Ukraine

[uglymoney]

Good news out of France today with another Putin loving pawn sent out to pasture by the voters.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

[Bunion 2020]

Fuck that woman, Putin and the rest.

That election was way too close to celebrate.

[tetzen]

Fuck that woman, Putin and the rest.

That election was way too close to celebrate.

Didn’t Macron end up winning 58-42? I know some polls had it close in recent weeks. Seems like the French knew what was up with LE Pen.

[altacoup]

^^^^
Where as in this country more people voted for Trump than any republican in history. It’s absolutely amazing there are 70 million people who wanted more of that asshole.

[riser4]

^^^^
Where as in this country more people voted for Trump than any republican in history. It’s absolutely amazing there are 70 million people who wanted more of that asshole.

And 2nd most votes ever cast for a presidential candidate. That's even more astounding. It would be record breaking, except for one small detail.

[ghosthop]

I’m not going to attempt to change the mind of someone deeply into conspiracy theory bullshit, but does a history of friendship suggest finding a way to not burn the bridges completely & basically say that when they’re ready to see things more rationally you’re happy to have a discussion?

The latter 2 options basically mean you are fucked in the head. I don't see any middle ground.

The middle ground is remembering that behind the rhetoric there is a person you care about.

Something awful has happened to the way we consume information. Ostracizing the confused doesn't make it easier to lend a hand when it matters.

[TBS]

^^^And you have to decide if whatever wackadoodle view they have fully defines them.

I have a ski/mtb bud who believes Chemtrails are real and another who distrusts all institutions - medicine, banks, govt, etc. I’ve argued my view with these guys, but it doesn’t register - Brandolini’s Theorem and all.

We’ve agreed to disagree. I don’t bring it up and they know if they do I’m gonna call them out. We can still get along

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I know lots of kooks, acquaintances and buds, a friend is something different for me.


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[basinbeater]

I agree that ostracizing them is not the answer. But remembering that there is a person there you care about is not middle ground. That's being able to look past the difference.
I have buddy i ised to work with for years, and did annual trips to canyonlands with. He recently moved to Arizona. He is a single issue voter. Abortion. He voted for trump, knowing trump was a piece of shit, but also knowing it would weaken row v Wade. Anything else was/is irrelevant when voting.
We would talk about it, And there is some middle ground in that policy debate. We didn't meet at it. Great guy to go backpacking with.
I don't know what the middle ground for the Ukraine invasion is. Attacking and devastating another country, displacing millions, and killing thousands. Wheres the middle ground?

[TBS]

Back to Ukraine
WaPo did a great piece on the role of Belorussian rail workers, dissident security forces and hackers in fucking up the invasion from the North. Blew up switches and hacked their info systems (made much easier because Belorussian rail system runs on WinXP!). Ground rail traffic to a halt

This forced the Russians to deliver supplies by road, creating the famous 40 mile truck convoy that broke down.

Didn’t know this before but the Belos have a grand history in rail sabotage- they fucked up Hitler’s supply chain big time by blowing up rail lines. The Rail War is taught in schools as a great patriotic success.

For this effort they took great pains to avoid death or injury - even to Orcs
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...oteurs-russia/

[LongShortLong]

I don't know what the middle ground for the Ukraine invasion is. Attacking and devastating another country, displacing millions, and killing thousands. Wheres the middle ground?

Depends what you mean by middle ground. People in lots of nations, especially Russia think the invasion is fine or even good. The Russian Patriarch blessed it (religious supreme leader), and he's arguably the highest moral authority there. I think almost all invasions are bad, including those led by the US, though most of my fellow Americans still believe the lie that Saddam flew those jets into WTC and deserved what he got.

There's the opinion this is all orchestrated by Soros. I'm not sure what to do with that one. I've been reading about cults, and one suggestion is to try to remain the rational friend while doing something the psychotherapists call "motivational interviewing." They say: in response to craziness, you're supposed to respond with reflective comment. This is a non-confrontational way of echoing distress caused by QAnon that can hopefully nudge someone closer to the “contemplation” stage of thinking about whether it might be worth trying to “unplug.”
I think this is a poor source, but here it is:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/b...on-rabbit-hole

I'm kinda low-key though, and haven't mustered the mental energy to do this on a regular basis. It's sort of like the southern compliment - I've never mastered those either. It's too easy to just troll them, though that produces no change.

