Is Russia about to invade Ukraine? (2 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Russia continues to mass assets within range of Ukraine - though the official explanations are that they are for various exercises. United States intelligence has noted that Russian operatives in Ukraine could launch 'false flag' operations as a predicate to invasion. The West has pressed for negotiations and on Friday in Geneva, the US Sec. State Blinken will meet with the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Certainly the Russian movements evidence some plan - but what is it? Some analysts believe that Putin's grand scheme involves securing Western commitments that NATO would never expand beyond its current composition. Whether that means action in Ukraine or merely the movement of pieces on the chess board remains to be seen.

VIENNA — No one expected much progress from this past week’s diplomatic marathon to defuse the security crisis Russia has ignited in Eastern Europe by surrounding Ukraine on three sides with 100,000 troops and then, by the White House’s accounting, sending in saboteurs to create a pretext for invasion.

But as the Biden administration and NATO conduct tabletop simulations about how the next few months could unfold, they are increasingly wary of another set of options for President Vladimir V. Putin, steps that are more far-reaching than simply rolling his troops and armor over Ukraine’s border.

Mr. Putin wants to extend Russia’s sphere of influence to Eastern Europe and secure written commitments that NATO will never again enlarge. If he is frustrated in reaching that goal, some of his aides suggested on the sidelines of the negotiations last week, then he would pursue Russia’s security interests with results that would be felt acutely in Europe and the United States.

There were hints, never quite spelled out, that nuclear weapons could be shifted to places — perhaps not far from the United States coastline — that would reduce warning times after a launch to as little as five minutes, potentially igniting a confrontation with echoes of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russia Issues Subtle Threats More Far-Reaching Than a Ukraine Invasion

If the West fails to meet its security demands, Moscow could take measures like placing nuclear missiles close to the U.S. coastline, Russian officials have hinted.

www.nytimes.com

Blinken Will Meet With Russia as U.S. Pushes for More Diplomacy

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will meet with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia in Geneva on Friday as the United States warns that Russia could soon attack Ukraine.

www.nytimes.com

How to think about war in Ukraine

Start with the Ukrainians

snyder.substack.com

 

[efil4]

What do you think that means? Why would you think that's a bad thing? You spew a constant stream of garbage on nearly every thread, it's awfully tiresome. Do you want Russian or Chinese economic hegemony? You're damn right I want American economic hegemony. What country are you a citizen of?

He wants chaos and uncertainty...because that's the stance he has taken over the last 24 months....can't back down now or he wasted a full 2 years begging for the wrong thing.

 

[MT15]

He wants chaos and uncertainty...because that's the stance he has taken over the last 24 months....can't back down now or he wasted a full 2 years begging for the wrong thing.

And he wants the US to ally with Russia, China and N. Korea. Oh and Iran too, probably.

 

[MT15]

Just like the Kremlin wrote it out for him.

 

[MT15]

Thanks for the compliments. That was very nice.

I thought NATO was a defensive alliance.

Are you saying both cannot be true?

 

[Maxp]

Thanks for the compliments. That was very nice.

I thought NATO was a defensive alliance.

Your posts are joke. You don't even realize you continually push for the weakening of the American economic system at the behest of our adversaries. You argue the stupidest of semantics because that's the only case you can make. Are we going to spread and encourage our economic policy, you better believe it. The man with the gold makes the forking rules. Even with all of our misteps and historical skeletons in our proverbial closets, our system is still better and more equitable than the shirt leaders and their garbage countries you support. Your leaders seek to destroy our civic safeguards and weaken our political system that put us at the top, despite periods of terrible leadership.

 

[UriUT]

Mongolia's former president mocks Putin with a map showing how big the Mongol empire used to be, and how small Russia was | Business Insider India

The former leader of Mongolia Tsakhia Elbegdorj wrote: "After Putin's talk. I found Mongolian historic map. Don't worry. We are a peaceful and free nation."

www.businessinsider.in

Putin has frequently used historical borders to rationalize his brutal invasion, arguing that Russia has a claim over Ukraine even though Ukraine is an independent country.

In his interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week, Putin outlined centuries of Russian and European history. Historians say much of the history he gave doesn't stand up.

On X, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, Mongolia's president between 2009 and 2017 and its former prime minister, poked fun at Putin's argument.

He shared maps showing how large the Mongol Empire was, with it once controlling parts of what is now Russia.

 

[UriUT]

Vladimir Putin pulled a classic power move that steamrolled Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson said Vladimir Putin made him wait for "a couple hours" in the Kremlin before sitting down for their interview.

www.businessinsider.com

In a post-interview reaction clip, Carlson said Putin was "a couple hours late" for his two-hour interview with the Russian leader in the Kremlin this week.

Treated like a wh...um wet rag.

