The Surrender Piggy at Work

He sent Special Lackey and his corrupt-as-fuck SIL down to Miami to get his marching orders from his Russian masters:

U.S. officials and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about a meeting last month in which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The meeting took place in Miami at the end of October and included special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, one of Russia's largest sovereign wealth funds.
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The meeting resulted in a 28-point plan for ending the war, two people familiar with the situation said. The plan, which was made public this week by Axios, came as a surprise to U.S. officials in various corners of the administration and has stirred confusion at embassies throughout Washington and in European capitals.

Trump's surrender plan was drafted by the Russians, given to Witkoff and then Trump blessed it as his own. If Witkoff and Trump were avowed Russian agents, their actions would be no different from what they are. Krasnov is furious because the Ukrainians won't obey his orders to surrender. It'd be like Chamberlain cmplaining that the Czechs showed no gratitude to him for plunging a knife into their backs.

And, of course, MAGA is blindly following Trump down the road of selling out Ukraine to Russia because they are in thrall to their Orange God and have largely lost the capability to disgaree with anything that he does.

Except, of course, when it comes to Epstein and pedophilia. They still have a few standards, even if the Trump Propaganda Team is trying to push down the definition of pedophilia so Trump gets a pass.

Backwatering on Ukraine

The Orange Useful Idiot is apparently trying to walk back his Ukraine Surrender Plan.

U.S. senators critical of President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday they spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual U.S. plan.

How is that any better that Cadet Bone Spurs and Chief Lacky Witkoff were pushing Ukraine to agree to surrender on Russia's terms?

I have a two point plan:

1.  All Russian forces withdraw to the 1991 border, and
2.  The International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes.

I also think it's a good idea for all Russian military forces to withdraw to a 50km distance from the border, both in Russia and Belarus.

But once again, we have seen Trump's willingness to do Putin's bidding if he thought that he could get away with it. The man is a venal traitor to his core and has to be watched like the sleazy snake that he is.

The Ambiguity of Agent Krasnov

President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion into Poland’s airspace, a provocative act by Moscow that has put the United States’ NATO allies in Europe on edge. ... Trump’s comment stood in sharp contrast to the strong condemnation by several European leaders and was notably less robust than that of his ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker.

He's not going to upset his banker, now, is he.

Here We Go

Poland said Wednesday that multiple Russian drones entered its territory over the course of several hours and were shot down with help from NATO allies, describing the incursion as an “act of aggression” carried out during a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine.
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“Russia’s war is escalating, not ending,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “Last night in Poland we saw the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began, and indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental.”

war with Russia This is what aggressors and domestic abusers do. They ratchet things up over time, so there is no bright line, unless the Russians send troops into Poland.

We may be inching into war and we're saddled with a Russian tool sitting in the White House. It's as though the candidate of the German-American Bund won the election in 1940.

Aggression gets deterred with strength, not with mealy-mouthed obsequiousness. "Oh, he's a good guy." "I fell down the stairs." "He didn't mean to hit me." "I provoked him." All the same shit-ass rationales that cops, lawyers and judges see play out in domestic abuse cases are at play here. And you see them in the rationales from the Right defending Putin.

Because the West isn't standing up to the Russians in a meaningful way, because many keep dealing with them, the Russians are going to keep pushing until a general war begins.

Strap in. This business is getting out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

Russia is a Terrorist Nation and Everyone Who is Supporting Them Are Terrorist Sympathizers

And yes, this include the Rotting Fascist Mango and his servant, the Hillbilly Couch Fucker.

A Russian glide bomb struck a village in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as people stood in line in the open air to collect their monthly pension. The blast killed at least 24 people and injured 19 others, the Ukraine Emergency Service said.

The bomb hit the Donetsk region village of Yarova at around 11 a.m. local time, authorities said. The village lies less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the front line. Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said 23 of the dead were pensioners.

The Russians knew exactly what they were doing. They are war criminals.

And if you continue to spport Putin and his war of aggression, please, feel free to leave and sign up in his army.

Autocrats Do the Same Thing

They try to cook the books to deny reality.

