No, Russia Did Not Withdraw Troops From the Border With Ukraine, Despite Moscow’s Claims
[guest post by Dana]
No Russian troops were withdrawn from the border with Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Wednesday night, disputing Moscow’s claim that it was pulling back some forces.
“We now know it was false,” the official said, adding that as many as 7,000 troops have joined the 150,000 already near the border in recent days.
The official said troops were arriving as recently as Wednesday and Moscow could launch a false pretext to invade Ukraine at any moment. The official also gave one of the grimmest assessments yet for the possibility of reaching a diplomatic solution to avoid war.
Also being reported:
This at one of very few operational crossing points between Kyiv- and separatist-controlled territory in Donbas: https://t.co/IXPdPCjFGW
— Felix Light (@felix_light) February 17, 2022
Just two days ago, President Biden discussed America’s response if Russia were to invade Ukraine, saying:
If Russia proceeds, we will rally the world to oppose its aggression.
The United States and our Allies and partners around the world are ready to impose powerful sanctions on [and] export controls, including actions that did not — we did not pursue when Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. We will put intense pressure on their largest and most significant financial institutions and key industries.
These measures are ready to go as soon and if Russia moves. We’ll impose long-term consequences that will undermine Russia’s ability to compete economically and strategically.
And when it comes to Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that would bring natural gas from Russia to Germany, if Russia further invades Ukraine, it will not happen.
While I will not send American servicemen to fight Russia in Ukraine, we have supplied the Ukrainian military with equipment to help them defend themselves. We have provided training and advice and intelligence for the same purpose.
And make no mistake: The United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power. An attack against one NATO country is an attack against all of us. And the United States commitment to Article 5 is sacrosanct.
Already, in response to Russia’s build-up of troops, I have sent additional U.S. forces to bolster NATO’s eastern flank.
If you have time, give a listen to Garry Kasparov’s insightful observations about Putin, the Ukraine, and the impending disaster here.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (5395f9) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:41 amUpdates:
The U.S. reveals that Russia expelled the No. 2 American diplomat in Moscow.
Ukraine and Russia trade accusations on shelling in Ukraine’s east.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:54 amVideo at link.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:56 amRussian targets:
Володимир Зеленський
@ZelenskyyUa
The shelling of a kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska by pro-Russian forces is a big provocation. It’s important that diplomats & the @OSCE remain in 🇺🇦, their monitoring activities are an additional deterrent. We need an effective mechanism for recording all ceasefire violations.
4:13 AM · Feb 17, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:59 amYesterday they were saying that (some European countries) thought it was still a bluff and Putin had no intention to invade, while the American assessment had extended the invasion target date by a few days (it clearly wasn;t happening on February 16)
Meanwhile Belarus says thaat Russian troops will go home in a few days when the exercises are over. Presumbably they will used if there is an invasion. This gives a target date of just after the Olympics.
Biden today at the White House put the odds of an invasion as over 50% (more general words, no number)
This is because of two things:
1) The continuing military build-up and mobilization, combined with lies about a stand down, which they are not seeing.
2) The probability that Russia will use a made up casus belli.
We see two things being said that could be used as a pretext for war:
1) That Ukrainian forces have murdered ordinary Russians in Eastern Ukraine (they supposedly discovered mass graves.)
This is making them like the Nazis and the Romanians during World War II.
[Note: The Romanians did that too, in the Ukraine, and particularly in Odessa. But on September 13, 1942 they stopped all further participation in the murder of the Jews because Secretary of State Cordell Hull had issued a Rosh Hashanah message that threatened punishment after the war. In some parts of Romania, that had escaped pogroms, and had not been transferred to Hungary, Jews continued to live mostly undisturbed. Later, Romania escaped Nazi occupation when it attempted to surrender.]
2) Supposed Ukrainians use of chemical weapons.