 

[zztop]

NATO signs key artillery ammunition contract to replenish allied supplies and help Ukraine

NATO has signed a $1.2-billion contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries.

apnews.com

 

[MT15]

Good

 

[efil4]

Aaand another Russian warship sunk.

To a country with no Navy.




And if you know Russia, they LOVE historical dates.

Anyone wanna take a guess when Major Tsezar Kunikov died during WW2??

 

[SaintForLife]

 

[efil4]

Read the first paragraph.

Oh and I just love the "three Russian sources" bit.

 

[MT15]

Read the first paragraph.

Oh and I just love the "three Russian sources" bit.

You want him to actually read and attempt to comprehend an article? What are you, nuts?

 

[LA - L.A.]

From the second paragraph from your own source:

n Tuesday, Reuters reported that Russia had approached the United States through intermediaries in late 2023 and early 2024 to propose freezing the conflict along the current lines. Washington reportedly turned down the suggestion, saying that they were not willing to engage in talks if Ukraine was not a participant.

Two quick notes:

1. The US did not turn down cease fire talks, they turned down cease fire talks without giving Ukraine a say in those talks.
2. This dispels any notion that the US is treating Ukraine like a proxy. They wouldn't care what Ukraine had to say if they saw Ukraine as just a puppet.

That is all.

 

[MT15]

From the second paragraph from your own source:


Two quick notes:

1. The US did not turn down cease fire talks, they turned down cease fire talks without giving Ukraine a say in those talks.
2. This dispels any notion that the US is treating Ukraine like a proxy. They wouldn't care what Ukraine had to say if they saw Ukraine as just a puppet.

That is all.

Well, and this is not new, it is sourced from the same Reuters article that he posted the other day. These inconsistencies were pointed out then. So, either he never read it - just saw the headline and ran here to post it - OR he is just trolling us by posting the same article in multiple ways and pretending it’s new reporting.

 

[Bolo]

Just don't know how much the USA is going to do for Ukraine this year. Passing aid packages is an election issue, in an election year at a time where Americans are getting crushed by buying groceries and paying bills. It is hard to sell funding a war to a lot of people right now. I've cut back, shop at walmart which is still cheaper than most stores and my grocery bill is still over a 100$ more than it was 1.5 years ago.

 

[UriUT]

Just don't know how much the USA is going to do for Ukraine this year. Passing aid packages is an election issue, in an election year at a time where Americans are getting crushed by buying groceries and paying bills. It is hard to sell funding a war to a lot of people right now. I've cut back, shop at walmart which is still cheaper than most stores and my grocery bill is still over a 100$ more than it was 1.5 years ago.

Last few years, corporations had some record profits.

Corporate profits drove 53% of inflation during the second and third quarters of 2023 and more than one-third since the start of the pandemic, the report found, analyzing Commerce Department data.

‘Greedflation’ caused more than half of last year’s inflation surge, study finds, as corporate profits remain at all-time highs

Groundwork Collective crunched Commerce Department data to find shocking greedflation results. But there’s evidence of it in a lot more places.

fortune.com

Meanwhile, consumer-facing companies have been upfront with investors about their price-raising strategies—and they don’t seem interested in a reversal. PepsiCo’s CFO Hugh Johnston said last spring the company could “increase margins during the course of the year;” construction materials giant Holcim said in October it would raise its margins to make up for falling demand, and consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble this summer boasted of an $800 million profit increase, thanks to falling commodity costs that it would not pass on to consumers.

This isn't a free market. You lower prices when demand comes down. This is what happens when 60% of the groceries stores are owned by a handful of companies. There is suppose to be competition. Also, I choose aldi even if I don't have to tighten my wallet.

That all adds up to consumer-inflation rates that are, well, inflated, according to Groundwork. Company profits are “probably why we saw inflation in the realm of 7% to 9% for a while, instead of the 5% to 7% range,” Pancotti told Fortune. Now that “we’re in the 3% range, if you took corporate profits away, we should already be at the 2% target” that the Federal Reserve has set, she added.

It’s not just the left making this argument. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has also found corporate profits playing an outsize role in price growth. The Kansas City Fed, in a recent study, found that growth in markups accounted for more than half of consumer price inflation for 2021, a “substantially higher contribution than during the preceding decade.” Last month, the largest review to date of greedflation, from the Institute for Public Policy Research and Common Wealth, looked at 1,300 companies across four continents and concluded that profiteering by a relatively small set of companies pushed up consumer prices “significantly higher” than would have happened from the supply-chain shocks alone.

And the aid money isn't simply sending these countries direct cash. It's to open up our arms cache to them, and when not available, we produce the products. Other than Israel, I believe it's in our interest to do so.

And because the repubs in the house have dried up aid to ukraine, they had been ordered to fire only when necessary. They are low on ammo.

 

[zztop]

Russia takes control of a city in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian troops withdraw

The timing is critical as Russia is looking for a morale boost ahead of the second anniversary of its war in Ukraine.

apnews.com