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Posted

Posted by Zelenskyy this afternoon

The Ukrainian delegation has departed for the United States: Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, and several representatives of the diplomatic sector. They will hold a number of meetings.

I will also have the opportunity to come to Washington and meet with President Trump on Friday. I believe we will discuss a series of steps that I intend to propose. I am grateful to President Trump for our dialogue and his support.

There will be several other important meetings – with defense companies, and possibly with senators and members of Congress. I will also meet with energy companies. This is necessary – it was President Trump’s proposal – and I will meet with these companies because there are pressing needs linked to various formats of attacks, not even the attacks that Russia has already carried out. In any case, we must be prepared. So, it will be helpful.

Therefore, the main focus of the visit is air defense and our long-range capabilities aimed at exerting pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.

———-

I am going to guess that if Trump thinks hitting refineries will end the war, he will supply Tomahawks.  As dense he can be about this topic, even he understands refineries going up in flames and long gas lines.

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Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Posted by Zelenskyy this afternoon

The Ukrainian delegation has departed for the United States: Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, and several representatives of the diplomatic sector. They will hold a number of meetings.

I will also have the opportunity to come to Washington and meet with President Trump on Friday. I believe we will discuss a series of steps that I intend to propose. I am grateful to President Trump for our dialogue and his support.

There will be several other important meetings – with defense companies, and possibly with senators and members of Congress. I will also meet with energy companies. This is necessary – it was President Trump’s proposal – and I will meet with these companies because there are pressing needs linked to various formats of attacks, not even the attacks that Russia has already carried out. In any case, we must be prepared. So, it will be helpful.

Therefore, the main focus of the visit is air defense and our long-range capabilities aimed at exerting pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.

———-

I am going to guess that if Trump thinks hitting refineries will end the war, he will supply Tomahawks.  As dense he can be about this topic, even he understands refineries going up in flames and long gas lines.

Any chance this meeting goes to crap like it did last winter?

Posted
13 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Seems low

No kidding.

What self-respecting Surly patriot would pass up the opportunity to vigorously butt sex the Russian propagandist - for Democracy - after insisting “Himars” is the safe word. 

IMG_1963.gif.d7cb91cf6f558f350616b529c4047fb5.gif

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

No kidding.

What self-respecting Surly patriot would pass up the opportunity to vigorously butt sex the Russian propagandist - for Democracy - after insisting “Himars” is the safe word. 

IMG_1963.gif.d7cb91cf6f558f350616b529c4047fb5.gif

There are enough head scratcher takes in ipihb (too old, big bush, saggy tits etc) that I was wondering if 93.6 was high

Posted

Funny enough, the next interesting thing to watch is the meeting between Xie and Trump. Trump may view China as the real "adversary", but it is impossible to isolate China with the conflict on going. The Ukrainian delegation meeting in DC is nice window dressing to signal potential weapons deals and better strategic relationships, but the real "dagger" to end this is China agreeing to stop buying oil from Russia.

China needs the trade war to end with the US and the rest of the world to have the US's blessing to not have to choose between the US and Chinese markets. The Chinese economy is in trouble with deflation concerns, unemployment, housing bubbles, trade tariffs and the lot and they desperately need an outlet for goods as well as other countries be willing to be able to play the middle man with them and the US again. With the ME chaos for the most part under control, expect OPEC to be willing to increase output if the oil is earmarked for China. That keeps OPEC in the green, China getting a way out of a potential recession, and the US, the end of the war on their terms that they are after.  

Something similar will probably be attempted with India, but that one is harder to guess on because there is much bigger issues beyond simple trade/tariffs with India, and so it is much more difficult to develop what is really on the table to be negotiated around. 

That will probably be the US offer. My guess is that this is a coin flip on whether Xie agrees to do something along these lines, and when he initially drags his feet, expect to see some saber-rattling by Saudi and OPEC+ to show China that they are willing to follow through in response to the US efforts to help deal with Iran and the Israeli/Hamas war.

