gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/JosephNewDealer/status/1682554098778873856?t=RXJDHnpXjQ9y2YLZaAE2aA&s=19

What the gently caress is it with all these posts relitigating the cold war to say that it should have gone hot immediately and to the hilt

mlmp08 posted:

That is also my point. I'm not sure where gradenko found this weirdo and whether the account is trying to actually get traction or just shitposting.

euphronius posted:

those people are so obviously Nazis it can’t be helping them in the long run to parade them around

gradenko_2000 posted:

like maybe this is sheltered of me to say but I've never really been exposed to much antisemitism so hearing that guy just slip it in was a little shocking to me - you hear it, and it's over before you know it, but at the same time the dogwhistle is so clear and undeniable

the dude is not just some Very Online guy that loves to post about Azov battalion, he's very literally a fascist!

Pistol_Pete posted:

I keep hearing about these supposed counter-offensive gains, six weeks after it officially started and reflecting on how the first 48 hours are the most crucial point of a counter-offensive.

Frosted Flake posted:

Pistol_Pete posted:

I keep hearing about these supposed counter-offensive gains, six weeks after it officially started and reflecting on how the first 48 hours are the most crucial point of a counter-offensive.

Frosted Flake posted:

OVERVIEW

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Latin America Studies and Programs Center promotes individual freedom, respect for human rights, and democracy throughout Latin America, but especially Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Our researchers document human rights abuses, support in-region civil society and pro-democracy groups, and educate the American public and U.S. policy makers about the realities on the ground.

PROGRAMS

The Castro regime has developed sophisticated human trafficking and forced labor schemes to exploit the Cuban people, with emphasis on health personnel. The Cuban regime, in collusion with international communist allies, sends Communist Medical Brigades overseas to sell health care services for propaganda purposes. Communist commissaries and secret police agents oversee the Communist Medical Brigades’ workers and regularly confiscate between 75% and 90% of their wages. VOC’s Latin America Programs advocate for the rights of these workers, conducting research on Trafficking in Medical Personnel (TIMP) and providing legal assistance to these victims of communism.

fizzy posted:

Tankies are delusional and drowning in their own copium, as usual. Every day there's reports of Ukraine making steady progress in their counter-offensive while the Russian invaders remain cowering behind their trenches. If Ukraine were so weak and Russia so strong, why are the Russian forces still just staying put and giving up pieces of territory day by day?

quote:

Russian forces in the besieged city are “semi-encircled,” according to Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.

quote:

"Our people expect victories from us. Various victories, symbolic victories," [Syrskyi] added.

quote:

Earlier this month Kyiv said Russian forces in Bakhmut were “trapped” and the city was under Ukrainian fire control.

CODChimera posted:

Ukraine should do that attack into Russia and then flank the entire eastern defences

yeah it probably won't work but it couldn't be any worse than this

fizzy posted:

Tankies are delusional and drowning in their own copium, as usual. Every day there's reports of Ukraine making steady progress in their counter-offensive while the Russian invaders remain cowering behind their trenches. If Ukraine were so weak and Russia so strong, why are the Russian forces still just staying put and giving up pieces of territory day by day?

quote:

Ukraine’s ambassador to UK dismissed after criticising Zelenskiy

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed Ukraine’s ambassador to London after a row over the Ukrainian president being asked to be more grateful for the military help the west was providing to his country.

Vadym Prystaiko’s dismissal was announced in a presidential order, with no official reason being given. He has also been removed as Ukraine’s representative to the International Maritime Organization.

A row between the two men blew up after Prystaiko went on Sky News to question some of Zelenskiy’s behaviour around this month’s Nato summit, including after remarks by the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, suggesting the Ukrainians were treating the west as though it was Amazon.

Prystaiko was asked by Sky News if there was a hint of sarcasm in Zelenskiy’s promise that “each and every morning we’ll wake up and call Ben Wallace to thank him”.

He answered: “I don’t think that kind of sarcasm is healthy. We don’t have to show the Russians there is something between us. They have to know we are working together. If something happens, Ben can call me and tell me everything he wants.”

In the same interview, he pointed out that Britain had begged the US to send troops during the second world war, and in the end they did. But he added: “We are not expecting anyone to fight for us – we are only asking for equipment.”

It is highly unusual for a diplomat to criticise their national leaders in public, but Prystaiko clearly felt damage had been done to the relationship between Ukraine and its closest western partner that required repairing.

Immediately before his arrival at the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Zelenskiy had been in a combative mood, sending out a statement on social media that it would be absurd if Nato did not provide Ukraine with some kind of date or timeline by which it would be invited to join the organisation. The summit’s communique, largely at US and German insistence, that was released later did not give a firm timetable or clear conditions for its membership.

Zelenskiy was subsequently given a dressing down by the US delegation and it was noticeable that on the second day of the summit, the Ukrainian president was studious in conveying his thanks – to the point of being solicitous – for the arms supplied. It is an acknowledged balancing act for Ukraine: to express gratitude for help being given while at the same time making clear the urgent need for the west to supply more effective arms, including planes.

