29 Comments
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John Maton's avatar

Demonstrably, Putin has absolutely zero interest in peace. This has been clear for years, but this is just another action amongst many, that confirms what is evident. Another reason, if any were needed, to boycott the USA.

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Bonnie Leimberger's avatar

In this hideous moment I am beyond shame and disgust at the con man some in my country elected.

Thank you for bringing these events to our attention. It is so painful to read what Ukraine is enduring.

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Western news sources routinely churn Ukrainian talking points without any attempt to verify. I am reminded of the proven fraud about Saddam Hussein and the Kuwaiti baby incubators: It whipped up revulsion and violent disgust in the American people, but after the war the mainstream news media admitted that it was all a Big Lie. This one has the same stench.

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David Lehnherr's avatar

trump is not only a terrible human being, he is a Putin puppet. Will be interesting to find out why.

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ABossy's avatar

My rage is overwhelming. My heart is in Ukraine, where my father was born.

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Can you please provide a single shred of evidence that Russia is targeting civilians. Western news sources routinely churn Ukrainian talking points without any attempt to verify. I am reminded of the proven fraud about Saddam Hussein and the Kuwaiti baby incubators: It whipped up revulsion and violent disgust in the American people, but after the war the mainstream news media admitted that it was all a Big Lie. This one has the same stench.

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ABossy's avatar

No. I’m not going to search through my old posts or news links for you. Sorry but your opinion means very little to me.

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Hmm, it appears that you deleted your previous reply and changed your name, too. So you have no evidence but you want to pretend. Very well, I'll ask everybody else:

Could you please provide any evidence that Russia (that is, Putin amd/or the high military command) is targetting civilians. I have never seen any such evidence, but I HAVE seen reams of Ukrainian government propaganda that gets uncritically pushed by western news media. To put it another way: CHECK THEIR SOURCES!!!

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

A follow-up question: To what extent is Ukraine's well-ouiled propaganda machine guided and/or directed by the Americans and/or the British?

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Abhcan, that is not evidence. That is a self-admitted rant. The Russians claim that they targeted a gathering of military men that used civilians as human shields. If so, then that would appear to be a legitimate target and the Ukrainians would appear to have broken international law by using civilians as human shields. However, we have to weigh the possibility that one or both sides is distorting their report of what happened. Your source does not list any sources except for satellite images that don't show uniforms. Are these images of the actual Russian attack in Sumy? (They could well be.) Is there a list of casualties? How many of the dead were military men? Perhaps, from the images, one can tell if the dead were mostly men.

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billy mccarthy's avatar

the only discription of trumps actions are horrible, horrible and more horrible

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Dusty Hope's avatar

trump is a horrible president. putin is his idol.

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Abhcán's avatar

It's a nightmarish situation. It's bad enough that Ukrainian military personnel end up dying thanks to the Russian invasion of their home. But Russians target Ukrainian civilians too, and the response from the US is nonsense.

https://substack.com/@maksymeristavi/note/c-108381769

https://substack.com/@stasolenchenko/note/c-108388171

https://substack.com/@felicityspector/note/c-108377582

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

It seems both reckless and absurd to use the phrase "Putin's terror bombing of Ukraine." The impression is one of paid propaganda hate speech.

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Abhcán's avatar

"Putin's terror bombing of Ukraine." is an entirely accurate description of what Putin's orders lead to for Ukrainians.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putin-has-repeatedly-used-terror-attacks-to-tighten-his-grip-on-russia/

Hate speech is far more common in a country riddled with revanchism, imperial nostaglia, and anti-semitism, like Russia is.

https://www.godofthedesert.org/p/the-case-against-russia-10-rotten

Somehow, I doubt you'll be bothered by any of that.

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Replying to Abhcan, who seems to not want a reply:

https://x.com/john_schmeeckle/status/1911755996478791951

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John Schmeeckle's avatar

Abhcan, you have provided a fistful of links that seem to contain all sorts of hysterical misrepresentations. However, there may be some valid points in there, too. Could you please provide one or more direct quotes that you think support the specific accusation of genocidal intent by Putin and/or the Russian military? (Right now, I don't know if you even read any of those links; you seem to have copied-and-pasted willy-nilly from a google search.)

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Abhcán's avatar

Oh I've read plenty by and about Russians and those they've harmed.

You seem fixated on deflecting blame from Russians, regardless of any source put to you. So I see little reason to indulge you further on that.

I don't know your motives for that, though I can guess.

You can spam your just-asking-questions to someone else.

https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/why-western-conspiracy-influencers-are-promoting-pro-kremlin-propaganda/

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Mike Rube's avatar

Maybe Zelensky should surrender. End the war. Work out a deal. Resign. Stop the killing. Whatever. He should never have listened US and NATO. Shit, they overthrew Ukraine’s government. They are not nice people.

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Abhcán's avatar

A surrender to Russia means dead Ukrainians and lots of them. So it's not an option.

The Russians lie about that and they lie about why they invaded Ukraine.

It's the Russians who tried to install their puppets in Ukraine btw. Not NATO countries.

https://valeriiterentev.substack.com/p/generic-lies-from-moscow

https://polciv.substack.com/p/blaming-the-victim-trumps-ukraine

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/putins-bogus-blame-nato-excuse

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Erudite's avatar

Better than Trump’s surrender plan:

Substack - Ukraine/Russia conflict – Peace CompromiseFramework

Issues:

1. Russia invaded Ukraine due to risk of having NATO on their border

2. Russia wanted Navy bases in Crimea

3. Russia invaded Ukraine after they cut off Crimeafresh water from Ukraine

4. Russia was supporting separatists in border Oblasts

5. Ukraine wants sovereignty over all its territory and peace

Framework:

1) Complete demilitarization of all Ukraine including occupied regions & Crimea

2) Russia military leaves all of Ukraine including Crimea(except leased bases)

3) Russia & Ukraine agree on leasing bases in Crimea

4) Russia has reasonable transit to their leased bases.

5) Ukraine dismantles their military entirely & has no military, only police forces

6) Russia has no governmental control or military support of occupied regions

7) Ukraine has sovereignty over all of Ukraine including border Oblasts & Crimea

8) Russia allowed non-military commercial activities following Ukraine law

9) Russians must follow reasonable visa access requirements

10) NATO, US and Russia provide military defense guarantees of Ukraine 

11) A Ukraine/Russia dispute resolution council is established

Results:

1) Allows a secession of fighting

2) Creates an environment for rebuilding Ukraine

3) Russia saves face, Russia has Crimea bases they need. 

4) It’s not perfect but the compromise would enable moving forward

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