More from Wax Off
truebluebasher said: Who requested the most despicable reverse hostile cross national sickly song about world's #1 arsehole!
Think tbb should first warn the…
World Music... oops, I mean, music that is perhaps unfamiliar to western listeners because it's from underrepresented places..61
blackers said: A song fer Sussan.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay…
Tunes8,398
lucky-al said: Likewise, freeride76. Will call in next time I'm down your way.
Botany Nerds Ahoy2,639
seeds
said:
Oh shit yeah, I’ve been there a couple of times. Once on school camp and once as a adult 25 years younger than now.
Show us your photos
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seeds
said:
Opti said “Anyone who reads your past comments will easily see why you’re not worth engaging in conversation.”
No numbn
All Things Religion Thread
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Optimist
said:
Where I live now is perfect…..but I’ve had better in the past.
Where in AUS would you live in you could take your pick?
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freeride76
said:
You're always going to run the risk of a big flatty busting you or biting you off on light gear and bait hooks.
I wou
Fishing tips
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Supafreak
said:
This guy has broken his back in 2 places plus other injuries but this horrific fall didn’t break his spirit, such a amaz
The MTB Thread
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@etarip,
I don't think Trump has ever read a book! He certainly didn't read the daily Presidential briefings during his first term, and I agree with your misgivings about him and thoughts on "best friends" China and Russia.
Stalin thought Hitler was his best mate too, unaware that the Nazis had "Operation Barbarossa' in the can and ready to execute the whole time. Shock of his life when the Nazis invaded.
And I don't trust the Indians either. They play both sides, but in a global war, who knows.
But I think maybe the Russians are too far gone to be any use to the West with China, and I think sacrificing Ukraine, after all they have been through, and all the money invested by the West, in the hope of bringing them under the umbrella and dividing the axis, is way too cynical and hopeful.
Maybe a Russia without Putin, but not one with him. Too far gone now.
Where are the Russian version of the July 20 plotters? Who is the Russian Claus Von Stauffenberg?
We need a hero. like him. But put the bomb on the other side of the table leg this time!
Anyway, bedtime for me. Great little thread and discussion here IMO.
To be continued.
"I also think that if Putin himself were taken out, there would be no more war in Ukraine or any risk to NATO."
One thing put to me by some one who spend a lot of time in Russia who asked Russians regularly why do you still support Putin?
Answer: Because we could end up with some one far worse, very Russian as I understand it.
SF, its only my opinion.
Firstly, POOtin grew up in the Soviet system and worked in the KGB....THAT was his ambition..
Then, theres his greed factor....he is Mr 10-25% in R-fed, he allows the oligarchs to conduct business but the first tax they pay is to Pootin.(under the table of course)
Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe, rich in minerals and the best farming land.Its around 2/3 the size of NSW.The occupied area is kinda like the length of the NSW coast and around 30-50 miles inland.The eastern occupied territory plus the Crimean peninsular is around 17% of the 1991 sovereign borders of Ukraine.Crimea is the GoldCoast(theres waves but tiny) for Russians,so tourism industry is/was prevalent.
So for Russia to control Ukraine satisfies Poomans historical warped mind and KaChing, his $$$ gathering.
Not sure if you are aware of his billion $ palace overlooking the BlackSea? It is surrounded by the latest air defence systems and makes AlBoSleezies mansion look like an outhouse(if you remember the backyard dunes lots of us grew up with).
Do not think anyone here is claiming Putin is a good guy.
But definitely more to situation than Putin being crazy expansionist like Hitler which has been the western narrative.
There is definitely geo political factors at play and to deny that is foolish in my view.
And from what I have read, it is not just Putin but most of Russia's elite that are on the same page, so getting rid of Putin would not make a difference, maybe even have someone not as rational and patient as Putin step up.
Also being expressed by western media is that he wants to take over all over eastern Europe empire wise, then in the next breath that the Russian military and their equipment is old and decrepit, and there US no way they could take Ukraine.
What is it?
Finally before I go to work, and not something I know much about and may be conspiratual, but Blackrock apparently have huge interest in Ukraine.
Is this a factor? Maybe Musk's and the other billionares with stakes do not align with Blackrock hence their support of Putin.
Anyway gotta go to work...
Russias elite are on the same page because its the only page OR you fall out a window, get poised, shot, starved or as your plane is flying along it gets shot out of the sky like the Wagner leaders found out.
Yes, but Hitler had a different ideology.Pooman is a Stalin clone.
BlackRock(to me) is a surfing location I used to frequent back in the 60s when it was still a secret,so I'll have to research your query.
Ok, know who BlackRock are now.
