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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Everybody saw this coming.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

Another Bluesky Post

by @heymistermix.com|  November 12, 20243:26 pm| 116 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Re-Calibrating

AOC is on Bluesky now.  Here are the Balloon-Juice Bluesky basics, courtesy of Mousebumples, for anyone who missed them.   DougJ is also there.

As Adam mentioned the other day, there are resistance grifters out to take your money and occupy your time.  Here’s a blocklist of those folks.  Again, choose who to block or mute based on your preferences.

 

Another Bluesky PostPost + Comments (116)

Cloud Shouting (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  November 12, 20242:29 pm| 88 Comments

This post is in: Climate Change, How about that weather?, Open Threads


[Optional soundtrack for the post]

So 2024 has completely changed my relationship with the weather. I used to believe I would make a good Seattle resident because I love rain so much. Gray, cloudy days don’t depress me at all. As long as I can loll around indoors, they make me feel snug and cozy.

Now, after the biblical deluge that temporarily flooded us out of our home, I look askance at clouds. We’ve had mostly bright, sunny days during our displacement, but today was cloudy, and it rained a little bit.

I was pissed at the rain! Fuck off, clouds!

Open thread!

Cloud Shouting (Open Thread)Post + Comments (88)

If you don’t want to re-litigate July or play the blame game, this post is for you

by WaterGirl|  November 12, 202411:33 am| 311 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I have two big reminders on my refrigerator.

THINK before you speak

Yeah, I know, this is a blog, we don’t need to be helpful or inspiring or kind.  Or even constructive.

But we are in crisis, and everyone I know (except for Trumpers) is standing on very shaky ground, and I don’t think we can go wrong thinking about those things right now.

The second reminder is a hand-written note:

The past is the past, it’s what you do now that matters.

We are experiencing catastrophic loss, like the death of a parent, a child, a loved one.

At the same time, we are facing an existential threat.

Not a good combination, and we need our friends and allies now more than ever.

They say that depression is anger turned inward.  Is that true?  I don’t know.  But I do know that this blog is something that many of rely on as part of our support system, so maybe instead of pointing fingers and arguing about who was right and who was wrong and how we got here and whose fault it is, we need to figure out what the fuck we are going to do.

We need to be fighting mad, not feuding and pointing fingers.

I do know that the Democratic Party taking aim at itself is not going to get us anywhere good.  As David Anderson might say, figuring out what happened is not a today problem.  Today’s problem is what the hell are we going to do to protect ourselves and others as much as we can and get through this apocalypse in the strongest possible position for the next election.

We can say “oh my god, there might not be any more elections”, but we have to prepare ourselves to be in the strongest possible position if there are.  Because we will need to win those.  And for that we need friends and allies,  not former friends and former allies who were driven away by the fitting squads and infighting.

If you’ve lost a parent or a child or a partner or anyone you love, it’s not helpful to dwell on “we should’t have gone to that park” or “I shouldn’t have taken that job that took up too much of my time” or “I shouldn’t have walked down that street”.  Or a thousand other things  We did fucking go to that park.  We did take the fucking job.  We did walk down that fucking street.

It’s what we do now that matters.

So what do we do now?  Besides putting one foot in front of the other.  Besides getting out of bed and feeding our dogs and our kids.  Besides doing what we need to survive.  Because we have a whole shitload of pain and problems ahead of us, and I don’t see how we get through it if we’re just planting our own gardens or buying a gun and personally preparing to survive the apocalypse.

I have no idea yet what it’s going to look like, but we are going to need each other for collective action.

If you don’t want to re-litigate July or play the blame game, this post is for youPost + Comments (311)

Sycophant Central

by @heymistermix.com|  November 12, 202410:54 am| 96 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Sycophant Central

Trump’s latest appointments, Elise “Tracy Flick” Stefanik for UN Ambassador, Little Marco Rubio as SoS, Lee Zeldin at EPA, Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor and Kristi Noem as head dog killer and Homeland Security Secretary, all show that supine sycophancy is a great strategy for being part of Trump’s second term.

