Russia/Ukraine

[In2ition]

In other news, Zelensky is doing dictator like things, like cancelled the elections, closed churches, arrested orthodox Christians, will not allow men to leave the country and will conscript all men from 16-65 yrs old, including mentally challenged.

[TOO]

Should probably just let Putin do whatever he wants then.

[Nodack]

Someone is on someone’s payroll is my guess.

[In2ition]

I'm not saying that you should let Putin do whatever he wants. I'm just trying to point out that Zelensky is doing things that are more closely associated with being called a Dictator. We can agree on that, right?

[Nodack]

I can agree that you support Russia’s war against Ukraine a lot more than you support Ukraine defending itself against Russia invading, killing all its people and trying make Ukraine part of Russia by force. It’s Ukraine’s fault because their Jewish leader is a Nazi doesn’t work on me.

[In2ition]

I can agree that you support Russia’s war against Ukraine a lot more than you support Ukraine defending itself against Russia invading, killing all its people and trying make Ukraine part of Russia by force. It’s Ukraine’s fault because their Jewish leader is a Nazi doesn’t work on me.

Please don't use strawman arguments that misrepresent my stance. I do my best to not do that to you.

[Mori Chu]

I do agree with In2 that Zelenskyy and Ukraine should hold an election. Delaying it because of the war is a convenient excuse, but there will always be a reason to delay an election. You just have to do it. Z would win in a landslide anyway; he should just get it over with.

[Nodack]

I agree he should have elections.

[Nodack]

More global chess in action. Putin is threatening WWIII with the West over them helping Ukraine. This operation was supposed to take a week and they own all of Ukraine. This hasn’t happened. They are in kind of a stalemate now after a couple of years and Putin has lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The sanctions are hurting. The Russian crowd at home is getting restless. Ukraine just got resupplied. This isn’t the way the plan was supposed to work for Putin. He is a little more desperate. Is he capable of starting WWIII?

Ok, option 1, he launches his nukes. We launch our nukes. Everyone launches their nukes. Almost everyone dies or everyone dies. Putin will always threaten nuclear Armageddon. That is always an option to them. If they go that route there is no more Russia and I don’t see how that helps Putin.

Option 2, Truce, Ukrainians sign a deal. Russia keeps part of Ukraine as a parting gift.

Option 3, Ukrainian's make advances and push Russia back. Putin signs truce and Ukraine keeps all of its land.

Option 4, WWIII minus nukes ending with nukes.

Putin warns West he’s being ‘pushed to point of no return’ over World War III
https://metro.co.uk/2024/06/14/putin-wa ... -21034325/

[Nodack]

Russia Tries to Erase Evangelical Churches From Occupied Ukraine
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-BB1oiHAs
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—Moments after the band struck up a song of praise at a Christian church in a Russian-held city near here, Russian soldiers stormed in wearing full tactical gear.

One of them wove through the crowd, mounted the stage and told the congregation to prepare their documents for inspection.
The service in September 2022 was the last held inside Melitopol’s Church of God’s Grace. The Russian authorities took over the building, adorned it with murals depicting their dead fighters, and converted it into a culture ministry in this part of occupied south Ukraine.

The church’s erasure from view is part of a sweeping crackdown inside Russian-held territory on religious groups that aren’t under Moscow’s control, especially the evangelical Christian faiths the Kremlin considers instruments of U.S. influence in Ukraine.

Mykhailo Brytsyn, the church’s Baptist pastor, said he was questioned by Russian soldiers for four hours and told: “You don’t run a church. You run a nest of American spies.”

[Nodack]

The Russian Spies Next Door
Posing as Argentine immigrants in Slovenia, the quiet married couple were in fact part of Putin’s aggressive effort to seed the West with ‘illegal’ intelligence operatives, say authorities
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/the-ru ... sage_share
Created in the early days of the Soviet Union and dramatized in the TV show “The Americans,” a previous generation of Russian illegals in the 1940s had played a key role in stealing American atomic secrets. Stalin, who saw the illegals as a crucial tool for influencing the policies of adversaries and gathering intelligence on potential threats, created specialized training programs and deployed them in strategic Western capitals.
In the “Operation Ghost Stories” case, the FBI said Russian illegals spent years establishing a seemingly normal existence in the U.S.: They married, bought homes, raised families, and integrated into American society. One of them studied at Harvard and another earned two master’s degrees from Seton Hall University. Two others worked in real estate.

But beneath the surface, they were actively gathering intelligence and transmitting it back to Moscow, while also seeking individuals who could be recruited as future agents. One of them infiltrated a well-connected consulting firm with offices in Manhattan and Washington, D.C., by working as the company’s in-house computer expert, the Journal has reported. Others were even cultivating their own American-born or -raised children as agents with even deeper cover that would be more likely to pass a U.S. government background check.

[Superbone]

The Russian Spies Next Door
Posing as Argentine immigrants in Slovenia, the quiet married couple were in fact part of Putin’s aggressive effort to seed the West with ‘illegal’ intelligence operatives, say authorities
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/the-ru ... sage_share
Created in the early days of the Soviet Union and dramatized in the TV show “The Americans,” a previous generation of Russian illegals in the 1940s had played a key role in stealing American atomic secrets. Stalin, who saw the illegals as a crucial tool for influencing the policies of adversaries and gathering intelligence on potential threats, created specialized training programs and deployed them in strategic Western capitals.
In the “Operation Ghost Stories” case, the FBI said Russian illegals spent years establishing a seemingly normal existence in the U.S.: They married, bought homes, raised families, and integrated into American society. One of them studied at Harvard and another earned two master’s degrees from Seton Hall University. Two others worked in real estate.

But beneath the surface, they were actively gathering intelligence and transmitting it back to Moscow, while also seeking individuals who could be recruited as future agents. One of them infiltrated a well-connected consulting firm with offices in Manhattan and Washington, D.C., by working as the company’s in-house computer expert, the Journal has reported. Others were even cultivating their own American-born or -raised children as agents with even deeper cover that would be more likely to pass a U.S. government background check.

The Americans was a great show, btw. Pretty wild how they ingrained themselves into American life.

[Mori Chu]

Putin has paid a visit to North Korea and met with Kim Jong Un. I read some analysis that this was a sign of desperation on Russia's part, that they're running out of money and resources and need to increasingly lean on friendships with NK and China to help bail them out, including selling land to China for example. South Korea is not happy to see Russia and NK palling around.

[In2ition]

I don't know how this can be spun as good.

[Nodack]

Well, at least according to some Maga dude named Amuse on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In all fairness Putin says the same thing. I just read what happened. A Ukrainian projectile was shot down and some of the shrapnel fell on vacationing Russians on the beach.

There is no doubt we are helping Ukraine. Putin has been wiping out entire cities in Ukraine on purpose. He has been killing thousands of their people on purpose. A Ukrainian projectile was shot down by the Russians and some shrapnel fell on some vacationing Russian's in the land Russia stole from Ukraine and we are supposed to be shocked and upset over it?

[Nodack]

We are pretty much in a war with Russia already. We know which side Maga supports in the Ukraine/Russian war and it’s not Ukraine.

[TOO]

He's got a Star wars mask, he's gotta be legit.

[Mori Chu]

Bad source as usual.

[In2ition]

We are pretty much in a war with Russia already. We know which side Maga supports in the Ukraine/Russian war and it’s not Ukraine.

It's not a binary choice. How about the No War policy? Stop innocents from both sides from being killed.

[Nodack]

I apologize for coming down so hard In2. Maga is SO annoying for me and you posting your Maga stuff annoys me. For the sake of all of us, I am just going to block your posts from now on. Don’t take it personally.