Good Times in Ukraine and Russia

[Amazing Larry]

On 2/10/2024 at 6:53 AM, Taylor said:

So the Neo Nazis US rigged the election to put a Jewish guy in charge?.

FIFY

[Taylor]

1 minute ago, Lhalo said:

FIFY

I mean, the U.S. loves to rig elections in other countries, so it wouldn't surprise me.

[Crampknees]

2 hours ago, Kotchman said:

libs, and not libs refuse to engage the 25meter target. 

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, Crampknees said:

That was my game this morning.

Note to self, don't tee off in 41 degree weather. 

[Crampknees]

38 minutes ago, Blarg said:

That was my game this morning.

Note to self, don't tee off in 41 degree weather. 

It was nasty here today, wet and shitty out.  They were still out there trying to beat the Super Bowl start.  I drove by and honked. 

[Redondo]

Putin critic Alexei Navalny dead at 47, Russian officials say
Navalny was being held at 'Polar Wolf' penal colony in Siberia

https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-critic-alexei-navalny-dead-47-russian-officials-say

[Kevin]

1 hour ago, Redondo said:

Putin critic Alexei Navalny dead at 47, Russian officials say
Navalny was being held at 'Polar Wolf' penal colony in Siberia

https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-critic-alexei-navalny-dead-47-russian-officials-say

Sad but expected.

[Blarg]

If you are going to criticize Putin in Russia,  it needs to be backed up with a bullet. 

[Taylor]

On 2/11/2024 at 5:30 PM, Crampknees said:

It was nasty here today, wet and shitty out.  They were still out there trying to beat the Super Bowl start.  I drove by and honked. 

Does Texas ever have a good-weather day? Maybe once a year in late September or early October?

[notherhalo]

On 2/10/2024 at 5:23 AM, Lhalo said:

You think he was elected? Haha!

I try not to post here too much since forums are filled with armchair COVID/Ukraine/Palestine/Latest Thing "experts"

Ive been to Ukraine probably 15 times, often staying weeks or months.   Ive been to all major cities except Ivano-Franksisk and a ton of small towns and I went there pre Maidan (when it was still close to Russia) and after.  I had a serious relationship with a UA girl from the East and my good friend lost his wife who was bombed in Melitopol.  I had two offices there.

 

They have election observers, who I have met and had drinks with personally, who go to all the small towns to verify these things.  They are not 100% effective, I think, but they do a good job.   I would have a real hard time thinking it was a "rigged election", read on for more

 

Now for Putin level "the earths cooling phase was 4 billion years ago" thing

Ukraine to the West is very agricultural, they do tend to speak more Ukrainian there and you could possibly think of it like farmland America, generally pretty proud of their homeland and also kinda racist or protective (they have been at war with Poles, felt a lower class to Jewish people in the past pre WW2, other races nobody here has heard of they fought with) and they are generally happy to be Ukrainian and pass down their memories of the people who kept it from being like the status quo.

On the East side, you hear a lot more Russian, many people of course have family there as it was taken by the USSR and they crushed religion, eliminated history more effectively there in the bigger cities.  Dont forget that in USSR days they moved people around.

 

Leading up to the so called "coup", Russians had these special police that would shake down people like crazy, beat the hell out of them.  Russians would come in and trash talk UA people, tons of other pressures that caused 90% of Ukrainians to really want to be their own country, not bound or dependent on RU.    Ukraine was the headquarters of the KGB in the Soviet days, RU was upset that the smart people were left to stay in Ukraine after the collapse.

When you go to Ukraine, they all love Americans, including before the so called coup.   Many of them speak English, almost all of them are cool with you and they all complain about the corruption (it was bad, and still is, Soviet legacy).  This is quite opposite to Russia where much of the population is brainwashed, but secretly dreams about getting out of their khrushchevka run down apartments and getting a greencard.  There are still many many good Russian people, but they are generally brainwashed quite effectively, without free press, without election observers, with lots of hate as a result of an effective dictator, who is in turn, the worlds wealthiest person in a very poor country.

 

The Ukrainians overall, were done with this so called "brotherhood" to Russia.   Its certainly a corrupt country (like Russia), it certainly does have some lost NeoNazi type guys there (not a huge amount, and there are like 0 Jews/etc in their vicinity anyway) and it does have a % of people who pledge allegiance to RU and live on the border sides.

