They are going to happen from time to time. Can't be helped. We do the best we can, but ultimately we are all just volunteers for this project.
There is a live backup, however. I will post the link below. But there are a few rules.
Because of the differences in the underlying BAPP stack (FreeBSD, Apache, Postgresql, PHP) the backup server is read only. If you try to post a comment, it will fail.
You can access the backup between 30 minutes after and at the top of the hour. Otherwise, you'll lag out because of the nature of this particular server.
In time I hope to get the backup server where you can post comments, but alas they will erase at the next update. The server was happily working here. The router was just as content. Comcast, on the other hand, was busted. Sorry.
[Guardian] White supremacy is as American as apple pie, as the latest killings in Buffalo show. Biden needs to take a stand against neofascists. Vladimir Putin would enthusiastically agree.
Last weekend, just as I finished a live performance in California of Four Questions, the Grammy award-winning jazz collaboration for which I provided spoken words, word reached me about the racist killing of 10 people as they shopped in Buffalo, New York. I try never to be surprised by evil and never paralysed by despair. Instead, my immediate reaction was "here we go again", with the horror, the suffering and then the now familiar routine of rhetorical gestures and superficial posturing.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden described white supremacy as a poison, and he is right, but — as ever — he fails to understand the gravity of his failure to make racial justice a priority; to see this cowardly white supremacy as a threat to American democracy.
The simple truth is that you cannot see this latest neofascist attack in isolation. Think of the attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, when a white supremacist terrorist killed nine African Americans during their Bible study in 2015. Think of the attack on the American Asian community in Atlanta last year, when four people were murdered amid assertions from prosecutors that the attack was fuelled by race and gender hatred. Or the attack on Chicanos in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, when 22 people were killed in an allegedly hate-motived shooting; and the murder of 11 Jewish Americans at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh the same year by a man who said Jews "were committing a genocide to his people".
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2022 8:18 Comments ||
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#3
It's blacks killing blacks at numbers that make the old Klan humble with inadequacies. As long as you are unwilling to face the truth, you'll never solve the problem.
#6
If we were having a race war, we wouldn't be listening to you. You wouldn't exist other than worm food. I'm not being mean, just stating the truth. Stop pretending you want a race war. Half my neighborhood is black, this is fine as I like them and while most are actual Africans they are all very nice people. If idiots like you get your way, other morons will come here trying to kill them or my family based on skin color. I don't want to live in a nation like that. Anyone coming into our neighborhood and threatening my family or my neighbors families is going to get lit up. We are all humans here and treat each other that way. Keep your subhuman racist views inside your own head and away from us.
#7
One of the complaints of the Charleston shooter was he couldn't find a group of like-minded white supremacists to hang out with. So how big of a problem is it?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/21/2022 12:43 Comments ||
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#8
And notice West doesn't mention the wave of attacks on Asians by blacks, or the black guy who drove an SUV into a crowd of whites...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/21/2022 12:44 Comments ||
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#9
...its called Freudian Projection. He makes his living off of hate, envy and fear.
#10
Yup. Build a police state to suppress mythical "fascists" at home, and send billions in weapons to arm to the teeth actual fascists overseas. Woke logic at its finest.
Posted by: Billy Budd ||
05/21/2022 13:20 Comments ||
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#11
Last weekend, just as I finished a live performance in California of Four Questions, the Grammy award-winning jazz collaboration for which I provided spoken words
[Jenni Reivet]Don't neglect the blog. Good tips for the guys as well.
Interesting. When the trailing daughters got their black belts and were set to training the younger children — passing on skills is part of the discipline of being a black belt, as so many of you know —Master Park explained that while boys and men look to become more powerful, girls and women respond to feedback that makes them more precise. Both lead to being a better martial artist, but an effective instructor responds to the student’s path to learning, not his or her own.
