Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine. (...) We were at war with a dictator, we are now at war with a dictator backed by a traitor.
French Senator Claude Malhuret.
Showing posts with label Russo Ukrainian War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russo Ukrainian War. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Random snippets. Nero's Court.
Monday, March 3, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 77th Edition. A bridge too far?
March 3, 2025
Just watching the reaction, even in the Trumpified GOP, to J. D. Bowman (Vance) berate Ukrainian President Zelensky to be followed by buffoonish Donald Trump do the same, leads me to suspect that this may have been their bridge too far.
Bowman is no doubt waiting for his next transitional opportunity so that he can replace Trump in 2026, which he has a good chance of doing, but if he doesn't pull that off, his political career appears to be shot. Marco Rubio's has been flushed down the toilet. And people are now wondering why Donny let his pet attack the sitting President of another nation.
And more than ever before, there's a lot of commentary regarding Trump being an outright Russian asset.
An amusing item, I'd note, occurred on Face the Nation when the moderator asked a Republican Senator why Hegseth ordered cyber operations to stand down. FWIW, the question didn't make it clear that it was offensive cyber operations against Russia, but the Senator outright said "not so".
Again, it was offensive operations, but, in the words of the sage Bart Simpson, au contraire mon frère.
The 40 year old Bowman took off for Vermont after berating Zelensky and accompanied protesters lining the streets, so now he really gets to enjoy the big time, with that meaning he'll draw protesters on an increasing basis, the way LBJ did in the 60s. Bowman is used a great deal as a mouthpiece by Donny, whose usual oral utterings verge on babble.
Of course, Trump went on to his nexts brain fart, a strategic crypto reserve for the United States that will include bitcoin and other cyber currencies.
Then he went golfing in Florida, burning up thousands of U.S. tax dollars to do so.
The eclipse of the Mango Sun has been predicted many times, but something shifted over the weekend. A lot of people don't really want to live in the real estate development world where a spoiled not very smart brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth bases the entire economy on transactions. And some are beginning to wonder why it is that we're bending over for Putin.
Bowman is probably contemplating his next chameleon like change. I frankly wouldn't be too surprised to see him routinely denouncing Trump with in a few months.
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 77th Edition. Inside Trump's very tiny window on the world.
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 1. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
And so we're on to a new year.
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Armenian woman kneeling beside her dead child in Syria during the Battle of Aleppo.
Heading into 2025, the big news remains the Russo Ukrainian War. Other wars are going on, of course, including the Middle Eastern War, as we have termed it here, in which the United States is an occasional belligerent.
As the world is just a few days away from the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, there's good reason to be concerned about the impact this will have on various conflicts, the Russo Ukrainian War in particular. Trump has long been a Putin fan boy for reasons which remain very difficult to discern. Over the past three years Russia has proven that it is, at best, a weak regional power. Putin is bankrupting his country and his armed forces have been reduced to such a level that he's imported North Korean forces to aid his, with North Korean being a Stalinist Clown College.
Ukraine has managed to hold on against its much larger neighbor in no small part due to largescale Western support. Europe has actually, at this point, contributed more to Ukraine than the US has. US leadership and support has been critical, but its often missed that the US has used the war to clear out obsolescent stocks of arms and, in fact, could do much more of this if it wished to, and should. Trump, however, has been generally hostile to Ukraine and lovey dovey to Putin. His relationship to the Russian head of state is so peculiar that it has long raised questions about what's behind it.
Trump, of course, who didn't serve in his nation's war when he was of military age, claims to abhor war and he may in fact have that view. He generally doesn't like military men that much, and he's sufficiently wealth and self centered that he frankly might just not grasp that there are people who are willing to fight and die for their country. Be that as it may, however, like many of the populist camp, quite a few of whom are strongly influenced by a certain strain of Evangelical Protestantism, he has an "Israel can do no wrong" view. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that the incoming administration won't essentially give Israel a free hand in whatever it wants to do in the ongoing struggle in the Middle East.
The US, it might be noted, retains a small number of forces in Iraq and Syria. Trump made sounds about pulling US forces out of Syria when he was first elected, but he didn't. He's made some statements about the US having no role in Syria now, but the US forces in Syria aren't sufficient to impact the outcome of the war there, and are there only to address ISIL in the region. There is, therefore, no real way to know how the change in administrations will impact that.