If you subtract that and take the remaining 95% of people - they are smart, the girls are unbelievably hot, they are honest, hardworking and want to be Western.   They take the time to learn English, they learn about our foods, our sports, all that stuff and just wish to be left alone.  Supporting them feels like a sick dog at the vet, you want to keep it alive, but the bills and pressure keep piling up.   It doesnt help that there is probably some DNC corruption mixed in.   Like Russias relation to Ukraine, like our funding to Ukraine, and Ukraines ability to keep themselves alive, its all going to fall apart if they cant keep the corruption down.    The people deserve better.

 

About Tucker Carlsons supermarket thing

Moscow/St Petersburg is beautiful but like many CIS cities they invest in their capitals and completely ignore their small towns.  Go to the villages and see how they live in a life of despair.   Tucker Carlson gets groceries that is like a weeks worth of salary for a Russian person working as an engineer.    I know a power plant engineer there who makes like $600 a month.   That would be like those groceries costing us $1250 - $2000.   

[Taylor]

37 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

I try not to post here too much since forums are filled with armchair COVID/Ukraine/Palestine/Latest Thing "experts"

Ive been to Ukraine probably 15 times, often staying weeks or months.   Ive been to all major cities except Ivano-Franksisk and a ton of small towns and I went there pre Maidan (when it was still close to Russia) and after.  I had a serious relationship with a UA girl from the East and my good friend lost his wife who was bombed in Melitopol.  I had two offices there.

 

They have election observers, who I have met and had drinks with personally, who go to all the small towns to verify these things.  They are not 100% effective, I think, but they do a good job.   I would have a real hard time thinking it was a "rigged election", read on for more

 

Now for Putin level "the earths cooling phase was 4 billion years ago" thing

Ukraine to the West is very agricultural, they do tend to speak more Ukrainian there and you could possibly think of it like farmland America, generally pretty proud of their homeland and also kinda racist or protective (they have been at war with Poles, felt a lower class to Jewish people in the past pre WW2, other races nobody here has heard of they fought with) and they are generally happy to be Ukrainian and pass down their memories of the people who kept it from being like the status quo.

On the East side, you hear a lot more Russian, many people of course have family there as it was taken by the USSR and they crushed religion, eliminated history more effectively there in the bigger cities.  Dont forget that in USSR days they moved people around.

 

Leading up to the so called "coup", Russians had these special police that would shake down people like crazy, beat the hell out of them.  Russians would come in and trash talk UA people, tons of other pressures that caused 90% of Ukrainians to really want to be their own country, not bound or dependent on RU.    Ukraine was the headquarters of the KGB in the Soviet days, RU was upset that the smart people were left to stay in Ukraine after the collapse.

When you go to Ukraine, they all love Americans, including before the so called coup.   Many of them speak English, almost all of them are cool with you and they all complain about the corruption (it was bad, and still is, Soviet legacy).  This is quite opposite to Russia where much of the population is brainwashed, but secretly dreams about getting out of their khrushchevka run down apartments and getting a greencard.  There are still many many good Russian people, but they are generally brainwashed quite effectively, without free press, without election observers, with lots of hate as a result of an effective dictator, who is in turn, the worlds wealthiest person in a very poor country.

 

The Ukrainians overall, were done with this so called "brotherhood" to Russia.   Its certainly a corrupt country (like Russia), it certainly does have some lost NeoNazi type guys there (not a huge amount, and there are like 0 Jews/etc in their vicinity anyway) and it does have a % of people who pledge allegiance to RU and live on the border sides.

If you subtract that and take the remaining 95% of people - they are smart, the girls are unbelievably hot, they are honest, hardworking and want to be Western.   They take the time to learn English, they learn about our foods, our sports, all that stuff and just wish to be left alone.  Supporting them feels like a sick dog at the vet, you want to keep it alive, but the bills and pressure keep piling up.   It doesnt help that there is probably some DNC corruption mixed in.   Like Russias relation to Ukraine, like our funding to Ukraine, and Ukraines ability to keep themselves alive, its all going to fall apart if they cant keep the corruption down.    The people deserve better.

 

About Tucker Carlsons supermarket thing

Moscow/St Petersburg is beautiful but like many CIS cities they invest in their capitals and completely ignore their small towns.  Go to the villages and see how they live in a life of despair.   Tucker Carlson gets groceries that is like a weeks worth of salary for a Russian person working as an engineer.    I know a power plant engineer there who makes like $600 a month.   That would be like those groceries costing us $1250 - $2000.   

@Lhalo has never learned so much from a single post. Thank you for your input.