Oh by the way, a day after the United States removed its diplomats from Kiev the CIA also closed its station there. But there’s obviously still good communication with the Ukrainian government.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 11:33 amAll Putin needs now is the least phony baloney excuse to pull the trigger. Sigh.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/17/2022 @ 11:36 amThe one thing that I wonder about is whether the Biden administration’s approach — which has been to broadcast the danger very loudly — is the right way to do this. I think it might help in keeping our domestic Putin fans — such as Tucker Carlson and the Sage of Mar-A-Lago — somewhat quieter. I never remember an invasion whose imminence has been so loudly proclaimed (yet denied by Vlad). This seems a first.
Appalled (1a17de) — 2/17/2022 @ 11:53 amA few days ago there were a lot of White House-friendly reports at places like CNN, AP, NPR, etc., opining that if Putin stood down and didn’t invade, why then this would be a major foreign policy win for the Biden Administration. I note that as of this moment that sort of talk has disappeared. Maybe we shouldn’t be couching an international crisis like this in terms of how it reflects on whatever bozo we currently have given the keys to the Oval Office Executive Bathroom.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/17/2022 @ 11:53 amI think it might help in keeping our domestic Putin fans — such as Tucker Carlson and the Sage of Mar-A-Lago — somewhat quieter. I never remember an invasion whose imminence has been so loudly proclaimed (yet denied by Vlad). This seems a first.
Our comments came in on top of each other. If I am being uncharitable — and I almost always am — I would suggest that the Biden Administration is broadcasting intel that Putin plans to invade so that on the one hand if he does no one can claim they didn’t see it coming, and on the other hand if for whatever reason Putin is deterred they can claim that it was their own amazing diplomatic skills (and not Putin making a devious calculation of his own) that averred the crisis. I am of the opinion that at the end of the day Putin does not invade, but he leverages this to get more concessions from NATO (especially more German dependence upon Russian energy supplies), so in the end he comes out stronger. The fact that he has the West on razor’s edge over a corrupt backwater like Ukraine is astounding; he sure played this one well.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/17/2022 @ 11:59 amMeanwhile Belarus says thaat Russian troops will go home in a few days when the exercises are over.
Via Ukraine.
All Putin needs now is the least phony baloney excuse to pull the trigger.
Putin doesn’t need any stinkin’ excuses!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:11 pmPutin’s demands have nothing really to do with Ukraine, he wants to drive the US out of Europe. He has demanded that US troop deployments retreat from Eastern Europe back to their lines in 1997, limit the sovereignty of these countries to join NATO, and remove defensive missiles from Poland (aka Aegis Ashore), and presumably remove them from Romania. The missiles are not aimed at Russia, but as a defense against Iranian MRBMs.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:27 pmU.S. Battles Putin by Disclosing His Next Possible Moves
……..
…….. [T]he extraordinary series of disclosures — unfolding almost as quickly as information is collected and assessed — has amounted to one of the most aggressive releases of intelligence by the United States since the Cuban missile crisis, current and former officials say.
……..
The hope is that disclosing Mr. Putin’s plans will disrupt them, perhaps delaying an invasion and buying more time for diplomacy, or even giving Mr. Putin a chance to reconsider the political, economic and human costs of an invasion.
At the same time, Biden administration officials said they had a narrower and more realistic goal: They want to make it more difficult for Mr. Putin to justify an invasion with lies, undercutting his standing on the global stage and building support for a tougher response.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:40 pm………
………Washington’s claims about Russia’s troop buildup have been confirmed by commercial satellite imagery of a quality previously unavailable. The details of Moscow’s secret disinformation plots are in line with the Kremlin’s propaganda campaigns that play out on social media platforms and have been tracked by independent researchers.
………
The last time Russia moved against Ukraine, in 2014, intelligence officials blocked the Obama administration from sharing what they knew. But the Biden administration has studied those mistakes. The new disclosures reflect the influence of Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, and William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, who have shown a willingness to declassify information in an effort to disrupt Russian planning, administration officials said.