In terms of prognostications, its notable that Russia's 2024 effort in Ukraine have produced no real results. That Putin isn't trying to commit larger forces to the region and is instead allowing his forces to be bled is telling. He probably can't do more. Ukraine, however, remains unable to push Russia out. The situation therefore depends nearly entirely on what the US and Western Europe does.
The commitment of North Korean troops was always boing to be a failure and will be. North Korea is much more of a paper tiger than many suppose. Mostly, a lot of North Koreans will get killed. Those who return to North Korea will have been exposed to a partially westernized Russia. Stalinist have always feared that as it means there's now a population that knows things could be much better somewhere else. Moreover, those returning will be elite troops. They'll be much like French Algerian troops who returned home to Algeria after fighting in Indochina, and that won't be good for the Communist Hermit Kingdom.
Right now, in regard to Syria, there's really no real reason to hope that the country breaks into a western democracy. At least some period of internecine strife appears likely, absent a massive intervention by Turkey, which we really do not want.
January 1, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
In a sort of odd even in the ongoing war, a deal between Ukraine and Russia which allowed for the transport of natural gas across Ukraine into Europe, in spite of the war, expired this past week and, as a result, Ukraine shut the pipelines down, which makes perfect sense.
This creates, for the most part a less dire situation than a person might suppose. Europe receives 5% of its natural gas from Russia. Another pipeline that does not go through Ukraine does exist.
Unless you are in Moldova.
This is the only way the breakaway Transnistria region gets gas, and the impact there has been immediate.
January 6, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has launched a new offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Last edition:
In this instance, of course, the last edition was, from last year.
January 8, 2025
United States v. Panama
United States v. Denmark
Today's headline in the Tribune:
TRUMP TALKS USING MILITARY IN TAKEOVER
Trump appears to be demented, and the US acting illegally in a war against Panama and NATO Ally Denmark should be taken seriously.
January 13, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Donald Trump's special envoy for the Russo Ukrainian War, who of course right now is simply a private citizen and may always be, has declared that Trump will end the war within 100 days of taking office.
Originally it was within 24 hours of taking office.
After that, it was within 24 hours of being elected.
Of course, a person would have had to have drank the KoolAide to believe either of the first two, and not to heavily doubt the third.
A really interesting look at North Korean troops in the war:
Troops Captured by Ukraine Provide Rare Glimpse Into North Korea’s Military
January 15, 2025
Middle Eastern War/Hamas Israeli War
Hamas and Israel appear to have agreed to a complicated cease fire.
January 20, 2025
Middle Eastern War/Hamas Israeli War
The first prisoners and hostages were released yesterday.
No more wars?
That was the promise of the Trump campaign, along with the price of groceries going down (they won't) and the war in Ukraine ending within 24 hours after his nomination to the GOP ticket (that didn't happen).
No more wars isn't shaping up to be true either.
Two huge stories broke yesterday on Face the Nation, but with all going on, they aren't getting that much attention.
They are, in the style of this thread:
Israel v. Iran?
Lindsey Graham was on Face the Nation yesterday begging for Israel to hit Iranian nuclear sites. He will be "engaging" Trump on this topic.
United States v. Mexican Cartels?
Incoming National Security Advisor strongly hinted that the US will be listing two Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and implied that the US will be intervening in Mexico to take them on.
I'm frankly amazed this isn't a banner headline.
If this goes in the direction that it seems to be, one of the purposes of having Graham and Waltz on the day before the inauguration on the best of the three weekend news shows is to get the information out, in a sort of early and curve ball fashion, that we're headed into to major military actions. We apparently are going to urge the Netanyahu administration to basically finish the Iranian regime off, or at least decapitate its nuclear potential, and we're going into Mexico with special forces and aircraft, the way we've fought in Syrian and Iraq over the past two decades, but in a much more substantial fashion.
Whatever a person thinks of these proposals, Iran is not going to go gently into the night, although you could argue, as some have, that its down on its knees and needs to be wiped out.
Mexico, no matter what the incoming Trump administration might think, does not want troops on its soil again for the third time. It would likely fight back against an intervention, just like it did in 1916, even when the intervention is against an internal enemy, just like it was in 1916.