In Russia, they're classifying economic statistics to hide their worsening economy. Putin's decreed there will be no recession, so the way he'll do that is to tell everyone there's no recession.

In this country, our petulant leader fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn't like the numbers. The message is clear to her successors: Cook the books to please the Sundowner-in-Chief. He's also on a campaign to turn the Federal Reserve from caring about inflation to caring about his poll numbers.

But the bond market is what keeps the country from collapsing under the massive debt that Republican presidents have saddled it with. If the Angry Bloated Orage Toddler fucks around with the interest rates, large infestors will dump treasury bonds and then things will get much worse rather quickly.

Also, he's crazier than a shithouse rat:

Another Putin Executive “Retires”

Russia’s former transport minister has died from a gunshot wound just hours after Vladimir Putin sacked him.

The body of Roman Starovoit, the ex-minister, was found in his car in a Moscow suburb. He appeared to have killed himself, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.

Yes, he shot himself in the back of the head, four times, from 6 feet away. I guess that shoving him out of a 10th floor window wouldn't send the right message to other minions.

You can bet that the fuhrer of Mar-a-Lago is on the phone to Noem and Patel, saying: "Did you see what Putin had done? Why can't you do that for me?"

Moonraker and Bribing Donnie

Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels haven't aged well. For example, Moonraker - published almost exactly 70 years ago in April 1955 - features a villain who's a super-rich industrialist and rocket-maker seeking to cause chaos because he's a secret Nazi. Such a silly idea!

Meanwhile, rumors are that the Russians are offering an oil and gas deal to the Dopenfuhrer if he sells out Ukraine. And the Russians are using their own wounded and disabled soldiers as targets to give the Ukrainians something to shoot at.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Mriya, before the Russians destroyed it.

“Bird Strike”

There seems to be a lot of shrapnel damage for a bird strike.

My guess is that the Russians ordered the airliner to divert across the Caspian Sea in the hope that it would crash into the sea, and the evidence of what they did would be lost forever.

"Bird Strike"

An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.
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Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information showed that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
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Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass.

RUMINT is that the "bird" that hit the airliner was a surface-to-air missile. Which makes sense, as birds typically don't blow part of the wing off airliners. And the Russians are known to be somewhat trigger-happy.

But not only the Russians, it seems.

What Do You Do When Your Neighboring Country is Run by an Imperialist With Dreams of Empire

In Poland, you teach all of your kids to shoot.

.

In Finland, you expand your firing ranges.

Unsettled by Russia’s expansionism and emboldened by its recent accession to NATO, Finland is rallying to strengthen its national self-defense beyond its traditional military capabilities.

The popularity of weapons training in the Nordic country has soared in recent months. Few places tell the story of the rise in Finnish affinity for self-defense more than shooting ranges that are riding a boom of interest.
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Earlier this year, the coalition government announced plans to open more than 300 new ranges — a big jump from the 670 in operation today.

Authorities are encouraging citizens to take up interest in national defense in the country with a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, where firing shots in ice hockey has been more of a pastime than shooting bullets.

The COFF, CouchBoy and the rest of their ilk may say that Russia is a peaceful nation, but Russia's neighbors know that's not the truth.

Musk Plays Both Sides

Besides sucking up to the TOFF, he's sucking up to Putin.

For national security reasons, we may need to nationalize SpaceX before he tries to move it to Brazil or some other country that he can buy.

He’s Baaaack!

Burr Deming, fresh from an attack by Russian trolls. Drop by, if you please.

H/T

Did Vladdie Just Realize That He Has a Potemkin Army?

In a strong, new warning to the West, Putin said Wednesday that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.

The threat, outlined in a revision of Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

That's what they say, but I see something else. I think that the TOFF's boss may have finally realized that his much-vaunted military has been hollowed out by many decades of corruption and stagnant leadership. Even their self-proclaimed deterrents may not work. Russia has never adapted to more modern ways of fighting and that is why the Ukrainians, who did adapt, stopped Putin's three-day campaign to conquer Ukraine and have continued to do so. The only way the Russians have been able to make any progress is by their ancient tactic of throwing soldiers into do-or-die assaults. It may be leading to high levels of casualties unseen since the Korean war.

