re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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I'm stunned the Russians wanted Bout back. He stole and sold everything he could get his hands on in Russia for years. Including the planes to fly his loot to Africa.

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I was under the impression that he got the weapons from shady Easern European & Ex Soviet Republics? Part of the reason it was so important to take away Nukes & advanced Missille technology from Ukraine.

Meanwhile on the poliboard

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Russian leadership is in the process (have been at least since 2010) of promoting a traditional family Christian culture. Not only Ukrainians but most Americans would prefer that culture than the degenerate poop swapping culture our Western leaders promote. Our culture is mostly disgusting.

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Russian leadership is in the process (have been at least since 2010) of promoting a traditional family Christian culture.

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Russian leadership has just borrowed the grift of televangelists with gold-plated personal jets.

Yeah but he looted the motherland as well.

Ukrainian people talking about dealing with the blackouts, Maw Maw and Paw Paw seem to have and interesting way of passing the time.



I think she means phones or maybe not.

whole video:

Twitter

I don't go to war often but when I do I always wear my DIY body armor I learned to fashion by watching a Tik Tok video.

Twitter

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Margarita Simonyan, the head of RT, said that instead of freeing Mr. Whelan, the U.S. exchanged Mr. Bout for a drug-using basketball player, referring to Ms. Griner’s conviction in August of drug smuggling and possession of less than a gram of hashish oil, which she said she had in her luggage by mistake.

“They wanted to exchange Bout for Whelan, but they exchanged him for Griner," she tweeted. "That's because when it comes down to a heroic spy and decorated Marine who suffered for his service to his country and a drug-addicted black lesbian who vaped hashish, the modern American voter makes an obvious choice."

"That's why we will win," she added.

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Politards = useful idiots. It's never been more clear.

And yes, Biden is a useless idiot for playing into this (just for starters).

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Russian leadership is in the process (have been at least since 2010) of promoting a traditional family Christian culture. Not only Ukrainians but most Americans would prefer that culture than the degenerate poop swapping culture our Western leaders promote. Our culture is mostly disgusting.

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"Traditional family Christian culture" = world's highest abortion rate by far?

"Traditional family Christian culture" = one of the world's highest rates of HIV?

"Traditional family Christian culture" = chronic, widespread, socially accepted alcoholism?

"Traditional family Christian culture" = 1.8 total fertility rate (slightly lower than US), meaning that average family is less than two children?

"Traditional family Christian culture" = only 18% of Christian population who says that religion is very important in their lives (compare to 68% in the US)? LINK

"Traditional family Christian culture" = 7% of the population who attends religious services at least weekly (compare to 36% in the US)?

Every bit of this claim is just blitheringly asinine.

ISW Update

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz stated that the risk of Russian nuclear escalation is currently low, partially supporting ISW’s previous assessments

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The Kremlin likely has not abandoned its maximalist objectives in Ukraine despite Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s first-time acknowledgement that Moscow’s current territorial objective is to fully seize four partially occupied Ukrainian oblasts...Peskov stated that one of the main goals of the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine was to “protect residents of southeastern Ukraine and Donbas” when responding to a journalist‘s question regarding the Kremlin’s original objectives for war.[6] Peskov also noted that there are no talks about annexing new territories that are currently not under Russian partial occupation as there is “still a lot of work to be done” to fully occupy Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts. Peskov, however, reiterated that the Kremlin is still pursuing its “demilitarization” and “denazification” objectives in Ukraine, which confirm that Russia is still pursuing regime change (“denazification”) and the elimination of Ukraine’s ability to resist future Russian attacks or pressure (“demilitarization”). The Kremlin’s objectives, in other words, continue to remain unchanged from those set following the Russian withdrawal from around Kyiv. Peskov’s comments were not an inflection in Russian war aims or demands.

Putin’s invocation of Russian imperial history on December 7 and his recent remarks regarding Russia’s role as the only “guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty” are further indicators that the Kremlin is setting conditions for a protracted war aimed at eradicating Ukrainian sovereignty.[7]

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The Kremlin’s Western-oriented messaging is continuing to anger the pro-war milblogger community that is increasingly accusing the Kremlin of deviating from its original war goals in Ukraine, however. A prominent milblogger stated that “the annexation of Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts was not among the declared goals of the special military operation on February 24.”

