[Plantagenet]

Plant ..... You cannot be objective

You're the one who is true believer in Putin---not me.

I tend to question authority......and I question all authority......from Obama to Trump to Biden to Putin I have questions for all of them and I find them all falling short.

The willingness to question everything is the very definition of objectivity.

You, on the other hand, are a dedicated follower of Putin. Anything Putin says or does is OK with you.

You are what is sometimes called "A true believer." You believe in Putin and you never question.



And being a true believer in Putin, my friend, is the exact opposite of being objective.

Cheers!

[theluckycountry]

You're the one who is true believer in Putin---not me.

No plant, I don't believe in him, I just assign credit where credit is due. If there was something a US leader was doing that was praiseworthy I mention that as well, but as we both know your last 8 or so presidents have been totally ineffective in achieving anything other than sending your nation deeper into a morass of poverty and corruption. You hate putin because he's actually achieving something with his nation, a benign dictator like the one that runs Singapore.

Do you know anything about the politics of Singapore? It's been taken from an impoverished swamp into a first world nation in the space of 60 years. Putin has done the same with Russia. He crushed the organized crime, kicked out your US corporations that were looting the place and has consolidated the nation. It's super wealthy in terms of resources and politically stable, unlike the US.

statista Aug 22, 2023 · The homicide rate in Russia reached 3.7 homicides per 100 thousand
The USA... 6.3 per 100 thousand. By every metric they are ahead of you in terms of being a "civilized" nation. And you hate that and hate putin for bringing about the transition. Now your proxy war has failed and you hate him even more because he's shown you up as ineffective.

Soon the entire western block will collapse under it's mountain of debt but Russia, which has little to no debt will continue on profitably, divorced now from the western system, trading with the BRICS. It was good while it lasted plant but now your ship is sinking, don't have sour grapes just because another empire is rising to lead the world into the future.

[Plantagenet]

You're the one who is true believer in Putin---not me.

I don't believe in him, I just assign credit where credit is due..... another empire is rising to lead the world into the future.

That's what I said. You're a "true believer" in Putin.

One common pattern in history is that there are always followers milling around waiting for orders from a Great Leader.....these are the people who their "Great Leader" is infallible and destined to lead them into greatness.


Normal people who aren't true believers can see that as a rule "Great Leaders" turn out to be stupidly dangerous egotistical maniacs.

Now that "Great Leader" may be named Putin, or Napoleon, or Hitler, but who the Great Leader is doesn't seem to really doesn't matter to the true believers who are the followers. They are the people who have a mindset that predisposes them to follow.....they just don't know any better....

The only thing a True Believer can see is that their Great Leader is to wonderful and brilliant that they must follow their Great Leader.......and in your case your particular Great Leader is Putin who you believe is leading you and Russia into greatness.

FInally--- thank you for all your posts espousing your belief that Putin is so great and wonderful. I find them very amusing.

Cheers!

[jato0072]

True believer(s) or The True Believer may refer to: One who strictly adheres to the tenets of a particular religious doctrine. By extension, one who is strongly attached to a particular belief. True-believer syndrome, a term for the irrational persistence of some untenable belief.

I don't see an appropriate use of "True Believer" in the context of Putin. I don't think anyone compared Putin to the likes of Jesus Christ or Muhammad.

[Plantagenet]

[
I don't see an appropriate use of "True Believer" in the context of Putin. I don't think anyone compared Putin to the likes of Jesus Christ or Muhammad.

Sorry but I'm using the term in exactly the right way. True Believer --as originally defined by Eric Hoffer in his book THE TRUE BELIEVER---were found in both political and religious and nationalist movements. As you can see, the cover of some editions of Hoffer's book show Mussolini making a speech to his devoted political TRUE BELIEVERS in the square below---


True Believers are found in both political and religious and nationalist movements...

I repeat----the term "true believer" can be used to describe both religious people who never question the tenets of a religion and/or religious leaders, AND for political people who never question their great political leader, especially when that person is a dictator like Putin.

The concept of the "True Believer" says that these people have certain psychological similarities that are found amongst the most fervent groups of people looking for a GREAT LEADER to follow, whether it be Muhammad or Mussolini or Hitler or Putin.

And the chief characteristic of such people is that they never question anything their GREAT LEADER/Fuhrer/Great Helmsman says and they certainly never question his decisions and policies. They are psychologically primed to obediently parrot whatever their Great Leader says. For instance, people who are True Believers backing Putin will always praise him and never question anything, no matter what idiotic thing Putin says or stupid thing he does. It's inconceivable to Putin's true believers that Putin might actually make mistakes.

Cheers!

[theluckycountry]

Anyway, Back On Topic.

