US Foreign Policy 3.0: We're The Mets of International Diplomacy

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

He hit like almost every Republican talking point: Bathrooms, police funding, white people being “persecuted”, and cancel
culture.

I bet he belongs to a “Save Madison” Facebook group.

“I used to be left of Bernie until they took the urinal away, now I’m the head of the local GOP chapter”

 

[rufus]

He hit like almost every Republican talking point: Bathrooms, police funding, white people being “persecuted”, and cancel
culture.

I bet he belongs to a “Save Madison” Facebook group.

You forget, he's a self-proclaimed average mid-westerner looking for common-sense solutions to the problems of today,

Funny how invariably it turns out that those solutions are the same ones that the Republicans are pushing.

 

[Jimjamesak]

You forget, he's a self-proclaimed average mid-westerner looking for common-sense solutions to the problems of today,

Funny how invariable it turns out that those solutions are the same ones that the Republicans are pushing.

I’m still not convinced he’s not a bot. A dollar says he’d have a profile pic of a selfie wearing sunglasses in a pickup.

 

[Handyman]

Wow, the echo chamber is out in full force today!!!

So you don't know what an echo chamber is...cool.

I don't know who you were under a previous name but I can guess why you now use this one.

I always love though when people make asinine statements, get called out for them by everyone with an IQ high enough to tie their shoes, then use the universal mockery of their stupidity to try and say group think is in play. Here is a hint...everyone agrees 2+2=4...if you tell us it equals 3 it isn't an echo chamber to call you out for being a fucking moron.

 

[Handyman]

You forget, he's a self-proclaimed average mid-westerner looking for common-sense solutions to the problems of today,

Funny how invariably it turns out that those solutions are the same ones that the Republicans are pushing.

Well he is claiming to be from Wisconsin...so he is either an uber liberal or a deer fucking serial killer!

 

[Slap Shot]

You forget, he's a self-proclaimed average mid-westerner looking for common-sense solutions to the problems of today,

Funny how invariably it turns out that those solutions are the same ones that the Republicans are pushing.

They often are, "just asking". There were two sides at Charlottesville don't you know?

 

[Drew S.]

And the urinal removal bothers you why? The name change angers you why?

Or is it just something that you can work yourself into a lather about while condemning the "progressive left" for why your life sucks so bad?

Jesus, the meaningless little things that get you folks all riled up about. Don't you have anything more pressing to worry about?

Meanwhile, Republicans tried to overthrow your government and want to take away your right to vote. But no biggie, right? Just politics as usual.

I’m glad I went to school when I did. What the **** is the point of a high school if it doesn’t have urinals?

 

[Wayuphere]

Urinals? Spare me.
So I guess I screwed with my sons head by not installing one in our house, according to the right wing wackos who also think bathrooms are for sex……

 

[rufus]

Urinals? Spare me.
So I guess I screwed with my sons head by not installing one in our house, according to the right wing wackos who also think bathrooms are for sex……

And keep passing laws that say they can check out your kid's junk. Nothing pervy about that at all.

But hey, we hate government sticking its nose in your business.

 

[Kepler]

In parallel stories, criminal gangs are targeting Ukrainian refugee girls for prostitution, and American Christian evangelicals are also pestering them.

Reminds me of my Mormon missionary in-law who went to Russia a few years ago to "tell them about Jesus."

Creeps always prey on misery.

 

[Kepler]

Unconfirmed report that Commander of Russia’s 8th Combined Arms Army, Lieutenant General Andrey Mordvichev, has been killed at Kherson’s Airport.

There are only 23 general officers on the field in Ukraine according to the order of battle. This would be the 5th dead. Only two ranks are superior to Mordvichev.

Edit: Confirmed. He is the highest ranking Russian general officer KIA to date. One of only three 2-stars in country. They took out his entire command post, meaning a shi-t ton of other officers went with him.

 

[Kepler]

Looks like Russia using a classic terrorist tactic: the double tap. They shell a residential district, wait for the first responders to rush in to assist, then shell it again to take as many of them out as they can. Idea is to destroy Ukrainian emergency services and erode their medical and firefighting capability.

Nice guys.

 

[Saints17]

Christ, I just watched part of Putin's rally. It truly resembled a Trump rally. That is frightening.

 

[MichVandal]

Treating everybody equally without bias is not what they're doing. That's called zero policy/tolerance discipline. This is the opposite. They're not applying rules uniformally.
And guess what? Violence has escalated tenfold. Fights are evrywhere now; especially without police.
Madison East HS if you want to know.



Although well meaning, it doesn't work in practice. But anybody with a brain should have known this. Far-left stupidity.

