(Image by NEIVANMADE)
Three quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is very much improved. Her appetite is completely back and she’s back to normal levels of activity. She goes back for a check in with the oncology vet in three weeks and I’ll take her to see her regular vet at the end of next week to get a post-chemo baseline exam. Thank you for all the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.
Second, while I’m starting to recover for the sleep deprivation and what it does to the rest of my system, I’m still fried. I’m just going to cover the basics tonight.
Third, in comments on Monday night someone pivoted off of my assessment of the effects of Musk as an insider threat and his well financed subversion combined with what Russia, the PRC, the DPRK, Iran, Israel, the Saudis, etc are doing to interfere in domestic US politics in general and in regard to the ongoing election in specific to just trash Biden overall. It wasn’t offensive or anything and it didn’t violate the comment policy, which is why I left it up. No one needs to go back, find it, and pile on, but I want to make clear that my issues are with President Biden and his natsec team, which includes his senior domestic natsec appointees or holdovers – Garland, Wray, and Mayorkas – in dealing with these threats, mismanaging US responses to Russia’s genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. Domestically, in terms of overall domestic policy, I think President Biden and his team have exceeded expectations given they had to deal with Manchin and Sinema and the other four or five Democratic senators hiding behind them in the Senate (cough Coons cough), the loss of the House in the 2022 midterms, and the FedSoc neo-Confederates that McConnell and Leo used Trump to pack onto the Federal appellate courts and the Supreme Court. A lot of this is because the news media has decided not to cover the domestic successes. From The New Yorker:
Among Joe Biden’s afflictions and miseries, his wormwood and gall, there are the insults (about his diminished capacities), and then there are the compliments unpaid (about his achievements). We are exposed to more of the first, but it seems that to him the second are more painful. In his first interview after he withdrew as the Democratic Presidential nominee, Biden—wounded, proud, self-pitying, defiant—said, by way of defending his record, “No one thought we could get done, including some of my own people, what we got done. One of the problems is, we knew all the things we did were going to take a little time to work their way through. So now people are realizing, ‘Oh, that highway. Oh, that . . .’ ” He trailed off for a moment and then recovered. “The biggest mistake we made, we didn’t put up signs saying ‘Joe Did It.’ ” He ended this with a bitter chuckle. Biden isn’t wrong. Objectively, and improbably, he has passed more new domestic programs than any Democratic President since Lyndon Johnson—maybe even since Franklin Roosevelt.
Domestically this has been one of THE most successful administration’s ever. It has done great things for a broad, wide, and deep swathe of Americans. You don’t have to agree with me, but I want to make it clear that my disappointments and frustrations are with the natsec, defense, and foreign policy side of the house, not the domestic.
I’ll leave that there.
Russia attacked civilian targets in Kharkiv with glide bombs within the past two hours:
Kharkiv’s mayor has reported that rescuers are working to get a child from beneath the rubble of a building following a Russian glide bomb attack. pic.twitter.com/QDwuij307Q
— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 30, 2024
Russia strikes Kharkiv’s densely populated Saltivka with a KAB glide bomb. Bloodthirsty terrorists hit a 9-story residential building in the evening, right when people were home. Rescuers are working to save those trapped under the rubble. pic.twitter.com/bbUfYtKXoL
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) October 30, 2024
Russia struck a nine-story building in Kharkiv with a guided aerial bomb.
Tragically, there are casualties, including children, and more people may still be trapped under the rubble. All necessary emergency services are on site.
Partners see what happens every day. In these… pic.twitter.com/iVLJ6x5K4R
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 30, 2024
Russia struck a nine-story building in Kharkiv with a guided aerial bomb.
Tragically, there are casualties, including children, and more people may still be trapped under the rubble. All necessary emergency services are on site.
Partners see what happens every day. In these circumstances, every delayed decision on their part means dozens or even hundreds more Russian bombs used against Ukraine. Their decisions are the lives of our people. That is why we must stop Russia together — and do so with all possible force.
