TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

Joe Biden's new ad campaign

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/joe-biden-comes-out-swinging-in-wake-of-triumphant-sotu-address/54909/

Katie Britt caught lying during her SOTU response

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/katie-britt-caught-lying-about-karla-jacinto-romero/54912/

I can't even eat that much anymore.

Biden's secret weapon - a strong economy

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/joe-bidens-hidden-advantage/54884/

Great vid

💥 During the night, Ukraine carried out an attack using UAVs in the Rostov, Kursk, Volgograd and Belgorod regions of russia.

The main force of the attack appears to have been in Taganrog (video), where local channels suggest that the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Plant of Beriev was attacked by Ukrainian UAVs.

This plant is used to modernise, repair and service aircraft such as the A-50 and the Tu-95 and Tu-142 strategic bombers.

It is believed that one drone crashed near an A-50 plane on the ground (photo).

The damage caused by the attack is not known at this stage.

From "The Analyst":

MORE ECONOMIC BAD NEWS FOR RUSSIA

US sanctions on banks and financial institutions, as well as oil origination clarifications (where oil from Russia is imported then re-sold as someone else’s), have continued to ramp up. More and more loop holes have been tightened or closed completely.
With oil generally paid for in USD, Turkey has been purchasing as much as $2 billion a month in refined Russian oil products.
However they have been selling much of it to European nations through the port of Dortyol, saying that the refined product came from somewhere - anywhere - other than Russia.
Evasion tactics such as lying about the amount paid, masked in origin, re-routing and transfers at sea, have all seen huge reductions. US sanctions have been highly targeted at individuals, companies, ports and ships.
As a result the entire Port of Dortyol, run by GTS has said it will it will no longer accept oil from Russia.
Turkish banks have also started to face huge problems paying Russia or even getting paid from Russia. They risk being cut out of the payments systems and blocked from international currencies - so they have had to stop servicing Russian money.
Turkish banks and their customer cannot get paid for the illicit goods they are selling to Russia, and much the same is happening in that other Russian favourite, the UAE. India too, is not immune.
Russian exports to Asia have fallen from 3.5mbpd to 2.8mbpd.
As a result with nowhere to store the oil, Russia has announced it’s cutting its output by another 1mbpd.
Moscow however has found a way around this at least for now, in terms of income. They are charging higher taxes to the oil companies inside Russia - meaning they’re already close to barely breaking even and are closer to loosing money. The oil
oligarchs are basically footing the bill.
Politicians may want to trade with Russia, but their corporate entities don’t intend to. Any sanction on them will kill their business, a risk they won’t take.
India especially is terrified of sanctions and has now virtually cut itself off from Russian
oil.
So overall it’s bad news for Russia’s flagging economy. Everywhere it turns it’s reaching the bottom of the barrel.

Ukraine needs unlimited supplies of military aid. The "drop by drop" aid strategy no longer works, said Dmytro Kuleba, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, the era of peace in Europe is over. And now "weak decisions" will lead to "big wars", and "strong" — to their end.

At a joint press conference in Vilnius with the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and France, Kuleba also commented on the possibility of sending NATO troops to Ukraine. According to him, training missions of the alliance's instructors in Ukraine are not unthinkable, since "in the period from 2014 to 2022, they acted very effectively."

In addition, the minister once again called on Western leaders on Instagram to act decisively against Russian aggression, since the price of neglecting to help Ukraine will be much higher later.

"Either our partners now reject fear and
indecision, overcome their internal differences and make strong decisions that will provide everything necessary for the Ukrainian soldier now, or in the end they will have to make decisions of a different scale and tragedy to protect and save their own people, cities and towns.
Whoever does not believe that war can come to the territory of NATO — read the history books and listen to what the Russian dictator is saying now," Kuleba wrote.

Estonia to sign a Security Agreement with Ukraine

"We are going to sign a bilateral agreement between Estonia and Ukraine for long-term commitments (in military aid – ed.)," announced Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna at a press conference on 8 March.

He noted that Estonia has invested 1.4% of its GDP in military support for Ukraine and will continue to do so, including approving a new military aid package for Kyiv next week.