No more green for Zelenskyy.
Pentagon Is Starting To Restrict Flow Of Military Aid To Ukraine As Money Runs Out

With war funding for both Ukraine and Israel now seemingly snarled up beyond repair in Congress, on Thursday the Pentagon said that funding delays have forced the US to begin restricting the flow of military assistance to Ukraine, and the Pentagon has only $1 billion left to replenish stocks of weapons that were sent to the country, according to a spokeswoman.

“We have had to meter out our support for Ukraine,” Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. “We’re going to continue to roll out packages but they are getting smaller.”

...She said the remaining $1 billion is part of a program that allows President Joe Biden to send existing US military hardware to Ukraine and replace it with new orders.

...Perhaps realizing that Ukraine's military forces are about to expire, Telegraph reported that Russia has amassed an estimated 40,000 troops around the key battlefront in Avdiivka as it prepares for a third wave assault on the shattered eastern town, the Ukrainian military has said.

“They are building up reserves. They’ve brought in about 40,000 men here along with ammunition of all calibres,” said Anton Kotsukon, spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanised brigade. “We see no sign of the Russians abandoning plans to encircle Avdiivka.”

Russian forces, he said, had surrounded the town on three sides and were “playing cat and mouse”, sending up “huge numbers” of drones to scout out Ukraine’s defences.

Ukrainian forces regard the town as a gateway for future advances to recapture territory in the east; alternatively the Russian army expects capture of the town to allow to penetrate deep into Ukraine territory.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/penta ... y-runs-out

[ralfy]

My understanding is Putin follows the equivalent of the East Asian model, or what one writer refers to as the Asian Capital Development model. It was started by Japan, followed by Taiwan and South Korea, and then Singapore, Malaysia, and others, even China and Vietnam. It involves policies like industrialization through economic reforms and heavy infrastructure development, nationalization of key sectors for logical reasons (e.g., no competition and critical requirements, including utilities), export orientation coupled with export processing zones, and heavy coordination between the public and private sectors. It's also characterized by combinations of nationalism and authoritarianism.

Results have led to significant economic growth, with China being the most prominent example: something like a 7-pct per annum economic growth rate ave. across decades leading to over 800 million of its people lifted out of poverty.

Similar happened to Russia: until Putin took over both Russia and Ukraine were struggling, until Russian per capita GDP took off during the early 2000s. Before that, Russia was preyed upon by various foreigners, just like Ukraine, but Ukraine never got to escape from them.

Finally, similar happened to countries like the Philippines, which followed the U.S. neoliberal model coupled with structural adjustment, which led to de-industrialization from the late 1980s onward and one of the lowest economic growth rates on ave. in the region across decades compared to neighbors.

Things changed when Duterte was elected, e.g., the "Trump of Asia" (given his 80+ approval rating by the end of his term, I hear that he thinks that Trump should be seen as the "Duterte of the West"). He literally continued the Marcos dictatorship economic playbook with heavy infra dev't and much-needed eco. reform, but because most locals love liberal democracy (surveys across many years reveal that the U.S. and various U.S. Presidents of either party have high approval ratings in the Philippines, and in several cases even higher than in the U.S. itself) it will take a while for the effects to be felt. For now, even more surprising is that they elected Marcos, Jr., who is continuing what Duterte started.

Will the country succeed economically? Some believe that the U.S. and others are trying to cozy up to the Philippines, which currently has one of the highest eco. growth rates in the region, if not worldwide, to get back at China, such that they believe that the country is being set up as the new Ukraine.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Will the country succeed economically? Some believe that the U.S. and others are trying to cozy up to the Philippines, which currently has one of the highest eco. growth rates in the region, if not worldwide, to get back at China, such that they believe that the country is being set up as the new Ukraine.

In a very poor country like Philippines it is easy to achieve very high GDP growth.
If all what a given country has is a one wooden shed and they build another one there is a 100% growth rate.

US is sucking up to Philippines for another reason - it is convenient place to build military outposts against China.
It is likely to end up rather badly for Philippines once China has enough of it.
Probably even more badly than it ended up for Ukraine in fact.

[theluckycountry]

Ukraine says it has no hope of using F-16 fighter jets this year
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 023-08-16/

Compared to the modern fighters the F16 is no slouch in many war scenarios. It was designed in the 1970's, really the peak of smart thinking and quality, employing computer tech but not going overboard. It's relatively cheap and it's design is superlative. Good for ground attack which the F22 is not. The F35 is but they cost more and are plagued with reliablity issues.

A great vid on it. The Insane Engineering of the F-16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhhOin2p5Qs

(Bloomberg) -- A $14 billion Pentagon software upgrade for F-35 jets is being installed on planes that are already deployed even though it’s “immature, deficient and insufficiently tested,” according to a new assessment by the military’s testing office.

