Trump Says All Immigrants Are "Poisoning The Blood" of the US.

[stevenkesslar]

17 minutes ago, Mavica said:

No you're not. You're an idiot.

Technically, no.   

I voted for Biden/Harris in 2020.  I received my PhD in Being An Idiot in 2021.  I have been on medication since 2022.

So I can be an idiotic Biden/Harris supporter on medication.  Or, I can be a medicated Biden/Harris supporter with idiotic tendencies.  Or, for a warm and funny and thoughtful guy like you, it's okay if you say, "Steven, you're just another super fucked up Biden/Harris supporter."

But I can't just be an idiot.  I am so much more than that.  😉

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, Mavica said:

You're an idiot.

By the way, @Mavica, since you're the boring type who shies away from insults and loves deep analysis, how bout we turn the spotlight back to Vlad's War/Butchering economy?  Because, unlike me, I think our Russian sadist is NOT an idiot.

Putin quietly signals he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine

Now, the one huge caveat is that we don't know whether that article, which is New York Times reporting, is true.  That said, if it is even remotely accurate it is deeply consistent with my analysis of @Moses's favorite murderous pit bull throughout this thread.

Quote

Putin, the current and former officials said, sees a confluence of factors creating an opportune moment for a deal: a battlefield that seems stuck in a stalemate, the fallout over Ukraine’s disappointing offensive, its flagging support in the West, and, since October, the distraction of the Israel-Hamas war.

Quote

“Putin and the Russian army, they don’t want to stretch their capacity further,” said the international official who met with top Russian officials this fall.

The article suggests that Putin was open to a deal last Fall, at the same time Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Milley was saying the same.  Milley's point, right after Ukraine kicked Russia's ass and took back lots of occupied territory, was that this may be as good as it gets for Ukraine.  So far, he was right.  And Putin may have felt something was better than nothing. 

Now Putin is in the same position.  If he's as smart as he is sadistic, he may realize this is as good as it gets for Russia. If Russian soldiers go on offense, they walk right back into a meat grinder.   The fact that Putin developed an unsustainable one year butchering budget itself implies he may be open to a deal.  Even for a sadist, maybe he is reluctant to turn many more hundreds of thousands of Russian men into fertilizer.

This puts a different spin on the United States and Europe's internal debates about aid to Ukraine.  I doubt many Republicans who oppose aid really want Ukraine to lose, and Ukrainians to be slaughtered.  I doubt their first priority is Ukraine, period.  But they may be thinking this puts pressure on Ukraine to make a deal and live for another day.

Part of the tragedy of this is that even if Putin is open to a deal, which would at best be fragile, I doubt Ukraine is.  And that's not Zelenskyy.  That's the Ukrainian public. 

I did consult with @Mavica, who is a global expert on idiots.  And he confirmed that only idiots would be open to making territorial concessions to a butcher who slaughters their men, rapes their women, and either blows up or kidnaps their children.  The most recent polls suggest Ukrainians, no doubt demoralized by the lack of recent victories, are more open to a deal than before.  Meaning 75 percent of the country is still AGAINST making any kind of deal with Putin.  They hate him.  I'll repeat.  He is fucked.  And Russia is fucked.

My own guess is that Putin knows that Russia is fucked.  With Perma-War, all he has to offer is, at best, a permanent low growth butchering economy that specializes in creating weapons.  And lots of good Russian fertilizer.  But he may now be stuck in the horror he created.

Then again, I'm an idiot.  So what would I know?

[Moses]

4 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

I doubt Ukraine is.  And that's not Zelenskyy.  That's the Ukrainian public. 

Ukraine is. And public is. On Ukrainian forums people call Zelenskiy "New Gaddafi" in meanings of Gaddafi's destiny. 

Yesterday news blow up public minds. 

The authorities of Ukraine finally dared to strengthen conscription into the ranks of the Armed Forces, therefore, the day before the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 10378 on improving issues of mobilization, military registration and military service. 

