1 minute ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Err that's the Ukrainian Pravda which is regarded along with the Kyiv Independent as one of the foremost English language news sources in Ukraine. You will of course be thinking about the USSR's famous newspaper Pravda that was a touchstone for communist lies. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainska_Pravda

Is it? Stand corrected. 

A Russian Air Force pilot dropped a glide bomb on the border village of Karyzh in the Kursk region.

The blast tore through the small community, destroying at least ten houses in seconds.

 

The village lies just 7 kilometers from Ukraine, in an area scarred by months of fighting.

Footage filmed by locals shows the near-total destruction of the settlement.

 

Rubble and debris litter the streets, with only parts of walls left standing

Smoke and dust hung in the air as residents looked on in shock.

 

Putin’s Warplane Blew Up Russian Village by Mistake: 10 Homes Were Destroyed

Whilst Trump postures like some pound shop Mussolini breaking up the homeland, the real autocrats are busy re-ordering the world and toasting the Western fall. Don't forget that Mongol hordes once licked at the gates of Rome the barbarians at the gate. This doesn't mean I agree with any of it; I'm just Cassandra on the wall, telling it the way it is. Emoji away brethren!

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/powerful-optics-chinas-xi-welcome-putin-modi-grand-show-solidarity-2025-08-26/

 

BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping will gather more than 20 world leaders at a regional security forum in China next week in a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off another diplomatic coup.
Aside from Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have been invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, to be held in the northern port city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.

11 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Glossing over past crimes or continuing to venerate figures like Stepan Bandera, whose ideology fuelled hatred and violence, undermines any claim to moral high ground over Russia. Europe has no place for selective memory, nationalist denial, or flags soaked in the blood of innocents.

 

 

All very well, but again, you are being less that even handed

 

The Russian government recently installed a replica of a monument to Stalin on the Moscow Undrground.

 

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/15/moscow-metro-installs-replica-of-stalin-monument-a89089

 

He deliberately starved up to 7 million Ukrainians to death

 

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0051/

 

Overall, Stalin is responsble for the deaths of upto 20 million Soviet citizens.

 

Its no surprise that a mystery "Pole" (who knows where he's from. We all have personas here) pops up just as negotiations between between Ukraine and Russia may start.

 

The Russian position is clear. Its unchanged. The Americans are claiming two major cncessions; they now recognise that Ukraine has a right to exist, and they no longer want to install a puppet leader. On the Ukrainian side there is the question of land, though its likely that Ukraine is more wedded to the idea of not conceding sovereignty (in the same way that Cyprus will not recognise Northern Cyprus, the Golan Heights are still officially Syrian), rather than necessarily seeking to use military means to eject the Russian occupation force. Other lines are NATO membership, or not NATO membership (suggestings of "Article 5 like protections" indicates whoever came up with that has no idea how Article 4/5 work), and EU membership. The Russians, being as thick as pig <deleted>, don't seem to understand this idea of independance, because they think they have the right of veto on Ukraine's external relations.

 

The question of EU membership has come up because of the comments of the Polish  Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who has said the Poland will veto Ukraine's application to join the EU until it concedes that the Volyn tragedy as a genocide'

 

Quote

If Ukraine does not come to terms with the genocide in Volyn, if there is no exhumation or commemoration, it will have no chance of joining the European Union

 

The Bots and others, on cue, seized upon these words, and attempt to justify Bucha and other places on the grounds of a bellum iustum, which is perverse considering Russia refuses to acknowledge the Holodomor as genocide. Russia says it wasn't genocide, because Stalin also killed Kazkhs. The Romani will be relieved to learn they weren't the victims of genocide because the Nazis also killed Jews.

 

The Deputy PM was fully aware how Russia and its "friends" would use this.

 

 

Quote

I have said this many times – if Ukraine does not come to terms with the genocide in Volyn, if there are no exhumations or acts of commemoration, it will have no chance of joining the European Union. I have voiced very clear and firm opposition in cases where Poland’s good name was trampled on in any way, or attempts were made to glorify Bandera. I have spoken about this very clearly and explicitly. But withholding support from a Ukraine at war runs counter to the security interests of the Polish state. Helping Ukraine in its fight is also about building a secure Poland........In the context of full-scale war, one must always be cautious, since Russian propaganda is currently trying to convince people that fascists are in power in Ukraine........Bandera was a criminal, that is beyond any doubt. The genocide in Volhynia is one of the most horrific acts of terror against a nation in the history of our civilization. Ukraine must answer for this: there must be memorials, exhumations, proper burials. We will never back away from this.......when the Russians are talking about fascists in Ukraine, one must not play into that narrative.....This can be done the way we are doing it, the way I am doing it, or one can just play on emotions and achieve nothing......

 

Of course there is a difference in opinion between the Polish Prime Minister and his cabinet and the newly elected Polish President. But I think its more likely that Ukraine will acknowledge the past (though Bandera himself wasn't actually a Ukrainian citize. It seems his story was of a messy period following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which saw Easten Galicia become independant Western Ukrainian People Republic, before a war with Poland saw it annexed by Poland (Russia; take note as you send Ukrainians into internal exile).

 

 

Zelensky in 2023

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66150790

 

Clearly, there is a lot of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation going on through the exhumation of victims. Russia and its friends, cynically exploiting them. Russia has lots more blood on its hands, but its friend refuse to acknowledge this, or minimise it, such as Lavrov's comments (curious, as reputedly, he is a Buddhist convert).