[Amazing Larry]

6 hours ago, notherhalo said:

I try not to post here too much since forums are filled with armchair COVID/Ukraine/Palestine/Latest Thing "experts"

Ive been to Ukraine probably 15 times, often staying weeks or months.   Ive been to all major cities except Ivano-Franksisk and a ton of small towns and I went there pre Maidan (when it was still close to Russia) and after.  I had a serious relationship with a UA girl from the East and my good friend lost his wife who was bombed in Melitopol.  I had two offices there.

 

They have election observers, who I have met and had drinks with personally, who go to all the small towns to verify these things.  They are not 100% effective, I think, but they do a good job.   I would have a real hard time thinking it was a "rigged election", read on for more

 

Now for Putin level "the earths cooling phase was 4 billion years ago" thing

Ukraine to the West is very agricultural, they do tend to speak more Ukrainian there and you could possibly think of it like farmland America, generally pretty proud of their homeland and also kinda racist or protective (they have been at war with Poles, felt a lower class to Jewish people in the past pre WW2, other races nobody here has heard of they fought with) and they are generally happy to be Ukrainian and pass down their memories of the people who kept it from being like the status quo.

On the East side, you hear a lot more Russian, many people of course have family there as it was taken by the USSR and they crushed religion, eliminated history more effectively there in the bigger cities.  Dont forget that in USSR days they moved people around.

 

Leading up to the so called "coup", Russians had these special police that would shake down people like crazy, beat the hell out of them.  Russians would come in and trash talk UA people, tons of other pressures that caused 90% of Ukrainians to really want to be their own country, not bound or dependent on RU.    Ukraine was the headquarters of the KGB in the Soviet days, RU was upset that the smart people were left to stay in Ukraine after the collapse.

When you go to Ukraine, they all love Americans, including before the so called coup.   Many of them speak English, almost all of them are cool with you and they all complain about the corruption (it was bad, and still is, Soviet legacy).  This is quite opposite to Russia where much of the population is brainwashed, but secretly dreams about getting out of their khrushchevka run down apartments and getting a greencard.  There are still many many good Russian people, but they are generally brainwashed quite effectively, without free press, without election observers, with lots of hate as a result of an effective dictator, who is in turn, the worlds wealthiest person in a very poor country.

 

The Ukrainians overall, were done with this so called "brotherhood" to Russia.   Its certainly a corrupt country (like Russia), it certainly does have some lost NeoNazi type guys there (not a huge amount, and there are like 0 Jews/etc in their vicinity anyway) and it does have a % of people who pledge allegiance to RU and live on the border sides.

If you subtract that and take the remaining 95% of people - they are smart, the girls are unbelievably hot, they are honest, hardworking and want to be Western.   They take the time to learn English, they learn about our foods, our sports, all that stuff and just wish to be left alone.  Supporting them feels like a sick dog at the vet, you want to keep it alive, but the bills and pressure keep piling up.   It doesnt help that there is probably some DNC corruption mixed in.   Like Russias relation to Ukraine, like our funding to Ukraine, and Ukraines ability to keep themselves alive, its all going to fall apart if they cant keep the corruption down.    The people deserve better.

 

About Tucker Carlsons supermarket thing

Moscow/St Petersburg is beautiful but like many CIS cities they invest in their capitals and completely ignore their small towns.  Go to the villages and see how they live in a life of despair.   Tucker Carlson gets groceries that is like a weeks worth of salary for a Russian person working as an engineer.    I know a power plant engineer there who makes like $600 a month.   That would be like those groceries costing us $1250 - $2000.   

The only thing I learned from this post is that you had drinks with election certification workers. I don’t really give a fuck about Ukraine. I don’t want one more American tax dollar spent for that country.

[Taylor]

55 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

I don’t want one more American tax dollar spent for that country.

It's possible to hold this view but not simultaneously suck Putin's dick.

[Amazing Larry]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

It's possible to hold this view but not simultaneously suck Putin's dick.

I’m quite sure I won’t be mistaken as a person who sucks dick. I can’t say the same for you. 

Edited February 18 by Lhalo

[Kotchman]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

It's possible to hold this view but not simultaneously suck Putin's dick.

So tell us about Obama’s dealings with Russia. You know the policies that did jack shit in Crimea and reduced America’s nuclear advantage over Russia 

[Taylor]

16 minutes ago, Kotchman said:

So tell us about Obama’s dealings with Russia. You know the policies that did jack shit in Crimea and reduced America’s nuclear advantage over Russia 

Obama was president like 100 years ago.

