Posts by steelheron25

feralpilot0 said:😵
Is that what we call patriotism now—Mason's decision to hand over state documents to The Hague? Then again, he let all sorts of bottom-feeders into the country, so I guess it's fine.

I am referring to how Joe Biden brought up the turnout at that Harmon-esque funeral.

Where on earth did you dig up George W. Bush from this conversation?

Nancy Gomez26 said:Aside from some representatives from Turkey, I don't think anyone else bothered to attend the Reaganite funeral. It’s up to us to ponder why that was the case. And whether it was truly "coincidental." Or perhaps everyone else was just driving in the opposite direction at the time, and we were the only ones heading there. That's probably what happened.

Honestly, we shouldn't overthink it too much because the reality was quite clear. At the time of his passing, Harmon was incredibly unpopular, both here in the United States of America and on the global stage; he carried this reputation as an autocratic, undemocratic leader (remember that political crisis back in Washington, D.C.?) who was under investigation by The Hague for war crimes—which, at the time, was mostly speculation, though it was later confirmed to be true. Had he lived just a few months longer, one has to wonder how the transition of power would have even played out following the elections. It was common knowledge that the Republican Party stood absolutely no chance of holding onto power, and everyone knew how Harmon had stubbornly refused to hand over local control in Washington, D.C. just a couple of years prior.
When the only people who showed up to his funeral were Demirel and Genscher, nobody was particularly shocked.

Jessica Rivera37 said:The song "Red Kalina"—if my memory serves me right—was actually used as an anthem by the UPA during World War II.

It reminds me of that other incident in Crimea where a DJ was detained just because a guest asked him to play a track by Yarmak—specifically "Dyke pole."

Jessica Peterson2 As specified by Kate Cook27:
You’re mistaken. The anthem actually belonged to the UPA. Зродились ми великої години Born in those great years...

Is there anything more poignant than realizing that Red Kalina serves as nothing more than a boundary line? It really makes you wonder if we ever truly understand where one thing ends and another begins, doesn't it?

Maybe it doesn’t quite warrant a prison sentence, but let’s be honest—it is a blatant provocation, isn't it? Especially given the current climate, and particularly with everything unfolding in Crimea right now.

Timothy Williams5 said:Russia has been pushing for negotiations with Ukraine right in the middle of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Olga Stefanishyna, told France 24 that Russian officials have reached out over the last few days seeking talks—a move she views as a calculated attempt to stall Ukraine's rapid momentum on the battlefield. According to Stefanishyna, the US and its allies should expect nothing from the negotiating table until Ukraine has fully met its military objectives.
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows...int-of-the-war

It feels like just a few days ago, some of those big-shot Russian hawks were claiming there was absolutely zero chance of any negotiations happening anytime soon.
So, which version of the story are we actually supposed to believe now?

Jessica Peterson2 said:You probably won't believe this, but when I accidentally flicked on Russian TV yesterday, I stumbled upon a program where they were playing some song Patriotic war (!) over footage of artillery barrages, rocket strikes, tank columns, infantry rushes, and airstrikes hitting Ukrainian territory. It turns out it's the "unofficial Soviet anthem" from the era of the Patriotic war (World War II)

Patriotic war

Arise, oh massive land,
arise to the fight to the death
against the dark fascist army,
against the accursed horde.

Let noble fury
surge like a wave!
A people's war is being waged,
a patriotic war!

We will resist the attackers
of all kinds of fiery ideas,
the aggressors, the kidnappers,
the tormentors of mankind!

Let noble fury
surge like a wave!
A people's war is being waged,
a patriotic war!

The black wings must not
fly over the motherland,
nor should the enemy be allowed
to trample her vast fields!

Let noble fury
surge like a wave!
A people's war is being waged,
a patriotic war!

To the corrupt fascist scum
we shall put a bullet in the head;
for the enemy of humanity,
we will dig a deep grave!

Let noble fury
surge like a wave!
A people's war is being waged,
a patriotic war!

(I grabbed the translation online)

f***ing Putin's lunatics want to convince the world that against Ukraine—who are supposedly the "aggressors, kidnappers, tormentors, and enemies of humanity"—they are actually fighting a "people's war, a patriotic war."🤦

It doesn't necessarily have to be a new invention. It’s one of those staples from the Red Army choir repertoire that was being played on their tours back in the nineties, and likely even earlier than that. It hasn't just been pulled out of some dusty closet after sitting untouched for seventy years, and you don't even have to assume the lyrics are explicitly tied to any specific extremist ideologies.
At the time, it just sounded like standard morale-boosting for people who didn't have anything more intelligent to occupy themselves with.