#2
As I said in a comment to another gun article here a week or two ago, I have several 1911s and enjoy shooting them. The 1911 platform would never be my choice for EDC. Give me pretty much any SIG (P227 i n .45 ACP, please) or even my Grand Power P45.
More rounds and not single action.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2022 6:08 Comments ||
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#3
1911 is great, but it's just out of date. It was literally invented in 1911. Firearms technology has come a long way since then.
9mm is better not just because of the power, but because you can carry more of them for the same weight.
#4
Nothing like the muzzle view of a sewer-pipe .45 barrel to quiet an unwanted visitor. Old, cold, ruthless and uncompromising stopping power, and after carrying it for decades, a comforting fit.
#5
There has been a lot of research into terminal ballistics of 9mm rounds in the last two decades narrowing the "stopping power gap" with the trusty 1911. But really the only question is does the gun feel good in your hand and can you hit your targets while stressed.
#8
You and Mr. Cooky can divide the credit for tomorrow's reappearance of the hummingbird feeders I took down a few years ago (and the finches I'll probably shoot by midweek).
First and last paragraphs are the commentary of Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
This has to do with the Russian Ministry of defense denying veterans status to 32 crew members of the auxiliary supply ship General Ryabikov, who served during the 2008 war in Georgia.
[ColonelCassad] According to the story of the deprivation of benefits for the crew of the auxiliary supply vessel of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation "General Ryabikov". The story stretches from the time before the NWO. I also know about this from acquaintances who served on this ship and who were personally hooked by this story.
On the eve of the start of the Special Operations in Ukraine, according to the decision of the Black Sea Fleet Commission, 5-6 years after the issuance of certificates Veteran of hostilities were deprived of social support measures under the Federal Law "On Veterans" dated 12.01.1995 No. 5-FZ employees of the Ministry of Defense - members of the crew of maritime transport weapons "General Ryabikov", who took part in the "Special Operation to Force Georgia to Peace" from 08 to 22 August 2008 and performed the tasks set by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to ensure the safety and protection of Russian citizens living in South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia.
More than one historical note, not one article devoted to the participation of the Black Sea Fleet in the tasks of ensuring the security and protection of Russian citizens living in South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia has been written about the participation of this vessel in the “Special Operation to Force Georgia to Peace”.
The 5th crew members of the MTV "General Ryabikov" were issued in 2015-2016 certificates of the Veteran of military operations by decision of the Central Commission of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Moscow).
The 2nd (crew member) in early 2015 in the order of execution of the decision of the Leninsky District Court of the city of Sevastopol
The 2nd in 2011 by decision of the commission of the Southern Military District.
32nd in 2015-2016 by decision of the commission of the Black Sea Fleet.
However, after 5-6 years, the Black Sea Fleet Commission, on its own initiative, decided to review the decisions of the Black Sea Fleet Commission of 2015 and 2016 and excluded 32 crew members of the General Ryabikov MTV from the commission protocols of 2015-2016, thereby depriving these citizens of social support measures for Federal Law "On Veterans" dated January 12, 1995 No. 5-FZ.
The position of the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet and its commission is as follows:
“The provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establish the obligation of the employer to ensure the right of each employee to working conditions that meet safety requirements."
In this connection, the issuance of orders that are the basis for involving employees in combat operations (performance of tasks), including in the territories (in territorial waters, airspace) of the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia, seems unreasonable and illegal.
It seems that everything is correct, only based on the rules of logic, there can be only three options that allow depriving the members of the General Ryabikov MTV of measures of social support:
First.
In the event that the crew members of the MTV "General Ryabikov" were not in the zone of the special operation in 2008 in the territorial waters of Georgia.
However, the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet confirms that the crew members of the General Ryabikov MTV were in the territorial waters of Georgia and carried out special tasks assigned to them by the RF Ministry of Defense.
Second.
In the event that the members of the crew of the MTV "General Ryabikov" independently decided to proceed to the territorial waters of Georgia and perform special tasks there. And there isn't.
