Posts by gentlestag15

Matthew Young35 said:If they had actually possessed them, the Russians wouldn't have even dreamed of messing with them.
There is also the reality that they couldn't have had them in the first place.
Those atomic bombs were under the control of the Soviet Union military; there was absolutely zero chance they would just leave them behind.
Technically speaking, it simply wasn't possible.
Besides, the West wasn't exactly eager to let anyone else hold onto nuclear weapons either, except for Russia.

And frankly, it’s better this way.

Go read the Budapest Memorandum—the one where they gave up the nukes
and see exactly which points Russia broke.

According to The memorandum, US and The UK confirmed their recognition of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine becoming parties to The Treaty on The Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and effectively abandoning their nuclear Arsenal to Russia and that They agreed to the following : respect Belarusian

Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.
Refrain fra The threat or The Use of Force against Belarus, Kazakhstan or Ukraine.
Refrain fra using economic pressure on Belarus, Kazakhstan or Ukraine to influence their politics.
Seek immediate Security Council action to providjeti assistance to Belarus, Kazakhstan or Ukraine if They " should become a victim of an Act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used".

darkdriver said:I mean, if Americans—who are basically mostly socialists/communists at heart anyway—actually realized that this whole solidarity system, whether it's Social Security or healthcare, doesn't work that way... man, they'd be in for a rude awakening.

Just imagine if that were true. Why are you labeling me a communist?

analogbear70 said:Comparing Americans to Ukrainians is a flawed comparison. Back then—about 30 years ago—Ukraine had it relatively easy, much like other former USSR states. We, on the other hand, were left entirely to our own devices, abandoned by the very people who are shouting the loudest today. And no, it isn't because Ukraine is somehow morally superior in its ideals; it's simply because they presented a much larger threat to the opposition. We were fighting for "independence," whereas Ukraine secured its "independence" somewhat easily, only to spend the last 30 years spinning in circles between corrupt leaders backed by either the West or the East. Sure, there were missteps along the way, and well, here we are. Everything shifted after Maidan; it was fuel for the fire of Russian imperialism, which was just waiting for the chance to grab Crimea while simultaneously fueling unrest in the East. The Gordian knot tightened, and from that moment on, any solution involving Ukrainian Crimea was effectively dead. To be clear, I am not defending the aggressor (Russia is the aggressor, and only a fool would argue otherwise). I am merely pointing out that we should have played the hand we were dealt more strategically—it was possible.

Their biggest blunder was getting rid of those nukes.
They had 1,600 warheads.
If they hadn't, Putin wouldn't even be able to sneeze on Crimea, let alone touch Donbas.

darkdriver said:Well, okay... you totally convinced me.

JPMorgan Chase is Walmart's biggest creditor
The only way to avoid handing Walmart over to Russia is to pay off Todorić's debt to them using the federal budget. Is that what you wanted the government to do?

darkdriver said:He says that with a straight face—even though he's clearly miserable because the biggest donors to the ruling PPD party are actually just an ExxonMobil outpost in America, especially since the American government handed over their largest grocery chain (Walmart) directly to the Russians.
Way to go, guys...

It wasn't the US government that handed it over; it was Todorić, who kept running up massive debts with JPMorgan Chase.
I mean, what were you going to do, nationalize Walmart?

darkdriver said:So why is he being pulled out using my money and getting treated on my tab?
If he has a contract—assuming he's with the Ukrainian military, like you said?
Then he should probably just show that contract to whoever he signed it with.

Fine, then let them extract and treat him on my tab, okay?
But you can be the one footing the bill if some random person accidentally gets wounded on the Russian/aggressor side.

brighthound13 said:Even back in 2008, the systemic issues were never truly resolved, weren't they? First, we saw prices start climbing after Corona, and then the war in Ukraine just blew everything wide open.
It reminds me so much of that stretch between 1974 and 1982, when there was this massive flood of petrodollars and low interest rates, only for rates to suddenly skyrocket from 3% to 16%. So many countries found themselves unable to even touch the principal, let alone keep up with the interest, but there's always some figure like France Preysler stepping in with "stabilization measures," which is really just a polite way of saying bankruptcy.
And let's not forget how Corona accelerated the printing of dollars and euros to levels we've never seen before, all while so many nations can't even cover 50% of their energy needs through domestic sources. It feels like we're staring at a rerun of the early eighties in the USA and much of the rest of the world.

