If Russia hits Financial Action Task Force black list next month they are done as a nation. That is where n Korea, Iran and Myanmar live.
Russia gets out in a box with the worst of the worst; and no nation comes out of that box.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The part I love the most about Russian propagandists is how hypocritical they are.

"Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov's mistress owns a villa next to members of the Russian military elite in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and gave birth to her children in the U.S."
"According to the investigation, Svetlana Abrosimova, a former basketball player, is Solovyov's mistress and gave birth to their two daughters in the U.S. in 2017."
https://kyivindependent.com/media-top-russian-propagandist-has-second-family-in-us/

Then you will love Zelensky’s villa in Italy, too.

Tell me you're ignorant and clueless without telling me you're ignorant and clueless.

Prior to becoming President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a highly successful actor and comedian along with founding and running a highly successful media media production company, Kvartal 95. He owned the Italian villa before becoming President, and sold it last year.

So you're trying to make some kind of dumb point which is entirely pointless.

And then there was this bit in the Pandora Papers:

Actor Volodymyr Zelensky stormed to the Ukrainian presidency in 2019 on a wave of public anger against the country’s political class, including previous leaders who used secret companies to stash their wealth overseas.

Now, leaked documents prove that Zelensky and his inner circle have had their own network of offshore companies. Two belonging to the president’s partners were used to buy expensive property in London.

The revelations come from documents in the Pandora Papers, millions of files from 14 offshore service providers leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with partners around the world including OCCRP.

The documents show that Zelensky and his partners in a television production company, Kvartal 95, set up a network of offshore firms dating back to at least 2012, the year the company began making regular content for TV stations owned by Ihor Kolomoisky, an oligarch dogged by allegations of multi-billion-dollar fraud. The offshores were also used by Zelensky associates to purchase and own three prime properties in the center of London.
https://www.occrp.org/en/the-pandora-papers/pandora-papers-reveal-offshore-holdings-of-ukrainian-president-and-his-inner-circle

All leaders of all post soviet republic countries are the children of the communist party - corrupt and undemocratic. Putin is just the most powerful and possibly the craziest one (except maybe the Turkmenistan guy who is a full blown dictator and has been for years but he is smart enough to not invade countries the US has strategic interests in).

Anonymous wrote:I’m truly fascinated by the phenomenon here that when someone posts something less than full blown American engagement with Ukraine against Russian, that person is branded by someone else as a propagandist or Russian bot.

It’s worth a behavioral study.

I have a theory that it’s some Ukrainian who just became a US citizen who is doing most of it.
However you can see the same phenomenon with many other things: covid, diversity in schools, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

For the average American, it's a difficult thing to understand. Their relationship is complicated.

When you say "under Russian control" there really is little frame of reference to compare Ukraine against in terms of analogies within US History. It technically goes back to the history of the Vikings and land of Rus, during the time Moscow was under the rule of the Mongols, so technically Ukrainians are the original Kievan Rus. But that's probably going too far back.

The current modern conflict between Russia and Ukraine goes back to the Stalin era. Stalin tried to erase the culture of the various ethnic groups that made up the USSR, making it compulsory to learn Russian. In some places the ethnic purges were more successful than in others, but the memories of the millions killed in the late 30's through WWII were passed down by families to their children and grandchildren. (Think Dr. Zhivago..)

WWII and until the breakup of the USSR, Ukrainians largely adapted and were, in fact, one of the most trusted ethnic groups in Russia. So trusted, that Ukrainians were the trusted with nuclear weaponry.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/ukraine-and-soviet-nuclear-history

Ukraine, as a Soviet Republic, also built much of the Soviet navy, a good deal of tanks, strategic rocket components, aircraft, etc. for the Soviet Union's war machine.

However, for everything Ukraine did for the USSR, this does not mean that the Ukrainians were treated as complete equals.

"A few days after the deadly explosion on the 4th unit in Chernobyl nuclear power plant, people rallied to celebrate the International Workers' Day in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 1, 1986. Nobody cancelled the May Day parade in Kiev when thousands of people walked in columns along the streets, with songs, flowers and Soviet leaders portraits, covered with invisible clouds of fatal radiation."
https://time.com/4313139/post-chernobyl-parade/


It is also true that Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian. In fact he even once partied with one of the chief Russian propagandists (the Russian equivalent to Tucker on Fox News).

To understand why Zelensky speaks Russian is more difficult to explain without a huge essay about the history of that region, but the short answer is just because someone speaks French or Spanish doesn't mean they are French or Spanish. (You probably haven't watched is his comedy series when he was an actor. Especially the series as a school teacher elected to be President of Ukraine.. and you need to understand the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.. and the economic factors and industry between Eastern Ukraine and Russia..)

