanding weapons, yet they were already armed to the teeth and had all the time in the world to bolster their defenses; they can't blame others for the corruption happening on their own soil. Why should we be forced to solve their problems? He's trying to drag the entire world into what is, quite frankly, his private problem. Negotiations and ending the war is the only way out, likely involving some concessions because the situation isn't what it used to be before the fighting started. And the biggest farce of all? The USA, which dragged Europe into this mess in the first place, is now considering lifting the embargo on Russian oil imports. So, what happens? They'll probably just sell us that cheaper oil in the EU at a markup. That isn't just a slap on the wrist; it's a total knockout punch to a naive Europe.

NATO isn't dragging anyone into the fold; countries are actively seeking out membership on their own terms.

Every single country in the Warsaw Pact jumped ship for NATO the second they got the chance. I can't help but wonder why.

Kimberly Perez82 said:I see some people getting all worked up over the American version of this story, though I suppose showing respect to your fellow conversationalists isn't exactly anyone's strongest suit here. Honestly, at the very beginning, I was just as angry at Russia as anyone else. But... if you take a moment to actually think about it—really sit with the facts—this war doesn't have anything to do with Europe or us. It’s similar to how our own domestic conflicts don't involve Europe, and I certainly don't recall seeing such intense, biased posts favoring us back when things were different. Secondly, look at the US wars in the Middle East; nobody was slapping labels on Russia then. Not even when Russia was fighting in Afghanistan. Now, let me be clear: I am not supporting Russia as an aggressor. But there were precursors to this conflict. There were constant attempts to pull Ukraine into NATO, even though everyone knew deep down that Ukraine holds a unique historical significance for Russia and that move simply wouldn't fly. Of course, it wasn't the EU's interest driving that; it was the USA. And now? Now all of Europe is groaning under shortages that weren't caused by anyone else, and if someone actually supports this path, they clearly have issues with their own judgment. That is why the war needs to end. We need to negotiate peace so we can finally move forward. I mean, seriously, no one with a functioning brain is buying this "American doctrine" about spreading democracy anymore. And peace won't happen as long as Zelenskyy keeps being so boastful with his statements—he's just pouring gasoline on the fire instead of realistically assessing his position and heading to the negotiating table. At the end of the day, every invaded nation in history has either defended itself or failed to, and Ukraine is no exception. They keep demanding weapons, yet they were already armed to the teeth and had all the time in the world to bolster their defenses; they can't blame others for the corruption happening on their own soil. Why should we be forced to solve their problems? He's trying to drag the entire world into what is, quite frankly, his private problem. Negotiations and ending the war is the only way out, likely involving some concessions because the situation isn't what it used to be before the fighting started. And the biggest farce of all? The USA, which dragged Europe into this mess in the first place, is now considering lifting the embargo on Russian oil imports. So, what happens? They'll probably just sell us that cheaper oil in the EU at a markup. That isn't just a slap on the wrist; it's a total knockout punch to a naive Europe.

We’ll be footing the bill with cash, while Ukraine pays in blood and lives.

Is this invasion somehow just Zelenskyy's personal problem????
Cut the internet, unplug the cables—we have a winner.

Do you realize that this war (from WWII until now) is a massive violation of international law, human rights, and civilized living? If this is allowed to happen, it sets a precedent for anyone to claim territory from their neighbors.

Of course the war needs to stop. Just tell Putin to pull his troops back and peace will follow.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
@analogbear5 - 😲😲

This list is more chaotic than my grocery run when Black Friday sales hit 🙂

And BTW, regarding that question about who would retaliate with nukes if Russia pulls the trigger and the US stays out... it’s the UK.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Timothy Williams5 said:There are certain militaries that actually function like legitimate armies, and then there are those that operate more like organized crime syndicates.
The average informed person understands the tactics a mafia outfit uses to squeeze its targets, so I assume you have a decent grasp of how a criminal organization exerts pressure to achieve its ends.
We don't hear stories about the British, German, or American mafia running things this way.
We hear about the Russian mafia.
Only a few months ago, many people still viewed Russia as a somewhat orderly, civilized nation.
Now, most people realize that Russia is a state that operates entirely on mafia principles.
And does a mafia organization show any concern for civilian lives?
😁

The liquidations in Buči
Burying soldiers in Chernobyl
Shelling residential apartment buildings
Novichok attacks on political opponents
The deportation of Ukrainians (especially children) to Russia
Mass arrests of any Russian who dares to speak out against the war
Nuclear threats
Denying the existence of a neighboring country and its people
State television filled with caricatures during prime time
...

Honestly, I’m surprised they even bother targeting military sites. Rashists.