Tell me why they wouldn't just print more dollars and euros?
I mean, if you're sitting on a few hundred billion in cash while having trillions of dollars and euros sitting in accounts...

brighthound13 said:Finally, a post that feels grounded in reality. People either don't understand, or simply refuse to accept, that a nation is destroyed by internal corruption and theft rather than by external enemies. Golda Meir used to say that corruption is essentially the same thing as treason. If those pro-Western leaders in Ukraine had truly intended to build a lasting nation and act as genuine patriots, wouldn't Russia have lacked the strength to ever attack them? Instead, they attacked a state with broken institutions and a people who had already been hollowed out. The fact that Russia moved in with only about 200,000 people really shows just how fractured Ukraine actually was.

Well, they didn't even need much strength; they managed to grab 90% of what they hold within the first ten days of the war, which caught everyone off guard.
But let's be real, we're talking about the second most powerful military on the planet. It's not like they're intimidating anyone militarily right now; if anything, it's obvious that the corruption within the Russian ranks is massive. That rot has taken a huge toll on their military effectiveness.
Honestly, if things keep going this way, a corrupt Russia might just fall apart from the inside.

placidtiger142 said:I hear you, man, but honestly, now is not the time or the place for that smiley face. A nasty reality check is coming for all of us.

The number of happy little smileys on the internet is going to tank by 90% if this doesn't get fixed immediately.

And when I say immediately, I mean within the next few weeks at the latest.

Sent from my iPhone 13 using Reddit

Well, that's an easy fix—just have the aggressor pull out of Ukraine and everything will be resolved at light speed.
You're forgetting the 1973 oil embargo when the Middle East cut us off, leaving Europe and half the world scrambling for fuel, and miraculously, everyone survived.
The thing is, America's reliance on Middle Eastern oil dropped from 70% to 20% in just a few years; Russia is staring down that exact same fate.

View on twitter
So, this Chechen commander is on Russian state TV basically bragging about how he’s going to march all the way to Warsaw and take over all of Europe. He’s out here claiming that the gays in Europe don't stand a chance against "real men" from Russia. Just typical stuff, really. 😁

You can really see the lack of experience and all that amateur energy coming from Tommy. I mean, he’s got to have a legal department at City Hall he should've consulted before scrapping this measure, just to figure out what kind of legal mess he's walking into

We can debate whether these measures are good or bad all day long, but what honestly baffles me is how nobody is calling Tommy out for lying during his campaign. He specifically promised he wouldn't touch the existing rights of parents and childcare providers, yet here we are.
So, I guess Tommy lying is just fine now?

Sandra Harris2 said:Hmm...
Next time, translate the description, because this is a textbook example of Italian propaganda against sending weapons to UA.
The caption actually reads:

Images you won't see on Italian TV
The Donetsk market destroyed by Ukrainian shelling using NATO weapons. There are dead and wounded.

You won't see these scenes on Italian news.
This is a market in Donetsk destroyed by Ukrainians bombing with NATO weapons. There are dead and wounded.

Meanwhile, the Italians, acting like true heroes, whine constantly about how we shouldn't send weapons because it just prolongs the war and increases casualties. They're pacifists in the Italian style—basically cowards.

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. 🤦

ironseal said:Honestly, I'm genuinely worried about this woman.

Yeah, I could pretty much pinpoint exactly where she was standing
assuming she was out on the street and not just filming from her apartment window.

