Posts by Kate Lewis3

Drew Booth60 said:It really depends on whether this stays relevant, though—we’ll have to see how Russia reacts to this offensive. Things should get a lot clearer in the next few days. Either way, we’ve reached a massive turning point in this war.

The second Putin's propaganda machine stops rattling those nuclear saber teeth, you know things are getting serious.

Donna Wells2 said:Can you name a single aircraft that is even remotely as good as a Western or Russian jet, or maybe even half as good as the originals?
Chinese-made planes are exactly what the name implies... total garbage.
You really have to ask yourself why, for instance, Chinese cars don't dominate Western markets.
Maybe it's because the highly developed West protects itself from an onslaught of low-quality Eastern products using technology that is vastly superior to anything China has... and they do this intentionally, something China can't and will never match.
As for a Chinese assault on Taiwan... they’d end up like the British at Dunkirk, if not much worse.
The problem is the Red Witches don't realize it; they're claiming territory that the Red Boot has never ruled and never will.

And if we look at the parallels with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the reason Ukrainians were scavenging through piles of gear at the start of the war was because that cheap Chinese trash, like those Yellow River tires, just kept exploding on them.

swiftjackal11 said:Is there anyone in Russia who’s actually sane enough to say that every single day this war in Ukraine drags on, we're just showing the world how incapable we really are? It would be better to just end this now, so people still see us as a strong and capable nation rather than a joke.

Yeah, right. As if they didn't pull back to the Donbas in a perfectly organized retreat just to double down on their attempts to crush the Ukrainian nation.

Pure, unadulterated truth, straight from the TV.

Richard Wilson4 said:Even if the Russians pulled out tomorrow, Ukraine wouldn't stand a chance at holding onto Crimea.

It would basically become their version of the Gaza Strip.

Honestly, I don't see the logic there, and I definitely don't see how it's anything like Gaza.

ztrew said:Russia needs to start making its own chips, building its own computers, upgrading tech, all that good stuff.

Well, newsflash: Russia is never going to forget about Ukraine or those other Slavic nations.

First off, even the USSR couldn't pull that off. They were too busy funneling wealth into villas on the Black Sea instead of actual science. And let’s be real, they were basically just copying Western tech anyway.

Second: that’s exactly why the other Slavic countries want nothing to do with Russia. Even Belarus would jump at the chance to walk away if they could.

crimsonwolf26 said:If things ever reach a breaking point where Russia officially declares war on Ukraine—basically moving toward full-scale martial law and total mobilization—do you think there’s a realistic chance that NATO would actually step in officially?

Only if they decide to touch one of NATO's own members. That's the line in the sand.

Timothy Nelson5 said:I suppose their forces make up at least a quarter, maybe even a third, of all the active anti-Ukrainian units.
Probably a similar percentage when it comes to casualties, too.

I’d say it's actually higher than that. They're just getting handed all this old, junk equipment.

Timothy Nelson5 said:48,759 dead Russian soldiers... as of August 28th.

I guess these numbers are based on the payouts for deceased Russian citizens serving in standard military units.

But I wonder... does this count include the various Wagner Group members, foreign volunteers, or those fighters from the RAO regions—who, I suppose, make up a pretty significant chunk of the casualties?

The guys from those outlying regions don't get any compensation.

Timothy Nelson5 said:The Russian establishment was actually much more shaken after the Mole Cricket disaster of '19.
That was really when the collapse of the USSR started to take hold, I think.

Nancy Gomez26 said:For the most part, people felt a sense of relief when the USSR military pulled out of Afghanistan. (Sure, war veterans caused some friction down the road, but that was just a drop in the bucket compared to the systemic issues hitting the nation.) The withdrawal from Afghanistan wasn't the direct cause of the USSR's collapse; rather, it was the sudden, drastic shift in political doctrine that the public simply couldn't process in such a short window. Perestroika and Glasnost were sound concepts in theory, but the populace didn't know how to navigate them—or perhaps, once you let the genie out of the bottle, there is no going back to the status quo. On the flip side, those reforms ran headlong into a massive bureaucratic machine that controlled every facet of the state, and those new ideas struck at the very foundation of that bureaucracy. But that is a different conversation entirely.

