We're all going to get nuked

I ask if it is going to be Fallout or Threads

They don't understand

I pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is Fallout and what is Threads

They laugh and says "It's a nuclear apocalypse mam"

Gets nuked

It's Threads

CNN: Zelensky says he wanted counteroffensive to start ‘much earlier’ to pre-empt Russian defenses

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been “slowed down” by entrenched Russian defenses, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday, adding that he wished that Western weapons deliveries had allowed it to begin “much earlier.”

“I’m grateful to the US as the leaders of our support,” he told Burnett through a translator, “but I told them as well as the European leaders that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we need all the weapons and materiel for that. Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower.”

“I wanted our counteroffensive to happen much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive unfolds later, then a bigger part of our territory will be mined. We give our enemy the time and possibility to place more mines and prepare their defensive lines.”

We have now reached the blame NATO stage of Ukrainian counteroffensive cope, or maybe Zelensky's just trying to avoid being the villain of the stab-in-the-back-myth which Ukrainian nazis will embrace when they lose.

It's just occurred to me that it was necessary for the west to convince liberals that Russia wanted to do genocide and ethnic cleansing to Ukrainians because otherwise the argument "it doesn't matter which capitalist state is in charge as long as the people survive" holds more weight.

Recognising that the primary anti-war argument is "anything should be done to stop the deaths of millions of people", they created a myth where Ukrainians are fighting for their very survival against an opponent that seeks to exterminate them. This they then backed up by conflating what would be the end of the ukrainian state with the end of the people.

Anyone then attempting to cut through this myth would have to say "Russia aren't doing that" because it's essential for anti-war arguments, and this would then immediately make you a supporter of Russia.

And when the war is finally over they will argue that they were correct about this by using the total number of dead ukrainians caused by the war(which wouldn't exist if they were anti-war but they don't care about that). So liberals will never feel like they were wrong about their support for the war in the future.

The U.S. Funds Shadow Police Units All Over the World

Warning: It's a WSJ piece, so brainworms abound

In more than a dozen developing countries where the U.S. believes police agencies are so riddled with corruption that they can’t be trusted, American embassy personnel handpick their own local law-enforcement units, screen them for misconduct and, to a large degree, assign them missions aligned with U.S. interests.

Yeah, because america isn't corrupt at all. Note that they still admit the missions serve yankee interests.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs says it has vetted members of 105 police units worldwide for agencies including the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security.

Because some agencies do their own vetting, the State Department said it was unable to provide a global count of U.S.-aligned units or the officers they employ. It said there was no central office tracking all of the units’ activities or the total government spending that goes into them.

Amazing levels of accountability

The State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security alone says it has 16 vetted units established under agreements with governments from Peru to the Philippines. The Fish and Wildlife Service funds police in Uganda and Nigeria.

The global spread of U.S.-vetted foreign police units is little known and faces little public scrutiny. Some Kenyans who do know of the units’ existence bridle at the notion that foreigners wield so much influence in domestic law enforcement.

The DEA pioneered the strategy during the cocaine wars in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru in the 1980s. Resident American narcotics agents, frustrated by the drug cartels’ influence over local police, took it upon themselves to identify officers they felt they could trust, according to research conducted at the time by Ethan Nadelmann, then a Princeton University professor. At the time, the DEA’s ability to keep vetted units clean and effective depended on extensive diplomatic pressure from the U.S. government, Nadelmann found.

Classic lich language "extensive diplomatic pressure"

Now the practice has become routine and global for law-enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. government. The units operate under memorandums of understanding between the U.S. and local authorities.

But muh secret commie police stations

Kenyan officers who win positions in vetted units get upgraded training, the prestige of working in an elite squad and, depending on the unit, as much as twice their usual pay. U.S. agencies provide intelligence they might not share with ordinary Kenyan police.

Literal bribery by a foreign power

There's more written in that piece, but it's mostly just copaganda stories.

