Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

Nenonen: Oct 22, 2009; Mulla on aina kolkyt donaa taskussa

I know, I know, it's a joke, but I just want to remind that EU and EBU have no relation.

According to the release, the decision's got nothing to do with Eurovision either. BTRC broadcast a 'confession' video of a man with obvious bruises from torture, which apparently is a bit too much.

# ? May 28, 2021 17:39

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# ? May 16, 2024 15:23

Not So Fast: Dec 27, 2007

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

https://twitter.com/NA7AL13/status/1398263777896902658

https://twitter.com/ThatEuroSite/status/1398281150007808004

No more Eurovision for Belarus

Why on earth would they suspend Belarus, but not Russia or Israel.

# ? May 28, 2021 17:48

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

It is with deep distress that I return, 2000 posts later, to chronicle my life in the epicentre of combat gays� onslaught on Belarus.

# ? May 28, 2021 18:03

Nenonen: Oct 22, 2009; Mulla on aina kolkyt donaa taskussa

Not So Fast posted:

Why on earth would they suspend Belarus, but not Russia or Israel.

Do you have something concrete on OTR or IPBC for which they should be suspended?

# ? May 28, 2021 18:41

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

cinci zoo sniper posted:

It is with deep distress that I return, 2000 posts later, to chronicle my life in the epicentre of combat gays� onslaught on Belarus.

Welcome back.

# ? May 28, 2021 18:48

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Eastern Europe: epicentre of the combat gays� onslaught

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 19:05 on May 28, 2021

# ? May 28, 2021 18:49

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Discendo Vox posted:

Eastern Europe: the epicentre of combat gays� onslaught

# ? May 28, 2021 18:52

Tevery Best: Oct 11, 2013; Hewlo Furriend

Torrannor posted:

Don't know about that decision. Eurovision should be for everybody

And it's not like this will hurt Batka one bit.

Gentle reminder that Belarus was kicked out this year because they submitted a literal jackboot-licking anthem about how the protests against Dear Leader are illegitimate and wrong.

And when given a chance to replace it, they sent in another one.

# ? May 28, 2021 20:55

Erulisse: Feb 12, 2019; A bad poster trying to get better.

Discendo Vox posted:

Eastern Europe: epicentre of the combat gays� onslaught

# ? May 28, 2021 21:34

Paladinus: Jan 11, 2014; heyHEYYYY!!!

Tevery Best posted:

Gentle reminder that Belarus was kicked out this year because they submitted a literal jackboot-licking anthem about how the protests against Dear Leader are illegitimate and wrong.

And when given a chance to replace it, they sent in another one.

Well, to be fair, they were slightly more subtle than that. I would even say more subtle than this entry from 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5u6J_mbhLU

Still, obviously the right decision on Eurovision's part.

# ? May 28, 2021 21:38

Torrannor: Apr 27, 2013; ---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

Discendo Vox posted:

Eastern Europe: epicentre of the combat gays� onslaught

This!

# ? May 28, 2021 22:40

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I would be honored to be the source of three separate gay military themed Eastern Europe thread titles.

# ? May 29, 2021 00:00

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Excellent shiny new thread title. Thank you cinci zoo sniper

# ? May 29, 2021 00:08

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

Lukashenko got so triggered by mayor of Riga replacing Belarus flag with the historical one at world hockey championship arena (it�s happening here this year), that they�ve already announced criminal cases against the mayor of Riga and our minister of foreign affairs, for incitement of ethnic hatred. I�m excited to follow this circus developing further.

# ? May 29, 2021 01:30

Qtotonibudinibudet: Nov 7, 2011; Omich poluyobok, skazhi ty narkoman? ya prosto tozhe gde to tam zhivu, mogli by vmeste uyobyvat' narkotiki

when will the the hatred between the combat gay and potash dictator ethnicities subside

# ? May 29, 2021 01:34

OddObserver: Apr 3, 2009

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Lukashenko got so triggered by mayor of Riga replacing Belarus flag with the historical one at world hockey championship arena (it�s happening here this year), that they�ve already announced criminal cases against the mayor of Riga and our minister of foreign affairs, for incitement of ethnic hatred. I�m excited to follow this circus developing further.

Are they gonna open a case against the UK hockey team, too?

# ? May 29, 2021 01:44

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

The mayor of Riga will need be mindful of mode of travel and how close they travel past Belarus in the future.

