Good news. The Armed Forces of Ukraine inflicted excellent blows on the Russian airfield in the city of Kursk.

Military counterintelligence operatives with the SBU�s 13th Main Directorate set up a successful kamikaze drone attack on a Russian military airfield in Kursk overnight Sunday.
Kamikaze drones "destroyed four Su-30s and a MiG-29 aircraft. Also among the targets hit were the radars of the S-300 complex and two Pantsirs."
Almost all SBU drones reached their targets.


Glory to Ukraine!

  you don't have to be an ethno nationalist to want to protect your home and way of life.

Exactly.

Some people here on the forum tell me that I do not talk politely with rashists and Russian trolls.
Look at the image, this is how you need to talk with Russians, and this is the only language they understand.
To date, Russian losses have amounted to more than 260 thousand people.

Pope Francis is a Rashist and supports Russians?


"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the words of Pope Francis, who said that the Russians are the heirs of a "great" state, and mentioned Peter I, Catherine II and others in this context.
From the lips of the Pope, "imperialist propaganda" was sounded, with which the Russian Federation justifies its aggression against Ukraine.
The Pope addressed the participants of the X All-Russian Day of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg on August 25.

In his speech, he said: "Never forget about the heritage. You are the heirs of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire - great, enlightened, [a country] of great culture and great humanity. Never don't give up this legacy, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go ahead with it. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russians."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko stressed that the Kremlin justifies the murders of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages with such imperialist propaganda, "spiritual bonds" and "need" to save the "great Mother Russia".

"It is very unfortunate that Russian great-power ideas, which, in fact, are the cause of Russia's chronic aggressiveness, consciously or unconsciously, come from the lips of the Pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the destructive course of the current Russian leadership," Nikolenko said.

It is noteworthy that the information portal of the Holy See, Vatican News, posted the text of the Pope's address on its website, but this passage is missing from it. At the same time, the network has a video excerpt of the Pope's address with this quote."

Quote from: stoker2014 on August 28, 2023, 13:26

Some people here on the forum tell me that I do not talk politely with rashists and Russian trolls.
Look at the image, this is how you need to talk with Russians, and this is the only language they understand.
To date, Russian losses have amounted to more than 260 thousand people.

You do know that nobody believes those numbers except for you and the propoganda machine of Ukraine. It is propoganda and not facts. The actual numbers are way lower but higher then russian propoganda brings it. Get some grip on reality here.

I had questioned and researched these figures. They are correct. Only stocker's wording, which he always used, is not correct. The 250,000 casualties are not "eliminated" Russian soldiers, but those who were either killed or wounded so badly that they could no longer fight.

Nevertheless, Putin will eventually have a problem explaining to the relatives mothers and fathers that it was not a war but a "military operation" that resulted in 250,000 dead and severely wounded. That shortly every 500th Russian has taken personal damage. You can't just brush that off.

So, the statements of Pope Francis indicate that the Catholic Church supports the Russian Naz.is. This is a serious blow to democracy around the world.
I don't see Catholic protests against such a Pope.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/29/pope-russia-ukraine-war-vatican-imperial/690bee5a-4652-11ee-b76b-0b6e5e92090d_story.html

Vatican seeks to tamp down outrage over pope's words of praise for Russian imperial past

VATICAN CITY � The Vatican on Tuesday sought to tamp down an uproar that erupted after Pope Francis praised Russia�s imperialist past during a video conference with Russian Catholic youths, insisting that he never intended to encourage modern-day Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Francis merely wanted to praise the positive aspects of Russia�s spiritual and cultural history when he exalted Russia�s imperial rulers Peter and Catherine the Great, encouraged young people to remember that past and praised their way of �being Russian.�

Francis �certainly didn�t want to exalt imperialistic logic or government personalities, who were cited to indicate certain historic periods of reference,� Bruni said in a statement.

The Vatican, and before it the Holy See�s embassy in Ukraine, spoke out after Ukraine�s Greek Catholic leader, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, bitterly complained about Francis� remarks. The Vatican never published the comments, but they were shared on social media following Francis� video conference with a Catholic youth encounter Friday in St. Petersburg.

Francis delivered a prepared text in which he encouraged the young Russians to be �artisans of peace� and to sow reconciliation �in this winter of war.� But in his off-the-cuff remarks, Francis told the young Russians to always remember their past.

�Never forget your inheritance. You are the heirs of the great Russia. The great Russia of the saints, of the kings, of the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, that great imperial Russia, cultivated, with so much culture and humanity,� Francis said, according to the video clip. �Never forget this inheritance. You are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.�

Shevchuk, who has frequently spoken out to complain about Francis� interventions about Russia, issued a blistering reply. He said the reference to Russia�s imperial leaders �refer to the worst example of Russian imperialism and extreme nationalism.�

�We fear that those words are understood by some as an encouragement of precisely this nationalism and imperialism, which is the real cause of the war in Ukraine,� he said. �War that every day brings death and destruction to our people.�

The Vatican embassy in Kyiv said Francis� words had been misinterpreted and distanced itself from such interpretations, saying Francis never encouraged �imperialistic ideas.�

�On the contrary, he is a convinced opponent and critic of any form of imperialism or colonialism, among all peoples and situations,� the embassy said in a statement.

