The phrase "Russia is kicking Ukraine's ass.", to me, comes from someone who is, at best, an AirSoft cosplayer.
It's hyperbolic propaganda at face value, and doesn't match up with credible intelligence analysis reporting from news agencies both in and outside of NATO countries. The narrative spun by such hand-waiving talk is that casualty attrition rate per kilometer gained has no bearing on logistic or strategic capability.
Anyone who has been seriously involved with warfare knows that the casualty rates of the supposed 2nd/3rd most capable military in the world are appalling considering the relatively small size of the Ukrainian military. This is an absurd gamble Putin has made. The men lost now will not be there to finally take Kyiv.
On top of that, there's very little to stop the PLA from rolling his entire South-Eastern flank and putting their giant dick in his puckered asshole. It's convenient for them for the Russian Federation and NATO to be occupied so they may sell their influence with relative ease, and continue dicking with their other Asian neighbors.
Do you believe that the Ukrainians will just stop fighting after Kyiv has fallen, by the way?
I also don't take the view that the Russian Federation is "losing". The Ukrainians are certainly barely managing a desperate struggle for survival; their only hope is international military pressure from other geographic theaters of operations and/or a collapse of Putin's regime. They must also try to keep engaging the invading forces in a war of maneuver instead of static defense with dwindling man-power and arms.
However, despite all of that, the Orcs are far from "kicking Ukraine's ass". If they were, in my opinion, we'd see Russian Federation flags a few kilometers outside of Kyiv, and even more probing of Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, and Finnish airspaces.
I had to say something. The bullshit of "Russia is kicking Ukraine's ass," is too strong of an odor to ignore.
Putin has modeled his rule after the Tsarist monarchy of the Russian Empire. He notably despises communism and blames it for the collapse of the USSR. He calls himself "president" but many within the state Duma believe the title to be an embarrassing western descriptor and would prefer to bestow on him the title of "pravitel" or "ruler".
But Putin ran into a bit of a problem. Just as to be called Caesar you need to rule Rome, to be called czar you need to rule over all of Rus. For him, the cultural, historical, and religious significance of Kievan Rus was just too large to be ignored.
When it existed, the Russian Empire tried to erase the other eastern Slavic languages from their shared cultural memory. They acted as if there was no Ukraine and never had been, just as with Belarus. According to the Tsarists, Ukrainians had always been Russians and had no history of their own. The Ukrainian and Belorussian languages were banned. Ukrainian nationalism was a threat to the underlying myths of Russia and threatened the czars' attempts at creating an “All-Russian People.”
Putin is emulating their rule and presents himself as a tsar-like figure. He’s built a massive, opulent palace for himself, with gold-plated double-headed eagles, a clear Imperial Russian symbol, everywhere—even in his personal strip club. Similarly, the Russian Orthodox Church helps him pacify the population and supports whatever myths Kremlin wants to glorify. He wanted to go down in the history books as a grand unifier of Russian lands—if not under the same government, then definitely as the hegemon of the Russian world.
Putin wants it both ways: to take credit for the Soviet legacy and, at the same time, to be viewed in the same light as the emperors and czars of old. Therefore, he's had to bring back and reaffirm the old, imperial myths and values—and to do that, he has to get Kyiv under his thumb. After all, it was the restored Kievan Rus that became Russia, the "Third Rome". Ukraine going its own way, claiming Kievan Rus as its legacy, moving away from Moscow, getting autocephaly for its own orthodox church—all of this runs contrary to Russian state mythology.
These imperial myths are what define Russia, what it even means to be a Russian. Without them, Russia just stops being Russia in the eyes of many. Putin is convinced that if this social glue is disrupted, then Russia will just split up in pieces again—and if he allows that to happen, then his legacy is ruined. For him, there can be no separate Ukrainian language, culture, or history.
That is where his mind is at; stuck in the 18th and
19th centuries.
At this point I have to come to the conclusion that the DNC and the majority of the democratic party is perfectly fine with the status quo and future plans of Trump and the MAGA autofellators.
His sales pitch is centered around "I'm not a Republicantm!"
Most people on this planet don't lose a second of sleep or shed one tear if the poor die, including the poor.
On the assumption that we are able to vote at the time, if it's between him and <insertAuthoritarianDouchebagHere>, I'll vote for him.
However, I'd imagine that most of my fellow U. S. Citizens are well aware that this sheister is not some sort of "friend" of the poor and the middle class.
They think compatibility comes from ethnicity. Because of shared cultural and sanguinary heritage from Poland, your likelihood of sharing the same values, life goals, sense of humor, and physical attraction with a Polish partner is higher.
While that would seem outwardly true, the reality is that most countries around the world aren't as ethnically and culturally homogeneous anymore, compared to generations past.
Personally, I think it's a good thing. Homogeneity, in nature, leads to genetic stagnation and degradation.
Why are their question marks at the end of your sentences? Are you posing those questions to me? Are you trying to illustrate some sort of vocal inflection? If so, then that's even more confusing.
"Neutral" is meant for the members of the oligarchy, not you and me.