The leadership of the Black Sea Fleet confirms that in accordance with the orders of the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet dated July 23, 2008 No. 47/2, the commander of the 30th division of the diverse forces of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation dated July 24, 2008 No. performance of tasks as intended 12.08.2008. members of the ship's crew (civilian personnel) are named in the ship's role.
Directive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of 04.12.2008 No. 3144/8/0325 mtv "General Ryabikov" is included in the list of military command and control bodies, formations, military units and organizations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation involved in performing tasks to ensure the security and protection of citizens of the Russian Federation, living in the territory of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia.
The third.
If it is illegal and unreasonable to give orders to send civilian personnel to the special operation zone, but this took place, then:
Maybe one of the officials of the Black Sea Fleet, the command of the 30th division, the General Staff was brought to some kind of responsibility (criminal, administrative, disciplinary or civil law) for a material violation of labor laws?
And there isn't.
Everyone was only encouraged and awarded, especially the leadership, the crew members of the MTV "General Ryabikov" were also encouraged, who were given Gratitude from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for the performance of special tasks.
In this case, only one thing remains - the original statement should be considered incorrect, since it does not find its confirmation, and the 32 crew members of the General Ryabikov MTV should be restored to social rights.
It is obvious that in today's Special Operation in Ukraine there may appear (if it has not already appeared) the need to send ships for the support of the Black Sea Fleet of the Ministry of Defense with a civilian crew to the special operation zone, for example: for the transport of ammunition (like the General Ryabikov MTV), emergency rescue operations of the military in distress ships, evacuation of people, restoration of destroyed military infrastructure, etc. etc.
However, for the above reason, the crew of these support vessels may, with reference to this previously indicated position of the Black Sea Fleet, refuse to proceed to the zone of the special operation, which can have very sad consequences, including the death of people. For example, an emergency rescue vessel did not move out in time to rescue the crew of a warship, or ammunition is urgently needed, and the crew of the weapons transport refuses to go to sea, and there are a lot of such examples.
I believe that the claims of the crew members are quite justified, especially since they received their status on the basis of their actual presence in the combat zone and carried out military tasks set by the leadership, and then they were deprived of this status due to bureaucratic casuistry. I hope the Department of Defense will understand this story and return the sailors of the auxiliary fleet to their well-deserved status. Moreover, many of them are still taking part in ensuring the SVO in Ukraine.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] May 20 was the last day of the battle for Mariupol and Azovstal.
1. Shoigu reported to Putin that today the last Nazis at Azovstal surrendered and the territory of the plant came under the control of our troops. May 20 was the end.
2. The total number of prisoners was 2,439 people. Of these, 531 have surrendered in the past 24 hours. "Kalyn", "Volyn" (there is already a video) and "Radis" in captivity (they were taken away in an armored car, fearing lynching over it).
3. Russian troops are already taking control of the basements of Azovstal, which will now be carefully examined. I am sure that many more interesting stories await us, not to mention the testimonies of Nazi fighters who will await the tribunal in Donetsk.
4. There is no information about any foreign generals about whom there were various rumors. There are no details yet about the various mercenaries who were probably there.
5. There are no more Ukrainian soldiers on the coast of the Sea of Azov. As well as Ukraine. The Sea of Azov became the inland sea of Russia on May 20. As the Nazis themselves declared, there will be no Mariupol, there will be no Ukraine. I will not argue with them on this issue.
6. Mariupol from today has finally become a rear city, which will have a painful recovery after 3 months of fighting. I am sure that the city will be gradually restored. Russia has experience in restoring Grozny and Crimea.
7. We can expect the intensification of work on the restoration of railway and road communication with the Crimea from the Rostov direction. The land corridor to the Crimea, which the Bolsheviks have been talking about for so long, is ready.
