beautifulthailand99

From the back of my brain I thought it was the Post buy it is the Kyiv Independent and other outlets and press freedoms in general as the following links will illustrate. These examples are designed to intimidate journalists in general to toe the party line which is Zelenskiy and his actions are beyond reproach as martial law continues. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-parliament-press-restrictions-censorship-journalists/32701375.html Since September 2022, only one television channel, the state-run Rada TV, an outlet charged with covering the parliament, or Verkhovna Rada, has been allowed to broadcast the legislature’s plenary sessions, with a delay of at least several hours for security reasons. Other accredited journalists are not allowed within the parliament or its perimeter. https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/ukraine/ There were allegations the government threated to prosecute journalists in retaliation for their work. Additionally, some journalists reported being threatened by security officials with military conscription in retaliation for reporting critical of the administration. Some outlets reported security services placed their employees under surveillance. An investigation was underway, for example, into Security Service of Ukraine surveillance of independent investigative media outlet Bihus.info. The Kyiv Independent likewise reported its employees were under surveillance by security forces. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/may/02/the-fight-for-full-press-freedom-in-ukraine-we-can-write-what-we-want-but-bad-actors-try-to-intimidate-us Rudenko is speaking out against a clumsy campaign of intimidation of journalists that began last autumn, in which staff at the English-language title have been subject, she says, to “undue interest” from the country’s SBU intelligence service. The Kyiv Independent is the country’s best known English-language title in a free, vigorous and largely online news market. But, Rudenko adds, “since October-November, a lot of newsrooms started feeling pressure at a time when some people began to think there might be elections”. (Elections in Ukraine are suspended under martial law and, despite that autumn speculation, there are no plans to hold them. https://kyivindependent.com/pressure-on-journalists-press-freedom-limitations-continue-in-wartime-ukraine/ Ukrainian journalists and media watchdogs are continuing to voice concerns over declining press freedoms as their country’s army fights on more than two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion to protect the future of the democracy. Months after attacks on investigative journalists provoked a public outcry and condemnation, media still face different forms of pressure from authorities, according to Ukrainian editors and press freedom watchdogs interviewed by the Kyiv Independent. https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-investigative-journalists-press-freedom-yuri-nikolov-corruption-nashi-groshi-war-in-ukraine/ KYIV — “I ran investigations for 15 years before the war, and it was always hard and risky. But I think it’s worse for journalists now,” said Ukrainian reporter Yuri Nikolov, editor and co-founder of the anti-corruption investigative project Nashi Groshi (Our Money). “They use different intimidation tactics to try to deter reporters and then, of course, they can always threaten to ship you off to the front lines,” he added with a rueful guffaw. For a man at the end of death threats, he remains remarkably upbeat.

This is the most likely PM for France when the horse trading finishes. Left or Right they have had enough of war. It's going to get rough from now in the centre cannot hold.

Until the Trump adminstration pulls the plug and economic and political upheaval in Europe starts screaming charity begins at home. this ex US Ambassador to NATO says Ukraine need to throw all their male population at the front before considering a single boot from another country. He's honest in his punt to the last Ukrainian. Or at least the last ones they can conscript. “The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Just don't tell mom that I'm going to Bakhmut

The Kyiv Post has come under increasing threat from goverment censorship as whilst being uber patriotic Ukrainians living under the privations of war they also want to tell the truth, however uncomfortbale. Reports: Ukrainian Marines Retreat From Dnipro Bridgehead, Long-Held Defensive Bastion Lost Kyiv’s abandonment of Krynky village marked a possible end to months of attempts by Ukrainian forces to hold liberated territory on the left/south bank of the Dnipro River and expand it. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/35948

I'm against this war but I salute your bravery you are obvioulsy fighting for something you beleive in and are prepeared to put your life on the line on the way. I hope you and all the others fighting will be safe and come back soon to peace.I would have thought more here other than Brian would have wished you well and God Speed but I'm sure they have their reasons. As an aside and if you have time have you heard of the YouTuber willyoam and if so what do you think about him ?