My point is, every single setback—and look, let's call a loss a loss, they failed to "denazify" or "demilitarize" Ukraine—is just an excuse for the current elites to dodge accountability.

They've backed themselves into a corner. To them, any peace deal that doesn't put the Russian government in charge of Kyiv is seen as a total surrender.

And realistically? This conflict ends with Crimea being liberated, no matter how much people whine about it. Maybe the Ukrainian units won't be charging through the streets, but nothing's going to be left standing once the Ukrainians start HIMARS-ing everything in sight.

wiredseal7 said:It’s not even about the sanctions—it's more about what the future holds for the Ukrainian economy. We're looking at a massive fire sale:
https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/0...e-wall-street/

It feels like a bit of déjà vu—reminds me of those botched privatizations we saw back in the day where Western interests just swooped in to clean up.

Honestly, you don't even have to state the obvious—in a war zone like this, everything is going to be sold off for pennies on the dollar—especially when Uncle Sam decides only certain "vetted" Wall Street firms get a seat at the table.

It’s basically a textbook case of American plundering—from the "people's revolution" straight to the final bill being collected.

Luckily for the Ukrainians, they already finished their own privatization process, so it might be harder for people to spin the narrative that outsiders forced them into a war with Russia just to grab their companies.

The absolute worst-case scenario for Ukraine—on top of all the destruction caused by Russian aggression—is joining the European Union, where the "old guard" members will likely try to protect their own turf by crushing any Ukrainian industry that actually poses a threat to their dominance.

Timothy Nelson5 said:I don't know exactly what kind of pressure we're talking about here, but I guess it’s about more than just oil and gas pipelines.

Defeats of this magnitude... they tend to rattle the political establishment in Moscow. It makes things like internal power struggles or even a coup feel like actual possibilities, I suppose.

People seem to naively think some well-meaning democracy lover will just step in to replace Vladimir, but honestly, many—maybe even most—of his loudest critics are actually more radical than he is.

And even that might not be the worst-case scenario. The real nightmare, maybe, is Russia completely fracturing. You could end up with total chaos where various radical nationalists seize entire regions and start waving nuclear arsenals around their territory. That’s a scary thought.

At the same time, I think Ukrainians need to realize that, eventually, some kind of peace agreement is going to be necessary. Another few years of this war is going to cost far too many lives and resources.
It doesn't have to be any specific deal, but at some point, things just have to be settled one way or another.

A loss in Ukraine is bound to shake up Russia's leadership sooner or later. It’s just history repeating itself—think about how the failure in Afghanistan shook the USSR just two years down the line.

analogbear5 said:I could easily drop a few more million on training astrophysicists and nuclear engineers—only for them to end up back in Washington, D.C., signing paperwork because there’s basically zero actual work for them out here.

The second blunder is just flushing taxpayer money down the drain on specialists the country doesn't even need right now—or anytime soon, for that matter. And don't even get me started on those liberal arts degrees that serve absolutely no practical purpose in today's economy.

Nathan Thomas12 said:Europe finally showed some unity after a long time, and all thanks to Putin.
Yeah, we pay dues, but we pull way more out than we put in. Just look at our cities and how much infrastructure has been built thanks to those funds.

In theory, yeah. But America is losing a massive amount of talent here—everything from skilled tradespeople to top-tier engineers. So, joining the European Union actually leaves the US in a deficit.

I can't remember the exact figure, but I think some Germans calculated that the total investment society makes in a single person who earns an engineering degree is about a million dollars. That includes everything from birth through graduation—you know, parents paying for food and raising them, local communities providing daycare and schools, all the way up to the government footing the bill for college. It adds up fast.

Nathan Evans78 said:Reducing this whole situation to just Hitler is a logical fallacy if you ask me. Back then, the Reich was fighting over energy resources—like the Caspian Sea—and they certainly didn't have nuclear warheads at their disposal.

Sure, slapping sanctions on the elite makes sense, and sending weapons to the Ukrainians is one thing, but we should have kept the gas and oil flowing just to let the Russians deal with their own mess. Even Khodorkovsky argues that's the way to go.☕

Calling it "energy resources" is total historical revisionism. The Reich already had plenty of fuel, mostly from Russia, back before the Russians were even "anti-fascists" and while official Moscow was busy tearing through Poland right alongside Germany.

