Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
https://x.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1944369838698238262
I wonder if Putin is beginning to get tired of all Dugin’s big ideas for improving the country? I also wonder who really tried to kill Dugin a few years ago and instead killed his propaganda writer daughter? Interesting that Dugin wants to eliminate foreign words from Russian, except for German words that are essential for philosophy. This sounds a bit like blasphemy laws as practiced in certain very strict religious societies.
The last line sounds like Putin has put this idea far on the back burner for far future thought.
Using various US and foreign munitions before their sell by date and sending them to Ukraine is a very good way to save money. Not only is the dangerous work of dismantling dangerous explosives removed from American workers, but money spent on storage space and buildings for millions of smaller explosives and very large equipment like trucks and tanks can be saved.
I remember several years ago we provided a large number of cluster bomb munitions to Ukraine that were scheduled for decommission. These were cluster bomblets packed inside of larger metal shells. In Afghanistan the Russians had used these kinds of bomblets painted pretty colors to kill and maim little Afghan children who picked them up. It is poetic justice that now Ukraine is using these bomblets carried by drones to kill off Russian soldiers during their meat wave attacks.
NATO Secretary General Rutte is visiting the White House again tomorrow, his second visit in a few months, and at least his 3rd formal meeting with Trump since March. In the first 6 months of his term, I don’t think any US President has been as engaged with NATO leadership as Trump. Rather than dismantling NATO, it seems Trump is taking over. Trump is now the defacto Secretary General of NATO, and Rutte is his Deputy. This is not what the isolationist wing of MAGA was hoping for.
Over the next year I expect Trump to begin announcing major weapons sales, as he pressures NATO members to make good on their commitment to increase spending.
Likely a new phase of the war starts tomorrow, with President Trump switching from carrot to stick for Russia.
Putin should have taken the deal.
Kyiv Independent (13 July):
“U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with CBS News on July 13 that he expects an influx of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine to begin “in the coming days,” as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to make a “major statement” on the war in Ukraine on July 14...
...”The game, regarding Putin’s invasion of Russia, is about to change. I expect, in the coming days, you will see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said, adding that “the idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play.”...
...Graham added that he expects Trump to exercise Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to deliver weapons shipments previously approved by former President Joe Biden. “Well, the $4 billion and not nearly enough,” he said, referring to the remaining PDA stockpiles.
Sources told Reuters on July 10 that Trump will authorize sending weapons to Kyiv using PDA. The U.S. president is also reportedly considering authorizing additional funding for Ukraine for the first time since the start of his term...
...Graham, the co-author of a bill to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and buyers of Russian fossil fuels, told CBS News he expects “that there will be tariffs and sanctions available to President Trump he has never had before.” Despite the comments, Trump has insisted that the bill pass with a waiver president ultimate authority over U.S. foreign policy.
“In the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table. And to those who are helping him, China, buying cheap Russian oil and having no accountability, those days are about over,” Graham concluded.”
Kyiv Independent (13 July):
“U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with CBS News on July 13 that he expects an influx of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine to begin “in the coming days,” as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to make a “major statement” on the war in Ukraine on July 14...
...”The game, regarding Putin’s invasion of Russia, is about to change. I expect, in the coming days, you will see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said, adding that “the idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play.”...
...Graham added that he expects Trump to exercise Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to deliver weapons shipments previously approved by former President Joe Biden. “Well, the $4 billion and not nearly enough,” he said, referring to the remaining PDA stockpiles.
Sources told Reuters on July 10 that Trump will authorize sending weapons to Kyiv using PDA. The U.S. president is also reportedly considering authorizing additional funding for Ukraine for the first time since the start of his term...
...Graham, the co-author of a bill to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and buyers of Russian fossil fuels, told CBS News he expects “that there will be tariffs and sanctions available to President Trump he has never had before.” Despite the comments, Trump has insisted that the bill pass with a waiver president ultimate authority over U.S. foreign policy.
“In the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table. And to those who are helping him, China, buying cheap Russian oil and having no accountability, those days are about over,” Graham concluded.”