8. As a result of the entire defense of Mariupol, Ukraine de facto lost 15-20,000 troops. This is the largest military defeat of Ukraine, significantly exceeding the size of Debaltseve and Ilovaisk combined. About 4,500 prisoners were taken during the fighting alone. The number of those killed, wounded and missing has yet to be calculated.
1. According to military correspondent Irina Kuksenkova, "Kalyn" and "Volyn" surrendered during the day today. And more recently, she said that the Radish also surrendered (we are waiting for confirming photos or videos)
2. The total number of enemy soldiers and officers who surrendered today confidently exceeded 2,000 people. We'll probably know the exact number tomorrow.
3. There are still a number of Natsiks left at the plant, who destroy valuable equipment and various property before handing it over.
4. The handover process will continue tomorrow. Khodakovsky claims that at the time of the surrender, more people were imprisoned at Azovstal than they were blocked in Mariupol.
5.(sic)
6. From a military point of view, the story is almost over. The only thing left is the issue of surrendering the rest of the basements and the issue of various exchanges that Ukraine throws in.
1. The liberation of the LPR is nearing completion (a clear allusion to the Severodonetsk cauldron - yesterday the troops reached the Soledar-Lysichansk highway).
2. Already 1,908 people have surrendered at Azovstal. Prior to this, 1,387 people from Ukrainian naval infantry capitulated (at the plant named after Ilyich).
3. In light of the NATO threat, 12 new formations ! will be created in the Western Military District (most likely recreated). expected.
4. In the near future, strategic UAVs will begin to enter the troops.
5. The NATO grouping near the borders of the Russian Federation has up to 40,000 people.
6. Losses of Ukraine during the battle for the island of Serpents were - four aircraft, 10 helicopters, 30 UAVs, three boats and 50 people killed.
Posted by: Patrocles ||
05/21/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Russia's on the March now. Breakthroughs in Luhansk, encircling Ukrainians at Severodonetsk, moving tens of thousands of troops north rom Mariupol.
Luhansk's Ukrainian-friendly governor reports that the province is now "90 percent controlled" by the Russians.
The NY Times (likely Tom Friedman, maybe Sanger too) is probably hearing from their Deep State and IC insiders that Biden and Austin need to climb down and start exploring serious peace talks with Russia.
#2
Should have stayed out of it from the beginning. Find the back door and stay out of neighborhood bar brawls. We don't live around there. Stay out of it and go home.
#3
Stalin killed more of his own than Hitler killed. He invaded Poland with Hitler, then annexed the Baltic States. He then without provocation invaded Finland. He sponsored the Comintern to destabilize western democracies. Yet when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union guess who became the 'good guy'.
If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons. Winston Churchill
#5
Another Establishment voice, Charles Kupchan, now calls for de-escalation and a peace agreement. In The Atlantic, Kupchan writes:
"Kyiv’s right to fight for complete territorial sovereignty does not make doing so strategically wise. Nor should Ukraine’s remarkable success in repelling Russia’s initial advance be cause for overconfidence about the next phases of the conflict. Indeed, strategic pragmatism warrants a frank conversation between NATO and Ukraine about curbing Kyiv’s ambitions and settling for an outcome that falls short of 'victory.'"
Posted by: Billy Budd ||
05/21/2022 12:04 Comments ||
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#6
"Victory" at this point us stopping the slaughter of their peole and the destruction of the world's economy.
Biden and Austin are deluded. They think they're destroying Russia. Wrong: They're actually destroying us.
#7
Indeed, strategic pragmatism warrants a frank conversation between NATO and Ukraine about curbing Kyiv’s ambitions and settling for an outcome that falls short of 'victory.'"
IOW, we might need to curb our little puppet Zelensky.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/21/2022 12:25 Comments ||
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#8
How bout curb stomp the entire beltway faction that has made their careers out of Ukraine intrigue?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2022 12:43 Comments ||
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#9
How about we curb stomp the aggressor?
And isn't it cute how defending yourself gets cast as "ambitions"?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/21/2022 12:49 Comments ||
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#10
How about we curb stomp the aggressor?