Ukraine is the jewel in the crown of Europe.I'll find more later for you to realise that its a very valuable piece of real estate.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/Health-and-welfare
I know that blackrock also!
Here is an article from a couple of years back. BR also heavily involved in military supplies so they are winning this war.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/blackrock-plots-to-buy-ukraine/
ive added to my post with a link, also Ukraine has the most black earth deposits in the world.They are known as the bread basket of Europe and many African countries rely on their grains supplies from Ukraine.
The blackSea fleet blockaded the export of grain(as well as stealing plenty from the ports on the Azov sea)..negotiations took place, with Russia always having the upper hand but as the war progressed and that fleet (now shit scared to leave port because the water drones are out there waiting.) in effective, grain supplies are like pre war times.
What’s in it for Russia? It’s less about ‘security’ and more about resources - oil / gas in the Azov and Black Seas, agricultural land, coal in the Donbas and….. people. Russian (Slavic) birth rates in decline. Ukraine was always the USSR’s ‘tech hub’. Reclaiming large parts of Ukraine and bringing all of this under Russian control underpins Make Russia Great Again. If this was just about ‘security’, Russia wouldn’t be annexing 4x oblasts (provinces) of Ukraine.
Edit: @qz beat me to it.
Russia is, at its core, a C19th colonial power. It struggles to engage with others as equals, because fundamentally it doesn’t respect the current global system. (Neither does China)
If it weren’t for nukes, Russia would not be a global power with the outsized influence it does. Economically, culturally, ideologically it’s just not that influential.
This is an age old problem for Russian leaders. Anyway, empires… and imperial models:
A good listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/school-of-war/id1589160645?i=1000…
The USA / Russia stuff is at the end but it’s a great listen.
mmm... backyard dunes... I remember playing in remnant metro sandhills between Brighton Jetty and Kingston Caravan Park... empty blocks along the esplanade still had old sand dunes on them back then .. all mcmansions now. (though my son and I went and had a look behind the very-un-mcmansion 3 story yellow-brick flats next to the Seacliff Hotel, and the little concrete 'wave' next to their outback laundry that we used to skate on as 10 year olds, and piss off the residents is still there!! mini-yew!)
I beg to differ with that statement!! Proof below.
oh, great gazza, now I'm gonna have a non-existent latino dance song called 'lada niva' going round in my head.. and I can tell it's gonna have 'hot hot hot' at the end of whatever it becomes...
Ha! , you got me gaz.
MRGA!!! Lada Niva for errywun!!!
Hot hot hot
Hi Supa, I will not say events Sachs talks about didn't happen. So I will agree that he is factually correct. But this is only one part of the picture. Like one paragraph in a book. He's an American guy questioning American involvement. He has the right to do so. But just remember that there many other players, including citizens of Ukraine itself that need to be asked for their opinion. What kind of life do they want? As much as we appreciate the strength of the US, they are not pulling all the strings. Sachs is giving them way too much credit while ignoring everyone else. And this is not a correct way to look at things.
Yes, you are 100% correct. I don't like this isolationist policy at all. Looking at it from the long term perspective, US will definitely come out as a loser. I kind of hope that Trump is bluffing to get increased funding from other NATO members. Narrative in the EU changed dramatically as he won. Many are calling for increased defence funding and more independence. Macron is very vocal about it, he talks about it strongly:
https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-france-europe-us-electi…
All good mate. Generally speaking, there is plenty that I don't like about US involvement in other countries. I don't want to sound like I'm in approval with it all. But in this Ukraine/Russia case a lot of these videos simply paint an incomplete, biased picture. I'm not saying that it's all wrong. I'm deliberately calling it incomplete for a reason.
@flollo. I really appreciate the way you present your opinions on here. Clear, concise, balanced. Thanks.
Sorry, spell checker changed DUNNYS to dunes..ha ha, but good comment!
Early in the war, the widows of the deceased Russian soldiers were getting a free Lada but I think it was a compact not a Niva...These days due to the 735,000 KIA theres not enough LADAS, so they give them a bunch of carrots and a sack of potatoes( both very expensive there these days!).
I’ve been reading up about Sachs and as much as there’s good things said about him there’s also plenty of not so good. I’ve never heard of NE global before or James Wilson but he really writes Sachs off . https://www.neglobal.eu/jeffrey-sachs-three-times-a-traitor/ The Hill was also not kind . https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4727046-from-economist-to-kre… It’s not always easy to find the truth . Both articles I realise are opinions of the authors .
When I opened the thread,i said there was a lot of BS online....the Russian people get fed it every day.I'll find the youTube with the full on propaganda BS, it's a farce and its on their main TV channel(which might be their only one?).