Anyway I think there's a large range of opinions, everywhere from Ukraine should stop fighting so there's less suffering to Putin should be deposed and Russia occupied. The former may go for any lands formerly occupied by Russia. It's Russia's "manifest destiny" after all. The latter opinion may extend to all autocracies. They're all evil and will invade given the chance after all.

Fuck Putin

[Mazderati]

People getting blown up and jellyfish still hand-wringing about how to meet in the middle.

[garyfromterrace]

^^^ What the hell does a middle ground for this thing look like? At least with taxes and spending there is give and take. On this, there are sort of three options, understanding that Putin is fucking crazy and is killing thousands of people and displacing millions while leveling cities and sending his people into the meat grinder. Second option is it's a conspiracy started by the left and bidens son, and Nazis in Ukraine. The third is pleading ignorance, or refusing to take a position. The latter 2 options basically mean you are fucked in the head. I don't see any middle ground.
As for the middle on the rest of the issues, it is being squeezed by right wing propaganda and a purging of moderates by increasingly radical right wing propaganda and legislators.
I do not see it as a both sides type of dynamic.
Fuck Putin, and fuck his apologists. Fuck Tucker and the people who get their information from his show and fox in general.

Couldn't have summed it up better myself.
Fuck Tucker, Trump, Putin and any and all of their apologists.

[rideit]

"Wake me up in 80 years, and ask what is happening in Europe, and I will say: Germans, Austrians and Hungarians continue to cause trouble and the Russians are not people at all." Winston Churchill, speech to Oxford students, 1945.

[Bunion 2020]

Didn’t Macron end up winning 58-42? I know some polls had it close in recent weeks. Seems like the French knew what was up with LE Pen.

2017 Macron 66.10% Le Pen 33.90%

[ex-powderbroker]

"Wake me up in 80 years, and ask what is happening in Europe, and I will say: Germans, Austrians and Hungarians continue to cause trouble and the Russians are not people at all." Winston Churchill, speech to Oxford students, 1945.

sauce?

[MultiVerse]

In Russia it's all Kremlin lies all the way down. Easter on Russian State TV. Putin was too much of a coward to be present in the church during the actual event. Pre-recorded footage of him added in, and quite poorly:

https://twitter.com/igorsushko/statu...24361986699270

[406]

^^^Im not sure what is going on, but at 1 sec into video I see crowd on right side of frame.

[Toadman]

We herd you like drones so we made a drone tank that launches drones, yo.
So 2 operators can booyaa blyat 50 Ruski self-propelled howitzers or MLRSs while they're having coffee 50 miles away...

Pretty cool. Now all we need are the T800 Terminator drones and we are all set for 21st Century warfare.

[MultiVerse]

^^^Im not sure what is going on, but at 1 sec into video I see crowd on right side of frame.

The pre-recorded footage segment appears to be from last year's ceremony. Same clothes, same positions, same movements from a year ago—it's identical:

https://www-stopfake-org.translate.g..._x_tr_pto=wapp

Putin is absent both in zoomed and zoomed out footage from this year.

[SumJongGuy]

It would have been so much better just to have some short guy planted at the current year ceremony and deep fake Putin's face on them. I thought Russia was supposed to be masters at deep fake bullshit..

[dan_pdx]

^^^And you have to decide if whatever wackadoodle view they have fully defines them.

I have a ski/mtb bud who believes Chemtrails are real and another who distrusts all institutions - medicine, banks, govt, etc. I’ve argued my view with these guys, but it doesn’t register - Brandolini’s Theorem and all.

We’ve agreed to disagree. I don’t bring it up and they know if they do I’m gonna call them out. We can still get along

Wait, wait, what's crazy about distrusting institutions? Look how the gov't bailed out the banks in 2008 and let Main Street suffer, I'd say some distrust is warranted. Re: medicine, haven't you ever had an HCP suggest something that didn't seem to make sense, or handwave away legitimate concerns you raised? You don't have to believe in a global conspiracy to think that those institutions aren't always acting in the best interest of the public. (I would say in the case of banks that they're never acting in the best interest of the public)

Chemtrails on the other hand...well, I guess everyone needs a hobby

[highangle]

Signs of Neo-Nazi Ideology Amongst Russian Mercenaries

Mar 25, 2021

Russian mercenaries are becoming an increasingly hot topic as traces of their activities can be found in conflicts around the world. Torture and war crimes seem to be not the only dark side of these militant groups as open source evidence reveals some of the fighters following far-right, neo-Nazi ideologies.
Instances of far-right leanings among some members of the armed forces is not unheard of in many other parts of the world, including Europe and North America. This is an increasingly common problem in Russia as well. Even more, the type of far-right ideology expressed in Russian mercenaries is showing homage to Nazi ideology.


