U2's Bono and the Edge perform in Kyiv subway station
Entertaining Allied Troops in World War II - " Keeping the morale of those both at home and abroad undoubtedly went a great way to helping the war effort. Entertainment, especially travelling groups that would operate dangerously close to the front lines, brought a slice of normality and home life to those abroad. In this article, we’ll be looking some of the Allied entertainment troops that were brought to troops across the world."
Conspiracy theorists claim that the U2 concert proves that the Ukraine War is fake. Turns out so was World War II
Meme - Dee fringe minority @Deeval33: "Why is no one standing for the people of Shanghai like they are standing for Ukraine?"
Chadwick @madwick 411: "Because the TV hasn't told them to."
Meme - "Set my tinder to Kiev Ukraine. I'm letting these girls know they can stay at my house if they can get refugee status and a plane ticket. Over 100 takers so far (i'm a solid 6). This is your chance bros"
*4 women saying hi*
Clint Ehrlich on Twitter: - "When Trump killed Soleimani, the press acted like WW3 was imminent. When Biden kills Russian generals, they act like nothing could go wrong."
Russian troops steal from Ukrainian John Deere dealer, end up hauling $5 million of equipment 700 miles to find out it's been remotely locked out 😂 - "One man has been helping track troop movement by using Apple's "Find My Device" feature on a pair of looted Airpods. In addition to the tech loot, Russian troops have been taking vast amounts of a low-tech commodity: grain. Together, Russia and Ukraine make up 25% of the world's exports of grains, and Russia is the world's second largest exporter of fertilizer. When you factor in that China, the world's largest exporter, is banning the export of fertilizer, NATO's sanctions due to Russia's war have suddenly left a good portion of the world hungry, and the rest is paying higher and higher prices for food."
A Chinese vlogger shared videos of war-torn Ukraine. He's been labeled a national traitor - "Wang Jixian didn't set out to become the Chinese voice of resistance in Ukraine. The 36-year-old resident of Odesa, a key target in Russia's invasion of the country, simply wanted to show his parents he was fine... When he logged onto Douyin, he said he would see Chinese videos praising Russian troops or supporting the invasion. "I was very angry, then I thought I would record videos for them, and I'll tell them what the real battlefield is"... His daily videos, posted across various platforms including YouTube and the Chinese messaging app WeChat, quickly gained traction as a rare voice offering Chinese audiences a glimpse into war-torn Ukraine -- a stark contrast from Chinese state media, which has promoted Russian disinformation such as unfounded claims Ukrainian soldiers are using "Nazi" tactics... "You don't need this Chinese passport anymore, you have already forgotten which country you are from," one popular comment on Douyin read. "The official position of the country should be the position of all Chinese people."... The comments of anonymous online strangers don't bother him -- but they do when it's from people he cares about, such as a Chinese Embassy staff member he knew from his previous residence in North Macedonia. He said the staffer reached out to him recently, insinuating Wang was being paid to post his videos, and asking: "Who sent you?" When Wang insisted he wasn't doing it for money, the staffer replied: "Your current behavior is not in line with national interests. I want to cut off relations with you, let's block each other."... Chinese censors have also cracked down on his videos online, he said. While all his videos have stayed up on YouTube, which is blocked in China except for those with VPNs, only about 80% of his videos have been left on WeChat, and fewer than 20% on Douyin. He doesn't know what rules he has broken. He got so frustrated that in one video on March 7, he stuck black tape in an X over his mouth, silently gesturing to the camera to convey that he was safe and still in Odesa. After speaking with CNN, his Chinese social media accounts were banned, leaving him unable to contact his family back home. He has received "countless" messages from contacts, placing pressure on him to stop posting, he said. But he has no intention of doing so."
Preparing for Defeat - "There is no diplomatic solution to the war possible prior to this happening. There is no conceivable compromise that would be acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine given the losses they have taken at this point.
The United Nations Security Council has proven once again to be useless. The only helpful thing was the General Assembly vote, which helps to identify the world’s bad or prevaricating actors.
