Key statements by Vladimir Putin at his inauguration speech:

Sputnik ^ | 5/7/24 | Putin

[hardspunned]

🔺Russia itself and only itself will determine its own fate;

🔺Russia will pass through the difficult, milestone period with dignity and become even stronger, it must be self-sufficient and competitive;

🔺The key priority for Russia is the people's safeguarding, preservation of age-old values and traditions;

🔺Russia is ready to strengthen good relations with all countries, with the world majority;

🔺Russia will continue to work with partners on the formation of a multipolar world order;

[21twelve]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgG_fLNBv6A

Above is a 3-minute portion of an interview with Nixon in 1992 (80 years of age). He talks about how Russia is now at a crossroads. Communism is finished - but now it remains to be seen if Russia will adopt freedom, or continue with despotism in another form, and continue Russian imperialism, which has been a characteristic of Russian policy for hundreds of years.

I always thought that the USA could have done more to assist Russia in coming out of Communism. (Trade, investments, training, etc.) Of course Russia probably didn’t want that influence from the west. And Russia’s economy was taken over by their mobs pretty quickly which made investments risky.

[ansel12]

Its weird how far you go to always stay hostile, information is out there for anyone who looks it up.

[ansel12]

One of the strangest things the Putin supporters seem to think is that the generations of the power structure, leaders and institutions, criminal underworld connected to the mass corruption of Russia, a built in element of its national character, and the very nature of the Russians and Russia simply evaporated into the atmosphere and floated away in 1991 and all was born new and fresh, and completely different, a bright eyed people full of Christian outreach who just wanted to help the world become a better and freer place and share the optimism and positivity that they are so famous for.

[Dead Corpse]

For now, I actually agree with that. Then again, Hitler wasn’t much of a threat to us either...

[dfwgator]

Then again, Hitler wasn’t much of a threat to us either...

Alone he wasn't. But Hitler, combined with the Japs, were a threat.

[Vermont Lt]

Hitler and the Japanese were never going to “fight together.” The only combined part of the threat was which one to beat first. Their efforts were not coordinated nor did they share much intelligence.

Hitler screwed himself by declaring war. If he had held his horses a little longer it would have worked out better for him. But his insane declaration of war on the US brought down the wrath of a continent on him. Japan never asked Germany to do it. There was no treaty that compelled Germany to act. It was just Hitler’s ego.

What a fool he was.

[Dead Corpse]

I don’t agree with how NATO is expanding... However, when was the last time NATO attacked someone without provocation?

The only threat NATO is to a Nation like Russia is if that Nation has things it wants to do that NATO members might want to put a stop to...

Like attacking a sovereign Nation with the intent of restoring some lost dream Empire...

[dfwgator]

In hindsight you’re right.

The Red Army kicked the Japs butt in ‘39, and Japan signed a Non-Aggression pact afterwards. Japan was in deep trouble, that is, until France, Belgium and The Netherlands fell, which opened up those colonies to the Japs, and gave them a lifeline.

Now if Japan had free reign in the Pacific, they could have been freed up to help Hitler in the Soviet Union.

[tennmountainman]

Just post a link so the rest of us can evaluate the source credibility.

[Dead Corpse]

Tojo attacked us... Which gave us justification there. True.

Putin, aligned with Iranian mullah’s and Chairman Xi... That could get problematic.

Again, this doesn’t justify us sending Zelenskyy billions in cash... but it does mean we should avail ourselves of some lucrative support contracts in exchange for assets or other remuneration.

Or course, this Administration is too corrupt and self-serving to do this in any sane or ethical way. “Couldn’t pour water out of a boot with the instructions written on the heal” comes to mind...

[dfwgator]

Long before Pearl Harbor, war was inevitable, once FDR decided we would be “The Arsenal of Democracy”.

[Dead Corpse]

Thank you for the reminder... Given the opportunity, I still want to micturate upon FDR’s resting place.

[ansel12]

Here is a sampling.