General innovations
The explanatory note to the document states that the conscription age in Ukraine will be changed from 27 to 25 years . The Cabinet of Ministers also proposes to improve the procedure for military registration of conscripts, conscripts and reservists.

Mobilization of people with disabilities
The government proposes to exclude from the list of conclusions of military medical commissions the conclusion on limited suitability for military service. Also, the new law provides for the mobilization of disabled persons of the "third group" (this is gradation of disability, third is lowest).

It should be noted that the full list of diseases for which a person is assigned the third group is described in Cabinet Resolution No. 10 of 2015. In particular, it is:

absence of one eye, blindness in one eye;
paralysis of the hand, stump of the upper limb, absence of fingers;
stump of the thigh or lower leg, shortening of the leg by 7 centimeters or more;
absence of a kidney, lung or bladder;
castration in men;
an inoperable jaw defect, due to which a person cannot chew normally and loses weight;
dwarfism with a height below 130 centimeters in men.

[stevenkesslar]

8 hours ago, Moses said:

On Ukrainian forums people call Zelenskiy "New Kaddafi" in meanings of Kaddafi's destiny. 

Poor thing. 

Granted, you get 24/7 bullshit from your butcher leader.  Who has to explain why he's turning hundreds of thousands of Russians into fertilizer.  Even so, you are human.  Humans have the power of critical thinking.  Even in Russia.  So it must just be very difficult to believe your own bullshit.  But, hey.  Congratulations!  You do it gracefully.

Zelenskyy is wildly popular.  In fact, thank your sadist murderer for that.  One of the many ways your sadist fucked himself, and Russia, is he made a not too popular leader of Ukraine before 2022 (49/50) into a wildly popular war leader.  The more anti-Russia Zelenskyy is, the more popular he becomes.  Woo hoo!  Some victory for your sadist butcher.  Barring some unforeseen change, Zelenskyy will be re-elected handily.  Quite a change from the idea that Putin would either kill him or force him to flee within a week of invading Ukraine two years ago.

It's interesting that Zelenskyy is most popular, 91 %, among younger Ukrainians.  Who are of course most likely to be drafted.  That tells us a lot about the future, I think.  They hate Putin.  They want Putin to no longer exist.  They want Russia to no longer exist.  Some victory for Russia!  Woo hoo!  Putin has managed to irrevocably make Ukraine hate Russia, forever.  If the many analysts who say Russia has a good chance of breaking up in the next decade are right, Ukrainians will dance on Russia's grave.  Woo hoo! Couldn't happen to nicer butchers and sadists.

The Biden Administration Is Quietly Shifting Its Strategy in Ukraine

For two years, Biden and Zelenskyy have been focused on driving Russia from Ukraine. Now Washington is discussing a move to a more defensive posture.

The headlines say it all.  If the New York Times and Politico are both saying it, it is probably true.  So, for purposes of debate, let's call this a big victory for Putin.  What is the nature of the victory?  After suffering a massive humiliation in 2022, when his invasion turned into a disaster, Putin recovered.  He has proven a much smaller and weaker country can not completely drive him out of their country.  And everybody in the world now hates Putin.  Woo hoo!  Awesome victory.

Even if some deal is made that is called "peace," it won't be peace.  What will be interesting to see is how Ukraine sets about to undermine Putin and Russia permanently.  The history of every one of these invasions - VietNam, both the USSR and US editions of Afghanistan, Iraq - is that territory is easier to seize with overwhelming force than to hold.  So Ukraine will do exactly the same, and permanently bleed Putin as dry as they can. Lots of Russians will die in occupied territories for many years to come.  Assuming Putin can actually hold them, which won't be easy.

Are you for or against Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

That's an amazing shift, that more than any other single graphic defines Putin's strategic defeat.  And why Russia is fucked.  As recently as a decade ago, a plurality of Ukrainians were opposed to joining NATO.  Now an overwhelming majority want protection from their sadistic neighbors.  It will take years.  Ukraine will have to focus on defense.  And build lots of walls and ditches and weapons.  But it will have to happen.  Because it is the only practical way for Ukraine to rebuild with security.