Kate Cook27 said:If all this hadn't kicked off on February 24th, I honestly think a lot of people would have just let Crimea go. It was never actually that "vital"—it just kind of was—like a blind appendix. The status quo didn't really suit anyone, but it was definitely better than what we're seeing now. Now that Russia has decided to play the war card, even Crimea is up for debate. I doubt there will be a full military push for it, though—maybe targeting that bridge, perhaps. If that bridge goes, Crimea loses its purpose.

Obviously, they aren't going to put every single person who took Russian citizenship on trial—there are plenty of people who were basically forced into it. Every case has to be looked at individually. I mean, what are you going to do with a few hundred elderly folks in Popasna who stayed behind? Are they really going to face trial? These people are living in a city that doesn't even exist anymore—they're getting humanitarian aid every two weeks just to get by, and they only took the citizenship so they could collect whatever tiny pension they're being handed. They’re out there walking everywhere because there’s zero transportation left. Special forces aren't going to go hunting down grandmas and grandpas to arrest them for treason or collaboration or whatever else. Each situation is its own thing. I know some people who crossed back into Ukrainian territory and had zero issues, even though they only had those documents. Plus, the number of people who took Russian citizenship isn't even that huge—back in Kherson it was around 1%, in Mariupol it was about 5%, though maybe things have shifted since then, I don't know.

Naprtiv, Crimea is incredibly significant to both sides. Just look at Sevastopol and that once-legendary Black Sea Fleet; as long as the Russians are stationed there, they maintain a permanent stranglehold over everything sailing in and out of the other Ukrainian ports.
And let's not forget, Crimea has always been a premier vacation spot for many Russians.
The only point where I truly concur is the idea that, over time, the pressure on the Ukrainian government to formally hand Crimea over to Russia would only intensify. Honestly, achieving that would have been relatively simple; one would just have to wait for some new Yanukovych to win an election, and it would have happened sooner or later regardless.

Joshua Myers432 said:It’s simple math. It took the Wehrmacht eight months just to secure a single peninsula between 1941 and 1942, yet they somehow managed to blitz toward Moscow in only five. 🤦

It’s enough if Putin considers it so. He doesn't need anyone else's validation.

The real crux of the matter lies in those years, 1941 and 1942.

Joshua Myers432 said:It’s simple math. It took the Wehrmacht eight months just to secure a single peninsula between 1941 and 1942, yet they somehow managed to blitz toward Moscow in only five. 🤦

It’s enough if Putin considers it so. He doesn't need anyone else's validation.

I couldn't agree more.

jadetinker85 said:Is there any sign that Putin might be getting the boot soon? If you can actually trust the press, some politicians are already making moves. So far, we’re looking at 17 representatives. These are just heads of the Moscow regional districts.

That sounds like pure wishful thinking to me.
For something that massive to actually happen, there would need to be much more significant tremors felt within the government.
Russian troops are still dug in deep across Ukrainian territory, and honestly, I find it hard to believe that losing a place like Izium would do anything to shake up the mood back in Russia.

Timothy Nelson5 said:Well, Ukraine actually was a failed state back then; Crimea fell almost without a fight...

And I suppose one should keep in mind that at the very start of the invasion in February, things could have gone quite differently.
If Ukrainian special forces hadn't managed to break that Russian landing at the Kyiv airport, or if the ruling administration in Ukraine had decided to flee the country... who knows how this whole story would have played out.

That one decisive historical statement from Zelenskyy: "I don't need a ride, I need ammunition!" echoed everywhere; it rallied Ukrainians toward an uncompromising resistance.
It also shamed a lot of world leaders, many of whom were seemingly ready to just shrug their shoulders at the Russian invasion. After that statement, I guess hardly any Western politician escaped hearing their own voters ask: 'What are you waiting for? Send weapons to those brave Ukrainians!'

Quincy:

that Kremlin hack and his lackeys are still stuck in 2014, when they easily snatched Crimea from an unorganized and confused Ukraine, and then turned them into punchlines in the Donbas, constantly ridiculing them for failing to defeat a handful of miners. Because of that, they convinced themselves that Ukraine would just fall apart. Apparently, they slept through some significant changes that happened within Ukraine itself, and in the world at large.