More on this after the jump.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Ukraine Always Proposes What Will Truly Help Us Achieve Real Peace – Address by the President
30 October 2024 – 17:31
I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
I’ve finished a visit to our friends in Northern Europe to attend the fourth Ukraine – Nordic Summit, featuring Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. It was really productive. We secured agreements on new support packages for both our defense and energy sectors. We also had extensive discussions on investments in our arms production, located exactly in Ukraine, and on developing joint defense projects. There is a solid history of such relations with Denmark – we call it the Danish model, which allows attracting finance from our partners in Ukrainian defense production. For example, we’re now manufacturing almost 20 “Bohdana” artillery units monthly, with strong progress across other areas. And there’s more to come: shells, equipment, drones – everything we need. My gratitude goes out to everyone assisting us. We continue our work on air defense. In particular, at the NATO Summit in Washington, there was an absolutely clear, concrete agreement regarding the air defense systems for Ukraine, as well as the equipment for the brigades. It has not yet been implemented in full. And we really count on our Nordic partners to help us with this in contacts with other partners. Agreements must be fulfilled. Especially in such a war. I’d like to extend special thanks to all Northern European countries for backing the Victory Plan – our strategic action plan, which is already on the table. We’re open to suggestions and perspectives from other countries. But for now, a clear, calculated vision of further actions together with partners is outlined in our Victory Plan. The key is to have the resolve to fulfill its points, and this will undoubtedly bring peace closer. I’m also grateful for the clear understanding of our reasoning regarding the invitation to NATO for Ukraine. Ukraine always proposes what will truly help us achieve real peace, and we continue to convey this message tirelessly to our partners in Berlin, Washington, and beyond. We can also already see the contours of the meeting in the Ramstein format, which is to take place in the coming weeks. It is very important for each support package to be fully implemented and for our steps with partners to be truly joint and as effective as possible.
Today, I have returned to Ukraine, and there are many meetings underway here in Zakarpattia. There are numerous regional matters that hold significance for our entire country. We’re working with local communities and entrepreneurs. Over the past few years, we have managed to make Zakarpattia one of the pillars of resilience for all of Ukraine. Today, I spoke with community leaders from the region and business representatives. Together with First Deputy Prime Minister Svyrydenko, we held a meeting with local business representatives, including those who relocated here from other regions. We see how production is growing, we are familiar with the opportunities and challenges at the same time. We will definitely help find solutions. Now, I will also visit our guys – our warriors – who are undergoing rehabilitation after injuries. These brave warriors are from our brigades fighting in the Donetsk region, in the Vovchansk direction, in the Kursk region. I want to thank them on behalf of all our people, all of Ukraine, and to honor them with state awards. For their essential work, their service, and their invaluable courage. Courage that is decisive both on the battlefield and in political decisions. We are very much counting on the courage of our partners as well.
Glory to Ukraine!
⚡️ President Zelenskyy: some partners thought Ukraine’s Victory Plan was “too much.”
💬 “We want to live. Is it too much?” pic.twitter.com/UOlpcPCpRK
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) October 30, 2024
⚡️ President Zelenskyy on Tomahawks: “It was confidential information between Ukraine and White House. How to understand these messages? So, it means, between partners there is no confidential things.” pic.twitter.com/gTDFuEWLks
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) October 30, 2024
This is two major leaks in about two and half weeks. The Tomahawk request from Ukraine and the Israeli strike capabilities in regard to Iran. Someone is going to prison.
The cost:
завдяки вашим донатам Стас вже майже може самостійно стояти без милиць.
у його випадку це великий прогрес.
нам дуже треба оплатити ще два місяці реабілітації, щоб повернути Стаса до самостійного життя.
допоможіть.
банка:https://t.co/4ilAF2Y1zx
PayPal:… https://t.co/xK0Hh22Ktp pic.twitter.com/dpo7VWA6Wg
— пан шаміль (@vsheredeha) October 28, 2024
Here’s the machine translation into English:
hanks to your donations, Stas can almost stand on his own without crutches.
in his case, this is great progress.
we really need to pay for two more months of rehabilitation to get Stas back to independent living.