The Biden administration’s decisions not to declare a no-fly zone or help transfer Polish MiGs were both good ones; they've kept their heads during a very emotional time. It is much better to have the Ukrainians defeat the Russians on their own, depriving Moscow of the excuse that NATO attacked them, as well as avoiding all the obvious escalatory possibilities. The Polish MiGs in particular would not add much to Ukrainian capabilities. Much more important is a continuing supply of Javelins, Stingers, TB2s, medical supplies, comms equipment, and intel sharing. I assume that Ukrainian forces are already being vectored by NATO intelligence operating from outside Ukraine.
The cost that Ukraine is paying is enormous, of course. But the greatest damage is being done by rockets and artillery, which neither MiGs nor a no-fly zone can do much about. The only thing that will stop the slaughter is defeat of the Russian army on the ground.
Putin will not survive the defeat of his army. He gets support because he is perceived to be a strongman; what does he have to offer once he demonstrates incompetence and is stripped of his coercive power?...
The war to this point has been a good lesson for China. Like Russia, China has built up seemingly high-tech military forces in the past decade, but they have no combat experience. The miserable performance of the Russian air force would likely be replicated by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, which similarly has no experience managing complex air operations. We may hope that the Chinese leadership will not delude itself as to its own capabilities the way the Russians did when contemplating a future move against Taiwan."
Germany’s ban on the ‘Z’ symbol won’t help Ukraine - "We often hear that the war in Ukraine has transformed Germany – that we’re living through a historic change in German politics, sparked by Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Sadly, very little has changed when it comes to free speech. The German authorities are still keen to censor views they disapprove of... a spokesperson for the German interior ministry announced that anyone displaying the symbol would be liable for prosecution, and could potentially face up to three years in prison or a substantial fine. This announcement followed the decision of three German states – Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Berlin – to move to ban the symbol... pro-Russia demonstrators can now accuse Germany of hypocrisy. After all, the very same German politicians who frequently attack the repression of dissent in Russia are now repressing dissent in Germany... Maybe the ban is born of politicians’ insecurity. After all, many German politicians stand accused of having cultivated too close a relationship with Putin... Such censoriousness is not confined to the ‘Z’, either. Russian conductor Valery Gergiev recently lost his job with the Munich Philharmonic for failing to publicly distance himself from Putin or Russia. All this sets a dangerous precedent. If one minority opinion can be banned, then all other minority opinions can potentially be banned, too. We cannot build solidarity with Ukraine on the basis of censorship and illiberalism."
Are only White people 'civilized'? - The Washington Post - "To understand the selective empathy toward Ukraine, here are four historical examples that illustrate how race has always mattered when it comes to NATO and the concept of Western civilization"
Amazing projection. Taking isolated quotes (all from Americans - as if NATO were only the US) and trying to construct a huge case around them. Ironically the author undermines his point by noting that Slavs were not considered Anglo-Saxon
Cheap Chinese tyres bought by corrupt officials to blame for Russia's stalled advance - "China's version of the tire is the Yellow Sea YS20, of significantly poorer quality, according to self-described 'tyre expert' and University of Chicargo academic Karl Muth. A set of 50 Michelin XZL tyres retails on Alibaba at approximately $36,000, whereas 50 sets of the Chinese equivalent retails at around $208. Poor vehicle maintenance could also partially explain the stalling. Leaving tyres in direct sunlight for months on end often causes them to rip, adding to the amount of abandoned vehicles Ukrainians have encountered in various parts of the country during the war... The Russin army will be unable to fight another war for years because of catastrophic kit losses in Ukraine, defence experts have also said. Military analyst Henry Boyd from the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Putin could still draw on sizeable, Soviet-era reserve forces stationed across Russia. But most Russian soldiers could be unable to use it, he added, owing to insufficient training planning for troops having to rely on outdated equipment. Russia's land army consisted of 280,000 full-time active soldiers compared with Ukraine's 125,600. But the amount of Russian soldiers needed to seize the whole country and control the entire population would be close to one million, putting Russia's chances of occupying the entire country out of reach."