………
https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/ukraine/kyiv
Squinty McStublebum is irrelevant in this; watch the weather.
Overlay his incompetent Ukraine reactions w/t inept Afghanistan debacle for a prelude to Taiwan. China certainly is; more U.S. interests of concern there. Joe’s shuttered 2 embassies in 6 months- and western business and investment concerns are fleeing Ukraine like Joe scurrying to Delaware every weekend. And in that speech, he warned Americans to expect higher energy prices due to his own incompetence in U.S. energy policy. You will suffer due to his incompetence.
Bob Gates was right.
BTW “Infrastructure Joe,” it’s gonna take $25 million in Federal funds and at least 18 months to repair the Forbes Avenue Bridge in Pgh. Meanwhile ‘Infrastructure Vlad’ put up a pontoon bridge in a day [as seen in satellite images; it wasn’t there on February 14, while on February 15 the crossing has already appeared] across the Pripyat River in Belarus at a distance of 4 km from Ukraine.
… and Putin smiled.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:57 pmBTW Joe; who is paying for all these U.S. saber rattling troop deployments to Eastern Europe you keep authorizing? Germany sent helmets to Ukraine– so they at least have a pot to cook and pee in when the power goes out. And when do the Ukraine Relief Defense Bonds go on sale? Or is this another expense put on Uncle Sam’s credit card for somebody else, on borrowed $ from China? If only you worried more about America’s southern border as much as you do about Ukraine’s. Bob Gates was so right.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:06 pmI think it’s time for a new Exercise Campaign Reforger.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:07 pmRip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:11 pm
You would think, but apparently he does need them (perhaps in an attempt to avoid creating a precedent)
The only thing is there is something worse than offering no excuse: To invade after saying so long that it’s ridiculous, that there is no intention to invade, that he’s withdrawing is troops, would ruin his diplomatic credibility. And he needs some of that.
The United States is trying to knock down every phony baloney excuse we hear, perhaps thinking it’s enough merely to predict it in advance, but Putin probably has one or more he’s keeping up his sleeve.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:26 pmNeo-cons have been discredited. Populists now run the republican party and the democrat party is anti-war and have told the few war mongers like clinton you lost!
asset (83fdb4) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:26 pmDCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 12:57 pm
We used to be able to do that, too.
Back in 1945.
Maybe not ideal. But it could work. Except maybe for regulations.
Of course, that wouldn’t create many well paying union jobs.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:30 pmAt the United Nations the Russian Ambassador made something out of the fact that the date predicted for the invasion has passed. (in arguing this was all made up bu the USA)
That February 16 date was probably Russian disinformation. Which would mean that Putin has now blown some double agents or the like.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:37 pmI would think the grand plan would be for Russia, and China and Iran and North Korea all to attack some place at the same time, except that Xi Jinping intends to double cross Vladimir Putin and have him act on his own, first, drawing off U.S. military supplies, and to see what happens to him and his country.
If Putin is waiting for China to start something, this could take a long time.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:47 pmAccording to the reputable ISS (the Institute for Strategic Studies) the Russian armed forces is based around the BMP-2 and the T72/mbk3 and the 2s9 mobile artillery. The 172,000 troops are faced by 85,000 well concealed and armed Ukrainians. The Russians may prevail but the material losses they can’t replace
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 2/17/2022 @ 1:57 pmQuinnipiac University national poll 2/16/22
With all eyes on Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps the world guessing about his intentions, Americans say 55 – 30 percent that the tensions between Russia and Ukraine will lead to war, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of adults released today.
If Russia does invade Ukraine, Americans say 57 – 32 percent that the United States should not send troops into Ukraine.
A majority of Americans (54 percent) support President Biden’s decision to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe to support U.S. allies in NATO, while 36 percent oppose it. Democrats support Biden’s decision 70 – 22 percent, independents support it 56 – 36 percent, while Republicans are divided with 47 percent opposed to it and 43 percent in support of the decision.