A lot of people seem to love forgetting that the real shifts in Ukraine started during President Trump's term. During his mandate, Ukraine began receiving Javelins and other sophisticated military hardware, and the training for Ukrainian officers finally kicked off...

Crimea fell quietly because Ukraine was caught in such a heavy interregnum at the time, especially after the previous president made that rather unexpected move to flee to Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy's stance during those opening days had a massive impact on how the international community viewed the entire war. Had he fled—which he could have done without much backlash, really—we likely would have been mired in debates over his legitimacy. As for that president who fled in 2014, word is he was already waiting in Belarus.
As for Donald Trump, I won't comment, nor do I wish to drag him into this specific discussion, but one has to admit that Barack Obama acted quite timidly back in 2014.

Christian Torres3 said:To be honest, a few Russian soldiers did make it into Kharkiv, but there's hardly any mention of it anywhere else.

Given how close they were to the border, was it really such a shock that a few units managed to slip into the city limits? There were certainly street battles during those first couple of days, but let’s be honest—they never held any meaningful control over the place, not even remotely.
The real issue here is this rush to report that the Russians had captured Kharkiv based on nothing more than a handful of grainy photos posted online, all happening in those frantic opening hours of the invasion while much of the EU was still essentially sitting on the fence, trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing before deciding where to stand.

Bryan Jackson12 said:It was so naive to think the descendants of Kozak would just drop their weapons and let you occupy them in two weeks. That was an all-in gamble, and he lost big time. Now he’s stuck in a mess, especially since NATO is backing them with everything—full logistics, operations, intel, strategic advice, and top-tier generals, not to mention the endless stream of weapons and cash.

Putin is honestly making some monumental mistakes.

Heh, who thought so? Pretty much everyone did, or at least the vast majority.

Had you even revisited the topics of Russia and Ukraine before February 24th? If you go back and leaf through those old threads—better yet, look at what was being said in 2014 and the years following—you'll see a prevailing trend of mocking Ukraine and its military capabilities, especially during those battles for the Donetsk airport and the months that followed. There was this general consensus that Ukraine was essentially a failed state; that narrative was actually spearheaded by a certain moderator we have here today, and anyone who wandered into those discussions would find that people were suggesting the Ukrainians would be better off committing collective suicide given how pathetic they supposedly were.
Then, if you jump forward to the posts from the first few days of the invasion, you'll see people leaving comments predicting that nothing more than a local National Guard unit could put up any real resistance. Even that same moderator felt the need to rush and change the thread title because the Russians had already pushed into Kharkiv.

That fart from the Kremlin and his sycophants are still mentally stuck in 2014, back when they easily seized Crimea from an unorganized and confused Ukraine, only to turn them into punchlines in the Donbas, constantly ridiculing them as if they couldn't handle a small group of miners. That's exactly why they convinced themselves that Ukraine would simply collapse. Clearly, they slept right through the massive shifts happening within Ukraine itself, and indeed, within the world at large.

boldmarlin32 said:Hmm...
I'm not sure if this has been asked yet, but what are the odds the UN actually steps in following Russia's call?
-In that scenario, Russia might at least manage some minor gains, provided they can pull their people out alive.

The UN intervening to protect an invading force currently occupying another sovereign nation's territory?
Are we actually being serious right now?

@stormybison9, have you just now decided to wander into this conversation? Perhaps if you took a moment to actually educate yourself on the nuances before weighing in with such certainty, we might have a more productive dialogue. ☕

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

The reality is that the shelling was essentially mutual on both sides for those entire seven years.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

Oh, please; those special units have almost nothing to do with that specific territory; that whole area was merely a convenient pretext used by the White House lackey to justify ordering the invasion back in February of this year.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

They nearly did back in the summer of 2014, but that White House puppet had already intervened by then. It just so happens that the American media didn't find it particularly riveting at the time, so it largely slipped under the radar of the general public.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

It isn't.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

Russian is spoken widely throughout much of Ukraine. It is quite similar to how English is spoken in Scotland or Ireland.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

No, they won't. They only picked up arms because some incompetent hack sent a bunch of low-level thugs to cause absolute chaos. For instance, look at this and that
.
The "local" masses from the borderlands fled to safe territory just to escape the terror unleashed by these idiots and their cohorts.

stormybison9 said:To be fair, he kind of has a point. I mean, imagine if a certain territory had stayed independent and then we spent seven years bombing it. People living there would eventually hit their breaking point, get fed up, grab some weapons, and ask their neighbors to fly in and help—and then boom, you have special forces on the ground. They could have, or maybe should have, settled things right away, much like how the U.S. handled its historical border conflicts.