# ? May 29, 2021 06:00

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

OddObserver posted:

Are they gonna open a case against the UK hockey team, too?

At the current rate of their increasingly hysterical flailing that Belarus is a real man, I wouldn't blink too much if they sue Lithuanian grass for being greener.

More seriously speaking, however, I'm curious to see how much further the sanctions will go, and which EU member state called Slovenia will torpedo any serious effort.

E: Nice, Golunov�s case has been resolved with bunch of involved cops getting prison time for setting up drugs.

cinci zoo sniper fucked around with this message at 11:03 on May 29, 2021

# ? May 29, 2021 10:13

barbecue at the folks: Jul 20, 2007

Von der Leyen just promised �3bn funding for Belarus if they transition to democracy i.e. overthrow Lukashenka, and more sanctions if they don't, here's the obligatory Guardian link https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/eu-pledges-funding-belarus-transition-democracy Probably won't work but still a lot more effective than any amount of military dickwaving, in any case.

# ? May 29, 2021 11:20

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

barbecue at the folks posted:

Von der Leyen just promised �3bn funding for Belarus if they transition to democracy i.e. overthrow Lukashenka, and more sanctions if they don't, here's the obligatory Guardian link https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/eu-pledges-funding-belarus-transition-democracy Probably won't work but still a lot more effective than any amount of military dickwaving, in any case.

One of their opposition guys here has announced �11m bounty fundraiser for Lukashenko�s arrest. The speculation is that this is an attempt to buy a disgruntled officer in protective services. They�re at �73k atm.

https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/arz...arestu.a406592/

# ? May 29, 2021 16:12

wisconsingreg: Jan 13, 2019

steven seagal has official joined just russia

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/may/30/hollywood-actor-steven-seagal-joins-pro-kremlin-party

wisconsingreg fucked around with this message at 09:07 on May 31, 2021

# ? May 31, 2021 09:01

wisconsingreg: Jan 13, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXPoNRtUIiE

thank you steven,

please do not sell the american secret about how you are so damp to the russians

wisconsingreg fucked around with this message at 09:08 on May 31, 2021

# ? May 31, 2021 09:04

frankenfreak: Feb 16, 2007; I SCORED 85% ON A QUIZ ABOUT MONDAY NIGHT RAW AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY TEXT

#bastionboogerbrigade

Paladinus posted:

Well, to be fair, they were slightly more subtle than that. I would even say more subtle than this entry from 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5u6J_mbhLU

Still, obviously the right decision on Eurovision's part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frhQMuyH0lg

# ? May 31, 2021 11:44

Darkrenown: Jul 18, 2012; please give me anything to talk about besides the fact that democrats are allowing millions of americans to be evicted from their homes

I guess Russia started blocking EU flights and this got them counter-blocked and they abandoned the scheme?
https://apnews.com/article/germany-russia-europe-airlines-business-4647a2173775262d17e0dc2fca15b064

# ? Jun 3, 2021 00:41

Mokotow: Apr 16, 2012

Air France and Lufthansa had some of their flights to Moscow blocked. Seems to be ok now and I�m seeying an AF flight landing in Moscow. I think they were either testing out waters and sending warning shots in case of a wider EU ban.

While looking into that, I noticed all Russian planes avoiding Ukraine, and I�m pretty sure that wasn�t the case a few days ago, when flights from Egypt to St. Petersburg would fly over Kiev and Belarus.

# ? Jun 3, 2021 12:01

fatherboxx: Mar 25, 2013

https://twitter.com/mjluxmoore/status/1400510831603949577

Very normal video of very normal Protasevich with a normal face and wrist marks

Lukashenko and his jackals are deeply sick men, just kolkhoz isis

# ? Jun 4, 2021 15:10

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

fatherboxx posted:

https://twitter.com/mjluxmoore/status/1400510831603949577

Very normal video of very normal Protasevich with a normal face and wrist marks

Lukashenko and his jackals are deeply sick men, just kolkhoz isis

loving hell. Kolkhoz ISIS would�ve been really funny, were it not actually appropriate.