Updated chad-n-cuck power ranking:

The IDF is straight up not having a good time in Jenin. A single Palestinian has died today after being wounded during yesterday's airstrikes two Palestinians have died today, meanwhile the resistance is carrying out ambush after ambush, reportedly inflicting heavy casualties.

AOC endorses Biden. Already. LMAO. Not even keeping up the veneer of supposed leftism, eh?

We've seriously moved past the point where even the pretense of democracy is necessary or useful. We should've been burning this shit down decades ago. Lot's of catch-up to do here....

I wrote a short post on the US doing a soft-coup in Bulgaria a few weeks ago. A couple of completely unrelated news stories since then:

• The Bulgarian Parliament adopted a Declaration in Support of Ukraine's membership in NATO
• Bulgarian PM: No more ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ on Russian interference
• Bulgarian minister: New military aid package for Ukraine 'taking shape'
• Bulgaria wants to join the EU’s ammo-for-Ukraine club
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Arrives In Sofia For One-Day Visit
• Referendum to delay euro boycotted by main parties
• Bulgaria’s Top Prosecutor Ousted, Stirring Suspicion of Trade-Off
• Bulgaria’s government on brink of collapse after less than a month in office

And an extra dippshitery & cope, one of my favorite articles of all times:

• Zelenskyy mauls Bulgarian president over his opposition to arming Ukraine - Politico

I am genuinely laughing so hard at this, it reads like someone summoned RedditGPT to write a fanfic of Obama owning Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy savaged his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in a bruising televised exchange in Sofia on Thursday, in which he opened up with both barrels against Radev’s opposition to arming Ukraine.

The flustered Bulgarian president, visibly taken aback by Zelenskyy’s indignation, asked TV cameras to leave the room in the presidential palace where the meeting was being filmed.

“No, you, as a real president, I am sure you would not allow a compromise with your independence. It is your right not to support aid to Ukraine. But I would really like you to understand me correctly,” he noted with barbed irony, as a cowed Radev intermittently took refuge in the note paper in front of him.

Oh hey the Austrian military guy also confirms the offensive has failed. If there is anyone out there that still needs a reality check on this.

Colonel Markus Reisner of the Austrian Armed Forces stated today that they currently believe that the 1st Phase of the Ukrainian Offensive has Failed due to Ukrainian Forces attempting to use NATO Military Tactics which do not work against Fortified and Heavily-Mined Russian Defenses, however he further stated that Ukraine is now beginning to change Tactics and that he expects for there to be Limited-Successes along the Frontline but No Major Breakthroughs.

Of course the problem was their tactics and not the absolute dogshit NATO equipement that they sent. You can see the writing on the wall, when Ukraine finaly loses this war it will be their fault.

Also what "tactics" were they supposed to use anyway? Also you knew as much as the Ukrainian shit generals about all the Russian fortifications, how on earth is it possible for these people to turn around and unironicaly say "well acshualy NATO tactics don't work against fortified positions", yeah because these Russian defenses magicaly appeared the day before and its not like everyone knew about it for months in advance. Maybe not launch the offensive then? This war is a farce.

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One thing that was made clear from this war is that the USSR was serious about fighting and winning an attrition war against NATO on the ground in Europe if need be. The weapon and ammo stockpiles they left behind are legit "infinite" compared to the production and stockpiles of the rest of Europe and even modern America. Especially considering how much of it was neglected and unusable now or simply sold in legit or black markets. Hey spending like 20% of your GDP in the military may not have been the best (tho they didnt have much choice) but turns out they amounted to smth and the west was right to fear them.

I wonder what would have happened if WW3 with very limited or non nuke use started between 1949 and the Sino-Soviet split. Whole lot of death yeah but beyond a likely on the ground red victory in Eurasia, gloabaly such a western initiated war against "communism" at the time would destabilize and tip the scale towards revolution in a shitton of countries where the organized left was much stronger and more popular than today.