Some great posts since yesterday! @etarip I fully agree with your chain of thought.
Russia doesn't want powerful neighbours. They want Ukraine to be like Belarus; subjugated, corrupt and poor. A place where politicians win elections before the election is held. Prosperous communities just across the border might give Russian population some undesirable ideas.
Freaking Texas has bigger GDP and more guns than Russia (well, citizens probably do, I'm guessing a bit on this one). Russia is an economical shithole, held by powerful and rich oligarchy while most of general population doesn't have much. Historically speaking, population was always poor. Read Dostoevsky and you can really feel it. Serfdom was still in the effect well into the 19th century. Russian ruble is falling off a cliff. Interest rate is 21% and it will probably go higher. Inflation is rampant. What will happen when Russian soldiers realise their risks of being blown to pieces in Ukraine don't buy groceries for a family back home?
The idea that Russia can sustain broader invasion across Europe is ridiculous. They are not to be feared of. They can't even beat corrupt Ukraine. Yes, they have some nasty weapons and they might use them. But they will get x 10 in return and it would take them decades to recover.
@Quadzilla,
Hey Quadz, I don't think I've ever commented directly to you before but I think I kind of owe you a bit of an apology. I used to see some of your Albosleazy posts and the Pauline vids and kind of wrote you off and would skim your comments, but I was wrong about you.
You are very much worth reading, especially on this topic.
The story you told about that happy 16 y.o. Polish apprentice whose life got turned upside down by the two European dictators, your dad, and your knowledge and commentary here has really impressed me.
Just wanted to say that.
I'm learning a lot from this thread, and from you Quadz.
carry on boys.
TVP is from Poland who are preparing to defend themselves IF Russia attacks them.
These guys take short takes from the propaganda shows.This one is a few weeks old
@quadzilla , I don’t bother watching the PH cartoons or read the albosleezy comments but don’t really care that you post them . I put up heaps of shit bagging spud and the LNP so all’s fair in my books . I do like your input on fins and the outer islands surfboards . We have never really put shit on each other and I’m enjoying reading your input on this thread . I initially posted the short sachs speech on instagram more as a , what about what he’s saying ? It was an uneducated post by me but at least it got this thread rolling after it went a bit quiet when you first started this thread . I don’t know much about this war , or its history , so I’m appreciating all the input and civil responses from everyone . I can’t ever see Ukraine defeating Russia , some type of negotiation is coming hopefully sooner rather than later .
All good mate, I dont talk BS just a factual opinion.
So a bit more information.I had some friends who I was communicating with in Horvlika which is a small city to the north of Donetsk.The so called Russian separatists(little green men, special forces trained Ruskis) were there an the Ukes civilians were shit scared.They turned off the internet to the residences, so only communication/information was at the internet cafes.The last communication I received was a week before the full on invasion.So I have got no idea if those people are alive or not.
My nephew speaks Russian and his language teacher is a single mother Ukrainian woman.I suppose they met online originally but they have met face to face because his aircraft engineer job is in Europe and he has visited half a dozen eastern European countries including Ukraine,not sure if hes been to Russia?..When the full on invasion happened, his teacher was frantic and went back to her parents house which is maybe 50 miles to Moldova.She went to Moldova with the intention of making it to Poland but has now made it to England.There was a good deal of concern on Nicks side worrying about her and her daughters wellbeing.Her parents are old and chose to remain in Ukraine.
Another friend, Tanya with her husband, were fleeing Kharkiv and on their way to Poland when the war broke out. He was killed in random shelling/bomb/missile attack.She survived, physically unscathed but psychologically broken and is now here in Australia.
I talk to my cousins from time to time, their village where my father spent his first 18 years(he never went back) is 500metres to the Ukrainian border.There have been 4 close incidents since February 2022.,Late that year two Polish men were killed by a stray missile near a village 5ks away from Korczmin.Down the road 300metres was a school, it could have been worse.At the time my cousin Stanislaw and his wife were in their back yard and could hear the explosion.During 2023 Polish air defence detected two Russian guided missiles that crossed the border closeby but then went back into Ukraine and towards Lviv which is the main city in western Ukraine.Earlier this year another stray missile/ rocket landed around 40ks norWest of where most of my Polish relatives are.It exploded in a field so nothing destroyed and luckily no people harmed.
This is all happening on the whim of a deranged dictator, no words can describe how bad it is.
All good SF,very happy to pass any knowledge on that Ive acquired.
Lets hope the war can be resolved ASAP.I doubt Twumpy can end it in a day but to his credit he has experience negotiating with terrorists.He stopped the Taliban attacking the Yank forces for 16 months, then Biden stuffed that completely with the withdrawal procedures.
