Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

Calling a spade a spade...

[Jeff Buchanan]

A few interesting developments in Ukraine and on the efforts by what is being called the "Global South" to increase their clout within the UN, the IMF, the WTO and the World Bank.

• In Ukraine there is general agreement among war analysts that UA forces have "breached" Russia's first line of defense in the occupied territory of Zaphoresia Oblast in southern Ukraine. It is in the direction of Melipitol, a stated objective of the UA in it's attempt to split Russian forces at this strategically important territorial bridge to Crimea. Ukrainian commanders have said 60% of Russia's defensive posture has been allotted to defending this allegedly breached line of advance and that the 2nd and 3rd lines of defense are not as well defended with about 30% of Russian efforts devoted to these two rear area defenses. Forward progress of the UA should now increase.
• The other noteworthy circumstances involving the war in Ukraine are efforts by administration spokespersons to back away from a alleged unauthorized intelligence analysis, released last week, that stated Ukraine will not reach Melipitol and will fail in it's overall offensive strategy. Instead, these spokespersons are doubling down on the US commitment to continue to support Ukraine, "for as long as it takes," and it is not at all clear what that really means. Most of us here want to be told what are the goals of the western alliance in Ukraine in objective terms.
• It remains hard for even the best military analysts to get a solid picture of UA successes and Russian defeats. I'm just a close observer of the war in Ukraine and what I see described by various sources isn't threatening the bear (IMO). Putin continues to portray Russia as more or less inconvenienced by UA's counter offensive, now 2 full months old. There is so much destruction and death being reported by every source covering the war that it overshadows what are even miniscule reports of the facts on the ground. From a news perspective, the news of the war in Ukraine is being pushed to the back pages of the western press by its editors.
• On the global political stage there has been a lot of reporting on BRICS replacing more detailed accounts of Russia's war in Ukraine. This is a complicated issue that describes BRICS member's efforts to actually re-order the western dominated world order and the infrastructure that supports it ....... the UN, the IMF, the WTO and the World Bank. Both Russia and China see it as a distraction from Russia's war and in turn a good thing.
• Early in the time frame (we're now at day 556) of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the reported line connected the preservation and restoration of Ukraine's legal boundaries to the larger issue of preserving the current rules based world order while punishing Russia with sanctions instituted by western (NATO) powers. There seems to me to be less and less connection of the survival of a liberal democratic Ukraine at it's pre-2014 boarders and stopping the Russian invasion to the preservation of the rules based world order. IOW, the outcome of this war between the Russian Federation and the current Ukrainian government has become more decidedly regional in terms of outcomes.

I've provided two links to very good opinion pieces on BRICS that may lead you to reaching similar conclusions on the importance of the outcome of Russia's war in Ukraine on the larger issues of sorting out the strategic ordering and interests of the world's other rising nation states - not the post WWII nation's that established the current world order after the defeat of the Axis Powers in 1945.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/8/22/can-brics-create-a-new-world-order

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/8/30/brics-expansion-a-warning-to-the-us-but-not-a-new-cold-war

[lineygoblue]

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[THE_WIZARD_]

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[THE_WIZARD_]

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[lineygoblue]

First lady Jill Biden, with all vaccines and all boosters, has tested positive for Covid for the 2nd time.

Get ready to 'mask up' again, folks.

[Mike]

No thanks, I'll pass.

[Da Geezer]

[QUOTE=Jeff Buchanan;n1860705]


On the global political stage there has been a lot of reporting on BRICS replacing more detailed accounts of Russia's war in Ukraine. This is a complicated issue that describes BRICS member's efforts to actually re-order the western dominated world order and the infrastructure that supports it ....... the UN, the IMF, the WTO and the World Bank. Both Russia and China see it as a distraction from Russia's war and in turn a good thing.

This is the real cost of the Ukraine War to the US in that Biden and his foolish advisors gave up the US's role as the provider of the globe's reserve currency. When Biden took Russia's currency reserves, it meant that all countries now have to consider what the US would do if THEY got cross-wise with the US. China is winning the Ukraine War, and it is a damm shame.

[Tom W]

No thanks, I'll pass.

Yep.. Just imagine if the CDC tries to pull it off. It will make the BudLight backlash look like Willy Wonka "doing something" when Augustus Gloop falls in the Chocolate River.

[crashcourse]

well gonna be gone for 2 weeks--time for the annual indiana and kansas pilgrimage.

[THE_WIZARD_]

God help Indiana and Kansas.

[crashcourse]

CG and wiz agree

revelations shit

[THE_WIZARD_]

stfu

[lineygoblue]

I'll probably be back in a mask again when I'm driving my bus. We are subject to federal transportation laws, and The Chairman controls those. But once I leave for the day, the mask goes into the trash.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I've seen your face. Leave it on.