The hardest part of solving the Ukraine/Russia war is that China has had little reason to stop indirectly supporting this war despite its official stance of neutrality and repeated (if largely symbolic) peace proposals. Even with heavy sanctions on Russia, there are easy ways to buy their oil and keep their economy afloat. Keeping the war going is currently in China's best interest. All it does is help destabilize the US and Europe while slowly bleeding Russia dry. There was no way to leverage China away from Russia due to their immense need for oil to sustain their resource-intensive economy. They can either get it from Russia for cheap or get it elsewhere. Up until now, there was no reason for the OPEC members to do anything but complain that China is buying cheap oil from Russia, knowing that China still has to buy the rest from them. Now the ME has a reason to be involved as it can look to expand production and stabilize revenues while reducing volatility, especially with Russia nearing OPEC+ quotas and prompting compensation demands. The political climate has changed to the point that it is worthwhile for the Arab states to look to further expand ties to the west and this is one of the easiest ways to do so.

 

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Posted
9 hours ago, texastough said:

There are enough head scratcher takes in ipihb (too old, big bush, saggy tits etc) that I was wondering if 93.6 was high

Look. That 93.6 is “could”. Physically. 
Of that 93.6, 100% would. 
You’re here because you’re a miscreant, scum dog, loser or crazy. Sure most of us act “normal” to our loved ones, co-workers and in general but being here means you’re not “normal”. 

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Posted
9 minutes ago, Shaddie said:

Look. That 93.6 is “could”. Physically. 
Of that 93.6, 100% would. 
You’re here because you’re a miscreant, scum dog, loser or crazy. Sure most of us act “normal” to our loved ones, co-workers and in general but being here means you’re not “normal”. 

 

Mourning deep thoughts.gif

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Posted
33 minutes ago, Shaddie said:

Look. That 93.6 is “could”. Physically. 
Of that 93.6, 100% would. 
You’re here because you’re a miscreant, scum dog, loser or crazy. Sure most of us act “normal” to our loved ones, co-workers and in general but being here means you’re not “normal”. 

House Yes GIF

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Posted
30 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Remember back in the 1970s and 1980s when NATO forces would practice taking off and landing on highways turned into makeshift airstrips?

season 20 20x1 GIF by South Park

 

You know what platform would be REAL good for that?

VF-14-F-14.jpg

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Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Remember back in the 1970s and 1980s when NATO forces would practice taking off and landing on highways turned into makeshift airstrips?

season 20 20x1 GIF by South Park

 

Commented on just that memory a couple of years ago when we drove Rt 1 (the main road from Tallin to Narva, on the Russian border).  The stretch just south of Kolga is lots of good straightaways, with plenty of stretches tailor-made for such use.

Of course, that is the trip where I commented to my wife that we were going to be within 90 miles of the Russian border, so I was counting on her better ears to listen for the sound of Russian tanks.  She laughed -- "what fucking Russian tanks?" (Her area of focus in college was Soviet Studies...she never had a high regard for the Russian military, and enjoyed watching their armor getting smoked that year by Ukraine)

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Posted
1 hour ago, Parliament said:

You know what platform would be REAL good for that?

VF-14-F-14.jpg

probably not, but if i'm not careful i'm going to spend 4 hours reading about the ST-21 and other fantasy upgrades to the tomcat

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Posted
3 hours ago, Shaddie said:

Look. That 93.6 is “could”. Physically. 
Of that 93.6, 100% would. 
You’re here because you’re a miscreant, scum dog, loser or crazy. Sure most of us act “normal” to our loved ones, co-workers and in general but being here means you’re not “normal”. 

image.png.c62d37d2bb8d6765c52547ad871e37cd.png

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Posted
5 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Russia gonna keep on showing the world that they are just fucking animals. Fucking brilliant - just as Ukraine is asking for Tomahawks, Russia helps justify the case for them.

UN CONVOY CAME UNDER ATTACK WHILE DELIVERING AID TO A FRONT-LINE COMMUNITY IN THE KHERSON REGION | United Nations in Ukraine

Today, an inter-agency convoy of four humanitarian trucks, clearly marked as belonging to the UN, carrying aid, came under attack by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation when delivering aid to Bilozerka Town in the Kherson Region.

Humanitarian workers, including from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ukraine, were on a mission to provide humanitarian aid to a heavily war-impacted community that had not received assistance for months. When the aid workers were on site, intensive artillery fire started, and later, during offloading, two clearly marked trucks of the World Food Programme were targeted by first-person-view drones. Fortunately, the humanitarian workers were not injured, but two trucks were damaged and set on fire. 

Such attacks are utterly unacceptable. Aid workers are protected by international humanitarian law and should never be attacked. 

Civilians remaining in front-line areas are heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance, and aid workers should be able to deliver life-saving assistance safely. 

Deliberately targeting humanitarians and humanitarian assets is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and might amount to a war crime.

