beautifulthailand99

The walls are closing in on Zelensky Ukraine faces a triple threat amid growing casualties, a corruption scandal and a peace plan that amounts to capitulation -DAILY TELEGRAPH https://archive.ph/gN0Cv#selection-4237.0-5088.1 Gennady Druzhenko reckons that of the 1,000-odd fellow military recruits in his training camp, he is the only one who is there willingly. The vast majority are conscripts, many of them old or unhealthy, press-ganged off the streets to plug the growing gaps in Ukraine’s front lines. His comrades’ morale could not get much worse, but in the wake of the corruption scandal last week engulfing Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, a new low has been reached. “Some of these guys are nearly 60 and it’s a tragedy that they’re being mobilised anyway,” Mr Druzhenko told The Telegraph

Fair points, but there's a difference between Russia's military being "a joke" and it still being able to grind through a war of attrition on its own border with a population three times Ukraine's size. If it's such a joke, why isn't Ukraine winning decisively? The days of mocking Russia for using washing machine chips and fighting with shovels are long since gone and that sort of thinking is precisely what's led to this impasse. Yes, Russia is thoroughly corrupt but that's precisely why it can sustain losses that would topple any democratic government. The mob doesn't answer to voters. The real question isn't who's more corrupt. It's whether Europe has the political will to step up when America steps back, or whether we're all just outsourcing our security to whatever administration happens to be in Washington.And if the US pulls the plug bang goes the intelligence and targeting and maybe Musk's Starlinks as well. Read the link I postred upthread by the head of Azov. https://offbeatresearch.com/2025/11/i-know-we-can-win-ukraines-most-famous-soldier-on-the-state-of-war/ For his part, Krotevych believes the “culture of lying” that once infected the Russian military has now become more prevalent on the Ukrainian side. “I think that Russians stopped their lying culture in the army, maybe in the beginning of 2024,” he says. “They stopped lying, and we started lying.”

I personally blame the cowboy and indians flics many of you watched as kids and took for documentaries rather than gloating celebrations of a genocide that they are whilst building your national myths.

All Hitler analogies are misguided, which is exactly why Godwin’s Law exists. Putin is Putin he has managed to hold power in his homeland for nearly a quarter of a century, enriching and being sustained by a circle of kleptocrats, and using crony capitalism to patch over some of the intrinsic failures of the old Soviet command economy. But he hasn’t re-industrialised the country beyond perhaps its major cities, he hasn’t built an army capable of steamrolling into Europe unopposed, and he hasn’t created industrialised death factories to annihilate his enemies. He is dangerous, certainly, but not irrational. The reason Europe, the U.S., and NATO have no appetite for fighting him directly beyond proxy support is because Russia is a nuclear power and the West has no willingness to accept mass casualties of its own citizens in what is, fundamentally, a Slavic regional war. In many ways, that constraint was baked in from the start. What I couldn’t predict, however, was that Zelensky is both a skilled actor and comedian, and that his greatest role would be convincing both his own people and the West that he could win. A more pliant Putin puppet who bent the knee might have struck a deal, leaving Ukraine as a Belarus++ rather than facing an Iraq- or Libya-style fate which now looks to be it's future when their friend's and their magic money mysteriously dissapears and his mates could still have their golden toilets.

I’ll fix your title for you but the writing was on the wall from the very beginning, as I’ve said since day one. In my view, it was an unwinnable war, whatever the rights and wrongs, and enormous amounts of treasure and countless lives have been lost for muddy fields in places most people here know little about and care even less. Ukraine is winning the war ?

So the U.S. has effectively stepped back, Europe feels powerless and short on money and matériel, and Ukraine is exhausted short of funds, men, and equipment, and struggling with corruption and uneven leadership. All this against the Russian military: not the juggernaut it once was, but still a dangerous foe. And we’re supposed to call this ‘winning’? Azov’s chief delivers a damning indictment of the military and political leadership the narrative is clear for anyone willing to look. It’s over. General Syrskyi, whom critics sometimes call ‘the Butcher,’ replaced the widely popular and celebrated commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi, whose soaring public support was increasingly seen as a threat to President Zelensky’s ambitions. It’s a tragedy, but when Zelensky toured the capitals of the Western world cheered, flattered, and returning home with promises that often felt half-empty the fix was already in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdan_Krotevych “I Know We Can Win”: Ukraine’s Most Famous Soldier on the State of War https://offbeatresearch.com/2025/11/i-know-we-can-win-ukraines-most-famous-soldier-on-the-state-of-war/ For his part, Krotevych believes the “culture of lying” that once infected the Russian military has now become more prevalent on the Ukrainian side. “I think that Russians stopped their lying culture in the army, maybe in the beginning of 2024,” he says. “They stopped lying, and we started lying.” Krotevych argues that Syrskyi’s favoured assault units — which answer directly and only to him — are frequently used for militarily useless and highly costly PR stunts, driven by political pressure from Kyiv. “In one assault regiment under Syrskyi, there were more losses in one month than [Azov] took in two years,” Krotevych says. “It’s too stupid to lose people so Syrskyi can say to the President, ‘Mr. President, I carried out the operations that you asked me to do’, it’s stupid. I know how many losses we got in other units to free some village and to make a Telegram post. And in a week, that village would be re-captured by the Russians. It’s so stupid, no, I don’t understand.”