By a margin of nearly 2 to 1, Americans say 62 – 34 percent that Russia poses a military threat to the United States.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2022 @ 2:33 pm………
@21. They’ll put up a ‘token resistance’ for show- with other people’s munitions of course; and then go ‘French.’ Unless they’re stupid enough to destroy their own homes, businesses and infrastructure– in which case they deserve to be occupied. They still have to live there when the soil softens, the smoke clears and the wheat grows in the summer sun. Ukraine has been used and occupied as a doormat plenty of times over their history. Who frigging cares; it’s not a problem for meddling Americans- who’ve over just 100 years have bailed out Europe three times: in two world wars and through a Cold War. 21st Century America can’t even manage their own southern border– so they’re suddenly worried about Ukraine? Who cares. Putin will never attack a NATO Europe; they’re his BEST energy customers. And what did NATO’s Germany send them brave Ukranians? German helmets. “Heil” frigging ironic.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 2:41 pmI think DCSCA’s new handle should be DCCCP. Cheering for the Russians is almost as bad as cheering for the NY Yankees, but at least there no one dies.
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:03 pmI just want to see DCSCA and EPWJ in a no-holds-barred cage match for more vowels.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:23 pmI have some vowel suggestions: DicSuca and EPiWej.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:37 pmPlease keep in mind that all this is being reported by the same “intelligence analysts” who told Biden how long the Afghan army would hold on to Kabul.
Or maybe they told him the truth on that one and he flat-out lied to the American public.
It’s either one or the other – take your pick.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:45 pmNo truth comes out of Russia. Treachery and paranoia is bred into the soul of those people.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:55 pm*that* people
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:02 pmNo interest in the totalitarian nation on our northern border that is threatening American citizens who donated to a liberty protest?
NJRob (9bee56) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:29 pm@24.Cheering for the Russians is almost as bad as cheering for the NY Yankees, but at least there no one dies.
‘TWO KILLED, 62 HURT IN YANKEE STADIUM AS RAIN STAMPEDES BASEBALL CROWD; VICTIMS ARE CRUSHED AT BLEACHER EXIT.’ – https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/20/archives/two-killed-62-hurt-in-yankee-stadium-as-rain-stampedes-baseball.html
mike-drop
AJ’s a Reds fan?!?! 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:35 pm@30. Meh. ‘They’re not even a real country anyway.’–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwSFd5u1tGg
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:38 pmWhat’s for dinner, Vlad?
Chicken Kiev.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:41 pmNow the killers were plenty and of blood-curdling fame
In the thugs that were known as the Cheka,
And the cunningest of these was a man by the name
Of Vladimir Putin Kolecka.
One day this bold Russian, he took up his phone,
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:55 pmAnd donned his most truculent sneer,
Then he took off his pants and sent a dick-pic
To lovelorn comsymps far and near.
Get a grip, DCSCA! A despot is only a despot, but a good borscht is a nosh.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 4:58 pm@35. DA! DA! Chicken Kiev in despot.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:04 pmNeo-cons have been discredited. Populists now run the republican party and the democrat party is anti-war and have told the few war mongers like clinton you lost!
It’s always good to hear what the True Believers believe. The Democrat Party is just days away from adopting the Green Party platform. Real Soon Now!
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:12 pmI wonder what Putin really wants? Don’t get me wrong, I think he’d take Ukraine if he thought he could get it, but this is a rather slow and heavily broadcast threatened invasion. I kind of wonder if some investigation in the West was getting a little too close to his personal fortune and all this is buying time to move his assets? What is his other hand doing while we watch this one?
Nic (896fdf) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:27 pmNo hyperbole there. Canada is free.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:34 pmI wonder how American conservatives would react if Canadians sent millions in cash down to BLM activists to encourage them to keep protesting and blocking freeways.