[Taylor]

23 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

I’m quite sure I won’t be mistaken as a person who sucks dick. I can’t say the same for you. 

I've heard the stories.

[Kotchman]

5 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Obama was president like 100 years ago.

Doesn’t change the fact that Crimea was invaded on his watch and Russia advanced again under Biden. 

[Kevin]

Crimea was still occupied by Russia from 2017 to 2021. So why didn’t Trump get Russia to leave completely? Why didn’t his policies get Russia out or stop the conflict? Let’s not forget we were still sending weapons over to them during his term.

[Amazing Larry]

6 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Crimea was still occupied by Russia from 2017 to 2021. So why didn’t Trump get Russia to leave completely? Why didn’t his policies get Russia out or stop the conflict? Let’s not forget we were still sending weapons over to them during his term.

Did you want us to invade Crimea? lol

It’s a Slav war. Let the Slavs deal with their own bullshit. 

[Kevin]

1 minute ago, Lhalo said:

Did you want us to invade Crimea? lol

It’s a Slav war. Let the Slavs deal with their own bullshit. 

I think you missed the point of the post. 

[Amazing Larry]

7 minutes ago, Kevin said:

I think you missed the point of the post. 

By all means expand on your point. 

[Kevin]

2 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

By all means expand on your point. 

It’s pointed out that Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and other parts of Ukraine while Obama was in office and expanded the conflict in 2022 with Biden as president. It’s also pointed out they didn’t do anything while Trump was in office. That’s a fact and I’m not disputing that.

But in my opinion, the narrative is also spun.

2022 wasn’t the start of the war conflict. 2014 was and now it’s a decade old. Which means it’s now spanned three administrations. Three different administrations have sent over military and financial aid over the last ten years with Biden sending the most. From 2017 to 2021 the conflict was ongoing. They didn’t invade further into Ukraine but they also didn’t withdraw from its occupied territories either. They claimed it as their own and gave the finger to everyone else.

Trump claimed he could bring peace in 24 hours but why wasn’t he able to do it for four years? He sent them equipment to fight Russia instead of bringing peace between the two countries? 
 

No one forced Trump to say he could end the conflict in 24 hours, he said that on his own and that would be great if he could (although I wonder what Ukraine would give up). But since he’s so confident he could bring peace now, maybe he should have done it sometime between 2017 and 2021.

You and I agree that it’s not our war and I feel we’ve done all we can for Ukraine (I would cut Israel off as well). 

 

[Amazing Larry]

11 minutes ago, Kevin said:

It’s pointed out that Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and other parts of Ukraine while Obama was in office and expanded the conflict in 2022 with Biden as president. It’s also pointed out they didn’t do anything while Trump was in office. That’s a fact and I’m not disputing that.

But in my opinion, the narrative is also spun.

2022 wasn’t the start of the war conflict. 2014 was and now it’s a decade old. Which means it’s now spanned three administrations. Three different administrations have sent over military and financial aid over the last ten years with Biden sending the most. From 2017 to 2021 the conflict was ongoing. They didn’t invade further into Ukraine but they also didn’t withdraw from its occupied territories either. They claimed it as their own and gave the finger to everyone else.

Trump claimed he could bring peace in 24 hours but why wasn’t he able to do it for four years? He sent them equipment to fight Russia instead of bringing peace between the two countries? 
 

No one forced Trump to say he could end the conflict in 24 hours, he said that on his own and that would be great if he could (although I wonder what Ukraine would give up). But since he’s so confident he could bring peace now, maybe he should have done it sometime between 2017 and 2021.

You and I agree that it’s not our war and I feel we’ve done all we can for Ukraine (I would cut Israel off as well). 

 

The end of the conflict involves Ukraine  handing territory to Russia. There is no other way. Ukraine doesn’t have the population, military or economic means to beat Russia in a war.

When Trump was president there wasn’t a war. Russia had already taken Crimea and that was it. Russia invaded Ukraine once again under Biden’s presidency. So I say once again what was Trump supposed to do during his time in office? Invade and try to liberate Crimea? They don’t even want to be a part of Ukraine. 

Trump would invoke peace by demanding Ukraine give territory to Russia. Too bad so sad. I don’t really give a fuck because Ukraine means next to nothing to me. 

[Kevin]

Ukrainians and Russians weren’t shooting at each other in the Donbas region? We weren’t giving them javelins and other weapons to defend themselves against Russia and separatists? Sure seems to me that’s a conflict or a war in more specific terms.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbas
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War

Edited February 18 by Kevin