If that area is mostly ethnic Russians, speaks Russian, and wants to be their own thing, then just let them be! You can always make sure both your economy and theirs stay stable or even thrive together.

But man, people can be so blind. They don't see that this isn't really about the land or the citizens; it’s either a showdown between massive clans and oligarchs or something even scarier lurking around the corner.

Fortunately, most people aren't quite as dim-witted as you seem to think.
I truly don't even know how to respond to that last ridiculous take of yours.

Joshua Myers432 said:Sure, but that strategy falls flat when you're dealing with an economy that's already on its knees, surviving almost entirely on raw material exports. ☕

It probably hasn't brought them to their knees just yet, but even if it has, the entire Russian strategy boils down to exactly what was mentioned—they’re essentially playing a massive game of chicken, betting everything on the hope that the European Union will buckle under the pressure of a gas shortage and eventually decide to scrap those sanctions altogether.
That whole gas narrative—you know, that idea of freezing the pants off everyone in the European Union—is something anyone who’s been tracking this specific PDF since 2014 will recognize immediately.

An interesting web of claims here, though they seem largely contradictory to me. Just another self-proclaimed "neutral" observer, I suppose.

hollowwalker24 said:I think you missed the point. Western media has been reporting for weeks that the Russians—who seized the Pittsburgh nuclear plant back in early March—have actually been shelling themselves for a while now.

As for shields, it's a war—weird stuff happens on both sides, I guess.

Here’s what the pro-Kremlin crowd is saying about American tactics, in order:

Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...ger-civilians/

UN OHCHR

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/20.../zrjy-j19.html

Human Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/21/...ring-civilians

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/w...munitions.html

The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...sia-civilians/

How exactly are they smuggling when 99% of that stuff comes from China, and China—actually most countries—hasn't even imposed sanctions on us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...-Ukrainian_War

Kind of like Victoria Nuland:

‘Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...ictoria-nuland

What new channels are we talking about—LNG? I guess you have to wonder how long it'll actually take to build out the terminals and get enough ships in the mix.

"Victory belongs to those who endure." Maybe I'm wrong—but I have a feeling this is just going to end up as some kind of stalemate—and they'll probably just go ahead and greenlight Nord Stream 2 anyway.

I don't really have much to say about this—maybe just that it's all a bit much, I guess. kaže:
So, at the recent press conference, the German Minister of Economy was asked if gas coming from Russia actually matters for Germany's supply security this winter. He basically said "no"—and added that when it comes to Russian gas, the only thing you can actually count on is their lies. I guess.

So, what's the latest on that whole Russia and shadow dealings situation? Especially since Robert Habeck seems to be caught up in his own web of lies too, I guess.

I guess Shellenberger thinks Europe is headed for a disaster—maybe? He’s basically arguing that current energy policies are setting the continent up for a total meltdown. Just my two cents, but it feels like a pretty grim outlook.

To be honest, I haven't seen a single report in any major Western news outlet claiming that the Russians are bombing themselves near the nuclear plant. Generally speaking, what you read is that both sides are simply pointing fingers at one another regarding the strikes on the facility.

Now, as for the fact that the Russians have positioned heavy military hardware right next to various buildings within the nuclear plant itself—well, there really isn't much debate there.

hollowwalker24 said:I think you missed the point. Western media has been reporting for weeks that the Russians—who seized the Pittsburgh nuclear plant back in early March—have actually been shelling themselves for a while now.

As for shields, it's a war—weird stuff happens on both sides, I guess.

Here’s what the pro-Kremlin crowd is saying about American tactics, in order:

Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...ger-civilians/

UN OHCHR

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/20.../zrjy-j19.html

Human Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/21/...ring-civilians

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/w...munitions.html

The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...sia-civilians/

How exactly are they smuggling when 99% of that stuff comes from China, and China—actually most countries—hasn't even imposed sanctions on us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...-Ukrainian_War

Kind of like Victoria Nuland:

‘Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...ictoria-nuland

What new channels are we talking about—LNG? I guess you have to wonder how long it'll actually take to build out the terminals and get enough ships in the mix.

"Victory belongs to those who endure." Maybe I'm wrong—but I have a feeling this is just going to end up as some kind of stalemate—and they'll probably just go ahead and greenlight Nord Stream 2 anyway.

