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Other Topics => Off Topic Discussion => Topic started by: ralfy on December 16, 2022, 08:45:00 PM



Title: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 16, 2022, 08:45:00 PM
From, of all places, the Atlantic Council.

"Zelenskyy wants Ukraine to be ‘a big Israel.’ Here’s a road map."

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/zelenskyy-wants-ukraine-to-be-a-big-israel-heres-a-road-map/ (https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/zelenskyy-wants-ukraine-to-be-a-big-israel-heres-a-road-map/)

Quote
Speaking to reporters this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the future he sees for his country in unusual terms: as “a big Israel.”

Gone, he said, are hopes for “an absolutely liberal” state—replaced by the likely reality of armed defense forces patrolling movie theaters and supermarkets. “I’m confident that our security will be the number-one issue over the next ten years,” Zelenskyy added.

Oh, the irony!

A commentary on the same matter:

"Zelensky and NATO plan to transform post-war Ukraine into ‘a big Israel’"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/09/17/zelensky-nato-ukraine-big-israel/ (https://thegrayzone.com/2022/09/17/zelensky-nato-ukraine-big-israel/)

Quote
Zelensky made his prediction while speaking to reporters on April 5, rejecting the idea that Kiev would remain neutral in future conflicts between NATO, the European Union, and Russia. According to Zelensky, his country would never be like Switzerland (which coincidentally abandoned its Napoleon-era tradition of nonalignment by sanctioning Russia in response to its February invasion).

“We cannot talk about ‘Switzerland of the future,’” the president informed reporters. “But we will definitely become a ‘big Israel’ with its own face.”

According to Rubinstein, the imagined society is a "hyper-militarized apartheid state".





Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 16, 2022, 10:17:35 PM
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/ef/63/2eef6340c8b566e193ab42be6d3910a5.gif)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: indianasmith on December 16, 2022, 10:44:28 PM
Dear God, NO.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 17, 2022, 12:10:40 AM
It's your thread, ralfy, write to your heart's content.  :cheers:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 17, 2022, 06:12:53 PM
I can only do so because I know no one can counter the arguments raised in this issue.

One of the context of that issue is neoconservatism. Alan MacLeod has a meme about that here, referring to John Bolton.

https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1601695849180168193

Quote
Since John Bolton is floating the idea of running for president, it's important as many people as possible know how much of a genocidal ghoul he really is.

From Caitlin Johnstone,

https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1602081270103568384

Quote
Some might say these two things are at odds with each other.

NATO chief argues that a full-blown war is a real possibility, and then greenlights drone strikes inside Russia. Brilliant.

From Bree Dail, Rome correspondent for the Daily Wire:

https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618

Quote
The Russians mock @JoeBiden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs”.

Is this effective propaganda?

From Mick Wallace, EU Member of Parliament:

https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1546172011763957762

Quote
NATO is loving Ukraine War. Survey shows vast majority of #EU citizens want Peace, rather than promote a War to punish Russia - But NATO never wants Peace. With US + Russia, we now have 2 factions of Capitalist Imperialism waging War, with millions of Workers caught in middle...

which also covers my point about neoliberalism.

So, you see, there's nothing "Alex Jonesy" about these points: they've been well-known at least by those who study the matter carefully for sometime. Most are not expected to know these things, but you do now.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 17, 2022, 06:43:50 PM
Ralfy, you're coming off as a megalomaniac beating the rotting corpse of a horse that died weeks ago. You say no one can counter you (honestly I laughed when I read that) but the truth is your arguments have been successfully countered to everyone's satisfaction except your own. They come down to a point of view rather than conclusive proof, and there comes a point when self confidence begins to fray and self delusion rubs through.  In saying no one can counter you....you jumped the sharks. Yes, this is your thread and you can blather on and on with oodles of your beloved links but may I suggest maybe you ask yourself what you think you're proving, and to whom when like in the famous Newtonian anecdote, you're lecturing to an empty auditorium? Lay this dead topic to rest, it's got no pulse left, and come play in the sand.

Or don't. Sod it. Jeesh.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 18, 2022, 04:15:49 AM
He honestly believes no one can counter his tragically naive view of the conflict and its origins? I guess I am not missing anything important by skipping his posts then.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 18, 2022, 08:11:52 PM
Ralfy, you're coming off as a megalomaniac beating the rotting corpse of a horse that died weeks ago. You say no one can counter you (honestly I laughed when I read that) but the truth is your arguments have been successfully countered to everyone's satisfaction except your own. They come down to a point of view rather than conclusive proof, and there comes a point when self confidence begins to fray and self delusion rubs through.  In saying no one can counter you....you jumped the sharks. Yes, this is your thread and you can blather on and on with oodles of your beloved links but may I suggest maybe you ask yourself what you think you're proving, and to whom when like in the famous Newtonian anecdote, you're lecturing to an empty auditorium? Lay this dead topic to rest, it's got no pulse left, and come play in the sand.

Or don't. Sod it. Jeesh.

Died weeks ago. You mean the war's over?

Even now you can't counter my points, which is why all you do is write about me. And then end with a self-contradictory conclusion. LOL.

Finally, I'll help you out so that we'll can remain on-topic, i.e., so that the thread won't be locked again:

In what way is this argument wrong?

"Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster"

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/01/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/

Quote
The neocons championed NATO enlargement to Ukraine even before that became official U.S. policy under President George W. Bush, Jr. in 2008. They viewed Ukraine’s NATO membership as key to U.S. regional and global dominance.

...

Nuland has been the neocon operative par excellence.  In addition to serving as Bush’s ambassador to NATO, Nuland was President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs during 2013-17, when she participated in the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and now serves as Biden’s undersecretary of state guiding U.S. policy vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine. 



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 18, 2022, 08:17:01 PM
He honestly believes no one can counter his tragically naive view of the conflict and its origins? I guess I am not missing anything important by skipping his posts then.

Well, that has been the case. The only I've seen that barely resembles a counter came from you. And even then your efforts left much to be desired, as you decided to focus on Iraq, a mistaken impression of WMDs, the incredibly ridiculous belief that no false flags were ignored, what appeared to be complete ignorance of the fact that Saddam was America's boy, and some weird belief that I was referencing military experts.

But to prove my point, let me raise the same question to you as I did to ER: in what way is the recent article I shared wrong? Is it the case that the U.S. didn't start to antagonize Russia via Bush, and that Nuland and others were in no way involved in destabilization efforts after?

Keep in mind that both have been documented, with the first known since Kennan raised warnings about belligerence and the second through Nuland's phone calls to the ambassador and her subsequent responses.

Once we deal with those matters, then we'll go to the other points.





Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 18, 2022, 08:21:02 PM
As context to the claim of U.S. intervention in Ukraine, consider William Blum's master list:

"Overthrowing other people’s governments: The Master List"

https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list

It starts with China from 1949 onward and the most recent involves Ukraine in 2014, although I would also add efforts in Hong Kong and Thailand. If one considers color revolutions, then one may even add countries like the Philippines.

To the mods, keep in mind that this is on-topic because of the reference to Ukraine in 2014. The intent is to explain the neoconservative background of this event.

The asterisked entries refer to successful regime change. This also shows why Biden's recent call for regime change in Russia, which he took back for obvious reasons, is not an outlier.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 19, 2022, 04:29:11 AM
He honestly believes no one can counter his tragically naive view of the conflict and its origins? I guess I am not missing anything important by skipping his posts then.

Well, that has been the case. The only I've seen that barely resembles a counter came from you. And even then your efforts left much to be desired, as you decided to focus on Iraq, a mistaken impression of WMDs, the incredibly ridiculous belief that no false flags were ignored, what appeared to be complete ignorance of the fact that Saddam was America's boy, and some weird belief that I was referencing military experts.

But to prove my point, let me raise the same question to you as I did to ER: in what way is the recent article I shared wrong? Is it the case that the U.S. didn't start to antagonize Russia via Bush, and that Nuland and others were in no way involved in destabilization efforts after?

Keep in mind that both have been documented, with the first known since Kennan raised warnings about belligerence and the second through Nuland's phone calls to the ambassador and her subsequent responses.

Once we deal with those matters, then we'll go to the other points.





Didn't read your post at first, but I did catch the line about me focusing on Iraq and then got caught by it. Go back and read my posts. Only person bringing that up was you and you kept going on about my not replying to anything you mentioned about it so I finally did respond, but not to any great deal. Even then, it was pretty clear you weren't understanding what I was saying. Feel free to keep talking rubbish though (and I have no doubt you will). I told you to use the right experts for the right situations. I didn't say you were using military experts, if fact I said the problem with your reply to a post was that you hadn't (kind of the opposite from what you've just claimed.

Your inability to understand, however, is not my obligation to explain.

I never said Saddam wasn't the US's boy. Hell, I even said I agreed with you. You are just continuing your regular pattern of making up things I have never said (which is a big part of why I rarely waste my time with your posts). You have literally taken a post agreeing with you, and created some whole debate that didn't happen outside of your own head. No wonder you think you are winning arguments when you are providing both sides of what you think has been said rather than what has actually been written.

Still, as I've said before self-belief, even when it is delusional is one of the keys to a happy life.

Oh, you also forgot I proved you wrong on Putin wanting to join NATO (amongst other things) despite you posting an article claiming it was all an invention of the west.

You aren't proving your points by linking articles (indeed as many people have told you, they aren't bothering to read them, myself included) but let me point something out to you.

A link isn't proof.

An article isn't proof.

An opinion isn't proof.


You have proven nothing, except that you can't get past your own confirmational bias. Since other people have complimented me on explaining my points clearly and well, I'll have to take your comment about me not doing so as being a purely 'you problem'. Sorry, but when multiple people told you that your posts weren't well done you maybe should have listened instead of just replying that they were fine.

Until the next time I accidentally catch part of one of your posts while scrolling past, cya.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Rev. Powell on December 19, 2022, 08:46:20 AM

Even now you can't counter my points, which is why all you do is write about me. And then end with a self-contradictory conclusion. LOL.

Finally, I'll help you out so that we'll can remain on-topic, i.e., so that the thread won't be locked again:


I'm not reading these either, just skimming them looking for flames and such. But I agree with you it makes no sense for people to respond to this thread with personal attacks. Since it's your thread, anyone can ignore it; you're not hijacking an existing thread.

But for clarification, Indy locked the first thread because he started it, it was not a moderator action. You can lock your own threads. I would not lock it unless something really beyond the pale happened.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 19, 2022, 03:16:42 PM

I can only do so because I know no one can counter the arguments raised in this issue.
One of the context of that issue is neoconservatism. Alan MacLeod has a meme about that here, referring to John Bolton.
https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1601695849180168193
...Since John Bolton is floating the idea of running for president, it's important as many people as possible know how much of a genocidal ghoul he really is...From Caitlin Johnstone,
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1602081270103568384
...Some might say these two things are at odds with each other...
NATO chief argues that a full-blown war is a real possibility, and then greenlights drone strikes inside Russia. Brilliant.
From Bree Dail, Rome correspondent for the Daily Wire:
https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618
...The Russians mock @JoeBiden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs”.
Is this effective propaganda?...From Mick Wallace, EU Member of Parliament:
https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1546172011763957762
...NATO is loving Ukraine War. Survey shows vast majority of #EU citizens want Peace, rather than promote a War to punish Russia - But NATO never wants Peace. With US + Russia, we now have 2 factions of Capitalist Imperialism waging War, with millions of Workers caught in middle...
which also covers my point about neoliberalism.
So, you see, there's nothing "Alex Jonesy" about these points: they've been well-known at least by those who study the matter carefully for sometime. Most are not expected to know these things, but you do now.



...Died weeks ago. You mean the war's over?

Even now you can't counter my points, which is why all you do is write about me. And then end with a self-contradictory conclusion. LOL.

Finally, I'll help you out so that we'll can remain on-topic, i.e., so that the thread won't be locked again:

In what way is this argument wrong?

"Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster"

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/01/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/

...The neocons championed NATO enlargement to Ukraine even before that became official U.S. policy under President George W. Bush, Jr. in 2008. They viewed Ukraine’s NATO membership as key to U.S. regional and global dominance...

Nuland has been the neocon operative par excellence.  In addition to serving as Bush’s ambassador to NATO, Nuland was President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs during 2013-17, when she participated in the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and now serves as Biden’s undersecretary of state guiding U.S. policy vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine..
.



