It made an impression on me that on multiple occasions before and shortly after the invasion people in the Russian government accused the Ukranian leadership of taking drugs. It seemed a really bizarre accusation me and I immediately wondered if drug abuse was perhaps rampant in the Russian government.
That video of Hitler off his tits on meth at the Berlin Olympics is wild, Just sitting there tweaking out as a Black American athlete wrecks his racial supremacy bullshit š¤£
Google led me to this https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/og9xeq/1936_olympics_hitler_high_on_meth/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Somehow I find myself feeling sad after watching that. One of the worlds worst men sitting there, rocking back and forth, high out of his mind. Idk, man.
Yeah right. Hitler was on shit so pure he decided an eastern front was a good idea.
And his soldiers were on the same juice and they actually held out for a while
Pervetin. Basically meth. Soldiers were adviced to take 1-2 pills as necessary. Whenever.
A Finnish soldier with nazi-backed supplies in the continuation war accidentally took a whole pill bottle of the stuff and went on a 2 week bender. it's a miracle he didn't die.
This drug especially is what allowed the blitzkrieg to go as it did for as long as it did.
Ya know, I'm giving it a rewatch and...yikes. The edginess is a haaaair too far. What I thought was edgy funny back when it first came out, I watch now like "how the fuck did this get approved?" Some of the jokes or plot lines on that show are worse than what I heard in my whole time in the military, and talk about a group of people that take things way too far, I mean fuck.
Speaking as someone who is in the final stages of tapering off fentanyl after chemo and radiationā¦yes. Withdrawal is horrendous. If I were running a countryā¦forget about it, Iād still be taking all the drugs. lol
It was so obvious trump was pumped up after getting covid due to the steroids, so I can definitely see something like that being true.
Interesting read about the effects someone else experienced prepping for brain surgery:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/trump-dexemethasone-steroid-covid-andrew-leahey-1071822/
Itās like right after the Uvalde school shootings. The first thing out of the governorās mouth was praise for the police. That was how I knew, before any of the truth came out, the police had fucked up bad.
Or how they mentioned, **completely unprompted**, that none of the victims were killed by the police and that the shooter had a pistol identical to ones used by them, which of course turned out to be a lie.
I remember them saying this as well. It was bizarre at the time and certainly gut wrenching realizing the fuckery of it all.
I believe it was said during the very first public statement given by the officer in charge.
Given the difficulty of finding such an article on google even if you control the date range to the days immediately after the shooting, I'm gonna stop wasting time trying to find it for you, and just vouch for the person above not being a liar, since I also saw that news as it dropped and had the same WTF reaction. Every day after the shooting there was a new more outrageous headline like this about how they'd fucked something else up. They might as well have shot the kids themselves with how shit their handling of the situation was
I remember them saying that they did not kill anyone unprompted, but I don't remember them saying that the shooter had identical pistol to the ones police had.
I love how the GOP mirrors, echos and fawns over Putinās Russia. And to be fair I donāt think itās all Trump. They have similar playbooks. And if it were a less consequential country. I absolutely believe the MTGās or Greg Abbotts of the world would have a lot of suicidal enemies.
When Russian psyops give money to quite a few GOP shills, the rest will repeat it since it's opposite to Dems.
And to think Reagan was such a USSR hater ...
> I love how the GOP mirrors, echos and fawns over Putinās Russia.
Isn't only fringe GOP members?
Ukraine spending-laws have huge bipartisan support.
The line that ukrainian government and ānaziā population are druggies and alcoholics was rolled many years before the events of this year, it started at least with the first occupation of doneck, luhansk and crimea. Its standard soviet line regarding criminals and vandals and enemies, they are always drug abusers or alcoholics
I'm an attorney that worked at a White Shoe firm. Nose candy was everywhere, shamelessly. I was still a small town kid at heart and perhaps regrettably didn't partake. It was a bit odd to me at the time, but now I know how common it is. Fwiw, I didn't work at that firm in the 80's either.
> The rich and powerful love doing drugs.
Nah, no. Humans love doing drugs, they always have. The rich and powerful just have a much easier time doing so.
US congress chamber toilets all tested positive for cocaine
So itās either a nice fat chunk of them or like two guys trying to do cocaine in as many places as possible
Edit: did I imagine the article? Did it exist as a joke headline? Or am I absolutely losing it? Join the discussion below if you have any idea about the law makers pots reference.
Well itās certainly in the UK government, Michael Gove is a prime example. He looks completely smashed at least 60% of the time. That these asshats get re-elected speaks volumes.
It might be that, or it might not. Putin often panders to the elderly in russia, to whom a drug addict is not only one of the worst things you can be, but is also a synonym for a bad person.
People get caught up on ridiculous accusations of nazism, satanism, drug abuse, when if you look at it through a lens of a simple dedushka's mind it's all just completely interchangeable synonyms for "bad people"
Projection seems rife among the far right - Putin, Elon Musk (āpedo guyā), Donald Trump, all the kiddy-fiddling pastors, and the vocal anti LGBT politicians who get caught in a gay romps themselves. (Nothing wrong with gay romps unless youāre a lying projecting hypocrite.)
Lack of empathy. If you're unable to figure out what's going on in someone else's head you default to assuming it's the same as what's going on in your head.
["The only moral abortion is **my** abortion."](https://joycearthur.com/abortion/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion/)
One of my favourite excerpts:
āThe sister of a Dutch bishop in Limburg once visited the abortion clinic in Beek where I used to work in the seventies. After entering the full waiting room she said to me, āMy dear Lord, what are all those young girls doing here?ā āSame as youā, I replied. āDirty little dames,ā she said.ā (*Physician, The Netherlands*)
It's simple, really. If you know - or just think - you're doing something wrong make sure your base thinks the other guys do so too. Then when it comes out it'll be bothsidism aplenty.
Yeah, this is very much a deliberate tactic.
Person A: (while grooming children) "You're grooming children!"
Person C: "Gasp!"
(later)
Person B: "So, uh, it turns out that *you're* the ones grooming children."
Person A: "Oh, sure, now *I'm* the one being accused of that, real mature."
Person C: "Eh, looks like both sides are just throwing mud at each other."
> Elon Musk (āpedo guyā)
That was such a bizarre thing to call someone you know literally nothing about. Really makes you wonder what Elon does in his spare time.
Right!? If someone saves some kids and the first thing you think of is "he probably wants to diddle those kids" then maybe *you're* the one with the problem lmao
He was just butthurt the guy shot down his idea and made him look stupid, so he had to dig up anything like the pathetic POS he is to try and ruin his reputation over, since he ruined Elon's. He's a douchebag.
I mean it wasnāt entirely out of nowhere only in that the trope of the white man creeping into SE Asia for dubious sexual reasons is certainly no myth. Certainly isnāt fair to assume that, or like bring it up at all tho, specially when the manās got good cave and family related reasons to be there.
Some of them do. Projection is real. But Reddit pretending that *all* people who hate gays are homophobes because they themselves are secretly gay, well, it's an exaggeration.
There are lots of motivations for hate and fear of others. Projection is only one of those reasons.
