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Posted on 12/20/2025 6:00:49 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
The ammunition boxes stacked on the stage opened up to reveal figurines of angels and an infant Jesus lying in his manger. Six actors sang plaintive carols, accompanied by readings of the brooding poetry of Kharkiv writer Serhiy Zhadan. The audience sat, transfixed by the almost unbearable intensity of the spectacle.
The nativity play, performed on a recent evening at Kharkiv’s puppet theatre, was a reminder that conflict has seeped into the fabric of almost everything in Ukrainian life over the past four years. “We can’t just put on comedies and escape from reality,” said Oksana Dmitrieva, the nativity play’s 48-year-old director. “The stage is a mirror, and we have to live through our emotions again, but this time from outside ourselves, together with others,” she said.
She admitted, however, that dissecting the darker emotions on stage does not always translate to a lighter mind in real life. “Sometimes it’s possible to immerse yourself in the work, but sometimes I also lose my bearings and I wonder, ‘What comes next? What should we talk about? What buttons should we press? I guess that’s what every Ukrainian is living through now.”
This winter, the fourth since Russia’s full-scale invasion, threatens to be the bleakest yet for Ukraine. Trump, during his first year in office, has proved much more receptive to Moscow’s talking points than to Kyiv’s, Russian troops continue a slow but grinding advance in the Donbas region and missile attacks on energy infrastructure have left cities without power for hours on end, day after day. There are holes in the budget, a crisis in conscripting new recruits and – perhaps most devastatingly – the absence of a plausible positive outcome on the near-term horizon.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Walk away from this, it is not our war. Let the Europeans solve this if they fear Russia so much. After billions to Ukraine for what? Villas and corruption beyond belief, and we Americans are paying the bill. And NATO must die, American blood no more.
Palestinians are an Arab problem. Ukraine is European. When Zelensky’s people act like Somali’s in Minnesota we should hold back.
Maserati and Lamborghini sales are UP!!!
Good thing Z-man is winning the proxy-war or they might really be in trouble.
“Russian troops continue a slow but grinding advance in the Donbas region and missile attacks on energy infrastructure have left cities without power for hours on end, day after day. There are holes in the budget, a crisis in conscripting new recruits ....”
That about sums it up, anyone thinking the Ukies can retake the ethnic Russian provinces and Crimea are delusional, fools....Ukraine has flat lined.
When’s the little corrupto going to allow them to vote him out?
Blaming Trump instead of Zelensky.
Trump didn’t start this war, and he hasn’t kept it going.
He wants to end it and all the left can do is blame him for the hardships the Ukrainian people are facing.
The Guardian - a global joke run by brain washed leftist children. Not worth anything at all.
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Here is a source that talks about this and displays documents of their evil plans taking place all around the world, even where he lives, in Thailand. He is an ex-us marine. Yes it is distressing.
You knew this was coming.
If you don’t sign a blank check and go along with the war mongers, out comes the story of poor children in Ukraine suffering because we’re not helping enough.
The hell with the war-loving euros and the globalist corruptocrats. Let them fight into oblivion.
The race to global domination, they’re not quiet about their plans. Humanity be damned.
If one stops and pauses for a moment, you realize that this is part of the human condition regardless of the time period. Step outside the box, look up to heaven and see things through God’s eyes.
The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Prayers for all the innocent lives needlessly dying/disabled in Ukraine and Russia. Lord help us as we will face this one day and its not far off.
Germany can, but still is not, producing all of the war material needed by the combination of:Germany continues to make up "significant" appearances of helping the EU allies, but bargains with time and postures in order to be ready to bow before Putin and the realm of Putin Apologitzia.
- Denmark
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Ukraine
My thoughts exactly.
There is very likely no near term solution to this war. President Trump is pushing concessions, but, weapons supply from the US (now through the PURL process) has decreased dramatically. European weapons production continues to ramp up - painfully slowly, from the Ukies’ viewpoint, but up. Europe is now producing as many shells as Russia, tho’ Russia holds an edge due to imports from North Korea. The war itself continues to become more asymmetric, and the Ukies’ ability to hit tankers as far away as the Southern Mediterranean Sea is something I would not have expected - at least not this soon. The Euros have decided to borrow to finance Kyiv - a strategy that has its own problems, but mostly kicked down the road a few years. Ukraine’s military has a serious manpower problem, but they’ve not yet tapped the under 25’s, and, again, Ukraine is pivoting further to asymmetric warfare. Russia grinds away at the ground front - very slowly. Russia believes it has the advantage and apparently Putin doesn’t care how long it takes or how many die. The Ukies are hurting, but, they have survived far worse at Russia’s hands in the past.
Much of this points to Trump losing much of the leverage he had on Kyiv, and Trump’s inability to gain any major concessions from Russia is a double whammy, because it results in the Ukrainians not having any faith in US security guarantees.
I said right after Russia invaded Ukraine that the conflict could well spin down into a sort of giant intifada, and while the nature of that resistance has evolved in ways few foresaw, particularly with regard to drone warfare, overall I see little to change that outlook. Trump needs the war to end quickly so the economic disruptions it is causing cease, and hopefully the global economy, which we ARE a part of, like it or not, recovers with a nice bump that carries over to us just in time for the mid-term elections. I hope he can do it, but without Putin making some concessions, I don’t see how a quick end to the war happens.
???
The same people who continually reduced their military spending for decades? Who wouldn't even spend 2% for defense? Who literally believed a large war in Europe was impossible?
Putin looks at people like you and smiles: "Hook, line, and sinker".
Absolutely weapons delivery continued. Without them, Trump loses leverage on both sides — which is largely what has happened, as the PURL program (sales) and the miniscule recent appropriations are a drastic reduction. So negotiations go on and on and on, with “progress” reported every few days, that goes nowhere...
As for Taiwan, we are SELLING them the weapons. What, you would deny a free democratic (general definition) country the ability to defend itself without resorting to nukes?
Besides, Taiwan’s tech is essential for us.
E.S.S.E.N.T.I.A.L.
Maybe 10-15 years out, that won’t be the case. But, now, it is.
TANSTAAFL
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