(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/ef/63/2eef6340c8b566e193ab42be6d3910a5.gif)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:26:05 PM
He honestly believes no one can counter his tragically naive view of the conflict and its origins? I guess I am not missing anything important by skipping his posts then.

Well, that has been the case. The only I've seen that barely resembles a counter came from you. And even then your efforts left much to be desired, as you decided to focus on Iraq, a mistaken impression of WMDs, the incredibly ridiculous belief that no false flags were ignored, what appeared to be complete ignorance of the fact that Saddam was America's boy, and some weird belief that I was referencing military experts.

But to prove my point, let me raise the same question to you as I did to ER: in what way is the recent article I shared wrong? Is it the case that the U.S. didn't start to antagonize Russia via Bush, and that Nuland and others were in no way involved in destabilization efforts after?

Keep in mind that both have been documented, with the first known since Kennan raised warnings about belligerence and the second through Nuland's phone calls to the ambassador and her subsequent responses.

Once we deal with those matters, then we'll go to the other points.





Didn't read your post at first, but I did catch the line about me focusing on Iraq and then got caught by it. Go back and read my posts. Only person bringing that up was you and you kept going on about my not replying to anything you mentioned about it so I finally did respond, but not to any great deal. Even then, it was pretty clear you weren't understanding what I was saying. Feel free to keep talking rubbish though (and I have no doubt you will). I told you to use the right experts for the right situations. I didn't say you were using military experts, if fact I said the problem with your reply to a post was that you hadn't (kind of the opposite from what you've just claimed.

Your inability to understand, however, is not my obligation to explain.

I never said Saddam wasn't the US's boy. Hell, I even said I agreed with you. You are just continuing your regular pattern of making up things I have never said (which is a big part of why I rarely waste my time with your posts). You have literally taken a post agreeing with you, and created some whole debate that didn't happen outside of your own head. No wonder you think you are winning arguments when you are providing both sides of what you think has been said rather than what has actually been written.

Still, as I've said before self-belief, even when it is delusional is one of the keys to a happy life.

Oh, you also forgot I proved you wrong on Putin wanting to join NATO (amongst other things) despite you posting an article claiming it was all an invention of the west.

You aren't proving your points by linking articles (indeed as many people have told you, they aren't bothering to read them, myself included) but let me point something out to you.

A link isn't proof.

An article isn't proof.

An opinion isn't proof.


You have proven nothing, except that you can't get past your own confirmational bias. Since other people have complimented me on explaining my points clearly and well, I'll have to take your comment about me not doing so as being a purely 'you problem'. Sorry, but when multiple people told you that your posts weren't well done you maybe should have listened instead of just replying that they were fine.

Until the next time I accidentally catch part of one of your posts while scrolling past, cya.

What counterargument would you like to make about the topic thread?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:27:42 PM

Even now you can't counter my points, which is why all you do is write about me. And then end with a self-contradictory conclusion. LOL.

Finally, I'll help you out so that we'll can remain on-topic, i.e., so that the thread won't be locked again:


I'm not reading these either, just skimming them looking for flames and such. But I agree with you it makes no sense for people to respond to this thread with personal attacks. Since it's your thread, anyone can ignore it; you're not hijacking an existing thread.

But for clarification, Indy locked the first thread because he started it, it was not a moderator action. You can lock your own threads. I would not lock it unless something really beyond the pale happened.

What point would you like to make about the topic thread? I'm not interested in references to myself.

Also, I read that the other thread was locked because it was derailed by references to the East Asian Miracle by Lester and me.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:29:00 PM

I can only do so because I know no one can counter the arguments raised in this issue.
One of the context of that issue is neoconservatism. Alan MacLeod has a meme about that here, referring to John Bolton.
https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1601695849180168193
...Since John Bolton is floating the idea of running for president, it's important as many people as possible know how much of a genocidal ghoul he really is...From Caitlin Johnstone,
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1602081270103568384
...Some might say these two things are at odds with each other...
NATO chief argues that a full-blown war is a real possibility, and then greenlights drone strikes inside Russia. Brilliant.
From Bree Dail, Rome correspondent for the Daily Wire:
https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618
...The Russians mock @JoeBiden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs”.
Is this effective propaganda?...From Mick Wallace, EU Member of Parliament:
https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1546172011763957762
...NATO is loving Ukraine War. Survey shows vast majority of #EU citizens want Peace, rather than promote a War to punish Russia - But NATO never wants Peace. With US + Russia, we now have 2 factions of Capitalist Imperialism waging War, with millions of Workers caught in middle...
which also covers my point about neoliberalism.
So, you see, there's nothing "Alex Jonesy" about these points: they've been well-known at least by those who study the matter carefully for sometime. Most are not expected to know these things, but you do now.



...Died weeks ago. You mean the war's over?

Even now you can't counter my points, which is why all you do is write about me. And then end with a self-contradictory conclusion. LOL.

Finally, I'll help you out so that we'll can remain on-topic, i.e., so that the thread won't be locked again:

In what way is this argument wrong?

"Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster"

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/01/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/

...The neocons championed NATO enlargement to Ukraine even before that became official U.S. policy under President George W. Bush, Jr. in 2008. They viewed Ukraine’s NATO membership as key to U.S. regional and global dominance...

Nuland has been the neocon operative par excellence.  In addition to serving as Bush’s ambassador to NATO, Nuland was President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs during 2013-17, when she participated in the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and now serves as Biden’s undersecretary of state guiding U.S. policy vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine..
.



(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/ef/63/2eef6340c8b566e193ab42be6d3910a5.gif)

That's trolling. Is there anything revelant that you can give to counter the points that I raised?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:35:54 PM
Believe it or not, from Kissinger, and only a few days ago:

"How to avoid another world war"

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-push-for-peace/ (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-push-for-peace/)

Quote
If the pre-war dividing line between Ukraine and Russia cannot be achieved by combat or by negotiation, recourse to the principle of self-determination could be explored. Internationally supervised referendums concerning self-determination could be applied to particularly divisive territories which have changed hands repeatedly over the centuries.

The goal of a peace process would be twofold: to confirm the freedom of Ukraine and to define a new international structure, especially for Central and Eastern Europe. Eventually Russia should find a place in such an order.

Here's the problem with Kissinger's argument: in the next paragraph, he argues that Russia has a propensity for violence but also provides equilibrium and a balance of power. Without it, the world will have vacuums that will be filled by even more war. He ends the paragraph by referring to it as "one of the world's two largest nuclear powers."

And that's the clincher: the other nuclear power is the U.S. What Kissinger doesn't say aloud is that the U.S. is very much like Russia: it also has a propensity for violence but acts as a counter to the other military powers.

In which case, any "nternationally supervised referendums" can't involved these two countries. Who will call the shots, and will the two abide?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:40:36 PM
Some more articles, some with my comments:

"Europe accuses US of profiting from war"

https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-war-europe-ukraine-gas-inflation-reduction-act-ira-joe-biden-rift-west-eu-accuses-us-of-profiting-from-war/ (https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-war-europe-ukraine-gas-inflation-reduction-act-ira-joe-biden-rift-west-eu-accuses-us-of-profiting-from-war/)

Quote
Nine months after invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is beginning to fracture the West.

Top European officials are furious with Joe Biden’s administration and now accuse the Americans of making a fortune from the war, while EU countries suffer.

Did Putin expect that to happen, i.e., he knew that the EU depended on Russia for oil and gas, that the U.S. would sanction Russia even if it hurt the EU, and that similar would happen with other countries, i.e., they would rather remain neutral than take sides?

"WaPo Neocon Josh Rogin: Republicans Responsible for Ukraine Loss"

https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2022/11/13/wapo-neocon-josh-rogan-republicans-responsible-for-ukraine-loss/ (https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2022/11/13/wapo-neocon-josh-rogan-republicans-responsible-for-ukraine-loss/)

Quote
Rogin’s real point is another feint. He claims that the global economic crisis is not caused by idiotic EU/US sanctions against Russia, which are turning Europe into a third world ghetto while Russia chalks up record profits, but by Russia itself.

The fact is, Russia has gazillions of tons of gas and oil to sell but has pivoted southwards for new customers in response to old and reliable customers walking away from the exchange. What a shock: business seeks new customers.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 19, 2022, 07:44:01 PM
...I'm not interested in references to myself...

We ain't either. 


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 19, 2022, 07:48:43 PM
...I'm not interested in references to myself...

We ain't either. 

Oh, the irony.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 19, 2022, 10:16:08 PM
...I'm not interested in references to myself...
We ain't either. 
Oh, the irony.

It is ironic that I will defend your right to post what you want, yet typically it's long winded.  And I'll let you know that.   :thumbup: :teddyr:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 20, 2022, 09:04:05 PM
He honestly believes no one can counter his tragically naive view of the conflict and its origins? I guess I am not missing anything important by skipping his posts then.

Well, that has been the case. The only I've seen that barely resembles a counter came from you. And even then your efforts left much to be desired, as you decided to focus on Iraq, a mistaken impression of WMDs, the incredibly ridiculous belief that no false flags were ignored, what appeared to be complete ignorance of the fact that Saddam was America's boy, and some weird belief that I was referencing military experts.

But to prove my point, let me raise the same question to you as I did to ER: in what way is the recent article I shared wrong? Is it the case that the U.S. didn't start to antagonize Russia via Bush, and that Nuland and others were in no way involved in destabilization efforts after?

Keep in mind that both have been documented, with the first known since Kennan raised warnings about belligerence and the second through Nuland's phone calls to the ambassador and her subsequent responses.

Once we deal with those matters, then we'll go to the other points.





Didn't read your post at first, but I did catch the line about me focusing on Iraq and then got caught by it. Go back and read my posts. Only person bringing that up was you and you kept going on about my not replying to anything you mentioned about it so I finally did respond, but not to any great deal. Even then, it was pretty clear you weren't understanding what I was saying. Feel free to keep talking rubbish though (and I have no doubt you will). I told you to use the right experts for the right situations. I didn't say you were using military experts, if fact I said the problem with your reply to a post was that you hadn't (kind of the opposite from what you've just claimed.

Your inability to understand, however, is not my obligation to explain.

I never said Saddam wasn't the US's boy. Hell, I even said I agreed with you. You are just continuing your regular pattern of making up things I have never said (which is a big part of why I rarely waste my time with your posts). You have literally taken a post agreeing with you, and created some whole debate that didn't happen outside of your own head. No wonder you think you are winning arguments when you are providing both sides of what you think has been said rather than what has actually been written.

Still, as I've said before self-belief, even when it is delusional is one of the keys to a happy life.

Oh, you also forgot I proved you wrong on Putin wanting to join NATO (amongst other things) despite you posting an article claiming it was all an invention of the west.

You aren't proving your points by linking articles (indeed as many people have told you, they aren't bothering to read them, myself included) but let me point something out to you.

A link isn't proof.

An article isn't proof.

An opinion isn't proof.


You have proven nothing, except that you can't get past your own confirmational bias. Since other people have complimented me on explaining my points clearly and well, I'll have to take your comment about me not doing so as being a purely 'you problem'. Sorry, but when multiple people told you that your posts weren't well done you maybe should have listened instead of just replying that they were fine.

Until the next time I accidentally catch part of one of your posts while scrolling past, cya.

What counterargument would you like to make about the topic thread?



This one I deliberately read because I was genuinely curious as to what your response would be.

My answer is none. I'd have to read more of your threads and click on your links etc which I am not going to do. You've already shown several times (and I've not even bothered to pull you up on all of them) that you don't do your due diligence and fact-check before posting, so I don't see why I would waste my time looking at them. Given your previous posts on what I'd term as this one's parent thread, I don't particularly feel bound to stick to the title topic.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 12:10:45 AM
...I'm not interested in references to myself...
We ain't either. 
Oh, the irony.

It is ironic that I will defend your right to post what you want, yet typically it's long winded.  And I'll let you know that.   :thumbup: :teddyr:

The reason why it's "long-winded" is because the issue is complex.

But what's really ironic is that you have a lot of time to talk about me but can't offer any counter-arguments to this issue.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 12:16:12 AM

This one I deliberately read because I was genuinely curious as to what your response would be.