 

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/08/25/7527788/

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7784/Artykul/3570365,ukraine’s-acting-culture-chief-to-attend-burials-of-poles-exhumed-in-puzhnyky

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7785/Artykul/3536316,poland-gets-green-light-from-ukraine-for-more-wwii-exhumation-work

 

On 8/25/2025 at 10:55 AM, bannork said:

Paramedics to Step In Where Doctors Are Missing

In response to a growing crisis in its healthcare system, Russia will allow paramedics and midwives without higher medical education to act as primary care providers beginning September 1.

 

Under the new rules introduced by the Ministry of Health, non-degree-holding medical personnel will be permitted to conduct patient exams, take medical histories, run basic tests, prescribe medications, and refer patients to specialists when necessary.

 

According to figures presented by Health Minister Mikhail Murashko earlier this year, Russia is short by 23,300 doctors and 63,600 mid-level healthcare workers nationwide. The situation is particularly dire in rural areas.

 

Russia Runs Out of Doctors: Paramedics Without Degrees Now Treating Patients

 

 

Quite early on, Russia started to strip hospitals in the Rostov area of doctors and paramedics to form combat medical brigades. Russian military medicine is in a decrepit state.

 

Before the war, Russia had quite a thriving private healthcare sector. That sector has all but disappeared. Russa is dependant of imports of about 80% of its medicines and 90% of its medical equipment.  And the main sources were from Germany and the US. The export of medical supplies is not subject to sanction, except for certain spare parts that have both a dual purpose use and US IP. This includes medical and dental lasers. Russia can probably get away with less bariatric surgery, contouring and amazing teeth. However, a weakened Ruble and increased shipping costs wiped out the private sector, and has impacted state healthcare spending (and now they are reducing that budget).

 

To an extent, Western medicines can be substituted for Chinese and Indian generics; they are just as good. The difference will be there is less choice, so treatment of patients will worsen.

 

The same cannot be said for medical devices. One thing doctors don't like is having some bureaucrat tell them how to treat their patients. During COVID, bureaucrats around the world came up with amazing new ventilator designs. James Dyson was going to completely revolutionise the design. Ford was going scale up, WW2 style, production. Babcock headed a military like consortium made up of the finest mids from the aerospace, car and motorsport industries to design and produce the sten gun of ventilators.  All for nothing. No doctor worth his salt was going to hook up his patients to a machine designed on a fagpacket by a hair dryer maker. They wanted more of the same. In America, the American President proudly accepted the Russian donation of Russian ventilators for the hard pressed citizens of his home town. The ventilators went from airport straight to the scrapyard. The machines were not FDA approved, different voltage requirements and all the controls were in Russian. In Russia, some bright spark thought they should daisy chain respiratory equipment to make it go further. The result was an oxygen leak completely immolated a whole ward of COVID  victims.

 

Years ago, Putin instituted a Buy Russian campaign on public bodies, including hospitals. All the orders and tenders are a matter of public record. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference. When the war started, they identified 4000 types of critical equipment that were wholly imported. Putin challenged Russian industry to come up with the goods. They failed. Now Western equipment is coming in through Kazakhstan, and they are paying double. So that healthcare budget isn't going as far. More surgeries are being canceled due tp equipment malfunctions and shortages.  Waiting times are extending, or whole types of surgery/treatment are no longer on offer. No shortage of opiates though for those cancer patients told there is no treatment inside Russia.

 

46 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Whilst Trump postures like some pound shop Mussolini breaking up the homeland, the real autocrats are busy re-ordering the world and toasting the Western fall. Don't forget that Mongol hordes once licked at the gates of Rome the barbarians at the gate. This doesn't mean I agree with any of it; I'm just Cassandra on the wall, telling it the way it is. Emoji away brethren!

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/powerful-optics-chinas-xi-welcome-putin-modi-grand-show-solidarity-2025-08-26/

 

BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping will gather more than 20 world leaders at a regional security forum in China next week in a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off another diplomatic coup.
Aside from Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have been invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, to be held in the northern port city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.

 Meanwhile:

Trump calls, but Modi doesn't answer.

So far, the US president has defeated all his opponents in the tariff dispute. Not India. Instead, the country is turning to its powerful neighbor China – and ignoring old wounds. 

5 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

 Meanwhile:

Trump calls, but Modi doesn't answer.

So far, the US president has defeated all his opponents in the tariff dispute. Not India. Instead, the country is turning to its powerful neighbor China – and ignoring old wounds. 

The damage Trump is doing to prospects for the future prosperity of the USA is yuge and it may be impossible to reverse as the world now sees the USA as an anti-democracy banana republic with no core values and totally unreliable as an ally. Replacements will be made.  To paraphrase a pundit I recent heard -- Trump came into office as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world and he will leave office with that no longer the case.

All "empires" decline but in the case of Trump it's a suicide.

1 hour ago, MicroB said:

 

 

All very well, but again, you are being less that even handed

 

The Russian government recently installed a replica of a monument to Stalin on the Moscow Undrground.

 

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/15/moscow-metro-installs-replica-of-stalin-monument-a89089

 

He deliberately starved up to 7 million Ukrainians to death

 

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0051/

 

Overall, Stalin is responsble for the deaths of upto 20 million Soviet citizens.

