Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


It really amazes me how you can become leader of a country, carrying the hopes and dreams of millions of people on your shoulders - and then abandon them all with a planeload of cash - because you are worried for your ass.

Maybe I am naive to imagine that these individuals are anything but normal human beings... but it's still depressing.

Hate him as much as you want - but Stalin, for example, was made of different material. He hung up on the Germans when they offered to trade his son for Field-marshal Paulus, telling them: "I will not trade a marshal for a lieutenant." How many world leaders today would allow their eldest son to die in captivity?

Navalny also - soon as he woke up from his coma - demanded to be sent back to Russia. Respect to him for that.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


Did you guys read the report that Khamenei has made contingency plans to flee to Moscow, if the protests get out of hand and law enforcement goes over to the side of the opposition?

Source: thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/iran-ayatollah-khamenei-escape-moscow-protests-revealed-h5f95ctb5

The guy is supposed to be worth some $95B according to Reuters.

Quote:

"A six-month investigation by Reuters has said that Khamenei controls a "financial empire" worth approximately US$95 billion that the Iranian Parliament does not oversee, a figure much larger than the estimated wealth of the late Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi."

That'll be a very nice injection for the Moscow real estate market, hehehe.

If Maduro's court case collapses and he gets sent to Moscow, that would be another good chunk.

Soon, we'll have an entire zoo of exiled head-of-state billionaires - maybe competing with London and New York in that category for once.

It's nice to have money fleeing to Moscow for once, instead of from Moscow to London.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


One of these countries is not like the others...

I don't think Russia thinks of itself as belonging to that kind of club, though Iran and Venezuela certainly might like to think so.

Our club is more China-Russia-India-Brazil. We have roughly the same reading of world events, and we want pretty much the same things. We don't have any problems with each other (other than China and India due to border tensions), and we all practice non-intervention in each other's affairs.


What's he gonna do - stop an American shadow tanker somewhere? America doesn't use shadow tankers.

To do something, you have to find some symmetrical situation where America is doing something on the sly and doesn't want to be caught. That would be a correct signal.

Overreacting and doing something dumb, is likely to trigger a further spiraling of problems.

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]


Why are you so happy to be a colony, lol?

What you are saying is insane.

Germany had overtaken the UK in terms of GDP, by like 1900. It had the world's second largest economy for quite some time. During its occupation of Europe ('41-'45) it had an economy basically equal to America.

Beyond the Big 3 of Krupp, Bayer, and IG Farben - you had a dozen other world leading companies. Siemens, Daimler, BMW, AEG, Zeiss, Rheinmetall, Bosch, etc.

Why do you want to give America credit for what was basically already there?

America does not equal capitalism, and that's exactly what allowed the FRG to overtake the Communistic GDR.

Have some pride man.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


There is too much going on in parallel, for this to blow up into something big (some kind of Russian-American standoff).

We need to stay friendly while we are negotiating the Ukraine settlement. Nobody is gonna risk de-railing that over some ship, no matter how valuable the cargo,

Putin will have to just swallow the insult, and continue business as usual.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


I don't think so.

In 2024, a Russian cargo ship was likely sunk while en route to North Korea by unknown actors - while transporting two miniaturized nuclear reactors used on submarines.

A Spanish newspaper reported, based on a report from Spanish intelligence.

Source: laverdad.es/murcia/cartagena/barco-ruso-hundido-frente-cartagena-ocultaba-dos-20251228071129-nt.html?

But that's a cargo ship. I don't think you can store such things in a tanker, unless it was specifically modified to accommodate other cargos.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


Reminds me of one of Crow's philosophical statements:

"A strong penis on the table is a powerful argument."

Ohhh... I miss him so much. There are so many important events taking place, and we do not have Svetovid's perspective.

Is all well with the universe, or is the Vatican on the march?

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


Makes you wonder what was in the holds of that tanker.

If it were truly empty while en-route to Venezuela, and then simply turned back following the US blockade... I doubt the Kremlin would send a nuclear submarine, a frigate, and a tug to escort it.