That said, all I really care about is the wake of special elections that Trump’s flotilla is leaving behind.  The only one that could possibly be close is probably Stefanik’s, who is in R+9 NY-21.  We have flipped red districts in specials in New York as recently as Kathy Hochul’s short-lived tenure in NY-26 starting after a special election in 2011.  But 2011 is not 2024 — lines have hardened, and Stefanik’s north country district has gone hard for Trump in the last two cycles.

I don’t know anything about Waltz. Noem is term limited out as SD Governor, so she’s making the best political move that she can.  Lee Zeldin is a perennial losing candidate in NY, so it’s a good move for him.  It’s Stefanik and, especially, Rubio, who are making a career-ending move here.  Rubio is 53, and Stefanik is 40. I’ll guess that her shelf life as UN Ambassador is probably the whole of Trump’s term, because he doesn’t really give a shit about the UN.  But I’d be surprised if Rubio lasts more than a year or two, because he’ll piss Trump off and get fired.   Then, he’s off to some kind of wingnut welfare, a well-deserved end to a completely lackluster career.

Sycophant CentralPost + Comments (96)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Bright Spots, Where We Can Find Them

by Anne Laurie|  November 12, 20249:00 am| 196 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Schadenfreude

AP Race Call: Democrat Ruben Gallego has been elected Arizona's first Latino U.S. senator. pic.twitter.com/vmUrR5KKcw

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 12, 2024

Per the Washington Post:

… Gallego’s win reflects the steady rise of Democrats in a state that was reliably Republican until 2016. Although Trump is projected to have carried the swing state this election, Arizonans have rejected Trump-backed candidates in every statewide election since 2016…

Gallego, a Marine who saw combat in the Iraq War, joins Sen. Mark Kelly (D), another military veteran, as Arizona’s representatives in the Senate.

The Phoenix area congressman focused much of his campaign on his background as the son of a single immigrant mom, who grew up working class, attended Harvard, then served in the military. He will become the state’s first Latino senator.

Throughout the campaign, he positioned himself as a moderate in a state where longtime Republican Sen. John McCain was beloved for his reputation as a “maverick.” He has at times admonished the left for failing to connect with working class families and challenged them on issues such as military spending. He also called out Democrats for not doing enough to court Latino voters across the country.

Gallego all but declared victory on the night of the election as votes were still being counted, but he had a sizable lead. “While we’re still waiting for results to come in, I believe that when all those ballots are counted … a poor Latino boy who grew up sleeping on the floor, will be headed to the floor of the United States Senate,” he said.

Gallego’s win marks the end of a heated campaign against Lake, a polarizing hard-right candidate. Lake relentlessly attacked Gallego, baselessly speculating about the circumstances around his divorce and spotlighting the criminal past of Gallego’s long-estranged father. Republicans also sought to portray Gallego as a left-wing extremist, because he is a past member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has championed some more left-leaning policies.

Gallego attacked Lake for her previous support for a Civil War-era abortion law and emphasized that her position on abortion and on other issues was out of step with Arizonans. Arizona last week passed a proposition that will enshrine abortion access in the state…

Downballot Democrats performing just fine in swing states/districts suggests that people like Democrats and blame the president for inflation (like they keep telling us.)

— Shadow Of The Nerdtree (@agraybee) November 12, 2024

Democratic wins:
• Flipped KY Supreme Ct
• Kept MI, MT Supreme Ct
• Broke NC supermajority
• Defeated vouchers in NE & KY
• Abortion rights enshrined in AZ, CO, MD, MO, MT, NV, NY
• No-excuse AV in CT
• Prop 8 repealed in CA
• Minimum wage increase & sick leave in AK, MO

— Henry David (@0henrydavid) November 11, 2024

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Contemplating the vast comedy potential in this all-too-likely scenario:

Very good chance that there will be some kind of hairbrained scheme to make the X app the official means of voter identification nationwide that only comes out when Elon inevitably falls out of favour

— The Great El Wokismo (@canderaid) November 11, 2024

Elon Musk’s persistent presence appears to be unnerving some members of Trump’s transition team.https://t.co/vri9sXIXpg

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) November 11, 2024

More schadenfreude:

Though had I voted for Trump my mother would likely have actually waterboarded me, so

— vituperativeerb (@vituperativeerb) November 12, 2024

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Bright Spots, Where We Can Find ThemPost + Comments (196)

Monday Evening Open Thread: Since There’s Talk About Vote Rigging…

by Anne Laurie|  November 11, 20249:50 pm| 114 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

Some of you are asking about this so here’s my best guess. Reports were Musk looked at something on his phone and said Trump won hours before it was called.