I wish all the people who are so hot to trot on doing that would just suit up and go to it and leave the rest of us out of it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2022 13:04 Comments ||
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#11
#8 How bout curb stomp the entire beltway faction that has made their careers out of Ukraine intrigue?
YES. Kick these bastards out. End their meddling and intrigues.
They've fucked up enough countries. Give them golden parachutes and shove them out before they crash the plane
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 13:21 Comments ||
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#15
Timing is everything! Now that the $40,000.000.000 is going to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of back-channels to the Swamp and grease to keep the Hunter Biden/Jojo corruption hermetically sealed, now its Bob's Your Uncle and give "peace a chance" in the NYT! Amazing coincidence, or it's just the payoffs are accomplished, graft withdrawal pains soothed, and let's find a C-17 baby-food photo-op to quiet the rubes and focus on Monkeypox and the mid-terms as a counting strategy.
Or is that too jaded a view of Imperial Washington?
#16
the $40000.000.000 is going to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of back-channels to the Swamp and grease to keep the Hunter Biden/Jojo corruption hermetically sealed, now its Bob's Your Uncle and give "peace a chance" in the NYT! Amazing coincidence, or it's just the payoffs are accomplished,
Cut our losses. Biden's hyperinflation is costing every US household at least $7,000 a year. That's about $1.5 trillion stolen from Americans. If it requires $0.04 trillion in payoffs to the Biden Family, the Ukraine Grifters, the War Lobby and the rest of our Swampies to stop destroying the US economy, it's a bargain.
Pay the Danegeld to our nation's First Car ckhead, the Big Guy, Pelosi and McConnell, Manafort, Sally Painter, the MIC and the rest of the lot.
And get us the hell out of that other swamp as fast as possible.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 13:43 Comments ||
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#18
Our Syrian adventure was a botchjob - for no benefit to America whatsoever.
Same for our Libyan intervention.
Same for our Afghan intervention.
Same for our Iraq intervention.
Same for our Somalian intervention - and Biden and Nuland are dragging us back into Somalia for a double dip.
How much longer will we tolerate this bullshit? We have nothing to gain by intervening and dragging out this stupid war.
Posted by: Billy Budd ||
05/21/2022 13:53 Comments ||
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#19
^ OK, but does Putin want the war to end?
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 13:56 Comments ||
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#20
He might: Finland and Sweden being denied NATO membership along with Ukraine, might be enough. If you sacrifice a chunk of eastern Ukraine that you haven't controlled the last 6-7 years, officially. If not, I suspect in the next 2-months or so we'll suddenly see Kyiv under bombardment. Not harmful, or a lot, but just enough. Lightly singe it to make a point.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/21/2022 14:06 Comments ||
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#21
The West is fracturing. Draghi, Scholz and Macron are all calling for peace talks.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 14:14 Comments ||
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#23
^ The EU just gave the green light to buying Russian gas with rubles, on Russian terms.
France, Italy and Germany will not support Biden and Austin's obsession with escalating and dragging out the war. That's in the interest of no one -- except the corruptocrats in Washington, London and Kyiv.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 14:21 Comments ||
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#25
But back to my original question: Does Putin want the war to end?
(And I thank Charles for his response.)
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 14:22 Comments ||
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#26
Russia has achieved her primary objectives. The capture of Mariupol and destruction of the fascist battalions ensures that Russia will keep NATO from seizing Crimea and Sebastopol. Ukraine's economy is destroyed and it will cost the US trillions to build it ... Iraq cost the US $1.6 trillion and that was in pre-inflation dollars. Ukraine will cost more, perhaps twice as much. The US is stuck with this albatross, which is a win for Russia. It is in Russia's interest to consolidate her gains and settle now.
