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On 9/3/2025 at 6:55 PM, Brisketexan said:

That actually might have been it.  It was cheesy, a bit overwrought, and not particularly well-written.  But the premise was enough for me to see it through to the end.

Was it well written or was the concept at least interesting enough to enjoy the book? 

Posted

https://www.wsj.com/world/putin-wagers-ukraines-army-will-break-before-his-economy-does-d3ab22fb?mod=hp_lead_pos4

 

Not sure what all to quote here.  Putin is betting his countrymen can eat more shit, longer, than Ukraine can.  Any significant Russian economic collapse is at least 18 months out.

 

Quote

The war in Ukraine has become a contest between two hourglasses: one measuring how long Ukraine’s thinly stretched army can keep up the fight, and the other how long Russia’s economy can sustain the invasion without hurting the stability of Vladimir Putin’s regime.

The problem for President Trump’s push for peace is that Putin is betting Ukraine’s hourglass will run out first, allowing him to impose a victor’s terms and win a place in Russian history alongside conquering czars.

That is why the Russian president has for months sidestepped Trump’s proposals to freeze the fighting with a territorial compromise that the U.S. thought would be attractive for Moscow. Instead, the Kremlin is sticking to its maximalist demands, which would effectively make Ukraine its vassal and change the balance of power in Europe.

Trump’s latest deadline for Putin to show he is serious about peace talks with Kyiv has lapsed. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies continue to discuss sending peacekeepers to maintain a peace that is nowhere in sight.

What’s missing, say many policymakers and analysts who are critical of Trump’s approach to peacemaking, is a concerted U.S.-European strategy to shorten Russia’s countdown clock and change Putin’s calculation, because, on current trajectories, he could win his bet.

 

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Posted
On 9/5/2025 at 6:38 AM, HenryJames said:

 

Germany should tell US bases on their soil to GTFO.  What’s the purpose at this point?   This administration has turned the world order (that we built, profit from, and depend on for protection of our international interests) upside down.  For no reason.  

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Posted
2 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

Germany should tell US bases on their soil to GTFO.  What’s the purpose at this point?   This administration has turned the world order (that we built, profit from, and depend on for protection of our international interests) upside down.  For no reason.  

Trump is a fucking developer and has never shown any comprehension when it comes to why we have such a large military, and why so much of it is deployed overseas, because it doesn't directly affect people like him - we don't do it because we want democracy around the world (although that would be great), we do it because we want to project American power, both financial and military.  Where we project power, American companies can do business.  During the Cold War, if a country was within the Soviet sphere-of-influence, American companies were not going to get in there to pick up contracts or sell stuff or strip the resources out.  We keep ships on the ocean to keep sea lanes open, etc.

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Posted
That makes the Kremlin a sure target for Uke drones.
 

I don’t know. I think it shows the continued pressure on Russian oil and gas is working. While hitting the Kremlin would be symbolic and well within Ukraines rights to target, the Ukes know where more significant and important targets are. And it really isn’t Moscow. For now.
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Posted
1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said:


I don’t know. I think it shows the continued pressure on Russian oil and gas is working. While hitting the Kremlin would be symbolic and well within Ukraines rights to target, the Ukes know where more significant and important targets are. And it really isn’t Moscow. For now.

That does make more sense. 
But it would be nice if the Ukes could sneak at least one drone into the Kremlin to blast an onion dome, just as a symbolic propaganda coup. 

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Posted

The Ukes should save and send a month's  worth of Flamingo production straight to the Kremlin, at the same time. Fuck Vlad's "hourglass" to shit. He can throw out enough propaganda to keep mouth's shut on the front, and possibly the far flung refineries. But when nothing is left of the Kremlin but a greasy spot, Moscow is gonna lose their shit. It would be extra special if they killed about half the Duma. 

CHIEF

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Posted
10 hours ago, CHIEF said:

The Ukes should save and send a month's  worth of Flamingo production straight to the Kremlin, at the same time. Fuck Vlad's "hourglass" to shit. He can throw out enough propaganda to keep mouth's shut on the front, and possibly the far flung refineries. But when nothing is left of the Kremlin but a greasy spot, Moscow is gonna lose their shit. It would be extra special if they killed about half the Duma. 