Putin wants the Crimea to return to being a part of Russia (it was, you know, before Khrushchev attached it to Ukraine), the Black Sea a Russian lake, and Mother Russia surrounded by buffer satellites. In short, what every Russian ruler has wanted since Alexander Nevsky.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:37 pm38. Nic (896fdf) — 2/17/2022 @ 5:27 pm
How does he gain time? It could be that the United States maybe postpones sanctions in order to have more ammunition in case of an invasion, but how could he know, if so, that things would play out that way?
If we knew the truth it would make sense, so we have to surmise something that makes sense. If someone proposes that we will instantly recognize it.
It can’t be that he wants to create a new nursery rhyme:
I have some ideas, but I am not firm on them.
A) This is a dry run.
B) He’s waiting for the signal from China.
C) We keep spoiling his military plans, and he keeps trying to improve them.
More maybe
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 6:35 pm@39 …and I wonder how progressives would react if all the BLM donors down here were hacked, doxxed, and had their bank accounts frozen back in, say, 2020? You’re not going to defend them as ‘mostly peaceful protestors’ are you?
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 6:44 pmPutin has now come up with some demands (which he didn’t have before)
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/17/russia-will-be-forced-to-respond-if-us-does-not-engage-on-security-demands-a76439
The only thing is, he knows the chances that the United States or NATO will agree to a legal prohibition on Ukraine joining NATO are almost zero, and if it did agree to that, such an agreement could always be torn up later by any president. The United States and Russia also agreed in 1994 that Ukraine’s independence would be respected.
Oh, and by the way:
So it is not an ultimatum. It’s doubletalk.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/17/2022 @ 6:45 pmSome of the folks over at Political Betting are using this site to track drones and plans in Ukraine: https://www.flightradar24.com/47.68,-122.19/8.
(For instance, they claimed that a US drone took off from Sicily a few days ago, and surveyed the possible battlefields in Ukraine.)
That’s as much as I know about it, but those with more knowledge may want to fill the rest of us in on what is happening in the air.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:15 pmcorrection: drones and “planes”
Jim Miller (406a93) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:15 pmThe Canadian trucker industrial sabotage is just one more attack on the West’s economy by the Communist China Fifth Column. And it’s hard to tell which are the actual Chicom agents and which are the useful idiots culled from Trump’s donor lists.
What? Where? Who? Where you getting that from, “MrJimm”?
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:26 pmFurthermore, Rahm Emanuel was neither the only one nor the last to “not let a crisis go to waste”. I have no doubt that any number of “Nigerian Princes”, foreign and domestic, are trying to collect money on the claim that it’s going to the truckers who’ll be lucky if they get a tube of Preparation H in the end.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:32 pmThe US has a plan to put 10 divisions of US troops into Germany and Poland in “40 days” during the Cold War. They ran an exercise each year, until 1991, moving only 1 division in a week or two, as they rehearsed and tested the plan.
It’s time to see how fast we can move a division into Germany or Poland, in case we have to.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:37 pmIt’s time to see how fast we can move a division into Germany or Poland, in case we have to.
We?
When the quality of life is better in Dusseldorf than Detroit; or Warsaw than Wichita, through 100 years of two world wars and a Cold War bailing their asses out, it’s past TIME we let Poland and helmet sending Germany to “fight” for themselves.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:05 pmMmm…yes, I suppose. But it doesn’t always do the best job of protecting its citizens’ essential freedoms, like speech and religion. I think that may be partly because the Canadians seem to be confused over where those freedoms originate. (A friendly hint to our Nice Northern Neighbors: it’s not the government, and it’s not the state.)
Demosthenes (3fd56e) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:11 pmTotalitarian states are almost always shot through with racism.
Demosthenes (3fd56e) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:14 pmnk (1d9030): Is this good enough for you? You progressives don’t get much real-world news, do you? You’re probably all upset that the workers of world are finally uniting.
“After crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo was hacked over the weekend and information was leaked about who had donated to the Canadian truckers’ freedom convoy, the CBC and CTV both began contacting those donors. Now the Washington Post has joined their ranks and are contacting people to ask why they donated.
