Anyone still glued to this?

[Del.Monte]

This is really going to help: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64992727 ...an International Arrest Warrant for Putin. The only useful outcome might be that Putin dies from a bout of uncontrollable laughing.

[knownunknown]

Yeah ... but why do all the "whataboutNATO" posters insist that it has to be Ukraine that concedes? Given that Ukraine was minding its own business up until Feb '22, why shouldn't it be Russia that gives up territory, even if it's only in the form of a UN-enforced DMZ on their side of the border?

As for Putin's red lines, they're nothing but the irrelevant scribblings of a toddler. We know now that he's not the least bit worried about NATO, because he's pulled all his tanks, troops and artillery systems away from the actual, existing NATO borders and sent them to be vaporised in a non-NATO battlefield. All he really wants is unfettered access to the Black Sea, and after that stupid stunt with the Reaper drone this week, he's demonstrated why that'd be a Bad Idea for everyone.

In any case, the war is already lost for Putin and Russia. He's aggressively depopulating the eastern half of the country and increasingly endebtted to China, and creating the conditions for a land-grab on that side of the Federation.

To reply to your first paragraph it’s because Ukraine are the ones being invaded while having their energy grid and infrastructure decimated. NATO is reluctant to retaliate against Russia due to the fear of nuclear weapons.

[knownunknown]

The war is lost for Russia but nobody in Putin's entourage has the courage to tell him - very similar to Hitler in WW.II. Even if Russia somehow extracts itself from the Ukrainian adventure Putin has succeeded in making his country an international pariah for decades to come. I hope for all our sakes the Chinese are noting what becomes of countries that carry-on in such a fashion.

I wouldn’t say the US are seen as pariahs even though they invaded Iraq under false pretences.

[knownunknown]

In December 1961, only a few months after the U.S.-sponsored exile invasion at Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist, obligating the Soviet Union to protect his new, vulnerable socialist nation. Shortly thereafter he asked the Soviet Union for weapons, advisers, and even Soviet soldiers. The Soviets proposed a different defense -- medium-range ballistic missiles. Castro agreed. When in October 1962 American U-2 spy planes photographed missile sites in Cuba, the world approached the brink of a nuclear confrontation. As the tensions of the Missile Crisis escalated, Castro wrote Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev urging him to use the missiles and to sacrifice Cuba if necessary. Unbeknownst to the Cuban leader, Khrushchev had already reached an agreement with President John F. Kennedy to withdraw the missiles, without consulting Castro. The Cuban leader found out from a friend, the editor of the newspaper Revolución, Carlos Franqui. Castro was infuriated to discover that the Soviet Union would treat Cuba just as the United States had -- as an insignificant island in the middle of the Caribbean.”

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperi ... -cold-war/

If only we had such leaders today.

[CelticRambler]

To reply to your first paragraph it’s because Ukraine are the ones being invaded while having their energy grid and infrastructure decimated. NATO is reluctant to retaliate against Russia due to the fear of nuclear weapons.

That is the weirdest justification I've come across yet.

So you're saying that no country has a right to territorial integrity, and if any other country decides to lob a few rockets at it's schools and hospitals while sending some troops over the border, it should just give up and accept the invasion?

NATO has no reason to retaliate, because Russia hasn't invaded any NATO member. It's not NATO's war. But the Chinese are also scared of Russia's nuclear weapons, and told Putin to lay off the threats ... which he did.

[knownunknown]

That is the weirdest justification I've come across yet.

So you're saying that no country has a right to territorial integrity, and if any other country decides to lob a few rockets at it's schools and hospitals while sending some troops over the border, it should just give up and accept the invasion?

NATO has no reason to retaliate, because Russia hasn't invaded any NATO member. It's not NATO's war. But the Chinese are also scared of Russia's nuclear weapons, and told Putin to lay off the threats ... which he did.

It is NATO’s war. Ukraine applied for the membership action plan (MAP) in 2008. This was shelved in 2010 with the election of Yanukovych. It was the revolution of dignity that eventually saw him removed ( Western supported coup) which led to the outbreak of the Russo Ukrainian war. History matters more than narrative.

[isha]

The craziness goes on and on and on.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -West.html

Change is coming that hasn't happened in 100 years. And we are driving this change together,' Xi told Putin via his interpreter - words sure to set alarm bells ringing in the West.

Please, take care, dear friend,' he added, gripping Putin's hand warmly before being waved off by the Russian despot, who bid Xi a 'safe journey'.