Inside Ukraine’s army of misfits, veterans, and tourists fighting Russia - "Recruits for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion are invited to apply via the Ukrainian embassy in their country of residence. After a cursory initial interview, they are told to head for Ukraine via Warsaw and overland to Lviv in western Ukraine. The route is so well known that it is heavily monitored by the Russians, according to a Ukrainian special forces officer I spoke with. He was worried that they would soon begin targeting recruits before they reached their destination. After Lviv, the recruits are sent to a camp near the Polish border for selection and training. Selection apparently follows no discernable process other than separating those that don’t have military experience from those that do. The former are put through a 4-week training course — the latter are given a weapon and sent to the front in ad-hoc units with a Ukrainian officer. Some candidates are inexplicably rejected while others – regarded as being eminently unsuitable by their peers, are retained. In any case, the process has some fatal flaws – no one becomes a competent soldier in just 4 weeks, and even experienced soldiers require assimilation training. Every war has its own dynamics which can be equally lethal to veterans and beginners if not properly understood. In their first trial by fire earlier this month, the volunteers were put into a hasty defense north of Kyiv, as the Russians began their onslaught on the towns lying north of the city. After the initial volley of Ukrainian anti-tank missiles had stopped the attackers in their tracks, enemy soldiers spilled out of their armored fighting vehicles about a quarter-mile in front of the volunteers, and into a withering storm of fire that halted the assault. “Shoot the ones in black uniforms,” a Ukrainian platoon commander is said to have told his foreign charges. “They are Belarusians.” Ukrainians are particularly incensed (but not surprised) at the perfidious complicity of Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko in taking his stance as a sycophantic second to President Vladimir Putin. Sadly, as with Putin, it is Lukashenko’s soldiers who are paying the price. Although the Legionnaires helped to halt the attack, their performance that day was uneven — an observation that led the Ukrainians to discharge the surviving members of the initial intake, without any ceremony or official notification. Worse was to come. An unknown number of new recruits were training at a camp near the border when, a strike by Tupolev bombers, carrying Kh 101 cruise missiles, destroyed the camp. The death toll is not yet clear, but Ukrainian officers have told me that it will likely be more than 100. With most of its initial intake now discharged, and many from subsequent intakes killed or wounded, the plan to stand up the Ukrainian Foreign Legion program is one part of the Ukrainian war effort that is definitely not going well. “We should only take experienced combat veterans — that is the lesson that we are learning,” a Ukrainian general told Task & Purpose on condition of anonymity. “The others don’t know what they are getting themselves into – and when they find out, they want to go home. We need specialized skills – especially snipers.”"
[OC] from Russia with love : Funnymemes - "Hello Americans! Uh.. This is Natasha from Russia and we want to thank you for all your sanctions. For taking away from our country Coca-Cola, KFC, MacDonald's, and all that shit. We understand that you take care of our health sysn.. health sisness.. health-health.. health sysness? Ok? Danka. Healthsy! And ah.. that's why we'll will be stronger and more beautiful and wissout fyat. So! We take care of you too! And that's why we cut our gyas! So, you have to walk buy food, instead of using your cars. Don't thank you! Don't.. Don't say thank you! Um.. Friendship! I am so sorry, I have to go to feed my bear and drink vodka and play balalika right now. Uh.. See you later! From Russia with love "
The Moscow Times - Posts | Facebook - "Speaking at a sermon at the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral Tuesday, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church told worshippers that Russia had "never attacked anyone.”"
Sounds like China logic. Define the whole world as yours - so you're never attacking others
Facebook - "Patriarch Kirill said that Russia had never attacked anyone.
+++
So in 1472, the Moscow principality "did not attack" Novgorod, conquered it. And as the historical chronicles write, "blood flowed instead of water in the river."
1495, the Moscow principality "did not attack" Sweden on the territory of Finland,
in 1487 the Moscow principality "did not attack" Kazan for the first time. Then it "did not attack" Kazan in 1524, 1530, 1532, and only in 1552 Moscow "did not attack" for the last time, and staged a genocide of the Tatars. In order to "not attack" Muscovites staged punitive actions during which the population of entire Tatar villages was burned alive.
in 1554, Russia "did not attack" the Astrakhan Khanate, and "without attacking" staged the genocide of the Nogays and Tatars.
