bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:Replace Ukraine and Russia with Canada and US and it is pretty applicable today........
I think that it's best that we leave that one alone.
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:Replace Ukraine and Russia with Canada and US and it is pretty applicable today........
I think that it's best that we leave that one alone.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:Replace Ukraine and Russia with Canada and US and it is pretty applicable today........
I think that it's best that we leave that one alone.
Yes, certainly not the place for it.
That said, I was immediately reminded of a line from the introduction of Eliot Cohen's Conquered Into Liberty : "...I eagerly resumed work on this book, which deals with America's most durable, and in many ways most effective and important enemy of all. Canada." (The book, it's worth noting, is excellent, and deals with the late 17th to early 19th Centuries.)
In reply to aircooled :
Without question, Russia will do everything in its power to skew the elections in their favor. That could be anything from outright interference, to something more subtle, such as simply pouring money into the weakest and most fringe campaigns to ensure no consensus can be reached (if a far-right Ukrainian party emerges, I can guarantee 100% that Russia will both complain bitterly about it and dump money into it; hell, they might even create one, just to muddy the waters and prove themselves right about "Ukrainian Nazis").
In reply to 02Pilot :
I just ran across an interesting comment on elections in Ukraine: The observation was that Russia kind of screwed itself looking for a Russian leaning election result in Ukraine, by taking over all the Russian supporting areas in Ukraine!
Of course, I suspect the election result they are looking for is far less "yeah we want to be Russia" and more "we give up".
Well, no follow-up on the bomb threat situation. No schools local to us involved, and the weekend went without incident.
I found almost zero articles on it this time (most report the precious incident, which 260+ schools were affected), but here's a link for citation purposes:
aircooled said:In reply to 02Pilot :
Oh, and it looks like Russia might have run out of Koreans.... I guess they just get more? They didn't exactly use the last group with any amount of respect, one wonders why NK would give them more, population reduction? Using your population as cattle that you quite literally send to slaughter?
Now wouldn't it be interesting if the North Korean population responded to another assignment of NK soldiers to Ukraine with "unrest"...?
In reply to stroker :
Everything that I've seen would indicate that's wishful thinking.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to stroker :
Everything that I've seen would indicate that's wishful thinking.
Oh, I agree it's a highly improbable result, but you have to wonder how hard the various Western intelligence agencies are working to make the North Korean population aware their men were completely squandered.
ISW has some interesting observations, including the ever growing absurdity of the Russian meat grinder and the drone situation.
I also heard that what the Ukrainians are specifically trying to target in the refineries are the distillation towers. This is where the crude oil is broken down into the various outputs (e.g. gasoline, kerosine, etc). Apparently repairing them is very difficult without western sourced parts.
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Russian forces continued to suffer high losses in January 2025 despite a slower rate of advance as compared with previous months in late 2024. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reported on February 3 that Russian forces suffered 48,240 casualties – over three Russian motorized rifle divisions worth of personnel – in January 2025, making January the second-highest month of losses since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[1] ISW has observed geolocated evidence to assess that Russian forces gained roughly 498 square kilometers in January in Ukraine and Kursk Oblast, or roughly 16.1 square kilometers per day. The available figures suggest Russian forces suffered roughly 96 casualties per square kilometer of territory seized. The Ukrainian MoD reported that Russian forces suffered 48,670 casualties in December 2024 – their highest monthly casualty rate since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion – and ISW assessed that Russian forces gained a total of 593 square kilometers in December 2024.
Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted drone strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in Volgograd and Astrakhan oblasts on the night of February 2 to 3. ...the Volgograd Oil Refinery is one of the top ten refineries in Russia and that the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant processes gas condensate and produces gas and diesel fuel.[5] A source in the SBU told Radio Liberty that the Volgograd Oil Refinery processes almost six percent of all Russian oil and that the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant processes 12 billion cubic meters of gas condensate per year....
Ukrainian forces continue to innovate with drone operations to maintain their technological advantage over Russia and bring about battlefield effects. Commander of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi stated in an interview with Radio Liberty published on February 3 that Ukrainian forces are working on developing new technologies but are not disclosing them for as long as possible in order to maintain the technological initiative and prevent Russian forces from making their own analogues.[12] Sukharevskyi reported that the Unmanned Systems Forces conducted over 220 strikes against Russian territory in 2024 using over 3,500 weapons. Sukharevskyi noted that Ukrainian forces have struck over 15 "Buk-M3" and "Tor" air defense systems in December 2024 and January 2025 and noted that Ukrainian forces stuck a "Buk-M3" 57 kilometers from the frontline in mid-January 2025. Sukharevskyi reported that Ukrainian forces' use of first-person view (FPV) drones to hunt Russian reconnaissance drones has led to a tenfold decrease in Russian reconnaissance drone usage. Sukharevskyi highlighted Ukraine's production of first-person view (FPV) and other drones made entirely of Ukrainian-made components and stated that Ukraine is working to develop a way to counter Russian forces' fiber optic cable FPV drones and to produce its own fiber optic cable drones. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated on February 3 that the Ukrainian military continues to increase the number of unmanned systems in formations and units of the Ground Forces, Airborne Assault Forces, Naval Infantry Corps, and Unmanned Systems Forces.[13] ISW continues to assess that Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaged in a technological offense-defense race to adapt and innovate their strike and anti-drone capabilities and that Ukraine's ability to field technological adaptations at scale ahead of Russian adaptations is crucial for Ukraine's ability to offset Russia's quantitative materiel advantages.[14]
In reply to aircooled :
Blowing up Russian SAM sites not only keeps Ukrainian military planes safe but also any civilian airliners that might be within range 
stroker said:Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to stroker :
Everything that I've seen would indicate that's wishful thinking.