My answer is none. I'd have to read more of your threads and click on your links etc which I am not going to do. You've already shown several times (and I've not even bothered to pull you up on all of them) that you don't do your due diligence and fact-check before posting, so I don't see why I would waste my time looking at them. Given your previous posts on what I'd term as this one's parent thread, I don't particularly feel bound to stick to the title topic.

The points I raised come from my earliest posts, and you read them. That means you have no answer because you have no counter-argument.

Don't be delusional: you have not shown "shown several times" that I don't do due diligence or even fact-check. Otherwise, I would have countered your points concerning that, too.

Given that, the only reason why you can't stick to the thread topic is because you are ignorant of this matter. If that's not true, then prove me wrong by countering the points raised about U.S. neoconservative policies from Bush onward in light of Ukraine.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 12:23:18 AM
From 2004:

"US campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa)

Quote
But while the gains of the orange-bedecked "chestnut revolution" are Ukraine's, the campaign is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing that, in four countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple unsavoury regimes.

Funded and organised by the US government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, diplomats, the two big American parties and US non-government organisations, the campaign was first used in Europe in Belgrade in 2000 to beat Slobodan Milosevic at the ballot box.

From 2013:

"John McCain Went To Ukraine And Stood On Stage With A Man Accused Of Being An Anti-Semitic Neo-Nazi"

https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukraine-2013-12 (https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukraine-2013-12)
Quote
Tyahnybok himself was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction in 2004 after giving a speech demanding that Ukrainians fight against a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia" (he later clarified this by saying that he actually had Jewish friends and was only against to "a group of Jewish oligarchs who control Ukraine and against Jewish-Bolsheviks [in the past]"). In 2005 he wrote open letters demanding Ukraine do more to halt "criminal activities" of "organized Jewry," and, even now, Svoboda openly calls for Ukrainian citizens to have their ethnicity printed onto their passports.

Tyahnybok is a prominent leader in the Ukrainian protests, so perhaps it was only right that McCain met with him as he did with the others (we reached out to McCain's office to find out how much he interacted with Tyahnybok, but have not heard back at the time of writing). You can defintely understand, however, why Jewish leaders in Ukraine and abroad are concerned about him.

Related news reports:

"This one map helps explain Ukraine’s protests"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/12/09/this-one-map-helps-explain-ukraines-protests/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/12/09/this-one-map-helps-explain-ukraines-protests/)

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/12/ukraine-2004.jpg)

Quote
Based on the protests in Kiev, it can sure look like Ukrainians want their country to integrate with the European Union and turn away from Russia. But a November poll found slightly different attitudes: 45 percent said they wanted the EU deal, 14 percent said they wanted to join with the Russian-led trade union, and 41 percent said they were undecided or wanted neither. In other words, joining the EU is about as popular as not joining the EU, both of which are more popular than snuggling up to Moscow.

"Far-right group at heart of Ukraine protests meet US senator"

https://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-mccain-far-right-svoboda-anti-semitic-protests?x (https://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-mccain-far-right-svoboda-anti-semitic-protests?x)

Quote
The World Jewish Congress has called for Svoboda to be banned along with the Jobbik party in Hungary and Greece’s extremist Golden Dawn.

Out on the streets of Kiev the red and black striped flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) is regularly seen carried alongside flags carrying Svoboda’s logo.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 12:34:52 AM
Related points to give context to the ideology of neoconservatism:

From WION:

https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1471176740768677893 (https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1471176740768677893)

Quote
#Gravitas | A "top secret" strike cell of US military dropped more than 100,000 bombs & missiles in Syria.

Reports claim the military unit inflicted many civilian casualties while US military leaders looked the other way.

@palkisu  asks: Is America hiding its war crimes in Syria?

From Sarah Abdallah, referred to by mainstream journalists as a propagandist for Syria:

"[T]his, while they pose as paragons of human rights and international law."

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1601279301118177280 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1601279301118177280)

(https://i.imgur.com/Q0AFZvH.jpeg)

Also,

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1600941315507658753 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1600941315507658753)

"Western media thrives on war propaganda"

NYT, 1990: "How to Choke Iraq"

1998: "American Bombs Make Iraq Stronger"

2013: "Bomb Syria, Even If It is Illegal"

2015: "To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran"

The articles:

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/07/opinion/how-to-choke-iraq.html (https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/07/opinion/how-to-choke-iraq.html)

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/opinion/american-bombs-make-iraq-stronger.html (https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/opinion/american-bombs-make-iraq-stronger.html)

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/opinion/bomb-syria-even-if-it-is-illegal.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/opinion/bomb-syria-even-if-it-is-illegal.html)

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/opinion/to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/opinion/to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html)







Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 07:03:03 AM

This one I deliberately read because I was genuinely curious as to what your response would be.

My answer is none. I'd have to read more of your threads and click on your links etc which I am not going to do. You've already shown several times (and I've not even bothered to pull you up on all of them) that you don't do your due diligence and fact-check before posting, so I don't see why I would waste my time looking at them. Given your previous posts on what I'd term as this one's parent thread, I don't particularly feel bound to stick to the title topic.

The points I raised come from my earliest posts, and you read them. That means you have no answer because you have no counter-argument.

Don't be delusional: you have not shown "shown several times" that I don't do due diligence or even fact-check. Otherwise, I would have countered your points concerning that, too.

Given that, the only reason why you can't stick to the thread topic is because you are ignorant of this matter. If that's not true, then prove me wrong by countering the points raised about U.S. neoconservative policies from Bush onward in light of Ukraine.



Afraid I haven't read your previous posts. If it pleases your ego to think so then please go ahead. Goes back to the whole self-belief is the key to happiness thing. If anything I've said addresses older what you've said in previous posts I'd put that down to coincidence and that you keep repeating the same points endlessly, even when they don't make the points that you think they do.

I didn't say I've shown several times that you don't fact-check or or do due diligence. I said you've shown that you don't do them. Quite funny that you'd claim I was being delusional when you've misread what was written and frequently make claims about conversations that did not happen. I mean thanks for proving my point. Didn't need the help, but thanks anyway. You should try actually reading what is written not what you think is written. If you want to think I am ignorant of the matter, feel free to keep thinking that. It really doesn't bother me. The world is a lot less one-note than you think though and much more complicated and intertwined.

Maybe the reason I am posting on this thread and not replying to your points is simply because I am treating you with the same contempt you treated the Crazy SOB thread when you were repeatedly asked to take it elsewhere and chose not to. But hey, feel free to keep massaging your ego and telling yourself otherwise, it is no skin off my nose. If it helps, I'd imagine once I am back home tomorrow, or at the latest when I head back to work in the new year, I'll be back to not having enough time to waste on your posts. Until then enjoy the boost you feel it gives you and keep adding 2 and 2 and making 22.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 09:02:02 AM
Ukrainian candy is good. I'll post a bunch of links to it when I get home!

Fun fact: instead of corn syrup, beet syrup is often used to sweeten Ukrainian candy.

Til then, a Ukrainian nursery rhyme (though it doesn't rhyme in English):

The chicken bit little Ana's toe,
Then she sneezed and lost her nose,
So Granny bought in a duck
To chase the chicken home.
To chase the chicken home.
To chase the chicken home.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 09:54:41 AM
As promised, links to Ukrainian candy:


https://www.snackanddestroy.com/p/this-ukrainian-candy-is-one-of-the (https://www.snackanddestroy.com/p/this-ukrainian-candy-is-one-of-the)


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Premium-Ukrainian-Assorted-Candy-Chocolate-Mix-Roshen-2-lb-23-types-different-candy-Includes-Our-Exclusive-HolanDeli-Mints/132129668 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Premium-Ukrainian-Assorted-Candy-Chocolate-Mix-Roshen-2-lb-23-types-different-candy-Includes-Our-Exclusive-HolanDeli-Mints/132129668)


https://www.russianfoodusa.com/Ukrainian-Candy-Mix-450g-1.1lb/ (https://www.russianfoodusa.com/Ukrainian-Candy-Mix-450g-1.1lb/)

Quote: "Famous sweets from famous Ukrainian manufacturers.
European sweets are prepared in compliance with all necessary technologies, which allows them to stay fresh and tasty for a long time. Chocolate and caramel candies from leading Ukrainian manufacturers: Roshen, AVK The contents of the mix may differ slightly from the illustration."





Sneak previews of future topics:

Ukrainian food:

"I love to cook and my family share my love. One day I thought: "Why not share the recipes of Ukrainian cuisine with other people?.." The more so because I know so many of them and cook these dishes every day for my family. I decided it was a good idea and wrote this Step-by-step Picture Cookbook for you.
Born and grown up in Ukraine, I’ve learned lots of best recipes from my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. As you know, Ukrainians prepare meals with home-grown vegetables and greens. This allows to prepare healthy food that is very important. Home cooking is a huge part of Ukrainian culture and life style. Ukrainian cuisine is very diverse and has a rich history. And let me tell you a secret - the recipes described in this cookbook are actually very simple and . do not require much effort from you.
I am confident that you will like Ukrainian cuisine. Enjoy!"



Ukrainian fashions:

"When it comes to fashion in Ukraine, according to Julie Pelipas, “we have always had to fight for something”. The former fashion director of Vogue Ukraine who currently helms Bettter, a Kyiv-based vintage tailoring brand, is reflecting on a market that has only relatively recently flourished on the global stage. But her words carry added bite in the context of Russia’s February 24 invasion."



Ukrainian cars:


"In May 2018, “Bogdan” celebrated its 20th anniversary. On the occasion of the holiday, the company organized a large-scale all-Ukrainian action. Residents of the 9 largest cities of Ukraine - Kyiv, Vinnytsa, Khmelnytsky, Sumy, Odessa, Kremenchug, Poltava, Kherson, Ivano-Frankivsk - could ride all day in new “Bogdan” large buses and trolley buses free of charge.[7] The campaign covered cities that began upgrading municipal fleet of vehicles and moving from small class buses to modern large and ultra-large transport models. In 20 years, “Bogdan” produced more than 368 thousand vehicles. 18 781 of them are buses and trolleybuses."


Ukrainian attitudes toward sex:

"The truth is, Kiev probably does have some of the most beautiful women in the world – and they are present at all levels of society. They're the trophy wives coolly observing the world from the back of chauffeur-driven Bentleys, and the bored supermarket cashiers who will raise their eyebrows if you fail to produce the exact change."


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 09:55:37 AM
Thanks for that ER. I might see if I can order some.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 09:58:56 AM
My pleasure, mate. I just thought it might help us understand Russia's war of aggression if we grasped the cool things about Ukraine that drew them in the first place. Kind of like how Irish women were so beautiful the English couldn't stay home? Well Russia desperately wants a cool place like Ukraine. I am not saying the invasion was about candy, but it was a slight factor.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 10:46:32 AM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 21, 2022, 12:40:32 PM
...The reason why it's "long-winded" is because the issue is complex.
No, it's you. 


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 02:04:31 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 02:37:16 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.

Miscommunication or interference from the (evil obviously) American Neo(n) Genesis Evangelion?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Trevor on December 21, 2022, 02:50:47 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

I checked both my Hotmail and Gmail addresses: no emails from those ladies  :bluesad: :wink:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 02:53:09 PM
Lol, I'll forward some to you if you really want, but personally, I would not trust the links enough to click on them.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 03:22:53 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.

Miscommunication or interference from the (evil obviously) American Neo(n) Genesis Evangelion?

It's the CIA. Everybody knows how evil those conniving sunsabritches are. They should every one of them be stood against a wall and shot twice.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 21, 2022, 03:35:15 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.

Miscommunication or interference from the (evil obviously) American Neo(n) Genesis Evangelion?

It's the CIA. Everybody knows how evil those conniving sunsabritches are. They should every one of them be stood against a wall and shot twice.

Remember, we are only doing this because we can't counter his arguments tho.  :bouncegiggle:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: lester1/2jr on December 21, 2022, 04:43:19 PM
I haven't read any of Ralfys posts in this thread but I agree with all of them

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3781964-final-funding-bill-includes-45b-for-ukraine/

that makes 100 Billion in the last ten months


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 21, 2022, 05:11:26 PM
You haven't read them but you agree with them? Yogi Berra is alive and well in Boston! :bouncegiggle: :thumbup:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 21, 2022, 05:37:27 PM
 :bouncegiggle:


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:31:10 PM


Afraid I haven't read your previous posts. If it pleases your ego to think so then please go ahead. Goes back to the whole self-belief is the key to happiness thing. If anything I've said addresses older what you've said in previous posts I'd put that down to coincidence and that you keep repeating the same points endlessly, even when they don't make the points that you think they do.