#28
And I partially agree with Jean Paul also. I don't like seeing 20-year old Russians and Ukrainians killing each other for geo-political reasons I don't understand. But what's the name of the guy who gave the order to invade Ukraine? Starts with a "P". For some reason our visitors never want to talk about him.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 14:35 Comments ||
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#29
It is a great and persistent mistake of the Anglo-Saxon leaders to personalize international relations. Each American president swings from extreme to extreme, thinking he can stare into the "soul" of foreign leader 'X' and then announcing that he is either an angel or a demon.
Stalin the mass murderer became Uncle Joe. Putin was a noble Christian allied with the West against radical Islam; now he's another Hitler.
The Viet Cong were evil communists with whom no agreement was possible; then Nixon and Kissinger went to Paris and signed a Peace Treaty with them (and won the Nobel Peace Prize). They toasted the biggest butcher of modern history in Beijing and formed an alliance with him against Russia.
Reagan said the Soviets would always and everywhere lie cheat and steal; two years later he shook hands with the Soviet leader and cut the nuclear arsenal in half.
American foreign policy would be much more successful if America's current leaders would try to put aside emotion and think calmly, rationally and strategically as Nixon and Kissinger did.
#31
Jean-Paul, that's an excellent comment, although, respectfully, you might have dispensed with the Anglo-Saxon jibe. I understand that sooner or later Russia needs to be brought back into the fold. My narrow focus here is our visitors who speak as though neither Russia nor Putin personally have any responsiblity or agency with respect to the Ukraine war. That's just not true.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 15:08 Comments ||
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#32
Russia will retain Crimea and the entire "land bridge" along the southern coastline. That gives them the ability to choke off any Ukrainian exports and destroy any chance of recovery should the US go back on the agreement's terms. Ukraine for its part will keep all the US tactical weaponry that will enable them to stave off potential Russian attacks coming down across Ukraine's northern border.
Ukraine can defend itself vs Russia.
Russia can defend itself from NATO.
Ukraine's fascists are in Russian-controlled prisons.
Russian troops evacuate all areas north and west of Severodonetsk.
#34
So much bs and apologies in the rantburg today….
Why not actually accuse the filthy CIA for provoking The Russian Federation! That CIA bunch of bastard filth for the last 60 years is plotting behind the back of Americans any sort of criminal act
Against the American citizens and their perceived boogie man’s
Fk them all!
#35
The hundreds of billions in Russian assets stolen by the US will be used to defray a small portion of the US $3 trillion expenditure to build Ukraine over the next 10 years. The rest will be paid for through a combination of increased debt and tax increases on middle class Americans.
Ukraine becomes America's next white elephant / military-industrial trillion dollar boondoggle.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/21/2022 15:36 Comments ||
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#39
...well for now. Till he wants chunk of another piece of someone's pie. They're all ceasefires in wars that will go on till one side or the other is reduced beyond its capacity to engage in such activity.
#40
It's childish to think that a great nation (or any nation) is motivated by anything except self-interest. America pursues its interests defined mainly in terms of power and so does every other nation. It's a hallmark of stupid globalism to assume otherwise.
#41
...ah, but the Globalist who are indeed in power in Washington loath Americans. Their actions are for their interests and not America [see no border on the South as a clear demonstration of that].
Impossible for me to know the man's mind but I'm not entirely certain that Putin ever wanted the war to start. Looks like it might have been a preemptive action to keep NATO's Tomahawk missiles with their nuclear warheads off his front doorstep where they could reach Moscow without any Russians ever seeing them coming.
Further, it seems a bit disingenuous for Biden to talk about standing up for democracy in Ukraine when 1) our State Department was almost certainly involved in the Maidan coup and 2) you'll never convince me that all those mail-in ballots in 2020 were legitimate. Democracy, huh? Sure, Joe. I bet he wants democracy in Russia too. Sure he does.
I think the better question is: Does Biden want the war to end?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/21/2022 18:03 Comments ||
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#47
..it might have been a preemptive action to keep NATO's Tomahawk missiles with their nuclear warheads off his front doorstep
So, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are to be next.