After the two leaders hailed a 'new era', Xi's plane left Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Wednesday. He was seen off by a guard of honour who played the Russian and Chinese national anthems, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said.

In February 2022, the pair announced they had forged a 'no limits' friendship and Putin invited Xi to visit the Russian capital. They have since publicly talked of strengthening their 'special relationship', with Moscow and Beijing both rejecting what they say are US attempts to create a 'unipolar world' controlled by Washington.

'The United Kingdom announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium,' Putin seethed.

'If this happens, Russia will be forced to respond accordingly, given that the West collectively is already beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component. It looks like the West indeed intends to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian,' added.

[Del.Monte]

The Chinese fascist thug turns out to be a fascist thug - there's a surprise. It was obvious, to me anyway, that these two leaders (?) are in cahoots and you can expect China do something really stupid about Taiwan before long. Incidentally, it would be more useful if the Chinese warned the nutjob in North Korea to tone it down as a strike by him will result in the US nuking North Korea and then Taiwan won't be needed to ensure all-out war between the West and China/Russia.

[Setanta]

The intensity of russian attacks has dropped in last few days....missile attack numbers down, bakhmut and rest of front attack levels down,death and injury rates down on both sides......mass reinforcement of russian position taking precedent over attacks

Significant ukrainian troop & equipment movements still ongoing,however


Zelensky openly visiting the frontlines and devastated cities



Is there secret negotiations going on behind scenes,to further chinese peace proposals?
Or is it,the calm before the storm?

[Del.Monte]

Calm before the storm I suspect.

[CelticRambler]

Relative calm, before the storm. The intensity of Ukrainian attacks on Russian bases well behind the front line - including in Crimea and over the border in Russia proper - has increased in the last week (last night/this morning was particularly firey for the Russians, prompting a now-bogged down exodus from Melitopol over the course of today.

As for the Chinese peace plan, well I'd go with Zelenskyy on that topic: if the Chinese have a plan, maybe they should discuss it with the Ukrainians instead of keeping it to themselves. Otherwise it's whole lot of nothing.

I reckon Ukraine will continue to bide time for another month or two, then make a serious bid to isolate Crimea from all Russian re-supply routes before progressively removing the invaders there. If Putin loses Crimea, he loses everything.

One intriguing rumour I heard was the suggestion that the Ukrainians might employ the services of friendly Russians (the ones already fighting for Ukraine) to capture Belgogrod, and to then trade it for the Donbass during the eventual ceasefire negotiations.

[Del.Monte]

Dmitry Muratov: Heard this chap on BBC World Service this morning. Scary stuff but highly realistic in my opinion and from what I have read elsewhere the Russian public are being fed a line where their country could survive and win a nuclear war.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65119595

[Setanta]

Has bakhmut fallen??

Some claims by Wagner to have seized it's administrative centre,while Ukraine claims it's still fighting on and disputing the fall



But most interesting of all,the profile of Wagner's founder is continually rising and he was quoted/referenced more than official russian sources about the killing of that russian pro-war blogger......a likely successor to Putin,who is even more blood soaked....grim future awaits world,when this war is over/Putin toppled

[isha]

A couple of bits of information I saw in passing recently that pertain to the situation. Germany are sending no more weapons to Ukraine. The minister of defence there says their own arsenal will remain depleted until 2030 at the earliest.

"Being the Minister of Defense, I can't give everything. We, like other countries, have a limited arsenal that needs to be replenished. It will take time and a lot of money," Boris Pistorius said.

And China ( a supporter of Russia in this case) is procuring weapons at five to six times the speed of America.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-s ... ons-crisis

And is considering supplying to Russia re Ukraine.

https://www.economist.com/china/2023/03 ... .evergreen

[Del.Monte]

The Chinese Junta would need to worry more about reeling in the madman in North Korea than anything else as if he fires off something at the US or its allies it's game-over.

[isha]

I saw somewhere - but in fairness I see a lot of rubbish! -that Korea is sending 50,000 soldiers to Ukraine.
This is likely rubbish.

Less possibly rubbish is that Russia is sending food to North Korea in exchange for weapons

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... r-ukraine/

And that Kim' Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong has come out to speak against Ukraine ramping up the possibility of nuclear war and to give out about Zelensky's "megalomania".

Interesting times. Though I prefer to call them dangerous, foolish times.

[isha]

For you to decide what is real or unreal...