I didn't say I've shown several times that you don't fact-check or or do due diligence. I said you've shown that you don't do them. Quite funny that you'd claim I was being delusional when you've misread what was written and frequently make claims about conversations that did not happen. I mean thanks for proving my point. Didn't need the help, but thanks anyway. You should try actually reading what is written not what you think is written. If you want to think I am ignorant of the matter, feel free to keep thinking that. It really doesn't bother me. The world is a lot less one-note than you think though and much more complicated and intertwined.

Maybe the reason I am posting on this thread and not replying to your points is simply because I am treating you with the same contempt you treated the Crazy SOB thread when you were repeatedly asked to take it elsewhere and chose not to. But hey, feel free to keep massaging your ego and telling yourself otherwise, it is no skin off my nose. If it helps, I'd imagine once I am back home tomorrow, or at the latest when I head back to work in the new year, I'll be back to not having enough time to waste on your posts. Until then enjoy the boost you feel it gives you and keep adding 2 and 2 and making 22.

You're free to prove your arguments anytime. I'm saying that because you've never done it.

And so that we don't go off-topic, let's start with Kennan's arguments, because those are the earliest. What do you want to fact-check concerning that?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:34:24 PM
Ukrainian candy is good. I'll post a bunch of links to it when I get home!

Fun fact: instead of corn syrup, beet syrup is often used to sweeten Ukrainian candy.

Til then, a Ukrainian nursery rhyme (though it doesn't rhyme in English):

The chicken bit little Ana's toe,
Then she sneezed and lost her nose,
So Granny bought in a duck
To chase the chicken home.
To chase the chicken home.
To chase the chicken home.

You praised me in another thread for being levelheaded and mature about this. You need to follow your own advice.

This is obviously another trolling and immature attempt at derailing this thread.

So, I ask you the same as I did to Alex: why are the arguments that I raised wrong? Let's start with Kennan: he referred to the idea of containment, but later it became encirclement. Does that need to be fact-checked?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:41:54 PM
My pleasure, mate. I just thought it might help us understand Russia's war of aggression if we grasped the cool things about Ukraine that drew them in the first place. Kind of like how Irish women were so beautiful the English couldn't stay home? Well Russia desperately wants a cool place like Ukraine. I am not saying the invasion was about candy, but it was a slight factor.

If you follow one of the reports I shared earlier, you will see that the actual Ukraine is much smaller than what it is, and it grew thanks to Muscovy. But we don't need to go that far because both Russia and Ukraine became co-founders of the Soviet Union, and the problems stemmed from that and not much earlier. Hence, Kennan and the Truman doctrine.

When both fell apart with the dissolution of the Union, Kennan warned that NATO would become irrelevant, and that if it were used as a sword instead of a shield (which is no longer needed because even Russia wanted to join NATO), then that would only antagonize Russia. Guess what happened?

And now, after months of protests in Europe, France is calling for a (another?) break from the U.S.

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1605680239014580224

Neocons will likely argue that because of that Europe will fall once more, just as it did during WW2. But they do because need to maintain the "evil empire" narrative. Is there really one? More important, are we looking at the wrong countries when we use that narrative?

Finally, neoliberals will argue that this is a bad sign because it shows that neoliberalism, or globalization dominated by the dollar, will fall apart.

It's like being caught between a rock and a hard place.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:45:51 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

In reference to that, and interestingly enough to the topic thread, we have this:

"Ukrainian President Zelensky’s Wife Goes to Paris and Begs for Money and Goods Then Reportedly Goes on 40,000 Euro Shopping Spree"

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/ukrainian-president-zelenskys-wife-goes-paris-begs-money-goods-reportedly-goes-40000-euro-shopping-spree/ (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/ukrainian-president-zelenskys-wife-goes-paris-begs-money-goods-reportedly-goes-40000-euro-shopping-spree/)

That might also explain why Europeans and even Americans are going nuts: billions are going to corrupt Ukrainian officials while they're facing combinations of high prices and even homelessness. Some of the latter even asked Biden for $12 billion to counter childhood poverty in the states and that was not approved.

And all that's taking place amidst multiple audit failures for most Pentagon agencies, defense industries achieving healthy sales, and as the article also shares, more points about Hunter's laptop and deals made with Ukrainian and even Chinese businessmen.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:47:23 PM
...The reason why it's "long-winded" is because the issue is complex.
No, it's you. 


Try "No, you."

Feel free to counter my arguments anytime. Let's start with Kennan: any thoughts about what he said about containment and encirclement of the Soviets and later Russia? Some argue that it needs fact-checking.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:50:20 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.

You're always free to share the evidence concerning that. For now, I think given Putin's high approval ratings and news about the Russian economy that mainstream media do not want to report, then I can only guess that there are other reasons why the war continues.

As for Ukrainians, I'd look at this in light of funds provided by the U.S. The CFR (good grief, I just referred to the CFR; LOL) breaks it down this way:

https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts (https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:51:37 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

Yes! That's exactly true. Putin telling his soldiers they'll be greeted by Ukrainian women desiring them and children giving them candy for liberating them has motivated basically every Russian soldier, but if Russians had the internet ---I checked and they don't---they'd have found out Ukrainian women were available for marriage and Ukrainian candy is available on Amazon. It's a tragedy of miscommunication.

Miscommunication or interference from the (evil obviously) American Neo(n) Genesis Evangelion?

More like control of mass and even social media by the rich:

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6 (https://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6)

That's why most people are ignoramuses concerning the context of this conflict.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 09:57:13 PM
Hmm, good point. Judging from the contents of my spam email folder, there are a lot of Ukrainian women out there wanting men. Perhaps Russia should just check its email folder more often?

I checked both my Hotmail and Gmail addresses: no emails from those ladies  :bluesad: :wink:

For all you know, they might be transgenders.

FWIW, though, this topic is actually part of the context: one of the reasons Ukrainians had to whore themselves is because their economy started falling apart:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=UA-RU

And I think the issue has to do with neoliberalism that started during the mid-2000s. That is, the EU encouraged them to break from Russia and to trade only with Europe, and to basically de-industrialize while Hunter and his pals acted as middle men between Ukrainian oligarchs and U.S. counterparts. Meanwhile, U.S. elected officials met with corrupt pro-U.S. Ukrainian officals as part of regime change, with appointed ones like Nulan try to make sure that the U.S. muscles in against even the EU (hence, her statement about "F*ck the EU").

With Twitter Files, I think we will find even more in the near future.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:00:02 PM
Lol, I'll forward some to you if you really want, but personally, I would not trust the links enough to click on them.

Never click on such links, no matter how desperate you guys are. LOL. But why do you have so much energy to talk about spam from Ukrainian women but can't address the issues of this thread?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:03:18 PM

It's the CIA. Everybody knows how evil those conniving sunsabritches are. They should every one of them be stood against a wall and shot twice.

FWIW, the same CIA actually backs your views concerning this topic, i.e., I'm assuming that your arguments run contrary to mine. In which case, it's illogical for you to find them offensive.

For clarity, the CIA is supposed to be an intelligence agency, but as I pointed out in earlier posts, it acts as destabilizing one. For example, it might be the main funder or groups like the NED, which in tun contributes to "NGOs" that are responsible for various color revolutions, including regime change in Ukraine. That's also why countries like Thailand recently restricted them.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:04:23 PM

Remember, we are only doing this because we can't counter his arguments tho.  :bouncegiggle:

For once, you're being truthful.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:08:00 PM
I haven't read any of Ralfys posts in this thread but I agree with all of them

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3781964-final-funding-bill-includes-45b-for-ukraine/ (https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3781964-final-funding-bill-includes-45b-for-ukraine/)

that makes 100 Billion in the last ten months

Thanks. I think there's a connection between that and the military industrial complex, which Eisenhower warned about way back in the early 1960s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyZoUfNsUl8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyZoUfNsUl8)

Meanwhile, Biden is struggling by pointing out that he has a major plan to deal with homelessness in the U.S., but I don't know where he's going to get more funding. Perhaps he will increase taxes because the country already has too much debt, and mathematically impossible to pay back.

One other point involves childhood poverty, and the cost to combat that is around $12 billion. But more is going to Zelensky.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:12:06 PM
You haven't read them but you agree with them? Yogi Berra is alive and well in Boston! :bouncegiggle: :thumbup:

That's because the points have basically been the same, and stem from the previous thread:

- the military industrial complex;

- from containment to encirclement, and backed by two ideologies: neoconservatism and neoliberalism;

- both needed to protect the dollar used as a reserve currency worldwide, but threatened by countries that are growing stronger economically: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and around 34 other countries, including Ukraine;

- how war is used to make that complex rich, and also serves as an avenue for money laundering, where corrupt U.S. and Ukrainian officials get their cuts and deals are made by businessmen from both countries;

and so on.

I think even the recent FTX scandal is part of this.

There are more, like FBI collusion with Twitter and the CIA as part of color revolutions, but I'm sure you'r aware of that.

Or not?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:19:35 PM
Another idea that's related is that of the liberal hawk:

"Caitlin Johnstone: Ukraine & the Triumph of Militarism"

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/09/08/caitlin-johnstone-ukraine-the-triumph-of-militarism/

Quote
What he is saying about liberals who once protested the Iraq invasion now supporting U.S. proxy warfare in Ukraine is broadly true, including throughout the Bernie Sanders/AOC “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party.

It’s just a fact that in 2022, liberals are gaga for U.S. interventionism. Because this war can be (falsely) marketed as an “unprovoked” invasion by evil Bad Guys fighting against the virtuous Good Guys of the U.S./NATO/Ukraine partnership, and because it’s not our sons and daughters getting thrown into the gears of war, people who would normally be more skeptical of militarism and interventionism have indeed jumped aboard the proxy war train.

From what I remember, the term stemmed from the Vietnam war, where liberals who felt useless decided to follow neoconservative beliefs of intervention because they saw connections between free markets and liberal democracy. In short, like neocons, they believed that the U.S. has to intervene in order to free foreigners from tyranny. However, that freedom entailed regime change and setting up U.S. puppets because foreigners didn't welcome U.S.-style democracy and economic policies.

See the connection with my previous points? Kennan gave the same warnings: Russians and even Ukrainians have different cultures, and by forcing on to them Western ideologies more crises will take place. And that's exactly what happened: Ukraine was manipulated by the U.S., and Russia reacted.

This puts the "Russian empire" narrative, which is also part of neconservative views (recall Reagan's "evil empire" speech), into question.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 21, 2022, 10:21:54 PM
Finally, some related news: the EU gets hit hard while the war machine is in full swing.

"EU Gets Hit With $1 Trillion Energy Bill As Supply From Russia Halted Due To War"

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/europe/eu-gets-hit-with-1-dollars-trillion-energy-bill-as-supply-from-russia-halted-due-to-war-articleshow.html (https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/europe/eu-gets-hit-with-1-dollars-trillion-energy-bill-as-supply-from-russia-halted-due-to-war-articleshow.html)

"US Weapons Makers Set to Profit as Japan Readies $320 Billion Military Buildup"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/16/us-weapons-makers-set-profit-japan-readies-320-billion-military-buildup (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/16/us-weapons-makers-set-profit-japan-readies-320-billion-military-buildup)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: lester1/2jr on December 22, 2022, 12:38:08 AM
ER- the point is they are obviously gonna be anti this war and I agree with that.


one funny thing about the massive spending bill is it includes a provision that bans funds being used for the Azov battalion.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkjKE0XX0AA1RX6?format=jpg&name=small)




This is basically and America/ NATO war with Ukrainian mercenaries


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 22, 2022, 03:00:42 AM
I haven't read any of Ralfys posts in this thread but I agree with all of them

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3781964-final-funding-bill-includes-45b-for-ukraine/

that makes 100 Billion in the last ten months

Dude, not reading his posts is hardly a ringing endorsement. Can't say I blame you though. His habit of making up things that were never said was enough to put me off actually bothering to read most of his stuff or take him seriously.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 22, 2022, 03:05:09 AM

Remember, we are only doing this because we can't counter his arguments tho.  :bouncegiggle:

For once, you're being truthful.