E: Belarus has also attempted to interfere with Lithuania�s diplomatic correspondence. Thankfully unsuccessfully. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/arzemes/baltkrievija-aiztur-auto-ar-lietuvas-diplomatisko-pastu.a407618/

cinci zoo sniper fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Jun 4, 2021

# ? Jun 4, 2021 15:51

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

I hope that having the dude admit on camera after torture that Luka has Balls of Steel at least puts the death penalty off the table

cinci zoo sniper posted:

E: Belarus has also attempted to interfere with Lithuania�s diplomatic correspondence. Thankfully unsuccessfully. https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/arzemes/baltkrievija-aiztur-auto-ar-lietuvas-diplomatisko-pastu.a407618/

In addition there are now reports of tens of people crossing into Lithuania illegally every night, they are being detained... Not sure what is going to happen with this

There's a short interview on RBC with Deripaska that gives some insight into the mindset of the billionaire sycophants Putin put around himself (Putin should rule at least until 2030, west is hurting us billionaire poor average folk)

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/04/06/2021/60ba4f219a794725ecc611b7
(google translated for the forum)

quote:

In an interview with RBC, Deripaska admitted that Western sanctions are "terrible and effective." But Russia, unlike Western countries, has a "different historical reality", he is sure
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has carte blanche to govern the country for at least the next nine years. And even the sanctions pressure from the West cannot influence this, the founder of the Rusal company said in an interview with RBC on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
(...)
In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it. �
They are trying to punish us now. The Americans have armed their financial system. The sanctions are terrible, effective, they seriously tormented not only me, but also my enterprises that I created, and those enterprises that worked with our companies, and the regions. But we see that this is a process that has its boundaries, its own capabilities, "said the billionaire, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $ 4.6 billion.

In December 2020, the Kremlin agreed with Deripaska's assessment of the sanctions. The businessman wrote that the restrictions inflict no less damage on the civilian population than the armed clashes.
�If you think more closely, sanctions are a weapon of the most real modern hybrid warfare. By the way, there is nothing better than the same bombing of our cities or a direct attack on our border lines. Even, perhaps, causing greater damage to the civilian population, "- wrote the billionaire.
After that, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said: "You can agree with him - this is really a kind of hybrid war."

So more of the same abusive gopnik dad mentality "it's the west hurting us, we are forced to impoverish our own population and give what they have to the the peaceful civilian billionaires, is there no limit to the evils of the western capitalist"

I am guessing the Biden administration recognizes the insane level of confrontation and hostility, the sanctions are working to keep a lid on Russia but not terrorist activity, so now grandpa is trying to do a meeting to cool thigns down but unless he makes concessions he's just going to get pissed on like Borrell and Trump before that

Somaen fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jun 5, 2021

# ? Jun 5, 2021 06:18

Erulisse: Feb 12, 2019; A bad poster trying to get better.

As a resident of russia I'm more interested in the sudden increase in Deripaska's political statements. So he's either is sucking dick for more of the ~~taxpayer's~~ state budget monies or they are preparing him for an official post or seat at the lol "senate"

# ? Jun 5, 2021 07:32

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

https://www.dw.com/en/nord-stream-2-first-section-of-pipeline-is-complete-putin-says/a-57780732

Without much fanfare, Nord Stream 2 is ready to go.

Erulisse posted:

As a resident of russia I'm more interested in the sudden increase in Deripaska's political statements. So he's either is sucking dick for more of the ~~taxpayer's~~ state budget monies or they are preparing him for an official post or seat at the lol "senate"

I think he needs a cash infusion after some of the more recent sanctions. Rusal got hit fairly well, if I remember correctly.

# ? Jun 5, 2021 10:51

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Erulisse posted:

As a resident of russia I'm more interested in the sudden increase in Deripaska's political statements. So he's either is sucking dick for more of the ~~taxpayer's~~ state budget monies or they are preparing him for an official post or seat at the lol "senate"

I hope it's a sign that the sanctions are hurting, since he has been involved in political investments for a while just keeping quuiet, including trying to build aluminium plants in the US in republican states. But no doubt he 100% believes what he says, the russian elite loves their conspiracies, I wonder if Yakunin is still retired in Europe and writing articles about the jew-mason control of the world and the special path of the motherland

Super interesting interview with Andrei Soldatov, a journalist with a focus on the post-soviet secret services who has been following their evolution:

https://m.delfi.lt/ru/news/article.php?id=87380135
(google translated from russian)

quote:

- Was the Belarusian KGB capable of doing this alone, or was it clearly not without "help", or perhaps without the supervision of colleagues from the FSB?