Maybe it was equipment, necessary to make an American operation like the one that took place more difficult?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


Exactly.

There used to be the argument also that we need your "experience" and "know how" for knowledge intensive industries... but soon AI will take care of that also!

Added bonus - huge freeing up of housing stock for young people. More affordable housing = more babies.

Win-win-win.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


I had no idea their army had shrunk to such a comical extent. For some reason I thought it was still in the 150-200K range.

Turns out France has the largest ground forces in the EU - at 200K. Germany and Poland are not far behind.

Basically Ukraine has an army nearly 5 times larger, than the largest EU army.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


Here, read this and enjoy:

thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/uk-ukraine-boots-ground-war-news-2230crx8d

The article states that the UK will potentially send 7,500 soldiers to Ukraine, and France the same - for a total of 15,000.

Initially, the UK hoped to send 10,000, but the British MoD determined that that was not possible "given the current state of the British army" - which has a total of 71,000 personnel.

According to two sources, even the 7,500 may not be achievable for Britain.

-//--

How is Trump wrong?

These numbers are simply pathetic, and show that Britain wouldn't last a single day on the battlefield against Russia.

Hell, Poland could mop the floor with your army.

You better hold on to those nukes, because that's the only thing keeping you in the big boys club.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]

Trump posts on Truth Social that if it weren't for him, Russia would have captured all of Ukraine by now.

Interesting.

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News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


What happened to Rusnigg*rs?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


No surprise, since their Emirati backers abandoned them after KSA told them to f*ck off.

It's immensely pleasurable to watch the two Gulf monarchies eat each other.

They both deserve all the worst sh*t to happen to them.

Two little gnomes with more money than sense, that are exporting death all around the region. The Emirati support for the RSF in Sudan is especially disgusting.

Somebody should come and give them both a nice knocking on the head - so they stop playing their little games of Risk. I think they have so much money, that they do these things out of pure boredom.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]

@AntV

We were their number 1 supporter until China muscled us out through sheer size of investment.

Just like China, we signed a "Strategic Partnership" agreement with them in 2025.

But how big a voice? My sense is we had only minimal influence on the regime. But the same goes for China, I think.

If either of us had strong influence, I feel the Venezuelans would have listened to us more and would not have ended up being the sh*thole it currently is. In the end, they made and make their own calls.

The relationship seems to have been rather opportunistic on both sides.

Chinese commentators are writing now that "we must avoid overinvesting in regimes on faraway continents, that we poorly understand". I think the Russian view is broadly the same.

America understands Venezuela and the region in general, much better than we do.

Venezuela got into some beef with America, so it went straight to Moscow and Beijing for support. They seemed an attractive client - at the beginning - but over time became more and more of a burden (like Cuba). They don't want to take any lessons, but at the same time want tons of money. That kind of a relationship can't persist forever.

China got played harder, I believe, because they also felt an ideological affinity to the Chavistas. We're not Communist anymore, so we don't care so much about the ideological mumbo jumbo. We wanna sell weapons and get oil - that's all. If it irritates America - that's just an added bonus.

Cuba we have very long historical ties with, so they get a bit more of our attention - but same story largely. They owe us billions of dollars. They don't pay for sh*t - even the couple new planes we sent them. Recently they became more interesting, however, because they started sending soldiers to Ukraine.

North Korea is the right kinda "leftist" ally. Pumps out more artillery shells than all of Europe combined, and sends entire divisions to fight in Ukraine. They're worth investing in.

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]


25% of Russia's current oil and gas production comes from beyond the Arctic Circle.

Norilsk Nickel (located well north of the Arctic Circle), is a company that produces 20% of the world's nickel, and something like 40% of its palladium.

Alrosa mines diamonds in Chukotka - again 20-30% of global production.

There's huge amounts of gold and coal there too.

The permafrost goes hundreds of meters deep in these places - and it hasn't stopped us. What's to say America can't do the same? Especially if it already does this in Alaska?

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


It's actually quite heavy, but much less so since they became dirt poor (Maduro term).