I've had a nice break but I'm now back so where to start with a huge Trump/Vance Coronation looming over Europe and Ukraine. That's the bigly one. Trump’s decision Monday to have Vance join him on the ticket is raising concerns across Europe that Trump might abandon Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion. The fear in European capitals is that, without strong U.S. aid, Ukraine will have less leverage in any peace talks - WSJ The invasion inspired Vance to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps months later, where he said he learned firsthand that those claims were untrue. “I believed in the propaganda of the George W. Bush administration that we needed to invade Iraq, that it was a war for freedom and democracy,” Vance said from the Senate floor. “The promises of the foreign policy establishment of this country were a complete joke.” https://archive.ph/lhDuE NYT - J.D. Vance’s Opposition to U.S. Support for Ukraine: In His Own Words “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other,” Senator Vance has said. https://archive.ph/VUyw0 And so the retreat from the high moral ground begins if Trump cuts the funds then Europe/Ukraine will have to make diffcult desicions as without money the whole show implodes and in short order. https://kyivindependent.com/germany-to-halve-ukraine-military-aid-reuters-reports/ Germany's military aid for Ukraine will be cut by half next year, according to a draft 2025 budget document reported by Reuters on July 17. Berlin will provide Kyiv with around 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) this year but will only give 4 billion euros ($4.35 billion) in 2025. The move comes amid increasing concern that a Donald Trump victory in the upcoming U.S. presidential election will see a dramatic cut in Washington's support for Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression. And then there's trouble at the top With Zelensky’s party split, the government relies on formerly pro-Russian lawmakers to help it pass legislation and minimize scrutiny. Government credibility is down The disarray thwarts any meaningful role for the Parliament in the oversight of government agencies. Corruption is common-NYT https://archive.ph/aLPVI Controversial Ukrainian MP, Mariana Bezuhla who lambasted military to leave Zelensky's parliamentary group -Kyiv Independent News Not long ago, she was put on the Myrotvorets kill list https://kyivindependent.com/controversial-mp-who-lambasted-military-to-leave-zelenskys-parliamentary-group/ She was also removed from her role as Head of Subcommittee of the National Security Committee a few days ago as well. Confirming the destruction of two Patriot Launchers in the past fortnight was probably the straw that broke the camel's back and was as placed on the Myrotvorets List and even her personal contact details, such as her general location and even her phone number was put there. Lawmaker Mariana Bezuhla said on July 17 that she had submitted an application to leave President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People parliamentary faction. The central figure of many controversies, Bezuhla has repeatedly made headlines with her harsh criticism of the former and current military leadership, including ex-Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and his successor, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Bezuhla made the announcement shortly after she was dismissed as the head of the subcommittee on civilian oversight over the military. She presented her dismissal as a "reaction to speaking the truth about the problems in the Armed Forces." But it's not just about money but manpower as well something they have virtually run out of. All lives lost now on both sides now are for absolutely nothing just a war that should never have happened. Who wouldn't want to run away faced with this dilemna - which is why most abled bodied men who couldn't flee the country are trying to do. CEASEFIRE NOW.

LOL !

Remember this from 2016 when Michael Moore called it - I'm getting this in spades for 2024.

Bone chilling - this is what American fascism looks like and it will change the world.

All true and yet "optics". The Iwo Jima one was actually staged as well. Sadly facts are becoming increasingly less important in this post-truth world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima#Bibliography

I don't disagree of any of your Trump derisions - but that photo has now entered the annals of history for better or for worse. A photograph like this would have been powerful at any time in the past century – but published now, at this stage in the presidential campaign, in an era where half the world has already seen it? The historian Timothy Garton Ash has said it will ‘change the course of history of the world’. Maybe so. What we can say for sure is that the image will be remembered as one of the most important political photographs ever taken. https://archive.ph/tY7Jf

Trump Won !

Trump by a landslide. now - baked in.

I'm balancing the views here and I have expressed my profound sorrow for all those dying in this senseless war in many posts , some deleted when I try to express in more detail my beleifs , and I see a lot of posts gloating in the deaths of Russians and I haven't seen you expressing pushback on that. It is for the Russians to change their system if they can or want to I, however am a western voting taxpayer so I have some small skin in the game and if I can help in a very small to stop this relentless path to global war beween 2 superpowers with nukes on my "side" which I sincerly think is the road we are heading on , and one in which the US with the Monroe Doctrine wouldn't accept a foreign power in their own backyard ,then, in my humble opinion I beleive I am doing good. I checked out of Pax Americana a long time ago, I'm more a Private Švejk than a Colonel Blimp - they have destroyed enough countries and people in the name of democracy and justice but in reality is usually always about power, control and wealth, to know it's always different this time but seldom is, and in those beliefs I have held them sincerley for more than 50 years now man and boy. I can't cheerlead or get behind my government's bellicose trajectory so I wouldn't ask others , maybe coerced, to do something I wouldn't do myself. If you don't want to read my shading on this war then don't. But don't shoot the messenger, I didn't write the message and if you think I peddle Putin's propaganda and am a useful idiot well then that's your right. Oh and in the article you referenced from me they are not dying but avoiding that and best of luck to them in that struggle. There's nothing glorious about being dead.

