patrick.net

France isn't a Five Eyes country, less incentive for their involvement, plus they have enough problems at home. And bankers tend to back winners, don't forget Macron is a banker first.

Were you seriously expecting Europe to care much if China invades Taiwan? I mean they probably wouldn't like paying higher prices for semiconductors and stuff, but otherwise does it really effect Europe all that much? Last time I checked, Taiwan isn't a NATO member either.

I would expect Vietnam, Japan, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and possibly a few other countries in that part of the world to care.

When is the last time the US government told people that truth, especially about a war?

I used to think "well, they can't keep doing this, they'll lose all credibility", but they continue to do it. At this point, when I hear people repeating US government claims, I just consider them stupid. How many times does the US government have to lie, before people are like "duh, maybe they are lying?"

If Ukraine SOMEHOW prevails, I'll be shocked and I'll admit my error, but it's pretty obvious the US government is full of shit, and you don't need some whistleblower to tell you that. I don't know why the government lies about everything, but they do.

Waiting for comment from Eric Holder...not holding my breath

I've skimmed through the documents, other than confirming that the US spies on all of our allies and is helping arm, train and advise Ukraine in defending themselves from Russia's invasion - what else have we learned?

The battle maps are still the same. Russia's vaunted "Winter Offensive" accomplished little other than perhaps taking Bakhmut.

The leaked docs also show that Russia has about 3X deaths and casualties compared to Ukraine which makes sense as attackers typically have 3X the casualties against entrenched defense positions.

socal2 says

The leaked docs also show that Russia has about 3X deaths and casualties compared to Ukraine which makes sense as attackers typically have 3X the casualties against entrenched defense positions.

I didn't read the docs. How many Russians and Ukrainians did they say died? 10,000 to 30,000? 100,000 Ukrainians to 300,000 Russians?

How many have died in this war?

Onvacation says

socal2 says

The leaked docs also show that Russia has about 3X deaths and casualties compared to Ukraine which makes sense as attackers typically have 3X the casualties against entrenched defense positions.

I didn't read the docs. How many Russians and Ukrainians did they say died? 10,000 to 30,000? 100,000 Ukrainians to 300,000 Russians?

The leaked documents estimated 43,000 Russian deaths and 17,500 Ukrainian deaths.

There was some possibly apocryphal announcement that SS is giving out 3K to 4900 dollars in addition the regular checks this month per beneficiary. Let us know if you get that extra money or not. There was no reason given, so it might be fake news.

Appreciate this piece. I think BigSerge undercounts the possibility this is an internal document that was designed to circulate inside the USG to create an "OMG! We need to spend MOAR money! Low supplies!" mindset for admins and politicians.

Also, "BigSerge" makes a bad comparison between the brigades the UA could field, and an ARMORED Brigade or the Stryker Brigade, which is MECHANIZED. A fairer comparison might be a "Infantry Brigade", but our current Infantry BCT has no organic armored vehicles, not even IFVs or Strykers, just Light Vehicles (Hummers and Medium Trucks). I'll have to dig out a Medium Infantry Regiment or Brigade TOE from WW2-Vietnam Era to get a better idea. Going by shit memory, ~30 tanks for a Medium Inf Brigade is pretty good by WW2 standards.

Best TOE I could find, but at this point after Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is smoking stuff to think their Infantry Brigade Combat Team (motorized) would survive any but the least intensive conflict. Something not much more intense than the Troubles. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the IBCTs were given heavier vehicles as substitutes for their normal TOE. Since IBCTs are the majority of units in the Current US Army, I don't think any potential Civil War OPFORs have much to worry about given Hummers have minimal survivability against any but the smallest calibers.
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/51535-breakout-figure2_4.pdf

So ~30 Tanks and ~90 IFVs/APCs would make them superior to the US Infantry or Airborne BCT, and about what you'd expect from a Mechanized Unit of comparable size of a 3rd Tier Country. The Russian Army has been substantially re-organized several times in the past couple of decades, I have no clue what a comparable Infantry or Motorized Russian unit would have.

2023 and the US Airborne still doesn't have a modestly survivable air dropped IFV. At least they don't bullshit about this one's survivability, which is obvious as it's a literal open vehicle.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IqsVVZPQ540

Another takeaway: Consider that with hundreds of billions in our military budget, we should have SOVIET LEVELS OF STOCKPILES, so much shit we don't know what to do with it all. So much ammo and missiles we're begging Korea, Germany, etc. to take some off our hands due to storage limitations. Instead we can barely replace a Ukraine's depletion while it's on defense.

richwicks says

At this point, when I hear people repeating US government claims, I just consider them stupid.

my point was 9/11....the planes that hit the towers just "vaporized" but they found 3 like new saudi passports amonst the rubble......since that explanation wouldn't fly at the pentagon crash, they scatted some old parts around that didn't even belong to that type of plane,Plus it came in low but still didnt hit any trees or power lines. And the last one. It just bored into the ground and buried itself. And millions still believe it.socal2 says

The leaked docs also show that Russia has about 3X deaths and casualties compared to Ukraine which makes sense as attackers typically have 3X the casualties against entrenched defense positions.