In 1558 Russia "did not attack" Latvia (Duchy of Courland)
and waged a war lasting 30 years in the order of "non-aggression".
in 1568 the Muscovite kingdom "did not attack" the Crimean Khanate in order to protect the Kabardian Muslim states from the Turks. The Crimeans did not understand the "humanitarian" aspirations of the Moscow tsar and in 1572 burned down Moscow.
from 1580 to 1582 Russia "did not attack" the Tatar states in Siberia and "without attacking" destroyed the cities of Yugra, Kishlyk and Isker. And the title "King of Siberia" was added to the title of the Moscow Tsar, of course, as a result of "protection of the borders."
then the whole 17th century, Russia "did not attack" Poland.
from 1672 to 1681 - Russia "defended the borders" by invading the Crimea, but was defeated. Therefore, she continued to "not attack" from 1686 to 1700.
in 1710 Russia "did not attack" Moldavia and Romania. But failed from the blows of the Turks.
Then "without attacking" Russia took the Duchy of Ingemanland from the Kingdom of Sweden. It took 20 whole years, from 1700 to 1721. During the "non-aggression" against Sweden, Russia destroyed several cities in Ukraine and staged a genocide of the population there. (Baturin massacre)
in 1736, Russia, wanting to annex Poland in alliance with Austria, "did not attack" Turkey.
in 1768 wishing to protect the Crimea and the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus from Turkey. Russia "did not attack" Turkey and achieved recognition of the complete independence of the Crimean Khanate in 1774. In order to "not attack" during the bloody war, annex Crimea in 1783.
In 1786, repulsing the treacherous attack on the Crimea, Russia defeated Turkey once again.
in 1806, Russia "did not attack" Moldavia in order to support the anti-Turkish uprising in Greece.
in 1808, Russia "did not attack" the Kingdom of Sweden in order to take away Finland, which it immediately annexed.
and in 1810 she peacefully annexed Georgia during a bloody war.
In 1812-13, Russia repulsed the attack of Napoleon, therefore she did not have time to “not attack” anyone.
But in 1817, Russia "did not attack" the Caucasus, the Caucasians did not understand the peaceful desire to expand the borders of Russia and resisted until 1864. How Russian troops "peacefully" carried out the genocide of the Caucasian peoples can be read in Tolstoy's story "Hadji Murad". for quotes from op from this story Facebook blocks.
In 1826, Russia "did not attack" Iran in order to protect its borders in Azerbaijan, which belonged to Iran.
с 1836 по 1847 Russia was forced not to attack the Kazakh states.
From 1839 to 1840, Russia "without attacking" tried to annex the Khorezm state to itself. But she was defeated.
In 1848, Russia "without attacking" helped to annex Hungary to Austria.
Without attacking the Emirate of Bukhara, Russia peacefully annexed it during the bloody wars of 1850-1854- 1868.
In 1854, Russia's non-aggression against Turkey occurred, resulting in the Crimean War, as a result of which Russia lost the Black Sea Fleet.
In 1868, the people of Uzbekistan rebelled against Russian rule and were brought into submission by peaceful punitive expeditions and humane acts of genocide.
Peacemaking actions continued until 1876
1877 - "not an attack" on Turkey in order to give Bulgaria independence.
1878 -1881 - peaceful annexation of Turkmenistan during bloody battles.
The year 1885 was not an attack on Afghanistan, and the defeat of British troops.
1891 -1894 was not an attack on the Pamirs.
1901 peaceful aid to Britain against the Boxer Rebellion. And the annexation of Manchuria
1904 - "not an attack" on Korea that led to war with Japan.
1909 non-aggression on Iran.
1915 -17 The First World War.
1916 -Humanitarian punitive actions against the anti-Russian uprising in Uzbekistan.
1918 - Not an attack on Lithuania, already recognized as an independent state.(defeat of the RSFSR)
1918 - Not an attack on Finland, already recognized as an independent state.(defeat of the RSFSR)
1918 is not an attack on Estonia, already recognized as an independent state.(defeat of the RSFSR)
1919- 1920 "not an attack" on Poland (defeat of the RSFSR)
1920 "not an attack" on Afghanistan (victory of the RSFSR, but without consequences)
1930 "not an attack" on Afghanistan (victory of the RSFSR, annexation of Badakhshan province)
1934 "not an attack" on China (victory of the USSR, control of Xinjiang province)
1939 "not an attack" on Finland 1939 "not an attack" on Poland, annexation of territories, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, western Ukraine and western Belarus.