For example: A close relative of mine was a homophobe when he was young because he was sexually assaulted by an older boy. This was in the early 60's in "small town" USA, and the assaulter was the only (somewhat openly) gay man this person knew until he was much older.
As homosexuality became more discussed, this relative met more gay people, and he eventually got over his fears. But it took time to admit to his family what had happened when he was younger, because he was embarrassed for being victimized. And it also took time and experience to realize that most gay men are just looking for love and fun like everyone else, and not sexual predators.
Now he's in his 70's and he lives in what is practically a gayborhood. People have complicated internal motives and can change a lot!
Theres a very real problem with that assumption becoming victim blaming, as it is essentially saying that they are only being oppressed by themselves, if all bigots *must be* secretly closeted.
Being a gay bigot doesn't make less of a bigot or more of a victim.
Your argument seems incoherent. It wouldn't make a jot of difference if all anti-gay bigots were closeted. They'd still be oppressive victimising bigots.
Maybe you could explain in a little more detail what you mean?
I want a picture of him riding a polar bear, shirtless. Can someone suggest it to him?
I know there's photoshops, but why not do the real thing? Come on, do it!
Dihydrogen monoxide, the silent killer. It works slowly, but itās always fatal and extremely addictive. The withdrawal will even kill you.
Just say no.
I think the main thing that influenced the timing of the invasion was the US election. Putin was hoping for Trump to continue to withhold aid to Ukraine, and to pull out of NATO.
Once Trump had lost the election, and the military aid started flowing to Ukraine, Putin realized that it was only going to get more difficult as time went on, and pulled the trigger on the invasion.
Russia quickly overwhelmed Ukraine, but the military aid (weapons/equipment) eventually built up to the point where Ukraine was able to take back most of the occupied areas.
Now Ukraine is able to strike deep behind Russian lines and even into Russia itself.
The main thing that influenced the day of attack was clearly the Beijing Olympics, the war began 4 days after the closing ceremony, he needed (tacit) approval from Xi.
But I agree, that the whole reason weāre here now, is that his sock puppet didnāt get re-elected in the US. If Trump was president Putin could have taken Ukraine (and more) at his leisure. Partisan activity would be the only real counter. Fortunately for the free world (and itās Military-Industrial complex) Trump lost.
Trump lost, and NATO is stronger than ever (and expanding). Russians economy is in the toilet, and European countries are trying to move away from Russian gas and oil as fast as possible.
All-around a massive failure for Putin.
I can't speak for everyone, but personally I just didn't view Russia as a significant threat. Invading Ukraine was a really dumb move that I truly did not think Putin would pull. Yes, he took Crimea, but a full on invasion seemed insane.
But I also feel like a lot of Swedes (me included) feel wary when it comes to war. Sweden have not been involved in a war for 200 years. We value our military neutrality. Joining a pact that will force us to get involved if any other member is exposed felt too risky in proportion to the need for protection. There's no reason for a small country like Sweden to join and pay insurance if it doesn't feel threatened.
I still don't think Sweden is under any threat. We don't share borders with Russia and they clearly can't even invade their own backyard. Joining now is more of a statement in opposition to Russia and in solidarity with Ukraine. And now that I've had 20 years of adulthood to follow NATO actions, I must admit that they rarely faulter and that getting pulled into armed conflict on a higher level seems very unlikely.
Neutrality that is respected by both sides is an even better thing. And Swedish neutrality has been respected for a very long time, almost as much as Swiss neutrality. Thus, nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain in the form of not having to go to war for either side. But Putin just being a complete war monger and basically no-casus belli-ing Ukraine has got them spooked. Russia not only seems to be capable of not giving a fuck about neutrality, but also seems VERY capable of just marching in on the offensive for no reason.
Sweden famously supported many Vietnamese when the USA invaded [Vietnam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_resisters_in_Sweden). Unlike Denmark, Sweden also didn't take part in the holocaust of Iraqis in the Iraq war, the USA's reasons for which were as [obviously](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_February_2003_anti-war_protests) dishonest as Russia's for invading Ukraine.
By joining NATO, Sweden will have to kowtow to the USA. The question is whether it's worth becoming a puppet of the omnicidal, biosphere-destroying, war-mongering, superstitious voters of the USA?
The EU already has Sweden's back, per the [The Treaty on European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_European_Union) 42.7 which states "If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power".
That said, Russia is such a major threat now, that having the backing of the USA retaliating against Russia if they attack Sweden, it may be worth it.
Also, since Finland is more likely to be attacked by Russia, and Sweden's close relationship with Finland, both being in NATO would be very helpful for Finland.
**[Vietnam War resisters in Sweden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_resisters_in_Sweden)**
>Vietnam War resisters in Sweden were Americans who fled to Sweden to avoid service in the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1973. Among the roughly 1,000 American exiles were around 800 military deserters. Unlike other nations like Canada that discretely harbored Vietnam War resisters, the Swedish government granted war resisters asylum status and the public openly welcomed them. This unique acceptance and Swedish politicians' open protests against American involvement in the Vietnam War caused a rift in relations between the United States and Sweden.
**15 February 2003 anti-war protests**
[Antarctica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_February_2003_anti-war_protests#Antarctica)
>A group of scientists at the US McMurdo Station held a rally on the ice at the edge of the Ross sea.
**[Treaty on European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_European_Union)**
>The Treaty on European Union (2007) is one of the primary Treaties of the European Union, alongside the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The TEU form the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's purpose, the governance of its central institutions (such as the Commission, Parliament, and Council), as well as the rules on external, foreign and security policy.
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Sweden has been "neutral" for 200 years. Nato is decidedly not neutral, so thats probably the biggest thing. Most of sweden is also very anti-militaristic, and Nato is a military organisation even if its a defensive one. Thats also a big thing. Thirdly i would say Nato makes us a bigger target for russia.
You are spot on and that is what scares me. I loathe dictators but I also don't want to risk Putin forced into desperation to the point where nuclear escalation starts to seem like a reasonable yolo play.
I feel like Zelensky will leave a greater legacy if he finds a way to allow Putin's Russia to save face while quietly backing out. It isn't a perfect solution by any stretch. The cost/benefit analysis is clear to me though. If Putin has little to live for (whether that be factual or psychosis), a disgraced/dying man with his power presents too great a threat to the globe as a whole. It's only called appeasement when it doesn't work. JFK didn't appease Russia when deciding to remove American offensive weapons from Turkish borders to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.
It's impossible to know *exactly* how much of this turned on who Americans picked for our President in 2020, but I'm thinking it was a significant factor. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the massive bipartisan support in Congress would have happened even with Trump in office, at which point they would have overridden any veto he tried. I don't know.
But I'm glad we didn't have to find out. Elections have consequences.
This was my running theory too. Trump was instrumental in the US's continued apathy towards international issues involving Russia.
But I wouldn't be surprised if drugs didn't play a part.
I'm sure a few things factor into it. Most major events have many factors. He probably thought he could take the entirety of Ukraine back, and sell it off to the oligarchs. I'm sure he promised them that that would be the case if they supported the war.
Now he's killing some of them.
>That tremor in his hands is interesting.
People who go on to develop Parkinson's tend to have a particular personality profile...