Francis has occasionally enraged both sides in the war in Ukraine with his off-the-cuff remarks. He has seemingly justified Russia�s invasion by saying NATO was �barking at Russia�s gates� with its eastward expansion. At the same time, Moscow lodged a formal diplomatic protest when he blamed most of the cruelty of the war on Chechens and other minorities, in an apparent effort to spare ethnic Russian troops from criticism.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, praised Francis� �deep� grasp of Russian history and said Russian teachers and schools were trying to teach young Russians of their heritage.

�And the fact that the pontiff, let�s say, sounds in unison with these efforts, is very, very gratifying,� Peskov said.

While Francis has frequently voiced solidarity with the �martyred� Ukrainian people, the Vatican has insisted it isn�t taking sides in the war, in hopes of trying to remain a neutral player in search of peace.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cwfe0DmtVya/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

China supplies the Russians with weapons. In the video, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine found Chinese mines on the positions of Russian occupiers.

Yes, the sanctions against russia are working

Financial Times:
"The EU is set to import record volumes of liquefied natural gas from Russia this year."
"EU imports of the super-chilled gas were up 40 per cent between January and July this year compared with the same period in 2021, before Russia�s full-scale invasion of Ukraine."
https://www.ft.com/content/1e70ff72-52d8-46b6-a8f4-fcc86fb88a6d

It turns out that the explosion of the Nord Stream is, to a greater extent, a blow not against Russia, but against Germany, which previously received cheap pipeline gas? Who benefited from the weakening of such industrial competitor as Germany?

Long term renewable resources and possibly nuclear are the only solution.

I don't have much confidence in renewable resources. Most of them are not environmentally friendly. For example, wind turbines in the US alone kill over half a million birds every year.
The future belongs to nuclear and thermonuclear energy.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 30, 2023, 06:44

Long term renewable resources and possibly nuclear are the only solution.

I don't have much confidence in renewable resources. Most of them are not environmentally friendly. For example, wind turbines in the US alone kill over half a million birds every year.
The future belongs to nuclear and thermonuclear energy.

UK is one of the countries with most wind turbines:

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-many-birds-are-killed-by-wind-turbines-in-the-uk

"Few studies have investigated the phenomenon, but estimates suggest that between 10,000 and 100,000 birds are killed by turbine blade strikes annually in the UK.

That�s a lot, but it�s worth noting that approximately 55 million birds are killed in the UK each year by domestic cats. Nevertheless, research suggests there may be ways to make wind turbines safer for wildlife. For example, a small-scale study in Norway found that painting one of the wind turbines blades black, reduced bird deaths by 70 per cent."

Honestly its a non issue compared to birds killed by cats or by flying into windows, but should be (and can be) mitigated as much as possible anyway. Especially a non issue to the people pushing it into the press who frankly don�t give a sh*t about wildlife unless it hits their bottom line.

The only reason it hits the headiness in the West is because of funding by gas and oil industry and various lobbyists/ think-tanks. I imagine living in Russia where fossil fuels are so critical to the economy you are also bombarded with the same kinds of propaganda 24/7.

German politician steps down, exposed over painting swastikas on Ukrainian cars

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/baden-baden-afd-stadtrat-martin-kuehne-tritt-zurueck-hakenkreuz-auf-ukrainischen-autos-a-51f10c48-e925-4eca-ac4c-45ef82ac84ac

A deputy of the city council of the German city of Baden-Baden, who painted swastikas and insults on the vehicles with Ukrainian license plates, has resigned from his post.

The offender was identified as Martin K�hne with the radical right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

For his act, he received a fine in the amount of 50 daily wages. The ruling is yet to enter into force.

Earlier this week, the public prosecutor's office in Baden-Baden pressed charges against the elected official for using Nazi symbols, which is prohibited by German law.

The politician did not comment on the accusations against him either to the public or to his fellow party members. In total, there were three deputies from the AfD in the city council of the resort town.

As reported, the incidents happened back in January and March of this year, the politician vandalized two cars with Ukrainian license plates, drawing swastikas on them and writing an explicit "F*ck UA" in capital letters. For his offense, the deputy was fined 50 days' salary (the exact figure has not been published) "for using paraphernalia of anti-constitutional organizations" and public insult, the Baden-Baden prosecutor's office reported on Monday, August 28.

The Baden-Baden City Council consists of The Greens, Christian Democrats, Free Citizens of Baden-Baden, Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and representatives of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany. The rest of the factions condemned the act of their former colleague.