 

Its no surprise that a mystery "Pole" (who knows where he's from. We all have personas here) pops up just as negotiations between between Ukraine and Russia may start.

 

The Russian position is clear. Its unchanged. The Americans are claiming two major cncessions; they now recognise that Ukraine has a right to exist, and they no longer want to install a puppet leader. On the Ukrainian side there is the question of land, though its likely that Ukraine is more wedded to the idea of not conceding sovereignty (in the same way that Cyprus will not recognise Northern Cyprus, the Golan Heights are still officially Syrian), rather than necessarily seeking to use military means to eject the Russian occupation force. Other lines are NATO membership, or not NATO membership (suggestings of "Article 5 like protections" indicates whoever came up with that has no idea how Article 4/5 work), and EU membership. The Russians, being as thick as pig <deleted>, don't seem to understand this idea of independance, because they think they have the right of veto on Ukraine's external relations.

 

The question of EU membership has come up because of the comments of the Polish  Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who has said the Poland will veto Ukraine's application to join the EU until it concedes that the Volyn tragedy as a genocide'

 

 

The Bots and others, on cue, seized upon these words, and attempt to justify Bucha and other places on the grounds of a bellum iustum, which is perverse considering Russia refuses to acknowledge the Holodomor as genocide. Russia says it wasn't genocide, because Stalin also killed Kazkhs. The Romani will be relieved to learn they weren't the victims of genocide because the Nazis also killed Jews.

 

The Deputy PM was fully aware how Russia and its "friends" would use this.

 

 

 

Of course there is a difference in opinion between the Polish Prime Minister and his cabinet and the newly elected Polish President. But I think its more likely that Ukraine will acknowledge the past (though Bandera himself wasn't actually a Ukrainian citize. It seems his story was of a messy period following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which saw Easten Galicia become independant Western Ukrainian People Republic, before a war with Poland saw it annexed by Poland (Russia; take note as you send Ukrainians into internal exile).

 

 

Zelensky in 2023

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66150790

 

Clearly, there is a lot of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation going on through the exhumation of victims. Russia and its friends, cynically exploiting them. Russia has lots more blood on its hands, but its friend refuse to acknowledge this, or minimise it, such as Lavrov's comments (curious, as reputedly, he is a Buddhist convert).

 

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/08/25/7527788/

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7784/Artykul/3570365,ukraine’s-acting-culture-chief-to-attend-burials-of-poles-exhumed-in-puzhnyky

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7785/Artykul/3536316,poland-gets-green-light-from-ukraine-for-more-wwii-exhumation-work

 

 

"But Stalin was worse" isn't a good look, and it was Churchill and Roosevelt who carved up Eastern Europe at Yalta and consigned those countries to their Stalinist fates. Realpolitik is a bitch certainly, but there are times when it is the only game in town.
You may be interested to know that Gareth Jones, the Welsh journalist who first reported to the West about the Holodomor famine, has a great nephew who keeps his memory alive and who is outraged that Ukraine has taken his grandfather's legacy and used it for their own ends. But "it's difficult" is the Ukrainian response like when a Canadian Nazi gets applauded by those gathered. Due diligence, my friend, due diligence, and don't give fascists a free ride.

Stick around - I'm happy to teach.

 

https://www.garethjonessociety.org/

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Jones_(journalist)

 

But, if Gareth has been brought back to life, in passing through the prism of that resurrection his story has emerged with aspects of it often fundamentally changed or denied, largely in the interests of Ukrainian nationalist myth. Gareth exposed a famine that was taking place across the USSR affecting multiple ethnicities. Although the famine was clearly worse in Soviet Ukraine nothing in his reporting indicates he believed he was witnessing deliberate extermination there. However, due to a very well organised, well-funded propaganda campaign by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and the so-called 'Ukrainian Insitute of National Memory' that is how he is now generally perceived. That significant deception can only be maintained by airbrushing out the inconvenient aspects of his actual famine testimony. That is why the film ‘Mr Jones’ was created - in order to obscure and refashion the true story of Gareth Jones.

The Gareth Jones Society has been set up by members of Gareth's family with the aim of remembering and presenting all aspects of his story in an accurate, apolitical way.

 

P.S. My dad who fought in WW2 in the Royal Signals said without Uncle joe we wouldn't have won the war - and like in most things he was right. Thanks Dad !

 

If he had seen WW2 memorials being bulldozed into the ground he would have been disgusted and rightly so. 

 

 

Russia war machine is suffering big losses, finally Ukraine decided to attack, not just defend as they have been doing, now attacking and the best targets are Russia's oil and gas sectors, well done Ukraine keep it up, the Orcs will soon realize their mistake

Ukraine now has its own weapons to strike deep into Russia without US approval, Zelenskyy says

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ukraine-now-own-weapons-strike-051451663.html

 

 

Weakening Russia's war machine: Why Kyiv is targeting Moscow's energy sector

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/top-stories/weakening-russia-s-war-machine-why-kyiv-is-targeting-moscow-s-energy-sector/ar-AA1LboHl?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=68ad12b5a9e44f29ae81d97089403182&ei=60

 

and now NATO is joining forces into building up to destroy Russian missiles and guided bombs/drones , things should start to get easier better for the Ukrainians and bad or very bad for the Orcs

NATO and Ukraine are teaming up to fight Russia's hard-to-kill weapons

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nato-ukraine-teaming-fight-russias-162129230.html

9 hours ago, MicroB said:

 

Quite early on, Russia started to strip hospitals in the Rostov area of doctors and paramedics to form combat medical brigades. Russian military medicine is in a decrepit state.