"When we sign the bilateral agreement between Estonia and Ukraine, we promise and commit to allocate 0.25% of our GDP per year for military support," the Estonian foreign minister stated.

He called on other Western countries to make the same commitment, which would allow Ukraine to expect 120 billion euros of military support per year – "enough to drive the Russians out".

As of today, Ukraine has signed security agreements with the UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands.

Poland’s parliament has, in a near-unanimous vote, passed a resolution calling on the EU to impose sanctions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural imports, to protect domestic markets from “excessive” imports of Ukrainian produce, and to withdraw “unreasonable and costly” climate policies.

The measure comes amid protests in Poland by farmers against Ukrainian imports and EU policies. In response, the government has pledged to seek EU restrictions on Ukrainian produce, an embargo on Russian and Belarusian agricultural imports, and the suspension of some elements of the Green Deal.

The resolution notes that Russia and Belarus continue to generate large profits from agricultural exports to the EU. Eurostat data, for example, show that EU member states imported 1.54 million tonnes of grain from Russia in 2023, up from 970,000 tonnes the previous year.

“It is our moral obligation to stop trade that may directly or indirectly contribute to strengthening the ability of Russia and its supporter Belarus to continue the war with Ukraine, especially since Russian imports may include grain stolen from the occupied territories of Ukraine,” reads the resolution.

The document also notes that “Russia continues its strategy of weaponising food, causing disruptions to the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products around the world…The food and agricultural trade cannot continue to support the brutal Russian regime and its enablers in Minsk”.

Source
https://www.euractiv.pl/section/rolnictwowpr/news/tusk-wzywa-do-nalozenia-sankcji-na-rosyjskie-i-bialoruskie-produkty-rolne/

🇺🇦@ukraine_report🇺🇦🔱Liz

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Military sergeant Corbein Shultz was detained in the USA on charges of selling classified information to China.

Counterintelligence believes that since June 2022, he passed on to his contact in Hong Kong information about US plans in the event of an invasion of Taiwan by Chinese troops, information about US hypersonic weapons and technical capabilities, as well as about the war in Ukraine. Shultz received $42,000 for dozens of secret recordings.

What an idiot!
@ukrainejournal

"No limits" - French President Emmanuel Macron has been busy rallying support for Ukraine in France

At the Ukraine Summit, organised by Macron in Paris on Feb. 27, he raised the bar by delivering the message about sending troops to Ukraine, that “nothing should be ruled out,” and that “We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”.

Macron's message has multiple recipients. To Putin that we will not allow Ukraine to lose, and that it is therefore futile to continue the war. To Washington, acknowledging the political infighting and underhand games in the US political landscape and the fractured electorate.  “Should we give over our future to the American electorate?” he asked. “My answer is no. Let’s not wait for the outcome.”. He is acknowledging that the US is at risk of self-destruction as a leader of the free world, and to this end, he is positioning France as a leader of countries willing to defend the western values.

The message is also aimed at European capitals and for the French. He is helping to bring about the realisation of what awaits if we fail to support Ukraine in defeating the deadliest autocratic threat since the second world war.

The European reactions have been mixed, with criticism of making a statement that did not have full backing amongst allies. But leadership is also about stepping ahead and showing the way, raising the bar.  It may be words and debate at this stage - Europe is still not fully wanting to acknowledge the threat it is facing - but Macron's message is being heard.

In the last few days he has continued to rally support internally in France to justify his position.

On Wednesday evening Emmanuel Macron received his predecessors François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the subject one-on-one with them.

He then held a meeting with the leaders of the French parliamentary parties on the morning of 7 March, and briefed them on the frontline situation in Ukraine and his vision of French support for Kyiv. Showing maps, he explained the situation at the front
and suggested scenarios such as a need for sending troops in the event of a Russian breakthrough to Kyiv or Odesa, according to L'Independant.