But I think the bottom line is that Russia invaded a sovereign foreign country without provocation. The majority of Ukrainians wanted to be part of Europe, not the former USSR. The Russians living in Donbas and Crimea were free to travel to Russia whenever they wanted. But I think that was the real problem. The Russian Government didn't want Western ideas spreading in Russia. It's as simple as that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

On 2020, Donbas would have picked to be part of Russia. Now, they have changed their mind and want to be Ukraine.

Well if it’s such a fickle matter, why should we care?

Because Russia is basically pre-WWII Nazi Germany, except way more dangerous. The question is, 'would you have contained Hitler in 1938?' In 20/20 hindsight, the answer is 'yes'. It would have saved millions of lives.

Here you go. Phosphorous bombs on civilian buildings. No, it's not a video game. It's real.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65506993

The Russian Army is out of control - raping women, kidnapping children, murdering civilians and executing POWs. The Europeans are pretty freaked out. The Russian Government is an organized crime family in charge of nuclear weapons. Show any weakness or fear, and yes, they will not stop. The Russian Government prides itself on ruthlessness and, for the lack of a better word, evil.

It is far worse than that.

Russia actively interferes with U.S. politics; they have done so throughout the Cold War (even going back to the 1920s).

Now they use the internet and they are extreme effective. They back radicals on the left, and now on the right too.

Why?

- to weaken the only other super-power: the USA. Yes - they still believe they are fighting the Cold War against “the West” and primarily the USA. And they believe they can “win.”

It is irrelevant if you believe the war is over. As long as Putin believes it, and he seeks to reestablish the USSR, then:

- the Cold War is still on.

The EU mistakenly believed Russia under Putin could be their “trading partner.”

They now see they are still at war (the Cold War) with Russia.

And the Slavic states won’t let NATO or the EU fall into the trap of a “peace deal” with Putin.

Peace with Putin is no more realistic than peace with Hitler would have been. Putin must die (or go on trial) and his regime must absolutely fall. There is no other way forward.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

On 2020, Donbas would have picked to be part of Russia. Now, they have changed their mind and want to be Ukraine.

Well if it’s such a fickle matter, why should we care?

Because Russia is basically pre-WWII Nazi Germany, except way more dangerous. The question is, 'would you have contained Hitler in 1938?' In 20/20 hindsight, the answer is 'yes'. It would have saved millions of lives.

Here you go. Phosphorous bombs on civilian buildings. No, it's not a video game. It's real.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65506993

The Russian Army is out of control - raping women, kidnapping children, murdering civilians and executing POWs. The Europeans are pretty freaked out. The Russian Government is an organized crime family in charge of nuclear weapons. Show any weakness or fear, and yes, they will not stop. The Russian Government prides itself on ruthlessness and, for the lack of a better word, evil.

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

Does anyone really care if Donbas wanted to be part of Mars?
Russia attacked a smaller (weaker) nation because it could. The politics or backstory are not interesting at all to the west (or me); watching Russians get their military blown to pieces is just priceless.
I’ll get bored of this in like 2 or 3 years…maybe…but first 15 months have been rewarding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

On 2020, Donbas would have picked to be part of Russia. Now, they have changed their mind and want to be Ukraine.

Well if it’s such a fickle matter, why should we care?

Anonymous wrote:Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

On 2020, Donbas would have picked to be part of Russia. Now, they have changed their mind and want to be Ukraine.

Explain this to me like I am five.

Donbas is Russian speaking area.

Zelensky had to learn Ukrainian language after he became president.

Ukraine is traditionally under russian control. Ukraine has not no sustained period of independence for hundreds of years.

Why do we need to figure for Donbas region?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m truly fascinated by the phenomenon here that when someone posts something less than full blown American engagement with Ukraine against Russian, that person is branded by someone else as a propagandist or Russian bot.

It’s worth a behavioral study.

On the contrary. I only call out a bot when it posts repetitive content seen on other websites. Could be wrong I don't see too much of it here, since when I saw the activity the bot got ripped to shreds? I think paid Russian propaganda trolls are still common on this website. But I think I can tell when those two people are taking a break. This thread dies down a lot.

Although I do think that both Russian and Chinese bot activity will pick up. I've seen a lot of Software Developer Kit activity as of late from Russian and Chinese state universities. But given how badly Russian propaganda has devolved, I don't think it will be anytime soon?

Simonyan (aka "Margo the Beaver"): "They want to take our beloved Crimea from us, and we are doing the only thing we can do in such a situation: we are bombing them! We bomb them daily, everything that moves. How did we want this? I know for sure that our management did not want it. Putin is shedding tears in his soul, but he has to bomb."
https://www.reflex.cz/clanek/profil/119043/jefim-fistejn-bobrozroutka-margo-aneb-pohledna-bohata-a-krute-prolhana-tvar-putinovy-propagandy.html

"Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains “female sex hormones”"
https://news.yahoo.com/former-moscow-officials-reveal-why-025231101.html

Yeesh.