Help.
jar:
http://send.monobank.ua/jar/8d3FZ2tEfN
PayPal:
Someone asked the other night in comments if this was the first time a state had to crowdsource their defense. The answer is definitely in recent memory. And certainly in this manner. And they’re also having to crowdsource the funding for their wounded veterans’ treatments too. I do have a very early memory of when news of the Yom Kippur War made it into the synagogue on Yom Kippur. All of a sudden people were offering to make donations on the spot to send funds to Israel. Remember, this was before we were legislatively required to send them billions each year in addition to foreign military sales and transfers under routine security cooperation agreements. I have a distinct memory of someone taking over a VERY expensive watch, because no one carried a lot of cash or a checkbook to synagogue on the Day of Atonement, and asking if it could be sold to send funds to Israel immediately. I also know that the Armenian diaspora has raised a lot of funds to help Armenia defend itself and the Armenians that were living in Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh. I don’t think it’s the first, but what Ukraine has been and is doing is definitely on a completely different scale
South Korea:
50 years from, historians will be freaking out about how the democratic world got so pathetically spineless. https://t.co/duhQ1uQdMp
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 30, 2024
There’s nothing actually more reported at Yonhap, just that quoted headline. But let me unpack this a bit. The Republic of Korea has a set of laws, like almost every state, that governs how they do what is broadly defined as security cooperation. You should read security cooperation in this regard as foreign military sales. Current ROK law prohibits the president from just unilaterally directly transferring or selling weapons systems, weapons, and/or munitions to Ukraine. Moreover, the president of the ROK is not particularly popular right now. I expect that there’s a vigorous discussion going on behind the scenes regarding how Ukrainian partners can source 155mm shells from South Korea to either replace the partners’ current stocks that they’ll transfer to Ukraine or to just transship them/resell them/donate them to Ukraine once in possession of them.
Georgia:
“We can say goodbye to Georgia’s European and @NATO aspirations,” said Elene Kintsurashvili from the German Marshall Fund, during an interview with TVP World. Kintsurashvili came on the channel to discuss what the future of #Georgia will look like should the ruling #GeorgianDream… pic.twitter.com/CQGS0QKify
— TVP World (@TVPWorld_com) October 30, 2024
“We can say goodbye to Georgia’s European and @NATO aspirations,” said Elene Kintsurashvili from the German Marshall Fund, during an interview with TVP World. Kintsurashvili came on the channel to discuss what the future of #Georgia will look like should the ruling #GeorgianDream party remain in power following the recent controversial parliamentary #elections.
Slovakia:
“The premises of the ZVS Holding company, which manufactures artillery rounds for Ukraine is on fire in Snina,” Slovakia: https://t.co/WmXuClq1Mm
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) October 29, 2024
From Dennik:
In Snine, the ZVS Holding complex is burning, which produces artillery shells, for example for Ukraine. The fire hit the grenade body forming devices. It does not work directly in Snine with explosives, they are filled in Dubnica above Váh, where the main operation of the semi-state company is.
„We confirm that in the production hall of one of our plants, ZVS holding in Snine, a hydraulic press fire broke out today at 13.30 am, which is used for the volume forming of steel bodies of missiles. The fire was located and hit the tank with hydraulic oil and part of the roof of the production hall. The fire is under control. There were no injuries in connection with the fire. So far, we are seeing the case of two employees who have inhaled the flue gas. We emphasize that the Snine does not work with explosives, only the steel body of the projectile is processed. The exact cause of the fire can only be investigated after it has been completely extinguished. Also, no damage estimate or impact on production itself is available yet, “ said a spokesman for the CSG group, which has managerial control in ZVS.