- You know, what we have been observing over the past two years is an unprecedentedly close cooperation between the special services of Russia and Belarus. It went through different periods of its long history. It all started with some kind of personal contacts at the level of employees who remained from the times of the allied KGB, then there were different stages when, perhaps, this friendship was not very welcomed. But for the past two years, it's amazing how this collaboration has come. Take the same example with the April abduction of two Belarusian political scientists in Moscow. It was a joint operation. Such operations had not been carried out by two special services before.

We know that for almost 15 years some rules have been worked out according to which the inhabitants of Central Asia were kidnapped on the territory of Russia. And this was within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - that's what the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is called. They practiced some similar operations and carried them out. Then we saw that people began to disappear from the territory of Russia, whom the Chinese special services really wanted to get their hands on. But this was not the case with the Belarusian special services. And this is the first time we see it.

In addition, we are well aware that this is not the story of two departments that agreed with each other. We see that Vladimir Putin personally somehow participates in this. Let me remind you that just a few weeks ago, when he delivered his message to parliament, everyone was afraid that he would talk about Ukraine, followed by another escalation. Instead, he spoke about Belarus, about Lukashenka. That is, it is obvious that the level of cooperation, the level of information exchange, operational practices is now absolutely unprecedented and very close.

- It was reported that the target could still be Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. And a number of indirect evidence of this has already appeared. Should we seriously consider this version?

- I think yes, it is quite possible. In fact, it seems that something important happened about 1.5-2 years ago, which we still do not fully understand. Both in Russia and in Belarus. It seems that these two regimes decided to change the rules and the framework in which they operated. And in my area, in the area of the special services, we also observe this. Moreover, even now it is not clear where this framework is, because it continues to expand. And we do not know where and at what moment they will stop, and what will be acceptable for them and what will not. Therefore, in such a situation, we can admit absolutely everything, up to the fact that the kidnapping of Tikhanovskaya was planned.

- What can you say about the dynamics of changes in the special services from the Soviet KGB to the Russian FSB and the Belarusian KGB today?

- Indeed, we can say that the functionality of the special services is changing. And here I would give a different timeline: this is not two years, but the last five years, if we talk about Russia. I would say that for quite a long time, namely, the first fifteen years of his reign, Vladimir Putin adhered to the model of the "new nobility". The point is that its special services will be built on the basis of the Soviet KGB, but they will differ in functionality and tasks. However, their powers in some ways will even be broader, since they will not have any party control, they will be engaged in the fight against terrorism (in Soviet times, this was clearly not the main task). Plus, in these first 10-15 years of Putin's rule, the special services themselves also viewed themselves as the "new nobility" because they also intervened in ideological issues.

This has changed in the last five years. The functionality of the special services has seriously changed and even narrowed. It began to resemble more the functionality of the KGB. The KGB in Soviet society performed two tasks: 1) using spy mania to intimidate ordinary people; 2) using targeted repression intimidated the elite and bureaucracy. This is what the FSB is doing now. Especially targeted repressions, which sometimes hit the special services themselves.

Vladimir Putin makes it clear to them that they are not omnipotent, and they are not outside the equation. Let me remind you that FSB officers have already been imprisoned, which was absolutely impossible to imagine 5-7 years ago. And they do it sometimes demonstratively. Once a general of the FSB, the former commander of Vympel, fell under repression. And this is the most famous counter-terrorism unit within the FSB. That is, we are seeing a rather interesting picture, indicating that Vladimir Putin at some point became disillusioned with these postmodern games and decided to return directly to what he remembers and knew from the 1980s: spy mania, repression, intimidation, use of surveillance and surveillance on a very large scale. I would say that these are the most important and very dynamic changes that we are seeing.

- You just talked about the functionality. And if we talk about the quality of the work of the special services, then the dynamics is going towards degradation or improvement, in terms of the goals that they set for themselves?

- This is a very important question, because from the outside we can reassure ourselves that they are not so smart, they are not so professional, they are constantly pierced, their operations are constantly exposed both domestically and abroad. But we must not deceive ourselves. We must consider their effectiveness from their point of view, from their position. And their position is very simple: if it serves the main goal of political stability, then the mistakes they make will still serve this purpose. Because it all helps to intimidate people even more. We observed this when we wrote the book "Ours Among Strangers. Political Emigrants and the Kremlin: Compatriots, Agents and Enemies of the Regime".

I remember very well when we talked with the pro-Kremlin oligarchs, and with those who have already left, and with officers, and with officials, and even with clergy. And at some stage, each of them asked a question about the Skripals: why? Because they all realized that the rules had changed, and now the special services can use such methods. And this must be taken into account in your life and in your work. This is, of course, a very effective way of communicating this signal to society.

