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Russians reporting from Crimea. Looks bad, they’re asking people to ration electricity to keep water pumping.

https://x.com/kylejglen/status/2068675095669641635.

Russian milblogger reports a catastrophic situation in Crimea

- No electricity

- No water

- No fuel

Counts for nothing until

- No Russians

Call me optimistic (because I’m optimistic), but I reckon we’re about a week or two away from an evacuation of Crimea.

It may even end up with a UN humanitarian airlift operation of tens of thousands of people, Putin’s final humiliation.

An evacuation of Crimea would have interesting parallels with the last Russian civil war.

‘Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little fucker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book.’
https://x.com/shashj/status/2068356203659280831

Never forgave Zelensky for standing up to him in Kyiv and refusing to sign away Ukraine’s mineral rights. According to our correspondent who saw Bessent, immediately afterwards, he was trembling after meeting Zelensky
https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/2068637907670241459

Is there a single normal person in the Trump administration ?

Rubio probably closest to a standard horrible GOP right winger. Abasing himself before Trump has probably deformed him morally for good though.

Given that Iran was lobbied for by Rubio and Trump was against it instinctively (both before and since), who is the deformer and who is the deformed?

Given the buck ($billions in Trump’s case) stops with the prez and Iran would never have happened without his blessing, I’d say the deformation starts at the top. In any case much as I think any intervention in Iran would be a pile of shit, such a hawkish position has been pretty popular on the standard horrible GOP right for decades.

Russians reporting from Crimea. Looks bad, they’re asking people to ration electricity to keep water pumping.

https://x.com/kylejglen/status/2068675095669641635.

Russian milblogger reports a catastrophic situation in Crimea

- No electricity

- No water

- No fuel

Counts for nothing until

- No Russians

Call me optimistic (because I’m optimistic), but I reckon we’re about a week or two away from an evacuation of Crimea.

It may even end up with a UN humanitarian airlift operation of tens of thousands of people, Putin’s final humiliation.

Why would Zelensky obstruct any evacuation of Crimea? Presumably it can be done fairly easily as long as it’s not under fire, and it would be a massive propaganda coup for Ukraine.

Lol how many times have we heard from one person here the war in Ukraine was about to end

I disagree with @Sandpit on many things but I can't criticise his hopeful reports on the the Ukraine war. We all have a natural tendency to lap up and pass on reports that match our hope - I certainly do.

And he's surely not wrong that things look bleak for Russia, which has been led into a terrible disaster with Putin's adventure? Imminent surrender of Crimea? Maybe not, but their hold is beginning to look more tenuous.

I’m generally a positive and hopeful guy, willing that the best of humanity prevails.

If you can’t celebrate Moscow being on fire this week, Crimea being totally isolated, and Ukranian drones running up and down the logistics corridor into the Donbass, then when can you smile? Hell, they sent a Flamingo over 2,000km last night, over the Urals and into a refinery in Siberia.

Oh, and I have a trip to Ukraine booked for August. War being over by then would be awesome, but I think that’s too optimistic even for me!

The other factor playing against Putin, which you won't say so I will, is that there is another reason time is not in his favour.

The riskiest moment for Ukraine was over a year ago when Mr You Hold No Cards entered the Oval Office and pulled support for Ukraine.

Since then Ukraine has not only held the line, they have turned things in their favour so that the war is now being felt in Moscow and St Petersburg, and more Russian fatalities than recruits.

Soon Putin's mate in the Oval Office will be a lame duck.

If Kyiv can keep the current trajectory for 2 more years, and if the Americans next elect an opponent not a friend of Putin, then that could lead to a culmination.

I think its even more remarkable than that. They have survived their betrayal by Trump and the restriction of material from the USA by some additional support from Europe (including us) but mainly by their astonishing innovation and ingenuity.

They were restricted for years because any long range weapons they were supplied (including our storm shadows) came with conditions that they were not to be used on Russian soil. So they built their own. They did not get enough anti-drone and air defences, so they built their own and now they are world leading in the field. They didn't get enough tanks to take on the massed ranks from Russia so they made them irrelevant and frankly suicidal to be in. They have far fewer men and they are increasingly making that irrelevant too as drones fight their battles with barely a human in sight. They have printed their own cards.

They are now clearly winning a war against what was supposed to have been a superpower. The price that they have paid for this and continue to pay is very high but what a people! What a country! What a leader!

JD Vance was very proud that he had fucked over Ukraine like a cheap DFS sofa.

The European support for Ukraine is a direct "fuck you!" back at Vance.

Things could move very fast in Moscow. You have to wonder how British politcs - especially on the right/far right - would be impacted by the lack of the Putin-fed bot farms on social media.

‘Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little fucker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book.’
https://x.com/shashj/status/2068356203659280831

Never forgave Zelensky for standing up to him in Kyiv and refusing to sign away Ukraine’s mineral rights. According to our correspondent who saw Bessent, immediately afterwards, he was trembling after meeting Zelensky
https://x.com/gideonrachman/status/2068637907670241459

Is there a single normal person in the Trump administration ?

Rubio probably closest to a standard horrible GOP right winger. Abasing himself before Trump has probably deformed him morally for good though.