 

Before the war, Russia had quite a thriving private healthcare sector. That sector has all but disappeared. Russa is dependant of imports of about 80% of its medicines and 90% of its medical equipment.  And the main sources were from Germany and the US. The export of medica

9 hours ago, MicroB said:

 

Quite early on, Russia started to strip hospitals in the Rostov area of doctors and paramedics to form combat medical brigades. Russian military medicine is in a decrepit state.

 

Before the war, Russia had quite a thriving private healthcare sector. That sector has all but disappeared. Russa is dependant of imports of about 80% of its medicines and 90% of its medical equipment.  And the main sources were from Germany and the US. The export of medical supplies is not subject to sanction, except for certain spare parts that have both a dual purpose use and US IP. This includes medical and dental lasers. Russia can probably get away with less bariatric surgery, contouring and amazing teeth. However, a weakened Ruble and increased shipping costs wiped out the private sector, and has impacted state healthcare spending (and now they are reducing that budget).

 

To an extent, Western medicines can be substituted for Chinese and Indian generics; they are just as good. The difference will be there is less choice, so treatment of patients will worsen.

 

The same cannot be said for medical devices. One thing doctors don't like is having some bureaucrat tell them how to treat their patients. During COVID, bureaucrats around the world came up with amazing new ventilator designs. James Dyson was going to completely revolutionise the design. Ford was going scale up, WW2 style, production. Babcock headed a military like consortium made up of the finest mids from the aerospace, car and motorsport industries to design and produce the sten gun of ventilators.  All for nothing. No doctor worth his salt was going to hook up his patients to a machine designed on a fagpacket by a hair dryer maker. They wanted more of the same. In America, the American President proudly accepted the Russian donation of Russian ventilators for the hard pressed citizens of his home town. The ventilators went from airport straight to the scrapyard. The machines were not FDA approved, different voltage requirements and all the controls were in Russian. In Russia, some bright spark thought they should daisy chain respiratory equipment to make it go further. The result was an oxygen leak completely immolated a whole ward of COVID  victims.

 

Years ago, Putin instituted a Buy Russian campaign on public bodies, including hospitals. All the orders and tenders are a matter of public record. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference. When the war started, they identified 4000 types of critical equipment that were wholly imported. Putin challenged Russian industry to come up with the goods. They failed. Now Western equipment is coming in through Kazakhstan, and they are paying double. So that healthcare budget isn't going as far. More surgeries are being canceled due tp equipment malfunctions and shortages.  Waiting times are extending, or whole types of surgery/treatment are no longer on offer. No shortage of opiates though for those cancer patients told there is no treatment inside Russia.

 

l supplies is not subject to sanction, except for certain spare parts that have both a dual purpose use and US IP. This includes medical and dental lasers. Russia can probably get away with less bariatric surgery, contouring and amazing teeth. However, a weakened Ruble and increased shipping costs wiped out the private sector, and has impacted state healthcare spending (and now they are reducing that budget).

 

To an extent, Western medicines can be substituted for Chinese and Indian generics; they are just as good. The difference will be there is less choice, so treatment of patients will worsen.

 

The same cannot be said for medical devices. One thing doctors don't like is having some bureaucrat tell them how to treat their patients. During COVID, bureaucrats around the world came up with amazing new ventilator designs. James Dyson was going to completely revolutionise the design. Ford was going scale up, WW2 style, production. Babcock headed a military like consortium made up of the finest mids from the aerospace, car and motorsport industries to design and produce the sten gun of ventilators.  All for nothing. No doctor worth his salt was going to hook up his patients to a machine designed on a fagpacket by a hair dryer maker. They wanted more of the same. In America, the American President proudly accepted the Russian donation of Russian ventilators for the hard pressed citizens of his home town. The ventilators went from airport straight to the scrapyard. The machines were not FDA approved, different voltage requirements and all the controls were in Russian. In Russia, some bright spark thought they should daisy chain respiratory equipment to make it go further. The result was an oxygen leak completely immolated a whole ward of COVID  victims.

 

Years ago, Putin instituted a Buy Russian campaign on public bodies, including hospitals. All the orders and tenders are a matter of public record. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference. When the war started, they identified 4000 types of critical equipment that were wholly imported. Putin challenged Russian industry to come up with the goods. They failed. Now Western equipment is coming in through Kazakhstan, and they are paying double. So that healthcare budget isn't going as far. More surgeries are being canceled due tp equipment malfunctions and shortages.  Waiting times are extending, or whole types of surgery/treatment are no longer on offer. No shortage of opiates though for those cancer patients told there is no treatment inside Russia.

 

Your analysis paints a stark picture of Russia's healthcare collapse, but it's worth considering the broader patterns of Russian adaptability that have emerged throughout this conflict. While the immediate impact on medical services has been devastating, Russia has demonstrated remarkable versatility in finding alternative supply chains across multiple sectors.

The pharmaceutical sector offers perhaps the clearest example of successful pivot potential. Your point about Chinese and Indian generics being “just as good” is crucial Russia has been aggressively courting these markets, and both nations have proven willing partners despite Western pressure. India’s pharmaceutical industry, in particular, has the capacity to fill most gaps in basic medications, whilst China’s rapidly advancing biotech sector could provide more sophisticated alternatives over time.