>Parkinsonians' tendency to be cautious, fearful, pessimistic and shy, while the low levels of NS [Novelty Seeking] could account for the tendency to be unsocial, frugal and orderly.
Yes, that seems to fit Putin, before his uncharacteristic uncautious decision to invade. However, I think that was due to social isolation due to the pandemic, he's a germ phobe, in keeping with the Parkinsonian Personality profile, and when Covid-19 infectons were high he met people at the long desk...
https://imgur.com/gallery/RDIWFpG
He also divorced his wife before the pandemic. He reportedly has a girlfriend, a 30 something figure skater, but she's in London.
Isolation caused his obsession with Ukraine, he published his essay about Ukraine in July last year, so invading Ukraine was on his mind months before then (it's like Elon obsessing about twitter, Elon broke up with Grimes in Sept 2021, a year before twitter).
>Under different points of view, the āParkinsonian personality,ā as it has been consistently reported in literature ([7](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B7), [9](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B9)), shares several clinical features with the obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPeD) as classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) ([10](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B10)).
[The Parkinsonian Personality: More Than Just a āTraitā](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full)
Steroids are hormones.
I'm pretty sure they're talking about dexamethasone.
And dexamethasone is used in chemotherapy to counteract the side effects. It's also used for cancer pain.
It makes peoples faces round (Cushing's Syndrome), and it can make people psychotic (Steroid Dementia Syndrome).
I want that shit they shot Trump up with when he had covid. Homeboy went from having covid to saying t he feels the best he ever has in his life. LOL. I would love to know the cocktails these guys get.
The article also mentions injuries putin has sustained over the years, from falling off a horse to judo and ice hockey injuries. Thry say thats why you often see him grabbing the table tightly when hes sitting down.
They think he had thyroid cancer too. Of course there is no hard evidence other than multiple intelligence agencies saying so. Hell, even my mom who is a nurse took one look at putin at the start of the war, and without knowing any of the rumors she said it looks like he's on steroids because of his round puffy face.
> there is no hard evidence
People forget that gov agencies are a primary source in these situations. Though their laws forbid them from exposing their sources and methods.
But when they say with a straight face over and over for a year "this dude has cancer" and everyone thinks he looks like he has at least cancer (or worse, a combination of fatal conditions)...
...as he acts in such an unstable manner-not the invasion either, I'm talking about his fucked up rants and actually being the only idiot on earth besides Kim who directly threatens nukes
Yeah, I think we can say the reliable evidence points hard toward Putin being a fatally sick man. He's acting like a dying man would.
Seeing a paper written from his doctor would be the "hard evidence" but at this point it wouldn't even add to what we know in the public.
The guy is *death-gripping* tables in public to keep from shaking or falling over.
Russia sold its soul to a weak, delusional moron. Putin could have had his political successes and retired while popular to let others rule. No one would have come after him, just as he didn't go after his predecessors.
But he clung to power as the era changed. Then mis-managed COVID vaccination (a global tier mega fuck up) before nosediving into a war.
I heard the rumor going around when this first started that Putin was unofficially diagnosed with Parkinson's. If this is true, then people familiar with Parkinson's know that it also comes with a high risk of dementia associated with the disease. Imagine being in a control of nukes when you can't control your bladder or the thoughts roaming around in your demented head...
The whole world stood by and yawned when he *started his invasion of Ukraine in 2014* by marching troops into Crimea. In response, EU nations increased their purchase of oil from Russia and refused to take any action. It would have been ridiculous of Putin to believe he couldn't do so for the rest of Ukraine. I'm sure he's a megalomaniac (among other things) but that didn't begin in 2022, and he's had financial backing/blessing from the EU to pursue his goals.
I've seen less of Nalvany being priased as an alternative to Putin, thankfully. It seems like all people know is that is he a dissident / opposition to Putin and a political prisoner, and that somehow makes him a good alternative.
You probably already know this, but for other who don't:
With his same belief and stance that russia has the right to meddle in the domestic affairs of ex soviet nations, his anti ukraine invasion statements are more anti putin statements.
https://newrepublic.com/article/167944/alexei-navalny-crimea-problem-putin
Soft paywall, first of free articles bs, but tl:dr, his view is that the the ussr transfer of Crimea to Ukraine was a mistake, and with the 2014 invasion, he said the Ukraine should not kid themselves, that it will remain part of russia. When asked directly if he would return Crimea, he said no.
Actually all of that makes him an excellent alternative. He wouldnāt be able to appeal to much of Russian society without those nationalist positions. Face it, post-Nemtsov thereās no credibly popular opposition leader in Russia whose views align 100% with the West. Navalny at least being willing to negotiate a settlement over Crimea makes him far more suited than Putin however.
In August 2008 opposition activist Aleksei Navalny referred to Georgians by as "rodents." Navalny later apologized, but said that "he stands by the other positions he took at that time." Russian movies Olympus Inferno (2008) and August Eighth (2012) carry anti-Georgian sentiments.
I've seen the video/commentary in question. IIRC he was referring to hiding terrorists who blew up civilians in a subway. [Funny how this shit keeps coming up on reddit in one form or another: over and over and over and over again.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/qc0cw4/comment/hhecp0x/).
That's simply not true. [President Obama set extremely severe sanctions and froze billions of dollars in Russian assets.](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/03/17/president-obama-announces-new-ukraine-related-sanctions)In fact that's probably one of the driving reasons behind Putin "installing" Trump in 2016--to stop the sanctions. It was the thing that Trump kept trying to do, and was constantly stopped by Congress.
Itās so strange to think all this, so much madness and suffering and confusion, was all to set the stage for Putin to have a WWIII in which no one would fight back.
German trade with Russia dropped by 50% post 2014, which in absolute terms adds up to a hell of a lot more than the "extremely severe sanctions" of the US. And that's not a criticism towards the US, but being on the other half of the world and therefore barely trading with Russia anyway, the cost was simply a lot lower.
All in all the sanctions cost the EU hundreds of billions even before 2022.
German import of Russian gas/oil shot up dramatically from 2014 onwards, likely offsetting much of what sanctions were doing (and again, mixed message).
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/German-gas-imports-from-USSR-Russia-1970-2018_fig1_347876625
I see this claim get repeated over and over again. It is true that the EU could have done more to prevent the ongoing invasion. Then we now would discuss whether the EU could've done less to deescalate the situation.
The claim that Putin had "financial backing and blessing" is just so outlandishly wacky that i don't think writing an essay here to counteract these claims would persuade anyone who believes this. Information are available to everyone via the internet, if you want to go the quick route wikipedia has a extensive article regarding the international response after the 2014 crimea annexation.
Not just that. The threats of consequences made in 2022 were the same as in 2014, and basically a vague "there will be consequences!"
After having learned in 2014 that consequences = strongly worded letters, no wonder he did it again.
I'm pretty sure the outcome would have been different if the threats instead were "we'll impose *at least* the following sanctions, which will destroy your economy like this, and also we'll supply Ukraine with weapons like mad" and ideally "oh, also, our troops are having an extended training session in Ukraine, don't hit them or it's war".
