TexasCHLforum.com

The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials.

Plato points out one of the disadvantages of oligarchy: "Another discreditable feature is, that, for a like reason, they are incapable of carrying on any war. Either they arm the multitude, and then they are more afraid of them than of the enemy; or, if they do not call them out in the hour of battle, they are oligarchs indeed, few to fight as they are few to rule."

Eventually, the oligarchy is supplanted by democracy, "whether the revolution has been effected by arms, or whether fear has caused the opposite party to withdraw." In other words, either armed revolution or the credible threat of armed revolution causes the oligarchy to lose its power.

Once deterrence fails and a war begins, the Ukrainian armed forces will find themselves in desperate circumstances almost immediately. Ukraine does not have anywhere near enough forces to credibly defend against all the potential avenues of attack...Russia's advantages in capacity, capability, and geography combine to pose insurmountable challenges for Ukrainian forces tasked with defending their country.

...the most effective way Washington can help is to work on finding a diplomatic solution.

jerry_r60 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:21 pm From Feb 16th...show you bought a gun, get a free pizza. ..."We can't rely on the state"...

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-private ... 92882.html

I read another story saying the government is now providing a weapon to anyone that wants one however in a quick look to put a link here I didn't quickly find one.

...it takes an average of one month to obtain a gun permit

Ruark wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 11:00 am It's all so preposterous. Putin has NO interest whatsoever in harming the Ukrainian people, their infrastructure, etc. His actions are directed towards the Ukrainian military, who has spent the last 8 years murdering over 14,000 of the ethnic Russians of Donbass with almost daily shelling and sniper fire. As Putin said, "enough is enough."

The U.S. does NOT want Russia to have any control, political or economic, of Ukraine, for geopolitical reasons. That's why the CIA fomented the uprising in Maidan and replaced the elected President Yanukovich with the American puppet Poroshenko, a bloodthirsty Nazi butcher. In fact, the current president Zelensky promised during his campaign that he would have Poroshenko arrested for war crimes, which of course he didn't. Meanwhile, the genocide of ethnic Russians in Donbass has continued, with absolutely no mention in the press.

Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians, especially in Donbass, are cheering and celebrating the arrival of Russian forces in the region. They're standing along the streets, smiling and waving and giving thumbs-ups to passing Russian troops.

My wife has a cousin in Kharkov, and talks with her via Skype every couple of days. She says she can't even tell anything is happening. No bombs or gunfire, people going about their lives as usual, but she has many relatives and friends around Ukraine and in Russia, and they are, without exception, thrilled to death to see this happening.

Of course the American media portrays the opposite, as if evil Russia were carpet-bombing Ukrainian cities, and you don't DARE take another viewpoint, or you're a traitor. It's really pathetic. People are so freaking gullible.

However, as usual, the US/Western mass news media are hyping this far beyond the reality of it. And as usual, that irritates the blazes out of me.

Ruark wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 11:00 am It's all so preposterous. Putin has NO interest whatsoever in harming the Ukrainian people, their infrastructure, etc. His actions are directed towards the Ukrainian military, who has spent the last 8 years murdering over 14,000 of the ethnic Russians of Donbass with almost daily shelling and sniper fire. As Putin said, "enough is enough."

The U.S. does NOT want Russia to have any control, political or economic, of Ukraine, for geopolitical reasons. That's why the CIA fomented the uprising in Maidan and replaced the elected President Yanukovich with the American puppet Poroshenko, a bloodthirsty Nazi butcher. In fact, the current president Zelensky promised during his campaign that he would have Poroshenko arrested for war crimes, which of course he didn't. Meanwhile, the genocide of ethnic Russians in Donbass has continued, with absolutely no mention in the press.

Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians, especially in Donbass, are cheering and celebrating the arrival of Russian forces in the region. They're standing along the streets, smiling and waving and giving thumbs-ups to passing Russian troops.

My wife has a cousin in Kharkov, and talks with her via Skype every couple of days. She says she can't even tell anything is happening. No bombs or gunfire, people going about their lives as usual, but she has many relatives and friends around Ukraine and in Russia, and they are, without exception, thrilled to death to see this happening.

Of course the American media portrays the opposite, as if evil Russia were carpet-bombing Ukrainian cities, and you don't DARE take another viewpoint, or you're a traitor. It's really pathetic. People are so freaking gullible.

Ruark wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 11:00 am It's all so preposterous. Putin has NO interest whatsoever in harming the Ukrainian people, their infrastructure, etc. His actions are directed towards the Ukrainian military, who has spent the last 8 years murdering over 14,000 of the ethnic Russians of Donbass with almost daily shelling and sniper fire. As Putin said, "enough is enough."

The U.S. does NOT want Russia to have any control, political or economic, of Ukraine, for geopolitical reasons. That's why the CIA fomented the uprising in Maidan and replaced the elected President Yanukovich with the American puppet Poroshenko, a bloodthirsty Nazi butcher. In fact, the current president Zelensky promised during his campaign that he would have Poroshenko arrested for war crimes, which of course he didn't. Meanwhile, the genocide of ethnic Russians in Donbass has continued, with absolutely no mention in the press.

Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians, especially in Donbass, are cheering and celebrating the arrival of Russian forces in the region. They're standing along the streets, smiling and waving and giving thumbs-ups to passing Russian troops.

My wife has a cousin in Kharkov, and talks with her via Skype every couple of days. She says she can't even tell anything is happening. No bombs or gunfire, people going about their lives as usual, but she has many relatives and friends around Ukraine and in Russia, and they are, without exception, thrilled to death to see this happening.

Of course the American media portrays the opposite, as if evil Russia were carpet-bombing Ukrainian cities, and you don't DARE take another viewpoint, or you're a traitor. It's really pathetic. People are so freaking gullible.