Русский корабль - иди нахуй

[Bevo 13468]

10 minutes ago, PTINS said:

Bada Boom?

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@mx_ukr/post/C-Vc5uEvPw6?xmt=AQGzh9YJtQ_lEbA8kX0zDW_T8hZDfGxf-ZEC4zjCX5PKbA

🇷🇺 surrendering along the border as drones watch.
Taken along the Sumy region border with Kursk.

 

^I'm actually out of the loop on this one, I'm going to have to wait to see more info come out to figure out what's going on

 

https://www.threads.net/@kyivpost.official/post/C-VR7l6IdP4?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

Moscow Deploys Nuclear Weapons 600 Kilometers from Berlin - US Ready to Respond
Russia has deployed supposedly controlled intermediate range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad which may result in US deploying similar weapon systems in Germany.
kyivpost.com/post…
 

 

[Bevo 13468]

20 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

Moscow Deploys Nuclear Weapons 600 Kilometers from Berlin - US Ready to Respond
Russia has deployed supposedly controlled intermediate range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad which may result in US deploying similar weapon systems in Germany Poland and Czechia.

 

 

 

Edited August 6 by Bevo

[AUS-97HORN 11629]

I've watched a few youtube videos produced in the last 2 years that seem to show that the Kaliningrad Oblast folks, while supposedly being fully on the side of Russia (since they officially still Russian), they are getting really fucking tired of  3/4's of their border being blocked from getting any trade in or out.

And because their only trade route now is Baltic shipping directly from St Pete, its not reliable at all.

and thats not a "we are sick and tired of this blockade, lets go to war" thing.... no its "we are fucking tired of being fully surrounded by NATO with every fucking weapon aimed at us and we arent being protected by Mother Russia" kinda tired.... thats the kind of tired that ends up getting them to agree to kick out the remainder of the Russian Military and just become an independent state.

 

yeah, that seems far off and possibly a you tube pipe dream, but the fact is, they cant even get airplanes into Kaliningrad without flying a highly circuitous international air boundary route from St Pete to the middle of the Baltic where they do a hard left turn to land in the Oblast. 

Plus the number of available and useable Russian freight ships in the Baltic keeps getting lower and lower due to failures and the inability to fuel the ships in Kaliningrad itself because the pipelines are turned off.   Those residents who were hardcore Russian communist supporters 35 years ago have kind of realized they are now effectively abandoned by a country that cant help them.

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@maks_24_ua/post/C-VgirTK8x-?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

🚁💥 Photo from crash landing site of KA-52

https://www.threads.net/@nickmelnick.osint/post/C-Vi68OoGtl?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

⚡️Just now, a Russian Ka-52 combat helicopter worth $16,000,000 was shot down in the Kursk region. The aircraft commander was killed.
Additionally, two Russian T-62M tanks with mine-clearing plows, which were being transported on Tank trailers, were destroyed.

Edited August 6 by MillerEP

[BurntEyes 5763]

1 hour ago, SquishMitten said:

That’s an interesting point that’s been on my mind for some time now. After the first few months of watching drones dropping grenades, I got pretty desensitized to the violence. But at some point, it started to shift back. I think I needed to be desensitized first before I could really process my thoughts on the overall aspects of war. I came to a very simple, and obvious, conclusion. It’s absolutely crazy that one person can just decide to star a war that causes so much death, destruction, and pain for so many people. That so many of that person’s citizens just go along with it when they have no desire to be there is fascinating, for lack of a better word. I understand going to war when you’ve been attacked and your family is threatened. But just because the leader of your country tells you to? And that’s been happening throughout history. It’s all so … pointless. 

It's crazy when you think the number of deaths that can be directetly tied to an amazingly small number of dictators. 

Stalin, Hilter, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao..

128,168,000 VICTIMS: THE DEKA-MEGAMURDERERS
4. 61,911,000 Murdered: The Soviet Gulag State
5. 35,236,000 Murdered: The Communist Chinese Ant Hill
6. 20,946,000 Murdered: The Nazi Genocide State
7. 10,214,000 Murdered: The Depraved Nationalist Regime

DEATH BY GOVERNMENT By R.J. Rummel 1994

That doesn't even cover  Tojo/Hirohito, Pol Pot, King Leopold II and Jim Jones isn't even an also ran... 

It's staggering.

[RPM 26164]

1 hour ago, MillerEP said:

https://www.threads.net/@mx_ukr/post/C-Vc5uEvPw6?xmt=AQGzh9YJtQ_lEbA8kX0zDW_T8hZDfGxf-ZEC4zjCX5PKbA

🇷🇺 surrendering along the border as drones watch.
Taken along the Sumy region border with Kursk.