Aircraft operators “identified deficiencies in weapons, fusion, communications and navigation, cybersecurity and targeting processes that required software modification... Built by Lockheed Martin Corp., the F-35 is a flying computer, the more than 8 million lines of computer code, and software needed to increase its capabilities has been marred by problems since deliveries of the upgrades began in 2020.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/f-35-s-14-b ... -1.1713342
Dropping the ball dropping the ball.

[theluckycountry]

It is likely to end up rather badly for Philippines once China has enough of it.
Probably even more badly than it ended up for Ukraine in fact.

The Pill-ip-eens has it's secret weapon though, tens of millions of young ladies women that readily get on their knees and suck the mojo out of any invading force.

[careinke]

It is likely to end up rather badly for Philippines once China has enough of it.
Probably even more badly than it ended up for Ukraine in fact.

The Pill-ip-eens has it's secret weapon though, tens of millions of young ladies women that readily get on their knees and suck the mojo out of any invading force.

And for those of you with silly pronouns, they have Billy Boys to do your pleasures.

Peace

[Plantagenet]

Ukraine's brave little sea drones just blew up two more Russian Naval vessels near Crimea

ukraine-damages-two-small-russian-landing-boats-in-crimea-

According to Ukraine the two Russian Navy landing craft were loaded with armored vehicles and Russian military personnel.


Ukraine's brave little sea drones just blew up two more Russian Navy cargo ships...

This marks another success in Ukraine's effort to cut off the Russian military assets in Crimea from the rest of the Russian army. -

--Ukraine's strategy clearly is to disrupt Russian resupply efforts to Crimea. Ukraine is cutting Russian resupply by rail by blowing up the train stations and tracks around Tokmok, and also repeatedly blowing up the Bridge between mainland Russia and Crimea.

That leaves Russia reliant on resupplying by sea or by air, but with these successful attacks Ukraine has now destroyed 3 of the 6 Landing cargo craft operated by the Russian Black Sea Fleet so their capacity to transport heavy armored vehicles to Crimea by sea is much reduced. Similarly, Crimea has also been launching successful attacks on Russian military airfields in Crimea.

Cheers!

[theluckycountry]

Map Shows Another Key Ukraine City Almost Fully Encircled By 40K Russian Troops

...Russian forces are in the midst of a large pincer move involving some 40,000 troops closing in on the key city of Avdiivka, which has long been a Moscow objective since the war's start. Ukraine's military has acknowledged this week: "They are building up reserves. They’ve brought in about 40,000 men here along with ammunition of all calibers."

For Ukraine, the city is seen as a strategic hoped-for future gateway to launch operations to recapture territory in the east, but that prospect is clearly slipping. The town had over 32,000 residents before the war, but now could be down to less than 2,000 - according to media estimates. While the "four territories" of the east and south have already been annexed, incorporated into the Russian federation, there are still areas not completely under Russian control yet. All of his is a key war aim of President Putin's.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ ... ian-troops

You could wonder why Russia has taken so long to reclaim this territory but remember the dragging out of the war has successfully depleted the ukraine of troops and hardware and worn down the West's resolve to support them. Also, unlike the Israeli campaign, the slow progress has allowed innocent civilians to escape. Hundreds of thousands of military age men have simply fled the ukraine region, 700,000 into Germany alone. What are they doing there? Well they are not working, they are loafing off the welfare system so good luck getting them to move back. Soon the ukraine will be a retirement village composed of aged men and women.

Fewer than 1 in 5 Ukrainian refugees in Germany are employed

November 2023-- Only a fraction of the estimated 700,000 Ukrainian refugees of working age have found employment following their arrival in Germany, a report from German newspaper Der Spiegel has revealed. According to the report, just 19 percent of Ukrainian refugees in Germany have found work with the rest currently living off the country’s welfare state.

Several politicians from across the political spectrum expressed their concern about the sustainability of providing ongoing support. Matthias Jendricke, chairman of the Nordhausen district council in Thuringia, described the situation as “disappointing.” ...“Things went completely wrong”, he explained, revealing that only a fraction of the refugees were interested in joining the labor market.

https://rmx.news/germany/fewer-than-1-i ... -employed/

That's the ukrainian peoples in a nutshell. They have no national spirit because they aren't really a nation, just a region infested with diverse ethnic and political factions. They are akin to the Australian Aboriginal "nation" in that respect, which is no nation, and never was. They were just a diverse group of drifters that inhabited the land that became the Nation of Australian under White management. To have a nation you have to all work together. The Australian aboriginal doesn't work. They just loaf off welfare and get drunk in parks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGNYeZzXSec

[ralfy]

It is likely to end up rather badly for Philippines once China has enough of it.
Probably even more badly than it ended up for Ukraine in fact.