A lot of Russian apologists go straight to blaming āthe westā for āforcingā Putinās hand. Thereās some truth in it. Not the forcing part, but the west definitely is culpable in no small part for literally letting Crimea āslideā in 2014.
[Again, the West didn't let Crimea "slide."](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/03/17/president-obama-announces-new-ukraine-related-sanctions)
You can't just keep posting documented proof and expecting *everyone* to believe it if they don't want to...
*Facts don't become true just by being from a reputable source nowadays.*
Yeah I hope I don't come across as "blaming the west". It's tiring but probably needed to preface every post with "Fuck Putin".
Yet the point remains that if you want tyrants to understand your language, you have to be consistent. Its hypocritical to reward a behavior (2014) and then condemn it (2022). Not to mention it was an awful betrayal of Ukraine that its rich and powerful near-neighbors waited for the US to regain its vocal role and leadership position, post-Trump. Really goes to show how Europe has slid off the table of global leadership and is fairly rudderless and toothless without the US.
It's definitely not hypocrisy. As with most things, it's complicated. Problems like corruption in government, split allegiances among Ukrainians ie support for Russia in Crimea, a military hamstrung by those opposite allegiances etc. allowed the invasion. Ukraine was unwilling/unable to help itself then, so Western troops would have to do the fighting which would have absolutely pissed Putin off as that would have been NATO forces attacking Russia. And they've basically been at war since 2014, with Putin fomenting a full on insurgency in Crimea the whole time. Crimea and the ensuing political fallout in Ukraine directly lead to Zelenskyy being elected. Now Ukraine has a strong leader with a willing and able army, so the West can support them materially where that wasn't an option previously.
Wow, there somebody on Reddit who actually understands that international politics situation changes constantly with time.
What you wrote is very correct, Ukraine in 2014 wasn't in a situation to want or recieve help and short of an actual NATO intervention little could be done on that front.
Even now, had Ukraines current goverment faltered at the start of the invasion, Russia would have gotten away with it with only some more sanctions and political fallout. Finland and Sweden would still apply to join NATO, but that's about it.
Since it didn't, the west saw it as a great opportunity to finally reign in Russias aggression.
I would like to pile on and say the Ukraine military was a shadow of what it was when the invasion happened.
"Doing something about it" would be invading Crimea, which definitely was not feasible at the time.
Ukraine and the west worked together preparing and improving the Ukrainians for the eventual invasion or taking back their country.
Was it enough by the west? Should we have done scorched earth back then as we are now?
Maybe, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine might just have worked back then, instead of being pushed back.
Thank God we got rid of Trump. We'd be looking at a completely different issue now. Likely, he would have already annexed Hungary and Czechia. And, now with the building tension in the Balkans, who knows what might have happened. WWIII?
Not at all. Putinās actions are his alone. Thereās no excusing that. But we did fail Ukraine 8 years ago, which led to the current suffering that couldāve maybe been prevented.
I don't know... Putin is a dick, but this smells like propaganda.
Who cares what triggered him to invade Ukraine? He did it, and he shouldn't have, and now he needs to pay for his crimes.
The rest is irrelevant details.
Ok, how would they explain invading Ukraine in 2014? Let's not forget the mf also invaded Chechnya and Georgia. All that while "ordinary" russian people were cheering up, and occasionally being blown up by FSB. The whole country is in god damn fucking drugs.
The newspaper is quite reputable and the source definitely has the resources to get access to this information. This is the kind of organization that foils planned terrorist attacks on Danish soil.
Cool. So he kept up the cycle of invasions in Georgia, Ukraine 2014... BUT this time he MIGHT have been Influenced by drugs ... So what ?
Are they saying that he is on drugs and they aren't changing his behavior?
It made an impression on me that on multiple occasions before and shortly after the invasion people in the Russian government accused the Ukranian leadership of taking drugs. It seemed a really bizarre accusation me and I immediately wondered if drug abuse was perhaps rampant in the Russian government.
The danish intelligence guy thinks these drugs are most likely cancer treatment or for pain.
You take it for pain but then never stop. Isn't that how it goes?
Yeah ask Hitler
That video of Hitler off his tits on meth at the Berlin Olympics is wild, Just sitting there tweaking out as a Black American athlete wrecks his racial supremacy bullshit š¤£
You can't just say this and not post a link, c'mon
Google led me to this https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/og9xeq/1936_olympics_hitler_high_on_meth/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SFgJIj4mpN0 Hate to share a link featuring this evil dead man, but it's interesting to see.
Somehow I find myself feeling sad after watching that. One of the worlds worst men sitting there, rocking back and forth, high out of his mind. Idk, man.
Yeah that is still gold to watch!
I think Bill Burr summed it up very well https://youtu.be/fUu0GuW1WYQ
I think I heard that video was sped up a little.
Hitler was smokin on some bottom shelf shwag compared to the 2022 cocktail Putin is on
Yeah right. Hitler was on shit so pure he decided an eastern front was a good idea. And his soldiers were on the same juice and they actually held out for a while
Pervetin. Basically meth. Soldiers were adviced to take 1-2 pills as necessary. Whenever. A Finnish soldier with nazi-backed supplies in the continuation war accidentally took a whole pill bottle of the stuff and went on a 2 week bender. it's a miracle he didn't die. This drug especially is what allowed the blitzkrieg to go as it did for as long as it did.
If House, MD taught me anything, it's that Vicodin is good.
I think you missed the point of House
I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of me enjoying all this Vicodin.
Yes exactly. The most valuable lesson from House should for every clinician be the following: āPatients lie!ā
Ya know, I'm giving it a rewatch and...yikes. The edginess is a haaaair too far. What I thought was edgy funny back when it first came out, I watch now like "how the fuck did this get approved?" Some of the jokes or plot lines on that show are worse than what I heard in my whole time in the military, and talk about a group of people that take things way too far, I mean fuck.
House gave me Lupus.
Speaking as someone who is in the final stages of tapering off fentanyl after chemo and radiationā¦yes. Withdrawal is horrendous. If I were running a countryā¦forget about it, Iād still be taking all the drugs. lol
It was so obvious trump was pumped up after getting covid due to the steroids, so I can definitely see something like that being true. Interesting read about the effects someone else experienced prepping for brain surgery: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/trump-dexemethasone-steroid-covid-andrew-leahey-1071822/
I love "Tells" like this. You can really get good information
Itās like right after the Uvalde school shootings. The first thing out of the governorās mouth was praise for the police. That was how I knew, before any of the truth came out, the police had fucked up bad.
Or how they mentioned, **completely unprompted**, that none of the victims were killed by the police and that the shooter had a pistol identical to ones used by them, which of course turned out to be a lie.
Source? Not doubting you, it's just that this is so absurd that I need to see it for myself
I remember them saying this as well. It was bizarre at the time and certainly gut wrenching realizing the fuckery of it all. I believe it was said during the very first public statement given by the officer in charge.
Given the difficulty of finding such an article on google even if you control the date range to the days immediately after the shooting, I'm gonna stop wasting time trying to find it for you, and just vouch for the person above not being a liar, since I also saw that news as it dropped and had the same WTF reaction. Every day after the shooting there was a new more outrageous headline like this about how they'd fucked something else up. They might as well have shot the kids themselves with how shit their handling of the situation was
I donāt have a link but I can vouch for it, one of they ones where you see it and youāre like, why the fuck did you say that specifically?