Having sat with a lot of election and data analysts on election night, I can tell you that anyone who’s worked enough… https://t.co/xCPQWxhUgI

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) November 10, 2024

…Having sat with a lot of election and data analysts on election night, I can tell you that anyone who’s worked enough elections knows how to analyze data, and there were people I was with who saw lower than expected Dem votes in key counties in MI, PA, Wis etc who had a sinking sense that Harris might lose all of the swing states. It wasn’t official and wouldn’t be for many hours still, but they knew where the votes needed to be to win and just weren’t seeing them. This was all from publicly available data on various states and county elections websites as results were being posted in real time.

(Mallory McMorrow is the Michigan State Senate Majority Whip.)

Monday Evening Open Thread: Since We're Talking About Vote Rigging...

https://t.co/7NTLSqPnln https://t.co/eLYZZAMT7j

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) November 10, 2024

show full post on front page

Please review this entire page, watch the videos, read the explainers to understand the entire election and post-election process. Other states have similar systems, and many of the things people are demanding (audits!) are built into the process. https://t.co/NosTyeC2RF

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) November 9, 2024

No.

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) November 10, 2024

Have you contacted your clerk directly or are you just seeing people make claims on social media? Having lived through 2020 and the chaos after, my best advice if you see a claim on social media is to go straight to your source – your election official.

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) November 10, 2024

Coda:

Why do they get to do this shit and we don't though? Why do they get away with bullying and hateful rhetoric but we can't? Why are we held to a different standard? No one can explain this to me (cc: @MollyJongFast who retweeted this into my mentions)

— Skylar Baker-Jordan (@SkylarJordan) November 9, 2024


Because we’re the Rule of Law party now, and it’s our task to stay within the law even when the Disloyal Opposition doesn’t. In an ideal world, *both* parties would respect the law, but this is the world in which we now live. We need to be the honest party… even when it hurts.

Push that boulder up the damned hill!

.@MalloryMcMorrow: “2016 gave us 2018. And here in Michigan, that gave us Gretchen Whitmer… Gretchen won on a message of ‘fix the damn roads.’ People want to see people who talk like them, listen to them, and fight for them.” pic.twitter.com/uxv7DwJ22V

— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) November 10, 2024

Monday Evening Open Thread: Since There’s Talk About Vote Rigging…Post + Comments (114)

War for Ukraine Day 992: Veterans’ Day/Remembrance Day/Armistice Day 2024 During Another World War in Europe

by Adam L Silverman|  November 11, 20249:19 pm| 29 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

A calipraphic representation of a Remembrance Day poppy by Satwinder Sehmi. The poppy is drawn with the words to the poem In Flanders Field.

(Image by Satwinder Sehmi)

A quick housekeeping note: Rosie is still doing great. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

We’ve made it to another Veterans’ Day. Which, as everyone is tracking, is different in the US than for the rest of our allies and partners that observe today as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. For us, today is about celebrating those who have or are serving. It is about the living, while Memorial Day is about those were killed in action or who have subsequently passed on. Though America being Mericuh and Americans being Mericuns, there’s a lot of confusion between the two holidays.

That aside, on this the 11th day, at the 11th hour, of the 11th month of 1918 the guns in Europe fell silent and World War I came to an end. I’d like to highlight two more recent military histories that I think are important not just for our understanding of World War I, but for where we are now because while history may not repeat, it rhymes.

The first is Christopher Clark’s history of 1914 entitled The Sleepwalkers. Clark’s primary thesis is that with the exception of the extremists, none of the key leaders or actors in 1914 wanted war. They all thought they were communicating clearly in words and deeds and that what they were communicating was being received and understood clearly and as intended. Because what they were communicating was not clear, nor being received and understood as intended, they sleep walked into what we know as World War I. His secondary thesis is that no women were involved, just a bunch of men working within their states’ and societies’ traditional understandings of masculinity and militarism. I think this is a good shorthand for what we’ve been watching and dealing with in the Middle East for the past year. And that includes the secondary thesis. You’ll notice that there is not a single female diplomat or decision-maker involved in the Israel-Hamas or Israel-Lebanon negotiations. Nor the attempts to cut a deal with the Saudis.