Nevertheless, tensions with the west have simmered, with some Ukrainians of the view that not enough is being said about their troops dying on the battlefield every day – not only to regain their sovereignty, but to defend western values.

Prystaiko apparently had a difficult phone call with his president on Thursday that ended with his dismissal. He had been ambassador since June 2020 and was previously a foreign minister. In private he has always been skilled at conveying messages, often saying the biggest barrier he faced in seeking to secure more arms and support was western fear of Russian escalation.

Prystaiko, a former Ukrainian representative to Nato, has clashed over Wallace before, including immediately before the invasion when he said the British defence secretary was creating a sense of panic by suggesting there was a whiff of Munich-style appeasement in the air among some western allies.

He has also been frank in admitting that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has not been as successful as some hoped. “We are trying to understand where their defences are weakest. It is not as spectacular as everyone, including the Ukrainians, wanted to see it.”

His dismissal, alongside the expected departure of Wallace as defence secretary, means there will be major changes in a key part of the UK-Ukraine axis at a critical time for the offensive.

Prystaiko also caused waves in an interview with Newsweek in January in which he suggested Ukraine was suffering large losses. He said Ukraine was losing people “on the right and on the left”, and the numbers were “very large”.

“We’ve been at war for almost a year now. We’re losing people left and right. We don’t explain how many of the casualties were military or civilian, but you can imagine the numbers are huge,” Prystaiko told Newsweek.

In a later interview, he said “I understand from my contacts within the higher echelons of military power in Ukraine that losses are high, but not as high as the Russians. It was a clever move on our side not to advertise our losses,” he added.

He also suggested Ukraine would be put under pressure to leave Crimea to Russia. “The prevailing way of thinking is that Crimea will be a specific point at which we’ll have to think twice,” he said. He added: “I like the idea that the east is not an issue – we will have to free it. When we come to the point of liberating Crimea, we will think twice.”

The German ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, said it was very regrettable that the ambassador was being replaced, adding he had done an outstanding job to generate support for his country in the face of Russia’s war of aggression.

In July last year Zelenskyy recalled his country’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, after he had repeatedly inflamed parts of German public opinion over its energy links to Russia and supply of arms to Ukraine. He was finally dismissed after 8 years as envoy in Berlin when he appeared to defend a 20th century Nazi collaborator, and is now ambassador to Brazil.

His blunt style was judged by some as helping to jolt Germany out of its complacency over Vladimir Putin – he once said Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, was “behaving like an offended liver sausage” – but others said he caused offence and merely entrenched opinions.

speng31b posted:

BadOptics posted:

Lol, I love to search the forums for "TANKIE" and man, some people really hate the erotic book covers gimmick.

BadOptics posted:

Lol, I love to search the forums for "TANKIE" and man, some people really hate the erotic book covers gimmick.

DancingShade posted:

Nah. The pivot is simple. What counter offensive? There was never any counter offensive mentioned. You must have heard a mistranslation.

Not So Fast posted:

When I go to the GBS thread

https://twitter.com/butleriano/status/1682502883718369280?t=QsYY0eWsvUhlEU5zBSzipw&s=19

Cerebral Bore posted:

orc erotica is the ultimate forbidden fruit for the slava crowd, it's no surprise that they'd be jealous of those who partake in it freely

sum posted:

Zelensky fired his ambassador to the UK for suggesting that he shouldn't tell their western backers to go gently caress themselves.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/21/ukraine-ambassador-to-uk-out-of-a-job-criticising-zelenskiy-vadym-prystaiko

Not So Fast posted:

When I go to the GBS thread

https://twitter.com/butleriano/status/1682502883718369280?t=QsYY0eWsvUhlEU5zBSzipw&s=19

gradenko_2000 posted:

We don't even make them! It's just books that already exist! They could read them if they wanted to!

Pistol_Pete posted:

I keep hearing about these supposed counter-offensive gains, six weeks after it officially started and reflecting on how the first 48 hours are the most crucial point of a counter-offensive.

Frosted Flake posted:

And at the low, low cost of: Ukrainians are not allowed to take any photos of cemeteries, or discuss cemeteries, and are discouraged from placing obituaries.

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

It's incredible that winning the Cold War isn't enough for them, and they have to fantasize about scenarios that would've made them lose it.

fosborb posted:

six weeks

Isentropy posted:

ironically they ended up copying Zinky Boys. I’m not FF so I won’t write up a long bit about it but it’s an excellent overview by a Belarusian author about what life was like for Soviets in Afghanistan

fizzy posted:

Every day that the war continues is a day more for the West to mobilize their industrial prowess while conversely Russia's corruption-corroded industries get ever more disrupted by sanctions. Every day that Putin doesn't withdraw his troops from Ukraine just increases his ultimate margin of defeat.

fizzy posted:

Every day that the war continues is a day more for the West to mobilize their industrial prowess while conversely Russia's corruption-corroded industries get ever more disrupted by sanctions. Every day that Putin doesn't withdraw his troops from Ukraine just increases his ultimate margin of defeat.