You talk like they are still fighting a conventional war like WW1 where the defenders have foxholes and the attackers just charge in with guns blazing.

I still remember Vietnam, where they claimed the Vietnamese kill numbers were twenty five times higher than American. Anybody who believes Russia has suffered anything but a fraction of the Ukrainian casualties, well, my tin foil hat is off to you.

We have to wait another half year to a year to see which side collapses. I give it 70 pct Russia collapsing and 30 pct Ukraine.

I recall PATNET Ukraine specialist predictions that Ukraine will collapse in a week and stop existing as a country in a month, and neighboring EEuropean countries will be absorbed by Russia. If your predictions were on par with Covid vaccine pusher predictions you may want to reorient your ideology and start looking at facts. But then again people will not change their way of thinking because of facts and reality.

And BTW I do not agree with US funding this war. It is a European issue and they should fund it.

cisTits says

I remember Patrick blaming it on Nordstream, even.

Not his best moment.

clambo says

they are removing $329/month for Medicare, based on my 2021 tax return.

Is that just for Part B?

>>clambo says
I didn't receive but it still counts as a payment to me.

Actually, you did receive it, it was just used to pay Medicare premiums like a paycheck allotment. If you were over 65 and chose not to receive SS yet, you would be sending a check to pay for Medicare.

Isn't this IRMMA?

https://www.humana.com/medicare/medicare-resources/irmaa#:~:text=What%20is%20IRMAA%3F,income%20reported%202%20years%20prior.

HeadSet says

clambo says

they are removing $329/month for Medicare, based on my 2021 tax return.

Is that just for Part B?

>>clambo says
I didn't receive but it still counts as a payment to me.

Actually, you did receive it, it was just used to pay Medicare premiums like a paycheck allotment. If you were over 65 and chose not to receive SS yet, you would be sending a check to pay for Medicare.

HeadSet says

Actually, you did receive it, it was just used to pay Medicare premiums like a paycheck allotment. If you were over 65 and chose not to receive SS yet, you would be sending a check to pay for Medicare.

And it helps to have minimal income. They don't yet look at accumulated wealth and assets. That, and a white privelege assessment, probably are in the works.

HeadSet is correct; Social Security were nice enough to save me the trouble of paying Medicare and paid them for me.

Edit: I guess my beef is this: I have been paying Medicare tax for my entire working life. I always assumed that the most useful benefit of being over 65 was Medicare which I thought I had already paid for. Little did I know that it was not paid for.

What also is unknown is that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it, and Washington, are at war, and the Ukrainian president and many in his entourage have been skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments. One estimate by analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency put the embezzled funds at $400 million last year, at least; another expert compared the level of corruption in Kiev as approaching that of the Afghan war, “although there will be no professional audit reports emerging from the Ukraine.”

“Zelensky’s been buying discount diesel from the Russians,” one knowledgeable American intelligence official told me. “And who’s paying for the gas and oil? We are. Putin and his oligarchs are making millions” on it.

So both the Ukrainians and the Russians are getting rich off of Pedo Joe's spray of American tax dollars over the whole area.

LOL! They also say that all the generals are fighting over the corrupto-bucks, because some of them don't think they are getting their share. Might be some internal putsch fighting over the graft.

Bd6r says

And BTW I do not agree with US funding this war. It is a European issue and they should fund it.

United States caused this war by overthrowing Ukraine in 2014.

So, it is our issue, because we allow a criminal government to exist. Enjoy the bed you allowed to be made.

cisTits says

directly into those PatNet members

@cisTits

No, please don't do that.

It ruins the site.

I don't think the fluffers are pure agitprop repeating stations. I think they are sincerely deluded, and they do provide counterpoint. Some are motivated by pure compulsive hatred of Russia, which Russia may richly deserve. Some may have economic attachment to Ukrainian themes. It is sometimes useful to gauge how people can become sincerely deluded.

The ones the I don't like are the purely malicious agitprop repeaters who don't even believe their own bullshit, but promulgate it through hire or because they think it empowers them. Basically, political sociopaths.

I wasn't able to find any links to these docs I would consider reliable. And I don't see any here either. The fact that US government is investigating seems to indicate they are legit, but without being able to examine the source material, how can we really know what was leaked?

Personal attacks just dig the hole deeper.

I think it would be more productive just to point out that they were mistaken. People make mistakes.