The second is Gerwarth’s The Vanquished. Gerwarth’s work is a revisionist history of the ending of World War I, the interwar period, and the start of World War II. His central thesis is that both world wars are simply the two interstate and large scale combat operations (LSCO) phases of the same conflict. Between them was an almost twenty-year period of low intensity conflict between non-state actors and between some of these non-state actors and the states and societies that they were part of. Or, in some cases, apart from.

We are at a current set of inflection points that are akin to what both Clark and Gerwarth have written about.

To adapt COL McRae’s final verse:

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though sunflowers grow
In Ukraine’s fields.

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

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The Further Our Missiles and Drones Can Hit, the Less Real Combat Capability Russia Will Have – Address by the President

11 November 2024 – 19:42

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Briefly about today. In the morning, there was a detailed report from Сommander-in-Сhief Syrskyi. The frontline – first of all, the Kurakhove and other directions in the Donetsk region. A thorough report on the Kursk operation. There, our men are holding back a fairly large grouping of Russian troops – 50,000 of the occupier’s army personnel, who, due to the Kursk operation, cannot be deployed to other Russian offensive directions on our territory. We greatly appreciate the bravery of all our warriors, every unit involved in these battles. I also want to commend all our forces targeting Russian bases, logistics, and rear positions. Our forces’ strikes on Russian arsenals have reduced the amount of artillery used by the occupier, and this is noticeable at the front. That is why we need decisions from our partners – America, Britain, Germany – on long-range capabilities. This is vital. The further our missiles and drones can hit, the less real combat capability Russia will have.

I held a meeting of the Staff today. Several issues were addressed, with the primary focus on protecting our skies. There are good results in bolstering air defense, and we will continue to build on this experience. We are preparing further organizational and technical enhancements to the mobile firing groups and drone operations. This is a clear priority.

Today, I had a meeting with Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, to discuss our relations with the EU and our cooperation. A very important update – by the end of the year, our European partners are expected to fully implement the initiative to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells. I also met with the Defense Minister of Estonia today. Recently, a Russian Shahed drone strike on Kyiv damaged the building housing the residence of the Estonian Ambassador to Ukraine. This is yet another proof that we need to significantly strengthen not only our defense against Russian terror, but also our pressure on Russia to limit its military production. Every Shahed drone and missile Russia uses consists fundamentally of components supplied through sanctions loopholes. And in the EU’s upcoming sanctions package, it is crucial to target sanctions circumvention schemes in particular. Anyone who continues such trade with Russia must clearly understand the consequences. Peace through strength is also achieved through the strength of sanctions. And I just spoke with Polish President Andrzej Duda. I congratulated Andrzej and the Polish people on Independence Day. Ukraine is grateful for all the support Poland has given – from the earliest days of the full-scale war until now. Independence, for both Ukraine and Poland, is a strength that empowers both our nations and can only be fully effective through our cooperation and mutual support. Poland, thank you, and congratulations! Thank you to everyone who helps Ukraine! Glory to our people!

Glory to Ukraine!

The cost:

This is Olena, her body was found today after russia collapsed her home in Kryvyi Rih with a missile, her three young children are still buried.

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— Mᴇʟ Коваль 🇺🇦 (@britishmotanka.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 5:06 PM

This used to be their home, whilst people play politics russia continues it’s warcrimes.

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— Mᴇʟ Коваль 🇺🇦 (@britishmotanka.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 5:17 PM

The EU:

EU confirms no decisions made on sending troops to Ukraine

This follows media reports on Trump’s potential plan to freeze the Russo-Ukrainian war by creating a buffer zone, deploying EU and UK forces to separate Russian and Ukrainian troops.

[image or embed]

— Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 4:30 PM

From EuroMaidan Press:

The European Union has not made any decisions regarding sending military personnel to Ukraine under any mandate, EU spokesperson Peter Stano stated on 11 November during a Brussels briefing, Ukrinform reports.