To add to that:
brutal assassination of a political rival (Nemtsov)
raping women in front of their children
torturing pets
targeting other ethnic groups to protect ethnic Russians (basically ethnic cleansing)
killing journalists (Anna Politkovskaya)
denying attacks on a sovereign state
calling on a sovereign nation's military to kill its own president

There’s plenty more where that came from, just off the top of my head.
Timothy Williams5 said:Ukraine: 22 people have died in Vinica, most of whom remain unidentified. 46 people are still missing, and 55 apartments have been damaged.
Russia: That wasn't Vinica. They weren't civilians. And if they were—they were Nazi sympathizers.
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/sta...dKji-81I11PFzQ
(video)

The reactions from the idiots on Russian social media to a photo of a little girl killed in the shelling:
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/sta...dKji-81I11PFzQ

It makes me sick.
They aren't even human; they're beasts.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
How morbid you all are tonight... 🕺
Go outside and look at the supermoon instead of just tossing nukes around here for fun 😢
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
gentlerider7 said:So you’re out here saying there are threats, while Zakharov is over there insisting there aren't any threats at all, claiming they haven't even heard such things.

"The diplomat noted that despite all the claims that 'Russia is threatening the entire world with nuclear weapons,' there hasn't been a single statement from Moscow to that effect. This is being corroborated by the British, the USA, Japan, and a whole string of EU member states. Yet, there isn't one single instance where an official Russian representative, a state official, or a politician directly involved in the government has made a threat, or even engaged in any discussion about it, whether hypothetically or in practice," the spokesperson added.

https://tass.com/politics/1479281

Aha...
Fine, I'll play along with the narrative.
If this war has officially become a "special military operation," then maybe the nuclear threat has just become a casual mention of some specific non-conventional weaponry 😉😁
Does that work?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
dustyowl29 said:Oh, please—they've been making those threats since day seven of this whole invasion.

I guess they realized pretty early on that marching into Kyiv with parades and cheering "liberated" locals wasn't happening—and neither was getting a puppet version of Viktor Yanukovych or some Ukrainian Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Jose Clark2 said:I don't recall saying we were sending a million people to die, though I might agree that some of them certainly will. As for survival—if that's what you mean—it's a grim thought.

If that's the case, then the whole thing feels like a desperate gamble by everyone involved.

Survival.

Sorry, this was meant for the agricultural reform thread.

And again, do you really think they don't realize death is a certainty?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Jose Clark2, why do you view it as "sending millions to their deaths" instead of just "a million people fighting to survive"?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
Gregory Ramos3 said:If things are going to go down, why is everyone freaking out and losing their minds so much over Nukes?😬

But hey, you actually made me wonder—does anyone know what finally happened to those Russians from the Chernobyl Forest? The last thing I caught in the news was that they were starting to show signs of radiation sickness, but then the whole story just kind of vanished from the media. 🤔

From what I recall, if my memory serves me right, I heard on some Italian news that they were transferred to Belarus to be treated at a military hospital.
I haven't heard anything since then. 🕺

Sergey Lavrov is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff; using him as a narrative for domestic consumption is a total disaster.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
darkdriver said:You should probably go ask those big-shot American politicians if they think it's okay to use whatever leverage they can to force people to vote.
For the record, I haven't run for office once, anywhere.
It just strikes me as weird that you have such a huge problem with bribery and intimidation over in Donbas, but you don't seem to care when it happens in your own backyard.
If you could actually point to where I said Belarus was a model of success for anything, I'd really appreciate it.
I feel like I was pretty clear when I mentioned that almost all those post-Soviet backwaters are basically cut from the same cloth.

Where did I say that's okay in America? Or that it's acceptable anywhere?
I brought up the Donbas elections because there are new elections being mentioned in that region—you were the one who dragged the US into this.

And brighthound13 (or whatever his handle is) was the one who brought up Belarus, so I was responding to him.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
darkdriver said:Ukraine is struggling as a state because it's a breeding ground for kleptocracy and nepotism—kind of like almost every post-USSR wasteland out there, including Russia, which isn't any better just because they have massive natural resources.
I mean, wasn't Yulia Tymoshenko—who got grilled back in 2001 by Leonid Kuchma for corruption and, get this, smuggling Russian gas—one of the biggest faces of pro-Western politics? And one of her closest business associates was the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who ended up being convicted in the USA for corruption, money laundering, and fraud.

Btw, wasn't it similar in America before the big policy shifts, where they basically told retirees, "Hey, vote this way or you might lose your pensions"?
Just, you know, since we're talking about bribing people with veggies and stuff.

So, you think it's okay to blackmail people just to get them to show up at the polls? Seriously?
Whether it's about food or pensions, that kind of coercion is bottom-of-the-barrel behavior.

Maybe Tymoshenko was a face of pro-Western policy, but that wasn't even my point.
My point was that you can't use Belarus as a success story for survival—look how they turned out under Russian leadership. Ukraine is a total wreck without that guidance. In Belarus, everything seems perfect, like they're living in a land of milk and honey, simply because the Kremlin saved them from themselves.
I honestly don't get why Ukraine is still resisting. ☕

@Ego - 👍
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
brighthound13 said:Don't you think it's interesting how the dictatorship in Belarus hasn't completely ruined the country the way Ukrainian experts, who were constantly rotating through power, managed to do? It seems like Belarus has been quite successful at playing its cards right by cooperating with Russia, the EU, and even China; they even have massive exports of dump trucks going to the USA. Before the war, trucking routes often went through Belarus not just because the roads were better, but because shipments weren't being hijacked constantly. On the flip side, after the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine suffered some of the largest peacetime population losses in recent history, and their independence basically invited every possible misfortune, fueled by campaigns of pseudo-nationalism and hatred toward the old Soviet ways.
Sadly, it feels like Ukraine positioned itself right in the crosshairs of both the Western powers and Russia. While Russia isn't necessarily vastly superior to Ukraine, when you essentially strip your own military—which they inherited from the USSR—of its resources and lose the trust of your people, what else can you expect to happen?