An email shared by journalist Saagar Enjeti appeared to be by a reporter with the Washington Post, who said they were “writing about leaked data on GiveSendGo contributions to the trucker convoy in Canada.
“Your name and email address are associated with a $40 contribution. Could you please tell me if this matches your records, and either call or reply to this email to share what motivated you to contribute to the campaign?” https://thepostmillennial.com/washington-post-seeks-to-dox-and-shame-donors-to-canadian-freedom-protesters
“Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland: “The names of both individuals and entities as well as crypto wallets have been shared by the RCMP with financial institutions and accounts have been frozen and more accounts will be frozen.” https://twitter.com/TrueNorthCentre/status/1494358600080404481
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:26 pmnk (1d9030): Is this good enough for you?
No, it’s not good enough for me. I think it’s Chicom dezinformatsiya.
You progressives don’t get much real-world news, do you?
Nobody does. The lizard overlords control all the news we receive with microchips implanted in the brains of everyone who works in news media from their secret base in the Himalayas.
You’re probably all upset that the workers of world are finally uniting.
Have you heard of the Teamsters? UAW? UFCW? AFL-CIO? NEA? SEIU? AFSCME?
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:46 pmnk (1d9030): and as for doxing the BLM supporters, why bother? They’ve all doxed themselves. There’s a whole list of brands I’ll never purchase again – Coke, Gillette, and the Salvation Army will never see a dime from me again.
Tell me – do you think the Democrats will learn anything from the School Board recall election in San Francisco this week? But I’ll bet almost anything you haven’t heard a word about it. A 3 to 1 margin to recall 3 left-wingers – must be all those “useful idiots culled from Trump’s donor lists” that live in S.F. today. I myself think the Dems are stupid enough to dox themselves into oblivion this November.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:49 pmApologies to Paul Terry:
‘Mr. Biden never hangs around,
when he hears this Mighty sound,
Here I come to save the day!
That means that Hill-a-ry is on the way!
Yes sir, when there is a wrong to right,
Hill-a-ry will join the fight!
On the sea or on the land,
She sees an opportunity is at hand!
We know that when there’s danger, we’ll never despair;
Because we know that when there’s danger she is there…
On the land on the sea in the air.
We’re not worrying at all
We just listen for her call
“Here I come to save the day!”
That means that Hill-a-ry is on the way.
When there is a wrong to right,
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:50 pmHill-a-ry will join the fight
“Here I come to save the day!”
That means that Hill-a-ry is on the way!’
Tell me – do you think the Democrats will learn anything from the School Board recall election in San Francisco this week? But I’ll bet almost anything you haven’t heard a word about it.
So you are a bot after all. The pre penultimate (that’s the third one back) post on this site is all about the San Francisco school board recall.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:53 pm” I think it’s Chicom dezinformatsiya.” Could be. The Chinese pretty much own Biden, after all.
So do the Russians. Why else would Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline, and make America dependent on foreign oil again, not to mention make oil more expensive, both of which benefit Putin, and neither of which benefits Americans in any way.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 8:56 pmThe Keystone pipeline was to carry Canadian oil to Atlantic warm water ports for trans-shipment overseas. No United States of America oil to United States distilleries for United States consumption.
You are a bot spreading dezinformatsiya.
nk (1d9030) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:01 pmBut will the Dems learn anything from it? Or, more likely, will they double down on it, and insist that ‘Parents should have no say in how their children should be educated.”
The Teachers’ Unions have overplayed their hand this year, and parents around the country are catching on that it’s not about the children’s well-being, it’s about the teachers’ comfort zone, and the Dems are owned by the Teachers, and the inner-city parents are starting to ask some serious questions about school choice… and the Dems are just now starting to notice what their internal polls are looking like.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:09 pm“The Keystone pipeline was to carry Canadian oil to Atlantic warm water ports for trans-shipment overseas”
I call bulls**t on that – the Canadian oil is fresh out of the ground, and there’s no point in shipping it overseas to be refined when we have plenty of refining capacity here in the U.S., not to mention plenty of domestic demand for the finished product.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:16 pmnk (1d9030): Good night, sir or madame – until we meet again, perhaps in the morning.