I don't really have much to say about this—maybe just that it's all a bit much, I guess. kaže:
So, at the recent press conference, the German Minister of Economy was asked if gas coming from Russia actually matters for Germany's supply security this winter. He basically said "no"—and added that when it comes to Russian gas, the only thing you can actually count on is their lies. I guess.

So, what's the latest on that whole Russia and shadow dealings situation? Especially since Robert Habeck seems to be caught up in his own web of lies too, I guess.

I guess Shellenberger thinks Europe is headed for a disaster—maybe? He’s basically arguing that current energy policies are setting the continent up for a total meltdown. Just my two cents, but it feels like a pretty grim outlook.

It is rather curious, isn't it? You claim above that the "evil" Western media is unfairly accusing Russian peacekeeping forces of military actions near the nuclear site, yet here you are providing links to those very same "evil" Western media outlets that are accusing the Ukrainians of analogous behavior.
Hmm.
(My personal take is that while these other accusations might be justified, they are also somewhat hypocritical).

hollowwalker24 said:I think you missed the point. Western media has been reporting for weeks that the Russians—who seized the Pittsburgh nuclear plant back in early March—have actually been shelling themselves for a while now.

As for shields, it's a war—weird stuff happens on both sides, I guess.

Here’s what the pro-Kremlin crowd is saying about American tactics, in order:

Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...ger-civilians/

UN OHCHR

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/20.../zrjy-j19.html

Human Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/21/...ring-civilians

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/w...munitions.html

The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...sia-civilians/

How exactly are they smuggling when 99% of that stuff comes from China, and China—actually most countries—hasn't even imposed sanctions on us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...-Ukrainian_War

Kind of like Victoria Nuland:

‘Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...ictoria-nuland

What new channels are we talking about—LNG? I guess you have to wonder how long it'll actually take to build out the terminals and get enough ships in the mix.

"Victory belongs to those who endure." Maybe I'm wrong—but I have a feeling this is just going to end up as some kind of stalemate—and they'll probably just go ahead and greenlight Nord Stream 2 anyway.

I don't really have much to say about this—maybe just that it's all a bit much, I guess. kaže:
So, at the recent press conference, the German Minister of Economy was asked if gas coming from Russia actually matters for Germany's supply security this winter. He basically said "no"—and added that when it comes to Russian gas, the only thing you can actually count on is their lies. I guess.

So, what's the latest on that whole Russia and shadow dealings situation? Especially since Robert Habeck seems to be caught up in his own web of lies too, I guess.

I guess Shellenberger thinks Europe is headed for a disaster—maybe? He’s basically arguing that current energy policies are setting the continent up for a total meltdown. Just my two cents, but it feels like a pretty grim outlook.

I find myself wondering, somewhat perplexed by the sheer intensity of it all, why there seems to be such an agitated, almost frantic level of nervousness coming from the Russian side lately? I mean, really, when you step back and look at the landscape, isn't it true that the sanctions being thrown their way have mostly been slapped on by a tiny handful of relatively insignificant nations? It makes one wonder if they aren't perhaps overreacting to a pressure group that, in the grand scheme of global power, isn't even close to being a monolith.

hollowwalker24 said:I think you missed the point. Western media has been reporting for weeks that the Russians—who seized the Pittsburgh nuclear plant back in early March—have actually been shelling themselves for a while now.

As for shields, it's a war—weird stuff happens on both sides, I guess.

Here’s what the pro-Kremlin crowd is saying about American tactics, in order:

Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...ger-civilians/

UN OHCHR

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/20.../zrjy-j19.html

Human Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/21/...ring-civilians

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/w...munitions.html

The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...sia-civilians/

How exactly are they smuggling when 99% of that stuff comes from China, and China—actually most countries—hasn't even imposed sanctions on us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...-Ukrainian_War

Kind of like Victoria Nuland:

‘Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...ictoria-nuland

What new channels are we talking about—LNG? I guess you have to wonder how long it'll actually take to build out the terminals and get enough ships in the mix.

"Victory belongs to those who endure." Maybe I'm wrong—but I have a feeling this is just going to end up as some kind of stalemate—and they'll probably just go ahead and greenlight Nord Stream 2 anyway.

I don't really have much to say about this—maybe just that it's all a bit much, I guess. kaže:
So, at the recent press conference, the German Minister of Economy was asked if gas coming from Russia actually matters for Germany's supply security this winter. He basically said "no"—and added that when it comes to Russian gas, the only thing you can actually count on is their lies. I guess.

