The All things Political Topic - The Night never knew that its end was fleet.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

Looks like there is a supply problem on the mercenary market?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/25/mali-approached-russian-private-companies-moscow-not-involved

 

Mali going shopping in Russia. What happened to Blackwater (who made quite a name for themselves in Iraq)???

 

Mali has asked Russian private companies to boost security in the conflict-torn country, Moscow confirmed as the Malian leader accused France of abandoning Bamako by preparing a large troop drawdown.

This story has been discussed in SA and it matters to me because I support a peaceful and economically united  Africa and these conflicts with AQ in Mali and with the appalling ISIS proxy groups in other African countries just continue to destabilize these countries....its bad enough  they face terrible economic realities but these African terrorist groups just make things worse 

And I can also understand  the French are leaving but they been involved for years and AQ still exists in a nebulous way so  I support the Russian involvement because despite my issues with civilian deaths in Syria I am not at all opposed to them getting involved in conflicts  and hopefully  being more effective at destroying the AQ elements. The Russian general military approach may be exactly what the French were not doing because the presence of AQ  in Africa with extremism can be wiped out and their wont be collateral damage because of how AQ operates

And it also demonstrates more interest in Russia to helping in conflicts that wont really result in much economic benefit if the Russians are successful  because these countries are really poor and dont have much

Of course I assume they are being paid but thats normal. End of day this is about certain conflicts in Africa that continue interminably and no one seems to get to a solution so lets see how the Russians do

And I do think they have direct links to Moscow but this is a good thing as you know it  will be resourced properly ...even if they claim to have no links to the Russian government

You notice the irony is you will  see that Mali gets no real  support from other African countries or the African Union which just reminds me of how an ineffective union is just a waste of time when you have no real   consensus or support form the governing body that is suppose to at least manage these issues in Africa 

And well done for even posting this because I dont expect anyone to know or care about this African conflict but it does matter to the region and stability 

 

[BruceVC]

30 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

Blackwater --> Xe --> Academi. Which I believe still exists, though not independently any more.

Can't help but think that the main reason for picking Wagner is to maximally annoy the French rather than for any practical benefit. Ironically, it's illegal for Russian citizens to work as mercenaries at least technically, which is one of the reasons Moscow always has to deny having any involvement with them despite there being obvious links. That, and their alleged tendency to beat people they think are stealing from them to death with sledgehammers while being stupid enough to film themselves doing it.

No its not  about annoying the French because they  are leaving as French citizens are asking why should we pay for  this type of conflict. The French only got involved because Mali is a Francophile country and the Francophile countries do support France in many ways so I think the French did feel an obligation 

But the biggest issue with all the Islamic extremist  groups that exist in parts of Africa is they  dont have a normal army structure and they  get beaten in battles but reappear later in some smaller group and they constantly kill civilians so they  always around but its very difficult to really defeat because they dont fight like the ISIS caliphate 

And they are difficult to identify  from normal Malians in villagers because poverty also creates recruits yet they are a brutal group that would destabilize Mali even more so its important that any foreign country with military  resources helps to defeat them

And yes  I can understand  why Moscow must distance  themselves from them yet their are important reasons to bring in certain mercenary groups to assist in places like Africa because they provide the military strength that is needed

And I hope we dont see  this well meaning but annoying view from some African commentators that criticize any foreign military intervention as examples of colonialism or foreign countries having some kind of agenda but they seem to ignore the obvious reality. If Russia or French forces werent involved  you would see  no interest or commitment from people who complain or their countries....so their solution is really to leave  Mali  to somehow deal with them on  their own which is very unfair and demonstrates how in SA many people dont understand the levels of poverty that exists in places like Mali 

[ComradeYellow]

Red Flags abound, and I hope the Kremlin is not directly involved.

Mali and The Wagner Group (dailykos.com)

Quote

The name Wagner is reported to have been the nom de guerre of one of the group’s early commanders in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Dmitry Utkin, a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. Utkin is alleged to have been enamored with Nazi Germany, including Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner. In 2016, Utkin was pictured at a ceremony in the Kremlin intended to honor the courage of military personnel and civilians, but he hasn’t been seen in public since.