 

^I'm actually out of the loop on this one, I'm going to have to wait to see more info come out to figure out what's going on

 

https://www.threads.net/@kyivpost.official/post/C-VR7l6IdP4?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

Moscow Deploys Nuclear Weapons 600 Kilometers from Berlin - US Ready to Respond
Russia has deployed supposedly controlled intermediate range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad which may result in US deploying similar weapon systems in Germany.
kyivpost.com/post…
 

 

 

 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

2 hours ago, Bevo said:

Putin, yes - but also remember that Ukraine may have not been destroyed if it truly was a 3 day operation. Most of the destruction, rape, torture, kidnappings and other atrocities are occurring because it has been a prolonged fight - I don't think Crimea was destroyed in the same manner.

 

PS Don't take this the wrong way - I'm just stating this from a historical perspective.

They hammered the border areas pretty quickly.

[Brisketexan 104216]

15 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

 But I do know that one of the biggest difficulties for any human apparatus is to admit when it's made a decision to go in the wrong direction. Oftentimes that simply requires a change in leadership, however it occurs. It's one of the real strengths of democracies, that regular changes in leadership allows the admission of a mistake in policy, resulting in a change in direction. It's also a big weakness, but that's how it goes.

So, I've handled disputes for a living for....decades.  I have lost count of the number of disputes that I've been involved in that, OBJECTIVELY, should have been resolved by an easy-to-see agreed resolution, yet the fight continued for a long time at a great cost.  And when a client asks "what is it going to take for the other side to see the light?", the answer experienced players in that situation give is "regime change."

Doesn't matter if you're dealing with a couple of individuals or a giant enterprise (which is run by individuals, at the end of the day).  People get locked in and committed to the path they chose some time ago, REGARDLESS of the mounting evidence that it is a bad, counter-productive path.  They are invested in the choice - the choice is part of their identity.  They cannot concede otherwise.  So, no movement happens until those people are gone.  Then new people come in, look at the situation that's plain as day, and say "well, this fight is stupid.  Why don't we resolve it by doing X?"  And "X" was a solution that has been obvious for four years now, everyone saw it.  But on their side, nobody who was willing to change course saw it.

Russia is just like any number of other poorly run organizations with leadership too invested in the dumb fork in the road that they took.  They can't change course now, because the path is them, they are the path.  Not until someone who does not have Putin's level of investment in this folly comes to power is there a chance for a different path.  That still may not result in a pivot, though, if the new person sees value in having a war to rally his support around.

[SL Xpress 7503]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I've handled disputes for a living for....decades.  I have lost count of the number of disputes that I've been involved in that, OBJECTIVELY, should have been resolved by an easy-to-see agreed resolution, yet the fight continued for a long time at a great cost.  And when a client asks "what is it going to take for the other side to see the light?", the answer experienced players in that situation give is "regime change."

Doesn't matter if you're dealing with a couple of individuals or a giant enterprise (which is run by individuals, at the end of the day).  People get locked in and committed to the path they chose some time ago, REGARDLESS of the mounting evidence that it is a bad, counter-productive path.  They are invested in the choice - the choice is part of their identity.  They cannot concede otherwise.  So, no movement happens until those people are gone.  Then new people come in, look at the situation that's plain as day, and say "well, this fight is stupid.  Why don't we resolve it by doing X?"  And "X" was a solution that has been obvious for four years now, everyone saw it.  But on their side, nobody who was willing to change course saw it.

Russia is just like any number of other poorly run organizations with leadership too invested in the dumb fork in the road that they took.  They can't change course now, because the path is them, they are the path.  Not until someone who does not have Putin's level of investment in this folly comes to power is there a chance for a different path.  That still may not result in a pivot, though, if the new person sees value in having a war to rally his support around.

There's another factor, too. The more effort and resources invested in a course of action, the more invested the individual and organization are in that course of action. Even if a leader is adept at changing their mind and switching course - even reversing it - they now have to convince the people around them this is the right call to make. If they're really good at their jobs, they've done a great job of encouraging people to put in their all towards a direction that turns out to be a horrible mistake, and now need to get the same type of buy in or more in a completely different direction. The qualities it takes to do all of that effectively are exceedingly rare. 

In any case, it's why I'm all for a regime change, even if I'm convinced because of Russia's toxic culture that goes back centuries we're still going to end up with some asshole in charge of the country. 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I've handled disputes for a living for....decades.  I have lost count of the number of disputes that I've been involved in that, OBJECTIVELY, should have been resolved by an easy-to-see agreed resolution, yet the fight continued for a long time at a great cost.  And when a client asks "what is it going to take for the other side to see the light?", the answer experienced players in that situation give is "regime change."

Doesn't matter if you're dealing with a couple of individuals or a giant enterprise (which is run by individuals, at the end of the day).  People get locked in and committed to the path they chose some time ago, REGARDLESS of the mounting evidence that it is a bad, counter-productive path.  They are invested in the choice - the choice is part of their identity.  They cannot concede otherwise.  So, no movement happens until those people are gone.  Then new people come in, look at the situation that's plain as day, and say "well, this fight is stupid.  Why don't we resolve it by doing X?"  And "X" was a solution that has been obvious for four years now, everyone saw it.  But on their side, nobody who was willing to change course saw it.