At any rate, at least right now, it would appear that the incoming administration isn't really against wars. It's just in favor of different, and bigger, wars.
January 24, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War.
North Korea is sending more cannon fodder to the war.
This won't serve to turn the tide in favor of Russia, and if it continues, it will destroy the core of the North Korean army and leave an embittered veterans class. The real threat to Ukraine now is Donald Trump. So far Trump seems to have assumed that his pal Putin would simply end the war because Donald was elected, or perhaps due to something in the relationship between them (Trump is undeniably a Russian asset, the question is what kind of Russian asset he is, bought and paid for or by personal inclination). Trump's present plans in regard to his first broken campaign promise is to cause the Saudi's to lower the price of oil as that will make Russia's too expensive to buy, apparently.
January 26, 2025
Middle Eastern War
The Trump Interregnum is resuming shipments of 2,000 lbs bombs to Israel on the basis that "they bought and paid for them", reflecting his sad view of the world.
Whether a person supports Israel or not, already leopards are eating the faces of left wing pro Palestinian voters and Arab American voters in the US who didn't support Harris. Trump will make Biden look like a peace protester as far as Israel is concerned, and the far right is packed with the element that feels Israel can do no wrong.
Trump also is proposing to Jordan and Egypt that they take in the Gazans so that Gaza can be "cleaned out". While there is in fact some merit to the Gazans being relocated (we suggested this earlier), both countries have rejected the idea completely and Trump's phone call diplomacy is working no more successfully here than it did with his call to Denmark's leader about his bizarre demand for Greenland.
January 28, 2025
Congo
The Congo River Alliance, backed by Rwanda, entered the country and took a major city this week. Made up of 17 parties, the principal member is the U.S. and UN sanctioned March 23 Movement. I have no idea what they are seeking.
January 31, 2025
Congo
M23 rebels seized control of Goma and are advancing toward the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu.
February 1, 2025
US v. ISIL
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February 6, 2025
Arab Americans For Trump has changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace following Trump's proposal to remove the Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into an American territory.
Basically, they realized they'd been dumbasses, which was plenty obvious to start with.
Israel has of course leaped right on this lunatic suggestion and instructed its military to be prepared to allow Palestinians to leave, although freedom to leave a region is generally regarded as a human right.
It should be worth noting right now that a US presence of this type guarantees death will come to Americans involved in it, and we will now be a direct combatant in a nearly 80 year old guerilla war in the region.
I'd also note that a lot of far right evangelicals have a very peculiar view of Israel, and we now have a Secretary of Defense who is all tatted up with appropriated Crusader symbols, although a Crusader coming back form the dead would regard him as a heretic.
Oh well, what could go wrong? Leopards won't eat our faces.
February 17, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War, Taiwan and World War III.
Donald Trump, who promised to end the Russo Ukrainian War upon being nominated for the Republican ticket, and also within 24 hours of being elected, is belatedly trying to make good upon his promise. . . but on what terms.
This past week the United States has basically told its European allies that its abandoning Europe and at the same time is starting unilateral talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia?
Hmm. . . .
The Saudi's likely regard Trump as an epic clown, and have no real interest in the war ending, so who knows what's up with that.
Anyhow there are widespread fears, and legitimate ones, that Trump is just out to betray Ukraine Chamberlin style. Trump's life reduces simply to money for Trump, and he's a man with no real values, so he likely genuinely can't grasp what the war is about. At the same time he's trying to extract an economic deal from Ukraine, as that's all he really understands.
Not very well grasped in this is that the US is rocketing towards a world war, with Trump being too dense to grasp it. We've been harrassing Taiwan in recent weeks while we also removed a statement from our embassy website that we don't support its independence from China. Now, we apparently don't object to that. I'm fine with that, but what Trump doesn't grasp is the following:
We'll be in a type of world war.
And I don't mean figuratively, I mean actually.
The reason Trump can't grasp this that Trump can't grasp that not everything is for sale. Indeed, most things aren't for sale, and in much of the world very little is for sale. For China, bypassing taking Taiwan does not have a dollar value. For Taiwan, reuniting with China doesn't have a dollar value.
We're headed towards World War Three.