The Pokrovsk front:
Serhiy Dobriak, head of the Pokrovsk City Military Administration: “[W]e are now establishing fortifications within the city. Residents are witnessing this, so we are urging them once again to evacuate as the city will be completely blocked off.”https://t.co/4HFagBduXN
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) October 30, 2024
From Ukrainska Pravda:
Russian forces are currently positioned 6.7 kilometres from Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast and defensive fortifications are being constructed within the city.
Source: Serhii Dobriak, Head of Pokrovsk City Military Administration, in a national 24/7 joint newscast and in comment to Suspilne Donbas
Quote: “The construction of defences has been ongoing since 2022, and a combat brigade is stationed in our city. In accordance with this defence plan, we are now establishing fortifications within the city. Residents are witnessing this, so we are urging them once again to evacuate as the city will be completely blocked off.”
Details: Dobriak clarified to Suspilne Donbas that this does not entail a full blockade of Pokrovsk; specific sections will be restricted for entry and exit. Several defensive lines have already been constructed to partially block streets and residential districts. He confirmed the city has no running water, though drinking water is available. Sixty per cent of Pokrovsk currently has power. The city still has several family doctors, a municipal hospital and the wounded are being transported to Dobropillia. Small shops, a market, postal services, and ATMs with cash handling services are still operational. The administrative service centre remains open.
There will be no central heating this season, and heating points are being prepared. However, local authorities are advising residents to evacuate before winter temperatures arrive.
Destroyed Russian assault group of approximately dozen infantrymen on Pokrovsk front. pic.twitter.com/V2YLAj9fw4
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) October 30, 2024
Kharkiv:
Day by day, strike after strike, russia turns Kharkiv into ruins, killing its people, wounding the innocent, and sparing no one. This is what Kharkiv endures at this moment. pic.twitter.com/kh4Tb5hj0U
— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) October 30, 2024
“It is likely that two people died as a result of the Russian strike on a high-rise building in Kharkiv – parts of bodies are visible under the rubble, these people show no signs of life,” said Dmytro Chubenko, spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office. pic.twitter.com/YYne0br3jj
— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 30, 2024
Here’s the full text of the first tweet:
Late tonight, when people are at home, russia launched an attack on a residential building in Kharkiv, striking it with a gliding aerial bomb.
multiple floors are destroyed, at least 18 people are injured, including children, and an unknown number is trapped under the rubble. We still dont know the fate of those still missing.
Electricity is gone in parts of Kharkiv following a russian glide bomb attack on the city‼️
— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 30, 2024
Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast:
⚡ Russian forces are now positioned just 2.5 to 3 kilometers from Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, the head of Kupiansk City Military Administration says.https://t.co/gmkjXhMQQ3
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) October 30, 2024
From United24 Media:
Russian forces are now positioned just 2.5 to 3 kilometers from Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, the head of Kupiansk City Military Administration, Andrii Besedin said on a national TV on October 29.
Besedin described the local situation as “critical,” with daily strikes targeting populated areas and essential infrastructure across the Kupiansk community.
According to Besedin, there are still over 2,500 residents in the city, while more than 1,400 civilians remain on the left bank of the Oskil River.
Besedin noted that evacuation efforts are ongoing but have slowed.
“Due to the destruction of key infrastructure, many settlements are without electricity, gas, or water. Current security conditions make it impossible to carry out repairs,” he explained, adding that residents are continuously informed of opportunities to relocate to safer regions of Ukraine.
Earlier, Russian forces attacked the city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, targeting an area near a shop and a local market, killing at least 1 person and injuring 11.
Kyiv:
Another night of heavy drone attacks on Kyiv, another residential building hit. Russia’s strikes are getting more calculated and draining resources. The only reliable solution: target the plants assembling these Shaheds and undermine Russia’s war capabilities at the source pic.twitter.com/iisMMrErHs
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) October 30, 2024
Last night, Russia launched 62 Shahed drones at Ukraine. Its attack on a residential building in Kyiv injured nine people, including an 11-year-old child.