+1 On this thread being educational thanks to informative posting. Hope it stays that way.
PS - I'll also fess up that I asked quadzilla if he was Rowan Dean in disguise once. It was in jest though. Anyway!!
Who is Rowan Dean? That name is vaguely familiar, is he the bloke who tells the truth, nothing but the truth and ALLWAYS the truth on FoxNews?
Title of the thread comes from this podcast.its very informative and happens most days.Scroll to 1.38 to get past the useless advert crap.
thanks for sharing this link.
Recently the decision was made to allow the UKES to use their missiles(supplied by France USA Britain ect) to attack the Russian logistics inside Russian borders.Prior to this, they were only allowed to use them on their occupied territory.
Apparently the invaders are not too happy.
Here is some recent information.
Well, the reports from the Ukranian side of killed in action has broken new ground, yesterdays Russian KIA number was 2030.Since the Ruskis have attempted to take back the Kursk region(40% at last report )the numbers have consistently been over 1500 for last 2 months.I did see one day of only just above 1000.
A while ago Zelenskyy indicated that the Ukes were losing 1 man to Russians 6.The Russian info is just BS, they can not be believed.
I wonder how many of the N Koreans are left?
First looser in war is the truth.
This professor posts pretty accurate info and assessments.
- good ol ‘empire mentality’ ;)
…always interesting (and hypocritical) when europeans try to highlight ‘empirical’ aspirations or accuse others of suffering ‘empirical nostalgia’ haha
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/12/12/britain-100-million-india-de…
“ It is also apparent that the shared history of the hemisphere is one which is framed by the dual tragedies of genocide and slavery, both of which are part of the legacy of the European invasions of the past 500 years. Indigenous people both north and south were displaced, died of disease, and were killed by Europeans through slavery, rape, and war. In 1491, about 145 million people lived in the western hemisphere. By 1691, the population of Indigenous Americans had declined by 90–95 percent, or by around 130 million people.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#:~:text=….
… the ‘empire’ principle (& mentality) still thrives in the UK, US and other colonies - no different to our historical record of whale slaughter to sustain early settlements - we did stuff back then and it was for our own purposes and interests, if you do it now though it’s wrong so stop it !
- ukraine the latest : russia bad ummm soviet nostalgic reflexive control etc blah blah , west is good ummm war is not a racket & atacm and storm shadow gift$ repre$ent freedom, liberty and la$ting peace and $tability hahaha
… carry on ;)
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/despicable-escalation-russia-unleas…
Are you trying to say that Russia is a European imperial power?
No.
- sometimes you’re wrong ;)
(like sacks vs sachs)
… carry on ;);)
… then
- and now ;)
So, Russia is not an imperial power? Interesting take. Was it ever?
…so ummm ;)
- west is good ummm war is not a racket & atacm and storm shadow gift$ repre$ent freedom, liberty and la$ting peace and $tability hahaha
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68136840
… ummm :
- “ Last year, the Defense Department set a record for sales of military equipment and hardware, especially among European partners and allies, said the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. “
$$$
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3736017/dod-h…
… carry on ;)
;);)
https://www.csis.org/analysis/how-supporting-ukraine-revitalizing-us-de…
https://www.analystnews.org/posts/as-the-war-in-ukraine-drags-on-americ…
^ ‘imperial power’ 101 ;)
Yeah, that’s the US ‘model’. It’s different from the Russian system of empire. All the other ‘west good’ stuff is your verbal diarrhea mate. Keep on though buddy, you’re doing well.
Yes. Of course ;)
…war is a racket ;);)
- ‘models’, ‘systems’ hahaha (different but the $ame)
… like ummm ‘unprovoked’, ‘illegal’, ‘sovereignty’ & ‘coup’
$$$
…carry on ;)
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/us-european-big-oil-pro…
- conflicted interest$ ;)
… & an intere$t in conflict ;);)
(they’re doing well)
$$$
https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-the-us-has-to-gain-from-sup…
You’re wobbling a bit jelly. Take a break mate.
- hahaha
… so you’re saying war is not a racket ;)
(thanks again for your eggspurt opinionalysis)
- carry on ;);)
https://www.csis.org/analysis/how-supporting-ukraine-revitalizing-us-de…
$$$
Where did I say that?
It’s all a racket. War is politics by other means. And politics is a racket. Literally.
Russia’s position is a racket - nothing to do with security. All to do with resources. US interest isn’t just about ‘democracy’, and it's way more than defense industry. At least I can admit that.
^ well ummm
… “that’s good, that’s pretty good” ;)