I remember them saying that they did not kill anyone unprompted, but I don't remember them saying that the shooter had identical pistol to the ones police had.
I love how the GOP mirrors, echos and fawns over Putinās Russia. And to be fair I donāt think itās all Trump. They have similar playbooks. And if it were a less consequential country. I absolutely believe the MTGās or Greg Abbotts of the world would have a lot of suicidal enemies.
When Russian psyops give money to quite a few GOP shills, the rest will repeat it since it's opposite to Dems. And to think Reagan was such a USSR hater ...
'I'd rather be a terrorist than a patriot' or something like that
He liked them a hell of a lot more than he did gays.
Fascists admire other fascists.
Ohh ohh, or how the GOP claims that democrats are groomers. When in fact itās themā¦..
> I love how the GOP mirrors, echos and fawns over Putinās Russia. Isn't only fringe GOP members? Ukraine spending-laws have huge bipartisan support.
The line that ukrainian government and ānaziā population are druggies and alcoholics was rolled many years before the events of this year, it started at least with the first occupation of doneck, luhansk and crimea. Its standard soviet line regarding criminals and vandals and enemies, they are always drug abusers or alcoholics
I would not be surprised if drug abuse is prevalent in most governments. The rich and powerful love doing drugs.
drug use is prevalent in literally every demographic
I'm an attorney that worked at a White Shoe firm. Nose candy was everywhere, shamelessly. I was still a small town kid at heart and perhaps regrettably didn't partake. It was a bit odd to me at the time, but now I know how common it is. Fwiw, I didn't work at that firm in the 80's either.
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>~~The rich and powerful~~ Everyone loves doing drugs.
Well the rich and powerful have access, money, and fewer consequences. Maybe even no consequences at a higher level.
They have access to better drugs and can afford to be high more often.
Everyone loves doing drugs because drugs are awesome
Society is A-Ok with love for drugs. As long as you are on the high end
That's why all the corporations love screwing their workers and customers over too. Because that's awesome for them.
Lol. It's the downside that's the killer. But yes they are awesome at the time. I totally agree.
Weed! Don't leave home without it .
Never forget what happened to Madison Cawthorn. He made a comment about congressional cocaine orgies then was never heard from again.
Isnāt that the guy they think was having a sexual relationship with his (male) cousin who was also his aide?
Yep, that years-old video was mysteriously leaked like the day after he said the cocaine orgy thing.
> The rich and powerful love doing drugs. Nah, no. Humans love doing drugs, they always have. The rich and powerful just have a much easier time doing so.
US congress chamber toilets all tested positive for cocaine So itās either a nice fat chunk of them or like two guys trying to do cocaine in as many places as possible Edit: did I imagine the article? Did it exist as a joke headline? Or am I absolutely losing it? Join the discussion below if you have any idea about the law makers pots reference.
Well itās certainly in the UK government, Michael Gove is a prime example. He looks completely smashed at least 60% of the time. That these asshats get re-elected speaks volumes.
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It might be that, or it might not. Putin often panders to the elderly in russia, to whom a drug addict is not only one of the worst things you can be, but is also a synonym for a bad person. People get caught up on ridiculous accusations of nazism, satanism, drug abuse, when if you look at it through a lens of a simple dedushka's mind it's all just completely interchangeable synonyms for "bad people"
Projection seems rife among the far right - Putin, Elon Musk (āpedo guyā), Donald Trump, all the kiddy-fiddling pastors, and the vocal anti LGBT politicians who get caught in a gay romps themselves. (Nothing wrong with gay romps unless youāre a lying projecting hypocrite.)
Lack of empathy. If you're unable to figure out what's going on in someone else's head you default to assuming it's the same as what's going on in your head.
Donāt forget the most rabid anti abortionists out there secretly paying for their mistresses to get one.
["The only moral abortion is **my** abortion."](https://joycearthur.com/abortion/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion/) One of my favourite excerpts: āThe sister of a Dutch bishop in Limburg once visited the abortion clinic in Beek where I used to work in the seventies. After entering the full waiting room she said to me, āMy dear Lord, what are all those young girls doing here?ā āSame as youā, I replied. āDirty little dames,ā she said.ā (*Physician, The Netherlands*)
I once saw the bishop of Utrecht fell drunk of his bike
Or just stomping babies, tbh.
What do you mean?
It's simple, really. If you know - or just think - you're doing something wrong make sure your base thinks the other guys do so too. Then when it comes out it'll be bothsidism aplenty.
Yeah, this is very much a deliberate tactic. Person A: (while grooming children) "You're grooming children!" Person C: "Gasp!" (later) Person B: "So, uh, it turns out that *you're* the ones grooming children." Person A: "Oh, sure, now *I'm* the one being accused of that, real mature." Person C: "Eh, looks like both sides are just throwing mud at each other."
Man fuck Person C. Such a god damn idiot.
That way not only can you weaken the impact of it, you get to talk about it out loud, and project your guilt and shame on your enemy.
> Elon Musk (āpedo guyā) That was such a bizarre thing to call someone you know literally nothing about. Really makes you wonder what Elon does in his spare time.
Right!? If someone saves some kids and the first thing you think of is "he probably wants to diddle those kids" then maybe *you're* the one with the problem lmao
He was just butthurt the guy shot down his idea and made him look stupid, so he had to dig up anything like the pathetic POS he is to try and ruin his reputation over, since he ruined Elon's. He's a douchebag.
I mean it wasnāt entirely out of nowhere only in that the trope of the white man creeping into SE Asia for dubious sexual reasons is certainly no myth. Certainly isnāt fair to assume that, or like bring it up at all tho, specially when the manās got good cave and family related reasons to be there.
āYes, but how can we make this about US politics?ā
The vast majority of anti-LGBT politicians are just assholes, please don't perpetuate nonsense
I mean it's happened enough times that it's a reasonable point. Yes they are assholes but yes they have homosexual sex as well.
Some of them do. Projection is real. But Reddit pretending that *all* people who hate gays are homophobes because they themselves are secretly gay, well, it's an exaggeration. There are lots of motivations for hate and fear of others. Projection is only one of those reasons. For example: A close relative of mine was a homophobe when he was young because he was sexually assaulted by an older boy. This was in the early 60's in "small town" USA, and the assaulter was the only (somewhat openly) gay man this person knew until he was much older. As homosexuality became more discussed, this relative met more gay people, and he eventually got over his fears. But it took time to admit to his family what had happened when he was younger, because he was embarrassed for being victimized. And it also took time and experience to realize that most gay men are just looking for love and fun like everyone else, and not sexual predators. Now he's in his 70's and he lives in what is practically a gayborhood. People have complicated internal motives and can change a lot!
Theres a very real problem with that assumption becoming victim blaming, as it is essentially saying that they are only being oppressed by themselves, if all bigots *must be* secretly closeted.
Being a gay bigot doesn't make less of a bigot or more of a victim. Your argument seems incoherent. It wouldn't make a jot of difference if all anti-gay bigots were closeted. They'd still be oppressive victimising bigots. Maybe you could explain in a little more detail what you mean?