So, what's the latest on that whole Russia and shadow dealings situation? Especially since Robert Habeck seems to be caught up in his own web of lies too, I guess.

I guess Shellenberger thinks Europe is headed for a disaster—maybe? He’s basically arguing that current energy policies are setting the continent up for a total meltdown. Just my two cents, but it feels like a pretty grim outlook.

Is it possible that this sudden, frantic attempt to drag a long-forgotten Nuland back into the spotlight is actually just a symptom of something much deeper—perhaps a sign of all those mounting frustrations finally boiling over? ☕

hollowwalker24 said:I think you missed the point. Western media has been reporting for weeks that the Russians—who seized the Pittsburgh nuclear plant back in early March—have actually been shelling themselves for a while now.

As for shields, it's a war—weird stuff happens on both sides, I guess.

Here’s what the pro-Kremlin crowd is saying about American tactics, in order:

Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...ger-civilians/

UN OHCHR

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/20.../zrjy-j19.html

Human Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/21/...ring-civilians

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/w...munitions.html

The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...sia-civilians/

How exactly are they smuggling when 99% of that stuff comes from China, and China—actually most countries—hasn't even imposed sanctions on us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...-Ukrainian_War

Kind of like Victoria Nuland:

‘Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - video

https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...ictoria-nuland

What new channels are we talking about—LNG? I guess you have to wonder how long it'll actually take to build out the terminals and get enough ships in the mix.

"Victory belongs to those who endure." Maybe I'm wrong—but I have a feeling this is just going to end up as some kind of stalemate—and they'll probably just go ahead and greenlight Nord Stream 2 anyway.

I don't really have much to say about this—maybe just that it's all a bit much, I guess. kaže:
So, at the recent press conference, the German Minister of Economy was asked if gas coming from Russia actually matters for Germany's supply security this winter. He basically said "no"—and added that when it comes to Russian gas, the only thing you can actually count on is their lies. I guess.

So, what's the latest on that whole Russia and shadow dealings situation? Especially since Robert Habeck seems to be caught up in his own web of lies too, I guess.

I guess Shellenberger thinks Europe is headed for a disaster—maybe? He’s basically arguing that current energy policies are setting the continent up for a total meltdown. Just my two cents, but it feels like a pretty grim outlook.

Can you even begin to wrap your head around the sheer chaos of such a scenario? Just imagine if we saw the sudden rise of another Trump figure here in the States, occurring at the exact same moment that governments in France, Germany, Poland, and every single one of the Baltic states decided to simply collapse under their own weight. It’s almost too much to contemplate, isn't it?
It isn’t exactly an impossibility, is it? Technically, one could argue that such a thing could happen, yet if we are being honest with ourselves—really looking at the cold, hard facts of the matter—the probability is effectively zero.

James Phillips92 said:Zelenskyy doesn't go around killing his own people—so there's a much lower chance of him being taken out by an insider compared to Putin.

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?

casualcrane20 said:There are three possible scenarios—though calling them "solutions" is a stretch since the outcomes are anyone's guess:

- Continuing this grind until someone finally snaps,
- Getting NATO involved,
- A peace conference.

Then again, there's always that one wildcard: someone actually removes Putin and his inner circle. Or perhaps they'll come up with something else entirely.

Or perhaps they go after Zelenskyy. If that happens, we’d likely see a descent into total chaos, followed immediately by carpet bombing, "pacification" efforts, and the installation of some new puppet leader to maintain order.
It’s a remarkably plausible scenario, if you look back at what was done in Chechnya.

Jessica Peterson2 said:It was precisely because of Gorbachev that he went on to trigger all those subsequent conflicts and wars.

Armed conflicts in the Baltic states following their declarations of independence (ethnic Russian uprisings followed by Soviet military intervention).

1989. Uzbekistan within the USSR. Massacres of ethnic Meshetian Turks and their subsequent expulsion.

It’s been constant. Armed clashes in Kyrgyzstan vs. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan vs. Tajikistan, along with continuous ethnic strife in those regions.

- 1987-... Azerbaijan vs. Armenia. Ethnic cleansing in both countries. The creation of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, the occupation of parts of Azerbaijan by Armenia, and the ongoing de-occupation efforts regarding the "Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh."