Navalny is being poisoned and the same thing: people, on the one hand, say that the special services are behaving incompetently, and on the other hand, they are beginning to be more afraid. Therefore, from their point of view, from the point of view of the special services, they are quite effective.

- From the same logic of the special services, the operation with the arrest of Roman Protasevich is successful, despite some anecdotal things, such as a letter on behalf of Hamas?

- I'm afraid so. They just showed that it is now possible to do such things. I will repeat again that the frames have moved apart again. And to what extent they will move apart is unclear. It is clear that in such a situation, people automatically begin to behave more cautiously. What else is there to do?

- I would like to talk a little more about the psychology of the Chekist. Ordinary employees simply follow orders from above, or do they firmly believe that they are acting for the safety of the fatherland?

- This is an interesting question. The fact is that over these 20 years, several generations of intelligence officers have changed. And now the generation that caught the 90s either went into the stratosphere (that is, to such high positions that the average staff does not communicate with them or communicates extremely rarely), or retire. People in the 1990s were forced to ask themselves some uncomfortable questions. Namely: to what extent should they remain loyal to the service, whether or not their boss surrenders or does not surrender them, whether the president surrenders or does not surrender them, can such a situation happen that a regime change will take place and they will be called to account. Life itself made them do it. They asked themselves all these uncomfortable questions. The memory of these questions remained with them. And I remember very well that many of them somehow thought about these answers, at least from the point of view of personal safety. And this inevitably expanded their horizon. They were forced to answer themselves to questions such as: what would they like - China, the Soviet Union or some mythical Russian Empire? They had to play it in their heads.

Because of this, many strange things were happening at that time. For example, in regional administrations, people loved some pagan theories, there were many crazy hoaxes. People wondered when things went wrong in Russia. Maybe it all started with the adoption of Christianity.

The current generation is people who grew up under Vladimir Putin, who have not experienced such crises. That is, roughly speaking, they had no reason to ask themselves such questions. This formed a very narrow corridor thinking in them. The current generation of 30-40-year-old officers lives inside the department. Their main task is to make their immediate supervisor happy with them. And outside of this room in which they exist, they do not think about anything. Of course, if you ask them a question about ideology, they will immediately dump you a certain amount of words and clich�s about the country that is surrounded by enemies. But it will be absolutely obvious that they have never seriously asked themselves these questions and are not going to ask them. Therefore, I would say that, paradoxically, now there is no ideology at all in the special services.

- The day after the arrest of Roman Protasevich, we saw a short video with him, where he confesses to the charges and says that he is cooperating with the investigation. One of the Lithuanian professors made his own small analysis of this short video and, based on a number of signs, came to the conclusion that Roman was beaten and, most likely, tortured with electric shock. If we talk about the practice of the Soviet special services in conducting interrogation and knocking out testimonies, how have they changed?

- It's hard for me to judge by the picture. I am not an expert to draw such far-reaching conclusions. I can only say that what the KGB was good at was using psychological pressure. It was successful and effective largely because there were still people in the USSR who remembered Stalin. And this terrible experience of Stalinism continued to exert strong psychological pressure on them, they were still very scared. They remembered that it could be much worse and that the situation could change back to the mid-1930s. They felt it with their skin. Therefore, in the 1980s, there was no need to resort to terrible torture, you could just remind people a little that tightening is possible. This is exactly what Andropov did when he became general secretary.

The second point, which the KGB did well, was that they showed that people who resist are isolated and in the minority. It was very effective.

Well, and the third moment, which has always been used - the KGB very quickly realized that they needed to hit families and loved ones. The same moment is used now. For example, have you ever wondered why there were so many regional divisions in the Soviet KGB? It would seem that there is one powerful special service, it sits on the Lubyanka. There are some other buildings. Why set up KGB departments in every district of Moscow? And it was all over the place. The goal of these regional city departments was not to capture terrorists, but to establish good working relationships with kindergartens, clinics and schools. What for? Suppose you have a dissident who has a child attending kindergarten and a child attending school, and he also has a wife who attends a health center. And if necessary, the KGB could well show that in all these institutions the relatives of the dissident would have problems.