When essential support is delayed, countless lives in Ukraine – including children – remain in danger.#ArmUkraineNOW pic.twitter.com/l0WtUedA1e
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) October 30, 2024
Today, as a result of a horrific russian drone attack on Kyiv, russian troops “denazified” a Jewish school, damaging the building of the educational institution
Thank G-d that no one was there and no one was injured, which unfortunately cannot be said about the nearby… pic.twitter.com/aIWgJZ6Ard
— Chief Rabbi Of Ukraine Moshe Azman (@RabbiUkraine) October 30, 2024
Today, as a result of a horrific russian drone attack on Kyiv, russian troops “denazified” a Jewish school, damaging the building of the educational institution
Thank G-d that no one was there and no one was injured, which unfortunately cannot be said about the nearby residential buildings, which were hit by drone debris and injured people
We pray for their recovery and ask the Almighty to stop this evil!
“I forget when I had normal sleep” – @AnnaVlasenko reports on what it’s like to live night after night without sleep in Kyiv, where the Russian air attacks never seem to end… https://t.co/yWdNknBOwD
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) October 30, 2024
From The Globe & Mail:
For the past two months, Oksana Parafeniuk has been struggling with sleep deprivation, as constant air alerts and the sounds of explosions rattle Kyiv at night. She regularly takes her two-year-old son to the hallway of her apartment and monitors the notifications on her phone to find out how close the danger is. The windowless space is a relatively safe place to be.
Kyiv residents find it difficult to get regular sleep because of Russia’s constant attacks on their city. It’s rare to sleep more than half the night without being awakened by alarms or the sounds of air defence systems at work.
“I forget when I had normal sleep. My brain can’t work effectively the next day after a sleepless night. I also started to sleep during the day to feel slightly better. But the next night, drones attacked the city again, and all of it repeated,” Ms. Parafeniuk said, adding that the situation often leaves her depressed when the night comes. “During the day, I am living a normal life, but I struggle to survive during the night.”
She has been thinking about moving abroad for part of the winter if the attacks continue apace. “Some nights when we are so tired, my husband and I leave our son alone in the corridor, while we are trying to sleep in our bed, not just sitting near him,” Ms. Parafeniuk said. “But often it only works until the first explosion, when one of us starts to monitor the situation on our phone.”
There has been a 20- to 30-per-cent increase in the number of residents reporting sleep problems this autumn, said Yevhen Poiarkov, a somnologist at the Dobrobut clinic in Kyiv. He did not see the same number of problems in previous years – only when attacks on the city are constant.
In September and October, 2023, there were 23 air-raid alerts in Kyiv, which lasted 25.2 hours. During the same period this year, there were 86, lasting 124 hours, according to Air-alarms.in.ua.
“Since fatigue accumulates, we have patients who are annoyed, can’t concentrate and feel themselves not good in general,” Dr. Poiarkov said.
He said people need more time to refresh after they have been exhausted. But Kyiv residents never get the chance to rest properly. Instead, he sees the exacerbation of chronic diseases, disorientation and reduced working capacity.
“I’ve become used to not sleeping until 3 a.m.,” said Iryna Kondratiuk. Each night, she waits for drones to attack the city. “I tried to sleep and took sleeping pills, but then the following day I couldn’t hear the phone alarm and missed my work.”
Ms. Kondratiuk, a manicurist, said that after two months like this, it has become difficult to manage psychologically. “I shifted my work from the first part of the day to the second, trying to adapt to reality, but almost every night, I end up at the house entrance watching on my phone. Even when I sleep, I am waking up every one or two hours.”
Psychologist Tatiana Tsilenko says people who experience a chronic lack of sleep often have a variety of problems, including difficulties with hearing and deteriorating vision. “A person loses connection with reality, their brain doesn’t operate effectively any more. It’s a torture when the whole city can’t sleep, which creates dangers for people’s lives and their health.”
She said many people are losing interest in their hobbies. They often have pessimistic attitudes and can’t connect with others, which leads to issues at work.
“When one person didn’t sleep it’s not visible, but when it’s a big group of people or the whole city, it creates tension in the society. One incorrect reply can create problems for the whole department. Ukrainians are adapting to sleep deprivation … but it’s influencing the quality of their life.”