February 20, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
There were sharp words between President Zilensky and Donald Trump yesterday in which Zilensky said the quite part out loud saying the would be was "living in a disinformation space". Trump ironically hit back by calling Zalinsky a "dictator", a real irony for a person illegitimately gathering autocratic authority to himself.
Trump's efforts to end the Russo Ukrainian War might actually have begun to sew the seeds of his irrelevancy. Europe is united against Trump and Russia, as Trump tries to revive an late 19th Century view of foreign policy. And Trump's legendary negotiating skills, which are really fairly thuggish, don't appear to be working outside of the world of real estate, with Trump's worldview so limited that he can't really grasp that most people don't dream of being Florida golf course owners. The question in increasingly becoming to what extent will his interregnum damage the United States internally and globally before an actual President returns to office.
March 1, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Yesterday made it clear that Donald Trump is really a spoiled, and not very smart, child.
Raised with a sliver spoon up his ass, and a bully by heart, with a career of well funded bulliness, he's come to believe he's a genius, as have his largely ignorant supporters, the latter of whom are seemingly unaware that a person born into Trump's wealth could have the IQ of a houseplant and still make money.
Trump, busy trying to make a deal to extort Ukraine's mineral wealth in exchange for . . . well it's not clear, found that leaders of country's don't respect spoiled children. This lead to a short of shouting match between Trump and President Zelenskiy in the White House.
In the past month Europe as a whole has moved away from the United States, as has Canada, and are well on their way to forming a new second power block as the United States fades into being a regional petulant power. Tariffs next week will finish it. Ukraine will likely turn to Europe, and the US, lead by a spoiled not very smart brat, will turn into an economically hobbled regional bully in which somewhat over half the population dislikes to outright detests its leadership
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
Last edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 9. Closing out 2024.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 9. Closing out 2024.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
A bad time of the year to start a new edition, but the old one was just too long.
December 29, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Putin has apologized for the downing of a civilian airliner.
Syrian Civil War
Lebanon has arrested Syrian Army officers taking refuge in the country and suspended the operation of the Syrian embassy there.
British born Asma Fawaz al-Assad (أسماء فواز الأسد), wife of the fallen dictator, is rumored to be battling leukemia.
December 31, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia rejected the peace plan of Putin fan boy Donald Trump, who promised during his recent campaign for the presidency to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as soon as he was elected.
An element of the plan was eventual NATO membership for Ukraine. It was to be delayed for twenty years. Russia also rejected the deployment of foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Rejection aside, a person could easily question to what degree Trump himself came up with any of this. The peacekeeper deployment was a good idea, as was NATO membership, although a twenty year delay was an awful idea.
And, so we close out 2024.
Last edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 8. Wider wars.
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 8. Wider wars.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.
Ernest Hemingway.
August 7, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian troops have advanced into Russia's Kursk Oblast and are in their second day of operations there.
August 8, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Rockets from northern Gaza have lead to an Israeli advisory in the area that residents should leave.
An arrest of ISIL terrorist who were plotting a strike in a European Taylor Swift concert lead to cancellation of events.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10 kilometers into Russia's Kursk Oblast amid continued mechanized offensive operations on Russian territory on August 7. Geolocated footage published on August 6 and 7 shows that Ukrainian armored vehicles have advanced to positions along the 38K-030 route about 10 kilometers from the international border.[1] The current confirmed extent and location of Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast indicate that Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least two Russian defensive lines and a stronghold.[2] A Russian insider source claimed that Ukrainian forces have seized 45 square kilometers of territory within Kursk Oblast since they launched the operation on August 6, and other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces have captured 11 total settlements, including Nikolaevo-Daryino (1.5 kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border), Darino (three kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border), and Sverdlikovo (east of the Nikolaevo-Darino-Darino area), and are operating within Lyubimovka (eight kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border).
ISW.
August 9, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia has declared a Federal level emergency due to the incursion near Kursk. Ukrainian advances have been fairly extensive.
August 10, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian advances have resulted in evacuation orders being issued and the formation of some local anti government partisan units seeming to have formed.
August 15, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainians have taken the Russian town of Sudzha in the Kursk Oblast.
cont:
And now the Ukrainians are in Belgorod Oblast, south of Kursk Oblast, and directly north of Kharkov.