During the Chavez years they bought billions of dollars of weapons systems - shortly rivaling China and India as a top customer. They bought several dozen Sukhoi jets, dozens of helicopters, some hundreds of tanks, air defense systems, etc.

They bought a 100k Kalashnikov rifles, and then requested that we build them a whole Kalashnikov factory and ammunition plant (which we did).

Then Gazprom got rights to some exploration and production rights. Rosneft provided billions of dollars in loans to PDVSA, and in return got stakes in a bunch of upstream projects.

-//-

I read somewhere (FT I think), that China had invested approx. $100B in Venezuela. I think Russia's exposure is in the $20-30B range.

I hope the Americans will be mindful of respecting China's and Russia's property rights.

In Iraq, surprisingly enough - America did respect Russia's property rights (like the West Qurna-2 giant oil field, for example).

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]


Still it must be psychologically difficult for them to contemplate military action - given their complete absence of experience. Their last war against Vietnam ended in humiliation.

The extent of their recent experience is beating Indians with sticks in some Himalayan pass.

Russia and America both have dozens of conflicts in which they participated during the past century. This kind of institutional experience can't be substituted with anything else.

Simply - we have tens of thousands of planners and operators that have years of experience in commanding troops from Chechnya, to Georgia, to Syria, to Ukraine. Ditto for America. China has zero. They can only read books and study our experience.

They have to start slow, and maybe in conjunction with others - before going for the Big Kahuna of Taiwan.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]

@Torq

The Russian government knows that there are wide-scale abuses within the correctional system. Things are now much better than in the 1990s, or early 2000s, but obviously these kind of excesses still occur. The СИЗО-2 in Taganrog is an especially notorious facility (for the sadism of its employees).

Personally I am a little dumbfounded by why we torture Ukrainian POWs.

It seems a no-brainer that we should instead make some resort spa for them, with amusement park rides, and unlimited free ice cream - and run this on YouTube and Telegram non stop.

Then you'd see 500% more surrenders. At least I think so.

If they know they're gonna have swastikas carved on their backs, or will be forced to sing the Russian anthem for 48 hours in a row - they may become more inclined to keep fighting.

But that's just me.

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]


No offense taken! I'm not delusional, lol.

I do think that one important way in which Russia is perhaps stronger (or more dangerous - whichever you like) than China - is Russia is much more willing to use force to achieve its goals. It's a historical fact.

Well, also we more nukes than anyone in the world. This'll ensure our seat at the table for the time being.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


I was surprised to read this as well. TBH, most Russians think that all Poles can understand Russian - which obviously isn't true...

They got scared enough when he died, that they made all his cell mates sign some kind of statement that he wasn't mistreated.

Afterwards - they claim - the torture of others stopped, and instead the jailers switched to "athletic" disciplining. 200 squats, 100 push ups, etc.

So the Pole didn't die for nothing. Many people were saved from torture through his sacrifice.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


I mean it's all good.

Honestly, it's good to have America in the same boat.

It was getting lonely out there - in the imperialist camp.


This is true - I do remember.

What do you think about the various press reports suggesting Trump and Putin discussed some sort of Ukraine-for-Venezuela deal during his first term?

Now there's also speculation they discussed something similar in Alaska.

The muted Russian response (and even Chinese response) seems telling.

I'm skeptical, because what could Russia possibly do to stop America? Convene a Security Council meeting? Send military advisers to Caracas?

If Trump wanted to do something like this, he wouldn't need to consult Russia or China.

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]

I always knew that many thousands are reading PF, without ever posting here.

Perhaps they read PF in the White House?

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Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


Oh ho ho ho!

Eavesdropping infrastructure, eh? Military exercises! Military equipment!!!

We got called paranoid dinosaurs when Ukraine:

1) Tried to abrogate a long term lease for Sevastopol - home of the Black Sea Fleet

2) Sent forces to Iraq

3) Courted the Bush administration for the installation of anti-ballistic missile defenses

4) Declared an intent to join NATO

Eavesdropping infrastructure...

When can we expect your apology for backing Ukraine?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 28 [65]


Apparently the jailers were frustrated that he couldn't speak Russian.

Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - part 18 [201]


Things never change. Putting on my dialectical materialist hat - history as class struggle:

Slaves and masters.

Plebeians and patricians.

Early bourgeoisie and nobility.

Socialists and conservatives.

Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - part 18 [201]

At some point I was reading Orwell's "The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius", and there he had this very clever line:

"The lady in the Rolls-Royce car is more damaging to morale than a fleet of Goering's bombing planes." (this was during the Blitz).

This really produced an impression on me. I must've been 16 when I read it, but I think about it all the time.

Now Orwell could be very grumpy, and I didn't agree with him always, but this was on point.

Off-Topic / USA News and Poland - part 18 [201]


Mandeville would tell you, in his Fable of the Bees, that this would eventually lead to less prosperity for all. That is - vice is economically necessary. It drives progress.

-//-

Personally - I think you need some kind of authoritarian approach to these things (big surprise!).

Singapore does it right, and it's still one of the richest countries in the world.

Want a Ferrari or a Range Rover - prepare to pay 3-5X the global average.

Housing is for living first, and an asset second. Top marginal rates on "second" investment properties are in excess of 30% of annual rent value. If you are some rich foreigner, then prepare to pay 60%+ of the PROPERTY VALUE through the so called "Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty". This is why even billionaires rent in Singapore, in many cases, and there are far fewer trophy homes than you would expect.

The genius who created this country, understood that economic inequality breeds political risk (honestly Lee Kuan Yew is the GOAT).

He saw that Anglo-American tolerance of grotesque inequality lead to a see-sawing political system, where the pendulum swings from one end of the spectrum to the other. He also saw that Scandinavian egalitarianism means no one wants to move to a place, except people in need of support (while leading to a constant hemorrhaging of your own rich people). So instead he made this asiatic authoritarian technocracy - which I really admire.

By the way - 80% of people in Singapore live in state built housing.

Off-Topic / American Special Military Operation in Venezuela [333]


The UAE and Saudi Arabia lean almost entirely on Sudanese manpower.

It works well for both sides, because the Sudanese (who are in it for the money):

1) Are willing and able to absorb massive casualties

2) Have extensive mountain and desert fighting experience

3) Are politically disposable

When will the West come for the Saudis and Emiratis? Oh that's right, never... Because they own your companies, your football teams, your airports and ports, and so on.

-//-

The Cubans are in demand because they are experts at surveillance and they are quite educated - so they supply many doctors and engineers.

News / Will Poland help defend Greenland against US Imperialism [489]


If we use the Russia-Ukraine War as example...

Imagine some "truth telling" member of the Russian military who says:

"The logistical situation is abysmal. The men have not had a delivery of drinking water in a week, and are drinking from puddles. Winter clothes were late to arrive - and consequently we have numerous instances of frostbite. The officers are indifferent to the plight of the rank and file - so we don't know any longer where to turn - hence we are recording this video for Telegram."

The expected reaction for much of this war - is that some big honchos will send an order down the chain of command to identify this individual, transfer him to an "assault battalion" - and hope that he will be dead within a week.

No person - no problem. Also a valuable lesson to others who decide they want to complain publicly.

-//-

The argument for why this was done is typically - "This was bad for morale, and too joyous for the Hohols to read."

My reaction is - "WHO THE F*CK GIVES A SH*T ABOUT THE HOHOLS?"...and "THIS WILL SURELY DO WONDERS FOR OUR OWN MORALE, YES?".

The Ukrainians may be happy for a few days reading about freezing Russians, but then they'll forget about it and focus back on their own myriad problems.

Meanwhile, we punished a person that had the bravery to stand up and state things the way they are. We should be rewarding such people, and sending commissions out into the field to ascertain the facts.

If the situation is so bad - that nothing can be done - then just say so. People are not children - they will understand.

Our new Defense Minister said that "Lies will be the end of us" and that "Everybody makes mistakes, but no one should lie." I fully subscribe to this point of view.

Framing everything as bad for morale or "fun for Ukrainians to read" - leads to a perpetuating cycle of mediocrity.