This type of ideology espoused by Russian mercenaries remains anathema in a country where millions died fighting Nazis during World War II. The slogan “to fight fascism” was one of the rallying points inviting Russian volunteers to fight in Donbas against “Ukrainian Fascists”. Russian President Putin has called Ukraine a fascist country numerous times, yet the numerous mercenaries who went to fight in Donbas, Syria and Libya are neo-nazis themselves. This article analyses some of the available open source evidence, shedding light on Russian mercenaries’ extreme ideology.



DmitryUtkin(Wagner)

Dmitry Utkin is the founder of the infamous Wagner mercenary group. It has not been verified if Utkin established the group himself, or was a front man for someone else. Utkin is the veteran of both Chechen wars and has participated in the Russian operations in Ukraine in 2014. He served in the GRU until 2013, after which he commanded a Spetsnaz unit, earning the rank of a lieutenant colonel. In 2013 he joined the Moran Security Group and in 2014 he established the Wagner Group, named after his nom de guerre his old callsign “Wagner.”


In 2016, Utkin was invited at a Hero of the Fatherland reception in the Kremlin, where he was photographed wearing his medals. This event was attended by more than 300 soldiers and civilians, who have “demonstrated particular courage and heroism” and were personally thanked for their service by Putin himself. At the event he was awarded with the Order for Courage, allegedly for his services in Ukraine.






Photos of Dmitry Utkin: 1. Russian President Vladimir Putin with members of the Wagner Group of mercenaries and Utkin (top). 2. Photo of Utkin, back when he was serving in the Russian military in Dagestan in August 1999 (bottom). (scmp.com, Twitter/@RobLee85)



A photo recently surfaced of Utkin with Nazi tattoos, giving additional proof of his ideological leanings. For those who been following Wagner group for some time this photos was not surprising, as his and a lot of Wagner fighters’ ideological inclinations were already known. The photo originally surfaced on Russian VK accounts and a Telegram group affiliated with the mercenaries, but received interest by media outlets just recently.


Taking a closer look at the photos, Nazi collar tabs with Waffen SS bolts on the left and military rank on the right can be identified. Lower on the chest, a Reichsadler Eagle, can be seen. All three of these tattoos are symbols found Waffen-SS military uniforms, which was the military branch of the Nazi Party’s SS organization.



Dmitry Utkin’s photo with Nazi tattoos (Waffen SS collar tabs and a Reichsadler Eagle). (Twitter/@Kyruer)

...


https://en.respublica.lt/signs-of-ne...an-mercenaries

[highangle]

Pretty cool. Now all we need are the T800 Terminator drones and we are all set for 21st Century warfare.

The Russian drones will shit on the floor and pass out drunk in the streets...

[MultiVerse]

Wait, wait, what's crazy about distrusting institutions?

Tomayto, tomahto but realistically the problem is regulatory capture rather than conspiracy. There are technical reasons why it made sense to bail out banks, and of course banks were screaming they needed help at regulators, but politically it was a disaster. The gov't learned from its mistake and sent direct aid during the pandemic.

The problem is it's all a black box that's nearly impossible for a normal person to comprehend. The regulatory process has been thoroughly captured by industry and is no longer a truth seeking exercise. So it kinda makes sense for people not to trust vaccines, for example, after the Saklers were able to convince regulators Oxycontin was safe and non-addictive.

When people are injured by regulatory failure causing opioid overdose, losing their house, or a 737 max crashes because a bad design got approved people lose faith in the process. Capitalism's anxieties are real enough so much so that memeing unreal conspiratorial things into existence becomes easy. The problem is thinking elites are evil sorcerers only decipherable through Anon Ops, and not mediocre often incompetent bureaucrats.