Yes gosh darn it you are just too smart for all of us and it has nothing to do with you just making up stuff that hasn't been said at all.  :wink: If you want people to address your points and stick to the topic, maybe you should have tried responding to what was really said rather than making stuff up. You had no problem wandering off-topic when it suited you on the parent thread. Why should you now be treated any differently in return?


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 22, 2022, 03:15:08 AM
ER, if you want something from Ukraine that is non-sweet based, I can recommend this seller.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases)

Bought one for Kristi last year.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:19:16 PM
ER- the point is they are obviously gonna be anti this war and I agree with that.


one funny thing about the massive spending bill is it includes a provision that bans funds being used for the Azov battalion.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkjKE0XX0AA1RX6?format=jpg&name=small)




This is basically and America/ NATO war with Ukrainian mercenaries

The U.S. has been using Europe and other countries to encircle Russia and China but can't because the two have been growing economically, together with 38 other countries.

Reminds me of that saying: when all you have is a hammer, then everything starts looking like a nail.

Meanwhile,

"France’s Macron Calls on Europe to Reduce Reliance on U.S. for Security "

https://www.wsj.com/articles/macron-renews-call-for-russia-to-receive-security-guarantees-to-end-war-in-ukraine-11671627645 (https://www.wsj.com/articles/macron-renews-call-for-russia-to-receive-security-guarantees-to-end-war-in-ukraine-11671627645)

Quote
Mr. Macron’s outreach to Mr. Putin has been a source of tension with Ukraine and its allies since the early months of the conflict when he regularly held phone calls with the Russian leader. Eastern European leaders accused Mr. Macron of appeasing Moscow after he warned earlier this year against humiliating Russia.

“All the Europeans and Westerners giving me moral lessons should explain to me who’s going to be around the negotiating table,” Mr. Macron said Wednesday. “As for me, I don’t want it to be the Chinese and the Turks alone negotiating over what’s to come.”



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:21:54 PM

Dude, not reading his posts is hardly a ringing endorsement. Can't say I blame you though. His habit of making up things that were never said was enough to put me off actually bothering to read most of his stuff or take him seriously.

From you, that's a ringing endorsement for the values of ignorant bliss. Can't say I blame you, though. Your habit of not bothering to prove yourself shows that you can't be taken seriously.

That's why you spend more time talking about me or yourself instead of addressing my arguments.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:25:25 PM

Yes gosh darn it you are just too smart for all of us and it has nothing to do with you just making up stuff that hasn't been said at all.  :wink: If you want people to address your points and stick to the topic, maybe you should have tried responding to what was really said rather than making stuff up. You had no problem wandering off-topic when it suited you on the parent thread. Why should you now be treated any differently in return?

The problem isn't that I'm too smart for you. It's that you lack basic knowledge concerning this issue. That's why you're beating around the bush.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:26:28 PM
ER, if you want something from Ukraine that is non-sweet based, I can recommend this seller.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases)

Bought one for Kristi last year.

See what I mean? You can't counter the main arguments that I raise, so you end up trolling. Pathetic.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:34:10 PM
In light of neoconservatism and Ukraine, a montage from Turncoat Don, shared with no commentary because it speaks for itself:

"The recipe for the collapse of an empire"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpEcyi_drCM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpEcyi_drCM)

Also, raw videos from Max Blumenthal Zelensky's recent visit:

Quote
Caught up w/ the Ukrainian diaspora delegation on their way into the Capitol to cheer for Zelensky

They told me $45 billion wasn't enough, neo-Nazis do not exist in Ukraine and the banning of the Russian wing of the Orthodox Church & oppo parties was justified bc "martial law"

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1605737488462520328 (https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1605737488462520328)

From Sarah Abdallah, needs to be fact-checked by experts calling for us to "broaden [our] sources":

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1599798637847904257 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1599798637847904257)

Also,

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1598395441271504960 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1598395441271504960)

Quote
"If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth." —Julian Assange

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1599082545635000320 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1599082545635000320)

Quote
Mike Gravel calling Biden, Obama and Hillary Clinton warmongers right to their faces in 2008. Still a classic

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1595128571085090816 (https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1595128571085090816)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:38:10 PM
Some more, from Ben Norton:

Quote
Even war criminal Hillary Clinton, queen of imperialist "humanitarian intervention," admitted it was the US and its allies who created al-Qaeda & the Taliban. And she still justified it as the price of trying to destroy the USSR

But propagandists are now blaming the victim. Vile

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1189994220704141312

"[T]his, while they pose as paragons of human rights and international law."

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1601279301118177280

From Jimmy Dore: you're suffering not because of Russia but because you keep voting for criminals like Joe Biden and Donald Trump

https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1604811991981428736

From Clare Daly:

Quote
In modern war the only winner is global capital. Ordinary people always lose. Remember that next time there's talk about peace being "treason."

https://twitter.com/ClareDalyMEP/status/1604741051704549376




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:41:13 PM
"‘Nearly Every War Has Been The Result Of Media Lies’: Julian Assange, State-Corporate Media And Ukraine"

https://www.medialens.org/2022/nearly-every-war-has-been-the-result-of-media-lies-julian-assange-state-corporate-media-and-ukraine/ (https://www.medialens.org/2022/nearly-every-war-has-been-the-result-of-media-lies-julian-assange-state-corporate-media-and-ukraine/)

Quote
The Guardian recently joined with the New York Times, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel in publishing an open letter calling on US President Joe Biden to end Assange’s prosecution. It has been ten years since Assange sought refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy.

Here's the irony: the same outlets have been shilling for war against the "enemies" of the West!

https://twitter.com/Juan94827382/status/1604226168206630912 (https://twitter.com/Juan94827382/status/1604226168206630912)

(https://i.redd.it/7jcizlsjhps91.jpg)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:46:54 PM
A provocative montage from Black Russian TV, about Bush and Iraq.

https://twitter.com/Blackrussiantv/status/1604268377656238084 (https://twitter.com/Blackrussiantv/status/1604268377656238084)

The context is that aggression towards Russia started with the same guy, if not with Clinton.

Long after that,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3QqcUJnBY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3QqcUJnBY)

Notice that the same narrative is given, e.g., Russian elections are rigged, etc. Ironically, that's how the U.S. ensured regime change in Ukraine.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:50:57 PM
Related:

"Congress Just Passed $858 Billion Military Budget, But GOP Is Blocking $12 Billion to Fight Child Poverty"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/17/congress-just-passed-858-billion-military-budget-gop-blocking-12-billion-fight-child (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/17/congress-just-passed-858-billion-military-budget-gop-blocking-12-billion-fight-child)

A short point from Meyssan:

"Volodymyr Zelensky and ethnopolitics"

https://www.voltairenet.org/article218518.html (https://www.voltairenet.org/article218518.html)

Quote
President Zelensky has just been named by Time magazine "politician of the year 2022". It is not to have realized his coup de force of July, in favor of the war. He had all the political parties that opposed him banned; assassinated the personalities who resisted him; controlled all the media, written, audiovisual and internet; banned the Russian language; destroyed 100 million books; confiscated many of the assets of the oligarchs, including the one who personally financed him; nationalized the assets of Russian investors and companies; and finally banned the Orthodox Church.

"U.S. Asks More Nations to Become Targets of Russian and Chinese Missiles"

https://dissidentvoice.org/2022/12/u-s-asks-more-nations-to-become-targets-of-russian-and-chinese-missiles/ (https://dissidentvoice.org/2022/12/u-s-asks-more-nations-to-become-targets-of-russian-and-chinese-missiles/)

Quote
These Governments “in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region” are close enough to Russia, and to China, so that if the United States goes to war against Russia and/or China directly (instead of, as now, indirectly — such as it does in both Ukraine on Russia’s border, and Taiwan on China’s border) to conquer Russia and/or China, then those missiles, which will be targeted against one or both of those two countries, will be within range of either Moscow or else Beijing, and will, therefore, become assets adding to America’s likelihood of entirely controlling a post-WW-III world. Largely because military weapons are, in the U.S. and its ‘allied’ countries, controlled by private investors (basically by U.S.-and-allied billionaires), the U.S. Government’s main objective is to control a post-WW-III world. In other words: that Government’s main objective is aggression (defense is actually only secondary). By contrast, in both Russia and China, the entire militaries are designed and function solely for the purpose of national defense, which means preventing, instead of winning, a WW III. In both Russia and China, the ONLY objective of the military, and the MAIN objective of all OTHER policies, is, in fact, defense of the nation. In the U.S. and its ‘allied’ nations, the MAIN objective of the entire Government is expansion of the U.S. empire for it to control ultimately every nation — which means the conquest of every nation that isn’t already part of it. Whereas the top objective of the U.S. Government is imperial — not to prevent but to win a WW III — the top objective of its targeted nations (or ‘enemies’) is instead national (actually to prevent a WW III). And this explains the respective foreign (including military and diplomatic) policies, on each of the two sides: imperialistic versus anti-imperialistic. That is how to interpret and understand each side: it is the difference in perspective — that of the predator (on America’s side), versus that of its prey (on the side of the predator’s intended victims).





Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 22, 2022, 08:52:06 PM
Hey look, a glue truck!


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 22, 2022, 08:58:53 PM
Part of the unsaid context of this conflict:

"War Criminal George W. Bush Is Back Promoting a Senseless Proxy War"

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2022/11/21/war-criminal-george-w-bush-is-back-promoting-a-senseless-proxy-war/ (https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2022/11/21/war-criminal-george-w-bush-is-back-promoting-a-senseless-proxy-war/)

Quote
One would think George W. Bush, having gotten hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis killed in his 2001 and 2003 criminal wars there, would exit the perpetual war arena.

But this week he’s back at it, meeting with Ukraine Zelensky at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. He will be advocating more endless billions in weapons to Ukraine which will exceed $100 billion with the upcoming $37 billion giveaway the Lame Duck Congress will pass by year end.

From Gregory Hayes:

Quote
Neocon John McCain was also all over supporting a far right coup and amplifying conflict in Ukraine before he died. We essentially created this entire mess.

https://twitter.com/sync0mm/status/1604836793605828608 (https://twitter.com/sync0mm/status/1604836793605828608)

From DoctorGerhard:

Quote
A more detailed map has turned up, to correct past blunders during the creation of Ukraine.

Look at those little areas that Romania should get back.

https://twitter.com/DoctorGerhard/status/1604240581181538308 (https://twitter.com/DoctorGerhard/status/1604240581181538308)

Likely in reference to points by Kost Bondarenko.

https://asd.news/news/ukraina-ne-v-sostoyanii-uderzhat-territorialnoe-nasledie-sssr/ (https://asd.news/news/ukraina-ne-v-sostoyanii-uderzhat-territorialnoe-nasledie-sssr/)







Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 22, 2022, 11:18:39 PM
...The reason why it's "long-winded" is because the issue is complex.
No, it's you. 


Try "No, you..."

No,  it is you.  Don't.  Do not. 


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 22, 2022, 11:58:07 PM
ER, if you want something from Ukraine that is non-sweet based, I can recommend this seller.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/837918395/spider-hair-clip-festival-accessories?ref=yr_purchases)

Bought one for Kristi last year.

Awwww, those are so precious! Must have one someday to wear to my class reunion or my psychologists'. Darling!

Bet they sold even better than Penny Blossoms.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 23, 2022, 12:00:42 AM
Did you guys see the latest Premier League standings, by the way? I'd be keeping my eye on Tottenham if I were Newcastle.

https://www.google.com/search?q=premeri+league+standings&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS814US814&oq=premeri+league+standings&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i10i433i512j69i65l2j69i60j69i65j69i60j69i61.3017j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=lg;/g/11pz7zbpnb;2;/m/02_tc;st;fp;1;;; (https://www.google.com/search?q=premeri+league+standings&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS814US814&oq=premeri+league+standings&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i10i433i512j69i65l2j69i60j69i65j69i60j69i61.3017j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=lg;/g/11pz7zbpnb;2;/m/02_tc;st;fp;1;;;)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 23, 2022, 12:04:12 AM
...The reason why it's "long-winded" is because the issue is complex.
No, it's you.  