 

The medical equipment challenge is more complex, as you rightly highlight. However, Russia’s approach has been characteristically pragmatic: whilst domestic production failed Putin’s initial challenge, the Kazakhstan route demonstrates their willingness to absorb higher costs to maintain access. This isn’t sustainable long-term, but it buys time for alternative arrangements.

The question of ventilators during COVID-19 is a useful reminder that Russia is not unique in producing substandard or improvised medical equipment under crisis conditions. Many countries rushed out emergency ventilators that would have failed in most circumstances. At the same time, Russia’s technological capacity shouldn’t be underestimated: they continue to operate a space station and launch rockets successfully. This suggests that, given access to Chinese technology, expertise, and supply chains in exchange for minerals, hydrocarbons, and military alignment Russia’s pivot, however ungainly, remains feasible. China has strong incentives to ensure that Russia does not collapse under Western pressure. A Russian defeat or state breakdown would leave Beijing exposed as the next primary target of U.S. or NATO containment strategies, making sustained Chinese support all but inevitable.

 

Medical supply chains add an important dimension here. Having worked in the medical device trade and attended the MEDICA Trade Fair in Germany, I saw firsthand how globalised these networks were before the current disruptions. For instance, the vast majority of dental chairs used in China were imported from Germany, as was much of the precision industrial machinery required for medical manufacturing. China still imports high-end German equipment, but it has also moved with remarkable speed to create local variants of its own. This adaptive capacity is central to its success in weathering sanctions and supply shocks. By contrast, Germany once the industrial engine of Europe is suffering from the combined blow of losing cheap Russian gas and the broader economic realignments of the global pivot away from Eurocentric supply chains. Europe now finds itself in what looks like terminal reverse gear, its competitiveness eroding rapidly. The U.S., meanwhile, faces its own strains: under Trump, the hollowing out of defence, intelligence, and industrial oversight in service of the Great Leader has further weakened America’s ability to project sustained power. 

 

https://archive.ph/yM6pW

 

William Burns, who served as Joe Biden’s CIA director, said that the US was committing “great-power suicide” after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, announced plans to cut her agency’s staff levels by 50 per cent.

Ms Gabbard has also revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials, with many of those targeted having worked on Russia analysis, according to the New York Times.

Writing in The Atlantic, Mr Burns said: “If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon.

“Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai [the headquarters of the Chinese Community Party].”

 

Russia’s internal production model is also shaped by a very different regulatory environment. Unlike the West, where health and safety standards, environmental regulations, and planning approvals can delay or even prevent industrial projects, Russia often proceeds without such constraints. They do not make “perfect the enemy of good”: if a process or product can be made to function adequately, it is pushed through with minimal oversight. The downside, of course, is a higher tolerance for accidents, inefficiencies, and even casualties if a few conscripts or workers are crushed in the process, the system shrugs and carries on. Yet this ruthless pragmatism provides a kind of brutal efficiency, allowing Russia to improvise and scale solutions at a speed that more rules-bound societies cannot match.

 

At the same time, Russia is sliding into an increasingly subordinate relationship with China. The vassalisation of Russia to a resurgent Beijing is now well underway. At some deep, existential level, many Russians may resent this trajectory they would still prefer to be accepted as Europeans, part of the cultural and historical community they long identified with. But that door has closed, probably forever. Isolated from Europe and estranged from the West, Russia has little choice but to embrace China as its senior partner. What began as a tactical alignment is becoming a structural dependency: energy flows one way, technology and capital the other. It is what it is.

 

As a member of ARRSE, you will already be well aware of the parlous state of British forces and their limited capacity to function in the event of a high-intensity war. Decades of underinvestment, shrinking stockpiles, and chronic overstretch have left the UK military a fraction of its Cold War capability. Political rhetoric often runs far ahead of reality Starmer may talk tough, but the domestic fiscal crisis and a weary, skeptical public leave him with little room to maneuver. Any serious escalation would expose just how little hard power Britain can actually bring to bear, compounding the broader Western challenge of sustaining a long-term confrontation with Russia and China.

 

More significantly, Russia has been diversifying beyond traditional Western suppliers. Turkish medical equipment manufacturers have quietly increased their Russian market share, whilst Iranian and North Korean cooperation - though limited in medical technologyshows the potential for unconventional partnerships. The emerging BRICS+ framework could eventually provide institutional support for such alternative supply chains.

The real test will be Russia's ability to develop indigenous capabilities over a 5-10 year timeframe. Their track record suggests they'll prioritise strategic sectors likely focusing on basic but essential equipment whilst accepting reduced capabilities in advanced procedures. This mirrors their approach in other industries: accepting lower quality or reduced choice in exchange for supply security.

The human cost remains immense, as your analysis makes clear. But Russia's historical pattern has been to absorb such costs whilst building alternative systems that, whilst inferior to Western standards, prove adequate for regime survival and basic functionality.

 

Britain's great power and reach belongs firmly in its glorious past, along with many of its allies. The brutal truth is that the world is changing and pivoting towards a more authoritarian future, with China as emperor of that authoritarian world. The sooner Western elites accept this reality and try to work within that framework, the better for the world it will be.
I fear, though, that given humanity's inability to bend the knee when necessary, we face the prospect of deadly warfare against a backdrop of catastrophic climate change a combination that could doom our species, and in short order.