Hitler hit the USSR just to make sure the USSR wouldn't hit Germany first. It was inevitable. It’s like watching two rabid dogs circling each other—you just don't know which one is going to snap first.

bluemason3 said:Does anyone actually expect environmental groups to back new oil installations anywhere? That’s an objective ecological risk. It always has been, and it's built into the nature of the thing.

It's their job to sound the alarm, while the public and the government decide how much weight those warnings carry compared to other factors like the economy or national strategy.

I don't see anything controversial here, nor any secret agendas involving Merkel or George Soros.

There is definitely a "secret" agenda if you look at where these NGOs get their money.

bluemason3 said:Could Kadyrov be looking to take down Putin, and without his protection, would the Chechens actually move to take him out?

Honestly, I feel like even just seeing Putin's grip on power start to slip would be enough to end him—especially if those rumors about Kadyrov's guys getting wiped out like flies in Donbas are actually true. It’s simple math: once his main tool for keeping everyone in line is broken, he's basically done.

Brenda Murphy3 said:Man, you're totally overreacting here. You're completely missing the bigger picture on this one.

Do you even realize how much funding America has pulled from the European Union, and how much more is coming down the pipeline soon since it was already approved?
And since you want to bring up Canada—do you have any idea how much they got in this latest funding package? I'll tell you right now: Zero.😁
And that’s specifically because of the populist nonsense Viktor Orbán is running. Every political move has a price tag, and thinking that the policies of Mexico or Canada are somehow "wiser" is just plain delusional.

Honestly, the way you and a few others view "independence," calling the country a colony, or labeling leaders as Brussels bureaucrats... it's just childish. Seriously, it's pretty immature.

The only real question worth asking is what that money is actually being used for. If it isn't going toward helping families deal with heating costs during the winter, then regular Americans aren't seeing much benefit from all this "social infrastructure" funding flowing to various useless NGOs through those European Union funds.

Here's the reality check: gas prices are going to climb because of the (totally justified) sanctions on Russia, so we need to find an alternative fast. One option is wood pellets. Historically, the biggest exporters of pellets to the US were Canada and Mexico, but they've slapped export bans on them. If we produce a certain amount of pellets here but don't have the freedom to move goods where they're needed, then American citizens get cheated out of a vital resource. That's exactly what it feels like to be treated like a colony.

steelheron25 said:Well, I wasn't actually suggesting he'd be taken out by one of his own allies in the first place.

But if we're talking about sudden removals, how exactly did Dzhokhar Dudayev meet his end?

Look, it’s not even the same situation, and we aren't talking about the same kind of person. Zelenskyy is an actor. Dudayev was a trained general with actual combat experience—someone who was absolutely vital to making the resistance against Russia work.

One way Zelenskyy gets taken out could definitely be through some internal fracturing within the Ukrainian ranks. But honestly? It could totally backfire on the Russians if it just ends up galvanizing Americans and Ukrainians even more.

Michelle Young50 said:The free movement of goods is fine for business as usual. But you can always declare an emergency—or cite national security threats—to slap a three-month ban on pellet exports, along with storage restrictions, forcing everything into immediate circulation. Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures.

Sure you can, if you aren't a total colony. If you're a colony, you don't get a choice.

I mean, I haven't seen Andrej Plenković and his Brussels-style bureaucrats banning the export of any raw materials from America. Or even having the authority to do it.

I don't even know where to start with this mess. Everything feels like it's just circling the drain lately, doesn't it? Just one thing after another. Honestly, I’m exhausted. It's all getting a bit ridiculous at this point. says:
Open market? Yeah, right. Just try filling up your tank in Canada or attempting to sneak a 20-liter jug of cooking oil across the border. So much for that whole "we're part of the European Union and everything is an open market" nonsense. Total joke. ☕
I bet it’s the exact same story over in Canada with the wood pellets. You can export some, sure, but they probably cap you at like one single bag before the government steps in.

It’s really not that big of a deal. Honestly, the only catch is that since you aren't an American citizen, you're going to be stuck paying full price without any of those sweet subsidies. As for the essentials? You can grab them, but there might be some limits on how much you can get. Once you cross the border, though, you can carry over anything that’s perfectly legal to sell. Easy enough.