re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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Russia is incapable of gobbling up eastern Europe.

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True, because of NATO

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Who were the ruling class?

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The Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Here, let me give you a little bit of a history lesson:

The Communist Party of the USSR for Dummies

The fact that a bunch of old Russian guys - many of whom were NOT members of the old Communist party - are running the Russian Federation is like saying that the United States of America is basically the same thing as the pre-Revolutionary colonies just because Washington and the boys were landed gentry before they decided to kick the British out.

The biggest issue that the Russians have right now, politically, is that they are trying to throw their weight around like the old USSR and they are getting their teeth kicked in. The current Russian government is a mafia state, while the old Soviet Union was a genuine attempt at a Marxist government. The geographic, ethnic, and political tensions that the Russians have to continue to try to put down are the ones that Stalin and his ilk were able to do so for a couple of generations due to sheer force and cruelty, and that the current regime of genuinely psychotic losers are going to destroy their current country's existence trying to re-establish.

But, hey, keep repeating the same old tired lines. Everybody else knows it's BS, but if it makes you feel better.....

You don't even understand the discussion

And you keep changing the argument. I think you're literally the only person in here on either side even attempting to argue that Russia hasn't been a cultural aggressor for literal centuries continuously. That includes the Soviet Union. Just an absurd idea.

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I think you're literally the only person in here on either side even attempting to argue that Russia hasn't been a cultural aggressor for literal centuries continuously.

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I've never said any such thing - lying doesn't help the issue or change the discussion.

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That includes the Soviet Union.

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All I've said is that the current Russian Federation is not the USSR, and the USSR is not Czarist Russia. These are historical facts. Go tell people in the 15 countries that were a part of the Soviet Union that are not Russian that they are Russian - they are likely to beat you senseless.

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You don't even understand the discussion

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Let me summarize it for you.

1) Russia has illegally invaded the Ukraine.
2) The Russians are going to lose, and that is a good thing.
3) We should be helping the Ukrainians.

Everything else is a frivolous side issue.

NATO membership provides the access to our defense budget while theme provide social programs and health care to their citizens

Damn leeches

As seen earlier this week. Reported to be distillate (diesel) tanks on the Moscow supply pipeline. Pumping equipment would have also been targeted (or will be soon).

A shortage of fuel in Moscow is a critical problem for Putin. The newly-evident dichotomy between what the Kremlin is saying to its most important urban citizens and what they can see with their own eyes at the gas stations cannot be overstated. In addition, increased prices across the retail sphere due to fuel issues cannot be papered over with additional RT blue sky reports.

Putin won't lose any sleep over this, but many others within the government will. In particular, the various tribes of the FSB.

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The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), signed a memorandum of understanding worth around $40 billion in July 2022. Gazprom pledged to help NIOC in the development of the Kish and North Pars gas fields and also six oil fields. Gazprom also planned to be involved in the completion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and construction of gas export pipelines.

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More desperate propaganda from the Kremlin. First of all, as Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world, the last thing Iran needs is more gas. The only gas they are interested in importing would be gas priced below their own production costs. Like the current Chinese price structure.Thus the 'first phase', with the Russians travelling to Tehran to discuss pricing of future Russian gas. (Don't forget the lube Ivan.)

But just as with the Chinese, the terms require Russia to build the pipeline network. Certainly attractive for the Iranians but if Russia doesn't have the money for the Chinese pipeline, they won't have the money for this one either.

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LINK

Explosions put 2 Russian pipelines out of service, intelligence source claims

September 9, 2025 11:30 am (Updated: September 9, 2025 1:48 pm)

Editor's note: The article was updated after the source clarified that the explosions damaged an oil and a gas pipeline, rather than two gas pipelines.

A series of explosions in the Russian city of Penza on Sept. 8 disabled a gas and an oil pipeline, a Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) source told the Kyiv Independent.

At least four explosions were reportedly heard around 4:00 a.m. in the Zheleznodorozhny city district of Penza.

The main oil pipeline in Penza, with a capacity of 2 million barrels per day, and a regional gas pipeline were taken out of service, the source claimed, without clarifying the cause of the blasts.

The incident comes amid escalating Ukrainian long-range drone campaign targeting the Russian energy infrastructure and a growing fuel shortage in Russia.

The damaged gas pipeline was used to "supply military facilities involved in the full-scale war against Ukraine," the intelligence source commented.

Local media reported that Transneft Druzhba, Russia's state-owned pipeline operator, is carrying out "planned exercises" at oil and gas facilities on Sept. 8 in cooperation with emergency authorities and special services. Russia authorities urged citizens to "remain calm and trust only verified sources of information."

According to the intelligence source, the announcement was actually intended to conceal the explosions.

Penza Oblast Governor Oleg Melnichenko reported an air raid alert in the region overnight on Sept. 9, making no mention of pipeline explosions.

The western city of Penza lies roughly 530 kilometers (330 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border and 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of Moscow.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.

The Kyiv Independent