1945 -54 exclusively "peaceful" punitive actions against the population of the territories, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, western Ukraine and western Belarus.
1956 "peaceful" suppression of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary.
The entry of Warsaw Pact troops (except Romania) into Czechoslovakia, which began on August 21, 1968 and put an end to the reforms of the Prague Spring. The end of the Prague spring, the signing of the Moscow Protocol, the Soviet military presence until 1991.
1979-1989 "not an attack" on Afghanistan.
1994-1996 the first "non-attack" on the Republic of Chechnya recognized by a sovereign state, accompanied by acts of genocide before which the blackest pages of the story "Hadji Murad" fade.
1999 second "not an attack" on the Republic of Chechnya recognized by a sovereign state.
2008 "not an attack" on Georgia.
2009 - 2017 "Fight against terrorism" by committing acts of terror and mass repression.
2014 - annexation of Crimea.
2018 - peaceful acts of terror against the civilian population of the Central African Republic, at the invitation of the "legitimate" Government.
2022 - "not an attack" on Ukraine with the aim of removing the legitimately elected government and establishing a Russian protectorate."
Exclusive: France and Germany evaded arms embargo to sell weapons to Russia - "France and Germany armed Russia with €273 million (£230 million) of military hardware now likely being used in Ukraine... The European Commission was this month forced to close a loophole in its blockade after it was found that at least 10 member states exported almost €350 million (£294 million) in hardware to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Some 78 per cent of that total was supplied by German and French firms."
Ukrainian helicopters blow up fuel depot in daring dawn raid inside Russian territory - "In the videos from Belgorod, some 25 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border, two Mi-24 helicopters were seen flying low before firing missiles at the depot - a tactic designed to avoid Russian radars, honed through training from the UK and other Western countries. Both Ukraine's foreign and defence ministries said they could neither confirm nor deny that Kyiv was behind the attack. "I am a civilian,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister cryptically replied when asked on Friday. It is the second time this week that Russian officials have accused Ukraine of attacking targets in Russia, prompting some Ukrainian officials to warn that it could be a "false flag" used by Moscow to justify reprisals. But this is the first time Ukraine is alleged to have conducted a full-blown air strike in Russian territory and if true, could mark a major escalation in the war and highlight Kyiv’s growing confidence since resisting Moscow’s invasion in late February... If the attack is confirmed, it suggests Ukraine is having increasing success sending in helicopter pilots taught to fly low to avoid Russian radars, despite the heightened risk of attacks from shoulder-mounted missiles. With support from the UK, the US and other Western military powers, Ukraine has increased its training for its helicopter pilots since Russia and Russia-backed separatists grabbed parts of the eastern edge of Ukraine in a 2014 war... on Tuesday, the Russian authorities said that Ukraine had shelled an army camp, also near Belgorod."
EU strikes gas deal with the U.S. as it seeks to cut its reliance on Russia - "Revenue from Russian oil and gas was seen to be responsible for roughly 43% of the Kremlin’s federal budget between 2011 and 2020, highlighting how fossil fuels play a central role for the Russian government."
Elon Musk Starlink Satellites Helping Ukraine Fight War: Soldier - "an elite Ukrainian drone unit is using Starlink to destroy dozens of Russian targets in the night time. "If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, the drone must connect through Starlink to the artillery guy and create target acquisition""
The NPCs must be very confused about what to do when one program conflicts with another
Russia admits ‘significant losses of troops’ in Ukraine - "In a rare admission, the Kremlin said Russia has suffered “significant losses” in Ukraine amounting to a “huge tragedy” for the country. “Yes, we have significant losses of troops and it is a huge tragedy for us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News... At least 1,500 civilians have been killed so far, according to the United Nations, which fears the real number to be far higher. Casualties on the Russian side have been harder to assess with the country’s defence minister saying on March 25 – its most recent update – that 1,351 of its soldiers have been killed in combat, while 3,825 were wounded. Ukraine says 19,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. However, experts say figures by both parties cannot be trusted as Kyiv is likely to inflate them to boost the morale of its troops, while Russia is probably downplaying them... In line with Russia’s stance on the alleged atrocities it is accused of in Bucha, Peskov insisted that images showing dead bodies were staged. Since journalists were allowed to enter the small town on March 31, evidence has mounted suggesting that a massacre took place, triggering global outrage and further sanctions."