You call out a bot anytime anyone disagrees with you, or as much as doesn't share your fervor for the Ukrainian cause. On top of that is your nonstop cosplay as a thread police.

What I read? Blah, blah, blah. In the meantime, please enjoy this article of Russia's shrinking island..

"Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and a delegation of his colleagues went to China this week with the hopes of further enhancing economic ties with Beijing."
"But Mishustin’s counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti."
"Other top officials and managers of major Chinese companies also declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are sanctioned in the West due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vedomosti reported."

You're going off the deep end. Here's what actually happened: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-china-seal-economic-pacts-western-disapproval-rcna85948

Russia’s prime minister signed a set of agreements with China on Wednesday during a trip to Beijing, describing bilateral ties at an unprecedented high, despite disapproval from the West of their relationship as the war in Ukraine dragged on.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin — the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in Feb. 2022 — held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and met with President Xi Jinping.

“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” Mishustin told Li in their meeting.

“They are characterized by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West,” he said.

“As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains.”

The memorandums of understanding signed included an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in trade services, a pact on export of agricultural products to China, and another on sports cooperation.

Russia’s energy shipments to China are projected to rise 40% this year, and the two countries are discussing technological equipment supplies to Russia, Interfax news agency reported.
..

“China is willing to work with Russia to implement the joint cooperation between the two countries, and promoting pragmatic cooperation in various fields can take it to a new level,” Li told Mishustin.

So China figured Russia is the cheapest gas station. Sounds like my "unprecedented high level" relations with the Shell around the corner.

Anonymous wrote:In the meantime, Jeffrey Sachs:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-war-in-ukraine-was-provoked-and-why-that-matters-if-we-want-peace
Recognizing that the war was provoked helps us to understand how to stop it. It doesn’t justify Russia’s invasion. A far better approach for Russia might have been to step up diplomacy with Europe and with the non-Western world to explain and oppose U.S. militarism and unilateralism. In fact, the relentless U.S. push to expand NATO is widely opposed throughout the world, so Russian diplomacy rather than war would likely have been effective.

The Biden team uses the word “unprovoked” incessantly, most recently in Biden’s major speech on the first-year anniversary of the war, in a recent NATO statement, and in the most recent G7 statement. Mainstream media friendly to Biden simply parrot the White House. The New York Times is the lead culprit, describing the invasion as “unprovoked” no fewer than 26 times, in five editorials, 14 opinion columns by NYT writers, and seven guest op-eds!

There were in fact two main U.S. provocations. The first was the U.S. intention to expand NATO to Ukraine and Georgia in order to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO countries (Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia, in counterclockwise order). The second was the U.S. role in installing a Russophobic regime in Ukraine by the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014. The shooting war in Ukraine began with Yanukovych’s overthrow nine years ago, not in February 2022 as the U.S. government, NATO, and the G7 leaders would have us believe.

Jeffrey Sachs doesn't believe Srebrenica happened

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m truly fascinated by the phenomenon here that when someone posts something less than full blown American engagement with Ukraine against Russian, that person is branded by someone else as a propagandist or Russian bot.

It’s worth a behavioral study.

On the contrary. I only call out a bot when it posts repetitive content seen on other websites. Could be wrong I don't see too much of it here, since when I saw the activity the bot got ripped to shreds? I think paid Russian propaganda trolls are still common on this website. But I think I can tell when those two people are taking a break. This thread dies down a lot.

Although I do think that both Russian and Chinese bot activity will pick up. I've seen a lot of Software Developer Kit activity as of late from Russian and Chinese state universities. But given how badly Russian propaganda has devolved, I don't think it will be anytime soon?

Simonyan (aka "Margo the Beaver"): "They want to take our beloved Crimea from us, and we are doing the only thing we can do in such a situation: we are bombing them! We bomb them daily, everything that moves. How did we want this? I know for sure that our management did not want it. Putin is shedding tears in his soul, but he has to bomb."
https://www.reflex.cz/clanek/profil/119043/jefim-fistejn-bobrozroutka-margo-aneb-pohledna-bohata-a-krute-prolhana-tvar-putinovy-propagandy.html

"Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains “female sex hormones”"
https://news.yahoo.com/former-moscow-officials-reveal-why-025231101.html

Yeesh.

You call out a bot anytime anyone disagrees with you, or as much as doesn't share your fervor for the Ukrainian cause. On top of that is your nonstop cosplay as a thread police.

What I read? Blah, blah, blah. In the meantime, please enjoy this article of Russia's shrinking island..

"Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and a delegation of his colleagues went to China this week with the hopes of further enhancing economic ties with Beijing."
"But Mishustin’s counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti."
"Other top officials and managers of major Chinese companies also declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are sanctioned in the West due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vedomosti reported."

You're going off the deep end. Here's what actually happened: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-china-seal-economic-pacts-western-disapproval-rcna85948

Russia’s prime minister signed a set of agreements with China on Wednesday during a trip to Beijing, describing bilateral ties at an unprecedented high, despite disapproval from the West of their relationship as the war in Ukraine dragged on.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin — the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in Feb. 2022 — held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and met with President Xi Jinping.

“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” Mishustin told Li in their meeting.

“They are characterized by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West,” he said.

“As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains.”

The memorandums of understanding signed included an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in trade services, a pact on export of agricultural products to China, and another on sports cooperation.

Russia’s energy shipments to China are projected to rise 40% this year, and the two countries are discussing technological equipment supplies to Russia, Interfax news agency reported.
..

“China is willing to work with Russia to implement the joint cooperation between the two countries, and promoting pragmatic cooperation in various fields can take it to a new level,” Li told Mishustin.

Yeah. I don't think you get Chinese culture. There is also a Chinese saying along the lines of "I have no eyes".

When you're not permitted to meet directly with Companies in China, it means that deals won't be made at that level. This is a typical method of Chinese control of lesser organizations. It means that someone more powerful is pulling all the strings and is setting the prices and you won't get anywhere unless you go through only them.

Let me guess, Russia is selling China oil, grain and just about anything Russia used to export at a deep discount in exchange for Chinese technology at a premium, right?

Just wait and see what happens once Putin passes. Russia will likely be a satellite country of China not too far down the road, because they won't be in a position to do much else.

Anonymous wrote:You must send more money to Ukraine.

What you are sending is NOT enough.

More is needed. You need to pay this money even if you need to take on more debt to do so.

Nothing is more important to America.

Thank you Hunter for your input, we understand you have a high child support to pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m truly fascinated by the phenomenon here that when someone posts something less than full blown American engagement with Ukraine against Russian, that person is branded by someone else as a propagandist or Russian bot.

It’s worth a behavioral study.

On the contrary. I only call out a bot when it posts repetitive content seen on other websites. Could be wrong I don't see too much of it here, since when I saw the activity the bot got ripped to shreds? I think paid Russian propaganda trolls are still common on this website. But I think I can tell when those two people are taking a break. This thread dies down a lot.

Although I do think that both Russian and Chinese bot activity will pick up. I've seen a lot of Software Developer Kit activity as of late from Russian and Chinese state universities. But given how badly Russian propaganda has devolved, I don't think it will be anytime soon?

Simonyan (aka "Margo the Beaver"): "They want to take our beloved Crimea from us, and we are doing the only thing we can do in such a situation: we are bombing them! We bomb them daily, everything that moves. How did we want this? I know for sure that our management did not want it. Putin is shedding tears in his soul, but he has to bomb."
https://www.reflex.cz/clanek/profil/119043/jefim-fistejn-bobrozroutka-margo-aneb-pohledna-bohata-a-krute-prolhana-tvar-putinovy-propagandy.html

"Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains “female sex hormones”"
https://news.yahoo.com/former-moscow-officials-reveal-why-025231101.html

Yeesh.

You call out a bot anytime anyone disagrees with you, or as much as doesn't share your fervor for the Ukrainian cause. On top of that is your nonstop cosplay as a thread police.

What I read? Blah, blah, blah. In the meantime, please enjoy this article of Russia's shrinking island..

"Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and a delegation of his colleagues went to China this week with the hopes of further enhancing economic ties with Beijing."
"But Mishustin’s counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti."
"Other top officials and managers of major Chinese companies also declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are sanctioned in the West due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vedomosti reported."

You're going off the deep end. Here's what actually happened: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-china-seal-economic-pacts-western-disapproval-rcna85948

Russia’s prime minister signed a set of agreements with China on Wednesday during a trip to Beijing, describing bilateral ties at an unprecedented high, despite disapproval from the West of their relationship as the war in Ukraine dragged on.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin — the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in Feb. 2022 — held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and met with President Xi Jinping.

“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” Mishustin told Li in their meeting.

“They are characterized by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West,” he said.

“As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains.”

The memorandums of understanding signed included an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in trade services, a pact on export of agricultural products to China, and another on sports cooperation.

Russia’s energy shipments to China are projected to rise 40% this year, and the two countries are discussing technological equipment supplies to Russia, Interfax news agency reported.
..

“China is willing to work with Russia to implement the joint cooperation between the two countries, and promoting pragmatic cooperation in various fields can take it to a new level,” Li told Mishustin.