Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

He really is that stupid.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The lights are all blinking red.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 954: Sure Jan

War for Ukraine Day 954: Sure Jan

by | 19 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing very well at the end of the week after her most recent treatment. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donation.

Second, it has been a long, draining week. Something from the hurricane seems to have broken most FloriDuhans’ brains and everyone is driving like its Death Race 2024 out there. I’m going to just run through the basics so I can go rack out.

The DOD Deputy Press Secretary held a briefing yesterday. Her remarks have not gone over well in Ukraine. Also, in my living room.

Q:  Thank you. So today, President Zelenskyy urged NATO allies to help intercept Iranian missiles and drones over Ukraine, as they do with Israel. Can the United States and allies help Ukraine with that? I mean since it’s possible Israel, why cannot it be done with Ukraine?

MS. SINGH:  So thank you for the question. While I appreciate the question, we are talking about two very different landscapes and battlefields. The president, at the very beginning of when Russia invaded Ukraine, has directed this department to provide Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield.

They have been very successful in employing, whether it be air defenses or other capabilities, to continue to take back their territory. The secretary just had a call with Mr. Umerov, getting that battlefield update, getting to better understand what other capabilities they might need, if any. The president has made a commitment that the United States is not putting boots on the ground into Ukraine, but we are supporting Ukraine in their efforts to take back their sovereign territory.

Q:  Well, shooting those targets, say from Polish or Romanian territory, would that be putting boots on the ground?

MS. SINGH:  That would be involving us in a war in a different way. And right now, we feel that Ukraine has been able to successfully defend against Russian strikes to their cities, to their populations, to their infrastructure. And we’re going to continue to make sure that they have the support that they need to do that.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

We Have Decisions to Support the Sumy Region, and More Separate Meetings Will Be Held on the Energy Sector of This and Our Other Border Regions – Address by the President

4 October 2024 – 18:28

I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today – the Sumy region, regional work. I held a meeting of the Staff here, and the main issue is the defense of our infrastructure, our energy sector – the operation of air defense. There was a report from our military – the Air Force, the East Command, as well as a report from the Minister of Energy; we had representatives of state energy companies, heads of all levels of the vertical between the Government and communities. We have decisions to support the region, and more separate meetings will be held on the energy sector of the Sumy and our other border regions. Before winter, the most important thing is a resilience reserve. There were reports from the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, our law enforcement officials. The report by Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi on the frontline – this is the Donetsk directions, this is the Kharkiv region, this is the South of the state, the border area, the Kursk region. I visited our warriors taking part in the Kursk operation – the 82nd brigade. I honored them with state awards. I am proud of the bravery of all our guys, our warriors! And it is very important to understand that the Kursk operation is a really strategic thing, one that adds motivation to our partners, adds motivation to stand with Ukraine, to be more determined and put pressure on Russia – to put pressure in a way that can help us to end the war fairly. Today, also here, in the Sumy region, I met with the heads of communities and thanked them for staying in their regions; they are with their people, and they really care and worry about the Sumy region and all of Ukraine. We talked about things that can support all of us – our defense, our people. A particularly emotional meeting was with educators: this Sunday is Education Workers’ Day. I personally thanked them – our teachers, lecturers, heads of educational institutions from the Sumy region, the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions, who were right here today. And all over Ukraine, in all regions, absolutely selfless people really give us hope for the future. When education works, when children, students have the opportunity to study, it means that the country will live, and the children of Ukraine will have a normal life when they grow up.

I want to thank all those who are in Ukraine, with Ukraine, who fight and work for our state, who educate our children, who preserve our Ukrainian culture. We will definitely defend Ukraine! I thank our Sumy region!

Glory to Ukraine!

President Zelenskyy was in Sumy to do a battlefield circulation.

Today, I began my visit to the Sumy region with a meeting with our warriors—the guys who are fighting in the Kursk region, defending our border areas and the entire state. The 82nd Brigade. I received a report from the commander and presented awards to our soldiers.

I am grateful for their service and for defending our country. I thank all the commanders, sergeants, and soldiers for the Kursk operation, which has greatly helped us in motivating those who supply us with weapons support packages.

I held another Staff meeting in the Sumy region, focusing on two key issues that are closely related in this region, as well as in other frontline areas: air defense and energy. I received a report from Acting Commander of the Air Force Anatolii Kryvonozhko and Commander of the East Air Force Command Ivan Terebukha on the measures the Air Force is taking to strengthen the defense of the Sumy region specifically, other border regions, and the entire country.

I also heard from energy sector officials, including Minister German Galushchenko, about the restoration of power supply in Sumy and the surrounding communities, the further protection of generation and distribution facilities, and the preparation of backup equipment for the winter.

Additionally, I received a report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. Earlier today, we visited the heroic 82nd Brigade together. During the Staff meeting, the Commander-in-Chief briefed me on the overall frontline situation, the most challenging directions, the course of the Kursk operation, the supply of equipment and ammunition to the frontlines, and the manning of the brigades.

In Sumy, I visited our warriors, who are recovering from wounds, spoke with them, and presented them with state awards.

I am grateful for their service, for protecting our country, and for every step they take to defend Ukraine. I also thank the medical staff for saving the lives of our brave soldiers.

Dracarys!

This is interesting:

From FariDaily:

Those close to Russian President Vladimir Putin do not expect the war in Ukraine to end anytime soon, according to multiple sources in the upper echelons of the Russian government. The Russian elite increasingly sees peace talks as a distant prospect, believing Ukraine’s seizure of territory in Kursk region has been a big blow to Putin’s self-regard.

“It’s all gone too far. I don’t believe there will be any sort of peace process. Nothing will stop until Ukraine collapses,” said the head of a large state-owned company in Russia who is in regular contact with Putin.