Damn CIA!
The Russian military is losing so much equipment that weapons monitors are overwhelmed - "During the first three weeks of the conflict, when Russia’s forces appeared to be beset with logistical and fuel problems, videos of Ukrainian farmers towing away abandoned Russian military vehicles seemed to emerge at least one a day – so much so that it became a meme... “I think contrary to what a lot of people expected, we’re talking about near-peer conflict. Because of that, the scale [of Russian losses] is just huge”"
Here's why Russian tanks keep getting their turrets blown off in Ukraine - "Known as the “jack-in-the-box effect,” this type of apocalyptic explosion is caused when a blast’s heat or shockwave causes all the tank’s ammunition to detonate. The resulting overpressure blows the tank’s turret straight up into the air. Russian-made T-72 and T-80 tanks are particularly susceptible to being destroyed in this manner, in part because they both have autoloading mechanisms that store tank rounds in a carousel at the base of the turret, said Steven Zaloga, an expert on Russian and Soviet armor. Those autoloaders typically store about 20 rounds when fully loaded... Soviet and Russian tanks have been losing their turrets due to catastrophic ammunition explosions long before the current conflict in Ukraine, Zaloga said. Iraq’s Soviet-made tanks showed the same vulnerabilities during Operation Desert Storm, as did Syrian tanks in previous wars. During wars in Chechnya, the Russians were able to reduce their losses by having their tanks carry fewer rounds so that all the ammunition and propellant was stored in the autoloaders, Zaloga said. “The problem is, in many combat situations, you don’t want to go out with partial ammunition loads,” Zaloga said. “If you get into a serious firefight, you’re going to go through 20, 22 rounds of ammunition pretty quickly.” In contrast to Russian tank designs, the U.S. military’s M1 Abrams tanks store their ammunition in a way that protects the crew if any of the rounds or propellant explode... The differences between how the M1 and Russian tanks store ammunition reveal the drastically different philosophies that both militaries have on survivability"
Facebook - "For all his faults, "Orange man mad" was an actual deterrent. Russia, China, North Korea... all of them were flummoxed by a President who was unpredictable, and thus didn't dare to overstep. It's like fighting a hobo vs fighting regular Joe in a bar. You know Joe will at most punch you. Perhaps hit you with a barstool if things get messy. But you don't know if the hobo would go nuts at the barest provocation and suddenly try to eat your face. So you don't push your luck and provoke the hobo."
The Silksworth Post on Twitter - "BREAKING: The Latvian Parliament has passed a bill permitting those who support the Russian invasion of Ukraine to be stripped of citizenship."