We now see that they have returned to this method. For example, on the organization of Navalny, where Ivan Zhdanov's father went to prison. They start hitting relatives, and this is a very "good" tactic. In the case of Belarusian dissidents, the picture is even more favorable for the special services, because a huge number are located on the territory of the country. Therefore, it is not necessary to use super-violent techniques. A person, getting into the KGB, already automatically completes the construction of what can happen to his loved ones, and that is already enough.

- The authorities of Lithuania and Poland said that Belarusian dissidents, emigrants and political refugees should be on their guard, take care of their safety and post as little information about themselves on social networks as possible. This is explained by the fact that the Lukashenka regime is unpredictable and it is not known what steps it is capable of. In your opinion, are the Belarusian special services capable of eliminating their opponents abroad?

- Good question. I would say that this warning makes sense because we don't know where the frames and boundaries are. In addition, there is a wonderful neighbor nearby in Russia, where we observe an exchange of practices between various power structures. We in Russia also thought earlier that there are some methods that only Kadyrov would use and he has a monopoly on these methods. Well, for example, the elimination of their dissidents abroad. Now we see that this is not the case.

Then we see that Kadyrov invented the practice of publicly apologizing and humiliating his opponents. And from this year on, the practice of public apologies began to be used by quite normal, seemingly, internal affairs departments in the central regions of Russia, where there are no Chechen security officials anywhere near. That is, we see a constant exchange of practices.

I cannot completely rule out the possibility that the Belarusian security forces will not look at Russia and say: why not do something similar?

- How, then, to protect yourself?

- I think that really, continuing your public activity on social networks, do not post there information about which school and which store you went to with your family. Any personal information that is on social networks can be used to find out where you are and put pressure on you or your loved ones. I'm not even talking about more radical methods. This is the first rule that people often take lightly. Perhaps, due to some inertia, it seems to us that the post-Soviet special services are extremely slow to adapt to the digital world. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. They are, of course, slow, but by 2021 they already figured out how to do it. Moreover, both Belarusian and Russian special services. So yes, be careful on social media. Because the amount of information that we share about ourselves, no special service will ever collect.

# ? Jun 6, 2021 06:34

WAR CRIME GIGOLO: Oct 3, 2012; The Hague
tryna get me
for these glutes

I infact stated that the Russians were Involved in this many a page ago.

# ? Jun 6, 2021 08:22

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

President Biden invited President Zelensky to the White House later this summer. Zelensky begged Biden to visit him before June 16th because NS2 is a serious security threat.

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/1401671564492484610

# ? Jun 7, 2021 22:22

Paladinus: Jan 11, 2014; heyHEYYYY!!!

I don't know, stuff like this doesn't play well at home normally. Surely, he could have reached out to Biden privately through official channels.

# ? Jun 7, 2021 22:54

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

Paladinus posted:

I don't know, stuff like this doesn't play well at home normally. Surely, he could have reached out to Biden privately through official channels.

Yes, but also NS2 puts them in quite dire straits. It may very well be the case that NS2 economic impact on Ukraine could alone sink his political ambitions, and this is just genuine desperation. That said, I do remember a fair amount of news reports of him trying to reach Biden through various channels, but to no avail. One understandable factor for that was Biden focusing on domestic politics, but another, way less fortunate for him, is Germany�s current role in the continental politics. US wants EU for trade tandem vs China, while Germany�s centre-right wants NS2 - with U.K. and Merkel both retiring from EU, and after 4 years of Trump, managing their relationship with Germany is Biden�s by far first and foremost priority in Europe.

I�d say Zelensky could only be between rock and a harder place if Russia was invading again.

# ? Jun 8, 2021 01:09

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Joe biden wake up. Joe biden wake up.

# ? Jun 8, 2021 06:31

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

Apparently, Zelensky�s administration did also manage to make up some sense of NATO membership progress.

# ? Jun 8, 2021 08:38

Torrannor: Apr 27, 2013; ---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

Can NS2 even really be stopped? As far as I know, something like 95% of the work is already done. I'd guess there's a Russian company that can complete that last bit which won't fear US sanctions/is already sanctioned?

# ? Jun 8, 2021 08:43

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

Torrannor posted:

Can NS2 even really be stopped? As far as I know, something like 95% of the work is already done. I'd guess there's a Russian company that can complete that last bit which won't fear US sanctions/is already sanctioned?

It�s already done, I linked to that a few posts ago.

# ? Jun 8, 2021 08:54

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# ? May 16, 2024 15:23

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Somebody could blow it up, not that I'd advocate such a thing

# ? Jun 8, 2021 09:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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