Kherson:
“Russian troops tortured Oleksii Sivak for weeks, applying electric shocks to his genitals in a freezing basement in his home city of Kherson in punishment for resisting their rule…” https://t.co/WYudtD9V87
— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 30, 2024
The Guardian has the details:
Russian troops tortured Oleksii Sivak for weeks, applying electric shocks to his genitals in a freezing basement in his home city of Kherson in punishment for resisting their rule.
When Ukrainian troops freed the city in the autumn of 2022, Sivak was presented with a long list of medical specialists who could help his recovery and asked to tick the ones he needed.
Almost every part of the body and mind was covered, but there were no urologists, doctors who treat male urinary and reproductive organs.
“I asked them: ‘Am I meant to see a gynaecologist?’ I was shocked,” he said. We’ve had a war since 2014 [when Russian proxy forces occupied Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine] and no one had even thought about male victims of sexual violence.”
It was Sivak’s first encounter with a dangerous silence, born of stigma and taboo, about the injuries his Russian jailers had inflicted. It was also his first step toward becoming an activist for a group that has been all but invisible, even as their numbers mount with disturbing speed.
The UN commissioner for human rights has documented hundreds of cases of sexual violence perpetrated by Russian troops since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Two-thirds of the victims are men and boys who were tortured in Russian jails.
Russia deploys systematic sexual torture against Ukrainians, both civilians and prisoners of war, in “almost all” detention centres where they are held, the UN found.
That includes “rape, attempted rape, threats of rape and castration, beatings or the administration of electric shocks to genitals, repeated forced nudity and sexualised humiliation”.
“The numbers in Ukraine are quite startling,” said Charu Lata Hogg, the executive director of the All Survivors Project, which supports men and boys who have endured sexual violence.
The organisation keeps a global database of cases that stretches back three decades, and the scale of new abuse recorded in Ukraine is unprecedented, she said. Sexual violence against men “happens all over the world, but the struggle is always getting documented cases”.
In Ukraine, the UN has recorded 236 incidents of sexual violence against men and two against boys in under three years.
The figures are likely to be the result of Russian forces’ systemic use of torture and Ukrainian authorities’ efforts to support survivors and collect evidence.
“I think we should credit the interviewing methods which support these disclosures,” Hogg said. Returnees “are given psychological support, and interviewed quite soon after release when trauma is high and it is relatively easier for survivors to recount their experiences”.
If Ukraine is setting an impressive example recording this form of Russian torture, it is only just beginning to grapple with its impact.
Sivak has set up Ukraine’s first support network for male survivors, in part because the first weeks after he was freed were terrifyingly lonely. Support groups, resources and medical aid were almost all aimed at women.
“One of the aims of this organisation is to make a path where one didn’t exist before, so we can be guides along it for others,” he said.
Male survivors’ ordeals are little known and rarely discussed in Ukraine, even as the country celebrates the visible sacrifice of other soldiers and survivors. Images of amputees have become common, but there are no billboards or magazine articles featuring the largely hidden injuries of sexual violence.
Few survivors are willing to talk publicly about attacks on their bodies that too often feel like assaults on their dignity and masculinity.
The sense of shame is one reason that Russia exploits sexual violence as a weapon of war, and a driving force behind Sivak’s decision to speak out. He wants the survivor network to be a beacon for those trying to recover and a voice for those still held.
More at the link.
Vochansk:
Vovchansk—another Ukrainian city that was turned into ruins when russia decided to ‘liberate’ it.
📹: @DPSU_ua pic.twitter.com/QeNIUYdUdn
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 30, 2024
Russian occupied Luhansk Oblast:
Full video of yesterday’s strike on Russian ammunition storage in Luhansk. https://t.co/8KKkvHbua7 https://t.co/SlnuLme6p1 pic.twitter.com/lriBWA99sC
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) October 30, 2024
That’s enough for tonight.
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Open thread!