Halfhearted Allies Keep Ukraine in a Futile War - The U.S. and Europe have consistently been one step behind the demands of the battlefield - Bernard-Henri Lévy - WALL STREET JOURNAL https://archive.ph/wvxyI#selection-549.0-801.96 One thinks of Norman Mailer in “The Naked and the Dead”: “they died for hills no one could have named, for objectives no one understood.” Or of Erich Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front”: “The same torn-up earth we take, lose, take again—the mud stays, the dead stay.” It calls to mind the horrifying line by Yugoslav novelist Ivo Andrić that we all had in mind 30 years ago during the siege of Sarajevo: “The great powers never give enough to save, but always enough to prolong the agony.” In today’s Ukraine, as in yesterday’s Bosnia, the devil of history has carefully measured its help—enough to allow the country to hold on, but not to win. It’s the scandal of our time.

Trump will have acess to the deepest darkest dirt on the leadership cadre and probably an ability to destroy them with that if he so chooses. https://kyivindependent.com/one-of-the-most-difficult-moments-zelensky-addresses-ukraine-amid-controversial-us-peace-plan/ President Volodymyr Zelensky officially addressed the Ukrainian public on Nov. 21, responding to growing concerns over a new peace proposal that reportedly reflects Russia's longstanding demands. In his message, Zelensky acknowledged the growing diplomatic pressure on Ukraine, calling the current moment "one of the most difficult" for the country. Without naming the U.S. proposal directly, he described the situation as "complicated" and noted the risk of damaging key strategic relationships. "Ukraine may soon face an extremely difficult choice. Either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner. Either 28 complicated points or the hardest winter yet — and the risks that follow," Zelensky said on Telegram.

When we talk about contemporary great-power behavior, we should remember that none of this occurs in a vacuum. By historical standards, Russia’s actions may look restrained only when measured against a very low and often brutal baseline that major powers have set for centuries. The British Empire once pushed opium into China, fought wars, and seized territory in the name of commerce. The United States’ interventions in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos left several million dead commonly estimated between two and three and a half million. And yet today, many people pass through places like Thailand and admire the infrastructure and stability without fully appreciating that it exists in a region built on the rubble of those conflicts, with the scars still visible just beneath the surface. Who's rules ? Who's Great Game ? and whaddabout Gaz ?. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

Some folks regard me as a Putin shill - but this is demented garbage. Thankyou for your attention to this matter.

I live and love in London, still one of the greatest cities in the world unless some real third-world hellhole is your preferred poison. But then we're all rotting towards death in our own ways, aren't we? Creating our own consumed biases through broken, no-longer-rose-coloured spectacles shouting at the telly to no-one , nowhere as the cracked mind fails.

When Zelenskiy took on corrupt officials.

Special dispatch - How to fight in ‘hell’: Ukraine veterans say Nato not ready for war with Russia - Frontline medics and soldiers near Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine tell world affairs editor Sam Kiley - INDEPENDENT https://archive.ph/6Kmud Nato’s method is to take on mass attacks by the “near peer” forces of Russia. But Russia’s tactics no longer concentrate on mass – the weight of numbers in men and arms used against Ukraine three years ago. Now, Ukrainian forces are being attacked with long-range glide bombs. Russian drones hunt out Kyiv’s UAV teams in their bunkers and force them away from their forward lines. And above all, the lines of logistics are pounded with terrifying accuracy. As a result, small groups of two or four Russians covertly sneak into locations on the front lines to try to hold bunkers and dugouts while Ukrainian drones patrol overhead. The soldiers use blankets designed to muffle their thermal images, sometimes held above them on poles, to get into locations where they may be embedded for weeks or months. Napoleon Bonaparte: "There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit." (After his disastrous Russian campaign, 1812) Otto von Bismarck: "The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia." Also attributed to him: "Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come - do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play." Winston Churchill: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." (1939) Also: "The Russian colossus has been underestimated by us." General Patton: "The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously." Hitler (to Mannerheim, 1942): Admitting his surprise at Soviet tank production and the quality of the T-34, saying he would never have attacked had he known their true military capabilities. Charles XII of Sweden: After his defeat at Poltava in 1709, essentially learned what Napoleon and Hitler would later discover about Russian depth and resilience. General de Gaulle: "Russia is never as strong as she looks; Russia is never as weak as she looks."

