Russia - threadbanned users in OP

you cant put it all on trump, admittedly some of the republicans are bankrolled by putin

Above I asked:

When is the west going to wake up? When is the current President and party in power in the USA going to so something about this also? At the moment, even though they are not in power .. from the sidelines Trump and GOP are running the show effectively.

Where are things like executive orders? Was the house of reps / congress bypassed in recent times to get weapons etc to Israel? When is Biden going to take back control?

In bold above .. the answer is below. So why different where Ukraine is concerned vs Israel?? From Dec 2023

The difference is for Israel they are purchasing the weapons from the US. For Ukraine they are getting them free.

If Ukraine was buying weapons from the US, Biden could do the same for them (bypass Congress approval)

I could be mistaken but I believe any fiscal decisions Biden makes needs congressional approval for the funds. Hense the drama with aid to Ukraine, he can't just bypass Congress.

Someone posted an article earlier today about Biden having within his power to dispose of excess arms or obsolete weapons to countries for free. Like the US giving Blackhawks to another country and that country giving Ukraine their old Soviet era ones. Stands to reason the same can be done directly to Ukraine for the obselete cluster shells etc... just doesn't seem to be any urgency about it. Easier to point the finger at the GOP for political points scoring.

Same for the EU funding for Ukraine, specifically wrt artillery shells. Here's billions to buy/manufacture them but then France vetos the option of buying outside the EU.

Makes sense that, getting them that way. I just wasn't sure they have a few left and were waiting on more to be supplied. But if there constantly getting them that's a good thing.

Hopefully soon

Not sure on this person if it's pro Russian or not, I presume it is as more showing Russian side but did mention some Ukraine success with HIMRAS strike on Russian soldiers. Definitely talking crap about patriot systems being destroyed but the rest of the video I did find interesting. It's more interesting as it shows where the extreme points of contacts are happening at moment and geo locates them so gives a good eye on where the heavy fighting is happening and shows where it looks like Russia are trying to capture.

A ring purchasing programme with the US's might behind it would be very effective. Would also help lock in countries to various Western systems. Something similar was used in Greece. Also an attempt was made in Ecuador, from what I understand the Russians threatened to reduce their fruit purchases which unraveled the thing.

Because @Jinglejangle69 .. Trump wants to join the "strong man leader" club in 2025 alongside Putin and Xi and Kim. I think thats what Trump wants as a legacy. Other than that he doesnt give a fck about the US, its people or for that matter the christian nationalists or the MAGA crowd. They are just his ticket to that club.

The only person Trump cares about is himself, thats it. Its all about me ..

YouTube needs to get their arse in gear and deal with this plague of coordinated bots. I don't expect anything from twitter or tiktok though.

@linkoping That is the prime reason I am hearing from all the media and journo's I listen to on this matter. I would say Putin and Co would just love to do a Bin Laden on the body way up in the arctic sea

They dont want any opportunity for a public display of outcry as this could spark a 1917 type revolt against Putin.

Lot of bleak reporting from the frontline.

Russia has the wind in their sails and are pushing, Ukrainian soldiers saying they can see the Russians approaching but have no shells to fire and hold them back so they are in retreat mode.

Sounds like the Finns on the Mannerheim line. Plenty of targets but lack of shells.

Time for the babushka rebellion I think.

Russian forces are poorly led but learning and copping on, often poorly resourced.

Ukraine are starved for support it needs by Western allies who talk a great game but do not want the reality of the situation, to affect them.

Europe should have acted as if it is in a war time period, cause it is.

There is a ring of lunatics and instability around Europe, not just Russia,Hamas. Iran, Turkey? Yemen and on and on.

The response from Europe to kyiv is we'll give you a months worth of shells in 2 years time.

Prediction or stating the obvious.

Russia will likely hold what it has indefinitely, maybe even take more and the world will be a much more unstable and violent place in the next 20 years than in decades and that is down to miscalculation by the West.

Europe currently doesn't have the will to defend itself or its interests and the US is now more focused on Asia and will be for the rest of this century.

Interesting

"In an ironic twist, Russia’s wartime box office is being dominated by a blockbuster adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, a film that denounces censorship and was filmed by an American director who is “vocally anti-war”.

One leading film critic, Anton Dolin, told the Guardian it was the “best commercial film ever shot in [Vladimir] Putin’s Russia”. A movie’s runaway success can work against it in Russia now: the film has had to run the gauntlet of pro-Kremlin propagandists and censors, and in true Hollywood fashion it has triumphed against the odds.

Michael Lockshin, the director, said it was “a miracle” the film came out, on a call from Los Angeles where he lives. “It was a very hard journey getting there since the war started,” he said."

"For weeks after its release, Lockshin had mostly avoided the press. The reason was simple: an army of online trolls and pro-Kremlin pundits wanted him arrested and did not like his anti-war views, or the film’s excoriation of totalitarianism, or that some of its estimated $17m (£13m) budget – one of Russia’s largest film budgets ever – came from the state-backed Russian Cinema Fund.

“We know that when someone makes a film now, he is writing or making a film about now,” said Dolin. “And here it’s quite obvious. Because this is a moment in Russia where censorship is rife, and the film is dedicated against censorship and doesn’t obey that censorship is inspiring to audiences.”

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have demanded Lockshin be investigated for discrediting the Russian army and called him a terrorist. He has been attacked by Margarita Simonyan, the head of the state-controlled broadcaster RT, and Vladimir Solovyov, one of the most popular pro-Kremlin talkshow hosts. Russian tabloids have published details of where he lives (luckily often wrong) and he has received death threats."