Russia is just like any number of other poorly run organizations with leadership too invested in the dumb fork in the road that they took.  They can't change course now, because the path is them, they are the path.  Not until someone who does not have Putin's level of investment in this folly comes to power is there a chance for a different path.  That still may not result in a pivot, though, if the new person sees value in having a war to rally his support around.

Yes, but since the days of the Tsar, that is the Russian system. You come up through the party in power and play the game until another party violently takes over.

[Chad Fuck 17454]

So what happened to all the Russian talk show propaganda we saw earlier in the war?  

Did that go away once it became apparent that there was no more lipstick to put on the pig?

Did the people watching it just turn away?

 

[bolverk 29243]

7 hours ago, KYHorn said:

Probably trying to relieve pressure on the fronts where Russia is making consistent advances 

 

 

3 hours ago, MillerEP said:

https://www.threads.net/@mx_ukr/post/C-Vc5uEvPw6?xmt=AQGzh9YJtQ_lEbA8kX0zDW_T8hZDfGxf-ZEC4zjCX5PKbA

🇷🇺 surrendering along the border as drones watch.
Taken along the Sumy region border with Kursk.

 

^I'm actually out of the loop on this one, I'm going to have to wait to see more info come out to figure out what's going on

 

https://www.threads.net/@kyivpost.official/post/C-VR7l6IdP4?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

Moscow Deploys Nuclear Weapons 600 Kilometers from Berlin - US Ready to Respond
Russia has deployed supposedly controlled intermediate range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad which may result in US deploying similar weapon systems in Germany.
kyivpost.com/post…
 

 

 

2 hours ago, MillerEP said:

https://www.threads.net/@maks_24_ua/post/C-VgirTK8x-?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

🚁💥 Photo from crash landing site of KA-52

https://www.threads.net/@nickmelnick.osint/post/C-Vi68OoGtl?xmt=AQGz_YBZke4rrc-lr8zRJVVa9IBlJXvjWS_Qf0K98rHwxA

⚡️Just now, a Russian Ka-52 combat helicopter worth $16,000,000 was shot down in the Kursk region. The aircraft commander was killed.
Additionally, two Russian T-62M tanks with mine-clearing plows, which were being transported on Tank trailers, were destroyed.

https://www.threads.net/@ghostoflviv_/post/C-V0IdMy1vL

 

Live UA map showing where the action is and what Ukraine has taken.

https://liveuamap.com/en/2024/6-august-ka52-helicopter-was-reportedly-shot-down-in-kursk

 

[elfenix 34161]

53 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I have lost count of the number of disputes that I've been involved in that, OBJECTIVELY, should have been resolved by an easy-to-see agreed resolution,

It doesn't take long in this business before you are able, right up front, to predict within 10% what the final resolution will be, but so many people like lighting money on fire.

Edited August 6 by elfenix

[Brisketexan 104216]

47 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

There's another factor, too. The more effort and resources invested in a course of action, the more invested the individual and organization are in that course of action. Even if a leader is adept at changing their mind and switching course - even reversing it - they now have to convince the people around them this is the right call to make. If they're really good at their jobs, they've done a great job of encouraging people to put in their all towards a direction that turns out to be a horrible mistake, and now need to get the same type of buy in or more in a completely different direction. The qualities it takes to do all of that effectively are exceedingly rare. 

In any case, it's why I'm all for a regime change, even if I'm convinced because of Russia's toxic culture that goes back centuries we're still going to end up with some asshole in charge of the country. 

The sunk cost fallacy.  We've all seen it.  Shit, we've done it every time we ended up in the super-slow checkout line at HEB, but stick with it instead of bailing out for the next line over, because hey, I've already spent 9 minutes here, I'd hate to have wasted that time.

One of my life lessons that we've worked on teaching our kids is to defeat that fallacy.  If you're doing something that isn't working, don't be afraid to change course.  You make EVERY decision from the exact moment and place where you are -- don't worry about what you've done.  Stand where you are right now, and ask "from here, what's the best move?"  I suspect that experience will be the best teacher for that (it was for me, I'm a stubborn fucker).

3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

It doesn't take long in this business before you are able, right up front, to predict within 10% what the final resolution will be, but so many people like lighting money on fire.

1000X this.  I've told more clients than I can count, within the first week or so of a case, "this case will settle for $X, or for action Y....two years from now."  And yeah, I'm within 10% a ridiculously high percentage of the time.  And the client asks "why two years from now?"  The answer is "because the other side won't accept that truth until they've had their nose bloodied half a dozen times."  And a kabillion in legal fees later....it resolves for what any sane person could see it should resolve for on day one.