https://theconversation.com/by-delaying-decision-on-using-russias-frozen-assets-for-ukraine-europe-is-quietly-hedging-its-bets-269507 No perfect outcomes A final decision on the assets is expected in December. But even if approved, the funds may be disbursed in cautious tranches, tied to battlefield developments and political optics, locking Ukraine into the unforgiving calculus of great power rivalry between Russia and the West. The EU is not abandoning Ukraine, but it is recalibrating its risk exposure. That recalibration is grounded in strategic doubt as EU leaders are no longer sure Ukraine can win – even if they won’t say so aloud. In the end, whether or not the assets are deployed, Ukraine’s outlook remains bleak unless both Russia and the West find a way to de-escalate their zero-sum rivalry in the region. Any future settlement is unlikely to be optimal and will likely disappoint Ukrainians. But the current challenge is not to pursue perfect outcomes, which no longer exist, but to choose the least damaging path to ending the war, among all the imperfect options.

Zelenskiy is prepared to give up 20% of Ukraine to Russia to do a 'deal'. The Right Sector will destroy him if he does.

Here is the President with the now removed Deputy Prime Minister in 2019 !

From meat grinder to mopeds: How Russia rethought its war-fighting in Ukraine - CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/16/world/pokrovsk-russia-ukraine-tactics-intl One Ukrainian combat medic whose unit is currently fighting in Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Myrnohrad said extractions from the city are currently nearly impossible, with evacuation vehicles unable to get any closer than 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) from the city – and even that proximity remains extremely risky because of the drones. “The seriously wounded don’t make it to the (medical) stabilization point. If someone (sustains) a moderate injury, they will arrive to me in serious condition, if they are lucky enough to make it at all. Minor injuries arrive as moderate,” he told CNN. He asked for his name not to be released because he is not authorized to speak to media. “Right now, we have several people who have been in position with serious injuries for two weeks. There is one who has been in serious condition for a week, and we can’t get him out,” he added.

This is the latest view from major Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko, who has over 2 million subscribers and was a significant figure during Euromaidan. He’s essentially Ukraine’s equivalent of Igor Girkin, and the Russians have attempted to assassinate him three times so he’s definitely someone worth listening to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serhii_Sternenko

Whataboutery at it's best - I'm noticing these stories pop up all over pro-Ukraine channels.

I have considerable respect for Vlad Vexler's analysis on many topics, and I understand the concern about Russian propagandists weaponizing corruption stories. But here's where I diverge: the fact that corruption in Ukraine can be used as propaganda doesn't make the corruption itself less real or less relevant to European strategic calculations. The video you've linked actually reinforces my position rather than undermines it. If Ukraine's institutional weaknesses are significant enough to warrant analysis and concern, then they're significant enough to question whether Europe should be pouring hundreds of billions into a country where those institutions remain fragile - regardless of what Moscow's talking points are. As I mentiond in my previous post my father served in the Royal Signals through North Africa and Italy until VE Day. Before he died, he told me something I've never forgotten and I will repaet : the Soviets saved our bacon, and we paid for that by accepting their domination behind the Iron Curtain at Yalta. He had no illusions about Soviet tyranny, but he understood that was the price of defeating Nazi Germany. He also believed some monsters are best left alone, that provoking them only leads to misery for everyone caught in the middle. I carry on that view not out of sympathy for Putin - he's a monster too - but because I don't believe we have a dog in this fight. Ukraine and Russia have been entangled for centuries. This is their blood-soaked history, not ours. Great powers have spheres of influence. We accepted Soviet domination of Eastern Europe for fifty years because the alternative was World War III. The realist question isn't whether Putin is wrong or whether Ukraine deserves better. It's whether European involvement serves European interests. We're hemorrhaging resources, destroying our industry with energy costs, playing America's game while they sell us expensive LNG and watch Russia bleed from a safe distance. And realistically, this ends with Ukraine losing territory, a frozen conflict, or a negotiated settlement that gives Russia much of what it wants anyway. None of those outcomes justify what we're paying now.The moral grandstanding class will call this appeasement. Let them. My father's generation knew the difference between Munich 1938 (abandoning Czechoslovakia to avoid our own fight) and Yalta 1945 which was accepting brutal realities after winning the war we had to fight. Ukraine isn't Poland 1939. It's not a NATO ally. It's not a vital interest. It's a tragedy, certainly - but the world is full of tragedies, and we can't fix them all without creating worse ones.