CHIEF

They've shown tremendous restraint in not wasting resources on purly symbolic attacks.  Rather, they find bold, strategic, military targets and let the audacity of the attack be thr symbolism.

In the case of the new Flamingo, I suggest building up a good stock of them then hitting a volley of targets that were otherwise too distant to target.  Let a whole buncha refineries, drone factories, etc way out in the hinterland all blow up at the same time.  

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Posted
58 minutes ago, Parliament said:

In the case of the new Flamingo, I suggest building up a good stock of them then hitting a volley of targets that were otherwise too distant to target.  Let a whole buncha refineries, drone factories, etc way out in the hinterland all blow up at the same time.  

Or wait until say November or December when temps are a wee bit cool and just take out large parts of the Russian power grid.  No way they have the air defenses to protect their grid around Moscow and St. Petersburg.

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Posted

Would doing so have a direct impact on their ability to wage war?  I 100% totally get the desire to inflict pain on the Russian people.  Make so they can't boil their cabbage rations and such. But if those missiles can be used more directly, they should.

That said, saving them up 2 extra months, for bigger volley's on refineries and such does make sense.

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Posted
On 9/6/2025 at 11:06 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Trump is a fucking developer and has never shown any comprehension when it comes to why we have such a large military, and why so much of it is deployed overseas, because it doesn't directly affect people like him - we don't do it because we want democracy around the world (although that would be great), we do it because we want to project American power, both financial and military.  Where we project power, American companies can do business.  During the Cold War, if a country was within the Soviet sphere-of-influence, American companies were not going to get in there to pick up contracts or sell stuff or strip the resources out.  We keep ships on the ocean to keep sea lanes open, etc.

It's why he's already lost interest in this war.  Putin made him look like a fool with the Alaskan summit.  Went right back to Moscow and kept doing the same thing.  And instead of getting tough with Putin, which was the obvious next step, tfg has pretended like it just didn't happen, closed the pipeline of new weapons, and washed his hands of it so he can turn around and make war on American citizens.  Infuriating on all counts.  But taco gonna taco.  

It's as I was saying to all the optimists upthread.  We know who he is and he will never be any different.  Anything else is just wish casting.

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Posted
Quote

"Back in 2022, we offered the Ukrainian authorities to respect the choice of those people living in southeastern Ukraine, to withdraw their troops from there and end this conflict immediately. And, I must say, in general, this did not cause complete rejection. But after we, at the persistent calls of our Western European colleagues, withdrew troops from Kyiv, the situation immediately changed, and we were told, almost verbatim, 'now we will fight until you turn our heads off, or we turn yours off,'" Putin stated.

Yeah, Russia did not withdraw from Kyiv because their tank columns were destroyed and their logistics sucked so bad they had no ammo or gas - they withdrew because of requests from Europe….and got played by Ukraine.

V-boggers sympathetic to the war did not like what Putin said in China.  Several bloggers noted that the entire meeting was to show that China was now the center of power, and that people like Putin were  vassals.   One of the pro military bloggers said that he felt humiliated by Putin telling the world that Europe and Ukraine played Russia.    That is not the look of the leader of anti-western countries, but the sad story of being made a chump and telling it on yourself in front of your boss. 

Another V blogger said that Moscow was filled with festivals that were all free, and there was free music and art and everyone in Moscow had never had more to do for free.   The blogger liked it to a woman who bought and wore a beautiful expensive dress, even though her husband lost a limb in combat and her children had nothing to eat, but she had a pretty dress and went to the party anyway.

This was on Constantine’s Inside Russia YouTube channel, and he said the degree of criticism of Putin by the pro military V bloggers was the most extreme he had seen.    Apparently Russians don’t seem to care so much if everyone views them as war criminals, just as long as they are viewed as powerful war criminals who are respected and feared. 

 

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