When Mao said this in 1957

We stand firmly for peace and against war. But if the imperialists insist on unleashing another war, we should not be afraid of it. Our attitude on this question is the same as our attitude towards any disturbance: first, we are against it; second, we are not afraid of it. The First World War was followed by the birth of the Soviet Union with a population of 200 million. The Second World War was followed by the emergence of the socialist camp with a combined population of 900 million. If the imperialists insist on launching a third world war, it is certain that several hundred million more will turn to socialism, and then there will not be much room left on earth for the imperialists.

it could very well have been true

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I’m convinced that liberals are racist enough that the only way for them to distance themselves from Azov is with a black man.

Convince Kanye to do a charity concert in Kyiv in honor of the fallen Azov warriors and the living ones going off to battle. Let him cook in the middle of it, and the white crowd in military uniform are cheering during his antisemitic rants. Zelensky thanks him for the concert anyway.

Its the second day of the rapid-fire trials of 'rioters' in France today, using a process awfully similar to the one adopted by Kier Starmer during the students protests here.

Many of those on trial are minors and have been processed and tried so fast that they don't even have any family present, never mind legal representation. And naturally most of the sentences are more about collective punishment than justice.

From a courtroom tweet thread by Meerie Jesuthasan:

“I made the biggest mistake of my life,” says the plaintiff, a young man. He is accused of picking up a tube of 50 cent coins in front of a Sephora the evening it was looted June 30th, equaling a total of €20.

He is not accused of entering or vandalising the Sephora. He was arrested immediately after picking up the coins. There is no video evidence and no complaint from Sephora.

The prosecutor is asking for 8 months imprisonment. For picking up €20 in front of a Sephora.

Guilty. The sentence is 2 years probation (he will have to work, report all address changes) and 8 months prison for any future infraction. He will also have to pay a fine of €800 to the metropole.

There were some other sentences today (around 80 between yesterday and this morning, not counting this afternoon and tonight). The pace is frightening. A lot of families present but also some defendants without family, who are young, undocumented, homeless.

China curbs critical metal exports in retaliation for Western restrictions on chip industry

China on Monday ordered export restrictions on two technology-critical elements in retaliation for new Western sanctions on its semiconductor industry.

The restrictions, which take effect on August 1, will apply to gallium and germanium metals and several of their compounds, which are key materials for making semiconductors and other electronics.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the export controls on gallium- and germanium-related items were necessary “to safeguard national security and interests”.

Exporters in China will need to apply for permission from the ministry, with information about the end users and how the materials will be used.

Approval from the State Council, China’s cabinet, will be needed “for the export of items listed in this announcement that have a significant impact on national security”, the ministry statement added.

It added that operators caught in violation of the controls could face administrative punishment or even criminal charges.

The decision came after the Netherlands announced new export controls on advanced chip manufacturing equipment last Friday, following Washington’s lead to curb China’s chip-making capabilities.

Companies in the Netherlands including ASML – one of the world’s most important producers of semiconductor machinery – will need to apply for a licence to export certain advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment overseas.

The Dutch restriction will come into effect on September 1.

China said it was “an abuse of export control measures and seriously disrupted free trade and international trade rules”.

In addition, Japan’s export restrictions on 23 types of chip-related equipment and materials will also enter effect later this month.

China is the world’s largest producer of the two elements, with more than 95 per cent of the global gallium output and 67 per cent of germanium production.

China is also the top producer of rare earth elements, a group of 17 metals essential to modern technologies, including advanced space technology and weapons. The country has more than 90 per cent of world’s rare earth production capacity.

Concerns have grown that China could “weaponise” its dominance in these critical elements amid competition between Beijing and Washington, which has escalated since the US launched its trade war in 2018.

China introduced an export control law in 2020 and eventually added more items into its list, including some rare earth-related items.

The items included in Monday’s control lists include gallium nitride, gallium oxide, gallium phosphide, gallium arsenide, indium gallium arsenide, gallium selenide, gallium antimonide, zone-refined germanium ingot, zinc-germanium diphosphide, germanium epitaxial growth base, germanium dioxide and germanium tetrachloride.