The writing is on the wall: the multipolar world order isn't some distant possibility but today's reality. China's economic gravitational pull, Russia's willingness to endure costs for strategic autonomy, and the growing alignment of authoritarian states represents a fundamental shift that Western democracies seem reluctant to acknowledge.Perhaps the most dangerous delusion is that military confrontation can reverse these tidal forces. History suggests that great power transitions are rarely peaceful, but in an era of nuclear weapons and environmental collapse, the stakes of getting this wrong have never been higher. Accommodation to that wolrd isn't appeasement it's survival.Well done for choosing Thailand it is well out of it and if needed is my bolt hole too. 

 

I'm off for the weekend so will find it diffcult to reply to any comments but I'll be back on Tuesday and hopefully normal service will resume. 

 

err edit Britain likes to talk tough but the reality is somewhat different as Lenin said we will hang the capatalists and they will sell us the rope to do it.  - apparently that's a bastardisation wjhat he did say was 

 

They [capitalists] will furnish credits which will serve us for the support of the Communist Party in their countries and, by supplying us materials and technical equipment which we lack, will restore our military industry necessary for our future attacks against our suppliers. To put it in other words, they will work on the preparation of their own suicide."

 

https://archive.ph/gFml0

 

Last month, AstraZeneca was the main sponsor of an Association of European Businesses in Russia event, where Irina Viktorovna spoke on a panel session alongside Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Alexander Grushko, the deputy minister of finance, Alexey Sazanov, and Anatoly Aksakov, a Russian politician and economist who was placed under sanctions by the UK in March 2022. Two other panellists have also had sanctions imposed on them.
The panel was titled: In search of “islands of co-operation”: when and how to start restoring broken relationships. It was a discussion on restoring trust between Europe and Russia.

Gas stations have run dry in some regions of Russia after Ukrainian drones struck refineries and other oil infrastructure in recent weeks, with motorists waiting in long lines and officials resorting to rationing or cutting off sales altogether.

 

Wholesale prices on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange for A-95 gas — the highest octane — spiked to record highs last week, soaring to about 50% higher than in January, as demand soared from farmers seeking to bring in the harvest and Russians hitting the roads for their last big vacation of the summer.

 

Russian media outlets reported fuel shortages are hitting consumers in several regions in the Far East and on the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed from Ukraine by Moscow in 2014.

 

Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries have some Russian regions running on empty

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/08/27/7527987/

Putin fears meeting with Zelenskyy, Canadian PM says

12 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

 Meanwhile:

Trump calls, but Modi doesn't answer.

So far, the US president has defeated all his opponents in the tariff dispute. Not India. Instead, the country is turning to its powerful neighbor China – and ignoring old wounds. 

Donald Trump's additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods came into force on Wednesday, raising the total punitive duties to 50 per cent after New Delhi refused to back down from its purchase of Russian oil.

 

You really have the World by the short hairs Donald. Stick it to Russian Oil.

You did this.

 

4 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/08/27/7527987/

Putin fears meeting with Zelenskyy, Canadian PM says

He is not afraid. It just contradicts his current strategy. During the meeting in Alaska, Vlad brought Lavrov with him in a "USSR" T-shirt, who after arriving home said that Ukraine was granted independence under the condition of neutrality and if this condition is not met, there is no reason to recognize Ukraine's independence.
According to this strategy, Vlad will at some moment of time, say to the world that Ukraine is not recognised as an independent state any more. So it would be strange to meet with Zelenskyy if you are planning to stop recognizing Ukraine.
And according to exactly the same reason the western politicians want Zelenskyy to meet with Putin.

2 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

Donald Trump's additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods came into force on Wednesday, raising the total punitive duties to 50 per cent after New Delhi refused to back down from its purchase of Russian oil.

 

You really have the World by the short hairs Donald. Stick it to Russian Oil.

You did this.

 

 

I smelling curry flavoured tacos here - remember tarrifs make imports more expensive for US citizens and pharma exports are a big part of indian exports to the US. The Base has to yet fully appreciate the costs implications for Trump's sledgehammer diplomacy but they are about to FAFO. 

 

India's exports to the United States are diverse and substantial, encompassing a wide range of products. In the fiscal year 2024–25, India's top exports to the U.S. included:(The Dollar Business, HDFC Sky)

1. Smartphones & Electronics: Approximately $15.46 billion. India has become a significant player in the global electronics market, with major companies like Tata Motors contributing to this sector. (vanesight.com)

2. Pharmaceuticals: Around $10.67 billion. India is renowned as the "pharmacy of the world," supplying a significant portion of generic medicines globally.

3. Diamonds: Approximately $4.35 billion. The diamond industry, particularly in Surat, plays a crucial role in India's export economy. (The Dollar Business, The Times of India)

4. Petroleum Oils (Other Than Crude): About $2.16 billion. India exports refined petroleum products to various countries, including the U.S.

5. Articles of Iron & Steel: Approximately $1.54 billion. India's steel industry contributes significantly to its export portfolio.

6. Plastics: Around $1.28 billion. Plastic products are essential components in various industries, and India's export of these items is notable.