The Telegraph reported that US President-elect Donald Trump may call on European and British troops to establish a buffer zone between Kyiv and Moscow’s forces as part of a plan to freeze the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. This proposal is one of several options Trump is considering; before his election, he indicated he would begin peace talks prior to taking office in January.

The statement came in response to Ukrinform’s questions about reported communications between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as proposals about deploying European troops along the line of contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces in case of a conflict freeze.

“At this stage, there is no such decision by the European Union that would allow the EU to send its soldiers to Ukraine in any capacity and under any mandate,” Stano said.

He explained that current EU missions include a military training operation that is mandated to provide training outside Ukraine’s territory.

“Discussions are ongoing between member states about whether we could advance this activity or extend this mission’s mandate to Ukraine as well. But at this time, we don’t have anything unanimously agreed upon between member states,” the spokesperson added.

Stano noted it would be inappropriate for the EU to comment on media reports about a possible phone conversation between other countries’ leaders, especially given that Moscow had denied any phone call between Putin and Trump took place.

Earlier the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied media reports about a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect President Donald Trump, which had appeared alongside Trump’s possible plans for war resolution in Ukraine through freezing the conflict.

Let’s leave aside whether the actual details of the President-elect’s proposal to end Ukraine’s war of self defense against Russia’s genocidal re-invasion, if the proposal ever becomes more than the concept of a plan, make sense, if they’d be acceptable to the Ukrainians, if Putin would even go for them, the real problem is it requires the EU to provide a peacekeeping force to monitor a demilitarized zone along a line of conflict that is so long that all the EU member states combined do NOT have enough forces to do it. Even if the EU was willing to do it, it’s a non-starter

More from the EU:

🇪🇺 EU chief diplomat on the consequences of Trump’s victory and European guarantees for Ukraine

[image or embed]

— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) November 11, 2024 at 6:00 PM

From Ukrainska Pravda:

The world is not just changing – it has changed. And our societies are changing.

The Trump election in the US shows that there are internal and external dynamics which make people have different relationships with politics – even with truth. There are deep transformations in the world, in geopolitical balances and inside democratic societies.

For Europe, this is another awakening moment. If we want to influence the world, we need to be more united, we need to build a stronger Europe.

And I hope that we Europeans will be able to do that. At least, that’s what the leaders of the EU agreed on a couple of days ago in Budapest.

But then comes the fact that this new reality affects Ukraine, the Middle East, and China – the three poles of the geopolitical tensions today. Things will certainly be different.

But we don’t know what the US policy will be in respect to Ukraine.

But I know that the European Council has just reaffirmed the commitment of the European Union to support Ukraine, and I’m here to pass on this message.

We have been supporting Ukraine and we will continue supporting Ukraine. Not because we are very friendly and we are very generous – but because it is in our interest! The security of Ukraine is part of our security!

If Ukraine falls, our security will be at stake.

And this has to be explained to the European people.

We are at more than 980,000. So very soon, we will have provided 1 million rounds.

All in all, our overall supplies to Ukraine will be more than 1.5 million by the end of the year.

And Ukraine’s membership in the EU is the strongest security commitment or security guarantee that we can offer to Ukraine.

The EU is not a military alliance, like NATO is. So not being a military alliance doesn’t mean that we don’t provide each other security guarantees.

We have been showing solidarity with Ukraine even without you being a member of the European Union. And there would have been much more if you were a member.

[€]122 billion [US$131 billion] of overall European assistance to Ukraine. 122 billion!

This would not have been possible without unanimity, and Hungary has been part of it.

But I want to say that in the last report about the enlargement process that the Commission approved some weeks ago, Ukraine was considered to be doing very well, much better than some other states who have been preparing for membership for many more years. In the last report, Ukraine is very well rated.

And I really admire what you do.

Let me focus on the defenсe industry – I just visited a drone factory that grew from nothing. Ukrainian innovation capacity and production capacity is astonishing! So I think that Ukrainian people deserve to keep their sovereignty and independence. And you deserve to be a member of the European Union club.