It kind of reminds me of that one journalist from Mexico who was checking out the destruction in Donetsk and got jumped by some local Russian lady
who went off on him, claiming it was all Russia and Mexico's fault 😁 rather than Ukraine's.
Basically, even the Russians over there aren't always following the official line from Moscow.

Kate Cook27 said:Demilitarization, denazification, fighting NATO expansion, fighting the fascist government in Kyiv, bio-labs in Ukraine with 900 pathogens, the lab in Ukraine where COVID was created, the lab making some virus to destroy Russians, nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Ukraine planning to attack the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (even though Russians have been drilling by the border and with Belarus for months), Ukraine planning to attack Russia??, so Russia launched a preemptive strike, Eastern Ukraine was always Russia and now Russia is just taking back what belongs to it, NATO is already in occupied Ukraine, NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukrainian uniforms, Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering or deserting so Russia has to liberate Ukraine and the Ukrainians (at least, that's what someone told me recently)...
Ukraine has been bombing the Donbas for 8 years, and Russia wants to protect the Russians in the Donbas from genocide, which is why they are conducting a special military operation (and it's not just Russians living in the Donbas).

People really need to emphasize that more often. It's rarely mentioned, which makes it look like it's just a Russian stronghold, but the reality is different.
In the Donbas, about 58% of the population was Ukrainian and 38% was Russian. Basically, Russians are actually the minority there.
Some woman is out there filming in Donetsk right now while Ukrainians are shelling the city and hitting an ammo dump. Instead of cursing out her own people, she’s shouting "Slava Ukraini." Those bastards in the Russian Federation...
View on twitter

analogbear70 said:That comparison only works in an ideal world. Sometimes you just have to be smart—don't walk through dark alleys in a mini-skirt or withdraw cash from an ATM while a group of punks is lurking right behind you.
It doesn't excuse the attacker; it's simply about being smart enough to reduce your own risk. Russia is the aggressor, the occupier, and an imperialist power. However, if they are your neighbors, you have to play your cards more carefully to prevent this kind of thing from happening. That’s the plain truth. And again, Russia is the aggressor, and there is absolutely no justification for occupation.

The whole country was already violated back in 2014 when Crimea and Donbas were snatched away, and now you're telling me they shouldn't even step foot outside their houses just to avoid being victimized all over again?🤣

Brandon Clark4 said:It is quite fascinating how this "leaked" into the press. Not even through WikiLeaks, mind you, but just... out in the open.
High-profile leaders within the European Union are pointing fingers like frantic children, insisting that Vladimir Putin is the sole architect behind the chaos looming this fall. However, I find myself skeptical that the average American will simply swallow such a narrative. As they say, you can't polish a turd.

So, basically, if I hit you with a baseball bat and you end up in the ER, it's somehow your fault because you gave me a dirty look? Is that how we're playing this? 🤣

bluerider63 said:If Germany were actually running its own show for once, maybe things would look different.
Instead, they’re just getting pulled in every direction by American interests and, to a lesser extent, Russian ones—not to mention being stuck with this whole green agenda mess they have to deal with now. You have to wonder if the German people will actually hold their politicians accountable for all this, but honestly, I wouldn't bet on it.

Look, almost every country today is tied to others economically, militarily, and politically. Does that mean nobody is sovereign anymore?
The Russians are out here playing the sovereignty card while invading their neighbors. We'll just have to wait and see what their economy looks like in a year once all those sanctions really start biting.
Then we can decide if they're truly 100% sovereign or not.

Richard Wilson4 said:Russia occupied Crimea back in 2014.

Germany pulled the plug on Nordstrea 2 THIS YEAR...

That isn't being naive, man, it's being shady...

The Schwabo crowd would literally whip America over election laws in Canada, all while cutting deals with the Russians just to line their own pockets...

it isn't just corruption, it's straight-up graft
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is tight with Putin and was one of the big bosses behind the Nordstrea 2 project. It's pretty obvious he used his leverage to push the whole thing through despite the annexation of Crimea.