#48
Ref #46 - Jojo wants whatever the teleprompter and the earphone tells him he wants, except in regard to his choice of pudding cup after 5pm. The question is what best serves the strategy of the Kalorama Kompound and what further weakness/chaos/discord can be induced domestically before the upcoming mid-terms and South China Sea War Games, version 2.0. At the end of the day, its that coalition with the deep pockets to buy the Puppet Show's cast and content.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/21/2022 20:24 Comments ||
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#51
It's in Putin's interests to trade $$$ for strategic territory.
The centerpiece of a lasting deal would be to allow the USA to keep the hundreds of billions it seized from Russia in exchange for allowing Russia to keep the southern coastline ("land bridge"), take receivership of the bankrupt Nikolaev Shipyard and give autonomy to the eastern provinces it seized.
Land for piece (of flesh), so to speak. Land for Uncle Vlad and a several tonnes of flesh for Uncle Shylock.
That's a fair exchange and far preferable, for everyone involved, to another 8 years of slaughter, destruction and poverty.
#52
So, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are to be next.
Followed by Finland, Poland, Sweden, Germany, ... Paranoid "Self-Defense" never sleeps (Case example was how the Romans defended themselves by marching ever outwards...until stopped hard.)
Several signs point to THE possibility of Chinese officials instituting at least a partial lockdown of the northern port city of Tianjin as early as this weekend. The largest northern Chinese port, Tianjin is also a city of over 12 million people, and its port is vital for delivering goods--bulk ores, coal, liquid fuels--for the region's heavy industries and textile manufacturing.
The Omicron variant has already been detected in the city, notably in the Beichen and Dongli districts, where local health officials mandated localized testing and quarantine restrictions on May 16. Widespread testing through these areas--and the removal of tens of thousands of residents into forced quarantine--now looks like it might spread throughout the city. Local officials have also already gone ahead and identified a scapegoat: imported frozen food products.
What's a little authoritarian lockdown without some trade nationalism?
Tianjin already experienced a partial lockdown in January of this year. Partial in part due to the city's vital role as the primary port serving Beijing, and also a domestic concern over optics during the Olympics. As we've seen from reports and local social media uploads, the lockdowns at the very least cause an undue amount of stress on local Chinese residents. At their worst, they reveal the ugliest face of an authoritarian regime that uses drones to threaten its citizens who dare to scream out in hunger in the middle of the night.
Beyond the human toll of these lockdowns, the Chinese economy and manufacturing base is increasingly finding itself disconnected from global trade. China's financial hub of Shanghai is currently in its seventh week of lock-down, the southern port city and manufacturing hub of Guangzhou is under lockdown, more and more districts of the capital city of Beijing are entering a so-called "slow motion" lockdown. If we add in Tianjin, as it increasingly looks like we might, that's several of China's largest trading and industrial zones, plus the administrative core, under lockdown.
Even in cases where the government seeks to ease lockdowns for critical manufacturing and port operations, worker shortages in China are causing all manner of delays and supply chain dislocations. Over a hundred ships are waiting off of the port of Shanghai as of writing (Hong Kong and Shenzen have nearly 200). Lest you think that labor issues have been sorted out at Western ports, let me remind you that there is still a wait of over three weeks for ships to dock at the port of Vancouver.
It is hard to overexaggerate the role of the Chinese worker in our current globalized economy, and the impact Chinese labor has had on the post-Cold War system. All of that is going away. In return? Rising labor costs, at a minimum. Assuming you can find the workers. Think inflation is bad now? Just wait.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Several signs point to THE possibility of Chinese officials instituting at least a partial lockdown of the northern port city of Tianjin as early as this weekend. The largest northern Chinese port, Tianjin is also a city of over 12 million people, and its port is vital for delivering goods--bulk ores, coal, liquid fuels--for the region's heavy industries and textile manufacturing. 