Resistance was strengthening in opposition to the offensive in Kursk, so they've side stepped it.
August 16, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia jailed dual US/Russian citizen ballerina Ksenia Khavana for a $52.00 donation to a charity aiding Ukraine.
Indian has asked its citizens who live near the conflicts zones to relocated:
In view of the recent security incidents in Bryansk, Belgorod and Kursk regions, Indian nationals are advised to take necessary precautions and relocate outside these regions. Any Indian national or student requiring assistance may contact the embassy.
Russian forces are attempting to encircle Ukrainian forces southeast of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. While Ukrainian forces are on the offensive in Russia, Russian forces remain on the offensive in Ukraine.
August 17, 2024
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States finalized a trade agreement removing export barriers on defense goods and technology between them.
August 22, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian mercenary leader Georgy Zakrevsky has called for Putin to be removed.
August 25, 2024
ISIL v Everyone
ISIL claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Solingen, Germany, that killed three people and wounded eight others at a claiming the murder targeted Christians and did this to avenge Muslims and Palestinians everywhere, as if doing that in Germany would make a lick of sense whatsoever.
Middle Eastern War
Israel has been conducting air strikes in Gaza
It conducted massive ones in southern Lebanon, to which Hezbollah responded with rockets.
I suspect that Israel is hitting targets heavily in advance of an anticipated cease fire.
cont:
Actually, the strike in Lebanon was a preemptive strike.
August 28, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine reports that Russia has lost over 600,000 men in its war with the country, of which over 180,000 were killed.
By way of a contrast, 58,220 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War.
The Russians have been advancing rapidly near Pokrovsk and are generally sustaining offensive operations in Ukraine.
September 4, 2024
China v. Taiwan
In a recent interview, the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) suggested that the People's Republic of China, rather than bothering Taiwan, ought to cast its eyes on land that it lost to Russia in the 1850s and 1860s.
If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t it take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the Treaty of Aigun? Russia is now at its weakest, right? You can ask Russia (for the land back) but you don’t. So it’s obvious they don’t want to invade Taiwan for territorial reasons.
Here's the territory he referenced:
That's a lot of territory.
From the way it was said, I think the remark was meant to be flippant, rather than serious, but it does raise a real question which is, with Russia so weak, will China look north?
September 5, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Belarus scrambled fighters to shoot down Russian drones that invaded its airspace.
September 9, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian drones have entered Latvian and Romanian airspace within the past few days.
September 10, 2024
China v. India
Chinese special forces penetrated into India for up to 30 miles and stayed there for several days. China and India's border is disputed.
September 11, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Apparently getting a big positive reaction in Poland:
Why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor, and what you think is a friendship with a dictator who would eat you for lunch?
Kamala Harris to Donald Trump in last night's debate. Trump claimed he'd end the war, if elected, as President Elect, which a person would have to be an absolute idiot to believe.
September 16, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Poland's foreign minister suggested ending social benefits for Ukrainian men living in Europe, which the Ukrainian government agreed with. The goal would be to boost pressure on military aged men to return to the country and be available for military service.
September 17, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon exploded at about the same time Tuesday afternoon injuring over 2,700 and killing eight.
Yikes.
September 18, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
A "massive" Ukrainian drone strike on Russian munitions' and fuel depots in Toropets, Tver, Russia has set things ablaze and resulted in a partial evacuation of the region.
For reference, this area is northwest of Moscow.
September 19, 2024
Middle Eastern War
And yesterday it occured again with two way radios.
September 20, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israel launched major airstrikes in Lebanon directed at Hezbollah.
The strikes against Hezbollah actually have received street level support in Arab countries, with Northern Syrian troops even passing out candy in celebration of the event in northern Syria.
Russo Ukrainian War
Putin rejected a request to mobilize made by senior Russian military leaders. Knowing why Putin does what is hard to fathom, but speculation runs from a fear what it would do to the economy, to a fear what the public reaction would be.
On the latter, Ukraine is rapidly starting to resemble the US participation in the Vietnam War in some ways, and its notable that the US called up very few reservists in that conflict.
It became unpopular anyway, of course.