“Boris Yeltsyn, the first post-communist president in the 1990s, would often refer to his countrymen as “Orthodox atheists”.”
“During the Christmas liturgies, Church attendence fluctuates between 1 and 3%. This is the lowest figure found in all Christian countries, including secularized France. The government praises the results of Moscow’s “Journey into Christmas”, but some emphasize its commercial and popular character.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Sova statistical research center, one of the most authoritative in the country, has published data on church attendance region by region during the Orthodox Christmas liturgies of the past week. The figures range between 1 and 3%, for an overall average over Russia not exceeding 2%, in line with the last few years, even if slightly decreasing. This is the lowest frequency found in all Christian countries (France, one of the most secularized, is around 5-7%).”
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Russians-love-Christmas,-but-not-in-church-49021.html

---

“Just 6 percent of the population and 43 percent of believers go to church several times a month.”
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/29/russians-are-not-waiting-for-a-church-boom-a65792

---

” It has been found that between 0.5% and 2% of people in big cities attend Easter services, and overall just between 2% and 10% of the total population (3 to 15 million people) are actively practising Orthodox Christians.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Russia#:~:text=Based%20on%20this%20principle%2C%20very,are%20actively%20practising%20Orthodox%20Christians.
++++++++++++++++++

“Traditionally, religiosity is higher in the west of the country, where 87,1 per cent of the citizens consider themselves believers – compared to 87,9 per cent in 2000. The south and east have grown slightly, from 48 to 60 per cent. The centre also tightened up, from 54 to 63 per cent.
About half of Ukrainians attend church services, which has hardly changed since 2000. In general, 15.6 per cent of Ukrainians go to church once a week or more often, another 18 per cent once a month and 34.6 per cent only on major holidays.”
https://cne.news/article/658-ukrainian-is-more-believing-than-20-years-ago-survey-says

---

“41% of Americans are in monthly church attendance or more”
https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023

Three in 10 Americans say they attend religious services every week (21%) or almost every week (9%), while 11% report attending about once a month and 56% seldom (25%) or never (31%) attend.”
https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declined-religious-groups.aspx

[JonPreston]

For the second time in this thread, NATO has expanded from 12 to 32 nations, with the majority of the expansion coming post 1991. This isn't a matter of opinion, it's history.

when was the last time NATO attacked someone

NATO bombings include:

20th century[edit]

• 1994 NATO bombing intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of Operation Deny Flight
• 1995 NATO bombing intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Operation Deliberate Force
• 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as part of the Kosovo War
  • 1999 NATO bombing of Albanian refugees near Gjakova

21st century[edit]

• 2007 Helmand Province airstrikes
  • 2010 NATO bombing of Tarok Kolache
• 2011 military intervention in Libya
  • Bab al-Azizia#2011 bombings, rebel capture, and demolition
• 2014 Ukraine training, weapon supplies for bombing

Signed,
The Thread Jumper.

[JonPreston]

Stop the Hate

The Trudeau regime has introduced an Orwellian new law called the Online Harms Bill C-63, which will give police the power to retroactively search the Internet for ‘hate speech’ violations and arrest offenders, even if the offence occurred before the law existed.
This new bill is… pic.twitter.com/4ROF332xR9— Camus (@newstart_2024) May 7, 2024

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Ansel, we have multiple bases in many countries.

That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

There are apparently well over 800 US bases outside the continental USA.

Here is a database built on Google maps (I think), that allows you to:

Search by category, use, country..

And zoom in, which is cool.

https://worldbeyondwar.org/no-bases/

There may be another tool like this online, but this is the most detailed and usable I’ve found so far.

[ansel12]

Zoom in on Guam and count all the American military bases on it and then ask someone who was actually stationed there how many bases are on that little island.

My posts to you on the 800 bases is using the left wing original source for the claim that all these other places are referring to.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Either they are based or not.
And it doesn’t matter if the total is 932 or 500

[ansel12]

The leftwing source that made up that fake number is wrong.

What is more important is that it doesn’t matter, those are not countries being absorbed as a new permanent part of America and have nothing to do with my post 34.

Nobody is encircling the earth not even your claim that we have 54 military bases in Guam and that cemeteries in foreign countries are “military bases”, but Russia is invading/conquering countries in Europe and intends to keep forever whatever they can take.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

We took parts of Mexico. The boundaries of Europe have changed for two thousand years. Nothing will change that.