All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[Zelena]

And again I point out that bombing the hell out of the civilians in Dresden did not produce more Nazis among my people.

Old people were happy to forget the horrors of the war, young people to enjoy life in a country in reconstruction…

What kind of life the displaced people from Gaza fleeing the bombings will have? I think resent is all what they will have.

[CaptainEurope]

Real politik… The Arab governments make decisions that are not necessarily liked by their populations. Which can weaken their power…

Or it can normalize buying Israeli produce and watching Eurovision to every day Arabs.

[CaptainEurope]

Meanwhile, anti-abortion absolutists and Republicans just trying to win an election, any election, are at each other's throats.

[numberthirty]

[Tendrin]

UPDATE: Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik said on March 28 that "it's about to get worse for Planet Fitness" and since then, at least 43 locations of the fitness chain have reported bomb threats - 26 new public incidents since just last Friday.

Seems Chaya is pretty aware of what she's doing to no one's surprise.

https://twitter.com/AriDrennen/statu...86026471944607

In other, news... lol. lmao.

rofllol.jpg

[The Cool Thatguy]

Why is Libs of Tiktok attacking planet fitness?

[Tendrin]

Why is Libs of Tiktok attacking planet fitness?

Trans inclusive policies. Why else?

[Panfoot]

Why is Libs of Tiktok attacking planet fitness?

A woman took a picture of a trans person in one of their locker rooms, the woman who took the person got her membership revoked.

[Catlady in training]

Ukraine could face defeat in 2024. Here's how that might look

The former commander of the UK's Joint Forces Command has warned that Ukraine could face defeat by Russia in 2024.

General Sir Richard Barrons has told the BBC there is "a serious risk" of Ukraine losing the war this year.

The reason, he says, is "because Ukraine may come to feel it can't win".

"And when it gets to that point, why will people want to fight and die any longer, just to defend the indefensible?"

Ukraine is not yet at that point.

But its forces are running critically low on ammunition, troops and air defences. Its much-heralded counter-offensive last year failed to dislodge the Russians from ground they had seized and now Moscow is gearing up for a summer offensive.

So what will that look like and what are its likely strategic objectives?

"The shape of the Russian offensive that's going to come is pretty clear," says Gen Barrons.

"We are seeing Russia batter away at the front line, employing a five-to-one advantage in artillery, ammunition, and a surplus of people reinforced by the use of newish weapons."

These include the FAB glide bomb, an adapted Soviet-era "dumb bomb" fitted with fins, GPS guidance and 1500kg of high explosive, that is wreaking havoc on Ukrainian defences.

"At some point this summer," says Gen Barrons, "we expect to see a major Russian offensive, with the intent of doing more than smash forward with small gains to perhaps try and break through the Ukrainian lines.

"And if that happens we would run the risk of Russian forces breaking through and then exploiting into areas of Ukraine where the Ukrainian armed forces cannot stop them."

But where?

Last year the Russians knew exactly where Ukraine was likely to attack - from the direction of Zaporizhzhia south towards the Sea of Azov. They planned accordingly and successfully blunted Ukraine's advance.

Now the boot is on the other foot as Russia masses its troops and keeps Kyiv guessing where it is going to attack next.

"One of the challenges the Ukrainians have," says Dr Jack Watling, senior research fellow in land warfare at the Whitehall thinktank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), "is that the Russians can choose where they commit their forces.

"It's a very long front line and the Ukrainians need to be able to defend all of it."

Which, of course, they cannot.

"The Ukrainian military will lose ground," says Dr Watling. "The question is: how much and which population centres are going to be affected?"

It is quite possible that Russia's General Staff have yet to go firm on which direction to designate as their main effort. But it is possible to broadly break down their various options into three broad locations.

Kharkiv
"Kharkiv," says Dr Watling, "is certainly vulnerable."

As Ukraine's second city, situated perilously close to the Russian border, Kharkiv is a tempting goal for Moscow.

It is currently being pummelled daily with Russian missile strikes, with Ukraine unable to field sufficient air defences to ward off the lethal mix of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles aimed in its direction.