September 22, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Hezbollah retaliated with a massive rocket attack into Israel. Israel responded with hundreds of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
Israel closed down the Al Jazeera bureau in Gaza.
September 25, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israel is calling up reservists and deploying them in the north in anticipation of a ground invasion of Lebanon.
September 29, 2024.
Middle Eastern War
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
October 1, 2024.
Middle Eastern War
Israel has commenced raids within Lebanon.
cont:
Iran struck Israel with missiles in retaliation.
October 6, 2024.
Middle Eastern War
Israel had expanded its missile campaign in Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah targets near Beirut and a Hamas target in northern Lebanon.
It's also reengaged in ground operations in Gaza.
October 8, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainians launched a major strike on a Russian petroleum facility on Crimea.
Somebody has launched a major cyber attack on Russian state media yesterday.
October 21, 2024.
Middle Eastern War
Israel has started targeting Hezbollah's financial wing, al-Qard al-Hassan, which operates as a cash based bank, in strikes in Lebanon.
October 22, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Where the money is:
https://x.com/i/status/1848438591409819750
October 23, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israel killed major Hamas figure Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar.
Russo Ukrainian War
North Korea is sending large numbers of troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine.
October 23, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israel conducted strikes on Iranian targets.
Russia has been supplying targeting information to the Houthis.
cont:
The Israeli airstrike was an actual air raid, with no losses.
The route is unclear, but this would involve overflights of at least three countries. It shows Iranian air defenses to be completely anemic.
October 28, 2024
Russia
Possible Russian Gains in Georgia and Moldova
October 31, 2024
The war on ISIL
The US condcuted airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria this week.
November 4, 2024
Russia v. The West
Western security officials say they believe that two incendiary devices, shipped via DHL, were part of a covert Russian operation that ultimately aimed to start fires aboard cargo or passenger aircraft flying to the U.S. and Canada, as Moscow steps up a sabotage campaign against Washington and its allies.
The devices ignited at DHL logistics hubs in July, one in Leipzig, Germany, and another in Birmingham, England. The explosions set off a multinational race to find the culprits.
Wall Street Journal.
November 9, 2024
Iran v. the West.
Iranian agents were plotting to kill Donald Trump, but the plot was foiled by the FBI. The plot was supposed to be put together quickly, and then if that could not be achieved, revived after the election, which they rationally expected him to lose.
November 18, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War.
The U.S. has approved use of the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs for Ukrainian strikes inside of Russia. This comes in response to Russian mustering of thousands of North Korean troops.
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November 20, 2024
Russia and China v. The West
The Danish Navy boarded the Chinese-flagged bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, captained by a Russian, after it was suspected of damaging two undersea telecom cables in the Baltic Sea..
November 21, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Reports this morning hold that Russia hit Dnipro with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). If correct, its the first such use of an ICBM in history and would be an unconscionable escalation of the conflict.
November 23, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The missile turns out to be a new intermediate range experimental Russian missile.
A North Korean general has been wounded in a Ukrainian missile attack near Kursk.
November 26, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Saudi Arabia is considering dropping the price of oil to $49/bbl to crush the Russian export oil market.
It'd crush the American one as well, which is pretty much what a new Trump administration would deserve, as would those oil producing states voting for him.
NPR Politics podcast on where the war may be headed, in light of the election of Trump:
Before leaving office, Biden wants to keep helping Ukraine
November 28, 2024
Middle Eastern War
A cease fire has been brokered by the US and France between Israel and Hezbollah. This will require Hezbollah to withdraw, in Lebanon, north of a line in southern Lebanon.
It's worth noting that the Lebanese Army has largely sat the recent conflict out, probably hoping that Israel would destroy Hezbollah. This agreement won't be good for Lebanon.
December 2, 2024
Syrian Civil War
A Sunni jihadist rebel group supported by Turkey has made serious gains, taking Aleppo in recent days. In no small part this is due to the degrading of Russian support for the Syrian government and the degrading of Iranian support by Israel.
This isn't, ironically, necessarily good news, as there's no reason to believe this group is democratic, or will bey sympathetic to Syrian minorities.
December 3, 2024
South Korea
In a bizarre episode South Korea was under martial law for a day, the President accusing the main opposition party of having communist sympathizers. Parliament reversed his decision.