7. Women's or Girls' Apparel: Approximately $1.26 billion. India's textile industry, particularly in regions like Surat, is a significant exporter of garments. (CEIC Data)

These exports reflect India's manufacturing capabilities and its integration into global supply chains. However, recent developments have introduced challenges. In August 2025, the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on many Indian products, doubling previous duties. This move, aimed at curbing Russia’s income amid the Ukraine conflict, has been condemned by India as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable." The tariffs are expected to severely impact Indian exports, especially in sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, and food and marine products. (The Times)

 

Just now, zmisha said:

He is not afraid. It just contradicts his current strategy. During the meeting in Alaska, Vlad brought Lavrov with him in a "USSR" T-shirt, who after arriving home said that Ukraine was granted independence under the condition of neutrality and if this condition is not met, there is no reason to recognize Ukraine's independence.
According to this strategy, Vlad will at some moment of time, say to the world that Ukraine is not recognised as an independent state any more. So it would be strange to meet with Zelenskyy if you are planning to stop recognizing Ukraine.
And according to exactly the same reason the western politicians want Zelenskyy to meet with Putin.

You had said as much before. I got that then, The source here just is emphasizing both he and I just call a spade a spade that he is the first class coward. Sorry whineing your never had a country does not work. Sounds more like a sissy 

2 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

 

I smelling curry flavoured tacos here - remember tarrifs make imports more expensive for US citizens and pharma exports are a big part of indian exports to the US. The Base has to yet fully appreciate the costs implications for Trump's sledgehammer diplomacy but they are about to FAFO. 

 

India's exports to the United States are diverse and substantial, encompassing a wide range of products. In the fiscal year 2024–25, India's top exports to the U.S. included:(The Dollar Business, HDFC Sky)

1. Smartphones & Electronics: Approximately $15.46 billion. India has become a significant player in the global electronics market, with major companies like Tata Motors contributing to this sector. (vanesight.com)

2. Pharmaceuticals: Around $10.67 billion. India is renowned as the "pharmacy of the world," supplying a significant portion of generic medicines globally.

3. Diamonds: Approximately $4.35 billion. The diamond industry, particularly in Surat, plays a crucial role in India's export economy. (The Dollar Business, The Times of India)

4. Petroleum Oils (Other Than Crude): About $2.16 billion. India exports refined petroleum products to various countries, including the U.S.

5. Articles of Iron & Steel: Approximately $1.54 billion. India's steel industry contributes significantly to its export portfolio.

6. Plastics: Around $1.28 billion. Plastic products are essential components in various industries, and India's export of these items is notable.

7. Women's or Girls' Apparel: Approximately $1.26 billion. India's textile industry, particularly in regions like Surat, is a significant exporter of garments. (CEIC Data)

These exports reflect India's manufacturing capabilities and its integration into global supply chains. However, recent developments have introduced challenges. In August 2025, the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on many Indian products, doubling previous duties. This move, aimed at curbing Russia’s income amid the Ukraine conflict, has been condemned by India as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable." The tariffs are expected to severely impact Indian exports, especially in sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, and food and marine products. (The Times)

 

we agree on this that taking a swipe like this to Russian oil profiteering.

Go Modi

who in thier right mind sticks it to India and does not expect the next disaster

 

7 minutes ago, zmisha said:

He is not afraid. It just contradicts his current strategy. During the meeting in Alaska, Vlad brought Lavrov with him in a "USSR" T-shirt, who after arriving home said that Ukraine was granted independence under the condition of neutrality and if this condition is not met, there is no reason to recognize Ukraine's independence.
According to this strategy, Vlad will at some moment of time, say to the world that Ukraine is not recognised as an independent state any more. So it would be strange to meet with Zelenskyy if you are planning to stop recognizing Ukraine.
And according to exactly the same reason the western politicians want Zelenskyy to meet with Putin.

Sounds like a failing strategy now that Ukraine is winning the war. 17 percent of Russian oil refining capacity wiped out and rapidly increasing day by day. Get to 50 percent and Moscow and St. Petersburg will be one big GAS LINE.

14 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

Donald Trump's additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods came into force on Wednesday, raising the total punitive duties to 50 per cent after New Delhi refused to back down from its purchase of Russian oil.

 

You really have the World by the short hairs Donald. Stick it to Russian Oil.

You did this.

 

he should do the same to Turkey, China, Hungary, Slovakia then Putin will start to act differently and will drop his arrogance

Ukraine has learned (long ago now) never to reply on weak Taco Trump's wait two weeks black hole of Putin simping idiocy.

Taking out Russian oil capacity with drones is how Ukraine is "sanctioning" the Putin war machine. 

 

13 minutes ago, zmisha said:

He is not afraid. It just contradicts his current strategy. During the meeting in Alaska, Vlad brought Lavrov with him in a "USSR" T-shirt, who after arriving home said that Ukraine was granted independence under the condition of neutrality and if this condition is not met, there is no reason to recognize Ukraine's independence.
According to this strategy, Vlad will at some moment of time, say to the world that Ukraine is not recognised as an independent state any more. So it would be strange to meet with Zelenskyy if you are planning to stop recognizing Ukraine.
And according to exactly the same reason the western politicians want Zelenskyy to meet with Putin.

read the Budapest 1994 agreement, get updated before more garbage out of your mouth

2 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

he should do the same to Turkey, China, Hungary, Slovakia then Putin will start to act differently and will drop his arrogance

Unfortunately in the Trump vs. Xi contest. Xi holds the Trump cards.