"I think the offensive this year will have breaking out of the Donbas as its first objective," adds Gen Barrons, "and their eye will be on Kharkiv which is 29km [18 miles] or so from the Russian border, a major prize."

Could Ukraine still function as a viable entity if Kharkiv were to fall? Yes, say analysts, but it would be a catastrophic blow to both its morale and its economy.

The Donbas
The area of eastern Ukraine known collectively as the Donbas has been at war since 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists declared themselves "people's republics".

In 2022 Russia illegally annexed the two Donbas oblasts, or provinces, of Donetsk and Luhansk. This is where most of the fighting on land has been taking place over the past 18 months.

Ukraine has, controversially, expended enormous efforts, in both manpower and resources, in trying to hold on to first the town of Bakhmut, and then Avdiivka.

It has lost both, as well as some of its best fighting troops, in the attempt.

Kyiv has countered that its resistance has inflicted disproportionately high casualties on the Russians.

That is true, with the battlefield in these places being dubbed "the meat grinder".

But Moscow has plenty more troops to throw into the fight - and Ukraine does not.

The Commander of US Forces in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, has warned that unless the US rushes significantly more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine then its forces will be outgunned on the battlefield by ten to one.

Mass matters. The Russian army's tactics, leadership and equipment may be inferior to Ukraine's, but it has such superiority in numbers, especially artillery, that if it does nothing else this year, its default option will be to keep pushing Ukraine's forces back in a westward direction, taking village after village.

Zaporizhzhia
This, too, is a tempting prize for Moscow.

The southern Ukrainian city of more than 700,000 (in peacetime) sits dangerously close to the Russian front lines.

It is also something of a thorn in Russia's side given that it is the capital of an oblast of the same name that Russia has illegally annexed, and yet the city is still living freely in Ukrainian hands.

But the formidable defences that Russia built south of Zaporizhzhia last year, in the correct expectation of a Ukrainian attack, would now complicate a Russian advance from there.

The so-called Surovikin Line, consisting of triple layers of defences, is laced with the largest, most densely packed minefield in the world. Russia could partially dismantle this but its preparations would probably be detected.

Russia's strategic objective this year may not even be territorial. It could simply be to crush Ukraine's fighting spirit and convince its Western backers that this war is a lost cause.

Dr Jack Watling believes the Russian objective is "to try to generate a sense of hopelessness".

"This [Russian] offensive will not decisively end the conflict, irrespective of how it goes for either side," he says.

Gen Barrons is also sceptical that, despite the dire situation Ukraine now finds itself in, Russia will automatically drive home its advantage with a decisive advance.

"I think the most likely outcome is that Russia will have made gains, but will not have managed to break through.

"It will not have forces that are big enough or good enough to punch all the way through to the river [Dnipro]... but the war will have turned in Russia's favour."

One thing is certain: Russia's President Vladimir Putin has no intention of giving up on his assault on Ukraine.

He is like a poker player gambling all his chips on a win. He is counting on the West failing to supply Ukraine with the sufficient means to defend itself.

Despite all the Nato summits, all the conferences and all the stirring speeches, there is a chance he may be right.

[Catlady in training]

Meanwhile...


China supporting Russia in massive military expansion, US says

China is helping Russia undertake its biggest military expansion since Soviet times, ramping up sales of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment.

US officials are hoping the release of the intelligence will encourage European allies to press China, as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, heads to Beijing this weekend and G7 foreign ministers meet next week in Italy.

Announcing US findings, officials said China was helping Russia in the production of drones, space-based capabilities and machine-tool exports vital for producing ballistic missiles.

China has been the key factor in revitalising Russia’s defense industrial base, “which had otherwise suffered significant setbacks” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“Russia is undertaking its most ambitious defense expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict,” the official said.

“Our view is that one of the most gamechanging moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base,” the official said.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC inputs,” he said.

US officials said that China provided more than 70% of the $900m (£723m) in machine tools – probably used to build ballistic missiles – imported in the last quarter of 2023 by Russia.

They also said that 90% of Russia’s microelectronics imports – used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft – came from China last year.