It is a hollow threat. The Russians have to know that a nuclear attack on a NATO nation would be answered in kind in very short order.

And then it would be game over for us all in a matter of hours. Even the über-rich wouldn't have time to flee to their bunkers. The aftermath would make Fallout look like a garden party.

The Fine Whine of Russian-Paid Trolls (and Chinese Fuckery)

A number of high-profile, conservative influencers in the US have said they are “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation campaign, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of carrying out a sustained campaign to influence the outcome of November’s presidential elections.

Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening addressing allegations that a US content creation company they were associated with had been provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favour of Moscow’s interests and agenda, including over the war in Ukraine.

The justice department indictment does not name the company, but describes it as a Tennessee-based content creation firm with six commentators and with a website identifying itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on western political and cultural issues”.

That description exactly matches Tenet Media, an online company that hosts videos made by well-known conservative influencers Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and others.

Now you know why their messages have been, oh, so well-aligned with Putin's interests.

Meanwhile, China snuck an illegal agent well into New York state's government.

A former aide to two New York governors was charged Tuesday with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government who used her state positions to subtly advance Beijing’s agenda in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars.

Linda Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Gov. Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was arrested Tuesday morning along with her husband, Chris Hu, at their $4 million home on Long Island.

And China has been trying to violently suppress protests against the Xi regime in this country:

Chinese diplomats and pro-China diaspora groups based in the United States organized demonstrations in San Francisco that harassed and silenced protesters opposed to Beijing’s policies, including through violence, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November, a six-month investigation by The Washington Post shows.

The events in San Francisco illustrate how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to extend its intolerance of any dissent into the United States and target people exercising their First Amendment rights in an American city. It is part of a broader global pattern of China attempting to reach beyond its borders and suppress parts of its diaspora advocating against the CCP and ongoing rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and mainland China, the U.S. government and human rights groups say.

The article lays out that there are a number of Chinese front groups operating in this country, including the Chinese American Federation and the American Chinese Commerce Association. If those front groups are not being investigated for being unregistered foreign agents, they should be. And same for those who were getting paid by the Russians.

MAGA, Your New Home Awaits

Russia has declared itself a “safe haven” to any “foreigners” who want to “escape” their “neoliberal” home countries.
...
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week which would allow foreign nationals into the country “outside the quota approved by the Russian government and without providing documents confirming their knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and basic laws”.

Applicants may apply via a simplified, expedited system and can request residency if they reject their home countries’ “destructive neoliberal ideals”.

Alex Jones is thinking of going there, leaving one question: Does he need any help packing up his shit?

Go ahead, MAGA. Take your Orange God's Master up on his offer. Go. Join this pedophile. Don't let the screen door hit you on your way out. The rest of us can set up a foundation to help pay your reasonable moving expenses.

And who knows, maybe you won't get drafted into the Red Russian army.

Fuck Mother Russia and All Who Support Her

Infidel 753 is reporting that the Russians allegedly took down the Fair and UNbalanced blog, and suggests that Putin's cyberpoodles are targeting bloggers that oppose his war of aggression and/or oppose the Asset's campaign.

If you're a liberal blogger, he recommends making yor password harder, turning on two-factor authentification and watch out for phishing attempts.

A Professional Military

When the Russians aren't engaging in terrorism by targeting children's hospitals, they're shooting up their own military columns.

it's a pretty slick, move to kill your own troops and then post it on social media, as if it is something to be proud of. when that video spreads throughout Russia, as it most certainly will, it will, no doubt, be of comfort to the family who have lost their men in Putin's war of aggression.

Another Dumbass

A US citizen has been detained in Russia for alleged violence against a police officer, local media report.

The man was arrested in a Moscow hotel on the night of 12 August after refusing to "provide identification documents", news agency Interfax said on Wednesday, citing Russia's Investigative Committee.

A criminal case has been opened against him, and he could face up to five years in prison.

At this point, any American citizen who goes to or is in Russia without diplomatic cover is a certified grade-a dumbass.