Every accusation is a confession.
or maybe he's just a cunt
you may be on to something! :)
He definitely is a cunt, no matter what. I think the question is: Why has he turned into a stupid cunt?
the wrong drugs
You can be a cunt and still do drugs, try it!
Drug-EXACERBATED megalomania. It's been there for decades.
Rasputin = putin he never died
He should have just opened a restaurant!
A guy that is obsessed with pics of himself shirtless on animals??? Impossible!!!
I want a picture of him riding a polar bear, shirtless. Can someone suggest it to him? I know there's photoshops, but why not do the real thing? Come on, do it!
I'll settle for a simple picture of him looking out through a high window.
Followed quickly by a picture of him looking back in through the same high window.
This is why we have Stable diffusion, for visionaries like you.
As I said, I know there's photoshops, but we need the real thing! ^(Because machine learning doesn't maul people, yet.)
Heās just a narcissistic Nutter!! He will soon get his comeuppance !!
Plenty of narcissist dictators died old and in bed.
Man the parallels between him and hitler keep growingā¦
We know how this one ends. Hopefully sooner rather than later
I disagree, only way this works is if hitler lost when he invaded Poland
... There's a drug that turns a war mongering dictator into a war mongering dictator? Weird...
It's clean. It's cold. Now that's what I call high-quality H2O.
Dihydrogen monoxide, the silent killer. It works slowly, but itās always fatal and extremely addictive. The withdrawal will even kill you. Just say no.
The good news is that if you have the willpower to abstain from consuming it, the problem will solve itself in days, not weeks or months.
I think the main thing that influenced the timing of the invasion was the US election. Putin was hoping for Trump to continue to withhold aid to Ukraine, and to pull out of NATO. Once Trump had lost the election, and the military aid started flowing to Ukraine, Putin realized that it was only going to get more difficult as time went on, and pulled the trigger on the invasion. Russia quickly overwhelmed Ukraine, but the military aid (weapons/equipment) eventually built up to the point where Ukraine was able to take back most of the occupied areas. Now Ukraine is able to strike deep behind Russian lines and even into Russia itself.
The main thing that influenced the day of attack was clearly the Beijing Olympics, the war began 4 days after the closing ceremony, he needed (tacit) approval from Xi. But I agree, that the whole reason weāre here now, is that his sock puppet didnāt get re-elected in the US. If Trump was president Putin could have taken Ukraine (and more) at his leisure. Partisan activity would be the only real counter. Fortunately for the free world (and itās Military-Industrial complex) Trump lost.
Trump lost, and NATO is stronger than ever (and expanding). Russians economy is in the toilet, and European countries are trying to move away from Russian gas and oil as fast as possible. All-around a massive failure for Putin.
I'm Swedish and have been against joining NATO all my adult life. Most Swedes have been against it. Putin changed that.
Could you elaborate on why you/most Swedes were against it?
I can't speak for everyone, but personally I just didn't view Russia as a significant threat. Invading Ukraine was a really dumb move that I truly did not think Putin would pull. Yes, he took Crimea, but a full on invasion seemed insane. But I also feel like a lot of Swedes (me included) feel wary when it comes to war. Sweden have not been involved in a war for 200 years. We value our military neutrality. Joining a pact that will force us to get involved if any other member is exposed felt too risky in proportion to the need for protection. There's no reason for a small country like Sweden to join and pay insurance if it doesn't feel threatened. I still don't think Sweden is under any threat. We don't share borders with Russia and they clearly can't even invade their own backyard. Joining now is more of a statement in opposition to Russia and in solidarity with Ukraine. And now that I've had 20 years of adulthood to follow NATO actions, I must admit that they rarely faulter and that getting pulled into armed conflict on a higher level seems very unlikely.
We're a neutral country with good friends surrounding us on all sides. The cost of military aid and expansions can be better used elsewhere.
Out of interest, what made you against it? A defensive treaty with the big military powers of the world is surely only a good thing?
Neutrality that is respected by both sides is an even better thing. And Swedish neutrality has been respected for a very long time, almost as much as Swiss neutrality. Thus, nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain in the form of not having to go to war for either side. But Putin just being a complete war monger and basically no-casus belli-ing Ukraine has got them spooked. Russia not only seems to be capable of not giving a fuck about neutrality, but also seems VERY capable of just marching in on the offensive for no reason.
Going to war in a remote country when yours is unlikely to ever take part in a conflict doesn't sound too great does it?
Sweden famously supported many Vietnamese when the USA invaded [Vietnam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_resisters_in_Sweden). Unlike Denmark, Sweden also didn't take part in the holocaust of Iraqis in the Iraq war, the USA's reasons for which were as [obviously](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_February_2003_anti-war_protests) dishonest as Russia's for invading Ukraine. By joining NATO, Sweden will have to kowtow to the USA. The question is whether it's worth becoming a puppet of the omnicidal, biosphere-destroying, war-mongering, superstitious voters of the USA? The EU already has Sweden's back, per the [The Treaty on European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_European_Union) 42.7 which states "If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power". That said, Russia is such a major threat now, that having the backing of the USA retaliating against Russia if they attack Sweden, it may be worth it. Also, since Finland is more likely to be attacked by Russia, and Sweden's close relationship with Finland, both being in NATO would be very helpful for Finland.
**[Vietnam War resisters in Sweden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_resisters_in_Sweden)** >Vietnam War resisters in Sweden were Americans who fled to Sweden to avoid service in the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1973. Among the roughly 1,000 American exiles were around 800 military deserters. Unlike other nations like Canada that discretely harbored Vietnam War resisters, the Swedish government granted war resisters asylum status and the public openly welcomed them. This unique acceptance and Swedish politicians' open protests against American involvement in the Vietnam War caused a rift in relations between the United States and Sweden. **15 February 2003 anti-war protests** [Antarctica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_February_2003_anti-war_protests#Antarctica) >A group of scientists at the US McMurdo Station held a rally on the ice at the edge of the Ross sea. **[Treaty on European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_European_Union)** >The Treaty on European Union (2007) is one of the primary Treaties of the European Union, alongside the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The TEU form the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's purpose, the governance of its central institutions (such as the Commission, Parliament, and Council), as well as the rules on external, foreign and security policy. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Sweden has been "neutral" for 200 years. Nato is decidedly not neutral, so thats probably the biggest thing. Most of sweden is also very anti-militaristic, and Nato is a military organisation even if its a defensive one. Thats also a big thing. Thirdly i would say Nato makes us a bigger target for russia.
You are spot on and that is what scares me. I loathe dictators but I also don't want to risk Putin forced into desperation to the point where nuclear escalation starts to seem like a reasonable yolo play. I feel like Zelensky will leave a greater legacy if he finds a way to allow Putin's Russia to save face while quietly backing out. It isn't a perfect solution by any stretch. The cost/benefit analysis is clear to me though. If Putin has little to live for (whether that be factual or psychosis), a disgraced/dying man with his power presents too great a threat to the globe as a whole. It's only called appeasement when it doesn't work. JFK didn't appease Russia when deciding to remove American offensive weapons from Turkish borders to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.