[InkaUtexas 25265]

Dang, Kabillion of legal fees? Um, can we all get a turkey sheriff?

And for the record, Ukraine should not sue for peace. It sucks for them, but if they can, and I think they will, hold on, they come out much prettier and a generation will be global darlings. After that, if they screw up (a generational thing) then it goes back to normal.

Russia has conquered Ukrainian soil many times before, but never the people.

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@ghostoflviv_/post/C-V6LbGyW8V?xmt=AQGzzGeCjfARqXSg215Rxn5183TkO1fTuNzDroXIAvLWOA

A destroyed Russian Su-34 from the Ukrainain strikes on Morozovsk airfield a few days ago.

 

https://www.threads.net/@ghostoflviv_/post/C-V8BUkSkWX?xmt=AQGzzGeCjfARqXSg215Rxn5183TkO1fTuNzDroXIAvLWOA

Unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian forces have now occupied Sverdlikovo, Kursk region.

[NAVY 6737]

37 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Dang, Kabillion of legal fees? Um, can we all get a turkey sheriff?

And for the record, Ukraine should not sue for peace. It sucks for them, but if they can, and I think they will, hold on, they come out much prettier and a generation will be global darlings. After that, if they screw up (a generational thing) then it goes back to normal.

Russia has conquered Ukrainian soil many times before, but never the people.

Pos rep for the turkey sheriff posse east reference 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

1 minute ago, NAVY said:

Pos rep for the turkey sheriff posse east reference 

That sandwich kept me alive during school. And turkey rolls and fried rice from the stands at Littlefield and in front of the co-op. Damn I want a cherry lemonade now.

[NAVY 6737]

Just now, InkaUtexas said:

That sandwich kept me alive during school. And turkey rolls and fried rice from the stands at Littlefield and in front of the co-op. Damn I want a cherry lemonade now.

Yeah. Those little stands were inexpensive and awesone. Pizza rolls, curry indian bread, half pint of rice….
 

The jalapeño watery greeen hot sauce condiment stuff on all of the above 

[Trey3216 15321]

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Dang, Kabillion of legal fees? Um, can we all get a turkey sheriff?

And for the record, Ukraine should not sue for peace. It sucks for them, but if they can, and I think they will, hold on, they come out much prettier and a generation will be global darlings. After that, if they screw up (a generational thing) then it goes back to normal.

Russia has conquered Ukrainian soil many times before, but never the people.

Turkey sheriff??

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89295]

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Yes, but since the days of the Tsar, that is the Russian system. You come up through the party in power and play the game until another party violently takes over.

Under the USSR, decades after Stalin, Russia at least had the Politburo that could clamp down on the leader. Putin is what happens in Russia without the Politburo.  

[InkaUtexas 25265]

4 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Under the USSR, decades after Stalin, Russia at least had the Politburo that could clamp down on the leader. Putin is what happens in Russia without the Politburo.  

Could they really? Nah.... They ran the party line. Gorbie was the first to break really from a Communist Party line established by Stalin. Other's had "reform" but never broke.

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@maks_24_ua/post/C-U5rnVKdkH?xmt=AQGzLnVq2PJaerwo999wX0ZivsDm74WZ9EbFoyFu9qy9Vw

💥🔥 Explosion and fire at Transneft oil refinery in Usinsk (Komi Republic, Russia).

https://www.threads.net/@wbhgnews24/post/C-WNr-XSxlr?xmt=AQGzLnVq2PJaerwo999wX0ZivsDm74WZ9EbFoyFu9qy9Vw

Updated information on the Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region. We've expanded the gray area to the Snahist River, but cannot confirm that Nikolaevo-Darino, Darino, and Sverdlikovo are under Ukrainian control. There is no evidence to prove or disprove the claims.
There is proof that a Ukrainian advance reached the eastern tip of Tolstyi Lug, which supports Russian claims that Ukrainian forces are south of Nizhnii Klin.
We've identifed 4 locations where Ukrainian forces crossed the border.

[HellesBier 185]

 

I just spent like 4 hours reading on Leopold II, which led me to David Livingstone, which then just lead me to reading about Congos and comparing the capitals. I need to eat dinner.

6 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

It's crazy when you think the number of deaths that can be directetly tied to an amazingly small number of dictators. 

Stalin, Hilter, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao..

128,168,000 VICTIMS: THE DEKA-MEGAMURDERERS
4. 61,911,000 Murdered: The Soviet Gulag State
5. 35,236,000 Murdered: The Communist Chinese Ant Hill
6. 20,946,000 Murdered: The Nazi Genocide State
7. 10,214,000 Murdered: The Depraved Nationalist Regime

DEATH BY GOVERNMENT By R.J. Rummel 1994

That doesn't even cover  Tojo/Hirohito, Pol Pot, King Leopold II and Jim Jones isn't even an also ran... 