Ukraine and big power rivalry: Why the urge to ‘compare rottenness’ will lead Singapore nowhere - "Ukraine has thus become a theatre in larger identity wars, an occasion to score points for one’s team or deduct points from the other. Many are so psyched up for this contest that they suppress their genetically inherited capacity to care about fellow human beings, lest images of corpses and refugees soften their resolve to serve as ideological foot soldiers for their chosen side. We share people’s scepticism when a US president claims moral leadership in international relations. But, that is no reason to discard our own moral compass — which is effectively what we’d be doing if we harden our hearts to the humanitarian cost of Russia’s behaviour. Decolonising our worldviews requires us to see events independently of where big powers stand. To fail to do the right thing because it happens to coincide with what the US wants is not a mark of a self-assured society. It is a form of overly simplistic, dispositional thinking — in this case, “US, bad; anything non-US or anti-US, good” — unsuited to life in a complex world... One can most definitely do two things at once: criticise American aggression and hypocrisy, yet at the same time condemn Russia’s invasion. In fact, that is the most reasonable thing to do... We are hardly paragons of virtue in our global outlook. For example, pro-China Singaporeans have been quite silent about the plight of brown Muslims in Kashmir and brown victims of military-led violence in Myanmar — including the mass atrocity against Rohingya... If, as many have observed, Singaporeans are less pro-Russia than they are anti-US, we should consider what good such US-centricity does us or the world. Putting the US front and centre elevates it to the “city on a hill” that many in the US like to think of themselves — the key point of reference against which to measure our fears and hopes. It need not be. If we care about justice, we should focus instead on figuring out what behaviours are acceptable or not, regardless of who engages in them... It is no accident that Chinese propaganda has resonated among many Singaporeans. Analysts of both Chinese and Russian propaganda over the past several years tell us that these states have latched onto a strategy of exploiting latent anti-Western (and, in the West, anti-establishment) sentiment in publics around the world. Historians would tell us that this is hardly a new strategy for rising powers. Imperial Japan disseminated anti-colonial propaganda throughout Asia to persuade subjugated Asians to support “liberation” under a Japanese-led “co-prosperity sphere”. Contemporary Chinese propaganda and outreach efforts, in particular, aim to activate the loyalties of ethnic Han communities around the world and tie them to the interests of the PRC state. Segments of the ethnic Chinese population in Singapore, with our less developed sense of national identity, may be more susceptible to such persuasion."
Joe Biden says US troops will be in Ukraine in apparent gaffe - "A White House official quickly clarified that Biden wasn’t changing his stance on deploying the military into Ukraine... It’s not the first time that Biden made an imprecise remark during his third trip abroad as president. During a 19-minute press conference in Belgium, Biden said Thursday that the US response to Russian troops using chemical weapons “would depend on the nature of the use” — then turned heads by saying the US would respond “in kind.”"
Chaos as Joe Biden says Vladimir Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ - "Joe Biden appeared to call for regime change in Russia, as he said that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” in a highly charged speech in Warsaw... The White House immediately sought to clarify Mr Biden’s comments, insisting his statement should not be taken as official policy. White House insiders said that the president’s remarks on removing Putin from power were not planned and came as a surprise to travelling officials... Aaron David Miller, a former US State Department adviser, said that to Russian ears, Mr Biden’s comment “only confirms what Putin has believed all along: US policy is regime change, thereby ensuring this becomes a fight not just for Ukraine but for Putin’s survival”... The missile strikes on Lviv appeared to highlight growing splits between the Kremlin and its generals, who had suggested Russian forces were preparing to scale back their invasion."
When the President's words aren't official policy, that suggests that he's senile and/or that he's not the one running the show
Backlash against Joe Biden over Vladimir Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ comment - "Joe Biden is facing an international backlash from his own allies after calling for regime change in Russia. Emmanuel Macron led a chorus of disapproval following the US president’s comments, in which he called Vladimir Putin a “butcher” and insisted the Russian premier “cannot remain in power”. Downing Street said it was for the Russian people to choose their leader, while Mr Biden’s own secretary of state contradicted the president in an attempt to limit the diplomatic fallout... A senior US diplomat said Mr Biden had “made a dangerous situation more dangerous” and threatened to “extend the scope and duration” of the conflict... It is seen as the latest in a series of potentially dangerous missteps in recent weeks. A month before the war, the 79-year-old president suggested Russia would face minimal consequences if it restrained itself to a “minor incursion”. Mr Biden suggested last week that Nato would respond "in kind" if the Kremlin deployed chemical weapons. He also called Putin a “war criminal” after hurriedly changing his mind during an exchange with a reporter. At the weekend, he told US troops in Poland that they would witness the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers “when you’re there” - forcing the White House to quickly clarify that American soldiers were not being sent over the border... In the US, there was a recognition that Mr Biden had made a serious error of judgment. Richard Haass, an American diplomat who heads the Council on Foreign Relations, said... 'The White House walk back of @POTUS regime change call is unlikely to wash. Putin will see it as confirmation of what he’s believed all along. Bad lapse in discipline that runs risk of extending the scope and duration of the war.'"
Hilariously I saw a lot of apologists claim he was not calling for regime change. Apparently the European leaders and Richard Haass all missed the memo