Here we go, the classic Russian narrative: Ukraine is failing because it isn't a real country; it’s just a gang of Nazis and junkies. They claim the Ukrainian people don't even exist and need protection from Mother Russia to be guided toward prosperity (and "re-educated"). The suggestion is they should submit like Belarus, which enjoys the favor of empires (read: lost its sovereignty), and then everything will be fine for the Malorus—pardon me, the Ukrainians.
I honestly don't know how you can stomach this garbage.

By the way, regarding the elections in Donbas, I read an incredible report back in 2015 by two freelance journalists from Italy. Basically, the separatist authorities lured people to the polling stations by selling crates of vegetables and groceries for a symbolic single hryvnia. Desperate people "voted" simply because they needed to eat.

Reading justifications for a select clique of cronies lining their pockets by selling off national resources through privatization at the expense of the common people... it's not just slimy to read, it's utterly immoral to defend it by saying "you're just jealous."
Horrible.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
George Robinson43 said:It wasn't just Di Maio who left the party; a whole host of representatives and senators from the Five Star Movement departed as well, aiming to oust Conte and his crew from the ruling coalition.
Indeed, they cited Conte's Russophilia and his shameful stance on the war in Ukraine as the primary reasons.
Much like Farage, Salvini has retreated. It isn't because he lacks affection for Putin, but rather because he realizes that being a Russophile would damage his future career prospects.
The Five Star Movement will quite literally vanish in the next election.

Honestly, Salvini is a coward.
To him, the war is a tragedy probably only because the money from Russia might start flowing in slower, and because he's terrified the tap might get turned off entirely. 🕺

Those Italians are such hypocrites. They play the pacifist card, saying "weapons only bring death" and all that, but if someone actually tried to take a piece of their territory—say, if a neighbor like Mexico or Canada moved in—they’d be screaming at the top of their lungs about why the EU and NATO aren't sending weapons yet. It's easy to talk big when it isn't your own house on fire.☕
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5 in War in Ukraine ·
gentlestag15 said:View on twitter
https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/sta...55483422318593
Just send them a video showing a rocket hitting the street right next to that so-called market from a rocket launcher, and show them how the ammo is popping like popcorn.
I mean, WWII could have lasted like a month if everyone had just surrendered to Hitler; I don't know what kind of idiots dragged it out for six years. 🤦

George Robinson43 said:That isn't Italian propaganda; it's the propaganda of a member of the Communist Party USA (which holds a mere 0.33% nationally) that was re-established in 2009. Let's take a guess at whose funding is behind it.😉

If only being a communist was the only problem we had to deal with... 😉

Putin's biggest supporters in Italy aren't even as radical on the left as the Five Star Movement—you know, the group that led to Conte and Grillo's influence and why Di Maio eventually walked away from them—or even the Lega.

The political landscape in Italy is shifting once again. With the Five Star Movement facing internal turbulence, the influence of figures like Conte, Grillo, and Di Maio continues to shape the direction of the party. It’s becoming increasingly clear how much the friction between these leaders impacts their ability to present a unified front against the current administration. As Matteo Salvini and the Lega push their own agendas, the struggle for control within the movement remains a central theme in the national conversation.
(you're gonna need to translate this, I'm feeling lazy) 🕺 )

Even within the ruling coalition, there was pushback against sending weapons. Not to mention the constant stream of "experts" in the media who, fueled by this deep-seated anti-American sentiment, love to blame NATO for everything. Then you have a segment of the public that thinks this "isn't our war"—meaning they’re perfectly fine with sending money or humanitarian aid, but the idea of shipping arms absolutely terrifies them.

The absolute worst example of war-related populism had to be Matteo Salvini. He’s that right-wing populist who, just a few years ago... He was wandering around Moscow painting while wearing a T-shirt with Putin's face on it. He was strongly against the sanctions on Russia...And there's even a t-shirt for that occasion...Right at the start of the refugee crisis, he made quite the show of heading to the border with Ukraine, claiming he was just "deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation"—which we all know is just code for wanting to score political points off someone else's tragedy. Naturally, the mayor of a small town near the border called him out on his flirting with Putin and how his party, the Lega, has been cozying up to Russian capital.

The latest reports out of Washington suggest that Vladimir Putin is playing a very calculated game when it comes to his long-term strategy. It isn't just about immediate territorial gains in Ukraine; it looks like he's positioning himself for a much larger confrontation with the West. There’s a sense that the Kremlin is bracing for a prolonged period of tension, essentially preparing the Russian public for a reality where relations with the US and Europe might not recover for decades. It's a heavy, high-stakes gamble that could reshape global security for a generation...