It's staggering.

[atomheartbevo 89295]

2 hours ago, HellesBier said:

I just spent like 4 hours reading on Leopold II, which led me to David Livingstone, which then just lead me to reading about Congos and comparing the capitals. I need to eat dinner.

Don't you love falling down the Wikipedia rabbit hole.

[flatdawgs 1253]

4 hours ago, HellesBier said:

 

I just spent like 4 hours reading on Leopold II, which led me to David Livingstone, which then just lead me to reading about Congos and comparing the capitals. I need to eat dinner.

You'll also be well rewarded by reading Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost.

[jdhorn92 1535]

7 hours ago, flatdawgs said:

You'll also be well rewarded by reading Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost.

Just looked it up, knew nothing of this story.  Finishing up March by Geraldine Brooks at present, but I may read this one next.   I seem to recall an older movie about a Belgian outpost overrun by locals and the battle that ensued, that may have been loosely tied to this era/region.  Cant say for sure though. 

[Viper 11989]

New Maps. Crazy that they've already captured more ground than the Russian incursion earlier in the summer.

 

 

 

[Parliament 14081]

I hope the Ukrainian army is being a magnanimous conqueror.  Restoring utilities, bringing food, installing toilets, etc. 

[atomheartbevo 89295]

6 minutes ago, Viper said:

New Maps. Crazy that they've already captured more ground than the Russian incursion earlier in the summer.

How much Russian territory does Ukraine need to take before Russia has to pull troops from elsewhere in Ukraine to retake its own towns?

[atomheartbevo 89295]

2 hours ago, jdhorn92 said:

Just looked it up, knew nothing of this story.  Finishing up March by Geraldine Brooks at present, but I may read this one next.   I seem to recall an older movie about a Belgian outpost overrun by locals and the battle that ensued, that may have been loosely tied to this era/region.  Cant say for sure though. 

If you want to go down the pre-World War I rabbit hole, given how many idiots on social media keep pushing that World War III is going to happen..

The Guns of August:, published in 1962, fantastic book about the run-up to WWI and the opening battles.

Quote

The Guns of August provides a narrative of the earliest stages of World War I, from the decisions to go to war up until the start of the Franco-British offensive that stopped the German advance into France. The result was four years of trench warfare. In the course of her narrative Tuchman includes discussion of the plans, strategies, world events, and international sentiments before and during the war.

Quote

On May 20, 1910, of the nine kings who led the funeral of King Edward VII, Kaiser Wilhelm II held conflicted views on his deceased uncle. In public, he was the gravest and most attentionate mourner. In private, he scorned Edward's personal diplomacy which supported Britain's shift from isolation to alliances with former foes France and Russia, calling his uncle "Satan" for plotting to encircle Germany. Wilhelm's inner tension reflected a wider polarisation around the question of Germany's rise, illustrated by two influential books. In "The Great Illusion" Norman Angell demonstrated that any war between large states was impossible because of its exorbitant cost whereas General von Bernhardi argued in "Germany and the Next War" that his nation had to either attack and annihilate France, or accept its downfall. On that May morning of 1910 "the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again."

The Great Illusion, published in 1909

Download/Read it for free https://archive.org/details/cu31924007365467

Quote

In The Great Illusion, Angell's primary thesis was, in the words of historian James Joll, that "the economic cost of war was so great that no one could possibly hope to gain by starting a war the consequences of which would be so disastrous."[4][5] For that reason, a general European war was very unlikely to start, and if it did, it would not last long.[6] He argued that war was economically and socially irrational[7] and that war between industrial countries was futile because conquest did not pay. J. D. B. Miller writes: "The 'Great Illusion' was that nations gained by armed confrontation, militarism, war, or conquest."

Quote

According to Angell, the economic interdependence between industrial countries would be "the real guarantor of the good behavior of one state to another", as it meant that war would be economically harmful to all the countries involved. Moreover, if a conquering power confiscated property in the territory it seized, "the incentive [of the local population] to produce would be sapped and the conquered area be rendered worthless. Thus, the conquering power had to leave property in the hands of the local population while incurring the costs of conquest and occupation."

Quote

Angell said that arms build-up, for example the naval race between England and Germany that was happening as he wrote the book in the 1900s, was not going to secure peace. Instead, it would lead to increased insecurity and thus ratchet up the likelihood of war. The only viable route to peace would be respect for international law, implemented in a world court, in which issues would be dealt with rationally and peacefully.

Germany and the Next War, published in 1911

Download and read it for free https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11352

Quote

Describing war as a "divine business", he proposed that Germany should pursue an aggressive stance and ignore treaties.

Quote

In Germany and the Next War, Bernhardi stated that war "is a biological necessity," and that it was in accordance with "the natural law, upon which all the laws of Nature rest, the law of the struggle for existence."