Edited September 26, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

And well done for even posting this because I dont expect anyone to know or care about this African conflict but it does matter to the region and stability

AJ *is* my second source of international news (alongside BBC), as I like to watch what happens in the world (besides the often heavily "Western" focused media). AJ is my goto site for news about Africa, The Middle East, South and South East Asia. BBC for stuff that happens in Europe, China and North America. Religious extremism is everyones problem, regardless what continent it happens on.

[ComradeYellow]

I'm too lazy to dig up old threads but I did predict earlier this year that Olaf Sholtz would be the next German Chancellor leading the SDP and form a coalition with the Greens, and this was way back when the SDP was lagging in the polls.

I'll take that as good news if they do win, Germany going more left could have positive repercussions for the Anglo world as the EU is still technically allied with the U.S.

[Guard Dog]

How low can we go?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Facebook was a mistake. 

[Raithe]

As we're doing the cabinet shakeup over here in the UK...

[213374U]

Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks

[Zoraptor]

Amazing. Every time I think my opinion of Mike Pompeo couldn't get any lower he finds a way to confound expectations. It was already quite an achievement being the worst person in an administration that included Donald Trump.

A Castro style assassination plot attempt- or even kidnapping- on Assange would be hilarious for multiple reasons, if the whole idea wasn't so indicatively counterproductive and stupid.

[ComradeYellow]

Trump: "I love Wikileaks!"

*installs Pompeo as CIA director*

It was obvious Trump was a fraud and represented peak decadence of the U.S.A. as soon as he fired Michael Flynn, which was almost instantaneous after his inauguration.  The question is how did he actually manage to pick up several million more votes in 2020?  American braindeadedness?

A good source of info I continuously read states that the U.S. Empire died on January 8th, 2020 when Iran attacked U.S. and the U.S. did not retaliate, and the U.S. as a nation died on January 6th 2021, when a mob of philistines attacked the Capitol.

It's such a dead horse at this point, really.

EDIT:  The good news right now is in Germany

German Election 2021: Live Results (bloomberg.com)

A "Traffic Light" Coalition of SPD, Greens, and the business friendly FDP is what Orlaf is gunning for, and I hope they are able to achieve, as Germany would have a solid Libertarian Left government that would end the era of Merkel's thoughtless boring face.

Edited September 27, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[Azdeus]

So there has been some new footage released from the wreckage of MS Estonia that shows the hull steel is bent outwards and that the steel is darkened. They think that this is either ferrous oxide because of the low oxygen environment or it is from pyrotechnics, but they have yet to sample it.

Direct adress for the article.

https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/swedish-radio-exclusive-new-official-footage-of-hole-in-sunken-estonia-reveals-surprising-discovery

 

[Gorth]

23 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

So there has been some new footage released from the wreckage of MS Estonia that shows the hull steel is bent outwards and that the steel is darkened. They think that this is either ferrous oxide because of the low oxygen environment or it is from pyrotechnics, but they have yet to sample it.

Direct adress for the article.

https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/swedish-radio-exclusive-new-official-footage-of-hole-in-sunken-estonia-reveals-surprising-discovery

 

I thought they had decided at some point to cover the wreckage in concrete... they can't have done a very good job with that.

Edit:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-01-11-9601120129-story.html

 

[Azdeus]

4 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I thought they had decided at some point to cover the wreckage in concrete... they can't have done a very good job with that.

Edit:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-01-11-9601120129-story.html

The survivors and relatives of the victims and much of the public opposed it, because it would stop future investigation of the wreckade, and so they stopped the proposal.

Source from a Swedish documentary from 2006 https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/83904?programid=2519

Between ~37:30 and ~47:00

[Gorth]

17 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

The survivors and relatives of the victims and much of the public opposed it, because it would stop future investigation of the wreckade, and so they stopped the proposal.

Source from a Swedish documentary from 2006 https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/83904?programid=2519

Between ~37:30 and ~47:00

Dang you forcing me to listen to all that Swedish!

 

Just kidding, giving it a listen now...