The US has repeatedly warned China against supporting Russia and both Chinese and US officials say Beijing has stopped short of directly providing weapons to Russia, which has turned to heavily sanctioned North Korea and Iran to replenish its arms supply.

US officials believe that China, anxious after its Russian allies’ early setbacks on the battlefield, has instead focused on sending material that ostensibly has non-military uses.

President Joe Biden’s administration is hoping that European powers can make the difference with China, which is facing economic headwinds and is sensitive about trade pressure.

The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to make the case on China’s ties with Russia as he meets top diplomats of other industrial democracies at the G7 talks in Capri, Italy.

Blinken is also planning a visit in the coming weeks to China, on the heels of a trip by the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen.

The administration hopes that such dialogue, including a recent telephone call between Biden and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, can help contain tensions between the world’s two largest economies but US officials have stressed they will still press on concerns.

The deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, said this week that Europe’s stability was the top interest historically of the US and that it would hold China accountable if Russia makes gains.

Also on Friday, the US and UK prohibited metal-trading exchanges from accepting new aluminium, copper and nickel produced by Russia and barred the import of the metals in the latest effort to disrupt Russian export revenue.

The US treasury department said Friday’s action would prohibit the London Metal Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange from accepting new Russian production of aluminium, copper and nickel.

“Metal exchanges provide a central role in facilitating the trading of industrial metals around the globe,” the treasury department said in a statement.

[Jack Dracula]

Belgium launches probe into suspected Russian interference in upcoming EU elections

This is very important. The EU and US need to coordinate to eliminate Russian interference and corruption of their governments and election processes.
Unseating Putin should be a priority as well. It’s time to cut the head off the snake.

[Catlady in training]

This is my shocked face.

Qatari royal invested about $50 million in pro-Trump network Newsmax



The next generation of Hamas is being radicalized by Al Jazeera, Newsmax and Tiktok.

Qatar, the same country that hosts the leader of Hamas

Qatar, the country that hosted the last football World Cup with only symbolic boycotts.

[CaptainEurope]

A woman took a person of a trans person in one of their locker rooms, the woman who took the person got her membership revoked.

I think you mean photograph. There was no kidnapping involved.

[shooshoomanjoe]

This is my shocked face.

Qatari royal invested about $50 million in pro-Trump network Newsmax



The next generation of Hamas is being radicalized by Al Jazeera, Newsmax and Tiktok.

Yep, and it's easy to do when the west is against you, the nation that forces you to live in a apartheid system is suppressing you, stealing your land and murdering you.

[CaptainEurope]

An Indian-American woman was arrested and charged for giving severe threats to a mayor and city council members at a Bakersfield City Council meeting in California on Wednesday. Riddhi Patel's outburst came during the public comment section of the meeting wherein she threatened to murder Republican Mayor Karen Goh and the council members for not backing a ceasefire resolution against Israel, besides installing increased security measures at the government building in the wake of the ongoing anti-Israel protests.


The 28-year-old is a pro-Palestine protestor and is facing 16 felony counts. Of these, eight counts are for threatening with intent to terrorise, while the rest of the counts are for threatening the seven City Council members and the mayor, reports said.

Other anti-Israel protesters, who were present along with Patel, tried to distance themselves from her after she was taken into custody.

Patel was seen sobbing with tears after she heard the felony charges.
Videos of the meeting, which have gone viral on social media, feature Patel claiming she hoped oppressed minorities would guillotine city government members, Fox News reported.

The threats were issued by Patel throughout two speeches she made to the city council.

In her first address, Patel noted that she was speaking in support of the ceasefire resolution. She later predicted that the body would decline to support it and said, "...you guys are all horrible human beings and Jesus would’ve killed you himself."

While referring to those who observe the Chaitra Navratri festival, Patel later said, "These holidays that we practice, that other people in the global south practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day somebody brings a guillotine and kills all of you...”

During her second speech, Patel targetted the mayor and council members for installing extra security measures like metal detectors in the building to ‘criminalise’ protesters.

While concluding her remarks, Patel gave a violent threat to the members and said, "We will see you at your house. We will murder you."

https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/who-i...s-19396311.htm

Peaceful protests.