 

[atomheartbevo 89295]

18 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

So what happened to all the Russian talk show propaganda we saw earlier in the war?  

Did that go away once it became apparent that there was no more lipstick to put on the pig?

Did the people watching it just turn away?

Still going strong, talking about nuclear war, and Margarita still showing off cleavage

 

[Viper 11989]

16 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

How much Russian territory does Ukraine need to take before Russia has to pull troops from elsewhere in Ukraine to retake its own towns?

it appears there's strategic value in holding Sudzha

The rest of the thread https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1821050754997604690.html

 

 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

If you want to go down the pre-World War I rabbit hole, given how many idiots on social media keep pushing that World War III is going to happen..

The Guns of August:, published in 1962, fantastic book about the run-up to WWI and the opening battles.

The Great Illusion, published in 1909

Download/Read it for free https://archive.org/details/cu31924007365467

Germany and the Next War, published in 1911

Download and read it for free https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11352

 

Guns of August is one of the best openings of any history book. Just scored March of Folly and Distant Mirror (also Tuchman) at a church resale shop near Oklahoma of all places. Tuchman was my mother's favorite historian and was required reading growing up. Read Great Illusion a long time ago, migth need to reread when done with this dive into WW1-1941 Russia. Check out 1914 by Solzhenitsyn. 1917 is next.

 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Still going strong, talking about nuclear war, and Margarita still showing off cleavage

 

You mean the dudes did not volunteer for the front and she became a camp hooker?

[RPM 26164]

24 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

How much Russian territory does Ukraine need to take before Russia has to pull troops from elsewhere in Ukraine to retake its own towns?

[atomheartbevo 89295]

18 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

So what happened to all the Russian talk show propaganda we saw earlier in the war?

By the way, her big book came out yesterday , with a foreword by Timothy Snyder. I don’t know how much she makes from YouTube and I think a lot of her stuff probably gets demonetized, or what she makes from her public talks, etc., but hopefully this does well.  She published through Ibidem (ancademic publishing house) and Columbia University, so you probably won’t be picking this up in a retail store.

In Their Own Words: How Russian Propagandists Reveal Putin’s Intentions (Amazon, no idea on other sellers and no ebook which really sucks

Description (I didn’t know she studies aircraft/spacecraft engineering):

This collection of essays and articles, written between 2019 and 2024 for such outlets as The Daily Beast and The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), illuminates recent Russian international affairs through the lens of Moscow’s propaganda tactics. For more than two decades, the Kremlin’s agitators have been tasked to lay, in advance, the groundwork for various domestic and foreign actions by the regime of Vladimir Putin. Thus, Russian state-controlled media provides crucial clues for deciphering the―often sinister―goals that the government of Russia was and is planning to pursue abroad, from election interference to military invasions. The goal of the sum of these activities is the establishment of a new world order―with Russia at its helm.

Before the large invasion of 24 February 2022, Russian state media portrayed the West as incapable of opposing Russian aggression. Putin’s propagandists cheered for war against Ukraine, predicting it would be quick and victorious. Misreading the ability of the West to unite and miscalculating Russia’s capabilities in confronting determined Ukrainians, Russia ended up in a quagmire of its own creation. In 2024, Putin’s decorated propagandists face the possibility of future scrutiny and potential prosecutions for their proactive incitement of genocide. They unravel, along with the Kremlin, having to tell multiple conflicting stories and condemn the same players they used to lionize. Backed into the corner, they resort to nuclear threats and demand even more blood from Ukraine, whose only crime is its desire for democracy and freedom.

Julia Davis, M. Sc., studied Aviation and Spacecraft Engineering at the National Technical University of Kyiv also known as the Igor Sikorsky Polytechnic Institute of Kyiv. Today, Julia lives in the United States and is a prominent Russian media analyst, whose investigations have repeatedly prompted retractions and corrections by RT (formerly “Russia Today”) and other media outlets. Julia has been sanctioned by the Russian Federation for her influential analysis of Russia’s propaganda, war crimes, and genocidal rhetoric.

Timothy Snyder is the Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and the author of a number of books, including Bloodlands, The Road to Unfreedom, and the forthcoming On Freedom.

Part of the forward from Timothy Snyder

https://snyder.substack.com/p/in-their-own-words?r=f9j4c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

Russian propaganda is in the shadow of America.  Whereas the America only covers Russia when there is something to cover, and usually not even then, Russian propaganda television starts every night from the premise that whatever has happened that day is America's doing and America's fault.  This does not reflect reality -- or a typical American's experience of reality. 

            It does reflect the problem that Russian propaganda is meant to solve.  Since Vladimir Putin is the boss of bosses in an oligarchical regime where domestic policy is impossible, the propagandists must direct attention to the world beyond Russia in a way that makes Russia's leadership seem righteous.