Not only Ukraine is targeting Russian energy infrastructures, many Russian soldiers are packing and going back home, tired of Putin's war they can not win, before it was hard for them now it's super very hard and their winter is coming and their idea of another winter into the trenches under the snow, lack of food and family...

Ashamed and deceived, Russian soldiers quit the war

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/ashamed-and-deceived-russian-soldiers-quit-the-war/ss-BB1hfriA?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=3e9dfa449097446eae6ceb897a2bf10e&ei=9

Russian scandal: Soldiers fake war wounds in multimillion-dollar scheme

 

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/russian-scandal-soldiers-fake-war-wounds-in-multimillion-dollar-scheme/ss-AA1LiLvQ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=3e9dfa449097446eae6ceb897a2bf10e&ei=41

Trump Wants European Troops in Ukraine. Europe’s Voters Aren’t Convinced.
The public is wary of the push that some governments are making to deploy thousands of troops in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached - WSJ 

 

https://archive.is/e08yp#selection-539.0-543.131

 

European leaders, however, are contending with the inconvenient fact that many voters are opposed to any deployment that places troops in harm’s way. Eastern European countries don’t want to divert forces away from their own borders, which form the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Opposition is also fairly widespread in Italy and Germany, which is haunted by the legacy of World War II.

 

The push for even a narrowly defined European force, however, is receiving blowback, particularly from the continent’s populists. After European leaders met with Trump in Washington, creating momentum for a U.S.-backed force, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took aim at Macron for pushing the idea.
“You go there if you want. Put your helmet on, your jacket, your rifle and you go to Ukraine,” said Salvini, leader of the nativist League party.

7 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Trump Wants European Troops in Ukraine. Europe’s Voters Aren’t Convinced.
The public is wary of the push that some governments are making to deploy thousands of troops in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached - WSJ 

 

https://archive.is/e08yp#selection-539.0-543.131

 

European leaders, however, are contending with the inconvenient fact that many voters are opposed to any deployment that places troops in harm’s way. Eastern European countries don’t want to divert forces away from their own borders, which form the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Opposition is also fairly widespread in Italy and Germany, which is haunted by the legacy of World War II.

 

The push for even a narrowly defined European force, however, is receiving blowback, particularly from the continent’s populists. After European leaders met with Trump in Washington, creating momentum for a U.S.-backed force, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took aim at Macron for pushing the idea.
“You go there if you want. Put your helmet on, your jacket, your rifle and you go to Ukraine,” said Salvini, leader of the nativist League party.

The more European disunity, the better for genocidal war criminal dictator Putin. 

and the bad news for Putin and his orcs are coming as Ukraine keeps destroying Russian military weapons

Russian military suffers blow as Ukraine destroys high-value asset

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/russian-military-suffers-blow-as-ukraine-destroys-high-value-asset/ss-AA1Bwvpi?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=3e9dfa449097446eae6ceb897a2bf10e&ei=33#image=3

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The more European disunity, the better for genocidal war criminal dictator Putin. 

The West really should be paying closer attention to Putin he somehow engineered Brexit, Trump, the surge of populist parties across Europe, and knows how to weaponize immigration to stir unrest. God forbid he ever tried it directly but all he’d have to do in the UK is manipulate a few proxies, amplify tensions around some Muslim immigrant community, and suddenly another Southport could  occur and the country will erupt. 

He rightly believes that we’ve reached peak Western entitlement, and that governments are increasingly unable to project coherent strategic unity while constantly firefighting at home. NATO and the EU the very institutions Ukrainians claim to want to joinare disintegrating before our eyes. Social democracy is approaching its twilight the final days of something eerily reminiscent of the Weimar Republic as it once was.

 

Democracy works until it doesn't and then it can spectacularly go into reverse. 

3 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

The West really should be paying closer attention to Putin he somehow engineered Brexit, Trump, the surge of populist parties across Europe, and knows how to weaponize immigration to stir unrest. God forbid he ever tried it directly but all he’d have to do in the UK is manipulate a few proxies, amplify tensions around some Muslim immigrant community, and suddenly another Southport could  occur and the country will erupt. 

He rightly believes that we’ve reached peak Western entitlement, and that governments are increasingly unable to project coherent strategic unity while constantly firefighting at home. NATO and the EU the very institutions Ukrainians claim to want to joinare disintegrating before our eyes. Social democracy is approaching its twilight the final days of something eerily reminiscent of the Weimar Republic as it once was.

 

Democracy works until it doesn't and then it can spectacularly go into reverse. 

Russia, Russia, Russia (globally) is NOT a hoax. I wish it was. They are the best propagandists in the world and their fingerprints are everywhere. (Including this forum of course.)

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Russia, Russia, Russia (globally) is NOT a hoax. I wish it was. They are the best propagandists in the world and their fingerprints are everywhere. (Including this forum of course.)

The President of Upper Volta with a gas station attached (I’ve always had a problem with that anecdote, but let’s leave it there) somehow controls the President of the United States who, lest we forget, was twice voted into power by the American electorate. It’s more absurd and darker than anything any novelist could ever have imagined. Putin holds the cards cards he has quietly passed to Xi. He is the capo dei capi and soon enough Taiwan will be in his grasp. That's on the cards I feel it in my bones.