Whatever these docs represent, they do seem to have 'policy lies' i.e. fake shit designed by one bureaucrat to either convince or fool or purposely gaslight or gain the cooperation another bureaucrat. The sender and receiver both nod and agree to subscribe to the policy lies to pursue an agenda. It shows they are operating out of untethered insanity, and they don't even care anymore about what is 'real'.

Also there is that bit that 'leaks' are purposeful disinfo seeding and aren't leaks at all. SOD, who is one of the compulsive State Satanic Liars, promising to track down the source of the 'leaks', probably means he is trying to legitimize the gaslighting and disinfo and has no intention of tracking down anything, unless it is some patsy.

Ceffer says

operating out of untethered insanity

They are working in comfortable office conditions, have a latest model BMW or Mercedes, make at least $175,000 a year (includes bonuses), and live a non stressful existence in the northern Virginia suburbs. Perhaps they go to their 2nd home or vacation home near Shenandoah National Park on the weekends.

These self dealing and smug people are comfortably removed from the reality (chaos, destruction, etc.) that they create.

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cisTits says

personally skimming from the top

The upper echelons of Ukraine (such as top 5%) may exodus if some type of deal is made to stop the war. This is Zelensky, the military generals, etc.

So they engage in self dealing as far as "skim the skim" (a term used in the movie Casino) and deposit that in a Swiss, Grand Cayman, etc. bank account.

This is their insurance policy as far as leaving Ukraine and living abroad such as in Monte Carlo or St Martin once there is a new (and more neutral) Ukrainian government installed that may not be as much anti-Kremlin and pro-NATO.

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@Patrick there's a lot of personal attacks directed at specific members in this thread, including the OP. Just because the content the thread is about is correct, does not make it ok to start name-calling.

cisTits says

In political jargon, a useful idiot is a term currently used to reference a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically being used by the cause's leaders.[1][2] The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot

I love this definition. I just don't think that the fluffers have risen to this status quite yet.

I have my liberal friend in Santa Cruz, that I am slowly detoxifying. He does seem to be persuadable back from the ledge. I kind of feel sorry for him, but I think that I am making inroads. I don't think I would try to ad hominem him from his brainwashing.

cisTits says

Zekensky himself is using US taxpayer money TO BUY FUCKING DESIEL FUEL FROM RUSSIA and is personally skimming from the top!

Nothing really that shocking or new here. Ukraine is super corrupt. Zelensky appears in the Panama Papers, a documentary made well before the Ukraine/Russia fiasco started last year. All the mainstream propaganda outlets ran countless articles about Ukraine Nazi's, again before last year. I was on the Maiden live stream's where Nazi's were openly celebrating the content as pro-Nazi.

If this is news to anyone, you haven't been paying attention.

There are a lot of Americans in powerful positions getting their palms greased as well.

Why do you think there is such a thing as 'off shore accounts?' They aren't there to service the working stiff that is struggling to keep his head above water.

NuttBoxer says

Patrick there's a lot of personal attacks directed at specific members in this thread, including the OP. Just because the content the thread is about is correct, does not make it ok to start name-calling.

@NuttBoxer I don't see any directed at specific p.net members. It's unpleasant that he's attacking a group of other members, though I don't have any particular rule about that yet. Should I?

OK, I should.

New rule, call it the cisTits rule:

You cannot deliberately insult the other members of the site, even in groups. That just turns everything to shit instantly.

In recognition, cisTits needs to add a few pairs to his longstanding thread.

If it's one person calling out everyone else that's one thing, but when it's only targeting a few members, who seem to hold a view that's in the minority on the site, allowing personal attacks will just turn this into an echo chamber. I think it's a logical extension of the original rule for the same purpose, keeping things civil, and allowing free speech, whether we agree with the speech or not. Whether the idea is popular, or not.

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Best I could afford is a Mac Mini and Ipad Mini

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Apple was never built for people making less than $80k/yr. I'm not a fan boy, but Apple will do just fine. They can scale and cut employees if needed. Their margins on products are fucking insane.

Run a business and you'll understand. I'm running a 2015 iMac. Never had to restart it or do any of the other shit you'd have to do with other PC's. $17/mo for a high preforming computer. I've built websites, marketing material with Adobe infrastructure, photography, etc. I get shitting on the price of Apple, but the alternative is massively shittier in my world at least. A $500 PC with windows is shit. And I'm talking consumer level, not developer/engineer machines.

I've been using a $400 refurbished Lenovo for 10 years. Less than $4 a month for adequacy.

"Apple products aren't expensive, they just cost more than some people can afford."

I have noticed that they are more competitively priced than years ago.

I have a large old MacBook Pro which is too heavy to take anywhere.

I'm liking my $120 Asus lightweight laptop with Pop!Os Linux lately.

I don't like all the "integration" stuff they are incorporating into Macs lately.