            Russian propagandists do this in the confidence that no one beyond Russia is watching.  But Julia Davis has been, to the great benefit of us all.  Thanks to her new book, In Their Own Words, we can understand the propagandists' job description, but also the tensions they feel when the outside world causes them problems. 

            Their basic posture is that America is in a constant war with the Russian Federation.  Because Russia cannot fight and cannot win any actual war of that description, the propagandists are most comfortable when America is turned against itself.  They talk almost never about Russian domestic politics, but obsess over every piece of evidence of American domestic weakness.

…

It is important to note, and Julia Davis gives us all the details, the hypocrisy of the anti-American pose.  A leading Russian propagandist sent his girlfriend to America to give birth so that his child would have American citizenship.  Propagandists are clearly personally hurt by sanctions that separate them from their property in the European Union or make it harder for them to travel abroad.  They send their children to study and work in the West, They don't have any real animus towards the West.  This is, I think, one more reason why they can't resist thinking of Americans on their side as idiots.

            When Putin ordered a full-scale war on Ukraine, the propagandists suddenly had a problem.  Before the attack, as we are reminded in this book, there was great confidence among Russian propagandists that Ukraine would fall to Russia in "two days" or even "ten minutes."  But when Russia actually did undertake a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it set off a chain of events that the propagandists found hard to master.

…

For one thing, they had been cut out of the loop.  The invasion was meant to be its own propaganda, a "special military operation" that overthrew the Ukrainian government in three days, followed by a victory parade and a warm welcome by the Ukrainian masses.  This did not happen, and was based upon a worldview (Putin's) that was both obviously wrong and impossible to criticize.  Russian propagandists switched immediately to the comfortable idea that the war was really against America, and that America had initiated. Rereading Julia Davis's essays, I was struck by how quickly this happened -- within a few days.

            The Ukrainians themselves had to be dehumanized.  This was a direct consequence of the senselessness of the war.  Russians had to be made to feel that they were somehow superior, and that war had some kind of logic.  Its premise, as Putin had made clear, was that there was not really a Ukrainian state or nation; this was all a conspiracy, and would collapse immediately.  If, as it emerged, more Ukrainians defended themselves than expected, that did not mean that Ukraine was real; it just meant that logic of the special military operation, killing the elites, had to be extended ever further downward into the population. 

            As Julia Davis shows, Russian propagandists use openly genocidal language over and over again, urging the extermination of vermin, worms, demons, zombies, etc.  Putin's grotesque "denazification" framing of the war is genocidal.  If all Ukrainians are defined as Nazis by nature, then it is right to kill them all.  The "Nazi" claim has never had anything to do with political reality (the actual fascists, the ones in Russia, are calling for genocide), and always had everything to do with justifying that murderous project.  After the Hamas attack on Israel, there was split in the Russian media elite between Russia's non-Nazi fascists and the Nazi ones.  This too is chronicled here.   
 

There’s more at the link above. Or read it in the book itself.

[InkaUtexas 25265]

30 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

How much Russian territory does Ukraine need to take before Russia has to pull troops from elsewhere in Ukraine to retake its own towns?

I am cool with the Kremlin. Ok here is the scenario I want to see. Putin is decrepit. His troops at their end. Ukraine's Marines in speedboat raid Sochi, meeting up with Georgian elements. They take over Putin's palace and throw a massive kegger reminiscent of the end of Band of Brothers.

[InkaUtexas 25265]

38 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

If you want to go down the pre-World War I rabbit hole, given how many idiots on social media keep pushing that World War III is going to happen..

The Guns of August:, published in 1962, fantastic book about the run-up to WWI and the opening battles.

The Great Illusion, published in 1909

Download/Read it for free https://archive.org/details/cu31924007365467

Germany and the Next War, published in 1911

Download and read it for free https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11352

 

Check this one out.

https://ia903206.us.archive.org/13/items/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-warning-to-the-west/Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Warning to the West.pdf

solzhenitsyn- Warning to the West.

[InkaUtexas 25265]

OK this is rich even by Russian standards.

Putin accuses Ukraine of 'provocation' amid alleged border incursion

President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of launching "another major provocation", after defence officials said Ukrainian troops crossed into Russia's Kursk region on Tuesday.

Moscow said troops, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured combat vehicles, crossed the border near the town of Sudzha, 10km (six miles) from the frontline.

In televised remarks broadcast on Wednesday afternoon, Russia's Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Putin that the "advance" into Kursk region had been stopped with Russian forces "continuing to destroy the adversary in areas directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border".

Mr Gerasimov also said that up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops had entered the region with the aim of taking over the area around the town of Sudzha, and that Russian forces had already killed 100 men and injured another 215.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2n9y4nm3lo

[Parliament 14081]

Russian forces had already killed 100 men and injured another 215.
 

…all Russian citizens.

[InkaUtexas 25265]

forgotten by most.