You know why the kids are fighting? They are following what their parents are upset about. You are the ones making this about identity- the schools are trying to take it out.

Stop being a snowflake and get on with life.

You should be embarrassed putting that anywhere NEAR what the far right is doing. Parting with urinals is not storming the capital, and making the parents angry enough to start identity fights in school isn't trying to kill people that don't look like them.

 

[Kepler]

The first Deep Fake War. (If you don't count Remember the Maine.)

Or the Donation of Constantine.

 

[Kepler]

Evidently these are verified interviews with Russians on whether sanctions are affecting them yet.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I mean, it's not totally unbelievable. A country can still do stuff internally with its existing stocks and manufacturing base. But eventually it runs out.

sanctions take weeks or months. Follow up again next month when the factories have shut down because they aren't exporting anything and the foreign investment dries up.

 

[rufus]

Ukrainian forces pushing back on Russians outside Kyiv, but also forces attacking Russian positions from the west.

Which raises the possibility that if successful, the main Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv could be cut off and surrounded

 

[Kepler]

Ukrainian forces pushing back on Russians outside Kyiv, but also forces attacking Russian positions from the west.

Which raises the possibility that if successful, the main Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv could be cut off and surrounded

Irony much?

The First Battle of Kiev began on August 7, 1941. It was one of the greatest stages of Operation Barbarossa with attacks, resistance, and counterattacks all failing. This was the situation on the Soviet’s Southwestern Front.

It all happened too fast and escalated even faster. The German Army moved quickly towards Kiev and tried to capture the city. It would be remembered as the greatest encirclement in the history of warfare.

...

The Soviet General Budyonny, who was in charge of The Southwestern Front, started to realize that they would soon be stuck and surrounded.

The Red Army was at the mercy of the Germans. Budyonny and his men were left with no options. The Germans had managed to capture them successfully through a massive encirclement movement. With the German Army’s infantry joining together in this way, the fate of the Soviets was sealed at Kiev, even though they fought hard.

Kiev had effectively fallen by September 19, but the encircled troops continued to put up a fight. The Red Army’s 5th, 26th, 21st, 38th, and 37th Army were captured inside the circle. They fought for about ten more days, but everything was falling apart.

The Southwestern Front was about to disintegrate, and a lot of lives would be lost among the civilians too.

...

Germany’s initial invasion started out with more than 500,000 men while the Soviets had more than 700,000. During the battle, the Germans lost only 45,000 men while the number of Soviet causalities was staggering. More than 600,000 men were either killed, captured or missing. In addition, more than 84,000 were sick or wounded.

 

[Kepler]

ISW report:

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 18

Mar 18, 2022 - Press ISW

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 18

Mason Clark, George Barros, and Kateryna Stepanenko

March 18, 5:30pm ET

Ukrainian forces conducted a major successful counterattack around Mykolayiv in the past several days, and Russian forces continued to secure territorial gains only around Mariupol on March 18. Russian forces face growing morale and supply problems, including growing reports of self-mutilation among Russian troops to avoid deployment to Ukraine and shortages of key guided munitions. The Ukrainian General Staff continued to report on March 18 that Russia has failed to achieve its strategic objectives in Ukraine, including destroying the Ukrainian Armed Forces, capturing Kyiv, and establishing control over Ukraine to the east bank of the Dnipro River—the first time the Ukrainian General Staff included this territorial conquest as an explicit Russian objective.[1] The Ukrainian General Staff additionally stated that Ukrainian forces “continue step by step to liberate the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in all directions” on March 18, the first Ukrainian mention of conducting counterattacks “in all directions.”[2]

Key Takeaways

• The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russia has “significantly exhausted its human resources” due to battle casualties, cases of self-mutilation to avoid deployment, and psychological factors.
• Ukrainian forces likely conducted a successful counteroffensive against Russian forces around Mykolayiv in the past several days.
• The ability of Ukrainian forces to conduct a successful major counterattack indicates Russian forces attempting to encircle Mykolayiv likely overstretched, and Russian forces are unlikely to have the capability to resume offensive operations toward Odesa in the near term.
• Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations northwest or northeast of Kyiv on March 18.
• Russian forces continue to make steady progress reducing the Mariupol pocket.
• Ukrainian forces halted a Russian attempt to advance southeast of Kharkiv, through the city of Izyum, in the past 24 hours. Russia is deploying additional reserves to reinforce the Kharkiv axis of advance.
• Russian and proxy forces made minor territorial gains north of the city of Severodonetsk in Luhansk Oblast and will likely assault the city itself in the next 24-48 hours.
• Ukrainian military intelligence created an official website to provide support and guidance to Ukrainian fighters and civilians in Russian-occupied territory.