“I’m afraid I won’t get enough training and then I’ll be moved closer to the front and then I’ll die senselessly,” said Mykyta, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv, in western Ukraine. Those fears are backed by some military analysts, who say that Ukrainian troops often lack adequate training, which makes it difficult for Kyiv to hold its lines as they are quickly sent into battle to replace combat losses. Jack Watling, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, said that most Ukrainian soldiers were lucky if they got five weeks of training. By contrast, Britain trained infantry soldiers for about 22 weeks during World War II, he said. https://archive.ph/VrCeP

Putin can't be held responsible for an operational accident in theatre - just as Biden can't be blamed for the US bridge collapse or Israelis shooting their own hostages. Blue on blue activity is normal in an active war zone.

https://archive.ph/ymHPd

According to the Times, almost 1000 Ukrainian soldiers were trained by the Royal Marines. The Deputy Commander of the 38th Brigade revealed that very few of their British-trained commandos are still alive ‘The Russians are trying to drown us’: Ukraine’s cruel river war Zelensky’s marines once hoped their bridgehead would enable a southern offensive, sharpened by training in Britain. Instead they’re clinging on https://archive.ph/qckmh#selection-2151.0-2157.143 The Ukrainians claim they have killed significantly more soldiers than the Russians on the left bank of the Dnieper, but casualties on both sides appear to be immense. In the 38th Brigade, the number of commandos trained by the Royal Marines has been significantly reduced. “There’s not many of our guys left,” said Bassoon. “Very few.”

It's call back in the context of the video it was qouted for which was frankly optimistic Ukrainian proganda which ever way you want to spin it. The purpose of my video was to shade that with last year's similar misguided optimism. It's always the next thing, the next wunderwaffe , it will be over by Christmas , the Russians are running out of <insert thing here> which I would purport is not objective reality. My opinion, obviously but based on my research. The carnage continues on both sides and just saying Putin started it isn't an anwer to that even if it is partial statment of fact. Ceasfire now, armistice in place and let the killing stop or it really could be to the last Ukrainian. I've never supported a war in my life and that will be my position to my last breath. If that makes me a commie , Putin's useful idot in the eyes of some , then so be it.

First point maybe valid second point irrelevant as it is the offcial video released before the Spring Counteroffnesive as well you know ! Interesting that You Tube may have scrubbed some of the original videos from search though that came top of the list , not the official Ukrainian one. Is there a more free form thread where discussions can be had about how we got here , and where this is going where longer more thoughful discussions could be had and hopefully then keep this more on-topic ?

You may be referring to the David Axe's report for Forbes who is a notorious propagandist. However brave Ukrainian media is prepared to report the truth - possibly becuase they care about their people rather than spinning news for clicks. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/06/18/in-russia-vehicles-are-expensive-but-soldiers-are-cheap-and-thats-why-the-battle-for-vovchansk-is-becoming-an-infantry-massacre/ There are 3 British clowns who report nonsense as truth , David Axe, Hamish de Bretton Gordon and Colonel Richard Kemp. You can safely put them in the bin marked "Scott Ritter". Dozens of Russian troops have been cut off at a building site in the city of Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, not hundreds as previously reported by Forbes, Yurii Povkh, spokesman for the Kharkiv Operational Strategic Group (OSG), has said. Source: Povkh in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "I would like to point out that, first of all, the Russians do not operate with the numbers of personnel mentioned in this report. The figure of 400 people [reported by Forbes] is impossible to confirm because it does not exist." https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/06/19/7461556/

It's been pointed out by better people than me that he's a kleptocrat not a communist but still you persist.Words matter. I may or may nor be a communist and I'm certainly a pacifist socialist and Putin and his mates are not in my club.