Damien
Thank you immensely for that clarification, Adam. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and it’s particularly frustrating to have watched through your updates as we lost the momentum that seemingly existed to push Russia out of Ukraine by the natsec team’s folly and fear; I feel like I’ve watched Russia come back from the reeling punishments of the early going to assemble a Hydra of nasty backstops when if we had just gone wholly in maybe we could have pushed them back and truly reinforced the rules-based world order at the same time.
Same with Gaza.
Same with leaving Elon Musk his security clearances.
Same with many things.
On the other hand, I think that Biden’s domestic achievements will rank him as one of the best presidents of all time.
I sincerely hope they don’t become overshadowed by a full-blown kinetic WWIII.
Jay
Thank you, Adam.
Jay
I doubt that.
Chris
Agreed. As furious as I am at his foreign policy, his economic policy has been fucking spectacular.
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/Gerashchenko_en/status/1851593155100962831#m
Chris
@Jay:
Fucking love calling it “war fatigue” when it’s, at best, war boredom.
Not a single goddamn person in the entire European Union or NATO has been affected by this war unless they were themselves related to anyone in Ukraine. No taxes have gone up, no rationing has been enacted, no services have been suspended, damn sure no one’s had to deal with bombs falling down or tanks rolling in. There’s nothing to be “fatigued” with.
Feckless
Joe Biden is the greatest president period.
By almost all traditional metrics he has excelled, and as for the possible shortcomings you criticize:
80% of the US officer corp are Republicans.
80% of Republicans are in a batshit crazy cult.
So there’s your Joe’s defense failures for you. Afghanistan’s potemkin army instant disintegration is the fault of the repug generals like horndog Petraeus who ran the place for 20 years, for ending that war he surpasses W and Obama.
BTW tRump left him a government utterly hollowed out by resignations, and covid was killing the thousands a week. But whatevs…
So yeah Joe coulda shoulda done better on Israel. I guess.
the rabidly pro netanyahu press that blamed Joe for Afghanistan and drove him out of office for being “too old”is obviously biased, but im sure they would have been respectful and fair if he had cut off the IDF.
Im old enough to remember western military leaders telling Ukraine they needed to break through the Russian line, and the universal response was STFU and just send bullets because we’re doing the dying. And then the GOP won and turned off the $pigot. But yeah it’s Joes fault that the Ukrainians spread the equipment evenly up and down the line, not massed for a break through as western generals begged them to do.
instead of pointing fingers they should be thanking us for helping them get 80% of their country back while we are losing our 100% of our democracy at the same time.
That and the repugs & the media crucified his only living son in a way that is just evil.
In closing,
Leave Joe Alone!!!! (Brittney too)
spoot
I’m not sure what happened to US commitment to Ukraine, I know there was some frustration with the failure of the 2023 Ukraine offensive but I feel like things really changed when Hamas attacked Israel. Suddenly there was war on two fronts and it shook our foreign policy poobahs and now everything is shrouded in anxiety and paralysis. And it feels to me that we are inching away from Ukraine for some reason, at the same time our views on Israel’s war are being ignominiously ignored by the Netanyahu government.
We are suddenly being exposed as paper tigers because we are afraid of using our power.
Meanwhile I feel that the Ukraine and Israel wars are two fronts of the same war. Russia, losing on the battlefield in Ukraine, quickly formed the coalition of anti-West autocracies, China, N. Korea and Iran, and Iran’s backed Hamas started the Israel conflict. This coalition is working in unity now and the West is more and more mired in division and hesitation.
Our side has not reckoned with this new reality, not started putting the nation’s resources into Military production. As a result we are beginning to run out of available munitions and assets to send to Ukraine. We pledge millions and billions but the deliveries, according to Ukraine, are lagging.
I think we in the West will regret our neglect of the moment and will pay dearly for it in the coming years. Russia and the coalition of tyrants are already at war with us, even as we use denial as coping mechanism. We think that we can fight this war with ease, no sacrifice, no pain, no change in the status quo.