Norway:

🇳🇴 👏 Norwegian opposition calls for aid for Ukraine to be tripled by 2025

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— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) November 11, 2024 at 3:22 PM

Ukrainska Pravda has the details:

Norway’s opposition Conservative Party is proposing to triple aid to Ukraine in 2025 from NOK 15 billion to NOK 45 billion (approx. US$1.36 billion to US$4.07 billion) to strengthen Kyiv’s defence capabilities in the current challenging period of war.

Source: Conservative Party leaders in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Erna Solberg, leader of Norway’s Conservative Party and the country’s former Prime Minister, argues that increasing aid to Kyiv is the only option “if we are to do what is historically right in the complex situation Ukraine faces now”.

The conservatives want to present their proposal in an alternative draft budget to be submitted to parliament in a few weeks. It envisages allocating NOK 45 billion, or 40% of Norway’s defence budget for 2025, to help Ukraine.

To prevent pressure on the Norwegian economy, the opposition proposes to invest these funds abroad, with the majority of the additional funding going to support Ukraine’s defence industry.

Other proposals include supporting Ukraine’s energy sector and building military infrastructure, particularly shelters to protect Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets from Russian strikes.

Background:

  • Last year, Norway approved the NOK 75 billion Nansen programme (approx. US$6.7 billion), which ensures long-term support for Ukraine through to 2027, i.e. providing NOK 15 billion (around US$1.36 billion) annually.
  • However, this year, the country’s authorities proposed increasing funding for the programme to NOK 135 billion [approx. US$12.2 billion] and extending it for another three years until 2030.

Estonia:

Estonia announces new military aid package for Ukraine #Ukraine

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— 🔱🇺🇦 (@amplifyukraine.eu) November 11, 2024 at 7:56 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Estonia’s Defense Minister, Hanno Pevkur, visited Kyiv on Nov. 11, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and announced a new aid package for Ukraine, Pevkur said on X.

During the visit, Pevkur signed a new military aid package, providing clothing and small arms, reaffirming Estonia’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense by allocating 0.25% of its GDP to military support.

Zelensky thanked Estonia for its leadership and emphasized effective cooperation to meet Ukraine’s defense needs and equip new brigades.

They discussed plans to finance the production of long-range drones in Ukraine and Estonia’s support for Ukraine’s aspirations to join the EU and NATO.

The leaders also reviewed progress on a broader victory plan for Ukraine.

Estonia has been among Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since the start of the full-scale invasion began, offering humanitarian, developmental, and military assistance.

Estonia and Ukraine signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement on June 26. The deal stipulates that Estonia will supply Ukraine with defense aid worth more than 100 million euros ($107 million).

Germany:

🇩🇪👀 If I become chancellor of Germany, I will give Putin an ultimatum regarding Ukraine, — Friedrich Merz

🚀 If this is not done within 24 hours, he is ready to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles and give permission to strike the territory of Russia.

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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 3:10 PM

“Get out of Ukraine, or we’ll help Ukraine get you out” should have been the message from the West from Day 1, not Day 990 or so.

Even this is a bit weak.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 3:10 PM

Obligatory:

Poland:

🇵🇱🇺🇦 President Duda: “Ukraine must protect itself from Russian imperialism and become part of the free world. Today, this imperialism is trying to destroy our neighbor, which we support with all our might and which, we deeply believe, will also be a part of the free world together with us.”

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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 11:52 AM

You’d like to think that this type of burn rate was unsustainable:

💀 Russia loses 1,770 soldiers in one day

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— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) November 11, 2024 at 2:37 AM

EuroMaidan Press brings us a brief video run down of the Russian butcher’s bill from today’s attacks:

In a series of attacks on 11 November, Russian forces targeted multiple Ukrainian cities, including Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Mykolaiv, and Nikopol, killing 9 people, injuring dozens and damaging civilian infrastructure.

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— Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 7:10 PM

Kryvyi Rih:

💔 The body of a woman was unblocked from under the rubble in Kryvyi Rih.

🙏 There are probably three more children under the debris.

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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 4:29 PM

The number of people injured in the shelling of Kryvyi Rih has risen to 14.

Search and rescue operations continue. A woman and three children may be under the rubble.