My dad may God rest his soul served in the Royal Signals. He was posted first in South Africa, then Libya and Egypt, and finally moved up through Italy until the war ended in a defeated Germany. His job was communications, usually a few kilometres behind the front lines. Before he died, he told me a small story from his time in Cairo. One night, some of his mates went out to visit a brothel, which he remembered cost ten Egyptian shillings. He chose not to go and stayed on base. I never fully understood why he felt the need to share this memory, until he added quietly, “Don’t be the sort of man who pays for it they’re not real men.” With time, I came to realise what he meant. Men of his generation, forged in the hard edges of war, carried a sense of restraint and responsibility that didn’t depend on being watched or praised. They believed a man’s strength wasn’t measured by what he could take, but by what he could refuse. Their dignity was private, almost stubbornly so an internal compass that told them who they were even when no one else was looking. Today, in a world that often rewards display over depth, that kind of quiet moral backbone can feel rare. But men like my father remind us that character isn’t proven in moments of glory; it’s shaped in the small choices, the unseen ones, where a person decides what sort of human being he is going to be. His story was less about a night in Cairo and more about the values he hoped I would carry forward: self-respect, restraint, and the belief that a man’s worth is measured by the standards he sets for himself. I probably would have let him down in all sorts of ways, but one thing my dad never wavered on was acknowledging that the Soviets saved our bacon when it mattered. He never forgot the scale of their sacrifice. I’m certain he would have been upset by reports of wartime memorials being torn down whatever the politics behind it because he believed the dead deserved respect, no matter who they fought for. He accepted the rough justice of Yalta too. To him, it was simply the brutal logic of the age: a world carved up by victors, with the Soviets taking dominion behind what later became the Iron Curtain. He had no illusions about Soviet tyranny, but he believed the settlement was the price of defeating Nazi Germany. I’ve no doubt he would have considered Putin a monster as well yet he would have insisted that some monsters are best left alone, that provoking them only leads to misery for everyone caught in the middle. It’s a hard, cold way of seeing the world, shaped by a generation that learned its lessons in fire. So I carry on my lonely crusade in his memory. Don’t poke the bear, he would have said. Nothing good can come of it. And the ghosts of Napoleon and Hitler whisper the same warning.

Russia Tried to Cut Ukraine’s Lights. Now It’s Aiming for the Heat. Moscow’s attacks on gas supplies, the main source of warmth for most Ukrainian households, could plunge millions into the cold - NEW YORK TIMES https://archive.ph/zKriu#selection-509.0-513.127 For the first three years of the war, Moscow mostly avoided striking Ukraine’s gas network because it was used to transport Russian gas to Europe. But on Jan. 1, Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukraine as Kyiv ended a transit deal. Soon after, Russia turned its fire on Ukraine’s gas facilities. In February and March, drones and missiles wiped out about 40 percent of Ukrainian gas production capacity, Mr. Koretskiy said in an interview. Because the strikes came near the end of the months when Ukrainians use most heat, usually late October to early April, the immediate impact was limited, Mr. Koretskiy said. Naftogaz spent the summer repairing infrastructure and, by September, had largely restored its production capacity. But in October, Russia renewed its assaults, hitting even more ferociously. Naftogaz’s facilities were struck seven times last month in attacks that knocked out 60 percent of production capacity, according to a European official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

I love pregablin it's a class c controlled drug in the UK as is tramadol and gabapentin. At some point like benzos and oxytocin there will be a load of casualties that think it is 'safe' and non-addictive.

The fix is nearly in. Endemic corruption runs from the top throughout the country, territory is being lost, and manpower crises generate record refugee numbers. Ukrainians abroad increasingly refuse repatriation, knowing what awaits them. Meanwhile, the TCC has descended into busification forcibly conscripting men from buses, streets, and public spaces in scenes that undermine the very cause they claim to defend. Western governments are exhausted, the US has checked out, and Europe desperately wants an exit. The question now is how to shape a narrative that lets them go for the door without appearing to abandon their commitments. Expect the language to shift from 'as long as it takes' to 'sustainable solutions' and 'pragmatic diplomacy.' Yet still, armchair generals cheer on from the safety of their sofas. https://www.politico.eu/article/war-in-ukraine-draft-age-russia-vitali-klitschko/ BRUSSELS — Ukraine is facing a worsening shortage of soldiers as record numbers of men flee to Europe, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned in an interview. “We have huge problems with soldiers — with human resources,” Klitschko told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, of which POLITICO is a part, acknowledging the toll that nearly four years of war has taken on Ukraine’s capacity to replenish its ranks. He said Russian troops are advancing relentlessly, describing their assaults as “like a computer game — they just keep coming, they don’t care about fallen soldiers.”