I have watched Ukraine with wonder. This small nation has been fighting Russia for decades, it knows what its like to live under Russia’s rule. And now they have decided they will never accept defeat, no matter the cost. Their courage and strength and heroism is utterly amazing. It puts us to shame.
At this time in our nation, when we are fighting hard for our democracy, for the future of our country, let us look to the Ukrainians for inspiration. We are two nation fighting the same evil.
Gin & Tonic
@spoot:
Gin & Tonic
@Feckless:
GFY.
Aziz, light!
@Feckless: If invaded, which 20 percent of the USA should we give up?
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
KatKapCC
@Feckless: Well, at least your username is apt.
Jay
@Feckless:
The first serious tranche of Western Weapons, in 2022, combined with small unit mobile tactics allowed the UA to liberate much of Occupied Ukraine.
Then, Ukraine was starved of weapons.
When the flow of ammo and equiptment, plus Western “tactics”, allowed Ukraine to launch the 2023 Summer Offensive, it quickly ground to a halt. The ruZZians had been given time to build layered defenses, integrate drones and arty, attack helo’s that could launch long range precision ATGM’s from well out of range of UA Air Defences. ruZZia still had a 12:1 shell advantage and a 6:1 “barrel” advantage. So the attempt at “Western” Mobile Warfare died, in part because no “Western Nation” would even try that with out massive air superiority.
Other than the invasion of Kursk, there was no Summer of 2024, because Ukraine was on the back foot all across the Ukraine front, and still are.
Ukraine can’t match ruZZian long range weapons and aviation, because Germany and the US won’t let them.
The latest burn is that Biden says Ukraine can strike NORK troops with US supplied weapons, but only when they are in Ukraine, not in Kursk.
Aziz, light!
@Jay: You’re confusing him with facts.
Jay
@Aziz, light!:
As a Canadian. (and yes, we have invasion plans, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_Scheme_No._1#)
Cascadia.
Chris
@Feckless:
Jesus fucking Christ, and I thought I was a Biden diehard after last summer.
“The greatest president period” LOLOLOLOLOL. Yes, greater than the guy who saw us through the biggest economic crisis and the biggest war in our history. Yes, greater than the guy who saved the Union and abolished slavery. Get a fucking grip. What’s next, a Jon McNaughton painting of Biden changing water into wine?
Biden is bar none the best president the American economy has had in half a century. It’s no disgrace to him to say that he hasn’t done well in every aspect of his presidency, or to say that he isn’t literally the greatest president in two and a half centuries of history.
way2blue
If I’m following accurately—the U.S. announces with great fanfare all the weapon packages we’re sending to Ukraine, but slow-walks the actual delivery. Yes? And after excruciatingly long periods of Ukraine pushing, pleading for various modern tools of war, think F-16s, we acquiesce, but slow walk the training of pilots, the actual handover of aircraft… I’m sure there’s a strategy buried in this behavior, but the results, to this mere mortal, are tragic.
Chris
@way2blue:
Honestly, I almost hope there isn’t a strategy.
The way this war has been conducted on the U.S. end looks more than anything like the way Republican politicians behave when they want to cut or end a government program but are iffy about actually doing it because they’re afraid of backlash. So instead they starve it of funds, heap increasingly impossible burdens onto it while refusing to give it the tools to meet them, so that when the time comes they can throw up their hands in the air and say “this thing just doesn’t work! It’s a mess! Gosh, we feel so bad, but we just need to pull the plug. If only these people hadn’t fucked everything up!”
I’d like to believe that there’s no strategy and Biden is just an incompetent idiot, because as bad as that would be, it would be preferable to “Biden is actively trying to fuck Ukraine like Republicans tried to fuck the U.S. Postal Service a few years back.” But frankly, it’s getting harder and harder to believe. The “well, we need to see a detailed plan for victory from these people before we can give them more stuff or even tell them what more stuff they’re allowed to have and how they’re allowed to use it!” demand this past summer was simply too blatantly disingenuous to have been accidental.