Coffeesforclosers

You can add Popasna, Sevierodonetsk, the 1st Kherson counter offensive, and Soledar to that list too. Doesn't mean the Ukrainian army's been wiped out twice.

MSM gonna MSM. But given what Ukraine wanted to achieve, and what they've achieved so far, it's more right than wrong. Ukraine tried a good, old fashioned Desert Storm style breakthrough. It failed for a bunch of reasons, none of them good for Ukraine. They're fighting an attritional war right now, focusing on killing Russian commanders, blowing up ammunition dumps, cutting supply routes, and destroying Russian artillery, and they're doing "ok". But it's definitely a Plan B because plan A was defeated.

If it's that obvious, you should have no trouble posting a link to a source.

What an enlightened position! Have you considered writing a strongly worded post on a message board?

It's a rough puzzle to put together. Surovikin's disappeared, a raft of of very competent VDV officers, starting with Mikhail Teplinsky, are on the chopping block supposedly. Now LPR/DNR Ultra-Nationalists are being scooped up and black bagged. However, Shoigu and Gerasimov are untouched. So, I agree, it looks like Prigozhin finagled his way into Putin's inner circle. I just wonder what leverage he has over Putin that's keeping him alive. I still think it's to secure Wagner's loyalty, so they can be used for an attritional offensive against the truly massive defensive lines between Belarus and Kyiv and win the war* but we'll see. *Maybe, possibly, it beats years more attritional war. Russia doesn't have the bottomless manpower reserves the USSR/WarPact did.

Wait a minute. I was told that Ron DeSantis is smart. Looks like the Florida Democratic party is just a clown car, and he was running up the score. Ever since he started fighting opposition with the cash, discipline, and brains to fight back, he's looked like a hump.

Ask Quebec. Somehow, they make it work.

...Sure? You're the first person to bring this claim up in this thread, so where does it come from?

They'd need a real army and a creditable air force that can take airspace from the Russians when the Russians want to keep it. Right now they have a real army and an air force that that gets its hits in when it can and lives to fight another day.

Correct. Which is probably why nobody who participates in this thread on a regular basis utilizes the basic narrative from the news. Europe though, oddly enough, has gone from a bunch of profit obsessed hedonists who would sell their grandparents for a 15% annual return in their index fund...to openly debating funding the whole Ukrainian army indefinitely. This is the brave new world Russia created by deciding to invade. And since Russia just threatened to attack any ship of any country docking in any Ukrainian port... I don't think they're in the mood for peace unless they're convinced war will not get them what they want, at a reasonable price.

Yes they certainly do. I want those disputes resolved firmly in Ukraine's favor. For instance, Russia's annexation of Ukrainian land corresponds almost exactly to the Novorossiya breakaway state outlined by the Donbas Separatists back in the 2010s. Which incorporates all of Ukraine's coastline and its most economically viable areas. Keeping it is a non-starter.

This war is going to end with negotiations. IF this goes through, it's the EU telling Russia they can't just wait everyone out until everyone gets bored and Russia gets what it wants. Meaning a long war strategy is less viable. Meaning peace happens sooner. But it's Europe and Military commitments. So I'll believe it when I see it, for any European country west of the Oder or the Danube to commit to it that is.

The EU is debating the creation of a fund that would bankroll Ukraine's Army for years. A very smart piece of diplomacy if it goes through.

Here's all 400 episodes where he talks about Replacement Theory, or conspiracies abouthow the Democrats have some kind of agenda to import voters via illegal immigration.

Those are good reasons, and they make sense. They're just not the reasons why Russia started the war. Yevgeniy Prigozhin straight up told the world why Russia started the war. It has nothing to do with historical grievances, broken treaties, or anything else that makes sense to a reasonable person. It has everything to do with a naked land and resource grab for Russia's billionaire class, and to boost Russian prestige by making America look weak.

You oughta watch more Three Stooges, and buy some tickets for the MIC gravy train! Yeah, yeah, Raytheon is -4.59% YTD, but who cares about returns in a stock market?

No worries. It's a free country.

I don't think he agrees with you. I think he thinks you've lost it

How are defense stocks doing right now? They must be through the roof!

I'm in my late 30s, and I'm watching incredibly smart, incredibly well educated people with their careers and finances squared away try to parent. They aren't doing well. I basically agree with you. So while we're trading hot takes... I totally agree with a Lutheran Theologian, Jordan B Cooper, who basically says that the Nuclear Family is part of the problem. It used to be that family stretched out to include coworkers, 2nd cousins, close family friends, etc. Theses sorts of extended families were the real bedrock of communities. Then the Nuclear Family comes along and says the only thing that really matters is Your spouse, Your 2.3 kids, Your . 75 acres and Your three bedroom/two baths house. Now everyone knows what some Twitter celebrity is up to, but couldn't tell you their neighbor's last name.

"Any Ukraine Peace Talks Should be About the 'New World Order'-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Read about why Russia wants peace. I didn't see anything about sparing the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

Man, this talking point is very, very important for some reason. Nevermind it's already been discussed in this thread not two pages back.

Wow, cluster bombs are a super important talking point now. I never new that controlling access to weapons reduces violence. So I guess gun control secretly works?

I've given up using irony on this forum. Watching Mr. Radical Free Speech drop on his knees and smile like a doughnut for the CCP though. That's almost too much. Maybe I will join Twitter, and post radical opinions like "Taiwan should be free and independent" or "The CCP is trying to eradicate the Uighurs".

It's behind a paywall on financial times, but Musk just signed a pledge agreeing with China's socialist values.