 

 

I hope Fox News covers this story...so Trump will hear about it.

Posted
6 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I hope Fox News covers this story...so Trump will hear about it.

There was also a hospital that was hit overnight 

Posted
22 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Shortly after the war started, Maher had some woman on the show that was a long-time Intel officer.  Maher made a remark that it was surprising that the Russian equipment was shitty. The Intel lady laughed in his face.  She said they had a dirty joke in the Intel community and asked if he'd like to hear it.  He said yes. 


She said "what doesn't fit up your ass and doesn't buzz"

Maher: I don't know

Lady: A soviet-made ass buzzer

So that was the chess player's mistake

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Posted
50 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Shortly after the war started, Maher had some woman on the show that was a long-time Intel officer.  Maher made a remark that it was surprising that the Russian equipment was shitty. The Intel lady laughed in his face.  She said they had a dirty joke in the Intel community and asked if he'd like to hear it.  He said yes. 


She said "what doesn't fit up your ass and doesn't buzz"

Maher: I don't know

Lady: A soviet-made ass buzzer

NowThis

i can take it barack obama GIF by Obama

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Posted
1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

I hope Fox News covers this story...so Trump will hear about it.

 

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

There was also a hospital that was hit overnight 

Wouldn't matter. He has no concept of selfless people helping others. Its speaking a foreign language to him. 

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Posted
6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Remember back in the 1970s and 1980s when NATO forces would practice taking off and landing on highways turned into makeshift airstrips?

Hell, I remember classroom drills hiding from the nuclear attack - when we crawled under our desks in the early 1960s and we’re told not to look at the windows because of the blast damage to our retina and the shattered glass risk. 

That’s why I turned out normal

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Posted
2 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

Hell, I remember classroom drills hiding from the nuclear attack - when we crawled under our desks in the early 1960s and we’re told not to look at the windows because of the blast damage to our retina and the shattered glass risk. 

That’s why I turned out normal

Old West Yes GIF by GritTV

My daughter does bomb drills at her school and has this year.  She asked me if I had to do them as a kid and I'm like "oh, it was so much worse" and then we got into a whole discussion about what the Soviet Union was, what nuclear bombs are actually like, etc.

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Posted
30 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Have they not turned off the pipelines feeding that thing?

“Well we sent Boris 3 days ago to manually shut them off cause we can’t do it electronically. Haven’t heard from him but I’m sure after another bottle of vodka for us he’ll call.”

Posted (edited)

 

No one yet knows why, but for the first time in 7.5 years, Iranian flagged ships have just turned on their AIS beacons, all over the world.

The oil market is taking it as a sign that Trump is about to cut a no-sanctions deal with Iran.

Needless to say, oil price would be absolutely destroyed, sealing Putin's fate.
 

 

Edited by KYHorn
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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Old West Yes GIF by GritTV

My daughter does bomb drills at her school and has this year.  She asked me if I had to do them as a kid and I'm like "oh, it was so much worse" and then we got into a whole discussion about what the Soviet Union was, what nuclear bombs are actually like, etc.

My dad knew what nuclear bombs were like. 
In 1956 He was in an 8’ deep trench under this cloud about 1,000 yards from Ground Zero when the 27,000KT bomb went off.

 

IMG_5997.jpeg

Edited by Armybrat
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Posted

Had the pleasure of meeting an American front-liner on my flight to Poland yesterday. It was his second tour with an international brigade, though he noted that supposedly he’d be on defensive lines this time instead of pushing assaults.

He seemed confident that the tide was turning, so let’s hope that he’s correct and 2026 is the last year of this tragedy.

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Posted
29 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

My dad knew what nuclear bombs were like. 
In 1956 He was in an 8’ deep trench under this cloud about 1,000 yards from Ground Zero when the 27,000KT bomb went off.

 

IMG_5997.jpeg

 

Your Dad was in a trench a 1/2 mile from a bomb bigger than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb? Tough guy!

Posted
52 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

No one yet knows why, but for the first time in 7.5 years, Iranian flagged ships have just turned on their AIS beacons, all over the world.

The oil market is taking it as a sign that Trump is about to cut a no-sanctions deal with Iran.

I assume that the quid pro quo is not sending any more Iranian drones to Russia, among other things

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Posted
Just now, Gatorubet said:

I assume that the quid pro quo is not sending any more Iranian drones to Russia, among other things

That would be huge, and something Iran would probably consider at this point.  I find it interesting that this all started happening after the Ukrainian delegation showed up.

