riptides

well, one solution for 'house has rats' is to burn the house down.  Easy and mindless.  But a smarter, less lazy person might actually choose to do the work of actually removing the f-ing rats.

Sorry my friend, but it was the CSS Virginia that fought the USS Monitor. It can be very confusing to those who haven’t studied the American Civil War (including most Americans) but it is very understandable because of how the battle has been recounted since the day it occurred.  The Merrimack was a U.S. Navy ship that was burned by the Confederacy at the start of the war. It burned to the waterline. The Confederates raised the hull of the ship, and rebuilt it from the hull up. They then Commissioned the ship the “CSS Virginia.” To this day, I hear U.S. Historians refer to “the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack,” and they are wrong. 
 
your comparison was dead on though!

+1
Oh, how I wish we could like your posts right now...

Don't get all flustered.
There was little to no rebuttal on that one. 
I'll not be drawn into political debate on free speech equating that someone can support the idiocies and viciousness she promotes without repercussions.
 

So sad that person is an elected official.
Even worse....that that sort of drivel can be spouted and not a thing can be done about it.
 

So sad that person is an elected official.
Even worse....that that sort of drivel can be spouted and not a thing can be done about it.
 

So sad that person is an elected official.
Even worse....that that sort of drivel can be spouted and not a thing can be done about it.
 

So sad that person is an elected official.
Even worse....that that sort of drivel can be spouted and not a thing can be done about it.
 

Putin had/has a very good opportunity to end the war in Ukraine by diverting national attention to a new threat. ISIS.
Too bad he will miss it.
 

First Oscar in Ukrainian history. 
 

Japanese have a lock on that.  If you don't have one of these you don't know what you are missing.  
UltraMax® II 1G One-Piece Toilet, Elongated Bowl - 1.0 GPF - WASHLET+ Connection (totousa.com)
 
When the Russians invade Japan, they'll be shooting each other to send one of these home.

Hi,
As a Swede I thought today would be a good day to stop lurking for a bit and drop a comment. Been playing cm for 20 years and following this forum for a long time.
Thank you all for contributing to this thread, checking it daily. Always a good source for news and discussion, so much knowledge and experience gathered is hard to get elsewhere. 
I always was all for our countrys neutral stance combined with a strong Defense but last decade has of course swayed us all in Sweden a bit. I have my background in the army, cv90. Seeing us finally start to retake our capabilities regarding defense is good.
Anyways thanks for having us in the club I guess (why am I thinking about brothers Marx)?
Carl 

Extremely disturbing for those who would like to avoid such things.
 
With regard to:
In case misapprehension caused his ban, I should say it's at least possible his post:
...was a sincere expression of regret on realising the other poster had tried to help Ukraine and had failed due to problems with corruption/bribery, and was not just an antagonistic internet warrior.  Much can get lost between translation and the lack of context.  It's right on the edge of plausibility but worth clarifying.