Oh, I agree it's a highly improbable result, but you have to wonder how hard the various Western intelligence agencies are working to make the North Korean population aware their men were completely squandered.
You're talking about the country that used human excrement for fertilizer. What are a few more dead in service of their glorious leader?
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:stroker said:Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to stroker :
Everything that I've seen would indicate that's wishful thinking.
Oh, I agree it's a highly improbable result, but you have to wonder how hard the various Western intelligence agencies are working to make the North Korean population aware their men were completely squandered.
You're talking about the country that used human excrement for fertilizer. What are a few more dead in service of their glorious leader?
Sewage is used for fertilizer here.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Holy E36 M3. I had no idea. That's scary.
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:Well, no follow-up on the bomb threat situation. No schools local to us involved, and the weekend went without incident.
I found almost zero articles on it this time (most report the precious incident, which 260+ schools were affected), but here's a link for citation purposes:
I agreed with 02 on this one. Chaos, stress, people's dissatisfaction with government action or inaction.
but, why Hungary? 
just wondering, it's not clear to me yet
We've been having these bombs threats for months now - schools and kindergartens... and that's in addition to the air alarms where the kids have to go down to shelters only kids' facilities that have shelters are working, the other kids are learning online
on February 3, our news channels wrote about Trump's statement
"we tell Ukraine that they have valuable rare earth metals and i want Ukraine to give us rare earth metals" - Trump
also Trump said that "great progress" has been made in resolving the war between Russia and Ukraine. He also expressed in purchasing Ukrainian rare earth resources in exchange for the US aid
Zelensky added this point to the "victory plan"
the approximate value of minerals in 2023 is almost 15 trillions $, more than 70% of the total amount is concentrated for only Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Luhansk regions
Were there any such statements in your press/news.
Your thoughts?
Hi guys 
Only mentioned briefly in places you'd have to look for, not front page or typical nightly TV coverage on it that I've seen.
OT, and I apologize for the distraction:
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
My favorite quote from the linked article:
Everybody is screwed, it’s not a selective screwing,” she added.
Sewage fertilizer has been used in the USA for decades, perhaps longer, although I don't know how prevalent. When I worked for a landscaper in MD back in the mid-1980s, we sometimes used a fertilizer called ComPro, and it did indeed smell like human E36 M3.
In reply to VikkiDp :
I posted this link, which discussed the mineral wealth issue, on the previous page. This is more of a specialist publication, however; I have not seen mention of it in mainstream news outlets.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:OT, and I apologize for the distraction:
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
My favorite quote from the linked article:
Everybody is screwed, it’s not a selective screwing,” she added.
Sewage fertilizer has been used in the USA for decades, perhaps longer, although I don't know how prevalent. When I worked for a landscaper in MD back in the mid-1980s, we sometimes used a fertilizer called ComPro, and it did indeed smell like human E36 M3.
They were using human waste as fertilizer when I was in Junior High School (1973) in La Crosse, WI.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Holy E36 M3. I had no idea. That's scary.
All sewage has to go somewhere. It is usually highly treated by the time it gets to be land applied. In British Columbia it has to be tested and classified, and depending on the level of heavy metals and chemicals Etc it is either landfilled or applied to non-food-bearing agricultural land. Most of it is used as fertilizer for tree farms or municipal landscaping. We never so far as I know apply it to AG land that is used for the production of food, but I know that's pretty common in the US for some reason.
In reply to VikkiDp :
There is actually very little Ukraine related news in the US currently. It's a bit understandable since the situation has not had many dramatic shifts for a while. Of course, with most news, closer, dramatic stories can easily flood out foreign stories and, at least recently, there have been a lot of "dramatic" stories around.
Reuters did pick it up, but it also seems to not be an agreement at this point, more of an idea.
Trump says he wants Ukraine to supply US with rare earths
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he wants Ukraine to supply the United States with rare earth minerals as a form of payment for financially supporting the country's war efforts against Russia.
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said Ukraine was willing, adding that he wants "equalization" from Ukraine for Washington's "close to $300 billion" in support....
If nothing else, it seems like reasonable way to provide some offset for the US money being sent there. The US traditionally gets a lot of such minerals from China, and China has recently (months ago, not related to recent tariffs) put restriction on rare earth minerals sold to the US.
China Blocks Shipment of Rare Minerals to US: What to Know
China has banned the export of several strategically important minerals to the U.S., in response to the latest round of American restrictions Chinese chip-making industry...
https://www.newsweek.com/china-bans-critical-minerals-trade-war-1995383
Question: How do you know if a Russian can fly?
Answer (apparently): Throw him out a window.
Two top Russian colonels plunge from high windows with one killed and the other left fighting for life as spate of mysterious deaths involving Putin officials continues
A top Russian colonel has died after mysteriously plunging 50ft from a window, while another was seriously injured from a similar fall in the latest spate of suspicious deaths involving Kremlin officials.
Colonel Alexey Zubkov - an employee for the Russian Investigative Committee - is fighting for his life after he plummeted 40ft from a bathroom window, according to Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.
Miraculously, Col. Zubkov was 'conscious' after his fall and 'briskly answered questions' but was unable to explain the reasons for his plunge....
I wonder if Putin can fly.... you never know, we might find out....
Have we discussed about the reports that russian soldiers were being transported to the front lines handcuffed to each other yet?
And if that wasn't enough, I'm seeing reports that the russians have resorted to using donkeys for transportation/supply.
In reply to aircooled :
Is the use of LSD common in Russia?
In reply to aircooled :
If nothing else, it seems like reasonable way to provide some offset for the US money being sent there.
I agree, it's reasonable. But most of those territories are under russians control or very close to the front line I don't think they're gonna give someone a chance to get something
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