He explained that he had no intention of setting "any limits" on French support for Ukraine. “We cannot afford to set limits for ourselves in the face of an enemy who sets no limits ,” he declared.
@ukrainejournal

Good morning Resisters

‼️ "THE ARMY WHICH WAS BS, ALL THE MUD, ALL THE GARBAGE THAT WAS IN RUSSIA, COLLECTED THE BS AND THREW IT HERE"

GUR intercepted a russian serviceman who talks about the constant suffering and misery of the russian army:

▪️ the occupier shares a skeptical assessment of the ability of the russian army to "take" Kyiv: "They took Avdeevka, they crucified it, as if they took the whole of Ukraine";
▪️ the occupier confirms the success of the actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces: "they are fighting back not badly, damn it." they're more accurate, they shoot more often, damn it. They have more throw, more shells. There may be fewer people, but they block everything with artillery, they throw everything here";
▪️ "they don't let you shoot, damn it,
3-4 shells limit";
▪️ the occupier assumes that the Wagnerians went to Moscow due to a reduction in the supply of ammunition;
▪️ "there is not much ammunition, the troops are not trained";
▪️ "600 of our people died there in 1.5 months of this storm. Did someone say that on TV, f*ck?”
▪️ "sometimes there is no water here, damn it, he will also never say anything - "everything is fine with us".

@ukrainejournal

Ukrinform

https://open.substack.com/pub/ukrinformsubscription/p/newsletter-08032024?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Most Russian and Belarusian citizens in Lithuania work for Russian special services.

"Most Russian and Belarusian citizens who own companies in Lithuania have direct business contacts in Russia and Belarus. Their firms purchase equipment manufactured in the West and supply it to Russian or Belarusian companies, institutions and research organizations operating in strategic spheres,"the report of the counterintelligence Department of State Security and the Military Intelligence and Security Service under the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania.

Sanctions circumvention schemes have also been organized by Russian citizens who do not conduct business in Lithuania but have received a residence permit. They usually act as intermediaries, trying to establish contacts with Lithuanian companies that sell or manufacture equipment needed by Russia. Russian special services are involved in organizing the import of sanctioned goods," the report says.

https://t.me/Ukraine_Report/20112Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond.

If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not.

But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.

In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way.

But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world.

It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”

A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.

It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.

Link to The Whitehouse and the full speech.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2024/

Poland has record exports to Belarus. Part of it goes to Russia, — Weekly Chart.

According to UN Comtrade, Poland shipped $2.9 billion worth of goods to Belarus and $3.7 billion to Russia in 2023. If in the case of the aggressor country exports collapsed, the volume of goods sales to Belarus, after a slight slump in early 2022, gradually grew and reached a record level at least since 2000.

From "The Analyst":

BRADLEY v. T-90: TRAINING v. IGNORANCE

A recent engagement outside Avdivka had what started as two Bradley’s - which are not by any means tanks, start to engage at ranges of around 200-300m, a Russian T-90 variant, one of the new ones with optical sites and reasonably good levels of equipment.
The first Bradley opened fire and clearly hit the turret with its 25mm armour piercing rounds, but was so low on ammunition it quickly withdrew.
The second Bradley, whose gunner was recently returned from training in Germany, and goes by the name of Serhay, realised they could rapid fire at the T-90 at this range and aimed at the optical and other sensors on the turret, quickly taking them out leaving the tank blind. Shocking detonations around the outside of the turret quickly follow.
Not letting up, the Bradley pushed on, relentlessly pummelling the T-90 with armour piercing shells, some of which clearly got through and caused a malfunction in the T-90’s turret that made it spin around continuously.
As discussed the other day, one of the big flaws in the T-90 is it’s appalling reverse speed of just 4kmph, and it couldn’t reverse out of its situation, the crew appears to panic as they are pretty much blind. Serhay realised that he could keep on at the tank, detonating its reactive armour. The tank went out of control, hit a tree and the crew ran off before a drone dropped a grenade in the turret and destroyed it. The commander is said to have been captured.
Russian telegram channels are fuming over the humiliation, and the poor training tank crews are given because of the perception they’re disposable.
There’s no doubt that the Bradley’s Bushmaster gun is an awesome weapon. The T-90 is no slouch when it’s manoeuvring and has range over its opposition. It’s also not designed for close combat - yet is often placed in such environments. The Bradley is fast, its crews are better trained and its weapons are clearly exponentially superior compared to many in this class.
Training though, makes that extra difference. Perhaps too, the knowledge you are defending from an invader makes you even more determined to succeed.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!