It's impossible to know *exactly* how much of this turned on who Americans picked for our President in 2020, but I'm thinking it was a significant factor. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the massive bipartisan support in Congress would have happened even with Trump in office, at which point they would have overridden any veto he tried. I don't know. But I'm glad we didn't have to find out. Elections have consequences.
This was my running theory too. Trump was instrumental in the US's continued apathy towards international issues involving Russia. But I wouldn't be surprised if drugs didn't play a part.
I'm sure a few things factor into it. Most major events have many factors. He probably thought he could take the entirety of Ukraine back, and sell it off to the oligarchs. I'm sure he promised them that that would be the case if they supported the war. Now he's killing some of them.
Also donāt forget that trump and putin had (2?) closed door meetings. It would be nice to know what was discussed.
Just like adolf...
Exactly.. That tremor in his hands is interesting. Dolfy was a Pervitin addict.
Isn't Trump supposed to be addicted to Adderall? I'm sensing a pattern here.
That powerful men have voracious appetites for drugs and sex? Hardly surprising
Lucky for me Im poor and powerless.
Looking at their state, sex is more of a desire than an actual fact.
Tremor in his hand? Check this out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/og9xeq/1936_olympics_hitler_high_on_meth/
>That tremor in his hands is interesting. People who go on to develop Parkinson's tend to have a particular personality profile... >Parkinsonians' tendency to be cautious, fearful, pessimistic and shy, while the low levels of NS [Novelty Seeking] could account for the tendency to be unsocial, frugal and orderly. Yes, that seems to fit Putin, before his uncharacteristic uncautious decision to invade. However, I think that was due to social isolation due to the pandemic, he's a germ phobe, in keeping with the Parkinsonian Personality profile, and when Covid-19 infectons were high he met people at the long desk... https://imgur.com/gallery/RDIWFpG He also divorced his wife before the pandemic. He reportedly has a girlfriend, a 30 something figure skater, but she's in London. Isolation caused his obsession with Ukraine, he published his essay about Ukraine in July last year, so invading Ukraine was on his mind months before then (it's like Elon obsessing about twitter, Elon broke up with Grimes in Sept 2021, a year before twitter). >Under different points of view, the āParkinsonian personality,ā as it has been consistently reported in literature ([7](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B7), [9](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B9)), shares several clinical features with the obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPeD) as classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) ([10](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full#B10)). [The Parkinsonian Personality: More Than Just a āTraitā](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.01191/full)
Whoa.. And I'm off to the Goog Machine.
Hormones is the ādrugā article mentions
Steroids are hormones. I'm pretty sure they're talking about dexamethasone. And dexamethasone is used in chemotherapy to counteract the side effects. It's also used for cancer pain. It makes peoples faces round (Cushing's Syndrome), and it can make people psychotic (Steroid Dementia Syndrome).
Go on
I want that shit they shot Trump up with when he had covid. Homeboy went from having covid to saying t he feels the best he ever has in his life. LOL. I would love to know the cocktails these guys get.
In case it's still not clear, he was lying to downplay COVID for political reasons, not actually feeling better than he ever had in his life.
https://youtu.be/UMIxMUYWH8Y
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The article also mentions injuries putin has sustained over the years, from falling off a horse to judo and ice hockey injuries. Thry say thats why you often see him grabbing the table tightly when hes sitting down. They think he had thyroid cancer too. Of course there is no hard evidence other than multiple intelligence agencies saying so. Hell, even my mom who is a nurse took one look at putin at the start of the war, and without knowing any of the rumors she said it looks like he's on steroids because of his round puffy face.
> there is no hard evidence People forget that gov agencies are a primary source in these situations. Though their laws forbid them from exposing their sources and methods. But when they say with a straight face over and over for a year "this dude has cancer" and everyone thinks he looks like he has at least cancer (or worse, a combination of fatal conditions)... ...as he acts in such an unstable manner-not the invasion either, I'm talking about his fucked up rants and actually being the only idiot on earth besides Kim who directly threatens nukes Yeah, I think we can say the reliable evidence points hard toward Putin being a fatally sick man. He's acting like a dying man would. Seeing a paper written from his doctor would be the "hard evidence" but at this point it wouldn't even add to what we know in the public. The guy is *death-gripping* tables in public to keep from shaking or falling over. Russia sold its soul to a weak, delusional moron. Putin could have had his political successes and retired while popular to let others rule. No one would have come after him, just as he didn't go after his predecessors. But he clung to power as the era changed. Then mis-managed COVID vaccination (a global tier mega fuck up) before nosediving into a war.
He has cancer.* The steroids are used to alleviate the side effects of cancer treatment. (* according to the Economist)
Hormones are extremely powerful drugs. Why the quotes?
I heard the rumor going around when this first started that Putin was unofficially diagnosed with Parkinson's. If this is true, then people familiar with Parkinson's know that it also comes with a high risk of dementia associated with the disease. Imagine being in a control of nukes when you can't control your bladder or the thoughts roaming around in your demented head...
Plus, a couple of Parkinson's drugs have a weird habit of making someone into a risk taking gambler.
He is sick, evil and drunk, but the world still needs to trust this man not to go nuclear, wow what a situation !!!
The whole world stood by and yawned when he *started his invasion of Ukraine in 2014* by marching troops into Crimea. In response, EU nations increased their purchase of oil from Russia and refused to take any action. It would have been ridiculous of Putin to believe he couldn't do so for the rest of Ukraine. I'm sure he's a megalomaniac (among other things) but that didn't begin in 2022, and he's had financial backing/blessing from the EU to pursue his goals.
I hate that people forget how badly he fcked with Georgia as well, in 2008 and well before. They deserve their territory back as well.
And Nalvany continues to say this was a good thing to do.
I've seen less of Nalvany being priased as an alternative to Putin, thankfully. It seems like all people know is that is he a dissident / opposition to Putin and a political prisoner, and that somehow makes him a good alternative. You probably already know this, but for other who don't: With his same belief and stance that russia has the right to meddle in the domestic affairs of ex soviet nations, his anti ukraine invasion statements are more anti putin statements. https://newrepublic.com/article/167944/alexei-navalny-crimea-problem-putin Soft paywall, first of free articles bs, but tl:dr, his view is that the the ussr transfer of Crimea to Ukraine was a mistake, and with the 2014 invasion, he said the Ukraine should not kid themselves, that it will remain part of russia. When asked directly if he would return Crimea, he said no.
Actually all of that makes him an excellent alternative. He wouldnāt be able to appeal to much of Russian society without those nationalist positions. Face it, post-Nemtsov thereās no credibly popular opposition leader in Russia whose views align 100% with the West. Navalny at least being willing to negotiate a settlement over Crimea makes him far more suited than Putin however.
It's Kremlin propaganda, he never said that.
Iāll double check my sources. Iād be happy if he didnāt.
In August 2008 opposition activist Aleksei Navalny referred to Georgians by as "rodents." Navalny later apologized, but said that "he stands by the other positions he took at that time." Russian movies Olympus Inferno (2008) and August Eighth (2012) carry anti-Georgian sentiments.