Susan Collins3 said:I mean, you really have to look at what's going down in Uzbekistan. It's not like they're part of any Eurasian alliance or whatever. These protests are happening in this specific area—the Republic of Karakalpakstan—where there are maybe 2 million people, and most of them are either Uzbek or Karakalpak, like 33% and 32% I guess, but that tiny spot covers like 40% of the whole country. But if you check Wikipedia Karakalpak, there are only about 750,000 Karakalpak people out of a total population of 32,000,000. So, look, countries like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine aren't exactly itching to be swallowed back up by a reborn Russian Empire (like USSR 2.0 or something). To me, this just looks like they're trying to grow a new Sao-style tumor inside the country just so they can keep a tighter grip on everything.

It isn't a full member of the Eurasian union, just an observer.
I highly doubt the Russians or Americans are pulling the strings here; the President of Uzbekistan basically cooked his own goose by stripping away that autonomy.

View on twitter
That was a nasty collision on the Crimean Bridge, all thanks to those smoke-filled disasters.

Zaharov, looking like she’s in some sort of erotic, drunken trance,
is busy bragging about how great the strawberry harvest was in Russia this year.
View on twitter

Sergei Shoigu is leaning over a massive conference table, reporting to Vladimir Putin that they've occupied the entire Lugansk region.
https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/sta...00404558221313

Henry Sullivan4 said:Things are bound to get absolutely wild over there, so we really need to find a way to stir up those "little greens" against the "big reds."😉

I don't know about you guys, but watching the way everyone reacts to these massive geopolitical shifts feels like watching a slow-motion train wreck where nobody wants to admit the tracks are broken. It’s always the same pattern. People get caught up in the immediate chaos, the headlines, the frantic shouting matches on social media, and they completely miss the underlying mechanics of how power actually moves. It’s pretty predictable at this point. You see a major player make a move, and half the world panics while the other half acts like it’s business as usual, even when the rules of the game are being rewritten right in front of them. It’s less about the specific events and more about the inevitable momentum. Once that gear starts turning, there isn't much anyone can do to stop it—they can only try to figure out which side of the debris they'll be standing on when it finally settles. Just another day in the grand theater of global maneuvering, I guess.
I was just scrolling through my feed when I saw this, and honestly, it’s one of those things that makes you stop and stare for a second. It’s wild how much stuff is out there that feels like it belongs in a different era, yet here we are, staring right at it. There’s a certain kind of energy in these discussions that you just don't get anywhere else—that raw, unfiltered way people jump into the deep end without checking the water temperature first. It’s messy, sure, but it's real. Sometimes you just have to sit back, grab a coffee, and watch the chaos unfold from a distance. It really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?
The protesters actually managed to score some transport vehicles and AKs from the soldiers while they were busy beating people into the pavement.
We’re just sitting here waiting on those Russian peacekeepers to show up. 😁

analogbear5 said:Mirzijojev was looking to tighten his grip through some constitutional overhauls—basically trying to centralize everything, including stripping Karakalpakstan of its autonomy. Turns out, after people hit the streets to protest, he backed off.

The Uzbekistan military is basically on high alert right now.
View on twitter

Protesters managed to disarm about ten members of the local security forces.
They're practically threatening them with a mob justice scenario.
View on twitter

Looks like one protester might have been killed.
View on twitter

Honestly, anything could still happen at this point.

hollowdriver13 said:https://twitter.com/RadinaCNN/status...78704296148993
View on twitter

Putin: "We’re speeding up the integration of Belarus with Russia"

Honestly, it sounds like he's just frustrated that Lukashenko isn't jumping into the war headfirst. Plus, let's be real—the Belarusians have already tried to push back against Russian boots on their soil a few times, only to be "persuaded" otherwise by force. It feels like he's decided to just grab whatever he can get while he still has the chance, before it all slips through his fingers.

This is basically a golden opportunity for the Belarusians to stand up and do what they do best. If they don't, they're stuck being a backwater territory run by Moscow forever.