The Pill-ip-eens has it's secret weapon though, tens of millions of young ladies women that readily get on their knees and suck the mojo out of any invading force.

Also, a young population vs. populating aging elsewhere.

[EnergyUnlimited]

You could wonder why Russia has taken so long to reclaim this territory but remember the dragging out of the war has successfully depleted the ukraine of troops and hardware and worn down the West's resolve to support them. Also, unlike the Israeli campaign, the slow progress has allowed innocent civilians to escape. Hundreds of thousands of military age men have simply fled the ukraine region, 700,000 into Germany alone. What are they doing there? Well they are not working, they are loafing off the welfare system so good luck getting them to move back. Soon the ukraine will be a retirement village composed of aged men and women.

Avdiivka was a very well fortified outpost, so it have taken some time to encircle it.
It was a nuisance too because control of it was allowing Ukrainians to shell city of Donieck.
Civilians have escaped from there long time ago.

Re Ukrainian draft dodgers - they seem to be everywhere. Poland is now full of them as well but now Ukrainian government is mulling ideas to get them extradited from EU countries, so they can be processed by meet mincer out there.
But our government is saying that we would not cooperate and extraditions are not going to happen unless refugee committed a crime here.
Overwhelming majority of them are employed and claiming benefits is rather rare here by working age Ukrainians.
But it is not easy to claim benefit in Poland with the exception of universal child benefit which everyone who has children gets.

Fewer than 1 in 5 Ukrainian refugees in Germany are employed

November 2023-- Only a fraction of the estimated 700,000 Ukrainian refugees of working age have found employment following their arrival in Germany, a report from German newspaper Der Spiegel has revealed. According to the report, just 19 percent of Ukrainian refugees in Germany have found work with the rest currently living off the country’s welfare state.

This is a problem related to a way how Germany is run, not to Ukrainians.
Germany is designed in such a way to allow virtually any foreigner to come there and milk benefit system.
Benefits are so generous and easy to get that working there seems to be a stupid idea.
Would you carry on working if even more money are offered to you for free but under condition that you don't?
And should you need more money you can always do some plumbing/building services in grey zone and Ukrainians are very good in it.

They are akin to the Australian Aboriginal "nation" in that respect, which is no nation, and never was. They were just a diverse group of drifters that inhabited the land that became the Nation of Australian under White management. To have a nation you have to all work together. The Australian aboriginal doesn't work. They just loaf off welfare and get drunk in parks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGNYeZzXSec

One way or another this land (Australia) have belonged to them in the past and once someone else (Europeans) came it seems just that now they have to maintain and nurture these locals.
It is a form of rent payment.

[EnergyUnlimited]

It is likely to end up rather badly for Philippines once China has enough of it.
Probably even more badly than it ended up for Ukraine in fact.

The Pill-ip-eens has it's secret weapon though, tens of millions of young ladies women that readily get on their knees and suck the mojo out of any invading force.

It won't be long before they run out of them.
That is because large majority of European and American women is now so repugnant that Filipino prostitute seems to be a better deal.

Sincerely speaking - having a choice between European (say Polish, French, Spanish, English etc) feminist or corporate bitch and Filipino prostitute I would settle with a latter as long as free of HIV or something non treatable.
I wouldn't think even 5 minutes to make this decision.

[theluckycountry]

Sincerely speaking - having a choice between European (say Polish, French, Spanish, English etc) feminist or corporate bitch and Filipino prostitute I would settle with a latter as long as free of HIV or something non treatable.

O I hear ya, unfortunately down here the laws on property division are very unbalanced and a proportion of the Phillos turn gold digger within a short time and steal half a man's life savings. Typically the old men who get the young brides. The Thai women are more honest from my experience, more culturally bound to the husband, as are the Korean girls. But as for the Philippines as a nation it's really a third world sh*thole, half Muslim half catholic, Half Mad! It's just another regional football in my opinion, it will go with whoever has the most guns.

[theluckycountry]

Ukraine's brave little sea drones just blew up two more Russian Naval vessels near Crimea

ukraine-damages-two-small-russian-landing-boats-in-crimea-

According to Ukraine the two Russian Navy landing craft were loaded with armored vehicles and Russian military personnel.

Clearly Russia has to occupy all the sea coast of the ukraine to stabilize the region and protect against these sort of terrorist attacks. I don't think anyone could argue with that.

There isn't a lot left to take either, the section south of Odessa could be annexed to Moldova.

[Shaved Monkey]

That map may be out of date
Russians have surrounded the Ukrainians in Avdiivka which is behind Donetsk

[jato0072]

Current Map

I have noticed this map slanted towards UA propaganda. It used to contain more events that would update everyday. Now it is more subdued. I have to get the information from map bloggers.