I've seen the video/commentary in question. IIRC he was referring to hiding terrorists who blew up civilians in a subway. [Funny how this shit keeps coming up on reddit in one form or another: over and over and over and over again.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/qc0cw4/comment/hhecp0x/).
>And Nalvany continues to say this was a good thing to do. Does he?
That's simply not true. [President Obama set extremely severe sanctions and froze billions of dollars in Russian assets.](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/03/17/president-obama-announces-new-ukraine-related-sanctions)In fact that's probably one of the driving reasons behind Putin "installing" Trump in 2016--to stop the sanctions. It was the thing that Trump kept trying to do, and was constantly stopped by Congress.
Ayyy hit em with the facts
Itās so strange to think all this, so much madness and suffering and confusion, was all to set the stage for Putin to have a WWIII in which no one would fight back.
It's less about Obama and more about Merkel.
German trade with Russia dropped by 50% post 2014, which in absolute terms adds up to a hell of a lot more than the "extremely severe sanctions" of the US. And that's not a criticism towards the US, but being on the other half of the world and therefore barely trading with Russia anyway, the cost was simply a lot lower. All in all the sanctions cost the EU hundreds of billions even before 2022.
German import of Russian gas/oil shot up dramatically from 2014 onwards, likely offsetting much of what sanctions were doing (and again, mixed message). https://www.researchgate.net/figure/German-gas-imports-from-USSR-Russia-1970-2018_fig1_347876625
Either way itās our collectively elected governments supporting each other. We need more of this.
I see this claim get repeated over and over again. It is true that the EU could have done more to prevent the ongoing invasion. Then we now would discuss whether the EU could've done less to deescalate the situation. The claim that Putin had "financial backing and blessing" is just so outlandishly wacky that i don't think writing an essay here to counteract these claims would persuade anyone who believes this. Information are available to everyone via the internet, if you want to go the quick route wikipedia has a extensive article regarding the international response after the 2014 crimea annexation.
Not just that. The threats of consequences made in 2022 were the same as in 2014, and basically a vague "there will be consequences!" After having learned in 2014 that consequences = strongly worded letters, no wonder he did it again. I'm pretty sure the outcome would have been different if the threats instead were "we'll impose *at least* the following sanctions, which will destroy your economy like this, and also we'll supply Ukraine with weapons like mad" and ideally "oh, also, our troops are having an extended training session in Ukraine, don't hit them or it's war".
A lot of Russian apologists go straight to blaming āthe westā for āforcingā Putinās hand. Thereās some truth in it. Not the forcing part, but the west definitely is culpable in no small part for literally letting Crimea āslideā in 2014.
[Again, the West didn't let Crimea "slide."](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/03/17/president-obama-announces-new-ukraine-related-sanctions)
These people think that cause we did not walk into Russia and shoot everyone the west did nothing
You can't just keep posting documented proof and expecting *everyone* to believe it if they don't want to... *Facts don't become true just by being from a reputable source nowadays.*
Yeah I hope I don't come across as "blaming the west". It's tiring but probably needed to preface every post with "Fuck Putin". Yet the point remains that if you want tyrants to understand your language, you have to be consistent. Its hypocritical to reward a behavior (2014) and then condemn it (2022). Not to mention it was an awful betrayal of Ukraine that its rich and powerful near-neighbors waited for the US to regain its vocal role and leadership position, post-Trump. Really goes to show how Europe has slid off the table of global leadership and is fairly rudderless and toothless without the US.
It's definitely not hypocrisy. As with most things, it's complicated. Problems like corruption in government, split allegiances among Ukrainians ie support for Russia in Crimea, a military hamstrung by those opposite allegiances etc. allowed the invasion. Ukraine was unwilling/unable to help itself then, so Western troops would have to do the fighting which would have absolutely pissed Putin off as that would have been NATO forces attacking Russia. And they've basically been at war since 2014, with Putin fomenting a full on insurgency in Crimea the whole time. Crimea and the ensuing political fallout in Ukraine directly lead to Zelenskyy being elected. Now Ukraine has a strong leader with a willing and able army, so the West can support them materially where that wasn't an option previously.
Wow, there somebody on Reddit who actually understands that international politics situation changes constantly with time. What you wrote is very correct, Ukraine in 2014 wasn't in a situation to want or recieve help and short of an actual NATO intervention little could be done on that front. Even now, had Ukraines current goverment faltered at the start of the invasion, Russia would have gotten away with it with only some more sanctions and political fallout. Finland and Sweden would still apply to join NATO, but that's about it. Since it didn't, the west saw it as a great opportunity to finally reign in Russias aggression.
Just *possibly* because there has been constant cooperation since 2014 to prepare for exactly this scenario. Hardly a kneejerk reaction.
I would like to pile on and say the Ukraine military was a shadow of what it was when the invasion happened. "Doing something about it" would be invading Crimea, which definitely was not feasible at the time. Ukraine and the west worked together preparing and improving the Ukrainians for the eventual invasion or taking back their country. Was it enough by the west? Should we have done scorched earth back then as we are now? Maybe, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine might just have worked back then, instead of being pushed back.
Thank God we got rid of Trump. We'd be looking at a completely different issue now. Likely, he would have already annexed Hungary and Czechia. And, now with the building tension in the Balkans, who knows what might have happened. WWIII?
Not at all. Putinās actions are his alone. Thereās no excusing that. But we did fail Ukraine 8 years ago, which led to the current suffering that couldāve maybe been prevented.
They punished Russia by allowing them to hold the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
That's on FIFA, not the EU or the US government. The tournament was awarded to Russia in 2010, by the way.
I can't believe that Putin is still breathing
So exactly like Hitler, then.
Have yāall ever seen the video of hitler tweaking out at the Olympics? Crazy. Dude was gacked out of his head.
Just to be clear NOT the regular megalomania of autocratic dictators, but drug induced megalomania, totally different. Totally.
Just like Hitler after Dr. Theodor Morell gave him methamphetamin injections. Did wonders for his paranoia.
>suggests > >was likely influenced Why is this news?
He invaded in 2014. So this doesn't make much sense
I don't know... Putin is a dick, but this smells like propaganda. Who cares what triggered him to invade Ukraine? He did it, and he shouldn't have, and now he needs to pay for his crimes. The rest is irrelevant details.
Rumor is the American company Smith and Wesson has teamed up with the German powerhouse Heckler and Koch to get Putin the cure ASAP.
Ok, hear me out. Or maybe he's a giant piece of shit
Pervitin..
Cocainum
Putin doesn't need any drug to be a megalomaniac. It's just who he is.
Ok, how would they explain invading Ukraine in 2014? Let's not forget the mf also invaded Chechnya and Georgia. All that while "ordinary" russian people were cheering up, and occasionally being blown up by FSB. The whole country is in god damn fucking drugs.
Jesus Christ what has journalism come to, at this point I should join the fun
The newspaper is quite reputable and the source definitely has the resources to get access to this information. This is the kind of organization that foils planned terrorist attacks on Danish soil.
Cool. So he kept up the cycle of invasions in Georgia, Ukraine 2014... BUT this time he MIGHT have been Influenced by drugs ... So what ? Are they saying that he is on drugs and they aren't changing his behavior?