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— WarTranslated (@wartranslated.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 11:05 AM

More from The Kyiv Independent on the Russian strike on civilian targets in Kryvyi Rih:

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

A high-rise residential building in Kryvyi Rih was hit by a Russian missile on Nov. 11, injuring at least 14 people including two children, local authorities said.

The missile hit the building between the first and fifth floor, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhiy Lysak reported, adding there may still be a woman and three children under the rubble.

A 10-year-old girl, and an 11-year-old boy are among the injured.

“Russia seeks only to continue the war, and each of its strikes refutes any statements from Russia about diplomacy,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

“Ukraine needs weapons to defend against Russian terror and stronger support from the world to make diplomacy real and strong.”

Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Zelensky, remains a frequent target of Russia’s missile attacks.

Kurakhove:

💪 The crew of the Ukrainian Leopard 2A4 tank from a close range fires at Russian armored vehicles that tried to storm the positions in the Kurakhove direction.

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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 4:35 PM

Russian forces damaged the dam holding the Kurakhove Reservoir in Donetsk Oblast: A high-rise residential building in Kryvyi Rih was hit by a Russian missile; and more.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) November 11, 2024 at 4:33 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Russian forces damaged the dam holding the Kurakhove Reservoir in Donetsk Oblast on Nov. 11, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported.

Filashkin’s statement came after multiple reports of the dam being attacked near the village of Stari Terny, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the embattled town of Kurakhove.

The Kurakhove Reservoir is located on the Vovcha River, with its source near the village of Progress.

“This attack potentially threatens residents of settlements on the Vovcha River, both in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts,” Filashkin said.

It’s not the first time a critical dam was hit during the full-scale war.

Russia destroyed the occupied Kakhovka dam in Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast in June 2023, unleashing massive floods and an environmental and humanitarian disaster across southern Ukraine.

Russian forces also damaged the dams and the adjacent hydroelectric power plants in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia during mass aerial attacks against energy infrastructure.

According to the governor, the water level in the river within near Velyka Novosilka rose by 1.2 meters as of 4 p.m. local time. No homes have been flooded, he added.

Russian pro-war Telegram channels blame Ukraine for destroying the dam. The Ukrainian military has not commented on these claims.

Roman Padun, head of the Kurakhove city military administration, told Suspilne that authorities cannot check the scale of damage to the dam and inspect it due to constant attacks.

Russia is carrying out intense attacks in multiple sections of the eastern front, with attempts to break through Ukraine’s defenses in Donetsk Oblast toward the towns of Kurakhove and Pokrovsk.

There is a threat of Kurakhove being encircled, Nazar Voitenkov, an acting spokesperson for Ukraine’s 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Nov. 5.

🚨 ‼️ DeepState reports difficult situation around Kurakhove, which could become catastrophic

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— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) November 11, 2024 at 10:00 AM

More from Ukrainska Pravda:

Russian troops are intensifying their assaults on Ukrainian military positions in Kurakhove, Donetsk Oblast, from the north, south, and east.

Source: DeepState analytical project

Quote: “The enemy continues to carry out their large-scale strategy to encircle the city from the flanks. As previously stated, the Russians, mounting greater pressure on new directions, are attempting to reach the logistical paths of the Defence Forces, and this process is just gaining momentum. The Muscovites are currently attacking Ukrainian military positions from the north, south, and east.

Their goal is to bypass the city from the flanks and control the N15 Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk route, which is crucial for hampering any movement.

The movement from the south is conducted on the Yasna Poliana-Maksymivka-Trudove route, where despite persistent pressure and losses, the Russians are making progress. About 10 kilometres remain between the [Ukrainian] defences and the highway, and the fortifications in this area left much to be desired. From the north, the Russians concentrated their efforts on the settlement of Sontsivka, making many attempts to infiltrate the village, but the Defence Forces were able to kill the infantry.”

Details: Analysts also reported that the Russians “push through to the eastern outskirts of the city [of Kurakhove] and also try to build up [forces] and gain a foothold.”

At the same time, an unfavourable situation develops in the vicinity of the settlements of Antonivka, Katerynivka and Yelyzavetivka.

“We must reiterate that ‘lies will ruin us all,’ yet even in attracting greater resources to the vicinity of Kurakhove, concerns remain about the reasoning behind the deployment. Taking into account the enemy’s activity, it is only a matter of time before Kurakhove is lost. And if we still do not take control of the problem with the flanks, it will quickly turn into another catastrophe,” analysts write.