December 4, 2024
Syrian Civil War
The Russian Navy is evacuating naval assets from its base in Tartus, Syria,
December 6, 2024
Syrian Civil War
Syrian rebels took Hama, and appear likely to take Homs, in a drive that apparently seeks to sever Syria from the sea.
December 7, 2024
Syrian Civil War
Iran is withdrawing its troops from Syria, stating:
Iran is starting to evacuate its forces and military personnel because we cannot fight as an advisory and support force if Syria's army itself does not want to fight, Iran has realized that it cannot manage the situation in Syria right now with any military operation and this option is off the table.
Rebels took Daraa and Sweida and the revolution is generally spreading everywhere.
December 26, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Finland has detained the Russian ship Eagle S after submarine cables in the Baltic were severed. Estonia's parliament has gone into an emergency session on the Boxing Day holiday.
cont:
Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan.
December 27, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israel struck Houthi targets in Yemen with airstrikes yesterday. The strikes impressively demonstrates Israel's ability to strike targets with precision at distance via its air force.
Russo Ukrainian War
North Korean troops have sustained heavy casualties in combat against Ukraine.
Russia hit Ukraine in a massive air attack on Latin Rite Christmas Day.
December 28, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Houthis launched a massive missile raid on Israel yesterday.
South Korea
South Korea's legislature voted to impeach its acting president Han Duck-soo, two weeks after it voted to impeach its President Yoon Suk Yeol, in an example of how democratic bodies should act towards those who would seek to subvert democracy.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has equipped drones to shoot shotguns to take out other drones.
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The conflict in Lebanon. A few items.
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Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 7. Undermined.
Monday, November 25, 2024
Saturday, November 25, 1944. Heavy resistance on Leyte, V2 attack in London.
Two V-2 rockets hit London, resulting in 174 deaths in a rocketry terror attack.
Much like what the Russians are doing to Ukraine now.
Destroyed German Panthers in France, November 25, 1944. Contrary to the common myth, armor attrition in World War Two was horrific, just like it is today.
Japanese defenses arrested US progress on Leyte. Japanese resistance had been consistently very stiff.
The British crossed the Cosina River in Italy.
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Soldiers of a reconstituted Dutch Army training, November 25, 1944. They're armed with US M1917 Enfield rifles, and wearing US M1 helmets. Their uniforms suggest obsolescent patterns of the US Army.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis died at age 78. He was the first Commissioner of Baseball, having been appointed to that position in 1920, and still occupied it at the time of his death.
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Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944 (Friday November 24, 1944). Terrace Mutiny,
Friday, November 8, 2024
Lex Anteinternet: Donald Trump promised to end the war between Ukrai...
Lex Anteinternet: Donald Trump promised to end the war between Ukrai...: Well, it's been over 24 hours now. Why isn't the war over?
I would fix that within 24 hours. And, if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. A hundred percent sure,
Donald Trump.
Um, its two days now. War still on.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Donald Trump promised to end the war between Ukraine and Russian with twenty four hours of being elected.
Well, it's been over 24 hours now. Why isn't the war over?
Sunday, November 3, 2024
The 2024 Election, Part XXVII. Heading for the Last Roundup
Only a few more days to go.
Still, with the constant influx of news, we thought it was time for a new edition and to retire the last one.
October 24, 2024
You have no idea what I did in the White House. I stopped wars with France.
Trump at a recent rally.
Eh?
October 25, 2024
Russia spread disinformation about the recent hurricanes in the US in order to attempt to influence the upcoming U.S. election.
Guess we know for sure who Putin wants in office.
No surprise there.
Trump indicated he'd fire special prosecutor Jack Smith as soon as he was in office, if he returns to office.
No surprise there.
Unfortunately, you got a lot of American leaders who like to beat their chest and say; this [Ukraine] is the good guy and this [Russia] is the bad guy.
J. D. Vance.
Well, J. D., that's because Ukraine is the good guy and Russia is the bad guy.
Tucker Carlson compared the United States to a "15 year old" girl, who needs a spanking.
Eh?
I have a daughter and I don't think I ever spanked her. I sure didn't at 15, which is a downright creepy thing to say.
