why are you leaving?

So, basically all NATO members but UKR?

Poland-NATO
Czechia-NATO
Estonia-NATO
Latvia-NATO
Lithuania-NATO

I see a common theme among those countries...

This will continue. Our nukes are a deterrent, but Biden isn't. He won't ever use them, and they know it.

Don’t be so sure.
I read Zerohedge regularly and extensively several years back.  I ultimately came to the conclusion that it was probably an influence operation.  Why?  First, because they got called out multiple times by readers for blatantly manipulating data (like using a log scale without indicting that) to support whatever doomporn they were pushing in that article.  I also noticed that they frequently did not show any internal consistency in their arguments.  For example in one article they would be all for a strict libertarian approach and in the next call that foolish and be all for authoritarianism.  Frequently that would happen within the same article.
The point of the article was always to sow doom and discord.  Sowing discord is a well-known and viable tactic, and discord is it’s own end.  You don’t need to be consistent if your audience is not calling you out on it.
I stopped reading and haven’t looked back.

one more thing you would be wrong about

I've got some podcasts and interviews on my substack, I'll be writing some longer pieces on the flight home.

https://contextualinsurgent.substack.com/p/ukraine-chronicles-3-father-roman

I have some more podcasts on anchor:

https://anchor.fm/erin-sith/episodes/Ukraine-Edition-6-Funeral-Mass--talk-with-a-Legionnaire-e1fpmlv

I did another talk with Benjamin Boyce on his YouTube channel, it should be out within a day or so.

3 weeks later and they finally decide to go on the dl. That’s the one thing I was questioning since the start in that it was widely known what and how many arms were flowing into the country.

I had two weeks, worked out to be about 9 days in country with lost luggage, delays, and transit. I'll likely be back soon, we're working on nonprofit stuff and sourcing more stuff domestically.

#Ukraine officials say several explosions near #Lviv this morning, just 50 miles from Poland border.

Reports suggest airport or aircraft maintenance factory near city were hit.#UkraineWar#Russia #RussiaUkraineWar pic.twitter.com/nr8780WOn3

Nawied Jabarkhyl  (@NawiedJabarkhyl) March 18, 2022

There's always going to be knuckleheads in positions of power tweeting about things they shouldn't be. But I like this bit of information (propaganda) because it insinuates a strong kick to Russia's vulva that forces them to the adult table for talks.

Thanks ! Also I need a correction- write up* (typing at midnight with a melatonin in my system

Well, I'm not fancy like that.  I've just listened to what Russians say and translate it.  And when I read ZeroHedge I think, that's Russians it is.  I've never tried to validate beyond that.  That's pre-Trump.  Like a lot of propaganda sources, they set the hook by telling you things your own government won't; but then they expand on that. Even if you have really good sources, and I'm OK there, it is still tough to sort.

I mean, I didn't even realize that ZeroHedge was a Russian front was a contested idea in GD.  So, there's that.  But it is and has been, pre-Trump and you can go back and read it here.

Confirmed: Colonel Sergey Sukharev, Russia’s 331st Airborne Regiment commander, has been eliminated in Ukraine.
He was directly responsible for the Ilovaisk massacre of 2014. pic.twitter.com/3nnY9p8Aup

— Illia Ponomarenko \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6 (@IAPonomarenko) March 18, 2022

Apologies if it's a repeat.

The level of outrage and anger amongst the formerly anti-war left is beyond anything I've ever seen. These are the same people who viciously protested against the GWoT, and now they want Russian blood. At this point anything is open for consideration. This is exacerbated by the obvious fact that Biden is not pulling any strings, and our rule is probably by committee behind the curtains.

That sir, is worth a repeat

Some of the better $700 I spent

To be fair, Russia started a war, I would expect anti-war folks to want Russian blood for that. Just like they wanted the blood of those who started the GWoT.

Please start a thread for this stupid shit.

I guess you have a point with that, but I really don't see the leftist in power having the balls for that. I think its pretty unlikely.

Please take this shit elsewhere.

We need to stop using food for fuel.