I'm not really on a level to argue with you but i watched some russian propaganda shows and argue about one and a half year with middle men whom was spreading russian propaganda (and that was a waste of time) so i'm very familiar with their arguing points.
I'm saying this because its feels like that their is a misunderstanding how russia is waging this war.
So first of all at the start of the war putin said that the its a challenge against the west hegemony and that the west should consider russia's interest from that point on. Something on the line i'm not remembering how it was said. But this isn't started there, its started back in 14. And since than they using the same tactics. They lie without impunity and escalate because they are fairly confident that the west will not throw away its good life for Ukraine. They are proud of their suffering its a badge of honor that they can endure more than others. That's in their culture.
When US lose 50 000 for Vietnam its a tragedy when russia lose 16 000 for a little town its business as usual. Russians don't care about loses until they are involved.
Other thing is that russia is a system based on suppression. The elite don't have to care about votes, and they made phony opposition parties that aimed at useful fools. Loud and dumb peoples.
Russian propaganda is not aimed at intellectual its aimed at the mass, not to persuaded them to believe in something but to don't care. They are pushing extremes from every side of the political palette, and drown the rationality with a noise similar to a pub argument.
Those whom are a real threat to the system simply squashed, intimidated, jailed or killed in a way that everybody is aware that they did that. But in the same time lying that they didn't. They more akin to a mafia than a political party. Everybody in the russian system is aware that the big guys are so powerful that you cant really f..ck with them and they make them sure to remind them again and again. Navalny, Sojgu, even Mortz is a sign for the rest. You have no chance, do as we want or you will be sorry.
There is no way in the short run to russia explode. They are basically part brainwashed and partly scared of the elite so much that they don't believe that there is a chance for a power change. Many believe that if there would be a power change the new elite would be more dangerous than one they have now.
So no their is no other way than to keep making the Ukrainians kill russians until they will be so scared that they would risk a fight against the elite.
Cause the elite plays a different game than the west. They perfectly aware that they can push their peoples into situations that they don't want without a serious blow back. While in the west when people get scared they just vote out the guy who is charge and put in one that say its gonna be all okay. Their long game is simply playing chicken with the west and take as much as they can while they do. They will not stop at Ukraine if they don't have to. They don't believe that west would risk a war for Estonia or Latvia or Moldova. Same as they believe that west will not fight for Ukraine. Once you prove them right they will go on. If Ukriane is check, than the Baltic and Moldova, if that's check than transnistria even if it means to attack Poland. Cause they are sure that the west is a coward. I cannot really emphasize this. They believe it like a religion.
So they will push until they are allowed to, they will not stop until they have to. And that's something that peoples in the west should understand, their is a kind of madness with the russian society that is dangerous as hell, and the more time you give them the more dangerous they become. They are not getting weaker, the elite basically destroyed any opposition and right to oppose them under the war. They are getting more akin to the third Reich after 43. Except they have nukes.

dumbest he ever heard eh?  Guess he doesn't listen to his own broadcasts.

Petr Pavel is one of the coolest world leaders serving in office right now.
He reminds me of those Presidents you would see in 90s movies like Independence Day and Air Force One. But as much as I like Harrison Ford he is just an actor, Petr Pavel is a real hero. 😎

As long as they don't paint red stars on the F-16s they ought to be safe from Russian AD.

If I was hauling that double deck bus anywhere and got a missile warning I would start mashing everything in reach...

He has engaged the American "news" media. This was a small step to gauge reactions and political movements on his part. I bet he offers a second.

Don't know if this was posted. Pretty scary.
 

Address number one in a strategic sense:
 
The west will not do business with Russia until Putin is removed from power and the territorial integrity of Ukraine has been restored.
On the Putin issue, there can be no compromise.
Defer Ukraine territory restoration to the people of Ukraine themselves.
No one has said it yet, it needs to be said.

Address number one in a strategic sense:
 
The west will not do business with Russia until Putin is removed from power and the territorial integrity of Ukraine has been restored.
On the Putin issue, there can be no compromise.
Defer Ukraine territory restoration to the people of Ukraine themselves.
No one has said it yet, it needs to be said.

The "fight like us" mantra being bandied about is just an excuse for the US cluelessness in how to deal with the situation.
 It serves no purpose other than giving us an excuse for the failure to address the Putin problem.
What exactly is the end game again? Oh yeah, they did not "fight like us".
 
 
 

The "fight like us" mantra being bandied about is just an excuse for the US cluelessness in how to deal with the situation.
 It serves no purpose other than giving us an excuse for the failure to address the Putin problem.
What exactly is the end game again? Oh yeah, they did not "fight like us".
 
 
 

Who would have imagined this man would prevail like this when he was first elected?
No, Zelensky isn't perfect and depending on which Ukrainian you ask, he is more or less liked.
But damn was Ukraine lucky to have a man of his caliber in office. It could have been much, much worse. Beside a few minor hiccups in diplomacy (e.g. the missile debris in Poland) he and his team find the right words. Most western politicians wish they could be half the leader he is.