That's the other reason Ukraine will have to join NATO eventually, and NATO will have to accept Ukraine.  Poland could take off once it was free.  Because it wanted and got security from the sadistic butchers that enslaved it.  If we go back to 2021 and Putin's treatise about why Ukraine and Russia should be one, politically and culturally, he lost the debate.  Ukraine wants to be prosperous, like Poland.  It does not want to be a mess, like Russia.  Game over.  Putin lost.

That will also help consolidate Ukraine's turn to the EU and NATO.  I feel very sorry for the people in the blue areas that are now part of Russia.  For a while, at least.  It will be interesting to see whether there is some kind of Afghanistan-like guerilla warfare.  Where Russians just get blown up a lot, or have their throats slit.  But the long view of this is that the parts of Ukraine that identified with Russia the most, and spoke Russian the most, will now be part of Russia.  Even though they mostly don't want to be.  Ukraine will gradually rid itself of as much of its historic Russian identity and Russian sympathy as it can.  Exactly the opposite of what Putin wanted.  Woo hoo!  Some victory!

If Putin were smart he would shift as quickly as he can from his unsustainable butchering budget.  He would try to be the nation that builds out AI, or manufactures electric cars.  But that goes to the core of why Russia is fucked.  The IT specialists fled.  Electric cars are being made in China.  AI is being built out in the US.  Putin will need a big butchering budget just to defend what he took.  Turkey is now close to letting Sweden join NATO.  So the noose around Putin just keeps getting tighter and tighter.  Russia's war/sadism economy will have to be focused first and foremost on just keeping Putin and his kleptocrats alive and in power.  

It's not a pretty future for Russia.  But it is the future Putin fucked you with. Sorry @Moses.

[Moses]

24 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

It's interesting that Zelenskyy is most popular, 91 %, among younger Ukrainians.  Who are of course most likely to be drafted. 

Wrong. Mobilization in Ukraine began at the age of 27. That is why Zelenskiy was popular.

This bill will move the lower limit to 25. So you'll just have to wait and see how popular Zelenskiy will be after this bill is implemented, in about a month. And now I propose to observe the flow of refugees aged 25-27 years. Western borders are closed, so most will flee to Russia and Belarus.

[stevenkesslar]

4 minutes ago, Moses said:

Wrong. Mobilization in Ukraine began at the age of 27. That is why Zelenskiy was popular.

This bill will move the lower limit to 25. So you'll just have to wait and see how popular Zelenskiy will be after this bill is implemented, in about a month. And now I propose to observe the flow of refugees aged 25-27 years. Western borders are closed, so most will flee to Russia and Belarus.

[Moses]

Future mobilization will drain Ukraine's last human reserves. Zelensky wants to call for a new 500,000.

These will be young people and disabled people. He has no more reserves, unless he decides to create his own Hitlerjugend.

[Tomtravel]

Putin has already created his own hitlerjugend, creating more evil spirits; from 2022 its under EU sanctions. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Army_Cadets_National_Movement

[Moses]

1 hour ago, Tomtravel said:

Putin has already created his own hitlerjugend, creating more evil spirits; from 2022 its under EU sanctions.

The most funny part of this article is note 

Quote

See also:

Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (United States)

 

[Tomtravel]

Not quite similar, the US organizations is not under sanctions and carrying out activities in occupied territories.

[stevenkesslar]

Senators unveil long-awaited border deal

It faces an uncertain vote in the Senate this week and even longer odds in the House.

 

It would be more forgivable for Trump to say any compromise needs to be "perfect" or it isn't worth passing if he were simply the political gadfly he had been most of his life.  But, as POTUS, he proved how bad he was at compromise.  And getting any laws passed.  Except for those deficit busting tax cuts for really rich people, like him.

What makes this worse is it's pure political cynicism.  Trump and his MAGA House-mates would rather see more fentanyl deaths and more border crossings than pass a bipartisan law to reduce the problem.

[JKane]