Try "No, you..."

No,  it is you.  Don't.  Do not.  

Careful, he's from New Jersey, ralfy, so you better not. It's not all salt water taffy and gambling holidays there, they also have a devil living in their pine barrens. Very scary. Don't wanna get a guy from Jersey on your bad side.

Some of the state's hazards:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCavalcante_crime_family

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Broadcast_(film)

And perhaps most terrifying of all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Plaza_Hotel_and_Casino


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 23, 2022, 12:18:02 AM
And, ralfy, if no link I posted before will dissuade you from replying with: "Oh, yes I do!" prepare to tremble before the dark might that is New Jersey at its most horrific! Save yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qs3OKyYkmQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qs3OKyYkmQ)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 23, 2022, 04:59:08 AM

Yes gosh darn it you are just too smart for all of us and it has nothing to do with you just making up stuff that hasn't been said at all.  :wink: If you want people to address your points and stick to the topic, maybe you should have tried responding to what was really said rather than making stuff up. You had no problem wandering off-topic when it suited you on the parent thread. Why should you now be treated any differently in return?

The problem isn't that I'm too smart for you. It's that you lack basic knowledge concerning this issue. That's why you're beating around the bush.


Yes, totally that. Nothing to do with your inability to respond to what is actually written when I did try to discuss things and just making up stuff instead at all.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Alex on December 23, 2022, 12:01:28 PM
Here is a whole bunch of Ukrainian businesses that can be supported online and help them through tough times.

https://empoweredbyshopify.com/ukrainian-owned/


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:22:15 PM
No,  it is you.  Don't.  Do not. 

"No, you..." is how 4chaners would say it, which basically expresses your knowledge of this issue.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:23:09 PM
And, ralfy, if no link I posted before will dissuade you from replying with: "Oh, yes I do!" prepare to tremble before the dark might that is New Jersey at its most horrific! Save yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qs3OKyYkmQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qs3OKyYkmQ)

It looks like you've exceeded All in terms of being a buffoon.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:24:07 PM

Yes, totally that. Nothing to do with your inability to respond to what is actually written when I did try to discuss things and just making up stuff instead at all.

No, you did not try to discuss things. You can't even do it now.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:25:20 PM
"How Western elites exploit Ukraine"

https://unherd.com/2022/03/how-western-elites-exploit-ukraine/

Quote
Not only has the Ukraine coverage been highly charged, morally self-righteous, and plainly political, it actively demands a collective suspension of disbelief as it cultivates and redirects a natural reaction of sympathy felt by all into a moral outrage that insists on certain retaliation. Some, such as the former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, have irresponsibly vilified the entire Russian population. Others, such as The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum, have begun to senselessly demonise prescient realist American academics for daring to shed light on Russia’s basic national security interests and the possibility of a confrontation if they go unrecognised.

So far as the Western legacy media is concerned, we really do live in the post-historical age Francis Fukuyama triumphantly proclaimed in 1989, with liberal internationalism the only acceptable paradigm through which to understand the world. Alternative views are now tantamount to championing tyranny. In each instance, the dictator comes to personify internationally Hegel’s thymotic, if savage, primitive man — the inhumane antithesis of the “last man” —  fighting maniacally against liberal democracy, the march of modernity, and progress itself. Assad, Ghaddafi, the Taliban, and Vladimir Putin all fit this archetype as reactionary actors par excellence necessitating a holy alliance to confront and civilise.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:29:16 PM
A very remarkable article, and from a neocon site, too!

"The Ukraine War Shows How the Nature of Power Is Changing"

https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/06/16/ukraine-war-shows-how-nature-of-power-is-changing-pub-87339 (https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/06/16/ukraine-war-shows-how-nature-of-power-is-changing-pub-87339)

Quote
One example is the role of multinational corporations, whose influence on the Western response to Russia’s invasion is unprecedented in scope—in part thanks to their growth in size, wealth, and reach, as well as their evolving legal status. Historically, corporate activity in conflict has been mostly motivated by profit, with companies either seeking increased sales directly—such as in Iraq in 2003 or during the world wars—or supporting peace to advance business prospects, as in Northern Ireland. But in the Russia-Ukraine war, most multinational corporations have acted primarily on political motives, often at significant cost to their bottom lines. The decisions of almost 1,000 companies to pull out of Russia have reinforced the West’s use of economic power but complicated its political leverage, by making it harder to use sanctions relief as a diplomatic tool.

It mentions later on that many countries are going against the sanctions, and for economic reasons. In relation to that, there's even related news about similar and China. For example,

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-22/dutch-resist-us-call-to-ban-more-chip-equipment-sales-to-china (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-22/dutch-resist-us-call-to-ban-more-chip-equipment-sales-to-china)

then several days later

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-07/us-led-curbs-on-china-tech-to-tighten-as-dutch-plan-new-controls (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-07/us-led-curbs-on-china-tech-to-tighten-as-dutch-plan-new-controls)

Keep in mind that the same entities pushing for restrictions are the same ones pushing for free markets. Go figure.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:32:41 PM
Related to the context given coverage of wars in the Middle East as analyzed by Edward Said and others:

"‘Double standards’: Western coverage of Ukraine war criticised"

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/western-media-coverage-ukraine-russia-invasion-criticism (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/western-media-coverage-ukraine-russia-invasion-criticism)

That is, this is different from U.S. invasions of Middle Eastern countries because those were barbaric whereas Ukraine is civilized.

They forgot to mention that Ukraine is a co-founder of the Soviet Union and has played both sides multiple times, e.g., siding with the Nazis and then doing the opposite when the war was turning against them. I don't blame them given the fact that their region is in the crossroads of conflicting military powers.

Finally, double standards should't be surprising. It's like the idea of saving a village by bombing it.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:35:06 PM
A piece from last August from WaPo which I'm told is now falling apart. It's a neocon shill piece but even that can contain nuggets of reality:

"Road to war: U.S. struggled to convince allies, and Zelensky, of risk of invasion"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/)

Quote
As Milley laid out the array of forces on that October morning, he and the others summed up Putin’s intentions. “We assess that they plan to conduct a significant strategic attack on Ukraine from multiple directions simultaneously,” Milley told the president. “Their version of ‘shock and awe.’ ”

I wonder if they realized the irony of their statement. (For those who still don't get it, check the last sentence.)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:38:09 PM
Interesting shill piece from Time:

"What the West Will Never Understand About Putin's Ukraine Obsession"

https://time.com/6140996/putin-ukraine-threats/

It's like some form of projection: since we're empire-greedy scumbags, we'll have to assume that they are, too.

Actually, there's truth in that following the notion of realpolitik. The problem is that only one side insists it isn't.

Quote
On the most basic level what is lacking in the current crisis is any attempt by Western and American leaders to talk to the Russian people. Even as internal Kremlin propaganda screeches about the threat of NATO, no politicians have reached out to talk to the Russian people directly. We were much better at this in the Cold War, when Margaret Thatcher famously went on Soviet television and skillfully debated and beat their current affairs presenters. Back then Russians were shrouded in censorship, today it is infinitely easier to reach out and engage though social media.

The catch is that that side doesn't know that it isn't what it thinks it is. Get it?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:44:57 PM
Interestingly enough, first published in Newsweek, and presented by a right-wing group. That's the same outlet that first reported on something like a billion dollars a year Congress was giving to Saddam, and how the CIA had full knowledge of gas attacks on the Kurds but did not react.

"The U.S. and NATO Helped Trigger the Ukraine War. It’s Not ‘Siding With Putin’ to Admit It"

https://www.cato.org/commentary/us-nato-helped-trigger-ukraine-war-its-not-siding-putin-admit-it (https://www.cato.org/commentary/us-nato-helped-trigger-ukraine-war-its-not-siding-putin-admit-it)

Quote
Yet U.S. and European officials blew through one red light after another. George W. Bush began to treat Georgia and Ukraine as valued U.S. political and military allies, and in 2008, he pressed NATO to admit Ukraine and Georgia as members. French and German wariness delayed that endeavor, but the NATO summit communique affirmed that both countries would eventually achieve that status.

In his 2014 memoir, Duty, Robert M. Gates, who served as secretary of defense in both Bush’s administration and Barack Obama’s, conceded that “trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching.” That initiative, he concluded, was a case of “recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests.”

At some point,  the U.S. will realize that Russia is acting just like the U.S., except that it does not have the same killing power and wide coverage, which is why like China it can only contest surrounding areas.

To do what the U.S. does one needs the U.S. dollar. That's why even NATO chamchas have to remain within the U.S. orbit of power.

The implication is that as a bipolar world becomes a multipolar one, with economic power from BRICS and emerging markets challenging U.S. military power, then there will more wars.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:47:21 PM
"War, Greed and Mass Manipulation"

https://www.globalissues.org/news/2022/10/26/32248 (https://www.globalissues.org/news/2022/10/26/32248)

Quote
Some worrisome signs were nevertheless written on the wall. In 2004, Putin declared the collapse of the Soviet Union as” the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.” Meanwhile, his acolytes were amassing the spoils from the collapsed Soviet Empire. Putin supported and protected those oligarchs who backed him, while bankrolling his inner circle.

In Munich 2007, Putin bared his teeth and claws in a speech given at an international Security Conference. He declared that the US was a predatory nation prone to apply an ”almost unconstrained hyper-use of force – military force – in international relations plunging the world into an abyss of conflicts.” This revelation was in 2008 followed by Russia´s military assault on neighbouring Georgia.

Unfortunately, the writer does not discuss that "unconstrained hyper-use of force". Instead, he focuses only on Trump.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:50:31 PM
From November, 2020:

"How the Western Press Lied About the 2014 Coup in Ukraine, Pretending That It Was Instead a Real Democratic Revolution"

https://strategic-culture.org/news/2020/11/25/how-western-press-lied-about-2014-coup-ukraine-pretending-real-democratic-revolution/

The essay focuses on what many do not want to talk about, which is Obama's (and Trump's) involvement in manipulation of Ukraine.
Quote
Whether or not the economic losses did amount to $160 billion (as Ukraine’s own experts had estimated) — or more, or less, than that — those losses did turn out to be enormous; and, Obama, clearly, raped Ukrainians. He destroyed Ukraine (and Trump did nothing to reverse that). Here is how this happened:

On 23 June 2011, two emissaries of the Obama Administration — the head of Google, Eric Schmidt, and his aide, and former subordinate to Hillary Clinton in the U.S. State Department, Jared Cohen — visited Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, pretending to be on his side, while deceiving him to reveal to them ways to reach out online to members of Ukraine’s pro-nazi organizations in order to generate mobs for the demonstrations which were to be organized on Kiev’s Maidan Square to overthrow Ukraine’s President.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 23, 2022, 08:53:43 PM
From December last year:

"How the West hung Ukraine out to dry"

https://theweek.com/world/1008430/how-the-west-let-ukraine-hang-out-to-dry

Quote
In short, Western powers have repeatedly used Ukraine to give Putin a bloody nose, but they have neither given it the resources that would be necessary to make an alliance with the West a good deal nor made enough of a military commitment to deter Russia.

NATO extends this combination of arrogance and incompetence toward Russia and Ukraine. The declared purpose of the treaty organization was to counter the Soviet Union and contain the spread of international communism. Neither of those have existed for 30 years, yet NATO continued mindlessly expanding throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Nobody seemed to consider whether Russia might get the idea that NATO was still an anti-Russian alliance, nor that Moscow might have understandable reasons to worry about a Western military presence in Ukraine.

The West treated Ukraine before the invasion in the same it did Russia several years earlier: dangling the EU-NATO carrot while using the two groups to start working on Ukraine.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 23, 2022, 11:24:48 PM
No,  it is you.  Don't.  Do not. 
"No, you..." is how 4chaners would say it, which basically expresses your knowledge of this issue.

I am ignorant of "4chaners". 


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Rev. Powell on December 24, 2022, 09:54:51 AM
I propose a Christmas truce in this thread.

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Fk-LjY16zdM/maxresdefault.jpg)

"Silent night, holy night...."


