TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
Ukraine's former president was poisoned by Russia
Taiwan asks US to put Ukraine first for weapons aid
Putin approved a record military budget and cuts in spending on social support for Russians
Russian "President" Vladimir Putin signed the law on the federal budget for 2025-27.
According to the document, next year the government will increase spending on the “national defense” item to a new record of 13.49 trillion rubles. Compared to the current year (10.8 trillion rubles), the military budget will increase by 25%, compared to 2023 (6.8 trillion) - twice, and compared to the pre-war 2021 (3.5 trillion) - almost 4 times.
The share of military spending in the budget - 32.5% - will be unprecedented since the Soviet Union. For comparison: in the first year of the war with Ukraine, the authorities spent 17% of the budget on the army and weapons purchases, in 2023 - 19%, and this year - 29.5%.
The military budget will reach 6.2% of the national GDP - the level of military dictatorships in Africa (6.3% of GDP in South Sudan). At the same time, almost every third ruble in the treasury will be spent on classified items - 12.9 trillion rubles in total.
The article "social policy", which includes spending on pensions and benefits, will decrease by 16% - from 7.731 trillion rubles this year to 6.492 trillion rubles in 2025.
In addition to direct military spending, the government will allocate another 3.459 trillion rubles to the “national security” item, which includes the budgets of the police, the Russian National Guard, the Investigative Committee, and the special services. In total, the army and security forces will “eat up” 40% of the federal budget, or 16.9 trillion rubles.
💔Volunteer Rimma Baranenko was killed by the russians.
She was among the passengers of the bus on which the russian terrorists dropped explosives from a drone in the morning.
"I had known Rimma personally for more than 10 years, and we collaborated on various projects. She was a very bright person with an active life position, always ready to help," said Prokudin, the head of the OVA.
Rest in peace Rimma.
⚡️Syrian rebels seize huge warehouse with russian weapons, ammunition and military equipment
Meanwhile, government troops and officials loyal to Assad are fleeing Aleppo. The rebels are advancing so fast that OSINT analysts can't keep up with the maps.
Remind me how many years putin and Assad fought for Aleppo? How much money did the Kremlin spend on this war? And in the end, the country's largest city practically fell in a matter of days.
@ukrainejournal
russia, having launched a war of conquest against Ukraine, now wants to keep its own territory out of the war. The Kremlin claims the right to use nuclear weapons when conventional forces threaten russian infrastructure or state control.
Let's propose a counter-doctrine, says philosopher Slavoj Žižek. If a nuclear superpower attacks a country, its allies have the right – even the duty – to provide it with nuclear weapons so that it has a chance of deterring an attack.
👍
@ukrainejournal
Want to buy a Tesla - NO Way
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/elon-musks-price-of-power/59054/
Democrats need to learn to take credit and blame
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/democrats-need-to-learn-how-to-take?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Putin went into hiding again - his default crisis mode.
Putin stopped appearing in public amid escalation with the West.
Putin last appeared in public almost two weeks ago. After that, the Kremlin began to create the appearance of the head of state's work with the help of "canned" reports on his meetings, which in fact took place several weeks or even months earlier.
The practice of "deferred" publications, or, as journalists call them, "canned food", about Putin's meetings is not new: it is regularly used by the Kremlin to show the continuity of the president's work. But recently, the time between real meetings and the publication of reports about them has increased significantly, Faridaily noted.
The Kremlin reported that on November 12, Putin met with the head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Vladimir Vasilyev. At the meeting, Putin tells Vasilyev that his party is "actively involved" in the preparation of the budget, although it was submitted to the State Duma on September 30 and approved in the first reading on October 24.
Putin spoke about the work on the budget and its support in the first reading with the head of the New People faction Alexei Nechaev. According to the Kremlin, the meeting took place on November 19, but the budget had already been adopted in the second reading on November 14. Moreover, on the day of the alleged meeting, Nechaev visited an exhibition in the State Duma and in the photo from it looks completely different from the fake report presented by the presidential administration.
A similar story happened with the leader of the LDPR faction, Leonid Slutsky: he spoke in the State Duma on the day when, according to the Kremlin, his meeting with Putin took place. Moreover, according to the official report, Slutsky spoke with Putin at about the same time as his speech in the lower house of parliament.
According to Faridaily's sources, the delay in the publication of "canned" materials from Putin's meetings on the Kremlin website has already reached two months. Putin last appeared in public on November 7 at the Valdai Forum. Even his press parrot Peskov may not know where Putin is hiding at this time.
@freerussia_report
Jong-un sent one of the highest-ranking generals to command the North Korean soldiers in Russia.
North Korea has sent the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the DPRK Ground Forces, Colonel-General Kim Yong-bok, to Russia, according to senior Ukrainian and South Korean officials.
It's expected, that the general will be engaged in the integration of North Korean troops into the Russian army, as well as collecting information from the battlefield for the possible future deployment of North Korean soldiers. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the number of North Korean soldiers sent to Russia could eventually reach 100.000 people. It is assumed that Kim Yong-bok will not take part in hostilities.
Previously, this general was a non-public person, as he commanded a special forces unit of about 200.000 people, which was supposed to carry out secret missions in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula, said Chung Kyung-joo, a researcher at the South Korean Institute for Defense Analysis. Only after Putin's visit to Pyongyang, Kim Yong-bok began to appear in public more often. The leadership of the DPRK took this step to demonstrate to Russia that a reliable person was sent to the front.
"Up until this point, there were more reasons to hide his identity."
General Kim Yong Bok has long remained in the shadows throughout his career. The South Korean government's database of high-ranking North Koreans, which includes information on more than 680 officials, lists only his name and title. His age, hometown and other biographical data are still unknown.
This contrasts with the attention that is usually given to North Korea's military elites in its state media. Kim Jong-un's public appearances, which dominate all media, are often accompanied by a show of the top military command.
According to the US State Department, the combat experience of North Korean soldiers will help the DPRK update its military tactics by observing how modern warfare is fought. Russian troops have trained North Korean soldiers in key front-line skills such as artillery, trench clearing and drone handling. South Korean intelligence also reported that Moscow pays Pyongyang $ 2.000 for each soldier, which is equivalent to 83 annual salaries of an ordinary citizen of North Korea.
@freerussia_report
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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