MrJimm (b777b8) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:19 pmBlocking MrJimm means I have a lot fewer comments to read, and makes the thread more peaceful. Win-win.
Demosthenes (3fd56e) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:41 pmPaul Montagu (5de684) — 2/17/2022 @ 3:37 pm
Well done, sir. Good, hard laugh!
norcal (2c7427) — 2/17/2022 @ 9:53 pm@51. Totalitarian states are almost always shot through with racism.
More like a shot of coffee liqueur: the traditional cocktail known as a Black Russian, which first appeared in 1949, becomes a White Russian with the addition of cream.
Black Russian; White Russian.
Choose.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:41 pm‘…when we have plenty of refining capacity here in the U.S…’
Not really. Bad case of ‘American NIMBY’ on that one. My late father worked w/Marathon Oil and the last major refinery was built by them in Louisiana back in ’76/’77. It was a real issue in the industry then with rising domestic demand. Recall him making several trips down there – and to Washington about it- at the time when ‘supertankers’ were then “new” and offshore terminals were beginning to be used to offload product to smaller tankers or pipeline it ashore in flexible pipelines for refining. Environmentalist had their knickers in a twist over possible hazards w/U.S. coastal operations. Hence a lot of product was partially or fully refined in Rotterdam, off-loaded to smaller tankers there then trafficked to the U.S. for product delivery. Such is the oil biz.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/17/2022 @ 10:58 pmA lot of people including russians don’t like putin. During the spanish civil war the abraham lincoln brigade became famous ;but their were brigades from all over europe including german and italian fighters. Anarchist guerrilla columns were famous for fighting the fascists. The battle of the warsaw ghetto is famous for its desperate fighting. The flying tigers (A.V.G.) Ever see the movie battle of algeirs. Is paris burning is another good one. Both russia and america tried in afganistan against muslim warriors from around the world. Too bad biden is a senile old fool beholding to his corporate masters or ukraine could be out fitted with a guerrilla army and volunteers like korea at the chosen reservoir with chinese volunteers. This would make putin think twice.
asset (13e0b9) — 2/18/2022 @ 12:58 amInteresting, according to wikipedia around 200 soviet jets and military helicopters were shot down during the afghan war. The cheap hand held stinger missiles caused the russian airforce to essentially fly to high too offer ground attack, which directly lead to the end of the soviet adventure.
The ukraine has thousands of hand held launched anti air and anti armor missiles. In all militaries ordinance is trying to obsolete main battle systems and large expensive weapons such as aircraft carriers with cheap plentiful infantry fired weapons. The balance between fire and forget missiles and tank armor will be on display, the cheapness of a 10,000 USD anti armor round vs a 13 million dollar state of the art tank is going to be put to the test.
Can Putin hide military losses? Has the buildup caused an invincibility expectation among his supporters? I hope we dont find out
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 2/18/2022 @ 5:53 amThe most potent weapon will be the freezing of kleptocrat bank accounts in Western banks, and the money used to pay for the weapons NATO is supplying to Ukraine and for reparations to Ukraine itself.
nk (1d9030) — 2/18/2022 @ 6:09 amhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin
I was wrong abot the cost they are 174K not 10K
Ukraine had 1200 as of two years ago, I think Biden doubled the number to 2400
The JAvelin is a frighteningly effective weapon specifically designed to knockout soviet tanks in a violent swirling battlefield
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 2/18/2022 @ 6:12 amnk,
true,
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 2/18/2022 @ 6:12 amGood Politico article. Putin’s Declaration of Separation From the West was in Munich, 2007.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/18/2022 @ 7:01 amI’ve seen a hard-right “intellectual” claim that Putin has been made into a bogeyman by “Western liberals” because they “misunderstand” his aims, which are really only to restore the Russian Orthodox Church to glory and to save the historic Russian civilization from the curse of “liberalism” that America has been imposing on the rest of the world.