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: lester1/2jr on December 25, 2022, 12:36:35 AM
we've given Ukraine $100 billion in 10 months so far. If this thing goes say 3 to 5 years that means...500 billion?? all going to Raytheon etc from taxpayers to DC.

for a war that could have been prevented with 2 phone calls by a rational president


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ER on December 25, 2022, 01:43:59 AM
we've given Ukraine $100 billion in 10 months so far. If this thing goes say 3 to 5 years that means...500 billion?? all going to Raytheon etc from taxpayers to DC.

for a war that could have been prevented with 2 phone calls by a rational president

leeeeester, its still Christmas.....


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:17:44 AM
I am ignorant of "4chaners". 

You're a natural, then.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:21:06 AM
From the defense industry, "Merry Christmas!"

"The defense industry will profit from war in Ukraine—with your money"

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/03/09/defense-industry-ukraine-242533 (https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/03/09/defense-industry-ukraine-242533)






Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:21:40 AM
"Have sanctions against Russia backfired? | DW Business Special"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0osNhIouMI0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0osNhIouMI0)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:22:16 AM
"Retrospective: Before The Special Military Operation"

https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/retrospective-before-the-special

Quote
Will Schryver has been republishing some of his older tweet threads, and they still make good reading. Here’s a twelve part one from January 16, 2022—so a couple of months before Putin launched the SMO in Ukraine. It’s very prescient, but more than simply looking back at Ukraine and Russia, it also looks forward to China.

The conclusion to be drawn is that our ruling class dragged the US into this mad war on Russia through the usual Neocon flummery—combinations of geopolitical hubris and belief in their own infallible ability to finesse things. Militarily and economically. We were never going to be involved militarily because we’d finesse the war through sanctions shock and awe. Woops!


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:23:08 AM
"Is Russian Restraint Averting the Risk of Nuclear War – or Inviting It?"

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/14/is-russian-restraint-averting-the-risk-of-nuclear-war-or-inviting-it/ (http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/14/is-russian-restraint-averting-the-risk-of-nuclear-war-or-inviting-it/)

Quote
Among realists who don't accept the Kiew siegt an allen Fronten! narrative it is widely assumed that Russia will soon begin, perhaps in dramatic and decisive fashion, a winter offensive. This would come just as Kiev is hitting "empty" on all key manpower and materiel indicators, exacerbated by the Zelensky regime’s continued insistence on squandering them on strategically meaningless attacks on hardened Russian positions.

The assumption of a bold Russian shift to the offensive may not be valid, though, as it's clear that among Moscow's primary intentions is to avoid triggering a direct clash with NATO forces, which, they reasonably believe, could escalate uncontrollably to the strategic nuclear level. (That's why it appears Moscow has abandoned its longstanding no-first-use nuclear doctrine for launch-on-warning See: Paul Craig Roberts: A Hair Trigger on Endgame - LewRockwell)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:24:31 AM
"Lindsey Graham, the Ugly American"

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/24/lindsey-graham-the-ugly-american/ (http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/24/lindsey-graham-the-ugly-american/)

Quote
It does get tiresome to list all the nations the USG has messed with, undermined, occupied, and terrorized. This is not something one can write about if he or she is a corporate war propaganda journalist. It’s verboten, an assured career killer.

If bribery of autocrats and sadistic dictators does not work, if rigged elections are not possible and if a population resists the dictates of an imposed neoliberal financial order, that’s when the military steps in, cheered on by the likes of the pathocrat Sen. Lindsey Graham and other neocons.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:25:44 AM
"After the Zelensky Spectacle – Let the Partition Begin!"

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/23/after-the-zelensky-spectacle-let-the-partition-begin/ (http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2022/december/23/after-the-zelensky-spectacle-let-the-partition-begin/)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:26:17 AM
"“Anyone who underestimates Russia is headed for defeat”"

https://www.economist.com/syrsky-interview (https://www.economist.com/syrsky-interview)

Quote
An interview with Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s second most senior soldier


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 25, 2022, 05:28:52 AM
"Ukraine war - "2.5 Million US-$ an hour" USA: Rise in homelessness, poverty and inflation"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSDC5bI8FUI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSDC5bI8FUI)

"Billions for Ukraine as U.S. poverty festers"

https://spokesman-recorder.com/2022/06/30/billions-for-ukraine-as-u-s-poverty-festers/ (https://spokesman-recorder.com/2022/06/30/billions-for-ukraine-as-u-s-poverty-festers/)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 25, 2022, 03:48:48 PM
MERRY CHRISTMAS  TO ALL !!  


(https://www.funimada.com/assets/images/cards/big/christmas-51.gif)

I am ignorant of "4chaners".  

You're a natural, then.


We agree.  I have been informed and understand that you and I live in different worlds.  I find 21st century cynical uninteresting.  Unless one is on the ground ducking or bearing down, talk is cheap.  


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:00:43 AM
We agree.  I have been informed and understand that you and I live in different worlds.  I find 21st century cynical uninteresting.  Unless one is on the ground ducking or bearing down, talk is cheap.  

There is only one world, and we're both in it.

If you find 21st-century cynicism uninteresting, then that means you find only the opposite interesting, i.e., 21st-century optimism. But that contradicts your last sentence, as optimism means one doesn't need to be "on the ground ducking or bearing down."

Second, optimism in such circumstances involves cheap talk.

Last, posting memes to troll me in a thread about a topic that eventually leads to one being "on the ground ducking or bearing" down is an example of cynicism. Thus, not only are you a cynic but you find it interesting.

Incredible: you just contradicted yourself three times in one post.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:02:28 AM
Seen in light of the effects of neoliberalism, i.e., wars lead to inflation, prompting the Fed to raise interest rates, in turn causing other currencies to devalue, in turn causing other countries to move away from the dollar.

"Suddenly Everyone Is Hunting for Alternatives to the US Dollar"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-21/fx-weaponization-supercharges-de-dollarization-drive (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-21/fx-weaponization-supercharges-de-dollarization-drive)

Quote
Tired of a too-strong and newly weaponized greenback, some of the world’s biggest economies are exploring ways to circumvent the US currency. 

Smaller nations, including at least a dozen in Asia, are also experimenting with de-dollarization. And corporates around the world are selling an unprecedented portion of their debt in local currencies, wary of further dollar strength.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:04:40 AM
From August, 2022:

"West Prepares to Plunder Post-war Ukraine with Neoliberal Shock Therapy"

https://towardfreedom.org/story/archives/europe/west-prepares-to-plunder-post-war-ukraine-with-neoliberal-shock-therapy/

Quote
While the United States and Europe flood Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons, using it as an anti-Russian proxy and pouring fuel on the fire of a brutal war that is devastating the country, they are also making plans to essentially plunder its post-war economy.

Representatives of Western governments and corporations met in Switzerland this July to plan a series of harsh neoliberal policies to impose on post-war Ukraine, calling to cut labor laws, “open markets,” drop tariffs, deregulate industries, and “sell state-owned enterprises to private investors.”

Mentioned in the same article:

"Ex US official admits Ukraine conflict is NATO ‘proxy war with Russia’"

https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/24/us-official-ukraine-nato-proxy-war-russia/


Eurasia
Ex US official admits Ukraine conflict is NATO ‘proxy war with Russia’

Former US State Department official Eliot Cohen stated openly that the conflict in Ukraine is a NATO “proxy war with Russia,” and called for using the country to kill as many Russian soldiers as possible, “the more and faster the better.”

By
Ben Norton

Published
2022-03-24
Ukrainian tanks   

Quote
A former US State Department official has stated openly that the conflict in Ukraine is a NATO “proxy war with Russia,” and called for killing as many Russian soldiers as possible, “the more and faster the better.”

These comments were made by Eliot A. Cohen, who served as a counselor for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2007 to 2009, in the George W. Bush administration’s State Department.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:06:04 AM
From last July:

"Ukraine’s War Economy Is Being Choked by Neoliberal Dogmas"

https://jacobin.com/2022/07/ukraine-neoliberalism-war-russia-eu-imf

Quote
States at war generally adopt interventionist economic policies to mobilize resources and manpower. Ukraine hasn’t followed suit, instead pursuing dogmatic free-marketeer measures that suit Western creditors more than its own population.

It's a fascinating strategy: dig yourself into a deeper hole.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:07:47 AM
Interesting piece from philosopher Zizek:

"Ukraine’s Tale of Two Colonizations"

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ukraine-russian-occupation-or-western-neoliberal-colonization-by-slavoj-zizek-2022-08 (https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ukraine-russian-occupation-or-western-neoliberal-colonization-by-slavoj-zizek-2022-08)

Quote
It would be tragic if Ukraine defeated Russian neo-imperialism only to yoke itself to Western neoliberalism. While being a Western economic colony is certainly better than being absorbed into a new Russian empire, neither outcome is worthy of the suffering Ukrainians are now enduring.

...

The show’s depiction of Ukraine is apt. Of all the post-communist countries in Eastern Europe, it was the hardest hit by economic “shock therapy” (sweeping market reforms and privatization) in the 1990s. For three decades since independence, Ukrainian incomes have remained below where they were in 1990. Corruption has been rampant, and the courts have proven a farce.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:10:42 AM
A remarkable piece as the author struggles to reconcile the unavoidable drive to create the East "in our image" and the consequences of doing so:

"Ukraine: Beyond the Postsoviet"

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/ukraine-beyond-the-postsoviet/ (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/ukraine-beyond-the-postsoviet/)

Quote
Twenty years later, Eastern Europe has been divided several times: some countries have joined the European Union, others NATO, others have remained on the periphery of these spaces. Although Crimea was annexed in 2014, the Foros Sanatorium still accepts bookings. Feminists in Ukraine have continued their work. There are now women’s studies center at all major universities. In Russia, however, dissent has been squashed, as the members of the feminist punk rock group p***y Riot learned when they protested Putin’s tight connection with the Orthodox Church.

Thirty years of global neoliberal capitalism have also engendered an unprecedented accumulation of wealth, especially by white men. At no time in history has the wealth of the planet been concentrated in such a small number of pale-skinned, male hands. Not all these men appear interested in conjoining their enormous wealth with political power, but it is a matter of luck and disposition: today they’re launching a rocket manned by astronauts wearing tuxedo-style costumes, tomorrow they might resolve to use media to sow their most outlandish fantasies in the hearts of millions. Today they’re building yachts the size of natural formations for their girlfriends, tomorrow they might decide to invade a country of 40 million people. Who could stop them?



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 01:11:59 AM
From 2013:

"Are Ukrainians taking the streets for neoliberalism?"

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2013/12/ukrainians-taking-streets-neoliberalism/

Quote
What is the cause? President Yanukovich abandoned the Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, which would integrate the country further into the European Union. In doing, it would allow European capital greater access to Ukrainian companies by reducing trade barriers. One step closer to the EU, however, means one step away from Russia, and it appears to be due to Kremlin pressure that Yanukovich backed away from the deal. The protests, therefore, seem to be staking out a position against Russian influence, but in favor of neoliberal economic policies. Today, Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovich flew to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin as protesters continued to defy police.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:13:19 PM
From the European CFR, of all places:

"In Europe’s gift: How to avoid a Ukraine ‘forever war’"

https://ecfr.eu/article/in-europes-gift-how-to-avoid-a-ukraine-forever-war/

Quote
In many respects, our initial conclusions align with those of the authors. We certainly share their democratic values and commitment to Ukraine’s defence. One of several points we agree with are the innovative proposals for European security guarantees for Ukraine, which are carefully framed “not to solidify a permanent divide between the West and Russia”. The ideas put forward on building partnerships in the armaments industry are also very helpful.

However, we argue that Ukraine rapidly needs to move away from neoliberal economic policies in order to prevent the kind of intractable conflict observed in other places and to provide more social support for the Ukrainian population. We consider this to be incompatible with immediate full membership of the single market. Indeed, it could hugely complicate Ukraine’s accession to full membership of the European Union, which we enthusiastically support.

Okidoky.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:15:41 PM
"Nobel Peace Prize Winners Have Deep CIA Ties"

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/12/21/nobel-peace-prize-winners-have-deep-cia-ties/

Quote
Although the idea may seem far-fetched, this year’s winners all have connections to a CIA offshoot, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Oleksandra Matviichuk, for example, who accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Ukraine Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) on December 10, had received the NED’s annual Democracy Award on behalf of the CCL six months earlier.[1]


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:19:28 PM
"Ukraine Is America’s Latest Stalemate War"

https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelreagan/2022/12/24/ukraine-is-americas-latest-stalemate-war-n2617543

On Afghanistan:

Quote
We spent 20 years and about $2.3 trillion there and what did we get in return, besides the 2,500 dead U.S. soldiers and 3,800 dead U.S. contractors?

