The only facts that lousiana cares about are that white women won't date him and, instead of self reflecting and improving himself, he needs someone to blame for that and has chosen people of color. Do not engage him in this or other threads unless you want to discuss racist nonsense from an incel.
Why would anyone want to talk to someone who lives in a fantasy world and lies so much that you can't trust anything he says? Not you--I'm talking about normal people--why would normal people want to talk to a liar?
Russia under Putin is rapidly becoming "weak and dysfunctional". The problem is that too much power is in the hands of a delusional dictator. (Try to pay attention, republicans. Strong, orange dictator = weak, dysfunctional country.) Russia's 1993 constitution set the stage for this problem. There are some democratic ideas within the constitution, such as accountability for a president that can be voted out. But there is so much power in the president's hands that he can do things like choose his own opponents (or poison them, if they become too powerful). The article claims that we should expect to see more "foreign policy adventurism and aggression" from Russia, because of the problems of power centralization. One of the reasons that Russian troops thought they would take Ukraine in less than a week was the intelligence coming from the border regions that indicated that many Ukrainians would welcome the Russian military. That was apparently just the officials of the border regions telling Putin what he wanted to hear. 6 more years of Vladimir Putin will bring increasingly weak, dysfunctional Russia
past due. MTG and her ilk won't like it. House Republicans will pass Ukraine aid after backing down on border demand (msn.com) House Republican leadership appears to be officially backing down from their demand for lawmakers to address border security before any further aid was passed to support Ukraine in its war against a Russian invasion. The news was made on Thursday at the House Republican retreat, with Speaker Mike Johnson telling reporters that bills to further fund both Ukraine’s defence and Israel’s military effort against Hamas would be brought up separately in the coming weeks. There was no indication that Republicans would continue baulking at the idea of passing either of them without first striking some kind of deal on immigration reform or border security that could pass both chambers of Congress.
The Biden administration wants the war to continue through the 2024 elections in part to help Democrats. ACI Director Burns told the Senate Intel committee that the $60 billion being sought will help Ukraine launch an offensive later in the year (right before the elections, Director Burns?). German and US military commanders are meeting in Alaska (evidently) this Tuesday to discuss an attack on Russian Crimes, most specifically the Kerch Bridge (connects Crimea to what used to be "Ukraine"). This won't end well. Source Pepe Escobar, one of the world's best reporters, who has been stationed in Russia for several weeks. Pepe specializes in Eurasian and Middle Eastern affairs. He is a great geopolitical thinker. He has been writing about the new multipolar world and the decline of the West for years. Russia has the best diplomats in the world. US has crap. This has consequences over time. Masterclass is in session:
Russian's need to feel the pain of this war their deranged leader has started. I know many have lost family, but it seems those troops have mostly been from the outer/rural areas. Huge price hikes to the average citizen will hopefully start bringing the reality of this war home.
The high cost of War Tourism … Russia Claims It Has Killed 6,000 Foreign Fighters In Ukraine, Including 491 Americans | ZeroHedge
Russian oil to India stopped over price violations. It is okay to sell at $60, but not above. apparently, India was paying above and Russia refuses to accept $60. odd twist if the US is helping India negotiate a purchase contract for Russian oil under UN pricing limits to help make sure that global supply isn't decreased, and oil driven up. Russia's Top Oil Buyer Deals a Blow to Putin (msn.com) Kommersant, a national Russian newspaper, reported on Thursday that India—the largest buyer of seaborne shipments of Russian oil—has refused to purchase Russian premium ESPO grade oil, which has a low sulfur content—for about two months now. Imports stopped in January and February, the publication said. .................................................... Billions of dollars in Russian oil profits are stuck in Indian banks due to restrictions by the Reserve Bank of India, which prevent Russian companies from transferring rupees stored in bank accounts in India to Russia and converting them into rubles. This has thwarted Putin's attempts to de-dollarize bilateral trade with India. On Tuesday, Amos Hochstein, Biden's energy and global infrastructure adviser, told Reuters that the U.S. was attempting to help India negotiate lower prices for Russian oil after Washington imposed further sanctions on tankers carrying the fuel above Western price caps. "At the end of the day, my goal is not to take it off the market, I'm not looking to take these tankers, take the crude, the product, off the market," said Hochstein. "I'm trying to get the Indians to negotiate better prices by forcing the tankers into a different direction. I think the Indians understand what we're trying to do."
Putin is continuing to lose ground in Belgorod and Kursk, not to Ukraine, but to anti-Putin Russian fighters. Looks like they might be serious. Russia is pretending that the attacks were Ukrainian "terrorists", and that they are no longer active, but Ukraine is claiming otherwise. One village was torn up pretty badly. Someone is getting a taste of his own medicine. Ukraine official: two Russian border regions are now active combat zones
Russians are making their votes heard in the ballot boxes . . . with ink. As in, dumping containers of ink into the ballot boxes in protest. Risking their lives to protest the criminal insanity of Vladimir Putin. Several Russians pour dye into ballot boxes in protest against presidential election | CNN
People smirk when Russians, not just Putin, regard this as an existential war. But why ? What if we knew that China or Russia revealed their goal of seeing our president ousted and our country weakened ? Why are we so flippant as to dismiss that other countries may have their reasons and concerns ? Because ‘murca ?
Because we can think for ourselves, and refuse to listen to obvious lies. We've listened to Putin's "reasons" and concluded that they were crap. He is a liar and a thief. He has no credibility. He has more Nazis in his military than Ukraine does, and yet he failed to kill them or arrest them. Yet he thinks that another country having Nazis in the military is a good reason to invade them.
Let's not forget that Russia has a tendency to lie about casualties and war destruction, and is easily led to believe that decoys are the real thing. I think I read today that Russia destroyed its first HIMARS system this month, after claiming to destroy dozens of them over the last two years (likely decoys).
Let's just hope Putin is not insane enough to think it is really western forces closing in on him ergo he goes nuclear.
Update: Russians are doing more than just pouring ink in ballot boxes. They are even setting the polling places on fire. Russian voters set fire to polling booths and pour ink into ballot boxes Doesn't sound like Russia is winning this war convincingly. And it doesn't sound like Russians are solidly in support of this war.