In this paleocon thinking, if Russian rulers impose a certain concept of Russianness on neighboring peoples (and on inhabitants of Russia), that’s just a matter of protecting Russian cultural integrity from “liberal” decadence. But if a nation in the vicinity of Russia orients itself somewhat more with western European democracy than with Russian autocracy, that means it’s been made subservient to U.S.-dominated “liberal” internationalism.
Radegunda (c970ff) — 2/18/2022 @ 7:56 am#39
Its more complicated than BLM.
steveg (e81d76) — 2/18/2022 @ 8:11 amThis is a trade issue that directly impacts US person/corporations exports.
A Canadian trucker hauls goods into US and out of US back to Canada.
44. Jim Miller (406a93) — 2/17/2022 @ 7:15 pm
Thatwould be because the U.S. is afraid that if they used airplanes, they could be shot down and it also means that (because the planes are better than the drones) the U.S. is operating on the assumption that war could break out at any time (even though they think it would take 48 hours from the point where Vladimir Putin gives the final order till Russian troops cross the border. (And other things would happen first.)
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/18/2022 @ 8:16 amIf Trudeau sent money to BLM in USA can we have the 82 Airborne seize Swastika, Canada and demand it is renamed?
steveg (e81d76) — 2/18/2022 @ 8:17 amSend the Code Pink ladies to scold the Mayor of Dildo, Canada because of the appropriation
A lawyer formerly associated with the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign – and the attempt to jump start an investigation of Trump – has been hired to clean up the accounting mess at the BLM charity.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/17/blm-hires-clinton-aide-marc-elias-who-paid-for-steele-dossier
There are a number of independent BLM organizatons or splinters.
Sammy Finkelman (46ec7d) — 2/18/2022 @ 8:41 amI call bulls**t on that – the Canadian oil is fresh out of the ground, and there’s no point in shipping it overseas to be refined when we have plenty of refining capacity here in the U.S., not to mention plenty of domestic demand for the finished product.
Source. Footnotes omitted.
The Alberta oil sands are strip mined, not pumped from the ground. The resulting slurry was to be refined in the US.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/18/2022 @ 9:03 amThe Chinese pretty much own Biden, after all.
I thought the Bidens were owned by the Ukrainians?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/18/2022 @ 9:04 amTen Reasons Why Keystone XL Doesn’t Matter So Much Any More
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/18/2022 @ 9:12 amUkrainian rebels evacuate civilians to Russia amid crisis
………
Separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that form Ukraine’s industrial heartland called the Donbas announced they are evacuating civilians to Russia starting Friday afternoon. The announcement appeared to be part of Moscow’s efforts to counter Western warnings of a Russian invasion, and paint Ukraine as the aggressor instead.
Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk rebel government, said women, children and the elderly will be evacuated first, and that Russia has prepared facilities for them. Pushilin alleged in a video statement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was going to order an imminent offensive in the area.
Shortly after his statement, authorities began moving children from an orphanage in Donetsk, and other residents boarded buses for Russia. Long lines formed at gas stations as more people prepared to leave on their own.
Putin ordered his emergencies minister to fly to the Rostov region bordering Ukraine to help organize the exodus and ordered the government to offer a payment of 10,000 rubles (about $130) to each evacuee, equivalent to about half of an average monthly salary in the war-ravaged Donbas.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/18/2022 @ 9:19 am……….
Michael McFaul has a couple of good threads. The first is his answer to Mearsheimer-Walt of the “realist” camp. The second is about Putin and NATO.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/18/2022 @ 9:22 amNo, it’s the Russians. Gosh, Rip, get it right! Kayleigh Whats-Her-Face has told me there will be a quiz later!
Demosthenes (3fd56e) — 2/19/2022 @ 7:24 pm