Background:

  • Earlier on Monday, the press officer of the 46th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Airborne Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine working in the city and the source of Ukrainska Pravda on the Kurakhove front reported that the Russian army came close to Kurakhove and even making occasional incursions with military equipment.
  • However, the city is entirely under the control of Ukraine’s defence forces, specifically the 46th Separate Airborne Brigade.

Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

‼️ Russian troops may launch assaults on Zaporizhzhia front “any day now” – Ukrainian forces

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— Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 (@pravda.ua) November 11, 2024 at 4:06 PM

From Ukrainska Pravda:

Russian forces may soon launch ground assaults in the south of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Defence Forces of Ukraine’s South, in a comment to Sky News

Details: Voloshyn notes that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops in the area. However, it remains unclear whether this will result in a single large-scale Russian offensive or a series of separate assaults.

Quote: “[The assaults] could begin in the near future, we’re not even talking about weeks, we’re expecting it to happen any day.”

Mykolaiv:

Five civilians killed in Mykolaiv as russian drones strike residential neighborhoods, targeting an apartment block and private houses under the cover of night.

📷Suspilne Mykolaiv

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 7:27 AM

Kharkiv Oblast:

❗️In the Kharkiv region, a forced evacuation of the entire adult population from 10 settlements of the Borova community has been announced, including from the village of Borova, – OVA

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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 11:48 AM

Kupiansk:

Putin’s claim at last week’s Valdai Forum that Russian forces had “trapped” Ukrainian troops near Kupyansk were false — but Ukraine is still steadily losing ground. See our updated combat map for the latest developments:

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— Meduza in English (@meduza.io) November 11, 2024 at 7:14 PM

Meduza has the details:

Like our earlier reports on the combat situation in Ukraine, this article takes stock of the recent developments on the battlefield based on open-source information. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and our detailed military analyses are part of our commitment to objective reporting on a war we firmly oppose.

In his speech at the Valdai Discussion Forum last Thursday, Vladimir Putin said that Russian forces had “trapped” two groupings of Ukrainian forces near the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region: one consisting of 10,000 troops and the other of 5,000. In reality, Ukraine’s forces still hold two bridgeheads on the Oskil River, which splits the crucial transport hub of Kupyansk in two. (It is true, however, that Ukraine’s units on the river’s eastern bank have been under significant pressure from some time.) This wasn’t the only false claim Putin has made about Russia’s battlefield successes in recent weeks: in late October, he said that 2,000 Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region were surrounded. However, the Russian military has been unable to sever the logistics lines supplying this small Ukrainian unit, which is taking cover in the Olgovskaya Grove, a forest west of Sudzha. Ukrainian troops have also repeatedly managed to break out of near-encirclements in central and southern Donbas. Right now, Ukraine’s command needs to make an evacuation plan for Kurakhove, the region’s key southern transport hub, which is also at risk of encirclement.

The Kursk cross-border offensive:

Commander Syrskyi reports that Ukrainian troops’ resilience in Kurshchyna prevents Russian assault forces from advancing on Pokrovske, Kurakhove, or Toretsk.
Despite intense attacks from Russian forces reinforced by North Korean mercenaries, Ukrainian forces have held all positions for three days.

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— WarTranslated (@wartranslated.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 5:40 AM

An unsuccesful attempt by Russian forces to cross the Psel river in the Kursk region. After being noticed, they were immediately targetted by the 129th Territorial Defense Brigade.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) November 11, 2024 at 1:50 PM

Ukrainian Ombudsman Lubinets reported that Russian troops allegedly executed at least two unarmed Ukrainian POWs in the Kursk region, calling it another war crime and a violation of the Geneva Convention. He has reached out to the UN and Red Cross, urging the international community to take action.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) November 11, 2024 at 9:17 AM

Belgorod, Russia:

If you ever wondered what one of Russia’s glide bombs does to a civilian target, well here you go:

On November 5, a house in Belgorod was hit by a Russian “Shahed” drone that failed to reach Ukraine.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) November 11, 2024 at 6:22 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

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