Like I said, Trump despises weakness, and Russia has been showing it in spades.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Your Dad was in a trench a 1/2 mile from a bomb bigger than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb? Tough guy!

There were hundreds of other Army troops in the trenches around the test area. 
Only two were injured - by shovels after the blast collapsed part of one trench and their rescuers were pretty enthusiastic while digging them out.

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Posted
59 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

 

No one yet knows why, but for the first time in 7.5 years, Iranian flagged ships have just turned on their AIS beacons, all over the world.

The oil market is taking it as a sign that Trump is about to cut a no-sanctions deal with Iran.

Needless to say, oil price would be absolutely destroyed, sealing Putin's fate.
 

 

6 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

I assume that the quid pro quo is not sending any more Iranian drones to Russia, among other things

 

5 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

That would be huge, and something Iran would probably consider at this point.  I find it interesting that this all started happening after the Ukrainian delegation showed up.

Like I said, Trump despises weakness, and Russia has been showing it in spades.

Is the Surly global geopolitics brain trust on board with this?

Posted
37 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Is the Surly global geopolitics brain trust on board with this?

I don't know, but after Iran lost Syria, and watching Russia slowly circle the drain, and watching a lot of their stuff get destroyed in Yemen, Iran may have decided it was in their interest to play nice. Plus, Russia's buying power may be starting to drop. They have an equation where they know (or project) what Russia does for their economy vs them being able to openly sell, and things might have recently changed.

But it's Trump, so they may have simply wooed him as the great peacemaker and he put out that he was willing to wheel and deal with them. All the while the rest of the world might not be so willing to go along with it.

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Posted

This is weird to say the least. Let's try and game plan why to turn on their AIS for any other reason than a deal with the US.

1. They didn't do it willingly, ie,  someone hacked the Iranian system and turned them all on. I don't think this is the case because they don't spoof locations as much as just turn them off.

2. This is a response to the latest set of UN sanctions reapplied to Iran. No AIS provides stronger legal basis for other countries to inspect or seize an uninsured Iranian vessel. 

3. This could be a China ask as a good faith offer to the US... Not sure how this helps either side with the timing

4. Could be Iran daring others to stop them from dealing with China and forcing China to step in 

 

None of these make a lot of sense, but then again, Iran all of a sudden making a deal with the US to remove sanctions on oil exports would require a ton of moving parts that would have already leaked. 

Going to put it in the weird but need more information pile for now and see what is going on in the morning. 

 

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Posted
40 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I don't know, but after Iran lost Syria, and watching Russia slowly circle the drain, and watching a lot of their stuff get destroyed in Yemen, Iran may have decided it was in their interest to play nice. Plus, Russia's buying power may be starting to drop. They have an equation where they know (or project) what Russia does for their economy vs them being able to openly sell, and things might have recently changed.

But it's Trump, so they may have simply wooed him as the great peacemaker and he put out that he was willing to wheel and deal with them. All the while the rest of the world might not be so willing to go along with it.

Also, keep in mind that Russia didn't lift a finger to assist Iran this summer. Could be some hurt feelings and a sense of betrayal there.

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Posted
40 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

4. Could be Iran daring others to stop them from dealing with China and forcing China to step in 

Would China really give a shit if they had them on or off as long as they were getting what they wanted?

The whole thing is really odd.

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Posted
7 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Also, keep in mind that Russia didn't lift a finger to assist Iran this summer. Could be some hurt feelings and a sense of betrayal there.

Russia is struggling, and there's no end in sight - Ukraine continues to chip away at their energy grid, at their oil & gas production, and at their exports.

Iran could be thinking about a future without Putin and where Iran would then stand - Russia will be an absolute shit-show for many years after Putin is gone, since he did everything he could do drive viable, decent leadership candidates away (or just had them killed) and we'll be left with oligarchs and military commanders in one helluva civil war (no way Chechnya doesn't break away). When that happens, Russia won't be doing much buying from outside countries.

Could be Iran is trying to get in the graces of countries not named Russia, and are doing back-channel deals.

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Posted

Trump: "I sent Witkoff to meet with Putin thinking it would be 15-20 minute meeting.

Witkoff had no idea about Russia or Putin. He did not know much about politics."

WHO THE HELL SENDS A NOVICE TO NEGOTIATE THE BIGGEST WAR IN EUROPE SINCE WW2?!

Oh My God Reaction GIF by CBC

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