The darkening of the mood in Moscow comes as Russian forces continue with a bloody offensive in eastern Ukraine. While territorial gains have come at a high cost, Russia recently seized the strategic town of Vuhledar, which has been the scene of intense fighting since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Those who support peace talks with Ukraine in the Russian elite are now very much in the minority, according to sources. Before the attack on Kursk region, there was greater support for negotiations, said one official who is under Western sanctions. “It’s difficult now even to mention the idea of peace—anyone saying such a thing will be made to shut up,” he added.

According to another official who meets regularly with Putin, the chance of peace talks would diminish even further if the West gives permission for Kyiv to launch long-range Western missiles at Russian territory—something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking. “This would be a big escalation,” he said.

More at the link.

The now former NATO Secretary General:

“If there’s anything I in a way regret and see much more clearly now is that we should have provided Ukraine with much more military support much earlier,” Stoltenberg says, speaking slowly and carefully. “I think we all have to admit, we should have given them more weapons pre-invasion. And we should have given them more advanced weapons, faster, after the invasion. I take my part of the responsibility.”

France:

Here’s the machine translation of the French Defense Minister’s quoted tweet:

On the sidelines of the industrial forum organized in Kiev, yesterday @KNDS_France signed a contract to supply 12 CAESAR cannons financed by Ukraine.

The increase in the production capacity of our defense industry allows us to support Ukraine.

Kharkiv:

Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

In Enerhodar, a car explosion targeted collaborator and war criminal Andriy Korotkyi, who served as the “head of physical security” at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Ukraine’s intelligence agency. Korotkyi had been involved in organizing repressive measures against Ukrainians in occupied territory. After the ZNPP was seized, he cooperated with Russian forces, providing them with lists of plant employees, including pro-Ukrainian individuals, and was a member of Putin’s United Russia party.

That’ll buff right out.

Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast:

Gomel Oblast, Belarus:

Belgorod Oblast, Russia:

Perm and Voronezh Oblasts, Russia:

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

19Comments

  2. 2.

    KatKapCC

    And right now, we feel that Ukraine has been able to successfully defend against Russian strikes to their cities, to their populations, to their infrastructure.

    HAS SHE BEEN IN A COMA

  4. 4.

    Van Buren

    Abject cowardice not to support Ukraine to the fullest. The biggest black mark against this admin.

  6. 6.

    Eolirin

    @BretH: The Iranians are being given a lesson in why it’s important to have nuclear weapons.

    I’m sure that’ll end well.

  8. 8.

    Jay

    Ukraine reported more murders of Ukrainian POWs,

    And a deliberate program of torturing and murdering them in prison.

  9. 9.

    Chris

    @BretH:

    Why do you think so many people have been clamoring for war with Iran for over twenty years. It’s a war with someone who doesn’t have nukes, therefore “easy” or at least “winnable.”

  10. 10.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Hey Adam, semi-tangent but sort of on topic: I recently went down a rabbit-hole about the Soviet Anti-Zionist propaganda campaigns from 1920’s-80’s, mostly reading the

    GEC Special Report: More Than a Century of Antisemitism:

    How Successive Occupants of the Kremlin Have Used Antisemitism to Spread Disinformation and Propaganda

    As well as:
    Demonization Blueprints: Soviet Conspiracist Antizionism in Contemporary Left-Wing Discourse by Izabella Tabarovsky and I was just curious (since this is right in your area of expertise) as to her reputation as an historian of Soviet AntiSemitism?  Is she reputable?  It all looks pretty legit to my untrained eye.  And it is wild to me to think that almost every major framing I’ve seen from the Left wrt Gaza over the past year (and sometimes Ukraine too), are rooted in an AntiSemitic propaganda campaign from the USSSR.  This seems like the sort of thing more people should be aware of.

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    @Eolirin: On the other hand, we are seeing what Russia can get away with because it has nuclear weapons, and I think there is a lesson there regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    I see Turkish President Erdogan signed a Free Trade agreement with Ukraine yesterday. The two countries are natural trading partners and their economies are in many ways complementary, so I consider this a good thing.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    @Jay: I ran into a story about this on a defense blog titled “Defense Blog.” It described how two Turkish Air Force cargo planes ended up stranded at a Ukrainian airfields on the day Russia invaded and Ukraine’s airspace was closed. I assume they had just flown in Turkish munitions.

    Russia did not destroy them, but the wouldn’t let them go either. I think they finally flew out in August, after Erdogan worked out a deal with his frenemy in the Kremlin.

  17. 17.

    Chris

    @Jay:

    You just think that because it’s true.

    But to a lot of the usual nitwits, they look at Iran and see: it doesn’t have nuclear weapons (like North Korea, Pakistan, China, or Russia). It hasn’t spent decades digging into various Western capitals through good lobbying and diplomacy (Saudi Arabia), nor does it weigh as heavily on the global oil economy. It isn’t the BFF of a Republican president who’s therefore made it a domestic partisan issue (Russia again). And it’s a government not an insurgency which means it would be a conventional war that would play to America’s strengths (never mind that this would only be true for like a few weeks).

    Therefore, it’s the war the Blob wants. Also the war the GOP wants.

  18. 18.

    VeniceRiley

    Yeah, I snarked on twitter that Ukraine should hire Israel to hit Russian bases and infrastructure for them, since the White House let’s them get away with whatever they want to.

  19. 19.

    wenchacha

    I am frustrated about our position in both Ukraine and with regard to Israel. It seems like caution is warranted, but what happens if we were to be bolder? Will the outcome be better or worse? I’m glad I don’t have to decide this stuff.

Comments are closed.