[Setanta]

A bit off-topic,but china has politically outmanoeuvred the USA and negotiated a truce to peace deal between Yemeni rebels and Saudi Arabia


And ended a war,every bit as ruinous and devastating for the civilans there,as this Ukraine war is looking to become (we potentially haven't seen worst of it yet imo)....if china can bring Saudis to sense and steer them away from US foreign policy and call off their war, hopefully they do same as regards Russia and Ukraine,I don't for a second think the USA have Ukrainians interests at heart (nor do china imo,but they are the sanest as regards this war so far)


https://theintercept.com/2023/04/07/yem ... abia-iran/

[Del.Monte]

While I agree that the Chinese can be a useful alternative to the US military/industrial complex they have their own outdated imperial agenda which will end in them attempting to invade Taiwan. Anyway, if they want to do something really useful they need to rein in their client in North Korea before he does something irreversibly stupid.

[Setanta]

While I agree that the Chinese can be a useful alternative to the US military/industrial complex they have their own outdated imperial agenda which will end in them attempting to invade Taiwan. Anyway, if they want to do something really useful they need to rein in their client in North Korea before he does something irreversibly stupid.

Its interesting china messing around Taiwan,and alot of the us rethoric/carryon around it....seems to be an attempt to unsettle regions to underpin US hedgemony (I seriously come to question the capacity of many media to report objectively on Chinese affairs)

The Yeman war was awlful and running far too long,with talks of famine and genocide,China's involvement here is to be applauded and perhaps a good outcome here may play into russian establishment to cut its losses as regards Ukraine....


North Korea is impossible to know,as much as I've tried,I've found it near impossible to ever read anything about its internal power structure....perhaps rocket man,is needing to project a powerful image internally and has little interest in a war with America,and only wants underpin his position internally??



Edit:I'm aware all this is completely off topic,dunno how much lee-way Is allowed

[isha]

Just kind of for a record. Information here may be true, or semi true, or re-classified leaks from the Pentagon

https://www.wired.com/story/leaked-pent ... al_twitter

The latest leaked documents reveal details about the war in Ukraine, including information about the Ukrainian army's air defenses and plans for a future counteroffensive against Russia. Notably, the trove also reveals details about Russia's war effort and exposes the degree to which the United States intelligence community has penetrated Russia's military and intelligence services.

20230413_063837.jpg (174.72 KiB) Viewed 1966 times

20230413_063835.jpg (266 KiB) Viewed 1966 times

20230413_063827.jpg (145.99 KiB) Viewed 1966 times

And more Seymour Hersch. The Americans are pissed off at his siphoning off of money. That's why he recently fired some of his top generals - to appease them. PS may or may not be true, but remember at one point Hersch was considered worthy of the Pulitzer Prize.


https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/tra ... -the-enemy

What also is unknown is that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it, and Washington, are at war, and the Ukrainian president and many in his entourage have been skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments. One estimate by analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency put the embezzled funds at $400 million last year, at least; another expert compared the level of corruption in Kiev as approaching that of the Afghan war, “although there will be no professional audit reports emerging from the Ukraine.”

“Zelensky’s been buying discount diesel from the Russians,” one knowledgeable American intelligence official told me. “And who’s paying for the gas and oil? We are. Putin and his oligarchs are making millions” on it.

Many government ministries in Kiev have been literally “competing,” I was told, to set up front companies for export contracts for weapons and ammunition with private arms dealers around the world, all of which provide kickbacks. Many of those companies are in Poland and Czechia, but others are thought to exist in the Persian Gulf and Israel. “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are others in places like the Cayman Islands and Panama, and there are lots of Americans involved,” an American expert on international trade told me.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kiev with CIA Director William Burns. His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie. The senior generals and government officials in Kiev were angry at what they saw as Zelensky’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president, because “he was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals.”

Burns also presented Zelensky with a list of thirty-five generals and senior officials whose corruption was known to the CIA and others in the American government. Zelensky responded to the American pressure ten days later by publicly dismissing ten of the most ostentatious officials on the list and doing little else. “The ten he got rid of were brazenly bragging about the money they had—driving around Kiev in their new Mercedes,” the intelligence official told me.

[Bishop_Brennan]

Absolutely shocking

[Jack The Stripper]

Absolutely shocking

What is the synopsis of that interweb video?

[Bishop_Brennan]

What is the synopsis of that interweb video?

That the war isn't going as well for Ukraine as the MSM want you to think.

And the media will smear the whistle blower as being the usual NRA "far right" KKK racist, domestic terrorist - all for exposing the TRUTH.

[kadman]

Not to mention that the US is now saying that the documents were altered. So why has he been arrested for leaking fake documents.
Bizarre.