rainworld

The “I” stands for impunity.

Why, no. When it comes to Russia/Ukraine, HN is basically Reddit. Stories that don’t fit the “zrada”/“peremoga” dichotomy don’t gain traction. Stories that don’t validate preconceived notions and feelings.

Part? Russiagate is QAnon for Libs.

The US has always been “above the law.” This is about Israel and its genocide against the Palestinians.

https://x.com/hudsonwarmap/status/2107020361791627289 In reality, Ukraine burns a lot of materiel (and men) to buy time. What that time buys them is another question.

No recirculation pumps. Feedwater is pumped as usual.

For the US, oil money (in Dollars) and control over Iraq: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/why-does-the-us-control-i...

For Israel, oil from Kurdistan: The revival of the Kirkuk-Haifa pipeline fell through but Turkey stepped in to enable transport.

For both, the neutralization of a regional actor. The chaos that also weakened its neighbors. Eventually, the destruction of Syria. A base and flight path to attack Iran.

> XI. Permanent nature of this Agreement

> This Agreement does not have an end date and may only be amended by mutual consent in accordance with Article XIII of the 1951 Defense Agreement.

> In case Greenland exercises its right to self-determination to become independent, the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Government of Greenland shall together ensure that the independent Greenlandic state will (i) agree to remain in NATO, including by applying to become a member if necessary, and (ii) affirmatively assume, as from the date of independence, all of the rights and obligations of the Kingdom of Denmark specified in this Agreement, including any implementation agreements or arrangements between the Parties, as well as the Defense Arrangements.

With this, Denmark has effectively ceded sovereignty over Greenland. In time, they are likely to lose it entirely.

The weakening Empire is squeezing its satrapies for all they are worth. But don’t expect genuine resistance and elite resentment any time soon, there’s a century of conditioning and control to undo. Hard power, soft power, covert power.

This isn’t about Trump, he’s a convenient vessel.

At this point, it does not appear that (reasonably strong and modern) symmetric cryptography (ciphers, hash functions, etc.) is realistically threatened by quantum computing: https://words.filippo.io/128-bits/

Especially when the whole point of such lies is to kill the story before it gets much public interest. A device the sunny state of Israel uses all the time and to great effect.

> the same thing

If only the Taliban had received half a trillion of military and financial support. If only China had shipped them thousands of FPV drones per day and given them access to low-latency satcom and a trillion-dollar ISR ecosystem.

> how do you win them over

Putin would have loved to. But, finally, even he has realized that that brotherly ship has sailed for a while. Luckily for him there’s an alternative: he just has to make sure Ukraine doesn’t come back from this in any threatening fashion any time soon. An effort that’s well underway and intensifying.

His other option would be what the West’s darling is doing in the Middle East, genocide. But Putin is not a monster.

As things stand, without fresh funds, Ukraine can keep the war going for about another year. I wouldn’t expect Zelensky to concede this round one day too soon.

The problematic thing here is that there remains an abundance of cowardly and delusional elites in positions of influence and power. 4.5 years in. Willing to sell out their countrymen for a mirage of normalcy that will not come. Not to the 99.9%, anyway. We wouldn‘t be here if Putin was a fraction of the despot he’s presented to be in the West.

“This is how you "negotiate" with Turks: you kill dozens of them, then don’t apologize.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Balyun_airstrikes

> tempted to respond in kind

Has nothing to do with it.

> It's basic human nature.

No it’s the nature of a proxy war, the nature of a gambler with no post-war future, the nature of hubristic technologists with software for brains.

Results e.g.: https://x.com/andrii_sybiha/status/2079998734637658585

The firing of Fedorov should tell you something about how well this latest gambit/escalation is working. And about the chasm between PR and reality. Syrskyi knew where this is going. And he knew what the AFU are in dire need of: men, not robots.

This year, so far and among other things, we’ve had an illegal war against Iran, an illegal blockade against Cuba, hundreds of civilians murdered in the Caribbean, the murder of a head of state, the abduction of another. As well as the continued support for Zionist genociding. No meaningful protest from Western regimes, Western media, and most of the enthusiasts here. Might makes right is the whole of the law—as long as it’s the West‘s.

But they dutifully support those who do, materially and diplomatically. Carrying significant political cost, internally as well as externally.

More from Ukrainian public broadcasting: https://suspilne.media/kropyvnytskiy/1340118-smerti-vid-pnev...

This is about forcibly drafted men (particularly those with additional issues like addiction) who get sent on assaults with low rates of success and high chances of death (or serve in similarly dangerous roles). Very different from the glamour raids they publish on social media. Russians do these assaults too, of course. Because, for the most part, that’s how territory is taken in this war.

Women in the AFU are volunteers and serve different roles.

Polemical original title distracts from the content. Full article. Quoting the author:

Ukrainian liberal media writes about it, but only in Ukrainian. Not for western consumption.

Self-fulfilling prophecies need prophets.

> Any reasonable leadership would have cut their losses yet here we are.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HKxeuY7bMAEwZ30.png Indeed.

> The country that’s getting 55% of its state budget from the EU isn’t a proxy. Not to mention the munitions, the weapons, the training, and above all the access to the US’ trillion dollar ISR and satcom network.

Spade? That’s a shovel drenched in blood.

It’s conceivable that Russia could force the West to back out of the proxy war. But then they’d get proliferation in Europe, Taiwan, South Korea, and other places. And Usrael would very likely use nukes against Iranian missile cities. (Conversely, first use against Iran would give Russia license etc.) Apart from general global instability and uncertainty this might unleash.

So, it’s not hard to see why they haven’t—so far. And why they are pursuing their (slow and costly, sure) conventional military, economical, and demographic long-term neutering of Ukraine. And let’s not forget the enormous economic/budgetary cost to the EU.

Also, Russia retains a number of ways to escalate inside of Ukraine: bridges, dams, depopulation of frontline cities. China could finally abandon their stance of being mostly neutral.

The problem is that Ukraine/West keep escalating and the day when Russia’s calculus changes may yet come.

> the standard "modern" war

For the US and friends is terrorizing the enemy, his forces, his civilian population into giving up. Is feeding a civil war until he crumbles.

> bomb the living shit out of anything armoured

That’s absolutely not what’s missing in Ukraine.

> and then push forward with your own armour.

And then, as soon as you assemble let alone move in the open, you get wrecked. No one has an easy answer for this. The answer is what we’re already seeing: attrition.

> Iran

Iran prevailed in an highly asymmetric conflict by successfully attriting US/Israeli air defenses and surviving their attacks, depleting their arsenals. Which was their goal, not “levelling Tel Aviv”—however much they would have liked to.

Finally, what Israel is facing in Lebanon right now is but a pale imitation of what’s going on in Ukraine. But bad enough. One can imagine what just a couple days of Ukraine-level losses would do to them, militarily and politically. No matter their air superiority.

The classic HN trope of a non-rebuttal presented as rebuttal. And you conveniently left out the link in the sentence: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/07/31/congress/ma...

It’s true, “MAGA KY” has Trump’s name slapped on. Like the Zionist war againt Iran. Which you clearly support.

> I'm all ears.

You’re clearly not.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/17/massie-aipac-record... It literally was. And wait till you find out you find out who Epstein et al. were working for.