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Putin may be deliberately distancing his rhetoric from nationalists’ unrealistic demands for the Russian war efforts in Ukraine. Putin stated on December 8 that in order to help Russia complete its war goals Russians should stop engaging in confrontations on the information front and suppress their impulses to believe fake and leaked information.[11] Putin added that there is “a lot of noise” within the information space regarding Russia’s missile campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure and falsely implied that Russian strikes are retaliatory measures following the claimed Ukrainian attack on Kerch Strait Bridge, shelling of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine’s uninterest in providing water to Donetsk City...Putin may be attempting to get the milblogger community under control by attacking its credibility and encouraging self-censorship. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on November 6 that Russians must listen to information about mobilization from Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) when responding to a question regarding Telegram channels.[13] While Putin may also be considering actually censoring the milbloggers, such measures remain unlikely given Putin’s ongoing efforts to retain relations with select milbloggers. Putin’s December 8 statement may also be an example of poor messaging discipline that failed to account for Russian milbloggers’ growing complaints about Moscow’s failures to address the perceived Ukrainian threat against Russia.

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On the other hand, a senior Kremlin official explained why the Kremlin tolerates criticism from the pro-war Russian milblogger community for the first time. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova responded to a question concerning the discrepancies between the Kremlin’s and milbloggers’ coverage of the war at the “Voenkors [milbloggers] as a New Information Powerhouse” panel on December 7.[14] Zakharova implied that the Kremlin permits divergent coverage of the war in order to maintain a uniform political view — likely referring to the milbloggers’ ongoing support for Putin’s vision for seizing all of Ukraine. Zakharova also suggested that the Kremlin is not interested in enforcing “absolutist” information policies as the divergent voices allow the Kremlin to monitor different opinions and their influence in society...Zakharova’s statements are a candid acknowledgement of the Kremlin’s desire to appeal to the wider nationalist audiences at the expense of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) credibility, as ISW has long assessed. The convening of the panel itself further confirms that the Kremlin is cognizant of its inability to strip the milbloggers of their influence at this stage of the war, granting milbloggers growing credibility in the Russian information space. The Kremlin, however, continues to intensify censorship against Russian opposition bloggers that criticize the Russian government, analyze combat footage, and voice concerns similar to those of nationalist milbloggers’ about mobilization and frontline problems

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Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley stated that fighting in Ukraine may intensify this winter despite the recent fighting tempo decrease from autumn, partially supporting ISW’s assessments and forecasts.[16] Milley told the Wall Street Journal on December 7 that frontlines in Ukraine are currently “stabilizing[,] and as winter rolls in,” he acknowledged the “potential opportunity for offensive action” from either Russian or Ukrainian forces during "the depth of the winter because of the weather and the terrain.“[17] Milley’s assessment diverges from US Director for National Intelligence Avril Haines’ December 3 forecast that the pace of the war in Ukraine will slow over the winter so that fighting can resume in spring 2023

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Ukrainian officials stated on December 8 that Russian forces further militarized the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

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Key Takeaways

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that the risk of Russian nuclear escalation is low.

Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Mark Milley stated that fighting may intensify in Ukraine during the winter.

The Kremlin has likely not abandoned its maximalist goals in Ukraine despite Dmitry Pskov’s comments on Russian territorial objectives.

The Kremlin’s Western-orientated messaging continues to anger the pro-war milblogger community.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be distancing his rhetoric from nationalists’ unrealistic demands for the Russian war in Ukraine.

A senior Kremlin official admitted that the Kremlin tolerates criticism from the pro-war milblogger community out of a desire to appeal to the wider nationalist community.

Ukrainian officials stated that Russian forces further militarized the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

Russian forces reinforced positions near Svatove and conducted counterattacks near Kreminna amid continued Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces continued offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka–Donetsk City areas.

A Russian government official implied that Putin’s word is law when it comes to the military mobilization of Russian citizens.

Russian occupation officials increased security measures in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.

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