Trump's going to deliver the spanking of the nation, according to Carlson.
cont:
The Washington Post returns to its position of not endorsing Presidential candidates:
Opinion On political endorsement
October 27, 2024
Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed Friday.
Associated Press.
Locally we have a school board race that the Freedom Caucus, in the form of Mom's For Liberty or people aligned with their thinking are in. The folks below are those who are not part of that group.
These seem to be the populist ones:
Frankly, while I probably ought to post it elsewhere, I think there's a crisis in American education, but its not the one that commonly comes up. There's probably a series of crises actually.
Locally, we've always had excellent public schools. One thing that we can really tank our community ancestors for is appreciating the value of education. School boards for many years have had people who took the task on with a sense of public duty. People like to complain about the schools nonetheless, but that's in no small part because education is a spectator sport, like agriculture. I've heard so many things about how to raise sheep, for example, from people whose family have not had a connection with sheep since Roman times, it's not funny.
The problem that seems to have developed recently is that education has been impacted, like politics in general in Wyoming, by an influx of people who were raised and educated well outside of the region, and brought a lot of regional ideas with them. This reflected itself at first with a notable homeschooling movement which included quite a few people who were convinced that schools were teaching children "left wing" ideas, which they weren't and never have been. In some instances the concerns of those parents included a strongly anti scientific background.
Now its spilled into the schools in general. While she didn't run for the school board, in a way this is reflected by the one term now defeated House member Jeanette Ward. Looking into her background it seems that a big part of her problems with Illinois' politics, where she came from, had to do with schools. She was upset, for instance, that a class noted that Muslims pray to the same God that Christians do. And she was upset with school mask mandates, which ironically Wyoming also had.
This has spilled over into the war over library books, which actually doesn't have much to do with actual school libraries.
At any rate, it's a sad fact of American life that a lot of primary education in the United States is really lacking. This reflects itself in politics right now, which finds actual debates over topics that simply are decided on the basis of the evidence. The ability of highly monied people to lead others around reflects it as well. Education in the US has always been uneven. There's a scary chance that the excellent education that the Upper Plains and Rocky Mountain regions have always had, may be impacted by the populist flood.
cont:
Trump continues to make statements that in any other era would be regarded as dumb:
There will be no hydrogen. They tend to blow up and once they blow up you are not recognizable anymore. No, they say that's the hottest new thing. Hydrogen does. Anybody in the, they say it's so hot. The problem is when it's not, when it's not hot, it's bad. It's bad. So, I don't want to do that. They say for the most part here is for the most part it's really wonderful. But when it goes bad it's over, you're not recognizable. They call the wife. Please come and inspect to see whether or not this is your husband. He's lying against a tree and the tree has a lot of red on it... Is that ok for everybody?
Indeed, one of the things that really scares me about Trump is his supporters claim he says things that they're thinking. If that's the case, we've got a massive lack of intellect in this country. Are we this dumb?
October 28, 2024
Given the story on Russia above, this is of interest:
October 28, 2024
Russia
Possible Russian Gains in Georgia and Moldova
Apparently Trump's rally last night at Madison Square Garden was packed with racist comments and off color remarks by the various speakers.
On other matters, there appears to be a very strong chance that independent candidate Dan Osborn may beat Trump Senate lackey Deb Fisher in Nebraska.
October 30, 2024
It's becoming increasingly clear Trumpites are mobilizing and planning to steal the 2024 election if Trump does not win it. They'll use lawsuits, ballot challenges and fake electors in a more planned effort this time.
cont:
Elon Musk, who supporters fellow billionaire Trump, has been chatting with Putin.
Trump proposes to put Robert Kennedy, whose health ideas are wackadoodle, in charge of some sort of health thing.
November 1, 2024
Real Clear Politics electoral map predictors show Trump winning the election decisively.
November 2, 2024
At a rally in Milwaukee Donald Trump simulated oral sex, albeit briefly, on stage.
Is this really whom Republicans want to be President?
And is this truly the man some Evangelicas see as a neo Cyrus the Great?
More locally:
November 3, 2024
It's now crystal clear that Trump is making plans to steal the election, should he lose it.
cont:
Internal Trump polling must show that he's losing the election, as he's spending a lot of time attacking the results that haven't even occurred yet.
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