Coffeesforclosers

Russia had a good week. They're through Ukrainian defenses in two places. The Ukrainians are withdrawing to new lines to prevent an encirclement of their forces in the Donbass. It looks likes three months of generals getting fired and battlefield losses finally put decent Russian officers in charge. A shame really. They're taking Ukraine seriously, acting according to established doctrine, and leveraging their advantage in artillery firepower. What worries me the most about this is that i don't think ukraine has the artillery or ammo supply to go over to the offensive. Especially if Russia digs in deep. They can try to make up for it in weight of numbers and careful planning. But casualties will increase as a result.

I've got you bud.

I'm kinda surprised you read The Guardian, @B-Man!

So what's you're argument? I'm trying to understand it, and here's where I'm at. America successfully turned Ukraine into an American puppet, when it used to be a Russian puppet. Now Russia's invaded an American puppet, and even though their invasion has turned out nothing like they planned, they're actually winning overall because prices on the commodity market are sky high right now?

Yup. Anybody who thinks they can bring about gods kingdom through man's works can go hang out with the other pelagians. So render unto caesar.

Good. Break the Russian blockade and get food flowing to the Global South again. Popasna is heating up. Best case for Ukraine, this is some kind of gambit so they can overextend russian supply lines, then chew up a division of Russian paratroopers. Best case for Russia, this is the breakthrough they've been fighting for since the beginning of April.

Keep an eye out for Popasna in the headlines. Something's going on there, and it's not good for Ukraine. Russia is shouting to the rooftops, which usually means ***** all. But open source analysts like ISW are noting some sizeable Russian gains. Usually Ukraine is pretty good at controlling Russian advances, but this one is in a very threatening area.

But...he's got a SubStack and 250,000 Twitter followers!

Ted Cruz is a broken clock, so he's going to be right once more today. All he's doing is quoting statements from Russia itself. Also, who's Michael Tracey, and why should anybody care what he says?

Well, all this started because Putin thinks Russians are some kind of chosen people, with a great mission. Folks like that don't worry too much about consequences or reality in general.

You know what the awesome thing about deleting every single one of my social media platforms is? How much less time I spend doubting the loyalty, motives and intelligence of my own ***** countrymen.

Oddly enough, Russian state media claimed Rand Paul will fold on Wednesday night.

Yes.

I'd like a country with less politics, more problem solving. Right now, I feel like politics is a war, where I have to pick a side, because the only time any laws get passed are when one side wins. Then they confirm judges and pass bills designed for the 30-40% of voters who are hard core supporters of what the majority party believes.

Fair.

Not for nothing, I'd push to keep Mickey D's in Russia. All they serve is heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

This is a logical, well written, and persuasive talking point. Do you any actual evidence for it though?

Rand sure knows how to virtue signal. Or maybe he's raising awareness? I can't decide.

Anyone who refers to people they disagree with as "The Left" or "The Right" is waving a big, red flag. It's warning you that their primary identity is political, and I'm ***** sick of the politics of part of the country trying to conquer the other part through the ballot box and pooping on the constitution.

Sounds like a great idea.

Yeah, for whatever reason, it's now ok for the Alt Right to sound like whiny college liberals. There is no right or wrong, it's all just scams by the military-industrial complex! Followed by a lot of SAT word salad so they come off edumucated and refined. Because Cynicism has replaced real problem-solving. In other news, Putin shocked the world by saying absolutely nothing new or escalatory during his May 9th address. I'm not being sarcastic about Putin for once. Fredo is still smart and he still wants respect. Now I am. Russia is openly fortifying Ukraine's border with Kursk Oblast, on account of they're afraid Ukraine may decide to counter-invade and seize Russian cities as bargaining chips.

Good. You've always got to be careful about clips like this though, as reassuring as they are. I've got more than a feeling that Ukrainian losses are higher than they let on. It's all anecdotal though. Rolling Stone Reported on a Ukrainian Marine unit that's been in contact since Day 1. They've taken a real beating. Ukrainian Territorial Defense Units were thrown into the defense of Kyiv with little to no training. Some Volunteers were simply handed gear and deployed. Those units must have suffered terrible losses if they were attacked by Russia tank/mechanized units, or tried to do anything other than hold the places they were deployed. Luckily they had Russian incompetence and support from Ukraine's regular army units, that we now know are much better than anybody thought, but still.

Lots of stuff floating around now, so take your pick what you want to believe. It looks like the Russians are still stalled out on all their attacks intended to collapse or encircle Ukraine's position in the east. Kreminna fell early but they haven't been able to push much past it or the nearby towns. The attack south from Izyum was looking very dangerous for a week but has also stalled out, creating a long salient running north-south. Russian and Ukrainian attacks around Kherson and elsewhere have traded ground without changing much. The Ukrainians have made some gains around Mikolaiyiv. That's good news, as Mikolaiyiv guards Odessa and is a springboard to attack Kherson. Real gains though are being made by Ukraine in the north. They've almost cleared the Russians out of tube artillery range of the city of Kharkiv. They're also pushing west from Kharkiv to threaten one of the trunk supply routes to Izyum. Kharkiv contains one of Ukraine's most modern tank factories. Who knows what kind of shape it's in, but they'll need that facility up and running and safe. Finally, there's now reports of very heavy fighting quite close to Izyum, due east and due west of the city. It's all heat mapping stuff, so it could be combat, or it could just be artillery. But if Izyum is isolated or even if it's taken, all Russian forces south of it are encircled. So in a nutshell, Russia is still stalled for the time being, and can't stop Ukraine's counterattack around Kharkiv. The Kharkiv counterattack could develop into something very bad for the Russians, but who knows. Something very, very bad for the Russians could be happening around Izyum, but the info isn't there to say one way or the other.

So why isn't this exception in every single abortion prohibiting law?

So the war itself is the real evil, and the US shouldn't do anything that prolongs the war, because it's just a sign of warmongers continuing influence of the US? I'm assuming you're not American because not many people in my country refer to it as the "US-Administration". Nothing to do with your argument, just an observation.