Can you guys take your dick slapping elsewhere.

Eh, that's a 10% increase at best here in fuel or food.  You'll still eat and drive.  Sucks to be African though as that's the prime purchaser of Russian and Ukrainian wheat.  Probably a lot of instability there going forward.

Africa and the Middle East both rely on it. This year's gonna be a doozy!

Well, they can always buy it in China with the yuan.  Because China exports so much wheat.  Play stupid currency war games, win stupid currency war prizes.

A quick 3 minute rundown on urban warfare techniques for defending Kyiv:

Ukrainian Humvee at work
Unknown location,#Ukraine \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6

[Video via @ArmedForcesUkr] pic.twitter.com/ekQk7Yplw8

— Aleph ? \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6 (@no_itsmyturn) March 18, 2022

Ukr Humvee in action

Saw something suggesting China might not be exporting grain as it needs it for livestock. Don't know if accurate though.

They can ban it all they want, they are a net importer.

Yes.  If we had DJT in office, could he ask farmers to grow wheat instead of corn to make up for the global wheat deficit?

Its symptomatic of a larger societal issue. Three main factors at work:

1. 'Experts' are increasingly discredited, because so many 'Experts' across many fields (Gov/ecconomics/biz/health/science) have been proven to not only be wrong, but profoundly and terribly wrong. There are so many examples, but the easiest is the wealth of 'experts' who told us outsourcing to China would both improve the lives of Americans and usher in an increasingly democratic and friendly China...

2. The quality of Traditional Media has gone down massively. The Internet deprived most newspapers of their advertising/classifieds income, resulting in mass-layoffs of national newsrooms begining around 2000-01, and accelerating thereafter. Those laid off were typically the most experienced, older, better sourced and informed journalists (aka those with highest salaries) and they were broadly replaced with 20 somethings fresh out of journalism school. Journalism is something where experience and sources really matter...and 20 somethings dont have that.

This effect has then become magnified by the death of the print newspaper and the shift to online. When it comes to online advertising revenue, Quality doesnt matter, Clicks matter. A 20,000 word article on the history of NATO expansion or the realities of global energy supply, that gets 50k views, is worth less then an article called '10 reasons why reparations are good, and white people should pay for it' thats 500 words of nonsense but which gets 2 million rage clicks. This clickification results in ever greater sensationalism and ever less substance. Hence the new erra of Yellow Journalism, where clicks trump content, and everything is designed to make you rage click.

Lastly, the increased hiring of 20 somethings, fresh out of college, has created a ever more leftward swing in the newsrooms. This has both created ideological echo chambers that value 'safe spaces' over the free exchange of ideas (see the NYT uproar over having Tom Cotton do an op-ed), but it has also increasingly cut off 1/2 of America from traditional news sources, as they become so left biased that they are alienating.

3. The internet. The internet is a wealth of information...but not all of its true. And when you factor in points 1+2 (distrust of experts, distrust of traditional media) you create a massive demand for Alternative Media. Some of Alt Media is superb (Substack especially.) But a lot - especially those catering to the Right - is often terrible. The writers may be tards, they may be shills, they may be working for the ruskies, they may be false flagging for the left to discredit the right... you have no idea because most of them exist purely on the internet. And worse still, these guys have the same bills to pay as real newspapers, meaning they need clicks, meaning these AltMedia sources are just as incentivized to publish sensationalist nonsense to get clicks.

And people need, psychologically, to have an opinion about things.

So when you have someone who 1. distrusts experts due to hard experience 2. no longer trust the traditional media due to declining quality and ideological slant 3. now gets there information from Alternative Media thats of dubious quality (due to having the same core problem as traditional media minus the vetting) you get people believing a bunch of crazy, stupid shit.

Worse, the more of this crazy shit they believe, the more their minds are primed to believe and espouse even more crazy shit. And then this is made all the worse because occasionally some of this crazy shit promoted in AltMedia is true! (covid lab leak, NSA spying) which then backward and forward validates all the crazy shit that fits within that narrative and altmedia source.