Marking 16 Years Since Russia’s Invasion of Georgia

 

08/07/2024 10:42 AM EDT

 

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Today we mark sixteen years since Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia and remember those killed, injured, or displaced by Russia’s military campaign and illegal occupation.  To this day, Russia continues to occupy 20 percent of Georgia’s territory and impose its will on the people there, including by claiming the transfer of strategically important lands in Abkhazia to Russia and taking steps to establish a permanent naval base in Ochamchire.

The United States remains steadfast in support of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.  We call on Russia to fulfill its commitments and obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions and allow unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.  We also call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.  These actions would allow tens of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their homes safely.

The United States’ support for the people of Georgia in their pursuit of a Euro-Atlantic future and a peaceful solution to the conflict is enduring.

[dimyh 1874]

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

I am cool with the Kremlin. Ok here is the scenario I want to see. Putin is decrepit. His troops at their end. Ukraine's Marines in speedboat raid Sochi, meeting up with Georgian elements. They take over Putin's palace and throw a massive kegger reminiscent of the end of Band of Brothers.

Can we at least have one scene of a Russian mob parading around Putins corpse ala Mussolini?

 

 

[AUS-97HORN 11629]

43 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

forgotten by most.

Marking 16 Years Since Russia’s Invasion of Georgia

 

08/07/2024 10:42 AM EDT

 

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Today we mark sixteen years since Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia and remember those killed, injured, or displaced by Russia’s military campaign and illegal occupation.  To this day, Russia continues to occupy 20 percent of Georgia’s territory and impose its will on the people there, including by claiming the transfer of strategically important lands in Abkhazia to Russia and taking steps to establish a permanent naval base in Ochamchire.

The United States remains steadfast in support of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.  We call on Russia to fulfill its commitments and obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions and allow unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.  We also call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.  These actions would allow tens of thousands of internally displaced people to return to their homes safely.

The United States’ support for the people of Georgia in their pursuit of a Euro-Atlantic future and a peaceful solution to the conflict is enduring.

also, the invasion started just before the opening ceremonies in Beijing....

 

yeah... China was pissed.

[utee94 15730]

18 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

Turkey sheriff??

Yeah he obviously had to cut calories and watch his girlish figure.  That turkey sheriff plus a pitcher of Shiner Bock will never show up on the scale.

 

[InkaUtexas 25265]

1 minute ago, utee94 said:

Yeah he obviously had to cut calories and watch his girlish figure.  That turkey sheriff plus a pitcher of Shiner Bock will never show up on the scale.

 

And that was the combo for sure.

[atomheartbevo 89295]

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Moscow said troops, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured combat vehicles, crossed the border near the town of Sudzha, 10km (six miles) from the frontline.

In televised remarks broadcast on Wednesday afternoon, Russia's Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Putin that the "advance" into Kursk region had been stopped with Russian forces "continuing to destroy the adversary in areas directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border".

Mr Gerasimov also said that up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops had entered the region with the aim of taking over the area around the town of Sudzha, and that Russian forces had already killed 100 men and injured another 215.

I’m actually surprised they admitted this on state TV.

If it was only 11 tanks and 20 armored vehicles and less than a thousand men, they should be embarrassed. Hell, even the Ukrainians taking a small Russian village should be enough to embarrass Putin, because at least some of the Russian people have to be wondering what the fuck is going on with the Special Military Operation that sees Ukraine occupying Russian territory 30 months into the three week operation.

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@nickmelnick.osint/post/C-X2U4_Iz84?xmt=AQGzIHN1YeRUWrFZ8dl8iHt0rRIWtZpwUSX7oSJznxLeoA

🤡A Russian soldier tosses the bodies of fallen comrades like bags of trash.I can only assume he's trying to speed up his Z-vehicle this way.

 

https://www.threads.net/@nickmelnick.osint/post/C-YAG1AIrat?xmt=AQGzIHN1YeRUWrFZ8dl8iHt0rRIWtZpwUSX7oSJznxLeoA

🇺🇦⚡️🇷🇺 The operation by the Ukrainian armed forces in Russia's Kursk region continues.
The Ukrainians are pushing deeper into enemy territory. Officials have yet to comment on the objectives of the operation.
🫡I must admit that I was initially skeptical of such attempts, but I was wrong.
👇 Here is a video showing 40 Russian prisoner soldiers being taken into Ukrainian territory.

[MillerEP 30311]

https://www.threads.net/@mx_ukr/post/C-X-nHgvpOs?xmt=AQGzIHN1YeRUWrFZ8dl8iHt0rRIWtZpwUSX7oSJznxLeoA

Crimea river

https://www.threads.net/@ghostoflviv_/post/C-YF6Rivw9T?xmt=AQGzIHN1YeRUWrFZ8dl8iHt0rRIWtZpwUSX7oSJznxLeoA

Reports that a Russian Su-34 was just shot down over Kursk.