 

edit: So, the tl;dr; version, it's an endless ****fight between Sweden, Estonia and the German shipyard that built the ship and nobody wants the "evidence" being out of reach.

[Azdeus]

28 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Dang you forcing me to listen to all that Swedish!

 

Just kidding, giving it a listen now...

 

edit: So, the tl;dr; version, it's an endless ****fight between Sweden, Estonia and the German shipyard that built the ship and nobody wants the "evidence" being out of reach.

Yeah, basically.

The only countries that has signed the agreement to treat Estonia as a gravesite is Sweden, Estonia and Finland, so technically anyone from the other countries could go there and do an investigation, but the Swedish Navy has a habit of disrupting diving attempts to the wreckage that isn't sanctioned by the Swedish government. Sweden is taking charge of the site in a really aggressive way.

[ComradeYellow]

2021 Russian legislative election - Wikipedia

How did I miss this?  Communist Party of Russian Federation did quite well this year.  Since 2017 -18 or so more and more Ruskies want some form of Communism back, not the bad old USSR but probably a more reasonable one that's in line with modern sentiments, a bit more economic leftism probably merged with the current sentiments of Russian nationalism.  Zhirinovsky's party and United Russia both took major hits in favor of the CPRF.  Awesome.

Another thing I missed:

German election results ‘not the most encouraging’ for improving relations between Berlin & Moscow – top Russian policymaker — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

What's with the Green Party these days? I remember the old days here in the U.S. when it was a cool anti neo-liberal leftist party led by Ralph Nader, now it's just like an extreme form of liberalism and hawkish towards the East.  The one here in the U.S. also appears similar to the one in Germany, just more bog standard.

Another juncture I overlooked.  Damn shame.

Edited September 27, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[Gfted1]

Nord Stream means Germany is Russia biatch.

[Sarex]

6 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Nord Stream means Germany is Russia biatch.

How do you figure? They were getting their gas from the Russian even before it, now they just eliminated the in between countries and any scenario where said countries could cause a break in the supply chain. They probably have cheaper gas now.

[Gfted1]

With the closures of all their nuclear plants they will be at the mercy of Russia, who can close the valve at any time.

[Zoraptor]

And without Nordstream they're in the far better situation of being at the mercy of... Russia and Ukraine.

They're still going to buy Russian gas, anything else is a pipe dream. The shale gas the US desperately wants Europe to get hooked on is far too expensive and there isn't any infrastructure for it. It isn't even financially competitive in the current environment where Ukraine gets transit fees and causes inflated prices by filching some off the top nor in the previous one where the US was also sanctioning allied countries' companies to try and make it so.

[Hurlshort]

Have you heard of our lord and savior, Hydrogen Power?  

[majestic]

33 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

And without Nordstream they're in the far better situation of being at the mercy of... Russia and Ukraine.

Yes, and that's why whenever someone says Nord Stream 2 makes Germany Russia's bitch what they actually mean is "We're annoyed that they're cutting out our bitches' ability to influence German/Yuropean energy prices." and "We're annoyed that we can't sell overpriced liquid natural gas to Yurop."

I believe the right answer to that is: Go QQ in a corner.

edit: It also needs to be mentioned that Germany's been buying Russian natural gas as far back as the Cold War, and Russia never once failed to deliver, regardless of tensions or changes of leadership. The only time there was an issue it was with the transit in Ukraine. Russia's been really compliant... ask Iran if the same can be said about Western nations.

In some other news, we might see our first ever communist mayor here. Ah, the tears of conservatives, what a sweet treat. Priceless right wing reactions all around.

Edited September 27, 2021 by majestic

[HoonDing]

Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe at least will have decoupled from Amerika in time before the next GQP moron is elected.

[Gfted1]

53 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yes, and that's why whenever someone says Nord Stream 2 makes Germany Russia's bitch what they actually mean is "We're annoyed that they're cutting out our bitches' ability to influence German/Yuropean energy prices." and "We're annoyed that we can't sell overpriced liquid natural gas to Yurop."

I believe the right answer to that is: Go QQ in a corner.

I didnt even know we sold Germany NG. How is that even possible?

But theres no room in the corner with you always being the first one there. Were gonna need a bigger corner.