As he continues to call up the ghosts of WWII in his propaganda, of course the reality once again is Putin adopting a Nazi model (Goering’s looters) over an Allied one (Roosevelt’s “monuments men”).
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My first draft is something something trade in your old AR-15 or other qualifying gun, get a special rebate on your new rifle. Your old gun will be refurbished and donated to freedom fighters. If you have multiple rifles, you can increase the rebate or even get money back.
Gun manufacturers can use this to boost sales, and also gather up guns already sold to let the government ship to Ukraine. So they should be happy when they get juicy profits, since the government is paying for the rebate.
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“Mark Lesseraux is a singer/songwriter/socio-political columnist from Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a Humanist, a proponent and practitioner of Active Nonviolence and a student of Nonduality.”
Not exactly a military expert. His article reads like pro-Russian propaganda, even though he denies it.
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Ah, yeah. I remember my first acid trip, too.
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Unfortunately I think a not-insignificant percentage of AR-15s are owned by gun enthusiasts who would prefer to send their military aid to Russia.
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I assume his idea of “active nonviolence” is for Ukraine to stop resisting, so the war will be over quicker.
Anyone who thinks the Russian military is more skilled than the Ukrainian one is clueless, dishonest, or both.
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Western analysts of Russian politics say that Russia’s external propaganda is sophisticated and flexible. Pundits can criticise the Russian government and Putin personally if necessary to establish credibility with their audiences, as long as they take positions that are beneficial to Russia, such as advocating territorial concessions or a ceasefire along the current front lines (which could lead to a frozen conflict and de facto annexation).
Pundits who take positions beneficial to Russia would reply that hawkish Western “experts” are smearing them as pro-Russian to discredit their views.
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We’ve seen that kind of Useful Idiocy before from users on this site. It’s Bothsidesism and appeasement masked by pseudo-leftist touchy-feely psychobabble.
“Nonviolent Communication” (NVC) is a woo-infused framework I’ve seen used in this regard (see this topic, for example). These approaches always end up demanding that liberals and progressives – painted as the “intolerant” and “closed-minded” ones – find ways to understand and compromise with various types of fascists and their positions.
I don’t know or now care about Pressenza, but the Guardian is also prone to publishing opinion pieces from people like this on the assumption that they’re not right-wingers (see also their publication of TERF pieces by those who claim to take a second-wave feminist perspective).
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The defeatist “just give in to the inevitable” tone, the denial of Russian atrocities, and the “both sides have their faults” message in the article are classic examples.
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I know, I know. Gun nuts have sold their soul to Moloch of the 5.56mm full metal jacket, who demands not only that children be sacrificed on His altar, but has declared Vladimir the many ideal for many of his disciples.
And yet, if only a small fraction of gun nuts participated, it could be used to shame the others. And shame we must, for the gun nuts who crave human sacrifice are a superstitious and cowardly lot. Full of braggadocio only when they feel free of consequences.
As far as the war goes, I still have cautious optimism for the Ukraine to turn the tide. Western supplies are finally arriving, the logistics of not only supplying arms and vehicles but also bullets and spare parts is being worked out. But it will be a long slog, which Putin thinks means he can make the West weary of the conflict. Except it took 18 years for the West to grow weary of Afghanistan, so I think he’s underestimating the ability of Western countries to support a “let’s you and him fight” deal, where this time they don’t even have to send their own troops in. And in the power of the arms lobby to keep the West buying and shipping goods.
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In English the term “the Ukraine” has connotations of Ukraine being a region, not a country.
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Thanks! I didn’t know this. So it’s like Polish “na Ukrainie” and “w Ukrainie”, with the second one being more respectful term.
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It’s also the English usage favoured by Putin and other Russian ultra-nationalists, who use the connotation of “the” to imply that it is and always has been just another part of their empire.
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Apologies. I am reminded of an argument elsewhere that in English (and German) the connotation isn’t as clear because of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and so on. I normally don’t make the slip-up but it happens.
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I want something that the US president had been smoking. Ukraine has been preparing for the russian invasion at least since the crimean peninsula forced takeover, and they have been in conflict since then (via the proxy war in D/L territories).
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I think Joe is just countering the claims that the US did nothing in his typical style of saying what he thinks. It’s why he’s even called a gaffe machine throughout his career.
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I can smell the cosmoline from that article.
Yeah, it is going to be a slog and war of attrition. The West has to keep supplying Ukraine for them to hold their ground and hopefully chip away at Russia’s defenses to reclaim ground. There is a limit to how long Russia is willing to keep throwing conscripts into a grinder, but I imagine that 1-2 years isn’t unrealistic.
If it gets to a point there are more or less hard static lines being defended and there isn’t a lot of back and forth pushes, then maybe the West will have to try to send more/different weapons.
If this is going to last 2 years, get more Ukrainians trained as pilots and ground crew in Poland or even the US, and then lend/lease some NATO jets. Air superiority is such a game changer in modern warfare.
Russia To Start Making Bootleg Boeing, Airbus Parts
Oh man - good luck with that. I wouldn’t want to fly on a plane full of bootleg parts made of questionable materials and made to questionable specs.
“Excuse me, Comrade Flight Attendant. Is plane supposed to sound like coffee can full of bolts rattling around when in air?”
That was literally done before the US entered WWII, with Americans shipping over anything and everything so that England could mount a resistance with the Home Guard if the Nazis managed a mainland invasion of England. Though they never did have to repel an invasion.
I would think NATO’s stockpiles would be something they have immediate access to and standardized parts if that was the goal.
What is that? I guess I have to look it up. From a personal standpoint, I see ddualities everywhere in life and the world.
Yeah, I think the reason why we say “THE” United States, United Kingdom, or Netherlands is because the names start with an adjective. But you wouldn’t say I am going to visit “the Turkey” or “the England” or “the Florida”.
So I think when English speakers do say “the Ukraine” they are subconsciously using the name to describe the area, vs the proper name of the country.
I remember the US was warning of the invasion, while Zelenskiy was publicly saying that that an invasion was not imminent. But that was because they needed a non-alarmist tone to not completely freak everyone out, on the chance this was just saber rattling.
100% sure the military was in full preparedness for an invasion and their initial tactic of pulling back to let Russia over extend their lines worked.
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The US public has an excess of NATO-round capable weaponry. This effort would snipe two groundhogs with one round: reduce military weaponry in public hands and give it to the Ukranian war effort.
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