Nothing.

You'd think anyone with enough common sense would by now consider the reasons why the U.S. intervenes.




Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:20:59 PM
Related: Might there be a connection between revelations between Twitter and gov't agencies and the manner by which media was used to sell various narratives about Russia, Ukraine, etc?

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1606701397109796866



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:21:47 PM
In terms of context, one example of NATO reach:

Quote
This is what Gaddafi’s Libya has been reduced to. You can thank NATO “the defensive alliance” for it.

https://twitter.com/richimedhurst/status/1606682745777917953


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:22:30 PM
In relation to the context of a country that's been at war throughout much of its existence:

Quote
Why has the United States been at war almost my entire adult life?

https://twitter.com/miltimore79/status/1606097764940599296



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:23:55 PM
In the spirit of bad (and good) movies,

https://twitter.com/mask_bastard/status/1606810958147510275



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 26, 2022, 06:26:08 PM
Possibly related, as the neocon shilling involved not just media but even social media:

"Twitter Aided the Pentagon in Its Covert Online Propaganda Campaign"

https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/

Quote
In 2018, for instance, Twitter announced the mass suspension of accounts tied to Russian government-linked propaganda efforts. Two years later, the company boasted of shutting down almost 1,000 accounts for association with the Thai military. But rules on platform manipulation, it appears, have not been applied to American military efforts.

The emails obtained by The Intercept show that not only did Twitter whitelist these accounts in 2017 explicitly at the behest of the military, but also that high-level officials at the company discussed the accounts as potentially problematic in the following years.

The Stanford study:

https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_stanford_internet_observatory_report_unheard_voice.pdf



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: Allhallowsday on December 26, 2022, 08:48:09 PM
 

  MERRY CHRISTMAS  TO ALL !!  


         (https://www.funimada.com/assets/images/cards/big/christmas-51.gif)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:20:41 PM
"The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It's "Unprovoked""

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances (https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances)
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You see US empire lackeys gushing all the time about how extraordinarily efficient and cost-effective the proxy war in Ukraine is for furthering US interests against Russia, which is funny because they spend the rest of the time talking about how this invasion was "unprovoked" and rending their garments about how horrible it is. The official imperial position is somehow simultaneously (A) "We hate this war and never wanted it," and (B) "This war benefits us tremendously."

The only way to reconcile these two positions is to believe that Vladimir Putin acted against the interests of Russia in the service of the United States by invading Ukraine, for no other reason than because he is too stupid and evil to do otherwise. The other choice is to do what most empire loyalists do and simply not think very hard about those obvious contradictions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIMZcK-SC1M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIMZcK-SC1M)


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:21:40 PM
"Traitors!"

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/traitors (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/traitors)

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A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But there are only a few profane words to describe the obscene scene as the two women closest in line for the presidency hoisted the Ukrainian flag from the dias of the House of Representatives while swooning over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Congress cheered on December 21. (This appears to be the first time in history the flag of another nation essentially flew inside the U.S. Capitol building.) 

 “They asked me to bring this flag to you, to the U.S. Congress, to members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people,” Zelenskyy said before handing the flag to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris.

 “This flag is a symbol of our victory in this war.”


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:23:30 PM
Might be related if more Twitter Files show up, especially on anti-Russian propaganda:

"Twitter Aided the Pentagon in Its Covert Online Propaganda Campaign"

https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/

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On July 26, 2017, Nathaniel Kahler, at the time an official working with U.S. Central Command — also known as CENTCOM, a division of the Defense Department — emailed a Twitter representative with the company’s public policy team, with a request to approve the verification of one account and “whitelist” a list of Arab-language accounts “we use to amplify certain messages.”

“We’ve got some accounts that are not indexing on hashtags — perhaps they were flagged as bots,” wrote Kahler. “A few of these had built a real following and we hope to salvage.” Kahler added that he was happy to provide more paperwork from his office or SOCOM, the acronym for the U.S. Special Operations Command.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:24:34 PM
Also related:

"'Almost every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true': Elon Musk"

https://thepostmillennial.com/almost-every-conspiracy-theory-that-people-had-about-twitter-turned-out-to-be-true-elon-musk

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Former head of Twitter Trust and Safety Yoel Roth was advised by Chan to falsely categorize details of Hunter Biden's business dealings from his laptop as a Russian "hack-and-dump" scheme, which the media picked up and reported, claiming it was a conspiracy theory to report otherwise.

Across the various installments of the Twitter files, especially round six, details arose detailing the collusion between the social media giant and the FBI, with Taibbi saying the government agency acted as a "subsidiary" for the company before Elon Musk's takeover.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:26:45 PM
From RT:

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1606922828347056128

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Hillary Clinton has described Ukraine as ‘a good investment.’ Her statement comes after President Zelensky's address to the US Congress.

It explains conflicting actions by the U.S., e.g., arming authoritarian regimes like those of Saudi Arabia while condemning others, like those of Russia. In this case, the "good investment" involves a country run by corrupt Ukrainian politicians.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:30:02 PM
Interesting point from a leftist perspective:

"Ukraine and the ‘left’"

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1417/ukraine-and-the-left/

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Bernie Sanders, who did not sign the letter but said he agreed with its withdrawal, is typical. Fans cheer when he speaks out in favour of medical care for all, but maintain a discreet silence when it comes to foreign policy - an area in which his views are decidedly mainstream. Over the course of his long career in Washington, he has thus voted in favour of sanctions against Iraq, the Nato bombing of Serbia, the ‘Authorization to Use Military Force’ in the wake of 9/11, and the invasion of Afghanistan.6 To be sure, he voted against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but only after a good deal of wavering.7

...

As for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congress’s second most famous ‘socialist’, her record is equally centrist. She opposed Trump’s call for a Syrian withdrawal on the grounds that it “could have catastrophic consequences and risks, laying the ground for immense violence and suffering”,13 and echoed Hillary Clinton’s charge that Trump is Putin’s “puppet”. His “actions have been so destabilizing and destructive,” she wrote, “that the FBI had to open [an] inquiry on whether the most powerful person in the United States is actually working for Russia”.14 Where Sanders called for “severe sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his fellow oligarchs” the day Russian troops entered the Ukraine, AOC went one better by calling for “targeted sanctions” the day before.15 So it is not surprising that she has little appetite for anti-war activities.

It's strange, too, that it's Trump who's seen as a tyrant but it's his opponents who support war backed by capitalists.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:32:56 PM
From 2014:

"American democracy and the Ukraine"

https://daniellazare.com/2014/03/11/american-democracy-and-the-ukraine/
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This is pretty much the situation in the United States, a corrupt but still-liberal oligarchy that allows people to freely to denounce the powers-that-be and the government to freely ignore them. On February 15, 2003, hundreds of thousands of Americans took part in a global day of protest against the upcoming invasion of Iraq. Since Saddam Hussein had obviously had nothing to do with the attack on the World Trade Center, protesters pointed out over and over again that attacking him in response to 9/11 would be like attacking Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor. Yet the effect was nil. During the Senate “debate” on the proposed invasion – which was more like a mini-Nuremberg rally – one Democrat after another echoed Republican lies about Saddam Hussein and the mushroom cloud he was supposedly preparing to unleash.

...

So are Russian fears baseless or not? Remnick seems to be of two minds, although he is absolutely certain that the Russian leader is “an unabashed authoritarian” who “risks alienating himself not only from the West and Ukraine.” Facts be damned – the guy is still an SOB.

The last point ironically mirrors most of the sentiments given in the now-locked thread.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 27, 2022, 10:33:49 PM
"Volodymyr Zelensky and ethnopolitics"

https://www.voltairenet.org/article218518.html (https://www.voltairenet.org/article218518.html)

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President Zelensky has just been named by Time magazine "politician of the year 2022". It is not to have realized his coup de force of July, in favor of the war. He had all the political parties that opposed him banned; assassinated the personalities who resisted him; controlled all the media, written, audiovisual and internet; banned the Russian language; destroyed 100 million books; confiscated many of the assets of the oligarchs, including the one who personally financed him; nationalized the assets of Russian investors and companies; and finally banned the Orthodox Church.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:20:51 PM
Some of the blowback of neoliberalism:

"Exclusive: Russia likely to buy yuan on FX market in 2023 - sources"

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/russia-likely-buy-yuan-fx-market-2023-sources-2022-12-22/ (https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/russia-likely-buy-yuan-fx-market-2023-sources-2022-12-22/)

"IMF admits US dollar hegemony declining, due to rise of Chinese yuan, sanctions on Russia"

https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/31/imf-us-dollar-decline-china-russia/ (https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/31/imf-us-dollar-decline-china-russia/)

"Russia and Iran are building a trade route that defies western sanctions—Bloomberg"

https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1607341508029734913 (https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1607341508029734913)



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:21:43 PM
Related:

"Why You Need to Start Paying Attention to the 'Twitter Files'"

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2022/12/24/why-you-need-to-start-paying-attention-to-the-twitter-files-n1656136

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The FBI knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, they knew it was coming out — weeks before the 2020 election — and they told Big Tech to expect a “Russian disinformation” drop and squelch the story. That means the FBI corrupted the election to help Joe “totally showered with his daughter, Ashley” Biden.



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:22:31 PM
"Zelensky’s diaspora delegation led by economic hit-woman who led plunder of Ukraine"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/23/zelenskys-diaspora-hit-woman-ukraine/

Quote
Several of the Ukrainian delegates I encountered on the way into the US Capitol happened to have played significant roles in the transformation of Ukraine from a neutral state into a hyper-militarized vassal of the US and the IMF.

The most voluble among them, acting as a de facto spokesperson for the group, was Natalie Jaresko. A Ukrainian-American financial industry operative, Jaresko presided over several IMF austerity packages and the rampant privatization of Ukraine’s economy as the country’s Minister of Finance in its post-coup government


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:22:55 PM
"Condoleeza Rice explained in 2014 the motives for the CIA to committ an act of terrrorism against the Nord Stream 1 & 2 pipelines in Europe."

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1575839811688345601


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:24:28 PM
One of the effects of neoconservatism:

"Top Zelensky advisor threatens war with Iran"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/11/12/zelensky-threatens-war-iran/

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On November 5, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has advocated for military strikes on drone production sites located in Iran. President Zelensky echoed Podolyak’s belligerent rhetoric the following day, demanding Iran be “punished” for allegedly supplying drones to Russia. 

Kiev adopted its hostile posture towards Tehran after claiming Russia deployed Iranian-supplied drones to strike Ukrainian civilian infrastructure throughout much of October.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:25:09 PM
Related:

"How the pro-Ukraine NAFO troll operation crowd-funds war criminals"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/10/20/ukraine-nafo-troll-war-criminals/

Quote
Celebrated in mainstream US media for its anti-Russian trolling, the Twitter operation known as NAFO was founded by a Polish antisemite to raise money for a militia that has hosted war criminals, white nationalists and wanted murderers.

Whether they know it or not, anyone who has checked Twitter for recent coverage of the Ukraine proxy war has likely encountered at least one of the thousands of trolls that comprise NAFO, or the “North Atlantic Fellas Organization.” Thanks to the efforts of NAFO and its “fellas,” any journalist or prominent figure critical of Ukraine or NATO on Twitter is likely to receive hundreds of replies accusing them of being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin (or even performing fellatio on him) from accounts with Shiba Inu dog avatars.


Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:25:41 PM
"Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi excitedly sent $45 billion to Ukraine, meanwhile this is her district."

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1607707274130391041



Title: Re: The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict
Post by: ralfy on December 28, 2022, 08:26:57 PM
Last one, from Greenwald:

Quote
Still can't believe USG and its media allies got people to really believe Russia sabotaged its own pipeline. Sometimes I think they disseminate the dumbest propaganda just as a show of power.

NYT, finally: hmm, maybe this doesn't make sense after all.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1608231643197722626 (https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1608231643197722626)

In reference to this shill piece:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/world/europe/nordstream-pipeline-explosion-russia.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/world/europe/nordstream-pipeline-explosion-russia.html)

And that's basically it.