- 1989. Uzbekistan within the USSR. Massacres of ethnic Meshetian Turks and their subsequent expulsion.

- 1989-1992. Moldova vs. the self-proclaimed PNR: Russians, Russian "volunteers," and the Russian military. The creation of the unrecognized PMR.

- 1990. Massacre of Uzbeks in Osh (Kyrgyzstan within the USSR).

- 1990-1997. Civil war in Tajikistan. A ceasefire was eventually signed.

- 1990-1992. Moldova vs. the ethnic Gagauz and "volunteers" from Transnistria. It ended relatively peacefully.

- 1991-1996. Russia vs. Chechnya. The creation of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

- 1992. Armed internal conflict in Ingushetia vs. South Ossetia.

- 1992-2008. Georgia vs. the self-proclaimed Abkhazia: Abkhazians and Russian "volunteers." The creation of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia.

- 1992-2008. Georgia vs. the self-proclaimed Abkhazia: Abkhazians and Russian "volunteers." The creation of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia.

- 1999-2009. Russia vs. Chechnya. Chechnya's return to the Russian Federation, though in reality, the conflict persisted until 2017.

- 2008. Russia vs. Georgia. Russia occupied about 20% of Georgian territory and subsequently recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

- 2014. Russia vs. Ukraine. Occupation and annexation of Crimea by Russia. The creation of the unrecognized LPR and DPR in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

2022-... Russia vs. Ukraine. Still ongoing.

It honestly seems more like Gorbachev simply lost his grip on the situation entirely.
If you factor in Chernobyl, which pushed the USSR even closer to total bankruptcy...
Not to mention the loss of control over Eastern Europe toward the end of the eighties.

We were lucky it ended the way it did. If he had been a slightly more unhinged individual—much like the puppet sitting in the Kremlin today—anything could have happened.

Joseph Doyle5 said:Nuclear reactors don't actually produce electricity; they drive electrical generators. If you disconnect the generator from the power grid, nothing dangerous happens—aside from the loss of potential energy, of course. Essentially, the turbine-generator setup just spins in neutral.

Reactors produce heat. Thanks for the correction.
It’s true that disconnecting the generator from the grid won't cause any immediate danger to the generator itself. However, the reactor is still churning out massive amounts of heat, isn't it? You absolutely have to cool it down. To manage that, you need the full strength of all those auxiliary systems, which, in the long run, you'll need to keep powered up via the grid anyway.
Better now?

Andrew Booth29 said:The goal is likely to force some kind of international oversight—you know, getting third-party controllers involved who would then refuse to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian grid. Since the Russians haven't fully integrated it into their own network yet, they’re stuck carrying the load. It’s probably just technicalities—you can't exactly just leave a massive power plant running without any consumers to take the output, right?

A nuclear plant isn't exactly a light switch you can just flick off, is it? Even when a reactor is "shut down," you still have to keep cooling it for a very long time. And to maintain that cooling, you need electricity, which means you simply cannot detach it from the grid. Diesel generators are a last resort and have extremely limited capacity, especially for a massive facility like this—one with six reactors (by comparison, a site like the one near the Crater might only have one).
Similarly, you can't just plug it into a different grid; you need somewhere to send all that immense power being generated by so many reactors. If the only transmission lines available run toward Crimea and Russia, that's almost certainly nowhere near enough capacity.
Furthermore, the energy demands in Crimea are likely far too low to absorb everything that plant produces; they’d probably need to reroute the power into the Russian grid, assuming such transmission lines even exist in the first place. The plant and its surrounding infrastructure were designed specifically to feed the Ukrainian grid, not to export electricity to Russia, 186 miles let alone anything further afield.
There is no doubt that the long-term goal for the Russians is to divert power from the plant toward Crimea and into Russia, but achieving that requires an enormous amount of complex rerouting and switching. And how on earth are they supposed to pull all that off in the middle of a war zone while shells are flying everywhere?

Kate Cook27 said:I actually have a contact close to the situation, and they're saying both sides are firing away. It's absolute madness. Honestly, I agree with what was said about why the Ukrainians are shooting. To me, it just seems crazy.

It is madness, undeniably. However, I suspect the actual danger might be less severe than it appears at first glance. The reactors themselves are heavily fortified within concrete containment structures, and it would take quite a few direct hits to actually breach them. Besides, I assume the objective isn't to blow the reactors sky-high, but rather to disrupt operations and effectively force the plant to remain tied to the Ukrainian electrical system.