quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Russian Defense Ministry officially blamed British Navy for planning, provisioning, and executing Nordstream sabotage.

Skynews

Hindustani Times

And if anyone believes this, I have a bridge in Crimea to sell them...

quote:

Originally posted by IrishWind:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Russian Defense Ministry officially blamed British Navy for planning, provisioning, and executing Nordstream sabotage.

Skynews

Hindustani Times

And if anyone believes this, I have a bridge in Crimea to sell them...

I believe NOTHING about this entire conflict! Wake me when it's over, or the Nuclear Missiles are flying! Until then I believe none of this...It's all propaganda as far as I'm concerned as you cannot trust any & all parties involved, especially our own government and the 'legacy state media'!

If the Brits blew up Nordstream, then why isn't the German government raising absolute hell with the British government over it? It's not like Berlin pussyfoots around London these days.

My main concern is this; it isn't our fight nor does it affect our country in any meaningful way. You can argue oil, energy or what not. We can be energy independent if these idiots in office removed their heads from their ass.

What my prediction is: someone is going to go rogue, use a nuke or dirty bomb, and we will be dragged in to another world war.

I’ve buried enough of my friends. I don’t want to see another American service member come home in a flat draped casket.

quote:

Originally posted by davidjinks:
What my prediction is: someone is going to go rogue, use a nuke or dirty bomb, and we will be dragged in to another world war.

Going 'rogue' with a nuclear weapon is pretty hard to do, it's the stuff of Hollwood. Dirty bomb, anything is possible, get some radiological medical waste and strap it to a bomb, presto, there it is; you've contaminated a building or, town square. Doesn't really change things strategically or, tactically, better used as a terrorist device.

^^ Information, logic and common sense may not make much difference to these guys. Remember, these Russian idiots actually dug in around Chernobyl.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/r...dioactive-red-forest

And things get weirder in Russia...the guy who founded Wagner is now setting up "centers" without bothering to get permits because the local government is "not democratically representative" enough to tell him "no". As if that weren't enough he's also charging the governor of St. Petersburg with running a corrupt criminal organization because the governor won't approve some contracts whereby slush fund money is doled out to insiders like the founder of Wagner. Methinks he's headed for a very dramatic fall before all the dust raised by the invasion of Ukraine settles.

http://www.yahoo.com/news/chie...itary-125700250.html

By the way, was someone worried about accountability for the weapons we're sending Ukraine? I'm sure more could be done, but apparently the US military did put some measures in place.

http://www.breitbart.com/europ...ack-weaponry-report/

So yesterday was the date all German gas depots were required to be at 95 percent capacity, thought to be unlikely back in summer. In fact as of noon today, the national total is at 98.9, though the biggest depot at Rehden is still lagging behind at 92.2; this one is operated by a Gazprom subsidiary which apparently dragged its feet on orders from Moscow until the German government took control. Furthermore, storage is still increasing, mostly due to the continuing nice weather; October having been one of the two warmest on record (the other having been in 2001) - reportedly 3.5 centigrades more than the 1961-90 average, and still 3.1 more than 1991-2020. Some days and nights have been downright summerly, even. Hooray for climate change - if it didn't exist like some say, we'd need to invent it now just to be able to tell Putin to choke on his own gas.

The warm spell is predicted to last another two weeks or so; then we'll see whether winter will also be mild, average or rather cold. At this point gas stocks are estimated to last for 70 days of average consumption from the last winters if there was no additional import whatsoever. In reality of course not only have deliveries from non-Russian sources increased - Norway, the Netherlands, LNG via Dutch and Belgian ports, and lately from French ones, too, after a pipeline originally used for gas deliveries to France was recommissioned and the direction reversed. Also of the three floating LNG terminals planned to commence operations at German ports around the change of the year, two may do so before the holidays already if the weather at sea plays along.

Another three are to follow until early 2024. Which will present yet another challenge as unlike this year, no Russian gas at all is likely to contribute to building up reserves for next winter. Meanwhile month-ahead gas futures for Germany have dropped to 100-125 €/GWh from a peak of nearly 340 in late August; spot market prices to 20-40 from 315, both compared to 70-80 pre-war. However, due to the long-term nature of consumer contracts, it will take some time for end users to feel the relief. In fact for some, prices may continue to climb before they drop again. The spot market in particular is also likely depressed from the unusually warm October weather; let's see how things develop when temperatures go down and demand goes up.

Saw where Russia is bringing in Afghan commandos.
US trained commandos.
30,000 of them.

These assholes could have EASILY defeated the Taliban.
Yet here they are.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Saw where Russia is bringing in Afghan commandos.
US trained commandos.
30,000 of them.

These assholes could have EASILY defeated the Taliban.
Yet here they are.

I'm guessing those are NOT ANA troops. I would not be shocked in anyway Russia is in deep with the Taliban to get access to all that gear we left behind for their intel types to exploit.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Saw where Russia is bringing in Afghan commandos.
US trained commandos.
30,000 of them.

Interesting. Where did you "see" that Russia is bringing in 30,000 US trained Afghan commandos?

^^^ http://www.foxnews.com/world/r...us-military-drawdown

quote:

Originally posted by IrishWind:
I'm guessing those are NOT ANA troops.

The US-trained guys would be poison to the Taliban; the Russians could always offer them asylum or citizenship.

The flip side to that is that if they are ex-ANA, the Ukrainians can offer them asylum or citizenship too - in order to not fight at all. That's how many a German mercenary became a western Pennsylvania farmer around the time of the American Revolutionary War.

ETA: Per the FOX article, they are US-trained ex-ANA, and they are joining the Russian Army. Apparently there were a total of 20,000 to 30,000 of these guys in Afghanistan rather than 30,000 of them being "brought in" by the Russians.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Saw where Russia is bringing in Afghan commandos.
US trained commandos.
30,000 of them.

These assholes could have EASILY defeated the Taliban.
Yet here they are.

Yep, they could have. Provided they had support from a halfway functional government and decent leadership at the upper field grade/general officer level. And a functional logistical train. And support from a good portion of the populace. None of which they had so...

Evidently, the afghanis that fled to Iran to avoid being slaughtered by the Taliban after Biden basically refused to get them out are the ones being wooed. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Russia is asking Iran to threaten deportation back home which would be a death sentence for them. Since Iran is deeply in bed with Russia, it is plausible.

https://apnews.com/article/afg...ecf2847b654f862723b8

These guys weren't reliable when it came to defending their own country, families, and homes...I can't imagine they'll be much better fighting for Putin in a foreign country. Their most valuable asset to Putin is that they're 30,000 lives that he can feed into this woodchipper without pissing off his own citizens by getting their sons killed.

Afghans = Cannon fodder. Or HIMARS.

I'm curious to see if McCarthy severely restricts or ends all support for Ukraine once we sweep next week. Assuming that's the case and the Ukrainian war effort collapses then we can blame Biden for the defeat since most Americans won't go beyond pointing fingers at the guy in the White House. It's honestly a genius political play and will just be one more nail in Brandon's career.

quote:

Originally posted by Carpentermaass84:
I'm curious to see if McCarthy severely restricts or ends all support for Ukraine once we sweep next week. Assuming that's the case and the Ukrainian war effort collapses then we can blame Biden for the defeat since most Americans won't go beyond pointing fingers at the guy in the White House. It's honestly a genius political play and will just be one more nail in Brandon's career.

So we Republicans/conservatives are willing to let another nation be overrun and subjugated by a Communist tyrant to make Biden look bad? I knew Trump Derangement Syndrome was real. But people are taking Biden Derangement Syndrome to a whole new level. And it is not good.

Your self-righteousness lights up the room.