Another dictator (Kim) who doesn’t give a rats ass about his people
At least South Korea should be feeling safer
Pitin can’t take the deal if he dies he dies, if he doesn’t “win” he dies. Pitin knows this and won’t stop till he is stopped and it will be internally
I guess the isolationist wing of MAGA does not yet understand that our President is first of all a businessman, with entertainment interests. An important way to MAGA is to increase our business activity, and that includes expanding our efforts in many parts of the world. That is part of what the tariff battles are about. A favorable exchange with many countries on the import and export of products.
I imagine our President has come to realize that Putin with all his politeness is just a very polished gangster. My brother ended doing some business work for Mafia types looking to launder some money in upstate NY real estate historic properties. My brother new the laws well regard the various phases of permitting and construction law. Often those guys would ask him to manage things a slightly crooked way. He would explain that it was actually easier and cheaper to follow the laws and regulations on those projects and orders. Still they would insist on their way quite often. He finally concluded that they had a deep psychological need to game the system whenever possible. They say Putin is an excellent chess player, so perhaps playing the game is more important than the result to him.
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 13, 2025
Recent satellite imagery suggests that Russia is constructing protective structures at some of its air bases following Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web on June 1. Ukraine-based open-source intelligence organization Frontelligence Insight reported that satellite imagery collected on July 7 shows that Russian forces have constructed roughly 10 reinforced bunkers with soil coverings, 12 concrete bunker-type structures without soil coverings, and eight hangar-style buildings on the aprons at Khalino Air Base in Kursk Oblast.[3] Planet Labs satellite imagery collected on June 27 of Khalino Air Base also shows reinforced hangars, supporting Frontelligence’s assessment. Frontelligence reported that satellite imagery collected on July 9 shows that Russian forces have constructed two concrete bunker-style structures at Saky Air Base in occupied Crimea, and Planet Labs satellite imagery collected on July 7 also shows concrete aircraft shelters.[4] Frontelligence reported that satellite imagery collected on July 9 shows no construction efforts at Dzhankoi Air Base in occupied Crimea, however. Frontelligence reported that recent satellite imagery shows bomber wreckage still present at Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk Oblast and Olenya Air Base in Murmansk Oblast – two of the air bases that Ukrainian forces struck during Operation Spider Web. Russian officials and milbloggers have blamed Russian leadership for failing to defend Russian military infrastructure from Ukrainian drone strikes throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion.[5] Russia may be starting to construct protective structures at its air bases after three years of war in response to Operation Spider Web.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-july-13-2025
“Pitin can’t take the deal if he dies”
Maybe that’s it - not that he won’t take the deal, but that he can’t.
Maybe domestic politics threaten his power and life, if he doesn’t win.
“they (mafiosi) had a deep psychological need to game the system whenever possible”
Maybe like a gambler, they got a thrill out of it - conditioned to seeking adrenaline and dopamine.
Another day, 51 more Muscovian Artillery pieces destroyed.
Ukraine is now producing more Artillery than the rest of Europe, combined.
Send more Artillery!
14 July - Trump’s statement on Russia.
The EU may have a statement of it’s own the next day - their toughest sanctions in three years, a $47 price cap for Russian oil exports.
Kyiv Independent (14 July):
“The EU is close to reaching a full agreement on its 18th sanctions package against Moscow, which will include a new Russian oil price cap, Reuters reported on July 13, citing four sources within the bloc.
The EU is expected to reach a full agreement on July 14 ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting the next day that could formally pass the sanctions package, the sources said…
…The new sanctions will target two Chinese banks and a Russian-owned oil refinery in India, one of the sources told Reuters.
The Russian oil price cap is expected to lower the maximum cost per barrel to $47, by subtracting 15% from the 22-week average price, and will be revised every six months instead of every three, another one of the sources said.
Bloomberg reported on July 11 that the proposed oil price cap would be dynamic and not set the same way as the current $60 per barrel cap, adding that the price cap would be revised every three months based on market rates.”
“In the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.
“
—
He won’t. Its all for show by Putin - keep the West off balance and naively hoping Russia will stop its war, while Putin forges ahead for a future war with NATO.
IMO there is no maybe. This war began as a popularity boost like invasion of Crimea, easy peasy. Putin hero of the motherland…., and after 3+ years it is “victory” or death for him.
If after all of this pitin’s “victory” is a small chunk of Ukraine and not even all of Ukraine they have “annexed” by Russian law, he is done
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